"Seems like you could use a bit of help." Said Hayami from up high
'I don't know why but ever since I spoke to Ryoto it's been easier to use my ability.' Thought Hayami 'incredibly easy.'
"Hayami, right?" Said Mereoleona
"Yeah, everyone went to alert the other magic knights." Yelled Hayami "so for a few minutes it's just us."
"I wouldn't say a few minutes as much as a few seconds." Said Dorothy from behind Hayami
"AAHH!" Yelled Hayami scared
"Please stop yelling." Said Takai, "it hurts my ears."
"Yeah well, not all of us are as tired looking as you are." Said Kentaro "just take a look at Maimi. She's just bursting with-"
"What'd you say?!" Said Maimi pulling on Kentaros ears
"That was supposed to be a compliment!" Said Kentaro
"Everyone...please! Calm down." Said Kaiko putting her hands up
"Woah what are those things?!" Yelled Dorothy pointing at the monsters
"Oh those?" Said Mereoleona deactivating her magic and putting her grimoire away "I thought Ryoto would've told you by now."
"Well not really." Said Dorothy "wait you're telling me that you've seen these things before?!"
"Not that long ago. We fought another one of these things before. I fell asleep though so I have no idea how to kill them." Said Mereoleona, putting a hand to her head "so far I've only really burned them to death."
"Speaking of which, where is he?" Said Dorothy
"I left him resting next to a tree." Said Mereoleona
"Hmmm?" Asked Dorothy
"He was badly injured and wanted to keep fighting so I kinda had...to knock him out." Said Mereoleona
"Oh I see." Said Dorothy
'I hope he's okay.' Thought Dorothy
"Alright we're here-oh what the hell?!" Yelled Finral coming through the portal looking around.
Finral looked at the grass on the ground that was burning and the monsters that were caught in water above his head.
"What the hell are those things!" Said Finral
"What the hell are you talking about?" Said Yami coming through the portal "These kinda look like my pets."
After a few seconds many more magic knights appeared from the portals of Finral and Cob. As they walked through, mostly everyone was there. In total six of the magic squad captains were present. Charlotte, William, Fuegoleon, Nozel, Yami, and Dorothy. They all brought a few squad members with them.
"Just how many people did you call?!" Yelled Kentaro to Maimi
"I don't know! I just went straight to the capital!" Said Maimi defensively
"How'd you even get to the capital in such little time?!" Yelled Kentaro
"What the hell are those things?" Said Charlotte
"I know right?! That's what I said!" Dorothy exclaimed with a finger up
"Hey Sisgoleon, where'd my squad go?" Asked Yami
"They're right there." Said Mereoleona pointing to a fire "Wait what the hell did-!"
"THEY DIED?!" Yelled Finral putting his hands on his face "OH NO! THEY WERE SO YOUNG! THE WORLD IS SO CRUEL!"
"Relax. That flame is protecting them." Said Kana walking past the crowd
"What're you talking about?" Said Fuegoleon
"In this case, this flame is special. It's a surprise from Ryoto. The flame slightly hovers over them protecting them." Said Kana pointing at the flame "and that over there is also a little something from my friend."
They looked over to where Asta was. His body was surrounded by a mist of black and blue. In the mist there was a circular shield. His body was facing upwards, showing the ten large needles that were lodged into his body. The shield then disappeared and a bird came out of his shirt and waddled up to the top of his head and sat in his hair.
"What happened to him?" Asked Yami
"He got what seems to be sleeping needles thrown into his body." Said Mereoleona "it seems that the same thing had happened with the others."
"What were you saying about these surprises?" Asked William with intrigue
"Oh right well, these things that are surrounding them are their 'protective spirits' that Ryoto has put on them." Explained Kana "they take the form of what the person that is in their possession is familiar with or has seen the most. For example Mereoleona sees flames more often meaning that hers will probably be flames."
"So then does that mean...?" Said Finral looking at Nero
"I wouldn't doubt it. I sit on top of Asta's head pretty often." Said Nero plainly "he sees me a lot so..."
"Well anyways, these forces protect the user and can even communicate with them. The spirits grow along with the user so the stronger the user is the stronger it becomes." Said Kana "They are pretty rare. Ryoto is the only one who can summon them. You've probably had them on you for a while."
"How did he have them follow us without us noticing them?" Asked Mereoleona
"My guess is that he stuck one to you when he slapped you back in the cave." Said Kana "They don't give off any magic presence so it's a bit difficult to sense them."
"So then he must've put it on Asta when he fixed his sword." Said Mereoleona walking towards the flame "so how do you work?"
As Mereoleona got closer to the flame it went up her arm and disappeared. All the unconscious magic knights were there side by side.
"They were even able to get Yuno?" Asked William
"I got here a bit late so I don't really know all the details." Said Mereoleona
"Right well we should probably get them healed." Said Yami
"Well what do we do about those things?" Said Nozel looking at the monsters
"If anything we should just kill them now." Said Charlotte
"How do we do that if we don't even know how to?" Said Yami
"Mereoleona what do you know?" Asked Fuegoleon
"So far all I know is that they have the ability to adapt to magic. On top of that, they have regeneration. The only person that's been able to kill these things has been Ryoto." Said Mereoleona
'This Ryoto must be pretty powerful.' Thought Nozel
"Hmm...Kana, since you know Ryoto, would you happen to know?" Asked Dorothy
"No nothing really." Said Kana "I know the basics like their biology but I don't know how to kill them."
"Well I guess we can worry about it later when Ryoto gets back." Said Dorothy, "Hey Hayami, how long do you think you can keep this up?"
"Maybe a few hours." Said Hayami
"Okay then! All we have to do is find Ryoto and in the meantime dig a hole for these things!" Said Dorothy "For now let's just get them healed up."
"Agreed." Said William "where is Ryoto?"
"Right." Said Mereoleona "I guess I should go."
After a while, Mereoleona was close to where she'd left Ryoto. She'd also thought about the time he's spent with the boy so far.
'I do beat him up a lot. Now that I think of it, I don't think there hasn't been a time when I haven't smacked or slapped him.' Thought Mereoleona 'maybe I should be a bit softer on him.'
Mereoleona thought back to the time she met him. Their first encounter was a weird one. They almost killed each other over a towel. Then when she saw him training, running around with a pack on his back. Then in the village when he'd helped her in the cave.
'He sure is strong.' Thought Mereoleona as she thought back to when she'd met him.
When she reached the tree, she thought of a friendly scare. That way she'd get on better terms with him and they'd laugh about it later. She went behind the tree and reached around. To her surprise there was nothing there. The only things that were there were her cape with a Coral Peacocks cape stabbed through with a black bloody knife.
She then hurried back to Hage with the items in her hand. When she got there, at the same time a young woman appeared on the roof of a building. In her hands she held Ryoto with a tight grip. She pointed her finger down and forced everyone to lay down on their stomachs as if there was a giant amount of weight suddenly on their shoulders.
"Hey there guys!" Said Ryoto weakly, his voice cracking "aww...this sucks."
"See this?" Said The woman "you've all failed once more. We weren't looking for an item. We were looking for a person! We looked for him everywhere! But to our surprise, Shinso just found him out in the open! He was even knocked unconscious! It couldn't have been better!"
"Damn it!" Yelled Mereoleona slowly getting up
"Who is this woman?!" Yelled Yami standing up
"I won't go down that easily!" Yelled Fuegoleon
"Neither will I!" Yelled Nozel
"Oh what's this? Not enough force? Let's try some more!" Said the woman putting more force on the magic knights
"It's fine everyone." Said Ryoto with a smile "I'll be fine. Just let her brag around. That's the only reason she came here. To brag about how she caught me. In enough time she'll just leave."
"No I won't!" Said Mereoleona stepping forwards opening her grimoire
"Shinso said that I can't physically hurt him." Said The woman licking her lips seductively "but that doesn't mean I can't have my fun with him once he's healed up."
"What did you say?!" Said Dorothy
"No!" Said Kana struggling to get to her feet "you damn pervert!"
"Disgusting!" Said Kentaro and Takai
"I'm sorry what?!" Said Finral
"I'm planning to have my fun with this cute boy once we heal him up." Said the woman touching Ryoto's cheek "Ryoto will be all mine!"
"Like hell!" Said Mereoleona with a fierce look as she activated her magic "I won't let either of you get away!"
"It's useless! My magic allows me to control all magic in an area! It even allows me to nullify magic!" Laughed the woman
"If we don't get going now, more magic knights will arrive. That'll be trouble for you won't it?" Said Ryoto
'She's a bit. If she stays here any longer, someone might get hurt beyond what healing magic could fix.' Thought Ryoto
"Oh right, how could I forget." Said the woman putting another finger down "just in case. I wouldn't want you to follow us!"
The woman then jumped down from where she was standing. The woman had long black hair that reached to her back. Her eyes were a bright clear blue that had pink hearts in the middle whenever she looked towards Ryoto. She wore a short black skirt and a long sleeve white shirt with the sleeves rolled up and a red vest over the shirt.
"Other than that, Shinso gave his word that he wouldn't attack again until next year. We will however, be attacking villages and towns with these. Bye bye!" Said the woman disappearing with Ryoto in her arms.
The magic disappeared after a while. When they could get back up Sol made a giant hole to put the monsters in. They then went back to the capital where after about a week the six magic knight captains got together to discuss.
"Great another problem to deal with!" Said Yami "we got our asses handed to us!"
"What was that?" Asked Nozel
"I couldn't even use my magic." Said Fuegoleon
"Well I guess now we know what we're dealing with here. It's a shame that they took that boy but I'm confident that if he says he's fine then he'll probably be fine." Said William "now other than that, it seems that we have a new enemy. She seems to be affiliated with the reapers, so then that would mean that we know of five members so far."
"Right well we also heard her say that they won't attack any more until next year. So that gives us some time to prepare." Said Charlotte
"Correct, it also gives us time to analyze their power." Said Fuegoleon "Mereoleona has already told me what she knows."
Fuegoleon then began to tell them about how they could nullify magic, the powers they'd seen so far, and information on the monsters.
"Nullify magic?" Asked Yami, "Sounds like they're trying to copy one of my guys."
"Well not completely." Said Dorothy "If what he said was true then that would mean that they can nullify magic and not cancel it out completely."
"So you're thinking we can combat it?" Said Nozel
"Exactly." Said Dorothy "I think that if we can hit her with a surplus of mana all at once then she won't be able to nullify it."
"Apart from that, we still haven't found out how to kill those monsters either." Said Nozel
"Apparently the only one that does know how to kill them is that boy from Dorothy's squad." Said Fuegoleon "we can't drown them, burn them, or hit them with any kinds of attacks."
"Speaking of which, how's the search for him going?'' William asked Dorothy "we'll need his assistance as soon as possible."
"We've come up with nothing." Said Dorothy "I will admit it's a bit surprising that Meroeleona is helping with the whole thing."
"Why would it be surprising?" Asked Fuegoleon
"I don't really know. It's just that I've never seen her like this before. It's as if something's bothering her." Said Dorothy
"Hmm...i guess you'd be right there." Said Fuegoleon "I believe that she feels somewhat responsible for his capture."
"What about Asta? Any luck there?" Asked Dorothy
"Nope, nothing. He's still asleep." Said Yami "physically he's fine, thanks to that girl from Williams squad coming over almost every day. There's something strange though."
"This is bad." Said William
"If we had this much trouble with just a few members then just imagine how difficult it could be if there are more members." Said William "This could be a problem."