Chapter 53: The Silver Blade

Gabriel and Michael stand face-to-face with each other. However, unlike my confrontation with Pedro, only one side clearly wears their heart on their sleeve. On Gabriel’s hand is already the same harp bow that he used against Pelle the first time we met as the angel doesn’t bother to hide his rare bloodlust. On the other hand, Michael is still as serene as a lake on a windless day, not even having a weapon in his hand – a fact his opponent immediately notices.

“Where’s Airgetlam? Are you telling me you’re not even gonna take arm against me, Bedivere?”

“Same goes for you,” smirks Michael finally, “where’s the famed Failnaught? Why did you switch your prized bow for this cheap imitation?”

“Failnaught wasn’t a magic bow. As much as I wanted to, I have to accept the fact that I can’t beat you with conventional means.”

“A reasonable move from a former Round,” a light chuckle comes out of Michael’s throat. “I’ll entertain you, then. If you’re planning to beat me with your Gift, then I’ll beat you without using mine.”

Turning to the still surprised Pedro, the angel asks. “Boy, can I borrow your sword?”

“My… sword?” Suddenly being called causes the young knight to be confused for a second. “But it’s broken.”

“Exactly. That would be enough.”

“… If you say so, Lord Michael.”

“Thank you, my boy,” after giving Pedro a gentle pat on the head, Michael turns to his old partner once more. “Now, shall we begin?”

Almost immediately after the final word leaves Michael’s mouth, a series of musical notes darts in his way at lightning speed, accompanied by an intense cacophony searing itself into the ears of all spectators. However, that much doesn’t even faze the target, as, with only a broken rapier in his hand, Michael skillfully deflects all of the notes coming his way with a flurry of defensive slashes.

“How in the…” I ask out loud, trying to use my voice to deafen the horrid sound of Gabriel’s harp.

“Bedivere was known in the past as the Silver Blade for two reasons,” answers Balam. “The first is his unusual aptitude to anti-magic techniques by coating his weapon with magical energy, making his blade shine a sparkling silver.”

“And the second?”

Before the Demon can continue, Gabriel has already closed into his opponent using the notes as a decoy. Aiming his harp bow right at Michael’s heart, with orbs of energy acting as his arrows, the former lets out a victorious grin:

“Let’s see how well you can deflect this!”

“Millenia of abusing your Gift has dulled you, old friend,” contrary to the situation at hand, Michael only lets out a smirk of confidence. And instantly, I can see the reason why.

With a quick thrust of the rapier, Michael has already pierced through Gabriel’s flesh with ease. However, the latter’s instinct saves him from instant death as he leans his body to the side just enough to avoid a fatal blow to the heart. Nonetheless, the result is still his lungs damaged.

“H…How…”

“Did you honestly forget why I was called the Silver Blade, Tristan old pal? Your ‘Peace’ didn’t work against me because…”

“Bedivere has completely mastered the sword to the point that he can strike someone without bearing any ill intent,” from inside my head, Balam finishes the answer for the angel.

“Impossible! How can someone attack without bloodlust if it’s not unintentional?”

“I see you’re surprised, child of Arthur,” Michael, hearing my exclamation, snickers. “Answer me this, then. Do you bear any ill intent when you step on an ant in your garden?”

“All these years spent with you as comrades… they all meant nothing, huh…” Gabriel, barely hanging onto his life, lets out a bitter laugh at the revelation.

“Wrong, Tristan. If it was the old me when I was still a member of the Round, then I would never have overcome ‘Peace’. However, once I realized your true intentions and your agenda, I lost all my respect towards you as a fellow knight, as well as a fellow Archangel. Your own greed was what caused your end.”

“Maybe it is,” answers Gabriel, “but I’m still kicking, aren’t I? And I’m not the type to die that easily…”

“… Surely you don’t mean to…”

“Did you forget already? I’m Sir Tristan of the Round, the greatest survivalist!” Gabriel lets out a crazed, but no less conniving, laughter. “As long as I can achieve my goal, I will continue to live! And now that I know I can’t beat you right now, farewell old friend!”

As the final words leave his mouth, Gabriel takes out another piece of paper engraved with a teleportation rune, and immediately activates it before his opponent can react. With a flash of blue light, the angel disappears from our sight as fast as he arrived.

“Once a rat, always a rat,” Michael clicks his tongue in disdain, but only for a second, as his eyes soon divert towards me.

Meeting his piercing gaze, I ready my two swords.

“So, child of Arthur. Do you wish to cross blades?”

“One question first.”

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“Be my guest.”

“Do you know Beatrice?”

“I did know of her. I know all of my children.”

“Tell me, Michael. When you knew that she died, what did you feel?”

 “She’s dead? Surely, you’re mistaken.”

“I saw her being stabbed by the same guy you just stabbed. It’s the truth. But seeing that you somehow didn’t know even that, then you’re as rotten as the rest of them.”

“… If you want to put it that way, fine. Let’s have our blades do the talking.”

Both of us take the initiative and charge at the same time. The clanging sound of metal colliding echoes through the air. Unlike Pedro, each and every one of Michael’s strikes feels heavier than anything else I’ve faced before, even if his sword is only half the length and is by no means a sword made for slashing. His attacks are relentless and lethal, and yet he indeed shows no emotions, no bloodlust when he attempts to strike me down.

“How are you… this good?” Parrying the last strike, I take a jump backward to escape the pressure from Michael’s assault.

“I have millennia’s worth of experience. It’s only natural that my swordsmanship far outclasses yours,” answers the angel. “But I can see that you have potential, Arthur’s child. Either that or I’m getting rusty. But I digress; what will you do now that you’ve seen the gap between us?”

“Isn’t it obvious?” I unsheathe my second blade. “By not fighting you head-to-head.”

Following my last words, Galatine shines a blinding light in an instant, and not the kind of light that one would normally welcome. Like staring directly into the sun, its light is destructive and painful, and it sears directly into the eyeball.

With Excalibur in my hand and my eyes closed, I can barely manage to block my own vision from getting impaired as I hurriedly dash to the side to make my ambush. However, my opponent isn’t someone who I can so easily beat by just blinding his eyes.

As soon as I make a move, Michael has already turned his body to face me. Seeing his ears and arm muscles lightly twitch, I can only imagine that the being before me is using all of his senses to detect any unusual movement in the air – a monstrous feat only achieved by someone with a battle instinct honed throughout the years.

However, I still have the upper hand. The flash of light just now serves two purposes – both to blind my opponent, and to charge Excalibur’s power. If I unleash it right now, my victory is all but guaranteed. But I was naïve in my thoughts. Before I can even raise my blade, Michael has already rushed in with blitzing speed. A precise thrust, and his blade is already halfway in my right hand.

“Got you now,” smiles the angel, still not being able to open his eyes.

“You monster,” I let out a bitter snicker in return. “I can’t believe blinding you wasn’t enough.”

“I was the one most familiar with Galatine, you fool. Figuring out cheap tricks like this is nothing.”

“And that was my mistake. But not anymore,” I reply with a victorious grin. There is one simple matter that Michael forgot when he went in to stab me. And that’s the fact that he’s close enough for me to retaliate with anything.

With my remaining arm, I swing Excalibur with all my might. However, the result is nothing like I expected.

As soon as it touches Michael’s skin, the sword bounces off as if striking a steel plate, the resulting vibration courses through my arm, numbing it for a second as a result. Meanwhile, Michael still stands tall with a smile on his face, and his blade slowly but surely stabbing deeper into my arm.

“Bastard… you’ve been using your Gift?” I grit my teeth, both in anger and to reduce the incoming pain.

“I only said I didn’t need it for Tristan, not you. And consider it an honor, for you’re the one who forced me to fight at my fullest.”

“Then let me fix that problem for you,” A strange voice calls out from behind me, and soon enough, something shoots forward, aimed straight at the angel in question. Michael, finally opening his eyes once more, quickly dodges the shot, but his face seems clearly distraught like never before.

“Of all the people… You have to be the one to haunt me again,” the angel grits his teeth.

Meanwhile, the perpetrator of the attack – the same young man I knocked unconscious just a few hours ago – has already returned in full force, holding a strange tube-like contraption in his hand.

“You know what they say; the past doesn’t let you go that easily.”

“You tell him, Benkei,” this time, a familiar voice joins in on the conversation, and before I knew it, my two partners in the past have already joined forces with each other, both ready in their combat attires.

“You’re lucky that you didn’t go berserk on us, Peter,” Pelle shakes her head. “I was afraid that we had to stop you by force. But looks like it’s not needed, considering the opponent you’re fighting.”

“And next time, tell your comrades for a change, will you?” Petra adds. “I didn’t recognize you at all!”

“Now it’s five against one,” the only remaining boy takes a step forward. “We can totally beat this guy, right?”

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