Chapter Seventy-Eight: Our Left Side
Hey there, readers, I just want to start off by saying Happy New Year! I hope you've all been enjoying yourselves as January is coming to an end, it feels like yesterday that it was just 2022. As for the story, the Royal Knights Exam Arc is also coming to an end, I myself am excited since some big events are due to happen in the 80s. Right now, enjoy TOFL's first chapter of 2023! Cya.
"This is it,"
Those were the words Kenos and Yuno thought together as the two previous teams began flying back to the platform, Team K on Klaus's chariot, and Team I on a large disc of rock Rill made.
Letoile walked over to Magna. "Hey"
"Yo,"
There was a bit of silence between the two before the female spoke up again. "I take it that it'll be up to the two of us to cheer up Luck once he gets here,"
"Just Luck? What about your squadmate in the specs?" Magna asked back.
The compass mage's face became a light shade of pink, quickly turning her face away. "Right, Klaus. I know he's going to be fine, he isn't one to be overly shaken by failure, Luck on the other hand," she regained her composure as she made eye contact again. "You wanted to face off against him in the finals, but you lost, I assume Luck would want to win for the both of you, but as we can see, that didn't happen,"
The bull held his chin. "You have a point there,"
In time, the two vehicles landed, and the flame mage started walking. "We had better get moving, hopefully, he'll be-, wait what,"
While being cheerful in one way or another was virtually a part of Luck's nature, Magna thought his rival would be at least a little downtrodden, but never did he expect him to be laughing.
And with the one who beat him no less. He and Rill were the sources of the laughter, their teammates instead engaging in small talk.
"I gotta hand it to you, Luck, that plan of yours was awesome. I don't see many compound spells used often, to be able to combine your team's power into such a devastating attack on the fly is amazing," the captain stopped laughing to praise his opponent.
"Thanks, but it's not as amazing as what you did. Our spell was moving at such a high speed, I was fully convinced you wouldn't be able to react to it, let alone stop it, but you were able to react to it, and not just that, you sent it back at us. You're not a captain for nothing," the lightning mage gave his own praise.
"You got that right,"
"Hey, we should have another fight again sometime, just a one-on-one between us," Luck suggested.
Rill nodded. "That would be incredible, and after we're done, I can make a painting of our battle, a memory that will last a lifetime,"
"Ooh, I like that, just make sure you get my good side,"
"Luck!"
The lightning mage turned at the sound of unified voices, but was taken aback a bit to see Magna sprinting his way, while Letoile was lightly jogging.
Obviously, the shade-wielding mage got there first and proceeded to shake him violently. "Damn bastard, what the hell is your deal?!"
"Excuse…me?" Luck asked in between a pause.
Letoile arrived on the scene and grabbed Magna's arms. "Chill, that isn't how you should approach this," she gave him a light scolding. "Now Luck, what Magna and I are concerned about is that you lost your match, but you don't look the least bit mad or disheartened about it,"
The cheery berserker gave his signature smile while answering her. "Mad? Oh no, I'm absolutely furious,"
"Furious? You don't look like it," Letoile gave a confused look.
"Doesn't change the fact that I am, losing sucks, but…regardless, I just can't help but be impressed by Rill's power, it was just so awesome," he told them.
The two could only give their friend a deadpan look. "Um, I see,"
"And just like that, another victory for my team," Rill said aloud as he approached his quartet of subordinates.
"I never doubted you, captain," Shauna spoke up. "You're the only person of your rank here, not to mention your battle in the first round was ridiculous, it's not hard to have faith in that,"
"I am inclined to agree," Walter joined in as he too came to them. "Your immense talent and potential make you a force to be reckoned with,"
"Aw, thanks a bunch, Walt, Shauna," the picture mage blushed embarrassingly, he then turned to the sparkle mage. "Zuka, you're the last other Aqua Deer still in the exam, do your best, and who knows, perhaps we can face each other off in the finals,"
"Facing off against you will be quite the struggle, but I look forward to it, if I win though," she said back.
"Then we ought to get moving," she turned around to see Glynda standing with En and Sekke.
"I feel the same way you do, Zuka," En stated. "Facing off against my vice-captain will be no easy feat. I'm actually kinda nervous,"
"Aw, don't be, you're going to be just fine," Glynda reassured him.
Zuka nodded. "She's right, all of us made it to this point, we have what it takes," her gaze shifted elsewhere. "Kenos, Yuno, Noelle, c'mon!"
"I'm coming," Noelle started walking their way.
Yuno took one more look at Kenos before following the water mage. "Right,"
The solar mage took a deep breath before a small smile formed on his face. "Wait up for me," he said, beginning his advance.
"Hey…Kenos,"
His advance came to a halt at the sound of a voice, turning around to look at the one who said it.
"Dante?"
His older brother opened his mouth to say something, but paused, though he eventually found his words.
"Erm, good luck," he told him, a smile growing.
"He's right, we'll be rooting for you," his sister gave him a thumbs up.
Kenos found himself a little stunned, to say the least, but it didn't last for long as he went over to his siblings and wrapped his arms around them in a big hug.
"Thanks a bunch, Dante, Oxanna. I will admit though, it does feel weird having you two cheer for me, but I'll have to get used to it,"
"Same for us," the phantom mage said as they broke the hug, and Kenos ran over to his team.
"I'm here,"
"Oh, there you are," Zuka said. "What took you?"
Kenos' face adopted a big, goofy smile. "I was, y'know, just talking to my brother and sister,"
"I see," the aqua deer smirked. "You look happy about it,"
"Yeah, of course I'd be. It feels strange being so friendly and open with them again, but…I like it," he replied. "It's like a burden has been lifted, from my shoulders and my heart,"
"Tell me about it," Noelle joined in on the conversation. "When I took down Solid last round, I felt the same way,"
"That's good, I'm happy for you, both of you," Zuka said.
"I'm happy for you as well, Kenos, hopefully, nothing of that will keep your head out of the game," Yuno spoke up in a playful manner.
"Of course, there's quite a lot riding on this match," he responded as the six of them reached their destination, standing across from each other.
"It's time to begin both the last match of the second round and the semi-finals! And for that match, it's between Team P and Team M! On Team P, we have En, Noelle, and Yuno! On Team M, we have Glynda, Zuka, and Kenos! May the best team win!"
Complete darkness.
That was what surrounded Asta as he stood with his eyes closed. Slowly, those closed eyes became open.
"What's…going on? Where, where am I?" he muttered nonchalantly, looking around in a tired manner, but he could see nothing else, just black.
He attempted to walk, and while he saw he could do the motion, he didn't feel himself moving at all.
"Why is all of this happening?" he wondered aloud, his voice maintaining the fatigued tone.
But soon, he no longer found himself surrounded by darkness, but instead standing on a battlefield, the exam battlefield to be precise.
"The hell?" he said, no longer nonchalant and tired, now it was laced with the utmost surprise. He looked at himself, noticing his right hand and arm being entirely black, a telltale sign he was currently transformed.
"How did I get here?" he asked himself, but upon taking a look around, his eyes widened.
Right next to him, lying on the ground unconscious, was Langris, and next to the spatial mage was his crystal, split in half from the swordsman's attack.
"It's the battle against Langris. B-But...I thought-," he stared into the distance and saw another thing that shocked him.
His own crystal, unblemished, not a single scratch on it. A small, hopeful smile appeared on the magicless mage's face. "It's still intact, that means…that means we won," despite having a wing, he opted to run, getting closer and closer to the crystal. "It isn't over for me yet, I can still-,"
He didn't get another word in as the crystal suddenly shattered into pieces, disappearing, and with it, Asta's smile of hope.
Slowly, yet surely, he dropped to his knees. "No, it can't be," he mumbled as his transformation came undone, the anti-magic seeping out and forming into a sphere of black mass that floated in front of the swordsman, but he paid it no mind, he didn't even look at it.
That is, until the mass dropped to the ground and raised itself up, becoming a figure that said just one word.
"Asta,"
The familiar voice was what quickly gained his attention. He reluctantly raised his head, knowing who he would see, but dreading it anyway.
"Y-Yuno," he was face to face with his rival and brother, a shadow concealing the wind mage's eyes. He only said that one word though before he turned and walked away.
"Yuno, wait," Asta frantically got up and chased after the boy, running as fast as he could, but for some reason, couldn't catch up to Yuno's walking.
"Yuno, please wait!" his begging became screaming, but it had managed to make Yuno stop, letting Asta reach him, grabbing his shoulder as he stood behind him.
"Look, I'm sorry. I know you wanted to face me in the finals, I didn't know what happened with Langris would happen," he said, but there was no response.
"Yuno, don't ignore me, say something," he begged, so say something he did.
"You lost," he slapped Asta's hand off and turned around, revealing his eyes…which were blood red. In seconds, the figure grew and was no longer in Yuno's likeness, but instead in Roth's.
"You're weak!" the devil bellowed as he attempted to grab Asta.
"No, no," the bull shook his head.
"NO!"
"Asta, calm down, it's okay," a voice said as they grabbed his arm.
The swordsman quieted down, only panting as he looked around him again, this time seeing himself inside a small room, the plant mage being the one to hold his arm.
"M-Mimosa?"
"Yes, it's me, everything's fine," she replied, letting him go.
He sat up. "Um, I'm sorry about the outburst,"
"You don't need to apologize,"
"So, where are we? I've never seen this place before,"
"Oh, this is an area in the colosseum, Julius had you brought here and I started healing you. But I'm just glad you're awake. The two of us have been here for a decent while," she answered.
Three words caught Asta's attention. "Two of us?"
"I gotta say, shorty, I never took you as one to scream in your sleep," Asta turned his head to the right and saw his other teammate.
"Xerx? I'm surprised, of the people who would most likely be with me, I never expected you to be one of them,"
"Believe it or not, Xerx actually wanted to come here," Mimosa told him. "It even made him call me by my actual name,"
"Really?"
Zora scratched the back of his head. "Why do you keep making such a big deal out of that? So what, I wanted to come here? Do you want me to leave?"
"No, I'm glad you're here," Asta tried to make a gesture with his hand, but was stopped by a sharp pain coming from everywhere. "Ah!"
Mimosa came to his side again. "Careful, I may have healed you, but you'll still be suffering some aftereffects from transforming again. For now, keep your movements slow,"
"Right," he sat up properly. From there, he remained mostly quiet, letting a few seconds pass before he said something else. "Hey, Mimosa, Xerx?"
The two didn't reply, merely gazing at him.
"I'm sorry,"
"Sorry? Sorry for what?" the plant mage asked, confused.
"I'm sorry for costing us our match," he clarified. "I should've just shut up and done what needed to be done as quickly as possible. I was weak, I wasn't able to do anything against Langris until the last part of the fight,"
In a rare turn of events, upon hearing his apology, Zora's eyes softened just a bit as he walked over to the boy.
"Asta,"
Asta's head shot immediately in his direction, his face not hiding the baffled look on it. "That felt weird,"
"I know," Mimosa added.
"Didn't I say to stop making a big deal out of it?" Zora flicked Asta's bicep, causing a minor shock of pain.
"We wouldn't make such a big deal out of it if you bothered to actually use our names," Asta retorted.
"...Point taken. Anyways, before I was so rudely interrupted, I was going to say…it wasn't entirely your fault," he began. "All three of us made mistakes, and as for your mistake, while the logical side of me pointed out your blunder, the…other side of me was kind of glad it happened. It's a whole lot easier to stand up to someone and tell them off the way you did when they're unconscious, no longer a threat, but to do it when what can happen is uncertain, it takes guts, heart, and strength of will I've only seen once before,"
Asta went from looking baffled to being completely slack-jawed, with Mimosa sharing the same expression, but the former regained his composure. "Thanks, it feels strange hearing that come from you, but I needed it,"
"Whatever," Zora said, now looking to change the subject. "Ginger, is there any way to watch the other battles?"
"Um, I'm not actually sure," just as she replied that, a projection came to life, showing the current match.
The ash mage smirked. "Guess all we had to do was ask,"
Asta saw the two teams on the battlefield, separated by a decent amount of distance, his eyes going wide. "Yuno and Kenos' teams,"
"Did we miss Klaus' match? I hope he won," Mimosa said.
The magicless mage instead had his eyes glued to the projection.
"Damn it,"
"Ready! Match Begin!"
"So, what's our plan of approach?" Zuka asked aloud.
Kenos thought about an answer to give her. "Hm, Yuno's going to be a lot harder to handle than my siblings, he has spirit magic. Should I use Angel's Child right away? The last transformation I did today was for less than 2 minutes and I hardly exerted any power, it should work. But then again, perhaps saving it for a later time may be wiser, I'll never know if I may need it,"
Glynda, however, beat him to it. "I say we use the same strategy we used last time, I'll protect the crystal, and you two advance, it worked last time with virtually no hitches. If it's not broken, why fix it?"
"That sounds like a great idea," Kenos agreed.
"Only thing now is to wonder how they'll respond," Zuka said. "Kenos, you're Noelle's squadmate. How does she fight?"
"Noelle only has three spells under her belt, two defensive and one offensive, she does have one weakness though: she isn't the greatest at close-quarters combat, like at all," the solar mage replied.
"Interesting, I have that advantage over her," the aqua deer mused. "Okay Glynda, what about En?"
"Well, similarly to Noelle, he doesn't engage in physical combat, or really any kind of combat for that matter, he relies on his mushrooms to do various forms of fighting for him. It's a very efficient style," she answered.
Zuka held her chin. "I see, Noelle is definitely the one I should take on, that is, if I even get to face off against her,"
"You most likely will. We saw that in their last match, they didn't mind completely splitting up," the black bull told her. "Let's go,"
"Right," with that, they began running south.
On the other side with Team P, the same question was asked by En.
What was the plan?
"The plan, aye?" Noelle pondered. "Well, during the last match, I noticed Kenos and Zuka took the offensive while Glynda stayed back. You think they'll do it again?"
"The possibility of that can't be ruled out, it's very likely to be the approach they'll take," En replied. "And if that is what they're planning, I should go against Glynda. I know the way she fights the best,"
Noelle nodded. "Then I'll-,"
"I'll go with you," Yuno cut her off. "We're working on a clock. Once Kenos uses Angel's Child, victory will be slim for us, so we have to act as quickly as possible. Unless…,"
He turned to the water mage. "Is there any specific info you have on his transformation?"
She shook her head. "Not really, I'm never around him when he trains it, Asta would be the one to ask about it,"
"I see, then it might be a gamble," Yuno held his chin, closed his eyes, and began thinking about something, staying in thought for about two minutes.
His teammates had begun to stare at him with raised brows as Bell flew out. "What's on your mind Yuno?"
The wind mage finally opened his eyes and gave a cryptic smile. "Something that could win us the match. Okay, En, Glynda's all yours, Noelle, last match, I was the one who guarded the crystal, this time, I'm leaving it to you,"
"Alright then," the two responded in unison.
En opened his grimoire. "Fungus Creation Magic: Running Mister Mushroom," his large smiling ride sprouted out of the ground, at the same time, Yuno summoned wind to envelop him, lifting him up. They then went their separate ways, while Yuno flew directly north, En opted to run at a wide curve northeast from where his teammate was going.
Up on the platform, Sekke could see the two teams on the brink of converging with each other. "Wow, I can just tell this is going to be awesome. Go En…wait no, I mean, go boss lady…no, not that either, wait, no, no," he came to a realization as he comedically clutched his head.
"I don't know who to root for!"
Some of the Black Bulls had found themselves in that very same predicament. "What am I going to do? I want Kenos and Glynda to win, but I don't want Noelle to lose," Vanessa was the first.
Charmy was soon second. "Same here, I can't root against Yuno, but I'm Kenos' superior, it'd be wrong to not provide moral support,"
"Why does this have to happen to us?!" Sekke comedically shed tears.
"I don't know!" the two females joined him.
"Um, aren't you being just a tad overdramatic?" Oliver intervened. "Y'know, you can always just root for both of them, you're doing all of…whatever this is, for nothing,"
"Easy for you to say," the bronze mage pointed at him.
"Yeah, you just have to root for Zuka, and probably Kenos too, who are both on the same team," Charmy added.
"If Zuka and your captain were fighting each other, you wouldn't be thinking about who you'd root for?" Vanessa finished accusingly.
Oliver looked away in minor comedic guilt. "W-What? Of course I wouldn't, like I said, that would be stupid," he answered unconvincingly, prompting glares from the three knights.
Luckily for the wood mage, Magna unknowingly came to his rescue. "Were you two this conflicted when me and Rasta faced each other?"
The women's accusing glare at Oliver became one of comedic indifference as it focused on the flame mage. "No,"
"What do you mean no?!"
"It's different here, we aren't just cheering for our squadmates, we have an extra person," the thread mage explained. "I have Glynda and Charmy has Yuno,"
"That explanation doesn't make any damn sense!"
Focus shifted back to the battlefield, following the perspective of the solar and sparkle mages as they ran, becoming faster yet staying at the same pace.
"I'm picking up a mana signature that's closing in. Get ready," Kenos said as Zuka wordlessly nodded.
In about one minute, the three mages were able to see each other. "Yuno's coming all by himself, and I don't see a crystal near him,"
"Then Noelle or En must have it," Kenos said back before something had his attention. "And speak of the damned, I'm picking familiar mana up ahead, it's definitely Noelle's, and she doesn't appear to be moving either,"
"We know what that means, this could be it. I'll need your help though, Yuno might cause some interference,"
"Don't worry, I'm way ahead of you," Kenos' grimoire opened and flipped to a page. "Solar Creation Magic: Rain of Solar Daggers!"
At his command, the daggers fell toward the wind mage. "Making a move already I see," he weaved around the projectiles.
But it had served its purpose: to buy an opportunity. "Sparkle Reinforcement Magic: Rampage Force!" Zuka exclaimed as she dashed past Yuno, continuing south towards her target.
Kenos stopped running as Yuno landed on his feet, and the two locked eyes with each other. "Looks like it's just you and me," the former said.
The golden dawn confidently smiled as he gave a simple nod. "Seems so, but in all honesty, a part of me was hoping to fight against you one on one,"
"You and me both, but be careful what you wish for," Kenos smiled back, assuming a stance. "You're not coming out of it the winner,"
"We'll see about that,"
Further down south, Noelle placed her hands on her hips, sighing. "Okay, looks like defending the crystal is up to me. Hopefully, I'll get some company, someone like me shouldn't just be standing here the whole match,"
"If that's what you want, I'd be happy to help!" a voice suddenly exclaimed. Noelle turned in the direction of the sound just to see an arrow coming her way.
"Shit," she cursed, moving out of the way just in time. Looking forward, she saw the sparkle mage, holding her Shimmering Bow.
"Zuka. That wasn't a bad shot, but if you were going for a sneak attack, perhaps it'd be wise to not yell,"
"It would, but I wasn't planning a sneak attack, I wanted to see what you're made of. The two of us have never actually had a chance to face each other," she replied.
The water mage confidently flicked her ponytail. "Then I hope you're ready, I'm no pushover, my magic power is among the highest in the kingdom and the multitude of spells in my arsenal will subdue you,"
A knowing grin formed on Zuka's face. "Multitude, aye? A strange way to describe 3 spells,"
Noelle's confidence comedically broke. "W-What did you say?"
"Yeah, Kenos told me all about the way you fight,"
"Oh…I see," she muttered. "Kenos Rossiu, next time I see you, I'm going to pulverize you!"
"Y'know, you don't need to act tough, sure I haven't really seen you fight, but you're Kenos' squadmate, not to mention you beat your brother during the last round pretty fast. That tells me everything I need to know," Zuka said.
Noelle couldn't help but agree. "You make a really good point. Sorry about the act, doing it's kinda a habit for me," her grimoire came out and opened. "I hope you're ready to face the wrath of royalty,"
Zuka assumed a stance. "And I hope you're ready to face the might of a commoner,"
"So, you're the one who's facing me? I wasn't expecting that," Glynda spoke in her usual calm demeanor, En directly across from her, the two separated by around five meters.
The fungus mage didn't make any motion to dismount from his large mushroom as he chuckled. "Well, I am the most familiar with your style, so I volunteered to be the one to do so,"
"That's true, but the same is true for me," the woman pointed out. "No matter what, I won't let you destroy this crystal,"
"We'll just have to see how that goes, but first," En began, taking a slight pause before continuing. "I want to ask you a question?"
"Sure, go ahead,"
"Um, it's okay if you don't want to answer, but when we were talking to Vanessa and she hugged you, she said something, and then…I saw you make a weird look, you looked distressed. What happened? It's just that, I've never seen you make that face before,"
That managed to catch the telekinesis mage off guard as her calm expression became surprised and slowly turned into the same look En asked the question over.
"What happened? I don't really feel like talking about it. It's just that a part of what she said reminded me of my greatest regret in life," she answered somberly.
"I see, I'm sorry for asking,"
"No it's fine, you were only worried, I can't fault you for that," she told him. "Thank you,"
The fungus mage smiled understandingly before it became a smile of confidence. "Don't thank me just yet,"
Glynda's expression soon matched his. "Bring it on,"
"Wind Magic: Crescent Moon Sickle!"
Kenos stood firmly as the horizontal slash of wind came his way. "Solar Creation Magic: Solar Construct - Staff!" he exclaimed, gripping his weapon as he swung it against the opposing spell, dissipating it.
"Damn, I was expecting you to dodge it, not take it head on, you even managed to stop it, you've definitely gotten stronger," Yuno noted, impressed. "All I thought changed was your new transformation,"
"Thanks, I do try, after all, the job of the Royal Knights once they're formed won't be easy, if we want to stand a chance, we have to improve. Now, let me see how much you've improved! Solar Reinforcement Magic: Sunshine Aura!" Kenos said before exclaiming, the aura covering him, and in one swift motion, he charged forward.
"Wind Creation Magic: Swift White Bow!" Yuno launched a quartet of arrows.
With his enhanced speed, the solar mage quickened his straightforward pace, but before the arrows could come close to hitting him, he jumped into a dive roll, skillfully avoiding his enemy's attack, his advance not slowing down.
"You'll have to do better than that!"
"Then try this on for size!" Yuno called upon a powerful burst of wind going in all directions, Kenos, not seeing the move coming, was left powerless as he was sent flying, hitting the ground yards away with a thud arm-first.
"Okay, that wasn't bad," Kenos groaned as he got up, moving his right shoulder and arm in a windmill fashion. "I'm definitely not letting that happen again,"
Bell was feeling the confidence as she flew off of Yuno's shoulder. "Did you see that? There's no way Yuno's letting you touch him! And if by a small chance you do, I'll be here to punish you!"
"Don't get too cocky there Bell, Kenos isn't someone to be underestimated," her partner told her. "He's like Asta, it's when you think he doesn't stand a chance is the time he shows what he's made of,"
The Rossiu couldn't help but laugh. "I couldn't have said it better myself, I never really thought about it like that, that I could share a trait like that with Asta. Although, let's be honest, it most likely rubbed off on me,"
"Sounds plausible, after all, the same happened to me,"
Kenos' grimoire flipped through pages as he scanned them. "Hm, what can work? That won't work, and neither will that, oh, now there's something that'll help," he thought to himself, breaking into another sprint.
Yuno narrowed his eyes suspiciously, there was no way Kenos would just charge in again unless he had a plan, so all the wind mage did was wait, but to his surprise, the solar mage just kept on running. It was when just 2 meters separated them that Yuno decided he couldn't wait anymore, preparing to call on a burst of wind once more.
But that was the moment Kenos was waiting for.
In the split seconds the golden dawn was about to act, Kenos readied a spell. "Solar Binding Magic: Sunbound Shackles!" he declared in his head, binding the enemy as well as stunting his movement from the shock of the sudden action. "Hey, it worked against Zaxon, might as well use it here,"
And work it did, the burst of wind never came, but Yuno wasn't going to let himself hit that easily, so he instead concentrated his wind to propel himself into the air. "Without Angel's Child, he can't fly, he can't follow me,"
But Kenos didn't intend to follow him into the air, instead, he planned to bring him back down to earth. "Not so fast, Solar Creation Magic: Solar Construct - Whip!" he summoned the weapon and immediately launched it, the whip comfortably wrapping itself around Yuno's leg.
Both the wind mage and his partner spirit looked down in shock, with looks on their face that could only say one thing:
The hell?
"Don't be in such a rush to leave, I have a gift for you," the solar mage conjured all the strength in his muscles, and in one swift motion, he pulled on his whip's handle, pulling Yuno along with it his way.
"Solar Creation Magic: Solar Construct - Gauntlet!" his left fist was coated in the familiar magic as he slugged Yuno right in the face, sending him flying back, landing on his back.
Yuno was left dazed a bit. "Damn, what a hit,"
"Oh no, Yuno, your beautiful face! Are you okay?!" Bell screamed.
Fortunately, he didn't stay down for long, only ten seconds passed before he was off the ground and now on all fours.
Kenos had his arms crossed, a grin present. "You almost got away from me, but I stopped you dead in your-," he was saying, but stopped upon seeing blood start to leak out of his opponent's mouth. "Oh shit, are you good? I'm sorry,"
The wind mage put up a hand as he fully stood up, wiping whatever blood was on his face. "No, you're fine, it's just that my face isn't used to getting punched very often,"
"That's good," Kenos' grimoire quickly flipped to another. "Solar Magic: Solar Cross Destroyer!" he shot the first two lines at a rapid speed.
But it wasn't fast enough this time as Yuno shot himself into the air, evading the first half. "It's been a while since I've seen that spell, but there's no way in hell I'm getting caught by it. Wind Magic: Towering Tornado!"
Just like the first spell sent his way at the beginning of the fight, Kenos stood firm against the tornado, pointing his second X and releasing the magic blast at it, dissipating in no time at all.
Yuno didn't let up. "How's this then? Bell,"
"Right," the spirit took a deep breath.
"Crap, he's boosting his attack, I better do the same," the black bull closed and opened his eyes, gathering the beads of mana as they both cast their spells.
"Wind Magic: Spirit-Amped Tornado Fang!"
"Solar Magic - Mana Charge: Sunbeam Ray!"
The two attacks were stuck in a perfect stalemate, neither was overtaking the other, but the force they were exuding was massive, said force shooting the mages back, with Kenos, he was sent back some yards, for Yuno, he was brought back to the ground.
Kenos was quick to make another move, Yuno wasn't going to stay on the ground. "Solar Creation Magic: Wyvern of Helios!"
A proud smile formed on Dante and Oxanna's faces as they saw the large spell materialize. "Alright, Kenos!"
The wind mage couldn't move fast enough to evade an attack of that size, but like before, he wasn't going to stand idly by. Bell took another deep breath as the two blasted an extremely powerful united blast of wind.
The wyvern spell's movement found itself being slowed down by the blast, but not outright stopped.
"C'mon, we can't give up, we'll push it back," they thought together, increasing their output.
"You can do it, Yuno!" Klaus cheered.
"What Klaus said, just keep on pushing!" Letoile joined in.
"Kenos may be strong, but you're strong too, do your best!" Charmy pushed past her conflicting feelings to cheer as well.
"It's pointless, you won't overpower it!" Kenos exclaimed. "Of my original attribute, it's the mightiest spell I have, it will not be defeated!"
And he was right. No matter how much stronger the two made their counterattack, they were unable to stop it from eventually crashing into them, but luckily, they managed to mitigate the damage.
But that didn't mean it didn't hurt like hell as they dropped back first onto the ground. "Uh, everything hurts," Bell groaned.
"Tell me about it,"
In the room where Team B was, Mimosa found herself in awe. "Wow, I knew Kenos and Yuno were strong, but I never imagined their fight would turn out like that, both of them are doing so well,"
"She's right, those two are amazing," Asta agreed in his mind, the tone strangely plain.
The plant mage spoke up again. "Now, I wonder how Noelle is doing?" she wondered aloud, and just like that, the screen switched to the scuffle between the two girls.
"Wow, all I really need to do is just ask, pretty useful,"
The battle between the black bull and the aqua deer had started some time ago, and while it was not as eventful as the prior bout, it was by no means a boring fight. Even with Noelle's limited options, her consistent blasts of water along with active movement kept Zuka away from the crystal.
"Sparkle Creation Magic: Glittering Lance!" the commoner equipped her weapon and rushed ahead. "I've got to say, I'm impressed, you've been keeping yourself safe from me relatively well so far, so it's time I get serious,"
"Getting serious isn't going to help you against me! Water Creation Magic: Sea Dragon's Lair!" Noelle cast her large dome, successfully blocking her enemy's strike.
"Let's see you get through that," the royal proudly stated.
In response, Zuka jumped in the air, attempting to have gravity support her second strike, but the same result as before occurred. "Okay, from what I can see, it blocks ordinary attacks just fine," her grimoire flipped to the next page. "But let's see if it can handle this, Sparkle Magic: Glittering Star Shower!"
The sparkle mage quickly backed up a decent distance before her shower of stars rained down, detonating on impact with the water dome, the ground rumbling with each exploding star.
And while the Sea Dragon's Lair wasn't completely destroyed, Zuka noticed an opening had formed on the outer roof of it.
"Nice work, my stars, leave the rest to me," she ran as fast as she could.
Noelle, not noticing the compromise in her protection, raised a brow. "Why is she coming at me like that? There's no way she thinks she can brute force her way through my spell, it's not-,"
That's when she noticed it. Doing a basic look around her dome, she saw the opening created by the stars, and once she did, it clicked in her head.
"Shit, that's what she's going for. I need to find a way to close it," she thought frantically, but it was pointless anyways, upon picking up enough speed, the sparkle mage leaped into the air and dived right inside.
"Greetings, you weren't expecting a move like that, were you?" Zuka grinned, charging forward, the grip on her lance tightening. "Your crystal is as good as broken!"
"Don't count me out yet!" the royal reacted quickly, dropping her lair and backing up, leaping into the air.
"Woah, I've never seen anyone damage Noelle's spell like that," Magna commented.
"And to think it's one of Zuka's spells that can do it," Oliver added. "But I'm not surprised, she's always been a tough one,"
Shauna nodded. "That she is, but tough enough to take Noelle on alone? We'll have to see, royalty is no pushover, in most cases,"
"Jumping away isn't going to change much," Zuka said as she readied another attack. "Sparkle Creation Magic: Shimmering Bow!"
Her lance broke apart into glitter and recondensed into her long range weapon before she fired an arrow.
"It is if I do this! Water Creation Magic: Sea Dragon's Cradle!" Noelle declared, her mobile water sphere protecting her and her crystal. As she landed, the cradle disappeared.
The aqua deer recast her prior spell, transforming her bow back into a lance. "You've been doing a lot to evade and defend my attacks, and pretty well to if I might add, but I suppose it's hard to make a proper counterattack when you only have one offensive spell, which I'm guessing is that dragon you used on your brother,"
In response to that, the silver-haired girl cracked a proud grin. "You are right, I have been doing quite well, but there is something you're wrong about. Kenos may have blabbed the majority of my repertoire, but he can't tell you what he doesn't know: that I have a second attack spell,"
This piqued Zuka's interest. "A second attack spell, okay, show it to me,"
"With pleasure," Noelle's grimoire flipped to the page of its fourth spell. "Water Magic: Sea Dragon's Waterball!"
After her declaration, she raised her wand, and a large water ball formed in front of it, with a serpentine dragon revolving around the sphere, but that wasn't it, at each side, an identical one spawned.
"What in the?" Magna was baffled, he turned to his squad. "Did any of you know she could do that?"
"I know I didn't," Vanessa replied. "And if she didn't tell me, no way in hell she told any of you,"
"That's pretty cool," Zuka commented.
"Thanks. I unlocked it while doing some secret training. I wanted to surprise everyone with it if I was able to participate, but when I saw Solid was my opponent in the first round, I knew I couldn't afford to hold back. This is different though!" she explained before launching all three spheres simultaneously.
"Sparkle Magic: Dance of the Fluttering Fairy!" Zuka skillfully weaved around the attacks, but Noelle just kept launching more and more.
"You can't dodge forever!" the wave of attacks didn't end, and eventually, the sparkle mage couldn't keep up, her opponent mentally cheering as one hit her, forcing her to a knee.
"And now for the finishing touch! I'll try to make this hurt as little as possible, Water Creation Magic: Sea Dragon's Roar!"
Zuka quickly stood back up once she saw what was coming her way. "Don't worry about me, give it all you got, because I will too. Sparkle Creation Magic: Scintillating Aurora!"
In just a second, the two spells clashed, water and glitter being sent everywhere thanks to the shockwave, both girls stood their ground, doing their best to come out on top.
"You have a cool spell too. How'd you unlock it?" Noelle asked.
"From fighting a member of the Eye of the Midnight Sun. You?" Zuka asked back.
"Same. But this spell managed to remove an entire arm, it won't lose to you," the water mage increased the power.
The sparkle mage followed suit. "And this spell managed to vaporize the entire body of a super strong zombie, we'll see who won't lose,"
The attacks went back and forth, having no definitive winner, but that changed when Zuka began to falter and started losing ground as she dropped to a single knee. Her attack was losing. From there, it didn't take long for her spell to be completely overwhelmed as the dragon came toward her with considerably less power.
"Sparkle Creation Magic: Glittering Barrier!" she exclaimed, protecting herself against the dragon until it subsided, dropping her spell afterward. "Ah shit, I was not expecting that to happen, granted, Noelle is still royalty, and that comes with perks I just don't have. Hopefully, Kenos and Glynda are having better luck than I am,"
"You're handling yourself as well as I thought you would,"
Those were En's most recent words as he watched his vice-captain evade a powerful punch that formed a crater in the ground, keeping the crystal locked onto her unharmed.
From Glynda's point of view, the one she dodged was a tall mushroom soldier, much more buff than any of En's previous spells with a smile nowhere near as friendly.
"Telekinesis Magic: Repulse Blast!" she fired the orb of mental energy from her crop, hitting the mushroom head-on, and while it was sent back, it managed to cross its arms, avoiding most damage.
"You may have taken out some of my earlier spells with relative ease, but my Fungus Creation Magic: Fighting Mister Mushroom will be different. They're quite strong and fairly durable," En explained as he put up a hand.
At his gesture, another fighting mushroom joined the fray, the two charging at Glynda in perfect sync, reeling their fists back together.
"Telekinesis Magic: Mental Fortitude!" Glynda cast the circle between her and the impending attack, defending her but pushing her back a considerable distance. "You see, En, I told you that you'd be fine and would have nothing to worry about,"
"Touche, now it's you I'm worried about,"
"There's no need to be worried," Glynda said back as she leaped into the air, preparing to cast a spell.
En's grimoire flipped to a page. "I beg to differ, Fungus Magic: Growing Mister Mushroom!" he exclaimed, a small mushroom appearing on Glynda's shoulder, suddenly growing to a large size, forcing her down prematurely.
"Damn it," the teacher silently cursed.
"By now, my fungi particles have gotten everywhere, I can spring a surprise counterattack at any time. As a matter of fact," the man cast the spell again, mushrooms growing around his opponent in a circle, completely shutting her in. To make matters even more difficult, the two fighting mushrooms ran in and jumped inside the space.
"Aim for the crystal primarily, try not to hurt her too badly if you can," En commanded his creations, who gave a silent nod in response.
"This doesn't look good, I'm stuck in here with these things, and they can handle a decent amount of what I can give. But regardless, they won't defeat me, Kenos and Zuka are counting on me, I told them I'd protect our crystal, and I intend to hold up my end,"
"Holy crap, I have to admit, she is not in a really good spot," Sekke commented, watching the battle between his squadmates.
"You don't actually think she's going to lose, do you?" Vanessa asked him. "You of all people should be aware of what she can do,"
"Well duh. En isn't bad by any definition of the word, but boss lady is the vice-captain of our squad for a reason," he replied.
"Good answer," the thread mage nodded. "You can do this, Glynda! Those overgrown fungi got nothing on you!"
"Thank you for the encouragement, Vanessa," the older woman said as she quickly dodged one of the mushroom's punches, the second one tried to attack her from behind, but she did a quick side flip, eluding yet another strike.
"I can't dodge forever, what should I do?" she tried to come up with something, but that's when she noticed the debris on the ground from the failed attacks of her two adversaries.
"That should work," she commanded her grimoire to flip to the very next page. "Telekinesis Magic: Shrapnel Impalers!" she pointed her riding crop at the debris, enveloping it in a purple glow as it floated to her, amalgamating into a multitude of sharp medium-sized drillheads. In one swift motion, the impalers were fired in multiple directions.
Unfortunately for her though, it was at that moment that the fighting mushrooms decided to take a page out of her book and begin dodging her attacks, leaving only two to hit their mark, impaling the left arm of one of them, rendering it useless.
"Oh c'mon, this spell of his is becoming quite the bother," she said to herself as they moved up on her. Even with one functioning arm, the injured fighter didn't stop, trying to land whatever attacks it could, forcing Glynda on the defensive again.
In response to one of its attacks, the telekinesis mage jumped around five feet into the air, but that's when the second fighter came up from behind her again a lot faster than before, ready to destroy the crystal with a single punch, and with the position the three were in, evading it in time wasn't possible, so Glynda did the only thing she could.
"This is going to hurt," she turned her body mid-air and crossed her arms, taking the hit meant for her crystal, rocketing her toward the ground yards away.
"Ow," she could feel her arms throbbing, but that didn't stop her from getting up. "I have to take them out right now, but how?" she mused, quickly scanning her surroundings, looking for something, anything, that could change the flow of the match.
And eventually, she did find one. Her eyes fell on one of the mushrooms trapping her, and smack dab in the middle of it was a gaping hole, formed by one of her impalers.
"Perfect, this is it, I'll end this! Telekinesis Creation Magic: Psychic Whip!" she declared as purple magic shot out of her riding crop, shaping itself into a whip with the crop acting as its handle.
The woman then made a powerful lashing motion, sending her whip towards the mushroom, using the hole to wrap itself vertically around it. Once it did, the same purple glow enveloped it as it did her previous spell before the large fungus levitated a few inches off the ground.
"Now to get rid of the rest of you!" she continued, gripping her crop with a single hand as she made the mushroom hit the other ones surrounding her, causing them to glow and float many feet into the air before releasing the one she was holding. Her gaze then fell on the two fighters in the distance. "It's your turn! Telekinesis Magic: Attracting Force!"
The two buff fungi found themselves being pulled toward Glynda, unable to resist as they too were struck by her whip and joined their brethren in the sky. "And for the finishing touch, Telekinesis Magic: Psycho Bomb!" she used the spell in conjunction with her whip, shooting a flurry of orbs that latched onto their targets, then, with a single snap of the finger, they detonated.
Vanessa couldn't help but grin. "There we go, I never doubted her,"
"Amazing display of skill," En couldn't help but clap. "But you didn't stop me, I'll just redo my strategy until you run out of mana. Fungus Magic-,"
But he was too slow. "Let me stop you right there, Telekinesis Binding Magic: Crushing Grip!" Glynda exclaimed, paralyzing her squadmate before blitzing his way, using her whip to confiscate his grimoire. "No more casting,"
"Well, damn, looks like you beat me," En conceded, but he didn't look too down about it. "That's a pretty strong binding spell you have, I'm surprised you didn't use it on my fighters,"
"Crushing Grip? Yeah, about that, it only works on people," she revealed. "I did some experimenting with it some time back and I saw it doesn't work on magic creations, I suppose the mana in them is just too powerful to restrain, perhaps I can make it stronger one day, but until that day comes, there is something else I have. Here's a demonstration, Telekinesis Binding Magic: Imprisonment Ball,"
At her call, En was separated from his Running Mister Mushroom and was contained within a large purple sphere. "I can hold anything or anyone in this, granted it does have a glaring weakness, that being if you're strong enough, you can move the sphere with you, but of course, you'll be less of a threat,"
"I see,"
"Well, enough of that, I want to congratulate you, En. You did a wonderful job, there's no way you won't become a Royal Knight, in fact, I'd say it's guaranteed, even if your team does lose," the woman gave her praise.
"Thank you very much. So, are you going to go help your teammates?" he asked.
"Sadly, I must stay here, it takes mana to keep you in your containment, but I have faith in those two, they'll be just fine,"
"This isn't over, I'm…not quitting,"
Kenos watched as both Yuno and Bell got up, the former making the prior statement. The solar mage's face contorted into an impressed smile. "Of course you aren't going to quit, I wouldn't want you to give up,"
"Good, because I'm going to take you down," the wind smiled back.
"We'll see about that," Kenos said before looking past the golden dawn, narrowing his eyes. "There hasn't been an announcement from the capital mage, which means Zuka hasn't beaten Noelle yet. I have to go and help her, but I have to deal with Yuno first…that means I better finish this now, the time has come,"
The Rossiu suddenly assumed a more serious stance, his grimoire flipping to a page with white inscriptions followed by a light angelic hum. Yuno was a bit confused by the unfolding actions, but his eyes soon widened as he caught on.
"No!"
"I can't allow this fight to last any longer. Heaven Magic: Angel's Child!" Kenos exclaimed as he transformed, each component forming one at a time until it was complete.
"And there it is again," Ryusei muttered to himself.
Kenos pointed his sword at the wind mage. "It's over,"
"I won't let it!" Yuno shot himself into the air, but the angelic mage was undeterred as he too took flight, catching up to Yuno in a matter of seconds.
"You have no choice," he retorted, kicking the other boy to the ground with his armored boot before flying back down. "Your will is strong, there's no doubt of that, but you can't contend with this power,"
"I won't know if I don't try," Yuno persisted. "Hey, remember when we were at Yultim and you said I had a spell that you didn't want to be on the receiving end of?"
"Um, yeah, I do," he replied before he realized it. "You wouldn't,"
"I would, Bell!" he exclaimed. "Wind Spirit Magic: Sylph's Breath!"
Kenos watched the spell near him. "Y'know, I don't mind being on the receiving end this time, there's something I wanted to test," his grimoire turned to another page with white inscription. "Heaven Magic: Divine Scission!"
Upon declaring the spell, he planted his feet firmly and reeled his sword back as it glowed white, and with a swift motion, he fired a horizontal slash of magic, cutting the bullet in half effortlessly.
The golden dawn was speechless. "I don't believe it,"
"You better believe it, I have been wanting to try it out, Emmanuel tells me it's his favorite spell to use with his sword,"
"It isn't over, I still have options! Wind Creation Magic: Swift White Hawk + Wind Blade Shower!" he refused to accept defeat, casting his double spell, but switching it up, commanding the avian to fly around to attack Kenos from behind while the blades came from the front.
Like before, the angelic mage didn't look worried at all, instead, he assumed the same stance. "Let's do this again, Heaven Magic: Divine Scission!"
But unlike before, when the blade glowed white, Kenos did a full 360-degree turn, the slash taking the form of a circle that spread and cut both spells.
"What the?"
"You look surprised, I'll let you in on something about Divine Scission, it's a motion-adaptive attack. Whatever movement I make once the blade glows influences how the attack is expressed, there's a reason it's one of Emmanuel's favorites," he explained.
"Shit, I hate to say it, but I don't think we stand a chance," Bell confessed.
"No…there's still something we can do," Yuno protested. "Something that should save us,"
The spirit's eyes widened. "Are you absolutely sure, I thought we were still missing a component,"
"Exactly, we were, not anymore,"
Kenos started walking. "Now, I best be on my way, Zuka probably needs my help,"
"Not yet, you aren't done with me yet,"
"I'm not? Ok, bring whatever you got,"
"No problem, but first I have to give some context," Yuno began. "It all began when I had to go back to my home village to fight someone, and she made me and Bell use more power than we ever had before, causing something to happen. We weren't sure what exactly happened, but we knew we wanted to refine it, so we trained,"
At that moment, Bell began sending him an excessive amount of power, causing magic power to surge from the boy's body; it kept going until the spirit's legs started vanishing, making Kenos' eyes narrow in shock.
"It started with Bell lending me a high amount of power, but I needed to find a way to contain the power and control it, that's when I remembered Mana Skin," he continued, activating the technique, quelling the surge of magic, concentrating it. "But there was a component we were missing, something which stopped the power from being completely refined,"
"A-And what was that?" Kenos asked, some uneasiness present.
He soon got his answer. "Its shape. I had trouble molding the power into an exact form, I needed something to base it off from…that's when I saw Angel's Child, it was then that I knew what I wanted the power to look like. Thank you,"
With that, Bell vanished entirely as Yuno began to transform. The left of his cape began to glow green as a wing of a similar glowing color stuck out of the left side of his back, a half-crown consisting of connected crosses floated around the left side of his head, and his entire left arm and hand became coated in green mana with a four-leaf clover mark on the backside of his palm as a circle of connected crosses formed around his wrist.
Everyone who witnessed the transformation couldn't help but gasp, but none were more surprised than Asta, who just watched wide-eyed at his rival from his bed.
"Incredible," he heard Mimosa say.
"Holy crap, that's amazing!" Charmy explained.
"He found some way to merge with his spirit, so cool!" Julius mentally squealed.
A drop of sweat fell down Kenos' forehead, but he composed himself. "That's a lot of magic. So, does your form have a name?"
"It does actually, I call it Wind Spirit Assimilation: Spirit Dive,"
"Spirit Dive? Not a bad name. Well, you say your form was inspired by mine, so let's see which one is better,"
"I couldn't agree more. Wind Magic: Crescent Moon Sickle!" he launched the same spell which began their battle, this time though Kenos quickly guarded it with his blade, getting pushed back a little.
"That was much more powerful than earlier, that form is no joke," he said his praise before speeding forward with his sword, but Yuno dodged it and took to the skies, Kenos right behind him.
"Heaven-infused Solar Creation Magic: Rain of Solar Daggers!" the angelic mage exclaimed, dropping the enhanced projectiles.
But Yuno weaved around them with no difficulty. "My turn, Wind Spirit Magic: Spirit Storm!" he shot a beam of condensed magic
"Heaven-infused Solar Magic: Sunbeam Ray!" he fired his own beam, the two clashing.
Asta watched as the two attacks clashed, how the two people close to him were giving it their all, he dropped to his bed, catching Mimosa's attention.
"Asta?"
"Why?" he asked aloud to no one in particular as he covered his eyes with an arm, his voice breaking. "Why am I not out there? I should've been fighting one of them, it's not fair. It's just not fair,"
The clash continued until the two broke it. "Looks like we're evenly matched," the transformed wind mage noted. "But taking each other down isn't the objective of the exam. I have a crystal to destroy,"
"You say that like I'd just let you leave," Kenos retorted.
In response, Yuno grinned. "That's exactly what's going to happen, sort of. Wind Spirit Binding Magic: Liable Tempest!" he extended his hands, summoning a strong gust of wind, he then brought his hands together, the wind surrounding Kenos, becoming strings that quickly wrapped around him like a cocoon.
"The hell?"
"I'll be back," he said, flying north.
"Oh no you don't!" the solar mage yelled, exerting magic until he was freed, zooming after Yuno.
"Those two are taking some time, maybe I should go check on them," Glynda mused.
"I wouldn't recommend it, you'll be needed here," a new voice answered, the woman quickly turned to where it was coming from, seeing Yuno coming right at her.
"Woah, you really powered up," En was in awe.
The transformed mage stared at the woman. "She managed to take down En? She's good then, skill-wise, she may even surpass Spirit Dive, but…,"
"You're not going to get the crystal!" Glynda prepared to react. "Telekinesis Binding Magic: Crushing-," she was cut off as the golden dawn speed blitzed her, taking the crystal from her.
"...I'm undoubtedly faster,"
"NO!"
The loud yell came from Kenos as he prepared to cast a spell, but Yuno wouldn't let him. "This fight is over, you were a worthy opponent!" those were his last words before he shot their crystal with a beam, obliterating it.
"Crystal destroyed! The winner is Team P!"
The Rossiu couldn't believe what he had heard as he landed, dropping to his knees.
Glynda released En from the sphere and returned his grimoire. "It looks like we were the team to lose today,"
"Hey!" two voices were heard, the vice-captain turned and saw the girls running their way.
"I heard we won!" Noelle said, obvious joy in her voice.
"And that we lost!" Zuka said, not as happy.
"Hey, don't get too down about it, it was a pleasure fighting you, you should be honored royalty has such a high opinion of you," the water mage told her.
"I guess, but victory would be much better," the sparkle mage said back.
Yuno came into view. "I'm with Zuka, victory is much better,"
"What the hell?!" the two girls exclaimed in shock.
"Impressed?" Yuno put a hand on his hip. "I call it Spirit Dive, just made it,"
"It reminds me of Angel's Child," Noelle pointed out.
"That makes sense, I used Kenos' form as inspiration," he replied as he detransformed.
"Speaking of Kenos, where is he?" Zuka asked.
Glynda looked around before spotting him, her expression falling as she wordlessly pointed to where he was, the five of them saw him on his knees.
The aqua deer adopted the same expression. "I should go talk to him,"
But she stopped herself once she saw him get up, his transformation undoing itself as he began walking their way, a shadow covering his eyes. When he got close to them, he didn't even glance his teammates' way, instead walking until he was face to face with Yuno. Everyone else felt a little tense as they watched the two boys.
The shadow slowly disappeared from Kenos' eyes, revealing…a melancholic smile. "Damn, it seems that you beat me, you're the better one,"
"That's nowhere near true, even before you transformed, you had me on the ropes, you're good, Kenos Rossiu,"
"If you say so," he extended a hand and Yuno took it. "Good luck in the finals,"
"Thanks,"