Disclaimer: Black Clover is owned by Yūki Tabata, Studio Pierrot, and Shonen Jump.
Saga 25: House of 1,000 Corpses Part 2
Clover Kingdom Capital Quatre Outskirts, Noble Realm, Clover Kingdom (Afternoon)
"DANCE! FUCKERS DANCE! LET THE MOTHERFUCKERS BURN!"
Over the roaring flames, snarling undead, and people running amok, Rades was cackling gleefully at the slaughter taking place.
Each bitten civilian were subverted into his personal thralls, thanks to the collaborated efforts between his [Soul Corpse Magic] and Sally's alchemy.
His [Specialists] were routing the Magic Knights completely, or delaying them long enough for the people that they were trying to save were turned into his thralls at worst.
"You know..." Rades thought amidst of the chaos ensuing. "Maybe working together with other people ain't so bad..."
A week prior...
Classified Location (Evening)
The four remaining remnants of Eye of the Midnight Sun were trekking through the forest edging the Clover/Spade Kingdom border like if the wind themselves were on their backs.
"Here we are~!" Sally gleefully declared as she skipped towards the cave.
"... It's just a cave." Rades stated.
Sally then presses one of the rocks on the cave walls.
A rumble is felt from the earth, and secret passage was opened from the end of the cave.
"C'mon." Sally then strikes a match against the sole of her boot. "Move it or lose it."
The three then follow the female mage into the depths of darkness, with the daylight behind them slowly becoming dim.
The four then reach the open hatch going into the wall, making their way down the staircase leading towards somewhere below.
"Here we are~!" Sally sang out as she pulled onto something.
With a click, the whole room lights up, revealing an elaborate and surprisingly organized (given who allegedly owns this place) laboratory.
"Welcome to my secret lab!" Sally stated gleefully. "Before I joined the Eye of the Midnight Sun, I've been doing my more... 'personal' projects here in this cave!"
"... Fascinating." Crowley commented while peering at a jar full of squirming, worm-like creatures that resembled a man's member.
"Don't touch that." Sally pointed out sternly. "Those buggers will latch onto your ass and fry your source of mana then eat up all of your insides before it moves on and repeats the process."
"Wait, you created them!?" Rades cried out.
"... Okay, it was a collaboration." Sally meekly answered. "But the wrinkly fart got arrested before I got caught, but considering that I literally spent eight months working on that crap, I just thought that disposing them would be a waste."
"... Let's never bring that up again." Valtos stated. "Sally, do you happened to have a vault around here?"
She then runs towards one of the walls in the room, takes off her glasses, and a gemstone embedded onto the crags shines a light onto her iris.
Next to her, another point of entry opens.
"Gimme that." Sally then takes the jar full of the worms and places it inside the hidden vault.
She then comes back out as the vault's door seals itself back again.
"There." She sighed out. "Now we can do our work without anymore interruptions, I presume?"
No one objects.
"Good!" She chirped. "Valtos, Rades, to the operating table, if you will."
The two then head towards the large, bloodstained table sitting below a lamplight.
"... I'll clean it later." Sally remarked. "We're working with corpses anyway. Valtos! If you will!"
A portal opens above the table, spilling out the corpses onto the table.
"Alright gentlemen." Sally then pulls out a pair of gloves, hair net, and a germ mask beneath the table and puts them on herself. "... What? I may be an amoral doctor, but even then, I'm hygienic."
"... That explains this whole place's state." Valtos commented.
"Peh, who gives a shit?"
Rades then jams his arms into one of the corpses, gutting them with his bare hands.
"I lived in the crypts, so me handling bodies is another Tuesday for me." Rades stated. "Sally, can you hand me a knife? I need to cut out the rest before I can implant my runes into the corpses."
Sally just gives the necromancer an annoyed look as she handed him a scalpel.
Back to Present Time...
"Still..." Rades muttered out as he scoured the rooftops above the corpse-ridden streets of Quatre, all the while baring a pleased look on his face. "... There ain't enough death around. In fact, what the hell are taking them so long to reach the damn castle-"
Next to him, an explosion of flying bodies was seen.
"... Fuck."
Of course, Rades, even with his mountain-sized ego knocked down by several pegs prior to his first death, he was still blind to the fact that not all Magic Knights were incompetent as he initially thought.
Normally, Rades would react by sending his [Specialists] towards the epicenter of the mounting resistance in order to keep face, but him losing his life back then kind of cleared his head a little.
So instead doing the former, he just instead tells Valtos the following:
"Send out as much of the undead you can. We're finishing this today."
On the other side of the battle, the Magic Knights were faring rather... not that poorly.
"EVERYONE!" One of the Blue Rose Knights cried out. "EVACUATE THE PREMISES IMMEDIATELY!"
The civilians that weren't bit were fleeing throughout the streets and towards the checkpoints secured throughout the Capital.
"HEY MANTRASH!" Sol cried out from atop of her [Rampaging Mother Earth]. "JUST HOW MANY OF THOSE FUCKERS ARE DOWN THERE!?"
"I stopped counting after a million, Sol." Cole replied dryly from his [Wind Creation Magic: Nimbus Platform] above the golem. "And for the record, it doesn't change the fact that we're severely outnumbered."
"SO WHAT!?" She roared back. "THESE PUNKS STAND NO CHANCE AGAINST US MAGIC KNIGHTS!" Sol replied confidently.
With a sigh, Cole reluctantly nods in agreement.
"Alright." Cole then readies his [Stream Shot]. "If you get bit, then it's my responsibility to take you out."
"Right back at you, asshole."
The two then begin their coordinated assault against the coming horde in hopes of thinning their numbers.
At the other street, Juniper, Noire, Lyra, and Cygnus were holding a rampart against the coming horde.
"Sorry if I'm late!" Juniper cried out.
"Better late then never, newbie." Noire stated. "How are the civilians?"
"They're all safely evacuated at Checkpoint A." She answered. "Do any of you need healing?"
"We're fine, as you can see." Lyra stated in a monotone voice. "Although these creatures have proven themselves to be rather..."
She then strums her lyre, her [Phonic Break] shattering the joints of the undead, rendering them immobile.
"... Persistent." She answered.
"Umm, ladies?" Cygnus spoke out in a worried tone. "What the hell is that!?"
From the corpses came out a swarm of giant, maggot-like creatures, slowly crawling their way towards them.
"Everyone! Get off the ground!"
The four then get on their brooms as they see the swarm grow bigger as they continue to merge together.
Juniper then takes a closer look at the swarm, and vomits.
"EVERYONE!" Juniper screeched out. "KILL THOSE THINGS!"
The four Blue Rose Knights then begin to bombard the worms, not intending to stick around to know what these things will even do.
Elsewhere, Sekke, En, and Jack the Ripper were holding the line in order for the the civilians to flee safely.
"Keh Keh Keh!" Jack chuckled out as his [Severing Magic] were mowing down the undead in droves.
The rent corpses then spawned the worm-like creatures from their opened bodies.
"BAH-HA! WHAT THE HELL ARE THOSE!?" Sekke screeched out in terror.
"Keh Keh Keh!" Jack chuckled out. "Who gives a crap!?"
His arm blades then extend out further.
"IF IT BLEEDS, THEN IT CAN BE CUT!" He cried out in joy. "[Severing Magic: Atomic Separator]!"
Two swings from his arm blades, undead, the worms, and the buildings around it.
... All of them were reduced to dust.
"... Bah-ha?" Sekke gawked.
"That's Captain Jack for you..." En mumbled out.
"HE'S TRULY THE MASTER OF OFFENSIVE MAGIC!" En's [Mr. Talking Mushroom] loudly declared.
"IF YOU TWO ARE DONE BROWN NOSING, THEN GET BACK TO KICKING ASS!"
The two Green Mantis Knights then get back to doing their jobs, i.e., routing the undead.
Sekke's [Sekke Magnum Cannonball] repels the undead while En's [Mr. Towering Mushroom] punts the undead back out of the Capital's walls.
"Bah-ha!" Sekke exclaimed victoriously. "Now no one can stop the Clover's best!"
A blackish-purple wad of magic hit's the bronze encasement, melting down the cloister's walls.
"... Bah-ha?"
A lean and hunchbacked undead with two additional arms sprouting out from its stumbles towards the Green Mantis Knights with its arms stretched out towards the front.
[#4: Jimmy] then fires out his [Poison Curse Magic: Bombas de Plaga] from all four of its arms and towards the frozen [Bronze Magic] user.
"GET DOWN YOU FOOL!" [Mr. Talking Mushroom] roared out from En's shoulder.
[Mr. Towering Mushroom] shields Sekke, taking the blows for him before rotting away from the [Specialist]'s [Poison Curse Magic].
"Ba-ba-bah-WHAT'S GOING ON!?" Sekke screeched out. "NOW THE ZOMBIES CAN USE MAGIC AS WELL!?"
"Keh. Persistent bastards." Jack spat out. "By the way, there's another."
A cloaked, floating undead with bird-like wings for its arms and legs flies towards the towards the three Magic Knights.
"OH COME ON! THEY CAN FLY TOO!?" Sekke screamed out in disbelief.
[#5: George] then fires out [Wind Magic: Tornado Needles] indiscriminately, shooting through civilians and undead alike.
"NOW WHAT!?" Sekke cried out in panic.
Jack smiles.
"Uh-oh..." Sekke stated.
"You're bait." Jack ordered with a sadistic grin while brandishing his [Death Scythes] towards Sekke. "Start running."
One [Sekke's Shooting Star] later, Jack cuts the stray bullets of [Poison Magic] down with his [Death Scythe].
"KEH KEH KEH!" Jack cackled out. "RUN, SEKKE! RUN!"
"En Ringard reporting..." En spoke through the [Magical Communicator]. "Path to Checkpoint C is clear..."
"THIS IS CHECKPOINT B!" The voice from the other side replied in an urgent tone. "WE'RE UNDER ATTACK AND PINNED DOWN! REQUESTING ASSISTANCE SOON AS POSSIBLE!"
Mainly due to the fact that four [Specialists] were besieging the place, and the only thing standing between the civilians and the undead were the Crimson Lions (Leopold; rest are dead twice over), and a Purple Orca Knight relaying the signal.
In front of the exhausted Crimson Lion Knight were four [Specialist]-type corpses.
One had spike dark brown hair and was wearing a sleeveless white cloak, with its arms and legs now being covered in [Titan Hands] and [Titan Boots], both of which were covered in blood from stomping several Purple Orcas to death. This was [#10: Seth], the [Earth Magic Specialist].
The other was a redheaded figure, covered in bandages head to toe, and around him are suspended reanimated corpses of the Crimson Magic Knights hung from its [Green Webbing]. This was [#7: Kerry], the [Emerald Magic Specialist].
The third was a bloated figure with a black bag covering its head. It had three arms, its whole body looked like if they were stitched together, and beneath its feet was a puddle of muddy water with the tendrils coming our of it, which by the way, has been a real pain in the ass for Leopold to deal with. [#3: David], the [Muddy Water Magic Specialist], has proven itself to be the most troublesome.
And finally, there was a tall and lean figure, dressed in dull sky blue with fur covering the fringes of its collar, and its whole body was covered in [Winter Hunt Garbs], an ice armor with a wolf-motif, and in the wolf's "mouth", was a freshly-killed Purple Orca, who just happened to have been the guy who was the one that sent out the distress signal. [#8: Heath], the [Ice Magic Specialist], and the most nimble and stealthiest of the four present.
"Shit!" Leopold cursed. "At this rate, Checkpoint B will be overrun by these creeps..."
Two orbs of fire form onto Leopold's hands.
"... BUT OVER MY DEAD BODY, YOU ROTTEN BASTARDS!" Leopold roared out. "[Fire Magic: Spiral Flames]!"
Two twisters of flame shoot out of Leopold's palms at the the four undead.
But that attack was in vain.
[#3: David]'s [Mud & Water Compound Magic: Swamp Wave] to erect a wall of muddy water to peter out the two flames, [#7: Kerry] then uses [Emerald Binding Magic: Green Webbing] to bind the Crimson Lion Knight's legs to prevent him from moving, [#8: Heath] and [#10: Seth] then clothesline him with [Ice Creation Magic: Clear Crescent Claws] and [Earth Magic: Titan Punch], causing Leopold to kneel over in pain.
"Shit..." Leopold coughed out in blood. "... You think this is enough to kill me?"
The ice-wolf undead then dashes towards him to finish him off.
"THEN COME AND FUCKING GET ME, YOU DAMN BASTARDS!" Leopold roared out as he coated his right fist with his [Fire Magic].
"THAT'S THE SPIRIT, YOU DAMN BRAT!"
Leopold's punch connects, but the undead didn't go flying from his own.
But rather, it was from his elder sister's fist.
"... Big sis Mereoleona?" Leopold gawked out as [#8: Heath] went flying back.
"IF YOU HAVE TIME TO GAWK THEN GET BACK TO KICKING ASS ALREADY!" The Crimson Lion Vice-Captain roared out.
"THAT'S RIGHT!" A deep masculine voice roared out.
Above him, a torrent of fire rained down upon the four undead, with the only things preventing them from burning being an erected wall of [Emerald Creation Magic: City Cathedral] and [Ice Creation Magic: Heavenly Ice Wall], creating a wall that resisted the oncoming prominence.
"Big bro Fuegoleon!" Leopold cried out.
"Well done for holding out for this long." Fuegoleon complimented. "Now that the three of us are fighting together, it falls to us that the people behind us do not die."
"Normally I would say that I'm more than enough to handle all four of them at the same time..." Mereoleona commented before trailing off. "... But from the reports and from what I saw of them, these buggers work fast."
The [Green Webbing] holding the infected Magic Knights snaps loose, setting the rabid thralls free and towards the hapless crowd of evacuees.
"I think not!" Fuegoleon roared out. "[Fire Creation Magic: Navis Solis]!"
A curtain of bright flames whip out of Fuegoleon's arm, snagging the undead thralls while incerating them along with the worm-like parasites.
From one of the rooftops, a turned Purple Orca zombie pounces towards Fuegoleon.
"BIG BRO! BEHIND YOU-"
Mereoleona's [Leo Palma] intercepts the undead as the flames crush it to dust.
An [Omega Parasite] crawls out of the thrall's gaping mouth, as it spots a little girl within the crowd as its new host, and slips towards her.
"I WON'T LET YOU!" Leopold then opens his grimoire. "[Fire Creation Magic: Lion-Tamer's Whip]!"
A lash from a whip made of fire snaps at the worm, causing it to crumble into ash before it can turn the girl into its host.
"Th-Thank you, Mr. Magic Knight!" The girl cried out. "YOU CAN DO THIS! PLEASE WIN!"
"No need." Leopold boasted. "Save that praise after we win."
"I'll protect the civilians from the oncoming horde and look out for potential infectees." Fugeoleon ordered. "You two, I trust you that the two of you won't get bit?"
Mereoleona and Leopold smile.
"THEY CAN'T BITE US IF THEIR JAWS ARE BROKEN!"
The Vermilion siblings then reinforce the defensive lines of Checkpoint B lest it falls to the hands of the undead.
At Checkpoint D, the area where the Blue Rose Knights Headquarters were, things were faring a bit better, with what having the most civilians rescued and secured, and their defensive lines held out against the thralls.
... Until they came along, which then began their uphill battle from there.
"You're mine!" A blue-haired Blue Rose Knight charged towards the floating undead in clerical garbs.
"AQUA, DON'T-"
She didn't stop.
"[Water Creation Magic-"
Before the female Magic Knight can cast her spell, she is suddenly cut in half vertically, as if a sharp sheet of invisible air burst out from her insides.
The Magic Knight falls dead in halves.
Right after Magic Knight fell dead, a lanky figure wrapped head-to-toe in bandages and eye-like ornaments all over its body, its back carrying a giant spool of sewing thread, its body being nothing but eight arms, each hand holding a different sewing tool (needle, threader, measuring tape, a pair of stapler guns [oddly enough], etc.), fishes out the halves of the fallen Magic Knight, observes the state of the corpse, right before it gets to work mending the corpse back together.
Upon finishing its "handiwork", the corpse is revealed to be finished as a crudely-patched cadaver of of a Magic Knight.
Worst of all, Aqua wasn't the first, as evidenced by the heap of equally-crudely-patched corpses behind the eight-armed revenant, with its recent handiwork tossed onto the pile.
And no, Charlotte's attacks somehow failed to make a dent on the duo, with her whips being cut mid-swing by that pope-like floating zombie using its [Barrier Magic] to cut her [Thorn Magic] by erecting its magic shields inside the vines themselves.
At this point, Charlotte was starting to assume that the two of them were just messing with her and her Knights, somehow managing to exploit their naturally-impulsive attitudes, despite the Captain's constant warnings.
Upon the eight-armed revenant then looks back at its pile, it pulls out a bronze bell, and starts ringing it frantically, emitting a cacophonic ringing throughout the smoky skies.
From above, the Blue Rose Knight Captain then sees another figure flies towards the undead duo.
A witch-like figure with broomheads for hands, and around its lower torso was a black cauldron, its edges squirming and crawling out with those grotesque worms coming from the zombies with each sway.
It then flails its broom-hands wildly, scattering ash-like particles onto the pile of corpses.
Charlotte then sees all of the bodies twitching.
Now standing before her was [#1: Carl; Barrier Magic Specialist], [#9: Sawyer; Iron Magic Specialist], [#13: Catherine; Ash Magic Specialist], and her once fellow Blue Rose Knights, now facing them as drooling, enslaved, magled, and rotten shells of their former glories.
With another clang from the bell, the Blue Rose thralls then begin to charge towards their former captain.
"Fellow women, forgive me!" Charlotte then lashes out her [Conqueror's Brandish], the Blue Captain's go-to [Thorn Magic], towards her subverted Magic Knights.
Between the two, a wall of thick roots and sand was erected.
"Hmph." Alecdora's voice huffed out. "For a Captain of the Blue Roses, your handling of this situation seem to be... less than ideal."
"Now, now, Sandler." William Vangeance stated. "We have much more dire matters to deal with."
"EXACTLY!"
From the other side of the Captain, five distinct figures appeared on top of the building across from the Golden Dawn.
"Hmph, we've no need for the likes of you." Alecdora spat out in bemusement.
The one at the center then jump off the roof and dives towards the papial revenant.
[#1: Carl] then activates his [Barrier Binding Magic: Cube] to encase the flying, hooded Blue Rose Knight.
"Useless!" The hooded Magic Knight then opens her grimoire.
An armored, blue theater mask with a single, X-shaped, ruby-red visor at its center appears before her face.
"[Mask Magic: X-Visor]!"
The blue mask latches onto her face, encasing the Knight in a set of blue combat armor with a single ruby-red monoeye on the mask-turned-helmet.
"Hey..." One of the civilians pointed out. "That's one of the Blue Roses 'Five Divas', isn't it!?"
"You mean the five candidates to be the next Captain for the Blue Rose Knights?"
"Yeah! That!" The woman spoke out. "The mask, the cape opted for a cloak..."
"It's The Masquerade!" The man cried out. "The 'Masked Heroine' of the Five Divas!"
The armored heroine punches through her would-be encasement, right before landing on the ground, breaking the the tiles beneath her feet and fist.
"Captain Charlotte." The masked Knight stated. "Checkpoint E and F have been secured, and we've come to lend aid."
"Hmph. Who said we needed your help, woman?" Alecdora scoffed while crushing the revenant Knights to dust with his [Sand Box].
"Enough." William stated. "We have no time to fight amongst ourselves." The masked Captain then looks up to the rest of the four. "We welcome your assistance, Five Divas."
"You shouldn't have asked, Captain Vangeance." A haughty female voice spoke out from one of the four.
The other four then jump off the rooftops, throwing off their hoods to reveal their faces.
"Hey..." One of the civilians pointed towards the Knight with the blonde ringlets, wearing a sailor-like uniform and navy-blue skirt with silver gauntlets and grieves covering her arms and legs, and a rapier sheathed around her belt. "That's the 'Moonlit Butterfly', Papillon Marionette!"
"You mean the [Silver Magic] user that can create silver blades that can cut through just about anything?" The female voice cried out. "If she's here, then we're saved!"
"That's Bastet Adler!" The man pointed towards the short blonde-haired Knight with a very long ponytail held up by a very large magenta ribbon, holding onto a whip's handle in her right hand.
"You mean the 'Beast Goddess'!?" A lady's voice cried out. "The same one where her natural charisma can tame an soothe even the wildest of animals!?"
"Her [Beast Magic] is unparalleled as a force multiplier!" A man's voice cried out. "Look! Over there!"
He points towards a sultry-looking woman with jade-green hair flowing down to her thighs and with a vacant-look on her eyes beneath her large black and purple wide-brimmed hat of a witch, wearing a modest, yet form-fitting purple dress, and her hands holding a staff with an amethyst orb on its tip, and a broomhead on the other end.
"That vacant look on her face... that waterfall-like green hair... and that staff..."
"It's Morrigan Phantasma!" A man's voice cried out. "Morrigan Phantasma, the 'Dark-Eyes Illusionist'!"
"Her [Dark Magic] along with her witch heritage, I heard that in terms of raw magical power, she's equal to a Captain!"
"Look!" A man's voice pointed out.
Another Blue Rose Knight throws off her hood, revealing a blindfolded, pigtailed, snow-white-haired girl, wearing a flowing black and red kimono under her standard-issued robe, holding onto a sheathed straight blade in a cane-like casing, tapping on the flooring beneath her feet like a walking stick.
"That's Aion Galileo!" A woman pointed out. "The 'Swallowtail'!"
"I heard that she's an ex-Black Bull due to her family disowning her for being born blind, but Captain Yami took her in and trained her both in magic and in swordplay!"
"Her [Severing Magic] can cut through anything so clean, that it turns one object into two seperate objects with one stroke!"
The Five Divas appear, driving back the oncoming horde by themselves.
"Hmph. That's nothing." Alecdora huffed. "Now see how a real Magic Knight does things!"
The Golden Dawn then turns towards the papal thrall.
"[Sand Creation Magic: Heavyarm Vanguard]!"
A giant armored knight made of sand appears before [#1: Carl], brandishing two massive blades.
"NOW DIE-"
The [Heavyarm Vanguard] is then cut in half.
"... Wha-"
Alecdora is also then split down the middle behind his creation, along with the bastion tower of the Blue Rose Knights's HQ behind him.
[#1: Carl] then turns its attention towards the building itself, and encases the whole building in [Barrier Binding Magic: Bird Box].
"What's it doing by erecting a barrier around the civilians?" Charlotte thought while deflecting another of [#9: Sawyer]'s staplers.
Her question was answered by the barriers around the base closing in onto the civilians inside.
"Oh my God!"
"It's going to crush us all!"
"SAVE US MAGIC KNIGHTS!"
"It's trying to crush them inside!?" Charlotte panicked. "This is bad..."
She then looked towards the papal zombie, the only culprit, being protected my that meat-spider of a zombie.
"I have to beat it, and fast!"
Then tree roots were erected inside the [Bird Box], stopping its advance towards the people.
Charlotte then sees William's grimoire open.
"[World Tree Magic: Sycamore Formation-Nest]." William declared. "You seem to know what you're doing, so I suggest getting to it."
The barrier walls then continue their inward advance, causing the Golden Dawn Captain to revert its focus back to maintaining the breached lines.
"What are you waiting for?" William pointed out. "Go!"
Charlotte then dashes towards [#9: Sawyer] and [#1: Carl], thorn whip in hand.
"You five! Hold the horde off!" Charlotte barked out. "I'm heading after the [Barrier Magic] user!"
Papillon kicks down a stray thrall. "Well, so much for helping the Captain ourselves..."
"Save your glory-hounding for later, Marionette." Masquerade's voice echoed behind her mask while a bright red [Mana Beam] was fired from her red-X-shaped visor from her mask. "Right now, we have a horde to rout."
A yellow mask with sharp-looking features appears before her masked face.
"[Mask Magic: Wolf Reign]!"
The yellow mask latches over her blue mask, transforming her into a yellow-armored figure with a pair of claw-like blades coming out of her knuckles, which then begin to mow through the mob like grass.
"Oh fine, if you say so." Papillon opens her grimoire. '[Silver Creation Magic: Jardin des épées]!"
A literal garden of silver swords burst out around her, impaling all of the thralls and their parasites controlling them.
"No one escapes my sword of justice!" Papillon declared boldly. "[Silver Magic: Épée de justice]!"
An elongated silver blade skewers through the horde while her herself was laughing out in a haughty fashion.
"En-garde, you boobs! OH HO HO HO HO!"
"Tch." Bastet scoffed. "Pappy over there is loud as always..."
"Eh. I tuned her out long ago~." Morrigan remarked. "So, fearless leader, your orders?"
Aion then goes into a half-crouch as she unsheathes her chokutō (that Captain Yami gifted to her during her graduation from the Black Bulls to the Blue Roses).
"Cut them all down." Her grimoire then opens up its pages. "[Severing Magic: Chūden, Inazuma]."
She executes a full-circle-swing with her blade with the other two jumping upwards to avoid the swing arc, and then sheathes her blade upon finishing.
With the click of the sword returning into its sheath, the surrounding thralls were cleanly cut across their torsos, killing the [Omega Parasites] inside them at the same time.
"... Precise as always." Bastet remarked while wiping a drip of sweat off of her brows. "Well, time to pick up the slack."
The short Knight then opens her grimoire.
"[Beast Magic: Ursa Major]!"
An ethereal-looking bear is then summoned from Bastet's pages, with her mounting the astral beast on its back.
"Let's go, Frazier!"
With the crack of her whip, the starry-sky-skinned bear lets out a roar as it barrels through the thralls, with herself on the beast's back, firing [Mana Bullets] from her left palm.
"Oh well, guess I have to play along too~!
Her amethyst staff begins to emit a dark-purple light as she opens her grimoire while flying upwards in her broom/magic staff.
"[Dark Binding Magic: Dark Illusion]!"
A miasma of darkness envelops the zombies, preventing them from moving.
"And now~!" She then casts another spell. "[Dark Magic: Dark Sacrifice]!"
A murder of crows made of [Dark Magic] encroach the trapped zombies, ripping them and their [Omega Parasites] to mincemeat.
"It's fine as long as we don't touch them, right~?" Morrigan remarked in an unsettlingly gleeful tone.
While the Five Divas and the rest of the Golden Dawn were holding the defensive lines, Charlotte charges towards the two revenants to stop their reign of terror.
"Prepare yourselves!" Charlotte declared bravely. "Your reign of terror ends now!"
Clover Kingdom Capital Quatre Outskirts, Noble Realm, Clover Kingdom (Late Afternoon)
Beyond the walls and very far away from Julius and Crowley's duel, Rades and Sally were busy surveying the overall status, while Valtos had gone off elsewhere for "personal business".
... Not that the two care, since now they're both busy maintaining the horde's potency to their established standard.
"Hmm?" Sally turned her head over her shoulder. "You hear somethin'?"
"Nah, too busy making my thralls more deadly." Rades offhandedly mentioned.
The sounds of labored breathing then grows ever closer.
"... Rades, it's bugging me." Sally complained. "Can you be a lamb and get rid of it-"
"WOULD YOU TAKE NOTICE ALREADY!?" A male voice roared out between them.
Appearing out of nowhere was a portly man with an iron mask wearing the robes of the Purple Orca.
"... Who're you again?" Rades called out upon the flabbergasted fat man.
"IT'S GUELDRE POIZOT, YOU NINCOMPOOP!" The fat man barked out. "YOU KNOW!? CAPTAIN OF THE PURPLE ORCAS!? YOUR INSIDE-MAN AND THE GUY WHO LET DOWN THE MAGICAL BARRIERS IN THE FIRST PLACE!?"
Sally pounds her fist on top of her open palm in realization. "Oh! You mean you're the one who we wasted our magic items on just for information that we really didn't need in the end!"
"Wait..." The traitorous Captain called out. "... What do you mean by wasted-"
A syringe is inserted into his neck.
"It means the deal's off, fatass." Rades spat out while Sally was injecting her [Omega Parasites] into the Captain's body.
The bloated Magic Knight Captain slowly turns into a bloating corpse.
"Tch. A Captain-level mage and yet a little cold killed ya." Rades then spits towards the side. "What fucking joke."
"Eh, on the plus side, you gotta another body to chop up and stitch back up together." Sally commented. "If not, I can turn his body into a nest for the [Omega Parasites] to incubate."
"Hell no." Rades then rolls the fat body into a portal left behind by Valtos.
"Hmm..." Sally then goes back to ruminating. "... I still wonder where Valtos went."
"If it makes you feel any better, his portals are still up." Rades pointed out.
"Hmm... nah, too vague." Sally remarked. "But... you have a point."
"Back to wrecking shit?" Rades asked.
"Rip em' a fresh new asshole..." Sally grinned manically.
Magic Knight Headquarters, Hospital Wing, Clover Kingdom Capital Quatre, Noble Realm, Clover Kingdom (Late Afternoon)
In a secure room within the medical ward was Luck's comatose body strapped to various life-support magic items and several staff members were attending to him with guard mages placed outside.
"Checking pulse..." One of the doctors spoke out. "... Normal."
"Checking brain waves..." Another staff stated. "... Stable."
"Checking mana signatures..." Another doctor stated. "... Wait a minute."
The readings of the mana were steadily increasing.
"W-What's going on-"
A portal opens inside of one of the doctors.
An arm extends out from the man's body, slowly killing him by splitting him open from his stomach.
From the man's stomach came out a black-eyed mage in white robes and skin crawled out of the slowly dying man.
"... Damn." Valtos cursed. "So much for sneaking in..."
The black-eyed mage then looks around the hospital room, surrounded by terrified medical staff members and snarling guard mages, readying their magic.
Valtos just smiles.
"... I can take on a few extra."
Just at the outside halls, Yuno, Jericho, Finral, and Corrin (oddly enough), ran down the halls towards where Luck was being kept at.
Oddly enough, they don't see any guards outside, but they were too busy to care.
"Corrin, what are you doing here?" Finral asked. "I thought you left the Magic Knights!"
"And leave him to die!?" Corrin replied. "I'm not leaving when I can do something about it!"
"You say that you want to leave the Magic Knights and yet you seem to have a heart of one." Yuno commented while rolling down the hallway in his wheelchair.
"I just want to be a good person, not a murderer like my peers are associated as." Corrin bitterly replied. "Can people use magic for other then maiming people!?"
"Sadly, that's what power does to people." Jericho pointed out bluntly. "With power comes corruption, and corruption must be met and answered with power."
Corrin's expression turns that of shock.
"Not that we're helpless against it." Jericho reaffirmed. "The only thing we do so that we don't become the very corruption that we fight against, is that we must become stronger then our magic."
"And how does that happen?" Corrin asked.
"Keep fighting." Jericho answered. "Not only against others, but also, and especially, ourselves."
"... I don't get it, but at the same time, I kinda do." Corrin answered with slight doubt.
"Think about it later, alright?" Yuno pointed out. "Right now, we need to get Luck out of here-"
"YUNO, LOOK OUT!"
The four-leaf turns forward to see a pitch-black portal open up before him.
Finral fires his [Fallen Angel Gate] towards the portal, canceling it out.
"That was a close one..." Finral sighed out.
"Who are you?" Jericho demanded at the black-eyed mage looming over the comatose Luck while being surrounded by dead bodies of guards and staff alike.
"So that's why we didn't see any guards outside of the halls..." Corrin stated.
"Hm." Valto scoffed. "I have no business with three Black Bulls and a robeless Magic Knight." He remarked.
"You mess with Luck, you mess with the Black Bulls!" Finral declared, bottling up his fear.
"My point exactly." Valtos shot back. "What can a bunch of ragtag mages do against me-"
Yuno fires a [Wind Blades Shower] towards the [Spatial Magic] user.
Valtos, unamused, opens a bunch of portals around him, catching the blades inside of them, preventing his possible hurting.
"Powerful, but sloppy." Valtos remarked.
He then opens a portal beneath Luck's cot and IV-equipment.
"You want him back?" Valtos stated.
Then several black portals appeared around Yuno.
Inside the pitch-black void, Yuno spots a glimpse of his own spell head back towards him.
"Then fight for it." Valtos declared.
Yuno then jumps out of his wheelchair last-minute before his own [Wind Blades Shower] tore his wheelchair to shreds.
"You wanna fight then!?" Yuno growled out while being hoisted back up by Jericho's shoulder.
[Sylph] appears on top of Yuno's head, ready to assist.
The other Black Bulls and one about-to-be ex-Golden Dawn ready themselves to fight to save Luck.
"THEN COME AND GET SOME!" Yuno roared out.
To Be Continued..
Author's Notes: Fun facts about the Five Divas:
The group itself are collectively and very loosely based off of the Supreme Five Swords from Armed Girl's Machiavellism.
Masquerade is based off of Rin Onigawara; [Mask Magic] spells are homaging the X-Men Superheroes.
Papillon Marionette is based off of Mary Kikakujō; [Silver Magic] spells are worded in French and has fencing and swords as motifs (rapier as a hint).
Bastet Adler is based off of Warabi Hanasaka; [Beast Magic] spells are based off constellations and the summoned beasts are named after American boxers (gotta represent Kyo-Bo somehow).
Morrigan Phantasma is based off of Satori (Spoilers: Misogi) Tamaba; [Dark Magic] spells based off Yugioh Spell & Trap Card names (even her title is based off a 1-star Spellcaster-type Yugioh monster with the same name).
Aion Galileo is based off of Tsukuyo Inaba; [Severing Magic] spells are based off the Musō Jikiden Eishin-ryū techniques (foreshadowing?).
As for [#1: Carl]'s [Barrier Magic] spells are named after horror movies (Bird Box and Cube), not to mention, the revenant's [Barrier Magic] works like Bartolomeo's Barrier-Barrier Fruit from One Piece.
Speaking of the Five Divas...
... Hypothetical Voices! (just for funsies):
Masquerade: Yuki Takada (JPN), Kira Vincent-Davis (ENG)
Papillon Marionette: Sayaka Kitahara (JPN), Maggie Flecknoe (ENG)
Bastet Adler: Nozomi Nishida (JPN), Allison Sumrall (ENG)
Morrigan Phantasma: Rina Hidaka (JPN), Juliet Simmons (ENG)
Aion Galileo: Natsumi Hioka (JPN), Luci Christian (ENG)
So what do you guys think of this chapter?
Please leave a comment or a review, for I'd love to know what my audience are thinking.