True Magician (FatexDxD)

An undisclosed location.

After a while.

The sun had left the firmament, giving way to a clear starry sky. A faint cool breeze blew across the green plains, through which a peculiar road passed. A caravan of four wagons, arranged in a semicircle with a decent-sized fire burning in its center.

The people around me were talking and laughing animatedly, and I was sitting on one of the logs around the fire, rubbing my temples with a headache. Why? There's a reason, and a very good one.

- There's your food.

The next moment, the girl, whom the man I had rescued called Aria, came up to me and handed me a bowl of soup, casting a shy glance at me. Her cheeks were burning and her fingers intertwined with each other, forming the look of a shy high school girl in love.

- Thank you.

- N-no," she said, stammering, "It's the least we can do to thank you for your help.

And then she practically skipped away to a group of people nearby, watching the scene with amusement and giggling quietly to themselves. Aria was blushing like a beet and showing them her displeasure, which only made the giggles grow more intense. There were fifteen people in the group, including old people and children. The adults were laying out blankets and bedding, the children were helping them, and the old men were cooking. And every one of them was now nagging the girl for bringing me food.

I shrugged and took a sip from the bowl, getting a good taste.

It was a little bland, but tolerable.

- How's the food, God? - The man I'd rescued sat down beside me. My face crinkled at the way he called me, and the events of the past tense immediately popped into my memory.

-0-

Memories.

As the monster practically ran to the man and the snakes had time to approach the girl, two huge deadly swirls of flame erupted around them, destroying the threat and drawing the attention of everyone present.

The caged inhabitants trembled, the children stopped crying and began to stare mesmerized at the whirlwinds of fire, which, as it seemed to me, even managed to "re-light" the sun. All sounds in the neighborhood fell silent, giving way to the roar of the flames, and the movements stopped.

The cultists instantly realized and interrupted the ritual. The eyes in the circle slowly closed, taking the scorched snakes with them, and the magical formation faded away. The swirls of fire extinguished as well, focusing all attention on me.

The cultists, seeing the culprit, that is, me, began casting spells, whispering and pointing their hands in my direction. Magical circles of different sizes, but of the same color - bloody, flickered around the cultists, and a moment later a black haze flew out of them, which a little later took the form of familiar snakes. Their jaws, filled with sharp fangs, clanged ominously and threateningly against each other, intent on tearing me apart.

I clucked my tongue once more, and in the next second, a dozen levitating swords appeared behind me. More specifically, Noble Phantasms. Each of them carried a legend of victory over some form of evil and uncleanness, and of course they did their job.

The swords flew out from their positions with the speed of a bullet, completely destroying the snakes and piercing the cultists. Each one of them nailed to the ground those that almost reached a certain old beetle from the Mato family in terms of hideousness.

Frowning my eyebrows, I headed towards the cloaked men while they were gurgling blood and trying to pull the Noble Phantasms out of their bodies. Of course, they failed, and after a couple seconds, they were all dead.

When I found myself near one of them, my hand pulled back the hood. And seeing what was there, a look of utter disgust appeared on my face.

The once human face now looked like a mess of flesh, veins, and some kind of black dirt. It was as if it had been torn apart and then sewn back together with no regard for anything else. The eyes had left their usual places for ordinary people, and shifted back and forth across his cheek and forehead. The mouth had deformed, losing its symmetry, and the skin was gray as ash with cracks covering it.

At some point I felt a presence near me, and raised my head to see who it was. Truthfully, it wasn't what I expected...

A ghost. A very real one, with a translucent body flying above the ground with a bluish hue. It was a middle-aged woman with loose long hair, dressed in simple peasant clothes. Nothing out of the ordinary, except for the punctured chest where the heart is. And there was practically a trail of blood burning around the wound site.

The ghostly woman did nothing but stare at me with empty, unblinking eyes, as if she wanted to say something to me but couldn't.

Looking behind her, I realized that she wasn't the only ghost. Behind her were six others: two children, an old woman, and three adults. And each of them was repeating the ghostly woman's actions.

I frowned.

What do they want? The most likely option would be gratitude for killing their tormentor, but then why are they still here? No, perhaps something else, but all matters are resolved in one way that is beyond the reach of most beings in any world... but not me.

I slowly straightened up and looked the ghostly woman straight in her empty eyes. And at the same time, the Touch of Heaven activated.

True magic sang within my soul, making my body hallow with a soft golden light. It illuminated the space around me, filling it with an enormous amount of mana, making the very ground beneath my feet seem to heal.

A white flower bud slowly emerged from the soil, as if shy of the world it had come to. And then, at the same pace, it bloomed, and from the bud that had already opened, golden flecks of light flew out and began to fly throughout the destroyed village. That first flower was followed by more.

Another, another, and another.

In a matter of seconds, the entire area was covered in flowers, repeating the actions of its pioneer. The atmosphere of death and despair slowly but surely dissipated under the pressure of the dancing particles of light. It was as if they were angels that had come to wage war on the darkness. And not with weapons in their hands, but by their mere presence.

And it was mesmerizing.

The eyes of the six ghosts shifted their gaze toward the struggle of light and darkness that had begun in the neighborhood, but the seventh ghost, the very woman in front of me, was still looking at me. And I smiled in response, raising my right hand.

CLICK.

As if hearing the call, the particles of light shone brighter than the sun itself, entirely suppressing any signs of distress, and the earth itself began to emit a soft golden glow.

The ghosts that the light hit began to transform. Their bluish hue slowly left their bodies, revealing them as they had looked before they died. The wounds disappeared and life returned to their eyes, as if they had been cleansed of the filth that had befallen them.

The ghost of the woman in front of me was still looking at me, but now... he was smiling. A beautiful and sincere smile that could reach the heart of any living being. And a few moments later, he, as well as the other six, began to become more transparent.

Sending souls on their final journey, huh? Not a bad job if every time is exactly like this, I suppose.

And while I was thinking about the existence of the grim reapers, the ghostly woman opened her mouth, still smiling at me.

- Thank you...

Her voice was so distant and quiet that it could have been a whisper in the wind, but the sincerity and gratitude in it made it hard to doubt what I heard. The next moment the ghosts were completely gone, leaving only the memory of their appearance.

- You're welcome," I mumbled, and decided to look around.

The survivors of the village were staring at me. And that would have been fine, but I didn't like what I sensed in them. Why? Well...

End of flashback.

-0-

- "God"? Didn't I tell you all that I'm not a god? - With a wry expression on my face, I said.

- 'That may indeed be true,' the man smiled, 'But for us, the matter has already been settled. During our first meeting, you said that you could be either a demon or an angel.

- And?

- But for us, who survived because of you, and not the gods we prayed for help and worshipped, you are the true god. Only you came to save us. Only you gave us the miracle we needed in our hour of need. And it is only because of you that I see it," he said in a tone soaked with gratitude, pointing to the rest of the villagers chatting merrily with each other, "You see it, don't you? We're smiling again, even with what we've been through. We are ready to comprehend this world again, to experience sorrow and joy, and even to pray. But not to the gods who gave us nothing, but to the one who is truly worthy of our prayers. And in that, everyone around you at this moment agrees with me.

I clucked my tongue.

- I still think it's unnecessary.

And I do, for my time here is severely limited. It leaves a bad taste in my mouth, since I am now somewhat responsible for these people.

- It is all right," the man said soothingly, and as if he had read my thoughts, he continued, "Even if you do not save us again, we will still pray to you. For you have already given us another chance, and you have done more for us than the gods we have been praising.

These people...

A strange feeling settled in my heart and did not want to leave it. It was not like what I had felt in DxD. It was different in both look and taste, so to speak, and it was very hard for me to understand it, no matter how hard I tried.

My gaze drifted to the star-filled night sky.

- As you wish," I sighed tiredly and gulped down the rest of my soup, "As you wish...

-0-

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