Creation began on 05-24-21
Creation ended on 06-21-21
Neon Genesis Evangelion
Grimoire of Evangelion: Shadow Subordinate
A/N: Meeting people you haven't seen is always a surprise.
It was a small effort to locate the culprit that committed the foolish crime of entering into a pact with Harbinger, but until they found the grimoire with the spell he took the form of inside of, everyone fifteen and older within the Clover Kingdom was a suspect until they were checked. So far, the Clover and Wizard Kings, their closest allies or confidants, every helper within the House of Kira had been eliminated by Guardian of the Void after he held their grimoires and couldn't find even the barest trace of his ancient foe within any of them.
Hard to believe that the Wizard King has a grimoire without any cover, thought Shinji as he and Suki returned to the Black Bull hideout with Guardian. Grandmother did say that it was a rarity among certain mages, but not every mage possessed the ability to evolve their grimoire to abandon their hardback bindings. Even those in the royal houses couldn't achieve such a feat.
Guardian landed on the patch of space outside the hideout and sighed heavily.
"Are you alright, Guardian?" Suki asked him.
"No," he answered her. "Of all the most negative of magic creatures that posed a significant threat to others that ended up in the Void, Harbinger is the one I couldn't permit to go free…and now he's loose somewhere, with someone, a human, no less, that serves as his new master and ally in his pursuit of eliminating all physical forms of life. And whoever he's with let him decimate an entire kingdom. He didn't even differentiate between good or bad; they were all the same to him, just something to be laid waste to."
Shinji and Suki could see that Guardian was taking this personally; as the one in charge of keeping the most dangerous of creatures locked up from the rest of the world, it was his duty to ensure that Harbinger was confined. Just knowing that he was no longer a resident of the Void, like some sort of offender out on parole…and violating it…made him seem inadequate at his job. Unfortunately, there was nobody else capable of doing this job like he could; humans could only watch someone or something for so long.
"We'll find him, Guardian," Shinji assured him. "Whoever has him can't keep him hidden forever. Sooner or later, they'll slip up. They'll make a mistake, give themselves away too easily, or Harbinger will pop up someplace and someone that knows about him will alert the Magic Knights, and we'll be there to get him."
Guardian looked at him and nodded his head in acceptance.
"I pray that it's soon," he told Shinji. "Harbinger is not someone that will spend time off from doing what he enjoys for too long. When he starts to unleash a storm of violence that threatens to consume all around him, he doesn't relent."
Before Suki opened the door to the building, she looked at Guardian and expressed, "So, he's like a very, very bad guy that has genocide on his mind all the time. We have been forewarned about what he can do thanks to you, so we just need to warn others that he is a threat and shouldn't be taken lightly if they ever see him. What are the chances of any of the Magic Knights at a higher level than any of us in the Black Bull facing him and walking away with a few scars or bruises?"
"Even if there were a thousand of you, each one a Grand Magic Knight or Senior Magic Knight, the chances would be slim. Very slim. Almost nonexistent. Maybe if Harbinger had tried to escape a couple of centuries ago and the Magic Knights were more organized and diverse, but even then, the chances would still be slim…and nobody is fully aware of Harbinger."
That was another detail that disturbed the order between information possessed and information distributed to those that needed to be informed. Despite the fact that House Ikari had possessed significant knowledge on such a creature as Harbinger, fifteen-hundred years was too long for anyone that might've carried a grudge against them to procure such information and destroy it, either out of spite or out of fear.
"Someone cherry-picked through the information leftover from our exile," Rika had told them. "I've searched through every recovered relic and information going back thousands of years, but all we have is what Guardian knows about Harbinger. It's almost as though whoever took the information was afraid that any of it would reflect badly upon themselves."
"Even if it did, it's only due to a past association," Tenshi added. "Just because you try to erase the past doesn't mean the past is truly erased. You can't erase the past. It always returns to the present. Whatever sins or crimes that were committed in the past will rise up to try and break you for your involvement."
It's almost as if our family was the only group of people that knew about Harbinger and Guardian to the point that they needed to keep track of them, thought Suki as they entered the structure. It's as though everyone else back then was afraid to even leave just one detail about Harbinger…and if they wanted him to be forgotten about.
"Hey, you three," went Asta as he greeted the returning trio. "How was your visit back home?"
"Insightful," Shinji responded; so far, he and Suki could use Healing Magic and medicinal cream to treat their dark afflictions caused by whoever released Harbinger, but it was a small concern that didn't hinder them completely. "But we have a serious problem. It affects everyone in the Clover Kingdom."
"Really?"
"It's a serious matter," Guardian told him, and then noticed something off with the interior of the primary living room area of this magic house. "Is it just me…or is this room larger than it should be right now?"
Asta, Shinji and Suki looked around and the latter two realized that Guardian was right; the living room was slightly larger than it had been the previous day, while the former Black Bull with Anti Magic didn't notice anything of much significance.
"Well, it is a magic house," Asta reminded them. "It's always changing."
"Except magic houses, that is houses that were designed specifically to function with magic, either to rearrange or even to regenerate themselves from damage, can't do so of their own accord," Guardian stated.
"What do you mean?"
"A magic house changes…at the will of the person that has a claim to it. So long as someone the house is associated to is alive, the house continues to reshape itself. So…who is the person that owns this place?"
Shinji and Suki then recalled something Rika had reacted to during their last dinner get together.
"Where's your headquarters, anyway?" She had asked them; this had been after Tenshi complained about how the Golden Dawn's base of operations resembled a modern-day palace.
"Oh, Suki and I… The Black Bulls live in a large house that is…cobbled together in a sense," Shinji explained; there was no other way to describe the house other than a building that was cobbled together. "I mean, it looks like it's seen better day, but it's got that lived-in feeling, like someone took a rundown building and tried to make it livable as best as they could."
"Does this… Does this house…look like it's made of smaller houses? Maybe ten or twelve houses, making up a small village of sorts built horizontally?" Rika asked them.
"Um, yeah," Suki had answered her mother. "Why?"
"Just a question. Only a question."
"Shinji, I think we need to talk with my mother," Suki told her nephew.
"I was beginning to think the same thing," he replied.
-x-
It was only a question about the way the Black Bull hideout looked, but Rika couldn't keep quiet about her own suspicions. As she flew across a wooded area in the Common Realm, all she could really hope for…was that at least someone from the Legolant family was among the living, even if they were just a guy barely out of their seventies just clinging to life. Studying ancient curses and how to break them, she had found a remedy to deal with the old curse that had affected the Legolant family for a few years…and may have extended over the generations for fifteen-hundred years.
Cures for curses like these are long overdue, Rika thought as she looked over to her right, seeing a small lake nearby…and then noticed the building she had been looking for. "Even after fifteen-hundred years, you still stand. It means one of you continued to survive to the present."
She soared towards the magic house with a small smile and hoped that wouldn't cause a scene if her daughter and grandson were there.
-x-
"…Someone is nearing here," Guardian told Shinji, Suki and Asta as Noelle, Grey, Gordon and Gauche had no clue as to who was the owner of the magic house they were dwelling in. "The magic in their veins is potent."
"It's probably my mother," Suki gave her opinion as she was looking under one of the cabinets.
"Hey, I found something over her behind this wall," went Noelle. "It's a family name. 'Legolant'. Wait a minute, I think I heard of that name before. Wasn't there a noble family by that name a few years back?"
"Legolant?" Suki uttered; the name sounded familiar, but she couldn't say why. "I think we've heard that name before, haven't we, Shinji?"
"I think your mother mentioned that name once," he responded, "but…it's reminding me of a dream I had once when I was little. There was this guy laying in bed in a dark room…with pale-bluish hair that covered his eyes."
"Huh?!" Asta reacted.
"She's outside right now," Guardian revealed.
Ding-dong! An old bell rang, surprising them with the fact that this place had a doorbell.
"Okay," Grey went, wondering what they should do.
They rarely received visitors, let alone ones from relatives or friends from other places.
"Who rang that bell?" Yami demanded as he came into the living room.
"My mother," Suki answered him.
"I'm surprised that this place has a bell."
"A house wouldn't be much without a bell," Shinji understood.
"That's right," went the voice of the Black Bull's newest, quietest member, Secré Swallowtail, still not very talkative to any of the squad, which made it difficult for them to understand. "You…should let her in."
Suddenly, the door opened by itself and out front was Rika, dressed in a blue, floral yukata that suited the warm climate of the day.
"Hello," she greeted them.
Guardian merely bowed to her in return.
"Whoa," went Secré as she stood before the woman.
Rika looked at the young woman…and had an expression as though she had seen her from someplace before.
"Secré?" She uttered. "Secré Swallowtail?"
"Rika Ikari?" Secré responded. "You look…younger than when I last saw you."
"And you look…like you went through a rough patch the last time I saw you."
"You two know each other?" Noelle asked them.
"Secré Swallowtail is from the House of Swallowtail," Rika explained. "Her parents had been concerned about her magic and wanted my family's advice; nobody had understood how Sealing Magic worked at the time."
"You recommended that I spend time with the Clover family to develop my magic abilities," Secré added. "I was apprenticing with Lemiel."
"How did that go for you?"
"I got the impression that you were slightly aware of how he was before I met him. Lemiel wasn't like most other nobles were back then; he was very similar to your family, treating people the same as they would treat themselves."
"Elitist peer pressure just doesn't bold well for some."
Then Secré had to ask her something serious and related to the here and now instead of the past.
"Are you aware of what happened shortly after your family was attacked and forced into exile?"
"The Elf Tribe was massacred by a demon, made it look like the nobility was the cause…and Lemiel was sealed away by you into a statue to save him from his grievous injuries. He's among the people I've been trying to find methods on how to help. I didn't expect to meet you here."
"Likewise, even though I heard that some of your family had returned from exile."
"There were only three of us that were able to escape back then…and all three of us returned when the prophecy left behind was finally fulfilled…with two more members, one of whom you've already met."
Secré then turned to look at Shinji, noticing some mild resemblance, and then back to Rika.
"It has been too long," she told her.
"Fifteen-hundred years here…and fifty-five years where we ended up."
"So…um…what brings you here?" Shinji asked his grandmother; it couldn't have been a social call, not that one wouldn't have been appreciated after the hecticness of learning about Harbinger being set loose from the Void by someone.
"After you and Suki mentioned this place, I wanted to confirm a suspicion. There are very few magic houses, and this is the only one that is, as you have put it, cobbled together."
"Something from your past?"
"Yes and no; my grandfather lashed together a small village that had been abandoned and turned it into a makeshift mansion to accommodate a family that had been afflicted with a curse. Are any of you familiar with the name Legolant?"
"We just found that name etched on one of the walls," Noelle revealed, and Rika smiled. "Your family is familiar with that family?"
"Was familiar with the family," she stated. "Past tense. I don't know anybody from the family that may be alive today. However, this house was made to accommodate the House of Legolant in a specific way that stemmed from the curse that was placed on them."
"You think someone from the family lives here?" Suki asked her mother.
"I do."
"But…we've met everyone from the Black Bull that lives here, Grandmother," Shinji explained. "With the exception of Grey, there's nobody here with the name Legolant."
"Are you sure about that, Shinji?" Guardian asked. "That you've met everyone from the Black Bull that lives here, that is?"
Shinji looked at him…and got the impression that Guardian saw another possibility, one where Shinji was likely kept in the darkness about exactly how many members were in the Black Bull squad. It wouldn't have been the first time that such knowledge had been concealed from him, but it did get to be troubling when it was done by people that had hidden agendas that were anything but benevolent. If there was someone else here that he hadn't seen yet, then there had to be a reason for that.
So far, there's Captain Yami, Magna, Gauche, Gordon, Grey, Charmy, Vanessa, Finral, Noelle, Asta, Secré, Suki and I, he thought, but who else would be affiliated with the Black Bulls and lives here? Guardian makes it seem like there are others involved, but surely he doesn't know that much, either.
"Is there anyone that we haven't met here?" Suki asked Asta and Noelle.
"Nobody that you've met when you two got here," Noelle responded. "Everyone in the Black Bulls is everyone we met."
Then Shinji went over to where the name had been etched into the wall. He didn't really say anything about it, but he had a strange feeling that there was something going on here that he couldn't understand just after the night he and Suki had officially joined the squad.
Zap! He then got a strange feeling in his heart that made him think back to an old dream he had a few years back when he was little.
"Who…are…you?" He recalled a bedridden stranger asking him as he stood in front of him.
"Shinji," he answered him. "Who are you?"
"Hen…ry…Le…go…lant."
Now I know where I heard that name before, he realized, and then went into the hallway that led to the individual rooms of each Black Bull member. I didn't notice before, but the way these halls seem to change internally…remind me of what Grandmother explained about how magic flows through the body. The less narrow the halls are, the more energy can flow through them. It's like this place is a second body for whoever lives here; it changes to accommodate the flow of energy. If there's less energy, there's less activity…but if there's more energy…
He raised his left hand, conjuring a large sphere of magical energy…and watched as it left his hand and turned into a stream of magic floating down the hallway. He then followed it and watched the stream disappear behind a closed door that he hadn't seen before.
"That's strange," went Guardian behind Shinji, and the boy turned to see that he, Suki, Rika, Noelle, Asta and the others were in the hall with him. "The magic inside this room… Have any of you been in this room before?"
"No, why?" Gauche informed.
"It feels like bits of your magic is lingering inside here. There's mana that's associated with Water Magic, Mirror Magic, Cotton Magic, Fire Magic, Lightning Magic…"
"What about Anti Magic?" Asta asked Guardian.
"Unfortunately, no; Anti Magic is the negative to the positive of all other forms of magic. You can't actually absorb Anti Magic if it can't assist you in a way that helps you, as it cancels out other forms of magic. But it appears that mana associated with other forms of magic have been funneled to this room, as though someone were…collecting the magic energy of those that dwell here…in small traces."
"Someone here has been gathering our magic?" Grey questioned. "Who would want to gather our magic?"
Rika walked over to the closed door and knocked on it.
Knock-knock!
"You can't possibly think anyone's just going to answer because you knocked on it," Noelle told her, disbelieving that someone was inside the room.
"Who…is…it?" A voice called out, sounding slow.
"This is," went Suki, "the Magic Knights of the Black Bull. Who are you?"
"You…may…come…in," the voice replied, not really answering Rika, and the door opened on its own. "I…have…been…waiting."
Entering the room, Shinji gasped, seeing what he hadn't expected to see. In front of them…was a man in white garments, like he was a hospital patient or someone wearing pajamas, with long, bluish-white hair that covered his face and reached down past his knees.
"Wel…come," he greeted them.
"Who…are you?" Shinji asked. "Are you…Henry Legolant?"
The man raised his arms up to his face, removing strands of his hair from his face, revealing yellow eyes and a friendly face.
"I…have…seen…you…before…" The man uttered, slowly raising his right arm and pointing to Shinji. "You're…Shinji."
-x-
Clash! Tenshi locked swords with Excalibur atop a cliff in the wilderness of the Clover Kingdom, engaging in some much-needed stress relief.
"I don't know what's worse," Tenshi told Excalibur, blocking his pata with his katana. "That this Harbinger was let out of the Void…or that the Spade Kingdom was razed by Harbinger and whoever let him out of the Void."
"Can you truly hold whoever let Harbinger out of the Void accountable for what was done to the Spade Kingdom?" Excalibur questioned him.
"Yes. Accountability is a definite when a pact is forged between a mage and a being of magic. Regardless of the reason for entering into a pact with such a being, once you enter into a pact, you're responsible for whatever the magic being does, for better or for worse. Whoever enabled Harbinger to decimate Spade, they own what he did."
Clash!
"Who could and would enter into a pact with Harbinger?" Excalibur asks.
"The list of possible suspects is vast," Tenshi stated. "Someone out to do something they know they shouldn't…but are making preparations to do so, regardless of the beliefs of others."
"Could it be a member of House Silva?"
"It's unlikely; we know that at least four of them in the immediate family despise us just for existing and returning to the Clover Kingdom, and all four of them are either currently affiliated or were previously affiliated with the Silver Eagle squad. Even if it was one of them, what would be their reason for unleashing Harbinger on the Spade Kingdom, knowing that there were civilians that could end up in the crossfire? And why would they unleash him on Spade, knowing that he's dangerous? Even if there were enemies from Spade, the cost of any victory with Harbinger is still astronomically high."
"Maybe we're not dealing with anyone from the Silver Eagle. What about someone from a different squad? Maybe that Silva girl in the Black Bull?"
"Excalibur, that's just being cruel. Shinji wouldn't suspect Ms. Noelle of any suspicious behavior that would be highly unusual, even for someone like her. Plus, she's only…what, sixteen? She might be a noblewoman from a royal family, but why would she enter into a pact with Harbinger and destroy an entire nation? That doesn't make any sense, whatsoever."
Clash!
"Someone from the Purple Orca, then?"
"Every member of the Magic Knights is being investigated. Each grimoire will be looked at for any spell that doesn't belong. But if it's someone from the Magic Knights, the consequences will be severe for everyone affiliated with whoever that culprit turns out to be."
Clash! Excalibur's pata was shattered by Tenshi's katana and the Sword Magic spirit was left defenseless against the rejuvenated mage's blade edge inches from his neck.
"It bothers you, doesn't it?" He asked Tenshi. "Not knowing who is responsible?"
"Someone has released Harbinger from his imprisonment and caused the death of countless people that had no say in whether or not they wanted to get involved with whoever let him loose into their country…forcing them to flee their homes in a desperate attempt to escape…with only two-thousand of the refugees being successful. There's a special place in Hell for whoever did this. The sooner we find who is behind this, the sooner justice can be served for everyone that suffered." Tenshi told him, and then pulled his katana back and offered Excalibur his left hand to get up from off the ground; as their training session had ended in Tenshi's favor, there was no need for the victor to be cocky against his sparring partner.
"Patience rewards those that demonstrate restraint," Excalibur responded, accepting his hand and was pulled back up to his feet. "And justice comes in due time to those that deserve it."
"Yeah," he agreed with him, looking out at the wilderness below them. "Still…it's hard to believe that Harbinger could reduce all of this into ash if he was unleashed a second time. The trees, the flowers, the animals, nothing would be left standing. If I ever encounter him, and he makes no intention of being remorseful for any of the harm he caused…I'd be within my rights to be judge, jury and executioner if he persisted."
"So, it's true, then," they both heard a man's voice and turned to see a pale-skinned man with red hair, dressed in strange clothing that resembled dark straps and an exposed torso. "What I've been hearing across the Clover Kingdom… Someone really unleashed something that destroyed the Spade Kingdom?"
Tenshi could feel the degree of mana in this man, getting the impression that he was probably a member of the Common Realm of the Clover Kingdom, but was impressed by the large pool of mana he had at his disposal.
"Hello, who are you?" He greeted and asked the stranger, not getting any degree of hostility from him as he stood there in front of them.
-x-
Rika had suspected such a possibility, but didn't anticipate that a member of the Legolant family would be a member of the Black Bull…or that his house would be serving as the squad's headquarters. It was akin to a shot in the dark.
"Henry Legolant," said Suki as she, her mother, Shinji and Guardian stood a good distance from the long-haired man that they had met today. "It's hard to believe that he's a Magic Knight."
"How's that hard to believe?" Shinji asked her, still trying to wrap his head around how he saw this man in a dream…and this was the first time they had met. "If Captain Yami gave him a robe from the Black Bull, then he's clearly a member of the squad."
"We've been living here for, what, almost six months now?" Suki explained. "We never realized that he was here until today. It's just…creepy, not knowing that he lived here…or that this is his house…and it helped to keep him alive."
"Grandmother, you mentioned that…in your earlier years, the family this house had been made for…suffered from a curse?" Shinji questioned Rika.
"That's right," she revealed. "It was an ancient curse that caused those afflicted with it to passively absorb the mana of others around them into themselves just to live. Depending upon the degree of magic others possessed around the afflicted members, they either felt nothing in the reduction of their power or just a slight decrease in what they're used to. What my family didn't expect until much later that the curse could and would become a hereditary affliction on anyone born into the Legolant family. Maybe some members would have the curse, but others wouldn't. This house was made to help circulate mana to the afflicted owners until a remedy could be found to remove the curse from them."
"And since Mr. Legolant is the only person living here that actually has ownership of this house, he's the one that needs to be freed of the curse," Guardian understood. "Can you relieve him of his curse?"
"I can try to."
"So…his curse causes him to absorb other people's magic?" Suki asked her mother.
"Passively…to live," Rika clarified. "It's not easy, having to live with such a curse."
"It must've been hard on him," Shinji understood, "having to be cut off from people. But…he wasn't entirely cut off. I mean, we were here. We just didn't know that he was here. If we had met him earlier on…"
"You would've done all that you could to try and help him yourself, Shinji," Guardian told him.
It was also a shocker to find out that Asta, the only person initially believed to have no magic, knew that Henry was here, but didn't tell anyone else, meaning that only two people in the Black Bulls actually knew of his existence. But because Anti Magic was a negative to the positive forms of other magic types, Henry's curse couldn't absorb mana from him, making Asta the only person that could be around him without suffering from any decrease in one's mana reserves. This also meant that Guardian, a creature of Anti Magic, was also immune to Henry's curse.
"So, what kind of magic can you do?" Grey asked Henry, curious to know what made him a Magic Knight of their squad.
"I…can…move…the…house," Henry explained to her.
"He can…move the house?" Noelle spoke, confused. "What does he mean by that? Can he make the house float?"
Henry held up his grimoire, which had a picture of a house on its covers, surrounding a three-leaf clover; as most grimoires sometimes displayed things that symbolized certain aspects of their owners, it must've meant that Henry's magic was tied to the very nature of the house he lived in.
Guardian got up and walked over to Henry, his right arm outstretched.
"If I may," he told Henry, and the young man gave him his grimoire. "This form of magic dwelling within you, it is connected to this structure that was remade through magic. You say that you can…move the house…which means that such a form of magic is rare and requires a tremendous degree of mana to achieve. You must be a Recombination Magic mage."
"Recombination Magic?" Charmy asked. "What's that?"
"It's a rare form of magic that enables one to change the total layout of a magic house," Rika explained. "Mister Legolant can reshape the entire structure to his liking. It could also be referred to as Reconstruction Magic, since it requires remaking the way the house looks."
"So, he could make this place bigger if he wanted to?" Luck questioned.
"Maybe, but I have some doubts about that due to a possible lack of training on his part; he could rebuild it if it gets damaged, but as for making it bigger, that requires a lot of mana to perform."
"Say, is it possible for us to do Recombination Magic, too?" Shinji asked.
"Yeah, if we practiced, we could do it."
"How do you practice a form of magic that focuses on a magic house?" Suki wanted to know.
"You start with the inside of your room," Rika informed. "You try to make something move in there on its own accord, like a chair sliding across the floor or a window opening ore closing."
"Starting small?" Shinji understood.
"That's right."
In front of Rika was a large cup of a dark liquid that was bubbling under a ring of fire. This was the remedy that the matriarch was hoping would cure Henry of his inherited curse that forced his frail body to siphon magic from other people around him; if this proved effective for him, he'd begin to regain strength and not be as frail as he currently was.
"So, you've been practicing treating curses for quite some time, Mrs. Ikari?" Noelle asked Rika.
"Yeah," she answered as the dark liquid turned a shade of green.
"What kind of curses can you treat with your practices?"
"It depends on the type of curses that are known. They can be present-day curses going back a few years…or ancient curses going back centuries."
"How does this remedy work on an ancient curse like Mr. Legolant's, anyway?"
"Depends on how his body responds to remedies. Does he need it doused on his skin to absorb it or does he need to ingest it so that it goes into his bloodstream?"
"Meaning you have no idea how to administer this to him until after it's ready," Guardian stated as he gave Henry back his grimoire.
"That's right."
"That smells good," went Charmy as she came over to the table and looked at the bubbly liquid as it now turned a shade of pink. "Can you add this to food?"
"I wouldn't try it unless I had to, Ms. Pappitson. Also, you shouldn't take something that is medicinal unless you're sick or cursed. Hmm."
"Is your affliction irritating you again?" Suki asked her mother.
"Yeah."
Shinji looked at Guardian, who looked away from the three Ikaris; the mere fact that they were cursed by Harbinger made him think that Guardian was working with a deadline. But he needed to ask him first before jumping to conclusions.
"Hey, Guardian," he uttered, "do we have a time limit before something worse happens?"
Guardian looked at him and answered, "This affliction is only a curse of pain, so there's no threat to your lives, except Harbinger and whoever is in league with him. This curse is more to cause you irritation than to cause you harm to your organs or senses. Repeated use of Healing Magic abates the areas afflicted by Harbinger's magic, but to remove the curse requires he be sent back to the Void…or I do to him what I failed to do in the beginning."
"You mean, kill him?"
"Only as an absolute last resort. He didn't make it easy for himself to be locked away the first time. Harbinger doesn't make anything easy for anyone."
"Just how dangerous is this Harbinger?" Luck asked him.
"He isn't someone you'd want to fight, even if you wanted to. Not on your own, at least."
"It's finally ready," Rika informed them as the liquid reached its final state of preparation; it was blue on side and green on the other side. "Are you ready, Mr. Legolant?"
"I…am…ready," Henry responded, walking over to the table. "Do…I…drink…it?"
"If you can stomach it, I'm all for it."
Rika handed him to large cup and watched as he slowly raised it to his mouth. Watching as he began to drink the beverage, she was hoping that he would begin to recover.
Henry finished drinking the beverage and lowered the cup down.
"How do you feel, Henry?" Asta asked him.
"Fine," he answered, which was actually faster than he previously sounded. "I feel a little better. Actually…I feel better than I've been in years."
"Well, he's not talking slow right now," went Gauche, slightly relieved that the Black Bull member they just met today had ceased talking so slowly.
Suddenly, Henry's body started glowing a dark light…and something floated from atop his head. It started to assume an irregular form, with horns and wings.
"Aaah!" It shrieked. "Damn you Ikaris for returning!"
"A demon?" Suki and Noelle questioned.
"Aah, hardly!" The dark creature responded, sounding like it was in agony. "I am merely a representation, an echo of the devil that cursed this man's ancestors. I was so close to ending this family's bloodline. All I needed was five more years! But you had to return to the Clover Kingdom! Ooh, the masters of the underworld haven't forgotten how much they despise you! You may have expelled me, but you can't expel the darkness that exists within all living things! You will fall! You will fall!"
Then, it evaporated from sight, leaving not even a shred of its presence within the Legolant home that housed the Black Bulls.
"Whoa," went Henry, now looking better than he had ever felt before. "That was something you don't see every day."
"Every day is full of things we don't see every day," Shinji stated, as this was something he didn't expect to see. "Huh?"
He looked down the exit to the living room and thought he heard something that wasn't Captain Yami making a usual complaint like always.
"Shinji?" Suki went, and Shinji looked to her.
"Yeah?" He responded.
"I'm guessing you felt an unusual presence of magic down there, too?"
"If that was magic, it's the strangest degree of magic that I've ever felt. It's all…I don't know, contorted or mangled or…"
"The magic feels corrupted," Rika expressed, also feeling the strange presence of unusual magic. "It's similar to Secré's Sealing Magic…but something about it feels heightened."
"Can anyone else feel that magic in the hallway?" Guardian questioned the other Black Bulls present in the living room.
"I can't feel anything except ki," said Asta.
"That's just something you'll have to learn, eventually."
Tap. Tap. Tap. Something, like footsteps, was echoing in the hallway as it seemed to get darker.
Shinji got defensive and took out his grimoire and pulled out his katana, followed by Asta taking out his grimoire and pulling out his Demon-Dweller Sword.
Suki joined in and pulled out a large bow from her grimoire; recently during a training session with Shinji, she learned to incorporate her old archery lessons into her magic.
"Whoever's down there knew how to get in," Guardian uttered. "Whoever you are hiding in the darkness, I suggest you show yourself instead of taking the tactics of a stalker waiting for their prey to make themselves vulnerable."
Then…something dark shot out of the hallway like a bullet and wrapped around Guardian's waist like a binding.
"Really?!" He grunted, feeling the binding trying to pull him into the hall. "Don't say I didn't warn you."
He grabbed the binding and yanked whoever was in the hallway out into the open.
"Oofph!" A stranger grunted as he was yanked onto the floor.
Vanessa and Charmy tied their threads and cotton around him, trapping him in a ball while Shinji engaged his Sphere of Influence, negating whatever magic this guy possessed.
"Who are you and what are you doing here?" Magna demanded, but the man didn't answer.
Guardian grabbed the ball and raised the man up into the air.
"We can be subtle about this interrogation," he uttered, "or we can be rough. Depending on which of us gets the best results in ascertaining your identity. Identify yourself."
The man was fair-skinned, his hair long and dark, but his face's left side appearing burnt and blistering under his eye.
"Wait a minute," went Suki as she took notice of his burn. "He looks hurt."
Rika saw this, too, and judging from the looks of his face, the man was barely out of his late-twenties…and probably had much to say once mended.
Noelle took out her grimoire and applied her Healing Magic spell to mend them, bypassing the restraints of cotton and thread and getting a sigh of relief from the man, implying that he had injuries all over his body.
"Again, sir," went Guardian, "who are you and what are you doing here?"
"I am Nacht Faust," he finally revealed himself to them, "and I am the vice-captain of the Black Bull Magic Knight squad."
Rika's eyes widened at the sound of his name; she hadn't heard the family name Faust ever since…that night.
"You?!" Noelle questioned; she hadn't heard of there being a vice-captain of the Black Bull like she had heard of the Golden Dawn, Crimson Lions, Coral Peacock and Purple Orca squads. "No way you're a member of the Black Bull! Where's your robe showing the insignia?"
"I don't have or need a robe to prove my affiliation to this squad."
"Funny, how everyone within the Black Bull all have robes…or what passes for a robe, in the case of Captain Yami, and they all bear the insignia of the Black Bull," Guardian informed him, and the man, Nacht Faust, could see that each person within the room wore a robe that represented the squad, excluding himself, Rades and Rika. "How can you say that you're affiliated with this squad when we've not seen or heard of you?"
"You think I wanted to be vice-captain? That's a laugh. You should ask Yami Sukehiro how I got the job before I left the Clover Kingdom to spy on the Spade Kingdom. I only came here once. Just once. This is the second time I've been here. Who are any of you?"
Nacht then looked at Rika and recognized her face. He had seen a painting of her from a long time ago.
Rika turned her face and backed away from the majority of the group that were present.
Shinji noticed this and went over to his grandmother.
"Is something wrong?" He asked her.
"Besides who he says he is?" She replied. "There are many things wrong about him. Both in his behavior and his magic. I know I've only just met him, but if he is from the Faust family, then it's unsettling to a degree."
Shinji looked back at Nacht and then back to Rika, asking, "How is who his family is unsettling to you?"
"Our family had a falling out with House Faust because of how we didn't believe in forging pacts with devils in exchange for more power. When you make a deal with a devil of any kind, especially for power, you lose a part of yourself. Maybe not your soul like how they claim in certain beliefs…but you lose something inside you that isn't easy to regain."
"And you think he followed the beliefs of his ancestors from over fifteen-hundred years ago?"
"If he did, it would explain why his magic's corrupted; if he entered into a covenant with a devil, he would have an increase in his magical abilities, but at a cost. Even if you think you can control a devil, the devil you enter into a pact with isn't as black or white or gray as you want to believe they are."
"I wouldn't enter into a pact with a demon in exchange for power at the cost of even my very life, Grandmother. But maybe we should give him the benefit of why he did what he did, if he even did what you suspect he did."
"I'm willing to give him the benefit of his actions, but I doubt he even wants anything to do with any of us, simply because of who we are."
Shinji sighs and expresses, "His opinions or beliefs won't change how we feel about that. We are who we are."
Rika smiles at Shinji, wondering how he got to be so accepting of his life here in a heartbeat, even though, sooner or later, he would have to return to Tokyo-3; Tenshi will have mastered all of his Spatial Magic requirements.
"Let's say that, even for just a minute," said Guardian to Nacht, "we chose to believe that you are who you say you are…what brought you back here after being away for so long?"
"A creature that attacked the Spade Kingdom," Nacht explained, "and whoever let it do so. It just… It was relentless, setting fire to everything and taking all of those lives."
"Did you get a good look at this creature and whoever let it loose?" Suki asked him.
"Only the creature. The person responsible for its mayhem was safely up in the night sky, just watching the madness take place. It was larger than a person, stood up like a person would, only it had strange horns that looked like branches and burnt hair or fur on its body. It also had an awful smell emanating from it."
"An awful smell, strange horns, a burnt appearance… That's Harbinger in every way you described him."
"Harbinger? Is he a demon or a devil?"
"He's neither. He makes those creatures look like insects because he's more dangerous than they are. If you pit him against a devil, he would win unless the devil were capable of Anti Magic and knew how to fight Harbinger…but even that's a stretch."
"How do you know about this creature? Are you related to him?"
"I say this only to those that would suspect such an impossibility: You wish. We just have history together. I'm no demon or devil, either. I am older than many creatures from the cultures of other places, slipping in and out of history going back several hundred generations."
"Older than a devil?"
"Maybe. How long have they been around in various cultures?"
Nacht sighed and got the impression that Guardian's advanced age didn't deter his abilities if he was able to pull him from out of the shadows. And then, there was these three people that didn't seem to look like other people from the Clover Kingdom; there was just something about them that seemed…off.
"Who are these three?" He asked, gesturing his head towards the Ikaris, and Guardian exhaled a dark smoke from his nostrils, surprising the other Black Bulls present in the room.
"What are they to you?" Guardian responded, being cryptic. "Who do you think they are?"
"If I didn't know any better, and I often don't…I would say that they're members of House Ikari, a mysterious family of mages that were said to possess magic that surpassed all members of the nobility put together. I heard rumors in Spade that they had returned, but I didn't believe in such claims to be true."
"No, I wouldn't believe you to believe in such claims. You can't expect a rumor to be anything more without evidence to back it up."
"My ancestors kept an old painting of one of the women of House Ikari. That lady in the strange outfit resembles her in an uncanny way."
"This old painting," Rika uttered to Nacht, "did the woman depicted in it look like she was dressed in very strange armor and wielding a pair of fans?"
"Yes."
Rika sighed as the memory of the painting returned to her conscious. It was her first husband's passion to paint at least one picture of her on her best day, so she indulged him by letting him paint her in her armored guise that she had mastered when she was seventeen. When she returned and her claim of matriarchy was solidified, she just assumed the painting had been one many things that didn't get salvaged among the remnants they were able to regain.
"You are the woman from the painting, aren't you?" Nacht asked her. "You're Rika Ikari."
"I am," Rika admitted.
"I would say that it is nice to make your acquaintance…but I'd be lying to us both. Still, it is surprising to meet the lady my parents never got to meet."
"May I presume that…you're all that remains of House Faust?"
"You may presume. My family did fall on such hard times."
"If I knew what those hard times were, I'd be convinced that you were telling the truth, but we have only just met."
"And my excuse for returning here was because of a rogue creature that was strong enough to murder a man that had entered into a pact with a devil from the Tree of Qliphoth, a feat I didn't expect to be within the realm of possibility."
"The Tree of Qliphoth? You might as well unleash a horde of demons and call them Legion against Harbinger…and still get the same outcome. Harbinger isn't susceptible to demonic magic or a human that has entered a pact with one in exchange for more power." Guardian told him.
"So, then…this creature's unstoppable?"
"Not unstoppable. Just difficult. It was a challenge just to get him into the Void once where he could do no harm. It will be a challenge to do so a second time if he's wised up from the centuries of imprisonment."
"I can't believe I'm going to say this…but I may need the assistance of the Black Bull to find this Harbinger."
"Oh, he won't go far. Whoever he entered into a new pact with is who he'll stay close to."
"Um, Mr. Faust?" Shinji went. "Are you absolutely, positively, certain that you didn't get a good look at the person Harbinger was with the night the Spade Kingdom was razed?"
"I am absolutely, positively, certain as I live and breathe…that I didn't see the culprit with Harbinger. They were in the sky and too far away for me to see."
-x-
It was an interesting conversation between Tenshi and this mysterious man that claimed to be a member of the Magic Knights. He made it no priority to wonder which squad he was from; judging from looks alone, it was clear that this man didn't associate with the majority of the squads, which meant that he was likely affiliated with the Black Bull…even if it was only in name. That squad his sister and nephew joined was an eyeful of people that were mismatched and had their differences that stood out, and he couldn't imagine them acting in any manner that was like the other squads that adopted the uniform and tactical appeal. He hadn't joined the level of the Golden Dawn's elite, but even he found the idea of wearing the uniform to be just as unlikely as he found Yui to be forthcoming with her activities.
"So, what led you to become a Magic Knight?" The mystery man asked him as they sat on the cliff, looking out at the wilderness.
"Everyone has their own reason for wanting to join the Magic Knights," he responded. "Mine was because I wanted to improve my magical skill, first and foremost, while helping those that other Magic Knights often overlook…while keeping a watchful eye on my youngest sister, which I must confess as of late…I haven't been doing much of."
"Which sister would that be?"
"Yui, the only one I know that has difficulty with admitting her relationship issues."
"Didn't she join the Golden Dawn like you did?"
"That doesn't change the fact that she hasn't made one friend within the squad. Instead, she just keeps to herself and goes on solo missions."
"Doesn't sound like someone that wants anything to do with anyone if you ask me."
"I'd be lying to myself if I said it wasn't true."
"So, what was her reason for wanting to join the Magic Knights?"
"She's still trying to see where magic takes her while she's here. Once I fully master everything I need to know about Spatial Magic, one of the priorities will be to make sure my sister and nephew are able to return to where they have lived for most of their lives."
"That world you were self-exiled to?"
"There's no magic there, and we lived there for over fifty years. But fifteen years ago, she was involved in something unforgivable…and I can no longer doubt in my ability to forgive her for such a cruel transgression. I can't forgive her for getting involved with some really dangerous people that are just as cruel as she was. And if she's unable…or unwilling to turn a new leaf, then she's still a problem child, regardless of her maturity."
"And what of your nephew, her son?"
"My nephew, Shinji, he's…he's adjusted. He's nothing like his parents, no matter what people that knew of them say; he's not an intellectual like they are…or into politics or a control freak, just a bright, young man that believes in the stories my mother and I told him about the Clover Kingdom ever since he was four years old and is happy to be doing something that he loves here…in a place that is like a fairytale…only real."
"I take it that his life was terrible where you lived in exile?"
"That's…complicated from certain angles. His father's hardly a good person, his mother's been absent for most of his life, he was drafted into a cruel game thought up by his parents from the very beginning…and he had no clue about what they were up to…and I can't deny that he felt betrayed by his mother. He could get that his father was mad, but he didn't want to believe that his mother was just like him, only that she was this good person that would never harm others. Now, he's just trying to move past who his parents are and be his own person, not some pawn in their twisted game."
"If his mother's not a good person, why isn't she in prison someplace?"
"Trying to believe that she can't do any wrong so long as what she desires remains out of her reach. One thing that she used to possess is no longer hers, as it resides within my nephew's grimoire and she can't access another person's grimoire, and he made a promise to himself that no matter what happens, he wouldn't use what ended up in his grimoire because he really doesn't like it. If one were to call it a devil made by people, they'd be right. A devil made by people, exploited by them…but now locked away by a small truth: Who it now obeys…wants nothing to do with it."
"Sounds like a struggle between right and wrong."
"Oh, it is, but my nephew, Shinji, he deals with it every day, learning to cope, to not let it hang over him like a dark cloud and bury it. One of the advantages of having something you don't enjoy locked away in the form of a spell inside your grimoire is that you can choose whether or not to exploit for your own purposes. If you had a sword coated with a special poison that could murder whoever it cuts, and it was sealed away in the form of a spell, you could decide whether or not to use it. And Shinji has matured quite a lot during his time here. If he decided of his own volition that he wanted to live here permanently, I wouldn't try to change his mind."
"Sounds like you're hoping he'll stay here."
"No. As much as I wouldn't mind him being here, I couldn't keep him away from the people he knows in the other world. Time and space are a crucial factor in the mastering of Spatial Magic's long-distance requirements. No matter how long we live here, once I master the chaos that time plays a role in, I'll be able to open a schism in time and space and travel between the present to an earlier point in time."
"I don't understand Spatial Magic, but it seems powerful."
"Any form of magic can be powerful. All anyone needs to do is put in the effort to make it so. What sort of magic do you specialize in, sir?"
"Are you familiar with Ash Magic?"
"A derivative of Fire Magic; because fire burns everything around it, all that remains once it dies out is the ash of whatever was burned. I'm familiar with Ash Magic."
"Unfortunately, despite it being my attribute, I only use it when using Trap Magic."
"A Trap Magic specialist, are you?"
"In a way."
"Don't sell yourself short. Any form of magic that can utilize Trap Magic is impressive and effective if the effort is put in."
"So, what type of magic do you specialize in? Judging from your appearance, you specialize in many forms."
"Not every form of magic is entirely practiced, but Sword and Thread Magic are my primary specialties. Spatial Magic is simply the next skill to develop and master. Other forms of magic are varied between amateur and advanced."
"So, then… Omnifarious is not entirely true?"
"Oh, it's true, just to a varied extent, depending on the individuals that possess the ability to achieve the impossible."
"So, you don't boast about your abilities?"
"Boasting about one's abilities implies a feeling of superiority. I don't brag. I don't expect people to kowtow in front of me whenever I want. I would rather be seen as other people's equals rather than as a superior or inferior. The majority of the Magic Knights is compromised due to the imbalance between members of the nobility and commoners. The only two exceptions seem to be the Green Praying Mantis and the Black Bull; the former being comprised of commoners and the latter being a ragtag bunch."
"Ragtag?"
"Put quite simply, the Black Bull is comprised of a wide-range of individuals, whether they're members of the nobility or are just commoners. From what my younger sister and nephew tell me, most of the squad is comprised of commoners, one member of one of the royal families, a reformed member of the nobility, and the captain is a foreigner from a land that may be where my family's ancestors were originally from. And from the way my nephew describes them, they're not perfect, but he enjoys his time spent with them."
"What kind of person is your nephew like with the Black Bulls?"
"He trains them whenever he can and prefers they don't change their habits at all. They're quite stronger than when he mentioned them the first time. He has taken a particular interest in making sure that two of his squad mates, a boy from Hage and a member of House Silva, are able to rise as high as they can because not that many people believe in them."
"A boy from Hage? Isn't he that boy with the five-leaf clover grimoire?"
"The Black Clover grimoire? He is."
"What type of magic does he possess? I heard that he doesn't possess any, but wields a pair of swords or something."
"Those that believe this Asta of the Black Clover doesn't possess magic are misled. Because nobody understands it, they fail to see its potential. Asta possesses the rare attribute of Anti Magic, which allows him to negate the magic of others through the use of his swords that are imbued with Anti Magic. Black Clover grimoires are rare and represent the mage's conviction and potential to become great over time. Nothing comes easy to those that don't put in the effort to back up their conviction."
"Anti… You call it Anti Magic? That's really magic?"
"As I sit here and breathe."
"Can you do Anti Magic, too?"
"That…would be boasting."
"But…if it's only a question from one mage to another?"
"Then the answer is 'yes'. Water Magic, Earth Magic, Wing Magic, Memory Magic, Anti Magic, Spirit Magic, if it existed in the past all the way to the present and people can still make use of it, it is within reasonability for those that remain to be capable of practicing it."
"Do you aim to be the Wizard King one day?"
"If I wanted to achieve that goal, my first move would be to make the selection process of the Magic Knight Entrance Exam more efficient for all that seek to apply, giving every mage a chance to show their skill. What about you? Do you seek to become the Wizard King one day?"
"Like they'd let a commoner become the Wizard King?"
"There's no law that says a commoner can't achieve such a goal. All you need is merit."
"You believe this?"
"It takes more than one's own strength and the support of the people to achieve such a feat. So, yes, I do believe that even a lowly commoner that has to start at the very bottom of the mountain can reach the top if they have merit to back up their conviction. What would you do as the Wizard King if you obtained the position?"
"If it was me? I'd…allow commoners to apply for the Magic Knights, too. It's rare that they ever get accepted."
"Rare…but not unheard of."
Then, the mysterious man held up a Magic Knight robe with an insignia that Tenshi recognized.
"Could you or your nephew train me to become stronger?" He asked him.
"We could…if that is what you want," Tenshi answered him. "Where is your conviction?"
-x-
Yui prided herself in being smarter than most others, and ensuring that she couldn't be traced back to Harbinger was another test of her intellect. His spell's nature was only stuck to two pages in her grimoire, so all she had to do was remove the two pages from her grimoire to avoid suspicion. In her lab space, carefully cutting the pages out of her grimoire, under the watch of Harbinger in case anyone dared to trespass upon her personal domain.
"What are these humanoids?" Harbinger asked her, looking at the human-sized constructs that were made with a combination of magically-generated flesh, bone, blood and metal. "They were harvested from magic, but don't conform to anything made with magic."
"They're Evangelions," she revealed to him, "and they're made using science and technology. Magic was just used to gather the materials necessary to piece them together."
"And what are they for?"
"They're for ensuring mankind's bright future."
Harbinger looked at one of these creations that was colored red and looked as though it possessed small horns on its head armor and four eyes, wondering how they were meant to represent the future for the human race…when all physical forms of life needed to be cleansed from existence. Unless they were to remove humans from their tangible state, he was at a loss towards these abominations. Still, as they were Yui's creations, and she detested magic, he was willing to put up with their presence until he no longer had to.
"What do you think?" Yui asked him, and he returned his attention to the pages that held his existence outside the Void, floating in the air in between them.
"I couldn't tell they came from a grimoire," he expressed, impressed by her results.
"Unless they pay close attention to every page within a grimoire, it's doubtful that they would ever suspect me. The spell can stay hidden here until I need you and nobody will be the wiser."
"Hmm! Bravo."
Yui then took the two pages and placed them into a nearby desk with a drawer, putting the spell to summon Harbinger out of sight. As long as she was the only person to have access to this personal dimension that housed her lab and work projects, nobody would be able to trace Harbinger to her and the search could go on until the Magic Knights found someone that they could suspect. But she couldn't do the one thing Harbinger informed her not to do: She couldn't underestimate Guardian of the Void…and she shouldn't overestimate her ability to remain inconspicuous if people were to become too interested in her methods. Still, the eradication of the Spade Kingdom gave them an edge in the future; all the energy from those lives had been gathered and channeled into a reservoir she had created for later use in her grand design. Once everything she needed was prepared and she was ready to add her son to her agenda, everyone was ensured to benefit from the bright future she had planned for them.
People need to change if they ever hope to survive, she thought as she got up from her chair. They need to let go of their past and reach for the future. This isn't how any of us are meant to live. None of this will do for anyone.
-x-
Misato had to admit to herself that she was disturbed by Yui's behavior and lack of remorse when it came to what she was doing and how she pitied Shinji for being among those unaware of what she had done. Even after watching the pictures of the young man meeting a stranger that claimed to be vice-captain of the squad he was in, she could only wonder how long it would be before Shinji discovered that his mother was responsible for destroying an entire nation by unleashing a creature that was beyond the people that lived there.
"His mother is so…" Asuka uttered, unsure of how to express her opinion of the woman that acted so cruelly towards people she had no affiliation with when she joined a group of people that were supposed to protect other people from external threats. "I can't believe he doesn't know what she's done yet. What do you suppose he'll do when he finds out?"
"If he finds out," said Gendo. "Who's to say that he won't ever?"
"If he finds out what she's done," went Fuyutsuki, "he may not forgive her. Attacking another nation without any authority, slaughtering countless innocent people, and all for… If they have a death penalty over there, she's likely to receive that fate."
"You really think these people would kill her for what she did?" Ritsuko questioned. "If they were an enemy, she was doing them a service."
"It's not a service if they don't know it was her," responded Kaji. "People that don't rise up to claim credit for their actions are the ones that can't be suspected of having done so. But if they do get found out, there are consequences they must answer to."
"Ikari-Kun may want to know why she did it first before letting her face whatever fate awaits her," said Rei; the fact that Shinji didn't know yet didn't excuse the possibility that once he did know about Yui's decimation of the Spade Kingdom, he wouldn't see her in the same light, assuming he was even able to see her in a positive sense.
"You really think he'd turn on his own mother, Rei?" Gendo asked her.
"He is more emotional than logical. He does only what he feels is the right thing to do, not what others tell him is what he should do. If he views her as being in the wrong, then he will do what he can to stop her."
"But to have to deal with her when the truth comes out," Ritsuko utters, "that will put him in a compromising position."
I think Shinji was put into a compromising position long before his mother made a dark decision that was just as messed up as anything his father made him do, thought Misato as she let Asuka turn the next page.
"Gott im Himmel," Asuka sighed.
The picture she was looking at was under one of Suki when she was still in school in her younger years. It depicted Shinji and this stranger standing before four creatures that possessed horns.
"Some people would rather look the Devil himself in the eye…" Kaji expressed.
"…Than to have him sneak up on them," Fuyutsuki added.
-x-
It was one thing to enter into a pact with one devil. But to enter into a pact with four of them…was something else altogether insane. However, Shinji understood that they were past the boundaries of what could be called the usual insanity. And then, there's the fact that Nacht was the one that entered into a pact with these four beings, meaning he was the one that had to deal with the repercussions of his decisions.
"These are the devils I work with," Nacht introduced to Shinji and the others. "Gimodelo, Slotos, Plumede and Walgner."
"Four devils is, while insane, quite impressive," said Guardian to him, seeing the four underworld beings in their familiar guise under Nacht's servitude. "Judging from the level of magic coursing through them, they must be from the middle tier of their hierarchy."
"You can tell what tier a devil's from…just by their magic power?" Rades asked him.
"Devils, magical spirits, people, it's all the same when you view them from the same angle."
"What about that creature we saw a memory of when we spoke with the Third Eye?" Shinji asked Guardian. "If that was a devil, what tier would it belong to?"
Guardian looked at him and uttered, "The high-ranking tier, just under the highest-ranking tier."
"Wait, there are two types of high tiers?" Noelle questioned.
"Four tiers exists in the underworld for devils. The highest is reserved for those associated with the Tree of Qliphoth. Last recorded number for that tier was ten. The high tier under it is full of devils with varying levels of sinister magic that can enable them to cause problems for any number of mages that face them without any prior knowledge of how to best deal with them. Below that tier is the one reserved for those between the high tier and low tier. The middle tier, with a handful of devils and other demons that, while strong, are not impossible to face and overpower. Lastly, you have the lowest tier, reserved for devils with very little to almost no power, whatsoever."
"In the underworld, once the hierarchy was established, whichever devils get assigned their rank," went Rika, "they couldn't change it, no matter what they did. It's like a pyramid of power and authority, except that the pyramid is upside-down, with the strongest at the bottom and the weakest at the top. They spend eternity torturing and tormenting whoever or whatever they can cause suffering against, creating an endless vacuum of misery to feed off of."
"Sounds like Hell," said Gordon.
"To a devil locked in the Void, that would be Hell," Guardian expressed. "Unable to cause suffering, unable to revel in it, and forced to spend every waking moment sharing their space with other beings too immoral to be allowed to run free."
"So…Harbinger," uttered Nacht to Guardian, "he could go up against any devil he chooses or that stands in his way or the way of his ally, including members of the highest tier…and they'd be helpless against him? Completely helpless?"
"It wouldn't be a battle. It'd be over before it even began. He'd be the butcher…and the members of the Tree of Qliphoth would be the carcasses prepped to be chopped."
"And if asked what tier you belong to, what would your answer be?"
"Asking nicely, I would answer that the tier I belong to…is currently the same as Shinji. But…if there was someone that wished to try and measure my power…I would merely enforce…that I keep scratching the surface on purpose…because to live at the top of the mountain alone…is to be isolated from those that you seek companionship with as time goes by."
"And…if you were to stop scratching the surface?" Suki asked him.
"I wouldn't look like this. I'd look bigger, less like a friendly monster and more like a force of the darkest nature."
"Sounds like something Shinji, Tenshi and I used to watch on television back in Japan. You'd have levels, stages that you can go through, either at will or once you've met a requirement, and depending on what the necessity of those levels or stages is, you'd probably stay that way until it's no longer needed and you go back to the way you currently look."
"Heh-heh-heh! I like your assumption of myself right now, Suki Ikari. You'll go far. Levels and stages. Yes, it'd be like that for me."
Nacht got the impression that Guardian was smarter and more powerful than he currently seemed. But if he was affiliated with House Ikari, past and present, there had to be a logical reason for why a creature such as him would serve such a family when he could've taken control of them and make them his servants.
"You'd be wrong to assume that, Mr. Faust," he heard Guardian say to him.
"What?"
"You were thinking there's a logical reason to why I chose to affiliate myself with House Ikari. You were wondering why I serve them when I could probably do the opposite and make them serve me. To answer your curiosity to why, my simple answer to you…is that I have a deeper, moral reason to stay associated with House Ikari. If you endure and show restraint, you may discover why."
"Are you always so secretive?"
"We just go with it," Shinji told Nacht. "Guardian hasn't led any of us into anything we can't walk out of with our limbs still attached."
"And none of you think to question whether or not he is capable of making sure he is able to do what other Magic Knights are capable of?"
"Oh, we've seen what he's capable of," said Vanessa. "He and Shinji are part of the reason we've gotten better."
"Is that right?"
"Doubting your squad mates only raises the sense of doubt they have in yourself," went Noelle to him. "No offense, but you have been absent for a very long time. What is your rank in the Magic Knights? Your last reported rank?"
"Second Class Senior Magic Knight."
"How long ago was this?"
"Almost ten years ago."
Guardian looked at the four devils again and noticed how each of them, excluding Gimodelo, seemed intimidated by his presence.
"I get the impression that you three aren't as open as Gimodelo is," he told them.
"We've only been around for three-five-hundred years," revealed Walgner. "Gimodelo has seniority; he's been with Master Faust the longest."
"You're saying you need permission just to have a conversation with someone that speaks to you four? What is wrong with simply talking?"
None of the four mid-ranking devils answered him. If it was because they did need Nacht's permission just to engage in conversation with others, it was only because of their relationship with the man, whatever it was.
"Personally, I have doubts on anyone classified as a devil being condemned to exist as devils," he gave his opinion.
"What do you mean by that?" Nacht questioned.
"Yeah, what do you mean by that, Guardian?" Shinji asked him. "Those who are classified as devils not condemned to exist as devils?"
"What exactly is a devil to humans?"
"A demon," Noelle stated.
"And what is a demon?"
"A demon is a…a…"
"The result of a transgression," went Suki in realization, surprising the royal noblewoman. "A demon is just a transgression that was committed…and a devil is just another designation for an angel that was cast out of the heavens and condemned to the underworld."
"And what is the thing most underestimated about an angel that fell from grace?" Guardian wanted to hear from them.
"They can rise back up," Shinji understood; again, he had Tenshi and Rika to thank for his better understanding of angels and demons, deities and devils, the kami and the oni.
"So," uttered Grey, "a devil is an angel that fell from grace…and if they wanted to, they…can rise back?"
"Only if they have conviction…and put in the effort," Guardian stated; he had seen people that fell on hard times rise back up to obtain greatness…and those that had been on hard times since their lives began rise to greatness when they decided on what they desired and put in the work to get to where they wanted to be. "For any that find themselves in the darkness and want to return to the light, they have to admit to themselves that it's what they want and are willing to go to their absolute limits to achieve such a desire."
"Has a devil even attempted to do so?" Nacht asked him.
"That…would be telling."
Again, Guardian wasn't all that different from humans, but he possessed knowledge that aided in handling situations that were difficult to contend with. To just divulge on whatever he did know would be to give information to those that weren't ready to fully grasp it just yet. But unlike humans, he didn't keep secrets to have an edge against others or to one-up them; whatever he knew that was what humans didn't know, he would share when he was certain they were of the mental fortitude to deal with it. And as for whether or not a devil escaping their status as a fallen angel being known to him, Guardian would tell them…when they had matured mentally a little further; simply telling them now would be uneventful.
To be continued…
A/N: The next chapter will have there be more repercussions to the devastation caused to the Spade Kingdom, including those that knew of certain situations and kept quiet about them. In the meantime, rejoice in the small rewards of what has happened here. Do review if you can and express what you believe could've happened that might happen later on. Peace.