Disclaimer: Black Clover is owned by Yūki Tabata, Studio Pierrot, and Shonen Jump.
Saga 18: Welcome To The Jungle Part Finale
Royal Palace, Heart Kingdom, Morning
The Clover Kingdom Magic Knights, Captains (including Jack, now covered in bandages), Mosin, Scheherazade and Gaja all head towards the palace gates where inside, the Queen of this Kingdom resides.
"Hey, just remembered something," spoke Yami as they walked in.
"Make it quick," Gaja responded.
"The Heart Kingdom has been ruled by a Queen during its founding, right?" the Black Bulls Captain spoke, "and since then, the line of succession has been from the first daughter, correct?"
"Your point being?" said the Spirit Guardian.
"Shouldn't the Heart Kingdom be called... you know," he pointed out, "Heart Queendom?"
Gaja breathes out a sigh before he began explaining. "The truth is while this nation has been run under a matriarchal line of succession, this land was originally ruled by a man. The Queen sought out Undine to cure her husband's illness but arrived too late. Since then, she had to rule the kingdom in her stead when after her quest, this land came under attack from all directions, and we only survived to this day because of the Water Spirit and the Queen's leadership."
"And I take it that the first Queen was Undine's preference?" Fuegoleon pointed out. "I don't recall in this Kingdom's history of there being male hosts for the Water Spirit. Assuming if it were recorded."
"Actually, us Spirit Guardians are coming close to certifying a certain magical theory," said Gaja. "Specifically, the 'Anima-Animus' theory."
Anima? Animus? Yami thought as he remembered Brigid going from female to male instantaneously, and remembering that Brigid prefers the "Anima" form for its "persuasiveness", huh. Small world that we all live in.
"The 'Anima-Animus' theory covers on the relationship between a magic-user's psyche and what part of the natural elemental spectrum that they're best suited for," explained Gaja, "for instance, [Water Magic] is more attuned with the 'Anima' spectrum, the 'female' of the general human psyche. While my own [Lightning Magic], is roughly leaned towards the 'Animus' spectrum, the part of my human brain that is classified as 'male."
"I also heard from them no one side of the spectrum is absolute within our minds," Mosin pointed out. "Everyone has their own 'Anima' and 'Animus' within them. The former represents our passive side while the latter represents our active side."
"We can tell what kind of person they are from what kind of magical attribute they bear," Gaja explained, "Undine prefers the Anima, and the line of succession ensure to raise their female successors with that kind of nurturing personality, hence, my Queen's aptitude with [Water Magic] is second to none."
"Now I kinda wanna fight her," grinned Meroleona, "for fun, of course. Nothing serious."
"Actually, our Queen's a pacifist," said Gaja, "she can defend herself just fine, but as an active combatant... she never threw a single punch in her entire life."
"He said her aptitude with [Water Magic] was second to none, not her prowess as a fighter," Mosin pointed out. "There's a difference."
"Keh, and what about her?" Jack pointed to Scheherazade, currently being escorted by her [Three Enigmas], "she's a beta, so why did her pet cat almost punch me to the fucking moon?"
"The Spirit Guardians actually tried to figure out why, and so far, all we can come up with is that in Dama, the opposite is true," Gaja stated, "Dama's arcane arts are semi-sentient. They're ones using the mages as conduits, where as we use magic as our conduits."
"So they're just able run around wrecking havoc if they felt like it?" Leopold remarked as [Solomon] cuddled against his leg.
"Hence, our scrolls, or rather, our version of grimoires that we call 'fables' in your language," answered the envoy. "The [Three Enigmas] you see right now are actually characters from a tale about a trickster Queen's three trials come to life, returning when either I order them to or when their lives are in danger. Sometimes, our fables contain characters that are too powerful for the user, and it's relatively common for Daman mages to either completely forgo using magic or die at the hands of their own spells. I for one, when I was 17, summoned a flock of [Anzu] from a chapter of a hero's journey through the land of the gods... it ate over 26 people and injured 183 before I got them under control."
"What are [Anzu]?" asked Vanessa.
"Imagine an eagle with a head of a lion, and scale that up to the size of a young human child."
Everyone stared at the stone-faced envoy as they begun to register what she'd just said. Now they were even more surprised when more people didn't die during that recollected day.
"Trust me when I say that there are potentially worse stories within my fable," Scheherazade stated. "My scroll that I have right now is actually the strongest fable that Dama has ever penned."
"What is it called?" asked Yami.
"... [Alf-Layla-wa-Layla]," she answered, much to everyone's surprise, "and yes, it is exactly as you are thinking. The [Ultimate Compound Sealing Magic] bearing my fable's name is meant to transfer the minds of those entranced by it into said stories themselves."
"So what does Charmy have to do with all of that?!" Magna barked.
"At first, we didn't take into account for her actually falling into our spell," she explained. "But then, when I saw her actually resonate with the spell and the arrays, I thought I could be able to use her mind as a basis for the spell."
"YOU WERE PLANNING TO USE CHARMY AS A BATTERY?!" Finral cried out. "WITHOUT TELLING US?!"
Scheherazade looked away in shame. "... I was desperate. She literally fell into our hands, to turn the war around that has been going on for 10 years," she explained herself. "... But upon this morning, I made a rather... bizarre discovery."
"What?" Vanessa remarked coldly.
The envoy of Dama sighs heavily before explaining her findings. "If Charmy's mind was a Dama fable... her scroll would be thick as a tree trunk."
Everyone looked at her [Alf-Layla-wa-Layla] fable, its scroll width being roughly a size of a person's thigh.
"... That big?" Meroleona commented. "Knew she was holding out on me."
"I'll just say that her single-mindedness of eating food and drinking fine beverages can roughly equate to a coherent tale that would last a thousand years to finish the whole read through," said the envoy. "And no, I am not exaggerating. I almost died with the Queen just peeking inside her brain. Regards, I tried to put my theory to the test this morning, and the mismatch of the required brainwaves cancelled the spell, but thankfully, we can still use it again. Hopefully, the right way this time around."
"And you still haven't figured who that midget is?" Jack remarked.
"The Queen always came back with her face covered in soot and her hair turning into an afro several times," said Gaja, completely stoic at what he'd just said. "It appears that some third party is insistent on keeping everyone in the dark of who this Charmy is."
"What, like someone rigged the book about Charmy with a bomb or something?" Jack commented, not realizing how right on the mark he is with that statement.
"... Another time," said Gaja as they all entered the Queen's chambers, "for now, we need to talk strategy."
The doors then creak open, and the center of the pond was Charmy, seen still dreaming wonderful dreams large enough to create an entire world of her own.
"Thank you for coming," Lolopechka spoke as she entered the chambers. "I'm sure you're all eager to finally put this war behind you-"
Jack then cuts through the Queen herself with his [Death Scythe], the Queen in question breaking apart into a puddle of water.
"Look, I wanna talk to the genuine article, not some proxy!" Jack remarked. "So come out and face us yourself, why doncha?!"
A mousey-looking girl's head with a pair of large glasses peeked out of the corner of a wall. "... Can a girl have some time to change?" she pouted. "I'm practically naked behind here!"
All men under the age of 21 (and Finral) fainted as blood shot out of their noses upon them realizing realizing that they've walked into a girl's room while said girl was immodest.
"Well tell us that first!" Jack replied before he faced Gaja. "Hey you! You're supposed to be her bodyguard, right? So why didn't you tell us?"
"She didn't tell me, I swear," Gaja remarked as he tried to avert his eyes from lusting at his liege. "Also, I didn't take into account of you that being much of a loose cannon. No sane man would cut a person down simply for lying."
"Fuck you! I hate liars!" Jack remarked as he was then dragged away by Fuegoleon's [Leo Palma] grabbing him by his head.
Yami sighs before he drags Finral and Magna out of the room while Vanessa picked up Henry and carried him out over her shoulder. "Alright, we'll wait outside."
Everyone then vacated the Queen's chambers in awkward silence.
"You know, we really should establish a better line of communications around these parts," Yami suggested as the doors shut.
"I'm sorry," apologized Gaja. "But my Queen isn't what you describe as a social butterfly."
Western Jungle, Heart Kingdom, Morning
"(Slept well)?" asked Akane as Mari followed her from behind.
"(Like the old days)," yawned Mari as she swiped her [Shien] through the jungle's foliage. "(Those Zogratis Loyalists thought they could take us just because we were kids. Idiots)."
"(I'd rather not acknowledge them. They're as repulsive as their late master)," Akane remarked as she left a mark on a tree trunk, denoting where they were going in case if they get lost. "(So why are you reminiscing them when it's such a horrid memory)?"
"(Dunno, but I felt... good back then)," the other twin answered. "(Like as if my blade finally found its purpose. I kinda felt like a hero back then, slaying evildoers with my given powers)."
"(You are an adult, Mari)," Akane chastised, "(let go of those childish notions of heroism and focus on our mission at hand. Find and kill that traitor, and bring his head back to Hanafuda)!"
Mari winces at her sister's words.
"... (Forgive me. I was too harsh with my words)," apologized Akane. "(I only wish for what's the best for you, Mari. As your elder twin, it is my duty)."
"... (Then... what would make you happy)?" asked Mari. "(I know mother made me her heir, but still, you're my older twin sister, so I want what's best for you too)!"
Akane's smile was seen peeking from under her kasa hat. "(Your happiness is my happiness, Mari. I will kill as many as you wish and die on your orders if it makes you happy)."
Mari was left utterly speechless at the words that came our of her mouth. ... (Okaa-sama broke her beyond repair).
The Queen's Chambers, Royal Palace, Heart Kingdom, Morning
"Sorry for the wait everyone," apologized Lolopechka as she appeared to them in her casual clothing. Her hair was still a bit of a mess, though.
"Whatever, just get to the point already," Jack grumbled.
"So, here's the plan," said Scheherazade as the Queen then conjured a screen of water from her water replica's puddle.
The screen the projected the image of a giant, humanoid beetle creature with a carapace resembling a knight's armor and helmet, and in its two giant arm held a pair of massive bastard swords. Around him were various Thanatophages of differing formations, all converging towards around their new alpha.
"Good news, the number of Thanatophages have lowered enough to stop completely mucking up my surveillance system, meaning I can finally coordinate the battlefield from here," she stated. "Bad news, the ones remaining are now easily the nastiest and biggest bugs of the bunch."
"You mean we have to take this behemoth alive?" Vanessa pointed out.
"Without killing it," pointed out Scheherazade, "we need its live brain, after all. Of course, Roughing it up is an option."
Everyone then looks at Jack and Meroleona in particular.
"... Fine, I'll cut off its arms and wings, happy?" Jack remarked in his usual surly manner.
"Don't lump me in with as him," deadpanned Meroleona. "I can pull my punches when I want to. I just choose not to."
"Please don't make me babysit you too," Mosin sighed.
"Our sole enemy may be imposing and deadlier than the ones you all have fought last month, but I assure you, as long as we commit to a proper plan, we will prevail," declared the envoy, "we will divide into three teams depending on the following criteria: Capture Team, Attack Team, and Defense Team."
"Capture Team will be the ones to bind down the Commander-class Thanatophage and bring him back to this array as alive as possible," Lolopechka explained. "Now who among the Magic Knights know any [Binding Magic]?"
Magna, Fuegoleon, Vanessa and Yami raise their hands.
"I shall join that team as well," said Scheherazade as she and her [Three Enigmas] all raised their mittened hands. "My [Three Enigmas] are able to cover all three teams at once each with their differing specialties."
"Now then leaves the Attack team," said the Queen, "their job is to actively engage the attacking Thanatophages that will inevitably attack our raiding party. You are not advised to hold back, but also be sure to not kill the Commander by complete accident."
"Jack, Meroleona, Guache, and Mosin," spoke Scheherazade, "I trust that you are able to take to the front lines and do what you do best?"
"Finally, a job that doesn't have to do with following orders," grinned Jack.
"Punch the bugs, got it," smiled Meroleona.
"They won't see it coming," Gauche declared. "Even without my [Real Double] spell, I will make sure that they're ash before this day ends!"
"Now prepare to see how a High Inquisitor does her job," Mosin boasted.
"Which then leaves Leopold, En, Willy, Nix, Henry and Finral," Lolopechka stated. "You six will be the Defense Team. Your job is to make sure the Commander is separated from its swarm and deal with the threats that the Attack Team lets slip."
"I'd like to make a statement," Finral raised his hand, "my [Spatial Magic] can easily warp the giant bug to this room if I could. I even developed a spell for it, where I can just shoot a shot of my own magic and poof, it'll just appear here."
"Thank you," Lolopechka acknowledged, "however, we need the big but to hold still long enough to actually activate [Alf-Layla-wa-Layla]. So with that said, Finral, as soon as the Commander is sufficiently weakened enough for transfer, please do so."
Henry then raises his hand. "... I... like... to... say... something..."
Mosin rolled her eyes and sent one of her threads from her [Glephnir] rings and put it inside Henry's ear and wired directly through his brain, allowing her to read his thoughts by copying the neuroelectronic patterns inside of his brain.
"He says that his [Rearrangement Magic] can be used to manipulate the land around himself, but given that both the Queen and Undine are the ones taking control, he requests for access so he can actually help. And rather politely too," translated the High Inquisitor.
"I will allow it, albeit until the war is over," Lolopechka nodded as she then linked Henry's mana to the land like her's. "Undine?"
"Acknowledged," said the Water Spirit as she also granted access to Henry's [Rearrangement Magic] around Heart Kingdom. "Do not damage the environment too much, alright?"
Henry nods with a beaming smile.
"And that just about wraps up our plans," said Scheherazade, "any last questions?"
"One," said Yami as he stepped up, "is Charmy going to wake up as soon as your super-spell goes off without a hitch?"
"It will," Scheherazade stated with absolute confidence. "Only one type of brainwave can be resonated per time within [Alf-Layla-wa-Layla]. As soon as the big bad bug is pushed in there, she will wake up and the captured Commander will take her place."
"Then my advice, prepare a whole feast just for her," Yami ordered. "As soon as she wakes up and realizes that she skipped her meals because she was off in dreamland... there's going to be hell to pay, and not from me."
"I already have my cooks and a Spirit Guardian working on it," said the Queen, "including a copy recipe of Scheherazade's dogroma chorba goat stew."
"It won't explode like the last time, right?" Magna asked. "Charmy gets extra-pissed when good food goes to waste."
"No pressure cookers are involved in this interaction of this stew," reassured Lolopechka. "I made sure of it."
"Alright, we now have our plans," Scheherazade stated. "Now we act."
"The location for the giant bug is at straight down South!" said the Queen as she then handed each captain and Finral an earpiece as she readied several screens of floating water, "use these to keep in touch with me! I'll be your guys' eyes in the sky! Gaja! Inform all available Spirit Guardians to secure the entire settlement's perimeter in case we come under attack!"
"At once," said Gaja before he disappeared into a flash of lightning.
"What are we waiting for then?!" Jack grinned madly as he licked his [Death Scythe] across its flat, "LET'S KILL SOME SHIT!"
Agartha's Ruins, Mimo Amazon, Neutral Territory, Morning
"No fucking way..." Rades gasped. "[Hellfire Magic]?!"
"Damn right!" boasted Angra in front of her senior peers. "... Though I can't feel my arms anymore."
"Oooh, do I hear potential science?!" Sally popped in on the two's conversation, "and are my ears burning?! Did I hear [Hellfire Magic]?!"
Angra shows her well-done arms.
"Oh my... that is some serious self-damage, I assume," she looked in a little closer, "but nothing I can't fix."
She then opens her grimoire and covers Angra's arms with her [Gel Magic].
"And just for a little cherry on top!" Sally then pulls out a syringe filled with a green-colored concoction, "[Rejuvenating Properties Type Iota], applied!"
As she inserts the needle into the slime engulfing Angra's arms, it then began bubbling before hissing sounds were heard from beneath.
"OH FUCK OH FUCK! IT'S MELTING MY ARMS!" Angra panics as she sees her flesh being dissolved into bone.
"Correction: it's melting your dead arms," Sally stated in confidence as Angra's skeletal arms begin growing back its muscles. "The old dead muscles are destroyed by my [Gel Magic] while my concoction will stimulate your body's natural rejuvenating properties to grow back fresh new muscles and nerves!"
As soon as her newly-grown muscles cover her bones before being topped with a new layer of skin, the slimes dissipating as soon as Angra's arms were fully restored, albeit discolored, due to the skin pigmentation being akin to a newborn's rather than a young adult like hers.
"Feel anything?" asked the scientist.
"Good as new," answered Angra as she flexed her restored arms, "thanks."
Sally's smile ceased to fade. "You can thank me by telling me EVERYTHING about your new [Hellfire Magic]! Even better, I can help you augment your body to become more heat resistant so that you don't end up self-inflicting necrosis again."
All Angra can do is let out a nervous chuckle.
"Welp, got nothing to do with me," Rades then walked back into his workshop, where his zombies were busy disassembling the giant cocoon and its inner workings. "Enjoy being her pet for a day. Or a week."
"You and I are going to be best friends!" Sally hugged Angra. "Sally forth! SCIENCE AWAITS! AND YES, I MADE A PUN WITH MY OWN NAME AND I AM PROUD OF IT!"
All Angra can do was whimper in fear as her Demon Mainyu watches her being dragged away by the surprisingly-strong scientist, all the while snickering at her misfortune.
Southern Jungles, Heart Kingdom, Afternoon
"Still muggy as shit out here..." growled Jack as he and the rest of the expedition party waded towards south of the Heart Kingdom's vast rainforests.
"If you think this is bad, then clearly, you haven't gotten near the equator," deadpanned Scheherazade.
"The fuck's an equator?" said Meroleona.
"The middle circumference of the whole world," answered the envoy, "the closer you are to the proverbial line, the exposed to the sun's rays you are."
"So when you say the word 'circumference,' you're implying that the world itself is round?" Fuegoleon pointed out. "I did hear a few academics in Clover Kingdom propose such theory."
"We're not so sure anymore, given that all of our astrologers, geographers, and written records were all eaten by the Demons," she sighed. "All that's left are memories."
"Bummer," Yami commented. "... So how close are we?"
Scheherazade closes her eyes before cupping one of her ears. With deep focus, she then picks up faint sounds of buzzing and chittering.
"They're up ahead," said the envoy. "A couple scouts. Nothing more."
"No aberrant mana signatures either," Fuegoleon stated. "Henry, if you may."
Henry nods before activating his [Rearrangement Magic] to shift the lands into their favor. Trees moved into positions to hide their visibility, dirt roads wounded and shifted to prevent them from getting lost, and the winds shifting through the foliage remained unchanged.
"... This... should... work..." he gave a thumbs up. "... Thank... the... Queen... for... her... charity."
Mosin nods back. "In position," she ordered as Attack Team took front while the Capture and Defense Teams stuck close to their backs.
Upon following the dirt road provided by Henry's magic, the group then spot the titanic, 20 feet-tall, 8 feet-wide Thanatophage resembling a Rhinosaurus Beetle and an armored knight, wielding a pair of massive bastard swords in its primary arms while its secondary arms crossed around its waist like a belt.
"That's our guy," Meroleona stated as she spotted several scythe-wielding cockroach Thanatophages with him, "and he brought friends."
"We need to blind them first," Mosin remarked as she then turned to Meroleona, "can your [Fire Magic] cause a big enough explosion for a frontal smokescreen?"
The Crimson Lion King's resident lioness cackles as her fiery right hand blazed. "One smokescreen, coming right up-"
But before she could throw a single punch, something dripped onto her fire arm from above, causing a small hiss of steam to be emitted. Her neck then cranes up, the fire-arm illuminating the jungle's treetops, and from above, was a giant millipede Thanatophage (about long as an entire tree) wielding a pair of serrated machetes in its incisor-arms.
"... It was following us the whole time," Jack remarked.
"INTRUUDDDEERRS!" screeched the Demon as it then pounced onto Meroleona, forcing others into out of hiding and out in the open with their backs exposed. "ATTACK! ATTACK! AAAATTACK!"
The present Thanatophages were then alerted by the presence of Magic Knights and one High-Inquisitor being chased out of their ambush and into their own.
"Destroy them," said the beetle knight as it pointed the cockroaches towards their enemies and orders them to swing their sickles made of bone at them.
The Magic Knights were now in complete disarray, with Jack being forcibly separated from the rest of the Attack Team by the millipede while the Defense and Capture Team were being steadily overwhelmed by the swarming Demons.
"Control! This is an ambush!" Yami yelled through his earpiece as he blocked a cockroach Demon's scythe swing with his kodachi before kicking it away. "The enemy sniffed us out and we lost our formation!"
"Acknowledged!" said the Queen from the other side, "I see two Commanders on the field and reinforcements are coming in fast! I'm repositioning our prior plans! Gauche! Supplement the Defense Team with them dealing with the drones! Meroleona and Mosin! Assist Jack taking out the millipede! Do not let it escape or lose sight of it! That thing's a danger to the mission! Scheherazade! You and your [Three Enigmas] will have to prioritize on the beetle with the rest of the Capture Team!"
"Copy!" Fuegoleon then blasted a column of fire with his right hand, toasting the cockroach into ashes, "DEFENSE TEAM! ON ME! DON'T LET A SINGLE ONE THROUGH! CAPTURE TEAM! GET READY TO MOVE IN ONTO THE COMMANDER!"
"We need to thin their numbers first!" Vanessa pointed out as she pulled one fluttering grasshopper Demon out of the sky with her [Thread Magic].
Finral, with his recently pilfered club made of a tree branch, batted a dish-sized tick away from him before Magna threw his [Exploding Fireball] at the mantis Demon behind him. "Thanks man!"
"Watch your back!" he barked as he soccer-kicked a severed Demon head at the other Demons.
"Thank god the sun's out," Gauche smirked as he readied his [Mirror Magic], "because now I'm about bring the big guns out!"
Several mirrors then formulated themselves into a certain position, capturing the sun's rays and concentrating them into a singular point, which converted the gathered light into a deadly heat-ray.
"[Mirror Magic: Death Glare]!" Gauche then fired a beam of superheated light towards the incoming swarm, frying them all those who were caught in the light from his mirrors.
"Not bad, sis-con!" Nix grinned as he swung his [Flame Spike] at the coming Demons like a ball and chain, "Willy! Let's not get shown up!"
"Right!" the [Mud Magic] user nodded as he then rigged the surrounding perimeter to establish a formation, using his [Flash Bog] spell to set up a moat of viscous swamp to slow down any Demon caught inside. "EVERYONE! GET INTO POSITION! I'M SETTING UP A PARAMETER!"
"I'll guard this place then," En stated as he summoned a [Mr. Towering Mushroom] to stomp over the Demons swarming around them.
"DON'T FORGET ABOUT ME!" Leopold then blasted his [Spiral Flames] spell at the incoming bugs. "BIG BROTHER! I'LL WATCH YOUR BACK!"
"CAPTAIN'S WATCHING US!" Nix remarked as he kicked away a half-dead grasshopper Demon, "AND HE'S THE LAST PERSON YOU WANT TO GET LAUGHED AT!"
"Just call me when you guys are about done!" Finral remarked as he knocked one Demon aside with his club into his [Fallen's Gate], teleporting it into Willy's bog head-first.
Henry then erects small walls of earth behind the moat of [Flash Bog]. "... Use... those... as... cover."
"Thanks," Gauche then took cover behind one of the barricades and began using his multiple copies of [Reflect Refrain] spells to provide covering fire for the Defense Team.
"Defense Team is now in the clear!" Fuegoleon barked as he and Yami linked up to confront the beetle-knight, "Capture Team, move in!"
The titanic Demon smashes both of its bastard swords into the dirt, emitting a massive shockwave from the impact of its weapons.
"You face Ravana," said the beetle-knight as it lifted back up its blades, "my armor and swords shall break you."
"That's good," Yami smirked, "means you don't die that easily."
As the Capture Team then confronted the now-revealed Ravana, Jack was facing down the millipede Demon with his own [Death Scythes] grinding against the Demon's twin blades.
"Keh, another one ripping me off," the Green Mantis Captain sneered as the Demon whipped its tail towards the captain, only for him to jump over it before the Demon used its serpentine-like body to lunge towards Jack while midair, locking blades with its mandibles again.
"I am Commander Kumbhakarna, the 'Hidden Hunter," boasted the Demon, "you will not live to see past today."
"Shut up and fucking fight me," Jack smirked as his crossed [Death Scythes] transformed into triple-bladed [Slaughter Sweep] blades, swings forth multiple crescent cutting winds towards the Demon as it charged through the slashes that bounced off of its jet-black carapace.
But from the side, Meroleona's [Caildus Brachium] punch struck the millipede Demon, causing it to keel away from Jack before snaking back towards the Green Mantis Captain, only for it to be caught by its mandibles from behind by none other than Mosin's [Glephnir] threads. However, its other half than began whipping towards around the the three, sweeping the whole ground that they were standing on, forcing them to regain their distance lest they get caught by the many, many legs that twitched and crawled around the Demon's entire body.
"Another pain in the ass to kill," sighed Meroleona, "why do I have to fight the worst kinds to fight against?"
"I am a hunter," said Kumbhakarna, "I only kill you, not play with you."
"It bears a thousand fingers that makes up its legs," Mosin observed. "Do not get surrounded or get caught!"
"THEN I'LL JUST CUT THEM ALL OFF!" Jack then swiped his [Slaughter Sweeps] towards the Demon's many legs, only for it to coil itself up and block all of its attacks with its carapace. "GODAMMIT! QUIT HIDING AND FACE ME!"
"See? Not fun," Meroleona pointed out before the three engaged the surprise Commander.
Hage Village Ruins, Forsaken Realm, Clover Kingdom, Afternoon
"AKANE! MARI!" Zio cried out as she wandered throughout the village ruins, "WHERE ARE YOU?!"
She flew towards east, crashing down onto the nearest settlement-like area available, thinking that they've might've directly returned home, which they have stated to come from. Surely, they must've stopped by here on their way back across the sea, right?
"I mean, look at that thing," she remarked to herself as she glanced at the Demon Skull that overlooked the entire village. "Looks like a fucking chump."
She then sniffs the air around her, using the faint scent of the saltiness of the sea to indicate which way is the east. As the Lightning Dragon walked about the ruined village, one of her weapons that she has on her portable rack accidentally knocks over a post with a black bandanna tied around the pole's upper half.
"Whoops, sorry," she apologized as she set it back up, "avoid attracting bad luck-"
As she touched the stick, her nose twitched. A particular scent tickled her nose, something that smelled sweet and minty. A trace of Ulster's lost forests and the wind that travels still to this day.
"... No, fucking, way," Zio then realized what she'd just smelled, and finds that same minty smell coming from the further east. "A Fae's still alive. Maybe she knows where those two are!"
She then begins to sniff out the Fae's trail. Clearly, if it had made a stop here of all places, then it would lead towards somewhere. As for what's she's going to do upon catching up... maybe a railgun-enforced persuasion would do the trick.
Southern Jungles, Heart Kingdom, Afternoon
Ravana, Kumbhakarna, and the remnant swarm all attack the party at once. The party in turn do their utmost best to fend them off. However, unlike their very first encounter with the Thanatophages, their collective experience of fighting these creatures were starting to pay off.
The enemy may be more varied in how many ways they can inflict death, but in broader scope of things, their behavior was painfully simple. All they did was attack, and while on paper, their overwhelming numbers were something to fear, but corralling and stemming their flow of numbers with concentration of fire at their weakest links and slowing down their overall speed, then there was nothing to fear about these drones other then their lack of intelligence.
"Whoever was the one who culled their numbers, thank you," Gauche spoke to himself as he casted more [Reflect Refrain] spells at the bugs flying their way. "It's now easier to deal with these bugs since there are less of them."
"No kidding!" Finral commented as he kept opening his [Fallen's Gate] spells for the bugs to fly directly into Willy's [Flash Bog] moat. "Still annoying, but that's par for the course."
"Our focus is on protecting the Capture Team!" Leopold pointed out as he shot another barrage of [Spiral Flames] from his hands, roasting another swarm in the process. "No matter what, don't let a single one through!"
"Indeed," En agreed as [Mr. Towering Mushroom] that he's standing on crushed more bugs underfoot. "Their trust must be repaid."
"Hear that, Willy?" said Nix as he threw another [Flame Spike] flail towards the enemy. "We're right now gonna be heroes!"
"Let's make our Captain proud!" the [Mud Magic] user nodded as he then erected a wave of mud from his [Flash Bog] to drown out the next swarm.
"... Right!" Henry agreed as he then used his [Rearrangement Magic] to toss entire landmasses and uprooted trees at the Thanatophages as the rest of the Defense Team held the line between the enemy and the Capture Team.
Meanwhile the Attack Team, even with a numerical advantage, was still finding it hard to actually slay Kumbhakarna due to his speed, durability, and his bizarre anatomy that made it more akin to fighting a combination of a cut snake and an entire armored convoy with teeth and blades rather than a regular three-section-bodied insect.
"Fucking shit!" Jack cursed as more of his blades bounced off of the Demon's jet black slithering carapace. "My blades are fucking chipping!"
"My punches aren't doing shit to it either!" Meroleona then threw another [Calidus Brachium] punch at the Demon's side to knock it over its back, only for its long body to stabilize itself back up straight. "It ain't burning nor is it staying down!"
"It's throwing snowballs at Avalon's walls," grimaced Mosin as her [Glephnir] threads tried to slow down the Demon's skittering, only for it to use the remainder of its free legs to wrestle away her control over itself.
"Your frustration speaks the truth," said the millipede Demon as it then swung down its machete blades before whipping around its thousand-legged body around itself, "the biometric data collected from Ganesha, Kali, Durga and Asura are the basis for my overall composition. I am the improved model of the Commanders that each of you faced months prior. If you assume that your antiquated ways of overcoming my inferior predecessors are going to work, then your brains are proven useless at creative thinking."
"You can just say you were made to be a pain in the ass just for us!" Jack commented before he threw his [Death Scythe] at the Demon, only for it to coil itself around to block the attack with its carapace.
"Even then, you're still just another bug that needs to be squashed," Meroleona growled as Kumbhakarna slithered around them, its thousand legs twitching all over. "Hey, I got an idea."
"Speak," said Mosin.
"If the thing's armored, then it's gotta be soft in the joints," the lioness pointed out. "Completely solid armor doesn't allow movement. Ever had crab legs?"
"No, but your logic is sound," answered the High Inquisitor. "... Which part goes first?"
"Normally, I'd say the head, but then we have to deal with the rest of the body when doing so," she pointed out. "... Gonna have to find the middle. I think 50/50ing it will cause it to strain itself."
"One way to find out," said the High-Inquisitor as she then whipped out her [Glephnir] threads towards the serpentine Demon.
"It is useless," said Kumbhakarna as it parried the wires with its blades, "I have no weaknesses."
"Correction," said Meroleona as she appeared to have landed on top of the Demon's head. "You just don't know that you have one."
As anticipated, the Demon then began chasing down the Crimson Lion King's lioness as she ran across the Demon's own body, its head end chasing after her by craning itself toward the direction that she ran.
Jack then noticed that the Demon's other half craned towards where Meroleona was running towards, and figured out what she was planning. Huh, clever bitch.
Eventually, the Demon began to close itself around into a circle, with the fiery Vice-Captain in the middle. "You have nowhere to run."
"Wasn't planning to," she smirked.
As soon as the Demon tried to comprehend what she was saying, it suddenly found its rearmost legs being tied with its foremost legs and mandibles.
"I got it hogtied!" Mosin remarked as she white-knuckled to keep the Demon bound in a circle. "HURRY! I CAN'T HOLD FOR LONG!"
"Allow me!" Jack came running as his [Death Scythe] was dragged deep across the earth behind him. "Hey kitten! Get out of the way unless you wanna get neutered!"
Seeing what he was about to do and judging that it was more efficient, Meroleona then bows out, allowing the Ripper himself to do his work.
"[Severing Magic]!" Jack declared as his singular [Death Scythe] burst out of the ground during its ascension, its edge being finer and longer than his usual fare, "[Death Scythe - Median Divider]!"
The long blade then cuts through the exposed soft tissue between Kumbhakarna's carapace platings, out of its arched back and through the wires that bound its fore and hind legs together.
The Demon was then cut in half, it frontal half still alive, albeit in severe agony, flailing around with its tail stump gushing out lime-green blood, while its cut-off tail flopped around on its own for a few moments before going dead still.
"So what did you say about our brains being useless at critical thinking?" taunted Meroleona. "Guess we found a weakness that even you weren't aware of. Your head's up your own ass."
"Thank you," Mosin spoke to Jack.
"Don't mention it," he replied before the cut Demon lets out a shrill shriek as it then got back up with its remaining five-hundred legs.
"I WILL DEVOUR YOU ALL! BONES INCLUDED!"
Unimpressed, Meroleona casually picks her nose with her left pinkie finger before flicking the booger at the Demon's face. "Haven't heard of that one before, buddy."
The Demon shrieks madly as it continues to defy against the Attack Team.
At where the Capture Team situated at, Yami, Scheherazade and Fuegoleon tried to whittle down Ravana up close while Magna and Vanessa tried to slow it down with their own spells.
"Insufficient," boasted Ravana as its swords parried [Samson]'s blows not by overpowering them, but by redirecting them with the flat of its bastard swords, "from these past months, I have learned of how you lot fight, and requested my mutations to specifically be tailored to counteract all of you."
"What is this, midterms?" Yami raised an eyebrow.
"Come to think of it, its carapace and fighting style are familiar..." Fuegoleon observed before dodging another downward swing.
"It's derivative, I'll tell you what," growled Scheherazade as she ordered [Solomon] to chuck orbs of fire and ice at the Demon and [Sheba] to run circles around it to confuse it.
Ravana deflects the projectiles with its blades and catches the running cat creature by her tail with one of its sub-arms around its waist.
"Not a derivative," says the Demon throwing [Sheba] at the charging [Samson], "a version upgrade."
"Oh yeah, then why don't you use your magic then?!" taunted Yami.
"I have no need to," it answered. "I can kill you all with just my bare hands and swords. And I was bred with that in mind. Simplicity."
"Well then, mister tough-guy..." grinned Yami as his own [Dark Magic] flared up, "... be my punching bag for a few moments. Because I'm about to break my own limits."
"The only thing that shall break is you," Ravana then zeroes in towards Yami as the two then swung their swords against each other, "humans have proven themselves to be fragile creatures. No carapaces, no exoskeletons, no antennae. Just meat and eyes and skin wrapped around your bones. How did your species survive for this long?"
"The answer don't lie in how strong we currently are, bud," Yami grinned as Fuegoleon blasted a massive fire lion projectile from his artificial left hand, hitting Ravana directly in the face and stunning the Demon for a few moments.
"It is that we don't get complacent with our own strengths!" Fuegoleon answered by firing a [Sol Linea] from his other hand's fingertip, the beam of light striking the Demon's throat to crush its vocal cords, causing it reel back even more. "Your armor, like your predecessor's own, only shows how weak you are!"
Within those few moments, [Samson] claps both of the Demon's ears with his mitts, [Sheba] pokes out its compound eyes with her claws, and [Solomon] freezes its arms and legs solid. Magna, Vanessa and Yami all then bind the Demon with their respective magics, tying up the Demon's six limb and body into a tortoise-shell knot formation.
"Capture Team is clear!" Fuegoleon cried out. "Finral! You're up!"
"One express delivery, coming right up!" he declared as he shot a bolt of [Spatial Magic] towards the bound and blinded Demon. "[Spatial Magic: Fallen's Flapping]!"
The green bolt of [Spatial Magic] makes contact with the Demon, teleporting it away back to where the [Alf-Layla-wa-Layla] was stationed at.
"Mr. Finral!" spoke Scheherazade, "send me there too! I must be there to extract Charmy and activate the spell with the Queen!"
"Right!" he then opened a [Fallen's Gate] leading back to the Queen's chambers. "Ladies get first-class."
"Thank you," she then walked through with the gate with the [Three Enigmas] following her before the portal closed.
"Alright, Finral," Yami stated as he and the rest of the Capture Team joined up with the Defense Team. "Be ready to pull us out as soon as the Queen gives her word! Gotta be sure to see the spell in action!"
"And if we get caught in it?" he asked back as he swung down his bludgeon on the downed Thanatophage's head.
"Then we curse the shit out of her in the afterlife!" grinned Yami as he cut down another cockroach Demon with his kodachi.
At [Alf-Layla-wa-Layla]'s Launch Site...
The bound Demon suddenly appears from atop the magic arrays as it fell towards the lake.
Before it can squish Charmy underneath, Scheherazade then jumps towards where the little Black Bull Magic Knight was sleeping at, snatching her from her place of slumber and rolling out of the giant Demon's way.
"Lolopechka!" Scheherazade cried out as she swam back to shore. "I made it!"
"Good," she then took Charmy from the envoy's hands before looking at the captured Demon. "Looks alive enough for me."
"Then let's begin," said the envoy as she then unfurled her fable to its absolute length. "This time, I do it right!"
First, both the Queen and the envoy sever the spell's link from Charmy's mind and transfer it towards the Demon's own.
"Huh?" Charmy woke up to the sounds of crackling sparks and flashing lights. "What happened? Where's all the food?"
Second, the two then synchronize the Demon's brainwaves with the spell's structure. With one Commander Thanatophage being used as a basis to target all available other drones of similar wavelengths within the whole country.
"And finally, the mana!" Lolopechka declared as she then began pouring her own magic into the array set.
"Don't forget about me!" said Undine as she poured her own mana into the array set.
"What's going on here?" asked Charmy. "And why are those cats walking on their hind legs?"
"Miss Charmy, the mess hall is just outside," she directed the glutton elsewhere, "the cats will guide you there."
"Mm, okay," she shrugged as the [Three Enigmas] held her hand out of the room.
"Now then..." Scheherazade then began her chanting in her Dama tongue for her spell's invocation. "(The story begins on the first night, a fight to survive to the dawn of salvation. The story reaches its threshold when content and peace are disturbed, so that heroes are risen from the flames of chaos! The story falls to its descent as tribulations threaten to break the chosen one's very soul! The climax of the story occurs as the broken soul is reformed from the black of oblivion with newfound resolve! The story ends with the hero gaining wisdom from the depths of horror and anarchy, with a vow to bring peace unto the world as the new dawn)!"
The tales written from the scroll's sheets then all glow to life, several characters, monsters and villains alike manifesting themselves around the array, becoming a part of it.
"(Ignorant ones who have yet to begun their journey)..." spoke Scheherazade as the spell's activation reached its crescendo, "... (it is time! Your call to be humbled has now arrived)!"
"This is for the land me and my foremothers have protected!" declared Lolopechka, "I won't hand it over to some oversized fruit fly of a Demon!"
"If you wish to feed, then heed our final warning!" spoke Undine, "pay up for every single life you have taken up to this point! This is not a negotiable deal! YOU HAVE SIGNED YOUR DEATH WARRANT FROM YOUR EXISTENCE ALONE!"
The Commander's synchronized brainwaves then link to every single Thanatophage stationed around Heart Kingdom.
"[ULTIMATE COMPOUND SEALING MAGIC]!" the three spoke in unison, activating their trump card. "[ALF-LAYLA-WA-LAYLA]!"
A beam of light then shoots up towards the sky, its shine breaking apart upon hitting the blue above, forming an aurora-like glow that stretched themselves across the very heavens.
As the bugs outside, within or outside of their hives, all of them saw the light and felt its warm radiance. With that, all of them began to feel tired. Tired enough to start closing every last of their compound eyes and for the first time in their lives since they were mere grubs, fell into deep sleep.
Upon seeing the Commander inside the spell's array now fast asleep, [Alf-Layla-wa-Layla] has proven itself to be a success. Lolopechka then sees through one of her looking lenses made of water, and sees that the hives around the other jungles have now ceased all activity.
"It worked!" she exclaimed in joy. "The spell worked!"
"What about the others?" asked Scheherazade.
The Queen then reaches out to all of the Captains whom she'd given the ear pieces to. "This is control. What's your status?"
"Control, this Yami Sukehiro, and all of the bugs suddenly just dropped dead," he answered from the other side. "Think the spell worked."
"GOD-FUCKING DAMMIT!" Jack's voice screeched from the other side. "I COULD'VE HAD HIM WITHOUT YOUR HELP!"
"He means to say 'thank you," Fuegoleon answered. "Shall we now press the offensive?"
"Negative, pull back," ordered the Queen. "If we overstretch at this juncture, you'll be easy pickings for Caligula."
"Right, and if he's smarter than the Commander-type drones, then he's bound to notice that something's up," Finral pointed out. "We're coming back home now."
"Copy," she answered back as she saw the [Fallen's Gate] opened inside her chambers. "Extraction confirmed."
Rotten Elysia, Neutral Territory, Evening
"... It's quiet," said Caligula, "and it's not because we're out of things to kill."
Upon stepping outside of his private lab, he noticed that every single one of his Mole Cricket drones were now sleeping on their jobs. First he tried to wake them up with his buzzing. Then by shaking their bodies awake. Then emitting his pheromones around the place to rouse them from their slumbers. And finally, when all failed, he kicked one of them across the room, hitting Dryad in her face.
"FUUUUUCK!" cursed the Fly Demon, to which the nature spirit snickers at his plight. "What are you laughin' at?!"
"I'm sorry, but how does it feel to be in my shoes?" she taunted.
Caligula, losing his temper, flies up to the nature spirit's face before stuffing her mouth with a ball of webs that stuck between her teeth before taping her lips shut with more spiderwebs.
"Shut, up. Shut up. SHUT UUUUUUP!" he snarled, foaming acid from his mouth from pure rage, the latter of which being held back as much as possible to not murder her, since he still needs her as bait. "... Just need a few moments of quiet in order to think properly."
But before he could collect himself, serval alarms rung from his room. The fly Demon, realizing that his work was now complete, lets go of his rage and gives himself into pure bliss.
"... Fine," he then shot back a sneer at the now-horrified nature spirit. "Two can play that game."
He then flies back to his quarters and opens his way back into his lab, where inside, the pods containing his six of his greatest creations.
"Alright, papa's gonna eat good tonight!" he salivated as the one of the containers began to hinge open. However, upon one of the doors glitching back and forth, jerking around and preventing it from being completely open, the fly Demon lets out a sigh. "... Screw that."
Caligula cuts the middle man and just kicks the door off of its hinges, allowing the humanoid to come out of his encasement. Upon the first one fully awake, Caligula begins to belt out a maniacal laughter as the rest of the pods opened up.
Soon enough, there were now six humanoids with various body types standing before him. "Welcome to the world, my DEVAs."
The six looked at each other in confusion.
"... It stands for 'Demonic Evolutionary Variant Apostles,' you morons," growled the leader. "Anyhoo, all six of you have been made of a composite vessel of human and elf meats, bones, shell and other carbon-based functions are based off yours truly, and each of your primary magic attributes are from the elves I killed and enhanced with a Dragon's residual mana. Why that dead fuck still hasn't burned off all of its juice, I'll never know, but I sure as hell am not complaining, since you all have a Dragon's [Primal-] prefix in your spells. Make good use of them to make me proud!"
The fly Demon then opens the covers leading outside. As the six stepped out, the protection granted to them by the Dragon's mana nullified the aurora's drowsing properties.
"Alright boys! Fly!" he ordered the six DEVAs to fly towards the enemy and wreck havoc.
However, upon seeing them fly west rather than towards southeast (where the settlement of the Heart Kingdom is located), Caligula flies up to stop them in their tracks.
"Uh, guys?" he remarked as he gestured his arms towards the opposite direction of where they were flying. "Heart Kingdom, is that way!"
The six then immediately course correct and begin flying towards the right direction.
"The game's not over just yet!" grinned Caligula as the six flew towards the Heart Kingdom's settlement, "time for Round 2, bitches!"
To Be Continued...
Author's Notes: War is now coming.
So, this chapter is a bit of a wrap-up and I will cover the war itself in a separate arc. Just to avoid the pacing issues I had for my previous "Screaming for Vengeance" arc that took way longer than it should, and in hindsight, I should've separated it into two different arcs. Only reason why I didn't is that I couldn't come up with a name for the arc, and I'm saving Franz Ferdinand's "This Fire" song name for later.
More context on Dama's own magic system is revealed, and they treat their magic akin to familiars stored in their own "fables" rather than as tools. While powerful, they obviously run the risk of rampaging on their own if user isn't disciplined enough. Because in Dama, the grimoires don't choose you. Rather, "you" choose the grimoire, which has a 50% chance average of killing you, hence why their interest in their own arcane arts are so tepid and slightly backwater. I based it off the myth of the djinn of Middle Eastern folklore, only they don't have to listen to you.
That itself puts Scheherazade's power scale in a different light. She's a bit of a case of "normal fish in a tiny pond"-trope. At Dama, she's their own equivalent of a Wizard King. Within the borders of the mainland continent (name still pending, pls help me figure out what name for the continent fits within Black Clover's "playing card motif"), she's an above average caster & summoner at best, or like Noelle pre-character development at her worst. Still, even Dama's got some merits within their own system, and can work with the mainland's own spell system as proven with [Alf-Layla-wa-Layla] and its mass hypnosis properties.
And yes, Duhat/Dune has a fable on his possession, but he rather not use it for undisclosed reasons.
Anyway, in-between the mad scramble to activate the super-spell, Zio is looking for the Mitsurugi twins, and like Erza, she's not dumb, but at her worst, tends to jump to conclusions (like putting Natsu inside a carriage despite him having motion sickness during the Zentopia anime-original arc) and is a bit of a diva in her own right. Doesn't help that she's packing more heat than the entire U.S. Military, and is inclined to find an excuse to use them. And also, Angra is now friends/lab rat in the hands of Sally because the latter wants to tinker with former's [Hellfire Magic]. And Rades is just being a total mood all the while.
So, the battle was more or less a defensive one, and they didn't have to kill their foes, since they needed to capture one alive. In a way, this restriction helped the expedition group, since all of the upgrades that Ravana and Kumbhakarna inherited from their predecessors really didn't matter much when their brains shut down all at once in the end. It also to serve the point of those two being proxies of Caligula's beliefs. They believe to be better because they were born strong, that means that they believe that they're stronger than everyone else. Especially humans. However, as Fuegoleon points out, humans are survivors and that they are never complacent in their own strengths. This ties back to his words "Being weak is okay. Staying weak isn't." The only way for the Thanatophages can "grow" is to die and have the next ones inherit the lessons learned. While at the same time, learning absolutely nothing.
The DEVAs will make their proper debut in the next arc, and the twins are coming for Yami's head. See you all then.
References:
- Ravana and Kumbhakarna are named after the two Demon King/Rakshasa Brothers of Hindu Mythology, and design-wise, both are based off the Megacolony units, [Martial Arts Mutant, Master Beetle] and [Stealth Millipede] respectively from Cardfight! Vanguard.
- Gauche's new spell, [Death Glare] is based off Archimedes's rumored weapon of using mirrors to gather up the sun's rays to set Roman ships (and/or their sails) on fire.
- Meroleona's nose-picking game from Gintoki's own (occasional) habit from Gintama.
- Caligula's f-bomb was from Vox Machina, specifically General Krieg's own f-bomb in Episode 1: "The Terror of Tal'Dorei - Part 1". Also his act of kicking off the door's hinges from a pod-like device is a reference to Android 18 doing the same to Android 16's pod in DBZA Episode 39, "Blood, Sweat and Gears".
- The six DEVAs flying off the wrong way before course-correcting is a reference to how in the Disney movie Hercules, upon Hades waking up the Titans, he had to physically point them towards Mount Olympus.
Hypothetical Voice Actors:
- Ravana: Kenji Nojima (JPN), Jeff Bennett (ENG)
- Kumbhakarna: Atsushi Abe (JPN), A.J. Beckles (ENG)
And as usual, please leave a comment or a review, for I'd love to know what my readers think!