Sometimes The Light At The End Of The Tunnel Is An Oncoming Train [DxD / Celestial Dojo SI]

[ObsidianNoir]

Attendance at the university under review? Suspension of my scholarship? Caused by a letter from the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith?

What the actual fuck?

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Cant have shit under the church

 

[Warper6]

Attendance at the university under review? Suspension of my scholarship? Caused by a letter from the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith?

What the actual fuck?

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huh
How'd they track down the faith eroding effects to him that fast?

 

[Drecq]

Nobody expects that Japanese Inquisition?

 

[JoshieWoshie]

"A Himejima?" I tilted my head, shuffling some of the ofuda in my hands for lack of anything else to do. That was the name of one of the main characters of the series — Akeno, I thought. She had worn a shrine maiden outfit at some point, so maybe… "Is that one of the Five Principle Clans, Nishina-san?"

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"If we'll be here for awhile Nakiri-san, would you mind giving me the full lecture you mentioned yesterday?" At the very least, I'd like to understand the state of Japan. Knowledge of DxD gave me a very rough understanding that there were "Three Factions" that were the superpowers of the world, as well as various other tidbits that I was honestly afraid to think of at the moment, but in terms of specific knowledge I was coming up pretty short. It had been just about two decades since

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I wasn't aware Nishina was actually Nakiri haha. But yeah, brain melt is a unfortunate side effect of DxD deep reading.

 

[insertname099]

huh
How'd they track down the faith eroding effects to him that fast?

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What's this from? North God, or Captain...? The perk descriptions don't seem to mention anything about faith erosion, unless I'm exceptionally blind today.

 

[Chaosfox13]

Aww, we don't get the prototype for whales.

 

[NemoMarx]

What's this from? North God, or Captain...? The perk descriptions don't seem to mention anything about faith erosion, unless I'm exceptionally blind today.

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Anything about knowing God is dead in dxd starts doing it. I think saying it or fucking with miracles would do it faster, but they probably want to isolate you before you get around to that?

 

[Lucker13]

I can only imagine the freakout Michael had when some random ass human in Japan starts to randomly FULLY believe that God is dead and has been for some time.

 

[RookDeSuit]

Anything about knowing God is dead in dxd starts doing it. I think saying it or fucking with miracles would do it faster, but they probably want to isolate you before you get around to that?

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Which sucks because he knows he can't say anything, and wouldn't but can't leave any loose ends, I guess.

 

[Josematos977]

So the church is going with the strong arms method of recruiting.

 

[NemoMarx]

Which sucks because he knows he can't say anything, and wouldn't but can't leave any loose ends, I guess.

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I figure Michael got the prayer ping and then followed up and noticed it, so heaven doesn't have the context about it. just "a strong believer showed up who knows the deal"

(because at the time of the prayer in chapter 1 haru didn't know it was dxd but then figured that out after right? so it would look like someone stumbled onto the secret and changed their position I bet)

Kind of a knee jerk response but humans finding out at a big Catholic university would be really bad. maybe it'll be cleared up if agents of the church can have a talk or something?

 

[JoshieWoshie]

Kind of a knee jerk response but humans finding out at a big Catholic university would be really bad. maybe it'll be cleared up if agents of the church can have a talk or something?

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Nah, just knowing the deal makes you damage the system if you're near a place with a connection to heaven of which Sophia University definitely is.

Mind Wiping and Brain Washing 'might' be in the cards. But they didn't do that to Xenovia, even if there could be many factors as to why she could just dip and peace out, so who knows.

 

[TheFabulousCustodes]

Patting myself down for my cell phone for a minute, I recalled that I had stuffed it into my bag, something I had made a habit of whenever I rode the train instead of biking. Flipping it open, I noticed that my email app had quite a few notifications. Hm, maybe there was an outage or security issue or something? I opened the app and began to read. And read. And read.

Attendance at the university under review? Suspension of my scholarship? Caused by a letter from the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith?

What the actual fuck?

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The existence and threat of devils?

Meh.

Being forced to take out student loans?

Five alarm panic.

Thanks for the chapter!

 

[6NuttBuster9]

TYFTC

 

[BlueHelix]

Ngl shame Leviathan wasn't pulled would have been hilarious thing to happen considering how much problem this would cause chaos specially considering this from exalted lol

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I am incredibly happy I didn't have to figure it out because getting a giant demonic whale right around Church censure would've been incredibly diabolical

tbh, the most ridiculous thing about the Leviathan aside from its well, sheer scale (and being called the Leviathan in DxD) is more that uh, the Hearthstone is likely a 5 dot one, and high end Hearthstones in 2e (and to a lesser degree 3e) exalted are... spooky

Manse rules are manse rules too, but thankfully not my problem. For now, anyway.

Cant have shit under the church

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The Church gave quite a lot, but hey, the rules are the rules, haha...

I wasn't aware Nishina was actually Nakiri haha. But yeah, brain melt is a unfortunate side effect of DxD deep reading.

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Thanks, my brain was melted from figuring out the Five Clans and N-surname got blended together

huh
How'd they track down the faith eroding effects to him that fast?

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What's this from? North God, or Captain...? The perk descriptions don't seem to mention anything about faith erosion, unless I'm exceptionally blind today.

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I figure Michael got the prayer ping and then followed up and noticed it, so heaven doesn't have the context about it. just "a strong believer showed up who knows the deal"

(because at the time of the prayer in chapter 1 haru didn't know it was dxd but then figured that out after right? so it would look like someone stumbled onto the secret and changed their position I bet)

Kind of a knee jerk response but humans finding out at a big Catholic university would be really bad. maybe it'll be cleared up if agents of the church can have a talk or something?

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Nah, just knowing the deal makes you damage the system if you're near a place with a connection to heaven of which Sophia University definitely is.

Mind Wiping and Brain Washing 'might' be in the cards. But they didn't do that to Xenovia, even if there could be many factors as to why she could just dip and peace out, so who knows.

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Haru's not going to get the full details for awhile and you guys already guessed most of it already, but yeah, the fundamental thrust of it is that Haru is now a poison to God's System.

"Why did you exile Asia?"

On my question to Michael-san, everyone had the astonished expression, probably thinking 'Why is he talking about it now?'. Sorry. However, no matter what, I wanted to ask the Angel side about it once. Asia, who trusted God that much, why was she exiled from the church? Other than the Fallen Angels who killed Asia, I felt there were unforgivable parts to the Angel side as well. Michael-san replied in an earnest manner.

"I can only apologise for that. ...After God was annihilated, only the System to govern divine protection, mercy and miracles remained. This System is, if I explain it simply, the System to perform the miracles etc. God did. God made the System and used it to bring about miracles above ground. To bring about the effect of holy things like exorcism, crosses etc., these too are the System's powers."

I see. The damage we Devils take when we touch a cross is the effect of the System, huh. Let's try to hit the boss of the Angels with more questions.

"After God died...some system trouble occurred...is what you're saying?"

On my question, Michael-san nodded.

"To be honest, it takes a big toll on anyone who uses it with the exception of God. With me as the centre, everyone of the Seraph was able to somehow start up the System but...compared to the time God existed, the divine protection and mercy to those who believe in God is not complete. It's an unfortunate thing, but those who can be granted salvation are limited."

Now that you mention it, Kokabiel might have said it as well. Something about since God isn't here, there's a limit to how many people can be saved.

"For that, there was a need to keep away those people related to the Church who could possibly cause an influence on the System. As an example of those who can influence the system, a part of the Sacred Gears, like Asia Argento's Twilight Healing, is included as well. Your Boosted Gear, and also Divine Dividing as well."

"Asia is included because she can heal Devils and Fallen Angels as well?"

On my question, Michael-san once again nodded.

"Yes. If there is a person who can heal Devils and Fallen Angels present within the followers, it will influence the faith of the ones around her. The source of us living in Heaven is the faith of believers. Because of that, Twilight Healing is a forbidden Sacred Gear which can cause an influence on the system. And also, as an example of influence on the system—"

Xenovia interrupted Michael-san and continued.

"The people who know about the non-existence of God, right?"

"Yes, that's right, Xenovia. To lose you is a serious wound even for us, but if, apart from us Seraph and a part of the higher rank Angels, a fair amount of people who know about the non-existence of God approach a place with a direct connection, then there's a huge effect on the System. I apologise. There was no other way but to make you and Asia Argento heretics."

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Incidentally, people do tend to believe that the higher-ups of the Church all know it, but the VIP conference on Heaven's side has no Church members, it's only Angels

From the Devil side, there were Sirzechs-sama and Leviathan-sama. Ah, the waitress was Grayfia-san. She was on standby beside the tea preparing cart. From the Angels' side, there were the golden-feathered Michael-san and a unknown girl Angel-san. Normal Angels have white wings after all. More like, she was an amazing beauty. The beauty surely was Angel-class! Ah, she's an Angel, huh. From the Fallen Angels' side, there were Azazel with his twelve wings unfurled and the Vanishing Dragon, Vali. Glancing at me, the ends of Azazel's lips rose as if happily. Ooh, today, he wasn't wearing a yukata, but a black robe elaborated with ornaments. As expected, he wouldn't be wearing a yukata in this place. Sirzechs-sama and Leviathan-sama were wearing clothes with ornaments decorating them as well.

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(The "unknown girl" is likely Gabriel, but it's never actually mentioned, iirc)

"I have to give them the Excalibur back just in case. Unlike the Durandal, there are other wielders that could be chosen. Having Durandal is enough for me. When I mentioned the absence of God to them, they became silent. So I became an outsider for knowing the absence of God. The Church hates outsiders and heresy very much. Even if that person is the wielder of Durandal, they will cut them off. Exactly the same way as the incident with Asia Argento."

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Xenovia says that she's talked about the absence of God, but I honestly don't think that the people genuinely believed her or internalized it, so she just becomes a heretic because she literally believes something against doctrine, in that God is gone / dead lol

In any case, the sequence of events was that Michael got pinged by a really heartfelt and genuine prayer back in Chapter 1, a very, very specific prayer to St. Michael the Archangel:

You know what though — a prayer to St. Michael wouldn't hurt either, might as well. Would be a bit of a waste memorizing all of those prayers at the pain of a ruler on my knuckles if I didn't use them when an actual evil spirit showed up in front of me. St. Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle—

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Michael logs it, feels bad because he can't answer it, and would have put it out of his mind if it wasn't for--

Captain
200 CP
Powerhouses of the spiritual worlds, this is the divide that separates the weak from the strong. Those at this level are the Captains, Espada and Stern Ritter of their kind, albeit the weaker and less experienced members of these august ranks. As one of the longer lived races, you may very well be a centuries old warrior, with a well rounded understanding of both combat and your races' unique abilities. Highly capable in most areas, from combat to technique to racial magic. A Bankai, if not fully mastered, or Resurreccion is expected at this point. Your spiritual power has reached what most would consider the level of an 'average' Shinigami Captain and you're likely to be a frontline fighter for any faction you join. Some examples are thus. A Shinigami might be equal to Captain Komamura or Captain Hitsugaya early in the story, powerful but hardly the cream of the crop as they are now. A Hollow would be one of the lower Espada, an Adjuchas made Arrancar through the Hogyoko, such as Grimmjow or Nnoitra. Of the Quincy, the lesser Stern Ritter such as Candice Catnipp or Bazz B are a good example. Of the Fullbringers, Ginjo before he takes Ichigo Kurosaki's powers is a capable representative and Artificial Spirits could look to powerful Bount like Jin Kariya or enhanced souls like Nemu.
Source: Bleach, Chapter: Source

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Faith is one of the big things that run's God's system and appears to be sourced, and under some interpretations is one of the main things that gives additional power to gods / Gods / etc, especially as you know, Michael says that the "source of us living in Heaven is the faith of believers," and humans are pretty uniquely suited to give Faith in some degree.

It's a little bit fast and loose because I was kind of mindbending myself writing this out late last night, but Haru basically began to channel a lot of tainted Faith into God's system and Michael went "wait, I recognize the flavor of this faith" alongside the "fuck fuck fuck" and with Haru being in one of the centers of the Church's power in Tokyo (they would've gotten a much less polite notice in Nagasaki or Amakusa, haha...) it became a relative matter of urgency to cut them off.

In any case...

The existence and threat of devils?

Meh.

Being forced to take out student loans?

Five alarm panic.

Thanks for the chapter!

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It's really a cherry on top of a shit sandwich. Knowing the world's going to have to deal with an apocalyptic alien invasion (literally apocalyptically so, as Great Red was the Dragon of Revelation) thanks to a boob fairy is already bleak, but you know as Azazel says (even if he can't be trusted worth shit), a world without God still moves. Haru was pulling themselves together, trying to get some semblance of normalcy back into their life for at least today, and then uh

A very real physical severing between the past and the present

There's some nuance on excommunications and stuff -- Catholic teaching has it be medicinal rather than vindictive, but I just got back from a long day at work so if people really want to get into it I'll either talk about it later or in the chapter itself. Haru has some people to talk to, haha...

 

[Lunus17]

Dead God above, I already had my plate full with the near-apocalyptic economic crash in my future and this rancid, stagnant economy, and I had to deal with an actual apocalypse too?

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Guessing this is what gave the game away lol. Regardless of his knowledge I hope its not an immediately hostile relationship with the Church. I'd love to see another DxD fic which isnt so devil centric, Church exorcist would have been interesting but I'm guessing he'll go more of a shinto route

For reference this is the wiki page for the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith he got the letter from. Seems like its dually responsible for maintaining doctrinal discipline and acting as kind of like the US Supreme Court but for heresy cases and doctrinal disputes rather than the US Constitution.

 

[K.st0ne]

In Micheal's Mind:
- Believer pray in time of need and doesn't get answer.
- Believer awakened super power and now think god is dead.

If I was in place of Micheal, it looks like some believer encountered supernatural and prayed but didn't receive answer. Believer must have genuinely believed in God to concluded non answer means God is dead, cause if God was alive they would have helped believer. About God not existing? That's crazy talk, of course God is real.

Though from that point view, believer seems very narcissistic to think he deserve being saved, and God not saving equals death, lol.

 

[Karnax626]

In Micheal's Mind:
- Believer pray in time of need and doesn't get answer.
- Believer awakened super power and now think god is dead.

If I was in place of Micheal, it looks like some believer encountered supernatural and prayed but didn't receive answer. Believer must have genuinely believed in God to concluded non answer means God is dead, cause if God was alive they would have helped believer. About God not existing? That's crazy talk, of course God is real.

Though from that point view, believer seems very narcissistic to think he deserve being saved, and God not saving equals death, lol.

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The impression I got was that the Captain perk hard boosted the effect of his 'tainted faith', which is how he was singles out here, but if that hadn't happened he still would've been caught eventually? I can't tell if Michael could actually tell from that mid-fight prayer that he knew God was dead or not.

 

[K.st0ne]

I can't tell if Michael could actually tell from that mid-fight prayer that he knew God was dead or not.

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Author replied them in comment

In any case, the sequence of events was that Michael got pinged by a really heartfelt and genuine prayer back in Chapter 1, a very, very specific prayer to St. Michael the Archangel:

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Michael logs it, feels bad because he can't answer it, and would have put it out of his mind if it wasn't for--

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It's a little bit fast and loose because I was kind of mindbending myself writing this out late last night, but Haru basically began to channel a lot of tainted Faith into God's system and Michael went "wait, I recognize the flavor of this faith" alongside the "fuck fuck fuck" and with Haru being in one of the centers of the Church's power in Tokyo (they would've gotten a much less polite notice in Nagasaki or Amakusa, haha...) it became a relative matter of urgency to cut them off.

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[WolfHairJump]

Great story!

 

[Wolfjob]

Randomly getting fucked by church higher-ups after he turned out to be special? Looks like he got sold out to the devils lul,just like Asia-chan.
EDIT: Apparently Nietzsche is banned literature in DxD,kinda forgot about that