Chapter 26: Yuno's Determination

Disclaimer:

I really enjoyed writing this chapter. I read KenosDC1's review and I know that the chapter was slightly 'too-canon' if you get me? I took the time to change how I write stuff that incorporates the canon content and I really like how it turned out. That said, hope you enjoy.


The Royal Capital was still under attack. The debris coming from the destruction of buildings, roads, and shops were scattered everywhere. Almost all of the fire and smoke had been snuffed out through the work of the Magic Knights.

However, a burst of Spatial Magic exploded in many different areas of the Royal Capital and swallowed up almost all of the Magic Knights that were near and transported them elsewhere. Only a handful of the Kingdom's defences were left, and they were seemingly on the back foot.

However, there was another mage who wasn't part of the battle the others were facing. Instead, she was facing her own, separate battle.

"La! this… this… this food is amazing!" A small-statured Magic Knight spoke. Her cheeks inflated with a mass of food she had just scoffed. Her pupils turned into small heart shapes to reflect the taste she was feeling from what she had just eaten.

"I… I hate to say this, but this even rivals my own cooking! Well… my magic does the work, but it is MY own magic, so I can take the credit. Do I tell the chef his cooking is good and swallow my pride…? No. I cannot admit defeat!" The Magic Knight gulped her meal down and slowly turned to face the group of three she had standing behind her.

"Mr Chef?" The Black Bull spoke, still wiping off the tiny crumbs from her cheeks.

"Yes, Miss Charmy?" The head chef was sweating. His work was going to be critiqued by the glutton in front of him.

Whilst Charmy thought about what she was going to say, the two assistant chefs, who were watching from behind the head chef, whispered some words of concern to each other.

"Hey, Timmy. Why is the head chef acting like there isn't a terrorist attack going on outside?"

"I don't know, Tommy. Although, if we try to run or bring the head chef with us… what are we going to do after? All of the other workers have gone so it's just us three and the shorty here".

The assistant chefs, wearing food-stained white aprons and tall, white chef hats were worried about what was happening outside, but they knew that there was a bigger chance of staying safe if they remained where they were.

They sighed. "How did this happen?" Timmy asked.

"The shorty just wandered in here after the commotion started. We were about to leave but the head chef spotted her and wanted an 'outsiders perspective' on his food. You know what he's like…", Tommy responded.

Charmy closed her eyes and crossed her arms for a few seconds, tapping her shoes on the floor and making "hmm" noises. Suddenly, she opened her eyes and grew slightly taller to give feedback on the food.

"This food… I love it! You have to tell me the recipe, la!" Charmy shouted, huffing as she seemed out of breath.

Internally, she thought, "gah! I tried my best to say the food was bad but I'm a glutton at heart! I can't lie towards food! It's just not who I am!" Tears streamed from her eyes.

"Is she okay?" Timmy asked.

"I'm not sure", Tommy replied.

The head chef was on the floor, rolling around and laughing. Though some tears could be seen flowing from his eyes as well due to his happiness.

"I'm so glad! I was going to serve this at the banquet for the Magic Knights but by the time I had gone to check on them, they had all disappeared!" He then stood up and calmed himself down.

"Charmy. I would love to give you my recipe, but I need to know if you're worthy! Cook me something amazing and I'll assess it. If it fits the bill, then my recipe is yours!" He pointed towards the mini Black Bull member.

A look of determination stretched across Charmy's face. She started to smirk and then stretched her arms out. "Am I allowed to use my magic?" She asked.

"Of course", the head chef replied.

"Well then, I'll get prepared!" She scurried around for items to use.

Timmy and Tommy looked at each other and sighed. "What is this? A war with food?" Tommy asked.

"Nah, we need a better name for it… how about Food Wars?" Timmy replied.

A few seconds passed. The two thought about the name and spoke again. "Nah".


"What are you doing here? Is this whole attack your doing?!" Yuno shouted, flicking through his grimoire, and running around, dodging Catherine's spells.

Yuno had found an enemy that was flying around once the other Magic Knights had disappeared. He knew she was an enemy due to how she was acting and the way she spoke. It was just the tall Golden Dawn mage against the broomstick witch.

The witch in black flew on her broomstick and laughed. "I'm flattered you think I alone could cause such havoc but I'm not the only one responsible for this craziness!"

"Then who is? A lot of people were hurt!" He surrounded himself in his own Wind mana and made himself float upwards, giving him more free space to roam without worrying about the buildings.

Catherine flicked through her grimoire and licked her lips. "And what are you going to do if I tell you? You're not leaving here alive… I mean, I can see you have tons of mana but the way you use it is so wasteful. You're no match for me!"

"No match?!" Yuno gritted his teeth.

"I don't feel like playing around with you anymore. I did a few minutes ago but then you called me an old hag. It kinda ruined the mood, you know? So… I'll do this!" The flying witch screamed.

"Ash Curse Magic: Ash Absorbing Formation!" Catherine held her arms out and purple streams of eerie mana came oozing out of her fingertips. They stretched all the way down towards the helpless and defenceless people that were huddled together. As soon as her magic made contact, the people started deteriorating at a fast pace, growing older and falling to the floor in a heap.

"Those people! That's some tricky magic to deal with…", Yuno thought.

As Catherine's magic spread across the area, her own body started to change. Her skin started to glow, her eyes were brighter, and her chest got slightly larger as well.

"Ooh, this does feel… amazing!" She held herself.

"Wind Magic: Towering Tornado!" With an open grimoire, the four-leaf mage summoned an immense influx of wind and shot it towards Catherine. The spiralling tornado was about to hit the flying witch. "I can't let her get away with this!"

Catherine's hat was about to fall of her head due to the incoming Wind Magic, though she caught it in time. "First you call me and old hag, then you try to ruin my outfit? You really are annoying… to think that gorgeous face is wasted on a personality like yours!"

She quickly flicked the pages in her grimoire and stopped. "Ash Curse Magic: Ash Curse Bomb!" A huge, purple orb formed from her spell book, and she fired it towards Yuno. The attack went through the incoming Towering Tornado and dispelled it immediately due to how strong it was.

"What?" Yuno thought, surprised as to how his magic was easily surpassed. "My magic wasn't strong enough?"

However, the Wind mage had no time to think as the enemy's attack quickly homed in on him and hit him straight on. His body felt the strong impact of it, and he was pushed backwards.

"Hahahaha! I guess sucking those people's mana was the right move! It powered up my spell exponentially… The Royal Capital's citizens have such delicious mana. Maybe I'll go target the King next", she licked her lips and smirked.

"Where is her confidence coming from? The spell hit me, yes, but it hardly hurt. Is this the extent of her powers?" Yuno wondered. He quickly moved towards Catherine again to continue his attack but suddenly felt light-headed. "What is this?" He held his head. As Yuno was hovering with his Wind Magic he was in the air, but due to this his control started to waver.

The witch in black turned her broomstick and faced Yuno. "There it is… you thought my magic was weak, right? Well, Ash Curse Magic allows me to throw curse orbs at you that target different aspects of your body and mind. The only annoying thing is that there's a slight delay in activation".

"Tsk. I can't be reckless. I need to dodge those attacks and close in. My long range attacks will just get countered by her magic, so the only thing left is to get in close". Yuno tried to speed up by exerting more of his mana and surrounded himself with wind. However, as Yuno was starting to feel the effects of Catherine's magic spell, he was slower and moved at a more jagged motion than normal. "I can't control myself…!"

"Ash Curse Magic: Cheerful Ash Destruction!" This time, instead of one huge curse bomb, the enemy formed multiple little orbs instead. Due to their small size, she could have them track Yuno and follow him as he moved.

One of the curse orbs hit Yuno's body and he let out a slight shout.

"Ah! Why is that one stronger than the one previously?!" He shouted out.

"Before I only wanted to see how you'd react, so I put less power into it. This time though… you've bored me, so I'll put more power into the attacks! Take this!" She screamed.

"Wind Magic: Crescent Moon Sickle!" Yuno tried his best by firing a sharp blades of wind at the curse orbs. A few of them were cut, but many more bypassed his attack and hit the Wind mage.

After a few seconds of going back and forth. Yuno was feeling very drained and weak. His senses had started to shut down, starting with his sight.

"I… can't see clearly. So, her curse orbs target senses. Now that I focus, my smell and hearing are gone too. This can't be good. I can't lose like this. This isn't me!" Yuno stumbled downwards, losing control of his magic.

"I've grown tired of you chasing me… this time, I'll end it". Catherine was on the front foot now and went for the finishing blow on Yuno.

She fired more of her curse orbs at the mage, and every single one of them hit. Yuno didn't even realise they were coming due to his lack of sight. She fired them so much that the Magic Knight ended up crashing into a building, leaving a hole from where he had entered.

Yuno was on the floor, blood, and wounds around his body. His grimoire was left open but with his hands touching the pages.

"Oh my, he crashed into a building! I'll take his mana and move on", Catherine thought as she flew towards the crashed teen.

"Is this it? Am I going to lose? Am I going to die? I've only started my Magic Knight journey just recently. There is more to do, more to learn, more to experience!" A multitude of thoughts raced across Yuno's mind as he sat slumped in a ton of rubble. "Just what… am I doing? I…".

"His four-leaf grimoire means nothing".

"Look at him, a peasant, with a big head".

"The Golden Dawn chose him? He must have tricked the captain".

"What those people said… I didn't care about. I only focused on myself. Strength… strength is what I need to achieve my dreams. I trained so much, so… so much so that I would never lose. Yet… yet I've lost!" Yuno thought angrily, gritting his teeth.

His eyes were open, yet he could see nothing.

His nose lost its function.

His touch was non-existent.

His ears picked up nothing.

His taste was gone.

Yuno started to think about Asta and the day he made his declaration of becoming the Wizard King, and his rival.

"Let's see who can become the Wizard King!"

This one thought Yuno had gave him enough strength to stand up. Even though his five senses were gone, he found the will to carry on. He struggled to move well but, as he knew he was slumped on the ground, he slowly stood up.

"I… I'm not giving up! Even if I'm blind… even if I can't see… even if I'm reduced to nothing but my will… I will become the Wizard King!"

Suddenly, a bright flash of green light enveloped the area of the building where Yuno was. The Wind mage had a strong ability to detect mana and now he could sense mana traces all around him. There were fading mana signatures of the Royal Capital citizens, as well as the strong mana signature of the enemy, Catherine.

"I can see… the mana? This isn't my sight, but I can still see and feel it?" He looked around, even though his eyesight was gone, he felt the power all around him.

"I get it now. The power I picked up at the dungeon had been trying to help me all this time by showing me the traces of mana. Though, my reliance on my eyes and ears kept me from noticing it", he deduced.

"Yuno… are you ready?" A faint voice was heard from next to the Golden Dawn mage.

He looked to his right and on his shoulder sat the same, small fairy that had helped him against Mars in the dungeon. She was looking straight at him and smiled. Her rosy cheeks blushed further when the two made eye contact and her light-green hair swayed.

"You… you're the Wind Spirit?" Yuno asked.

"That's right. You finally noticed me", she smiled.

"Losing my senses was worth it, I guess. Though… if I use your power then I'm not even doing any of the work", he spoke.

"Haha, nonsense! I picked you to be my host. My power is your power. Now… don't you think you have a job to do, Yuno?" She turned her head and focused on the incoming mana signature.

Yuno realised the strong presence that was coming towards him. It was Catherine.

"My, my. You seem to have gotten up. You still look broken and ready to die… so die!" She shouted

Catherine fired her curse orbs at Yuno once more but this time something different happened.

A surge of wind started to surround Yuno as his grimoire's pages flickered. The wind spiralled and caused even the buildings around to quiver. In front of Yuno, a huge ball of wind started to form that got bigger as the seconds went on.

"What… what is this?" Catherine gasped.

"Let's go, Wind Spirit!" Yuno spoke to his new acquaintance.

"Right!" She replied.

The ball of wind and mana mixed with each other, creating a powerful magical spell. Something more powerful than he had ever used before.

"Wind Spirit Magic: Sylph's Breath!" He shouted. The Wind Spirit breathed in until she couldn't anymore and then exerted all of the air, she had gathered onto the huge wind sphere that was there.

As she did so, it started to move. Slow at first but then gained extreme speed and hit Catherine straight on as she went flying over many buildings.

"Woah… that was something", Yuno thought. As he had blown Catherine away, her magic effects on Yuno also started to go away.

"… I can see now. My senses… they're returning", he walked forwards towards the edge of the open building.

"I can't leave her though. I may have gotten my senses back but there's no telling what she could do if she survived. I need to-". Yuno tried to move again but felt his wounds hurting and his exhaustion creeping in.

He stumbled and fumbled yet was determined to keep going on.

"Wind Spirit, can you help me?" Yuno asked.

"Of course! Though, maybe calling me 'Wind Spirit' isn't the best. Maybe a different name would be better. Sylph is what I go by sometimes, but I don't really like it…", she replied.

"I'll make sure to think of something after…", he smiled.

The green spirit chuckled. "You're a funny one! I'll help you out so relax until we get there". She formed a small wind construct where Yuno rested on whilst they moved towards where Catherine landed.


"I've finished my creation!" Charmy spoke with a sense of cheerfulness.

The Black Bull had been busy creating her own meal in order to get the recipe from the head chef. She had been thinking about what to make for a while until deciding on her choice.

"Oh, Miss Charmy! You made a-", the head chef started.

"- It's one of the Charmy specials! It is a Chicken Ramen", she said proudly.

"Ra…men?" The three chefs wondered. "What's that?" The head chef asked.

"Oh, I'm not sure but one day Captain Yami told me to make it for him. He told me all of the ingredients but didn't know how to prepare them, so I had to go through a lot of trial and error for it to be what it is today! He said it's something that was eaten a lot in his homeland, and you can see why if you taste it!" She said.

"Well, it looks nice so don't mind if I do". The head chef grabbed his utensils and went to eat the delicious food.

Until the wall was blown apart.

"WHAT?!" Charmy and the chefs screamed as they turned around. A hole was where the wall once was with a ton of debris still falling as the impact was huge. As the dust cleared, a woman was seen grovelling on the floor.

"An old woman? How the hell did she get here?" The head chef wondered.

"… I need… mana", she weakly spoke. "That attack from the boy got me good. I tried to defend myself with all of the mana I had taken from people, but it still wasn't enough! Now, I look like this!" She thought.

Catherine had changed dramatically in appearance. Her smooth and silky skin had now withered and looked like it would crumble if you poked it. Her nails were cracked, and her eyes had dark bags under them.

"Mana…", she crawled. When she looked up, she saw Charmy and noticed how much mana she had within her. "The girl… her forehead is so shiny, and her hair is so full of volume! I need her mana...", she pointed out.

"What is she pointing at?" Charmy thought. She followed the direction Catherine's finger was pointing at and saw that her Chicken Ramen was in its path.

Charmy grew angry and spoke with a stern voice. "Do not touch the Charmy special! It's for the head chef".

Catherine didn't listen and kept on crawling closer.

"I warned you". Charmy stood up from her chair and opened her eyes. She grew in stature to that of a tall, teenage girl.

"What, she grew?!" the chefs gasped.

"I just need your-", the witch spoke.

"-My food? Yeah, that's not happening! Cotton Creation Magic: Sleeping Sheep's Strike! The Black Bull summoned a huge sheep made out of wool and used it to punch the enemy out of the building. The sheep rolled back its fists and hit the weak woman straight out.

"M-Miss Charmy! She'll die!" The head chef shouted.

Charmy reverted back to her small form. "Oh, don't worry. She'll be fine since I've left a cushion on the ground. Now… let's carry o-!" She started but was interrupted by a piece of debris hitting the table where the Chicken Ramen was on, propelling it in the air and out the opened-up hole.

"Oh no!" the Cotton mage tried to run for the food, but it was too late. It had fallen out and she couldn't save it.

"My food… my Chicken Ramen!" She cried.

"Miss Charmy, look!" The head chef pointed.

Charmy looked outside and saw the top of her Chicken Ramen bowl. I hadn't fallen all the way, instead it was floating, and it got higher.

"The Gods have helped me", she joined her hands together and started to pray.

As the bowl of food rose, the reason why was revealed. It was Yuno.

"A God? No, I'm just Yuno", he smiled.

"Yuno? You… you saved the Charmy Special!" She rushed over.

"I was in a battle a few minutes ago and used a lot of mana. I was starting to recover when I saw a bowl of food start to fall out the building. I figured I couldn't let the food go to waste", he smiled.

"He's handsome… and a saviour! He's like a prince… a meal-saving prince!" Charmy smiled.

"Oh wait", Charmy started. "Lost a bit of mana? Why don't you have some of the Chicken Ramen? It replenishes mana as well", she asked.

"It does? Well don't mind if I do. You already seemed to have defeated that old hag I was chasing so I guess I can rest for a bit". Yuno jumped down on to the building but as he was so weak, he stumbled and fell to the floor on his bum. "Well, I'll stop here for a bit".

Yuno ate some of the Chicken Ramen and his eyes widened. His mana started to come back but that wasn't even what he was focusing on. It was the taste that gripped him.

"This food… it's very good", he spoke as he carried on eating.

A smile grew on Charmy's lips. "I've been praised before, but this just feels even better!" She thought.

The head chef was behind Charmy, and he sulked. "My… my food…".

Timmy and Tommy comforted him with a pat on the back.


A few hundred kilometres away from the Royal Capital, in the middle of nowhere, a huge Spatial Magic portal opened up in the sky and threw many Magic Knights out of it.

It was the same Spatial Magic that had teleported many of the helping Knights away.

Nozel and the Silver Eagles, Mimosa and the Golden Dawn, and Charlotte and Sol had fallen out of it, landing on their feet. A few moments later, Lucas and Daisy had also landed next to them.

"The Spatial Magic brought almost all of the active Magic Knights that were on scene all the way here?" Nozel wondered.

"Curses!" Alecdora shouted.

"I figured they were powerful enemies but to think they had the ability to send us so far away", Charlotte spoke.

The transported Magic Knights had no idea on how t get back and whether they would get back before things escalated even further.

Lucas looked around with great worry. He turned to Daisy who was standing next to him.

"Hey, Daisy. Aiden was with us… I even had him on my back but he's not with us!" Lucas asked.

"That's weird. He was injured quite badly as well. If the Spatial Magic didn't take him then he's on the floor back at the Capital! We need to get back". Daisy spoke with frustration.

A few minutes had passed but instead of the Knights working together like Lucas and a few others had hoped, there were arguments instead.

"How the hell do we get back?" Solid shouted along with Nebra who agreed.

"Aren't you the royal? Don't you people boast about being so high and mighty? How about you figure something out!" Alecdora responded.

"Hoho, Alecdora. Don't you think that's a bit ironic? You flaunt your status even in your own squad towards the newbies", Hamon chuckled.

"Hmph, men!" Sol spoke.

Lucas looked at Daisy. "This isn't helping. Daisy and I have to get back to help Aiden, but we can't unless everyone works together! I… I think it's time that I speak up and share my thoughts about how to do this".

"Lucas-san is looking more confident. He's definitely different to when… anyhow, it's a nice change", the Ice mage smiled. She then replied, "I'll back you up, don't worry!" She winked.

The two walked up in the middle of everyone and Lucas opened his mouth.

"I… I have an idea", he started.


NOTES:

I really enjoyed writing this chapter, especially the Charmy parts as well as some of the Yuno parts. I hope you like my take on how this chapter went from the canon.

Charmy acting all Food Wars style! I love that anime so wanted to add even a little link to it, even though it was for comedic relief.

I like how I'm writing Yuno's parts in this fan fic so far. There's not a lot but when I do it's something I like to focus on.

Also, on a little note. This story gets a lot of views whenever I post the chapters, but the reviews don't always show that. I would really appreciate it if more of you left a review with your thoughts or even constructive criticism like KenosDC1 did previously. It helps me out a lot.