Chapter 23 : Fucking over his luck

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"Indeed," Griselda replied, her eyes never leaving the road ahead of her.

Soon enough, the rest of the bus fell back into comfortable conversation, while Vin and Xenovia still sat in silence that, at least to Vin, was growing more and more awkward.

"So… Xenovia, I never got to ask, do you… have any hobbies?"

Finally, Xenovia looked up from her lap, "Define hobbies."

He scratched the back of his head, "I don't know, I guess anything that you enjoy doing. C'mon, you know what a hobby is."

"Hmmm," Xenovia put a hand to her chin, "Training."

Wow, no shit...

"Alright, bad question," Vin sighed, "What's your favorite color?"

Xenovia shot him a deadpanned glare, "I don't have one, that's ridiculous."

"Xenovia, you have a favorite color. Or at the very least, you should have some colors you like more than others."

"What's your goal here?" Xenovia snapped.

Well, time to drop all pretenses of subtly, "I'm trying to get to know you better. We're allies, and I can already name more than five facts each about everyone here, except you."

"Very well," Xenovia conceded with a sigh, "I'm an exorcist-in-training under renowned exorcist Griselda Quarta. I specialize in offense attacks, and am a natural holy sword wielder from birth, an incredibly rare trait. I'm training in order to master a powerful holy sword in my possession. There, satisfied?"

"Xenovia, that's not what I'm talking about…" Vin pinched his brow in exasperation, "I'm not asking to know about Xenovia: the exorcist, I'm asking to know about Xenovia: the human being. The girl beneath the title of exorcist."

Xenovia scoffed, "You're wasting your time, then. You don't seem to understand, Vin; there is no difference, I am who and what I am, and that's an exorcist for the church, period."

"But why?"

Xenovia paused, "I beg your pardon?"

"Why do you want to become an exorcist?" Vin elaborated.

Xenovia closed her eyes and turned her head away from Vin, "Are you deaf? I told you, I can naturally wield holy swords, while others need to undergo special rituals to do so. Plus, I can wield an exceptionally powerful holy sword, so of course I would want to become an exorcist."

"But… That's not a choice you made yourself, is it?"

Xenovia's neck practically snapped as her head whipped around to face Vin, a venomous fire in her eyes. With a sharp snap, Vin found Xenovia's hand wrapped around his throat. Not tight enough to choke him, but snug enough that breathing was a challenge.

"Don't you dare talk about things you know nothing about. Let me drill it through your head: I. Chose. This," Xenovia released her hold on Vin's throat, before turning her head away once more, "We're done talking. Now shut up, and focus on the mission at hand."

Vin rubbed his throat, eyes still wide. Of course he'd stumble into the one thing that would make Xenovia even more closed off, because apparently, awakening his Sacred Gear had the effect of permanently fucking over his luck.

Seeing that talking to Xenovia was a lost cause, Vin reached into the folds of his leather coat, pulling out a pair of earbuds, and began to listen to some music. Closing his eyes as he felt the bumps of the road sooth his nerves to the beat of the music…

"Vinny, wake up! We're here!"

Vin cracked open his eyes, as he saw Irina lightly shaking his shoulder. Sitting up, Vin yanked the buds out of his ears, the muffled sounds of some rock music bleeding out quietly.

"Ah, sorry for dozing off," Vin apologized, as he shook himself awake.

"No problemo!" Irina smiled, "Everyone's grouped outside, c'mon!"

Thanking Irina, Vin set his phone and earbuds down on the seat of the bus, before stepping out to find everyone standing around in a semicircle. As he approached, all eyes turned to him, as Griselda nodded.

"Thanks for bringing him, Irina. Now, the target currently holed up in that farmer's market right there," Griselda gestured to a massive building the size of a grocery store, "All living citizen's have been evacuated within a ten mile radius."

"Here's our plan: the Stray Devil has shown himself to be exceptionally temperamental, often prone to rampaging in search of food. For this reason, I want Xenovia and Ethan to be on the front lines, can anyone tell me why I would want to do that?"

Vin was incredibly confused by the question, but nonetheless, decided to throw caution to the wind, and raise his hand.

"Yes Vin?"

"Um, is it because they have those Excalibur Fragment things that I don't know much about?"

Griselda smiled and nodded, "Correct, although I should properly explain the Excalibur's to you first."

"You see, Excalibur was once an exceptionally powerful holy sword, but during a massive conflict, it was broken into seven shards. The church, with help from alchemists, were able to convert the seven shards of Excalibur into individual weapons, each with a different ability," Griselda explained, pointing at the sword cases in Xenovia, Ethan, and Vanessa's hands, "The swords you see here are three such fragments. Excalibur Destruction can unleash devastating bursts of power, Excalibur Rapidly can enable the wielder to move and strike at extreme speeds, and Excalibur Transparency can-"

"Boo!"

"AHHH!"

Vin fell over in shock as Vanessa, who had suddenly appeared behind him, grinned down with a mischievous smile.

Griselda let out a withering sigh, "And Excalibur Transparency can make the user, their weapon, or other objects invisible to the naked eye. Vanessa, would you showcase a little restraint?"

Vanessa helped Vin to his feet, "Ah c'mon Griselda, it was a harmless little demonstration, and it was supposed to help break the ice."

"Anyway, back on topic. Vin, your assumption was correct. I want to have Xenovia and Ethan on the front lines since Xenovia can utilize the power of Excalibur Destruction to keep any attacks at bay, while Ethan can use Excalibur Rapidly to evade the stray devil's attacks," Griselda turned to address the rest of the group, "While Xenovia and Ethan draw the attention of the stray's attacks, I want the rest of you to support with cover fire, alright? Pepper it with blessed bullets, and it should weaken quickly."

"Understood," Jafar said, as he, Irina, and Ezekiel all walked over to one of the bus's cargo holds, pulling out a massive case filled with several white and gold pistols, and below them, a large cache of loaded magazines.

"Finally, Vanessa: I want you to use Excalibur Transparency to sneak around to it's back. Look for any opportunity to go for a clean kill, alright?"

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