"Why are we still here..."
Noa mumbled, finding himself in a large white room.
Across from him was the man on Holy Steroids, Vasco Strada, who had his arms crossed and was smiling with a fat jolly smile on his face.
In the stands, was Lavinia who looked nervous, and Griselda, who was in equal parts nervous and exasperated.
"Sorry, child. I'm not much for conversing, so even if I'm not in my prime anymore, I believe the best way to communicate is through a fight!"
Vasco bellowed from across the big ass room.
Noa looked at the holy hulk across the room with a deadpan. Why all this...?
"What are the rules?"
"No killing blows!"
Woah. That meant like... 2 of his more overpowered skills were off the table, if Vasco even gave him the opportunity to even use them.
Looking at the man across from him, he could tell that this man was easily stronger than both Glenda and Augusta combined. While Noa had an underlying trust in the man, the pressure that the man was emanating was undeniably dense.
Also, no killing blows meant that painful blows were still very much a thing...
Noa watched as Vasco pulled out a weapon from a dimensional opening in the air, revealing a large blue sword, with gold along the blade.
While it might have looked large if Noa had held it, in Vasco's hands, it looked no bigger than a toy sword.
Woah. Isn't that fucking Durandal?
Noa recognized the sword from the Anime, so this person was probably the wielder of Durandal before Xenovia...
Brother why are you using DURANDAL, the blade of Roland, one of the 12 Paladins of Charlemagne on a kid you JUST met? What happened to no killing blows?
However, Vasco with his near inhuman intuition honed from countless battles and experiences, felt that Noa had much more to show than just Incinerate Anthem, even if the Sacred Gear itself was a formidable weapon.
Griselda froze as Durandal was released from it's 'cage'. Why was Cardinal Strada using it on a 9 year old...? She knew that Noa was hiding much more power than she ever witnessed but even she thought it was overkill.
Hmm...
While Noa was undeniably inexperienced with the blade, and he never claimed to be experienced with the blade, it felt weird to battle Vasco without one of his own.
Since Excalibur was technically destroyed in the world of DxD, revealing it probably wouldn't cause any issues.
While Excalibur Proto was considered a 'Holy Sword', the definition of Holy in the Nasuverse was undeniably different compared to the definition of Holy in the world of DxD.
Excalibur, the Sword of Promised Victory was in essence a sword to destroy any evil that could destroy the planet, with Arthur Pendragon having used it to cleave Enki's floods, and to destroy the Beast summoned by Manaka Sajyou.
Again, Evil is a clearly subjective word with different meanings in the two different universes. The Nasuverse definition of Evil that should be cleaved is anything Inhumane and against Humanity.
The Evil in DxD is a more broader term, with 'Evil' races such as Devils and Fallen Angels, even if they hadn't explicitly done a sin great enough to be considered an Evil in Nasuverse standards.
Or that's how Noa saw it.
Also, he just wanted to flex a cooler blade.
However, When Noa summoned it, the Blade itself wasn't visible.
...Excuse me?
[The Sword of Arthur Pendragon(Prototype), has 2 seals. Invisible Air, and the 13 Restraints of the Round Table. The reason it was first visible to you when you obtained it was that you weren't planning to use it to fight.]
...Hmm.
To Vasco, however, he witnessed the materialization of a blade, but it's view was distorted, however, he could make out a faint visage of the blade through the displacement of air, even if inaccurate.
What an interesting weapon.
"Are you ready!"
"No!"
...What?
Vasco was confused. One second, Noa pulls out a weapon that might have even put him in a little bind until he figured out the dimensions of the weapon and he just puts it away?
As someone who didn't even know the dimensions of the blade, how would he even use Invisible Air properly? He could swing into empty air thinking the blade was longer. He sighed as he put the blade back in the inventory.
Wasn't Gram a thing in this world as well?
So it should be fine for me to summon it if it's so different?
Noa summoned another blade, which had a shape similar to the Nasuverse's Excalibur, but with the steel blade and a hold hilt. Noa didn't know this since he hadn't actually played through the Lostbelts, but this wasn't the sword that Sigurd wielded during the Lostbelt.
It was the Gram wielded by Gilgamesh and stored in the Gate of Babylon, and looked more similar to an ordinary sword than the Gram that Sigurd in the Lostbelt had wielded.
However, despite it's differences, it was still an A Rank Anti-Unit Noble Phantasm, but with it's activation similar to Arondight Overload, not like how Sigurd threw his blade.
The sword while less useful for him as he hadn't bathed in the blood of the Evil Dragon Fafnir, nor did he have his blood, reducing the compatibility, it was nonetheless an unnaturally durable blade with incomparable sharpness.
Noa held out his sword in a pose that showed he had never held a blade, causing a questioning look from both Vasco and Griselda, two people with experience.
'Well, Noa never said he was good with the sword...' Griselda inwardly thought.
Vasco observed the sword that Noa held. Gram while again, considered a demonic sword, had different meanings in different universes. However, it still emitted an unsettling feeling.
Unfortunately for Noa, holding a sword which was the same height as him didn't do much for his image.
"I'm ready!" Noa finally yelled.
"Okay! Then Sister Griselda here will be the referee!"
Resigned, Griselda held out her hand.
"The match will be decided if one decides to concede or can no longer battle!"
Griselda counted down.
Noa tensed up as she counted down, and just before she finished counting, Noa could feel unstoppable death approaching due to his Instinct. As a modern human who hadn't actually experienced a life or death situation, 'seeing' Vasco's strike through Intuition instinctively activated his flight or fight response, and he immediately sped to the right, using Furthest Earth to create distance between the two.
Looking back at his original position, Noa saw Vasco already there, his blade already swung, creating a wave of pressurized air across the room, causing Noa's hair to sway in the wind.
Noa could feel cold sweat on his back.
WHAT THE FUCK?!
If he didn't have Furthest Earth, which nullified any distance, he would have 100% been cooked to oblivion.
Was this what 'Speed Blitzing' meant when he saw those Powerscalers?
Vasco looked at him with interest as he immediately dodged his first strike.
So there was more to him than just Incinerate Anthem.
But to dodge his first blow? It was as if Noa had some precognitive intuition.
Not to toot his own horn, but even if Vasco was holding back, the speed he displayed was still relatively fast in his own standards.
Vasco was surprisingly accurate. However, while Noa knew what was coming, without any experience similar to Artoria, he didn't know what to do after observing what was about to happen.
This was because right now, the 'best course of personal action' was to evade. This meant that his current physical strength and speed wasn't comparable to Vasco in any definition, meaning that Vasco Strada was at 'least' 10 times stronger than a normal human.
His extra boost from Protection of the Faith didn't apply either, as Vasco was undeniably a [Good] person.
Fortunately, the combination of Instinct and Furthest Earth meant that being able to hit him, let alone touch him was an astronomically difficult ask to complete.
A wave of Holy Flames burst out from Noa, as he assumed his best course of action in an enclosed space was to hit the enemy with an AOE attack. Fortunately for the Lavinia and Griselda, there was a barrier in place in the occurrence of such events.
Vasco countered by swinging his sword, cutting the flames, leaving him virtually unscathed.
Brother. How does one cut flames...?
Noa inwardly complained.
Activating the full extent of Incinerate Anthem, Noa was constantly on the move as Vasco slashed at him, unable to touch him.
In the center of the room, the flame statue of the Whore of Babylon appeared, a glowing purple cross stabbed into it's chest.
Vasco looked at it with a vague interest. He had seen the description from Griselda's report, but looking at it in person gave Vasco a sense of reverence, as Incinerate Anthem was a Sacred Gear representing the Holy Cross.
The woman being stabbed reduced the feeling however, as even without any fine definition of the flame statue, he could feel promiscuity emanating from the woman made of flames.
From the cup made of flames above the woman's head, a combination of flames and liquid could be seen sloshing about, a few drops falling from the cup. While the flames itself didn't look dangerous, the small drops increased in volume, flooding the room.
Noa made it only target Vasco just in case it somehow destroyed the barrier, and Noa was decently confident that it could at least debilitate Vasco.
He found it kind of ironic how someone using the vessel of Noah was the one creating the Flood this time.
Unfortunately for Noa, a burst of energy blast out of Durandal, disintegrating the flames.
Fire can be disintegrated...?
Noa was learning new things about his Sacred Gear, and the bullshit that was the Durandal in Vasco's hands.
"HAHA, taking advantage of the enclosed room for your Sacred Gear, smart!" Vasco commented, looking as pristine as he looked at the beginning of the fight.
'...'
Maybe he could try fighting close range with Furthest Earth...?
If his Sacred Gear did absolute jack shit against the guy, might as well abuse the shit out of Furthest Earth...
Since Vasco couldn't touch him due to his enhanced Instinct due to Protection of the Faith, maybe he could try to fight him with Gram and Furthest Earth.
Dodging another one of Vasco's swings, Noa immediately took the opportunity and swung his sword like a bat, admittedly the only way he knew how to effectively swing a sword.
Griselda winced at the sheer novice energy Noa showed at that instant, but Vasco immediately parried the blade and swung back, however, Noa was already behind him, swinging his blade once more.
'Furthest Earth is lowkey broken with Instinct...'
While his leg speed was Perfect, this speed didn't apply to other parts of his body, making Noa's arm swings slower than his leg speed, allowing Vasco to parry Noa's swings with the faint gap in speed.
Vasco hummed in thought, parrying Noa's strikes.
Having created the rule of no killing blows, using Durandal's AOE strikes was an easy way for him to break his own rules, despite being the perfect way to win in this enclosed space.
The child couldn't be hit, but the child couldn't hit him either, but that was more due to the kid's lack of experience in fighting. If Noa had more time to think about his available moves, fighting him would be much harder, even if Noa only had the combination of Furthest Earth, Instinct, Gram, and Incinerate Anthem.
For example, if Incinerate Anthem attacked at the same time as Noa, it would drastically increase the difficulty of parrying Noa's weapon, which had unknown specs.
As it was withstanding Durandal's parries, that meant that in the case of durability, it was extremely close to it's own durability, but the Sharpness was still unknown. If he decided to forgo parrying Noa's unknown sword in order to disperse Incinerate Anthem's flames, it could result in a more severe injury than he would expect.
Maybe Vasco had screwed himself over with the no killing blows, but this was indeed a spar in order to tell Noa's fighting abilities and style.
It was just unfortunate that Noa was effectively untouchable.
With Perfect Movement and the Reaction Time for that Movement, the synergy with Furthest Earth and Instinct made Noa an annoying person to battle against.
However, Vasco could tell that Noa was practically a greenhorn when it came to the art of combat.
It was only due to Noa's reaction time(cheating with Instinct) along with his unnaturally fast movements(cheating with Furthest Earth) that gave him a semblance of expertise in close combat. However, just looking at Noa's horrible stance and grip when he held that unknown sword it could be seen that anything physical except his speed was rather mediocre.
And looking at Noa's reaction when fighting, it was clear that Noa had seen the fight as more of like a game rather than a actual fight, which could be detrimental. However, which naivete could be changed.
Vasco nodded in satisfaction. While there was probably even more to Noa, his potential was still rather high.
He could be a good rival to Dulio.
"I concede." Vasco held up his arm in surrender.
[You have defeated the current strongest Exorcist [Vasco Strada]. You have obtained the Rare Achievement [So I'm also Stronger than Kokabiel?] - +5 Free Pulls]
Griselda looked flabbergasted. Vasco Strada, the Vatican's Strongest Exorcist(as of now), surrendering to a 9 year old?
"Your movement is impeccable, but everything else is rather..." Vasco trailed off, not wanting to hurt Noa's feelings. Griselda nodded in agreement. While Noa's firepower was formidable, his actual fighting abilities were rather lackluster.
"Yeah, I know that. I have zero experience." Noa shrugged. Fighting using supernatural abilities to overpower the enemy through sheer firepower wasn't gaining 'experience'. Noa knew that it was one of his more glaring issues.
"I still see a lot of potential within you, even if you are hiding your abilities." Both Lavinia and Griselda froze at that statement, but Noa wasn't particularly surprised.
Vasco's first move literally revealed his Furthest Earth skill. If there was one power he was hiding, who was to say that there wasn't more?
Rather, your reactions are making it even more obvious!
Noa looked at Lavinia's and Griselda's nervous expressions with an incredulous look.
"Lowkey, it was pretty obvious cause I had to dodge his attack," Noa said with a deadpan.
Vasco laughed. "I had a feeling you were hiding more, and I put you on the spot. I sincerely apologize for that." He gave a quick bow, causing Griselda to panic. A Cardinal Priest, bowing to a 9 year old?
What kind of fantasy was this?
Noa on the other hand was looking at Vasco with a burdened expression. 'What am I supposed to do if you apologize so sincerely...?'
"It's fine. I feel that you're trustworthy anyways." Noa shrugged.
"I feel the same!" Vasco bellowed with a smile, getting up. "Although I find it interesting how you convinced Little Griselda to lie for your sake, there must have been a reason, so I won't question further. Although I am happy for Little Griselda to have someone she's close enough to lie for!"
"C-Cardinal Strada!" Griselda could feel a blush rising on her face. Was she really that friendless?
"Eh~?" Noa gave a smug smile towards Griselda, causing her to glare back.
"Well, I approved of your and Little Lavinia's request to join the Church, but while I'm sure the Church will make both of you become Exorcists regardless of your wishes, I could prevent the more unsavory members of the Church from making moves on you two."
Vasco, as a Cardinal Priest, just one level below a Pope along with being the wielder of Durandal and considered the Strongest Exorcist, had a large standing in the Church and had much more authority compared to other Cardinals when it came to Exorcists.
"That would be much appreciated."
"However, with your skill you will still have to train until you are greenlit for missions, along with Lavinia." Vasco added.
"That would also be much appreciated."
"Then that's settled. As you already know Little Griselda here, she'll be your handler until you get used to the Vatican." Vasco said, and while Griselda paused, only being able to go on 7 missions before relegated to handler duty, hanging out with her new friends didn't seem that bad.
--+--
Noa sat on his bed in his new dorm he would be staying during the duration of his training. Griselda had said that she would show Noa and Lavinia the schedule tomorrow along with a tour of the place.
Now, having eaten a rather... sad dinner of bread, ham and an apple none particularly seasoned, Noa looked at the notification that he hadn't had the opportunity to check.
First things first. He got 5 pulls from 'Defeating' Vasco even if it was from a spar. Adding on the 5 more from the Achievements from when he was scamming across Cherkasy that meant he had 10.
That was pretty good. Unfortunately...
[2 Conditions of the 3 have been met, changing the formatting of the TYPE/MOON Gacha System.]
His System updated.
What even were the 2 conditions...?
[Host is currently [Safe] and is affiliated with a faction.]
Damn...
[For the duration of your affiliation with a faction with a minimum of 10 Years, there will no longer be free Daily Pulls and no Daily Quests. Weekly Quests has changed to Monthly Quests, but result in a higher Pull Count reward.]
Noa froze.
Fuuuuuck...
He couldn't even leave, since the nerf lasted for 10 fucking years regardless of if he even left!
[However, a new System is in place.]
...Go on.
[In Exchange for 10 General Banner Pulls, you can obtain a Random Specialized Character Card, allowing for the Host to randomly gain an aspect of that Character.]
So it's just another fucking Gacha? A RANDOM character card and a RANDOM aspect? That's a wombo combo of probabilities!
[...For 50 Free Pulls, you can choose the Specialized Character Card, allowing for the Host to randomly gain an aspect of that Specific Character.]
...Well in a sense it was a pity system, so Noa guessed it was pretty okay.
...Rather wasn't this pretty good? It removed the possibility of getting Craft Essences!
[When using a Specialized Character Card, the Host gets 50 Points for Pulling on the Craft Essence/Stat Point Banner. The Host needs 10 Points to Pull for the Craft Essence/Stat Point Banner.]
So he could still pull for the Craft Essences... isn't this way better than the FGO pull rates? Even if getting stuff took longer, at least it guaranteed something better!
This wasn't bad at all!
[Due to the host fulfilling the conditions of [Being Associated with a Faction] and [Being Safe], the System will allow for the choosing of 2 Specialized Character Cards with an [Affiliation with God] and is [Lawful Good].]
OHHH! A freebee! LET'S FUCKING GO!!!
[Available Character Cards]
[Character Card - Noah - Vessel Bonus - 5 Aspects - 1 Time Only]
[Character Card - Amakusa Shirou Tokisada]
[Character Card - Jeanne d'Arc]
[Character Card - Martha]
[Character Card - Georgios]
[Character Card - Solomon]
[Character Card - Metatron Jeanne]
[Character Card - David]
Hmm... There was less than he originally expected, but looking at the King of Magecraft, Noa's excitement increased, before he fell into thought.
Right now, even if he got Solomon's knowledge of Magecraft, it was essentially useless on him, who wasn't that... creative?
Noa would definitely choose Noah for 1 of his Specialized Character Card, if not solely because of the 4 extra Aspects he could get from the Specialized Character Card.
Hmm... Amakusa, Martha, Georgios were out.
Not that Tarasque couldn't be good, but possible benefits from other characters such as Jeanne's EX Rank Magic Resistance along with her other skills were more beneficial towards him.
But other than Jeanne's Skills, her Suicide Attack Noble Phantasm La Pucelle...
But the Specialized Character Card may also give Experience and Stats, so picking someone with good in both of them would also be pretty good...
While he didn't know much about Metatron Jeanne, she had to be good if she had an Angel's name in front of Jeanne's own name, right...?
'Can I know the stats and skills of the characters here?'
[No.]
Damn.
While Noa knew about David's EX Rank Ark, he remembered his stats to be rather lackluster...
With such a low probability of getting Ark, David was also out.
So in the end it was between Solomon and Metatron Jeanne.
Solomon, the best thing he could get from him is his Personal Skills and Noble Phantasms along with his knowledge, but his Noble Phantasms were basically useless to him with his lack of Mana...
Maybe when he saved up 50 General Free Pulls, then he would choose Solomon or when he had more Mana. For now, choosing Solomon would only increase his options, not his potency.
So Metatron Jeanne was his second pull.
I choose Noah as my first Specialized Character Card!
[Servant Skill - Zohar's Glowing Stone - EX Rank]
[Class Skill - Riding - A Rank]
[Class Skill - Magic Resistance - B Rank]
[Weapon - Flaming Sword - ??? Rank]
[Noble Phantasm - Noah's Ark - A+ Rank]
Oh? OH? HOLY SHIT?!
...Wait.
Noa was going to be completely honest, other than Magic Resistance and Riding, he didn't really know much about the other 3.
Well, at least they were all above B Rank.
Noa could kind of tell what Noah's Ark was, seeing as even he knew about the story...
What does Zohar's Glowing Stone do?
[It is a shining stone that demonstrates that you are a descendant of Adam. On its own, it doesn't have any particularly great power. However, the stone's radiance shines in correspondence with Noah's mentality, which is not tainted by evil, nurtures the earth, and loves animals, and so it gives Noah a surge of power "worthy of being the progenitor of Humanity". It also increases the efficiency of Magic Resistance.]
So? Where's the stone?
[It is with Noah's Outfit.]
...So I don't even have the stone right now?
[...Yes.]
Oh you bitch.
Damn, so an EX Rank skill that does nothing until he gets another part of Noah's set.
Well, he still has 4 more Aspects so he can't really complain...
Riding and Magic Resistance were self explanatory, and his D Rank Riding Skill finally got up! Let's go!
The Flaming Sword was a mystery though...
What does it even do?
[Using the Flaming Sword in battle increases the potency of Protection of the Faith, increasing Abilities and Stats by another Letter along with God's Blessings.]
Holy hell. That's pretty fucking good then!
[As a weapon of the Cherubim, and a Divine Construct, the concept of [Indestructability] is in the sword, and is Extremely Effective towards races that aren't [Evil], [Human] or [Angels]]
So, as of right now, it's probably the best weapon he had. Gram wasn't compatible with him currently, and Excalibur couldn't be used effectively all the time, and required some semblance of skill to wield.
Noah's Ark was pretty self explanatory... was it?
...Noa had to make sure it did what it actually did.
[Creates a massive flood.]
That's the opposite of what the Ark actually did...
Well, with the new Gacha update, at least Noa got good shit! Maybe joining the Church was the right call!
Next was Metatron Jeanne's Specialized Character Card.
Go!
[Class Skill - Throne Creation - EX Rank]
...Excuse me?
--+--
A/N: Yo sorry if the quality fucking dipped at the end. I just came back from the trip and wanted a chapter out. Also, my ability to write fighting scenes are practically nonexistent, so sorry for that shitshow of a battle.
I 'nerfed' the gacha to facilitate time skips better, but I didn't really nerf the thing. I also liked Noa getting craft essences to I kept that shit in.
I'm also tired as fuck so not a lotta jokes this chapter.
Thanks for all the support and starting the next Power Stone Weekly Reset! I Have an Announcement! We have Powerstone Goals!!!
I don't have confidence for my first book so doing this for fun.
500 Power Stones in the beginning for an Extra Chapter and then every 300 Power Stones for another chapter after that!
So...
500 PS - Extra Chapter
800 PS - Extra Chapter
1100 PS - Extra Chapter
Etc.
I don't think we'll get above 500 seeing as we only have 300 for this week, so that's why I'm doing this lol.
Also, comments, powerstones, and reviews are always appreciated.