The Virtues' Magecraft

Trial By Steel, Part One

"I hate Tucker," Anastasia sighed, placing her head onto her cold metal locker.

"Yeah, but... Why? He's pretty nice," Alexander said.

"He's annoying. And weird. Very weird."

Alexander slightly nodded. "Yeah, fair enough. But don't worry about it. There are bigger problems to care about. Y'know?"

Again, Anastasia sighed. "Don't remind me of the fact that we're gonna be fighting a demon."

He smiled. "Relax. It'll be easy this time."

"Do you really believe that?"

"...No."

"I was useless last time. And then, you got your hand cut off. It was weird."

He stared at her. "I think you're the only person in the world to just dismiss the entire event as just 'weird'."

"Either way... the whole thing is weird. This one's stronger. And the next one will be, too. And we're just supposed to, what, handle them?"

Alexander didn't know how to respond to that. "Y'know, Leonard had wanted to make a bet as to who would die first."

"You, too, huh?"

"Wait, he asked you, too?"

She nodded. "Yep. He ended the conversation when I said it would be him."

"Realistically, though..." Alexander said. "I wouldn't be surprised if I die. I don't even have an affinity."

"Yeah, but at least you're good at enhancement, right?"

"Yeah," he said, smiling and nodding. "I've been exercising to make sure I actually stand a chance, too. For like the past six months at this point. It's horrible. I'm just hoping it's not a waste of time."

"How would that be a waste of time?"

"I could be using this time to do something else."

"What else would you use that time for?"

"Nothing."

She stared at him in confusion.

"As in, I would do nothing," he said.

She was still confused. "What's so good about doing nothing?"

"Doing nothing is the best. If you're doing nothing, you have the possibility to do anything. That's why I'm constantly doing nothing."

"That's..." She paused. "That actually makes sense. Kind of. But still..." Anastasia shut her locker. "Well, we still have a mission tomorrow, right?"

"Yep," he said. "Wait. I think it's today, actually."

"No, it's the fifth. Today's the fourth."

"...Today's the fifth."

Her eyes widened. "No, it's- Oh my God. Today's the fifth."

"Anastasia Velda, you really forgot, huh? You with all of your punctuality and all. You really forgot."

Anastasia stared at him. "Just shut up."

Alexander smiled.

"I gotta go tell Emilia that I got a mission. Kinda forgot, too."

She smiled as he walked away before turning to shut her locker.

Not five seconds after that, Alexander froze. He turned, walking back to Anastasia. "Wait, since when did we have lockers?"

"You didn't know we had lockers?"

He shook his head.

"Weren't you there during orientation? They explained the whole thing."

"...Wait, we had an orientation?"

Anastasia stared at him in confusion. "How did you not know that? Alexander. Are you serious right now? You didn't know-"

"I... I don't- Whatever. We have to go."

"Don't you have to talk to Emilia?" she asked.

He shook his head. "No, I'll just text her. I'm busy feeling stupid right now."

"You should," Anastaisa said, a thin smile growing on her face. "You really should," she laughed.

She pulled out her transporter and being typing in coordinates.

Within a second, a flash of light burst from the device.

They were standing on a patch of red sand. No, not a patch, but a field.

Lumiel smiled and waved at them, standing just a meter from where they teleported to. "Whoa, you guys are casual enough to just go to places together?" she said. "That's pretty-"

Lumiel's words were cut off Anastasia smacked the back of her head. "Don't start with that," Anastasia said.

"Where even is this?"

"That-" Gabriel said, pointing at the grand mansion before them. "-is the home of the Paladin, Marx Ashford."

What stood hundreds of yards from the field on crimson sand was an opulent complex.

They began walking towards the mansion.

It was built of limestone and concrete with tall glass windows, spanning over the three grand floors. Alexander guessed it must've beenover a couple hundred years old.

"Let me guess," Liam said, gazing up at the massive building. "It's gonna be like last time. We're gonna rob something?"

Leonard smiled and pounded his fist into his palm. "Hell yeah."

"No," Lumeil said, shaking her head. "No. No. Not at all."

Leonard and Alexander both let out disappointed sighs.

"What is it, then?" Giovanna asked.

"We're getting the sword. But legally, apparently. We just gotta ask for it. He'll give it to us. That's what Archibald said."

Liam furrowed his eyebrows. "Wait, so we're all here just to ask a guy to give us a weapon?"

"..."

The Virtues fell silent.

"Well, at least this is easier," Leonard said.

"Yeah, true," Alexander agreed. "We don't have to travel to Earth, we don't need to come up with an impromptu plan just to throw it away. Now, we just gotta go to this guy's house and ask for the sword. Bada bing bada boom."

"Did you really just say bada bing bada boom?" Anastasia asked him.

"...Yeah."

"Unironically?"

"...Yeah."

Gabriel sighed. "Everyone, shut up," he said, before knocking onto the pale wooden door. The doorknob and edges were all adorned with gold.

And the one that opened the door was none other than the Paladin himself.

Marx Ashford was an olive-skinned man with dark brown hair. But none of that mattered. The most notable, perhaps alarming, feature of his was the scar that ran across his face, diagonally crossing from the bridge of his nose to the end of his cheek.

He stared at them with grim eyes.

"Who are you and why are you here?" he asked them.

Gabriel stood ahead of the other Virtues, and so he spoke first. "Archibald told us you had Ascalon. And-"

A wry smile floated onto the Paladin's lips. "Oh, so you guys are those kids. Huh," he smiled. "What about Ascalon?"

"We kinda need that sword. So if you could just-"

The smile quickly faded from his face. "No."

"Um, well... You see-"

Ashford audibly groaned. "The hell is that old bastard thinking?" he muttered to himself, raising his head to the ceiling and putting his hands behind his head. "He should know I'm gonna just gonna hand over Ascalon."

Alexander stared at the Paladin. He was thinking out loud at this point.

The Virtues stood in awkward silence.

Ashford cleared his throat and took in a sharp breath. "Kid," he said. He pointed at Alexander. "You're the one who killed Belphegor, right?"

Alexander nodded as he swallowed his saliva.

"How about we make a deal. If you can win a fight against me, I'll give you the sword. Sound good?"

Alexander's thoughts ran amok. There was no way he could beat a Paladin. Even with these past six months, he knew he wouldn't be strong enough. And it wasn't as if the battle against Belphegor was easy. Alexander lost fingers, an entire hand, and had almost died with that axe s***h to the chest.

"Actually-" Gabriel interjected. "I'm stronger than Alexander. I have more experience. Plus, I have two affinities."

"Exactly," Alexander agreed. He nodded his head as he spoke. "You should fight Gabriel."

The Paladin smiled. He snapped his fingers and pointed at Alexander. "No, thanks. I'm fighting you, Demon-Born."

"Follow me. All of you."

The Virtues followed Ashford into his grand home.

The house's floors were made of reflective marble, polished to the point of mirroring everything in the entirety of the grand corridor.

The interior was exactly what Alexander had expected from a house of this size and a family of that much wealth. Gold-framed paintings stood on both walls at their sides and even marble statues on pedestals. Why would they even put a statue inside the hallway?

Plus, the hall was long. Inexplicably long. For some reason.

They walked in silence until Leonard spoke up. That was usually how it was. Silence, until Leonard decided to break it.

"So..." he said. "You must get paid a lot as a Paladin, huh? I mean, to afford a house this big."

"No, this is my parents' house, actually," the Paladin said nonchalantly.

Alexander furrowed his eyebrows. "Wait, you live with your parents?"

Ashford nodded.

"You're an adult and you live with your parents?" Gabriel asked.

Again, all Ashford did was nod.

Gabriel shook his head. "Grown-a*s man."

"Hey, rent's expensive in this part of town," he said to defend himself. "There's no point in spending my own money on rent. And this house is so big that my parents don't even know I still live here. Seriously. This is just one of the wings. As long as I don't make too much noise or whatever, they'll never even know I'm here."

Alexander opened his mouth but decided not to speak, shaking his head and letting out a sigh.

Not long after that was when the Virtues arrived at a grand hall. It resembled their school's training room, but nearly twice its size and definitely half a dozen times more expensive.

He swallowed his saliva as he stared at the glass ceiling. The sun's orange glow was setting in.

Ashford continued walking to one end of the hall.

"Dude, are you really gonna fight him?!" Leonard asked Alexander.

"Looks like it."

Anastasia stared at him. "You're probably gonna die."

"Probably."

The Paladin cleared his throat. "Alright, then," he began. "I'm ready when you are, Demon-Born."

Alexander slightly nodded his head. Ashford was seriously willing to fight him, huh?

"Yeah," he said. "Yeah, I'm ready."

He turned back to the others. "Find the sword," he told them.

"How?"

"I don't know. Figure it out. All I know is, Anastasia has spatial magic, and I probably can't buy more than ten minutes."

Ashford seemed oblivious to their conversation, walking off to one end of the hall.

Alexander cleared his throat and turned to the Paladin. He was standing a bit more than fifty meters away.

"Again, I think you should fight Gabriel," he said. "He's... He's stronger than me," Alexander said. He didn't believe the words coming out of his mouth, but he would much rather watch Gabriel get beat up than him.

"Exactly!" Gabriel said.

"You kidding?" the Paladin asked. "You must be pretty damn strong if you've killed a Prince of Hell."

Alexander nodded. He had no idea how he was capable of killing Belphegor, to begin with.

Ashford tore off his jacket.

'Well, that was a waste of a perfectly good jacket.'

Ashford was muscular, as Alexander expected for a Paladin like him. He smiled as he began to c***k his knuckles.

Alexander stood still. 'I'm gonna die.'

"You ready?" Ashford asked.

"Uh... Sure."

Leonard sighed and sat down on the floor. "Well, this is exciting," he mumbled.

"I know, right?" the Paladin said with a smile.

He smiled in response. "So a trial by fire, huh?" Leonard asked.

"Trial by steel," Ashford corrected.

Alexander paused at the Paladin's remark.

"By the way..." the Paladin said. "Don't hold back. People do that sometimes. Always pisses me off. What's the point of fighting if you don't fight with everything you've got?" he asked.

"So, again: Don't hold back. And don't worry about causing any damage. It's all fine."

Suddenly, a sword flew from Ashford's hand. Alexander caught it, staring at the dull grey sword. 'Where the hell did the sword even come from?' Alexander thought.

"Thinking only wastes time!" he shouted, quickly disappearing from Alexander's view.

Alexander's eyes widened immediately. His eyes couldn't perceive the Paladin's rapid movements.

He stood on guard, surrounded by the sounds of parting air and rapid footsteps. Alexander continually spun around, only to see smears of movements. Ashford's speed was creating afterimages.

Alexander jumped backward. "C'mon, c'mon, c'mon," he muttered as the palm of his hand began to glow with blue light. At some point, Ashford would have to get in close.

If Alexander could time it right, he could actually land an attack.

That was the main problem, though.

Ashford had just been continually circulating around Alexander. Until sharp steel cut against his calf.

And another thin slice right below his shoulder.

Even though he was already under attack, he couldn't see, hear, or even hear the Paladin or his upcoming and ongoing attacks.

His eyes widened. He spun around, tossing the sword to the floor, and driving his fist into the Paladin.

Or rather, the afterimage that Ashford's movements produced.

He spat out a sigh.

Ashford's feet audibly skidded across the ground.

"I'm not gonna lie, that was close," he said.

Alexander turned to him. "Wait, really?"

"No, I'm just messing with you," Ashford laughed. "Not even close. You really should move more. Staying still is bound to end up in your death."

"Fair enough."

Again, the Paladin disappeared from plain view.

This man is one of eleven humans classified as High-Grade. The Paladin, Marx Ashford.

And from there, three of the Virtues split up.

Lumiel, Liam, and Anastasia ran from the hall that held Ashford's battle.

They dashed through the corridor as Anastasia turned her head, thinking, trying, and struggling to find where the sword could be.

She stopped running and spat out a sigh. "Yeah, I have no idea where we're going in," she muttered.

"It's in an armory," Liam said. "Rich people have armories. I think. Probably."

"Okay, wait," Lumiel said, putting her hand up. "Liam's right. And since he's a Paladin, he uses magic weapons. So you could find the magic energy, right?"

Anastasia stared at her with stale eyes. "Have you seen how big this house is? I can't do that."

Lumiel put her hand on Anastasia's shoulder.

"What are you-"

She was pouring her own magic energy into Anastasia.

Even with her two affinities, even her with spatial perception, Anastasia didn't have much magic energy compared to some of the other Virtues. And so, with this boost, her eyes widened.

So now... "All you gotta do is take a deep breath and concentrate. It'll be easy," Lumiel said.

"Yeah, I think I found it," Anastasia mumbled.

"Already?"

She nodded and cleared her throat. "I can connect it," she said.

Anastasia thrust her hand to the side and squinted.

She opened a Connection and told them to jump through.

And as Lumiel passed through, as she saw what was on the other side of the Connection...

'Woah...' A soft gasp left her lips as he gazed at the marveling sight of the armory in its entirety. Endless rows of armor and weapons stood before them.

After all, to most of them, the word 'Armory' simply called to mind a storage closet, similar to the ones at the Academy that they've seen, with nothing more than a rack of swords or spears. But nothing could be further from the truth here. It was at least the same size as their classroom.

The wooden floor was packed with stands for weapons, clothes, and full sets of armor. Silver, bronze, gold, black, white- simply a blinding array of colors and shapes, from chainmail to slabs of heavy plate armor.

And pressed against the polished stone walls was an assortment of what appeared to be every conceivable weapon. Shortswords and longswords, single and double-bladed axes, lances, bows, war hammers, glaives- every variation of weaponry in uncountable numbers stretching from the room's start to end.

"...How the hell are we supposed to find a single sword from here? " Anastasia muttered, finally breaking the silence.

"With determination," Liam said. "Let's spread out."