It was still early in the morning when the captains of the magic knights gathered in the large meeting room of the royal castle. It was silent and the tension was hard to go unnoticed by anyone in the room. No one wanted to start, even though they knew they had no choice.

"So" Julius started, breaking the unnerving silence. "Now that Zagred has fully entered this world and made sure Asta followed him, there will be a war coming towards us."

Charlotte hummed. She gently stroked the head of her second son. Liebe was even smaller than Asta and had managed to squeeze himself into her lap between herself and the enormous table. His head lay on her shoulder, wings tucked in.

He had fallen asleep not too long ago. The soothing motion of his mother and the silence of the room giving him no other choice but to comply and close his eyes. Maybe it was better if he didn't hear any of this.

"Our options are limited" Nozel said. "We have no idea of what the devil is planning now."

"I must agree" Fuegoleon nodded. "What we were aware of, was, that the devil wanted Asta back. Now the question is, what he intended to do."

"We all thought that the eye of the midnight sun would open the portal to the underworld. Yet, it seems to have closed again" William said.

"Yeah" Yami grumbled. "It was just enough to let him pas through. The stones must've lost their powers over the centuries."

"So, what do we do?" Rill asked. "We can't just wait around."

Another minute of silence. Charlotte hated to think about it, but maybe they had to admit defeat for once. There was no way she was going to fight her own child. She had raised Asta as her own kid and never in a million years would she dare to raise her weapon against him.

Although the thought that Asta would be fine with raising his hurt.

"Rill is right" Julius sighed. "We cannot wait around for something to happen. We must take matters into our own hands."

"And what do we do? We have no idea where they are" Jack said.

"And even if we do find them, what are we supposed to do? I for one am not fine with killing our son" Yami said with force.

"No one is suggesting that" Julius tried to calm the dark mage. "But we need to think about something. Would you rather trap him in a cage?"

"Of course we wouldn't want that" Charlotte hissed. She felt Liebe stir and quickly shushed him again. "We don't even know what Zagred did."

Charlotte took a deep breath to steady herself. Trapping her baby in a cage seemed so cruel, yet the only way to make sure he stayed save and away from Zagred right now. Maybe they had no other choice.

"I know" a voice mumbled.

The blond looked down at the devil in her lap. His eyes were only partly opened, but she was sure that it was Liebe who had talked.

"You do?" she whispered back.

Liebe nodded, pushing himself upright and turning around in his mother's lap to face the captains. "Unlike Asta I have all the knowledge that devils have."

"Then you know what happened back there?" the wizard king asked.

"Yeah" Liebe nodded. "It's simple, really. Humans can be turned into devils. And since Asta is technically part devil himself, it's even easier. Even if we got divided into two people. All Zagred had to do was activate that devil blood. With his own."

"And how? Is there some creepy ritual?" Jack asked sarcastically.

"No" Liebe scoffed. "He added his own blood into Asta's. Literally."

"Does that mean we just have to get it out?" Charlotte asked.

"Kinda. But it would have to happen fast. One drop of blood is enough to activate it. The longer it stays this way, the stronger it will be. At one point, there is no turning back" he explained.

No one dared to say a word. Or ask the question that everyone in the room was asking themselves. How long? How much time did they have before it was too late to save Asta? Days? Weeks?

Suddenly, the door burst open, and a tall red-haired woman walked inside. "Alright, since no one wants to say it, I will. How long, devil kid?!" she grinned.

"Sister, you're back" Fuegoleon said with surprise.

Mereoleona Vermillion stood tall and with pride in the doorway. She had never been one to hold back what she was thinking. "I will not ask again" she said, ignoring her brother.

"I don't know" Liebe shook his head.

Mereoleona came closer, lifting the devil with her flame magic. "Come again?" she asked, her voice deadly calm.

"I don't know" the devil said once again. "It is different for every human."

The red head nodded, letting him fall back down, Charlotte catching him midway.

"I searched half of the kingdom. Nothing was off. Then again, I don't know if I can find a kid that doesn't have mana" she said to Julius.

"Well, thank you for trying" he laughed nervously. There were only a few people that weren't intimidated by her.

Mereoleona crossed her arms over her chest. She wasn't very happy with the results of her search.

"So that's where you have been" Fuegoleon said.

"Yeah" she nodded. "I tried to search for the kid. The devil too, but nothing. Neither of them are anywhere to be found. The kid must really know how to get rid of his traces."

"You searched half of the kingdom over night? Damn, that's creepy" Yami said.

"Shut it!" she grumbled. "Whatever, all we can do right now is keep searching and prepare ourselves for the worst."

"Right" Nozel nodded. "We should all prepare our strongest mages for a possible fight and organize search parties."

Charlotte hated that idea, but they were right. It was all they could do right now. It was for the best. "Just promise me to be careful."

"Of course, we will. He still one of our own" William smiled.

Charlotte nodded, grabbing the hand of her son. With that, they parted ways. Every squad captain going back to their base and prepare everything.


Back at the black bulls hideout, Liebe immediately threw himself on the couch, Charlotte covering him with one of the many blankets. She sat down at the bar, rubbing her temples.

"How did it go?" Yuno sat down beside her.

"Under these circumstances? Pretty good" she said.

Yami put a glass with whisky in front of her. She didn't drink much. Mostly because she couldn't hold her liquor well, but today she needed it. The blond started sipping it.

"There will be search parties for Asta and Zagred. Every squad will send their strongest members for this. Means you as well, probably" Yami said.

"I'm not going to fight him" the wind mage hissed.

"No fighting, just searching. I'll try to get you and Noelle in one team. You both will be able to handle this the best" the dark mage explained.

"Alright" the teen grumbled. "And what are we supposed to when we find them?"

"Eh, still working on that" Yami rubbed the back of his neck.

Yuno raised an eyebrow. "You don't know?"

"Like I said, we're working on it. For now, you should go back to your own squad. Vengeance will surely want to speak with you."

The teen nodded, not really wanting to argue further. But it felt wrong to go back like this. Yet, he knew he had to. He had to prepare himself for the worst. But Yuno wondered how far he was able to go when it was about the person he loved.

Finral made him a portal that send him to the front door of his own squad. With a deep breath he went inside. Vengeance was already waiting for him.

"What do we do now?" Charlotte muttered into the glass. She began tapping it with her nail, the sound echoing off gently.

"First off, you need to calm down. I can practically see your Ki bouncing around."

"I know" she said, downing the rest of the whisky. "I raised that kid. We raised him. And now that devil comes running around the corner and messes with everything. I have the strong urge to destroy something."

"Yeah, me too. We should go to the forest."

"The forest?" Charlotte raised an eyebrow.

"Yep. LUCK!" the dark mage yelled through the hideout.

Liebe jumped from the noise.

"Yes captain" Luck came running around the corner.

"Time for a fight" Yami said.

Luck's smile turned into a wide grin, lightning sparking all around. "YES!" he ran off into the forest.

"Sorry kiddo" Yami patted the devils head as he went outside into the forest.

Charlotte followed, kissing his cheek before leaving. Liebe grumbled before lying down again and snuggling into the pillows. Idiots.


"I suppose Yami informed you about the situation?" he asked.

"He did, sir."

"Good" William sighed. "Come, we should talk about this in my office."

Yuno followed his captain without a word. Simply because he didn't know what to say. Inside the massive office of the golden dawn's captain, there were more books any small library could carry. Hundreds.

While William sat at his desk, Yuno had taken a seat on the other side of the large maple desk.

"I suppose there is no big secret around it. The search teams will be selected from every squad. Three to four people for every squad. I want you to go to."

Yuno nodded, staying silent for now.

"You will be leading your squad" Vengeance said.

"What?!" that surprised the teen. He never led a mission before. He was far too young for that.

"The other captains and I have no doubt that you will be the only one who can get through to Asta, once we find him."

"I don't know. I'm sure captain Charlotte would be better for this. She and captain Yami raised him after all" the wind mage shook his head.

William smiled slightly. "Indeed. But the bond you share with him is just as strong. Some of the captains will be searching as well, but your connection is unique in its own way."

Yuno didn't know what to think about this. Of course he wanted to find and help Asta before it was too late, but he didn't know how hard it would be.

"You must understand Yuno, that we don't have much time" Vengeance tried to explain.

"I know Asta doesn't have much time. And I know Zagred will probably kill him as soon as he doesn't need him anymore but-"

The captain simply raised a hand to stop the teen from his rambling. "That is not what I meant."

"Then what?" he asked.

"As far as we know we have a …..time limit you could say. At some point there is no turning back for Asta."

"I don't understand" the teen confessed.

"Liebe told us how Zagred managed to turn Asta. He used his own blood. And once it has taken full control, there will be no hope left for Asta."

The captain stood and walked around the table. Yuno stood as well when his captain put a hand on his shoulder.

"I have faith that you can help him. You are the only one that is able to complete this task" Vengeance said.

Yuno pressed his lips into a thin line. This was a lot of pressure. But he wouldn't let hope die just yet.

"You can count on me."