"Shirou Emiya, what an intriguing individual." Galilei let out a smile that did not reach his crazy eyes. "I would like to meet him very soon."
...
"Now that is settled." Creed went to the closet door next to him and opened it to have a white-haired boy tied up and gagged dropped to the floor unceremoniously. "What should we do about this one?"
"A devil? Why did you guys bring him here?" Galilei looked at Kiba who was glaring at him.
"He was following us for quite some time. We were planning to kill him, but it seems he knows you quite a fair bit." Creed kicked Kiba in the stomach with a dull expression. "He kept demanding where you were, so we decided to take him along for the journey."
"His name is Kiba Yuuto. Based on my research, he is the knight of the Gremory." Lyle added in his bit. "For whatever reason, he seems to have a grudge regarding holy swords, thus he kept coming after us."
"Hmm…" Galilei bent down to look at Kiba. "This one has the signs of having participated in my experiments before, but I am not sure if I know him specifically."
"Right then, let's ask him." Creed bent down and ripped the tape off the boy's mouth without bothering to control his strength. "Mind telling us how you know him specifically?"
"Galilei Valper! So you are here, now I can get my revenge on you!" Kiba immediately yelled out as he tried to free his hands.
"Yeah, basically he is a broken record. Keeps yapping about he would get his revenge on you and his comrades, whatever that means." Creed shrugged with a bored tone.
"GRRR!" Kiba struggled a bit more before blurting out in frustration. "Why isn't [Sword Birth] working?!"
"Don't bother." Galilei motioned his hand towards Lyle. "Lyle had informed me about possible Sacred Gear users in the area, so I have created this system that allows me to cancel them out. Granted it is not strong enough against Longinus and mid-tier types, but it proves to be sufficient against other low-tier Sacred Gears, and it is extremely effective against those with demonic attributes like yours it seems."
"Now that is taken care of…" Galilei took out a vial of clear liquid and moved towards Kiba. "The fact that you know me and you bore the signs of my experiments means that you were once one of the test samples from my research, and that we had come face to face at some point. There are some ways to find out." Galilei turned to Creed. "Would you give me a hand?"
"Sure." Creed grabbed Kiba by the hair and lifted his head slightly before slamming it hard into the ground, knocking Kiba out for a short while and stopping his movements. Galilei opened the bottle before pulling the collar of Kiba's clothes and pouring a few drops on the back of his neck.
"AAAAHHHHH!" Kiba yelled and started to trash about on the floor as the scent of burnt flesh filled the area. Creed went to grab Kiba by the shoulders and slammed his head against the ground again to stop him moving so that Galilei could inspect his neck. Right where he poured the liquid, the skin seemed to have been burnt slightly and dark numerals appeared on it with blood oozing from the wounds.
"Ah! Now I remember you." Galilei flashed a scary smile at Kiba who panted hard at the pain. "Subject number 3026, one of the last batches of test samples I had at the old research facilities. You were the one who escaped the gas chambers with help from your other friends. You were rather lackluster compared to the others, but I had guessed that you may have a Sacred Gear inside considering some of the techniques used for the experiments did not work on you like it did for the rest. To think it was the gear that specializes on creating demonic blades. My, oh my, you really are a hopeless heretic."
"I could care less of what you believe! I will kill you Galilei!" Kiba snarled as he struggled against his bindings. "I won't need [Sword Birth] to tear your limbs off!"
"Oh my, so feisty for such a young lad." Galilei chuckled darkly as he scratched his chin.
"Well then, now that your reunion is done." Creed raised his sword and aimed it at Kiba's neck. "Time to say goodbye to this world."
"Wait just a minute." The two fallen exorcists turned their heads to find Galilei with one of his maniacal smiles. "I just so happened to need a test subject for one aspect of the Holy Sword Project that I never got a chance to try out."
"Oh~ what would that be?" Creed flashed a crazy smile of his own while Lyle looked on with a disturbed frown.
"As our friend here can attest, I have quite a few of my test subjects reincarnated into devils or vampires, and it has intrigued me how some are able to withstand the holy effects induced by the church and other holy relics." Galilei answered as he looked at Kiba with an eye that could only be described as insane. "I have tried to secure some of them, but they died rather quickly, mostly due to suicides while the remainder just burned away from the experiments. I finally got an idea to work around those issues, but I did not get to since the church got word of my work and went to shut it down."
"Like hell I will participate in your experiments! I would rather be dead!" Kiba struggled more vigorously as he shot a venomous glare.
"Oh don't worry." Galilei's smile now resembled something that should belong to a monster. "When I'm done with you, you will be wishing for it."
With that, he went to the table again and rummaged into his bag for a while before pulling out a small box, to which he opened the lid to reveal an unsettlingly object that looked like a silver spider with an abnormally big body and small legs.
"I got this little trinket from my informant during our last discussion. This is based off a prototype I made for the church a few years back and perfected for the battlefield. The idea is to help fighters achieve their maximum potential by removing emotions and the mental limiters. However there have been a few 'side-effects'." Galilei lifted it gently from the box and admired it, just as it started to twitch somewhat sporadically. "Creed, if you would be so kind…"
"No problem, old man." Creed grabbed Kiba by the head and dragged him to one of the chairs closest to them, lifting him roughly and throwing him on it, grabbing a rope and securing him further to avoid any more movement.
"The troublesome thing about this trinket is that it does more than just remove emotions, it takes away everything that makes a person 'human', such as desires, memories and other smaller factors. Essentially it makes them into a little more than mindless puppets." Galilei continued talking like he was commenting on the weather as he made his way to Kiba. "The church publically condemned the practice, but many of the higher-ups used this on quite a number of devotees to build up an army to fight against the devils or each other. Their effectiveness was amplified by the blind beliefs that were left in them, and they were ruthless in their hunting of devils."
"Of course, when Pope Francis came into service, he immediately abolished many of the practices and saw fit to dismiss all who used the devotees as such. He dares to open the church to heretics and poison our good blood while destroying much of our life's work!" Galilei crushed the box in his hand as he seethed with anger. "That man does not understand the blood and sweat I have placed into that research!"
"Hmph! Seems like the pope has better sense than you." Kiba smirked at Galilei. "At least he knows about the type of trash in his church."
"Well, no matter." Galilei recovered quickly and flashed his smile again. "At least now that I have left the church, I can afford to continue my research unhindered, and this will be the birth place of my greatest achievement yet." He turned to Creed with a very nasty smirk on his face. "Let's get started." Creed nodded and grabbed Kiba's hair again to push his head down, while using his other hand to pull the collar down to expose his neck.
"If you think that I will follow your orders, you can forget it! You will not make me!" Kiba spat his words out as he tried to free his head.
"Oh by all means, resist more." Galilei gave one more smile at him that sent chills down Kiba's and Lyle's spines. "It will make this more meaningful." Galilei brought the spider closer to Kiba's neck, pausing just a few inches away while holding it tightly. The spider seemed to pause for a moment, then just as quickly, extended one of its legs and pierced Kiba's skin.
"GAARRRHHHH!" Kiba screamed as the pain shot through his entire body as though he had acid poured through his nerves. A second stab made it feel that fire had invaded his head and was cooking his brain.
'No, I will not give in!'
'A memory of a boy playing sticks with others his age broke like glass…'
"STAB!"
'I will not forgive or forget!'
'A memory of the boy stuck in the gas chambers as many around him cry in despair shattered into pieces…'
"STAB!"
'My fallen comrades!'
'The faces of children seemingly familiar to him distorted and burned away…'
"STAB!"
'My teacher…'
'A memory of a man teaching the boy shattered into dusts…'
"STAB!"
'The ORC…'
'Faces of people he felt he knew, but just could not remember…'
"STAB!"
'Ise…'
'A memory of some student running away from a group girls faded into oblivion…'
"STAB!"
'Buchou…'
'The smile of a red-haired beauty became distorted and vanished into darkness…'
"STAB!"
"Lyle, I would like you to go and investigate the others." Galilei let Creed take over the procedure and directed his attention at the other exorcist while ignoring the screams made by the devil. "In particular, I would like to know more about this magician. He is the unknown element in this operation and I would prefer that his skillset can be countered soon."
"What of Kiba Yuuto?" Lyle turned to the devil in question with a troubled expression.
...
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