Chapter Forty-Six: Attack on Kiten (Part 2)

"Well hello there, pretty lady, if you're available, why don't we stop somewhere and grab a bite to eat,"

Those were Finral's exact words as he went from woman to woman around the capital, saying it in his most suave, confident voice, but each and every attempt he made was met with a similar response.

"I'm busy right now,"

"You're a Black Bull, stay far away from me, you nut job,"

"You don't look like my type,"

"Sorry, but I already have a boyfriend, and...he's standing right behind you,"

The spatial mage sighed as he walked down a street. "Damn, I think today has been my worst streak yet, it's a good thing I was able to get away from that last guy, he was as muscular as Asta and he looked like he wanted to kill me. Note to self, ask a girl if they're in a relationship before flirting with them,"

He then took out his communication device. "Hm, Captain Yami and the others should be done at headquarters, he might call me soon, best that I make my way there," he then looked up, seeing HQ in the distance. "It's not too far away, I won't need to use a portal,"

Finral walked for about three minutes before the communication device began flashing and making a soft buzzing sound. "That must be him," he pushed a button on it, forming a projection of Yami, but due to his quick breathing and the constant change of background behind him, it was obvious he was running.

"Something the matter, captain?" Finral asked.

"Hey, tell me where you are? Are you close to headquarters?" Yami asked back.

"Um, yeah I am, I'm on the east side, just about half a kilometer away," the spatial mage replied. "You mind telling me what's going on?"

"I'll explain once I reach you," Yami replied. "On second thought, never mind, keep your eyes on the sky,"

Finral raised a brow in confusion and looked up at the blue sky. "Keep my eyes on the sky, I don't get it, why would I need to-," he was cut off as he saw Yami jump down from the roof of a building, he was holding onto Asta and Charmy, while Kenos was beside him, his Sunshine Aura spell in use to keep up with the dark mage's speed.

The four landed beside Finral, Kenos undid his spell, Yami stepped forward, looking at the spatial mage. "Finral, have you ever been to Kiten before?"

"You mean that town on the border of the Clover and Diamond Kingdoms? Yeah, I've been there before, there are a few good restaurants down there," he replied.

It was Kenos who spoke this time. "Good, because we need you to take us there, the Diamond Kingdom is attacking,"

"Ah crap, that's bad, we don't have any time to lose," Finral said as he formed a portal, the five Black Bulls immediately running into it and arriving on the other side, they took a quick note of their surroundings, the town looked relatively similar to any other town, the interior was nothing really special.

"Where's the enemy?" they all thought.

Their question was quickly answered as they heard an explosion coming north of where they were, Yami gritted his teeth. "Time to kick some ass," he said, running in the direction of the explosion, he turned his head back to his squad members. "You guys focus on getting any citizens you see to safety, only fight Diamond soldiers if necessary,"

"Wait, Captain Yami, there's something I wanted to talk to you about!" Kenos called, about to run over to him, but stopped, turning back to look at the injured swordsman. "But I promised I'd keep Asta safe," he then thought, his expression falling.

Charmy spotted it and realized what he was thinking. "It's alright Kenos, go with the captain, Finral and I will keep Asta safe,"

Kenos' eyes widened. "You sure?"

The cotton mage gave him a thumbs-up. "You bet, I'm you're superior, so it's an order,"

"Thanks a lot," the solar mage said gratefully as he ran to Yami, the two then running until they were out of view.

Yami turned to the young noble. "So, what did you want to talk to me about?"

"Well, it's about Ki, I promised that I'd do my best to learn it, but in the end, I never did, I thought I did during my fight with Vetto, but it turned out to be something else," Kenos replied. "I guess I'll never be like you and Asta," he said, but unlike the other times when he said it in a somber tone, this time, his voice was monotonous, as if it didn't bother him.

The Black Bulls captain blew smoke from his cigarette, a carefree look appearing on his face. "Don't worry about it, besides, remember what I said yesterday, I was able to see all of the fights with Vetto, including yours, I saw you make that Mana Charge technique, and you did it using Ki, don't look at it like failing, look at it like you've learned Ki in your own unique way,"

"Thanks," Kenos said to him.

Yami grinned. "No problem, so, when do you plan on teaching me how to use it, if I can couple that with my Dimension Slash, just imagine how many times I could break through my limits,"

"Sorry captain, but no way, I'm still a bit shaky with it, I've only ever used it successfully one time, I think that at full strength, I can only manage two," the solar mage responded before he gave a playful smirk. "And even if I did know it well, I'd never teach it to you, you'd become way too strong,"

The dark mage began to laugh. "That's okay, what's the worst that can happen!"

Kenos looked at him and joined in, the two laughing together, they stopped a few seconds later, but smiles were still on their faces.

However, that changed as another explosion was heard, it was a lot closer this time, meaning they had nearly arrived at their destination.

Yami's happy face quickly disappeared, replaced by a look of seriousness. "That was a good talk, but we're getting closer, we can't let ourselves get sidetracked,"

Kenos' face changed too, replaced by a look of equal seriousness as his captain. "Right," he replied as the two continued running.

"C'mon men, there's a Magic Knight, and she's all by herself, let's take her out!" a Diamond soldier screamed as seven of them ran towards a girl with light green hair tied in a ponytail, and she wore glasses.

The girl was none other than the Compass mage of the Golden Dawn, Letoile.

"Seven against one? That doesn't seem fair," she said nonchalantly as her grimoire flipped to a page. "Compass Creation Magic: Defying East!" she exclaimed as she grabbed hold of her rapier as slashed through the heptet of soldiers.

"You'd need nearly double that amount if you want to stand a chance against me," she said, finishing her earlier statement. Letoile then noticed a squadmate about four yards from her. "Klaus, how are you holding up?! Need any help?!"

"No, I'll be just fine, Steel Creation Magic: Spiral Lance!" he replied before declaring as his drills caused brutal, but not life-threatening injuries to his opponents.

"We're going to make you pay for that!" a new pair of Diamond soldiers exclaimed as they ran into the scene, standing on opposite sides of the side steel mage, they simultaneously fired a Magic bullet attack.

"I can only protect myself against one of those attacks, my best option is to get out of the way," Klaus silently deduced.

But before he could get out of the way, Letoile sprinted to him, her grimoire already on her desired page. "Compass Magic: Willful Compass!" she exclaimed, forming two compasses, each on an opposite side, the two attacks were redirected into some nearby building.

"Don't give them time to attack again!" Klaus quickly ordered as he and Letoile stood back to back, each firing their iconic projectiles at the two soldiers, defeating them.

"So, how do you think the others are doing?" Letoile asked.

"They'll be fine, after all, they are our squadmates," Klaus replied. "I am a bit worried that Mimosa broke off from us so abruptly to find townspeople and/or Magic Knights who needed healing, but luckily, Hamon went with her,"

Just then, running was heard, the two Golden Dawn turned to see twenty Diamond soldiers, all staring right at them.

"Well, I did say they'd need more soldiers if they wanted to take me on," Letoile commented. "Did they hear me or something? I guess I should've stayed quiet,"

"Don't worry, we can take them on together, we are knights of the Golden Dawn, we won't lose to the Diamond Kingdom, that would be a disgrace to both our squad, and to Captain Vangeance," Klaus told her as they stood back to back.

"You're right, losing isn't an option," she said back as she tightened her grip on her rapier.

"Come at me!" they exclaimed as the Diamond Soldiers wasted no time in charging straight for them.

"Mimosa, here's another one!" Hamon exclaimed as he ran to the plant mage, carrying a man on his back, the man's right arm and leg were severely lacerated, blood flowing from them.

Mimosa was kneeling down, using her Princess-Healing Flower Robe to heal a little girl. The plant and glass mage broke off from Letoile and Klaus in order to find an injured people, they located a large square of the town that was fairly untouched by the Diamond soldiers, Mimosa stayed there and cared for people while Hamon went out and brought more injured people to her.

"Thanks, Hamon," she said as the pudgy noble gently set the man down, Mimosa quickly moved in, inspecting his injuries and beginning to heal him, she then looked up to see Hamon breathing heavily. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine, it's just that I've been doing a lot of running, I don't do much running, and it isn't easy," he replied, still catching his breath.

"I'm sorry, it wasn't right of me to stay here while you move around, especially since it's out of your comfort zone," Mimosa told him.

"Don't worry, it's not your fault, as well as combating the Diamond forces, it's necessary that we also assure the safety of the people here," Hamon said, finally regaining his breath. "It may not be in my wheelhouse, but I'll do it anyway, I'm a Magic Knight of the Golden Dawn, under Captain Vangeance, I won't let running stop me, besides, I could use some exercise anyway," he said the last part with a bit more enthusiasm.

Mimosa smiled. "That's good to hear,"

The glass mage did a quick stretch. "Alright, I better go find some more people around here," he said, his grimoire coming up to him as it flipped through pages. "Glass Magic: Verre Detection!"

At his call, multiple glass panes appeared, scattering around him, a beam of light shot from his grimoire, hitting the panes and bouncing from one to another, one pane appeared in front of him, letting him see whatever was in view of the light.

"This part of the town is almost cleared of citizens, they all seem to be here, that's-," he muttered, but stopped once he noticed one image, it was a teenage boy, one of his legs was trapped under debris, he was struggling to pull himself out.

"Mimosa, I'll be back, there's one more person in this area," Hamon said as he ran in the direction of the panes that showed him where the boy was.

The hard part about this was that he was the furthest away from them, meaning that Hamon had to run longer, it didn't take long before the magic knight felt himself getting tired and running out of breath.

"Damn it, I'm getting tired already, this sucks...but I can't stop, that boy needs someone to save him, and I'm going to be the one to do it, I just have to keep going!" he thought, pushing through his growing exhaustion. "But after this is over and we get back to base, I'm so going to enjoy a feast!"

The glass mage kept running, ten minutes later, he arrived at the spot and began looking around. "Where is that boy?"

"Somebody...help,"

The voice was weak yet loud enough for Hamon to notice, he ran and made a turn around a building, his eyes widening as he saw the boy. "Don't worry, I'm here!" he exclaimed, running to him.

"A...magic knight?" the boy weakly asked.

"That's right, I'll get you out of here," Hamon replied with a nod as his grimoire flipped to a new page. "Glass Creation Magic: Verre Fleur!" he exclaimed, the glass rising from the ground, Hamon made sure that the glass only propelled the debris, not hitting the boy.

Once the boy was free, Hamon put him on his back, he inspected the boy's leg, it was nearly crushed, blood was flowing freely out of it. "Shit, he must've lost a lot of blood at this point, I need to get him to Mimosa," he thought, ready to leave.

"Not so fast, magic knight," a voice spoke.

Hamon turned around to see two Diamond soldiers, their grimoires were already out.

"Oh c'mon, I'm already running low on energy and have to bring this boy to get aid, now I have to face these guys, the best plan would be to run, but that could lead them straight to Mimosa's triage, and she doesn't have any offensive spells, which means I need to fight them," he thought, he turned his attention to the boy. "This might take some time, can you hold out before I get you some aid?"

"Yeah, I should be fine, nothing but my leg's injured," the boy croaked.

"Good, I promise I'll finish this and get you help," Hamon said, turning his attention back to the Diamond soldiers, an amused smile coming to his face. "Now, I better take you down quick, you're no match for a knight of the Golden Dawn,"

"We'll see how confident you are when we're done with you!" one of the soldiers exclaimed as they both blasted magic bullets.

Hamon moved quickly, yet carefully, evading the attacks while making sure not to unease the boy on his back. "As I said, no match, I don't have time to waste, Glass Creation Magic: Verre Epee!"

At his call, he threw his hands up into the air, causing glass swords to erupt from the ground, the swords succeeded in impaling the soldiers' arms and legs in multiple spots, the glass mage then put his hands down, sending the swords back down, the soldiers fell to the ground, blood coming out of their wounds.

"Unless someone comes here, you'll most likely bleed out and die, that was a lot faster than I was expecting it to be," Hamon said as he took a deep breath and started running towards Mimosa's triage. "I wonder how the others are doing, Klaus and Letoile, Captain Vangeance, oh, and that Yuno boy?"

"Wind Magic: Towering Tornado!"

Yuno cast the large tornado spell, blowing a multitude of soldiers away. The wind mage scattered from the rest of his squadmates, he noticed Klaus, Mimosa, and Letoile go in a different direction than him, so he didn't want to be paired up with another squadmate.

Unfortunately, he couldn't get what he wished.

"In the name of our captain, William Vangeance, you will be defeated," the voice belonging to none other than Alecdora, his grimoire flipping to a page. "Sand Creation Magic: Sand-Armored Heavy Guard!" he exclaimed, summoning the large golem, the golem swiped its hand, crashing into multiple soldiers as well.

Yuno looked at Alecdora from the corner of his eye, groaning, out of all of his squadmates, he liked the sand mage the least, his classist views being the defining reason, he wished he could just fight alone.

"Hey, Alecdora, there are no more soldiers here to fight, I say we split up and move around the town, there's bound to be more soldiers there, as well as citizens to evacuate," he said.

Alecdora turned to him, his facial expression showing blatant anger. "Don't tell me what to do, you dirty slum rat, don't think you're better than me, remember your place,"

Bell flew out, landing on Yuno's shoulder, her face showed her annoyance. "Uh, would you just shut up! Yuno is tired of your shit, and so am I, you are so annoying!"

Yuno put a hand in front of Bell, prompting her to stop her rant, he looked at his superior. "You don't have to do what I say, but I'm not going to be the one to tell Captain Vangeance people were injured because someone chose not to listen,"

Alecdora grit his teeth, internally knowing Yuno had a point. "Fine, but just for the record, I was planning to do that already," he furiously ran in another direction.

A minute after the sand mage was out of view, Yuno spoke up. "Bell,"

The wind spirit looked up, assuming Yuno was going to lecture her for her outburst. "Don't blame me, that guy was asking for it,"

"No, it's not that, I wanted to say nice job, I've been wanting to tell him off for some time, but he's still my superior, you, however, can say whatever you want, thanks for that,"

"No problem, if you ever want me to tell that bastard off again, just ask," she said, Yuno replying with a small smile, but that smile disappeared as shaking was heard to the side of him, it sounded like it was coming from behind a building.

"What the?" the wind mage muttered as a figure crashed through, destroying an entire house, forming a dust cloud, once it settled, Yuno took in the figure features, he was wearing similar Diamond Kingdom clothing to Andreas and Mars, but the thing he noticed most was his large brown afro.

The mage turned to see Yuno. "Oh, a magic knight, and you're from the Golden Dawn? My lucky day, those barrier mages were weak as hell, no challenge whatsoever, let's see how you do, against me, Brocks, one of the Eight Shining Generals!"

Yuno stood ready. "I don't know what a Shining General is, but I know you're going down,"

"That's some big talk, can you back it up?!" Brocks exclaimed as he took out his grimoire, it flipped to a page. "Red Clay Creation Magic: Raging Great Boar Charge!"

At his call, a large boar made out of red clay formed, Brocks jumped on, riding the boar-like he would a horse as he charged at Yuno.

"A straightforward attack, simple," Yuno stated as he merely thrusted himself up with wind, letting the boar charge into a building.

As he landed, another voice was heard. "Hm, you use your magic quite beautifully," he turned to see a mage standing on a roof, his attire had a similar design to the one Brocks wore, but he had blue hair. "Brocks is just a brute, it'd be better to meet your end fighting me, Lagus!"

Yuno narrowed his eyes. "I take it you're a Shining General?"

Lagus proudly nodded. "That's right,"

"Hey, Lagus, stay out of my fight!" Brocks exclaimed.

"Wrong, this is my fight," Lagus countered. "Why don't find someone else to fight, I'm pretty sure the captain of the Golden Dawn is here, he can be your opponent, wouldn't that be better,"

"Now you're talking sense, that captain is as good as dead once I find him!" Brocks exclaimed as he ran away, soon out of view.

Lagus then turned to Yuno. "Sorry for the interruption, shall we?" he asked, but didn't wait for a response as he took out his grimoire. "Lightning Creation Magic: Thunderbird Calvary!" he then exclaimed as the thunderbird he was riding earlier manifested in front of him.

A page flipped in Yuno's grimoire. "Wind Creation Magic: Swift White Hawk - Rider!" he exclaimed as his familiar bird spell appeared, but this time, it was much larger, allowing the wind mage to jump on top of it.

As the two mages soared into the sky, from afar, standing on top of a roof, a familiar face watched them. "It appears Lagus has found someone to fight, I wonder how Brocks and Yagos are doing?"

The voice belonged to Lotus Whomalt, the smoke mage of the Diamond Kingdom, he whistled. "Lastly, I wonder what am I going to do, oh, sorry," he began, turning around to see two taller figures, completely obscured by the shadow projected by an adjacent taller building. "I meant we,"

"Should we stay up here, Lotus?" one of the figures asked.

"No, let's head down and see if we can find any Magic Knights, we can't forget why we came here, to capture Kiten for the Diamond Kingdom," Lotus replied as the three of them jumped down and landed on the ground before walking forward.

"This is actually my first time in Kiten, I wonder what kind of resources they have, knowing something like that is important, and then there are their establishments, a great place to take my daughters sometime-," he began saying but stopped as his eyes picked up on something below him, something that looked familiar, yet unnatural, he knelt down and looked at it.

"They're roots, but there wasn't a tree here before, I'm sure of it since we passed here, it's most likely someone's spell," Lotus voiced out to his two companions, he then placed a finger on the roots, immediately being met with a tingly feeling. "Yup, definitely a spell, it drains Magic power just by touch," the smoke mage then stood up straight, quickly noticing the roots beginning to move, or rather, to grow.

"It belongs to someone of the Clover Kingdom, but how do we find them?" the same figure asked again.

"Oh, that part will be easy," Lotus replied with a darkish smile as he pointed at the roots, and then turned to his left, showing that it kept going. "The roots of a tree are properly locked to the ground before the plant starts to grow, these roots have been locked in, so all we have to do is follow it until we reach the tree," with that, the three foreign mages followed the root's path.

Meanwhile, Yuno and Lagus were in the air, exchanging attacks with each other, at the moment, neither mage had done enough to claim victory.

"I didn't expect someone as young as you to be fighting so well against me, you must be one of those nobles, or even a royal, but it doesn't matter what big family you hail from, your death is inevitable," Lagus said.

"You're wrong," Yuno replied. "I'm not from some bigshot family, I'm just a commoner who works hard and has a little luck on my side, Wind Creation Magic: Swift White Bow!" he said before exclaiming, firing three arrows of wind at his opponent.

It didn't take much for Lagus to evade it. "A commoner you say? Then that's even more impressive, the peasants in our country are just useless people who serve one purpose: to do whatever it takes for the sake of the Diamond Kingdom, even if it costs them their worthless lives!"

The wind mage grit his teeth. "How can you say that about your own countrymen, bastard!" he yelled angrily, partially because he was mad at Lagus, but also to let off some steam from his earlier talk with Alecdora.

"My my, you became quite feisty, Lightning Magic: Shock Wave!" he exclaimed as he raised his hands up before slamming them down, forming an airborne tidal wave of electricity, its width spanning a decent amount of yards.

"Crap, I can't dodge that by moving to the side, I need to fly down," Yuno muttered as the hawk responded to his command, doing a backflip before taking a nosedive, quickly recovering as they were officially safe from the attack.

"Wind Magic: Crescent Moon Sickle!" Yuno exclaimed, using his hand to fire the crescent-shaped blade of wind.

Lagus merely fired two magic bullets, the attacks canceling out each other, he then smirked. "Well, this fight has been fun, but I don't want to take too long on just one person, so I'll finish you, but first, I'd like to know your name, so I can add it to my list of defeated opponents,"

"My name is Yuno,"

"Yuno, aye? Odd name, but no matter," Lagus commented as his grimoire turned to a familiar page. "Behold the spell that allowed us to invade this town, it will be your last, Lightning Creation Magic: Thunderbird Calvary: Sky-splitting Magic Bow Armament!"

At his call, the large bow appeared, its six arrows ready to take off at the mage's command, Yuno looked a little worried. "If it could take down the barrier, there's no way I could beat it head-on, that means I need a new approach, tch, if only it didn't involve me acting like Asta," he thought as he commanded the hawk to fly straight at Lagus.

The general widened his before laughing. "What's this?! You're coming straight at me, is this some last-ditch effort, or a suicide attempt?! Either way, you're going to die!" he exclaimed as he released the bowstring, sending the arrows at the wind mage.

"You were right the first time, this is a last-ditch effort, but it's one that will succeed!" Yuno exclaimed in response as he suddenly stood up and jumped off the hawk, at the same time, the hawk flew down, both of them completely evading the arrows.

"Interesting, you came at me and waited until I fired my attack, the arrows were going to strike exactly where you just were, so you jumped off to elevate yourself higher into the air, successfully dodging the attack, I must say, I'm impressed, I didn't think you'd try something so risky," Lagus deduced.

"Neither did I, but there's someone I know who would," Yuno said back.

"Someone you know? Eh, I really don't care, but this is something you didn't account for," Lagus said. "While you were able to dodge my arrows, you abandoned your hawk, meaning that you've sacrificed nearly all your aerial mobility, you're heading straight for me with no way to stop," his grimoire flipped to a different page. "That means this attack won't miss, Lightning Creation Magic: Static Thunderpurge!"

At the sound of his declaration, a large sword of lightning appeared in front of him, he waved his hand forward, sending the sword racing towards Yuno, ready to impale him in a matter of seconds.

To his surprise, the wind mage smirked. "You're partially right again, I have sacrificed most of my aerial mobility, but not all of it," he said before thrusting himself upwards using a strong blast of wind, dodging the attack. "I'll never let myself get hit by a sword hailing from your country!" he then exclaimed, remembering his mission back in the dungeon where he was put in a compromising situation by Mars' Laevateinn not once, but twice.

"You might've failed to hurt me, but that impalement plan of yours wasn't so bad, so I think I'll borrow it," Yuno said smugly as his grimoire flipped to a page. "Wind Creation Magic: Celestial Trident of Notus!" he exclaimed, forming a one-pronged trident out of wind, the speed of his descent allowing him to impale Lagus' side before he could react.

"Damn...it," he muttered as he fell off his thunderbird, the magic construct soon disappearing, Yuno was also starting to fall towards the ground, but his hawk swooped up, letting Yuno rest on its back, the magic knight watched as Lagus continued to fall, crashing onto the same roof he was standing on minutes earlier. "Not a bad fight,"

"Hey, Yuno,"

The wind mage looked down on his shoulder to see Bell. "Yeah?"

"Not that I didn't enjoy watching you kick ass, but why didn't you ask me to help you, you made that jump because you didn't have enough power to take down those arrows, right? I could've boosted your magic,"

"It wasn't guaranteed that it'd succeed, neither of us is aware of the spell's actual strength against another attack, that and I don't want to rely on you too much, your power may be beside me, but I still need to become stronger myself," Yuno explained before a small smile came to his face. "And look on the bright side, that move I pulled gave me quite the thrill, I suppose Asta isn't that much of an idiot after all-," he was saying, but was interrupted by a loud scream.

"AHHHH! IS ANYBODY THERE?!"

The wind mage groaned, recognizing the voice. "And I stand corrected, although, I didn't expect Asta would be here," he flew downwards towards the voice, with Asta's screaming, it didn't take long to find him.

Yuno jumped off the hawk as it vanished, he saw his rival, directing people to safety, but it didn't take him long to notice his dual slung arms.

"Asta!" he exclaimed, running to the swordsman.

Asta turned around, a smile appeared on his face. "Hey Yuno, I didn't think you were this close, how have you-,"

"What happened to your arms?! You didn't train too long, have you?! Tell me?!" Yuno interrupted, acting completely different from his cool and collected self, Asta was surprised for a few seconds, but then gave a warm smile, despite how Yuno may act, they were foster brothers and it was the first time he had sustained such an injury, so it made sense Yuno was concerned.

"No, I didn't train too long, the squad had a run-in with the Eye of the Midnight Sun during a mission yesterday, and broke my arms, but it's nothing to worry about, give it a few weeks and it should be just fine," Asta replied confidently.

Yuno breathed a sigh of relief, quickly returning to his old attitude. "That's good, get better,"

Asta then got closer to the wind mage. "Now that I think about it, you look different, what could it be...oh, you got a new wardrobe,"

"Oh, that's right," Yuno remembered, he was no longer wearing his black turtleneck and dark brown khakis under his robe, he now wore a more official-looking attire, comprising of a hooded, long-sleeved white jacket and long white pants, with a large strip of blue going down the center along with some shades of red and gold.

"Alright, over here should be fine," Charmy said, a good few yards away from the two rivals, she was commanding her Army of Striking Sheep to carry injured people onto a large cotton cloud she made, with Finral using his magic to help her.

That should be everyone in this area, hopefully, the Golden Dawn is handling the other areas," Finral said.

"Good," she replied before turning to where Asta was, ready to ask him to do something, but didn't utter a word as she saw who was beside him, she finally spoke up. "Yuno!" she exclaimed, running towards him.

Yuno heard his name being called and turned to see who was calling him, a smile came to his and Bell's face once he saw who it was. "Charmy!" they called together. He quickly squatted down and extended his two hands forward as she gave him a two-handed high five before giving Bell a one-handed high five.

"It's so great to see you two again," the cotton mage said, flashing her bracelet, Yuno and Bell did the same.

"Me too, I was wondering if we could have another hangout," Bell stated.

"That would be so much fun," Charmy agreed.

"I didn't know you two were such good friends," Asta spoke up.

Yuno nodded before smirking. "Jealous?"

"What, no way, I'm glad you're becoming friends with my friends," he replied.

Finral then walked up, Asta looked right at him. "And speaking of my friends, this is Finral Roulacase, our squad's spatial mage, Finral, this is Yuno,"

Finral bowed respectively. "Hello, I've heard a lot about you from Asta,"

Yuno bowed as well. "It's good to meet you too,"

"So, what exactly are you doing around this specific area, Yuno?" Asta asked.

"I just beat a Shining General a few minutes ago, and then I heard your screaming, finding you was easy," he explained.

"What, you beat one of those Eight Shining General guys, awesome!" the swordsman exclaimed, starry-eyed.

"Thanks, but it's best that I stay here for now, I can help Charmy and Finral keep you safe seeing that you can't use your sword at the moment," Yuno told him.

"Sure, I don't mind you staying here," Asta said before a thought entered his mind. "It's been some time since Yami and Kenos ran off, I wonder how they're doing?"

"Everything is going according to plan," William said as he stood alone in a large part of the town, a smile was on his face as he bent down, looking intently at the ground.

He then took out his communication device, pushing a button as a screen appeared. "Langris, how are all the others doing in subduing the Diamond forces?"

"I stopped by every area, the soldiers have all been defeated," he replied, but the screen was constantly shaking, meaning the vice-captain was running.

"And how are you doing?" William then asked.

"I had an earlier encounter with a Shining General, we engaged, but he got away, so I'm currently pursuing him," Langris replied once more.

"Alright, keep up the good work, be careful," William said as the transmission ended.

"I finally found you!"

William heard an exclamation, he turned around and saw Brocks, under his mask, he raised a brow. "I'm sorry, but who are you?"

"Don't mock me, I am Brocks, one of the Eight Shining Generals!" the red clay mage replied, he pointed at the masked mage. "And I take it you're the captain of the Golden Dawn?"

"I am, you may call me William Vangeance," he replied.

"Good to know, now get ready to die, your forces may have defeated ours, but I will prevail against you!" Brocks exclaimed as his grimoire flipped to a page. "Red Clay Creation Magic: Brilliant Armor Heavy Artillery!"

He screamed loudly as he became encased in a basic armor made of red clay, but the armor was large, letting him tower over the Golden Dawn captain.

William looked slightly impressed. "Interesting, I can see how you became a Shining General, and your mana levels are impressive too, but...you have no chance of beating me, but I'm a merciful man, take whatever's left of your forces and leave Kiten, because if you don't, I guarantee you, you'll never leave this place,"

"More mockery, that's it, I'll kill you as quickly as possible, we of the Diamond Kingdom don't know the meaning of the word surrender!"

William sighed. "Fine then, you've made your choice, you won't even get to attack me,"

"We'll see about that!" Brocks exclaimed as he moved forward, not noticing William smirk.

"It's over," he said. "Please look below you,"

Brocks raised a brow. "Below me?" he looked down and saw roots, spanned a few feet from him in a circle. "Roots? Ha! What's that supposed to do, you're as good as-,"

He didn't get in another word as William clenched his fist, immediately causing the roots to glow, before something shot up from the ground, engulfing Brocks, a few seconds later, the thing that engulfed him was plain to see.

A large tree.

William walked to the base of the tree, seeing Brocks' body sticking out of it, the Shining General looked at him. "What did you do?"

"Exactly what I promised, behold my power, World Tree Magic: Great Mistilteinn Tree," he replied. "I spread out roots around the town to gather mana, once there's enough, the roots assemble together, and at my signal, they formed a ginormous tree, I was initially going to use to act as a vantage point due to its immense height, but it's also capable of capturing people and redistributing their mana through the roots,"

A tree branch then came down as William walked onto it, his expression remaining composed as he looked at Brocks' frustrated and fearful face. "I told you, didn't I, you decided to stay, and now, you'll never leave,"

The branch rose up as the world tree mage heard Brocks' scream before he sunk further into the tree, no longer in sight, William then made it to the top. "Ah, what a beautiful view,"

"Goldy boy, I found you!"

William groaned. "Again? And I recognize that voice, but I didn't think he'd be here," he turned around and saw Yami, high up into the air, with Kenos holding onto him, William waved a hand, causing his branch to move towards them, letting them land on it.

"Yo, thanks for the branch," Yami said as he looked at the tree. "I almost forgot how strong you were with those trees of yours,"

"I appreciate the compliment," William said back before turning his attention to Kenos. "Hello Kenos, I think this is the first time we've spoken to each other, it's an honor to be in a Rossiu's presence,"

Kenos respectfully bowed. "Please Sir William, the honor is mine, you're one of the greatest figures in the kingdom, and by the looks of your magic, I'd say you've earned it,"

"Thank you," William bowed as well. "So, Yami, what have you come to talk to me about?"

"It's been a few weeks since my encounter with the Eye of the Midnight Sun in Nean, more specifically, their leader, Licht, I was able to feel his Ki during the fight, but during the captain's meeting the next day, I felt your Ki, and it felt incredibly similar," Yami explained.

Kenos' eyes widened, he knew what implication his captain was making.

William spoke up. "I see, you suspect that I may be Licht. I don't think I'd need to inform you that we use different attributes, and no mage naturally has more than one,"

"True, but my Ki doesn't lie, so if you want to prove your innocence, do us a favor...and lose the mask," the dark mage told him, his voice growing deadly serious at the last part.

"Take off my mask? I've never done it in front of someone in some time, but I suppose I can make an exception for the sake of my innocence," the world tree mage said, slowly bringing his hands to his helmet-like mask as he took it off.

Yami and Kenos' eyes widened, they saw William's short white hair, but what shocked them was the scar on the top half of his face.

"His hair's the same color as Licht's, but I think I would've noticed the scar," Kenos commented.

"Yes, I assume my innocence has been proven, I don't blame you for being suspicious, I'm the only captain who publicly hides his face," William spoke up. "This scar is some form of a curse, I've had it ever since I was born, people around me believed it was because I'm a bastard child, my father was a noble, but my mother was a commoner, I lived with my mother for 9 years, taking on her last name, Vangeance, then, when I was 9, I went to go live with my father's family,"

"I take it they didn't like that scar of yours?" Yami asked.

William nodded. "It was already bad enough that I was a bastard child, but that and this scar made my life there a living hell, until I met Julius, he said he liked my magic, and then he gave this mask, I then swore to do whatever I could for him, for this kingdom,"

Kenos' facial expression slightly fell. "Sir William, you said you were a bastard child, I understand how you feel, to be seen as illegitimate,"

"Yes, I remember the early rumors some years back regarding the possible affair of your mother, Lady Ellen, regarding the origins of your birth," he said. "Thank you, it's good to know you understand,"

Yami lit up a cigarette. "Well, it seems this was a bust, my Ki's never been wrong before, perhaps there's something I'm missing, alright Kenos, let's head-," he was beginning to say, but then his mana detection kicked in, and he sensed an attack coming straight at them. "Move!"

William reacted first, moving their branch out of the way as a beam shot into the air.

"Damn, and we almost got you too,"

The three Clover Kingdom mages turned around to see three figures standing on another branch, Kenos recognized the one in the center. "Hey, I know you, you're that guy we fought in the dungeon!"

"Yo, it's good to see you again, I don't think we've been formally introduced, I'm Lotus Whomalt," the smoke mage replied, before turning to the dark mage. "Hey there, Yami, I wasn't expecting you to be here, it's been some time,"

Yami gave a look of comedic indifference. "Sorry, do I know you?"

"What?! I'm Lotus, we had a fight some time ago, whatever, I'll try to jog your memory later, right now, we have to defeat you and take Kiten,"

"We?" Kenos asked, taking note of the two figures behind him.

One was quite tall and was completely clad in a mahogany armor with large pauldrons, flowing in the wind was the Diamond Kingdom's banner, acting as a cape, a knight's helmet was on their head, with circular outlines for eyes, and a brown plume feather was placed on one side of the helmet.

The other person was a man just as large as the first one, he had pale skin and brown eyes, moving slightly in the wind was his curly, fluffy peach hair, and his attire was similar to the one the Shining Generals wore, but what separated him from Lotus and the first figure was his figure, the man was quite obese, it'd be easy to underestimate him at first sight, on his stomach was a plethora of arrow tattoos.

"Allow me to introduce these two," Lotus began, turning to the obese man. "This is Tantalus," he then turned to the armored figure. "And this big guy over here is Brosnan, these two are members of the Eight Shining Generals,"

Kenos sucked his teeth, he wasn't expecting to run into two more Shining Generals, but the faces of Yami and William showed some shock.

Yami pointed at the armored general. "So that's Brosnan, I've heard of him, but I've never actually seen him,"

William nodded. "Yes, he's supposed to be one of the Diamond Kingdom's strongest mages, and their strongest Shining General, also known as "Golden Eyes" Brosnan,"

"Hm, it seems my reputation precedes me," Brosnan said. "This will be the battle that decides the fate of Kiten, tell me, mages of the Clover Kingdom…,"

He stepped forward, eyes glowing a bright shade of gold, "...Do you have what it takes to beat us?"