Chapter Eighty-Eight: Ghost of the Base
"Who the hell is that?"
That was the thought that unanimously went through everyone's head.
Rades was the first to comment on the matter. "Hey, is that guy with you?!"
"Your guess is as good as ours," Gauche replied, his gaze still on the mysterious man. "Granted, he did come out from the base, him being on our side would be the most logical conclusion,"
"Hold on, did any of you know the base's exterior could move around like that?" Gordon asked.
"This is the first I've seen of it, I thought it was just exclusive to the interior," the mirror mage answered. "Although, we never did learn how the base shifted around like it did. Could it be that this guy was responsible for all of it?"
Before the trio could ponder the thought, the figure stared down at them. "Gooorrrddooonn, Grrreeyyy, Gaauucchhee, iiisss eevveerryytthinnngg oookkkkayyyy?" he slurred.
"Why is he talking like that?" the bulls thought in unison, but another thought quickly replaced it. "Wait, he knows our names?!"
"So he does know them, although I'm not seeing a robe on him. You think he's a Magic Knight?" Annalise inquired to her team.
Valtos held his chin. "Maybe, maybe not, but one thing is certain, this has been taking too long, we were supposed to be in and out thanks to our superior numbers, but our adversaries have been making it difficult,"
"What do you plan to do then?" the spark mage wanted to know.
"I'll do what I should've done in the first place: teleport inside their base and locate the objective myself. While I'm inside, I need the three of you to buy me as much time as possible. Our mystery man appears to be able to control the building at will, if they notice I'm gone, the logical conclusion would be that I infiltrated the inside with my magic, and if that happens, I'll be at the man's mercy,"
"Alright then, be safe,"
He nodded. "I will," taking advantage of the enemy's distracted state, he quickly formed a portal and sank into it.
Meanwhile, with the knights, it was the transformation mage who finally decided to ask the most important question at the moment.
"Excuse me, but who exactly are you?"
"Whhhoooo aaammm IIIII?" he repeated, shifting his head from looking down to looking up at the sky.
[Flashback]
Clover Kingdom. Years Ago.
The sky underwent a minor shift in appearance as perspective panned back down to the hideout, but now, there was no battle in session, in fact, there was no one outside at all. Instead, there was just the sound of a crying baby coming from inside.
Now inside the building, the origin of the crying was located, it came from a crib stationed at the edge of a very sizable room, and inside the crib was the man as an infant, his long white hair significantly shorter, allowing his yellow eyes to be in full view.
But he wasn't alone in the room. Standing over the crib was a well-dressed lady with black hair and the same yellow eyes. Looking down at the child, her expression softened as she placed a finger over her lips.
"Shh, please don't cry, my little boy, mama's here,"
That seemed to do the trick as the boy stopped crying, beginning to laugh and giggle instead. "Mama," he managed to say.
His mother smiled, but it faded ever so slightly at the sound of a door opening, welcoming the presence of a well-dressed man, his eyes green, but his hair white like the child's. He walked for a bit, then stopped, standing at a notable distance.
"What are you doing here? I thought I told you to steer clear of this room as often as you could," he finished his half of the exchange, his tone a mix of stern and soft.
"I cannot," she answered. "He's my son, our son," just as she finished her statement, she clutched her head and fell to one knee.
Seeing this, her husband broke his rule of distance and hurried over to her, helping her up. "I know he is, but there's a reason we're even out here in the first place. The baby is cursed, he'll drain the mana of anyone in his vicinity, and eventually, he'll start draining your life energy,"
"B-But, if he has no mana to take…he'll die," she croaked, breaking into tears.
Her husband held her tightly. "I…I know, but we can't let this be the end of us, House Legolant must go on. We…we have to leave him here,"
"No, I won't allow it!" the woman refused to do so, trying to break free.
"Please, dear, you must understand, if we stay here and die, he'll be all alone. Is that what you want?"
"...No,"
"Then let us leave, perhaps we'll have better luck with our next child. But I have something that may calm your worries," he walked out of the room, coming back with a pole-esque-like device. "This was a very expensive magic item, it will produce a special type of mana that will sustain his body, for a limited time though. He also has all the food in the building if he needs it,"
After saying that, he lodged it into the floor and activated it, and once it was done, there was the hard part…leaving. An hour had passed and the couple were now outside, holding all they could carry, giving the house one last look, a last thought entering their minds before they left.
"Goodbye, my son, I hope that one day, you can forgive us,"
That fateful day soon came to an end, and many more years passed. How many? The infant had no way of knowing, but there was something he knew for sure.
He wasn't an infant anymore, he was a man now, lying down in a bed. A sigh escaped his lips, the day had been just as uneventful as every other day, granted, things became a little more lively when the nearby birds would fly into his room and nest in his hair, he enjoyed their company, but admitted to himself that he'd rather like to enjoy companionship with those like him, those who were human.
Alas, it looked like that day would never come. With an absent-minded movement of his head, he gazed upon the magic item that had been providing him mana for as long as he could remember, the device that had been keeping him alive, but it put a halt to its task as it stopped functioning the month prior, its many years of use easy to see from how close its exterior structure was to completely deteriorating. The past 30 days without its aid had taken its toll on the man, he could usually walk around and traverse the massive building with ease, but now, he was confined to his bed, lacking the strength to even stand.
"Looookkkkkssssss liiikkkkeee itttttt issss oovvveeerrr foooorrrr meeeeeee," he mumbled slowly to himself.
This was it for him, at the rate he was now, he wouldn't last another day. Trying to come to peace with his fate, he rested his head down on the pillow below, taking multiple deep breaths. He was ready now, he was ready to die.
Or so he thought.
Out of nowhere, another sound had entered his ears, it was the sound of…footsteps, footsteps that weren't his own. Mustering all the strength he could, he sat up, trying to discern the sound's location, but luckily for him, he didn't have to try hard as the source walked right into view.
It was Yami, or at least a younger Yami. He was shorter, his body not as muscular, and most important of all, he didn't have a Black Bulls robe on, instead was the robe of a different squad.
The dark mage was just as surprised as the man by the sudden encounter. "What the hell? Who are you?"
"Meeeee? I liiivvvveee heeerrrreee," the man answered.
Yami couldn't help but snort. "You talk funny,"
"Whhhhaaaattttt arrrrreeeee yooouuuu taaalllkkkiinnggg abbboouuttt? Yooouuuu'rrreee thhheee onnneee taaalllkkkiinnggg fuuunnnnyyy,"
The magic knight raised a brow, deciding to brush over his statement. "Right. Anyways, I'm guessing you're wondering why I'm here then?"
The slurred speaker nodded. "If you must know, I've been intrigued with this building for some time now, I pass by it whenever I do missions in the area. I was curious to see how it was inside, so I came to check it out, maybe see if I could make this place my personal house or something,"
"Yooouuuu caaaannnn haaavvvveeee itttttt iffff yooouuuu waannnntttt. I'mmmmm gooooiiinnngg tooooo diiieeee sooooonnnn,"
"Die? How?"
"I taaakkkkeeee maaaannnaaa frrrooommm peeeeoooppplllleeee,"
"I see. I take it you'll die if you don't have mana to drain?" he inferred, and was met with another nod. The dark mage then tilted his head to the side, noticing the birds near the man. "They seem to like you though,"
"Yeeessss, thhheeeyyyy arrrreeee myyyyy frriiieeennndddsss. Buutttt I caannnn neeevveeerrr seeeemmmm toooo taaakkkeee maaaannnaaa frrrooommm theeemmm," he said.
Yami crossed his arms. "No duh, animals don't have mana inside them, the ones who do become magic beasts,"
It was the man's turn to tilt his head. "Maaaggggiccc Beeeaaasstttsss?"
Yami sighed. "You don't get out much, do you?" he asked, the shaking of a head being the response. Just then, he clutched his head.
"Shit, I can start to feel my mana leaving me, I'd better leave,"
"Oookkkkayyyy," he said, his demeanor took on a sad note if the tone of his voice said anything.
The young knight, picking up on it, fought the light-headedness to scratch his cheek. "Look, don't go giving up on life just yet, you may have been dealt a crappy hand, but you can't let it be the end. Tell you what, why don't I crash here for a few days until you can get back up on your feet?"
The man was shocked, to say the least. "Reeeeaaalllyyy!"
"Yup. I don't have to stay in this room, do I?"
"Noooooo. Assss looonnnggg assss yooouuuu'rreee innnn thhheee buuiiilldddiinnggg, itttttt wiillll doooooo,"
"Cool. Could you always do that?"
"Noooooo, I piicckkkeedd itttttt upppp oovvveeerrr tiiimmmee," he answered.
"Trying to hone your abilities? I like that. I better be off for real this time," he said as he turned and started, but then he stopped himself to say one last thing.
"It's going to be kinda cool living here, and who knows, maybe I'll bring some other people one day, it is a pretty big place after all. How would that sound?"
For the first time during their encounter, the slurred speaker smiled. "Thhhaatttt woouulllddd beeeee grreeaattt!"
And great it was.
Another set of years rolled along, and while it was a shorter amount of time, it was far better than anything the man had experienced. Yami had kept his word to bring other people, in fact, he did even better, he brought a whole squad! The young knight grew and eventually became a captain, making the building the squad's official HQ. No longer did the man have to worry about being on the brink of death, however, that fact wasn't as important as what was going to happen soon.
Because his biggest desire was about to become a reality.
Inside his room, he was enjoying his favorite pastime: humming tunes with the birds who had once again flocked to his hair.
"Whhaatt a beeaauutiffulll daaayyyy," he said to his winged friends before footsteps were heard not too far away.
As he tried to listen in the distance, his expression switched to a shocked one. There wasn't just one person walking by, there were two, and just as he realized that, a head poked into his room, a young boy with ash-blonde hair propped with a headband.
"Holy crap! There really is someone here!" he yelled.
Out of nowhere, a hand clutched onto his head, Yami walking into view. "Of course there is, I told you that before I even brought you here,"
"I'm sorry, please let me go!" he yelled again and was promptly released.
The man chuckled a bit. "Yooouuuu'rreee reeeallllyy looouuuddd. Yooouuuu muusssttt beeeee Aassstttaaa?"
The swordsman gasped. "You know who I am?"
"He does. Our friend over here has complete control over the hideout, he can hear nearly every damn word spoken inside,"
"Awesome. Do the others know about him?"
"No. Something else to know about our friend here is that he has some kind of curse, or affliction, or whatever the hell it is that drains mana from people. Being the strongest guy here, I can handle myself a bit better,"
"So you brought me here because I have no mana?" Asta deduced.
Yami took out a cigarette and lit it, exhaling smoke. "Whaddya know? The kid has a brain after all,"
"C'mon, give me some credit!"
The slurred speaker expressed some shock at the revelation. "Yooouuuu haaavvvveeee nooooo maaaannnaaa?"
Yami shook his head. "Not a drop, you both are pretty special cases. Among the weirdness that is the Black Bulls, you two are its weirdest members?" he stated, but then, he facepalmed for some reason.
"What's wrong?"
"I must be the second biggest idiot in the world," he began, ignoring the glare Asta sent his way. "All this time, and I still haven't given you a robe,"
He reached into his satchel, pulling out a folded one, and threw it on his bed. "You can have that one, it's a spare I keep on me, never needed it though, plus it's not even personalized to my style,"
"Thhhaannkkkss,"
The magicless was jumping in joy. "Does this mean he's a new member?!"
"Not exactly. I met him when I was still a part of the Gray Deer, so it would make more sense for him to be an older member. As for the order of members, I'm the captain, so I'd obviously be the first member, as for the second and third, those belong to…," he paused for a moment, his features softening slightly. "...Two old friends,"
Asta picked up on the pause immediately and was instantly curious. "Ooh, other Black Bulls I don't know, tell me about them, tell me,"
The soft expression disappeared and the intimidating one that the teen was so used to replaced it. "Wanna die?"
"Sorry," he croaked.
Reverting back to normal, Yami addressed the man again. "I guess that would make you member number four. That works for you?"
"Noooooo proobblleemmm,"
The dark mage grinned. "Nice. Now I'd better get going, I can feel my mana dropping a little too low for my comfort. Oh, and kid, don't do anything dumb, you just had your arms restored yesterday,"
"Relax, captain, the Witch Queen made these bad boys brand new, they can handle anything," the teen flexed his biceps.
"If you say so," he walked out of the room.
Asta moved closer, sitting at the edge of the bed. "It's really nice to meet you, we're going to get to know each other great, I can even tell you about the others,"
"I alllrreeaadddyyy knnnoooowww a littlllleee biitttt, buutttt yooouuuu caaaannnn teeelllll meeeeeee moooreeeee,"
"Cool, you're going to love them. But first, I have to ask," the swordsman began.
"What's your name?"
[End Flashback]
Taking his eyes off the sky, he opened his mouth again to answer her question.
"Myyyyy…,"
"Who am I? I'm someone you don't know, but luckily for me, I know all of you," he thought at regular speed.
"..Naaammmmeee…,"
"You're the ones who saved me, first from death, and then from loneliness,"
"..Issssssss…,"
With his left hand, he propped up the bangs in front of his face, revealing yellow eyes that expressed a warm sense of joy. "You are all…my precious friends,"
"..Heeeennnrryyyy,"
"Henry?" the trio said in their minds, their eyes widening as they saw him reach into his hair and pull out a Black Bulls robe, putting it on.
Rades pointed at him. "He is one of them. Take him down, Mikeal Caesar!"
The abomination took off, running towards the newest fighter in the battle, but none were prepared for his next move.
Taking out his grimoire, he cast a spell in his mind. "Recombination Magic: The Raging Black Bull!" with a loud rumble, the base began shifting once again, but this time was different, very different, for it became some sort of automaton that had the resemblance of a bull.
"Holy crap, that thing's huge!" everyone exclaimed.
Now standing on the bull's shoulder, Henry merely extended his arm, now having his own soldier to command. Reeling its arm back, the giant launched a powerful punch, but the wraith was quick enough to wrap itself in a short layer of vines, mitigating the damage.
"Shit," Rades cursed beneath his breath.
The spark mage stepped forward. "I'm getting back in there. If I get close enough, I might be able to act as a decoy so Mikeal Caesar can land a direct hit. What do you think-,"
"Out of the question, Annalise!" the man loudly and vehemently refused.
"Why? You don't think it's a good plan? Because I think it is,"
Rades held her by her robe collar. "Do I have to spell it out for you? What do you think will happen if that thing gets a clean hit on you? I'll tell you want, you'll be a goner. We already lost Vetto and Fana, I wasn't around to stop it from happening, but I am here. This group, the four of us, we'll survive to the end of this, until we fulfill our goal, I'll make sure of it,"
Hearing this, the spark mage slowly relented. "Fine,"
"Good, now stay back for the time being, let Mikeal Caesar handle it," he ordered, turning his attention to his number 0. "Don't engage directly, stick to long range attacks!"
The wraith responded with a nod, extending both arms to fire an array of high-powered wind blasts, the giant bull remaining steadfast, taking the blows head-on with no problem.
Henry cracked a small smile, but that smile quickly turned into a shocked gasp as something flew right by him: debris. Turning to where his spell had been hit, he could notice pieces chipping away.
Seeing this made him grit his teeth somewhat. "You aren't the only one with long-range attacks. Recombination Magic: Mana Rocket Punch!" the bull extended its arm, its fist firing off, zooming towards the enemy.
"Evade it!" he did just that, firing wind downwards to propel himself upwards a considerable amount, and that wasn't it, using his vines, he latched onto the giant's other hand and pulled himself in. Landing on its arm, he ran up, eyes set on Henry/.
"Great thinking!" Rades shouted. "If the spell is too much trouble, go after the mage who cast it!"
Henry, on the other hand, didn't look worried in the slightest. "Bad move," he thought as the wraith entered the distance threshold of his curse.
The recombination mage could begin to feel Mikeal Caesar's mana entering him, not too long would pass before the wraith stopped his advance, but surprisingly, that event never came to pass. Even the slurred speaker was taken aback at how the undead abomination just kept moving, ignoring whatever exhaustion it must've been feeling.
Nevertheless, a savior came in the form of Grey, adopting her previous attack routine of flying and diving down as a hawk, transforming into a lion who pounced on the wraith, knocking him off of the transformed base, inadvertently moving fast enough to save herself from the effects of her squadmate's affliction.
Annalise punched her palm. "They want to interfere, aye? Fine, these are threats I can handle!" she strode forward. "Spark Magic: Ground Sparks!"
Gauche narrowed his eyes at the sight of the spell. "This spell again? She knows I can get around it. Alright you two, get close to-," he stopped himself as Gordon stepped forward.
"Now that I know how her spell works, I won't let her do it again," he said, his grimoire flipping to a page. "Poison Binding Magic: Gefängnis Siegel!" he slammed his hands on the ground, his fingers extended as liquid poison shot out from them, moving similar to the trail of sparks. The poison trails overwhelmed their opposing counterparts without any trouble and were now racing toward Annalise.
Sally managed to jump out of the way, but the purple-haired mage wasn't as lucky. The trails now encircled her, glowing as they did so. "I-I can't move!" she exclaimed, startled by the sudden immobilization.
"Damn, good thing it didn't get us both," the gel mage commented as she neared her ally, scanning the spell, she tried to see if she could enter the circle's boundaries, but she was stopped by an invisible force. "Fascinating, what a potent binding spell,"
"This isn't the time to be in awe," the spark mage spat.
Gordon remained in the position he was in. "As long as the spell stays active, that Annalise girl won't be able to interfere, but I won't be able to do much either. It'll be up to you and Grey to assist Henry,"
"Got it," he said, bringing his attention back to the bigger fight at hand where the stalemate ceased to break, even with Grey's help, Mikeal Caesar was a force to be reckoned with. The transformation mage landed next to the teen, reverting back to her base form, squatting to catch her breath.
On Henry's end, the bull had scored a somewhat direct hit on the abomination, only managing to establish some distance as the damage inflicted was nothing overly significant. Regardless of that fact, the wraith changed up his game plan, opting for defense instead of offense, summoning as many vines as he could, and wrapping them around him until it became like a dome.
Trying his luck, the white-haired man commanded his giant to attack with all of its strength, so that's what it did, but to the shock of the Black Bulls, the vine dome withstood the blow. "Thhhiiisssss isssssss nooooootttttt gooooodddd,"
For the time being, they didn't know what to do, if their most powerful attack couldn't penetrate it, all they really could do was wait until the vines fell to rain hell and then some. Fortunately for them, that wait only lasted a minute, but as they prepared attacks, their fortune quickly became misfortune upon seeing the reason Mikeal Caesar had cooped himself up.
In his hands, he held an orb of condensed wind, the amount of power coming from it was nothing to scoff at. "Holy crap, I didn't think he could build up such an attack in such a short timeframe, and it doesn't even end there," the mirror mage thought as another fact caught his attention, one that scared him: the skin on Mikeal Caesar's palms were being torn apart, blood beginning to drip on the ground. "He can't even handle the power of it himself. There's no way Henry can withstand something on that level. We have to intervene!"
The siscon quickly turned to Grey for help, putting his hands on her shoulders. "I think you already know how dangerous that attack is going to be if it hits. You're the strategist here, the one with the plans, I really hope you have one now,"
The woman said nothing at first, her face merely turning red as she averted her gaze. "Too close,"
"What? I thought you and Gordon already got over your problems?"
"I just started today, it's still going to take some getting used to," she responded, her voice shyer.
Gauche sighed. "Right, sorry, I guess I should be glad I don't have to worry about your embarrassed stuttering anymore, but I'm serious. Do you have a plan?"
Looking at him a bit, she nodded. "I do,"
Meanwhile, Rades was pumping his fists in the air. "Alright, busting out the ultimate move, make it count!" he shifted his attention to the spark mage. "Don't worry, Annalise, once we take down that giant pain in the ass, we'll handle those three and free you,"
"That's great. What are you waiting for then?"
"You heard her, fire!"
For the first time ever, the wraith let out a bloodcurdling scream as he released the blast, approaching Henry and the transformed base at incredible speeds.
Henry narrowed his eyes. "A move like that will cause massive damage, and the bull is too big and slow to dodge it. But no matter what happens, I won't let it defeat me, I have to keep my friends safe, I owe them that much!" he thought with determination. "Recombination Magic-,"
His mental declaration was cut off by another spell that was cast faster, materializing a mirror a good distance ahead, and in a split second, Gauche appeared beside that mirror, floating between him and the devastating blast.
"What's he doing?" Sally wondered aloud in calm confusion. "Does he have a death wish or something?"
Rades smirked. "What can I say? Fighting against me does that to people. Either way, it's not going to accomplish much, proceed!"
"Sorry to break it to you, but that won't come to pass, not while we're the ones you're fighting! Grey!"
"Right!" she raised her hands as fast as she could. "Transformation Magic: Magic Conversion - Wind to Light!"
In an instant, the blast of wind became a beam of light, and Gauche was ready for it, pulling up his hair to reveal the mirror in his eye. "Hey bastards, give your leader my regards! Mirror Magic: Full Reflection!" at his command, he formed the large spell, bouncing the beam right back at its origin.
Unlike when the counter had been employed against Licht, the reflected beam destroyed most of Mikeal Caesar's left half. The arm was completely disintegrated, with chunks of his torso being blown clean off, blood gushed out with no end in sight.
But there was going to be an end if Henry had anything to say about it. "Nooooowwww!" he yelled slowly, the raging bull coupling its hands together to deliver a mighty vertical slam, destroying what was left of the number 0 wraith.
Rades fell to his knees, clenching his fists, his expression was one of disbelief. "It can't be, Mikeal Caesar is gone, all of my Number Corpse Series, they're gone," he pointed at the magic knights responsible. "Do you have ANY idea how long it will take me to make a new set?!"
The mirror mage, having landed, shrugged at the wraith mage's tantrum. "Um…we don't care?"
The man continued to seeth until Sally placed a hand on his shoulder. "Aw, don't feel too bad, look on the bright side," she paused, thinking of what to say next. "Okay, there is no bright side, but now it's my turn, you had your fun,"
He sighed. "You always did suck at cheering people up,"
The gel mage excitedly jumped up and down as she advanced. "Oh Black Bulls, I hope you're ready for another round, because it's my time to play,"
Within the hideout's interior, a familiar purple portal spawned and Valtos dropped in, landing in the main area. He spent a few seconds inspecting the space.
"Hm, this place doesn't actually look so bad, a cozy feeling. Anyways, it wouldn't make much sense for what I seek to be in such a broad area, it would most likely be in someone's room,"
Having made the statement, he located the hallway and went on his way…but little did he know that he wasn't alone.
The spatial mage's steps were a mix of calm and careful, his eyes darting in every direction, he was in enemy turf and didn't know what lay in each corner. There couldn't be too much protection, after all, people still had to live here, but there was no way in hell no precaution was put into effect should an intruder ever find their way in.
And he would soon encounter one of these precautions. Sort of.
After a good five minutes of steady walking, Valtos found himself no longer on a singular path, but rather, with the possibility to go three different ways: he could either continue going vertically, or through one of the two halls going horizontally.
He held his chin and weighed his options. He could certainly check each of them one at a time, but time was a luxury he could afford to waste, the battle outside could be ending soon and he'd be none the wiser. There had to be a way to know where to start, and that's when an idea came to him.
Turning right and stopping immediately, he created a portal in front of him, with another one forming in the middle of the hallway, he then proceeded to stick his arm through it, quickly retracting it when an arrow shot out of the wall and towards his hand. "So, this hallway is boobytrapped? Let's see if the other ones are too," he mused, creating two pairs of portals to test both simultaneously, but neither one appeared to put him in any form of danger.
He once more faced the right hallway. "Only this one seems to have some protection put on it. Why? What is it, the side for the women?" he pondered, giving a rare chuckle at the thought. "Not possible, they would never have such a double standard. This is obviously where objects of value are stored, meaning I'm closer to completing our mission,"
He took out his grimoire, flipping to a page. "I could just make a portal to the other side, it'd be faster, but a scenario like this is a perfect chance to test out my new spell. I must move quickly then," he broke into a sprint, the trap activating and firing a range of projectiles.
"Spatial Magic: Legion Barricade," a multitude of portals formed around him in the style of a barrier, protecting him from the array of weapons by having them go in one portal and shoot out of another. Gaps may have been presented between them, but such a fact was irrelevant with how small they were.
It took only a few seconds to arrive on the other side, the portals dying at the snap of Valtos' fingers. "Where to begin?" he muttered, his pointer finger shifting from door to door, before it finally stopped on one.
"There are only four doors here anyway, might as well start somewhere," he walked over and opened it, unknowingly entering Charmy's room. He stopped for a minute to inspect its appearance, which was quite neat and organized, the first thing capturing his eye being the sheer number of books present.
Valtos gently the bottom of his fist on his palm. "This must be it. All the books here are very likely important pieces of magical literature, who knows, there could be some useful information among them that can help us out in the future. Although, why is there a bed here? And a closet?" his mind wondered what the things could be doing in the room, but he eventually shrugged, chalking it up to a reason he just wasn't aware of.
With that, he got to work, searching every spot in the room save for the books, he checked in drawers, the closet, and underneath the bed, but no matter where he looked, he came up short each and every time. "I suppose it just isn't in here," he sighed. "Well, I can at least take a few of those magic information texts," he neared the shelves, grabbing one randomly to check its title, but doing so made his eyes widen.
"50 Tips for Cooking Chicken," he read aloud, closing it to inspect the other ones. "The Essentials For Your Pantry. Vegetarian Dishes You'll Love. Recipes To Feed The Whole Family. These are all culinary books,"
He walked outside, closing the door behind him. "There must be a reasonable explanation for this," he tried to think of something, his mind coming up with one. "Aha, one of the Black Bulls must've put stuff there for safe keeping, the bed and closet must mean they like to stay there often, yes, yes that's it. I'm still in the right place, I just need to look in a different room,"
He approached the room diagonal to Charmy's: Noelle's. "Okay, door number two, hopefully, I'll have better luck," upon opening, he wanted to shove those words back in his mouth. Like the cotton mage's room, a quality caught his eye immediately, this time though, the culprit was the bright fuschia rug that lined the floor.
Once more, he tried to rationalize it. "The Black Bulls are weird people, as such, they do weird things," he fully entered and decided to start with the drawers, but as he opened it, it all ended. No longer could he explain the strange happenings he encountered, and all it took to reach that conclusion was to see the drawer's contents.
Bras and underwear.
"But, i-it can't be. Hold on, no," he ran into Vanessa's room next, ignoring the litter of empty bottles and went straight for her drawers, finding the same thing. "No," and finally was Grey's room, which was no different. "No,"
"This really is the women's area!" he exclaimed, a bit crestfallen as he formed a portal, not even bothering to run through the booby-trapped hall again, arriving back where he started, the three options before him once again. He stopped for a moment, thinking about the statement he made earlier which gave him a chuckle.
"That's just sad. Oh well, time to check-,"
He was cut off by shaking and the sound of rumbling. Before his very eyes, he could see the base's interior twisting and shifting, his luck going from bad to worse as the very floor underneath him was not spared from the unpredictable metamorphosis, being moved up separately from the hallways before sliding into the wall, leaving Valtos hanging for dear life.
"Now what's going on?!" he yelled, not daring to look directly down, instead staring down at the hallway across from the women's, having not changed from its original position.
Narrowing his eyes, the spatial mage created a portal directly beneath him, releasing his grip to fall into it, landing where he sought to, but not before looking behind him to see how different everything looked.
"I was unaware their base had such a capability. That mystery man of theirs is quite powerful," he remarked, quickly getting back on task, soon being met with a greater number of doors.
He sighed, opening the first door he saw: Asta's room. "Oh look, another room, guess I should start on the next-," he cut himself off, unable to believe what he was seeing.
On the swordsman's desk, almost in plain sight, was his objective, he rushed over and grabbed it, holding it in the air, currently laughing. "I found it, I found it! The thing I've been searching for…,"
"...The Magic Stone!"
One of the special artifacts was indeed in the magicless mage's room. When he had completed his very first mission against Heath in Saussy Village, it was clear to see Asta had not left empty-handed, he left with the respect of the village's residents, the respect of Magna, and the beginning of Noelle's admiration, but he also left with a Magic Stone. Granted…it was less him to a degree and more Nero, who proceeded to keep the stone in his room without his knowledge.
"I have to be honest, I was beginning to doubt Licht when he said the stone would be here, but I was clearly foolish to think so. Now I can get the others and leave,"
But just as he was about to do so, the one who had been following him made themselves known, flying past him and snatching the stone out of his hands. Valtos spotted the culprit rather easily. "An anti-bird?!"
Nero, with the stone clutched tightly in his beak, attempted to fly out of the room, but the spatial mage wasn't about to let his work be for naught. He put a hand up and made a portal in the air, faster than the bird could react, unable to not fly right through it, appearing in front of its caster.
Not wasting a second, Valtos tried to cup him in his hands, but Nero was faster, flying up and reattempting the escape. "Damn bird, enough of this! Spatial Magic: Myriad Grasps!" at his command, multiple circles consisting of groups of eight portals encased the anti-bird, a singular one right next to him. He shot his hand through this portal, causing a hand to come out of each of the other ones simultaneously.
Nero obviously wasn't going to go down without a fight, swaying in whatever direction was safe, but no amount of effort could prevent the inevitable, only delay it. A number of hands grabbed onto his wings and legs, holding them in place while another squeezed his cheeks to loosen his grip, a final one taking it out of his mouth.
"Thank you," he held the stone tightly in his left hand as he made a portal beneath him, sinking into it rapidly. "And now, I must take my leave,"
Nero tried to follow him to wherever the purple egress would take the terrorist, but he wasn't fast enough, just missing it. Expressing frustration for the first time, the anti-bird violently pecked the floor where Valtos was a second ago, pecking and pecking, only stopping once he ran out of breath, his face now expressing something else for the first time.
Anger.
"Gel Magic: Sticky Salamander!"
Sally was still giddy as her ace spell materialized beside her.
Gauche rolled his singular eye. "First Annalise, and now you. Do none of you learn from your mistakes?"
"I'm a scientist, learning from our mistakes is what we do, and speaking of such," she retorted, reaching into her pocket and pulling out a decently large syringe. "Behold! I take it you recall Baro and what happened to him at the cave?"
He narrowed his eyes. "How could I forget?"
"Well, after some time of tinkering and further experimentation, I've perfected it, now it works on spells instead of people. A demonstration is in order! Dark Magic Item: Super Mass Expansion!" she injected the liquid into the slimy lizard, causing it to grow to an exponential height, matching the size of the Raging Black Bull.
"Giant versus giant! Attack!"
"Chaaarrrgggeeee!" Henry slowly bellowed, both behemoths on a collision course for one another.
"What?! I didn't know you could do that!" Rades exclaimed, pointing at her. "Why the hell didn't you use it earlier? That could've saved Mikeal Caesar!"
Sally turned to him, saying the next part in a quieter volume. "Did you or did you not hear Valtos tell us to buy him as much as possible? Studies have shown that fighting one at a time is the best way to stall,"
"She has a point there, Rades," a portal spawned nearby, their ally coming out from it. "I got what we came for, you all my thanks. We should be off now,"
"Sorry, but we're in a bit of a pickle," the gel mage pointed to Annalise. "She got hit by one of their binding spells, there's even some kind of invisible barrier to prevent outside interference. Besides, I just brought out my boosted Salamander, I want to at least have a little fun with it, who knows, we may even manage to kill one of those wretched knights,"
Valtos inspected his pupil, thinking of an idea. "This might work," he raised a hand, trying to make a portal under her feet, but to his shock, nothing materialized.
"If you think spatial magic can bypass my spell, I would advise you to think again!" Gordon called out to them. "The only way she'll be free is when the spell drops!"
Valtos clicked his tongue. "If that's the case, then we'll finish this fight," he turned to his allies. "Once Sally's Salamander beats that huge…thing, we'll have it target those others except for that mirror magic boy, which will in turn make that other man lose concentration and free Annalise, then we'll get out of here,"
"Not a bad plan, not bad at all, and if I still get to have my spell fight, I definitely have to agree," Sally nodded, putting her attention back to the newest matchup. The bull and the salamander finally clashed, the latter being the first to attack, letting loose a strong slap, pushing it back.
Henry grit his teeth. "Take this! Recombination Magic: Mana Corkscrew!" the bull's right fist began to rotate violently, driving it straight into the lizard's torso, but that ended up being a mistake as it got stuck in the gel.
"Craaapppp!"
Sally grinned. "That's what I'm talking about! Don't let up!" the salamander did just that, pushing against the bull, bringing it tumbling down, in a losing position, Henry quickly created a wall to stop him from falling off.
From the ground, the GGG trio gasped at how suddenly the tables had turned on their squadmate. "We have to do something, our friend is in trouble,"
"I know that, but what do we do?" Gauche asked. "Even if Grey could change its attribute like before, none of my attacks would do anything to it, it's too big. Real Double will only make a single clone of me, and I can't use Mirror Brigade on myself,"
"Actually," Grey slowly raised her hand. "I've never transformed anything that big before, so-,"
The two guys raised a brow at the sudden pause. "What's the matter?" they asked in unison.
She motioned her head toward the mage who was still kneeling. "Gordon, are there any attributes you're good against?"
"There are," he replied.
"Good, then I have another plan," she then said, garnering grins from the others.
Meanwhile, Henry wasn't in a good spot. The salamander had transitioned into a random burst of attacks, and he had no choice but to endure it, the position the bull was in didn't do him any favors either as by laying down, the punches would lack sufficient potential and kinetic energy, and even if it didn't, the lizard's gel body would just absorb it. Taking that fact into account, he had come to a conclusion.
"I can't get out of this alone, I need assistance,"
And as if the Goddess of Fate smiled on him, help was already on the way. "Hey!" he gazed below, seeing Grey and Gauche running his way.
"Myyyyy frriieeennddss!"
The transformation mage focused mana into her legs, leaping into the sky. "Gauche, now!"
"Okay!" he pulled up his bang, revealing his special eye again, Grey looking straight at it, albeit a bit shyly. "Mirror Magic: Mirror Brigade!" he exclaimed, thirty clones of the woman appearing.
"What are they trying to do?" Rades wondered aloud.
He and the others would soon see as the mini army pointed their hands at Sally's spell. "Transformation Magic: Magic Conversion - Gel to Plant!" they all cried as the salamander began changing, undergoing the elemental metamorphosis.
But they weren't done. As the clones vanished, Grey called to the last member of the trio. "Gordon, you're up!"
Positioning his body the best he could, he broke into a sprint, his spell severing as a result, setting Annalise free, much to the spark mage's relief, but that wasn't what was important right now, what was important were the pages being flipped through his grimoire, landing on the one he needed. "Poison Curse Magic: Dwelling of the Poison Cloud!"
A spiral of liquid poison swirled around him before he shot it directly at the lizard's leg, from there, it rapidly worked its way through the rest of its body, leaving it with no other option than to wither away into nothingness, putting shocked expressions on the terrorists' faces.
Sally propped up her glasses. "Damn, these guys are pretty strong. I kinda want to experiment on them all,"
Valtos held her arm. "No, we're done with this mission, Annalise is free and I got what we came for," he created a large portal beneath them. "Black Bulls, be warned, you may have gotten the upper hand on us this time, but when our paths inevitably cross again, we will defeat you, I promise you that," he said, the quartet having officially departed.
Henry let out a slow chuckle as he undid his first spell, the bull turning back into the base, however, the results of the battle could be seen on its exterior, it was looking quite worse for wear, but he wouldn't let that fact dull his spirits. The trio though, were pondering something, a thought that's been at the back of their minds since the fight began, one that was reinforced by what had just transpired a minute ago.
Why had they come?
"I'm doubting they came here just to fight us," Gauche deduced. "If that were the case, they wouldn't leave after we took down Sally's salamander. Sure that guy with the zombies couldn't help with the fight anymore, but Annalise was freed,"
Gordon had a suggestion. "Maybe they came to take something, and we just stopped them?"
"That could be it, but what would they want? All we know for certain about their group is that they want Magic Stones, but we don't have any, the ones we got were given to the Wizard King," he responded.
"Well, as long as they failed, we don't have anything to worry about," Grey gave her input. "What we do have to worry about is him," she pointed at the recombination mage who had jumped down to the ground.
"Alright, Henry, start talking, what's your deal?" Gauche began nearing him. "How do you have a robe? Why haven't we heard of you? And how the hell did you control the hideout like that-!" by the time his fourth question came around, he had gotten too close to the man, and was paying the consequences for it. "What's happening to me?"
Henry backed up. "Keeepppp yooouuurrrr diiisssttannccee," he warned. "Gooorrrddooonn, maayyy IIIII seeeee yooouuurrrr noottteeeboookkk?"
"Of course," he threw it and a pen over to him, catching them, he wrote down some stuff in about five seconds, throwing it back.
The poison mage caught it, the three of them huddling to read it, but were initially taken aback by just how much was written. "Dang, he writes pretty fast for someone who talks so slowly," they thought before Gauche read the contents aloud.
"To answer your questions, I am a Black Bull, the squad's fourth member. I owned this home and imbued it with my magic, Recombination Magic, before Yami came to take it as an HQ and brought all of you into it, much to my happiness. Unfortunately, I suffer from a kind of curse that absorbs mana from people, so I couldn't be near you all. The captain decided not to tell you about me for safety purposes, but the circumstances here forced me to reveal myself. With that, it's so nice to finally meet you face-to-face,"
Gordon raised a hand. "It's a pleasure to meet you as well, thank you very much for the save, and thank you for letting the captain have this building, it and the people inside are very important to me, and that includes you,"
"Yes, I have to thank you as well," Grey added.
Henry smiled. "Yoouuu arreee welllccooommeee,"
The mirror mage dug his hand into his pockets and began walking towards the base. "I guess you have my thanks too. Now, if we're all done with this, I can finish my statue,"
Far away from where they just were, in an unknown place in an unknown area, the purple portal spawned to life mid-air, the four landing on the ground.
Rades groaned. "We may have succeeded in our mission, but I suffered too many casualties,"
"Perhaps, but you can always rebuild your series," Valtos told him as he approached the familiar tablet, placing the stone in a space with an identical shape. "It'll certainly be much easier once our group rules the Clover Kingdom,"
"You got a point there, it's best if I wait," he agreed. "I wonder how things are going at the Gravitos Stones base?"
"Things should be going fine. According to what we gathered, those Royal Knight troublemakers won't be attacking for another 2 to 3 days, we'll reconvene with them tomorrow and get the place ready for their attack. They'll never know what hit them," Sally answered.
The wraith mage rubbed his hands together. "I can't wait,"
Annalise advanced, standing beside her mentor as they both gazed at the tablet. "Just three more stones to go, and then we'll have done it, our grand objective will become a reality,"
He nodded. "And it will be a glorious day for us. Those who made us suffer will at last have their just desserts,"
Rades turned to them. "Only three more to go? Since we don't have to go back to the other base until tomorrow, shouldn't we go looking for another stone?"
His question was met with the shaking of Valtos' head. "That won't be necessary. We have orders from Master Licht to stay here, the final three stones are all in one place…,"
The spatial mage himself then turned to face them, his expression revealing a rare smug grin that shocked even the others. "...And he intends to get them personally,"