Chapter 73: Only Lead To Follow
The morning after the Black Bulls' BBQ celebration night…
"Good morning, everyone!"
Asta shouted as loud as he could after going down the stairs and entering the common area where all the Black Bulls would usually be hanging out.
The Anti-mage had gotten ready as well as he could and didn't think of anything else before rushing down to get on with his day. However, as he turned the corner and shouted, there was absolute silence apart from the very quiet burning of the end of Yami's cigarette bud.
Yami, not noticing, or probably not caring enough to notice, flipped the pages of his newspaper as he sat in the corner of the room.
"Good morning, Captain Yami… where is everyone?" Asta asked, still looking around to see if Grey was hiding or if Vanessa was asleep on the floor somewhere.
The Dark Magic user slowly looked up and replied with the cigarette still in his mouth. "Beats me. I heard talk of them going out but it's not like I followed up on it".
"But you're the captain…", Asta sighed. "What about Lucas and Daisy? Did they head back?"
"They sure as hell didn't spend the night here", Yami replied, turning another page.
After this, Asta walked around the base for the next few minutes, wondering where on earth everyone had gone. He checked the kitchen for Charmy, checked the Magic Beasts cage for Luck or Magna, and even checked the bath for Gordon since he likes to be in there.
"Do you have any idea where they could be, Nero?" Asta asked to which he just got a tired 'hm' from the bird as it snuggled up on top of his head.
He returned to the ground floor but then he noticed something, etching a smile on his face.
He put his back to the side of one of the staircases. "Ooh, I sense someone's Ki! Is that what we're doing - a game of Hide and Seek?" He smiled, slowly tiptoeing to the glass window to look outside.
"That's the last pair", Finral said as he hopped out of one of his spatial portals.
"I sure hope they find something that helps. We just have to!" Noelle said as she pumped her fists.
Asta was confused as he peeked at the two of them from inside. "Noelle and Finral? I wonder what they're doing?" He said quietly to himself.
"Asta's speech last night was inspiring for all of us and no one could sleep. As soon as the sun rose, all of them were getting ready to leave. I mean… even without the speech they'd go searching", Finral smiled.
"Wait, they heard me? Then that means…", Asta realised.
"We have a good chance, I reckon. Luck and Magna went to a dungeon in a Grand Magic Zone near the Forsaken Realm of all places. Gauche and Gordon went to research at the Royal Library, and Charmy and Grey went exploring for magical herbs. I'm not sure where Vanessa went but she left before everyone else and she wasn't alone", Finral explained.
Noelle nodded. "That's true. Daisy wouldn't leave her alone last night asking her so many questions. It's a shame we don't know where they went though".
"As for Lucas, he said he'd be joining us after he asks Captain Vangeance", the nobleman added.
"I doubt he'd let him go. The Golden Dawn aren't very friendly with the Black Bulls bar a few", the Silva sighed.
"Well, whatever the case, it's all to find a cure for Asta's arms. I'm sure with everyone on the job, we'll be able to do it!" Finral raised his fist, determined.
"It feels so sneaky though but I understand why. If we told Asta what we're doing then the meathead would tell us not to worry about him", Noelle waved her arms as if she was brushing away the idea. "But… it's because he's one of us that we just have to do this".
At this point, Asta turned around and walked away from the window, past Captain Yami, and out one of the backdoors. He was silent for the time being and kept replaying what Finral and Noelle were saying over and over.
He stopped as he reached a small clearing and another set of words filled his head.
"You filthy little rat that wandered into the wrong place".
"He's a peasant from God knows where".
"You can't do a thing in this world".
Asta thought about all the times he was put down and discriminated against for being a peasant and having no magic. Nero brushed his hair with both wings and, after a while, Asta raised his head and his misty, green eyes stared into the blue sky.
"I… wasn't blessed with any magic and that always frustrated me. But I sure was blessed with amazing friends…".
The ashen-haired Black Bull's eyes teared up and were very close to falling. His body trembled as he stopped himself from full-on crying. He began to form a smile on his face as he processed everything around him.
His friends were doing all they could to help Asta and he thanked them from the bottom of his heart.
Inside the base, through the door that Asta had left open, sat Yami who had finished reading his newspaper. He folded it and went to leave the room through a different exit. Before leaving, he turned around to where Asta was and nodded ever so slightly.
"Don't worry, kid, you'll get through this. Now… I guess I'll go see what Julius wants from me this time".
Back where Noelle and Finral were, they were getting impatient with waiting around.
"Lucas said he'd come back here but we're wasting time right now", Noelle tapped her foot on the ground repeatedly.
"I'm sure he'll be at the place in a few minutes", Finral replied, trying to calm the royal down.
"You're saying that but aren't you supposed to be checking through your portal? What if he's just waiting at the designated spot and you just haven't bothered to check since you're so lazy", Noelle shrugged her shoulders, turning her head away from the noble.
"... Why are you talking like that to your senior…?" He said defeatedly. "Fine. I'll open up a portal but I doubt he'd be ready right n-".
Finral was made to eat his words. As soon as he opened the portal connecting the Black Bulls to the Golden Dawn, out popped Lucas.
Noelle slowly turned her head back to Finral and raised an eyebrow. "You were saying?"
"Come on…", the noble huffed.
Lucas, looking around, saw that there were only two Bulls around.
"Hi. I thought there would be more of us?" He said.
"A lot of the others have gone off. We were waiting for you", Noelle replied.
"Yeah, I was waiting for a while before the portal opened up. I thought that maybe Finral forgot", he said as he looked at the purple-eyed Black Bull.
Finral looked at the ground as if he was about to burst with frustration. "Yeah, yeah, anyway…!" He shouted. "I'm guessing Captain Vangeance gave permission for you to come?"
Lucas nodded. "Yeah, about that…".
FLASHBACK - LAST NIGHT:
The night when Lucas and the others learned about Asta's injuries and the ancient curse on his arms. The Dual mage had said goodbye to the Black Bulls before heading back to his own base. Instead of going to his room to rest for the night, he spoke with William Vangeance in his office.
"Sorry, Lucas, but I can't permit something like this".
"But Captain…", Lucas tried to ask but the masked mage quickly stood up from his desk, startling the teenager.
"I understand that you're friends but something like that is a problem for the Black Bulls to solve. Besides, do you or any of Yami's squad have leads on any concrete solutions?" He asked, prompting Lucas to back down. "I can't just send you there for who knows how long on some wild goose chase".
It was a clear, night sky and the full moon was shining high. It was seen through one of the captain's open windows. Lucas stared at it as the World Tree mage was about to close the blinds but then he remembered a conversation that Vanessa and Daisy had just an hour or two earlier.
"Actually… There is some sort of lead that Vanessa, one of the Black Bulls, had. I don't think she told anyone else but Daisy kept pestering her about it so she was basically forced to say it", he mentioned. This brought the captain's full attention but now his eyes were under a dark shadow behind his mask.
"Vanessa…", William repeated. It was as if he was trying to remember who she was. After a few seconds, he raised his head. "She's the witch, correct?"
"Uhh, I guess?" Lucas replied, not really knowing what this meant. "If you mean if she dresses like one and sometimes wears a pointy hat then it's true".
William chuckled. "I forgot that Lucas hasn't had any experiences with witches yet. Dorothy is always asleep so I doubt they've ever spoken and that's pretty much the only other one".
He sat back down at his desk and put both of his hands on it, clasping them together. "What did she say?"
"She talked about a specific type of magic from what she said was the other country. Apparently it can heal anything. I'm not sure what it could be but we have to believe in it!" Lucas pleaded.
William nodded at this. "Hm, Vanessa - a witch - is speaking about a different country. It's probably that forest, yes… my, what a coincidence this will be". His expression remained emotionless but every so often, he would nod to himself very slightly. It was almost like there was a voice in his head making sense of things.
"You know what, Lucas, fine. I'll allow you to go as long as you're careful", he smiled.
Lucas was taken aback for a moment or two. "What? That was quite the shift from a few seconds ago when he said no. I guess he does understand", he sighed much to his own relief.
"When will you be leaving?" William asked.
"Early morning so I don't think I'll be at the briefing if that's okay", he asked, knowing that he was beginning to ask for a bit too much from the captain.
William sighed but walked over to the Dual mage. He looked at him and put a calm hand on his right shoulder. "That's fine. While you're out there, why don't you show the Black Bulls just what you can do?"
Those words of encouragement did exactly that. Lucas's blue eyes lit up as this was also a seal of approval from the man he respected so much. He was trusting Lucas to go and sort this problem out with the Black Bulls and the mage wasn't going to let him down.
"You got it, Captain!"
FLASHBACK - END
"I'm surprised he changed his mind like that. Maybe the Golden Dawn is a bit different than what I thought", Noelle admitted. She had her arms crossed and her expression was one of surprise.
"Yeah, a lot of us are cool with everyone but then you have some others like Alecdora…", he said the name quietly as a throwaway comment. "... that isn't the best with others".
"Did he just… name-drop someone like that?" Noelle and Finral thought to themselves, exchanging quick looks.
Lucas decided to change the topic to one that was more important. The three didn't really have a plan to fix Asta's arms but had a few leads. Lucas had one through listening in to what Vanessa was saying and Noelle had a lead of her own.
"I have an idea but it involves Vanessa… actually,did Vanessa also leave already?" Lucas asked.
"Yeah, she went off on her own even before we properly woke up. Daisy was waiting outside and we could hear her continue her pestering from last night. It seems like she's really up for helping Asta", Finral explained.
The Golden Dawn nodded, thinking that it was just like Daisy to be helpful like this.
"Okay, that's enough. Lucas, tell us what you have on the way". Noelle pointed with one hand and had the other on her hip, acting with authority. "Finral, take us to that man's house. You know, the one we talked about earlier?" She asked, or rather demanded. Finral accepted and generated a portal in front of the Silva in which she stepped through first.
The three ended up in the middle of nowhere. In front of them was a beaten and run-down, two-storey house that had a crumbling, green roof and walls that were missing pieces due to them having fallen out over the many years since it was first built. Around the building were dead trees and bushes and this really showed how the place wasn't maintained at all.
"Um… I was going to tell you what I had in mind but then I saw all this. Where on earth are we?" Lucas asked, confused as to why they were at such an odd place. "I thought that Noelle would have some connections to important people since she's a royal but… this place doesn't really fit the bill", he thought. He kept staring at the old house and couldn't make sense of what this all meant.
"It's better if we just show you. Explaining who these people are is a bit…", Finral sweat-dropped. He turned to Noelle who had already opened the door without hesitation.
"Are we just barging in? What if they're not ready - whoever these people are?" Lucas waved his arms, worrying that something not-so-pleasant was going to happen.
He was proven right and it was much to Noelle's dismay. As she opened the door, there stood a tall, well-built man with messy, red hair. He had smaller hairs around his mouth and chin which showed that he might have recently shaved. He was waving his right hand but instead of waving back, Noelle screamed as loud as she could.
This man was fully naked.
"AHHHHH! Get away from me, pervert!" Noelle screamed. She closed her eyes and instinctively shot water out from her magic wand, dousing the naked, red-haired man as if he was a flame.
From the side, someone who Lucas recognised popped out. She had long, flowing, light-orange hair where parts of it were tied in a round knot at the top of her head and under a small, blue hat.
"What seems to be the probl-!" She asked, yawning but then she quickly woke up fully with what she saw. Her eyes went from the naked man on the floor to the petrified teenager in the corner over and over again. Eventually, her purple eyes landed on the man like they were a slot machine coming to a stop.
"Stupid, stupid, stupid darling!" She ran over and started punching the man in the face repeatedly. It was like she was boxing but the punching bag was a human being that wasn't moving much at this point.
Lucas reached his arm out but after every punch this woman made, he retracted it by an inch since he didn't really know what to do. "D-Darling? So, they're together but then why is she beating him up like that…?"
"See? I told you. I don't think any explanation I give will give these two an accurate description…", Finral rolled his eyes.
Lucas perked up, sensing the Ki of another person. Though, he couldn't see her anywhere and it was almost as if this other person was purposely hiding from the Dual mage's line of sight.
That was until he felt a poke on his back from a strong, but little hand.
"There you are!" Lucas turned around quickly, seeing the teenage girl all wrapped up in her long, black fur robe. He could only stare at her for a second before she quickly disappeared once more.
There was another touch on Lucas's back and he thought he'd see her again if he turned around. However, once he turned his neck, the mystery teenager put a knife to his throat from behind and whispered into his ear, sending a shiver down the ginger-haired teen's spine.
"Who the hell are you and how did you find this place?"
Lucas, now paralysed since he didn't want to make a wrong move, answered carefully. "Noelle… and Finral… brought me here. They said… th-they know someone who c-can help us…", he answered. His heart was beating faster than ever.
The one-way fight between the couple was still going on beside them whilst Finral tried to break it up. Noelle seemed scarred as she huddled in the corner with a dark cloud above her. The Spatial mage was having no luck as it seemed that the woman's determination to kill this man was too strong. Fortunately for Lucas, though, she saw him and the other girl in the corner of her eye and she saved the Dual mage.
"Hey, Mariella! Don't kill him, I know him from the Black Market!" She shouted, running towards Lucas and the short and black-haired teenager.
"So, because he bought your trinkets, that means he's someone we can trust?" Mariella asked, still holding the knife against Lucas's trembling throat.
"Uhh… yeah?" the woman replied, slightly worried as she couldn't think of anything else to say to help the Golden Dawn's rookie.
Mariella thought for a few seconds before nodding and stepping back. "Make a wrong move and you're dead", she said sternly.
"But what classifies as a wrong move?!" Lucas panicked.
This time, the 15-year-old had her robe behind her so Lucas could see what she was wearing. Underneath the long robe, was an off-white corset with a black belt over it which held her grimoire. She wore a very short, dark-maroon skirt and she also had long, black boots.
"Understood", she said, replying back to the one who saved Lucas. She was anxiously awaiting her decision. Mariella walked towards a chair and sat on it. Her face remained emotionless as she just stared at the unfamiliar Magic Knight.
"Phew…", the woman sighed and offered a hand to Lucas who was clearly distraught. "Sorry about that. We're a… unique set of individuals", she laughed nervously.
The Dual mage accepted the hand. "You're… Code, right? I remember buying some stuff from you a few months ago".
"Yessiree!" She smiled, showing a peace sign with her fingers. "Unfortunately, I've had to leave the Black Market because of assassins and criminals after me. You know how it is", she said plainly as if this was completely normal.
By now, the man on the floor regained consciousness as he sat up with his back leaning against a wall that had bits of his hair on since he was getting beaten against it so much.
"... What brings… you here?" He asked, his breath breaking as his entire face was hurting too much.
Following the unique set of introductions to these strangers, the three told their story to Lucas and their connection to the Black Bulls. He just nodded at everything that he heard, trying to understand the best he could, even though some points were very crazy to him.
The now-clothed man was the fugitive known as Fanzell Kruger but not to the Clover Kingdom. He was wanted by the Diamond Kingdom for deserting. He wore a white shirt underneath a murky-green coat. His grimoire was attached to his brown belt around his waist and he also wore dark-blue trousers with a pair of high, brown boots.
Dominante Code, his fiancee, now went by the name 'Domina' now to help protect her identity as she was also wanted by the Diamond Kingdom. She wore a long, violet, long-sleeved dress with a brown belt that also held her grimoire. There was a darker shade of purple at the end of her sleeves and around the bottom of her dress. There was also the same colour around the top of her dress which belonged to a small robe that she wore over her clothing. It was tied together with white string. She wore white stockings with blueish-purple boots.
Lastly, the 15-year-old that was just staring at Lucas with eyes like daggers was also from the same kingdom as the other two. She was an assassin sent by the higher-ups to kill Fanzell and Domina but has since decided to stay with them, opting for a different way of life. Even though this description makes her sound like a changed soul, she was still well-trained and wasn't going to let up her defence in front of the stranger.
"Um…", Lucas darted his blue eyes around trying to look at something else other than Mariella but always found himself returning the gaze since she wouldn't do anything else. It was quite distracting.
"Mariella, try to make friends with him, please. He's a friend of Asta's so we can trust him", Fanzell said, trying to alleviate the suspicions that were mainly from the assassin towards Lucas.
"You speak of friendship but I doubt a friend would present his naked body to a girl like that", Mariella replied, shrugging her shoulders as she turned to Noelle who flinched.
"... I can admit that it was my fault for barging in like that…", the royal apologised. However, in typical Noelle fashion, she still put the blame on the opposing party, at least partially. "But you shouldn't have been walking around completely naked like that! There isn't even a bath in this building!"
Fanzell dropped his shoulders. "Yeah, yeah, I get it. My clothes just seem to pop off randomly and I can't help it", he explained.
"That's no excuse! What sort of self-respecting man can't control his naked tendencies?!" Domina shouted, getting riled up all of a sudden. She reeled back her fist, ready to strike but a triad of coughs to her side made her stop.
"Thank God she didn't start all that again…", Lucas, Noelle, and Finral thought in unison, having successfully stopped another brawl.
"Anyway", Noelle led the conversation. "We came to ask you about a cure for Asta's arms. I thought that since you're not from here, you'd know some other techniques or spells that might be of use".
Fanzell, Domina, and Mariella all exchanged looks.
"What happened to Asta?"
FLASHBACK - THE UNDERWATER TEMPLE:
"We… won!"
The Black Bulls were all down in the deep depths of the underwater temple in Raquey. The group had been tasked to find a Magic Stone and their journey led them all down below the Clover Kingdom's surface.
Asta had just stabbed the Third Eye's Vetto with his Demon-Dweller sword through his stomach, winning the long-fought battle. The monster with Beast Magic had his mouth open wide from the pain of being stabbed by the weapon.
Everyone, including the Anti-mage were bruised and battered but it finally looked like the battle was over and done.
Or was it?
"You… won? Is that what you really thought?"
The sound of two, sharp snaps came out from Asta's arms as Vetto bent them down, crushing the bones inside.
The large beast with long, flowing, white hair looked down at the teenager and grinned with his tongue licking his sharp fangs. Hot breath steamed out from his bloodied mouth as he laughed. He had grabbed Asta's two arms that were holding the Demon-Dweller and forcibly broke them, generating screams from his mouth as he struggled to deal with the pain. The monster with the Eye of the Midnight Sun's cloak wrapped around his waist was doing his best to inflict his namesake - Despair - on the Magic Knight.
"Your combined efforts were enjoyable to deal with, I'll give you that. Though, I really am confused as to why you thought that you won… I purposely let you hit me so I could do the deed of shoving the sense of despair down your throat like this!" He laughed, gripping harder.
Noelle, Finral, Vanessa and the others couldn't do anything but watch the horrid screams come out from their teammate.
Slowly, as all the bones in Asta's arms were in pieces with just the flesh and skin keeping the original shape. A dark energy quickly covered the skin and seeped within the heavily damaged limbs.
"AHHHHHH!" Asta's blood-curdling screams rang around the entire room.
That was when Vetto let go of his arms. Asta's knees hit the cold floor and his arms swayed beside him with absolutely no way to move them himself. His eyes began to darken but, as if it was instinct or his never-giving-up attitude, he looked up and straight into the beast's eyes.
"I'm not… giving up yet!"
FLASHBACK - END
"Holy…", Fanzell gasped as did his wife who was sitting next to him.
"An ancient curse from someone from the Eye of the Midnight Sun?" Mariella pondered, closing her eyes as if she was thinking about a flurry of things in her head.
"As far as I'm aware, there's nothing from the Diamond Kingdom that can counter curses, let alone ancient ones", the red-haired man acknowledged.
Mariella agreed with him. "Even through my work as an assassin, I've never heard or seen something that can do that. We have healers like any other kingdom but this, as you said, won't work".
A gloomy shadow covered the four people in the derelict building even though there were two others. That was because these two had an idea that was brewing in their heads and one of them hadn't even relayed his idea at all.
"Guys, like I said earlier, I have something you should probably hear", Lucas said, prompting all eyes to look at him.
Noelle apologised since Lucas had been saying this for a while but she kept putting him on the back burners due to her haste. "Sorry, Lucas, I should've listened to you first instead of coming here straight away…", she sighed.
Lucas waved the apology away, understanding that she was getting desperate. "Look, I heard Vanessa talking about it last night…", he began. The mention of the Thread mage's name got an intrigued look from Domina who kept silent for now.
"She mentioned a different kind of magic - something other than the ones we're used to. She said it was from the other country, whatever that means, but since then, it's got me thinking. If Vanessa knows about it and we don't, it's probably where she's from, right? Captain Vangeance spoke about witches but I don't know anything about them…", he trailed off.
It was time for Domina to speak for the first time since being told about Asta's ancient curse. She had been in deep thought as if she was mulling something over but when Lucas mentioned Vanessa's name, she knew she had to tell them.
"I know what Vanessa, and now Lucas, are talking about", she started.
"You do?" Noelle asked, leaning in.
"Of course", she answered. "Vanessa and I were in fact born in the same place, at a place far away from here and very secluded from the wider world. It's east of the Clover Kingdom and near the border of the Diamond Kingdom. Even though more and more people know about it, it's still very much shrouded in mystery".
Lucas thought about this mysterious place and it bore similarities with a place he's come to know recently.
"The Forgotten Forest…", he thought as he listened to the Diamond fugitive.
She continued. "I reckon she would've gone back to the Witches' Forest".
"The Witches' Forest? What sort of place is that?"
"Look, I don't want to get into it right now. Besides, how many times do I have to tell you to leave me alone, girl?"
High in the morning sky, overlooking the rest of the Clover Kingdom in the west, flew a pair of Magic Knights who were heading towards the east. Vanessa was a few paces ahead with Daisy right behind her.
Vanessa was now wearing a few more layers to her outfit which covered most of her skin, but not all of it. She donned a sleeveless, red-violet top which exposed much of her torso and parts of her chest. Alongside her miniskirt, she had a purple belt around her waist which held her grimoire. She had a pair of long, red-violet gloves as well.
"You've been on my case since last night… don't you have anything better to do, you know, with the Blue Roses?" Vanessa groaned, pinching her forehead as if she was getting a headache.
"Nah, I got a few days off!" Daisy replied, catching up to the pink-haired Black Bull.
With a sigh, she shook her head. "Of course, you do…".
Vanessa, still flying forwards, turned her head around. "Daisy, I've told you that this is a problem that only concerns the Black Bulls, so why are you really here? Is it really for Asta or do you have a different reason?"
"Asta needs help and what kind of a friend would I be if I ignored that?" Daisy replied, not really looking back at Vanessa.
"Caught you. I got to know you a bit last night and I know you're extremely confident. You look people in the eyes and speak with your heart like you have no filter. But, right now, you won't look at me which makes me think you're hiding something. What was that you told Lucas yesterday? Oh, you can read people? Well, you're looking at someone who's just a bit better than you at doing just that", Vanessa smirked. She then furrowed her brow as if asking for the truth from the Ice mage.
Daisy had her eyes closed and was just nodding to what Vanessa was saying but, as every second passed, her face turned into one of defeat but also shock. The colour in her face darkened as she knew the witch saw through her.
"I thought you were drunk…", Daisy answered, thinking back to last night.
"Hey, I can hold my drink quite well. It's not like I'll ever pass out after one sip or anything", she praised herself, definitely not foreshadowing anything.
The Ice mage dropped her defence and sighed heavily. She knew she was caught out but, thinking about it, it wasn't really anything to hide in the first place.
"The magic you spoke about - from the other country - I really need it for two people. My best friend Emilia whose mother is dying from a disease… and my little sister, who has no mana anymore…".
Vanessa's face dropped and her questioning expression turned into an understanding one. "I knew it didn't relate to Asta", she reconfirmed. "I'm sorry to hear all that and I think, if we're successful, we can help Emilia's mother but as for your sister… no mana?"
Following this, Daisy explained the events of Nean and what the Eye of the Midnight Sun did with the children in the small town. Alice, her sister, was the only one who was fully affected and Daisy was going to do anything to help.
"Alice… I don't think she'll ever be used to no magic. She had the same attribute as me and we'd often play around or I'd help her with her magic but now…", she sighed. "I just don't want her to feel left out. She needs to be a normal kid again".
As the Blue Rose spoke, you could tell how much this was weighing on her wellbeing. Just repeating Alice's state put a damper on Daisy's otherwise positive personality and her face paled. Her violet-tinted eyes shook from side-to-side as she clenched her fists as tight as she could.
The Black Bull was silent for the time being until she stopped flying, coming to a stop in the air. There were a lot of clouds below them as if they were stuck together, hiding something from anyone's prying eyes. Vanessa turned her whole body, along with the broom, to face Daisy.
"We heard about what happened in Nean. It really was horrible…", she closed her eyes. "Daisy, if I let you come you have to be careful. This place is no joke and I need you to stop all your jokes and whatnot, especially in front of the Queen of Witches".
Daisy widened her eyes, realising that Vanessa was open to letting her come. She sat straight and saluted with her right hand to her head.
"I'll be on my best behaviour!"
"This isn't a school…", Vanessa shook her head.
"But you just told me-", Daisy protested.
"Good, good. I was just testing you", she winked.
"Gosh, is that how I act?" Daisy self-reflected, sweat-dropping.
The two had been at a standstill in the air for a few seconds after that. Daisy was about to ask what the holdup was but then a huge exhale from the Magic Knight opposite her startled her.
"I'm ready… Daisy, we're here".
Vanessa pointed down towards the ground and the clouds left the surrounding area, revealing what was a huge compound, spanning multiple forests. There was a stone wall separating the two from whatever was inside and a locked door is what Vanessa landed at.
"What the? Is this the place?" Daisy asked, landing next to her.
Not responding to the question, Vanessa took another deep breath for a good few seconds, before releasing it all. What followed was an outburst, or rather a set of demands from the witch.
"HEY! THE STRONGEST AND SMARTEST WITCH TO EVER GRACE THE WORLD HAS RETURNED TO THE WITCHES' FOREST. MY EXISTENCE IS THE BEST THING THAT'S EVER HAPPENED TO THIS PLACE AND BECAUSE OF THAT, I DEMAND YOU OPEN UP!"
Vanessa bigged herself up while subsequently listing an order that was seemingly going to deaf ears. There was no gatekeeper, security, or watchman to hear this from the Black Bull so they definitely weren't going to be let in like that.
"What on earth was that, Vanessa? That is never going to work… look at how tightly shut the door is and we can't possibly scale the wall since this place looks like it can disappear from the naked eye just like that. I'd hoped Vanessa had a key or something bu-!"
Daisy's train of thought was broken as she was proven wrong.
The door in front of them burst open within seconds after Vanessa's demand. However, behind the door wasn't a group of people waiting for her or even an open space for them to walk towards, but flocks of hundreds of black crows came out at high speeds, surrounding the witch.
"Daisy, grab my hand!" Vanessa called out, reaching for the Ice mage.
She grabbed hold of her and the crows encircled the two for a few short seconds before disappearing. As the animals disappeared, so did the two Magic Knights as they were transported elsewhere.
A voice called out in front of them even though the two were still getting used to wherever they ended up. The place was spinning and they couldn't make sense of anything except for the voice belonging to an older woman.
"I see that you've returned. Welcome back to the Witches' Forest. I assume your stay here will be much longer than last time… my daughter".
NOTES:
The Witches' Forest arc has now begun! I'm looking forward to this as we'll be seeing some really cool things in this arc (on top of what is canon to the series already).
Originally, I had Daisy stay with Lucas and the others but that group was getting too congested for my liking. They end up together in the Witches' Forest anyway so it doesn't really matter too much.
What do you think will happen with Lucas and Daisy regarding this arc?
