Mage×Family

Mission 0: Dealing with the Devil

Just a quick author's note before the chapter starts, if you wish to skip it, be my guest! Some of you may be aware of the old version of this fic, well it's gone. I no longer have all the chapters saved anymore, so I'm not going to bother with an archive. If I have time I'll upload the old chapters on my discord.

Why did I restart it? Because as you'll likely read, this version of the fic changes quite a bit of things, gives Anya a reason for existing, and tries to give Tanya a proper character arc as well as fix some other minor things.

I don't like restarting fics, but this is just one of those cases where I have to.

Also this chapter is absurdly long since it was originally meant to be two, however since we don't get till operation strix till the third chapter in my original plan, I've combined chapter one and two into a single (very long) prologue! Don't expect future chapters to be nearly this long.

Have fun!

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

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Beyond the Mortal Plane

Deep within the highest reaches of the heavenly plane, the King of Kings rested, sitting atop his throne as he glanced down at the world below. The world was caught in the midst of a 'Great War', a war to end all wars as the people of that world believed, but he knew better.

Great Wars were a consistent trend among his worlds as they emerged into a modern era, and this world was no exception to the rule. What made this world stand out wasn't the people of the world, their actions, or the course history seemed to be taking in it. No, similar events have occurred in dozens of worlds before it and would continue happening in dozens after, for all of eternity.

What made this world of particular interest to the heavenly king was a single person; a little girl who had so aggressively refused his mercy, his miracles, his greatness that she had even managed to resist the influence of a holy artifact meant to forcefully convert her into a saint.

It would've been impressive if it did not infuriate him so much. All this added onto the fact that she refused to acknowledge him for what he believed he ought to be; a god, the true creator of the world and its inhabitants. No, she gave him a much more crude title: "Being X," as if he were just another living mortal being whom she didn't care to know the name of.

He had originally taken pity on the sinner, someone who lived their life with little empathy and far less faith to support them in their times of crisis. He had planned to offer them a better life, hoping that his direct intervention would lead them onto the righteous holy path. In the past, simply speaking to a person would've been enough to get them on their knees in prayer. Yet for them, it seemed to have the opposite effect, in fact.

The sinner had spited him, effectively spat in his face, with their actions against the heavens' grace. He would not, could not, take that standing down. If religion was only for those in 'dire straits,' then he would put her in the same dire straits she believed incited faith.

And that's what he did, and that's what led him here. He reincarnated the sinner into the body of a little girl, forcing them into a world prone to war on a side guaranteed to fight. Before long, they had been dragged into it as an aerial mage in the midst of the harshest war that the world had ever seen.

In the end, the experiment failed. Even with the miracle Type 95 Computation Jewel that was meant to instill a holy faith into her forcibly, she still despised him with every inch of her body, and the feeling was mutual, at least to an extent.