Disclaimer: Black Clover is owned by Yūki Tabata, Studio Pierrot, and Shonen Jump.
Saga 22: Bad Company (Finale)
Dungeon Depths, Forsaken Realm, Clover Kingdom (Evening)
"Okay, is anyone hallucinating of seeing this Black Knight right in front of us, or is it just me?" Corrin spouted out.
"I don't think hallucinations make dents on doors and the floor, Corrin." Klaus stated.
"E-Either way, he saved all of us from being buried six feet under, right!?" Finral nervously chuckled out.
"Umm... I'm no mathematician, but you do realize that an entire Dungeon's worth of masonry is more then six feet deep, right?" Human!Fana stated.
"BURN IN HELL, YOU DAMN SOW!" Elf!Fana screeched out deep within the depths of Fana's subconsciousness. "NO ONE GIVES A FUCKING SHIT!"
"I... think you're... right Fana..." Mars mumbled out.
The only two adults in the room (Fanzell and Lotus) glance at each other in confusion.
"How long was it since he had a conversation with another person?" Fanzell asked the bearded man.
"... I think I stopped counting after I reached month number 10." Lotus answered while nervously stroking his goatee. "And that was around... a year ago."
"... If it wasn't for the fact that your magic helped us out a lot back there, I would've tossed you into that smoldering crater behind us and leave you there." Fanzell smiled threateningly.
"Umm, is anyone going to mention the Black Knight standing in front of us?" Noelle pointed towards the armored figure illuminated by the dim light from Jericho's lamp.
"You want to think him for us, Noelle?" Mimosa teased her silver-haired cousin.
The Silva exile's face turns red in embarrassment.
"Now now, Miss Vermilion." Jericho pointed out. "It's not nice to bully other people."
The only ones not talking were Yuno and the Black Knight (Astaroth; but no one knows).
"... Why am I getting a distinct feeling that I've met him before?" Yuno thought.
Then the images of Asta and the Black Knight began to blend together, confusing the youth even more.
For Astaroth/Black Knight, the only reason why he doesn't just go up and kill the lot like he was musing was rather... odd.
"This is way too much fun to watch. No harm waiting a few minutes." The Fallen Angel Prince thought. "In fact, I could use this element of enigma to my advantage." He cockily mused. "All have to do is just stand here and do nothin-"
The sword embedded in the stone door then dislodges from the masonry and falls onto his head.
A loud *clang* sound echoes across throughout the darkness, ruining the Black Knight's mysterious image.
"... You know what." Astaroth thought. "I think I've played around enough for one day."
Astaroth then picks up Reject from the floor, right before putting it away behind his tattered, blood-red cape.
"Where the hell does he put that sword away into?" Everyone collectively thought.
Astaroth then takes the other, and massive black blade in his left hand, puts his right hand onto the grip with the left, mounts the blade over his shoulder, and swings the black guillotine down.
"There's no way that he'd cut that door down..." Klaus dismissively remarked.
He is then immediately proven wrong by the door being cleaved in two right in front of the whole group.
No one says anything as the giant slabs of stone crumble before them.
As the fragmented gates give way, golden lights then begin to emerge from the freshly-formed gaps.
The treasury reveals itself. Mountains of gold and jewelry. Rows after rows of ancient magical artifacts were lined up neatly. Mana particles lit up the inky darkness outside into daylight. Canals flowed in all nine directions, defying the natural laws of physics and reality.
In short, an amalgamation of centuries of magical legacy has now been unearthed in view of the far-flung generation of mages.
The way is lit. Now they must push forth.
Astaroth then walks in first while stowing Ravager away behind his cape. The mages then follow closely behind into the open treasury.
"Hey!" Klaus then runs up towards the armored figure. "You can't just waltz in there! This Dungeon is classified Clover Kingdom property, and as a Knight of Golden Dawn, I order you to cease and desist!"
The Black Knight just keeps walking, ignoring the Magic Knight's orders.
"I said cease and desist!" Klaus then opens his grimoire. "[Steel Binding Magic: Bear Trap]!"
A pair of metallic maws clamp down around the Black Knight's ankles.
"Under the authority of the Golden Dawn, you are hereby under arrest!" Klaus approached the now-restricted Black Knight. "Surrender peacefully, and you will not be harm-"
The Black Knight kicks off the clamp off of his feet and continues walking deeper into the opened treasury, ignoring the Magic Knight.
The bespectacled Magic Knight runs ahead of everyone else, adamant of making this armored figure listen to him and respect his authority.
"I said wait-"
The Black Knight then turns around and lifts up the Magic Knight off of the floor by his collar.
"Good grief, how do you people even deal with him?" A deep voice reverberated out of the helmet's vents.
A funny story behind the voice alteration...
(2 days prior...)
Gallows Forest, Hidden Dark Elf Village, Clover Kingdom (Evening)
"Hey Claudius." Astaroth asked the crouching Fallen Angel. "What're you looking for?"
"Insurance." He replied. "Specifically, an additional layer of deception."
"Can you explain?" The Prince asked.
"I'm looking for Mimishrooms." Claudius answered. "Local fauna around the Gallows Forest eat these to alter their cries to either mimic their prey's mating calls, or disguise their own calls with that of a predator's."
"Okay, so what does that have to with me?" Astaroth asked.
"Found it." Claudius then presents a small, black-capped mushroom to the Fallen Angel Price. "Now milord, I ask that you suck in some air while keeping your mouth near the cap."
"Umm... okay." Astaroth then moves his lips closer to the mushroom cap and begins to breath in.
Something then tickles his throat.
"So milord." Claudius then puts away the picked mushroom into a satchel. "Do you feel any different?"
The Prince coughs out once before speaking.
"I don't feel any different-OHMIGOD WHAT'S WITH MY VOICE!?" Astaroth freaks out over his voice now being 10-times deeper then his usual voice.
"The spores, milord." Claudius answered. "The spores landed on your vocal cords, which it then act as natural vocal filters on the folds."
"Okay, but is there any way to get it back to normal!?" He panicked.
"A simple sip of water ought to do the trick, but on its own, it holds off for until a week." Claudius then grabs Astaroth's hand away from the water. "And no, milord. You are not allowed to drink anything until after you get back from intercepting a Magic Knight's mission."
"You do know that I'm thirsty, right?" Astaroth stated.
"Milord, we're Demons." He then edges closer to the Prince's face. "It's all in your head, so let that distraction out of your head."
Astaroth closes his eyes, calms down his panicked breathing, and opens them back up after recollecting himself.
"Huh..." The Prince then comes to a realization. "Now that I think about it, when was the last time that I've eaten anything?"
"That was roughly a month ago."
Astaroth then cracks a smirk, realizing that he's now free from his past human limitations.
The [Eviscerator] that once carved a deep chasm into his shoulder back roughly over half a year ago?
... It doesn't ache anymore.
(Back to the Present...)
Dungeon Depths, Forsaken Realm, Clover Kingdom (Evening)
"Regardless..." Astaroth stated towards the mages. "It seems that we've come to a... misunderstanding."
"'Misunderstanding', my ass." Corrin spat out. "You're acting real fucking fishy right now, ya know that?"
"That's right!" Mimosa called out. "If you're convincing us that you're not hostile, then let go of him now!"
Every other mage in the room then approach the Black Knight with the utmost caution, grimoires opened and reflexes twitching to be sprung at any given moment.
"Hmm?" Human!Fana's voice was heard from the back of the crowd.
"Fana!" Fanzell shouted. "Stay back!"
"Hmm?" The pink-haired girl then tries to peek through. "What's going on-"
Upon seeing a certain red-caped armored figure in black, wielding a massive black blade, Fana's head then began to spasm in agony.
The girl bends over as she tried to alleviate her splitting headache.
"Fana!?" Fanzell called out in a concerned tone. "What's going on!? Are you all right!?"
"Fana!" Mars then runs towards his childhood friend. "Hang in there!" He then embraces her tightly, hoping that she wold calm down.
Inside Fana's head, elf!Fana was now clawing and raging her way out of the subconscious as human!Fana is rapidly drowning back down into it.
"... taroth..." She breathed out.
"... Fana?" Mars called out.
Mars then sees Fana's eyes.
Her irises shrank to pinpricks.
The pink-haired girl then explodes into flames in Mars's arms, sending the ex-apex supersoldier flying back.
"AASSSSSSTARRRROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOTTTTH!" Elf!Fana the sprints towards the Black Knight with reckless abandon.
"Tch." Astaroth then throws Klaus towards the sprinting Fana, knocking the two away from him into a ramshackle pile. "Claudius is either gonna get really mad, or really happy about learning all of this..."
He then draws Ravager from his five-leaf grimoire that he hid behind his back, drawing an illusion that he's drawing out massive swords from nowhere.
"Either way..." Astaroth then drags Ravager towards the mages, scraping out sparks as it continues to drag on the masonry. "Now you all have a reason to quarrel with me unless you get out of my way and let me kill that whore that I just tossed back."
"In your freakin' dreams, you tincan." Fanzell then draws his Estoc once more.
"You're way over your hill, old man." Astaroth remarked as he slowly approaches the gaggle of mages. "So get out of my way before I force you into retirement."
"And why should I-"
Before the two can continue, a pillar of fire erupts from a distance.
"Because of that." Astaroth pointed towards the pillar of fire.
Luckily, Klaus managed to crawl away before Fana literally exploded.
"Oh brilliant." Klaus cursed. "I knew I should've euthanized her when I had the chance..."
"You couldn't even tie me down, four-eyes." Astaroth yelled out from a distance. "I strongly suggest not pushing your luck today."
"HOW THE HELL DID YOU HEAR ME ALL THE WAY FROM-you know what, never mind." Klaus then scuttles back to where the other mages were.
"So commander." Mimosa spoke out. "Your orders?"
The Golden Dawn Magic Knight then adjusts his glasses.
"FELLOW MAGIC KNIGHTS OF THE CLOVER KINGDOM!" Klaus declares. "OUR TARGET IS THE ARMORED FIGURE RIGHT IN FRONT OF US! SHOW NO QUARTER!"
The mages then ready their grimoires.
"FOR THE GLORY OF THE CLOVER KING-"
"ASTAROTH!" Elf!Fana then springs over the Clover Kingdom Magic Knights as she herself was bursting in flames. "YOU'LL BURN FOR YOUR SINS!"
Astaroth bats her away with the flat of his Ravager, sending her flying back into the air once more.
"NOT...!" Fana heaved out. "NOT YEETTT!"
She then lets out a high-pitched whistle.
"SALAMANDER!"
The puppy-sized lizard made of fire crawls across the stone floor.
"NOW BEHOLD!" Elf!Fana roared out as the flames around her grew brighter and hotter. "MY LOVE! MY SORROW! AND ALL OF MY HATE!"
In response to Elf!Fana's desire to avenge her fallen comrades, a new spell is inscribed into her pages of her grimoire.
"[Fire Spirit Magic: Spirit Dive]!"
The Salamander then jumps up into the air, reaching Fana before merging with her.
A bright ball of flames is formed where once the girl was.
"... Fana?" Mars called out in a soft tone.
"Oh crap..." Fanzell whispered.
"What's wrong?" Lotus asked. "... Wait, stupid question."
"I don't that's the Fana we know..." The red-haired man stated.
"Now what?" Jericho stated. "Do we assist or do we-"
"STAY OUT OF THIS, YOU DAMN HUMANS!" Elf!Fana screeched through the miniature sun. "I'LL DEAL WITH YOU FILTHY LOT LATER!"
The sun disperses, revealing Fana's body now having a pair of dragon wings of sprouting out of her back, her cheeks and arms were covered in garnet scales, her eyes were now topaz and snake-like, and a tail with a flame burning at its tip was coming out of her lower back.
Within Fana's subconscious, human!Fana was feeling the sensation of the rising power flowing through her body.
.. And the pained rage strangling her very chest.
"Fana..." Human!Fana whispered in the darkness of their shared mind. "... What happened to you? What happened that made you feel this burning pain inside our-no..."
She then clutches her chest as hellfire begins to illuminate the darkness within the inky blackness of their shared mind.
"... What happened to your heart to fall to such depths of darkness?"
Outside...
"I'M GOING TO FUCKING BURN YOU TO ASH FOR WHAT YOU DID TO RAIA AND LICHT, ASTAROTH!"
"And I'll rip your vocal cords out of your fucking throat right before my eardrums explode from your hysterical screeching, you damned hussy."
With a roar, Elf!Fana charges towards the Black Knight with unrelenting rage.
"[Fire Spirit Magic: Salamander Crimson Claws]!" A pair of flame claws form around her arms.
She then rakes the fiery talons on the Black Knight's armor.
They simply slide off of the armor's surface, not even leaving a single dent.
"WHY!?" She screeched out. "WHY AREN'T MY ATTACKS GOING THROUGH!?"
Normally, Astaroth would take this opportunity to gloat that his armor bounces off all forms of magic, but fortunately for him, Claudius drilled him for the past several weeks to keep his mouth shut at opportune times in order to keep the element of surprise.
"... I think that guy's armor ignores all forms of magic." Astaroth overheard Corrin's analysis.
... So much for the element of surprise.
Regardless of such triviality, her observation held more weight then anyone, including Astaroth, realized.
By "ignore all forms of magic", what she actually means is that elf!Fana's [Fire Magic] lost all relevancy upon making contact with Astaroth's armor.
So while she thinks that her [Salamander Crimson Claws] are bouncing off of Astaroth's armor, what's actually happening is that she's just scratching his armor with her bare fingernails.
Elf!Fana doesn't realize that all ten of her fingers are now reduced to bloody stumps, human!Fana inside of their subconscious was writhing on the floor(?) in agony, as she felt all of her fingernails being slowly ground away (imagine having a needle being pierced between your fingernails while they're being ripped out, slowly) from the armor's sharkskin-like surface.
Fana stops, exhausted.
"... Are you done?" Astaroth asked.
With a yell, Fana then punches the armor instead.
"Why..."
"Hm? What was that?" Astaroth cupped his ear. "Couldn't hear ya."
"Why..." She murmered right before continuing on with her punches on Astaroth's armor.
"YOU MURDERED THEM, YOU FUCKING MONSTER!" She roared out with tears coming out of her eyes. "WE ONLY WANTED TO LIVE IN PEACE! WE ONLY WANTED TO BE HAPPY! BUT THE HUMANS CAME ALONG AND BURNT OUR VERY LIVES DOWN ALL FOR THE SAKE OF SATING THEIR BOTTOMLESS GREED! SO WHY!? WHY DO DESERVE TO DIE TWICE OVER!? WHY!?"
Her cries of indignation gradually devolves to inelegant and incoherent blubbering.
"Okay, this is actually funny."
Fana keep punching Astaroth's armor while still sobbing.
"Now it's getting a little annoying."
She just keeps on punching, her knuckles now on the verge of bleeding.
"Now it's just getting sad."
"WHY!? WHY!? WHY!?" She wept as every punch came out with her pleas, not noticing (or caring) that her fists are now drawing out blood.
"And now it's getting annoying again."
In a flash, Astaroth puts away Ravager into his stashed grimoire, and pulls out Reject.
Just as elf!Fana was unknowingly about to activate her [Third Eye], the Black Knight jabs Reject's pommel into her forehead, with the intent of knocking her out.
... What he didn't expect to get out from a forehead, was an eyeball, out of all things.
"... Hah?" Fana's rage and excess mana then begins to dissipate.
She then feels air going through a gaping hole carved onto her brows.
"Ughh..." Astaroth moaned out. "Gross..." He then plucks out the eyeball pierced through the pommel before dropping it on the ground.
Fana then hits the ground once more, now blood spouting out of her forehead like a sanguinary geyser while her body was writhing in pain.
The Black Knight simply punts the flailing woman back to where the other mages were.
"FANA!" Mars then runs up and catches her from the air.
Fana now faints from the excess pain.
"Hang on! I'm going to heal you!" Mars then casts [Phoenix Robe] on her.
"Alright." Astaroth puts away Reject and walks toward the end of the treasury. "Now stop me if you can."
"AS YOU WISH!" Klaus then comes charging forward. "[Steel Creation Magic: Fierce Spiral Lances]!"
A bramble of steel drills burst out of the ground towards the Black Knight.
Astaroth lets out a scoff right before punching the ground, uprooting all of the drills from their earth.
"Like I said before buddy, stop embarrassing yourself again." Astaroth then approaches Klaus, and punches him into his gut, sending the poor bastard flying back.
The bespectacled mage then crashes through a mountain of gold.
"So anyone else?" Astaroth taunted.
"We've got no choice but to fight." Jericho mumbled. "EVERYONE!" He rallied out. "COVER ME!"
"Right!"
Jericho then charges toward the Black Knight without his [Stardust Knuckles].
"If my guess is correct, then magic won't work on him." He coolly thought. "In addendum, his swords seem to also possess the same anti-magic trait, but the bigger one that he's holding is more then capable of cleaving through regular stone and iron like hot knife through butter, so it's safe to assume that the same can be said for flesh and bone. Not to mention, judging by its impact marks, it can also be said that blade is also heavy, which implies that the wielder is strong enough to wield it without issue." He analyzed. "However, just because he's invulnerable to all forms of magic doesn't mean he's exempt from the laws of physics. Just because say, [Earth Magic] won't work on him, doesn't mean that he can't be staggered by the impact."
Jericho then unrolls his fists into open palms.
"So in other words, I just have to beat you without using magic, right!?" Jericho declared as he continues to charge towards the Black Knight.
"One problem buddy." Astaroth declared as he throws his own punch.
The black-armored fist lands directly onto Jericho's face.
"Who says I needed my swords to kill you miserable lot?" The Demon scoffed.
"And your next line is..."
"Huh?"
Astaroth's fist then begins to move away from the mage's face against his will, revealing the cockily grinning face of Jericho, with both of his hands catching the armored fist.
"... 'How did you managed to catch my punch?'." He smirked.
"How did you managed to catch my punch?" Astaroth asked in a dour tone, cursing himself to fall for the mage's machinations twice at the same time.
"Simple really..." He grinned.
The giant youth then pulls Astaroth's arm towards him, right before slinging him over his broad shoulder and slamming him back onto the stone floor.
"I TRAIN!" Jericho roars out while the Black Knight lands on his back.
"Crap!" Astaroth cursed. "I know that I'm stronger then him, but somehow, he managed to use all of it against me!"
To show you the context, here's what happened:
Right after finishing his sentence, Astaroth attempted to push his fist against Jericho's hands, attempting to overpower him in raw strength.
In reality, Jericho himself was counting on that to happen.
The moment that the Black Knight pushed his own fist against Jericho's palms, the youth then alternated his mitt to grabbing the Black Knight's wrist towards him, while at the same time, Jericho then pivoted his left side of his body to catch the Black Knight's body with his shoulder while lifting his body up with his left hand, and with the combined force of Astaroth's punch with Jericho's control redirecting it elsehwhere...
The Black Knight is slammed to the ground, leaving a small crater in his (unwilling) wake.
"... Almost died there." Jericho then looks at his bloodied hands, which it all came from touching the black armor.
"... You bastard." Astaroth then slowly raises his head up.
"NOW!" Jericho then rolls towards the side, revealing Yuno and Corrin combing their spells together.
For those of your who haven't quite figured out on what's going on, then allow me (the writer) to enlighten you.
The concept of magic in this world has been the following: shoot magic, the magic itself does something.
That principal itself remains true to this day, but however, it became common practice to apply said principals onto others, such as healing and hurting, forgetting (or not regarding despite knowing) that said principal can be applied in other ways.
Corrin's [Magnet Magic] at first, was consider by her peers to be rather lackluster in comparison. But all of that changed when she started to use nails to her allowance as ammunition, everyone began to assume otherwise.
In actuality, Corrin herself thinks that while her magic may be still a bit lackluster (which in itself is true), but the way that its used?
... It wasn't that hard to figure it out, actually.
Suddenly, she figures out the limitations of magic, and begins to plan out various ways to work around it, eventually figuring out that her [Magnet Magic] wasn't so useless at all.
Her [Magnet Magic] doesn't use mana itself to shoot things, but rather, she uses mana to fire out physical objects (acquisition of said objects were required) at 2.4 km/s. In other words, she not using magic as offense, but rather the general principle of magic itself as a weapon.
So what does that have to do with anything?
Well...
Imagine a gold coin between Corrin's index and middle fingers, held perfectly still in a magnetic flux, but vibrating from the stress of being pushed in all directions, and right in front of the girl taking a knee, was a tunnel of wind spiraling outwards towards the Black Knight's direction.
"About damn time, Jericho!" Corrin the begins to buckle from the mounting kinetic energy that she's built up into a single, yul.
"NOW EAT THIS!"
Corrin then releases the coin from the flux, causing the gold coin to fire out in a golden blur.
"[Wind & Magnet Compound Magic: Psychic Railgun- Tempest Barrel]!"
The golden bullet is then propelled by the wind funnel, doubling its speed, flying towards the Black Knight's head.
"Ohshit-!"
The Black Knight is then sent flying back towards the wall behind him, crashing through, forming a hole on it.
Out of the hole, a black helmet rolls out of the darkness.
"... Did we get him?" Corrin asked.
"Don't know, but for now, we need to heal." Jericho stumbled back to where everyone else was. "Mimosa, can you heal my hands?" He shows his purple palms to the redheaded girl.
"R-Right!" She then opens her grimoire and casts [Fey's Pollen] onto his bloodied hands, reverting their pigments back to peach.
At the back, Fana's body was being wreathed in healing flames, slowly mending her broken bones and rend flesh.
"Hang in there, Fana." Mars breathed out. "I'm not letting you die like this..."
"You and me both, kiddo." Fanzell then approaches the two.
"... Teacher?" Mars spoke out. "Is that you?"
"We'll talk later." He then plants his Estoc between the gaps of the stone tiles. "[Wind Recovery Magic: Glittering Wind Star- Sirocco]."
A vortex of wind expands from the planted sword until it surrounds the three of them.
"There." Fanzell said. "This should speed up your [Phoenix Robe]'s healing."
"... Thank you, teacher." Mars said tearfully.
"Heh." The red-haired man snorted. "What kind of a teacher abandons his students?"
Elsewhere, Klaus was slowly waking up next to the same [Dream-Healing Flower Basket] where Luck's comatose body was at.
"Sorry." Mimosa spoke from the outside. "I running low on mana, so you'll have to share."
"... Reasonable." Klaus stated. "But no need."
The bespectacled man gets out of the basket, fully recovered.
"As you can see, I'm able to walk just fine-"
A familiar-looking black blade bursts out of Klaus's side.
"W-Wha-?"
Klaus falls dead, with blood rapidly pooling underneath his corpse.
Mimosa screams in terror upon seeing Klaus get killed in a swift and brutal manner, catching everyone else's attentions.
"What's going on!?" Noelle runs toward the panicking Mimosa, her face turning blue in shock upon seeing the corpse of the Golden Dawn Magic Knight before her.
"Klaus!" Jericho then kneels down to check his pulse. "No good, he's dead."
"Oh fuck..." Finral gasped right before he vomits somewhere else.
"Not now, kid!" Lotus cried out. "It's too soon!"
All Yuno can do is fall onto his knees in blank silence, realizing that another person is now dead in front of him.
"Oh shit..." Corrin panicked upon hitting a realization.
She then runs up to one of the piles of gold for elevation.
Said realization? Let's let the words come out of her own mouth.
"I don't think that Black Knight has mana, so I can't spot him." She muttered as she then looked around frantically for the Black Knight.
"You don't have to look so hard, I'm right over here."
All of the mages then turn attention to the hole on the wall made by Yuno and Corrin's combo attack, revealing the now-helmetless Astaroth.
Yuno then recognizes that messy, ash-gray hair instantly.
"... Asta...?" Yuno blinked as the black headband wrapped around Yuno's wrist was being flicked with tears.
"Wait, you know him!?" Finral spoke out.
"That's Asta!?" Noelle pointed towards the figure in black armor. "But you said he was dead!"
The same can be said for the titular Fallen Angel Prince. But unlike his now-mortal stepbrother, what Astaroth was feeling right now wasn't tearful relief.
It was blooming sadism. The exact same one that the Demon felt back at that time at the Gravitos Rock Zone, slaughtering all of the wannabe-revolutionaries like sickle to wheat.
"You know what, I think'll play with his feelings for a bit." Astaroth mused.
The revealed-Asta(roth) approaches the mages.
"Asta?" Yuno slowly scrambles up to his feet. "Asta!? Is that you!?"
The Demon lets the now-sobbing four-leaf approach closer.
"I'm glad..." He wrapped his arms around Asta. "I'm so glad that you're alrig-"
*SHRUCK*
A black blade bursts out of Yuno's back, the tip of the darkened steel dripping with blood.
"... A-A... Asta..." Yuno choked through his own blood.
"Sorry pal." Astaroth then rips the blade out of the four-star's own gut, right before jerking him closer, close enough for him to whisper the final words to completely shatter the broken youth's heart.
"He died six months ago."
He's lying.
Asta himself was still alive, technically. And in fact, it was the very same one that just stabbed Yuno right just now.
Said stabbed boy was now hung like a freshly-slaughtered cattle on a meat hook in the Demon's grasp, still bleeding out from his stomach.
"That's odd." Astaroth thought while looking over the squirming Yuno in his hands, bleeding out from both ends. "I only feel this kind of feeling when I think about Sister Lily..."
Or rather, used to, but Asta (prior to being revived as Astaroth) never went through puberty like Yuno did, hence his lack of a growth spurt despite being more well-built then him.
"Hey!" Noelle yelled out towards the unmasked Black Knight. "Aren't you supposed to be his brother!?" She stated in an angered tone, reminding of her times with her siblings and seeing the resemblance between the two relationships. "Aren't ashamed of yourself of treating your long-lost brother like this!?"
"LOOK AT ME IN THE EYE AND ANSWER ME, ASTA!" Noelle then points Aquila towards
"Okay, let me clear up a few things." Astaroth stated nonchalantly. "First, this thing?" He points down towards the mage slowly edging towards his death.
Astaroth then picks up the bleeding youth and throws him towards the group, with Lotus catching him in his arms.
"That thing is no longer my brother."
He's serious.
From the moment that Astaroth became a Demon, he'd willing cut off all ties with his former human self and the relationships that came with it.
It was by death and remembering the last four hours as a human that Astaroth had learned the folly and the fickleness of human nature.
All of it he plans to make right by eliminating all magic from the face of this world.
Until then?
He's got some shit to work out.
"And second." Astaroth stated. "My name's not Asta."
He then points his blade, now with its center groove glowing in a light jade color, forming a sort of a cross on the blade's flat. The Demon then winds his blade back before swing it back out.
"My name is Roth (he's lying)! And I shall be your executioner!" He declared. "Serenade, [Black Hurricane]!"
A pitch-black whirlwind then clouds the whole area in ominous winds, shrouding the whole area in darkness.
"EVERYONE!" Jericho roared out. "HOLD ON!"
Amidst the winds, Lotus carries the ailing Yuno through the winds of darkness.
"Not yet kid..." Lotus breathed out. "Not on my watch... HEY YOU! ROYAL!"
"Y-YES!?" Noelle yipped out.
"PLEASE!" He begged. "DON'T LET HIM DIE!"
"JUST WHO DO YOU THINK I AM!?" She then casts an orb of water beneath Yuno. "I'M A ROYAL! FAILURE IS NOT IN MY BLOOD! HURRY! SET HIM IN!"
"I'll pay you back later, promise." Lotus thanked the girl.
"H-HEY GUYS!" Finral cried out. "LOOK! THE WINDS!"
The dark winds begin to slowly dissipate, with light gradually returning.
"Wait a minute..." Corrin spoke out.
The winds continue to disperse slowly.
"... Where did all the mana go?"
True to her word, the dungeon's mana-particles were no longer present, giving the whole Dungeon a dead feel.
"Wait a second." Mimosa spoke out while looking around. "Where's Klaus's body?"
"Over here, dipshits."
Right behind all of them was Astaroth, holding onto his retrieved helmet on one hand, and Klaus's corpse in the other, still with the Reject pierced through his side.
But now, he himself was surrounded by a group of cloaked figures, all with their faces bandaged, completely hiding their facial features. Even their eyes were covered with wooden visors to hide their eyes.
As if they want to keep their identities a secret.
"Okay." Corrin muttered out. "Not only I can't sense mana from Mr. Prince over there, but apparently, his posses are not radiating any trace of mana anywhere." She then starts to bite her thumbnail out of nerves. "Worse, the whole dungeon's treasury is now completely erased from that guy's [Black Hurricane], meaning that I can't use my mana sensory to find gaps in a mana field to detect them..."
"And finally." Astaroth declared. "Now that you've forced to me to reveal myself..."
The cloaked figures then draw out their massive, inwardly-curved, boomerang-shaped knives.
"It's time for all of you to die."
The Demon puts his helmet back on and pulls out Reject from the corpse before putting it away behind his hidden 5-leaf grimoire.
"Leave none alive." He ordered.
The cloaked men then dash towards the mages with the intent to maim.
"PROTECT THE HEALERS!" Jericho then forms [Stardust Knuckles] over his still-bruised hands.
One of the blades strike upon the platinum gauntlets, sending sparks flying from the two clashing steels.
"EVERYONE!" Jericho yelled out. "THE BLADES THAT THE CLOAKED MEN USE AREN'T ANTI-MAGIC!" He announced. "GRIMOIRES FREE! BUT MIND THE BLACK KNIGHT'S BLADES!"
With those words heeded, the mages begin their counterattack.
Jericho fends off the steel blades with his [Stardust Knuckles], Fanzell parries the curved blades with his Estoc, defending Mars healing Fana without using his magic, Finral and Lotus were using their [Spatial Magic] and [Smoke Magic] to hop from place to place to confuse the cloaked figures, and Corrin was using her [Magnet Magic] to disarm the cloaked figures.
Upon being disarmed, the cloaked figures run back, pull out bow and stone arrow, which then they fire upon the poor girl.
"Oh shit!" Knowing the stone cannot be magnetized, she then uses her magic to construct a cover made of gold coins to block the oncoming arrows.
... Not realizing that Astaroth was behind her, blade in hand.
Astaroth thrusts his blade towards Corrin, but the sounds of coins clinging underneath his armored feet, causing her to notice his sneak attack and get the hell out of the way.
... Unfortunately, her right arm wasn't so fortunate. The black blade pierces through her elbow and out of her elbow, slicing her off her arm entirely.
"FUUUCKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK!" She roared out as her right arm was severed off of her elbow.
Upon being distracted by the agony of losing a limb, her [Magnet Magic] shuts down in that window of time, causing the bunker of gold coins to fall over their heads, burying them both.
But that itself didn't last long.
"Scatter, [Black Repel]."
The pile of gold doubloons explode outwards, with the coins themselves acting as shrapnel.
A few stray yuls cut across skins of mages and cloaked figures alike.
The torn cloaks reveal their bandaged arms and legs, and several pouches tied around their bodies.
One of them rips off a small pouch and throws it down, releasing a flash of light followed up by smoke.
The rest of them do the same, cloaking their presence along with their lack of mana.
The whole room is now empty of these unknown marauders.
"Corrin!" Jericho called out, looking for the Golden Dawn girl.
"Oi..." A weak groan was heard under him.
Jericho looks down, and finds his foot on her left hand.
"Oh, sorry." He quickly stepped away from her hand.
"That was my only good hand, you jackass..." Corrin mumbled. "Also, can you get me out of here? I'm kinda buried up to my shoulders in yul."
"Right." Jericho then crouches down, and pulls out the chestnut-haired girl from her golden wreckage.
He is then taken back upon seeing her right forearm bleeding out of its stump.
"Don't worry." She remarked in a nonchalant attitude. "Once entire vault's worth of yuls come crashing down on your whole body, suddenly the pain of losing a limb doesn't feel so bad in comparison." She then looks back on her stump and winces. "Still lost a lot of blood, though."
"Well, we might want to stop the bleeding though." Jericho then picks up the girl over hos shoulder.
"Hey..." The girl's voice grows weaker. "Can you show me that metal arm that you found?"
Jericho then takes out the arm from his satchel.
She then snatches the arm then puts the arm onto her stump.
"Corrin?" Jericho spoke in a concerned tone. "What are you doing!?"
The sounds of something protruding into her stump cuts off the conversation.
Corrin grits her teeth as the needles from the arm begins to collect her blood, as shown by the red fluids shown through the arm (and the fact that her bleeding coming from the gap between the as decreased).
Eventually, the straining stops, and the metal arm on Corrin's right stumps twitches.
She then raises her brand-new prosthetic.
"How did you know that arm was a prosthetic?" Jericho asked while walking towards Mimosa for healing.
"You said that you found it in a chest with nothing else in it, right?" She replied. "Call it pattern recognition."
"Astute, aren't you?" Jericho smiled slightly.
"Hey, my brain a part of me, so might as well use it to its fullest." She grinned.
The muscular youth then hoists up the girl over his shoulder before setting her down next to the comatose Luck.
Afterwards, he then checks on Yuno.
"How is he?" Jericho asked Noelle.
"Well, the stab wound and the bleeding is gone, but as for everything else, I..." She stuttered. "... I don't know when he's going to wake up."
"Do your best." He then pats Noelle's shoulder as he then heads towards where Mars, Lotus, Finral, Fanzell, and Fana were at.
"Hey kid." Lotus sighed out. "Holdin' up okay?"
"My hands stopped bleeding, so that's something to be happy about." He replied.
"Geez, forget about feeding the caravan, I don't think we'll have enough limbs to work with once we get out of this stinkin' hole..." Fanzell muttered while lifting up a small treasure chest off the ground. "Oi Black Bull! You doin' all right!?"
"You said it, Mr. Kruger. Not me." Finral spoke out while pocketing a few bits of gold and jewels with his [Spatial Magic]. "... What? Our mission is to collect as much relics here as possible."
"I won't judge if you take a few pieces of loose yul to yourself, Mr. Roulacase." Jericho stated. "Considering what we had to go through today, and fact that we literally dragged you out here, even I think you deserve some compensation."
"... I'll try not to get caught." He sweatdropped.
Jericho then looks at Mars healing Fana.
"How is she?" He asked.
"Fana..." He spoke out in a soft tone. "She's okay... but something feels wrong..."
"Hmm..." Jericho placed his thumb on his chin. "Call it a hunch, but do you think that she might've developed a split personality?"
"... What's that?" Mars asked Jericho.
"A split personality-disorder is when a person essentially develops, say... another version of themselves." Jericho stated. "It is usually stemmed from that person trying to cope from, say... a traumatic experience." The youth then leans down to Mars's level. "Say Mars, what kind of an experience do you think she might've went through? I-I mean, I'm not asking for an answer, t-that's just my curiosity-"
"I killed her." Mars answered.
"... Pardon?"
The ex-apex supersoldier balls his hands until his knuckles turned white, as he bared his teeth while tears were flowing down from his eyes.
"... I am going to kill that son of a bitch." Mars growled out. "That bastard Morris broke both of us..."
With a pained yell, Mars raises his fists right before slamming them back onto the floor, leaving a web of small fissures upon impact.
"I AM GOING KILL THAT MORRIS BASTARD FOR WHAT HE DID ME AND FANA!" He roared out. "I AM GOING TO RIP HIS CHEST OPEN, SHOVE MY HAND UP TO HIS THROAT, AND RIP OUT HIS BRAIN FOR SUCH THING FOR CAUSING US ALL OF THIS SUFFERING AND PAIN TO US!" As he raged on, tears began to flow down even harder.
"FANA! EVERYONE!" He pleaded. "I'M SO SORRY I WASN'T STRONG ENOUGH TO STOP HIM! I'M SORRY THAT I WASN'T ABLE TO SAVE YOU ALL! I'M SORRY THAT I..."
His tears were now reduced to pitiful sobs.
"I'm sorry that I killed you all..." He choked out.
Suddenly, the [Phoenix Robe]-clad Fana spring up from her back, and embraces the crying youth.
"No..." Human!Fana whispered tenderly into Mars's ear. "I should be the one that's sorry..."
"B-But Fana-!"
She cuts off his words by locking her lips onto his.
"No Mars." She spoke while tears were coming out of her eyes. "It was my fault that I had to force you to make that choice..."
With a sniffle, the two then finally embrace in tears once more.
"So *sniff* Fana..." Mars asked Fana.
"Yes?" She spoke out while wiping her tears from her eyes.
"... Will you-"
Before Mars can say anything, the youth, with all of his residual superhuman senses, feels something sharp and wide poking through his back.
Knowing that dodging was impossible due to the speed that his senses were picking up, nor it was too fast to duck under it, he knew that if he didn't do anything, both he and Fana will die.
Only one option was left.
Mars shoves Fana down.
"... Mars?"
Out of his chest burst out a massive black blade. Between Jericho and Mars, was none other than Astaroth, with Ravager in his grasp.
In one swift motion, the Black Knight pulls out the blade out of his back, leaving a gaping chest wound behind on Mars's body.
"... Mars!?" Fana spoke out in an increasingly-panicked tone.
"C'mon you pink-haired bitch." Astaroth jeered out. "Heal him before he dies."
"F-F-[Fire Recovery Magic-!"
In that split second, Astaroth draws out Reject and cleaves it clean through Mars's neck, beheading him.
The pink-haired girl collapse onto her knees in shock as Mars's head rolls to her knees.
"Hey." Astaroth quipped. "Before you say anything, I specifically said 'Heal him before he dies.'. I didn't say anything about me cutting his head off."
A childhood friend sees another childhood friend die right in front of the other.
Fana then begins to scream uncontrollably upon seeing this demented replay of their tragedy, only this time, she's the unwilling sole audience of this repeat performance.
"Now for what I came here for..." The Black Knight then lifts up Fana by her hair as he places Reject's blade against her neck. "... Time to put you down like the rabid bitch you are-"
Out of nowhere, Salamander jumps onto his shoulder, crawls under the gap beneath the Black Knight's helmet, and starts lighting up inside of it.
"AGHHHH! AGHHH!" Astaroth flailed around, letting go of Fana from his grasp while dancing and flailing away from her. "GET OFF OF MY FACE, YOU DAMN LIZARD!"
"Now's out chance!" Fnazell then draws his Estoc and thrusts the tip towards his helmet.
Unfortunately, the blade gets caught up in Astaroth's jerky motion, causing the tip to snap off from the rocking motion of the tip caught by the helmet's visor.
Salamander's heat unknowingly had weakened the blade as well, making it easier to bend and break.
With a yell, Astaroth rips off his helmet, throws it to the ground, rips the crawling Salamander off of his now-burn-covered face, and throws the flaming lizard against the all behind the now-broken Fana.
"Ahhh..." The Black Knight sighed in relief as he picked up his helmet from the ground and puts it back on. "Now where was I? ... Oh right-"
He then sees that Fana and Mars's corpse was no longer present.
"Shit these bastards are slippery..." He cursed. "Ah well, guess I'm going to have to play hide-and-seek-"
Suddenly, Astaroth finds his waist grabbed by Jericho's burly arms.
"You're not going anywhere, you son of a bitch." He growled out.
"You're right." Astaroth then pulls out his brand-new sword that he managed to execute [Black Hurricane] with. "Instead, how about you go instead?"
He twirls the sword around, then drives the sword's pommel upwards into Jericho's gut, causing him to spit up blood. Astaroth then takes this opportunity to lift Jericho over his head and throw his whole body towards Noelle's direction.
"... In hindsight, that wasn't my brightest move." Jericho thought while he was flying like a flung-around rag doll.
He lands onto the pile of treasure next to her, scattering a few bits of gold and breaking open a treasure chest.
From the emerged treasure chest, a small ball of green light flew out like a firefly.
"J-Jericho!" Noelle then runs over towards the downed Black Bull.
"I'm fine..." He heaved out. "... More importantly, how's Yuno?"
"All it matters is now if he can wake up..." She sighed out as she herself walks back to where Yuno was.
... Not realizing that there was a gun barrel pointed towards her direction from a distance.
In Noelle's [Naga's Womb], Yuno was slowly opening his eyes.
"H-Hey!" Noelle shouted out. "Yuno! He's waking up!"
Jericho looks towards where Astaroth is.
... Or rather, was.
"He disappeared on us again." He thought, now on high alert for where he'll pop up next.
Thanks to his heightened senses from his ki, Jericho suddenly smells a rather peculiar, yet faint scent.
"... Is something burning?" He thought as he sniffed the air.
That "something burning" was gunpowder.
Jericho quickly turns his head to spot a faint glimmer of light pointed towards Noelle's direction.
"NOELLE, GET DOWN-"
*BANG*
The very first thing Yuno saw upon waking up from his recovery was a small hole forming right between her eyes.
"... Noelle?" Yuno blurted out while his brain was processing on what was going on.
Noelle's [Naga's Womb] bursts as her ventilated head hits Yuno's torso, pooling blood on his bare torso.
"Noelle...?" Yuno whimpered out. "Noelle...!?"
His breathing quickens as the sight of her lifeless eyes stared right into very soul.
"This is all your fault."
"Shut up..." Yuno bit out.
"So much for a four-leaf."
"Shut up..."
"Her blood is in your hands.
"Shut up..."
"Can't be a Wizard King if you can't save even a single person, can ya?"
"Shut up..." Yuno voice trembled.
Then wind begins to gather around him, slowly transforming him into a cyclone.
"... Yuno?" Jericho muttered. "Yuno? Are you all right?"
The boy cannot hear anyone as of now.
For the world around Yuno was now frozen and monochrome, like that time during his encounter with Revchi.
"Huh..." Yuno looked around this eerily-familiar setting. "I'm here again..."
But only this time, he wasn't alone.
"Hello there."
"Agh!" Yuno then falls to his rear, upon hearing a strange voice. "W-Who are you!? Where are you hiding!?"
"Over here!" The ball of green light spoke out.
The ball of light disappears, revealing a small humanoid female in a lime-green one-piece dress with a pair of insect wings on her back.
"Who are you!?" Yuno asked the petite figure.
"You honestly don't know?" She responded with a questioned look. "Ugh, kids these days..."
She then flies closer towards Yuno.
"I'm a Sylph!" The Sylph stated. "One of the Four Great Elemental Spirits! And you, my dear..." She beamed out. "You are now my next chosen user!"
"Then please!" Yuno got on his knees and begged. "Please grant me the strength to protect everyone else!" He begged.
"Alright! Alright! Calm down, yeesh..." The Sylph scratched her head. "Just what were you facing up until now-"
As she was turning around towards where Yuno was facing, her face turns blue from sheer horror.
"Why didn't you tell me that you were fighting against a Demon?" Sylph asked.
"You something about them!?" Yuno asked.
"All I know is that they're bad news." She replied in an alarmed. "Look kid, I don't care what you and your friends are here for, you all need to get the hell out, and fast."
"Those Demons have my brother." Yuno stated. "I think one of them has possessed my brother, Asta."
"Hmm..." She scratched her hair once more. "Then I suppose I have no other choice but to lend you my strength then." Sylph then flies into Yuno's grimoire. "Yuno." She spoke out.
"Yeah!?" He replied.
"... Don't hold back." The Sylph then disappears into the pages of the four-star grimoire, inscribing a new spell onto it.
The world around Yuno goes back into motion once again.
With his sorrow now transformed into rage, Yuno opens grimoire and prepares to activate his new spell. "This is for you, Noelle!" With a roar, a massive orb of spiraling wind forms right in front of him.
"[Wind Spirit Magic]!" Both Yuno and Sylph's voice cried out together.
"Wait, [Wind Spirit Magic]?" Fanzell droned out.
"[Sylph's Breath]!"
The massive orb of wind speeds itself towards where the sniper was.
"LEIF! GET DOWN!" Astaroth's voice roared over the tempestuous winds.
He then points his newly-acquired blade towards the wind.
"Time to get to work, Demon-Dweller Sword." He grinned. "No..."
Astaroth's grip on the sword's handle tightens.
"Let's do this, Reprisal!" With a roar, Astaroth flies toward the oncoming ball of wind.
The sword's tip touches [Sylph's Breath], as it begins to slowly absorb the wind into its cross engraved onto the flat.
"That's what I was counting on, you son of a bitch." Yuno thought as he readied his other spell.
"That new sword that the Demon wearing my brother's skin had gotten from this dungeon can apparently absorb magic and fire out a version of that magic that can erase mana in its range." He analyzed. "But depending on how big the spell is, the time taken will vary. So by using [Sylph's Breath] as a distraction, I can go for the one that killed off Noelle."
A small disk of wind forms on his palm.
"This is for my brother, you bastards." The disk then grows significantly bigger.
Yuno swings his hand outwards.
[Crescent Moon Sickle] was now gone, and in place, was a stronger version of said spell.
"[Wind Magic: Zephyr Edge]."
A perfectly-cut piece of masonry slides down from its neatly-separated base. Behind it, a head rolls down from it.
"Hah... Hah... I-I did it..." Yuno heaved out.
His labored breathing then turns to laughter.
"YOU SAW THAT YOU DAMN DEMONS!?" He loudly declared. "YOU'RE NOT SO INVINCIBLE AFTER ALL, AREN'T YA!?" Yuno then continues to laugh out in a deranged fashion.
"And you do realize that I've just finished absorbing your attack, right?"
Yuno looks up to see that Astaroth's sword was glowing green once again.
"By the way, I'm going to kill you now." He then swings down Reprisal towards Yuno's direction. "Serenade, [Black Hurricane]."
Before the wave of black winds can crush Yuno under, he instinctively activates [Air Bubble-Repulsor] to recoil himself out of the way, sending himself flying back to were Jericho catches him.
"Thanks."
"No problem." Jericho stated. "Now we might want to get back to where everyone else is-"
Far from them, they hear Mimosa's scream.
As they run closer, they find an arrow pierced into her arm.
"Are you alright!?" Jericho asked while Mimosa was struggling to pull out the arrow lodged into her arm.
Above her came down roughly a quarter-dozen of the Black Knight's cloaked figures, drawing out their knives and proceeds to gut her alive.
Her screams and cries of pain were drowned out from the sounds of her flesh being ripped and torn out by steel and teeth alike, and the pages of her grimoire being ripped out of its fading and crumbling cover right before being put into small satchels that they had around their waists.
The [Dream-Healing Flower Basket] completely wilts upon Mimosa's death.
Corrin, now all healed up and awake, uses her [Magnet Magic] to polarize a couple swords stuck onto the pile of gold, and flings them towards her direction while dragging Luck's still-comatose body over her shoulder.
"I really need to hit the training grounds soon, Crimson Lion Kings's presences be damned..." She muttered as a portal opens right in front of her.
She jumps through and finds herself with everyone else (that were still alive).
"Okay, everyone all right?" Lotus asked.
"Barely holding on, especially my new arm." Corrin then presents her now slightly-less wobbly silver arm. "Oh and... really shouldn't say this, but I think I just saw Mimosa being... cannibalized."
She then rushes to the nearest corner to regurgitate.
"Okay then." The bearded man then turns to his red-haired friend. "... And I'm assuming that nothing needs to be said about Fana."
"I'll give you an A for effort, but even then, I'm being lenient." Fanzell stated bitterly.
The two adults now had to deal with a girl dealing with a very heavy personal loss. Mainly because of the fact that Fana is not letting go of Mars's severed head is not most ideal way to cope. But even then, the two adults were at a loss on how to deal with this, and not because of Fana reverting back to her violent/elf!Fana personality.
They were basically walking on eggshells at this point.
"... Wait." Corrin spoke out. "Where's Yuno and Jericho?"
"Out there..." Finral pointed out towards the clearing in the treasury.
"Then hurry up and send a portal out!" Corrin asked.
"One problem." He then pointed towards the Black Knight. "I saw that his swords and armor plating can shut down my [Spatial Magic] upon contact."
Outside, all Yuno and Jericho can do was run from the Black Knight.
"RUUUUUUUUNNNNNNN! RUUUUUUUUUUUUUNNNNN! I'M COMING FOR YOU!" The Black Knight roared out in laughter.
"We gotta do something about those swords." Both Jericho and Corrin thought.
So now realizing that he was now out of all sane options, Jericho then opts for the not-so-sane-option.
The [Platinum Magic] user then runs towards the Black Knight.
"JERICHO! WHAT ARE YOU THINKING!?" Yuno yelled behind Jericho's back.
"THE ONLY OPTION LEFT!" With a yell, Jericho then grabs the Black Knight's wrists.
"You do realize that the same trick won't work twice, right?" Astaroth taunted.
Jericho merely smiles. "A single trick can be used in a hundred different ways. NOW!"
The Black Knight turns his head towards his left, catching a glimpse of Corrin firing out a gold coin towards him at the speed of sound.
Jericho then jerks his arms forward, bringing Astaroth's hands in the firing path of Corrin's [Psychic Railgun].
"Heh, I could just cancel it out now problem." The Fallen Angel Prince thought.
... Two issues.
One, as well-honed as Astaroth's senses were, their overall execution can be described as reckless, at best. Because strong as his newly-aquired Demonic biology was, the skill behind it was rather lacking.
Two, Corrin's [Magnet Magic]. He really didn't catch on the fact that her brand of magic doesn't use mana as a method of offense, but rather, the laws of physics were her only, and deadliest weapon.
Simply put, Astaroth, in that exact moment, forgot how to fight.
"... I really should've trained more."
Those were his thoughts as both of his swords were shot out of Astaroth's hands.
"NOW RUN!" Jericho then makes a mad dash towards the portal opened up in front of Yuno.
The two get through, with Astaroth hot behind their heels.
... It's a shame that his anti-magic armor cancels all forms of magic upon physical contact, because upon touching the portal, it instantly peters out the magic portal.
On the plus side, Yuno's right foot was sliced off from the telefrag.
And thanks to the youth's screams of pain being heard from the distance, Astaroth can now tell where they were all hiding very easily.
After all, [Hermit's Thick Smoke] may shroud visibility and mana signatures, but sound?
"Hold it right there, you guys." Astaroth called out. "Let me get my swords before I butcher you all."
The mages then turn cold in fear.
"... Guys?" Finral spoke out barely above a whimper. "I think I've figured the purpose of this whole treasury."
The mages then all turn their attentions towards Finral.
"The dungeon, the traps, the door..." He went on. "... It wasn't all there to keep intruders out." Finral realized. "They were there to keep that... thing in."
His finger pointed towards the Black Knight.
Finral's theory, while sound, was incorrect.
Astaroth and his cloaked entourage (the Dark Elves), were here since this morning. In fact, the dead mimic spotted in that lone chamber?
That was their lunch.
"Alright! Got em!" The Black Knight cried out. "Now all of you please hold still, and I can promise you all that it'll be mostly painless."
The Black Knight then begins to approach them with the two retrieved blades in tow.
"Time to die-"
The whole dungeon then begins to glow red once more, with the alarms now blaring through the masonry once more.
"... Welp. Shit..." Astaroth cursed. "Guess time's up."
In actuality, here's what happened that caused all of this mess to replay:
When Astaroth threw Reject through Klaus's sides, the blade had confiscated his [Steel Magic] in exchange for dropping the Dungeon's [Recombination Magic], since the Demon-Banisher Sword can only take one attribute at a time.
Upon the Dungeon regaining its [Recombination Magic], it went through a rather lengthy and absurdly complicated procedure to recaliberate all of its traps back into working order.
The whole process took about at least 10 minutes.
But all of that notion is hard to focus on, mainly because of the fact that the whole Dungeon was now falling on top of everyone's heads.
"Eh, at least we have an escape route secured." Astaroth mused. "Wondered why Claudius insisted to secure multiple, but now considering on what's happening, I think he's proven himself right."
Away from prying human eyes, Astaroth transforms into his anti-bird form and flies away.
"FINRAL! GET US OUT OF HERE!" Jericho yelled out while wrapping his own Black Bulls robe around Yuno's bleeding stump where his right foot once was.
"R-RIGHT!" He then opens his grimoire and tries to open the portal, but this time with his own magic.
A massive spatial gap opens below everyone, which everyone then falls into.
With the whole Dungeon now devoid of all life, the ancient tomb has now outlived its purpose, and the only fate that it awaits it and its contents were an eternal rest within the depths of the earth, forgotten in the sands of time.
Outside, Finral's spatial gap opens up in the air, and out of it came out everyone as they fell to the ground while the whole dungeon collapsed behind them.
"Everyone..." Finral heaved out. "Everyone alright...?"
"I should be the one asking you all that."
Right in front the remaining party members was a royally-dressed man with short, bright blonde hair, and an asterisk right above his left eyebrow. Around him were several cloaked mages
"Oh look, its the Wizard King, Julius Novachrono-OH FUCK! IT'S THE WIZARD KING-"
Corrin was cut off by Julius raising his hand.
"Worry not." He stated. "I just simply came by on what's going on, and from the looks of it..."
He then looks at Corrin's silver prosthetic arm, Yuno's missing right foot dripping blood through his crude wraps, and Fana now cradling Mars's severed head with a doll-like smile and gaze on her face.
"... I'd believe there's more to this story then what I see face value?"
"Please for the love of god, I beg of you, do not bring my family into this-"
"Fear not, Lotus Whomalt, and yes, I know who you and your friend next to you are, but regardless." The Wizard King diffused the situation with ease. "But before that..."
He then looks around the ruined landscape around him as he let out a small sigh.
"You all okay coming by my place?" He asked. "It's not safe for open wounds to be in dusty air."
A portal opens by one of the mage's [Spatial Magic].
"Oh and, would you bring those three with our Magic Knights?" Julius suggested.
"But sir, with all due respect, aren't from the Diamond Kingdom?" One of the mages asked.
"I'm aware that they're our enemies, but I see this as opportunity." Julius responded. "I trust that you believe in my abilities to handle on my own, correct?"
The mage is then left loss for words.
"Then do please treat them like you do with your own." He addressed as the wounded Magic Knights were carried into the portal on stretchers or shoulder.
Julius then hears something drop onto the dirt.
"Hmm?" He then picks up a ragged black sash and a small glowing amulet with a round green gem at the center. "Well what do we have here..."
He then presses down on the gem, which causes the gem to project a message that states the following:
[Magic Item: Mind's Eye, Recording Complete]
"Wait, recording?" He mused.
Julius then looks back at the collapsed dungeon.
"I should hold onto this until that boy Yuno wakes up..." He thought as he pockets the sash and medallion.
[Lord Julius!] A projection of a turquoise-haired man's face appeared next to Julius.
"Oh hey, Marx." The Wizard King responded. "What did I miss?"
[About 200 pages worth of legal documents involving the Hapshass Family and the surrounding terms of conditions for their son, Salim, to serve-]
"Bored." Julius cut off his sentence. "And besides, I've got something bigger behind me right now."
[I'll hear it out, but only if you get your rear back on the desk right after your possibly ridiculous request-]
"I need you to send me a squadron of Magic Knights to watch over the ruined dungeon." Julius requested. "Something doesn't feel right here."
Marx is taken back by his sudden shift in tone.
[U-Understood, sir] Marx stated. [I'll send a request to all nearby Aqua Deers and the Coral Peacocks to each send a detachment force to patrol the dungeon exteriors.]
"Thank you." Julius stated. "Also, can you tell the staff to brew some green tea or some black coffee?" He requested. "I got a feeling that I won't be sleeping tonight, with all the work and whatnot."
Marx's face then tears up with joy, because for the first time in his 5-year career as the Wizard King's secretary, the Wizard King is about to do his paperwork upon his request.
[Yes sir! Right away!] He beamed out.
(Former) Dungeon Exterior, Forsaken Realm, Clover Kingdom (Midnight)
"Well this is unexpected." Claudius muttered internally from the treetops as an anti-bird.
After his Prince returned with the Demon-Dweller Sword and the beheaded corpse of Leif (their only casualty) along with his Tanegashima, Dainsleif, Claudius and a few other Fallen Angels took it upon themselves to find scour the area after exploration.
What he did not expect was an entire camp of Magic Knights to be there.
Normally, he himself would be more then a match against this gaggle, but upon seeing that they were giving hourly briefings through a magical orb, the plan of attack was immediately retracted.
"Damn..." He cursed. "These damn mages are actually using their brains for once..."
Below the treetops, Claudius then hears a hissing sound.
He quickly hops down to a lower branch, and sees a black snake with a green diamond pattern formed by four, smaller green diamonds.
The snake then gazes at Claudius's anti-bird form in a flirty manner.
"Oh fucking brilliant..." Claudius cursed. "Out of all other Demons trapped in this plane, why did it have to be her?"
Once the snake reaches the thickest part of the forest, the snake then transforms into a scantly-clad, female humanoid figure, with sharp topaz snake-eyes, moonlight reflecting off of her tan skin, and an array of black scales climbing up from her hips to the fringes of her cheekbones.
"Milord." The woman spoke through a small, bone-colored device. "It seems that the Fallen Angel Faction are stationed in the Clover Kingdom."
"Is that so?" A young but monotone voice responded. "Then return to the Diamond Kingdom immediately. I need you to revise the High-Mobility Units #1-20."
"With all haste." She then puts it away before pulling her hood outwards to hide her demonic features.
Upon reaching the clearing, she then finds her surrounded by bandit mages.
"Alright, missy." One of the bandits chuckled out. "Either cough up all you have, or strip."
"Oh my." She responded. "Are all Clover Kingdom natives thisssss rude?" The scales around her cheeks begin to grow a bit further out.
"Boss, I don't like how she talked back to us." The other bandit spoke to his leader. "Can we rough her up first before we have some fun with her?"
The bandit leader then chortles. "Break all four of her limbs if you wanna. Just keep the baby room intact."
Then all of the bandits surrounding her then bumrush her with their magic.
"Eat this!" The thug then opens his grimoire. "[Stone Mag-"
The bandit's head is separated from his neck as his headless body tumbles lifelessly to the ground.
"Aw, what'ssssss wrong?" She hissed out.
A stray gust of wind blows by, throwing off the Demon's hood, revealing her snake-eyes and black scales.
"A-A MONSTER!" The bandits screeched as they panicked.
"Don't panic!" Their leader shouted out. "It's just one person, and a woman to boo-"
The Demon then appears right in front of the corpulent bandit leader, and his fat neck was now gashed open, spraying out blood right in front of her scales and face.
She then turned back as she licked a drop of blood sprayed onto her cheeks with her long and forked tongue.
"Here'sssss my advicessssss." The Demon hissed out.
One of the bandits pisses himself.
"Run."
The forest remains silent as the Demon continued with her onslaught against the bandits, for not one of them lived long enough to let out a single decibel's worth of screaming.
The clearing was now littered with headless bodies as the black serpent slithers away into the brushes.
To Be Continued...
Author's Notes: Holy shit, it's been a while, huh?
Let's just say writer's block is a bitch and a half to deal with, especially if you're juggling three other fanfics at the same time.
I have commitment issues, and that's why I don't pursue long-term relationships.
And on another note, finally, the long-ass Dungeon Exploration Arc is OVER!
The only things lost? Two of canon!Asta's love interests/shipping fodder, Mr. Four-Eyes (never liked him and saw no purpose in his character), Mars (I'm just that cruel), Leif ("too powerful to live" [because he has a matchlock rifle] and "kill the cutie" at the same time), and only two limbs were amputated (three counting Mars's head).
Good times.
Also in this chapter: how many Kaguya-Sama: Love is War references can you find in this chapter?
Next up: a prequel chapter taking place in the Diamond kingdom as we explore this new Demon and her unknown master.
Hypothetical Voices (for funsies):
Black Knight/Astaroth's Filtered Voice: Joji Nakata (JPN), Patrick Seitz (ENG, imagine Asta with the voice of DIO)
Also, regarding the manga:
Is it just me, or is the whole shit starting to turn into a compressed version of Naruto's 4th Ninja War Arc?
Seriously, I think the author is just going full-auto in that arc, and its gotten to the point that there are so many ass-pulls that would make Fairy Tail blush.
So what do you guys think of this chapter?
Leave a comment or a review, for I'd love to know what my audience is thinking.