101"Excalibur!" – Saying out loud.
'Excalibur!' – Thought.
[Boosted Gear] – Sacred Gear/Balance Breaker.
"Giga Drill Break!"/'Giga Drill Break!' – Technique; will not be bolded if it is not being spoken/thought.
{You're a Wizard Harry.} – Ddraig/Albion/Beast/Other speaking.
Pov:
X = Third person.
"name" or ? = First person.
Sword 1: Excalibur
†
-X-
Gazing up at the darkened sky, clouds gathered before the Heavens and the pitter patter of rain falling down to the Earth against the dirt and the grass, the girl wore a look as serene as an unmoving river; an apathetic expression worn on her face with her eyes half closed, she remained unmoving even as the rain bounced off of her skin and slid down her body and dampened her clothes. Mouth slightly agape, she stood there transfixed on the sky above her, as if it was somehow hypnotizing her, causing her to silently stare towards the Heavens above. Her clothes became drenched due to the rain, which caused it to cling against her flesh in an uncomfortable manner, but that did not bother the girl in the slightest; she did not feel cold nor did she feel wet as lost in thoughts as she was.
Staring up into the Heavens, her thoughts racing back and forth in a whirl, she slowly slid the index finger of her left hand down the handle of the sword she carried at her left waist, starting from the pommel. Moving ever so slowly downwards, to the point that one could miss the action due to how slow it was, the finger traced a near straight path down to the crossguard.
The wish; or rather, the goal that covered her heart flashed through her mind, interrupting her thoughts and causing her breathing to pause for a moment.
To become the strongest swordswoman. The strongest in the way of the sword.
That was her being of existence – as known to the girl.
However, it wasn't what ruled her life; it did not control her. It was a large part, yes, but there were other things. To experience the world. To help others. To have fun dueling others. To become great, one must have fun – it was something that she always thought to herself, though as for why this thought remained resounding strongly within her, she did not know. However, whether it was true or not mattered little to her; all she ever wished for, was to become the strongest and thus, the path that she must walk has already been planned and laid out for her. Which is why she decided to take detours since a long time ago, to see new sights, to experience new things and people, and to battle powerful opponents. The memory of then, of her deciding to do this, however, has long since been forgotten. Just like every other memory she has once possessed up till this point.
At a later time from now, her current memories will also be cut away, fading away into the darkness of the abyss. But this did not mean a thing to her. There was no point to her memories; there was nothing special for her to remember, besides from who she was, the techniques and styles of fighting she has learned, and among a few other things that she has ever known that she holds dear within her chest. There was nothing; she was nothing. However, even then, she held an absolute thought of herself, one that could not be shaken, no matter what may happen from now till the end of time itself.
Which was what she was – the strength she possessed and the thoughts circulating around that strength that told her what she was. She might be nothing but an empty vessel, but it was everything to her. Hollow beyond belief, she was who she was; nothing could change that, no matter what may happen from now on.
As she watched the sky silently without a care in the world, the pitter patter of rain eventually dimmed, transforming into a light drizzle. The sound of rain hitting the earth turned quieter and quieter. The clouds parted, and the Heavens were uncovered. Beams of light shined down from between the clouds and after minutes of waiting and watching, the sun eventually appeared from between the Heavenly clouds up above within the sky.
The girl continued to stare upwards into the Heavens, however. With a single thought towards the future, she stood there, transfixed on the sight. The place she wishes to one day end up. The place where she will end up. To become stronger and stronger, to one day stand at the very top of the world, to stand among the Heavens.
It was an exaggerated wish, something that cannot possibly be achieved, for Heaven does not exist. But to the girl, it mattered little. If that is where she said she would go, then that is where she will go. It doesn't matter If the girl of the same appearance, personality, and name that had said that was gone; she would still achieve this.
Looking away from the Heavens, her gaze moved forward towards the future. It would rain again, and it would stop. The sun will set again, and it will rise. The moon will rise again, and it will fall. Everything will continue forever and ever, on and on, and so will she. Time was meaningless to her; it was lost on her. There was no end for her; not in sight nor in life. Taking a step forward, she set her golden eyes which shined from the light of the sun onto the horizon, towards a city that was in the far distance. She felt something there. Something that would definitely challenge her. It was a pang in her chest, a beating of her heart, and a tension filling her stomach. To some, they might say it was nervousness. But to her, it was excitement.
How difficult this challenge would be, she had no idea. She was confident, however, in her ability to overcome any obstacle and any challenge; no matter what she faced. Even if the world would become her enemy, she had a clear belief in her heart – that no matter what, she will overcome it and come out on top. To some, they would simply say she was arrogant and dismiss her, thinking her an idiot young girl who knew nothing of the world. But, to her? Her honest feelings? She felt as if a divine power flowed through her veins and that it drove her forward and even more forward, past the horizon and beyond what should be humanly possible.
With a thin smile worn onto her face, she set off towards this city with a confident stride and a slight hum, her clothes, dry, waving slightly in the air from her movements and from the gentle wind in the air, the girl held no hesitation in her movements, and only pure excitement for what was to come.
†
?
It had been some time since I had arrived at my destination. However, nothing substantial has happened thus far. During some nights, I felt as if a battle was taking place, but when I followed this feeling, I only found the remnants of battle with nobody else nearby.
There was even one at a Church, though I had no idea why anyone would want to fight in such a sacred place. When I had arrived at the scene, I had found some black feathers, which reminded me of a crow, scattered about here and there, both inside the Church and outside, though it looked cleaned up and turned into a pile and left there, almost forgotten.
The same couldn't be said about the interior of the Church, which was simply dirty and ransacked. It was as if the Church had been abandoned years ago, but who would abandon it?
When I wasn't searching for something interesting, I was either taking a nice walk around the town, playing with the children in the park, or eating.
Sleep didn't matter that much to me, so it wasn't worth talking about.
Still, when will something interesting happen? I was running out of patience. If I couldn't find a good fight within the next few weeks, I think I will move on. But, this night, I have a good feeling. Perhaps something interesting will finally happen?
I can't wait; though I do wish that whoever I fight has a cool technique – it's been some time I think since the last opponent appeared with something interesting to learn. I've already forgotten.
"Now then…" I said out loud in a near whisper, looking over the city from my perch on the top of some building that was three stories tall – a school maybe? "Where will this feeling of excitement take me today?" Wearing a smile on my face, I jumped off from where I sat and disappeared into the night, heading towards wherever this feeling dwelling within me takes me.
†
X
"H-help me!" A voice called out from the darkness as the sound of heavy footsteps hit against the ground in a hurry, though it wasn't very fast. A priest stumbled out from the darkness, walking awkwardly forward, holding out a hand in the rain and with a face full of despair. His eyes wild, he stared towards the blond-haired Knight of Rias Gremory, Kiba Yuuto, though he did not know this. All he knew, was that a young man had appeared; that someone could help him was now before him.
Yuuto had short blond hair and blue eyes with a mole underneath the left. He currently wore a school uniform, though without the blazer. He was currently in a foul mood, which left its mark via a scowl on his face.
As a Devil, he had spotted the man the moment he had rounded the corner, even though it was dark with the clouds hiding the moon from sight. A normal human would've been spooked when a voice suddenly appeared from the darkness, but because Devils can see in the dark, Yuuto had seen the man the moment he had appeared, so he was not surprised by his voice coming out from his lips. The Devil wore a forlorn gaze as the priest tripped and fell over, blood staining his back. On closer observation, the Knight noticed two cut marks on his back which formed a 'x' and a third going over his right shoulder. The two cuts on his back looked deep due to the amount of blood covering his coat and the length of the cut on the coat, however, the cut on his shoulder was thin, barely managing to cover the shoulder with his blood.
It was clear that it was the two wounds on his back which caused him to fall over – he was most likely dead, though it was still possible for him to be still alive, though unconscious.
"A priest?" Yuuto muttered into the air, trying to figure out what had happened to leave him in such a state – though he didn't really care much for the priest, in fact, he took slight comfort in the death, it could mean that there was an enemy nearby and Yuuto had some stress to take care of. It merely gave him a reason to exert his anger on something. Nothing more, nothing less.
The sound of someone approaching was heard after a few moments of thought and the Knight looked up, realization flaring onto his face from seeing who had approached him. The person who appeared took a moment to recognize him, but when he did, he smiled widely.
"Yahoo! It's been a while, hasn't it? Crappy Devil playboy of shit!" A young man with white hair and red eyes appeared from the same area the priest had appeared from, holding a white blade in his hand. It was shaped like a long Kris, with the blade appearing to be wide with a diamond shaped gap through it and spikes on both edges. It had a feeling of being Holy exuding from the blade, which, understandably, disgusted the Devil. From the feeling the sword gave out, it could only be a Holy Sword. Though Yuuto wasn't completely sure of this, so he didn't comment on it.
The priest wore black robes over a white shirt and pants of the same color. He held the sword in his left hand, though his grip appeared to be loose – but this was simply an illusion. The priest appearing before Yuuto was no beginner with wielding a sword, so even if his grip was loose, he was still a dangerous individual.
Glaring at the priest, Yuuto gnashed his teeth together in anger. "Freed Sellzen! You were still hiding in this town!?" Originally, Yuuto had thought that the profanity spouting priest had left after their first confrontation at the Church at the end of April and it has nearly been two months since then, so the thought of Freed still being around was far from his mind, or anyone else's for that matter. Freed hadn't been spotted even after his appearance at the Church, though it wasn't like he was being sought after, so it's a bit understandable that he had gone unnoticed for this long.
But, that begged the question: why was he cutting down another priest? What was the point of doing something such as this, when they were supposed to be on the same side? And when could Yuuto cut down Freed?
"Bingo, bingo!" The priest spoke with a high-pitched tone. "Ah! It's such a wonderful reunion, to the point that it's bringing tears to my eyes!" Speaking with such a disgusting smile and cocky attitude, the Knight could only grind his teeth together out of anger and annoyance as Freed wiped the imaginary tears out of his right eye.
"Unfortunately, we'll have to cut this little reunion of ours short today." Exclaiming as such, a sword rose out of the ground, hilt first. It was a simple thing to do; after all, it was the ability of Kiba Yuuto's [Sword Birth] Sacred Gear. Grabbing the hilt, he pulled the sword free from the ground and pointed it at the priest with a glare. "After all, your life will end here." At hearing the blond Knight's threat, the priest erupted into laughter.
"That's perfect Devil scum!" Pointing the sword at the Devil, his smile twisted, he continued. "I was just getting bored of priest hunting!" As the white-haired priest said this, the sword he held started to glow a dim gold. At seeing this, Yuuto gasped in surprise.
"That light… that aura…! It can't be!"
'It really is a...?' Yuuto thought to himself with disbelief. Before his thoughts could continue, Freed spoke up, interrupting Yuuto's thoughts.
"That's great! Nice timing, really good!" Going into a weird dance, Freed changed his grip on his sword so that he now held it in his right, rather than his left. "This is certainly a present for you! Because of what you did to me with that stupid, crappy Demon Sword of yours! Which is stronger!? Let's find out with this test! Your crappy scum sword of shit, or my EX-CAL-I-BUR!" Yelling out the last word strangely and with weird inflections in his tone, he smiled while letting his tongue roll out of his mouth – a disgusting sight for the blond Knight of Gremory.
But at the use of the word Excalibur, Yuuto could only feel anger surge out from deep within him, much like a flame that can never go out and would only continue to burn down the world, so does his anger only increase.
Yuuto growled in anger and rushed towards the priest with quick steps. Swinging his sword towards his left in a smooth arc, he intended to cut the man in half with one swing of his blade. Because of the fight that they had at the Church, Yuuto knew how strong the priest before him was. He was strong for a human – but thanks to the training he had undergone in order to fight in the Rating Game against Riser Phenex, Yuuto knew he could easily defeat him at his current level!
That was, if he remained at around the same level as when he had fought the priest at the Church.
However, just before the blade had cut through his body, the priest disappeared.
'Teleportation!? No, wait! This is-!' Thinking this quickly, Yuuto turned around in a panic and held up his blade horizontally, using his left arm to support the blade by placing it against the flat of the sword, instead of holding onto the handle with his other hand, and blocked a downward slash. The sound of metal hitting metal filled the air for a moment as Yuuto took a step back from surprise – at the level of speed Freed had somehow managed to achieve and from the surprising amount of force that he had just displayed. It wasn't possible; after all, how could a human be just as strong or fast as a Devil?
Freed had been both when they had last fought - but Yuuto hadn't gone all out that time. But now they were at the same level, or rather...
"Ha ha haaa!" Freed laughed with a short pause between each laugh, which irritated Yuuto a tad bit. "So it appears as if your crappy piece of shit sword is no match for my EX-CAL-I-BUR!"
"Stop saying it like that, you damned priest!" Yuuto grunted out as he pushed back against the priest, though in doing so, a chip from his blade flew away through the air. Surprised, Yuuto was unable to react as Freed swung his sword again and landed a strike to where the blade had chipped, causing his sword to easily slip through the blade and out to the other side. Luckily enough, Yuuto was able to jump back and only have his shirt slightly cut from the tip of the blade. Clicking his tongue, Yuuto threw the broken sword away as it was now worthless.
"Oh, and why not, you scum playboy of the scum Devils? You jelly!?" Rushing towards the blond Knight, Freed laughed diabolically as he slashed his fragment of Excalibur left and right, destroying each sword Yuuto managed to create with little to no difficulty.
With a grunt, Yuuto managed to redirect a thrust and cause the priest to become unbalanced. Stumbling forward, the priest gasped out loud. 'With this-!' Thinking as such, Yuuto slashed down at the priest, but at the last moment, he moved faster than the wind and appeared at Yuuto's other side – on the opposite side that he had swung.
Freed swung his blade at Yuuto's exposed side and though Yuuto tried to block the strike in a hurry, he was simply too slow. Though he managed to force the blade away at the last moment, it had managed to leave a thin cut through his left shoulder, causing him to nearly let loose a scream that would've ripped through the air, if he had not bitten down on his tongue to not give the priest the satisfaction. Holding his left shoulder with his right hand, he let his sword drop to the ground with a clang. Blood freely ran down his arm and onto his hand. He could barely feel his left arm after a cut from the Holy Sword Freed wielded. Yuuto scowled, though he did not make a move besides from increasing the strength of his grip on his shoulder with his right hand.
"Hahahaha!" Freed laughed with hardly a care in the world. "How does that feel? Huh!? Tell me, does it feel like Heaven? Because that's where you will be going, you damn Devil!" Then, a face of realization hit him like a sledgehammer through a brick wall. "Oh, wait! Shitty Devils can't go to Heaven! Then, are you prepared to return to the Underworld!?" Laughing, Freed slowly advanced towards the unarmed Devil who could hardly bring himself to move after being damaged from the Holy Sword.
'My left arm is now useless. I'm in a bit too much pain to properly fight back… but is that going to stop me!?'
Freed raised his right arm, letting the tip of the fragment of Excalibur point towards the Heavens. "Die, you Devil scum!" Yelling this out, he slashed down at Yuuto, but with a roll, he evaded the strike. "Argh! Just stay still you piece of shit Devil!"
Creating a sword of flame, Yuuto jumped at Freed, catching him off guard slightly. Aiming for his neck, Yuuto let the blade of his sword be devoured within flame – even if Freed blocked the strike, he would still get scorched. However, instead of blocking, Freed ducked underneath the wild slash. Yuuto's eyes widened just as he coughed up blood. Freed had punched him in the gut. Stumbling back, Yuuto very nearly dropped his sword.
However, Freed did not give him the time to recover. Chasing after him, he unleashed a flurry of attacks. Each blow Yuuto managed to either block or dodge, but he was slowing down. Eventually, he would be hit.
And he was.
Delivering a slash across his chest, Yuuto grunted out in pain as he stumbled back. His breathing came quick and he could barely keep his grip on his sword. With a slash, Freed cut the Fire Sword in half.
Before Yuuto could create another sword, Freed raised his sword, which glowed a dim gold, with a vicious grin.
"Nighty night, Devil scum!"
Swinging his arm down, he slashed the air in two. At the speed it was going, even if Yuuto moved or created a sword, he wouldn't escape unscathed; and another hit from the Holy Sword would most likely take down Yuuto, allowing him to easily be killed thereafter. There was really nothing he could do. As the blade raced towards Yuuto, he forced himself to stare into the eyes of Freed. He'd be damned if he died again with his eyes closed. He truly believed that in this moment, he would die.
However, before the blade could reach him, a shadow moved in front of him and a clang was heard. Sparks blazed into existence and flew away from the collision and landed against the ground.
Surprised, Freed backed up several steps with a slight panic, though this quickly faded as he started to talk.
"What? What the fuck!? Who the Hell are you!? Are you a Devil piece of shit too, or just a shitty Devil supporter!? Either way, you're going to die for getting in my way, you little bitch!" Freed cursed off, though this time, instead of being directed at Yuuto, they were directed towards the person who had saved him.
Yuuto took a step back and to his side so that he could get a better look at the person who had saved him. Though he could only see one half of their face, it was enough for now.
With an average build of five feet and one inch, the woman who had saved him had a face similar to that of a doll, though with an odd regal look, almost as if she was a member of royalty. She had platinum blond hair, which appeared as if it was instead strands of gold and beautiful light gold eyes which was similar to that of molten gold; the girl was incredibly beautiful – even by Devil standards. Yuuto felt himself draw in a deep breath at her appearance. It was enough so that he felt as if his heart had skipped a beat, though only for a moment, before returning to normal. He then glanced down at her appearance before his eyes strayed towards the sword she held in her right hand, which had to have blocked the fragment of Excalibur, given the clang that he had heard.
With a black scarf wrapped around her neck, she wore a short white kimono that had a black sash going around her waist, with a white ribbon tied to the front and green underneath it, which was altogether underneath a light blue haori with the sleeves being partly white. She wore black, knee-high stockings which, for some reason, did not cover the toes nor the back of her feet, that had black leather armor covering the knees and leg and black sandals for footwear.
As for the sword she held, it was a beautifully crafted katana. The handle of it was white with the crossguard being gold and circular in design. The blade was beautifully crafted to near perfection, with it mostly being a light black in color with a white ripple riding against the edge.
Much like the fragment of Excalibur that Freed Sellzen held, the sword the girl carried with her possessed a feeling of being Holy. 'Is it a Holy Sword too…? No, it has to be… After all, a regular sword could not stop a strike from one of the Excalibur fragments. And it doesn't even have a trace of Demonic Power to boot... so it has to be...' Yuuto thought to himself as he analyzed the katana the girl held.
The girl spared a glance towards the blond Knight, before redirecting her gaze back towards the priest.
Smiling thinly, she announced herself. "I am Ex and I'm just a normal human striving to become the greatest swordswoman in the world. I don't know anything about Devils or whatever it was, but I'll tell you this: I will never lose a battle when it comes to swords. That, I promise you."
For a moment, all was silent.
Then Freed ruined it by laughing hysterically.
"So, so, you didn't save this Devil scum because you love Devils, or anything retarded like that, but just because you saw a guy with a cool ass sword and thought 'let's go see if I can beat him the fuck up' huh!? What kind of fucking retard are you, you bitch!?"
The girl, after a short moment, tilted her head to the left in slight confusion and blinked before speaking.
"There you go again with the 'Devil' thing. You do realize that they don't exist right?" Her words were completely clueless, to the point that you could honestly say that she was just an ordinary human. In fact, she had to be one with no idea of the supernatural existing.
And yet she had blocked a strike from a fragment of Excalibur.
A regular sword would've been cut through – even if it was a surprise for it to appear out of nowhere. Freed's sword easily did the same with the swords created from Yuuto's Sacred Gear, and they were much stronger than a regular blade. But Freed couldn't cut through the sword that the girl who called herself Ex held, and she had appeared from out of nowhere, even though Yuuto, as a Devil, should've seen or heard her coming even if he was fixated on fighting Freed.
'What is this girl?' Yuuto's eyes narrowed, just as Freed started to laugh once more.
"S-seriously!? You don't know a damn thing little girly! This is too fucking funny!" At this point, he was clutching his stomach with his left arm. With his eyes closed, he doubled over and continued to laugh.
At that moment, Yuuto realized. If he attacked now, he could kill the priest standing before him! Just as he started to bend upwards slightly in order to go on the offensive, his wounds be damned, the girl cut through the air with her blade and stopped a few inches before him. She glanced at him over her shoulder with a slight turn of the head. Looking into her eye, it was as if she was telling the blond Knight to 'stay out of it'.
Yuuto could only grind his teeth in frustration. He could kill Freed Sellzen right now – he was that distracted! And yet the girl was giving up the easy kill… she'll get them both killed!
That was what he was thinking, though he did not voice it aloud. If the girl was just going to let Freed kill her, then it was fine. Yuuto would simply wait until the right moment and attack from behind.
He would destroy Excalibur, even if he had to discard everything else.
Finally finishing his laugh, Freed looked up at the girl with tears in his eyes.
"You, you're freaking funny! You know the supernatural exists, right? They do! They are in fact real!" To showcase this fact, he even held up his sword, his fragment of Excalibur, as if it was show-and-tell at school. But instead of being filled with surprise and realization, the girl simply frowned.
"Why do you keep saying that? It's not real." Her tone was one of finality; as if nothing could ever change her mind on what she had spoken – that Devils, that the supernatural, did not exist.
It was hard to believe that someone like this could possibly exist. An idiot so stupid that when told that the supernatural world exists and is given proof, they don't believe it. Freed himself carried a fragment of Excalibur – something that shouldn't exist – yet the girl didn't believe that the supernatural, that Devils, Angels, and what have you, exist! It was absurd.
Then again, humans live in a world where the supernatural is in the shadows, so even if you tell one, they probably won't believe you, unless you were to give sufficient proof. Freed showing off his sword doesn't really count as proof, as simply seeing a sword wouldn't make one believe in the supernatural, so Yuuto related the girl's dense nature towards the supernatural towards Freed's stupidity in trying to prove it.
Freed barked out a laugh. "Well, well! This was an honest surprise! Seriously, I never thought I would ever run into someone like you in my entire life! Well, this was a grand ol' meeting! But, I'm sorry."
"For what?" The girl honestly asked, a look of simple curiosity written on her face.
"But I'm going to have to kill you now!" Wearing a sick smile, Freed rushed towards the girl, moving way too fast for an ordinary human to even respond.
'It's over. At that speed, a mere human won't be able to-!'
However, his thoughts were interrupted as the sword that Freed swung towards the girl's neck was blocked. Then, Freed was pushed back.
Surprised, he lost his balance and nearly fell to the ground. He paused for a few moments as he digested what had just happened.
Looking up at the girl, he saw her moving back into stance.
With her feet spread apart, her right extending before her left, with her body turned more so towards her left, her right hand held the handle right before the crossguard with the arm drawn towards herself on the other side of the sword, while the left held the end of the handle with the palm resting on the pommel. She pointed her blade towards him with the edge facing towards the Heavens, though the sword was angled downward close to a forty-five-degree angle. There was no longer a smile on her face and her eyes were serious and focused – to the point that it could be described as cold and dangerous looking. It was as if a switch had been pressed to go from her earlier happy-go-lucky attitude to a cold and more battle-hardened look.
The girl was prepared to kill. There was no hesitation in her eyes, nor in her sword.
"That sword…" She finally said after a few moments, a glare in her eyes. Her voice came out in such a monotone that it momentarily surprised Yuuto into thinking that Koneko had said that; even though she was not here. "Is sad to be swung by you." She finished after a short pause with a melancholic look.
Freed and Yuuto blinked at the same time, confused by her statement.
"Uhm, what do you mean by that?" Yuuto asked her with simple curiosity in his tone. He was genuinely curious in what she had said – and this simple curiosity distracted him from the feelings of anger he had been feeling, though only for a moment.
Her eyes didn't even move from Freed, which merely showed how serious she was – that she didn't even wish to lose concentration in her enemy for even a moment.
"I can hear them; the voices of the swords. Because I am the strongest sword; though I'm a human."
Her words only served to confuse the two even more and show that she wasn't actually serious. After all, what idiot went around saying that they could supposedly hear what a sword has to say and with a straight face no less? Even more so, an idiot that said that they didn't believe in the supernatural? If someone could actually talk to swords, then they would definitely believe in the supernatural. After all, what lunatic believed that swords could actually talk in a realistic setting?
Freed could only laugh at her claim, though Yuuto decided to say and do nothing. There was no point, after all.
"That is so stupid and bullshit, I don't know what's funnier even more! You believing that you won't be cut down by me and my EX-CAL-I-BUR, or you saying that you can hear the voice of swords, you damn looney bitch!"
"Excalibur?" The girl questioned, a frown spreading itself across her face.
"What, are you and your tiny brain going to say that the Holy Sword Excalibur doesn't exist either?" Laughing this out, Freed, nor Yuuto, could've expected her answer even if they were given a list of possible answers she could've said.
"But I'm Excalibur."
And then Freed's laughter stopped.
The look in the girl's eyes – they were completely serious; there was not even a shred of a doubt in them. She really believed what she had said, to the very depths of her heart. Freed blinked from confusion and Yuuto could only open and close his mouth as if he wanted to say something, but no words ever came out. After all, what could one say in this situation?
Then Freed sucked in a deep breath and laughed.
"Y-y-you're Excalibur!? Th-that must be the funniest thing I have ever heard! You fucking came from an insane asylum or something?"
Ex pouted at hearing this. "I'm telling you the truth!"
"Yeah, and I'm God of the Bible." Freed rolled his eyes in what could either be disgust or annoyance. "Either way, let's get back to me killing you!" With a deranged smile, Freed raised his blade.
Running back towards the girl, Freed slashed down at her with his fragment of Excalibur. When Ex lifted her blade to intercept, he pulled back and thrusted the blade down towards her abdomen, but with a short right turn towards her left, she narrowly managed to dodge the blade, though it managed to cut through her haori slightly, though to a point that it was barely noticeable.
Stopping with his right foot extended forward, Freed released his grip on the sword with his left hand and slashed horizontally towards Ex, who was on his right.
Raising her sword, with the point facing downwards, she blocked the swing with her left arm supporting the back of her sword. Freed disengaged and spun around to face her, only to then have to duck underneath a swing of her blade which took a few inches of hair off of his hair.
"Ah, my hair!" Yelling this out, Freed kicked out towards her left leg with his right, but she skillfully jumped back with a spin towards her right to dodge the strike. But, not letting her off the hook, Freed followed after her with a leap. Slashing his sword down towards her body, she parried the strike near flawlessly, causing Freed to nearly let go of his own sword.
Surprised, but not willing to let up on his attack, Freed continued his assault. However, each blow of his was either blocked or parried.
To Yuuto's eyes, the two were on the same level. They moved at the same level of speed, though Freed didn't use his Excalibur fragment's power to increase his speed, and they struck with the same amount of force. It was incredibly even, almost as if it was actually an artificial situation, created so that the two could only fight at the same level.
That was until Ex drew first blood, anyway.
Slashing down at the girl, Ex swung to intercept horizontally. When the two blades collided, sparks shot off at contact. Freed tried to push down at the girl, but, with a step towards her right with her left leg, she angled the sword back and down, allowing Freed's blade to slip down the edge of her own sword, causing the man to stumble forward a step from surprise and from the loss of a force against his. Ex gripped the back of her own blade with her left hand, just past the middle of it, and with an arc, Ex's blade cleaved through the air and cut through Freed's left shoulder in a perfect arc.
Freed quickly jumped back afterwards in order to assess the damage. From what Yuuto could see, the wound was thin. Much thinner than what it should've been.
Then Yuuto realized why the wound wasn't as deep as it should've been. It was because Ex had taken out part of the range of her katana when she had gripped the sword with her left hand. At the same time as doing that, she pulled her right arm back slightly, but due to holding the blade with her left, it was still accurate. If she had swung normally, the swing could've taken off Freed's arm – but she had swung strangely, with her left hand holding onto the blade and moving her other arm back. Its purpose was to pull the blade back, to limit its range, and so as to only cut through his skin. Not to take off his arm.
'She's not aiming to kill Freed in this fight.' Yuuto thought to himself with surprise. Watching the face of Ex, he arrived at his next answer. 'She merely wants to have fun.' Most of her face was tranquil and blank, much like a doll. However, her mouth was twisted slightly at the edges into a smile. It was hard to notice, but if one were to look closely, then it was obvious.
Ex did not want to kill Freed – she just wanted to fight him whilst having fun.
'So stupid…' Yuuto shook his head in annoyance, but before he could continue his thoughts, Freed spoke up.
"You know something, you damn brat? I'm getting awfully tired of your shit. Why don't you just die?" Spitting out his words like they were disgusting, Freed smiled while showing off his pearly whites. "If you want, I could even cut you into pieces!"
Freed moved towards Ex with frightening speed, going much faster than earlier. However, the girl was unfazed. Raising her sword, she placed it behind her back, with both hands gripping the handle. With a clang, the two blades touched and quickly parted. Freed disappeared, moving towards the girl's left. Spinning towards her left, as if she predicted this, she slashed and intercepted Freed's second attack at just the right time. Moving once more, Freed reappeared behind Ex again, but this time, he had to quickly move away due to Ex reacting just as fast and slashing her blade towards him.
She had effectively matched, or rather, surpassed Freed's speed with her own.
"Holy shit, what the Hell!? How come you can keep up with Rapidly!? It's the Holy Sword of Heavenly Flare! The fragment of Excalibur which grants the user great speed? This is definitely horseshit!"
Without responding Ex disappeared from Freed's vision.
With speed surpassing what the Excalibur Freed handled could give him, she disappeared faster than the eye could keep track of and made a long cut through Freed's back before he could even notice. Going from just before his right shoulder down to his left hip, blood gushed out of the wound and covered part of his back in the red blood, staining his white robe with it in the process. However, Ex was not done. Moving the sword back, she slashed her blade horizontally towards the priest, leaving behind a only a flash of her blade in the process.
Twisting around towards the girl, Freed managed to just barely block the second strike, but he was unable to dodge the resulting thrust.
Pulling the blade back, Ex left a trail of blood through the air originating from Freed's right shoulder.
"Fuck!" Freed shouted, raising Excalibur Rapidly. The blade glowed a dim gold and with a sick smile on his face, he glared at Ex. "I'm going to fucking kill you, you bitch!"
However, instead of attacking, he disappeared. Utilizing the Excalibur's power to increase his speed, he tried to fake out Ex into thinking he was going to attack from the front when in reality he was going to use the great speed granted by the blade to move behind her and attack – however, this trick did not work on her. At the same time that he had moved, she moved with him. When he stopped – she was already facing and slashing upwards from her left to the right towards him. With no time to block, he used his Excalibur to move away just in the nick of time. However, he still had his robe cut partially.
Excalibur Rapidly increased someone's speed from a zero to a hundred instantaneously, though it can even cause its wielder to move at a much faster pace when utilized correctly, which is why he was able to escape being injured from Ex's last attack. However, with Ex's natural speed being much greater than this instantaneous and increased movement, if Freed continued the fight, he would eventually lose – even if he could spam his Excalibur's ability forever.
With laborious breathing, Freed lowered his arms, though he kept his grip strong on the handle of his sword. It was obvious that he was becoming more and more tired. The Excalibur fragment he held wasn't as light as his previous sword – which was simply a sword of light which carried only a small weight because of it being only a handle with the actual blade being a beam of light, which literally carried no weight. And because of the speed he continued to use because of his sword, he was becoming tired at a much faster rate.
He couldn't continue this fight. There would be no battle of attrition; Ex was in near perfect condition while he was starting to break down, from fighting the Devil and then her. There was simply no contest; Ex would win this battle if it continued.
Before either one could make another move, a green magic circle appeared next to Freed's left ear. He stopped and moved his eyes to the left as a very faint voice reached Yuuto's ears, to the point that he couldn't actually make out what was being said.
Freed clicked his tongue just as the magic circle disappeared.
Ex relaxed the grip on her sword and stood back up to her full height.
"You got lucky bitch, but next time we see each other, I'll kill you!" Grabbing something from his robes, he threw a small ball the size of a seed down to the ground. The moment it hit, it exploded with light, blinding Yuuto and Ex.
When the light faded, Freed was gone, leaving behind the two swordmasters.
So this idea has been baking around in my head for around two to three months now. Joining up in the DxD fanon wiki, I wrote out many characters, a small number of Sacred Gears, and possible stories I could write. But none has held my attention much like this one. Starting from just a mere dream, this scene (though arguably much better in said dream) was what first captivated me and what had led me into writing this.
I'm not sure as to how well this story will do, but I will try my best to continue... seeing as to how I mostly figured out the first three arcs and part of the fourth, as well as several scenes later down the line, a diverge from canon, and several other... exciting thoughts... hopefully I really do continue because I genuinely want to see what happens in this story and how everyone reacts to it.
But, allow me to tell everyone something about this story. I have been sitting on it for a while now... but I have been nervous about it. It was something I couldn't really tell many people about, but it has caused me to hold off on actually writing the story, so instead, I have been working on what is to come and of the characters. So even though I haven't put much into the chapters yet, I have made plenty of work into this story. As I had said just moments before, I have mostly figured out the first threes arcs and part of the fourth.
But from here on, you will just have to see what happens for yourself. I will say this though; the beginning will mostly follow canon with changes here and there, some minor, some more major, and there will definitely be more players in this story. I just wish I have your support in this, so that I can ease this nervousness I feel, but I won't ask for just good words; I want bad words too! As in, constructive criticism.
I want the good and the bad; lay it on thick so that I may improve this story and not have to figure out what I am doing wrong and right by myself. It would really help me out.
Well, this has been Just a Bad Writer for Fun, AKA, Charles, signing out. Everyone still reading, please have a good day and or night, wherever you are!