Season 2 Chapter 3. Colosseum.
Millie walks through the forest close to the black bulls' hideout, and she stops and looks at the sky as it turns a little bit lighter in color. She smiles and takes out her wings, flying high up and looking into the distance, seeing the sun break past the mountain, giving light to the darkness.
Seeing the first drops of sunlight rise forth early in the morning never gets old, as the sun makes the shadows slowly yield as it breaks through the forest over the hills.
She sits on a tall hanging branch and smiles, listening to the forest waking up as slowly but surely more and more chirping is heard.
"(I remember...)" she thinks to herself. It was an early morning, a few months after making her first contract, her bell started to pulsate in its blue color. This was before her soul was scorched, at a time when she still had her soul connected to her family.
After sensing the pulsation in her bell, she headed home to see what the call was about. She landed in front of a round hole in the mountain wall with a wooden door, and she took a step. "Oh Millie, you actually got here before me. How are things going?" a cheerful voice said behind her, and Millie sees Malissa's bell glowing in its yellow glow.
"Oh Malissa, good day. I, eh..." Millie utters quietly. "Huh? Timid as always, I see. Well, time to head inside and see what the call is about," Malissa says cheerfully, grabbing Millie's hand and heading through the door.
"Now come on," she says, and they go through the corridors until they come to the main hall, where the rest of Millie's siblings are, and she stops as they all turn to look at them.
"Oh, it is Malissa and... Millie? Don't tell me she actually went out into the world?" one of them asks.
"I know, I am surprised too," Malissa replies and pulls Millie along, and they take a seat chatting with the rest of the siblings until the rest have returned, and their mother comes into the big room.
"Hello, everyone. It is rare to see everyone gathered in one spot at the same time," she smiles. "Mother, does this mean..." one asks.
"Sadly yes, one of our own has fallen," she utters, and everyone holds a saddened expression. "Miles has died," she told them all. We held a funeral the same day...
The evening came, and Millie helped her mother out in the kitchen dealing with dishes after a big meal.
Millie's mother, Minty, looks at Millie as she puts the plates away and looks to her siblings in the common area, chatting and laughing.
"Millie, I got the rest, thank you. Why don't you go and be with your siblings for a bit?" she asked her, and Millie looked to the room and back at her mother. "I-I want to stay here with you and help out," she told her.
"Millie, you are all grown up now. I should not have to tell you that you need to socialize. Now be a good girl and head in with the rest."
"R-right," she replied and went into the room with the rest of her siblings.
"Oh Millie, come over here," Malissa said with a bright smile, and she grabbed Millie's hand and plopped her down in front of herself, hugging Millie from behind, and Millie leaned back into Malissa's chest.
Millie looked at her siblings and at the pillows that are strewn about for them to sit on and such.
Her siblings were chatting amongst themselves, and Millie watched them like usual, and like always, Malissa never ran out of things to say or talk about as she held everyone's attention.
Meanwhile, she hugged Millie tightly and messed with her hair. "Malissa, my hair is getting really tangled," Millie uttered quietly, but her words are ignored.
Millie looks around at every shadow in each corner of the room.
"Doesn't that sound cool, Millie?" she asked. "Uh, what? I am confused," Millie replied. "My, you never pay attention, do you?"
"Sorry, I, uh..." "Aw, you are lucky. You are cute, you know," Malissa told her and hugged Millie tighter, moving her hands all over Millie.
"Malissa, you never change either. You keep pestering her," one of them says.
"Pestering? I am just giving Millie some good attention."
"Attention? Is that what you call it? I am amazed that you still haven't learned to keep your hands to your self" her sister Malia said.
''What I totally have, besides Millie doesn't mind it'' Malissa defends.
"You are unbelievable," their sister uttered, and Millie looks between them, and Malia sighs and looks at Millie.
"That is the update about us. So, how about you, Millie? How is your first contractor like?"
"Well, he is, uh, he is a noble that drinks a lot and likes pork a bit too much, but I guess he is okay," Millie uttered.
"My, that was a summary," her sister smiles.
"I am still surprised that she went out on her own at all. I mean, she used to be so..." her other brother added.
"I know, right? She was so hopeless, and such a... Anyway, it is nice to hear that you have moved past that," her sister told her.
"Right, I, uh, I just had to be a little brave, is all, and the training with Vortex really helped me a lot." "Wait, Vortex of the Wexxy Family?" "Y-Yes." "No way, you are so lucky," Malissa tells her. "I am?" "Yeah, Vortex is just the hottest and most amazing guy ever. He is strong, and his magic is incredible, and he is so dreamy too," Millie's sisters said among themselves.
"Say, are you still training with him?"
"I am." "I wish I was in your place."
"Well, I..." Millie uttered, not sure what to say.
"So, tell me, do you like him?" Malissa asks from behind her.
"I, eh, W-what?" Millie's face blushed up.
"Aw, you do. How sweet. Well, you better get in line," Malissa laughs.
"Get in line?" Millie asks.
"Did you not understand it the first time around? He is the hottest and the coolest at the same time. Everyone wants a piece of him," Malissa told her.
"Yeah, that guy is seriously lucky," her brother uttered and looked at his other brothers. "I know what you mean," the brothers said.
"What?" Millie uttered. "Yes, any girls would love him to come up and and utter sweet words to give us the tingles as he touches us all over," Malissa says, moving her hands all over Millie again.
"M-Malissa, I am just training with him, nothing else, and it is helping me improve my life shield magic a lot," Millie replied, and everyone looks at her, and they look down and away as a slight cold darkness hangs over their faces like they are remembering something bad.
"What is wrong, everyone?" "Oh, nothing, just do your best, Millie," her sister says. "Yeah, we got this. It is sad that Miles is gone, but we have to keep moving on," Malissa says, trying to cheer everyone up.
(Is that what that look was about?) Millie wonders, and the group keeps chatting, and later, they head into a big and loooooooong linear room with bunk beds made into the stone wall on each side.
Millie stands there and looks at them getting into their respected beds, and she looks to the side at a dark wooden door with a big metal lock on it.
"I can take care of it, Millie. Not to worry," Malissa told her. "R-right," Millie replied.
her mind flows into the present once again (that was the last evening I spent with them as a family) Millie thinks to her self.
"AAAAARGH! Heck yeah!" she hears a loud yell and sees Asta run through the woods, being loud as ever.
Millie turns her gaze back to the sun, stretches wide, and jumps down.
Later in the day.
The coliseum comes into view as Asta walks the streets of the castle town, Kika. "Oh, this is so exciting!" he says, barely containing his intense joy. "Calm down, this event happens every year," Noelle tells him.
"I know, but what if we get a new squad mate?" he replies. "I agree; it would be fun," Noelle slightly blushes. "If we do, I hope it is someone who is easy to get along with. I have my hands full already," Finral utters.
"My, your family sure keeps you busy," Asta observes. "Yeah, well, after I have taken my duties more seriously, more and more keeps coming up," Finral replies.
"Who knew you could ever become responsible," Noelle teases him. "Hey, come on, I wasn't that bad," he nervously utters, rubbing the back of his neck. "Well, change can be a good thing, especially as our friendship grows stronger," Gordon mutters.
"All right, we are here, knuckleheads. You are free to watch, just keep out of trouble," Yami tells Asta and Noelle. "Of course, sir," Asta and Noelle reply.
Millie jumps off his shoulder and looks around and walks a bit away and transforms into her human form looking at the people gathered in the arena. (There sure are many here so early,) she thinks to herself, seeing the Coliseum filled with people.
(I wish they had other ways to see the kids' potential. I mean, the magic knights have plenty of positions to fill, and these kids have so much potential. It is clear just from watching them that they have the drive to become great,) she thinks to herself, looking around.
"Millie, hide me," she is snapped out of her thoughts and sees Sky run up. "H-hide you?" she asks as Sky hides behind Millie.
"Sky, I am supposed to be your escort for today. Since no one else could take you, I am not your prison ward. Besides, I can still see you," Dylan tells her, and they all look at him. "Who is this Sky, a new friend?" Asta asks. "As if," she retorts and whispers to Millie, "Please let out your wings for me," and Millie's wings pop out, and Sky pulls them up to hide herself better.
"I still know that you are there," he tells her. "Not if you get distracted," she tells him behind the wings and brings her arms around Millie's sides and starts messing with her boobs.
"What kind of distraction is that supposed to be?"
"Sky, what are you?" Millie softly asks.
Sky takes her face against the wings, and Millie makes an opening for her face. "Well, you could have fooled me, you..." Sky blushes and looks to the side. "So you won't say it, just imply it, huh?"
Millie feels another squeeze around her breasts. "Woah, your sweater hides them well, but they are bigger than I thought. What cup size do you have?" Sky asks her, and Millie's face turns red. "I-I, uh..." (Why did you have to ask that so loudly? This is not what I expected this day to bring.)
"Uh, what is going on here?" Noelle asks, and Sky hugs Millie's stomach. "Nothing to worry about, uh, have we met?" "No, and the name is Noelle."
"Oh, the name is Sky. Asta, may I borrow Millie for a bit?"
"Uh, sure?" he replies. "Nice," she says and looks at Millie.
"Could you transform for me?" she asks, and Millie turns into her cat form, and Sky holds her tightly in her arms.
"Oh, Asta, right? and Sky is here too," they all turn their gaze and looks at a girl with light purple hair. "Alisa, good to see you," Asta greets.
"And Tory is here too, hey man," Dylan says, and they greet each other. "Almost weird to see you outside of work," Tory replies. "Same to you," Dylan replies.
"Wait, you know each other?" Asta asks. "Of course, we see each other a few times a week," Tory tells him. "Oh."
"Yes, Tory and I meet a lot of people in our line of work," Alisa tells them.
"I see. That must be so cool," Asta replies. "But what are you guys doing here anyways? I thought your goal was to open a restaurant?" he asks them.
"Oh, we are here just to support our friend, who should be around here somewhere," she tells him and looks around.
She looks over to Sky as she comes up to her. "So, Alisa, could you be with me and agree that Dylan is a little bit strange?" she whispers.
"Huh, is there something going on?" Alisa asks.
''well you see'' she whispers
"What are you conspiring over there?" Dylan asks her, and she looks at him and sticks out her tongue. "Yeah, real mature," he utters and looks at Tory and leans in. "I get a feeling the girls are about to gang up on me. I can rely on your aid here, right?"
"I totally would, but..."
"But what? Have you never heard of the bro code?"
"I would, I swear. It's just, I do not want to ruin anything I have with, uh, you know," Tory whispers and points at Alisa.
"Damn, the only thing that trumps everything in the bro code, never get in the way of his buddy's pursuit of getting a girl. You lucky fool," he quietly states. "Heh, sorry," Tory utters.
"So are you in, if it ever happens?" Sky asks. "Of course," Alisa giggles.
"What is the giggling about?" Dylan asks, looking at the girls.
Alisa stands up and looks about.
"There he is, Haze over here!" she yells, and the teen with grey messy hair and purple lines walks over. "Oh, it's you two. You really didn't have to take time out of your busy day just to see me."
"Nonsense," Alisa tells him, and he and Tory bump hands in a greeting before Haze puts his hands into his pockets. "We have known each other too long to miss this," Tory tells him.
"Right," Haze replies.
"Hey, it is Mister Rude!" Sky tells them. "Mr. Rude... wait, who are you?" Haze asks her. "Don't play dumb with me," Sky tells him.
"Huh, wait, I have seen you before. That is right, from the day at the beach," Asta exclaims. "What are you doing here?"
"What do you mean, what am I doing here?"
"Don't tell me you will try for the magic knights?" he asks
"And so what if I am?"
"Oh, I had no idea you two were acquainted. How exciting this is," Alisa tells them. "I don't know if I would say excited," Asta utters.
"The feeling is mutual, pal," Haze retorts, and they all stop and look up as fireworks go over the Colosseum.
"They are starting. Uh, we better get out of the way," Noelle tells Asta. "Right. Oh, Alisa and Tory, you can watch with us if you would like," Asta offers. "Oh, that would be great," Alisa becomes more excited and turns to Haze.
"Well, we will be rooting for you, Haze. Give it your all," Alisa encourages. "Right," Haze slightly blushes and goes to the rest of the contestants.
"Oh, Sky, and Dylan, you can come too," he tells them. "Uh, oh no, she is gone. I should go and find her," Dylan tells him.
"Oh, okay," Asta says confused.
"Come on, Asta, let us go," Noelle tells him.
"Right, coming," he says and catches up to her.
They get up higher on the balcony and look at all the contestants below, and the birds flutter about, and everyone looks up, seeing the nine captains move into view.
A man wearing a goofy-looking mask moves up. "Thank you all for waiting. I will be administering this year's entry exam, World Tree Magic: Magic Tree Descent," he tells everyone, and clouds fill over the arena, and giant roots stretch down, giving each contestant a broom each.
"My, this is so cool," Alisa says with a big smile. "It sure is different than what we are used to," Tory replies and sees everyone get their brooms, and the roots retract, and the clouds dissolve and disappear.
"Now your first task is to fly. It is our most basic form of transport. If you cannot fly on a broom, then you are not worth our time," William tells everyone, and the contestants get on their brooms. There is a big difference between them all, as some fly around like it is nothing, while others are barely getting off the ground. Others with great control stand on their brooms, flying above the rest.
"Haze is actually doing really well," Alisa smiles, seeing the guy crouching on a broom flying around.
"Hahaha, this is fun!" a brunette giggles, flying next to Haze while standing on her broom. "It isn't supposed to be fun," he tells the brunette. "Oh, take it easy, Mr. Grumpy," she says, pulling a lock of hair behind her ear, which is kept together with a pink ribbon.
Haze's eye twitches as he looks at her flying about and looks at his broom. "I should be able to do it if I just concentrate a little," he says slowly, standing up as the broom shakes a little. "Come on, easy, easy." He slowly gets to a stand and looks at the girl flying about with ease.
"Go Haze, you've got this!" Alisa cheers. "You seem to really know the guy," Asta tells them. "Well, yes, we kind of grew up together."
"Kind of grew up together?" Asta asks. "Yeah, well, their family has a villa not too far away from where we live, so during the summers, we met and had a lot of fun, us and, well..." she trails off and looks at Tory. "Let's not talk about that right now. This is supposed to be a happy event for Haze," Tory tells her.
"Right, good call," she says and turns her gaze to the contestants. "You got this in the bag!" Tory cheers.
"Huh, oh, I see," Asta smiles and looks at everyone.
Later, they have target testing and magic control tests.
Meanwhile, Sky runs through the streets, casting small glances behind her. "Wait up already!" Dylan yells. "This guy is so persistent; it is annoying," she mutters and rounds a corner, jumping over a trash can to avoid the crowd.
"Why are there so many people here today?" she asks annoyed, as it is bothersome to run past them all.
"It is the magic knights' entrance exam today, so many people gather, to bear witness" Millie tells her. "Being a knight isn't that cool," she says and keeps going.
She turns the corner and hides in an alleyway. "Okay, I think we lost him," she whispers. "Not even close," she hears, and looks up. "Seriously, you dumb fart!" she yells and heads away, and Dylan lets out a sigh and continues after her on a broom.
"Millie, there is a canal up ahead, and I want you to catch me!" she utters and heads straight for it. Millie jumps from her arm to her shoulder, and as she jumps, she jumps onto her back and puts a shielded belt around her, flying down along the canal.
"Sky!" Dylan yells.
she says, and Sky looks behind her. "He is so persistent. Any way we can go faster?"
"Certainly," Millie replies and increases the speed greatly.
"Whoa, we are leaving him in the dust now!" she laughs, and they fly for a bit, and she looks behind them. "Phew, I think we lost him. We can land over there," she tells Millie, and they land in the square, and Sky walks about with Millie on her shoulder.
"Now let us see what we can do," she says, looking around.
She walks the streets, and the two chat together for a while.
"Finally, I found you," she hears as a hand is placed on her shoulder.
"Gee, Dylan, what the hell?"
"What do you mean, what the hell? I am supposed to keep an eye on you today. We agreed to it," he tells her.
"Meh, I believe that only applied to the going to and away from the capital bit," she tells him.
"What? No way," he tells her.
"Well, whatever, I guess you got me," she says, and they walk next to each other now.
"Anyway, is there anything that you would like to do?" he asks her. "For you to disappear," she whispers.
"What?" he asks. "Uh, nothing. Why not get some ice cream?" she asks. "Ice cream? Really..."
"Uh-huh."
"I thought you said you hated cold treats."
"What? I have never said that."
"Yes, you did, the other day, in fact."
"I have no memory of that." "What! You know the more you push this, the more obvious it becomes that you are up to something."
"What? Me, up to something? Never in my wildest dreams would I be up to anything," she tells him, and his eye twitches. "Right," he tells her, not believing her for a second.
"You are so annoying. I have Millie here, so I don't need you to be my lookout!"
"Millie?" he asks.
"Hi, sir," she utters. "A talking cat? Or is it some kind of morphing magic?" he asks.
"No, she is a familiar, dummy. And she can do way more than your dumb drums can do," Sky states.
"Right, anyway, I don't like this either, but for the day, you are stuck with me. Besides, I promised Theresa that I would, and I am not going to face her wrath just because you want to go with your rebellious tendencies."
"Fine," she says and stomps away, and Dylan lets out a sigh and follows suit.
Back at the coliseum, the mages are exchanging blows as battles are taking place.
"Man, they are so amazing," Asta says excitedly. "I know, right? This is so much fun to watch," Alica utters. "Uh, I suppose it is entertaining," Noelle says, looking at the battles below.
"Oh, it is Haze next, and he is battling... uh, it is that girl from before," Tory says, seeing the two teens go out on the field.
"I won't go easy on you, Haze, even if you are from House Warrant," she tells him. "Right back at you, little miss Lydia from House Serenify," he retorts, and she smiles.
"Mist magic, hidden field," he utters as his Grimoire floats up to his hand, and the battlefield is filled with mist.
"What the... This mist is scrambling my mana senses," she mutters to herself and brings out her Grimoire, which is white with pink vines moving in a circle from the center around the three-leaf clover and out to the book's edges.
"Vine magic, vine-made whip," she exclaims, and a pink vine forms around her hand as she stands ready for an attack to come from any direction.
"Ah, man, I can't see a thing in that spell," Tory says.
"I know what you mean. It is hard to see Haze in action in all of this, and I was looking forward to it too," Alisa says.
"Wait, do you hear that?" Noelle asks. "Yeah, they are clashing in there," Asta replies, as a whip meeting something wet and hard is heard through the mist.
"Playing a long game, I see. Fine, vine magic, five tails!" she exclaims, and four more vines come from her hand. She takes up her hand, and the vines spin around rapidly, forcing the mist away.
"You seriously think that I will let you force away my mist?" the voice echoes through the Coliseum as the mist thickens. "He is certainly strong; this mist feels so heavy," she whispers, "Regardless..." As mist balls come towards her, she whips them away.
(If I can extend my reach, I should be able to get him regardless of where he is, and he should be within the Coliseum arena.) She focuses and reaches out as much as she can, but she is unable to feel how far she is reaching out as the mist messes with her mana senses. But she keeps reaching out with the vine and counts seconds. And then she swings her arm and swings her body along, making a huge circle until it is stopped by something, and she has the vine curl inwards.
"Ha'h! Got you!" she yells, and the mist clears, and she sees him held in her vines, but then it fades into mist, and before she can react, a mist ball hits her from behind, and she falls unconscious.
"You lost! Too bad," he says with lazy eyes, and everyone sees her on the ground as the mist clears, and he walks away from her.
"He did it! I am so relieved," Alisa utters. "Me too. I barely saw anything besides mist and a few pink vines about," Tory says.
More competitions ensue.
Meanwhile Sky has managed to get away from Dylan again and is walking around walks along with Millie on her shoulder as she talks about the work that she has done while she was in neon.
''Miss Sky, did anything else happen?'' Millie asks gently.
''Well I eh'' sky utter and looks around. ''It is fine'' she says not wanting to get into it as she wants to forget everything that happened.
''Miss Sky?'' Millie asks.
The sun goes down in the distance, and Sky stops on top of a set of stairs and looks around. "I guess it is starting to get late," she utters.
''There you are,'' she freezes and looks to the side, seeing Dylan heading her way.
''Shoot again,'' she says and runs down the stairs, heading onward.
''Oh come on!'' he yells and heads after her.
''Meanwhile, number 187,'' the announcer yells, and Haze comes up. ''Oh fun, Haze is up,'' Alisa utters as a moment passes.
''No offers,'' the words ring through the Colosseum, and Haze grits his teeth.
''Huh, but why? The girl who lost against him got into the Blue Rose Knights,'' Alisa says.
''Yes, I know,'' Tory says, looking at the magic knights while Alisa watches Haze walk away and hides behind one of the columns, hiding how crushed he really is.
Alisa walks around to try and get a better look at him, then she sees him run. ''Haze,'' she says and begins to run to head to the stairs.
''Hey, Alicia!'' Tory yells and runs after her.
Asta and Noelle look at each other and nod in agreement as they should go and see what it is about.
''Alisa, hang on!'' Haze continues after her to the outside of the Colosseum where she stops and looks around, and he stops and looks at her. ''What is this about all of a sudden?'' he asks.
''It's just that Haze looked a little too upset, before he ran. I want to make sure that he is alright, but I do not see him or sense his mana,'' she explains, and Tory looks around. ''We should be able to find him. He can't have gone too far,'' he tells her.
''Uh, what is going on?'' Asta asks them, and they explain everything.
''We can help you look,'' Asta offers. ''Thank you, that would be nice,'' Tory tells him.
Asta walks about to look for the guy and turns the corner, and Bonk! ''Uh,'' Asta utters and stops, looking at the girl beneath him. ''Asta, is the exam done already?'' Sky asks and gets up.
''Not completely, we are just looking for...''
''Sky! There you are, how are you running this fast?'' Dylan yells, running up to her and stops, panting.
''It isn't my fault that someone from the common realm is so slow,'' she scoffs. ''You truly are a handful, you know,'' he tells her and looks at Asta. ''So what is up?'' Tory asks, and Asta smiles as Millie jumps from Sky's arms to Asta's shoulder and turns and looks at the two teens. Asta explains the situation and soon they help to search.
They look around for Haze but do not manage to find him by the time the entrance exams end, and Yami finds them outside. ''What are you knuckleheads doing?'' Yami asks, lighting a cigarette.
''Captain Yami,'' Asta utters and explains everything. ''If you have spent this much time looking for him, then the kid probably does not want to be found. Just leave him be for now. Besides, we need to get back to the hideout before it is too late,'' he tells them.
''Too late for what?'' Asta asks, and Yami grabs his head, lifting Asta up from the ground. ''You have stuck around for two years now, and you still ask me that?'' Yami tells him. ''Ow, ow, ow, I got it now. I remember what that means. Please let go, Captain Yami.''
''Uhu, Finral, a portal,'' he orders. ''Yes, got it,'' Finral replies and opens up a portal. ''Now for you, kid,'' Yami tells him, and Asta is thrown into the portal.
''Woah!''
''Noelle, turn to the other teens. ''It appears we have to go now. Sorry we couldn't provide more help.'' Noelle waves to them.
''It is fine. Thank you anyway,'' Alisa yells, and the rest wave too before Noelle jumps through the portal too.
''Good, now that is done, I better get to work on that dump,'' Yami says and walks through the portal after Gordon.
Asta gets to his feet and looks at the entrance to the hideout.
''Well time to celebrate another yea at the black bulls'' Yami laughs and Noelle looks through the window seeing everyone getting ready for a big steak party.
''Well I am gonna take a dump and I am ready'' Yami tells them and heads inside.
''Right'' Asta says excited.
meanwhile Yami walks the halls and his communication device begins to glow...