Chapter 27: Return & Disappearance

Disclaimer:

Sorry for the wait but I made this chapter quite long. Just above 6000 words as I had a lot of fun writing this one! I appreciated all of the reviews from the last chapter and look forward to seeing what you guys have to say about this one. Hope you enjoy.


A mix of Magic Knights from some of the top-ranking squads had been transported a few hundred kilometres away from the Royal Capital due to a Spatial Magic attack. Members of the Golden Dawn, Silver Eagles, and Blue Rose Knights were all there.

Mimosa looked around and saw a few of her squad mates next to her. "Alecdora, Hamon, and Shiren are all here. Maybe Yuno escaped just before? I sure hope everyone is fine back there". The royal then clenched her fists in frustration. "I should have sensed the Spatial Magic… I'm a royal, yet I keep messing up! First in the dungeon and now this…".

She suddenly opened her eyes and remembered another squad member. "Lucas! I sure hope he's alright t-!" Mimosa stopped talking as she saw a familiar face in front of her. It was the person she was just thinking about.

"L-Luca-", she started but stopped upon seeing who he was talking with. "Who is that girl?" She wondered.

The Vermillion saw Daisy next to Lucas and was confused. "A robe of the Blue Rose Knights? I guess Lucas partnered up with her for the attack. It makes sense since Captain Charlotte took him along. So… why do I feel weird that she's close to him?" Mimosa felt her own heartbeat.

Lucas, a few minutes arriving, walked towards everyone in the middle and started talking. He was quite nervous as he started but his confidence was emerging.

"I… I have an idea on how to get back, everyone", Lucas began. However, he was quickly put down.

"… Oh? The peasant has something to say to us?" Nebra walked towards and intimidated him.

"Here we go again. Royals against those below…", Hamon whispered under his breath. He cringed from seeing the same thing that had happened many times during his Magic Knight career.

Lucas felt scared. Not only because Nebra was a royal but also because he knew what they were capable of due to how they acted with their own sister, Noelle, back at the banquet. Though this was true, the Light mage held his ground.

"I… I do! I don't think this is the time to be fighting amongst each other… There are still people and other Magic Knights that need our help back there! I have an ide-", the Golden Dawn member was interrupted once more.

The eldest Silva sister got even closer to Lucas. Her face was just about touching Lucas's and she tried to intimidate him even more. "What was that you piece of trash?" Her teeth grinded, showing her anger.

"That's enough!" A voice from behind Lucas spoke out. The source of the voice walked up and stood right next to Lucas.

"Daisy?" Charlotte and Sol thought as they saw a member of their squad talking.

"And what do you want?" The Mist mage looked down on the girl as she was slightly smaller than her.

"Lucas-san is trying to tell you about a way to get back to the Capital! You know, one of the places that we're supposed to protect as Magic Knights. Or is it that you just don't want to do your duty?" The Ice Magic user retorted in a rather condescending, yet confident manner.

Nebra's eyes widened. It was probably the first time she was talked to in that manner in her life and was gobsmacked. The rest of the Knights were silent too.

Charlotte calmed her nerves down. She felt as if she may have had to intervene if something were to happen to Daisy as she was part of her squad, but it looked like she was handling herself well. "That Daisy, you never keep quiet, do you?" She smiled.

"D-Daisy…", Lucas smiled slightly.

Mimosa was awestruck by the Blue Rose mage's behaviour and covered her mouth with her hands as she was gasping. "She… she's amazing!"

Nebra took in a deep breath and exhaled. "You address this person as if you're good friends… or even more than that. Hmph, don't let your personal relationships make you think you can talk like that to someone of a higher status than yourself". The silver haired sibling exclaimed rather rudely.

Daisy took a step back as she realised what Nebra implied. "It's nothing more than friends. Though… since you're the one that randomly brought it up does that mean you're the one with feelings?" The girl with the green ribbon on her head smirked cheekily.

However, as Daisy had said that it seemed like she was worried about what might come from Nebra as she took another step back. Lucas instinctively grabbed her hand and stared at Nebra and spoke. "Who cares what you say? Daisy is a good friend to me and that is that. Besides, this has nothing to do with the matter at hand, so I suggest you back off!"

There was a sudden air of silence after what Lucas said. He had shouted at a royal, one of the biggest royal houses had just been disrespected by a peasant. Although that was crazy in itself, the fact that the usually timid person had acted quite differently here.

"Lucas-san…", she looked at him holding her hand. Though she slowly loosened his grip and instead stood back next to him.

"What the heck is happening…", Charlotte thought. The Briar mage comedically poker faced as she did not understand the implication of what Nebra said.

Sol was surprised too. "This Lucas guy does realise the snobby royal thought Daisy and he were a thing, right?" The tall Blue Rose Knight thought to herself. "I guess men don't understand subtle hints like that".

"Lucas is acting in a similar way to what he was back at the banquet… is it tied to his emotions? He seems to act differently when he gets angry. Nevermind that… what did Nebra mean by even more than that? Wait…!". Mimosa had a plethora of thoughts racing in her head.

"That's enough!"

Lucas and the other Knights turned to face the person who shouted, and unsurprisingly, it was another person who thought they were above others.

"You think you're some hotshot, right? Getting big-headed by acting like that? Oh, and your Blue Rose friend next to you… just who the hell do you think you two ar-!" Alecdora shouted. He had also walked up to the two Magic Knights and started to dictate. However, he was interrupted too.

"That's quite enough now, Alecdora", another familiar voice started to talk.

"Oho, this is getting interesting", Hamon commented.

"This is not the way to be. Lucas had an idea so they could at least listen", Shiren added.

Lucas turned to the voice that had started talking and saw that it was none other than his own squad member, Mimosa.

"M-Mimosa, you…". Alecdora was seething with anger. This was the second time in the same day where his abuse towards Lucas was stopped.

"We are Magic Knights, and we need to get back. If I can see clearly, no one else has an idea about the current situation we're in. So, if I kindly may add… why don't we listen to Lucas here?" Mimosa spoke. She had a sense of conviction to the way she spoke.

"Mimosa…", Lucas said softly, but happily.

Daisy was awestruck by the Golden Dawn mage's behaviour. "I guess this is the royal Lucas-san was on about. Wow, she's cool".

After Mimosa had stopped speaking, she seemed so cool and collated. However, her inner self was a different story.

"Oh my God, Oh my God. Did I really do that? I've never gone against someone like that! My body just moved on its own… and I couldn't let the other girl outdo me! W-Wait. Why am I competing against her?!" The Vermillion blushed extremely, and she sighed heavily. "Th-that was intense…", Mimosa thought as she held her chest and felt her heartbeat quickly.

After Daisy and Mimosa had said their pieces to Nebra and Alecdora, the area was silent apart from the soft breeze swirling in the air. The two girls were either side of Lucas, close to him but not too close.

Alecdora has retreated back to where Hamon and Shiren were standing, whereas Nebra was back with Nozel and Solid.

Suddenly, Nozel started to talk.

"What are you waiting for then. Tell us your idea". The eldest Silva had not spoken at all during this whole ordeal but now asked Lucas about his idea.

"Quickly now, Lucas", Charlotte added.

The Dual mage quickly turned his head from left to right as he looked at both of the captains. He took a big breath, sighed, and then gulped to get ready.

"Okay, so… we are quite a long away from the Royal Capital, so we need some sort of transport spell to get back. We can't rely on Spatial Magic ourselves since we have no mages that can use it", Lucas began.

"He's right", a few of the Magic Knights murmured.

Lucas carried on and he turned to face the Silver Eagles captain. "Captain Nozel. The spell you used to leave the banquet hall seemed the strongest and most durable. Would it be okay to use that as a base to support all of us here?"

Nozel's eyes widened slightly. "My eagle transport spell? That could be the way to go", he thought. The Mercury mage opened his mouth, "that's fine with me".

Solid and Nebra looked at their older brother and were shocked. "He's just agreeing what he said? A peasant asked something of a royal?" They thought.

"The transport is good and all, but we can't just go back without knowing exactly what's happening over there", Sol interjected.

"You're right", Lucas added. He then changed his attention towards both Hamon and Shiren who were focusing on Lucas. "Shiren, your spell that helped us locate different mana signatures by making a map of the Royal Capital… If we use that, we know exactly where to go and who we could be possibly running into".

"A good decision from you, Lucas. I can do that", Shiren responded.

Alecdora spoke up again, not managing to swallow his pride at all. "Hmph. That's good and all but what if Shiren's spell gets jammed by some sort of magical item?"

"Really…? He's seriously trying everything he can to make sure Lucas-san gets some stick…". Daisy rolled her eyes and sighed.

"Why does he have it out for Lucas so much?" Mimosa wondered.

Lucas paused for a moment. "Haha, I actually already thought about what could happen if Shiren's Stone Map of the World didn't work", he looked to Hamon. "Your Glass Magic - Would it be possible to extend pieces of glass in front of the transport spell and use the light that's reflected around to see what's ahead?"

Hamon scratched his chin. "Hm, so you mean like a bunch of mirrors placed around so if our magic detection fails, we have our eyes to rely on as well?"

"That's right!" Lucas punched the air.

"I think I can do that. Maybe I can incorporate this into battling too", the large glutton spoke.

Lucas then retreated back where Daisy and Mimosa were. "That's it from me. I think this could work… I'm sorry for overstepping my boundaries but this was an urgent situation".

"We understand. Don't worry". Charlotte, the Briar Magic user, smiled.

Alecdora, Solid, and Nebra walked forward and spoke to Lucas. "So, what would you have us do then?"

The Golden Dawn mage scratched the back of his neck. "Ah… sorry but I don't think you three will be needed for this particular plan", he nervously spoke.

The three in question froze in embarrassment.

"You three, move away from him. We're getting started and I do not want distractions". Nozel ordered, causing the mages to move away and help the others.

Mimosa looked at Lucas and was surprised. "He's a bit different… more confident. It's nice to see and he's so… cool…!"

Daisy also looked at Lucas and smiled. Then, she quickly glanced at Mimosa and saw her gazing at the Light mage, seemingly with sparkles in her eyes, yet also blushing ever so slightly.

"Is she…? Oh, so that's what this is", she giggled.


Whilst Lucas and the other Magic Knights were busy preparing on getting back to the Royal Capital, the ones that were not targeted by the Spatial Magic were fighting a battle of their own. However, the battle they were fighting looked to be a losing one due to a key, and heart-breaking, moment that had happened.

"B-BROTHER!" Leopold screamed. He rushed towards where Asta and Noelle were standing and saw the injured and unconscious body of his elder brother and Captain on the floor. There was one particular difference about him, and it was that his entire right arm had been sliced off.

"H-he went through the Spatial Magic and in no time at all… he fell back through, and this-this is what happened…", Noelle spoke with widened eyes and a loss of breath.

Just in front of them, Rades who had been trapped by Fuegoleon's Flame Magic, had been set free. He dusted his clothes off and started laughing.

"Hahahaha! That's what you Clover Kingdom idiots get for dealing with me!" He cackled and smirked. Though, his laughter was suddenly halted by an incoming attack.

"Flame Magic: Spiral Flames!" Leopold quickly flicked through his grimoire and landed on a specific page. Without hesitation, he launched an intense stream of flames towards Rades. "How dare you do that to Big Bro!" He screamed.

"Leo! Calm down and think! We need to help Captain Fuegoleon!" Noelle urged the Crimson Lion, but he was too far in his emotions to even hear the Water mage speak.

Leopold wasn't thinking straight, and no one could blame him. To his right was the injured body of his beloved captain and brother.

"Ah, whatever! I'll have to do something myself". Noelle looked at the unconscious body and noticed just how much blood was being lost. "I need to cover his gaping wound and make it so the blood flow stops. I'll just have to do this!"

Noelle ripped off both of the frilly edges of her white blazer in a hurry to wrap it around the wound. As she was doing so, she quickly glanced at the captain's grimoire and saw that it was beginning to crack and break apart. "I need to hurry. A cracking grimoire means he's going to die… I need to hurry!"

The Water mage managed to wrap the clothing around the wound and the blood had stopped flowing as much, though it was still dripping slightly. "I did all of that and it's not enough… if only Mimosa were here. Though, an injury like this… I'm not even sure if normal healing spells would work...", she gulped.

The Flame attack that Leopold had shot managed to hit Rades… or so they thought.

Upon looking closely, a gate of dark, Spatial Magic had been put up that separated the Wraith mage from the incoming attack from Leopold. The flames had been absorbed by the eerie magic and disappeared elsewhere.

"Y-you!" Leopold quickly looked up and saw that Valtos was the one that saved Rades.

Valtos was another enemy mage and it looked like he was the one that was responsible for all of the different incidents that involved Spatial Magic. The man had wavy and long grey hair with two black lines going down the two sides of his face. He also wore a similar light-coloured hooded cloak just as Max had worn in the fight against Lucas. The attire consisted of three vertical eyes.

"Me? Well, yes. That was me, and I save my comrades. It is a shame that you couldn't do the same for your brother there, but we had to carry out our mission. I hope you understand". Valtos had spoken with a calm demeanour that only served to further anger the young Crimson Lion.

Asta was right next to Leopold and was busy figuring out what the next move to make would be.

"Leopold just shot his magic at the spatial portal, but it was teleported elsewhere. If I stay calm and think… then that's where the magic would be!" Asta quickly made his move.

Leopold also made his move, but it was different to Asta's. Due to the taunting from both Valtos and Rades, the young Flame mage had enough and charged once more towards the two enemies without thinking of the repercussions that could follow.

The two Eye of the Midnight Sun members made a slight smile and Leopold caught on to that. However, he was too far forward to do anything about what was going to happen.

Leopold looked up slightly and saw a Spatial portal opening up above him and what came out of it shocked him. The portal began to light up a bright red colour and out came the very same attack that Leopold had fired just a few seconds ago.

"Oh no!" Leopold thought. He was about to be hit with some powerful magic and it was going to be his own fault.

"Don't… you… worry!" A quick scream came from behind Leopold.

It was Asta running towards the Crimson Lion, and he had both of his Anti-Magic swords out. The ashen-haired mage jumped and swiped at the Flame Magic and deflected it all back at Valtos who quickly teleported on top of a building, along with Rades, dodging the attack.

"A-Asta!" The Flame Magic user spoke, relieved that he had been saved.

Asta turned around and walked to Leopold. Instead of trying to calm him down in a normal way, he shouted and punched the hard-headed royal in the face.

"Shut up!" Asta ordered. "Maybe I shouldn't act like this so suddenly, but your brother taught me to be calm and always think about what should happen next. I took on that advice but you're ignoring it!"

Leopold slowly got up to his feet, feeling his cheek from the magicless mage's hard punch. "I know… but it's just so frustrating", the mage teared up slightly. "I'm the youngest Vermillion sibling and I have to do better, but now…".

"But now? What does that mean? Noelle is busy doing her best for him right now so all we can do is fight back in a better way! When Captain Fuegoleon is healed up, you can even tell him how you did after being faced with such danger!" Asta screamed. He then turned to both Valtos and Rades, ready to fight.

Leopold had his outlook changed with shouting, screaming, and a punch to the face by the Black Bull. "Y-you're right. I need to be strong for my brother. It's a shame that a punch made me realise that", he felt his sore cheek again.

"Hm, it looks like you've calmed down. Do you think you have what it takes to defeat all of us?" Valtos asked.

"All of us? There's only two of you here", Asta replied.

"Well, that's where you're wrong! You really thought that only two of us would take on the whole Capital?" Rades added.

"Th-that's true. An attack on a scale this big… there has to be more mages involved". Leopold gathered. He started to look around. "Though… I don't see or sense any others".

Suddenly, as if on cue to what Leopold had just said, five separate Spatial Magic portals appeared which circled around the Magic Knights. From them, five white-hooded figures came walking out.

"Hahaha! What comes next is exactly what you Magic Knight punks deserve!" Rades cackled, smiling eerily.

"Now, now, Valtos. We don't want to kill all of them, do we? Surely, the two royals could make for some cool specimens for my experiments". One of the smaller hooded figures spoke. She lifted her hood up and the enemy was revealed to be a girl with glasses that had bright red eyes behind them. She was short and had messy hair.

"Specimens? Experiments? Just who are you people?!" Asta shouted. He was getting frustrated and also worried because of the clear disadvantage in numbers.

"Oh? There's a Magic Knight without any mana… that's definitely quite rare", another one of the enemies spoke.

"No magic? That doesn't seem so interesting", the short girl added.

"Interesting? I'll show you just how interesting I am when we beat you!" Asta replied, grabbing his two swords.

"That's right! No way I'm going to let you freaks get away with what you did!" Leopold added. His hands began to be engulfed by flames as he generated his magic, ready to fight. "Noelle! Make sure you take care of my brother!"

Noelle was busy trying everything possible to lessen the damage of Fuegoleon's wounds. "That's easy for you to say…", she said under her breath. The Water Magic user spoke up. "I'll stick to that. You and Asta do your jobs!"

Asta and Leopold stood in the middle of the enemy circle. Their backs against each other and they were shouting a battle cry. The Black Bull and the Crimson Lion were ready to fight back against the enemy.

"The master said Anti-Magic was your power, right? Let me see just how useful it is compared to my magic! Grass Magic: Ground Needle!"

One of the enemies placed their hands on the ground leading up to Asta and it subsequently turned into grass. The grass had a plethora of sharp and poisonous needles mixed in with it and it was going to engulf the swordsman.

"I can do this…". Asta jammed his larger sword into the ground where the grass was, and it caused the area around it to return to normal as the Anti-Magic negated the magic. He then jumped up and flung the shorter sword towards the enemy Grass mage, hitting him straight in the chest and knocking him down.

"How's that?" Asta shouted, looking at the girl who had previously said that he wasn't interesting.

"Ooh. I apologise for what I said… but now… I want you!" She licked her lips.

"Sorry, not interested". Asta picked up the sword he had thrown and got ready for another battle.

Leopold was busy in his own fight against the enemy. He had been dodging magic attacks but couldn't get a proper attack in because of the enemy's speed.

"You're so slow! No wonder you weren't quick enough to save your big brother!" The enemy laughed.

The Flame mage's anger was bubbling up inside, but he knew he couldn't react to what the enemy said as it would lead to him being rash and then in danger. "Remember what Big Bro taught me… remember what Asta said…". The mage sighed and calmed himself down.

"You've slowed down even more? Well, I guess this is the end. Lightning Magic: Zigzag Spark!"

The yellow sparks that were shot at Leopold were moving very quickly but in a zigzag motion. Every time the young Crimson Lion would evade it, the spell moved quicker.

"The spell reacts to my own movements and increases speed… I can't exactly use an attack spell since the electricity could catch up to me in the time it would take. In that case… I'll have to try something different". Leopold thought.

For a few seconds it seemed like Leopold was just running around needlessly without a plan. He would run in one direction and then instantly stop and turn around to run in the other. He ran up and down, side to side, and even diagonally.

"Is this really how you Magic Knights operate? Well, I can't say that I'm impressed". The Lightning enemy mage put her arms up behind her and used them to rest her head on. She then yawned as she thought she had won.

As Leopold saw this, he whispered, "this is my chance! Flame Reinforcement Magic: Blazing Enhancement…". The mage used the spell on his legs and reinforced them with his strong magic. It increased his speed and agility to the point where he quickly zipped past the mage he was facing and stood right behind her.

The mage opened her eyes after she yawned and saw that Leopold was nowhere to be seen. "Wow. The split second I closed my eyes, he ran away? I guess he was some kind of a false royal". However, as she said that, she felt a tap on her shoulder.

The enemy turned around and saw Leopold. "You?! B-but how? In a split second?!"

There was not even time to explain as when she turned around, the spell that she had cast, Zigzag Spark, had followed Leopold all the way to him. Though, since the enemy mage was right in front of hhim, blocking the spell's path, she was struck instead, causing her to faint and fall to the floor.

"That… was intense", Leopold sighed and wiped the nervous sweat from his forehead.

"That Lightning spell she had cast was something. Every time I made a move it would get closer and closer… so I used that to my advantage. I kept on running to make the spell as close to me as possible and at the last moment I used my magic to quickly run past the spell caster. Her own spell hitting her was a plan come true! Big Bro will be amazed by this… I just hope he'll be better soon".

Leopold then looked up and saw a total of four more enemies to go against. "Weren't there five in total, or did I miscount?" He moved towards them and carried on fighting.

"I'm gonna get you back for humiliating me alongside that captain!" Rades screamed.

"Do you have any more of your Corpse Series?" Valtos exclaimed.

"N-no", Rades replied.

Valtos sighed and face palmed. "So how are you going to beat the kid? You only have that one spell".

"I don't know what you two are chatting about… but it's only going to lead to you being defeated!" Asta shouted as he ran up.

The magicless mage jumped up and crossed his two Anti-Magic swords together and used the momentum of him falling to the floor as a way to defeat Rades. "Here I come!"

"Oh no, oh no, oh no, oh no! Why did I jump into battle knowing I had none of my Corpses anymore!" Rades painfully realised.

Asta noticed that Rades wasn't moving. "This is perfect… time for my new move! Anti-Magic: Cross Dive!"

The Black Bull managed to land and use the Anti-Magic swords to thrust Rades into the ground. Due to the Wraith mage not being able to use his magic, he was an easy target and an easy win for Asta.

"That was kind of easy… but I got to use a cool move! Everyone always uses amazing magic spells so I thought making my own with my swords could be pretty neat". Asta smiled.

"… As for you…", Asta quickly turned his head around and saw Valtos about to cast Spatial Magic. The Bull threw the smaller Anti-Magic sword to the enemy mage.

Valtos quickly used the Spatial Magic to teleport the sword behind him. However, as he did that, he didn't realise that Asta was running towards him in the midst of him casting the spell. Before it was too late to respond, the Black Bull was face-to-face with him.

"Take this!" Asta swung his right arm and used his fist to punch the Spatial mage in the face causing him to fly backwards to where the remaining enemies were.

"Asta!" Leopold shouted.

"Leo!" Asta shouted.

The two Knights had regrouped after being lead away by the enemy and were back to fighting together.

"Asta… he's fighting so much differently now compared to before… is this because of what Captain Fuegoleon said to him?" Noelle wondered. "He's kind of… cool".

Asta looked at Leopold. "This is the final stretch. You ready?"

"Of course I am, my rival!" Leopold responded.

"They beat Rades, Valtos, and another two capable mages… tsk. I definitely underestimated them", the enemy girl thought to herself.

"We'll do it swiftly. Leopold shoot your flames at me", Asta asked.

"Huh? Why would I do that?" The Crimson Lion was confused. Asta was asking him to use an attack spell on his own teammate.

"Just trust me. Remember, my Anti-Magic swords can deflect attacks". He winked.

"Oh, I see where you're going with this". Leopold smirked.

The Vermillion flicked through his grimoire and landed on an attack spell.

"Quickly! Don't let them attack. Fire all of your magic at them!" The red-eyed enemy mage ordered.

The group of remaining enemies, being the mage that wore glasses and another unnamed mage next to her, was all that were left.

"Huh? Where did he disappear off to? Well… anyway, we can't be defeated here", she thought.

The two mages generated mana in their hands and fire it off towards Asta and Leopold.

"Now!" Asta shouted.

"Flame Magic: Spiral Flames!" Leopold launched an intense fire spell right at Asta.

Asta stretched his arms out, his hands holding one sword each. He quickly rotated and span in a circle as fast as he could. He was using the same technique as earlier where he deflected Rades' Corpse's attacks. It looked like he had turned into a hurricane with how fast he was going.

The Flame Magic hit the hurricane that Asta had turned into and the momentum the Black Bull got from spinning so much had caused the flames to deflect back outwards. However, this time they were aimed towards the two remaining enemy mages.

"Oh no", was all the two mages could say before they were about to be taken out.

"Yes!" Asta and Leopold shouted in unison.

However, that was too premature of a celebration.

"Wind Creation Magic: Swift Barrier".

As Asta's deflected attack was about to land on the remaining mages, a wind spell was summoned to protect them.

The mage behind the spell came into frame.

"Where did you go?!" The girl with glasses shouted. She was worried she was going to be defeated.

"I tried to find an opening by disappearing. I guess this was it", the enemy Wind mage smirked.

"He stopped our joint attack just like that?" Leopold was shocked.

"Leo! Let's get him. There's only three of them left!" Asta jumped forwards and Leopold followed suit.

The two Magic Knights were about to attack when…

"Wind Magic: Tornado Needles!" The mage fired a bunch of sharp and tiny wind needles at the two mages, piercing their skin and causing them to fall on the floor.

"… Damn it… we were too headstrong…".

"… I'm sorry… Leopold…".

The Black Bull and the Crimson Lion had both fainted.

"Asta! Leopold!" Noelle shouted. She was about to fight back but remembered she had not learned any attack spells yet, and she also had to take care of Fuegoleon in case anything else went wrong.

"That's right, royal. Sit down. Though… I think we should kill you anyway… Wind Magic: Tornado Needles!"

The Wind mage fired the same spell that took out Asta and Leopold right at Noelle. There wasn't any time for the Silva to react by using a defence spell as they were too close to each other.

"This is bad… but I will complete my duty!" Noelle stood up and ran in front of Fuegoleon and stretched her arms out. "You will not get him. I don't care if I'm injured, but I will protect the Captain!"

The enemy attack was about to hit the silver-haired royal and she closed her eyes, tensed her muscles, and started to breath heavily in preparation to be hit.

However, she was never hurt. As Noelle opened her eyes, she saw a silver wall of mercury right in front of her that had separated her and the wind attack from hitting.

"Mercury…? Then that only means one thing!" Noelle turned around and saw the man she had thought about along with the other Magic Knights. "Big Brother…", she teared up.

Noelle saw Nozel flying on his Silver Eagle spell that he often used for transport. Behind him were members of the Golden Dawn, the Blue Rose Knights, as well as the other Silver Eagles.

Nozel landed on the ground and the rest of the members followed suit, jumping down and looking to see what had happened.

"Sally… I think we should go now", an injured Valtos struggled to say as he lay on the floor.

The girl with the red eyes and glasses was named Sally. She looked at Valtos, as well as the other injured members of her team and bit her lip in frustration.

"Damn it… You're right. Though, I don't plan to leave without a souvenir", she looked towards the fallen Magic Knights that had been defeated by the Wind Magic, focusing on one in particular.

Lucas, who had landed, quickly ran towards Asta, Leopold, and Noelle and saw just what had happened. He looked at the injured mages but saw that they would be fine, however, looking at Fuegoleon, he had no idea what could be done.

"C-Captain… F-Fuegoleon?" Lucas muttered under his breath. He looked at the royal's grimoire that had stopped cracking and saw just how dangerous of a situation this was. He also saw the clothing on Fuegoleon's wounds and realised that Noelle had done all she could.

"One thing happened after another… and this was the result". Noelle spoke in a sad tone. She turned to Mimosa and asked her to hurry over and see what she could do, and Mimosa obliged.

"Plant Recovery Magic: Princess-Healing Flower Robe!" The orange-haired Vermillion looked down towards the royal and clenched her fists. "Even Captain Fuegoleon got injured this badly… I'm not sure if I can fix the arm but I can close the wound off".

Lucas also clenched his fists in anger. "When did this happen? If I was quicker with relaying the plan with everyone, could this have been prevented…? W-wait… Recovery Magic. Do I have access to any of that? My Light Magic doesn't have any spells like that but does my Time Magic? … No, it doesn't". The Dual mage frowned in anger. "I just… want to save people but if this is what happens then I…".

Just behind Lucas, near her captain, Daisy was frozen in place. "Just… what happened here? The battle Lucas-san, Aiden, and I were part of was nothing compared to what was happening here", she realised.

Nozel focused on the group of enemy mages and saw that an armless Fuegoleon was on the floor beside Noelle as well. His facial expression didn't change too much but he was definitely angry.

"You. Who are you people and how dare you injure a captain like that", he spoke with a thunderous tone, exerting his mana and making them tremble.

"Y-you don't scare us. We… we are the Eye of the Midnight Sun, and we will correct this kingdom after bathing it in destruction", Sally replied.

Lucas and Daisy perked up when they heard the name of the enemy group. "It's the same as that Max guy from before. So, this is a bigger thing than we initially thought".

"I have no time for this. Prepare to rue your sins for defiling this kingdom. Mercury Magic: Silver Rain", the calm, yet serious, Silver Eagle said.

From above the enemy group, a silver cloud formed and droplets of mercury fell.

"I have no choice but to do this… Gel Magic: Sticky Salamander!" Sally used her Gel Magic to conjure up a sticky construct of a Salamander to protect the group from damage.

"Hmph. Magic like that is no match for mine", Nozel retorted.

"Oh? Well, thanks for letting me know. "Dark Magic Item: Special Properties + Alpha!" Sally brought out a huge needle filled with a dark-pink liquid and injected it into her own Sticky Salamander spell.

The magic item caused the Salamander to grow in size and become stronger and sturdier which also deflected the Mercury Magic away from it, leaving the group unscathed.

"Now, Valtos!" Sally ordered.

As she did, a huge chunk of pitch-black Spatial Magic formed around the Eye of the Midnight Sun, encasing them so they could make their escape.

"Grr, it was fun playing with you all, but I really wish I could've killed some of you!" Rades shouted.

"Now, now, Rades. We completed our mission… plus… we have a souvenir", Valtos pointed.

Lucas looked at the retreating mages and saw that, in a separate Gel Magic bubble, Asta was trapped inside and unconscious.

"No way I'm letting them escape like that with a friend. I couldn't do much this whole attack… but I will protect Asta!" Lucas powered up his Time Magic in his right hand and used the small amount of it he could use to speed himself up. In no time at all, he had jumped forwards at an insane speed and reached Asta.

"Oh, it looks like we'll have another specimen to experiment with", Sally smiled.

Eventually, the Spatial Magic completed its job and transported the entire group away, leaving nothing but damage behind.

The Magic Knights had no time to react as it happened so quickly but when they actually realised what had happened, they were shocked.

The people that were the most frustrated were Daisy, Mimosa, and Klaus, as well as Noelle. Asta had been taken but so had Lucas.

"Asta! Lucas!" A few of the Knights screamed as they saw them disappear right in front of their eyes.


NOTES:

We got that nice Lucas development, and it was about time he showed that he's not just a wimp in front of others. He had slowly been getting more confident but this one showed that he has that drive to stand up.

Mimosa obviously being cute around Lucas… but is that also jealousy from her? :P

I changed the Asta + Leopold fight vs Eye of the Midnight Sun a bit since it kind of bored me in the canon. I feel like it needed a bit more length to it, so I tried to do that.

Now, Asta and Lucas have gone. Let's see what happens next.