"In particular, I would like to know more about this magician. He is the unknown element in this operation and I would prefer that his skillset can be countered soon."
"What of Kiba Yuuto?" Lyle turned to the devil in question with a troubled expression.
...
"You need not concern yourself with him." Galilei's tone now held a certain edge in his tone. "Right now, we need to speed up our operation. Unnecessary emotions cloud your judgement and will endanger the mission. You do not want to fail your mission right?" He paused for a moment before leaning in and muttering a few words to him. "You do not want to make the same mistake like that time with that girl, right?"
"!" Lyle seemed to have stopped breathing for a moment before closing his eyes and taking a few quick breaths to steady himself. His expression changed to one that was totally emotionless, and when he opened his eyes, they seemed to have sunken into the darkness of his soul, though there was a hint of a smothering flame to suggest that he did not appreciate Galilei using those words.
"Understood, my lord." Lyle replied in a monotonous tone that seemed almost empty of any emotions whatsoever.
"Good. Get to it then." Galilei made his way to the table. "I will need to prep for this experiment. Oh I get the shivers thinking of the results I can get from this!"
Lyle wordlessly grabbed his coat and mask before making his way to the door. He paused for a moment to look back at Kiba before heading outside.
Normally he would not care, but for this Lyle would make an exception and prayed that they finished their task quickly, if only to spare the devil the treatment that was to come later.
"AAAAHHHHHHHH!"
...
"HAH~ HAH~"
I panted hard while grabbing my knees to support my tired body. Around me, the area got completely reduced to earth and rubble while the remains of trees laid smothering on the ground as a result of me using several fire-based weapons to vent off some steam. The nearby stream was completely destroyed, thus disrupting the flow of the water and sending its contents in different directions and giving some trouble to the fishes.
I would have to repair this huge mess with a few water elemental and tree-elemental blades.
It had been ten minutes since I pulled the sword out of the boulder, and I was still having insecurities and in need of some major anger management lessons from it. I still don't feel that I was worthy for it, and all these unvented rage was starting to get a little out of control for me. It was as if I was not the only one feeling very angry about the Excalibur Shard. I paused at that thought and closed my eyes a moment to focus on something, before letting out a sigh at the confirmation.
It seemed that I was not the only one angry about this business anymore. Many of the swords in my reality marble were getting quite restless, both holy and demonic types. A majority of them had their roots in Britain, thus reflecting a large bulk of the rage. Amongst them, a few particular weapons were getting extremely pissed off.
Excalibur Galantine of Gawain was giving off waves of displeasure.
Arondight of Lancelot was roaring its discontent.
The Grail Sword of Percival and the Red Hilted Sword of Balin were getting agitated to the point of giving me a migraine.
Even Clarent that belonged to Mordred was reacting badly, as though the Knight of Betrayal was angered at the idea that this world's sword was being remotely compared to Saber's.
Oddly enough, the armaments that should likely be the most angered by this revelation were acting rather civilized; Carnwennan, Goswhit, Rhongomiat, Caliburn and lastly Excalibur were all calm like they did not bothered themselves being too wrapped up like the other swords. If anything there was a hint of competitiveness resonating from them as if they wished to compete with the Excalibur Shards of this word to see if they were worthy to wield the name.
In a sense, it does suit Saber. She would be calm but at the same time she would want to see if someone could measure up to her standards.
I finally managed to catch my breath and straightened my body to survey the area, but my attempts to distract my thoughts were futile as I could not help remembering the odd sensation when I grabbed Excalibur Destruction, the history behind the forging, the past users and…
[Make us whole]
I would admit wholeheartedly that I was essentially scared shitless the moment I heard those words in my head. It sounded like something from a zombie video game or horror movie, certainly not helped by the deep whisper that 'Destruction' used to say that to me. Last thing I needed was to have resurrected dead knights emerge from the ground and attacking everyone in sight, all while chanting "Make us whole" in a scary tone.
I would have nightmares for a long time.
But perhaps the most disturbing thing about the sword was perhaps the odd image I got right before I dropped the sword: a type of figure that was… 'Fragmented' for a lack of description, like I was trying to look at someone's reflection from a broken and aged mirror. Parts of the body was missing and what I could assume to be the head seemed to be cracked at places and blurred out like I was looking through a mist, and what seemed to be an empty eye socket looking at me as the words were repeated.
Yup, I would have nightmares tonight.
"Have you cooled your head off, young man?" A voice brought my attention to Griselda who came up from behind. A little further away, some of the others stood close to the trees and my heart ached slightly at the sight of their uncertainty at me. I guess they were watching me all this time and were probably a little taken back by my ruthlessness to deal out as much damage to the rocks and trees as possible.
"Is there something you need?" I focused my attention on the woman now standing a little closer to me.
"You are needed back at the safe house. The heiresses wished to have a discussion with everyone present to deal with this matter." The exorcist took a moment to ponder the holy sword that was near her. "They are thinking about splitting their forces to try and locate both the renegades and their fellow devil knight. But they are having trouble coordinating the efforts. In my honest opinion, the Crimson Princess is not thinking calmly of the situation."
I let out a light snort as I dismissed most of the projections around me and absorbed the residual Prana around me before projecting the elemental weaponry needed to repair the landscape in front of me. I had already pegged Rias as being the worrywart she was; it did not take much to see that she cares a little too much for her fellow servants to be appropriate of a master-servant relationship, and given the short time I had trained her for Raiser's match, she was often trying to finish the training quickly to find her servants and comfort them. If this type of thing happened in my world, her team would likely be the target of many just so they could distract her.
"Interesting." I looked at Griselda to find her looking at my ongoing handiwork with a discerning eye while lightly handling the holy sword next to her. "This is not like any of the other Holy Swords back in the Vatican Vaults. This seems to be more 'solid' if I had to describe it, and the feeling of the holy energy is vastly different from the ones I am familiar with. And those other swords of yours are diverse in both nature and abilities." She looked at me in the eye with an expression that kind of reminded me of Rin when she found something new about my magecraft that she wanted to test out. "And these are created from your magic if I recall correctly?"
"Magecraft, and you are partially right in that regard." I decided to give her a different version of my abilities just in case we ever got into a fight and I could hold on to my cards. "I can create any weapon I laid my eyes on, swords being the easiest of them all. It won't be as strong as the original but at least I would have enough to help me though my fights."
"I see." She went back to studying the sword in her hand with a cursory eye, but I could tell from her glance that she was not satisfied with my answer as though she knew that I was withholding information from her. I ignored her for the time being to focus on the restoration of the area. With what little I have seen, this woman was clearly going to be a problem in the near future. A problem for whom, that would be the question for later.
"Right, that is done." I sighed in content after the last bit of grass covered the ground, leaving no trace of any overthrown pieces of rock or scraps of firewood. If anything, I think I made the area a lot better than before.
"Did you have to include a waterfall feature in this area?" Griselda asked while raising an eyebrow at the relatively small river stemming from the waterfall I made from the underground spring I uncovered. "And is that a pond for you to have fishes in?"
...
...
Noble Phantasm: Almace - Sword of Turpin
Type: Anti-Personnel
Rank: B+
A plain double-edged sword with a simple silver guard and a handle wrapped in goat's hide. A medium-sized indenture run along the length of the blade, upon which a few characters that speak of the history of the blade and its user.
Very little can be said about the sword once wielded by the Archibishop of Reims who died in the Battle of Roncevaux Pass. Some claimed that it was one of three swords made by the legendary Anglo-Saxen blacksmith Weyland who also made Durendal, the sword commonly associated with the knight Roland. Others said it was a separate sword altogether, partially due to the warlike legends that gathered around the name of its user.
It is somewhat debatable as to whether it was effective as a weapon, since it was able to cut through a steel mound to about hand's breadth without damage, yet its edge was somewhat blunt which contridicts its purpose. Its main strength comes from the charm placed on it; since it was bestowed to a monk, the true worth comes from the belief that the sword was to be used soley to punish the wicked while liberating the oppressed.
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