Chapter 69: The Golden Dawn (Part 2)
Disclaimer:
I decided to change up the timeline of events here, mainly concerning Langris. I realised that in the canon, he fights Yagos and takes his arm away, and then they continue the fight later on when Asta and the others get involved. I kinda forgot that there was a break in between encounters until after I finished writing the Kiten arc… :O (I was watching the episode as well so I don't know how I managed to do so…). Apologies for that, but I still think the rearranging of events makes sense and is still turned out good.
Also, there is a little callback/foreshadowing to something in Chapter 59 in regards to Yuno.
With that said, I hope you enjoy!
"Wow. Now, would you look at that?" A man with medium-length black hair and a goatee said quietly to himself as he sat behind a house and near a dark alleyway.
The man was Lotus Whomalt from the Diamond Kingdom, and he was looking on at the fight between Yuno and Lagus.
"That kid from the dungeon back then… it looks like he's gotten much stronger since getting the little fairy", he gulped. "I wouldn't want to fight someone like that, especially since I'd like to be in one piece when I get back home to my three daughters. I wonder what they would think if I returned in a mess? Oh, who am I kidding? They already call me names and make fun of me when I find the occasional white hair in my beard… Way to make me feel old, children…", he faked a tear.
"Um, Adjutant General?" One of the two hooded figures behind him said with a concerned tone.
"A-Are you alright?" The second of the two asked.
Snapping out of his melodramatic moment, he lightly chuckled. "Oh, don't worry about me…", he said but was quickly cut off by a group of three tree roots emerging from above and resting on the ground beside him. "Hm, what's all this about then?"
Following where the roots came from, Lotus saw a lone figure standing on top of a roof, overlooking the entire town of Kiten. His grimoire was open and glowing whilst multiple tree roots were spreading from all around him.
"That's definitely the Captain of the Golden Dawn and it's clear he's using the spell but what does it even do?" He wondered.
He went to touch the roots but when he did, he felt his magic drain. He jumped back and held his hand as if he figured out what was happening.
"This magic… it started to drain my mana! But then, that means he's using other people's mana for his spell!"
William Vangeance's grimoire glowed an even brighter shade of green and the red and white fur on his mask danced in the wind.
"I couldn't use this spell during the battle with Rhya but here… I can help the others out properly. The preparations are complete!"
The masked mage waved his right arm across his body and the ground started shaking as if an earthquake was occurring. The dark-green roots that were all around Kiten combined and converged together creating the hard trunk of the tree. Within a few seconds, it went as high as the moving, grey clouds in the sky and the tree finally bloomed with huge, glistening leaves, spreading across the entire town.
"World Tree Magic: Great Tree Mistilteinn!"
A smile stretched across the Captain of the Golden Dawn's face as he stood on top of one of the branches of his world tree. He saw his magic spread all across Kiten and that meant he could help easily just by standing in one place. He didn't need to say anything or even conjure any more spells since this one spell was more than enough.
More branches from the world tree shot out and trapped most of the invading soldiers from the Diamond Kingdom. Mere seconds went past and the captain had already captured plenty of enemies within his magic.
"Really?" Langris sighed as he walked through the empty streets of Kiten. His cyan cape rustled behind him in the wind that was breezing through the area. He looked up in the air and saw the majestic tree covering the sky, casting a shadow all over the place.
"There goes the Captain's magic. It looks like even he's getting to have some fun whereas I haven't done anything", he sighed. "Here I was thinking I'd go loose with my magic. It's been quite a while since I've been able to do that so this is rather disappointing…". The Vice-Captain of the Golden Dawn was looking forward to fighting against these Diamond Kingdom invaders as he practically ran off, all by himself, to see if he could find any.
There were still some people in need of help but the Spatial mage didn't seem all thrilled to do so. He walked past them as he felt a sudden chill overwhelm him for the smallest of moments before leaving.
"What was that?" He thought as his mind turned black and white for a second before returning back to normal.
Langris didn't feel anything inherently wrong with him except that perhaps his boredom was playing tricks on him. It couldn't be anything sinister as the man hadn't found anyone at all. So, what was that small and sudden change he felt in him?
"I picked up on one of the Shining Generals and their mana signature but I just couldn't catch up". He thought as he brushed away that weird sensation. "Why is it that when I looked up towards him, I caught the scent of… mucus?" The mage scrunched up his nose just thinking about the horrid smell as he continued on.
"There we go", Yagos said as he flung Lucas out of his slimy bubble that he had just caught him in.
The mage landed on the floor but he wasn't injured at all which surprised him. Though, saying that, there was one disadvantage to being caught in the substance.
"This stinks!" Lucas shouted, trying to brush away the snot-like material from his clothes. "I just got this uniform today as well…", he sighed before he took in his surroundings.
The two were far away from the other Magic Knights as well as any other citizens. The area was pretty much open and spacious with the only people there being them. The houses looked empty and there were nothing like stalls or shops to suggest that people were even here in the first place.
"I see that you're noticing the lack of activity around here", Yagos mentioned. "I did that just for you, you know?"
"What do you mean?" Lucas asked, weirded out by this old man.
"Well, a Magic Knight like yourself wants to protect the people, right? No need to answer that as it was a rhetorical question", the Shining General waved. "I'm being nice and thoughtful to you so that when we fight, there are no outside casualties".
"Is this your way of showing you're not a proper enemy?" Lucas asked.
"Oh, no. Rather, I am definitely a real enemy but one with some morals to my name unlike the other Diamond rats", Yagos chuckled. "All I ask in return is that you provide me with some information… that is, after I beat you".
Lucas squinted at the man as if he was focusing really hard on what he just asked him. He raised one eyebrow showing that he was confused at what was just said.
"What? You want information from me because you don't want to hurt other people?" Lucas repeated just to make sure that what he heard was correct.
"Exactly. I know how you people work in my many years of being a Shining General and the prospect of the people being safe is what you want, correct? Of course, you won't give me what I seek without a fight so this is the compromise that I've come up with". The old man smiled, his huge teeth sticking out.
"You've got to be kidding me!" Lucas shouted back, not happy with what he was hearing. "You say that you're not hurting others but this whole invasion is resulting in so many of Kiten's citizens being hurt!"
Yagos blinked repeatedly with his face turning into one of confusion. "What those other imbeciles do is none of my concern. I'm talking to you, man to man. Don't bring up other people's actions as if they're my own". The Shining General wasn't smiling anymore and it looked like Lucas's words offended him.
Lucas was more gobsmacked than angry. He couldn't understand how Yagos didn't see the hypocrisy in what he was saying compared to what was actually going on throughout Kiten at the hands of his own people.
"You just don't get it, do you? It doesn't look like you'll ever get it. So, I'll just have to defeat you right here and then we'll ask you for informa-!" Lucas tried to speak but a loud shout from the man on the floating slime stopped him.
"Didn't anyone tell you to not argue with your elders, boy?" Yagos shouted. His constant smile was no more and now he was just talking angrily.
The mage from the Golden Dawn just dropped his shoulders and sighed, seeing that he wasn't getting anywhere with this. He wanted to just fight and get this over with and it wasn't only because he couldn't handle the foul smell coming from Yagos's magic. Fortunately, his wish was at the start of being granted since the Shining General made the first move.
"Mucus Creation Magic: Mucus Nail!" Yagos's grimoire flicked to a page and the diluted, green-coloured mucus surrounding him changed shape into a large snail. After this, it started extending multiple tentacles all at Lucas who was standing on the ground.
Lucas noticed the attack in the corner of his eyes and reacted just as Yagos moved. His own grimoire flicked over and a yellow light started glowing around him.
"Light Creation Magic: Energy Whips!" Lucas formed a huge whip of light energy around his left hand and used it to slice the tentacles coming at him into pieces. The loose mucus fell onto the floor, making it smell even more.
"Oh, you have Light Magic? That's quite the rare attribute, boy". But… I don't think it'll be enough to defeat a Shining General", Yagos said plainly as his grimoire turned a page.
"Oh, I'm not letting you make another move!" Lucas shouted, interrupting the old man. He whipped his spell at the ground, giving him the momentum to jump up high and was now level with Yagos.
"Light Magic: Spark-Charged Beam!" He moved the whip to his right hand and raised his left arm up high. There was a yellow glow coming from his palm and it looked like it was getting bigger and brighter as each second went past, collecting more and more light from the setting sun. Eventually, he brought his arm back down and shot the collected light energy straight at Yagos who was still sitting on his snail cloud of mucus.
The powerful blast was heading straight at Yagos but he looked disinterested as he closed his eyes.
"Mucus Creation Magic: Transparent Refraction", he said with a calm voice. As he did, the mucus he was sitting on changed its shape from a snail into a multitude of different, more abstract, shapes to counter the light that was coming at him.
Lucas's attack spell hit the mucus but it just changed shape to bend the light in a different way, sending it into the air and away from himself. At first, the light was coming in a straight line so the mucus changed into an 'L' so that it would hit the middle and shoot up.
Lucas landed back on the floor since he wasn't using his Energy Whips anymore. He looked at his attack spell get easily deflected and thought for a few seconds.
"He can just… do that with my Light Magic?" He sighed, still focused on Yagos who wasn't moving too much. "Hang on… what if I combine my Time with Light? I did it a few times at the Forgotten Forest and I'm much more comfortable with it now so I should be able to do it here…".
"Light Magic: Orbs of Blinding!" Lucas generated five orbs of pure light in front of him, sending them towards Yagos, circling him at very high speeds. The orbs were yellow but had a blue tint around them. The orbs kept exchanging places with each other, blasting through the mucus cloud Yagos was on. However, every time they shot through, the mucus just reformed. Shortly after a full circle, they exploded all at once with Yagos right in the middle.
A huge glow was in the air in the aftermath and it looked like Yagos was finally hurt. Though, when the light subsided, he was just sitting on his cloud like nothing had happened.
"What?!" Lucas exclaimed, shocked at what he was seeing.
"Mucus is quite the interesting thing. You see, it's transparent and lets light through but why is your Light Magic getting deflected instead of passing through? Well, it's all down to how I use my Mucus Magic", Yagos explained.
The Light mage was spamming a few more of these attacks but they weren't working. For some reason, it seemed like Yagos was used to Light Magic and had a counter for it all the time.
When Lucas fired his magic at the Shining General, Yagos thickened his mucus so that less light could pass through it. Since that was the case, the light didn't have much room to pass through so the only thing it could do was deflect, reflect, and refract away.
"Your Light Magic seems quite powerful but it's just unfortunate for you that you came across me of all people. A Shining General that's had quite the experience against different types of Light Magic". Yagos smiled again now that things were moving according to how he wanted.
"Experience?" Lucas asked, annoyed at how easily his magic was countered.
"I'm sure you know a lot about the Diamond Kingdom and our experiments. Well, one of them required Light Magic and well… I was there to help", he replied.
"I won't say this out loud but… this kid's Light Magic is no match for what I had to go through during Professor Ren's experiments…".
FLASHBACK - 10 YEARS AGO:
The clouded, grey skies looked like they were seconds away from a downpouring of rain. The cold wind swept through the open area.
There was a large gathering of nobility and royalty from the Diamond Kingdom all sat down on multiple rows of chairs, facing forwards towards the podium in front. There was a stage right in front of them, outside the kingdom's barracks.
At the front of everyone, sat the King of the Diamond Kingdom. A look of boredom and disinterest plastered all over his messy face. His long, grey beard rested across his legs, rustling in the cold wind that came from the North.
Behind him, sat a few of the Eight Shining Generals. There were a lot of old ones that looked like they didn't have much left in them but there was one particular person sitting at the end of one of the rows. He was wearing all black and had a black tophat on with a wide grin stretched across his face.
A few minutes went by and two men, one around the age of 18, and the other around 24, both walked onto the wooden stage, stopping right behind the podium.
"Thank you for coming today, everyone!" The man with greyed-out, circular glasses greeted. He had messy, blond hair and pale skin. "I'm sure you're all wondering why my colleague and I asked you to come and well, it's a matter of our kingdom's military", he said.
This raised a lot of eyebrows from the audience, especially the king. It was no secret to anyone there that the Diamond Kingdom's military had slowly been getting weaker and weaker and a lot of it was due to the Clover Kingdom's and the Spade Kingdom's rise in power.
"You all know about the experiments we've begun to conduct in the last year or so regarding the combination of grimoires. We are ready to move that on to the practical stage, but… this announcement isn't about that. Here is Professor Ren", he declared as he moved to the side to let his colleague take the lead.
There were some whispers when this other person took a step forward.
"Isn't that the new guy? He seems like he knows what he's doing but…",
"I don't know. He gives me the chills… and that's saying something considering the stuff we do…",
This other man was wearing a long, white, doctor's overcoat that went all the way down to his white shoes. His pure, yellow hair was also messy just like the other person but it was much longer and extended down to his neck which had a stethoscope around it. He had purple eyes and his smile never faded throughout the time he was on stage. He wore a light-blue shirt with a black tie and was also wearing some light-brown trousers.
"As Morris just told you, we're making advancements in our research but this particular announcement has to do with…", he paused. "... Invading the other three kingdoms", he said calmly.
Though 'calm' wasn't exactly the reaction it got from the audience. They were shouting in disbelief.
"Our armies are in ruin and this man is talking about a full-on invasion?!"
Ren waited for the audience to quieten down, closing his eyes until it was silent for him to continue.
"The plan for this is… to create the ultimate soldier. An idea that surpasses the soldiers using dual grimoires. Yes, this project is to create the person that will lead the invasion itself with armies behind him, armed with modified grimoires. And the magic this leader will have is none other than…
… Light Magic".
FLASHBACK - SEVEN YEARS AGO:
"This isn't good enough!"
Professor Ren was shouting at a glass wall towards the old man on the other side of it. The two were in a closed-off room with the yellow-haired man on one side. With Ren, there were other researchers and doctors taking notes on what was happening whilst on the other side was one of the Shining Generals, laying on the floor and injured with wounds all over his body.
"Yagos, what the hell are you doing? Get up and finish the session!" Ren shouted, stabbing his pencil at the glass, creating mini scratches and dents across it in frustration. "You're the one that wanted to help me… so, help me".
Yagos was in a heap on the floor. It didn't look like he had enough energy to stand up but the idea of Professor Ren's punishments were enough for him to carry on trying so that he wouldn't get on his bad side and experience them again.
He stood up and got back to his fight but the duel wasn't returned.
"Excuse me, Professor. It looks like the test subject isn't going to make it", one researcher said.
"We should bring in the next one", another researcher added.
Ren shook his head. "The test subject can rest when I say it's okay to rest", he said, gritting his teeth.
"It's not a matter of if they need rest or not. Number 10 will die!"
Ren turned around, fury present in his raging, purple eyes. The two researchers behind him stopped talking since it was useless and so the experiment carried on.
"Go on, Yagos", Ren instructed.
Yagos looked in front of him to the test subject that was oozing blood from his eyes. They had no shoes on and the clothing they did have on was ripped all over. Still, they brought their grimoire up and started using Light Magic.
Or so they tried.
Once they used the magic again, the subject collapsed and stopped breathing.
"That's another one… dead. The Light Magic they used was powerful but I guess it wasn't enough to satisfy him. It's a good thing we're not short on guys with Light Magic thanks to Ren's power but… they all end up like this", Yagos noted,
There was silence where Ren and his researchers stood and it was only broken by the Professor's next three words.
"Bring in Number 11".
FLASHBACK - END
"Look, I don't want this to go on further so why don't you just admit defeat and I can ask what I want to ask?" Yagos said, waving at Lucas. He clearly didn't see him as a threat so he was relaxed.
Lucas's blue eyes glowed brighter as he heard this. "Admit defeat?" Lucas repeated. "I'm part of the Golden Dawn. I've been rewarded for my efforts with a rank up and the squad uniform. If I admit defeat then there's no way I can become the Wizard King!"
He needed to defeat Yagos but the enemy was constantly on his guard. That was when a large shadow covered the entire area, the sound of something like tremors filled their ears. Both mages looked up and saw the reason for such a change.
"Captain Vangeance's magic…", Lucas widened his eyes. His mouth was wide open as he was so surprised. "I haven't actually seen him do something like this so this is rare", he praised. Quickly, he lowered his head and thought about the battle once more.
"Light Magic isn't working so I'll use Time Magic but since he's on guard, I need an opening…!" Lucas got an idea on how to do just that and so, he began acting it out.
"Light Binding Magic: Coils of Trapped Light!" Lucas summoned thick coils of light that went towards Yagos in the hopes of trapping him in place.
They shot out and circled the man, trying to wrap him up but Yagos easily stopped it using his Mucus Magic. However, as he was focused on that particular spell, Lucas had launched himself up in the air once more using his Energy Whips and was behind the Diamond soldier.
"Light Magic: Angelic Strike!" With a closed fist, he reached ahead with his left hand and almost hit Yagos with it.
However…
"Mucus Creation Magic: Mucus Nail!" The mucus-shaped snail formed once again and the tentacles came shooting out, hitting Lucas, or so he thought.
Right before Yagos summoned his creation spell, Lucas used Angelic Strike on the ground as he had landed just a split second before. When he did, he quickly retreated away as the thick dust from his attack on the ground started to spread in the air.
"I've got you now, boy. I can feel you with the snail's tentacles", Yagos smiled.
"Oh, really?" A voice came from behind Yagos.
Turning around, Yagos saw Lucas but that was impossible. He had him in his grasp with Mucus Nail.
"What on earth is going on?" Yagos asked, bewildered at seeing Lucas behind him.
"Look closely at what your snail has picked up on", Lucas pointed.
As the dust subsided, Yagos saw what the reality was. His spell had actually caught onto one of Lucas's Coils of Trapped Light and Yagos mistook it for the Golden Dawn mage.
During the few seconds that Yagos was preoccupied, Lucas reached into his grimoire and while he grabbed the Dual Blades, he replied back to the Shining General.
"Let's see how you do against this". Lucas said, pointing the Dual Blades right at Yagos.
"Loo-!" Yagos began to say but the flash of yellow and blue light that appeared right in front of him shut him up.
Lucas had used both his Light and Time mana together to increase his speed. Before, he was just using them with his spells that Yagos had a counter to. However…
"If I use both of my attributes on myself to increase my speed and then… use my Time Magic as part of the offence…!"
Yagos widened his eyes upon hearing Lucas mention that he also had Time Magic. Though, it was too late to react as the Dual mage had already made his move.
"Take this!" Lucas swung his weapons, both infused by his Time Magic, making them sharp and effective. He slammed them down through the mucus cloud at first so that Yagos would finally be off balance and then switched to the blunt side to smack across the old man's face as he was falling.
After this combination of attacks, Yagos had ended up on the floor with his Mucus Magic all over his face, just like Lucas had been at the start of their battle.
"You wanted information?" Lucas repeated, wiping some of the excess mucus off his clothes. "No, not from me. What we need is information from you, starting from..!"
"Mucus Magic: Oozing Surfer!" Yagos shouted from on the ground. A bubble of the thick, green substance formed around him and he slid away as quickly as possible and far from Lucas. "I have to complete my mission and return to the Professor…!"
"Oh, no you don't!" Lucas shouted. His body glowed yellow and blue as he increased his speed and chased after the escaping Yagos.
Melody was calm as she closed her eyes, spinning her sapphire ring around. However, she stopped and spun it back, reopening her eyes, looking around at the five hostages caught up in Brocks' Clay Prison.
"Not yet", Melody said internally.
"Oh? It LOOKS like you're going to focus on the hostages first! Well, you can do that but it's not like I'm going to make your LIFE any easier, HAHAHA!" Brocks shouted from right in front of her. "Red Clay Magic: Rolling Rock Impact!"
The Shining General was covered in an armour of thick, red clay and was rolling forwards like a predator chasing its prey or in this instance, a rock rolling down a street.
Melody quickly jumped away from the incoming boulder-like man but it wasn't just a simple jump. Looking closer, her feet were standing on something invisible but the air around them was vibrating like it was a beating heart.
Brocks crashed into a nearby building but quickly turned around, uncurling himself. He looked at Melody who was now lightly bouncing in the air but the Shining General wasn't going to let something like that stop him from his fun.
Continuing just like he wanted to, he rolled forwards again but bounced off the ground to make sure he would hit Melody.
"Whoops", she said as she easily dodged the second wave from Brocks.
As she was dodging, she was also tending to the hostages that were trapped in the clay pillars that had risen up from the ground.
"Are you guys alright?" She asked. It was like she wasn't even focused on the battle at hand and just decided to help these people instead.
"Um, we… we're okay, I think", one lady said. "H-How did you do that?" She asked, pointing at the purple-haired Magic Knight's feet.
"My Sound Magic can be used in a lot of different ways. I used it on my feet so that I can easily move around. It looks like I'm walking in the air but I'm actually using sound waves that constantly hit the ground to help me", she explained.
Melody removed some of the red clay from around their arms so they could finally move them. It looked like a lot of them had different wounds all over their arms and Melody noticed this.
"How long were you trapped in these pillars for?"
"N-Not long. That guy came here and just… trapped us without even giving us a second to react. He raised us up from the ground… maybe five minutes after you arrived…", one man replied.
As the other hostage explained things, Brocks stopped rolling and turned around again. There was clear annoyance and anger present on his face and he made sure Melody heard what he had to say.
"Are you really just going to IGNORE me?" Brocks shouted from the end of the street.
Melody finally turned her face to look at the enemy, and replied.
"Um… you gave me an option on what to do first, help them or fight you. I ch-chose to help and now you're getting angry with me…?" The Sound mage shrugged her shoulders, cowering ever so slightly.
She turned around and helped the first hostage out. She pressed her palms against the red pillar and lightly passed some Sound Magic through it, making the entire thing vibrate and crumble down onto the floor. Melody had her arms around the lady so that she would be safe.
Looking at the next hostage, Melody tried to do the same with them but Brocks provided something else for the Golden Dawn member to think about.
"Red Clay Creation Magic: Big Boar Rampage!" Brocks sat on top of a huge boar made entirely out of red clay and was using its height and power to rush ahead towards Melody. It looked like the young lady was going to dodge just like she had done twice already but seeing a little shift in direction from Brocks, alerted her to something else.
"You think you can just ignore ME?" Brocks laughed as his boar switched direction to target the first hostage that Melody saved.
She was seconds away from becoming a casualty and Melody knew she had to do something. Instead of going to attack Brocks, she did something more defensive which protected the man's target.
"Sound Binding Magic: Vibrative Barrier!" A clear, spherical barrier formed around the person Brocks was about to hit. Due to sound waves being colourless, Brocks didn't see anything happen so he kept on charging on his magic.
As the boar hit the barrier, it went flying backwards with Brocks falling off and onto the floor. The barrier vibrated at just the right moment to create some energy and feedback to transfer right onto the enemy. Again, just like with a lot of Melody's magic, it was like a beating heart.
"That was… close. I need to help the others quickly while he's down", Melody thought to herself. It was clear this man was dangerous so she had to focus on the others.
One-by-one, she helped the next three people down, instructing them to run to the side. As they did, she formed her binding spell around them to make sure they would be alright for the time being.
Slowly, as if time started to slow down, she turned around to see Brocks back up and ready to start fighting again. It was like he lived for the fight and seeing Melody not give him the time of day angered him more and more.
"Fine. If YOU don't want to fight ME, then just stay there as I come to KILL you!" Brocks shouted, forming a hard shell of red clay all around him. Though, instead of him rolling around to attack, he got bigger and grew much taller in size.
"Red Clay Creation Magic: Brilliant Armour's Heavy Artillery!" A shadow was cast over most of the street with him blocking the sunlight reaching down. He was almost as tall as one of the houses but as the seconds went by, he surpassed that.
"NOW, let's see if you can just stay calm in this situation!" Brocks laughed as he reached for the Sound Mage with his large, red-clay arms.
"My turn", Melody said to herself as a circle of glowing, white strings formed around her body. The mage's two ponytails switched over once more and were resting on her right shoulder. She had spun the sapphire ring and quickly opened her glowing, green eyes.
"Sound Magic: Destructive Round Beats!" She shouted, her voice sounding aggressive. The glowing, musical strings around her started producing devastating sounds that slowly broke apart the incoming two arms from Brocks.
The Red Clay Magic was crumbling as each musical string sent out violent vibrations in its direction. Since the musical strings were in a circle, they were spinning around and were easily creating enough sound to give Melody a chance to attack.
"HAHAHA! It looks like you're ready to fight me!" The man with the afro smiled, not really caring that his magic was countered. He went to grab the mage again but quickly this time.
Melody, not wanting to stand around and wait for it, took the chance to jump in the air again using her Sound Magic.
"This is quite fun!" She shouted as she jumped and landed on one of the outstretched arms of Brocks' magic. Melody kicked her right boot against it to get rid of some of the clay residue but stopped as it was pointless considering what she was going to do next.
"So, Brocks. You wanted a fight but are you sure you picked the right opponent?" Melody asked, one hand on her hip.
"HUH?!" He replied, clearly not happy with the insinuation that he couldn't handle her.
Melody ran up across the arm and towards the enemy's face that was covered with red clay. Since Brocks' arms were already occupied by him trying to grab her at first, Melody had a free chance at attacking him. Within seconds, she reached where she wanted and used the same spell again but circled around the man's armoured head.
"Sound Magic: Destructive Round Beats!"
Violent vibrations were created by the musical strings moving back and forth at high speeds, sending sound waves at the Shining General from all directions. He had his eyes closed and was gritting his teeth in pain.
Just then, a large shadow emerged and darkened the area. Green leaves fell from the sky and landed on the floor beneath the two mages who were in the middle of a battle.
Melody looked up as the green glow from the tree met her own green eyes.
"The Captain's magic never ceases to amaze me", she said to herself, getting slightly distracted.
A few seconds went past and then Brocks opened his mouth to scream. Though, his scream wasn't from the pain but because of what he was forced to do.
The Brilliant Armour's Heavy Artillery spell exploded outwards, sending Melody crashing down onto the broken and red clay-ridden floor.
"Gah!" She shouted as she landed, right in front of the five people that she had saved. Fortunately, they were protected by the Vibrative Barrier she had put up before she started to fight.
Brocks emerged from the confines of his Red Clay Magic and just retreated away from Melody, cursing something under his breath.
"You idiot, Brocks! I thought I could get away with having a bit of fun but who knew I'd come up against someone like that?! No matter, seeing that tree in the sky reminded me of what my actual job was. Yes, it's to defeat… the Captain of the Golden Dawn!"
Melody slowly got up from the floor, her arms shaking as she tried to prop herself up. She saw the Shining General disappear in the far distance, riding his boar.
"Oh, no you don't…!" She coughed, standing up once again. The Sound mage started to rush off in the direction of her enemy but a few familiar voices from behind her made her turn her head around.
The trio of voices belonged to Klaus, Hamon, and Shiren.
"Oh, it looks like the Shining General really took you by surprise there, Melody!" Hamon smiled as he waved.
Melody, different from her usual self, replied in anger. "No way a guy like him surprised me! You help these guys here while I go take care of that man!"
"Woah, hang on there, Melody. I know you prefer to work alone but right now, you're in a team so we should work together on this one". Klaus proposed an idea to his teammate but instead of listening, she was already far away and running in Brocks' general direction.
"I don't have time for this!" She said to herself. She opted to run ahead, ignoring her teammates behind her.
"W-Wait!" Klaus reached out but it fell on deaf ears. He shook his fist in frustration.
The newly-arrived trio wore a set of poker faces seeing Melody act like that.
"She's usually so sweet. Why did she act all aggressive there?" Hamon asked, raising a finger against his chin, scratching it.
"You make it seem like you know her quite well, Hamon", Shiren added, still looking in the direction Melody disappeared off to.
"Yeah, none of us have even talked to her before", Klaus shrugged his shoulders, recovering from his anger.
There was silence from Hamon so the other two reached their heads forwards to see what the matter was. What they saw from the Glass mage was something quite unusual.
His face was red as if he was blushing. He had flinched ever so slightly when Shiren alluded to him knowing her but who knew it was due to a reaction like this?
"Hamon? Wait, do you actually know her?" Klaus asked, intrigued.
The glutton shook his head around 10 times before calming down. "Ohoho! That's not like me, is it? Oh, you were asking about Melody? I'm sorry but I was just distracted by the Captain's World Tree Magic, ohohoho!"
Klaus and Shiren just accepted it, not thinking twice about what Hamon was actually thinking about.
"Um…", a group of voices called out from the side.
The mages turned their heads and saw five people all behind a house. It was the hostages that Melody had saved earlier, wondering what they should do now.
"Oh, that's right. Melody ran off and left these guys here", Klaus walked over.
"Let us help", Shiren said to them.
"Yup", Hamon added.
"Let's take it to the skies, brat from the Golden Dawn!" Lagus smiled as he flew up on his lightning bird.
"Better than standing around", Yuno said plainly. A page turned in his four-leaf grimoire, and the mage summoned his spell. "Wind Creation Magic: Swift White Hawk!" Yuno's own transport spell formed in front of him. It was the shape of a large hawk and it took the user straight up and level with the Shining General.
"Lightning Creation Magic: Thunderbird Warrior: Air-Splitting Magic Bow!" Lagus shouted as the same, large bow and sets of arrows formed around his lightning bird. "You were good at reacting to my spell when you were standing still, but can the same be said when you're in the air?"
Lagus's arrows fired out from all directions as the two mages started their battle in the skies of Kiten. The Diamond soldier motioned his arm forwards and more and more arrows kept forming and firing, repeatedly.
"You're talking too much", Yuno replied, focused on what was going on in front of him. A barrage of lightning arrows were headed straight for him but he remained calm. "Wind Magic: Towering Tornado!"
A large tornado started spinning in the air right in front of Yuno. As Lagus's arrows hit, the tornado simply brushed them away, destroying them in the process as little sparks of electricity fell down onto the ground.
"Beautiful magic, once again. But I wonder if your speed is up to the task?" Lagus smiled, appearing from behind Yuno this time. "Lightning Creation Magic: High-Voltage Driving Lance!"
Lagus held his arm out and a blue lance made entirely of lightning formed around it. The man held its handle and went to hit Yuno with the sharp point of the weapon that was spinning around at a high speed.
"Bell", Yuno said, not turning around to face the opponent.
Bell materialised again but behind Yuno. Instead, she was the one facing Lagus. The little spirit could pack a punch by herself and she could showcase that thanks to her host.
"Wind Spirit Magic: Hidden Tailwinds!" She shouted.
It didn't look like anything happened but Lagus started to slow down as he felt a pull on his body from behind him.
"Huh? What's going on?!" Lagus shouted, panicking.
Instead of slowing down, now he was being pulled backwards as if something physical had grabbed onto him.
"Hehe!" Bell giggled, sitting on Yuno's shoulder. "I've never been able to use that spell before but being with someone like Yuno has made me even stronger! I hope you enjoy the wind pushing and pulling you around!"
"Lightning Magic: Static Needle Swipe!" Lagus responded with a slice of his arm in Bell's direction. As he swiped, a sparking, blue needle shot out and exploded, in front of both Yuno and Bell.
Thankfully for them, Yuno had already begun to fly away on his Swift White Hawk to avoid getting hit but a few lone sparks had managed to hurt Bell a bit.
"Oh, you're in for it now!" She screamed, rolling up her non-existent sleeves and making angry faces at the enemy.
"Calm down, Bell. There's still something I'd like to use with your help", Yuno said, trying to calm her down.
Sylph turned her head around, stars in her eyes. "Wow, already?!"
"I don't know what you two are constantly muttering about but it's not really something you should be doing during a battle, right?" Lagus said, closing in on them.
"Lightning Creation Magic: Sparking Blade!" Now, instead of a lance, Lagus formed a large sword on the opposite hand. It was a bright, blue blade but the tip of it was generating its own electricity so it was quite the violent spell. Lagus even moved his own face away from it so that he wouldn't be caught in its sparks.
Yuno flew around on his hawk while dodging the slashes that came from the enemy. Bell was right beside him and the two spoke through their Host-Spirit connection.
"He's using a sword as a weapon now. I think we can use our magic to counter it", Bell proposed.
"Hm. Actually, let's give our new spell a try. We've been working hard on it ever since coming back from the Forgotten Forest", he smiled.
"Oh, so we're going head on? I like the idea!" Bell pumped her fist.
Lagus grew angrier as the time went on, seeing Yuno just fly around in circles. "You call this a fight?!"
"Sorry about that!" Bell shouted, grabbing Lagus's attention.
"I'm not speaking to you, pipsqueak", Lagus retorted.
"Huh?! Why you little…!" Bell rolled her hands into fists and motioned as if she was going to punch him.
"Bell, if I have to tell you to calm down one more time…", Yuno sighed.
"Hmph, sorry…", she pouted.
"Anyway…", Lagus sweat-dropped. "Now that that's over, let's see who will really win this fight!"
The Shining General increased his speed with his Thunderbird Warrior, swinging his Sparking Blade behind him, ready to slash at Yuno.
The Wind mage was also closing in but from a downwards angle on his transportation spell. He focused on the weapon Lagus was holding as well as the enemy himself. His grimoire next to him opened up to a page and the writing within started glowing.
"Wind Creation Magic: Heavy White Blade!"
A huge sword made entirely out of the flowing wind formed right in front of Yuno. The sharp blade itself was the biggest part of the weapon, but it also had two, smaller, sharp blades sticking out from the side around where the handle would be. Wind was swirling all around it, moving in between the sharp edges.
Lagus swung his weapon but it was immediately rendered useless as the wind around Yuno's own weapon stopped him from moving his sword.
Yuno, without waiting a second longer, stabbed the wind blade right into Lagus's upper chest and near his shoulder, sending him all the way down onto the floor.
As Lagus was falling, he screamed and looked up at the Wind mage who defeated him. He was getting smaller and smaller as the distance between them grew bigger.
"How did I… lose to you? My… magic is beautiful compared… to yours…", Lagus asked, reaching his arms forward, as if he needed a response.
"You kept going on about beauty in a battle like it matters. Strength is the deciding factor and it's simply whoever's the strongest that wins", Yuno replied.
Lagus's final actions were slamming against a hard roof on one of the houses, crashing down all the way onto the floor.
Yuno landed gracefully on the floor with Bell and the group of people that he was protecting earlier cheered loudly for him.
"That new spell works like a charm, Yuno!" Bell smiled. "But you never did tell me the inspiration behind it".
"That's true. Using one of the blades from my Wind Blades Shower during the fight with Rhya gave me the idea to use more of a hands-on type of weapon. My magic works well at long-medium range so I was wondering how a short range weapon would work", Yuno explained.
Bell tilted her head. "Hm, but what we worked on fits more with your usual style of fighting".
"Yeah, it ended up being like that but with this spell, I can manoeuvre it easily making it better to use in certain situations", he replied.
Suddenly, a noise, much louder than what the crowd were making, filled their ears. Yuno sighed as he knew just what, or rather who, was making it.
"WOW, YUNO! Th-That was amazing! You didn't even get hit once and when you made your first real contact, you defeated that guy!"
Yuno walked towards the person and, just as he thought, it was no other than Asta.
"I thought I recognised your annoying voice", he said as he stopped right in front of him.
"It's only been…", Asta paused as he tried to count the number of days or weeks, or maybe even months on his fingers. He was struggling to do so as both of his arms were heavily bandaged up and in slings. "... Um, well, forget about that! Are you telling me you forgot the sound of my voice?!"
Yuno didn't return the hyperactivity but it wasn't just because that wasn't in his character. It was more the fact that he kept staring at the magicless mage's injuries.
"Asta, what on earth happened to you?" Yuno asked, concern evident in his voice.
The Black Bull raised his arms and put them down again. "Oh, these? It's really nothing", he laughed.
From behind Asta, two others appeared and walked up next to him.
"It really wasn't nothing, Asta. You fought against one of the Third Eye, you know?" The young man with light-brown hair spoke first, putting a hand on the Bull's shoulder.
The other person didn't really speak at all but was just staring at Yuno. Her green eyes turned into stars as she scanned the mage up and down.
"It… It's him! My meal-saving prince!"
Bell turned her head to look at the young lady that appeared and tilted her head. "Hm? What's with that look of… admiration, is it?"
Yuno didn't notice her staring but did focus in on the mention of the Third Eye. "Oh, I'm guessing your mission at the Water Temple ended up in you fighting one of those three guys".
"It sure did! Wait, hang on… you're acting like you were there yourself!" Asta noted.
"We also fought one of them during our mission… but we didn't end up a mess like you", Yuno teased.
"Haha, well, I'll try to be better next time!" Asta smiled. "Oh, by the way, these are my teammates. Meet Finral and Miz Charmy", he introduced.
"Yo", Finral waved, sticking his two fingers out to form a peace sign to which Yuno replied with a nod of his head.
Charmy didn't say much but Yuno spoke anyway.
"Oh, I met Charmy during the whole zombie invasion. She helped me defeat that old hag", he explained.
Suddenly, putting a halt to their conversation, the disgusting smell of mucus quickly filled the area. Though, the smell was going to be the least of their worries as a wave of thick mucus filled the area, pulling in the group of people that had been cheering for Yuno.
"Huh?!" Asta shouted, not realising what just happened.
A bruised and wounded old man wearing all black came into the area sitting on top of the mucus, looking very angry and agitated.
"I went to complete my mission but just… remembering that brat with Light and Time magic made me so… angry! I have to kill a few people before I return home so why don't I just… start with these people right here!" He shouted.
"Mucus Creation Magic: Mucus Nail!" The mucus turned into a snail-shape and when Yagos summoned it, the people he had trapped inside started screaming in pain.
Asta, Yuno, and the others took a step back.
"Light and Time Magic means you fought against Lucas! He clearly defeated you, seeing as you're in a state like that, so why don't you just give up instead of making things worse", Yuno said as he raised his voice.
"Ah, yes… it was Lucas who did this to me even when I had the perfect counter to his Light Magic. What a pain he was… and even now he's probably on my tail like a rat…", Yagos cursed. "I'll just keep doing this until…!" He tried to talk but an eerie, dark-blue and grey energy met and sliced through him out of nowhere, stopping the old man's train of thought and his eyes tensing as if he was about to scream.
From the opposite end of the street, stood another member of the Golden Dawn. He had light-brown and well-kept hair with a huge smirk on his face. He stared at Yagos but it looked like he had already casted his spell since his grimoire was open and he wasn't moving.
"Finally. I found the guy I've been tracking… It's not like I care about what happens to those people you've trapped in there but I really just want to use my magic!"
The person was the Vice-Captain of the Golden Dawn, Langris Vaude and he had just used his magic to remove Yagos's right arm, replacing it with a stream of blood pouring out from it.
NOTES:
The fights just keep going on and on, right? Haha, this is fun writing all this action and I hope you enjoyed it.
I decided to focus more on each of the three Shining Generals since they really weren't important at all in the canon material. It's not to say they'll be important here, but it does give me a lot of freedom and leeway on whatever I want to do with them.
Melody showed her aggressive side to more of the Golden Dawn and I wonder what could happen…?
Yuno vs Lagus wasn't that long but I still think I did well there considering I did extend the other Shining General fights way more.
We have the return of Bakasta!
