Asta continues to growl in frustration desperately trying to find his enemy.
"Hey Asta..."
Kai's voice can be heard in his dreamlike low tone. Asta quickly looks all around him trying to find the bastard but can't.
"I know your panties are in a bunch now but I did absolutely nothing to the broad over there dude."
Vanessa can't help but make a face.
Broad? The little shit.
"I thought we could possibly be friends you know.. I mean the both of us with no magic, what are the odds!"
I knew it! But who the hell is responsible for the sleepwalking spells? And if he's got no magic, how is he so fast, and even disappearing in plain sight for that matter?
"See I'm just the pretty face hired to take the blame I guess. My associate and I have unsettled business with the people in the Royal Capital, we just thought we'd have some fun on the way. We kept hearing of this wonderful Royal Knight that had no magic at all, and I thought wow! Definitely had to meet him! Thought I'd visit your hometown and wait for a bit, but by the looks of it you really don't give a fuck about these villagers, do ya kid? It's been what, 5 years and now you finally decided to pay them a visit? Being a Royal Knight must really be taking up all of your time. Can't believe someone like you even made it that far in the Royal ranks. Too bad I don't look too fondly on Royalty. Ya'll rub me the wrong way."
Asta clenches his fists then lets out another yell in frustration.
"Relax buddy... I see you've been chosen by the Devil himself as well. Pointless talking to you in this state." Kai's voice became more stern.
"Hey! Can one of you guys like shut this shit off or somethin'? I had like this big speech for him once we meet but this isn't working out like I had hoped."
Both Zora and Vanessa looked at each in confusion.
Did this dumb ass just ask us to shut it off so that he could have a civilized conversion with him?
"You know what, fuck it. I'll come back another time when he's not doing all of this extra shit. We'll definitely meet again, don't you worry..."
Kai's voice begins to fade in the distance. Taking the opening, Vanessa looks over to Zora standing next to the red casket.
Sorry Asta...
"Now Zora!"
Zora lifts the red top to the casket Vanessa had made earlier. Asta turns to her voice and looks towards their direction. His attention is caught by the red casket. All he can manage to see is the a portion of Noelle's pale face. His eyes widen in shock. Once he places one foot in front of him, ready to charge for his target he instantly activates one of Zora's traps. Asta immediately falls then begins to roll off the roof. Vanessa quickly conjured up her thread spell to catch his fall and bring his body to Zora. Zora grabs hold of Asta's dangling body then looks to Vanessa in defeat.
"Captain Yami will not be happy about this."
Vanessa looked over to the open casket where Noelle's body laid.
"No he won't..."
Captain Yami slams his heavy fist onto the wooden table.
"What the fuck do you mean you lost him?!"
Both Vanessa and Zora stood in front of Captain Yami speechless. He stood up from his chair while taking another puff from his cigarette making sure to blow the smoke straight into their faces. He was extremely pissed.
"I sent you there to figure out who the source was and to bring his ass to the Wizard King. Now I would like a full explanation on why you guys not only failed to do that, but also brought one of our recruit's back dead. And this better be a good fucking story too."
Vanessa looked down making sure not to make eye contact before she answered.
"Captain... we weren't able to capture the source but I found out something. I think we're dealing with more than one person. And not only that-"
"They have a goddamn magicless man with them too! Even Asta's sword wasn't working on this guy it was pretty bizarre to watch." Zora couldn't help but interrupt.
Captain Yami became more intrigued. "Continue."
Vanessa looked up to him.
"And whoever killed Noelle cast the sleepwalking spell on her. From the looks of it, it wasn't the guy we meet at Hage village, so there's someone else casting spells for this guy. Me and Asta also found out that their not killing all of them. The majority of the villagers are still there, they're just stuck in a trance."
Captain Yami sat back in his seat taking in the information that was just given to him. He took another pull from his cigarette, slowly blowing out smoke.
"So we're dealing with a magicless douche who has an accomplice casting sleepwalking spells, that can also cause people to kill themselves in their sleep... Am I gettin' this all right?"
Both Vanessa and Zora nod in agreement.
"Not only that sir but... this has been going on for 5 years now. Those people have been stuck in this trance. The Royal Capital has been ignoring this issue until it hit them. Why would they do that?"
Captain Yami takes one more swig before putting out his cigarette into the nearest ashtray.
"Not entirely sure why, but since we've been put on the case I assume they just wanted Asta to take care of it. Assuming he could get rid of the threat without a problem...but looks like we're the ones screwed. Who would of thought there was another magicless kid running around?"
He looks down to the table lost in thought. It was silent for a few minutes as he collected his thoughts together before speaking.
"So, we have no idea who the accomplice can be?"
Vanessa takes a moment before answering.
"Sir, I did notice one odd thing. Sister Lily was literally the only one not affected by this spell. If we can found out how she was able to survive, we can help others protect themselves from the spell. I want to go back."
She said with a stern voice. Zora sighs.
"Guess I'm going too. No way I'm leaving your ass in that weirdo town alone."
Captain Yami nods.
"In and out got me? If you have to bring her here in order to save your asses then do it. Got it?"
The two nod in unison.
Captain Yami turns his attention to the red casket that laid in the middle of their common area.
"Now to other matters... think that little red cat of yours can bring her back?"
The witch's lair...
Vanessa stood in front of Noelle's body that was laying in front of her. Not too far was Asta's body in the same room. He was completely unconscious with shredded clothing barely covering himself. Her red cat made her way into the room and began to circle Vanessa making sure to rub her body and tail against her legs.
This doesn't usually work after a full 24 hours has passed but I can definitely try. There's no harm in trying right...
She picks up her red furry companion and places her onto the table Noelle was laying on. The cat meows at Vanessa before making her way to Noelle. She sniffs every inch of her before heading to her face and simply pressing her wet nose against her cheek. The cat looks up to Vanessa, meows than jumps off the table slowly making her way out the room. Vanessa keeps her eyes on Noelle, waiting for any type of sign that she's alive.
Come on Noelle. I honestly don't know what to do if Asta wakes up and your not here.
Vanessa stood there for awhile just staring at her face patiently waiting. Unexpectedly Noelle's eyes shot open and the first thing she could see was Vanessa's face literally inches from her. She screams trying to sit up but ends up headbutting Vanessa. They both begin to groan in agony while holding their foreheads.
"Damn Nessa! What the hell were you even doing in my face like that? I knew you were a little creepy but damn, watching me as I sleep, good Lord. I hope you don't do that shit to Zora..."
Vanessa couldn't help but feel offended.
"Well a thank you will suffice for bringing your ass back from the dead!"
Still rubbing her forehead, Vanessa takes a seat. Noelle's eyes shot open as she runs to the huge mirror hanging in the room. She begins to analyze herself, touching her face and all.
"I was... dead?"
Vanessa slowly gets up and makes her way over to Noelle.
"I see your memory has gone.. I'm actually surprised my spell worked in the first place. It's been a full 24 hours."
Noelle turns to Vanessa in shock.
" I died?"
Vanessa rests both hands on Noelle's shoulders.
"Yes. Unfortunately, I'm not sure how your body is going to react to this sort of resurrection. My spell is usually supposed to be used seconds after but, its been some time for you. No missions for you until I can make sure your 100% okay."
Noelle barely took in anything Vanessa said. Her eyes were on Asta who laid on the table not too far from hers.
"Asta..."
She ran over to his body and began to tear up.
"Did he...did he die too?"
"No he didn't. He lost control out there again, had to pull out a more powerful spell on him before he became consumed by the demon."
Tears began to fall from Noelle and onto Asta's chest. She placed her hand on his cheek caressing his face.
Don't give up yet. We'll get this demon under control for good.
Suddenly Noelle begins to lose focus. She could feel how warm his face was against her cold hand. Her hands slowly began to find its way down his neck and to his bare chest, moving some pieces of his shredded shirt along the way. She could feel his heartbeat. Matter of fact she could even feel the rush of blood going through his veins. She lightly caressed her nails onto his skin.
What is this feeling? I can feel everything. All that blood rushing like a river... I can feel it. All of it. And I have this strange urge to just rip his-
Before she could finish her thoughts she felt Vanessa place one hand on her shoulder. Vanessa gives her a warm smile as Noelle turns to face her.
"Now why don't you go rest up in your room. I'll come by to fill you in on what exactly went down on that mission. But first, I need to run some tests on Asta before we wake him up."
Noelle nods trying to form a smile then quickly speed walks out the room. Vanessa a bit confused by her behavior looked back down to Asta's chest to see small nail indents in his skin circled around where his heart was. She lightly brushed her fingers against the deep indents then looked back to the door.
Both Zora and Captain Yami are sitting across from each other, Yami smoking a cigarette of course and Zora legs up on the table crossed while holding a glass with rum in the other. Yami blows smoke straight to the ceiling then looks down to Zora.
"So tell me kid, how bad is it?"
Zora looks over to Yami from the corner of his eye before answering.
"Pretty bad to be completely honest." He focuses back on his drink and spins the liquid inside around in his cup.
"The demon almost completely took over. Stupid Holy water didn't do jack shit this time. Vanessa had to bring out one of her more powerful spells, the pre-exorcism spell. Guess it just knocked both the demon and Asta out simultaneously."
"That is a powerful spell even for her.. guess we really do have a powerful witch on our team."
"Not only that sir, but I think whoever that man was at Hage Village may have a similar demon possessing him as well."
Yami stayed quiet and continued to keep his eyes on Zora. Zora's expression became more serious as he removed his feet from the table and turned his whole body to Captain Yami.
"He mentioned something about Asta having a demon companion too, but he wouldn't go into much detail because it was kind of pointless with Asta in the condition he was in a the time. He would of just been talking to the demon directly. Dude, I seriously think we are dealing with another Asta. Possibly more powerful even."
Captain Yami takes a moment to take this information in.
"Well... no one said our job was easy." He sighs.
"One problem at a time. We'll worry about tracking them down after we figure out how Sister Lily was able to survive this. Then we go in for the kill and find those two bastards."
Zora nods in agreement then downs the rest of his drink.
A/N: Will update with another chapter soon most likely in the next 2 weeks, stay tuned !