Coco: Hey, guys, been a while...I'm sorry. As we all know by now, I am completely unreliable when it comes to keeping a posting schedule. Though within that time since I've been away, I feel like I've gotten quite a bit done at least.
I rewrote my SDS story...every chapter (still working on MHA)
I've got the first three chapters for my Black Bulter Story ready as it's what won the poll...or it was winning the last time I checked.
I've got a new chapter for my One Piece story.
Still working on my other new stuff and the existing stories almost have new chapters ready to post!
But I'm still...so so sorry for making you guys wait so long as always.
Now, without further ado, let's get this chapter for Black Clover started!
Finral gasped putting an arm up to shield his face as the wind hit the vines and caused a large gust of black lash. Despite the harsh gale, Maryam didn't budge as she sent the vines away after the man's spell dispersed.
"My turn," Maryam said. "Plant Creation Magic: Blazing Tulip."
Finral eye's widened the familiar form of Blazy grew from the ground. However, the plant was ten times the size it was from when he first laid eyes on it during the Magic Knight Exams. It towered behind Maryam with fire licking out between its lip-shaped petals.
"Blazy, I believe its time to release all that magic power." Maryam said then addressed Fenris and his men. "Try this on for size. Blazing Tulip: Raining Fire."
The plant puckered its petals before letting out rapid shots of what looked like burning molten rocks. The wind mage tried to use air to blast the projectiles away, but they were too heavy for the wind to be carried off course. He cried out being hit head on as was another mage. When impacted the shots exploded sending chunks of earth into the air. Smoke covered the air making it impossible for anyone to see if the other shots were hitting their targets. By the time the rain of fiery rocks ended, Blazy was back to its original size; barely standing as tall as Maryam's knee.
"Is…is it over?" Finral wondered.
It was still hard to tell what happened due to all the smoke. Also, he found it hard to sense their opponents' mana. Maryam narrowed her eyes remaining at the ready as she knew things couldn't have been that easy. Her eyes then zeroed in on the shards of earth that came flying from the smoke. She reacted quickly while flipping backwards. She performed several summersaults to dodge the attack, but it wasn't enough as when she landed a few shards sliced against her abdomen and her arms when she brought them up to try and protect her face. She then grunted when a shard ended up in her thigh.
"Maryam!" Finral called out in concern.
Maryam frowned dropping her arms as the smoke finally cleared to reveal her attack had only taken out two of the mages. She then sighed as Blazy disappeared from her side.
"You guys are tougher than I thought." Maryam said as her grimoire started flipping more pages.
Finral looked at her in shock at how calm she was acting considering she had a shard of debris as big around as his arm sticking in her thigh.
"Are you starting to realize you're outmatched yet girl?" Fenris questioned as he dismounted his horse. "Though I must admit you have more magic power than I expected. You took down two of my men with one spell."
Maryam gave a modest shrug as she pulled the shard from her leg, which of course, made more blood flow out of the wound. However, it wasn't long before white roses started to bloom in the wound. A small trail of them also appeared in the cuts along her body. Though as they bloomed white, the petals started slowly turning red.
"A recovery spell?" Fenris guessed.
"No," Maryam said. "More like a, stop me from bleeding out thing. However, it's only a temporary fix, so how about we keep this fight going, huh?"
As soon as the words left her mouth, the earth mage stepped forward. Finral gulped taking in the man's huge size. He had to be the biggest guy of the group.
"I think you'll find me much harder to deal with, little girl." He sneered. "But don't worry, I'll try to end things quickly for you."
Maryam only grinned in return, which had Finral once again wondering how she could be so calm. He remembers her saying she's had the chance to train two years with her magic before becoming a Magic Knight. However, he doubted that she's ever fought in an actual battle before. Especially against people with years of experience on her. So, he couldn't understand how she remained so cool under the circumstances. Finral came out of his thoughts with a flinch when the earth next to Maryam exploded.
As the rubble flew into the air making it impossible to see where she was, Finral acted on instinct by opening portals to prevent the debris from hitting the town and its citizens. He used the portals to redirect the attack at their opponents by opening new portals over their heads to let the rock fall on top of them. However, the rock was blasted away by fire from the man standing next to Fenris.
"Looks like the other little bull wants to play," the fire mage cackled. "And here I thought he was going to make that tiny girl do all the work while he hides like a coward."
Finral didn't think it was possible to flinch in shame and pale in fear at the same time until then as the man's words hit him hard. Said man then grunted when a small, stray rock hit him smack in the forehead.
"Watch what you say about my superior." Maryam's voice came from above. "After all, how am I supposed to get any experience in the field if he just takes care of you idiots all by himself?"
Finral and the others looked up seeing a grinning Maryam had moved to the top of one of the buildings lining the street. She wasn't alone either as large, bright golden flowers that resembled beehives grew around her. The flowers were making buzzing noises as the petals seemed to shift and move as if something inside of them were alive. Maryam's grin then turned a bit scary as she tilted her head and stared down at Fenris and his remaining men.
"Plant Magic: Dancing Honeybees." Maryam said with a giggle.
In that second, the petals on the flowers flew off from the rest of the plant. And flew off was the correct was to describe it as the petals seemed to be bees. Or at least they looked like bees with their bodies made of flower petals. These bees were about the size of a small dog with long pointed, clear stingers and piercing red, hexagon-patterned eyes.
They moved erratically, which made it near impossible for anyone to track their movements as they swarmed towards the remaining five mages. The Fire mage tried to blast them down with fireballs, but that's when Blazy sprouted from the ground. The red, lip-shaped plant sucked down the fire magic thus growing in size. And as Blazy grew, its vines shot out to wrap around the fire mage who shouted in surprise.
This surprise attack gave the petal bees time to reach their targets who didn't have time to put up any kind of magic barrier to protect themselves. The earth mage cried out when one of the bees' stingers pierced his neck. The stinger turned red as two other bees pierced the mage.
The man's body started to shrivel and once they were done, the bees dropped the mage before returning to the base plant. The others were stopped from attacking as Fenris's remaining goons sent lightning-based attacks at them. Some were hit and fell to the ground twitching and unresponsive.
"What is with this girl's magic?!" The fire mage shouted as he tried shooting more fireballs at Blazy to make the plant let go.
Of course, it had the opposite effect as Blazy ate up all the fire sent its way. The size the plant lost at the beginning of the fight was quickly being gained back.
"These plants…I've only heard of plants like this being found in strong magic regions." Fenris said as he easily kept the bees at bay with a cloak of darkness wrapped around him. "Plants that grew to be sentinel and hungry for magic and for blood. To think a young girl like her could control such monstrous flora. It's too bad we'll have to snuff her out. I'm sure the master would have been interested in meeting her."
Maryam frowned at the mention of this 'master' as she jumped down from the building. Finral frowned in confusion as well as he kept using his magic to keep the any wayward magic from hitting the buildings and citizens.
'So, this guy isn't in charge?' He and Maryam thought in unison.
Made them wonder if there was something bigger behind Fenris's raids on this village. Maryam then rolled out of the way when one of the lightning mages fired a bolt at her. She landed in a crouch while ending her first spell, which had all the petal bees returning to their plants before disappearing back within her grimoire. She snapped her fingers next, which had Blazy shooting out a large torrent of fire at close range on the remaining mages. Fenris managed to dodge as his men were taken out.
Once the attack finished Blazy disappeared as well. A moment of silence fell over the battlefield as Maryam remained crouched on the ground. She panted slightly as a sense of fatigue washed over her. She hasn't had to use her different spells in such rapid succession before. It was taking more out of her than she thought it would.
"Looks like you're finally reaching your limit, little girl." Fenris said as he stepped over the forms of his defeated underlings. "You should proud of yourself. You might be young and inexperienced, but you managed to take down my best men."
Maryam frowned not feeling complimented at all. She felt like he was treating her like a dog who did a cute trick. She stood to her feet while wondering how things were going to go now. She didn't have much magic power left and she could tell by sensing his mana that Fenris was in a whole different league than those other men. She also didn't have any spells that would give her an advantage over his dark magic.
'He's right,' Finral thought as he noticed how tired Maryam looked. 'She can't go on much longer. What are we going to do?'
Maybe he could send Fenris away. But that wouldn't solve things. He'd cause trouble wherever Finral sent him. And if he isn't stopped now, he'd just come back and keep tormenting these poor villagers.
'I have to help somehow…right?' Finral thought as he crouched down behind some crates. 'But that guy is on another level than us…not to mention scary…'
But if he didn't help, Maryam would be seriously hurt or worse. Of course, helping her might not change anything. Things were seeming pretty bleak all around if he was being honest.
"In the words of my younger brother Asta, I'm not done yet," Maryam said causing Finral's eyes to widen.
Finral peeked over the crates to see Maryam smiling serenely without an ounce of worry on her face.
"I still have a few tricks up my sleeve." Maryam said. "Besides, I refuse to lose here. These people need me to stop you, so they can go back to living in peace. I'm not going to fail them because as a Magic Knight it is my job to ensure their safety and their happiness."
She said this while placing her hand over the Black Bull insignia on her robe.
"Throw whatever you've got at me, Fenris." Maryam said as her grimoire started turning its pages once more. "It's not going to break me."
Fenris smirked at her words as his own grimoire opened and started to glow a sinister inky color.
"Just remember that you asked for it, girl." Fenris said. "Shadow Magic: Sable Sickles!"
Blades made of his own shadow out towards Maryam who shifted on her feet ready to move. However, she needn't worry about dodging as one of Finral's portals opened below her. She gasped falling through before dropping next to Finral. She stumbled into him not expecting the fall, which had him putting out his hand to steady her. She looked at him in surprise as his hand clenched around her shoulder.
"Listen, you can't be so reckless." He told her. "It's obvious you're low on magic power."
Maryam frowned knowing that was true, but it wasn't like she could run away. She couldn't abandon these people, which would allow Fenris to continue being cruel to them. She then blinked when noticing how Finral was shaking.
"But I can also see you're not going to just give up." Finral said then gulped. "So…I came up with a plan. Not one I like mind you, but I can at least buy you some time to rest and wait for an opening to strike."
Before Maryam could ask him what he had in mind, the two were knocked back by an attack that came crashing through the crates they were hiding behind. They flew back into the wall causing them both to grunt in pain when the air was temporarily knocked out of them. They looked up as Fenris started to approach.
"Don't tell me after that speech about defeating me that you're going to run away, Maryam of the Black Bulls." Fenris said. "Or maybe your superior is actually ready to take the battlefield and not cower in the background."
Maryam went to get to her feet and continue the fight, but Finral grabbing her arm made her stop. He shook his head at her and despite still shaking in fear, he stood up and moved in front of her. Fenris smirked when seeing this.
"Well then, let's see what you got, boy." Fenris goaded as he motioned Finral forward.
Finral took a deep breath before moving forward on shaky feet to put some distance between himself and Maryam and the buildings. He'd have to use all his concentration not on dying for the next few minutes, so he couldn't worry about covering for them.
'How did I even get in this stupid mess?' Finral inwardly grumbled. 'Oh yeah, it was Yami's fault. I'm probably going to die here because of him!'
Back at the hideout, Yami sneezed loudly into his newspaper. He frowned seeing he covered the pages in snot. Grumbling, he closed the paper and tossed it in the trashcan beside him.
"That was a pretty big sneeze there, Captain." Vanessa said. "Someone must be talking about you."
She said this with a chuckle before knocking back some of the wine she had brought from the kitchen.
"Probably one of those losers away on missions," Yami snorted.
His money was Finral considering how much the spatial mage hadn't wanted to go on his and Maryam's mission. But he was the best choice for Maryam's first mission. If he had sent Gauche for example, he and Maryam would have only fought. Vanessa was too hung over to go on a mission. Of course, Noelle and Asta couldn't have been Maryam's backup since they were just as new.
Charmy would just have been interested in eating and had been no help. Luck would have caused only more trouble making him a bad partner for a first mission. He also would have taken on the bandits alone, which meant Maryam would have gotten zero experience. Then Magna was going with him at the time, so he had been out of the question. As for Gordon and Grey, well…
Yami glanced over at said two as Gordon was mumbling to himself and Grey was staring forward at nothing and blowing out smoke as always. He didn't pick them for obvious reasons.
"I wonder how they're all doing." Vanessa said. "Magna's group hasn't been gone that long, but it's already way past noon and we haven't heard anything from Finral and Maryam."
"Those knuckleheads are fine." Yami said as he stood up from his chair. "Our two idiots from Hage might be new, but they're obviously not the types to give up. Too stubborn for that. They'll all be back before we know it. Because if they die and don't come back, I'll kill them myself."
Maryam watched from on top the building she had scaled as Finral faced off against Fenris. For the last few minutes, all Finral has done is use his portals to save himself from getting hit by Fenris's attacks. He either used a portal to fall through or jump through to move to another location or he tried to send Fenris's attack through a portal. But some would slip by, which resulted in Finral getting hit.
Maryam frowned wanting to jump into the fray and help, but she was trying to be patient. Finral told her he was going to buy her some time. She needed to wait for an opening as he distracted Fenris and made the man use his magic power. This would weaken him overtime, and while Finral was really hanging in there, Maryam wasn't sure if he could keep going long enough to put a large dent in Fenris's magic power.
"Is this all you can muster, boy?" Fenris mocked Finral after Finral got hit again.
The attack sent Finral to his knees. He sat on his knees panting as sweat rolled down his face. He obviously couldn't go on much longer if any longer at all.
"You haven't used a single attack spell on me since you took over the battle." Fenris continued as he walked forward. "What kind of Magic Knight doesn't know a single attack spell? You're soft, boy, and have no place on the battlefield."
Maryam's fists clenched at Fenris's insults as Finral looked down at the ground with his fists shaking against his thighs as he remained sat on the ground. He then looked up as Fenris formed a magic bullet in his hand made of his shadow magic.
"You're not even worth the spells in my grimoire." Fenris said. "It's time to end this foolishness."
However, just as he went to release to attack on Finral, vines shot out of the ground Finral. Said Magic Knight gasped in surprise as some of the familiar vines cocooned around him protectively as the others lashed out at Fenris. They wrapped around his hand that was preparing the attack to snuff out the magic before they slung him backwards. He flew right into the barrier he had put up at his arrival. The shadowy barrier cracked under the force as Fenris slid to the ground.
"I told you and your men to watch what you say about Finral." Maryam said as she jumped down from her perch to land in front of Finral. "There's nothing wrong with the fact Finral doesn't want to hurt people…even his enemies. It just shows how kind-hearted he is."
Finral looked at Maryam with wide eyes while feeling touched by her words. Though he couldn't help but feel ashamed at the same time because part of him agreed with Fenris. He was too soft for this kind of thing. He only held his squad mates back and he was supposed to be their superior.
"Me, however, I have no problem with hurting you." Maryam said bluntly to Fenris who slowly stood back up.
Fenris blinked when a shadow fell over him, which had him looking up to see Blazy, who was still juiced up from devouring all that fire from earlier, towering behind him. Blazy's pelts opened to reveal its fiery center. Fenris cursed throwing a hasty, shadowy shield around him just as Blazy let out a blast of fire. The attack poured down on him at even more extreme temperatures than before and due to the intensity of the flames, his shield started to crack.
It shattered completely leaving Fenris to take the blunt force of the attack without any protection. He screamed out in pain as his skin was burned by the hungry flames. The flames were so bright Finral and Maryam had to shield their eyes until the fire finally died away. When they looked back Fenris was laid out on the ground looking like a lump of charcoal. The only indication he was alive was the fact he was breathing raggedly. Beside him, Blazy was back to its tiny size and twisting and swaying its petals around as if it was celebrating its victory.
"Is…is it really over?" Finral questioned as the barrier Fenris put up earlier went away.
"Yeah, it is." Maryam said as she clapped him on the shoulder. "And it looks like my question from earlier has been answered."
Finral, who stood up on his feet, looked at her in confusion as she grinned at him widely.
"One Maryam wasn't strong enough to beat Fenris and his men on her own," Maryam elaborated. "She needed help from a friend. Thanks for the assist, Finral."
Finral blinked almost not believing his ears when she gave him the compliment. He was still shocked he had even stepped into the fight to begin with. He had been scared out of his mind the entire time.
"I wasn't that much help." Finral said scratching the back of his head.
He then winced when Maryam punched him in the arm and rather hard to boot.
"Hey, watch what you say about yourself." Maryam said. "You helped a lot. If you hadn't stepped in to help when you did, Fenris might have finished me off once I completely ran out of juice. You stepping in is what gave me the chance to recover and together we took him down."
She pointed over to Fenris who was still laid out on the ground and didn't look like he was moving anytime soon.
"Anyway, let's get these guys tied up and back to the capital, so we can get answers." Maryam said as the villagers were starting to come out from hiding. "Preferably before Blazy tries to finish eating one of them."
Finral looked over at said plant to see it trying to fit the fire mage's leg in its mouth. He sweat-dropped at the sight.
'Maryam's magic is so weird.' He thought.
He then stiffened when he felt a spike in magic power. He didn't see a threat, but he felt it coming as he grabbed a hold of Maryam.
"Watch out!" He called out. "Everyone, move back!"
He dived out of the way taking Maryam with him. They hit the ground just as a blinding light enveloped the area. Maryam covered her eyes unable to handle the brightness. It was only there for a second, and when the light disappeared, Maryam and Finral sat up to see Fenris and his men were gone with it. The only indication they had been there at all was the fact Blazy was left chewing on a boot that must have come off the fire mage.
"What…what the heck just happened?" Maryam questioned.
Maryam yawned to herself causing tears to collect in her eyes as she came into the living room back at the hideout. After things ended with Fenris and his men getting away, Maryam and Finral returned to base. They gave their report to Yami who in return turned it in to the group in the capital who handled investigations. After that Vanessa helped see to hers and Finral's injuries before Maryam finally got to take a bath.
Now that she was clean and refreshed, she had planned to go to bed. However, she had heard a racket coming from downstairs, which is why she was entering the living room now and not her bedroom.
"Why is it so noisy down here?" Maryam asked as she rubbed at her right eye to rid it of tears.
She then paused when she felt a pressure on the top of her head, which had her reaching up. Her fingertips brushed against soft feathers and whatever she touched shifted a bit from being poked.
"Hey, stupid bird! Leave Mary alone!" A familiar voice shouted.
Maryam turned her head seeing Asta was standing in front of Yami, who was standing in front of a large hole in the wall, with Noelle and Magna on either side of him. Finral and Vanessa were there as well. While Maryam couldn't see said bird, the creature just stared blankly at Asta as it nestled further into Maryam's hair.
"Why you!" Asta growled.
Maryam just chuckled while deciding to brush off the fact she now had a bird using her head as a perch as she smiled at the three who had returned.
"Welcome back, you three." Maryam said. "I'm happy to see you all back safe and sound."
Noelle's cheeks heat up at Maryam's sincerity as she quickly looked away. Hiding her embarrassment by huffing haughtily and flipping her hair over her shoulder.
"Thanks, Mar-Bear." Magna said with a grin. "Heard you and Finral had an exciting mission too."
Maryam blinked at the nickname, but considering it didn't really bother her, she shrugged it off.
"You could say that." Maryam said as she walked over to the group.
While her injuries were mostly taken care of, her thigh still ached from where it had been stabbed.
"How was boar hunting?" She asked them.
When seeing Asta's expression dim, Maryam looked at him in worry. However, before she could ask what was wrong, Asta shook his head.
"Well, it turned out to be more exciting than originally planned." Asta said. "We ended up having to fight some enemy mages who were attacking a village. We protected the village and defeated the mages. But we still don't know what they wanted with the village to begin with."
"I see," Maryam said. "Seems like we all had an eventful day. Be sure to get plenty of sleep once you finish up, okay?"
"Right!" Asta and Magna replied.
Maryam smiled at them before reaching out to pat Noelle on top of her head causing the royal to blush.
"You too, Noelle." Maryam said.
"R-right," Noelle said.
Maryam then turned to Yami with her smile dropping as she took in the damage behind the captain.
"Captain…why's there a hole in the wall?" She asked. "You always say we need to stop breaking things, yet you seem to make the biggest mess of all."
Though the hole behind Yami answered her earlier questions on what was making so much noise when she was trying to take a relaxing bath.
"Tch, I don't need your lip, pipsqueak," Yami scoffed. "Now, listen up, since you're here now, I can finally tell everyone the good news."
Maryam tilted her head wondering what this news could be and why he waited for her to join them to mention it.
"Believe it or not, the Wizard King himself has recognized your efforts." Yami told them.
Maryam's eyes widened because this was shocking news. It was just her first mission, and the Wizard King was already paying attention. She could hardly believe it.
"The Wizard King?!" Asta exclaimed as Yami held up two gold stars.
"For your work in Saussy Village and Fisk Village, he awarded us two stars." Yami announced.
As Magna and Asta celebrated the news, Maryam smiled. She heard from Vanessa that stars were important and to receive one after just one mission had her feeling proud. Seeing that gold star was like physical proof of her grow as a mage.
"Wow, nice." Vanessa said. "Congrats, you five."
Maryam smiled at Finral who was standing there in shock at seeing that gold star. He's been part of the Black Bulls for so long, but this was the first time that he's received a star.
"So, what does the star mean?" Asta asked ending the celebration.
"You're celebrating when you don't even know?" Magna asked in disbelief.
As Vanessa and Finral explained what the stars were to Asta, Maryam took a closer look at the stars. Yami snorted at her beaming grin as he even allowed her to hold one.
"Happy, Pipsqueak?" Yami asked Maryam.
Maryam nodded as she looked up Yami with her smile growing even wider though it seemed impossible.
"I'll get even more." Maryam said. "I'll work really hard and earn more stars for the squad."
She'd be sure to help the Black Bulls gain even more stars and climb the ranks. They wouldn't be in last place forever. After they were done talking about stars, Yami gave the squad their monthly wages. Maryam wasn't sure if she could get any happier but feeling the heaviness of the yul in her hand, made her feel even lighter. She'd be sure to send most of her wages back to the church, but there were a few things she wanted to buy for the boys and herself.
'Tomorrow I'll head into town,' Maryam thought as Yami gave them tomorrow off. 'Maybe I can even take the time to visit Yuno.'
Coco: And there you have it, Maryam's first mission was a success! The next one will prove even more troublesome as she not only has to try and keep up with Luck but also deal with the stuck-up Klaus XD Yeah, they are not going to be good friends at first. I plan to have her do more missions with other members of the squad as I don't want her just following Asta around. Not saying they won't get more missions together, I just want Maryam to have some more interactions with other members of her squad and even members of other magic squads.
Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed. And until we meet again, remember to keep being your awesome selves and stay safe out there!