Chapter Ninety-Three: Upcoming Battles

Hey there, readers, I hope you've all had a Happy Holidays. I don't know if this will be the last chapter of the year, I'm going to try to get Chapter 94 in if I can, but if I can't, I just want to wish you all a Happy New Year, thanks to everyone whose supported the story for another year. Cya.

Rumbling. Very intense rumbling.

After making his triumphant statement, Yami and Charla spent a few fractions of a second to observe how their clash was affecting the area around them. Buildings were shaking, and some that were closer to the action began forming cracks from the sheer power. If the struggle would go on for any longer, it wouldn't be crazy to speculate the nearby places could collapse then and there.

Charla grit her teeth as her hair blew in the wind. "Explain yourself, human! This is the strongest spell I have, how are you contending with it?"

Yami grinned in contrast. "Well, elf, it's because I'm freaking awesome. You shouldn't be underestimating me, I don't know how powerful the people back in your time were, but humans nowadays are capable of doing great things!"

"I do not doubt that, you are capable of doing great things, after all…," she began, her attack growing in intensity, matching the now intense anger on her face. "..You were able to slaughter us all in one fell swoop! And now we'll return the favor before the sun rises!"

Yami buckled a bit under the force before adding more power from his side to maintain the stalemate. "Look, I'm sorry for whatever those humans did to you and your friends back then, but they're long gone, and not one person here is guilty. Just because some people act one way, that doesn't mean we all do, that's not how life works, there are good and bad humans just like there are good and bad elves!"

Charla's expression changed a bit, as if what the dark mage said got to her, but then it changed back to its prior rage. "How dare you even try to say such things?! You can't deceive me, each and every one of the elves were pure, we just wanted to peacefully go about our lives, it's you humans who are the tainted ones! If that day taught me anything, it's that there's not one drop of good in any of you!"

"That's bullshit and we both know it!"

"YOU DON'T KNOW ANYTHING!"

With that, both spells exploded in a burst of twin-colored magic, sending waves of force in both directions, that force being the straw that broke the camel's back in a sense as the building next to Yami collapsed, debris on a collision course with him.

"What the?!" he exclaimed, strands of darkness beginning to grow around him before the debris fell on him, blocking him from the elf's sight.

Charla found herself surprised at the fact that she was breathing heavily. "I won. No buildings around me broke, and the force going his way was stronger, but if what he's shown me so far tells me anything, it's that debris won't be enough to kill him, I better finish the job-,"

Her talking came to a stop at the sound of a clang at her side, looking down, her eyes widened as she saw what it was. "My…arm guard," looking at her right arm, it was now bare. Staring back at the guard, she noticed it was cut cleanly in half.

"Was the residual force of his attack capable of doing that much? Not to mention how precise it was," she thought, bending down to retrieve the broken piece of armor, but that's when she noticed something else. "Darn it, my mana's a lot lower than I thought, if I continue to engage with him, it may not end well. As much as I'd hate to do this, I must retreat,"

Closing her grimoire and putting it back in her satchel, she summoned vines and roses, jumping onto them, a small smile coming to her face as she saw an unconscious Yungel and Gairu were retrieved. With one last gaze at the pile of debris, she went on her way.

"This won't be the last we see of each other, that will be the next time we meet, when I tear your heart out,"

Meanwhile, small pebbles slowly began falling down the pile, the debris rumbling ever so slightly before it suddenly exploded into the air, Yami emerging from it with a raised katana. "Damn, that was close, the 'ol trusty Black Cocoon comes to the rescue again,"

Upon fully freeing himself, the dark mage advanced a few steps, it wasn't hard to tell how disappointed he was that the possessed captain was no longer around. "Alright then, this one's your victory, but mark my words, I'm going to find you, and I'm going to bring the Prickly Queen back, I made a promise,"

Resting his katana by his side, Yami knelt down to catch his breath for a few seconds before he stood back up, about to give chase to Charla, after all, she couldn't have gotten that far, but then he remembered something. "From what I know so far, these elves seem to possess people at random, meaning they can show up damn near anywhere, and attack damn near anyone. If that's the case, Charlotte's going to have to wait, there's somewhere else I have to go,"

Not wasting any time, he leaped onto one of the buildings that were still standing, now jumping from roof to roof. "You better be okay when I get there,"

"Hurry! We need reinforcements!"

The perspective underwent a shift, contrasting the last setting, instead of being outside and above ground, it was inside and below ground, but what remained the same was the panic and chaos that ensued.

The scream came from one of the numerous capital mages who stood guard in the dungeon that resided below Magic Knights HQ. Under normal circumstances, the area was relatively quiet, apart from the racket made by unruly prisoners every so often, but one would never think such a thing if they were witnessing what was transpiring.

The capital mage who made the exclamation quickly ran to one of his injured comrades, shocked to see her heavily bleeding from the shoulder. Resting his hand at the base of the wound, he cast a recovery spell. "Just what the hell is going on here?"

"I…don't know, something caused this, but I'm not sure what," the woman replied, trying to fight the pain. "Regardless, I don't know if we'll last before reinforcements even get here,"

"If all we have to do is last through this, then that's what we'll do," he said with a bit of uneasiness, looking ahead at the source of their problem. "But I don't understand why we should even need them, we're facing just one singular mage,"

"You know he's no ordinary mage,"

"Yes, but we've been handling him just fine, then all of a sudden, we're not,"

"Perhaps, but all we can do now is make sure he doesn't get above ground, the citizens would be put in immediate danger," she stood up. "Thanks for the healing, let's-,"

"AHH!" she was cut off by a multitude of bloodcurdling screams. Looking ahead, they both gasped at the sight of bodies dropping dead.

"Bastard! You're going down!" the female mage yelled, charging forward to engage the lone enemy.

How the scuffle went wasn't seen, but the male mage witnessed it all, he witnessed every single detail, every one. He saw the futile attempt to win, it was a sight that frightened him, but it was what he heard that made his very being tremble with fear. Entering his ears were the sounds of his colleague's painful screams, they were different from the others, they started out strong, like one trying to ignore the turmoil they were in, but it quickly changed, the screams became loud and panicked, ultimately ending as soon as it began with the collapse of her body, mangled beyond belief as if she had ran into an army of wild animals.

The last surviving mage lost all strength in his legs as he sank to the ground, words couldn't escape his mouth no matter how hard he tried. But then it happened, the enemy's eyes locked on him, they were cold and merciless, unchanging as the figure slowly approached him. Still unable to stand, the capital mage could only drag himself back, failing in telling the enemy to stay away, not that it would help though, he kept going until his back hit a wall and he could go no more, the figure also coming to a halt. Fully believing he was done for, the man gazed up to get a look at the person, it was a young man, and even though a yellow aura accompanied him, it was faint compared to the surrounding darkness, leaving his body to remain obscured by shadow, but for whatever reason, his eyes were the only things visible, eyes unaffected by the massacre he committed, however, another thing soon became visible too: his teeth, contorting into a twisted grin.

"Fear looks good on you," was all he said as he walked past the man, leaving him shivering in terror.

Minutes passed and the possessed man found himself arriving in a long, quiet, and dimly lit hallway, a large sack in his left grasp, and neat prison cells lining the right side. Placing his opposite hand on a set of bars, he slowly advanced as the hand dragged along, leaving empty destruction in his wake.

"Listen up, I don't know who's in here, and frankly, I don't care. If you're one of us, then welcome back, we have work to do, and if you're not, then you better pick a god and start praying, because your days are coming to a quick end. Anarchy shall reign throughout this kingdom until we are victorious, and once that time comes, a new era shall fall upon the world, one without humankind," he monologued, at last reaching the other side of the hall before tossing the sack on the floor, confiscated grimoires spilling out. "But what good would that be without a little fun beforehand?"

With that, he jumped into the air, destroying the ceiling as he escaped, the light from above illuminating the area.

The prison cells all flung open, criminals rushing into the hall, screaming words of freedom.

One of them sprinted for the sack, pulling out his grimoire. "What do you think that guy from earlier was yapping about?!"

"Who gives a flying fuck?!" another one took her grimoire next. "We're free and we're at full power, I say we go up there and make those Magic Knights pay!"

"Now there's an idea! Let's do it!" a third one agreed as they exited through the newly-created hole.

The hall was empty, well, all except for one that is. Walking out of his cell, the light revealed Gueldre Poizot. "Hmph, what a bunch of fools, even in a group, your power is no match for the Magic Knights. You'd be better off laying low and formulating planned attacks,"

The disgraced man went over to the sack to get his grimoire, but oddly enough, his wasn't the only one left, there was one more. Grabbing it to inspect, he observed its features. "This looks familiar,"

"Well well well, who would've guessed that you'd be here?" another voice across from him said. Gueldre put his guard up, but as the person walked into the light, he loosened up, for he recognized who he was looking at.

"Revchi, is that you?" he inquired with a smug grin, slowly moving forward. "I guess I shouldn't be surprised, I always knew you were nothing but a criminal, and a weak one at that,"

The other man did the same. "The hypocrisy is outstanding. What did you do to get in here? Did the other captains finally see how much of a corrupt bastard you are? I would pay good money to see that,"

"As would I to see what battle you lost to end up here. Unstoppable Chain Magic, aye? What a joke,"

"What about you and your Permeation Magic? It obviously isn't as good as you always cracked it to be,"

At this point, only two feet separated the two, the former captain's grin not fading away as he tossed the chain mage his grimoire. "Is that so? Then would you like another demonstration of its power? Because you obviously don't remember what happened last time,"

Revchi caught it effortlessly, commanding it to open in front of him. "I've changed since you set me up and kicked me out of the squad, it's time I prove it-,"

He was cut off by the sound of rumbling and screaming, shifting their attention to the hole leading above ground. Revchi let out a whistle. "Damn, things must be going crazy up there, last time it was this hectic, the Eye of the Midnight Sun attacked, at least, that's what I heard,"

That last part captured Gueldre's intrigue. "The Eye of the Midnight Sun? If they are launching another attack, Licht must've sent that man from before to break me out, but I can't imagine why he freed everyone else, well, he must've had his reasons. Either way, I'm saved,"

Just as he finished that thought, the ceiling at another spot burst open, a possessed Silver Eagle dropping in, his eyes locking onto the two traitors. "Found you,"

Gueldre extended a hand, gesturing for the man to wait. "Hold on, are you with the Eye of the Midnight Sun? If so, I'm the one you're looking for, I'm not your enemy, take me to Licht and he'll explain everything,"

This brought a look of anger to his face. "Don't you dare even say his name, human! Water Creation Magic: Killer Beluga!"

Both men were shocked by the spell coming their way…but former or not, they were knights, and those instincts kicked in immediately. Gueldre stepped up, opening his grimoire as it flipped to a page. "Permeation Creation Magic: Mozgus Conviction!"

At his command, an invisible wall appeared between them, blocking the attack, more or less putting a shocked expression on the knight's face now. "How in the world?"

Revchi took this chance to rush ahead. "Thanks for the block, now do us both a favor and stay out of my way, I'll handle this alone!"

"I wouldn't do that if I were you!"

"Shut up! Just don't forget that after I'm done with him, you're next!" he exclaimed, refocusing on the elf. "Chain Magic: Dance of the Pitless Viper!" he summoned a multitude of chains, the heads of them resembling the heads of a snake.

"A pointless attempt at victory, just give up and die! Water Creation Magic: Killer Eel!" he met the attack by summoning a large eel to encircle him, capturing the chain heads in its mouth.

"No way!"

"Your turn!" the elf then said, releasing a powerful dropkick that hit him directly, rocketing him right where he started, right where his former captain was to rub salt on the wound.

"Oh no, would you look at that? I was right, what else is new?"

"Ugh, would you can it for just one second?!" the chain mage yelled. "I'm going to beat this guy, and I'm not going to lose because I have revenge to get, revenge on the person who's subjected me to this humiliation, I'm going to get that…"

"Now that he mentions it, revenge would be quite nice, and I'd certainly enjoy putting an end to that…"

"...No good brat!" they finished in unison, raising their brows to one another.

"Short boy?" the question came from Gueldre to which Revchi nodded.

"Ashy blond hair?" the reverse now occurred.

"Wields a big sword?"

Nod.

"A big sword that negates magic?"

Nod.

The series of questions and gestures ended with the two shaking hands. "It looks like we have a common enemy," the permeation mage said.

"Seems like it, so whaddya say we take this guy down then go track down and kill that little shit?"

"That's the best thing you've said in your whole life," his grimoire flipped to another page. "Permeation Magic: Invisible Seeker + Invisible Traveling Companion!" he exclaimed as both men vanished from sight.

"They've disappeared, and I can't sense where they are either. What kind of human trickery is this?"

He would soon get an answer as Revchi became visible, descending from behind. "No tricks, just skill! Chain Binding Magic: Iron Chain Formation!" he quickly wrapped the elf in chains, completely immobilizing him.

Gueldre put his hands to his sides. "It appears that Licht has double-crossed me, that man must've been sent to eliminate me. Oh well, what a shame, I had faith in our deal too,"

"What was all the talk about humans though?" Revchi inquired.

"Your guess is as good as mine, but we shouldn't worry about that right now. Ready to find that brat?"

"Yup,"

Speaking of Asta.

"Zora, watch out!" the swordsman yelled to his teammate, the ash mage just managing to dodge a water spear.

The one-sided predicament that the four combatants were in had been flipped on its head. Instead of the copy mage on the run, spamming whatever he could to land something on the royal, he was now on the clear offensive, launching double spell after double spell.

"I take it you can see what kind of power I'm truly capable of?" Rhya asked them. "I'll let you know right now, I have no intention of letting you leave alive,"

Asta, coming to a halt, spoke up regarding something that was said earlier. "Rhya, I know we're enemies, but I meant what I said about wanting to create a better world, and I won't go back on that promise,"

"Well, Asta, that is yet to be decided. Personally, I'd love it if I was confident you'd never change your mind, but alas, I'm not confident of that fact, not one bit," he riposted. "Humans for the most part are intrinsically evil, but then there are people like you, humans with good intentions who are eventually corrupted by their own nature,"

"Intrinsically evil? That's gotta be the biggest load of crap I've heard come out of your mouth!" Zora furiously declared. "My father lived and died a good man, I won't let anyone question his nature!"

The copy mage just grinned. "If you actually believe that, then I gotta say, your father was an amazing liar. Copy Magic: Light Whip of Judgment + Calidos Brachium!" he summoned the whip first, launching it out to successfully wrap around Zora's leg before pulling him into his proximity.

"And now you can join your daddy in hell!" he let loose the fiery punch, but that's when Mereoleona came to his rescue, catching the fist with her hand.

"I almost killed you once, I can do it again and finish the job this time!" she yelled in his face, launching a punch of her own.

The elf positioned one arm to block the punch as he was sent flying, but he caught himself mid-air, landing on a platform, wearing an expression that told the woman her attack hardly fazed him. "That may have been the case before I awakened, but now that I have, defeat is impossible, for me that is, you all, not so much,"

"Awakened? What are you talking about?" Asta questioned the strange word.

The man found himself chuckling. "Oh yeah, you don't know. Well, since we've succeeded and you're going to die soon, I guess it wouldn't hurt to let you in on the details. You see, contrary to what you believed, I'm not human, and neither are Fana, Vetto, or Licht, the four of us are elves,"

This revelation brought shock to Zora and Mereoleona's faces, they were already a bit confused at having heard the word earlier in their encounter, but this context left them pretty much speechless for the time being. Asta, however, while surprised, was still able to speak. "So it's not just your master, you're all descended from the elves who survived the massacre?"

"Uh, no. You seem to know about what happened to us 500 years ago, not sure how, but it saves me from having to explain. None of us survived that day, but one of us was able to reincarnate in a human body, he went on to reincarnate the rest of us into dead bodies, but he wasn't able to bring back every elf who died that day. That's where the Magic Stones come in,"

"The Magic Stones?"

"Yes, they're ancient elven artifacts, when the humans killed us, they all got scattered somehow. They had the power to make our goal a reality, so we searched for them and assembled them to let our brother and sisters reincarnate into the bodies of the living, and as you can see from my appearance, we pulled it off,"

Asta grit his teeth. "Hang on, some of the Magic Stones were left with the Wizard King. Darn it, they must've stolen them!"

"Wait a damn minute, is magic even capable of doing something like that? Revival? Reincarnation? 500 years ago?" Zora openly questioned.

"Why wouldn't it be? If it's strong enough, magic can do almost anything," Rhya replied open-armed. "The very existence of the Eye of the Midnight Sun is proof of that,"

This earned a narrow-eyed glare from the flame mage. "So that's why your insidious group led to the near death of my brother? All because you wanted to see your little dead friends again?"

"Exactly. He just had the insanely bad luck of possessing one of the Magic Stones, but whether he lives or not makes no difference to me. And now that storytime is over, I can kill you all now!" he jumped down to ground level. "Copy Magic: Hystricidae Artillery + Calidos Bestia!"

"Ash Magic: Cinder Bullets!" Zora met the attack with one of his own, but it was obvious he stood no chance.

"I've got your back!" Asta ran in front of him with the Slayer, using the flat side to block the attacks to the best of his ability.

"Thanks for the save, but don't you think you should be busting out that transformation of yours? It could very well put the odds back in our favor. Even Ms. Savage is starting to have trouble with this guy,"

"True, but Licht is still somewhere around here, and if Rhya's boost in power happens to him too, I'm going to need to save everything I've got for when that time comes," he answered, grinning in an attempt to reassure his cynical teammate. "Hopefully, some of the others have cleared their areas and can come to help us, it's been a while since we've last seen them,"

Then, not even five seconds later, as if the goddess of fate herself willed it, a part of the wall located in the upper left area exploded, creating a well-sized hole, and from it, a familiar voice rang out. "Dang, what is this place?!"

The swordsman couldn't be any more happy to hear what he did. "That voice? It's Rill, now that's what I call perfect timing,"

"Rill? That's the captain of the Aqua Deer right? Then it really is perfect timing, he won the exam for his team after all, the four of us will serve Rhya's ass on a silver platter,"

From the hole, steps were heard, signaling Rill's advance, which in turn increased the growing sense of relief felt by the two Royal Knights…but once the picture mage came into full view of everyone, that relief crumbled as quickly as it formed. Why? Because he too was possessed.

"Oh no," Zora could hear Asta mumble.

Rill quickly noticed the ones below. "Oh, there are people down there, but-," he stopped as his eyes fell on one person in particular.

That person noticed him back. "Lira? Lira, is that you?"

"R-R-Rhya!" the elf called Lira jumped from where he was with immense force, rocketing right into the older man's arms, putting them both on the floor.

"Lira, get off me!"

"No way, let me enjoy this a little bit longer," he said back, before his voice softened. "I missed you, a lot,"

Rhya couldn't hear that and remain annoyed. With an available hand, he patted his head. "Same here, kiddo,"

The two soon got up. "So, how are you liking the body?"

"I actually really like it, though I will have to get used to having extra hair, although, I always could just cut it. Oh, and there's also this magic too, Picture Magic can do so much, it's really cool,"

"Rill!" the elves turned at the sound of Asta's exclamation. "Rill, can you hear me? It's us, your teammates!"

Lira raised a brow. "Who's Rill?"

"The previous owner of your body," Rhya informed him.

"Is that so?" the possessed picture mage pointed at the trio. "This Rill is gone, and just hearing you utter that word disgusts me. I'd never work with you, humans and elves can never work together, ever,"

Rhya took a moment to grab hold of Rill's grimoire before his own began flipping through pages. "Well said. Wanna help me take these guys down? It would be a great chance to test out your magic,"

"Ooh, I would love that!" Lira cheered, opening his grimoire manually to see what he could attack with. "Okay, this spell doesn't seem so bad, neither does this one, but this one doesn't seem too good to use now,"

Mereoleona didn't give him any more time to think. "Flame Magic: Calidos Bestia!"

The elves quickly leaped to avoid the beast, using the platforms to assume higher ground. "Hey, that wasn't very nice, you humans are so rude. Alright, I know what I'll use! Picture Magic: Myriad Gladius!" Lira retaliated the the hextet of blades.

"I got this!" Asta charged straight ahead, both of his swords in hand. He jumped up to meet the attack halfway, but before they could hit him, he became a tornado, deflecting them in different directions, but it didn't come without consequences as the force from it alone was enough to push him back a considerable number of feet.

The younger elf's eyes widened ever so slightly at the sight of what was in the human's grasp. "Those look familiar. How did he get his hands on them?"

"They were stolen, y'know, typical human behavior," Rhya replied with crossed arms.

Asta may have heard what the copy mage said, but at the moment, he couldn't care less about it, there was bigger fish to fry, a big glowing fish that had taken over his friend. "So, he wasn't lying about the whole reincarnation thing, but there may be a solution. This was all done by a spell, magic is involved, and if that's the case, then I have a chance," he formulated a plan in his head, all that was left was to execute it. "Zora!"

"What is it?!"

"I need you to give me some cover! Make sure they can't see me!"

"Okay then! Ash Magic: Cinder Screen!" the trapster blew the smokescreen Asta's way, hiding him from sight.

"Aw man, not seeing will make hitting him extra hard," Lira pouted. "I better get close and try to disperse it," he created the floating lump of paint before hopping onto it, quite happily too. "This is so neat! I can even fly now!"

Rhya put his hands on his hips. "Now isn't the time to dawdle, you goofball, get moving,"

"Right, my bad," he began flying down, but before he even got halfway there, a flash of black was seen in the smokescreen as a streak of the same color zoomed right past him, revealing the transformed magicless mage.

The copy mage was stunned by what he saw. "Since when could he do that?!"

Asta halted in the air, looking down at Lira, a smirk touching his face at the sight of his robe around the chest area having been slashed. "Direct hit! Good plan, transform and then go straight into a Black Meteorite," now there was only one thing left to do. "Rill, are you alright now?!"

The picture mage passed a hand by his chest, there was no blood, but there was still pain. "Stupid human, that hurt!"

Asta gasped. "No way, it didn't work?"

"Were you trying to undo the reincarnation with your anti-magic?" Rhya asked aloud. "I hate to break it to you, actually, no I don't, but your little tricks aren't going to work. The reincarnation has already been done, there's nothing you can do,"

"No, I won't accept that! There has to be a way, and I'll find it!"

"Good luck with that! Copy Picture Magic: Myriad Gladius!"

"Anti-Magic: Black Hurricane!" the swordsman readopted one of his prior moves, this time effortlessly deflecting the elemental swords, but after doing so, he moved in on his two opponents.

Rhya was the first to dodge it, then Lira followed suit when the dark tornado came his way, both finding themselves back at ground level, the latter preparing to attack. "Picture Magic: Ouroboros Rampage!" he conjured five humongous snakes out of green and yellow stone.

"Hey, captain," Zora turned to the royal, raising up a glowing fist. "Ready to get our punch on?"

She raised her own fiery fist, but wasn't wearing her usual battle grin, instead a serious yet calm expression. "I thought you'd never ask," they both charged ahead, jumping in unison, each landing on one of the snakeheads, halting as they reeled their fists back and punched large holes into their necks, causing the rest of their bodies to crumble. The flame mage wasn't done, she set her eyes on another one and ran straight at it, destroying it head-on in one hit.

There were only two left to go, and Asta was on the scene, cutting both cleanly in half across the mouth before the trio regrouped.

"I guess you saw the benefit in transforming after all," Zora said sarcastically.

"I thought I could use it to catch Rill, or Lira I guess, off guard and undo whatever spell caused this, but it didn't work,"

The ash mage sucked his teeth. "Then all we can do is take these guys down and figure out something that will work. Even though they're crazy tough, it's still three against two, we have the advantage,"

"Lira, so this is where you ran off to!"

The goddess of fate was giving the Royal Knights absolutely no favors as everyone diverted their attention to the recently-made hole, now occupied by the remaining members of Team 4, all possessed as well. They jumped down from where they were, landing next to their elven allies.

Lira rubbed the back of his head. "Sorry for ditching you guys. But on the bright side, look who I found?!" he pointed to the copy mage.

"Rhya!"

He quickly put a hand up. "Oh no you don't. I know you're all happy to see me, I am too, but let's worry about all the reunions for after we kill those humans over there,"

The three possessed knights glanced at their former teammates, sending narrow-eyed glares their way. "Works for us,"

As for Asta, drops of nervous sweat rolled down his face. When the day began, they were on top of everything, no one stood a chance against them, not even Rhya with his Third Eye, but now they were ones at a disadvantage, the tables had turned.

"This is bad, really bad,"

It was silent over at Golden Dawn HQ, there wasn't a sound heard anywhere, none in the dining hall, none in the members' individual rooms, there was enough silence to even hear the rustling of the wind. But then again, why would that be odd? The squad had vacated the building, having headed off to patrol for any members of the terrorist organization per Marx's command. Right?

Well, not so much.

Deep within the HQ, located in the Great Hall, stood every single remaining knight of the guild, there was only one problem: every member was possessed, every last one. The place that was created to be a meeting of order and instruction had now become a den of chaos.

The elf possessing Letoile let a sigh escape her mouth, focusing on a cup in her hand. "Y'know, Baval, I almost forgot how good water tasted. What about you?"

The elf possessing David, Baval, laughed at her remark. "You just awaken and that's the first thing you wanna say? Kivn, you always were a weird one,"

"Say what you will, but I'm just glad to be back, after we defeat the humans, it'll be nice to catch up and get back to a normal life," she said.

"Speaking of the humans, why are we still waiting here? Shouldn't we be out there going on a rampage?"

"Don't be impatient, we can't forget these bodies aren't originally ours, and that means the same can be said for our magic. The humans are weak, but if we go out there without any knowledge of our new powers, we won't fare much better,"

Baval crossed his arms. "Good point, I forgot you were as smart as you were weird,"

Kivn playfully punched his arm. "I'll take that as a compliment, now-," she cut herself off as footsteps echoed from somewhere, it was coming from the other side of the entrance door, they were slow, yet powerful in a way.

In a few seconds though, the footsteps came to a stop, but instead of whoever they belonged to simply opening the door to enter, the door got torn into quarters, having been enveloped in a familiar wave of empty destruction. Saying nothing, the figure walked into view of the rest.

It was Langris, or rather, it was…

"Well well well, if it isn't Latri?" a voice to the left of the elf said in a tone that didn't sound too pleased. The possessed vice-captain turned his head to face the one who made the statement, it was a young woman with dark blue hair in a messy bun who was leaning comfortably against a wall. "I didn't think I'd run into you so soon,"

Latri smirked. "Sorry to disappoint you then, Yurim. I gotta say though, I love your new look, blue hair really suits you, and the bun is cute too,"

"Why you little-,"

"Okay, break it up my favorite pair of mortal enemies," Baval interjected, rolling his eyes. "We have a common enemy now, the humans," he addressed the male. "Latri, care to join us for some practice?"

"Please do, it would give me a great chance to show you what I've got," Yurim challenged.

He ignored her and shrugged. "Sure, it wouldn't hurt to learn more about how this strange attribute works. But damn, looking at all of you, and what we're about to do, it just makes me more proud of that cousin of mine. You pulled it off, Patri, nice work, now we'll do the rest together," a twisted grin touched his face.

"Anarchy shall reign tonight,"

Darkness. Nothing but darkness was visible, but that changed when a pair of eyes suddenly shot open, revealing a forest from a kid's point of view.

"Wow, this place looks so pretty!" he cheered loudly, running through the forest, maneuvering around trees and bushes. However, he suddenly stopped upon hearing the sound of birds, scanning the area, he saw where it came from: a nest of baby anti-birds, their parents having returned to feed them.

"Aw, how adorable," the kid remarked before resuming his sprint, cheerful laughing emitting from his being.

But that's when it came to another stop, but now because of what he heard, but rather what he saw: a humongous and familiar white skull, it appeared to be one of some kind of creature…or demon.

"Woah, it really is real!" the kid marveled, he had heard stories of such a thing, but he never believed them to be true, well, until today. "To think the first Wizard King fought something this gigantic, so awesome,"

"There you are, we've been looking everywhere for you," two adults suddenly showed up, a man and a woman, the facial features blurred out.

"You shouldn't run off from us like that," the man softly yet sternly admonished.

"Yes, you could've gotten yourself hurt," the woman added.

"Sorry, mother, father, I won't do it again," the kid apologized.

The parents both sighed, just glad their son was safe, so they shifted the subject. "So, what do you think of the demon skull? Pretty cool, right?" his mother wanted to know.

"I think it's the coolest thing ever!" he squealed. "Thanks for bringing me here,"

"Anytime, son," his dad said, looking up at the orange sky. "It's getting late, we should be heading back, we don't want to be late for lunch,"

The kid was in agreement. "Yeah, I can't wait to have those delicious-,"

"We don't want to be late for lunch," his father repeated for whatever reason.

"Uh, yeah, I heard you, now, about those-,"

"We don't want to be late for lunch. We don't want to be late for lunch. We don't want to be late for lunch. Late for lunch. Late for lunch. Late for lunch. Late for lunch. Late. Late. Late. Late,"

The kid was officially creeped out. "Father? Father, what's the matter with you?!" he asked, his tone scared, it was then that he noticed the environment began to blur around him, getting less and less recognizable. Then his mother let out an ear-bleeding shriek as everything and everyone else vanished, leaving only darkness.

The boy looked around, seeing no color and no light, all he could do was stare at his own hands…the hands of a man. He wasn't a kid anymore.

"Now I remember, all of that, it was just a memory," he said with a defeated tone. "It was the last time we were ever happy…the last time I was ever happy,"

Suddenly, the area changed again, but now it was the nightly streets of the capital. The place was unusually empty and quiet, with not a single other person around, but that changed in an instant as fires erupted in every direction, loud screams invading the silence.

"What's going on?" he wondered.

Just as he asked that question, he was given an answer, it came in the form of a young boy with recognizable features, but like his parents, he had a blurred face. The boy had just made a turn at the corner and was running fast, before the man could even wonder what was chasing him, the culprit revealed itself: a figure whose body was obscured by darkness, sporting a yellow aura.

The boy kept looking back and increasing his speed, his fear evident by his sporadic breathing, but then something strange happened. The boy looked straight at the man, startling him a bit, the boy then stretched out one of his arms before the shadowy figure pinned him to the ground and began dragging him away.

"Help me!"

Without even thinking, the man rushed to the boy's aid. He didn't know why, all he knew was that he had to protect him, he had to keep him safe from whatever wanted him. He kept running and running, but the closer he got, the clearer the boy's face became, it got clearer and clearer. Once he was only inches away, his face was fully recognizable, earning a shocked gasp from the man as the kid yelled one last thing to him.

"Save me…Finral!"

"Langris!" Finral screamed, his eyes shooting open as his body rose from his bed. The spatial mage was awake, and breathing heavily.

He groaned and held his head. "Man, what a weird dream,"

"Holy crap," a voice by his side suddenly said. Finral turned his head, seeing the dark mage, his face wearing an expression he's never seen before.

"Um, Captain Yami, hey," he slowly got out of bed. "Where the hell am I? Hold on, I think I remember, Langris beat me at the exam, and then I passed out soon after. How long has it been?"

"Three weeks, give or take,"

"Three weeks?!" he exclaimed comedically. "Um, I'm sorry for being out cold so long,"

"No, don't apologize," Yami walked to him, wrapping a single arm around him, and pulling him into his chest. "I'm just glad you're okay. You have no idea how happy this makes me,"

Finral heard the rare soft and caring tone from his captain, making him sigh, he was glad to be okay as well, he couldn't imagine how much the others must've been worried about him. Yami gave it a few minutes before he released him, neither person having said a single word.

The spatial mage decided to break the silence though. "Y'know, I had a strange dream before I woke up, the capital was on fire, it was chaos,"

"Yeah, about that, it wasn't a dream," Yami jerked a thumb at the window. "Take a peek,"

He did as he was told, gasping at how much damage was being unfolded, how the once beautiful and glorious Royal Capital was almost reduced to piles upon piles of debris and injured bodies. "Who did all this?"

"I'll explain later. Look, I know this isn't a good time, what with you having just woken up and all, but we're going to have to do a hell ton of fighting if we don't want shit to hit the fan any more than it already has. Now, if you want to give yourself a few minutes to recharge, I understand,"

Finral gave his captain a serious look, shifting his gaze back to the window. If his dream about the kingdom being in danger was correct, then Langris being in danger was true as well, and against his better judgment, he wasn't going to let that happen. Setting his eyes on a nearby desk that held his clothes, grimoire, satchel, and squad robe, he approached them, equipping each one to his person one by one until he was done.

"There's no need to wait…I'm ready,"