Chapter Twenty-Two: To Fight for Others' Sake
Day 3 has come, and with it, a new chapter. I'm also really excited for the new episode of the anime now that the time skip has happened, as a manga reader, I already know what's going on, but anime-onlys, prepare to have your minds blown. Cya.
"It's about time you got here!" Baro exclaimed.
"Calm it down there buddy, I actually have to get here," Sally said back.
"What are you talking about, don't you have a spatial mage?" Baro asked.
"Well yeah, but he's sort of busy doing something, although it seems you've gotten into quite the pickle here," she replied as she looked around, but then widened her eyes. "No way, Asta, is that really you?!"
"Oh crap, she saw me," the swordsman muttered to himself as he backed away from Baro.
"I didn't think I'd see you here, oh, I don't think we've been properly introduced, my name's Sally," the gel mage introduced herself. "It must've been fate that brought us here, I'm finally going to get to experiment on you!" she then exclaimed rather cheerfully.
"You, you're that girl from the Eye of The Midnight Sun, don't think we'll let you get away with attacking the capital and injuring Fuegoleon!" Kenos exclaimed before he realized something. "Wait, but what exactly are you doing here, and why?"
"She's with me," Baro replied. "I was employed to take the magic from these kids, and the Eye of The Midnight Sun, or more specifically, Sally, is my employer, she even gave me that handy machine to do the job,"
"That's right, and speaking of the job, how much magic were you able to take anyways, I hope it was a good amount?" Sally asked.
"Sorry, I was only able to get the magic from three kids before I was interrupted by these people," Baro replied.
"I see, well, it can't be helped, better collect it," she said as she began walking towards the machine.
"Oh no you don't, Solar Creation Magic: Rain of Solar Daggers!" Kenos exclaimed as the daggers fell on the machine destroying it. "I don't know exactly what you need that mana for, but one thing's certain, there's no way in hell we're letting you get it!"
"No, my machine, that's one plan down the drain, but it's not a total loss," Sally said as she began running towards the swordsman. "I can still have you, Asta!"
Kenos ran in front of his squadmate. "You're not taking him either, Asta, go and undo the trance on the children, they're still in danger,"
"I'm on it," he responded as he ran to them.
Kenos then turned to the mirror mage. "Gauche, let's take down Sally,"
Gauche stopped kicking the snow mage. "Alright, let's do this, it's all because of her that Marie was kidnapped, so I'll make her pay too, Mirror Magic: Reflect Ray!"
"Solar Magic: Sunbeam Ray!" Kenos joined as the two rays made their way to Sally.
The gel mage merely grinned. "Nice try, but the two of you can't beat me, Gel Magic: Sticky Salamander!" she exclaimed as the lizard appeared, the two beams hit it, but they merely bended before passing by, leaving the salamander unscathed.
"What the?" Gauche muttered.
"Shit, her spell is made of gel, and gel causes light to refract," Kenos realized.
"That's right, both of your attributes center around a form of light when it comes to offense, my attribute has the advantage," Sally said cheerfully, but her face then darkened. "I'm not letting you, or anybody else for that matter stop me from getting Asta, I will have him for my experiments!"
"I hope they're all okay,"
Back at the town, in the restaurant, Rebecca sat down on a bench, sitting across from her was Noelle, and sitting beside her was Eon.
"Don't worry Rebecca, I called some other Magic Knight Squads, your two siblings will be just fine," Noelle told her.
"I know, but it's not just them I'm worried about, I hope that Asta is okay too," she said.
Those words struck a chord as the water mage's eyes tensed. "Asta will be fine, I've been on a good amount of missions with him, believe me when I say he'll be alright,"
"You must know a lot about him, being his squadmate and all," Rebecca said, her tone growing a little suspicious.
"Yeah, I do, we've been working together for a bit over a month now," Noelle said back, her tone becoming the same. "Say, how much do you know about Asta?"
"Not much, only his age and his dream of becoming the Wizard King, that as well as how he was raised as an orphan," Rebecca replied.
"Is that so?" Noelle asked.
"It is," Rebecca replied.
Eon looked at the two girls, she could see yellow trails of electricity coming from each of the eyes as they looked at one another, the trails sparking as they met in the center. "Well well well, I could be wrong, but I'm getting a hostile vibe coming from those two, it seems they're both crazy for Asta, what a lucky boy, but regardless, I should say something to change the mood," the green-haired girl thought.
"You both say you know some stuff about Asta, then you both know that he and the others will be alright, I'm not worried one bit," she said to them.
Rebecca looked a bit surprised. "Really? I thought you might've been at least a bit worried about them," a small grin then formed on her face. "Especially Kenos,"
A light shade of pink touched Eon's cheeks. "Well, I've never seen him fight before, but I have confidence in his skills, he'll bring Luca and Marco back,"
"Of course he will, but I've noticed something, you've become quite fond of Kenos, haven't you?" Rebecca asked, her grin not disappearing.
"What?" Eon asked as she bit the inside of her cheek. "Damn it, this is so her way of getting back at me for what I said to her about shooting her shot with Asta,"
"Oh?" Noelle then asked, she was intrigued by the scarlet-haired girl's question.
"Get this, when we were at a mixer with Asta and Kenos along with another guy named Finral, Eon asked Kenos to take a walk with her, next time I see them, she was clinging to his arm," Rebecca explained.
"I wonder what could've happened?" Noelle asked with a grin.
"I already told you it was nothing much, I was just talking to him about his family, and how I'm grateful to you for taking me in from the streets," Eon replied with a bit of flustered tone.
"That does mean a lot to me Eon, but how are we sure that's all that happened?" Rebecca smirked. "Maybe there are more details that you're just not willing to share,"
"I'm telling you, there's nothing going on," Eon said, standing up.
"You know Eon, it's alright if you like him, just make sure that you shoot your shot before someone else takes him," Rebecca told her.
Eon groaned, she didn't like her own words being used against her, she sat back down and rested her face on her palm. "Look, it isn't like that, he's just the first male friend I made who's around my age," she said
The green-haired girl was glad the hostile aura between Rebecca and Noelle was gone, but she wasn't too happy that she had become their target. "Me and my big mouth,"
"C'mon Gauche, we have to keep trying!" Kenos exclaimed as his grimoire flipped to another page. "If Sunbeam Ray doesn't work, then I'll use something else, Solar Creation Magic: Rain of Solar Daggers!" he exclaimed as the daggers began falling.
Unfortunately for him, the salamander quickly evaded the falling projectiles. "Shit, Gauche, I'll do what I can with the salamander, you get Sally!"
"I don't need you to tell me that, Mirror Magic: Real Double!" Gauche exclaimed as a clone of him appeared. "Okay, time for the next stage, Mirror Magic: Double Reflect Ray!"
The two Gauches fired their beams of light, without her salamander, Sally had to dodge each of the attacks herself, but she couldn't dodge forever and was eventually hit by one.
The double disappeared as Gauche grinned. "There we go,"
"Alright, there are a lot of kids here, I need to undo the trance on every single one of them, that will take some time, I need to use a faster method than what I used on Marco," Asta mumbled to himself as an idea came to his head. "Wait, I think I know how,"
The swordsman looked at his large sword, he turned it sideways and rested the side of the blade on the heads of six children simultaneously, life returned to their eyes as they looked around. "Where are we?"
Asta smiled at them. "Don't worry, you were kidnapped, but we've come to rescue you," he said before moving onto the next group of kids, this method was undoubtedly faster as he finished in a mere five minutes, he then went back to undo the trance on the four children by Theresa, the three who had lost a majority of their mana were unconscious.
"Thank you, Asta," Theresa said.
"No problem, now I have to go help Kenos and Gauche," Asta said back as he gripped his sword and ran into action. "Hey, don't forget about me!"
"How could I ever forget about you, Asta!" Sally exclaimed as she quickly got up and ran towards Asta, her salamander ended its fight with the solar mage as it joined Sally, the girl then jumped on top of her spell.
"Be careful Asta, she's tough!" Kenos called.
"I know, so I won't hold back!" Asta exclaimed as he jumped in the air, ready to cut the slimy lizard in half. "You might've gotten the better of me back at the capital, but it won't happen again!"
"I wouldn't be so sure about that!" she exclaimed as the salamander dodged his strike, it then launched four elongated limbs, quickly tying around Asta's arms and legs, it then pulled him forward, disarming the swordsman.
"AHH!" Asta exclaimed as his body was flung around before landing right on the back of the salamander. "Damn it,"
"There you are my precious, you won't get away from me this time," Sally said as he slowly walked over to him.
"W-What're going to do?" Asta asked as he tried to free himself, but to no avail.
"I'm so glad you asked, before I run my experiments on you, I need to get some of your DNA," she replied as she bent down to his level and grabbed one of his fingers. "A strip of your fingernail," she said as she pulled out the high part of his fingernail and put it into a vial she had with her.
"Now for some of your blood, but I won't need a vial," she continued as she bit his neck.
"Ah, that hurts!" Asta exclaimed in pain.
"Oh, your blood tastes pretty normal," Sally noted.
"Wait, did you just taste my...blood?" Asta asked.
The gel mage nodded. "That's right, but that's not enough, I need some more of your DNA, there must be something else to collect," she replied before her eyes brightened. "Oh, I know, I'll just take a portion of your gametes,"
"Gametes?" Asta was confused by the word Sally used.
"Yes, your gametes, or in simpler terms...a sperm sample," Sally clarified.
"What's a sperm sample, and how are you going to take a portion of it?" Asta asked.
Sally dragged a finger along the swordsman's pants and gave him a sly smile. "Don't you worry about that my precious Asta, you just relax and let me do all the work,"
"There's no way I can relax!" Asta exclaimed.
"Get away from Asta, Flame Magic: Brilliant Flame Cross!" Theresa exclaimed as multiple points of fire ignited inside the salamander, the flames then exploded, taking the shape of a cross.
"What the?" Asta and Sally wondered.
"Ha!" Theresa then exclaimed as fire encased one of her fists, she then jumped in the air to get a hit on Sally.
"Wow, you're not bad for an old lady, but I'm not letting that hit," Sally said as she dodged the attack.
Asta then landed, with the nun landing shortly after right in front of him. "Thank you very much, Sister, I was getting worried back there, but I didn't know you were so good,"
"Your welcome Asta, and as for my skills, you're looking at a former Magic Knight," she told him.
"You used to be a Magic Knight?" Kenos asked as he and Gauche walked up to her.
"That's right, I was a member of the Crimson Lion Kings," Theresa replied. "Back in the old days, they called me 'The Crimson She-Leopard',"
That squad name caught Asta's attention. "So does that mean you know Fuegoleon Vermillion?"
The old lady chuckled. "Little Fuego, of course, I knew him, I was his teacher after all,"
Kenos' eyes widened. "No way, you taught a future captain of one of the kingdom's best squads, you must be really powerful,"
"I wouldn't say that, time has caught up to me, so I'm not as powerful as I used to be, but regardless, I can still fight," Theresa responded.
"Ah crap, it's four against one now, I'm not really liking those odds," Sally said.
"The odds can be in your favor though," Sally turned to see Baro not too far from her. "That kid dealt more damage to me than I thought, if you heal me, I'll give you a hand,"
Sally pondered her choice. "Hm, I suppose, there's something I've been meaning to test out for some time,"
"Perfect, bring it over to me," Baro said. "Yeah right, there's no way I'm staying here and possibly getting captured by the Magic Knights, once she heals me, I'll grab Neige and make a break for it,"
"And, here you go," Sally hummed as she pulled out a large syringe and injected it into Baro's neck, pumping the liquid into his body.
"What is that?" Baro asked.
"A Dark Magic Item, it'll heal you, as well as do one more thing," Sally replied.
"And what might that-," Baro was about to ask, but stopped as he felt a pain in his body, suddenly, a brown substance began pouring out from everywhere, his mouth, eyes, ears, hands, and shoes.
Neige weakly got up as he looked at his older brother. "Baro?" he muttered as the man began growing, the substance surrounding his body more and more until he became nothing more than a giant blob with eyes and a mouth.
"What the hell?" Kenos muttered, looking in horror at the monstrosity before them.
"What is all of that brown stuff on him?" Asta asked aloud.
"It's mud!" they all turned to see Neige.
"What?"
"That brown stuff, it's mud, it's Baro's magical attribute," the snow mage replied.
"Correct," Sally spoke up. "The second thing my item does is supercharge a person's magical attribute, but it seems there are some problems, oh well, that's the beauty of experiments,"
The mud monster roared loudly, frightening the children, Theresa stepped up. "We have to stop both Sally and that monster, Asta, Kenos, Gauche, please keep the children safe,"
"We're on it," Asta and Kenos replied.
Gauche, however, stood on his broom and began flying, he picked up Marie as he made his way to the path of the entrance. "Leave me out of it, you three can handle this on your own, Marie is safe and I've gotten my hits in, so cya,"
The mirror mage was soon out of sight. "What?!" Kenos exclaimed. "This fight sort of gave me a chance to learn more about Gauche, and I think I just learned the most important thing about him, when his sister isn't involved in something...HE BECOMES A SELFISH BASTARD!"
"Gauche, that delinquent," Theresa muttered before turning to the two Magic Knights. "It's up to the three of us then, Flame Creation Magic: Guiding Light Leopard!" she exclaimed as a leopard made of fire appeared.
"Children, my leopard can take three of you at a time, it'll take you outside in groups before returning for more," the nun explained as she carried the three unconscious children and placed them on the leopard's back. "It'll start with these three,"
The leopard then ran down the path as Theresa turned to Asta and Kenos. "We need to buy time for the kids to escape, my attribute is good against Sally, so I'll fight her, the two of you will fight the mud creature,"
"Okay," the two boys responded as Kenos ran to the side of the path where his broom was, he then stood on it as it floated into the air, he spent a few seconds balancing himself before he flew to Asta. "Climb on, the extra mobility will give us an advantage,"
"Right," the swordsman grabbed his sword and mounted behind the solar mage, they then took off.
"Solar Magic: Sunbeam Ray!" Kenos exclaimed from the air as he fired the attack at Baro, the mud monster slowly turned to face him and shot his arm out.
"Hold on!" the solar mage exclaimed as he did his best to evade the attack. "My Sunbeam Ray doesn't work against it, I'll need to strengthen my offense, Asta, be ready, I'll launch another attack, when I do, you'll be up," he told Asta.
The magicless mage nodded. "You can count on me,"
"Okay, Solar Creation Magic: Rain of Solar Daggers!" Kenos exclaimed as the weapons descended. "Now Asta!"
"Here I go!" Asta exclaimed as he kneeled on the broom before jumping down, raising his sword into the air, and cutting off one of Baro's arms. "Nice, a direct hit,"
However, their attacks were useless as the daggers began sinking into Baro's body and his arm grew right back. "Shit," both Black Bulls muttered.
"Don't worry, I have an idea," Kenos said as he flew directly above Baro. "I hope this works, Solar Magic: Solar Cross Destroyer!" he exclaimed as he shot the two lines, although they didn't do much for restraining, he then released the blast of magic, taking out about a quarter of Baro's body, however, that grew back as well.
"Damn it, not even my best spell can take this thing down," the solar mage said as he flew back down.
"Even if it doesn't, we can't give up, we'll find a way," Asta said with encouragement.
"Thanks, but our best bet is with some extra help, in other words," Kenos began, looking at the path to the entrance. "Gauche,"
"I wonder how the others are doing back there, well, it's not like I care, they'll be just fine," Gauche thought as he flew down the path, Marie in his hands.
The mirror mage tightened his grip. "Marie, my beloved little sister, you're the only one who matters to me. I remember when we were younger, we were part of a successful noble family, with loving parents, and an easy life,"
He then looked up. "But then our parents died, and our house went to our relatives, but they didn't like the two of us, so they kicked us out, we were disgraced, forced to live out on the streets. I stole, cheated, and did whatever I could for me, and for you,"
He then began to feel the frosty breeze of the outside. "Unfortunately, I was eventually caught and sent to jail while you were sent to live with the old hag, I was able to break out of jail though, but that's when I met Captain Yami, I tried to take him down, but he was way too strong, he then gave me a robe and welcomed me into the Black Bulls, to be honest, I only joined because it would give me a chance to see you again,"
Gauche then smiled. "You're the only one I need, there's nobody else in the world who compares to you, I don't need to fight for anyone but you, Marie,"
"Um, Gauche?"
The mirror mage looked down, but was shocked when he saw a sad look on his sister's face. "What's the matter, is your face still hurting?"
"No, I'm worried about Asta, Kenos, and Sister Theresa, why did you leave them to fight on their own?" Marie replied before asking a question of her own.
"They don't need me, and besides, you're out of danger, there's no reason for me to go back there," Gauche replied plainly as he looked forward.
"What're you talking about, yes there is, go back and help them, I doubt they're okay, that mud thing looked really strong," she said.
"Sorry Marie, but no, I only need to protect you, you're the most important thing to me, as long as you're out of harm's way, I don't need to fight, not for anybody else," her brother plainly retorted.
Marie began to clench her fist. "You won't help them. I...I,"
Gauche looked down again to see that his sister was fuming.
"I hate you!" Marie exclaimed as she punched her brother.
"You...hate me?" Gauche asked, unable to believe the words that came out of the girl's mouth.
"Yes, you can't just fight for me, you're a Magic Knight, the Sister says Magic Knights are supposed to protect everyone, so you have to fight for others' sake, when you joined the Black Bulls, I thought you were so cool, but now, I'm not so sure of that," she replied.
"No, your big brother doesn't want you to hate him, what can I do to make you think I'm cool again?" the mirror mage asked quite comedically.
"I want you to go back and help them, to be the big brother who I admire, and to be someone who genuinely fights for others," Marie replied.
Gauche sighed. "Okay, I'll do it,"
Marie smiled. "Thank you, you're the best big brother ever!"
Blood ran down the mage's nose. "You're welcome,"
The two eventually made it to the outside where they saw a few of the children along with the leopard Theresa cast to take them there, the leopard then entered the cave again.
Marie and Gauche dismounted, their feet planted firmly in the crisp snow.
"Marie!" a voice exclaimed, the girl turned to see the scarlet-haired boy running towards her.
"Marco!" Marie yelled back as the two hugged. "I'm so glad you're okay, I was really worried when that mean guy threw you out of the cave,"
"Yeah, but Asta, Kenos, and Sister Theresa came and saved me," Marco said back.
"Hey, who gave you permission to touch Marie!" Gauche exclaimed, separating the two from their embrace.
"Gauche," Marie said as she crossed her arms.
The mirror mage sighed. "Fine, I'm sorry,"
The leopard came out of the cave again, carrying another group of children on its back. Gauche grinned. "Well, it seems that old hag hasn't lost her touch after all, she's most likely fighting and is still able to get these kids to safety,"
He then walked to the entrance, ready to mount his broom, but before he did, he turned to face the scarlet-haired boy next to Marie, he looked down and saw a Black Bulls robe on him. "Your name's Marco right?"
The boy nodded. "That's right,"
"I'm leaving my sister in your care, keep her safe until I get back," he told him.
"You can count on me, I'll keep Marie safe," Marco answered.
"Good, at least I won't have to worry," Gauche said as he stood on his broom and flew back into the cave.
"Gauche, be careful!" Marie called, a big smile was on her face, she was proud of her big brother and what he had decided to do.
"Damn...it,"
Asta and Kenos were breathing heavily, they had continued trying to take down Baro, but nothing they were doing was proving effective, it didn't matter how many blasts or slashes were thrown at him, he just never went down.
"How are you doing on mana, Kenos?" Asta asked.
"It's going strong, I haven't lost much mana, I've lost a lot of stamina however when we decided to try a ground attack instead of one in the air," the solar mage replied. "But I'm trying to not use too many Solar Cross Destroyers since it's a lot more mana heavy, so far, I only fired two,"
"Baro!" a familiar voice exclaimed, they turned to see Neige, slowly walking towards them, the mud creature turned to look at him. "It's me, Neige, your little brother, don't you recognize me?!"
The beast didn't respond, but merely readied his arm to attack the snow mage. "Baro!" Neige exclaimed as he braced himself, but the attack never came, Neige opened his eyes to Asta, cutting the mud arm apart.
"You...saved me?"
Asta turned to him. "That's right, but don't misunderstand my intentions, you're not allowed to die here, what you and brother did was wrong, I'm not sure if he can pay for his crimes, but you will, do you hear me,"
"I...I understand," the snow mage replied before his eyes widened. "Look out!"
Asta turned to see Baro attacking again, Neige was able to jump out of the way since he saw the attack first, but Asta was not as lucky.
"You're not dying yet!" a voice exclaimed, before Asta could even register where it came from, a hand grabbed onto his as he flew into the sky.
"What the, who are-," Asta was about to ask, but as he looked up, he saw who it was. "No way, Gauche,"
"He came back," Kenos muttered as the two landed next to him.
"Thanks for the save Gauche," Asta said gratefully.
"Don't mention it," he said back. "Let's just get this over with,"
"Wait," Kenos spoke up. "I'm sorry, I thought you were being selfish when you left us to fight by ourselves, but you came back to help us, thanks,"
The mirror mage scratched the side of his cheek. "Whatever, to be absolutely honest with you, I only came back here because Marie asked me to, otherwise, I would've just stayed outside,"
"Okay, screw what I just said, this guy is still a bastard, but...not as selfish as I first thought," Kenos thought to himself. "Well, that just means you were right about Marie, she really is an angel,"
"You got that right," Gauche said before turning to his left. "Kenos, I want you to go and help the old hag, Asta and I have got this one,"
"Alright then, good luck you two," the solar mage said as he flew to help Theresa with Sally.
"Flame Magic: Sacred Fire Stream!" Theresa exclaimed as she melted the salamander, she then moved in to attack Sally, but the lizard merely reformed itself to protect its caster.
"You're not bad, old lady, and you may have the advantage of attributes between us, but thanks to my Sticky Salamander and the Dark Magic Item I gave it before coming here which lets it regenerate, you have two enemies to face, meaning you're outnumbered," Sally said.
The nun looked behind her to still see some children left over. "I have to keep fighting until the children are out of harm's way, but what she said is true," she thought.
"If she's outnumbered, then I'll even those odds!" a voice exclaimed, Theresa looked up to see Kenos, the young mage, landed right next to her. "Would you like some assistance Sister?"
"That would be very appreciated, but can Asta fight that thing all by himself?" Theresa replied before asking.
The solar mage smiled. "He's not by himself, Gauche came back,"
"He did, well, I guess that he's not a complete delinquent after all," Theresa said before something else came to her head. "Wait a minute, let me guess, Marie told him to come back, didn't she?"
Kenos reluctantly nodded. "Yes, she did,"
The old lady sighed. "Well, it is what it is I suppose, he'll improve over time. Now, what do you say we take this crazy young lady down?"
"Solar Creation Magic: Solar Construct - Twin Gauntlets!" Kenos thought as he equipped the weapons and stood ready for battle. "It would be my pleasure," he replied as the two charged forward.
"Let's see if this will work, Mirror Magic: Real Double!" Gauche exclaimed as his clone appeared, the two then flew around Baro, mirrors forming all around him.
"Now, Mirror Magic: Double Reflect Refrain!" the two Gauches exclaimed together as light reflected around, striking the mud creature, causing a multitude of holes, however, they did nothing as the holes filled back up.
"Oh come on, does nothing work against this guy," Gauche said as he flew back down.
"Kenos did his best too, this won't be easy, but we can't quit," Asta told him as he pulled out his short sword, holding it in one hand with his large sword in the other.
"Alright then, I've decided to fight for others now, so there's no way in hell we're losing," the mirror mage said with determination. "Let's do this, Asta!"
Just then, the center of Asta's short sword began glowing a lavender color. "Woah, my sword is glowing, just like it did in the dungeon, but the color is different, does that mean I can use your magic Gauche,"
"Must be," he replied.
Asta put his large sword back in his grimoire and gripped his short sword. "If this works the same way as it did in the dungeon, then I know just what to do!" he exclaimed as he jumped into the air and made a slashing motion, sending a crescent-shaped slash of light at Baro.
The slash cut off Baro's arm, and for a few seconds, it didn't grow back, but then it did. Gauche sucked his teeth. "So even that doesn't work,"
"No, it's effective, he regenerates slower against that attack, so all I have to do is attack with it enough times so that regenerating can't save him," Asta countered.
"Attack with it enough times, to do that, we would need-," Gauche began before the answer hit him. "More of you,"
Just then, the mirror mage's grimoire began flipping to a blank page as writing became inscribed on it, Gauche looked at the inscription. "A new spell, and how ironic...it can only be used when fighting with others,"
"Asta," he said.
The swordsman turned to face his squadmate. "Yeah, is something wrong?"
"No, I never thought I'd ever have to use this, but look into my left eye," Gauche replied as he pulled back the hair covering his left eye, revealing a mirror where his eyeball should be.
"What is that?"
"It's a Magic Item I had embedded into my left eye socket, it's necessary for my new spell," he responded.
"Okay then," Asta said as he looked into the mage's left eye.
"Here we go, Mirror Magic: Mirror Brigade!" Gauche exclaimed as thirty clones of Asta appeared, each holding a glowing short sword. "These clones are similar to my Real Double, they can inflict damage, now go!"
"We're on it!" the Astas exclaimed as they all jumped into the air, surrounding Baro in all directions, they each fired the slash of light, cutting parts off of Baro, but giving him no time to regenerate.
"It's working, keep going!" Gauche exclaimed.
The swordsmen did just that, and soon, the monstrous creature was nothing more than a puddle of mud on the ground, with a navy blue shirt resting over it.
The clones of Asta disappeared as he put his short sword back into his grimoire. "We did it!"
From afar, Kenos grinned. "They won Sister,"
Theresa grinned as well. "Good, we're all that's left, let's finish this," she said as they both charged forward, the salamander wasted no time standing in their way.
"Flame Magic: Brilliant Flame Cross!" the nun exclaimed as the lizard exploded, the two then moved in, but like before, it reformed.
"You can't get past it, give up!" Sally exclaimed.
"That's where you're wrong!" the solar mage retorted as he jumped into the air, readying his gauntlet to strike, the salamander jumped up to get in his way.
"Now I have a clear shot!" Theresa exclaimed.
"Crap," the gel mage muttered as the lizard got in the nun's way this time.
Theresa used a spell to explode it again. "This is your chance, finish it, Kenos!"
"I will!" Kenos exclaimed as he shot Sally dead in the face, sending her straight into a wall, her salamander disappeared. "There we go, finally took her down,"
"And all the children are outside, that's a relief," Theresa added. "Thank you for your help, Kenos,"
"No problem,"
"Baro," Neige said as he walked to what remained of his brother, dropping to his knees, he grabbed the shirt and began crying, his tears were short, however, as he wiped his eyes and stood up, walking to Asta. "Hey, your name's Asta, right?"
The swordsman nodded. "It is, and your's is Neige,"
The snow mage nodded this time. "Thank you for ending my brother's suffering, I'm going to pay for what I did to these children, once we get back, I'll turn myself in, but I was wondering, after I serve my time," he began as he stopped, but started again. "Is it possible for us to be...friends?"
Asta smiled. "Of course, I don't know why, but I get a feeling that you're not a bad guy, just someone who did what he was told,"
Neige smiled. "That's great, I'm looking forward to-," he began, but that smile quickly faded as he slowly fell to the ground.
"N-Neige?" Asta muttered as he looked down, but his eyes widened once he noticed swords lodged in the mage's back, he didn't hear a spell being cast or get to see where it could've possibly come from. But just then, a bright light flashed behind him.
He and the others turned around and shaded their eyes to let them see who was there, the person in question was a man wearing a white robe, he had white hair tied in braids behind his head. Asta's eyes widened. "It's him,"
The man was carrying Sally in his arms. "Oh Sally, look how these people have hurt you, I will make them pay," he said with a serene tone.
Asta looked closer and noticed the man's grimoire, confirming that he was the one who attacked Neige, but it was the man's grimoire that made his eyes widen even further than before. "His grimoire, it has...four leaves,"
The man looked down on the others before him. "Greetings, I suppose I should introduce myself," he said as he lightly dropped to the ground.
"I am the leader of the Eye of The Midnight Sun, and my name...is Licht,"