"Dammit!" Yelled Mereoleona "when I get out there I'm gonna kick your ass Ryoto!"
The two struggled for several moments before Asta began to ponder about something else.
"Hey Mereoleona can I ask you a question?" Asked Asta
"What is it?!" Said Mereoleona
"Well why do you keep beating up Ryoto?" Asked Asta "you seem to do it quite often."
"I do not!" Yelled Mereoleona
Mereoleona thought back to every memory she's had with Ryoto as of so far. She thought back to the time she shook him in the town of Kakushigei. Then the other time she shook him for calling her old. Then just that morning when she tackled him to the ground and began to slap his face around.
"Okay maybe I do. What do you care?" Said Mereoleona
"Well Noelle does it to me all the time." Said Asta "Just out of nowhere. She normally just blasts me with water from her wand. Other than that she calls me an idiot. So I thought I'd find out what it meant, since you do it to Ryoto all the time."
"Never mind that!" Said Mereoleona shaking her head "right now we have to find out how to get out of this."
"Right." Said Asta
'Hold on a second. If Ryoto knows that Asta can use his sword to destroy spells, then why didn't he restrict his arm movements?' Thought Mereoleona 'I mean he did mention that he made this bind with his powers in mind, but even so something doesn't make sense. Maybe he did it so that we wouldn't be completely defenseless.'
Suddenly the spell was turned off. They both stood up still unsure of what happened. Mereoleona used her magic without issue. Asta took out his demon destroyer sword from his grimoire and tapped himself to make sure.
"What the hell is going on?!" Said Asta confused
"For now I think it's better to not question it. Come on let's go." Said Mereoleona walking towards the exit
"Right." Said Asta
As they were searching around they suddenly felt a strong magical presence pass by them. Their eyes darted to their sides, seeing a man in a black cloak.
"Hmm...I thought you died." Said Shinso passing by them looking at Mereoleona.
Shinso then landed in front of the two magic knights. His glowing red eyes glaring at the two. Asta took out his demon dweller sword from his grimoire, activating his demon powers. Mereoleona opened up her grimoire and used Caldius Brachium. Shinso whistled and all the magic dissipated. Asta was then pushed backwards into the ground.
'Never mind. I should've known. That fox died a while ago. She looks insanely similar.' Thought Shinso looking at Mereoleona 'so that's why!'
"Why the hostility?" Said Shinso chuckling "I only came to return something."
Shinso reached into his cloak and took out a bloody knife and a bloodied cape with the sign of the Coral Peacocks having a hole through it. He dropped the items on the floor with the knife piercing the cape.
"What the?"Said Asta with wide eyes "Don't tell me-"
"Yes. Your friend is most likely dead by now." Said Shinso "Ryoto is dead. If the wounds didn't kill him, the infection is probably running its course."
'Ryoto lost?' Thought Mereoleona 'how? He's incredibly strong. No. I know he's not dead. He'll be fine.'
"I can assure you that it is possible. If you think he won't die that easily, then you're right. He's one stubborn bastard." Said Shinso smirking "but...determination can only get you so far. Until you get killed."
"Shut up!" Yelled Mereoleona launching a fire attack at Shinso
Shinso caught it in the palm of his hand and looked at it for a second. He felt the amount of mana in the punch.
'Weak.' He thought
Asta rushed towards Shinso using black meteorite. Shinso saw the sword he was using and instantly knew that Ryoto had tampered with it somehow.
'He always puts extra weight on one of the sides.' He thought
Shinso caught the blade as it was about to hit him.
"So you're the one with anti-magic?" Said Shinso boringly "I thought you'd be more interesting."
Shinso gripped the sword and crashed Asta into the ground with force. Mereoleona used Caldius brachium engulfing her opponent in flames.
"Please stop!" Yelled Shinso "it's-it's...SO BORING!"
Shinso took a look at them with his red eye. He then took shot flames out of his hands. Asta slashed through it and Mereoleona shot through them with flames of her own. Asta attacked Shinso with another Black Meteorite only for his blade to be caught by two fingers. Shinso caught the blade in between his index and middle finger. He felt his magic being slowly drained from where he was touching.
'So this is it?' Thought Shinso 'turns out he won't be much of a problem. Even though I need to use THAT technique, it still isn't much of a problem to kill him. Then again Kisho would probably be mad.'
Shinso then made a shockwave of fire burning all the grass near them and hitting Mereoleona and Asta, throwing them back. Shinso pinned them down using a few throwing knives that he got from his cloak.
"Now now. Behave yourselves." Said Shinso "I wouldn't want to harm the friends of Ryoto, or would I? You know what? It's not even worth it to catch either of you."
Shinso then walked off, leaving the two on the ground.
"Right back to where we started." Said Mereoleona "crap."
After a few minutes of laying down and struggling to get up, the two then heard the crunching of grass behind them.
"Hey hey! What do we have here?" Said a weak voice behind them "to think that the great Mereoleona AND Asta the boy with demon powers, were both caught. Well he took it easy on you since he thought I kicked the bucket."
Ryoto stood above the two completely bloodied, with a hand over his shoulder to slow the bleeding. He knelt down and begun to take the knives off of their clothes. Mereoleona looked at his face and noticed that it looked fatigued, with blood flowing from his forehead. She also noticed blood running from his mouth, suggesting that he was coughing up blood.
"Come on now. We can't have you being stuck here." Said Ryoto weakly taking out the final knife "we have a village to protect."
The two got up from where they were laying and turned around to finally notice how horribly Ryoto had been injured. He had multiple stab wounds all around his chest. His leg also had a stab wound in the lower thigh. His clothes also had burn marks around the forearms. His forehead was a huge gash and was bleeding horribly with mud all over his face.
"Hey, it's not polite to stare." Said Ryoto chuckling "healing magic won't work. So I'm stuck like this for the time being. Now come on let's go."
"Asta you go on ahead. I'll help out Ryoto here and be there in a little while." Said Mereoleona
"Yeah...Right!." Said Asta taking off towards the village
"We should go too." Said Ryoto
"Go where?" Asked Mereoleona "in your condition you won't be able to walk anywhere."
"Oh come on! It's not that bad." Said Ryoto
"It is!" Yelled Mereoleona "you think that just because you have so much power you think you could do anything and just walk away like it's nothing. Thinking that you're-"
"SHUT UP!" Yelled Ryoto with his eyes glowing a bright red
Mereoleona was taken aback from the sudden outburst of Ryoto. She'd been used to seeing him calm in most situations. Now however he stumbled onto the ground, clenching his fists.
'That's right. I totally forgot. He's sixteen. He's a kid.' Thought Mereoleona
"I know that I'm not the strongest! I haven't been able to protect everyone who I wanted to protect in the past...but now I have a chance." Yelled Ryoto "so I'll be damned if I give up now!"
"Being rash won't do anything you dumbass." Said Mereoleona
"So what?" Said Ryoto "I won't just sit here and do nothing!"
"Just stay here." Said Mereoleona "just stay and rest until we can get you somewhere safe."
"Like hell I will." Said Ryoto with determined eyes getting up from the ground raising a fist.
Mereoleona walked up to him, kneeled and placed a hand on his shoulder. She looked at his eyes that had a faint glow. She then suddenly, punched him in the jaw, knocking him out. She then walked over to a tree, putting her cape on the ground. She put Ryoto on the cape and laid his body against the tree.
"Sorry about this." Said Mereoleona walking off "I guess we're getting even."