Chapter 76: The Start of The Forest's Scuffles
Disclaimer:
Hi guys, it's been a while but I'm back with an update!
I had trouble with writing this chapter as I made quite a few changes that diverged from the canon material. Even though some things will be the same, I changed some things because of Lucas's and Daisy's inclusion in this arc, as well as some other things I want to add/build upon that help my fic in the long run.
With all that said, I hope you enjoy!
As the group of Lucas, Mariella, Fanzell, and Domina left in one direction towards the Diamond Kingdom's soldiers, the other group took the left as they slid down the large tree root away from the Witch Queen's castle.
Broken buildings, destroyed houses, burned plants. These were everywhere due to the Flame Spirit, Salamander's, attack on the forest. The Eye of the Midnight Sun was just in front and Asta was leading the way towards them.
"This… is not good", Asta mentioned, rushing ahead as he darted his green eyes all over the area.
"I can't believe the Flame Spirit is capable of all this. To think that the enemy has its power with them is just…", Noelle shook her head, worrying about the upcoming battles but still trying to keep focused.
Finral and Vanessa were just behind Asta and Noelle and they exchanged looks with one another. The Thread mage spoke first, trying to lift the mood.
"I guess it's good that you guys came to rescue me after all", she lightly chuckled. "I could never do this by myself".
"Don't mention it. We're a family and that's what we do. Even though this entire sequence of events has been quite scary…", Finral gulped whilst trying to return the light-heartedness.
Oddly enough, and contrary to her personality, Daisy was quiet at the back of the Black Bulls. She would never shy away from putting her own thoughts in but ever since the battle against the Witch Queen, she had been different. Her blue and violet-tinted eyes were constantly looking at the floor and her bright outlook was gone with her face looking grey.
"She's been like that since Asta and the others showed up. The fight with the Witch Queen was quite… telling, to say the least", Vanessa noted, thinking back to their fight against the powerful witch.
"I wonder what the matter with her is. I don't really know her well but she's always seemed the complete opposite of how she is right now", Noelle thought.
The only ones to notice were the two female Black Bulls but right before they could say anything to her, they saw something large high up in the sky which casted a shadow over them.
"What on earth is that?" Asta asked, pointing with his finger.
The ashen-haired mage, along with all the others, saw a large golem floating in the air, facing the terrorist group. Its body was a similar colour to the forest with a green and brown pattern. Its eyes were flashing red continuously as its mouth started to open wide. The golem stared at the group in front of it as it loaded its attack.
"What might that be?" Fana, who was up in the air, asked the same question as Asta but at the person right behind her.
"I believe it's a golem that's designed to protect the forest from intruders. You can see it charging up, so I guess it's going to attack?" Shidan replied and then questioned, looking at the golem with a smirk as if he wasn't worried.
The two were in front of the other Eye of the Midnight Sun members as they both had seniority over the rest. Fana the Hateful, along with Shidan, were calm but the others behind them were a bit worried with what they saw.
Its wide-open mouth was gathering mana from around the area and colourful particles of magic formed in the shape of a spiral, ready to be fired at the enemy and that is exactly what it did.
The condensed blast of power hit a bunch of the airborne soldiers, knocking all of them to the floor at different parts of the forest. Their screams filled the air as the golem took out a large portion of their group.
"Even here… you kill the ones that are close to me", Fana said sternly with a shadow cast over her face. She clenched her hands, shaking them by her side.
"I guess I underestimated their defence. But… well, the next attack won't be the same at all", Shidan declared.
The attack from the witches' golem wasn't over just yet as it opened its mouth again but that wasn't all that was happening. A bunch of colourful lights surrounded it all of a sudden which came from the multitude of witches that flew up next to the golem, pointing their wands towards its mouth. They sent additional mana to help give the next attack more power.
"Get away from our home!"
"To think a bunch of men invaded this place…!"
"This is the end for you lot!"
Only a few seconds passed after generating the second blast of power and it fired outwards towards Fana and Shidan this time. The terrorist group had been halved just a few seconds earlier and it looked like victory was coming the witches' way. The Third Eye's face started to light up with the incoming attack but she remained indifferent and expressionless.
"Flame Spirit Magic: Salamander's Breath!"
Fana ordered and the Flame Spirit obliged. It quickly opened its mouth and shot out a fiery attack, responding to the golem's. As the two energies clashed, it was quite clear who the winner was going to be as one attack easily engulfed the other.
"Holy…". Asta was in awe at what he saw. The sky turned black for a second with the clash and then lit up a bright red and orange the next. One attack completely obliterated the other and did further damage as well.
In front of the Magic Knights, the golem fell to the floor with a large hole buried through its chest. It landed on the ground with a thud, taking out more of the forest and causing even more damage to the surroundings. A bunch of screams came from the witches that were in the air as they too were affected by the magical mismatch and they crashed down onto the ground, much like their form of defence. Their bodies were bruised with most of them falling unconscious as they met the floor.
"Hahahahahaha!"
The Eye of the Midnight Sun, were looking down at their victory and cheered. The remaining soldiers behind Fana and Shidan were laughing at such a sight but the former didn't return the same joy. In fact, right after the golem was destroyed, she was scouring the ground as if she was trying to find someone.
"Where is that person?" She asked herself as her wide-open, sea-green eyes scanned. Salamander, who she was flying on, was also moving from side-to-side to help her out.
"Lady Fana seems distracted even after destroying their golem and sending those witches away. It's like she's forgotten about the Magic Stone that we're here for. But, I guess this only gives me an opportunity to shine! If I'm the one that brings back the stone then the Master will have to promote me!"
Shidan smiled at the prospect he thought of. His medium-length, green hair sat in somewhat of a backwards bob as he too looked down at the forest to see what he could do to accomplish his goal. His eyes lit up and his grin stretched even further as he zoned into a particular area.
"I've never seen our golems get destroyed… so easily", Vanessa gulped.
"Guys, we need to put a stop to this!" Asta exclaimed before picking up the pace.
The group on the ground rushed forwards but a set of cries coming from the left halted the Magic Knights' progress. They looked towards the source and saw a small cul-de-sac with what looked like debris from a bunch of buildings all over the ground.
"There's people there. The witches that were flying above landed there as well… and the flames are raging on. I promised that we'd save the forest but the witches are part of it too", Noelle turned to face the buildings. "I'll go help them while you go on ahead. My Water Magic should be enough to do this and then I'll join you later".
"I'll stay with you, Noelle. My Ice Magic can help against the flames, even if that does sound quite odd". Daisy walked towards Noelle and faced the debris to the left.
"Be careful, both of you!" Vanessa ordered before going ahead with Asta and Finral who also gave their thumbs up to them.
The group separated and the trio of Asta, Finral, and Vanessa carried on until they reached a clearing. The rest of the forest circled around them and this gave the Magic Knights a better view of the sky where they could clearly see the enemy.
"Hey, you, member of the Third Eye!"
Asta stood in front of Finral and Vanessa, pointing towards the sky and right at the enemy. He slammed his foot down on the ground, trying extra hard to get Fana's attention.
"What's the big idea attacking this forest?! From what I gathered, you guys have a problem with the Clover Kingdom so what's the point of doing all this here?!" Asta asked, still slamming his foot down as if he was having a tantrum.
"Um, Asta, it's probably not the best thing to anger her…", Finral sweat-dropped as he reached forwards.
"Yeah, you've seen what she's capable of and it doesn't seem like the Third Eye even wants to listen to us…", Vanessa added.
Fana finally looked down at the noise and recognised the teenager that was shouting.
"It's him…! The human who killed Vetto!" Her eyes widened with anger and she was about to summon Salamander to attack but the remaining soldiers around her moved first.
"Don't you dare talk to Lady Fana like that!" A few of them shouted as they descended from their height. They brought out their grimoires and started attacking.
"Lightning Magic: Surge of Sparks!"
"Stone Magic: Rockfall Drop!"
A set of two attacks came for Asta at high speeds. Both enemy mages fired straight down at the Black Bull and it looked like their spells were going to hit easily. The yellow sparks were zipping through the air, bouncing off the falling rocks of the Stone Magic spell.
"Ha! Like that's going to stop me!" Asta shouted, bringing the Demon-Slayer sword out from his grimoire. He brandished the broadsword in front of him and swung the side of the weapon right at the incoming spells.
As the Anti-Magic sword hit the spells, they were reflected right back at the two enemies and hit them out of the sky. They crashed down elsewhere in the forest but they were down and out for the count as soon as their own spells hit them.
"I told you that wasn't going to stop me! Bring it on, Eye of the Midnight Sun!" The ashen-haired teen shouted, swinging his sword in the air.
"Hey, don't forget about us here, boy! I want to protect this forest as well. Even though I left it years ago… I still have a duty as a witch!" Vanessa's grimoire came out of her satchel and floated right in front of her.
"I'm right here as well! Getting your arms healed was the main objective and now that that's done… I have my battle partner back!" Finral pumped his fists, getting into a battle stance.
Suddenly, the remaining three soldiers around Fana all made their move towards the Black Bulls.
"We won't let you bother Lady Fana!" They shouted together.
The three started generating their own attacks and were firing them quickly as they did, trying to stop the Magic Knights from moving.
"Ah!" The Black Bulls shouted as they tried dodging the magical bullets being fired at them.
"I've got… this!" Asta said as he jumped for one of the enemies flying above. He swung the Demon-Slayer but it missed as the enemy just flew a bit higher.
"I bet you wish you could use a broom to get to us!" The enemy teased.
"I wish I could fly on a broom… Yuno doesn't even need one anymore since he uses his Wind Magic to fight in the air", he thought but then realised something. "Hang on… maybe I can fly!"
The magicless mage turned to his teammates and pointed at the sky. "Send me up there! Let's do it just how you supported me back in the Underwater Temple!"
"After our fight back then… the three of us can do anything!"
Asta started running ahead whilst keeping his sword above his head so that the incoming magical bullets wouldn't hurt him. As he did this, he jumped up high but it was different this time. Instead of him falling back down, he had support from the ones behind him.
"I've got you, boy!" Vanessa shouted from behind. She used her Thread Magic and wrapped it around Asta's legs, sending him up even further than he could on his own.
This added much more power in his jump and he reached one of the enemies and stood right beside them, balancing on their broomstick.
"Get off!" The enemy shouted as he directed his attacks at Asta.
"Spatial Magic: Fallen Angel's Twin Gates!"
Suddenly, a set of two spatial portals opened near Asta and the one attacking him. One portal took in the array of bullets whilst the other one shot them out. Unfortunately for the enemy, the second portal was right above him and his own spells hit him.
"AHHH!" He screamed as he fell.
"Thread Magic: Sticky Spider's Web!"
Vanessa casted her threads in between two large trees, creating a web that the falling enemy landed on. He tried to move but the threads were tied around his arms and legs so he couldn't escape.
"Don't think we're done with you just yet!" The Thread mage winked and then looked right back up.
Asta looked above and saw the second enemy. She was floating right above but it was the same situation with him barely being able to reach due to them being the slightest bit out of reach. He looked down and smiled as Vanessa was already on the move.
She flicked her wrists as she held onto the ends of her threads. The opposing ends latched onto Asta's legs and she flung him higher.
"Gah, my threads can't reach much further… Finral, you know what to do!" She shouted to which he nodded.
He formed a spatial portal in the direction that Asta was flung, letting him go through. He ended up at the second enemy's broomstick with the other portal leading him out onto it.
"You guys are always ruining everything!" Asta said as he swung his sword in front, knocking the second enemy down to the floor who also got caught in Vanessa's threads.
There was just one more enemy left before he could reach Fana and the same sequence of events played out. Asta went higher and higher but it was down to Finral's portals since the threads couldn't reach that high anymore. Asta landed on the third broom but seeing as how this happened twice already, the third enemy was ready.
"Don't you think I was ready for this? I saw you do the same thing twice so it's not like I'll let it happen three times!"
The enemy sent a flurry of spells at Asta who deflected them with the Demon-Slayer but it was proving a bit too much with the speed at which they were coming. All of a sudden, the enemy aimed for the Black Bull's legs and he fell face-first with his head meeting the stick.
"Shit! Vanessa, have you got any plans?!" Finral worriedly asked, keeping his eyes and hands in the direction of Asta in case he fell.
"I've just got one but you'll need to help!" Vanessa replied, earning a nod from him.
She looked at the two trapped enemies and used her threads to wrap them tightly. She took them off the Sticky Spider's Web and flung them up high at a fast speed.
"Now!" She ordered.
"Got it!" Finral replied. "Spatial Magic: Fallen Angel's Twin Gate!" The two enemies went through one portal and ended up crashing into the back of the third enemy through the second portal right behind.
After this, all three enemies descended onto the floor but Vanessa caught them all once again.
Asta was now standing on the third broom but it was the same situation once again with the enemy being a bit too far out of reach. However, thankfully for him, Fana decided to fly closer on her Flame Spirit.
"I don't suppose you're going to help me out here, are you?" Asta asked with a light chuckle, scratching the back of his neck.
"Don't speak as if we're friends, human. I commend you on your efforts up to now but the fact is… you killed Vetto. So, to avenge him, I'll kill you!" Fana responded, her voice getting more serious.
She motioned her right arm downwards and Salamander opened its mouth. It started generating red-hot flames from the inside and they were leaking out of its mouth before Fana gave the order.
"Flame Spirit Magic: Salamander's Breath!"
The sky darkened once more with the bright attack lighting up the sky. It was heading straight for Asta and he would've been killed if not for his Anti-Magic sword saving him. He quickly swung the weapon in front and reflected the Spirit Magic right back at Salamander.
"Take that, Spirit!" Asta said as he saw the spell go the opposite way.
Fana commanded Salamander to do the same attack again but this time right back at its own deflected Salamander's Breath. The Spirit obliged and the two attacks created a shockwave in the air, disrupting Asta's balance. He started falling all the way to the floor with a loud scream.
"Reckless as usual, boy!" Vanessa mocked as she wrapped her threads around Asta's body, pulling him towards her and to safety, at least for now.
"Reckless?! What else was I supposed to do?!" Asta protested.
The mini argument was short-lived as the smoke from the two attacks subsided, revealing an unscathed Fana and Salamander right in the air. The other soldiers were down and out and it was just those two left. Yet it looked like it was going to be more of a challenge than anything they had faced so far.
"Don't think that things will be the same this time around. I'll kill you once and for all", Fana said plainly with her expressionless face.
Asta slammed his sword into the ground, crossing his arms. "Right. You can try to do just that and I'll keep sending your attacks right back at you!"
With the group of five now a duo of two, Daisy and Noelle rushed towards where they needed to go. There weren't a lot of words exchanged since they were so focused on helping the witches. Noelle got started with her Water Magic whilst Daisy helped with her Ice Magic opposite her.
"There's so much destruction… Is there really a Magic Stone here?" Noelle asked aloud, dousing some fires.
"I'm not sure. I've never even seen one before so I'm out of the loop. All I know is… that I need this problem to end", Daisy replied. She didn't look over at Noelle and was just focusing on her task.
"Ice Magic: Frozen Storm!" Daisy held her palms out and small but plentiful amounts of ice started to form, shooting outwards on the affected areas. The spell was like a constant spray that cooled down the fires, making them smaller and smaller until there was nothing left burning.
Following this, the duo worked their way to the derelict cul-de-sac where the witches had all landed from Salamander's attack. hey couldn't rush in due to the rising fires everywhere so had to move accordingly. Eventually, they stood in the middle and started looking around.
"So much destruction… Are these witches even going to have a place to live at the end of this?" Noelle wondered as she scoured the destroyed area.
Daisy moved pieces of wood and foliage away from the ground in multiple different areas but couldn't find a single witch for some reason.
Noelle did the same but the result didn't differ at all from Daisy's attempts either. There was also something odd about the area but they couldn't quite place their fingers on just what it was.
The two walked to each other and they were confused at what they were seeing, or not seeing in this case.
"Noelle, where on earth are these witches?" The Ice mage asked, still moving her head and eyes around the area.
"I'm wondering the same thing. We saw them all fall right here and they couldn't have moved by themselves since they fainted as soon as they were hit by Salamander's Breath…", Noelle replied.
There was an ominous air of silence as the duo's perplexions were apparent. They couldn't think of one good reason as to why the witches had all disappeared. That was until the sound of a male voice emerged in the distance.
"Hehehe… what might you two beauties be looking for around here?"
Daisy and Noelle both moved their arms, protecting each other. The Blue Rose's right arm protected Noelle, whilst the Black Bull's left arm protected Daisy. At first, they couldn't distinguish the direction of the voice so their eyes were just darting from side-to-side in hopes of locating the man that was talking.
"Oh, you can't see me? Well, that's quite rude of me. Let me show you just where I am!"
Suddenly, the ground started to shake as the man spoke again. The trees around the destroyed houses were rustling and leaves on top were falling to the ground in heaps. There was something quite odd about these trees and the Magic Knights finally noticed this.
"I don't know what's happening but those trees… don't they look… I don't know how to say this, but… new?" Noelle asked, scratching her head.
"No, no, I was going to say the exact same thing. It's almost as if they've literally just been placed there", Daisy noted.
The ground that was shaking halted for the moment as the two mages finished conversing.
"Ah, you've basically caught me out so I'll show you just what's happening!" The voice declared.
As the man's voice said, the trees started to shake violently. It was like they were alive with how they were moving and that was indeed correct, to an extent. Within seconds, the trees almost transformed, or rather they reverted to what they originally were.
"Shocking, isn't it?" The man asked as he appeared.
The trees that looked new and recently placed changed. The one in the middle was actually the enemy. His disguise gave off green, magical dust once the man was going to reveal himself. However, that wasn't the only surprising thing as the other trees around the man revealed what they were as well.
"The witches…!" Both teenagers gasped as their eyes widened in horror.
The man's arms had transformed into dark-green tree roots, wrapping the ends around all of the witches that had fallen to the floor just a few minutes ago. He had them trapped and was just playing around with them with how his arms were grabbing onto all of their bodies.
"Let them go, you freak!" Noelle demanded.
"Freak? I have a name, you know! It's Shidan and I'm with the Eye of the Midnight Sun", he greeted with a smirk.
"Yeah, we can tell you're with them with your out-of-touch fashion sense", Daisy replied with a shake to her head.
Shidan just chuckled, not caring for the insult. His root-like arms gripped the witches tighter and you could see the difference as their bodies started to shake with the force he was putting in.
"I had an opportunity to make a name for myself by kidnapping these witches but I thought I'd play around with you two as well. I can't believe I got away with disguising myself and those ladies as trees for so long!" He smirked.
"Water Creation Magic: Sea Dragon's Roar!" Noelle shouted as she pointed her wand. The head of a blue dragon emerged right in front of her and slithered ahead with a long tail forming at the back. Within seconds, it reached Shidan with an open mouth and it looked like it was going to bite into his body.
"Now that's some powerful magic, alright! But… Can you really break through my own magic? Plant Magic: Evergreen Defence!"
Shidan shouted and a tall wall of thick, green leaves appeared right in front of his body, separating the distance between him and the Magic Knights. As he summoned the spell, Noelle's attack crashed into it, destroying it but leaving Shidan unharmed as it gave him enough time to dodge out of the way.
"What the…? I guess that's what I can expect from a royal like you!" He gasped but quickly calmed down, taking a few steps backwards to create some distance.
"You know who I am?" The Silva asked, pointing to herself.
"Well, of course. We know all about the Black Bulls and the Golden Dawn by now since you guys have made it your mission to get in our way", he replied with a slight anger.
"Crazy, right? I mean who'd think that Magic Knights would try to stop the enemy ruining people's lives?" Noelle said sarcastically with a shrug to her shoulders. However, straight after this she got back into a battle stance. "Now that our pleasantries are over with… how about the two of us defeat you and get those witches to safety?"
Shidan paused for a moment with how confident Noelle seemed. "You know… I don't think you'll be able to defeat me. At least, not without any help", he stated.
"Huh? I have help right here behi-!". Noelle turned around expecting to see Daisy ready to battle but what she saw was quite the contrary. "Daisy?"
Instead of Daisy being ready to fight, she looked visibly nervous for what seemed like the first time ever. Her grimoire was floating right next to her but it was closed as if she hadn't even thought about fighting in the first place.
"Y-Yeah, we should defeat him…", Daisy thought to herself as she took a step back.
Her eyes were wide and shaking and her breathing was heavy. It was a complete 180 with how she was acting only seconds earlier when she insulted Shidan for what he was wearing as well as her teasing just after.
"Daisy!" Noelle shouted, bringing the Ice mage's focus back.
"H-Huh…?" Daisy shook her head.
"Ha!" Shidan laughed loudly. "You've got a Magic Knight that can't even concentrate on a battle. It looks like these witches are going to be mine after all!"
"Get a grip, Daisy! What's the matter?" Noelle asked, turning her head back and forth from her teammate and the enemy. "We have to fight!"
"F-Fight… Y-Yes, sorry, I'm all focused now!" She slapped her cheeks, reddening them. She walked closer to the Water mage, offering her assistance for the upcoming battle.
Noelle worriedly side-eyed the Blue Rose who was beside her. "Is she going to be alright? She's been… off since earlier. I wonder what happened but… right now, we have to focus!"
"I can do this… Come on, Daisy! It's not like you to hesitate in a battle! Come on… Come on… I can do this…", the Ice Magic user thought to herself as she got ready to fight.
The cold wind breezed through the air across the faces of one of the invading parties. The Witches' Forest was seeing more and more people enter the area and it was completely unwilling. First, it was the Magic Knights, and then the Eye of the Midnight Sun came after.
Now, the focus shifted onto the third arrival. It was the Diamond Kingdom.
"Hoohoo…! It looks like something interesting is going down in the distance there!" The young man at the front of the soldiers grinned. He had his arms behind with his head resting on his biceps and his red pupils were staring ahead.
In front of the Diamond invaders, was the start of a huge forest fire. They couldn't quite make out what caused it but they had the necessary information to reach a conclusion.
"Sir, that's the Eye of the Midnight Sun. We received information that they might be arriving but doesn't that mean they're going to get in our way?" One of the soldiers behind him spoke.
The other mage next to the red-eyed one replied. "We sent a few scouts ahead beforehand who should be analysing the area. Not to mention that the late arrival also joined them. Ladros, even though there shouldn't be any problems, you are acting too carefree".
"Mars, buddy, wasn't that question directed at me? Next time, don't butt into other people's conversations. Besides, it's not like you to talk anymore than you need to be", Ladros replied.
"Don't talk down to me. We're both Shining Generals now so it would do both of us good if we're civil". Mars shook his head, frustrated by his teammate's behaviour.
"If you ask me, you shouldn't even be a Shining General. I mean, didn't you fail a few months ago in one of those dungeons?" Ladros mocked.
After this exchange, the two were silent as they flew forwards. Mars seemed to be calm about the situation as he had simply ignored Ladros's attempts at riling him up, but Ladros kept fidgeting around as if he was agitated about something.
"Mars, I'm not talking down on you. It's just how it is when I'm so much better than you. Don't worry, I'll show you what a true Shining General is all about", he declared to himself.
Down on the forest floor, a few metres away from detection, stood the duo of Fanzell and Domina. They were hiding on the ground with their backs against the trees and saw the incoming Diamond soldiers flying through the air on their own broomsticks with a bunch of different colours surrounding the two in front. Looking closer, these colours were all glowing grimoires showing that all the soldiers were ready for whatever they could encounter. The couple knew they had to stop them from coming closer.
"Darling, that's them, isn't it?" Domina pointed as her voice was shaking.
"That's right. Mars and Ladros are at the front with a bunch of their lackeys surrounding them", Fanzell explained.
"Do you know why they're here in the first place?" Domina asked.
"No, but whatever the reason, I guarantee it isn't good", he replied. The man looked up again and thought for a few seconds. "Why are they here? They couldn't know that Domina, Mariella, and I were here so it has to be something else".
He looked back down and towards the one next to him. "I bet I can get answers out of them if I ask. Anyway, are you ready to back me up?" Fanzell turned to his fiancee, expecting her to be on board.
"Honey, I don't think that's the best option", she replied with a shake of her head.
"What do you mean? If you can support me then we can take them down!" Fanzell protested.
"Look, you know that's not true, especially with how you use your magic. I'll just be in your way but don't you worry! I can help you in my own way with the amount of tricks I have up my sleeve!" She waved anxiously. "... Or, I guess I meant the tricks in my bag?"
"I vowed to protect you and I can't do that if you're away from me. But… I know you can fight on your own and protect yourself, so I guess… good luck!" He smiled, rustling the woman's hair much to her embarrassment.
"If this wasn't such a serious moment right now, I'd beat you up for doing that to my hair. But… as you said, good luck!" She smiled back, moving her fiance's hand away from her hair.
After a quick hug, the two separated with Domina disappearing further in the forest and Fanzell taking to the skies on his Wind Magic. The man looked straight ahead with a serious face and his grimoire came up right next to him, opening up to a page which showed that he was ready.
Back with Mars, Ladros, and the others, much was the same with nothing of note really happening. The Shining General's weren't really speaking with each other and instead were just getting closer to their destination.
"I'm just gonna head off on my own. This is way too slow for me. So, see ya", Ladros saluted as he sped up.
However, just as before, there was someone to interject and annoy the mage. Mars turned towards Ladros and floated right next to him on his own broomstick, blocking his way.
"You really don't like following the plan, do you?"
"Look, man, if you get in my way again, I swear I'll-!"
The argument between the two Shining General's was short as a gust of wind blew across, disrupting their balance ever so slightly. They turned their faces from staring at each other to focusing on where the wind came from.
"Who on earth is that?!" One of the soldiers behind asked, shocked to see a random figure in the distance moving towards them.
"There's only one person that had messy, red hair like that", Ladros began to explain.
"And if you combine that with Wind Magic. It has to be…", Mars continued.
"Fanzell Kruger, our former teacher", the two said in unison with one voice sounding angry.
The Wind mage got closer until he was within a few yards of them. He stopped and looked at the two who were shocked to see him.
"I see my students are still fighting amongst each other. You two never did get along, did you?" He said light-heartedly.
Mars was silent but his face was telling of how he felt. His eyes were wide with how shocked he was to see the man in front of him. Ladros, however, didn't display any sort of bewilderment as he just slowly waved with a smile.
"Ah, it is just like you to still address us as your students, even after all this time. You betrayed the kingdom and you still have the gall to associate with us?" Ladros asked, shrugging his shoulders.
With a whisper under his breath, Fanzell shook his head. "If I told you everything you still wouldn't believe me so I'll save the time…".
"What was that, Teach?" The blond-haired mage cupped his ear and leaned forwards.
"I said… What are you guys even doing here? Were you tipped off about my location?" Fanzell asked, changing the subject.
Ladros moved back and stood normally on his broomstick. "So, you just want to catch up, huh? Well, I guess I can answer you. We're not here for you. There's a problem with the King back home in the sense that he's close to…", he swiped his thumb across his neck signalling that the King is close to death. "... We came here with knowledge that the Witch Queen can help, you know, with her being hundreds of years old and all".
"Is your plan to ask for a cure or something?" Fanzell asked, scratching his head.
"Oh, please! Teach, you've gotten soft over time. We're going to take her back home and she can spill her secrets there!" Ladros grinned.
Fanzell looked down for a few seconds, processing the information. He slowly looked back up with a look of disappointment across his face.
"This plan of yours will only get you killed. And let me guess… Ren sent you on this mission to take the Witch Queen?"
Ladros clapped his hands together. "That would be correct! Professor Ren is honestly the best thing to happen to the Diamond Kingdom in a very long time. With him, we'll be a force to reckon with".
"You know what that man is capable of, right?!" Fanzell shouted, disagreeing with Ladros's stance on the man. "He's borderline insane and you're praising him! You're smarter than this, Ladr-!"
"That's enough!" The Shining General shouted for the first time. His smile was gone and was replaced with an angered frown. "You don't get to have an input on what I do anymore. Not since you betrayed us!"
Silence fell on the two with no more words being exchanged about the topic. Ladros's head was hot and instead of talking things out, he just raised his right hand with his hand rolled up into a fist beside his head.
Mars saw this and knew what was coming. He closed his eyes and sighed.
"ATTACK!"
All of the Diamond soldiers behind the Shining Generals rushed forwards, grimoires in tow. All of the spellbooks started to flicker with the sound of pages filling the area. One after the other, different magical spells were being generated and it looked like it was a complete mismatch with Fanzell being the only one in the opposing end.
Though, even if the numbers greatly favoured the Diamond Kingdom, Fanzell stood strong and was ready to fight.
"I may be a bit out of practice when it comes to teaching but I'm still as strong as I was back then. I'll deal with these and then come straight for the two of you", he declared.
Ladros started to laugh loudly. He even shed a tear which he quickly wiped and when he opened his eyes, he saw a confused man looking at him.
"Oh. You don't think it's just the two of us here, right?"
"D-Diamond Kingdom sp-spy?!" A shocked and confused Lucas repeated the words that Mariella shouted at him as she pinned him down on the dry grass beneath them.
"What else could you be? A human with two attributes that randomly showed up to our hideout - where three Diamond fugitives live - alongside Asta and the others. You're clearly a spy!" The assassin shouted again, this time applying much more force on her wrist which pushed Lucas's back firmly on the floor.
The two were teammates for a brief moment where they were fighting against the soldiers from the Diamond Kingdom but it was a completely different story after Mariella witnessed Lucas use his Light Magic, a second attribute.
"She really thinks I'm a spy? I get that I have two attributes for whatever reason and I know about what the Diamond Kingdom do with some of their experimentation for soldiers to use two attributes but…". Lucas paused as he realised something.
"This clearly looks like I'm part of their kingdom, doesn't it?!" He poker-faced, realising how bad the situation looked for him.
Mariella brought her dual daggers closer to Lucas's neck as he gulped. It was mere millimetres away from cutting open the skin but just before she was about to slice through, she opened her mouth once again.
"Any last words?"
"Yes, of course, I h-h-have…!" Lucas shouted but only for the start of the reply as the black-haired Diamond fugitive pressed the right-handed ice dagger against the skin.
"What are they?" She asked seriously. Her light-pink eyes were staring into Lucas's to see if there was any sudden movement she should be worried about.
"G-G-Give me a chance to prove my innocence!" The Dual mage pleaded, his eyes widening more and more as his life was in the hands of this assassin who could decide to kill him at any second.
His heart was beating extremely quickly and it was almost like it would jump out of his chest with how much it was pacing. His palms were drenched in sweat and his fingernails were covered in dirt with how much he was clawing on the ground. He looked up at the assassin and his breathing was irregular.
Mariella closed her mouth and eased up her pressure for the smallest of moments before replying. It was clear she thought about what she was going to say and made her judgement call on whether or not she'd go along with Lucas's suggestion.
"No. Goodbye", she said as she strengthened her grasp on the two ice daggers and was about to slash through.
"GET AWAY!"
All of a sudden, a set of violent, blue sparks started emerging from Lucas's body, creating a blue half-dome around his body. With this, it repelled Mariella away from him and she crashed into a tree behind with her back slamming firmly against the trunk.
Lucas quickly got up with the blue sparks quickly subsiding. He was still breathing very heavily and he looked down at his hands, turning them around and trying to understand what just happened. All that he could picture was what happened in the Temple of Valchronos.
"It's the same feeling as back then… right before my vision turned black and I fell unconscious. I turned into… that thing. But… if that's the case then why didn't I transform right now?"
A groan came from Mariella as she barely landed on her feet. She was visibly shaken with the knockback and one of her eyes was shut due to the pain she was in.
"Ha. I guess… you really are the enemy". She was still adamant that Lucas was a spy and, to her, there wasn't really too much proof against it.
"Please… just listen to me. Those Diamond soldiers - the ones with dual attributes. They have those stitched grimoires. Mars has one like that… Do you remember?" Lucas asked, finally having a few seconds to actually talk.
"Of course, I know!" She shouted, slowly walking towards the Magic Knight.
"Well, here's mine. See, no stitches!" Lucas's grimoire floated right in front of him and Mariella took a few seconds to look at it.
The Dual mage's grimoire was shining a bright yellow and blue colour. The front cover was fully yellow with a lot of different and intricate patterns embroidered all over. It had a four-leaf clover in the middle with singular black and white lines going from the top of the front cover to the bottom. Instead of a stitching, the difference came with the back cover of the grimoire which was similar but the only difference was that it was fully blue instead of yellow.
The Ice mage's eyes looked up and down the spell book, analysing what she saw. "That's your grimoire?" She asked as she slowly calmed down her demeanour.
"Yes!" He said hastily as he noticed Mariella start to understand. "You can tell it's natural since it doesn't look put together!"
"It is vastly different from the experiments that those professors back at the Diamond Kingdom do. But… No. This isn't like me to lose my head like I did earlier…". Mariella looked at Lucas for a few seconds before deciding to apologise.
"Phew. It looks like she's good now. Honestly, if that Time Magic hadn't kicked in then I'd be dead…". Lucas saw the assassin's eyes and they looked defeated. "I guess we can move on from this".
However, within the few seconds of silence between them, it looked like both of their decisions to get along with one another were premature with what happened next.
Along the floor, circling the pair of mages, was a stream of purple smoke slowly rising and getting thicker as each second went by.
"Purple… smoke?" The two thought in sync. They saw the haze and it perplexed them for a few seconds as it gave them an odd sense of familiarity.
"Why do I feel like I've seen that before?"
"I can't pinpoint just what it was…".
Eventually, the smoke disappeared and it looked like nothing really happened as Lucas and Mariella, as well as their surroundings, hadn't changed at all.
Right after this, both mages' grimoires flicked through multiple pages all of a sudden and they were ready to attack the other.
"Like I'm going to believe that, spy!" Mariella shouted, running forwards with her daggers in both hands. She was responding to Lucas's protests of not being an enemy.
"Look how easy it was to trick you!" Lucas shouted, about to cast an attack spell. He was also responding to Mariella with what was said earlier.
"What?!" Both mages then shouted, confused as the person opposite them was readying an attack.
"He said he wasn't an enemy…!"
"I thought she believed me…!"
This confusing set of events sent the two's thoughts into a craze. They thought there was going to be a form of trust between them but the other just started attacking all of a sudden after the purple smoke showed up. Whilst Lucas and Mariella were busy fighting one another, a silhouette emerged from the burned foliage just beside them.
A singular pair of footsteps came into view right from the shadows. The black ash from the forest fire had risen high enough so that the stranger's face was hidden but the voice was of a woman.
Her grimoire was floating and the same purple colour was coming off the spellbook. The front cover was half purple stitched to a white colour and the back cover was the same. It was exactly like the grimoire that Lucas described earlier but it wasn't Mars's.
As the person came forwards, the light from the burning flames to the side illuminated her body. She was tall and around the age of 20. She had long, flowing, violet hair and purple eyes that were shining through the murky ash that was rising. She wore a black, skin-tight suit with an open-chested, V-neck area at the top. Her leggings were jet-black with patterns of purple and white diamonds along the seams. She waved with her hands which had purple gloves on, though the two mages didn't seem to notice as they were distracted with what was happening. Her boots were also purple as each step she took gave more light to her outfit with how she got closer. Finally, she was out in the open and her outfit was completed by a black fur coat that hung behind her.
"Well, well, well. It looked like my two lovelies were about to have a friendly moment with each other. I couldn't have that so I thought I'd light a bit of fire between you!"
NOTES:
I took a lot of time with this chapter, mainly because I just couldn't think of how to ease into the arcs/plot points that I wanted to write but I think I've done that now. Now, with the next few chapters, I can expand on what I've built in this chapter as well as the previous ones.
Regarding Daisy and her sudden uneasiness… it will obviously be explained. That battle against the Witch Queen (which you guys haven't really seen/read) will be explained further, don't worry ;).
I hope the end part made sense. I tried hard to show that what Lucas and Mariella were seeing was the opposing person tricking and attacking them (even though it's not actually happening). That's what the person that just came into the scene is responsible for... hehe.
We also have the return of an enemy that I haven't used for over 50-55 chapters which I'm excited about. If you guys remember, Lucas isn't exactly fond of her considering what happened last time…
