Upon emerging from the portal, many of the Elves winced. Their village, while no longer on fire, had been reduced to rubble. "At least it was only the buildings and not the people, right?" Tettia asked, wrapping her hands around her Betrothed's arm with a smile. Licht smiled down at her, "true, a village is nothing without the people who live in it. Buildings can be rebuilt, as long as there are people to do so. Lives can't be regained so easily" he replied, squeezing the human Princess' arm affectionately. He turned to face his future Brother-in-Law, "go take care of your family Lemiel, we'll be fine here, I promise" he ordered lightly. The blond young man nodded, "don't worry, I will" he replied determinedly, before walking over to his sister, "I know you aren't that pregnant this time, but please, don't strain yourself, okay Sister?" Lemiel asked. Tettia smiled, "don't worry, I won't. Now go do what you have to Brother" she replied.

The Light Mage nodded, the pages of his Grimoire flipping as he turned to his transportation Spell: "Light Arrow of Swift Movement!" he called, before shooting off faster than the eye could see. The Human Princess sighed and rubbed her stomach, "I really hope this all goes well" she said with a frown. Licht took her hand, "it will be fine, don't worry" he assured. Then he turned to face his people, "alright everyone, let's get started! We have a lot of work to do!" he ordered. The Elves cheered, ready to start fixing what the Devil had destroyed.

Black Clover

When he reached the Castle, Lemiel found Secre waiting for him. She gasped when she saw him, "my Prince! You're alright!" she cried, rushing over. The young man smiled grimly, "barely, you would not believe how insane the last few days were" he replied. "So did you do it? Did you destroy that monster and save all of the Elves?" his servant asked hopefully. "Did I? Yes. Was it me specifically? No" Lemiel replied, looking around warily, before beginning to walk with a confused Secre by his side, "I'm afraid I don't understand what you mean Sir?" she asked in confusion. "I'll explain more once we get to my workshop, so please try not to ask anything else until we get there, I don't know who I can trust at the moment" he muttered. Secre was even more confused now, but did as asked and kept silent until the two reached the Prince's private chambers, which Secre had sealed off with a Sealing Spell that the Prince himself had helped her awaken.

Once the two were safely inside, Lemiel collapsed into the familiar chair with a sigh. After a moment of simply relaxing and letting everything roll off him, the Light Mage sat up straight and stared at Secre with a serious look on his face, "what I'm about to say does not leave this room, understood?" he ordered. The black-haired woman blinked curiously, but nodded, "I understand" she replied. After another moment of silence, where the Prince gathered his thoughts, he began, telling the Sealing Mage everything that had happened, from being called over by Licht, to rescuing Patry, to saving all of the Elves and their stay in another world. "So now that the Devil has been destroyed, we've come back to deal with several things, not the least of which being my traitorous family" Lemiel replied darkly. Secre frowned, thinking over everything she had just been told, "but, my Prince," she began slowly, thinking, "how do you know that your family betrayed you this time?" the young woman asked. "The Magic Item we created was stollen, wasn't it?" the Prince replied coldly.

"A-are you saying," Secre gulped nervously, "that it was your family, the King and all the others who stole our Item and tried to use it against the Elves?" she asked. "It isn't here, and back there, when we were all attacked, the Elves specifically said that they could feel their Mana draining away. The only thing that can draw out and store Mana is that Item. That means that either that Devil stole it, or he manipulated my family into using it to kill all of us for their own selfish gain" Lemiel growled. "But, surly the Devil is the one to blame then! I mean why would your own family betray you like that Sir?" Secre demanded fearfully. "Maybe you're right Secre. Maybe they were being manipulated. However, even if that's the truth, the fact still remains that my family betrayed the Kingdom and tried to commit, not only genocide, but also Prolicide, as my Father is the one who ordered this. I will not allow such behaviour.

We may be related by blood, but if they are willing to stoop to such low acts, then those murderers are no family of mine" the young man proclaimed. "Please excuse me, I need to set up the Hearing and have those criminals rounded up" Lemiel said, standing up and moving to leave the room. Secre felt a bead of sweat slide down her temple, "uh, Prince?!" she called worriedly. The young man stopped and partly turned to face the young woman again, "please, don't do something you'll regret later! Just-" she paused, staring worriedly at the young man who, until now, had always been so cheerful and kind, "please, don't let your anger turn you into someone you're not. Okay?" Secre asked worriedly. "Don't worry, I'll fix this" Lemiel replied seriously.

Black Clover

It had been only a few hours since the Alternate Elves and humans had gone home, but Bethany had a bad feeling. She was supposed to be eating as much as possible in order to restore her Magic so she could send the people from the original timeline back where they belonged, but something felt off. After two years of capturing Clow Cards and her Magic growing in strength, Bethany had learned to trust her instincts. If something felt off, that's because it was. The Alternate Future Licht entered the Dining Room, "how are you going in recovering your Magic? Are you feeling any better?" he asked, only to pause as he saw that the young woman hadn't even taken a single bite, and seemed to be staring off into space. AF Licht frowned and walked up to the Card Mage, "Bethany? Is something wrong?" he asked, reaching to touch the young woman, before she gasped, making the Elf remove his hand, "what is it?" he asked in confusion.

Bethany stood up, stuffing the food into her mouth without care for manners. Chewing and swallowing, somehow managing not to choke, the Master of the Tsukuyomi Cards raced from the room, "sorry, no time! We've got a potential Moral disaster on our hands!" she called. The revived Elven Leader followed Bethany out, but by the time he had reached where she'd stopped, the fading light of The PORTAL Card was all that remained.

Black Clover

When Licht was called to the Palace along with Tettia, neither of them had been expecting the sight they were presented with. At least 20 people, all dressed in very fine and expensive looking clothes and all in chains, were lined up in front of a furious looking Lemiel. "B-brother, Lemiel, what is going on? Why is our family here in such a way?" Tettia asked, worried about her Father and other family members, who were chained like criminals, but she was even more worried about the enraged look on her brother's face. She'd never seen him look so angry before. It scared her. Licht seemed to sense her unease, because he gripped her hand and took a step forwards, "Lemiel, why did you ask us to come here my friend?" he asked, doing his best to stay calm, even though the look on his best friend's face unnerved him greatly. "Well you see, I was doing a little digging. When I returned to the Palace, Secre told me that the Magic Item we'd created had been stollen and she couldn't find it anywhere in the castle." The Prince began.

"The only people who knew about that Item, and where to find it, as well as instructions on how to use it, was our family. Now I didn't want to believe it at first. After all, who wants to believe that the people who are supposed to love you and care for you would do something so horrible. But then, when I sent guards to round up our family so that I could learn the truth, they overheard some horrifying evidence" Lemiel glared fiercely at the people before him, "before I present this evidence, do you have anything to say?" he demanded. "Yes, of course we do!" his Father, the King replied immediately, "all of this is wrong! We would never betray you! Or the Kingdom! Especially not me! I would never do something so horrible to my own flesh and blood! Please, you have to believe me Son!" he cried fearfully.

"I see. Is that the only thing you wish to say?" the young man asked coldly. The members of the Clover Royal family looked worriedly amongst themselves, but didn't say anything else. "Alright then, may I present, the evidence of your crimes!" Lemiel exclaimed, as he held up a small magic item. "This is an item I created to trap sound and play it back again. A useful little tool, especially in this case! Now, you will see just how you brought this upon yourselves!" the Prince exclaimed, activating the item with his magic. It began to glow, and then, to everyone's amazement, (though for the people who had seen the recordings of their future, it wasn't as impressive) began to speak in the voice of the King: "I can't believe my own blood has been- tainted, by something as disgusting as those freaks!" it began, causing Tettia to gasp in shock, and Licht to bring his love closer. "It's bad enough that my children have such a fascination for those, beasts, but to be baring the child of one of them?! It's an outrage! Tettia is a traitor to not just the Royalty of the Clover Kingdom, but to her own kind as well!" by this point, the Princess was in tears, deeply hurt by her Fathers views about her and her new family.

"It's not over, keep listening" the Prince said angrily. The recording continued: "those beasts! As if they deserve all that power! Only human Royalty should have powerful magic! Blessed by Mana indeed!" suddenly a new voice joined the King's: "of course you're right. Why do beings such as them deserve such power and not us? This land belongs to human Royalty, and as such, only we should have such powerful Magic! Those freaks should all be killed. We can get rid of them and take their power for ourselves! Then we'll rule over this entire world!" it said. Lemiel, Licht and Tettia recognised this new voice as that of Zagred's. So he had manipulated them. "I think the evidence is very clear. You conspired together to murder innocent people. You tried to kill your own family members and Heir. You plotted and attempted to commit high treason and you did it all wilfully! Tell me one good reason why I shouldn't order every one of you executed immediately!?" the Light Magic user roared. As he did, his Magic raged to life, surging around him like a deadly cloak.

'This- this is not my brother! He's completely blinded by rage and hatred! If he keeps this up, he'll turn into someone completely different! Someone he'd despise!' Tettia thought in horror, Licht having similar thoughts. "Lemiel, Please, you have to stop!" he begged, making his best friend and brother in all-but-blood turn to look at him. "This isn't you! We want to create peace and equality? Well we can't do that if our new world begins with an act of Homicide! If you do this, you'll be just as bad as them!" Licht exclaimed. The blond young man frowned, clenching his fists and eyes tightly. A part of him agreed with Licht and Tettia, but the other part just wanted to make the ones who had nearly taken everything from him pay. Lemiel took slow, deep breathes and, gradually, his raging Mana calmed. The traitorous members of his family were huddled together in terror, looking at him like he would execute them like he said. The Prince breathed out a deep sigh, "they're right, killing you won't solve anything.

It'll just push us farther away from the peaceful world we want to create" he said to himself. When he opened his eyes again, much of the hate was gone, but the cold anger was still present, "I have decided upon a different punishment. Each of you will be henceforth stripped of the Royal name of Clover and will have your Mana sealed away. You will be imprisoned in the Castle dungeons until I see fit, and you will no longer be a member of my family. From now on, I am the King, and you will address me as such. If, after a to be determined timeframe, I have decided that you have learnt your lesson, I will release you from your cells, and you will work in the Palace as slaves in order to atone for your crimes, do I make myself perfectly clear?" Lemiel asked. The now former King gaped in outrage, "you insolent brat! You can't treat me like a common slave! I am the King and you will respect-" he began, only to buckle under the weight of his sons fury and power, "I said: do. I. Make. Myself. Perfectly. Clear?" the new King asked forcefully.

The other former members of the Royal family fell to their knees under the pressure of the Light Mages Mana. Lemiel's father groaned, trying to push back with his own Mana, but it was easily overwhelmed, 'it's impossible! How is he so much more powerful than all of us combined!?' the man thought, before the strength left his legs and he collapsed to his knees, panting and sweating in exhaustion. The Mana dissipated and the former King bowed his head in surrender, "yes my King, *pant* I understand and will serve *pant* my sentence without complaint Sire" he agreed. "Secre!" Lemiel called and a short young woman with chin-length black hair and red eyes, wearing a lavender dress stepped forwards, "yes Your Majesty?" she asked. "I want you to seal away their Magic." Lemiel began, before turning to one of the guards in the room, "confiscate their Grimoires" he ordered. The guard nodded and began taking the Spell Books from each of the former Royals. Once they had all been confiscated, Secre stepped forwards, her own Grimoire floating up before her and the pages flipping before stopping.

"Sealing Magic: Spirit Prison" she called, as ghostly chains appeared, wrapping around the former Clover Royals, before the chains sank into their bodies and disappeared. Lemiel nodded and gestured to another Guard standing nearby, "take them to the dungeons" he ordered. The man nodded and indicated for the prisoners to move. The former Father of the new King glanced back at his two children sadly- why had he ever thought any of this was a good idea? Now he had lost everything- before he was shoved roughly forwards. As the prisoners were led away, Lemiel gave a huge sigh and would have collapsed were it not for Licht catching him as the strength left his legs, "Lemiel!" the Elf cried worriedly. "Are you okay?" Tettia asked. Her Brother groaned, "forget the Devil, that was the hardest thing I've ever had to do in my life! I can't believe I almost had them all executed!" he muttered. "You did the right thing Brother. I know you did" Tettia replied. "I hope so" the new King said.

"Well, that was something else" a familiar voice called from behind them. Turning, everyone left in the room found Bethany appearing from seemingly nowhere. Instantly the King was re-energised by his excitement at the young woman's Magic, "how did you do that?! You just appeared out of thin air! Did you teleport?! I didn't even sense your Magic!" he demanded to know, eyes sparkling in curiosity. "Actually, I've been here since shortly after the trial started. I used The PORTAL Card to bring me here, then I used The ILLUSION to make it seem like I was invisible and supressed my Magic so I couldn't be detected. I have to say, I'm impressed Your Majesty" Bethany explained, complimenting the Young King at the same time. Lemiel smiled slightly, "please, Bethany, we're all friends here. It's fine if you keep calling me by my first name" he replied, standing up and letting out a sigh of relief. "Alright then, whatever you're comfortable with" the Card Mage replied with a smile.

"I have a lot to do now that I'm King. I have to organise the Coronation, figure out how to explain what happened to the rest of my family to the people, quash any potential revolts about this, write up an official peace treaty between the Kingdom and the Elves, deal with any remaining issues from that Devil's corruptions, clean up any problems caused by our former family, prepare for your Wedding, whenever that is happening, and probably a lot more things that I'm too tired to even think of at the moment. Urgh, this is going to wear me out so fast. But, at the very least, now that I'm King, I know for sure that I'm in control of the situation." The young man moaned at the list of responsibilities he'd just had dumped on top of him by banishing his Father from their family and position. "I know you can do it brother, you've been ready for this longer than you think" Tettia replied confidently. Licht nodded, "and as friends of the Elves and soon to be my own brother as well, I promise, if you need anything, don't hesitate to ask, okay Lemiel?" he asked.

The King smiled gratefully, "thank you for the offer Licht, I really do appreciate it, but I know you all have your own problems to deal with, not the least of which is rebuilding your entire Village- I couldn't put more on you all" he replied. But the Elf Leader shook his head, "I will be your brother soon, and as someone who has been leading a large group of people for quite a few years, I know just how much pressure this will put on you, especially with it happening so suddenly. I won't be much help in rebuilding everything, and my Tribe doesn't need me to oversee everything. You're going to need all the support you can get right now Lemiel. Please, as your brother, let me help" he begged. The Light Mage looked up at his Best Friend and smiled, "alright, if you really want to help me, you can" he replied, causing Licht to smile brightly back at him. "And don't forget about me! I'm a part of this family too, you know" the Princess put in. "Tettia-" Lemiel smiled gratefully at his Sister. "Thank you, but I would prefer if you were to relax more. If you stress yourself out too much trying to help me, it might hurt Yuno" he gently turned her down.

"*sigh* Fine. But I hope you know that once our Son is born, I won't have time to help you" Tettia grumbled. "I think I'll be fine with the help that I have now, but thank you very much for the offer" Lemiel looked over at Bethany, "thank you for all your help Bethany, really, I appreciated it very much" he said gratefully. "You're welcome. I was more than happy to help. But I should probably get back home now. I stuffed myself with food to recover my Magic when I woke up, but everything that happened was still emotionally and mentally exhausting. I think I need a nice long and relaxing bath followed by a proper sleep. Make sure you keep in touch, and if you wouldn't mind, could you let me know when the Wedding is happening, as well as Yuno's Birth? I'm very excited about both events" the Card Mage asked. Licht and Tettia smiled happily, "of course" the Elf Leader replied easily. "Thank you very much" the young woman replied. "I think that's our line" Tettia said with a smile. "Can you let all the others know I said goodbye, and that I'll come back for the Wedding?" Bethany asked Licht.

"We will. Goodbye for now, we'll be looking forward to the next time you visit" Licht bid the young woman farewell. "Goodbye, thank you for everything" Tettia said in slight melancholy. "See you later, friend" Lemiel said. Bethany waved to all of them as she used The PORTAL Card once more. She stepped through, and was gone. There was a moment of silence in the room, before the King sighed, "well, time to get to work I suppose" he said, as the three of them turned and began to leave the room.

To Be Continued