Disclaimer: Black Clover is owned by Yūki Tabata, Studio Pierrot, and Shonen Jump.

Saga 25: Forest Part 1

Unknown Forest, Spade Kingdom, Morning

Ogmios, Brigid, and Corrin all find themselves separated from the others upon waking up in this forest with trees fit for giants. The canopy above was so thick and numerous that only a few sprinkles of sunlight were able to shine through from the gaps between the intertwining leaves shrouding the skies over their heads.

Corrin tried to look through the surrounding grove, only for her to see nothing but trees and their tower-sized trunks until her eyes could perceive nothing but darkness from further onwards. She tried to sense the others' mana signatures, but all she can discern were that of the present three that included herself.

"Shit, it's just us nearby," Corrin gritted her teeth as she looked down at the ground, finding it completely immaculate save for a few blades of grass and fallen leaves. "We're separated for real."

"Even more bizarre, this forest is anything but natural," Ogmios pointed out as he made mental notes of the differing leaves and bark patterns on each trees. "... Seriously, this forest might as well be the only natural environment where temperate, evergreen, and tropical trees all sprout out all at once."

Brigid then knelt down and places her hand onto the ground to feel the area's mana to get a feel for where they are. "... Nothing," she growled. "It's all static for miles."

All three of them stew about until Corrin chose to break the silence. "... Can't afford to stay in one place forever," she pointed out. "Come on. The others might be looking for us, so might as well try something else rather than do nothing."

Both Ogmios and Brigid share a nod. "Alright," the [Memory Magic] user remarked. "Lead the way."

Corrin nods as she then takes out a nail before applying her own [Magnet Magic] onto it, causing it to float over her palm akin to a freefloating compass needle. "It's nowhere near as precise as Letoile's [Compass Magic], but better a shoddy navigation than going in completely blind."

"Look at you, taking initiative," Brigid commented before letting out a whistle. "The witness of Angolmois must've awakened something within you."

"I need a light," Corrin requested without stating the obvious. The artificial magic spirit complies, lighting a small fireball in her hand before letting it float freely like a midair lantern.

Ogmios then touches Corrin's head to synchronize his own mind with Corrin's own with his [Memory Magic]. "Just in case we end up walking in circles," he pointed out. "This place is already a huge enigma as it already is. I'd rather avoid further trouble if possible."

"Thank you," Corrin nodded as Ogmios then synchronized his mind with Brigid's.

"Guess that makes me the sonar gal," shrugged Brigid as then expanded her mind to sense their surrounding mana signatures within a 100 feet radius. "Plugged in?"

Ogmios gives her a thumbs up.

"Alright," Corrin then aligns her magnetized nail locked to point northward. "We'll cover west first. The others might've been separated en route."

The three then traverse into the dark depths of this unknown forest. Throughout their trudge through the bumpy road of roots tall as barrels and maneuvering around fallen fruits the size of boulders, they kept walking westwards in hopes of finding some traces of where the others were.

"... Can't sense shit," Ogmios commented as he looked into Brigid's mind. "No like seriously, there's only the three of us floating in the huge sea of nothing."

"We've only been walking for like five minutes," Corrin pointed out. "Just be patient. We'll find someone soon-"

"No, he has a point," Brigid cut in. "I raised my mana sensitivity to maximum output. At this rate, I should be able to even pick up insects and their atomic-scaled mana signatures with my mental sonar."

"... Meaning?" the [Magnet Magic] user gulped as she felt a pit form in her stomach.

Ogmios then glances to his side and above, only to see and hear nothing but them and their voices. "... Forests should normally be crawling with wildlife."

Suddenly, Brigid's sonar then suddenly finds a thousand signals all surrounding them in an instant, as if all of them were hiding from her sight and popping up like daises. "SPOKE TOO SOON, OGMIOS!"

The trees around them began sprouting arms around their trunks and roots, trying to grab them with their gnarled digits that could look to rip them apart. All three of them try their best trying not get separated, with Brigid using her [Anima Magic] to fuse [Wind] and [Water] to emit a storm of icy vapors that froze all plant matter solid through its cold wave.

"Knowing better, this should only hold them for a little while," Brigid remarked as she sensed more signals heading towards them way. "CORRIN! NINE O'CLOCK!"

She looks to her left to spot a giant tree monster coming towards her, its appearance looking akin to a simian-palm tree hybrid as it then threw a banana the size of a regular-sized tree at her. Corrin then counters by throwing her nails from her pockets into the fruit, piercing its skin and flesh with the nails before assuming control over its trajectory and throwing it back at it.

The tree monster is then crushed underneath its own weapon right before the fruit was mashed into a sweet-smelling mush, something that didn't pass by Corrin's nose as her mouth slightly watered as the sweet-tart scent. "... Wonder if we can eat that."

"Food later, fight now!" Ogmios remarked as he used his pendulum Relic as an impromptu rope dart to stake another tree monster's arm before ripping it out of its body and swinging it back into its eye. "Dammit, it's one thing when I fight flesh and blood folk, but these tree fucks are literally brainless!"

"Just keep us updated!" Brigid then unleashed another cold wave towards one direction before sweeping it across to catch more tree monsters and tree arms coming towards them. "There's no end to them, aren't they?"

"Might explain why this place is wholly devoid of life, present company excluded!" Corrin commented as she threw more nails into other tree monsters before magnetizing them through her nails and swinging them all around themselves to form a buffer zone between them and the endless horde surrounding them. "We need to break through their lines if want to proceed!"

"Just keep up the storm of shrapnel around us!" Brigid ordered as she then began charging her own power with the surrounding mana. "I'll cook up something extra-spicy for this occasion!"

"Look out!" Ogmios quickly then used his Relic's thread to weave itself around the surrounding trunks to form a net over Corrin's head, blocking a giant chestnut from mulching her from above.

"CHESTNUTS TOO?!" Corrin barked as she then snagged one more tree monster with her nails and added it into her storm pile. "FOR FUCK'S SAKE! IT'S NOT EVEN THE RIGHT SEASON!"

"GIANT APPLE! ELEVEN O'CLOCK!" Ogmios cried out as he then threw the giant chestnut into the hurled fruit, causing said fruit to break apart into chunks, once of which landed near Ogmios' leg. With no one else looking, he samples a piece of it and finding himself liking the tart taste. "... Damn, it tastes like sex inside my mouth."

"Alright, just a little more-!" Brigid then senses an abnormal buildup of mana from where the chestnut had landed. "EVERYONE! HIT THE DECK!"

All three of them jump onto their bellies and lay down on the ground as flat as they could as the chestnut's burrs then explode into a storm of needles the size of swords, all of them shredding through a segment of the tree monsters and wooden hands into a cloud of splinters.

"... Seriously, that was overkill," grumbled Corrin as she found her defensive layers now full of holes and riddled with needles in places where they were still solid. "Like if it wasn't already big enough to mash me like a potato!"

"Might be rich coming from someone who lives in Ulster, but..." Brigid commented as she stood up while helping up Ogmios, "... I concur. Anyway, spell's done."

The [Memory Magic] user then sees the destroyed tree monsters grow back their missing parts on their own as they resumed their prior advance. "AND NOT A MOMENT TOO SOON!"

"WHENEVER YOU'RE READY!" Corrin called out as she prepared more of her nails.

Brigid then flashes a smirk as she then unleashed the buildup of her own mana with a snap of a finger. "[Anima Magic: Absolute Zero]."

Their surroundings then began to freeze over in a layer of pure-white frost, killing the tree monsters' regeneration processes where they stood. Wasting no time, the three then make a run towards further east, with the layer of frost breaking through with fresh new tree monsters following after them persistently.

"To be fair, it was only meant to be a temporary measure," commented Brigid as she floated next to Ogmios and Corrin. "But to treat a spell where I actually had to try as if it were a mere inconvenience... is rather concerning."

"YOU THINK?!" Corrin replied, mentally noting that Brigid's "basic" spells rivaled or surpassed William's in sheer power and killing potential.

"Fighting them is a fruitless endeavor," Ogmios commented before dodging a thrown pinecone a size of a barrel thrown at him. "Pun unintended!"

Corrin then flip-jumps over herself before when facing the hoard of tree monsters stampeding towards them from behind while upside-down, she takes her compass nail and positions it between her fingers before applying more [Magnet Magic] behind it. "[Magnet Magic: Psychic Railgun]!"

A common nail normally used in carpentry and DIY project fired at a force of a thousand punches from a seasoned pit fighter tore through the tree monsters in a straight line. However, one of the monster that only lost a two-thirds of its midsection rather than its entirety then grabbed one of the upper halves of the torn tree monster before throwing it towards where Corrin was suspended at.

Corrin was then tackled out of the air by the half-monster as it then bit into her shoulder with its jagged bark fangs and it then rolled itself over Corrin like a predator animal pouncing upon its prey.

"CORRIN!" Ogmios cried out.

"IT'S TOO LATE!" Brigid rebuked.

But just as the monster can sink its fangs further into her flesh and bone, the monster was then torn off of Corrin before it was then impaled through with a silvery blade through its temple.

"... Captain Nozel?" she remarked, only for her to notice a tall constable's hat propped on her rescuer's head.

"Close, but no cigar," spoke a professional-toned voice. "Roland, take care of the rest while I get them situated, would you?"

"LET ME AT EM!" cackled a rambunctious voice as a wild-looking and nude man armed with an ornately gilded broadsword leapt down from high above and slammed his blade into the earth, scattering the monsters about into the air before twirling his sword over his head like a set of windmill blades, grinding them down into more splinters that rained from the sky. "THIS IS TOO EASY! ALL YOU HAVE BEHIND YOU ARE YOUR NUMBERS! SEND MILLIONS AFTER ME! I'LL SELL YOUR REMAINS AS BARBECUE SMOKING CHIPS!"

"Oh brilliant," Brigid groaned in consternation as she recognized the loud one's voice. "Of course he of all people are one of the presumably-many that are currently lost in here. What business does Libratium's Paladins have here?"

"Kinda hard to ignore a forest size of an entire mountain range suddenly pops up in the middle of Ulster," commented Rinaldo as his [Mercury Magic] blade from his Relic, [Froberge] cut through the freshly-sprouting hordes of differing tree monsters. "Investigation aside, our matter of genuine concern is that not only the appearance of the forest was too sudden, but the fact that it's expanding."

"Wait, expanding?!" Ogmios pointed out as Brigid began healing Corrin's maimed shoulder.

"Great, more problems right out of the gate," grumbled Brigid as her spell closed up Corrin's wounds. "... And I'm assuming that you two deliberately walked into the woods willy-nilly?"

"AND IT'S KICK-ASS!" cackled Roland as he then threw his [Durandal] into the air before suplexing one of the tree monsters from behind, pinning the monster long enough for the sword to land into the monster blade-first. "FREE MONSTERS, FREE EXPERIENCE, AND FREE FOOD! THIS PLACE IS PRACTICALLY WARRIOR HEAVEN!"

Corrin, upon her wounds being fully healed, bursts her back straight up upon hearing what the nude Paladin had claimed. "ALL THREE OF THOSE TRIED TO KILL US THE LAST FIVE MINUTES!"

"Well, didn't kill you yet, didn't it?" Roland pointed out as he punched another tree monster across the air before leaping towards it and staking his sword into it, cratering his surroundings upon landing. "You're still alive and well! Be proud of it and show off! That's the privilege of being in battle! It's not the skill or the strength of the combatant that matters! It's what you can do even at your lowest that matters!"

Rinaldo lashes his [Mercury Magic] blade out to intercept another tree monster leaping down from above. "What he's saying is, please contribute," he stated. "That is, if your wounds are healed."

Corrin gets up before taking out her nails. "... Right, sorry about that," she stated as she then threw the nails into the ground until they burrowed deep into the ground. "Kinda went back to my prior funk after... almost dying like that."

"Eh, once bitten, twice shy. Quite literally," shrugged Ogmios as he sent his pendulum zigzagging around the air, piercing through several tree monsters before the pointed weight staked itself into a side of a tree trunk.

"You're still new to this, so don't blame yourself," Brigid remarked as she then ran her [Anima Magic]-produced [Lightning] into Ogmios' wire, frying the tagged monsters all at once in a cavalcade of sparks. "By the way, are you done searching for what you desire?"

Corrin's focus then detected all of her nails hitting their intended mark. "Got em," she then belts out a yell as she then lifted her arms to pull out her burrowed nails, uprooting a clusters of rocks from beneath. "Ogmios said that this forest is unnatural even for Ulster's standards, so I figured that a few boulders would've been planted over. Thank Sephira that my hunch was right!"

"I see," Rinaldo nods before transforming his Relic's blade into that of a simple rapier blade and planting it into the ground. "I'll give you an opening!"

Below where the tree monsters stampeded, a thicket of silver blades then erupt out of the dirt, impaling all of them into a bramble of amorphous [Mercury Magic] blades of differing makes.

"[Mercury Binding Magic: Anaconda Nest]," declared the Paladin as the tree monsters writhed helplessly. "Mademoiselle, if you may."

"EVERYONE GET BACK!" Corrin declared as the rocks around her began to orbit around her, revolving faster and faster until reaching a speed akin to that of a storm's gale. Within her satellites, Corrin then throws one more nail across the writhing horde, anchoring herself from a discernible "Point A" to "Point B."

With her [Magnet Magic], she then propels herself and her satellites towards her "Point B", which the trapped tree monsters were then shredded into pieces and being added into the storm of her own making.

"MAGNETISM IS ALL ABOUT CONNECTING POINT A TO POINT B!" Corrin declared. "THERE'S NO STOPPING ME ONCE I SEE A WAY THROUGH! I'LL TRAMPLE OVER ALL THOSE THAT GET IN MY WAY!"

Her gathered satellites are now the size of small houses and are now rotating around her in speeds that leave all of them as a blur, now being fast enough to shave through the thick bark of the tower-sized trees surrounding them. "[MAGNET CREATION MAGIC: RAMPAGE DRESS]!"

Corrin then finally reaches her designated "Point B," leaving behind a trailed of upheaved earth and mulched tree monsters in her wake.

"Way to go!" Roland cheered. "Took care of them [Treants] no sweat!"

"... Wait, [Treants]?" Corrin remarked. "What are those?"

Rinaldo and Brigid then sense outside mana signatures heading their way. "We'll talk later," he remarked. "For now, we need to retreat!"

"Head 23 degrees southwest!" Brigid pointed out. "I see a dead zone of mana pocketed between the trees!"

Corrin then automatically collected her nails from her staked satellites with her [Magnet Magic]. "I'll lead the way."

The now-group of five now then make their hasty retreat from the battlefield, not noticing that the scarred earth that they've left behind was quickly patched over with an additional layer of overgrowth.

As the five ran, Corrin, Ogmios, and Brigid subconsciously took notice of their surroundings' utterly-bizarre spectacle. Again, the more they continued to look into the forest, the more unnatural it felt. Devoid of life (sans themselves and other/probable survivors) but also littered to the brim with numerous tree and plant monsters that are out there to kill them on sight (giant produce included; big enough to end all possible future famines). It was both quiet as a cemetery but loud as a battlefield at a drop of a hat, the inconsistency not helped by the sheer scope of the forest that they found themselves in.

If anything, there could be other, deadlier battles happening somewhere else right now. "Could" and "somewhere else" being the key words, since either they might be already dead or taking place somewhere too far away from them. Their separation, upon hindsight, seemed more deliberate as they spent more time in here.

"I see the pocket!" Rinaldo pointed towards the room made between several trees' roots. "Take cover inside! Hurry!"

All five then cram themselves inside. Their mana was now completely obscured from the outside world.

"... Okay," sighed Brigid, "claustrophobic living space aside, I think we can all now finally breathe."

Everyone (sans Roland) all then heave out mutual sighs of relief.

"Okay... elephant in the room," Corrin then glanced at Roland before averting her eyes just as quickly, "why is he naked?"

"Nudist," Roland answered. "Clothes rip when you're in a profession like mine and armor is practically useless long-term when one can simply strengthen their muscles like armor."

"Believe it or not, he's not the only one walking about in his birthday suit in Libratium," Rinaldo pointed out.

"You're right," Corrin chirped. "I don't."

"My turn," Ogmios raised his hand. "When and how did you two end up here? You told us the cliff notes version, so tell us the rest of the missing info."

"We were sent to investigate this anomaly," Rinaldo explained before he faced Brigid. "And yes, I'm aware that Roland is banned from entering Ulster, but given the track record of you guys not enforcing any of your laws actively, you have no right to judge. Not only that, but I'm sure it was made clear that Roland is banned from Ulster specifically, and as far as we're concerned, assimilated territory held by outside third parties don't fall under your jurisdiction."

Brigid scoffs. "... Well played," she grumbled. "Still, how did you end up here? Don't tell me you literally just walked into this place willy-nilly?"

"We did," Roland confessed plainly as possible, to which Rinaldo hung his head in slight embarrassment for not stopping him (not that he could, both physically and psychologically).

"Coming from you, I believe it," deadpanned Ogmios.

"Okay, but that doesn't explain why this forest is riddled with monsters other than those [Treants]," Corrin pointed out. "Also, what are [Treants] besides 'murder-happy tree fucks' with one of whom that tried to eat me?"

Brigid sighs before explaining. "[Treants]... are weird, to say the least," she began to explain. "Out of all of the field of Wilderbeast Ecology, [Treants] fall under the unique category that is generously described as 'abnormal'."

"They don't reproduce sexually, they start out as small seeds that just happens to have been swept too far into the west from further east, and combined with a little exposure of mana of Ulster's whole 'Grand Magic Zone' status," Corrin's ears burned at Ogmio's mention of regular plant seeds from Clover Kingdom could turn into... the things that tried to chuck boulder-sized fruits at her and dug its splinter-like teeth into her shoulder, "... yeah, seeing a tree in Ulster usually means that it needs to be cut down ASAP or a stampede of [Treants] will ensue, and heavens forbid if it goes out of control. Like now."

"Still though, previous recorded incidents of [Treant] stampedes dating back centuries weren't usually this huge, growing only large as a hundred acres at worst," Rinaldo pointed out. "Our survey team prior to our dispatch sensed a signal blocking our comms to the Clover Kingdom after the formation of our alliance, and lo and behold."

"... Okay, but that doesn't explain why and how you two got ahead of us if that was the case," Corrin pointed out.

"I run fast," Roland remarked.

"Actually, the angling of the forest has already been spotted a few dozen miles away from Libratium's borders," Rinaldo clarified. "My estimates indicate that in less than a month, Ulster will cease to exist and will be replaced with this world's largest forest to have ever existed."

The trio then felt their throats lock up tighter than a hooker's corset. "... That sounds less of an ecological disaster and more of nature's wrath coming out full-boil."

"Speaking from personal experience?" Rinaldo raised an eyebrow towards Brigid.

You two have no freaking clue-, suddenly, a pair of screaming coming from children were heard from outside. "There's someone else out there!"

Ogmios then mentally groans at hearing those two familiar voices, something both which Corrin and Brigid took notice, on the account of the three of their minds being synchronized.

The five then emerge from their hiding hole to find two black-haired kids, one boy and one girl, both looking in their preteens appearance-wise, being cornered by a faceless, green-skinned maiden roughly the twice of that of a regular human, but her bottom half was that of a flower in full bloom with vine-like tendrils acting as her mode of transport, and through the sickeningly-sweet scene exuding from her body, a noxious smell of blood and rot could be picked up on.

"Of course it's those two idiot brats..." the [Memory Magic] user growled. "Come on. It'll leave a bad taste in my mouth if I just leave them to die."

Both Vanica and Zenon found their backs against the giant tree, cornered by this feminine-looking plant. "This freaking sucks!" Vancia cried out. "I know I wanted to die, but at least I wanted to die fighting!"

"Of course Dante had to take our grimoires too!" Zenon growled as his [Bone Magic] shiv was then knocked away from his hand by the plant lady's tendril, almost as if it were playing with its food. "It wasn't enough that he had to take our whole emergency bag..."

"What the hell is that thing?!" Corrin cried out as she prepared her nails before firing at the monster's tendrils, only for said tendrils to move fast enough to snatch them out of the air before spilling them before her sight. "Did it just fucking grab my nails out of the air?!"

"We got a rare one!" Ogmios remarked. "That thing's an [Alraune]! [Mandrakes] mature into these things when they linger for too long!"

"Normally, you don't find them outside of Dungeons, and even then, the chances finding it is roughly a 100,000 to 1," explained Brigid before letting out a sigh. "... It's official. This whole forest just now also took the title for the world's biggest Dungeon to have ever existed."

"FIRST BLOOD IS MINE!" Roland then leapt towards the plant woman's direction without hesitation. But just as he was about to bring his [Durandal] down, the [Alraune] grabs his ankle with one of her tendrils before tossing him elsewhere.

Upon landing, Roland finds himself grabbed from the ground by a literal thicket of arms. He is able to tear himself free from them, only for those arms to then reveal themselves to be another horde of [Treants] that now surrounded him from every possible direction.

"He'll be fine," Rinaldo commented as he drew his [Flamber] while morphing its mercurial blade into that of a pair of shears. "Unfortunately, he won't be able to help us."

"Here it comes!" Ogmios remarked as the [Alraune] then lunged towards them with her tendrils.

All four of them get out of the way of the thick vines lashing themselves against the ground before snaking them towards their directions. Corrin tries to fire another nail towards it with her [Psychic Railgun], only for her arms to be grabbed and lifted up into the air, causing her to misfire before being thrown up and smacked out of the air with said tentacle.

Brigid then formulates another spell with her [Anima Magic] as Ogmios and Rinaldo provide the artificial spirit cover with their spells. The plant woman then grabs both Zenon and Vancia when they tried to sneak off elsewhere, using them as human shields against their incoming attacks.

Rinaldo cedes his advance, but Ogmios simply wraps the wire of his pendulum around his fingers before punching Zenon and Vanica on purpose before synching their minds with his own to temporarily awaken their prior power.

Instinctively, both Zenon and Vancia uses their [Bone Magic: Eternal Fangs] and [Blood Magic: Red Beast] against their wills, subsequently damaging their bodies due to their immature bodies being unable to properly regulate their powerful spells like when they could during their physical prime, while [Alraune] itself was starting to show some visible damage from said attacks reaching her.

"... The hell just happened?!" Zenon remarked as he now found several bleeding holes the size of mouse holes all over his arms and back.

"It hurts so much..." Vanica weakly coughed out as she cried out tears of blood, "... so why doesn't it feel good?!"

The plant woman, noting that the maroon-haired one didn't care for the children's well-being, opted to began using them as bludgeons, swing them about towards her direction, with each missed swing smashing in their faces into the dirt while Ogmios kept using his [Memory Magic] on the two of them to remotely trigger their "muscle memories" of their prior bodies and experience, the deliberate mismatch with their current bodies damaging them more than the plant woman's usage of them as makeshift clubs.

"As much fun as I have torturing people I throughly despise..." sighed the [Memory Magic] user as he saw the Alraune being visibly exhausted with the two Zogratis kids both now each set one foot into their graves, "... no point of drawing this out any further."

An energy bow then forms around his wrist with his pendulum as his "arrowhead."

"Given your behavior, I assume you have some sapience, so let's find out," Ogmios commented as he then aimed his arrow at the [Alraune]'s head. "[Memory Magic: Hijack Intruder]."

The pendulum arrow is then loosed at the plant woman's head, but noticing that the spell isn't a physical threat but still carried a dangerous air about it, it then raises both Zogratis kids as barriers to block the arrow.

He smirks. "Knew you'd do that," Ogmios then establishes another mental channel between himself and the kids. Alright you brats, listen up, he spoke to them telepathically, normally, I'd turn the two of you into a magical bomb of blood and bone for the hell of it, but that would be in the [Alraune]'s expectations, so I'm opting for a more... unconventional approach.

The two kids then quizzically looked at each other while the Alraune continued observing what was happening, only for it to be interrupted by Corrin shooting her [Psychic Railgun] into her face, tearing off its face to reveal that its whole "face" was a mouth that opened up like a flower, the central pit exuding a stench akin to rotting garbage.

Rinaldo then tries to cut off its head with his shear-sword, but was then grabbed from behind before throwing him towards where Corrin was laid against, the shear-sword form of his [Froberge] nearly taking her head off.

"Sorry," the Paladin sheepishly apologized.

"It's cool, just put that thing away," she replied as Alraune then found its tentacles now cut off by none other than Zenon and Vancia.

The two Zogratis kids were then returned to their prime output, with Ogmios allowing them to achieve a "new balance" between their tender youthful bodies and their seasoned bloodlust of their prior selves. Don't get used to it, he telepathically stated to the two of them. This is only a temporary measure.

"Yeah yeah, whatever," Vancia smirked. "Girl's gotta work out when she needs to."

"I understand," Zenon nodded. "The enemy lies before us. Kill it."

The two then advance towards the plant woman as it regrew its cut tendrils before slamming them into their direction, drumming the ground madly while its smaller tendrils snaked from behind to snare the brats from behind. However, Corrin intercepts the vines from reaching any further by shooting her nails into them to pin them down long enough for Rinaldo to cut them down.

Both the Zogratis siblings then unleashed their spells, now "rebalanced" to accommodate their tiny bodies without suffering too much compromise to their killing output. Zenon's [Eternal Fangs] were now modified into [Eternal Fangs-Gravedigger] which, rather than using his own bones as base, instead created bones from the carbon from the ground, which, while not as strong as the bones of his original make, it made up for it with sheer numbers that was enough to slow down the [Alraune]'s own tendrils from snaking about the battlefield any further. Vanica's [Blood Beast] was modified into [Red Beast-Headhunter], using only about 50% of the amount of blood she needs for her [Red Beast] as basis, while trading bulk and power for speed and precision, also with none of the killing potential compromised. The blood snake was then able to bite down onto the plant woman's head, their fangs now interlocking with each other.

"Oh miss [Alraune]! We've only just met!" giggled the little psycho, seeing her [Red Beast-Headhunter] and the plant woman looking as if they were kissing each other extremely violently.

"What is wrong with them?" commented Corrin.

"Who? The two brats who clearly are marked for death or their jailer enabling them to fight?" replied Rinaldo before he looked back at Brigid. "Also, are you just about ready?"

"I need more time!" Brigid answered as she meticulously organized her elemental components of her upcoming [Anima Magic] spell. "Give me like... about two more minutes!"

The [Alraune] then rips out [Red Beast-Headhunter] from its face before swallowing it whole, absorbing both the iron and oxygen-rich nutrients from the blood composition and the spell's ambient mana to strengthen itself. With the boost in power, it then uproots its tendrils from Zenon's [Eternal Fangs-Gravedigger] before smashing all of them with its freed limbs into fine powder. From where the tendrils had struck, sprouts began to grow exponentially fast in part due to the crushed bones acting as fertilizers.

"... It just freed itself to make a garden?" Vancia commented. "I could do that during my off-days!"

"The smashed berries and shattered flowerpots beg to differ, sister," Zenon deadpanned before raising his voice in alarm upon sensing each sprout housing a dangerous amounts of concentrated mana. "Also, I don't think that's just a regular garden!"

The [Alraune] then uproots every single sprout with its tendrils and hands, revealing all of them to be [Mandrakes], now rudely awakened from their slumber as they began to scream all at once into a cacophonic mess.

"EVERYONE FIND COVER!" Ogmios ordered both over the ear-shattering sounds and telepathically. "THEY'RE ALL GONNA BLOW!"

With the proclamation given, the [Alraune] then throws every last of its offsprings towards them, their screams progressively becoming even louder with every second spent outside of their dirt nap, until their bodies began to glow brightly and their internal mana spiking to critical mass.

Quickly, Rinaldo then turns his [Froberge]'s sword blade into a metal bunker that shielded all of them from the incoming cluster sonic explosions that leveled their surroundings as the [Mandrakes] all detonated at once. As soon as the explosion passes, the barrier is dropped, now with everyone's ears ringing like church bells.

"Oh fuck... I feel sick," Vancia then vomits on the ground before fainting atop of her own slop.

"... Vertigo..." Zenon pointed out as he clutched onto his throbbing head, "... it's the worst."

"... Thankfully, no one's heads exploded from their screams," Ogmios commented as he caught the little Zenon mid-fainting before glancing at where Roland had landed, still spouting out malformed and splintered [Treants] like a clogged water fountain. "... Not even Roland."

"To be fair..." Rinaldo slurred as he tried to get his head back on straight, "... it's not is as if he had much up there to blow up to begin with, if at all."

"... One last thing," Corrin pointed out as she then looked back to Brigid. "... You just about done?"

"I am," she replied as the three runes consisting of [Fire], [Water], and [Wind] all overlaid atop of one another to create a composite magic circle. "All of you, stand back or get cooked."

Corrin then drags Vanica by her ankle and across her own puke until all of them were standing behind the artificial magical spirt.

"Shields up everyone," ordered Brigid. "Only I will be able to withstand the coming blast!"

Rinaldo then forms a dome around themselves as the [Alraune] then lunged towards their, its faceless visage opening up its disgusting maw as Brigid completes her spell.

"[Fire] for basis, [Water] as catalyst, and [Wind] as method," she declared as an elaborate magic circle appeared from her open hand. "[Anima Magic: Pyroclastic Storm]."

From the circle came out a high-pressure stream of black steam that hissed and boiled the [Alraune] and the surrounding vegetation, causing the monster to shriek and writhe in agony as its flesh began to melt its feminine form into an indistinguishable goo.

Then, as soon as the plant woman's body no longer held any physical integrity, the [Alraune] and the surrounding plantlife swelled up like pus before all of them exploded into flames, turning a segment of the forest into a burning hellscape in a matter of moments.

"Pop pop, watch the bitch drop," Brigid then extended her middle finger to the smoldering remains of the plant woman that exploded from within.

The barrier of [Mercury Magic] then drops, allowing those inside to come out to sauna-like patch of melted greenery that spread out before them. Once the sight of bubbling and burning plant goo sets into their minds, the smell of methane and burning rot overwhelms their noses, causing all of them to gag.

"OH FUCK! THIS IS WORSE THAN THE EXPLODING [MANDRAKES]!" Ogmios exclaimed.

Zenon finally vomits before fainting again from the sensory overload. This time, Ogmios didn't bother catching him from faceplanting onto his own slop.

"... Well," grimaced Rinaldo as he then helped Corrin puke, "... mission accomplished."

"... Wait a minute," Corrin gagged before vomiting again. She then resumes speaking upon finishing expelling her load. "... What about Roland-?"

A giant [Treant] the size of a cottage was then thrown from where the nude Paladin was at before landing right in from of them. "Just about done!"

Before said tree monster can stand back up, its open maw then had [Durandal]'s blade erupt out from behind itself. Then upon the monster being stunned, the blade then begins to slowly ratchet up until the monster was then split in two with an upward drag-slash. As the slain [Treant]'s halves fell apart from each other, Roland appears from behind it, his gilded Relic rested onto his shoulder.

"Alright folks," he beamed before looking back to the pile of gnarled wood and crudely-split logs that was his kill count. "... We should probably bail."

"Gonna ask why given your propensity for bloodshed," commented Corrin.

Roland then points back to said pile of lumber, suddenly all of them rumbling before the pile then began reforming themselves into an even bigger tree monster. But unlike the vaguely-humanoid or bipedal appearances of the regular [Treants], this one completely abandons the notion of walking entirely in favor of a serpentine-like design with a maw akin to the [Alraune]'s flower mouth.

"That," the Paladin pointed out. "It's because of that."

"... Okay, just gonna go out a limb as ask WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT?!" Corrin pointed at the wood-snake.

"Aw shit," Ogmios grimaced. "I thought those guys were only in children's storybooks, but evidently this place is where dreams do come true."

"That thing, if you're wondering, is what's affectionately known as a [Jabberwocky]," Brigid explained. "Also, no. I've already ran a structural analysis of that thing. Right now, we have no means of actually putting it down."

In an unspoken and unanimous agreement, everyone then began made their hasty retreat as the giant serpentine fusion of numerous dead [Treants] pursued them through the choking wealds.

Elsewhere in the Woods...

Upon opening his eyes, he saw nothing but leaves and bark.

As he craned his back upright, he looked around to find more of the same.

But weirdest of all, it was him who'd woken up in his body.

"What the...?" Patry then rubbed William's hands onto his cheeks, quickly realizing that he himself was now in control of William's body by default.

He slowly gets up, finding it hard to stand with his wobbly legs.

"... Must've been out for a while," he grimaced as then gathered his bearings, now finding that he woke up in the middle of the wood away from everyone else. "... William, you can come out now."

No response.

"... William?" the elven boy in a human adult body remarked. "... Come on... this isn't the time for jokes."

He then nervously laughed before then immediately going into a deep dive of his own body to try and pull William's soul back into the forefront. However, the boy then encountered one, small problem.

William's soul was no longer inside his own body. It was now Patry's own soul being the sole occupant. "... The fuck?!"

Suddenly, a throbbing sensation of pain was then felt coming from his hip. Patry pulls the hem of his pants to find a small wound pierced into side. The bleeding had stopped, but it was still relatively fresh.

"... Better stitch this up before it gets infected," the boy remarked as he then instinctively reached for his grimoire, now being his own rather than William's, slightly creeping him out. "... Seriously? Whoever did this is either fucking with me, or really doesn't want me to snoop around."

He then casts [Healing Particles of Light] onto the wound, closing it seamlessly. "... Still gonna snoop regardless," he grumbled to himself.

Upon finishing patching himself up, Patry began weighing his possible options. Either he can explore on his own, or search for the others.

On one hand, if he were to strike out on his own, then he'd be able to find where and what happened to William's own soul. If something or someone had the means to rip people's souls out of their bodies, then whoever placed them in the wood en route back to Clover Kingdom was quite formidable. Not only that, but whatever means said stolen soul was meant to be used for, he had to find out and prevent. It's not as if he cared for William, but not to an extent that he wished for the man's death, especially after their reconciliation and the reveal of Loki being one to basically instigate his people's massacre. That and well, William's body and soul were the original package. Forbidden [Reincarnation Magic] or not, at least Patry knew that he was a hanger-on at best.

On the other hand, should he strike out on his own, the likelihood of both getting lost and wasted by whatever prowled in the woods. A couple dozen he can fend off, but something about this place felt completely off. It felt less akin to a weald choked to the brim with tower-sized trees and more like inside of a belly of a beast. That ant well, even if he were to find the others, they wouldn't exactly trust a kid inside an adult's body, let alone a former leader of a now-defunct terrorist group. They came to an understanding, but that was the full extent of their current relationship between himself and the other Magic Knights.

"... This is super-awkward," he grimaced as the elven boy continued to agonize over his own thoughts. "... Whatever, William's my first priority!"

He then opts to go off on his own, floating off the ground before flying through the weald.

As he flew, he kept his good eye around the twisting trees to see if anyone else had been found nearby. So far, no sign of anyone else. Not even the giant pig with a whole-ass tavern built atop of its back. Kinda hard to miss, but so far, no dice.

"... Shit, how long does this place go for?" Patry steamed. "If I'm not mistaken, I'm pretty sure I crossed through a whole city's length of distance right about now!"

But just before he can steam any further, a coconut the size of a boulder was then hurled towards his direction, splatting in front of him and scattering its juices onto himself. "What the?!"

Throughout the treetops, he spotted numerous simian-like tree monsters, all of them armed with giant-sized fruits in their hands, ready to pelt them at the eleven boy at a moment's notice.

Normally, Patry would've been able to take them on head on, but there was one problem that his own mana sensitivity had picked up on.

Those tree-monkey monsters were literally everywhere, from the highest treetops, to the hollows bored into the trunks, and crowding the ground below. A whole veritable troop's worth of monkeys armed with boulder-sized fruits had surrounded him before he can notice them until it was already too late. Even if he were to dodge most of them with his [Light Magic], a single one thrown was both large and fast enough to kill him instantly, or cripple him at best, which easily can be followed up with the former.

"... Uh," Patry nervously smiled as the tree-monkey monster sneered at him. "... Time-out?"

All of them began pelting their produce at him from all directions with lethal precision and velocity, forcing the elven boy to flee lest he dies by fruit.

Apples, coconuts, and peaches the size of boulders. Pineapples, watermelons, and durians the size of small houses. Plums, apricots, and pears thrown like projectiles slung over by a launched trebuchet. Just getting hit by one of them was enough to gore him through like a bull's horns during mid-charge.

"THIS IS EASILY THE WORST DAY EVER!" Patry cried out indignantly as he dodged a thrown banana the size of a tree (regular-sized). "AND SCREW THIS PLACE-!"

From behind, Patry was struck by the same banana that he'd initially dodged. Due to both its shape and the angle that it was thrown from, the banana had a curved trajectory, allowing it to double back to its thrower if it misses the first time.

"SCREEEEWWW TTHIIIISSSS FORRRRREESSSSSTTTT!" cursed the boy right as he landed roughly onto another clearing. "... Oww. ... Still alive."

Miraculously, the monkeys did not follow him during his freefall. However, Patry's bones were broken all over. First being his rear pelvic bone that was struck by the banana and then his ribs and shins fractured upon landing, and that was disregarding the possible internal bleeding happening all over inside of William's body. Through the pain, he then casted [Healing Particles of Light] to mend his broken bones and internal wounds.

As the pain faded from his body, he limps back up to his feet to spot a giant plant bud sitting in the middle of the clearing. "... Well that's not suspicious or anything," he smirked at the obvious trap before hearing the hooting and chortling coming from within the woods that he was ambushed prior. "... But if I had to take death by fruit, not allergic, or death by deathtrap, I think a latter is a more... reasonable way to die."

Manifesting his [Light Sword of Judgment], Patry then steps forth before raising his blade upon the bud, only for the latter to open up by itself and catch the blade upon the emergence of what came within.

As the petals drooped and dropped, it then revealed a bipedal, goat-like creature made of plant fibers composing its main body, fluffs of cotton acting as its fleece, a pair of briars acting as its horns, a fanged pitcher plant acting as its mouth, with a pair of giant leaves resembling a pair of wings, and a pair of sunflowers acting as its eyes.

"... I assume that you know where a chap named William is at, no?" Patry remarked before he was then kicked in the gut by the plant-goat man's hoofed feet made from coconut shells.

At Another Pocket...

The fleeing group were fortunate enough to find another pocket of mana-dampeners underneath another tree, hiding within the burrow, with this one being even more crammed due to the addition of two people, allowing the [Jabberwocky] to slide past them, unable to sense their mana before snaking off elsewhere.

As soon as the group notice that the monster had passed them by, everyone then lets out a sigh of relief.

"... Okay, the worst is over," Ogmios remarked.

"Seriously, we could've taken him," Vanica pointed out. "I mean, big targets like that are easy to bring down, right?"

"Not quite," Brigid remarked. "Information regarding the [Jabberwocky] is sparse at best. But if the stories aren't exaggerations, then it would take the sharpest of blades to pierce its hide and slay the beast. Unfortunately, the phrase 'sharpest of blades' is an extremely vague term that guesswork alone won't be enough to properly discern that given and/or assumed measure."

"So won't fire kill it?" Zenon asked.

"Contrary to popular belief, just using fire against plant-based monsters is ill-advised," Rinaldo explained. "You're basically killing one to give the rest free nutrients. And that's not counting their behavior to swarm you into walking wildfires and cause more collateral damage. In short, use fire only on dead wood, and not living wood."

"What about that ice-based spell and that [Pyroclastic Storm] that she'd used?" the child pointed out. "Those seemed to have worked."

"The former is at best, a temporary measure," the artificial spirit claimed. "Frost doesn't immediately kill vegetation, per say, but rather suspends all molecular activities within the plant matter long enough to let it die of starvation. Now under normal circumstances, it would work, but given that this forest is anything but normal, it appears that the environment itself is feeding the plants externally, or at least, that's what it looked like when it came to my brief observations."

"... Okay, but what about that black steam shot?" asked the girl. "The way you melted those creeps, how did that work?"

"Same principles how boiling vegetables work," answered Brigid. "Overstimulating molecular activity can cause plant matter to die. And before you ask, no, I cannot cast [Pyroclastic Storm] willy-nilly. That thing is so structurally complex and overspecialized in one field of usage."

"Fair," shrugged Zenon as he then closed his eyes before leaning across the side. "I'll take a shuteye. You too as well. Need all the rest we can if we want to survive here."

Vancia grumbles before relenting. "... Fine."

As the two kids tucked in, Corrin then shoots a look at Ogmios. "... You were thinking of using those two as human shields, weren't you?"

"Guilty as charged," he smirked. "Not like they don't deserve it, ungrateful pricks."

"They're fucking kids for crying out loud!" Corrin pointed out.

"I object to that notion," Rinaldo pointed out. "... I saw them fight. They're not kids in spite of looking like one. And they uttered the name 'Dante'."

Brigid sighs before confessing. "Yes, we took them in," the artificial spirit confessed. "These two are indeed the infamous 'Gravedigger' Zenon Zogratis and 'Bloodbath' Vancia Zogratis."

Both of the Paladins let out a seething sigh of utter contempt. "... You know our orders," said the nude Paladin, all of his prior jovial nature being gone with the wind. "All members of House Zogratis and their close affiliates are to be executed. That order still stands even after fifteen years, so give me a reason why I shouldn't add the two of you as the latter."

"After all they've done, do you really think that they deserve something merciful as death?" Ogmios pointed out. "I'm simply doing what they and their countless family members have done to their victims... only in a 'ironic hell' manner."

"Um, I'm missing some context," Corrin raised her hand. "Can someone explain?"

"Let me," Brigid volunteered. "The House Zogratis are a clansmen of Contractors spanning back since for the past 444 years. Their origins stem from their innate aptitude to summon and form pacts with the denizens of the underworld and using said power to well... how should I put it-"

"They made torture and rape into their own 'form' or 'artform'," growled Roland. "The height of their arrogance of turning lives into their own personal toys... They don't kill for substance, motive, or any rhyme or reason! They kill and leave the bodies to rot simply because they can!"

"And before you ask, yes, Ulster practice cannibalism and they eat whatever they kill. No exceptions, unless the circumstances prevent that from happening, as their way of 'taking responsibility,' the Order of the Spade Cross target all rouge Contractors and Adaptors out of the belief of Sephira's word, and we killed all of the Zogratis clansmen because they deserved to die after what they've all done," Rinaldo finished off his partner's argument, "... that said, no grimoires, no place to live, and one of them having a genuinely decent head on his shoulder... it's honestly a miracle that one of them turned out semi-decent."

Roland then looked at Rinaldo as if the latter had grown another head on his shoulders. "... You thinking about sparing them?"

"I'm not against killing them, nor I'll save their lives when they're in danger..." said the Paladin as he took off his cap, "... but the order doesn't state that we can't feel bad for those who plead for their lives, didn't it?"

"I sure as hell didn't!" Roland remarked. "I throughly enjoyed ending their Reign of Terror with the business of my [Durandal]!"

The whole group then falls silent.

"... Liar," Corrin mumbled towards Rinaldo. "I saw you sheathe your sword when the [Alraune] used the two of them as human shields. Care to explain?"

Rinaldo pursed the corner of his lip before answering. "... Well, it's not like I tried to stop Ogmios from using them as sandbags."

"No," Brigid then looked into the Paladin's eyes. "... Those eyes of yours, when I saw you relent... you have a psychological block when it comes to killing kids, don't you?"

The Paladin sighs before reaching into his clothes underneath his breastplate. "No point of hiding anything from you of all people, ain't it?" he smirked as he then threw a square of white cloth onto Corrin's lap. "I'll give you an answer if you can recognize this."

She then unfolded the cloth square, revealing a partially-burnt piece of white cloth with a grey snake embroidered on a scale-like sigil sewn at its center. Behind the cloth itself was a snakeskin like pattern with colors of beige, light beige, brown, and dark brown checkered in a sophisticated pattern.

"... No fucking way," Corrin shuddered, recognizing the embroidery. "... But that was... that was around fifteen years ago!"

The Paladin weakly smirked. "Before you ask, no, I was only ten around that time," he pointed out. "My real name is Renault Montalban. My mother and father were members of the White Serpent Magic Knight Squad, serving faithfully under the 27th Wizard King of Clover Kingdom, Conrad Leto, until the bitter end at the hands of those who despised their existence."

To Be Continued...

Author's Notes: From the tropics to whatever this botanical abomination the Silver Eagles, Golden Dawn, Coral Peacock, and the rest have ended up in.

Fresh off from my prolonged burnout, I am now officially back to writing semi-consistently and made peace with my own personal turmoil. That said, I've been playing the fuck out of Monster Hunter: Rise (I'll play Sunbreak after I beat the Elder Dragons), and my favorites that debuted in this game are the Great Izuchi (a great first boss), Bishaten (a fair boss fight with cool Buddhist-themed gear), and the Magnamalo (the thing's a genuine menace and I love him for it), while my least favorite is the Almudron (I've been grinding that fucker for over double-digit hunts, broke its head crest and tail, still no [Almudron Plate], and it's becoming to the point where I'd rather grind the hyper-aggressive Tigrex and Diablos over that muddy Leviathan).

So, this chapter is going to both have a fuck ton of parts (to moderate my chapter size to not end up with 20k-long abominations that suck out my very soul) and have so many PoV shifts that I might end up getting a mental whiplash.

So far, here are the groups formed (so far as it was seen in story):

- Corrin, Ogmios, Brigid, Rinaldo, Roland, Zenon, and Vancia.

- Patry (William's soul is missing from his own body).

The other groups will be revealed when Rinaldo goes in-depth in his own backstory tying into the Black Clover: Sword of the Wizard King movie.

Speaking of, I just saw the movie, and it felt like a Black Clover episode with a budget that rivals Jujitsu Kaisen Season 2. That said, the whole movie reveals that the title of Wizard King being a sore spot for the royalist nobles who don't like to share their wealth makes the antagonists semi-justified, with the whole "semi" part that their revolutionary plans involving a shit-ton of civilian casualties. In a way, this serves a bit of a retrospective of why I crated my version of the Spade Kingdom before the canon manga showed it (and I'm a little sore that the Diamond Kingdom just fell into irrelevance, which, is hypocritical coming from me, but I already made plans to explore the dead kingdom when Goliath gets involved), and my version when there's literally no structure and nobility. "Chaos" to Clover Kingdom's "Law." The latter views them as uncivilized savages while the former sees the other as lazy cowards. That said, both sides do and don't have a point to their own lifestyles, and IRL, I'm slowly accepting the adage "What works for one doesn't work for all," something that I plan to explore a bit more further into this arc.

Rant over.

So, William (or more specifically, his soul) has now gone MIA. Point of concern aside, Patry's now trying not to die from getting pelted to death by boulder-sized fruits. And Corrin's learning way more than she ever would like in the first hours of her inside this weird-ass woods that happens to be the world's biggest Dungeon. And that's not counting the fuckload of plant-adjacent creatures and monsters out to kill any warm-bloods.

Hopefully, with this arc, I hope I can make this right. Or at least, not hate myself during the process. So far so good.

References:

- This arc is named after the System of a Down song with the same name.

- Corrin Index's new [Magnet Creation Magic: Rampage Dress], continuing with her A Certain Magical Index (and other spinoffs) references, with this spell being named aafter Hokaze Junko's Level 4 Esper Ability, [Rampage Dress]. Functionally speaking, the spell functions like [IroGol Shift] Pin from NEO: The World Ends With You, only if it didn't completely suck on the account of having a wider AoE, picked up more than six pieces of random junk, and has a faster RPM.

- The [Alraune] is the German word for "mandrake," and the name of the lead character of the 1911 novel named after herself, and since then became the go-to term for whenever a fantasy setting needs a sexy plant lady. Design wise, her faceless nature revealing a flower-like mouth is inspired by the Demogorgon from Stranger Things.

- The [Jabberwocky] is a creature from Lewis Carroll's poems and his famous work, "Alice in the Wonderland." It's "tree-dragon/serpent" form is my signature interpretation of the Jabberwocky, being from an anecdote that I read about the monster's appearance being based off of a dead, gnarled tree that Carroll had found, and which was the basis I used for my dead (don't ask for a rewrite; it's a massive sore spot for me) Rise of the Shield Hero self-insert fic. Also, its "flower mouth" taken from the [Alraune] is also inspired by the Tatzlwurm from My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. Also, it's implied invincibility and that "only the sharpest of blades" can slay it is a reference to the Vorpal Sword being the only thing that can kill the monster in the poem.

- Rinaldo's real name, Renault Montalban, is a reference to his many translations of the character, Renaud de Montauban, a Paladin from the "Matters of France." I used his Italian name Rinaldo as foreshadowing for his real origins (given I sort of see the Clover Kingdom as being Renaissance Italy). And the reason why his spells are vaguely-snake themed, it's a tribute to his dead parents who served in Conrad's White Serpents Magic Knight Squad.

And as usual, please leave a comment or a review, for I'd love to know what my readers think!