"Miss Fairy! There you are!" Sullivan pranced inside closing the door behind him.
"Ana told me I should give you my sword."
He was dressed in a frilled version of his usual clothes; his coat had grey frills lining the bottom. Likewise on his shirt there was a layered frill on the hem. His hat had more roses and a long shimmery veil that reached his back.
"Here you go," he said handing the Holy sword over.
Claudina pulled it out of the gold sheath. The scabbard was made entirely made of light gold. The 'Divine Judgment' seemed as if lightning bolts had been emblazed in the blade. The silver grip was wrapped in bandages while the cross guard curved upwards with the points forming diamonds. A yellow jade was used for the pommel. Due the lighting she at first could not see the word but she understood what was written; 'Let Thy Destroy Evil When Thou Wield The Divine Judgment.'
"What are you going to do with it?" he asked. Then he gasped loudly. "Don't tell me…You are going to break it?!" His words didn't match his over excited tone.
"Would you let me break it?" She held the hilt. The sword was as big as Sullivan himself. She wondered how someone as small as him could use such a large sword.
"If Miss Fairy breaks it, I want to watch how she does it~ I am sure it would be quite an entertainment to see a Holy sword break."
"Unfortunately I don't know how to break a Holy sword yet." The sword accepted her Holy magic, she sheathed it back and it was sucked in her Ancient Power.
"Aw too bad! I wanted to see one break so much!' he whined. "Apparently every Holy sword is a part of the gods."
"Hm." She pulled her gloves back on.
It was true. The Holy swords were a part of the gods. Hence it was fashioned after the gods' tastes. Or rather their achievements.
The Divine Judgment after Nyx had sent down judgment to her allies that betrayed her. In her rage she transformed in to her true form and electrocuted an entire country that was used as a base for the Vessels of Ri'sh. The traitors all died along with the Vessels.
The Stars' Blessing after Chronos struck down ten thousand meteorites single handedly while he was ambushed and besieged by an army led by the strongest generals of the Vessels of Ri'sh. During the ambush he was heavily injured after returning from a battle yet he still won which boosted morale. He later on went to collect the star fragments that were scattered all over and casted healing magic on them. He handed out every single one of them to his armies, the villages that suffered the attacks and the slums that were riddled with orphans from the war. Many humans were able to survive from then on with the star fragments.
The Crossroads' Forgiveness when Gaia and her army were lured into trap that led to a crossroad. One of them would lead to the enemy general while other led to their inevitable deaths. The only way to escape was for both of the crossroads to be treed on for the road to escape to open up. Gaia's army chose which path for her to take, as she fell into despair. She walked the path to the enemy general while the army walked the path to their doom. What she didn't know there were enemies mixed in her army. When she reached the general what greeted her was her comrades beheaded bodies strew all over the gravel being feasted by dogs. She kept asking for her comrades' forgiveness as she committed a massacre.
The Bestial Purity was named so after Uranus had avenged the deaths of seventy maidens who had their honor and chastity forcefully taken away from them and later on grotesque killed for a blood sacrifice that only summoned an imp. Their bodies were then dumped in hill site without even a straw hat covering them. Their families who went to look for them were set upon and devoured by the Vessels of Ri'sh. It took Uranus forty days and forty nights without rest to find all the perpetrators involved and he slew them one by one in front of the maidens' graves that he himself dug. Blood that was shed that night was said to be the purest.
The Celestial Blaze was wielded by Eros form the war till it was passed on to the 1st saint. Before the war had started Eros had an ice dragon named Sinis as companion and stead. When the war started Sinis and Eros would go into battle together as Eros was weaker than the other gods. Yet with Sinis he was able to do as much as them. However during a war camping, Sinis was intoxicated by spies of the Vessels. He was tied to two ancient pine trees by bending them to the ground where his wings were clipped off along with his claws. When he awoke, the binds restraining him cut him open as one of the trees shot half of his body catapulting in the air. While the spies escaped, Eros found his fallen friend taking his last breath.
Historians would come to later on say that Eros lost his mind from grief due to what he did next. He dug inside Sinis' still breathing body to find his heart. Upon finding it, he proceeded to devour the heart so he could freeze his own heart. Afterwards in the later battles that Eros won he had become stronger than ever, nearly surpassing Chronos as the second strongest.
As for his sword, for every swing he slashed on his enemies a bit of his heart froze.
But she still wondered if that was all there was to the swords.
The Divine Judgment didn't judge any anyone. It killed whatever was in front of it while leaving the saint broken in the head.
The Stars' Blessing was more of a curse as it sucked off half of the saint's Holy magic and would return it as horrifying nightmares as those it had killed.
The Crossroads' Forgiveness didn't forgive anyone that carelessly touched it, the jagged edges of the sword was sharp enough to tear off flesh with a single swipe even the saint.
The Bestial Purity only showed its cruelty in a battle field. The once shining sword would taint both sword and saint in blood.
The Celestial Blaze was colder than ice. It would freeze the saint's heart as the sword would mercilessly slash through friends and foe alike.
The swords were semi sentient. They could reject Holy magic or accept it.
And most importantly they would keep the saint up with the flashbacks of those they killed in the name of obliterating evil.
"Come along Sullivan. We don't want to keep the others waiting," she said looking straight ahead. Collecting the heavy skirt in her fingers she brushed past him.
"OK~" He tottered after her.
Closing the door behind, she followed Sullivan jumping up ahead.
Glancing, she noticed that Arche had yet to arrive. Lucas had arrived earlier it seems.
He was dressed to the nines with feathers and fur; a purple open coat, a red shirt, a gold tie and black pants. On his head was top hat with feathers pinned to a side while his coat was trimmed with dyed purple fur. A long red cape flowed behind that was also lined with fur. A lavender rose was tucked in his breast pocket.
He was sitting right beside Oriane holding her hand saying something. She mindlessly let him drone on, nodding now and then. The others were in no better condition seeing how they sat far from them.
'A sacrifice for the greater good…Well done, Oriane, well done. I knew your life would come to use one day.'
Upon seeing her he immediately dropped her hand like a hot stone. "Miss Spade!"
She nodded at him but she sneaked a glance at Oriane. She seemed unfazed when he rushed up to his feet. He went forward to kiss her hand whereupon she smiled at him. 'Such crude behavior... I expected no less form the likes of an insect.'
"You look ravishing tonight!"
"Thank you Mr. May. You look dashing as well." She only said it out of politeness but he took it as a direct compliment for he instantly started to praise her beauty once more.
"Come now! I recall telling you to address me by my first name!"
"Very well then. I shall address you as Lucas from on."
He grinned.
She smiled through whatever he said. The saints were casting distressed looks at him but he didn't see them with too absorbed with Claudina.
"Oh and by the way I heard that Arche is escorting you tonight. Is that true?" he asked. He sounded…tense. As if he is almost nervous to hear her answer.
She raised an eyebrow. "Yes."
He groaned. "Really? With Arche?" he said under his breath but she heard.
"Is there a problem?"
"What? N-no. There's no problem," he quickly said. "It's just…" he gestured with his hand. "…I don't think Arche is…a really great option for an escort. Don't get me wrong. He's a great friend. But…still Arche?" He signed as he tapped his foot. "I don't know but he's a bit…strange and aggressive towards girls. Not the best man I would recommend as anything remotely an escort. I don't think you should go with him."
Her eyebrow twitched.
'First he cheats on his fiancée with me, and then got jealous if anyone dared to approach me. When he gets rejected he says he still wants to court me which he never did. Then he tries to make me jealous by flirting with Shulia and Oriane'
'And now he's disrespecting his best friend behind his back. The only one that had bothered to go to his funeral at the cost of his own deteriorating health!'
She clenched her fan so hard it snapped in half. 'I am starting to see why his third wife is in jail for murdering him.'
Fortunately Sullivan saw her snapping the fan so he quickly went over and all but pounced on her hip.
"Miss Fairyyy~ I want juice! Come with me~" he whined in a loud obnoxious tone that made people look up. Then he tugged at her cape like a child demanding for his mother's attention. "It has to be you who goes with me~"
"Um you should probably attend to him," Lucas said looking away immediately understanding the situation.
"Yes. I should." Her voice was cold and she didn't look away. "Come." Grabbing his hand she whirled around practically dragging him.
After they had gone a little way, Sullivan tugged her up a hidden flight of stairs.
"There we go~ let's cool off here okay~" She blinked then she realized that they were at the terrace. It was snow covered with no lights. However the sky had enough stars to shine light down at them.
"But geez Claudina. That was the first time I saw you get mad like that~" He kicked up the snow, squealing when the snow landed on him. "Why did you get mad though?"
She looked away in a daze. "I don't know either..."
Normally she was in control of her emotions. If she had any general opinion about someone she said it inside her head.
But somehow seeing Lucas talk like about Arche the only person in his life time that would give a crap about him…seemed to piss her off.
The only time she ever felt this angry was when she could no longer find her childhood friend after that day.
Was it because it somehow made her jealous that she would never be able to feel another human connection without having to build walls around her heart? Or to know she would never be able to trust someone when she doesn't even trust herself?
Seeing Lucas knowing he had the full support of Arche and yet saying such things triggered something in her.
She shook her head to rid of useless thoughts. She gave a small laugh causing Sullivan to jump out of the snow angels he was making.
No. Claudina Von Crowley didn't require nor need any human connection. Not when she is powerful enough to rip apart the so called connection.
She exhaled. "I am feeling much better now. We can go now."
"Hmm!" He tottered after her.
By now Arche had finally come. He had donned a long red coat with a single gold rose pinned to his breast pocket. A deep cream shirt was pressed down for any wrinkles while a smart gold cravat had rich red embroidery done to it.
He profusely apologized to the saints for being late. "For some reason my clothes were replaced with some other clothes so it took some time to find similar clothing."
She noticed that Lucas was wearing certain embellishments of red and gold. Her eyes narrowed in suspicion.
Usually if a man escorts a woman to any events they would previously agree on which color and theme they should choose. This was a long known custom of the nobles. Arche sent her a red dress with gold roses. It would make sense if he wore something similar to that. Even Anatole who was also dressed in red didn't have the same shade of red as hers and Arche's clothing.
However Lucas was wearing a scarlet red shirt along with the same shade of gold as the cravat and a rose. She decided not to make any comment.
Arche caught sight of them. At first he was mesmerized seeing Claudina that he unintentionally let out a few words of how regal and beautiful she looked, just like a blossomed rose.
He coughed to conceal his embarrassment at what he publicly said. "A-hem! Excuse me."
He peeked open an eye. "What were you two doing together?"
Claudina rolled her eyes down to meet Sullivan's blue eyes. Exchanging grinning looks, they intertwined both their hands with each other with Claudina bending down and Sullivan standing on his tiptoes. "It's a secret Lord Arche~" they singsong together.
Arche was muffled. He glanced at the saints. "You all deal with this?"
"On a daily basis," Shulia said while checking her manicured nails.
He signed when a servant came over and said the carriages were ready. They all had begun to leave for the door when suddenly Lucas put a hand on Claudina's arm stopping her.
She looked at his hand before she stared at him. She tilted her head. "What?"
"I hope you mind what you said earlier," he started. "I didn't mean what I said back then. I hope you forgive me."
"As you long as you understand your mistakes it's fine. Now let's not keep the others waiting Mr. May."
His grip tightened. "Why are you addressing me so coldly?" he pitifully asked.
She wanted to laugh at his face. 'He truly has no shame.' She yanked her arm out of his hand rubbing where he gripped. "It's not a matter of addressing one coldly. I simply realized that we are not yet close enough to address with our first names."
"But didn't you say already forgave me?"
She stared in disbelief. "Are you a child? Stop throwing a tantrum." She started to walk away again when he stopped her once more. 'Now he's really testing my patience!'
"Mr. May one more of this behavior…" she warned.
"N-no. So I uh what I meant to say there was I was going to escort Miss Mauve to the ball."
"Is that so?" She gave a pained smile. "I am happy to hear that Mr. May. I am sure Oriane is happy too."
"Eh? I-I mean yeah, thanks!" He nervously said scratching the side of his face. He glanced up at her once. 'I don't understand! Just why hasn't she fallen for my charm yet?!'
"How about you escort her instead of me?"
"I'll stick with you~" he winked.
But she coldly left the lobby. He stared at her shrinking figure as she wiped around the corner.
At the carriages she went to sit with Anatole and Sylvester knowing full well if she informed them about Lucas, they would deal with it for her.
'He won't know what hit him.'