Chapter Ninety: Betrayal and Loss
It couldn't be…it just couldn't be, but the reality of it was undeniable.
"W-William?" Julius stuttered, overcome by shock. "You…are Licht?"
The light mage's lips twisted into a toothless grin. "Not exactly. Think closely about what William just told you,"
"What he told me? Do you mean about that friend? So that's you? But how?" he asked a quartet of questions, just trying to make sense of the situation, but then his mind landed on a possible explanation for his last question. "Wait, could it be? Two souls in one body? But who's the original owner, you or William?"
"The latter is correct. William went through a lot of pain before we became acquainted with one another. The cursed scar he inherited from his mother's side, not to mention his illegitimate birth, all things he had no control over, but had to suffer for regardless," Licht placed a hand on his heart before staring down his mask. "Granted, meeting you helped greatly soothe that pain, for that, you have my sincerest thanks, but that's where my thanks end,"
"I'll admit, I didn't know such a phenomenon was possible," Julius then came to a realization. "So…Gueldre wasn't the only traitor?"
"He was not, but I had to throw him under the carriage to avoid suspicion. I never really liked him anyway, a greedy human ready to betray everything he stood for once money entered the equation, not that I was surprised though, but he served his purpose, his sacrifice is why I can stand before you today,"
"But, I don't understand, Catherine never mentioned William when we got the information out of her?" the time mage recalled. "We made sure she wouldn't withhold anything from us. How did you manage to pull it off?"
"The reason is simple, it's because she didn't know herself," he answered. "Call me what you wish, but you cannot call me stupid. Letting the organization that despises higher-ups know that its leader shares a body with the most prestigious magic knight captain is virtually begging to cause an assortment of problems,"
"So, in a sense, I was betrayed, but at the same time, I wasn't," the time mage became less tense, finally composing himself. "Well, if you're here, then that means the Royal Knights are on a wild goose chase searching for you,"
"True, but they won't be alone, Rhya will take care of them just fine, consider them dead unless they can, by some miracle, survive. But you're worrying for them too much, you should be more worried about yourself. After all, you heard what William said, we're the tiebreaker, and I don't intend on losing,"
"No, I won't fight you. William may be a technical traitor, but he's still a dear friend to me, hurting you will only hurt him," he tried to refuse.
"How touching, but I'm afraid you don't have a choice," Licht reached into a hidden compartment in his satchel, taking out his own grimoire. "You are the one who must die for my plans to come to fruition. How, you may ask? The last three Magic Stones are on your person if I'm not mistaken. A very clever spot, where better to have it than with the kingdom's strongest mage?"
Julius narrowed his eyes. "You are correct, though I am surprised you were able to come to that conclusion. Not even William was made aware of that knowledge,"
"He may have not been, but I have my ways. For instance, one of my scouts had a spell that noticed you in Starym Village shortly after I sent a mage there to retrieve a stone, and her failure resulted in it coming into your possession. Then I had sent two of my Third Eye members to retrieve discovered stones in two different places, but neither of them returned. The only ones strong enough to even have a chance at killing them are Magic Knights, and by any chance those knights managed to get the stones, it only made sense to give them to you,"
Julius closed his eyes, an impressed smirk present. "An incredible deduction. Yes, I do have them, but they must stay with me. I don't know the full details of your endgame, but there are some I do know…like your organization's affiliation with elves,"
It was Licht's turn to show some shock, but it was soon replaced with a calm, close-eyed smile. "I will admit, I wasn't expecting you to be familiar with that word, but there is truth in it. You humans are nothing more than an eyesore on this world, and it goes double for the ones in this kingdom. They're all selfish and cruel, and when I obtain those stones from your corpse, things will change! But you…you must fall first, as the Wizard King, you shall bear its sins,"
Julius raised a brow at what he said, focusing on one part. "You humans? Wait, are you-,"
"Enough talk, time for action! Light Magic: Light Swords of Conviction!" he made the first move, using his signature long-range attack.
The wizard king pushed the question to the back of his mind. "Time Binding Magic - Mana Zone: Chrono Stasis Grigoria!" in a second, all the swords were contained in blue spheres.
"There's more where that come from!" the terrorist leader fired another set of them, however, this time, Julius broke into a sprint in the other direction, jumping off the wall.
"What?!" Licht hurried to where he fell. "You won't escape that-," he started to say upon looking down, but stopped as he saw no one was there. "How did he-?"
His mana sense then went off, detecting someone behind him, and lo and behold, it was the wizard king, about to contain him in a binding spell, but he was quick, flashing behind him, preparing an attack of his own. "You can't defeat me. You shouldn't forget, light is the fastest attribute there is!"
"Time Magic: Chrono Alter!" Julius declared, vanishing in a flash of blue, now appearing above the other man, floating in the air, doing a few simple stretches. "You're right, light is the fastest attribute…but even light must conform to the rules of time, the concept of speed is meaningless without it,"
"So what if it is? I won't let that stop me! Light Creation Magic: Light Whip of Judgment!" he formed a whip in each hand as he rotated his body, he then cast another spell. "Light Magic: Sky-Rending Flash!"
Julius now had multiple attacks coming at him, but he wasn't worried. "Time Magic: Chrono Alter!" he cast the same spell, maneuvering around each of them.
The scuffle between mages didn't go unnoticed, citizens from nearby had their attention on the clash of yellow and blue, partially confused on what was going on.
"Someone's having a fight," one citizen stated.
"No duh. I see the Wizard King though. Are we in danger?" another one speculated.
"I don't know, if we were, the Magic Knights would've shown up by now,"
"Maybe he's sparring with someone?"
"It's possible, but the Wizard King is the strongest in the land, to fight with him requires immense skill. I wonder who he could be fighting? I can't see their face," a fifth one replied.
Meanwhile, Licht's onslaught continued, but with nothing to show for it. "Damn, time magic is much more of a hassle than I initially expected, but I am starting to notice a pattern in his movement. If my prediction is correct, the next place he should appear is…," he sneakily used one of his whips to grab a large piece of debris from the damaged wall, launching it to the far right.
And lo and behold, there he was, unfortunately, he stopped it with a time sphere before it even had a chance to get dust on his robe. "Impressive, you knew where I'd show up, I guess it's my turn to go on the offensive," he launched the piece of debris back where came from at an incredible speed, forcing Licht to cease his strike to evade it.
Julius used this chance to fly further up into the air. "Time Magic: Luminous Minutes!" a single glowing blue orb came to life atop his palm, to which he quickly threw it, the orb breaking into a large multitude that all raced to their target.
This attack forced Licht to take to the skies, dodging what he could and using attacks to stop what he couldn't. "I don't know what a spell called Luminous Minutes will do if it hits me, but I don't intend on finding out," he thought, landing on a nearby roof. "You certainly are a troublesome one,"
A small smile graced Julius' features. "Forgive me if I'm not too easy to take down,"
"That's alright, I wasn't expecting you as be as easy to catch off guard as Fuegoleon was," he spat back.
The wizard king narrowed his eyes, not taking kindly to the tone. "I take it he was the first of us to discover your secret?"
"Yes, so it goes without saying that I had to make sure he couldn't relay that information to anyone else, granted, it was through William's intervention that I only ended up taking his arm. If it were fully up to me, I would've killed him on the spot," Licht confessed.
"Such a fact is no surprise to me, he was always a kind soul,"
"I must agree, it was that kindness that allowed him to understand my pain and sympathize with my plans. He is the only human I'm proud to call a friend,"
"Then I must ask for your forgiveness once more, those plans of yours reach their end today, I will stop them,"
Licht grit his teeth. "I won't let you!" he exclaimed, conjuring another pair of light whips, grabbing onto whatever large debris was close, flinging them at him.
"Time Binding Magic - Mana Zone: Chrono Stasis Grigoria!" he contained each one effortlessly. "Here, you can have these back," with the wave of a hand, the debris was sent back to its origin.
Licht flashed away, appearing some yards behind him at an upward angle. "Light Magic: Light Swords of Conviction!" he fired the projectiles as fast as he could, but like before, it was dodged. What made that fact even worse, however, was the fact that Julius didn't even have to look at it. "How is he dodging everything I send? That Chrono Alter spell of his can't be the only reason,"'
He didn't have time to think of an answer as he was on the move again, trying to not get trapped in one of the blue spheres that were littering the sky in an attempt to contain him. This brought him back down to the arrays of roofs as he traversed them as fast as he could on foot.
"Time Magic: Treacherous Seconds!" the wizard king declared as many decently large glowing orbs appeared above the light mage and in nearby directions, raining down a storm of blue mana needles.
Licht had a countermeasure for this, positioning his body a little sideways. "Light Creation Magic: Radiant Shield of Justice!" the defense formed, keeping him safe, the precious seconds giving him time to finish his original thought.
"Wait a minute, I think I know how he does it. Mana Zone has the ability to increase reaction time, he's coupling this with his magic that allows him to manipulate time to read the flow of mana a few seconds before it happens, almost like seeing into the future, which he uses in conjunction with Chrono Alter. Such a combination has resulted in a near-perfect evasion tactic, but there isn't a thing on this planet that can't be outdone,"
Once the rain of needles ended a second or two later, Licht's grimoire flipped to a page. "Light Creation Magic: Light Sword of Greater Conviction!" a singular one of his light swords formed in front of him, transforming into a more traditional longsword. He took hold of it and zoomed into the sky, his enemy in sight.
But just as he theorized, his attacks were getting evaded one after the other, but his determination kept him going. "You know, I was thinking about what you said earlier about light and time,"
"What about it?" the time mage inquired
"You're right, light does conform to the rules of time, but…," his swings began increasing in speed. "...My attribute is the one that comes closest to defying it!" he finally managed to get some ground, despite it being in the form of cutting off just a bit of Julius' hair.
"You almost got me, if you had gone any faster, you may have actually wounded me," the blond said, his tone of voice strangely unworried by the close call.
"Going faster is what my magic does best. Worry not, human, that wound will come soon," Licht raised his sword into the air, conjuring an identical quintet of them, commanding them to attack from five different directions, the man himself following not too far behind, reeling his sword back for an immediate strike once the time was right.
It didn't take long for Julius to pick up on what attacks were about to come his way, so he reacted accordingly. "Time Binding Magic: Fortuitous Hours!" a glowing blue clock materialized behind him, both hands simultaneously striking the twelve before casting a blue light. The five longswords, having been sent first, were bathed in said light, immediately slowing down, moving at a speed that even a snail could put to shame.
Seeing this made Licht stop dead in his tracks, he couldn't afford to meet the same fate, and that split second was all Julius needed to get the drop on him, hand outstretched. "It's over,"
Oh, but it wasn't over, the light mage had a trick up his sleeve and he put it into motion right away, much to Julius' initial shock…because the one before him was no longer the terrorist leader, but rather the world tree mage, who looked just as shocked.
"William," he muttered.
Taking a page out of his enemy's book, Licht used the split second the distraction bought him to regain control and perform a horizontal strike with his sword, hitting the wizard king dead in the chest.
The spectators who were continuing to watch admittedly had trouble keeping up with the more fast-paced portions of the fight, but they were all able to witness the first attack the enemy had managed to land on the beloved man.
"Oh no, the Wizard King's been hit!"
"This isn't a spar after all, it's a serious battle!"
"Does anyone know who that guy with the white hair is?!"
Julius gasped momentarily, then he quickly backed up, Licht on his tail as they both landed where they were before the fight had begun. "I can't say I saw that coming,"
"It had to be done," Licht said, placing a hand on his chest. "Forgive me for the underhanded tactic, my friend," he muttered that part quietly, redirecting attention to his foe. "Now I know that even having the power to manipulate time doesn't make you invincible. I told you your wound would come soon, and always come through on my word,"
Julius looked down at the white part of his robe, slowly being stained by crimson red. "I can't remember the last time I saw my own blood, seems like you got me after all. Alas, it is of no real consequence, Time Recovery Magic: Antistrofi," he said calmly as the stain disappeared, the injury doing the same.
The light mage widened his eyes in disbelief. "You reversed the wound?! But how?!"
"You made a slight miscalculation of my abilities. My magic doesn't work by manipulating time, it works by stealing or storing it and expressing it in different ways through my spells, one such way is using stolen time to heal myself," he clarified.
Licht expressed a perplexed look at one of the things he said. "How exactly does one steal time?"
"Simple, I take it from the ones I kill," he simply replied. "I know it must seem ironic, taking the futures of some so that I may build one for others, but it is an act I will continue until I reach my goal, and until then, I won't allow myself to die,"
"William told me this goal of yours once, it was to rid the kingdom of discrimination and bring everyone together,"
"That it is,"
"Well, I'd hate to be the bearer of bad news, but you're wasting your time! You humans could never create a place like that, it's not in your nature!" he charged forward, sword in hand.
"Not in our nature? You seem pretty sure of that statement," Julius weaved, taking to the skies.
Licht did the same, resuming his action in the air. "That's because I am sure of it! Just like I'm sure that you will die by my hands! Who cares if you can somewhat see into the future, everyone has a weakness, I just have to find it!"
"Everyone has a weakness? Yourself included?"
"Of course, however, I overcame my weakness long ago!" he screamed, reeling the sword back vertically, but Julius countered it by appearing a foot or two above him, kicking his hands with the sole of his foot, forcing him to drop the sword, which then became trapped in Chrono Stasis.
The light mage grit his teeth. "I'm not done!" he began to form the weapon again, but before he could even raise it by an inch, it shattered into various pieces, courtesy of a glowing blue blast.
The wizard king's expression was calm throughout the entire exchange, and it stayed that way as he extended a hand. "You're right about what you said, I can see into the future…but I don't need it to see your defeat,"
"Hm, it certainly is a quiet day,"
Within the halls of Magic Knights HQ, a man with light blue hair walked down, lightly humming to himself. As he was walking, he passed by two capital mages, greeting them. "Good afternoon, gentlemen,"
They both greeted him back. "Good afternoon, Marx,"
"Going to see Sir Julius I presume?" one of them asked.
He nodded. "That's the idea," he revealed a slip of paper. "I have to show this to him. It's of great importance."
The second man chuckled. "How much do you want to bet he's not even in his office?"
Marx shared a laugh with him. "No can do. If I accepted a bet on those terms, I'd lose my yul pretty much every single time. Let's just hope he's here this time,"
With that, he departed from them, continuing with his light humming as he approached the door, giving it a light set of knocks before opening it. "Hey Julius, I have something for you. It's the most recent report from our two spies in the Spade-," he stopped himself upon seeing that the room was empty.
Marx facepalmed with a sigh. "Dammit, it looks like I was right not to bet anything. Where could he be now? Probably out as Chronovala?" he reached into a pocket, pulling out a communication device.
Placing the paper on the nearby desk, he opened his item, instinctively expecting the hologram to form, but strangely enough, it never did. "Huh? That's odd, even if he isn't picking up, the hologram should at least materialize. Something must be wrong, either he doesn't have his device, or another factor is interfering with the transmission,"
The memory mage exited the office, once more strolling through the hall. "Perhaps I'm getting worried over nothing. Knowing Julius, this might be his doing to stop me from finding where he is. I just wish he could be a bit more responsible, he's the Wizard King for crying out loud. Well, if that's how he wants to play it, I have to search for him on foot, and a good place to start looking would undoubtedly be-,"
The thoughts in his head came to a halt as he passed by a window. Under normal circumstances, he'd pay it no mind and walk past it, but this time was different, because at the corner of his left eye, he noticed flashes of light. Marx fully turned his head in that direction, looking out ahead. "Hm, something seems to be going on at Clover Castle. Could it be some kind of light show celebration? That can't be, I would've known about it. Hold on, I got just the thing to find out,"
Running back to Julius' office, he went behind the time mage's desk, rummaging through drawers. "C'mon, I know it's here somewhere…there it is," he pulled out what he was looking for: a binocular-like magic item.
He quickly ran back to the window, the flashes of light still present. "Let's get a closer look at this," he placed his eyes behind the item, making what he saw in the distance clearer, and what then saw made his eyes widen.
"Julius!" he yelled, attracting the attention of nearby capital mages who rushed to his side.
"Marx, what's the matter?!"
"I-It's Julius, he's at Clover Castle, and…," he repeated, noticing the Wizard King dodging attacks. "...He's fighting someone,"
"Fighting someone? Who?"
"And why?"
"Is it possible he's just sparring with someone?"
Marx put the device down to address the one who asked the last question. "Not likely. Julius never has spars in public to avoid the chance of frightening the citizens. If they see the Wizard King fighting, they'll be led to believe the kingdom is in grave danger,"
"Then it's a serious battle. But that again begs the question: who's he battling?" a mage asked.
"Let me see," Marx peered through the device again, scanning the opponent as best he could with all the movement happening. "From what I can gather, the enemy appears to be a light mage," he told them before his face suddenly curled in shock. "N-No, it can't be, it just can't be,"
"What is it? Do you know who it is?"
He put down the tool a second time. "I do. If it's a light mage, then the culprit can be none other than Licht himself," he answered.
"Licht?!" the capital mages exclaimed in a panic. "You mean the leader of the Eye of the Midnight Sun? That Licht?"
"The very same. No other mage in the kingdom has a chance of fighting Julius as an equal except him," he replied, but in his mind, he pondered about something else he observed about the light mage. "He was wearing a Golden Dawn robe. But why? Could it be he used it to infiltrate the premises unnoticed? That could explain how he got so close to Clover Castle and Julius without causing a panic,"
"Lord Julius will be fine though, right?" one of them inquired almost nervously.
The memory mage answered him confidently. "There's no reason to believe he wouldn't be. Granted, if he's here, the Royal Knights won't encounter him like we originally planned, but this works too, he'll be defeated here and now," for the third time, he inspected the battle, but this time, something he witnessed made his jaw drop.
What was that moment? It was when Licht successfully managed to land the horizontal slash on the time mage's chest.
"I don't like that look, Marx. What happened?"
"N-Not possible. Julius has been wounded," he told them in disbelief.
Those words managed to quickly instill panic in the nameless bunch. "He was able to injure the Wizard King?!"
"And so quickly too. Such a feat shouldn't be possible!"
"What if…what if he's capable of doing more than just injure him?"
"No, don't jinx it!"
The worried capital mages made Marx grit his teeth concerned in frustration. He knew Julius, the man was strong, he was the most powerful in the kingdom after all, but he also knew of a constant rule the world never ceased to abide by: no matter how strong a person is, there's always someone who's stronger. What he was witnessing could very well be an example of that rule, and the possibility of that being the case scared him. There was no guarantee he'd come out victorious, but he needed to have faith.
He looked out the window, not using the item in his hand, just observing the flashes of blue and yellow light that began to clash once again. "I believe in you, Julius, I know you can do this. It's going to be tough, but you're strong…and so am I. I absolutely cannot forget the reason I'm here in the first place, the reason you put me here,"
[Flashback]
Magic Knight HQ. Ten Years Ago.
"Man, last night sure was hectic,"
Those were the words muttered by a younger Marx as he strolled through the hallway of the familiar building, no longer in what he usually wore, now donning the robe of the Gray Deer.
He stretched his right arm in a windmill fashion for what had been the fourth time that day, trying to relieve the soreness he was feeling. "What am I saying? Calling what happened hectic would be the understatement of the century,"
Reaching a turn in the hall, he made a right, a wide door entering his field of vision, said door opened up and two men walked out, both having on robes on the same squad the memory mage had.
A small smile graced his features as he saw them, around the same height, both with brown hair, and they looked alike, but such a fact was to be expected, they were a pair of brothers after all. "Richard, Marcus. Paying Owen a visit I see?"
The two Rossius stopped to greet the man. "Hey there, vice-captain," Marcus was the one to say with a friendly wave.
Richard stood straight with his hands behind his back, a small smile present. "Hello,"
Marcus playfully punched his arm. "Loosen up, big brother, we're with the vice-captain, there's no need to be so formal," he lightly admonished. "To answer your question, yes, we did in fact pay Owen a visit," he pulled up his shirt, revealing bandages. "I was told this wound right here might leave a scar, I can't wait to show Sylvester, he's going to think it's so cool,"
"Yes, he will, after he's done worrying sick," the phantom mage said with a side-eye.
Marx chuckled at the short banter. "Speaking of Sylvester, how are the kids doing?"
"They're doing just fine. Dante, Oxanna, and Kenos are growing into fine children," Richard replied.
"It must be a joy having three kids," the memory mage stated, directing his attention to the younger brother. "Are you sure you just want to have Sylvester? You're still young y'know, you should be able to manage another kid or two, I think he would like to have some younger siblings,"
Marcus held his chin. "Reyna and I already talked about it and decided one was enough, besides, Sylvester has his cousins, he'll be fine. I'm more interested in his skill anyway, my little boy has progressed very well on a magic scale, he's won quite the fair share of competitions, and he's only 9 years old,"
"Well, I'm proud to say my kids are gifted as well, although, Kenos has yet to awaken his attribute," Richard said.
"It shouldn't be too much longer before he does so. What kind of magic do you think he'll have?" Marx inquired.
It was the phantom mage's turn to hold his chin. "I'm not sure, granted, I certainly wouldn't be displeased if he inherited my attribute like Oxanna did, but it is possible to inherit Ellen's attribute instead,"
"Woah, hold on, what if instead of having one or the other, he gets both?" the chimera mage enthusiastically suggested.
"Both?" the others raised a brow.
"Yeah. Like, the two attributes merging together to make something new? Like that Nozel guy from the Silver Eagles. What would it be called though? Phantom Steel Magic? Ghost Metal Magic? Ooh, how about Spectral Alloy Magic?" he threw out random names.
The memory mage scratched the side of his head. "What would magic like that even do?"
"Um, make weapons…for..the ghosts of…ancient warriors? I don't know, I'm just spitballing,"
Richard crossed his arms. "It doesn't matter what he ends up with, I'll love him regardless. And then, once he's old enough, I'll have him join the Gray Deer, he'll do great and make the family proud, I just know it,"
Hearing him say that put a somewhat uneasy look on Marx's face. "I think you mean…the Aqua Deer,"
"The what?" both brothers were bewildered by his correction. The chimera mage searched his memories.
"Aqua? Aqua? Aqua? Hold on, isn't that like, Julius' favorite color?"
"That it is, in fact, it was him who changed it,"
"Odd, I never knew a captain had the authority to make such a change," the older brother mused, staring down at what he currently had on. "I guess having these robes on wouldn't make much sense now,"
"Um, about that," Marx began. "Julius is no longer the captain…he's taking up the mantle as Wizard King?!"
"What?!" they exclaimed in shock, they couldn't believe it.
The memory mage spoke again. "Yes, it does need to be done, after all, we did have a fight with his…predecessor,"
Both brothers held the spots where they had been wounded, remembering what went on the night before, what they managed to achieve, and what they lost forever.
Richard was the one who spoke up first. "I guess his ascension of title makes sense. But is he even ready? I have complete faith in his skills as our captain, but he didn't undergo proper protocol, hell, there wasn't even a Wizard King Exam this time,"
"But what choice do we have?" Marcus challenged. "If we try to do things the proper way, it'll take too long, the kingdom can't go 5 years without an active Wizard King. If we leave the spot vacant and the Diamond Kingdom or even the Spade Kingdom catch wind of it, we'll have a mass invasion on our hands, we can't deal with that, not now,"
"...Fine," Richard relented. "If he's becoming the Wizard King, I take you'll be the new captain of this 'Aqua Deer', Marx?"
"It appears to be that way, but don't worry, I'll do everything in my power to ensure we don't fall behind," he responded.
"Marx!" a voice called out, the three looked around, hearing it near the turn into the other hallway. In a few seconds, a capital mage emerged.
"What's the matter?"
"It's Julius, he wishes to speak with you. He's in the former Wizard King's office,"
"Thank you, I'll see him right away," the vice-captain turned to his squadmates. "See you two around, I hope you get better,"
With that, he left their sight, on his way to the office. Despite how urgent the messenger sounded, he took his time, walking at a decent pace, after all, it wasn't wise to run when in deep thought. He kept thinking about the last conversation he had with the brothers, but what repeated in his mind over and over were Richard's doubts, making his face soften with worry.
It didn't take him overly long to reach the office, but it was a strange feeling, he wasn't one to visit the place often, that was something the time mage did along with his fellow captains, but now that he was going to be a captain, it was a feeling he'd have to get used to soon. "Julius," he said with a knock.
"Come in," he was told from the other side, so he entered, immediately widening his eyes at the sight of the former captain, having discarded his usual attire to don his Wizard King robe. "You like it? I'm amazed the tailors could finish it so fast,"
"It certainly does look more extravagant than your usual choice of clothing," he complimented.
"Thank you, I can see why my predecessors liked wearing stuff like these,"
"Of course, but I'm pretty sure you called for me,"
Julius smiled. "Oh, that's right, classic Marx, always keeping me on track. I wanted to ask if you would do something for me,"
Marx cut him off. "If your request is for me to become the captain of the Aqua Deer, you can count on me, I won't let you down,"
The time mage's smile quickly turned into a light fit of laughter, making the other man raise a brow, obviously confused by his reaction. "Did I…say something funny?"
"No, it's not that," the Wizard King stopped himself. "I appreciate your readiness to take on the responsibility, but that's not what I wanted to ask you, I bet I can find someone else who's capable enough to fill my shoes as captain. As for you, Marx, I want you to become my personal assistant,"
"Your…personal assistant? You mean like, a person to help you with your responsibilities?"
"Exactly,"
"B-But, there's never been such a thing in the history of the Clover Kingdom,"
Julius sighed. "I know," he walked over to the desk that was now his, passing a hand over the surface. "But as we also know, I didn't attain this position by traditional means, it's going to be a lot to handle alone. Admittedly, I'm not like some of the past Wizard Kings,"
The vice-captain's attention was piqued by that last sentence. "What do you mean?"
"I did a little digging through the history books earlier this morning, and it turns out what happened with my predecessor last night wasn't an isolated event. It's happened four other times, to four other Wizard Kings," he revealed the information.
Based on Marx's reaction, it was safe to say he was quite shocked by what he was told. "Four other ones? Were they all guilty of treason?"
"No, all five of them were stripped of power due to different circumstances, but what the instances share is a common occurrence: a successor needs to take their place right away. However, none of these successors seemed to have a need for an assistant, so they put me to shame in that regard, but I don't mind admitting my requirement for some much-needed succor from someone. If you help me, then things will be easier. What do you say, will you do it?"
Marx didn't answer right away, he needed time to think about it. He was honored that he was being asked to have such a role, but there was a worry he had within, one he shared aloud. "I'm flattered by the offer, but I'll have to decline,"
"Decline? Why?"
"I..I don't think I'm up for it," he replied, staring at the floor. "This is a first-time occurrence in the country, as such, there will be many responsibilities, ones I'm not sure I'm qualified to handle. There's also the fact that I'm from a minor noble house, a historic position such as this shouldn't be given to one of my social standing. Why don't you ask Richard or Marcus? They're Rossius, people from their house are much better suited for the job,"
"They would be good candidates, but I'm guessing they didn't tell you the news?"
Marx's head raised and tilted to the side. "What news? It's the first I'm hearing of this,"
Julius made a motion to respond. "They plan on retiring from the Magic Knights soon, as well as Ellen and Reyna. All of them have families now, and with Benjamin having passed away recently, his sons must step up as heads of the Rossiu House,"
"I see, but surely there's someone else you can ask, there must be,"
The time mage's facial features softened as he approached Marx, placing both hands on his shoulders. "I don't care about where you stand on the social hierarchy, you're the one I want to do this. Tell me, what did I say after reminding me I called for you?"
"Uh, you said 'Classic Marx' if I'm not mistaken," the memory mage answered.
"Exactly. You're the one who keeps me on track, the one who keeps my enthusiastic desires in check. Even though I'm the Wizard King now, I can't guarantee that part of me will change overnight, but you've always been very patient with me in that regard,"
"Oh, I suppose you're not wrong about that,"
Julius let go of him, walking to a window that he looked out through. "But it isn't just keeping me in line,"
"What else is there?"
Turning his head to face him, his face took on a somewhat serious look. "You're the vice-captain of the Gray Deer, the second most capable member of the squad, as such, I have complete faith in the fact that if anything goes on in the kingdom that I'm not around to handle, you can take charge on my behalf. What you said earlier had some truth in it, there are others I could've asked, but none would be as good as you. So I'll ask one more time, will you do it? Will you become my assistant?
At this point, Marx couldn't stop the proud smile that was beginning to form on his face as he clover-saluted.
"Yes sir, it would be an honor,"
[End Flashback]
Having exited his headspace once he finished reminiscing, Marx clenched his fists tightly. "That's right, I'm here because Julius trusts me more than anyone else in the kingdom, and right now, that trust is being put to the test. I won't let myself get overwhelmed by this, I must take charge!"
He turned to address the panicked group. "Calm down, everyone, this isn't the time to lose your cool!" he raised his voice. "Julius will be fine, we have to believe that, in the meantime, we need to do our part,"
"Yes sir!" they composed themselves, clover-saluting.
"Good, now I need you to get me linked up to the communication signal of every squad base!" he ordered, the subordinates hurrying in different directions as he ran back into the office.
About thirty seconds passed before a capital mage appeared before him. "You're all ready to go!"
"Perfect," he said, opening his communication device, as he did, holograms began appearing in every room of every base.
Multiple people were a bit startled as it came to life before them, but in the split second it took them to calm down, they all proceeded to say the same thing.
"A transmission?"
Marx spoke immediately upon hearing their united voices. "Magic Knights, we have an emergency of the highest order. Julius is engaged in battle with someone atop Clover Castle, and that person is Licht, the leader of the Eye of the Midnight Sun,"
Yami, having returned from the bathroom just in time to hear the memory mage's news, widened his eyes. "What?"
The assistant went on. "For the time being, they're evenly matched, but there's another possible concern. If Licht is here, it wouldn't be out of the realm of possibility that his followers could be as well. That's where you all come in, I need you to spread out and guard the areas adjacent to your HQ. We cannot, I repeat, we can NOT let what they did before on the capital occur again, your kingdom is counting on you,"
"We'd better start moving out," Leopold said to whoever was with him.
"And one last thing, specifically for the Golden Dawn. Upon closer observation, Licht was seen wearing a robe from your squad, how he obtained it is unknown, so I need you to make sure all your members are accounted for, there's a chance it could've been stolen and used to infiltrate the castle. That is all, now make haste, and good luck!"
With that, the transmission ended, Letoile holding her chin. "How did he manage to get one of our robes from someone? Aside from the Royal Knights and Langris who's under secure arrest, I could've sworn everyone was present today. Granted, the captain isn't back yet, but there's no way Licht managed to beat him,"
David approached her. "We can worry about that later, for now, let's move out,"
Yami watched the two head off, his eyes going from widened to narrowed. "No, could it be?" he muttered, getting his broom and running out, hopping on it as he flew away.
"Please let me be wrong,"
"You're right about what you said, I can see into the future…but I don't need it to see your defeat,"
"Don't be so sure of yourself, lousy human!" the light mage radiated his attribute, blinding Julius momentarily, making him back up for safety. Licht used this chance to fly into the air, his grimoire flipping through pages.
"Light Creation Magic: Radiant Arrows of Judgement!" at his call, an array of sword-like arrows materialized around him, falling in unison.
A small smile touched the blond's face. "That looks a bit like Treacherous Seconds. Are you copying me? Time Magic: Luminous Minutes!" he threw the orb up this time, the multitude of attacks from both sides canceling each other out.
"You dare accuse me of such a thing! I'd rather die than copy anything from the likes of you!" he zoomed down in a dropkick fashion, but he only managed to hit air.
"Is that so? What a shame. Time Magic: Relentless Milliseconds!" he used both hands to blast a blue beam of magic which Licht dodged with no trouble, however, he wasn't expecting the beam to hit a time sphere that suddenly spawned, altering the beam's trajectory to come right back at him.
Julius watched as this pattern continued for a while, his eyes falling on the light sword he restrained a minute prior. "Hm,"
Meanwhile, with the terrorist leader, he kept evading the beam until it finally hit the building, ending its incessant attack. "An impressive trick, human, I'll repay you for it with a swift and painful-," he was cut off by an object that flew right past him.
Still a bit stunned, he slowly turned to where it had lodged itself. "My…sword?" he whispered, his eyes widening as a medium-sized cut began forming on his cheek, he then looked in the other direction where his opponent was floating.
"I thought you would like to have that back," Julius jokingly remarked.
The light mage used his thumb to rub the oozing blood off. "Damn you! Light Creation Magic: Light Whips of Unending Judgement!" the familiar weapon formed, but as he launched it out, smaller whips began protruding from the larger one until they were numerous in amount.
The Wizard King did his best to evade them, but it couldn't be done as one managed to wrap itself around his leg, bringing a grin to Licht's face. "Got you," he rotated, sending the time mage along the side of the castle, his body being dragged against its walls, but strangely, he didn't look worried.
"Take this!" he continued, throwing Julius into a nearby tower on the roof, a crater accompanying his landing.
"Dang, that was quite a painful ride," he mused, his mana senses going off as he saw Licht a few yards from him, having used one of his whips to retrieve his lodged sword.
"You saw my blood, now it's time to see yours!" he commanded the sword to expand as he struck vertically.
"A nice attempt, but you're starting to get predictable," a voice came from behind him, he turned and saw Julius standing a good distance away. "I don't even need to read the flow of your mana for that one,"
The white-haired man was beginning to lose his cool. "Shut up!" he screamed, flying after him, the longsword returning to its original size. "You will die today, and I will be your killer!"
Julius took flight as well. "I already told you I won't allow that to happen,"
"Who cares about what you won't allow?! Such a thing is pointless with me as your opponent! Observe, Light Magic: Light Swords of Greater Conviction + Sky-Rending Flash!"
At his command, another quintet of the larger light swords appeared and were sent out at high speeds. The time mage raised a brow, opting not to use either of his binding spells, just choosing to simply fly up a few feet, returning to his original place as they buried themselves into a wall a good distance away.
"Hm, those swords were going fast, but not as fast as the last time. Dodging them was easy, almost…too easy," he side-eyed the objects behind, his suspicion was proved correct as the swords transformed into orbs of light, shooting right back at him, the Wizard King doing an aerial backflip to evade them, leaving them to instead hit the other side of the wall, however, they didn't fade away.
Julius slowly landed down near the spell, surprised when he realized he could stand on them rather than fall right through. "It's solid?"
"Yes!" Licht landed down on them too, breaking into an immediate sprint, trying to land an attack with his sword.
But Julius weaved through each strike, backing up while he did so, the light mage advancing at the same time. Wanting to put an end to the exchange, the blond vanished in a flash of blue light, appearing three yards away, surrounding nearby debris in blue spheres, launching them at his foe, which was easily destroyed.
"Time Magic: Time Flash!" he exclaimed, spreading out an outstretched hand, releasing a devastating blast of blue mana.
"Nice try! Light Creation Magic: Radiant Shields of Ultimate Justice!" he exclaimed as five shields identical to his usual one appeared, but four of them floated back and began to spin around, becoming a circle of glowing yellow light, the fifth shield beginning to glow as well, growing in size as it perfectly blocked the blast.
"Ugh, this still hasn't been going how I imagined. I've only managed to injure him once, and he just managed to heal himself. Perhaps I need to change my approach," Licht thought to himself as his defense fell, but his eyes expressed shock at the sight, or rather, the lack of sight of his opponent.
"Where did he go?" he wondered aloud, his mana senses then went off and he shot his body around, seeing the man, his hand glowing blue.
"Time Magic: Chrono Scratch," he attacked with a quick swipe, managing to land something before Licht backed up, inspecting where he was struck, merely seeing his shirt torn and a small cut that hardly bled.
"What was that supposed to be? Such a pathetic excuse for an attack, it didn't even hurt. Light Magic-," he was about to cast a spell, but that's when he dropped to a knee, feeling a sudden sensation of pain that kept growing.
"AH! W-W-What's…happening?! W-W-What did you…do?!" he demanded, the pain beginning to spread.
"You see, my Chrono Scratch is a very interesting spell, because the attack itself carries no pain of its own. When I hit you, the mana imbued in the attack infiltrated your nervous system, causing it to reenact feeling the greatest pain you've ever felt, a great spell for debilitation," he explained.
Licht grit his teeth as the pain grew once again, a louder scream escaping his mouth. "AHH!" he clutched his head, the veins in his eyes bulging like crazy, the pain was unbearable, a pain he had only felt once before, on a day he would never forget. He could remember how it began: a bright day, a wedding having commenced, laughter and cheers filling the air, wishing the blushing couple a wonderful future, but that's when it all went to hell. The clear blue sky took on a red hue, the happy sounds coming to an end to note the confusing sight, that confusion soon turning to horror as a spell formed in the sky, raining down swords of light, brutally killing those below. He could also remember what was said.
"Why is this happening?!"
"We need to get to safety!"
"Sacred Ones, please protect us!"
But among those screams of people, one managed to stay in his mind for the longest.
"That human is responsible for this! He must be, he and his friends were the only ones who knew about us!" the memory then went black.
"That's right. They were responsible. They were the ones who hurt us. They are the ones who need to pay. They will PAY!"
Inside Licht's mind, the flashing memories went on for minutes, but in reality, not even three seconds had elapsed. From where Julius stood, he looked at him, almost with sympathy. "You're in a lot more pain than I was expecting, granted, William did say you faced great horrors. I suppose I must apologize for making you go through that again, but this fight is over,"
"No…there's no need for apologies," the light mage fought through the pain and stood up. "You reminded me why I can't afford to fail in my mission,"
"Neither can I, this kingdom will be free from the terror of your organization, although, holding back to avoid gravely injuring William's body has made this battle drag on longer than I would like it to, but that objective can still be reached if you were to surrender,"
"Me, surrender? I tire of your underestimation of me! I am a wielder of a four-leaf clover grimoire! And you are the wielder of a..a…huh?"
Licht resisted the urge to call himself an idiot for not seeing it sooner. Despite the fact that his kinder half had known the man for some time and he had been engaged in battle with him for a decent number of minutes, he failed to realize a detail he should've picked up the second the time mage cast his first spell.
"Where is your grimoire?"
A chuckle was allowed to escape Julius' lips. "I was wondering when you'd ask, see for yourself," he pointed to the zenith of the castle as yellow light began shattering away, revealing an enormous ring of spiraling blue pages.
"What kind of grimoire is that? It doesn't even have a cover," he noted in bewilderment.
"True, I too have wondered why it's not like normal grimoires, for now though, I infer that it's done to represent my attribute, having no beginning or end, just like time," he revealed. "And if I may share a moment of honesty with you, the spells I've currently been using aside from maybe Chrono Scratch comprise the rather weaker set of my repertoire,"
Licht was totally taken aback by this piece of information. "Weaker set? He was holding back that much? If that's true, then as much I'd hate to admit it," he clenched his fists tightly. "I have no chance at victory, but I refuse to go through all this trouble and have nothing to show for it. If I am to succeed and rupture the natural law of the world, those stones must be mine, and if I cannot obtain them the direct way, there's still another path!"
With a loud exclamation, he brought his hands together. "Trinity Seal: Release!" blinding light exuded from him as he flew up incredibly high, overflowing with magic.
"What's he doing?" Julius wondered.
"I suppose I was holding back as well, Wizard King! But I know that even with this power, I can't defeat you, so I'll make do with every other citizen in the Clover Kingdom! They'll all die!"
As he was screaming this, large sword-like arrows akin to one of earlier spells, but these were way larger, and it wasn't just that, more of them kept forming, expanding beyond the confines of the castle, almost encompassing half of the capital.
From where he was flying, Yami stared at the sky, gritting his teeth at the arrows that littered the sky with no end in sight. "Shit, you better not be losing, Julius," he muttered, going as fast as he could.
Licht had remained true to his word, every citizen would face the wrath of his attack as even the residents of Hage were now observing the light constructs that were above them.
"Where did those come from?" Nash curiously asked.
"Your guess is as good as mine," Orsi answered.
The boy started to grow uneasy. "Wait, are we in danger?"
Lily knelt down to his level. "I wouldn't bet on it, but even if we were, we have two very strong knights who will protect us, and I think you know who they are,"
"That's right, Asta and Yuno will keep us safe, who knows, they're probably fighting the bad guys as we speak," she had succeeded in calming him down, but as she stood up, her expression then became uneasy.
"Ugh, the magic he's radiating is intense, I don't think I'll be able to get close enough right now to act," the blond stated, taking note of the spell's expansion.
Licht, on the other hand, was laughing maniacally. "It's been two minutes, at this point, the whole kingdom has been enveloped in my light, and just like me, it'll be the last thing they see!" his arms were outstretched in pure, sadistic bliss as his grimoire flipped to a page and he called out the following spell.
"Light Creation Magic: Arrows of Divine Retribution!"
With that, the numerous constructs fell in unison, ready to slaughter whoever had the bad luck to come outside in a second, to Julius though, they appeared to fall in slow-motion.
For the first time that day, panic permeated his face. "No, this has the capability to murder almost the entire population! I have to stop him, for the sake of the people, and for the sake of my dream, he must not win!"
[Flashback]
Clover Kingdom. Many Years Ago
A dark and rainy night.
It was there that a little boy stood out in the open, his clothes soaking wet from the downpour, but that fact was the last thing on his mind as he watched helplessly as a building not too far from him was engulfed in flames, screams being heard from within.
That boy had a name. Julius Novachrono.
"I am a survivor. What started as a lovely party for my entire family turned into a massacre at the hands of a mysterious assailant. I eventually came to live with some distant relatives as the last one bearing the Novachrono name, but the situation that night was swept under the rug by the higher-ups, after all, we were a minor noble family. It brought a question to my mind, one that I've asked myself for as long as I can remember.
"Why is the kingdom like this?" the young Julius muttered as he stood at the door of his new home, overlooking Clover Castle.
Years passed since then and Julius was no longer a boy, he was now a man and a captain of the Gray Deer. The blond found himself in a luxurious building full of nobles, having been invited to come to celebrate. Knowing no one, he wandered throughout the room, discreetly listening to other's conversations, with one between two men capturing his attention more than the rest.
"You know, I've always been meaning to ask, why are commoners so pathetic? I saw one trying to fight a gang on my way here and they lost quite badly,"
"I'm not quite sure myself," the other man replied. "They're both weak and poor, I question why they even exist,"
"I know that much, they exist to give us some entertainment when we please until we're bored," the first man said back as they laughed.
"I can't argue with you on that,"
Julius couldn't stomach hearing anymore, so he walked away. "The more I asked, the more I wondered: why are we like this? Why do we have such little empathy for our fellow man for such trivial reasons? I joined the Magic Knights because I wanted to find someone who could restore my faith in the humanity of humans, and while I found a small handful of people, none of them were like 'him',"
Days passed as the captain landed on a roof overlooking a common street. He had been taking a stroll nearby and heard a distressed scream, so he jumped into action.
The culprit was a pretty large man, holding the victim, a significantly smaller man. "I'm not going to ask you again, hand over your yul!"
Now that he knew the situation, he was ready to act, but just before he was about to do something, another knight showed up, clad in purple.
"Hey, you better leave that guy alone," the new knight warned with confidence.
"Whatever," the large man fired a flame spell, but before it could hit its target, it vanished, coming right back at him.
"There we go," the purple-clad man said with a thumbs-up.
Julius quickly moved in to check on the smaller man, seeing that he'd been injured. "Let me help you, Time Recovery Magic: Antistrofi,"
"Wow, what a cool attribute," the knight approached him. "If you're a user of time magic, you must be Julius Novachrono, the Captain of the Gray Deer. I've heard people talk about you a lot,"
The blond smile. "Thanks, and if I'm not mistaken, you're Zara Ideale, the only commoner Magic Knight, there's been a lot of talk around you too,"
Zara rubbed the back of his head. "Is that so? I'm nothing special,"
"I beg to differ, but we can talk about that later, come and let me see if you're hurt,"
"It's alright, there's some discomfort around my torso area, but there's no time for healing, I need to find other people in need of help, that's what Magic Knights do, we put the lives and safety of others above our own,"
"He was the truest Magic Knight I had ever met, only driven by the desire to help others, not caring who he aided, even those who mocked him, he managed to restore my faith. However, sometime later, I heard he passed away, I was swamped with captain responsibilities so Marcus and Richard decided to visit his grave on my behalf, but while they were gone, I began to hear rumors, and they sickened me,"
"Did you hear about that Zara guy? I heard he died in battle,"
"He must've been showing off, typical commoner, trying to overcompensate for their weakness,"
"I actually heard he was killed by one of his squadmates,"
"Really? Such a shame, I wish I knew the name of that knight so I could thank them for removing that bug from our elite ranks,"
"It was on that day that I came to an epiphany, if the kingdom was like this, I'd do my best to change it. Through certain circumstances, my results were enough for me to become the Wizard King, from there, I tried to change everyone's minds, to get them to see that discrimination did nothing but destroy us, and though it was difficult…I began to see progress from the people around me,"
Images of Asta, Kenos, Noelle, and Yuno in public places, notably the Star Festival flashed through his mind, seeing their words and actions move the hearts of those who were fixed in their wrong ways, finally learning to regain their humanity.
"This kingdom is slowly changing for the better because there are people willing to change it…just like me,"
[End Flashback]
Determination replaced the look of panic Julius had. "It can't end here, even though it's not perfect, this kingdom has a bright future, there are those in this generation who are ready to give them one, and I must keep them all safe! That is my job, because I am the Wizard King!"
Raising up both his hands, his grimoire began spiraling faster as a blue clock emerged from it, growing in size like the opposing spell until it too covered the whole kingdom.
"I'll use all of my stored time and all of my skill to put an end to this!" he thought, exclaiming his final spell. "Time Magic - Mana Zone Full Release: Chrono Anastasis!"
The hands on the giant clock both struck twelve, freezing the arrows in place before it could even touch the hair on someone's head, the hands then moved back to strike eleven, causing the arrows to fade into nothingness.
Julius allowed a smile. "They're all okay, I did-,"
Yami flew at top speed, passing by people who cheered for their salvation, but the dark mage didn't care about that as he was almost at the castle, once he arrived at the base, he flew up to the top level, jumping off his broom. "I'm here, are you-," he stopped, the last word of his statement stuck in his throat, unable to escape, only a gasp could be let out.
A drop of blood hit the surface, followed by another, and two more, until the drops became a puddle of crimson.
"Looks like that gamble of mine paid off after all," Licht remarked with a grin as if he had won.
But the truth was…he did win. With both hands, he held his longsword…the weapon having pierced through Julius' body, becoming stained with his blood, but despite the dire circumstance, the time mage still smiled, content with the outcome.
Yami was in total shock, it was the first time in his life he had ever felt this way, unable to act, only able to just stand and watch.
"It looks like I found it after all, your weakness," Licht began. "...It's that you're the Wizard King. I will give you credit though, in my entire lifetime, I have yet to meet one with a weakness as selfless as yours, if you weren't a part of this insidious species, I could've come to respect you as much as my dear friend does. Oh well,"
He then pulled out the sword, leaving Julius' body to fall into the crimson puddle, his grimoire starting to crack away. Staring at the time mage, he made one last action to the man: a clover-salute. "Give hell my regards,"
Yami was still unsure of what to do or even say, but that's when his eyes noticed something, slowly turning to it, he saw a damning piece of evidence: William's mask, slightly covered with rubble, and it transformed his panic into pure, unbridled fury as he pulled out his katana, letting it surge with dark magic.
"VANGEANCE!"
