Season 2, Chapter 5, Part 4.
First time.
Meanwhile.
Outside the cave by the beach, the pirates has set up a small camp where they are napping, patiently waiting in hopes that the teens would come out with the chest they sought.
Meanwhile.
On the ship, a woman in a lab coat floated high in the air on some pink slimy substance. ''Go, Sticky Salamander!'' the woman with short black and messy hair yell, and the jelly-like substance rain over the deck onto the guys stationed there.
''Man, she is really crazy tonight,'' Finral mutters, flying his broom closer to the ship. ''I am still weirded out that she was the one who came to get us,'' Asta akwardly states.
''Well, according to the guy who was with her, this happened:''
Flashback.
He was at HQ when Sally came wandering in.
''Sally, what are you doing here so late?'' ''Oh, I just had a big fun session of research to do, and I just couldn't bring myself to get away from it, so here I am,'' Sally replied.
''Uh, why is your pocket glowing?'' he asked. ''Oh, that? It's just the item I made that will allow whoever I gave the receiver to to ask for aid whenever they needed it without needing to use the communication device. That thing holds a stronger signal too, so it will take quite a bit for the signal not to get through,'' Sally explained, and the guy looked at her dumbfounded.
''what I never heard about this'' the guy says.
''Riight, I forgot to put in the papers so everyone could get one to make it official, up-si'' She says.
''Wait, someone needs backup. Why aren't you giving the alert then?'' He asked in a panic. ''Oh, right, that would be a good idea, and it would stop this annoying thing from glowing and disrupting my research,'' she said, and the man was at a loss for words.
''Never mind, just tell me where the signal is coming from, and I will get the magic knights on the case,'' he told her.
''The magic knights... Oh, let me go. I know just who I want to take with me on a mission like that, and it will be the perfect excuse to be with my favorite test subject,'' she said with static excitement.
''What? I can't let you go. You are not a magic knight, and you are still under strict surveillance,'' he says, and Sally lookes at the device on her leg.
''Yeah, well, I will be going with some of the best magic knights. I am sure Asta can handle me if I misbehave,'' she said, her mouth watering. ''Plus, I will get to see this new friend that people are telling me that he got, oh the possibilities of research on something that was lost to this continent. so can I go? Can I, can I, can I?'' She asked, sounding like an overly eager child.
End flashback.
''And she kept nagging him until he gave in,'' Finral says.
''They must have needed backup for a while then. Well, let's do this as quickly as possible so they won't have to worry any longer than necessary,'' Asta says, and Millie, who is sitting on his shoulder, looks to him. ''Understood,' sir' she utter as Asta lands on the deck.
While others are busy with Sally, the others looks at Asta, and Finral. ''More intruders, and they are magic knights!?''
''No matter, we still outnumber them,'' the pirates says among themselves and send off heavy spells. A grin forms on Astas face as the spells come for him and he hold out his broad sword. With a big, heavy smash, he send the spells back at the men, who manages to dis-spell them before impact.
''Wow, they're good at thinking quickly,'' Finral comments. ''That's fine by me,'' Asta's grin widens as he runs into the group.
"Meanwhile, below the main deck, Millie is battling the pirates, dodging their attacks and knocking them out one by one. ''Millie, remember,'' Thomson's voice rings through her as she is, remembering when Thomson brought her to the training grounds outside where mages were practicing.
''While letting your body heal up and resting, I expect you to watch other battles. The more you observe, the easier it becomes for you to spot every weakness and habit a mage has in the way they move and the way their mana feels. If there's no one to watch, then read battle strategies and learn how to improve your spells. Got that?''
"''Yes, Master Thomson,'' I spoke and did as he asked. Now I can take guys like this with ease," she thought to herself, getting up close to one and putting up a shield around herself and runs onward, knocking them over like a boar would.
''Eat, live, and breathe the battlefield, and you will survive,'' he told me and left me to watch over the recruits sparring with their magic as well as practicing physical hand-to-hand combat techniques. Some even used swords and bows with arrows."
''HA!'' she lets out and sends a shielded orb into a pirate and he is flung over the floor as she jumps away from stone projectiles and she gathers her self and with a swift movement she sends the orb into the back of his neck and the mage is knocked unconscious.
Soon Asta and Sally is done with knocking the pirates out and they tie them up. They stand together, and Sally brings out the round white tracking device. ''Hmm, according to this, the signal is coming from below.''
''Right, then we'll head below deck,'' Asta says, and they all run down. They quickly stop upon seeing men already knocked out or semi-unconscious.
''Uh, what happened here?'' He asks and sees Millie standing up in the middle of the corridor. ''I dealt with them, sir'' Millie says softly and looks at him. ''By yourself, but...'' He starts to say. As a mixture of thoughts and concern comes to Asta's face.
''Well I guess I better start transporting them to HQ, it is really far away from here so it will take a lot of mana'' Finral says with a sigh.
''And I will find the others'' Sally says looking at her device.
''Right'' Asta tells them and looks at Millie with question to his face. ''Millie why did you go down here on your own?'' he asks
''I'm confused. I thought we were supposed to get these guys as quickly as possible, sir.''
''Yeah, but...'' Asta starts and stops as he heard footsteps from above.
''What happened? Search the ship, we have intruders!'' They hear yelling from above. ''According to this, Sebastian should be in there,'' Sally says. ''Right, you two take care of them and the prisoners, while we go up and take care of the rest,'' Asta says, and they all nod in agreement.
Asta heads up with Millie in tow, and once on deck, they see a couple of dozen more pirates. ''There they are!'' One of the men yell.
''Ha, I must admit, taking out this many of my men so easily is impressive, but you won't fare that well against me,'' they hear a female voice say, and they look above at Lady Catell, flying high on a broom.
''You must be their leader then! Get down here so we can settle, whatever you're doing!'' He yells, and the woman smirks.
''Nah, if you want to dance with me, boy, you'll have to come to me,'' she giggles and brings out her black grimoire with yellow and orange markings surrounding the white three-leaf clover in the middle.
''Millie, you can handle things down here, right?'' He asks.
''Of course, Master Asta,'' she replies.
''Great,'' he says and sees the woman's grimoire beginning to exhibit a black aura.
''Chaos magic, GO!'' She yell, and an array of red cotton fill the area above the ship, raining down on Asta. He brings out his anti-magic sword and, with many slashes, he hacks through it.
''Fine by me,'' he says and gets on his broad sword and flies up to her, leaving Millie to handle the rest of the men.
Asta gets up high and almost reaches Catell's level. She smiles. ''Go, Chaos magic!'' She yells, and Asta finds himself surrounded by water bullets heading his way. With his Dweller sword, he hacks them to pieces and looks up at Catell, who moves up.
He grits his teeth and heads for her. ''Chaos magic, Seven Waves,'' she says, and seven different colors rings shines around Asta, each resulting in different effects such as rubber balls being shot, bullets of crystal, earth, water, stone, and steel arrows flying towards Asta.
''What the heck is with this lady's magic!'' He yells, evading some of the attacks and cutting through the arrows. ''Not sure, and the spells seem to come from anywhere,'' Liebe comments.
Meanwhile,
On deck, Millie is battling the men while simultaneously keeping an eye on the battle above. ''Chaos magic, huh?'' She wondered to herself knocking out more men.
Explosions fills the air above as Asta launches forth towards Lady Catell. Who flies back with slight panic. (her movement and the way her magic respond makes no sense, is she hiding something that I should be cautious of?) Asta wonders to himself cutting the closest blasts apart and heads for Catell.
''No!'' Catell yells, and Asta is blasted into her chamber with a crash. While Millie knocks out more men.
Thin traces of black lightnings comes from the hole that Asta created.
''No, what did you do?'' the lady utter, concerned, anticipating the worst she flies further back.
''Asta, the lady's magic is chaos magic. Not even she knows what the spell will do before it is cast, meaning she can't fight too close to the ship without wrecking it. She can't allow close-quarter combat either, or the chance of her getting hit with her own spell is too high,'' Millie explains to Asta.
''So that's it. I figured she had something weird up her sleeve, but if that is all, then I don't need to hold back, uh-'' he turns his head, hearing water spilling to the floor.
''You idiot, what did you do!?'' Catell yells, and Asta looks at the big glass orb where his long-sword is jabbed into, as black water keep pouring out.
He sees a pair of yellow glowing eyes look at him from within the orb. ''Uh, what is-''
CRASH! The orb burst, and he covers his face with his arm as a vast amount of black energy fills the room, and a loud roar is fills the air.
''Do you have any idea what you have done? It took us forever to capture that thing!'' she yells, and a giant black serpent floats up and roars again.
''What the heck is that thing!?'' Asta yells as he jumps to his feet and retrieves his swords from the floor while looking at the serpent heading for the lady. ''Chaos magic, go!'' she yells, and lightning strikes the Serpent from above.
''The serpent is after the one with the strongest magic, I believe,'' Millie thinks to herself, touching her bell. As a big needle comes out, and she fills it with mana before she turns the cog on her belt a little, releasing enough magic to surpass Lady Catell.
But the serpent is angry and keeps going after the lady who flies away from the Serpents teeth.
Asta gets on his broadsword and flies up after the serpent, which turns its gaze towards him and roars before opening its mouth and gathers a vast amount of natural mana to a single point. Millie feels the ship being rocked by the waves, which increases in strength every second.
And the serpent unleashes a black beam of mana that Asta dodges and flies away from and the lady keeps away from it too.
(''As the serpent's energy builds, the more unruly the sea becomes,'') Millie thinks to herself, looking up and focusing. And throws the needle which hits the serpents jaw with great force as Millies mana is unleashed upon impact and the serpent looks to her on deck and flies down for Millie who braises herself.
Her mind goes to a day long ago where she and Thomsn were standing on a ship with an island seen in the far distance of the sea. ''All right, this is the area'' Thomsn utters and a blue giant creature with a serpents neck and a body resembling a turtle rises out of the water.
''there it is, now Millie take that thing down'' Thomsn ordered.
''What you can't possibly mean she has to do that on her own'' Simon asked.
''That is exactly what I am saying, if she can't she isn't worth my time at all'' he said with a dark tone and looks at me with dark and cold eyes burning with a strong desire for vengeance for what happened to his brother.
Millies Mind flows to the present as the black serpent gets close and she jumps and brings out her wings.
''Get over here, you overgrown snake!'' Asta yells and evades steel bullets whipping past him. ''Your fight is with me, boy!'' Catell yells. Asta looks at the lady and down, seeing Millie fly through the air, evading the serpent's blasts as it chases after her. Launching more and more blasts for her.
One hit lands , and Millie falls into the mist shrouded sea, with the serpent following her. ''Millie, NO!'' Asta yells, but the space around him is filled with fire, that he cuts through. ''Looks like I will have to deal with you first. I won't hold back,'' he warns the lady.
''Don't worry about your friend. It took me and all my men working with a well-made plan to even get that creature to its knees before we could capture it. That girl will drown down there.''
''Not if I can help it. I will get her out of there!'' he yells and flies after the lady. (''Hang on, Millie. I am coming for you so just hang in there for just a moment okey.'') he thinks to himself.
Meanwhile, the creature has Millie's leg between its teeth and heads down with her and fast. (''Damn it, I got a little bit careless. But this seems so similar to way back then. ''Take that thing down Millie, and remember you are on your own in doing so'' Thomsn told me.)
In the present, Millie creates her shielded shards and lunges them at the creature's teeth, forcing it to let go. (''I know this is your domain, Mr. Sea Monster, but right now we need to be here.'') she thinks to herself as things slows down, and the serpent changes directions. She can feel its mana leaving and coming back as it begins to circle her.
(''I can not see a thing, and the water... it is getting denser? It gets harder to move every second. This thing is far stronger than the creature I faced back then.'') Then the current takes a hold of her, and she swims sideways against the stream but is knocked into a huge boulder.
(''I get it now. This part of the sea is under this serpent's control, and there are plenty of huge rocks for it to crush anyone into. The pirates must have captured the serpent to use its powers to calm the currents for their ship to pass with ease. And they would have an excellent hiding place for any nosy visitors. Meaning they should have their main base not too far from the cave.'')
She places her feet on the rock and enforced them with mana, kicking with all her might. She senses the creature quickly gaining on her and she puts up a shield as the tail comes for her.
She is knocked back a bit and another current takes her forcing her down into the black sea.
(''This is bad I barely dodged that. My movements are slowed down in here. Uh, did the water get colder?'') She senses mana gathering in the water some distance away and she puts up a shield to defended herself from a large beam that forces her back and she is sent futher and futher down into the sea.
The serpant surrounds her and attacks from every direction while the water is getting thicker and colder. (Come on I need to be patient, don't panic just stay calm and aliened and defend against the blasts that comes.
(''Millie, remember.'', ''Yeah, I know, Thomson. Like always I am on my own, and if I cannot overcome what stands in my way, I will never be strong enough to keep my promise to Meir. This thing can be stronger all it wants, but I have gotten stronger too.'') She thinks to herself as the creature comes from above, she takes her hands in front of her and puts up a shield just as a black beam shot at her. She is forced to spin the shield around, to disburse the constant beam and she holds her hands out to concentrate on keeping the shield up. (''This water is seriously messing with me, no matter'')
She opens her mouth and condensed a vast amount of mana in front of her fangs as she creates a powerful white beam of mana shooting towards the serpent's beam. (''I have gotten way stronger since then!'') her mind screams. ('' There is a reason why I keep the brooch that Meir gave me close to my chest. It is there to give me comfort and to remind me of the promise I gave. I will keep my promise to Meir no matter what, and right now, there are a few teens in need of help, and I will help them, because that is who I am!'') her mind shouts, and the beam intensifies. (''I will be strong enough to keep my promise. No matter WHAT!'') she screams in her mind and she unleashes even more magic into the beam
Meanwhile, above the surface, Asta has gotten close to Catell, and she is forced to bring out her own blade. Battling from her broom becomes difficult, and she is forced back a few times. She stops and her eyes widens, and Asta halts his swing to not kill her. ''Why did you stop?'' he asks and the lady turns her head looking at the water as it lights up. ''what in the world is that?'' she asks and tons of Water erodes from the sea in vast amounts, and they see the serpent getting flung out into the clouds above followed by a big bright white beam of pure mana forcing the water away and the ship is pushed back despite its anker being dropped.
''What on earth?'' she uttered as she is struck by the flat of Asta's sword, and she falls off her broom. Asta flies down and catches her, and lands back on deck, tying her up.
Millie swims as fast as she possibly can to the surface and as she emerges she casps for air as her lungs are burning. She brings out her wings. She lands just inside the deck's railing.
Asta watches as she steadies herself on all fours, a fit of coughs overtaking her, as she gouchs up black seawater.
Her mind goes back to that day a long time ago when she was in the same position on deck, coughing up saltwater. The scent of cigarettes increased as Thomson's black boots walked up to her and stopped in front of her. She gazed up at his cold eyes.
''That took you way too long... I swear you are barely worth the shit beneath my boots,'' he said, his cold like always blowing smoke into her face, and she began to cough.
''Gee, Thomson, will she ever be enough to please you?''
Doe-eyed, she looked at him with the same question on her face. ''Please, if she ever would be enough, she would have become enough a long time ago,'' he said with cice to his tone and dark eyes. ''She can make up for her slack by cleaning the hull when we get back from this expedition. In the meantime, she is on deck duty.'' He orders and walks to his chamber and Millie's eyes falls to the floor of the deck.
(''But I have to become enough, or I will never be able to keep my promise.'') She thought to herself.
(''Right I have to become enough one day'') she thinks to herself looking the black water on deck between her shaking arms. The ship's lanterns flickers, casting light on the wooden floor. She looks at the wet wood between her glove-covered hands. (''That water did not taste good. It tasted like ink, oil, and salt all at once.'')
"She hears footsteps approaching, and she sees Asta's brown boots stop in front of her. ''Millie, are you okay?'' he asks, concerned. Doe-eyed, she looks up at him. ''Yes, Master Asta.''
''Good, now why did you have to go after it alone like that, huh!'' he asks loudly. She sits on her knees, her face filled with confusion as she gazes at him as though he's grown a second head or something.
''My apologies, I am confused. What did I do wrong?'' she asks gently and calmly. ''Uh, we're supposed to do this together; we're a team, you know,'' he explains. She looks at him, attempting to understand what he's saying, but she fails to comprehend it.
''I do not understand.'' ''What don't you get? We do things together. I'm getting a little tired of you taking on almost everything on your own.'' ''Uh... I am confused. Am I not supposed to?'' she utters. ''Are you always confused?'' Liebe asks her. ''I, uh, don't believe so, sir.'' Asta looks at her for a moment and can tell that she actually does not know what he is asking of her. (''Is she this used to taking things on her own?'') he thinks to himself, then turns his head as he hears Finral and Sally come up on deck. Millie stands up next to him.
''They aren't here,'' Sally tells him. ''Where are they then?'' ''I don't know, but the prisoners have been sent to HQ,'' Finral replies.
''It's too late anyway; those guys are probably dead by now,'' Catell says with a smile. ''Oh, shut up. You don't know that,'' Asta tells her. ''Well, feel free to go after them. They're somewhere within that cave over there,'' she says, gesturing in the direction while tilting her head and looking towards the cave on the island.
''Oh, don't worry; we will,'' Asta tells her. Sally walks up to him. ''I'll be sending these guys to HQ,'' Finral says, bringing out his grimoire. ''Special magic: Fallen Angels Wing Beat,'' he utters, and a small green light goes to each of the tied-up people, sending them to HQ.
Millie looks at Asta as a determined expression crosses his face while he gazes at the cave. "Woah—" Asta exclaims as he is hugged from behind. "Paha, this is amazing. I know going along with you will result in something interesting, and the way the sea around here behaves because of a serpent is astonishing," Sally joyfully states. "Right, why don't we settle down now?" he asks, and Sally looks over to Millie as she takes in her wings.
"My, so cool. Your body literally morphed to remove your wings. What else can you do?" she asks, releasing her grip on Asta and walking around Millie. "I-I can do a lot of things," Millie replies, feeling put off by Sally's demeanor. "Oh, how about you show me? I mean, ever since I heard, I've been doing quite a bit of reading. But to actually get to study your body would be amazing. So, will you help me make that happen? Huh, will you, will you?" she asks.
''H-help you?'' Millie nervously utters. (I love to help those who ask for it... it's just that I get the feeling if I say yes, I might lose an organ or two) Millie's mind panics, sweat-drops beginning to form.
''Sally, that's not where our focus should be right now. We need to find those who need our help,'' he tells her. ''Aww, party-pooper,'' she mutters.
''Come on, we need to go,'' he tells her.
Moments later, they stand within the cave. ''Huh, it's just one big empty room,'' Sally says, walking over to the wall and looking at the stones.
Millie walks to the other end and gets on her knees, sniffing the ground. ''Well, I recognize Haze's scent, so they have been here, sir,'' Millie utters, and Asta walks up to her. ''Right, so then?''
''Hm, these rocks are odd, not something one would normally find,'' Sally explains as the sound of moving rocks is heard, and the cave begins to slightly shake. ''Do you guys hear that?'' Finral asks.
''I do,'' Asta says, and the floor between them shoots up as the floor beneath them tilts. The group is split, sliding in each direction down into the dark abyss, away from each other.
Meanwhile
Haze is looking at the markings on the door with many knobs, each with three different symbols on them. He's borrowing Sebastian's notebook. ''Damn, why does none of this make any sense?'' he asks and walks over to the door, turning some of the knobs with small symbols on them.
''Nothing. How do I even know if I'm turning the right ones?'' he mutters to himself, then turns them once more, hearing a click from the door.
''Did I open one of the locks?'' he asks himself, hearing hissing from within, accompanied by loud footsteps walking about inside.
He gulps. ''Should I even open this? It might spell the end, but if I don't, we'll be drained of magic and die.'' he thinks to him self with his hand shaking a little.
''Damn it, Haze. If you die here, then Laura will never...'' he tells himself, as newfound determination filling his eyes. He keeps going. ''I'll just have to find a way to face whatever is inside,'' he thinks to himself, gulps, and looks at the notes.
He scratches his head and looks at the door. (''The next symbols are completely different... this will take forever. At this rate, I'll be out of mana too. But I have to keep going.'') his mind tells him, and he hears many footsteps from behind the door again. Chills run down his spine...