'Kay, this one chapter is the final chapter of this arc. Damn did I had trouble writing it lol, I'm not that great and I could feel it clearly this time around.
As usual, I did try my best to correct any misspelling, grammatical error and the likes. Please don't hesitate to tell me if you see something absolutely ugly, so I can correct it as fast as possible. (except Asta in the flashback xD)
Anyway, enjoy the chapter! :)
"What is happening?!" Aurora thought mid-air. She used her magic to slow down herself - and her fall to land safely.
There was smoke all around the city, and Aurora could clearly feel the people's distress and fear. It was so palpable that it made it difficult for her to breathe, with how pungent the smell was and particularly disgusting the taste of it was too.
But Aurora powered through, as she used her magic to this time, accelerate herself - by unconsciously accelerating the mana around here.
But because Aurora gathered that much more mana than she was used to, her accelerating spell ended up far more potent than she intended, and the young girl nearly crashed into the first building she encountered.
"That was close…! What the hell happened…? Is it what Owen-san meant when he said I couldn't use magic?" She didn't ponder it much as the smell became more was worse from her right, so that's where she decided to go.
She realized her feet were stinging and bleeding a bit as she belatedly noticed she was barefooted.
She forgot her boots back at the infirmary. All the more reasons to be a little more vigilant.
Thus, after running more carefully for about ten seconds to not crash into anything, Aurora had to cancel her spell altogether to avoid fleeing people. She could feel the mana becoming wilder and wilder and hear magic being used. As Aurora neared a junction, she saw a mage like those she saw when she first came to the Magic Knights Headquarters being thrown back on the opposite house wall. He slumped on it, passed out, and defeated.
Aurora did not have time to hesitate, for she felt his opponent getting ready to finish him off before she could see him.
The young girl briefly thought about what to do if this enemy turned out to be as strong as the one from the ruins, but she gave up that thought as soon as it entered her mind.
She could instinctively feel that this was not the case. Besides, someone needed her help. And whether the enemy was strong or not, it wouldn't stop Asta. So she too would fight.
She ran to put herself between the downed Magic Knight and his opponent, a man dressed head to toe in white, and reflexively focused on gathering all the mana she could into a mana skin because he had already cast his spell to protect both herself and the man behind.
The spell bounced uselessly off her and destroyed the wall to her left.
"Who the hell are you?! Get out of my way!" The man raged and prepared another spell. Apparently, he was a mage specialized in thunder spells because his were both fast, as Aurora couldn't avoid them, and definitely destructive.
But no matter what, the second and third spells he cast in succession ended up doing absolutely nothing to her, to her own surprise. And unfortunately for the building around, they weren't lacking in destructive force either, as those spells left their mark in the street, destroying the asphalt and the houses around, scattering dust and pieces of rocks everywhere, concealing her from her opponent.
Aurora quickly took advantage of the chaos to hide behind the half-destroyed wall on the first spell hit on her left.
"...Eh?" Aurora couldn't help but mutter. She honestly thought she'd take a fair bit of damage from this, but it didn't even touch her.
She tried to focus some mana into her palms and was surprised by the sheer amount who gathered.
"This is why I went too fast just earlier… Damn it, what happened to me?"
"Come out of your little hole, you pest! How dare you reflect my spells like that?!" A voice bellowed on her right, startling her out of her thoughts.
"And why am I not paying attention either…? Focus!" Aurora lightly pinched her nose and focused that newfound amount of mana in her fists.
Right now, using her time magic would be far too dangerous, and she didn't want to kill anybody.
"So the best thing I can do right now is…! The young girl jumped out of her hiding place and ran straight towards the voice.
The man turned around and cast another spell, snarling. But Aurora instinctively accelerated her body and got close to her enemy in the blink of an eye.
"What the -"
"So you see, Aurora! If you wanna get a good punch, you gotta have the right posture! I learned that the realest way to make it good is to tuck your thumb over the middle finger like that! Then you tuck the hand you want to throw the punch under your chin, bend your knees like that, and then you take a big step and pivot, and bam!" An eight-year-old Asta showed the result of his early training to a bright-eyed Aurora, who looked at him like he had got her the Moon.
"Like that! Pooow!" Asta mimicked the move again. And Aurora tried to clumsily follow suit. While Asta made the move smooth, she made it anything but.
"No! You're not using your knees! And you gotta take that step forward, Aurora! I'll help you!" He put his hands on her hips to guide her through the proper motion. She did it once, then twice, then tried again without help.
All of it while unaware that a third person was looking at them.
"Uwaaaa! You're so cool, Asta!" Aurora said admiratively after their little lesson.
"Heheh! D'you think Sister Lilly will marry me if I continue this way, then?!"
"Well, we can ask her. She's coming with Yuno there. Oh, and Father Orsi is here too! Heyyyyyy!" She waved at the people behind Asta. For some reason, the two adults looked pissed off.
"Eh? Seriously? Hey, Yuno, Sister Lilly - Aooooow! My ear!" Father Orsi was the first to arrive and pulled harshly on Asta's ear. "Whyyyyy?!"
"I saw you touching Aurora in a weird place, so I asked Father and Sister if you could," Yuno replied indifferently. "And then they said no, and here we are."
"So it's your fault! Yuno, you bastard - Not the other one toooooooooooo!"
"Langage, you idiot! You're on peeling duties later!" To a stranger, this scene would feel like overkill. But here at Hage, it was just another day. Besides, having his ears pulled was an Asta privilege around here.
"Wait! Asta was just showing me how to punch bad guys the right way! Like this, bam!" Aurora stated enthusiastically, and Asta cheered her. "Yeah! She's my first disciple!"
"Father, I think Asta wants to do it two days in a row." Yuno scratched his ear and tried to play it cool, but Sister Lilly could detect a hint of jealousy in his voice.
"Eh? Wha-?" Poor Asta was lost. "Truly! How impressive of you, Asta!" Father Orsi wasn't about to look a gift horse in the mouth, especially when it involved Asta.
"But…" Aurora, too was absolutely lost. Asta didn't do anything wrong! As she thought that, Sister Lilly took her hands in her own.
"Listen, Aurora. I'm sure Asta has the best intentions at heart, in his own way. Trying to learn to defend yourself is absolutely not a bad idea, but please remember… Don't let a man touch you if you don't want it!" The nun said suddenly with fire in her eyes.
"Uh? Okay?!"
"And, also, a true good punch…."
"... Is one you don't have to throw at all. Sorry, Sister Lilly!" Aurora thought as the familiar motion came back to her. She took a step forward with her left leg, relaxed her right hand, and pivoted on her right foot…
And at the last moment, she clenched her fist and punched the man cleanly in the jaw, feeling her mana-enhanced fist piercing his protection easily.
Aurora took him entirely by surprise, so she expected the man to take some damage and was ready to throw a second.
She didn't expect the blow to take him off the floor. She definitely didn't expect him to be projected back that way. Instead, his body flew backward, impacting an alley wall, breaking it upon impact.
After waiting a few seconds, quite bewildered at what happened, Aurora concluded he wouldn't get up.
"I hope I didn't kill him…." The nonchalance of such thought didn't even make her pause. Instead, she quickly turned back to check on the downed magus she protected, as the cries of the populace and the sound of battle from afar could be heard.
It was weird. The Magic Knights should already be on the case, but it didn't look like the situation was improving.
"He looks… fine I guess… I'm no healer, but I can leave him here. I need to go and help where I can!"
Aurora backed away from the body and moved towards the town center, where she could feel that most of the action was happening.
It was chaos. Anywhere Aurora was looking, people were running away, and she could keenly feel traces of fighting around the town. Especially downtown.
On her way there, she crossed several people running away, all looking more or less afraid. Finally, she stopped one of them, a middle-aged man, by grabbing his man.
"Wait!" She asked him bluntly, "What's happening there?"
"Let me go! Some group is attacking, and one of those madman is their downtown! So many knights are not there, and when I left, the only one fighting him was some newbie knight with a sword!" Shocked, Aurora let him go, and he scrambled away.
"Asta…!" She resumed her run, pushing herself as fast as possible, quietly cursing her inability to control her magic. Finally, she reached the end of the road and turned the corner. The crowd was thinning as she was closing on her destination, yet what she could feel became clearer; there was a clear melody of hope among all the noises of battles.
Aurora made her way through the cloud of dust, the remnants of houses and shops destroyed in the vicinity, toward that melody, only to stop when she heard a cry faintly. Or something like that.
Aurora focused on the faint cry she thought she heard, and sure enough, she tasted a bit of despair on her left.
Clambering through the rubble of the downed house, she found a little boy whimpering near the inert body of a woman. "Wake up, mama…!" He was shaking her up desperately as he repeated the words. The blood on her head and the fragment of a destroyed roof around them made it clear that the woman used her body to protect her child from the hardwood and stone which fell.
Aurora approached the little boy and knelt down to his level. She put a hand on his shoulder and used the other to pat his head to calm him down. He looked up at her, and she reassuringly smiled at him.
Then, Aurora quickly turned back, checked his mother's pulse on her neck, and found one. Faint, but here. However, she had absolutely no idea what to do here.
"Help my mama, please…!" The poor kid sobbed, desperate. Aurora could feel it resonate in her being.
However, she was powerless to do anything.
She wasn't able to heal someone with wounds like that.
"Mama…! Mama…!" The boy kneeled next to his dying mom, and Aurora could only look as he tried again to shake her body.
She could feel this despair mixing with hers and her growing anger at those bastards. The emotional concoction was dangerous, and Aurora could feel herself teetering at the edge of reason.
Something was wrong with her, but she gritted her teeth and pushed it aside. She had to do something, anything.
Aurora put her hands on the mother's body. Aurora could feel her mana and tried to jolt it to somehow heal her, but she knew it was a long shot.
Besides, it was like trying to catch water with open hands. Defeated, Aurora relented.
"I'm… I'm sorry -" Aurora tried to speak, but the little boy wasn't listening. He kept wailing. Kept overwhelming her with sadness.
It was unbearable, and she felt something snap inside her.
"Shut up… Make it stop…!" She turned towards the boy and raised her hand. Magical power was starting to form inside her palm.
"Make… it… stop!" He would be joined soon by her mother, so why hesitate?
"Kyuuuu!" A tiny ball of greenish fur cut her thoughts - and her spell - as it jumped on her face, blinding her. Yet, both the joy and relief she felt from it was like a balm to Aurora's whirling of emotions. She grabbed it with both hands and was met face to face with a familiar yet peeved face.
"Ga-chan…!" For one second, she forgot the situation she was in. But she couldn't forget what she was about to do. "I- Wha- Ga-chan!" He didn't let her talk and jump on her again.
"Kyu! Kyu! Kyu!" He was on her shoulder in a flash, squealing. Then, strangely, the sound blurred everything else, and she calmed down.
"... Hehe. Thanks, Ga-chan!" She said happily. "If you're going to protect me, then I'll protect everyone else!" She said, getting back on her feet. Even if it was impossible, she'd make it. After all, Asta wouldn't give up. Likewise, neither would Yuno.
So she too, wouldn't. "I should turn my thinking around…! Instead of healing the wounds, what if I make them disappear? To make it before they even existed…! Restore the whole body…!"
Her grimoire responded as if to answer her newfound determination, born out of her singular will to save this woman. Its pages turned faster, and it shined brightly.
The spell she needed to make her vision, the impossible possible. She focused all her being on the mana surrounding and her own to answer her will.
"Time Reversing Magic: Chrono Anastasis!"
A translucid, magical clock suddenly appeared above the woman. Its hands turned backward, and the wounds on the woman's body disappeared until none was left.
She opened her eyes, perplexed. Then, she raised to a sitting position before being glomped by her kid, who cried even more in relief.
"Oh, my little boy! You're fine! But…What happened…? I feel… Fine! I was… The roof… " She hugged her son tightly, checking the wood and stone near her simultaneously. "But how…?" That's when she noticed Aurora, in uniform and barefooted, smiling peacefully at the scene before her.
"Thank you, young knight. Are you alright?"
"I'm alright, thanks. You should take your little boy and get away from here. Avoid the big streets and go directly to the headquarters. I should go with you, but right now, I need to go and support one of my friends fighting right there." Her maternal tone and concern were sweet, and Aurora appreciated the feeling but couldn't do anything else.
She stood up, and her legs felt a bit wobbly. Chrono Anastasis took a higher toll on her than she thought. But it was a price she was willing to pay, even if her head was starting to hurt like hell.
"But you're bleeding from your nose…." Sure enough, she was bleeding, probably from exhaustion. Owen had told her her body didn't recover, and his spell's effect had worn off.
The discomfort from earlier was back in full force, even with Ga-chan at her side. "I get it, and I thank you, but earlier, you were bleeding from the head and were kinda dying. So please don't worry and go to a safe place. I didn't save you just for you to die again." It sounded harsher than she thought, but she really needed to go.
Fortunately, the woman knew how to take a hint. She reluctantly smiled and nodded before departing quickly with her little boy in her arms. Rubbing her head, Aurora didn't turn back to look at them.
The hope she could hear had disappeared. Instead, she resumed her march as fast as possible to her destination.
Once there, she realized there were a lot of people. And that's about the last thing she took notice of before her brain focused on one thing, making her forget the rest.
The people in dark and white robes were in the center. There were being protected by some spell against a rain of mercury Aurora didn't even acknowledge.
One of them was holding an unconscious and wounded Asta.
Aurora's vision went red.
Her grimoire was out before she realized what had happened. Then, pouring all the magical power and mana she could gather, she quickly accelerated and ran like hell, without realizing that she had left Gaius behind.
"...The ones who will destroy the Clover Kingdom will be-"
"ASTAAAAAA!" No one saw her coming, and so absolutely no one could stop her from grabbing the one talking as the group was being teleported.
"What the-"
They more or less landed in a heap, and Aurora punched him with everything she got.
All heard the audible crack as his jaw was cleanly broken, and the man slumped on the ground.
Aurora got up, huffing, as the people around her noticed what had happened. She looked at the group in unconcealed rage.
She didn't know where she was and put herself in mortal danger. Her head was hurting like hell, and she could barely stay standing.
"Oy, look at her grimoire; what the hell is this?" One of them said.
Kill.
"Wow, she got George before we knew it!" Another, a girl's voice.
KillKill.
"Give Asta back, and I'll let you walk out of this alive." The words tumbled out of her mouth before she could stop them. Aurora's mana flared, and her enemies took a step back at the unintentional killing intent she was releasing.
A part of her started to become truly frightened by herself. It was as if someone else was taking the reins, and she could barely hold herself together.
But Asta needed her. That was all that mattered right now. So she summoned her grimoire, surprising her opponents with its unique design.
However, just as she was preparing to make a stand by focusing her magic, the most violent pain of the day pierced her head and sent her stumbling, causing her to lose focus.
"Oh… My nose is bleeding a lot…." Aurora thought belatedly. The pain was too much. She couldn't focus on anything, and all her senses were off. As such, she didn't see the spell aimed nearly point-blank at her and could even less avoid it.
It hit her straight in the torso. She was projected into the air, crashing back down on solid ground, just in front of stairs leading to a basement, like a ragdoll.
She was miraculously still awake, albeit it was more due to the pain and a body reflex because she instinctively turned her body on the right to vomit a mixture of bile and blood. Aurora could barely feel anything but pure agony.
"That grimoire…" The man in front muttered before his eyes widened in recognition. "Capture that girl! It's the one The Master had talked about. She could become our ace in the hole!"
"...Eh…?"
"What? Seriously? Does that mean I can't dissect her?"
"Stop asking questions when you know the answer. And you know we can't take that other brat with us, Sally! And for god's sake, use your magic on George too! He's completely out!" Aurora couldn't see the face of the man seemingly in charge, but she felt being lifted from the ground and caged unceremoniously into a magic bubble.
"But we can take the other one? That's unfair! I wanna cut him and dissect him and learn about its anti-magic!"
"Only those acknowledged by the Master can come here, and she was, not him!"
And as they descended the stairs, Aurora tiredly managed to realize her situation. Not only did she utterly fail at saving Asta, but she also would probably not come out of here alive.
"Pa…pa… Help…me…"
"Papa…? What the hell is she saying? Do you truly think your dad or anyone will come here to save you?" The one with the eyepatch said mockingly at her as the group descended.
"I wouldn't discard the possibility, now." A disturbingly calm voice said from the room's shadows that extended in front of them.
When Julius found those ruins and this monolith, in significant part thanks to Gaius, he knew exactly what he had to do. Of course, it implied for him to leave the Capital at the worst moment, but it's not like it would be undefended, what with all the excellent Magic Knight he invited to the Ceremony. The banquet following it had been planned in significant part to make sure they would stay right where they could intercept the enemy.
Not that anyone but him knew that, of course.
Besides, the move would be more than worth it if it meant catching the attackers off guard, capturing some of them, and getting Asta back.
He felt the boy would end up at the vanguard of the defense, eager as he was to prove himself, even if it meant getting into trouble because the attackers were too much for him as he was now.
The young knight was only at the beginning of his journey. So, seeing him captured but alive wasn't that much surprising for the Wizard King.
Yes, everything went as he expected. And as he was preparing a witty greeting and his inner sadist to relish at the moment, he took notice of the one flaw in his plan.
Aurora was there, captured too and barely conscious. She should have been resting at the infirmary, which meant she jumped into action when her body and brain needed rest.
Which also meant he would have to talk to Owen about this.
And as Julius noticed his daughter's battered state, he saw her lips moving. And before he could think, he was already out of hiding.
"Oh, I wouldn't discard the possibility, now."
"It's the Wizard King, Julius Novachrono!"
"What the hell is he doing here?!"
"What the hell am I doing here, really…? I believe even a child could answer that question."
"Khh! Kill him!" One of the mages said. However, it was too late. By the time their grimoire was out, Julius had teleported between them and blasted two balls of concentrated magic at two of the mages, vaporizing them to their deaths.
When he had met the Wizard King earlier, Asta had been a bit overwhelmed by his presence, and he and Yuno had noticed the uncanny resemblance he had with their sister, but they didn't press the matter. Even when he looked at them warmly and respectfully.
Even when his eyes shone when he looked at their findings in the dungeon.
Even when he went on a tangent for about ten minutes about magic.
Right now, as he observed the face of the strongest, Asta had the feeling he would see something both frightening and unique.
Gone was the warmth and respect. Even from the magical bubble he was currently in, Asta could feel the silent fury encompassing the Wizard King as if it was an aura of raw power.
"I killed them. I can kill the rest of you too, but I don't like senseless murder. So how about it? The first one to raise his hands in surrender will accompany me back to the capital. And I promise I won't even touch one of his hairs. The rest, however, will die. Unless you all raise your hands! I'll give you three seconds to decide." The Wizard King said, an unnerving smile still on his face.
His enemies' answers were immediate.
"Don't underestimate us!" They all summoned their grimoire and cast spell after spell on the Wizard King, hoping to end him.
However, Julius skillfully avoided their spell before disappearing altogether once more.
"Oh. Don't misunderstand. I'm not underestimating you in the slightest. I just offered you an out because, you know… You're all so very weak." He said bluntly, smiling mockingly from behind the group.
"Weak? Those guys?"
He teleported again before one of the remaining mages and put a finger to his head. The man fell to the ground like a puppet with its strings cut. Then, Julius teleported again and vaporized another with time magic, eradicating him.
"Well, this is tedious," Julius said almost boringly. "Last call: does anyone want to come with me? I'm sure you'd like to visit the Capital once more. I'll even have special lodgings for you!" He called to the three remaining mages.
When his opponents didn't answer and kept blasting at him uselessly, Asta swore he saw the Wizard King sigh, his eyes turning red for a moment.
"Time Restraining Magic: Chrono Stasis!" Asta's eyes widened as he heard the man casting his spells, effortlessly restraining the people he could barely match when he fought them.
"You've all got some interesting magic, but that's about it." The coldness of his tone almost made Asta forget something important.
This was Time Magic.
And as the spell restraining him, Aurora, and the other dude knocked out earlier was canceled, Asta finally put the pieces of the puzzle together as he saw the Wizard King rushing to prevent Aurora from falling, catching her in his arms and lowering her gently on the ground.
"... It seems we meet again, Asta-kun. I hope you did watch intently. If you're truly set on becoming Wizard King, this is but a small fraction of what you will need to surpass." Julius said, his back turned to the younger knight.
Asta didn't answer. He was still heavily wounded and could barely move but managed to rise to his feet through sheer strength of will.
"In a flash, he took care of them all…! Those strong guys…! This… This the Wizard King!"
The man who earned all his respect and admiration was also Aurora's father. A father who was probably pissed off beyond belief.
"I can't stop shaking…! Get a grip, idiot!"
"Is… Is Aurora alright?" Asta asked rather timidly. "No. Her wounds aren't particularly severe, but she pushed herself when she shouldn't have." Julius said, taking note of each wound, no matter how small.
Seeing her like that, hearing her having difficulty breathing… In one week, she got severely wounded twice. She could have died. As he put a hand on her face to brush her bangs out of it, Julius realized once more why he left her all those years ago.
It wasn't simply because of this one event from back then. No, it was because of the surge of paternal instincts Julius felt anytime he talked to or watched her. That was why he never let himself visit her in the orphanage. Because he would have taken her back and run away from everything.
Screw his grand dream for the Kingdom. The smile of his daughter was worth so much more. So why did he have to use that devil-forsaken wristband? Why did she have to befriend two of the most promising young men he had ever met?
Why did he make such lousy decisions?
He just wanted her to have a calm life, free from every trouble brought by a father like him and his grand scheme.
Julius could feel his calm slipping.
He should have murdered those idiots immediately instead of letting them rampage in the capital.
He should have been there for her instead.
Something inside him told him to let go and to kill them, but he held it back, focusing instead on healing Aurora.
"Time Reversal Magic: Chrono Anastasis."
He just… Should have. All his actions and thoughts were opposing each other. Yet, as he could feel his daughter's wounds and state being reversed before she was even hurt, he couldn't help but the happiness and warmth spreading in his body, knowing she was stubborn enough to chase him.
He was the worst.
"How ironic. For me to wish having enough time to patch things up… Even I can't revert time by that much…. "
So many questions and doubts crossed his mind, but as his daughter blearily opened her eyes, the Wizard King took his decision.
"I will make things right… I have to. Right, Diana?"
When Aurora opened her eyes, the first she saw was darkness. Then, a pair of concerned purple eyes. Her body was held by the owner of said eyes, and it somehow was very comfortable. She didn't want to move.
Then, she remembered what had happened.
"The attack, the teleportation, Asta…!" She immediately rises to a sitting position, alarmed.
"Calm down. Everything is fine." A warm and familiar voice told her. She lifted her eyes and realized that the one holding her was, in fact, the Wizard King.
"Eh?! Waaah! I'm sorry, I'll move- Eh?" Aurora tried to scoot away, but in the process, she noticed the man she punched earlier and three others in white robes being captured inside a very familiar spell. She looked at her hands.
"Chrono Stasis? When did I do that…?" She wondered aloud. A warm hand fell on her hair and gently stroked them. "You didn't."
Aurora looked at Julius, who looked at her in the eyes. "I did." He ruffled her hair.
"...Eh?" Julius smiled, then rose up to face the people he captured. Aurora could only stare at him in surprise. She could still feel his hand on her scalp.
"He used Time Magic…? But… Then…"
She was about to call him when she felt a slight discharge around her. She knew that feeling.
"He's coming!"
A blinding light suddenly appeared, shining from a strange stone behind her. Aurora could only protect her eyes as best as she could.
"You… You're!" She could only utter a mix of fear and anger as the elf who attacked her one week ago appeared from seemingly nowhere. He kept his attention on the Wizard King, smiling.
Then, Aurora felt the mana around them transforming, and the whole room was bathed in light. When she safely opened his eyes, the elf had disappeared, and all the people the Wizard King captured, except one he somehow managed to protect.
Moreover, she realized the Wizard King had placed himself in front of her, shielding her.
"Are you all right?" He asked her seriously. For the first time, she could feel something from the man. And it was genuine concern directed toward her. She nodded quickly, her throat tightening. He helped her get up, and she didn't let go of his hand afterward. He didn't seem to mind at all.
Then, before thinking about it, she put her arms around him as much as she could and hugged him. Aurora felt something inside her snap when she felt him crouch a bit and hug her back. She couldn't see anymore, everything blurred and fuzzy, the dim light too harsh in her tears, like liquid gold in her eyes.
She couldn't form words, couldn't do anything but stand and tremble, stuttering on a single word. She was latching unto Julius now to not fall on the ground. She was shaking and sobbing.
The following words didn't come from the Wizard King but from someone else. Someone Aurora had been searching for without ever giving up. A voice she wanted to hear, unknown to her, gentle reassurance accompanying soft hands who brushed tears from her cheeks.
"It's okay… It's okay…" Julius said softly. He was gently brushing away her.
For the first time in more than ten years, she was hugging her father.
"Pa-Papa…! Papaa!" She could only blubber as if she was back to being a toddler.
"I'm here now. I'm here…" He stroked her hair, and she just wanted to stay there forever.
She didn't notice Asta smiling peacefully at them, despite his numerous wounds.
"I wanted to-to-to meet you so much! I-I was scared you didn't want me anymore, and I missed you so much! I-I-I-"
"I know. I'm sorry, I'm so, so, sorry… But I'm here now, and I won't let you go. I have so many things to tell you, to explain to you… Forgive me for leaving you, Aurora, forgive me…!" She felt his arms tighten around her and could only sob harder.
"It's okay… Rest for now. I promise you, I'm not going anywhere." Aurora squeezed her eyes shut, cradled by her father's embrace and warm arms, the pain, the sorrow, the fear evaporating from her mind.
"Well, that went better than I thought." So Julius thought as he looked at his daughter's sleeping form in his arms. How many years had it been since the last time he was able to do that? He needed to calm down too, to regain his grip on his emotions.
Because unfortunately, that was neither the place nor the moment to indulge himself in this reunion. "Speaking of which, I should probably allow communication spell to reach me again."
A screen suddenly appeared before him. "Good old Marx-kun."
"I can finally contact you, Wizard King! Where are you- no, actually, never mind. Hurry back to the medical ward!" The screen cut immediately after.
The Wizard King frowned. "All right, then. Shall we go back?" He turned back to Asta, who could only nod. "Ah, and I would appreciate it if you didn't say a word to what just happened there, Asta-kun. It's not an order from the Wizard King but more a favor from Aurora's father. All right? It's my responsibility."
Asta nodded again. "I promise." Julius smiled and teleported next to him, picking him up and carrying him under his arm like a toddler.
Aurora was still sleeping, her arms holding on his neck and his arm supporting her lithe frame.
"All right, let's go back!"
When Julius and the two teens arrived at the capital, the attack had been contained. Nevertheless, many Magic Knights were waiting at the entrance of the medical ward.
"Yo! Good work, everyone!" He greeted them casually.
"The Wizard King!"
"Asta! And Aurora too!" Noelle Silva said, surprised.
"Kyuuuuu!" A little ball of fur jumped from Noelle's arms and rushed Julius. He let Asta, who stumbled but managed to stand without trouble, go and allowed the little spirit to jump on his arm and nuzzle Aurora. "Don't make too much noise; she needs her sleep," he whispered for only the spirit to hear.
While Asta was getting fussed on, Julius was briefed on the attack's detail by the other Knights.
And it confirmed the bad feeling he had earlier.
"I see. Despite Fuegoleon's strength, we don't know when he'll wake up. It really was a miscalculation on my part…." "To think someone could deal so easily with a captain… The one from the ruins, the one who attacked Aurora, the one who wounded Fuegoleon, and the terrorist leader must be one and the same. How troublesome."
Besides that, he learned that Fuegoleon's pendant was missing.
"Those ruins, and this stone… Could it be that Fuegoleon pendant was one of those stones? Could it be that what Aurora found during her last mission was also a stone…? They're gathering them, but for what purpose? What happens when every stone is placed on the tablet? I can't discard the fact that Fuegoleon himself had been targeted because of his character… I knew there were some dissidents, but to think they were planning something so outrageous…."
"I shouldn't have left the capital…" he muttered. "Well, in any case, our captive will tell us the details later. Never forget that the people look to the Magic Knights for one thing: peace in the Kingdom. To preserve it, we'll fight with everything we had."
His declaration was met with cheers, except Nozel Silva, who had been silent until now, decided to dismiss himself. It wasn't hard to know why: his oldest rival had been wounded while he could not do anything to support him.
Leopold Vermillion showed up, wrecked as he was, and made a fiery declaration that he would be the one becoming the strongest, surpassing his brother and renewing a pact of rivalry with Asta, who apparently still didn't know Leopold's name, to everyone's hilarity.
Julius couldn't help but smile too. He knew he had many more things to do now, but if the next generation was so determined and promising, that was a weight off his shoulders.
However, he had one duty he couldn't shirk off right now. Never again.
"Well, it's time for me to go. Remember that everything said here must not be repeated. need-to-know basis information, understand?"
"Yes!" They all saluted.
As he was making his way to the ward, a small voice belonging to Mimosa Vermillion stopped him.
"Um, I'm sorry, Wizard King, but I need to ask… about Aurora-san, would it be possible to bring her back to our quarters? Then, I can heal her if need be."
Julius shook his head. "I'm afraid not. What she needs right now is sleep and even more sleep." Then, he made a decision. No matter the consequence, he would face them head-on. This was his first responsibility as an absentee father.
A little part of him wanted to see the gobsmacked face of his trusted knights.
"Besides that, well… My daughter and I have a long overdue conversation and a lot of things to tell each other." He announced bluntly.
"..."
"...Wait, WHAT?!" As expected, chaos erupted, and Asta looked at him, a bit dumbfounded. What was the point of making him swear in that case?!
He snapped his fingers, and everyone looked at him, bewildered. "This is need-to-know basis information, too, because it's my role and mine alone to tell people I trust. And I trust you to not tell anything and to not treat her differently."
"But… But… If that's the case, why tell us?" Charlotte asked him, as surprised as the others.
"Because I trust you, and that's why I'm sharing this information with you, Charlotte. I'd rather do that than you learning one day and not knowing what to do with that knowledge." Something clicked inside her head, and she nodded, still surprised but smiling nonetheless.
"Well, today needed good news, and I'd say this count!" Cob said joyously. He was a member of the Golden Dawn too.
"Aurora is the Wizard King's daughter… Aurora Novachrono…" Asta was finally coming to terms with the fact. "It's like some strange fate links all of us…." Julius could agree with that.
People were taking the news of their chief being a father far better than he thought. So he was immensely grateful when no one tried to question him further, respecting his privacy.
The worst was still to come; Julius knew that. Some problems needed his immediate attention, and some less immediate.
However, even if that was the case, looking at his smiling knights, both noble and commoners united, and his sleeping daughter, whose potential would one day lead her to the very top, hope filled his entire being.
He would make their future, her future, a bright one.
All righty, the first big arc is done. I'll write a bit of SoL, Yuno and Aurora going to the Black Bulls for an exchange of members, things like that in the next chapter.
There is some scene I really want to write, so I'll try my best to deliver something entertaining.
Don't hesitate to review too if you wish, I'm not really familiar with the process, but I do read them with pleasure, especially if it can helps me improve. :)
So yeah, hope you liked the chapter! See you on the next one!