Taking advantage of the confusion he’d caused, Noth took the opportunity to abscond to a balcony near the back of the building before anyone could notice and stop him. He knew if he stayed there for too long he’d be assailed by question after question about everything that transpired, and although he loved to be the one asking the questions, there were few that he actually liked to answer. Of course, if the questions were asked by people he cared about, like his little siblings who still didn’t know a lot about the world, then he would have been happy to share what he knew. But when the questions came from adults… everything became much more complicated than it needed to be.
The teen leaned on the railing of the balcony and stared down at the street below. It wasn’t even that tall, maybe only a little bit taller than an average adult’s height off of the ground. He debated whether he should just jump down and go explore the city, since he was sure he’d have much more fun doing that than staying at the party. This was his second visit to the central cathedral's town, and yet he’d never really gotten a good look at it since he’d always rushed to escape from the proximity of the Pope. It was such a tempting idea to run away from the den of hostility that his biggest threat was lurking inside of. Noth by no means wanted to meet with the Pope. He really didn’t know much about the man, especially what he might do if Noth managed to displease him even more. And if he managed to do something wrong enough in such a public place with so many witnesses, it’s possible that the crafty Pope might just find a way to turn the entire country against him. Noth was sure the only reason that the man hadn’t done such a thing yet was because of the fake [Gift] that the God-dess had ‘given’ to him.
In the end, it seems the Pope was just as wary of him as he was of the Pope.
Neither of the two really knew what cards the other was hiding, or what lengths they were willing to go, and such a thing was immensely frightening.
There was a time when Helt had asked him what was stopping him from just using his powers to get rid of the Pope. The children had praised him many times for how amazingly powerful his [Gift] was, and they never understood why he had to be under the thumb of the church as much as he seemed to. When he’d explained about Ren’s [Gift] and the fact that the Pope had lied about what it was and why, they’d immediately hated the man. It certainly didn’t help the Pope’s case that he’d also sent many assassins and spies to their big brother Noth, either, so he understood why the children were also anxious for such a Pope to be gone. And knowing how strong Noth had become recently, it certainly begged the question of why he was leaving such a danger alone.
However, Noth knew the truth.
He knew it from his mother’s death, and he knew it now more than ever after his confrontation with the Marquises.
The Pope was a dangerous and unscrupulous enough man that he could easily endanger the people who mattered to Noth.
Where was his father right now, who should have escorted him to his first noble gathering?
The Earl was sent away to fight a meaningless battle on the Pope’s orders.
Who did the odious nobles bring up to hurt him?
The children whom he loved like his own flesh and blood.
Noth could certainly protect himself. But could he protect everyone who mattered to him against a man with an entire nation under him? Sure, Noth could have teleported into range and wished the man dead at any moment, but the repercussions of such an action would be far too devastating right now. The Pope surely knows that Noth is dangerous, or he wouldn’t have cared about him enough to arrange this little event he was currently at. Before, when he was just an irritant, the Pope never went out of his way to get a look at him. But now… Now the Pope was making sure to get a good look at the threat that he so loathed. Would such a man not inform his closest aids about Noth? Would he not leave orders on what to do should he suddenly inexplicably die? No, of course he’d have some kind of plan against such an unknown. How could he possibly have been capable of ruling Odessia, a nation full of all kinds of [Gifts], and not have some sort of failsafe against each of them? Sure, he didn’t know exactly what Noth could do, but that didn’t mean he didn’t have at least something prepared. And the possibility that that something could be catastrophic for Noth and his family was quite high.
Noth could make any amount of proud boasts about his power and what he could pull off, but he knew that he could never 100% protect against the unknown. After all, didn’t he lose Elillith in his past life because he believed in his power too much? He believed that his enemies only wanted him, and turned a blind eye to what they could have done to the other people who surrounded him instead. He didn’t want to have to go through the torment of watching his loved ones slip away right in front of him again. He knew that when you have something to protect, you have to be cautious. This was why Noth was laying as low as he had been.
…Well, all of that is what he’d like to believe, and for the most part it was true. However, Noth always tried to ignore the fact that the real reason he hadn’t done anything was because he was scared that it wouldn’t work. Truly, it would be easy to rid himself of the Pope with just one or two quick wishes. His wishes may have had a restriction on their range, but it would be easy to bypass such a thing by teleporting. His angel was truly powerful. Sure, the country may have been thrown out of whack if he did it, and maybe the Pope’s aides would point the finger at him and turn everyone against him. But if the previous Noth could stop everything that the Pope had thrown at him before from the safety of the Keiran manor with just strength alone, then the current Noth could certainly keep Sleekka safe from whoever might come after him too, right?
But that’s only if Noth were ignoring two key facts.
1, in his previous life, the Pope didn’t really care about him enough to send the full force of the nation after him, and only sent Kess and his crew, who eventually won.
And more importantly 2, no Pope had ever been assassinated before.
Most people believe that the Pope’s only [Gift] was the right through the church to rule over the nation. They believed it to be similar to the [King] [Gift], except meant for theocracies. Very few people knew what it really meant to be a [Pope]. The general public simply believed that the successive Popes had just been well guarded all their lives, never leaving the safety of the church, and for the most part it was true. But Noth knew better. Even a [King]’s [Gift] had a use besides verifying their right to rule. Few [Gifts] were so one sided. [Kings] were strong, smart, and charismatic, and all of these were supported by their God-dess given [Gift]. So then what do the [Popes] get? What was it that’s so special about them?
Unfortunately for Noth, his greatest enemy had the one thing that his wishes wouldn’t be able to beat.
The teen’s eyes shifted to the brooding angel that was sitting on the railing with her arms crossed. His mind wandered to the tapestry of angels he’d been shown, remembering each of their distinctive looks and unique powers. Angels. Indestructible, powerful angels. It didn’t matter their type; Each one, being a piece of the God-dess, contained amazing god-like abilities. Some might have been better at it than others, but all angels had the ability to protect their chosen person to perform their God-dess given duties. Even if Serris was a one of a kind unique angel, that didn’t mean that she had the power to just kill off another of her ilk.
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Noth had no idea what type of angel the Pope would be able to summon to protect himself, but he knew that no matter which angel appeared, he wouldn’t be able to use Serris’s powers to harm it.
Recently Noth had finally gotten control of the demonic powers that were resting inside of him, thanks to the help of his previous consciousness. He could feel the clashing of the very two distinct energies, fighting for dominance. He’d wondered on many occasions if this new power would be able to give him a chance against the angels, especially with the fact that it had the ability to change a creature into something else, like the shadow cats he'd made. If he could possibly infect and change the angels into some kind of other offshoot, then there was a chance that he might be able to remove the Pope’s protection once and for all. However, a cat and an angel were vastly different levels of existence, and the amount of demonic energy he was actually able to control wasn’t nearly enough just yet to damage an angel. He was able to use some of it with the guidance of his previous self, but…
Noth was reminded of the incident with the Marquises just now. The only reason he’d been able to use Serris’s madness in the minor way that he had was because of the way the previous Noth had helped him to control it. He’d even used the demonic power to do it, which didn’t make sense to Noth. Wasn’t his angel’s power based on the God-dess’s divine energy? How could one be substituted to control the other? Serris had been moping ever since it had happened, muttering that ‘It wasn’t supposed to be used like that’. Noth could easily tell how frustrated the angel was that her full madness hadn’t been used. She usually got so excited when he used her true powers, so the fact that she was upset now must have meant something, although Noth wasn’t able to fully understand what.
On the other hand, the previous Noth inside of him felt as if he were smiling like a king on top of a hill.
He seemed truly pleased to have shown off his strength in front of so many people.
…Perhaps old habits aren’t easy to get over, even if his [Gift] is gone.
Maybe its impulses were still implanted on his very soul.
It was true that at first Noth felt proud that he’d one-upped the two disgusting men, but after going away and cooling down for a while, he was starting to feel like he’d chosen a very childish and dangerous way of handling the situation. He’d let the goading of his angel, his past self, and the two Marquises's awful words, get to him, and he’d made a risky display right under the Pope’s nose. He wasn’t sure what he’d do now if the Pope decided to call him out for it later. If the man was clever enough and found a way to prove what had happened, he could use it to pin quite a few crimes onto Noth.
…The teen couldn’t help but think that maybe he really should have just left already and taken his chances.
Noth sighed, trying to give up on his impulses to run away. Staying there and wallowing in his worries of possible consequences wasn’t going to help him right now. He straightened up and looked at his angel and her infinitely pouting face. If Noth was going to be facing the Pope soon, then he’d rather have Serris ready to help him, instead of just pouting that she hadn’t gotten her way.
“Why’re you so upset? You technically got what you wanted.”
The angry angel grabbed a hold of Noth’s collar, shaking the teen as she raged. The fact that he barely reacted to her antics and kept an unimpressed look on his face the whole time only made Serris pout all the more. She narrowed her eyes and grumbled out her words as she finally let him go.
What, frustrated?
Noth couldn’t help but think that he felt frustrated by Serris constantly, though.
As she sensed his rude thoughts, Serris scoffed and rolled her eyes.
Serris let out a short laugh as her eyes slowly turned back to him, and her tone took a turn for the mocking.
<...Maybe that 'lovely' Jean could help teach you about it.>
“WHAT?!”
Noth finally lost his composed look, his eyes growing wide and his face morphing in disbelief.
“God-dess, Serris, not you too! Are you really going to joke about such things after what just happened?! You’re just as bad as those rotten geezers!”
The angel easily exploded into laughter at the teen’s reaction. She rolled weightlessly through the air and held her sides as she remembered the cute little show he’d put on during the meeting. Noth glared at her and crossed his arms as he waited for the guffawing Serris to stop, and eventually she gracefully floated down and wrapped her arms around his shoulders, nuzzling her hair against his own as she let out the last of her giggles.
Noth stiffened up and looked completely taken aback. His eyes hardened, and his words were almost a growl.
“How can you be defending them? That’s right, even you’ve tried to say such things to me before, haven’t you… Do you really think I would do such a vile thing?!”
Serris let him go and put her hand on her cheek as if she were really rethinking the way she’d raised him all this time, leaving the unsurprisingly baffled Noth with a completely bewildered visage.
“W-what in the world are you-?”
“I cannot believe you’d- …She’s almost my mother’s age!”
The angel’s eyes suddenly took a turn for the teasing, and she coquettishly came forward, running her fingers through his hair as she took hold of his head. Their faces were only a hand’s width away.
<...Or maybe if it was me?>
Noth was frozen in place for a few seconds as his mind tried to decipher what was happening to him, but soon he stared at her with an obvious mix of disgust and disbelief and pushed the angel away.
“Aren’t you even older?!”
Once again the angel burst with laughter, leaving Noth to keep staring in bewilderment at her with the odd face he’d made.
That is, until the balcony door opened up, and an unknown man strolled in.