Chapter 1000: Might as well keep her here for now

"You all, know each other?" Seeing the reactions of the few, Tachiro Shirone's eyes couldn't help but narrow.

"I saw her this morning; this little girl was lost. I didn't expect to run into her again so soon." Tokisaki Kurumi looked at Asia with some curiosity.

On Asia's body, there was a faint, shimmering radiance; this was clearly the power Lingyun had left behind to protect her, otherwise, she might have lost her life force the moment she entered this place.

"What a lucky little girl!" Tokisaki Kurumi couldn't help but chuckle softly.

"Um, Priest Fried?" Looking at the twisted face of Fried not far away, Asia couldn't help but let out a scream.

"Don't go over there, little girl. This guy is receiving punishment!" Leone gently pressed down on Asia's shoulders.

Although she didn't use much force, it still left Asia unable to move.

"Punishment?"

"That's right, punishment for killing people!" Leone said.

"Priest Fried, did he kill many people?" Asia asked softly.

"Do you see those lingering souls on his body? Those are the innocent people he killed. And their current state is exactly how they looked before they died!" Lingyun reminded her.

"How could this be?" Looking at those hideous ghosts, Asia's face turned deathly pale in an instant.

From the appearance of these lingering souls, one could glimpse the brutal slaughter they had suffered while still alive.

"Why would Priest Fried do such a thing?" Asia murmured.

"Because this guy is just a lunatic!" Lingyun said.

"A lunatic?" Asia couldn't help but fall silent.

"Alright, the show is over, we should leave too!" Lingyun snapped his fingers lightly.

"Clatter, clatter—"

A heavy sound of chains came from the fog in the distance. Everyone followed the sound and looked over; two tall figures were slowly walking out from the mist.

After the figures drew near, everyone present couldn't help but gasp. Although those two figures looked extremely similar to humans, one had the head of an ox, and the other had the head of a horse. These two figures held steel forks in one hand and chains in the other. Merely standing before the group, they brought a wave of oppression upon them.

"This, what is this?" Tachiro Shirone felt the hairs on her body stand up, nearly revealing the ears and tail she had been hiding.

"Ox-Head and Horse-Face?" There was a hint of vigilance in Tokisaki Kurumi's tone.

Seeing this, Horse-Face swung the chain in his hand, directly looping it around Fried. Then, with a casual tug, he dragged Fried to his side as if he were a small chick. After seizing Fried, Ox-Head and Horse-Face bowed simultaneously toward Lingyun and the others, then vanished back into the mist.

Once Ox-Head and Horse-Face disappeared, the people present finally breathed a sigh of relief. The surrounding scenery began to distort, and before long, everyone found themselves back in Lingyun's room. The only difference was that Fried had vanished.

"Eh, where did Priest Fried go?" Asia was still a bit confused.

"Fried, hmm, he should be in the Eighteen Levels of Hell now. He killed so many innocent people, I reckon he'll have to walk through Hell once before it's over!" Lingyun said.

"Is that so?" Asia couldn't help but lower her head, a hint of loss in her tone.

"Lingyun, how should we handle this nun?" Tachiro Shirone looked at Asia before her, her eyes filled with a trace of hostility.

Asia raised her head, looking pitifully at everyone present: "I have nowhere left to go..."

"Nowhere left to go?" Lingyun frowned slightly.

But thinking about it, that was true. After all, this time Asia had been acting together with that perverted priest Fried, and as a result, Fried had now been dragged directly into the Eighteen Levels of Hell by him, while Asia remained unscathed. If she went back, there was no telling what kind of exclusion and suspicion she would face from the people there. In that sense, it seemed Asia really had nowhere left to go.

"That priest from just now wasn't a regular exorcist, but a Lost Exorcist, right!" Tachiro Shirone said.

"Lost Exorcist?" Leone raised an eyebrow.

"That's right. So-called 'lost' actually refers to those existences that have left their original groups," Tachiro Shirone explained to her. "Regular exorcists exist to carry out the orders of God and crusade against Devils. But in the process, accidents are inevitable; some exorcists develop twisted pleasure during the crusade against Devils, or even take joy in killing them. These exorcists are viewed as traitors by the Church and are expelled or even executed."

"There's actually such a thing?" Leone was clearly hearing about this for the first time.

"However, there are exceptions to everything. Some powerful exorcists manage to escape punishment. If these exorcists defect to the Fallen Angels, they receive new light-based power from them and continue to exercise the power of an exorcist. These guys are called Lost Exorcists."

"And it turns out these guys are basically all highly dangerous lunatics, just like that Fried from before, right," Lingyun said.

"Mm, basically that's it!" Tachiro Shirone nodded.

"Tsk, the Fallen Angels really have poor judgment, taking in such a bunch of lunatics. Aren't they afraid that something might happen and these guys will bite back?" Leone curled her lip and said.

"That's impossible! Since the light-based power of these Lost Exorcists is bestowed by the Fallen Angels, the Fallen Angels can take it back! And can an exorcist who has had their light-based power taken away stand a chance against a Fallen Angel?" Lingyun said.

"I don't think Asia going back to the Fallen Angels is a good thing!" Leone suddenly said. "I once saw a Fallen Angel hunting someone down because they possessed something called a Sacred Gear. I felt an aura on this little girl similar to that person's, which means Asia is also a possessor of a Sacred Gear. If she goes back, who knows what kind of treatment she will suffer!"

"There's actually such a thing?" Asia's small face turned pale instantly.

"Hmm, this is indeed a very troublesome problem. If Asia just goes back like this, she might fall into a life-or-death crisis because she possesses a Sacred Gear! No wonder Lingyun said before that he saw the star of death flickering above your head; so that was the reason?" Tokisaki Kurumi said thoughtfully.

"Since that's the case, how about we keep this little girl here for the time being?" Leone suggested.

After all, it really isn't easy to find a child with such pure eyes. If Asia's life were to be taken away just because of a Sacred Gear, that would be truly a pity.

"Eh, keep me, here?" Asia pointed at herself, stunned for a moment.