Disclaimer: Black Clover is owned by Yūki Tabata, Studio Pierrot, and Shonen Jump.
Saga 30: Diary of a Madman Part 1
Underground City of Agartha, Mimo Amazon, Clover/Heart Kingdom Borderlands (Evening)
"Hmm..." Helena grumbled. "Asinine, but considering the following, and the fact that Aleister has no reason to lie to me..."
"What I've done to you to make me less credible?" Aleister asked.
"The fact that you were supposed to visit me a month after we first met." She replied bitterly. "Also, no. Your absurdly-bad luck is irrelevant to your possible complaints."
The bespectacled mage grumbles.
Meanwhile, as the two squabble, Rades, Valtos, and Sally all exchange glances at each other awkwardly.
"So why are even sitting around here?" Rades pointed out.
The other two look at Rades with judgemental expression their faces.
"... What?" The necromancer asked.
"You do realize that this whole place might be trapped, right?" Valtos pointed out.
"True, true." Sally reaffirmed. "I'm reading this whole Agartha place's mana right now, and let me tell ya, she's got this whole damn city on lockdown."
"Peh." Rades scoffed as he got up. "Like a few traps are gonna stop me-"
Another pillar of light engulfs Rades, frying him.
"... You okay, buddy?" Sally asked the necromancer in burning heap.
"... Eat a... dick." Rades bit out.
"[Karma Clause], bitch." Helena spoke from the other side of the room. "Not all traps spring once before they're done. So much as try anything funny, that'll happen again."
Rades grumbles incoherently.
"He's fine." Sally reassured. "So anyway, traps everywhere, don't move from where we stand, otherwise we'll end up like him?"
"Mm hm." Helena stated.
"So Miss Blatvisky?" Crowley asked. "I have a favor to ask..."
"You want to stay here and make this your new base of operations for your Neo Eye of the Midnight Sun?" Helena pointed out. "I'll bed, but I got a few conditions."
Sally then notices Aleister's face turning slightly pale upon the lilac-haired lady's words.
"Can't be that bad, can it-"
Sally was then cut off by Valtos gagging her mouth with his hand.
"... Don't jinx it, Sally." The black-eyed mage stated. "I don't know what's going on, but we say something dumb, we might end up getting more than we bargained for."
"Oh don't worry." Helena stated. "I ain't asking for much..."
Aleister torques his head back towards the two mages.
His mouth than begins to move in a way that he's speaking, but without the words.
"... We... are... fucked... brace... yourselves?" Valtos read Alister's lips.
"One!" Helena demanded. "Allow me to join your little Neo Eye of the Midnight Sun..."
"Sure, welcome aboard-"
"... As the second-in-command to Mr. Scrawny over there." She demanded.
"OH SCREW YOU-*Incoherent screams of unspeakable pain*-BLEH."
Rades then falls into a burnt heap after [Karma Clause] triggered once again.
"Don't give me lip, boy." Helena stated right before she continued with her demands. "Two, allow me to handle this group's recruitment policies. Because as far as I'm concerned, your current members consist of a walking disaster area, a mad scientist with a borderline sexualized fetish for putting someone under the knife, a necromancer with poor impulse control, and the only one who's relatively sane here happens to be a total bore."
"... Wait, I'm boring?" Valtos asked.
"what else do you call yourself, then?" Helena asked.
The [Spatial Magic] user then thinks for a moment before coming up with nothing.
"Thought so." Helena pointed out "Anywho, I happen to know people who's willing to throw themselves into your lot, and those guys are no slouch in their field, so don't worry about them being dead weight."
Sally and Valtos look at Alister for confirmation.
"She has no reason to lie." He replied. "I looked into some those people that she previously mentioned, and let me tell you, those guys are high-profile consummate professionals. Take my word for it."
"Just who are you referring to?" Valtos asked.
"Isaiah Newton, user of [Gravity Magic], Nikolai Tesla, master of [Plasma Magic], Maston Edison, another [Light Magic] user like Helena, Andrew Watermark, [Blood Magic] specialist, and finally, Orme Corovan, the [Poison Magic] doctor that tried to branch out into [Recovery Magic], but... you can figure out the rest, right?" Alister stated.
Sally and Valtos look at each other.
"... Better than nothing." Valtos stated.
"I happened to notice a few of those names, and let me tell you, they're legit." Sally pointed out. "Some of them are more of a kook than me, but there's no harm adding them into our ranks."
"Something tells me that you knew them personally." Valtos pointed out.
"... Maybe." She looked towards the side.
"Who?" Valtos pointed out.
"The one who's always covered head to toe in black leather robes and wears that pointy-nosed mask with tinted circle lenses." She replied.
"Ah, Corovan then." Helena stated. "And finally, my third request..."
The lilac-haired mage then picks up an unlit candlestick to her side, lights it, and stands up.
"... I'd like the four of you to come with me." Helena stated. "And yes, that includes you too, Rades. So get your ass up, or [Karma Clause] will do the whole 'waking' part, if you know what I mean."
"I'm up." Rades then immediately got up upon hearing those words.
"Good. Move your ass." Helena stated as she led the other four out of the room.
The five continue to walk down the lost city's dimly-lit streets, the translucent-azure lights illuminating the dark-slate stones that compose the underground civilization.
"... So where we heading-"
"Quiet, you." Helena cut off Sally's question.
The five continue to walk towards a large mausoleum-like building up ahead.
As they approached the building, they being to climb up the stairs leading towards the pitch-black entrance.
"... Ugh, this place reminds me of home." Rades thought bitterly. "I've spent the last 20 years of my life trying to get away from a crypt, and yet, here I am..."
The five then enter into the mausoleum, only for the entrance behind them to shut tight, trapping them in utter darkness.
"HOLY CRAP!" Rades cried out. "SOMEONE TURN ON THE LIGHTS! I CAN'T SEE SHIT!"
Something then hits him in the back of the head, knocking him out cold.
"... Thank you for the silence, now I can focus on finding where the damn thing is-got it!"
The center of the room then lights up in the same, vein-like lines of translucent-azure light, illuminating the mausoleum inside.
Upon the now-lit domain, the five find a hallway leading further into the tomb ahead.
"Come on, kiddos." Helena stated. "Try not to get lost."
But before they can head down the hallway, Helena then points towards Aleister.
"Just how long are you going to carry that boy around?" She pointed towards the blond boy holstered around his back. "I swear, if he starts to smell, I'll clean it up myself."
"Nah, he's a long-term investment." Aleister stated. "Either some crazy-ass miracle wakes him up, or worst-case-scenario, Rades gets [#14: Luck] added to his [Soul Corpse Magic]."
"... Oh!" Sally remarked. "Lucky number 7 times 2 equals 14!"
"Hm, now that I take a closer look at him..." Helena stated as she too a closer look at the corpse-like boy. "... Despite being physically dead, his body is still producing mana, and lots of it, too."
The three then continue to ponder at this enigma.
"Bah, we ain't gonna get anywhere like this." Helena stated. "Like I said, let's bounce."
Alister then picks up Rades over his shoulder right before the rest of the Neo Eye of the Midnight Sun members headed further into the mausoleum.
As they began to walk down the dimly-lit halls of the tomb, the mages began to take notice of portraits carved into the stone walls of the mausoleum around them.
The murals on the walls depicted the following:
Demons.
Angels.
Humans.
Elves.
Dwarves.
Jotuns.
Witches.
... All of them, in a field of flames and carnage, displayed as the anarchic orgy as it is.
"What the hell?" Valtos remarked at the portraits. "... Just what is all this!?"
"Oh, you wish to know?" Helena replied. "Well listen up, kiddies..."
She then stops her pace to a halt.
"... As I tell you the story of the [Armageddon]."
At first, there existed nothing but the void.
There was no life, no light, no darkness, nothing.
Everything was a perpetual vacuum. A "world" that couldn't be defined as a "world".
Then, from the depths of the utter darkness, a light emerged.
That light, was known as the [Origin].
With its mere presence, [Light] and [Dark] were created, and from the newly-created disparity, [Time] and [Spatial] were created as its byproducts.
And after the first day, the void was no more, and everything began to move.
As everything began to move further, the [Origin] began to move with the flow.
[Earth], [Water], [Fire], and [Wind] were created, as its sole purpose behind its creation was to move with this new dynamic.
As [Earth] began to move, [Tree]s began to sprout, ground into [Sand], hardened into [Stone], flow into [Lava], as everything else continued to move.
As [Water] began to move, [Mist] rose from it, broke into [Bubbles], solidified into [Ice], fell into [Snow], as everything else continued to move.
As [Fire] began to move, [Smoke] dispersed into the air, scattered into [Ash], emitted out [Heat], descended as [Lightning], as everything else continued to move.
As [Wind] began to move, [Clouds] formed in the skies, [Air] began to dance, [Sound] emitted from the dynamics, stirred into a [Storm], as everything else continued to move.
As the it continued to move, the [World] became reality, and the [Four Elements] that composed of this [World] continued to move.
From the continued movement, [Creation] began to take form, [Ocean]s, [Mountain]s, [Land]s, and the [Sky] enveloped the [World].
As the [World] began to take form, [Life] taken root into the world.
It began with [Beast].
From [Beast] came [Soul] and [Blood].
From [Soul] and [Blood] came [Life].
From [Life] and [Creation], the first [Human] walked the [Earth].
The [Human] than began to move with the rest of the [World].
As the [Human] continued to move in the [World], the trails left behind its footprints left behind residual energy.
The energy, along with [Human] and the [World], began to move.
As the [Human] continued to move, more [Humans] appeared into this [World], growing, multiplying, prospering, learning, evolving, and eventually, ruining.
The [World], the very same that the [Humans] walk upon, has been brought to utter ruin by their ceaseless growth.
From ruin, a [Forbidden Aspect] was defined.
[Death], the absence of [Life] and [Creation].
To confront [Death], the [Origin] awakes once more, and with [Creation], more [Life] was formed to prosper onto the [Earth] to prosper.
With the new [Humans], the energy left behind by the first [Humans] were implanted into them.
The energy came to be known to be as [Mana], the will of the [Origin] itself.
With the [Humans] with [Mana] inside of them, prospered even greater than the first [Humans].
With [Mana], the new [Humans] learned [Creation].
With [Creation], the new [Humans] learned [Magic], and gained control over the [Four Elements].
With the continued usage of [Magic] the [Humans] then began to extend the concept of [Creation] unto themselves.
To the [Humans] who mastered the flow of [Mana], became known as [Elves], blessed by [Wind].
To the [Humans] who held in the most [Mana] inside of their bodies, evolved into [Jotuns], blessed by [Water].
To the [Humans] who learned how to [Mana] at its utmost, grew into [Dwarves], blessed by [Earth].
To the [Humans] who created the most uses of [Mana], were later known as [Witches], blessed by [Fire].
To the [Humans] who became [Mana] itself, ascended towards the [Origin] as [Angels], blessed by [Light].
To the [Humans] who were rejected by [Mana], another [Forbidden Aspect] was formed.
[Mutation], the act of warping of a [Human]'s physical body beyond recognition.
From [Mutation], birthed [Demons], the hard opposite of all [Mana], blessed by [Dark].
However, the [Origin] took measures to make sure that the new dynamics don't destroy the [World] that it created.
First, the [Humans] who were being created, now no longer evolve into [Elves], [Jotuns], [Dwarves], [Witches], [Angels], and [Demons]. They will remain as [Human] while still retaining their ability to use [Magic].
Second, the species mustn't establish contact with each other, and be cut off from each other in order to prevent conflict. [Humans] shall live exclusively on the created [World], [Angels] and [Demons] will live close to the [Origin], watching from afar, and the [Elves], [Jotuns], [Dwarves], and [Witches] will live on as embodiments of [Mana], perpetuating the [Four Elements] so that the [World] may continue to move.
And finally, above all else, [Mana] shall be the only "truth" of this [World]. For the [World] is just as alive as the [Life] inhabiting it. Even [Demons], who are the opposite of [Mana], shall represent as the opposite of [Mana].
With those measures taken, the [World] continued to move.
But as the [World] continued to move, [Life] began growing too fast, to the point that they slowly began to breach the established boundaries set up by the [Origin].
From their knowledge collective knowledge of [Magic], they've learned [Recovery], created by [Elves] to create the ability to revitalize [Life] within a living being, [Curse], created by [Demons] to give them the ability to slowly eat away at [Life] within a living being, [Invocation], created by the [Angels] to give them the ability to mimic and project [Life], [Trap], created by [Witches] to give them the ability to control one's own [Magic] at their convenience, [Reinforcement], created by the [Jotuns] the ability to lengthen one's own [Life], and for the [Humans]...
... With their [Creation], they've forged another [Forbidden Aspect].
[Summon], the ability to breach the boundaries diving physical and spiritual, material and ethereal, [Life] and [Death] no longer pens them.
Eventually, the [Humans] breached the boundaries separating them from the other races, and upon reuniting with each other after countless millennia...
... They began to destroy each other, not knowing who the other was, other then the fact that they weren't them.
This breach of worlds, resulting in the total extinction of all seven races, the scouring of the century long-forgotten, was [Armageddon].
"Holy shit..." Sally gasped out was they walked down the dim halls of the mausoleum. "... Did I just hear the origins of how all magic came to existence!?"
"That's one interpretation that I've come up with during my time studying these murals." Helena pointed out. "There's also the perspective that someone somehow managed to record this whole 'lost century', a mythology created by some loon to justify the workings of this world, or..."
The lilac-haired mage stops in her tracks.
"... Or this whole story might be our eventual future." Helena revealed. "Want proof?"
She then moves her candlelight closer to the walls, illuminating them brighter in that one spot.
The light then reveals images of people looking like Sally, Valtos, and Rades being sacrificed towards a tree-like symbol.
"... Explain." Aleister demanded.
"I will." She stated. "But first..."
Helena then opens her grimoire, and upon seeing that, Aleister drops Rades.
"Wakey wakey, eggs and bakey!"
Rades is then fried awake by Helena's [Karma Clause].
"... Wat da hell... you bitch..." Rades moaned out. "... It's still nighttime, let me... get some shuteye..."
"My house, my rules." Helena replied dryly. "And rule #1, prepare to go night-owl at a moment's notice, because archeology waits for no one but the quick and the bold!"
Rades grumbles incoherently as he got up from his smolden squalor.
"... Waitaminute." The necromancer grumbled out. "... Is that... me?"
"Good, you're up to speed." Helena cut in. "While I was listening to Mr. Unlucky's story..."
"I go by as 'The Unfortunate'." Aleister interjected.
"Too long, too bad." Helena snapped. "So anyway, while I was listening to his story, I started taking notes of the descriptions of the... shall we say, 'people of interest' that you've brought up."
She then moves her candle around the same segment of the wall.
"A boy with a [Sylph]..." Helena pointed towards the black-haired youth with a single green wing protruding out of him.
The candle then moves to a ash-gray-haired youth with black markings on his face, a pair of black, bat-like wings coming out of his back, and wielding a massive blade blade in his hands.
"... And I assume this is the so-called Fallen Angel that did away your previous group?" Helena stated. "Especially since he's the one who just flat out walked through all of your combined magic like a goose treading water..."
The three former members of the previous Eye of the Midnight Sun all stared at their former-assailant's visage carved into the stone walls in pure horror.
"Wait..." Valtos spoke out. "... Miss Blatvisky, can you move your light back towards us?"
The light then moves back towards where the three of them were at, their souls being ripped out of their bodies, enveloped in a pillar of light.
"... A little upwards towards the tree, please."
The light then reveals Licht, consuming their souls, along with presumably everyone else's.
"... No. NO! THIS CANNOT BE!"
Valtos then crumples into a heap.
"THIS IS ALL LIES, I TELL YOU!" Valtos cried out. "LORD LICHT WOULD NEVER BETRAY US! NOT AFTER WHAT HE DID FOR US AND WHAT WE DID FOR HIM! OUR LIVES, OUR SOULS, OUR DEDICATION! HE WOULD NEVER TAKE US IN JUST TO USE US!"
"... Strawman's point of view." Helena interjected in Valtos's meltdown. "But in hindsight, did this 'Licht' guy owe you anything? If so, name em'."
... The black-eyed mage couldn't think of anything, at all.
"... We were deceived." Valtos whimpered out. "All this time, we were seduced by his honeyed words of false empathy and compassion, all just so that he can use and dispose of us like the damned Nobles that we were supposed to be purging of..."
"Eh." Sally remarked with apathy. "That bridge's been already crossed. I ain't mad anymore."
"And he's my bitch now, so... no complaints here." Rades stated. "Hell, even before this, I really didn't care as long as I got to rip the Clover Kingdom a fresh new one."
Valtos then gets up and faces Rades.
"... Can you bring [#0: Licht] out?" Valtos asked in a disturbingly calm tone.
Rades then looks at Valtos's pitch-black eyes.
"... Alright, but play nice." Rades replied as he brought out his former leader's mummified corpse.
The black-eyed mage then pounces down upon the cadaver and begins beating the corpse with his bare knuckles, wailing and sobbing with a cocktail of unbridled rage and grief of betrayal.
"... Whoa there." Aleister remarked at Valtos's display of unbridled barbarism. "... I only saw this kind of shit while reading romantic thrillers and horror novels."
"Art imitates life, kiddo." Helena commented. "... Wanna keep looking at this little revelation while he... grieves?"
The two nod awkwardly.
"Wait." Aleister spoke out.
He then points out the illegible writing below each person carved into the stone mural.
"... What kind of language is this?" The Unfortunate pointed out. "I've never seen scripture like this..."
"... Oh?" Helena remarked. "Are you referring to [Sanskrit]?"
"... [Sanskrit]?" Sally asked.
"The chicken-scratches that you see before you." Helena explained. "I've managed to translate this former chicken scratch from the current alphabet, and lo and behold, managed to discover the phrase [Sanskrit], the ancient language of the ones who dwelled in the depths of Agartha."
The three unoccupied then skrimp over the description written below each character.
"... What does this say under the people that looked like the Fallen Angel?" Sally pointed out.
Helena then moves closer towards the ash-gray-haired character.
"... They refer to this so-called Fallen Angel as... [The Redeemer], oddly enough." Helena stated. "And for the life of me, I still can't figure out why he's referred as such, despite your claims of him..."
"Well, all I know was that he kinda split me down the middle, from torso-up." Sally remarked.
Helena give the newly-anointed "The Faithless" a flat stare.
"... Ignoring that." Helena stated flatly.
"Well then, what the hell does that say, then?" Rades pointed towards the raven-haired character with a green-colored grimoire.
"... They call this one, [The Hero]." Helena stated. "Although this baffles me even more, since the titular [The Hero] ain't featured much compared to the so-called [The Redeemer]."
"... Something tells me that the Agarthans's view of this history seems rather... mislabeled." Aleister pointed out.
"Isn't that all of history in hindsight?" Sally pointed out.
"... Damn, you got me there." Aleister muttered out. "But still, having partial evidence is better than no evidence at all, right?"
"True." Helena stated as she moved her candle closer to the [Sanskrit] text. "... Oh, and Rades dear?"
"What?" The necromancer replied in a dour tone.
Helena then points downwards towards her feet, revealing an expanding pool of black liquid coming from his [#0: Licht].
"... OH SHIT!" Rades cried out in panic. "VALTOS! HEEL! HEEL!"
The necromancer then tries to pry the raving black-eyed mage off of his magnum opus.
"... So while those two take care of their... affairs." Helena spoke over the two's grunts of struggle and pseudo-violence. "Shall we continue to look over the murals and figure out what they really mean?"
"Didn't you already figure them out during your time here?" Aleister pointed out.
"True, true." Helena replied. "... But with the new evidence that you've presented to me, I'm thinking that connecting the dots here is a bit more... fun, shall we say."
"I like you, Miss Blatvisky. Platonically." Sally stated. "I appreciate someone who appreciates the intellectual side of magic."
"Then we'll get along just fine, Sally." Helena replied with a slight chuckle. "Shall we resume?"
The two then take a closer look at the [Sanskrit] writings on the walls, while Aleister makes sure that Rades doesn't end up kill Valtos, or vice-versa.
"... What a team." Aleister thought.
Gallows Forest, Hidden Dark Elf Village, Forbidden Realm, Clover Kingdom (Evening)
"... What do you mean, time itself is broken?" Astaroth pointed out. "Claudius, just what the hell are you hiding from me?"
"I'm sorry, milord..." Claudius tearfully apologized. "... But the overall situation has shifted so drastically that I had no choice but to reveal it until now-"
"Okay, okay, okay, just calm down for a sec." Astaroth stated. "Take a few deep breaths before you choke."
The Fallen Angel then breathes in and out for a minute before resuming to speak.
"... Once more, apologies, milord." Claudius stated. "... And before we start, yes, I've been hiding some rather crucial details from you since your advent."
Astaroth then sits down on the chipped rock.
"Alright." The Prince stated. "Where do you start?"
"I'd like to hear it for myself as well."
Behind the split tree, Thor appears.
"... There's no use hiding it from you lot anymore, isn't there?" Claudius stated as he spotted the other Dark Elves and the rest of Ars Goetia appear out of the darkness.
"Now that I think about it, you've been rather inconsistent on filling us in..." Belial muttered out as she hid herself behind the intact tree.
"We have the right know, since we're allies and all." Odin pointed out.
"Fret not." Claudius stated. "I have no intentions of hiding anything from you anymore."
"Then spill it." A Fallen Angel spoke out. "Just what is it that you're hiding?"
Then the other Fallen Angels and Dark Elves begin clamouring at the Ars Goetia's leader to reveal what he's been hiding.
"Alright." Claudius stated, causing everyone to cease their clamouring.
The Fallen Angels, the Dark Elves, and Astaroth himself listened carefully.
"Before Claudius Nero Bael, there was once an Archangel named Lucifer."
To Be Continued...
Author's Notes: ... Goddamnit, the whole gradual writer's block has been a real bitch.
Midterms, DREAM, Mandatory Freshman Advising, and other college-related shit has been bogging me down.
Thank god I'm starting get use to this shit, but I might be speaking too soon before this whole crap restarts all over again.
So might-be-rushed world building, and slightly-stressful schedule aside, please make of what you will of this short-ass Saga.
Oh, and for context, the mural carved in Agartha's mausoleum are literally canon Black Clover scenes, drawn in a Wind Waker-esqe artstyle. Make of that what you will.
With that said, what do readers think of this Saga?
Leave a comment or a review, for I'd love to hear what my audience are thinking!