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.
...
First Step. Judging the concept of creation.
Originally made by the faes and the help of the Christian God, it had passed through years of damage and abuse after King Arthur's time, but still remained undamaged at its core in the form of the seven shards after all these years. One became lost in time, the six got scattered through the Halls of the Vatican.
Second Step. Hypothesizing the basic structure.
Each shard was made with a design to emphasize their separate abilities and their associations with the various factions of the church, but the original form was that of a small European broadsword roughly the length of a man's arm and a huge guard to symbolize the Knights of the Round Table. One star for every knight that served King Arthur in his time.
Third Step. Duplicating the materials that made up the sword's composition.
Originally of divine materials, the shards were restored and made into their respective forms through copious amounts of steel and iron, with a lot of unnecessary metals serving as decorations, thus reducing their effectiveness by a great margin. With materials of normal perceptions, their strength was reduced.
Forth Step. Imitating the skills used for its production.
The original sword was made through the hands of God, while the later incarnations were created through alchemy and hours of iron-forging by multiple blacksmiths. Each incarnation was blessed copiously by the top Archbishops to ensure that evil does not prevail against them. This in turn changed their nature slightly from one of acceptance to one of exorcism.
Fifth Step. Sympathizing with the experience of its growth.
A total of thirty hands have touched the shards in the years that passed, yet none were as worthy to wield them as their original owner. Each time they were touched, the shards wept at the undeserving swordsmen who thought of emulating their king.
Sixth Step. Reproduction of the accumulated years.
Each shard has spent an average of thirty years with each user separately, but together they wield at least a few hundred years' worth of experience. Each has seen a different type of battlefield, but none were glorious to them. For they understood that war was never glorious, only sadness that came from the rightful master.
Final Step. Excelling its manufacturing process.
In the moment of great need, the shards shall find a way to be made anew. In that moment of great urgency, they will fulfill the dream that [Creator] had for Heaven and the other spirits of the earth. In that moment, all shall know its name as the sword that belonged to the King, the one called…
And with that, the Rekindled Light of Promised Victory descended on us all.
...
"Woah, my eyes!" Ise shielded his eyes from the glare with his hand, squinting through his fingers at the latest creation that Shirou made on the spot. Seriously he had more or less given up on what Shirou could create at this point, it seems that given the right materials and time, he could make almost anything.
Wonder if he could create a weapon with the ability to see through objects? That would be very nice to have and even nicer to not have the Kendo Club hit him all the time.
"What is happening?!" Xenovia yelled as the glare got even brighter to the point that everyone was actively blocking their eyes with anything they had to minimize the glare. Even Kokabiel was momentarily stunned by it and was using his wings to block it out.
"I am not certain, but I think the shards are finally getting what they want! They are merging into one!" Sona dared to peek between her fingers before shutting them again to block out the light. "Damn it, what is with the light show?! At this rate, forget the neighborhood, the entire town will be wondering what is going on here!"
The glare persisted for a while before slowly diminishing and shrinking to form a glowing shade of light that hovered around Shirou. With his eyes watering, Ise dared to open his eyes to see what was going on.
In all honesty, if he were asked to retell this moment in the future, he would probably have a hard time trying to put it into words.
In Shirou's hand, an extremely ornate sword shone brightly as though a second sun had descended from the heavens. It was a particularly large sword that was as long as Shirou was tall, with a golden hilt that resembled Excalibur [Destruction]'s on a smaller scale and a royal blue handle that ended with a gold pummel that resembled that of Excalibur [Transparency].
At the area where the blade met the handle, the golden guard sported an encircled cross inscribed with an unknown language around the edge that made Ise's head hurt just looking at them, with thirteen stars spread evenly around the other side of the guard.
The blade portion of the sword was decorated with a pattern that crisscrossed itself elegantly with blue and gold accents, creating diamond shaped patterns upon which six of them were decorated with patterns that Ise instinctively recognized as symbols representing the Excalibur Shards that made up the sword, leaving the middle diamond empty presumably for the last shard to appear.
It was totally different from the fused Excalibur from before, that was a weapon that seemed twisted by the desires of mad men who wanted to start a war. But this was something else. That work of art could be used as a weapon, but at the same time, a symbol to rally behind. Somewhere at the back of Ise's head, the answer was obvious.
It was a symbol of promised victory to the people the user was sworn to protect.
"It's… beautiful" Griselda sounded like she was choking on tears as she looked upon the sword.
"It's weird, we are this close to it and yet…" Rias also sounded like she was holding back deep emotions that threatened to overtake her. "We are not harmed, and this feeling… is so warm…"
"That is… the sword of the king…" Xenovia's arms sagged as she looked at the golden sword with slightly fearful admiration. "Is it possible for such a weapon to be this beautiful?"
"That light…" They turned to find Galilei with tears running down his face and an expression of feverish reverence as he struggled on his knees. "I had forgotten how beautiful it was. The light of one who has undergone trials to protect the country. The light of a warrior who stands tall above all else.
The light of one who would keep standing against all adversaries. The light of the True King chosen by Excalibur!" With that, he collapsed and went unconscious with a somewhat demented smile on his face. Ise paid little attention to him as he consider what Galilei said while turning back to Shirou. For a brief moment, he thought he saw two figures standing by his sides, one of which was a young girl dressed in a blue dress and armor, the other was a young man dressed in armor and with a crown on his head.
A true king chosen by Excalibur?
Shirou?
...
This was weird.
I lightly gripped the sword as I raised it to my eye level and evaluated what I had created. I was using an image of Saber's Excalibur and Caliburn to form the basic foundation, and the Excalibur Shards took over to fill in the gaps of that construct, creating a sword that was similar to Saber's but totally different in both nature and abilities.
There were certainly elements of the other shards present in the design and from what I can feel, the bulk of the power was based from them. The shape alone was a dead giveaway since it resembled nothing of Saber's Excalibur, Caliburn or the original form of this world's version at all; this was a very big weapon to say the least.
This was not Saber's Excalibur of my world, this was King Arthur's Excalibur of this world. Yet at the same time, the opposite could be said. This was similar to Hell's Trident when it came into my possession, my projection seemingly merged with a weapon of this world to create something entirely different.
This was a totally different Excalibur.
"Now this is exciting!" My thoughts got broken by Kokabiel who looked on from above with a very disturbing expression. "It looks different from the last time I have seen it, but then again the shards have been passed around for many years, so their individual abilities would have become distinctive enough to be called their own.
And whatever you made seemed to have formed the basic shape for them to use. But just because you can combine all the shards here, it won't mean a thing if you can't use it." He spread his wings wider as his smile became more predatory. "Let's see if you can handle that blade, boy!"
...
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