"This mission could have gone so much better" Yuno thought.

Right, being separated from his group was pretty bad. He was also pretty lost. The criminals could be threatening his home for all he knew and yet he was forbidden from helping! He did know that missions needed strong leadership, but those orders weren't easy to follow. Well, he made his choice and now would have to follow through. The few mages he fought in the sky were really easy to take out. People like them couldn't stop him on his way to becoming wizard king, not at all. He then turned to a voice he heard in the deep woods, "I know you're there, might as well come out."

"There you are golden boy, all alone now without a team to help you. We heard about that fancy grimoire of yours, those things sell for quite a lot, so we'll be taking it off you. No one to save you now," the lead criminal threatened.

"I don't need them to deal with a few thugs, no one will stand in my way of becoming wizard king, Wind Magic, towering tornado storm." The tornadoes circled around me before shooting out in every direction, each one swirling up a grunt in the blast. The leader was a bit tougher and managed to stay on his feet.

"You're a tough one. I think you need to learn a lesson about gangs golden boy, no matter the strength of who we face, enough numbers can always pull through. Try to get me."

He then ran off in deeper into the woods, using his fire magic to burn down sets of trees along the way. As I tried to follow, more and more grunts attacked me. I kept using wind sickles to hit back, but for every one I took out, another took his place almost immediately. Worse still, they were coming from every direction. I try to up for a few minutes until "YOWCH," I had been hit in the back. Now I could see the plan. The fire was leading me in the path he wanted to take, pushing me into more ambushes. To some extent, he was right. No matter how many fools I took out, there would be some number that would be too much to handle, some number where I'd have used up all my mana. I'd probably already gone after 100 and left them in the burning forest, and I could feel myself slowly getting drained. Not good, I have to end this fast.

This time, I used my broom to get over the forest, losing sight of my opponent but still being able to track him by the fire spread. I could see Hage village in the distance. Not good, they were pushing a fire straight towards the village, I had to do something to stop it. I flew at full speed to get in front of the wall far ahead and called out Wind Magic, Wind wall to stop the fire in its tracks, also catching the leader with it.

"Heh, pretty good, should have expected that from one using the four-leaf, but we're not done yet. Wouldn't it be a shame it someone burned down your precious village. Hand over that grimoire and no one gets hurt."

"Wait why do you know about that in the first place, and what's the big deal with the grimoire. You're probably already making enough money with the smuggling."

"That doesn't concern you, someone wanted your grimoire dealt with."

"So you're working for someone else is that it."

"Wait did I just say that?" The criminal pondered.

"Yeah you did boss, you really need to learn to keep secrets better.

"Damn it, you'll learn to fear the name of Arman and his armored warriors."

"Boss, secrets again!"

"You're demoted."

I didn't wait for the banter to end and attacked with a wind cutter barrage at the boss, who was barely dodging. Instead of attacking me, he kept shooting fire at the village. Sister Lily had showed up and was using her water to counter, but the other goons had learned that my focus had to be on the village too, and started attacking the village from where I wasn't. God, this was annoying. They had found a weakness with me. I couldn't be everywhere at once.

For now, I held up the wind wall and had to fight the boss. I was pushing him back with my onslaught, and he had nothing in his arsenal that could threaten me. Noticing the fire spreading behind me, I let loose a blast of wind to force it skyward, but when I turned I saw the worst had happened. Sister Lily, who was putting out fires, was taken captive. Protecting the kids must have left her weak to a swarm attack, much like myself. "I'll defeat you for that, you're not getting away with it." I let my anger guide me into a close combat fight where my wind was stopping him from making any movement freely. Soon, I had him pinned by my winds.

"Take this, Wind Magic, Wind arrow," I yelled.

The arrow formed and shot straight at my opponent, who had no way to move, it pierced his chest and he fell over slumped. I did have a bit of a problem. I'd already lost a lot of energy so far and dealing with the rest would be a problem as long as they could use Sister against me as a hostage. What to do. It was then I saw an object in the sky. That must be Klaus's chariot spell, had he finally found me?

My question was answered when I saw a huge wave of water wash down the forest, extinguishing the fire. Who could that be? Lucy? She did use water but not to that large of an extent in our fight. I then heard the voice. "Aquarius, let's drown that fire all the way." There was my answer. Another wave washed over us all and the forest was cleared, now it was only the village to protect.

"Sorry we got here late Yuno, there were a lot of them in the strong magic zone too. I tracked you down with this spell, it's called magical flower guidepost. We know the situation, Klaus is already after the nun and Lucy got the forest covered. It's on us to protect the village. here, I'll get you healed up for this." Mimosa was really a sight for sore eyes. She then turned and fired a beam into the woods. "Sorry, still more of them out there, you can rely on us to cover it, go protect your family."

"And leave you to finish this fight here? Even I couldn't handle it."

"Yes you couldn't, but you were alone. Not anymore. We fight in teams for a reason, it's always better to fight with allies and friends you can trust. You told me all about yourself last week and I see how good of a person you are, even if you're quiet. Please, let us be your friends," Mimosa begged.

"Alright, I'll have to trust you here." I went off into the village, just now seeing what they had done. In their bid to take my grimoire, they punished my village with destruction, a punishment it had done nothing to warrant. I now wasn't alone anymore. With them, my greatest weaknesses were covered. Huh, is that what strong allies did, covered your weaknesses and aided you even in a situation of my fault. I didn't really understand it quite well but I wouldn't let that trust go to waste. I flew to the center of the village and prepared a spell to try to wipe away the fire from the village. Whatever I did, it wasn't enough. Getting rid of one fire would leave the others up to spread. This wasn't working too well. Damn.

"You're not giving up that easy right, you had a lot more backbone when you fought me Yuno." Ah, there was Lucy again.

"Can't you help me with the fire?"

"Wish I could. Any water I can use would flood the village and destroy it anyways, it'll have to be your wind. Can't you use a spell to blow a gust of carbon dioxide, that should work."

"I don't have a spell like that!"

"You don't need it. You have control over wind and air, simply use whatever you have. I know you can do it Yuno."

"I believe you too," came the voice of Mimosa.

"You made the captain accept you despite being a peasant. Anyone who can do that can handle a bit of fire," said Klaus.

"Right you guys, I'm not giving up!" I screamed. It was then that Lucy's words became clear to me. Use a specific part of the air to starve the fire of it's fuel. I had to do it. My grimoire turned to a new page and began filling in with the idea she had shared with me, and suddenly I could comprehend it all. My friends showed trust in me, I wasn't going to let them down. Wind Magic, Wind Extinguisher, I screamed, and sure enough, the fires in the area died out. The village was safe.

I put away my grimoire to see everyone holding their breaths and gasping for air. "Is everybody alright?"

"Yeah I'm fine, luckily I remembered to tell everyone to hold their breaths. Oxygen, which fuels fires, is also the same thing we need to breathe. Not having it would be bad to say the least," Lucy answered. I wondered where she learned that scientific knowledge, because that wasn't a known fact in the Clover kingdom. Seems her home was more advanced.

"Oh Yuno, you've grown so much and you're protecting the village now, let me look at you," the priest said, tears coming down his face. "All of you magic knights, we can't thank you enough, in return, we're throwing a tato party with all of you invited on us, we have to repay you for this."

"OF course we'll go, it's good to be able to meet Yuno's family without criminals interfering," Lucy said.

"How did I get roped up into a peasant feast, they better know their place," Klaus grumbled. "All of you are helping tie up the criminals first.

Right, business first, the reunion could wait a bit. I headed over to the criminal leader I took out and had him and any nearby goons bound up in ropes. When he woke up, I asked him, "You mentioned something about being sent after me because of my grimoire, who was it that did this? Answer me or I'll let you suffer from that arrow even more"

"Ok fine you won I'll tell you.

It was group called the Eye of the Midnight Sun."

AN:

The plot thickens.

Also Yuno character development is good. Next chapter or 2 will be chilled out, then off to a dungeon with a meeting with our favorite black bulls.

Expect a new chapter about every 3 days