Silver Flower Dance of Picoutatte

The Silver Flower Dance of Picoutatte (ピックタットの銀華乱舞, Pikkutatto no Ginga Ranbu) was a conflict that took place 40 years before the arrival of Natsuki Subaru to the world. It was the primary conflict of Sword Demon Love Story.

During the honeymoon between Wilhelm and Theresia van Astrea, when they visited the Commercial City of Picoutatte, a duel broke out when a foreign royal, Stride Vollachia, set his sights on the Sword Saint and picked a fight with her family. Using her father's life as leverage, the two met up with their respective champions, who fought in their place, the lives of both Veltol and Theresia being determined by the battle.

In the end, Wilhelm emerged victorious when Stride decided to retreat, and Veltol's life was spared. However, this battle served as the prelude to Stride's later campaigns against the Kingdom of Lugunica.

Background

At some point after Stride became the Sin Archbishop of Pride for the Witch Cult, he set his sights on collecting the Sword Saint for his schemes to antagonize the Kingdom of Lugunica. At some point, he heard the rumors of what took place during her award ceremony, but he wrote it off as nonsense. Using the excuse the order that Veltol had made to visit him, Stride took Kurgan to Picoutatte.

Veltol's Duel

Following the marriage of Wilhelm and Theresia, Veltol made an order with the Suwen Company to provide Wilhelm with a sword of excellent make. Later on, the newlyweds were granted two months to go on their honeymoon, and they decided to visit the southern cities of the Kingdom. Following their visit to Flanders, they reached Picoutatte, where Veltol, who was there to retrieve the presents for both his wife and Wilhelm, met them at their inn. Despite the argument that followed, they decided to go with him to visit the Suwen Company. When they got there, Wilhelm and Carol Remendis split off from the other two at Veltol's request. Inside, the two were set to meet Yaktol Suwen about his order. However, after meeting him, Stride appeared, openly insulting them. Veltol, antagonized, threw a handkerchief at him and challenged him to a duel. Because of the weakness of his body, which Theresia had noticed, Stride introduced Kurgan as his champion for the duel. After sharing the knowledge that he already knew who Theresia was, he antagonized them further, insulting her husband, leading Veltol to strike him, preventing Theresia from doing anything, each of them aware of his true goal. Because of this, this marked the start of the "duel". However, Veltol was savagely beaten by Kurgan, and Stride cursed him with his Authority. Leaving a message with Yaktol that they would be waiting at the great bridge in the west district of the city with the source of Veltol's curse, they left.

Veltol was left hospitalized, and Garitch Fabless, who was in the city at the time, informed Theresia, who had reunited with Wilhelm and Carol, of the curse and that it would eventually kill him if it wasn't taken care of quickly. Fortunately, Garitch was able to ensure that most of the curse was pushed back to one part of his body. Soon after, Yaktol appeared and delivered the message to everyone, leaving Carol impatient and deciding to search for the man herself alongside Yaktol. Meanwhile, Theresia resolved herself to accompany Wilhelm to location the next day.

The following day, Carol returned, unable to find the man. Meanwhile, Yaktol provided Wilhelm with the sword that Veltol had ordered. Afterward, he and Theresia left for the bridge, leaving Carol at the hospital. Already waiting there were Stride and Kurgan, who Wilhelm insulted. Though Stride didn't care for his presence, Theresia threw a handkerchief at him and challenged him to a duel, much to his pleasure, Kurgan at the ready. However, she told him that she wouldn't be wielding a sword for her own reasons, and as such, Wilhelm would take her place. Despite Stride's doubt, he felt the aura of Wilhelm's strength rivalling Kurgan's. She informed the man that her husband was the one to take away her reason for holding the sword, leaving Stride irritated, having passed off that rumor as nonsense originally. Before the duel, they asked what Stride he wanted if they won the duel. In his place, Kurgan pointed at Theresia and said he wanted her. Despite Wilhelm's irritation, Theresia accepted. With numerous bystanders having come to watch, Kurgan declared the names of his swords the Demon Cleavers, and after asking for the name of Wilhelm's brand-new sword, he declared it was called Astrea, and the two clashed.

Battle

In the fight that followed, Kurgan managed to clip Wilhelm several times, and at one point, Wilhelm managed to sever one of Kurgan's arms at the wrist, making one of his blades unusable. Bleeding heavily, Kurgan praised Wilhelm's strength before flexing his muscles so hard that the bleeding from his wrist stopped. The two continued to fight, Wilhelm having received some broken bones already, and soon, Kurgan prepared his strongest attack, which Wilhelm could neither block nor evade. Instead, he prepared to minimize the damage while maximizing his own damage output. This resulted in a large number of his bones on one side to be broken, but on the other hand, he was able to sever one of Kurgan's left arms from his body, making yet another blade unusable. With the two heavily injured, Stride stepped forward, concerned that he would lose his pawn, and he put a stop to the duel. Declaring that this was Stride's loss, he tossed Theresia and Wilhelm the ring responsible for Veltol's curse, and using another, he turned the bridge beneath them to sand, plunging all of the people on the bridge in the water and allowing for Kurgan's and his own escape. Having avoided the fall, Wilhelm destroyed the ring and lifted Veltol's curse. Meanwhile, they left the rescue of those who fell into the water to others.

Aftermath

When the two returned to the hospital, Wilhelm was admitted for his injuries. Meanwhile, Veltol had returned to good health. However, unknown to Theresia, his right arm became completely unusable as a side effect of the curse, and thanks to Garitch's efforts, the decay was limited only to his right arm. Because of this, he swore Wilhelm to secrecy, and Wilhelm swore to settle the fight with Stride for good. Because of Garitch's efforts, Veltol later recommended that to the government to give him an appropriate position, leading him to becoming the first Blue.

This battle was merely the beginning of Stride's movements. In the following year, he made several campaigns against the Kingdom, bringing about the deaths of many. In the end, all of the battles that he caused culminated in the battle that would later be known as the Subjugation of the Blight Dragon.

Trivia

• Reinhard van Astrea's official duel with Cecilus Segmunt has been dubbed the Second Silver Flower Dance (第二次銀華乱舞, Dai Ni-ji Ginga Ranbu).