"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 4: Versus
†
X
Walking out of the double doors of the building, was a girl with golden blonde hair, with a wide smile on her face. A sword at her side, she strode confidently forward a couple of feet before finally stopping as she looked left and right at the people gathered before her, with a small glance upwards towards the old man who stood on the balcony-like structure.
Her hair had traces of blood left on it and the right side of her face had a trail of blood on it, though there was no injury. Her haori was covered only partly in blood, though it was oddly disappearing without a trace as the seconds ticked by, almost as if something was sucking up the blood. The sheath of her katana dripped red with blood, leaving a small trail behind her from the doors.
To everyone gathered here, who did not know of her, had the same thought run through their heads: 'She's dangerous!'
Clicking his tongue with an angry grimace on his face, Freed took a step backwards, but this sound caused Ex to look his way, recognition flashing through her eyes.
"Ah, it's the priest from back then!" She pointed towards Freed with her right index finger, nearly bouncing up and down in joy.
"God fucking dammit!" Freed cursed, though this only earned a slight tilt of the girl's head in confusion. Yuuto narrowed his eyes towards Ex, though he kept his attention mostly directed towards Valper. "Can't you, I don't know, go kill yourself? Or better yet; let me stab you to death!"
Towards this, Ex frowned, crossing her arms. "If I do that, then how would we fight?"
"Yo- I- What!?" Freed yelled out, confused. Shaking his head, he turned a rage-filled glare towards Ex. "Like I give a shit about your opinions! Just go fucking die, you bitch!" Shaking his Excalibur fragment around, almost like a raised fist shaking towards kids who were hustling an old man, Freed shouted at Ex with a vein bulging on his forehead, however, Ex merely shook her head calmly.
"If you want to kill me," she said, dropping her left hand down onto the pommel of her katana. "Then you'll have to kill me yourself." Issuing a challenge towards the priest, she caused his blood to boil. Grinding his teeth together, Freed very nearly ran towards her out of rage and without a plan, however, Valper shouted down at him.
"Control yourself, Freed! If you let anger consume you now, you won't stand a chance! However..." Jumping down and landing next to the stopped Freed, on his left, Valper placed a hand down upon his shoulder. "If we face her together, then there is little doubt that you will come out on top. What do you say?"
Freed giggled, a smile appearing back onto his face. "If it means killing this bitch, I'd even team up with a Devil~! Let's kill her together, old man Valper!" Yelling this out, Freed took several steps forward, before raising his sword, preparing to fight. He seemed as if he had calmed down, but the vein on his forehead still bulged out of frustration and anger. He was just more controlled now.
Valper nodded and raised his hands with the palms angled upward and towards each other, similar to a v shape. "Then, let us tussle!" Moving his hands in a peculiar fashion, Ex blinked in confusion, while the Devils surrounding the three, backed away subconsciously at the sense of danger coming from Valper. "Believe in God, for He shalt save you, lost lamb!"
Just as he finished his hand motions, a golden magic circle appeared underneath him, shining with a Holy light. The same kind popped up just above Ex, and at its appearance, she looked up at it, eyes wide and full of confusion. At the same time as this, she let go of her katana with her left hand and opened her lips slightly.
"Ooh, one of the famous exorcising techniques you created!" Freed grinned, tightening the grip on his sword. "She's fucked now!"
"Chains of Heaven, bind and bound those who have sinned to Your will!" Making another set of hand motions, a smaller magic circle, white this time, appeared before his hands. The same magic circle appeared underneath the feet of Ex, which drew her attention away from the one that had appeared above her head. "And let those who pray to You, be bathed in Your glorious light!"
At the end of his words, the golden magic circle shined incredibly bright, causing everyone, minus Valper, Freed, and Ex, to shield their eyes. At the same time, white chains popped up out of the ground and surrounded Ex, grabbing ahold of her arms, wrists, legs, ankles, body, and neck, keeping her locked into place. She groaned as she struggled slightly in vain, as the chains perfectly held her in place, though she looked more curious in how they had appeared than at trying to break free from the magical chains made out of light.
The Devils instantly became wary of such a technique, as the light shining from the chains most likely was poisonous to them. Saji cautiously turned his arm which had his Sacred Gear wrapped around it towards Valper, while Issei activated his [Boosted Gear] again so that he could continue increasing his power. Koneko took a stance, balling up her fists, though Yuuto didn't do anything, except glare at Valper as he gave short glances towards the now bound girl.
The light that was gathering above Ex shined brilliant, before it rained down, covering her form in a bright light that could be said to be hotter than that of flames. Melting the ground nearby, this light burned her body, causing her skin to burn and darken as the hem of her clothes began to burn up, however, Ex did not baulk at this light nor the pain she had felt.
Staring towards the two priests, she slowly forced her right hand, regardless of the chains holding onto her, towards her sword in order to draw the blade. However, at seeing this, Valper immediately shouted towards Freed.
"Go! Before she breaks free, strike her down!"
"Gladly!" Agreeing to this set of plans, Freed raised his sword and ran towards Ex.
"Strike at the chains, for they will do double the damage back upon herself!" Valper suggested, and at hearing this, Freed's grin grew wider.
"They possess such a hidden ability? Hah, this will be fun!" Saying this, Freed increased his speed as he approached Ex.
With a small amount of strain, Ex's hand came into contact with the handle of her blade, however, just as she covered it with her hand, gripping it, Valper finished making three more hand motions.
"May the light gather and fester, transforming into a dagger that may strike at the heart of the sinner, for our Heavenly Lord and Father!"
Spikes sprouted out of the chains, puncturing into her body, be it the hands, arms, legs, feet, chest or back, the spikes dug into her body like that of knives. Blood dripped out from her punctured flesh and stained her clothes, while at the same time, causing Ex to cough up a small amount of blood and make her lose her concentration for a slight moment.
At the same moment, jumping up, Freed slashed his Excalibur fragment down upon one of the chains wrapped around Ex, and upon its severance, a blinding light exploded towards Ex, causing her to become blind for a few moments.
With an intense pain spreading throughout her body, Ex coughed up blood. As the light faded away a few seconds later, it revealed Ex with half of her face blackened from the heat, and her right eye closed, most likely, unable to even be opened. Though she was not breathing heavily after such an attack, it was obvious she was in pain at the slight shaking of her body.
Yuuto was incredibly surprised at seeing Ex, the girl who had so easily defeated him and Freed, like this, while the other Devils only felt concern for the girl that looked as if she had been defeated and nearly killed. Valper grinned in satisfaction, while Freed cheered out loud as he prepared to cut another one of the chains. However, before he could do so, faster than anyone present could comprehend, a streak of blood ran through the air from Freed's chest, causing him to let loose a surprised gasp as he fell back a few steps from the sudden pain.
Breaking free from the chains that had bound her with one flex of her body, she clearly drew the sword from its sheath and cut it across the air and through the front of Freed, easily slipping through his clothing and through his flesh, letting a river of red blood flow free.
Valper took several steps backwards, surprised at the chains being so easily broken free from and Freed jumped back away from Ex, yelling out curses as he did so.
Ex straightened her body, and everyone gasped at what they had seen.
After the chain had been cut, half of her face had been burnt and blackened. However, now, it had mostly healed. As the seconds ticked on by, the damage inflicted upon Ex was healed, until, at last, her body and even clothing were in perfect shape, as if the last few minutes had not happened, though there was still blood clinging onto her sheath, sword, face, and hair. She opened her right eye, showing that it was also fine and grinned.
"That was pretty cool!" She spoke towards Valper. "Valper, your name was, right? That was an interesting technique you used. How did you do it?" Valper only choked slightly at hearing her say this, in such a way as if she was actually insulting the techniques he had created to destroy Devils. He balled up his fists and crunched his teeth together, glaring at the girl who had insulted his pride so easily, though without intention to do so. Narrowing his eyes, he slowly went through plan after plan in his head. 'How do I beat this monster?' He thought to himself quickly, thinking back to what he had seen the blonde-haired girl do within the building when she fought the worthless priests and outside against him and Freed. 'Numbers will not work if the pawns involved are weak. If even my own attacks did not work, then what of using my strongest technique? If that damned Freed were to keep her busy, I could possibly pull it off... but would it even work? And what of the Devils? Now that this monster is fine, they might attack us from behind, using her to trap us here and slay us. That blond-haired Knight is still staring daggers into my back; who even the Hell is he? He looks a bit familiar, but where exactly? Bah, none of that matters! We most likely cannot defeat this monster at this moment in time. If Lord Kokabiel was here... Then the only option left, is to...'
Turning towards the damaged Freed, Valper yelled out his name, getting his attention. Freed turned around, curious as to what Valper was going to say. "Use one of your light bombs; we're going to escape, so get over here!"
"Roger doger, old man Valper!" Replying with this, Freed turned back to Ex and jumped back, getting closer to Valper, but at the same time, keeping an eye on the blonde girl. "Bye-bye, you blonde bimbo! Devils." Spitting out the last word as if it was disgusting, Freed snatched a small ball from his coat and raised it. At seeing this, the Devils' eyes lit up in recognition and Ex narrowed her eyes, slightly leaning forward, as if preparing to leap towards the two.
Freed threw the ball down, and the moment it connected with the ground, it exploded in a bright light which blinded everyone present. However, at the same time that it exploded into light, Ex moved forward swiftly and quickly towards where the two priests were standing. Pulling her sword back towards her right, she slashed upwards towards the left and felt a small amount of force against her blade - the familiar feeling of cutting into flesh.
Pulling the blade back, the light slowly faded away, all the while, Ex kept her head turned towards the two priests as they made their escape.
'Eyes are meaningless to a swordsman. Even without them, you can still be the greatest.' Thinking this to herself, she hoped that showing the two that she still knew where they were even as they ran away, would teach them that little tricks like this did not mean that much when facing a master such as herself.
Once the light faded away completely, the Devils, though slightly shocked, were not surprised that the two priests had escaped. What had caused them to be shocked, was that Ex was several meters closer to them, with her sword being covered in more blood than before the blinding escape. They had an idea of what this meant, but at the same time, they didn't want to voice their thoughts, as it only showed that she was much stronger than they had thought.
'Could she see them?' Yuuto thought to himself, his eyes narrowed and a frown touched upon his face. 'If that's the case, then there is more of a reason to not fight her again!'
Ex looked towards the Devils, seeing that they were still there. Instantly upon seeing them, her eyes lit up at the challenge. 'These four are stronger than the many priests inside that building! I was right; quality and quantity are better! ...Though there are only four of them.'
Coughing into her left fist to get their attention, Ex smiled. "Now then... who wants to fight next?" Addressing this challenge to the four of them, she patiently waited for their response.
The first person to make a move was, surprisingly, Hyoudou Issei. "Guys, it seems like she just won't let us go." Muttering this to the three other Devils, he glared towards Ex.
"What? No! We can't fight her!" Yuuto countered with a slight panic in his tone, but Issei shook his head.
"If I could defeat that immortal chicken bastard, then I think we can beat a random girl who can somehow regenerate!" Raising his voice, so that even the blonde-haired girl in front of them could hear him, he announced their victory to her. 'Even if Ddraig told me not to... what other choice do we have but to win in this situation?'
"That's the spirit!" Ex cheered, raising her sword into the sky. "But, even so, fighting spirit alone will not guarantee your victory." Frowning as she spoke this, she leaned back slightly, while resting the blunt side of her katana over her right shoulder and closed her eyes. "Success is not final, failure is not fatal; it is the courage to continue that counts." It was the words of Winston S. Churchill, a Prime Minister of the UK, politician, army officer, and writer. "Your courage is remarkable, but it will not be what gives you success. After all, your defeat was assured the moment I had appeared, but that doesn't spell out your end." Nodding to herself as if she was proud of her lines, Issei could only stare at her unconvincingly.
"That doesn't matter!" Shouting this out, he waved his left arm to the side. Another Boost was heard, making it the fifth one after transferring his power to Yuuto. Ex's eyes were drawn to the gauntlet instantly. "Even if you outclass us in every way, we will still win!" However, Ex did not respond, as she still stared at the gauntlet. Tilting her head to the left slightly, she pursed up her lips in thought. Finally, she parted her lips to speak.
"...I was right. That's a cool gauntlet."
There were no more words that could be said. The four Devils immediately entered their own combat stance and attacked.
Saji moved to the left, aiming his Sacred Gear towards her, but did not fire yet. Issei moved back a few steps, placing his left arm before his chest, ready to defend himself if he had to. Koneko ran towards Ex from the blonde-haired girl's left while Yuuto approached from the other side - a pincer movement, in other words. Ex looked left first towards the white-haired Devil and then right towards the blond-haired Devil, before looking forward at both Issei and Saji, and then smiled. With her katana still placed onto her right shoulder, it appeared as if she was going to fight without even so much as getting into a stance.
Yuuto slowed down and let Koneko attack first. The smaller girl jumped up and raised her left leg, intending to deliver an axe kick as she fell back down to the ground with gravity on her side. Ex turned her body towards Koneko, letting her back be open to attack from Yuuto, however, the Knight did not strike and instead stopped just short of Ex. 'Wait until the moment she moves. Then strike fast.'
Thinking this, Yuuto narrowed his eyes as he bent his body forward slightly. Seeing this, Koneko understood his intent clearly. As her foot neared the head of Ex, she pulled her leg back at the last moment, missing Ex by a few inches, which surprised her slightly. Landing onto the ground, Koneko jumped towards Ex, with her left fist flying upwards, intending to punch the taller girl in the chin. Ex sidestepped the uppercut but did not counter.
Seeing this, Yuuto also decided not to attack just yet. He had understood the meaning of why Ex had yet to move her own blade - it was because she was saving the first strike for him, who used a sword.
Moving around, Yuuto continued to place himself behind Ex, so that she could not see him as she was focused more so on the attacking Koneko, though she still knew he was there behind her. Koneko attacked, swinging a fist towards Ex, who dodged at the last moment with only the most minimum of movements. Kicking, punching, nothing seemed to connect, which made Koneko anxious. However, she did not stop her assault, for the moment that Ex made a misstep, or attacked, then Yuuto would go on the offensive.
Realizing this, Ex smiled thinly.
'The priests within the building could not coordinate their attacks this well, however, these two can do so without a word. Yuuto is using the girl before me to distract me, and the moment that an opening reveals itself, he will launch himself towards me on reckless abandon with the sole intent on finishing the fight as quickly as possible. Not even I could stand confidently if I had a sword thrust through my back. Then, let us give him an opening and see if he takes the bait!'
Jumping up into the air, Koneko aimed to punch Ex's face, but the girl stepped backwards, just barely dodging the fist. Turning around midair, Koneko landed on her left hand and immediately pushed off from it and threw herself towards Ex, with her right leg extended, going for a kick. Due to Ex taking a step back, she was slightly unbalanced, though it didn't matter that much.
'If I go backwards, I will still be hit. If I step to the side, she can just swing her leg toward me. Then, I will grab it!' Deciding on this course of action, Ex lifted her left hand forward and grasped Koneko's foot. The smaller girl let out a small gasp that could barely be heard and before she could do anything else, Ex swung her arm toward the left. Koneko's eyes widened as she realized what the blonde-haired girl was doing.
Swinging the body of the petite Koneko around herself, Ex's aim was to hit Yuuto, who was behind her, with the body of his friend. However, the moment that Ex had grabbed ahold of Koneko and began to swing her around, he had moved forward, lowering his body close to the ground, so as to dodge underneath the swing. The body of Koneko flew over his head, and just for a moment, it had blocked his line of sight towards the standing girl. It was that moment, that Ex was aiming for.
Swinging her katana down towards the Knight, she forced him to block the swing, causing his offensive to immediately fail and force him to go on the defensive. Letting go of Koneko, the body of the white-haired girl flew through the air as if she was shot through a cannon. She pierced through one of the columns and hit the ground with a roll, blood already running down her forehead from the impact, causing her to become lightheaded immediately and her vision to become blurry.
Swinging her sword again, Yuuto blocked the second strike just barely, and with a thrust, Yuuto was forced back. 'She's just toying with me!' He quickly realized, grinding his teeth together. His hands turned white as his grip on his sword increased. 'But, that will be what costs her this fight!'
Swinging his sword to the side with a loud yell, he clashed his blade against Ex's, causing her to step to the side slightly from the blow, forcing her to become unbalanced slightly again. Ex frowned at his strategy, believing that even if he could unbalance her completely, it would be meaningless. Yuuto glanced towards the Pawn of Sitri, to which, Saji immediately understood what to do.
"[Absorption Line]!"
The mouth of his Sacred Gear opened up and shot out a light blue tongue, aimed towards Ex. The girl, not really understanding what it was, raised her right arm and blocked the attack with her wrist, however, that was a complete mistake on her part due to her lack of understanding. The tongue wrapped around her wrist and with a pull, Saji forced her to take a step towards him. With her right wrist bound, she could not properly fight using her katana with it. She would have to switch hands, however, there was someone here who would not let that happen.
"Yuuto, I'm transferring power to you!" Issei shouted, running towards the Knight.
"Thanks!" Accepting the power without much thought, Yuuto felt grateful towards the Pawn, and with a smile, he attacked Ex with swings and jabs, waiting for his friend to approach.
Ex, unable to properly swing her sword, could only position her body so as to dodge each swing and thrust. Every time she would try to attack or defend with her sword, Saji would pull her wrist back, thus offsetting the trajectory of her blade, even if only by an inch. And then, Issei slapped a hand down upon Yuuto's back.
Transfer!
With that announcement completed, Issei jumped back, giving Yuuto some room. Ex looked from the Pawn to the Knight, not really understanding what the announcement she had heard meant. Taking a few steps back, Yuuto glared at Ex, who simply blinked from confusion.
Raising his blade with the point facing downward, he shouted out the name of his Sacred Gear with all his heart, putting the entirety of his strength into it.
"[Sword Birth]!"
Stabbing the blade into the ground, a red light danced around the blade, and within that light, multiple blades sprouted from within the ground, causing Ex to gasp and to take a subconscious step back. The blades then began to close in around Ex, however, Saji, once again, pulled on the line, causing her to lose her balance. Looking towards the Sitri Pawn for just a moment, Ex looked back at the blades erupting out of the ground.
To her, time had slowed down to a quarter. Her mind was a whirl, multiple thoughts racing through her head as she processed what was happening. 'What is this line? Because of it, I can't move freely nor swing my blade freely. What were that boost and transfer thing? What caused Yuuto to be able to sprout all these swords out of the ground? The number is incredible. I didn't know he could do that with that [Sword Birth] thing. These guys... individually, their not that strong - but together, they're pretty strong! This will be fun.'
In that moment of realizing this, Ex smiled. This smile tripped the alarms in Yuuto's head, and just as he began to shout towards the other Devils to watch out, a loud sound was heard. The sound of a blade shattering. Looking back towards Ex, he realized that she had cut through several blades that had approached her. Even though she was not supposed to be able to swing her sword the way she wanted because of Saji's interference.
And then the blond Knight realized something important when looking towards the girl's wrist. Though the line was still wrapped around her wrist, it was not connected. It had snapped. The part connected to her was uselessly flailing around in the air, though it did not look like it had been cut, but more that it had been torn apart from force alone. Yuuto glanced towards Saji as another line of swords that had blossomed towards Ex had been cut down.
The Pawn was on the ground, groaning in pain and for some reason, he was several meters closer than what he should've been.
Yuuto's eyes widened, realizing what had occurred when he had been distracted for just a second, trying to warn the others. 'When Saji pulled, Ex pulled back with just enough force to cause the line to snap. This caused Saji to fall forward towards her, which is why he's closer.'
As Saji started to get up, the light blue line that was attached to his Sacred Gear disappeared, and as it did so, so did the line that was still wrapped around Ex.
"Shit, sorry!" Saji shouted.
"It's fine!" Issei replied with a yell, grinding his teeth together at seeing their plan fail miserably.
With a final swing, the last of the swords were cut down. Breathing out a sigh of relief, Ex relaxed her body. Closing her eyes, she let her head hang back slightly as if she was trying to look towards the stars. Then, with another release of a breath, Ex opened her eyes and looked back down towards Yuuto, then Issei, and lastly Saji.
She then nodded with a smile, confusing the three standing Devils. "Though its a shame for one of you to be knocked out before she could shine, I would like to commend your strategy. It was truly wonderful. Now then..." Moving her body into the stance she had taken when she had first fought Freed and saved Yuuto, her eyes shifted into a cold stare. "I'll take this a bit more seriously."
Upon finishing that line, she disappeared in a whirl of wind. Blinking, Yuuto took a step back, startled, as she appeared before him, sword pulled back towards her right. Widening her eyes with such a ferocity that incited a bit of fear into Yuuto, she swung her blade towards him, parting the air. Yuuto raised the Demon Sword he held futilely; he knew that it would not last against this strike.
However, the ringing of steel on steel was heard, shocking Yuuto and the two other Devils. The sword Yuuto held wasn't broken, it wasn't even touched. Instead, a figure wearing a white cloak now stood in front of Yuuto, having had jumped down from above. In her hand, appearing as a two-handed sword with a rather long grip, that has a cross in the pommel, with an axe-like guard and a second grip with a chain-like form connecting the guard with the blade, with the blade itself being huge ending with three points, instead of the traditional one.
It was none other than one of the seven Excalibur fragments, the one wielded by the exorcist Xenovia.
Ex, not expecting this, was pushed back with some strain. Taking several steps back, she analyzed the situation and the two newcomers that had appeared, almost out of nowhere. The girl who stood before Yuuto had short blue hair with a streak of green going across it and brown eyes and the girl who was helping up the white-haired girl, who had light brown hair tied into two twin tails and violet eyes.
"Are you okay?" The brunette asked the petite Devil, who simply nodded in answer as she wiped away the blood clinging to her head. As she did so, Irina took off her cloak and tossed it over to the ground as she turned her attention towards Ex. Xenovia did the same, though in a more wild manner, throwing her cloak up into the air and letting it slowly fall back down to the ground.
Ex looked back towards the girl who had blocked her with a low hum. For a moment, her smile had fallen from her face, but now it was rejuvenated. Looking around once more, she nodded. "Hello everyone!" Her words were loud, interrupting the thoughts and conversations that were taking place among the Devils and the two exorcists who had arrived in their aide. Looking towards Ex, the tension was clear in their bodies and in the air. Their weapons raised and eyes set ready to fight, Ex continued. "I'm Ex! May I have all of your names? It's getting a bit hard to differentiate you all, haha!" Rubbing the back of her head with an awkward laugh, she closed her eyes with no caution whatsoever. Then, her eyes snapped back open as she raised her index finger as if a sudden thought had entered her head. "Ah, but not Yuuto, since we already met. How are you doing?" Saying this towards the blond-haired Knight with a cheery smile, that one would give to an old friend, the attention of the Devils and exorcists gathered turned towards him with a questioning gaze, however, the Knight shook his head.
"I would be doing much better if you were to leave." He said instead, addressing Ex, who nodded in agreement.
"Yes, most people would do better if someone close to them was gone, I do agree. However! I can't just leave without finishing a fight! That's an insult to these brave warriors who still hold arms against me!"
"...No, I think they'd be happy if you were to leave..." Yuuto mumbled before sighing in exasperation. "Regardless, we aren't just going to-"
"Hyoudou Issei." Interrupting the Knight, the Gremory Pawn spoke up, pointing towards himself with a thumb. Pointing towards the Sitri Pawn with his index finger, he continued the introductions as Yuuto facepalmed. "Genshirou Saji."
"H-hey! Why did you introduce me for!?" However, Issei ignored him and pointed towards Xenovia.
"Xenovia Quarta." Then his finger turned towards the last two to be introduced. "Toujou Koneko. Shidou Irina."
With introductions finished, Ex smiled brilliantly.
"Thank you, Issei!" Using his first name without regard, Issei could only scratch the back of his head with an awkward laugh. Saji, appearing from Issei's side, jabbed his hand, with the fingers extended, into his side, causing the Devil to shout out in surprise and pain.
"Hey, what was that for?" Grumbled Issei, rubbing his side with a disgruntled look on his face.
"For introducing me!" Saji shouted, grabbing Issei's shoulders and shaking the poor Pawn. "I don't want my name to be known to that crazy girl!" At his words, Ex giggled, drawing the attention of the two Pawns.
"Crazy? Maybe!" Apparently finding no insult in his words, Ex smiled without even the slightest sign of anger or annoyance. "But I think I much prefer being called special. It certainly has a nice ring to it, you know?" With a charming smile and slight red in her cheeks, Saji stopped for just a moment as his heart skipped a beat.
Then, he muttered so that only Issei, who was still within his grasp, could hear. "...I think I want my name to be known to her..."
Likewise, Issei replied with half-lidded eyes. "Dude, make up your mind." Saji then rounded on him, eyes wide and shouted in his face, spittle flying from his mouth and hitting him.
"But she's so cute! I thought at first she was just some crazy battle-maiden who only cared about fighting us, so I didn't want her to know my name just in case she only kills those whose name she knows! But, after listening to her and seeing that smile... Issei, I might be in-"
"Dude, chill out!" Interrupting his confession with a hand to his face, Issei pushed Saji away from him. "And let go of me already!" Finally, Saji let go of Issei's shoulders and stumbled back, rubbing his nose. Turning an anger filled eye towards Issei, Saji gritted his teeth, however, his anger quickly dissipated at hearing Ex's next words.
"C-cute? Me? Uhm... Why does this keep happening today..." Looking away like an embarrassed schoolgirl at having been asked out by the guy of her dreams, a rather large flush extended itself across Ex's face, from one side to the other. It would be very appropriate to call her a tomato at this moment. Twiddling her fingers together with an awkward smile on her face, she did her best to not look towards Saji.
'Is being complimented her weakness!?' Yuuto thought to himself with a shake of his head, slightly disappointed. 'Or is it just towards her looks? Either way, that is just...' Frowning at his thoughts, Yuuto didn't know what to make of it.
However, while everyone was getting distracted, there was only one person not affected by the conversation that had just taken place.
Jumping up into the air and letting gravity push her back down to the ground, Xenovia raised Excalibur Destruction. Not even noticing the girl approaching from the sky, Ex didn't, or rather, couldn't defend herself. Slashing the sword downwards, the blade easily cleaved through Ex's left shoulder to her midsection at an angle, almost taking the entire arm off, and shocking everyone, especially Ex, to such an extent that they forgot to breathe for just a moment.
Ex's eyes were huge and the pupils dilated, she had stopped breathing, and for just a moment, she felt as if everything had disappeared. Blood flew into the air as if it was sprouting from a smashed watermelon, which stained the left side of Ex's clothes in blood and covering Xenovia's sword and part of her body in the red blood. Ex looked down at the crouched Xenovia, who slowly stood back up, glaring at the girl. Ex continued to stare into the brown eyes of Xenovia, without moving an inch.
When Xenovia stood back up to her full height, hefting up her Excalibur fragment onto her right shoulder, she finally spoke. "This is a fight, you idiot. Don't get distracted."
Ex's lips parted slightly, but no sound came. Her eyes shook as she dropped her katana onto the ground, the point stabbing into the dirt. Raising her right hand, she placed it on the gash that Xenovia delivered to her. With no smile on her face, Ex removed her hand and stared at the red blood of herself for a few moments, before balling up her hand into a fist. Raising the fist to her face, she used it to cover her ever-growing smile. With her fist trembling slightly in excitement, she lowered it down, revealing the smile she had, with a small amount of blood smeared onto it from her fist.
"Exciting. This is really - really exciting!" She spoke with such certainty and excitement in her tone, that even Xenovia, who had delivered such a deadly blow to the girl, blinked. Then the Devils remembered what had happened just a few moments ago. How Ex had somehow regenerated from being severely burned from light.
"Shit, she can-!" Issei tried shouting out, but it was too late. Swinging almost too fast for Xenovia to react to, the mostly blue-haired girl was blown away with a clang of blades. Somehow grabbing her dropped sword too fast for anyone to notice, Ex was in high spirits. The gash which had torn apart her clothes and flesh was already healing. First the flesh and then the clothes.
To the Devils, it was something they already knew would happen, though even with this knowledge, they were still shocked that it only took a few moments to heal completely. To the two exorcists who came afterwards, they were surprised at seeing this and even question what race she was. However-
"I am just a normal girl, you know?" Ex's response came as a shock to them. "But enough about that! Let's get back to our wonderful fight!" Rushing forward, Ex swung her blade towards Xenovia, who took a step back as she blocked with the flat of her Excalibur fragment, using the flat side to knock away the sword, causing Ex to take a step to the side. Raising her blade, Xenovia prepared to bring it down onto the girl, but just as quick, Ex brought hers up and the two swords met halfway.
Suddenly, Ex jumped back as a blade was lunged towards her side - Excalibur Mimic, which had stretched itself towards her as if it was a whip, wielded by Irina. Seeing this, Ex was surprised and also in awe. 'I didn't know there were swords that could stretch!' Ex thought excitedly, ducking underneath a slash from Yuuto's Demon Sword, surprising him slightly as he had attacked from behind the girl. Leaning forward, Ex let her body fall to the ground and landed with her left hand on it. Springing her body up, she pushed off the ground and kicked Yuuto in the chest with both feet, causing him to lose his breath and knocking him back. Before he could even go a foot away from Ex, she twisted around midair and swung her left leg, connecting with the side of his head and causing him to be launched off to the side and into the side of the building.
As he made contact with the concrete wall, Yuuto spat out blood and spit, and landed with a bump. His body ached, and yet he knew he could not stay down. Grinding his teeth together, he used his sword as a crutch to help stand up. Looking towards Ex, he saw that she had just flipped over a slash from Irina, who had reverted her Holy Sword back into a katana and had attacked her close up with Xenovia. Blocking a slash from Xenovia, Ex used the much larger sword Xenovia wielded to kick off from it, getting some distance.
Spinning her katana in the air thrice, she let the point face downwards. Her right hand glowed white, with a slight trace of gold mixed within it.
Over on the side, Koneko muttered to herself, surprised at seeing this. "Senjutsu?"
With a smile on her face, Ex announced the name of her new technique: "Birthed Blade!" To Yuuto, the name was eerily familiar, to the point that it only increased his anxiety. Ex stabbed her blade into the ground, causing it to shine with a white light, similar to when he had used his Sacred Gear earlier with the power given to him by Issei. Eyes widening, he realized what was about to happen.
"Watch o-"
Just as he started to speak, several blades, which were of an ethereal blue with a wispy tendril-like smoke coming off and around the blade, began to spring up from the ground around Ex, surprising everyone, though Yuuto only ground his teeth together from being proven right. The blades forcefully erupted from the ground, slightly transparent, and approached Xenovia and Irina at an alarming rate. Each moment, at about around seven of these blades sprung up out of the ground, and each time, they were several meters closer to the duo and within a second or two, the two would be hit by the attack.
If Yuuto hadn't been knocked into the building, he would've countered with his own Sacred Gear.
Perhaps it wouldn't have had been enough. But he would've at the very least, tried.
'She had copied this part from when I had used it against her.' Reflecting back on the first part of the fight, Yuuto regretted his decision.
However, the two exorcists were not out of it yet.
"Xenovia!" Irina shouted, moving behind the mostly blue-haired exorcist.
"Right!" Hefting up her blade to her right side, a large amount of Holy power began to collect in the blade, causing it to shine a rich gold. With a yell, Xenovia swung the blade forward towards the blades and using the powered-up Excalibur fragment, Xenovia was able to send a blast of Holy power in the form of a slash forward, which cut through each of the blades as they sprung up and the ones that had already appeared as it travelled the distance towards Ex, whose eyes widened at seeing this display.
Raising her blade from the ground, Ex slashed down at the blast, disrupting it and dispersing it to the sides, however, at that moment, she had not seen Irina's attack, as it was just behind the bright blast. Changing her katana back into a long whip-like weapon, Irina had thrust it forward and followed after Xenovia's attack, aimed at Ex's chest - her target being that of Ex's heart.
'Even if she has very strange regenerative abilities, if we take out the heart, then she cannot live!'
With that thought as to the premise of her attack, Xenovia and Irina bet everything on this. If they take Ex out now, then they could certainly be called fortunate. However, if the fight drags on for too long, then who is to say as to what would happen?
The blade approached Ex on a linear path to her chest. With eyes wide at seeing the blade near her own chest, Ex's first thoughts were not on dodging; but of attacking. Twisting to her right side with a quick spin on her heel, she allowed the blade to slash through her flesh and with another step, she completely turned around and began to run towards the two exorcists. Surprised at this turn of events, Irina clumsily pulled back her blade, aiming to turn it back into a katana so that she could fight at a close range, while Xenovia manoeuvred herself in front of her, raising her Excalibur fragment before her as if challenging Ex.
Smiling, Ex already had a plan in mind.
Approaching the two, she immediately moved her blade to the side, knowing what Xenovia would do to counter. Seeing this, Xenovia swung her sword towards Ex, which caused the girl to smile in glee. Stepping off to the side quickly, Ex leapt towards the flat of the blade. Kicking the flat of the blade, Ex used it as a vertical platform, similar to that of a wall, to launch herself over Xenovia, surprised the girl. Landing between her and Irina, to who had finally reverted her Excalibur fragment into a katana, she lunged forward towards Irina, who hastily parried the stab, pushing the blade to the side with the flat of her blade, with it being positioned downward. Then, stopping midstep, Ex twisted around and swung horizontally, causing Irina to jump back and Xenovia to quickly raised her blade to defend herself.
Taking a step back from the force, Xenovia was late to the punch, quite literally, as Ex's fist rang itself against her skull, causing the girl to stumble to the side for a moment, vision hazy. Turning back to Irina, Ex lightly jumped over a swing and kicked the blade down and out of Irina's hand. Surprised at this, the girl could offer no additional defence and was swiftly kicked in the gut, causing her to double over. Then, with her blade positioned at her feet, Ex slashed upwards, cutting through Irina's left shoulder, causing Irina to let out a yelp at the pain.
With a rage, Xenovia shouted and attacked Ex from behind, slashing her sword filled with Holy power towards her. Smiling at the challenge, Ex copied her.
Filling her sword with her own willpower, Ex's katana was covered in a golden light which outshined even Xenovia's Excalibur fragment. Surprised, though unwilling to be outmatched, Xenovia roared with all her spirit, to which Ex matched with an open-mouthed smile as the two swords clashed together, causing a bright light to shine forth. However, it was not the Holy Sword of Destruction which prevailed from this contact.
Xenovia quickly found herself outmatched, even with all of her strength put into the blade. Surprised at this, she could do nothing as she was blasted through the air like a cannonball. Hitting the wall surrounding the premises with such force that the wall split apart several meters from impact, Xenovia fell back onto the other side, hitting the ground with a bang. 'S-shit... just how strong is that girl!?' Stunned at such a clear display of power which even overpowered her Excalibur fragment, which was known for its destructive capability, Xenovia could only offer up one thought: 'If I use Durandal... Could I match her?' Xenovia was unsure of whether she could or not, but even with everyone in danger, she was still unwilling to use the blade, as she could barely control it as is.
Breathing out a sigh of excitement, Ex beamed towards the last of her foes. "This has been pretty fun so far! Seriously, I haven't fought this hard in some time, I think?" Though somehow questioning her own words, Ex tilted her head slightly, with her left index finger on her bottom lip. "Either way, let's wrap this up soon, okay?" Getting back into stance, Ex decided to wait for whoever to attack her next.
Yuuto wasn't in a good state to fight, however, he could still do so.
Irina was injured, but she was still good to go.
Xenovia was barely conscious as it was, so she was most likely out of the fight.
Koneko was still light headed from getting smashed through a pillar, but she couldn't be counted out yet.
Issei and Saji were both uninjured, but they were far from being powerhouses.
Relatively speaking, it was their crushing defeat. But something, somewhere inside of them, refused to back down. Perhaps it was Ex's fighting spirit affecting them on the subconscious level, but the six aforementioned individuals did not want to go down without a fight. Yuuto, forcing himself to approach Ex from the side, Irina transforming her katana back into a whip-like weapon, though not as long, and moved behind the girl, Xenovia dragging her body up and back towards Ex's front, Excalibur Destruction in her right hand, Issei, who had just finished stacking as many Boosts as he could, began to figure out the best strategy in order to take down Ex and who to Transfer his power to, and Saji, who pointed his Sacred Gear towards Ex.
None of them refused to stand down. They would fight until they could no longer. It was all because of the strange feeling welling up within their chests; the feeling of being enclosed on all sides by the embrace of death, but having enough life left to fight back - it was an odd feeling as if two elements that were not supposed to mix together were filling their beings. And it all stemmed from the swordswoman they were fighting.
With a shout from Xenovia, the last part of their battle continued.
I originally had this chapter be longer, going past the limits of 10k words... Well, it's not really a limit, but who cares? Anyway, since it's been some time since I last put up a chapter, I wanted something out to quell your impatience and whatnot. Unless you forgot about this series, but eh, let's not talk about that, hm?
And so, the remainder of chapter 4 will be combined with 5, which I think makes more sense given the title of the next chapter...
My schedule for writing isn't that great, I mean, I don't have much time to write as it is. I basically write at the very least 1 to 2 hours a day and can get out 1 to 3 thousand words, though a lot of that time is looking over what I had last written. After posting a chapter, I take a few days off to go over what will be happening in the next chapter, so the time between a chapter and the next could be one to three weeks, simply due to, laziness in part with thinking, in part with actually writing. This chapter took, about four or so days to write? Unsure.
I hope you guys liked and enjoyed this chapter, and have a wonderful day and or night!
DarkDrawerJ: Thanks! I try and make things interesting, and you'll surely see more interesting things in the future!
angus281299: Thank you, and just as the above comment, more interesting things are to come.