Chapter Eight: The Mages of Diamond

Here's the second chapter, readers, enjoy!

"What, a competition to see which of our two squads will reach the treasure first?" Klaus asked.

Kenos nodded. "That's right, you think the Black Bulls is a terrible squad, we'll show you that you're wrong,"

Klaus, however, fixed his glasses and smirked. "I must say Kenos, I'm surprised, I never took you for a fool, you know we're the best squad, why embarrass yourselves, it'll be a complete waste of time,"

"You're wrong, we'll find the treasure first, four-eyes," Asta taunted.

"F-Four-eyes, my name is Klaus Lunettes," he said as he began walking towards Asta.

But he was stopped as Letoile extended her hand in front of him. "Enough Klaus, we don't have time for this," she turned to Kenos. "I don't mind doing this competition honestly, we're pretty much doing what we already came here to do, so let's get moving,"

Klaus sighed. "Yes, you're right Letoile, we're only wasting time," he said as his grimoire floated in front of him. "Steel Creation Magic: Steel-armored Chariot!" he exclaimed as a chariot made of steel appeared before him, the four mages all boarded the transportation spell.

Klaus turned to Mimosa. "Alright Mimosa, give me the coordinates of the treasure room,"

The ginger-haired girl nodded, taking out her grimoire. "On it, Klaus, Plant Creation Magic: Magic Flower Guidepost!" a schematic of the dungeon appeared in front of her, a yellow flashing dot representing where they were, and a red solid dot representing where the room was.

She pointed to one of the many paths. "Over there," she said as the chariot flew into the air and entered the path.

"Good luck, Black Bulls, you're going to need it!" Klaus exclaimed, his voice soon becoming inaudible as they got further away from the Black trio.

"Hey, Klaus," Yuno said, the steel mage turning to look at him. "You seem really sure we can win this competition,"

"Of course, they're the Black Bulls, they may have a noble and a Royal with them, but I bet that commoner will get in the way, I hardly sensed any mana from him earlier," Klaus proudly replied.

"Just be careful not to underestimate Asta, he could very well surprise you, he's no regular commoner," Yuno told him.

"What are we waiting for, we need to get a move on, they're already ahead of us," Noelle said with an imperative tone.

"True, but what about Luck?" Asta asked.

"I do admit, we have to find him, but we're not even sure if he's in danger or not, I just wish we remembered to take a transmission device, that would've made things much easier," Noelle replied.

"So, what should we do, chase the Golden Dawn, or go find Luck?" Asta asked again.

"That's simple, we're going to chase after the Golden Dawn, this is a competition after all, we can't lose," Kenos replied. "Besides, you heard with Luck said, he'll meet up with us,"

"But, Luck is our squadmate, even if he said so, we have to go after him," Asta protested.

"No, we can't let the Golden Dawn beat us, we have to beat them!" the solar mage exclaimed as thoughts came to his head.

"Aren't you ashamed, Kenos Rossiu, a member of an esteemed noble house, joining the Black Bulls...what would your family think?"

"There's no way I'm working with another stuck-up noble, even if he is a part of Asta's squad,"

Kenos' voice calmed down and he turned away from his fellow Black Bulls. "Sorry, it's just that I don't want to lose to them,"

"I understand Kenos, but remember what you said, that you would get close with the others so they feel like family," Asta spoke up. "I know that you haven't gotten to know Luck too much, but regardless, he's a Black Bull, meaning he's going to become like family to you, so we can't desert him,"

Kenos sighed, he had almost let Klaus and Yuno's words send him on an angry drive, but now, he had begun to calm down and realized that Asta was right. "Okay then, let's go after Luck, then we'll hurry to make it to the treasure before the Golden Dawn,"

"Sounds good to me," Asta said, turning to the water mage. "Noelle, you with us,"

"Alright then, besides, you might need my help," she replied as the three of them looked at the path Luck went through.

"How are we going to get up there?" Asta asked.

"I got an idea," Kenos said as he took out his grimoire. "Solar Reinforcement Magic: Sunshine Aura!" he exclaimed as the aura surrounded him.

"Grab on and hold tight," he instructed as Asta and Noelle took one of his hands.

"You hold on too, Nero," Asta told the bird perched on his head.

"Here we go!" Kenos exclaimed as he jumped into the air, right into the path, he let their hands go and deactivated his aura.

"Hold on, Luck, I don't know what you're doing right now, but we're going to find you!" each of them thought as they ran down the path.

"Ah, this is no fun," Luck pouted as he stood on a pile of unconscious bodies, one currently being in his grip before he released him. "I detected a strong amount of mana, what a letdown,"

"Strong mana you say? Then I think I know who you're looking for," a voice said, Luck turned to see a man sitting down, he had black hair, a black mustache and goatee, next to him was his grimoire, which was black and covered in a black aura, but unlike the others, there wasn't a clover on it.

But a diamond.

The man stood up. "That person would be me. Hello there, the name's Lotus Whomalt, a mage of the Diamond Kingdom,"

"So, it turns out the Diamond Kingdom already got here, seems I was wrong," Luck admitted before a grin crossed his face. "But that's okay, you seem really strong, let's fight!"

"Well well, I like your youthful spirit, but I wouldn't recommend taking me on," Lotus said before Luck suddenly fell to his knees.

The lightning mage was surprised by this. "What just happened?"

"That would be my magic, my attribute is smoke," Lotus explained. "How do you like my 'Garden of Plundering Smoke', this spell has been active since you got here and starting taking down my lower mages, as you inhale it, it slowly begins to wear away at your senses, breath it for too long and you could actually die,"

"You think some spell like this can actually stop me," Luck said defiantly.

"Yeah, I think so, you'd do best to stay down or get out while you can, the treasure belongs to the Diamond Kingdom, you Magic Knights of the Clover Kingdom won't stop us," Lotus replied before turning and walking away.

"No way, I won't lose, I have to keep fighting...I have to," Luck said, trying to get up, but it was no use and he slowly sank to the ground.

"Oh Luck, my dear son, you've made me so proud, promise me that you'll keep winning, remember, there's nobody else in the world you can rely on, all you need is me, my son, so fight, and win," the image of a woman appearing in Luck's head.

"Yes, I'll fight, and I'll win, for you, mother," Luck muttered as he slowly picked himself up, his grimoire came up to him. "Lightning Creation Magic: Holy Lightning Gloves,"

Lotus turned around as he heard the mage's muttering. "Huh?" was all he managed to say before Luck sped past him, getting a clean cut on the smoke mage's cheek.

"What the, you were supposed to pass out," Lotus said, surprised.

"I just caught my second wind, and now…," Luck began, wearing a smile. "I'm going to kick your ass!"

Lotus stepped back as Luck charged at him. "You're a quick one, I outta slow you down a bit, Smoke Creation Magic: Binding Cross Prison!" he exclaimed as a bulky cloud of smoke appeared and restrained the lightning mage.

"There we go, that's better," Lotus said with satisfaction.

"You're wrong, this won't stop me!" Luck exclaimed as he used his arms and legs to free himself, then making some distance between them. "It's my turn to try something, Lightning Magic: Thunderbolt Destruction!" lightning began to charge in his gloves as orbs fired off towards the diamond mage.

"Nice try, but that won't help you either," Lotus retaliated by skillfully dodging each shot. "This isn't my first battle you know, I've faced my fair share of combat mages, you're going to have to do a lot better than that,"

"Then I will, I can't let this fight end now!" Luck exclaimed.

"Sorry there kid, but I can't let that happen," Lotus thought, looking at a bulk of smoke behind Luck. "You may have caught a second wind, but my plundering smoke spell is still active, meaning you won't be able to sense my Smoke-impaling Spear, and once you do notice it, it'll be too late!" he mentally exclaimed as the spear raced towards Luck's back.

"Not happening!" a voice exclaimed from behind Luck, he turned to see the smoke spell ready to strike him down, dispersing into the air, as he looked for who did it and yelled, his eyes widened to see Asta, with Noelle and Kenos not too far from him.

"Seems you were right, Asta, he really could use our help," Kenos said.

"Oh, it seems that your friends came to save you," Lotus said, looking at the three mages. "And you're all Magic Knights, this is going to be interesting,"

"That's right, we're going to take you down!" Asta yelled, getting ready to charge at the mage, but was stopped as Luck extended a hand.

"This is my fight, I'll be the one to take out the diamond mage, stay out of it," he ordered.

"Diamond mage, that means they're already here?" Noelle realized.

"What do you mean to stay out of it, why would we do that?" Asta asked.

"Because I don't need you, or anybody else here, I have to fight, and win," Luck replied.

Kenos stood in front of the mage. "You don't need anybody here, then who do you need?"

"Who do I need, that's easy," Luck began before he put on his battle grin, but it looked a lot more crazy. "I only need her, my mother!" he finished, jumping over Kenos and charging back into battle.

"Mother," As he said those words, the solar mage's eyes widened, a memory coming to his head.

[Flashback]

Some Years Ago. Rossiu Household.

A young Kenos walked around his home, looking for something to do, he had just finished his magic training with his siblings, and now was looking for a new activity to partake in.

"Damn it, Dante and Oxanna beat me again, there must be something else for me to do," he muttered as he passed by an open room.

"Did you hear what happened?" he heard one of his relatives in the room say, he knew it wasn't polite to listen in on other people's conversations, but curiosity took the better of him and he walked back to the entrance of the room, hiding from view.

"What happened?" another voice asked, Kenos recognized it as his father.

"They say a peasant boy defeated a noble," the relative replied.

Even though Kenos couldn't see it, he knew his father would have a surprised look on his face.

"What, he beat a noble, this peasant boy must be a strong one, what can you tell me about him?" he asked.

"Not too much, the boy's attribute is lightning and he smiles a lot, but something really notable about him is that he always seems to cling to his mother," the relative replied again. "The other mages his age seem to be scared of him after what happened, but his mother appears to be the only one who wasn't afraid,"

"His mother aye, he must love her a lot, besides why would she be afraid, after all, he is her son," his father remarked. "Tell me, do you know the boy's name,"

"His name? I didn't hear it too much, but I'm pretty sure the boy's name was…," the relative began, searching her mind for the name of the young mage, standing at the entrance of the door, Kenos was also eager to hear the name of such a seemingly interesting person.

"...Luck,"

[End Flashback]

"It was you, you were the mage I heard about, the mage who always had a smile on his face and clung to his mother," Kenos thought. "After that battle, they called you 'Luck the Cheery Berserker', I can't believe I didn't remember you, well, I've only heard of you, I've actually never seen your face,"

"He said he doesn't need us," Asta muttered, gripping his sword. "Yeah right, no way I'm buying that crap!" he exclaimed, charging at the smoke mage.

"It seems your friend wants to fight too, okay then," Lotus said, his grimoire flipping through pages. "Smoke Magic: Smoke-impaling Spear!" he exclaimed as the attack from before raced towards Asta.

"That won't work on me!" Asta yelled, retaliating by using his sword to cut through the spell.

"My spell disappeared, or rather, he undid it somehow, that's something I've never seen before, interesting," the smoke mage muttered to himself.

Luck sped towards Asta, standing in front of him. "Asta, I thought I told you not to get in the way,"

"Sorry, but I can't do that," Asta said back.

"Then take it as an order from your superior, this fight is mine," Luck persisted.

"Order from a superior my ass!" Noelle screamed. "Must I remind you that you left us to our own devices to satisfy your own battle cravings, we almost got eaten alive!"

"Yeah, and besides, you're our squadmate, we won't let you do this alone," Asta added as he and Noelle charged at Lotus.

"I already told you all, I don't need you, she's the only one I need," Luck muttered.

"I wouldn't be so sure of that," Kenos said, walking over to him. "I remember you, the boy who beat the noble some years back, the one who would always wear a smile and cling to his mother, it seems I knew more about you than I expected,"

"What're you getting at, Kenos?" Luck asked.

"The Golden Dawn is here too, and I challenged them to see who would find the treasure first, I was driven on beating them, but Asta was only worried about you," the solar mage replied.

Luck's eyes showed some surprise. "He was?"

Kenos nodded. "He showed me that I was wrong to not worry about you, I apologize for that. What I'm trying to say is that you clung to your mother because you thought she was the only one who would love and accept you as well as the one who would stand by your side, but you're wrong, Asta and the other Black Bulls will do the same, and as a Black Bull, so will I, I won't ever desert you, none of us will,"

Kenos then took out his grimoire and charged into battle, leaving Luck by himself to think. "They won't ever desert me, they're all here for me," he thought, picturing the rest of the Black Bulls in his mind, remembering every memory he had with them, pleasant or not. A smile then came to his face, but it was one of pure happiness. "Forgive me, mother, it seems I found people other than you who I need in this world, and those people are...the Black Bulls," lightning began charging in his glove.

"Take this!" Noelle and Kenos exclaimed as they fired a blast of water and a Sunbeam Ray at Lotus.

Unfortunately, he dodged it. "Woah, that one was close,"

"Then try this on for size!" he turned to see Asta in the air, his sword ready to strike.

"No thank you," Lotus quipped with a small smile as he evaded Asta's attack too. "I must say, the three of you are quite incredible, luckily for me, I have the upper hand thanks to experience in battle, but there's no way I'm losing here, I got a family to go home to,"

"A family?" Kenos asked.

Lotus nodded. "That's right, a wife and three little girls, they mean everything to me,"

"Then what the hell are you doing here, a husband and father shouldn't be in such a dangerous place," Kenos said back.

"I'm a skilled veteran mage of the Diamond Kingdom, it only makes sense I would be here to claim a new dungeon, especially when our two kingdoms are fighting for it," Lotus responded. "And going off from your attacks, I'd say you three are rookies, there's no way you're going to beat me,"

"I beg to differ!" a voice exclaimed, Lotus turned to see two orbs speeding towards him, knowing he couldn't dodge it, his reflexes took over and he crossed his arms together, blocking the brunt of the attack, but being knocked back a good few feet.

The three rookies turned as well to find the attack's origin and grinned when they saw it was from Luck, the lightning mage walked over to them.

"You can forget my order, let's take this guy down together," he said.

"We weren't following your order in the first place!" Noelle mentally exclaimed.

"Now I'm getting excited, you kids sure are pushing me, I better stop playing around and finish this," Lotus spoke, slowly making his way to them.

"Finish this? You're welcome to try, but we'll stop you regardless," Kenos said.

Lotus' grimoire flipped through some pages. "Oh no, I actually plan on finishing you, see if you can stop this, Smoke Creation Magic: Prison of the Fallen King!" he exclaimed as smoke surrounded the four, quickly becoming a dome of it.

"What the?" the four said perplexed by the dome that suddenly appeared.

"This isn't a spell I like to use very early when fighting, the ultimate purpose of this prison is to suffocate you," Lotus spoke, but they didn't know what direction it was coming from.

"I can't see this guy anywhere," Asta stated.

"True, but I can sense his mana," Noelle said, Kenos and Luck nodded too, also feeling the mana of the diamond mage.

"Whether you can see me or sense me doesn't matter, my spell is the thing you have to worry about," Lotus spoke again.

"Luckily for us, your spell won't be a problem, I'll just cut it apart!" Asta exclaimed, slashing at the smoke with his sword, but to his surprise, nothing really happened.

"Let me try something," Noelle said as she aimed her wand at a spot and blasted a sphere of water, but to no effect either.

"Just letting you know that those attacks of yours won't do anything," the smoke mage spoke once more. "This spell is self-replenishing, no matter what you throw at it, it won't disappear,"

"Like that'll make me give up, I'll keep going until I break through!" Asta exclaimed, slashing at the smoke over and over again.

He was about to go again before Kenos put a hand on his shoulder. "Asta, don't, doing that will only speed up our loss of oxygen, if we want to defeat him, we're going to need a plan,"

"A plan?" the magicless swordsman asked aloud before nodding. "Okay, I'm in,"

"We're in too," Luck and Noelle added.

"Good, but first, let's see go over what we know," Kenos began as they all huddled up. "We know that this spell is trying to suffocate us and is self-replenishing, we also know that while we can't see this guy, we can sense his mana,"

"That's good to know, but can't he just attack us whenever he wants to?" Asta asked.

"It's not likely," Luck spoke up. "If he was able to attack us, he would've done it already, and by doing that, he could make us move more and in turn lose more oxygen,"

Noelle nodded. "Taking that into account, there's a chance the same rules of vision apply to him, he can't see us, but he can feel our mana," she added.

"Yes, and there's one last thing to apply," Kenos said. "Seeing that this isn't easy to beat, this must be a high-level spell, meaning it requires a lot of mana, so if we can find a way to land a clean hit on him, the spell should disappear,"

"Okay, so what's our plan to get that hit in?" Luck asked.

"I have an idea, but we're all going to have to work together," Kenos replied before they broke the huddle, the solar mage turned his head behind him. "I can feel his mana, and it feels close, he must be inside the smoke. Okay everyone, here's the plan,"

As the Black Bulls planned, Lotus floated in the smoke of his spell. "I can't see them, but I can feel their mana, they're not dead yet it seems, but that won't be the case in a few more minutes, I know it's a cruel way to kill children, but, it has to be done," he muttered to himself before feeling something.

"What the?" he asked just before he saw a cascade of lightning orbs head straight for his right side, quickly moving to the left side.

"What the hell are they planning, well, whatever it is, I should be careful, after casting that last spell, I don't have too much mana left, the best thing to do is to dodge them," he thought as he quickly moved to the left more and more.

"That's right, keep moving, this plan of yours better work, Kenos!" Luck mentally exclaimed.

"Something's up with the speed of the attack, it's almost like it's not trying to catch me, unless-," he said before being interrupted by a flow of mana coming from his direction, a grin then came to his face. "Oh, is that what they were planning?"

As if he saw it coming, Lotus saw Kenos burst out of the smoke not too far from him, an aura surrounding him and a gauntlet in one of his hands.

"Just as I thought, the lightning mage was using his magic to lead me here so this mage can get an attack on me, clever, but not clever enough," Lotus thought as he maneuvered himself around Kenos, the solar mage missing the opportunity to attack, he remained silent.

"Ah, don't beat yourselves up too bad, it wasn't a bad plan, it just didn't work against me-," he began saying, but was stopped immediately as he felt immense pain in his side, he turned to his left to see Asta, his sword striking the mage's side.

"You won't beat us!" Asta exclaimed as he applied more force to the sword, sending Lotus flying in the right direction, where Kenos still was.

"Try dodging my attack now!" the solar mage exclaimed as he launched a punch straight into Lotus' face, hurtling the smoke mage out of his spell and into a nearby rock, the smoke surrounding the small crater he formed, the dome of smoke immediately dispersing.

"Shit, how did...you do it, how did you stop me?" Lotus asked faintly as he fell out from the rock and onto the ground.

The four Magic Knights cheered with joy as the spell disappeared, their plan had worked perfectly.

"That was awesome everyone!" Asta cheered.

Noelle crossed her arms and nodded. "True, but we have Kenos to thank for our plan,"

Kenos shook his head. "No way, we all did this together, each of you were vital to the plan succeeding," he said as they all recalled the plan.

"...Okay everyone, here's the plan, Luck, you're going to fire orbs to his right side, then begin moving it to the left side slowly, but not too slow, this should keep him moving to the left," Kenos instructed.

"Alright, leave it to me," Luck said back.

"Next up is me, I'll use my Sunshine Aura and equip a gauntlet, once Luck brings the guy close enough, I'll strike him," Kenos then said.

"You sure about that?" Asta asked. "Won't he just sense your mana and dodge?"

Kenos nodded. "Yeah, that's the point, I'll be the decoy, Asta, you and Noelle will be our trump cards, the guy will dodge my attack, as he does, Noelle, you try to suppress your mana and boost Asta with your water, since he has no mana, he's virtually invisible, Asta, once you strike him, bring him to me so I can get a hit in, he won't be able to dodge it again,"

"Sounds like a solid plan to me," Noelle said.

Kenos grinned. "Perfect, then let's do this, I'm counting on every single one of you,"

The other three nodded. "Alright,"

"You all did great, I still wasn't too sure if it was going to work," Kenos said, scratching the back of his head. "During my time back home, my siblings and I would train in combat tactics, but I was never as good as them, they always seemed to be just a step ahead of me,"

"Well, that training of yours paid off, I should really try tactics training myself," Asta said starry-eyed.

"Hey, guys, what do you suppose we do with him?" Luck asked, the other turned and saw he was pointing to Lotus, unconscious.

"Well, I say we leave him here, but we better do something just in case he wakes up," Kenos replied as he walked to Lotus. "This should do the trick, Solar Binding Magic: Sunbound Shackles," he said as the mage's arms and legs were bound by the shackles of sunlight.

"Perfect, this fight is over," Kenos said, breathing a sigh of relief. "Now that it's done, we can get back to the competition, but the Golden Dawn are ahead of us,"

"Not a problem, I can sense they're mana, they must be close together because I'm sensing a large clump of different kinds," Luck said as he began running. "Follow me!"

The three quickly followed the lightning mage out of the room and to the way of the treasure, but back in the room where they fought, Lotus, who was still bound, awoke slightly, but as he did, a look of disappointment wasn't found on his face.

No, instead of disappointment, the smoke mage smiled.

"Well, it seems I couldn't win after all, but that's alright, the main objective is to claim this dungeon and get the treasure, even if I don't succeed, everything will be fine, as long as they succeed," he said before fading into unconsciousness once more.

Back with the Golden Dawn, they were all still riding on Klaus chariot, with Mimosa guiding them.

"Okay Klaus, we're really close to the treasure, this should be the last room," she said, seeing the two lights on her spell almost overlap.

"Alright then," Klaus replied as the chariot entered the said room, they all gasped in amazement from how vast the room looked.

"It's beautiful," Letoile commented nonchalantly.

"I see the door," Klaus spoke up, the other Golden Dawn members looking in his direction, seeing a massive door, the chariot landed on the ground and the four got off.

The steel mage looked around him and smirked while pushing up his glasses with a finger. "Well, it seems that the Black Bulls are nowhere to be found, so much for proving me wrong, I knew they couldn't beat us,"

Yuno on the other hand, looked at the entrance they came in from, a slight look of worry was found on his face.

"Hey, Yuno, is everything alright?" Letoile asked, walking over to him.

Yuno's face returned to its usual stoic look. "I'm just wondering where Asta could be, losing by such a margin isn't like him, I'm honestly surprised I haven't heard him scream,"

"I don't know him as much as you do, but he doesn't seem like the one to give up," Letoile said back.

"Okay, to officially win this competition, we have to open this door, should be easy enough," Klaus said as he tried to push the door, but it wouldn't open, he applied more force, but it still wouldn't budge.

He then tried to push with his back against the door, but that didn't work either, he slowly slumped to the ground, but quickly picked himself up. "Okay then, I guess it's not as easy as I thought, it must be fortified, in that case, Steel Creation Magic: Spiral Lance!" he exclaimed as multiple lances appeared in front of him, each with the head in the likeness of a drill, rotating violently, they raced at the door, but even that didn't put a scratch on it.

"Well, it seems this door is quite powerful, Yuno, Letoile, I'll need your help, we'll attack simultaneously," Klaus instructed as the two mages came to his side. "We'll attack together on three. One...two...and thr-,"

He didn't get to finish counting, for at that second, they heard a sound, it drew closer at an alarming speed and then there was a scream, the three turned around and saw a path of crystals strike Mimosa.

"Mimosa!" they exclaimed as the plant mage dropped to the ground.

"Shit, I didn't even sense that attack, where did it come from," Klaus thought, but stopped as he heard footsteps.

The three Golden Dawn mages turned and saw two men walking towards them, one of them was of average height, and had spiky light purple hair and a light skin tone, the other was a bit taller than him, had a dark skin tone, and a short black crew cut. Both of them had similar attire, a white skin-tight vest and cropped pants over a black jumpsuit, with a sleeveless black fur coat over it.

The spiky-haired man stepped forward, his eyes as stoic looking as Yuno's. "Hey, you people are in our way," he said with a remorseless and emotionless tone. "Move,"