Disclaimer: Black Clover is owned by Yūki Tabata, Studio Pierrot, and Shonen Jump.
Saga 2: Shoot to Thrill Part 1
Just Outside Quatre, Noble Realm, Clover Kingdom, Morning
After a particlarly wild celebration of drunken fervor from both Clover Kingdom citizens and members of the Order of the Spade Cross alike, sounds of vomits could be heard from within and outside of the walls of the nearly-rebuilt (a few more districts and about 20% of the Magic Knight's Headquarters left to go) capital. The not-currently puking Thaumaturges were helping the Clover Kingdom denizens to "let it all out", usually by firmly patting their backs as the one unable to hold their drinks went about their business.
If there's one silver lining, it was that this moment had proved the integrity of the recently-fixed sewage system. It passed with flying colors.
"Oh my god..." Yuno groaned out before he resumed puking into the nearby riverbed, "why did I drink that much last night?" the Black Bull then looked at his Sylph companion, Deirdre, who while suffering from a headache intense enough to kill a lesser man a thousand times over, the fact that she wasn't vomiting her own guts out compared to everyone else spoke a lot about her tolerance.
... Do people from the Spade Kingdom have a higher tolerance for alcohol than most people? Yuno himself wasn't so sure, but that fact that he himself was on the verge of stopping and his head being relatively stable compared to whatever hell Gordon and Grey were going through next to him, it seemed likely.
"... Never... doing that... again..." heaved Gordon as his mascara ran down his pale cheeks, "why did we-*blegh*... interrogate a High Inquisitor-*blegh*... while we were drunk... and never interrogated anyone before-*blegh*"
"... Unlikely..." winced Grey before she puked again, "but then again... Vanessa ain't the kind of person to..." she puked mid-sentence, "... to usually pass up... a good drink..."
"Wait," Yuno remembered the witch dumping her wine bottles into the dirt during his "dark ages", "... I thought she went dry after my first mission went past below south."
The truth is, no one expects her to stay dry for that long. But at minimum, the entire Black Bulls at least believe in her to at least be moderate (in comparison to her previous rate of consumption).
"Congrats, Yuno," Deirdre giggled mischievously, trying to ignore the screaming agony that was happening upstairs, "how's your very first, real hangover?"
"... Not the greatest feeling I've ever felt," he groaned before Yuno noticed something about the Sylph that seemed... different about her.
He rubbed his eyes, thinking that the deviation was merely the aftereffects of the alcohol that was making his vision all funny-looking, only for that to not be the case, as he now saw Deirdre with clear eyes.
"... Deirdre," spoke Yuno, "did you get... bigger?"
It was true. Prior today, Deirdre's size was at best described as "palmtop", not too big nor too small, almost like a size of a field mouse. A typical size of what a spirit out of a children's fairy tale would be assumed as. Now, Deirdre's overall size and height were proportionate to that of a child's doll, her feminine features now being that of a teenager to her pre-teens, her wings now looking more ornate in their patterns, looking more akin to glass for which its translucence sparkled like glitter. Her hair, once a propped up spiral-ponytail, now a longer and droopier band of lime-mint-green hair that reached all the way down to her waist. Her attire was no longer a one-piece sundress, but rather a two-piece ensemble of a leotard and a fluttering long coat (really detached sleeves with a cape at its lower end while the upper end exposes her bare back for the wings) of its laced fringes reaching all the way down to her bare ankles.
"... Huh," Deirdre checked her new appearance, "come to think of it, I thought it felt a little less chilly in the morning," she looked at her fully-exposed thighs from her spandex-like attire, "not only that, but I feel like my powers have grown much stronger than before!"
"... Don't tell me..." Grey's eyelid twitched, "... did she actually gain a power-up transformation from drinking alcohol?!"
"Maybe?!" she shrugged, Deirdre being just as confused about her sudden growth as everyone else is, "I mean... I barely got to start knowing myself! Hell, not only I didn't know that I was not only a Crown Princess of an extinct race, but that Astarte-bitch was apparently semi-justified on holding a grudge against me until she shit the bed a few days ago!"
"Just..." Yuno groaned out as he clutches his head in pain, "... all of you... just... take your time..." he heaved out as the boy felt his ears ring from the sudden shouting, "... still wasted... my head is hurting..."
"... Sorry," everyone present groaned out as Yuno laid his back on the ground, looking at the blue sky greeting daylight to find some inner peace in his episode of vertigo.
"Thou art an ally"? What a joke, Yuno internally scoffed at Saiga's words back during that fateful night, how are we supposed to be allies when neither side can see each other eye to eye? Even Jericho would know that a relationship between different nations and beliefs requires something more than a common threat.
He lets out a depressed sigh as Deirdre lays herself onto Yuno's pulsating chest.
"Being more daring than usual aren't we?" Yuno asked with a raised eyebrow.
"What can I say?" Deirdre teasingly replied as she seductively posed right in Yuno's sight, "I grew up, so might as well show off the goods!"
"Well don't go too far," Yuno snarked back, "before anyone else gets any funny ideas."
"Oh?" the Sylph chuckled amusingly, "is that jealousy I smell?"
"You're my partner," Yuno pointed out, "don't leave me for some chump that I don't approve of."
"Jeez, either be my lover or my dad, not both at the same time," Deirdre rolled her eyes, "... but then again, that just shows how much you love me."
"Oh, you know, Yuno's always been the oblivious heartthrob of Hage," a sisterly-voice remarked, with the boy looking up to find Sister Lily's smiling face beaming down onto him, "good morning Yuno!"
"Oh hey Sister," greeted Yuno, "already over the hangover?"
"Oh no, my head feels like it's going to explode at any moment," the nun replied without breaking her composure, "silver lining, the gentlemen from the Spade Kingdom were quite courteous to lend me some of their medicine," she explained as she handed some dull-white tablets to Yuno and others, "apparently, it helps stabilize vertigo and disorientation upon consumption. According to them, they get hit in the head a lot."
Everyone takes their pills before swallowing it whole. The nausea wasn't completely gone, but at least their eyes were no longer seeing stars or hurting just by looking at anything with colors after consumption. But just as Sister Lily had shared, the headache isn't completely gone. In fact, taking away the dizziness made the cerebral pain even more noticeable.
"Ow ow ow ow..." winced Grey as she and the others clung onto their heads in agony, "... well, at least the vomiting stopped," she remarked before she heard her stomach grumble as with the others, "... I wonder if there are any leftovers to reheat. Gordon, can you come with me? I don't know how to deal with drunk people except Vanessa!"
"Wait, can't you just transform into that big, monster-like man disguise like before?" Yuno asked.
"I said I'm not good with people!" Grey snapped, "I'm no misanthrope! And I sure ain't gonna scare people away for an easy way out!"
Everyone including Sister Lily were proud of her taking the hard way of opening up to people. Even Grey herself, who still suffered from major anxiety issues around people, wanted to become stronger both combatively and socially so that she can keep up after running into Astarte and witnessing the Demon's powers.
Everyone after the battle against Astarte now desired to not only become stronger, but also improve themselves as people. Even Gordon, who has lost his bullhorn that Jericho had given it to him during the battle with the Demon wasn't particularly bothered, for now he'd now resolved himself to speak loud enough for normal people to hear.
"So Sister," spoke Yuno as he got back up, "what are you doing out here aside from looking for me-"
As soon as Yuno got back up to his feet, his prosthetic foot that he'd been wearing since he'd lost it after Astaroth cut Finral's [Spatial Magic] portal mid-transportation, crumbled under his weight and caused him to fall back down towards the dirt, landing on his side.
"... And there goes the warranty," he sighed out, more disappointed in the fact that his fake foot breaking down than him hitting the dirt, "knew that I was pushing it too far when I fought Astarte..."
"Come on," Sister Lily picked Yuno up under his shoulder, "guess I can afford to stay here a bit longer."
As the two (three counting Deirdre, currently now showing off her new goods with mixed reactions to whom had seen her) walked back to Quatre, both saw the people slowly getting out of their stupor and regurgitations and getting back into the mess of things.
Better than working drunk, one would assume. Especially when Yuno now needed a replacement foot.
"Oh?" Yuno facepalmed at hearing a very familiar voice next to him and Lily, "thou art missing a limb?"
"Omigod..." he groaned out as he saw Saiga and his beaming pearly whites gleaming towards him, "... what do you want?"
"Thy wish to aid! Surely walking one-legged would be an utmost of inconvenience, no?" the High Inquisitor pointed out as he removed his right boot to reveal a clockwork leg of reinforced brass and iron pistons, an example that is above and beyond what Yuno had been wearing beforehand, "thou art in good company!"
"You're still mad about last night, aren't you?" Yuno replied, thinking that Saiga revealing his own prosthetic leg was him showing off.
"A grudge?" Saiga remarked with a faux-gasp before bellowing out in a fit of hearty laughter, "no such thing! Last night was no consequence! Sure thou may've or not got into a bout with Julius but surely, thy knows better to keep the past in the past!"
"No, that is just being insensitive, good sir," Sister Lily snarked back with an unflinching smile, "not everyone is strong-willed or long-lived as you are."
"Burn," Deirdre called out with a thumbs-down towards the High Inquisitor.
"Thou wish for a new foote or not?" Saiga retreated back into the prior conversation, "and nay, thou aren't asking for it just to not spare the young lass' feelings," he looked at the nun, "thou have brass balls that would make the whole of Avalon blush in envy."
"Thank you," Sister Lily replied.
"Fine, I'll take it," Yuno groaned out, to which Saiga then takes out a roll of measuring tape and begins measuring Yuno's leg before handing him a new prosthetic foot made of brass and steel pistons of his size, "you carry that with you everywhere?"
Saiga unfurls his cloak to reveal an ensemble of various artificial limbs and tools along with a pair of gold and silver-colored raven-headed warpicks stitched and holstered inside his cloak. The man was literally carrying a whole workshop within himself this whole time, much to everyone's awe.
"Fun fact, your new foot comes with a spring-loaded blade made of mythril," Saiga explained as he tapped the foot to reveal a spade-like blade made of faint-bluish-green metal, "[Gram] is a good Relic to fight with it and all but in thy heat of battle, more options are better than the set few!"
"How kind of you," Yuno deadpanned as Saiga fixed the foot onto the boy's stump, fastening the straps around his shin before giving it a firm pat to ensure that it is secured onto his leg.
"Good to go!" Saiga remarked as Yuno walked around a few paces with his new foot, being surprisingly flexible and comfortable despite its appearances, "now try to kick a boulder in half!"
"No, thank you," Yuno remarked before he figures out how to retract the mythril blade, "... how do I get this thing back in without hurting anyone?"
"Tap the upper half or the heel," Saiga answered as he demonstrated with his own, implying that what Yuno received was a standard-issue model, "one's an active switch and the other's an emergency switch!"
"What's the difference?" Yuno asked as he raised his new bladed prosthetic above ground to not give anyone agony of the feet by mistake.
"There is no difference!" replied the High Inquisitor as Yuno tapped his artificial heel against the ground, allowing the blade to withdraw back into his new foot, "the best thing that thy can do to thou adversary is to make them keep guessing!"
"Like how you see everyone else?" snarked Yuno.
"Oh come now," Saiga shook his head, "thou art does neither! Thou art both love and hate as much thy wishes to!" he spoke in a madcap manner, "every living being, from the holiest of saints to the most sinful of heretics, are both capable of doing good and evil! Thou art company of martyrs and sinners know that we're destined for the neatherworld's infernal embrace for how much blood we have spilled, but it is so that we allow the good to live and evil to fail!"
Yuno gives Saiga a hateful glare. "So is that why my birth parents had to die? Along with countless innocents? Simply because they allowed this evil to exist?"
"And look what it did," Saiga then gestured his arms around himself, "ushered ruin and chaos in spite of thy efforts and sacrifices. Forcing your people to rebuild at the cost of many," he pointed out, "... and before you seek to avenge your birth kin, right now, you are still too weak."
Saiga stands up, his towering frame completely eclipsing both Yuno and Lily with his shadow alone, his beaming smile completely replacing the sun itself and his fake bloodstone eye being the moon.
"DON'T GET AHEAD OF THYSELF, BOY," the High Inquisitor warned as his choking aura permeated throughout the air, the onlookers outside, from civilians to Magic Knights alike all seeing an army crawling and writhing through the man's cloak like a walking hive of insects crawling about, waiting pounce and kill on his orders, "THY ADMIRE THOU HEART, BUT IT WON'T DO THOU GOOD WHEN THOU HEAD IS SOLID BONE!"
As soon as the High Inquisitor calms down and sits back down of his own volition, both Yuno and Lily notices that everyone present has their grimoires out from self-defensive reflex, including both Yuno and Lily themselves.
"Holy crap," the Sylph remarked in complete surprise, "that bastard's killing intent was so overwhelming and widespread that everyone reflexively went into fight-or-flight mode in an instant. And he just turned it off like if it was a mere extension of his breathing alone."
"Because it is!" Saiga cackled out amusedly, "so how was that for a prank?!"
"A PRANK?!" everyone present shouted in unison.
"I think I peed a little," Cole remarked, the other Blue Rose Knights backing away from him as he scrambled away elsewhere for a change of clothes.
"Honestly, for an alleged prank, that was in bad taste," stated Kaiser, the new and the latest line of Purple Orca Captains, "you could've killed someone through sheer fright!"
"Right, right, sorry sorry," Saiga apologized, "when thou art in thy line of work, killing intent is something that develops naturally. Surely, thou art's profession occasionally breeds a couple firebrands, does it not?"
Kaiser recalls tension between Nozel and Fuegoleon ever since they were young, but not murderous and malevolent as Saiga's own.
"... Very well," the Purple Orca Captain sighed out, "next time, just... be considerate of one's surroundings. At least until we finish rebuilding."
"Very well," said the High Inquisitor, "I shall be here in case if anyone needs a replacement."
"No blades, please!" Yuno called out before he and Sister Lily walked away with everyone else.
"Well..." Sister Lily remarked, slightly freaked out at what had just transpired, "... that escalated rather quickly."
"I just wanted a replacement foot and instead I ended getting more than what I bargained for!" Yuno ranted, "is it so hard to get some goddamn service nowadays?!"
"Come to think of it, everything that we ran into that seemed small turned out to reveal something super big," Deirdre pointed out, "it's been happening to a lot of us lately. Wonder what's next?"
"Hopefully, the next one won't be as complicated," Sister Lily replies, "speaking of which, Yuno, can you and the other kids come with me back to Hage? I need to go and pay respects to our home."
"We're traveling by broom?" Yuno asked, "I mean, air's stable enough to fly our brooms now, but it's a long way from here to Hage," he pointed out, "at best, we'll be back here by the next crack of dawn."
"Don't worry," Sister Lily reassured, "I know a guy."
And speaking of the devil himself, a portly, light-maroon haired Aqua Deer Magic Knight appeared next to the nun.
"Cob Portaport, reporting for duty!" saluted the Magic Knight.
"I met him while I was still training in the abbey back when I was a kid," Lily explained, "he owes me one after I helped him out a while back, and I held onto that favor for over a decade."
"You can count on me!" Cob enthusiastically replied, "I made sure to go through with my superiors and he says we're in the clear! Provided if we can acquire additional escorts."
"And that's where I come in," a mild feminine voice spoke out, revealing herself to be Juniper Hage, her long auburn hair now cut short towards her neck, "haven't seen me in a while, did ya?"
"... Yeah," nodded Yuno, almost mistaking her for someone else on the account for not seeing her in person for a prolonged period of time, "it's really been a while," he stammered, trying his best to look as if he hasn't forgotten about her as Juniper peered at him leaning forward, "hasn't it, Deirdre?"
The Sylph nods fervently, whom also (and actually) forgot about Juniper until just now.
"I'll try to get more involved in your life just so that you don't forget me, alright?" Juniper winked after her face quickly switched from looking at Yuno like if he was human garbage to a genuinely friendly disposition, much Deirdre's contention and fright at the girl's vindictiveness matching her extinct kind's own.
"Alright, we got our bodyguard!" Cob joyfully declared as he used his [Spatial Magic] to form a door leading to elsewhere, "our next stop: Hage Village!"
As the door opens, the four enter. At the other side, the ruins of a place that they once called home stood before them. Thanks to collaborative efforts, the swords that fell from the sky that were disrupting the mana flow throughout where they've landed were all now moved elsewhere/the now-deserted Diamond Kingdom and its border regions (political controversies are a nonfactor when said region is devoid of inhabitants), freeing up Clover Kingdom and allowing its inhabitants to move around relatively freely (the only reason why people haven't returned is due to the population being thinned to an extent that spreading out is considered impractical, the only exceptions are those whose bodies haven't been found and are still presumed "alive but missing", and the other reason being temporary visits back home to pay their respects or find something that has been left being; Yuno and Lily's group being the latter).
"We're back!" Juniper called out towards the ruined village, only for her to be replied with an empty echo, "... I'll go pay my own respects."
"June?" Yuno remarked, until he realized that even he hasn't seen them among the survivors for the past month or so, "don't tell me-"
The Blue Rose Knight shook her head. "I haven't seen my father or brother for a whole month, even long after the Rain of Steel happened," she stated, "... a few dats ago... they were found," the Magic Knight closed her eyes, trying to suppress her feelings, "the other gals told me... that they didn't make it."
"I'm sorry..." Lily comforted the girl, the latter now crying softly into her chest, "Yuno?" she asked the boy, "you know why I brought you here for, right?"
He nods as he reached his hand into his pants pocket, revealing a now-threadbare strap of cloth that was once Asta's headband.
"... I know," Yuno remarked as the other two walked elsewhere, "... time to give him a proper burial. For real this time."
He finds a shovel in the wrecked toolshed and began digging a hole next to the destroyed church house that they once lived under together. After digging a small hole into the dirt, Yuno places the headband into the hole before filling it back up with the dug up dirt. After finishing the burial, he claps his hands three times before bowing and offering up a small prayer. Upon finishing paying his respects, Yuno plants the shovel upon where the headband was buried before drawing [Gram] and carving the following on the wooden shaft:
ASTA
NOT
ASTAROTH
He lets out a sigh as Cob places his own hand onto Yuno's shoulder.
"Thanks," Yuno spoke to the portly Magic Knight.
"Happy to help a man properly grieve," Cob replied.
"We'll make it through," Deirdre encouraged as she wiped the boy's tears with her arms, "I promise."
Elsewhere, near Juniper's now-wrecked family estate, two erected grave markers were seen as the two walked up the hill.
"Hey dad, hey bro," Juniper greeted the two wooden crosses, "sorry that I took so long after... well, I found ya guys..." she crinkled her face as she tried to keep her composure, "so much happened, so little time off in-between... almost feels like the world's gonna end sometime soon. But hey..." Juniper smiled painfully, "... at least we'll all be together in the end. So... while I keep myself busy growin' old... keep my seat up at Heaven warm for me, alright?"
After she'd finished with her words, Juniper cries into Lily's chest, the latter embracing her warmly.
"I'm here for you," she whispered, "I'll be there for all of you," Lily reassured Juniper as tears also flowed from her eyes.
Death was truly a cruel and indiscriminate hand that spares no one. Whether divine punishment or infernal machinations, it never changes the fact that people are doomed to die. The ones that are spared have an innate duty to cry for their losses, for compassion shows humanity within all humanity.
The group return back to where they've all arrived at, the four finally dry of tears.
"... Anywhere else you'd like to go around here before we head back?" asked Cob.
"Actually, yeah," agreed Yuno.
The group then find themselves standing before a wrecked Grimoire Tower in the region, the mason and carpentry all chewed up and spat upon by the world itself after weeks of negligence. Nature has reclaimed the very land that it was erected upon, overgrowth swarming over the ruins like ants, and all the four present can do is simply stand in awe and sorrow at what's beholden to their eyes.
"This is where our journey started..." Yuno spoke as he looked at the bloodied and faded stone walls where Asta died protecting him from a rouge Magic Knight, "... this is where everything started."
"Yes," an aged voice remarked behind the four, "and I was powerless to stop it."
Behind them was an old mage in gray robes and pointed hat, a familiar look that made them recognize them as Drouot, the tower's mage who was in charge of the region's Grimoire Selection Ceremony. Only this time, the man was now a withered shell of his former self, with his beard and hair now unkempt, and a bandage wrapped around his right eye and head, indicating that he lost it during the time when the whole world went to hell.
"Old man Drouot?!" Lily exclaimed, "... you're alive?!"
The old wizard chuckles dryly. "I almost bit it," he admitted, "that is until, this stranger saved me."
Behind him was a dirty-looking man wearing nothing but overalls. His skin and hair were all caked in dirt and dried mud, his presence surrounded with buzzing flies and other filth. Yet despite his slovenly appearance, there was an element of strength within him. His body was straight-backed and robust like a marble statue, his eyes burned with a warm and gentle passion like a pair of suns each beaming over their own worldly paradise, and his aura, despite seeming like a naive simpleton that wouldn't be out of place in the most backwater of backwaters, was trustworthy, like a spiritual guardian from the holiest of heroes.
"Howdy!" greeted the filthy man, "ma name's Mick! Nice ta meet cha'll!"
"Uh..." Yuno slightly recoiled at the man's stench as he reached out to shake his shit-covered hand, "... nice to meet you too," he winched as he felt the shit squench between his fingers.
"Mick right here, despite appearances, was nothing but kind to these ol' bones of mine," Drouot explained, "rescued me when my legs were caught under the rubble, healed me back ever since."
"Wait," Juniper remarked, "if you were alive the whole time, why didn't you call for us or come to Quatre's refugee camp?" she asked.
"Just finished healing about a day ago," the old wizard explained, "and well, I grew to like Mick so I couldn't leave him here by his lonesome," he pointed out, "then again, he's the one who cleans out the village's outhouses this whole time, so people aren't gonna..."
"Will a bath kill him?" Deirdre asked as she covered her nose.
"Ah shucks, I'd like to, but if I stop stinkin' so bad, the beasts are gonna git the ol' man!" Mick explained, "also, wat's a bath?"
"Oh dear," Cob sighed out, "well, I'll at least report that we found two survivors at the least," he spoke out, "I'll contact my superiors of this and see if we can find other pockets of survivors left behind in other regions."
"Reasonable," Drouot replied before turning to Yuno, "Yuno my boy, I have a question for you."
"Go ahead," he replied.
"Do you... hate me for I did back then?" the old wizard asked, "of belittling your brother back when he wasn't chosen, saying that he should try again next year and instead I should've said I'm sorry?"
"Why are you asking me that?" replied Yuno.
"It's not just guilt after I've heard what happened to him soon after," Drouot explained, "he died with hate in his heart. All because I turned him into a laughingstock."
"That's not true," Yuno protested, "he died protecting me..." he pointed to the bloodstained walls, "... how is that dying with hate in his heart?!"
"... Because Yuno," the old man continued, "I was haunted by visions soon after," he explained, "visions... of the coming end times."
"End times?" Lily remarked.
"Four harbingers," Drouot shared his dreams, "four heirs of ruin, each brandishing the arm of judgement and riding atop the beasts of the coming calamity," he rabbled on, the sole eye of his bulging in terror of him recalling his nightmares that he'd suffered since that faithful day, "the first fires the arrow that signals the coming army that'll sweep the whole world, striking upon the sun itself and putting it out, the coming darkness signaled by the white beast's braying akin to the cries to the damned. The second shall bring down a sword soaked in crimson while riding atop a burning beast, leading the charge against all who stands in its wake, dragging everything into a bloody war where peace itself becomes the first casualty. The third following after shall ride atop a rotting, festering beast of pus and decay, dragging its scythe across the very earth to commence the final harvest of all life, choking out those who were miraculously spared by the prior's rampage. And finally, the fourth, riding atop a beast of barren bone and death, brandishing the scales to judge all souls who were slain, with only one sentence!"
Everyone saw Drouot devolve into madness as he drowned himself in a quagmire of self-inflicted guilt and countless night terrors:
"... Guilty... Guilty! GUILTY! GUILTY!" he bellowed in pure horror as the others tried to physically hold him down from his thrashing.
"Dammit!" Juniper cried out as she and the others tried to hold him down, "old geezer's stronger than he looks!"
"Alright, y'all need to calm down!" Mick cried out as he clapped his hands hard as he could, instantly soothing the old man from his madness, "it's okay, ol' man. I'm here now."
"... Right," Drouot spoke calmly, "... I'm sorry for freaking out."
"It's okay," Yuno sighed out, "I was kinda like that before."
"Yuno..." Lily looked at the boy who now grew up compared to the boy from a year ago.
"... I was also beating myself up from Asta dying," he remarked, "I also saw him come back as a Demon, make new bad guy-friends, almost kill me, saw the whole world around me burn down more than once, all the while, thinking that I deserved it for letting him die before me," Yuno recalled the last whole year that felt like centuries, "but ultimately, I realized that all of it, it wasn't all my fault. I was weak before, and I had to come to terms with it. I was only one man against the whole world of evil against me. I had to find other people who can stand with me. And above all else..." he wept slightly, "... I had to accept that simply taking blame for something beyond my control does nothing but hurt the people who care about me. I was being a selfish dick back then and I had to let go of my own self-pity and accept that I'm not the only one suffering."
"He's right," Deirdre declared, "even if it hurts, simply suffering alone isn't an excuse to fight in denial anymore. We have to fight not to avenge our past and what things could've been, but for a future that everyone can look forward towards."
"Mulling over the past is not going to undo it," said Juniper, "we're alive, so we have to make the most of it and the future that's ahead of us."
"I'm not much of a fighter, and I may regret not being one when the time came..." Lily pointed out, "... but I'm not giving up! Not Asta, not Yuno, and certainly not I!"
"Door ain't gonna open itself, might as well turn the knob ourselves and see what's behind it," Cob interjected.
Drouot chuckles at their enthusiasm juxtaposed against the grim reality around them. There was something that was rekindled in his soul that he'd thought that they were extinguished for what it felt a long time ago.
Faith, hope and love. With a little bit of luck. He smiles at his blessings, now realizing that there was a reason why he was alive all the way up to this day. Maybe it's to show that despite his old age the world quite literally going around him, there is still those who are willing to resist.
Drouot slowly gets back up to his feet, despite wobbling feebly from his advanced age, he faced the boy.
"So what will you do now?" the old wizard asked Yuno.
"... What I have been seeking to do," he answered, with unwavering eyes, "I'm going to stop them before they hurt anyone else. End of discussion."
Yuno's second journey has now begun. This time, it's no longer a journey of false redemption, but rather a quest to save the world that Asta had died for and his shadow is trying to subvert.
Ulster Territory, Spade Kingdom, Afternoon
"... And that concludes today's report," William sighed out as he and the other Captains (with Jericho as company) set down their papers around the Projection Orb on the tavern's dining table.
Well, aside from the slight vibrations from I'm assuming the tavern's... mobile nature, Julius remarked from the other side, good reading people. Anything about the swords in Ulster?
"We have him to thank," Nozel pointed his thumb behind towards the tanned, wild-looking man behind him, "including for my heart attack that happened at the crack of dawn."
"Hey, your fault for drinking my tea!" Agi pointed out.
"Only because said tea was the only brew available," the Silver Eagle Captain snapped back, "seriously, does everything in this godforsaken land solely exist to kill people?!"
"Well..." Dagda trailed off before being shushed by Nozel's finger pressed against the half-Dwarf's lips.
"It was a rhetorical question."
Dorothy chuckles slightly at Nozel's behavior, noticing that despite the stress, he's no longer had to contend being dignified all the time in the name of keeping appearances and is just happy of seeing the normally-uptight noble be himself for once.
And of this "Valley of White Death"... the Wizard King mentioned as he looked at the detailed report that Marx wrote for him during the meeting, ... should it be of any concern in the foreseeable future?
"Only if you plan to make your way to Avalon," Agi pointed out, "that part of the country snows like... forever. I'm pretty sure that no one there has seen daylight ever since this generation was born."
Noted, Julius remarked, so... he then looked towards the tanned man with curious eyes, you're a Dragon, like a legit Dragon straight out of fairy tales... Julius' inquisitive eyes turned into that of childish curiosity, so tell me, what kind of magic is [Primal Fire Magic]?!
"Wanna see it for yourself?!" replied the Fire Dragon as he tried to transform inside the tavern, only to be stopped by Dagda bonking the top of his maroon head with the flat of his [Fragarach].
"HELL NO!" cried out the tavern-owner, "I CAN'T AFFORD TO LET YE OF ALL PEOPLE FIX ME BAR!"
"What the Dragonslayer says it's true," Agi sheepishly remarked as he rubbed his head, "I'm better at breaking things than fixing em."
"Dragonslayer?" Dorothy asked Dagda, "so that story of you jumping into a Dragon's mouth and killing it from the inside true?"
"Said 'Dragon' was really an overgrown Drake, a wingless Dragon, which is basically a giant lizard that can still eat ye lot whole," Dagda answered as he sheathed his sword around his back, "but still, I'm one of the few that can actually fight these bastards when they try anything funny."
"Wait, there are more people like you?" asked Nozel, his eyelid twitching a little.
"I'm just the strongest among em," Dagda boasted, "really though, only by a wee margin."
I've been meaning to ask you that... said the Wizard King, if you're the strongest in the Spade Kingdom, aren't you basically the undisputed authority figure in all of what's left of the Spade Kingdom? In the implied context of the strong having the loudest say around here?
"Bah, I ain't no king," Dagda answered, "I got me hands full fixing this place every time someone wrecks the place, so how the fek am I supposed to corral a bunch of people like cattle? It ain't easy ruling over thousands!"
The latter implies that you've tried, Julius surmised.
The half-Demon then shoots a glare towards the Projection Orb that would've shattered it for how intense it was.
"Ye better keep that shite to yerself, boyo," Dagda glowered into Julius's projected eyes, "some things are better off not known."
The whole room felt as if a cold front swept over them and froze all of their souls solid.
"... Ugh," sighed the half-Demon, "and de day's ruined," Dagda then walked out the door with a barrel mug, a small burlap sack, a clay pipe and a glass bottle labeled "Arse-Kicker: 19-Year Aged Whiskey-Ulster Specialty" with him, "I'll be outside if ye need me."
Upon the door slamming shut, everyone looked at each other blankly.
"... Okay, that just happened," Jericho remarked, "we hit a sensitive topic, right Mr. Agi?"
"First of all, just call me Agi. Don't wear my name out," said the Fire Dragon, "second, I didn't know that was a sensitive subject. I think only the old hag knows for real. I think I wasn't listening for that part either. Which happens... a lot."
... Well, at least he knows being a leader isn't something that everyone can do, said Julius, I'll apologize to him next time. Or at least when he feels like talking again.
"People are still people, I suppose," William remarked, "even with all the power in the world, it isn't worth much when one can't be fulfilled by it."
"It might explain the whole 'drinking, fucking, drinking, fucking, fucking while drinking and drinking while fucking' bit that you've mentioned," Dorothy sighed out, "only being strong makes any man empty."
"Well I for one say good riddance," Nozel replied before he left his seat and walked away elsewhere.
... Okay then, said the Wizard King, meeting's adjourned. See you all tomorrow.
The Projection Orb turns itself off as everyone collected their own papers and headed on their own way. Some returning to their rooms, some training with Danu and her supersized form elsewhere while walking, and for Jericho especially, he stuck around Agi, who was now picking his nose with his toes.
"Sup," spoke the Fire Dragon as he blew his booger out off of his toenail and out the window.
"... I have to ask," Jericho sat back to his prior seat, "as a long-lived being such as yourself can attest, what is the best advice that you can give when it comes to... negotiating with the people of Ulster?"
Agi lets out an annoyed sigh as he projects his dragon tail from his human form to pick himself off of the floor and set himself on top of the same table where the briefing had took place prior.
"Boyo, gotta ask: why?" said the Dragon.
"I want to be a diplomat," answered Jericho, "I want to bring understanding between all nations and show the world that no matter how different our cultures and way of life are, there is always a common ground that we all can come toward!"
"... That ain't it," Agi surmised as his reptilian eyes peered towards Jericho's own, "what? I can literally tell your intentions just by reading your heat signature. Usually, their body heat fluctuates when they're not being honest. Liars heat up a little and truthsayers are stable," the Fire Dragon explained, "you speak the truth when it comes to understanding, yet your intent and motivation are not told outright."
Jericho lets out a deep sigh upon being found out, stripped down nude by the elderbeast's wisdom and heightened senses. "... Okay, the truth," he spoke, "I have an adopted brother. His name is Taro and while my family took him in and accepted as one of us, the other nobles didn't accept him and one day, the altercation got... really bad-"
"You killed a noble kid, didn't you?"
All this time, Jericho knew that he'd had lied to everyone about himself this whole time. He didn't simply "rough up" the other kids. Rather, he underestimated his own strength and ended up killing one of the other kids with a punch so strong (without actively using his magic) that completely stopped his heart and killed him instantly, the sight of his paling face and foaming mouth burned into his mind ever since, keeping it buried deep as possible and even going far as to threaten that boy's family into silence to ensure that what he had done was justified.
Worst of all, neither Jericho nor Taro felt a tinge of guilt when the deed was done. At that moment, they felt like heroes. But deep down, Jericho felt as if he lived in a lie.
In their young minds, they have eliminated evil as they were the only good in the world. A line of thought that had haunted Jericho ever since. Nowadays, his dream of being a peacemaker is to make up this innate contradiction that had haunted him since.
"You know, it ain't a bad thing to do what's right for you," Agi pointed out.
"No, it's wrong," Jericho replied, "I've done evil thinking that I was doing good back then!"
"And is anyone complaining?" the Fire Dragon remarked, "or rather, the fact that it's hidden and that you were just a brat way in over his head?" he pointed out, "in Ulster, death is normal. There are no boundaries to cross other than pissing the wrong guy off and getting splattered all over the prairie. Hell, my older sister is even worse than me when it comes to her temper. She's a lot like you!"
"What's your point?" asked Jericho, "that I should stop feeling sorry for myself and just accept that me taking a life was an accident?"
"I mean, yeah," Agi bluntly pointed out, "will doing evil stop you from doing good in the future?" he asked, "before you answer that, it ain't overcompensating until you start lying to yourself the other way. Jericho, you're a good person who happens to have a bloodthirsty streak. All I'm saying is, if you wanna make the others accepts others, you gotta learn to accept yourself."
"You're a Dragon, who were born even before we crawled out of the mud and learn to walk on two legs!" Jericho retorted, "you practically see us as ants, don't you?!"
"I know, that's why we chose to exist among humans, not dominate them. There will be nothing else to look forward to right after when the apex remain at the top, rotting all the while," Agi pointed out, "I can understand Dagda, but not fully, because even though I lived longer than him, I never actually lived his whole life, so I can't claim to understand him fully," he spoke, "however, that is no excuse to keep trying my best life while doing the same for others. Long-lived or not, I ain't gonna be around forever, nor my kin, now that there's only around eight or nine of us left and the world doesn't have enough mana for us to make new hatchlings."
"... What... what are you implying?" Jericho asked, "... are you supposed to teach me something?"
"Boyo, I am not a good teacher, but I will say this," Agi remarked, "just keep doing what you do best. Your life is ultimately nothing but successes and failures like everyone else's. Suck it up and do what you think it's right for you," he stated, "if you want to embrace your nature, do it. If you want to tame your inner beast of murder, do it. Only you're in control of what is right or wrong, and if you die, at least you'll die for what you believe in."
The utter lack of empathy coming from Agi both made sense while sickening to Jericho at the same time. For the Fire Dragon, humans killing other humans was similar to that of an ant killing another ant; just two insignificant lifeforms thinking that they're doing something significant. However, it also made sense that Jericho was the only legitimate judge of his own actions. Only he can decide what is right and wrong for him and no one else.
Granted, whoever adopts that self-centered mindset and happens to be a twisted individual is the worst possible outcome. And while Jericho considers himself morally stable to be on the side of "good", even he knows that he has to keep himself accountable lest he also falls into that slippery slope.
After all, Jericho understands enough that a "Dragon" mentality of being an enlightened apex predator is nowhere near comparable to what humans consider "normal", let alone "sane". So at best, he'll have to take Agi's "advice" with a grain of salt.
"... You're weird," Jericho spoke to Agi.
"Eh," he shrugged, "been called worse-"
Both of their ears then pick up the faint sounds of children screaming, followed up by large feet stamping and curses screaming out by a course and thuggish voice.
"I see that the blood of Ulster still runs fresh in your veins," Agi picked up on Jericho's ears twitching at the same faint sounds heard by the Fire Dragon, "what are you going to do, Mr. Superhero?" he goaded, "gonna do what you think it's right?"
Jericho takes off sprinting, running through the wooden door and past Dagda, the latter currently smoking and drinking without a care in the world. As soon as he stopped at the tip of Twrch Trwyth's head, he saw three small children running away from a humanoid-bear monster wearing bits of spiked armor and swinging a golden scythe in its hands riding atop a giant lizard monster's saddled back.
"GEHEHAHAHAHA!" cackled the bear-monster as he rode atop the reptilian beast, "RUN LITTLE KIDDIES! WHET MY APPETITE WITH YOUR TERROR!"
The ones being chased were none other than the de-aged Zogratis siblings Dante, Vancia and Zenon, all of whom after losing their original bodies 15 years ago from an siege assault from Avalon's Order of the Spade Cross onto the Grinberryall's territory, waking up in backup clone bodies made from the elder brother's [Body Magic] after the youngest's convincing.
Now they're on the run, from practically everything that is not them. It was honestly a miracle that they've survived this long without being hunted down, until now.
"DANTE! THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT!" Zenon cried out as he and his siblings kept running, "IF YOU HAVEN'T PICKED A FIGHT AGAINST THAT THING, WE WOULDN'T BE RUNNING FOR OUR LIVES RIGHT NOW!"
"OH SHUT YOUR FUCKING TRAP!" Dante shot back, "WHOSE IDEA WAS IT TO REINCARNATE US INTO CHILDREN IN THE FIRST PLACE?!"
"OH SHUT BOTH YOUR MOUTH-HOLES! YOU'RE BOTH STUPID!" Vancia cried out in terror, "THIS ISN'T FUN AT ALL! I DON'T WANT TO PLAY TAG ANYMORE!"
"GEHEHAHAHAHAHA!" again cackled the bear-man, "THE ELDEST, I SHALL STRIP HIM OF ALL OF HIS SUPPLE MEAT AS MY MAIN COURSE! THE MIDDLE CHILD, I SHALL DRINK HER FRESH BLOOD WITH MEAD AS MY BEVERAGE! THE YOUNGEST, HIS WHITE BONES SHALL MAKE FINE SOUP STOCK FOR TOMORROW'S BREAKFAST-"
The bear-man's face was then caved in by Jericho's [Stardust Knuckle]-armored fist, him coming in fast on top of his own [Highway Star] construct.
"Whoa!" Vancia remarked as she saw the giant-looking Magic Knight dismount the brigand monster with a sucker punch, "... that's kinda hot."
"MASTURBATE LATER!" Dante cried out as he grabbed his sister by her wrist, "RUN!"
As the children ran, Jericho then drove his [Highway Star] towards the bandit monster to get another hit in, but from the side, the monster's giant lizard mount charged headfirst towards him, causing him to swerve out of the way lest he gets dismounted.
"Good instinct..." snarled the bear-man as it snorted out a splash of blood from his broken nose, "... meat, supple but tough... blood, rich yet too pulpy... bones, robust but chalk..." it continued as it whistled to its mount, calling it over to him, "... you... I cannot... EAT!"
The bear-man charges towards Jericho as they begin their jousting match with each other.
At the end of the road where the three kids ran towards, Zenon sees a ladder rolled up above their heads. Using what little of [Bone Magic] he has left, he shoots a sharp bone projectile that cuts the bindings and unfurls their getaway.
"There's our way out!" Zenon exclaimed as he began climbing up, "come on!"
The three scrambled up towards the rope ladder, and upon reaching the top, they find themselves on top of a giant pig's back, with it being a tavern building and a short blond man with a smoking pipe in one hand and a mug of whiskey in another, sitting glaze-eyed as the three approached him.
"What's with that guy?" Dante remarked, "he's our physical age and yet he's drinking like a fish and smoking like a fireplace! Maybe I should've done that sooner."
Before the three, the tavern door opens, behind it being a effeminate-looking man with a bright-magenta bob haircut walked out to meet the children, behind his spectacled gaze carrying an inquisitive disposition towards the three.
"Hm, odd," Ogmios remarked, "don't see many kids this young out in the open alone around Ulster."
"We..." Zenon tried come up with an excuse, "... just got lucky until now."
"Plausible," he replied as he walked out, "by the way, I recommend you don't come inside."
"Why?" Dante asked incredulously before a blade of wind nearly hits them and wrecks a portion of the building's porch.
"That's why," Ogmios answered as he recognized the weapon that the marauder on top of the giant lizard's back, "a Bugbear bandit has acquired a RR-Rarity Relic, [Hunter Gatherer]."
"Wait, Relic?" Zenon replied, "what's a Relic?"
Ogmios was about to ask why they would ask such questions in the first place until he'd noticed that all three of the children were carrying Spade Kingdom-issued grimoires, which all three nation states sans Grinberryall had declared obsolete and transitioned to using Relics as their conduits. An education was in order for the three kids.
"Relics are magical artifacts that are used to cast spells just like grimoires," explained Ogmios, "but unlike grimoires, Relics are more durable, versatile and can easily be picked up by anyone provided if the previous user is no longer around. Sure it comes at the cost of not being able to learn new spells, but at the same time, security around those spells are much more ironclad, meaning that no outside interference can sabotage it, unlike my guests' grimoires, who had all of their spells erased a while back, and I had to help them rewrite them back."
The three Zogratis siblings looked at each other in confusion. Apparently, something this power was around for a while now, and they didn't hear about it, disregarding the fact that their grimoires were now considered "obsolete" in his eyes.
"If you wish to know, Relics come in five different rarities," explained Ogmios, "first is the Common Rarity, which are basic tools and weapons imbued with magic and can easily be mass produced for commercial use and very beginner-friendly. Second is the Rare Rarity, which are like the prior example, but imbued with a more complex and intricate magic, and tool verity is more varied and mechanized. Third is the Double Rare, or the RR-Rarity, which are even more advanced Relics than the prior two, and are the ones that broken-in warriors use to get started on making a name for themselves. Fourth is the Triple Rare, or RRR-Rarity, which are Relics that veterans use, can sometimes have two different attributes imbued inside of them or one really power variant of a certain attribute. Sometimes, exceptional Relics up to the RRR-Rarity may come with titles," he spoke as he took out his pendulum from his iron wristband, "my default magical attribute is [Memory Magic], but with my RRR-Rarity Relic [Ionróir, the Intruder], my [Memory Magic] becomes [Mind Magic], which is [Memory Magic], but more intrusive."
All three Zogratis siblings realized one thing right now:
Oh shit. He can read our minds.
Damn right you are, they heard his voice in their heads, "also, bossman," he called out to the short blond male sitting by the porch, "I think Jerry-boyo is getting his arse handed to him right now. Ye should go save him."
And right at that moment, Dagda rockets off of his ass and flies towards where the two were exchanging clashes, with Jericho being slowly pushed back bit by bit by the Bugbear's [Hunter Gatherer]'s autonomous cutting projectiles that orbited around them.
And now, here's the cream of the crop when it comes to Relic rarity, presented Ogmios as all four of them witnessed Dagda drawing his short sword from his back, the God Rare, also known as the GR-Rarity. Surrounded by myth, these Relics are the first of their kind, forged by the creator of the world itself, imbued with divine powers that only the most worthy can pick up and wield its awesome power. They are concepts made manifest into physical form, and their names are their concepts written in lost language.
Between Jericho and the Bugbear, Dagda suddenly appeared out of thin air with his blade drawn.
"[Fragarach]..." Ogmios smiled as he saw Dagda swing his blade towards the bandit monster, "... means 'answerer'."
One [Full Counter] later, the Bugbear and his Drake mount evaporated upon impact. All the Zogratis siblings could do was fall on their knees in sheer awe as they've witnessed power that none of them could comprehend or come close to, even if their contracted Devils were still to be around.
"You've gotta be kidding me..." Dante gawked in complete disbelief and seething envy, "that much power... that is not in my hands?!"
"... Can I masturbate now?" Vancia asked while visible hearts were forming in her eyes, "I think I just came to the point of dehydration."
"A magic that embodies 'rejection' itself..." shuddered Zenon at this alien possibility, "... I... I don't know what to think of it."
"Oh I can't blame you for that," Ogmios remarked as he placed his hand onto Zenon and Dante's shoulders, "after all, it's not every day that a Zogratis walks right in front of our doors, let alone three."
Before the trio can react, they find themselves completely ambushed by ring of floating spears around the air.
You owe me one, Ogmios, Cernunnos yawned out telepathically, also, I'll tell no one about this, as part of your unreasonable request. Goodnight.
Thank you, replied Ogmios before he started grilling the siblings, now, before you say anything, yes, your reputations collectively as the "Dark Triad" precedes all of you combined. After Grinberryall fell to the torch, the Order of the Spade Cross went on a bit of an after-party kill-binge, hunting down every last member of your family throughout the country and putting them to torch while you three were getting cozy in your new bodies for the past 15 years. Now what if I simply, you know, tattle?
"... You really should," Dante chuckled a bit with a hint of sarcasm, "... you think we're just that simple to exploit, aren't you?"
On the contrary, no, Dante of "the Inferno", mocked Ogmios, that also goes for you two as well, Vancia of "the Bloodbath" and Zenon of "the Graveyard". I have to handle all of you with the utmost of care despite your weakened states of both body and mind. It's only easy to simply let you lot die and get it over with, but who am I to say that your deaths won't simply transfer you lot to another set of fake bodies hidden elsewhere? I can read your minds and confirm that is not the case, but really, who am I to trust other people, especially the ones who are as self-deluded and myopic as you three are that you're aren't simply lying to yourself to such extent that you actively rewrite your memories? No, simply talking and holding a sword over your heads isn't enough. I have to make sure that you three squirm, to feel like actual children that you are. Do you assume that this is "malice" that you constantly preach? No. This is something greater, something so grand in scale that your microscopic cognitive engines cannot even run upon me cramming it into you.
Normally, people like Dante would praise the man for such malice, but even Vancia and Zenon knew that what Ogmios exuded wasn't malice.
It was something deeper, something more focused and less about obtaining pleasure at the expense of the other, but a pure desire to right a wrong so horrific that the only way to answer such abominable horror was whatever hell Ogmios was even comprehending.
You think you're a bunch bad guys simply because you think you're the greatest of evils? spoke Ogmios to the three, now-terrified children, I know a certain witch-bitch that killed thousands in an instant for a crime of simply existing.
That thing eclipsing Dante's "malice" was Ogmios' "Justice".
"Hey," Dagda called out as he landed back on Twrch Trwyth's back with Jericho slung over his shoulder, which at that moment, caused all the spears surrounding them to disappear, "oh, new faces?"
"New hires, bossman!" Ogmios adopted a faux-jovial expression, to which the three Zogratis siblings wisely play along and nod.
Magia Academia, Libratium, Spade Kingdom, Evening
"Wow..." Fana remarked as she and Sirona walked next to each other, the latter pushing a trolly with a large metal box with frosty vapors coming out of its vents, containing the Ice Dragon, Bufu, "... I didn't know [Fire Magic] can be used to freeze things."
"Well, technically, it's only theoretical," Sirona explained, "fire is really just an active distribution of energy to its surroundings. It's actually possible to create flames that does the exact opposite."
"So like, instead of setting things on fire, it'll instead suck up the energies surrounding it..." Fana thought how combustion is really giving energy until something literally sets itself ablaze, "... causing the 'burned' areas to freeze instead, right?"
"Exactly!" Sirona replied, "but then again, it's theoretical. But not impossible."
"I have to ask," Fana spoke, "is it possible for [Ice Magic] to set things on fire as [Fire Magic] can be used to freeze things by siphoning surrounding energies?"
"Well, there's a reason why ice is solid for a reason," Bufu spoke from inside his ice-box, "all solids do is store energy, not disperse it. So on paper, it's physically impossible, even for an Ice Dragon like me," he explained, "but, the Alchemist Department is RnD-ing a new experimental liquid solution that saps surrounding energy and is being proposed as an easy-to-apply quick-freeze solution to preserve specimens and Sirona is using that thing as her gateway for her research proposal."
"Again, in theory," Sirona sighed out, "but then again, outside of class is where we can talk about hypotheticals!"
As the three reach the main gate of the school, Fana waves her teachers goodbye as she headed back to Terra Cotta Dormitory as the sun set over their new home.
As she walked by the streets, clearing her way of other pedestrians and potentially rouge Chimeras (she'd gotten used to it after her 5th), Fana herself was going about her way without a care in the world-
Earth to human Fana, come in.
"... Ugh, what is it, my elven mental roommate?" Human!Fana spoke to herself/Elf!Fana.
Nothing, she deadpanned, being more calmer and personable after situating herself in her current environment, it's just that we really haven't talked that often.
"It's only been like a whole day or two," Human!Fana pointed out, "never took you for a jealous type."
I still have trouble trusting humans, Elf!Fana stated, her recalling her previous life and her current circumstances that led her here to this day, I don't want my faith in you to waver. Licht always said that I was a worrywart...
"Right," she nodded, "Miss Rosengarten said that our link is so far stable, so we should be fine. But if it makes you feel better, we'll visit her this weekend, sounds good?"
Yeah, Elf!Fana agreed, never thought the only elf outside of my home happened to be a Devil-worshipper.
"Contractor, there's a difference!" chided Fana as she opened the door into her new home's reception hall, "I'm home-oh my god!"
Inside, both Fanas witnessed both Lotus and Iris kissing each other, their tongues intertwining with one another's before the two noticed Fana standing by the door, eye wide as plates and jaw agape in complete shock at this overly-sappy and physical public display of affection.
"... Oh dear," heaved Iris as she blushed heavily, "I never expected to have an audience."
"Wait, audience?" Fana turned her head to find Mariella, Violet, Daisy, Peony, Fanzell, Dominante, Akane, Mari, and Klein all standing behind where she was, all of them completely shocked at what she and her elven counterpart had witnessed.
... Well, Elf!Fana smacked her lips and sucked her teeth, this is... super awkward. I'm gonna leave now. Bye.
"How did you guys get behind me without me noticing?!" Fana pointed out.
"No offense, big sis Fana," Peony spoke, "but you been talking to yourself a lot lately."
"Is it an imaginary friend?" asked Daisy.
"... What's going on here?" asked Klein, unable to register what he'd just seen with the others, "why are their tongues touching each others'?"
"Oh my god..." Violet facepalmed in embarrassment, "mom! Dad! Why?!"
"Oh let them love," Dominante remarked, "after all, it's not like someone's giving me enough sugar to give me cavities, amirite, mister?"
"Come on..." Fanzell slightly winced as his witch spouse elbowed him in the rib, "... not in front of the kids."
"I don't get it," Mariella commented, "other than the fact that this act is not hygienic."
"Please," Akane groaned, "all of you, inside."
"You're holding up the traffic," Mari commented before she gave a hard slap onto Fanzell's back, the impact causing everyone to be bumped into the dorm's entrance, allowing the Mitsurugi twins to come in proper.
The sound of the impact caused Krieger to peek out of the mess hall's kitchen in curiosity, only to find a pile of people stacked onto the middle of the reception hall.
"... Dinner's ready," he remarked, "turkey pot pie with mash and gravy."
And no one talked during dinner that night. Or at least, initially.
"... Dad?" asked Klein as he looked around to find an empty seat, "where's Dune?"
"He's at the Demonology Department," Akane explained, "heard from him that he's pulling an all-nighter to finish his thesis about the Twelve Tyrants."
"Poor guy," Lotus remarked, "shame he can't join us tonight."
Everyone nods in agreement. Poor bastard always has the tendency to be overworked at the worst of times.
"... So," spoke Violet, "mom, dad, I have a question," the eldest Whomalt progeny spoke, "why were the two of you swapping spit before we all got home from school?"
"Oh honey," Iris sighed out, "you'll understand when you get older."
"Mom, I'm about to turn 16 next month," she pointed out, "please, stop treating me like a little kid."
"Aw, but you'll always be my little baby forever!" cooed Iris as she began coddling the eldest daughter in her arms, despite the latter's resistance.
As the two hugged, the other side of the table began to have a conversation of their own.
"So," Fanzell sighed out, "I tried to apply for a job today... and got rejected. Apparently, my past as a Diamond Kingdom's Soldier has no credibility here."
"I'm sorry to hear that," Lotus remarked, "which you won't hold it against me when I tell you that I got a job as a milkman from Lunar Milk Emporium!"
"Oh," Akane remarked, "I take it that the good news was the reason why you two were this close of making a fourth child?"
"I might be," teased Lotus, "but only after my first promotion."
"Mom, dad!" Violet groaned in embarrassment as the night passed by, with everyone finishing dinner and quickly falling into a deep sleep as soon as they went to bed.
As soon as the night sky completely set in, a cloaked man exits the dormitory from its rear door with Lotus behind him.
"Everyone tucked away nice and tight?" Lotus remarked.
"The slow-acting tranquilizers worked swimmingly," Krieger replied, "and all they will get is a guaranteed good night's sleep."
"And those two pets by the lobby?" Lotus pointed out regarding Fana's Salamander and Klein's clay-doll Sith.
"They had their share too," Kreiger reassured, "out like a light."
"Excellant," Lotus remarked as his face distorted slightly, "oops, got a little exited."
"The body?" asked Krieger, reflexively looking behind himself to ensure that no one was eavesdropping for this very important topic.
"At the bottom of the ocean as we speak," spoke Lotus as his face shifted into that of a nondescript man, revealing himself to be a fake, "seriously, never took that schmuck's old lady for a kisser. A damn good one too."
"What of the others?" Krieger asked, "when will they be next?"
"You want me to start with the one old bitch or the three smaller bitches?" he snickered, "or a fusion of both?"
"I don't care as long as no one but the Diamond Kingdom runaways finds out," the man replied, "they're the only ones deserving of my wrath, not those who've took me in."
"No promises," the man replied before his face turned back into Lotus' own, "seriously, why are you, of all people, trusting me, of all Demons? And without a contract to boot."
Kreiger grimaced at this wry trickster's malice hidden behind his smile as he gave his answer.
"Because we're both dead men walking, Loki," snarled the bearded man, "I don't care what happens to me or anyone else except my nephew! He's the only one that matters!" he laid out his intentions, "I'm pretty sure the Inquisitors are already in this city thanks to that meathead Bizon making noise and being sent to the Chateau along with that other guy he was fighting against!"
"Admit it, you're kinda glad that is the case, innit?" Loki smirked, the corner of his lips stretching way too far up his copied face, "the pain of holding a grudge... its about to come to a bloody climax."
"And you of all people think this is a game..." spat the bearded man, "it's no game for me. I'm out for revenge. Nothing else."
"Oh sure, keep telling yourself that, you self-righteous suicidal bastard..." Loki rolled his eyes as human shadow morphed into that of a lop-eared head and an antlered one, "... and that's why, you're my favorite."
As the two went back inside, a pair of gleaming eyes shone faintly from a distance.
"Two tangos confirmed," a voice whispered into a communicator, "should I go in?"
Negative, said the communicator, there are non-affiliates in there. Our target is using them as human shields. We'll keep tabs on him.
"Yes sir," the pair of gleaming eyes then sink back into the city-state's shadows.
God-Knows-Where, Valley of White Death, Spade Kingdom, Midnight
He heard something. It wasn't howling.
He felt something. It wasn't freezing.
He smelled something. It wasn't death.
He tasted something. It wasn't ice.
He saw something. It wasn't white.
Astaroth lets out a low groan as he collects his bearings, only to realize one thing first.
He looks down, and only sees a scratched wooden surface. He looks ahead, ands finds himself facing a wolf-eared girl sniffing his face and hair. He looks around, and finds his headless body being stitched back together.
His new surroundings was similar to a log cabin, coming with an ensemble of a stone fireplace, wooden tables, fur pelt-rugs of whole beasts, chunks of dried and cured meat of unknown origin hanging from hooks dangling from the ceiling, and leaning against the walls were a row of wooden and iron rod-like contraptions that were similar to form of that of the salvaged Tanegashima that the Fallen Angels and the Dark Elves once used, but it looked more advanced and sophisticated in its craftsmanship.
Oh great, the Prince deadpanned internally as the wolf-eared girl began sniffing his hair, I'm still alive, but my body is detached from my head, Astaroth internally remarked as he looked at his body, which was being worked on by someone who's being blocked by the girl's intrusive lack of personal space, ... which begs the question, how the hell am I still alive?
He instinctively tries to yell, but Astaroth lets out only a dry cough.
"Ah good," said the voice behind the girl that was now staring into his eyes intently, "you're finally awake."
As the sounds of boots thumped against the wooden floor, the wolf-eared girl scampers out of the way to reveal a tall-ish looking man draped in a cloak and underneath it were an assortment of garbs that ranged from utilitarian plainclothes to fancy suits that a nobleman might wear. He had a stubbled and scarred face, his dull-gray eyes mounted behind a pair of bent-framed glasses with numerous tapes wrapped around it to keep the cracked lenses together. As the man took off his hood, his white hair nested a pair of small, stubby horns that looked like a pair of semi-flattened cones.
"... Who..." Astaroth coughed out, "... who are you? ... where am I?"
The bespectacled man chuckles gently.
"I am Caspar," the man answered, "and you are currently in the only living settlement right in the middle of the Valley of White Death, Der Freischütz Dorf."
Caspar, upon finishing his introduction, pins a Stigmata onto the table like a knife before his face. However, unlike those knife-looking black Stigmatas that Astaroth had seen used by the nameless stranger and a quarter from his birth mother, this one was more ornate and slightly bigger, with red lines running out from the center of the crucifix, constantly ebbing and flowing like blood dropped and dissipating inside water. However, one weird thing about was how... uneven it looked. Not necessarily crooked or disoriented, but its symmetry was completely thrown out as its lower-right inner-vertex was chipped out in a semi-circular pattern.
"You mind explaining why this Stigmata we've found inside your body is..." Caspar spoke in an inquisitive manner akin to an interrogation, as he also began bopping Astaroth's head with his own grimoire bearing the black five-leaved clover of fate, "... rather peculiar?"
To Be Continued...
Author's Notes: Haven't written this much in a while. I think I might be a little too ambitious compared to last time, but that's just me.
Anywho, this arc is really more of a clique tour and final wrap-ups from the last Saga's reintroduction purpose. This will also serve as my memory test of if I can recall which character is here in the story and how will I use them in this plot long enough before I give each of them a somewhat meaningful closure?
For Drouot coming back, I don't plan to keep him around for that long in the story, and I do plan Mick to take his place, but for the old dung-digger of Hage whom everyone ignores, his purpose will be revealed soon enough. And regarding Juniper's remaining family being killed off-screen, the reason for it is that I kinda didn't know what to do with them, so I had to axe them lest they continue bothering me and give Juniper a reason to do something in the story.
As for Jericho's sudden reveal of his real backstory (or fudging the details before revealing the "truth"), "Unreliable Narrator" trope strikes again! I ain't letting go of that pain in the toucus because that is the theme of this story. Some people are willing to lie or leave out certain details, and that sometimes the truth is even more absurd than the lie itself. History may be a lie and everyone might as well be living in a simulation, but the point is, everything that the important characters say to another named character might be either a truth or a lie, and the only guarantee is that they're probably lying. For those of you who've read the canon Black Clover manga, YOU KNOW WHAT I'M DAMN WELL TALKING ABOUT.
And third, for Fana's segment, that's just setup for a bigger, more important arc later on.
And finally, Astaroth being just a head and his compound Stigmata being made from Cain and his own Sins. Also, guys with guns are now Astaroth's new friends/future cannon fodder. More on them in the later chapters, piecemeal.
Also, apologizes for the uneven plot distribution, I kinda burned myself out at the start before going into a sugar-rush in writing for 3 days afterwards.
References:
- Saga title is a reference to an AC/DC song with the same name.
- Deirdre's new form is loosely based off of Lostbelt 6's Knocknarea/Avalon Le Fey's next-gen Medb's appearance from Fate/Grand Order, minus the leggings.
- Saiga's "solid bone" line is from Shantotto from Dissidia: Final Fantasy.
- Mick is basically Pigpen from Peanuts with some elements from Gravity Falls' Old Man McGucket.
- Dagda's brand of whiskey is named after a line of Scav Assault Rifles from Borderlands Pre-Sequel.
- Jericho's revealed/true backstory of killing another noble kid to protect Taro during their fight was inspired by Peacemaker 2022's backstory of Christopher Smith/Peacemaker killing his older brother by accident.
- Relic Rarity system is based off Vanguard ZERO's card rarity system (up to G-Era)l, down to the same lettering.
- Loki's shadow shifting between lop-eared and antlered is a twofold; one being that one of Loki's interpretation as a trickster god is the depiction of him partially being a God of Fire, for like fire, Loki has no one, discernible form, the other being that Loki having horns on his head is indeed mythologically accurate (and why Marvel's Loki has that gaudy-looking horned helmet).
- The rifles seen next to the fireplace are based off Martini-Henry Rifle.
- Caspar one of the names of the characters involved in a German Romantic opera, Der Freischütz. His appearance is based off of Percy/Percival de Rolo, specifically the Critical Role adaptation.
Hypothetical Voice Actors:
- Mick: Shinpei Takagi (JPN), Alexander Gross/Octopimp (ENG)
- Loki: Maxwell Powers (JPN), Yong Yea (ENG)
- Caspar: Yuichiro Umehara (JPN) Dave B. Mitchell (ENG)
And as usual, please leave a comment or a review, for I'd love to know what my readers think!