Chapter Thirty-Six: The One who Will Never Quit
Hey there, readers, sorry that this chapter is a day late, I had a biology paper to do, I've still got to keep up with my school responsibilities, so here's the Day 5 chapter. I just wanted to thank you for reading and hope you've enjoyed this string of chapters. Cya.
"You guys, you're here," Kenos said as he looked at the two mages protecting him.
"That's right, sorry we took longer to get here," Asta apologized. "Those two were stronger than we thought,"
"But we're here now," Kiato finished. "I see those two squadmates of yours are over there, did you fight this guy alone?"
"I did, but I was able to manage, I followed what you said, I felt what was around me, and it worked," Kenos replied.
"So you learned Ki?" the dance mage asked.
"Uh, sort of, I'll explain it to you later," the solar mage answered.
"Well well well, it appears that more people have come to face me, I just can't seem to kill anyone," Vetto said as he ended his struggle with the two and backed up, he then pointed right at Asta. "We meet again, swords thief,"
"Why do you and that creepy Licht guy keep calling me that?!" Asta asked.
"It's simple really, the Demon-Slayer Sword, and the Demon-Dweller Sword, those two swords you have don't belong to you, once I kill you, I'll bring them back for the master," Vetto replied.
"And then you say that, who is this master person anyway?!" the swordsman exclaimed.
The beast mage cracked his knuckles. "You don't need to know that, as I just stated a few seconds ago, you'll be dead, I'm not letting you or anyone else here leave this place alive,"
Asta pointed the Demon-Slayer at his opponent. "You better believe we won't let that happen, we'll stop you!"
Kiato stepped up as well. "He's right, this is my home, I won't let you kill the people here," he said as he stared down his opponent, but then, his gaze fell upon a sight, and that sight made his eyes widen in shock.
It was Gio, laying against a wall a number of meters away, completely unconscious.
"No way, he beat my dad, but he's the best mage we have," Kiato said in disbelief.
Vetto looked confused, he then turned around, only seeing Gio, it didn't take him very long to put two and two together. "Wait, that's your dad, and you said he was your best mage? You're joking right, I took him out of the fight in seconds, out of everyone I fought, he was the least challenging," he said with an evil laugh.
"You're going to pay for that," the dance mage said seriously, turning to Kenos. "Get some rest, Kenos, leave this fight to Asta and I, he's been weakened from all the earlier fights, finishing him off won't be difficult at all,"
"No, it won't be easy at all, right after I launched my last attack, he cast a super strong recovery spell which healed all of his previous injuries, he was also able to recover his mana and stamina, he's fresh and ready to fight," the solar mage warned them.
"The sun brat's right, I'm back at my best, all your talk about beating me and not letting me kill anyone is just a load of shit," Vetto taunted as he beckoned the two with his hand. "But if you still want to fight, by all means, come at me, I'll enjoy beating you to a pulp,"
"Alright then, I'm leaving this fight up to you two, good luck," Kenos said as he gathered his strength and stood up, picking up his grimoire and placing it in his satchel. "Give him hell for all of us," he extended both of his palms at the two teens.
Asta and Kiato smiled as they each extended one of their own palms, giving Kenos a high-five. "You can count on us!"
The solar mage smiled as well. "Good," he said as he weakly walked over to where Magna and Luck were and sat down next to them.
"Yo, Kenos, we're proud of you, you were able to fight that guy alone, not to mention you created that crazy technique out of nowhere," Magna said.
"Thanks, it felt kind of strange using it, maybe I can try using it again, I can heal you two," Kenos spoke up.
"It's worth a try, I wanna get back into the fight, watching you all duke it out but not being able to join in is getting boring," Luck groaned.
Kenos took out his grimoire and stood in between the flame and lightning mages, he closed his eyes and focused, as he opened them, he saw the white droplets once more, he protruded his hands forward as the droplets gathered and the orange circle formed once more. "Okay, here goes nothing, Solar Recovery Magic - Mana Charge: Healing Rays of the Dawn," he said as he touched them both.
The two Black Bulls were enveloped in an orange light much brighter than the normal recovery spell. "Wow, this feels a lot more potent than it did earlier when you saved us," Magna remarked, but just about three seconds after saying that, the glow disappeared.
Kenos began to breathe heavily as his grimoire fell next to him. "Damn it, I haven't mastered this technique yet, even though it doesn't utilize my mana, it really takes a lot out of me to use it, I think that right now, I can really only use it once and still have enough strength to keep on fighting,"
"Well, that's alright, I do feel better, even though I'm not in fighting shape," Luck said. "It seems we'll have to leave this to Asta and that other guy,"
"No more playing around," Asta said as he pulled out the Demon-Dweller, holding the two swords in his hands. "You ready for this, Kiato?!"
"I am, let's take this guy down!" Kiato replied as they both ran towards Vetto.
"I'll start it off!" Asta exclaimed as he ran by Vetto's side, sending a barrage of slashes and lunges with the Demon-Dweller, but the beast mage dodged them all.
"So, is that all you got, you won't beat me with that level of fighting," Vetto smirked as he launched a punch at the magicless mage.
"I'm not giving up!" Asta exclaimed as he read the beast-man's Ki, dodging his attack before quickly raising the Demon-Slayer into the air, bringing it down right on Vetto's shoulder.
"Shit," Vetto cursed under his breath as he backed up and looked at his shoulder, it wasn't bleeding, but it did hurt. "The Demon-Slayer can't cut? It's only capable of dealing blunt damage, what did that boy do to the sword?" he thought.
"Getting sidetracked during a fight will lead to your defeat, Dance Reinforcement Magic: Assisting Steps!" Kiato exclaimed as the aura appeared around him, he sped directly towards the beast mage, but quickly spun his body around and appeared behind his opponent, ready to strike.
"Nice try!" Vetto exclaimed as he turned around, using the momentum of his rotation to boost the force of his incoming fist.
Kiato crossed his blades together to block the attack, while it succeeded in protecting him, he was sent back a number of feet.
"A good attempt, underwater brat, you're already proving to be stronger than that sorry excuse for a father," Vetto said.
"Don't mock my dad!" the dance mage growled angrily.
Vetto grinned sadistically. "Oh I'm sorry, did that strike a chord, how-," he was beginning to taunt, but stopped as he noticed the swordsman in the corner of his eye, he was in the air, ready with both swords to attack in a horizontal slashing motion.
The beast mage jumped out of the way. "He almost got me," he thought before he heard the dance mage proclaim a spell.
"Dance Magic: Enchanting Pirouette!" Kiato exclaimed as he closed in on Vetto, dancing as he did so.
The beast mage grit his teeth. "That spell of his creates afterimages, it's hard to track his movements, but I know he's getting close," he thought.
Kiato quickly arrived right at Vetto's left side, he wasted no time casting another spell. "Dance Magic: Gyration Blade!" he proclaimed as he started to violently rotate.
The attack managed to land a hit on his bestial opponent, cutting his arm, but that was the only hit he got as Vetto's grimoire flipped to a page. "Beast Magic: Rhinoceros Armor!" he exclaimed as his body became protected by the spell.
Vetto was protected from Kiato's violent tornado-like attack, but once the attack ended, the beast mage's armor suddenly disappeared. "What the?" he muttered before noticing Asta behind him.
Unbeknownst to the beast mage, while he was dealing with Kiato, the swordsman moved up on him quietly, trying to not be noticed so he could land a sneak attack, but when he saw Vetto cast his defense spell, he lightly tapped the armor with the Demon-Dweller, dispelling it.
The beast-man angrily grit his teeth. "Why you little-," he began, ready to turn and uppercut the magicless mage, but lack of attention bought Kiato time to jump and kick Vetto into a wall.
The dance mage landed next to Asta, the latter looked at the former. "That was awesome, Kiato, I didn't know you were so skilled, you must've been holding back when we first fought,"
Kiato grinned. "Yeah, that's pretty much true, but it seems that you were holding back as well," he said, looking down at the mage's two weapons. "I take it those are the swords Vetto was talking about, I didn't know you had more than one, and that you could use them together despite the fact that they're different sizes, plus, they even have names, I wonder if I should give my blades names,"
"Who's getting sidetracked now?" a voice asked, the two turned to see Vetto get out from the wall and walk towards them. "That was just a lucky shot, the next time will be different, I won't lose to underwater scum and magicless trash who just happens to be a thief as well. I'm not going to lose you hear me, I'll win, and plunge you all into despair!"
"Back for more, fine then, Mirror Magic: Large Reflect Ray!" Gauche exclaimed as he shot a Midnight Sun mage into the wall.
The mage weakly spoke up. "But how, my chain magic had the advantage, how did I lose?" he then fell unconscious.
The mirror mage walked away, hands buried in his pockets, a bored looked on his face. "I can't believe I have to face off with these people again, and just when I thought Nean would be the last I saw of them, although, these bastards are a lot stronger than those temple mages, fighting just two of them did a good number on my mana,"
He continued walking, passing by an open trail lined with rocks. "Captain Yami said they scattered around the temple, so the others are most likely handling them too," he mumbled before his eyes tensed. "But he also said that Vetto bastard is here, the members of the Third Eye are around captain level, and the old man said Yami was too strong to play with us, meaning if the beast guy finds anyone, they're as good as-,"
His self-talk was interrupted as a pebble fell from the side of one of the rocks, Gauche turned to his left, a mirror by his side. "There's no point in hiding, whoever's there better come out, you have till the count of three, then I'm firing!"
The mirror mage didn't even need to count to one before a figure emerged from behind a rock, it was...him. "Don't shoot, Gauche, it's just me!"
Gauche was initially shocked to see himself, but quickly remembered who it was. "Oh, Grey, it's just you, what were you doing behind that rock?"
"I heard what the captain said, about the Eye of the Midnight Sun being here, I was already sort of hiding from my temple mage opponent since Transformation Magic isn't really an ideal attribute for fighting," he replied as he walked to the mirror mage.
"I guess that's true, we should see if we can find the others," Gauche said as the two began walking down the trail, he then spoke up again. "There's something else I wanna know?"
"Sure, what is it?" Grey asked back.
"Why did you transform into me?"
"Um, well, when the fight started, I knew I couldn't do anything, so I kinda got scared, and whenever I get scared, I transform into you," he replied.
"Into me? You think I'm the bravest person in this squad or something, I'm surprised you didn't turn into Asta or Captain Yami," Gauche said.
The transformation mage shook his head. "I think Asta is very brave despite his age, and I respect the captain, but transforming into you gives me this sense of comfort and peace of mind, I like it,"
"Is that so? Well, I'd like it if you turn into Marie, seeing her wonderful face gives me a feeling of comfort and peace of mind," the mirror mage suggested.
Grey twiddled with his fingers. "Sorry, but I prefer to stay like this,"
Gauche groaned. "Fine, I suppose it can't be helped, do whatever keeps you calm, with the enemy here and your lack of offensive power, you can't afford to not have a clear head,"
A small smile touched Grey's face. "Thanks,"
The mirror mage ignored his words as he spoke up. "We're about to enter another room, I'm not detecting any mana signatures, it should be safe," he said.
But as they walked into the next room, Gauche was immediately proven wrong, two magic circles appeared under their feet as vines quickly sprouted from the ground and propelled them into the air before binding them. "What the?"
Slow clapping was then heard, the two Black Bulls turned their heads and saw where the clapping was coming from, on the side of the wall to their right, a mage was leaning against it, he had dirty green, spiky hair, and a confident smile on his face, laying down next to him were two temple mages, they were unconscious.
Gauche looked at the mage's robe. "He's a Midnight Sun mage," he realized before he spoke up. "Hey you, bastard, how the hell did you do that, I didn't detect your mana?!"
The mage stopped clapping and stood straight, walking to the two trapped mages. "Bastard? It isn't wise to insult your captor, my name is Zuta, and to answer your question, I have a magic item that masks my mana, as for my spell, Vine Trap Magic: Bind Vine, it can't be detected when it's set,"
The mirror mage grit his teeth. "I'll call you whatever the hell I want! Once I get out of this, you're so screwed!"
Zuta grinned. "I wouldn't be so sure of that, you see, my spell does more than just trap you, it drains your mana, it was how I took this one out so quickly," he lightly kicked one of the temple mage's unconscious bodies before turning to look at the other one. "As for this one, he was already out when I got here,"
"Damn it, that's not good, I already lost a sizable amount of mana from fighting those mages earlier, and now I'm going to lose more of it," Gauche thought to himself. "Think Gauche, think, you have to find a way out of here!"
The mirror mage looked around for some inspiration to an idea that would help them, but as he did, he saw something, or rather someone, thanks to being elevated by the vines, he could see Charmy behind a large rock next to a stream, but she was sleeping.
"It's the glutton, I didn't sense her mana either, I guess it was because she's sleeping, so now I have to save all three of us, all by myself, I should-," he began thinking before he stopped and thought back to the fight in Nean, how he and Asta worked together to take down Baro, resulting in his new spell.
Gauche softly sighed. "No, I should try to fight with the others as much as possible," he thought before looking at the transformation mage. "Hey Grey, how are you holding up?"
"I'm good for now, although I can feel my mana getting lower, we have to hurry and get out of this trap," Grey replied.
"I have a plan, but I'm going to need your help, do you see what I see behind that rock?" the mirror mage asked.
Grey looked forward, his eyes widened once he saw who was there. "It's Charmy," he whispered as to not let Zuta know that the cotton mage was there and where she was.
"That's right, but she's sleeping right now, I need you to find a way to wake her up,"
The transformation mage grinned. "No problem, I know just what to do, but you have to follow my lead," he said as he struggled to position his hands at a large nearby rock, just right next to the one hiding Charmy, but once he was able to do so, he didn't hesitate in blasting the rock with some kind of weird smoke-like air.
In just a few seconds, the rock became...a large chunk of meat, still on the bone.
Gauche looked at it with confusion. "Meat, that was your plan?"
Grey did between nodding and shook his head. "Not all of it, but this is Charmy we're talking about, it's your turn now, you know just what to say,"
The mirror mage nodded as he took a deep breath. "HEY CHARMY, WAKE UP, THIS GUY IS TRYING TO STEAL YOUR FOOD, YOU BETTER STOP HIM!"
"Huh, who are you talking to?" Zuta wondered aloud, he then turned and saw the large hunk of meat. "Meat? Wait, why would I try to steal this from anybody, I'm a vegetarian,"
Those words of his didn't matter, unfortunately, as the cotton mage heard the cry and slowly got up. "Someone is trying to steal from me?" she asked rhetorically, she then saw the huge piece of meat, and Zuta right next to it. "Step away from the food, pal, or someone's going to get hurt,"
The vine mage looked at the girl, she was short and didn't look strong, but her magic power felt ferocious, almost like a wild beast similar to Vetto's. "I need to bind her as well," he mumbled as he sent vines her way.
"Bad move buddy, nobody gets between me and my food," she said as her grimoire came up to her, flipping through pages. "Cotton Creation Magic: Sleeping Sheep's Mega Hit!"
At her call, the giant sheep appeared behind her, it cracked its knuckles as it speedily made its way to the vine mage, uppercutting him feet into the air.
"Strike 1," Charmy spoke.
The sheep then stood up straight and punched the right side of his face, sending him racing in the opposite direction.
"Strike 2,"
The sheep then zoomed over to where Zuta would come and launched another punch, this time, on the left side of his face, but the fist maintained contact as he went in the other direction, slamming him right into the wall.
"That's strike 3," the cotton mage said with deadly seriousness as she gave a thumbs-up, but it quickly changed to a thumbs-down. "You're out,"
She then turned and drooled at the sight of such a large meal. "Come to Charmy!" she exclaimed as she playfully jumped towards the meat face-first, ready to chomp down it, but once her teeth latched onto it, it turned back into a rock. "What, this isn't meat, damn it, I've been tricked!"
Gauche and Grey watched in disbelief as Zuta was beaten in a matter of seconds, the former spoke up. "Damn, I forget how strong she can be," he said before turning to his squadmate. "And you,"
Grey looked at him. "What about me?"
"I wasn't paying attention to it at first, but I didn't know you could use your magic to transform things other than yourself, I don't think I've ever heard of a transformation mage that could transform objects...that's really impressive, the second time you've impressed me this week,"
"Second time?"
The mirror mage nodded. "Yeah, the first time was when you made that plan to help Fanzell get away from those Diamond Kingdom assassins,"
The transformation mage turned around to hide the large smile growing on his face. "Thanks, I'm not used to getting praised so much," he said before his eyes widened, he then began to hold onto himself. "Oh no!"
Gauche was confused. "What's the matter?"
"I'm out of mana," Grey replied. "Usually, I don't run out of mana for a good few weeks at a time, but that guy's trap combined with transforming the rock used it up, now I'm going to revert back to my true form!"
Charmy walked over to them. "Why are you worried, you're just going to transform back into the big guy, we've all seen your true form,"
"No, that's not my true form, it's-," he didn't get to finish his statement before a puff of smoke surrounded him.
Gauche and Charmy still didn't get what their squadmate was talking about, but when smoke disappeared, their eyes widened greatly.
In front of them wasn't the man they were expecting, in fact, it wasn't a man at all, it was a woman with blue hair, she wore a sleeveless shirt and long puffy blue pants, over her shirt was the Black Bulls robe, and she was covering her face with her hands.
"No damn way, Grey, you're not a he, but a she?!" Charmy exclaimed.
Grey turned her head away. "Y-Yes, p-please s-stop staring at me, it's e-embarrassing," she shyly stuttered.
"You're a girl, all this time we thought you were a guy, you've been in the men's bath countless times, bathing with us, that means...y-you've seen everything," Gauche exclaimed before lowering his voice down in shock as he laid his hands on the thing in between his legs.
Grey blushed as she waved her hands in a denying manner, still averting his gaze. "N-No, you're wrong, I-I haven't seen it, I'd be t-too embarrassed to look at it a-anyways!"
Charmy spoke up. "So spill it, Grey, just how old are you?"
The transformation mage shyly looked at her. "Um, 24,"
"24?! You're 5 years older than me?!" she exclaimed.
"What, you're 19 years old?!" Gauche exclaimed this time.
Charmy's excitement toned down instantly as she picked her ear, looking at the mirror mage. "Yeah, so?"
"There's no way in hell I'm going to believe the two of us are the same age!" he exclaimed.
"Well, I guess you just got to deal with it," the cotton mage said back with a small grin, the mirror mage growled at her.
"You g-guys, please d-don't fight, w-we have to find the o-others, I-I just hope t-they're all a-alright," Grey stuttered.
"True, but I'm running low on mana, trying to find them now could be risky, we could get ambushed," Gauche said back.
"My mana is perfectly high, I know the perfect thing to help you two," Charmy said as her grimoire flipped to another page. "Cotton Creation Magic: Sheep Cooks," she said as her chefs appeared and started making food.
The cotton mage grabbed two plates and headed them to her squadmates. "Here, eat this, the food has been changed up so it can replenish your mana,"
Guache took a bite, once he did, he could feel his magic power returning. "Nice, let's refill our magic, then we'll move out and find the others," he said.
"Damn...it," Asta and Kiato said as they breathed heavily, the two mages stood beside each other, Vetto was only a few feet away from them, he didn't look like he'd suffered many injuries.
The beast-man grinned. "So that's all you got aye? Who knew all it'd take was a second wind for me to overpower you both,"
He was right, after being dealt that kick from Kiato and shortly coming out from the wall, Vetto had increased in everything, his speed, strength, reaction time, all of it, the two swordsmen were scoring in hits, but they were few and far between.
"Why don't you just quit, if you do, I'll try to make your deaths painless, emphasis on try," Vetto said to them.
"No way, we're never going to give up!" Asta exclaimed defiantly.
"Not giving up? You like to say that a lot, thief," Vetto noted.
Kiato charged at him. "Give up? No way we're doing that, it would be disrespecting everyone that fought their hardest against you, like my dad, those two Black Bulls, and our friend Kenos, we won't stop now, do you hear me!"
"Fine then, I gave you the chance, fall into despair!" Vetto exclaimed.
"Just shut up already!" the dance mage exclaimed as he jumped into the air, his grimoire flipping to a page. "Dance Magic: Rhythm Dive!" sound ripples then appeared around him, being accompanied by the bubble stream from his Assisting Steps as he readied his blades in a horizontal slashing motion.
"Too slow," Vetto said as he easily dodged the attack, and once Kiato touched the ground, his grimoire flipped to a page. "Beast Magic: Sly Cobra!" he exclaimed as a large orange cobra tail appeared around his right leg, he then did a sweep kick, the tail elongating his range as it tripped Kiato, putting him a few inches in the air.
"I'm not done yet, Beast Magic: Striking Ox!" he continued as he zoomed over to the dance mage and punched him into the wall, knocking him out.
"Kiato!" Asta exclaimed. "You're going to pay for that!"
"I don't think I will," Vetto began. "Thanks to our little fight, I've identified the three reasons why you could never beat me,"
"Ha!" Asta yelled as he charged forward and began attacking with the Demon-Dweller.
The beast mage started dodging them quite effortlessly. "1: While your swordsmanship is impressive, your attacks are rather simple, making them easy to predict after seeing them the first time,"
He launched a punch, but Asta dodged it before quickly backing up, but he wasn't expecting Vetto to zoom right after him, quickly catching up. "2: While you are physically strong, that strength is no match for one whose strength and speed has been magically enhanced,"
Asta quickly planted his feet on a wall, using it to thrust himself directly above Vetto, he put the Demon-Dweller away and gripped the Demon-Slayer with both hands. "Be quiet!" he exclaimed as he came down.
But his attack was ineffective as Vetto grabbed the swordsman while in mid-air by one arm of his arms, he squeezed it tightly, forcing his opponent to drop his weapon.
"And finally, 3: You don't know when to give up," he stated. "You think if you keep fighting, you'll eventually find a way to turn the tables and win, no matter how strong the opponent," he squeezed harder. "But all that it does is leave you open to mortal wounds, even in the world we live in, not all wounds and injuries can be fixed. Watching you wield those swords makes me sick to my stomach, so before I kill you, I want to hear you scream, scream as you fall into despair!"
The beast mage then began squeezing Asta's arms even harder than before, he grinned as he watched the swordsman look like he was about to yell in pain.
"Asta!" Kenos, Magna, and Luck exclaimed.
The solar mage tried to get up. "I can't just sit here, I have to do something," he began walking forward, but quickly dropped to his knees. "Damn it, I still haven't recovered from the physical recoil of using the two auras at once, not to mention the toll from using Mana Charge,"
"Yes, yes, scream!" Vetto exclaimed, but then his opponent did something strange: he bit into his arm. "He's...biting me? He thinks that will do something?"
"Nooneeversavedanyonebygivingup," he slurred.
"The hell you say?" Vetto asked, but then, a large soundwave came right at him, from the entrance into the area, he turned to see Noelle and Kahono standing there together, faces serious.
"And I thought animals were supposed to have good hearing," Noelle stated.
"We'll just repeat what he said for you, since your apparently stupid," Kahono added.
"He said 'No one ever saved anyone by giving up!'!"