Chapter Eighty-Seven: Our Hideout

The early dawn of the day was soon coming to an end, and while many intense battles were currently going on at Gravitos Stones, within the base of the Black Bulls, things were relatively calm for them.

Inside, the mages that were in the main hall were all doing their usual stuff.

Most of them.

Charmy was at the table stuffing her face, across from her was Vanessa, who was sipping on a glass of wine while petting Rouge. Gauche was sitting on the long couch working on a miniature statue, Gordon and Grey being on opposite sides of him, both reading books, but in different ways, with the former up to his usual muttering, and the latter up to her usual stuttering. Nero was also present, resting on the poison mage's hat.

But then there was Magna. The flame mage had been quietly standing by the window, staring at the outside. His usual antic was forced to the wayside, after all, it was a two-man deal, and only one was present.

"I wonder what those guys are doing right now?" he mused aloud to no one in particular, his forward gaze steadfast.

"Who knows? Maybe they're partying? Or maybe they're training? Or maybe they're battling the Eye of the Midnight Sun as we speak," Vanessa took it upon herself to answer him.

"Probably," he plainly agreed.

The thread mage put down her glass. "What's up with you? Are you still bummed about failing, even after you gave that speech in front of everyone yesterday?"

He finally turned to face her. "Just because I chose to not quit doesn't mean the pain of failure stops hurting, it's merely not as strong anymore,"

"Hey, that's not a bad quote, I might borrow that for an appropriate occasion," Yami said, having just entered the building.

"Morning, Captain. Where were you?" Charmy inquired between bites of food.

"I was just out for a walk," he replied, sitting on the single couch. "Even guys like me appreciate a calm and peaceful stroll through nature,"

"I suppose that's true," Magna returned to his gazing.

The dark mage side-eyed his subordinate. "What's up with him?" he asked whoever would answer.

Like before, Vanessa was the one to talk. "It's about what happened yesterday,"

"Really?"

Magna said nothing as he rested a hand on the window, slowly clenching it over the course of a minute before speaking up. "Captain Yami, can I ask you something?"

"Sure, go ahead,"

The flame looked away from the window for the second time, taking off his shades. "What did you see in me when you let me join the Black Bulls?"

That question managed to capture everyone's attention as all of them sent side glares his way, waiting for the older man's response.

Yami held his chin, appearing to be in thought. "To be honest, it's because out of everyone I saw that day, you were undoubtedly the one with the most guts,"

"With the most guts?"

"Yup. Even in this squad, if we take Asta out of the equation, you still have the most guts out of everyone here, myself included,"

Magna stared at the ground. "You mean it?"

"I wouldn't be saying it if it wasn't true,"

The flame mage's head raised up, brandishing a smile. He didn't say anything to anyone as he walked towards the hallway, disappearing from sight.

The witch couldn't help but smile too. "That was a nice thing to do, boosting his confidence,"

"Nah," Yami leaned back onto the couch. "It's as I said, he's got the most guts, he'd have picked himself back up just fine on his own. But a good captain makes sure to do his part regardless,"

Just as he finished saying that, Magna emerged from the hall, his broom in hand, a beige cloak draped over him.

"And where are you off to?" Vanessa inquired.

"Where else? I'm heading somewhere to train, not being a Royal Knight has shown me that I need to get even stronger," he answered. "It's going to be pretty intense, so I'll be out all day,"

"Now that sounds like a perfect chance to push past your limits," Yami grinned. "Just make sure you don't die,"

The flame mage grinned as well on his way to the door. "Of course. Besides you, the only one who has even a chance of killing me is Luck, and he's somewhere doing something," he said jokingly, walking out.

"So captain, with the whole Royal Knight thing going on, do you have any missions for us?" Gauche asked, closely inspecting the statue he was working on.

"Doesn't seem like there'll be," he responded, getting up quickly to grab a nearby newspaper, and sitting back down. "If there are any, we'll respond to them,"

"Alright then. Since there hasn't been any so far, would it be fine if I go visit Marie?" the mirror mage requested.

Yami didn't bother looking at him. "Sure, if you want to. Just make sure you're back before nightfall,"

"Thanks, captain," he said, but as he did so, a small portal suddenly appeared, with a letter dropping out of it, landing on Gauche's lap.

"Huh?" he took hold of it, seeing that it was directed at someone. "Captain, it's for you,"

Nero took it upon himself to snatch the letter up in his beak, flying to Yami before releasing it into his hands.

"Much appreciated," he patted the bird's head before opening it and beginning to read its contents. "Would you look at that? It's for Goldy Boy,"

Nero landed back on Gordon's head as he put his book down and took out his notebook, writing stuff on it which Gauche said aloud. "What does that Golden Dawn captain want with you?"

"It says he wants to see me to discuss something he discovered about those Midnight Sun bastards," he replied, raising a brow in minor confusion. "But why me? If he found something, he should bring it up with Julius,"

"Well, our squad has had the most run-ins with them, maybe he wants to run it by you in case it's something we already know," Vanessa tried to make sense of it.

"That is a fair possibility, if so, I shouldn't keep him waiting," the man stood up, disappearing into the hallway.

The scarlet-clad woman also rose from where she sat. "I think I should get going too, now wouldn't be a bad time to go and visit Finral,"

She wasn't the only female to do so. "Me too," Charmy did the same.

"You want to visit Finral with me?"

"No. I'm going to go foraging for tasty ingredients," she told her. "I know a forest some miles from here with the best fruits and veggies,"

With that, the ladies also ventured into the hallway, and shortly after, the three knights had left for their personal destinations.

A small smile touched Gauche's lips, he too would be leaving, on his way to see his darling baby sister, all he had to do was finish the statue he planned to give her as a gift and he could be off.

But there was just one problem, or rather, two problems.

Muterring on one side, and stuttering on the other. At first, he could tune out the disturbing sounds just fine, but as time passed, that fact became less so and his concentration began to waver.

"Hey, Gordon, Grey," he began, not noticing his grip on the statue tightening. His squadmates turned their heads his way at the sound of their names.

"Would it kill you to be quiet?!" he exclaimed, his grip getting even tighter, managing to crack the object of his labor.

"Ahhhh!" his attention quickly shifted to the thing in his hands. "No no no, what have I done?! Hold on, it's not too late to save it, I just need glue. There's some in my room,"

He shot up and ran through the hallway as fast as he could, arriving at the door of his room. "Only the head has sustained damage, fixing it shouldn't be too-," he cut himself off upon opening the door, gasping to find out a shocking truth.

"This isn't my room!" he yelled comedically, quickly scanning the interior. "This is Asta's room. Holy crap, not now, this is NOT the time for the base to start shifting things around,"

He broke into pacing, thinking of how to respond to this, a lightbulb went on in his head. "That's it, I remember carving a G right above my doorknob in case of a moment like this, and now it will serve its purpose,"

At a moment's notice, he broke into a mad dash around the male quarters, quickly inspecting each door he came across. The countermeasure he employed would end up paying off as he located his room in a short three minutes.

"There you are, I am a freakin genius. Let's head in, get that glue, and-," he cut himself off a second time, something else capturing his attention, something in his peripherals.

A turn into another hallway.

To one uninitiated in the matters of the hideout, the turn wouldn't even earn half of their focus, but Gauche couldn't help but feel an eerie chill.

"The turn," he muttered, slowly walking towards it, peeking over to see the darkness ahead. "Hold on, there shouldn't be anything to be worried about, Kenos went there and he said he didn't see anything, now stop getting distracted, I need to-,"

He was cut off a third time, but not by anything he did, but instead by the base suddenly started to rumble. "C'mon, why is this building dead set on wasting my time!" he exclaimed before loudly groaning. "Okay, I'll head over to where the ruckus is, take care of it, then get back to work,"

Deciding his course of action, he was about to break into another dash, but he then realized something. "Better leave you where it's safe," he entered his room, placing the miniature statue at the center of his bed.

Once he did so, he dashed away, arriving where he needed to in five minutes, but as he did, he gasped, no words leaving his mouth.

The sight he saw was that of Gordon and Grey pushing against the main door, struggling against another force that sought to overwhelm them.

The mirror mage quickly found his voice. "What's going on?!"

"I-I-Intruders!" the transformation mage managed to tell him.

"Intruders? Who are they?"

The teen would soon get his answer as the door gave way, revealing the interlopers to be…a horde of zombies.

"What the hell?" Gauche muttered in surprise, not expecting such things to be the cause. Gordon and Grey ran at the sight of the undead army, hiding behind the siscon.

"Alright, look, I don't know what you are or why you're here, but one thing is clear," the brown-haired male started, his grimoire floating up to him. "You aren't going to stop me from seeing Marie today! Mirror Magic: Reflect Refrain!"

A plethora of mirrors materialized as a familiar purple light fired, ricocheting a multitude of times, eliminating a number of zombies.

"You two better pull your weight, I'm not doing this by myself,"

"O-Okay, there's s-something I've w-wanted to try," Grey stuttered as a puff of smoke covered her, dispersing to reveal a huge grizzly bear. With a loud roar, she charged forward, making quick work of whatever remained.

As she transformed back, Gauche gave her a thumbs up. "Not bad, now let's find out where these things came from,"

Even though she was embarrassed, Grey couldn't help but smile at his words of praise, but she got back in the game, following the two outside, hoping to find the source.

"So, there's just three of you? That's less than we were expecting," a calm male voice spoke, making the trio look ahead to see four mages in the distance.

Gauche was able to recognize two of them. "It's Sally and that Valtos guy from the cave,"

As for the other two, Rades and Annalise, he didn't know them, but he didn't need to in order to deduce what was going on. "The Eye of the Midnight Sun is attacking. Why though?"

He chose to voice his thoughts allowed to the intruders. "What the hell are you doing here?! You better talk, or you'll regret it!"

Rades laughed. "We don't have to tell you jackshit, just know we're going to annihilate you!"

Valtos intervened with the same calm voice as before. "Hold on, you heard what Master Licht said, we aren't to kill the boy with the brown hair,"

"But why not? He's a Magic Knight, he's the enemy," Rades retorted.

"I don't know why, but it was a direct order, and his orders are not to be disobeyed,"

"Ugh, fine,"

Gauche overheard their short exchange. "Their leader doesn't want them to kill me? What the hell is up with that guy? First, he talked to me like we were friends, and now this. Could it be that I actually do know him?" he spoke to himself, reaching a conclusion.

"It doesn't matter, what does matter is taking these bastards down!" his grimoire flipped to the next page. "Mirror Magic: Large Reflect Ray!"

"Not so fast, Gel Magic: Sticky Salamander!" Sally countered by creating the lizard that stood in front of the four like a shield, causing the ray to refract upon making contact. "Oh my, don't tell me you forgot about my little advantage?"

Gauche grit his teeth. "Shit, she's going to be trouble,"

"Nice defense, Sally, my turn. Spark Magic: Ground Sparks!" Annalise punched the grounds, ten trails of sparks racing towards their opponents.

"Don't just stand around, move!" Gauche ordered, the three scattering, but it accomplished little as the sparks began following them. "Damn it, new plan, come close to me,"

The two obeyed him as the teen cast another spell. "Mirror Magic: Mirror Shift!" they exchanged places with a mirror up in the air, the sparks having nothing to hit. "Looks like it worked. I guess it makes sense that a spell called 'Ground' Sparks couldn't leave the ground,"

It was Annalise's turn to grit her teeth. "I didn't know he could do that,"

While they were still in the air, Gordon decided to go on the offensive. "Poison Magic: Forbidden Fruit," he whispered, firing a large sphere of poison.

The four easily dodged it as the trio landed. "We had better increase the pressure, after all, they're not the ones we're after, we need to distract them," Rades said to his team. "Valtos,"

"I'm on it," the spatial mage created a portal, more zombies coming out from it, but only about fifty.

Like before, Gauche heard his statement. "Distract us? So whatever you're here for is in our hideout. Well, that's too bad, we won't let you succeed!"

Gordon and Grey were in agreement to his testament as they went on the offensive once more.

"Poison Curse Magic: Aufwachen Dachs," he whispered, summoning the poisonous badgers, with Grey transforming into a large wolf, joining the beasts as they charged at the zombies, ripping them to shreds.

The mirror mage took a few seconds to pause and observe his squadmates' efforts. "This has to be the first time I've ever seen them fight so seriously before, they aren't bad,"

"We've been attacking from afar, time to get up close and personal!" Annalise sprinted their way.

"Poison Magic: Violett Schirm," the mutterer shot liquid poison her way.

"Spark Creation Magic: Wall of Sparks!" she halted to protect herself, her defense not faltering against the poison in the slightest, sprinting again.

"Spark Magic: Flickering Melee!"

"Not happening, Mirror Magic: Mirror Shift!" he recast the evasion spell, creating around three yards of distance.

But that didn't keep them safe as Valtos made a portal above them at an angle, emerging out of it to continue the attack. "Spatial Magic: Swift Space Slash!"

Gordon noticed it coming, switching from offense to defense. "Poison Magic: Forbidden Chrysalis," with a whisper, the familiar liquid poison formed, but this time, it encased the two, becoming a barrier to protect them.

"Damn it, they just keep avoiding everything we throw at them," the wraith mage grumbled.

Grey returned to the duo before transforming back, giving them a thumbs up. "All d-done,"

"That's good and all, but we still haven't managed to actually damage those four," the mirror mage voiced.

"M-Maybe that can c-change," Grey said.

He faced her. "What do you mean?"

The older woman went red. "D-Don't look at me!" she turned her face away, but still managed to speak. "Fire your s-spell, the s-same o-one you used b-before,"

"Why? You know what will happen,"

"T-Trust me, I-I have a p-plan,"

Gauche relented, deciding to do what she told him to. "Fine, you're the strategist. Mirror Magic: Large Reflect Ray!"

Sally grinned. "Didn't you learn your lesson the last time? Gel Magic: Sticky Salamander!"

History was on its way to repeating itself, however, Grey was about to change things up, opening her grimoire for the first time since the fight had begun. "Transformation Magic: Magic Conversion - Gel to Crystal!"

The woman's hands glowed as she pointed them at Sally's construct, the lizard quickly crystalizing, losing against the beam of light that shot it, breaking it apart.

The terrorist quartet gasped. "What just happened?" the gel mage wondered aloud.

Annalise and Valtos were the first to regain their composure, with a silent nod to each other, the latter created a portal that the former jumped into, reappearing in the air, on a collision course with the magic knights.

"Don't get cocky, you won't beat us!"

"Gordon, I n-need you t-to p-protect us," she said.

He nodded. "Poison Magic: Forbidden Chrysalis,"

"News flash, that wimpy defense can't stop something like this! Spark Magic: Twin Flickering Detonation!"

Grey was unfazed by her taunts. "Transformation Magic: Magic Conversion - Poison to Water!"

In an instant, just like the salamander had changed, Gordon's chrysalis did the same, the advantage in attribute succeeding in keeping the trio safe from harm, in fact, all the explosion managed to do was push its caster back.

By this point, Annalise was furious. "Come the fuck on! Attack after attack, and nothing to show for it! I think I would've had better luck even fighting Zuka rather than you three, but playtime's over, I still have a trick up my sleeve, let's see how strong that barrier of yours really is!" she turned to the page of her trump card. "Spark Creation Magic: Discharge Dragon's Detonation Field!"

The white dragon manifested, and with a growl, the twenty spheres came to life. Annalise directed her voice to her friends. "Get behind the dragon, it'll protect us from the blast,"

As they were doing so, Gauche was also thinking of a way out. "I don't know the explosive potential of those things once they go off, but there's no way this thing can withstand it, and Mirror Shift can only bring us so far. Perhaps if we retreat inside, we'll be okay,"

He was about to tell his squadmates the idea, but like before, Grey was already on it. "Transformation Magic: Magic Conversion - Spark to Mud!"

Gasps arose from both sides of the battle as the white dragon slowly started to turn into mud, dirtying its majestic color, but that wasn't the worst of it, the bombs also shifted too, becoming mud as well. The dragon let out a muffled roar, commanding the bombs to explode, but instead of causing mass destruction, it merely scattered mud everywhere.

Gauche was a bit surprised at first, but he soon pieced it together. "Of course, that dragon created the bombs, they're magically linked, if it's affected, the bombs will be too as a result,"

Annalise watched as their defense dropped. She was ready to swear as loudly as she could, but she was stopped by another's exclamation.

"How fascinating!" Sally squealed. "I've never seen a transformation mage with the capability to transform attributes, and going by what you changed, there doesn't seem to be a limit! I absolutely must have you for myself!"

Grey quickly found herself getting creeped out by the dark magic scientist. "First Asta, and now you! The Black Bulls have the perfect people to experiment on!"

"Sally, this isn't the damn time!" the spark mage roared angrily.

"She's right," Rades agreed. "But all hope isn't lost yet. Annalise's trump card failed, let's see how they hold up against mine,"

The purple-haired girl widened her eyes. "Are you sure? I thought you said you were going to be more sparing with use after losing the others,"

Rades shrugged. "I did say that, but we kinda have no choice," he stepped forward. "Time to end this, behold, meet the mightiest member of the Number Corpse Series!"

With a powerful gust of wind, a figure fell from the sky, crashing behind the wraith mage, a large cloud of dust accompanying its descent. Similar to Clara Jane, it waved an arm to disperse it revealing itself. It had the build of a thin man with medium-long white hair, a blue robe of sorts covering the left side of his body along with everything below the waist, and then there was its mask, one with a smiling face on it, eternally happy as it carried out acts of devastation.

"Number 0 - Mikeal Caesar!"

The trio of bulls gasped. "This isn't good, the mana coming off of that thing is huge!"

Rades laughed arrogantly. "You might as well give up now. Mikeal Caesar isn't like my other wraiths, he has two attributes, wind and vine magic, and for the cherry on top, he's a combination of two corpses, corpses that used to be two magic knight captains,"

This new piece of information only increased their sense of dread. "That can't be true,"

"Oh, but it is," the man nodded. "Believe me, finding their graves and trying to combine their corpses was a pain in the ass, but oh boy, was it worth it. Enough talk, Mikeal Caesar, show them your power!"

And show them he did, with a mere raising of his hand, a powerful blast of wind fired at them faster than they could react, sending them into the base's wall, forming small cracks before they fell to the ground.

"See, just ten or so seconds of being here, and he's already forced you down, my number 0 is number 1,"

"We aren't done yet," Gauche said back defiantly, the trio standing up, Grey being the first to act, transforming into a hawk, quickly flying forward.

The wraith fired another blast of wind, but she was ready for it this time, swerving to the right before going higher up until she was directly above him. With great speed, dove down, transforming into a lion midway, utilizing both gravity and aerial momentum to launch a powerful attack.

Unfortunately, though, it was all for nothing. With what seemed like no effort, Mikeal Caesar sent out vines, ensnaring her, stopping her in her tracks. He brought her to him, she was growling and struggling to break free, but no luck. Her luck dropped even further as he used this chance to launch a powerful attack of his own: a devastating punch to her stomach, making her whimper before throwing her aside, landing by her fellow bulls as he reverted to her base appearance.

The mirror mage extended a hand. "Can you stand?"

She didn't look his way, simply nodding and taking his hand as he helped her up. "This thing is no joke, we need to kick things up a notch. Mirror Creation Magic: Blade of Infinite Reflections!"

The large glowing hand emerged, carrying the large glowing blade. In a swift motion, it launched a vertical slash, intending to cut the wraith in two, however, he caught the blade with his palms.

Despite doing so, Gauche saw an opportunity arise. "He's occupied, move!" they all charged, ready to use their best attacks while the enemy was in a compromising position. Number 0 though, wasn't going to let that happen. Mustering his strength, he broke the blade apart and spun around, conjuring a vine at the same time, slamming said vine into the three of them, sending them back on the ground.

"Ah man, now that's how it should be done, Mikeal Caesar will make quick work of you," Rades taunted. "And y'know what? Because of all the trouble you put us through, once we have what we came here for, I'm going to have this entire damn building demolished!"

The trio were silent, but their annoyance was visible, for Gordon and Grey, however, their faces were a bit different, a little more…angry.

"What did he just say?"

"This place is going to be nothing but rubble, actually, I won't even leave it as that, I don't want there to be a single trace left. That outta teach you not to mess with us!"

Now the poison and transformation mages were pissed, adopting expressions they never had before. They were currently down on their knees, but now they were beginning to rise to their feet, thinking one thing.

"I won't let that happen,"

[Flashback]

Clover Kingdom. Varying Years Ago.

It was a dark and stormy night. Within a home that resided further from the others, its exterior was black and gloomy.

"Ugh!" the scream of a woman could be heard from inside.

"Push!" a unified order came from two men.

"Ugh!" she did as she was told. Perspective zooms into the house's interior, arriving at a door.

"I can see the head, one more push," one of the men said.

"Okay," she gave it all she had, finally relaxing when the sound of crying rang in her ears.

The other man took hold of the newborn baby, wrapping him in a blanket. "My son. Thank you for your help, doctor,"

"It's my pleasure," he nodded.

"Dear, would you like to hold him?" the father handed over his son to his wife.

The mother looked at her child. "Hello, little one,"

"So, what will you name him?" the doctor asked.

"We'll name him after my father," the woman replied. "Welcome to the world…Gordon,"

Eight years passed since that day, and now an adolescent Gordon walked through the forest of his town, whispering to himself.

But he soon found his attention on something else as he saw children playing in the distance. He hid behind a tree, watching them intently, they were smiling and laughing, enjoying each other's company. He wanted to be a part of that, so he slowly revealed himself, walking towards them.

It didn't take long for them to see him, he looked different from the others, and when they made eye contact, they said nothing. Hoping for the best, the Agrippa gave his most friendly smile.

"It's a creep!" they screamed, running away, the boy's smile becoming a frown.

Downtrodden, he made his way back home, telling his parents what happened.

"It's not something you should worry about, my son," his mother said. "We aren't like those other people, we're Agrippas. Our lifestyle leads us to solitude, you'll get used to it,"

Alas, he never did. Year after year went by, and his desire for companions only got more potent, but he pushed that to the wayside, because at 23, he attended the Magic Knights Entrance Exam. He currently stood before the captains, his number having been called, and to those paying attention, he had done a pretty good job, granted, that didn't stop onlookers from doing their usual mocking.

"There's no way the captains will pick someone like him,"

"Yeah, he's so creepy,"

"Not to mention he hasn't said a single word, just that incessant whispering,"

Most of the captains shared the same sentiment…all except for one. Of the nine Grand Magic Knights, only one raised their hand.

"Hey!" a voice called, Gordon's eyes falling on the origin: Yami. "Come and join my crew!"

The poison mage, seeing there was no one else to pick from, simply nodded.

Night fell over the kingdom as the two arrived at Black Bulls HQ. Yami and Gordon stood side by side, the former advancing. "Welcome to my humble little hideout, home of the Black Bulls,"

The poison mage made the same motion, muttering some words that the older man found inaudible, and being Yami, he chose to voice his thoughts.

"You keep doing that, whispering and whatnot. Those people back at the capital had a point, it's super creepy, and weird,"

Gordon put his head down, remembering the times those words had been used to describe him, but then he heard the captain start to laugh, his head shooting back up.

"But that's not a problem, everyone in this squad is a weirdo. You'll be right at home here. Just be cool and everyone will feel like your best friend or something,"

To Yami, that last sentence didn't mean too much, just some encouraging words to a new member, but for the mutterer, he was overjoyed to hear it, focusing on two in particular.

"Best friend?" a final whisper came from his lips as he entered the building, a smile on his face.

Breathing.

That was the only sound heard, heavy breathing, accompanied by a discharge of smoke.

Where did it come from? None other than Grey, currently in her previous transformation, standing like a statue in the center of a small bridge that resided in a large town.

She had been there for three days now, just standing and staring. The first day she arrived, it was easy to see that the nearby citizens were uncomfortable with her presence, doing their best to avoid her, but she was harmless enough to deter anyone from contacting the magic knights. However, once the second day passed, the passersby grew familiar with her, at times not even acknowledging, like she had become invisible or had blended in with the environment.

The transformation mage took no issue with either one, for now, she was spending time in thought, thinking about nothing in particular, but that changed when three people entered her field of vision: a mother and her three daughters. She recognized them, they would pass by the bridge at least twice a day, smiles on all of their faces, smiles that made envy well up in her heart.

She closed her eyes and withdrew into her headspace, there, she could see herself in her true form, huddling by a fireplace, dressed in rags, seemingly at peace, but that peace shattered at the arrival of three dark silhouettes, each resembling a female, they pointed and made taunts.

"What a useless girl!"

"Why aren't you working?!"

"I ask myself every day why I don't just let the wilderness have you!"

Wanting to endure no more of it, Grey got up and ran as fast as she could, the setting transitioning to a forest. She didn't want to be where she just was, she wanted to be in a place of warmth, love, and care, like she imagined the three daughters did. Her running though, came to a halt as five dark silhouettes stood in her path, these ones resembling men, depraved expressions on their faces. They attempted to come near her, but they were suddenly blasted away by a beam of light.

The woman looked to her left, this time seeing another two silhouettes, one tall and one short, but there was something different about them, they weren't dark, instead, they were white as snow.

Despite feeling a sense of comfort in them, Grey just kept on running, with no stop in sight.

"Hello,"

.

.

"Uh, hello,"

.

.

"Is anybody home?!"

Grey's eyes shot open, she was back at the bridge, this time though, she wasn't being ignored, a tall man stood in front of her.

The man was none other than Yami.

Grey, like usual, said nothing as he spoke. "So, the rumors are true, there really is some guy just standing here doing nothing," he began, his face beginning to contort into a laughing gesture, the sound soon following.

"That is too hilarious!" he wiped a tear from his eyes.

For the first time in three days, Grey moved her body, her head nudging ever so slightly to show her confusion regarding the one in front of her, she merely exhaled. To her complete shock, it only made him laugh more.

"Oh man, you're a riot! I knew I made the right choice coming here," he said, placing a hand. "Y'know, aside from being funny, I'm getting a good feeling from you. Say, you got a grimoire?"

He was met with no answer, so he resorted to searching her proximity until he found it behind her.

"There it is, that means you're at least 15. How would you like to join my Magic Knight squad?"

Magic Knight? Grey wasn't too familiar with the term, she had heard it a few times from people who passed her by, but from how it was described, she had an idea of what they were. One such thing she heard was how they all resided in large buildings. It may have not looked like it, but the woman was starting to grow a little tired of essentially staying in the streets, so she took a step forward.

The dark mage was pleased. "I'm going to take that as a yes. We may have a bit of a problem though, HQ is a fair distance away, and I'm guessing you're a bit on the heavy side, I might need an extra broom,"

He didn't have to worry for long as the problem solved itself with a puff of smoke enveloping the giant, dispersing to reveal the dark mage.

Yami whistled. "Hello handsome. I take it this is your attribute? Handy," he said as they mounted his broom and flew off, arriving at the base shortly.

"Let's head in and get you acquainted with the others," they entered, being met by a female voice.

"Captain, am I too drunk right now, or are there two of you?"

"No, Vanessa, I brought us a new member. Based on the fact they transformed into me, I'm going to go on a limb and say he's a guy, I don't know his name though,"

"Grey," she spoke for the first time. "Just call me Grey," she then reverted back to her giant form.

"Grey, aye?" the thread mage suddenly started running at her. The transformation mage feared the worst, her mind flashing to a dark silhouette doing the same thing.

But her fears disappeared once the witch wrapped her into a hug. "It's so nice to have more company, I've been feeling a little lonely ever since she left,"

A hug. Grey couldn't remember the last time she received one of those from another female, the feeling it gave her was like none she had felt before, and it brought her to a conclusion.

She was going to like this place.

[End Flashback]

The two mages were still in the process of rising, but their spirits were now rising with them.

"These people…,"

"This place…,"

"...I finally found somewhere I belong,"

Gordon then clenched his fist. "If I want to protect the base, I need to become more powerful,"

Grey did the same. "But I can't do that the way I am now,"

At last, they were firmly on their feet.

"I can't get stronger if I don't even have the conviction to speak up,"

"I can't get stronger if I don't even have the courage to conquer my timidity,"

Gauche was breathing heavily. "Damn, I don't know what we can do to get the upper hand on that undead bastard,"

"Even if we don't know, we shouldn't stop trying,"

The mirror mage's eyes widened beyond belief, unable to comprehend what he was hearing. He slowly looked to his left, and there he was, Gordon…his voice perfectly audible. "W-W-What?"

"He's right, we can't let them win,"

Now he looked in the other direction to see Grey…not stuttering even once. "The hell is this?"

Gordon pointed at the enemy. "You may have us on the ropes, but victory isn't yours yet,"

"Yeah, we're the Black Bulls, and we won't lose to anybody," Grey added.

The two then took a deep breath and yelled the following at the top of their lungs.

"WE WON'T LET YOU DESTROY OUR HIDEOUT!"

The terrorist quartet were a bit taken aback. "Those two are a lot more talkative if you ask me," Annalise remarked.

"It doesn't matter, Mikeal Caesar will defeat them," Rades punched his palm.

The poison mage turned to his squadmate still on the ground. "Get up, Gauche, we haven't lost yet, we're the only ones standing between them and our home, we're the GGG Trio,"

The noble was still in shock, but a grin soon graced his features. "Looks like I don't have time to worry about this decision of yours right now," he gathered his strength and rose to his feet.

"Let's do this,"

Just as he said that, however, the base began to rumble violently, catching everyone's attention.

"What's going on?" Grey asked.

"Perhaps the hideout is responding to our immense friendship?" Gordon guessed.

That turned out to not be the case as the exterior began shifting around, pieces moving from place to place like a Rubix cube, all to eventually stop, revealing a door on the second floor, a door that burst open.

From there, a figure walked into view of the mages. His most notable trait was his incredibly long white hair, so long it covered his eyes. The clothes he wore were simple, just a long-sleeved shirt and long pants, both the same color as his hair. And floating in front of him, was his grimoire. He looked down at the scene of the battle for a few seconds before proceeding to ask a single question.

"Whhhaaaattt's goooiiinnng ooooonnnnn?"