A/N: Hi guys! So here's chapter 29, so this was originally chapter 30 but because of how I ended the last chapter this one got pushed up so now there'll only be 41 chapters! Once again I am terrible at fight scenes so it's pretty vague. Also I'm going to take a small break (like maybe a week?) from this so I can work on other things (like requests, yamichar week) but it'll be a week at the most ?! Please mind the warnings in this chapter, and I hope you all enjoy!

Warnings: Death, Violence.

—

Yami, Charlotte, and Hikari watched as Botis, not only transformed into a snake, but his mana increased as well. This must be his true form. Suddenly, Botis swung his tail at the trio, who were only just able to get out of the way.

" Where did all this mana come from?!" Hikari asked as she dodged his tail again, Yami turned to look at her out of the corner of his eye and let out a sigh.

" He was distributing it between those little viper minions of his." Yami said and Hikari looked around, all those vipers they were battling had disappeared. Suddenly Hikari's Ki picked up on something and she saw Botis's tail coming towards her, luckily she was able to get out of the way before it smacked against the pillar.

" What is he just going to use his tail all the time?!" Hikari nearly shouted as she used her Katana to send a Dark Spatial spell towards Botis.

" It looks that way." Charlotte said a little out of breath as she used her Briar magic to make a shield to block his tail. " Maybe that's how he uses his magic? Through his tail?"

" Only one way to find out!" Yami said quickly as he and Hikari took off running towards Botis. Charlotte watched the two and, as his tail swung at her, she used her magic to block it just before having the roses wrap around it. Effectively holding it in place.

Hikari and Yami looked at each other for a few seconds, this was their chance. They ran even faster towards Botis and the two leapt in the air and just before they could send a spell his way, they were quickly swatted away like flies.

Charlotte's heart dropped into the pit of her stomach as she watched them be knocked into the walls.

" Yami! Hikari!" She shouted, and as she was distracted, Botis was able to get his tail out of her spell and knocked Charlotte into the pillar behind her.

" Seriously? This all you three got? I'm more disappointed now than when I fought you previously." Botis said lazily as he watched the trio lie on the floor for a few seconds.

Yami and Hikari both shook their heads and looked around before looking at each other in confusion.

What happened? How did they end up all the way over here?

The two recalled standing beside Charlotte, talking about Botis's tail and how they might've been how he used his magic and then they were somehow over here? Suddenly the two's eyes widened.

" Ah, I see you've finally figured out my magic. I have what you humans call 'Memory Magic', at least a form of it." He explained lazily. " The minute my hands touch you, or my talons claw you, it erases a small piece of your memory. The more they touch and claw, the more you lose your memories until finally you're a husk of your former self."

After Botis explained he immediately felt something slice his cheek, he turned slightly and saw it was a spike of briars. He turned to see Charlotte standing there, she was using her Queen of Briar's spell.

" Enough!" She shouted as she sent more and more vines his way, he was able to block a few with his tail and hands, but he wasn't able to get all of them as they sliced him. She used it as a distraction as she used a few more Briar vines to grab Hikari and Yami and bring them away from him and towards her.

" Thanks for the save Princess." Yami said with a smirk as he shook his head, Charlotte smirked as well before glancing down at him. The smirk slowly slid from her face as a memory popped into her head, one where she had seen him look this beat up before. One where she had confessed her love to him as he laid there dying.

" Mom!" She suddenly heard Hikari shout and she turned to see Botis's tail coming towards her again, she wasn't going to have enough time to dodge it.

Without warning Yami jumped up, wrapped his arms around her, and pushed her to the side. Using his body to block Botis's tail.

" Mom! Dad!" Hikari shouted running towards them, Charlotte looked up at Yami with wide eyes, if this were any other time she would be blushing like crazy and her heart would be pounding. But instead of worrying about how they looked, right now all she could think about was if he was hurt.

" Yami, are you-?" She asked before she felt something cool hit her shoulder, she looked at it before looking back up at Yami. Botis's tail had slashed his shoulder.

" Yami-!" She nearly shouted but the dark haired man just shook his head and stood up before helping Charlotte stand.

" I'm fine Princess, just a scratch." He told her with a small smirk, it was more than a 'scratch' but she didn't comment on it.

" Are you both okay?" Hikari asked in concern as she looked at her 'parents'. When they both nodded she let out a small sigh of relief. " At least his memory magic doesn't go all the way to his tail." Hikari added light-heartedly, the others nodded in agreement.

" What if I use my Briar magic to pull his attention away, Hikari uses her Dark Spatial magic to attack him, and you can use your magic to deal the final blow?" Charlotte asked, Yami thought about it. He didn't like the thought of putting Charlotte and Hikari in danger, especially since they were dealing with a devil who could erase memories as he attacked.

" Let's try it." Hikari stated firmly, Yami looked at her and sighed in defeat. He couldn't win against both women.

" Alright, let's give it a go." Yami said as he pulled out his Katana, Hikari pulled hers out as well and Charlotte began to make spears out of her Briars.

" Are you done coming up with a useless plan?" Botis asked in boredom as Charlotte sent a spear his way.

" Go now Hikari!" She shouted, Hikari nodded and took off running towards Botis. She used her dark spatial magic to attack and slice the devil, she even used her mana zone to pull his attention as he began to try and use his tail to take care of Charlotte's Briar spears.

After a few minutes of Charlotte and Hikari tag teaming and draining his mana down, Yami gathered as much mana as he could for his spell. He was only going to have one shot at this.

" I must say, you two aren't really giving me much of a challenge." Botis said as he continued dodging and swatting away their spells. He suddenly frowned as he felt a large concentration of mana coming from where Yami was standing.

" You two worked hard, thanks for keeping him busy for a bit." Yami complimented the women, when Botis turned to look Hikari just smirked at him before getting out of the way.

" Dark Cloaked Dimension Slash: Equinox!" Yami shouted suddenly, Botis's eyes widened; this was the same spell that had taken out Zagred!

As Botis went to get out of the way he felt something wrap around his tail and his body, when he looked down he saw nothing but red roses. No matter how hard he tried, there was no escaping this.

Botis gasped as he felt his body being slashed through, he thought he would feel immense pain. But instead he felt something else; relief and sadness. He fell to the ground with a loud thud as he and the throne room had both been split in two. Yami, Charlotte, and Hikari walked up to him.

" How-?" He gasped, his body was beginning to fall apart even though his heart was still beating. Yami let out a sigh and shrugged.

" It's probably because you couldn't use your mind games and little tricks on us this time, or maybe because you didn't ambush us with an entire army so we were able to see how terrible you really are at fighting." Yami said, suddenly Botis laughed much to the three's confusion.

" You really think…this is the end?" Botis said softly. " This is only…the beginning…this isn't over…yet."

" Looks pretty over to me." Hikari said as she crossed her arms, Botis laughed again, but this time much weaker.

" That's…because you…aren't thinking about…it…do you…truly think I'm capable of…doing all of this?" He asked with a smirk, Charlotte frowned.

" What are you talking about?" Charlotte asked.

" You'll find out…soon enough…" Were the last words Botis spoke before he disappeared into thin air.

Hikari, Yami, and Charlotte all looked around at each other. What did he mean by that? Did he mean there were more devils, and that he didn't do this all on his own?

" We need to find William and Alistar. Now." Charlotte said, the others nodded and they quickly left the throne room and ran towards where Alistar and William had been.

—

William let out a groan as he opened his eyes, what on earth happened? He slowly sat up and placed a hand on his head. The last thing he recalled was Alistar using a sleeping spell on him, and he said 'I'm sorry father'. What did he mean by that? Certainly he didn't…? No Alistar couldn't have possibly betrayed them! He was different from William right? He had raised his son differently and probably warned him to not betray those close to him…didn't he?

William looked up as he heard a chorus of William, Captain Vangeance, and Goldie Guts. The Sukehiro's had rushed into the Wizard King's office and began to help him up while looking around.

" Are you alright? What happened?" Charlotte asked as she looked him over, William shook his head as he leaned against the desk.

" I'm not too sure myself." He muttered, Yami frowned.

" Where's the kid?" William looked around again, Kya and Alistar were gone and probably had been for a while.

" I…I don't know. Alistar and I had stumbled across this room while we were searching for Kya's brother Kito, and…" William trailed off, he wanted to tell them the rest, but was worried they might think Alistar had betrayed them or worse, was the one behind all of this.

" Kya Grinberryall's here too?" Hikari asked, when William nodded she frowned. " Then where did she go?"

" With Alistar I imagine."

" Did you see where they went?" Yami asked as he crossed his arms, William shook his head as Hikari walked over to the book shelf.

" No. Alistar…he…" William paused again but Hikari finished his sentence for him.

" He knocked you out with 'Spider Lilies Slumber' didn't he?" Hikari asked as she inspected the shelf, William nodded. " That's one of Alistar's more proficient spells. He uses it a lot because he doesn't want to hurt anyone." She muttered and frowned when she picked up one of the books on the shelf.

" Did Alistar look at this?" She asked William curiously as she walked over to him, William nodded.

" Yes, he was looking at it before he knocked me out. Why?" Hikari opened the book to reveal a photo album. The Wizard Kings private photo album.

" The hell?! Is that Asta?" Yami asked in surprise as William and Charlotte sat there wide eyed themselves.

Inside the book was a photo of Asta, Noelle, Brielle, Mizuki, and Kaiyo. All sitting there happily. As Hikari turned the pages there were more and more photos of, not only them, but of the Black Bulls, the Golden Dawn, and even of Yuno and his family in Spade. Towards the middle of the book Hikari frowned as one of the photo's edges was flipped.

Underneath the photo was a cut out, and inside was what appeared to be a Magical recording device and two flowers. One was a buttercup, and the other Hikari didn't recognize. It was a dark purple shade, with the petals drooping over one another, it looked similar to a Lavender but she knew that wasn't it.

All she knew was Alistar had left these for them to find.

" We need to find Alistar. Now!" She said in a panic as she handed the book to William and took off down the hall.

" Hikari wait!" Charlotte had shouted, but she couldn't wait. Alistar had figured something out and was going off on his own to take care of it!

—

Minutes passed as Hikari ran around the Castle looking for Alistar, she had followed the traces of his mana but didn't see him anywhere, it was as though he had vanished. She didn't see any traces of Kya either. Could they have already gone back to the past? No way, Alistar wouldn't have possibly done that. Unless he took Kya to the time gate and then came back?

Hikari had used their magical communication device to try and get a hold of Alistar but he refused, or couldn't, answer. Her anxiety and that feeling in her gut just got worse as the minutes ticked by.

Suddenly she froze as she felt a large burst of mana, she turned to her left, it was coming from that direction!

The dark haired girl quickly ran down the hall, that large amount of mana had to belong to Alistar! There wasn't anyone else that it could be besides him or her 'parents' and William, and those three were far behind her.

As she ran a few more feet down the hall she came to a slow stop. She could hear boots echoing down the hall, they were slowly coming closer and closer towards her. She stood on her guard just in case it was a devil or one of those monsters from Miku's memories. Slowly, as the person came closer and closer, the moonlight from outside revealed there face.

It was Alistar.

Hikari let out a sigh of relief as he came towards her. She had thought it was him by the Ki, but she couldn't be too sure.

" Alistar," she frowned suddenly as she saw his face covered by his hair. " are you okay?" She asked in concern, but he still didn't say a word. Instead he walked up to her and suddenly collapsed against her. She immediately wrapped her arms around him to catch him before she fell to her knees.

" Alistar! What-?" She asked in shock, she suddenly felt something cool against his back, and when she pulled her hand away she gasped. It was blood. She looked down to see a gaping hole in his chest.

" I-I…I need to get Captain Vangeance!" She stammered as she pulled out the communication device. She quickly pressed the button

Alistar was gasping for air. He had been so relieved when he had first seen Hikari down the hall, but then a tremendous amount of guilt washed over him. He didn't want her to see him like this, he didn't want the memory of him dying like this living on in her head for the rest of her life, he didn't want her to feel guilty for not being able to save him.

The white haired man then tried to open his mouth, he had so much he needed to tell her.

" D-Don't try to talk! It'll only take your strength away, so…s-so just don't say anything okay?!" She stammered, Alistar suddenly felt something wet hit his shoulder.

Hikari was crying.

Alistar felt his heart break, he hated making her cry, she was usually so strong and so brave that it took a lot to make her cry. So anytime she did cry it would just rip him apart. He opened his mouth again, he had so much to tell her. So much he needed to tell her. But his voice just refused to work.

He needed to tell her how thankful he was for her being his friend and bodyguard, he needed to tell her that she was the reason he wanted to become one of the strongest Magic Knights, how he wanted to help her achieve her dream of being the Wizard Queen, but most of all, he needed to tell her that he loved her.

Oh how Alistar regretted not telling her that sooner.

" I-I…I need to get Captain Vangeance!" She stammered as she pulled out the communication device. She quickly pressed the button and began to nearly scream that Alistar was dying and they needed to hurry so Captain Vangeance could heal him!

But they both knew they wouldn't get there in time.

Alistar moved his head slightly as a shadow caught his attention, his eyes widened in fright. He began to try and talk again, he needed to get Hikari's attention now!

" D-Don't try to talk! You can tell me once you're healed, okay?!" Hikari shouted as she suddenly held him closer, Alistar continued, but his voice just wouldn't work.

Behind them stood Kya. As she stood there, an evil smirk grew onto her face before she suddenly pulled her bottom eyelid down and stuck her tongue out in a taunting manner at Alistar.

Alistar desperately needed to tell Hikari that Kya was the one who did this. Not only to him. But to Spade and Clover as well.

But he couldn't. He was too weak. Even though Hikari's arms were wrapped around him in a warm embrace he couldn't feel it. He was too cold. As he stared at the taunting girl in front of him, no, the monster taunting him he felt full of nothing but regret. Regret that he couldn't tell Hikari about his love for her and that their main enemy was just behind her, regret that he was leaving everyone else behind to finish the mission by themselves, regret that he wouldn't be able to see the new and bright future that they would all go on to create once everything was done.

'But it's okay,' He thought. 'Because I know things will work out in the end. That everyone will be okay even though I'm not there. That everything's going to be alright.'

Hikari suddenly felt Alistar's body go limp in her arms and she froze. No…no way…

" H-Hey, this isn't funny Alistar…" She said softly, she didn't dare glance at him, she couldn't. She wouldn't. " Y-You need to get up now so we can go home, your dads waiting…" she trailed off.

Hikari tried to shake him, but he didn't move, she began to mutter and try to convince him to stand up. That this joke isn't funny. To make one of his stupid puns he liked. But Alistar didn't.

" Alistar…" Hikari spoke so softly that it barely even registered as a whisper. Finally she glanced down at the white haired man in her arms, and all she could see was his usual warm smile on his handsome face. Just that damned smile.

" ALISTAR!"