Durandal

### Abilities

Releases a holy aura whose nature can change depending on the user's will and fighting style.

### Wielder(s)

**Current Wielder*** Xenovia Quarta

**Former Wielders**

* Fleur de Lís
* Vasco Strada
* Charlemagne
* Mandricardo
* Penthesilea
* Kiba Yuuto
* Emma Carstairs
* {Elizalina Adragna}
* {Hector of Troy}
* {Hrōþiland}

**Durandal** is a legendary holy sword formerly wielded by Hrōþiland in the Battle of Roncevaux Pass in the Song of Roland. It is currently wielded by Xenovia Quarta of Issei Hyoudou's peerage.

## Overview

**Durendal**, also spelled **Durandal**, is the sword of Roland, a legendary paladin and partially historical officer of Charlemagne in French epic literature. It is also said to have belonged to young Charlemagne at one point, and, passing through Saracen hands, came to be owned by Roland.

The sword has been given various provenances. Several of the works of the Matter of France agree that it was forged by Wayland the Smith, who is commonly cited as a maker of weapons in chivalric romances.

## Summary

Durandal was one of the numerous weapons created by the legendary blacksmith Völund Darkvitha, better known in history and mythology as **Wayland the Smith**. It was tempered with the same steel as its twinned blades, Joyeuse and Cortain, and thus formed a spiritual bond between the three blades.

Its first recorded user was prince Hector of Troy, who used it against the Achaean army during the Trojan War. When Hector fell in battle, it was passed down to the Amazonian queen Penthesileia and disappeared after her death under the hands of Hector's slayer, Achilles.

Centuries later, it was found by a group of magicians and was sold to countless nobility at the time as a "relic of the legendary Trojan War", though none of its former owners were capable of wielding the holy sword. It was later given to Charlemagne by an unnamed angel before he gifted it to his trusted general Hrōþiland, or **Roland**, as he already owned Durandal's twinned blade Joyeuse.

At the Battle of Roncevaux Pass, Hrōþiland used Durandal to hold off the Saracen army long enough for Charlemagne's army to retreat into France and slew a vast number of enemy soldiers, even succeeded in slicing the right arm of the Saracen King Marsile and decapitated his son Jursaleu, thus sending the one-hundred-thousand-strong army to flight.

After being mortally wounded in battle, Hrōþiland hid Durandal beneath his body as he lay there dying along with the oliphant he used to alert Charlemagne before succumbing to his injuries. When he died, the sword was given to the Vatican to be kept for centuries until his descendant, Elizalina Adragna, proved herself to be capable of wielding the holy sword, thus earning her the nickname **Elizalina de Durandal** ("Elizalina of the Durandal").

## Appearance

Durandal is a large uniquely-shaped broadsword with a blue blade and a golden edge. The sword has a semi-circular guard on the left side of the handle that extends to the bottom just above the pommel, with a small extension on the right side of the handle. When in the presence of evil, the blade turns pure white like "a slice cut out of the moon".

## Abilities

Durandal is considered a unique holy sword as it seems to possess a consciousness of its own, with its own preference of wielders and what it will and will not do when under someone's possession. If it senses its current wielder to be unworthy of its power, it will automatically seal off most of its advanced powers and only use the most basic ones, in addition to becoming extremely temperamental to the point of actively lashing out against it user and need to be restrained with magic seals.

It can release a powerful holy aura whose attributes can change depending on the wielder's will and personality. For example, wielders who seek destruction like Xenovia, the sword releases a massive amount of destructive holy aura, while wielders who seek precision like Yuuto, the aura released was more gentle and was easier to control. Dual-wielers like Xenovia can also use the holy aura on other weapons like Issei's Avalon.

It is known for its sharpness, which rivals that of the Longinus Canis Lykaon, and can virtually cut and slash through everything, even if it's supernatural attacks or conceptual beings. Even when being sealed and in its dormant state, it still possesses an absurd sharpness that allows it to cut through giant boulders of stone with a single strike and without much effort. In addition, due to being made from divine metals, it is an Enochian sword and can be used to kill virtually all beings in existence, deities and angels alike.

The sword is known to be indestructible and cannot be damaged or destroyed by any mundane means, as only the heavenly fire running within the veins of angelic creatures can weaken it. Only the heavenly fire used in its construction, which was generated from Azazel's own angelic power, could be used to truly destroy the sword.

Due to the twinned bonds between the sword with Cortain and Joyeuse, wielder of Durandal can detect the location of the other two swords and can even summon forth either one of them in time of need for a short amount of time, and vice-versa.

## Forms

### Ex-Durandal

**Ex-Durandal** (エクスデュランダル, *Ekusu-Dyurandaru*) is an upgraded version created by the Vatican by fusing all the original Excalibur swords into the blade, which would functions as a sheath that contains its aura, while combining their abilities. In addition to this, the user can also materialize the Excalibur fragments into a combined holy sword to either be dual-wielded or be lent other others for a temporary amount of time, even if the one borrowing the sword isn't a natural holy sword wielder.

According to Xenovia, after being fused with the Excalibur fragments, Durandal's temperament has lessened, as if the fragments are a bridle created solely for the taming the wild horse that is Durandal.

## Trivia

* Roland's Breach, a giant gap in the Pyrenees, was created by Roland in an attempt to destroy Durandal when he lost the Battle of Roncesvalles.
* In the Song of Roland, its hilt is said to contain a tooth of Saint Peter, blood of Basil of Caesarea, hair of Saint Denis, and a piece of the raiment of Mary, mother of Jesus.
* Due to the agreements Heaven made in the Kuoh Treaty, when Xenovia dies, either in battle or by a natural-death, the sword would be relinquished back to Azazel, who is the father of its creator.