Chapter 14: The Diamond Mage's Entrance

Disclaimer:

My second year of university is now over, which means my free time is back! Can't wait to show you guys what I have in store for Lucas's journey as a Magic Knight. I hope you enjoy the ride and with that said. I hope you like this chapter.


"Now... I've paid back my debt, Asta!" Yuno smiled down towards his rival who was sat, or rather was face first on the floor after he had a problem with one of the dungeon traps.

Lucas, Mimosa, and Klaus were just behind the Wind mage who had saved Asta and Noelle from a potentially dangerous situation. As they stopped behind Yuno, Lucas looked past and saw the two Black Bulls on the floor and in the distance.

"Oh... It's Asta...", Lucas thought to himself as he nervously twiddled his fingers with each other. Despite the Dual mage having gotten accustomed to his Golden Dawn teammates, he was still extremely shy when it came to other people he didn't know or barely knew. Lucas then switched gaze to the silver-haired mage and realised who it was. "It's the girl from back at the entrance exam. If I remember correctly, she...", as the ginger mage thought back, the smile on his face turned into a frown quickly as he remembered what her brother told her.


FLASHBACK - ENTRANCE EXAM:

"I told you. There's no need for royalty to take the same exam as the peasants. Your destination has already been decided. Your existence itself is unnecessary". The Silver Eagles Captain spoke with a menacing tone and started to walk away.

The ginger-haired mage thought to intervene but then his body felt weak as he moved towards them. He hated confrontation and the idea of even speaking back to a Captain sent shivers down his spine, so he, instead, left the situation alone. As Lucas walked back towards the middle, he peered over his shoulder towards the silver-haired girl and felt his heart drop from the sight he saw.

She was crying.

FLASHBACK - END


"I- I don't even know her but what I felt for her was all too similar. I was made to feel worthless with my...famil- the people back at the Church, so I know how she feels... I just wish I could have helped, but the Silver Eagle Captain was there! I didn't want to ruin my chances of even being a Magic Knight in the first place!" Lucas was in a deep trance as he thought. It was so deep that he didn't even feel the nudge on his shoulder from Mimosa.

"Hey... are you alright? We're going down to them!" Mimosa spoke softly. She saw Lucas was fidgeting and acting uneasy, so she spoke calmly to avoid adding to what Lucas was feeling. "I wonder what's up with him?"

"-! S-sorry about that! Let's go down... yes, l-let's go down there!" Lucas hurried down ahead of Mimosa and Klaus who was still at the back.

Klaus also noticed about Lucas's odd behaviour and questioned the Plant mage about it. "What is wrong with Lucas? He's been acting slightly odd".

Mimosa just shrugged her shoulders. She didn't know so she couldn't give an adequate response to her senior.

Lucas joined up with Yuno who was already down on the floor and then Mimosa and Klaus followed. As they did, they heard Asta introduce Yuno to Noelle.

"This is Yuno! We grew up together and he's my rival", Asta smiled.

"They're both peasants, yet Yuno's mana is so intense!" Noelle thought. She then turned to the Light mage who was just beside Yuno and wondered about him too. "So, do you know this person as well?" She asked.

Asta turned to the left and saw a familiar face. "Oh, hey there!" Asta waved and smiled. His cheery and upbeat personality was an immediate good sign for Lucas as it made him feel a bit more welcome in the situation. "I don't really know him, but I bumped into him back at the Black Market! His name is Lucas, and he uses Light Magic which is just amazing in itself!" Asta explained.

Asta complimenting Lucas was weird to hear for the Light mage, but it was refreshing, nonetheless. "Aha... my magic isn't that amazing! I've got a lot to learn...", Lucas responded, trying to make conversation with the two Knights.

Noelle looked towards the Light mage and slightly smiled. "Nice to meet you, I'm Noelle Silva", she introduced herself.

"N-nice to meet you...", Lucas replied with a shed of guilt to his tone.

Lucas caught a glimpse of something moving on top of the ashen-haired mage's head and as he went to look properly, he saw an Anti-Bird staring at him.

"An Anti-Bird? I guess since Asta doesn't have magic it would be attracted to him". Lucas stepped back for a second yet still felt a weird gaze on him. He looked up and saw the bird still staring, moving its eyes as Lucas moved his body. Its sight fixated on the Light mage.

"Just what is it with this bird?" Sweat fell from Lucas's head.

As everyone got accustomed with each other, a familiar sound of a moan interrupted the group.

"Hmph. Yuno, why did you save these brats? If I'm honest we should have just left them to be eaten by that plant. Golden Dawn members can't be saving mere Black Bulls", Klaus commented with a hint of disgust as he mentioned which squad they were from.

The magicless mage stared at Klaus for a few seconds and responded. "Who the hell does four-eyes think he is? Being a jerk is not cool!"

Klaus responded with surprise and the two argued for a short time.

Whilst that happened, Lucas looked to his left and saw the two girls, Noelle and Mimosa speaking with each other. He saw the two interact and it seemed like there was some teasing going on between them. As they spoke to Asta, Lucas learned that the two girls were cousins and that Noelle's magic control wasn't very good at all.

"The four of us actually received multiple stars from the Wizard King himself! Three of us were on a mission while Lucas was on a different one. I think we might place first place again!" Mimosa added.

Lucas was confused for a second. "Why did she bring that up? Is it to tease Noelle, or is she not aware that it's teasing?" Lucas poker faced.

What the two Black Bulls responded with surprised Lucas. Not because he didn't think they could do it but because of all the rumours he had heard about the squad being a bunch of troublemakers.

"We also got a star from the Wizard King recently!" Asta replied.

However, this was quickly shot down by Klaus who refused to believe it.

After another argument ensued between the two Knights, the squads were set to separate. That was the case until Asta raised the idea about racing towards the treasure in the dungeon. Klaus, having been offended just a few minutes prior accepted the challenge, and the two squads went on their way.


The four Golden Dawn members were on top of Yuno's Heavenly Wind Ark, and they traversed the depths of the dungeon.

"Plant Creation Magic: Magic Flower Guidepost!" Mimosa summoned a spell that made a miniature map of the entire dungeon and pinpointed areas with high magic concentration with a light-yellow blip.

"There are four blips on the map with a huge one in front of us! That would probably be where the main treasure room is. As for the other three... huh?" Lucas stopped speaking as he took a second look at the Guidepost. There were originally four blips but now seem to have faded into three. "Hmm, that's odd. I'm not sure about the other blips but they could be enemies so we should be wary!" Lucas added.

Klaus was in front with Yuno, and they didn't say much, but instead nodded.

"Lucas... he's a peasant but he does listen to what I say, much more than these other two! Maybe I'm a bit harsh on him...! No, no way. He's a peasant and I can't be seen getting along with them", Klaus thought. He took a quick glance at Lucas who had his familiar smile on his face which irked the Steel mage even more.


A few short minutes passed as the four went through the narrow caves. The walls were aligned with tiny gems that glinted as any light reflected off from them. Apart from that, there was nothing else that caught their eyes.

"Guys... this is taking a while. I sure hope there's some g-good treasure!" Lucas spoke.

One second passed.

Two seconds passed.

Three seconds passed.

There was no reply from the other three Golden Dawn members.

"Guys?" Lucas asked. "Hmm, why are you guys ignoring me?" The mage started to worry. He thought back about what he might have done to warrant what was happening, but he couldn't think of anything.

The three members in front and to the side of him were standstill as the Heavenly Wind Ark continued to move throughout the dungeon. Lucas had enough of wondering and instead decided to see what was going on. He walked towards Mimosa and put his hand on her shoulder but what happened next terrified the Dual mage.

"Hey, Mimo-!" He touched her shoulder, but the Plant mage just vanished into thin air. "Mimosa?!"

Lucas started to panic. His squadmate just vanished right in front of him with only a misty trace left behind. He quickly reached for Klaus and the same happened to him, and when he reached towards Yuno, the same exact thing happened.

"Wh-what?! Lucas screamed. He managed to get a quick look at Yuno's face before he disappeared, but he saw something that was unexplainable. "Y-Yuno's face... it- it's missing!" The figure of Yuno, before he disappeared, looked completely normal but his facial featured were just gone. They were missing from his face and Lucas could not work out what was going on.

Lucas looked all around but there was nothing he could do. Eventually, Yuno's transport spell faded into nothingness and Lucas fell to the ground in a heap.

"Ow, ow, owww! That's gonna hurt...", Lucas quickly stood up after crashing on to the floor. He brushed himself off and looked around the dungeon. He lit up his left arm so that light could be generated and that he could see ahead. There was only a long hallway with a light at the end of it, so Lucas ran towards it.


"Guys... this is taking a while. I sure hope there's some good treasure!" Lucas spoke.

"I sure do hope so too!" Mimosa responded, raising her hands to her chest as she thought about the riches and amazing stuff that could potentially be found in the dungeon.

Yuno turned to Lucas and asked him about his previous dungeon exploration. "Hey, Lucas. In your last mission, what sort of treasures did you find? I wonder if these will be the same or will it be different?" The Wind mage wondered.

One second passed.

Two seconds passed.

Three seconds passed.

There was no reply from Lucas.

"Lucas? What's the matter?" Yuno asked, worriedly. He knew Lucas was a bit timid, but he thought that Lucas was comfortable enough to talk normally. "That's not what the problem is... but why isn't he responding?"

By now, Klaus and Mimosa both caught on to the situation and worried about Lucas. Mimosa reached her hand for Lucas, but he just vanished. His entire body just burst into a small amount of mist and disappeared completely.

"L-Lucas?!" Klaus and Mimosa shouted, whilst Yuno was just shocked.

"Is this... the work of an enemy?" Yuno calmly asked Klaus. Though Yuno seemed calm, he was very worried about his friend.

Klaus fixed his glasses. They had gone out of place after he started to panic because of Lucas's disappearance. "It is most likely an enemy mage, yes. The Diamond Kingdom are probably here so we have to be wary". The Steel mage looked back as far as he could and asked Mimosa to track Lucas's mana on the Guidepost, but nothing worked. It was as if there was some sort of illusion or block put on Lucas to prevent them from finding him.

"This... is not good!" Mimosa's voice started to break. She was very worried about Lucas and the fact that she had grown closer to him over the past few weeks definitely didn't help in her stress.

"If this is an attack from the enemy, I think Lucas will be fine. He's fought enemies before, and he held his own in the previous dungeon, Letoile told me. If we keep on heading towards our destination, Lucas will also meet with us", Yuno stated with confidence.

"Wait, no. Lucas is a complete rookie! We have to do anything except from moving on to the treasure room", Klaus added.

"Klaus, Mimosa. You must have noticed Lucas's tenacity and willingness to succeed. We should believe in him for this, and he'll meet that expectation", the Wind mage responded. "He gives me the same confidence that Asta does... and that is definitely something", he thought to himself.

After a few short seconds of thinking, the group decided they'll agree.

"If he's injured or doesn't come back... I'm not forgiving you, Yuno!" Mimosa pointed at the mage.

"Hmph. He better return or this will look bad on the squad reputation", Klaus spoke. "Lucas... return to us, and that's an order from your Senior!" The Steel mage thought.


"I've reached the... end!" Lucas thought to himself as he stopped running. He was at the room which was at the end of the hallway and saw that it was a brightly lit room. It was similar to the room where Lucas had met Asta and Noelle, as it had flowing lakes and waterfalls as well as weird constructions all around.

"I'm in another part of the dungeon... and if I remember correctly, the treasure room should be past one of these doors!" Lucas continued to walk ahead, but as he did, he still had the uneasiness of not knowing why he was put in this situation in the first place.

"An enemy... from the Diamond Kingdom? If so, then why would they target me?" The Light mage scratched his chin in confusion. As he did though, he stopped in his tracks upon seeing what was in front of him.

Lucas jumped from the sight. "B-bodies?!" He worriedly thought. He saw black-hooded figures on the floor but upon closer inspection he realised they were still alive but had simply fainted. In the corner of his eye, he saw a blue spark of electricity hop from one wall to the other and then out one of the doors.

"Electricity? Is there an Electric or a Lightning mage here?" Lucas continued to trek on towards where he saw the electricity go towards. As he walked ahead, he stopped once more as he saw one of the unconscious bodies on the floor get up randomly.

"Ah! I guess I'll have to fight", Lucas brought his grimoire out.

However, this was no ordinary enemy. This was because its body faded away, much like how Yuno's, Mimosa's and Klaus's bodies did. Lucas was confused, he didn't know what sort of magic this was, but he was afraid.

All of a sudden, the hooded body appeared in front of him which made the Dual mage jump. It then faded quickly and appeared behind him, giving Lucas the shivers. This repeated a few more times with it appearing to Lucas's right and his left, and even floating above.

"T-teleportation? M-Mist? Illusions? What sort of magic is this?!" Lucas shouted.

As if on cue, Lucas heard the answer to his question come from the disappearing and reappearing hooded figure.

"It's illusions, child", the voice giggled.

Lucas gasped with fear. It was the voice of an older woman that responded to him in a bout of laughter.

"The enemy m-mage... I can do this", he breathed in and out slowly. "I can do this".

"BOO!" The hooded figure appeared in front of Lucas and frightened Lucas completely. He jumped backwards and immediately brought out his left-handed Energy Whip.

"Oh, that's not nice of you, sweetie!" The hooded figure giggled. As things slightly calmed down, the enemy mage lifted her hood which then dropped to the floor. What revealed was the figure of a tall woman, aged around 20 with long, flowing violet hair and purple eyes.

"S-So, you are a w-woman... I guess my ears weren't playing tricks on me as everything else seemed to be!" Lucas spoke to the stranger.

The woman licked her red lips with her tongue. "My... what is it with the nervous chatter? Are you perhaps... eyeing my body up?" She winked towards the Light mage.

"N-n-n-n-no! I wasn't doing that, I swear!" Lucas tried to plead his innocence towards the mage, but realised he was just being teased. "What is it with people teasing each other today? First it was Mimosa and Noelle, and now its this woman! Maybe it's just a girl thing...", Lucas thought.

The woman in question stuck her chest out and her put her hands on her legs in a seductive pose. The clothes she was wearing didn't leave much to imagination either as he posed in front of the Golden Dawn member.

She wore a black, skin-tight suit with an open-chested V-neck area on the top. Her leggings were also jet black with patterns of a diamond embroidered along the seams of them. The diamond shape had a distinct purple and white shading to it which Lucas didn't know the meaning behind. She wore purple gloves and boots, and her outfit was completed by a black fur coat that she wore around her neck.

The feature that was most noticeable, apart from her chest that she clearly wanted to show off, was the fact that in the centre of her forehead was a bright and white gemstone that was glowing.

"J-Just who are you? And can you p-please stop posing like that?" Lucas put his hands together as a way to say please.

The woman started to pout. "Aww, you're no fun! I'm proud of my body and just want to show it off. Sometimes Lotus gives me the time of day, but Mars never wants to look! Maybe he's got a girlfriend already that would fire him up?" She giggled once more.

"Lotus? Mars? Just what are you on about, lady?" Lucas asked, or rather demanded. This whole ordeal was weirding him out at this point.

The woman stopped and stared. "Lady? I have a name you know! Oops I never told you, how silly of me! The name's Mystic. I'm from the Diamond Kingdom and I'll be your opponent for today!" She kissed her hand and pointed it towards Lucas as if she flung an air kiss to him.

Lucas moved his head away from the kiss's metaphorical trajectory and responded. "You've already decided that you'll fight me, then?" He paused for a few seconds. "Wait... were you the one messing around with your weird teleportation earlier?"

"Teleportation? Oh no, silly! I use Illusion Magic! It targets those with the highest mana count in the area and messes with their senses. I decided to try it out when I entered this dusty dungeon and it immediately picked you out. You should be proud!" Mystic laughed.

"I have the highest mana count? No way, there's Yuno and the royals! She's probably just tricking me... but then again, why did her spell only lock on to me?" Lucas wondered. He started to go into his battle stance to be ready for the battle.

"Since I can see what my illusions effect, I saw how you kept on speaking with your friends but they didn't respond! The illusion there was that it made you think you were still with them, when in reality you were on the floor, near here, the whole time", Mystic giggled once more.

"You... are not a nice person", Lucas responded.

Mystic licked her lips again. "Thank God, I can enjoy myself now! I was here earlier with a bunch of the lackeys, but this crazy Lightning mage appeared and beat them up immediately! I pretended I was unconscious until he left since I wanted no part in fighting him... but someone as cute as you takes my fancy! She dragged her right leg back and put her two arms in front as if she were putting up a guard. "I wonder how Lotus and cute little Mars are doing?" She thought.

"Here it comes...", Lucas gulped.

"Oh! By the way, what's your name?" Mystic asked.

"My name is Lucas", he responded.

"My, my, what a great name! Lucas... just a reminder, my Illusion Magic isn't the only thing you need to be wary of when it comes to me!"


NOTES:

The journey resumes for our hero! Now that he has met Asta and Noelle, do you think he can become friends with them? Obviously becoming friends with Asta is easy, but Lucas does feel guilt about Noelle and her incident with Nozel at the entrance exam, so I wonder...

This is where we diverge from canon! Obviously, we know what happens with the Black Bulls and the Golden Dawn, but this is also where it gets interesting when it comes to Lucas... will he win or will he lose?

Mystic is an interesting character, and quite... seductive haha. We don't really have a character like that in Black Clover, so I thought I'd add one!