Chapter Thirty-Four: Bond of Fire and Lightning

Hey there, readers, the third day has come, so here's the newest chapter, enjoy. Cya.

"What the hell?" the three mages wondered in their heads as they stared at the beast-man.

"Mages, you know the mission, scatter around the area," Vetto commanded, not looking back as he did.

"Understood," the hooded mages replied as they ran into the path Magna and Luck came from, and then began scattering around the temple.

The beast mage walked forward, eyeing the two Black Bulls and the temple mage. "It seems I walked in on the beginning of a fight, exciting," he said as he punched his palm.

Gio narrowed his eyes at the intruder. "And just who are you? But more importantly, why are you here?"

"You can just call me Vetto, a member of the Third Eye, one of the strongest mages of the Eye of the Midnight Sun," he introduced himself. "As for why I'm here, I've been told a Magic Stone was here, and I plan to obtain it. Now, you can either give it to me and I can be on my way, or my personal favorite, I kill everyone here and take it,"

"Magna, did you hear, that guy is from the Eye of the Midnight Sun, and he said he's one of their strongest mages, he must be one of the people Captain Yami and the others fought at Nean, this must be my lucky day," Luck squealed.

"Lucky day? What are you talking about, if he is one of the mages who fought at Nean, that means he's incredibly dangerous, we can't fight him," the flame mage protested.

"You want the Magic Stone? So you're here for the same thing these people are?" Gio asked rhetorically as he turned his whole body to face the beast mage, his grimoire flipped through pages. "Sorry, but there's no way we're just going to give it to you, you're an intruder, although, I do commend you for making past the strong magic region, so why don't I give you a parting gift, Water Creation Magic: Sea God's Hammer!"

At his call, his entire right arm became enveloped in water, shaping itself into a large hammer, Gio then charged forward and swung the weapon right at Vetto.

"Beast Magic: Rhinoceros Armor," Vetto plainly said as an orange rhinoceros appeared around him, he then lifted his left arm, effortlessly blocking the hammer strike. "You're not going to give it to me, you say? Well, that's all fine with me, as I said, I'd rather just kill you all and take it,"

Gio was shocked. "That's not possible, you blocked my strongest spell, and it didn't even look like you tried,"

"That's because I didn't. There's no way your best spell can be some weak crap like that, Beast Magic: Cheetah Charge!" Vetto exclaimed as he rushed forward at the priest. "You're not worth my time, I'll take you out first!" he launched a strong punch at Gio's gut before aiming for the face, sending him crashing into the wall, knocking him unconscious.

He then turned around and saw Magna and Luck, the beast-man paid close attention to the robes they were wearing. "You two are Black Bulls, meaning you're on the same squad as the people who gave us a hard time in Nean, that also means that your captain is here somewhere, it doesn't matter, I'll take care of him later,"

"What just happened?" Gifso asked with shock as he looked at the screen where the intruders had arrived. "Gio was defeated so easily, and he's our best mage, who is that monster?"

"Vetto the Despair, a member of a terrorist group called the Eye of the Midnight Sun, I had a run-in with him and some of his friends not too long ago, he's no joke, even I have trouble fighting him," Yami explained. "He meant what he said, he has the strength to kill everyone here, I have to get over there,"

"You can't, my Game Magic doesn't allow anyone to interfere with the game until it's over, and I'm not able to end it prematurely," Gifso said.

"Well, those guys managed to interfere with the game, and if they succeeded, there's a chance I can too," the dark mage said as he stood up and walked forward, but as he did, his entire body bumped into something.

"What the hell?" he said as he pushed his hands forward, something was stopping it from moving forward, he then looked around and found a window, peeking outside, he saw a Midnight Sun mage standing in front of the building they were in.

"You're not going anywhere, thanks to my Spatial Magic: Different Dimension Sphere," the mage said. "It's impossible for anyone trapped inside to get out, unless I want them to, and I know that's not happening," he then began to laugh.

"Bullshit, nothing's impossible to escape, I'll get out of here some way, and when I do, I'm gonna kick you and your sorry-looking ass into oblivion!" Yami exclaimed before he sighed as turned back to Gifso. "We're stuck here, for now, I need to get the message to the others that trouble is here,"

"Wait, there is something you could do," Gifso spoke up. "The Temple Shuffle also allows me to project my voice to the entire game area in case I need to announce a rule or when I declare the winner, I could have it project your voice instead,"

"That's perfect," Yami said as the game mage brought a blue flame-like ball of energy close to him. "Here goes nothing,"

"Hey, can you all hear me?" Yami's voice asked, it echoed all throughout the temple.

"Captain Yami?" Kenos wondered aloud as he, Asta, and Kiato looked up.

"If you can hear me, then know that the Eye of the Midnight Sun has infiltrated the game premises, they've scattered around, and it's not just them, Vetto the Despair is here too, a few of you might know who that is, but that doesn't matter. Gifso and I have been trapped by a spatial mage, so it's up to you to stop these bastards, I want every single one of you to push past your limits!" Yami said before exclaiming the last part.

Gifso's voice was then heard throughout the temple. "I'm changing the rules of the game, your objective now is to work together and defeat the Eye of the Midnight Sun, and this time, you're permitted to kill!"

"It seems that we're no longer enemies," Kiato said as he backed up and placed his blades into his grimoire.

"That works just fine with me, I don't want to fight you," Kenos said as his blade vanished

Asta put his sword into his grimoire. "Great, but we have a problem," he turned to Kenos. "Vetto's here,"

The solar mage thought back to his short interaction with the beast mage, and how he punched him into a wall, his eyes narrowed. "Then we have to find him, if he runs into anybody by themself, he'll kill them,"

"This guy sounds dangerous, what type of magic does he use?" Kiato asked.

"Beast magic," the two replied together.

"Okay then," the dance mage said as he walked forward and closed his eyes, a few seconds passed before he opened them and pointed forward. "Over there,"

"Excuse me?" Asta asked, confusion was on his face.

"My mana sensing abilities are top-notch, they're so good, I can even detect a person's attribute," Kiato explained. "You said this Vetto guy has beast magic, and I'm sensing mana that feels like a horde of wild animals in that direction,"

"Really, that's pretty cool, you'll have to teach me to do that some time," Kenos said. "But right now, we have to get going," he then began running forward, Asta and Kiato behind him.

Noelle dropped her barrier as Kahono jumped down from her spot and walked over to her. "That was your captain, right? What's the Eye of the Midnight Sun?"

"They're a group of terrorist mages that have been causing trouble for us lately, these people are no joke, one of them was responsible for the captain of another squad losing his arm," Noelle replied.

"Damn, that's brutal, but he also mentioned someone named Vetto, who's that?" the song mage then asked.

"I don't know, but if he mentioned this guy by name, then he must be the strongest of them," the water mage replied.

Footsteps were then heard, the two girls turned around to see two mages, their faces hidden by white hoods. "It seems we found some enemies, and they're a pair of girls, this will be easy, let's take them down,"

"You think we'll be easy to beat, aye?" Kahono asked, a confident look on her face. "Then we'll just have to prove you wrong, are you with me, Noelle?"

"You bet,"

"Everyone here shall fall into the depths of despair, and it'll begin with you two!"

Those were Vetto's last words before he raced towards Magna and Luck, in a second, he was just a few centimeters from them, the two Black Bulls couldn't even react before he punched them into a wall.

However, that didn't keep them down for long as they got back up, Vetto grinned. "You're still conscious, even though you took a direct attack from me, impressive,"

"He's really fast," Luck stated before he gave his signature smile. "But that just makes me want to fight him more, Lightning Creation Magic: Holy Lightning Armaments!" he exclaimed as he equipped his gloves and boots.

The lightning mage then flashed forward. "Alright, show me what you can do!" he exclaimed as he bent one leg and protruded the other one.

Vetto crossed his arms as the attack made contact, but was only pushed back a few feet, the earlier grin on his face didn't disappear. "You're pretty fast too, but let's see if you're faster than me!" he exclaimed as he zoomed forward.

"I like a good competition," Luck said as he sped away from the beast mage, the two raced around the ground, they were even fast enough the run along the sides of the wall, the lightning mage looked back and saw Vetto closing in, both mages had sadistic-looking smiles on their faces.

"Holy shit," Magna muttered, to the flame mage, all he could really see was traces of lightning and streaks of blond and brown, they were moving too fast for him to actually see their bodies.

"It seems I'm faster!" Luck laughed as he kept running, he then turned around, his body still in motion as his grimoire flipped to another page. "Lightning Magic: Voltage Trail!" he made a kicking motion, sending the trail of electricity at his opponent.

Vetto jumped into the air, evading the attack, he then flashed forward, getting into a dropkick motion, Luck noticed and jumped out of the way, heading for the ground, the beast mage landed where his opponent had been a mere milliseconds ago, but he didn't stop as he zoomed right for Luck.

"We'll see about that!" Vetto exclaimed as they both landed around the same time, the two of them only inches apart, the beast mage launched a punch, but his opponent quickly dodged it before turning his body horizontally and kicking Vetto right in the back, sending him crashing into a wall.

Luck then sped right over to Magna, the flame mage looked at him. "Damn, I could hardly keep track of the two of you,"

"I'll take that as a compliment, so, when are you going to join in, it's alright if you don't want to, I'd prefer to fight him alone," Luck said, looking at his squadmate with the corner of his eye.

"No way I'd let you take this guy on your own, you better believe I'm going to fight," Magna said back with an oddly serious yet playful tone.

Vetto got up and stared down the lightning mage. "I must commend you brat, you were able to land a successful hit on me, not many people could do that, not even Licht, especially when I'm moving at that speed,"

"I don't know who the hell's Licht, but I noticed that when you attack, you leave yourself open for a few milliseconds, so I merely took advantage of that opening," the lightning mage explained as he got into a fighting position, how focusing on the flame mage. "Alright Magna, he's back up, try not to become irrelevant,"

"Don't count me out, ya sparky bastard," Magna grinned.

Vetto quickly charged over, jumping into the air as he reeled his fist back, as he descended on the ground, Magna and Luck simultaneously leaped up, the former having his grimoire ready for action. "It's my turn to attack, Flame Magic: Exploding Fireball!" he exclaimed as he launched the sphere of flame at the beast mage.

"Beast Magic: Bear Claw!" Vetto exclaimed as the claw appeared on his left hand and he used it to cut the fireball in half, but by doing so, not noticing Luck a few feet behind him.

The blond-haired teen grinned. "Gotcha, Lightning Magic: Thunderbolt Destruction," he muttered as he shot the orbs, they quickly hit the opponent's back sending him to the ground.

Magna grinned at the lightning mage. "We were right next to each other a few seconds ago, he knew I was going to attack, so he used it as a chance to use his speed to get behind the bastard and strike his back, not bad," he thought.

Vetto got up again, he grit his teeth. "Damn it, that lightning brat is becoming incredibly annoying, I should focus on him and take him out next," he thought as he turned around and looked at Luck. "Hey you, lightning boy, prepare to fall into despair!" he exclaimed as he zoomed right at him.

Luck's eyes widened. "He's moving a lot faster," he thought as Vetto got to him in just a matter of milliseconds, punching him right in the face, sending him on his way to a wall, but this time, the beast-man sped over to where Luck would have arrived and did an uppercut, launching the teen into the air, but he wasn't done, he planted his feet on the wall and used it to boost himself above his opponent.

"Now this is better!" he exclaimed as he raised his right leg up to his head before bringing it down, sending his opponent plummeting to the ground, he soon landed right next to him.

Magna gasped. "Crap, that guy was just on the ground, now he's got Luck down, it was just about three seconds ago," his grimoire flipped to another page. "Flame Creation Magic: Grand Slam!" he exclaimed as flames swirled in front of him, condensing into a baseball bat with a bandaged handle.

"Get the hell away from him!" the flame mage yelled as he created fireball after fireball, using his bat to launch them right at Vetto.

The beast mage crossed his arms to block the meager attacks, he sucked his teeth. "You're starting to become annoying too," he stated before noticing Luck jump into the air, he grinned evilly. "Trying to run away? There's no way I'm letting that-!"

His exclamation was interrupted as Magna announced a spell. "Flame Binding Magic: Flame Bondage Formation!" he exclaimed as fire appeared around Vetto's legs and chest, they then became rope that bound him.

"What's this, trying to buy time for your friend to escape, futile," Vetto stated, but was surprised as Magna smirked.

"Wrong," was all he said.

"Huh?" Vetto wondered, he then looked up and widened his eyes, Luck was in the air, a grin on his face, above him was a large blue orb.

"Magna knew I wasn't moving to get away, my speed was enough to do so without assistance, he knew I was going to attack, so he used a spell to bind him and stop his movement," Luck thought. "Take this, Lightning Magic: Electric Conquest!" he kicked the orb right at him.

A bright light followed as the attack landed, Yami and Gifso were paying close attention to what was happening.

"Wow, those two are incredible!" Gifso exclaimed.

The dark mage nodded. "Those two work well with each other, but despite that, I doubt Vetto can be beaten that easily,"

Luck landed right next to Magna, beginning to catch their breath, but as the light faded, it tensed again, Vetto had protected himself with his Rhinoceros Armor.

The spell then disappeared, Magna's bondage spell had also dissipated, Vetto turned around, an evil smirk on his face, he said nothing as he moved forward with the speed he used earlier, punching them both in the stomach, he then uppercutted them both into the air before leaping up after them, grabbing Luck's leg, and slamming him into Magna, sending them both to a wall.

They weren't done yet, however, as they got out of the small crater they had formed, blood was running down the sides of their faces, smiles on their faces.

"I see you're not dead yet," Magna joked.

"Of course, there's no way I'm giving up, if I did, I couldn't call myself Asta's squadmate," Luck replied.

"Same here, that runt would just get back up and charge forward," the flame mage said.

The two then looked at each other. "But that's not it," they both said. "Even though Vetto's overpowering us, we've been able to work with each other perfectly, as if we know each other perfectly," they thought.

Magna thought back to a few years ago when he first met the lightning mage. "Hello there, Finral told me you're Magna Swing, my name's Luck Voltia, it's nice to meet you, I'm excited to be your squadmate," the two shook hands and Magna was electrocuted, Luck laughed. "Did you see the look on your face, you're funny!"

"I might never vocally admit, but you're my best friend, Luck," Magna continued to think.

Luck thought back to the next day after he and Magna had met, despite his cheerful introduction, he didn't talk to anyone, not used to being around anyone but his mother. "Hey there, is everything okay?" he remembered Magna asking him as he walked up to him. "You seemed a lot more upbeat yesterday, I'm not a fan of shenanigans, but if you ever need someone to talk to, I'm always here,"

"I was so focused on not being with my mother back then, I didn't realize that I had made a good friend in you, Magna," Luck continued to think.

"Even though he's crazy and he annoys me with his stupid tricks…,"

"Even though he's easy to prank and is super hot-headed…,"

The two then smiled.

"...There's no one in this world I respect more than him!" they thought in unison.

"Hey," Magna spoke up. "Think of any ways to beat this bastard?"

"Not at the moment, when he attacks, he creates a short opening, but we don't have anything powerful enough to take advantage of it and finish him," Luck replied.

But just then, both of their grimoires simultaneously flipped to a blank page, text became inscribed on it, but as well as that, a drawn image appeared on both them, but it looked like two halves of a whole, one grimoire had part of the image, and the image on the other grimoire completed it.

"A new spell aye? This changes things, wanna test it out?" Luck asked with a tone of excitement.

"You bet," Magna replied with the same tone, the two then ran forward, side by side, at the same speed.

"So you've come for more, that's perfectly fine with me, I'll enjoy watching you fall into despair before I kill you!" Vetto exclaimed as he ran towards them too, the three mages only became inches from each other.

"Die!" the beast exclaimed as he launched a punch, but the two Black Bulls ducked at the same.

"There's the opening!" Luck mentally exclaimed as he and Magna reeled their right and left arms back, putting their palms close to each other as a shapeless ball of fire and electricity gathered in between them.

"Flame Magic…,"

"Lightning Magic…,"

"This is it!"

"C'mon, we're getting closer," Kiato said as he, Kenos, and Asta kept running forward down the straight path.

"Be ready, Vetto is a powerful mage, even Captain Yami had trouble against him," Asta warned, the two teens nodded.

As they continued, Kiato's eyes widened. "Hey, I'm picking up two more mana signatures where Vetto is,"

"Which attributes do you detect?" Kenos asked.

"Flame and lightning," the dance mage replied.

The swordsman and solar mage looked at each other. "Magna and Luck," they said together.

"They must've been fighting Vetto this whole time, now we really have to hurry," Kenos said as they picked up the pace.

"Hey, your captain said that these Midnight Sun people have scattered all throughout the game premises," Kiato recalled. "Then that means both of our teams will face off against them, I hope they'll be okay,"

"Don't worry Kiato, my squadmates are strong, and I'm pretty sure the temple mages can hold their own...probably," Asta said with a tone of uncertainty at the end.

"Probably?" Kiato asked, picking up on that uncertainty.

"Sorry, but except for you, the other mages here aren't really that strong, or at least, my opponent wasn't much of a challenge, it's either that or we're just too strong," the magicless mage clarified.

"You're not entirely wrong, they do have a tendency to underestimate their opponents, the only one of us other than me and my dad that I trust can hold their own is my little sister, Kahono," Kiato stated.

A small smile came to Asta's face. "No way, she's your sister? Now I think about it, you two do look alike, we definitely owe her one, wouldn't be able to come down here without her help,"

A sly smile came to the dance mage's face. "For a reasonable price, I assume,"

"Uh, yes," he groaned back.

Kenos was glad that Asta and Kiato were getting along, they had practically met each other through battle, it was good to see they could become such quick friends. "We shouldn't be too far from where they are, a few more minutes and we'll-," he began to mutter to himself, but stopped as he noticed two attacks coming from both of his peripherals, one was rocks, the other was glass.

"Watch out!" he exclaimed, since he was ahead of the two, he jumped into a dive roll, just barely evading the attacks, he then did a quick set of backflips to establish some distance. He looked up and saw that Asta and Kiato were not as lucky as him and were forced to stop.

Two hooded mages then emerged. "We won't allow anyone to interfere with Master Vetto's fight," they said, their grimoires coming up to them.

"Asta! Kiato!" Kenos exclaimed as he was about to run towards them.

"No, keep going, Magna and Luck might need some help, leave this to us," Asta said, causing the solar mage to stop.

The swordsman and the dance mage stood back to back, the latter spoke up. "Yeah, we'll finish these jokers off in no time, then be right behind you, you'll see,"

Kenos knew they were right, he nodded. "Alright then, good luck," he said as he turned around and started running, he heard the sounds of his friends' battle cries, his grimoire then came up to him. "Solar Reinforcement Magic: Sunshine Aura!" he exclaimed as the aura appeared and his speed increased.

"Hold on you guys, I'm coming!" he thought as he kept running, soon, he arrived in the room of the battle, but as he looked, his eyes widened. He saw Vetto, only inches away from Magna and Luck, the two were ducking, their arms reeled back as a mass of their attributes appeared between their palms, he then heard them exclaim something.

"Combo Spell: Flame Lightning Exploding Cannon!" they cried together, bringing their reeled arms forward with as much force as they could.

"What the?" Vetto muttered, surprised by the sudden exclamation.

"We're not…," the two began, pushing even harder as light enveloped the whole room.

"GOING TO LOSE TO YOU!"