As Noa, Vasco, and Jeanne left the Flame Dome, there were some resigned expressions from the clergy.
The prestige they would get if they were able to get the girl with the Spirit of Jeanne d'Arc...
Noa gave a reassuring nod toward Jeanne as she was led away by Vasco, then went back to Lavinia and Dulio.
"I have recruited a fellow sufferer." He gave a thumbs up, getting deadpans from the other two.
"...She's too young to suffer such training..." Dulio joked.
"Well, they'll probably just send her over to us to just learn and start training when she becomes our age," Noa reasoned.
"Well that's probably pretty accurate," Lavinia agreed.
As the three walked back to their own tables, the crowd parted once more, with Noa getting some looks of respect and jealousy, Noa sat down and got in a thinking position.
"Guys." Noa started. "Did you guys know that our training center is called the Institute of Virtue...?"
Lavinia froze at the name, and Dulio was about to nod satisfactorily, because when his tutor asked about the name, he agreed and thought it sounded cool. However, he froze at Noa's next statement.
"They actually chose a corny ass name for our Training Center."
Lavinia nodded. What Virtue were they supposedly training us in? Were they training Saints or something? The only thing that came out of that Training Center was suffering.
"..." Dulio went silent.
This got the attention of Noa and Lavinia.
"...Was it you again?" Noa grabbed onto Dulio's collar again.
"...I use my right to remain silent."
"That's a thing in Italy...?" Noa started. He really only memorized some information to satisfy the tutors and the tests then immediately forgot them.
He may have the Blessing of Increased Memory, but that didn't mean Noa could remember everything he remembered. Rememberception.
"Who cares? The Defendant Dulio Gesualdo... is Guilty!"
"Objection." A familiar voice intruded. Noa turned around, hands still on Dulio's collar to be face to face with Ewald Cristaldi.
"Your Eminence...?" Dulio asked.
"Brother Dulio didn't have much of a say on the name of the Institution's name. It was decided by the higher ups in advance. His tutor had just asked him for his opinion on the name."
Noa looked back at Dulio with suspicion, who was rapidly nodding. While he didn't even know about that, he wasn't going to take Ewald's assistance for granted.
Technically, while Noa thought it was corny, his naming sense wasn't that good either. It was more of a joke then anything. He just shrugged and let go of Dulio's collar, as Dulio sighed in relief.
"Are you prepared for your Exhibition Match?" Ewald asked the three.
There would be 3 Exhibition Matches before the actual Youth Swordsmanship Tournament.
Noa vs. Dulio
Noa vs. Lavinia
Lavinia vs. Dulio
However, none of the three were notified about this... Exhibition Match.
"...There's an Exhibition Match?" Noa asked first, with Lavinia tilting her head in confusion behind him.
...Did the three really not know about the event?
"...Yes, it's the event before the Youth Swordsmanship Tournament."
"...There was a Youth Swordsmanship Tournament?" Dulio asked. Now getting a confused look from Ewald. Why does it seem like the three know absolutely nothing?
While Ewald kind of suspected it, it was due to the majority of the staff at the Institute of Virtue assuming that the three already knew from Ewald, but Ewald assumed that the staff and notified the three.
Even Dulio barely got information from his Swordsmanship Tutor because he was a rather talkative man.
Gabriel didn't really bother speaking to Noa regarding what was happening at the Church, mainly because she really didn't know, and she would rather play games with Noa then talk about anything serious.
The education tutors were prohibited from talking about their private lives and anything other than their education.
Griselda hinted at the Holy Sword Festival, but didn't say anything about the Youth Swordsmanship Tournament, mainly because it was decided two weeks before the Festival and Griselda left a week prior to pick up the children.
So in the end, the three Longinus Wielders knew next to nothing about the Holy Sword Festival and the following events.
Ewald inwardly sighed. "Yes. Brother Noa and Brother Dulio are signed up to participate, while Lavinia will only participate in the Exhibition Matches."
Noa and Dulio looked at Lavinia who was looking at the two with a smug expression.
"...When's the Exhibition Match?"
"After the Holy Sword Choosing Event. The Youth Tournament is tomorrow."
"...Do they want us to showcase everything?" Noa didn't really want to show everything, both because of possible spies and the unsavory bunch.
"...That is what the higher ups desire, but you don't have to show everything."
"So you're just telling us to be super showy about it."
"...That is to your own interpretation."
The three Longinus Wielders nodded. So make it as showy as possible but don't show much. Well, their Sacred Gears were built to be showy.
As they bid Ewald goodbye, the three started discussing about how they could make it look the coolest.
"Don't do that big move you do in the beginning, I don't want to embarrass myself." Dulio started, looking at Noa, and Lavinia agreed. While Lavinia could counter it with her Ice for a short while, because Noa could keep up that wave up near infinitely, and Lavinia didn't have any instantaneous moves faster than Noa's wave of flames like Dulio did.
Her Magic, while developed to an extent, still couldn't compare to the sheer firepower Absolute Demise granted. So she prioritized convenience and movement abilities.
Because her physical abilities weren't as developed compared to Dulio and Noa, Lavinia inevitably feel short in close quarters combat. She was training in short range Teleportation, but wasn't confident enough to use it while fighting yet.
Even the slightest of mistakes could lead to injury.
"And don't use that Second Form either." Dulio pointed out. That move was just plain unfair. It was even worse when he combined it with Incinerate Anthem.
"Well, I wasn't planning on using that one anyways." While the higher ups saw Ewald's report on it, it wasn't detailed enough to specifically judge it. That was Ewald's consideration towards Noa.
"But I'll still do that big move, but I won't make it last forever. I'll do it for around 5 seconds after I fake charge it up?" Since it was an Exhibition Match, overpowering Lavinia and Dulio wouldn't make for a fun match, and would only harm Dulio and Lavinia's reputation.
"That's fair. At least I'll be able to use larger applications of my Sacred Gear," Because Noa's blasts were near instant, Dulio was almost always restricted to using faster and as a result smaller applications of Zenith Tempest, unless he multitasked both the smaller applications while charging up for a large scale move.
However, doing such multitasking for long periods of time hurt his head.
While sparing against Lavinia was similar to Noa with her instantaneous Ice at the start, it was harder to use his special move because the Ice was actually solid, compared to Noa's Flames.
However, Lavinia's natural stamina prevented her from using such large scale attacks like they were basic attacks like Noa did, so after the first move, Lavinia switched to smaller but accurate moves, as her accuracy improved during her training.
This actually gave Dulio the chance to dodge, unlike with Noa it was like trying to survive a flood of flames with just his Sacred Gear.
But with Noa against Lavinia, because it was easier for her to last against the flames due to the contrasting Sacred Gears, it allowed her to decrease the distance and prevent Noa from spamming his attacks, however, Noa's innate physical ability prevented her Ice from hitting him, even if Noa didn't use Furthest Earth.
In the end, Dulio's biggest struggle while fighting against Noa was his Sacred Gear, while Lavinia's was his physical ability.
Don't even get started with his Second Form.
While with Noa's Sacred Gear it actually looked like a fight, with Nephilim of Revelation, it wasn't even a match. They didn't even know all the effects yet.
As the three discussed, some ambitious exorcists and clergymen wanted to converse and network with the Church's future strongest, but due to Noa most of the time just straight up ignoring them, they didn't even get the opportunity. Dulio gave them an apologetic smile as they left, while Lavinia gave them an indifferent glance.
Noa, as the strongest between the three and the ringleader for most of their shenanigans, was their de facto leader.
Noa could tell most people's personality due to Protection of the Faith, so if he didn't feel any trust, then they probably weren't good people.
Clout chasers, the lot of them.
While this inadvertently put Noa into the Young Master category, Noa couldn't care less about other people's opinions unless they were actually good people.
Well, unless they were born a Saint, most of the people walking up to them were trainees who while taught the word of God, only followed it due to obligation.
And because of their teen age, finding even finding Good people were even rarer.
It was the more older people with more life experience that Noa actually looked towards or people with genuine Faith in God even if they were young.
"It's been a while." Griselda walked up to the three, and unlike when the three awkwardly looked at the other people who approached them, the three had a more casual expression.
"I could say the same back, Griselda." Noa held his hand up in greeting.
Lavinia gave a happy wave, and Dulio also raised his hand in greeting.
"Why didn't you tell us about the Exhibition Match or the Tournament? We just found out!" Noa started after some small talk about what they did during the time they hadn't met.
"...You guys didn't know?"
"No, we just found out today." Lavinia responded.
"I only found out two weeks before, how's that my fault, I wasn't even there. Did no one tell you guys?"
"No." Dulio responded, shaking his head from left to right.
"For real?"
"""For real."""
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A/N: This daily chapter is more of a transition so I can write the 3000 PS Chapter easily tomorrow after church, so it's pretty short. Sorry about that. Also, I don't really know if the characters have any personality, so please tell me if there are any issues about that.
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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.