Chapter Thirty-Five: The Power Around Me

Hey there, readers, Day 4 is here, and with it, a new chapter, sorry that I posted it a bit later than my other chapters, I had a family matter to take care of, but I'm confident that this chapter will blow your minds. Cya

"Magna. Luck," Kenos thought, amazed by the sight he saw that was his superiors' combo spell, even though Vetto was powerful, there was no way he could survive an attack like that point-blank.

But as the light faded, and he saw the result of the match, his heart dropped.

Vetto stood strong, blocking the attack with the use of his Rhinoceros Armor, an evil grin on his face as the flame and lightning from Magna and Luck's attack vanished, the two Black Bulls dropped to the ground from exhaustion and low amount of mana, on the ground, their arms were close to each other.

"No, that can't be, he survived an attack that powerful," Kenos thought as he stood in place.

"Not going to lose to me? What a bunch of empty shit, although I will commend you, that attack of yours managed to startle me for a few seconds, but it wasn't able to hurt me, I don't know if it was just weak, or not as strong because of your current condition, but I obviously don't care," he mocked as he looked down at them. "So tell me, how does it feel to be in despair, to know that your best effort just isn't good enough, not too great is it?"

"Don't...count us out...yet," the weak voices spoke, it was Magna and Luck, they had smiles on their faces, but they were as weak as their voices. "We're not...done, we'll...beat you, you dumb bastard,"

Vetto's facial expression changed to a displeased one, his enemies' last-ditch effort to defeat him had failed, so why were they smiling and saying how they could still go on? He raised a fist into the air as a Bear Claw surrounded it. "Stop lying! You can't keep going, you can't fight the despair, but you will die by my hand!"

Kenos watched as Vetto was about to bring his fist down to end the lives of his two squadmates, it appeared to be moving in slow motion, a look of cold nonchalance appeared on the solar mage's face as he took out his ring and put it on, activating it while his Sunshine Aura was still in use. "Solar Creation Magic: Solar Construct - Gauntlet," he whispered as he clenched his armored fist.

"Hahaha, I'm going to enjoy this a-!" Vetto was beginning to exclaim, but was stopped as a gauntlet came right at his face, he was sent into a wall in a matter of seconds.

Kenos landed between Magna and Luck, the gauntlet disappeared, by combining the aura from both his ring and his spell, the solar mage had reached a speed he never had before. He extended an arm towards Vetto. "Solar Binding Magic: Sunbound Shackles!"

At his call, the beast mage's wrists and ankles became trapped in cuffs, he looked up. "Hey, I remember you, you're that brat that tried to attack Licht when he was injured back at the cave,"

Kenos disregarded his words as he placed a hand on Magna and Luck's backs. "Solar Recovery Magic: Healing Rays of the Dawn," they then began to glow, Kenos spoke up, a small smile was present. "I saw that combo spell you two pulled off, that was awesome,"

"Thanks, but you sure took your sweet time," Magna weakly joked as he chuckled.

"I had some other people to worry about, but I'm here now,"

Yami and Gifso watched from the screen, the game mage gasped. "Impossible, he was able to survive such a spell, are we doomed?"

"Relax old-timer, Magna and Luck may have not won, but regardless, I'm still proud of them, they were able to push past their limits and create a new spell, good for them," Yami said before his eyes tensed. "But that means you'll have to fight that guy alone, Kenos, that initial attack was impressive though, you better push past your limits as well,"

Kenos gathered his strength as he picked up his two squadmates and carried them to a safe spot at the edge of the area, leaning them against the wall. "You guys stay here and rest, leave Vetto to me,"

"You sure, that guy is really tough?" Luck asked, Kenos was internally shocked to see that the lightning mage's voice was actually laced with worry.

That didn't stop the solar mage from grinning. "Don't worry, I've sort of faced off with him before, I'll be just fine,"

"AHHHH!"

Vetto's yell echoed throughout the whole room as he broke free of his restraints, Kenos turned to face him, equipping his twin gauntlets, the beast mage charged at him. "Hey you, sun brat, you may have gotten a lucky hit on me, but it won't happen again, I'll make you fall into total despair!"

The solar mage's face grew serious as he clenched both fists and rushed forward with great speed. "Oh yeah, you go right ahead and try!"

An area of the game premise was silent, but the sounds of footsteps soon echoed throughout as Vanessa ran by.

"I haven't run into my temple mage opponent yet, that and Captain Yami said the Eye of the Midnight Sun is here, I've never fought any of them, but if what the others said about them is true from their attack on the capital, they're bad news," she thought. "I need to find somebody,"

She kept running, passing through a cascade of small rock formations, but her advance stopped as she widened her eyes at the sight in front of her.

A man was holding a temple mage's throat with one hand, the temple mage's pufferfish mask was on the ground, revealing his human face, which was gasping for air, the perpetrator had his hood down, letting the thread mage see his black hair.

"Isn't it ironic? A sea creature begging for air, well sorry, but I don't feel like giving it to you, I'd rather like to see you die in my hand," the black-haired mage said with a sadistic grin, he then noticed something at the corner of his eye, turning around, he saw Vanessa.

The grin didn't disappear as he carelessly dropped the temple mage on the ground, looking at thread mage intently. "Oh, looks like a beautiful target has appeared,"

Vanessa jumped back and took out her grimoire. "I take it you're with the Eye of the Midnight Sun?" she asked sternly.

"That's right, you're my enemy," he said as his grimoire came up to him. "Mosquito Magic: Mana-Sucker!" he exclaimed as metallic needles sprouted from his palm, he pointed them at Vanessa. "Just like the name states, if these needles scratch or pierce you, I can drain some of your mana, and I'll tell you now, I'm going to enjoy this,"

"Ugh, gross, sorry but you're not my type, I don't dig sadistic weirdos," Vanessa taunted as the mage jumped into the air, ready to stab her, but she jumped as well, making some distance as she ran along the rocks.

"I have to be careful, those needles are most likely how he took out that temple mage, I need to keep my distance and not get too unnecessarily close," she thought as she kept running in a circle around her opponent.

The mage grinned, knowing what she was trying to do. "Trying to keep your distance aye? That's not going to work, you can't escape me, the great Toike, I never fail to catch my target," he said as his grimoire flipped to another page. "Mosquito Magic: Mosquito Hum!"

At his call, Toike jumped into the air, large metallic needles then appeared between his fingers, he skillfully shot them all around his vicinity, even forcing Vanessa to evade some of them, but then, the needles then began emitting a high-pitched shriek.

"Damn!" Vanessa exclaimed as she held her ears and dropped to her knees. "What the hell is this unbearable spell?!"

"One of my most useful spells, it'll be much harder to evade my Mana-Sucker attacks with your eardrums coming close to exploding, but that won't matter, because you'll be dead really soon," Toike calmly explained before he smirked and ran forward, using this as a chance to get a hit in.

"No matter what, I can't let that thing touch me," Vanessa muttered as she tried to dodge his attacks to the best of her ability.

"Still resisting? While it's futile, I would be lying if I said I wasn't enjoying this, that other guy was no fun at all, victory feels better after the thrill, so much better!" Toike exclaimed as he ran forward and extended his foot, soon ducking and aiming a sweep kick at Vanessa's legs.

The mosquito then raised his needles. "Time to take that mana of yours!" he was about to jump, but then found himself unable to move.

"W-What's going on?" he wondered with a perplexed tone as his previous spell became undone.

Vanessa grinned as she stood up. "That's better, I don't know how much longer my ears could've taken that, and I guess you're surprised as to why you can't move?" she brought her hands up, showing that there were threads in her hands. "It's actually quite simple, when I was running around you earlier, I used that as a chance to place threads around the area, I knew you'd get caught in them eventually, and it seems I was right,"

Toike growled. "You haven't won yet, bitch, I'll find a way out of here!"

"I honestly doubt that, this fight is over, Thread Magic: Dancing Doll," Vanessa said as she moved the threads in her hand, suddenly causing Toike to move with them, as if he was a puppet being controlled by a puppeteer.

She then had him turn his hand, aiming his needle at his own chest, the thread mage playfully hummed. "I wonder what would happen if your own spell pierced you, let's find out," she said as she forced him to pierce himself, his needle then began sucking out his mana, but it didn't stop, he lost so much mana, his skin was beginning to wrinkle and become gray.

"Damn...you," were the last things he said before he closed his eyes, Vanessa released her spell on him, letting him fall to the ground, laying there unmoving.

"There we go, that wasn't an easy fight, but I still won," she said before noticing that despite Toike's state, his needles were still present. "I did use a good amount of mana setting up those threads," she tied threads around the needle, breaking it off of the mage's hand as she pulled it above her, using her magic to break the needle in half, letting a cloud of yellow dust fall on her, replenishing her mana.

"Good as new, I feel a lot better," she mumbled to herself, but then she felt something, and looked behind her. "I'm sensing two large mana signals coming from that direction, and one of them feels faintly familiar, I better get over there," she thought before running down a path.

Elsewhere, another one of the Black Bulls was facing a different opponent.

"Damn it Damn it Damn it! Why me?!" Finral exclaimed as he ran down a long and large path, but behind him wasn't a temple mage or a Midnight Sun mage, but in fact a huge fish.

"My and my stupid foot, stepping onto one of that old man's traps and sending a large fish after me!" the spatial mage yelled as he tried to increase his speed, but the fish did too, and managed to trap him inside its mouth.

A familiar portal appeared outside the fish's mouth, and Finral ran right out from it. "There's no way I'm letting myself get eaten alive,"

The fish continued to follow the spatial mage, but this time, Finral chose to turn around. "I can't outrun you forever, so I know exactly how to get rid of you, Spatial Magic: Fallen Angel's Gate," he said as he formed a portal, letting the fish fly into it entirely, he then sighed a breath of relief. "Nice, that trap spell fish has been taken care of,"

His facial expression then slightly changed as he noticed something in his general forward direction. "I'm sensing mana, two people, not sure who though, but one of them feels familiar, I really don't want to have to fight anyone, but if I don't, Captain Yami will end me when he gets free," he thought as he ran in that direction.

"Song Magic: Destructive Beat!"

Kahono loudly yelled at their two opponents, sending them flying into the most nearby wall, knocking them unconscious, she grinned. "We did it, thanks for the help, Noelle,"

"What're you talking about, you were the only one attacking," the royal girl reminded her.

"But you were responsible for defending me against all their attacks, thanks to you, not a single one hit us," the song mage said.

Noelle nervously nodded. "Yeah, you have a point there," she said before they both stopped and looked in one direction. "Hey Kahono, are you feeling what I'm feeling?"

She nodded. "I am, two signatures of mana coming from that direction," she replied. "And hey, quick question, do any of your squadmates use a type of solar magic?"

"Um, yeah, a boy named Kenos," the water mage replied. "How'd you know, and why is that important?"

"I have exceptional mana sensory skills, to the point where I can detect a person's attribute, it's something me and my brother learned," Kahono replied. "As for why it's important, one of the mana signatures feels as bright as the sun, while the other feels like...a horde of wild beasts, and of the two, the latter feels incredibly stronger,"

Noelle caught on to what she was implying. "Are you saying it could be possible Kenos is fighting that Vetto guy Captain Yami mentioned, by himself? We have to hurry, if we don't he could be killed!" she exclaimed as they both ran in the direction of the strong mana.

"Solar Magic: Sunbeam Ray!" Kenos exclaimed as he fired the shot right at Vetto.

The beast mage crossed his arms, blocking the attack, he then quickly zoomed forward, Kenos quickly sped over to the wall and jumped to it, using it to do a backflip and evade Vetto's attack as he punched the wall.

The solar mage grit his teeth. "Thanks to my double aura combo, I'm able to keep up with him in terms of speed, but it won't last forever, I'm beginning to feel the physical and magical toll of using them at once. I'm going to have to try using Ki soon to make up for it, just remember what Captain Yami and Kiato said,"

"Impressive," Vetto's remark pulled Kenos out of his thoughts, the beast-man stood still as he then turned from the hole in the wall he made, looking at his opponent with a grin. "You've got some skills, I wasn't expecting you to be that fast, especially from what happened back at the cave, but then again, you are aligned with a sacred one,"

Kenos narrowed his eyes, there was that talk again of this sacred one, the solar mage still had no idea of who or what that was. "Hey, both you and Licht keep talking about this sacred one, but just what is that, tell me!?"

Vetto chuckled. "What, you have that grimoire but you don't even know?" he taunted before charging forward. "I don't need to tell you, because you'll be dead in a few minutes!"

"So, whoever this sacred one is, it has to do with my grimoire, my guess back then after the Battle at Nean was correct, that's good," Kenos thought as he jumped into the air.

"You can't escape me!" Vetto exclaimed as he jumped up after the solar mage, the two stood a decent distance away.

"I need an attack that can cover the distance between us, and Sunbeam Ray isn't too effective, time to try something new," Kenos muttered as his grimoire flipped through pages. "Solar Creation Magic: Solar Construct - Whip!"

At his call, a long orange whip appeared in his hand as one of his two gauntlets disappeared, Kenos then sent the whip in a lashing motion in his opponent's direction.

Unfortunately for him, Vetto moved aside his body mid-air and caught the whip. "What the hell was that, I'd stick to the fists,"

"Damn it," the solar mage muttered as he was about to let go of the whip, but he wasn't fast enough as Vetto quickly pulled it, dragging Kenos through the air before letting the whip go, sending him on his way to a wall.

The whip disappeared, but despite that, Kenos grinned. "That attack might have not worked, but I've been just given a great opportunity," he thought as he positioned himself with his legs being closest to the wall, once he finally made it to the wall, instead of hitting it, his two feet planted themselves on it, letting him use it to boost himself right back at Vetto. "Take this!"

"What the? Oh, I see, you used that as a chance to boost yourself in my direction, not a bad plan, but it won't succeed," Vetto said as he dropped back to the ground, but he didn't stay there as he boosted himself up again, heading straight for Kenos.

"HA!"

That was the exchange between them as they both reeled their fists back and launched a punch, creating a rather strong shockwave.

"Our punch was almost evenly matched, meaning we're nearly even in terms of strength too, that's good, I just need something to put me ahead of him, then-," Kenos thought, but was interrupted as he got a strange feeling out of nowhere, suddenly, another punch came from Vetto, and the solar mage dodged it.

"Wait a minute, what did I just do, did I anticipate his attack, am I using Ki? Did I learn it during the fight? Yes! Asta's going to be so happy when I-," he continued to think, but once more it was interrupted as Vetto launched a mid-air kick right at his chest, sending him crashing into a wall, a small crater formed behind him as he fell out of the crater and onto the ground.

Vetto landed too. "It seems you fell for my feint, I didn't think it'd be that easy,"

"Feint? So I wasn't using Ki, he purposely made sure I could sense and dodge the punch so I wouldn't notice his kick," Kenos mumbled as he slowly got up, he held his chest. "Damn it, that hurts a lot,"

"Hey, Kenos, are you alright?" Magna asked as he tried to get up. "Don't worry, I'll be right there,"

"Same here, I won't let you fight such a strong guy by yourself," Luck joined in as he too tried to get up.

"No, stay down, you guys still need to rest, don't worry about me," Kenos told them as he looked at his ring, three outlines were already gone. "Shit, at this rate, I'll lose my extra speed in just about a few minutes, I need to hurry,"

"Back up, good, Beast Magic: Bear Claw!" Vetto exclaimed as he fired the three orange claws at Kenos.

"Solar Creation Magic: Amaterasu's Guard!" the solar mage exclaimed as the Japanese sun goddess appeared and protected him. "Nice, I-," he was about to say, but stopped as he felt someone quickly come up behind him, his eyes widened as he figured out who it was. "N-No way,"

"You better believe it, I noticed that that spell of yours doesn't seem to cover your backside, so I came here as soon as I launched my attack!" Vetto explained before exclaiming, bringing his fist back for a punch.

"I won't let you!" Kenos exclaimed as he used his speed to jump in the air before Vetto's punch landed, he looked down at his bestial opponent. "Solar Creation Magic: Rain of Solar Daggers!"

The orange circle appeared over Vetto as the daggers quickly fell, the beast mage didn't look worried though. "That's an easy spell to evade, I bet it only falls," he said as he quickly moved out of its range. "As I suspected, too-,"

"Solar Magic: Sunbeam Ray!" Kenos suddenly exclaimed, but this time, the beam hit as Vetto got shot into the wall. "Alright, it worked,"

Vetto stood up and walked out from the crater he formed, stretching his neck back and forth. "Can't say I expected that, you copied me, using one attack as a mere diversion so I wouldn't notice another attack,"

The solar mage shrugged. "Hey, it works, why not use it,"

"True, but be warned that's the last hit I'm letting you get on me, because you've managed to piss me off!" the beast mage exclaimed as he charged forward, Kenos prepared to do the same, but then his opponent did something different.

Just as he was starting to close in, Vetto made a left turn and boosted himself toward the wall, he then landed but quickly boosted himself over to the right side of the wall, repeating the action as he descended to where Kenos was. The solar mage was ready for his attack, but Vetto zoomed right by him, heading for the wall again.

"How do you like this, sun brat, you can't tell when I'm going to attack, all the while, I can keep moving and building up kinetic energy to make my eventual attack more powerful, are you worried, anxious, is the obvious difference in our abilities making you despair?!" the beast-man taunted proudly as he continued moving.

"Uh, can this guy just stop talking about despair, I swear it's almost like a catchphrase to him. But despite that, he is right, I don't have any clue when he's going to attack, and with the speed he's building up, if he gets a clean hit in me, I'm screwed, my ring enhances my durability, but nothing to the amount I'll need to come out of that injury-free, this is it then, I have to use Ki, just focus on what you've been told, sense my opponent's movements with my entire body, and feel what's around me," Kenos thought to himself as he stood still, eyes open.

Through the screen, Yami and Gifso watched the battle between the solar and beast mages, the latter spoke up. "What's he doing, why's he standing still when his opponent is moving so fast around him, is he trying to get himself killed or something?"

"No," Yami replied seriously. "He's trying to use Ki, the only probable technique that can save him from his predicament, the only problem is he's been struggling to use it lately, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a little worried,"

"Ki, aye? And what'll happen to him if he can't use it?" the game mage asked.

The dark mage blew smoke from his cigarette and looked at him. "If that happens, either he finds out another way to escape, or he's dead,"

"Damn it, we have to get in there, Kenos needs some serious help," Magna said as he tried to get up again, but his body wouldn't let him. "Hey Luck, I probably know the answer to this question already, but do you know any recovery spells?"

Luck shook his head. "Not even one,"

"I was afraid of that, the rookie is on his own, let's just hope he can find a way out," the flame mage said.

"Focus, you can do this, just focus on what you've been told," Kenos whispered to himself as Vetto flashed around him.

"He's not moving, he must be paralyzed with fear and uncertainty, so this is the extent of the strength of a mage who aligns with a sacred one, disappointing, time to finish this," Vetto thought as he boosted himself downwards, coming at the solar mage with tremendous speed.

"I'm pretty sure he's coming right now, this is it!" Kenos thought as he turned and launched a punch at where he thought Vetto would be with his armored fist.

The beast mage was initially shocked when he noticed the black-haired teen move, but that shock was then replaced by an evil grin.

Kenos launched his punch in the wrong direction, leaving his entire right side exposed, from the corner of his eye, the solar mage noticed a streak of blonde and brown. "No, damn damn damn, it didn't work, I messed up, my body can't move fast enough to react at this stage, I need to think of something!" he mentally exclaimed to himself in a tone of severe panic.

"Kenos!" Yami yelled.

"Kenos!" Magna and Luck yelled.

"It's all over!" Vetto exclaimed victoriously.

Although Kenos' body couldn't react fast enough, when he launched his punch, his other, unarmored hand, was positioned downwards, clenched in a fist, that fist then began to glow orange.

"Solar Magic: Sunbeam Ray!" the solar mage yelled in his mind as the beam fired downwards, thrusting him high up into the air, saving him as Vetto hit where he was just a few seconds ago, forming a sizable crater around him.

Yami breathed a sigh of relief. "Good, he's okay, but I'm totally going to kill him for worrying me like that,"

Magna and Luck did the same as their captain. "What a trick, he nearly gave me a heart attack," the flame mage said.

"What the?" Vetto muttered as he noticed Kenos' body was nowhere to be seen, not yet realizing that his target was above him.

"Solar Creation Magic: Solar Construct - Staff," the solar mage muttered as the staff appeared and his second gauntlet disappeared, he gripped the weapon tightly with both hands as he descended. "So much for being the last hit you take,"

Vetto continued to look around. "Where'd the brat go?"

"Over here!" a voice exclaimed from behind him, he turned to see Kenos, both hands gripping his staff as it was raised above his head, just about a foot away from the beast mage.

With all of his might, Kenos swung his staff forward, hitting Vetto straight in the head, the beast-man dropped to his knees and held his head while the solar mage backed away, his staff disappearing.

As Kenos got a good distance away, his two auras faded simultaneously, he looked at his ring and saw all the outlines go black. "It seems I used everything the auras had left on that last strike, but that's okay, now that Vetto's dazed, he won't be able to dodge this," he said to himself as his grimoire flipped to the page of his strongest spell. "Solar Cross Destroyer should finish it, but...what if it doesn't? Magna and Luck's combo spells hardly did anything to him earlier, sure they must've been weakened before doing so, but the same is true with me, Vetto might be dazed, but what if he can cast something to escape just like I did with his attack?"

The solar mage looked at his hands. "This could be my chance, I need to learn how to use Ki, that way, if Solar Cross Destroyer really doesn't finish him, I can somewhat match him now that I've lost the things that are equalizing our speed and strength," he said. "Last time, I tried to implement what both Captain Yami and Kiato told me, but I couldn't do it, perhaps I should just try implementing one at a time, I already tried the captain's method, so now it's time to use Kiato's," he then closed his eyes.

His two squadmates looked at him with confusion. "What's he doing?" Luck asked.

"I don't know, but whatever it is, he'd better hurry before that bastard regains his coordination," Magna replied.

Kenos took a deep breath and exhaled. "Feel what's around you, the light breeze, the crumbling rocks, the quiet sound of waves in the background, your own breathing, feel it all, and reach a state of mental awareness with the environment around you," he then slowly opened his eyes, and as he did, they widened.

All around him, he could see tiny white droplets of light. "Is that...mana? I didn't know there was so much, I couldn't even sense most of this earlier," he deduced in his head, the mysterious energy that gave life to this world and was used by mages to cast a variety of spells. But he then noticed something, some white droplets were moving in a direction, while others were moving in the opposite direction, some were going up and down, and others were swirling around.

"The mana...it's moving?" Kenos thought as his eyes locked on Vetto, or more specifically, the mana around him, it was a different color, but more importantly, it gave off a different feeling. "The mana around him, it feels ravenous and untamed...I can also feel the mana around me, it feels nice and warm, I can see their movements and feelings. Wait a minute, is it possible, am I feeling the Ki...of mana?"

He closed his eyes again, but the droplets didn't disappear from his mental vision. "Incredible, I understand what you mean, Kiato, but that's not it, I can feel what's around me, but now I have to find a way to become stronger through it," he protruded his arms forward. "Whenever a mage wishes to cast a spell, they use mana, either their own mana, or the mana in nature, so to become stronger, I need to utilize the mana around me, I need to gather all the open, neutral mana, and bring it to me, I don't know if it's possible, but I have to try,"

Thankfully, as if the heavens honored his thoughts, the white droplets began to slowly come his way, once they got close enough, they changed color, becoming a bright shade of orange, in his mind's eye, Kenos could see the droplets condensing into an orange circle in front of his grimoire.

"Hey Magna, do you feel that?" Luck asked.

"Feel what?" Magna asked back.

The lightning mage pointed a finger at Kenos. "I'm sensing a crazy high amount of mana, right in front of Kenos,"

"I can feel it, the mana right in front of me feels really strong, if I cast a spell using this mana, it should undoubtedly be stronger and have a higher potency, it's really cool when I think about it, you know, this technique should have a name, what should I call it?" Kenos thought before a lightbulb went off in his head. "I know the perfect name,"

Vetto eventually snapped out of his daze, he looked at the solar mage, his eyes closed and his arms protruded forward. "What the hell are you doing? You didn't attack me even though I was vulnerable, you're either honorable, foolish, or an honorable fool, you'll regret not taking the chance when you had!" he exclaimed as he charged forward.

Kenos slowly opened his eyes, a small smirk on his face. "No, I regret nothing, the only one who will be regretting anything is you. Solar Magic - Mana Charge: Solar Cross Destroyer!"

"Huh?" was the question that went through the heads of everyone watching, from Magna and Luck, to Yami and Gifso, even Vetto was confused by the extra phrase Kenos added to his spell.

The solar mage summoned his two Xs, he divided the first one and shot them at Vetto, but they were moving much faster than usual, restraining the beast mage in a matter of seconds, he then took the second X as it charged with magic, he then clenched his fist, sending a blast far more powerful than the previous times he used it.

A cloud of dust followed the attack, and when the dust cleared, Vetto was seen laying on the ground, Kenos smiled before he dropped to his knees, his grimoire doing the same. "I...did it, I...beat him,"

"Holy crap Kenos, what the hell was that," Yami remarked. "It was like you were trying to read Ki, but then ended up doing something entirely different,"

"Who cares about all that, the important part is that he won, we're all saved!" Gifso cheered.

"Nice work, Kenos," Magna and Luck called to the best of their ability.

"Thanks, you guys, and don't worry, once I rest a bit, I'll come over there and finish healing you," the solar mage tiredly told them as he gave them a thumbs-up.

"That...won't be happening,"

The sound of a familiar voice brought fear to Kenos' eyes, he turned and saw Vetto weakly get up to his knees, his grimoire out. "Beast Recovery Magic: Blessing of Caladrius," he spoke as an orange construct of the famous Roman bird flew around Vetto, it then flew into the sky and dispersed, becoming a cloud of orange dust that fell on the beast mage.

The injuries around his body began to heal as he stood strong once more. "My best recovery spell, able to heal all injuries I've sustained as well as replenishing my mana and stamina, too bad I can only use it once every few days," he explained as he walked to Kenos.

"No way, I gave it everything I had," Kenos said as Vetto's shadow loomed over him.

"I'll admit it, you gave me the hardest fight out of everyone here, and all by yourself, but regardless, you didn't win, I did, don't you feel the despair welling up inside you?" Vetto taunted.

But to his surprise, the solar mage's face was dead serious. "Despair, inside me? No way in hell, sure my attack didn't take you out for the count, but my squadmates didn't give up, and neither will I, all I need is a few minutes, then I'll kick your ass all over again!"

Vetto raised a fist into the air as a Bear Claw surrounded it. "Too bad I won't give you a few minutes, it's time for you to face the same fate everyone else here will very soon!"

Kenos closed his eyes and braced himself, but the attack never came, he opened his eyes and looked in shock to see the swordsman and the dance mage in front of him, both of their blades out, protecting him from the enemy in front of them.

"Asta! Kiato!" Kenos exclaimed gratefully.

They both grinned at the solar mage before their faces grew serious as they looked at the beast-man. "We won't let you lay a finger on our friend!"