Chapter Fifty-One: Pride of the Rossiu House
Hey there, readers, today is the beginning of another week-long chapter update, school just ended for me last week, and now I'm excited to get some chapters out. You know the drill, here's Day 1, enjoy. Cya.
"So, this is the Witches' Forest, not bad of a place,"
The focus shifted from the Eye of the Midnight Sun to the Diamond Kingdom forces as they flew over the thick group of trees, at the front of their forces stood three figures, each flying on their own construct or magic item.
In the center of the group was the golden eye mage, Brosnan, to the mage's left was the mineral mage, Mars, and the last figure was the one who made the earlier remark about the forest, it was a man with medium-sized blonde hair and pale skin, he wore similar attire to Mars.
Mars turned to the third figure. "Regardless, make sure you don't get sidetracked, Ladros, don't forget what happened during our last mission,"
Ladros slightly slumped. "Uh, that wasn't my fault, Mars, it was that Clover mage's fault, he's the one who decided to make fun of my hair,"
"You completely abandoned the job you were given and focused solely on him, even after you beat him to a pulp, you didn't get back to your assigned objective," Mars told him nonchalantly, which only made Ladros groan more. "You really need to keep that part of you under control, especially since you're a Shining General now,"
"What are you talking about, it's that quality which makes me such a ruthless mage, and ruthless is good in the Diamond Kingdom," Ladros fired back.
"Enough you two, we're in possible enemy territory, we can't afford to be distracted," Brosnan said with a short clap before turning to the blond general. "Ladros, Mars has a point, while you're ruthlessness is a great asset to the Diamond Kingdom, so is obedience and the ability to complete missions efficiently, as Shining General, you're an authority figure, and therefore must be a good example for our forces,"
To the mineral mage's shock, Ladros merely saluted. "Of course, my bad, I guess I'll have to do better next time," he said with a small chuckle.
"Why'd you listen when Brosnan told you to?" Mars asked.
"Well duh, didn't I tell you already, or were you too busy being moody," Ladros began replying. "I look up to Brosnan, undoubtedly the strongest member of the Eight Shining Generals, a pinnacle of our kingdom's strength, what's there not to idolize, isn't that right, Ms. Anna?"
The golden eye mage turned to him, the helmet hiding the look on her face. "While I'm honored by your admiration, please refrain from calling me by my first name, that's reserved only for Lotus and personal friends,"
"Right, sorry about that," Ladros said before putting a hand on his chin. "I wonder why nobody has come this way, I fired off a warning shot, but no luck,"
"That's alright, although taking down potential enemies now means we won't have to worry about an ambush later, not having anyone to fight in the first place while we head to our destination is even better," Brosnan told him.
But unbeknownst to the golden eye mage, a group of mages was on their way towards them, ready for a fight.
"So, how much closer do you think we'll have before we get there?" Kenos asked as he and the Diamond fugitives rode on the wind swords.
"It shouldn't be too much farther, I'm sensing large clusters of mana, we're getting close," Fanzell replied.
The solar mage looked at the older wind mage. "So, you're going to be fighting against the Diamond Kingdom, are you ready?"
"As ready as I'll ever be, that's not my kingdom anymore, just like with Galleo, I'll go in giving it everything I got," he replied. "And you? Are you ready for your fight with Brosnan?"
"I am. Hey, I just remembered, you're both from the Diamond Kingdom, and you seem to know him to an extent, do you have any tips I can use for when we fight?"
"Tips aye? Well, Brosnan and I have never really spoken to each other, I've never even seen him without his helmet on, but we did fight together during a mission some time back, his magic allows for powerful long-range attacks, and his armor gives him an advantage when close up as well, so my advice is, hit hard and fast, overpower him before he can do anything, can you do that?"
Kenos looked at the ring on his finger before looking back at Fanzell. "I can,"
"Good," Fanzell said with a smile before that smile quickly disappeared. "We're here, I can detect their mana,"
"Same here, that's Brosnan's mana alright," Kenos added. "So what's the plan of action, are we taking them head-on, or something else?"
"I know what I'm going to do," Mariella replied as she jumped off her wind sword and onto a nearby branch. "I'll look through the forest for any Diamond Soldiers, if I don't find any, I'll regroup with you,"
"Okay, be careful," Domina told her as the ice mage nodded and disappeared into the forest, the vortex mage turned to her two male companions. "This is it,"
The wind and solar mages nodded before the three of them began to move in closer.
"Uh, this is boring, I want to fight someone," Ladros groaned again as they kept flying.
"Patience, Ladros, we should get to the Witch Queen's castle soon, even if we don't run into anyone on the way there, we'll most definitely have to fight the Queen herself, especially since I've heard that she doesn't do to kindly to outsiders," Brosnan told him.
The shining general punched his palm. "Awesome, I can wait to show her majesty what I can do,"
"Don't you mean what we can do?" Mars asked.
"Oh yeah, we, well, it's alright if you can't fight, Brosnan and I should be perfectly capable of handling it our-," Ladros was beginning to say back, but was interrupted as a strong gust of wind blew past them. "Alright, it seems there's someone here to fight after all, I wonder if it's a witch,"
However, the diamond mage was partially surprised to see the origin as it flew up and stood across from them, one word left Ladros' mouth, and for the first time, it didn't have a joking tone behind it.
"Fanzell,"
The wind mage spoke with the same tone. "Hello, Ladros,"
Brosnan looked at Fanzell too, but she also noticed Kenos standing next to him. "It's that boy from Kiten, I didn't think he'd know Fanzell and Dominante, but why are they here?" she thought before choosing to speak up. "Hello Kruger, and you too, Dominante,"
The two Diamond fugitives merely narrowed their eyes before Ladros once more opened his mouth. "Well well, if it isn't our old teach, how're you doing? You look well," his tone returned to how it usually was.
"Teach?" Kenos wondered aloud.
"As well as being a commander of the Diamond Army, I was also an instructor, I taught many young mages, of them were Ladros and Mars," Fanzell replied, his eyes quickly shifting to Mars, noting that the mineral mage had yet to say anything to them.
"That's right, he did teach us, before he decided to betray his kingdom and leave," Ladros said, but the tone took another shift, while it was mostly sarcastic, there was an underlying tone of hurt in it as well.
Fanzell said nothing, choosing not to respond to his former student's statement, instead, he chose to address the matter at hand. "Why exactly are you here?"
"If you must know, our king over in the Diamond Kingdom isn't doing too well," Ladros began replying. "And we've heard that the Witch Queen has been around for hundreds of years, so we came here to find out her little secret and use it for our king, and we'll get it, either by force, or a lot of force, because we know damn well she won't just hand it over,"
"You think we'll let you do that?!" Kenos exclaimed. "This has now become a matter concerning the Clover Kingdom as well, you attacked Kiten just yesterday, if your king is allowed to live for that long, what's stopping you from trying it again, or attacking somewhere else,"
"It doesn't matter what you think, junior, we're going to get it, and I'm so glad you decided to get in our way because I was bored out of my damn mind, now we have someone to kill before getting to the Queen," Ladros said to him with a laugh.
"That's not happening, I taught you everything you know, we won't lose this fight," the wind mage confidently stated.
Ladros grinned. "Tough words there, teach, but let's see if you can back it up," he then turned to the many Diamond Soldiers behind him. "It's your turn now, make sure not to kill Fanzell though, I want to do that myself,"
"Yes sir!" the soldiers exclaimed before flying past the three Shining Generals and towards the three opponents in front of them. "Down with the traitors!"
"I can handle a few," Kenos said as he took his grimoire out as it flipped to a page. "Solar Creation Magic: Rain of Solar Daggers!" he exclaimed as daggers fell on the soldiers, he grinned as many hit their mark, causing some of them to fall off their vehicle of transportation and begin hurtling towards the ground.
"Nice work, Kenos, Wind Creation Magic: Emperor of Slashing Winds!" Fanzell joined in as he cast his signature base spell and flew towards soldiers, slashing each one that got close, sending them to the ground too.
"I won't let you two do all the work," Domina stated.
"Are you sure, won't your magic not be too good in this situation since it's an attribute based on defense?" the solar mage asked.
"Ah ah ah," the woman wagged her finger in a correcting manner. "My magic may be based on defense, but I have my set of offensive spells, so you don't need to worry about me," she replied with a wink.
She then took out her own grimoire as she flew towards a cluster of soldiers. "Vortex Magic: Tempest Falls!" At her call, multiple tornadoes appeared around some of the soldiers, blasting high levels of magical wind, the Diamond mages were no match for the force and were blown away.
Domina turned to Kenos once more. "Now do you see what I mean?"
The solar mage nodded with a smile on his face. "I do," he replied before gasping. "Look out!"
Domina turned just in time to see two spells coming right at her, her grimoire flipped to a different page. "Vortex Creation Magic: Cleaving Sickle Wind!" she exclaimed as she created a weapon, and as its name suggested, it was a sickle made out of wind.
"You're going to need to try a lot harder than that if you want to beat me, Zell may be the former commander, but I'm no pushover either!" the vortex mage continued as she cut the spells cleanly in half. "Quick Kenos, you get the soldier on the left, and I'll get the one on the right!"
"On it!" Kenos responded, swiftly getting close to the enemy mage. "Solar Magic: Sunbeam Ray!" he exclaimed as he shot the beam directly at his opponent.
"Vortex Creation Magic: Whirl Shock!" Domina also exclaimed as she gathered her magical wind and shaped it into a disk before launching it, the projectile whistled in the air as it quickly made its way towards its target, hitting him dead-on.
"Awesome work," the woman gave Kenos a thumbs-up.
The black-haired teen returned it with another smile, but the smile soon disappeared once he noticed a familiar figure at the corner of his eye, he turned around to get a better look.
It was Brosnan, he had joined the cluster of soldiers making their way towards Fanzell.
Domina looked in the same direction as him, within the cluster of opponents, she knew who he was looking at. "Good luck," she said. "Don't worry about these guys, leave them to Zell and me, you did come with us to face against him after all,"
"I did, thanks, Dominante," Kenos said gratefully as he flew towards the golden eye mage.
"Damn, they just keep coming, when will they end?" Fanzell muttered to himself as he kept slashing through soldier after soldier, but the number didn't feel like it was decreasing.
"I wonder how Domina and Kenos are doing? Hopefully better than me," he continued muttering before he felt a familiar mana signature, he looked up to see Brosnan, just two feet away, his fist reeled back for a punch.
"We've worked together in the past, Fanzell, but we've never actually fought each other. I hope you haven't forgotten what you learned from the Diamond Kingdom, because I expect you to give it everything you've got!" Brosnan bellowed.
Fanzell's expression became one of worry as he caught sight of the armored mage, but soon, another sight crossed his line of vision, and it made his worried expression turn into a smile. "While I would love nothing more than to fight you, I'm not your opponent today,"
"Excuse me? Then who would my opponent be?" the golden eye mage was confused, but that confusion disappeared as she noticed a shadow cast over her, she turned around to see Kenos, who had just jumped off his wind sword and was heading straight for her.
"That would be me!" he exclaimed as he kicked the armored mage with both feet, the action sending her off her flight item and towards the ground, although her body remained standing straight while doing so.
Kenos on the other hand, used the kick to boost himself up and do a backflip in order to increase his time in the air by a few seconds, in that time, he looked to his side to see Fanzell give him an affirming nod, the solar mage returned the gesture as he dropped to the ground, using the unconscious soldiers to break his fall.
Upon doing so, he heard a soft grunt, it didn't take long for him to find its origin as he merely turned around to see the foe he wanted nothing more than to defeat. He pointed a finger at said foe. "Brosnan, we meet again, I didn't get to properly introduce myself during the battle at Kiten, my name is Kenos Rossiu, a Magic Knight and a proud member of the Black Bulls. Unlike yesterday, it won't be three against three, but rather one on one, just you and me,"
"Kenos Rossiu? An interesting name, but we'll see if it's worth remembering, you say it'll be a one on one fight between us, yet there are so many other mages that can interfere," the golden eye mage stated before zooming towards the solar mage, now only a few centimeters away. "But don't worry, I can fix that, try not to die too soon,"
She then grabbed hold of Kenos' arm and launched him into the air before quickly jumping after him.
"What the hell!" Kenos screamed in near terror as flew to a part of the forest, soon, however, he began to see he was about to hit the ground, and if he hit it at the speed he was currently going at, he'd certainly be screwed.
"Solar Magic: Sunbeam Ray!" he exclaimed, using the beam to slow down his descent, although he still suffered a pretty rough landing, it could've been worse. He slowly got up and looked around, shocked at the sight before him, it was entirely bare, with many stumps around that look like they've been burnt. "Fana must've passed through this place, that means we're close to the entrance of the forest,"
"That's right!" a voice exclaimed before a crash was heard, Kenos turned to see Brosnan standing inside a newly-formed crater. "This is the perfect spot for our little showdown, nobody to help me, and nobody to help you, a true one versus one," the armored mage took her grimoire out. "Now, show me what you can do,"
"Alright then, time for something a little different, Solar Creation Magic: Solar Construct - Limb Armor!" Kenos exclaimed as his familiar twin gauntlets became equipped to his hands, but as well as that, his feet became equipped by armored boots that reached just a bit above his ankle.
"Limb armor? Do you plan to face me close up? That's seriously not everything you can do, you stood your own against Tantalus, try harder," Brosnan scoffed.
"You're going to regret saying those words," Kenos said back as he activated the ring on his finger, he then closed his eyes for a few seconds before opening them, seeing the familiar white mana beads, he quickly glanced at Brosnan's mana, feeling its power, but he went back to focusing his own. "Solar Reinforcement Magic - Mana Charge: Sunshine Aura!"
"Mana Charge? What's that, I've never heard of such a-," Brosnan began saying, but was interrupted as she suddenly got punched in the face, the action pushing her back a good few feet. "What the?" she muttered, looking around to find Kenos, but strangely, he wasn't anywhere in her line of vision. "How is he able to move that fast?"
It didn't take long for the golden eye mage to notice a shadow above her, she looked up just in time to see Kenos quickly do a vertical spin, ready to slam her head with his heel, she rapidly crossed her arms to block the attack. She lifted her head up, her golden gaze falling on the solar mage's eyes, which showed nothing but seriousness.
"You're moving a lot faster than I remember you doing at Kiten yesterday, I assume whatever this Mana Charge is, is the one responsible?"
Kenos allowed a smirk to grace his features. "You could say that," he replied before doing a quick backflip. Upon landing on the ground, he became a blur once again.
"This is good, Fanzell was right, attacking hard and fast is giving me an advantage, he isn't even able to track my movements, but based on how he reacted to my last attack, I should refrain from physical attacks while in the air, this Solar Godspeed combo makes me faster than my regular godspeed, but it only works when on the ground, not to mention Mana Charging it is seriously burning my energy, long story short, I have to defeat Brosnan before he can launch a counterattack," the solar mage thought.
Once again, Brosnan wasn't able to react when Kenos struck her right in the back, sending her to the ground, she crossed her arms and slowly turned around multiple times, waiting for the strike to come, and when it did come, she was once more vulnerable as he struck her leg, forcing her to one knee.
"Damn it, this is beginning to get annoying, I need to slow him down, and I have the perfect spell for that," her grimoire flipped to a different page. "Golden Eye Magic: Million Lasers!"
At her call, Brosnan's head became encased in a golden orb before a multitude of beams fired from it indiscriminately, its range covering a good few yards as dust covered the area, she was certain Kenos was hit by it, and just like she expected, once the dust settled, the solar mage was once more visible, he was seen crossing his arms.
Behind her helmet, Brosnan smirked as she rushed over to her younger opponent. "There you are," she said while launching a punch, thankfully, Kenos' arms stayed crossed which allowed him to block the attack, but the attack was strong, breaking his guard as he was sent back by a decent number of feet.
"Shit, I wasn't expecting him to have a spell like that on him, but he can't use it for the entire fight, I still have the advantage," Kenos thought to himself as he hit the ground, but he only stayed down for a few seconds as he immediately got up and jumped into the air. "Solar Magic: Sunbeam Ray!" he exclaimed.
"Golden Eye Magic: Heat Ray!" the armored mage also exclaimed as she fired the twin beams as they clashed with Kenos' spell, ending in a stalemate.
"Damn it, that didn't work, well...I know I said that I shouldn't do aerial physical attacks, but this time, I have a plan," Kenos muttered as his grimoire flipped to another page. "Solar Creation Magic: Rain of Solar Daggers!"
The daggers were ready to fall on Brosnan, all while Kenos was descending towards her, the solar mage planned to use the first spell to stop his opponent from being able to counter his attack.
Unfortunately, that didn't happen.
Brosnan saw the mage as well as the spell he cast, it didn't take long for her to anticipate what he was planning. "Not bad, but not good enough," was all she stated before looking up, ready to cast a spell. "Golden Eye Magic: Multi Spread Barrage!" she placed a pair of fingers on the side of her helmet as she fired a quick succession of lasers, each shot dissipating a dagger until they were all gone.
"And there we go, now it's time to handle you," she continued as her eyes fell back to Kenos, who was falling towards her, his fist reeled back, she responded by rotating her body, using the momentum to boost her own punch.
"AH!" they both screamed in unison as their punches clashed, creating a powerful shockwave.
"Another stalemate, just like with my fight with Vetto, we appear to be evenly matched, damn it, I can't win if we're practically-, wait, what's going on?" Kenos was in the middle of thinking while still in the air, remaining suspended only by the armored mage's fist, but stopped once he realized he couldn't move.
"Golden Eye Binding Magic: Overpower Glare," Brosnan thought before chuckling. "How ironic, when I used this spell against William Vangeance yesterday, you were the one to get in my way and save him, but now, there's no one here to save you," she said as she dropped her fist, setting Kenos up to fall, but she then slugged him right in the face, sending him yards away, the force was so powerful that when he hit the ground, his body was thrust back up again, just to hit the ground again, and as he dropped to the ground for the last time, he partially dug into the soil.
"Damn, what a punch," Kenos muttered as he struggled to stand back up, he lightly touched the cheek where he was hit and winced in pain. The sound of footsteps was then heard, the solar mage looked up to see the golden eye mage slowly walking towards him.
"You're back up, not bad, but let's see how you'll stand up against this," she said as her grimoire flipped to a page and the eye outlines of her helmet began glowing.
"What're you doing?" Kenos asked.
"If you must know, I'm preparing my strongest spell," Brosnan replied. "One capable of straight-up vaporizing my opponents, but it does take some time to charge though,"
"It takes time to charge, aye? Then this is my chance," Kenos thought as he looked down at his ring, three outlines were already gone, and the last line was flashing. "My ring will run out of juice in just a few seconds, even if I use whatever speed boost I have left to disrupt him from using his spell, he'll just charge it up again, I need to finish this now,"
He then closed his eyes again before opening them again, seeing the white beads of mana around him, it was the first time he had ever tried using Mana Charge twice in a fight, but he concentrated as the beads came to him, turning orange as they compacted into a circle in front of him.
"Brosnan, I'm finishing this fight, once and for all, Solar Magic - Mana Charge: Solar Cross Destroyer!" Kenos exclaimed as the Xs formed, he then divided one before shooting the lines towards his armored foe.
Brosnan saw the lines coming, she extended both arms out and caught them with both hands, though she could feel the lines trying to crush her, her strength was able to keep them from doing so, although it cost her the ability to move, regardless, she was dauntless. "Bring it on!"
"Alright then!" Kenos screamed as magic charged in his second X, he then clenched his fist tightly, releasing the blast.
"Golden Eye Magic: Final Flash!" Brosnan exclaimed the name of her strongest spell as she too released a devastating blast, the two attacks then met, creating an even stronger shockwave than earlier as they both struggled for victory.
"Damn, I can feel the power of his spell from here, it's massive, but I can't lose," Kenos said as he clenched his fist tighter. "It would be at this time Captain Yami would tell me to push past my limits, so I must keep going, for him!"
"You're going to need a lot more than whatever this spell is if you want to defeat me!" Brosnan exclaimed as her spell increased in strength and slowly began to win.
Kenos could feel himself getting pushed back by the force, but thanks to the lines he sent out, Brosnan's body stood still. "N-No, I have to win this struggle, this can't be everything I have!" he exclaimed, but unfortunately, that was all he had as Brosnan's spell won out, defeating his spell as the remaining force hit him dead-on, he remembered when a similar thing happened in the dungeon against Andreas' spell, and it was obvious that this one hurt more as he was blown to the ground, his auras disappearing.
"N-No way, m-my Solar Cross Destroyer wasn't s-strong enough, even when I boosted it with Mana Charge," the solar mage said weakly.
The lines attempting to crush Brosnan vanished, she then began walking towards Kenos. "That was an impressive attempt, but you can't defeat me, you can come close, but you'll never actually do it," upon being just a few inches from her young foe, she grabbed his collar and lifted him into the air. "Now there's something I want to know: why exactly did you want to fight me by yourself?"
"Why? Because you hurt Captain Yami, and worst of all, it's my fault, so I'm going to make you pay, I still have one more spell in me, I'll turn this battle around, just you wait," Kenos replied, his facial expression being one of anger.
To his surprise, Brosnan chuckled. "What a foolish boy you are, when someone stronger than you is injured, it isn't wise to try to get revenge if the perpetrator is even stronger, and besides, you think you're the only one who was angry, Yami hurt Lotus, my response was justified," she then punched him in the stomach and threw him back on the ground before walking away.
"It seems your name wasn't worth remembering, but your fighting was impressive enough, for that, I'll kill you with my strongest spell, consider it the greatest honor I could give an opponent like you," she said as she began charging the spell again.
Kenos heard what the armored mage said. "Kill? Am I going to die? As a Magic Knight, I've come close to death many times, but this time, there's no one here to fight with, no one here to come to my aid, this time, I'm fighting all by myself, and no one else will come," he thought morbidly as memories flashed through his mind.
"Instead of feeling bad for yourself, why don't you try to get to know everyone better," Asta.
"I already decided yesterday, but now I'm certain...I like you, Kenos Rossiu," Zuka.
"You seem like a great guy, I know one day it'll be the same for you too," Eon.
"You really are humble, and it's not from me," Ves.
"You'll never change if you talk crap about yourself, don't do it again or I'll kill you," Yami.
Kenos thought about a small number of things he had been told by some of the most important people to him, but now, was he going to leave them all? His eyes slowly closed shut as darkness became the only thing he could see.
.
.
.
"You aren't giving up, are you?"
The sudden sound of a voice made the solar mage's eyes shoot open, to his complete surprise, the area around him looked different, instead of the barren sight that was the battlefield, it was now a vast field of only orange, spanning as far as the eye can see, as well as that, feathers were falling everywhere, they were white, and looked like the feathers of a bird.
"What the, where am I?" he muttered.
"Well, are you giving up?" the strange voice asked again, it was gentle, and for some reason, it gave Kenos an oddly warm feeling.
The solar mage began using his arms to push his body back up. "I don't know who you are, but I'm not giving up,"
"Oh, and why is that?"
"Why? A lot of things have happened to me during my life, with some not being so good, but during that time, I've met a lot of great people too, people that I've grown really close to, and if I die here, I'd be leaving them all behind, and I won't let that happen, I'll survive, and I'll win!"
Kenos' grimoire came up to him as the voice spoke up again, with a more proud and happy tone. "Good, now go, that determination has granted you a way to win this battle, I'll be watching,"
The orange field vanished and Kenos returned to the barren area, he was surprised to see that he was back on his feet, but he had no time to worry about that as he looked down, the solar mage's grimoire flipped to a blank page before text became inscribed on it.
"Weird, who did that voice belong to?" he wondered quietly, but then he brought his grimoire closer and looked at his new spell before his eyes greatly widened. "No way, the second spell I learned since joining the Black Bulls and it's that spell...okay then, I won't waste this opportunity,"
"So, you've gotten back up!" he heard Brosnan bellow, he saw that she was about five yards away, her spell fully charged.
"I have, thanks for not finishing me off right away, I'm grateful, but you'll regret it," Kenos stated.
"Nonsense, this is the end of you, Golden Eye Magic: Final Flash!" Brosnan exclaimed as the devastating beam was released once more.
"That won't defeat me this time, Solar Creation Magic…," Kenos began as magic gathered behind him, before becoming the shape of a large orange wyvern, it roared proudly as it majestically spread out its wings, and while the solar mage couldn't see it, Brosnan's eyes widened.
"..Wyvern of Helios!"
The wyvern then took off, flying right at the Final Flash beam, but when the two attacks made contact, instead of clashing, the wyvern cut the beam in half, all while still flying towards the golden eye mage.
Behind her helmet, Brosnan gasped. "Not...possible," she muttered as the wyvern crashed directly into her then into the ground, forming a large crater, forming a large cloud of dust.
Kenos didn't wait for the dust to disperse, using his newly found energy, he ran into the crater, mentally noting its depth, it must've been around 5 feet deep. "Damn, my wyvern spell is pretty powerful, kinda wish Dante and Oxanna were here to see this," he thought as he slowed down and began walking, his foot then bumped into something hard, he assumed it to be Brosnan's armor, and seeing that it didn't react to his foot, the armored mage was defeated, now all the solar mage had to do was wait until the dust settled to see whether he was dead or whether he needed to finish the job.
But when the dust did eventually settle, his eyes widened greatly for the second time during that battle.
Brosnan's armor was destroyed, revealing the mage inside, but unlike what he's believed all this time, the wearer wasn't a he, but rather...a she, the regal red clothes she wore under the armor were slightly torn, but overall remained intact, and she started to wince before opening one eye, signifying that she was also alive.
"YOU'RE A WOMAN!" Kenos screamed.
"Yes, that's right, my actual name is Anna, Brosnan is just my maiden name," she said, wincing a bit from the loud exclamation coming from the victor.
"But, you looked like a guy while in your armor, and everyone called you one too, didn't that bother you?" Kenos asked.
"Not really, enemies confused me for a man due to the presence and deeper voice my armor gives me, I really saw no point in correcting them as it doesn't matter what gender you are, whether or not they thought I was a woman didn't matter to me, the point of a battle for us in the Diamond Kingdom is to defeat your enemy and complete your mission," Anna replied before weakly sighing. "And it seems I've failed this one, I guess your name is worth remembering, Kenos Rossiu, you defeated me, and now you've come here to kill me, I accept my fate, but before you do, I'd like to say something,"
Kenos raised a brow. "And what might that be?"
"I...just wish I could see Lotus one more time," she responded.
The solar mage looked at her with a confused look. "Lotus? What's up between you two, you've mentioned him a few times, and you went ballistic when Captain Yami injured him in Kiten, he seems quite important to you,"
Anna lightly chuckled. "Why wouldn't he be, after all, he is my husband,"
"Wait a minute, the two of you are married?" he asked rhetorically with some disbelief before he remembered something the smoke mage said some time back.
"But there's no way I'm losing here, I got a family to go home to...a wife and three little girls, they mean everything to me," he recalled Lotus saying to him during their dungeon mission.
"If Lotus has daughters, and you're his wife, that means they're your daughters too, which makes you a mother," he deduced.
"Yes, that's true, but now I've spoken my words, I'm ready now," Anna said as she waited for death to greet her. "Goodbye Lotus, my love, take care of the children for me, as you two, Ladros and Mars, make sure you finish this mission,"
Kenos' face hardened, he was currently out of mana, meaning he couldn't cast anything for the time being, but even if he was capable of doing so, he already decided what he was going to do.
"Tell Lotus how much you love him when you see him, I'm not going to kill you," Kenos said with a tone of soft seriousness as he turned around.
Anna was the one who was baffled this time. "Huh?"
"Look, take it from me, parents aren't always the greatest, but...they're still important, your daughters shouldn't grow up without their mother," Kenos said as he turned around again and extended a hand to her. "But don't make me regret this,"
Anna gathered whatever strength she had left and lifted her hand to take Kenos'. "Choosing to spare your opponent literally after she was trying to vaporize you just a little while ago, you truly are a foolish boy," she said, but as she was lifted up, a thought came to her head.
"But then again, I guess that's not such a bad thing, because that foolishness of yours is the only reason I'm still alive right now,"