I wasn't having the best of days, but it did feel good to land damaging shots against Licht.
The day started normally enough. Captain Yami gave us our pay and a day off, which he didn't tend to do a lot. He probably just wanted to gamble a bit. I came over to Nean hoping for a relaxing day with Rebecca, but of course, that didn't happen. Instead, I'm now in a battle against the Eye of the Midnight Sun, where ordinary members turned into their leader and a man I hate –, Licht. Even after he went down, more people showed up and once again it seemed like we would lose yet more good magic knights.
After what felt like hours of fighting, I was barely standing and still hurting from all the hits I took earlier. Licht looked as if he felt the same; he wobbled slightly while trying to stay upright, clearly weakened from his fight with the Captain. Finral and Gauche stood behind us, one looking much more worn out than the other. However, the newcomers, this third eye or whatever they were called, had just arrived. Apparently each member was stronger than Licht and we were all bloody and exhausted. Yeah, even I knew that taking on three enemies at Captain Yami's level wouldn't be easy.
I was hearing sounds behind me again. What was it this time, more enemies? I turned around to see four brooms flying in, and, thankfully, I recognized the people on these brooms from the entrance exams. We had our reinforcements, the captains were here.
Wait, was that Lucy? Right, she was in Nean the whole time, what took her so long? She immediately came to my side after landing and held me up, saying, "You're not going to stop fighting this early, are you? Keep standing Asta. You've got friends at your back now, and I've got a vendetta to deal with." She was staring straight at Licht, who was still hurt and not paying her any mind. The fury in her eyes would have terrified me if she had been on the opposing side.
Meanwhile, the captains started facing off against each of the third eye members. They also made a ton of banter with Yami, but I didn't care to listen. Now was the time for fighting.
"You're not going anywhere, when the captains are on the battlefield, others will only hold us back." Said Nozel.
'I already knew he had a thing against peasants but he's still holding me out of this fight! Licht is getting healed up and I should be able to stop him,' I thought angrily.
The captains engaged in their fights against the third eye, who were showing off why they were captains. As much as I hate to admit it, I can't do much here other than watch. The copying guy was fighting Captain Charlotte, who was holding on with her briars, but clearly kept on the defensive. Any attack she tried to throw at him got repelled with the perfect counter from his stack of copied abilities.
The other battles were looking much the same. Jack the Ripper was also caught in a stalemate against the big one, but they had a lot less finesse and a lot more swinging melee attacks. I certainly had no idea how that battle would end. It seemed it would all come down to who landed the first hit.
Nozel was doing the best despite his magic type being a disadvantage going up against a fire mage, but there was a dangerous look in his eyes. Where did that come from? He must be going for revenge for Fuegoleon and was using anti-fire techniques forged from decades of rivalry to push back the dragon sitting on the pink-haired girl's shoulders.
"Asta, listen to me," Lucy instructed. "We can't help the captains, but the third eye is completely distracted by them. I know you can stand up; quitting isn't something you do. We're going to take out Licht for good, just follow my lead." Her raw determination and confidence seemed to leak into me.
' That sounded promising,' I thought with a growing smirk. 'I'm still full of rage from Leo's murder, but I didn't see it happen right in front of me. Lucy did, and she was clearly very angry. I already know she's powerful, so this doesn't look very good for Licht, and I like that. He's still in that fire recovery magic, but Lucy clearly has a plan for that. The second it's gone, I'm getting back into the fight. Yami was setting up his own plan with Finral, and I'm sure they are also going after Licht with some spatial magic. Good, I guess I'll be the distraction.
I ran around the edge of the cave, trying to go unseen through the smoke caused by violent battles to go unseen. I ran over blood spills left over from Jack's battle, which meant they were reaching an end soon. Nozel's opponent was causing tons of smoke with her fire, which was all the clearance I needed to get behind Licht. Lucy was in position and changing forms to her Aquarius star dress, but this time she was holding the key in her right hand, which she usually doesn't do. Must mean she needs water powerful enough to summon the spirit. She's told me before she doesn't like to summon her spirits in most battles out of respect for them. She didn't want to rely solely on her spirits or use them as shields on the battlefield, so she tried to use star dress whenever possible. That doesn't change the fact that the spirit's control of an element is always more powerful than her star dress; countering the fire from a captain-level opponent called for summoning her most powerful and temperamental spirit.
The mermaid took to the battlefield with jar in hand and without much noise, thanks to the loud fights happening in front of them. Aquarius spent a few seconds charging up and surrounding herself in water, then she released the wave. The giant wave washed over the battlefield and completely removed the protective phoenix robe from Licht. Licht fell on the ground, still clearly hurt from his last battle and far from full strength while Aquarius stood ready to charge up another attack. The situation became even worse for him when another spirit entered the battlefield. This one looked like a goat on two legs, and he carried a serious expression. I looked to Lucy to see what the plan was. She nodded her head once without so much as glancing my way. That was all I needed. I switched to my smaller sword for more speed and charged straight ahead.
Licht immediately created a sword out of his light magic, but my first strike cut straight through and dispelled his sword before he could even try to engage me. I continued in for the attack, but Licht learned his lesson and switched to long-range blasts again, which forced me on the defensive. I really need something better against that 'light swords of conviction' attack.
"How dare you hurt Licht! I will kill you all," I heard from behind. That must be the pink-haired girl from the third eye. I need to fight Licht on his own to win, their involvement isn't good.
"Eye's on the battle, I did say I would put all of you underground," Nozel called out haughtily. He struck with a mercury spear while his opponent had her back turned, and seemingly did some damage. "You shouldn't have gotten involved, peasant, so you better win that battle or I'm demoting you." Still a prick like always.
Lucy wasn't just standing around to watch me fight on my own, she was ready. The next time Licht attacked with his light swords attack, Aquarius countered with a large sphere of water. As the light traveled through the water, it got diffracted and lost all its speed and direction, so it harmlessly exited the orb from the side. Lucy took advantage of the moment to land a surprise strike with her whip. Licht dodged, but he did so right into the goat man's strike zone. The goat man's kick had him on the ground gasping for breath and struggling to stand.
"That's payback for killing our friend," Lucy snarled. She struck again with the magic-enchanted whip, dealing yet another strike against Licht, who was still struggling to get up. He wouldn't have any luck, as the moment he was able to stand again, Yami appeared out of a portal from above and struck with a dark cloaked lightless slash, cutting through the light defenses.
"That royal boy does not deserve to live. None of you humans deserve to live. Look at you, stealing everything around you and destroying the world. Look at your commoners that keep on breeding and producing more of you insufferable fools. The Clover Kingdom is a disease that needs to be wiped out, starting with the royalty just like that boy!" Licht snarled out manically. I could see the madness as it started to bleed into his eyes – his words. I didn't bother waiting for him to strike again. Instead, I charged forward screaming in indignation, "His name was Leopold!"
Licht tried to blast light at me as a final stand, but my anti-magic went straight through it and hit him, yet again, breaking all his protections. Yami followed me up with a strike of his own, putting Licht in the ground.
"Finally he goes down. Only took a few times getting knocked down," I said with an exhausted smile.
"There won't be any other reinforcements will there," Yami asked.
"Who cares, let's finish him off while we have the chance," I responded.
"Good idea, he won't get away from justice this time. Attack on three everyone," Lucy commanded. It was finally time to get justice for Leopold. His killer was on the ground, helpless, and surrounded by strong magic knights that were thirsty for revenge, ready to deliver the killing blow. This has to work.
Of course, we don't have perfect luck. Right when we wanted to strike the finishing blow, Licht's body shone brightly and he floated into the air like a man possessed. His blinding light was now shining over the entire cave.
"That anti-magic brat! Don't tell me the seals on Licht were broken?" The beastly third eye member said. Seals, really? Could this guy ever stop with the surprises?
"Why do you have that grimoire," he said, staring straight at my grimoire. What was so special about it?
"This crappy grimoire?" I shrugged when he only continued to glare at it before continuing with more anger, "The grimoire and its swords came to me You hear that? They chose me, so they're mine. Why would you think otherwise?"
"That grimoire and those swords belong to the master."
"What master?" I scoffed.
"Those are our master's weapons. Give them back." He growled.
I held my sword defensively, ready for whatever came next. Suddenly, Licht's light grew destructive and rocks started rising around the cave. I looked up for a moment and saw the light blasting holes in the ceiling, and it seemed like the cave was going to collapse.
"That's not good, Licht won't last if this continues. We have to stop him," one of the third eye said concerned for their master. As if they'd done it countless times, the third eye surrounded Licht and cast something they called Trinity Sealing Magic . This stopped the burst of light, leaving Licht on the ground yet again. The third eye members quickly picked him up and slung him over the shoulders of the large one.
"Our leader's been hurt, so we're leaving for now, but don't think you'll beat us the next time. Clover Kingdom, your fate is sealed." The copy magic user spat before copying spatial magic to escape the cave. And just like that, only magic knights were left behind in the now open-roof cave. I could do nothing but stare in shock at the spot they disappeared in.
"Did… did we win?" I asked uncertain of what exactly had just happened.
"More like they ran away," Finral responded.
"You idiot. If they ran away that means we won. I'm calling it a win, all thanks to me," Captain Yami finished.
"We did it! We won!" I screamed. Finally, after all that time of fighting, we came out on top, and those eye of the midnight sun jerks ran away. The others were doing their own form of celebrating, such as Jack bickering with Yami while Gauche and Finral were happy but with a lot less screaming. The only one who didn't look happy was Lucy, and I couldn't understand why.
"We won the fight, right? So why aren't you happy?"
"There's more than just winning the fight, Asta. What did we gain from this? I'd say not much.. My goal here was to take out Licht, either by killing or capturing him for information, and we didn't pull either off. We still don't know anything about what they want since all our enemies got away. And on top of all that, I didn't get revenge for Leo. His murderer is still out there, probably planning the murder of more innocents." Lucy looked so disheartened as she spoke.
"It was still good though, right? We totally smacked Licht around and beat him up pretty badly."
"Yeah, I guess, I just feel like it wasn't enough, like we should have done better than letting them all escape," she argued back.
"As you said before, they'll be back. As long as you can keep winning every time it doesn't matter. I'm gonna keep training and getting stronger, you should too," I said.
"Yeah, I'll be doing that for sure. He won't get away next time," she said with that same look of determination she'd had in her eyes earlier. She was scarier than she looked at first meeting her.
I'm not sure what it was about the post-battle feeling, but the fatigue from earlier hit all at once. I sat back trying to rest it off and before I knew it, my eyes were closed and I passed out.
The next time I woke up, I was in an infirmary back at the magic knight's headquarters. I blinked my eyes groggily and stretched, flinching from the soreness that enveloped my body. A soft snort had me whipping my head up, wincing from the slight pain the sudden movement caused. My eyes widened slightly when I noticed the Golden Dawn members overlooking me.
"Uh, hey guys, good morning?"
"You were asleep for a whole day you know," Yuno said with his usual indifference that made me want to fight him. Before I could challenge him though, his words clicked in my head.
"What! That long!"
"Yes, we also made our way there as reinforcements, but not soon enough to assist you in battle. Instead, we were tasked with calming the civilians of Nean. I didn't get any contact about a battle in Nean until Lucy's communication came through, so we were too late to assist. You should've contacted us earlier," Klaus said as he adjusted his glasses at the bridge of his nose, his face upturned in a haughty manner.
"More importantly, the city is back to normal, the kidnapped children are safe, and we're back to interrogating one of the guys you caught in Nean. Granted he doesn't know much about the eye of the midnight sun so he'll probably get a light sentence. Still, you shouldn't have let them escape," Yuno said. This didn't go over with Lucy standing behind him, who glared daggers at him. I saw how she was beating herself up over that, so I wasn't very surprised at her reaction.
"Like you would do better, I'll just get them next time. And I'll be a ton stronger then" I responded confidently.
"You're not going to pass me Asta, you do know that right?" Yuno said with a slight smirk.
"As if, I'm going to become the wizard king," we exclaimed at the same time. Good to see nothing has changed.
"I would tell you to stay here and get some rest, but the wizard king wants to see you, something about an interrogation. I wouldn't keep him waiting," Klaus said matter-of-factly.
"Okay then, what would he want from me?"
"That's on you to figure out, now get going."
A few hours later I found myself in an underground dungeon with the Wizard King and his assistant Marx. In front of us were two criminals that were captured during the capital attack. Supposedly, they had good information and we were going to reveal it, and I was needed there to use my anti-magic on any protections their memories had. I touched each one with the tip of my sword, and black smoke bellowed from them, clearly showing the spells were broken. Marx wasted no time in attaching his mind-reading magic and the Wizard King started the questioning.
"Now then, let's begin," the Wizard King said. "Tell me, how did you get inside the capital?"
"What was stopping us? There was no barrier up."
"So you compromised the barrier then. How did you accomplish that?"
"Kidnapped a few barrier mages," The other said with a roll of his eyes.
"And how did you manage to do that?" The wizard king's tone was getting more serious with each question.
"Had inside help."
"From who?" His voice was much deeper and accusatory now.
"One of your captains. The idiot sold you out for some gold, the greedy pig."
"Marx, can that even be right?" He asked.
"Of course, my lord. This information is exactly what they know. I hate to believe any of our magic knights, a captain no less, would work with these terrorists, but it has to be true. I'm sorry," Marx responded.
"Very well then. Marx, can you get the captains over here, it's time we found out who this traitor is."
It didn't take long for the captains to arrive. Even I, without any mana sensing, could sense the sheer amount of power in the room. Nine of the strongest mages in the kingdom, clearly frustrated at the Wizard King not showing up to the meeting and redirecting them, will cause that.
"Welcome captains! Sorry for dragging you down here but I found the most interesting bit of information from these two, and I'd like you to hear it. It does, after all, concern the security of this country. How do I put this correctly, I've learned, … I've learned there is a traitor among you!"
Immediately the room broke into shouts, accusatory glances, a bit of direct glaring, and plenty of insults. Once again I was left wondering who it could be? Definitely not Yami, or the new Crimson Lion King's captain. I found out she was the sister of both Leo and Fuegoleon, so if anyone were clear, it would be her.
"Now then, I think it's time to flush out the traitor. Would you kindly tell me their name?" He said, with a lot of fake kindness.
In a monotonous voice, they said, "The purple orca's captain, Gueldre Poizot."
That was the traitor. He actually sold out his own people. Julius asked the prisoners to share more of why he was a traitor, and I got angrier the more I heard. There were so many crimes: starting from money laundering, bribery, and fraud, to straight-up treason by giving away captured barrier mages for treasures. He really was that greedy of a pig. Not like he admitted it, he couldn't do much other than use honeyed words to try and prove his innocence. None of the other captains bought it. Instead, he put on his invisibility magic and tried to make an escape. Attacks from nowhere came at all the captains, and they were quick at putting it away, but Poizot was nowhere to be seen.
I do have something I can do. I remember Yami's lessons in Ki, and how he wanted me not to use my eyes in Nean when learning ki reading. Even without sight, he gave off ki, as all living things do. With my anti-magic, I can undo his transparency spell. I rushed out the door following the trail. I caught up at the top of the staircase outside the dungeons, where one quick slash had him visible to the world again.
"That's not enough to beat me. I am a captain and you are a nobody."
I don't know what would happen if I had to face him alone, but luckily, I didn't have to. A scream of Callios Brachiem roared out from the staircase. Mereoleona Vermillion let her fury be known with one quick, powerful strike that buried Poizot underneath a pile of rubble. The young captain of the aqua deer showed up the next moment to trap the traitor in some sort of bog painting. What kind of magic was that?
"Looks like you guys got him fast, I don't even have to use my magic. Good thing too, since I don't know how to hold back," the Wizard King said walking out of the staircase. He really says that now after Mereoleona put a hole in the street with one attack!
"Let's get him back into the dungeons, Asta, can you get your captain and see me in my office? There's more I found out earlier I want to tell you."
"Sure thing, Wizard King."
I immediately did exactly that, not wanting to upset the wizard king at all. It didn't take long before we were in the office at the top of the castle.
"What's going on Julius, this is a lot of secrecy, even for you," Yami said.
"There was a bit more that I found out from those two prisoners. You do remember this, right," he said, holding up a stone. I remember it now, that was the stone from Saussy.
"Yeah, that old rock. What about it."
"These are what the Eye of the Midnight Sun is after. They believe that collecting all the stones and setting them in a tablet at their base will cause some sort of ritual to regain their former selves. Not that I understand what that is but their obsession with it is real. I've located where another stone is and I want your Black Bulls to go after it."
"Sure Julius, where is the thing?"
"It's in the underwater temple, in a strong magic region. Having Asta to get in is necessary, and the lack of important nobles on your squad should keep the mission under wraps."
"Sounds good Julius, my squad is probably the best for this. Time to get some glory while everyone else sits around."
"Not quite, it's not like they're our only enemies, and you're not the only squad with a mission, speaking of that, William should be here any second." It didn't take long after that before Vangeance arrived.
"You're here. Good. While Yami is going after the Eye of the Midnight Sun, I haven't forgotten that we still have one other enemy to worry about, notably, the Diamond Kingdom. Your mission is to find out and stop their next attack on our kingdom, and sabotage anything that you can. This mission will take a lot of stealth and political maneuvering, which your squad is much better suited to compared to Yami's. Do you both understand the missions?"
"Yes," Yami and Vangeance responded.
Great, the next mission is set. I'll get to see the beach and ocean during it, so that's really cool, all while stopping the Eye of the Midnight Sun. Underwater temple, I can't wait!
AN:
And so ends the Nean arc quite similar to canon. What comes next is going to deviate a lot, and the underwater temple won't appear in this story. I'm also going to be speeding up the schedule a lot since I have more time on my hands. Expect another release this week.