Here is the twenty-second chapter in this story released when I wanted it to be released based of my release process for this series. The Capital is under attack by an unknown enemy so it is time act and defend it, let's just hope that being on the defending end of a nation's Capital's defense goes better for Akame and Tatsumi then being on the attacking end did though at least this time they probably don't have to deal with a giant weapon that can decimate the entire Capital on its own. Anyway, that is all I have for the administrative stuff I have for y'all and there are no guest reviews that need a response, though I thank you for your support of my work, or questions to answer so I will end this here. Do keep them coming as your support is the best motivation for me to keep producing chapters at this kind of rate. That is it for this pre-chapter note so it is time to sit back and enjoy the twenty-second chapter in Akame ga Clover.
Disclaimer: I own nothing related to these two great animes.
Chapter 22: Capital
Tatsumi crashed through the window and landed on a nearby roof and began to run towards the sounds of screaming and the fires that he could see burning all across the Capital. They weren't close to the banquet room but further out in the general area known as the Noble Realm.
Seeing it laid out before him as he ran Tatsumi realized that if the goal was pure chaos and terror then they'd done a good job in achieving it because it was further away from the larger, multi palace, structure at the top of the Capital where the royal families had their residences and where the Wizard King likely was. As such the attackers had ensured that there was less chance of resistance to their initial attack thus ensuring that it went off pretty much without a hitch.
That made it clear to Tatsumi that this was not an attack on the royalty or the Magic Knights in general, though it would certainly get the latter's attention, but rather on the kingdom itself by striking at the heart of the nation and thus the people of the Clover Kingdom themselves.. That led to the most concerning thing about this attack, the fact that it shouldn't even be possible due to a Spatial Magic barrier that covered the Noble Realm. To pull off something of this scale meant that the barrier had to be down which raised more questions.
Those were just some of the questions that were running through Tatsumi's mind as he rushed towards the city but for now those weren't important and could be answered later. What was important was reaching the civilians and helping anyway he could and as he ran he let Incursio fall as he no longer needed it though he kept on the long gray robe that the Wizard king had given him as he didn't have his Squad robe on him so this was the closest he had to a uniform to denote that he was a Magic Knight.
"Tatsumi wait." Akame called from behind him getting his attention and he quickly came to a halt and turned to her having known she was just a few paces behind him thanks to her ki, well that and he trusted her to follow him when he ran after the danger that was attacking the Capital. "We can't rush in; we need to think this through first. Rushing in without a plan is what Asta would do and he can get away with it because he can nullify magic which makes him someone who's always underestimated but we need to be sensible and remember that some of the strongest Magic Knights are in town thanks to that ceremony."
"I wouldn't call Solid and Nebra strong, or available for that matter, but I see your point." Tatsumi said looking around and noting that there were several fires. "Asta is almost certainly running towards the danger, knowing him he's going to where it's loudest as that is likely where the culprit is, but the others will come up with a brief plan of action. Almost all may be pompous, classist or sexist assholes but they're not high ranking Magic Knights for no reason so they're going to have enough tactical sense to prepare a counter attack."
"Exactly and with the power levels that were in that room I don't doubt that one of them has a surveillance or mapping spell in his or her arsenal." Akame said. "I don't know the magical attributes of those who didn't show them but one of them has to have some way of gaging the situation from afar and then they'll send out teams based on Squad membership as that will provide the most cohesion in this situation."
"That is the sensible idea though there is one slight problem." Tatsumi said. "I did kinda knock out two of the Silver Eagles so there's only one of them left."
"True but that one who is still standing is a Magic Knight Captain who's also a royal, even if he's a classist ass he can easily handle a situation on his own." Akame said. "And if he wants to restore the honor his siblings lost he'll do just that."
"Right then what should our plan be?" Tatsumi asked as he took a breath to calm himself and make sure he entered the battle with a level head. "We have to help but after what we just did it might be best to avoid entanglement with some of those Magic Knights who's pride we wounded because they were being dicks."
"It's their own fault for starting what they couldn't finish but you're right and so to avoid them we should stick to cleaning up the areas that aren't on fire." Akame said. "Those are where the Magic Knights will go and it is for the best that we not to interact with them after we had to put them in their places so I say we first assess the current situation, see what the threat is, and then help where we can because you and I both know that the places on fire are only the biggest threats, there will be others running around causing even more chaos."
"Agreed so lets go and figure it out." Tatsumi said as he walked to the edge of the roof, he'd made it a fair way into the Capital before Akame had called out to him so they were now above a street about half a mile from the nearest epicenter of the attack, and looked into it as he heard a screaming horde of citizens running towards them. "Looks like we've got something coming now what is…oh, er, Akame, you may want to check this out as I think you'll understand this better than me but one thing is clear, this is going to be a serious problem for us."
"What do you…" Akame said as she joined him as the last of the citizens rushed passed and headed towards a nearby square so she saw what was on their heels, and saw was the operative word as she didn't sense it. "Oh I see what the problem is, ki's not going to work. It seems like they aren't like Kurome's puppets but they are puppets nonetheless."
What was chasing the citizens was a horde of corpses that were moving on their own. They weren't the fastest, though they clearly as corpses they weren't hindered by things like stamina, and there was a lot of them that were coming after the citizens so they were clearly the threat. That meant that whoever was behind the attack had control over them with magic but that begged one question to the pair as they began to run along the rooftops towards the square while noticing that the three other points of egress to it had people running there as well as if they were being bottled in.
"What attribute is this?" Tatsumi asked as they reached the roof nearest the square while the last of the frantic citizens ran into it and the hordes could be seen approaching all entrance ways. "Zombie Magic?"
"Probably not what it's called, I'd put money on it's being called Corpse, Undead, or maybe something more obscure like Wraith Magic for something like this but you're not wrong." Akame said. "This is likely an attribute that gives the user the ability to resurrect and control the dead like how Kurome's puppets worked though unlike her puppets this mage likely doesn't have to kill the person first to control the corpse. Regardless, it's best to assume which that they can take a lot of damage like Kurome's puppets could. Short of something like Asta's sword that can nullify magic, the best way to handle these things is to, well…"
"Slice and dice them so much that they can't go on." Tatsumi said simply. "And that's where you're best my dear. Ok let's go save the citizens and help out here. Once the zombies are neutralized we can move on and clear up another area of the Capital."
"Agreed." Akame said and she leapt from the rooftop. "I'll leave that to you my love, you're better at protecting people."
"You do the same just in your own way." Tatsumi said as he followed her and landed in the square as Akame stood at one of the entrances in a ready stance with Murasame still out and now as sharp as she could make it. "Show that offense is at times the best defense."
"Who are you?" One of the crowd asked as Tatsumi landed getting his attention but he didn't turn to them. "Are you some of the people attacking us? We're innocent civilians, we're not Magic Knights so there's no point in coming after us."
"No we're Magic Knights who were in town on a special assignment for the Wizard King when this happened so we're here to protect you and let me show you that." Tatsumi said as his grimoire flipped open while Akame tensed, magic glowing around her lower legs as she used reinforcement magic there to boost her speed. "Armor Creation Magic: Innocent's Protect."
Suddenly a ring of large, connected, shields appeared around the civilians to block anything from reaching them with a second ring appearing above to add in the protection. The citizens were all confused at that but huddled together as Tatsumi walked around to one of the other points of entrance and got ready. Annoyingly, because the zombies were dead they didn't give off ki so he couldn't sense how many there were which meant that this was going to be a slugfest where he butchered the corpses until they couldn't move anymore.
"My partner is going to be the sword here, she's best at that but I can fight as well." Tatsumi said as he faced off against the upcoming horde and his grimoire flipped back to a new page. "Now, Armor Creation Magic: Incursio!"
As his Incursio armor formed around him and the citizens who could see it muttered and gasped at that, Akame pushed off the ground with enough force to crack it and charged at the horde approaching her. Those who could see her didn't see much, just the push off followed by a flutter of the robe she wore, and a series of flashes in the air.
Akame didn't care about what the citizens could see as she tore through the horde of zombies slashing Murasame as she moved with precise bladework using her training and boosted speed from reinforcement magic to reach the end of the horde in seconds. Then, and without breaking stride, she leapt up to the top of a nearby building to move around to the back of one of the other hordes that was approaching the square.
The citizens just blinked at that as the zombies seemed to falter before they began to fall down along clean cuts that bisected, decapitated, carved in two at other points, or in some cases reduced to several chunks of dead, rotting, flesh from the front to the back until there was only a mass of dead body parts in the street. Akame had cut their puppet strings by inflicting so much damage to them that they couldn't recover from it and she'd done so so fast that it wasn't until she was out of the street that they started to fall apart.
By the time the last of the zombie pieces hit the ground Akame was already heading back to the square from the other direction doing the same thing as she moved. As such she once again took out another line of zombies just as the remaining hordes came into the square.
"Amazing, isn't she." Tatsumi said as he created the spear that came with Incursio and set himself before the horde that was coming at him while making sure that he had enough room to maneuver between the horde and the shields he'd set up to protect the citizens behind him. "Her Blade Magic allows her to make any blade she holds as sharp as magically possible, especially if it's like that katana she has and is actually made by her magic, so it's like a knife through butter for her. These monstrosities don't stand a chance against us so worry not, the Magic Knights are here to protect you as is our duty to the kingdom."
With that Tatsumi took a few steps forward to meet the zombies head on and instantly began to slice and dice them as well with quick, well honed, moves of his spear while Akame rushed after the third horde. She was better suited for offensive magic and this kind of stuff was child's play to her so Tatsumi just focused on holding off the horde until Akame looped around once more and came back to the square in the same manner as her first attack, finishing off the remaining zombies that were there in the process.
In total she'd taken out about 75-80% of the zombies compared to Tatsumi but he didn't mind as his goal was the protection of the citizens and he'd done just that as only a few got past him to bang on the shields that moved to constantly be in their way keeping the citizens safe so that Tatsumi could turn and end those zombies with a few quick slashes from his spear. Once all that was done he turned to the citizens.
"Find someplace to hide." Tatsumi said seriously as he dismissed his shields and armor while Akame walked around making sure that all the zombies were done for and occasionally decapitating one that Tatsumi had failed to properly finish off and was trying to get up or crawl towards the civilians. "There are many strong Magic Knights in the city right now who are either on their way to or are currently helping out. They are members of the Golden Dawn, Silver Eagles, Crimson Lion Kings, Blue Rose Knights, and Black Bulls with the Captains of three of those Squads on the battlefield so you are in safe hands. Use this moment to get inside and hole up until it is over. We won't let our Capital fall today."
The citizens just blinked at that before they nodded and hurried away to the nearest buildings to get inside and find places to hide that the zombies couldn't get to. It was the safest strategy right now and they'd been spared but there were still screams and fires burning so Tatsumi turned to Akame as he reached behind his back and drew out his sword that had been on his lower back and held it out.
"Can you make sure this is as sharp as possible until this attack has been repelled?" Tatsumi asked his girlfriend, his tone serious as they were in the middle of a battle. "I can't rely on my magic all the time so best for us to now take the offensive together and cut down these things side by side."
"Of course, we are always best together." Akame said as she placed her left hand on the flat of Tatsumi's blade, her right still holding Murasame, and made it razor sharp while also clearing away any knicks on it and doing her best to reinforce the blade as much as possible. "Now let's go, there are a lot more zombies to deal with and we can't sense their ki because they're, well, dead so they're not giving off any. Might be time to switch back to mana sensing."
"I'm kinda use to using ki now and besides all we need to do is go to where there is panicked ki and save the citizens but stay clear of the big conflict zones, for now." Tatsumi said as he picked up the ki of people in fear all around and narrowed it down to an area not on fire to head off to. "Because I am sure that this is not their end game, it's too chaotic for that. This is more some petulant child throwing a tantrum but an attack on the Capital would take months if not years of careful planning and cunning to pull off so they'd only do that if they had a specific goal in mind rather than just causing pure anarchy but we don't know what that goal is yet."
"True so let's help where we can." Akame said as she fell into step next to Tatsumi. "And this time let's not die together in a Capital attack."
"Agreed though this time we're not attacking it, we're defending it and neither of us has to deal with a 500 foot tall Imperial Arms or a sadistic general with ice powers so strong she can literally freeze time for a few moments." Tatsumi said as they ran through the streets. "So let's protect our new lives and those of our friends the way we know how."
Akame just nodded at that as they ran deeper into the Capital following the sounds of terror and sensing the ki of the scared citizens they were trying to save. They had a sense of what they were up against and could easily handle them but they were still confused as to the why of this attack. That would come though, first they had to save the citizens and that's just what they did.
Neither of them knew how long they were running around the city, it was hard to gage in all the panic that was going on and the constant fighting, but it couldn't be too long as battles like this tended to be quick. Besides, they were focused on their task of taking down and wiping out as many zombies as possible rather than how long it was taking. As with the plan, the couple stuck to the back streets and areas that weren't on fire but had zombies to keep the citizens safe while making sure that the hot areas were covered by the Magic Knights from the banquet.
That said the pair did end up near one of the hot areas in the central section of the Capital after a few moments because the area was a little more overrun than the others and the zombies weren't falling as fast as they were in the other hot areas. This was because the area was the most intense in terms of numbers and only had one Magic Knight helping mainly because it was Nozel Silva so the other two Silver Eagles present were currently unconscious thanks to Tatsumi.
To sorta make up for that error, not that Tatsumi expected there to be a full scale zombie attack on the Capital when he put the middle Silva siblings in their places, he and Akame did gravitate to this area to help out on the peripheries as Nozel handled the main bulk of zombies. This way they could help alleviate the pressure, get rid of a good number of zombies, and protect the citizenry while leaving Nozel to restore his family's honor on his own.
As such they were mainly just running around and slicing up zombies into fine pieces that wouldn't come back, a grizzly task but as they were corpses they didn't bleed so it wasn't too bad in terms of gruesomeness as the zombies themselves were pretty horrific to begin with. Other than the zombies, the attack caused fire and mayhem but it was random and seemed to just be overwhelming them with zombies which had to be some kind of distraction by whoever was running this which the couple knew that they needed to figure out as well.
The easiest way to do so, and prevent the real objective, was to just end this attack by defeating the ringleader, the puppet master so to speak, because without him the zombies would fall. As such, Akame and Tatsumi kept their eyes open for anything that might alert them to where the puppet master might be and finally, after several moments, that sign came in the form of a surge of lightning to the north that didn't seem to lesson up. That was the sign that they were looking for and the couple began to make their way to it as fast as possible.
They were still a fair distance from it, however, and to make matters worse there were a good number of zombies in their way that they had to cut down as they hurried so by the time they made it about a quarter of the way the lightning had ended showing that whatever was making it had been defeated. Still, there were zombies moving around which meant that the puppet master was still active so they pressed on for a few moment moments before there was a sudden shift in the air.
It was hard to quantify it but Akame and Tatsumi knew it well having been in many a battle in the past and they began to slow down. The shift was the sudden reduction of fear and a resumption of order to some extent that came with the sudden defeat of one side in a conflict. This was really shown by the fires dying down around the city and the sky clearing up causing the couple to come to a stop entirely.
"Is it over?" Tatsumi asked looking at Akame as she bisected the final zombie that had stopped moving just before her katana had cut into its side.
"Not sure." Akame said looking around her senses on high alert but there was so much going on that she wasn't sure if the danger was over of if this was just some kind of lull in the battle. "We should get to high ground just to be sure as this feels more like a lull."
"I agree." Tatsumi said and he used his magic to aid him in leaping up and onto a nearby roof with Akame following him a second later. "An attack like this, to strike the Capital, it wouldn't just be about this kind of chaos. Whoever caused this wanted the chaos, that much is clear, but there is a greater power behind the zombie's puppet master who's the true mastermind of this attack."
"There's clearly more to this attack than we've seen so far and as we've moved I've been thinking on it and there's no way that the zombie's master is in charge, you're right there." Akame said as she looked around. "He or she seemed to be more focused on the chaos that the zombies were causing than anything else. It was pure anarchy, chaos for chaos's sake as if the person had a grudge against the kingdom and wanted to destroy it but to launch such an attack, it's, well…"
"It would need backing from someone who could actually pull this off and whoever's backing that person would have his or her own goals that this large scale attack was just the cover for." Tatsumi said thinking. "Or more accurately, a distraction."
"Kinda reminds me a bit of that attempt to take down the Jaegers, you know where we killed Bols but lost Chelsea because she failed to kill Kurome as well." Akame said. "We used multiple different paths and ruses to split them up so that we could attack the ones marked for death without Esdeath there to stop us and thus ensure that at least one of them died. This is different but similar in concept at the same time. Didn't you notice how there seemed to be only a few set areas of the Capital, all a decent distance apart and in different districts, that were attacked."
"Yeah come to think of it there were." Tatsumi said realizing what Akame was going on about. "Certain areas seemed to be the focus while we had to clean up zombies that had broken free of those areas and were adding to the overall chaos but as we moved various areas were clearly more affected than others. You think that…"
Before Tatsumi could finish there was a loud voice that rolled over the Capital thanking the Magic Knights for their service before there was a sudden surge of magic and 4 large, slightly roiling, spikes of midnight purple magic shot up right in four of the five epicenters of the attack. It was magic unlike any that they'd seen before and lasted a few moments before subsiding with only one area, the area where they'd been heading because of the lightning storm, being spared.
Almost as soon as it was over the sounds began to reach them, sounds of confusion, worry, and finally another attack near one of the areas. The couple looked at each other worried as there was a clear dip in determined, unafraid, ki which could only mean one thing about the magic they'd just seen.
"That was the true goal of the attack and why it was in several specific areas at the same time." Akame said. "It forced us to split our forces to deal with the attacks so that they could then do that. That had to be Spatial Magic, the reaction doesn't sound like it was something that killed them and that wouldn't work anyway, not on the caliber of Magic Knights present at least, but Spatial Magic might if it was used in a fast, surprise, attack like that."
"They'd need a strong Spatial Mage just to launch this attack in the first place, which also means they've got some high ranking help as they'd either need a guardian mage on their side or to kill one to get past the spatial barrier they cast over the Noble Realm but that's something for the Wizard King to deal with." Tatsumi said. "So there had to be at least one other mage present for the attack in addition to the guy controlling the zombies. A Spatial Mage who can launch 5 simultaneous attacks on the Capital has to have skill so repeating it with 4 portals that send most of the Magic Knights away, likely a few hundred kilometers at least to keep them from the Capital, wouldn't be hard for that mage."
"Agreed and I bet that there is at least one more Mage present as some form of backup should the puppet master guy be defeated." Akame said. "But I don't know where that person would be."
"Neither but I think we're going to have to trust that someone evaded that attack and can help out if there is more than just the two we can confirm or that the generic Magic Knights that guard the area can manage it." Tatsumi said. "Because the main threat is still out there, the Spatial Mage and the, for lack of a better term, Zombie Mage are likely still free after that surge of magic so we should go and aid. What's the betting that Asta's there as well."
"High, he's always in the thick of things it seems." Akame said as she turned to the direction that they'd seen the lightning in. "Let's head there then and lend our aid."
"Agreed though we should try to take them in alive." Tatsumi said as they began to run there over the rooftops. "The Wizard King will have some questions so only kill if it's to protect our friends."
Akame nodded though she wasn't sure if that would be a possibility. If they were too dangerous she'd kill them without hesitation as that was the fastest way to end a threat but hopefully she didn't have to so that they could get to the bottom of this attack and why it had been launched. Little did they know, as they missed the beginning of an aerial battle that began to rage over the city to with that potential third attacker, that the reason for the attack had already happened and the target of the attackers had fallen into their trap.
They were still a fair distance away from where the action had been concentrated but almost as soon as they set off there was a blast of fire from the area that confirmed to the couple that a battle was still being waged where the lightning had been so they pushed on to catch up to it. It was as they began to close in that they felt a chill in the air and suddenly a spike in the ki coming from where they were heading.
"Feel that." Tatsumi said as they kept moving. "Feels like several more people have arrived."
"Yeah, and none of them have good intentions in their ki so they must be backup for the attackers which isn't good." Akame said as she did her best to sift through the ki that they were heading to, focusing on the ones she knew and moving out from there. "Asta and Noelle are there, I know their ki by this point but they're with several others as well."
"Yeah, but only two I vaguely recognize." Tatsumi said as he leapt from one building to the next. "They're the Crimson Lion Kings from before. That brash one who started the whole situation with his taunt and that noble one that seemed to be his older brother but, um…"
"That one is injured, badly, and his ki is barely hanging in there I can sense it too." Akame said. "It's not good because there are 7 more signatures there that I don't know and they range from pure vengeance to utter crazy so all are hostile."
"Well then let's move and now we've got to focus on rescue not capture unless we can clearly identify a leader." Tatsumi said as the pair leapt onto the last building before a square of some sorts that was where the battle was taking place. "We…"
"No time, it's kill or be killed now." Akame said as she leapt over the ledge and down into the square as one of the hostile ones began to cast magic her katana at the ready as they joined the fight.
Things had been going well for them at first. Asta had held his own, Fuegoleon had assisted when it became clear that Asta needed help and had added words of advice to both Asta and Noelle, and Leo had been there to back them up while Noelle provided support so that the girl who Asta was protecting at the start could be safe and ensure that Asta could focus on the Wraith Mage that was terrorizing the Capital, a man called Rades apparently. Even with some injuries that wouldn't stop bleeding Asta was showing his worth.
His talent was such that Fuegoleon acknowledged it personally when he intervened with the lightning wraith thing, which Rades called Alfred for some reason, and incinerated it telling Asta he was too valuable a Magic Knight to lose, giving him advice to stay calm in battle so as to maximize his talents, and then declaring that he too was Asta's rival to be the next Wizard King. That was huge, Noelle knew that, especially because Fuegoleon was a Captain and a royal who some saw as a potential successor to King Clover as well as the Wizard King so him acknowledging Asta as such was big.
Clearly Asta accepted that as well and watched and learned from Fuegoleon as the man defeated a third specific wraith, this one called Carl, with precise ease despite the wraith's strong defensive magic and which really drove home Fuegoleon's words to Asta. With Carl now defeated as well it was clear that Rades had lost and Fuegoleon easily captured him to end the threat that he posed to the Capital while also learning the reason for Rades's attack in the first place.
That was the lull that the other Magic Knights fighting around the Capital felt, and revelation that Rades for all his power only had one page in his grimoire showing that he only knew one spell, the one that summoned the named wraiths he had. It also meant that the zombies that were attacking the capital were just his raw Wraith Magic controlling them, but with Rades now captured by Fuegoleon's magic it was over or so they thought because that was when the Spatial Mage, who Rades called Valtos, revealed himself.
He was the one who had thanked the Magic Knights before sending the them several hundred kilometers away from the Capital leaving just Asta, Noelle, Leo, and Fuegoleon present. Well, Yuno too was present having avoided the Spatial Magic attack thanks to the new power in his grimoire but none of those in the square with Rades and Valtos knew that or about the battle that Yuno ended up in with a witch called Catherine.
Even if they knew about that they couldn't focus on it because right after Valtos sent away the other Magic Knights he created a portal to send Fuegoleon away as well with a precise bit of Spatial Magic that showed he was nearby though Rades was still not freed from Fuegoleon's binding spell. That really annoyed Leo as Noelle supported a wounded Asta who was still bleeding thanks to being hit by some curses that were in Rades's raw magic. Despite still being captured, Rades was smug about it up until Asta sussed out that Valtos was under a pile of corpses and knocked him out of it with his sword.
Unfortunately it was too late by that point as Valtos opened up another portal the moment he'd gotten out of Asta's range and dumped Fuegoleon's unconscious body on the ground revealing that the Magic Knight Captain had had his right arm severed at the shoulder and was bleeding out. That really affected Leo as Noelle tried to do some field dressing for the wound as his grimoire began to slowly disintegrate showing that Fuegoleon's life was ebbing away while Asta calmed down and took the fight to Rades again as Valtos tried to used a portal to send him away.
However Asta chose that moment to really apply Fuegoleon's advice and stopped the portal from taking Rades away, twice, before also cutting Rades on the right cheek with the big one in the process, and then punched Rades a few times as Rades complained about the pain and continued his insane rants about his views on strong verses weak. His views were clearly compounded by his commoner status and expulsion from the Magic Knights 6 years prior. It wasn't stopping Asta but Valtos almost did until Leo snapped back into it and attacked Valtos while Noelle did her best to staunch Fuegoleon's wound.
Things were dire but manageable until suddenly 5 more showed up all in strange white robes with hoods over their heads and a black line down the middle of the robes with an esoteric key design with three eyes as the key's head. How they got there was confusing, there was just a sudden gust of wind and a chilling sense and they were there to back up Rades and Valtos. 4 were male, the clear leader of the group had a scar along the side of his face, and one was female who seemed the most insane of them and they were all clearly strong.
Regardless, that didn't deter Asta as he just smirked and used his swords to cut his wounds and dispel the curse that was on him by Rades's magic. With that sorted, minor surgery as Asta called it, he was back in the fight and began to dispel raw mana bullets that were shot at him from the attackers before Leo joined in and aided him fighting back to back.
Asta had clearly impressed Leo earlier and Leo had been constantly declaring Asta his rival since coming to back him up, which he did by chasing after Asta once it was clear the attack had happened and they were trying to plan following Tatsumi and Akame's actions. That had left them short two strong fighters because Tatsumi had knocked out Solid and Nebra and they weren't waking up anytime soon but Noelle knew that her superiors would make up for that by taking up the slack the loss of her siblings caused. As such she was able to focus on the plan and going with Fuegoleon to back up Asta and Leo.
It was an interesting change in Leo as he now acknowledged Asta as his equal when he'd been dismissive of commoners. Clearly Asta was having his usual affect on people like he'd had on Noelle on Leo only in a rivalry fashion and not the way he'd affected Noelle though she certainly denied that. Now the boys were fighting together against these foes and showing solid teamwork.
Still, it wasn't enough and there was another attack coming, one with more magic than before. This was a problem as between Asta's injuries and Leo's fatigue from using a lot of magic fighting with Noelle to defeat another one of those wraith things called David that had been a challenge due to fighting with muddy water they were on their last legs.
This attack, 5 strong magical bullets from unknown attributes and from 5 different directions was going to be tough to defend against so Noelle quickly put up a water barrier with Sea Dragon's Lair to protect them and managed to intercept the attack just in time and give them a little breather. It showed how strong her magic was now that she could use it to some extent though Noelle did ignore the female attacker's comment on how impressive her defensive magic was as it wasn't relevant to protecting her friends.
It did get Noelle noticed by the leader guy and he noted that she was a member of House Silva, which given her look and style wasn't hard to deduce. That really peaked the interest of one of the attackers, some generic dude who was unassuming to them, and he got out his grimoire to handle her spell.
"If she's a Silva then we should counter with something befitting her high and mighty status." The man said and his tone making them all nervous behind the barrier. "Tree Creation Magic: Magic-Draining…"
That was all the man got out before a shadow shot over the top of the water dome and they all watched as a figure in a gray, hooded cloak came down from somewhere above, liked a rooftop that wasn't being observed by Valtos as his attention was focused on the square itself, and reached the Tree Mage as he was speaking his spell. Then, right as he was about to finish it, the figure flipped and there was a flash that could only be light off metal followed by the distinct sound of flesh being sliced apart and a spray of blood that splattered on the ground and into the water dome before it was quickly washed away.
Instantly the man's grimoire fell to the ground and began to disintegrate as Noelle, Asta, and Leo watched the man, his eyes not clear because of the hood, stand for a moment before the white cloak he wore began to turn red and he pitched forward to fall face first to the ground, dead long before he hit it. There was a straight line along the hood and back of his robe that was where the red was coming from showing that he'd been sliced from the top of his head to the middle of his chest in a clean stroke right down the middle which had been accomplished when the figure flipped over him.
On the other side of him was the figure in the gray cloak, hood low over her head and a blood stained katana out to her side as she crouched on the ground as a few drops of scarlet blood slowly dripped onto the flagstones. She then rose and looked around at the stunned other attackers, katana still out and her composer a deadly calm that radiated danger to those who opposed her.
"Is that the girl from before?" Leo asked stunned as they stood in the water dome his eyes wide at what he'd seen, even his sister wasn't that silently brutal in combat though Mereoleona was anything but silent in general. "The one who had her that sword to Alecdora's throat and all of us at blade point. The Blade Mage who works for the Wizard King. She avoided the Spatial Magic earlier?"
"Yeah that's her and thank god she is because we're safe now." Noelle said with a smile, she didn't reveal Akame's name as it was clear that her and Tatsumi were in disguise for some reason but just seeing her friend and squadmate was really reassuring right now because Akame wouldn't hesitate to use lethal force to end this attack. "I knew she'd be around, I hoped that she wasn't caught up in that Spatial Magic attack and she wasn't. Plus, if she's here…"
"That won't save you." The leader guy said from the other side of the barrier his voice still calm causing them to turn and see what looked like several whirlpools of wind appeared around him. "Just because you murdered one of my brethren doesn't mean you're out of this. Now face death by my magic. Wind Creation Magic: Tornado Needles!"
Suddenly several spires of needles made out of fast moving wind shot out of the whirlpools and at the water barrier. There was no way that it would hold against magic that fast and precises so Leo was nervous while Asta got his swords ready and Noelle just smiled because if Akame was here then her boyfriend wasn't far behind her.
"Yeah that won't work." A voice called out as suddenly several shields appeared and intercepted the needles of wind, which still pierced them but slowed them down enough that Noelle's water could disperse them without an issue and that was the only piercing that would happen now that the shields had tasted the Wind Mage's magic. "And you seem like the leader of this little group so I'll take you in alive. The rest I won't but you were dead the moment me and my partner arrived so it doesn't really matter."
The man, who's name was Geork, didn't get a chance to say anything as Tatsumi leapt down from the building behind him as his shields vanished and slammed his knee into Geork's back with a crack that didn't sound good for his spine, grabbed his head, and drove it into the stone covered ground as Rades leapt away to avoid the attack. Thankfully for Geork's life Tatsumi wasn't in Incursio so he was just knocked out rather than killed though in hindsight Tatsumi should have gone after Rades as he was the Wraith Mage but he didn't know that at the time so he went for who appeared to be the leader.
"Best to keep you under control and drain that magic of yours." Tatsumi said as his grimoire flipped to the right page. "Armor Magic: Gibbet Cage."
Tatsumi's hand was still on Geork's head as he knelt there, his senses alert for an attack, but he removed it as the metal cage that was Tatsumi's binding spell formed around Geork and held him fast. Once he was secure and his magic was draining away, Tatsumi rose and used his magic to control the cage, lifting it up and tossing it over the top of a building and away from the battlefield so that even the Spatial Mage, whoever he was as Tatsumi didn't know which mage present could do that, couldn't retrieve him but he called out to his squadmates and the Crimson Lion King to find out who the Spatial Mage was.
"Hey, which one of them is the Spatial Mage?" Tatsumi asked as he sensed one of the other attackers nearby begin to form a magic bullet attack. "Let my partner know so she can take care of him, he's too much of a nuisance to be left unchecked."
"The one with the lines on his face." Asta said as Tatsumi easily sidestepped the attack without looking and drew his sword in a swift motion as he pivoted to face the attacker. "And the guy with the eyepatch is the Wraith Mage."
"So that's what the magic is, well I don't really care those zombies were easy enough to defeat even if they were rather annoying to deal with." Tatsumi said as he rushed the attacker who shot another magic bullet at him but Tatsumi just leapt over it and brought his sword back before thrusting it forward as he fell, driving it point first into the man's chest, through his heart and out his back in a single move without a hint of hesitation while continuing to speak as the man's body fell to the ground with Tatsumi on top of it. "Alright, here are my orders. Kill the Spatial Mage and the others in these dumb robes but leave the Wraith Mage alive, he's going to answer for what he did today."
"This isn't good." Valtos said from his perch on a rooftop and cursing himself for not noticing the attackers coming as now two were dead and he'd not seen where Geork had been tossed just as a storm of daggers were shot up at him from the girl with the katana which wasn't a weapon he'd expected to see, nor was he ready to deal with Blade Magic at the moment. "We've got to go; we can't continue this fight without specific aid that's currently on a special assignment for the Master so retreat."
As he spoke, Valtos created a portal to send the blades away from the area and then leapt into another and landed on the ground as the survivors quickly grouped up on him as Tatsumi rose to face them having yanked his sword out of the dead attacker's chest before he hit the ground. Things weren't going well but they'd gotten what they'd come for making the mission a success even if Rades wanted to cause more destruction.
Now they needed to flee and hopefully Catherine could get back as well but they couldn't worry about her at the moment. She wouldn't but they were all unaware of her loss to Charmy and Yuno, so they just thought she'd get away and regroup with them back at the base.
"Wait, I want some of that interesting magic." The girl, Sally though no one would learn her name for a while, said as her grimoire opened. "Anti-Magic, Armor Magic and what has to be Blade Magic based off what I saw, I must have them to experiment on. Gel Magic: Sticky Salamander."
"Not the time." Valtos said as a giant salamander thing made out of pink gel formed behind Sally. "Use that to cover our escape."
"You're no fun but fine." Sally said with a sight pout as the salamander formed over them and began to melt covering them from attacks as several of Akame's blades stuck into it that she'd sent at it to try and stop the attackers from leaving. "Bye, Asta was it, I'll see you again soon I hope."
"Remember this day Magic Knights!" Rades yelled at them as the strange Spatial Magic covered them. "We are the Eye of the Midnight Sun and this is but a taste of what is to come because we will destroy this kingdom and all the corruption that infests it."
With that they vanished as the last of the gel also disappeared and the attack on the Capital officially ended. They all blinked at that before looking around the carnage in the area. Corpses from the Wraith Magic were stacked up in various areas around the square, burn marks were all over the ground, and two lifeless bodies of white robed attackers lay in pools of blood on the ground. It wasn't good but as Tatsumi used his cloak to clean off his sword while assessing everything he knew that it could have been worse.
"How's the Crimson Lion King?" Tatsumi asked as Noelle's water fell and he got a good look at the now one armed and still unconscious Captain of the Crimson Lion Kings. "Will he live?"
"He will but only if he gets immediate medical attention." Noelle said as Leo processed things because he was sure that the man speaking had been the one who'd knocked out Solid and Nebra during the banquet though now he wasn't in his armor. "I've managed to staunch the wound but…oh I think the others are coming which means that Mimosa is with them and she's an excellent healer."
"Huh, oh right yes I can sense it." Tatsumi said as another surge of ki came to him and several people were approaching the square at a high rate of speed. "Then we'll make our leave and take that guy I captured to headquarters. I'd rather not deal with that lot right after they were transported away and after I had to remind most of them to be decent human beings."
"Wait, you're the armor guy from earlier." Leo called out as Tatsumi turned to leave while Akame just ran in the direction of where Geork had been tossed so that she could find him before anyone else did. "Right?"
"Yeah, that was me, what of it?" Tatsumi asked as Akame left without a word and Tatsumi turned to look at the Crimson Lion King.
"Who are you?" Leo asked. "You and your partner are skilled, there's no doubt of that, but just who are you people to have such faith from the Wizard King."
"We're the people who do what must be done in order keep this kingdom safe and make sure that it becomes a better place for all who call it home that's all you need to know for now." Tatsumi said before he turned to follow Akame but not before he left the redhead teen with some words of advice. "You weren't great earlier, your words caused the ball to roll that led to our intervention, but I can sense you're improving thanks to Asta. The more you treat everyone fairly and equally the better you will be at doing your duty to protect the nation with your power and thus the closer you can be to the Wizard King, remember that."
With those parting words Tatsumi was off leaving Leo, Asta, and Noelle to think on them just as the others arrived and instantly Mimosa got to work stabilizing Fuegoleon's injury while Klaus gave them an update on what had happened after the surge of Spatial Magic. In return Noelle and Leo, Asta's injuries were catching up to him and he was about to pass out, told of their own experience. Things were bad but they could have been worse and two of the attackers had been caught so they had an avenue to go off while the Wizard King continued his own investigation.
For now, though, the attack on the Capital was over and it was time to recover, learn from what had happened, and rebuild from an attack that shook the Clover Kingdom to its core. However, it was just the start of what was to come in the aftermath of the attack now that the Eye of the Midnight Sun had revealed itself which meant that their endgame had begun.
I think that that's a good point to leave off the chapter as the attack is over so no point in dealing with the aftermath right now, that will be for the next chapter. As you can see, the intervention of Tatsumi and Akame really changed things up in this chapter so that neither Asta or Leo were badly injured and Asta wasn't caught by the Eye of the Midnight Sun though all that stuff with the Wizard King will happen minus him killing two of them (Tatsumi and Akame took care of that) or capturing Geork (Tatsumi handled that part this time) but as that's all off page canon minus Asta not being there it's not worth writing. Anyway, that is all I really have for this chapter, next up the aftermath of the attack and a good set up for one of the most amusing Black Clover moments but more on that next time as for now I will leave this chapter off here. If you like my story then please follow, favorite, review, PM, etc. it is all appreciated and helps me get better and stay motivated to keep producing more content and any questions asked I will do my best to answer both privately and at the start of the next chapter. Until next time.
Stringdog