"Are you really going to choose just Excalibur Transparency?" Dulio asked Noa.
"Some people would be offended if you said 'Just Excalibur Transparency' bro," Noa countered, casually putting the sword over his shoulder. "Also, if I get Durandal, doesn't that give Cardinal Strada a reason to train me more?"
"...You may be onto something." While Vasco did train the three, it only happened on rare occasions, but if a successor of Durandal was found between the three of them, the frequency of Vasco taking time to specifically train them would definitely increase.
Noa leaned back with a smile. "I know, right?"
"So, where do we go?" Noa asked, back at the entrance.
"I think we just come back the way we came," Lavinia nodded towards the gate they entered through.
"Well, I guess you're right... I kind of expected a back door." Noa shrugged, leaving the gate with Lavinia and Dulio in tow.
As they left, they were back in view of the large audience of higher ups and prospective Holy Sword Wielders.
Noa went first, showing off Excalibur Transparency, and garnering applause. With nonchalance bordering on arrogance, he handed the sword off to a staff member and stepped down. However, due to this apparent casualness of his actions, some exorcists thought that they had a chance of holding Excalibur, and their competitive spirit flared up.
There were some jealous expressions, as the thought of 'How come this guy was born with everything?' spread amongst some exorcist trainees and even veteran exorcists.
Noa looked around to see if he could see Valper Galilei, but to be honest, he didn't remember what the man looked like at all. After all, he only knew about this event just a week before it actually started.
He inwardly shrugged. Well, Noa didn't really know if Valper did any weird stuff before he started on the Holy Sword Project, so even if Noa accused Valper, he didn't have much evidence.
Or he could just kill the man and be done with it.
It reminded him of someone with Regressor Syndrome. Killing someone because he knew what they would do in the future. Effective.
Watching as Dulio showed off his Holy Sword and sat down, and Lavinia also showed off her chosen Holy Sword, they kind of ran out of things to do. The three really didn't want to spend the rest of the time just watching as there would be a total of 15 groups. Even the three of them alone took 20 minutes.
Noa looked toward their chaperone for the event who was sitting a few tables away with the other Cardinals, Ewald Cristaldi, who pointedly ignored his pleading expression.
Well, no choice.
Noa stood up to use the restroom, and Dulio and Lavinia followed. Since they didn't have a valid reason to decline their request, the three left the hall.
Taking out a pack of cards smuggled in by Gabriel as one of the few games they played together, they played a few rounds of Old Maid, and made their way back as the first person returned from the Hall of Swords.
Noa ignored Ewald's exasperated expression, and sat down at his assigned table with Lavinia and Dulio.
Glancing at the first person out, the face was pretty familiar. Wasn't that the guy that he chose as his first pick? David Cerro if he remembered correctly?
David held out Excalibur Galatine with pride, looking at his master and giving Noa who sat decently far away a determined glance to show that he wasn't inferior to Longinus wielders in anyway.
As someone who was still rather hot headed as he was still in his youth, having heard rumors about the three gave him a feeling of competitiveness, having been raised as a prodigy of swordsmanship since a young age.
Unfortunately, Noa wasn't even paying attention to him. Instead, he was smugly looking at Dulio and Lavinia and flexing that his first pick actually got a Holy Sword, and they looked at Noa with jealous expressions none of them even sparing another glance at David. However, David didn't know about the small bet the three had.
David's expression darkened. Did that mean that he was so insignificant that he wasn't even put into consideration in the minds of the Longinus Wielders?
He handed the sword off to a staff member and walked down, his mood significantly worse. He would show them during the Exorcist Youth Swordsmanship Tournament what talent truly was.
--+--
"Damn, Dulio, how unlucky even are you? Your picks hasn't even gotten a Holy Sword yet," Noa picked at Dulio, who clasped his hands in nervous prayer.
The five groups of Young Exorcists and Exorcist Trainees were completed, and Dulio's five picks hadn't even obtained a Holy Sword.
Noa had 2 people, and Lavinia actually had 3. Griselda was also able to pick up La Pucelle, and with even greater proficiency than Lavinia.
She even gave Lavinia an apologetic look when she came back from the room. Well, Lavinia didn't really care much as she didn't even know swordsmanship, despite being forced to exercise. If she actually had ownership of a Holy Sword, that would just mean more training.
But Dulio still had a chance.
There was still the 10 groups of untrained volunteers and potentials.
Dulio closed his eyes in prayer.
"Wait are you actually praying?" Noa looked at Dulio in confusion, before chortling, Lavinia following suit.
"...No you don't understand. I've had this food for like 2 years now. It'd be weird if I started complaining about it now." Because when he first started training, he wasn't that picky regarding food, he said that the food was okay when a staff member asked while they were still accommodating to the Longinus Wielder, so it was probably because of him that the church kept the shitty food.
There was no way Dulio was going to tell the other two that it was technically his fault for the food being that white slop and backtrack on his statement that he made a while ago.
Noa looked at Dulio with suspicion, before realizing something, grabbing onto his collar with a smile. "So it's your fault the food is this bad, isn't it?" He asked with an accusatory tone.
Dulio froze at the accusation. "Uh... No?" He looked to the side, trying not to make eye contact with Noa, but he fell out of the frying pan and into the fire, matching eye contact with Lavinia's suspicious gaze.
"Aha..."
Dulio looked away from Lavinia's stare and turned to the other side, but he hit eye contact with Ewald, who had a confused expression. He closed his eyes in resignation. "Yes... I said it was fine when they first asked if it was okay..."
Noa nodded. "The Defendant is... Guilty!"
At that moment exactly, there was a wave of whispers around the room, getting the attention of the three.
...What the hell?
Even Dulio wondered if it was that deep.
They looked around confused, but as they looked at the stage, they finally understood the reason behind all the commotion. It really showed how little they actually cared about the Festival. The only good part being the food tasting pretty good.
At the entrance of the Hall of Swords, stood a nervous looking little girl, holding onto a Holy Sword like it was going to get stolen, the sword even taller than herself.
The sword was familiar to the three, after all, it was the Holy Sword that Lavinia brought out. Because of it's requirements being lax with Maidens, there were actually a large number of people who could wield the sword.
However, La Pucelle in the hands of the young girl was gleaming with newly polished silver, and an aura of Holy Flames could be seen emitting from the sword.
In the Fate Universe, La Pucelle was the crystallization of Jeanne d'Arc's burning at the stake in an offensive form.
The actual sword was the Sword of St. Catherine, which Jeanne never actually swung.
However, In the universe of DxD, La Pucelle was a rare sword where the higher the compatibility was with the sword, an additional ability was unlocked.
The Holy Flames, symbolizing Jeanne d'Arc's burning at the stake. The same Holy Flames that Noa wielded with Incinerate Anthem.
However, the requirements for that ability was so high, the only people able to use the Holy Flames of La Pucelle were people carrying the Spirit of Jeanne d'Arc herself. After all, as a Maiden it was impossible for descendants to even exist.
Noa watched with slight interest as the Holy Flames were surrounding her in a protective dome as some clergy tried to approach her, to no avail.
He vaguely remembered someone with the Spirit of Jeanne d'Arc in the anime. He didn't actually know that she joined the church before joining the Hero Faction.
While Noa wasn't aware of this, but Noa could in a sense be indirectly blamed for Jeanne being sent to the Vatican. This was because of the confidence of the Church increasing to unrealistic levels due to Noa and Lavinia joining the Church. With three Longinus Wielders out of the 13 in the Church alone, it would be unusual if their confidence didn't border on arrogance.
It was the main reason why they had even created such a large event just for Holy Swords in the first place. While originally they would have just quietly looked for Holy Sword wielders in orphanages, they wanted to ride the momentum of such heavy hitters in the Church.
They even had a plan of creating a small group of elites which included the three Longinus Wielders.
Because of the three, they had even set up an Exhibition Match to showcase their abilities, well, not that Noa or rather any of the three were aware of that.
The Church really didn't tell them jack shit...
But it was because of this widespread gathering of children with even a sliver of potential, even normally overlooked smaller orphanages such as Jeanne's were inspected.
As clergymen swarmed the young girl, hovering outside of La Pucelle's range, even Vasco was getting fed up, gesturing toward Noa to follow.
Noa blinked at the sudden event, before sighing and getting up, flanked by Dulio and Lavinia.
As they walked, Noa looked back at the two.
"...Hey don't we look kind of cool?"
Lavinia sighed. "If you say that it detracts from the coolness."
"...You right, you right," Noa nodded reluctantly.
As the three followed Vasco, the clergy spread out like they were Moses parting the sea. Making their way through the crowd, they finally arrived at the young girl clutching onto La Pucelle, the flames becoming even more violent because of the young girl's stress levels rising as she was surrounded by whispering middle aged men with greed in their eyes.
To be honest, even Noa would be a little creeped out if middle aged men were just whispering around him, eyes trained on him with greed.
As Vasco arrived, the clergy reluctantly dispersed, and the young girl breathed a sigh of relief, but her breath hitched looking at the hulking mass of muscle that was Vasco Strada, the Holy Flames flaring up again.
Vasco, who was about to say reassurances froze at the young girl's expression, his smile frozen, as he looked at Noa with a half pleading and half resigned expression.
Noa inwardly chuckled.
Noa walked up to the ball of Holy Flames and just straight up put his hands into the Flames, garnering gasps from the clergy. The young girl closed her eyes in fright at the thought that she harmed someone. Since he didn't feel any pain, he just walked into the flames into the small sphere and became face to face with the young girl, who blinked in surprise.
With his appearance and Protection of the Faith, he probably had the best First Impression skill if that even existed.
[Protection of the Faith generates [Increased Good Will for [First Meetings]]
...Well, now he had a Blessing for that one.
He gave the young girl a small smile. It kind of reminded him of when he first met Lavinia.
"Hello, the name's Noa. What's yours?"
"...Jeanne."
So the girl's actual name was Jeanne? Noa had expected it to be a scenario like Cao Cao where he changed his name to his ancestor's name.
"Nice to meet you Jeanne." Noa took a seat and looked outside the ball of fire that Jeanne had created. He frowned at the looks he was getting, and reinforced the protective shield that La Pucelle created.
*Snap*
*WHOOSH*
The original protective sphere of fire was still see through in some areas, but with Noa snapping his fingers, the sphere became fully opaque, causing some clergymen to back up in fright.
Jeanne blinked in surprise, but looked back at Noa who looked relaxed and looked at Jeanne with a reassuring smile. He wasn't familiar with being a therapist or something similar, but having talked to Gabriel for a few months, even he picked up on a few things.
"Let's have a short conversation."
Jeanne carefully nodded.
"I'm not going to do anything bad to you," Noa chuckled. "Well, the clergymen might." That made Jeanne pause, not helping her in the slightest.
"Well, do you remember that big~ looking guy who was next to me?" Noa asked, getting a nod.
"You can trust that guy. Actually, out of anyone in the Church that aren't my friends, I trust that guy the most, even if his appearance is rather frightening..." Noa gave an exaggerated sigh of exasperation.
Jeanne puffed out her cheeks. She didn't like this place. These people took her away, and said it was "special." But she didn't want to be special. And the Sister smiled when they took her. Why did she smile?
Noa looked at her expression. Well, she's probably the same as Dulio, getting forcefully drafted.
"While you probably didn't want to be sent here, if you're here, not make the most of it?" Noa willingly joined because of the benefits compared to homelessness.
"...Why should I listen to you?" she pouted, arms crossed.
Noa felt like an recruiter, but it was true. There was probably no way the Church would send Jeanne back. Her carrying the Spirit of Jeanne d'Arc was one thing, but if Noa remembered correctly, she also had a Sacred Gear.
"...Well, we have Taco Tuesday?"
"..." Jeanne looked at Noa in confusion.
"...Okay I'll be serious. We don't have Taco Tuesday." Silence.
"Okay, I'll actually be serious. The Church probably won't let you go. But if you get stronger to the point where they can't control you, you might even be able to visit your home."
"...What if they make me do things I don't want to do?"
"...That's kind of inevitable, but I'll try my best," Noa said. He didn't really wanna take classes either. "It can't be that bad... can it?" he mumbled. Jeanne looked much younger than him, around 5 years old if he was being generous? They probably wouldn't force a 5 year old to train... would they?
'He's kind of weird... but not scary... I think?' But, there wasn't much of an option in the first place, was there?
Jeanne gave a small nod.
As her emotions calmed down, the Holy Flames also entered back into the sword.
This was because instead of generating Holy Flames like Incinerate Anthem, La Pucelle had a limited amount of Holy Flames usable in the sword itself.
While the amount stored could fill at max a large courtyard, compared to the theoretical infinite amount of Holy Flames that Noa could expel without tiring, it wasn't even a fair comparison.
Even though the Sword took back the Flames, the dome of Flames was still active, causing Jeanne to look around in confusion.
"Oh that's mine." With a wave of his hands, the Flame Dome dispersed, but before the middle aged men could rush to Jeanne, Noa snapped his fingers(cause it looked cool).
A larger dome appeared, and now three people were in the Flame Dome. Vasco, Noa, and Jeanne. Jeanne looked wearily at Vasco, choosing to hide behind Noa.
Vasco gave a resigned chuckle.
"Your Eminence." While Noa gave Vasco the proper respect, because it was just them he didn't bother bowing. He knew that Vasco didn't really like such things, but due to his reputation and rank, it was inevitable.
"So, have you convinced Little Jeanne?"
While it surprised him that Vasco already knew her name, but thinking about it, if Vasco wasn't able to get information on the girl even after their 5 minute conversation, Noa would be concerned about the ability of the Church.
Noa nodded. "Well, I told her that I would try and protect her from the 'unsavory bunch' if you know what I mean."
While Vasco gave most people the benefit of the doubt as they all believed in the Lord, Vasco had to admit some of his peers had rather distasteful personalities. Vasco solemnly nodded.
"To be honest, the best solution I can think of is... you know what I mean right?" Noa gestured toward himself, and Vasco easily got the implication. Well, Vasco thought of a similar solution, but Jeanne needed more potential even if she was able to wield La Pucelle and had the spirit of Joan of Arc.
"Also, if you're looking for a more better reason, I have a good reason to believe that Jeanne here has a Sacred Gear." That made Vasco pause and Jeanne tilted her head at the unfamiliar term.
"...Are you positive?"
"Just a gut feeling."
Vasco gave Noa the benefit of the doubt. When he had first read about the report of Noa's Incinerate Anthem and seen him for the first time, he could tell that he was different from the norm. His 'Second Form' only reinforced his belief. Vasco hummed in thought before nodding.
"If she really does have a Sacred Gear, I will try to the best of my ability to send her to the Institute of Virtue on my name as Cardinal Priest Vasco Strada."
Noa nodded. If he did it on his name, he was pretty confident, but the unfamiliar name of the Training Center made Noa pause. What was that corny ass name? "What's with that name?"
"You didn't know?"
"Well obviously I didn't know. The Training Center tells us absolutely nothing."
"...Well, I assumed you already knew." Vasco responded.
Noa inwardly sighed. Well, it was too late. They were stuck with that corny name.
Dang it.
"Well, It's too late. Thank you for the assistance, Cardinal Strada." Noa gave a small bow in appreciation. He turned toward Jeanne.
"Well, we'll be seeing each other soon."
Jeanne looked at Noa with a hint of trust and nervousness. This person really was kind of weird... but maybe it was fine to trust him?
[You have changed the destiny of [Jeanne]. You have obtained the Achievement [The Saint of Orleans' Protector] +3 Free Pulls]
--+--
A/N: This is lowkey ridiculous. 3000 powerstones. For a first story with only 23 chapters this is lowkey crazy asf. Here's your 2100 Powerstone chapter. I'm currently writing the daily chapter rn. I know 4000 is impossible, but it feels weird without a goal.
Next week the intervals are def being 500. 300 is just too fucking small.
La Pucelle is a created sword in DxD that I just fucking made up. Just thought it made sense. Also, just showing how Noa does some butterfly effect shit is kind of entertaining. Also, Jeanne is only 5 in this chapter.
--+--
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 (Complete)
3000 PS - Extra Chapter (Writing in Progress)
4000 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.