Noel Gets Spotted Amongst a Crowd

In a village bustling with activity, all types of people could be seen out and about. There were men and women in business attire standing at the railway platform waiting for their train to arrive to take them into a city, people were at the market, some selling goods and others buying them; and then there were others who were just out enjoying the nice weather and talking with their friends and neighbors. Of course, amongst the crowd, one individual stood out. A young woman, who stood at 167 cm, walked through the crowd. She had dark skin, white hair, and amber eyes. Her attire, however, stood out, as did the two massive swords that floated behind her. The woman wore a hat on her head that had short, ear-like structures at the top. She also wore white shorts and a double-breasted waistcoat that left her abdomen exposed. Her left arm and leg were covered, unlike the right side, though they were wrapped up with red bandages. Most strange of all was the cape that she wore; it was white like the rest of her attire, but it was long, reaching down to her legs, and had large black spikes on its underside. The strange fleshy inside of the cape made it stand out even more.

As the woman walked through the city, the crowd parted out of her way, not out of fear, but simply because they recognized that it would be difficult for her to maneuver around others with those swords of hers. Though not everyone moved out of her way. A girl with blonde hair, green eyes, and a blue skirt and jacket ran into the woman's shoulder as she ran by. "Sorry!" the girl shouted as she continued running off in the opposite direction, turning around just barely enough to make eye contact with the woman and wave at her with one of her gloved hands. The woman paid no mind to this and continued off to her destination, but would soon be interrupted by her swords quickly outpacing her and flying in front of her. Carrying the swords were two orbs with wings attached to them, one black and the other white. The orbs quickly stabbed the sword into the ground, both blades crossing past each other in an x-formation, blocking the woman's path.

The two orbs then combined into one, increasing in size along with forming a pair of eyes and a mouth. "Hey, Ram!" The orb called out to his companion.

"What is it?" The woman, Ramlethal, asked with a hint of annoyance in her voice, clearly not a fan of the sudden conversation when the two of them had work that needed to be done.

"That girl that just ran by-" The orb began, but would soon be interrupted by his companion.

"I'm not really interested in hearing about how you found her attractive." Ramlethal remarked, she was all too familiar with Lucifero's perverted comments since she's traveled with him for as long as she can remember.

"What? No not..." Lucifero started, "Well, she did have a really short skirt and a new pair of legs on her, despite how short she-"

"Self Destruct." Ramlethal commanded, interrupting Lucifero once more.

Ramlethal reached her hands out to grab Lucifero in order to separate him, but the familiar moved out of the way of her grasp. "Whoa! Whoa! Hey, you didn't even let me finish." The winged familiar yelled. "That girl, the NOL made an announcement about her! She's some sorta traitor or left her post or something. Whatever it is, they're on the lookout for her." Lucifero desperately explained himself as he continued to avoid Ramlethal's hands.

Ramlethal paused for a moment, her arms not dropping to her sides but rather freezing mid-air. "...Since when did we care about the business of the Novus Orbis Librarium?"

"Well, we don't." Lucifero responded, causing the Valentine to start reaching for him again. "BUT! She's in Illyrian territory. Or more specifically, our territory." The familiar quickly added on.

"So?" Ramlethal bluntly asked, still not seeing the point of this conversation.

"She could be a criminal or something. Its our duty to stop her, isn't it?" Lucifero explained further, with annoyance starting to form in his voice.

Ramlethal stared blankly at Lucifero for a moment before turning away from the familiar and looking toward the direction the girl ran off. Ramlethal stared away from her familiar for a second or two before, while not looking back, grabbing onto Lucifero, causing him to grunt in surprise.

Noel ran through the crowd of people, occasionally having to push past an individual. She was in a hurry. Makoto had told her to meet up with Tager and her at a specific spot in this village; the problem was, she was having difficulties finding where it was. Noel's heels clicked against the brick road as she continued to hurry around the village, almost looking like a bit of a maniac to the residents.

Suddenly, Noel spotted a large shadow move over her. The former NOL lieutenant looked up and quickly stopped running, skidding in place a bit and stopping just short of a giant, katana-like great sword crashing down in front of her. Noel's mouth went agape with surprise as she stared at the giant blade that was stabbed in the ground. "Halt!" Noel heard someone call out from behind her, causing her to turn around right at the same time the sword tore itself out of the ground and floated back to its user. It was the woman she had run into before. "By decree of the United Kingdom of Illyria, I command you to stop where you are!" Ramlethal declared, causing residents of the village to look over at the two girls. Ramlethal then looked over to the blade to the right of her. "Did I do that right?" she asked, just the slightest bit of embarrassment present in her tone.

The swords proceeded to drop again, embedding themselves in the ground again. Lucifero quickly put himself back together a flew beside Ramlethal. "Oh yeah! Totally nailed it! A hundred percent."

Ramlethal quickly snatched her familiar in between her hands. "Is that sarcasm that I detect?" Ramlethal asked, eyebrows twitching slightly.

Lucifero feigned a chuckle. "What? No..." Ramlethal narrowed her eyes at the familiar, beginning to squeeze him tighter.

"Um....Hey!" Noel called out, getting the duo's attention, "Sorry, I'm in a hurry. So, if you could just let me go, that would be-"

"You're coming with me." Ramlethal bluntly asserted, not letting Noel get another word in. Ramlethal turned the black and white halves of Lucifero's body in different directions, causing the familiar to split into two orbs that instinctively flew to the great swords and lifted them out of the ground.

Noel, realizing that there would be conflict, closed her eyes and let out an unsteady breath in order to steel herself. Noel then snapped her eyes open and held her hands out in front of her in order to summon her Nox Nyctores, Arcus Diabolus: Bolverk. A pair of large handguns appeared in two magical circles that Noel had brought forth in front of her hands. Noel quickly grabbed a hold of the gun's grips and got into a fighting stance with the weapon. Ramlethal kept a neutral, yet determined, face as she watched this before she began to slowly float over to her opponent. Noel, in turn, began to take steps toward Ramlethal.

===================== The Wheel of Fate is Turning: LETS ROCK =====================