Chapter 37: Never The Same
Disclaimer:
Hi guys. I'm thinking of trying something different when I write inner monologues. I will use the italics function for when characters are thinking to themselves just to help differentiate it a bit more. Let me know if that's a good way to do it! Hope you enjoy.
"You think you can get away with treating my little sisters like this?" Daisy breathed in and out to try and calm her anger. However, this was proving to be impossible as she kept looking back at the state Alice was in, as well as the other children.
"How dare you lay a hand on Marie? I hope you've said goodbye to your families because you will die here!" Gauche bellowed and flew towards the two bandits on his broom.
"Mirror Magic: Reflect Ray!" Gauche fired a purple beam of light at Neige who busy fiddling with the magic absorption contraption that they had running.
"Brother, can you h-help?" Neige shouted, just barely dodging the attack from the Black Bull.
"Tsk. After I help you then you attack the both of them. I need to keep doing this job or we'll both be in trouble from our employers!" Baro replied.
"Mirror Magic: Reflect Ray!" Gauche fired another.
"Ice Magic: Shard Barrage!" Daisy joined in as soon as she shrugged the image of her sisters out of her head. They were important, but at this very moment in time she had to fight the enemies.
The Blue Rose's Ice Magic and the Black Bull's Mirror Magic moved together at great speeds. Daisy's spell was a group of sharp ice shards that moved together, whereas Gauche's was the same attack as prior.
"Mud Magic: Wall of Protection!" The bigger bandit used his magic to summon a large, brown mud wall that took the full blow of both of the Magic Knights' attacks. As it did, it dispersed as Baro and Neige switched places.
Baro took more of the children that were lined up and forcibly put them in the chair to extract more mana from them.
"Keep em busy, Neige!" Baro shouted.
"My magic was stopped… just like that?" Daisy thought.
"I guess I'll just add more firepower!" Gauche exclaimed.
The taller bandit clumsily prepared himself for what looked to be a 1v2 situation. "Snow Magic: Snow Cry - Split!" The Snow mage generated two streams of snow that shot at both Daisy and Gauche.
"What kind of weak spell is that? Mirror Magic: Mirror Shift!" Gauche summoned a mirror in front of him and to the left to which his whole body teleported to. The move was almost instantaneous so he easily dodged Neige's spell.
"As for me, I'll use this again… Ice Magic: Shard Barrage! Since ice is sturdier than snow, it can easily overpower it. Something as flimsy as that spell is no problem for a Magic Knight!" Daisy easily pierced the snow stream that headed for her.
Neige started to worry. "My spell there wasn't the best decision, maybe I can use one of my other spells?" He thought.
Daisy and Gauche were closing in on the location of the two enemies but were stopped by the Snow mage's spell.
"Snow Creation Magic: Snow Friends Squad!" The mage exclaimed as he summoned a group of 10 large snowmen, all running towards the two.
Just behind the defending Neige, Baro had finished extracting mana from multiple children at this point. The green tanks that were on the side had almost filled up and the man was moving on to the next few.
"Just a few more and my payment is secure. If things gets really sticky, then I can leave Neige behind…", he smiled eerily,
Gauche fired another spell but this time he was shocked with the outcome. His attack pierced the snowmen, but they were just replaced with new ones that had formed quickly.
"I didn't think I'd have to use this spell, but… Mirror Magic: Reflect Refrain!" The tall mage summoned a group of mirrors, all different sizes. He placed them all around the area where the snowmen were and shot a beam of light that quickly and violently reflected off each mirror to the next, eventually destroying every single one of them.
"I really hate to say it… so I won't. But for all of his freaky nature, he is quite powerful. If only he wasn't such a pain", Daisy thought to herself.
As each snowmen fell to the floor in defeat, more were formed again. Neige carried on attacking and protecting his brother.
"Snow Magic: Avalanche Collision!" Neige summoned a huge white cloud formed above Daisy and Gauche. There were small snowflakes falling from it to begin with but after a few seconds, they all formed together and started raining down on the two Magic Knights.
"You keep coming up with one spell after the other… you must really wish to die a horrible death!" Gauche shouted. He was weaving in and out of each strike from the avalanche, but it was proving quite difficult.
As for Daisy, it was much of the same. Since Neige's spell was very big, she also had to work to protect the children that were underneath. The attacks that Daisy and Gauche dodged, then had to be destroyed so they wouldn't harm the kids that were sat down.
"This is bad… I can just about manage with my Shard Barrage and Crystalised Barrier spells, but this isn't a good place to be like this!" Daisy thought as she tried her best.
She would fly backwards on her broom and place her defence spells above most of the children, while destroying the snow with her attack spells. With doing this, she was expending a lot of mana as well as stamina.
"Reflect Refrain!" These words are all that the Ice mage could hear from the Black Bull next to her. Where Daisy was protecting the children from being hurt, Gauche was trying to attack Neige but it was still proving difficult.
"Gauche! Combine your Mirror Magic with my Ice Magic and I can see a way out of this!" Daisy shouted at him.
"What the hell do you want from me? First, you call me a freak but now you want my help?!" The Bull shouted back.
"It doesn't help that you are indeed a freak! Anyway, you can clearly see the kids underneath are in danger so the quicker we deal with this Snow Magic, the quicker you can beat up that guy!" Daisy added.
Gauche flew through the avalanche and thought for a moment.
"No, leave me alone. I'll do this myself", he replied.
Daisy face-palmed and grew angrier than she already was.
"Look you half-assed Magic Knight pretending to be a good brother… if the avalanche gets through my defences, then there's a chance that Marie could be hurt in the aftermath!" Daisy looked to tug on the Mirror mage's heartstrings and hit him where she knew it would make a difference.
"What the hell are you waiting for then… whatever the hell your name is! Hurry up and combine your magic". Gauche seemed to agree with cooperating for this brief moment.
"My name is Daisy! Honestly… anyway… all I need you to do is use your Reflect Refrain and I'll do the rest". Daisy flew ahead of Gauche and gave him the signal to use his magic.
"Mirror Magic: Reflect Refrain!" Gauche fired a ton of his purple beams of light that reflected off from each mirror that he placed all around.
When he did this, the trajectory of the attack was completely random. The attack power also increased in speed because of each deflection.
"Great stuff… Ice Magic: Shard Barrage + Ice Creation Magic: Crystalised Barrier!" Daisy, with her two arms formed different spells.
"No way… Double Spell Activation? Isn't she a Commoner? How can this be?!" Neige shouted as he gulped in fear for what was about to come.
Daisy placed her shards around Gauche's mirrors so that each reflected beam would then reflect from the shards. Since Ice has the structural capability of bending light if it goes through it, Daisy used this to her advantage.
Each reflected light beam hit the shards a few more times and generated more vicious power than they could originally. The walls of the cave started to shake with the amount of power that was being tossed around.
Eventually, the powerful barrage of light beams all joined together to hit Neige's spell that was overhead, destroying it completely and leaving a white cloud of dust afterwards.
"That was one heck of a combination. Hmph, I'll give you the credit", Gauche spoke.
"I don't want any credit from you. I just want everyone safe… and that includes your little sister", Daisy replied as she pointed back where Marie was.
The huge attack wasn't done there though. Since the spell was so violent and powerful, it also managed to fly backwards towards the enchanted children. However, Daisy had calculated for this and that was where her defence spell came in handy.
"Phew… I'm glad that worked. I never tried doing that before! I placed a huge Crystalised Barrier spell, forming a makeshift wall, that went from the ceiling to the floor. It deflected the various light beams up through the holes in the cave and they just went into the sky", Daisy smiled.
"You never tried that before? What if it didn't work? What about my precious Marie?!" Gauche got more and more annoyed with how reckless Daisy had been.
"… but it did work since I had the drive and belief. I like to live in the moment and put my all into what's happening in the present. The only reason it wouldn't have worked would have been if I didn't have the desire to protect them. I'm an older sister so I know this… you see all of these little kids and something in you wells up and makes you want to protect them. That's how it should be and that's how a person should act, let alone a Magic Knight!" Daisy pumped her fist.
Gauche thought for another moment before replying. "That might be something for you. I can't do that. The only person I want to protect is Marie!" He charged ahead for Neige.
Daisy shook her head and then calmed down. She pictured Alice in her head, as well as her other siblings and her body language changed to that of someone who wanted revenge. She also charged ahead.
"Oh no! Baro, watch out!" Neige screamed to his teammate but was swiftly knocked to the floor by the oncoming Gauche.
"This is bad…! Oh, I know what I'll do", Baro focused on Marie who was sat on the floor quite far away. "Mud Magic: Moving Ground Trick!" The Mud bandit used his hands to press on the ground.
"Gauche!" Marie shouted from behind and grabbed the mage's attention. "H-help!"
Marie screamed and got swallowed up by the ground underneath her. There had been a small hall form right below her and she fell through it. Eventually, she popped up where Baro was, and he grabbed her by the throat.
"Now, now. Miss Magic Knight, you don't want to move any further or this girl will die!" The Mud bandit laughed as he slowly backed away to where the steel chair was.
"Marie!" Gauche screamed. He knew any wrong move would mean huge consequences.
Daisy was panicking. She had missed the chance to save Alice but now that Marie was about to be in the same situation, she knew she had to help. "I couldn't… save Alice and now her mana is completely gone. I can't let the same happen to that poor little girl!"
Daisy tried to generate some Ice Magic in her feet to use her Frozen Quake spell. However, as she was about to let it go, she realised just how bad it could be if her spell accidentally hurt the other children behind her. "This spell effects the ground and since the children are still in some trance, then I can't risk it. I also used up way too much mana so I wouldn't even be able to cast a defence spell for them". She powered down her spell.
"I need to save my angel… am I really unable to help…?" Gauche thought to himself as he got angrier.
As the situation was becoming dire, Asta, Lucas, and Theresa all made their way into the same location as the other two. The trio saw what was happening and knew they couldn't give away the fact they were also there as Marie could be put in more danger.
"I have an idea…", Lucas whispered to the two beside him.
A few seconds went past as the Light mage explained his plan. The two nodded eventually and set things up.
"Okay, now I'll strap you in and your mana will go. Say goodbye to it…!" Baro whispered to Marie, but he didn't manage to finish what he was saying as he felt the sharp pain of a blunt object hit him in the side of his body. "Ahhh!" He screamed as he was sent flying.
Daisy and Gauche turned back quickly to see what exactly was happening as the whole situation was so quick. They saw Lucas at the back along with Theresa, but the one who actually landed into Baro with a sword was none other than Asta.
Daisy focused on Lucas and a huge smile stretched across her face for a brief moment. "He used his Energy Whips spell to propel Asta forwards… just how does he think of such wild things?"
Gauche shook his head and flew towards Marie once more, this time properly embracing her as the immediate threat had wavered and his beloved sister was in his arms again.
"My angel. My sweet angel. Please, tell me you're alright", he said.
"I'm fine, Brother. I just… I tried to help everyone with my friend Alice, but we failed…", she sobbed.
"It's okay. You should only focus on your family and not worry about others", he hugged once more. His cheek then brushed against Marie's, and he felt a warm sensation from it. He looked at Marie and remembered that he saw the handprints from the bandits hitting her and knew what he had to do.
He got up and walked over to Neige who was still on the floor.
"You. I said I would kill you, so let's start". The Mirror mage cracked his knuckles and punched the Snow mage in his face. "I'll hit his left cheek so that it's the same as how you left Marie's. It's not nice, is it?" He screamed. After, he kicked the enemy in his stomach and sent him backwards into the wall.
Lucas ran to Daisy, whilst Gauche did his thing. Theresa went to tend to the enchanted children and Asta was guarding Baro to see that he would not escape.
"Daisy, where are your sisters?" Lucas asked as he put his two hands on the mage's shoulders.
The Blue Rose was looked to be out of it. "Thanks for coming. I… I couldn't help Alice", she pointed at where her siblings were huddled on the floor.
"Well snap out of it. You say yourself how you act in the moment and on impulse. What's happened has happened already so now we need to see what we can do right now!" Lucas spoke to the teen.
"L-Lucas-san…!" Daisy struggled to talk.
Just as Daisy would grab his hands and pull him along, Lucas now did the same and both of them went to examine the Calor siblings.
As soon as Lucas had even entered the cave, he sensed something was off with Alice. His mana detection was at a very high level, so he knew just what had happened to her. There was a part of him that didn't want to believe it, but once he knelt down and looked at the red-haired girl, he knew it was true.
"Her… mana is gone", Lucas thought and confirmed with himself. He turned to Daisy and saw she was standing still, and her facial expressions were completely depressed.
"Chloe is alright, as well as Grace and Sonia. I'm glad they're safe". Lucas commented on the other siblings to try and give Daisy something to hold on to, but it didn't seem like it worked.
"There has to be some sort of medicine for this, right?" Lucas asked.
"I… don't think so. This isn't some sort of disease or infection. Her mana was literally sucked out", Daisy folded her arms in order to keep herself warm.
"What about… a spell?" Lucas thought.
"If I remember… on that day… I fixed those broken flowers that I got for my sister. It might be too much of a task since this is a person, but could I potentially reverse Alice to a previous state? I can't use actual spells for some reason, but could I use the traces of my Time mana that I can use for this?" Lucas remembered how almost 10 years ago, he had broken the Blue Irises, the flowers, that he had picked for Iris, but managed to reverse them to the point where nothing had ever happened to them.
"For that… I'll have to use it".
"There's no sense in me being afraid".
"This is what a Magic Knight does".
Daisy had knelt down to tend to her other sisters, so she was facing away from Lucas and Alice.
"Okay…". Lucas placed his right arm on Daisy's forehead very gently and his palm started to slightly vibrate as he tapped into his Time mana.
"Just… think about the goal and why I'm doing this, just like Mimosa told me to". He breathed in and out. He pictured Alice in his head and focused hard.
Lucas's right arm started to glow faintly, and a blue light emerged from his fingertips in the form of little sparks.
"I can do this…".
"I can do this…".
"I can do th-!"
Lucas's right hand stopped glowing all of a sudden as he felt a sharp pain flow through his entire body. He quickly retracted his hand and punched it into the ground in frustration. He held his body and waited until the pain subsided.
"I've never felt… a pain like that before. Is it because I tried to use more Time mana than I'm able to? But… how can I ever get past this?" He thought as he lowered his head.
As he did though, he saw drops of blood staining the cave ground right in his eyesight. Firstly, he got confused as he knew he wasn't injured but after a few seconds, he touched his nose and realised that the blood was coming from him.
Lucas wiped the blood away quickly, but this turn of events wasn't something good.
"Another side effect?! Is this really because I neglected to use this magic attribute for so long?" He clenched his fists.
A loud voice was heard from where the rest of the children sat. It was Theresa and she added to everyone's concerns and worries.
"The children here… a lot of them have had most of their mana drained! We got here in time to make sure they still kept some, but now for the rest of their lives… they'll never be the same", she commented as she felt something form in her throat. She struggled to speak with how saddening the situation was.
"How is the situation with your sisters, Daisy?" Theresa asked, hoping for some good news. Though, when she saw the look in the Blue Rose mage's eyes, her hope faded.
Asta was next to the man responsible for the crimes, and he stared at him with a disgusted look.
"You… you did this to the children?" The magicless Black Bull spoke.
Baro was scared initially as he felt he was going to be overpowered once more. He focused on his magical glasses and through them saw the magic power Asta possessed, or lack thereof.
"No magic power at all? Ha, I thought I would lose but this is perfect. I can easily overpower him and make my escape. I was expecting her to show up by now but it's not worth dying over. I managed to absorb that little girl's Ice Magic for myself… Sorry Neige, but your big brother is going off without-!" Baro stopped his train of thought as he felt a sharp hit to his stomach with the same Anti-Magic sword he had been hit previously with.
"What the hell?!" Baro shouted just before he struck the cave wall behind him and fell to the floor in a heap. He looked up and saw the same magicless person in front of him. "You did this… but how?"
Asta walked up to the bandit and grabbed him by the collar.
"How could you do something so awful?! Magic… magic is the one thing that everyone has and can use to move up in this world. Believe me, I know this since I'm the oddball. I'm the one people looked down upon for having no magic, but compared to all that, I still knew how amazing magic was! I was lucky enough to end up with the ability to still become a Magic Knight, but luck doesn't favour everyone… these kids you see… you stole their dreams from them! How would it feel if you're mana was gone?! Asta shouted.
To his, and everyone's surprise, Baro just started laughing and mocking the Black Bull. "Hahaha! You have no magic so don't but into conversations that are clearly too advanced for a puny mutt like you! You think I care about those children?! They are simply merchandise for me to get rich!" He cackled.
"How DARE you?!" Asta went to punch the bandit in his face but a quick shout from Theresa made him change his course of attack to the wall just above his head.
The punch from Asta knocked a crater into the wall, crumbling the area he was facing.
"Asta… this is a completely different side to him", Lucas mentioned.
"Thank you for defending them, Asta…", Daisy mumbled as she was taken aback by the entire conversation.
Asta breathed in and out and wiped the debris from his fist. "I can't be the one to punish you. The authorities will deal with the two of you!" He turned to Neige and saw him cowering before Gauche.
Above the mages, a voice was heard from within one of the openings in the cave.
"Why hello there Baro and Neige! Looks like you two got yourself in an awful situation, boohoo!" The familiar-sounding voice spoke from the shadows.
"No way… not her", Lucas mumbled as he looked around for the source. He quickly pinpointed where it was coming from, but he also noticed another mana signature as well that seemed extremely familiar.
"Hi guys, it's Sally here. Nice to meet you, and a few new faces!" Sally greeted them. She wore her signature glasses, but this time wore a different kind of white robe from which she wore previously.
It was a white robe but was largely open through the middle, revealing her purple crop-top that she had on underneath as well as a purple set of shorts the definitely didn't leave much to the imagination.
"Oh, c'mon silly! Why are you hiding behind me? Get here and out in the open!" Sally ushered the mage behind her, and he eventually made his appearance.
"That's…!" Daisy spoke.
"It's you again!" Lucas added.
The mage in question who partnered Sally was none other than Max. The Eye of the Midnight Sun member that Lucas, Daisy, and Aiden all fought during the attack on the Royal Capital.
He had long, messy black hair that went down to his shoulders. His face was still full of scars with the two most prominent ones under his brown eyes. This time though, there was another one on his cheek and it seemed very deep.
"Oh, it's you two… I guess I can get my revenge on the both of you", he said without much enthusiasm. He jumped down to the same level as the Golden Dawn and Blue Rose mage and his grimoire floated in front of him.
"… I hope you're ready".
NOTES:
Lucas is slowly (as I keep mentioning) trying different ways to get his Time Magic working. Perhaps it will happen soon, or perhaps it will still take a bit of time.
For now, little Alice's life will change it looks like as well as a lot of the other children.
Now, Sally has appeared but also a previous foe that fought Lucas. Let's see how this goes!
