I do not own Black Clover or any of its characters.
Long Lost Family
Dane stared numbly at the massive, shadowy palace standing before them. On the face of it, a mass of violet magic was writhing, raging outward from a single point and forming a ball of mana with a condensed ring around it, looking something like a wagon wheel formed of violet lightning. However, as he stared at it, his impulses roared deafeningly, an unbearable and unmistakable pull trying to pull him into the magical space the palace represented the entrance to. As Dane's attention focused fully on the pull, on the urge to cast himself into the darkness, to fling himself into the waiting jaws of death, his body fell still, his sword clattering to the ground with a musical ring. Alternating waves of raging, white-hot bloodlust and icy, frigid numbness rolled through him.
"Dane!" Raya snapped, suddenly yanking him firmly back to the present.
He looked around, then transformed his right prosthetic into a tentacle to pick up his sword, then back into an arm.
"What happened to your arms?" Yami asked.
"Lost them in a fight," Dane said distractedly, staring at the palace again for a moment, then turned away, forcibly blocking its pull from his mind. "Sorry for spacing out."
Yami regarded him for a moment, as did Jack the Ripper, before sighing. "Well, the main thing is, you still haven't noticed the fight."
"Fight?" Dane frowned, looking away from the palace directly and immediately freezing.
The Raging Black Bull was battling multiple elves, even more unconscious before it, including Klaus. However, at the moment, there was a blinding, multicolored light shining from an elf in the air above the Raging Black Bull. Dane narrowed his eyes, then blinked in surprise. It was Dorothy Unsworthy, the Coral Peacocks' Captain.
"She's actually awake," Dane realized. "What kind of magic does she have?"
"Dream Magic," Yami said seriously.
Then, the top of the Raging Black Bull's body, its head and shoulders, vanished, the edge where the building remained replaced by pale pink flames. Except, as Dane and Raya both flew over to check on the others, several were missing.
"Hey, we're missing some people!" Asta shouted. "Vanessa, Magna, Luck, Charmy, Sally! What'd she do with everyone!?"
Dane's eyes went wide for a moment before fury roared in his ears. In an instant, the shadow palace at his back held no sway over him. Instead, his entire awareness focused on Dorothy. Raya shrieked in rage, enveloping Dane as a multitude of arms grew from the back of his armor. And then, he was off. He ignored a dozen massive mirrors appearing around the Raging Black Bull. Ignored the false Licht's Light Magic projectiles using the mirrors to strike from every angle in a constant storm of attacks. Instead, Dane merely emitted a deafening, monstrous, echoing roar of rage as he began to send a storm of strikes of his own at Dorothy Unsworthy. COncussive blasts of ripped-apart air, tongues of flames that bloomed into truly monstrous explosions, Raya's Pixie Dust projectiles, pointed ice shards created from the water molecules in the air as he ripped the air apart. Dorothy swerved and dodged around his endless barrage, but Dane merely roared over and over, relentlessly firing his flood of deadly attacks at her again and again. However, a moment later, the false Licht began to target Dane as well, giving Dorothy the opportunity to suddenly vanish in a flash of multicolored light. Dane roared, launching himself at Licht, only for Gauche to blast him backward, Licht taking off toward the light, as the majority of the strongest elves had. Dane flipped, smashing a mirror as it appeared beside him, then exploded after Licht. Ahead of him, Yami and Jack the Ripper launched themselves into the light, Dane a few seconds behind them.
Except, when he landed, he was alone except for Raya. He narrowed his eyes, looking around. He'd landed in a massive, round chamber shrouded in darkness. Dane couldn't see the edges of the chamber, but from what he could see, it was formed from large stones like he would expect of a palace. However, as soon as he had landed, his impulses went silent. He narrowed his eyes, and mentally instructed Raya to leave his armor. She complied, reforming beside him in her true form, and Dane retracts the excess hands in the back of his armor. Then, he sheathed his sword and dropped it off to the side, drawing his Spirit Magic Dagger instead.
"You're going to need me for this," Raya warned Dane.
"I know," Dane said. "But you'll be fighting at my side rather than in my armor. Fei, Ko, Nue."
Fei possessed Dane's armor, Ko his dagger, and Nue his prosthetic arms. His dagger transformed into a dagger formed entirely from Ko's teal flames as Nue's dark purple flames mixed with Fei's pure white flames over Dane's arms, becoming a pale purple, as the rest of his body was sheathed in brilliant white flames.
"Well?" Dane called out. "Are you going to come out, or are we just going to stand here all day?" He narrowed his eyes as there was no answer. "Get out here, Kali!"
Slowly, the shadows before them began to shift, shaping themselves into a silhouette, which then began to lighten, at least a bit, into Kali. She was slightly shorter than Raya with straight, pitch black hair falling behind her to the small of her back with the bangs parted in the middle, a pale, nearly white, face, glowing red eyes with vertical slit pupils, dark shadows under her eyes like makeup with the shadows extending down into small spikes but swirling slowly like the shadows curling from her body like smoke. Besides the makeup-like shadows under her eyes, her slim face was decorated by light, greyish lips. She wore a suit of extremely tight, form-fitting, black armor with thick pauldrons that swept out at the top and bottom into spikes, thick, metallic, layered gauntlets reaching to her elbows with clawed fingers, and thicker padding or armor on the body of the armor from her waist up to about halfway up her full, buoyant breasts that matched Raya's perfectly, probably just above her nipples. There were what looked to be a pair of small double-leaf designs growing in and outward from a pair of seams in the armor leading down her abdomen on either side about halfway between what seemed to be the connected edges of the armor in the center. The top of the armor extended up to a high collar like a choker, and around her hips was a thick, metallic belt with a large, coin-like buckle and three strips of metal around each hip, higher on the sides than in the front and back.
Hanging from either side of her belt was a thick black cloth, which hung halfway down her shins and partially hid her legs. However, as she strode forward, Dane was able to see that both legs bore tight black armor matching the top half of her body with thicker armor on her hips and outer thighs, then wrapping around to include the insides of her legs about halfway down her upper legs, leaving her inner thighs with only thin armor, though there was a panty-shaped section of armor over the axis of her thighs which matched her outer legs for armor amount. On her feet were black boots with buckled straps leading from the top of her foot to the top of the boots at her knees and two inch heels.
As she approached them, she raised her right arm away from her body slowly, shadows swarming to her hand and condensing before spreading outward, rapidly forming into a long spear. However, even before the impressive mastery of Dark Magic that even Yami couldn't perform, Dane's attention was drawn to the two horns extending upward from the top of her head. They grew from the outer corners of her head, halfway between the front and back of her skull, and curved out and up before curving to grow inward and back slightly. Both of them bore ridged rings around their lower halves, similar to a young springbok's horns.
"You knew I would be here?" Kali asked.
"Of course I did," Dane said dryly. "You're Raya's opposite. You're connected to me through her. Your murderous intentions manifested in me as my impulses. I'd know you anywhere, Kali."
Kali nodded slowly. Then, without warning, without any indication of hostility, she struck. Her strike was vicious, flawless, and took only an instant to reach them. But Dane knew Kali as well as he knew Raya. He had lived with his murderous impulses almost his whole life. He could feel Kali's strike coming before she moved. Could see it in her eyes. Feel it in the tension in the air. When she exploded into movement, thrusting her spear at his heart, his dagger crashed into the side of its head, knocking it aside. Dane spun in a complete circle, slashing at Kali, but she spun, evading the strike and lashing out with the back end of her spear. Raya stepped up beside Dane, deflecting the blade with a sword of Light Magic, but Kali merely twirled the spear, striking out again and again with both ends of the spear as a blunt weapon as much as attempting to impale the pair. Together, Dane and his spirits relentlessly fought against the monstrous power Kali opposed them with. Dane's dagger and Raya's Light Swords clashed constantly with Kali's Dark Magic spear. No matter how hard they pressed, Kali wouldn't budge an inch. Even as Dane activated Fox Trot and Tiger Strength, Kali matched his power and speed exactly. Even as Raya began to add ranged blasts to her assault, Kali matched them with opposing yet identical attacks, always matching them for power to the exact amount, resulting in the spells canceling out rather than exploding. Even as Dane used Serpent Strike, and Nue's Barrage, and Monkey Dance, and even Dragon Claw, still Dane couldn't gain the advantage over Kali.
And then, Kali began to grow faster. Her strikes began to bear more force down on them. She spun in a pirouette and the back end of her spear whipped around, slamming into Raya's swords and smashing through them, crashing into her chest and hurling her away. Dane roared in rage, launching himself into a furious barrage of strikes, adding his weakened version of Raya's Light Magic to his assault, but it did nothing to sway the battle. If anything, Kali only attacked him even more violently. And then, in a thundering crash, she drilled the back end of her spear into his chest, sending him hurling backward. He exploded into the wall of the chamber, but as he did, defiance roared through him, his magic power surging in response as Raya likewise roared defiantly. And together, they renewed their assault. This time, the battle was much more violent, and was far from the stationary battle they'd begun with. Kali avoided Raya's first strike, which shattered the floor. Dane met Kali in the air, slashing hard, and his dagger exploded through Kali's spear, only for Kali to twirl around the blade, slamming a kick into his side, sending him exploding into the wall.
"Spirit Magic, Starburst!" Dane and Raya both roared, sending twin beams of golden energy at Kali.
"Spirit Magic, Embrace of Shadows," Kali intoned calmly.
A sphere of shadows formed around her, blocking the spells easily. Then, as the shadows faded, Kali was gone. At least, for a half second. Then, she appeared beside Dane, shadows condensed around her hands into massive, clawed hands identical to Vetto's Beast Claw. Dane swore, focusing all of Nue's strength into his left hand on pure instinct, meeting Kali's strike. The blow vastly overpowered Dane's strike, sending him exploding along the curved wall of the chamber, but he withstood the majority of the damage of the strike itself. And then Raya had reached Kali, assaulting her furiously for a few moments before Kali blasted her at point blank range with her own version of Starburst, which Kali had identified this time as Umbral Ray. As Raya crashed to the ground, Dane snarled in rage.
"Raya!"
"I know!" Raya agreed. "All or nothing!"
"Spirit Dive!"
Raya shone, then enveloped Dane, all of the other spirits vanishing, leaving Dane in their most powerful form. However, instead of using it to enhance their physical capabilities, like against Licht, they opted for their ranged form, like against Yuno.
"Light Spirit Magic, Shooting Star!"
The blast flashed across the distance at Kali, who once again used Embrace of Shadows to defend herself. Then, when the blast met the shield, the impact flared blindingly, filling the entire chamber with a blinding golden light. And then, it erupted into an even more all-consuming explosion. Dane narrowed his eyes as he watched the smoke. Slowly, it began to fade, only for the tension in the air to thicken to suffocating levels. And then, Kali's Magic Power, horrifying and terrible, exploded from her, clearing the smoke. For a moment, she was battered and burned, but within seconds, the wounds had sealed. And then, a pair of massive, shadowy wings formed from her back as a mark formed on her forehead. For a moment, Dane envisioned a Third Eye, but it wasn't that. It was a crescent moon, open to Kali's left. It would seem unimportant, if not for the horrifyingly massive jump in power that accompanied it.
"Does she always have horns?" Dane asked as Raya appeared at his side.
"Always," Raya nodded. "I represent good and humanity. She represents chaos and devils."
Dane nodded. "We have to win this battle."
"You're both pathetic," Kali stated. "I will not suffer either of you to live any longer. You both die now."
And then, she was off. For the first time, Dane truly understood the drop in Raya's power represented by the forty percent devoted to keeping him alive. Because as Kali assaulted them with a mixture of ranged spells, unarmed strikes, and ever-changing shadow weapons, there was literally nothing that Raya or Dane could do to stand against her. She blasted Dane and planted him in the floor. She caught one of Raya's blasts with her hand, then crushed it. She punched Raya and sent her exploding across the room. She easily evaded a violent assault from Dane without once having to block before using a pair of daggers to return the assault and covered most of his torso and the front of his upper legs in gashes. She fended off an assault from Raya just as easily, though blocking instead of dodging this time, before striking through Raya's blades entirely and stabbed her through the gut. Dane slammed his left fist into Kali's face, sending her rocketing away, only for his arm to explode into fragments below the elbow, not leaving a mark on Kali. Kali formed and fired a storm of shadow swords and spears at them that they only narrowly evaded. And then, she smirked as the shadows around the room formed into a multitude of massive arms, lashing out at the hopelessly unprepared Dane and Raya, battering them both and sending them pinballing from one to another for nearly five minutes before Kali met each of them with a slash across the chest with a shadow greatsword, sending them exploding into the floor. Dane grit his teeth, forming a Light Magic sword in his reformed left hand, and exploded out of the ground with Raya, who wielded a pair of swords. And then, they began to assault Kali over and over, only for each of their attacks to end with Kali wounding them, only for them to circle around and attack again. But still Kali was untouchable. Her power so eclipsed their own, that she never once broke a sweat as she obliterated any attempt they made at either offense or defense.
"We can't win," Raya finally intoned as she and Dane pushed themselves out of craters yet again, both of them bearing dozens of agonizing wounds. "At full power, Kali is stronger than all of the other spirits combined, including me with you holding forty percent of my power."
Dane glared up at Kali for a moment, then looked over at Raya appraisingly. He'd allowed the fight to drag on so long without having Raya heal their wounds not because he believed they could win, but because he knew that healing wasn't necessary. As he looked over Raya's wounds, and then his own, he saw that he was right. None of the wounds, even together, were life-threatening. They were painful, nearly cripplingly so, but not life-threatening. As he turned his gaze to Kali again, his Grimoire shone blindingly and opened, pages flying past before stopping at an empty page, which shone as a new spell formed.
"Time for this farce to end," Dane growled, sheathing his dagger. "Spirit Magic, Adopted Gift!"
Suddenly, Dane's power exploded as the spell took effect. His awareness of the spirits gained a new sharpness. He could feel them all, and he called upon them all for help. His right prosthetic arm shone blindingly with Raya's light as she merged with it, always being the first to answer his call if he needed help. And then, Raya began to be joined by others. As the spirits began to join him for one final strike, their combined power began to form a single, massive spear in his hand. He instinctively felt that he could form the power into any strike, but for this, for Kali, he chose a spear. The strike included Raya's light, Ko's extended range and Reinforcement Magic on Dane's body, Nue's durability in the spear and raw power, as well as Tiger Strength focused into his arm, Fei's weightlessness in the spear, Salamander's flames roaring along the spear, Sylph's Wind Magic in a raging vortex around the spear, and even the magic of a spirit he'd never personally met, Undine. Undine's aid came in the form of water exploding out of the back end of the spear as a thruster in the same instant that Dane launched himself at Kali
"Spirit Magic, United Strike!" Dane roared as Kali shrieked in effort, firing a truly massive blast of Dark Magic to try to stop the spear.
Dane roared, adding his own Magic Power to the strike as he thrust the spear forward to meet the darkness. For a moment, they fell still. Then, the spear began to win out, drilling through the blast and scattering it. Kali's shriek grew deafening, but then, it was over. Her blast ended entirely, and Dane roared in effort, turning the spear at the last second, neglecting to impale Kali with the spear in favor of slamming the back end of it into the top of her shoulder, sending her exploding into the floor. As the spear faded, Dane dropped, landing beside Kali as Raya appeared beside him.
"You're a fool to show mercy!" Kali snarled. "I'll kill you!"
As she lunged off of the ground, Dane spread his arms invitingly, making no move to avoid the long, thin blade, which plunged through an empty chest cavity, causing an excruciating amount of pain, but doing no severe damage. Even without bandaging it, he'd be fine. Kali froze as Dane didn't even make a sound, then staggered backward, her sword fading.
"You're a terrible liar, Kali," Dane informed her calmly. "You could have killed us both a thousand different ways a thousand times over throughout this entire fight, and yet none of our wounds are even severe enough to be deadly together. You would never kill me, and you'd never kill Raya."
"You don't know that!" Kali snapped.
"I do," Dane said confidently, "because we're already connected. We've always been connected. "You're a part of Raya, in addition to being her twin sister, so I'm connected to you through her, but you're also connected to me directly. You always have been. Did you forget? You've always been a part of my life.
"You are my impulses. You helped me survive my trauma and my childhood as much as Raya did, because while Raya was teaching me to be a good person and to love and forgive, you taught me to control my magic and to be strong. You warned me through my impulses when there was danger, be it someone hostile or someone stronger than me.
"You were always looking out for me in your own way. I know you were always protecting me, because even though you wanted to kill everyone, and gave me the impulses to, you only ever protected Vamessa, and Charmy, and Mimosa, and Raya. You never tried to make me hurt them, because you knew how afraid I was of it. You knew how badly it would hurt me if I hurt them. And because deep down, you don't want to be alone.
"You've been living inside of me, so you've been feeling everything I feel. You never wanted to be alone, you'd rather die." He held out his hand to Kali, Raya doing the same as both smiled kindly. "You never have to be alone again, Kali. You can stay with us. Even if having you around constantly makes my impulses stronger by proximity, I want you to stay. I want you to be with us."
Kali's face scrunched up in distaste. "What, do you expect me to run into your arms? To be your little whore like Raya and those others?"
"Not if you don't want to," Dane shook his head.
"Whether you join us in bed is entirely your choice," Raya agreed. "You'd be welcome if you want to, but we won't force you."
"What we're asking isn't for you to join our harem," Dane clarified. "It's for you to join our family. You've always been a part of our family, Kali. We want it to be official. But I'll warn you, I don't mind your impulses transferring to me, and I don't mind you threatening or being violent to others. I'll stop you if you try to kill anyone, but I don't mind you hating them and having impulses to kill them. However, my friends, and especially Vanessa, Charmy, and Mimosa, are all strictly off limits. You will help me protect them, and you will be friendly, or at least civil, toward them."
"I know," Kali sighed, nodding. "I...I don't want to hurt them. Like you said, I've been protecting them, too." She blushed just slightly as she admitted to this, but Dane and Raya both merely smiled happily.
"Alright," Dane smiled. "Then welcome to the family."
Rather than Kali stepping into them, both of them stepped forward and wrapped their arms around Kali. Kali sighed in irritation, but subtly leaned into them both more tightly. Then, finally, she pulled back, both of them releasing her. She glanced at Raya, then extended a hand, placing it to Dane's chest, over his heart.
"Raya," Kali said evenly.
Raya nodded and placed her hand over Kali's. Then, both of their magic power flared to life before beginning to shift. Kali's diminished considerably while Raya's swelled equally. Then, both of their powers settled and they removed their hand.
"What happened?" Dane asked.
"I took over part of the load of sustaining your lifeforce," Kali explained. "Both me and Raya are now at eighty percent of our total strength, rather than Raya being at only sixty percent and me at full strength. Your impulses will still be a part of you this way, but now Raya will be able to handle stronger enemies, and you'll now have access to my magic as well."
"Thank you, Kali," Dane smiled, hugging her, once again feeling her lean into him subtly. "Now, we need to help the others."
"Right," Raya nodded.
"You can use the shadows to travel with my magic," Kali explained. "It's a combination of Dark Magic and Shadow Magic. And I can use it to sense what else is near other shadows, though if I'm searching a large area, it'll take time."
"Can you search the rest of this facility?" Dane asked.
"I did it while we were fighting," Kali explained. "I've already located Mimosa. She's up against Rill."
"Then that's where we'll start," Dane decided.
His Grimoire opened and flipping to several empty pages, which filled themselves with Kali's long, long list of spells. Dane was honestly surprised by the list. She had more spells than all of his other combat spirits combined, including Raya. Finally, it flipped back to the transportation spell, and the shadows surged inward to swallow all three of them. A moment later, they stepped out of the shadows, only to stop and stare at the scene before them. Before them, Charmy, in an older form than Dane had ever seen her, looking to be in her early twenties now, instead of late teens like she always was when they were doing anything inappropriate for her normal childish appearance, was in a rage. And behind her, a massive, grey wolf with an "X" shaped scar atop its head was holding a gigantic fork and knife against the ground, inhaling Rill's magic paintings, literally. As it devoured the magic, all of the mana and magic power it consumed was transferred to Charmy, rapidly making her power skyrocket, her eyes shining with a bright, crimson light.
"Is that Charmy's wolf?" Dane asked. "I thought she made sheep?"
"Dane!" Mimosa gasped, currently being in her Princess Healing Flower Robe and tied to sta's back with vines.
"Also, why is half of Charmy's Grimoire suddenly dark?" Dane asked, staring at the cover of his girlfriend's Grimoire, which was now a dark greyish-brown and marked with a crossed fork and knife. "Does she have a second Magic type?"
"Oh my gosh!" Mimosa gasped as she stared at Dane's wounds, Raya having healed herself already. "You're hurt!"
Dane glanced down at himself then waved off her concerns. "It looks worse than it is. I'll be alright."
Mimosa didn't look like she wanted to accept it, but relented, directing her attention back to Charmy, as Dane had.
"I refuse to let your appetite wipe out my imagination, you hear me!?" Rill shouted.
"I'll make you regret it!" Charmy snarled, clenching her fists. "Nobody wastes the food I make!"
"Oh, Rill's done for," Dane smirked.
Then, Charmy leapt at the paint monsters. "Eat this!" She drilled a punch into the first, blasting through it entirely. "That's for the protein! And this!" She obliterated another with a second punch. "That one's for the fat!" Then, she'd reached Rill. "and now..." She slammed a punch into Rill's face directly. "This is for the wasted carbs!"
Rill crashed to the ground, then grit his teeth. "Oh, you cannot be serious! Do you actually imagine this could be enough to get rid of my hatred for humans!?" He began to paint rapidly.
"Oh yeah!?" Charmy raged, leaping forward. "I'm not even close to being done!"
And then, Charmy was tearing her way through the paintings, the massive wolf still devouring Rill's magic to supply to Charmy.
"Yeah, I think she's got this one handled," Dane decided.
"Hey, Asta, you go on ahead!" Charmy called out, still ripping through Rill's paintings. "I gotta pound a lesson about wasting perfectly good food into this jerk's brain!"
"Okay!" Asta called back. "We're counting on you, Charmy!"
"Just leave it to me!" Charmy called back. "And Mimosa, heal Dane before you go! Looks like Dane has a new transportation spell, so he can catch you two up to Asta after!"
Mimosa nodded, freeing herself from Asta and sending him on his way through a hole in the ceiling. Then, she hurried over to Dane, not even sparing Raya a passing glance, despite Raya being in her true, nude form. Within seconds, Mimosa had pulled Dane's shirt off of him, then stared at the multitude of wounds.
"So many!" Mimosa breathed. "Who did you fight?"
"I just had to sort out some family issues," Dane waved her off. "They're not dangerous injuries."
Mimosa nodded. "I know. They're mostly just scratches. Hold still."
She focused, beginning to heal him, and his wounds began to seal instantly, most leaving no mark, but even with one in ten leaving a scar, there were so many that he ended up with nearly a dozen new scars by the time she'd finished. Dane pulled his shirt back on, and stood.
"Mimosa, allow me to introduce you to Kali," Dane introduced her. "She's Raya's sister, and the Spirit of Shadow."
"It's nice to meet you!" Mimosa smiled as her Flower Robe faded, leaving her in her Royal Knights robe's black shirt, though the left shoulder was torn, albeit her smooth skin was unmarked.
"You, too," Kali said, not unkindly, but also not friendly.
"Charmy, are you going to be okay?" Dane asked.
"I'm fine!" Charmy called back. "Go help the others!"
Dane nodded. "Raya, stay with Charmy."
Raya nodded, and Dane took Mimosa's hand, catching her blushing slightly before the shadows around them swallowed the two of them and Kali.
Leave a review.