Noa stood across Dulio standing perfectly still. Dulio held his hands out in preparation. Recently, he realized that by combining some elements he could create synergetic effects.
Actually this realization hadn't happened recently, he always knew he could connect some stuff like water and lightning, and earth and wind, but recently during his science classes he learned something interesting.
By creating flames as hot as he could, and then combining it with water as cold as he could without making it freeze, he could artificially create a Steam Explosion.
Noa's Incinerate Anthem was a finnicky Sacred Gear to go against. While the name of the Sacred Gear automatically made people assume that it was Fire that was created, it was actually the phenomenon of 'burning'.
This was because the Flames that Incinerate Anthem controlled wasn't actually fire, but Holy Flames.
He had originally tried to counter the Flames with Ice and Water, but it somehow 'burned' them.
The Holy Flames didn't work as effectively against Absolute Demise, because instead of the Doll manipulating Ice, it actually created the phenomenon of 'freezing'. The only reason Incinerate Anthem beating Absolute Demise being that the user's base strength was much stronger.
So if Dulio could create an explosion that was so quick that the Flames couldn't burn it, it would probably work.
Noa looked at Dulio with a neutral expression.
Noa had said that he had a 'power up', but this was Dulio's newly created trump card. The rest of his moves took too long to create.
An instantaneous move against an instantaneous move. Dulio created this move specifically to counter Noa's instant Flame Blast.
Dulio would have to use 4 Elements simultaneously at a high accuracy.
The Fire Element at the hottest he could generate.
The Water Element at the coldest he could make.
The Earth Element to encase the Fire and Water to remove any chances of air getting released.
And the Wind Element to send the bomb flying.
He was so proud of it that he even named the move.
Sigillo di Vapore del Giudizio Celeste.
"Cardinal Cristaldi." Noa looked at Dulio's face of concentration, sweat dripping from his face even before the spar happened.
"Hmm?"
"If I have a power up, can I use it before the Spar starts?" Instinct was blaring warning signals, something that hadn't occurred against Dulio before. Mainly because Noa's constant spamming of Incinerate Anthem the moment the spar started prevented Noa from actually being threatened.
During the spars where he only used swordsmanship, using Instinct was normal. But Noa wanted to flex his new form so he didn't hold a practice sword.
"...As long as you don't attack or prepare an attack, it's permitted."
Noa closed his eyes as he started his prayer to Gabriel.
His Seven Wings and Seven Trumpets materialized behind him.
Ewald blinked in bewilderment and his eyes widened when he realized what he was looking at. Lavinia had a similar reaction, widened eyes but with admiration instead.
Only Dulio was still locked in. While there was a momentary loss of focus when he saw the rather noticeable change, Dulio was ready.
"I'm ready!"
The tension rose as the count lowered.
Noa, who wanted to flex his abilities, had his hands out to use the Sixth Trumpet. While Noa and Gabriel had assumed the Seven Golden Trumpets would be the Trumpets of the Apocalypse, but they were large scale buffs, and were the Seven Churches of Asia Minor.
The Sixth Trumpet, Philadelphia was the defensive buff, creating "gates" for repositioning and escaping, and he could even use it as a shield.
When the protected is 'doing righteous acts,' it even granted temporary invulnerability, but since it was a spar, that effect didn't take place.
As the countdown reached zero, Dulio released his new move, and the Sixth Trumpet blew an overwhelmingly loud and clear noise, causing Lavinia and Dulio to wince.
But it didn't matter. His shot was released at speeds approaching 150 meters per second. While it was slower than a bullet, it was much faster than Noa's Flame propagation speed.
As Noa walked backwards into the gate that he created, the stone cannon impacted against the gate, crumbling.
Dulio's confident expression fell, and as Noa walked forward once more through the gate, he was already behind Dulio.
"...Huh?"
.
..
...
[Monthly Quest Completed - Defeat Dulio Gesualdo 20 Times in a Spar - 20/20 - +20 Free Pulls]
--+--
After vaguely explaining his new ability to Cardinal Cristaldi, Noa went into his room with his 45 Free Pulls.
Since he didn't really need Eternal Arms Mastery because of [Protection of the Faith], Noa just decided to do four 10 Pulls for a Random Specialized Character Card and 5 Pulls for the fully random General Pull.
He could save until 50 Pulls, but the thing he got from the card wasn't guaranteed. And also, if he used all 50 for one Specialized Character Card, then he would only get 50 Points to pull on the Stat Point/Craft Essence Banner. But if he did four 10 pulls he could have 200 Points for 20 Pulls on that banner.
He didn't even get Points for the freebies last time.
Because [Protection of the Faith] boosted up his stats by Letters, he needed to get his stats to at least E Rank to get D Rank Stats.
This novel's name was Gambling with Fate, not Noa's Church Experience.
'Use 40 Points for 4 Random Specialized Character Cards!'
[Character Card - Girl of the Moon - Tsuki no Sango]
[Character Card - Voyager - Fate/Requiem]
[Character Card - Leonardo B. Harwey - Fate/EXTRA]
[Character Card - Hisui & Kohaku - Tsukihime]
Damn. He knew absolutely none of these characters.
But who knew if they were pretty strong or not.
Noa used the first skill card.
[Extra Skill - Limestone Creation & Manipulation - B+ Rank]
Hmm... Was there even limestone on the moon?
But it seemed to function similarly to Noa's Wind of Niflheim, so another Creation Skill.
Next.
[Extra Skill - Flight (Mana) - C+ Rank]
...Well, there wasn't much of a reason for Noa to fly seeing as he had Furthest Earth, but if he used it in conjecture with Nephilim of Revelation, then maybe Noa could use it as a cool factor.
Next.
[Extra Skill - Sword Camelot: Castle of the Assembled Brilliant Holy Sword - B Rank]
Noa couldn't tell jack shit from this Extra Skill, as the name literally told nothing.
What does it do?
[It creates a Castle where for 3 Minutes, no one can disturb the Host's 1v1.]
Oh this is pretty useful!
[However, it only lasts 3 Minutes and can be interrupted by a Holy Sword.]
The time limit was kind of a negative, but having something similar to a Bounded Field where he could freely 1v1 is pretty cool and interesting.
Last character card!
[Extra Skill - Synchronization - C-A+++ Rank]
Oh this one looks pretty useful! What's it do?
[Through the exchange of bodily fluids, Host can transfer any kind of Energy to another.]
...Noa blinked at the description. Why does this sound like an ability solely made for an Adult Game?
Like the entire Mana Transfer thing in Fate.
[The effect of the energy depends on the user of Synchronization and the specific Bodily Fluid.]
...I don't think I'll be using this one anytime soon.
--+--
A/N: I really hate how short this fucking chapter is, but before I started writing tomorrow, I wanted to ask if yall are fine with me creating completely new plots, seeing as this is fucking 15 years before canon.
I already have a plot drafted, but it isn't canon. Tbh, people should expect self made plots if yall reading a fanfic started 15 years before canon. This chapter is more if I should enhance the draft or not. Don't worry, your 1400 PS Chap will still come tomorrow.
Also, I'd be surprised if yall knew about 2 of the character cards.
I didn't roll Voyager's servant variation, so it's the one from Fate/Requiem. It's written that he can fly using his master's mana.
--+--
We have Powerstone Goals!!!
500 PS - Extra Chapter (Complete)
800 PS - Extra Chapter (Complete)
1100 PS - Extra Chapter (Complete)
1400 PS - Extra Chapter (Writing in Progress)
2100 PS - Extra Chapter
Extra chapters will be released the day after the goal is reached, from 2:00 PM to 6:00 PM KST cause that's when I'm free. They'll also be generally shorter than normal chapters.
Normal Chapters will be released every day during the times from 8:00 PM to 2:00 AM KST cause I normally get inspo throughout the day.
Also, comments, powerstones, and reviews are always appreciated.