A/N: Just finished watching all episodes of Black Clover. Some light spoilers here for the last arc (of the anime), so proceed with caution! Have some more YamiChar, ya filthy animals! 3
Charlotte immediately changed into her armour and the two headed out into the forest to see if they could gather any clues about that presence they felt earlier.
The forest was illuminated by the full moon hanging over the sky. While the town of Shelion was not as close as Raquey to the strong mana region, its surrounding water was still more turbulent than those in the interior of the continent.
"Perhaps it's the strong mana region that caused us to sense something that isn't here," Charlotte said, uncertain.
"Nah," Yami denied. "I felt ki in this direction, too. I don't think a mana storm would have ki. Plus, what are the odds that we'd both look this way?"
"I suppose you've got a point."
The pair continued to scope the area, desperately trying to find any footprint, any sign, just any clue about the enemy, when an ominous feeling appeared once more.
Yami and Charlotte's senses were heightened in anticipation of the unseen enemy. They quickly turned their heads to find a cloaked figure peering among the shadows.
"Hello, Yami Sukehiro," the figure whispered. "We've been looking for you."
From the shadows, a slender man who donned a dark grey cloak with a hood obscuring his face, emerged.
Yami felt the same eerie presence as the time he encountered a devil in the fight against the elves. He sensed malice and hatred pouring out of this person's ki, though Yami severely doubted that this was a human - not fully, anyway.
The man removed his hood, and revealed a gaunt face with large, bulging eyeballs, a forked tongue, and sharp teeth. He looked like a character straight out of a horror movie.
"Let me give you a taste of death. Just a taste for you, Yami. We need you, after all," this humanoid hissed.
Yami became aggravated, "What did you say, you Creepy Ass Snake-Face?"
"Oh, Yami, I can't say much. Only that I'll have some fun toying with you," the demon cackled. "Breath Magic: Poison Breath Prison!"
A yellow-green cloud emerged from the demon's parted mouth and filled the air with a putrid, rotting smell that almost made Charlotte vomit.
"Delicious, isn't it?" the man giggled.
Fortunately, Yami is accustomed to this type of magic. "Whew, Snake Face Creep! Your breath smells worse than my shit! But this type of poison won't work on me. I got a guy in my squad who's got worse poison than this." He drew his katana from its hilt, and angled himself between Charlotte and the enemy. "Dark Magic: Lightless Slash!"
The man swiftly evaded the attack, eyes squinted in anger at Yami's resistance against his spell.
"I knew you had dark magic, but you're being a very naughty boy, Yami. Let me punish you. Breath Magic: Halitosepsis."
A smoke of purple spread across the forest and severely limited Charlotte's mana detection.
"Shit," she muttered. "I can't sense anything!" Charlotte instinctively cast a spell which turned her vines into a ball, shielding herself from the attacker's poisonous smoke.
The foul-smelling smoke seemed to affect the surrounding trees, as leaves began to rapidly fall off their branches. In a span of minutes, many of the trees that surrounded them had withered away. The blue roses on Charlotte's spell had shriveled up too, but she had cast the barrier thick enough that she remained unharmed.
The smoke cleared, and Charlotte had noticed that the man was fully engrossed in battle against Yami. She decided that this was her chance to strike.
She closed her eyes and focused on the feeling of mana flowing through her veins while she had been possessed by an elf. She had been training in the last few months to draw out as much mana as possible. Though Charlotte had grown considerably, she still hasn't successfully acquired the same power level as the elf she hosted in her body.
Charlotte consciously thought about the flow of mana in the air, and channeled this surrounding natural mana into her briar whip, her vines of blue roses rushing towards the demon.
She managed to grab ahold of the enemy's left leg.
"An opening!" Yami thought. He wielded his katana with both hands, rushing towards the man, who was now distracted by Charlotte's vines. Yami aimed at the enemy.
"Dark Magic: Dimension Slash."
The man had been severely wounded and lay bleeding on the forest floor. Charlotte immediately wrapped vines around their assailant, so that they could interrogate him and possibly get useful information about the Spade Kingdom and their motives.
"What a nasty guy," Yami clucked his tongue and grabbed a cigarette from his pouch, setting it on his lips. "What are you doing here, Creepy Snake?" Yami grunted disapprovingly.
"What is the Spade Kingdom planning? What do you mean that you need Yami?" Charlotte demanded.
The man simply laughed, "Who do you think you are that I'd tell you about that? I don't care if you kill me. There's more of us, and more who are powerful. You only got lucky because the leader didn't give me more power to defeat you!"
"Your leader?" Charlotte asked.
"Ha! Like you'd ever find our hideout in this forest! It's near—" with this, the man's body began to swell with mana. Runes appeared around his stomach. "No! I'm not finished yet!" the man pleaded.
In a flash of panic, Charlotte grabbed Yami and drew him closer to her. Unbeknownst to Yami, he had done the same, pulling the blonde captain by his side. They simultaneously cast protective spells as the man burst with mana.
The two were locked in a tight embrace as bits of the attacker's flesh rained down upon them, and the attacker's mana was gone.
The captain of the Blue Roses had squeezed her eyes shut, clinging onto Yami's sturdy physique. His right arm hooked around her waist, as they stood there, waiting for what felt like an eternity. Yami was first to realize what was happening, but something in him lingered, hesitated; he wanted her to be the one to break away.
Their closeness barely registered upon Charlotte. She was on survival mode, just hoping he was safe. A moment passed, and she recognized that the attacker's mana has gone. Slowly, she opened her eyes, not to see the aftermath of the attack; instead, her sapphire eyes met Yami's silver gaze. At that instance, her senses returned to her one by one.
She smelled the faint smell of cigarette on Yami's clothes intertwined with the smell of her roses, heard the slowing of his breath and the quickening of her heartbeat, tasted the trembling of her lips, and felt his thick arm wrapped protectively around her.
Charlotte wanted to stay in that tableau forever, but her body decided that there was too much happening, and so she broke away. Yami couldn't help but feel somewhat disappointed, although he couldn't explain why. After all, this was just the norm for the Prickly Queen. She had always been aloof around him.
"Get it together," he scolded himself.
Yami cleared his throat and began to look for any clues that could lead them. All he found were chunks of flesh and the barest hint of their attacker's poisonous magic. Luckily, they had the encounter far-off into the forest, away from the town. They've deduced that none of the citizens even had an idea of what transpired just now. The two captains awkwardly headed back to the inn, afraid to acknowledge the elephant in the room.
