I do not own Black Clover or any of its characters.
Infiltration
Dane narrowed his eyes as the teams, all teams of four, except for his group, moved to get into position. "You're sure you want me on your team?"
"Of course I do," Mereoleona nodded, Asta and Zora at her sides and Vanessa beside Dane. "You're one of our biggest aces in the hole in this fight. You can rearrange the dungeon to allow us to connect to other teams as needed, and you're a powerful combatant. Plus, if you lose control and your girlfriend and Raya can't calm you down, I'm the only one strong enough to stop your rampage who won't try to kill you to do it."
Dane nodded. "And given my abilities, putting me in the head-on assault makes the most sense as well."
Mereoleona nodded. They had only had one night to prepare, not three days, because the extended preparation period was a ruse to lure out a spy. As soon as Mereoleona had done so, she'd interrogated him, then announced they'd attack at the crack of dawn the following day. And so, here they were. Dane found he was a little disappointed that he wasn't on a team with Mimosa, finding that he was worried she'd be hurt, but he would never voice such feelings. However, Mimosa was with Yuno, Klaus, and Hamon, so she'd be safe. And Hamon would make an adequate shield, should the need arise.
And then, she gave the order and they invaded. Almost as soon as they set foot inside of the fortress, the Eye of the Midnight Sun's forces began to react. However, Mereoleona was less than impressed.
"This for my brot-" Mereoleona was saying, only to stop as Dane's hand pressed to the wall and send a trail of stone spikes out to impale the three mages who had met them, killing them instantly. "Hey! They were mine!"
"Don't waste any time explaining yourself or giving your reason for fighting to pathetic trash like this," Dane said coldly, walking forward, the spikes disintegrating into dust as he walked through them. "Save it for Licht or Rhya. They're the only ones who matter."
Mereoleona grinned. "Alright, then. Let's go!"
And then, she was off, streaking through the dungeon with her flames boosting her speed, only for Dane and Vanessa to be at her side, riding together on a stone platform Dane was controlling. And the deeper they went, the more cannon fodder they slaughtered. More specifically, Mereoleona and Dane slaughtered them. Vanessa was there for Dane, and Asta and Zora were barely able to find the enemies before one of the two of them had slaughtered them. And then, suddenly, there were two Astas. Dane narrowed his eyes at them. It was a perfect copy. Right down to the utter lack of magic. Except, there was one mistake.
Dane turned fully to the two Astas as his impulses roared. Mereoleona glanced at Dane as his face flushed with rage, his breathing growing heavy. And then, without warning, without the slightest motion from Dane, the ground below the Asta to Dane's right erupted into hundreds of toxic mercury spears. Asta shrieked, diving away from the spines, despite being safe, but the duplicate leapt into the air, more than a dozen grazing or piercing him, anything that made contact with him breaking free and being absorbed into his body.
"Rhya!" Dane snarled.
Instantly, Asta, Zora, and Vanessa leapt away from Rhya, leaving Dane and Mereoleona to engage him first.
"Well, you're sharper than I was led to believe," Rhya commented, readopting his true form. "I was sure that even you wouldn't be able to see through my trick. And your Captain is a real spitfire, isn't she?" He grinned as Raya appeared at Dane's side in her true form, a pair of Light Magic swords in her hands. "Getting serious already, I see. Alright, I'll do the same. Copy Magic, Healing Light Particles." He cast Licht's healing spell on himself, instantly neutralizing the poison and healing the wounds. He grinned at Mereoleona. "You, my dear, are downright scary. And you," he looked to Dane, "are a true nightmare walking."
"Asta, be ready," Dane growled, staring at the Third Eye adorning Rhya's forehead, pale blue Mana flowing from it. "Zora, stay back and look for openings. Vanessa, you do the same."
"And who are you?" Mereoleona asked. "You look like you'd be interesting to fight."
"He's with the Third Eye," Asta growled in warning. "The Eye of the Midnight Sun's strongest fighters."
"Rhya the Disloyal," Dane growled. "Copy Magic wielder. Anything we can do, so can he."
"It's too bad that you're Royalty," Rhya said. "I was hoping that you and I could go out for a drink sometime. But, I suppose the other lovely lady here would make wonderful company as well."
"Sorry, but I don't drink with dead men," Vanessa smirked. "And you're not getting out of here alive."
"Shame," Rhya sighed.
"I'll tell you what," Mereoleona smirked, her Grimoire's pages flying past before flames roared to life over her right hand as she lifted it. "Why don't I send you to Hell and you can have a drink there?"
"Oh, you really are scary," Rhya commented, his own Grimoire's pages flying past as the white aura around it turned purple. "No thanks, though. I've already tasted Hell, and I didn't care for it."
"JUST DIE! ! !" Dane roared, the hallway around Rhya exploding, a forest of stone and mercury spikes moving to impale him.
Rhya avoided it, then pulled his replica of Yami's sword from his Grimoire, using a replica of Yami's Lightless Slash, only for Mereoleona to punch the arc of Dark Magic, burning it away.
"Nice impression, but Yami's had more power!" Mereoleona scoffed. "Work on it."
"Oh yeah?" Rhya grinned. "Then-"
Then, Mereoleona's fist exploded into Rhya's face.
"I'll show you what true destruction looks like!" Mereoleona grinned wickedly. "Flame Magic, Calidos Brachium!"
Rhya exploded away from Mereoleona with a sonic boom, enveloped in flames. He passed down the hallway in under a second, and then exploded into the floor in the next chamber. And as he began to stand, Dane's hands slammed into the ground and more mercury spines skewered him. Then, as the spines all dissolved, any inside of him being absorbed, a dozen more Danes spread from Dane's body, Dane's agonized shriek echoing through the dungeon before all of Dane's clones swarmed after Rhya, screaming and shrieking as their bodies deformed, transforming first into Diamond Metal, and then into weapons, be they barbed whips, swords, cannons, spears, sickles, hooks, or anything else they could think of. Rhya teleported out of the way as the real Dane and the others stepped into the chamber. He copied Licht's attack, but Dane huffed, pulling a Diamond Metal sword from the ground, using Reinforcement Magic as he channeled Mana into his blade. Then, his arm became a blur as he began to block and slash through all of Rhya's attacks.
"What!?" Rhya seethed.
"Mereoleona was right," Dane noted. "Your copied magic is less potent than the original. Your attacks are slow. All yours, Mereoleona."
He stopped blocking the projectiles, walking calmly out of the way as Mereoleona's fists blurred, replacing his blade in obliterating the attacks with the sheer force of her flames. Rhya used another copied spell, Invisible Seeker, to vanish in time to avoid Mereoleona's attack, but before anyone could worry, three of the Dane Clones' cannon arms fired, a cloud of Diamond Metal spheres filling the air behind Mereoleona. Blood scattered into the air, and Rhya shrieked in pain. And then, Mereoleona used a blast of flames to reverse directions in the air, slamming another devastating blow into him and sending him exploding into the ground off to the side.
"You're pathetic," Dane spat on the ground. "You're slower than Licht, you've got less Magical Power than Fana, your body is comically weak compared to Vetto. You're nothing but bottom-feeding filth. You've been skating by on the shock factor of your magic, and on the reputation that your betters earned for you."
Rhya snarled in rage. And then, he began to fire off stolen spell after stolen spell, but no matter which of them he targeted, nothing worked. Rhya lacked the power to breach Dane's Diamond Metal skin, and Mereoleona was on the level of Vetto. She was able to easily avoid every strike he threw at her, but even as he threw what he claimed was his most powerful Water Magic spell, she used a pair of flaming hands to catch the serpent it formed easily, then punched it, blasting it apart. And the addition of Dane's equally-abled clones to the battle turned it from a losing proposition to a beat-down. For every attack Rhya threw, he was forced to contend with a half-dozen attacks from Dane and his clones, who had all switched to blunt weapons or their fists or magic, his impulses guiding him to humiliate Rhya instead of killing him outright. Rhya used a copied Salamander's Breath, complete with a replicated Salamander, only for Mereoleona to catch the fireball and compress it before hurling it into the air to detonate safely.
"Your move!" Mereoleona taunted as she and Dane stood opposite Rhya, Dane's clones all spread around the room.
"You're pathetic," Dane spat on the ground. "You're supposed to be a monster that forces my impulses into submission. How disappointing. Let's finish this."
Mereoleona nodded, and they both took off, Mereoleona flashing through the air by jumping over and over as Dane launched himself with a pillar of stone, keeping a pair of small stone platforms under his feet to move around on if needed. Rhy tried Lightning Magic, but one of Dane's clones spread his arm and was suddenly a lightning rod. Dane drilled a Nue-enhanced punch into Rhya's face, the punch enhanced further than Nue's default enhancement by Dane's Spirit Magic, Tiger Strength, which was Nue's specialty. Rhya tried to turn invisible again, only for Mereoleona to drill a barrage of dozens of punches into him. And then, Dane stopped, allowing Mereoleona to go after him solo, blasting relentlessly through spell after spell, challenging Rhya to use another each time. And then, Rhya pulled out a trick Dane hadn't expected. He pulled Asta's larger Anti-Magic Sword from his Grimoire, moving to strike. Except, Mereoleona didn't even hesitate, drilling her next punch into the blade directly, snapping it off.
"So, it was just for show," Mereoleona smirked. "You can't copy Anti-Magic after all! Are you done playing around? Now then, it's time to end this! Mana Zone, Calidos Brachium Barrage!"
And then, blows began to explode into Rhya in a rain of destruction, except that as Mereoleona assaulted him from one side, the strikes were slamming into Rhya from every angle in a sphere around him.
"You're a monster, Mereoleona," Dane commented. "Mana Zone, huh? I didn't know humans could use that."
"You've heard of it?" Mereoleona asked without letting up.
"Raya can do it, but has a different name for it," Dane said. "I apply the basics of it to extend the range of my magic. Instead of the spot I touch, anything connected to what I touch is vulnerable to me."
Mereoleona nodded, grinning. "Not bad."
She turned her attention fully back to Rhya, taunting him and deciding to punch him into a pile of ashes. And then, suddenly, Rhya's power spiked horrifyingly, a sphere of dark mana forming around him, negating Mereoleona's attacks.
"Before I burn up, I'm casting a self-destruct spell and takin' you down with me!" Rhya declared.
Then, just before Mereoleona's next wave of strikes could land and set off the explosion, Asta's sword plunged through the sphere of mana, clearing it in an instant and slamming point-first into Rhya's gut.
"Two other people have already tried that," Asta snarled, "and I'm fed up with it! You can't kill yourself on my watch, you three-eyed jerk! Got it!? Don't throw your life away!" Then, he drilled a punch into the side of Rhya's face, sending him skidding backward across the floor. Asta landed over Rhya, shrieking in anger and holding his sword to Rhya's throat. "Seriously, what's the matter with you guys!? You're mad at humans for takin' somethin' away from you, right!? I'm still fuzzy on the details!" He stabbed his sword into the ground. "But we're all people! I want you to tell me your side of the story, and then I'm gonna tell you mine! And nobody's dyin' until that happens, okay!?"
Rhya stared up at Asta, all three eyes wide with shock.
"Asta, you imbecile," Dane sighed, looking around. He waved a hand, and all but one of his clones scattered into the walls of the dungeon. "Mereoleona, I'm going to reinforce the others, since you have this well under control."
Mereoleona nodded, and Dane turned, looking around before pulling Vanessa into him and launching them both into the ceiling, which turned to liquid as he made contact with it, allowing them to pass into it harmlessly. As they hurtled through the dungeon with Dane's Magic, Dane sensed nearly a dozen powers suddenly skyrocket, becoming stronger than any of the three Third Eye members had been, including three ahead of them, at the heart of the dungeon. Dane grit his teeth, his arm tightening around Vanessa. He stretched his left arm out to the side, clearing them enough room to breathe and speak, unlike before when they'd been holding their breath.
"Something's happening," Dane warned. "Multiple Mana Signatures have changed and grown stronger than the Third Eye, and the signature at the center of the dungeon is beginning to radiate."
"Radiate?" Vanessa asked.
"He was asleep before, but he's woken up now," Dane explained. "When we reach our destination, you're going to take Mimosa and run. You're not going to try to fight, you're not going to support me, and you're not going to wait for me. You're going to get the fuck out as fast as possible."
"Who is it?" Vanessa asked.
"Yuno and Klaus," Dane said seriously.
Vanessa swallowed hard and nodded. Then, they burst up from the floor three feet behind Mimosa, and the moment they had, Dane immediately lunged into his new battle.
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