Brave Saints

Felix's Mindscape:

It has been some years since Felix and Lavinia started training together in Felix's mindscape. Right now they can be seen sparing with each other. Felix makes a sword of light and rushes towards Lavinia. She responds by throwing some ice spears towards his way and follows up with an ice sword in hand. The two clash swords.

*Clang* *Clang*

"Get ready Lavinia, I'm the one who will win this spar!" Felix shouted in excitement and again rushed at Lavinia alongside firing some fire and lightning slashes made out of magic.

"Keep dreaming Felix!" Lavinia responded by blocking the slashes with an ice wall and water magic and sent some of her own slashes of ice magic.

*Clang*

Felix discarded the sword and made up two spears of light and rushed at Lavinia.

It has been a routine of the two for the past three years. They would do their own training and sometimes spar with each other. This has sparked a friendly rivalry between the two. Sometimes Felix spars with Yahweh who teaches him to better his reflexes and rely on his instincts.

"Alright that's enough for today. You two did good."

"Okay."

"Hmm"

"You two have grown up nicely in the past years. Felix has six wings and is at the top high class. A good fight would be able to push you into ultimate class. As for Lavinia, you have entered into low high class. You two have quite a good progress speed." Yahweh gave them their report.

"Though you two still lack actual combat experience. Hmm... I have got an idea! Felix it's time you start fighting some strays devils and rogue fallens and exorcists to gain some actual combat experience."

"What's a stray devil?" Felix asked

"A stray devil is a devil who has committed a crime or abandoned his master. After some time their bodies start to transform into a chimeria of some sorts and they feast upon innocent humans to satiate their hunger and desires." Yahweh answered Felix's question.

"Ew! We must eliminate them Felix! We can't let them kill people!" Lavinia said getting disgusted by Yahweh's explanation.

"Yeah you're right Lavinia. We must protect the innocent people from those vile evil."

{Timeskip after a month}

Felix and Lavinia had been killing stray devils and exorcist alongside rogue fallens for a month now. They have gotten a good enough real combat experience and a feel of how actual battles go. Though the strongest of the strays was just a top mid Class so Felix had been stuck at high class with a magic pool of mana rivaling top ultimate class but Lavinia has progressed to mid high class in terms of power while her magic pool has enough mana to match high ultimate class.

"Hey, Uncle Yahweh." Felix asked while decapitating a stray devil.

"What is it child?"

"Like the devils who reincarnate others with chess pieces into devils, can't I do the same. Like reincarnate people into angels."

"Hmm... it is possible. Though what brought this own?"

"I am worried about Lavinia and my family. Even though Lavinia has reached high class she still is a human so she has several limitations while my family just knows enough magic to be labelled as mid class magicians."

"That is actually a good point."

"So, what's the method?"

"Hmm... The devils use chess pieces to reincarnate people while the angels use cards. The reincarnatef angels are known as Brave Saints. Though we would have to make you a custom deck, you will be able to reincarnate people as angels." Yahweh answered Felix.

"Alright, that's good enough. Hey I have an idea but I don't know if it will work"

"What have you thought?"

"You made the sacred gear system, right. So as I'm your successor, I should have some access to the system right."

"Yes you have access to both the prayer and sacred gear systems in seventh heaven. Though what would you like to do?"

"Sacred gears are present since birth in people, right. But do you think I can bestow sacred gears upon people who don't have any?"

"Hmm... Honestly, I don't think I have the answer to that question of yours as I had never done that. But I think you should be able to do that it, you can bypass the system by force by using your authority as the new god. Though you can't bestow longinus upon someone that way, you should be able to give people upto high tier sacred gears, the sacred gears will be random though, you can't choose which sacred gear to give."

"Hmm... I think we should try that later. I am thinking of giving my parents some high tier sacred gears anyway. So, how much time will it take to complete my deck of cards?"

"If I wasn't trapped in here it would have just taken some hours, but now it would take a week or so to completely make a new deck for you."

"Alright you should start making them, I will continue to train in the meantime." Felix spread his wings and started to fly towards his house.

"Ahhhhh!" Felix heard Elfaria's scream as he landed in front of his house and rushed inside.

"What happened Elfaria?!" Though when he reached her room he saw her hands covered in purple flames which weren't actually burning her.

"B-big brother, I.. I was just playing when suddenly my hands caught on fire. What should I do? It isn't extinguishing." Elfaria told Felix while scared.

"Incinerate Anthem, one of the holy relics and a longinus tier sacred gear. Just imagine the fire going away and it will extinguish on its own."

"O-okay." Elfaria did the same as Yahweh had told her and the fire went away revealing her completely fine hands.

"Now we would have to train her too. We can't have the flames appear on its own like that and risk burning others around her." Felix said patting Elfaria's head.

"Yes, if left untrained like that the holy flames of the sacred gear will burn away others around her. We should start training her as soon as possible."

"Yeah."

{Timeskip no jutsu}

Six months have passed since the day Elfaria awakened her sacred gear and Felix started her serious training in his mindscape alongside Lavinia. A week after that incident Felix had received a deck of thirteen special cards to reincarnate people as angels.

'The deck of crowns ' is what Yahweh called it. They were cards with a golden crown imprinted behind every card. Felix had put the king card inside himself and a golden crown mark had appeared on his hands signifying him as the king of crowns.

During this time Felix also experimented on stray exorcists using the sacred gear system and when he was successful, he gave his mother and father high tier sacred gears called 'Unknown Dictator' and 'Star Buster Star Blaster '. Though the process was giving random gears, Felix had gotten lucky and his parents had both received high tier sacred gears.

{Flashback}

"So, have you thought about who you are going to reincarnate?" Yahweh asked giving Felix his Brave Saint cards.

"Yeah, I already know."

Felix then called everyone in the living room and proceeded to explain about the reincarnation into angels and to his surprise everyone had agreed without any issue.

Felix then reincarnated Lavinia as his Ace while Elfaria as his Queen. Elyae had been reincarnated as his ten of crowns while Jay as his nine of crowns.

Six white wings sprouted out of Lavinia's and four out of Elfaria's back while Elyae and Jay sprouted two wings each.

{Flashback end}

It had been an year since Felix reincarnated his family into his deck. All of them has made some progress and gotten themselves actual combat experience upto a certain degree. Yahweh teaches them magic and have them spar with each other while they hunt for strays in night time. On the normal side of the world, not much has progressed. Felix and the others are still homeschooled while the rest of the family does their things.

Felix has become 12 years old last week and is currently training in his mindscape when he suddenly stops as Yahweh appeared in front of him.

"Do you need something old man?"

"I think it's time for us to get you an actual sword instread of just those light swords you produce with magic."

"Cool! So, where are we going?! And which sword am I getting?! Excalibur?!, Caliburn?!, or Durandal?! Or..." Felix began listing sword names in excitement.

"Hmm... I think an excalibur fragment would be good for now. We can always get a new and strong sword later."

"What do you mean by fragment? Isn't there just one Excalibur?"

"Ah, it seems I forgot to tell you. Listen well child, the original excalibur was built by the fairy queen Viviane and gifted to the Pendragon family. However as time passed the need for the sword decreased. So as an action of goodwill, the Pendragon family gifted the excalibur to the church but the church broke the excalibur and from the fragments formed seven swords carrying the name excalibur. All the swords have their unique abilities, and are called- Ruler, Destruction, Rapidly, Nightmare, Mimic, Blessing and Transparency."

"Does the fairies know of this?"

"I think not."

"You know this could cause a war with the fairies right."

"Yes, I know but it was done after I was sealed so I can't do anything even if I wanted to do."

"I don't understand how the church and heaven managed to survive this long if they keep doing stuff like that."

"So, where are the fragments located?"

"The strongest fragment Ruler was recovered by the Pendragon family. Transparency and Blessing are nearby in the headquarters of the Protestant church, Rapidly and Nightmare are with the Easten Orthodox church while Mimic and Destruction are in Vatican, the headquarters of the Catholic church."

"Vatican huh. I wonder how's Xenovia doing. Anyway I don't think we need a fragment for me. Let's collect all seven and reforge the original excalibur and mend the ties with the fairies."

"Sounds good to me. But how are you going to get all fragments and moreover locate the fairies."

"I have an idea for the fragments but I don't know how I can locate the fairies."

"*Sigh* I will help you in locating them but first you must get the fragments. So, how are you planning to exactly to that?"

"Hmm... I was thinking of changing my appearance and cast an illusion to have people see my golden wings as white then go and collect the fragments from the church disguising myself as an angel."

"A good plan but did you forget you might encounter another angel or a brave saint from the seraphs deck in there. How are you going to deal with that?"

"You don't have to worry about that. I can think of something if we encounter them and if we don't then it's all good anyway."

"Very well."

"Alright then! Let's do this!"

{Timeskip}

Felix disguised himself as he planned and first went to the Protestant church. He released his holy energy and soon enough someone important looking came to guide him inside.

"Your lordship, may I inquire your reason of visit to our humble church."

"Hmm... it's nothing special. Lord Michael has sent me to get the excalibur fragments to conduct some kind of experiment and that is all I know." Felix started bullshitting about orders from seraphs and shit and the guy just accepted it as such and handed the fragments to Felix.

"..."

"What, we got the fragments, why are you doing the silence treatment?"

"I am surprised at how easily you spew lies with a straight face that nobody even suspected you a bit"

"Meh, it's not completely lies right, it's the half-truth. There's a difference. We do need to conduct an experiment and saying Michael sent me will shut up anyone who tries to question me making it more easier."

"I can't oppose to that reasoning. So where to next?"

"The Eastern Orthodox chuch and then Catholic chuch at last."

"Well then time to collect the other fragments."

Felix then proceeded to bullshit his way into the Eastern Orthodox church and got their fragments as well but as he was going to Vatican, an idea popped up in his mind and he changed his direction to England.

"Why did you change your direction?"

"Change of plans, we are getting Ruler first and then going to Vatican."

"Any specific reason."

"Nah, my gut tells me there's going to be some shit going at Vatican and we might need to spend some time there so might as well go there last."

"Alright, but how are you going to get th Pendragon's to give you Ruler. You do understand that you can't use your previous reasoning right."

"A bet."

"A bet?"

"Yes, a simple old bet. We are going to challenge them to a duel and the wager will be the excalibur fragment. We might have to wager Transparency and Blessing for it to work though."

"That might work. The greed to get more fragments can blind them to overlook the chances of their loss but how are you going to make them complete their part of the bet. They might as well refuse to give it to you."

"I got it all covered. And we are going to mindwipe some people for some intel before going there first."

Felix then proceeded on his path and upon reaching his destination executed his plan and mind wiped people to get all the necessary Intel.

"So this generation's weilder is named Arthur Pendragon and prefers to use Caliburn over ecanlibur ruler. Hmm... might be easy than I thought."

Felix then went towards the Pendragon mansion and told the servants to inform Arthur that someone is here for a duel with him. As expected some moments later a blond boy came out and saw Felix standing there and went towards him.

"Are you the one who challenged me?" Arthur asked upon reaching Felix.

"Yes I am. Though let's have some stakes in the duel to increase the excitement a bit."

"What stakes are you suggesting then?"

Felix then summoned two fragments and said.

"If you win, you get excalibur transparency and blessing but if I win I will get your excalibur ruler. See I'm offering two fragments for you one, not a bad deal."

Arthur began thinking about the situation and the pros and cons of the scenario then said to Felix.

"You will have to eait for some time. I will have to consult this with my father."

"I can wait." Felix said shrugging his shoulders.

Arthur ordered a servant to take Felix to the guest room and went to his father's office to get his opinion on this offer. The servant guided Felix inside and gave him tea and some sweets to pass his time. After some time Arthur returned.

"I agree to your proposal. Follow me to the sparring area."

"Very well, let's go."

Arthur led Felix to the sparring area and they went to the opposing sides.

"I shall use Caliburn in this match. Which sword will you use?"

"I will use excalibur rapidly."

"Very well let us proceed."

Both the fighters took their stances and a servant stood on one side in the middle of the field.

"The fight will be three wins. The one who wins three times first or can't continue will win a round." Arthur declared while taking Caliburn out of its sheath.

"I agree." Felix agreed while Summoning excalibur rapidly.

"The fight will end if someone surrenders or is incapacitated. Lethal attacks are forbidden. BEGIN!" The servant declared and the two fighters rushed at each other.

"You are full of openings!" Arthur appeared infront of Felix and slashed Caliburn towards him.

Felix used rapidly's speed augmenting and appeared behind Arthur.

*Clang!* *Clang!*

The two clashed bladed and retreated making some distance between them and prepared to launch the next attack.

Arthur again rushed towards Felix but on a reflex, Felix blocked Caliburn's blade with excalibur rapidly and countered by twisting his wrist slightly, which threw Arthur off balance, changing the trajectory of his attack and causing it to land on the ground instead.

Before Arthur could remove Caliburn from the ground, Felix placed the tip of rapidly's blade to his neck.

"And I win..."

"This..." Arthur's eyes shook when he stared at rapidly's blade, the shock and disbelief apparent in his voice "With such a simple movement..."

Arthur's lose of balance didn't just happened because Felix just twisted his wrist a little, it was a gamble Felix made. The timing, both's strength, angle and position - they all needed to be perfect. If something were off, Caliburn could've landed on Felix's shoulder instead. This was the gamble Felix made and it had payed off.

"Announce the result already..."

"Ah ,yes..." The servants snapped out of his thoughts after hearing Felix's callous raising his hand to declare the end of the duel. "The first round goes to Felix White!"

Soon, the second round began.

This time, Arthur didn't make that many obvious mistakes as his first attempt, being extremely offensive with his approach and not giving Felix any time to counterattack.

'The Pendragon family's swordsmanship isn't half bad and it pairs up quite nicely with Caliburn.'

*Swoosh!*

Felix moved back as Caliburn swung right in front of his face, the tip of its blade only four millimeters away from his right eyeball.

"Tch..."

Noticing that he barely missed again, Arthur clicked his tongue and started attacking even more violently.

During the entire second round Felix continued to avoid Arthur's attack within a hair's length and doing his own counterattacks.

Well, Arthur was still a teenager so he couldn't use Caliburn to it's full potential. Having such obvious an exploitable flaws wasn't something unexpected.

"Ah..." Felix tripped backwards because of the small rock behind him.

"You're wide open!..."

Arthur immediately took the opportunity and attacked, his sword moving straight towards Felix's throat in a stab motion.

'He must've been quite agitated to leave himself wide open just because he found a chance.'

Arthur's stance was for a diagonal Slash, but he changed it to a stab because of Felix's fall, which let him wide open on the side.

And one of those openings was that his grip wasn't suitable for such an attack, so Felix let things play out naturally.

*Clang!*

Because of how Felix tripped, hi left knee hit the blunt side of Caliburn's blade. The amount of force was just enough to make the stabbing attack go above his head.

*Thud!*

When his butt hit the ground, rapidly's blade was just a centimeter away from Arthur's throat, much to his shock.

"And that's my second victory..."

Arthur stared at rapidly's blade before gulping down his saliva. If it weren't for the fact that it was a spar, he would've died twice now.

"Truly amazing..."

But this time, he didn't seem that surprised at his loss.

"You defeated me twice now." Arthur extended his left hand towards Felix and he grabbed it before pulling himself up. "Deliberately tripping to make me let my guard down and using the flaw in my incorrect grip to kick my sword...You planned everything from the beginning right? As expected you are a really excellent swordsman."

'No, no... I fell because I wasn't paying attention and everything after happened on its own...' Felix screamed in his mind.

Arthur had misunderstood the situation but before Felix could speak, the servants decided to jump on the train of his thoughts.

"That was a bait?"

"Yes..." Arthur answered the servant's question, his voice brimming with enthusiasm and admiration. "He chose the right moment to fall so my grip would be at its weakest when I suddenly changed my attack patterns and then, he used the fall's momentum to kick Caliburn at the correct time..."

Felix blinked at Arthur's explanation of things that never happened and he had to admit...

The glazing was strong in this one.

"I thought his fall was genuine because of his expression and movements but..." the servant held his chin with thoughtful expression "You're right... Everything was too perfect to be a mere coincidence..."

The servant glanced at Felix with both surprise and approval.

'The fall was actually genuine, dumbass... '

The servants opinion of Felix most likely changed for the better because of Arthur's overthinking.

Arthur continued to explain the brilliance of Felix's plan to the other passengers.

'Forget it... '

.

.

.

"Alright, I have lost." Arthur pointed at a servant "Here is the sword as per the bet."

Felix took the sword from the servant and swinged it a few times it after examining it for a moment.

"You are s great swordsman. Let us have a rematch in the future." Arthur said extending a hand towards Felix.

"Alright." Felix smirked and shook his hand. "I will be going then, see you again."

Felix took off towards Vatican to get the last two fragments and hopefully meet Xenovia while returning.

(Well there you have it folks. This chapter had 3.6k words and as I promised in the first chapter, all chapters after that have exceeded 3k words. Leave a comment and review as it genuinely helps. Thanks for reading and we will meet in the next chapter.)

To be continued.