Chapter Fourteen: Capture and Rescue

Hey there readers, I was planning to upload this chapter tomorrow, but after school, I was bored, so I just decided to finish it today, oh, and if you could please leave a review, this chapter has a scene that's an important plot point, I just want to have your feedback on it.

Other than that, enjoy and have a WONDERFUL Thanksgiving.

"Fuegoleon!" Leopold exclaimed, watching his brother's near lifeless body, he turned to Valtos. "You bastard! Flame Creation Magic: Inferno Lion!" he exclaimed as a large lion appeared, charging towards the spatial mage.

"I understand your anger, but I am not the one you want," Valtos calmly said as he formed a portal, quickly disappearing in it and reappearing close by, letting the fiery beast crash into a nearby building.

"Kenos, come with me, we need to stop his bleeding!" Noelle instructed as Kenos stopped glowing, the two of them ran to Fuegoleon, Noelle tore a piece of her clothing and wrapped it around his shoulder to staunch the blood flow, the solar mage put his hands on the captain's back and cast his recovery spell.

Noelle looked at his cracking grimoire. "A grimoire disappears when its master dies, since it's only cracking, that means he's still alive,"

Kenos smiled. "That's great," he said before turning to Valtos. "And what do you mean you're not the one he wants?"

"I may have teleported him, but another mage was responsible for cutting off his arm," the mage replied.

"It doesn't matter who exactly did it, you're all responsible!" Asta exclaimed, charging at Valtos.

"Stay back," Valtos calmly stated as purple balls of space appeared around them before racing towards the swordsman.

"What the?" he muttered before using the side of his sword to protect himself.

Rades quickly picked up his grimoire and ran towards Valtos. "Thanks for the save, I'm starting to run low on magic after using all those zombies,"

"You don't need to worry, replenish your strength, after all…," Valtos began before two portals appeared, and from them emerged a group of mages, all wearing matching white cloaks with the eye design on the front of them, hoods covering their faces. "...We're not alone,"

"Crap, he said there were more of them, but I didn't expect ten, let's just hope they're weak," Zuka said, not noticing one of the hooded mages was staring at her.

"No," Leopold muttered, a shadow covering his face. "I can't avenge my brother by taking down weaklings, I want to find the one who cut his arm off!"

Asta's grimoire came in front of him as he drew his second sword. "I know how you feel, but we have to worry about the obstacle in front of us. Kenos, Noelle, take care of Captain Fuegoleon, Leopold, Zuka, I trust that you have my back, are you all ready,"

"Yes!" they all replied.

In another part of the capital, within a building, was a group of people, they were all dressed in white, the usual color of a chef's attire, in the center of the group was a man who unlike the rest, was wearing a hat with an outline of red going around it.

"Please, head chef, the capital is under attack, we must retreat to safety," one of the chefs pleaded.

"Never, I'm almost done, my greatest culinary masterpiece!" the head chef exclaimed as he added spices to the mysterious dish before lifting it into the air with both hands. "It's complete!"

"That's great and all sir, so let us go," another chef said.

"Nonsense, someone has to try this masterpiece," the head replied, turning to the others. "Which one of you will have some?"

"Sorry sir, normally I would, but right now, I'm too scared to eat," the first chef said, the others nodding.

"Well, it's no use if I eat it, I must get someone else's perspective on it," the head said.

"I'll do it!" a voice exclaimed, the chefs turned to see a cloud of cotton floated towards them before a girl dropped out of it, she was small and wore a Magic Knights robe. "My name is Charmy Pappitson, I wish to try your masterpiece!"

The head chef was pleased. "Ah, a Magic Knight, and a brave one at that," he handed the plate to her. "Tell me what you think?"

Charmy set it on a table and began munching away. "This is great! Especially the addition of the spices, it elevates the overall flavor, truly a masterpiece!" she exclaimed happily.

Meanwhile, not too far from the building, a lady stood at the top of the roof, she had long and curly blonde hair, wore a black dress with a furry skirt as well as a black hat with a furry brim, she looked down at the people below, they had gone into a panic after a majority of the magic knights suddenly disappeared.

The lady grinned. "It seems that Valtos was right, once those pesky Magic Knights disappeared, they'd fall into a panic, they really are like sheep," she said before taking out her broom and flying above the crowd. "They're all quite young over here, but none of the guys are really my type, but I bet they're full of mana,"

She raised her hands into the air as her grimoire came to her. "Give it to me, Ash Curse Magic: Ash Absorbing Formation!" she exclaimed as purple streams came from her fingers, engulfing the people below, they soon began to rapidly age and fall to the ground.

"Ah yes, give me all of your youthful mana, and die," she said before she noticed a large gust of wind from the corner of her eye, her spell stopped midway, but the people still remained old.

"Who was that?" the lady wondered before turning to see Yuno. "Oh, who do we have here?"

"I don't know what you're doing, but I won't let you hurt these people," Yuno said.

"You're a Magic Knight, of course you can't, but I must say, you are quite the looker," she remarked.

Bell flew out in front of him. "You stay away from my Yuno!" the spirit exclaimed.

"Oh, Yuno? That's a nice name, my name is Catherine, you're a handsome young man, we don't have to fight, why don't come over here so we can chat," Catherine suggested, putting one hand on her cheek and moving her body in a seductive manner.

The wind mage opened his mouth to utter a response to Catherine's risque implication, but it widened the eyes of both her and Bell, unable to believe what he just said.

"Sorry, but I'm not into old ladies,"

"O-Old...ladies," Catherine stuttered, unable to believe someone called her old, her seductive face quickly changing to one of rage. "You know what, screw chatting, I think I'd rather just kill you, someone who can't see my divine beauty doesn't deserve to live!"

"Okay, it seems I was wrong, you're both old and crazy," Yuno fired, only enraging the ash mage more. "Wind Creation Magic: Wind Blade Shower!"

At his declaration, the blades of wind appeared and raced towards their beautiful target.

"Not a bad spell, but I'm not that slow," Catherine stated as she dodged them. "My turn, Ash Curse Magic: Cheerful Ash Destruction!" she exclaimed as purple spheres appeared before being fired off at a frightening speed.

Yuno flew around and dodged as many of the spheres as he could, but one had managed to hit, and as it hit, he noticed his sight begin to blur. "What just happened?"

"That's the power of my Cheerful Ash Destruction, when they hit you, it slowly begins to deteriorate your external senses, if you get hit enough, you won't be able to see, hear, smell, taste, or feel," Catherine explained.

"Then all I have to do is defeat you before you can do that," Yuno stated before launching an arc of wind at her.

The attack made contact and she was pushed back a few feet before recovering. "Impressive, why don't I try my attack again," she said, launching another round of her sense-deteriorating spheres, but these were moving even faster than the last ones.

"Shit," Yuno mumbled as he decided to fly away instead of dodging them, but to his surprise, the spheres were following him.

"Did that move of mine surprise you?" Catherine said with a short giggle. "I'll let you in on something, the first set of bullets were my easy ones, slow and evadable, but when I'm serious, their speed is ridiculous and it follows you by tracking your mana,"

"What, that first set was supposed to be slow?" the wind mage thought, he turned around and saw the spheres still behind him, he shot a barrage of wind sickles, cutting spheres apart, but they did not stop two from bypassing his attacking and hitting him straight in the chest.

"Darn it, my sight just got worse, and I think it's affecting my hearing too," Yuno muttered.

Catherine flew to him. "I'm not done with you yet, Yuno, Ash Creation Magic: Ash Witch's Crow!" she exclaimed as a blackish-purple crow appeared and flew toward the wind mage, flapping its wings, releasing a flurry of jagged black feathers.

"That won't beat me, Wind Magic: Towering Tornado!" Yuno exclaimed in retaliation as he summoned the large tornado, drawing in the feathers and shooting them in the opposite direction, the tornado then made its way towards Catherine.

The ash mage skillfully maneuvered around the large tornado. "I think I'm done playing with you, whatever attack I send, you can launch a counterattack, I have to make sure that you can't fight back, Ash Curse Magic: Cheerful Ash Destruction!" she exclaimed as the spheres came once again.

"I can't let those hit me, my sight and hearing have already taken a sizeable toll from just three of them," Yuno said to himself as he tried to fly away, as expected, the spheres followed him, but unlike last time, Yuno focused solely on getting away from them, knowing a confrontation would result in him getting hit by a few.

"You're deciding to go on the defensive, clever, but you aren't the first opponent I've faced who has tried that!" Catherine exclaimed as she raised her hand, suddenly, a sphere formed in front of Yuno.

"What the hell?" the wind mage asked in confusion as he crashed right into the sphere, causing him to slow down, unfortunately, that decrease in speed had given the other spheres to catch up to him, he slowly began falling.

"Yuno, Yuno!" Bell screamed, trying to prevent the mage from falling.

"Damn...it," Yuno muttered as he dropped to the ground, he could feel his senses start to fail him, his sight and hearing had nearly been screwed, he could hardly feel his arms and legs.

"This is the end of you, Magic Knight," Catherine said as she landed and dismounted from her broom, walking to the mage.

Bell flew in front of him. "Stay back, I may be small, but I'm still a spirit, I have enough strength to blow you away-," she began saying, ready to attack, but the woman dashed to her and flicked her to the ground. "Ow,"

"We can't have you getting in the way, now can we," the ash mage hummed as she walked to Yuno and knelt down next to him, holding his chin. "You're finished Yuno, there's nothing you can do to stop me from killing you, but I'll tell you what, if you admit you were wrong, and that I'm the most beautiful person you've ever laid your eyes on, I'll make your death as painless as I can,"

Yuno struggled to open his eyes. "Me, tell you that you're the most beautiful person either?"

"Yes that's right, so hurry up," she replied.

"I'm nearly blind, telling you you're beautiful wouldn't make any sense, but then again, a man who's nearly blind is the best shot you have at hearing those words," he said.

Catherine's face went red with anger. "Okay then, you've decided your fate, suffer the worst death possible!" she exclaimed, ready to strike, but was interrupted by a large gust of wind that blew her back. "What?"

She was surprised to see Bell fly towards Yuno, the spirit turned to face the mage. "I'm a spirit, that flick isn't enough to keep me down for long, I won't let you lay a single finger on my beloved Yuno, you bitch!"

Yuno got up. "Hey...Bell,"

"Yes Yuno?" the spirit asked.

Yuno gave his spirit companion a warm smile. "Thanks for the save,"

Bell blushed. "Oh Yuno, that's it, when this is all over, we're going out on a date!"

"Don't push it too far, I just said thanks," he replied.

The blush quickly disappeared as she pulled on his cheek. "That's the first time you've ever smiled at me, stop leading me on!"

"You may have prolonged his life for a few more minutes, but he's still going to die!" Catherine screamed.

"That's not happening," Yuno said as he flew up into the air. "Bell,"

"Yeah?"

"My senses are dull right now, we need to finish her off right away, please lend your power," he replied.

"Okay then, I've got your back," she said.

Yuno then closed his eyes, his external senses have been greatly compromised, but one sense Catherine's spheres couldn't affect was his mana sense, ever since he was a boy, he had an extraordinary talent at detecting mana. As his eyes were closed, he couldn't see a thing, he could hardly hear a thing, but he felt it, the mana, he could feel his own mana, he could feel Catherine's mana as she quickly approached him, and he could feel Bell's mana, increasing at an exponential rate.

"I'm all ready!" he heard Bell exclaim.

"Okay, I hope this works," Yuno said as he raised his hand towards where he felt Catherine's mana. "This fight is over, old lady, Wind Spirit Magic: Sylph's Breath!" he exclaimed as a massive bullet made out of wind appeared, charging towards the ash mage.

"Damn you!" she exclaimed as the attack made contact and hurled her towards the wall of a faraway building, destroying it and falling inside.

"Uh, that hurt," she said in pain as purple streams began to leave her fingers, heading outside and finding the old people who had their mana taken, returning them to their original age.

"Why do I feel so weak?" Catherine muttered to herself as she felt her face and gasped, her skin was wrinkly and her hair was gray. "I've returned to my original age, the mana I absorbed earlier must have been released, I need to find more mana to take to maintain my youth,"

"Ah, it's an old lady!" a voice exclaimed from behind her, Catherine turned to see a young girl, next to her was a group of men wearing white.

"Mana," the old lady muttered as she got up and weakly limped to the girl.

"No, get away, Miss Charmy!" a man yelled.

"Don't worry head chef, I got this," Charmy replied as she got up and stood in front of the table. "I don't know who you are, but you stay away from my food, old lady,"

"Don't call me old, I'm beautiful, I am, just let me take your mana," Catherine said.

"Mana? You want both my food and my mana, well I'm not letting you have either!" Charmy exclaimed.

"Then you're going to regret it," the ash mage said.

"No, you're going to regret it," Charmy said in a more hostile tone as she breathed heavily and somehow began growing to the height of an average teenager, her grimoire coming up to her and flipping through pages. "Stay away from me, and stay away from my food, Cotton Creation Magic: Strike of the Sleeping Sheep!"

At her declaration, a large sheep appeared in front of the glutton, the sheep's eyes glowed white with mercilessness, steam coming out of its mouth as it exhaled, as if it was sleeping, but regardless, it swiftly moved towards its target and launched a powerful punch at Catherine, violently shooting her into a wall, falling into unconsciousness.

The chefs watched in amazement as the cotton mage shrunk down to her usual height. "Let that be a reminder to you, never even try to touch my food,"

"Wow, she's incredible," one of the chefs muttered.

"What do you expect, she's a Magic Knight," the head chef said.

"Now, I can enjoy the rest of my meal," Charmy said cheerfully as she picked up her plate and began walking, but her foot slid on some debris, causing her to lose her balance and drop her plate of food right out of the newly made hole in the wall. "No, my food!"

To her surprise, her food stopped right where it was, not falling down, as if something was keeping it up, it then elevated, revealing it to be in Yuno's hand.

"Ah, I think those ash spells are starting to wear off, my senses are slowly getting better," he said before turning to Charmy. "Excuse me, miss, is this yours?"

Charmy was mesmerized, her food had been saved, but there was another thought that crossed her mind.

"Wow, he's super handsome, like a kind of prince, a meal-saving prince!" she thought. "Um, yes, that's mine,"

Yuno handed it back as he turned to see Catherine. "That's odd, she shouldn't have landed there from my attack,"

Charmy swallowed the bite she had taken. "Oh, was that you who shot her here, she got back up and said she wanted my mana and food, so I kicked her ass," she explained.

"You must be pretty strong," Yuno said before noticing something. "Oh, you're a Black Bull, that's the same squad-," he said before trailing off, feeling his strength suddenly leave him, slowly falling to the ground. The fight with Catherine had drained him more than he thought, with all the attacks he took along with the threat to his life and the previous fight with the zombies, his body was full of adrenaline, but now, as he has calmed down, his fatigue had taken over.

"Prince!" Charmy exclaimed, forming a cushion of cotton as Yuno fell onto her, and then the cushion, the mage blushed. "He's so close," she thought.

"Yu..no," Bell said, flying through the hole in the wall, she was weak too after using up so much mana for that spell, after finding her companion, she fainted right onto his shoulder, not even noticing Charmy.

The enemy known as Catherine has been defeated, the mage and the spirit could finally rest.

As the wind mage rested, his rival was hard at work.

"Just go down already!" Asta exclaimed as he jumped in the air, ready to strike one of the mages with his swords.

"Nice try," the mage in question said back as he fired wind, sending the swordsman back.

Zuka watched as Asta landed on the ground. "I got you,"

"Oh no you don't!" one of the other mages said as she launched a spark type attack at her.

Reflexes took over and Zuka dodged the attack, but her eyes widened. "Your voice, and that magic, it's you!"

The mage snickered and removed her hood, revealing herself as the spark mage, Annalise. "I'm honored that you remembered me, Zuka,"

The sparkle mage's face showed annoyance at the use of her name by an enemy she knew little about. "Yeah, I remember you, I also remember how Oliver, Shauna, and I kicked your ass back in Starym,"

"It was three against one, if you ask me, that's nothing to brag about, but this time, you're the one who's outnumbered, getting my revenge on you will be fun, Spark Magic: Ground Sparks!" she exclaimed as she punched the ground, sending the ten trails of sparks towards Zuka.

To Annalise's surprise, Zuka grinned. "I'm not the same as I was a week ago, I've picked up a few tricks, like this one, Sparkle Creation Magic: Glittering Barrier!" she exclaimed as she formed the defense spell, not permitting the sparks to travel any further once they made contact.

"So, you have defensive magic now, big deal, we're still going to beat you," Annalise said.

"I wouldn't be so sure about that, Flame Magic: Spiral Flame!" Leopold exclaimed as he fired the fiery tornadoes right at the spark mage. "I'm going to make every single one of you pay for what happened to my brother, you're all going to be sorry,"

Annalise didn't look worried as the spell quickly approached her. "Wrong, I did say we outnumbered you, there's no way that will ever happen," she said as another hooded mage came in front of her and blasted a water spell, clashing with the flame spell before eventually extinguishing it.

"Damn it," the magic knight muttered.

"Don't get distracted!" a mage exclaimed from behind Leopold as he fired wind needles at him.

"I won't let you!" Asta exclaimed as he intercepted the attack and sent the right back to its origin, launching the mage a few yards away before hitting the ground.

"Thanks, Asta," Leopold said gratefully.

The swordsman grinned. "No problem, after all, you are my rival,"

"Awesome," was the flame mage's only response.

One of the hooded mages looked intently at Asta, under the hood, it appeared to be a girl, and she wore red glasses. "That kid with the swords is pretty interesting, but I'm not sensing a lot of mana from him, or any for that matter, I must experiment on him,"

Rades turned his head to look at her. "Are experiments the only things that are on your mind, Sally,"

The girl called Sally took off her hood, revealing her short black hair, and a facial expression that can only be read as sadistic enthusiasm. "Of course, what's the point in life if there are no experiments, no things to wonder about and find out, everything just feels so bleak,"

The wraith mage sighed. "You know, I'll never get you,"

"Just you wait Annalise, I'm going to get you, Sparkle Reinforcement Magic: Rampage Force!" Zuka exclaimed as the glittering aura encased her and she ran towards her target.

"That's not going to work, I believe you remember my Flickering Detonation spell," Annalise said, ready to cast the spell, but stopped as an arm was put in front of her, she turned to the person it belonged to. "Valtos?"

"You mustn't forget, Annalise, while we do have the advantage, you can't be reckless, Flickering Detonation is a strong spell, but it's indiscriminate, it will injure whoever is in its range, including our allies, that would work in any other circumstance, but not this one," he explained.

She puts her hands down. "My apologies, Valtos,"

"There's no need to, we have an alternative to take care of her," the spatial mage said as five other mages all set their sights on Zuka, firing an array of attacks at her.

"Let's see that barrier spell of yours help you now, I doubt it can work while you're moving," Annalise said.

"You're right, I can't use it while I'm moving, but I said I picked up a few tricks, which means that I learned more than one thing, behold, Sparkle Magic: Dance of the Fluttering Fairy!" Zuka exclaimed as a light encased her feet, she then began skillfully dodging each attack that came her way while moving closer to them, as if she was dancing. "I really owe Shauna one for helping me learn two spells in just one week!"

"Oh, come one, are you fucking kidding me," Annalise muttered before noticing that Zuka was approaching her quickly. "Damn it, Spark Magic: Flickering Melee!" she exclaimed ready to strike, and as Zuka got near, she launched a punch, but the sparkle quickly evaded it.

"Thanks to my Rampage Force combined with Dance of the Fluttering Fairy, I can dodge attacks and approach my opponents at great speed, as well as land a good hit and get away before they can counterattack!" Zuka exclaimed as she punched Annalise dead in the face, quickly maneuvering back to where she was.

Annalise fell to the ground, but quickly got up, wiping off the dirt on her face. "Lucky shot,"

As the three Magic Knights were fighting, Noelle and Kenos stayed in the back to care for the captain of the Crimson Lion Kings. "Okay, he's stopped bleeding," Noelle said.

"And his heartbeat is starting to return to normal," Kenos said as he removed his hands, causing the glow to vanish.

Noelle turned to look at Fuegoleon's grimoire, it had stopped cracking, and the parts that did crack began reforming, she breathed a sigh of relief. "He's going to be okay,"

"That's good, I better get out there," Kenos said as he got up.

"Just wait for a minute Kenos, you were just fighting a little while ago, then you began healing Fuegoleon, are you sure you should be fighting right now?" Noelle asked.

"I don't know, but I do know that I can't stand here, they're already outnumbered, they need all the help they can get," he replied as he put his ring on and activated, mentally noting that only three green outlines were remaining. "Stay here with Fuegoleon, and if you can, please have our back,"

Noelle sighed. "Alright, but you know something," she began. "You really act a lot like Asta sometimes,"

Kenos smiled as he looked at the swordsman. "I'll take that as a compliment," he said before running towards the action.

"Valtos, even though we have the advantage, I say we get out of here, we already got what we wanted," Rades suggested.

"No way!" Sally protested. "I want to get that swordsman for my experiments!"

"And I want to get just one hit on sparkles," Annalise added.

"I don't care," Rades said in response.

"We can't leave yet, Rades," Valtos replied. "Not without Catherine,"

"I told her to stay with us, but she didn't want to listen, not my-," Rades began saying before being interrupted by the declaration of a spell.

"Solar Creation Magic: Rain of Solar Daggers!" Kenos exclaimed as the daggers fell, causing the enemy to jump back, he ran to the other three. "Hey there, Fuegoleon is doing alright, his heartbeat has returned to normal,"

Leopold sighed a breath of relief. "That's good to hear, thanks a lot Kenos, and to Noelle as well,"

"No problem, now, what do you say we take all of these jokers down, right here, and right now?" the solar mage asked.

The others grinned, Zuka was the first to speak up. "We were already doing that, but I wouldn't mind doing it some more, Sparkle Creation Magic: Shimmering Bow!" she said before creating the bow and firing off a shot.

"I'll join you, Solar Magic: Sunbeam Ray!" Kenos added, firing the beam.

"Counterattack!" Valtos instructed as three mages each fired off an attack spell, defeating the two spells sent by the magic knights.

"Alright, my turn!" Annalise exclaimed as she sprinted towards them and jumped into the air, her grimoire flipping to a page. "Valtos said that my spell could hurt the others, but now that they're behind me and the enemy is together, I don't have to hold back, Spark Magic: Twin Flickering Detonation!"

"I won't let you hurt my friends, Water Creation Magic: Sea Dragon's Lair!" Noelle exclaimed, raising her wand into the air as the barrier formed, defending them from the explosion.

"Damn it, my spark magic isn't good against water," Annalise said as she landed and regrouped with the others.

"Your magic might not work against it, but mine's will," a male mage said, stepping forward. "Tree Magic: Magic-Draining Roots!" he exclaimed as roots came out of his grimoire and rested on top of Noelle's spell, draining the water.

"Shit," Noelle muttered.

"That's good, keep going, everyone else, when the spell disappears, give it everything you got!" Rades commanded.

"We need to do something, or else we're going to be sitting ducks soon," Asta said as the roots drained the last of the water, the enemy mages wasted no time in attacking.

"Don't worry, I can cast my defense spell," Zuka said, about to do so, but stopped as a figure blurred right past her. "Leopold?"

"I can take this one!" Leopold exclaimed, although he was relieved his brother was okay, he was still full of rage, he still wanted to make them pay. "Flame Magic: Flame Tempest!"

At his declaration, fire gathered in his hands as he quickly brought them together and spread them out, releasing flames all around him, blocking all the incoming attacks.

"There we go, I just stopped every one of your attack-," the flame mage began bragging before being interrupted as needles raced right at him and pierced through his arms, legs, and torso.

"Leopold!" they all exclaimed as he dropped to the ground.

"But...how?"

The mage from before stepped up. "You blocked all of their moves, but you didn't notice my Tornado Needles coming at you, you would've been fine if you used a defense spell, but as for why you didn't, I don't know,"

"No...damn it," Leopold said before passing out.

"Let's finish him!" Rades exclaimed to the others, ready to strike the fallen mage.

"Not so fast!"

The sudden sound of unified voices shocked both groups of mages, they looked up in the sky and saw a silver eagle, from the eagle, people jumped down, those people were the other Magic Knights.

"Oliver, Shauna!" Zuka exclaimed as she ran to her squadmates and embraced them. "Where were you two?"

"We were teleported out of the capital along with some other Magic Knights, we weren't sure how to get back at first, but we decided to work together to create a compound spell in order to get here really fast," Shauna explained.

"But the color of the portal looked pretty similar to the one Valtos used," Oliver added.

"That's right, it was him who did it," Zuka said.

"I see, well, did anything bad happen while we were gone?" Shauna asked.

Zuka's face changed from relief to sadness. "Well, not really, you see-," she was going to explain, but was cut off by a scream.

"Captain Fuegoleon!" Oxanna screamed frantically as she ran to his body, Noelle kneeling next to him. "What happened?"

"He was teleported somewhere, when he came back, his arm was missing, Kenos and I were able to stop the bleeding and regulate his heartbeat," Noelle replied.

"Kenos...helped," she muttered, quickly glancing at her younger brother, but as she did, she noticed something else. "Leo!"

She ran to her squadmate and helped him up. "Leo, Leo, speak to me!" she exclaimed.

Kenos looked at his older sister, when the two of them interacted, she was nonchalant, but she was such a giddy and talkative person, seeing her frantic like this made him feel uncomfortable.

"Who's responsible for this?" Charlotte asked.

"That would be us," Rades declared.

"You, you're going to pay for this!" the phantom mage exclaimed as she walked towards them, her grimoire out.

Dante looked at his little sister. "Oh damn, she's mad," was all he said.

"I'm going to kill every single one of you right here, Phantom Creation Magic: Wyvern-," she began but was interrupted as Nozel put his arm in front of her.

"No," he said.

"What?!" she exclaimed. "I don't care if you're a royal or a captain, you're not stopping me!"

"You don't understand what I meant," he said, Oxanna looked up and was taken aback by the look of silent rage in his eyes. "I'm going to get the first hit, then you can go,"

He began walking forward, Sally smiled. "Ooh, a Magic Knight Captain, I think it's time I joined the fight," she said, taking out her grimoire. "Gel Magic: Sticky Salamander!" she exclaimed as a large salamander appeared in front of her.

Nozel raised his hand. "Mercury Magic: Rain of Silver!" he exclaimed as balls of liquid mercury appeared above the mages before falling down.

"Ooh, that looks powerful, but I got the perfect counter!" Sally exclaimed cheerfully as she pulled out a massive syringe. "Dark Magic Item: Special Properties +a!" she punctured the salamander with the syringe and injected it with the liquid inside, letting it take in the mercury before dissolving it.

Nozel's eyes slightly widened, Oxanna then stepped forward. "My turn," she said, ready to cast her spell.

"No, I got this, I can nullify her spell!" Asta exclaimed as he ran towards her.

"Asta, wait!" Kenos exclaimed.

"Asta aye? So that's your name, then come to me, Asta!" Sally exclaimed as the salamander launched its hand at Asta, knocking him out and taking him into itself, his swords returning to their grimoire as it closed and dropped to the ground.

"I finally got you!" the gel mage exclaimed.

"Shit, I can't attack now, Asta might get hit," Oxanna said.

"Alright Valtos, let's go," Sally said.

"But I didn't get my hit on Zuka," Annalise protested.

"And we still have to find Catherine," Valtos added.

"Valtos, listen to me, we have to go, they outnumber us now, if we don't go, we're going to get captured," Rades told him.

"Okay then," Valtos said as he formed a portal under them and they started to sink under.

"No, Asta!" Noelle exclaimed. "Who...who are you people?!"

"We are the Eye of the Midnight Sun, we will bathe the Clover Kingdom in chaos and destruction!" they replied together as they sunk completely into the portal.

"The Eye of the Midnight Sun," everyone thought.

"We have to find them," Noelle said.

"We can't, we don't know where they are," Klaus said. "That and we must fortify the kingdom's defenses and begin rebuilding,"

"You're right, I just hope that Asta will be okay," Kenos said as he began walking forward, he then noticed something. "Hey, that's Asta's grimoire, he must've dropped it,"

The solar mage picked it up and looked at its cover. "Damn, this looks a lot older up close, it's not even easy to see the leaves," he said as he squinted to see where the leaves were, but once he did see them, he gasped, his eyes widened beyond belief, he couldn't believe what he was seeing.

On Asta's grimoire, there were five black leaves.

"Hey, hey, wake up, wake up!" a voice exclaimed, Asta slowly opened his eyes and found himself inside the salamander, with Sally yelling at him to get up.

"Where am I?!" the swordsman asked.

"Like we're going to tell you," Rades replied as they entered the area through a stairway.

"Oh, I can't wait to perform all of my experiments on you!" Sally exclaimed.

"No fair, why do only you get what you wanted," Annalise pouted.

"Oh don't worry Anna, you'll get your chance," Sally said.

"Easy for you to say, and don't call me Anna," the spark mage fired.

"Enough bickering, what's important is that we completed the mission master gave us," Valtos said.

"Interesting, tell me more about this master of yours,"

The mages were caught completely off guard by the sound of an unfamiliar voice, they turned and saw a person they thought they never would.

Julius

"What the, what is the Wizard King doing here?!" Rades exclaimed.

"I don't know, but I know where he's going, straight to hell," Annalise said as they all took out their grimoires.

"Don't be like that, I only came here to talk," Julius said, disappearing, right before reappearing between two mages, he shot them with blue orbs simultaneously, causing them to vanish somehow.

"W-What did you do to them?" Rades asked with a stutter.

"I merely accelerated their years to the point where they're dead," Julius replied, not changing the chipper tone in his voice.

"You're going to pay!" Annalise exclaimed.

"I'm going to pay? I believe the proper words are," Julius began before disappearing again, reappearing behind them. "You're going to pay, Time Binding Magic: Chrono Stasis!" he exclaimed, trapping them in large orbs with clock hands revolving around them, within them, time stopped.

"Incredible, so that's the power of the Wizard King, I need to get a lot stronger," Asta thought as the gel disappeared and he fell.

Julius turned to see him. "Oh, hello Asta, I assume you were captured,"

Asta got up. "That's right, I did, but…," he began. "You were so awesome!"

"Thank you, but I was hardly trying," he said back.

"That's even more awesome, but, what are you doing here," Asta asked.

"Well, shortly after the ceremony, when I told you I had business to take care of, I came here," the time mage explained. "As for how I found it, that's a secret,"

"Okay then, but why are you here?"

"It has to do with this," Julius replied as he took out a beige hexagonal stone with a weird yellow mark on it.

"Um, what is that?" the swordsman asked.

"I read about it, it's called a Magic Stone, its origins are unknown as far as I could find, but they possess immense magical power when used a certain way, I found it around Starym Village," he responded, they then noticed something else in the center of the place, a kind of large stone tablet.

"What the?" they both said as they said the stone tablet had different molds around, as if it was made for something in particular.

"Hey look," Asta pointed to a mold. "That looks like it's for the stone you have,"

"It does, but what exactly is this for?" Julius wondered before a bright light suddenly flashed, the two struggled to open their eyes, but once they could, they saw a man wearing a similar cloak to the other mages, but he had white hair tied in braids behind his head, the light then faded.

"Who are you?" Julius asked.

The man didn't reply, instead, he revealed something that he was holding, something that confused Julius at first, but shocked Asta.

"T-That's Fuegoleon's arm! You're the one who did it?!" the swordsman exclaimed. "You're going to regret it!"

The man simply closed his eyes before opening his mouth. "We will meet again," was all he said as another flash of light came, blinding the two magic knights once again, as they opened their eyes, they saw the man was gone, along with the tablet and the timebound mages.

"He got away," Asta sighed.

"Perhaps, but he said we'd meet again, hopefully, we'll get to learn more about who he is, for now, let's head back to the capital," Julius said. "Say, did anything happen while I was gone,"

"It's a long story,"

Back at the capital, the sun was close to setting, the Magic Knights had all gathered at the medical ward so Leopold and Fuegoleon could be cared for.

"I wish we could just know if he was alright," Noelle said.

"You must be really worried about him," Kenos said back.

Her cheeks went pink. "Don't be ridiculous, I'm not worried, I just hope he doesn't do anything stupid," she said with crossed arms.

Kenos looked at her strangely, it was obvious she was worried, but why didn't she admit it. "There are just some things girls do that I'll never understand," he thought before a figure appeared right next to him.

"Holy-," the solar mage began, completely startled by what happened, he turned and saw Julius, carrying Asta.

"Hey there everyone, I'm back," Asta said casually with a wave as Julius put him down.

"Asta!" Klaus and Mimosa exclaimed as they ran to him, embracing him. "I'm so happy you're okay!"

"Thanks, you two," Asta said back.

"I'm glad you're back, but don't do something stupid like that again," Noelle said.

"Alright, I won't," he responded.

"I heard you got captured, Asta, I must say, I'm disappointed," a voice said, Asta turned to see Yuno.

"Whatever, I made it out alive!" he screamed before noticing someone right next to him. "Charmy, what are you doing here?!"

"I came to the capital on my own in search of food," she replied.

"I got into a fight with an enemy mage, and she helped at the end," Yuno explained as Charmy's cheeks turned a light shade of pink.

Kenos walked up to him. "Hey Asta, you dropped your grimoire,"

"Hey, thanks," Asta said gratefully as he took it back, not noticing the worried look on the solar mage's face.

Meanwhile, Nozel and Charlotte explained what happened to Julius.

"The capital was under attack, Fuegoleon lost his arm, and the Eye of the Midnight Sun," Julius repeated the important things they told him.

"And not just that," Charlotte continued. "The stone that he wore on his neck is missing, could that be what they were after?"

"I don't care what they were after, I'm just going to make who did it pay," Nozel said.

"I know who did, Asta and I saw the one who took Fuegoleon's arm," Julius said, everyone stopped and turned to him and Asta. "We don't know his name, but it was a man who wore the same attire as those Midnight Sun people, he had white braided hair tied like a ponytail,"

"Good, I have an idea of what he looks like, if we ever meet, I'm taking him out," Oxanna said.

"No, that honor belongs to me,"

Everyone turned to see Leopold coming out of a building.

"Leo, you're awake, but you shouldn't be moving," Oxanna said.

"No, I can't rest now I know what the bastard looks like," he said. "I'm just so mad, at them, and at myself,"

Oxanna was taken aback. "Leo?"

"I didn't stay calm, I was reckless, I let my anger cloud my judgment and became a liability on the battlefield, my brother would be ashamed," he said before putting his thumb on his forehead before taking it off, revealing a small red diamond. "I burn this promise into my forehead, I will avenge my brother, and do it while keeping my cool,"

"Well, I'm guessing today has been a long day for you all, why don't you head to your squad bases and get some deserved rest, I'll send stars to each of your squads tomorrow, along with something else," Julius said as they all began dispersing.

"Bye Noelle, Asta," Mimosa and Klaus said as they left.

"Goodbye Yuno," Charmy said.

"Bye Charmy, it was nice meeting you," the mage said back as he joined his squadmates.

"So long, Dante," Oxanna said as she joined Leopold.

"The same to you, sister," he replied, following the Silva trio.

"It was nice seeing you again, Kenos," Zuka said. "I sort of don't want to leave,"

"Same here, but don't worry, you know where my squad's hideout is, you can visit anytime," the solar mage said back as they high-fived and walked away from each other.

It truly had been a long day at the capital for that group of Magic Knights, but they would never forget this day, the experiences, the encounters, and the new threat that loomed over them.