"Cold: the air and water flowing~..."
My hummed singing is accompanied by the clang of cold metal on red hot glowing ore.
"Hard: the land we call our home~..."
I take a quick cursory glance across the forge, where the True Longinus is set up like one would a nude model for a painting.
"Push to keep the dark from coming,"
My hammer comes back down, intent and effort coming down with it as one, as with each stroke the red hot nigh liquid mystical metal I work with yields, twisting and bending for my purpose.
"Feel the weight of what we owe."
I'm so immersed in my work, and in the old song I sing, I'm barely even thinking about why I'm doing this, the plan…wasn't there something else I was supposed to do before I started this?
"This: the song of sons and daughters,"
Unfortunately, the game this song comes from won't ever be made here. Maybe some faux facsimile of it, but it won't be able to match the real thing.
"Hide the heart of who we are."
Huh. Maybe after I deal with all I have to deal with, I could throw some of my money around and help get some of the not-shit versions of media I knew made.
"Making peace to build our future,"
Unlikely, but hey, it's something to think about in the future.
"Strong, united, working till we fall."
Plus, I'm sure Kuroka would appreciate her game not turning into complete shit…as if that'd stop her from playing it and spending all my money on stupid mounts.
Still, it's the thought that counts.
"And we all lift~, and we're all adrift together, togeth–"
"Whatcha doing nyah~?"
I snap back to reality, my hammer abruptly stopping mere inches from the red-hot metal.
With a sigh, I slowly turn toward the source of the very quizzical feminine voice, setting my new magic hammer down on a nearby table as I do.
She was standing nearly right next to me, close, but not so close as to get covered in sparks or chips of hot metal.
At the same time though…
I deadpanned at her, "Kuroka, if you're going to come in here, you could at least cover up a little bit…and stand up straighter, too."
Kuroka merely tilted her head at me, blinking innocently, "I have not the slightest idea what you're implying darling, nyah~!" She crosses her arms and pushes her chest out more.
My eyebrow twitches.
No, I know exactly what she's trying to do here, but there's a slight problem.
A few actually.
One, I may, or may not, be on a tight time crunch right about now.
I have not the slightest idea when, or even where truly, the Church's girls are supposed to show.
I can guess the latter, because it's sort of obvious, but not the former.
Two…there isn't a good space to fuck in this forge.
It was set up this way by design so I didn't get distracted!
It's outside, everything, from the anvil to the forge, with only wood roofing built on small wooden pillars being the only thing that can come close to 'surrounding' the workshop.
Sure, I specifically had it built away from everything else in the palace, but that wasn't for sexy times, that was to reduce the risk of something catching on fire.
Or exploding and taking everything else with it. Mostly that.
With all that being said.
I step right up to her, prompting my shortstack of a black cat girl to perk up and smirk, likely seeing the look in my eyes and taking it in a…different way than intended.
Unfortunately for her, as she'll soon find out, she won't be taking anything anywhere.
For now. Most definitely later. Damn cat.
Without saying anything, I take my hand, and quite suddenly jam it straight into her cleavage, right between her breasts.
I would love to comment on just how smooth and soft they are, and how incredibly easy it was for my hand and part of my forearm to slip right through, but as I said, later.
Kuroka had the expected reaction though.
"N~Nyahh~!? Darling!?" She almost jumped at the sudden intrusion, before instead figuring the best path to remove my oddly placed hand would be to grab my arm and pull it out.
She gave it a few tugs before immediately starting to beg as her inability and failure became apparent.
"Hnnnghh~...Darling, dear, could you please…you know? Nyah?" She gave a stilted chuckle.
Meanwhile, I gave her a harsher glare, causing her chuckle to turn nervous.
"You cover up," I began to explain, "and don't show too much skin here, because my hand and arm right now?" I give the stated appendage a shake, wiggling my fingers around in her bosom, drawing a slight shiver and shaky gasp from her, "Could easily be a piece of near-molten metal instead, you know?"
With that said, I slowly withdrew my arm and crossed my arms as I looked down at her with a snort.
"Besides, you're already short enough. No need to make yourself go even smaller." My glare turns into a smirk as I speak.
Seriously, I don't think I state enough just how short Kuroka is. She's 161cm, or five foot three inches in Freedom Units.
She is short.
I'm something around six feet, so if Kuroka bent over, she'd be at perfect dick-sucking height while standing.
…I internally blinked at that.
No idea where that thought came from, so I'll just ignore it for now.
Kuroka, after fixing her sagging kimono with a little tug, quickly glared back at me with all the fire of a cat.
Or maybe a hamster. Or bunny?
She certainly is about as horny as one.
"Hmph," she pouted, "I'll be fine…my darling can heal me easily, can't he~? Besides, you say that about clothes…but look at you!"
I huff, "Yeah, I can heal, but this metal isn't normal hot steel, Kuroka. It's got divine power in it, so it's better to be safe than sorry."
Kuroka's pout softens slightly, before I then add, "As for my lack of clothes…"
Yeah, I'm in my forge, shirtless. I ditched my robe on the way here, and have been working pretty much the whole…what time is it again?
I look out, beyond my little workshop's perimeter, into the twilight sky…
Huh, a bit before sunrise.
Damn, I've been working all night?
So, I've been working the forge all night in my underwear.
Nice.
I shrug, giving her a knowing grin, "I'm immune to fire, heat, all that good stuff," before reaching over, and booping her on the nose, causing her to squeak in surprise, "you aren't!" I finish while adding.
Kuroka huffs, but doesn't try to fight my words.
Even the comments about her height.
She knows they are true after all.
That said, sufficiently cowed, but not willing to admit it because she's a cat, she looks around for anything else to talk about.
And quickly finds it, as her eyes land upon the True Longinus doing its best impression of a modeling French girl.
"...Darling." Kuroka starts, her tone completely devoid of emotion and unsure how to proceed, while just…staring at it.
That's a pretty fair reaction, all things considered.
It's as I look at her now, that I realize she'd probably be even more out of the loop than say, Uzume, even, because she wasn't around when we made the original plan relating to the sword.
And she especially wasn't there after, when I learned about the Church itself being up to something.
…Oh yeah, that's what I was forgetting earlier. Well, less forgetting, more it got put out of my mind for other things.
I needed Kuroka for part of my plan, I just sort of got caught up in beating my metal that I lost track of time.
Oops?
Well, lucky she's here now.
"Ah, yeah…so." I start, pondering how exactly I should go about explaining everything that happened over last night.
It's slightly concerning that so much shit can hit all at once in a small frame of time, but that's beside the point.
After a moment or two of pondering, I just decided to be blunt about it all.
"Basically…" Kuroka turned to me as I started to explain.
And when I mean all, I mean all.
No point in hiding anything from her, not like I want to in the first place, especially since I want her help with this.
I started with the sword, my and Uzume's talk to steal it, and ultimately my plan to do just that.
She didn't say anything, she didn't have to, the mischievous grin she got as I talked about stealing was enough for me to know she was all for it.
However, I could tell she was still a touch confused, as everything I was talking about so far didn't relate whatsoever to the True Longinus.
She quickly began to understand though, as I talked about my clone's experience in Tokyo, her eyes widening as I mentioned the exorcist, Dulio, his trope of girls, and their mission.
It didn't take her long to put two and two together after that.
"So, then…" Kuroka looks back over at the spear, then to the lump of half-shapen red hot metal still sitting upon my anvil, "You're making a fake True Longinus then, aren't you darling?"
I snap my fingers and smile, "Bingo kitty. Though it might be more accurate to say that I've just started making it a little early." I take a glance down at the metal, "It is, after all, missing something to feel like the real deal, and won't be complete until then."
At that, Kuroka tilts her head, eyeing me curiously and expectantly.
So I continue explaining, by first asking a question.
"Have you ever heard what went into the creation of the Holy Sword, Durandal?" I ask, getting an even further confused look, to which I chuckled, and answered for her, "Within its golden hilt, there is said to be a tooth of Saint Peter, the blood of Saint Basil of Caesarea, a lock of hair of Saint Denis, and a piece of the raiment of the Blessed Virgin Mary." I list the components like one would a recipe or grocery list.
I can remember all that clearly, as Xenovia herself states each item as part of her chant when summoning the sword.
I let out a chuckle before continuing, "Though rarely spoken or talked about, there's also the idea that a piece of the Lance of Longinus went into the hilt as well."
Now that bit, I heard it as part of the sword's mythology back in my original home.
The only reason it stuck with me is because of how odd and tacked-on it felt, truth be told.
Although…thinking about it more, was that Durandal, or a sword adjacent to it?
It's been awhile, and it is a pretty random piece of trivia!
Kuroka stared up at me in wonder, "A piece of the original lance, in that Holy Sword…?" Kuroka parroted as if trying the idea on her tongue, "That might explain why that sword in particular seems so much…stronger, then the others I've heard about, nyah!"
But hey, it ended up serving a purpose, ultimately!
I shrug, "Possibly. Truth be told, that doesn't matter if it's true or not…although it'd certainly be a help if it was."
Kuroka blinked at that, "Then…why bring all that up?"
As a bit of…inspiration.
I smile and look back down at the lump of half-shapen red hot metal.
"It felt fitting. After all, to make a convincing fake, it needs to feel right. For it to feel right…it needs to have at least an aura of Holy Power, not Holy Spirit Power." I elaborate, a grin on my face, "And what would be the fastest way to grant something that kind of holy aura?"
"...With…something that already has it." Kuroka's eyes widen, "Darling, are you going to…break Durandal?"
"And yoink a piece?" I add on for her, before easily confirming, "Yeah, kind of have to. The only reason I can think that they'd send so many power exorcists is for it, and I'm certainly not giving them the real thing."
They've been far too suspicious for that since the very beginning.
Kuroka adopts an anxious frown as she walks up to my side, and presses herself against me, "...I don't know if this is the best idea…if they find out it's a fake, then…"
"Yeah, I know," I breathe out a sigh, wrapping an arm around her waist almost instinctively as she approaches me, holding her against me as I speak my thoughts aloud, "it's a big risk, but one I have to take. Luckily, I have reason to believe it might work.
"As a Holy Relic, if a true believer looks upon the spear, it'll drive them insane. When I make the trade-off, I fully intend to give them the prop wrapped up."
Kuroka giggled, "Masking trickery as generosity, darling, are you sure you aren't a Devil or Youkai?"
I chuckle, "Nah, I don't have wings, or a cute little tail…or multiple tails, for that matter." I casually, and totally by accident, brush a hand across her tails, drawing a light gasp from her…only for her to give me a sultry gaze back, and stick out her rear in response, her kimono hiking up to reveal small thin pair of white panties barely concealing her ass.
…Wait a minute, it didn't hike up, her kimono is just that small right now.
Fucking cat really did come prepared huh?
I boop her nose with my free hand, and shake my head, continuing unabated even as she gives an indignant mewl.
"Moving on, after that point…well, that relies on a bit of guessing, hoping, and praying. See, due to the aforementioned insanity thing, I doubt they're going to try and get someone to wield the spear, I'm guessing they'll want to lock it up in a nice and secure place.
"If they try to study it, well, I have to hope they never had possession of the spear during any time they could have studied it previously, and therefore when they get basically nothing…well, they just assume it because of the spear's odd predicament.
"I can't imagine trying to study something that would drive you insane just by looking at it would be easy, but the Church is already insane, so I could see them trying regardless.
"In that case, more hope that they either don't discover the fact that the prop doesn't drive believers insane, or that when they do they just assume it's because the spear is obviously broken in some way, and that's just part of it."
I pause, briefly considering.
"…Or they start turning on each other because they're not 'true believers' which, considering how the Church is, isn't impossible-"
"Okay, nyah!" Kuroka suddenly reaches up, putting a hand on my face, "Darling, you're rambling…a lot."
I blinked, several times.
"Huh." Before slowly reaching up and taking her hand in mine, slowly giving her a small smile, "Yeah…yeah I guess I was."
Kuroka smiles back, before abruptly suggesting, "You know…if the spear is the overarching problem here…why not just destroy it, nyah?"
I gave a mirthless chuckle at that, before I simply shrugged, "Before I started all this, that thought also crossed my mind as well. So on the way here…I gave it a shot.
"I tried breaking it over my knee, slashing it, melting it…you name it. None of it worked. Now, granted," I add with an annoyed sigh, "I wasn't at my full power, as I did all that during the middle of the night, but somehow…I get the feeling it'd be the same result, noon or not."
Kuroka let out an annoyed hiss, "...Figures. I suppose it isn't the first Longinus for nothing, nyah!"
It figures too. If I had managed to at least chip it, I could have used that small piece instead and made a much more convincing feeling prop that'd put much more of my thoughts at ease.
Hell, even just another Holy Relic would be better, because then I might be able to bake in the insanity inducement thing and make an even more convincing prop.
I technically do know where I could find another Holy Relic, the Grail…it's not like anyone would miss the vampire over in Europe, but it'd draw a ton of tension if I went zooming overseas to murder a bunch of vampires and kidnap a Dhampir Princess.
So, not exactly an option right now.
I also know who has the Crown, but not where they are, so that's out entirely, same for the Cross.
The Shroud isn't even a Sacred Gear right now, so even bigger nope there.
I'll just have to work with what I have.
This leads me to…
"Right," I speak up again, looking intently down at my cat girl, "which is why we're going to need a chunk of Durandal, and that's where I'm going to need your help."
Kuroka blinked at me, before adopting a semi-serious expression and nodding.
"What do you need me to do, darling?"
I nod back at her, pleased that she isn't trying to draw this out…or be horny again, "The current user of Durandal has a partner that once lived in Kuoh. I suspect, though can't wholly confirm, that they'll stop there first before either heading here or to Tokyo."
Kuroka's eyes narrow, and her pupils seem to sharpen, "...that's dangerously close to Shirone." She points out, slightly on edge, and I sort of agree.
However I doubt that, unlike during the Kokopuffs Arc, the Church girls will start a fight with the Devils, as they merely need to pass through like a bunch of tourists rather than do any hunting for Fallen.
Still, there's always a possibility.
Though ultimately, I doubt Shirone herself will be harmed even if they fight. She'd tear those poor girls apart by now.
"Well, lucky for you, your job is going to be keeping an eye out, and on, the Church people when they get there." I continue, before leaning down to kiss her forehead, "So at the same time, you can keep an eye on Shirone too."
Kuroka grins at that but doesn't start jumping for joy that she gets to spend a bunch of time with her little sister quite yet.
"I need you to tell me when they arrive…and then, I'm going to come in, and be myself." I stated simply.
"You're going to be your pagan, foreign god self and bait the very impressionable young Church girls into a fight, then claim 'self-defense' afterword?" Kuroka, still with her cheshire grin, explains more thoroughly.
"...You know, when you call them 'impressionable young Church girls' it almost makes me sound like the bad guy here." I sigh, as Kuroka practically cackles.
Granted, it's not like she's wrong about them…it's precisely why this plan might even work at all.
Xenovia specifically, at this point, is a bit of a hard ass. She hasn't yet had her beliefs challenged or been excommunicated, or anything like that, so she's still that same girl she was back when she first appeared.
Luckily, her shortcomings as a person can be used to my advantage.
Bait her into a fight, and smash her sword in 'self-defense', just as Kuroka said.
And it'd be fine too, because as long as I don't go too hard or too far, and break the sword's core, they can easily fix Durandal right back up, good as new.
Dulio won't do anything, as long as I don't provoke a response from him, which is why the self-defense angle is pretty damn important.
But, just in case…I'll make sure this fight happens in broad daylight.
I roll my eyes as my cat now full-on cackles, reaching down with the hand still around her waist to swat her rear.
"N~NYAH~!?"
I ignore her mewling squeak, her incredulous glare, and all that, before simply stating, "Shouldn't you be going? Don't worry, I'll call up Shirone…let her know you're coming over ahead of time."
Of course the mention of her sister made her perk up and forget everything else that just happened, and she quickly hopped from my side and practically started skipping away, singing a little song.
"Nayayayah, Shirone~! Nayayayah, Shirone~! Nayayayah, Shirone~!"
…That's a first.
Also, adorable.
Though it'd be even more cute if she-
"Don't forget to put a regular damn kimono on!" I called after her, my eyes following the sway of her exposed rear as she hopped and skipped away.
"Nyah! Allrrighhtt~!" She called back, shaking her ass one more time my way before skipping completely out of sight.
…Fucking cat.
Now then.
I turned back to my hammer, and metal, incredibly thankful said metal is very good at retaining heat, so I wouldn't have to reheat it much to start shaping it again.
I want to try and get this done as soon as possible…
With that thought in mind, fire burst from my hands, and I got back to work.
~ A New Sun ~
"Ah~! See, Asia-chan, look down there!" The twin-tailed chestnut-haired girl called to their new blonde-haired nun friend, as she pointed out the airplane window.
"Uwahhh~...So much snow…So many mountains…" The poor nun looked equally mesmerized, stunned, fascinated, and terrified, all at once as she leaned forward to take a look.
Which is something Xenovia finds impressive, somewhat, even if she's not particularly interested.
She's content to sit here, in her airplane seat, with their other new partner, some small white-haired red eyed girl she's never seen before.
Probably. Though judging by her appearance and complexion…Xenovia can guess where she comes from, at least.
Sigurd Institute.
Similar to her, she's also simply sitting there, though she's much more relaxed and easygoing than herself.
"A-Ah, um…Warrior Shidou-" The blonde nun begins stuttering, only to be cut off as her chestnut-haired friend grabs the poor nun by her shoulders.
"Asia! I thought I told you! We're around the same age, and we're friends now! There's no need to be so formal!"
"A-Ah!? But…B-But…I'm not a warrior, like you all, I'm just-"
It feels like they've been over this a thousand times already, likely because they have.
So now, it was Xenovia's turn to butt in.
"You're the healer." She starts, plainly and simply, and before Irina can turn around and get all annoyed at her, she stoically adds, "But that doesn't make you any less than us. God gave you an amazing gift, one he rarely gives to others…and out of all of them, you're probably the most deserving."
Irina perked up, smiling, and nodding along with Xenovia's words.
"Ah? Well…" Asia began, twiddling with her fingers and looking away from them, "I…Still-"
"No, no, no!" Irina stopped her right there, "Xenovia doesn't usually say anything insightful, but that was pretty good! Take it to heart, Asia-chan!"
While the poor blonde nun was turned into a shy, blustering mess, Xenovia frowned.
Insight? She can totally be insightful.
Like how she knows Irina is totally just proclaiming the fact that she had a childhood friend at one point in this very specific town they're stopping at first in Japan.
Doesn't take much insight to figure that out.
On the other hand, Xenovia hopes it doesn't take much insight to find what they're looking for…
There, she hopes she can, to put it simply, get whatever they need by hitting whatever gets in their way with her sword.
It's been a while since she's been able to properly use Durandal, after all.