Chapter 25: Combining Strength
Disclaimer:
Apologies for a lot of canon content here but I feel like the stuff here was too important to not add :P. The Asta fight/Fuegoleon/Noelle moment were always good moments for me in the series so just wanted to add them. That said, enjoy!
In the North district, a group of Magic Knights had gathered together. Asta was facing against an Eye of the Midnight Sun member whereas Noelle and Leopold were just behind him and focused on defeating the zombies.
The enemy mage that Asta was against was of average height with purple hair that was long and very messy. He had one blue eye on the right, but the other one was covered by part of his dark-red bandage as well as a light-green eye ornament. The rest of his attire consisted of a dark-red tank top, dark-red trousers that were held up with a big belt around his waist. He wore an assortment of bracelets, as well as a pair of boots, and the outfit was completed with a beaten-down and tattered cape covering parts of his body.
"Wraith Magic: No. 4 – Jimmy!" Rades screamed.
From the cracks in the floor, a burst of curse energy formed, which hit Asta in the cheek, and a Spatial Magic portal opened up. Similar to the ones where the zombies would pour out of, this time a tall, bandaged corpse with long arms emerged from within.
"A dead… body?" Asta mumbled. "This is on a different level to the zombies earlier. Though, the injury I got doesn't seem too bad. I'll attack again".
Asta charged once more believing that he could overpower the Wraith mage as well as Jimmy.
"Not this time, brat!" Rades pointed at the magicless mage and subsequently, Jimmy fired more of his curse orbs.
The curse orbs hit his left leg and his hips, making them bleed slightly. Just the same amount as the little cut on his cheek.
Asta stopped running ahead and tried to assess the situation. "Maybe I should stop… but these attacks don't seem to be doing too muc-!" He stopped talking and went down to one knee.
The Black Bull felt his injuries again but this time they started to bleed even more. He felt weaker than when he was initially hit and knew that the Wraith mage was behind it.
"What was that?" Rades cupped his ear in a sarcastic way. "You said that Jimmy's attack wasn't doing too much? Well, that's the fun of it! You're injuries will start to get worse and worse until you defeat him… but will I let you do that? No!" He laughed.
"Who the hell do you think you are?! Your opponent is me!"
Noelle, who was slightly behind Asta, drew her attention to the source of the shouting. She saw the Black Bull defending the little girl behind him whilst fending off the enemy's curse orb attacks. Rades has switched from attacking Asta and instead focused on the girl behind him.
"He… he needs help! I'll help him!" Noelle said with a waver of her voice. However, her slight determination was quickly ruined by her own thoughts of her siblings putting her down.
"… I can't help him. Not a weak person like me… someone else! I'll get Leopold to help!" The frustrated Silva turned around quickly but was met with a group of three zombies near her.
The undead had swarmed the Black Bull and due to her lack of practice, as well as the words her siblings had said to her hindering her confidence, she was going to be hit, so she was about to scream.
"If only Noelle had that same type of confidence".
"You can't defend yourself; you have no confidence; you have no magic control and you're just worthless".
"The likes of you do not belong here. Begone".
The cruel words of her Silva siblings became louder in her head, at a time where she could really need motivation. She closed her eyes, and these were seemingly the last things she would hear.
Just as they were about to swing their arms, a strong and crazy sense of intense heat filled the area in front of Noelle's face. She slowly opened her eyes and saw it was a stream of powerful Flame Magic in front of her that blew away the group of zombies and burnt them to a crisp.
"This magic…! It can only be one person!" Noelle thought as she slowly turned around. Even before she could look up to see who the mage was that saved her, she could feel his intense presence homing in on her.
It was the head of the Vermillion family, the Captain of the Crimson Lion Kings, and a member of a royal family - Captain Fuegoleon Vermillion.
He looked straight at Noelle, his eyes meeting hers and not straying away from a moment. He looked like a man on a mission and a sense of relief filled Noelle's body.
"Captain Fuegoleon! Th-thank you…", Noelle spoke, still recovering from the intense situation.
However, the royal Vermillion kept on walking towards her. He got closer and closer until he was right in front of Noelle. Yet, instead of responding to Noelle in a way that would be classed as 'normal', he reacted in a very different way.
He raised his right arm above his head and quickly whacked Noelle over the head with the side of his hand. Noelle's head followed the force of the hit and dropped down, her body losing balance along with it.
"FOCUS!" Is all the royal shouted as he karate chopped her head.
Noelle stumbled backwards slightly and felt her head, trying to calm the slight pain down from the chop. "Ow! Wh-wh-what was that for?!" Tears formed around her eyelids.
"Noelle, You seem to be out of it. Are the words your siblings spoke to you getting to your head?" He spoke calmly.
"H-how did he know?" She thought.
Before she could answer back, Fuegoleon carried on.
"Well anyway… There's no time for that when you're on the battlefield!" The intense and royal mana of the Vermillion spread outwards from his body. "If you're distracted, then a life can be lost! Forget your familial relations at this moment in time! Right now, you're acting as a Magic Knight… so be stronger!"
His shouting calmed down now, and he spoke calmly but still assertively. "Listen. Being weak is nothing to be ashamed of. However, staying weak is!"
Noelle's eyes widened to what the Vermillion said. "He's right… Asta, the person who has no magic is desperately trying to get stronger and fighting while doing so… If he can do such a thing, then I can do it too!"
Fuegoleon didn't say anything. Instead, he simply smiled as he carried on walking.
Asta was trying to protect the little girl as best as he could regarding the situation, he was in. "I'd like to send this girl away to a safe area, but the zombies around make that impossible. Gah, what do I do?" He carried on swinging.
However, once there was a gap in attacks, Asta lowered his guard for a split second and that was when a powerful curse orb raced past him and was about to hit the girl.
"Oh no!" Asta screamed.
The curse orbs were inches away from the trembling girl but to everyone's surprise, a sphere of water formed around her causing the orbs to hit and dissipate.
"Water Creation Magic: Sea Dragon's Nest!"
Asta, the little girl, and Rades all turned towards where the mage who casted it was. Two of them breathed a sigh of relief whereas the other was angered even more.
"Noelle! Am I glad you're here!" Asta smiled.
Noelle blushed internally. "Wh-wh-what's with that reaction? You looked so hopeless, so I just had to step in! Now stop dawdling and beat that guy! I've got the girl", she replied.
"You got it!" Asta charged ahead once more, however this time he knew there was support from behind, so he didn't have to worry about protecting the girl as much.
"A minor setback! Go, Jimmy… kill the magicless brat!" Rades screamed.
"Not this time!" Asta had the large sword in one hand and the thinner one in the other. He pointed them to his side and began spinning while he ran so that, no matter where the curse orbs would come from, he could defend with ease.
"That's an interesting move… he looks like a hurricane!" Leopold spoke from behind Noelle, he had finished off the zombie group that was attacking him and looked on at his newly-made rival.
Asta was spinning as fast as he could with his Anti-Magic swords outwards, he jumped and aimed at the undead corpse that was giving him so much trouble and used the power of the Anti-Magic to completely nullify and erase the mana that was used to power him.
"No way… you erased my mana that I was using to keep Jimmy functioning!" The Wraith mage shouted.
"You're done!" Asta screamed.
"Done? That was just the beginning! Wraith Magic: No. 2 – Alfred!" The Eye of the Midnight Sun member ordered and from within another Spatial Magic portal, another, seemingly more powerful, undead corpse came out. This time, the attribute being Lighting as their were sparks of light-blue electricity emanating from it.
"Tsk! It's got such a crazy ability and it's floating… I could jump and hit it but then that leaves me defenceless in the air for a bit", Asta focused. "Haha… If Yuno were here, then his Wind Magic could help but that's out of the question!"
The Black Bull did the only thing he knew to do, charge. He ran but every time he could make distance, the lightning would fire in his direction causing him to jump backwards.
"You can't do anything!" Rades shouted. "Yes, see how it feels when you try your best but the person in front just won't acknowledge you!" He cackled.
Suddenly, as both Asta and Rades were deep in thought, the same sensation that Noelle felt in front of her from Fuegoleon was replicated with Asta.
The Bull looked up to see the Lightning corpse in ashes, slowly falling down to the floor with its body crumbling into pieces.
"F-Flame Magic? Who was that… Leopold?" Asta turned back and saw that it was a Vermillion, but not Leopold.
Fuegoleon had just defeated Alfred.
"No! You destroyed my No. 2 – Alfred!" Rades panicked, growing angrier by the second as his plans for destruction were being halted.
From behind Asta, Fuegoleon walked up. "That wasn't too hard", he said with a peculiar, cold aura around him, much juxtaposed to his fiery magic.
Asta looked up to him, his face covered in injuries. "Woah, you're amazing! I had such trouble with his magic but you just…wow!" He praised, being shocked as well with how effortlessly he defeated the enemy.
"Your words mean so much!" Fuegoleon laughed, letting go of that hardened expression just moments ago. He then extended his hand out to the magicless mage and offered him support to stand up.
"I apologise for interrupting your fight… if I waited you may have been killed by that attack", Fuegoleon commented.
"He's right. I really wanted to defeat the enemy, but I knew my defence was lacking. If I had been unlucky… then…", Asta looked to the floor, frustrated.
The royal then added. "… If you had been killed then the Kingdom would have lost a fine Magic Knight".
Fuegoleon put his hand on Asta's right shoulder. "I think I had the wrong idea about you at first, Asta. At the Entrance Exam I saw you as an immature kid that didn't take things seriously… but perhaps that headstrong nature of yours is part of your strength… Ah, to think Yami of all people proved me wrong when he chose you", Fuegoleon smiled.
Asta didn't know why he was getting praise all of a sudden and questioned it somewhat, "oh, uh I'm not sure what I did but don't worry about it! I'm used to people looking down on me… it just gives me the strength to overcome anything", the Black Bull reciprocated the smile.
"The Wizard King, huh?" The Crimson Lion Kings Captain spoke as he walked forwards to face Rades.
"Hm?" Asta replied.
"Well then, since you're aiming to become the Wizard King… then you are my rival as well". The Captain added, turning around slightly to look at the Black Bull.
"R-rival?" Asta thought about how his dream was initially mocked by everyone around him, even some of the people at his Church and hometown, but to think how far he's come with people on the calibre of Fuegoleon becoming his rival, he was ecstatic. "I won't lose to you!"
Asta psyched himself up with what the captain had just said to him and started screaming. "Let's go! I can do this!" He started to run towards Rades but felt a strong fist come down to his head.
"You can't keep putting yourself in danger. Always remain calm and focus on what can be done. I only arrived here a few minutes ago but can already tell your injuries are causing you to slow down and reduce efficiency. When a setback happens, then think about what you can do in that moment", Fuegoleon spoke.
Asta's eyes widened in disbelief. "Within minutes he judged by status and knew I would be a burden to myself… he said to see what I can do to counter my setback… hmm, then I'll just...!"
Asta raised his two Anti-Magic swords in the air, crossing his arms over, and quickly hit himself where his injuries were getting worse.
"Haha, yes!" Asta smiled. "I'm glad that worked. The injuries I had were made from magic so, of course, Anti-Magic would work against them! I guess staying calm and assessing situations is really important!"
Fuegoleon looked towards the Bull. "This kid…", he smiled.
A few blocks over, Lucas, Daisy, and Aiden were in the latter stages of their battle against Max and the zombie horde.
Daisy and Aiden had become more cooperative with each other, especially after what Lucas has said to them, though, Daisy had questions about him in the back of her mind.
"Water Magic: Aqua Block!" Max shouted and summoned a wall of water to separate himself from Lucas's attacks. The fight was dragging on and the enemy mage was on the losing side as it would seem.
"Gah! This is annoying. Why did I think I could fight all three of them on?!" The mage dropped his head. "That girl is a huge pain with her annoying Ice Magic, it seems like she's highly experienced. That guy with the flames… what is his deal? He's not even going all out yet he's done this much damage? And then you have that rather odd and clumsy fellow with his overpowered weapons and his freaky magic! Just what is the kingdom cooking up to have mages like this?!"
Max jumped backwards and held his injuries from Lucas's attacks. "This is bad… if only brother was here then this wouldn't be tough at all!" He thought. "I'll have to go all out on this next attack…".
Lucas turned to both Daisy and Aiden. "We can do this. If we keep going as we're doing, then we can win!"
Daisy smiled towards him. "You're right". The mage took a second for a breather but noticed how tired Lucas has gotten.
His body was tiring as his breathing was slightly irregular, not enough to be worried but still enough to be disrupting if Lucas wasn't careful.
"You sure you're good for this, Lucas-san?" The Ice mage asked.
"Yeah, I'll be fine. We're nearly done here, and I'd really like to know how the rest of my squad are doing". Lucas thought about Yuno, Mimosa, and his other squad mates but also thought about how Asta was doing.
"The rest of your squad, hm?" Daisy wondered.
"Yeah! There's Yuno who's so strong already and I don't think he'll have as much trouble as I was. There's also Mimosa who's an expert healer so in a situation like this she's really handy. Oh, and she's a royal too so she can use so much mana", Lucas explained.
"Oh? You seem to be talking about this Mimosa girl in an admirable way. Anything there?" Daisy winked at the Dual mage.
"N-n-nothing at all!" Lucas shouted, blushing at what his friend just said.
Aiden slowly turned to both Lucas and Daisy and calmly, yet assertively spoke. "This really is not the time to discuss these things. Let's get through this and even I'll indulge in some chit chat, okay?"
"You're right!" Lucas responded.
"Sure", Daisy replied.
Aiden flicked through his grimoire. "Okay, the zombies don't seem to be coming anymore so all three of us can focus on the enemy mage in front of us. Lucas's weapons seem to be giving him the most problem so if we support him then I'm sure we can do this".
The other two nodded in agreement.
Lucas focused on his Dual Blades and noticed something odd. The blue tint that the blades gave off, due to him pouring his Time Magic in, started to flicker. "I wasn't good at this to begin with and now it seems like my control is losing its hold. I can't focus on both the blades as well as speeding my Light Magic up, so I'll need to be boosted".
Lucas turned to Aiden and Daisy. "My mana seems to be running out, so I'll need a boost from you two to propel me towards the enemy. Is that alright?" He asked. His mana wasn't running out at all but in order to keep his Time Magic a secret from them this was the only excuse he could think of.
"That's fine with me", Aiden and Daisy responded.
Max observed the three mages and looked concerned. "They seem to be coming up with a plan. Valtos isn't using his Spatial Magic for the zombies anymore either, so I guess the next phase of the plan is about to come… After this move from me, I'll quickly retreat and-!"
Before Max could finish his train of thought, he was met with a very familiar face once again. It was the face of the person that thwarted him earlier.
"Y-You?!" He spoke with frustration.
Lucas was being propelled towards the enemy. His blades were in hand and once you looked behind him you could see how he came up to Max, face-to-face.
Aiden and Daisy had used a combination of reinforcement spells to help Lucas out.
"Ice Reinforcement Magic: Shattered Force!"
"Flame Reinforcement Magic: Burning Strength!"
The two mages strengthened their arms with auras of their respective attributes. Daisy had a crystal-coloured glow around hers whilst Aiden had a dark-red glow. They used their added strength to push Lucas forward and he was quickly forced up into the air. Daisy then used her Ice Magic to give him the final boost to get up close with Max.
"Ice Magic: Frozen Storm!" Daisy set her palms out and from them a storm of frozen ice came out. She aimed it at the floor to create a ramp just where Lucas would land to give him added speed boost.
"Wait… isn't this a bit too much?" Daisy realised. "He's going a bit too, um, fast...".
"… Daisy! That's enough! He won't be able to control his landing if you give him too much momentum", Aiden warned.
"Oops", Daisy responded. She scratched the back of her head in nervousness and embarrassment.
Lucas was in the air and quickly coming down to reach Max. "D-Daisy… that ice was way too much! I can't land properly!" He got closer and closer to the enemy until he could see the colour of Max's eyes.
"Well, if I can't land on my feet then I'll have to break my fall". Lucas put his Dual Blades in front of his body and crossed them over. "I'll do this to protect my body and with doing so I can also hit the enemy and knock him out!" He decided. "Sorry, Max! You're gonna feel this!"
"F-feel what?" Max managed to speak before he felt the full force of the Dual Blades on his chest, essentially rendering him useless as the wind was completely knocked out of him.
Lucas landed his blades onto Max's body and the momentum he had coming from the air made himself land on the enemy's body too. However, as he broke his fall with his weapons, and Max, he was relatively unhurt.
"… I'm never doing that again…", Lucas got up and scratched his head.
Aiden and Daisy rushed towards Lucas. The two felt slightly guilty because they were an active part of this plan and made it, so he was out of control like that. Though Daisy was slightly more at fault.
"I'm s-so sorry, Lucas-san!" Daisy shouted running to him. She gave Lucas her shoulder as support. "Maybe I should've used that spell in a more controlled way, hehe", she stuck her tongue out and winked.
"She said sorry then immediately went to smiling… I guess that's a good quality to have", he smiled.
"Well, that was certainly something! Very different to the plan I had envisioned but maybe being flexible is good too?" Aiden laughed.
"We can't stop though. I knocked the enemy out, but we need to restrain him", Lucas added.
"You're right", Daisy agreed.
"Let's do that the-!" Lucas started.
"Lucas look out!"
Lucas felt a strong shove to his shoulder that made him fall over to the ground. Daisy, who was offering him support with her shoulder, also fell over through the force of the push.
"Aiden?!" Lucas shouted, he got up quickly and looked behind him to where Aiden was.
The Purple Orca mage was standing on his two feet but what the two mages saw made them widen their eyes in shock.
Aiden was stood and smiling at Lucas. His feet were on the ground, but his chest was pierced by a water spell. The damage was on the right side of his chest and blood was pouring out of his wound. The floor being stained with crimson red.
"Ai-Aiden!" Lucas screamed. He was just saved by the mage in the nick of time. If he was even a second too late then Lucas would be in a similar situation.
"Oh my God, this is bad", Daisy wiped her tears. The intensity of the situation shook her.
Lucas looked at Aiden but what caught his attention was the mage at the back. It was Max.
"I thought… I thought I had knocked you out!" Lucas shouted, getting angrier.
Max said nothing, instead he flopped back down. It seemed like he had used his Aqua Spear attack but made it so his mana was cloaked so that the other mages couldn't sense it.
Lucas was very angry at this point. It was directed towards Max but a lot of it was also directed at himself as he had believed he did knock him out. So, he charged with his Dual Blades out.
"That's enough".
Lucas stopped running as he heard an unfamiliar voice speak out in the air. The voice was calm but also very deep and a shiver was sent through his spine.
"Who…?" The Golden Dawn mage looked around.
Suddenly, a presence was felt towards where Max was lying. Lucas looked and saw another figure hovering above the unconscious mage. His grimoire was open, and he was wearing the same clothes as the enemy mages.
"Max… you really failed at beating people like this? So much for the strong little brother you boasted about being", the mysterious person spoke softly. "Well, I guess this came at a good time. Our work here is done", he added. He picked up Max and phased out, escaping.
"W-wait!" Lucas reached out but all traces of the two had disappeared. "Damn it!" Lucas painfully screamed, his voice echoing the silent streets.
"Lucas-san, that's enough! We have to help Aiden", she ordered. Daisy recognised that helping the injured mage was the correct thing to do at the moment.
"Tsk!" Lucas clenched his fists, he then hurried over.
"Any Recovery Magic? Do you know any?" Daisy asked.
"N-no I have no magic like that", Lucas spoke sadly.
"Neither do I… we're going to have to find a healing mage. What about that Mimosa person?" The Ice mage wondered.
"That could be good… she's at the Northwest district!" Lucas answered.
The mage was about to pick up Aiden with his arms but happened next shocked him and Daisy.
"This… this feeling!" The two looked at their feet and saw a familiar pitch-black substance forming at their feet.
"Spatial Magic!" They shouted.
Without even a second to move, their bodies started to move because of the eerie magic and when everything lightened up, they were in a completely different place.
"Wh-where are we?" Lucas asked.
"Couldn't you think of any other way to get people to acknowledge your powers? Your powerful magic… you could've been amazing, but you used it in such a despicable way. What a waste!" Asta yelled at Rades.
The people around found out that because the Wraith mage wasn't acknowledged by the kingdom, he went rogue to show off his powers.
Fuegoleon had quickly beaten another one of Rades's custom corpses and he had been trapped by the royal's Flame Magic.
"I guess you couldn't defeat a captain. Well, no matter. We're moving on to the next phase".
Asta's ears picked up the quiet sound that came from where Rades was. "A voice? What did it say?" He wondered.
Fuegoleon walked up and was face-to-face with the enemy mage. "Just what was your plan?"
Rades's eyes widened with anger. "Hmph. There's nothing to lose so I'll just reveal it to you… our true goal… was you, Fuegoleon Vermillion!" He screamed.
"Me?" The royal asked.
Just as he did so, the pitch-black substance formed under the royal Flame mage's feet. It quickly spread and elevated itself to completely encapsulate Fuegoleon.
Everyone was surprised. Asta and Noelle were frozen in place due to shock. Leopold was the only one who started to run towards his older brother.
"Leo!" Fuegoleon shouted. "Don't be brash! This is Spatial Magic… If I escape, then I won't learn anything… Very well. Nothing ventured, nothing gained. I leave it to you guys, Magic Knights!"
The Spatial Magic covered the captain and within seconds he had disappeared.
"Brother!" Leopold screamed.
In the other districts, much of the same was starting to happen. The Spatial Magic targeted groups of Magic Knights and caused them to disappear as well, and without a trace.
The Silver Eagles, the Golden Dawn, and the Blue Rose Knights were hit with a burst of the magic and within seconds they were gone.
Yuno, who had been standing in place, managed to get away from the grasp of the Spatial Magic and saved himself from being taken away.
"My grimoire… it started glowing and it gave me an indication that something was coming!" He thought. He looked around and saw emptiness where his fellow comrades were once stood.
In the shadows, the same woman who was previously watching everything unfold, had finally made a move out into the light. She corrected the placement of her black and pointy hate and licked her lips.
"That's my signal to move out then. The Magic Knights don't seem that good if measly Spatial Magic could surprise them that much", she giggled.
She picked up her broomstick and sat on it, but as she did, she felt a strong gust of wind coming from in front of her. The woman looked and smiled.
"It looks like one of the Magic Knights managed to wriggle away… oh, and a handsome one at that!" She eyed up the Wind mage. "Maybe I'll play with him…".
"Wind Creation Magic: Wind Blades Shower!" Yuno shouted and aimed for the witch in black.
The witch easily dodged it with the help of her broom.
"Oh my, I didn't think you noticed a beautiful woman like me eyeing you up… say, why don't we play?" She asked.
Yuno's serious face never wavered. "You? Beautiful? Don't give me that… an old hag like you can never be beautiful if you're with the enemy!"
"O-O-Old h-hag? How dare you?! And how do you know I'm an enemy, I haven't even done anything!" She shouted.
"You didn't need to say anything, I could tell. Are you saying you're not an enemy?" Yuno responded with a smirk.
The witch gritted her teeth and lowered herself down to the floor. "You guessed correctly, but there was one thing you were wrong about! I'm not an old hag… the name's Catherine. I hope you remember it!" She spoke angrily.
NOTES:
Another chapter done! Again, maybe the canon content was a bit too much, but I did like those moments, so I wanted them in.
What did you guys think about Aiden and his heroic move to protect Lucas? Perhaps these three can be a triad of their own? If not for him then our mc would be heavily injured.
Fuegoleon going away so everyone knows what that means… .
Yuno vs Catherine too!
