20

Chapter 20

xXxXxXxXxX

Vince stood on his bed with a mildly annoyed expression as he heard Rias constantly asking him questions over his cellphone. He is currently shirtless wearing, showing off his developing muscular chest, while only wearing grey sweatpants. After noticing she stopped talking he spoke up, while trying to keep calm. "Rias, it's okay. Nothing really happened yesterday, all I did was sight see."

"I see. Did you meet up with your friends in the church?" Rias asked, now curious.

"Yes. Regardless, I'll be returning to Kuoh in like a day or two. I have make a stop in Kyoto before head home." He replied.

"Why?"

"I promised to drop off some souvenirs to my friend in Kyoto. I'm already going to give you and the others souvenirs when I get their. Nothing dangerous like a cross or a bible though." Vince responded with a small chuckle.

"Okay. But just be careful Vince, the church might try to do something to you." Rias exclaimed in a worried tone.

"I know they would normally, but with the treaty coming up doing that would have some serious repercussions. Somebody would have to be very stupid to try that." Vince answered, recalling the events from yesterday.

"Yes that's true, but you should be careful just incase. If something happened to you..." Rias spoke, trailing off.

Upon hearing the distress in her voice he sighed and shook his head. "I'll be back, so don't worry. I have to go now, so take care."

"Sure. Goodbye Vince."

"Since today is a Saturday, I'll be back by Monday. Bye." Vince promptly hung up the call and lied down on his bed.

[You know, Rias is really worried about you Vince.] Yume spoke softly.

"Yeah, with the exception of my mom. It's a foreign feeling to know that someone cares about you. I still feel the same way with Kasumi and Akari, if I'm being honest." He said gazing at a window of the hotel room.

Yume looked at him sadly. [It's okay Vince, you'll get used to it. Not everyone is going to hurt you.]

"..."

A few minutes passed by as he wordlessly gazed at the window deep in thought. Until a knock was heard on the door. Vince looked at the door and spoke in a whisper. "Who's the hell's knocking?"

He jumped out of his bed and opened the door. Vince raised an eyebrow at seeing Shura at the door, grinning. "Why are you here and how did you find my hotel room?"

Shura's grin immediately turned into a frown. "Aren't you grumpy in the morning. Did you forget to drink your coffee or something?"

"Yes. But that's besides the point." Vince replied cheekily, as he continued. "Why are you here, exactly?"

She shook her head, "Cheeky shrimp. I'm here because Gabriel asked me to give you something."

Shura pulled out a piece of paper and handed it to Vince, who looked confused but took it. "Are you... Coming on to me?"

She snorted in response,"You wish. Just check the paper."

He looked at the paper and noticed that it had a tattoo on it, similar to the one on her breasts. "It's the same design as your tattoo."

"Yeah, it's a seal. Gabriel asked me to make one last night. After all, we can't have ya running around the Vatican with your holy-sword and that sniper-scythe thing. Just think about using it and it'll work." Shura explained nonchantly.

Vince nodded and took Crescent Rose in it's travel form, along with the Totsuka-no-Tsurugi. He followed her advice and a few moments later the tattoo on the paper glowed, taking in both the scythe and the katana. "Not bad, Shura. Thanks a lot."

"Sure no problem. Ya owe me one, I had to waste half of my night trying to put that one up." She commented, yawning a little.

Vince looked between Shura and the paper with the tattoo before shrugging. (Well, I don't see why not. The fact that it's twelve in the afternoon and Shura's yawning a little shows that she worked quite a bit on the seal.)

He placed the paper in his pocket before turning to her. "You want to go out for lunch Shura? It'll be my treat."

"Who's coming on to who now?" Shura teased, grinning.

"Very funny. But I'm being serious here, do you want to go get some lunch or not?" He asked dryly.

"Yeah, yeah. I could use some lunch. Oh by the way, nice to see you've gotten some muscle. You were so out of shape back then." She commented, still grinning.

Vince rolled his eyes as he got some clothes out from his luggage. "Unless you want a free show, I suggest you close the door."

Shura leaned near the door with a smirk. "Nah. I think I'll just stay here for a little bit."

"Okay let me rephrase that." Vince created a water hand with his left hand and a lightning hand with his right hand, the water hand lightly shoved Shura away from the door, as the lightning hand closed the door and locked it. "I'll close the door and change in private!"

"Cheeky brat." He heard her mutter.

Vince smirked as he changed into a navy blue t-shirt, a pair of long black cargo pants and a pair of black shoes. (She had it coming.)

A few minutes later Vince came out of the door as he spoke. "You ready to go Shura?"

"Yeah."

Vince took out his gray cellphone and pondered for a few seconds for before shrugging. (I might as well.)

"Oh by the way. This is my Sacred Gear spirit, Yume. Yume, as you already know this is Shura." He said introducing the two women to each other.

[Hello Shura-san, it's nice to meet you.] Yume greeted politely.

"Likewise. And what did you mean by already know, Vince?" Shura asked raising an eyebrow.

"Yume has been watching over my life since I was seven, through my other Sacred Gear. She couldn't contact me because I needed to wake up my other Sacred Gear first."

"Oh right. It's the second Sacred Gear that lets you transform into an Angel and a Devil. You know, when Gabriel found out she was estatic when you could turn into a angel. But some of the old farts in the church were paranoid and wanted to have ya recruited quickly or captured, especially when they found out about your holy-sword. Micheal quickly shot down the idea cause of the treaty comin' up." Shura commented in a serious tone, that slightly surprised him.

Vince snorted, "If that would have been the case, I would have drowned them in water. I've really had up to here with the church. The same goes for the other two factions."

"Why's that?" She questioned, now curious.

He raised three fingers as slowly placed on down, while speaking. "The Devil faction is the reason why I'm currently forced in an engagement despite Rias and I faking it and the High class Devils kind of rub me the wrong way. The Church, I naturally don't like not to mention how they treated the holy-sword wielder of Durandel, Xenovia and the holy priestest Asia Argento."

Vince took a small breath before continuing as he currently held one finger." The Fallen-Angel faction has a hard time keeping their subordinates in check. With the main reason being that dead son of a bitch, Kokabiel. Not to mention that most of the fallen angels I've met so far are assholes."

Shura let out a low whistle as she heard him explain his reasons. "They really have pissed ya off, I can tell. It takes a lot of guts to talk smack about all Three Factions like that though."

He shrugged, "Well either way, let's go get some lunch."

"Yeah."

xXxXxXxXxX

Shura and Vince sat down on a small booth across from each other in a small café. After looking at the menu for a few minutes and ordering, Vince crossed his arms and looked outside of the window. (I think I should head to Kyoto today. Staying here any longer will probably cause more tension. I don't care about what the church has to say, but I'd rather not stress out Gabriel and Shura anymore as it is.)

"Hey Vince, you alright?" Shura asked raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah, just thinking." He replied with a shrug.

"Thinking about yer, fiancé?" She teased.

"As if. I was remembering when I first used Jigadirasu Uru Zakeruga." Vince admitted, still looking out the window.

"Oh I remember that. Ya almost left a mess for me and Gabriel to clean up when you first did that attack." Shura spoke.

"What do you mean?" He asked looking at her.

"That attack you did would have nearly destroyed half of the town. If Gabriel and I didn't set up the barriers in time." She answered.

"You did tell me to imagine the most powerful thing I could think of in my mind. And use my lightning to create it." Vince responded in a annoyed tone.

"Yeah, I know. Didn't expect ya for you to make something that strong, Gabriel thought it would be something strong." Shura replied with a shrug.

"Well, it at least it the barrier held up and didn't cause any real damage." He commented with a shrug.

Shura grimaced a little at the reminder. "Ugh, don't remind me. The mess you made from the water was a pain in the ass to deal with. At least it was hurricane season at that time though."

"Yeah..."

(Flashback)

Rain poured from the sky heavily as loud thunderstorms were across the field, the wind was blowing violently, causing the trees to violently move and the lake they were next to was currently overflooded.

A thirteen year old Vince looked between Gabriel and Shura as the three wore a rain poncho due to the extreme weather conditions. He looked at the two in disbelief. "You want me to use a lightning attack in the middle of severe thunderstorm? Are you two crazy!?"

Shura gained a tickmark, clearly annoyed as she spoke. "Watch it shrimp! You know as well as I do that this the perfect chance to do this! Besides, there's stronger barriers."

"Please Shura calm down." Gabriel looked at Vince kindly, "Please Vince, you have to do this in order to gauge your strength and control."

Vince stood silent for a few minutes pondering about the benefits from doing this before sighing. "Alright, but you two are taking responsibility incase something happens."

"Yeah, yeah. Sure, remember to think of the strongest thing you can think of and just bring it out!" Shura explained with a grin.

Vince gave her a flat look. "You've got to be kidding me."

"I'm not, now get started." She said to him.

He took a deep breath and closed his eyes. (Focus... Open up your senses...)

A silver-blue aura slowly enveloped his body as his opened. Vince raised his hand as high as he could. A massive, winged creature with five lightning symbols on it's body appeared above him. The silver-blue aura around Vince intensified as the creature released a concentrated blast of blue lightning.

The lightning blast collided with the barrier and for a few moments struggled for a few moments before it faded away. Shura let out a low whistle as she examined the barrier, said barrier had a large crack right in the middle as multiple cracks formed. But relatively looked okay. "That kid is goin' to be strong when he gets older."

Vince gasped for air before he collasped, he almost fell into the ground where it not for Gabriel, who quickly caught him before he fell. She looked worried, but had a smile on her face. "I always knew you were strong Vince."

(Flashback End)

"Hey Vince, you've been spacin' out there for a few minutes. What happened?" Shura asked raising an eyebrow.

"Nothing. I just remember the time I first used Jigadirasu Uru Zakeruga." He responded with a small look of nostalgia.

"Huh. Well, the food is here." Shura said as a waitress placed two plates on the table for the two.

Without a word, the two started eating. Abeit, with Vince eating at a slightly faster pace. (If I recall correctly, the reason why Shura and Gabriel did that when the storm happened was because of the natural lightning in the area. I wasn't strong enough to make Jigadirasu Uru Zakeruga back then, but I was able to use the lightning in the area as a subsitute along with my own lightning. I can use it on my own now, but using the lightning in a thunderstorm makes it easier for me. Not to mention using the thunder and lightning helps me regain my energy but it hurts doing that, I guess that's better than being electrocuted.)

The two finished eating as Shura grinned. "That was good food."

"Yeah, it was." He agreed with a nod.

Vince placed the money on the table and walked out with Shura. (It's a good thing Yume reminded me to exchange currency before coming over here. It would have been bad if I didn't.)

"I gotta go now, I have to go do a few things. Try not to get into any trouble, shrimp." Shura teased with a grin.

"You should follow your own advise Shura." He replied dryly.

"Yeah, yeah."

They smirked at each other for a moment before walking in the opposite direction. Shura looked at Vince once last time before she continued walking. "Heh."

Vince on the other hand chuckled at a little as he continued walking. "Nice to see she hasn't changed much."

[I agree and I'm glad you were able to get your first date.] Yume commented cheerfully.

"Eh?"

[That was a date Vince. You know that right?] She questioned in a curious tone.

Vince scratched his head in confusion, before shurgging, not really caring anymore. "No I did not."

[I see. Well, I know the others back at Kuoh aren't gonna be to happy about this. Especially Rias and Kasumi.] Yume responded.

"Oops."

In response she sweatdropped at the lack of care in his voice as he continued, "I'll go get the souvenirs for the others. After that I'll leave and head to Kyoto, I don't see anymore reason to stay here."

[Oh, okay. Just be sure not to buy any holy related items. They will inflict damage towards the others.] Yume spoke sadly.

"Yeah, it'll make things a little harder though." He said sighing a little.

xXxXxXxXxX

Vince hummed a small tune to himself as he walked into a small shop. The shop itself looked like a normal gift shop with multiple items stocked everywhere. (Finally. A normal store that doesn't sell anything holy related. Sheesh, I thought I would never find one. The only thing I was able to find was a new tea set for Akeno and some candy specific only to this region for Koneko.)

He greeted an old shopkeeper with a simple wave and looked through the shop. His eyes looked at a pair of dark azure colored headphone. After looking at it's price tag he grabbed the headphones. (Not bad. I'm defintely going to keep this one. I better get the other souvineirs now.)

Vince looked through the shelves and small aisles of in the shop. To his surprise he saw a volume of a manga book. (That's the volume Rias has been looking for. She really was annoyed when she couldn't find it. I might as well take that one.)

He took the manga and continued to look around. After getting everything Vince needed, his eyes gazed towards a book that the shopkeeper was reading. "Excuse me."

"Hrm? Oh sorry about that, I was enjoying this book to much." The shopkeeper said, grabbing the items and placing the items on the register.

"If you don't mind me asking, what's the book about?" Vince asked politely.

"Oh, it's about an old legend." The old shopkeeper spoke as he continued, after placing the items in a bag. "The book talks about an underwater water temple deep within the ocean floor outside of the Vatican, that houses an ancient relic. They say that many have tried to enter the water temple to claim the relic, but none of have returned."

Vince grabbed the bag and paid for the souvenirs as he looked on in interest. "And it's around the Pacific ocean, correct?"

"It is. Why do you want to know so much about it?" The old man asked curiously.

"It's for a project. I'm in the Occult Research Club in my school and I'm curious about the legends of the Vatican." He replied nonchantly.

"Oh, I see. It's nice to see that young has an interest in the past. Well, take care kiddo." The shopkeeper replied in a jolly tone.

"Sure, later." Vince then left the shop with a small smirk.

[You didn't have to lie to him you know.] Yume called out, frowning a little.

"I didn't lie to him, I just told him half of the truth." Vince responded with a shrug.

[That's not that better Vince. You shouldn't treat your elders like that.] She chided.

He snorted, "If the past generation wasn't so keen on having the newest generation clean up their messes, maybe I would have had more respect for them."

(Hotel Room)

Vince placed the souvenirs away in his luggage along with a few other clothes and items he had laying out. "Hey Yume."

[Yes?]

"I was thinking about checking out that underwater temple the old guy talked about earlier." He answered, closing up his luggage.

[Why? That place may not even exist and if it did, the temple would be very dangerous.] She responded seriously.

"I'm curious about it. Besides, you know as well as I do that my whole life has been dangerous ever since I unlocked my Sacred Gears. What difference would it make now?" Vince asked crossing his arms.

[Not much I admit. But I am worried about you Vince, I don't want to see you go through these type of danger.] Yume stated, worriedly.

Vince's eyes slightly softened as he let a small smile appear on his face. "Thanks Yume. But, I still want to do this. I'm very curious about the place and what's the relic."

She sighed, knowing that he wouldn't back down but smiled upon seeing him smile a little. [What are you going to do if you do get it?]

"Pawn it."

[Huh?]

"I'm sure I'll be able to sell it for a pretty penny. All the more better if I was able to get money from the church." He replied with a smirk.

Yume shook her head in disbelief. [Are you sure that's worth it?]

"Well, I need cash to sustain myself. Mom can hardly send anything as it is, and I don't want to ask her for money." Vince answered with a shrug, before he continued. "We'll be going soon. I'm going to take a nap."

He covered himself in a blanket and closed his eyes. "Can you wake me up in a few hours Yume?"

[Of course. I'll call you up in four hours so you can rest well. Goodnight Vince.] She said smiling.

"Night."

(Dream)

A fourteen year old Vince looked at Gabriel and Shura with a raised eyebrow as the three were right next to a large lake. "You want me to do the same thing like how I practice with Jigadirasu Uru Zakeruga?"

"Yeah but you knew this was gonna happen when we started on yer lightning. Were at the lake so you don't waste as much energy trying to make a lot of water." Shura commented.

"It's okay Vince. We've placed enough barriers around the area so no one would get hurt." Gabriel answered with a smile.

"Huh... So, I just gotta do the same thing I did with my lightning, right?" He asked, trying to make sure.

"Yes, the process is the same as last time Vince. But I know you'll be able to do it Vince." She replied sincerly.

"Thanks Gabriel." Vince closed his eyes as he concentrated. (Focus...)

A few minutes later an enormous amount of water from the lake and merged together and formed into a leviathan. The creature roared loudly, a massive tsunami appeared behind it making Gabriel and Shura's eyes widen.

"Shit!" Shura quickly grabbed Vince and got out of the way of the tsunami just in time before the violent waters engulfed him.

Gabriel quickly strengthen the barrier as a precaution. She sighed in relief upon seeing the Leviathan disappear along with the tsunami.

"Sheesh, I swear this kid is full of surprises." Shura said holding an unconsious Vince.

"I hope Vince will be okay. Even if with the lake supplying the water, this strained his body greatly." Gabriel answered sadly, looking at him.

"Heh, I swear you have a crush on the kid." Shura teased.

"A crush?" Gabriel questioned, clearly confused.

"Nevermind."

(Dream End)

[Vince, it's time to get up.] Yume called out cheerfully.

"Nngh... I'm up." He said rubbing his eyes.

[Are you ready to go?] She asked curiously.

After jumping out of the bed, he nodded. "Yeah, let's go."

xXxXxXxXxX

Vince walked towards the ocean and let out a low whistle. "That's one big ocean."

[It's your first time seeing one, right?] Yume asked him.

"Yeah, I never seen one in person before." Vince dived into the ocean water and brought his fists together.

A visible sphere of water encased itself around him as he took a deep breath. "Nice, it looks like all those times diving into the lake near my house finally paid off."

[Yes. Thankfully the water shield has oxygen trapped inside so you can breathe normally.] She said breathing a sigh of relief.

Vince nodded and continued to descend into the sea floor he looked around and looked at the ocean in awe. "Whoa..."

[It looks so beautiful...] Yume agreed, smiling.

Various fishes swam around the ocean swimming peacefully, a taint of the sun's light reflected into the ocean illuminating the sea floor.

His feet finally hit the seafloor and started walking normally. (Heh, I always knew that diving into the lake near my house would pay off someday.)

Vince continued to walk around the sea floor looking for the temple until he stopped. He looked down and quickly jumped back. "Holy shit!"

Below the seafloor was a great white shark came out with it's jaws open wide. The shark immediately charged at Vince, with the intention of eating him he looked around his surrondings and "Tsked". Seeing no other option, Vince took of as the shark gave chase. (Fighting that shark near a dark chasm isn't going to help me. I don't want to use my weapons for something like this. Better be careful one wrong move and I'll be either dead or missing a limb. Regardless, letting this shark live is out of the question.)

The shark backed Vince into a corner and lunged at him, with it's teeth open wide. Vince created a two-handed ice sword. He held it in his right hand and ducked under it's bite, Vince delievered a vicious uppercut to the shark's nose, causing a bone crunching noise to echo across the ocean. The shark shook violently as it tried to get away from him. "You're not getting away!"

Vince created a water hand to hold the shark as he spun his ice sword around, before tossing it at the shark's face. The sword impaled it's face as the shark fell flat on it's stomach, dying of blood loss as Vince jumped on top of the sword and constantly stomped on the sword's handle, causing the sword to go further into the shark's face. After giving it one last stomp he jumped away from the shark and smirked a little."Looks like I'm on top of the underwater food chain."

[You did good job, but wasn't that a bit to much?] Yume asked raising an eyebrow.

His only response was to shrug. "Not really, shark's are by nature messy eaters. Besides, that shark just bit off more than he could chew."

[You have a point there, but we should leave. The blood might attract other sharks.] She replied, wincing a little at seeing the violent scene.

"Yeah." Vince started walking as he looked around the sea floor. "Yume, I know this is a bit of stretch but can you sense anything? It might be related to the temple."

Yume nodded, [I'll try, but it will be hard. I don't know what I'm trying to sense for.]

"Try to sense anything that seems abnormal. That might be our only clue." He answered.

[Okay.]

Hours passed by as Vince walked around the ocean floor, he groaned inwardly due to Yume not being able to sense anything. "Still nothing yet Yume?"

[No, I haven't sensed anything-] Yume immediately stopped, which caused him to raise an eyebrow. [Vince, I sense something!]

Vince perked up as he started walking at faster pace. "What do you sense? And where is it?"

[It's faint. But I can sense a small amount of demonic energy. It's right near us, just keep walking forward.] She informed.

"Alright then." He continued to walk but stopped upon seeing a large temple. "I think I found it."

[Yes. That is the place but be careful, I can sense demonic energy inside the temple.] Yume spoke seriously.

"I will." Vince punched right through water shield, destroying it. Without the water shield Vince started to swim, he looked around the temple for an entrance but saw nothing until he looked up ahead and saw a small hole inside of it. (Looks like I found the entrance. Good thing I'm able to hold my breathe for a short while.)

Vince swam up towards the entrance and examined it. Upon examination he noticed that the entrance itself was covered in seaweed. As he looked mildly annoyed at the seaweed, Vince created a water hand using the ocean water. The hand quickly grabbed the seaweed and tossed it aside. The water hand dispersed as Vince swam into in the entrance.

He continued to swim until through the small passageway until seeing the surface. Vince quickly swam up to the surface and took a deep breathe as he looked around. "So this is the underwater temple, huh?"

[Yes. I can sense the demonic energy has grown stronger so be careful Vince.] Yume warned.

"Right." Vince stared in fascinationas his eyes wondered around the temple. The entire structure consisted of three floors in total, with half of them submerged in water and a large pillar in the middle of the room. He swam towards the pillar and got out of the water. Upon getting up he gathered all of the moisture in from his body and clothes, making it into a ball of water, drying himself in the process. (The entire place looks run down. I wonder how old is this temple?)

He noticed a door on the left side of the floor and "tsked" at seeing a lock in the door. (Great. A lock. The lock itself looks a little rusty. Maybe I can use that to my advantage.)

Vince created a key made out of lightning and placed in the keyhole. After a few minutes of tampering with the lock, it broke apart and fell to the floor. "I always knew learning how to break in and enter would come in handy."

Yume sweatdropped, [That's not something to be proud of Vince. Elena-san and Gabriel-san lectured you after finding out you broke into your grandfather's safe.]

His only reaction was to shrug. "It's not like that cheap bastard would miss any money from his safe. Besides, I needed to buy that videogame."

She just shook her head in disbelief as Vince covered his foot in lightning kicked down the door with his foot. The door was sent flying as it collided with a wall making a loud noise. He grimaced at seeing that the door was immediately impaled with rusty and bloodied spikes from the room, as the spikes closed in. Upon closer inspection he saw a couple of skeletons impaled by the spikes. "...Well, that's one room I'm not going to go into anytime soon."

Without skipping a beat, Vince walked towards the right side of the floor and saw a door, this time without a lock. He covered his foot in ice this time and kicked the door with his foot. The force of the kick sent the door flying as it collided with the wall like last time. After a few minutes of waiting Vince breathed a small sigh of relief when nothing happened. He walked into the room and proceeded to walk to the otherside of the room where another door was. Before opening the door Vince took a few moments to look around the room and slightly flinched when he saw more skeletons on the floor. (I'm starting to understand why no one has been able to comeback alive. Either way, I'm not gonna fall into that patten.)

A few hours has passed since Vince entered the underwater temple. His growled in annoyance as he opened another door, to see himself back to where he started. "Dammit! This place is fucking ridiculous!"

[Vince, please calm down!] Yume spoke worriedly as she saw sparks of electricity come out his body.

Vince took a deep breath and waited for a few moments to calm down. "To hell with this crap. I'm making my own shortcuts!"

[Shortcuts?]

(Having the water already pressurized is convient.) He channeled water into his fists and punched through the wall. Vince continued to punch through the walls until the entire walls on the floor collapsed. To his and Yume's surprise, the water level lowered completely. "Not what I had in mind but I'll take it." Vince created a water rail and jumped on it. He swiftly and calmly slid down the railing towards the floor.

As soon as Vince landed on the floor he glanced ahead and noticed a door. Seeing no other door's around him, he opened the door and walked in.

The door immediately closed with spiked metal bars upon Vince entering the room. He let out a small curse as he examined the room. The room itself was completely surronded by shallow water, with a tree growing in the middle of the room with small pile of sand and dirt underneath it. On the other side of the room was a door. Blocked completely by spiked metal bars. "This place is really out there."

Suddenly a shadowy figure appeared infront of the tree and lunged at Vince. Vince's eyes widened slightly as the figure looked exactly like him. He backflipped away from him, upon closer inspection Vince could see that the doppelganger hair, eyes, skin color a dark grey color with menacing red eyes and wearing clothes eerily similar to him with the expection of his clothes being colored pitch black.

The shadow held a katana in his hands and lunged at Vince again. Thinking quickly he took out the paper Shura gave him and quickly took out the Totsuka-no-Tsurugi and unsheated it just in time to block his attack. "Just a fake."

To his surprise the doppelganger's face turned from blank to furious as he pressed his katana further against his, forcing Vince to jump back. "So... Any advice Yume?"

[If he is fake than you should be careful. That shadow should know your moves just like you do.] Yume answered seriously.

"I see."

The shadow pointed his katana at Vince and lunged at him. Vince repeated the same action as the two katana's clashed with each other. Sparks flew off of the swords as the two constantly pressed forward, trying to overpower each other. Vince gritted his teeth as he felt himself getting pushed back. He swiftly tried to sweep kick him, only for the shadow to block with his own leg. "Tch."

Vince brought his katana down at the same time it did. They then both kicked each other in the face. The two immediately pulled back and rubbed their faces as a result. "Argh!"

"Son of a bitch, that hurt." Vince cursed, rubbing his face from the kick he received.

He closely examined at his shadow, cautiously moving to the left as it mimicked what he did. (So far he can mimic my movements. Let's see if it can mimic my abilities.)

"Just try to keep up!" The blade on Vince's katana glowed a small green color as he disappeared from his shadow's sights and reappeared infront of him. Vince's eyes narrowed when he noticed it's blade glow a small dark violet color, but dashed towards it. He quickly spun the Totsuka-no-Tsurugi in small arc to slash the shadow, to which it mirrored his move to block the attack. Vince spun his katana in a circle at the same time the shadow did. Upon noticing this he slashed diagonally, to which it repeated the action. Vince smirked and stopped at the last moment before thrusting into it's torso with the katana while discharging lightning, using the blade as a conductor to electrocute it. (So, I was right. With the exception of when it first attacked me, that shadow copies me like a mirror. At this point feints would only work at certain points and I'm sure using the same weapon won't help anymore.)

The shadow gave distorted cry of pain as it held it's chest, which for some reason disturbed Vince to no sheated his katana and placed it on the side of his hip as he brought out Crescent Rose from the paper seal in it's scythe form. To his surprise, the doppelganger repeated the same action he just did and took out a demonic looking scythe that looked eerily similar to Crescent Rose. "Should have seen that coming... Fuck."

The shadow shot out multiple bullets from his scythe constantly at Vince to which he simply used the shallow water in the field to use as a barrier to block the bullets. It used the moment of the knockback to gain more speed as it pulled back the scythe and swung it, with the intention of decapitating him. Vince quickly brought up Crescent Rose to block the swing, with good dexterity he expertly twisted his scythe and jumped on top of the blade of his doppelganger's scythe. He covered it in lightning and aimed it at his shadow's stomach. "Nice try!"

Vince fired a railgun bullet from Crescent Rose that pierced right through it's face. He immediately followed up by kicking the doppelganger into the air and grabbing his scythe. Vince covered Crescent Rose in water and covered the other scythe in lightning. "Time's up!" He jumped into the air and preformed a rolling slash with both weapons, repeatedly slashing it's body with both deadly weapons. Quickly following by pure instinct, Vince kicked the shadow into the water, tossed the scythe impaling it and followed up by shooting a powerful water bullet from Crescent Rose into the shadow's body. The water bullet harshly crashed into the shadow, making a loud splash as it faded away.

Vince panted heavily with a truimphant smirk on his face. After regaining his breathe, he twirled Crescent Rose before changing it into it's travel form and placing around his lower back. "Not bad. I actually liked that fight it pushed me pretty hard."

[Great job Vince. It was hard but you won in the end.] Yume commented cheerfully.

The barred metal doors immediately opened as Vince breathed a sigh of relief. To his surprise a magic circle appeared right next to him and glowed as a treasure chest appeared. "I hope this is the treasure I've been looking for."

[Be careful Vince it could be a trap.] She warned, gaining a nod from him.

Vince used the shallow water in the room to create a water hand to open the chest for him. A few minutes passed by, after seeing nothing happened he cautiously walked towards the chest and looked inside. "What the...?"

He pulled out a small dark blue book from the chest and raised an eyebrow. "A book?"

[You should read it Vince. It will give us something to do while you recover your energy, you've wasted a lot.] Yume advised.

"Point taken." Vince sat next to the tree and opened the book and started reading.

"Congratulations on conquering one of our most dangerous obstacles. You are now considered a worthy candidate of claiming the powerful sword, Unfading Light of the Lake. Please listen to my story on why this temple was built and pay close attention. I may not be alive after writing in this book..." Vince turned a page, becoming further curious about the book and the title.

"This temple was created to not only seal away this dangerous sword from the outside world but to also test potential candidates with the qualities to wield it. The holy sword wielded by Lancelot is a counterpart of the legendary Excalibur. Unfortunately Lancelot's madness and resentment, has corrupted the once holy-sword and has turned it into a demon-sword." Vince blinked owlishly along with Yume, clearly surprised at what they just read.

[That means the treasure hidden in here is Arondight. It does explain why I felt the demonic energy when we were searching for the temple. It's a bit sad that Arondight is a demon-sword now.] Yume spoke sadly, after a few moments of silence.

"No kidding. Anyway, there's more to read." Vince turned the page and continued to read aloud. "My comrades and I built this temple in secret in the territory of the church to conceal it within sight. 'Tis a risky move I'll admit, but it certaintly has paid off so far. No one in the church has noticed our plans. I cannot let the church know of Arondight being in my possession. They would most likely destroy it, I cannot allow that."

He re-read the page twice before shrugging and turning the page. "Upon observation my comrades and I have noticed that those who have wielded Arondight after Lancelot has lost their sanity towards that accursed sword. But in exchange all of their abilities have increased greatly. It still seems that Arondight has still retained it's dragon slayer traits after the corruption. I hypothesize that someone with a strong will should be able to retain his sanity when wielding it. But I dare not test this theory for I fear that the church may become suspicious if attempted. I only hope that the wielder most compatible with Arondight will retain his or her sanity. But I now hold no illusions that one day someone will try to claim Arondight. Upon seeing those people lose their sanity I've realized that only sealing it will prolong the ineviatable. The least I can do is adjust the temple to test those who wish to wield it. Those who've passed through obstacles will be confirmed to be the most compatiable with Arondight."

A frown appeared on Yume's face at the thought of Vince losing his sanity as he turned the page with a nonchant look. "Today is the final day of the construction of the temple. The church has become suspicious but it matters not, the temple shall be sealed deep inside the sea floor. Only those with hidden potential or considerable skill will be allowed to find it. I feel that despite our reasons in creating this temple it should be named. 'Tis only appropriate after all the effort that was put into this place. I shall call this temple... The Unfaded Temple. I have done all I can, I have no regrets creating this temple with my comrades. I believe the generation I live in right now is lacking in the qualities to wield Arondight. Not even Lancelot's descendant has what it takes to wield it, which is a shame. My only hope is that the next generation and beyond are capable of properly wielding Arondight, the corrupted counterpart of Excalibur..."

Vince's closed the book with a contemplative look, Yume looked at him worriedly. A few minutes later he sealed the book away in the paper seal and got up. "Well, I know what I'm going to do."

[Vince?]

"I've already come this far, I might as well finished what I started." He answered with a small shrug.

[But what about Arondight? I'm very worried at what will happen if you come into contact with that sword.] Yume replied seriously.

Vince clenched his fist as he looked at the door ahead. "I'm already used to feeling hatred and resentment in my heart. Having more isn't going to change much Yume."

Yume said nothing but nodded sadly, knowing where he was coming from. Vince let a small smirk appear on his face. "If I can't sell it for cash, I can at least ask Shura for some tips on demon-swords."

She nodded before her demeanor turned serious. [Fair enough. I can sense Arondight's demonic energy it's close so be careful.]

"Right." Vince walked towards the room in the other side of the room. Upon entering the room he blinked twice at seeing a small bricked room with a hole in the middle of it. He crouched down and looked into the hole. "Well... Shit."

[What's wrong?]

"The height is long enough to possibly cripple a guy if they jump down there. But it's the only way down there." He replied, grimacing a little at imagining fall down.

[You could always use your elements to safely descend there.] Yume suggested.

"Good idea." Vince took out his gray cellphone and pressed a button. His eyes turned silver as holy-energy radiated from his body. "Better to be safe then sorry."

He shot out a pulse of white water from his hands. The white water went underneath his feet and formed a wave of water.

Vince rode the wave going down the hole, he flinched a little from seeing dried up blood on the walls as he went further in. (Yeah, I'm glad that I can avoid falling down like that.)

He noticed a large octagonal-shaped platform at the bottom and jumped off of the wave to land safetly on top of the platform. Looking around, Vince noticed that the platform was surronded by water with no exits in sight. Upon closer examination he saw skeletal skulls in the water. (I think it's safe to say that this room is the other reason why no one was able to return with Arondight.)

[Vince watch out, I sense something dangerous here!] Yume exclaimed, making him immediately stiffen.

A gargantuan fish with razor sharped teeth and a large horn on it's head leaped out of the water, nearly knocking Vince to the water. The fish dived into the water and rammed into the platform causing him to nearly stumble into the water.

Vince quickly balanced himself and got out of the way just in time before it swam to the other side. "You've got to be kidding me." He took Crescent Rose in it's sniper form and incased it in ice. (There is no way in hell, I'm fighting a giant fish underwater that can eat me in one bite.)

He continuously fired ice bullets from Crescent Rose at the fish, unfortunately for him the recoil pushed him closer to the edge of the platform. The ice bullets upon contact shot out multiple ice shards from it. The fish thrashed in pain due to the ice shards impaling it's body, it glared menacingly at him and violently rammed into the platform knocking Vince into the water.

[Vince get out of there!] Yume shouted as the fish quickly swam towards him with it's jaws open wide.

"Dammit!" Vince froze the water and got on top of the frozen water by shooting a bullet benight him, the recoil causing him to get enough momentum to jump on the ice. He quickly slided across the room, freezing the water while sliding across the room. The fish however easily broke through the ice with it's razor sharp teeth and continued to chase Vince at incredible speeds. He continued to slide across the frozen water before jumping on to the platform as the fish again rammed into the platform almost knocking him into the water again.

(This isn't looking good. I need to find a way to counter it's movements or at least stop it from moving.) Vince thought grimly as he checked around his surrondings. He let out annoyed grunt upon seeing only water and the skeleton skulls in the water. (Nothing in this room is going to help one bit. So far I can use White Lightning, Pure Ice and White Water in my angel form. I don't want to waste Crescent Rose's ammo to much because it's limited and I can't use the Totsuka-no-Tsurugi like this.)

The fish leaped over the water and smacked Vince into the water using it's body as it dived into the water. It quickly swam around and opened it's jaws, swimming closer to him all the while looking furious.

Vince coughed up blood as he tried to move. "Stupid fish..."

[Vince watch out!]

"Shit!" He incased Crescent Rose in lightning and shot a railgun from his weapon. The recoil of the shot pushed Vince away far enough, as the railgun went through it's mouth and went out the other end, piercing through it's body. "Aargh!" Vince shook violently in pain as the maneuver sent a violent electric shock in his body.

He shook his head and quickly got up onto the platform as the fish violently thrashed around. He breathed heavily as his eyes flickered from silver to black. (Urgh... Not the best move, but it was either waste ammo and get shocked or get eaten. Tch, I'm going to revert back soon. I need to find a way to finish him. At this point it's all or nothing!)

Crescent Rose turned into it's scythe form while Vince incased it in pure ice. The fish leaped out of the water and lunged at him with it's jaws wide open. "It's over!" He slid underneath it at the last second and hooked his scythe around the fish's neck. With a swift and power twist, Vince decapitated the fish's head.

The headless body of the fish splashed around the platform while Vince turned around Crescent Rose to it's blunt side and whacked it's body. The force from both the ice and the power behind the swing sent it flying to the wall and made a violent smacking noise as the body slowly fell into the water leaving a trail of blood. He looked up and saw the fish's head falling and to Yume's surprise, Vince grabbed the fish head before it fell into the water. "Mine."

[...Why do you want that Vince?] Yume asked trying to hold back her disgust at seeing the fish head.

"I'm need it. It'll probably make a good upgrade for Crescent Rose or it'll make nice weapon. Especially with it's razor sharp teeth." He said sealing the head along in the paper Shura gave him as his Vince's eyes turned black, ending his angel transformation.

[Oh.]

Crescent Rose changed into it's travel form as Vince placed it on the right side of his hip. "So where's Arondight?"

Yume and Vince's eyes widen when a magic circle appeared just a few feet in front of them. It glowed brightly forcing them to cover their eyes. A few minutes later after the light died down they opened their eyes to see a small pedestal, on top of it was a dark blue two-handed sword. The sword itself radiated a small amount of demonic energy making Vince's eyes narrow. "So that's Arondight, huh?"

Yume looked at Vince worriedly. [Vince please be careful.]

"I will."

Vince cautiously walked to the pedistal and grabbed the sword. He slowly removed it from the pedistal. Arondight radiated a violet demonic aura as it enveloped Vince, he started trembling and his body shook violently as he screamed. "Aaahhh!"

[Vince!]

He continued to scream in agony while his body shook violently. Black marking appeaed on his face, Vince swung the sword twice and before holding it infront of his face. "Stupid sword."

[Vince are you okay?] Yume asked worriedly.

"I'm fine. I guess this some sort of test from Arondight to see if I was compatible. Tch." Vince glared menacingly at the blade, to which it released a small pulse of demonic energy.

[Is something wrong Vince? You seem much more furious.] She questioned.

He crossed his arms with a scowl still on his face. "If I had to take a guess, I would say it's making the darker emotions I've kept hidden, come up to the surface."

[That isn't good. But at the very least you're going berserk.] Yume replied, trying to be optimistic.

"Tch. I wouldn't be surprised if Arondight got attracted to my darker emotions." As on cue, the demon-sword glowed, making Vince let out a slew of curses that made Yume blush.

[We should leave the temple now.] She stated trying to change the topic.

"Yeah." Vince kicked Arondight into the air surprising Yume. Before the sword fell down into the floor he took out the paper seal and sealed it inside of the paper.

The black markings on Vince's face disappeared as he breathed a sigh of relief. "Interesting. I'm not as angry as before."

[I believe as long as you don't come into contact with Arondight, you won't be affected by it.] Yume answered seriously.

"Probably. Either way, I'll get going now. I'm very exhausted." Vince sealed Crescent Rose in the paper seal.

(I can't tell Shura or Gabriel about this. It would cause a bit of a problem. I'll wait until after the that stupid treaty.) He thought.

xXxXxXxXxX

Vince got out of a train, holding his luggage. He took a deep breath before he started walking. (I'm finally in Kyoto, it's good thing I rested in the plane before going back into Japan. I'll go visit Kunou and Yasaka to give them the souvenirs.)

After walking for a few minutes knocked on their door and greeted the two as he walked into their house. "Hey, I got you two some souvenirs from Vatican City."

Kunou's eyes lit up in excitement, "Really?"

"Yeah. It's not much but I was able to get you two something. Here's something for you Kunou." Vince pulled out from a bag from his luggage and gave her a small book. "I know you like pranking, so I got you this."

She looked at the title and smiled. "A book on how to prank?"

"Yup. It has over a hundred ways of pranking people. Have fun." He said chuckling a little.

"Thank you Vince. I'm going to try reading all of the pranks." She said hugging him.

Vince's eyes widened, surprised that Kunou hugged him. He let a small smile appear on his face and gently patted her on the back. "Just make sure Yasaka and I aren't the victims, okay?"

"Okay!"

Yasaka smiled at small heartwarming scene between them. Her eyes widened when she felt a small blush creep up on her face. "Kunou, you should go to bed soon. It will be past your bedtime soon."

"Yes mother. Goodnight Vince." Kunou stopped hugging Vince and walked away with a smile.

"Night, Kunou."

He dug into his luggage and gave Yasaka a brand new set of kitchen knives. "I'm not to good with gifts and I don't want to give you something that will cause a misunderstanding so here."

Yasaka smiled and took the set of kitchen knives and placed it on a table. "Thank you Vince, that was really thoughtful of you." She placed a kiss on his cheek, making him blush a little.

"Right. Well, I should be going now-" Before Vince could move Yasaka grabbed him by the hand and placed his arm between her breasts.

"You shouldn't leave Vince. It's very dangerous at night." She said with a smile.

"So... You don't mind if I stay here?" He asked cautiously.

"No I don't mind. You can even sleep with me." Yasaka replied with a slutry smile, surprising him.

"Uh, what?"

Vince's raised an eyebrow when he saw Yasaka breathing heavily with the blush on her face deepening. "Hey Yasaka, are you okay?"

"Yes, I am alright Vince." Yasaka forced a smile to her face as she quickly moved Vince to her bedroom.

Upon entering the room, Yasaka closed the door and pulled Vince into a heated kiss. "Vince. I can't wait anymore. I need you."

Vince's eyes widened greatly as he felt his face heat up. "W-What's happening Yasaka?"

Yasaka hugged Vince and held him tightly. "I'm in heat Vince. I can't control myself anymore please..."

Vince's mind grew numb, not expecting to hear that. After a few minutes of silence he spoke up. "Yasaka."

"Yes?"

"You're not the only you know. For the past few days I've had Rias, Akari, Akeno trying to seduce me and Kasumi, it's hard to look at her without thinking anything x-rated." Vince admitted making Yasaka's eyes narrow.

She wanted to say something but stood silent as Vince continued. "And then with you right now... I'm at the last straw. Yasaka, are you sure you want to do this? If you continue, I won't be able to hold myself back."

"I'm sure Vince. I want to do this with you." Yasaka kissed Vince, before pulling back and began to disrobe.

Vince stood there mesmerized as she finished disrobing. The moonlight shined through the window showing off her voluptous body. He gazed lustfully at her large and perky breasts and firm ass. Yasaka smiled cupped her breasts with her hands making a seductive pose. "Do you like what you see?"

Vince nodded dumbly as he began to disrobe. Upon finishing taking off his clothes, Yasaka's blush became more visible while she licked her lips at seeing his muscular body. "Let's begin Vince. I can't wait anymore."

"Y-Yeah." Yasaka quickly pinned Vince to bed continued kissing him relentlessly while he kissed back. Unaware of the consequences that awaited him in the near future.

xXxXxXxXxX

Author's Note: Phew, that was a long chapter to write and as you can tell, the mini arc ended with Vince getting laid. Sorry I haven't been updating weekly like I usually do. A lot of old medical problems I've had in the past has been acting up again and I've had to go back and forth between different doctors. So I made the chapter much longer to make up for me being a bit late. I'll try to update when I can. Now for the explanations to go a little in-depth on why I wrote certain things they are in this chapter.

Like I said earlier in the author's notes. The chapter sort of wrote itself at the beginning. I didn't plan to have Shura appear, but I decided to go with it. Whether or not Vince treating Shura to lunch is considered a date or not is up to the reader's interpretation.

Just for the record. I am not bashing the Three Factions, Vince only was explaining his disdain with what they did. This is not a bashing fic.

I made the flashbacks for Vince's ultimate attacks to just show a little backstory of when Vince first used it. As you saw he passed out immediately due to the energy and strain it takes to make it.

The leviathan Shura talked about is infact Vince's ultimate attack for his water element. For those of you who haven't noticed it's pretty much like the Leviathan summon from the Final Fantasy series. I thought it would suit Vince.

For those of you who wondered why Vince's souvinier gifts seems a little unimpressive. It's a quirk Vince has. He has little to no knowledge on what to give type of gift to give someone, though he will try his best.

The reason why I had Vince go into a small temple is because I wanted introduce Vince's treasure hunting segments. At times Vince will go treasure hunting, sometimes he'll get something big or sometimes there will be something that he didn't expect.

I had fun typing up the underwater scene it was pretty cool and it showed more of what Vince can do with his Sacred Gear. His reaction to the shark I believe was normal, it was his first time getting attacked by shark. It was my first time typing an underwater battle, hopefully the small fight I wrote was good.

The inside of the temple is based off of a mix between the Water Temple from the Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time and the Great Bay temple from the Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask. For those of you that have played or heard of the game. The reason why I based the temple off of this was to show that despite Vince being calm, there will be times where even he will get furious and break down everything in a fit of rage and I admit I had fun writing his annoyed reactions.

Now then the fight with Vince's shadow. This is based off of the mini dungeon boss from the water temple. Not the Persona shadow, I just want to make that clear.

I decided to write that small scene with the book explaning the origins of the temple just because I thought it would be fun to add a unique story element for the small Vatican arc.

One thing I would like to point out. While the fish Vince had to face may have seemed easier compared to him fighting his shadow. It is much more dangerous because he was nearly eaten alive multiple times. I wanted to emphasise on the fact that while the shadow was harder in comparison. The fish is much more dangerous because all it takes is one attack and Vince would have been eaten alive. Also the fish is based off of the boss from the Great Bay Temple, Gyorg. Who is also known as a fish.

The remains Vince got from the fish will be either used as an upgrade for Crescent Rose or be used to make into a new weapon for him. I haven't decided yet.

Now then, the demon-sword Vince got is Arondight from Fate/Zero. I wanted to include a demon-sword from DxD. I really did. But Siegfried and eventually Kiba, basically hogged up all of the demon-swords. So my only choice was to introduce a demon sword from a different series. Arondight's abilities in my fanfic are exactly the same in Fate/Zero.

I'm just going to say this right off the bat though with Arondight. It'll be an interesting situation for Arthur and Le Fay to see Vince with Arondight to say the least.

I just want to point out that while Vince isn't going to normally go berserk with Arondight. It does give him a bad side effect. His darker emotions will be shown more. Meaning that Vince will show more of his darker side whenever he's in possession of it. The dark markings are to show when Arondight is influencing Vince's darker emotions to surface. Also, this is the main reason why I introduced Shura in my fanfic so she can teach him how to get a handle on the demon-sword. I originally planned for Vince to get a demon-sword to go along with his holy-sword to reflect his angel and devil side respectively.

Before anyone else asks no. Arondight did not choose Vince to be it's wielder. Vince's strong will and his compatibility with Arondight is the only reason why he didn't go berserk.

Now for the scene with Kunou and Yasaka. I wanted to do a small little bonding scene between Vince and Kunou. As I've said in previous chapters, despite Vince acting the way he is. He still has a soft spot for kids. As for why Yasaka acted the way she did, she's in heat. I shouldn't have to explain any further than that.

The main reason why Vince decided to become intimate with Yasaka is because there's only so much a guy can take while living in the same roof as Rias, Kasumi and Akari. It also doesn't help that Rias, Akari and Akeno have been trying to seduce him and I did say in a previous chapter something was bound to happen. As for why I choose Yasaka to be Vince's first. It's quite simple. Yasaka is the most mature woman out of all of the girls that has an attraction for Vince and she's had so little time in the chapters compared to the other four. So I decided to go with it.

That's all I have to say for the explanations, I hoped they helped explain a bit why I decided to have to chapter like it is. Before I end the Author's Notes. I would like to ask one very important question to all of the readers and reviewers who actually like this story. Do you want me to start writing lemons, or do you prefer for it only to be implied? I'm neutral on the matter. But I think it'll add a unique element for the story. Let me know what you think in the reviews. Anyway, until next time. Take care.