I can't remember if I plugged the servers in the other chapter but here it is.

Join MADB's Overseers. The code is: zBQrUADkeb

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So yeah. I'm probably going to keep spitting out scattered scenes like this for a while just to keep the creative juices flowing while I focus on writing actual stuff.

An exorcist who runs off on their own accord is as dangerous as a blade that slides out of its own scabbard…in layman's terms, the church has no use for a loose cannon. You are skilled with a blade, yes, but skill comes secondary to what it takes to wield this one. Go to Miss Griselda, Xenovia. I believe you may be a successor of something, but it isn't Transparency.

-Lucius(Excalibur Transparency) to Xenovia(Destruction- rejected transparency candidate)

…

"The blades act alone or in groups of varying numbers, depending on the task to be undertaken but the most consistent grouping is in pairs and even then, there are the more consistent pairs," Griselda explained to Irina and Xenovia who listened rapidly, "like excalibur destruction and excalibur blessing in the case of a frontal assault as well as excalibur transparency and excalibur nightmare in the case of a stealth mission."

"But perhaps the most consistent is the pair of excalibur mimic and excalibur transparency. It can be argued that this is because of their friendship, but the truth is less colorful." She sighed deeply.

The two girls exchanged a confused look. "The…truth?"

"They are the church's assassins," Griselda said simply. "Their abilities may not compliment themselves directly but perhaps it is that independence that makes them so deadly. A man distracted by the ever changing weapon never notices the unseen blade slipping between his ribs until it's far too late. That is what the church sought to make you two as well."

Xenovia gasped. She had met both men on several occasions. Lucius was as pleasant as they came and Naruto was kind, if a bit absentminded. To think both men were specialized in the art of murder.

As if sensing her thoughts, Griselda cleared her throat. "But then again, any exorcist can be considered the church's assassin; to teach a person to fight is to teach a person to kill afterall."

"But…we're just supposed to fight evil," Irina whispered, unsettled. Griselda couldn't fault her; she was one of the men in question's apprentice. "Why would we need actual assassins?"

"I pray you never do, but it's very likely you will learn that we are opposed by more than the forces of darkness," Griselda told her gently. "And it may be your task to silence the voices that seek to drown out that of the church."

Irina stayed silent, but her mind was far from calm. "But Naruto never told me this…after all these months…"

"And it's unlikely he ever will," Griselda said. "If he hasn't told you by now, then it isn't his intention for you to ever find out, much less continue the work. Perhaps this is a burden he wishes to pass on to someone other than you…or carry with him to the grave."

…

By the time Irina's body moved to avoid the staff arcing towards her, it had struck her head with a loud thwack. The impact knocked her off her feet and sent her tumbling several meters until she righted herself and planted her feet into the ground, skidding to a quick halt. Her vision swam but she hadn't been robbed of the visual clarity to see the blond man standing before her with his outstretched arm holding a wooden staff that now sported a fracture at its head, evidence of how hard it had been used to hit her. Her assailant's lips were pursed as he stared at her. She couldn't help feeling he was assessing her.

"You're slow," he murmured. His tone was gentle, almost lazy, but she could hear the displeasure in it. "You could see my attack but you couldn't react in time."

What the hell!? They had just reached the training ground! She glared at him."You surprised me! You said we weren't going to spar!"

"You think too little about the things you're told." Naruto's eyes narrowed at her, his displeasure seemingly growing. "I told you we weren't going to spar, not that we weren't going to fight. A spar is a friendly match with rules and boundaries."

"This isn't a spar, Irina Shidou, this is a fight. And if you want to make any headway in proving yourself, you'll treat this as a fight for your life." He pointed the staff at her, his expression settling into a scowl that made her blood curdle. "Because I fully intend to kill you."

"What!?" Irina shrieked, clutching her sword tighter.

"Don't wait for a warning or an announcement," Naruto said as he settled into a stance. "And surprise attacks could save or take your life, depending on who strikes first-"

"Wait!"

"And in the time I was speaking, you could have at least tried getting the first attack in," Naruto sighed. "Have you never been in dan-"

"-ger?" In an instant, he was in front of a wide eyed Irina who lifted her arms in time to block a thrust with the flat of her sword. Wood met metal with enough force to make her hands smart and she dug her feet further in the ground so as not to be sent flying. The exorcist trainee was still reeling from the attack when the staff blurred upwards then downwards in a destructive path towards her arm.

!!!

Irina's body had shifted gears long before she registered the weapon's motion and by the time realization struck her, she had already dodged the staff that swung harmlessly past her with a deep whistle. If she hadn't moved, it would have shattered her shoulder. The long rod halted abruptly in mid air and alternated for a horizontal path that caught her in the abdomen, forcing the air out of her. The next swing came from the other half and hit her in the arm, this one eliciting a soundless cry that didn't get to leave her before she was silenced by another abdominal strike, this one lifting her and sending her flying.

Irina greedily sucked in air but her respite was short-lived as Naruto was on her again, the staff only half visible in his hands as he launched a flurry of blindingly fast, crippling attacks that she struggled in vain to keep up with.

Irina had known for a long time that just as weight classes existed in martial arts, there was a functional disparity between certain weapons, especially when factors like range were taken into consideration. She had mostly focused on use of the sword for its versatility and the fact that she preferred close combat to everything else but she was now realizing quite painfully why many favored weapons like the spear and its blander cousin, the staff.

For every strike she blocked, there was another ready to capitalize on the opening she inadvertently left. The sturdy wood bruised her skin terribly and each blow that landed on her felt like it'd break her bones in two. When she parried one half, there was the second half of the dreadfully long weapon swinging towards her to avenge its failed predecessor. She knew she could stop it, it would only take one strike, one proper swing of her sword and she could cut the damned thing in two and render it useless, but while the weapon was a bother to deal with, its wielder was another issue.

Naruto was far superior to her in every aspect of physical and combat capability and it showed. He swung the staff so fast, she had little opportunity to do little but block, dodge and when chanced, parry. His strikes landed with the force of a truck, each blocked blow leaving her feeling like her muscles were tearing apart. He knew how much distance to leave to maintain the staff's efficiency without giving her space to retreat. And as if it wasn't bad enough, he seemingly knew her sword better than her. He knew when to switch patterns right before she could execute a counter. When she anticipated a swing and prepared to cut, he thrust. When she aimed to intersect a thrust, he swung.

And to make it all worse, she knew he was taking it easy on her. He had spoken about wanting to kill her but she knew he far from planned on doing so. He attacked her ferociously but still granted her brief moments to recover before resuming his onslaught.

He regarded her with the idle caution of an armed man watching an unarmed child and all the while, he still had that half-expectant, half-disappointed look on his face, as if each attack was him giving her a chance to show him something and she kept failing to do so.

He had struck her everywhere except the places she knew would deal permanent or mortal injuries and more than once, she had seen his attacks slow during their approach towards an unguarded area of her body, as if he was purposely lightening the force of his strikes…wait…

She had seen them! She could see them! She was getting used to his speed! Yes, he might be taking it easy on her but it was more than what she had been able to manage when they first began. If she could see them, then she could more easily predict them and if so…she could also react to them. She weaved her head out of the way of an upward swing that would have caught her in the jaw and kicked the ground, launching herself away from the blond. She could almost swear she saw Naruto roll his eyes before appearing before her once more, the staff kicking up dirt in its wake as it moved to sweep her feet from under her.

She leapt over the swing and saw Naruto frown but he let the rod continue its natural path, his hand spreading into an open palm that the staff twirled over before clasping around it once more to swing at her abdomen.

Chance!

Irina's trembling fingers tightened around the hilt of her sword and she swung the blade further out to meet the staff in its path. Time seemed to slow for her as she nearly felt metal and wood near themselves as well as the remainder of the staff near her ribs. She was in mid air with no leverage for whatever came next. If she failed to cut the staff, she would be at Naruto's mercy. Naruto's bright blue eyes bored into hers, the blond unperturbed by whatever was about to happen, but she could see his lips curl upward. Her sword and his staff collided. The collision only lasted a moment before she felt her sword continue to move, carving a path through the accursed wood before slicing through air once more.

The severed staff flew and hit her in the torso hard but the pain didn't diminish the victory she felt. Her eyes strayed from the blond's own to what was left of the weapon in his hand. It hadn't been cut clean in half but she had still taken away enough of it to render it useless as a staff. As she'd expected, Naruto's fingers were a bit lower than she remembered them being; glaring evidence that he had been aware of her plan.

The euphoric feeling didn't last long before a fist struck her in the side with a heavy whump and for the umpteenth time that day, sent her careening across the ground. Irina let out a choked scream as agony chorused through her body and shakily looked up at the exorcist who stood in place, lazily twirling the severed staff in his hand. That…that bastard!

"At least you didn't let go of your sword," Naruto said tonelessly. "That was a…decent tactic, if extremely risky. Had you failed, that blow would have broken your ribs and probably caused a lung puncture."

"Like…" Irina shuddered as pain racked her body once more. "Like that's any worse..than what you've been….doing to me!"

Naruto blinked. "Hmm. I guess not. You succeeded though, so I have to commend you on that. Sometimes we have to risk losing the battle in order to win the war. Sometimes we have to outright lose to win. The key is to know when to take those risks or make those sacrifices. You realized that unless you made a drastic change, nothing would change."

"Are you…praising me?" Irina asked disbelievingly.

"I'm only commending what you did right," Naruto shrugged. "Your burst of inspiration doesn't change the fact that you were slow and inflexible. You only realized your sword gave you a disadvantage after you had taken too much of a beating to think otherwise and even then, you spent all your time thinking of how to take away my advantage instead of trying to actually level the playing field."

He continued. "When you got accustomed to my speed, you should have begun focusing on how to close the distance between us."

"I tried but you kept moving away," Irina argued. "And so what if I did manage to get close enough!? You'd just punch me anyway."

"Nobody's going to wait for you to get close enough to render their weapon useless, Irina," Naruto replied. "And me having to resort to my hands means that using the staff would have put me at a disadvantage. The spearman's only true advantage against a swordsman is range. When that is taken away, he is as good as finished."

"But I cut your staff, isn't that good enough?"

Naruto snorted. "Yes you did." he raised the remainder of the staff. "And in doing so, you've given me what's basically an escrima," he finished dryly. Irina blanched. "The only thing that's going to change now is that your weapon is bladed while mine is blunt; the escrima is basically a sword too, you know. I could have us continue now and I wouldn't have to pick up anything else."

Irina gulped. Did that mean they were going to fight again?

"But I won't." Naruto dropped the stick onto the ground. "There's nothing more to gain from pushing you further today." He began to walk away. "Go see the healers before your injuries get worse."

"W-wait!" Irina called after him as she struggled to her feet. "Does that mean I pass?"

Naruto paused. "You haven't done much to impress me today, but you have potential."

She brightened. "So you're accepting me?"

"No," Naruto shook his head. "At least not immediately. You'll know if I do."

Something in Irina flared up. He put her through all this just to tell her he'd think about it?! "What do you mean, not immediately? I got chosen as your successor."

"It's that inability of yours to read the things you hear," Naruto shook his head disapprovingly. "You were suggested to be my successor, Irina Shidou. That means I can choose, after careful consideration, not to take you and nothing would happen."

"But the pope-"

"I am the wielder of mimic," Naruto cut her off. "It's not the pope, it's not Griselda, it's not whoever lied to you that I could be ordered to take you in." He turned around to face her fully. "The politics of the church don't extend to who we choose to pass on our mantles to. Lord Michael himself could present you as the best candidate to succeed me and if I refused you, he would have no choice but to drop you and bring someone else, Irina Shidou, so whatever delusions you're harboring about your place here, put them to rest now."

His piece spoken, Naruto resumed his trek out of the training grounds. "A few sisters sweep the grounds every half hour for injured trainees. You can wait for them if you wish but if you do, don't expect a response for me. I've inflicted nothing but pain on you and if you can't push past that, you have no place being here."

The blond's form became a blur and a split second later, he disappeared, leaving an injured Irina staring at the spot where he had once been.

…

"Truth be told, Irina," Naruto smiled at her wryly. "I don't even know why I picked you."

The girl's eyes shot up to him. "What?"

"You're qualified, yet you're not," he sighed. "You learn fast, you adapt quickly and you're open minded. At its core, that's all you really need to be able to wield the blade."

He drew said weapon from its place on his suit tie and Irina watched as it morphed from an innocuous tie clip to a sword in an instant. She didn't have much time to examine it's plain design compared to the others, before Naruto dropped it. Her body moved before her mind and just as quickly as the master's hand left the hilt, the apprentice's clasped around it.

Irina had held the blade many times; Naruto didn't believe in waiting until she succeeded him before wielding it and had oftentimes sent her on missions with the same sword. But inspite of having grown accustomed to it, she still couldn't help being mesmerized by the way it shifted shapes in her hand to form the familiar katana she held. In Naruto's hands, it's form depended on his mood but in hers, it was always the same. Unlike the elaborate design of the other excaliburs, mimic was so…plain, one would doubt it was even one of the seven fragments. And yet, she wouldn't have it any other way.

"It's been theorized that the excaliburs themselves have a semblance of sentience," Naruto began again, pulling the girl out of her thoughts. He was staring down at the city below, his face and hair illuminated by the telltale lights from the Easter festivities that had drawn on well into the night.

"It's not an implausible one," he continued. "They're supposedly the fragments of the same sword of Arthurian legends. It was said that for as long as Arthur held the sword, he would neither know defeat nor death. A blessing on the sword isn't enough to guarantee that, there had to be a mind on the sword to verify that it was being wielded by Arthur, right?"

Irina frowned. "I don't think the blessing was specific to him, just whoever held the sword."

Naruto hummed again. "Who knows. I've heard so many iterations of the story, I can't even begin to guess which is true. The point is, some of us have what seems to be a greater…affinity with our respective weapon than others. I can't seem to stay invisible for as long as Lucius when I hold transparency, nor can Lucius switch mimic's form as quickly as I can. Perhaps it's practice, but it's worth the thought, no?"

Irina stared at him, still confused. "I don't get it. What does it have to do with me?"

"The candidates for the respective blades are selected based on personality and ability," Naruto reminded her. "Would it be necessary to do that if anyone could just pick up whatever and use it to the same extent?"

Irina's frown persisted for another second before realization hit. "Oh, you're saying I'm compatible with mimic?" She paused. "But then who'd you say you don't know why-"

"Because you're not like me," Naruto said, still staring at the curved blade in her hand. "A mimic is a mirror. And a mirror isn't a mirror if it isn't blank. I had nothing and no one when I was taken in. No home training aside from what the orphanage taught us. I had no real personality. No goals. Nothing. That was how I was when Brennan found me. And that was how Brennan was when his master found him. And he told me that that was how his master was when his master found him."

"And because of that, we…perhaps resonate with the blade well. It morphs with our will, with our mood. With our intent…but you," he said, taking his eyes to her. "You're not like me. Not like us. But you still resonate with it as well as any of us, yet you're so stable that one doesn't have to look at it in your hand to know what you're thinking."

"Is…that good?" she asked unsurely.

"I don't know," Naruto answered honestly. "Only time can tell. I think it's good though; maybe a change is what we really need."

"You're a good person, Irina," Naruto nodded to himself. "But you were chosen to be a mimic for a reason. I thought I knew it by now but the more I think about it, the less sure I am that I do. Perhaps all those qualities that you have are all that's really needed and everything else is just icing on the cake. Who knows."

"At least it means you won't end up like me."

..