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

Saga 26: Forest Part 2

Unknown Forest, Spade Kingdom, Morning?

Both Ogmios and Brigid looked at each other puzzlingly before turning back to Corrin. "... White Serpents?"

"You know em?" asked Roland, the glare from his eyes still not abated as long as the two Zogratis children still lived in his presence. "They Magic Knights like you were?"

Corrin nods. "... They were a Magic Knight Squad that were formed decades prior, right up alongside with the Grey Deer Squad for being Clover Kingdom's most prolific of badasses."

"... Going off by your tendency to refer to them in past tense and of Rinaldo-can I still call you that or should I call your true name, Renault?" Ogmios asked the Paladin after interrupting himself.

"Whatever you feel comfortable with," he replied.

"... Anyhoo," the [Memory Magic] user continued, "... and of Rinaldo's memorabilia of the aforementioned White Serpent emblem showing damages rooted in age, environmental, physical, and chronological, I assume that the Magic Knight Squadron are no longer active?"

"That's putting it too lightly," Corrin pointed out. "They were effectively purged."

"Who did they piss off?" asked Brigid. "Because when the word 'purge' is used, it usually means that someone higher on the societal ladder was slighted."

"The Royalist Faction of the Clover Kingdom's Nobles," Rinaldo answered venomously before he turned to Corrin. "Tell me, how do you know about the White Serpents? I assumed that all records related to their existence was destroyed, which would be fitting for their vindictive nature."

"Not all of them," Corrin answered. "... My mother had them in her library, which I found when I was like around six. I then asked her about it after showing it to her, and she then immediately burned them before my eyes."

Everyone present grimaces. "Clearly, she doesn't want you to finding out about something," Brigid pointed out. "And I assume that you did further digging on your own afterwards?"

"Hell if I didn't try, but second time never rolled around. Only my journal that I left it in my Golden Dawn Headquarters has speculations written in the pages, but otherwise, nothing concrete," Corrin remarked. "... I only remember that first paper and its contents because I find things like that really hard to forget. The Index Family are known to have really good memories so we are often regarded the Kingdom's key archivists and librarians. You can guess how shocking it was to bear witness to my mother doing the opposite of preserving knowledge."

"Explains your weird-ass new occupation," Ogmios deadpanned at her cartography pursuit.

"Then allow me to enlighten you on what you've missed," Rinaldo then began to speak. "The White Serpents were a Magic Knight Squadron under the direct orders of the 27th Wizard King, Conrad Leto. Their duties were mostly centered around homeland security, rooting out enemy spies and any subversive elements within the Kingdom's borders, and general peacekeeping while the Grey Deer Squadron were actively participating in open warfare against the Diamond Kingdom's invasion forces."

"And unlike the majority of the Magic Knight Squadrons, the White Serpents were egalitarian in their recruitment drives," Corrin pointed out. "Just like the Grey Deer, who were seeking out formidable soldier mages to add to their number, the White Serpents promoted their Magic Knights based on merit and skill, bloodline be damned."

"Fuck bloodline-based promotions, because whoever you popped out of doesn't means jack shit when they're being digested inside a [Wyvern]'s gut," Ogmios pointed out.

"They seemed like a decent bunch," commented Brigid. "Homeland security on top of a merit-based system of rank. It sounds as if they're well-regarded by their people."

"They were," agreed Rinaldo. "... And it is because of that why they weren't liked by the other, pre-established Magic Knight Squadrons had it out for them. Hell, even the King himself didn't like the Squad to the point where rumors of him trying to legally abolish the Wizard King title was only quashed by the Chairman of the Magic Parliament due to there being a war going on."

"Envy? Seriously?" Ogmios looked at Corrin incredulously. "... Might be rich coming from me, but your people's got some serious issues."

"To be fair, they don't have death constantly hounding at their heels like us," Brigid remarked. "... So, about that purge."

"If I recall correctly, the official records I've read indicated that they were purged," Corrin recalled. "But what's weird was that it didn't list any involvements of who carried out the execution orders nor what crimes that the White Serpents were implicated for."

"That's because the ambiguity itself was the only kernel of honesty that the Royalist Faction shat out of their assholes," growled Rinaldo as he readied to reveal the full truth. "The whole 'purge' was just a mask to hide the complete bullshit thrown onto the White Serpent Squad. They committed no crimes to begin with. It was basically a mass lynching conducted by the Royalists and their affiliated Magic Knight Squadrons."'

Corrin gasped as her eyes widened in shock. "... I know they'd do that, but still... they killed their own?!" she gagged on the bile welling up on her throat. "... I know that most Magic Knights were nothing more than entitled fucks high on their power, but seriously?! How many people were in on that shit?!"

Rinaldo then directs his cold gaze towards Corrin, staring dagger into her eyes like a snake locking onto its prey. "... 'How many' is a misnomer. Try 'all of the above' sans the Grey Deer," he revealed. "The Crimson Lion Kings, led by Leonard Vermillion, the 'Bloody Roar.' The Silver Eagles, led by Baptiste Silva, the 'Maelstrom Magister.' The Purple Orcas, led by Gueldre Poizot, the 'Invisible Hand.' And the Coral Peacocks, led by Jules Index, the 'Theological Railgunner.' Every single one of them wrote up a bullshit order of 'rooting out an insurgency' taking place the most remote part of the Forsaken Realm, and the whole White Serpent Squad mobilized like a bunch of schmucks."

"... No!" Corrin gasped at this unexpected revelation. "... Mother too?!"

Rinaldo's stare towards Corrin only grew more intensely. "Ah, I thought you looked familiar," he deadpanned. "Tell me, how is she and her Squad doing?"

Corrin looked deeply ashamed as she confessed. "... Mother's been drinking like a fish and her brain is now basically a malfunctioning clockwork," she revealed. "As for her former Squad, they're under a new leadership since her retirement and has been doing well without her."

"I'll take whatever victories I see," he shrugged. "So, upon arrival, the White Serpents suddenly found themselves outnumbered, outgunned, and out of places to run, as their supposed allies turned their spells onto them. Despite the Squad's and Conrad Leto's magical prowesses, they were completely overwhelmed and slaughtered down to the last man in a single night."

Corrin's eyes began tearing up while everyone else adopted an expression of disgust. "... Remind me, why are we allying with them against the Demons?" asked Ogmios.

"Politics and the fact the denizens of Hell are capable of much worse," Roland pointed out. "... That said, if our allies plan to pull that shit on us while our backs are turned, then the next time the Demons come knocking at their doors, then I won't lift a finger to save them."

"... I'll allow it," Corrin sobbed. "... We fucking deserve everything that we have coming towards our way."

"It's not your fault," reassured Brigid, "so don't burden yourself with your mother's sins when you yourself never did said act of vileness."

Rinaldo's lips then slightly curl upwards into a small smirk, taking small gratification at seeing the daughter of his bane of his own existence suffering. "... And before you ask, no. It didn't end with the Squad's semi-authorized termination. They also went after the family members related to the White Serpent Squad as their own sick form of an after-party. Which then brings to my ten-year old ass, completely scared and clueless when members of the Silver Eagles and Purple Orcas kicked down my family home's doors and began murdering everyone on sight," he testified, his voice and tone being on the verge of breaking into a fit of mad laughter. "... I saw everyone die before me. My butlers and maids who weren't even related to me. My three other brothers who looked up to the Grey Deers as heroes. And my own childhood innocence, all gone up in smoke with the rest of those I was raised alongside with for my whole life."

"... Please stop," sobbed Corrin. "I get it! My mom and her friends were complete pieces of shit! I don't need to know any more than that!"

"Non non, mon cheri," Rinaldo denied. "I never got to the part when I found my own père's rotting head while I was running for my dear life and pieces of my mère's body scattered all over the complete clusterfuck of corpses left to rot on their site of slaughter. Hell, it was seeing mes parents dead that I was able to piece together what had happened. After that, I realized that taking my chances with the Demon Kingdom and its inhabitants more than happy to devour me whole was preferable then living in a cesspool that I was born and raised in. And thus ended the life of Renault Montalban, the crying brat who's lost everything. And began the first chapter of Rinaldo, the soon-to-be proud Paladin of Charlemagne."

As the sobbing Corrin was comforted by Brigid, Roland raises his hand. "... So the Grey Deer are just like the White Serpents in terms of recruitment drive and popularity amongst the commoners, correct?"

Rinaldo nods. "Indeed that they were."

"So were they also purged?" the Paladin asked.

"No," he shook his head. "For I assume the same reason of why the title of the Wizard King couldn't be abolished legally; there was a war going on and someone had to be in the front lines just as someone had to lead them. The White Serpents, to my own admission, were in the wrong place at the wrong time. But I'm not here to talk about hypotheticals beyond that."

Ogmios clicked his tongue before sneering. "Lucky bastards."

"I'll make this next part of my life short," the Paladin stated. "So first thing when I reached Ulster on my blister-riddled feet, I was picked up by a roving band of brigands that make up the entire populace of Ulster, then they used me as a canary in a Dungeon filled with [Golems], all of them died, I snatched the Dungeon's treasure [Froberge] and before the [Talos] guarding the thing could squish me flat, Bradamante and her family saved my ass. After that, I got adopted by them, killed a couple Zogratis clansmen with them, and after reaching Libratium and liberating the city-state of their accursed presence, I was inducted into Charlemagne's Paladins, and the rest, as they say, is history."

"... Wow," remarked Vanica, giving away that she was wide awake, "that story of yours is kinda neat. Betrayal, death of innocence, and rebirth through chaos! I wish my life was that exciting!"

Roland looked at her with confusion. "... And being chased down by everyone wanting your head for very valid reasons don't account for much?"

"Eh, got stale after around a year or so," she commented. "... Maybe my life being an endless stream of carnage and appeasement kinda killed my sense of fulfillment beyond finding and killing strong people. Like, I genuinely felt happy when I fought a woman named Acier, who put me on the backfoot that I was forced to take a kid hostage. Zenon said that I made the smart move, but for me, I think deep down, I was kicking myself ever since."

"For not dying on the spot?" the nude Paladin snarked.

"Nah," she shook her head. "For not sticking to my personal code and ride out the fight to its very end, even if it meant I was going to die. Then again, I was young and stupid back then, and still am now."

Corrin's eyes then move towards Vancia before turning towards Roland. "... Okay," she remarked as she rubbed her swollen eyes. "So everything I heard about the Zogratis Clan, and your blatant animosity towards them... is it really justified?"

"Put it into perspective, those fuckers literally chained me in a basement and tried to torture me," Roland explained. "Keyword being 'tried.' Like, they tried everything, from lashes, thumbscrews, water wheel, iron maiden, and every single one of those instruments broke against me on the first attempt. Afterwards, they tried starving me to death by bricking up my cell, but I literally broke out in the next hour, raided their pantry empty, and went back into my cell as if nothing ever happened, even bricked up my own cell just to fuck with them. That shit I kept up for over... I don't know how long, but after a while the people I knew turned like into old people or something with new folks coming into my life. And yes, they did try to reinforce the bricking, but no matter what they tried, my fists broke through all of them."

"Wow, you must really like that arrangement," Vanica giggled, much to the Paladin's disgust. "Makes me wonder why they kept going even after you proved to be badder then them."

"To be fair, they only stopped kidnapping other people to torture them for fun because they were overinvested in breaking me to the point where they directly invoked 'sunk-cost fallacy' to be the only reason why they bothered keeping me around. Hell, they even tried to use me as a sacrifice to summon a Devil, only I beat it up and ate his heart before them, and I only stayed just to spite them as their worst house guest," stated the Paladin. "I was practically mush to them. They couldn't break me because they had nothing built up to tear down from me."

Ogmios then invokes the sign of corna with his hands. "Metal as fuck, bro," he commented. "Mad respect."

"If you were strong enough to escape, why didn't you?" asked Corrin.

"Here's the weird thing," Roland explained, "I didn't know where I lived prior, or who I was before then. Hell, the name 'Roland' was something I scribbled on the wall with my fingernails. My memories felt as if they started behind bars, so I literally had no incentive to go elsewhere. And to be fair, I did sort of enjoy my own captivity under the Zogratis clan and watching them pull their hair out."

"Spooky," commented Vanica.

"Complete retrograde amnesia," Brigid pointed out. "... Explains why you're such a loon."

"Funnily enough, I think I got some of my memories back during Libratium's attack at the hands of that Earth Temple Acolyte," Roland pointed out as he shown his [Durandal] to everyone. "I found this Relic in the estate that was slumming in, and oh man, the thing was cursed with so much shit that if if were anyone else, they would've died trying to wield it... which is what exactly happened when one of the Dark Disciples tried to pick it up and shank me with it, only to fall dead before he could even try. I was perfectly fine."

"So how did the sword not become... so dark and... so cursey?" asked Vanica.

"Power of parental love and the fact that three people wielded it at once," Roland answered. "The former seemed a bit contrived, but the latter kinda made sense since 'anyone' only implied to a singular person picking up the sword."

"Lame-ass clause aside," Vancia cattily deadpanned, "what memories did you retrieve?"

Roland then lets out a nervous laughter as he then revealed one figment of memory that he'd revived. "... I think I was in Hell killing Demons before I met you guys."

At a Certain Clearing...

"[Light Magic]!" Patry invoked as he then fired an array of light beams towards the plant-goat man. "[Heaven Splitting Flash]!"

The beams of light were all intercepted by the goat-plant man firing a volley of seeds from its fingers. The fired seeds, upon coming into contact with the light beams, it then absorbs the mana from the spells, sprouting into several [Mandrakes] mid-air, all of whom began screaming before detonating.

Patry was blown back by the cluster explosion as he tried to outrun the blast, with his back hitting against the tree upon veering off-course and trying to recover. "... Son of a bitch," he groaned as he scrambled back up, "why do you have be such an asshole?!"

The plant-goat man then responds by growing a giant shaft of thorny wood before uprooting it from the earth. Upon which, it then hoisted it over its head like a giant spiked club before swinging it down towards where Patry was at.

He easily dodges the clumsy blow on his own, but it was a mere second before the spiked club hit the ground that the elven boy noticed that there was a sudden swell of mana that just instantly ballooned inside the wooden shaft's core.

Before he could even think, the thorns around the log then scatter like shrapnel. The pricks flying out like a swarm of wasps as a fair bit of of them stung all over him and through his clothes, save for his eyes and other vitals, for which all of them were blocked with his arms. Having no time to pull them off upon sighting the plant-goat man charge towards him with its thorny horns, Patry the dodges the headlong charge, causing the creature's horns to get stuck in the tree's trunk where he had stood before.

Wasting no time, he then casts [Healing Light Particles] onto himself while quickly pulling out his barbs as the plant-goat man struggled to pull his barbed horns. Realizing that its thorny construction had effectively rooted its horns into the tree trunk, the plant-goat man resorts to tearing off its own horns from its scalp before growing them back and resuming his charge.

Patry then summons his [Light Sword of Judgement] to block the charge, only for said blade to shatter and ram him across the open and pinning its horns into a tree. "... Seriously?!" he coughed out as he now found the thorny horn dislodged and now wrapped around his arms and torso like a barbed rope. "I gotta break out!" he then tried to invoke his grimoire, only for him see that it was taken by the plant-goat man.

It then tauntingly showed it to the elven boy as the tome's covers were then bound around his regrown horns, preventing direct access to Patry's own spells while the thorns around his bindings began to slowly grow in length, its points gradually breaking through his clothes and skin, worming their way into his body.

As he struggled to break free, thrashing through the agony of numerous thorns worming their way towards his insides, Patry then noticed something coming from behind the plant-goat man's back, as if this thing was connected to something else.

"... A vine?" he remarked as he struggled to remain on his foot through the nauseating pain wracking throughout his body. "... Whatever it's doing, I can't just stand around while waiting to die!"

In desperation, Patry then wells up his own [Light Magic] within himself, and using his own body as a conduit in lieu of his grimoire, a bright explosion of pure mana erupts from himself, disintegrating his bindings and blowing back his surroundings in an engulfing shockwave.

"Surprised?" the elven boy smirked as the plant-goat man stood back up, now showing visible damages to its body. "Us elves can use magic in its rawest form. The grimoire is just a tool."

The plant-goat man stood there, passively ascertaining Patry and waiting for him to make the next move.

"... I see," he nodded, "you're not just out to kill me. If so, you would've just charged at me like in any conventional fight."

He then looked at the vine connected to the plant-goat man's back and leading somewhere else that Patry cannot discern as of now. But wherever its actions were dictated by, it seemed to be only acting reactively. That kick to his stomach the first second felt less of an attack and more of a size-up.

"And that vine of yours..." Patry smirked, "... looks important. Important enough that you're protecting it!"

Instantly, he then shoots a [Mana Bullet] propelled by his [Light Magic] from his hip, causing the plant-goat man to react by shooting a seed from its finger while jumping back to move both itself and the vine out of the shot's trajectory.

But as the seed absorbs the mana from the spell and sprouts into a [Mandrake], Patry then runs towards the plant baby and kicks it towards the plant-goat man's face, causing it to blow itself up.

Wasting no time, Patry then follows it up by shooting a ray of [Light Magic] towards it in order to sever the vine connected to the creature. Reacting just as quickly, the plant-goat man then shoots a seed not towards the ray, but at the ground between the spell and the vine. From where the seed had burrowed into, a sunflower bloomed before its petals then erected a barrier of pure light to block the beam from striking it.

"Oh come on!" Patry bemoaned as the sunflower withered after one use. "You stole my spells too?! That was my [Shine Barrier of Benediction]!"

The plant-goat man then responds by shooting a pair of light beams from its sunflower-eyes towards Patry while shooting more seed volleys out of its fingers that grew into more sunflowers that each used a random selection of Patry's own spells written in his grimoire, as the battle now resumed not over whoever can overpower the other, but to see if Patry can unplug the creature from its functions while defending itself.

Above at the Trees...

A course feeling rubbed against David's face as he slowly opened his eyes. Upon waking up, he felt his hands and feet touch naught but air.

As his eyes fully opened, David tried to keep calm upon realizing that he was treed at least from a height at least several stories away from solid ground, but his heart started beating like a rabid animal in its cage.

"Calm down calm down calm down calm down..." he muttered to himself as he wrapped his arms and legs around the branch roughly the size of a small/regular-sized tree that he was trapped on before spotting Letolie dangling from another branch across from where he was hanging at. "... Letoile!"

His voice was barely louder than a whisper, due to the fear of being treed up this high choking his voice. Normally, he would use his ambient magic to float down, but from the get-go, the mana around them was akin to an open field hiding pitfalls everywhere. For example, flying alone for a few seconds will result him in taking a sudden plunge that would result in his death.

And the windows for enough mana to allow him to fly were about as wide as a quill pen's tip. Total. Only dandelion fluffs were allowed to fly here.

"... Goddammit, this is the worst," David grimaced as Letoile woke up.

"... Where am I?" the [Compass Magic] user groaned as her eyes widened upon seeing that the ground was about several hundreds of feet below her. The stirring from her sudden shock caused her glasses to slip off of her face, the lenses shattering upon landing below.

David then heard her meep timidly as she looked towards him with her now semi-compromised vision. "... Hey," he waved. "Hanging in there?"

"... Really?" she squinted back. "... If it weren't for that pun, I'd suspect that you were someone else, David."

"Don't hate me," he chuckled back nervously while trying not to look down. "... So, any idea how we're getting down? Flying isn't an option since the mana here is wonky as shit."

"Even with brooms?" asked Letoile, whom while she can still sense mana, her lack of proper vision meant that she was unable to visualize how the mana flowed.

"The only they're useful around here is sweeping away dead leaves," grumbled David as he looked around the surrounding vegetation. "... That said, how end we get up here?"

"I only remember falling asleep like usual after fending off a flock of [Wyverns]," Letoile recalled in a slight blur. "... Speaking of, are there others around?"

"Nope, just us," confirmed David, much to their mutual dread. "... Can your [Compass Magic] tell us where we are?"

She nodded as she then invokes a free-floating compass needle around herself with her magic. "... Well, where's the needle pointing at?"

"Eh, towards me, so guess that means I'm at north," he confirmed before looking around himself again. "... That said, everywhere here looks the same. And it's dim as a closet too, only like, bigger."

The two members of Golden Dawn then laid on their branches in awkward silence for a moment.

"... Uh," David groaned before speaking. "... Sorry if my magic can't do shit right now."

"Me too," Letoile replied. "... Lost my glasses too."

David looks down again before looking around to see if any other avenues to get themselves out of this predicament. "... You know, of all of our time spent in the Golden Dawn, this kind of a situation is nothing like we've faced before, right?"

"Definitely not that time when we were trapped in a Dungeon room with a descending ceiling and I had to solve a convoluted block puzzle to get us out the thing," she remarked.

"Oh, and that time where we had to run from a rushing wave of lava in that Dungeon near where the Fire Spirit Temple was at," David chuckled at his reminiscence. "... Legit, I thought we were going to die until I used my [Dice Magic] to overwrite our causality to have the floor behind us and the lava just spilled into that drainage."

"Discounting the fact that now the floor was collapsing behind us, forcing us to continue running regardless, yeah," Letoile rolled her eyes before snorting in laughter. "... Not the worst we've came across."

"Feel better now?" asked David.

"A little bit," answered Letoile before she looked around with her blurry vision. "... Still, we better find a way out of this jam. Not that I'm doubting our prowess, of course, but still-"

Suddenly, a shrill whistle was heard coming from below them. Both of the Golden Dawn Magic Knights looked down and spotted a familiar tuft of spiked silver hair waving at them.

"Oi!" Cissonius called out towards above, noticing a pair of broken glasses before his feet, which then led him to look up and find the two completely treed from a lethal height. "Ye blokes need help down?!"

"Yes please!" David replied, not wanting to stay up on a tree any further.

The half-elf then tugged his hands into a pair of black gloves with silver stars emblazoned on its backs. "Den 'old still!" he cried out as magic emitted from his gloved hands. "Imma use me [Snatch Magic] to steal ye guys from up top!"

With a wave of both of his hands, Cissonius successfully "steals" both David and Letoile from a height comparable to that of a tower, with the two of them now finding themselves slung over the man's shoulders, which smelled like food, as the two can pick up on.

"Now wat do ye say to yer hero and savior?" smirked the half-elf.

"Thank you," both answered plainly, causing Cissonius to drop the two of them on the ground like a pair of potato sacks.

"Eh, ye two are fine," he rolled his eyes. "So, how de fek did ye two end up up 'dere?"

"Honestly, no clue," David answered. "... We literally found ourselves awake up there with no recollection of how."

"Seconded," Letoile nodded as she gingerly picked up broken pair of glasses to see if she could salvage them. "Not only that, aside from you, we haven't run into anyone else from our group."

"Shite, ye too?" grumbled the half-elf before heaving out a sigh. "... Feels like fekin' forever since I woke up 'ere."

"How long has it been?" asked David.

"Dunno, can't even see de sun to know wat time," he replied, much to everyone's concern and frustration. "About bright as me arse in 'ere."

Letolie sighs in disgust in both towards Cissonius' crude humor and her glasses now beyond repair. The half-elf notices her plight and steps in.

"Oi, ye mind if I can take a look at dis?" he asked Letoile.

"If you can do something, go ahead," she then gave him her broken glasses. "... But even I doubt that you can do much."

Cissonius smiles before chuckling. "With me [Snatch Magic] and me Relic [Greim]..." he boasted as mana surged from the tips of his gloved fingers, "... 'dere ain't nuthin' dat I can't steal!"

Through Cissonius' eyes, the broken shards of Letolie's glasses all began to connect with each other in an ethereal web of continuity. Cissonius' [Snatch Magic] allowed him to "steal" whatever he perceives. From physical objects like treasures and food to immaterial concepts like "people's placement" and "distance."

Supplementing his magic were his personal Relic, [Greim], also known as the "Thief God's Gloves." With the pair in hand, Cissonius' options of the things he can steal were expanded drastically. With it, he can steal magic spell from other people and claim it as his own until he "returns" it, or in the case of Letolie's glasses, he can now steal an object's "continuity" to not so much as "prevent the object's destruction" but more akin to "the object's destruction never happening in the first place."

With a sleight of hand akin to a stage magician's, the [Compass Magic] user's broken eyewear returns to its prior state of form. "And done," he grinned boastfully. "Yer welcome, by de way."

"... Color me impressed," she complimented as she put her glasses back on. "Not pristine, but just the way it was before."

"If ye think dat's impressive, den ye haven't seen wat de others can do with their Relics," Cissonius smiled as he pulled his gloves off of his hands before pocketing them. "Out of de seven, I'm practically the weakest. But I can bloody hold me own."

"Well, at least Letoile can see now," David remarked. "Let's go!"

The tree then depart further into the woods, the trees towering over them like a crowd of giants marching over their heads as they continued to wade through the dark sea of greenery. Just as Cissonius claimed before, time here seemed to be non-existent. No one could tell if it was one minute, one hour, or a whole day had passed as they kept walking. Speaking walking, even through they've felt as if they've traveled a whole countryside's worth of distance, none of them felt fatigue from the strenuous march, almost as if they were walking corpses moved only by their instinct and ignorance of their own supposed death.

"... My brain hurts," Letoile shuddered as she followed the other two without stopping. "... In fact, I think it's the only thing on me that's hurting."

"What the hell is with this place?!" David remarked as he tried to peer through the darkness, only to find more trees until he could see nothing else beyond it. "Even for normal woods, this place is way too big!"

"I agree," nodded Cissonius, "even tried to steal distance with me [Snatch Magic], but it didn't change anything. Felt like either de ground is movin', de trees are movin', or we're not exactly movin'... dis place feels less of a forest 'nd more akin to a giant stomach, slowly dissolvin' us while we're takin' it like a bunch of schmucks."

"Okay, let's stop talking and focus on finding the others," David frantically pointed out. "... My brain is also starting to hurt like hell!"

The three persisted through the eldritch woods, a place where the trees stood taller than the gods and the entire sky was blocked off by their canopy. Realizing that they weren't making any visible progress, the three then decide to talk about something else or they start murdering each other out of fit of influential insanity.

"... So, ye and 'er," Cissonius shrugged, "... how long?"

"About five years," answered Letoile. "We joined around the same time and just found ourselves working together on a lot of missions ever since."

"Yeah, it was kinda weird how I ended up joining the Golden Dawn of all people," commented David. "Hell, I assumed that the other Squads would've taken me, but weirdly enough, only Golden Dawn raised its hands while everyone else didn't. I mean, me, of all people? Whose family are super-rich merchants that bought their way into the upper crusts of Clover Kingdom society?! Yeah, coasting my way through wasn't an option."

"Luckily for him, I was more than willing to help him buckle down," smiled Letoile. "[Dice Magic]'s unpredictability aside, I'd say he fit right in in a matter of time."

"Hey, remember that Uber-powerful [Wind Magic] user that joined the Black Bulls last year?" asked David. "... Not gonna lie, but I was kinda hoping he'd join us. You know, two fellow not-technically nobles, and maybe I would've enjoyed some... semi-familiar company. Who knows, maybe if we weren't so stand-offish, we would've had more people wanting to join us aside from just pedigree and have actual talented people in our ranks!"

"It was his choice, and I will not hold him against it," Letoile replied. "... Although, Vice-Captain Langris' early retirement was rather unprecedented."

"Ah, sorry about dat," apologized Cissonius. "Bossman protects his claim like if its his own baby. Although in me point of view, dat prick was askin' to get killed when he aimed for bossman's pig."

Both David and Letoile look at each other awkwardly and realize that none of them have a solid defense for their former Vice-Captain's case. They both agree that despite his power and [Spatial Magic], as a person, he was nigh-impossible to work with.

"... Although legally speaking, the fact that you rendered your boss' judicial process null and void by beating up the Chairman of the Magical Parliament and throwing him out of the window is still illegal," Letoile pointed out. "... Is talking thing out not an option in Ulster?"

"Words mean shite 'ere," Cissonius pointed out. "If yer gunna decide on somethin', den ye better 'ave some grit behind it. Judge man boyo had some grit behind him. Hell, he would've kicked me arse to de point where I might have to 'steal' his heart just to stop 'im. But I'm glad no one actually... well died."

Before either David or Letoile could say anything more, the threw of them hear rustling of the leaves coming from above.

"... Of all people, why him?" groaned David as he and the others saw Salim tangled up in a net of vines with his head dipping towards the ground. "More importantly, how the hell did he end up like that?"

Cissonius then measures the distance between Salim's head and the ground. "... At best, a concussion," he pointed out. "Dun't worry, I'll carry 'im."

Letoile nods before using her floating compass needle to sever through the tangle of vines trapping the penal Silver Eagle Magic Knight, dropping him onto his head with an audible thud.

"OW! FUCK!" he screeched as the spoiled Magic Knight rolled around his back as he clutched his head in pain. "WHAT THE FUCK?!"

"You're welcome by de way," Cissonius smirked as he piggybacked the [Lightning Magic] user. "Now keep yer wits about ye and try not to die, okay?"

Salim grumbles to himself before relenting. "... Fine, I'll allow it."

The now-group of four then continue their traversal through the giant woods. Just as when Salim was about to start complaining, David promptly shuts him up by placing his finger onto his lips.

"Shh shh shh," he shushed. "We're kinda going a little crazy just walking through this place, so don't give us a reason to leave you behind on your ol' lonesome, kay?"

Salim meeped quietly before nodding, allowing the group to continue traversing in silence.

"... So," Cissonius broke the silence as he eyed towards the two Golden Dawn members. "When are ye two gunna fuck?"

The Golden Eagles stop in their tracks, with Letoile blushing like a tomato while David himself nearly tripped over his own footing. "I'm sorry, WHAT?!" David cried out. "WHAT BROUGHT THAT UP?!"

"Ye know, ye said day ye been workin' with 'er for five years straight," Cissonius shrugged. "Any laddie stuck with a lassie for dat long, den den should've fucked like after de first week."

"I-I'M NOT LIKE THAT!" David pointed out. "LETOILE AND I ARE JUST CO-WORKERS AND FRIENDS OFF-DUTY! IT'S NOT LIKE I'M A SLAVE TO MY OWN HORMONES LIKE YOU GUYS!"

"And besides!" Letoile hissed while still blushing like mad. "... We're not allowed to consummate physically until our parents set up a legal marriage contract and ensure that our mana are compatible enough to breed a strong heir! ... Although if it were the case, then that means I would've married my fifth cousin from my father's side, if it weren't for his untimely demise ten years prior."

"So dat means that yer not exactly against shaggin' each other," Cissonius pointed out, causing the two Golden Dawn Magic Knights to fluster even harder.

"... Well... I mean, I'm not going to say no..." stammered David as he began blushing just as red as Letoile, "... but I'm a gentleman! ... Granted, a gentleman with a slight gambling addiction... but I'd never force myself on the opposite sex without the lady's permission!"

Letoile nods rapidly, causing Cissonius to look towards Salim for clarifications.

"... He's not wrong," he pointed out. "That's actually a common practice between nobility and the upper class. Granted, you have legal immunity of forcing yourself on lower class women or men given that they have no legal defense besides 'put it up and shut up,' but nobles violating other nobles is indeed a cause for scandal, and possible stripping of the noble title if said case becomes that egregious."

"... Huh," the half-elf blinked. "... And I thought ye were just some spoiled fop."

"Look, ever since my family entered into the noble class, my father practically drilled all of the noblemen etiquette into my bones at every waking moment," Salim pointed out. "I was supposed to get into a Magic Knight Squad that is majority noble, make connections with my eventual peers, find a spouse, and secure our prosperity. But some [Platinum Magic] user humiliated publicly during the Magic Knights Exam, my whole family was implicated in arms trafficking scandal related to the Purple Orcas, and since then, I've been on parole with Captain Nozel himself as my parole officer!"

"... Yeah, that sounds like a special kind of hell," David semi-smirked, both laughing and pitying at his misfortune. "... The ironic kind."

"One step out of line, and the Captain castrates me," the pitiful Silver Eagle testified. "Both literally, and publicly."

"Not that it matters given that you have a criminal record," Letoile pointed out. "I doubt any noble would want you as a part of their will."

The four then share a mirthless laughter before falling back into silence. "... I feel better."

"Me too," Letoile agreed. "My head doesn't hurt as badly as before."

"I think de best way to keep our wits up is to find ways to unwound our tension," Cissonius remarked.

"Yeah," nodded Salim. "... Suddenly, I don't feel as scared of this place as before."

David nods before slapping both of his cheeks to get the warm blood flowing into his face. "Alright, let's bounce!"

The four continue on in restored spirits until they reach a clearing.

"Hey, is that another person-?!" Salim remarked before realizing who he was pointing at. "... Oh, that fucker."

Lying on top of a bush propped at the center of the clearing was none other than Jericho himself.

"... Okay, so the three of us end up treed and he gets lucky and lands on a soft, pillowy bush," David commented. "... That's not fair at all."

"I'm just glad we're actually finding people," Letoile commented. "Imagine if we ended up running into an unfamiliar face."

"Well, what are we waiting for?" David remarked as he approached the bush where Jericho was laid upon. "Let's wake him up-"

"WAIT!" Cissonius warned as he realized what the "bush" was. "IT'S A TRAP-!"

Just before he can reach out towards him, the bush then spouts out a pair of arms and legs made of vine and roots as Jericho himself was then absorbed into the bush, with his upper torso acting as the humanoid plant creature's "head," as indicated when Jericho's eyes were opened, only that they were now glowing in a sickeningly-ghastly green.

"WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT THING?!" Salim cried out as everyone readied themselves for battle.

"Shite, I thought those things were extinct!" Cissonius remarked as he put on his [Greim] gloves. "Careful! Dat thin's a [Fear Gorta]!"

"That a fanciful way of saying 'murderous grass monster'?" asked Letoile.

"Worse den dat," affirmed the half-elf. "Dat fucker uses its victims as fuel to gain the ability to walk around! If we don't stop 'im, den Jerry-boyo's gunna end up as a dead husk!"

"Wait," David realized what was about to happen next. "... Did you say 'fuel'?"

The next moment, the [Fear Gorta]'s arms were now encased in a pair of Jericho's [Stardust Knuckles] before the vine arms whipped them around itself like a pair of weighted flails. Everyone dodged the whiplashes from the [Fear Gorta] before it then used its host's grimoire to call forth [Highway Star] and taking off elsewhere with the motorized construct.

"He's getting away!" David cried out.

"Not from me," Letoile then plants a remote tracker onto the fleeing with her [Compass Magic]. "It won't get far, so let's move!"

The group then gave chase to the freewheeling [Fear Gorta] using Jericho as a battery and plans to use him until he completely dried up.

Back Underneath the Dead Zone...

"... You've been to Hell before?!" Corrin pointed out. "Killing Demons down there before all of this?!"

"Lucky," pouted Vanica.

"I know, it's weird, but me being surrounded by Demons from all sides with nothing but the clothes on my back and [Durandal] in my hands..." Roland testified as his eyes widened and bulged, "... well, explains why I like being constantly naked and my sword ended up being cursed as fuck in the first place."

Rinaldo nodded in agreement. "... Well, that nearly... explains everything," he pointed out. "No one, and I mean, no one, not even the holiest of Angels above, can survive and come out of Hell completely sane. I assume that amnesia of yours is your brain's attempt of blocking out that traumatic experience?"

"Might be?" he remarked. "... What's weirder still is that my memories of Hell didn't start with a calm. No, it started in the middle of the carnage and just cut off before it could end. Couldn't be the fact that I was knocked out from behind, given that I'm still here."

"Wait, so your memories start in the middle rather than any discernible beginning?" asked Brigid.

"Seems like it," answered the nude Paladin. "All of it feels like I've been dropped into a middle of a battlefield and it just kept going from there. Like I was asleep until reaching the 'middle' of a sequence."

"Wait, Ogmios," Corrin then looked towards the magenta-haired man. "... You have [Memory Magic], right? Can't you like use it to dig up his lost memories or something?"

"Normally, that'd be the case," he replied, "but during our stay here, I tried but it's exactly as both he and Brigid described it as such: there are only like broken-off sequences of random events with little to no continuity between each other floating around like islands drift in an infinite black sea of retrograde amnesia. Simply put, the man's head is a mess."

"... That bad huh?" Corrin remarked.

"Yeah," Roland nodded before he turned towards Vanica. "With that said though, what's your story and how did you end up as a brat?"

"Yeah, I kinda miss my old bod," she remarked. "Our place got shot up to shit about 15 years ago and it took that long until we woke up in our backup bodies hidden inside a bog in the middle of Ulster."

"And correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't there supposed to be three of you?" asked Rinaldo.

"Yeah, Dante ditched us and stole all of our shit while no one was looking, grimoires included," Vanica confessed, causing both Paladins to glare at Ogmios and Brigid.

"Eh, he's not my problem anymore," he replied. "As far as I'm concerned, he was just some stupid kid about die stupidly."

"We'll hold you to that as soon as we confirm of his corpse," Roland threatened before looking at Vancia. "As for you and your brother, you better hope that you guys die here before we get out of here. For now, I'm letting the two of you live because we literally cannot afford to lose more eyes and ears in a place like this and to ensure that you don't try anything funny. Consider that my charity."

"Eh, bring it," Vancia flipped him off. "I'm going to die on my own terms, and I ain't planning to die until we reach this Dungeon's boss!"

"Well, get comfortable," Corrin remarked as she looked outside. "... This place is freaking huge, and correct me if I'm wrong, but I think I might be hallucinating when I see someone riding on a pig's back-"

"Wait, PIG?!" both Ogmios and Brigid climbed over the [Magnet Magic] user and spotted a long-haired figure riding atop of a regular pig's back.

It was Aengus riding atop of Moccus' back, and behind them were a pursing horde of [Treants] trying to murder them.

Without saying a word, the two Ulsterians jump in to save their fellow and pet-friend with everyone following suit.

"AH! OGMIOS! BRIGID!" the white-haired girl cried out as Moccus kept running for his life while carrying her on his back. "EVERYONE! SAVE US!"

One of the [Treants] then pick up one of their own before throwing it towards her. But before it could crush her and the talking pig underneath its bulk, it was then cut apart into splinters by Roland's [Durandal].

"WHY IS HE NAKED?!" Moccus commented as he kept running. "ALSO, WHY AM I SURPRISED BY THAT OF ALL THINGS AFTER ALL THE SHIT I'VE SEEN?!"

"THANK ME LATER! GONNA FIGHT NOW!" Roland then belts out a cackle as he then proceeds to solo the [Treant] horde.

As soon as the girl reaches her fellow two tavern-workers, Aengus falls into their arms before Moccus plops onto his stomach in exhaustion. "... Next time..." the pig huffed, "... lay off on the cake."

"Thanks for saving me regardless," Aengus remarked before looking at the two kids. "Oh and you two, are you alright?"

Zenon yawns as he was carried by Vancia out of the Mana Dead Zone. "... Could be better," he commented as a severed upper half of a dead [Treant] crashed next to them. "Case in point."

"Quick question, but how long has it been since you were awake?" asked Vanica.

"Just now-ish," Aengus answered. "Thankfully, Moccus was nearby when we found ourselves chased by those horrible trees. We've been running ever since."

"Done!" Roland declared as he finished off the last tree monster with his [Durandal] planted into its head. "So, who's the girl?"

"Aengus, our bar girl," answered Brigid. "She also knows, and she is so pure that even the Zogratis clan can't pollute her."

"Seconded," Vanica clutched her chest in pain. "... Keep me away from her, or I'll die from her innocence!"

Roland and Rinaldo smirk together. "Aengus, you're in charge of the kids."

"Yay!" the white-haired girl then glomps the two in her arms. "... But wasn't there a third?"

"He's dead to me," Zenon deadpanned as the group now added two additional members into the pack.

With the ambush sorted out, the group then sets out towards one direction, with Corrin's magnetized nail acting as their compass.

"So uh, quick question," asked Corrin. "How did you two end up running into [Treants]?"

"I kinda assumed that they were just regular trees," she answered. "... Just... smaller than the ones that are around us."

Corrin looked at the two Ulsterians for answers.

"... Yeah, she's a bit sheltered," Ogmios remarked. "Dagda rarely lets her go outside of the tavern."

"I for one do not want to witness him freaking out, inevitable as it may sound now," sighed Brigid. "... The best we can do now is to make sure that she doesn't end up hurt by the time we find him."

"She's talking to you tykes," Roland pointed out.

Vanica was already foaming at the mouth while being overexposed to Aengus' innocent presence akin to that of an Angel. Zenon was doing his best to wipe away the bile dripping from his sister's lips lest she choked.

"... Nevermind," Rinaldo shrugged. "You know, if things work out, maybe we don't have to kill those brats and instead subject them to a fate worse than death ala her."

"I guess," the nudist shrugged before glancing at the white-haired girl. "... Although something about her feels... familiar."

Before he can mull any further, Corrin then stops before hiding behind a tree. "Everyone, hide!"

They follow, with them now peeking behind their cover to spot numerous [Treants] all gathering towards one place.

"I can take em," Roland grinned as he drew his [Durandal].

"Wait," she objected. "... Usually, [Treants] don't show unless there's someone else around here, right?"

"Clearly, it's not coming after us," Brigid pointed out. "... Meaning they're already onto someone else."

Ogmios closes his eyes to see if he can pick up another consciousness from afar. "... I got a hit!" he confirmed. "I also detect high amounts of movement! Whoever it is, he or she must be fighting another commander-like monster!"

"Like the [Alraune]?" Rinaldo pointed out.

"Must be," Ogmios pointed out as he looked towards the [Treants]. "And I get the feeling those guys aren't acting as marauders, but like some sort of wall penning something inside."

"Alright, then here's the plan," proposed Corrin. "Roland will break through the enemy lines while everyone else tries to head to the center. Given how busted he is, I think he can solo about a hundred [Treants] tops."

"Just leave that worry to me," Roland reassured. "Focus on what you guys can do."

"Up for one more run, Moccus?" asked Aengus.

"You better feed me like a king after we're done!" the pig replied as the girl and the two kids got onto his back.

"Alright," Brigid remarked as she then readied her Relic. "I'll ready the opening barrage. Rest of you, to your positions!"

Brigid then flowing her mana into her [Anbhair] to ready her compound [Anima Magic] spell while Ogmios then used his [Memory Magic] to link up everyone's minds together for better coordination. "Alright, everyone, synchronize your timers," he ordered as their linked minds all clocked at the same time. "And best of luck. Because this time, I get the feeling that whatever's put someone there, they really don't want it getting out."

Everyone nods as soon as Brigid finishes her spell. "Commencing opening barrage," she declared as the artificial magical spirit then began putting her constructed spell into action. "[Water] as basis, [Earth] as structure, and [Wind] as catalyst."

Above the line of [Treants], an array of icicles each the size of a grain silo formed out the air before every last one of them fell towards the tree monsters, crushing them all underneath the frozen spikes before the felled ice then explodes into a cluster of icy vapors that froze everything that it touched.

"[Anima Magic: Jotenheimr]," she declared. "Okay. Now run, and don't slip."

Everyone then breaks into a sprint through the breach as the other [Treants] were then alerted of their compromised formation and began closing in on the gap formed.

"Leave them to me!" Roland then stopped his running to face the coming horde. "REST OF YOU, GO!"

As Roland then began swinging his [Durandal] through the shambling mob of murderous trees, the remaining six then spots a clearing up ahead and run faster towards it.

"Everyone, grab onto me!" Corrin remarked as she then shot another nail towards the clearing before using her compass nail as a tether.

Everyone then huddles themselves onto her back as the two nails then linked magnetically.

"[Magnet Magic]!" Corrin chanted as they were then slung towards the clearing up ahead as the two magnetized nails become attracted towards each other, "[Float Dial]!"

Everyone then flew into the clearing, landing right in the middle of the open land as a pile of bodies and right below Patry and the plant-goat man's midair clash.

"What the fuck was that?!" Corrin cried out before realizing who she was seeing. "Captain?!"

"Oh come on, I was being sarcastic when I said this place makes dreams come true!" Ogmios cried out. "Everyone, we got a [Barometz] in the midst!"

"Explain," Zenon requested.

"Think of them as plant-goat man who has the ability to copy anyone's magic as long as they have a working catalyst," he explained, "although weirder still, there are some speculations that they're possibly related to the recently-extinct [Spriggans]... but [Barometz] are also equally rare, meaning that that there isn't much concrete proof of that being the case."

As Aengus scrambled back up, her hand then feels a bulge on the ground before grabbing it and picking up a thick and waxy vine. "... What is this thing?"

"UNPLUG THAT THING!" Patry cried out as his [Mana Weapon] clashed against the [Barometz]'s [Light Sword of Judgement], the latter noticing that the other now had her hands on its weak point.

But just as it could stop her from doing so, Patry intercepts the plant-beast man as the others got his message and began tugging on the vine connected into the ground.

The [Barometz] began to panic upon seeing that it was now being attacked on two fronts, now choosing to prevent its connection from its vine fueling it from disconnecting. Patry however, intercepts the plant beast's attempt with his own light-speed.

"Sorry," the elven boy faux-apologized before he continued his turnaround attack, "but you're stuck with me."

Having no other options, the [Barometz] then lets out a droning bleat and belching out a cloud of pheromones from its "mouth" to call forth the surrounding [Treants] to come aid it. From the thickets, several [Treants] that broke off from Roland's deadlock then emerged into the clearing.

"Of course, simply unplugging the boss's weak point would be too easy," sighed Brigid as she readied her Relic. "Ogmios, mind helping me out?"

"Form a defensive perimeter," he suggested as he spooled out his Relic, [Ionróir], for battle. "Rinaldo, mind if you provide assistance?"

The Paladin nods as he transformed his [Froberge] into a rectangular greatsword blade. "Hold the line!"

The [Treants] stampeded towards the center of the clearing with Patry keeping the [Barometz] long enough for the latter's power to be disconnected.

To Be Continued...

Author's Notes: I think I'm slowly getting my mojo back when it comes to my writing, but given that my younger brother is starting his third year, and I'm practically no longer required further schooling, I think the mental hangup holding me back is slowly going away.

Anyway this forest of death is nowhere near done tormenting all those who are trapped in here with its deadly inhabitants and mind-boggling topography that are fucking with the people's perceptions of time. One more group of people are gathered together and give that I'm running out of plant-related creatures that I can pull from mythologies and literature (I'll only resort to Little Shop of Horrors as a last resort), so if anyone has another plant-related monster or creature I can pull from, please leave the suggestions in the comments.

Here are the ones that I've already used:

- Treants

- Alraune

- Jabberwocky

- Fear Gorta/Hungry Grass (see "References" below for further elaboration)

- Barometz

As for the OC parents of Fuegoleon and Nozel, here's the quick rundown (given that they're nominal to the greater plot at best):

- Leonard Vermillion is a man loyal to the crown first and the people second. He's kinda like the "Camus" archetype from the Fire Emblem franchise, only taken to its logical conclusion, sort of a "Noble Demon" character who tries to do the best he can in a position that does anything but good. While he's aware of what he's done is wrong, he gets peer-pressured easily as long as they use the whole "king's orders" clause on him. Post-mortem, he's basically becomes the epitome of 'Evil Parents Want Good Kids" trope, raising his three children to be the hard-ass badasses that they are to this day, and have them succeed where he failed to do so.

- Baptiste Silva is such a "Knight Templar" that would make Damnatio Kira blush in envy. The man is a hardcore conservative, promoting the status quo above all else and has no issues doing the Royal Family's dirty laundry if it meant keeping (his definition of) peace. However, draconian as the man is, he's a genuine believer in the status quo, and while he may have every incentive to take advantage of it, he chooses not to and is perfectly content being the King's hatchet-man, and covertly looks down at the nobles picking on the weak solely because they can. However, this little "principle" make him a very socially awkward man who cannot talk to people without being formal and business-like, bordering cold-blooded to the point where the people are right about him; he's genuinely cold-blooded bordering as a high-functioning sociopath. He only married Acier solely out of political reasons, and while their marriage was stable (bordering stagnant; a miracle on how he ended up having four kids, mostly likely out of obligation), he did not exactly cry at her funeral, nor did he bother raising his own kids before and after her death.

As for the further revealed backstories, they consist of two semi-nightmare fuels and one semi-comedic.

NGL, I kinda ship Letoile and David together due to their "Straight Man and Wise Guy" dynamic I kinda see them having. And the fact that they're always seen together kinda helps. Cissonius asking when are they going to fuck is me putting on my shipping goggles.

As for Roland's case, him being in Hell is meant to explain the visions of Fanzell saw when he first got a hold of [Durandal] and went on a literal blind blood rage, and why Roland is so mentally broken in the first place. Saying that his brain is a mess is sugar-coating it. Roland's brain is broken in two. More memories will be restored as time goes on in this arc.

And for Rinaldo/Renault Montalban, the guy's just as mentally broken as Roland, but he's mostly healed and moved on. Not that it stops him from enjoying schadenfreude from Corrin's torment of her own mother being complicit in what can be described as a legally-sanctioned mass-lynching. But, like he said, he'll take whatever victory that comes his way. No need to rub it into Corrin's face any further when there are bigger issues going on. That, and well, he doesn't have the complete story, but that is a symptom to a greater ill, that being the utter lack of information regarding the White Serpent's purge, and while he did have eyewitness testimony, him being heavily biased and traumatized by the incident doesn't make him a completely valid (but still valid) narrator.

With all that said, here are the groups shown so far:

- Group A (fighting the [Barometz]): Corrin, Ogmios, Brigid, Roland, Rinaldo (formerly Renault Montalban), Zenon, Vancia, Aengus, Moccus, and Patry (in William's body, the original owner's soul being no longer present).

- Group B (chasing after the [Fear Gorta]): David, Letoile, Cissnonius, Salim, and Jericho (currently held hostage by said [Fear Gorta]).

References:

- The previous Captains of the Magic Knights Squads of Crimson Lion Kings and the Silver Eagles, Leonard Vermillion and Baptiste Silva respectively, has their names built off of their own family's theme naming. The name Leonard means "Lion-Strength" or "lion-hearted," with mixed origins coming from Greek and German, while also sharing the "Leo" name with his children (Fuegoleon, Meroleona, and Leopold). Baptiste means "one who washes" or "baptizer" in French, going off his three oldest children's names being water-adjacent (Nozel means "liquid" in Hebrew, Nebra means "lord of the sun" in archaic Egyptian text, possibly being related to the Pharaoh's divine right to rule/the sun being a giant ball of glowing gas, and Solid... means solid, like ice being solid water), and the French naming convention that he shares with his canon wife, Acier (her name being "steel" in French).

- Leonard Vermilion's title of "Bloody Roar" is both a reference to an old PlayStation fighting game series with the same name and alludes to his nature as the Vermillion siblings' evil/less moral predecessor.

- Gueldre Polzot's title of "Invisible Hand" references to both his [Transparency Magic]/turning invisible and making invisible shit, and his greedy war-profiteering inclinations referencing the "Invisible Hand" of Capitalism.

- Rinaldo/Renault Montalban's adoption into Bradamante's family is a reference to the original "Matter of France," where they're actual siblings. Also, his "three other brothers" are references to Rinaldo's brothers, Alardo, Ricciardetto, and Guidon.

- Roland's self-description as "mush" is a reference to King of the Hill, when Hank described Bobby as a "pile of mush" to Cotton during his attempted breaking of the boy, genuinely impressing the old man, who then cites that "If he were at the POW camp, he would've driven those Tojos crazy!"

- Cissonius' personal Relic, [Greim], means "bite", "hold", "foothold", etc. in Gaelic. Design-wise, I kinda had Paldea's Elite Fours' uniform gloves from Pokemon Scarlet and Violet in mind.

- The [Fear Gorta]/the "Hungry Grass" is from Gaelic mythology, where its a cursed patch of grass where whoever treads upon it are doomed perpetual and insatiable hunger, which said folklore was brought back in full prominence during Ireland's 19th century's Great Potato Famine (1845-52). Design-wise, I kinda had Dark Souls' Mimic enemy in mind of its functions, with the anatomy and behavior lifted from Majora's Incarnation from The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask.

- Brigid's [Jotunheimr] spell is named after the Norse Realm of Giants/Jotuns.

- Corrin's [Float Dial] spell is named after Maaya Awatsuki's Level 3 Esper Ability from A Certain Magical Index.

- The [Barometz] (aka, the Vegetable Lamb of Tartary) is a fictional zoophyte (basically plant-animal hybrid-cryptid) from Central Asia (and what was a cotton plant was assumed to be before the Norman Conquest of Sicily), who is described as a sheep-like creature that grew out of a plant as a fruit and connected via its umbilical cord, which when severed, both the plant and the animal will die. Design-wise, the cord's placement came from the EVA units' Umbilical Cables from Neon Genesis Evangelion.

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