Disclaimer: Black Clover is owned by Yūki Tabata, Studio Pierrot, and Shonen Jump.
Saga 27: House of 1,000 Corpses (Finale)
Black Bull's Base Outskirts, Common Realm, Clover Kingdom (Late Afternoon)
In [Parallel Plot], Valtos was running with Luck along with his IV-equipment.
"... In hindsight, this is easily the most reckless I've been, but at this point, the ship has already sailed." Valtos thought.
The black-eyed mage just keeps running through the forest, now ripping out the IV-tubes on the boy's arms.
"To hell with it, I'll just let Sally deal with you later..." Valtos stated. "... At this rate, I should be safe-"
A flying nail grazes his cheek.
"... Crap."
Valtos bites down on this pain, and continues running.
Outside of [Parallel Plot], Corrin heads towards where her [Psychic Railgun]-fired nail shot at.
She then pulls out the nail staked into a tree.
"... It's blood." Corrin stated. "He's not that far off. Jericho, can you track him down with the scent of blood?"
"I'm no bloodhound, Corrin." Jericho pointed out.
"Then use your ki, or whatever it is!" She flustered out.
Jericho then sniffs the blood on the nail and remembers the scent.
"... That way." Jericho pointed towards his right.
The four then dash through the woods, with Jericho following the scent of spilled blood.
At the other side, Valtos takes notice of his blood attracting his pursuers.
"Dammit." He bit out under his breath. "If I bleed too much here, then [Parallel Plot] will be nixed upon me being rewritten back into reality, and they'll get me killed!"
He then looks back at the comatose boy.
"... I wonder if this'll work."
He then draws out a small utility knife and cuts the boy's palm open.
He then scatters the blood towards his opposite direction.
He then sees the four head towards the boy's blood.
"Just keep running, Valtos." He thought as he picked up his pace. "Keep running while they're distracted. From the moment that they lose you, teleport out of here, no questions."
Outside, Jericho begins to panic.
"Crap." He breathed out. "We're going the wrong way!"
"What!?" Finral cried out. "Then who's blood is it!?"
"... Either he used his own blood and scattered it elsewhere to throw my ki off, or..."
The horrific realization that the kidnapper is using Luck's blood to throw his scent off sweeps across everyone's minds.
"... Other way, now!"
The four then continue running, with Corrin priming another nail between her fingers and Yuno tightening his grip around Captain Yami's katana.
Clover Kingdom Capital Quatre, Noble Realm, Clover Kingdom (Late Afternoon)
Even though the undead were wiped off the streets of Quatre, the Magic Knights scattered all over were not faring any better.
Constant bombardments of [Light Magic] raining down their heads, the remaining [Specialists] all suddenly boosted in performance, and to the entire capital city set ablaze, the critical hour draws near.
At the Blue Rose Knights Headquarters, [#9: Sawyer] and [#13: Catherine] were still rampaging and causing chaos by their ability to transform people into the undead thralls.
The Five Divas and Captain Vangeance were still trying to pin down the erratic [Iron Magic Specialist] hopping between roots and buildings alike with agile grace, and Charlotte was barely grazing the [Ash Magic Specialist] with her [Thorn Magic], the smooth round surface of the cauldron around its lower torso not helping matters of dragging it back down to the earth.
Elsewhere, the more or less were happening, with varying outcomes.
The (remaining) Silva siblings were fighting [#11: Forest; Tree Magic Specialist] and [#12 Lenny; Water Magic Specialist], in a plaza-turned marsh-wetland, filled to the brim with corpses of twice-killed civilians (in which they had no qualms of doing so), and the three mages, in this battle of attrition, were going nowhere.
"HURRY UP COME OUT, YOU DAMN COWARDS!" Solid barked out in annoyance as he shot his [Water Magic: Slashing Sea Serpents] haphazardly at the uprooted trees. "COME OUT ALREADY SO I CAN RIP YOU HACKS APART!"
His cries were met with no fanfare.
"Solid, stop wasting your breath." Nozel stated.
"Tch, they're playing us for fools..." Nebra bit out at this irony. "Three wonders why we haven't torn this whole forest down in an instant..."
"That's what the enemy wants." Nozel coolly pointed out. "They deliberately trapped us in these wetlands, these trees sapping away out mana every time we us magic, these waters that allow the trees to grow back in an instant, simply put, they're stalling."
"FOR WHAT!?" Solid panicked out.
"... Another bombardment of [Light Magic], perhaps." Nozel stated.
"So we're like rats in a maze. Lovely." Nebra spat out. "So, eldest brother, any plans?"
The Captain of the Silver Eagles calmy observes his surroundings and thinks of a plan of attack.
"They're not actively attacking us. Only moving when we're moving." He thought. "... What if I formulate a passive plan of offense to combat this little deathtrap?"
He looks around his surrounding one more time.
"... Fuegoleon, I utterly refuse to credit you for implementing this mindset into my after all these years, but you know what?"
He then activates his [Mana Skin] at its lowest output, both to preserve his mana, but still be able to traverse the forest with relative ease.
"... For once, I'll acknowledge your influence as positive."
"[Mana Skin]." Nozel ordered. "Set it at the lowest setting possible."
The two other siblings then do as they're ordered.
"Now what?" Nebra spoke out.
"We hunt them down." Nozel stated. "Remember, no fancy tricks or anything too complex. Just follow my lead, and we'll get out of this mess."
As the three begin to move, the trees around them begin to shift around and morph into different shapes and forms.
[Tree Creation Magic: Hydra Growths] begins to snake out towards the three.
"Avoid combat!" Nozel stated. "We can't afford to waste mana here!"
Reluctantly, the two other siblings ignore the growths coming towards them.
"Where are they?" Nozel thought. "Just where can those two zombies be hiding?"
He then sharpens his sense and begins trace the mana flow from the freshly-formed wetlands.
"... A web?" He muttered as he began to see around whole area's flow of mana being like a spider's web.
He then spots the sources, both of them moving separately and quickly increasing their distance from each other.
"They're not making this easy for us..." Nozel bit out. "Nebra! Solid! You two head towards the left and go after the [Tree Magic] user!"
"Tch, taking the glory for yourself..." Solid muttered as he followed Nebra.
Solid then heads towards the right, where he then sees the tree's roots pierce into dead bodies, reanimating the mangled corpses of the former Clover Kingdom's citizens once more.
"... Is there no limit to your depravity!?" Nozel snarled out.
He then spots [#12: Lenny], a misshapen and hunchbacked and white-robed revenant carrying a large tank of water nailed into its back, its arms being iron hose nozzles, the cloth and rubber hosing coming out of its shoulders and connected to the tank, its legs being a bizarre mix of propellers and webbed feet, its torso was bloated and leaking in some parts, as if it was a ragged water balloon, and its head wasn't even a head, but rather, a giant metal contraption that served as its pressure valve and gauge, with a single, unblinking "eye" at the gauge needle's axis.
"So there are no limits to your master's twisted imagination, defiling your body to this extent..." Nozel grimaced as he opened his grimoire. "... I'll make this painless, if to end your suffering."
"[Mercury Creation Magic: Silver Wing Lancer]!"
A silver spear with an eagle-like spearhead composed of liquid metal forms in front of himself.
But as Nozel prepares his attack, the [Gluttonous Saplings] around him begin to quickly sap his mana, targeting the mana's output as their point of breach, lapsing his concentration, and forcing him to readjust his aim caused by his blurring vision.
Meanwhile, [#12: Lenny] casts [Water Creation Magic: Hydro Bunker], a pair of pile bunker rods formed from heavily-pressurized water were spouting out of his nozzle-like arms, ready to fire at the Captain.
Both fire at each other.
[Silver Wing Lancer] messily cleaves through the revenant's mismatched body, ripping and mangling it into pieces of decayed flesh and rusted plumbing upon impact of the silver spear.
However, the aquatic nails hit their mark.
Mainly, one of them rips off Nozel's entire left arm, the other reaped through the horde of the reanimated thralls trying to ambush him from the behind.
In a show of "pyrrhic victory", Nozel roars out in agony, the blood from his left stump, dying the now-slowly-sinking waters around his ankles red.
"DAMMIT!" He roared out as he desperately tried to stem the flow with his own Magic Knight Robes, for his [Mercury Magic], powerful as it is, cannot be used for healing.
... Mainly due to the fact that [Mercury Magic] isn't branched from [Water Magic] or [Steel Magic], but due to the fact that [Mercury Magic] was passively part-[Poison Magic].
And no, only pure-[Poison Magic] can heal, never partial.
"... Those better make it through." He gritted out as he stumbled around the draining wetlands. "At least these trees will dry up from the lack of water..."
As the trees begin to slowly wither around him, Nozel slowly makes his way through the undead with his magic doing the rest of the legwork for him.
Silver tendrils tipped with blades orbited around the Silver Eagle's Captain, tearing asunder any thrall that dares to come close.
Elsewhere in the dying wetlands, Nebra and Solid were fending off against [#11: Forest], and despite the depleting water supply, its [Tree Magic] did not drop in power.
Durability however, was steadily being proven to be getting stale over time, as the [Tree Magic]'s wood was now becoming more stiff and dry to the touch.
"What's wrong!? Thirsty!?" Solid barked out at the gradually-slowing revenant. "THEN COME AND GET SOME!"
Solid's [Water Magic] then begin to pick up speed.
"[Water Magic: Scylla Shredder]!"
A vortex of razor-sharp water quickly closes into the [Specialist].
[#11: Forest] tries to absorb the water with its [Tree Binding Magic: Tupelo Trap], but the aquatic blades rend through the roots before the water can be absorbed.
As Solid cackles triumphantly, Nebra sneaks in an attack of her own.
"Now now, dear brother..." She spoke out. "... Please do share the kill."
She then opens her grimoire as mist begins to pour out its pages.
"[Mist Magic: Vorpal Vapors]!"
The mist particles around [#11: Forest] suddenly surrounded by numerous floating daggers, all of them closing in onto the now-hapless zombie as it becomes a pincushion for her white daggers.
"Too easy." She scoffed.
The trees around them begin to crumble into sawdust.
The siblings then see their eldest missing an arm.
"... Where the hell's the rest of you?" Solid asked in a snide tone.
"Quiet." Nozel snarled back as his [Silver Talons] shredded the remaining thralls behind him.
Without a word, the three make their way out of the plaza, leaving the civilians that they once protected in a bloody mess, without batting an eye.
At the Blue Rose Knight Headquarters, the situation was already hopeless, due to the fact that all of the civilians that they were supposed to protect were completely disintegrated from the [Light Magic] bombardment.
Even then, the six Blue Rose Knights and the Golden Dawn's Captain were still fighting...
... If the enemy would just hold still.
"Slippery bastard, aren't ya?" Bastet growled out as her [Ursa Major] was too slow to catch up with [#9: Sawyer]'s erratic movements.
"Even I have to admit, this is starting to test my patience." Aion sighed out. "At least its throwing needles and staplers traveled straight towards me..."
"They say that an artist's work reflects the artist's mind, but I'm starting to wonder if this spider-monkey had us all fooled." Papillon muttered.
"Personally~, I think he just has a really bad taste in aesthetics~!" Morrigan spoke out in a singsong tone.
Upon Morrigan saying that, [#9: Sawyer] then begins to... throw a tantrum.
"... At least it stopped running away." Masquerade stated.
[#9: Sawyer] then lets out a demented howl right before it dashes towards Morrigan, flying in the air, using Captain Vangeance's [World Tree Magic] as a boost.
"IT'S HEADING TOWARDS YOUR WAY, MORRIGAN!"
The spider-monkey zombie speedly crawls towards the witch.
William's [World Tree Magic] then begins to shoot numerous roots towards the revenant's ankle, and as it notices it for a split second that the roots were wrapping around its feet, [#9: Sawyer] then slashes its feet off of its ankles, and throws two giant sewing needles towards the flying witch as a last-ditch effort to kill her.
"Useless."
Morrigan then opens her grimoire.
"[Dark Magic: Dark Burning]."
A burst of [Dark Magic] catches the needles on fire, vaporizing them.
The pitch-black flames then begin to rapidly travel down the hidden threads around the needle's eyes, eventually causing the corpse's spool of iron thread to catch fire, forcing it ditch it.
The now-legless zombie then uses its numerous arms as legs, by ripping them off and stapling them on its stumps that where its feet were once at.
Around its head, a giant, gravel-skinned hand clutches its whole head like a ball.
"[Mask Magic: Unknown Object]."
The multi-armed zombie then begins to flail in panic.
[#9: Sawyer] then swings its bell behind itself.
The iron bell bends against the stone-like surface of Masquerade's [Unknown Object] form.
With all in vain, all this spider-monkey of a zombie can do, was utter out a single note of a hoarse and muted laughter behind its facial wrappings.
... Right before its head was crushed between Masquerade's rocky mitts like a rotten fruit.
"And that's that." Masquerade stated.
The Five Divas then see Captain Charlotte going after [#13: Catherine] on the rooftops.
"... Let's finish this with utmost haste." Aion stated.
"I am growing rather ill-mannered of this affair, so yes. Let us end this." Captain Vangeance stated.
The two different Magic Knight squads go separate directions.
"Happy hunting, fellow knights." The Golden Dawn Captain stated.
The Five Divas salute back before heading towards the rooftops.
Clover Kingdom Capital Quatre Outskirts, Noble Realm, Clover Kingdom (Late Afternoon)
Outside of Quatre's walls, the fight between the Wizard King and "The Unfortunate" was still raging on.
Both time and fate were being broken against each other, as creation and extinction occurred simultaneously amidst this clash of might and will.
"You proven yourself to be rather persistent, Crowley." Julius commented.
"And I guess you weren't slacking after all these years, eh Julie?" Crowley spat out while kicking a once-extinct animal aside.
"Heavens no." The Wizard King gasped out in sarcastic disbelief. "Just because I hate paperwork doesn't mean that I slack."
"In hindsight, I was hoping that you would atrophy from the sheer amount of paperwork from your given station, just like the other nobles in our kingdom." Crowley pointed out while biting a chunk off an once-extinct lizard.
"Too bad, I'm not like the others." Julius replied with a smile.
"As expected..." Crowley sighed out after swallowing the half-eaten lizard. "... Back to killing you, then."
[Time Magic] and [Fate Magic] begin to clash ceaselessly once again.
[Chronostasis] was broken with [Rewrite], [Rewrite] was halted by [Chronostasis], the endless loop of clashing magic that rent the very earth around them asunder.
And neither moved an inch from the spot where they stood.
Outside of that instant-death radius, Rades and Sally both assess their situations regarding Quatre's interiors.
"Shit..." Rades grumbled as he scratched his head. "... My [Specialists] are starting to get their asses handed, with more than half of them torn to shreds!"
"You can still put them back together, right?" Sally stated.
"Four of them are reduced to ashes, Sally." Rades deadpanned. "I would love to figure out how to reassemble things post-cremation."
"... Was that a challenge?" Sally asked.
"Eh, thought you'd say that." Rades stated as two bloated zombies came running towards him.
He then takes out a trench knife and cuts one of their bellies open, spilling out a pile of ash from the gash.
"I had those two collect their ashes after the initial bombardment." Rades stated. "... Shut up, I'm being considerate." He then shudders afterwards.
"Aww. How sweet, coming from you." Sally stated as her [Sticky Salamander] collected the ashes. "I'll be sure to notify you when I'm done fixing them!"
"Now then..." Rades sighed out as he pour what little remaining mana he had left into [#0: Licht]. "... Time to end this with a really, big, burning, bang."
[#0: Licht] then begins to charge up its strongest attack, [Light Magic: Scorching Light of Calamity], which is basically [Divine Ray of Judgment], if it forgoes precision accuracy for sheer area coverage.
Said coverage is more than enough to turn the whole capital city into a field of glass and scorched earth.
"I've been charging this sonofabitch between bombardments, so this better damn work..." Rades gnawed his thumbnail in anticipation. "... Because I'm finishing this shit today."
Black Bull's Base Outskirts, Common Realm, Clover Kingdom (Late Afternoon)
Both sides of the chase were now practically running in circles at this point.
Inside [Parallel Plot], Valtos was thinking of ditching the boy inside this parallel reality to rot just so that he can escape without hindrance, but due to one of the Black Bulls having a nose of a bloodhound (Valtos even gone far as to dress himself in camouflage to blend his scent with the surroundings), and the fact that navigating this godforsaken forest has proven to be a chore of itself, due to the fact that he seems to be running in circles (set a pile of pebbles near a bloodstained tree, pile is now about three inches tall now).
The other side wasn't faring any better, however.
Jericho was now on the verge of exhaustion, even without Yuno in his arms (Finral's piggybacking him right now), Corrin already vomited twice from overexertion, and Yuno's guilt was already on par with his already internal guilt of losing Asta.
Only Finral was (slightly) nonplussed of this gripe.
"... Where... the hell... is *urp*-"
Corrin then vomits on the dirt once again.
"... I don't know." Finral replied. "But I think we've been running in circles."
The realization then hits all of them.
"... What the fuck." Corrin heaved out. "Just what the hell is this kind of forest!?"
Yuno then begins to look around the forest for any traces of the black-eyed mage and where could he be at.
He then begins to notice that the trees around them were slightly moving.
"... Now that I think about it." Yuno thought. "Jericho did mention that the base fixes all of its damages on its own..."
He then notices that the tree next to him was at a different spot where it was at previously.
"... Can it also said for the whole forest as well?"
He then pokes one of the trees with Captain Yami's katana.
A cut was formed on the bark, which was then mended a few seconds later.
"Guys." Yuno spoke out. "I think I have a plan."
"Let's hear it then." Finral stated as the four went back on trail.
"I've noticed something about this forest." The youth stated. "The mana flow around here, I get the feeling that it's stemming from the base itself."
"What the hell does that have to do with anything?" Corrin pointed out. "And no, I don't want to hear that you're not thinking straight because you're tired, for you don't even have a complete set of feet to run with!"
"... I think this forest has a mind of its own." Yuno pointed out. "It might actually why we're walking in circles as well."
"... Now that you mention it, I think that's the same tree that we passed by like for... the fifth time." Jericho pointed out towards the bloodstained tree where Corrin's nail struck at.
"So... does that mean... the enemy... got away?" Corrin heaved out.
"No." Yuno answered. "Quite the opposite, actually."
"... So black-eyes is just as lost as we are." Finral pointed out. "You think he stopped running as well and just gone into hiding?"
"Perhaps." Jericho added. "I read in a certain text regarding battlefield behaviors, that when a soldier is lost behind enemy lines, then camouflage is usually the course of option."
"Okay. Then where's he hiding?" Corrin asked.
"In a forest setting, mud and leaves are abundant, so those will be good materials to act as a shroud. And since he's hidden away into another reality where we can't affect him with magic or vise-versa, but physical objects like the Captain's katana and Corrin's nails can still hit him, if we could find him in the first place. So somewhere we can't see him directly..."
Jericho's eyes then look at the roots beneath the trees, where he then sees hollows under it.
Big enough to fit a person under it.
"... Check underneath every tree roots." Jericho stated. "Dark, damp, void of light, numerous in locations, and less likely to see it straight ahead, it's the perfect hiding spot."
Nothing more was said as they begin to uproot every single tree around them, either with magic or physical strength.
Time passes as the four continue to search beneath every tree root that they can find.
"No." Jericho sighed after uprooting another tree and failing to touch anything with Finral's borrowed shovel.
Corrin began ricocheting her nails inside every hollow, and recalling them back with her [Magnet Magic], moving onto the next tree after marking the bark with an "x" to indicate that no one was there.
As for Yuno and Finral, Finral uses his [Spatial Magic] to open a portal into the hollow, with Yuno inserting the katana into the portal to sweep out anything underneath.
Around his eighth attempt, the katana draws blood.
Human blood.
"I FOUND HIM!" Yuno cried out towards the others.
Inside [Parallel Plot], Valtos was holding onto his gouged left eye, breathing heavily as he was slowly being rewritten back into reality with his hostage.
"DAMMIT!" He roared out. "FUCK!"
[Parallel Plot] was now nixed and both Valtos and Luck were rewritten back into reality as the tree above them was uprooted.
"Don't even try anything, you son of a bitch." Corrin snarled out with her [Psychic Railgun] primed and pressed against Valto's head. "I have a quicker draw then your little escape tricks."
The four finally have cornered the now-monoeye mage.
"It's over, you bastard." Yuno snarled out as he pointed the katana's blade at his remaining eye. "Hand over Luck, or die."
Clover Kingdom Capital Quatre Outskirts, Noble Realm, Clover Kingdom (Late Afternoon)
Julius and Crowley weren't letting up with their mutual assaults, all the while, ripping the fabric of spacetime with their magic.
Julius tries to accelerate Crowley's age with his [Chrono Grigora], but Crowley's [Rewrite] writes the spell off of his person.
"What's wrong, Julie?" Crowley huffed out. "Old age finally catching up to ya?"
"I'm not so old to consider myself obsolete, Crowley." Julius calmly replied. "In fact, you look a lot worse than me back during puberty."
"Have you been to the Spade Kingdom? Or anyone within this country?" Crowley asked. "... At all?"
"Are you trying steer the conversation elsewhere?" Julius asked. "If you wish to continue with something else, then we can go back to fighting."
Julius then notices a bundle of mana being concentrated in large quantities within one area.
"What the-"
Something then hits Julius's eye.
His passive spell, [Time Creation Magic: Chrono Apomónosi], forms a barrier-like properties that prevents all incoming projectiles, both magical and physical, from making contact with him via accelerating their time period to the point where they passed too much time to make any effects.
A thrown stone can turn into dust upon contact with him, but just in case, he wears protective contact lenses to protect his eyes from irritation.
But however, this wasn't an ordinary projectile that wasn't designed to harm physically.
From the moment that it's eggshell-like exterior hit Julius's face, a putrid scent of rotten fish and foreign spices and mustard yellow fumes spewed from the cracks.
"A STINK BOMB!?" Julius cried out as his unprotected nose were subjected to this dizzying scent.
"RADES!" Crowley cried out. "POINT #0 TOWARDS ME!"
"WHAT ABOUT THE KINGDOM!?" Rades protested.
"NOW IS THE TIME TO TAKE OUT THE WIZARD KING!" He barked back. "IT'S NOW OR NEVER!"
"WHY DIDN'T YOU SAY SO SOONER!?"
The concentrated mana was now pointing towards Julius.
"YOU AND THE REST OF THIS KINGDOM CAN ALL SHARE A GRAVE, JULIUS NOVACHRONO!" Rades screeched out. "[#0: Licht]..."
"[Light Magic: Scorching Light of Calamity]."
A tangling web of searing light was shot towards the Wizard King.
"Dammit!" Julius thought as the heat slowly grew around him. "I can't see how there are of those [Light Magic], so I dunno how much of my [Time Magic] I might use! And knowing Crowley, he might have a backup plan if I even managed to stop this assault!"
His skin begins to boil from the growing heat.
"Now what!?" He urgently thought. "What can I do-"
He then recalls the time where he and Yami were talking post-battle during the Clover/Diamond Kingdom War.
"Yami."
"What, old man?"
"Have you ever left something undone? All because back then, you thought it was too much for you?"
"... I guess."
"Then hypothetically speaking, if you managed to get back to doing it, how would you tackle it?"
"I dunno. Figure might as well try again for the hell of it."
"... Hmm. Quite a vague answer you got there."
"Alright then, what would you do then? How would you tackle that unfinished business? And what kind of 'business' would that be?"
"... I have a library's worth of books that I want to finish reading, and I still have around a half of bookshelf worth of reading left to do."
"So? What's the rush?"
"... My father's will stated that the books to be donated to the Clover Kingdom's Library for safekeeping, and he really doesn't have that much time left. That, and well, my rising responsibilities as the Kingdom's next Wizard King is probably going to stifle my free time..."
"Peh, so what?"
"Pardon?"
"So what if you managed to not finish it before your old man croaks? If I were in either yours or your old man's shoes, I'd just at least convince myself to finish them. No excuses."
"So just do what I like, without holding anything else accountable?"
"Hey, how do you think I ended up here in the first place?"
"... You're right. I guess I was thinking too much."
"And hey, if work becomes too much for you, then why not hire someone to do it for you? I mean, that's what I would do... If I could afford it."
"Like a secretary?"
"Yeah, that."
"And just like that, I managed to convince myself to finish my book before my father passed on from this plane." Julius thought. "And I was able to move on from my insignificance with the consciousness of lightning."
Then it hit him.
Not the [Light Magic].
But a revelation.
"... If I can't be certain, then might as well go all in."
His grimoire from above afar, flutters its pages wildly.
"[Time Magic: O Kósmos]."
The whole world around Julius comes grinding to a halt.
"Ten seconds..." Julius stated. "... That's all the time I'm given to avert this tragedy."
He then comes up with a brand-new spell to stop this titanic [Light Magic] attack heading towards both him and Quatre.
"Got it."
A giant magic circle resembling a clock was formed in front of the [Scorching Light of Calamity].
"[Mana Zone: Chrono Anáklisi: Midén]."
The [Scorching Light of Calamity] was then wound back inside of [#0: Licht], right before the white-robed revenant was then recalled back into its portal.
Ten seconds have passed, and the whole world resumes its movement.
"W-WHAT THE HELL!?" Crowley cried out upon seeing [#0: Licht] completely disappeared from the face of the earth. "HOW!?"
"... It's like one of my best friends said." Julius grinned. "It was my turn to surpass my own limits."
"YOU BASTARD-"
Julius then traps all three Eye of the Midnight Sun operatives inside [Chronostasis].
"... Now the three of you will have to answer for the crimes that you've committed." Julius declared. "For death is too good for the likes of you."
The skies above are now clean of smoke, and the setting sun begins to peek over the now waning blue sky.
It was at this moment, frozen in time, that Crowley knew that he lost.
But despite in face of such hopelessness, he refused to yield.
Was it because he himself was fighting for something?
Is it for his revitalized ideals of Licht accepting him?
Is it for his newfound camaraderie in the remnants of his new home?
Is it for his fulfillment to see the entire Clover Kingdom burt to the ground?
... It wasn't even close to those three.
Crowley Asher, "The Unfortunate", fight not for an ideal.
But fights because he has nothing else left in his life to fall back on.
With that reaffirmed resolve stemming from his nihilism...
... The rear end of his single page, was inscribed a new spell.
[Fate Magic: Deus Ex Machina]
The hand of fate itself hovers over Crowley's perception of the world around him.
It was only driven by one thing.
Let us live to fight another day.
The hands hover above Valtos, Sally, Rades, and Crowley.
All of them, were whisked away from where they once stood, nowhere to be seen.
Safeguarded from their imminent demise, ready to fight another day.
Black Bull's Base Outskirts, Common Realm, Clover Kingdom (Early Evening)
"... Where's Luck?"
Unspecified Location, Clover Kingdom (Early Evening)
"... Are we in Hell?" Rades's voice whimpered out.
All of them slowly open their eyes, with Sally, Rades, and Valtos finding themselves in the middle of a lush forest.
"Holy shit, what happened to your eye?" Sally pointed out.
"Stabbed." Valtos stated as he ate his own useless eye after ripping it out of his scarred socket.
"You'll get used to it." Rades stated, pointing out the fact that he was once a monoeye pre-resurrection.
He then hands him a strap of cloth.
"Here." He stated. "Use that to cover your missing eye."
Valtos wraps the empty cavity on his face with the cloth right before the three head out to navigate this unfamiliar forest.
They eventually find a clearing, which housed an abandoned wooden cabin laid at the center.
"... Should we head in there?" Rades asked.
"Not a chance." Sally stated. "Out in the open, and us being in no shape to fight?"
"A recipe for suicide." Valtos bluntly pointed out.
"He's right."
Behind the three was Crowley, alive, and standing straight, but gravely injured.
"Right now, all we can do is lay low, presumably for a good while." Crowley stated. "Come on."
"The Unfortunate" then leads the three deeper into the woods.
"I have been roughing it as far as I can remember." He stated. "As long as you follow me, I assure you, we'll live."
As the four continue to navigate their way through the thickets, they find a youth's body laid flat on the dirt.
"... That's him?" Rades pointed at the boy's battered and dirt-covered body.
Valtos picks up the body and slings it over his shoulder.
"I got what I came for, so let's move."
They continue onwards deeper.
"So Crowley..." Sally asked.
"What?"
"... How did we managed to get out that jam?" She pointed out. "I mean, the Wizard King got us in a headlock, and I'm pretty sure that Valtos wasn't faring any better either."
Crowley smiles as he turned to the second page of his four-leaf one-pager, inscribed with his new spell.
"... I got lucky." He stated bitterly. "Just like we are."
"Can we really call ourselves lucky?" Rades pointed out. "I mean, we failed to burn the entire kingdom to the ground, so we really can't call that an accomplishment."
"True..." Crowley stated. "... So let's call it a 'test run'."
"So we'll get em next time?" Sally asked.
"Only if we don't slack." Crowley stated. "You know what that means?"
The three smile.
"Get more resources to work with." Sally stated.
"Get more people on our side." Valtos stated.
"And get more stronger then those Magic Knight jagoffs." Rades grinned manically.
Crowley smiles at their newfound resolve.
"Then allow to be so presumptuous..." Crowley stated. ".. But would accept me as the new leader of the Eye of the Midnight Sun?"
"You have the power to rewrite fate at a whim at the cost of your own, and vise-versa." Sally pointed out. "No objections here."
"Lord Licht was right to choose you to join him as part of the Third Eye." Valtos stated. "Then surely, you are worthy to take up his sword of righteousness."
"You shown me things that are better than just making new toys to play with!" Rades cackled out. "And that's to make them stronger and better then the previous ones!"
"No objections then." Crowley replied. "Then I shall christian the three of you as the new Third Eye."
"Sally: The Faithless."
"Valtos: The Hopeless."
"Rades: The Loveless."
"And I, no longer as Crowley Asher, but now as Aleister Crowley..." The now-renamed Aleister declared as the four of them walked triumphantly.
"... Leader of the Neo Eye of the Midnight Sun, as 'The Unfortunate'."
The flames of vengeance has now been rekindled under the dreams of a revolution to come.
Hidden Dark Elf Village, Gallows Forest, Forsaken Realm, Clover Kingdom
"So..." Thor asked the black-winged Demon. "... Where is Prince Astaroth been for the past week?"
"... He told me not." Claudius replied. "All he said was that he was elsewhere within the Gallows Forest."
"Wonder what he's doing these days..." Thor mumbled.
"It probably had to do something with Leif." Claudius pointed out.
"... Never thought Demons could feel empathy, or regret, for that matter." Thor pointed out.
"We don't." Claudius answered. "Or at least, we don't get hindered by it as much..."
The Dark Elf and Fallen Angel begin to ruminate in their thoughts while in the distance, sounds of trees being cut down in acres can be heard.
After sounds of deforestation ceases, a cry of anguish was echoed through the branches of this dark forest.
One Week Later...
Clover Kingdom Capital Quatre, Noble Realm, Clover Kingdom (Early Morning)
4,000 civilians slaughtered.
262 Magic Knights felled in combat.
And roughly a third of Quatre destroyed.
Only 8,400 civilians and 358 Magic Knights were alive, with the four mages responsible for this tragedy still on the loose, and the social order of the entire Clover Kingdom was on the verge of collapsing.
A mass memorial service was held at Nean's Grand Cathedral, the bodies were cremated and buried proper in a memorial at once where the Blue Rose Knights Headquarters once stood, the bounties for the four responsible were penned, and everyone, both survivor and aid alike were doing whatever they can to rebuild their livelihoods.
Even the king, who's often apathetic to just about the affairs of commoners, even pitched in on the efforts through commissioning workers extra for their services (Julius suspects that it's his PR grab, but he himself had bigger fish to fry).
At the memorial, Charlotte, Sol, Cole, Juniper, Cygnus, Lyra, Noire, the Five Divas, and even Yami were standing in front of it.
"... I hate this." Charlotte grimaced. "I hate how I am reminded of my failures..."
Yami then hands her a shovel.
"Do what you can, Charlotte." Yami stated. "My squad's doing the same."
"Then what are you standing around here for?" She replied.
"Just passing by, nothing more, prickly princess."
Yami then takes his leave and head towards the road reconstruction.
"... First month as a Magic Knight, and suddenly, my home away from home was completely burnt to the ground..." Juniper stated dejectedly.
"... I won't blame you for this being too much to handle." Aion stated while putting down a bouquet of white lilies in front of the memorial.
"To think destruction of this magnitude would happen..." Masquerade spoke out.
"Deplorable." Papillion stated. "I will bring their heads of those responsible back to Quatre for justice!"
"Join the club..." Bastet stated. "... And that's just for starters."
The only one not bothered by this was Morrigan.
"I dunno..." The witch pointed out. "... Can we just kill them later and call it water under the bridge?"
"... You know, you can be a total cold-blooded bitch sometimes, you know that?" Cole pointed out.
"Don't talk to your betters like that, mantrash." Sol snapped.
"Says the person who almost got mosh pitted to death three times in a row." Cole snapped back.
Charlotte leaves in disgust.
"... We should leave before more unpleasantness shores up." Cygnus stated.
"Sorry..." Cole apologized. "... Kinda stepped out of the line."
"We've all been on edge for the past week..." Lyra stated. "... We should help out elsewhere."
The Blue Rose Knights then go their separate ways, intending to take their minds off of this travesty through labor.
At the medical ward set up just outside the Magic Knight Headquarters, the Magic Knights too injured to move were being tended to.
At two cots next to each other, Nozel and Fuegoleon were occupying the spaces, not even batting an eye at each other.
"You're an embarrassment to us Royals." Nozel spoke to Fuegoleon.
"You lost yours to a garden hose." Fugeoleon snapped back.
The two glowered.
"... I guess we're comrades in 'arms' now." Fuegoleon pointed out the pun over their missing arms.
"Since when were you a jester?" Nozel deadpanned.
"... Thought I branch out a little." He stated. "... So about your youngest sister-"
Nozel tucks himself back into his sheets, closing himself off.
"... Guess you do have a heart underneath that steely gaze of yours." Fuegoleon smiled.
Elsewhere, Yuno was drenched in sweat, doing push-ups next to his cot with his top off and his footless right leg over his good left leg.
"I can't afford to be depressed forever." Yuno thought. "I already lost Asta and Noelle. I am not going to be so weak to the point where I can't save anyone!"
Vanessa, recently coming back from her mission, was now volunteering at the medical ward, using her [Thread Magic] to stitch up wounds and broken bones in hopes of mending them faster.
"The boy's restless as usual..." She sighed out. "... Alright, that's enough."
She then picks Yuno up and sets himself back on the cot.
"You did enough for week, Yuno." Vanessa stated sternly. "Get some rest before body dies on you."
"... Yes ma'am." Yuno mumbled before he can protest to her.
The Black Bulls, despite losing the least amount of Magic Knights, the weight of the loss was the most damning.
"Magna and Gray are at the Clover/Spade borders filling in for some guards that had to call in sick right after they got back from a Dungeon near Heart Kingdom's borders..." Vanessa thought.
She then shakes those thoughts out of her mind and goes back to tending to the other injured people.
Elsewhere, the Wizard King, overseeing the restoration process of Quatre from his relatively-untouched study.
For the past week, he has been going over through piles of paperwork regarding the damages, the casualties, and the possibility foreign powers coming towards into their lands.
"I should probably pay Marx overtime..." Julius muttered as he when through another pile of papers.
[Lord Julius!]
Marx then appears in the projection next to Julius.
"What is it?" Julius asked.
[The Clover/Spade Kingdom Border has been breached!] The projection shouted.
"Calm yourself, Marx." Julius stated. "... By all means, what breached the borders?"
The projection of the Wizard King's Secretary looks at the report before continuing.
[... A giant pig monster and a child, of all things.]
Clover/Spade Kingdom Border, Forbidden Realm, Clover Kingdom (Morning)
Caesar Village. A border village known for its impenetrable walls that can be seen from village's main plaza.
Now all the villagers can see were collapsed walls and Magic Knights splayed all over the fields in an undignified heap.
None of them were dead, but everyone too focused on the giant pig's silhouette appearing behind the broken-down marble walls.
In front of the giant shadow, Langris, now bleeding all over his scalp, was slowly standing up against the imposing figure.
"You bastard..." He snarled out. "... HOW DARE YOU MAKE ME BLEED, YOU FILTHY BEAST!"
He then swings his right arm, activating his [Spatial Magic: Archangel Wingbeat], attempting to carve an empty space into the beast's surface.
"Oi, that's my pig you're touching." A gruff and accented voice spoke out.
A tiny figure jumps down from the giant pig's head, and with the swing from its arm, [Archangel Wingbeat] was rebounded back towards Langris, barely missing his feet.
The small figure lands in front of the Golden Dawn's Vice Captain, revealing child-like male with scruffy bright blonde hair, wearing a pure-white suit with a single black suit vest and a loosely-tied red necktie hanging around his neck, his legs covered in a pair of plain and worn out black leather boots with brass buckles, and slung around his back was a sheathed shortsword with its grip resembling a dragon's head.
Langris's brain stops thinking for a brief moment, unable to register the fact that his magic was bested by a mere child.
"Oi." Langris glowered at the short male. "You know what you did, you damn brat?"
The short blond male takes notice, but his expression did not give a damn.
"It doesn't matter if you're a kid or not..." He snarled at the short male. "... ANYONE WHO DARES MOCK ME-"
The short male drives his fist into Langris's crotch, shutting him up.
"Okay..." The boy spoke out in a slightly deep and familiar-accented voice. "First of all..."
He then uppercuts the kneeling redhead, sending him flying all the way back towards the village's main plaza, crashing into the fountain.
"... I'm 32, ya daft bastard."
To Be Continued...
Author's Notes: This Saga took me a good while to finish.
This multiparter has been a rather... brutal endeavor to finish. Mainly due to other fics that I want to finish, along with my outside endeavors (FGO's Summer Event: must get and limit break all free event CEs), and of course, CSULB.
At least my fics will be a monthly release each chapter at worst.
So what do you guys think of this Saga?
Please leave a comment or a review, for I'd love to know what my audiences are thinking (and that this fic and community needs more love).