"..." Lyle sheathed his blade and took care in covering the stolen sword in the cloth. Then with the package secured to his back, he activated his charms and followed Creed out of the park and onward to the final location.
...
After a few minutes of intense running and hopping, they eventually made it to their end point on roof of a building, smacked right in the middle of the busiest part of town. Yet the residents below did not notice the figures flying in the air and landing on the roof due to their invisibility charms. Silently they entered through the door on the roof and made their way down the stairs, eventually entering one of the apartments in the building.
"Hello, anyone in the house?" Creed marched right in without a care in the world, followed shortly by Lyle who gave a cursory glance of the area, before locking the door behind them.
"Welcome back boys." The both of them turned around to find an old man dressed in white priest clothing exit out of one of the rooms with a slim case big enough to hold the sword they have. "You two took your sweet time getting here."
"Yeah, yeah." Creed waved his hand while rolling his eyes. Lyle wordlessly came forward and placed the sword carefully on the desk before stepping backwards.
"Very good, you have done well." Galilei nodded lightly as he looked upon the sword with a somewhat crazed expression. "Lord Kokabiel would be pleased."
"Yeah well, they are not too professional." Creed lightly propped himself onto the ledge of a window and let one leg dangle. "Most of them are still in their diapers and the few decent fighters got taken out without a hitch."
"Their standards have fallen quite significantly. Normally there would be more guards and better security. How low the church has fallen." Galilei shook his head in mocking disappointment. "But no matter, we can now proceed to Phase Two of our plan."
"Permission to speak, my lord?" Lyle voiced out to him as he leaned against the wall.
"What is it, young one?"
"Regarding the plans, are you certain we should be heading to Japan to perform the ritual?" Lyle asked with a serious tone. "I mean no disrespect to both yours and Lord Kokabiel's planning, but trying to recreate the blade in Japan is not really necessary. We should be able to get a decent leyline around here. Furthermore, doing so in that country could provoke a war between the factions again."
"And what is wrong with that?" Creed asked with a very big smile on his face. "At least we will be able to justify going after those devils."
"In case you haven't noticed, I am trying to limit the number of casualties that could arise from such an action." Lyle snapped at Creed. "I am also trying to ensure that our operation does not get discovered and interrupted during our stay there. Who knows what would happen if the devils were to interrupt such a delicate procedure."
"Your concerns are well noted, and you are right about the dangers present in Japan." Galilei nodded in agreement. "Unfortunately, our options here are very limited. With all our recent actions, many of the places where we can perform the ritual would be extremely limited to areas where the leyline would be extremely poor in quality. Furthermore, the church would likely be monitoring such areas, so we would need to go to the one place they would not think we would go, and that would be in enemy territory."
"Still, this is a very reckless decision, my lord." Lyle repeated his words. "If I recalled correctly, the place you are seeking to recreate blade is one of the most guarded towns of the lot. I believe the younger siblings of two leaders of the Devil Faction are residing there."
"Even better, that would be the last place they would think that we would go to. Even if they found out about the location, they can't afford to march troops into the area without antagonizing the devils, especially with the recent actions of some of the Fallen Angels in that area." Galilei raised his arms and smiled in a manner that did not match his empty eyes. "So rejoice Lyle, for our chance is upon us, and we shall use it to our advantage."
"…" Lyle only looked at him with an indescribable expression before sighing heavily. "Understood, then with your permission, I wish to think of some contingency plans for our stay there. It may be fruitless, but I would rather ensure the devils do not know of our little 'vacation' there."
"Understood, it would be wise to have some backup plans in the event the leyline we seek is too well guarded." Galilei nodded as he took the sword in his hands and slowly brought it to the open case. "Pack your bags and get some rest, we shall leave for Japan in the morning."
"Then by your leave..." Lyle lightly bowed and turned to make his way to the doorway, pausing for a moment to give a stern glare at Creed, before exiting the room. Creed turned his head to the window in time to see Lyle quickly making his way into the open street, blending with the populace despite his dark clothing.
"Oui, old man Galilei. Remind me again why did you let him into this mission?" Creed asked with a notable tone of irritation present.
"Since Freed got himself killed, the both of you are the only ones who could match him in terms of skills, furthermore the both of you are way more manageable in your behaviors. I would rather have you guys on my side than to have a loose cannon that would jeopardize us." The old man replied as he locked the case securely with a few holy locks. "Also, when it comes to actually wielding the Excalibur Swords, the both of you have a higher potential than the others, so I would not have to waste the amount of light particles on you two. And when it comes to tactics, Lyle has a good head for it."
"After all." Galilei hefted the case on to the table with a loud thump. "Thanks to his planning, we are able to attain the four shards within one week, and speed up our operations significantly by a full month. Not even Freed could achieve that."
"He suspects, if not knows the truth behind that complete bullshit you were spouting." Creed snorted.
"At least there is an element of truth. With four of the shards in our possession in such a short time, all the other churches would be jealously guarding the remaining shards. And though my research may have been halted, they have gathered enough of my notes to get an idea of what I might need to try and merge the shards, the leyline being the biggest factor. We needed to find an area where the land is rich with pure energy to help create the sword faster, and if such a place happens to be in devil territory, well we could use some test subjects."
"Yeah, but you are going to need to do a lot of sweet talking to convince him otherwise. He is really dead set on reducing collateral damage to the town, and he almost cut me down for taking out those four guards." Creed gestured with his thumb and his neck.
"Well you did go overboard from what I gathered, but you have a point. I will try to have a word with him, we still need his skills for the task at hand. If only he would be open to using the shards." Galilei sighed heavily.
"Wish all you want, but I think you may have forgotten to take his mindset into question." Creed got to his feet and lifted the case for Galilei. "Ever since we got excommunicated from the church, he has not touched any of the other Holy Swords around, even if he has a Light Attribute that grants him mastery over them. And when it comes to the Excalibur, he would only touch it for a brief moment to see and perhaps clean them. Not once would he use it for fighting. Hell, that dream he has spoken off is nuts!"
"What was that dream he spoke of again?"
"To witness with his own eyes the next natural user of Excalibur." Creed snorted in disbelief as though not believing the words he spoke of. "There has not been a proper user of Excalibur for the past few centuries, aside from Arthur Pendragon of that renegade group and a couple of old geezers that are ready to kick the bucket. He just won't face the reality that the only way anyone can wield a holy sword these days would have to be artificially enhanced to do so. The proof lies with the shards themselves, only one of them would react to one user, maybe two, but no two shards react to the same person."
"Well, I cannot say I can fault him for that." Galilei stopped to face Creed with a complicated expression. "Even now in our faction, there are some who still wish for a miracle that would not come to the church, so they could only seek them elsewhere. Lyle is perhaps one of the more grounded Exorcists we have in our ranks, but he still wants to find some answers that may not be of this world."
"You really buy into that whole spiritual connection crap?" Creed rolled his eyes and just walked past the old man. Galilei could only shake his head lightly and continued on walking.
In a way, he had no right to question Lyle's dream.
...
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