"So it's true then, looks like you Devils didn't have anything to with it after all." Though she muttered it under her breath is was loud enough for most of the Devils in the room to hear her, if barely.
...
Opening her eyes again she gave Sona an amiable nod, "In that case we retract the first request, and we'll move straight onto the second one." She paused to take another sip of her tea before continuing, "While I apologize if this sounds rather presumptuous of us, we the Church officially request permission to scout this city, including your territory of course."
"For the Excaliburs," Sona having quickly put the pieces together, "you think they're here?"
"Did you think that this was the first time an Excalibur went missing?" Griselda countered Sona's question with one of her own.
"It is only natural for a valuable sword to be stolen if it's wielders were ever to be slain in battle, and yet the Church still fields the Excaliburs instead of storing them in the great vault underneath the Vatican, like all the other valuable but impractical treasures. Have you ever wondered why we do so?"
Sona didn't even need a moment to answer, "You can track them."
"Correct," Griselda beamed at her as if she was a student how got a right answer, "in the last one and a half millennia that the Church has possessed the Excaliburs we have lost them dozens of times yet never for long as you can see we still have all seven pieces. Well," she added with a sheepish smile, "had anyway."
"And you tracked them all the way from Europe to Japan, how?"
She simply gave her a cheesier smile, "We have our ways."
Makes sense why they wouldn't want anyone to know how they tack down the swords. You can't prevent it from working if you have no idea how it worked. Considering that no one has figured it out for over a thousand years it's possible for Griselda herself not to know and is only receiving instructions from the higher ups back in Church.
Sona remained silent for a minute as she digested all this before asking, "Hypothetically speaking, what would you do if I refuse your request?"
"Then the Church will declare you an accessory to the thief." She shrugged, "Sorry dear, but we're pretty sure that the swords are here and the higher ups are desperate to get them back after the embarrassment of having four of them stolen at the same time. Now I can tell you that has never happened before."
If Sona was upset over the implied threat she hid it well, "And you're confident that you can get the Excaliburs back, with just the three of you?"
"Oh don't worry dear," her perpetual smile never wavering, "we have our own trump cards just in case. Permit me to demonstrate you. Irina, Xenovia show them."
At her command the two girls on either side of her withdrew they weapons. The blue haired girl, Xenovia, reached into her golf bag and withdrew a sword. It was long two-handed sword, easily reaching the girls shoulder in length.
A pair of axe-like guards bracketed its cross shaped pommel and the tip of the blade ended in three points. The steel of the sword was colored an ash black, with red designs carved into the blade.
The other girl, Irina, simply held out her right hand. A black band that was wrapped around her wrist rippled then slithered down onto the palm of her gloved hand like a snake. Once she took a firm grip on it, it began to shift again. This time it transformed into a golden hilted katana.
Griselda also took the opportunity to reveal her sword. Gripping her wooden cane with both hands, she gave it a quick twist then a pull. The top was of the cane was easily retracted, revealing the naked steel of the blade concealed within the heart of the wood, a sword-cane then.
All around me the Devils in the room visibly flinched and took a step back at the mere sight of the blades.
Those of them that were seated pushed themselves back deeper into their chairs in an effort to get as far away from the swords as they could, even Sona was no exception, as entirely primal instinct within them urged them to run and flee. To get away from the things that could end them with so much as a single cut.
"It has always been the Church's policy to hunt down stolen Excaliburs with other Excaliburs." Griselda continued speaking with same friendly smile on her face, as if she hadn't noticed the reactions of the Devils in the room.
"After all lass, even if they have gotten their hands on a couple of Holy Swords it doesn't mean that they have anyone capable of wielding them. Holy Sword wielders don't grow on tree you know."
"Pfft!" I clamped a hand over my mouth in an attempt to keep quite but it was no use. Even through my hands the sound of my muffled laughter was loud enough to capture everyone's attention, though I barely noticed. I tried I swear I tried, but I simply couldn't hold it in, "Bwahahahahahahaha!"
For the first time since entering, Griselda completely lost her smile as she shot my chortling frame a bemused look. I was seated on my own over to her left, perpendicular to Sona and herself. "Is something amusing lad?"
"I-I'm sorry," I managed to squeeze out between fits of laughter as I finally began to calm down, "I really am, I didn't mean to laugh. It's just that the way you all look so serious as you refer to those toys in your hands as Excalibur, I could not help but laugh."
It's true. Ever since I heard of the broken Excaliburs, I was worried how I'd react. The very idea of her sword being broken sent shaft of pain through me.
What the sight of the fragmented remains would do to me I did not know. Would I break down at the sight of them, be angered at their angry fate or react in a completely different way entirely, I did not know.
But when I set my eyes upon these toys, and they were toys, what else could I do but that laugh at the absurdity of it all. That this entire mad universe I had found myself in would refer to these things as Excaliburs was ludicrous.
They were D rank Noble phantasm at best and that was if I was being extremely generous. Oh sure, their abilities were reasonably impressive and may have earned them a C rank if it weren't for the swords themselves being so very fragile. Strikes that even Kanshou and Bakuya, C- ranked Noble Phantasm, can endure with nothing more than a scratch would cause these toys to shatter in a single blow.
What can I do but laugh at a world that would name these Excalibur?
"Oh," She cocked her head to one side as she gave me the same scrutinizing look she gave Sona a moment ago, "and what makes you call them toys lad?"
"It's just that those swords you are holding are so fragile that I can crush them in the grip of a single hand. That the Church is so desperate for such meaningless toys that it sent some of its best exorcist to traverse half the globe for a weapon I can snap in two with nothing but my own bare hands, and to name such toys Excalibur on top of it all is so utterly ridiculous that I could not help but laugh."
"Stop bluffing Devil." A voice growled out at me. I looked up to find the blue haired exorcist glaring down at me. While the girl had reminded quiet and calm the entire meeting, her temper had clearing been building up since I first broke down laughing and it looked like it a had finally gotten the better of her.
"No matter how hard you try to hide it behind false bravado, your kind can't do anything but cower in front of the might of these swords."
Then she swung her sword at me. It was clearly wasn't meant to hit me, the strike would fall short of my face by several inches at least. It was a feint, a weak but fast one-handed blow that was meant to make me recoil and scurry back in fear.
I can already see from the edges of my vision how the rest of the Devils tensed or jumped in reaction to her swing and even Griselda narrowed her eyes in disapproval but didn't otherwise react. Me, I didn't even bother to do anything but raise my right hand and snatch the blade just as it passed my face.
"Bluffing?" I questioned, ignoring her the way her eyes widened with disbelief and instead gave my entire focus to the naked blade I gripped in my hand. "Oh no, I wasn't bluffing. For you see, all I have to do to crush this mockery of a sword is squeeze." I then proceeded to do just that.
A horrible screeched reverberated within the walls of a Student Council room when the metal of the blade screamed under the mounting pressure of my ever tightening grip as hairline fractures began to form. With a single glance I could tell that the blade will shatter entirely if I squeezed just a little bit-
"Shirou!" a voice yelled out to me at the same moment a hand clamped into my shoulder. I turned to see Sona starting at me with half worried and half unsettled eyes, "Shirou," she spoke the words slowly, almost as if she was talking to a particular dull witted child, "would you please not destroy the very valuable and very important sword that our guests from the Church are willing to kill over."
I looked away from her towards the sword in my hand, and then up towards the wide eyed stares of not only the exorcists but the rest of Student Council. "Oh," I muttered lamely before letting go of the sword which was quickly pulled away by its unsettled wielder.
Alright, it appears that I may have been a tiny bit angrier over the Excalibur issue than I originally thought.
A slight stinging sensation drew my attention to the long but shallow cut that ran through the palm of my hand. I quickly disregarded it however after noticing how the cut had already begun to heal, no doubt a result from them combination of a Devil's mild natural regeneration and the passive effects of Avalon still inside of me kicking in.
I looked up to find most of the room still sending me unsettled stares, Xenovia's was especially wide eyed, expect for Griselda who sent me another of her analytical looks.
"I see," and just like that, her grandmotherly smile returned, "you must be Emiya Shirou. It seems like I have you to thank for being here."
"I don't understand," Sona jumped into the conversation, apparently happy to have a distraction from what happened, "what does Shirou have anything with being here?"
"It's quite simply really. The Church you see is quite aware that both you and the Gremory Heir reside in this this city, and that left the higher ups in a precarious position. As much as they wanted the Holy Swords back, they were unwilling to needlessly risk triggering an entire War over it.
"And that was exactly what they would have been risking if they sent a powerful and large force to a territory owned by not one but two heirs of Pillars and the little sisters of the Maous' to boot. At first some of the higher ups were actually planning on sending just Xenovia and Irina here. One to match you and the other Rias Gremory."
She shook her head in exasperation at that, "Not that I would have let them of course. While I have confidence in the skills of my girls here, sending two wet behind the ears teenager without back up or supervision against an enemy of unknown strength and capabilities would have been the height of insanity. Which meant it was also the most likely scenario to occur seeing that politics was involved.
"Fortunately the solution to our problem fell into our lap when it became apparent that there was another Devil in the city. An Ultimate-Class one at that. Thanks to you presence here I was given the green light to join this little expedition of ours." She finished while giving me a nod.
"Oh? I'm surprised that the Church was even aware I was here, I have been trying to keep a low profile."
Griselda chuckled at that, "Sonny, after all the things you've done since your arrival in the stage of the Three Factions, it would be almost impossible for us not to be on the constant look out for you.
Setting aside your completely unknown past before you established yourself as the Leviathan's new Queen, your actions with returning the kidnapped children alone would have been enough to capture our attention." Sona shot me a questioning look at that.
"They were the victims of a Cthulhu Ritual that I stopped." I answered with a shrugged, "While most of them were the children from either from the Extra-Demon Clans and few from among the Low-Class Devil families, several among them were kidnapped human children. I just made sure to return them home afterwards, nothing worth taking note of."
"You'd be surprised sonny on how few Devils would have even gone through the bother of returning them to the human world, let alone personally delivering each child to their family." Amusement coloring her smile for some reason. "And you forgot to mention the fate of the Devils involved."
"Cthulhu Rituals are completely illegal in any form in the Underworld. By law anyone involved in or caught committing such a ritual is automatically outlawed, making them no different than Stray Devils. Again exterminating them was a part of my duty and is nothing worth taking note of."
"If our reports were in anyway accurate, there were almost three hundred Devils that were involved in the incident. Whether in the ritual itself or the kidnapping of the children. And unless all of our sources were mistaken, you personally hunted every last one of them while raining swords upon their heads."
Well, she wasn't wrong. They were already preparing to slice the throat of the first child when I interrupted. It was only thanks to pure luck that none of the children ended up dying.
I felt no need to be merciful for those who were willing to commit mass kidnapping and murder for power, doubly so when I discovered a well-established child trafficking ring to be involved.
"A rain of swords huh? I guess your title of 'The Lord of Swords' isn't just for show."
My ear perked up at that. What did she call me? I could have sworn that I heard something really awesome. Does this mean for once I will have title I can be proud of?
"Actually," A voice that I was quickly beginning to learn to hate interrupted the conversation between me and Griselda, "Aniki's called the 'The Queen of Swords' not 'The Lord of Swords'."
"Oh, my apologizes. It seems that there was an error in one of the reports. I'll be sure to correct it and inform the rest of the Church of your proper title when I return."
Saji, you son of bitch!
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