Chapter Ninety-Seven: Our Home
How's it going, readers? Our countdown continues with Day 2, and here's the new chapter. Cya.
"Damn, what a move, that's one victory for the elves," Rhya commented with a whistle.
The fight between the two rivals and the elven leader had just recently come to a conclusion, and it ended with Licht's victory. The copy mage was standing in the base, observing the two enormous holes formed by the Dweller's blast.
Speaking of Licht, the victor decided to remain floating outside for a while, his eyes scanning from left to right, noting the look of nature, something he hadn't seen for some time. Once he was satisfied, he descended through the higher hole, landing softly.
"Hey, that was awesome, I'm kinda bummed Patri wasn't here to see this, he'd be fanboying like crazy," Rhya congratulated as he neared him. "Five hundred years ago was a long time, I had almost forgotten just how strong Licht is. During that entire fight, every single thing he did, it was only with the swords, no grimoire, no spells, no nothing. With his power, and our power, the humans can have all the strong mages they want, they'll never be able to stop our extermination,"
"My apologies about the holes," Licht suddenly said.
The other man waved it off casually. "It's no problem at all, in fact, it really brightens up the place,"
"I see, and how are Wylon and Vulutz doing?"
Rhya pointed at the far end of the room where they were lying down. "I moved them over there while you were fighting. The two of them are fine for the most part, just unconscious,"
Meanwhile, a fair distance away, Mimosa was staring in shock at the sight of her two friends and the spirit, knocked out cold; the wind barrier that was around her had also vanished, serving its purpose. "Asta. Yuno," she stood up, walking toward them slowly, dropping to her knees once she was in between them.
"Please, oh please don't be dead," she fingers on each of their necks, sighing in relief upon the detection of two strong pulses. "Thank goodness you two are alive. It's up to me to get us out of here,"
Thinking about it, she landed on two options. The first would be to retrace her steps and go back the way her team had come in, although, while it was perfectly possible to avoid it, that option came with the downside of potentially running into other possessed knights. The second one was admittedly the much quicker getaway, and it involved her making a mad dash to the enormous hole that would lead to a downward free-fall, granted there was an obstacle she would have to cross to get there, and that was Licht and Rhya.
The royal considered the paths she could take. "If I go with the second one, we'll be basically home free, but getting past Licht will be nearly impossible. The first option is somewhat safer, but I also have to take into account the extra time it would take to fully escape their base, and in that time who knows what could happen. I guess I know what I'm going to do,"
With that, she summoned vines from her tome, wrapping them around Asta and Yuno's waists, she then grabbed their grimoires along with Bell before she started running. Her footsteps were by no means silent though, letting the elves hear her coming, and to their surprise, she was coming their way.
"Plant Magic: Magic Cannon Flower - Shotgun!" she declared as she cast her attack spell, firing a barrage of magic blasts, making her foes jump away, and she took full advantage of that, focusing mana into her legs as she leaped a decent number of feet into the air, falling down the hole.
"What? I thought she was knocked out like the other two!" Rhya exclaimed as he and Licht neared the hole, staring down below. The copy mage growled. "I think I've recovered enough magic to give chase, that girl is so dead,"
"No," Licht responded. "Let them go,"
"But what about that kid? We have to get your grimoire back," his friend protested.
"There's no need," the sword mage turned around and walked away. "That grimoire doesn't belong to me anymore,"
Rhya's eyes widened at that. "What?" he questioned, but it wouldn't persist further as a spatial gate suddenly opened and the elf possessing Cob walked in.
"Heya there, Rhya, I was hoping I'd find you here, I'd recognize that mana anywhere,"
The copy mage pushed the prior topic to the back of his mind to greet his friend. "Ado, how have you been? You look great,"
"So do you. As for how I've been doing, I'm feeling excited, we're back, walking the Earth again like old times," Ado replied, addressing their leader. "Hello to you too, Licht,"
The elf was somewhat startled by the emotionless gaze sent his way by him. "Hello,"
Despite the regular greeting given to him, the possessed spatial mage spoke up about the weird detail. "Is he alright? I'm getting a weird feeling from him,"
"He hasn't fully awakened yet, he's very likely at the halfway point, he is talking now though, so that's a good sign. All we can do is wait,"
Ado nodded. "Seems so," he agreed. "Oh, by the way, I can sense that some of the others are around here. Would you like me to bring them to where we are?"
"I actually would really appreciate that, thanks,"
"No problem, it gives me a chance to test out some more spells from this human's grimoire," he commanded the tome to flip to a page. "Spatial Magic: Gates a Plenty,"
At his call, four identical gates appeared before opening in unison, and out from them walked the possessed Royal Knights. Rhya raised a hand to them. "To those I haven't seen yet, nice to see ya,"
They had all nodded at his greeting, moving on to greet one another, however, one of these exchanges was more passionate than the rest.
"Yoveen, is it really you?!" the possessed Rama ran into the arms of the possessed Zuka, hugging each other tightly as tears streamed down their eyes.
"Yes, it's me Romit. I-I'm so happy to see you too," she said with uncontrollable happiness. "I thought we'd never be able to do this again,"
Romit wiped the tears away. "Well, it looks like you were wrong,"
Yoveen did the same. "And I couldn't be any happier about that," she then started scanning the room, as if she was searching for someone. "Have you seen Yurim anywhere?"
"Um, no, I was hoping she'd be with you, but no worries, we have all the time in the world to look for her. Have some patience, siblings will always find each other," the elf reassured her.
"I wonder if it'll be the same with me and my sister," Rufel entered the conversation.
Yoveen gave him a thumbs-up. "You bet it will, I'm even going to go out on a limb and say Charla is looking for you as we speak,"
The possessed lightning mage crossed his arms. "I kinda doubt that. Even as kids, she never seemed to like me a lot,"
Romit slung his arms around him. "Are you kidding? No way that's true, Charla's always been awkward when it comes to showing affection, but trust me when I say that you mean the world to her,"
"Hmm, okay, I'll trust you for now," he said back with a playful smile.
"That's the spirit,"
"Ugh, what is that racket?!" a voice exclaimed, earning everyone's attention, their eyes followed the sound, leading them to the possessed pair of Golden Dawns, now beginning to wake up, the spectacled one among them making the statement.
"Wylon? Vulutz? What happened to those two?" Lira asked aloud.
"A pair of humans roughed them up," Rhya answered.
"What? Where are they now? They'll be the first to die!" Yoveen exclaimed angrily.
"Unfortunately, they bailed a few minutes ago, but don't worry, Licht was able to give them a beating they'll never forget," Rhya informed her.
"Nice going, Licht," Gehnora said before she asked the question that everyone was thinking.
"So, what's our next step?"
"Hm, I'm not exactly sure to be honest," Romit answered her. "It's a no-brainer that while we're here, other elves have reincarnated and begun the culling. The most logical course of action would be to join them,"
Rhya nodded. "It's a fine idea if you ask me. I say we head to the capital, it's the most dense in population, not to mention it's where all of Clover's higher-ups reside,"
Lira jumped up and down. "Then what are we waiting for? Let's get going. Is it far from here?"
"Oh, um, it actually is pretty far away,"
"That shouldn't be a problem, I can just teleport us there," Ado suggested.
Rhya held his chin and thought about it. "Under normal circumstances, I'd agree, but I'd like there to be a base of operations for the rest of us to convene to for plans and whatnot. I also need some things that are in here, so I'd like to have easy access to the base. You wouldn't happen to have a portal big enough for it to fit through, would you?"
The possessed spatial mage skimmed through the pages of his grimoire. "Uh…no,"
"Ah damn it,"
At that moment, another elf spoke up. "If Ado isn't able to do it, I may have a solution,"
Everyone turned to face this figure, said person being the elf possessing Shiren. "Well, don't just stand there, Ulyssin, what is it?" Yoveen inquired.
"This human's attribute will prove useful here," Ulyssin walked forward to the center of the room, taking out his grimoire. "Observe. Stone Creation Magic: Stone Model Pilot!" at his call, the stone beneath rose up, shaping itself into a wheel akin to that of a ship.
"Man, did we luck out on that or what?" Rufel remarked with an impressed look.
"My spell will get the entire base moving, but the structure is large, it'll take some time before we can become mobile," the possessed stone mage informed the group.
Rhya waved it off. "Take as much time as you need. Thanks a lot for this," he said. "Oh man, I'm getting really excited now. Madam Royal spoiled my fun, but soon, we can begin tearing those humans apart at the capital. However, I can't get too carried away, after all…there are still two more people who have yet to join the action, hopefully, they wake up soon,"
"Holy crap!"
Going back a few minutes prior, Mimosa had just jumped down the hole with her friends in tow, but even though she was expecting it, that didn't mean her mind wouldn't be stunned by how high off the ground they were.
Acting quickly, she raised a hand as a long vine protruded out, latching onto the rocky exterior, putting a stop to their descent. She now breathed another sigh of relief. "Okay, we're out of immediate danger, now I need to get us to ground level. But how?"
As soon as she asked herself that, her eyes fell on the closest patch of land to their location. "Hm, I think I have an idea, but something tells me this is going to hurt,"
Putting her plan into motion, she began by putting her entire body into motion, bending and stretching her legs like a kid on the swings, building a massive amount of momentum, and once she was comfortable with the amount created, she released her vines, slinging them forward. Immediately after she did that, she commanded the vines to encase the group, breaking their fall as they landed with a thud.
The plants unwound themselves afterward, revealing them all lying on the floor, the royal groaning. "Yeah, that hurt," she got up, hearing voices nearby.
"What was the sound?!"
"I heard it coming from over there! It could be an enemy!"
Mimosa tensed up. The sounds were very familiar, but if recent events told her anything, it was that such a fact wouldn't act as the end-all-be-all, danger could still be near. Fortunately, as the people in question came into view, she saw that wasn't the case. "Kenos! Noelle!"
"Mimosa!" they called out in unison with happy faces, but those faces disappeared and were replaced with gasps as they saw the unconscious Asta and Yuno.
"What happened to them?" the water mage inquired worryingly.
"They lost a fight against-," she was about to tell her, but she was cut off by someone running up and embracing her.
"Mimosa, my sweet baby sister!" Kirsch cried comedically. "Are you okay?! Are you hurt?! Here, look at my beautiful face, it will help you recover!"
The plant mage deadpanned, pushing his face away from her. "I'm quite alright, I appreciate the concern though,"
"I knew you would, now follow me, I have to take you to the others," her brother took hold of her hand and dragged her away, the noble and royal right behind them.
"Everyone, look who we found!" the cherry blossom mage declared, revealing them to the other three knights.
"Mimosa," Nozel greeted her casually, noting the unconscious pair. "And what on Earth happened to those two?"
The royal waited for Noelle and Kenos to catch up before she answered his question. "Asta and Yuno are like this because they fought Licht, and lost,"
Their eyes widened upon hearing that. "No way. Are you serious?" the question came from the solar mage.
"I am, I saw it happen before my very eyes. They actually weren't doing too bad, but they weren't strong enough to win,"
Nozel crossed his arms. "To think that these two could stand a chance against a proficient light mage,"
"Yeah, about that, he wasn't a light mage," Mimosa corrected him. "This Licht was a different one than the Licht we were aware of, though they sort of looked the same. Rhya was there with us too, he called him the 'true Licht', he also called him 'the master',"
"Master?!" the pair of black bulls exclaimed.
Nozel eyed them. "Is that fact important?"
"It kind of is. When we went to the Witches' Forest, the Witch Queen told us that the master was very likely the top leader of the Eye of the Midnight Sun," Noelle told him.
"Now that you mention it, Rhya also called him the leader of the elves," Mimosa recalled.
"If that's the case, also taking into account this 'true Licht', then the Licht that we've known about has been merely borrowing his name. As for why, I don't know," Nozel added. "For now, we-,"
He was stopped by the sound of groaning, said sound coming from the boys from Hage, getting everyone's attention, prompting Mimosa to release them. At last, their eyes opened and they suddenly sat up, extending their hands as if they were in battle.
"AHHHHHH!" they yelled, coming to an abrupt stop once they realized they were no longer fighting anyone, but before they could wonder further, they clutched parts of their bodies, being in immense pain.
"Argh! Everything hurts," Yuno grunted, trying to get up, but his attempt was fruitless.
"I know!" Asta tried to do the same, but the same result occurred.
"Ugh, my aching head," Bell had awakened as well; she was the first to notice everyone that was staring at them. "What the hell?!"
"Um, hey guys, when did you all get here? And where are we?" Yuno asked, wincing from the pain.
"Yeah, the last thing I remember, we were fighting Licht…and then we lost," Asta remembered, holding his arm. "Wait, where's Zora and the captain?"
"We're right here, shorty!" the answer came from above them. The ash mage was in mid-air, glowing circles beneath his feet, carrying Mereoleona in his arms as he landed next to them.
Asta smiled warmly. "You two are okay,"
"The same is true for you, thanks for keeping your promise,"
"What happened to Leonè?!" the mercury mage rushed over to the trapster, demanding to know what happened. Even though his reaction was the most outwardly shocked, he wasn't the only one worried as every other knight besides the members of Team 6 expressed looks of shock.
The swordsman answered him. "Rhya happened. Things were going well for us at first," he paused as a painful sting passed through his chest. "...Then the reincarnation happened, he got way stronger, and to make matters worse, Rill's entire team got possessed, but the captain decided to fight them by herself, we were able to save her in time though, but not before they did a number on her,"
The Silva narrowed his eyes. "I see," he reached into his satchel, pulling out a disc-shaped item, he then twisted it, making it expand into a cylinder shape. "Please set her down,"
Zora did as he was told, setting her against a tree, Nozel then turned to address the other royal. "Mimosa, how grave are your injuries?"
"They shouldn't be anything too bad,"
"Hm, come here anyway, you can never be too careful," he told her as she did so, but he wasn't done yet. "Asta, Yuno, you too come as well,"
"We would love to, but I don't think we can stand," the magicless mage said.
"Don't worry, I'll get you," Mimosa sent vines to get them and Bell; once she did, Nozel tapped the top of bottom of the device, causing it to glow green before he set it on the ground, watching as a transparent green cylinder formed around the injured.
"What is this?" Yuno asked.
"It's a magic item that accelerates your body's natural healing factor, making it a little more effective than your standard recovery magic," he explained.
"I see," the plant mage commented. "I imagine it would be quite expensive,"
"That it was,"
"Awesome, but I know what can make the healing go even faster," Asta plucked stuff from off the ground. "Herbs!" he then shoved them into his mouth.
Yuno sighed. "What the hell are you doing?"
"Herbs are nature's medicine!" he replied comedically. "Take some, we'll be feeling better in no time!"
"I think I'll pass," the two golden dawns refused politely.
"Asta's actually right, herbs and fungi can have great medicinal properties," En inserted himself into the conversation. "However, they won't do you much good raw, you'd need to cook them down or something similar first,"
The magicless mage swallowed what he was chewing, frowning. "Really?"
"Yes, really,"
Yuno and Noelle facepalmed at the short exchange, but smiles were still seen on their faces as if they somewhat expected that to happen.
Kenos crossed his arms. "For the time being, I guess we can wait for the injured to recover before we come up with our next plan of action," he said to the group, who all nodded in agreement. With that, he spoke up to inquire about another thing. "Oh, and Zora, what the hell happened to your robe?"
The ash mage stared down, realizing the Rossiu was talking about the huge hole in the chest region that stuck out like a sore thumb. "Ask Asta, it's all his fault,"
"My fault?! I didn't know that would happen!" he comically retorted.
"What exactly did you do?" the solar mage asked again.
Changing his demeanor, Asta rubbed the bridge of his nose with a proud look on his face. "Oh, you know, I just came up with an awesome plan to save the captain from some elves, no biggie,"
Zora crossed his arms behind his head. "I'll give credit where credit is due, it wasn't a bad move at all,"
Hearing this earned more of Nozel's attention. "He's the one who came up with the plan that saved Leonè? Hm, for a commoner, that boy keeps getting more and more interesting,"
Alice approached the swordsman, having switched back to her base persona. "Oh, um, I hope you don't mind me saying this, but your robe looks quite worse for wear,"
He inspected it the best he could and nodded; it had sustained immense damage. "The fight with Licht really did a number on it, but hey, at least it protected my vitals like intended. You did a great job, my trusty robe," he took it off and stuffed it into his satchel.
Mimosa did the same with hers, it wasn't nearly as damaged, but it did take a few hits from her short scuffle with Wylon and Vulutz.
Yuno, on the other hand, smirked. "Speak for yourself," he said confidently, the magicless mage now noticing that his rival's apparel sustained no blemish of any kind.
"There's not a scratch on it! How is that possible?!"
Bell pointed at him. "It's because he's awesome,"
"Not to mention lucky," the wind mage added.
"Lucky my ass," Kenos chuckled while shaking his head. "Let me check, there has to be a rip or a tear somewhere," he neared the teen, but once he was inches away, he backed up suddenly, something startling him.
"No way, Yuno…you're an elf?"
That caught everyone's attention aside from the ones in the healing spot. In no time, Yuno got swarmed by his fellow knights, each showing varying reactions upon noticing the elven features.
"I'm used to associating them with those auras, that's how it was with Zuka when she got possessed. I saw you without one and dismissed it," Kenos confessed.
"Wait a minute," Nozel spoke up. "If you've been reincarnated, but still act the same, that means you succeeded in regaining control of your body,"
This new discovery made Kenos' eyes widen greatly, there was hope. He knelt down to look the wind mage in the eyes. "Yuno, I need you to tell me how you did it, give me all the details. Was there something specific you had to do? Something you had to think about? Did Asta use his anti-magic to free you? Is it emotion-based? C'mon, tell me, is it-,"
He stopped as Noelle rested a hand on his shoulder. "Chill, I know you're concerned, but you need to give him some time to answer,"
The Rossiu exhaled to calm down. "You're right, I'm sorry," he stood up.
"Well, for starters, I can't undo it with my sword," Asta answered one of the questions. "I tried to with Rill, but Rhya said it wouldn't work because the reincarnation has already been done. I guess that means no magic is actively being involved,"
Yuno spoke up next. "As for your other questions, none of them applied to me. When I was in my mindscape, the elven soul…or whatever that thing I encountered was, didn't put up even a bit of a fight. I'd actually go and say it actively tried to help me regain control," he explained.
The solar mage held his chin, recalling an earlier event he witnessed. "So that means the ones we saw fighting earlier in the distance were you and Licht, followed by Asta. Too bad we can't have your situation be the case with everyone else,"
"Maybe, but we have the next best thing," Alice said.
Her childhood friend raised a brow. "What do you mean by that?"
"Well, um, didn't you notice that after Yoveen took over Zuka, she was struggling to attack us during the beginning," she recalled.
Kenos thought back, confirming what she said to be the truth. It happened twice, once when attacking with her bow, and the other when trying to impale him with her lance. "You're right, that did happen,"
"The same thing happened with Luck," Noelle added. "That Rufel guy was about to blast us, but then he redirected it elsewhere. He even said himself that Luck didn't want him to hurt us,"
"I saw something similar happen with Klaus too," Mimosa finished the recollection of instances.
Asta clenched the fist in front of his face, grinning. "This is awesome, they're fighting back, who knows, if we're lucky, one of them can fight back enough and completely take back control,"
"And just what about those who haven't fought back?" the mercury mage pointed out, crossing his arms in a serious manner. "This reincarnation has made those affected far stronger which is only made worse by their bloodlust toward humans. Your anti-magic can't do anything against it and our prisons won't be enough to hold them; if the need would ever arise, we mustn't be afraid to put them down, for the kingdom's sake,"
"No, that isn't fair," Asta vehemently protested. "What's happening isn't their fault, no one here asked to get possessed, killing them for doing things they have no control over is flat-out wrong. You're right, my anti-magic can't do anything and the elves don't feel like talking either, but we shouldn't do something drastic; this problem is still recent, we have time to find a better solution,"
Nozel merely narrowed his eyes at the boy, but then the sound of beeping was heard on his person. Knowing where the sound was coming from, he reached into his satchel and pulled out a communication device with three buttons, pushing one of them as the panicked voice of one of his subordinates cried out.
"Captain Nozel! Captain Nozel! Can you hear me?!"
"Yes, I can hear you. What's the problem?"
"Oh thank goodness, I'd thought I'd never reach you. We have a large-scale emergency, the capital is under attack!"
Hearing that got everyone's attention. "Under attack? By whom?" Nozel questioned.
"I know this is going to sound crazy, but we're under attack mainly by Magic Knights! And for some reason, they keep saying that they're elves! We thought we could handle them, but they've gotten ridiculously more powerful! If you and the other Royal Knights are able, please hurry back!"
With that, the silver eagle's captain pushed another button, ending the call. Kirsch held his forehead. "So, it isn't just us over here dealing with this pesky elf problem, it's occurring at the capital too, maybe even throughout the entire kingdom,"
"It doesn't help that I don't see Cob around either, he must've gotten possessed too," Kenos said. "With no spatial magic, it'll take some time to get back,"
Nozel put the device back where he got it. "So, Asta, you said that it was possible to find a better solution, did you not?"
"Yes, I did,"
"...Then let's hope that we find it sooner rather than later," just as he finished saying that, the night was suddenly illuminated by a bright light. Where was it coming from? Well, that wouldn't be hard to figure out since the source was quite large to say the least.
"Since when could the enemy's base light up like a lantern?" Zora wondered aloud, shielding his eyes. However, that would be the least of their worries as the levitating mass of stone began moving, and at a decently quick pace too.
"Great, their base can fly now. Could it always do that?" the water mage commented before asking.
The fungus mage shook his head. "I heavily doubt it. Such a feature would've been very useful during their previous attack,"
Seeing that it was almost out of sight, Nozel spoke up. "Whether it could or not is of little importance, we have to follow it. If my understanding of directions is accurate, the path it's going will cross by the capital. Everyone, come close to me,"
As if it was waiting, the moment he finished talking, the green field fizzled out and the magic item grew dim. Asta, Yuno, and Mimosa stood up, the swordsman retrieving the contraption; Mereoleona, however, was still unconscious, prompting Zora to pick her up as they all grouped around the eldest Silva. He spread his hands out, conjuring a large mass of liquid mercury to envelope under and around them, lifting them up as they pursued the glowing base.
"Oh my goodness, thank heavens that predicament is over," Orsi breathed a sigh of relief.
The rest of Hage's residents could be heard saying similar remarks, and with good reason. The swords of light that Patri summoned a good number of minutes ago had them understandably worried that something terrible was going to happen, but once they faded away, the adrenaline died down and they could all rest easy.
The church father stretched his arms. "Let's hope that's the only exciting thing that'll happen tonight," he turned to address the children with him. "We should head inside and get started on making supper,"
"What will we be having, Father?" one of the kids asked curiously.
"What will we be having?" Orsi repeated, stroking his beard. "Well, Hollo, with all the different ingredients we've been able to buy with the money Asta and Yuno sent us, there are a good amount of options to pick from. Hm, how about a nice and hearty chicken stew with pot potatoes on the side?"
"Ooh, that sounds yummy," Hollo jumped in anticipation.
"I agree, let's get a move on then," he said as they all started making their way back to the church.
Lily was close by as she too started following them to the church, but that's when she noticed one of the children wasn't with Orsi. Scanning the area, her eyes quickly landed on the missing adolescent.
"Nash, aren't you coming?" she called out to him, but strangely, he ignored her. The woman raised a brow suspiciously as she neared the boy.
"C'mon, do it one more time, I need to know for sure," Nash muttered to himself, not noticing the water mage coming up behind him, not until she placed her hands on his shoulder. "AHH!" he jumped, startled by the sudden contact. "Sister Lily, don't scare me like that,"
A soft, yet stern expression formed on her face. "I wouldn't have to do that if you weren't ignoring me when I called for you,"
Nash scratched the back of his head. "Oh, sorry, there was something on my mind,"
"And that something is?"
The boy answered her by pointing to the demon skull in the distance. "I'm pretty sure I saw a yellow light coming from one of its eyes a few minutes ago,"
"A yellow light? Are you sure it wasn't some kind of illusion caused by the swords from earlier? They were yellow too,"
"No, it wasn't from them, I noticed it after they disappeared,"
"Perhaps it was caused by fireflies?"
"There would need to be a crap ton of fireflies to make a light bright enough to see from here," he replied. "It's no biggie though, I'll check what it is real quick, I got some stuff set up in the mouth region for my training. If it's a person, I need to make sure they aren't messing with anything,"
He was about to advance in the skull's direction, but was promptly stopped. "Hold it right there, young man, I will not have you going all the way there by yourself while it's dark out. You'll go in the morning,"
"But Sister Lily," he pouted.
"No buts, let's head in and work on supper," the two were turning around, however, before they could get far in the other direction, Nash picked up on a bright light in the corner of his eye, whipping his head around, only to gasp.
"What's the matter?" Lily asked, but as she turned, she too gasped.
The demon skull was glowing again, but it wasn't just one of the eyes this time, but instead the entire thing. However, it soon became apparent that the skull itself wasn't glowing, but rather something behind, that something coming into full view mere seconds later.
"What the hell is that thing?!" a villager could be heard yelling.
"And why is it glowing like that?!" another joined.
Orsi and the other kids heard the commotion, they too were soon witnessing the sight of the elven base moving in the far distance. "Now what's going on? And here I thought today couldn't get any stranger,"
Lily and Nash regrouped with them, the latter speaking up. "Father, what is that thing?"
"In all honesty, your guess is as good as mine. It wouldn't be farfetched to assume a mage's spell is causing this, but that begs the question: who is doing this?"
"That question is easy to answer. My friends are the ones responsible,"
Despite the voice that spoke being of average volume among loud screams, something about its tone captivated the attention of all who were nearby, silencing them as they traced the voice to its origin. It came from a man standing a decent distance from everyone else, his back was also turned, letting none see his face.
Orsi walked over to the man, he didn't know why, but something in his bones was telling him to be cautious around the stranger. "You said your friends were responsible?"
"Indeed, I did say that. My friends are in there, I can feel them," he replied ominously.
"Um, I see, you have some pretty powerful friends then. So, that thing must be like some sort of transportation vehicle? Real neat," he got a little closer, now noticing the back design of a robe the man had on, said robe being from the Purple Orcas if the color of it said anything. "Oh, and you're a magic knight too? We don't really get many of them around these parts. If you don't mind me asking, what's your name?"
"You may call me Frebhert,"
Orsi stared at him a bit awkwardly. "Oh, um, what a..unique name. So, Mr. Frebhert, I bet you've come a long way and must be famished, you're more than welcome to come over for dinner,"
He could hear the knight suck his teeth. "No thank you, I'll pass, I'd rather not dine with your kind,"
The priest was visibly upset and a little annoyed. Being a commoner, he was used to comments like that from the elite, and he was no more a fan of it than anyone else, but he chose to remain hospitable. "Oh, I see, that's alright,"
"You asked a lot of questions, I hope you don't mind if I ask one,"
"No problem, ask away,"
Frebhert pointed in a direction. "I'm unfamiliar with this area, that place my friends seem to be heading to, what is it?"
Orsi followed his finger and saw what he was talking about. In the distance, while far away, the noble realm could be seen. "Your friends must be heading to the capital,"
"The capital? And what exactly is so special about this 'capital' of yours?"
The priest raised a brow, going from annoyed to genuinely confused. What magic knight, let alone one of noble birth by the way he spoke earlier, didn't know about the kingdom's most valuable location? "The capital is where all the higher-ups of the kingdom are, the nobility and royalty,"
"Higher-ups you say? I see, then my friends want to start off our destruction by killing the sinful descendants of the perpetrators? Best of luck to you, allies,"
Orsi backed away, frightened by what he said. "Your friends want to kill them? But why?"
"Why, you ask? Simple, it's because they're humans…," he began answering as he finally turned around, revealing the characteristics of the possessed, all except the aura, but that changed as he commanded it to flare to life. "...And humans must die,"
"Humans must die? B-But, aren't you human too?"
Frebhert glared at the man angrily. "Don't you dare associate yourselves with me! I am an elf!"
Lily couldn't believe it. "An elf? That can't be, elves aren't real,"
"Oh, we're definitely real, that I can assure you, and we elves want our righteous revenge on humanity for what you did to us!" he exclaimed, calming down a bit. "While I do wish that I could've gone with the others to the capital, someone needs to make sure that we do not discriminate; we will kill all humans equally, the strong and the weak, the rich and the poor. You may view one another as different, but we see you as the same, you are all filthy, sinful animals in our eyes!"
"I don't care if you're an elf or not, I won't allow you to hurt these people!" Orsi spread his arms protectively in front of the people.
Frebhert just chuckled at that. "You want to be brave, aye? Very well," he took out his grimoire, flipping to a page. "Poison Plant Magic: Zoffnir's Garden of Lingering Burns!" at his command, a large plant rose up from the ground, its caster standing on one of its flowers. Extending a hand, vines from the plant shot out forward, all heading toward the priest.
"Let's see how long that bravery lasts before you drop dead,"
"This is good, we're making decent progress," Nozel stated. About ten or so minutes had passed since they began chasing after the floating base, maintaining a good distance of about three miles to avoid being spotted by the enemy, and for the time being, it didn't look like it would ever get out of sight.
Alice smiled at the report. "Awesome, then we'll be able to meet them immediately once we reach the capital,"
Mimosa had a question though. "Nozel, what's our plan once we get there? Will we stay together and fight to account for their increased power?"
The mercury faced her quickly to answer. "As much as I hate to admit it, I don't have a plan for this. Things are too chaotic and we know too little about the situation to come up with a viable strategy. Once we arrive, we'll all scatter, find as many non-possessed knights as we can, and act from there; it's the only real thing we can do without a concrete solution,"
"If that's what we're doing, then we'll be fighting a lot, as such, we'll need to be at our fullest power," Kenos remarked with crossed arms before bringing his attention to three of his teammates. "Asta, Yuno, Mimosa, how are you guys feeling? Are you ready for what's to come?"
"I am," the wind mage replied. "I actually feel really great, better than I have in a while, that magic item is the real deal,"
"I know, all the soreness in my muscles are gone," Asta agreed with a nod. "I think I'll be able to manage another two or so transformations,"
"Good, we'll need you at your best," his fellow five-leaf holder gave him a thumbs-up.
The swordsman returned it with one of his own, but then his smile faded as his eyes found themselves landing on Mereoleona. "Why hasn't the captain woken up yet? Does the item not work on people who are unconscious?"
"No, that's not it. Ms. Savage fought super hard and pushed herself to her absolute limits. I could feel it when we jumped in to save her, she had completely depleted her mana. Give her some more time, she'll be up," Zora reassured him. "After all, our captain is no slouch, plus she knows we'll never let her live it down if we handle this whole shitfest on our own while she enjoys her beauty sleep,"
Asta smiled at the attempted humor. "I hope you're right,"
"I know I'm right,"
"Anyways, since we're on the topic of recovering, Captain Nozel,"
"What is it?"
The magicless mage raised the contraption in his hands. "Here, the magic item you used, you can have it back,"
The royal captain didn't bother turning around like before to speak to the boy. "Keep it, it's no longer of any use to me,"
Asta was a bit puzzled. "What do you mean?"
"That item is very potent, but it has a fixed amount of magic power it uses to speed up your healing factor. The more people it heals, the more power it spends, and once it's fully used up, it's depleted permanently, no recharging or anything of the like will make it operate again. Was that a sufficient explanation?"
Both Asta and Yuno's eyes widened, knowing what that meant, but the former still said something regardless. " Yes, it was. B-But, you let me and Yuno get healed by it…and you made it seem so casual,"
"Yes, is there a problem with that?"
Asta's look of shock transformed into a warm smile. "No, no problem at all, thank you very much,"
"You're welcome,"
The swordsman lowered the device, noting Yuno's expression, but also Noelle's. "Hold on, did what I think just happened, happen?" she asked the pair in a whisper.
"Seems like that," they replied.
The younger royal smiled ever so slightly as she eyed her brother. "Nozel, you're changing for the better, that's great. Now if you could only do the same for-,"
Before she could finish her thought, the eldest Silva jerked his head to the right, pointing out to the east. "There's something going on in that area," just as he said it, smoke began rising.
Shock came to Asta and Yuno as they recognized where he was pointing to. "That's where Hage Village is!"
"Holy crap, are they under attack?"
"That appears to be the case, Kenos. We have to go and help them!" Yuno exclaimed.
Nozel contrasted the loud cries of the teens with his usual calm voice. "Absolutely not. Our priority is the capital, we must protect the kingdom,"
"Hage Village is a part of this kingdom!" Asta retorted. "That place is our home, and its people are a part of our family, I won't abandon them! If we can't all go, then can Yuno and I at least go by ourselves?"
Nozel nodded his acceptance of his proposition, there was no problem with it. "Just make sure you return to the capital soon, things are already tough as is,"
"Yes sir," the rivals clover-saluted.
"Wait, I'm coming with you," Noelle interjected. "Hage is isolated and you'll be on your own, you don't know how many elves you'll be fighting or how strong they are, you should have backup," she turned to the solar mage. "Kenos, you'll come too, right?"
The Rossiu frowned a bit. "I'm sorry, I can't," he brought his eyes up to the glowing base. "Zuka is in there, I need to try and bring her back to her senses," his frown turned a little upside down. "Besides, Asta and Yuno are strong, they'll be fine without me,"
The three nodded, understanding his reason. "Okay then, it looks like I'll be the only one going with you,"
"No, you'll be staying here," her brother said sternly.
"What, but why?" the girl protested.
"I said what I said,"
"You can't just do that!" she yelled, surprising everyone, even she was surprised by how loud it was. "You're afraid I'm going to hold them back, aren't you? I've gotten better, I'm a part of this team after all, I can hold my own!"
Nozel responded to her outburst by turning around and looking his sister dead in the eye, the gaze alone enough to silence her. "You're not going, and that's final,"
In an instant, all of Noelle's courage fizzled into nothingness, her head falling down as Nozel faced ahead again. Asta, on the other hand, was ready to tell the man off, but stopped as he spoke up to say something else.
"After all…with how hectic things are, we'll need all the competent mages we can get,"
Those words succeeded in changing the mood in an instant. Noelle's head shot up in total bewilderment. Had she heard him right? "What…did you say?"
"I know you heard me. Asta, Yuno, you had better get a move on,"
"Um, yeah," the magicless mage too was a bit stunned by the captain's words. "Let's go,"
"Right," his brother nodded. "Wind Creation Magic: Swift White Hawk - Rider!" he created the avian right beside the mercury transport, the two hopping onto it.
"Hold on. Asta," Noelle stopped them one more time.
"Yeah?"
The royal paused for a second, her face turning a shade red. "Please be careful,"
He reassured her with his signature grin. "No worries, I'll be fine,"
"With me and Yuno with him, he's guaranteed to be fine," Bell confidently added.
She chuckled. "If you say so," with that, the two sped off in another direction while they kept on moving. To say the water mage was feeling happy would be an understatement, her eyes were now staring at her brother's back again.
"Thanks,"
She then felt three people behind her tap on her shoulders, she turned her head back to see Kenos, En, and Mimosa giving her a congratulatory thumbs-up, which she cheerfully returned.
Meanwhile, the pair of rivals were soaring through the night sky, the avian going at top speed, they didn't have even a second to spare.
"Everyone, please be safe!"
"Hm, I'll give it to you, that was an impressive display of skill," Frebhert said to Lily with a grin on his face.
Regardless of his praise, the nun wasn't faring too well, just struggling to stay on her feet. With only one real offensive spell to speak of and no formal training under her belt, it went without saying she stood no chance against the enraged elf.
"I'm sensing a decent amount of magic from you. Are you one of those nobles I used to hear about?" he questioned.
Breathing heavily, she answered him. "Whether I am…or not, doesn't matter!"
"I couldn't agree more, but your strength is at least better than his," he pointed to someone behind her, that someone being none other than Orsi, on the ground with purple blemishes on his skin, and it wasn't just him. All around them, other citizens were looking the same, and all of them were writhing in pain.
"No, please don't die, Father!" the kids were crying around the old man.
Orsi put on a brave face for them. "Don't worry, this looks worse than it is, you'll see, I'll be just fine," he said before suddenly clutching his chest.
Frebhert shook his head with an evil smirk. "I'm almost touched your kind has enough decency to try and reassure your children, but lying is wrong," he spread his arms out. "According to what my host's grimoire says, the poison of Zoffnir's Garden of Lingering Burns was only able to debilitate the affected, but with my power, I've advanced it to be lethal! This man and all the others will be dead within the hour!"
"D-Dead?" Orsi muttered before receiving another shock of pain.
"However, why bother waiting for an hour to pass when I can get the job done right now?" the possessed orca commanded his grimoire to change pages. "Poison Plant Magic: Zoffnir's Fingers!" the vines around the large plant weaved together into two larger versions, zooming at the nun.
"Water Creation Magic: Holy Fist of Love!" she jumped into the air, conjuring a fist of water emblazoned with a cross, punching them away, yet the force behind them sent her flying back too. Ignoring the pain she felt from the fall, she got back up on her feet.
Nash ran up beside her. "Sister Lily, please let me help! I've been training hard like Asta and Yuno! You don't have to fight by yourself!"
"Absolutely not! He's too strong, even for me, and you don't even have a grimoire yet. I could never forgive myself if I let you get hurt here," she denied.
"But…but," he clenched his fists in frustration.
"As for you," she brought her attention to the poison plant mage. "Just why are you doing all this to us?! What did anyone here do to you?!"
"It's not what you did specifically, but instead humanity as a whole. You may be different, but your true nature is the same no matter what! It is treacherous and hateful!"
"You have no right to say that!" she yelled back at him. "It's just like you said, we're all different, and that goes double for our true nature! Look at the innocent people of this place! There are times when we struggle, times when we worry, and times when we cry, but there are also times when we smile, times when we laugh, and times when we're happy. However, the most important thing is throughout all those times, both the good and the bad, we're here for each other! We are a community, we are a family, THAT is our true nature, THAT is the nature of Hage Village! People like this don't deserve to die in such a cruel and meaningless way, at the hands of you or anyone else!"
Frebhert remained quiet to hear her passionate speech of sorts, though he only waited five or so seconds before responding back. "You're right, the innocent don't deserve to die in such a way…," his expression was calm when he said that, but second by second, the expression degraded into one of fury. "...So answer me this: what about us?!"
"About…you?"
"My people were innocent too! The only crime we committed was extending a hand of friendship to humanity! You told us you wanted to be friends! You told us you wanted peace! We believed in the sincerity of your nature! And what did you end up doing?! You stabbed us in the back!" he screamed at the top of his lungs before exhaling in an attempt to calm himself down again.
He pointed straight at the nun. "Say whatever you want, you can't deceive me, none of you are innocent, so just die already!" he launched the lethal spell at her at faster speeds than before.
Lily grit her teeth, preparing herself to counterattack, but before she could, Nash dashed right past her, his hand on fire. "I've heard enough! I won't let you keep hurting the people I love!"
"No, Nash!" the woman screamed as her body moved on its own toward him. For some reason, she could've sworn things were slowing down around her. "Is this how you felt, Arbus? Back when you saved Joey? You threw everything away to keep your children safe…and I'll do the same,"
She hurried her step, intending to outpace the boy and take the hit for him, but fortunately, neither would be harmed as two spiraling figures descended from above, protecting them.
The water mage's eyes widened at the identities of their saviors. "Asta? Yuno? Is it really you?"
They responded to that by merely turning around. "Nash, I saw what you did. I'm proud of you," Asta praised his younger foster brother.
"Sister Lily, thanks for keeping everyone as safe as you could," Yuno added.
Nash was in tears. "Thanks. I'm so glad you two are here,"
The knights nodded and turned back around. "Leave the rest to us!"
Frebhert scratched the back of his head. "Great, more humans, and these two appear to be stronger," he mused to himself, but then his eyes fell on the wind mage, narrowing a few seconds later.
Yuno scanned the nearby mana signatures. "He seems to be the only elf here, taking him out should be easy,"
"Easy, you say? I beg to differ, you may be a bit more powerful, but your fate will be no different than theirs! Poison Plant Magic: Zoffnir's Breath + Zoffnir's Fingers!" he paired one of his earlier attacks alongside a toxic gas emitted by the large plant.
Nothing was said between the rivals, but they knew what to do. "Wind Magic: Tornado Fang!" Yuno started off, using the spell to blow away the gas. With it out of the way, Asta was free to jump in and cut down the weaved vines.
"Yup, easy,"
"Asta, Yuno, please help Father!" Hollo cried out.
The wind mage jerked a thumb behind him. "You go, see if your anti-magic can do anything, I'll take care of him,"
"Okay," the ash-haired teen ran back to where Orsi was lying. "What happened?"
"That Frebhert guy hit him and the other villagers with something, then he said they'd die in an hour," Nash explained.
"I see,"
"A-Asta, is that you?" Orsi weakly raised a hand which his foster son quickly grabbed.
"It's me,"
"Oh my…it's been some time…since I've seen your face. Have you gotten taller?" he said just as weakly, attempting to lighten the bleak mood.
"No, I'm as short as ever. Don't worry, I'll get you back in shape in no time," Asta tapped the Slayer's crossguard against his forehead, expecting to see the purple spots disappear, but to his shock and dismay, nothing happened. "What's going on? Why isn't the spell being nullified?!"
"Nullify? You're trying to cancel out my spell?" Frebhert raised a brow, shrugging. "Well, it doesn't matter, you won't be able to save him,"
"And why is that?!"
"Because the spell itself is already gone, but the poison made by it will remain and continue to circulate," he explained.
Asta sank to his knees. "So…there's nothing I can do?"
The elf began cackling. "Nope, he's a goner! How do you like it?!"
Yuno was furious. "How dare you, bastard! Reverse it!"
Frebhert just laughed harder. "You say that like I could, but hey, maybe I can, I haven't read all the spells in this grimoire. But even if I could reverse it, why should I?"
"If you won't do it, I'll make you! Wind Magic - Mana Zone: Crescent Moon Sickle Quartet!" he yelled, the arched blade firing from each of the cardinal directions.
"Not so fast!" the possessed knight brought up vines to protect himself. "You have a strong sense of rage in you, human, I can see how you were able to free yourself for the time being, but your rage can never hold a candle to ours!"
"Shut up!"
"No, no, no, no, no," Asta desperately repeated his prior action, tapping Orsi with the crossguard. Even though he knew it wouldn't work, he had to do something. "C'mon, just work! Save him! Save everyone! Just this once, please!" he resorted to begging his own sword.
The priest smiled weakly. "Asta, give it a rest…you did your best. It's alright, I'm an old man…I've been on this Earth long enough to feel fine saying goodbye,"
The swordsman could feel tears welling up in his eyes, but he fought them back, he had to be strong. "No, don't lose hope!"
"This isn't losing hope, it's accepting fate," his foster father told him. "But before I go, there's something I want to tell you, Asta: I'm sorry,"
"Sorry?"
"Yes. Ever since you and Yuno were kids, Yuno was always the pride of the village, gifted at a young age and destined for greatness, but then…there was you, magicless. You had such big dreams, but you were different, you needed someone to have faith in you, to believe in you, and as the one who raised you, it should've been me, but it wasn't. I should've tried to raise you up…but instead, I ended up bringing you down because I was scared, scared that the cruel rules of this world destroy your spirit. But I was wrong, I was so wrong…you may not have magic, but I can feel it, you've gotten so strong and I couldn't be more proud of you,"
Asta was completely speechless, but Orsi wasn't done. With tear-filled eyes, he said one last thing. "Can you ever find it in your heart to forgive me?"
The magicless mage still wasn't crying, but he was sniffling, moved by the man's words. "No, I don't need to forgive you, I was never mad at you. It's true that Yuno was the only one who had faith in me from the start, but even if you didn't, you still did so much for me. You raised me, fed me, put a roof over my head, taught me about kindness and family, you helped make me the person I am today, I guess I can look past a lack of belief,"
"R-Really?"
"Yeah. I love you, Father," just as he said that, his grimoire came up to him on its own, flipping to a page as the handle of a sword popped.
At first, he was surprised, Licht had taken the Dweller from him, but then he remembered. "Oh yeah, I was able to get his sword before he beat us, it must've slipped my mind. It looks different though, did the grimoire do something to it?" he was a little hesitant to grab onto it, but he did so anyway, and once he did, power surged out of it like crazy, and visions flashed in his head. "Holy crap, there's way more anti-magic in this one, even more than my other swords. It must be super powerful, but is it powerful to save everyone?"
At this point, there was nothing left to lose, so he raised the mystery sword above him. "I'm counting on you!" he exclaimed, anti-magic emitting from it, and to his pleasant surprise, it was working, soon, everyone was fine.
"I…I feel great," Orsi was rejuvenated and tried to stand up, but Lily stopped him.
"Hold on, don't be in a rush, rest for a bit,"
"Alright then," he turned to his foster son. "Go and help Yuno,"
Asta put the Slayer back in his grimoire. "On it,"
"Wind Creation Magic: Wind Blade Shower!" Yuno exclaimed, firing the spell while in mid-air, these were much faster than his prior attacks. Frebhert had no choice but to protect his face as he took the attack head-on, the blades tearing his clothes. "I won't tell you again, reverse what you've done!"
"Give it a rest already, it's not going to happen! Poison Plant Magic: Zoffnir's Thorns of Restless Agony!" the flower portion of the plant began to contract, as if it was inhaling, it then released, shooting a countless amount of razor-sharp thorns.
Yuno clicked his tongue in annoyance, ready to summon a Towering Tornado, but Asta beat him to the punch, coming in between him and the attack to deflect it. "I hope you don't mind if I join you?"
As he landed, the wind mage did the same right beside him. "What are you doing here, what about Father?"
"Don't worry, he's okay, I managed to do it," Asta informed him with a thumbs-up.
"What?" Frebhert was shocked by what he overheard. Looking around, he realized the boy spoke the truth, not a single person was currently under the effect of his poison. "That can't be, you shouldn't have been able to do anything. So how did you?!"
"It was all thanks to this trusty thing right here," Asta proudly raised the mystery sword for the elf to see, however, once he saw it, he gasped with shocked eyes.
"How dare you?! How dare you?!" he pointed at Yuno. "First, you rob an innocent elf's chance to relive the life that was unjustly taken from them!" his finger then traveled to Asta. "Then you come in with that sword, it doesn't belong to you, it belongs to Licht. Killing him on his wedding day of all days wasn't enough, was it?! Now you have to steal what's rightfully his?!"
As he finished screaming, memories of the past flooded into his head. He remembered the massacre, the cries and the screams, as well as where he was in all of it; he recalled himself dragging his body through the grass, both his legs having been severely impaled with swords, trying to protect the flowers he had picked out before the ceremony, but they were already decimated. In his last moments, he was able to see someone, or rather a group of people, standing at a high vantage point, laughing evilly at the carnage that was unfolding below.
"YOU HUMANS MAKE ME SICK!" Frebhert roared louder than he ever had, a dark red aura surged to life, layering over his regular one. "Humans, humans, humans, humans, humans! It's all your fault! Everything is your fault! Why won't you just let yourselves die already?!
The two knights backed up a little, almost disturbed by what was happening. "Do you know what's going on?" Yuno inquired.
"I think so," Asta started to reply, gripping his sword tighter. "That red aura was what the Third Eye had when they were using their self-destruct moves,"
"Excuse me, what?!" the wind mage was understandably shocked by that.
"Um, I don't know about you guys, but if he explodes, won't he take the village with him?" Bell asked.
Asta nodded. "It's a high chance, and we can't afford to take it," he eyed his brother. "I have experience handling these from Fana and Rhya, I just need to get close enough to nullify it,"
"And what makes you think I'll let you do that?!" the elf screamed, enraged, his spell responding to his emotion as the vines flailed about haphazardly.
"Crap, he isn't going to make this easy. Got any ideas?"
Yuno held his chin as a plan came to him. "I got one. Despite the way it's moving, he's controlling those vines, meaning there will be a small portion of time where he inadvertently makes an opening, that's when you'll move in," he whispered.
The swordsman smiled, delighted by the idea. "And by reading his Ki, I'll know when that happens," he whispered back. "When the opening is formed, I'm going to jump up a bit, and when I do, blast me with some wind for a boost,"
"No problem,"
With their plan set, Asta held the sword with both hands in front of him, focusing straight ahead, his ears tuning out Frebhert's mad yelling; he only had one shot at this, he couldn't mess up. His eyes followed vine after vine, the moment would come soon, the moment would come soon, then…
…The moment had come.
Asta jumped up about two feet into the air, and seconds later, Yuno fired a strong cylindrical blast of wind, propelling him forward at high speed. "This fight is over! I won't let you hurt anyone here anymore!" he declared as his sword's curved tip slammed into his chest, destroying both auras. However, though no one could see it, a black and red circle appeared behind the elf momentarily before fading away. Frebhert's plant withered away as he dropped to the ground, lying there unconscious.
The magicless mage landed right next to him. "It knocked him out? Strange, I didn't think that would happen,"
"You boys did great!" they turned to see Orsi on his feet, giving them a thumbs-up.
"Father, I told you to rest," Lily politely scolded him.
"I know, but I have to congratulate my boys. If it weren't for them, we'd be-," he was cut off as the boys in question rushed to embrace him.
"I'm glad you're okay," Yuno said.
"So am I, it looks like this old man has got another few years left in him," he joked as they let go.
"And I'm glad you two got here when you did," Nash joined in. "Oh, and Yuno, why do you look like that?"
"It's a long story,"
"Perfect, you can tell us about it over supper," Lily said with a happy smile. "Are you two hungry?"
Asta clutched his stomach. "I mean, we've only had breakfast, but I'm afraid we don't have the time. What happened here is happening all over the kingdom,"
Yuno nodded. "He's right, and it seems to be at its worst over at the capital,"
The nun walked over to the boys and caressed their faces. "Okay then, go and save the kingdom, but after this is over, promise you'll visit as soon as you can,"
"We promise,"
"Ow, my aching head," a familiar voice got everyone's attention, and soon their eyes were on Frebhert as he stood up.
"That's impossible, I thought you beat him," Nash stated.
"We did," Asta replied.
"You stay back, Frebhert, you've done enough damage to this village!" Orsi yelled at him.
"What? I'm not Frebhert, well, not anymore it seems, I'm me," the knight said with confusion.
"Asta, check it out," Yuno brought his attention to the orca's face. "His mark is gone, and his ears are back to normal, I don't sense any elven mana either. It's almost like…his reincarnation was undone,"
"Undone? But how? Anti-magic doesn't work against it," the ash-haired teen began saying before he realized it. "This sword," he brought the weapon up to his line of vision. "It's the only thing that was different between now and earlier,"
"It must have quite the ability," Bell remarked.
"Yeah, it must," Asta agreed, grinning. "This is it, this is the solution. We have a way to solve this mess,"
"Um, that's nice. By the way, thank you for helping me," the knight said.
"My pleasure. Who are you anyway?"
"Oh, my name is Digit Talis," he introduced himself. "I'm a member of the Purple Orcas,"
"We can see that, it's nice to meet you," Yuno spoke up. "So, what exactly were you doing around here?"
"As you know, our squad ranked last during the Star Festival, and it didn't help that our squad's reputation took a dive, so I came here. There aren't really patrols done in the Forsaken Realm, so I thought I'd do some, but then I kinda got distracted by all the amazing plants that grew here,"
"Let me guess, you got possessed somewhere around that time?" Asta questioned him.
Digit nodded. "Correct. It was such a strange experience, it felt like I was stuck in my own mind, I could see everything that was happening, but I couldn't do anything about it. However, I picked up on something strange,"
"What was it?"
"The elf inside me, Frebhert, he didn't want any of this, he didn't want to hurt the people here, but he felt compelled by something to act the way he did,"
Yuno held his chin. "Compelled? It appears there's more to this, but with Asta's solution, it shouldn't matter. Let's get moving, Wind Creation Magic: Celestial Wind Ark!" he cast the transportation spell as the three knights mounted it.
"Be safe, I'm looking forward to your visit," Lily waved.
"So am I! When we come over, will you finally agree to marry me?!" Asta comically declared with his signature starry eyes.
"Just give it a rest already," the others facepalmed.
The poison plant mage spoke up. "Um, it's Asta, right? I'm fairly sure marrying a nun would go against their vow of celibacy,"
"Even Digit knows how dumb you're being," Yuno said as they flew off, the people below waving to them.
Ten minutes had passed since they left, and for the most part, things were quiet, that was until the magicless mage broke the silence, wishing to make small talk with their newest ally. "I gotta say, Digit, you may have been possessed, but that magic of yours was awesome, of course, when it wasn't threatening to kill the people I care about,"
"I'm really sorry about that,"
"You don't have anything to apologize for," Yuno told him. "You didn't ask to get possessed,"
"But you were able to fight back against your elf, it should've been possible for me to do the same,"
"I wouldn't exactly call it a fight,"
"Oh, um, I see, well, while we're on the topic of magic, I'm not really that impressive, Frebhert raised my power to heights I could've never reached. If you want someone that's truly impressive, look no further than Cade,"
"Cade?"
"He's a friend of mine, a grass mage. He can be a bit impulsive and aggressive at times, but he's great when it counts, and he's pretty strong,"
Asta chuckled. "If he's strong, that's good, let's just hope he doesn't get possessed,"
"What are you doing?! Why are you jinxing it?! Bell screamed, flying over to him and pulling his cheek.
"Relax, it probably might not even happen," the swordsman shooed her away. "You agree with me, right Yuno?"
His question was ignored. "Yuno, is something the matter?"
"Yeah, I'm detecting elven mana nearby,"
"Then the capital can wait for a bit longer, people might need us. Where is it coming from?"
The wind mage brought up both hands to point in two opposite directions. "There's activity in both of those areas,"
"Then we should split up, it makes the most sense," Digit suggested.
"Good idea, you can go with Yuno,"
His rival raised a brow. "Why me? Why not with you?"
"I have the sword that can free people, but you don't, you'll have to beat any elves you find in a fight, so it's best that you have as much help as possible," he explained.
"Okay, it's good logic," Yuno said, commanding his spell to break off into two, Asta riding the smaller one. "See you at the capital,"
"See you at the capital," with that, he was out of sight.
"What a peaceful day,"
Cutting over to a familiar house at the edge of the Clover Kingdom, the door to Teiko's house opened as the owner walked outside, stretching his arms. He then stared up at the sky, it was a full moon out.
"I wonder if I should head out to the restaurant, then I can take a nice hot bath, and then Arbus and I can-," he stopped himself upon saying the typhoon mage's name, frowning. "...And then it's off to bed for me,"
His gaze fell down to the distance ahead, noticing the spot where the general would do her daily training. "It was nice to have some company again. Well, I should get ready to make my way to Nean," he turned around and was about to go back inside, but then a light was seen in his peripherals.
"Huh?" he rotated his body once more, now fully able to see what it was.
The glowing base, floating in the distance, the light making it stick out like a sore thumb.
"Wow, what a strange, um…thing that is, very nice, it kind of reminds me of the Summer Festival back in Tomomune," he mused. "Although, I must say, in all my years of being in this kingdom, which of course, are many if I do say so myself, I've never seen something like this, and the mana coming off from it is so strong too-," he cut himself a second time, but not to frown in sadness, but to gasp in horror.
"No, no, it can't be…it just can't be," he began backing up, almost tripping. The look in his eyes was wide in disbelief.
But he didn't have time to stay in shock, the base was slowly fading from sight. His expression shifted from disbelief to seriousness. "I can't believe it, it shouldn't be possible, but it is…," he rushed into his house, grabbing his grimoire and shutting the door behind him. He quickly put his hands together to summon his water board as he chased after the base as fast as he could.
"...They're back,"