Chapter 18

"Art thou sure about this?" 

The most feared human in recent history took a quick glance at the humble training ground where a very strange devil was giving a haughty yet surprisingly polite speech about vegetables while a blue-haired exorcist was trying really hard to not appear interested about the concept of sword intent before the duel they both insisted on having. 

"It's fine." Vasco Strada waved off the question as he scratched his chin. "In my experience, this will either end with these two developing a healthy rivalry where they will learn to work together with those that do not think like them, or they will lose one of their limbs in an admittedly avoidable manner."

It was left unsaid that Valerie would be the one to heal them in the somewhat likely case that were to happen. 

"Tis but another test for the sake of a greater morrow." She gaslighted herself. "As a wordsmith wiser than this princess had said in the past: let's dream and hope." 

"It's wait and hope." The bluenette corrected out of nowhere before returning her attention to her opponent, which made Valerie's smile become slightly strained. 

"Mother Quarta loves literature, so I am not surprised that she made young Xenovia read  Count of Montecristo at some point." Vasco Strada answered the unspoken question when Gasper, who was also there to watch the duel, raised an inquisitive eyebrow at him.

"My beloved, show that squire the immensity of heaven and earth!" 

"Valerie, this is supposed to be a friendly match." The younger dhampir reminded her with a sigh. "And please remember that you have to heal her after this." 

"This witch blessed by the moon of the autumn night is merely performing her duties as a wife by supporting her dear husband in his duel, a hopefully one-sided duel as I do not with so see him get hurt." 

Gasper deadpanned at her at the bullshit he was hearing, not bothering to point out she only remembered those so-called duties when it was convenient. 

"Have you thought about holding a proper Christian wedding at some point? Given that you have managed to overcome your inherent weakness to the holy through your Sacred Gear, I believe that having God as a witness of your union would be a good thing. While there is no need to hurry since you two are still very young, I would recommend you give it some thought and discuss it with your partner since it is not a decision that one should take lightly." 

"I would look great in a white dress that highlights my purity and natural beauty, but then there is the matter of the wedding night... As thou said, tis still too soon." 

"Shouldn't we focus on the fight going on instead of discussing Senior Brother's grim fat- future wedding with Valerie?" 

"Why bother?" Valerie shrugged. "The duel is already over." 

"Do you mean that in the metaphorical sense?" 

"It depends, do you happen to consider Riser standing victorious against a practically disarmed opponent a metaphor about capitalism?" She said, pointing at the combatants. 

A few meters away from them, Riser held the sharp point of Durandal between two of his fingers with an aloof yet serene expression, his cultivation robes fluttering in the wind as Xenovia Quarta looked at him in a mixture of disbelief and resentment because no matter how much she struggled, the blade wasn't moving an inch. 

"I cannot say that this outcome was unexpected. Young Riser has proven himself capable of making my old joints hurt during training, which hasn't happened since I was sent to calm down that drunk Dragon King." Vasco chimed in with a crazy sounding anecdote that none of the dhampir questioned as they both were aware that dragons were assholes. "This should teach little Xenovia to carefully select her opponents when given the chance and that sometimes a tactical retreat is the best course of action." 

After a few seconds of futile struggle, Xenovia tightened her hold on Durandal, causing the giant blade to release some kind of destructive energy powerful enough to force Riser to slap it away before it could fully overcome his regeneration. 

"What if she refuses to give up and insists on escalating things?" Gasper nervously asked, not liking the way the sword was glowing right now. 

"Well, that'll be a valuable lesson on its own, albeit a more painful one."

 The whole world turned white as the tip of the blade touched the ground. 

... 

 Casting my fist on a nameless flame that yearns to burn the concept of heat itself, I throw a punch at the massive beam of destructive light shot from Durandal with all my physical might while digging my feet into the earth to not be hurled away because of the shockwave produced by the impact. I lack the words to describe the pain of my whole arm being minced into small pieces by the sharpest holy treasure in history over and over as my regeneration fails to fully negate the damage caused by the sword, mostly because I am too focused on making sure that the flames devour the light so the light would stop flaying me alive. 

I maintain my aloof and distant façade as my fire finally overcome the sword beam. A handsome prodigy needs to keep appearances. 

Besides my tattered sleeves I am in perfect health due to my regeneration. The same could not be said about Xenovia Quarta. Her sweaty figure panting for air made in a way that highlighted her curves for an alluring sight if one were to ignore the multiple little cuts in her arms; the consequences of throwing an attack beyond her current realm. 

In all honesty, I could have stepped aside and dodged the very telegraphic sword beam with ease instead of punching it away. Sadly, that very sensible course of action not only would have gone against Elder Strada's teachings but defeating her before she had the opportunity to show off a little bit would cause her to harbor resentment toward me in the future. 

"H-how are you uninjured after tanking that attack? No, it doesn't matter. I am not done yet." The girl who cannot even muster enough strength to lift Durandal with her shaking arms states. 

I am only fine because my regeneration is awesome and the fact that I am two big cultivation realms above her at the moment, but she does not need to know that. 

"Durandal is a surprisingly gentle holy sword despite its appearance." I ignore her and smile at the very ugly weapon. "Elder Strada was said to be capable of splitting space itself in half with a swing of that sharp blade, but I can see that Durandal decided to dull itself to not push yourself beyond your limits." 

I am mostly talking out of my ass, but I don't think I am wrong with my assessment. The Sword Sovereign told me that weapons like these tend to possess personalities while lacking a mind of their own, so it would not be a stretch to assume that Durandal does not want to hurt its wielders regardless of their goals and desires. 

"Xenovia Quarta, you do not understand your own blade. This is not an insult as the numbers of experts who can rightfully boast of that achievement hardly reach the double digits, but the point remains, you lost because you did not acknowledge your own ignorance. Some may call you a beautiful sword fairy with some nice-looking thighs-" 

"Stop trying to seduce me, devil!" 

"… but people like me can only be defeated by MCs who are loved by the Heavens. A Sword Saintess who cannot understand love shall not defeat me." 

Only by making the MC gift her peerless treasures, talismans and unique cultivation lessons that may or may not include dual cultivation can a merely talented female lead stand a chance against a supreme Young Master like me. Until the day the Sword Saintess squeezes her future half-angel lover for all he or she is worth it, she is not my opponent. 

 ... 

Rule 92: 

Swords Saints are either the wisest individuals a Young Master is ever going to meet or dumb enough to make one question their sapience, there is no middle point in this. Either way, winning an argument against them is a fool's errand in the best of cases so do not even try unless they are too drunk or tired to care about that come out of your mouth.

... 

From the moment Xenovia saw past my attempts to use inverse reverse psychology on her, I knew for a fact that her IQ was too high for a direct approach, therefore I accepted this duel. While I would have liked to bond over tea while discussing the Dao, I needed to beat the shit out of her before presenting myself as an enigmatic and wise figure that she will be forced to begrudgingly respect. Hopefuly, my words reached her heart now that she is too exhausted to think about them.

I do not wait for a reply before I start to walk away without looking back. 

 ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 

It has been almost two weeks since my little duel and the last time I saw the Sword Saintess. Not that I care all that much, Vasco Strada was busy holding celebrations at a small town in Italy, making this our first free day in more than a month. Gasper and Valerie spent their day lazing around the hotel, watching some cartoons and reading some books respectively. I even took the chance and went for a walk around the city, but strangely nothing noteworthy happened. The streets of Rome were exactly as one would expect. While the city itself was fairly small for such a renowned location and did not have imposing skyscrapers or other modern buildings, instead it was filled with architecture from a time when immortals ruled over mortals with an iron fist. 

"Senior Brother." Gasper absently greets me as I enter our hotel room. The TV is showing an anthropomorphic rabbit making a shotgun explode by putting his fingers inside the barrel, a technique thatI may try to replicate in the near future. 

"Valerie, I found it." I throw the requested book at the little moon kissed girl reading something called the Half-blood prince on the couch, causing her to smile from ear to ear. 

"Thanks a lot". She says as I sit beside her "These tomes of forbidden knowledge had brought broken dreams of grandeur upon the humans, yet only those cursed with the gift of being capable of seeing beyond the laws of this world can give shape to those shards of lost magic." 

It's still odd that she is learning soul cultivation techniques from a bestseller book and not from a scroll like a proper cultivator. Then again, most cultivators nowadays use Chinese/Korean blogs and movies to hide their secrets in plain sight, so it makes sense that shamans and witches would do something along the lines. 

The beautiful dhampir happily starts flipping the pages of her new book, barely reacting to me pulling her into my lap. It Is hard to tell whether she is getting comfortable with the flirting or just allowing it to happen to make sure I 'fall' for her, but I enjoy the soft sensation of a beauty getting comfortable on my lap nonetheless, especially since she does not seem to mind the occasional erection rubbing against her soft cheeks every now and then. 

"I am especially interested in the Felix Felicis potion, which is basically liquid luck. I guess that I could modify the fate and the laws of causality that rule over the intangible idea of the soul, but the sheer amount of luck that I would need to successfully brew the potion in the first place would make the whole process not cost efficient…" 

I like these moments when Valerie shows some genuine excitement and starts to mumble to herself, so I do not take the flirting too far as that would make her nervous or cause her to think in ways to manipulate the situation to her future benefit. 

"What if instead of fate you focus on the idea of karmic retribution for the potion?While admittedly lesser in power, that would allow you to make use of some loopholes to reach the desired result." 

"That could work." She writes some notes I can't fully understand in her notebook. "Maybe if one of the potions' side effects cause the user to forget about all the little moments of good luck that he had in the last month…" 

"Beautiful, smart, cunning and cute." I sagely nod to myself. " On a scale from one to ten, you are truly an eleven." 

Valerie preens under the compliment, making her hair tickle my chin. 

"This witch would personally give herself a twelve, alas, I understand that I have yet to prove myself worthy of such honor." 

"And how should Young Master test his little wife?" I kiss her ear, chuckling at the sight of her face going red... I wish I could tell whether she is blushing on command or not. 

Unfortunately, my relaxation time soon comes to an abrupt end. 

"Senior Brother, there is someone at the door who wishes to speak to you." 

On the one hand, I am proud that Junior Brother is now confident enough to dare to interrupt our little flirting session. On the other hand, that unfilial junior will face a tribulation in form of extra training for cockblocking me. 

"My apologies for interrupting your sinful activities." 

To my surprise, the person at the door is none other than the blue-haired Sword Saintess, meaning that I cannot just slam the door on their face. 

"No need to be sorry about that." 

"I am not, but his eminence Strada recommended me to utter an apology regardless of my personal feelings on the matter. I shall be going on a mission this afternoon, so I came here to give an announcement before leaving." 

"A death threat?" 

"A regular threat." She corrects without missing a beat. "Unfortunately, I have not caught you doing anything nefarious up till now, meaning that I can't justify an execution." 

She sounds almost disappointed while speaking of my innocence, but I don't have the opportunity to point that out as her onyx eyes suddenly gleam with resolution. 

"I shall become a protagonist worthy of Durandal and defeat you like the filthy devil you are." She declares before nodding to herself, clearly satisfied with herself. "You can now continue your sexual debauchery with the witch."

And just like that, she closed the door and left. 

 I feel like there is a misunderstanding going on, but it isn't like I plan to interact too much with the holy sect in the future anyways. 

 ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 

Meanwhile, in Heaven: 

No human word could ever hope to describe the divine beauty of Paradise. Even if this place they called their beloved home was just a shadow of what it had been before Father's death, it was hard to imagine an eternal land like this existing anywhere else in the world. 

And yet, all what Michael could feel as he stood in front of the perfect sphere of light, a shape that should not be possible in reality, was trepidation. He could barely understand how something like this could even exist in the first place, so fixing the perfect system that took his Father decades to build felt like an impossible test. 

"Rejoice, for I brought some good news." Gabriel suddenly barged into the room, startling him. "Good enough for you to finally leave this room and maybe take a break. Even Metatron insisted that touching grass would do wonders for you." 

The older archangel sighed, realizing that his sister was just trying to cheer him up again. Although the gesture never failed to warm his heart, maintaining the system was becoming harder with each passing day, meaning that he could not allow himself to get distracted while performing his duties. 

"I left a little while ago for a diplomatic mission at the Jade Court, didn't I?" 

"Michael, that was almost three years ago." 

"Uh?" He wittily replied. That would explain why he ran out of coffee so soon. "My apologies if I made you worried, I should be done with this in a few more weeks. Feel free to share the good news with me, though." 

"Of course, I am sure they will make you smile." 

The angel of the sad gaze smiled indulgently at his sibling and waited. 

"Remember the young devils being trained by Vasco Strada? The young Phenex has been praying to Father every day for the last month, sometimes twice a day. One of the lost lambs is calling for Father's mercy despite the pain that this must cause him." 

Admittedly, he initially had his doubts when Raphael informed him that a pureblood devil from a pillar house and his peerage would be trained by the strongest exorcist as a show of goodwill between their factions and the promise that they could ask the devil in question for two favors of their choice despite Uriel assuring that he would personally teach the Phenex a lesson if the latter tried anything funny in the Vatican. 

To hear that a member of the youngest generation of devils prayed in hopes of being heard by Father... 

"Thank you, Gabriel. " 

His sister was right, the news effectively brought him some hope for the future. 

"I knew that this would bright your day. You should visit him; Raphael and I will take care of things here in the meanwhile. " 

"I can't do that." The archangel shook his head at her encouragement. "The tensions between the biblical factions must be already high enough because we are allowing a devil stay at the Vatican...even if it had been a while since the last time we directly contacted them. If an archangel like me were to approach a pureblood devil, the Ars Goetia would either accuse us of planning something or suggest that the kid has been brainwashed by us and demand concessions as repayment." 

It was a cruel decision to abandon the lost sheep when it wanted to return to Father's house, but there was nothing they could do about it at the current moment. Perhaps, when lasting peace was finally achieved, he and the young devil would pray together without waiting for another 1200 years. 

"… I wanted you to meet him." 

"I'd like that too." He admitted. 

Michael took a one-hour break before resuming his work.