Chapter 19
Within the sun's dying light, outside of the old school building clubhouse, Kiba and I squared off against the two exorcists. Rias and the others standing on the side.
Opposite of me stood Xenovia, the blue-haired exorcist who insulted Asia with her uncaring words. Kiba and Irina faced each other just next to us.
Akeno maintained a barrier around us, surrounding the area with red light, standing safely behind it with the others.
"Let's get this over with," said Xenovia, as she and Irina discarded their white robes; revealing black clothes that, although ridiculous looking, allowed for freedom of movement. Perhaps just looking ridiculous was not strong enough of a description, the clothes they wore looked downright erotic, as if taken from a BDSM video. Sometime ago, I decided to ignore things such as these, I'm sure they have a practical purpose I must be missing.
With their robes removed, both exorcists revealed their weapons, Xenovia loosening the bindings on her greatsword, and Irina transforming the rope thing to an actual sword, a Japanese katana.
With the Excaliburs bared, the unsettling feeling returned again. But I suppressed it, focusing on the upcoming battle, honing the anticipation into a razor's edge.
"Kairos, Kiba, please take care, I don't need you to cause an incident here or get yourself killed, these are still Holy Swords," called out Rias from behind the barrier, worry clear in her voice.
Without taking my eyes of off my opponent, I nodded to Rias. From the corner of my eye, I could see Kiba grin slightly, the expression was not one I was familiar with when it came to the Gremory Knight. Kiba was always polite, but now he looked more agitated, or grim perhaps.
From the way his eyes were glued to the Excaliburs, and what distant memories I had of this, Kiba's anger was directed towards the swords, not the exorcists themselves.
"What do you find amusing, Knight of Gremory?" Asked Xenovia, frowning at the Knight's attitude.
"Yeah, this is indeed amusing. For a long time, I have desired for a moment such as this, for the object of my hatred to be within my sight. I accepted long ago that the road to my vengeance would be far in my future, but to see it here and now… perhaps I was wrong and my satisfaction will come sooner than I anticipated," said Kiba, his smile turning almost sinister. "Power attracts power, I guess it is destiny."
The ground beneath Kiba roiled with gathered magic, and multiple different swords burst from the ground.
"… Sword Birth, interesting. The possessor can create any demonic sword they imagine in their head. It's unique among the Demonic sword related Sacred Gears. I think I am starting to see where this is going… I heard that there was a subject that avoided from being disposed by the Holy-sword Project… Is that you?"
Xenovia's question set me on edge again, this girl didn't really know how to choose her words. Didn't know or didn't care to. I thought with hardening resolve.
No answer came from Kiba, but I could feel his hatred, it was visceral and overbearing. When Ddraig told me of a dragon's aura, he was being ostentatious about it. Everyone of a certain level of power could project an aura, it was fuelled by strong emotions or strong magic within a person or an object. It was not an exact science, and dragons did seem to have a strong aura others felt more keenly, but it was neither unique nor especially rare.
Just like Kiba was subconsciously fuelling his aura with his hatred, causing it to leak out, so did the Excaliburs have aura around them. To Xenovia and Irina, it must have felt divine or perhaps comforting; to us devils it felt like danger and rejection of our very being.
In the end, aura was not something special. It was just the way emotions connected to power and how different people perceived said aura based on their own preconceptions or situations.
"I think we've talked enough," I said, finally having enough of the dick measuring contest we all engaged in. To solve this problem, I brought out the biggest one, to show them what's what.
"BOOST"
"…a Longinus," Xenovia's voice was level, but I could hear a hint of interest in it.
"Is that the Boosted Gear? I never thought that I would meet the person possessed by the Welsh Dragon in a far eastern country like this," said Irina.
"Three Sacred Gears. Sword Birth, Boosted Gear and Twilight Healing. All of them are Sacred Gear that are said to be heretical. Maybe it was natural for you to turn into a devil," said the blue-haired exorcist.
Summoning Ancalagon, I gripped the longsword with both hands, the golden runes lighting up as I channelled my power through the sword. I had about enough of this nonsense.
Bringing my sword into a guard, I could see Kiba and our two opponents do likewise.
"I will use the power of my Sacred Gear, the power entrusted to me by my comrades' dying hatred and regret. I will focus all of it towards destruction of the swords you so proudly bear," said Kiba, even as he charged at Irina.
"BOOST"
With the power I gathered from my Longinus, I called upon the blood of my progenitor, my eyes shining with molten gold. The anger and frustration at previous words spoken by my opponents bubbled underneath the surface, but I focused them into an invisible blade, drawing power from it.
When Xenovia's blade met mine, I was already channelling my power into Ancalagon, cautious of the Excalibur's innate power.
Sparks flew as our swords made contact, and with satisfaction I noted that despite a small flicker of power within my blade, I was able to exchange blows with such a famous and powerful sword, if only a seventh of it.
As we traded blows, I made a few key observations.
Firstly, Xenovia was slower than Kiba or I were. Her movements were fluid and purposeful, clearly she was extremely skilled at the art of sword fighting. Despite that, I could see how her human body could not compare to our own enhanced physiology.
The second observation was partly tied to the first one. Xenovia was both stronger and faster than a human should be, I theorized based on my own experiences with handling power, that Excalibur itself was strengthening her; giving her an edge over what a normal human would be capable of.
As our exchange continued, without taking too much attention from the fight, I carefully observed the way power flowed around Xenovia. I knew enough about directing power towards a purpose from my own training that I could recognize the same happening with the exorcist, except she was doing it in reverse.
Ancalagon and Excalibur were complete opposites as far as the function of the swords went.
Ancalagon was my focus, its runic inscription enabled me to channel power through the blade, strengthening it. As my power grew, Ancalagon's strength grew as well.
In the opposite, Excalibur already contained innate power within itself, and Xenovia drew on that power to strengthen herself, not the other way around.
I contemplated if it was possible to use Excalibur like I did Ancalagon, channelling power toward it, rather than drawing on it. I did not know if such a thing was possible, my sword was made with it in mind, I had no such knowledge about Excalibur's inner workings.
Just for a moment, I imagined an already powerful being such as Kokabiel, wielding the Holy Sword, enhancing its already strong power in conjunction with his own, it was not a pleasant thought. Perhaps I was overthinking it, Holy Swords were supposed to only be wielded by people who already possessed a gift for it. Perhaps it was part of His system, ensuring only humans would be able to wield a sword such as Excalibur.
The distraction of my own thoughts almost cost me, as I barely evaded Xenovia's latest riposte only by channelling more power towards my Time powers, increasing my speed to the point I was able to dodge her strike at the last second.
While unplanned, this move actually created an opening, with Xenovia overextended from her strike, I took a step forward, bypassing her guard and stuck with my knee, aiming at her stomach.
In a display of acrobatics, Xenovia leaped backwards, bridging Excalibur in a haphazard slash that I deflected.
As soon as she landed, Xenovia flourished her blade and with a shout, drove it into the ground bellow her.
As soon as Excalibur sunk into the earth, dust and earth debris exploded all around the sword. Sensing a surge in the blade, I unfurled my wings and jumped into the air, avoiding the potentially dangerous attack.
When the dust settled, Xenovia stood in a crater of her own making. The results of Excalibur's unleashed powers were impressive, and I wondered if I would be able to block such a strike, were it to connect with my blade.
"My sword is a mass of destruction. There's nothing it can't destroy."
I actually doubted that, but Xenovia seemed to have a clear predisposition towards binary thinking. Nothing it can't destroy, heretic or holy. There was no in between with this girl.
"This is my Excalibur Destruction. It can destroy anything that comes its way. It's not called Excalibur for nothing."
I hovered in the air, Ancalagon clasped in one hand. I wondered if I should send lightning like a Sith from my other free hand, it would certainly look cool.
Releasing a small sigh that hid my smile, I slowly descended towards the ground. The anger I felt before was now absent, through battle, I was able to channel it and ultimately repurpose the negative emotion towards a purpose. In the back of my mind, I sent silent thanks to my partner, his insights and support have been invaluable for me to learn how to master myself.
"Exactly, all Excaliburs are powerful like that, so I think you may have hard time destroying them Mr. Knight," said Irina, resting her smaller sword on her shoulder.
Kiba was kneeling on the ground, his hand held to his shoulder, where a small wound was smoking a dark smoke. The Excalibur must have nicked him, I imagine it is quite an unpleasant feeling, if it's anything like Raynare's light sword. Just thinking of that brought a very slight pang to my own shoulder. Truly, Light weapons were not healthy to us devils.
"I think this is quite enough," said Rias, coming closer to us, the barrier already dismissed by Akeno.
Asia rushed towards Kiba, already healing the wound caused by the Holy Sword.
"Agreed, I think we tested your mettle enough for today," said Xenovia.
"Yeah, damage caused by the holy-sword is no small thing, especially to devils. If it were a bit deeper, then it would have been critical," said Irina pointing towards the small gash on Kiba's shoulder that even now was being closed by Asia, who had a worried look on her face.
"… W-wait!" said Kiba, trying to brace himself on his sword into standing position.
"That's enough Yuuto, let it go," said Rias, coming closer and putting a hand on the Knight's shoulder.
"I consider our business here concluded, I hope you will remember of what we spoke Rias Gremory," said Xenovia, binding her sword and clasping her white cape back on.
"You need not worry about that, go now, and do what you must in Kuoh."
With that, the exorcists took their leave. Kiba still glaring at their retreating forms.
Before they could fully leave, Xenovia turned back, looking towards me. "I will tell you one thing. The Vanishing dragon has already awakened."
Yeah, I knew that, but there was no need to tell her that, so I just nodded my head.
/Break
Heading inside the clubhouse, we all sat on the couches around the table.
Akeno's voice broke the silence. "Well, that could have gone better."
"I disagree, we learned much," said Rias, motioning towards Kiba and I.
That was one of the reasons I liked Rias, she was smart. Although the words spoken in the conversation with the exorcists certainly had something to do with our little spar; there was the larger picture to consider here, and Rias must have caught on to my own train of thoughts.
I looked to Kiba, wondering if he wanted to give his opinion first, he was the older devil of us two, more experienced when it came to swords as well. Seeing his constipated expression, I took the lead in the end.
Looking towards the rest of the peerage, I voiced my thoughts to them. "Rias is correct. For some time, curious things have been happening in Kuoh, this being just the latest of them."
"We all know about the Fallen from two months back," I said, remembering Raynare and her group of misfits. "Then just recently Azazel himself shows up in Kuoh, on investigation," I said, impressing on the last word in my sentence.
Rias nodded her head. "And now two exorcists from the Church, looking for lost Holy Swords, that were taken by another Fallen leader, Kokabiel of all people," said Rias, finishing the summary of recent events.
She put a finger to her chin, thinking. "So, what have we learned from them?" Asked Rias, speaking of the two exorcists.
"They are not weak, but neither can I see them contending with someone like Kokabiel," I said after a while. "Their swords are powerful, that is for sure, but I don't think they are very familiar with them. My guess would be that they became their wielders recently."
"That, or they have been holding back, significantly." I looked to Kiba, a question on my face, wondering if the Knight had the same read on the prowess of the two exorcists as I did.
"…they knew how to wield them, but not properly," said Kiba after a moment of silence.
Rias chewed on her lip. "I don't like this, Excaliburs in Kuoh are dangerous, just a scratch from one of those blades brought you to your knees Yuuto, I don't want us facing them again, not if we can help it," said Rias, a look of concern directed towards the knight.
A look of anger resurfaced on Kiba's face, and he stood up abruptly. He stood there, his jaw working in anger. In the end, he departed without a word, heading to the door, and leaving us sitting around the table.
Everyone had various concerned expressions on their faces.
"…Sempai," Koneko's concerned voice brought us back from our own thoughts.
I sighed, looking to Rias. "I'll go talk to him," I said to her, and she nodded at me.
I stood up and followed after the knight.