"TYDUS!" Katya exclaimed as she fell to one knee out of sheer exhaustion. "But wait, why couldn't I sense his mana? With how powerful that spell was, his mana should've been palpable." So Katya thought as she stared at her Vice-Captain; the mana coming from him was repressed like he was condensing it around himself with little to no effort, yet there was an aura of red for some reason surrounding his dark blue mana.
"Katya," Tydus looked over at his squadmate. "You did well in holding them here and protecting those two till I got here." He cracked his neck as he walked into the center of the square with all eyes on him. "Leave the rest to me. Hmm, it looks like there's only ten left, including their leader." he quickly looked between all of the bandits surrounding them still. His grimoire flipped through its pages as he extended his hand into the air.
"The vice-captain of the Alabaster Foxes," Maecen grits his teeth as he stared at Tydus. "Looks like the adage is true; there's always a bigger fish. But we still have the advantage in numbers! Men kill this idiot!"
"Tarot magic: Nine of wands!" Before a single one of the bandits could ready a spell, a dark blue orb of magic coalesced in Tydus's hand before launching nine blasts of magic at each one of the bandits, flattening them all in one hit. "Seems like an army would've been more useful than a few worthless flunkies." he made direct eye contact with the bandit leader, who had a mix of both anger and shock covering his face.
"Wha- Wha- WHO THE HELL ARE YOU!" Maecen shouted, full of rage.
"That was only one spell…." Katya's jaw had dropped at the display she just witnessed. "If this is the power of a Vice-Captain, how terrifying is the Captain?" her thoughts began racing a mile a minute as she realized that she had never seen either in combat before.
"Damn... Didn't think a magic knight vice-captain would be here…" Maecen thought to himself as he looked for a quick way to end this. "Wait a moment, if he's a magic knight, his duty is to protect the people, so…" He extended his hands towards both Amber and her father before firing off two blasts of pure wind magic at them each.
"NO!" Frederick began running and dove towards Amber to protect her. "AMBER!" He embraced his love with his back to the spell and braced for the hit. However, nothing happened. He turned and looked towards where the blast came from, seeing a giant pillar of earth before him with a similar-looking one right in front of Amber's father.
"Earth creation magic: Fangs of the Earth." Katya had used the last of her power to cast the spell and nearly passed out from over-exertion.
"Good job Katya," Tydus looked towards her. "Now take a well-deserved rest. I can finish this in a moment."
"DIE!" Maecen's grimoire flipped open to another spell as he leaped into the air. "Wind creation magic: Storm of white javelins!" a multitude of long spears created from wind magic appeared around him before launching at Tydus.
"Impressive spell," Tydus merely watched as the spears came flying right towards him. "Your mana control is quite good for a lowly bandit." all of them struck the vice-captain simultaneously. However, once the dust cleared, Tydus was nowhere to be seen.
"WHAT!" Maecen started panicking, "He can attack, defend, and pull this crap?! What kind of mage is he!"
"Tarot creation magic: The Moon's lie." Tydus was standing by Katya with a dark blue version of The Moon tarot card floating in front of him. "Simple, a better one than you."
"DAMN YOU!" Maecen landed and started shouting. "I WILL NOT LET YOU STOP ME! THAT GIRL, HER FATHER, AND YOUR PATHETIC LIVES ARE ALL MINE!" He began frothing at the mouth as he readied another spell until his vision turned upside down. Literally.
"Tarot creation magic: Binding of The Hanged Man." floating in front of Tydus was the same card from which he cast his spell. Magic began draining from Maecen as he was hanging by his foot suspended from a dark blue gallows with a rope tied around his ankle. "You know guys like you are annoying; you think you're hot shit until you meet a real challenge and lose your cool. Pathetic." Once Maecen had passed out from having his mana drained, Tydus let him down.
"That was amazing…." Katya was stunned by the spells that Tydus used. "Sir, what are we gonna do about these ruffians?" she managed to stand up as she glanced about the defeated bandits. Almost on cue, a portal appeared with multiple city mages exited and began rounding up the bandits. The man who seemed to be the spatial mage approached Tydus; despite his position, this man had what appeared to be a permanent smile on his face.
"Thanks for coming as soon as you could, Cobb." Tydus addressed the spatial mage.
"Of course, of coursity course course." Cobb smiled as he saluted Tydus. Within a few minutes, all of the bandits were taken in and pushed back through the portal.
"When did you call them here?!" Frederick looked at Tydus, confused.
"Why do you think I wasn't with you guys when you entered the village?" Tydus remarked. In the meantime, Amber had approached her father, who was still on the ground.
"Are you okay, Father?" She asked as she helped him back to his feet.
"Yes, of course, dear," Her father shakily stood to his feet. "I must apologize. I didn't realize how quickly they would turn on me…."
"Father, I'm not the one you should apologize to," Amber gestured towards the magic knights and her beloved.
"I am sorry," He bowed to the other three. "I was so concerned with my own station that I didn't care who suffered due to my selfishness. In fact, I married into my wife's family for her money, and I didn't want to see my Amber suffer the same fate. But in the end, it seems that I once again was the one who was in the wrong." Finally, he turned to face Frederick, "I am sorry for misjudging you, young man; you are a much better person than I am; I was wrong to judge you based on my past transgressions. Thank you for protecting my little girl."
"Can't deny that," Katya glared at him. "Next time, why don't you try to communicate with your daughter rather than hire a bunch of bandits to try and kidnap her!" Her words cut deep into Amber's father, who winced in pain upon hearing it.
"So, two were literal, and thankfully the last one wasn't," Tydus was thinking to himself while the rest were saying their goodbyes. "The chariot wasn't too big a surprise, and the lovers felt like a bit of a cliche, almost like it was out of some cheesy romance book. As for death…" He looked around, his eyes focusing on Katya, Amber, and her father. "Something changed in almost all of them, and Amber is departing from her family's house. Guess that's significantly better than actual death." Tydus grinned, knowing that everything turned out well.
Shortly after, the bandits were escorted away, and Amber's father returned home with Cobb's magic. The two magic knights spent the night in the village so they could be fully rested for their trip home in the morning.
The following day, Tydus and Katya said their goodbyes and headed back to the hideout on their brooms.
"Can I ask you something?" Katya looked at her vice-captain as they flew through the sky.
"Sure thing." Tydus kept his eyes forward to make sure they were still headed in the correct direction.
"Well," Katya looked away, unsure if her question was appropriate. "The rumors about you and your family…."
"Yes." Tydus bluntly interrupted her. "Well, my family can, and I used to be able to. However, the rumors aren't the entire story, and there is much more to it than what the masses believe." his tone was cold, intense, and almost harsh.
"Oh, okay." Katya dropped the topic, not wanting to upset her vice-captain. Then, for what felt like an eternity, neither of them spoke a single word.
"You did well yesterday," Tydus finally broke the silence catching Katya off guard. "You even learned a new spell, if I'm not mistaken. Keep getting stronger, Katya." His voice had a hint of pride in his subordinate. Katya was shocked by the praise and looked his way with a touch of blush on her cheeks.
Within a few minutes, the two of them had reached the hideout. The two flew down, landed in the courtyard, and headed inside. Once they got inside, they saw two men sitting at a table with a third standing off to the side. Their captain was seated at the table conversing with a regal-looking gentleman dressed in blue and yellow clothes with a red robe over top of them; most notably, however, the man had a red diamond burned into his forehead. This was captain Fugeoleon Vermillion of the Crimson Lion Kings, and standing next to him was a young man about Tydus's age with slicked-back black hair and an overall displeased look on his face wearing the robe of the Crimson Lion Kings.
"Tydus, Katya!" Lain noticed them walk in and called them over. "I assume you two noticed our guests?" He gestured to Fugeoleon and the unnamed young man.
"Of course," Tydus led Katya over to them. "Captain Fugeoleon, a pleasure to see you again." Tydus bowed slightly to the royal sitting at the table.
"The pleasure is all mine, Tydus," Fugeoleon smiled at the vice-captain. "And who is this? I don't think I've met you before."
"Oh hi," Katya was caught off guard, not expecting to meet royalty today. "My name is Katya Ruina, sir." She bowed to the captain of the Crimson Lion Kings, "I don't mean to be rude, but is there a problem? I mean, I'm just confused on why you're here sit."
"I used to be a member of the Crimson Lion Kings," Lain answered, looking at Katya. "Captain Fugeoleon is here to catch up nothing more."
"Exactly," Fugeoleon added. "Lain here was next in line to be my vice-captain if Randall ever stepped down, but then he was promoted to being a captain of his own." Then, suddenly, almost interrupting them, the young man coughed loudly to get everyone's attention.
"Are you going to introduce me, sir?" He looked at his captain with annoyance in his eyes.
"Oh yes, my apologies," Fugeoleon looked towards his subordinate. "This is Gaius Kira, a recruit to the Crimson Lion Kings." Gaius didn't even bow out of respect for Lain; he just stood there, almost looking down his nose at all of them, causing the tension in the room to rise to uncomfortable levels.
"Only cause my uncle thinks I would benefit from the experience, not because I want to be," Gaius mumbled under his breath. "After all, save for the captains here, I have more power than everyone in this hideout…."
"So, that's Gaius Kira." Tydus thought, looking him up and down.
"That's the man Amber was supposed to marry," Katya kept to her thoughts. "He looks like an asshole; no wonder she didn't want to."
"So," Fugeoleon looked back at Lain. "Are you excited for the entrance exam in a few months?"
"Of course," Lain remarked. "After all, we still are a new squad and need more members quickly." Everyone but Gaius chuckled at the joke; the conversation continued until around sunset. The whole time, however, Gaius was glaring at Tydus for some unknown reason.
"Well," Fugeoleon stood up. "I suppose it's time for us to depart. I look forward to our next meeting!" He extended his hand for Lain to shake.
"Of course," Lain shook his hand. "It was good to see you again, Sir." As the two began to leave, Gaius shoved his way past Tydus as he walked for the entrance.
"You felt it too didn't you, Captain," Tydus remarked after the Crimson Lions left. "The almost sheer hatred coming from Gaius?"
"Of course I did," Lain replied. "I don't know what was going through his head but, he clearly didn't want to be here. Hopefully, Fugeoleon can soften him, or at least get him not to bear hatred for fellow magic knights."
"There is something else," Katya spoke up, looking at her captain. "We learned something on our mission that I think you should hear." She then enlightened Lain with everything that had happened on the mission. She included everything up to and including Amber being in a chest.
"Wait so," Lain had a puzzled look on his face. "Why was she in a chest? Like that seems, so cliche like it was ripped straight out of a cheesy romance novel." His two subordinates just shrugged as neither of them had a proper answer to that.
"Back to Gaius, though," Tydus brought his attention back to how the conversation started. "Odds are Amber's father informed him of the engagement being broken, and that is at least part of why Gaius was in a pissy mood."
"Still, that can't be the whole reason why everyone was put on edge because of him," Katya thought to herself. "I wonder…"
"Either way," Lain stood up. "There is no good in dwelling on it right now. You two did good work on that mission; go up and get some rest. You two have earned it."
"THANK YOU, SIR!" the two knights saluted their captain before retiring for the evening.
Awesome, thank you all for reading chapter 4! For some quick clarification, in Tarot, Death can mean alteration, transformation, or the parting of ways. Like if someone's mindset changes or if a parent and child part ways would be represented by Death. Anyways, if you guys have any OC's that you like to see pop up in here (as a villain, member of the Foxes, member of another squad, or just as a side character), feel free to pm me with a name, brief description, their magic and what you want them to be in this! In the meantime, though, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, and I will see you next time!