Chapter Thirty-Seven: Awakening of the Water Dragon
Hey there, readers, just wanted to quickly say that OC suggestions are back up, they'll be up until March 12th, that's all I have to say, with that out of the way, enjoy the new chapter. Cya.
"Well well well, more enemies, and just like the other moments, right on time, if I didn't know any better, I'd think you just wait around until the most climactic part of a fight to show yourselves," Vetto said tauntingly.
"Shut up!" the two girls exclaimed.
Kenos looked at the two newcomers. "Nice, Noelle's here, but who's that other girl? She has the temple mage attire, and she sort of looks like Kiato, wait a minute, that must be his sister, I just hope she's strong enough," he thought.
Noelle looked around, seeing the mages who were defeated in one way or another. "Did this guy beat everyone here, but Kenos appears to be safe, that's a relief, now we have to save Asta," she thought.
The song mage had a similar thought as the other two mages. "So this guy is Vetto, he looks as strong as his mana feels, and he's no joke," she turned to two temple mages. "He was able to beat both Kiato and dad, this isn't going to be easy, but we can't cower, otherwise he'll kill us all,"
"If you two think you can beat me, you're welcome to try," Vetto grinned as he loosened his grip on the swordsman.
Asta wasted no time grabbing the Demon-Slayer sword. "You heard what they said, I'm not going to save anyone by giving up, so you better believe I'm not done!"
Vetto looked unimpressed. "Whatever nuisance, I'll finish you off later, I have some fresh prey," he said as he punched Asta's face, sending him flying straight for the wall.
"Asta!" Noelle exclaimed.
"Don't worry, I got it, Song Magic: Rhythm Cushion!" Kahono exclaimed, sound waves coming from her mouth as she did so, causing a cushion to appear behind Asta, giving him a soft landing.
"Thanks a bunch, Kahono," Asta said before he dropped face-first onto the ground, his eyes closed as he laid there, conscious, but unable to get up from his position, but that went unnoticed as the water and song mages looked at their foe.
"No need to thank me, normally I'd charge you 30 yuls for that save, but I think we can forget about money for a little while," the song mage responded as she and Noelle looked at each other.
"I'll go left, you go right!" the song mage instructed as the two girls ran in a circling direction around the beast mage, making sure to keep a good few yards of distance from him.
"Song Magic: Destructive Beat!" she continued as she sent a powerful shockwave from her voice at their opponent.
"Song magic, aye? Unlike those other two brats I fought earlier, you can use long-range attacks, a little while ago, that would be out of my wheelhouse, but things are different now," Vetto mumbled to himself as he jumped out of the way.
"Let's see if you can dodge that again!" Kahono said as she launched the same spell.
Vetto turned in her direction, his grimoire flipped to a page. "I don't need to dodge it this time, just watch, Beast Magic: Lion Roar!" he exclaimed as a translucent orange aura surrounded him and took the shape of a lion, it too released a powerful shockwave, meeting the song mage's attack head-on.
"Damn it, I wasn't expecting him to copy me, his shockwave is a lot stronger than mine, I don't know how much longer I can hold on," Kahono thought.
Thankfully, the struggle didn't last any longer as Noelle used her wand to shoot meager water balls at the beast mage, while that didn't really injure him, it did manage to catch his attention which caused him to stop his spell.
"So, you can use long-range attacks too? Alright then, I have the perfect spell to handle you two, Beast Magic: Porcupine Artillery!" Vetto exclaimed as the aura changed from the shape of a lion to the shape of a porcupine, but unlike the real animal, quills were all around its body, even its head, Vetto clapped, causing each and every quill on the porcupine to fire in every direction.
"Damn it, Water Creation Magic: Sea Dragon's Lair!" Noelle exclaimed as she formed the water barrier to protect herself, but then she noticed her friend who was on the other side, she panicked. "Kahono!"
"Don't worry, I'll be fine, Song Magic: Rhythm Cushion!" she exclaimed as she formed the cushion, but this time, she hid behind it.
The two girls were protected from the attack, but the same couldn't be with everyone else who was there, they were about to scream, but a voice called out, bringing them instant relief.
"I got it!" the voice came from Kenos, he weakly blasted orbs of solar magic, destroying the minimum amount of quills in order to protect everyone else there, conscious or not.
"Nice work, Kenos!" the two girls exclaimed.
"It's all good, just be careful!" the solar mage called back as he slumped back. "Ah shit, I was starting to regain some of my mana from the fight, and now I just used it all up protecting the others, I just hope they can win, but if not, just hold on long enough until we regain our strength or one of the others get here,"
Vetto's spell disappeared as Noelle and Kahono's protection spells did the same, the latter grit her teeth in frustration. "This is bad, Destructive Beat is my best offensive spell at the time, and Vetto has a spell that can equal it, to make matters worse, Noelle doesn't know any real offensive spells, on our own, the best we can do is minor damage, we need to kick it up a notch, and I know just how to do it," Kahono thought as she turned her head, slightly pouting at the sight of her unconscious older brother.
The song mage took a deep breath before she opened her mouth. "HEY, KIATO, STOP NAPPING AND WAKE THE HELL UP, WHAT KIND OF BROTHER ARE YOU SLEEPING WHILE YOUR LITTLE SISTER IS FIGHTING FOR HER LIFE!" she yelled incredibly loudly.
While she was unaffected by her loud exclamation, everyone else who was conscious covered their ears, Vetto kneeled, holding his ears as well. "Oh what the actual fuck, her normal screaming voice is louder than when she casts her damn spells, why didn't she just start with this, it might as well be an attack,"
Kiato heard the screaming as well as he slowly came to, he held his head. "What just happened, it sounds like someone screamed right in my ear, the only person who would do that is Kahono," he groaned as he stood up, his eyes alert as they fell on Vetto and Kahono. "Kahono, you're here!"
"That's right, you finally woke up, say, do you remember what our dream is?" the song mage asked.
"How could I forget, we're going to become a singing and dancing idol group and take the Clover Kingdom by storm," her brother replied.
Kahono smiled. "Good, just remember, we can't do that if we die here, so we have to win, my offense alone isn't enough so we'll have to use it,"
Kiato slightly widened his eyes before they burned with confidence and a grin formed on his face. "Alright, I never thought we'd have to use it like this, but we have no choice,"
The water mage was visibly confused. "What are they about to do?" she muttered.
Kenos, Magna, and Luck were curious too, the solar mage turned to his two squadmates. "I don't know what they're about to do, but I just hope that it's strong enough to finally end this fight," he said, the other two nodded.
From the screen, Yami and Gifso watched too, the dark mage turned to the old man. "Spill it, old-timer, what exactly are those two planning?"
The game mage shrugged. "Beats me, whatever my grandkids are planning, I don't know what it is,"
"I see, then we might be in for a surprise," Yami said.
The two siblings stood straight, closing their eyes and taking one deep breath before their grimoire simultaneously flipped to a page. Kahono then began to softly sing, a blue stream became visible around her, at the same time, Kiato became encased in an aura of the same color, he lunged forward in a striking position.
"Song Magic…," Kahono whispered.
"Dance Magic…," Kiato whispered as well.
The two siblings then opened their eyes together, they were filled with seriousness and the want for a triumphant victory. "Let's do this, Combo Spell: Sea God's Slash!"
At the sound of the exclamation, Kiato quickly charged at his bestial opponent, Vetto looked surprised. "He's moving a lot faster than he was earlier, I might not be able to react in time," he muttered as all he could really do at the time was cross his arms and brace himself.
Kiato attacked in a horizontal cutting motion, but much to Vetto's surprise, it effortlessly broke his crossed-arm block, leaving him defenseless to the attacks that ensued.
The dance mage jumped into the air, he spun three times, sending three crescent-shaped slashes at him, forming a cut on the beast mage's shoulder. Kiato quickly landed and launched two vertical crescent-shaped slashes, these inflicted small cuts on his torso. "How do you like our Sea God's Slash? It has my sister using her song magic to boost the power of my dance magic, where'd all that talk about despair go!"
Everyone who was conscious looked in awe at the combo spell, Kenos and Noelle especially. "Incredible, I didn't know they were able to do something that powerful," they thought in unison.
Yami was quite impressed too, he whistled. "Not a bad combo spell, it's even stronger than the one Magna and Luck pulled off, regardless, I'm still proud of those two knuckleheads," he said before turning to Gifso, he was a bit shocked to see the old man was crying, but then the dark mage's face changed back into its plain expression. "What the hell, why are you crying?"
"That combination of singing and dancing, it's how those two have always paid respects to the Sea God, hence the name, the fact that they mastered it to the point where it could do something like this is truly incredible, I'm so proud of them!" Gifso cried joyfully.
"Damn it, how am I letting the magic of such scum do this much damage to me," Vetto muttered to himself as he suffered other cuts, courtesy of Kiato.
"You look tired, but don't think we're done yet, there's more where that came from!" Kiato exclaimed as he charged forward again.
"I won't let you get another hit on me, Beast Magic: Cheetah Charge!" Vetto exclaimed as he sped at Kiato as well. "If I can't block your attacks, then I'll just increase my speed to evade them and counterattack!"
The dance mage smirked. "You can try, but it won't work," he said as they were close to being inches from each other, but then, Kiato jumped into the air, doing a frontflip before quickly turning around while in midair, firing two slashes straight at Vetto's back, the beast mage was not expecting his opponent to do something like that, causing him to not notice the attacks before they hit his back.
"So, not another hit? I guess you're the one full of shit now," Kiato said.
"Alright, that's it Kiato, you can do it!" Kenos cheered to the best of his ability for his friend.
The dance mage quietly nodded at the solar mage before turning his attention back to Vetto. "You may have defeated many mages, but your time ends now, we won't let you win, for the sake of the Black Bulls that bravely fought to protect our community, and for the sake of our dream!"
The last part captured Vetto's attention, this wasn't the first time he heard them mention their dream. "Your dream, aye?"
Kiato ran along the sides of the area, firing slashes from a safe distance. "That's right, hopes and dreams, that's what my sister and I have, a goal to look forward to in life, to take our skills to the people on the surface, but it's not just for our dream, this underwater place is our home, with people we care about, people who mean the world to us, whatever reason you're here, we won't let you take that all away from us!"
Once the dance mage finished his statement, a shadow appeared around Vetto's face, the beast mage also stopped talking and launching any taunts, but had begun to silently, albeit skillfully, dodge all of Kiato's slashes.
In Vetto's mind, he saw Licht, but his eyes weren't visible, the light mage was smiling though, however, there were some things that were different, Licht was wearing a white tunic, different from the Midnight Sun robe he wore, but the most different thing about him was that he ears were pointy, almost like some kind of elf, and behind him were a group of other people, though their faces were unidentifiable, they wore similar clothing as Licht.
Kiato noticed the reflexes of his opponent suddenly increase as he began dodging all of the slashes that he sent his way. "That isn't working anymore, so I have to get closer!" he exclaimed as he jumped up a few feet into the air and planted his feet on the wall, using it to boost himself straight at Vetto.
"This is it, the last attack!" the dance mage continued, but unbeknownst to him, Vetto angrily grit his teeth.
"You're not the only ones!" the beast mage loudly exclaimed as he turned to face the direction Kiato was coming in. "I had hopes and dreams too, as well as people I cared about, but do you know what happened to it all, they were taken away from me...by stupid humans like you!"
Kiato quickly made it to where Vetto was, but unlike the first clash since the two siblings unleashed their combo, Vetto had managed to dodge it, but that wasn't it, a Bear Claw appeared on his hand and he made a strong and quick swiping motion, not punching or slashing, instead doing something much more gruesome.
He cut off Kiato's right foot from the ankle down.
Everyone's eyes widened greatly, Kiato, however, felt an immense pain like he never had before as he gasped, but he didn't have much time to worry as Vetto punched him right in the face into a wall, the force being so strong, it blew his dismembered foot to him.
The combo spell ended, but that was the last thing on Kahono's mind as she held her mouth, a horrified look on her face, Noelle doing the same.
Yami and Gifso didn't say a word, just a silent flow of tears falling down the latter's face.
Magna looked away, and even Luck, the battle-hungry maniac couldn't keep his eyes forward.
Kenos just sat there in shock, unable to believe what just happened to his new friend, the person who had helped him finally learn Ki in a way, leading to the creation of a new technique, the person who had an aspiring dream to be a famous dancer, the solar mage opened his mouth as began muttering. "K-K-K…," but then, it came out...as a loud scream.
"KIATO!" Kenos screamed as a sudden burst of energy overtook his body, he got up and ran to the dance mage, but the energy was short-lived and he quickly sank to his knees.
The solar mage looked at where his friend's right foot used to be, he could also see the dismembered foot not too far, it took all the willpower he had not to throw up as blood leaked from Kiato's massive wound.
"Damn it damn it damn it, I don't have enough mana to cast a recovery spell, but he's losing too much blood," Kenos said as he noticed Kiato's temple robe, he then thought of something. "This is the best I can do for him right now,"
The solar mage tore a long piece of Kiato robe and wrapped it around his leg, using it as a tourniquet to staunch the blood flow. Kiato then began to groan, his eyes closed, Kenos moved up to his friend. "It's going to be alright," he softly said as Kiato passed out from blood loss.
Kahono's look of shock and horror quickly turned to anger and she brought her hands to her sides, her fist clenched in rage. "YOU BASTARD, I'M GOING TO MAKE YOU PAY FOR THAT!"
Unlike the others in the room, Vetto had a sadistic smile plastered on his face, but that quickly contorted to annoyance at another one of the song mage's loud screams. "Uh, would you shut up!"
"No way, my brother had a dream, he was going to be a famous dancer, his every step would entrance those who watched him, but you just ruined it, I'll avenge...by making sure you're dead!" Kahono exclaimed in response.
Vetto quickly zoomed over to the angry sister, in seconds, he was right in front of her. "Avenge him? Don't make me laugh, you couldn't beat me then, and you can't beat me now, so don't give me that shit, you stupid bitch!" he exclaimed as he made a swift jab, piercing Kahono's throat.
The girl spit out blood as she dropped to the ground, the sadistic smile from before returned to the beast mage's face. "He can't dance, and now, you can't sing,"
Noelle couldn't believe what she was seeing. "Kahono, no," she muttered quietly, in too much shock to exclaim like the previous two mages.
"Tell me, how does it feel to know that the dream you've worked so hard to achieve can never be fulfilled, it must feel terrible, the despair must be welling up inside you?" Vetto asked as picked Kahono up by her ponytail, blood oozing down from the girl's mouth.
Watching from afar, tears fell down Gifso's face as he saw the fate that befell his grandchildren, and similar to his granddaughter, his sadness soon became anger. "She might've not been able to make you pay, but I will," his grimoire came up to him and flipped through pages, stopping at one. "Nobody messes with my grandchildren, Game Magic: Monster Toy!"
Though his call couldn't be heard by the beast mage, he could see the large fish coming at him from above, but he was unimpressed. "Who the hell cast that? Ah whatever, better just take care of it, Beast Magic: Leopard Kick!" Vetto exclaimed as an orange aura covered his left leg, quickly becoming the shape of a leopard's leg, he merely raised his leg up, kicking the fish straight into the wall.
"Damn it!" Gifso exclaimed frustratingly. "My spell doesn't do anything to him, I'm useless,"
"Don't worry, it's not over yet, if we can find a way out of this spatial magic trap, we can go help them," Yami said in an attempt to reassure the old man, but in reality, the dark mage was just as worried.
"Now that that minor distraction has been taken care of, time to get back to you girly," Vetto said as he looked Kahono right in the eyes. "I want to see the sweet look of despair on your face, so show it to me, let me see it!"
The song mage's facial expression began to change, causing Vetto to grin, but that grin quickly vanished as Kahono's face didn't show despair, not in the slightest.
Instead, she looked at him with defiance before opening her mouth. "The sweet look of despair? You won't find it on my face," she weakly croaked, her retort just barely being heard by the beast mage.
"Is that so, then it seems piercing your throat wasn't enough, I think I'll pierce those eyes of yours next, I don't mind making you blind!" Vetto exclaimed.
"Blind? No, I can't let him do that to her, I have to stop him, I'm the only mage here who can still fight, it's up to me," Noelle thought to herself.
"I'm going to enjoy hearing your weak screams of pain!" Vetto exclaimed as he was about to strike.
"Hey, you!"
The beast mage immediately stopped, his hand just a few centimeters from Kahono's eyes, he turned to his head to see Noelle, her wand pointed at him.
Vetto wore his unimpressed look. "Oh yeah, you're still here,"
"Be quiet, release my friend, or else you'll be sorry!" Noelle exclaimed angrily.
"You're not strong enough to make demands to me, girl, ever since you came here, you've really only launched one attack, I know you're not a threat," he told her.
Noelle's stance slightly faltered at his words, but she quickly straightened herself back up, the grip on her wand tightening. "Don't underestimate me!" she exclaimed, but in her head, she was beyond worried. "He's right, I haven't been able to do anything substantial during this fight, I bet that before Kahono and I got here, everyone else gave it their best, but I haven't been able to do that, all I have in terms of offense is a basic attribute attack, that could either hit Kahono or miss him, and even if it did hit him, what could it really do," she thought as a lone tear fell down her face.
"Hey, don't cry Noelle," a voice suddenly said in the water mage's mind.
"Huh? That voice, it sounds just like...Kahono?" she mentally asked herself, she looked closer, Vetto was looking right at her, but looking at the back of his head was Kahono, and even though she could hardly speak a small smile was on her face.
"I see you noticed me," Kahono mentally said.
"What the? How are you able to telepathically communicate with me?" Noelle asked.
"It's just a skill that I picked up, but that's not important, you look like you're going to attack, so why aren't you doing anything?" the song mage asked.
"What can I do, I can't fully control my magic yet, I could hit you, and even if my attack lands on the right target, I have nothing strong enough to make a difference," the water mage replied.
"Noelle, remember what I told you, your so-called lack of control is just in your subconscious, I believe that you can do it, so you have to believe as well," Kahono then said. "From what I understand past your want for control, you also lack confidence, you don't think that you're strong enough, but you're wrong, you already proved yourself wrong when you made that spell on the shore, you're strong enough, now teach this beast bastard a lesson, show him that you are a threat,"
A small yet warm smile touched Noelle's features. "Kahono...thank you," she thought before a large and powerful blue aura surrounded her, lighting up the entire area.
"What the?" Kenos, Magna, and Luck said in unison, as for Kahono, she merely smiled.
Vetto, however, looked shocked. "What's going on, so much mana is surging inside of her,"
"I won't repeat it again...release my friend, NOW!" Noelle said, her voice brimming with confidence.
"I hardly felt her mana earlier, and now there's so much of it," Vetto muttered before he raised his voice. "Talk, girl, just who the hell are you?!"
"I am Noelle Silva of the Black Bulls!" Noelle exclaimed in response.
"Silva? Wait a minute, is it possible, are you...royalty?" Vetto asked, his eyes widening as he heard her last name.
"And so what if I am, that doesn't matter right now, let her go or you will regret it!" Noelle continued, but then, her grimoire came up to her, it flipped to a blank page as text became inscribed on it. "A new spell? That's the second one today, awesome,"
The beast mage angrily grit his teeth. "Royalty, aye?" he muttered. "People like you are the most tainted among all humans!" he exclaimed as he roughly threw Kahono to the ground, giving his full attention to the water mage. "If you think you can beat me, then give it all that you got!"
Noelle took a quick breath, placing her faith in her new spell. "It'll be my pleasure, Water Creation Magic: Sea Dragon's Roar!" she exclaimed as she shot a large serpentine dragon of water out of her wand, heading straight for Vetto.
Everyone who was watching looked at the battle with shock, they never knew Noelle could use such an attack
"Beast Magic: Bear Claw!" Vetto exclaimed as the claw appeared on his hand, he then put as much force as he could into striking the head of the dragon, stopping it dead in his tracks, he grinned. "I guess you weren't as strong as I believed you were, well, I did-," he began to say, but was interrupted by a loud voice.
"Go!" Noelle yelled as she pushed her wand forward, giving the dragon more strength, it quickly got past Vetto's one-handed guard.
"Shit," the beast mage muttered as he held the dragon's mouth as the watery beast launched him around the wall before the dragon shot out the building entirely, leaving Vetto on the ground.
"Crap, what a spell," Vetto said as he tried to get up, but quickly noticed something was incredibly wrong. "AHHH!" he exclaimed as he saw his entire right arm was missing.
Noelle took deep breaths. "I held back the power to focus more on control, but it seems I did just fine," she thought. "Dismemberment doesn't feel too good now, does it?"
"My arm, I'm going...to make you pay!" Vetto exclaimed as a raging red aura surrounded him, he put his head down, a few seconds passed before he lifted it back up, but it caused everyone's eyes to widen.
Right on Vetto's forehead was a third eye.
"Holy shit," Kenos muttered, but then he noticed a faint orange glow in the corner of his eye, he looked and saw that it was coming...from his grimoire. "What's happening to my grimoire, why is it glowing when it's closed, it started when that freaky eye appeared, what does it mean?"
Vetto took a breath, loudly exhaling, a grin on his face as he looked at Noelle. "Thank you for waking me, royal, I'm grateful," he said as his grimoire came up to him, the aura around it had a red tint to it as it flipped to a page. "Mythical Beast Recovery Magic: Tanngrisnir Regenerator!" he exclaimed as a red magic circle appeared on his right shoulder, a few seconds passed before his blasted arm grew completely back.
"What?!" Noelle exclaimed, she shot such a powerful spell at him, but he had managed to grow the limb back.
"Mythical Beast Magic? That must be what the eye did, it must've somehow changed his magic in a way, perhaps my grimoire is picking up on it," Kenos said.
"That wasn't a bad attack, now it's my turn," Vetto said crazily as his grimoire flipped to another page. "Despair, Mythical Beast Magic: Manticore Flare!" he exclaimed as he protruded his hands forward, a similar magic circle appearing in front of them as the dark head of a manticore came out and released a powerful blast right at the water mage.
"Gifso, project my voice again," Yami said seriously as the game mage did so. "Noelle, get out of the way!"
Noelle thought about it, but decided to stand firm. "No way, I'm the only one who can fight, I won't run away!" she exclaimed as the attack seemingly made contact, forming a large cloud of dust.
"Noelle!" everyone exclaimed.
As the dust settled, everyone saw Noelle, thankfully, she was okay, her wand was protruded forward, as if she was going to cast a defense spell, but it wasn't needed as she noticed a figure in front of her, the other's widened their eyes once they who it was.
It was Asta, the Demon-Dweller sword in hand, his body was covered in dirt and bruises from his earlier fight with Vetto, but that didn't stop him from getting up and defending the water mage from Vetto's fearsome attack.
Asta took a deep breath before shouting. "I'm...not done yet!"