White and blue streaks of light battle constantly in the training room, moving too quickly for the eyes to follow. Nobody would guess that the people performing these amazing feats are two small kids, each with a distinct expression.
The girl in the blue flash has a wry smile on her face and is looking forward to seeing what her counterpart will do next. The white one, on the other hand, is a young man with a permanent snarl who seems to be doing everything he can to overwhelm his opponent.
However, it appears to be failing.
"Come at me, White Dragon Emperor! You want that crown back, don't you!? " When the girl in blue armor mocks her master in an attempt to rile him up, it apparently succeeds, as his wings flare with much more vigor than before.
"You don't need to tell me twice! Since starting today, I'll crush you! " The boy blitzes the girl with the golden eyes, raising his fist, his thoughts racing as he focuses solely on his opponent.
However, it turns out to be a ruse, as he quickly changes to a high kick, which the white-haired girl blocks with her arm. He eventually lets go of a prepared fist to the center of her body, but she doesn't flinch. Instead, she grins and retaliates with a kick to the face of her own.
Before she can land another kick, the devil dives to avoid her and raises his fist again in retaliation. The fairy then mirrors him, and the two blows collide, sending shockwaves through the air.
"Weak!" As her gauntlet erupts in power, the girl blows the boy away.
Vali is eventually blown into a wall while reeling, leaving the lone Melusine who kept the same brilliant smile standing.
As he steadily stands up, the boy's mind races with thoughts. "Damn, even though we put the same amount of effort into our attacks, it's always like this. I'm the only one who ends up on my ass, and even then, I still can't divide her! "
Albion abruptly spoke up to instruct his vessel after remaining silent for the majority of the game, saying, "She always has a mana field around her. You have not been striking her, you've only been bouncing off of her. "
In his head, the devil prince screams. "How come you didn't tell me this earlier!? But, if that's the case..."
However, before he can complete his thought, a different voice in his head intervenes and provides the answer.
"Hey, I told you getting advice from Albion was against the rules!" Melusine's voice chastises the dragon in his head.
"Ah, apologies," the dragon says, quickly apologizing for breaking the secret between her and him that Vali was none the wiser to. From an outside perspective, one would be unable to observe the exchange. Vali's expression eases as he stands tall and turns to face his opponent.
He charges straight at her without giving her a chance to react, but Melusine doesn't move an inch. Instead of punching her, he grabs her side and shoulders. If the young girl is surprised, it doesn't show; her only visible reaction is a blink.
"Graah!"
Vali then throws her into the air with a roar. Immediately, he holds his hands out in front of him—and the Lucifer crest appears in front of his hands.
"Hah!"
Several white energy blasts are released from the crest, trained on his adversary. When the light clears, it becomes apparent that the lancer is unfazed. She brushes herself off and turns her head to face another barrage of light, and then begins an action that gives Vali pause. She relaxes her posture, and then starts spinning and twirling in between the beams.
"Is she... dancing?"
But this question is never addressed, and she simply approaches him with her hands raised. Since his own hands were occupied, he responds with a knee guard, but she does not relent. She launches a few kicks and attacks, but the holder of sacred gear can only deflect. Then an opportunity arises, an opening appears and he pounces on it with a wide kick.
"Defenseless," the girl says flatly to the attacker.
At her words, Vali notices that both of her gauntlet's fins are spinning and charging with dangerous energy. Melusine then proceeds to dodge under his kick, leaving him vulnerable, and afterward, runs over him with the charging energy, sending him flying as he rolls to the ground. He then stands up and glares at her, clutching his wounds, to which she responds with her trademark smile.
"I guess today is to learn new things about Melusine Day," he thinks amusedly.
He will, however, pay for it because she approaches him at such a speed he can't react. Vali, taken aback, launches a strike that she easily parries.
"Haah..." exhaling once, she wails on the boy with such ferocity that each blow tears through his body even as trails of energy are released from her strikes. "Bunker!" she roars, before finally sending him flying into a well-known wall in an explosion of smoke and dust.
"That's it!" The devil has had enough.
With a cry, an aura gathers around the smoke, displaying at an unprecedented level in a rabid and out-of-control state.
"Balance break!"
A gust of wind disperses the dust, revealing the child wearing an unstable-looking white armor that was fading in and out.
"You have one minute," the dragon said, his tone indicating his displeasure with using the new power. Melusine appears to be feeling the same way because she was tapping her foot with her hands on her hips and smiling with her eyes closed, but proceeded to sigh and enter back into the role of taunter.
"Do you really believe something you unlocked a week ago can harm me?"
Unlike in the past, Vali raises one hand while remaining silent, cocking the other back to help him aim. The fairy dragon's attitude changes immediately after the boy becomes unresponsive, and she begins to dash in his direction. only for him to deliver a devastating air-pressure strike, knocking her back against a wall with power that neither of them had ever seen before. All Vali can do after witnessing terrifying power is stare at the wall and then shake his fist in complete disbelief.
But at that moment, there was no time to be surprised because the servant then blasted at him without any ceremony, with a look that screams her intent to destroy him. Lucifer raises his arms in a panic, charges them with energy, and unleashes a bolt of force that throws her into the air and nearly knocks her out. Regrettably, she would only let him outrun him once.
She bounces back almost instantly and beams at him, gripping his shoulders and delivering a powerful knee to the stomach. She then swings her elbow at his jaw before extending her gauntlets, where the energy from her fins rips an X pattern through them, sending him flying towards the ground.
"Ow... Albion, your armor isn't working!" The dragon sighs as he realizes that he is dealing with a child who is, by his nature, reckless."It is; she simply adjusted her power settings to keep the same level of pain."
"So she's been holding back all this time?"
"Albion, you are incredible. You're amazing at not listening, are you? " Melusine speaks up.
"Geh."
Clearly not sorry yet, Vali utters a cheeky retort. "Isn't that just calling the pot the kettle black?"
"Anyway," Melusine gracefully dismisses him, "because all the rules have been broken, it doesn't seem to matter at this point." She still has a smile on her face—though sharper and more savage—as she wipes a small amount of blood from her mouth.
"Why does she have to be so freaking cool... wait-" His thoughts come to a halt as he fixes his gaze on the fairy knight's cheek. Then, after Vali regains his strength, Melusine rushes on him without giving him a chance as she had the previous time. As she charges at him, these thoughts run through his mind.
"I only have one shot at this," When Vali charges the approaching human-sized projectile, they both mirror their fists, and then, at the last second,loud and in sync with his thoughts, a loud, deafening ring is heard.
"Now!"
(DIVIDE!)
Melusine blinks before she can do anything else as blue energy drains from her and flows back to Vali.
"I... win!"
Then, without warning, his thoughts are interrupted by a fist to the face. Overpowering him effortlessly, Melusine shatters his armor, signaling his defeat. He can only say one word before everything goes black.
"Eh?"
X-X-X
"Ow, ow, ow!"
"You're making things take longer, so stop moving!" While they are both on the ground, the servant is treating the master's wounds with her glowing hands.
"Honestly, I say leave him be so he can have a reminder to listen."
"Nobody's asking you, Albion." Vali bites back.
"More importantly, Melusine, are you alright? I haven't seen you get blasted like that before. Does it hurt anywhere? Did you eat a proper meal? "
Melusine responds to the dragon's questions with an indifferent "yes," and the scene itself causes Vali to twitch at this obvious bias. Albion had never been this way before, but since that night, he has made it a point to check on her whenever he suspects an injury.
"There was one time with a freaking paper cut. How overprotective can you be?!... Iall. "'m not jealous at all." While lying to himself he loses himself in his thoughts and ignores reality, before said world he was ignoring came to bring Vali back by striking him on the head.
"Ow! What was that for? " After one look at his sister's scornful expression, he quickly bites his tongue, realizing that this was the first time he had seen her so enraged. She keeps hitting him after that until she pauses to look at Vali, who appears to be in tears, and sighs.
Vali looks up hesitantly when she says, "Look at me," to see how different she appears from before. Her eyes remain disappointed, but they are calmer and less judgmental than before. This look makes him feel worse than the scornful one before, and she then begins to speak.
"I'm not going to say I understand it, because I don't, but I witnessed someone who would give his own life for power, only to end up using that power against what he wanted to protect the most. So please, don't do that again. "always,
It didn't take a genius to understand what she was referring to.
"I'm sorry..." Vali frowns, remorseful, before Melusine flicks his forehead. "
"Anyway, if I had to be honest about your new power," she says as she begins to ponder sitting in silence. Like always she makes an effort to discuss his shortcomings after each training session.
He can't help but to think, "It'd hurt at first, but she's really good at figuring these things out, so better not look a gift horse in the mouth."
She responds positively, which is surprising to him given the previous circumstances. "If I had to be honest, if the battle went on, I would have to use my noble phantasm." She honestly admits as she laughs to herself.
"Noble… Phantasm?"
She then turns to face her master, puzzled by his confusion. " Did I not tell you?" He shakes his head in response, and she frowns.
"In a nutshell, it's a super attack." Vali immediately perks up and she continues, "It's the servant's secret weapon, their ultimate move."
Melusine's every word seems to excite him, and her subsequent lines show that she is aware of this as she smirks in his direction. "But oh well, maybe you'll get to see it someday."
Vali quickly rises to his feet and motions in her direction. "You will not use your noble phantasm on anyone else before me, as your master!"
She replies curtly, with an all-knowing smirk. "Naturally, my master."
As his positive attitude returns, as if he had suddenly realized something, Vali pauses and begins to examine himself.
"Melusine?"
"Yes?"
"How did you heal me?"
Melusine answers the question directly and without surprise. "Magecraft."
Vali then pauses to ensure he understands what he heard.
"Do you mean magic?"
She, too, gives a quick blink before her face turns blank again. "Sure, why not?" Though it was very obvious to him that she is avoiding the topic.
He shakes his head, avoiding further discussion of the subject because he was aware of this leading to a headache. "But you've never claimed to know any spells."
"I didn't."
He kept asking because he wasn't sure what was going on. "When did you learn?"
"Yesterday."
"...What?"
"Yesterday, I thought it would be useful, so I spent last night learning."
For as long as Vali has known her, the girl has shown no interest in magic at all. She's never bothered to explain the summoning spell, yet one day she's able to cast excruciatingly difficult healing spells. The concept was simply dumbfounding to him.
"You! How-why!" As Vali keeps interrupting himself in an attempt to explain the situation to Melusine, she simply stares at him and cocks her head to the side. He finally sags his shoulders in defeat. "You know what? Sure, you can apparently do anything, but I have to ask, why weren't you affected by divine dividing?"
"I don't know," she shrugs, giving him her trademark blank stare.
The devil immediately begins to tremble at the prospect of this girl seemingly breaking God's gears without consequence. "Please... give me something."
"I'll believe I can answer that."
"Yes! Someone who has a grip on reality! I will never disobey you again, Albion! "
"I'm just going to ignore that thought you had… But Vali, do you remember how a servant contract works? "
He nods.
"So you understand that she's only around due to your mana?"
The boy nods once more but pauses, eyes widening in realization.
"To put it bluntly, you're essentially dividing yourself."
"So you're telling me I can't use any of my abilities on her?!"
"Pretty much."
With this, the kid finally snaps and falls to his knees in front of Melusine, who is now very perplexed.
"That's... so unfair." He finally bursts into tears.
"I mean," The dragon then gestures toward herself, slightly surprised that he hasn't figured out, "strongest."
In response to Melusine's direct remark, Vali's screams became louder.
Ignoring her master's distress, she begins moving toward the wreckage of their fight and eventually comes to a halt in front of Vali's armor.
Speaking out loud, she asks, "It didn't leave anything last time."
"It's mostly because it broke prematurely rather than naturally dissipating."
She lets out "hmm" in understanding as she picks up one of the orbs and stares at it with a unique expression.
"Melusine, what are you-"
The small servant then takes a large bite before finishing, causing Vali to look up in horror to see his sister completely consume his mana core. Even Albion is speechless as he watches her eat the rest of his fallen armor.
After finishing, she wipes her mouth and says one word, after remaining completely silent. Vali snorts at the tonelessly flat "Tasty."
"Sis, you really are incorrigible." The white dragon emperor murmurs under his breath, something he soon regrets, as evident by his pale complexion.
Melusine turns her head inhumanely and gives the child a predatory glare.
"Oho?"
"Oho?"
Then, he flushes three times when he realizes his own gear was working against him, and he quickly approaches the girl, giving her the most threatening expression he can muster for a 12-year-old.
"You're going to forget everything I just said!" He glares at her in an attempt to save face.
Unfortunately, he should have realized a long time ago that intimidating the girl never works.
She responds with a blank expression that was different from her usual one, clearly trying to hold something in.
"Understood, master. As your servant, I shall remember and cherish this moment to the end of my days. "
"Graah!"
Hearing Albion trying to hold back his laughter in the background did not help in the slightest.