Chapter Ninety-Five: Wrath of the Lioness
Hey there, readers. Happy New Year! Well, kind of. I hope you've all enjoyed 2024 so far and that life has been treating you well. Admittedly, I haven't enjoyed it as much as my grandfather passed away recently and it has left me feeling a little less motivated, but I'll be okay, you just have to take these things as they come. I digress though, here's the first chapter of the year. Cya
"You? Kill all of us?" Rhya repeated what the royal had just said.
The elf was more or less confused by what was transpiring in front of him. Not too long ago, it was three against fives, and it wasn't going well for the group of Royal Knights, they were outnumbered and outmatched, victory was all but assured, but then Mereoleona comes in and removes her two allies from the equation before she gives the threat, and one from a human no less, that she'd be the last one standing. In his eyes, it was as bizarre as it was stupid.
"Did I stutter?" the woman asked back with crossed arms, her voice as stern as ever.
Of all the ways Rhya could've responded, he chose the strangest one: bursting into a loud fit of laughter. "Hahahahaha! Hahahahaha! Hahahahaha!" he dropped to his knees, clutching his stomach.
The other elves didn't share his humorous view as they looked at him strangely. "Y'know, I haven't seen him laugh this hard since that one time Lifu messed up during his play about the bluebirds and the honeybees," Lira said aloud.
In time, Rhya stood back up, massaging his jaw. "Well damn, it looks like I'm not the only comedian around here. Alright, madam royal, while I'd love to hear what other jokes you got under your sleeve, we had better kill you fast so we can catch up to Asta, that thief has something that belongs to our master,"
"Why are you talking like I give a damn about any of that?! I told you myself that you'll die here, after all, the knights can be easily replaced, granted, it may be harder to find someone to become the new Aqua Deer captain, but that can be dealt with later once this is all over,"
Rhya closed his eyes for a short period while chuckling. "The previous owners of these bodies really mean that little to you? You're really living up to your ruthless status, well, that's human nature for you," he said before pausing, placing a hand on his chin. "You know what? Screw it, I got spatial magic, the kid can't get that far. Let's take our time with this one, I want her to realize how hopeless it is fighting all five of us,"
"Fine with me," the other four agreed as they jumped up to higher ground.
"Glad to hear that. So, who wants to send the first attack?"
Lira shot his hand up. "Ooh, me, pick me, please!"
The elf possessing Puli raised her hand second. "Uh, no, you were here before us, you already got your turn,"
The young elven boy pouted. "C'mon, Lavani, I hardly did anything that time,"
She walked over to him and pulled his cheek. "That doesn't matter, we also can't forget you ditching us immediately after you awaken, not a very nice thing to do, Lira,"
"Fine, fine, you can go first," he lightly slapped her hand away, crossing his arms as he mumbled about how unfair it was.
"Thank you, and after looking through this human's grimoire, I have the perfect spell to start us off," Lavani spread her arms out. "Wing Magic: Angel Wing Gift!"
As she made her declaration, angel wings spawned on the backs of the elves. Rhya was impressed if his whistling said anything. "Not bad, we look like some of the Sacred Ones. To think a regular human would have a spell like this,"
"So, now you all can fly? Great, just a few more advantages to go until we can call this a fair fight," the royal taunted.
Lavani narrowed her eyes at the woman. "Hm, Rhya said to be careful around you, let's see if your bite is anything like your bark. Wing Magic: Angel Flapping!" the multiple feathers materialized, zooming down on the enemy.
"Flame Magic: Calidos Brachium!" she released a blinding barrage of fiery punches, burning nearly every feather once contact was made, stopping once no more were in sight.
"Hm, that was easy enough," Mereoleona said, but then her eyes widened as she felt an odd sensation on her face. Placing a finger on the spot, she then brought it into her line of vision, surprised by what it was.
"Blood?"
"Well, I'll be damned, someone finally got this chick to bleed," Rhya crossed his arms. "Nice one, Lavani, it seems that even she can't get past small attacks,"
"You make it sound like such a big deal," the flame mage retorted. "A small cut like this is nothing,"
The possessed wing mage pointed at her. "If that cut isn't a big deal, then I'll just make you bleed more!" she exclaimed, flying down to her, casting the same spell.
Mereoleona was ready for it this time. Instead of punching the feathers head-on, she decided to punch the ground, debris rising all over her, many of them taking hits for her, and whatever didn't, she personally took care of. "Now for the fun part," she punched a large piece of debris straight at her.
"What the?" Lavani weaved around it, watching as it slammed into another part of the wall. "Looks like I was too quick for-," she stopped midway as she suddenly felt a mana signature appear right in front of her. Everything slowed down as her eyes slowly shifted, seeing the royal suddenly next to her, grinning like a madwoman, her fist reeled back. At the speed it was all happening, there was no way the elf could escape unharmed.
Or rather, there was.
Suddenly, Lavani felt a hand from behind grab her, pulling her into a dark purple portal, away from danger, leaving the captain to punch one of the floating platforms to oblivion.
"Thanks for the save, Rhya,"
"No problem, that woman is a real pain,"
"I see what you mean, I wasn't expecting her to catch me off guard like that, even with the decoy she used, I can see why you mentioned being careful around her. She's a quick one indeed,"
The elf possessing Fragil spoke up. "If her speed is making her a problem, then what we need to do is hinder it, along with everything else while we're at it,"
"I like the way you think, Gehnora, but how do you intend on doing that?" she asked.
"Leave that to me," Gehnora commanded her grimoire to transition through pages. "Snow Magic: Phantom Snow Garden!" in an instant, the ground lit up with a soft blue color, snowflakes dropping.
Once Mereoleona landed, she surveyed the change in the area. "What is this supposed to do? Make the place look a bit prettier for your corpses?"
"Very funny," the elf retorted with a plain face. "As long as this spell is active, it'll chip away at your power and slowly put you to sleep,"
Despite being given the explanation about the spell's function, the royal couldn't help but give a smug grin. "So first it's five against one, and then you have to slowly weaken me as well? For all your talk about how you elves are better than us, you sure do need a lot of handicaps. Very well, do what you must, it'll only make it more satisfying when I destroy you!"
"Enough talk, time for some payback!" Lavani took to the skies, transitioning into a free-fall as her wings changed shape, becoming like a falcon's. "Wing Magic: Peregrine Dropkick!"
The woman jumped up to meet her. "Flame Magic: Calidos Brachium!"
What resulted from the collision of the two powerful spells was an immense shockwave of force, creating a strong gust of wind that blew against everyone's hair. Despite having gravity on her side, it was looking like Lavani was going to lose, but just before she did, the royal felt another wave of force push against her fist, shooting her downwards. However, standing where she was positioned to land, was Rhya, having gotten there via a portal, his fist ignited.
"How'd you like that, human?!" the possessed wing mage yelled. "That spell of mine creates a secondary wave of force that acts after the impact, you never stood a chance!"
"And don't think that's the end," Rhya added from where he stood. "I want some payback too,"
Changing her position in mid-air, Mereoleona had Rhya directly in her line of vision as she descended, grinning at him. "Payback? I think you mean another beatdown! Flame Magic - Mana Zone: Calidos Brachium Barrage!"
Her fists also lit up, ready to subject him to the fate she had intended to before being interrupted by the swordsman. Although, the thought did cross her mind for a second that it may not be as effective as before, after all, the copy mage had gotten a lot stronger, but just as fast as the thought had come, it vanished from her mind. Who cares how strong he is now? She'd still send him straight to hell.
"Picture Binding Magic: Twin Grasps!"
Before the two could meet one another, elongated hands of red and blue color stretched out from above, coming together around the flame mage to stop her in her tracks. "Bullseye!" Lira flew down right to the man, a fist pumped into the air.
Rhya nonchalantly put out the fire on his own fist, just to playfully slam it down on the younger elf's skull. "Now what'd you go and do that for? I had it under control,"
Lira wrapped his arms around him in a silly manner. "B-But she was going to hurt you, I was just having your back like you had Lavani's. Please don't be mad,"
Rhya couldn't help but look away and sigh, a small smile touching his face, he missed this feeling. "Alright, alright, I won't be mad, and from the looks of it, you got her. Those hands will crush her, right?"
"They should, it's what I told them to do," he replied, but just as he finished talking, smoke started to rise from the gaps, earning their attention. The looks on their faces went from somewhat confused to totally shocked as the hands burst into pieces, revealing the woman, specks of dust covering her robe.
Mereleona focused her eyes on Lira. "If you wanted to die first, all you had to do was ask and I would've happily obliged,"
The possessed captain didn't falter one bit. "Whatever, now it's finally my turn to do something! Just try to save yourself from this! Picture Magic: Subterranean Giant's Iron Fist!" he twirled the paintbrush along his fingers before dunking it in dark gray paint, creating a huge iron arm with a closed fist, that fist coming at her with surprisingly quick speed.
The royal crossed her arms as it made impact, launching her west, but the elf didn't stay where he was, immediately after the human went flying, so did he.
"Wee! Flying with wings is so much fun!" he loudly exclaimed.
"Hey there, Lira," a voice said to his left, he looked over to see the possessed snow mage flying beside him.
"Hi Gehnora," he waved.
"Would it be alright with you if I joined in?" she requested.
"Hm?" he held his chin. "That depends, do I still get to do stuff?"
"You sure do," she accompanied her reply with a thumbs-up.
"Then of course you can!"
Gehnora smiled at him. "Thanks, you're the best,"
"Aw, stop it,"
At last, Mereoleona's feet touched the ground and her body eventually came to a standstill as she stood straight. "Not bad, but you're going to need to do better than that!"
"We intend to, human! Snow Binding Magic: Trapping Snow Garden!" Gehnora quickly landed, unleashing snow that rapidly covered the ground.
"Trapping Snow Garden, aye? I don't plan on letting it trap me," the flame mage took a simple stance, breathing in before she began radiating intense heat, melting any snow that had entered her proximity, leaving her perfectly safe. "What did I tell you?"
"Don't worry, it wasn't a bad move, we just need something with a little more power," Lira quickly scanned his grimoire, finding a spell that interested him. "Like this, Picture Magic: Scream of the Mystical Dragon Vouivre!"
The woman stared at the devastating attack. "Ah yes, the spell that won Rill's team the exam. From what Julius and Sylvester told me, it's pretty strong, but I doubt it's strong enough," a singular fist caught fire, sparks of blue were present before she did the unthinkable: she punched the beam head-on.
"What the hell is she doing?!" the two elves thought to themselves. Had the royal lost her damn mind? Against a blast that strong, punching it directly was virtually the same as asking to lose your arm. But then again, this would only make things easier as not only would she be outnumbered and slowly hindered, but now she'd have to fight with just one arm and withstand extreme blood loss. This realization brought twisted grins to their faces.
But like before, their expressions changed once their eyes witnessed what was happening in reality. Instead of her arm getting blown cleanly off by the force of the attack, her enflamed fist was successfully cutting the blast in half upon contact, her face portraying nothing else but a wild look of enjoyment.
"How in the world is she doing that?! Just who the hell is she?!" those were the new thoughts that entered their heads as the blast came to an end, the flame mage quickly blitzing over to the feminine creature, punching a hole right through her stomach. Vouivre let out a painful cry before she fizzled out of existence.
"You two are next! Flame Magic: Calidos Bestia!" she fired her long-range attack.
"Stay close to me, Lira! Snow Creation Magic: Igloo Shelter!" Gehnora declared, forming the cold dome of protection. The vermillion couldn't help but shake her head and chuckle, her spell already had the attribute advantage, and even if it didn't, her defense would still stand no chance.
But she was about to be proven wrong.
The beast's head crashed into the igloo with no problem, but for the first time since the fight began, Mereoleona's eyes widened as she saw that the defense…was still there, her attack had only managed to put a dent in it. She couldn't believe it, especially considering the crazy feat she pulled off earlier, but then her mind arrived at an answer as her eyes took note of the glowing flakes around.
"I guess that snow is the real deal, and it doesn't help that that stunt I did against the dragon burned a decent amount of energy, on the bright side, at least I don't feel tired,"
Gehnora commanded the igloo to fall as she and Lira flew further up. "The effects of the Phantom Snow Garden are finally kicking in, you'll be dead in no time! Snow Magic: Sleet Shoot!"
"Yeah, and let's see how well your fire does against this! Picture Magic: Twin Storm of Water and Sand!"
Seeing the three separate attacks coming at her, the captain crouched down, storing potential energy in her legs before taking off, opting to not confront the spells but rather the ones who sent them. "If that snow spell keeps going, I'll be in serious trouble. I need to finish this as fast as I can,"
In a bit over a second, she appeared in between them, quickly grabbing their arms before they could even react, then she spun herself and violently threw them to the east where their backs slammed into the wall.
"Guys!" she could hear Rhya and Lavani yell as she landed.
"Alright, temporary incapacitation, perfectly ripe for the killing. Flame Magic-,"
Her words were interrupted as her reflexes kicked in, evading a large rock that was flung in her direction. Following the direction of where it came from, she saw the elf possessing her subordinate flying towards her, another large rock moving alongside him. "Okay, seems I'll have to put a raincheck on that first plan," she thought, giving him her full attention. "Well well, I'll give it to you, Ruben, it takes a whole lot of guts to attack your captain,"
"Don't call me that, I am Rossa and I'd rather die again than work under some crazy brute like you! Sandstone Magic: Rock Crush!" he launched the second rock he had on him.
This time, Mereoleona clenched her fist and punched it directly, and even though her power was slowly getting weaker, breaking it apart into what looked like a million pieces was easy…a little too easy.
"Now!" Rossa exclaimed as he outstretched his palm, the broken pieces breaking down further into a sand-like material, said material rising at his call, enveloping the royal before becoming a solid, encasing her within. "Sandstone Binding Magic: Variable Hardness Prison!"
The elf came to a stop, resting a hand atop his spell. "I hope you like it in there, filthy human, it's going to be your tomb. No light, no hope, just death,"
Just as he finished saying that, sounds could be heard from inside. "Are you trying to escape? It's no use. No offense to Lira, but this binding spell is much stronger than what got out of before. Your effort is futile, so just-,"
He didn't get in another word before his prison exploded, pushing him back a decent number of feet. Upon recomposing his posture, he saw Mereoleona standing tall, her fists lighting up, she was silent for the most part aside from heavy breathing that wasn't too audible. Her eyes though, were glaring straight at the elf, a powerful intensity resonating from them.
"Was that it?" she asked. "Even while possessed with your magic amplified, that was all you could do? You're a disgrace to the Crimson Lion Kings!"
"Be quiet! Sandstone Magic: Rock Storm!" he yelled, but it was pointless as she both overpowered his spell and closed the distance between them like she had many times before.
"Say, I happen to recall you mentioning that you'd rather die again than work under me. Well, if going back to hell is what you want, that can be arranged, and you can take that weakling Ruben with you!" she reeled her fist back, her aura flaring up.
Those words stunned Rossa into silence. He wanted to say something, he wanted to try moving out of the way, but for some reason, his body wouldn't let him. "What's going on with me, what is this feeling? It can't be. Am I…am I scared of her?"
"NO!"
He was brought out of his thoughts as a purple portal appeared at his right side, and from it emerged part of Rhya's body, brandishing Yami's Black Blade as the rest of him came out, quickly slashing the flame mage along her stomach region to stop her in her tracks.
"I WON'T LET YOU KILL MY FRIENDS EVER AGAIN!"
Mereoleona's aura died down as she crashed onto the ground with a thud. "Ugh, can't say I saw that coming,"
"Rossa, are you alright?" the copy mage asked with concern.
"Um, yeah, I'm okay, thanks for that. I don't know what came over me," he replied.
"Don't worry about it, buddy, I'm sure it won't happen again," he said before gazing below him, noticing the vermillion getting back up and cracking her knuckles.
"Listen up, everyone, you've all had your time to shine, so let's finish Madam Royal off together,"
"Come on, is there no end to this?!"
While Mereoleona was engaged in the 5v1, Asta was engaged in a battle of his own, his opponent being the enormous pile of rubble of nearly twenty feet that stood between him and the area they had just been in. He was currently standing at the top of the pile, using the Slayer to swat away debris.
"Alright Asta, double time!" he screamed to himself, increasing the speed of his action, going on and on until his muscles temporarily gave out. Wiping the sweat that accumulated on his forehead, he ran down the pile to observe his progress from a different perspective.
But he didn't like what he saw.
"No way! How did that barely do anything?!" he exclaimed. The swordsman then looked down at his sword. "Hm, maybe transforming and using Black Hurricane could work? But can I spin fast enough for it to actually do anything? I also have to consider that I just used my Black form earlier, with everything that's going on, I need to save my energy,"
He kept on pondering on possible solutions to his problem, but that's when he realized something. "Wait a ding dang minute, why am I thinking of this by myself? Zora, what are you doing?!" Asta turned around and pointed at the ash mage who was standing a fair distance away, scanning the space around him.
"Looking for a way out," he answered, not bothering to turn around.
"Oh, I see, you're looking for a way out of here to go and help the captain. My bad for yelling, I just wish you told me,"
"Uh, no, I'm looking for a way out of the place entirely,"
Asta softly slammed his fist on his palm. "I get it now, you find us an exit while I clear the rubble, that way we have an escape route once we help the captain handle Rhya and the others. A good plan, since there are two of us, it's smart to multitask,"
The ash mage said nothing as he walked over to his teammate, looking him dead in the eye. "You're either doing this on purpose, or you really are an idiot,"
Asta was officially confused. "What are you talking about? What am I doing on purpose?"
"Thinking we're going back for Ms. Savage. The two of us are bailing out of here on our own,"
"What?!" Asta exclaimed, his anger clear to see. "How could you say that?! She's our captain, and a fellow Royal Knight!"
"I'm just being pragmatic, if we go back in there, all we'll succeed in is getting ourselves killed too," he told him. "There's also the possibility that the others could've been taken over by elves, so once we leave, we may have to find a way back to the kingdom so we can warn everyone,"
"That's on the basis that we'd be leaving, but we're absolutely not going to," the magicless mage protested. "You say that we'll get killed if we go back there, but you don't know that for sure,"
"Actually, I do know that for sure, it's you who's unaware. You don't have magic, meaning you probably can't sense magic either, so you couldn't feel it, but I could. The amount of power coming off from those guys was crazy, the strongest level of mana I've ever felt. If Rhya was the only one to deal with, you'd have a point, but having those other four with him guarantees defeat for us,"
"A fact like that doesn't mean we should give up! The Black Bulls and I have faced tons of threats stronger than us, and we got through it, as a team. That's what we need to do here, that's what will make the difference!" he began. "Zora, if you work with me rather than against me, I know we can do it!"
"No, it's not going to work this time!" it was the trapster's turn to yell as he grabbed the younger boy's collar, his voice lowering. "Now listen here, you little shit, I'm going to ask you a question, and you're going to think really hard for an answer: why in the hell do you think Ms. Savage got us out of there in the first place?"
This managed to silence Asta as he searched his mind for a response, he too was baffled by the decision their leader had chosen to make, but no matter how hard he thought, he couldn't land on something to say. "I…I don't know,"
Zora clicked his tongue in an annoyed manner. "Of course you don't, well, let me tell you why: she's planning to sacrifice herself,"
Asta's eyes widened. "Sacrifice herself?"
"Yeah, she knows we don't stand a chance against them like this, so she's buying us time to get the hell out of here. She's probably telling herself it's for a different reason, but deep down, she knows the truth,"
"B-But that means…she'll die," the swordsman stuttered.
Zora averted his gaze, his expression softening a bit. "Yeah, I guess so," his grip on the collar loosened. "Look, I don't like the fact that I owe a royal my life, but if she's selfless enough to put our safety above her own and provide an opportunity to escape, we'd be selfish to waste it. Do you understand?"
By this point, Zora had taken his hands off Asta, letting the teen turn around to think about what was said. "Yeah, I understand. So let me ask you something now,"
"What is it?"
The magicless mage chose to keep giving the man his back as he spoke up. "If your dad was here, would he run?"
From the look on the ash mage's face, it was easy to see the question severely caught him off guard. "Excuse me?"
"If your dad was in our position now, would he turn his back on his teammate and save himself?" he asked again.
.
.
"Well, would he?"
.
.
Zora let out a sigh, answering the question. "No, no he wouldn't. He'd rather die than desert his comrades,"
Asta finally turned around, revealing eyes that held a familiar sense of determination. "And the same is true for me! I don't care if it seems impossible! I don't care if there's a high chance for us to lose! I won't leave anyone behind! We came here to defeat the Eye of the Midnight Sun, and even though that objective has taken a bit of a turn, I'll make sure we all get out of this alive!"
The ash mage let what his teammate said sink in, and once it did, all he could do was facepalm, already regretting the words that were about to exit his mouth. "Fine then, we'll do things your way. But do you at least have a plan?"
A smile creased his face. "As a matter of fact, I do,"
"Well, things seem be to going just fine around here,"
Similar to the group of Crimson Lion Kings that entered their base, it was 15 minutes before nightfall and the subsequent rise of chaos, but unlike before, the focus wasn't on them, but instead on Ryusei, the teen standing on his own in the middle of the empty capital street.
The statement made by the dragon mage had a tone of sadness to it. Just like every other member of the squad, he too held contempt toward Patri for what he had done to their captain, but regrettably, he'd been given no chance to confront either the light mage or his followers directly. When Marx sent them all out to patrol areas in their vicinity, a part of him wished he'd encounter at least a few of the hooded terrorists so he could give them a piece of his mind.
But alas, that dream wouldn't come, because there wasn't a single one of the bastards around, nothing that happened was out of the ordinary.
Well, almost nothing.
"I wonder what was up with that light show earlier? It gave me one of those bad feelings," he mused, crossing his arms behind his head as he leaned back on a nearby wall. "Granted, it's over now, so I suppose it's nothing to worry about,"
Closing his eyes, he tried to find something else to talk to himself about. "Hm, I also wonder how those other guys who went back to base are doing? Maybe I should've gone back with them. Why didn't I?" he then broke his position, now standing straight. "Oh wait, now I remember…because I told Oxanna I'd stay here. Curse me and my helpful nature,"
He waited for a bit before he reassumed his prior leaning posture, now he was just bored out of his damn mind, but then…he thought of one last thing he could do. Looking around in every direction to confirm no one was nearby, he opened his mouth.
"Hey-," he didn't get another word as two exclamations caught his attention.
"Just tell me what you were doing there!" it came from a male.
"I told you, it was nothing! You're being as ridiculous as always!" this time coming from a female.
"I'm the one being ridiculous?! That doesn't make any sense whatsoever!"
Hearing this made Ryusei sigh, but the tone of the action expressed a sense of relief, after all, he knew who those voices belonged to. Standing up straight once more, he calmly walked to the west, his hands resting in his jacket pockets as a tiny look of happiness was on his face.
"Well, looks like my helpful nature is needed,"
He kept on walking until his eyes spotted the two people in question, fellow Crimson Lion Kings that were stationed there. The male among them was a bit taller, dark ginger hair adorned his head, complimenting the blue sweater and khakis he had alongside his robe, but that wasn't it as there was a notable feature about him, that being the ribbon wrapped around his left shoulder. The girl had short blonde hair tied into a small ponytail, strangely enough, her attire matched the one beside her for she had on a yellow sweater of the same design and a khaki skirt as well as a notable feature of her own, hers being a horizontal scar above her nose.
"C'mon, just admit it already!"
"There's nothing to admit! Stop being stupid!"
The two continued their back and forth, not noticing the dragon mage approaching until he was just about two feet from them. "Lucy, Davis, what's up?"
Both knights jumped at the insertion of the new voice. "Ryusei, you scared the bejesus out of us," Davis said.
"When did you get here? I didn't even notice you coming up," Lucy then said.
"With how loud you two were being, that doesn't surprise me," he responded. "So, what's the problem? Something I can help with?"
"As a matter of fact, you can. I need some assistance interrogating Lucy," Davis answered, crossing his arms. "You see, I caught her in my room yesterday, she was just standing there staring at my desk,"
"And I told him that it was nothing and I was just seeing if he was inside," the girl gave her side.
"If that's true, then why were you so startled when I found you inside and tried to get an explanation?" he then inquired. "You shouldn't have acted like that,"
Ryusei nodded softly. "He's right, that kind of reaction only happens if you wanted to do something without him around. The question then becomes: what was that thing?"
Lucy began playing with a strand of hair. "Well, the thing is…I like to admire his room," she replied. "It's a nice spot, very organized and…well-kept, it just really draws you in,"
Davis relaxed his posture a bit. "Now that I can somewhat believe. Ever since we started hanging out, I noticed that I would always pass by you on my way to my room,"
The girl eagerly nodded. "See? I told you it was nothing,"
"Hold up," Ryusei put up a hand. "If that's your reason, why couldn't you just tell him that from the start? Areas with good atmospheres are a common thing, and since you two know each other, you could've asked him for permission to enter. The problem could've been solved as quickly as it had started,"
"You bring up a good point, it's something I also noticed, after all, I only somewhat believe it," Davis added, his brow raised.
The heat was now back on Lucy, who was starting to get nervous. "Ugh, this is pointless, I tell you the truth and you don't want to accept it, but I don't know what I was expecting from Davis the Dummy himself. Y'know, you should really-,"
"Can you stop doing that?!" the boy cut her off rather loudly, his face looking as annoyed as his voice was.
"Stop doing what?"
"Calling me names," he replied angrily. "You're clearly in the wrong, but you've insulted me three times since this conversation began. It isn't even limited to now, you've been doing this for some time and it's really, really, starting to bug me,"
The crimson-clad female was left speechless by his sudden outburst while the dragon mage remained silent. "I-I, I j-just,"
"Actually, there's something I want to know," Davis went on with his rant. "What…what happened to the Lucy I used to know and be friends with? The girl who was a little shy and subsequently ripe for my teasing, but had a big heart and a good sense of humor unlike anyone I've ever known? The one I could talk to about anything, I want to know where she went, because I miss her. Nowadays, there are times when you've been acting so aggressively toward me, like I was your least favorite person in the whole world and that you hated me with nearly every bone in your body,"
Lucy's voice didn't yet come back, her eyes though, were now staring at her feet. "B-But-,"
Davis then took in a deep breath, a loud sigh escaping his mouth. "Y'know what? You're right, this is pointless, if you don't want to tell us the truth, we can't make you," he then turned around and was about to walk off.
"Where are you going?" the question came from Ryusei.
"I'm going to look for another nearby spot to patrol, I'm just not in the mood to be around her right now," with that, he began to leave…but then, it happened.
"Wait, don't go!" Lucy screamed, finally finding her words.
Davis just turned his head. "Why should I stay? Do you have some new insult material you want to test on me?"
"No, nothing like that. I'll…I'll tell you the reason I was in your room, the real reason, I swear! Please, just stay here!"
The male knight almost wanted to refuse, but he told himself to give her a chance for old time's sake. So with that, he fully turned back around, walked back to where he stood, and locked his eyes on hers. "Alright, let's hear it,"
Lucy may have succeeded in stopping her squadmate from going, but if her shaking hands said anything, the hard part was yet to come. She slowly closed the distance between them, hesitantly reaching into her satchel, pulling out an envelope before placing it in his hands. Immediately after doing that, she quickly backed up and turned around, covering her ears with her hands.
Davis was more or less confused by the sequence of actions. He scanned the envelope in his grip, there was no name, no stamps, and no artwork of any kind, it was as plain as could be. "So let me get this straight, you were in my room because you wanted to give me a letter?"
"What do you think it's about?" the dragon mage asked curiously. "Do you think it's a Happy Birthday letter? Your birthday is in a week,"
"Well, let's find out," he tore open the envelope and pulled out the second slip of paper, opening it before he silently read its contents to himself, gasping at the end, his eyes shooting up at Lucy who was still covering her ears.
"What's wrong, dude? Did she give a million yul as a birthday present or something?" Ryusei walked over to him, attempting the snatch the letter, but was surprised to see him tightly latching onto it, so the Kaiyo pulled away each of his fingers one by one until it was loose enough to take. "Why thank you, my good man, now, to see what this is all-," he paused, the first sentence already telling him what it was.
"A love letter?! Wow, I didn't think people still made these, I personally think it's a little stupid, but to each their own," he then turned to Davis, his demeanor quickly shifting from comedic to serious. "Then that can only mean one thing,"
"Yeah," that was all the boy said as he walked over to the girl, grabbing ahold of her hands, and putting them down at her sides. "Lucy, you like me?"
"...I do,"
"Then what was with all the insults and name-calling? Last I checked, you don't do that to people you like,"
She slowly turned to face him, unable to hide her huge blush. "I did all of that because…I didn't want to like you anymore,"
Both Davis and Ryusei's faces contorted, looking absolutely bewildered. "What?"
Lucy held her arm, not daring to make eye contact with the object of her affection. "When I first developed feelings for you, I was so happy, I found myself thinking about you non-stop, fantasizing about our future together…then I started thinking about something else. I wanted nothing more than to be with you, but…what if you didn't want to be with me?"
Her grip on her arm tightened. "Every time I thought about you, that doubt would always creep up, and the way it made me feel, the pain it left in my heart, I didn't like it, not at all, I wanted it to go away, so-,"
"So you did all that taunting to try and convince yourself that you fell out of love," Ryusei interjected. "After all, if you don't like him, you don't have to be scared of him rejecting you,"
Lucy said nothing, confirming his answer. However, Davis still had a question to ask. "Then where does the letter come in?"
"Well, I was feeling confident yesterday, I thought that I'd only know for sure how you felt once I confessed, so I went to your room, but you weren't there. I saw you had some envelopes and slips of paper around, so I opted to write a letter, but when I finished it, the doubt came back and I got cold feet, so I decided to hold onto it…that's when you caught me,"
Attention was now on the man of the hour, but it was his turn to be speechless, he looked like his brain was going a mile a minute, trying to process the explanation. "I…I need to think," with that, he excused himself.
Ryusei waited until he was out of earshot to talk to his female friend. "So, that was the big reason, aye?"
"Yeah,"
He then crossed his arms. "Y'know Lucy…you shouldn't have lied like that,"
"What do you mean? I didn't lie to him or you, I really did go to his room to find him, and I do think it's a nice spot," she protested.
The dragon mage raised a brow at that, resting his hands in his pockets. "No, you didn't lie to us, but you did something just as bad: you lied to yourself. In an attempt to deceive your own heart, you did things that threatened to push him away, all because you were scared. Not a wise decision,"
"Easy for you to say, do you have any idea what that pain feels like?! The thought of the person you like, the one you want to be with, never seeing you as anything more than a friend, or maybe even less than that?! Well, do you know what that's like?!" she yelled, tears building up.
Ryusei's calm demeanor remained steadfast as he answered her. "Yes. Yes I do,"
That response made her eyes widen. "Y-You do?"
"Yeah, it was some time ago, but there was a girl I had feelings for, she was strong, sweet, and fierce among other things, so I told her that I liked her. Do you know what she said?" he asked rhetorically, pausing for a bit. "She shot me down on the spot, she did it politely of course, but she still did it; my worst fear came to life, but I was still honest with her and myself,"
Lucy turned her head away, feeling regret. "Oh. I'm…I'm sorry for yelling at you,"
He accepted her apology with a simple nod. "..Y'know, there's this thing about lies, it's such an easy thing to do, but despite that, they have the potential to tear us apart, form chasms between us that may never be fixed, destroy bonds of trust that may never be the same, even an insignificant lie, when not handled properly, can fester into something greater. Take Davis for example," he pointed at the boy, who was gazing at the sky. "You confessed and he said he had to think about it, but just a little while earlier, he wasn't very happy with you. What do you think would happen if you hadn't decided to tell the truth and let him walk away?"
"...We very likely wouldn't be on good terms,"
"Exactly, and since what you feel for him is real, you wouldn't be able to lie to yourself forever, eventually you'd come to embrace your feelings and accept the negatives, but by that point, it'd be too late for you to tell him," he placed a hand on her shoulder. "After all, no one with even a modicum of self-respect would settle for someone who treats them like that, no matter what reason they give,"
"I…I never thought of it like that," she began. "I was so focused on the now that I didn't consider the consequences. I feel so stupid,"
"Hey, don't be too hard on yourself, what's important is that you realize the mistake you made and still have a chance to fix it," Ryusei told her before his eyes picked up on Davis approaching them. "And that chance may come pretty soon, as in right at this moment,"
Lucy's face turned red as the boy reached them, looking a bit nervous himself. "Um, is it alright if we, y'know, talk a bit about all this?"
The girl's blush was accompanied by a nervous smile. "Uh, n-no problem,"
Ryusei's lips twisted into a smile of his own. "I'm heading back to my post, you two can have your alone time, just don't do anything stupid,"
"Please, don't go, it'll be easier to eliminate you if you're all together!"
The introduction of a completely foreign voice startled the trio. Time was up and that meant one thing: it was about to get hectic. Staring up at the roof of a nearby building, they saw two possessed male knights, one Silver Eagle and one Coral Peacock, standing by the edge.
"Eliminate us, what are they talking about?" the dragon mage wondered aloud. "Their attitude isn't the only thing that's strange, the amount of mana coming from them is off the charts,"
The trio never took their eyes off the elves as they jumped down and stood a fair number of yards away. The coral-clad knight, who had spoken up before, opened his mouth again. "Would you look at that, Renod? They have us outnumbered," he said, his voice was confident, not worried in the slightest.
The one called Renod talked in a similar manner as his ally. "Yes, Atticus, they do, but we outmatch them a hundred times over,"
"Um, anyone wanna explain what the hell's their deal?" Lucy wondered aloud.
"I'm just as lost," Davis added. "They do look kinda strange though. Weird aura, weird ears, weird marks on their faces, there's no way this is a coincidence, they must be under someone's control,"
"Under mind control, aye? Damn, what I'd give to have Asta here, his anti-magic would've taken care of this in no time," Ryusei thought. "Alright you two, non-lethal incapacitation is the name of the game,"
"Right,"
"You actually think you can incapacitate us?" Atticus pointed at them. "Mockery will only result in a faster death! Water Magic: Geyser Gush!" two water orbs formed in both hands before he brought them together into one bigger sphere, firing a straight blast.
The three dodged it and scattered, Ryusei being the first to act, summoning his crimson ace, the creature floating beside him. "I'm counting on you, L-Drago, we need to finish this quickly. Dragon Magic: Dragon Emperor's Star Blast Attack!" At his command, L-Drago inhaled and blew out, releasing a devastating blast of glittering red magic.
Renod didn't appear intimidated by the spell. "Oh please, is that all? Iron Magic: Iron Wall!" he exclaimed, blocking it.
"Our turn!" Davis rushed in. "Lucy, you got my back?!"
The girl wasn't too far behind. "Of course I do. Should we do our combo?"
"Good idea. Rubber Creation Magic: Elastic Lash!" he created a cylinder of rubber and held both ends, stretching his arms to extend it into a long whip. Turning around, he started running backward, launching the weapon out as Lucy put her arm up, allowing it to wrap around her wrist, and with that, she was soon in the air, above the enemies.
"Earth Magic: Sunder Ground!" she exclaimed, her feet lighting up as he landed with tremendous force, powerful vibrations spreading in every direction. Her squamates knew what was coming and imbued mana into the legs to jump up at the moment of impact, sparing themselves from the same fate as the elves.
The rubber mage grinned at the sight of them on the ground, making another whip. "Nice, they're defenseless, now let's wrap this up! Rubber Binding Magic: Elastic Boa!" he threw them both, the weapons transforming into a pair of boa constrictors.
"I'll give you that one, but it won't happen again! Water Magic: Liquescent Swirl!" Atticus snapped his fingers, creating a medium-sized whirlpool in front of him, the rotation pulling in the rubber snakes before launching them in other directions.
"Ah crap," the boy cursed under his breath. "Ryu!"
"I'm way ahead of you! Dragon Magic: Dragon Emperor's Meteor Shower!"
The two possessed knights got back on their feet, opting not to meet the new threat with a spell, instead, they decided to evade the falling projectiles with a series of flips and rolls, making the dragon mage widen his eyes. "Dang, they're not making this easy,"
Once they finished moving around, Atticus copied Lucy and took to the skies. "Hey you, girl, time for payback! Water Magic: Deadwater Devastation!" he exclaimed as he placed himself in a diving position with both fists stretched out, but that wasn't it, he began spinning around as water surrounded him.
The earth mage didn't move, her face showed no fear, but rather determination and readiness, preparing an attack of her own to meet it, however, someone got in the way of that.
"Rubber Magic: Shock Absorber!" Davis jumped in front of her, creating a large wall of rubber, from there, it went as well as you'd expect, Atticus hit the wall head-on, only to get bounced back.
Taking down the defense, he turned his head back, saying nothing, just smiling at the girl. Lucy couldn't help but blush madly at that. "Um, t-thanks,"
"You're welcome," he said back as Ryusei regrouped with them. "So, anyone got any ideas? We're virtually at a stalemate,"
"All we can really do is increase the pressure," the Kaiyo suggested. "Making sure we don't hurt them too bad is severely handicapping us,"
Lucy nodded. "He's right, so we shouldn't be talking here for too long and giving them time to plan," she ran up front. "Earth Magic: Pillar Quake!" she exclaimed as she struck the ground with her fist, five sharpened pillars emerging from them, being sent out with a simple hand gesture.
The noble joined in. "Dragon Magic: Spiral Demolition!"
Meanwhile, with the elves, Renod's eyes were fixated on the two spells, he then bowed his upper half. "If you don't mind, my friend, I'll handle this," he charged ahead by himself. "Iron Creation Magic: Blade of Triumph!"
The elf had a battle plan, and it started with finding a way around the deathly pillars. Rather than doing the obvious by cutting them with his sword, the possessed Silver Eagle performed two sets of jumps, the first was to get onto one of the pillars, and the second one got him off of it, now having to contend with the sphere, but it proved no challenge as he effortlessly cut it in two. He still had one more step in his plan, and that involved stabbing his sword into the ground.
That last part garnered confused looks from the crimson trio, but they soon realized what was going on as their mana sense flared. Not wasting a second, they leaped in unison, and just in time as a litter of blades erupted from where they just were.
Renod, however, smirked evilly, they did exactly what he wanted them to. "My turn for payback! Iron Creation Magic: Drillhead Catastrophe!" he followed up by firing an array of spinning drillheads.
Even though they were in mid-air, Ryusei and Lucy were able to weave around them all, but their friend wasn't as lucky. "AHH!" he screamed in pain as three of the missiles pierced both arms and his left shin.
"Davis!" they exclaimed upon landing. Lucy ran over to him, standing protectively in front of him.
"I already hurt you enough, I won't them harm you any further,"
"...Thanks,"
"Lucy, do you think you can heal him?!"
"I can, but I need some cover!"
Ryusei eyed his ace. "L-Drago, keep them safe! Dragon Magic: Emperor's Den!" at his command, the crimson dragon flew to the two knights, wrapping himself around them like a dome as he exuded a dark red aura.
The Kaiyo turned to face the enemy, he had to do this alone now. "I need to weigh my options. L-Drago is protecting those guys, and it'll cost me too much mana to keep him around and summon Erebus, so it looks like it's up to the Draigs. Hmm, water and iron do pretty well against fire, so it wouldn't be smart to use Teine…hold on, their attributes are water and iron, two elements that are weak to…electricity. There's only one option then,"
"Dragon Creation Magic: Draig Dealanaich!" he summoned the blue dragon. "It's just you and me, bud, let 'em have it!"
The creature let loose a straight beam of lightning, Renod being the first to dodge it, Atticus doing the same soon after. Ryusei decided to use this as his chance to attack. "Dragon Magic: Lotus Dragon Dance!" he brought one of his legs up into his field of vision before doing a 360-degree spin, red mana following his foot, creating the outline of a circle, and from that circle emerged petals of the spell's namesake, those petals shooting into the sky and toward his foes, resembling mini dragons.
"A waste of time!" Renod parried each of the attacks, stabbing his sword back into the ground, but his opponent and his dragon ally once more avoided danger.
"I need to take him out first, that move he does with his sword is the biggest obstacle right now," Ryusei thought. "Dealanaich, cover me!"
The minor dragon obeyed the order, continuing his sets of blasts, giving his master a chance to get airborne, his sights set on the possessed iron mage as his grimoire flipped through pages, landing on one. "Dragon Magic: Grand Dragon Smash!" he brought both hands together and reeled them vertically as red mana covered them. The speed at which it was coming was faster than Renod had expected, he had no time to cast something, relegating his sword to the role of shield as it blocked the attack, but the impact was massive, sending a shockwave in each direction, even managing to push the sword wielder back.
The Kaiyo internally noted how he was still in mid-air, his enemy was a strong one, but the position he was in meant gravity was on his side and he'd eventually win out. "You two don't know when to call it quits, do you?"
Renod growled. "We will never quit, never! Not until every single human is dead!"
Ryusei was perplexed by that statement. "Um, I don't know if it's been a while since you've seen a mirror, but you two are humans as well,"
"Don't mock us, we are not like you, we are proud elves!"
"Elves?"
"Water Magic: Torrential Tornado!" Atticus swooped in, launching a blast of spiraling water, pushing Ryusei back before he could win the stalemate.
"Crap, I almost had him," he muttered, kneeling down, but right as he did, he instinctively retracted it upon feeling part of his pants dampen. Staring down, he saw that the road was considerably wet, no doubt caused by the multiple water spells cast since the fight's beginning. Gears began turning in his brain, he had an idea. "Dealanaich, I need you to-,"
"Oh no you don't!" Renod cut him off, repeating the long-ranged move for the third time, making the dragon mage jump. "And now for that pesky beast!"
"Plan A got scrapped, plan B then. Dragon Creation Magic: Dealanaich - Thundering Lance!" he cried out as the dragon became an orb of blue light and zoomed to him, the light fading to reveal a blue and silver spear-like glaive.
"Now or never!" he threw the lance directly downward, it pierced the wet ground before crackling with blue lightning, electricity traveling along the trail of water over to the elves, subjecting them to electrocution before they could react.
"AHHHH! AHHHHH! AHHHHH!"
Ryusei landed softly, finding whatever dry spots on the ground he could to spare himself from the same fate. "Dealanaich, return," the glaive reverted back into light, shooting into the boy's grimoire, putting an end to the torture as the two collapsed, unconscious. "I win,"
Turning around, he ran over to his other dragon. "L-Drago, return," he did the same action, Lucy and an unconscious Davis in sight, dirt surrounding his wounds.
"Woah, you beat them all on your own?"
"Kinda, I had help. Is he going to be okay?"
"Yeah, he lost a good amount of blood from that attack, it's best that he rests for now. We should take him to HQ,"
"Sounds like a plan, let's just hope we don't have to fight anyone there too,"
Lucy chuckled. "Don't jinx it," she began walking east with her crush, stopping when she didn't hear other footsteps, it turned out Ryusei hadn't moved an inch. "You coming?"
"Yup, just thinking about something, I'll catch up with you," he told her, hearing her walk further and further away before he spoke up again.
"So, those were elves, aye?" he mused aloud before making his way over to his friends.
"Odd…they're nowhere near as nice as you said they were,"
It was pandemonium.
Just a few minutes before, Rhya had told his allies that the time for singular fights was over, and now that they would fight together, and with that decision came havoc. Elements were flying every which way, and Mereoleona was at the center of all of it.
"Would it kill you to stay still for just one second?!" Rossa exclaimed, throwing out a Rock Storm.
"Would it kill me? Not really, but I don't feel like giving you that luxury!" she replied, jumping from platform to platform to dodge the attack, coming to a short stop as she picked up two mana signatures.
Those signatures belonged to Rhya and Lira, both elves coming from opposite sides via portals, trying a different approach than what's been used so far.
"Picture Binding Magic: Spring of Restriction!"
"Copy Light Binding: Light Chains of Bondage!"
The flame mage didn't stay still long enough for either move to take effect, leaping down to ground level. "What's this, binding spells?" she grinned. "Sorry, but those won't do you much good either,"
Just as she finished saying that, two attacks struck her from behind, courtesy of Lavani and Gehnora, forcing her on the move again. "What the hell happened? I should've sensed those spells. Curse that stupid snow!"
She wasn't the only one to wonder about it. "I think she's finally starting to get sloppy, this might be our chance," Rhya said to himself, his eye falling on Lira who was holding his chin. "Is something on your mind?"
"Yeah, I got a plan,"
The copy mage looked pleasantly surprised. "A plan? Never seen you come up with one of those in a while, or ever, I think,"
"Watch it there, anyways, the plan will need you. You wouldn't mind following my lead, would you?" Lira requested.
"Sure, show me what you got cooking up in that brain of yours,"
"Sandstone Magic: Stone Riser!" Rossa sent out a larger attack. "You're done, human!"
"Flame Magic: Calidos Bestia!" she sent her own attack, strangely resulting in a stalemate of all things. The captain found herself breathing heavily, the snow, the numbers, the increased power, it was all taking a toll on her, she couldn't even recall the last fight she'd ever been in where she was starting to feel so worn out. If she was still in her youth, she'd have probably reached her limit at this point.
But that was then, and this is now.
Crouching her legs, she became like a rocket, blitzing the possessed sandstone mage, sucker-punching him right in the face, unfortunately for her though, Gehnora came to his rescue, catching him before he could hit the wall.
"Are you alright?" she asked.
He touched his face with his available hand, wincing in pain. "I'll live, I didn't think she still had that much fight left in her,"
"No worries, in time, my snow will leave her unable to fight back at all," she said back, letting go of him so he could fly on his own before she flew in at top speed. "Snow Magic: Eternal Blizzard!" she spun violently in a vertical sense, conjuring an equally violent snowstorm, blowing sharp, cold air at Mereoleona's face.
Closing her eyes, the royal was forced to jump away from the blizzard's area of effect. As much as she hated to admit it, if she wanted to keep on fighting, she couldn't afford to exert large amounts of mana like she had before, removing her best option when dealing with attributes that were disadvantageous to hers.
Once she no longer felt the cold sting, she opened her eyes, but that's when she was met with a familiar surprise in the form of Rhya and Lira. "Are they going to try binding spells again?" she thought, however, her assumption was proven wrong as the elves exclaimed their spells.
"Picture Magic: Subterranean Giant's Iron Fist!"
"Copy Picture Magic: Subterranean Giant's Iron Fist!"
The vermillion was seeing double as two fists were coming at her from both sides, forcing her to bring her arms to stop them, and while she succeeded in making sure they didn't crush her, the pair of spells had succeeded in keeping her suspended in mid-air, essentially defenseless.
"Which one of you would like to have the honors?!" Rhya called out to the others, but one elf already passed by him.
"That honor would be mine! Wing Magic: Peregrine Dropkick!" Lavani exclaimed, coming in hot as she landed a direct hit on her gut, shooting her down to the ground, a cloud of dust rising, but the elf didn't care. "Wing Magic: Angel Flapping!" she then proceeded to fire feathers, not bothering to see if they hit or not.
However, as the dust settled, it had indeed made contact, the royal knight's robe was tattered and torn, covered with feathers and dirt, but despite all of that, she still got up, standing defiantly against them.
The five elves all flew down to ground level, each glaring at the woman who was still refusing to just drop dead. For the first time since the battle had been waged, there was a real silence, all that was heard was breathing, though it was eventually ended by a certain action.
Rhya's hands clapping together.
"I'll give it to you, Madam Royal, you've earned this, I may hate you, but I somewhat respect you; consider this an honor though, I haven't clapped for a human in five centuries, granted I'm starting to wonder if you even are a human, contending with five of us is no easy feat,"
"It's not that hard, you're all just weak," she spat back.
"Ironic coming from the chick who looks like she could die at any minute," the copy mage gave his own retort. "You know what I think? I think we've entertained ourselves enough with you, we still have a runt to track down, so it's time this fight comes to a close,"
Mereoleona chuckled. "I couldn't agree more, but I won't be the one dying," she closed her eyes momentarily, two people flashing by in her mind's eye, the image panning out to reveal more people. "There are two idiots who still need their big sister, a bigger group of idiots who still need their captain, and a mission that still needs to be completed! As long as all that remains, I won't let death take me! This is it! No more holding back!"
Clenching her fists, she began radiating fiery mana, but this was entirely different than every other instance, the power exuding from her was on a whole other level of intensity, and it only kept growing, putting looks of shock on her foes.
"Flame Magic - Mana Zone Full Release…!"
Rhya gasped at the words she exclaimed. "Mana Zone Full Release? I didn't know the humans knew how to do that, this might not be so good after all,"
"Hm, I could've sworn I've heard that technique's name before. Wasn't it Licht who was trying to learn how to do it?" Lira wondered aloud. "Do any of you mind filling me in on how it works?"
"The conventional Mana Zone has the mage establish control of the environment's mana within their personal minimum to maximum range, from there, they enhance the performance of spells by using fractions of that mana at a time. Full Release brings it to the next stage by having all the mana within the chosen range aid in the spell at once," the disloyal one explained.
"I'm guessing that's bad for us,"
"Very bad,"
"I hear you yapping, I take it those were your last words, now you can all go back to hell, where you belong!"
"...Calidos Brachium Purgatory!"
With one last triumphant call, her flames changed color, going from a fierce orange to a cool blue, but it was not to be underestimated, this was a move of mass destruction. The flames spread out in every direction, sparing no corner, ready to incinerate whatever or whoever stood in its path.
"Everyone, brace yourselves!" Rhya yelled, while Mereoleona laughed.
"HAHAHAHAHA! HAHAHAHAHA! HAHAHAHAHA!"
The devastating attack went on for a whole minute, and when that minute ended, the flames began to dissipate slowly, revealing what it had done to the landscape; no platform remained, each one had been burned out of existence, the only evidence of them ever being there was the ash that formed piles on the ground. As for the walls, they took on a new color, no longer gray, but a charred black, having been seared, leaving no trace of its former identity behind.
But what about the elves? Had they survived or had they perished? Well, somehow, someway, the former is what came to pass. All five of them were on the ground, alive, but clearly injured, in the case of the possessed Royal Knights, their robes suffered noticeable damage, acquiring cuts and holes.
"Is…everyone okay?" the copy mage asked, slowly rising to his feet, holding his right arm.
The others rose up too, inspecting wherever they had gotten hurt. "Yeah. Thanks,"
"Don't thank me, thank Radiant Shields of Ultimate Justice,"
Gehnora scanned the area. "Her spell melted all my snow,"
"Speaking of her spell, what about her?" Lavani wondered aloud.
The possessed snow mage pointed to a lingering cloud of dust. "We're about to see right now," she replied as the dust settled, and there stood Mereoleona, bloody and bruised, her eyes shut.
Rhya whistled. "Would you look at that? She passed out on her feet, I've never seen anyone do that before,"
"Not to mention she's out of magic, she's completely vulnerable," Rossa added.
"Who are you calling…vulnerable?" a weak voice spoke, it came from the flame mage, her eyes opening. "I can still destroy you, so don't be shy, come and get me,"
The copy mage grinned. "As you wish. You've done a lot better than I thought you would, so out of respect, we'll finish you off with a bang," he extended his hand, an orb of yellow mana forming above, his friends doing the same.
"Copy Light Magic…,"
"Picture Magic…,"
"Wing Magic…,"
"Snow Magic…,"
"Sandstone Magic…,"
Raising their hands, the orbs flowed upwards, converging into a rainbow-colored mass that gradually grew in size. The spell would need time, so Rhya decided to throw taunts while he still had the chance. "I can't believe you seriously thought that you'd come out the victor and actually manage to kill us, you royals. With you dead, defeating the rest of the humans will undoubtedly be a lot easier for-,"
He stopped himself, sensing a small surge of magic a few meters away, focusing on a wall behind the flame mage, his eyes then widened ever so slightly when he noticed a magic circle appear and a hole formed in the wall as two figures blitzed forward.
They were none other than Asta and Zora, standing in front of their captain.
The copy mage burst into laughter. "Hahaha! You guys actually came back? Hey, I guess that means I won't have to track you down, lucky me,"
"Why are…you two here?" Mereoleona weakly asked.
"We're here to save you," Asta replied.
"I don't…need your help,"
"You could've fooled us," Zora retorted with a snark, turning around. "You're good, Ms. Savage, no doubt about that, but we Magic Knights work together, and that means we'll have your back,"
The royal conjured the rest of her strength to chuckle. "Is that so…fine then, I'll leave the rest to you," she said, allowing herself to fully pass out.
The swordsman turned to his teammate. "You ready?"
"Yeah, let's just hope this works,"
Rhya stared up at the mass, seeing that it was ready for action. "Here we go!"
"Compound Spell: Elemental Quintet!" they exclaimed in unison, firing it.
The pair of royal knights gasped at the attack's power, destroying the ground underneath, but they got back to business as the ash mage stepped forward, preparing to take the attack.
Rhya was confused by that. "What's he doing?"
Despite death being the clear result of clean contact, Zora was calm, taking a deep breath.
"Fine then, we'll do things your way. But do you at least have a plan?"
A smile creased his face. "As a matter of fact, I do,"
"Then what is it?"
Asta lodged the Slayer in the ground. "It starts with us waiting,"
"Waiting?"
"Yes. You raised a fair point, if we go there and fight, we won't stand a chance, so we need to ambush them at the right time,"
Zora held his chin. "Alright, that doesn't sound too bad. When will we stage the ambush then?"
The magicless mage dramatically pointed into the air. "When they bust out their huge combo attack,"
Zora deadpanned. "Combo…attack?"
"Yeah. Even if the captain isn't strong enough to win, she is strong enough to push them to use a big move, and what bigger move is there than a combo attack," he explained. "Since you can sense mana, you'll know when they're about to do it, then we move in,"
"I see, and I take it you want me to use my doubling reflector trap?"
He nodded. "Exactly, but that isn't all," he then turned to face the pile of rubble, becoming disheartened. "But there won't be any chance to do the plan if we don't get out of here,"
"I can handle it. My traphole traps displace matter when they're activated to make space, I'll use it to clear us a path back into that room,"
"Awesome!"
Zora exhaled, grinning as the blast finally hit him, but instead of the worst coming to pass, his magic circle appeared, the attack being completely absorbed.
The elves were shocked. "Did he neutralize the attack?" Rossa wondered aloud.
Gehnora tilted her head. "He couldn't have, it was far too powerful,"
"Don't be confused, I didn't neutralize shit, I'm just sending it back at double the force!" he exclaimed, the trap doing just that.
"No way!" the shock doubled, but it was about to triple when they saw what happened next.
Asta ran at high speeds, standing in between them and the incoming strengthened blast.
"Now what's he doing?!"
"Awesome!"
With that, Zora drew a circle and threw it at a part of the wall close to the rubble pile; he walked over and tapped it with a finger, creating a hole. "Let's get a move on,"
"Right," Asta grabbed the Slayer as they entered the hole. It was devoid of light, but they weren't in need of it, so they just kept going.
Eventually, they reached the limits of the hole, Zora repeating the same procedure. "By the way, there's something I wanted to ask you about the plan,"
"What is it?"
"I asked if you wanted me to use my doubling reflector trap and you said yes, but it wasn't all. Spill it, what's the rest?"
Asta came to a standstill. "I don't want to kill those elves, they're in the bodies of our comrades, I just want to incapacitate them to buy us time to escape. The problem is, they're really strong, doubling the attack back at them may not do it,"
"Then what do you suggest we do?"
"We'll double it one more time. Quadruple it!"
Reeling the Slayer back, Asta slammed his sword into the blast in an attempt to deflect it, but it was proving difficult, the force was pushing him back. "I'm not giving up!" the veins in his arms pulsated as he successfully sent it back to Zora.
While the swordsman was doing what he did, the ash mage quickly inscribed another circle and threw it in front of him in time for the attack to reach it. "Nice, this actually might work," he thought, but worry soon came as the circle began to crack.
"Shit, I made it too fast, it's not going to be able to send it back!"
In a matter of seconds, Asta was behind the circle, his sword already reeled. "Then I'll do that part!" he hit it head-on, shooting the spell back with even more force, going so fast, the elves had time to evade, getting hit directly, dust rising.
"Now we can leave!" Asta carried Mereoleona while Zora made a pitfall trap for them to descend into.
Thirty seconds after they left, the dust settled…and the elves advanced, their clothes practically destroyed except for the black bodysuits underneath, with Rhya now being bare-chested.
"Damn, that actually hurt, a lot," Lira said.
"True, but we're still in one piece," Lavani said back. "I'll give it to the humans, whatever they used for that attire was quite durable.
"We can worry about the pain later. Are we going to let them escape?" the question came from the possessed snow mage.
Rhya shook his head. "Nope,"
Meanwhile, the royal knights were traversing a new area full of floating platforms. "I told you we could pull it off!" Asta cheered to his squadmate.
"Yeah yeah, you were right. So, what's our next move? We still need to find a way to contact the kingdom,"
"We can start by getting out of here and seeing if anyone else was unaffected by the reincarnation like we were. Things may not be looking well, but we can still come out on top,"
"Yeah, I don't think so," Rhya suddenly said, sticking the top half of his body through a portal that appeared right next to the swordsman. He quickly grabbed onto his wrist. "You have something that doesn't belong to you, and it's about time we take it back,"
Asta tried to pull himself free, but the man's grip was surprisingly strong, there was only one thing he could do now. "Zora, catch!"
He used his available hand to toss the unconscious captain over to the trapster. "I'm leaving her to you,"
"What?" he gasped, catching her, the sudden increase of weight making him lose his balance and begin to fall. "After all that talk about everyone making it out of this alive, you're going to let yourself be taken?!"
"Don't worry, I'll be okay," he tried to reassure him, giving him a thumbs-up as he was pulled in.
"You better be! If you don't come back, I'm not going to be happy! You hear me!" he yelled as he fell into the darkness beneath.
"ASTA!"