Chapter Six - Reflections
"Doctor, is he stabilized?"
"Steady, pass me the antiseptic…"
"Toxins in the bloodstream at 64%, Doctor."
"There's still fragments of teeth stuck in his arm, pass me the foregrips."
From behind the wide glass window, Xenovia looked down on the white operation hall, as numerous surgeons, doctors, and nurses tended to a single person: Vin, who lay sprawled across the operating table, his chest being held open by
She thought back to the incident earlier that afternoon. No one had any way to know that Augustus was not the only stray devil residing in the market, and by the time Xenovia, who had been coincidentally knocked away towards the western end of the market, found Vin and the second stray, the teen had nearly been killed. The distinct feeling of the mind-numbing rage she felt flickering back to her senses like a tiny ember of a once brilliant pyre.
Even after slaughtering the stray devil, Xenovia had thought that Vin had simply passed out due to shock or blood loss. The fact that his skin had rapidly begun to turn a purplish-tint confirmed that it was most definitely not that. The group had managed to stabilize Vin with an antivenom found in the bus's survival kit just long enough to allow him to be rushed off to the Vatican's ER department.
Xenovia clenched her fists as she silently berated herself. She should have been faster, should have been more situationally aware! Checking in on the brunette rookie should have been her very first priority in that situation, but instead she let herself get preoccupied with the simple-minded thought of 'completing the mission', and for that, her comrade… nothing more, just her insistent, slightly annoying comrade… He had almost lost his life. As a matter of fact, he was still fighting for his life.
Glancing up at the digital clock attached from the ceiling, Xenovia gazed at the time, 11:21 pm, she had been here, in this dark viewing deck for nearly the entire time since they got back. The only period of time where she left was around… what was it? 7:30? Dinner. It was for dinner. She showered, put on fresh clothes, ate quickly, and then immediately came back here.
Leaning her forearms on the railing that spanned the length of the window, Xenovia ran her hands over her face, stifling the yawn that threatened to spill from her lips. Why was she staying here? To appeal to her muscle-headed sense of responsibility? That same single-mindedness that almost cost Vin his life? Xenovia could feel her eyelids growing heavy like lead, it was well past the normal time she was going to turn into bed. Everyone else had come by at one point or another, and told her some variation of 'You saved Vin's life, don't take it personally Xenovia, there was no way to know the danger'.
She grit her teeth behind her lips, did they think that she needed pity?! Why was she the one receiving pity from her teammates when it was Vin down there, battling with the poison that threatened to tear him inside out for the last six hours?! She didn't fight like her life depended on it, she just went through the motions, but then again, she had several years of training under her belt, and an Excalibur she was experienced in wielding. Meanwhile, there was Vin, placed into a hostile, unknown battlefield with little to no information, armed with a weak Sacred Gear he barely knew how to use, and a grand total of three weeks of training. Hard training, sure; but only three weeks nonetheless.
Her clenched fist softly smacked against the railing, how could they have thought that any of this was a good idea? Xenovia trusted her guardian a great deal, but even she, as muscle-brained as she was, knew that it wasn't a good idea to bring Vin out there.
Eventually, after watching the surgeons successfully remove the shard of Vin's broken rib, Xenovia pushed herself off the railing, and back to her feet. She felt… angry, frustrated, and not just at herself, but everyone, and everything, and just… Angry at the situation in general. Sighing, she decided she needed a drink. Thankfully, there was a vending machine nearby.
Pacing over, Xenovia reached into her pocket to get some money for a bottle of water, only for her hand to land on nothing. Silently, she scowled. She forgot her wallet in her room. Damn it. Her fuming was getting worse and worse, and frankly, she was half-tempted to simply kick the machine until it gave her what she wanted.
"Whoa there! You look like you're set to blow," A female voice called out from behind Xenovia, turning around, Xenovia gawked as she saw who stood behind her, black and silver hair, purple hoodie, it could only be...
"Ah! Miss Sellzen, I'm sorry to have bothered you!" Xenovia flinched back in shock, she may have been angry, but she couldn't go about snapping at direct superiors, especially one who had actively trained her for a period of time.
"Nah, you haven't bothered anyone," She waved off, before reaching into her pocket, "What do you want to drink?"
"A-Ah, just some water please," Xenovia stuttered, flustered after her building wrath sprung haywire at the company of her brief and former mentor.
The pro-exorcist slid the coin into the machine, before a small smirk stretched across her features, as she pressed the button for… apple juice.
"Learn to live a little, Xenovia," She smiled, handing the drink to Xenovia, as the two walked back over to the window, "So, what's eating at ya?"
"I couldn't possibly, Miss Sellzen!" Xenovia hid her blustering behind a sip of her drink. She generally liked apple juice, but it's sweetness felt… wrong on her tongue, given the circumstances.
The grey-haired girl pouted, as she leaned on the railing, "I've told you not to call me that, Xenovia… C'mon, call me Lint! You make me feel older than I really am!"
"B-but that's not proper."
"My drink, my rules," Lint declared, as Xenovia breathed a sigh of defeat.
"Now seriously, you don't look great Xenovia. Tell me what's wrong."
Xenovia paused for a minute, her eyes locked down at the sight of doctors installing various tubes into Vin's body in order to try and pump out the toxins running rampant through his pale discolored body.
"Lint… Have you ever made a really stupid mistake, and it left you just… feeling angry? Not, at just yourself, but just at everything, and nothing at the same time? Sorry if that didn't make sense, I'm not the best at-"
Lint held up a hand as Xenovia fell silent, "I know that feeling, Xenovia; I know it all too well. When… When Freed went rogue, I felt somewhat like you do now. I thought that it must have been my fault that he had ended up the way he did, maybe I didn't spend enough time with him, or wasn't there to set him on the right path. Soon after, I began to be angry at the church in general, maybe it was them who encouraged Freed to do what he did, maybe it was them who pushed him over the edge… But after a while, I learned it's harder to hold onto that anger than you would think. It's all-consuming, Xenovia, it'll eat away at you until nothing's left. The sooner you can let go of that anger, and simply use this mistake as a learning experience, the better you'll feel in the long run, okay?"
Lint gave a soft pat on Xenovia's shoulder as the blue-haired exorcist continued looking out the window, ruminating on her senior's words.
"I'll...I'll try," Came Xenovia's eventual reply.
Lint smiled and nodded, "That's all that anyone can ask of you. Now, it's getting late, and even if you don't have any training tomorrow, it won't do you any good to run yourself ragged. Go on, get some sleep. He'll still be here in the morning."
Despite her desire to stay, Xenovia involuntarily let out a yawn, to which Lint smirked, "My point exactly, now get out of here, I'll make sure that he's okay, and whatever happens, I'll make sure you're the first to know."
Capping her drink, Xenovia began to wordlessly walk over to the viewing deck's exit. Pausing before she opened the door in order to glance over her shoulder.
"...Lint… Thank you."
She was met with a soft smile, "You're welcome."
Although she may not have gotten a lot of sleep that night, Xenovia would certainly admit that the respite of rest was something that she sorely needed. And before long, the warm pull of her bed had tugged her into a deep sleep.
September 15th 2012
One Day Later
"How's he doing?" Griselda asked as she sat down in a chair across from a woman in a white lab coat, and doctor's equipment.
The sterile white room where they sat was connected directly to the operation room, and although she would never admit it, a Quarta would never sacrifice professional integrity, after all; she had half the mind to rush past those metal doors, and be at her pupil's side. As little time as they've known each other, she still felt as strong a connection to him as all the others. As far as she was concerned, they were her children in all but blood, despite the fact that she would never let any of them know.
The doctor finished typing on her computer, before grabbing a clipboard, idly flipping through it as she spoke, "Much, much better. His condition has been stabilized over the night, we've patched up any and all punctures and internal bleeding from his broken rib, and managed to syphon most of the toxins from his bloodstream."
"Most?" Griselda furrowed her brow.
"Yes, there's still about… 2% of the injected toxin still floating around in his bloodstream. We may have a lot of cutting edge technology here, but even we don't have enough compatible blood to perform a full replacement," The doctor stressed.
"So what does that mean for him going forward?"
"Nothing too bad, currently, he's recovering from extreme fatigue. When he comes to, we'll be putting him on a prescription that'll energize his white blood cells, they should be able to combat the small amount of toxin remaining over time just fine. If you don't put him through any rigorous activities, or any stupid stunts again, he should make a full recovery in a week of two."
"That's… That's really good to hear," The previously unknown tension in Griselda's shoulders finally loosening in response to the good news, relief blatant in her tone.
The doctor still glared at her, "Now, I'm not usually one to question the line of authority, but seriously, Ms. Quarta, what were you thinking sending a rookie into an unknown situation like that? That boy was nearly on the brink when he came here, and while I had to read the mission report you submitted in order to treat him, one thing I couldn't get out of my mind was that the mission you undertook was not something that should have been for a rookie."
"I...understand that. His original purpose was to simply observe an exorcism being performed in order for him to gain an introduction into field tactics, and have him acclimate to the idea of going up against gruesome enemies like stray devils. First exposure to strays is never easy, and I wanted it to be done in a controlled environment early-on in his training, so then he would continue training with the knowledge of what he's going to go up against."
The doctor slammed her fist against her desk, "THAT WAS NOT A CONTROLLED ENVIRONMENT! The mission was full of unknown variables! And because of that, I've got a fifteen year old boy in my clinic who has had to fight for his life for the past sixteen hours!"
Griselda bowed her head in shame, "Whether I had underestimated the stray devils inside, or had become overconfident for Vin's security due to there being six other capable exorcists-in-training with us, I had let my guard down, and become far too distracted. I won't make excuses, doctor, it was a lapse in my professional judgement as an Exorcist that led to this event. I take full responsibility."
The Doctor sighed, "At least you own up to your shortcomings."
Before she could finish, the doors leading into the operating chamber swung open, as a breathless employee stood panting in the doorframe.
"Patient Vin is awake and fully lucid, Doctor!"
"What? He's awake a full twelve hours ahead of predictions!" The Doctor exclaimed, as she quickly stood up, gathering a stack of papers, clipping them onto her clipboard, grabbing a handful of pens, and other medical equipment, before rushing to the door.
As if remembering she had company, the Doctor turned around, "Ms. Quarta, I have to apologize, but we need to be left to attend to the patient. I'll send you a full report by email in the coming days."
"I understand," Griselda stood up from her seat, making her way to the door opposite of the Doctor, "Please, let Vin know that we're all praying for a swift-recovery, alright?"
The Doctor merely nodded, before she took off, the door swinging behind her as she left to go see her patient.
It would be later in the night, after a lot of unanswered questions and nervous hesitation from her pupils, that Griselda would finally receive word from the Doctor's by email.
'Vincenzo is fully lucid and aside from expected fatigue, is expected to make a full recovery. He'll be dismissed from our clinic's care in three days, after which you shall not put him through rigorous training or other physically demanding tasks for another three weeks.
Listed below are more details on his medication, please ensure he takes the recommended dosage every twelve to thirteen hours.'
Without the company of her other pupils around her, Griselda finally let down her walls and breathed a sigh of relief. Thank god, he managed to pull through.
When Vin first arrived back in the dorms, he didn't look so hot. Clad in a pair of trashy sweatpants, his hospital gown worn over his bare chest, his skin looked paler and clammier than any of them had really seen before. His hair, loose from it's usual ponytail cascaded down his back and shoulders, the brown locks frizzy and oily from days of no care. He had bags under his eyes, small, but still persistently noticeable. All in all, he looked like shit.
Yet, it was still a marked improvement from the last time any of them had seen him.
"Vinny! You're okay!" Irina was the first to run towards Vin, enveloping him in a considerately gentle bear hug, still the ache in his muscles left Vin subtly exhaling to deal with the throb coursing dully through his body.
"We were worried about you, man!" Ethan said.
"You gave us quite the scare," Jafar elaborated with a nod.
"C'mon guys!" Vanessa came up beside Vin, giving him a proud slap on the back that felt like fire across his pain-filled skin, "It'll take more than that to take ol' Vin down!"
"Vanessa, please cease your efforts to make our recently healed comrade more uncomfortable," Ezekiel chastised. Well, at least Vanessa looked the smallest bit guilty, "Still, he has appeared to make a splendid recovery from his prior conditions."
"Thanks guys, but I'm not out of the woods yet," Vin wormed his way out of Irina's grasp, "I'm going to be taking a while off, I still need to make sure everythings healed up before I jump back into fighting… whatever the hell those things were."
"You can forget about hunting stray devils for much longer than just your mandated three weeks rest, Vin," Griselda said coming out from behind where he stood, "It's become obvious that not only do we need to be more considerate of mission choices, but that you also need to accumulate more skills, so that if a situation similar to what happened ever occurs again, you can properly fend for yourself."
Vin bowed his head, "Of course, Griselda."
"Chin up, Vin," Griselda smiled as she made eye contact with the boy, "What happened was a terrible accident, but we shall work past it together, alright? I'm not trying to punish you, I just want you to be safe and capable. But now's not the time or place, it's almost lunch time, so how about we make some food while you go have a shower and get a change of clothes, Vin. Do you need anyone to help you out?"
"I'm fine, Griselda, really. Just a little bit of aches and pains in my muscles, doctors told me I probably shouldn't bend down too much for anything, but otherwise, I'm all good."
"Alright, well then at least let someone go and grab a set of clothes for you. Ethan?"
"Already on it," Ethan said as he jogged down out of the common room.
If Vin had to say, that might have been the best shower he'd ever had yet. The hot water soothed his aching muscles, allowing him to wash all the grease, grime, and filth from his body and hair without too much worry. It was genuinely an incredibly refreshing experience, and one he didn't think he'd end up missing as much as he did.
Eventually, after giving himself a generous amount of extra time to soak under the showerhead, Vin turned off the hot water, and grabbed the towel that he draped over the stall door, drying himself off carefully, before wrapping the white cloth around his waist and pushing open the door.
"Ah, you're finally finished."
Only to find Xenovia standing there.
Making a very feminine shriek, Vin quickly backed right back into the shower stall, and slammed the door shut. Why the fuck was Xenovia in the men's bathhouse! Heat creeped up into Vin's face as he leaned against the door. What was he going to do? He couldn't just step out there in nothing but a towel! But his clothes were outside of the stall.
As if to betray him even more, Vin's mind involuntarily recalled the image of Xenovia kneeling over his face, her expression wild, emotional, vibrant with worry and relief; such a far departure from her usual stoic demeanor. His blush deepened, as his heart flipped in his chest. God damn it! Now he really couldn't face Xenovia, at least not like this! God, he should have had a cold shower instead of a hot one.
"Hey," The sound of knocking on the stall door caused Vin to shoot up in panic. C'mon you idiot, you have to respond!
"Y-Yeah?"
With his back leaning against the stall door, Vin could acutely feel Xenovia doing the same. Vin fell silent, as Xenovia sighed a more withering breath than he had expected.
"I'm...I'm sorry."
Huh? "For what?"
"I don't know, for not saving you quick enough. I was too focused on the mission ahead of me, and I just assumed you were safe until I heard your screams. I'm just… I'm supposed to be better than that, and I made the wrong call and-"
"Stop," Vin interrupted.
"Huh?"
Vin closed his eyes, thinking back to the events back in the market. Recalling the hopelessness that had pervaded his mind, before the sight of Xenovia had filled him with so much hope and relief.
"What mattered is that you came to save me at all, Xenovia. You're not a failure if your first instinct was to trust your own teammates. Sure, I may be new to all of this, and my Sacred Gear's really weak, so I can't exactly fend for myself, but truly, I really do appreciate that you assumed that I could hold my own. It's…" Vin scratched his flushed cheeks, "Well, it's really flattering."
"...I see."
"Look, don't beat yourself up over this Xenovia. What happened, happened; and the truth is, I'm just glad you found me. So… thank you. Thank you for saving my life, Xenovia."
Vin could hear Xenovia pause for a moment, before sighing quietly, "...You're welcome, Vin. I should get going now."
Vin chuckled lightly, looking down at his state of undress, "Yeah, you probably should."
Xenovia got up from leaning on the stall door, before turning to walk away, before halting for a brief moment.
"Oh, and Vin?"
"Yes?"
"My favorite color's green."
A bit of a shorter chapter there for you guys; mainly because I'm kind of swamped from all sides by more and more university work. Still, I really enjoy how this chapter came out, and I think it serves as a really good chapter to close out the first major action set piece of this story arc.
Another news, we have officially reached over 4,500 readers on this story, which is actually insane to me. Seriously, I love seeing so many people checking out my work. Every time I feel stressed or down, I go on here, check my page, and see all the readers, reviews, and people who have left favorites and follows, and it just cheers me right back up, because it proves that whatever I'm doing is resonating with people.
Little aside, but don't really expect anything in terms of a Halloween-themed chapter, and even if I do one, it'll probably be late. Trust me, I actually do have a soft-spot for fun seasonal-themed chapters, but with the current pace and time period of this story, it just doesn't seem like it would be easy to do. Still, I might write something when we eventually find ourselves passing by October 2012 in these nine months, because obviously, some amount of time-skipping is going to be necessary for this story arc.
Now, with that aside, let's touch on a few of the major details for this chapter!
Chapter Notes:
[The Idea Behind the Chapter]
First off, yeah, Vin falling unconscious wasn't just because of blood loss that could be easily treated on site. I wanted the aftermath of the fight to have real repercussions to it, and I thought hey, why not throw my precious baby through the grinder some more!
[Lint Sellzen]
At this time, we also see the first appearance of Lint in the story! Thanks to Dragonsaiyanblue for reminding me that she actually exists. I'll sort of retcon her not being in the Vatican earlier by saying that she was out on a mission at the time, alright? After reading up on her for the sake of this story, I realized there could be a really cool scene between her and Xenovia, and I really enjoyed the way it turned out. I think having a character who can be more witty like Freed without being overly-vulgar made for a really fun dynamic between the two for this scene, all framed by the scene of the doctor's trying to fix what is essentially the embodiment of Xenovia's 'failure' that she talks about in this chapter.
[The Theme of Failure]
This chapter, thematically, is all about grappling with failure, and learning to accept failure and move on. We can see that with Xenovia, Griselda, and even to a certain extent Vin himself. Xenovia's perceived failure to properly assist Vin before he could get mauled and poisoned by the stray devil; Griselda's failure to accurately assert judgement, and let such an incident happen in the first place; and Vin's failure to properly fight back due to his inexperience. All in all, failure is a pervasive theme here.
[Vin & Xenovia]
And finally, to wrap it all up, the little callback to the conversation between Vin and Xenovia last chapter. I thought it would be a cute moment to end the chapter on, while subtly showing that Vin is now starting to worm his way past the walls that Xenovia has put up around herself.
REVIEW ROUNDUP:
Tyrant Overlord Killidia says:
"Heheheh, this is going to be quite the ride that we're going on. More than one Stray Devil was present and Vin had to be saved from it. I can already figure out that this is going to be a theme with him for some time: He gets his butt handed to him in a fight and ends up having to be bailed out by his teammates. It's kinda like what happened with Issei before he trained with the rest of the Gremory Team in the ten days before their first Rating Game."
Yeah, this is going to be one hell of a ride, especially since we're going to see Vin grow more and more as an actual combatant over this arc, because remember, this takes place over the span of nine months.
These first few months are all defined by Vin's shortcomings, and I am absolutely going to put him through hell as much as realistically possible in this first story arc. Perhaps there will come a day where Vin can save someone else, or hey, maybe even himself; but that day is most certainly not today.
Also, in terms of writing, having Vin be saved by Xenovia helps preserve some of her character's agency throughout the story. It seems like for a while in DxD canon, they really don't seem to remember that Xenovia is really fucking strong, so I'm going to preserve that fact here. In this story, it won't be that Xenovia sort of dips down to Vin's power level as she becomes a devil, no. It's going to have to be Vin who rises up to Xenovia's level in order to stand toe-to-toe with her.
This entire arc is like an expanded version of the Pre-Rating Game Gremory training camp from the beginning of DxD, except stretched out to an actual realistic amount of time, and even then, nine months is actually pretty short, which is why Vin's really pushing himself with the double-training.
So hey, thanks for leaving so many reviews on my story! It's always great to see you guys so engaged in my work. I hope you liked this chapter as much as the last, even if this one had a considerable focus on character dynamics rather than action or comedy.
OzmaGale says:
"Hello again, another wonderful chapter. I don't know about you but I always had a vendetta against Excalibur shattering. I think it's because I'm a big Fate fan and it bothers me to see the sword of promised victory broken but I shouldn't compare the dxdverse to the Nasuverse. Now that I think about it, was it just me or was Excalibur ruler a bit overpowered compared to the other fragments like sure you could go fast or go invisible but Ruler could just control Fenrir. Anyways regarding the chapter It was lovely to read as I have stated before. I don't know why but when I read that Vin was in trouble I sorta thought that he would instantly get a balance breaker and become op... I think i have PTSD for bad fanfics (I stated that as a joke PTSD is not a laughing matter and if you think you have it consult family or someone that can help you)"
Hey, it's great to see you back as well OzmaGale! Thanks for leaving another review, so let's see here…
Yeah, I understand what you mean somewhat about Excalibur shattering, even as someone who has little to no information about anything Type-Moon does, it just seems weird for a sword as powerful as Excalibur to shatter. But hey, it gives us more variety, and some cool swords, so in the end, I'm all for it.
Ruler is undoubtedly overpowered. Thank god that's in the hands of the church…
...
… Oh shit.
Anyway, moving on to your final point. Ah yes, the classic 'my life's in danger, time to awaken my Balance Breaker' trope. I didn't intentionally write it as if that was going to happen, but I think it was a nice subversion of that trope. Instead of getting a Balance Breaker, Vin gets mauled, poisoned, and hospitalized. Fun times all around.
Again, thanks so much for leaving a review! It helps brighten up my day so much more to see you and everyone else enjoy my story so much, and the positive words really do help motivate me to keep on writing, even if my unofficial schedule of 'a new chapter around every 3 or so days' is really unsustainable with my current commitments to university. But eh, we'll cross that road when we get there.
The Lazy Fox says:
"Loved the chapter and the story in general. I particularly liked that Vin lost (well he didn't die so that's a win in my book) his first encounter with a stray devil. A MC that isn't overpowered from the start is a nice change of pace from the standard fanfic.
Also a slow-burn romance, in DxD? You're a monster. I'm kidding of course, I look forward to you pulling it off since Xenovia is one of my favorites from the series.
Anyway, best of luck with the writing. I'm looking forward to the next chapter."
First of all, thanks so much for checking out my story, I'm super glad that you're enjoying it so much!
In my personal opinion, in case it hasn't been obvious, the archetype of the OP OC who unlocks new and progressively more and more insane abilities at every sign of resistance is incredibly boring, and done far too often in stories in this fandom. In that regard, Vin is sort of a small commentary/subversion of those types of characters, he's got a lot of the same origins, usually a character who has no connections to the supernatural suddenly robbed from his normal life, and forced to contend with what the supernatural have to offer.
Also, if you all haven't noticed, Vin has a bit of a tendency to bury emotions that he would consider 'negative' especially ones of heartbreak over his old family. This is also intentional: it's meant to be another subversion of the generic, emotionless, 'stoic' OC's. But instead of making him seem badass, it's meant to just be seen as sad.
In the end, Vin is the kind of character that we would all be, if we were to try and live life and act in a similar way as an OP OC would. In that way, he's both a twisted, yet oddly-grounded reflection of both myself, you guys, and other OP OC's within the fandom. We all want to be invincible badasses, and Vin has the potential to be one, but like the rest of us actual human beings, Vin is flawed, weak, and has to try and fail over and over to scrape for any power he can.
In terms of romance, it's the same thing. OP OC's generally get a lot of girls just falling around their feet. Vin does too, sure; Irina is pretty affectionate, Vanessa is mischievously handsy, and Xenovia and Vin are punch-buddies, but at the same time, all of them are just friends. Vin has to work through his own problems in order to get with Xenovia, it's not going to be given to him. The world of the supernatural owes Vin absolutely nothing, so he has to work for everything he has, starting from rock bottom.
Thanks for leaving a review, and I hope this chapter was a great one to accompany the action that last chapter brought on! I hope you have a great day, and rock on!
zKORN says:
"Hello! How are you author?
Hey, I found your fic on my list of news and I must say that I have loved it so far.
I have a question:
In a part of your author's note, you bring up that Vin would have the Excalibur Ruler, but it is in the hands of a certain character from the Vali team (Anyone who reads the DxD novels or has seen the anime up to the 3rd season will know who is referring)
Will Vin get it in the future, or will the character get another signature weapon?
The truth is, I would like Vin to excel in Martial Arts or so, I would like to see a protagonist who is trained in both Close Combat and Ranged Combat with his Sacred Gear and others. I would change the paradigm of just the "SACRED GEAR OR NOTHING" Approach from many fic out there.
Keep it up brother! You have another follower on your list and it goes to my favorites list, your story promises a LOT. Don't leave her"
First of all, thank you so much for leaving a favorite! I'm still absolutely stunned by the sheer amount of positive feedback and comments I've been getting on this story, so seriously, thank you for taking the time to check this story out, and I hope I can continue to entertain you with this chapter, and the many, many more to come.
Now, about Excalibur Ruler, although I do have Vin planned to undergo the ritual that should grant him the genes necessary to wield holy swords, there is no active plan to give him Excalibur Ruler, even after Arthur somewhat relinquishes ownership of the blade. Simply put, I have other ideas for Vin in regards to using holy swords, although that won't come up for a little while longer.
In the future, Vin will get another signature weapon, or more accurately, a new technique that can be used as a weapon. Some of you guys may have already pieced together what I'm talking about, or maybe I'm actually doing a good job of keeping it under wraps, I don't know. Regardless, that won't be something that comes into play until around the end of the story arc after this one.
For Vin's fighting style, he does actually do a bit of martial arts, like you wanted. The way I envisioned him is as a very grounded fighter, whose preferred fighting range is just out range from his opponent, making it very awkward for his opponent's to attack him properly, but with attacks such as his crystal arm blades that you saw him use last chapter, Vin has enough reach to properly cover that establish distance. Just as easily, Vin can pivot into a more long-range style of fighting, using his Sacred Gear to play keep-away with his opponents by blocking off paths of attack, or forcing his opponents to keep on the move. He's got a few other tricks that play into this fighting style, but again, those shall be revealed later.
Like I've said before, while yeah, the crux of Vin's fighting style will be his Sacred Gear, he still has a lot of tools/talents that build off of that crux in more interesting ways. He's not necessarily a one-trick pony, don't you worry.
Once again, thanks so much for the super nice words of encouragement! It means a lot, so seriously, thanks a bunch. Have a great day, and I hope to see you next time!
Reviloxx says:
"Okay I... Think I may have a *slight* obsession with your writing. The pacing, the thought you put into each and every character, each scene that is well fleshed out and flows so, so well. You deserve all 100 of those follows. Thank you, I often find reading an escape from how... Messy, this word can be sometimes. Thank you for producing this wonderful piece of art to allow me to escape to! :)"
Wow, this may very well be one of the most flattering comments I've ever seen. Seriously, this actually melts my heart in the best way possible. I've been trying really hard to write something that can be loved by the DxD community, my love letter, you know? And it just… It means a lot to hear that people understand that, and are enjoying it. I write for people like you.
Expect more chapters of this story going forward, and I hope that as I can write, I can do your favorite characters justice, and show you, and everyone else reading these chapters an amazing time, because truly, the reason I do this is because I love High School DxD, I love writing, and I love each and every one of you.
Rock on, you wonderful human being, rock on...
... And that wraps up this segment of the Review Roundup! Thanks to each and every one of you who left a review on this story, both for the last chapter, and all the one's before that! If you have a question, critique, discussion, or hey, really anything to say regarding the fic, and want to be answered, then leave a review, and chances are, you'll end up in the next Review Roundup.
If you genuinely enjoyed what you've read today, consider leaving either a follow or a favorite (Or both, I certainly ain't complaining), so that you can receive updates directly whenever this story is updated! Thank you for reading everyone, I hope you enjoyed today's chapter, and remember to ROCK ON!
I'll see all you beautiful people in the next chapter.
