Disclaimer: Black Clover is owned by Yūki Tabata, Studio Pierrot, and Shonen Jump.

Saga 54: Bat Country

Clover/Diamond Kingdom Borderlands, Neutral Territory, Midnight

"... How much longer?" Cole groaned out.

"Screw you, dude," Sole grunted out as she hoisted Cole further up her own back as she carried him, "I'm almost out of magic and I'm the one walking, so quit complaining."

"... Please," Fragil remarked in an exhausted tone, "... both of you... please stop talking."

"Damn claymen..." Puli heaved out, "... those dicks turned our brooms into woodchips while we weren't looking before..."

Cesc next to her than collapses onto the ground, falling-asleep mid-stride. Brigid then remotely lifts the tired Aqua Deer Magic Knight up into the air with her [Anima Magic], adding him to the number of other mages who were already asleep and floating in the air behind her.

"That makes eight," Brigid remarked as the other sleeping or tired Magic Knights floated behind her in a trail of bodies, "already this far, and more than the half of you are already on the verge of collapse!"

"... Doesn't mean..." Charlotte groaned out as she trudged on, "... we have the privilege... to stop..."

"Well, not for much longer," said Brigid as she looked ahead and found lights glimmering from a distance, "I see the medevac up ahead. About roughly three more minutes of walking, seven if dragging your feet..."

She along with Charlotte then hears several sounds of bodies hitting the floor.

"... And ten if more people fall asleep at this rate," Brigid sighed out as she picked them off of the ground and put them on her trail of [Wind] and [Fire].

"You heard her," Charlotte groaned out as she noticed the faint lights up ahead, "all of you... get the lead out."

With one last grunt, the rest of the Blue Rose Knights and Aqua Deer Magic Knights then make one last trudge towards the rendezvous point, before finding themselves within the ruined border village, surrounding them being wrecked buildings and planted swords size of castle towers, the latter serving as a reminder to those who were still awake of the herculean task that's before them.

"... Can't imagine that you went through this for a whole week," Rill remarked with a dreadful look on his face, "... I do not envy you guys for what you've been through for the entirety of the past week."

"... You'll get used to it," Sol mumbled out half-awake.

"Captain..." Fragil remarked from behind, "... one more word out of you... I'll beat the ever living crap out of you..."

Then, all of the sudden, the group then hears the sound of water trickling onto the ground, causing the ones who were still somewhat awake to spring into high alert.

"Who's there?!" Charlotte cried out as she brought her whip from her grimoire, but the roses on the vine now being colored black, "come out where I can see you-"

"Um, captain?" Brigid remarked after tapping her shoulder, "... it's just a buff dude with a white tank-top pissing on the ground."

Charlotte then lets out a disgusted groan upon hearing the description from the floating sorceress.

"Of all the people on god's green earth..." Charlotte moaned out as the sound of zipper being pulled back up was heard behind the giant sword's flat, "... why does it have to be you of all people?!"

Out came from behind the edifice of the titanic blade came Yami, cigarette in mouth and his expression still being dull and fish-eyed as usual.

"Huh, you guys came earlier than I thought," Yami remarked, completely ignoring the floating woman next to Charlotte, "come on, I'll show you the way."

The Blue Rose Knights and the Aqua Deer were then led to the Black Bull's base, which was just sitting in the middle of the ruined village, the relatively-intact form of the base surrounded by ruin helping it stick out like a sore thumb.

"Wait," Rill remarked, "I remember the Black Bulls Base being really out of the way, but not by this margin."

"You coming in or not?" asked Yami.

"Coming!" Rill answered as he and the others came in and finally collapsed onto the floor, not caring that it hasn't been cleaned for god-knows how long, for now they finally have a roof over their heads.

"... This..." Charlotte sighed out as she drowned herself into the sofa of the Black Bulls Base's main lounge, "... is the only time where I'm grateful of your sorry behind, Yami."

"You're welcome," deadpanned the Black Bull's Captain, "so, who's the lady floating in the air?"

"Oh please, we've met," Brigid pointed out.

"Yeah yeah, I kid," Yami replied with a smirk, "... so," he remarked as he looked around, noticing the decrease in the initial number of Magic Knights sent out to the field, "... is this everyone?"

"We lost a couple," Rill sighed out as he sat on another couch arranged across from where Charlotte was at in a tired heap, "... but even I know me talking about it won't bring them back."

"... Aion too?" Yami asked to Charlotte, the latter giving a faint nod as she avoided eye contact with him.

The Black Bulls Captain then lets out a deep sigh before slapping his cheeks with both of his hands, trying his best to suppress his grief for his old student.

"... Alright," Yami replied as he sat down on a stool next to the countertop, "all of you, grab onto something that's somewhat nailed down."

"Wait, what?" Charlotte remarked before the whole base then began trembling as if an earthquake was occurring around here.

The floor that they were on felt as if the building itself was now lifted off of the ground, the walls around them being shifting brick by brick like pieces of a puzzle or a mosaic art coming to life.

"What's going on in here?!" Charlotte exclaimed, "are we under attack again?!"

"Chill," Yami remarked on a nonplussed manner while taking a drag from his cigarette, "this is how I get around now."

Rill then runs towards the window, and upon opening it, finds that the ground beneath them was moving like a sliding picture, as if the base itself grew a pair of legs and started running around on its own.

"Whoa!" Rill remarked excitedly as he stuck his head out of the window of the speeding Black Bull Base, now in a quadrupedal-oxen form, "this is so epic! How come my base doesn't have something like this?!"

"Iiiiiitttt'sss beeeeccccaaaaussssee ooofffff mmmmmeeeeeeeeee," a voice heard through the walls remarked out, causing everyone else to freak out, "ddddooooonnn'ttt wwwooooooorrrrrryyyy. Iiii'mmmmm a fffrrriieeeennnnddd."

"Oh my god, the base itself was haunted this whole time?!" Sol cried out in fear, "are there ghosts living here?! Is that why the whole thing is moving on its own?!"

"Nah," Yami remarked, "that's just my first tenant/member of the Black Bulls. Say hi to everyone, Henry."

"Hhheeeelllllllllllooooo," Henry spoke out of the walls, "ttthhhhaaaannnkkssss ttoooo tttthhheee ccaaapptttaaaiinnnn, Iiiii gggooootttt aaannn iiinnnttteeerrrcccooommm sssyyyssttteeemmm iiinnnsssttttaaaallllllllleeeeedddd, ssssssoooooo Iiiii ccccaaaannnn tttttaaaaallllkkkk tttoooo pppeeeooopppllleeee fffffrrrroooommmm aaa sssaaaffffeeeee ddddiiisstttaaaannncccceee."

"Funny what happens when you're so busy with paperwork that you can't even go gambling for two months straight," Yami remarked in a humorous tone, "suddenly, I actually have yul to burn."

"I'm surprised," Charlotte replied unenthusiastically, "so where are the medics?"

A giant gift basket wrapped in a ribbon full of muffins, pastries, and bottles of juice and wine was then lowered from the ceiling. On the arrangement of foods, a card with a letter written on it decorated with a drawing of a sheep at the bottom-right of the corner was placed on it, with the following being written on it as such:

Take as much as you need, but don't forget to share! My food is nutritious enough to bring the nearly-dead back to life!

-Charmy Pappitson of the Black Bulls

As soon as Charlotte took a bite of the sweet-savory bran muffin, every last strand of her fatigue in her body suddenly disappeared. She suddenly then finds herself inhaling the whole thing before reaching out for another. Upon ingesting her third, she suddenly chokes on a piece, before she was then handed a cup of white wine to wash it down.

"From what I heard from Charmy," Yami remarked as he pulled out a slip of paper before reading it, "... muffins for muscle aches, pastries for mental stress, juice for damaged senses, and wine for any broken bones. Never tried em myself, but hey, thorny there seems to like it enough that it works."

"Hm, how intriguing," Brigid remarked as she picked out a jam-and-cream cheese-filled pastry out of the basket before using her [Anima Magic] to study its components while everyone else began eating the contents out of the basket, "the maker of this morsel has [Cotton Magic], yet somehow manages to incorporate recovery properties despite [Cotton Magic] rarely incorporating recovery properties to begin with," she remarked as she continued looking at the food with studious eyes while everyone else wolfed down on their own shares, "fascinating. I can duly surmise that this Kingdom may contain esoteric kinds of magic that I've yet to discover."

"Pardon me, but why does she sound like Julius but with a pair of tits?" Yami commented, "last I seen her, she wasn't this talkative."

"Hey, you gonna eat that?" Cole asked Brigid, to which the latter picks a piece off of the pastry before ingesting it to study its effects before handing it to the last male Blue Rose Knight alive.

"Oh, guess we haven't talked that much upon our introduction," Brigid replied to Yami's statement while Cole shoves the pastry into his mouth before choking on it, with Sol handing him a whole bottle of orange juice for him to down on, "as you know, I am Brigid."

"Yes, and if I recall, you're quarter-human, quarter-elf, quarter-dwarf and quarter-giant," Yami surmised, "anything else I'm missing?"

"My hybrid nature is not biological, assuming if I had any to begin with," she remarked as she morphed into a mass of four elements before transitioning to her "Animus Form", that of a handsome shirtless male with flowing raven hair and tight-fitting purple leather pants that accentuated his meaty thighs and butt, "after all, the human body is simply composed of the four elements all intertwined in absurdly complex patterns. In an extremely-abridged statement, our body heat is [Fire], our bones are made of [Earth], our tears are the [Water], and our very breath is the [Wind]. In this form, I go by Bres."

"... So you're like an artificial human who doesn't come with a set gender?" pointed out Yami.

"You seem rather nonplussed despite the oddity of my existence of my very existence," Bres remarked before reverting back to Brigid.

"Eh, I've seen weirder," Yami remarked, "so what if you're literally made of magic and might be way older than I am? Doesn't change that you're still a person I've met in my life, so why should I treat you any differently?"

"Hah! Not bad!" Brigid remarked as she floated around the base's lounge, "I like ye."

"Yeah well, intrusion on our jurisdiction aside," Yami remarked as the others settled down after finishing off the gift basket, "... thanks, I guess."

"Oh come now, it's was merely on a whim," Brigid remarked, "let's just say that it wasn't an 'intervention' but rather a 'field work caught in crossfire'."

"Eh, less paperwork for me," Yami remarked as he killed the light on his smoke with his boot sole, "so, what's your deal? Who were the people that created you? Why did they create you? Were you a weapon, or are you something else entirely?"

"My, coming on a bit strong, aren't we?" teased Brigid.

"Nah," Yami rebuffed, "I said that I've seen weirder, but you're practically one of the kind, literally. Might as well get to know you if I'm going to trust you with not only my Black Bulls, but also the rest of the Magic Knights."

"Very well," Brigid remarked as she sat down onto the stool next to the countertop and lit her iron pipe with her glowing finger, "it all began 500 years ago, a century of internal fighting within the Spade Kingdom already passing."

Within the country's borders, the Ulster Alliance, the Kingdom of Avalon, and the Libratium Duchy were warring with each other, each faction going on about who will succeed the throne of the kingdom without an heir.

Ulster were a loose collection of tribes who wished to abolish the monarchy before adopting an heir candidate of their own 200 years later.

Avalon's main house, the Pendragon, contested the rival house of Grinberryall for the throne.

And the Libratium Duchy, led by the Grinberryall, sought to keep the dibs for the throne while they tried desperately to search for their lost heir.

As for where I come in, I was an attempt to broker peace between the three factions as a collaborative effort to create the ultimate peacekeeper of the broken Kingdom as they gave time to create terms for the future negotiations.

The created me with the intent to collect information everywhere all at once, and return with them to allow the treaty that'll end all bloodshed to be fair and equitable to all sides. The ultimate mediator between the three powers, the bearer of the olive branch that the fractured kingdom needed.

The Four Sages, Vortigern the "Black Warlock" of Avalon, Patrick the "Emerald Saint" of Ulster, Antonette the "Crystal Seer" of Libratium, and Gwydion the "Fool" who just came into the door, but held unfathomable knowledge of natural mana.

Anyway, the four of them made me with their own magics, Vortigern's Black Flames, Patricks Verdant Winds, Antonette's Gleaming Water, and Gwydion's Rich Earth, I was born as the perfect union of man and woman, knowledge and strength, experience and naivety, and a cocktail of overkill magic potential.

For a supposed information gatherer, I was practically a weapon of my own volition, but considering that one of the three factions came from Ulster, "overkill" was per standard.

They named me as Brigid, meaning the "High One". And as you can expect, my function as an information-gathering being didn't turn out too well.

Granted, I fulfilled my purpose of gathering and returning information throughout the country without fail, but said information didn't matter to much in the end.

Libratium Duchy had a massive bubonic plague outbreak, Avalon was going through both a refugee crisis and an attempted coup with Vortigern trying to overthrow the current leader, Uther Pendragon, and Ulster in general, it was business as usual.

"What do you mean by 'business as usual'?" Yami pointed out.

"Nothing much, just numerous tribes got drunk on mead and started a massive brawl that turned into a 'honor feud' that which went on for about a half of century," Brigid remarked, "although in their defense, the tribes-chieftains and their wives got into a massive drunken orgy which I was doomed to witness until the very end. And no matter how much alcohol and Basilisk venom that I ingested to scrub the horrid data from my cortex, but all it did was dissolve me into a puddle of human mush."

"Did not need to hear that," Yami deadpanned, "so what happened to the treaty?"

"Never happened," Brigid remarked as she took a huff from her pipe, "mainly due to inter-factional conflicts being substituted with just internal conflicts."

"So in went a civil war only to come out with another," Yami pointed out, "... by pure happenstance?"

"From my experience, the tides of history are like actual tides," Brigid stated, "no one's truly in control, and all we can do is just watch and hope not to drown."

"Meh, as long it ain't our personal problem, I can live with the fact," Yami remarked as he puffed out another plume of smoke, "so what about the Four Sages other than Vortigern? Who I'm pretty sure got wasted during his little coup."

"Surprisingly, it was the refugees themselves that aided the suppression of the coup right after Vortigern tried to summon a Demon for aid," Brigid remarked, "after that, about 90% of the refugees from up north became the very first Thaumaturges, with Avalon now taking a very zealous Anti-Demon stance ever since, going after small hamlets to thriving villages and burned everything, including the people living there, to bedrock," the sorceress remarked, "as for Patrick, rumors said that he turned into a rainbow after his apparent death of old age, and Antonette died while trying to create the vaccine for the bubonic plague, her students finishing it," she said as she inhaled on her iron pipe, "as for Gwydion, I stayed with him as he tried to work on the treatise that would finally unite the fractured country back together," the sorceress stated, her expression growing sullen at the memory, "I stayed as he grew weak and frail from age, I stayed even as his bones were housing maggots, and I stayed as I was buried along within the same tower that I was created, only leaving after a Lindwyrm ate me whole mid-ascent, and shat me out a good decade later as a misshapen mass of male and female anatomy before I put myself back together, but now, without a purpose for the next century."

"... Wow," Yami remarked at Brigid's confusing, yet sobering life story, "born for a single purpose, yet denied of it even as you did the work towards achieving it. That kinda hits a little close to back at my old home."

"Hanafuda?" Brigid asked, "you're the third I've met on this continent."

"Stupid old men and their wars, sending their young to die for their saggy teats for the title of Shogun..." Yami grimaced, "... ran away just to get away from them, only to end up fighting another country's war for another old man, and I end up liking him and his work," the captain pointed out, "... does that make me sound like a hypocrite?"

"Technically, yes," Brigid replied, "but that makes me a conceptual hypocrite; how a supposedly perfect peacekeeper failed to stop an endless war only to be picked up by a half-Demon like a stray puppy. Honestly, I don't think hypocrisy of in itself something that's not worth beating up yourself for it. You're content with your new life, and unless your past comes back to rear its ugly head, well..." she remarked at the katana sheathed around the Captian's waist, "... fight like your life depends on it? Accept it and let the tides sweep you away? Your choice, I suppose. I mean, could've just rotted away when Dagda offered me his hand 200 years ago, so there's that."

"Heh," Yami chuckled to himself, "I don't need an old lady like you to remind me of that."

"Ha, ya got ballocks of brass to say that to me," Brigid remarked as she pinched an area between Yami's legs, causing him to wince a little, "... so hurry the fuck up and shag the blue rosebud Captain with it before it shrivels."

"Wait," Yami remarked in confusion, "what?"

"You two are bloody idiots," Brigid sighed out, "an Avalonian prioress and a blind stable boy has more chance of getting horny."

"Whatever," Yami shrugged off, "I got my work to focus on, and I really can't afford to fall behind after William is removing the swords with his [World Tree Magic] by himself, so maybe later."

"Bah, you're no fun," Brigid scoffed as Yami walked away from her, "... wonder how Dagda is doing with the masked man."

Terra Cotta Dormitory, Residential District #2, Libratium, Spade Kingdom, Midnight

"... Rough night?" asked Krieger as he sat in the dorm's mess hall, the lamp sitting on the table next to him where he sat.

"... It's been a while since I slept without the ground itself trembling beneath me," Fana remarked as she carried Mars's head encased inside her crystal, "... you're not afraid of a girl carrying a head inside a crystal?"

"... I'm used to it," Krieger replied as he stared into the lamp, "15 years prior to the new regime, a severed head was the least morbid thing you'd see rolling down the streets," the dormfather remarked as he headed towards the kitchen, "... you want some warm milk?"

Fana nods. After the two sip their beverages, the two head back to their rooms to sleep.

... You were lying about the reason why you couldn't sleep, right? Elf!Fana remarked inside Fana's head.

"Shut up and let me sleep," Fana replied to herself as she placed Mars's preserved head on her shelf next to her bed, "I'll talk to you when I'm conked out."

And thus, Fana goes to sleep as she shuts her eyes, and upon opening them once again, waiting before the bonfire, the sole light illuminating the darkness of her subconsciousness, was her eleven counterpart.

"... So, you still thinking what that girl said about us?" Elf!Fana pointed out as Human!Fana sat down across from her, "about when our discord becomes so great that we'll birth a Demon in our stead?"

"I want to believe that she's scaring us," Human!Fana remarked, "but after Mars died at the hands of the Demons and we were forced to flee, I don't know what to believe anymore."

"Just what does that girl think when she says that we're going to turn into a Demon at this rate?" Elf!Fana remarked angrily, "she's a human, so what does she know about magic?"

"Hello, human here," deadpanned Human!Fana.

"I don't give a shit," Elf!Fana dismissively remarked.

"You really should."

Between the two Fanas, Mari in a simple red and white ceremonial dress appeared before them.

"MARI?!" the two Fanas cried out in surprise.

"I'm a spirit medium," Mari pointed out, "my job description isn't just limited to interacting with the souls of the dead, but also extends to seeing the souls of others within dreams as well."

"For a human, you show degrees above and beyond what you're kind can accomplish," Elf!Fana remarked before standing up and confronting her, "now tell us, what the hell is going on with us? Why are we about to turn into Demons if we don't get along?! Answer me dammit!"

Mari then simply points to the bonfire before the three.

"That is [Salamander]," Mari pointed out, "the Fire Spirit is weakening due to your disharmony," she remarked, "usually, if one of the four spirits sense that their host is unworthy, they just flat out leave, or so have I been told," the medium explained, "however, there's something keeping it attached to you two for some reason."

"Meaning?" asked Human!Fana as Mari begins to observe the two Fanas while forming a picture frame with her index finger and thumbs.

"Reincarnations that are literally picture-perfect are nigh-impossible," Mari pointed out as she compared the two, "it's not so much as you two are reincarnations, but rather... duplicates. Doppelgängers, in a way."

"Okay, so what does that have to do with us?" asked Elf!Fana.

"... Can you tell me more about you two?" Mari requested, "I need to see if there are any continuity between your two's lives."

And began their sharing of their stories, with the Elf sharing that she was from a hidden elf village that was razed to the ground before being brought back to life in present day in Fana's body, formed the Eye of the Midnight Sun before it was attacked by the Fallen Angels and she herself as the sole survivor, followed up by her going on a blind rampage to the nearest Magic Knight where she can find before shutting herself out, whereas the human recalls being raised in the slums of the Diamond Kingdom before volunteering to Project H.O.L.O.N., only to die, come back to near-death before being thrown out, wakes up in the Dungeon with her beloved friend Mars, only for him to be cruelly slain before her by the Fallen Angels and his followers, before being taken in by the Whomalt and Kruger families who were trying to find a safer country to flee to.

"I see, I see," Mari nodded, "I notice the continuities between the two of you, of the presence of loved ones dying, the Dungeon shift, and the presence of the Fallen Angel," she remarked, "however, there's one inconsistency which I find between you two."

Mari then snatches their thumbs before biting each of them as she tasted their blood.

"Oh calm down," Mari remarked, "this is dream, so you'll be fine," she remarked as she licked the blood off of their cut thumbs, comparing each taste before coming towards her conclusion.

"Well?!" Elf!Fana remarked, "what is it?!"

Mari smacks her lips a few times before telling her the following.

"... How in the fuck did you two live the same lives inter-connectedly?" Mari remarked in utter shock.

"Pardon?" Human!Fana peeped out.

"I tasted both of your bloods after you each told me your life stories," Mari remarked, "when you each said you lived separate lives before merging, I have to ask," she remarked in a slightly-freaked out expression, "... are you sure you two weren't living in two different timelines at once?!"

"WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU MEAN?!" Elf!Fana screeched out as her hair exploded into flames, to which Mari is more concerned about keeping her bearing together rather than be intimidated by the Elf's temper tantrum.

"... We've reached worst-case-scenario," Mari pointed out, "someone fucked up your souls with an unholy combination of Demonic Mana and soul tampering at the worst timing possible, making you two over 500 years old through technicality."

"... WHAT?!" both Fanas cried out.

"If the error in the personal timeline isn't corrected, it won't just turn you two into a single Demon," Mari pointed out, "first thing after you two register for your curriculum? Head to the Demonology & Heretical Studies Department by the Campus District #4, skull-covered castle-like building, looks evil as fuck, go there to get yourselves looked at," the medium advised, "after that, I'll be waiting by the front door, and take you the rest of the way. Any questions?"

"Wait, you guys have a department solely dedicated to studying Demons and heretical arts-"

"Good," Mari cut Elf!Fana off, "until then, sleep tight until daylight."

She then jabs both of the two Fanas's foreheads, right where their former Third Eye was at, causing the two to fall asleep in their own dreams.

"... Okaa-san," Mari spoke to herself as she looked at Salamander sitting inside the bonfire, staring at her with its pair of bright topaz-colored eyes, "... what should I do?"

She then disappears from the two Fanas's dream as she returned to her own.

Demon Skull, Forbidden Realm, Clover Kingdom, Midnight

"Claudius, this is a really stupid idea," Astaroth remarked as the two were traversing inside the hollow of the giant Demon Skull, "this place the most obvious place that the Inquisitor fucks would look for a Demon!"

"Tell me, milord," the Fallen Angel of [Pride] replied, "do you think even the likes of Inquisitors can afford to expand their search radius while dealing with a fallout from continental-wide catastrophe?"

"I mean, they already have the balls to go against us and our kind for a living," the Prince pointed out as she continued climbing up the cliff face with Claudius, the former's wings too frail to support him in the air, the latter now only sporting a half of a pair, "I'm more legit concerned that they haven't shown up yet."

"Speak of the devil, and the devil shall come, or the saying goes," Claudius paraphrased, "point being, we'll deal with it after we cross that bridge," he pointed out, "for now, I need to confirm something."

"Confirm what?!" Astaroth remarked as he and Claudius finally reached the top of the ledge, and his grimoire starting to shake violently.

Behind the wall of rubble and thorns, a suppressed, yet leaking aura of pure malignancy and vileness was emitting through the barricade, just like a leaky roof ready to cave in at any second.

"... Claudius," Astaroth remarked with a slightly worried tone, "what the hell really is this place-"

His grimoire than suddenly rips itself off of its straps behind Astaroth's waist as it automatically opens is pages, with the [First Seal: Leviathan] flying out towards the barricade before planting itself into it, followed up by numerous black chains welding itself onto its pommel.

"... WHAT THE SHIT?!" Astaroth barked out as he then walked towards where his sword was planted into to retrieve it, "Claudius, I swear to god, if this is all part of your convoluted plan-"

But just as he touched the pommel of the [First Seal: Leviathan], a whispering yet booming voice echoed in his head.

THEEPICENTER.

HEADTHERE.

THESECONDSEALAWAITS.

"... The [Second Seal]?" Astaroth remarked, "the epicenter?"

His eyes then suddenly saw a vision.

An idyllic cottage standing atop of a hill. A woman with an apron with three kids. And a Demon that resembled him playing with said kids.

"... Claudius," Astaroth spoke as he left [First Seal: Leviathan] where it was buried up to its hilt, "we're leaving."

"Whereto?" asked Claudius, his anticipation rising.

"... The center of this goddamn continent."

To Be Continued...

Author's Notes: Another intermission chapter before the next arc. Yeah, the next arc will be about the meaning of the word "Apocrypha", and why there are so many canonical inconsistencies, yeah, it's gonna get meta as possible.

So Brigid being the magical equivalent of a Mars Drone and a peace ambassador armed with nuclear arms is revealed, and her slightly turbulent backstory. I mean, after I revealed her to be an artificial spirit, might as well explain why she was created.

This whole chapter is explaining a few plotholes before introducing a new plot thread. I fell a day behind after I got an upset stomach so excuse me for the short chapter.

Reference:

- The name Bres is derived from a Gaelic God with the same name going by Eochu Bres, its name meaning "beautiful horseman", the wife of the Gaelic Goddess Brigid and a major dick.

- Vortigern is named after King Vortigern of Camelot, King Arthur's uncle and a tyrant.

- Patrick is named after Saint Patrick, the missionary who brought Christianity to Ireland.

- Antonette is named after Marie Antonette, the queen of France who was beheaded during the French Revolution.

- Gwydion is named after the Celtic Hero/Magican/Trickster-like figure of Celtic lore, whose name roughly means "Born of Trees".

Hypothetical Voice Actors:

Bres: Daisuke Namikawa (JPN), Blake McNarama (ENG)

So, as always, what do you guys think of this Saga?

Please leave a comment or a review, for I'd like to know what my audience are thinking!