Chapter 41: The Power of Sacrifice

"Light Creation Magic: Light Whip of Judgment!" Licht shouted out as his ferocious whip started destroying everything that was in sight.

The walls of the cave, the ceiling, and the floor all started to crumble viciously through his attack.

"It's useless to struggle! Just face it, I am incomparable to the likes of you!" Licht said maniacally.

Asta, Lucas, Daisy, and Yami, all looked in a suspenseful awe to what was happening.

"We need to get out of here!" Daisy said, urging the rest to agree to her plan.

Out of everyone, Yami was the only one that was laughing and still swinging his sword to destroy all the debris around him. "The man's gone insane! Look at him spouting whatever he wants!"

"No, Captain Yami. We really need to get out of here!" Asta pulled on the man's Black Bull's robe but was met with a kick to his side.

The continuous attacks from Licht kept going on until the entire roof of the cave was no more. Plenty of light started to shine through from above and what was left of Yami and the Magic Knights was nothing. They were nowhere to be seen.

"Dammit. I thought I could fight more with that Light Magic user… I was feeling pumped up…", Draien said slowly as he stood back up. He was slightly off balance due to Lucas's attack prior but had all but recovered.

"Maybe it's better if you didn't get pumped up. Now we can safely leave", Valtos replied in a slight murmur to not anger Draien.

Licht retracted his whip and his grimoire closed its pages as it landed back in his hand. "Now, now. We need to take that brat's grimoire and swords. They are way too valuable for the likes of him", he mentioned.

Valtos was about to move forwards to follow through with his master's plan but then stopped.

"What is this rumbling sound?" Licht turned around to face Valtos and subsequently the area where his opposers were seen last.

The ground started to shake and the sounds of four people started to come into fray. First, they were soft and quiet, but after a few seconds they were as loud as can be.

The rubble on the ground shot up into the air as the aura of three Magic Knights and the tenacity of another rang throughout the area.

"You can't get rid of us that easily!" Yami shouted as he jumped up from the broken pieces of cave debris that was just encasing him previously.

"Stop talking about my grimoire and swords as if they're your property. I'm not giving them to anyone!" Asta leaped out and joined his captain.

Lucas and Daisy also joined the two but kept quiet as they were in disbelief as to what was even happening.

"Captain Yami's power… just how powerful is he?" Daisy wondered.

"He casted a Dark Magic spell around us three to keep us safe while he fought against the Light Whip. His strength is something else…"Lucas deducted.

Licht and the two mages behind him saw the destruction that fell and the fact the Magic Knights had come back up surprised them heavily.

"The Magic Knights are something else, not to mention the Great Knight Heretic himself. I seem to have misjudged you", Licht stepped forward.

"You're acting as if we're in some sort of school. I don't give a damn with your assessment on me. All I care about is beating you right now!" Yami tensed his muscles and you could see the outline of a few veins pop out all over his body.

"Brat… you're gonna take care of Creepy-Lines", Yami began.

"You got it!" Asta replied and he moved in place with himself facing Valtos.

"Orange-Hair, you have to keep going at it with Creepy-Muscles again. You've figured something out with your Ki… let's see how far you can take it!" Yami spoke to Lucas.

"First he calls me 'Vangeance's brat' and now 'Orange-Hair'… I do have a name", he initially thought but put that in the back of his mind for now. "I'll do my best!" He replied to the muscular captain and went into position.

Finally, Yami turned to Daisy who was left alone. "Oi… Ribbon-Princess", he began.

Daisy's face turned red as she had never been called such a name before. "R-Ribbon Prin…Princess?!" The mage shook her head and answered, all the while fiddling with her green ribbon she was wearing on the top of her head.

"Your mana's coming back, isn't it? You think you're up for a job of your own?" The Black Bulls Captain spoke, getting his katana out and readying it for battle.

Daisy gulped again and replied. "I… I'll do anything…". The Ice mage had felt useless while watching in the back and wanted to participate in any way.

"Well then… You got that guy getting up again from your Ice Magic. You think you have a round two in you?" He ushered towards Max who had now stood up with the melted ice surrounding him on the floor.

Daisy's eyes widened with shock but quickly returned to normal. "I'll do it!" She ran off.

Yami smiled and turned to face Licht again. "Well then, now that the kids are out of the way… let's let loose for the first time in a long while!" He shouted as his entire body surrounded itself with a dark and eerie aura.

His Dark Magic flared up and his body seemed to grow stronger. Yami used a large portion of his own magic to reinforce his body's physical skill and this was now put to the max.

"It appears I'll have to get serious now. Valtos…", he turned to the mage who nodded as he knew what he had to do. "Draie-", he began as he turned to his right but saw that he was already gone and had begun to fight Lucas.

"Draien…", Licht sighed.

Yami jumped up, "Dark Magic: Absence of Light!"

"He… disappeared?" Licht said as the man vanished right in front of his eyes.

Yami had surrounded himself in a thicker coat of darkness, more prominent that before and his blade turned pitch-black. The cave was still dimly-lit, even with the ceiling completely destroyed that the Dark Magic Yami used made it so he was essentially invisible to the naked eye.

"If I use my darkness like this, I can get the jump on that bastard", Yami said to himself.

With every dark corner of the cave floor, Yami jumped into and basically disappeared. He jumped from the wall to the floor, and to some hanging parts of the roof which still allowed darkness and shadows onto them. It was essential he connected to these dark areas or his spell wouldn't work.

"Absence of Light… huh? Dark Magic really is the complete counter to Light… but that also means Light is the counter to Dark!" Licht moved forward and started to run.

"Finally moving, hm? No matter, this spell has a secondary effect which you'll see… now!" The invisible Yami pointed his black katana towards the direction in which Licht was and a ray of darkness shot out from it, surrounding Licht and trapping him in a closed space.

Licht stopped in his tracks and all he could see was the darkness of Yami's magic. He couldn't see Draien or Valtos and he was completely on his own.

"I see. So, that's your play Yami Sukehiro?" Licht's grimoire flicked to one page and he summoned a spell. "This is a bit risky, but with the power I have it is fine!"

"I need to quicky get in and strike at him. Dark Magic: Dark Cloaked Lightless Slash!" Yami exclaimed as he slashed a ray of darkness at the trapped Licht.

Licht breathed in and out and before the Dark Magic reached him, he had already summoned his spell. "Light Magic: Shining Surge!"

The Light mage formed a bright sphere that he outlined the walls of the dark trap he was encased In. Within one second of it being up, it exploded and countered the Dark Magic spell Yami had made to surround him.

"Damn it!" Yami said as he jumped down to get ready for his next move.

Licht emerged and his body was injured. His own magic spell had ended up hurting him as well.

"My injuries here were the price to pay, but unlike you… I have plenty of mana which means…", he raised his arms.

"You have got to be kidding me", Yami puffed on his cigarette.

"Light Recovery Magic: Healing Light Particles", the robed mage quickly healed his self-sustained injuries and he seemed to look brand new.

Yami started running again and this time with more urgency. "Dark Magic: Dark Cloaked Black Blade" he said as he swung his katana at Licht.

"Are you late for something? You seem to be in a hurry", Licht mocked as he flashed in and out from each of Yami's strikes.

"Yeah, I have to play cards with some folk I met at a tavern and you're taking up my time. I'd appreciate it if you hurried up and lost already". Yami kept on swinging his blade and almost hit the man but he managed to dodge.

"How amusing. My goal is a bit more calculated than mere gambling", Licht replied.

"I've been meaning to ask… your grimoire is clearly from the Clover Kingdom but you want to correct it as you've said. Just what is your end all goal after you've done all that?" Yami asked.

"You've noticed the distortions in this kingdom. You are a foreigner so you now just how bad it is. There are people on their deathbeds because they have no food, yet there are also people who have more than enough food that they throw the excess away. There are children who are yearning for a family to love them, yet there are families who treat their own like scum. Here, we're ranked by the amount of magic we have, but some are also discriminated because of what type of magic, even if it's powerful. That was the case for you, wasn't it, Yami Sukehiro? I know the answer anyway, but to let you know… we, my comrades and I… were born from these distortions and have a right to do what we need to do to make sure these problems are gone… once and for all!" Licht spoke.

Yami scratched his head and then wiped his katana. "Wait, wait, wait. You say you want to correct these problems but aren't you doing exactly the same? You're willing to kill for what you believe in, right?"

"That's enough from you. It seems my words cannot get through to you so I'll answer through battle. I hope you're ready… Light Magic: Light Swords of Conviction!" A plethora of light swords shot out towards Yami.

"That's fine with me. I was never good with words… Dark Magic: Dark Cloaked Black Blade!" Yami started to counter each attack.


"It's nice to see… just how interesting you've become, boy!" Draien shouted as he clashed against Lucas.

"Just what is… your problem?!" Lucas exclaimed, trying to counter with his Light Magic.

In another part of the cave, Lucas and Draien had started their own battle. As they were fighting, they could see and hear the reverberations of Yami and Licht's fight as well.

"Where are you looking, boy?!" Draien leaped in to punch but Lucas quickly dodged.

"I have a name! It's Lucas, so stop calling me 'boy'!" He replied, getting angry.

"Well, Lucas. You seem to have figured something out with the help of that huge captain back there. I want to see just how much you can entertain me!" He laughed as he lunged forwards again. "Kinetic Magic: Gatling Punches!"

Draien launched a barrage of heavy-hitting punches towards Lucas. Each punch would target his body in a quick manner and the power behind them was stronger than any punch he had thrown before.

"I used Ki earlier to help with my Dual Blades and Time Magic. I can feel some sort of flow with them so I'll need to rely on that for now". Lucas closed his eyes and opened them back up a few seconds later. This time, they burned brightly with a darker blue tinge showing he had better control of his Time mana.

Lucas swung his Dual Blades, which were now coated in blue mana, towards Draien's punches to counter them.

"What…? My punches just got slower as I hit his weapons… is this what Max was going on about when we spoke about the Royal Capital mission?" Draien's punches slowed down and he stepped back for a moment.

Instead of backing down, what Lucas saw sent a chill down his spine. He saw Draien's smile grow even bigger than before.

"Now this is what you call interesting! You have another power than your Light Magic, right? You use that power with your weapons?" Draien figured out.

Lucas was silent as he gulped. The sweat on his forehead fell and darkened a part of the cave floor. "Just what is this guy…?"

"Kinetic Magic: Maximum Press!" Draien suddenly rushed forward. His body glowed a bright orange light and it seemed like he vanished into thin air with how fast he was going. He quickly zoomed ahead and kicked at Lucas who was sent backwards by the strike.

"Your other power seems to revolve around slowing things down, so I just turned it up a notch! How are you going to fare with my speed going to the max, Lucas?!" He laughed.

The Light mage slowly got up from the floor. His body shape was imprinted into the wall behind him due to the force of Draien's attack.

"I… I need to pour more of my Time mana into the blades. I don't have complete control but this will just have to do!" He utilised Ki again and viewed the structure of his body and mana. Lucas tried to force more of his Time mana to flow and he did so. However, there were some drawbacks.

A few droplets of blood fell from his nose and to the floor.

"This is like when I tried to force the mana out when I was with Alice! So many problems and they all came from me completely ignoring my Time half in the first place! It's no matter though… I have to do this right now, and I will succeed!" Lucas carried on and ran ahead.

The two clashed multiple times. Draien got many hits in due to his increased speed and power, but there were also instances where Lucas would be able to counter and land some good hits on Draien too.

"Kinetic Magic: Swift Elbow!" The Kinetic mage jumped up into the air and his right elbow became bright orange with magic. Quickly, he went to land on Lucas and was aiming for the head to strike at.

However, Ki let Lucas realise his intentions just before he landed the hit so he put the Dual Blades above his head to counter the elbow.

"Ki really does help… here", Lucas struggled to say as he felt the crushing force of Draien above him. He looked up and saw the mage's dark-blue eyes staring into his own light-blue eyes. He saw his reflection in them and it chilled him.

"Lucas… he reminds me of myself in a lot of ways. At least, how I used to be before", Draien thought as he saw his own reflection in Lucas's light-blue eyes.

The two were at a stalemate and both deflected each other's attacks away.

The Golden Dawn mage was panting as this battle was taking its toll. He was involved in a few battles in a short space of time and his stamina was running out.

This time, instead of Draien repeating the pattern of him charging forwards, he stayed in his place whilst staring at Lucas.

"You. What is your goal?" He asked. This question was asked in a manner that was completely different to which he displayed this entire time. It was in a normal tone of voice.

"My goal? Why do you need to know that?" Lucas asked, wondering about the sudden change.

"C'mon, enlighten me", he asked.

"I want to be the Wizard King… and I want to help every family in the kingdom", Lucas responded sincerely.

There was an air of silence between them. All you could hear were the clashing of swords and magic from Asta's and Yami's battles.

"Hahahaha… Hahahahahaha!" Draien started laughing maniacally.

"What the…?!" Lucas tensed up.

"You… Lucas… you really are something else!" He shouted before smacking his hands together. "Kinetic Magic: Double Uppercut!"


Behind each of the battles, Max had slowly gotten up to his feet and saw what his older brother was doing. His dull, brown eyes looked and saw a changed Draien.

Max was on one knee as he was still feeling the damage from fighting Daisy, so he rested his right arm on his left knee. "Draien… he's getting excited during battle which means…", he shuddered. He then got up on both legs and started walking forwards.

"I need to stop him from going too far… he'll lose himself. I need to help my Big Bro". Max trudged forwards.

However, the person he saw get in his way was none other than the person who had beat him earlier.

"You…!" Max struggled to say.

"That's right, it's me. You couldn't stay down and out, could you?" Daisy said as she blocked Max's view of Draien. She had her hands on her hips and stood tall against the injured Water mage.

"You don't understand. Something bad will happen if Draien keeps on going like this. It's… he's my family so I need to h-help", Max spoke to the Ice mage.

This made Daisy angry. "You have no right to talk about family like that. Do you realise what happened to my younger sister because of your group's schemes?!"

Max grinded his teeth in frustration. "That's right. We damaged another family so that we could complete our mission. But that's… that's…", he looked up to Daisy who looked extremely disgusted. "That's different! Your sister is alive, right? This is bigger than that! Get out of my way!"

"Bigger… did you say? How dare you?" Daisy tensed up and her grimoire flicked through a few pages. "I don't have too much mana so I'm going to make this quick. Ice Magic: Shard Barrage!" She formed a few ice crystals that floated in front of her and fired them at Max.

Max saw the incoming attack and knew he couldn't dodge them in time. "Tsk. I'm not recovered at all. I'll just have to tank this hit…! Water Magic: Sea Urchin's…!" He couldn't form Sea Urchin's Defence in time but managed to cover himself with enough of the barrier to stop him completely fainting from Daisy's attack.

"Lucas-san is in a battle of his own. You can't interfere and I have a job to do!" Daisy said with conviction.

"That's the problem… your precious Lucas-san is in trouble as well if this gets out of hand! She won't listen to my words though… I'll have to play it smartly", he thought.

"Water Creation Magic: Stream of the Serpent", Max surrounded himself in water and it allowed him to travel along without moving a muscle. He was in the middle of this moving stream of water, which was shaped like a serpent, and he was heading towards Draien.

"Oh, c'mon! What do they feed the people in the Eye of The Midnight Sun?!" Daisy used her Skater's Heaven spell to glide across and keep up with Max.

"Leave me alone!" Max shouted.

"Nope. No can do", Daisy replied. "Ice Magic: Froze-!" She struggled. "My mana is about to run out. I need to make this my final attack! Ice Magic: Frozen Storm!"

The Blue Rose mage conjured up weak blasts of ice which she used to freeze the water. It was working and Max eventually stopped moving. The water froze up and cracked straight away which made the Water mage fall to the floor as well.

Daisy panted. "Is it over? Did I get him properly this time?" She said as she looked at the enemy mage who stopped moving.


As this battle between Daisy and Max seemed to close, the bout between Lucas and Draien roared on.

"More of this, Lucas! I want more entertainment!" Draien shouted. He started to dribble from his mouth as if this battle was the best excitement he had in a long time. His eyes sparked a flaring hot orange colour and you could see how pumped up he was getting.

"I… think you need to calm down a bit. This is getting too hectic!" Lucas shouted.

"Nonsense. This… this is what I was looking for! To think you had another power than your Light Magic… and it has something to do with time itself?! Nothing more can be interesting than that!" Draien sped up and unleashed multiple attacks.

Lucas was on the back foot once more. He was trying his best to deal with the onslaught with his Dual Blades, but it was proving to be too much.

"Our initial thoughts were correct… he is definitely unhinged! I need to stop him or I feel something bad will happen! Shall I use a Time Magic spell? I think I need to, but the thing is… do I have access to enough mana? Right now, I'm just using the small flow that I can feel through Ki", he thought but quickly shook his head. "No. That's enough of second guessing. I will do it!"

"Time Magic: Heave-!" He began but was quickly stopped by a kick to his stomach.

Lucas slid backwards and used his weapons to stop himself from moving further backwards. "I need to be quicker!"

"Lucas, Lucas, Lucas. You say you want to be the Wizard King, but where is the conviction? Right now, all I see is someone that's just reacting to whatever happens. Why don't you act first like I do?!" Draien laughed.

The Golden Dawn mage looked at the Kinetic mage. "I don't want to be like you… why are you so interested in how I fight anyway?"

Draien stood still and sighed. "I've said it multiple times but you interest me too much!"

"You keep saying that but all I'm doing is fighting! Besides, don't you have a goal with Licht? It just seems like you're fighting me for no reason!" Lucas exclaimed.

"No Reason? My reason is that I want to fight. Is that not enough for you? I don't care too much about the final goal. I get to fight and that's what I'll do, but… I guess that's it then. If you want this battle to be over with, then I'll end it", his smile slowly softened and his eyes grew darker.

Lucas felt a lump in his throat. "He seems much angrier now".

Draien thought to himself. "I don't want to admit it but he is a good opponent. I need a bit more power to finish him off but how am I-!" He stopped.

Though, just a few seconds before, Max had started to act once more.

"She thinks she got me again but now is my chance!" Max shot a powerful orb of water at Daisy whilst she wasn't looking and made her fall to the floor. "Now!"

Daisy fell and looked to see Max tumbling for Draien. "The heck am I doing?!"

A few seconds went by but they felt like a lifetime for Daisy who was anxiously seeing Max go up to Draien. Suddenly, she stopped running for him as she realised that she failed.

"Draien… Big brother! S-stop this. D-don't you realise what you're doing?" Max pleaded as he grabbed onto the Kinetic Magic user's shoulder.

Draien looked down at his little brother. He was just thinking about how to get more power to defeat Lucas but seeing Max, all bruised and injured, made him stop thinking about it. His eyes relaxed and the orange aura that you could see in them slowly vanished.

"You managed to get up, Max? I guess you have gotten a bit stronger after all", he said as he smiled.

"After all the training… I wanted to make you and the others proud", Max replied. Though, a chill went down his spine remembering just how abusive and intense the training was.

Meanwhile, during the pause in the battle, Daisy quickly ran to Lucas who was panting hard.

"Lucas-san! I'm sorry I couldn't defeat Max again… I didn't pay attention for a moment and in that split second he got here", she frowned.

Lucas looked at Daisy and seeing her calmed him down a bit. "It's… okay. Your mana is gone again, right, so you did the best you could".

"The best I could do still wasn't enough! Captain Charlotte said I'm one of her top Magic Knights and yet… why do I feel so useless?!" Daisy thought to herself. She didn't want to air out her frustrations as she knew nothing could be done.

The Magic Knight duo looked at the two brothers and had no idea what was going to happen. It was seemingly going to be a two versus one situation and for that they needed help.

"This situation is entirely eerie. The change in Draien's personality is a bit…", Lucas began.

"…Drastic", Daisy finished.

A cold breeze of air flew through the cave creating a creepy sound. A few stone walls crumbled again, adding to the debris on the floor.

Draien took Max's arm off from his shoulder and stood to his side. "I'm sorry but I need to fight this guy. Do you think you can back me up?"

A light seemed to shine in Max's eyes. Once, they were dull but now seemed to be full of life and hope.

"Are you sure? You never want me to interfere like this", Max asked.

"I mean… you already interfered so what's the harm?" Draien replied, still smiling.

Lucas focused on Draien as he felt something off. "This… seems bad", he said quietly as he reached for his Dual Blades.

"Are you ready?" Draien asked as he got into his battle stance. His arm started to glow a bright orange colour.

"Y-yes!" Max readied up as well. "He never lets me fight with him! He's acting like he did back then… I'm so happy", he thought.

Daisy looked towards Lucas but what she saw was a frightened expression. "L-Lucas-san are you ready to fight?"

"This is very bad. I can feel it with Ki!" Lucas started running towards the duo. It didn't seem like he wanted to fight them...

... but to do something else.

"That's great, Max", Draien smiled.

Lucas wanted to...

"Okay! Water Creation Magic: Poseidon's Ju-!", Max stopped speaking.

He slowly looked down towards his chest and saw the reason why he was stopped from summoning his spell.

"I knew… something was wrong. I guess I hoped for too… much", Max thought to himself.

Lucas stopped running forwards as he saw that he was too late. "NOOOOO!" He screamed. He wanted to protect Max.

Max slowly turned his head back to face his older brother, Draien. He looked into his eyes and saw that they were as crazy as they were before he joined up with him. The veins on his face seemed to be popping out with how much adrenaline he had. The one thing that stuck with him was the crazed smile he had on his face as he looked his younger brother in his eyes.

Max then felt relief as a weight from his body left. He started to cough up pools of dark-red blood from his mouth and they all stained the floor.

"Big Brother…", he said weakly as he fell to the floor in a heap.

Max had felt his chest explode as he was about to summon his spell. He looked down and saw the arm of the brother, who he loved, right through him.

"I figured out the way to get more power… my magic uses movement and the violent vibrations I felt as I punctured your chest… I can feel my power rising. Kinetic energy is all about movement and motion, and i got plenty from you", he cackled. He looked down at Max who was on the floor. "Thank you for the help, little brother".

As Max's consciousness started to fade, he thought back to when things were different for him and his older brother.


FLASHBACK – 15 YEARS AGO:

A cold winter's day was upon the Clover Kingdom and a small village in the Forsaken Realm was in the middle of its holidays. The people of the village weren't in top shape or had the best items, but the bonds between each and every one of the people were unmatched.

"Is this… the orphanage?" A five-year-old Max thought to himself. He knocked on the double brown doors and waited for an answer.

Max's parents had died a few days ago due to an accident when travelling to sell their goods. They were mere vendors and the job at wintertime proved to be extremely dangerous. Max found out when they didn't return for a week and was told to visit the orphanage.

The doors opened slowly and a boy, five years older than Max, opened the door.

Max saw the boy and a feeling of happiness rose in his heart and the same seemed to happen with the boy that opened the door.

"I… I'm Max. M-my parents died a-and didn't c-c-come back for a week. I-I don't have anyw-where to go", he struggled to speak. The snow falling made him cold and he couldn't form proper sentences.

The boy grabbed Max by his hands and ushered him in to come inside. "Before you freeze half to death, get inside! Can't have your first impression of the place be that you almost died!" The boy smiled.

That interaction was the start of a warm relationship between the two. For the next five to eight years, everything seemed to be good between them. However, it was only limited to the two boys in focus.

The village they lived at was hit with raiders multiple times over the years and it changed the life of the village. Once, they were a happy area but then it turned bad. The money was gone from the village church and many people died as part of the fight.

"Big Brother, Draien… what's going to happen to us?" Max said as he hugged his orphan brother.

"Don't worry. I'll protect you, Max. It's what family does", Draien replied.

The two watched in angst outside the cracks in their barred windows as the raids were ongoing. They saw people die and buildings burned but the two believed all would be fine as long as they had each other.

"I… I hope we'll love each other till the end!" Max said as he tightened his hug.

"Of course, we will", Draien returned the embrace.

FLASHBACK OVER


"I wonder… did you have love for me until the end… Drai…en…", Max closed his eyes as two tears escaped his closed eyes.

"Ah! That was great, Max. You finally managed to be useful for once!" Draien snapped. He felt a surge of power through him and his orange aura glowed brighter than ever.

Lucas ran forwards and he swung his glowing Dual Blades at the murderer in front of him.

"How could you? How could you? He was your little brother and you j-just k-k-killed him!" Lucas screamed.

Daisy reached for Lucas who she saw fight Draien in the distance. "Lucas-san…!" She felt her own tears escape her eyes as she also witnessed the full brunt of everything that occurred. "Unforgivable!"

The Ice mage then focused on Lucas again. "It's the same thing as before. First it was Baro and now Max… he's seen death again and he feels as if it was his fault for not being quick enough!"

Lucas's words and ideals rang throughout his own mind and Daisy's.

"I hate unnecessary violence and I want to change all that to make the world more peaceful. I'd like to face these problems and fix them… and save these people".

Lucas slashed at Draien. "Just why did you kill your brother?! You two are the enemy but surely you have to love your own, let alone your own brother! That death… why did you kill him?!"

Draien replied with a mocking tone. "You think you can get things done in this world without a few sacrifices on the way? Right now, I'm overflowing with power… and you'll see just how strong I am now!"

Draien pushed Lucas away from him and the charged in. "Kinetic Magic: Energy Reversal!" Draien enveloped himself in an intense orange aura which also then surrounded Lucas as they were both in close proximity to each other. Within one second, the energy exploded and Lucas's body flew back and ricocheted off of many surfaces. First it hit the wall behind him, but the energy output was that great that it bounced him off and he hit the floor and the ceiling afterwards.

"Your ideals are completely flawed. You want to rise to the top without any sacrifices yet you idolise the position of the Wizard King. Do you think he's never had to sacrifice anything or anyone?! Thinking like you do cannot be further from your goal!" Draien shouted and seemed very angry at Lucas.

"Lucas-san!" Daisy shouted. "I need to help. I need to help him. If I don't then he'll die and I can't let that happen. He… He's such a great friend and he said he would help me take care of my sisters too…!"

She stopped in her tracks.

"He did say he would be there for them… and I can trust him wholeheartedly! With that… I know what I have to do!"

NOTES:

It all started with Yami vs Licht which will get expanded upon but I wanted a large portion of this chapter to focus on Lucas and Draien, as well as Max and Daisy. We all know what Asta does, so I decided not to add that, even though it is happening (I will add it next chapter so the events are the same/similar).

Now, Lucas has seen two people die in the space of one day. His ideals are challenged and just what will happen - with Daisy, with Lucas, or with Draien?