"Hmmm... Yes, I am the first daughter of my mother, Roswaal L666 Mathers, and my father, Sebastian Van Astrea... and I am also the current Sword Saint. It is a pleasure to meet you handsome; my name is Valerie Van Astrea." And just for the record, I've taken a deep interest in your existence, Mr. Foreigner; it's not every day, if ever, that I come across someone who can withstand the effect of my divine protection."
Valerie said this with a mischievous look on her face as she began to lick her lips while staring at him with the eyes of a predator that had found its prey, which made Pleiades shiver slightly.
Pleiades, on the other hand, began to respond back to Valerie.
"I see that explains the resemblance; if so, I guess you're also of the Oni bloodline?"
Valerie's eyes widen when she hears these remarks. As she proceeded to monologue inwardly to herself:
'Who exactly is this man? First, he rejects my original divine protection, which I customized to be absolute. And now he's also conscious of one of my family's secrets. How suspicious are you? How does he know I have Oni blood coursing through my veins? Is it due to the alleged Ram? Who exactly is this Ram? Kashian Mathers was, as far as I know, the first Oni in our family. Perhaps it is a member of our branch family... Hmmm!? Sigh! I don't know, the Mathers and Astrea families are an ancient family that dates back ten thousand years, therefore, keeping a complete record of our family tree is impossible.'
'But, mystery aside, this man is a force to be reckoned with. My "Divine Protection of Mana Detection" shows that his mana is comparable to that of Second sister; in context, that puts him in the top ten in the entire kingdom in terms of mana capacity alone. But why isn't the "Divine Protection of Potential Awareness" working? The same can be said for Granny Sumi's status sighting technique. what the hell is going on here, This man is entirely invisible; it's as if the world itself doesn't even know he's a part of it, to begin with.'
'Intriguing, I like this guy, I want him to be a part of my personal knight court, after all, only the most intriguing people are given that position, and he is truly interesting. However, I refuse to believe that all of my information-seeking protections are ineffective against him. There must be some way I can acquire some information on him... hmm oi... Wolrd, help me out here, give me something I can use to see his secrets, I'm extremely intrigued about him, I need to know how he is immune to my power.'
And it all started when Valerie said those words. As she inwardly stated shortly after, she could sense a strange power flood her eyes.
'Sigh, it appears that Od Laguna is unable to fully assist me in this problem; I'm not sure why... Oh well, I guess I lost this information-gathering war this time. And, given the current state of affairs, I may have to devise my own Divine protection to circumvent this riddle. Fortunately, the only divine protection that can function on this individual is "The Divine Protection of Hints." That Od Laguna just gave me. And With this protection, it can give me vocal suggestions of his history and future, albeit exceedingly imprecise hints.'
'Okay, let's see what hints this protection can provide me about him, what hints of his past there are.'
Several words and two declarations appeared above Pleiades' head at that instant, but they were unseen to him. But to the swords saint, it was random, if not downright perplexing. Although she sees them as accomplishments or titles, her senses informed her that was a better way to interpret these indications.
[Pleiades Past]
. Emilia
. Im dead
. Lolimancer
. "Nothing about me has changed!"
. Cult slayer
. Appas
. "Whos Rem!?"
. Rabbits terrify me
. The world's Anitehsis
. "A man with good timing"
Valerie's eyes twitched with confusion when she saw these hints about the man's past; these hints may imply anything. Nonetheless, she expressed gratitude to the world for providing her with knowledge of him.
'It's not much, but I suppose it's a start.'
'However, if I can predict his future, maybe I can find something that will bring me more information about him in the future.'
With that in mind, the inquisitive sword saint began to use her new divine protection to discern words that would determine his future. Although his past was difficult to comprehend, his future was a goddamn headache.
[Pleiades Future]
[More detailed, but extremely if not basically almost impossible to make sense of]
. A 05 council member in the making
. Dr. Brigth is not allowed to go inside O5-14 "The Watcher" Shadow Garden as it runs the risk of a Mk-class end-of-world scenario.
. Has a deep connection to Scp 001 Swan Proposal and its chosen embodiment FAA
. The voice in Albedo's head
. Baby Old God
. Has a deep connection with Cain
. A very powerful Antediluvian
. Elder of clan Losombra
. 05-15 "The Witch of Greed" /SCP: 001 "Why must Love Fade?" seems to be obsessed with him, ironic enough her containment procedures are basically the word of 05-14, seeing she listens to him.
. A man with scary connections.
. Has an intimate and equally comedic connection with the smallest spider in Australia
These were indications regarding Pleiades' destiny to come, but the issue about this divine protection was that it could happen as early as tomorrow or as far ahead as fifty years from now. In some ways, it was a vague power, and the knowledge it provided was perplexing. Valerie's thoughts were already becoming overburdened as she noticed her brain gradually malfunctioning.
'What the hell is an Antediluvian? And why the hell is such a handsome man destined to have a relationship with a spider, and what the fuck is Australia, oh god, I don't even want to dissolve my brains trying to understand what the Swan Proposal scp thingy even is... much alone what SCP stands for?'
'And what exactly are the 05 councils intended to be... My brain is hurting, you know what, forget it, I'll look into this later, but my curiosity in this man has become even stronger. 'I want to know more, nay, I must know more.'
Valerie inwardly announced to herself as she was going to answer Pleiades. And despite her extended monologue and analysis via her protections, in reality, it was just 1/10th of a second that had elapsed because that was how fast her brain was processing information.
So, without wasting another fraction of a second, she addressed Pleiades as such.
"Well either way cutie, I now have you in my radius, tell me do you express any desires to live here."
Pleiades reacted in kind the instant Valerie asked.
"To be honest, I was going to look for a place to stay because I have some important business to attend to in this kingdom." So, yeah, I'll be around for a while."
Pleiades explained to Valerie, after all, no one in this century knew him, let alone understood him. Even if they have uncommon means via defenses, Pleiades has a variety of ways to conceal his true identity, which was not even necessary given that he was a ghost, but creating a link with the sword saint can be advantageous to him in the long term. Especially with the experiments he planned to do on Crusch.
Valerie, on the other hand, responded to his response as follows:
"Hmmm. I see, well then, if you ever have time, stop by the Hall of Heroes and pay me a visit, I want to talk to you about something, after all, that's where I spend the majority of my time."
Valerie declared as she hurled a little stone-like artifact etched with a blade towards Pleiades who caught and examined it. And when Pleiades noticed this, he began to query about it from Valerie, who replied as such.
"That's a pass to The Hall of Heroes; simply show it to the person at the front desk when you enter and ask her to make her bring you to me." But anyways good looking, our encounter was brief, but I have a massive rock to destroy, so I'll see you around ok."
Valerie murmured as she walked past Pleiades, seductively swaying her hips from side to side as if putting on a display for a certain warlock's attention. Pleiades, on the other hand, was just concerned with getting to his shadow garden as soon as possible and was unconcerned about Valerie. So, after she was out of sight, he snatched up Crusch with his invisible providence and proceeded to flee. The goal was to go as far away from this location as physically possible in order to escape being followed once time had been re-established.