Black Clover - The Three Brothers

"Master Licht, the attack has begun."

A man's voice spoke over their magic communication device, relaying it to a figure who resided in a large empty room, filled with bright light. His features were obscured by the white robes he wore over his body, the hood lifted.

"Excellent, Valtos. You and the others will carry out this mission well." The man named Licht said, holding a kind and warm tone, almost ethereal-like.

It was an opportune time to launch the first part of their plan. Some adjustments and additions were needed due to unfortunate circumstances regarding someone in particular, but if things went according to plan, that boy would be of no worries.

So for now, he waits, until the time has come to rid himself of a thorn in the Eye of the Midnight Sun's side.

Fuegoleon Vermillion.

"What do you mean the Royal Capital is under attack?!" Fuegoleon shouted in disbelief.

The desperate announcement had earned the Magic Knight Guards everyone's undying attention at such a notion—almost everyone. Blake was too much in his head to hear whatever they were saying, holding a frown as his eyes shifted to his grimoire, the power surging within him and the book settling down when he had relented in his mana output.

Whatever gave me this grimoire, if you're hanging around in my head, I appreciate all the cool stuff but I'm getting sick of all this freaky crap. I'm seeing stuff that never happened to me, my head and body hurt a lot and when it becomes too much, I black out, and crazy stuff happens. Would you mind not doing that as often? He mentally pleaded with a ticked-off expression, even with how futile it'd probably be.

He's brought out of his thoughts by the soft bump of Asta's fist into his arm. "You alright?"

"Yeah, I think." Blake thinks for a moment but sighs and shrugs. "Who knows."

His eyes look around, trying to find Noelle, and seeing she's nearby with Klaus and Yuno, silently drying herself with a cloth Mimosa had given her with a small frown. The young vermillion girl had moved over to where Nebra and Solid were, having been ordered to heal them of their injuries and doing so, with a reluctance she easily masked behind a neutral expression.

Everyone had gathered around in a somewhat circle just as one of the Golden Dawn members, Siren Tium, activated his Stone Creation Magic: Stone Model of the World spell, causing a rock formation to erupt from the ground that took on the shape of the entire Noble Realm and giving them live feedback of what was occurring in the area, the way it was done being whispered between Klaus and Mimosa that Blake picked up on as he eyed his grimoire and saw it's faint glow.

Fires were spreading at a rapid pace. The citizens' screams and cries for help mixed over with psychotic howls of laughter only proving the hysteria that was being caused. While a few of the Magic Knights pondered over how such a sudden wide-spread attack was even possible, Blake could see Asta growing impatient, irritated over all the talk while the kingdom was being attacked, but Blake placed a hand on his brother's shoulder. "Just give me a minute, then we can get the hell out of here."

Though he was very much reluctant, Asta gave heed to Blake's request. With that, Blake looked over to where the mages were and asked, "Is it just the Noble Realm that's being attacked? What about the Common Realm?"

The hooded mages seemed unsure of what to say for a moment before one spoke up, "We can't confirm anything in regards to Common Realm and beyond. We rushed over to you all as soon as we saw what was going on in the Capital."

Fuegoleon hummed, then looked towards Siren. The man seemed to know what the Captain would ask and gave him a solemn shake of his head, a no.

I should've expected that. To be able to cover all of the Noble Realm is quite a task in itself, it may be too much to be able to expand it even further.

"[Copy Magic: Stone Model of the World]"

All eyes shifted to Blake as they heard him cast that spell, feelings of disbelief and surprise going through them as they saw what occurred. Some Magic Knights had to move out of the way to make room for a formation of black stone that rose from the ground, dwarfing Siren's spell—due to Blake having encompassed not only the Noble Realm but a majority of the Common Realm as well, shocking many.

It was only now that those unaware of the properties of Blake's Copy Magic had realized all he needed was to see a spell cast to copy it into its grimoire.

So now he has ahold of our spells as well? A similar thought is shared among Alecdora, Nebra, and Solid, followed by the anger of realizing a mere peasant could dare use their spells.

"You just saw the spell be used for the first time only moments ago, how is it possible for you to have such effect and control over it already?!" Klaus asked Blake in almost bewilderment.

Blake shrugged, "Instinct. I guess," he said before his eyes narrowed and he frowned, seeing what was displayed. "The Common Realm's being attacked too! All the nearby villages that border the Noble Realm are being overrun with...something!" He announced, seeing spreading fires occur throughout the area, buildings being destroyed, and even more sounds of screaming.

"Their major forces must've been directed to attack the Noble Realm while they used the rest to cause destruction there." The Captain of the Blue Rose Knights, Charlotte Roselei, pondered.

"Found out their strategy pretty easily. You're so smart, Char!" Sol said happily as she chewed on her food.

"This is a dire event, be serious Sol," Charlotte said, mildly disappointedly closing her eyes. "And you need to refer to me as Captain."

"Oh, sorry Char! Won't happen again!" Sol said absent-mindedly.

"This makes it a bit more difficult to divide our resources," Fuegoleon said to himself, many of the other members of the brigades were dealing with a plethora of missions at the moment and these enemies may have messed with their communication. He could only rely on the Knights that were in this room.

"If their main forces are occupying the Noble Realm, that's where the major threat is. However we divide our forces, we should focus on this Realm first and whoever finishes their task first should head to the Common Realm afterward." Nozel offered.

"I would've thought all those nobles with their abundance of magic could handle problems like this just fine," Blake said to himself, giving a side-eye to some of the Magic Knights, who just happened to be a part of said Nobles and Royals.

"You should remember that many of them are only civilians, they don't have the proper training or experience," Fuegoleon said.

"So they're as helpless as the "commoners" they look down on? What a waste of all that magic." Blake remarked with a shrug, sarcasm plain when he said that title. "It's crazy how much they think they have room to talk..." He couldn't help but mumble to himself.

"This is so stupid! All of this talking when people out there need our help! I'm going now, damn it!"

Asta didn't have it in him to wait any longer, why did Blake bother antagonizing these guys right now?! He went into a sprint and slammed through the doors. He's jumping headfirst into those fires and making sure they're extinguished!

"But, Asta! Wait!" Mimosa called out.

"Where do you plan on going?! You can't even sense magic!" Klaus yelled out.

"I'll just go where it's loudest!"

Klaus was befuddled. Mimosa was in awe. Yuno wasn't surprised in the slightest, nor was Blake.

Sorry Asta, I should take a page out of your book.

Suddenly, Leopold belted out laughs of amusement. "I knew that guy was interesting!" He said to himself before he ran out of the room, following Asta. "Let's see what else you got, my Rival!"

Huh?!

To think Leopold could declare him a Rival...Asta really is amazing! Mimosa thought warmly to herself.

A bead of sweat dropped from Klaus' face as he adjusted his glasses, looking over to where Blake was. "Do you really think that brother of yours should just go off runn—Now where did he go?!" All he found was a left-behind spatial portal that soon closed.

Yuno walked over to the black stone spell Blake had left behind. He had an idea that turned out to be correct. "He's gone to the Common Realm." He said, seeing a sudden dark blue figure appear on the stone, undoubtedly being Blake's mana signature.

"By himself?" Noelle said softly.

"Good. Let him deal with his kind while we focus on the important matters." Alecdora said, a satisfied smile on his face now that those two egregious peasants weren't in his eyesight anymore.

A glance between Nozel and Fuegoleon was all that was needed for them to know they had the same conclusion.

"He may be a peasant, but from his showing of power, I believe he's capable of dealing with the enemies of that area on his own until we can assist! We'll handle the matters of the Noble Realm!" Fuegoleon declared.

That boy...I'm sure the citizens will be in good hands. And if I recall, Lady Theresa resides somewhere there as well. Yes, there will be no worries.

With that, Fuegoleon took charge and assigned the knights present where to go. He along with Noelle would follow after Asta and Leopold before going to the North District, the Silvas would go to the Central District, the Blue Roses would go to the East District, and the Golden Dawn would split into two teams heading to the West and Northwest Districts.

"Failing to protect the Clover Kingdom would bring utter shame to the Magic Knights! No matter what...LET NO ENEMY ESCAPE!"

Just what are these monsters?! I hit them and they just keep getting up.

Maybe the man shouldn't have been surprised. A commoner's quality of magic was nothing impressive. His Wind Magic could only push back these creatures for a moment and he was already nearing his magic's limit.

"D-Dad, what's happening? I'm...I'm really scared. M-My leg..."

His eyes looked back just for a moment, towards his wife and son, the boy burying himself in his mother's hold as their fear-stricken eyes looked at him before they began to cough, the smoke getting in their lungs and hurting their eyes.

He turned back to look at the abominations that were nearing them, more than half a dozen. His arms spread out to cover the sight of his family behind him. "Keep your heads down and close your eyes! Everything'll be alright!"

Crap, the fires are becoming too much! Trying to run away isn't even an option anymore.

Though his arms shake, he brings them forward, aiming toward the stumbling corpses. I have one attack left in me. Please, let the Magic Knights get here to save them at least.

"[Copy Magic: Harpe]!"

Suddenly, from the man's left, dozens of large blades made from black and blue crystals shot through the air, penetrating and sticking the corpses off their feet onto a nearby wall as they were pushed away.

What?! Who did that?!

"More of these guys? They're so annoying!"

The man looked up, suddenly seeing a young man with long white hair and striking red eyes talking to himself, the lower half of his face covered by his arm wrapped with bandages.

Blake looked down at the man who, along with the woman and child behind him, looked at him with yearning hope.

"Have no worries, you guys! I'm a Magic Knight, everything will be okay!" He said with a cheery tone, giving them a thumbs-up.

The man gasped, "Truly? I...I was beginning to—" He was cut off by a sudden fit of coughing, having let too much smoke into his system.

"Here, I'll get rid of all this smoke."

Before he could be questioned, Blake generated gentle streams of Wind Magic from his palms, guiding it and pushing the encroaching smoke away, freeing up some of the oxygen in the air.

Wind Magic? But those crystal swords from before...

"Alright, now are any of you injured?" Blake asked, kneeling to be at eye level with the once-cowering family.

The family had to breathe, needing a moment to gather their bearings before the dad spoke up. "M-My son, he had a fall when we were running, scraped his knee badly." He said.

Blake nodded, moving past the dad and to the mom and child. Blake gestured her to, so the mother loosened her hold on the child so the boy could bring his leg out.

"Ouch, that's quite the mark." Blake gave the child a warm smile, using his thumb to wipe away the tears that pricked his eyes. "You didn't cry too much though, I bet you're a tough kid!"

Seeing he was able to get the boy to smile as well, Blake held his hand over the boy's injury and began to use Water Recovery Magic. The child gasped before settling down as he suddenly felt...cool and refreshed. It didn't take long for the wound to be healed, the scrape was as good as gone.

The boy's face brightened, no longer feeling the pain, and he snuggled into his mother's hold with a smile. "Did you see that, Mom? It doesn't hurt anymore!"

The mom held a soft chuckle. "I'm glad, so very glad. Thank you, Magic Knight." The middle-aged woman said, aiming her words at Blake.

"You have our gratitude, Magic Knight. Truly!" The dad said, a hand clasped on Blake's shoulder.

Blake just nodded, opening a spatial portal. "This'll take you to the nearest village I've taken care of, stay there and you'll be safe till this whole thing is done."

Though they wondered how this Magic Knight used such different types of magic, the family didn't want to waste the man's time when he's given them a safe escape so they nodded and ran toward the blue portal. Once they made it, Blake closed the portal.

He takes a moment to sense his surroundings before nodding to himself. Looks like that's everyone around here. Using Spatial Magic so many times is exhausting, but that means no need to worry about collateral.

Blake's eyes turned to where the corpses had been, having finally removed themselves from the pin Blake's crystal blades put them in and were lurching toward him now. They would have no chance to close that distance, for their bodies were engulfed in a torrent of Blake's flames, his black and blue contrasting against the red and yellow that surrounded the area.

The corpses were left as nothing but ashes scattered in the wind, leaving no trace of such abominations ever being there and Blake made sure to dispel his magic before it made the surrounding flames worse.

Those things are a pain to keep down, I need to bring heavy firepower to get rid of them. There was magic connected to them, so they must be controlled remotely. Whoever's doing it is probably back in the Noble Realm. Asshole.

While he thought to himself, Blake generated his Swift White Hawk, using his Magic Amplification to turn Neven from a big bird to a very big bird, so he could get a high-up view above the buildings among other reasons.

None of those corpses I went through could cause this kinda damage on their own. Were there mages here before them who caused that before leaving those guys to hurt the people here? In any case, these fires need to be put out.

Blake flipped through the pages of his grimoire until his eyes landed on one of his latest spells.

"[Copy Magic: Solid Mist Clones]!"

Black mist swirled around the other sides of the eagle before they transformed, taking on Blake's appearance, three clones to be exact.

"Water Magic, shoot high-pressure beams at the swarms of flames." The real Blake said.

"Got'cha."
"Whatever."
"Fuck off."

The nerve.

Regardless of what they said, the clones aided Blake's effort efficiently just as before, ridding the area of the fires in minutes. With one last look over the area, Blake had quelled many of the fires in the surrounding villages. Drained him a bit, but he can keep going. He needed to.

Still atop Neven, he activated his Stone Model of the World spell again but to a less powerful degree, only needing to cover some of the Common Realm. The villages he had already taken care of were looking fine, no dangers returned there. Then, something happened. In a village closer to the Forsaken Realm than it was to the Noble, various magic signatures appeared in an instant. Just as they appeared, destruction came again.

Blake gritted his teeth. These bastards must have someone with Spatial Magic assisting them for them to appear so quickly. And goddamn it, I haven't been to that village!

"Neven, go!" He shouted with urgency and the bird followed, soaring through the sky at high speeds toward the village in the distance, some church being a significant marker of the location. There was a scowl on Blake's face as he closed in. To bring harm to people who hadn't done anything to deserve it just to serve as a distraction from what was happening in the Noble Realm? Damned bastards, wait till I get my hands on a live one.

He looked grim, seeing how much chaos had been caused in so little time, barely able to see through the rising flames and smoke.

I'm close enough.

Blake released Neven and the bird dissipated as he dropped through the air and slammed into the ground, lightning crackling beneath his feet as his Thunder God's Boots formed, taking into a sprint at blinding speed. He barely took notice of where he was going, he was almost just latching onto where he could feel that creepy mana from those corpses coming from and tearing them apart as they came into contact with his Thunder God's Gloves, ripping them apart limb from limb. He had to be quick, he'll make sure the citizens get to safety once none of these guys are left.

His head snapped in another direction than where he was heading, picking up on strange mana signatures. Their magic felt stronger than the people here or those creatures and he could hear the impact of buildings getting destroyed and falling rubble where he felt them as well. A dangerous smirk came upon Blake. Got you!

He went through the alleys, zig-zagged up the walls of the buildings, and leaped across them to close the distance between and where they were as quickly as possible. He was so focused on getting to them, he barely heard the girl he passed by crying out for her sister and he didn't stop. I just need one second. I'll tear these guys apart then I can make sure everyone's safe!

"Oh! Oh! Oh! Here he comes! He's one of the interesting ones!" A young woman, by the sound of her voice, spoke. She sounded rather giddy despite the situation they were in. She was obscured by white robes.

"We have no time for that, Sally. Right now, he's nothing but a nuisance." Another voice in white robes spoke before he and the others sent their offensive spells toward the man in the distance.

Blake barely had to dodge, "You bastards need to work on your aiming!" He said, rearing back his lightning gauntlet.

"You thought we were aiming for you?"

What...?!

Blake abruptly stopped, turning back with widened eyes, seeing buildings being hit by those spells, the rubble beginning to fall. And in the area of it, was the girl Blake had heard before, but had practically ignored to attack the enemies. Her fight-or-flight instincts failed her, leaving her frozen in fear as she saw her impending doom descend upon her.

She won't be able to escape that!

"NO!"

"[Copy Magic: Holy Water Bullet]—[Magic Amplification: 20%]!"

Above Blake's head, dark-blue water shaped into a gigantic bullet and shot toward the falling debris at a speed unthought off for a Water Magic spell. Large enough to decimate the falling debris into crumbles of what it used to be and blast it all away from the sheer force of power.

Blake dropped to his knees, hand clutched over his mouth as it felt like his body wanted so desperately to throw up something, yet nothing came. Such a painful limbo.

Maybe he didn't need to amplify that spell to such a degree, but he didn't want to leave a chance it wouldn't be enough. Blake could sense it, those bastards had already vacated the area after what they did, but right now he couldn't care less about it. He stood back up and ran to the small girl who had fallen to her knees, frightened cries leaving her and tears quickly falling from her face. The girl was Recca's age at best; Blake's heart was tearing him apart for ever thinking he should've dealt with the enemies before getting someone so vulnerable to safety. What was wrong with him?

Blake knelt before the girl, hands clutched over hers, and her tearful eyes looked up to him.

Wait...he recognized her. That...That one woman with the red hair. This is her little sister...isn't it? He tightens his hold just a bit, his protective instincts coming through. If she found out her little sister had died...If I had let her die because of my actions...

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. But you're safe now, everything's alright." He told her, his voice almost breaking, almost crying. But he was surprised when the girl suddenly pushed forward, embracing Blake in the tightest hold, softly sobbing into his coat.

"I...I was just trying to get some groceries for my big sis and...then these strange people appeared and suddenly things are on fire...and the village is being destroyed and..." She had to catch her breath for a moment. "I was so scared...I wasn't sure if I'd—" She stopped as the Magic Knight she held onto had returned it.

Blake steeled his resolve. He couldn't be acting like that when people needed to be reassured by strong people that everything would be okay.

"I know it's scary, but you don't have to worry about any of this." Blake's placed his hands on the girl's shoulders and gently pushed her away, to give her a reassuring smile. "Because you got the Magic Knights on your side! We'll make sure you're all alright!"

It calmed the young girl for the moment and that was enough. He asked, and she told him her name was Luca.

"Luca, you have other family too, right? Do you know where they're at if they're not home?" Blake asked. He didn't want to just use Spatial Magic and send the girl off away from her family, she'd feel safer if she was with them.

Luca had to think for a moment, before remembering. "R-Rebecca told me that if something dangerous was happening...that we should head over to the church. Lady Theresa would protect us!"

Blake gave the girl a nod. Seeing that the Holy Water Bullet spell had the positive side-effect of dousing practically all the fire around the area, Blake didn't need to stay any longer. He quickly used his Stone Model of the World spell once more to see how far they were from that Church. He could get most of the way there through Spatial Magic and then have to go the rest on foot. He was pleasantly surprised to see there weren't many other attacks occurring, it looked like he had ripped through most of those things on his way here. Good.

The two hadn't taken long to arrive where Luca told him, who Blake had secured onto his back with some vine magic like a backpack.

Any worry Blake had for whoever was trying to deal with the rest of those corpses evaporated the moment he saw a sister of the church flatten three of them in an instant with a huge fucking flame mallet.

"[Flame Creation Magic: Fiery Judgement]! You won't terrorize this village any longer!"

The corpses were squashed, nothing but a splatter on the ground now. Right before Blake could warn the woman of the corpses approaching from behind her, the elder had already turned back and cast another spell, one that caused the stumbling corpses to implode as explosions were set off within and destroyed them, leaving behind the flaming crosses that erupted out of their bodies.

"[Flame Magic: Shining Flame Cross]!"

...That's a badass Sister of the Church. Blake thought with widened eyes. Looking around, it looked like other Sisters were helping to dispel the flames. He felt the girl on his back tap him so he released his Vine Magic, letting the girl free.

She ran to the elder, who was near a large central fountain. "Sister Theresa!" She called out, throwing herself into a hug.

Though Theresa was cut off-guard by it, she returned the young girl's hug. "Luca! Thank heavens, you're alright." Theresa said with a relieved smile, kneeling to the girl. "Your family has been worried sick! If it weren't for these horrendous creatures getting in the way, I would've searched for you."

Luca gave her a nod with a smile. "I know you would've, but I'm alright!" Luca turned back with a smile, pointing to the man approaching them. "He saved me!"

Theresa was quiet, gazing at the tall young man. "I'd be correct in guessing you're a Magic Knight, yes?"

"Yep!" Blake turned his back, showing his brigade's insignia on his coat. "Blake of the Black Bulls, at your service!" He declared.

I see...so he is one of the boys she told me about.

"Sister Theresa, is everybody else in the church?" Luca asked, taking the elder out of her thoughts.

That can be discussed later. "Yes, Luca, they are and they're safe. Please, head inside." She said warmly.

Luca nodded and began to run to the church, but stopped, hearing Blake call her name.

"Here, take this with you!" He said, throwing her the sizeable pouch of yul he had on him. "Stock up on some more groceries, make sure you and your siblings get some fun stuff with it too." He said.

Luca was in shock over the amount, holding a similar expression Blake and Asta had when they received their wages for the first time. She nodded furiously, sputtering out 'Thank you' after 'Thank you' before she ran to the church.

A child's energetic demeanor gives a special feeling. Theresa thought, before looking at Blake. "Do you know what the situation is elsewhere?"

The smile Blake had turned into a serious look. "From what I remember, there's a major attack happening in the Noble Realm, that's what most of the other Magic Knights are dealing with. I've been dealing with the villages over here."

Theresa hummed, looking up. No smoke clouds are hanging over from elsewhere, it seems like it's settled for now.

"I see. Who else was dispatched with you?"

"Uh..." Blake scratched his cheek. "No one? If you haven't seen anyone else pop up, I may be the only one who came here." Blake said sheepishly. "I mean I kinda just came here on my own to begin with but...yeah."

"So...you dealt with all the attacks on the villages by yourself?" Theresa asked, almost wide-eyed. In such a short time? And to still have quite an amount of magic left, he truly does have enormous reserves of magic!

"I'm sure others would've come around after they finished over there, but I think I did a pretty good job at it!" Blake said proudly, internally smirking. Suck on that, nobles.

Speaking of which, wonder how those guys are doing... Blake was a moment away from casting that stone magic spell again before...his senses were stuck by something.

He snapped his head to where the Noble Realm was, eyes wide and confused. What the hell...five massive sources of magic just went off? Wait...!

Without warning, Blake used Wind Magic on the surprised Sister Theresa, blasting her away from him. Before Theresa could question what came over the boy, her eyes widened, for there was suddenly a pool of darkness beneath Blake's feet that latched onto him and kept him in place, realizing that it was the same as the five that just went off. Before Theresa could say anything else, the darkness had already enveloped him.

Once it dissipated, he was gone.

"Sister Theresa! Are you alright?!" The other sisters who aided in the protection of Nairn called out, running towards their senior.

"Yes, don't worry about me, I'm all right." She said, dusting herself off. Her brows furrowed as she was in her thoughts.

Some sort of Spatial Magic that was set before its activation? I couldn't even sense it yet that boy seemed to, just before it took him, and made sure I wasn't caught in it. He truly does have amazing potential. Wherever that spell had taken him, I hope it doesn't end with him in a grave.

Meanwhile, Blake blinked to himself as he took in his surroundings. It was a barren land, nothing but grass and dirt stretched on forever it seemed. Was he somewhere in the Forsaken Realm?

"Not exactly the place I was expecting to end up at." He mumbled before he smiled smugly to himself. "Looks like these chumps didn't know I had Spatial Magic!"

He attempts to cast Fallen Angel's Gate to make it back to the Noble Realm—thinking it's time to help out whoever wasn't caught in that spell, but finds himself struggling to cast it. He tried again a few more times but just trying wasn't cutting it.

...Crap. I'm probably a bunch of hundreds of miles away from there, aren't I? That's gonna take a lot of magic and focus to get this done and Spatial Magic drains my magic the quickest.

Man, fuck these guys.

At this rate, Yuno wouldn't be able to keep up.

Something had happened, a Spatial Magic spell took away Mimosa and Alecdora and it would've gotten him as well if it wasn't for that strange magic he had acquired reacting to it and getting him away.

Suddenly, Yuno grunted in pain as multiple balls of magic managed to land their attacks on him, having been able to easily catch him even as he flew through the air.

"Oh dear, Oh dear! Growing clumsier and clumsier by the second, aren't you? I wonder, what curse has taken hold of you now?" The voice of a woman said, taunting him.

And now, he was dealing with this old hag named Catherine, the sight of her reminding him of that fairy tale Blake read to him. One ball of her Ash Magic had nicked him when he was caught off-guard and they only continued to occur throughout their fight. What's worse, his senses were beginning to dull as a result.

Yuno tried to conjure his tornado attack against the woman, but his aim had been completely off the mark, and she would torment him even more because of it.

My eyes, my body, even my hearing...it's all beginning to fail me. Everything's gone black.

It may have been the beginning of Yuno's end, for events of his life began to pass through his mind. The acquirement of the four-leaf grimoire. The acceptance of getting into the Golden Dawn. The ridicule from its members for seeing him there.

It didn't matter what anyone said, all I bothered with was growing stronger and honing my skills to keep from losing.

The battle within the dungeon against that mage of the Diamond Kingdom.

But...I couldn't win. The only reason that guy was defeated was because...

Yuno. Asta. Everyone trying to work together to fight. Then, that strange occurrence with Blake and the overwhelming power that came with it...

It was faint, but he could still hear that witch's annoying voice taunting him, wanting to hear him beg for mercy.

Just...shut up. I don't care about you. I don't care about those who ridicule me. I just...

Then, the sight of those two appeared in his mind.

Suddenly, through the darkness, Yuno saw winged bird-like creatures glowing green flying all around his being. They weren't just creations of magic, they were mana itself.

This is...the flow of mana?

This was his last opportunity, so he seized it without hesitation. Left with none of his five senses and in the dire situation he was in, he took hold of his ability of mana detection and took it even further, to a point not even his brother had yet reached...

Yuno's head turned to his left from a new glow and was met with the sight of a small being, like a fairy. She regarded him with a head tilt, then smiled, before nodding.

...For he had been chosen by the Wind Spirit, Sylph.

Catherine's heart dropped from the sudden pressure of mana that overtook the environment. Powerful gales of wind swirled all around her, threatening to both suck her in and blast her away were she to lose focus, and a powerful tornado was brought forth from above, darkening the sky of the once sunny day. All of it... centered on Yuno.

Impossible...! A mere boy...being able to control all this mana?!

And now, her heartbeat rose in tandem with her fear, as that swirling sphere of Wind Magic power ascended into the air up to her height and peeled itself apart, revealing Yuno and Sylph, the spirit splaying herself in front of Yuno akin to a guardian as she helped him collect such powerful mana.

This boy...he has the legendary Four-Leaf grimoire?!

"Listen to me, you old hag."

Yuno opened his eyes and his cool and deadly gaze landed on his opponent.

"I've set high expectations for myself. Ones that I plan on those two seeing me reach and excel past again and again." As Yuno and Sylph reared their arm back, the wind streams that had gathered around Yuno aimed at Catherine, an enormous bullet waiting for the trigger of the gun to be pulled.

"AND YOU WON'T GET IN THE WAY OF THAT!"

"[WIND SPIRIT MAGIC: SYLPH'S BREATH]!"

The bullet was fired, absolutely rocking Catherine's shit and blasting her away through the air. But Yuno couldn't leave it at that, he had to make sure she stayed down so he followed after, to make sure no one else got hurt by her.

Within the vacant banquet hall, a black and blue portal popped up and Blake came stumbling through, panting as he gathered his bearings. This was the least likely place in the Noble Realm where he'd have to immediately fight, so he could take a moment to recover.

So much distance to cover with that spell...That took a whole lot out of me. Was that the plan? Nah, no way I'm that important. Those jerks must've been hoping to hit someone else with that spell.

He only gave himself a minute or so to recover from the temporary exhaustion before he began to walk around, heading for the exit. He probably couldn't afford to use much Spatial Magic if he wanted mana left for his attack spells, so traditional movement it is.

His walk was halted as he heard a large crash into the building happen from somewhere, shaking its structure. Goddamn it, what now?! He sensed where it came from—it was dim. When he ran low on his magic, his ability to sense magic and mana seemed to take a hit as well—and saw the entrance to a hallway off to the side of the room. He ran to and went through it, it must've led to where it was.

"Give it to me...! Give it to me...! GIVE IT ALL TO ME!"

Who the hell is shrieking like that?

"I don't wannaaaaa!"

Wait a minute, that voice...little miss! I forgot she followed us!

Blake reinforced his body with just a bit of magic, picking up his pace to reach the double doors where the voices lay beyond. He slammed them open, ripping them off their hinges, to be met with three men in chef attire cowering behind a table and a huge platter of food, while Charmy was standing tall, metaphorically, against the woman with horrible screeching.

"Just give it to me!" Catherine cried as she activated her spell, Ash Absorbing Formation.

That old hag's magic gives me a bad feeling, I gotta take her out before she hurts—!

"I said no."

...Blake's mind had to reset for a moment; That wasn't a tone he had ever heard from the little miss before, neither was the magic she possessed that began to swell and expand, and especially not the spell she was casting to make that huge fucking sheep!

"[Cotton Creation Magic: Sleeping Sheep Strike]!"

The beast that Charmy had created took in a large inhale of air, sucking in and nullifying Catherine's magic to her utter shock, before she—once again—got her shit rocked by the sheep's giant fist slamming into her body, sending that bitch back out the way she came.

Blake was in as much amazement as the chefs were.

"I don't care who you are...No one touches my food without my permission!"

Charmy stood proud, wiping the food sweats off her glistening forehead. Yet, all that bravery soon crumbled as with her large sheep disappearing, the plate of food she tried to protect now began to fall through the air, out through the broken wall. Charmy cried out and ran with all the speed her legs would give her, but it wouldn't be enough, and she'd be left to see her beloved lunch fall to its untimely end.

But her heart settled, seeing the food instead go through a familiar black and blue portal. T-That's...!

"You continue to surprise me today, little miss!"

"La?!" She gasped, turning back to see Blake balancing the large plate in one hand as he walked up to her and handed the plate of food back into her hands.

"Here you go. It'd be a tragedy for food like this to be wasted, wouldn't it?" He joked with a smile.

The sight of it all...that tingling of senses fired off in her mind just like they had before. But this time...this time she seemed to realize what they finally meant. But...it can't be! Could it be possible that...

VANESSA'S HUNK OF A BOYFRIEND IS MY MEAL-SAVING PRINCE AS WELL?!

Charmy stutters, her mind going haywire and the growing redness in her face being hidden behind the large plate of food. "Thank you...very much, Blake!"

"Anytime, little miss!" He said with a thumbs-up.

"Blake? I should've expected it was you."

Blake looked behind Charmy to see his brother of the Golden Dawn coming through the opening of the wall. "Yuno!" He said cheerfully, before acknowledging what the boy said. "Nah, I didn't do anything, that was the little miss here!" He said, patting Charmy on her bun, causing her to make an indescribable noise, surprising him. The hell was that?

"Is...that so?" Yuno could barely finish his sentence before his legs finally gave out on him. But his fall wasn't hard, Blake went right to him, keeping the boy up.

"Easy there, Yuno." Only then had Blake finally noticed the little spirit that had been beside Yuno. He was confused, but then he reasoned something. "I guess you finally learned what to do with that spell you got back then, yeah?" He asked, and Yuno gave him a shaky nod.

"H-Here! Set him on this!" Charmy said, creating a cloud of cotton.

"Ah! Thank you!" Blake brought Yuno over, laying him on his back and giving him a smile radiating with pride for him. "I knew you'd get it down sooner than later, Yuno! You'll sweep through all those Golden Dawn jackasses, no problem!"

Yuno could only chuckle, wanting to tell Blake to shut up but instead... "Sure, whatever you say." He said softly, with a small smile on his face. Then, he grew serious. "Almost all the Magic Knights that were here got taken away by some kind of Spatial Magic."

Blake nodded, now realizing the purpose behind that spell. So he was their intended target after all?

"If they're still here...Asta and that girl should be somewhere around the North District with the Crimson Lion Kings Captain. So go and hurry up..." Yuno said before he finally allowed himself to fall unconscious.

Blake was surprised but smiled, Yuno had already been a step ahead of him. He ruffled his sleeping brother's hair before looking at Charmy. "Could you stay here and keep an eye on him, make sure he stays okay?" He asks the little miss.

"O-Of course! No one shall lay a harmful hand onto him as long as I'm here!" She declared, sitting atop the cotton cloud as well, going back to her eating, not wanting to focus on the growing feelings she had for her teammate.

Rather energetic she is now. Blake gave her his thanks and then he felt something...tap his grimoire? He looked down to see that the spirit was knocking her small fist against the book, before looking up at him. She flew up to his eye level and tilted her head, holding a peculiar look in her eyes, before she seemed to not care anymore and simply flew beside Yuno, keeping a watchful eye over him as well.

...Weird.

Just before Blake would head off, Charmy called out to him. "B-Before you go, would you like some of my lunch? T-The short ribs are really good!"

As much of it looked delicious, Blake's stomach was still feeling rather unsettled as a side effect of his amplification and he didn't want it distracting him more than it already did. "I'll be alright, go ahead and enjoy it all to yourself!"

He thought for a moment, before looking back at Charmy. "But if you're up for it, a feast back at the base would be awesome. I enjoy the food a lot more when you make it." Something made by someone close to him would always taste better than the alternative.

He jumped out the wall's opening and activated his wind magic to fly off to where Yuno told him. For better or worse, he didn't see the state his words left Charmy in.

Asta roared, swinging his swords across his body as he defended against the bolts of Lightning coming at him from that corpse being controlled by Rades. He had his Demon-Dweller take the brunt of the magic and swung it back in the man's direction, releasing the magic it had just absorbed in an attempt to damage him.

"Alfred!"

Unfortunately, the man in the ragged clothes and eyepatch was quick and commanded his corpse puppet to defend him, taking the magic that hadn't left a scratch on the doll, merely absorbing it back and sending out multiple streams of charged lightning toward Asta. He barely avoided most of them but one had landed, taking him on his side and leaving a nasty bruise.

Damn it...Damn it!

Asta's spent all this time trying to take this jerk down. When Noelle and that guy who claimed he was his rival came to assist him, he thought it would've been enough to bring Rades down, yet he kept bringing out stronger and stronger corpses with that strange magic he had. It didn't help that some of his attacks continued to damage him because of the curse magic he amplified it with!

"What was that you said about fighting you myself? What a complete idiot! Why would ever do that when I can just stay back and beat you all down with my corpses?!" Rades shouted at Asta with a maniacal cackle.

This friggin scumbag, he doesn't even see the people he hurts as people! I...I can't allow myself to lose to someone like him!

Yet, no matter how much he wanted to, Asta couldn't bring himself to even move. His body was exhausted.

"What an annoying look in those eyes of yours! Alfred, kill him! Splay this kid's guts across the ground!" Rades ordered.

With that command, Alfred rose higher into the air as it charged up a powerful attack of lightning, practically creating a gravitational pull with its power.

Noelle and Leopold shouted to Asta, wanting so desperately to aid his battle, yet their hands were already filled with dealing Rades' other corpse puppet, David—it's Muddy Water Magic being a difficult matchup, even for the two royals.

Asta won't let himself go down without even trying, so in the face of that overwhelming magic power, he raises his blades for battle. "Take your best shot, jerk..."

Yet, within just a moment, all that magic power Alfred had was eradicated in a burst of flames—the corpse doll turning into nothing but ashes that floated down to the ground. Rades was left without words, only able to stare at the man who turned one of his strongest creations into just charcoal!

Though Asta should feel relief in the threat being gone, all he could feel was shame. Damn it...I wasn't strong enough to beat him on my own...

He felt a strong, firm hand placed on his shoulder, and looked up to see it was the Captain of the Crimson Lion Kings.

"I hope you can forgive me for intervening in your fight, but I couldn't allow myself to see a Magic Knight of your caliber die here," Fuegoleon said, then looked at Asta. "A peasant with no magic, yet you've come so far. I don't like to admit it, but it seems Yami had better foresight than I did." Then, Fuegoleon smiled. "And not just with you it seems."

Asta wondered what he meant by that before something else soon grabbed his attention. Sunlight began to pour onto the ground quickly as if the smoke hanging overhead was no more, yet when Asta looked up it seemed to be just that. He, along with the others, witnessed powerful bursts of black wind ripple and swirl through the smoke before, within moments, it had all been dispersed across such a wide area that it ceased to linger any longer. That wasn't all, however, for soon the raging fires that had taken hold of the surrounding homes and buildings were quelled as well, sizeable bullets of Water Magic raining down above them by the dozen.

That has to be...!

Fuegoleon and Asta look back, staring up at the nearby rooftop of a building where Blake stood, his coat flapping against the wind as he looked upon the scene before him. One of Blake's hands were outstretched and he was panting, but he had a small relieved smile on his face. They're alright, I'm glad.

Black Clover - The Three Brothers

A/N: Feedback is always appreciated