Chapter Fifty-Five: To Control Fate

Hey there, readers, sorry that this chapter is late, as I already informed you, I've had a cold recently, well on Friday, my head really hurt, my parents checked my temperature and saw that it was the highest my fever had been that week, so I was in bed for most of the day. On Saturday, they gave me some medicine and I was beginning to feel better, by Saturday night, I was feeling just fine, my fever was gone, so this morning, I finished up the chapter. Once more, I'd like to apologize, here's the chapter for Day 5, thanks for the reviews and I hope you enjoy this one. Cya.

"Kill us all?"

That was the thought that went through the heads of every bound mage, fear being evident in the tone they thought in, and their fear only became greater as the possessed Asta looked at them. The swordsman was always such an exuberant and passionate person, to see his eyes look as soulless as they were saddened them as much as it frightened them.

"What the hell are you doing?!" Kenos yelled angrily. "Why have you bound us, we're supposed to be allies, have you forgotten that?!"

"I've forgotten nothing, boy, the deal between us was simple, I restore Asta's arms to what they used to be, and you stop the intruders from destroying my forest. Both things have been accomplished, so this transaction is over, we were never allies, just business partners if you will, and now that our deal is over, I can get to my personal objective," the Queen explained.

"Personal objective?" Fanzell asked.

"Yes, and it has to do with him," the blood mage pointed to her possessed magicless puppet. "I've never met a human quite like Asta, a human with no magic power. I concluded that he isn't special, but in the end, that's why he's special," the Queen replied.

"Wait, I don't understand, he isn't special, but at the same time he is?" Finral asked, obviously confused.

"In a world where everyone has magic, he's not special because he isn't like them, but that's what also makes him special, because they aren't like him," the Queen replied again.

"Whatever, just spill it, what does this personal objective of yours have to do with Asta?!" Mars exclaimed.

"My my, you're quite loud, as I said, Asta is a one-of-a-kind, as such, he will stay here with me, I will study him to discover the secret of his perfect imperfections,"

"What?! You're going to make Asta stay here with you?! Is that why you bound us too, are you planning to keep us here too?!" Noelle exclaimed this time.

"No, I have no use for you, I did command Asta to kill you all, didn't I? The only reason I'm choosing to do this is that I'm aware of how much you all care for him, he is the reason you came here, after all, knowing that, if I told you I'd be keeping him here, you would've all tried to defeat me, so it's best if you all die," the blood mage explained quite nonchalantly.

"Well, if you knew that we'd stop you from taking Asta, you better believe we'd stop you from using him to kill us," Kenos said before turning to his right, where the golden eye mage was. "Anna, you're the only one who can use strong enough magic without your hands, if you take out the Queen, that might free Asta,"

"I'm on it," the woman said as her grimoire came up to her, quickly landing on a page. "I don't have enough time or mana for Final Flash, so it's onto the next best thing, Golden Eye Magic: Sweeping Beam Cannon!"

At her call, her eyes flashed gold before she shot the two beams, they united into a single beam as they made their way to the Queen with quick speed, Kenos was a bit amazed at how Anna looked when using spells without her armor, but he was also traumatized, remembering the look of Yami's near severed arm at the hands of that spell.

The Queen, however, didn't even look worried. "What an imperfect attack, it's so…simple," she said before snapping her fingers, watching as Asta came and deflected the beam in another direction. "And simple makes it easy to stop,"

"Shit, that didn't work," the golden eye mage silently cursed before turning to the solar mage. "Sorry, that's all I got for now, it seems you weren't the only one drained in mana from our earlier encounter,"

"Damn it, don't worry about it, Mars! Fana! What about you?" Kenos asked.

"I can't, my mana's low," Mars replied.

"I'm sorry, Ladros absorbed most of the magic that was with me when he absorbed Salamander," Fana added.

"And since Asta broke the crystal in my chest, my basic magic no longer exists," Ladros joined in.

"Shit, shit, and double shit, there's nothing we can do, unless something turns up soon, we're screwed!" Kenos thought, but another voice pulled him out of his head.

"Stop this, please!" Vanessa screamed, prompting everyone to look at her.

"Well well well, it seems my rambunctious daughter has something to say, speak up," the Queen said, almost in a sarcastically dark way.

"Please, spare my friends, spare everyone here, I'll stay here with you, I'll never disobey any command you give ever again, I beg you, don't kill them!" the thread mage exclaimed, her voice full of desperation.

"So, you've resorted to begging, I will assure you that you're begging won't change my mind. You see, Vanessa, I was already planning on keeping you here, I didn't bind you in particular so Asta could kill you, I merely bound you so I wouldn't have to worry about you interfering with my objective, your friends could die or not, either way, neither of you are ever leaving this forest again," the Queen responded to her daughter's plea, but of course, was not met with mercy.

"Why do you want me to stay?! I left this place already, didn't I?!" the thread mage exclaimed once more, this time, tears flowed down her eyes, knowing that she couldn't do anything to save her friends.

"You did leave, but did you ever wonder why I kept you so restricted, even within your own home?" the blood mage asked.

This caught Vanessa off guard. "Um, no?"

The Queen began to explain. "It was because of your latent ability, when I discovered you had thread magic, that meant that you had the potential to create a powerful spell, one that surpasses my own magic and the magic of every mage in the kingdom: the power to control fate itself,"

Vanessa was taken aback. "Me? Control…fate?"

"That's correct, I kept you in a cage within the palace so you could progress your magical ability and eventually awaken the spell that lets you control fate, and once you were able to do it, you were to help me make the lives for forest inhabitants better by ruthless slaying all who stand a threat, with the power to control fate itself, it wouldn't be too hard," the Queen answered, her face turning into a twisted smile at the end of her statement.

"Do I really have access to a power like that?" Vanessa muttered to herself, but was drawn back as the Queen spoke up again.

"But now is the time for execution, and my executioner stands ready, but who shall I eliminate first?" the green-clad witch wondered aloud before finding the first target: Noelle. "Ah yes, the member of royalty among you, they always wish to be the first in everything, so it's only fitting that she be the first to die, Asta, you know what to do," she commanded as Asta slowly walked towards the water mage.

"No, stop! Don't do this!" Vanessa screamed, tears were running down her face like a waterfall, she couldn't bear to see one of her precious friends kill another, it would be too much.

"Now now, Vanessa, it'll be over soon, and once it is, you'll come back with me, with your mother, despite your imperfections, I am still your family, as such, you will do as you're told," the Queen said casually.

"Asta, stop, it's me, Noelle, you don't know what you're doing, you don't want to kill me," the royal water mage began pleading as tears of fear and sadness ran down her face, trying to get through to the possessed swordsman and maybe make him stop, but it was no use.

"There's no point in trying to talk to him, my Puppet's Blood locks his mind away and gives me complete control of his body, think of it as if he was asleep, but his body was still moving, regardless, there's nothing you can do to stop him from doing as I have commanded him," the Queen explained. "Asta, after the girl is dead, you can eliminate the others in whatever order you wish, as long as Vanessa is unharmed,"

"No, no, I can't let things end this, I have to do something!" Vanessa thought frantically as the tears continued to fall, she tried to free herself, but she knew it was no use, the Queen's magic was far too powerful, the thread mage then thought back to something the Queen said just a few minutes earlier.

"Now now, Vanessa, it'll be over soon, and once it is, you'll come back with me, with your mother, despite your imperfections, I am still your family, as such, you will do as you're told," recalled the blood mage telling her.

Vanessa grit her teeth in anger. "You imprisoned me in a cage for years to learn a spell for your own benefit, then once I leave and return, you might've helped us, but you ended up turning that around and commanding one of my friends to kill every other person here, I won't do as you say anymore...because you aren't my family,"

The thread mage saw Asta slowly closing in, ignoring pleas around him. "I remember how it was for me years ago, my life was miserable, I thought nobody cared, but regardless, I never tried to leave. But then, my savior came, his sword broke the walls the Queen had placed and it let me see the world outside, and it was beautiful. Once I joined the Black Bulls, everything changed, I found people who cared about me, people who cherished me, and people who I could care for and cherish in return,"

She then began to think of the kind words spoken to her by her squadmates, words she would never forget, words she would keep close to her heart.

"Tell ya what, why don't you leave this place and come live with me, if you were born in the forest, I doubt you know what the outside world is like," Yami.

"It's like you're a completely different person when you're not drunk, I'm glad I decided to come here, I found out a little bit about you," Kenos.

"You're right, I wasn't gifted with magic, but do you know what I was gifted with? Great friends! And you're one of those friends, I can't lose you, none of us can lose you, you mean way too much!" Asta.

"Them, it's people like them who I call family, and who I'll stand by no matter what, so I won't let you take them away from me!" Vanessa thought passionately, her strength renewed by the desire to protect her family.

Suddenly, a scarlet-colored glow brightly emanated from Vanessa, with threads also being visible as they rotated around her person, everyone stopped to look at her, even the possessed Asta was unable to look away at the spectacle.

"What's happening?" Vanessa muttered as her grimoire came up to her, it flipped through many pages before it landed on a blank one as text became inscribed on it, but it felt different, causing the thread mage to gasp. "A new spell, I haven't gotten one of those in some time, and it feels different from the other spells I learned...but if it has the power to save everyone here from their grim end, I'll use it, Thread Magic: Red Thread of Fate!"

At her call, the threads that revolved around Vanessa began traveling to the top of her head, condensing into something small, but it didn't take long to see what that small thing was: a cat.

"A cat?" was the thought that went through everyone's mind as a red cat sat comfortably on the scarlet-clad witch head, meowing softly.

While everyone was still focusing on the feline that had recently appeared, the Queen was instead focused on the name of the spell her daughter had declared. "So that's it? The spell that can change fate itself...is nothing more than a cat, I must perform a test to see how its power works," she thought before she extended a hand. "Don't stop, Asta, kill the girl, and don't take your time!" she commanded as Asta began running towards Noelle.

"No!" Vanessa screamed as Asta arrived and made a swift slashing motion at the water mage's neck, seemingly cutting her head off, but oddly enough, it turns out that he missed, and by a large margin too, the swordsman wasn't anywhere near his target.

The blood mage widened her eyes. "What? Why didn't she die? How come Asta missed so poorly?"

A soft meow was heard, Vanessa looked up and saw that the cat was no longer on her head, but was rather in Noelle's shoulder, the water mage had closed her eyes and braced herself, but death never came, at the sound of the meow, she opened them to see the cat was on her person.

The Queen then pointed to Kenos. "Alright then, Asta, kill him!" the possessed swordsman wasted no time moving in on the solar mage, ready to stab him in the chest.

"Damn it, I'm done for!" Kenos exclaimed as he too braced himself, but just like with his squadmate, death did not come to embrace him for the second time that day, the familiar meow was heard, he opened his eyes to see the cat resting on his right arm, he then looked down to see that Asta's sword was pointed away from where he was.

The green-clad mage put a hand under her chin. "So, that's how it works, whenever the cat makes contact with a person, it changes their fate. In this particular situation, the cat changed the fates of those Asta was about to kill, and made it so that they weren't killed, interesting, but what about the cat itself?" she thought before she issued a new order. "Asta, forget them, eliminate the cat!"

Asta obeyed as the cat jumped up in the air, he took this as a chance to attack, the Queen grinned, despite how strong the cat was, it was still made of magic, which made it susceptible to anti-magic.

Or so she thought.

Once the sword made contact with the cat, it merely passed right through it, leaving the magical feline unharmed, this brought a look of shock to the Queen's face. "It can resist anti-magic as well?! Wait, no it can't, I know what it's doing, when the Demon-Slayer Sword made contact with it, the cat changed the fate of the sword so that it wouldn't cancel it out," she thought, but strangely, the shocked look disappeared, replaced by a twisted grin. "Amazing, the power is even more amazing than I originally thought, not only can it change fate, it's immune to every attack, even an attack that naturally counters magic,"

The possessed swordsman kept swinging and swinging at the cat, but nothing was working, he tried one more attack, but that that's when the magical feline decided to change things up, it landed right on Asta's shoulder, and changed his fate, as he swung the sword, the change caused the crossguard to hit his head, undoing the spell that was holding his body captive.

His half-demon form undid itself as his skin and eyes returned to normal. "W-What happened, what's going on?" he asked aloud, but a strange feeling of exhaustion washed over him as he fell to one knee, not taking into account his surroundings.

"So, the cat changed Asta's fate so that he'd free himself, unfortunate, but ultimately, it is of no consequence, because my objective now is to take control of the fate-altering cat, or rather, the cat's owner," the Queen said as she looked at Vanessa. "Blood Magic: Puppet's Blood!"

Vanessa began to scream as she could feel the Queen's spell beginning to affect her. "N-No, you won't take me away, o-or use my power, I won't let you!" she exclaimed defiantly.

"Oh really, you won't let me, your magic never was a match for my own, there's absolutely nothing you can do to-," the Queen began saying, but was interrupted as she suddenly felt something touch her forehead, her eyes widened to see that it was the cat.

Suddenly, in seemingly no time at all, the Queen's spell disappeared, blood was no longer on the ground, and the group of mages were no longer bound, much to their relief, as for the Queen herself, Vanessa saw that she was on all fours, staring at the ground, the thread mage fearlessly walked over to her.

"No, how could this have happened, I was so close to controlling fate," she said.

"That's right, you were close,"

The Queen looked up to see Vanessa staring down at her before she continued. "There was one thing you didn't account for: who this cat would change fate for. I'm the one who cast this spell, by remembering who my true family is, as such, this cat will only protect those who are family to me, like the Black Bulls, there is one witch whom I also view as family, but it isn't you," she explained as the cat jumped onto her shoulder.

"Another witch? You mean Dominante?" the Queen asked.

"No, another one, you might know her, she always was quite the goody-two-shoes," the thread mage replied.

"Oh, her, so you see her more as of family than me," the blood mage said as she slowly got up. "I have always called inadequate things around me imperfect...including you, but it seems that I'm the one who's imperfect, Blood Recovery Magic: Curse Breaking Blood-filled Cocoon," she said as red spheres encased every individual mage, healing them of any wounds, and replenishing their magic and stamina.

"I suppose that's the least I could do," Vanessa heard her mother say.

"Damn, that was close, I thought we were all going to die," Finral said.

"You're telling me, I wonder how Domina and Mariella are doing right now, I hope they're safe," Fanzell then said.

"Zell!" a familiar voice exclaimed.

"Well, speak of the damned," Anna said as she saw the ice and vortex mages come into view.

"You're okay!" the latter cried as she ran up and hugged her husband tightly.

"I'm glad to see you're okay too, Domina, Mariella," the wind mage said.

"All of the Diamond forces have been dealt with," Mariella informed him. "We were able to get away before any of the witches could notice Dominante,"

"Is that so, don't worry, I'll get them once we head back," the golden eye mage stated, causing the two women to raise a brow in confusion. "Hello there, I'm Anna, but you might you know me better as Brosnan,"

"Wait, so you're a woman? I've thought you were a man for all this time," Domina said with surprise.

"Many people did, including this foolish boy," Anna told her, lightly punching Kenos' arm.

"Whatever," the solar mage said with crossed arms.

"Wait a minute," Domina said as she pointed forward. "Isn't that...the Queen?"

"All of you, if you would, please follow me to my palace," the Queen told them.

All of the mages were inside the palace, watching as the Queen ascended onto the platform and sat on her throne, looking back at the group.

"I wish to formally apologize for what I tried to do to you all earlier, whether you choose to forgive me or not is up to you, I do admit that it is a bit a sudden, but as a token of my apology, take this," the blood mage said as she took off the magic stone hanging off her ear and threw it to Asta.

The magicless mage caught it. "Thank you very much," he then looked at the stone intently before looking back up. "Hey, you have a magic stone, do you happen to know why the Eye of the Midnight Sun is after these things?"

"I do, the Magic Stones are objects capable of increasing the wearer's magical prowess, by some unexplained reason, they were scattered, and I happened to obtain one," the Queen replied.

"What, something capable of boosting power? No wonder they want it, they must want to create a legion of enhanced mages," Fanzell stated.

"That is incorrect," the Queen interrupted. "While those are the capabilities of the stones, it can't be done by just anyone, it can only be done by those of or those closely affiliated to the race that lived long ago...also known as the elves,"

"Elves?" everyone said with confusion.

"Yes, the elves were an ancient race from around 500 years ago that resided in what's now the forsaken realm, they lived in a tribe and were regarded as powerful mages blessed by mana, but they were eventually annihilated," the blood mage explained.

"They were annihilated, but by who? Powerful mages aren't easy to beat?" Kenos asked.

"The elves were eliminated by...humans," the Queen replied.

The minute she said that, something clicked in the minds of the Black Bulls, they thought back to what they remembered Vetto and Fana saying.

"You're not the only ones...I had hopes and dreams too, as well as people I cared about, but do you know what happened to it all, they were taken away from me..by stupid humans like you!"

"Why?! You want to know why?! You people and this damn kingdom took everything away from me, all the things I loved, all the people I loved, all of it, and then, you kill Vetto again, so more than anything, I want to see you burn!"

"That does make some sense," Asta spoke up as she looked at Fana. "Both you and Vetto talked to us calling us humans, as if you yourselves weren't humans, it was kind of strange,"

"That's true, perhaps it has to do with the Third Eye that appeared on your foreheads, no other members that we encountered seemed to talk like that," Noelle added.

"Yeah, whatever happened to me, it made me see different things, something I vaguely remembered is a recurring memory of a group of elves dying due to some light spell," Fana told them.

"Third eye, you say?" the Queen asked. "The third eye is the result of a spell cast through forbidden magic, I take it that someone with a third eye was the one who cursed Asta's arms,"

"Yes, that's correct," Finral confirmed.

"I see, but there is something else to know regarding the elves," the Queen said, pointing at the magicless mage. "As well as the Magic Stones, something else belonged to the elves: your swords,"

Asta's eyes widened. "My swords?"

The green-clad witch nodded. "Yes, the Demon-Slayer Sword and the Demon-Dweller Sword belonged to the leaders of the elves, although, I'm not sure how they obtained the power of anti-magic,"

Once more, a click went off in Asta's mind as he heard the Queen say that, remembering what Licht said to him some time ago.

"You, boy, do you have any idea what you're holding?! Why on Earth do you have the Demon-Slayer Sword?!... What, you have the Demon-Dweller Sword too?!... Those swords don't belong to you, they belong to the master, someone like you shouldn't even be allowed to touch them," he recalled the light mage saying on three different occasions.

"Hey Kenos, Finral, do you remember back then when we faced off against Licht and the Third Eye in Nean, Licht mentioned my swords and grimoire belonging to some master of his, could the master be the leader of the elf tribe?" Asta asked.

"Not possible, the tribe existed 500 years ago, and they were killed by the humans of that time, even if some found a way to escape the massacre, not even a baby would last that long," Kenos replied.

"There's a chance they could be descendants," the Queen interjected. "Any elves that survived could continue to reproduce and carry on the lineage, perhaps one of these descendants is working with this terrorist organization, being referred to as the master?"

"That's a much more possible chance of being the case, but in the end, we won't really know what's actually going on, all we can do is speculate," Finral said.

"Maybe it's not?" Fana spoke up, prompting all to look at her. "What if I returned to the base of the Eye of the Midnight Sun, I most likely came with other mages, I could say I was wounded and they'll fly me there, no one will think anything is wrong, I could act like a spy?"

"No way, out of the question," Mars protested immediately.

"He's right, don't get me wrong, that's certainly a great idea, but if you can't remember how you used to be, you'll get caught instantly, then who knows what they'll do to you, probably find a way to control you again, or just decide you're not worth keeping around and kill you, there are too many risks and not enough benefits, and this organization isn't even after my kingdom," Anna added, supporting the mineral mage's point by stating the many obvious cons.

"Alright then, it's a no-go for being a spy," the flame mage pouted a bit.

"It's alright, all we have to do is just keep finding Magic Stones while stopping the enemy from doing so, piece of cake," Asta said as he confidently rubbed under his nose.

"That's all the information I have, for now, I hope it was sufficient," the Queen stated.

"Oh it was very sufficient, I got everything written down here, all I have to do is tell Captain Yami when we get back, thanks a lot, your majesty," the spatial mage replied with a grateful tone.

"Speaking of when we get back, we should get going, the sun's starting to set, it's been quite a hectic day," Vanessa said, everyone nodded as they started heading out, with the thread mage and Kenos as the last ones in.

"Wait…Vanessa," the scarlet-clad witch turned at the sound of the Queen's voice.

"Yeah?"

"You…you can come and go from here as you please, and so can Dominante, neither of you are outcast anymore," she said, Vanessa's eyes widened, from what she said, and from the fact that it was the very first time she had ever sounded hesitant.

But that surprise quickly shifted to nonchalance. "Another favor? What are you trying to do, weasel your way into my life to get some benefits from the cat?" she asked, the cat giving a soft yet angry growl in the Queen's direction.

"No, I was more focused on obtaining the power to control fate that I cast you aside. I ignored how lonely you might've felt, and how unloved you thought you were. I was an imperfect mother, but now you've found a place where you belong, outside of here. I grant you the freedom to come and go so you can at least visit me, because even though you may hate me…I still want to know that you see me as your mother," the Queen finished.

Kenos was quite surprised, he didn't think the blood mage was capable of giving such a heartfelt speech, his mind zeroed in on the last set of words she stated, causing his head to fall down in sadness, but he quickly shot them back up, it wasn't the time to feel sorry for himself.

Vanessa, on the other hand, merely turned around and started walking towards the large exit. "Thanks," she said, but before she reached the exit, she stopped, only turning her head a few degrees. "And hey…I don't hate you…mother," she then continued walking and exited.

The solar mage looked at the Queen, shocked to see a genuine smile present on her face, but that shocked look disappeared when she then looked straight at him. "Is there something you need?"

"Um, yes there is, I was wondering if you can provide me with something important?"

"Yes, this will work perfectly, thank you very much, your majesty," Kenos said as he put the contents in his satchel before giving a quick bow of respect and running towards the exit.

The Queen put a hand under her chin. "A human who's aligned with a sacred one, not nearly as intriguing to me as Asta is, but intriguing nonetheless, although it seems he doesn't know of the sacred one yet, but I'd rather let it explain everything when it chooses to reveal itself as my knowledge on them is quite skewed, the elves are the ones who know the most about them, I wonder how they'll react when an encounter happens?" she thought.

"There he is," Asta said, pointing as Kenos came into view. "Where were you?"

"Sorry, I was asking the Queen about something," the solar mage replied. "So, I'm guessing this is where we all part ways?"

"Not yet, there are still some things that need to be taken care of," Anna replied as she walked over to him, bending down as she gave the boy a peck on the cheek. "Just a little thank you for sparing me, although, I hope I didn't accidentally awaken anything in you? I've been told I'm quite attractive,"

Kenos crossed his arms. "Hardly, I'll have you know I'm not into older women," he replied with a grin as he looked at the woman who grinned back. It was kind of hard to believe how close the solar and golden eye mages have bonded after wanting to kill each other just a few hours ago.

"That's true, I come from experience," Vanessa joked as everyone shared a quick laugh. "So Fana, where are you going to go?"

"I'm going to be staying with Fanzell, Mariella, and Dominante, I plan to rebuild my life," the flame mage replied.

"As for us, we're returning to the Diamond Kingdom, and with a little present as well," Anna then stated, presenting a small vial. "This is some liquid infused with the Queen's Puppet Blood, we'll pass it off as the longevity source our king sent us here for, but in reality, it'll give us control of him,"

"We'll use him to end the cruel experiments and make the Diamond Kingdom a peaceful country," Mars added before his eyes fell on a familiar pink-haired sight. "Fana, we just got reunited, but we'll have to part ways again, will…will you please wait for me?"

The mineral mage was met with a peck on the forehead by the flame mage, who had a big smile on her face. "What kind of question is that, of course I'll wait for you, just promise me you'll be safe,"

Mars nodded. "I guess it's time to go now,"

"Wait," everyone turned to see the voice coming from Ladros, until now, the blond general had yet to say a word. "There's something I want to say, the Queen isn't the only one who's sorry…I'd like to apologize too, the way I acted was due to something that happened in my past, but I won't use it as an excuse, I was cruel and I was arrogant and I've made many mistakes, but I want this place to be the one where I make my last one, I hope you can all forgive me?" he said with the utmost seriousness and remorse.

"Of course, I can read your Ki, this time, it's genuine," Asta was the first to reply.

Fanzell then walked over to him. "I forgive you too, and even though we'll be separated, we'll keep in touch, I won't let you down this time,"

Ladros smiled. "Thanks, Asta, you too, teach, I won't let you down either, I'll be a student you can be proud of,"

"Hey, can we actually get moving this time?" Mariella asked plainly.

"My my, someone's getting impatient," Domina said with a light chuckle.

"She's right though, we should get a move on," Fanzell said as he cast his Hovering Swords spell, creating four swords as the fugitives and Fana hopped on. "We'll see you guys around!"

"Bye, thanks for your help!" Asta called back.

"We better get moving too, see you around, Kenos Rossiu," the golden eye mage said as she extended her hand out.

The solar mage smiled as he shook her hand. "Until we meet again, Anna Brosnan Whomalt,"

Asta and Mars bumped arms, with the latter speaking up. "I owe you one, Asta, if you ever need me for something, just call,"

"Will do, but I'll leave you to rebuild your kingdom for now, leave the Eye of the Midnight Sun to us," the swordsman said back.

"Well, catch you all later," Ladros finished as the three summoned their transport spells and flew away.

"Time for us to leave, but unlike them, we've got a spatial mage," Noelle said as Finral created a portal, they all walked through it, arriving at the gate of the hideout.

"It always feels like so long after a mission, even though they're usually around for less than a day," Kenos commented.

"You got that right, I can't wait to tell everyone my arms got fixed," Asta said as they all walked inside. "We're back!" he exclaimed, but was surprised to find only Yami there, reading the newspaper.

"Oh, hey, I was wondering where you all went, I didn't see you outside," the dark mage said.

"Captain Yami, check it, my arms have been fixed!" the magicless mage yelled.

"Really, that's great," Yami said with a tone of disinterest, but in reality, he was pretty happy for his squad member, he then turned to the thread mage, and looked at her strangely. "Hey Vanessa, is that a cat on your shoulder?"

"Oh yeah, it is, I got a new spell and it manifested in the shape of a cat," she replied. "Although, it's best that I give you a name, just like Nero, but I'll call you…Rouge, because you're red," she said, the cat meowing in excitement.

"By the way, where is everyone?" Finral asked.

"They're still out, looking for ways to fix the kid's arms, they actually should be back by now," the captain replied.

And just as he said that, the doors burst open and a rampage of fire and lightning emerged.

"Oh, Magna and Luck are back, let's break the good-," Kenos was about to say, but was stopped as he saw the two mages, they looked different, both were surging with mana, Magna was seen in the rare look of having his hair down and his shades off, while Luck's hair was raised and his eyes glowed.

"The dungeon was a fascinating place, full of riches and jewelry, in a very large space," Magna said.

"The mana is calling me," Luck then said.

"At first we wanted to quit, but then we found it, a way to solve the problem we face," Magna continued, unknowingly performing a limerick.

"The mana is calling me," Luck repeated.

"What up guys, good news, my arms are back to normal, thanks for the effort, I really appreciate it," Asta said.

The flame and lighting mages quickly screwed over their previous states and went back to normal. "Alright Rasta, good to have you back," Magna said.

"Now you're better, can we have a fight, I bet you'll need to test out your arms after a day in a sling," Luck added.

Just then, the door burst open again, and in came Gordon and Gauche, with both mages wearing dorky glasses and having heaps of books strapped to their backs.

"Holy crap, they've become nerds!" Kenos thought. "So, how was the library,"

"It was incredible, we searched up so much knowledge, and we ended up finding more. Did you know that it's possible to use statistical procedures as well as personal features to approximately determine the average amount of mana people have at all times? What a fascinating fact, aye Professor Gordon?" Gauche said before asking.

Gordon quickly wrote down in his notebook, saying "Yes, Professor Gauche, it is quite interesting, but what about using genetic percentages to estimate what attributes a person will inherit from their parents?"

"Ah yes, how could I forget something so incredible, the pool of knowledge is endless!" the dorky mirror mage exclaimed.

"Hey there, you two, I got my arms fixed, thanks for doing so much, and it seems like you really got into it," Asta said.

Like the previous two, Gauche and Gordon reverted back to normal. "It's about time, damn it!" the former exclaimed.

"I sort of liked his nerdy persona, his lack of mentioning Marie was very refreshing," the solar mage said, the others nodded in agreement.

Gordon wrote something else down, Asta bent down to read it. "Hooray, my friend's arms are better, now he won't have to worry about not achieving his dream,"

"Thanks Gordon, you really know what to say…or in this case, write," the swordsman said to him.

Once again, the door burst open. "Again? Well, that should be the last time, only one more group was gone," Kenos said as Charmy and Grey, who transformed into Charmy, stood at the entrance…but they were both covered in mushrooms.

"And we've returned!" Charmy exclaimed, but unlike the others, it didn't take long for her to zero in on the swordsman.

"Asta, your arms are better!" the two exclaimed as they ran over to him. "That's great, we're so happy for you!"

"I'm happy too, thanks for doing so much, all of you, I couldn't have asked for a better squad to call my friends," Asta said gratefully.

Vanessa smiled as she watched all of her squadmates interacting with each other. This was it, this was what she cared for, this was what she cherished, this was what Rouge was created to protect: the Black Bulls, because they were her true family, every single one of them.

"I'm home,"

"Take this, and this!"

In the anonymous hideout of the Eye of the Midnight Sun, within a large space, Annalise was doing some late training, with Rades and Sally's help of course, Rades made a horde of them and Sally created a concoction to boost their power.

"Spark Magic: Flickering Melee!" Annalise exclaimed as she either punched or kicked through the horde of the undead, but she soon found that there were too many. "Okay then, if that won't handle you, then get a load of this, Spark Magic: Twin Flickering Detonation!"

At her call, the orbs exploded, taking out a majority of the zombies, but to her surprise, a good amount still remained, and one punched her right in the face, sending her to the ground.

"Okay, that's enough!" Rades called from afar, the zombies obeyed and stopped in their tracks as the wraith and gel mages walked to the purple-haired girl.

"Not a bad move, Lili, but I've bumped up Rades zombies to be able to withstand a lot, although making the concoction is a pain since the time and resources required are greater, but that's the price to pay for experiments," Sally commented before explaining.

"Uh, what's with you and nicknames, first you call me Anna, now Lili, is my name that hard to say on a regular basis?" the spark mage asked before picking herself up. "As for your other point, you're right, Twin Flickering Detonation isn't cutting it, I need to make something stronger,"

"Ooh, I know, why don't you let me experiment on you, perhaps I can do something to give your magic a little boost," Sally suggested.

"No way in hell would I let you do that," the spark mage immediately declined.

"You're no fun," the gel mage pouted.

"Sally, it's pretty obvious at this point that we have different perspectives on the meaning of fun," Rades said bluntly. "What you call fun can be seen to many others as crazy,"

"Hey there all, how's the training coming along?" a voice asked, the three turned to see Rhya.

"Fine, I guess," Annalise replied.

"Great, Rades, Sally, there's something I need your help with, I hope you don't mind if I snatch them for just a minute, Annalise?" the copy mage asked.

"By all means, I was planning on having some alone time to think to myself anyway," the spark mage replied as the three disappeared.

"Hm, if Twin Flickering Detonation isn't enough, then I'll have to keep getting stronger," Annalise thought to herself before she remembered something else. "I wonder how's Fana doing on her mission, she's probably already on her way back with the Magic Stone,"

But then, footsteps were heard, the spark mage turned to see a hooded mage approach her. "Annalise, I have some bad news...it's about Fana,"

Those words made Annalise's eyes widen, she could feel her body shaking. "W-What about Fana? Is she okay?"

"She had yet to return from the Witches' Forest, so some scouts were sent, when we got there, we saw that the mages that accompanied her were all defeated, but her body was nowhere to be found, one of our mages regained consciousness and said they were defeated by Magic Knights, more specifically, the Black Bulls, so it's safe to assume that Fana was...eliminated," the mage said.

Annalise couldn't believe what she heard, she fell to her knees as tears silently fell from her face, the mage quietly started to walk away from her. "I'm...going to inform Licht," he said before leaving.

Once the mage had left the room, Annalise violently punched the ground as her cries became more audible. "Damn it!" she exclaimed as she remembered her last interaction with the flame mage.

"Make sure not to overexert yourself, you're like a little sister to me,"

"I never really had a family, or siblings, but the Eye of the Midnight Sun is my family now, and you're like a sister to me too,"

"I know why you don't want me to go, you'll think I'll get hurt if we have to face that Queen, but promise me that you'll come back, I don't want to lose you,"

"I promise,"

The spark mage repeatedly punched the ground. "Just damn it, why didn't I convince her to take me with her, I would've protected her, but now she's gone, the woman who was like an older sister to me. Damn you, Black Bulls, why do you want to take the people that are precious to me, I'll make you pay, I'll make you all pay, you and all the people that you love!" she screamed.

As she finished, her grimoire suddenly came up to her, a surprised look came to her face as her tome flipped through pages before landing on a blank one, text then became inscribed on it.

"A new spell?" Annalise wondered aloud with a sniffle as she wiped her tears away and looked at the new spell in her repertoire, while her eyes were still red with tears, a grin creased her face.

"This is it, this is the spell that will help me do it, that will help me eliminate the Black Bulls. I'll take them down and avenge you, Fana," she said as she closed her grimoire and began walking out of the room.

"That's a promise,"