DxD: Gambling With Fate

"Do you really think your Sacred Gear translates to actual Swordsmanship? You're merely a child playing house."

Noa looked at his opponent.

"You know, someone said almost the exact same thing earlier today." Noa commented, his expression, as if everything was merely a game. "They lost."

His opponent frowned.

Noa juggled his wooden sword, creating flashy and clean movements as it spun in circles around him.

The opponent clenched his teeth in annoyance. He had heard from his peers that the child in front of him moved as soon as the countdown completed with an agility reaching the limit of human speed.

This was Noa downplaying his E Rank Agility.

Well, with all his conditional Blessings it was more like E+ Agility.

His opponent assumed that Noa only won because of cheap tricks, being able to move that fast at such a young age.

So with the confidence that as long as he could match his first move that victory was in sight, he was tense for Noa's first move.

As the countdown reached zero, Noa's opponent clenched the handle of his sword, ready to swing at Noa as soon as the match started.

Mind you, despite only being human, with education spanning from their childhood, most on field Exorcists had physical capabilities beyond what was expected of a human.

Even Griselda, despite only being 14, could probably outrun Usain Bolt even if for a short while.

Like all of his previous matches, Noa sped toward his opponent, not planning to drag it out. While dragging out a battle might have it's own appeal, there was a romance in defeating every opponent soon after the match started.

Instead of going through the legs, Noa decided to do something else.

Holding his Wooden Bastard Sword with two hands for the first time, Noa readied it for a diagonal from bottom left to upper right swing, countering his opponent's downward swing.

Furthermore, when he first had a thought for what he should do this match, a corresponding Blessing appeared.

[Increased Chances of Weapon Destruction]

As the conditional derivative blessings were bestowed, Noa thought: Fuck it we ball.

As the wooden swords clashed, Noa aimed for the weakest point in most swords, the flat. This was technically impossible to do from the angle Noa was standing, so Noa took the liberty to cheat physics though Furthest Earth, removing all of his momentum in an instant and moving horizontally a little to the left.

The distance moved was miniscule, but the actual move was virtually impossible to do with just physical ability due to the instant change in direction due to momentum. However, Furthest Earth's domain of Perfect Movement also meant that momentum and direction was never an issue.

 Noa increased the strength of his swing at the last moment, cleaving through his opponent's sword like a hot knife on butter.

Before his opponent could even register what happened, Noa redirected his swing back to his neck, stopping mere millimeters before it hit the skin, the gust of wind blasting his opponent's hair to one side.

"Surrender." Noa tilted his head.

It wasn't a question. While his opponent losing his weapon automatically meant it was his victory, it was more satisfying this way.

His opponent froze at the loss of his blade, only grasping onto the handle hard enough for the wood to creak.

He looked at Noa's unchanged expression. When he had heard from his peers that the wielder of Incinerate Anthem wasn't human, he had waved it off. What were they so scared of? A mere child.

But looking at Noa's face of complete disregard, as if looking at a boring toy, a wave of dissonance permeated his entire being. His look... felt wrong. As if he had bestowed judgement upon him, having already judged his worth and deemed it worthless. It took all his effort not to fall to his knees.

He grit his teeth in humiliation, but the further he got away from this monster child, the better.

"I-I surrender!"

Noa removed the blade away from his opponent's neck. Even though the sword was only made of wood, it had an aura of a razor sharp edge.

Waving toward his friends, he made his way toward them without any other words to his opponent, like he didn't deserve an ounce of respect.

Without any traits of [Good] and [Faith] in the jealousy filled youth, he wasn't anyone Noa could care about. Just a random character he would have nothing to do with.

--+--

As the matches continued for the Round of 16, because Dulio and Griselda were on the opposite side of the bracket, they could only meet Noa at the Finals.

Unfortunately, Griselda lost to David Cerro, as well as Dulio.

While they both put up a decent fight, with the natural disadvantage in physique and actual combat experience, it was difficult for Griselda to overcome, even more so Dulio, as he was younger than Griselda.

Noa, who seemed to only have been matched up with absolute NPCs who could only spout the same lines, easily made his way to the finals.

David Cerro, the newest wielder of Excalibur Galatine, was ecstatic. While his mood dropped when he was ignored by the Three Longinus Wielders the previous day, defeating Dulio Gesualdo in a battle of Swordsmanship increased his mood.

Noa didn't really know why the dude was so happy shitting on a 9 year old when he was like 17, but to each their own.

However, David didn't underestimate Noa. Rather it would be idiotic to underestimate him when he had literally been smoking every single one of his peers without even a hint of fatigue.

When David had witnessed Noa defeat his opponent through Furthest Earth, his eyes widened. While David didn't know about Furthest Earth's existence, the ability to suddenly change direction allowed for countless more opportunities.

While changing direction normally came with losing momentum, Noa's physical abilities nullified such issues.

Even David's mentor had commented on Noa's unnatural movement that practically broke the laws of natural physics. If Noa could do such things without any strain on his body, it meant that victory would be extremely difficult to achieve.

So while David was strategizing on how to defeat Noa before the match started, Noa didn't even consider him an opponent. Instead, he was taking bets.

"Taking bets, over or under 1 minute."

"We have nothing to bet Noa," Dulio said dryly.

"...Our future salary?" Noa proposed.

"You'd just rig the bet." Griselda countered, and Lavinia nodded in agreement.

"Do I look like that kind of person?" Noa joked, wiping off nonexistent tears from his eyes.

"Yes." The three said in unison.

"Damn." Noa shrugged. He had done the same bet just the match before, so it wasn't surprising.

He looked toward Dulio and Griselda like a soldier going off to war.

"Well, Dulio and Griselda, I'll avenge you two." As the time in between matches dwindled, Noa gave a wave to his 'fans' and made his way to the Finals with a relaxed deposition.

--+--

"Seven Minutes."

Since this was the finals, talking more than a sentence would probably be fine.

"What?" David looked confused at the sudden voice. After all, for all the matches that Noa fought, he never spoke first, only rarely responding to the opponent's taunts.

"Seven Minutes is all I can spare to play with you." Noa held his sword with a relaxed grip, swinging it around haphazardly.

"...Are you mocking me?"

"Well, with my current record, I'm actually complementing you." Noa reasoned. None of his opponents lasted more than a minute, so saying that seven minutes is all he had was a complement, right?

David grit his teeth. He didn't know why, but every word that Noa spoke sounded like the biggest insults to him. It was as if his mental was deteriorating in record time.

David didn't know this, but it was once more because of Protection of the Faith.

[Increased Mental Destabilization Ability]

[Increased Taunting Ability]

"I hope you know I've already defeated the wielder of Zenith-"

"Without Zenith Tempest?" Noa interrupted. "All you did was beat a 9 year old with swords and bragging about it." Noa raised an eyebrow. "Did you have fun? Did you get everything out of your system?"

David glared at Noa, but didn't say anything. He was already doing his best to not rush at him immediately.

"Is beating a kid who's main ability sealed off that much of an accomplishment?" But Noa continued his tirade. "You're almost like double his age man, grow up."

The countdown started to decrease, but Noa didn't stop there.

"I don't know what you're so proud of, what Holy Sword did you get again? Gelatin? What sword did I get...? Oh I remember! Excalibur. Well, not that the Excaliburs are strong anyway."

Noa shrugged in resignation as if David's accomplishments were nothing to him.

"Your jello of a sword can't even compare to a single Longinus, ha." Noa shook his head as if he said a funny joke. Then his small chuckle increased to full blown chortle.

David's expression darkened.

Even if Noa surrendered he would show no mercy.

A small part of his mind kept trying to remind him of what his mentor said about Noa, but something was blocking his ability to critically think.

He was better than his peers. His physique was superior, and he was even a Natural Holy Sword Wielder.

As the countdown reached zero, instead of waiting for Noa to run towards him, David immediately moved to the side. This was solely due to his instinct, not intellect.

David glanced back to his original position to see Noa rapidly approaching him.

While Noa's speed was impressive for his age, David was confident in his physical ability. Watching Noa's previous matches, it felt like he could out-speed Noa.

David probed with a light slash to Noa's left shoulder. The height difference made it difficult to aim for Noa's torso or legs.

Noa casually tilted his sword so David's blade harmlessly slid against his edge, and hitting a counter attack at his exposed torso. The wooden sword slammed into David's torso and he winced at the unexpected pain, his breathing going out of rhythm.

Taking the opportunity, Noa brought back his sword and stabbed towards David's abs, and instead of David crumpling at the jab, due to his unnatural durability, he was launched back instead. Noa followed.

As Noa raised his sword for an overhead slash, David instinctually rose his sword to block it, only to realize that it was a feint and quickly changed directions, only to realize late that Noa juked him out twice, Noa's real slash hitting him in the side of his torso, where he just hit in the beginning.

David let out a grunt of pain. He couldn't keep staying on the defensive, and decided to go forward instead of backward, rushing at Noa. Even though Noa may be fast and strong, his durability could only be so strong.

Noa didn't panic, using his smaller stature and superior agility to get into David's blind spot when he got closer and get behind him, and reminiscent of his first match, swung towards David's exposed knees, dropping David to his knees.

David swung blindly behind him, trying to roll away but Noa's blade intercepted mid-swing, sapping its force before it could even properly generate.

Before David could do anything, Noa reached toward David's exposed wrist, grabbing it and dragging it toward himself, disarming David.

Instead of finishing it there, Noa used that opportunity to do a kick against David's back, pressing him to the ground.

David attempted a roll to get out of the way, but Noa was just too fast, catching up with the roll. To prevent David from moving further, Noa used his own sword and the stolen sword to trap David's neck in an 'X' shape using the blades.

Now David was stuck laying down, back to the ground, his neck in a precarious location.

Having been in precarious positions, and the fact that it was only a friendly competition, unlike the unexperienced, he didn't have a fear of death just from the wooden swords.

However, when he gazed into the abyss that was Noa's unchanged expression, he froze. Noa looked just as pristine as he did walking into the arena, no sweat, no grime, no heavy breathing. As if he was a character in a game that never changed.

"Barely a minute passed." With the same tone that Noa first insulted David with, yet instead of instigating David, with the match completed, there was only a sense of incongruity. 

Why was he so stressed in the first place?

While David grew mentally from this experience, Noa's was unnaturally stagnant.

[You have defeated the Wielder of Excalibur Galatine, [David Cerro]. You have obtained the Achievement [Closer to Gawain] +1 Free Pull]

Only 1 Pull? I guess this person wasn't as important as I thought.

How disappointing.

--+--

A/N: After this I'll still do power stone goals, but it'll be much harder and there's a limit.

Also, this arc is mainly meant to show Noa's personality further from his original start, cause I can just explain Noa's genz jokes as something that comes from changing world settings so suddenly, and no rewrite needed.

Still need to write the 4000 Extra Chapter and the new 2000 Extra Chapter. Still going to update daily tho no need to worry.

--+--

New Powerstone Goals starting this week.

2500 PS - Extra Chap

3500 PS - Extra Chap

4500 PS - Extra Chap

Max is 3 extra chaps a week. My parents don't mind me writing, but they kind of want me to make money, so I'm going to 'try' and set up a patreon soon, and I need time to fill that shit up.

Do people really buy patreons though?

Extra chapters will be released the day after the goal is reached, from 2:00 PM to 6:00 PM KST cause that's when I'm free. They'll also be generally shorter than normal chapters.

Normal Chapters will be released every day during the times from 8:00 PM to 2:00 AM KST cause I normally get inspo throughout the day.

Also, comments, powerstones, and reviews are always appreciated.