"I see." The man paused a few feet from me. "I think you know who I am, don't you?" The guy spoke again with a grin.
"The one who came for Kokabiel and the other rogue priests." I looked at him while preparing my mental trigger. "Also the supposed host of the dragon who is the rival of Draig."
...
"Hmm..." He merely shrugged in agreement as he circled around me, his eyes occasionally eyeing the miniature spear around my neck that was pulsing in response to his intent. "This will be our second meeting, but our first 'face-to-face' moment. Vali Lucifer at your service." He gave a mock bow while maintaining that smirk.
"Indeed." I looked around, thankful that I had prepared a few charms for repelling people from the area and a few charms for memory wiping. I could tell that this fellow was going to cause some trouble, but hopefully not too extreme. I would have to overlook the bit of him having the same last name as one of the Maous for the time being.
"So it is true, you are the one who took down Regeis and taken his Sacred Gear." Vali came back full circle in front of me and looked at me in the eye. "Not bad for a human."
"I doubt that is all you want to confirm?"
"No." Vali's smile became more predatory. "It isn't."
'DANGER!' My mind screamed at me just as my body moved to make some distance, just in time to avoid the dropkick Vali did in a blink of an eye. His leg barely missed my head and slammed into the ground, creating a huge crater from the impact. Without pausing for a moment, he pushed forward to aim a jab at my chest, making a small tear in the shirt when I went to dodge by the side.
"Not bad reflexes." Vali mused as he straightened his posture. "How about your footwork?"
This time I was ready for the sidekick he delivered and stopped it by trapping his leg between my elbow and my leg, though the amount of force he put in was enough to make me grit my teeth and strain my other leg to keep upright. Without pausing, I threw a straight jab to his leg, forcing him to buckle and giving me enough leverage to push him off and distance to bring out Kanshou and Bakuya. With a quick dash, I went to attack him with Kanshou only for him to raise an arm and block the blade without any armor. I had to make due with a small cut on his arm as I pushed harder before jumping back.
"Oh~" Vali mused as he looked at the cut before looking back at me. "Most weapons can't harm me so quickly, yet your blade is able to make a small but deep cut." The cut glowed before closing up to leave a small scar behind. "Now then, let's try something else."
With a leap that broke the ground, he let loose a series of punches and kicks that forced me into defense, each of his strikes feeling like I was getting hit by a truck, not helped that his movements were so fluid and random that a couple got past my defense. With a thought, [Hell's Trident] came into play and stabbed the ground between us to give me more breathing room. Grabbing one of the spears, I poured a bit of my aura to break it before throwing it right at his face.
Got him now!
[Divide! Divide! Divide!]
Before the spear could reach him, the speed of the spear dropped and the aura in it seem to plummet to a level barely enough to power a spell and that was proven when Vali merely knocked it out of his way, breaking it easily with a mere touch.
"That was a little dangerous." He smiled as metallic wings of blue light appeared behind him, the mere presence sending off waves of aura that made every alarm bell in my head go off. "Now then, let's try something else."
Ah come on!
The devil once again moved forward, this time a whole lot faster than earlier, forcing me to create several weapons to guard my sides. This was going nowhere for me!
"Ba~ Bump!"
This feeling… I wonder?
I jumped back to gain a bit more room before opening up one of the dimensional portals, and without a moment to pause, seven swords rushed out of the portal and struck Vali by the wings, causing him to stumble and giving me time to regroup.
"Oh~" Vali straightened himself and looked at the demonic swords that hovered around me, each one letting out a pulse of demonic energy that was sending out bloodless. "Looks like you have other trinkets it seems."
I let him talk while looking at the swords in question; I actually forgot about those swords I have procured from Kiba during the training camp, but it seemed they were eager to help me in my fight. I held out both of my hands, having the two swords come into my hand. "Sorry about this guys, I forgot about you for a while." I whispered softly and in response the swords seemed to pulse softly in my grasp, sending a comfortable warmth through the contact. I looked up at Vali and tightened my grip.
"Let's do this. [Sonic Flash] and [Tear's Descent]"
The swords in my hands pulsed in agreement as I rushed forward to meet Vali using the speed sword, then with a quick flick, slashed his body in seven places in quick succession before using [Tear's Descent] to call forth a column of water to push Vali away from me. Once the distance was made, I changed the water column into spears of ice to attack him. He did not seemed to put off by that and proceeded to break a few with his bare hands.
Big mistake.
"BOOM!"
The ice pieces glowed and blew up, setting off a cascading set of explosions to hit him point blank. I took that moment to project my bow and a sword to break into an arrow before firing it straight at him.
[Divide! Divide! Divide!]
Again?!
The power of the broken phantasm dropped dramatically before a hand came out of the smoke and grabbed the projectile by the tip and threw it aside, the movement disturbing the smoke and revealing an uninjured Vali.
"Now you are getting a bit more serious." Vali smirked as he used his arm to push away the remaining smoke. "But not enough. Use the Excalibur Shards, I want to see it in action."
No thank you, they do not want to meet you.
"Switch! [Siren's Claws]" I released my grip on [Tear's Descent] and in its place another one of Kiba's blades took over, this time a serrated blade with odd holes in the blade. With a swing, the sword let out a screech that reverberated in the area and caused some of the windows in the area to crack and break from the vibrations. As expected, Vali reacted very badly and covered his ears to stifle the noise. I rushed forward with [Sonic Flash] and used [Siren's Claws] to cut his arm before using the main ability of the blade which was to use the sound to increase the vibrations of the sword, thereby upping the damage to both bones and muscles.
"GAH!" Vali reacted to my attack too quickly and pushed me back, resulting in a bit of muscle tearing off his arm and getting stuck on the sword while disrupting my attack. Before I could push on, he vanished and reappeared on a nearby rooftop.
"Well, this is a problem." Vali looked at the gaping wound with a raised eyebrow. He lifted his hand and directed it at the wound which started to glow a light green before it started to close up and sealed itself, leaving behind a minor bruise.
"Quite an achievement. You are actually doing more damage as we go on." Vali looked at me with glowing eyes. "But it seems I need to get you more motivated so that you can bring out the Excalibur."
"[Aegis] Type 2!" I called out my own version of the Greek shield the moment he vanished and just in time to prevent a few punches and kicks that appeared at the same time all around me, the limbs hitting the hexagonal shields around me. I did not let this chance go away and proceeded to use [Sonic Flash] to get away from him before I projected a bunch of swords and spears and bombard the area to try and get him. It partially worked as his attacks stopped and he reappeared with at least one dagger in his back and leg.
"I forgot about that." Vali pulled out the weapons and threw them to the floor. "They are going to be a problem that needs to be rectified."
[Divide! Divide! Divide!]
The number of weapons around drastically reduced and I barely had time to register that when Vali conjured up some magic circles around me and fired out several bolts of lightning and fireballs at once. With a curse, I braced myself for the impact when without warning, several portals appeared around me, making the attacks pass through them before closing off.
What just happened?
"There is only one guy who does that." Vali let out an annoyed 'hum' as he turned his head to the right. "So it looks like your group is keeping tabs on him as well?"
"Indeed." A voice reverberated in the empty lot before a line of bright line appeared a few feet from my left side, extending from the ground to my height before it expanded to reveal a young man with black hair and wearing glasses, dressed in an odd outfit consisting of a school uniform and robes similar to those from the Clock Tower. "Though this is more of a side visit for me."
"You guys have a way of ruining my fun." Vali said with a dangerous light in his eyes. The teen ignored him and turned to face me with a light bow of his head.
"Apologies for the sudden intervention, but I felt that you would need some help." He greeted with a smile and a hand on his chest.
"… Thanks for the assist. So what is your name, or should I just call you Mister Potter?" I quipped as I positioned myself to have both in my view while preparing the weapons in my mind to deploy. I could tell that this guy has a Sacred Gear, but for some odd reason the 'flavor' reminded me of Zelretch.
"My name is Georg, descendent of Johann Georg Faust. I prefer not to be called that blasted name from that caricature of magic literature" The human introduced himself as he adjusted his glasses with a finger. "It is a pleasure to meet a fellow magician, Shirou Emiya."
"That name, the alchemist who made a contract with the devil called Mephistopheles?" I kept a keen eye on him while sparing an occasional glance for Vali who was merely standing and letting him talk.
"The very same." He smiled lightly at my words. "You are a hard man to keep track on."
"Indeed, since you are interrupting my fight." Vali commented as he stepped forward to continue only for to leap back when fire and lightning from where he was standing a moment ago.
"Forgive me, but I would rather you don't harm him for now." Georg stood a little closer to me as he looked at Vali with a steady eye. "After all Cao Cao has his eyes on him."
"Hmph~ looks like our mage is really popular." Vali cracked his neck lightly as he looked at us. "Then again, there is a lot of videos on him and his unusual fighting style."
"What?" My body stiffened at his words. What did he mean by that?
"It seems our friend has no clue regarding his rise in popularity as of late." Vali smirked as the both of them watched my reaction. "Allow me to illuminate you: your little fight with Kokabiel was broadcasted to a lot of people both inside and outside of the Three Factions, and there are quite a few groups who are wondering which cabal you are from. After all, there aren't that many magicians who fight close-combat or practice such unique spells, and certainly no one else who could combine the Excalibur Shards and take on a Higher Being from the Bible."
...
A/N : The Story Needs More Power Stones ;)
PS : if we can reach 400 Stones by the end of the week, I will throw you an extra chapter
...
if you want to read ahead of the public release you can go to my p atreon :
p atreon.com/Aerle