Colt tried hanging on to The Big Man, but his strings couldn't hold out against his physical strength. Eventually he managed to break out of it and threw a blast at Colt who managed to evade it my jumping down the slope. "Rookie get to Mads and stay there!"

Deckard stayed above and continued to trade blows with The Big Man. Colt managed to regroup with Mads. "Any ideas?"

"For dealing with a guy that has no magic, an explosive arm and a bag full of grenades. Got to admit nothing comes to mind. I'm still struggling to move so I can't do much." An explosion right above their heads causing dust and rocks to fall on the two.

Colt peered over the edge and saw Deckard wielding two swords with diamond hilts. Colt assumed it was the two of diamonds spell and Deckard switched to close combat. The Big Man also switched to close, Colt noticed that when he throws a punch it causes an explosion when he lands a punch. Colt went back two Mads while Deckard battled The Big Man. "Just who the hell are you and how is it that you don't have magic?"

"So now the glorious magic knight finally asks the million-yule question. How is it I have no magic? Believe it or not it's a lot more common than people believe, but it's usually just a deep dark secret that parents try to cover up and hide from the world where magic is everything. It can range from many methods from hiding the child in the house, giving the child away or in my parents case," The big man gestured to his arm. "Murder by throwing an infant of a mountain and into a ravine hoping that if the fall doesn't kill him, he'll just drown."

Deckard was speechless, for his whole life he thought that the Captain was the only one who had no magic, now he's learning that not only there is someone else that doesn't have magic but there are more people and they have been hidden away from the world and even killed. The idea of killing ones child almost caused Deckard to throw up right there, but he knew he couldn't, this fight had to be won, not just for the sake of the mission but also he needed to catch this man, he needed to tell Asta that he wasn't alone, he needed to know more. "So, tell me. Where can I find more people like you?"

"Hehehe. Enough to destroy all four kingdoms pal, and from it's ashes will rise a world were all will be perfect." The Big Man rushed at Deckard. "And we'll make special work of that traitorous Captain of yours."

Those words stunned Deckard causing him to lose focus and take a direct attack throwing him against the wall and causing him to fall to the ground. 'the Magic Knights?'

o

"Yeah, your magic is totally awesome, I once knew a guy that would probably pass out over it."

Deckard tried to get up but the beating he took from the guys he just cheated in a game of poker kept him from doing so. "You got to be kidding me," Deckard looked at the man with pointy hair and a bird on his head. "I'm just a con-artist and a gambler, there's no way I could cut it as a Magic Knight."

"Well maybe not in the Golden Dawn or the Sea Dragons. But in my squad, you'll fit right in and we'll mould you into a real knight that won't have to take a beating every time he's caught with cards up his sleeve." The man tossed a robe at him. "Oh, and by the way." Deckard looked back at the man and was terrified to see a dark aura started covering him. "I don't take rejection very well."

Deckard took the offer and joined the Bulls, and he never once regretted it. There wasn't a morning since where he woke up and didn't appreciate the life Asta gave him. No longer living a life running from loan sharks and suckers he cheated, finally being able to have a life and a home.

"My captain? A traitor? To who?" Deckard managed to stand up again. "My Captain is a man of undying loyalty to his country and his squad. How dare you call him a traitor." Mana started to envelop Deckard. "Card Magic: Player Deck: King of Diamonds." A form of a King holding a large sword took shape around Deckard. Colt could see that The Big Man was visibly by this massive surge of power. "Royal Slash."

The King begun to bring his sword down on The Big Man who grabbed something out of his bag and placed it in a slot in his arm. "Burning Bomb Palm." A massive torrent of fire started shooting from The Big Mans arm like one of Fuegoleon spells, burning the king. Deckard was on the ground, mouth agape, this man with no magic had destroyed the most powerful spell he had with one of the most powerful explosions he had ever seen including magical attacks, how was this possible. The Big Man glared right at him, "That is something you wizards will never have, ingenuity, people like me have to learn and build so we can kill each other, take this arm for example." The Big Man lifted his arm that was now glowing red from the heat. "Steel made to withstand the heat of magic knights like Leopold and Mereoleona Vermillion, armed with shells filled chemicals and flammable gases that can rival their magic as well. All kinds of mechanical devices all made to wipe mages out of this world."

Suddenly black strings wrapped around the still glowing hand from behind the opposite shoulder, The Big Man turned his head to see Colt. "Got anything for sweeping legs, cos we got magic snakes for that." The Big Man turned back around to see Mads peeking over the mound but was more mortified to see a giant magical form of an anaconda almost right in front of him.

The giant snake lunged right at his leg, tripping him over, Colt tugged at his strings pulling the arm under The Big Man, and had him land right top of it. "AAARRRRGH." The Big Man managed to roll over, but his clothes were already on fire and a massive hand imprint was burned on his chest. "Little brat." The Big Man yanked at Colts strings pulling him towards him and put his hand out to let of an explosion to kill Colt, Mads anaconda reappeared wrapping around and biting the arm and crushing It. "Damn it!" The Big Man yanked a small lever at the shoulder causing the arm to fall off, he grabbed the end of the arm and lunged at Colt and hitting him in the chest with the metal arm launching him off the ground.

The Big Man turned around to continue his desperate attack only to have a clover shaped mace hit him square in the jaw causing him to topple over and dropping his arm so he could steady himself with the other, he looked up and saw Deckard standing over him holding his Ace Clover Mace which he swung upwards straight into The Big Mans chest causing him to fall on his back. "The mace to the face was for my subordinate down there that you through against the wall, the one to the ribs was for the one that you smacked in the ribs, and this…" Deckard put his boot on the burn on The Big Mans chest who let out a blood curdling scream. "This is for embarrassing me in front them and insulting my Captain."

"It's not my fault he has no pride in being magicless, if he was a real man of no magic, he would have taken that demon gift and lain waste to every single magic using piece of trash in the entire kingdom. Gah."

Deckard dug his heal into the burn. "It's because he has pride that he doesn't and uses everything that he has earned to protect others you slime."

"Yeah right, protecting every single one of that magic using trash that enjoys the feeling of putting my kind under their boot, not a single mage has any idea what that could feel like."

"WHAT A LOAD HOARSE CRAP!" both Deckard and The Big Man looked to see Colt struggling to sit up but looking The Big Man dead in his eyes. "I know what that feels like, all my life people looked at me like I was diseased, a monster waiting to happen. Not once did I do anything to anyone, and they treated me like if they got too close, I'd slit their throats, even now those people are still giving me crap just because my magic is all about stealing but I'm now forging my path as a Magic Knight and I'm not going to stop until I reach the top and become the Wizard King to prove that even someone with magic like mine can make it that far, you though, even though you made that arm, capable of wielding it you use it to hurt and destroy. People like you are nothing but a waste of potential, becoming the very monsters or losers that they believe you to be."

"Pretty words kid but it doesn't matter, this world won't change with pretty words and people reaching some lame ass goals, it changes only when it's dragged kicking and screaming, then you make sure you beat it before it gets back up."

Deckard dug his boot again. "Motives don't matter right now. What the hell were you doing here and where are the others that you work with."

"Again, won't matter what does matter is that none of us will be alive to tell the tale." The Big Man ripped open his jacket revealing another bomb. "See you in hell." The Big Man flipped a switch, Mads ducked under the mound, Deckard leapt at Colt and brought up a shield barely in time but were still thrown back tumbling. Deckard got up and dusted himself off and looked to where The Big Man once was. There was nothing left but a scorch mark and metal arm.

Deckard called the Bulls for backup asking for Sally and Finral to help the rookies who were on their last legs. When they arrived, Sally provided some first aid and managed to get them back to the hideout with the arm. Mads suffered some trauma to her head and back but Sally took quick care of that with some recovery gel while Colt was a little worse for wear with a group of broken ribs and burns to the chest.

What they didn't realise though that during the entire fight they were being watched from the shadows by two cloaked figures. "So, Wayne ended up bested and blown, doesn't really matter though. He was a hot head and a danger to our mission, none of the artefacts we're after are even here."

"Did you actually hope for him the get taken out?"

"Of course not, it was just a happy accident. Now that that headache is out of the way we can continue our work to find the rest of them."

The two of them vanished but only one had a grimoire.

o

A week later Colt was finishing up his latest healing treatment with Sally and walked into the common room where everyone else was just hanging out as usual, though Finral was looking a little antsy. The Captain walked in looking much nicer than usual with washed hair and his jacket seemed less wrinkled like he's trying to impress someone "Hey kid, what's the word?"

"Sally say's another two treatments and 'll be back into fighting shape."

"Good cos when you're back, I'm getting Jack here to start training you in combat."

"But I can already fight sir. We took on that bomb guy."

"Yeah and you ended up with four broken ribs and internal bruising, Jack there is a martial artist he'll show you how to fight without magic and seeing as how you're magic depends on other peoples magic you need every little trick you can get, he'll also train your co-ordination and reflexes trust me it's for the best." Asta gave Colt a look that told him that the conversation was over, and Colt wasn't about to argue with a man that looked like his shirt was filled with smoothed rocks. "Finral quit pacing and open the portal if you're eager to see her."

"Yes Sir." Finral opened a portal and after a moment a very good-looking woman with pink hair and a red cat on her shoulder. "Vanessa!"

"Finral sweetie not in public especially in front of these cute new faces." Vanessa leaned in very close to Colt. "Hey newbie what's your name."

Colts face went completely red and for the life of him he couldn't even remember his name all he could say was. "Uuuuhhhh."

"That's odd, I meet a lot of guys named that."

Finral came to Colts rescue. "Vanessa this is Colt, Colt this is Vanessa a Black Bull senior member and Rouge her cat made of thread magic that can actually change the result of any situation mainly battles."

"Aaaand, this guys Missus." Vanessa said giving Finral a peck on the cheek.

Colt's face was still blank. A cat that can change results of a battle how is that possible. Mads cleared her throat. "Oh and over there is Mads our new snake charmer."

"Hello young lady it's nice to have another lovely woman around the hideout."

Now Captain Asta was starting to get impatient. "Finral who's next on rotation already?"

"Oh right sorry. Uh. Magna up this month."

"Alright Magna hurry up, times a-wasting."

"Yes sir."

Colt watched The Captain and Magna walked through the portal and it closed behind them. "You know Mads and I have been here for a little while now can you guys tell us where it is exactly the Captain goes every week?"

Colt could feel the air getting a little tense in the room as the senior members looking at each other, Mads was also confused about it. Eventually Deckard spoke up "Hey guys, these two pretty much saved my ass I don't think they'll blab to anyone about this."

"Yeah you're right we don't have much reasons not to trust them." Finral agreed, he sat down next to Vanessa. "Every week the Captain goes to his home village of Hage to see a certain someone away from prying eyes."

Colt and Mads both sat on the couch silently waiting for him to continue, when he didn't Mads just had to ask, "and that certain someone is…?"

"His Missus."

This shocked the two of them, there is very little known about the private lives of the captains it's all just rumours and hearsay, to hear that the captain of the Black Bulls was married actually interested the two of them, it also felt nice that learning this made them feel like they're being more apart of the squad, it was until Finral stopped midway again to pour himself a drink and gave the rest of the bottle to Vanessa. Colt then asked. "And his missus is…?"

Finral took a long swig of his whiskey. But when he put it down, he answered. "A water Mage."

"THAT'S NOT A NAME." Mads screamed.

Finral started laughing "Yeah but I'm just enjoying the build-up, I always find it funny when I tell people like this."

o

Asta stepped through the portal next to Magna. "Okay man, house should still be all set for ya. I'll see ya later Magna."

"See ya boss, have fun." Magna said with his sly smile

"Don't be smart Magna. It doesn't suit you."

Magna walked of with a glum face.

Asta walked through Hage until he saw Sister Lily and couldn't help waving like an excited little kid. "Hey how's one of the greatest water mages in all the Clover Kingdom."

When Asta reached her, he knew he just needed a big hug, he always ended up missing her. He could swear he could hear Father in the distance talking about chopped liver. The two of them walked past the church side by side just talking about what's happened since the last time he was there. They finally reached a little house by the church. Asta gripped the handle to the front door smiling at Sister Lily as he opened the door."

o

"Before we go any further you need to know the reason these two keep their relationship secret is because they don't exactly get along with the Clover Royal family" Finral explained. Colt and Mads looked like their heads were about to pop from tension, veins were pulsing in both their heads, every time Finral would continue the story he would side step the subject, take a long pause or pour himself another drink, though this time the information was a little interesting. The Clover family were first in line for the throne. Captain Asta was willing to risk everything for his relationship with the yet unnamed woman. The last part of the thought riled them back up again.

"BUT WHO THE HELL IS HE MARRIED TO." The two yelled in unison.

Finral just stared blankly at the two "Oh right I haven't said yet have I. Sometimes I lose track when…"

Colt and Mads coated themselves in their mana, Colt turned pitch black and if one looked closely you could see dust particles flowing towards them, Mads was covered with snakes snapping at Finral. Vanessa looked at Finral. "I think you should tell them, they look like a pair of mini Yami's."

"Yeah you're right anyway Asta is married to…

o

Asta opened the door to his house and looked right at his wife who he waited all week to see and all he could do was smile as he saw her long silver hair and her pink eyes. Just standing there, just taking in the sight of her.

o

"…Noelle Silva."

You could here the pressure hissing out of the rookie's heads and the rest of the Bulls just snickering away, Colt was the first to speak, "But a friend of mine in the Sea Dragons told me that it was just a rumour."

"Yeah, a rumour the two of them started themselves, a lot of hearsay and rumours fly around the Nobel and Common realms it's impossible to tell what's true. I mean there was once a rumour that once Magna had something going on with the current Blue Rose Captain."

"Never happened!" Luck called out.

"I don't know Luck I never got a straight answer from him. Anyway, back to the topic at hand, Noelle and Asta enjoy their time together privately and don't like people that they don't know butting in so they started the rumour to give them plausible deniability, just like what Noelle did with your friend, she probably doesn't trust her yet."

Mads chimed in. "But this sounds like more of a national secret rather than just two people enjoying their privacy."

Finral got a bit more serious. "Well you're not wrong. The only people who know for certain about it are us in the Black Bulls, The Current Captains due to their close friendships with the couple, most of the former captains, some of the Silver Sea Dragons they got a bigger squad than ours and Noelle likes to play it close the chest, and a few civilians here and there."

"But why the secrecy?"

"Like I said, they don't get along with the Clover family, in fact the family outright hates Asta cos the guy has no filter between his brain and his mouth and outright insulted the king in his first year as well as challenge the status quo of nobility and commoners. Same goes for Noelle, as a noble they expect her to be like them snobbish and put down those weaker than her, problem was that Noelle herself was incapable of controlling her magic and was ostracized amongst the royals even her own family. Her time with us gave her a new insight on everything as well as the strength she needed to become the new Sea Dragon Captain, that earned her the respect of most of her household all except her sister."

Colt sunk into the seat. "Why not?"

The tension in the room didn't go unnoticed as Finral spoke. "Nebra Silva is… a little harsher than most nobles."

Vanessa interjected, "Oh for crying out loud quit sugar-coating it, she's a jealous vindictive sadist that tried to kill Noelle and myself and made herself an enemy and one of the most wanted criminals of the clover kingdom."

Mads and Colt just stared at Vanessa.

Finral took over again. "So yeah that's the big reason why Asta and Noelle keep their relationship secret, because some people don't like them."

"Also, Noelle did tell me she enjoys the sneaking around, keeps her feeling young," Vanessa said with a cheeky smile.

Finral gave a small smile as he took his wife's hand in his. "Not to mention the biggest reason of all."

Colt leaned forward once more while Mads left eye started to twitch

o

Asta held his wife in his wife in his arms and Noelle did the same to her husband as she nuzzled the crook of his neck, as if the two are afraid to let go of each other, but they knew that if they really wanted to enjoy their time together they knew they had to, they Asta looked Noelle in her eyes trying not to get lost in them long enough to ask the question that had been on his mind since he made it to Hage. "So where's Anya?"