"What are you three still doing here?" Ewald asked, exasperated, leading them downstairs.
"We were be-" Noa started, before his mouth was immediately covered by Lavinia before he could say anything more.
"...We were just looking at the potential Holy Sword Wielders, Your Eminence. This is the first time seeing so much people in one area, you see," Dulio quickly responded with a plausible excuse.
"..." Ewald looked at Noa's who's mouth was blocked, and decided to ignore it. Having been used to Noa's random comments while training the kid, even he could predict what he was going to say.
"There is still some time left before you're called up, but you three will be the first ones to enter the room full of Holy Swords. You may pick whatever Holy Sword chooses you, but because of your ownership of the Longinus, if someone else can wield the blade soon after, you will have to give it up."
Ewald explained.
Noa looked at him in confusion. "If we're going to have to give it up, what's the point of us going first?"
That made Ewald pause.
"...While I don't approve, some Cardinals believe that showing the capabilities of our... new up and coming exorcists could improve morale." Ewald begrudgingly explained. He also believed it to be ridiculous, and so had Vasco, but they were outnumbered by the optimistic thoughts of their peers.
It kind of irked him to know how ignorant some Cardinals were, but if it really did increase morale and motivation against their enemies, then Ewald didn't have much of an objection. He just believed that it wouldn't be effective as the other Cardinals said it would.
The unspoken fight against their enemies were a priority.
The three plus Ewald made their way down and sat in their designated seats, getting some curious looks from some people, more specifically the orphans who were sent here, and some looks of competitiveness from the exorcist trainees who were older than them, with the occasional jealousy and envy.
Noa didn't care much about the looks from other people, so he just plainly looked back at the people looking at him with a deadpan until it got awkward for the other person and they looked away first.
Dulio, having a bit of experience when he used to stay with the other trainees with jealous looks felt a little burdened, but after around a year of experience until Noa and Lavinia came, Dulio just thought them as something inevitable.
Lavinia, who really only cared about the opinions of people close to her, didn't care for the jealous looks either.
The host for the event called the three up to announce them as the first people to be entering the room.
"You know, it'd be pretty funny with all these expectations placed on us, and none of us walks out with a sword." Noa whispered to the other two as they made their way into the room.
"...But wouldn't that lower the chances of the Church actually giving us good food?" Dulio asked back.
"...That's true."
They entered the white hall to see two rows of holy swords, and when they looked to the right, there was three visually cool looking swords.
"Woah what's that?" Lavinia asked, looking at the description at the bottom of the blade.
'If you can't pick up any Blade, choose one of these.'
"*Pfft*" Noa read the description and burst out laughing. "They-they really had to make sure we came out with a sword, this is funny as fuck," he doubled over trying to think of the thought process.
"At least we have something to back up on if we can't wield any of the Holy Swords," Dulio also looked at the blades. While there was no aura signifying it as a Holy Sword, it certainly 'looked' much stronger than the majority of the swords in the hall.
"But all that talk about flexing our powers and shit, and they're..." Noa pointed at the three back up swords, chortling.
Other than Noa, who was oozing with confidence, Lavinia and Dulio didn't feel the same. Now that they entered the hall, they were tense. While they may not care about the opinions of their peers, the higher ups were different.
That could determine if they could actually eat good food.
Noa indifferently inspected the room.
"It seems the further down the hall you walk, the higher the requirements are, cause I think I see Durandal all the way down there," Noa pointed at the furthest sword, where Durandal was surrounded by the Six Excaliburs.
"They really did collaborate with all three Churches if all the Excaliburs are here," Dulio commented, looking at the semicircle of Top Tier Holy Swords.
Noa nodded.
For fun, he started from the beginning and picked up the swords along the way, and the aura that the Holy Swords emitted calmed down in his hands.
Dulio and Lavinia looked at him with a little bit of resentment. Here they were, tense and nervous, and Noa was here loved by the Holy Swords. He wasn't even reading the descriptions, just casually picking them up one by one!
Dulio slowly picked each sword up one by one, having the same tense feeling one would have when they had to see if they won the 50/50, sighing in relief when a Holy Sword accepted him.
Lavinia was very much the same.
However, Noa calmly walked forwards, ignoring [Protection of the Faith]'s notifications.
[Protection of the Faith generates [Increased Affinity with One-Handed Holy Swords]]
[Protection of the Faith generates [Increased Affinity with Two-Handed Holy Swords]]
[Protection of the Faith generates [Increased Affinity with Bladed Holy Weapons]]
[Protection of the Faith...]
Well, there was an unexpected event with a specific sword in the hall.
Noa reached out to touch it, but while it did allow him to pick it up and emitted a very small amount of Holy Power, Noa could tell that it didn't approve of him. He blinked in surprise, as he set it down and let go to see it glowing with Holy Energy once more.
He looked down at the description and saw the words, and he understood to an extent why it didn't choose him.
La Pucelle.
It sounded extremely familiar, so when he read the smaller description, lo and behold, it was the Saint of France, Jeanne d'Arc's Sword.
"This place has more unexpected swords than I thought, is the Church supposed to be the British Museum?" Noa commented, getting the attention of Dulio and Lavinia.
"Hmm?" Dulio held up the best sword he could pick. Crocea Mors, the weapon of Julius Caesar. Since he chose his weapon, he just decided to observe Noa's rather unnatural capabilities like a spectacle, as Lavinia did.
Lavinia unfortunately held one of the lower class Holy Swords in her hands, with an underlying disappointment in her expression.
"Look, it's Jeanne's Sword," Noa showed the sword to the two. "Isn't this, I don't know, supposed to be in a museum or something?"
"I'm even surprised it even emits Holy Energy for you, seeing as it's a sword for a Maiden," Dulio mused, "But I'm holding Crocea Mors, and that's Julius Caesar's. Shouldn't this also be in a museum?"
"Damn 'the' Julius Caesar? The guy who said the thing?"
"What thing?" Lavinia asked.
"You know, 'I came, I came, I came.'" Noa joked, garnering a sigh from Dulio.
"...You mean I came, I saw, I conquered?"
"Yeah that one," Noa chortled, putting La Pucelle down, gesturing for Lavinia to come a give it a try. Lavinia slowly held up the weapon and Holy Power emitted from the blade.
"Oh it works on you, Lavinia." Noa commented. "Didn't you fail all the way back there?" Noa pointed down the hall, getting a glare from Lavinia.
"It might be because Lavinia's a Maiden," Dulio reasoned. Even if La Pucelle had much harsher standards to males, when it came to Maidens it was rather lax. Noa was the weird one in this instance, being able to wield it at all.
"Well, good for you Lavinia, we have a higher chance of getting better food." Noa commented.
Lavinia nodded with satisfaction. La Pucelle was better than she had expected.
The three continued to walk forward, with Noa being able to hold every single Holy Sword to an extent.
"You know, your affinity with Holy Power might actually be fraudulent with how you're doing this." Dulio commented, as Noa even held up Excalibur Galatine with apparent ease, the holy sword's aura preening at Noa's touch.
"I must have God's Blessing or something, I don't know," Noa shrugged, using his normal excuse, seeing as no one but Gabriel believed him.
"Yeah, yeah." Dulio waved it off. "And I'm the second coming of King Arthur."
"She would be offended."
"...She? Wasn't King Arthur a man?" Lavinia asked.
"Says who? King Arthur might have been a woman in disguise." Noa countered. "You can't always believe the books."
"Yeah, but if we don't believe the books, who are we supposed to believe?" Dulio shot back.
"...Yourself?"
"Why are you saying it like it's a question?" Dulio sighed.
The three finally approached Durandal and the Six Excaliburs, their Holy aura so potent that they were emitting it.
Dulio and Lavinia looked at Noa with suspense, but Noa started picking them up like they were random sticks on the road.
"...Where's the suspense...?" Lavinia asked, watching as Noa easily picked up two Excaliburs in his hands, and was even reaching for a third. Dulio nodded. It was kind of unusual for the Holy Sword Excalibur to not have any suspense when attempting to pick it up with such casualness.
It wasn't just unusual, it was fucking weird.
"What? I have weapons that can't even compare," Noa commented, picking up the sixth one and holding the six like they were Black Keys a little clumsily, crossing his arms like Wolverine.
"Yeah, sure," Dulio waved it off, while Lavinia gave a small nod in agreement with Noa. It made sense.
"Want me to show you?" Noa asked Dulio, putting the Excaliburs back.
"...You aren't going to just show me your middle finger, are you?"
"...Who do you think I am?"
"Someone who would do exactly that." Dulio deadpanned, he would know. Noa had done it before.
"Nah, trust." Noa held out his hands and materialized the Sword of Promised Victory, Excalibur. Because he wasn't going to use it in a fight, the true Splendor of the blade was shown.
Dulio blinked at the sudden appearance of the sword, but while the sword felt peerless and all powerful, it didn't really emit Holy Power...
"Why are you looking at Excalibur with such a doubtful expression? Put some respect on it's name." Noa looked at Dulio with an eyebrow raised. The familiar name caused both Dulio and Lavinia to pause in confusion.
"...What did you say the name of this sword is...?"
"Hmm? I already said it, Excalibur." Noa waved the sword around, with the sword emitting energy like it was flexing to the broken Excalibur shards.
"...How?"
"What do you mean how, it must be God's Blessing," Noa shrugged, putting Excalibur Proto back in his Inventory.
"...That excuse again?" Dulio sighed. It was impossible for that sword to be Excalibur. First of all, the shards already existed, which meant that it was shattered. How would a complete Excalibur even exist?
But the Peerless aura and the sheer presence the Sword had was undeniably much stronger than the Six Excaliburs and even Durandal.
The absence of Holy Energy was what was throwing Dulio off...
Well, it wasn't like he was a snitch so no need to ask further.
"Well, I believe you, so does that mean you're not choosing a Sword?" Dulio asked. If Noa didn't choose a sword it wouldn't be good for their future meals...
Noa chortled. "Nah, I'll still choose one."
He casually picked up Durandal, which similar to the other Swords, preened in his hands, it's aura as calm as a tamed pet. But Noa just put it down without thought. He didn't really have a use for it and since Xenovia could wield it as well, Noa didn't bother taking it.
Also, the sword itself was too high profile.
"...Wait we're just going to ignore Noa picking up Durandal?" Dulio pointed at Durandal with confusion and then at Noa.
"Well, didn't Noa pick up Six Excaliburs with no issue?" Lavinia asked to the side.
"That's true..."
"...Wanna make a bet?" Noa asked Dulio.
"...Huh?"
"I bet that at the next Festival, there'll be a natural wielder of Durandal."
"...Excuse me?"
"You heard what I said." Noa picked up Excalibur Transparency. It was the weapon that prompted the Festival and it was an Excalibur, so the higher ups would probably be satisfied. "Also, I've picked mine."
"...How much are we going to bet?"
"How about one Favor?"
"...I'm in."
--+--
A/N: The 1400 PS Extra Chapter. Dude my lats and forearms are so fucking sore dude I'm in pain... 6 Months of not going to the gym catching up on me. I'll write the daily chapter later and the 2100 PS chapter if I have the energy.
--+--
We have Powerstone Goals!!!
500 PS - Extra Chapter (Complete)
800 PS - Extra Chapter (Complete)
1100 PS - Extra Chapter (Complete)
1400 PS - Extra Chapter (Complete)
2100 PS - Extra Chapter (Writing in Progress)
3000 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.