Chapter Thirteen: At the Capital (Part 3)
Hey there readers, just wanted to say something, I was scrolling through my reviews and saw one that asked if I could update more often, I'm a Junior in high school just trying to get through this pandemic, as such, I can get quite busy, but I will do my utmost best to get a chapter in every week, this is Thanksgiving week, so I'm for sure going to post another one before this week ends, thank you for all the support. With that out of the way, enjoy the newest chapter.
"The Eye of the Midnight Sun...bathe the kingdom in destruction and chaos?" the three Magic Knights thought in unison.
Rades saw them standing in silence and grinned evilly. "What's this, are the Magic Knights scared?"
Kenos pointed a finger at him. "You wish, we won't let you succeed, if it's true that you're the mage responsible for the zombies, then all we have to do is defeat you and it'll be over,"
"That's where you're wrong, boy," Rades replied. "You see, I'm not the only mage here, there are others, as for where some of them are at the time, that I don't know,"
The three gulped, there were more of them at the capital, if just one mage can create enough zombies to span the entire royal capital, how strong were all the others.
"He said there were others, so can that mean…?" Zuka thought. "Hey you, by any chance, do you know a girl with long purple hair who uses Spark magic?!"
"Long purple hair? Spark magic? You mean Annalise!" Rades said before his facial expression changed. "What a minute, you're the mage who roughed her up aren't you?!"
"It wasn't just me, my squadmates were there too, and for your information, she attacked us first!" Zuka exclaimed.
"Doesn't matter, you're going to pay, go and kill them, my loyal corpses!" the mage exclaimed as zombies came and surrounded the three.
"These things again," Kenos muttered, putting on his ring as the light aura surrounded him, his grimoire then came up to him. "Solar Creation Magic: Solar Construct - Twin Blades!"
"Sparkle Creation Magic: Glittering Lance!" Zuka joined in as she equipped her signature weapon.
Asta gripped the sword in his hand. "Okay, let's do this, Kenos, Zuka!" he exclaimed.
"Right!" the two exclaimed back as they ran in different directions striking the zombies in their way.
Kenos slashed through zombie after zombie, aiming at their chests as that was the quickest place to target, but it didn't take long for him or the others to notice that they were getting up after every strike, he grit his teeth.
Rades laughed. "Having trouble there, well you should, my corpses get up after every hit, that's the power of my Wraith magic!"
"They keep getting up after every strike, so no matter how many times we hit them, they'll get up...wait, I have an idea, but it's risky," the solar mage thought. "Take this!" he exclaimed as he used both of his blades on one zombie, but instead of aiming at its chest, he went for its arms, cutting them off.
"He went for the arms, what's he thinking?" Asta and Zuka thought, seeing what Kenos did.
"Now for the next part, Solar Creation Magic: Rain of Solar Daggers!" he exclaimed as the daggers fell on all zombies in his vicinity, falling on the ground.
"And now for the last part!" he continued as he went to the zombie whose arms he cut off, and cut off its legs, he saw its body still moving, but without its limbs, it couldn't stand up.
Rades' eyes widened. "What the?!"
Zuka and Asta's eyes showed realization as they saw Kenos' plan. "Not bad, if we can't beat them quickly, we can stop their movement, nice plan," Asta said.
"Wait, I don't have a blade spell, my lance isn't designed to cut," Zuka said.
"And my blades are dull, they can't do massive cutting damage," Asta added.
Kenos looked at them. "Okay then, catch!" he exclaimed, throwing both of his blades at them, each catching one, he then equipped another blade. "Now we're all set,"
They then went on the attack, using Kenos' strategy, only five minutes passed before all the zombies around them were on the ground, their limbs scattered, unable to stand.
"What was that about killing us?!" Zuka exclaimed as the solar blades she and Asta had disappeared.
Rades grit his teeth. "You just got lucky, but that luck is about to end, behold, Wraith Magic: No. 4 - Jimmy!" he exclaimed as a portal appeared on the ground and a thing came up from it, it was another zombie, but this one had the appearance of a tall man with long arms, its body covered in bandages, and purple spheres floating around it.
"That one looks a lot stronger," Kenos noted.
"It does because it is, meet a member of my greatest weapons, the Number Corpse Series, No. 4 - Jimmy," Rades explained. "As well as being one of my spells, each member of the series has their own attribute, as for Jimmy!"
The wraith mage pointed at the three, almost as if on cue, Jimmy launched the purple spheres at them, Kenos and Zuka managed to evade all the ones that came their way, Asta was able to do the same, until three spheres came at him and hit his right arm, left knee, and left cheek.
"Asta!" the two exclaimed, but Asta didn't look like he was hurt.
"Huh?" the swordsman asked aloud, the attack felt like just a small scratch. "So is that all you go-," he began, before dropping to one knee, suddenly feeling weak.
"I wouldn't be so quick to taunt if I were you, why don't you look at your wounds again," Rades said.
Asta did as he said and widened his eyes at what he saw, a large amount of blood was oozing out of his arm and knee, he then touched his left cheek and felt blood dripping there too. "W-What did you do?"
"I did say each member of my corpse series has their own attribute, well Jimmy's is Curse magic, even the slightest scratch will cause massive bleeding, the attack itself might not hurt a lot, but it doesn't matter since you'll bleed out instead!"
Kenos grit his teeth. "Damn you, Solar Magic: Sunbeam Ray!" he exclaimed, firing at Jimmy, however, the curse corpse merely crossed his arms, blocking the attack.
"Sparkle Creation Magic: Shimmering Bow!" Zuka exclaimed, firing an arrow, but that was blocked too.
"I told you already didn't I, the Number Corpse Series are much stronger than my average corpses, those attacks of yours won't do anything," Rades said.
Kenos bit his tongue. "He's right, Sunbeam Ray won't cut it, I need something stronger, should I use Solar Cross Destroyer, it should have enough power to take it down?" he thought to himself before deciding. "Nah, while it is the best option, it uses up a sizeable amount of mana, and right now, I have to focus on preserving mana, doing something too reckless could take me out of this fight early, and we don't even know the full extent of the threat yet,"
"Go Jimmy, curse those other two pests!" Rades exclaimed as Jimmy launched the spheres at just Kenos and Zuka.
"I got this," Kenos said, ready to cast an Amaterasu's Guard spell, but Zuka got in front of him. "What, Zuka?"
"Leave this to me, I've changed since our team up in Rielzu, just watch," she answered as the spheres got closer. "Sparkle Creation Magic: Glittering Barrier!" she exclaimed as sparkles came out of her grimoire, the same that would condense into her weapons, but this time, light gathered around it, forming a barrier which protected them from the curse spheres.
The barrier then fell, Kenos looking surprised. "A defense spell? But I thought you didn't know any?"
"I didn't, Shauna is a support mage, we and Oliver were on a mission a week ago and she totally killed it, seeing her do that reminded me of what you told me in Rielzu, about how it's important to know more than one spell type, so I asked Shauna to help me and I was able to learn my first defense spell," the sparkle mage explained.
"Awesome, I'll be honest, I didn't think you'd take my words to heart," he admitted.
"Why wouldn't I? It's advice from a friend, and good advice at that," she said back.
"If you two are done chit-chatting, I think it's time for you to die!" the wraith mage exclaimed as more zombies appeared, surrounding the three once again.
"Shit, how many of those does he have?" Zuka wondered aloud.
"I don't know, but we have a problem this time around," Kenos replied before stating. "Asta won't stop bleeding due to Jimmy's curse, meaning he'll slowly run out of strength, and then there's Jimmy himself, he can just send those curse things at us while we're fighting,"
Zuka lightly nodded with understanding. "I see, so is there any way to solve it?"
Kenos nodded back. "There is: we need reinforcements,"
Just then, as if the heavens honored Kenos' words, a stream of flames passed by them, incinerating half of the zombies, the three turned to see Leopold, Fuegoleon, and Noelle not too far away from them.
"Well damn, that was some oddly good timing," Zuka muttered.
"I knew I'd find you here, my rival!" Leopold exclaimed. "But it seems you're having some trouble, mind if we lend a hand,"
"That would be awesome," Asta replied as he gripped his sword and faced Rades. "I just caught my second wind, I might still be bleeding, but I'm not going to give up!"
"Fine by me, you'll just end up killing yourself, go Jimmy!" Rades exclaimed as Jimmy launched more spheres, this time, however, Asta managed to evade them all.
"Those shots follow a pattern, you won't catch me again!" the magicless mage exclaimed, running towards Jimmy before jumping into the air.
Meanwhile, the others were taking down the zombies. "Let's see how you like this, Flame Magic: Spiral Flame!" Leopold exclaimed as he fired two tornadoes of fire from his hands at nearby zombies, incinerating them.
"Flame Magic: Sol Linea!" Fuegoleon exclaimed as a sphere of flame appeared by his chest, he concentrated it before firing off a straight blue beam at the zombies in front of him, piercing through their chests before their bodies became incinerated from the inside out.
"Incredible, since the two of them use Flame magic, they don't have to implement my strategy, the flames burn the bodies anyways, their attribute has the advantage here, good to know," Kenos noted.
"Awesome, their numbers are dropping like flies, you two can finish this!" Zuka exclaimed, impressed by the two brothers as well.
Fuegoleon stepped forward. "I'll finish them, Flame Creation Magic: Leo Rugiens!" he exclaimed as fire gathered behind him, taking the shape of a lion, it then released a huge blast of flames from its mouth, thanks to the huge amount of area it could cover, every zombie was hit, once the flames vanished, the others were surprised to see that there wasn't a trace of them, not even a pile of their ashes.
"That should take care of that problem," the vermillion-haired captain said before noticing someone at the corner of his eye, it was Noelle, ever since the three arrived there, she just stood there, watching as the others fought. He could see a look in her eyes, a look of uncertainty and despair, he walked over to her. "Is something the matter, Noelle?"
"Um, no, it's just that you and Leopold did a good job, there was nothing I needed to do...or could do for that matter," she replied, faking a normal voice, before letting the sadness come out at the end.
"I see, is this about what your siblings told you?" he asked, Noelle didn't verbally respond, but gave a light nod. Fuegoleon then raised his hand before dropping it on Noelle's head in a chopping motion.
"Ow, that hurt!" the water mage rubbed her head.
"Don't worry about what they told you, do you remember what Oxanna said after Solid called you a failure?" he asked.
"What she said?" Noelle wondered, thinking back to what the phantom mage had said in her defense. "She said that just because someone's weak now, doesn't mean they'll be weak forever,"
"Correct, there's no problem in being weak, the problem lies in staying weak, which begs the question: are you going to stay as you are, in fear of your family, or are you going to become stronger and prove to them that they were wrong, that you're not a failure?" Fuegoleon asked before walking away.
Noelle wasn't too sure what to say, this was the first time one of her relatives openly encouraged her. "I'm...I'm going to be strong, then, I won't live in fear of them anymore, after all, I'm royalty, I am Noelle Silva!"
Fuegoleon kept walking, and though Noelle couldn't see it, a slight smile was on his face.
Back with the other mages, they had split up throughout the capital, battling zombies everywhere, while doing their best to protect the citizens.
"Damn it, is there no end to these things?!" Oliver groaned, smashing zombie after zombie with his hammer.
"I know, but we have to keep trying, we're starting to dwindle their numbers," Klaus responded. "Steel Creation Magic: Spiral Drill Shower!"
At his call, the drills fell on the zombies, ripping apart the limbs of some as they did, Klaus grinned. "Nice,"
"I got this bunch," Hamon said, walking calmly to a horde of zombies, his grimoire floating in front of him. "Glass Creation Magic: Verne Fleur!" he exclaimed, raising his hands as sharp glass rose from the ground, trapping them.
"Wood Magic: Gale of Splinters!" Oliver exclaimed, firing them off, before turning his head. "How are things on your end, Shauna?"
"Not too bad, my magic isn't really built for this, but I'll do my best, I can't let you three do all the work, Illusion Magic: Creature of the Unknown + Illusionary Multitude!" Shauna replied before exclaiming as a group of red creatures appeared, tearing apart nearby zombies before vanishing.
"A double spell, impressive, and here I thought only Yuno could do something like that," Klaus stated before a thought came to his head. "Speaking of Yuno, I wonder how he's doing,"
"Take this, Wind Creation Magic: Swift White Hawk!"
Yuno was doing just fine, he and Mimosa had teamed up to cover the west area with some other mages, while he was taking out the zombies, Mimosa had brought the nearby citizens to safety and began healing whatever wounds they sustained.
"Mimosa, are those all of the people?!" he exclaimed.
The plant mage nodded. "Yes, what about you, how are you doing?"
"I'm managing, but these zombies just keep coming," Yuno replied, catching his breath.
Bell flew out. "Yuno, you're starting to tire out, you need to rest for a while,"
"I can't Bell, I'm the only mage defending this group of people as well as Mimosa, resting is out of the option," the wind mage said back before hearing a sound, he saw hordes of zombies still coming, but this time, the sound also came from behind him, he turned and saw another horde.
"Oh no, they're coming from both sides!" Mimosa exclaimed, she quickly began scanning around, looking for a place for the people to escape, she then noticed a small alleyway. "There's no way all the people could get through that, there are some who are injured,"
Yuno flew down to her. "Then I'll just take them both down,"
Mimosa looked uncertain. "Are you sure?"
Yuno nodded. "I have to,"
"Just wait there, Yuno," Bell interrupted. "If you want to take them down fast, you're going to have to use my power,"
"Okay then, let's do-," the wind mage was about to say, before hearing voices coming from the alleyway.
"Don't worry, we'll bring you to safety," one voice said as they emerged from the alleyway.
The two mages' eyes widened as they saw who was there, Dante and Oxanna, on Dante's back was an old lady, and holding Oxanna's hand was a little boy.
"Dante, and Oxanna," Mimosa said.
The two ran to them. "Mimosa, and four-leaf clover boy, are we glad to have run into you," Oxanna said.
"My name is Yuno," the wind mage corrected her as Oxanna quickly apologized.
"You'll be safe now, Mimosa is a healer," Dante said, turning to the plant mage. "This old lady broke her leg, her grandson is fine though,"
"Thank you very much, Sir Dante, Lady Oxanna," the lady said as Dante set her down gently, she was then encased in Mimosa's flower cradle, her grandson sitting down beside her.
"How are things going here?" Oxanna asked before catching a glimpse of the two hordes of zombies, coming in from both sides. "Ooh, not that good,"
Dante walked over to Yuno. "You look tired, mind if we take over for you so you can rest?"
"No, I'll be just-," Yuno was about to say before Bell flew in front of him.
"Yes, your help would be much appreciated," the spirit interrupted.
"Bell," Yuno muttered as she turned to him.
"You belong to me Yuno, and I belong to you, as such, I can't let you go past your limits, rest for now, then you can get back into it, okay,"
Yuno sighed. "Fine then,"
Bell smiled. "Thanks,"
"And for the record Bell, only you belong to me, not the other way around," the wind mage fired with a look of comedic indifference.
"Oh c'mon, why'd you have to ruin that perfect moment by saying that?!" the spirit exclaimed, pulling on Yuno's cheek.
Yuno pushed her away before turning to the two siblings. "I'm counting on you two,"
"And you won't be disappointed, that much I can assure you," Dante said back as he and Oxanna walked on different ends, each facing their own horde of zombies. "These zombies have caused quite the trouble, wouldn't you say, and they don't go down that easily,"
Oxanna grinned. "Right you are brother, so I say we give them everything we got," she said as Dante nodded.
"It's time to show you the pride of the Rossiu House!" the two siblings exclaimed together, taking out their grimoires.
"I'll begin, Steel Creation Magic: Rampaging Iron Wyvern!" Dante exclaimed as a large Wyvern of steel appeared, it flew towards the horde, rotating its body as steel blades shot off, cutting off every zombie's arms, the wyvern then stopped spinning before crashing right into the horde, using its sharp steel wings to cut them in half.
"Impressive as always, but it's time to show you what I got, Phantom Creation Magic: Wyvern Spectre!" Oxanna exclaimed as a ghostly gray wyvern appeared, it flew towards the horde of zombies, a ghostly wind accompanying it, the wyvern swirled around the horde, the phantasmal wind carrying them into the air before the wyvern flew into them, only dust fell to the ground.
Yuno and Mimosa gasped, the two hordes of zombies had been eliminated almost instantly.
"Those spells are on a completely different level, so that's the power of the wyvern spells those of the Rossiu house can wield, these two really are no joke," Yuno thought as a drop of sweat fell down the side of his face.
"We're not going to lose, the ones who caused this are going to pay!" Dante and Oxanna exclaimed together.
"Take this!" Asta exclaimed, descending on Jimmy, his sword cutting through the powerful corpse.
"No, Jimmy!" Rades exclaimed before angrily turning to Asta. "Now I'm really mad, Wraith Magic: No. 2 - Alfred!"
At his call, the portal from before appeared and another corpse came up, this one had the appearance of a man, he didn't have any legs, his entire body was covered in bandages while his arms were restricted by a straitjacket, and a tattered cloth was around his neck.
"Fear the power of Alfred, unlike Jimmy, his attribute is Lightning!" the wraith mage exclaimed as a wave of electricity surrounded Alfred, it then shot bolts at Asta.
"Lightning, so it's the same as Luck's," Asta said, just managing to dodge the attack, soon dropping to his knees from the continual blood loss.
"Asta!" Kenos yelled, running to him.
"Not so fast, you're not interfering, Wraith Magic: No. 3 - David!" Rades continued as another corpse appeared, this one was a lot bulkier than the previous ones, it was made up of baggy clothes. "Keep them back David, here's some backup!" more zombies then appeared behind the bulky corpse.
"Damn it," Kenos muttered as David shot tendrils of muddy water at him, to which he evaded, he then looked at his ring and saw it lost one outline. "Zuka, Leopold, let's take them down, Noelle, back us up if you can," the others nodded as they ran into battle.
"I'm not going to give up, I'll stop you!" Asta exclaimed as he charged at Alfred, but the corpse quickly dodged the attack before launching another strike of lightning, the swordsman quickly used his sword to block it.
He turned to Rades, pointing his sword at him. "Stop being a coward, come here and fight, you're hiding behind your zombies!"
Rades chuckled. "So what if I hide behind my zombies, they're my own spells, there's nothing wrong with having something else do the fighting, especially when in the case of the Number Corpse Series, I had to kill each of them to make them my corpse,"
Asta's eyes widened. "Y-You killed them?"
"Yup, I had some help, but a kill is a kill," he replied. "And now he'll finish you!"
Asta grit his teeth as he knelt down again, he wasn't sure how much longer he could keep going before his body gave out to blood loss, Alfred could float which meant he could easily get out of his range and his bolts were capable of keeping him at bay, he couldn't even get any help as they were being held off by David and more zombies. "I can't give up, I need to find a way to beat him!"
Just then, a powerful stream of fire came from behind Asta and engulfed Alfred in flames, catching Rades by complete surprise. "Alfred!" he exclaimed as he watched another corpse burn to ash.
"That was easier than I thought," a voice spoke, Asta turned around as he and Rades saw Fuegoleon calmly walking to them, he stopped and lent a hand to Asta. "Can you stand?"
Asta took it with his available hand. "Thanks, but, I was hoping to have defeated it,"
"My apologies, I know how it must feel to be robbed of the chance to defeat a foe," Fuegoleon said. "And I guess I owe you another apology,"
"Huh?"
"I will admit, when I saw you at the entrance exam looking for a squad to join, you were nothing more but a commoner with extreme strength, I didn't think you had what it took to be a Magic Knight, but I was wrong, it seems that Yami has a better eye for talent than I," Fuegoleon explained.
"Oh, um, thank you, but I don't hold anything against you or the other captains, I'm actually glad to be a part of the Black Bulls," Asta said.
"That's good to hear, oh, and by the way, you said you wanted to be the Wizard King, right?" Fuegoleon asked.
"That's right," Asta replied.
"I see, then that means that you're my rival as well," the captain stated.
"Oh, then I won't lose to you either!" Asta exclaimed. "But damn, I'm getting a lot of new rivals today,"
"You, flame man, you just put yourself on my hit list, prepare to die!" Rades exclaimed as the two Magic Knights faced him. "Meet the second strongest member of the Number Corpse Series, Wraith Magic: No. 1 - Carl!"
The portal from before appeared and Carl emerged, it had the appearance of a thin man, he was wrapped in bandages, he wore a white clerical attire which was adorned in diamond ornaments.
"Carl is a powerful mix of offense and defense, with his Barrier magic, he can withstand any strike, and he is capable of firing off projectiles too,"
"That is quite impressive," Fuegoleon said. "Stand back Asta, you're still losing blood, I'll take over this fight,"
"You don't need to worry, I can keep fighting!" Asta exclaimed, running forward before Fuegoleon chopped him to the ground.
"Ow, what did you do that for?" he asked, rubbing his head.
"Don't be reckless, you must remain calm, as a Magic Knight, remaining calm is the key to making sound decisions as well as coming up with new plans," the vermillion-haired captain told him.
"Making sound decisions and coming up with new plans aye, hey, wait a minute, I have an idea," Asta thought before striking himself with his sword, just as he did, the bleeding stopped.
"What the?" Rades said, obviously confused. "How did you do that?"
"This is an anti-magic sword, capable of negating and deflecting magic, I just realized that Jimmy's curses were made of magic, I had what I needed right here all along, but I only found out when I stayed calm and thought about it, you were right Fuegoleon," Asta explained.
"Thank you Asta, but my words still stand, I'll fight Carl, you just stand back," the captain instructed.
"Alright then, good luck captain," Asta said, backing up as Fuegoleon advanced.
Rades grinned. "You may be a captain, but I don't think that even you can get through Carl's defensive magic!" he exclaimed as Carl formed a barrier.
"Tell me mage, what's your name?" Fuegoleon asked quite calmly.
"My name? Well, why not, this will be your final fight, you should know the name of your killer, you may call me Rades Spirito,"
"I see, well Rades, I'll show you right now how you shouldn't underestimate the power of a Magic Knight Captain," Fuegoleon said before stopping. "Flame Magic: Sol Linea!"
He shot the blue beam directly at Carl, and to the surprise of Asta and Rades, the beam had effortlessly pierced the barrier and struck Carl right in the forehead, the barrier then fell and Carl dropped to the ground, burning to ashes.
"No way, that was supposed to be one of his stronger zombies, and Fuegoleon didn't even look like he tried," Asta muttered. "Well, what can I expect, he is a captain,"
"No, that's...impossible, Carl's defense was penetrated so easily, who...what are you!" Rades exclaimed, backing up as Fuegoleon began walking again.
"I told you did I not, don't underestimate a captain, now it's time for you to give up, this fight is over,"
"No, it isn't, protect me, David!" Rades exclaimed, looking to find the bulky corpse, he then saw it, continuing to fight the others.
"Those zombies weren't too hard to take out, but this one is really troublesome, Flame Magic: Spiral Flame!" Leopold exclaimed, firing the flame at David, the corpse retaliated by shooting muddy water, extinguishing the mage's flames.
"There we go, an open shot, Sparkle Creation Magic: Shimmering Bow!" Zuka exclaimed, firing an arrow, getting a hit in, but David didn't seem affected too much, the sparkle mage sucked her teeth. "None of our attacks are doing enough damage to take it down, we need something stronger,"
"Something stronger," Kenos thought before turning to the two. "Hey, I do have a stronger attack, but it uses up a good amount of mana, if I go down for some time, will you two have my back?"
"You know it," Leopold replied.
"Of course, what're friends for," Zuka added. "But what exactly do you have?"
"Let's just say you aren't the only one who learned a new spell over the week," the solar mage replied, turning to face David. "This is the end of you, Solar Magic: Solar Cross Destroyer!"
At the declaration of the spell, the two Xs appeared in front of Kenos, Zuka and Leopold watched as one of the Xs divided into two lines and flew through the sides before crashing into David, immobilizing him, leaving him unable to use his mud tendrils, Kenos then used the other X to release the powerful magic blast, completely destroying the corpse. A smile crossed the mage's face before he went down on one knee.
"What, that was an awesome spell Kenos!" Zuka and Leopard exclaimed together.
"Sunbeam Ray was pretty powerful, but that spell blows it out of the water," Zuka continued as the two went to Kenos and helped him up.
"Thanks, you two," the solar mage then looked behind him. "And it seems that Asta and Fuegoleon have taken down the other threat, I guess it's safe to say we've come one step closer to ending this,"
"No, even David, I can't believe I lost four members of the Number Corpse Series in just one day," Rades muttered.
"It's over Rades, your attack on the capital ends here, Flame Binding Magic: Leo Palma!" Fuegoleon exclaimed as paws of fire restrained the wraith mage, his grimoire dropping to the floor.
"His grimoire?" Kenos wondered as Zuka and Leopold helped him over and he picked it up. "It's pretty thin,"
"Hey, don't touch that!" Rades exclaimed. "And don't open it!"
"Don't open it?" Kenos repeated what Rades said to him, but he opened it anyway.
"I said don't!"
"Huh?" was all Kenos could say. "There's only one page in here, everything you did was just a page worth of spells,"
"No!" Rades exclaimed.
"What's your problem, we're not going to take it, both it and you are to be taken into custody," Kenos told him.
"My grimoire only has one page, you're all going to look down at me," he said.
"Look down on you, what do you mean, you gave us one heck of a fight," Zuka remarked.
"And speaking of this fight, tell us Rades, why are you doing this?" Fuegoleon then asked.
"I used to be a Magic Knight, of the Purple Orcas, but my squadmates and my captain looked down on me because they didn't understand my magic," Rades replied.
Kenos' eyes slightly widened. "They...didn't understand?"
"Yeah, they looked down on me because they were afraid of me, they feared what I could do, so I was kicked out, I then swore revenge on this entire kingdom, and even now, I won't give up until I have!"
"I know how you feel,"
Rades looked at Kenos. "What?"
"I said I know how you feel, to be looked at differently for something you have that others can't understand, I sort of feel like you're what I'd become if it had gone too far, I won't look down on you, you may be the enemy, but I won't do that," the solar mage said. "But regardless of how people looked at you, blaming this entire kingdom and attacking its capital is no excuse,"
"No offense there, but I didn't ask for your sympathy, what I want is for all of you to die!" Rades exclaimed.
"And that's what will happen," a silent voice spoke, Rades heard it coming from his ear, as it turns out he was wearing a communication device on his ear the whole time. "It's time to begin the next phase," the voice spoke again.
Back with Yuno, Mimosa, and the Rossiu siblings, more zombies had gathered, but Dante and Oxanna's onslaught didn't let up.
"There we go," Oxanna said as another horde fell, she saw that there were more, but suddenly, they stopped and fell to the ground, beginning to wither away.
"What in the world?" she wondered before turning around and seeing the zombies Dante was fighting did the same.
The two siblings walked to the Golden Dawn mages. "What exactly happened?" Dante asked.
"Not too sure, but I think whoever cast the spell has been stopped," Mimosa replied.
"So, I'm guessing it's all over," Yuno said, confirming what they were all potentially thinking.
"Alright, we won!" Oxanna cheered, jumping up into the air. "Now we should take the citizens and return them to their homes,"
Dante let out a small smile. "Good idea, let's hurry, we should-," he began before a mysterious purple substance sprouted from the ground, quickly surrounding them.
Thanks to his wind magic, Yuno was able to quickly evade the substance, but he wasn't able to react in time as the others were engulfed and eventually disappeared.
"What...just happened?" he wondered.
All over the capital, Magic Knights were getting engulfed by the substance and disappearing, then somewhere around what looked like a field, the substance appeared again and all the knights were there.
"What just happened?" Shauna asked as she and Oliver saw other Magic Knights, even some captains.
"I think we were just teleported away," Nozel replied. "And by the looks of it, a fair distance from the capital,"
"Wait a minute, Zuka isn't here, neither is Kenos," Oliver stated.
"Weren't they going after Asta?" Klaus asked as he nodded.
"But Asta isn't here, neither is Leopold or Captain Fuegoleon," Oxanna spoke up.
"Noelle isn't here too, do you think they're all together?" Mimosa asked.
"Probably, but the real question to ask is why weren't they teleported," Charlotte replied.
Back with the six in the capital. "Something feels strange, it's almost as if the mana of the other knights have just...vanished," Fuegoleon stated.
"That's right, and you'll share the same fate!" Rades exclaimed as the substance began to engulf Fuegoleon.
Zuka's eyes widened. "That looks exactly like the portal that appeared after our fight with Annalise, which means that Valtos guy must be close by,"
"What is that?" Leopold asked. "Brother!"
"Don't worry Leo, I don't know where this thing leads, either to the others or somewhere else, but I'll be fine, have faith in your captain, and even more in your big brother," Fuegoleon said.
"A-Alright then, if you see an enemy on the other side, kick their ass!" the flame mage exclaimed.
"You got it," Fuegoleon gave a thumbs up before disappearing.
"I've seen that type of spell before, during my mission last week, that was Spatial magic, he was teleported somewhere," Zuka said.
"Teleported?" Leopold muttered. "Hey, Zuka, can you keep hold of Kenos on your own,"
Zuka nodded. "Sure, but why,"
Leopold burst forward as Rades was released from the binding spell, the Magic Knight grabbed on his collar. "I know my brother will be fine wherever he is, but I still wanna know, how did you do that and where did you take him?!"
Kenos saw Leopold questioning the mage, he then turned to Zuka. "Thanks, Zuka, but I'll be fine for now, Solar Recovery Magic: Healing Rays of the Dawn," he said as his body glowed orange, he then deactivated his ring.
"Okay then," Zuka said, putting him down and walking to Leopold.
Meanwhile, Noelle walked over to Asta. "Hey, are you okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine, but I'm worried about Captain Fuegoleon," he replied.
"I know, but you heard what he said, he'll be fine," she said in an attempt to reassure him.
"I just hope your right,"
"Wait a minute there Leopold, Rades didn't teleport your brother away," Zuka said. "Don't forget, mages only have one attribute, and his is Wraith, before you got here, he did say more mages were here, so I'm guessing that Valtos is here too,"
Leopold looked confused. "Valtos?"
"You know our Spatial mage too, well of course you would, he's the one who saved Annalise," Rades said, the sparkle mage firing a quick glare at him. "Yeah you're right, Valtos is here, he teleported every Magic Knight in the capital, all except for you five, actually he's right here in this very vicinity, I wonder if you can find him,"
"He's here?" Asta muttered, wondering where the mage could be, he closed his eyes and began thinking. "Where could he be, he's here, so he's hiding, but hiding where, can he possibly be on the roof of a building, hiding behind an alleyway, is Rades even telling us the truth? Ow, all this thinking is making my head hurt, I just need a-,"
Suddenly, as the swordsman was thinking, he heard something, it was faint, but there, it sounded like...a breath. He opened his eyes and turned to find where he heard it, only to see a pile of remaining corpses. "That's odd, I didn't notice that pile there before, but regardless, I know what I heard," he said, turning to Leopold. "Hey, blast one of your flame spells at that pile!"
Leopold turned and saw the pile of corpses. "What for?"
"Just do it, I think we found our culprit," Asta replied as Leo did so, firing off a Spiral Flame, the corpses began igniting and withering away, but just then, a figure jumped out from among them.
"No way, he was right," the thought went through everyone's heads as the figure landed on the ground, revealing his face, which was an odd shade of gray, he had gray hair, and there were two straight lines going down the sides of his face.
"Valtos I presume," Zuka said.
"Correct, we meet again, Aqua Deer knight," Valtos said before turning to Asta. "I must congratulate you boy, you were able to locate me,"
Asta's face showed anger. "I don't want your congratulations, just tell me where you took Captain Fuegoleon!?"
"Captain Fuegoleon? Well, if you want him so badly, you can have him, we don't need him anymore," Valtos said as he raised a hand, forming a portal in the air, Fuegoleon then dropped from it.
"Brother, you're back, did you kick anybody's ass, I want to hear all about-," Leopold was saying, but stopped as he got close to his brother, Fuegoleon was missing an arm, blood oozed out from where it used to be, and his eyes, they looked nearly lifeless, right beside him was his grimoire, slowly cracking away.
"B-Brother?" Leopold muttered, his eyes widening in horror, tears falling down from his eyes, the others witnessed the same sight and were just as horrified, they tried to contain their urge to scream, but they couldn't, they just couldn't.
"AHHHHHHH!"