Author's Note: Yo. Chapter 8 Here!

There's a Poll up to determine how the next Chapter will go. Just so you know, I do care about the way that the story is going; I just couldn't choose which storyline to go with.

As always, Read, Review and check out my other stories!

Disclaimer: I do not own Campione!

"Godō" - Regular Speech

'My Everyday life!' - Thoughts

"God Slayer!" - Heretic God/Powered Up Campione speech

"Fire!" - Magic/Authority Use

Chapter 8: Pursuit from the King of Swords

Morning

Jean and Rebecca's Hotel Room

With a gasp, Jean's eyes snapped open, pupils dilated. She recalled being with her adoptive mother, Susano'o and the Princess with Glass Eyes. They had talked about many things, but Jean's mind latched on to the information regarding the next god she was to slay that she had been told as she left the Netherworld.

"Good morning, Jean." Rebecca said from the nearby table, where the English Hearth Witch was sipping some tea, "Have a good visit with Lady Pandora?"

"Yeah…it was…interesting, to say the least." Jean replied as she sat up sluggishly and stretched.

"Oh?" Rebecca was curious about the unenthusiastic answer. Jean had been enthusiastic about seeing her adoptive mother before going to be the previous night.

"Let me wake up properly, dammit." the Scottish girl groused, "I'll tell you when I have some food in me, not before."

With that, she stood up and padded off to the bathroom to have a shower.

The Hearth Witch winced. She had forgotten that Jean wasn't exactly a morning person.

Once Jean returned from her shower and had some tea and croissants to fully wake her up, she got started.

"Have you ever heard of someone called the Princess with Glass Eyes?" Jean began.

"The being from whom all Hime-Miko are descended from." Rebecca replied, "I take it you met her last night? That would explain the lightshow."

"The what?" Jean asked in confusion.

"You were glowing and your hair turned flaxen." Rebecca told her.

"Oh. Well, you're right. She said I am a very distant descendant, so my [Divine Sensing] ability will be the only Hime-Miko ability I can ever use." the Scottish Campione said with a shrug, "And apparently Yuri Mariya or whoever it is in my brother Godō's service can only teach me how to better connect to my powers in general, nothing specific about my ability in particular."

"I suppose it makes sense." Rebecca mused, "All of the various abilities of the Hime-Miko are quite different from each other… [Disaster Purification], [Spirit Vision], [Divine Possession], [Spirit Sensing], [Divine Sensing], [Ectoplasm] and [Spirit Body] are all very powerful and very unique abilities, so a quick cheat wouldn't be likely."

"Yeah." Jean was slightly disappointed by this, but it wasn't a surprise. "Anyway, something else came up…have you heard of a Heretic God called the King Who Manifests at the World's End?"

"No, can't say that I have." Rebecca replied in puzzlement.

"He's a Campione slayer." Jean said grimly, "He's the reason why quite a few of my brothers and sisters have been slain in the past. Apparently he's due to revive in Japan sometime soon."

The Hearth Witch paled at this revelation. "Dear god…King Kusanagi would be killed immediately due to his false pacifism and the rest of the Campione will…die…shortly afterwards! Who is he?!"

"Mother Pandora, Susano'o and the Princess with Glass Eyes couldn't tell me due to some ancient compact." Jean replied with a frown, "Mother wishes for me to kick some sense into Godō, but in order for me to do that, I'll need a lot of varied Authorities to get past that dratted [Golden Sword] of his. At the moment, all of my Authorities are derived from Sea Gods, which he can lock down by reformatting his blade. Fortunately, Mother told me of another God that is due to descend shortly…in Rouen."

"Rouen…isn't that where Joan of Arc was burned at the stake?" Rebecca asked.

"Yup. I'm going to fight the Maiden of Orleans." the Scottish girl snorted, "This isn't going to be easy. Ah well. We'd better make arrangements to head up that way before my brother Doni gets here. By the way could you tell me about his Authorities, just in case?"

Rebecca gulped her tea down and poured herself a fresh cup before answering. "Well, you already know about [Divine Confusion]. An Authority that sends other Campione's Authorities berserk, as well as those of Heretic Gods and even normal magic."

Jean nodded.

"That requires some set up though, so it isn't something that you should worry about overmuch." the Hearth Witch continued, "He has three other Authorities. The next one is something he could use to slow us down…it's called [Return to Medieval Style], gained from the Roman God of the Forge, Vulcan. He can shut down all technology more advanced than the Middle Ages within a certain area. Potentially, he could use it on the entire world, which would be a disaster."

"I can imagine!" Jean whispered, visions of planes and helicopters dropping out of the sky, life support equipment in hospitals shutting down and various other modern devices failing with dire consequences flashing through her mind.

"Next, there's his defensive Authority… [Man of Steel], gained from the Norse warrior Siegfried from the Nibelungenlied." Rebecca said with a frown, "It turns him to steel, literally. The higher he raises his defence, the heavier he becomes. Worse, he remains just as agile as before he activates the Authority. While in his steel form, he has no need to breathe or eat, so dunking him in the middle of a lake is useless, he'll just walk out."

"Damn. That's one impressive defence." Jean whistled.

"It allowed him to withstand Lord Kusanagi's [White Stallion] Authority, which uses flames from the sun." Rebecca nodded in agreement, "Finally, there's Lord Salvatore's favourite Authority. Gained from the Tuatha Dé Danann God Nuada… [Rippling Arm of Silver]."

"Ominous…" Jean remarked.

"It is. It allows him to turn anything -a toothpick, a pen or a regular sword- into an invincible sword that can cut through anything." Rebecca replied seriously, "Spells, ectoplasm or fortresses, you name it, he can cut it. He can make the blade any size and he can even alter the property of the blade to inflict wounds that even Campione or Heretic Gods will have a hard time regenerating. Or make it explode on impact. Or grow in length by a couple of miles. As the name suggests, he turns his arm silver to activate the Authority."

"Avoiding him isn't going to be as easy as I had hoped." Jean grumbled, "Combine three of his Authorities and I can't do much except turn and fight him."

"We could always take a plane." Rebecca offered, "Lord Salvatore may be an idiot, but he isn't malicious. He wouldn't use [Return to Medieval Style] while we were in flight; Lady Pandora would never let him gain another Authority for such a thing."

"Maybe. I get the feeling Doni isn't exactly choosy about how he gets a fight." Jean said with a frown before she shook her head, "Enough. Let's just book a plane out of here ASAP. There's no evidence that Doni's coming here, but there's no point in taking chances. This does mean no sunbathing though."

"You win some, you lose some." the English Witch shrugged philosophically, "I'm used to not getting any sunbathing done. Hampstead isn't exactly known for being sunny, you know."

"Neither is Oban." Jean snorted, "It even snowed in May once. You could have knocked my socks off."

"In May?!" Rebecca shuddered, "What is with Scotland's weather?!"

Grumbling under her breath, she went off to book the tickets.

Two Hours later

Taxi, En Route to Nice's Airport

Jean, dressed in her 'Campione clothes', tapped her fingers impatiently as they drew closer to the airport. She'd been having a funny feeling ever since the moment she had set foot outside the hotel and she was trying to make sense of it.

'It isn't a Heretic God; too quiet for that.' she reasoned to herself, 'It also isn't a Divine Beast, there isn't enough noise for it to be one of those. It sounds almost…discordant, like a bunch of instruments being played at the same time. What is it?'

She was jerked out of her thoughts by a wave of magic surging over the cab, cutting the engine out. Jean shared a look with Rebecca as the driver fruitlessly tried to start the engine and unsuccessfully tried to radio for help.

"He's here!" the Witch breathed in horror.

"Calmly does it." Jean muttered back before addressing the driver, concentrating on speaking French, "Sir, we shall walk from here on. Rebecca, pay the man."

Once Rebecca did so, with a generous tip, the two women got out of the taxi and looked around. Standing nearby was blond-haired young man wearing jeans, a loose shirt that exposed his toned chest and a pair of sunglasses atop his head. Over one shoulder was a bag that Jean presumed carried a sword of some sort.

Beneath his feet was a revolving circular board that had two phrases in what Jean recognised as Latin rotating around him. One said 'Nudus Ara' and the other said 'Sere Ara'.

The bastard was grinning like a lunatic.

"Plough nude and sow nude, is it?" Jean translated the phrases under her breath, "Rebecca, I'll take this elsewhere. Not point in causing harm to others."

"But-!" Rebecca hissed.

"This guy isn't like Alec; he won't be talked down." Jean hissed back, "You head to the airport and check us in. I'll be along as soon as I can."

Rebecca heard the note of command in her King's voice and gulped. The light in Jean's eyes was like that that shone in Doni's eyes…bloodlust, eagerness for the fight to come. All Campione were like that to some degree.

"By your command." was all she could say. What else could she do? Try to stop a battle between Godslayers? Shooting herself in the head would be a more painless way of committing suicide, "Be safe, your Majesty."

"Back at you." Jean replied, keeping her eyes locked on Lord Salvatore as she spoke, "Now go. You cannot be caught up in this. I'm not even certain that I'll survive this, so I can't afford to worry about you if I hope to do so."

"Understood." Rebecca said and hastened away.

Inclining her head to Doni, Jean pointed at an isolated area where nothing except grass existed. The King of Swords smirked and nodded.

Moving almost as one, the two Godslayers headed towards the empty land. Doni strolled along negligently until he was walking alongside Jean.

"Yo. Guess you're the newest Campione?" he asked in a friendly manner.

"Jean Campbell. A pleasure to meet you, brother." the redhead replied.

"Ah, you got asked that by Pandora, right?" the blond man said with a laugh, "'Please call me mama!' is just about the only thing I remember from my visits to the Netherworld."

"I fail to see what the big deal is in calling her mother." Jean said with a frown.

"Nah, not my thing." Doni waved a hand dismissively, "Anyway, you and me are going to fight. It'll be nice to have a new opponent."

"Kindly don't expect much from me. I have only been a Campione for a handful of days and have a bare grasp of what I can do, nothing more." Jean said dryly.

"You were good enough to kill that Heretic God out at sea, weren't you?" Doni pointed out.

"True. How would you have gone about killing him?" Jean riposted.

"Smashed his ship with my sword after sending his power crazy." Doni replied instantly.

"That would have just made him mad and caused a lot of damage to the coastline." the Scottish girl protested.

This did not seem to disturb Doni overmuch as he shrugged nonchalantly and said, "Our powers as Campione aren't exactly fine tools. A bit of advice from someone who has walked this path longer than you: don't care what people say about you, because they'll say whatever they want anyway."

This sounded like good advice, coming from Doni anyway.

"True enough." Jean allowed, "I am afraid that this will have to be short; I have a flight to catch."

"No, you don't." the King of Swords disagreed, "My Authority is covering the airport, so we can enjoy the fight for as long as we like! Isn't that great?"

Jean halted and shook her head, "I cannot afford to dally with you. More to the point, how did you discover I was here and get here in less than a day?"

"I overheard Andrea talking to the local Paladin about you two days ago." Doni replied with a shrug, "I figured something fun would happen if I came, so here I am!"

'This man…thinks nothing of his next move!' Jean thought in disbelief, 'He simply acts completely on impulse, with no regard to the consequences of his actions or whether he will be successful or not! He is well named as the True child of the Titan of Afterthought!'

"Haaaahhh…I am so tired…" Jean sighed.

"Hahahahaha! Andrea says that all the time!" Doni laughed jovially.

This earned him an undecipherable look from Jean. She felt a sudden surge of sympathy for whomever this Andrea person was, having to deal with Doni all the time.

"Well now…let's get started." the blond Italian said with a hungry look in his eyes as he drew his sword from his bag.

"I suppose we had better." Jean agreed and extended her hand, "Weapon of mine, golden and invincible. Come forth, so we may do battle with our foes!"

With a shimmer, the [Tríaina] appeared in her hand. She twirled it around and assumed a ready stance. Mentally, she set her powers to the max as she wasn't sure how he'd play this.

"Oh? A trident." Doni smirked, "Which is it? Poseidon or Neptune?"

"Who knows? It could be Triton or maybe not even a sea god at all." Jean shot back as she glared at Doni.

"Heh…trying to keep it a secret are we?" the man grinned lazily, "If you do a good enough job of fighting against me, I'll keep quiet about it. For now though…"

He took his sword into a two-handed grip and raised it above his head.

"O silver arm, upon my oath, turn into the invincible blade!" he chanted.

Almost immediately, Doni's right arm turned into silver and the sword was coated in it, blazing with light to Jean's sight.

Her mouth, working on automatic, also started a chant. "Trident of gold, shine brightly! Sunder the seas and shatter the bedrock, for I am the God of Atlantis and, as 'twas stated by Plato, my rage shall sink mine foe!"

The [Tríaina], previously dull, blazed forth with renewed light, power blasting off of it and making Jean's trenchcoat and hair whip about in the nonexistent wind stirred up by the release of power.

This was the so-called 'special attack' of the trident of Poseidon. Using it to draw upon one of the other four Authorities, Jean could use it to blast the opponent up close and personal with a concentrated burst of the power of the Authority in question. The drawback was that she would then be unable to use the other Authority for a month.

Jean had just activated the [Tríaina's] third ability in conjunction with the one Authority she had promised herself to never, ever use… [Earthshaker]. She thought that if it was concentrated in one spot, it might not have any adverse effects. She would have used it regardless; she did not want to have this battle out for longer than was needed. The longer they fought, the greater her disadvantage would be.

"That…is pretty dangerous." Doni commented, eying the empowered [Tríaina] warily, "Defence, I think."

"Not so fast!" Jean leapt forwards to strike at Doni. She had no idea how powerful [Man of Steel] was, but if it could withstand solar fire, there was no telling how powerful it was. She had to cause as much damage to Doni as possible before he could activate it!

"O blood of the evil dragon Fafnir, bestow upon me the fate of invulnerability!"

"Seismós Tríaina!"

With that cry, Jean slammed the point of her weapon into Salvatore Doni just as he finished his incantation. Unsurprisingly, he had brought his sword around to block her strike, but she managed to twist the trident ninety degrees to get past his guard.

The impact was deafening.

Same Time

Nice Airport

Rebecca staggered and covered her ears as a loud bare of metal on metal reached her. The ground beneath her trembled and bucked, sending her to her knees.

"Was there a crash?" someone nearby muttered as the sound started to fade.

"Not by the looks of it." came the reply, "Terrorists?"

"In Nice?" the first person scoffed.

'Not terrorists…Campione.' Rebecca corrected the second person, her mind aflutter. Jean had never fought against someone who didn't underestimate her before. Heretic Gods had only one weakness, that of hubris. Excessive and potentially harmful pride, something that allowed Campione to be reborn in the first place.

Salvatore Doni was many things; an idiot, a fool and an excellent swordsman, even before being possessed by the Spirit of Saint George the Dragonslayer and defeating Nuada. What he wasn't was arrogant. He never underestimated his opponents and went at them with full force from the get go.

Judging by the sound of that clash, he had to have used [Man of Steel], quite possibly in conjunction with [Rippling Arm of Silver], to defend against an attack from Jean. Likely, her king had hoped to gain some advantage by striking first with a powerful attack of some sort.

Jean hadn't told her about her Authorities in any great detail, but she had suspected that the [Tríaina] had more to it than what she had already known. Yes, gaining a powerful weapon along with every trident fighting style from Ancient Greece and improved physical abilities was good, but as a whole, it was somewhat…unspectacular for a Divine Authority.

'She wouldn't use [Earthshaker].' the chestnut-haired witch thought as she stood up again, '[Stormbreaker] can only be used over the ocean. [Lord of Horses] wouldn't be of any use and [Master of the Oceans] would make a different sound if it clashed with Lord Salvatore. No, it has to be something to do with [Tríaina].'

Exactly what it could be was a mystery to her, however. Doubtless, it would be something powerful, needless to say. Once she got Jean away from Salvatore Doni, she was going to have a few words with her king about the importance of disclosure.

Back with Jean…

For a moment, Jean couldn't see a thing. The impact had kicked up a massive dirt cloud that was blanketing an area at least ten meters around her and Doni. She drew back her trident and hopped back a couple of dozen meters until she was out of the cloud.

"Ahhh man." Doni's voice came from somewhere in the cloud, "That was one hell of a hit. Even my good friend and rival Godō took a while to land such a good hit against me, yet here you are landing a good one right from the get go. I knew you'd be fun!"

'No way!' Jean thought in disbelief, 'That hit could have sunk an island or shorn off the top of a mountain! There should be no possible way that he was unaffected by it!'

Yet, as the dust settled, Salvatore Doni stood seemingly unharmed in the centre of a large crater. The main difference in Doni from before she had struck him was that he was covered head to toe in shining steel, including his clothes but excepting for his right arm, which was solid silver.

The point of impact, his solar plexus had a small dent in it.

'He just tanked a concentrated earthquake to his chest and he didn't even move!' Jean though in astonishment. Granted, that had only been a magnitude 4.5 on the Richter scale, but still!

"Been a while since I've used both of my favourite Authorities at once." the King of Swords commented, "Not since I fought good ol' Godō."

"…considering that was my best hit -that doesn't involve collateral damage- I think we can safely say that the match goes to you." Jean said dryly, "I have no defensive Authorities, so I think being hit by your sword would TKO me."

"So you're biased towards attack then?" Doni cocked his head to one side in curiosity.

"That and non-combat abilities." Jean confirmed, "As I am right now, I am not ready to face you."

'Away from the sea or any saltwater source.' she added silently. She didn't want to use [Master of the Oceans] on land because saltwater in the ground would kill the soil and god knows what kind of reaction that would get.

'Campione turns part of southern France into saltwater lake!' or something like that, she was willing to bet. Oi.

"I do want a good fight." Doni considers, "Why were you in a rush anyway?"

"Heretic God due to descend in Northern France." Jean replied.

"Ehhh…OK, so do you think you'll be able to get a defensive Authority from that?" Doni asked.

"Not a clue. Mother Pandora is the one who decides these things, you know." Jean told him.

To be precise, Pandora decided if a Campione deserved an Authority after defeating a Heretic God. What determined which Authority that the Campione received were their own skills and inclinations. Doni, a swordsman, received Authorities that were either swords or forced people to use swords.

Jean's own dominion, which she had labelled 'Master and Commander', was a bit more ambiguous. She received Authorities that granted her control over something…water, horses, earthquakes, storms and the like. She was the Commanding Army General to Doni's Foot Soldier.

"Promise to come and fight me once you have a defence?" Doni asked hopefully.

"I promise, brother." Jean said as she dismissed her [Tríaina], "In return, please don't voice your suspicions about my Authority."

"Really?" Doni said doubtfully.

"I do not break promises, Doni." Jean said in irritation.

"OK then. I'll hold you to it." the King of Swords waved a finger at her that made her want to hurt him for.

As Doni deactivated his Authorities, Jean felt the pressure on her, pressure that she had been unaware of until now, fade and vanish. Even although she hadn't been struck by Doni, the sheer power of his presence when in combat had dwarfed her own by a considerable amount.

"Ok then. See ya." Doni waved at Jean before shattering the disk beneath him, ending [Return to Medieval Style] and jogging off.

'The most irresponsible and battle happy man I have ever met.' Jean shook here head in disbelief, 'And to think, he could have easily killed me had I not conceded the match to him.'

Something she had been counting on was good etiquette on his part. Any swordsman who was taught by a decent tutor never attacked a foe who admitted his or her defeat aloud. Thankfully, Doni had had a good teacher and had obeyed that part of it.

As she thought, her feet absently took her towards the airport. She was so deep in thought that it took a punch to the shoulder to bring her out of them and see Rebecca standing in front of her with a mixture of ire and worry on her face.

"Jean! Are you OK?!" she asked.

"I'm fine." the Scotch girl said soothingly, "See? Not a mark on me."

This did not satisfy the irate Englishwoman and fussed at Jean all the way on board the plane, by which time she was getting pretty fed up with it.

"Rebecca, I am fine and please stop nagging me." she said finally, "Doni didn't even attack me. I hit him and he blocked it without even trying, I gave up and agreed to fight him again once I have more experience under my belt."

"He wasn't angry at you poaching on his territory?" Rebecca asked in surprise.

"Didn't even mention it." Jean replied with a shrug, "Mustn't have been that important. He was more concerned with fighting me."

"Lord Salvatore is one to lose sight of what he goes to do whenever a good fight is in the offing." Rebecca sighed. The Herarion incident in particular came to mind there…she shook it off and looked at Jean seriously.

"Something which is more of a concern is that Northern France is nominally claimed by Lord Alec. He will doubtlessly be displeased that you have poached, and he will retaliate." she warned her King.

"Really? He was merely concerned with me staying off of mainland Britain when we saw him last." Jean remarked as the plane finally took off.

"He takes his responsibilities to the Royal Arsenal quite seriously." the Hearth Witch informed her, "The same applies to those Magic Associations to whom he puts under his aegis as a Campione. Defeating another Heretic God in another area he is supposed to be in charge of will look like you are undermining his base of support as a precursor to all-out war."

Jean groaned and felt the urge to bounce her head off the bulkhead.

"Great good gods, I really hope he doesn't take it that way." she muttered, "Doni was bad enough. If he uses that [Black Lightning] Authority you told me about, I'll have a hard time hitting the little bastard. I doubt even my [Okeanó Stefáni] mode would be able to protect me then."

"And that is something we need to discuss." Rebecca said with a pointed look, "You had me tied in a knot because I couldn't figure out what the hell you hit Lord Salvatore with. Spill, now. You should know better than to try and keep information from a Librarian."

"I should at that." Jean admitted with a chuckle, "I should at that."

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Next Chapter: Heretic Goddess Joan of Arc and…?

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