"Is this your doing, Little Noa?"
Gabriel looked at Noa, dumbfounded. It was incomprehensible how one person was able to do the impossible and increase the natural strength of an Angel, a creation of God.
Noa didn't know how just praying to Sister Elle turned her into... that.
At most, he expected her to get some strength and he gets some blessings in return, but unexpectedly she turned into that!
"...I think so?"
"H-How did you do that?" Gabriel approached Noa and held his shoulders in place. Why would Noa pray to Gabriel if she asked him to pray to Father?
A thought entered her head. Did Noa know that Father was dead...?
Noa on the other hand, was trying to think up a good excuse. Since Protection of the Faith only said 'Increased' Noa didn't know how big the 'Increased' amount actually was. But was it good to reveal Protection of the Faith to an Angel? He was taking the energy that Michael couldn't use.
But there was no other way to explain how it worked!
Maybe he should run...?
But leaving... He didn't want to say goodbye to his newfound friends so quickly.
Was he going have to say goodbye again?
Leave his newfound home once more?
Was he really going to give this all up?
...Maybe it was for the best...?
"Noa." A voice interrupted his increasingly panicked thoughts. Noa focused his eyes to be face to face with Gabriel.
"I'm not going to force you to tell me. I was just curious." Gabriel gave Noa a concerned expression, looking at his unfocused eyes. She instinctively brought Noa into a hug.
"Uh?"
"It's fine, it's fine... it was just an exclamation because I was so surprised." Gabriel pat Noa's back, whispering assurances into his ears.
Noa slowly calmed down, before realizing his position. Having been rather lonely and friendless in his past life, such close contact was rather embarrassing. Lavinia didn't count. Her age and maturity was a large factor.
Noa tried to slowly get out of Gabriel's hug to realize that Gabriel wasn't letting go.
"Uh... Could I get some space..."
"Oh!" Gabriel quickly left go.
Noa backed up and looked at Gabriel, locking in.
*Locked In*
It would be a disservice to not reveal to Gabriel what sparked such a dramatic change in her appearance and abilities.
"...Could you keep this a secret?" Noa whispered to Gabriel, who nodded with a determined expression on her face, and with a wave of her hand, created a translucent barrier around the two.
Noa wouldn't explain the entire Gacha System, but Protection of the Faith was probably fine.
Noa knew that Protection of the Faith used all the Faith that Michael didn't use.
He also knew that Protection of the Faith used this Faith to generate Blessings to empower him.
So the only way Noa could use this unused Faith was converting it into Blessings and then applying it to himself.
But nonetheless, the unused faith was a pool of energy that no one but Noa had access too. But with so much surplus energy not used for Blessings, Noa sent it directly to Gabriel through prayer.
Gabriel, as a creation of God and not a god boosted by faith, originally shouldn't gain any strength. A Stagnant Being. But what if an equivalent of 2 Billion Humans instantly sent their faith to a single entity?
In concept, a new God should have been born.
But since Gabriel was already a creation of God, it created concepts and boosted authorities and applied it to Gabriel instead of making a new God. Gabriel, as the Messenger of God, had some authority as a Messenger.
When it was boosted, it evolved into the Messenger of Revelation, and as a result, Gabriel gained Authorities related to Revelation.
Which in this case would be the Seven Churches of Asia and the Seven Trumpets of Apocalypse.
However, Noa only knew about somehow sending a shit ton of Faith to Gabriel, not the reason behind the evolution, but he could make some inferences.
"First of all, what's your real name?" It was easier to infer the reason from the Angel's authority.
"...Gabriel."
Noa nodded in thought. In his theology classes, he learned that Gabriel was the Messenger of God, having announced to the Virgin Mary about the birth of the Son of God.
"Okay. So if we start from the beginning, I in some sense can be considered an Incarnation of Noah."
That made Gabriel blink in confusion. Was that possible? She had heard of descendants, but Descendants almost never applied to people from the Bible, more specifically the Old Testament.
This was because this was during a time where every human housed the Blood of Adam, and later the Blood of Noah, every human could be considered a Descendant of Noah.
But an Incarnation?
Other than Adam, the First Man, Noah, the 10th Descendant of Adam, and the son of Lamech was the first man to gain the Advice and Favor in the eyes of the Lord after the birth of Seth.
"An Incarnation of Noah...?"
Gabriel paused. It had been multiple millennia since she had seen Noah, but if Noa had said that he was, with the purity of his aura it was hard to refute his statement. She nodded, dazed at the revelation.
"Yeah. So I have this skill called Protection of the Faith. It is in a sense the manifestation of being Chosen by God."
Gabriel nodded.
"Normally, it's supposed to give me Blessings from God. But you know how the Lord is..." Noa trailed off, seeing as he remembered when Gabriel was reminded of God's death.
On cue, Gabriel's expression fell slightly, but nodded.
"Because of his... passing, there's no one to stop God's Blessings, and you know how Michael can't use God's System completely?"
While Gabriel didn't know how Noa knew this information, she had already said that she would keep everything secret and wouldn't force Noa to speak, just having Noa explain was a godsend.
"...Yes. Brother can't control God's System effectively because he can't sit on the Throne of God in the Seventh Heaven and gain his authority." She explained.
"...So Protection of the Faith, which has the purity of God's Favor, and no one to regulate it is using all of the Faith that the System is leaking."
That made Gabriel freeze. With how little Michael could actually control God's System, putting in all his effort to prevent it from deteriorating, this Protection of the Faith is actually controlling ALL of the leaking energy?
Gabriel immediately wanted to call it out, but she trusted Noa. There was no reason for this kind child to lie to her.
"And since I can only use it through Blessings, the remainder of the Faith the Protection of the Faith had control over I sent to you, Gabriel."
"...Why me and not Michael?" She whispered.
Uh, Noa didn't really know why, but it was just a feeling.
"I... don't know."
Sometimes, it was the most impulsive of decisions that showed a person's inner beliefs and thoughts. Because Sister Elle was the first person that comforted Noa when he was at his lowest, he instinctively wanted to return the favor.
It may have been luck that Gabriel was the first person he met during that time, but it was Gabriel's choice to help and comfort him, and Noa was obligated to return the favor.
Gabriel hesitated, before giving Noa a smile. "...Thank you."
She couldn't force Noa to give this power to Michael. But Noa gave too much to Gabriel for her to not give anything in return...
"But this... this is too much, Noa. Are you sure it's okay?"
Noa gave a smile. While it's nice to become Reinhard, and he would still be Reinhard, if he wasn't able to use the energy unless to create New Blessings, then why not use it to return the favor?
"It's fine. Just giving you what I'm not using." Noa wouldn't use this to emotionally blackmail Gabriel cause why the fuck would he? It's like giving Gabriel the rest of his fries just because he couldn't finish it.
It would be stupid to hold it over her because she ate the leftover fries.
Gabriel hugged Noa once more, but much more tightly, her kaleidoscopic wings covering them like they were in a cocoon.
"Uh, wasn't I supposed to learn how to use Holy Power?"
Gabriel blinked, realizing her original purpose.
Slowly releasing Noa from her grasp, she gave an abashed smile, a tint of red on her face.
"Sorry, Little Noa. I might gave gotten a little sidetracked."
Gabriel looked at her wings, attempting to dematerialize them, but instead of folding into her back and dematerializing, the wings and trumpets became more clear and clear like glass, before becoming fully translucent.
"But this lesson may have to be delayed. While I do know how it would work if you prayed to God and was able to access Holy Power in return, because your object of Faith is... me, could we delay this lesson until tomorrow?" Gabriel admitted.
With so much new Authorities, it was hard to know what the returns would be for Noa's Holy Power. Would it manifest like how it normally would, or would it be completely different...?
Noa gave a smile. Nice. A class with absolutely nothing.
"Don't worry. Unless I die, I can just keep praying to you."
That made Gabriel a little abashed.
"Y-yes. Then I will see you tomorrow, Noa."
Gabriel gave Noa a familiar hug but this time, she hesitated for a second. Then, with a soft smile and no real reason she could name, she placed a gentle kiss on his forehead.
*Chuu*
Before Noa could even register what happened, Gabriel vanished.
Noa froze in place.
...Excuse me?
Now what the HELL was that?
--+--
Gabriel was an Angel, a Seraph, a Paragon of Purity.
The very definition of childlike innocence.
Gabriel didn't know what prompted her to kiss Noa. Was it affection? Was it gratitude? Or maybe it was something else entirely?
She didn't understand what she was feeling right now.
All she understood was that her chest felt warm in a way she had never experienced.
It just felt... right. Like the two were different sides of the same coin called Faith.
Noa may have had the weight of belief of over two billion humans on Earth... in when it came for someone to believe in, he chose her. Gabriel.
For some reason, knowing that made her heart ache with something that she couldn't put a name to.
--+--
A/N: Here's your 800PS Chapter. Yall will be getting a chapter later today. Why am I getting power stones so fast like slow the fuck down.
I literally opened up a bible to check if Noah was the first person after Adam to be favored by god. (I really be opening up a bible for a fanfic like ts crazy)
Also, people may dislike the MC in the beginning. That's cause it's hard for him to get attached to people so he makes jokes and downplays his emotions. I didn't really plan his personality to be that way, wanting to create a funny mc but it somehow came like this lol.
Sorry if the mc's personality's cringe. Too late to change that.
Also it's really hard to give Gabriel a reason to actually love someone, cause she's an angel. I hope i did her justice!
--+--
We have Powerstone Goals!!!
I don't have confidence for my first book so doing this for fun.
500 Power Stones in the beginning for an Extra Chapter and then every 300 Power Stones for another chapter after that!
So...
500 PS - Extra Chapter (Complete)
800 PS - Extra Chapter (Complete)
1100 PS - Extra Chapter
And so on.
Extra chapters will be released the day after the goal is reached, from 2:00 PM to 6:00 PM KST cause that's when I'm free. They'll also be generally shorter than normal chapters.
Normal Chapters will be released every day during the times from 8:00 PM to 2:00 AM KST cause I normally get inspo throughout the day.
Also, comments, powerstones, and reviews are always appreciated.