Gift of a Miracle

Chapter 5

Running farther into the depths of the woodland, Father Benjamin's Chants began to conjoin with the pained growls.

'What is he doing?' Kazuki thought, scanning his eyes through the lush woodland.

Father Benjamin made it a rule to only begin the Chant when a Purifier was by his side, there had to be a judicious reason for his premature actions. On this occasion Kazuki wished the priest would have given him a more precise location to his whereabouts when he called him earlier. Or even better, waited for him outside the woodlands instead of dashing after Smithers alone.

When the Chants stopped, fear gripped Kazuki's stomach.

'Father Benjamin!'

He forced his feet to move faster. He tightened his hold on the sword's hilt like he was afraid someone would snatch it from him, and his eyes scoured for any movement behind the trees. Two figures caught the corner of his eye. Smithers was kneeling over Father Benjamin's still body. Kazuki feared the worst. However, a slight breeze of relief dampened his perturbation when the priest shifted his head. Kazuki sprinted towards them like an athlete when Smithers clapped both of her hands over Father Benjamin's ears. He launched himself at the girl and tackled her down onto the grassy ground. Smithers scratched and clawed at Kazuki like a mad dog as they rolled away from the priest. Whilst endeavouring to tame the girl's wild movements and simultaneously avoiding her long-manicured nails, Kazuki unintentionally let his sword slip from his grip. He managed to get on top of her and pinned her arms to the ground. She growled, spat and hissed. When he captured a glimpse of the girl's face, a frown carved its way through his eyebrows.

This Tainted human was vastly different to the many he'd encountered in the past. The dark aura emanating from within this Tainted was far stronger than the others. The girl's face had contorted, like she was a Demon in a human semblance and her eyes were ghosted. Lost in incertitude Kazuki was caught off guard when Smithers overpowered his strength and pushed him violently away from her like an unwanted rag doll. He landed heavily on his back but quickly found his feet and was up in a stance. The girl stood up, she slowly stepped closer towards him with an uncanny smile twisting across her demonic face.

"Hello Purifier...!" She greeted in a deep guttural voice and laced with malevolence.

Kazuki kept his poker-face expression, however under the facade he was in shock. Never had he heard a Tainted or even a Demon speak before. Within his peripheral view, he noticed Father Benjamin crawling towards his black prayer book lying metres ahead of him. As if Smithers had read his mind, she turned to the priest and instantly sprinted toward him with Kazuki hot on his heels.

Father Benjamin scrambled faster to the leathered book when he noticed the girl's approach. She was almost at arm's length from him when Kazuki leapt into the air and kicked the back of her knees... she staggered forwards. Father Benjamin grabbed the book and rolled away as Smithers fell onto the ground where he was positioned seconds ago. Kazuki attempted to grab the girl's ankles to stop her from clambering after Father Benjamin like an animal. But she flipped onto her back, swung her legs and almost smacked Kazuki across the face. He dodged from her agile reaction. The girl leapt back onto her feet and Kazuki returned an attack. Even though the contortion of Smithers' face deluded her as a human girl, he still felt a punch across the face wasn't right and instead slammed his fist into her stomach, causing her to buckle and groan loudly.

Striking a Tainted human with punches and kicks were the only attacks a Purifier could do in defence. Using their Holy weapons would indeed destroy the Demon and Purify the Tainted soul. However, the human body would die and the Purified soul would have nowhere to dwell, it would then be trapped in Purgatory... something Kazuki would hate to bear on his shoulders. Smithers straightened her body, her groans turned into a hysterical laugh.