"Not good enough dear." Kokabiel said as the birds exploded spectacularly from his barrage of spears, pushing me back while taking Mitelt by surprise, leaving her with deep wounds and a crippled wing that sent her crashing to the ground.
...
"I will admit, you have gone far Mitelt." Kokabiel started walking as a ball of energy formed behind him, the size growing in volume and the glowing became brighter to throw darker shadows in all directions. "Before you were only able to dispatch maybe a few low-level devils and your abilities were subpar. Now you are able, if only just barely to, create slightly more complex constructions within the few months you were away, not to mention the increase in both your energy and timing in your attacks. Truly." He looked at the ball behind him, the size now a bit bigger than a beach ball. "You earned the right to die a warrior's death."
"Well then…" He looked down at Mitelt with an expression that spoke both of his seriousness to end her life and oddly enough, almost fatherly pride at her strength to force his hand. "I hope to see you on the other side."
'No!' I rushed forward ignoring everyone's yells of surprise and got in front of Mitelt just as Kokabiel threw the huge ball of energy. Without hesitating I hugged Mitelt close to my body and turned to ensure that my back was facing the attack and blocking Mitelt from it and waited for the pain.
"BBOOOMMM!"
I could hear the deafening explosion, followed shortly by the feeling of searing heat from the blast. I held Mitelt tighter as I braced for the pain that was to come any second.
Any second…
Any second now….
…
… Okay, I was supposed to be feeling excruciating soul-crushing pain right about now. So why was that not the case?
I opened one eye slowly to see what was going on, only to have both eyes opened in disbelief as Excalibur Destruction hovered before me, the deep cracks and discoloration showing that it withstood the full weight of Kokabiel's onslaught. Alongside it were the broken pieces of the merged Excalibur, the pieces of metal melting and breaking from the attack. Despite all of that damage, both swords seemed to stand resolute against the might of the Fallen Angel.
"The Excalibur Shards… They are reacting again." Griselda muttered as the others slowly got up from the positions.
"Hoo~ how very interesting. To have nullified my attacks by sacrificing themselves…" Kokabiel was thankfully more occupied at the behavior of the shards and thus halted his attacks for now. "That type of loyalty is rather new, the only time that ever happened…" He paused as his eyes narrowed on both the shards and me. "It was when King Arthur was facing the demon horde during the final vestiges of the Battle of Camlann, after he got wounded by his son Mordred."
I did not have time to react to that particular bit of news when the shards shone brightly to the point that all of us had to raise our arms and close our eyes to block the glare. In the blinding light of gold, I watched with slight disbelief Excalibur Destruction continuing its deterioration, golden light glimmering from the ever expanding cracks that was going around its body. The other shards by its sides were in turn breaking apart and losing all the metallic components that made them up. A loud crack drew my attention back to Excalibur Destruction which seemed to have come to the end of its destruction and simply broke apart from the hilt upwards, crumbling away like fine sand. That was about as much as I could see because the amount of light coming from the shards became too great even for me to handle and I had to shut my eyes completely to block out the glare.
It lasted for a few more seconds before the glare diminished to somewhat manageable levels, and the rest of us dared to risk blindness by opening our eyes a bit. The sight of the six glowing shards that shone like miniature suns caused some of the devils to gasp while the exorcists seemed to stop breathing.
As for me, I was feeling a little suffocated in the presence of the shards that seemed to be radiating the full might of their energy.
[Please make us whole.]
[Let us help you, Child of Steel.]
"What did you call me?" I voiced out loudly, ignoring the manner the others looked at me as I looked at the shards that hovered before me, the image of the disfigured shadow standing behind them and looking at me with an odd light in that empty eye socket. "And why do you want to help me?"
[You are a Child of Steel. One who wields the weapons of past, present and future.]
[We have seen your destiny, one that traversed beyond the passage of time.]
[We have seen your determination to defy the fate set by the world. That same determination shared by both your king and ours.]
[You understand the pain of war, yet you do not let it break you like many.]
[You have the strength to carry the weight of the world on you, we seek that feeling once more.]
I shook my head in slight confusion and frustration. Nothing made sense from all of this. "Even if you said that, I am not worthy to wield any of you, so why?"
[We sensed our counterpart in you, and the item that belonged to the Fairies of Old.]
[The Relics of the Fairies do not bound easily to one even if they are mere imitations.]
[You are a custodian worthy to hold on to them, so we deemed you worthy to wield us.]
[We believe you can make us one again.]
[We deem you worthy to make us whole.]
[We desire to be whole again.]
[Make us whole. Make us whole.]
All the shards started that weird chant again and this time the others seemed to hear it as Mitelt held on a little tighter while the others looked around them looking a bit spooked. I ignored them in favor of focusing my attention on the shards hovering around me. I understood what they were saying, but I still don't feel I was the right choice. That however got questioned when I felt a tug in my Prana, and before I knew it, one other weapon decided to make its opinion.
"What~" Mitelt let out a sound as Caliburn glowed radiantly in front of the shards, its presence seemingly silencing all in its wake. For the shards themselves, they started to circle around it in a manner that reminded me of fireflies around an open flame, no doubt feeling an odd kinship with the sword. For me, I looked at the sword with mixed emotions; the fact it actively came out on its own meant that it wanted something to happen. Did it want me to help the shards out? The sword of the chosen king lightly pulsed at that point, as though it agreed with my question.
Was that what it wanted?
Was that what Saber wanted?
For a moment, I found myself on a hill, with green pastures around me, and a blonde-haired-girl sitting next to me while lightly holding a flower and a plush toy of a lion, her sword laid on the grass next to her. She looked up from her spot and gave me a smile and a look that I remembered from the last time we saw each other before she got sent back to her timeline.
A second tug of my Prana made me pause and peer into my Reality Marble momentarily, and found myself another sword and a certain scabbard that wanted to help them, if only just barely. With two swords of Saber's thinking the same thing, there was only one thing I could do to respond.
All right then, let's do this thing. I put forth my hand slightly and let out a steady breath.
"I am the bone of my sword.
Steel is my body. Fire is my blood.
I have created over a thousand blades.
Forged from Heaven's Feel, tempered through Hell's Flames."
The faintest outline of Excalibur appeared in my hand, just barely visible in the glow of the shards which intensified greatly in its presence. Then without a moment's notice, they flew right into my half-constructed projection and aligned themselves along the center length of the blade, following shortly by Caliburn which aligned itself parallel to Excalibur and laid on top of it, making the half-formed projection shine brightly. Amidst it all, I could feel the projection taking form and power in manners I did not understand, but right now it mattered little.
Right now I have to perform the final forging. I closed my eyes to focus on the projection and began reciting the seven steps.
...
A/N : The Story Needs More Power Stones ;)
PS : if we can reach 400 Stones by the end of the week, I will throw you an extra chapter
...
if you want to read ahead of the public release you can go to my p atreon :
p atreon.com/Aerle