章 37: Chapter 37 : Are you alright
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"Hey, Xenovia… Are you alright?" Vin asked as he approached her.
Xenovia remained silent, her breathing beginning to come out as hisses.
"I need you to help me," Xenovia gasped out, breathlessly; her entire body shaking, "Hold me. Hands on my wrists, now."
"Um, okay…" Vin followed through with her instructions, pressing his chest against her back, as he reached out, and wrapped his hands around Xenovia's slim but sturdy wrists, a firm hold on each hand.
"Huhhhhh," Xenovia closed her eyes, grunting in effort as she, and by extension, Vin lifted up their right arms, a small gap opening in thin air. In a flash, numerous celestial chains burst forth from the wormhole, ensnaring the blade, as the ornate sword slowly sunk into the portal, until finally, it left Xenovia's hand, and slipped through completely, the portal sealing itself as it finished swallowing up the weapon.
Vin let out a sigh, as he felt Xenovia's body slowly stop it's tremors.
"Well, that was certainly something."
"...You can stop holding me now," Xenovia bluntly responded.
Vin, suddenly remembering his position, practically leapt off of Xenovia, his face ablaze.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry," Vin stammered, thoroughly flustered.
"It's alright," Xenovia walked up to Vin, leaning in so close that she was only an inch away from his blushing face, her own features reflecting… apprehension?
"Thank you for that," Xenovia whispered, "It...It meant a lot."
"T-That's alright- I mean, that's ok- I mean, you're welcome!" Vin stumbled.
Xenovia gave a fond smile, reaching up and giving Vin a little pat on the cheek with her hand, before turning on her heel, and beginning to walk towards the massive crystal wall.
"Do you think that the others have already called Griselda?"
Wait, what?! What the hell was that?
Vin gulped, he couldn't get back to his cup of water fast enough.
After another ten minutes of waiting, the church had finally arrived at the mall's food court, all the witnesses had had their memories wiped, and sent on their way by numerous church officials, all while a janitorial team from the church closed the mall due to 'vandalism problems'.
As numerous workers went around to collect weapons, shrapnel, and bodies, while others went about cleaning up the bloodstains, cuts, craters and any other signs of battle. Honestly, Vin was sort of captivated by the process, watching it as he pulled the blanket he received from one of the staff over his shoulders more, savoring his comfortable warmth. He sat up on one of the food court tables, Xenovia sitting beside him, sipping on her smoothie, while the others sat at a table farther away, chattering amongst themselves about some vapid topic.
Still, when he wasn't prepared for it was the very strange silver and black haired girl who had arrived with the first wave of officials. He'd heard his friends refer to her as Lint; an odd name for sure, but he wasn't one for too much judgement.
"Wowie," Lint let out a low whistle, "You really did a number on this place, huh?"
At least Xenovia had the forethought to look bashful in the face of her superior's teasing, "I apologize, given my current level of control over Durandal, this was the best I could do to mitigate the damage."
Durandal? Vin connected the dots… Oh, her crazy sword. So it's called Durandal, huh?
Lint patted Xenovia on the shoulder, "Hey, it's all cool, alright? I know how much you've been struggling with mastering that thing, but on a brighter note, I think your control has noticeably improved!"
Vin shuddered at the idea; there were a lot of words he could've used to describe the fight earlier, and 'controlled' was most certainly not one of them.
Daring to voice his concerns, Vin spoke up, "Erm… If that was Xenovia using Durandal with control, then what would happen if she wasn't?"
Lint tilted her head cutely, "I don't know, we probably wouldn't have a second floor to stand on right now… Maybe the entire mall would be destroyed."
"Durandal is an extremely powerful holy sword, one of the strongest, in fact," Xenovia elaborated with a nod, before it switched into a slight grimace, "That comes at the cost of being extraordinary fickle. It doesn't choose it's wielders lightly, and it can be a bit… overzealous at times."
"It can be overzealous?" Vin asked in disbelief, "The sword's alive?"
Xenovia shook her head, "No, it's more accurate to say that it simply responds to power, and nothing else. There's no soul inside the blade, just a cataclysmic amount of power that can be a bit of a struggle to control at times."
"So, all this extra training you do-"
"Is to ultimately master control of Durandal as it's new wielder? Yes," Xenovia confirmed, "Yet despite training for years, I've only managed to barely control it, and that's in the best of conditions."
Xenovia looked down to her right hand, as she slowly clenched it into a fist, "It's not so much that I can control Durandal properly yet; I can only slightly steer the direction that it's power unleashes in. So, I suppose that I still have much to learn in regards to actually wielding it."
"And you'll get better at it with time," A familiar voice called out, as Vin and Xenovia looked up to see Griselda walking over to them, flanked by two church officials, who quickly broke off from her to assist their fellow men and women in the restoration efforts.
"G-Griselda!" Xenovia hopped off the table, and bowed her head at her guardian and mentor, "I apologize for recklessly using Durandal, even after explicitly being instructed not to. It was a decision made on impulse; so I understand your anger, and will accept any punishment you see fit."
"Punishment? Dear, you seem to be confused," Griselda reached out, and lifted Xenovia's chin until the two locked eyes, "I'm not angry at you, Xenovia. You were faced with a hostile situation, and you made the correct judgement call to defend innocent people. It may have been a risk, but you managed to showcase a level of control appropriate for the circumstances, and the end result was that there were only two innocent casualties, as opposed to well over a hundred."
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