Mads and Amanda remained oblivious to the dire situation unfolding around them. Amanda was more absorbed in her conversation with Mads who was trying to tune her out. "You know before we broke off with that guy Colt, he had a pretty serious face on. Do you think it could have something to do with the Silver lady?"

"I really couldn't tell you. We're not that close."

"What? But he's your squad mate. There shouldn't be secrets amongst squads. For example. Did you know Brox is a vegetarian?"

"No, I did not."

"Well he is and Tak, he comes from a huge family I think he's the tenth borne."

"Good for him."

"Then there's Boris who'll crack a fit if you do his eggs sunny side up. Jemima who likes to collect bottle labels of every kind of booze she drinks. And Remy who likes to drabble in architecture in his spare time." Amanda leaned in Mads to whisper in her ear. "He even rearranged the base when captains not around."

The veins in Mads head started to twitch. This girl was talking her ear off. "Look. I have no idea what's happening between those two. Colt doesn't exactly talk about his private life."

"A typical boy. Keeping reserved and bottled up to seem tough. A reason why I prefer a more feminine company." Amanda said with a sly smile looking Mads up and down.

Stunned, Mads stopped suddenly in the middle of a crossroad, blush crawling on her face. "Wait feminine company? As in...? You're...?"

Amanda stood in front of Mads, hands on her hips. "Finally got a reaction from you. Is it cause you're a little curious? Cause you do look cute when you blush." Amanda touched Mads nose with her finger. "Boop." Mads jumped back flustered throwing her arms around. Amanda gave a light chuckle at her reaction. "Relax sweetie. I don't romance on the clock."

Mads was about to scold Amanda for the dirty trick but then she heard footsteps coming down one of the tunnels. Mads checked the map. Unless whoever was coming dropped their map, they weren't a magic knight. Amanda and Mads stood side by side, grimoires drawn, ready for battle. When the figures appeared from the shadows Mads noticed Amanda stiffen, and tremble and she couldn't blame her.

Amanda and Mads were faced a very deadly opponent in Nebra Silva and her partner a twin rapier wielding magicless woman with pale white skin and pitch-black hair and eyes. Her gaze made Mads and Amanda very nervous.

"Well, well, well. What do we have here?" Said Nebra as she paced around the room. "A little bug and a smelly bull. This should be fun. Everyone knows that killing a bull is a good way to shred the heart of that magicless brat Asta. As well as that annoying little insect Sekke if I killed a mantis. I'm going to make sure that when I kill you two, I'll take my time. And I'll make sure they know that."

Amanda took a step towards Nebra, Mads noticed the fierce gaze in his eyes. "My captain may be annoying. But a cast out hag like you doesn't even have the right to say the names of our captains." Amanda placed her hands against her thighs reaching for her weapon pouches. In each hand she held a weapon that resembled snake fangs, two small curved blades on the sides of each fist as she held the grips between them. "Venom Magic: Poison Dart Skin" Amanda's skin started to change colour to a red-purple mix and Mads noticed a sweat like fluid on Amanda's skin. "You have no idea how long I've waited for this moment, Nebra Silva."

"Well, child if you want the right to kill me." Nebra got out her grimoire. "Mist Creation Magic: Bewildering Forest of Mist." The room filled with Nebras mist. "You're going to have to earn it."

Mads grabbed the scruff of Amanda's robe, careful not to touch her skin, and pulled her towards her before turning so they were back to back. "That cowardly bitch." Hissed Amanda. "How are we supposed to find them."

"I may have something. Just keep your guard up. Serpent Magic: Serpents Skin." Amanda turned her head for a second to notice Mads skin was changing to scales. When the transformation was complete, she opened her eyes to reveal her snake eyes. "Okay. Let's give this a shot."

Amanda couldn't help but notice her drawn out s's and turned again to notice Mads flicking her forked tongue like a snake. "What are you doing?"

"Snakes are predators with various ways to track, depending on the snake. But luckily this form gives me the best of all snakes. Like picking up their trail with my tongue."

"Well I could think of a few more things to do with that tongue of yours."

Another blush crawled on Mads face. "Not now."

"So later then?"

Mads turned to her ready to yell at her before. "Look out!" The Swordswoman emerged suddenly attempting to slash Amanda. Thanks to Mads warning she managed to bring her blades up to block and counter. Unfortunately, the Swordswoman managed to evade and retreat into the mist.

"How did you see that?"

"The mist makes it difficult at a distance. But up close my eyes detect heat signatures."

"That's amazing."

"Not really. It's giving me a headache."

"I think you're downplaying yourself girl. So, here's the situation. Our advantage is that we have a way to track them. And if we can track them, I can fight them off. If they even touch my skin their dead. However, the tracking and knowing exactly where they are, are two different things, so they can still get the drop on us if we're not careful. But we still suffer a major problem."

"And that is?" Mads asked.

"Nebra can see through this mist and use long range attacks. Unless we figure out how to get to her. This won't fight won't end well."

Mads and Amanda stood back to back in the middle of the misty crossroad planning their next move.

0

Brox and Tak were moving through the tunnel before Brox stopped them. "Hang on kid. Tunnels about to move." And it did. They couldn't see the tunnel move but they could feel it in the ground as it shifted. Even with the change the end was still dark. Brox looked down at Tak. Despite being the same age Tak was about half the size of Colt. He barely made it to Brox's waist, but that wasn't what caught his attention, it was the look on Tak's face behind his glasses. "Tak I can't keep saying this to you, but you need to learn how to relax."

"How am I supposed to relax Brox? For starters we are way out of my element down here under ground."

"You sure about that?" Brox said as he pointed to a small cockroach sputtered across the ground.

"Okay maybe not way out of my element. But what about the fact that I'm not exactly a combat mage. Hell, I don't even know why someone like Captain Sekke would pick someone like me for his squad. I only took the exam because my brothers and sisters said I should. I didn't think I'd actually get picked."

"I don't know why Captain Sekke chose you either. You'd have to ask him. But I do know that he doesn't pick people without a reason. Which I can imagine in your case, is quite numerous." Brox stopped the two of them and looked Tak straight in the eye. "Listen Tak. When a captain picks a squad member, they always have a reason. Sometimes it's because they see potential, the Blue Rose Knights sometimes picks a male to do the labour work and sometimes very rarely these days for cannon fodder. Captain Sekke isn't a Blue Rose Knight, and I have never seen him use a squad mate as cannon fodder. That should tell you all you need to know about Captain Sekke. And why he would choose someone like you."

"Aw, how sweet." Tak and Brox turned and noticed two mages walking towards them. A large bald man covered in pelts tattoos of mountain savages and a large quiver full of short spears next to a man with long hair that covers his eyes and a short but thick beard who was the one that spoke. "Nothing softens my heart more than a big guy lying to a little weakling about his worth. Kinda makes me wish my brothers did the same for me. But all I got were daily beatings. Until I killed them of course."

Brox pushed Tak behind him before retrieving his grimoire. "Who are you?"

The man with the beard moved his arms around dramatically as he spoke. "Well, my name is Baily, and we just call this large strapping fellow Savage. We don't know his real name cause unfortunately the poor fellow can speak due to his clan cutting out his tongue. Not sure why because he can't tell us." Baily laughed at the subject like it was a big joke.

Even after just meeting the man Brox could already tell. "You're insane."

"Probably. But like I said. Daily beatings. Stuff like that tends to mess with a man's head. Not that anyone cared about my sob story. They just saw the crazy man. Oh, and you may think your protecting the boy by keeping him behind you but believe me against the two of us it won't do any good. You see Savage here has one hell of a throwing arm when it comes to his spears and well..." Baily made a small gesture to Savage.

Savage reached over his shoulder grabbing a spear from his quiver. Brox figured he must be magicless if he's using weapons. "Gravity Magic: Spotted Rising." Spots on the ground between the Knights and the Servants begun to shake as rocks and boulders were ripped out of the ground and begun floating between the two sides creating obstacles for Savages spears.

Baily merely chuckled. "Nice try. Not a bad idea. But unfortunately, it's not going to work." Baily brought out his grimoire. "Wind Magic: Twisting Gale." Brox and Tak felt a subtle breeze through the stones. Whatever that spell was it wasn't an attack spell. That's when Savage threw one of his spears.

The spear didn't hit a single stone. It hit Brox in his shoulder. The spear went deep but didn't go all the way through.

"Brox!" Tak knelt at Brox's side where he fell. "How did he do that? That chances of an opening through the boulders are near impossible. Did he get lucky?"

"Luck had nothing to do with that kid." Brox managed to sit back up. "His spell. It created a wind base mana current. He controlled the direction of the spear. We are going to have be a little more creative."

"Wait. We?" Tak asked while shaking.

"Yes, we." Brox reached for the spear in his shoulder.

"Wait, Brox don't…"

Brox yanked out the spear bellowing a loud roar of pain as he did. He then reached into one of pouch and pulled out a small capsule and placed it on his shoulder then crushed it. The open wound was filled with an anaesthetic gel that sealed the wound and numbed the pain. "Oh God bless the beautiful sacks of crazy that is Sally and Amanda. Look Tak I'm sorry but I'm going to need your help fighting these guys. Listen I you may think you can't do this but I'm quite sure that En would think differently of his little brother."

The mention of his older brother caught Tak by surprise and managed to make him stop shaking. He looked forward through the stones. He had no idea how he and Brox were going to win this. But he wasn't going to shame his family by not trying. He did manage a little confidence when he noticed a rather large centipede by his foot.

0

Deep within the tunnels, two unconscious Crimson Lions and a dead Servant lay at the feet of the Large Cloaked Masked Figure. "How boring and I thought I'd least get some entertainment before I claim what is mine." The Figure looked down at the Lions. "Maybe killing you would alleviate some boredom. Seeing as how you effectively killed my servant, I may even get some pleasure out of it."

The figure grabbed one of the Crimsons by the throat with a strangely armoured hand and raised him to eye level. Even though he was unconscious The Figure continued to speak. "Even if I was the one who broke his neck. But the ones who are perfect must demand perfection. We tolerate bringing losers into our ranks to make them better, we do not tolerate them staying losers."

The Figure began to squeeze the Crimsons neck. "Guess this just makes you the loser between the two of us." The figure was just about to kill him until he heard something small fall to the ground. "Oh, what's this?" The Figure dropped the Crimson, then picked up a scrap of paper that was the Crimsons copy of the map.

"Well how about that." The figure studied the map carefully noting where the other maps were located. "I may have my own way of seeing through the region but now I know where the other magic knights are. Seeing as how these two groups are in the deepest sections I guess they'll be my next targets. Why don't you two come and watch." He grabbed the two crimsons and dragged them down the tunnels to the depths.

0

Sara and Colt fought their opponents at close range. Sara was fighting the woman who changed her skin to diamonds while Sara had hers changed into platinum. Rather than chucking spells the two girls were trading blow for blow leaving Sara with dents and the Diamond Woman with cracks.

Colt on the other hand was trying his best to avoid being decapitated. The man swinging the axe was large like the Big Man except it was more muscle than fat. He was swinging the axe like it weighed nothing. The axe's design was weird, instead of wood and metal, it was all metal. It almost reminded Colt of the Big Mans mechanical arm. Strange tubes and mechanisms in the handle. The axe was single bladed, but the other side was strange cylinder on the other side that Colt couldn't figure out. "Seriously. Where do you guys get these things."

Axe Man managed to hit Colt square in the jaw and send him tumbling to the ground and onto his back. Axe Man started to walk towards him, tightening his grip on the axe. "These were gifts. Gifts from the Diamond of the Perfect Cast." He stood over Colt. "A man that truly deserves power, because he is kind enough to give it to those who were denied power." He lifted his axe above his head. "So we can kill people like you." He swung his axe down, aiming for Colts head.

Colt managed to bring up his scarf, remembering its defensive powers. With no magic in the axe he couldn't reflect it, but he managed to divert it, landing next to his head rather than on it. "Yeah well, I'd take a gift from my mother over your perfect diamond any day." Colt then kicked Axe Man in the crotch, Axe Man bent over in pain giving Colt the opportunity to kick him in the face forcing Axe Man to let go of the axe and stagger back. "You never stand directly over an opponent in fight dumbass. You think someone who's never had a magic duel would at least know the basics of close combat."

Separated from his axe Colt saw a desperate almost feral look in his eyes. "you don't know anything about me boy. You don't know anything any of us!" Axe Man charged at Colt ramming him with his shoulder launching Colt back a few feet. Luckily his vest absorbed some the impact, but it still really hurt. Axe Man picked up his axe. "I'm done playing with you boy." Axe Man flipped a switch on the axe which then stated to make a groaning sound."

"That's funny. I was about to say the exact same thing." Colt pulled out his grimoire. 'Most of my magic is useless when fighting someone like this. Even that third spell wouldn't be useful here. But luckily after training with Jack I got that new spell. I was kinda hoping that this wouldn't be its debut. Oh well.' "Thievery Magic: Feather Touch." Not much changed around Colt, no visible indication of a spell. Though if one looked carefully one could see that Colt's feet was half a centimetre off the ground.

"Pretty pathetic trick boy." Axe Man charged at Colt raising his axe to slash sideways and chop Colt in half. Colt thought it was a pretty obvious trick, until the cylinder on the back of the axe started to spit fire making the axe's slash more fast and powerful.

But he still missed as Colt jumped straight up in almost the blink of an eye. Using the momentum of the swing the Axe Man turned around expecting Colt to land behind him. As he crashed his axe down, he noticed that Colt wasn't there. He turned around again and again but couldn't see him. He didn't even hear him land. Then he heard a whistle from right above him. Axe Man looked straight up and saw Colt standing on the ceiling with a smug smile on his face. "Feather Touch. The perfect spell for a thief. It's a form of fast movement magic. But not only does it increase my speed, but also makes my movements weightless which means no sound in any of my movements. And it allows me to stay attached to any surface. And let's just say it's definitely good for combat." Colt launched himself of the ceiling bringing his boot down on the Axe Mans head. When he landed Colt spun and launched a kick into the Axe Mans stomach and because of Feather Touch was launched across the room and into the far wall.

When the dust cleared Colt saw that the Axe Man was thrown through the wall. Colt noticed his axe wasn't around and figured that the Axe Man had it. Colt then turned to Sara who was still fighting her opponent, though he could see she had the upper hand. The Diamond Woman was getting exhausted while Sara was still standing strong. Colt was just about to go and help her to finish the fight then suddenly something crashed into Colt from behind, throwing them some distance.

Colt managed to sit up and look at the direction from where he was thrown. There was a massive whole in the wall. Through it jumped a very skinny creepy looking man that Colt remembered was Desmond who was still looking through the hole. Colt saw two hooded figures through the hole and figured they were the enemy. 'Wait. If the two bad guys are over there and if it's just Desmond. Then where is…?' Colt turned and saw that what crashed into him was wearing a Black Bulls robe. And was lying on the ground and his arms and legs were all twisted and mangled. "LIONEL!" Colt ran over to his comrade and turned him over. His eyes were closed, and his face was still. Almost every part of his body was twisted. There was no way he could have lived through these injuries.

Colt didn't even notice the Axe Man coming back through the hole. He didn't notice Sara getting tripped by the Diamond Woman. He didn't even notice that Desmond was fighting two people by himself using strange claws made of bone. All he noticed was his comrade, mangled in his arms. Colt closed his eyes in disbelief and despair as he lay his head on fallen comrade.

"God damn son of a bitch. Does that punk have any idea how long it takes to build these things?"

Colt opened his eyes. "Who said that?"

0

Outside the entrance to the caves stood four figures that exuded power. Noelle Silva, Sekke Bronzazza, Leopold Vermillion and Asta. Four Magic Knight Captains and none of them were happy. Noelle saw Erin and Zac unconscious by the entrance. "Erin!" Noelle ran to her subordinate and knelt by her side. She found Erin's copy of the map.

Leopold stood over the two. "You three better get in there. I'll take care of these two. And make sure no reinforcements make their way here."

Asta stood next to his friend. "You sure? You might miss the good fight."

"Yeah, but out of the four of us I got the best healing magic. Get everyone out and bring them to me."

Noelle stood up prepared to move out. "Still find it weird that you ended up with healing magic. Didn't it end up having something to do with that girl from the heart kingdom." She said with a chuckle to try to lighten the mood.

"Shut up and move out."

Sekke was already moving down the tunnel. "He's right. We have to move or who knows what will happen to our squads."

Noelle, Asta and Sekke moved down the tunnels ready for battle.