Chapter Ninety-Eight: Bonds of Friendship and Family

Hey there, readers, it's Day 3, and with a new day comes a new chapter. Cya.

"One more time! Flame Magic: Timebomb Explosive Scatter Shot!"

With a determined cry, Magna reeled his arm back and let loose a barrage of fireballs at the base of a large rock, and around the rock were target symbols scorched on. As was the nature of the spell, before long, the fireballs vanished; their caster looked ahead with intent, not daring to blink. Once five seconds elapsed, he narrowed his eyes and the fireballs reappeared, but in pairs, hitting the targets dead-on before another pair appeared and did the same, the process repeating until the rock shattered.

"Alright, that's how it's done!" he cheered, pumping a fist into the air.

It has been a long day for Magna. He had been training for hours, only stopping to eat or momentarily rest; he practiced everything he felt that he needed to: enhancing his physical performance, making his fireballs stronger, shooting those same fireballs faster, and as shown earlier, getting trickier with the application of his timebomb variants.

He wiped off the sweat that was forming on his forehead. "I'm making great progress, and it's only been a day. If I stay here to train like this for a week, I'd get way tougher, Luck won't know what hit him," he mused, his stomach then deciding to rumble loudly. "Damn, I'm starvin, guess it's time for a-,"

He was cut off by the sound of sudden clapping, startling him. The sound came from the east, so that's where his head spun to, seeing the thread mage sitting on his broom, Rouge on her shoulder. "Bravo! That was awesome!"

"What the? Vanessa, how long have you been there?!"

She placed her pointer finger on her chin, thinking. "Hm, I'd say about twenty minutes give or take. You were so engrossed in your training that you didn't even notice me show up, you're taking this really seriously,"

The shaded mage walked over to her, reaching down for a sack, and pulling an apple out of it which he graciously took a bite of. "Wait a minute, how'd you know where I was? I didn't tell anyone,"

She giggled. "Hello, you're talking to the woman who can manipulate fate," she brought attention to her cat. "After I finished visiting Finral, I spent a little time in the town in Kikka, and then I had Rouge make it so that the direction I was flying in would lead me to you,"

Magna swallowed what he chewed, eyes widened by her explanation. "Really? I didn't know you could do that,"

"Neither did I, but it didn't hurt to at least try, though from what I can infer, it works on a small scale, so nothing reality-defying I suppose. However, don't get me started on how much mana and effort it takes," she said with a sigh at the end.

"I see. So, why did you come here to find me exactly? If you finished doing what you needed to, you should've head back to base,"

Vanessa leaned back a bit, placing her hands behind her for support. "Well, to be absolutely honest, I was worried about you. You seemed kind of down earlier today, and even though you pulled yourself together, I still wanted to see if you were okay,"

"Oh, um, thanks for that," he took another bite, pondering about something, choosing to voice it after swallowing. "How do you think the Royal Knights are doing now? The day's over,"

"If you ask me, I think they've already won and are probably celebrating as we speak," she answered, pulling out a bottle of booze and taking a long sip.

"Yeah, maybe they are," Magna finished the apple and threw the core away. "Well, I better get back to the good ol' regiment. Since you're here, care to help?"

"That depends, what do you mean by help?" she inquired playfully.

"No matter how good solo training is, it can never outdo practicing with another person," he replied.

That answer got another giggle from her. "While I am flattered, I'm afraid that with my skill set, I may be a bit, how we say, underqualified,"

Magna scratched the back of his head. "Oh yeah, I guess you're right," he held his chin, thinking of what else to do. "Okay, I got it, I've already done enough training for myself. Why don't I help you with training?"

Her eyes widened a bit at his proposition. "My training? I mean, there's always room for improvement. What exactly do you think I need training with?"

"Oh, I don't actually know, I was thinking you would tell me,"

"I see. Well, I may not be a combat mage, but having some more offensive options would never hurt, not to mention finding a way to use less mana for Rouge's Absolute Evasion,"

Magna raised a brow. "Absolute Evasion? You gave the thing she did a name?"

The woman shrugged. "Why not? All of our spells have names and I thought it had a nice ring to it," she explained. "Although, I'm surprised to be getting pushback from the guy who named his broom,"

"S-Shut up! Let's change the subject and get to training already!" he quickly turned around

"Sorry, I just couldn't resist. I think the thing I want to start with best is-,"

The flame heard her suddenly stop, beginning to turn back around out of curiosity. "Yo, Vanessa, what's wrong? Rouge got your tongue-,"

Just like his squadmate, he too stopped talking midway. What was responsible for this? It was none other than the thing that had been earning gasps and the like from people ever since it took to the skies: the elven base.

"What the hell is even that?!" Magna yelled, pointing at the glowing mass.

"Your guess is as good as mine, that's certainly not something you see every day," Vanessa gave her input. "And is it just me, or is there a strange kind of mana coming from it?"

"It's not just you, I can feel it too, I've never felt mana like that before,"

"Same, but if we're feeling mana coming from that thing, then people are in there," the thread mage deduced. "Do you think they're friendly?"

The two kept looking up as it started moving away from them, the flame mage spoke up to answer her.

"I don't know,"

"A yul for your thoughts, Rufel?" Romit asked, approaching his fellow lightning mage, finding him sitting on the edge of the bottom hole.

"I'm just thinking about stuff,"

"What kind of stuff?" Yoveen was now the one to ask, coming up behind her friend, both of them sitting on opposite ends of the elf.

Rufel sighed. "Just thinking about how close we are to getting our old lives back, how close everything will go back to how it was,"

"Well, I wouldn't exactly say everything," Romit kicked his legs up and down. "We still have to get used to these bodies, not to mention our village probably isn't around anymore,"

"That's okay though, it's been five hundred years, things are bound to change, but as long as we're all here and those humans aren't, it'll be alright," Yoveen added, however, a few seconds later, she began looking at what she had on with a disapproving face.

"What's the matter?" both boys asked.

"We may be alright, but this outfit totally isn't,"

Romit chuckled. "That's our Yoveen, critical about the clothes,"

"I mean, the colors are nice and blend well, but it feels kind of uncomfortable after a while, I don't know how these humans can feel fine wearing them," she stood up, removing the top half, leaving only the black bodysuit underneath. "Okay, I can work with this,"

Rufel waited until she sat down to stand up himself. "Yeah, I think I'll do the same," he removed the top half too and sat again.

Both of their eyes then turned to Romit, but the elf made a denying gesture. "Oh no, it may have been made by humans, but I actually kinda like it. It makes me look cool,"

The girl puffed her cheeks. "But if you don't take it off, we won't be matching,"

He smirked. "You say it like it's a bad thing. If we're not matching, we stand out, and if we do that, everyone can see how beautiful you are," he said the last sentence in a dramatic fashion.

Rufel was trying to not let a laugh escape his mouth, but Yoveen was the opposite, bursting into laughter. "Hahahahaha!" she clutched her stomach. "Romit, you are a riot!"

"I am aware of that," he laid back and got comfortable. "Y'know, I can't wait till we find Yurim, and our friendship trio will be complete. Hopefully, she's at this capital Rhya was talking about,"

Rufel rested his chin on his palm. "You'd also better hope Latri doesn't find her first,"

"Crap, he's right, if that happens, he and Yurim will be at each other's throats," the possessed sparkle mage realized. "Maybe once we find her, we can keep them apart. It worked fine back in the old days,"

"Yup, seems like that'll be the plan," Romit nodded. "However, it's a bit of a shame. The way you see those two acting, you'd never believe they actually used to like each other, at least, until the incident,"

"Oh yeah, I remember what happened, Latri-," Rufel was saying, only to be cut off upon seeing his friends pressing a finger to their lips.

"I believe you also remember that the entire community agreed it was never to be mentioned again," Yoveen reminded him. "Yurim is the kindest, most happy-go-lucky elf I know, not a bad bone in her body, but damn, that event set her off big time,"

"Right, my bad," he apologized.

"Did I hear talk of your sister, Yoveen?" a voice asked behind them, they turned their heads to see the possessed glass and steel mages.

"Hi there, Vulutz. Hello to you too, Wylon," Yoveen greeted them. "And yes, we were indeed talking about Yurim,"

Vulutz rubbed his hands together with a look of anticipation. "Oh man, once this is all over, I'm going to devour a good few dozens of her pastries,"

Yoveen stood back up. "I don't know if that's a good idea," she poked his gut. "It seems your host didn't get your crazy fast metabolism,"

"See, even she agrees with me,"

"Shut up, I exercise too!"

The possessed sparkle mage patted his shoulder. "We know, but you may want to burn a few pounds first. Worry not though, exterminating the humans should prove to be a great workout,"

"Works for me, then I can indulge,"

"And I'll join you," Yoveen added. "Five centuries is a long time, I'm starting to get a craving for her apple pastries,"

Vulutz couldn't help but drool. "Oh yeah, those are my second favorite, her almond cream ones though, are a work of art,"

"Hold on a damn minute, those all are good, but nothing beats her chocolate strawberry ones," Romit stood up to join the conversation.

Wylon propped his glasses up. "Ah yes, you always were a man of fine taste," he said, the two sharing a handshake of solidarity.

"Hahahahahaha! Hahahahaha!" the four elves stopped and turned suddenly, surprised to see Rufel laughing, well, less that he was laughing, and more at the fact that there wasn't anything to laugh about.

"You alright?"

"Alright? I'm great. Seeing you all, getting to have fun talks with each other, I missed this,"

"Me too," they all said.

Rufel had a big smile on his face, but that look changed to one of intrigue as he noticed something. "Hey, we're flying over somewhere," he stared down, seeing a multitude of buildings.

The others got closer, seeing it too. Yoveen held her chin, recalling a memory. "Wait, I think that might be one of those 'towns' Tetia used to tell us about,"

"And she also said they're full of people…of humans," Rufel then said. "I'm heading down there,"

"Not alone you aren't, we're coming with you," Romit spoke up, the others nodding.

"No, you and Yoveen need to head to the capital to find Yurim," he retorted, turning his attention over to the other elves. "And you too need to stay and help with the upcoming fight. We can afford to have one person somewhere else,"

Yoveen crossed her arms. "But if you go off on your own, how will you find the capital? You've never been there,"

"No worries, the mana detection of my host is pretty decent, combined with my own sensing, it's reached a whole new level, I'll just track you when I'm done," he replied with a smile.

The girl relented. "Fine then, you can go, but promise me one thing,"

"What is it?"

"You make those humans suffer,"

He grinned. "That's the plan," he then jumped into the hole, descending a good few hundred feet onto the tallest roof of the town, the surface cracking a bit under him. Upon gazing down, the first thing he noticed were the people staring straight at him with minor confusion

Electricity danced across his person as he cracked his knuckles. "Time to have some fun,"

"If you aren't sure, maybe we should follow it?" Vanessa suggested it. "If nothing is going on, we'll leave whoever's in there alone, and if there is, we can call the others that are available to help us out,"

Magna shrugged. "It's the best idea we got, but I got a bad feeling about this. Let's just hope that whatever this is doesn't end up being something big,"

"Careful, you might jinx it," the scarlet-clad witch said before picking up something in her peripherals. "Never mind, looks like you already did,"

"What do you mean?" he asked, following the direction her finger pointed in, landing on the town up ahead, smoke and lightning rising. "Crap,"

"So, first that thing flies over, and then an attack just starts, no way that can be a coincidence,"

"You're right, let's get moving. Crazy Cyclone is fast, it'll get us there in no time," the two rushed over to Magna's broom and took off.

It only took a minute or two to arrive from there. The pair of black bulls ran through the town's entrance, their eyes widened at the sheer amount of people screaming and running, all trying to exit.

"Damn it, I can't see the attacker!" Magna looked every which way. "They must be at the town square,"

"It would make the most sense," Vanessa agreed. However, while her eyes were darting around, they fell on debris from a building that broke and was on its way to crush a pair of children. Sparing no time, she summoned her threads and launched them out, pulling the kids to safety.

"Magna, we need to make sure the citizens evacuate first!"

"I hear you loud and clear! Flame Creation Magic: Grand Slam!" he summoned his bat and shot fireballs at more falling debris. "Hurry and keep a good distance from this place! Don't worry, we'll take care of whoever's doing this!"

"Thank you, Black Bulls!" some of the citizens could be heard yelling.

In just a short four minutes, they had gotten everybody out of the town with none sustaining injuries. "Now to find the bastard!" Magna punched his palm.

"Then we just have to follow the mana!" the witch said as they broke into a dash toward the town square. "It's strange though, the mana of whoever's doing this, it's off the charts, and it feels strange too,"

"Impressive magic power could make things difficult, but nothing too difficult for us!"

"I hope you're right,"

They came to a stop upon making it, shocked by the destruction around them, surpassing what they had seen earlier; their eyes rose to meet the figure responsible for it, in the middle of hurling balls of electricity in whatever direction they felt like, laughing to themselves.

It was at this very moment that things got complicated. Magna and Vanessa were fully expecting to run into the average criminal going on a rampage, but the person they instead witnessed was someone they'd never suspect in a million years.

"Not possible, it can't be," the shaded mage whispered to himself, but no matter how much he wanted to doubt it, the evidence was standing before his very eyes. With clenched fists and a furious face, he called out to the perpetrator.

"LUCK!"

Rufel came to a sudden stop. "Huh?" he gazed down at the knights. "Would you look at that? Some humans want to be brave and fight me. I suppose I can admire your courage, but it's a losing battle!"

"Are you an idiot?! There won't be any fighting until you get your ass down here and tell us why you're wrecking the place!" Magna exclaimed, pointing at him.

"Why am I wrecking this place? That's easy, it's because humans are here!" he answered proudly.

Vanessa pointed his way as well. "That's why?! Look, I know you can be battle-hungry, but hurting innocent people isn't like you at all, Luck,"

The elf narrowed his eyes. "Luck, aye? So you two are calling me by that name as well, just like that royal from before?" he was then overwhelmed by a sensation, it made him clutch his chest tightly. "Yes, I can feel it, you two must be some of his friends, unfortunately, my host is no longer calling the shots, that'd be me, Rufel,"

The flame mage was a little perplexed by what he heard. "Rufel? Your host? What the hell did you do to Luck?!"

"I knew it! That strange feeling I sensed, this is Forbidden Magic," Vanessa deduced.

"Forbidden Magic? Are you sure?"

"I'm positive, the Witch Queen taught me a bit about them when she actually bothered to see me. I don't know who cast it or what it entirely does, but I know it's allowed another soul to hijack Luck's body,"

Rufel clapped. "The lady is right, but it's not just him, we elves are taking over hundreds as we speak, and are laying waste to your filthy kind!"

"Elves?!" the two exclaimed.

Vanessa was a little more shocked, remembering what her mother said in the past. "That can't be. Weren't they all killed off?"

"That's right," he hopped down to ground level. "Y'know, I'll be honest, in my past life, I never once killed anybody, in fact, if you asked me to do it back then, I'd probably find some way to chicken out of it," he took out his grimoire, a wicked grin now present. "But things are different now, now I can't wait to feel the blood of humans on my hands, and I don't know a better set of first victims than you two,"

"Forget it, we're going to kick your ass!" Magna retorted with his usual confidence. "I've gotten way stronger!"

Vanessa readied her threads. "So, how are we going to do this without hurting him?" she whispered to her squadmate.

"Considering the circumstances, we'll have no choice but to rough him up a little. The goal will be to weaken him enough to knock him unconscious and restrain him,"

"Okay,"

Rufel couldn't help but chuckle at the flame mage's declaration. "You've gotten stronger? You talk like that'll change anything, you two are as good as dead," he manually opened his grimoire and skimmed through the pages. "Hm, what to use?" he landed on a page. "Holy Lightning Armaments? Let's see what it says here, a combination of Holy Lightning Gloves and Holy Lightning Boots. Sounds interesting, but perhaps there's something with a little more-," he stopped as he landed on another page. "Woah, I missed this one earlier, and it's incredible. Based on its placement, this spell is recent,"

"What? Luck got a new spell?" Magna raised a brow.

"You didn't even know about it? Oh boy, he must've been saving it for a special occasion, but I don't think he'll mind if I use it sooner than intended!" he let his mental link take over to keep it elevated. "Lightning Creation Magic: Calamity Fiend!"

At his command, electricity danced across his body, but it was stronger and brighter; armored gloves and boots akin to his other spells materialized on his hands and feet, but that wasn't it, blue mana traveled up his arms and legs, covering them. His upper body wasn't left out either, the electric mana assembled, taking on the shape of a coat of sorts. The last part came in the form of curved blue horns that stuck out from his head.

"Holy shit, the magic coming off from him is even more insane," Magna thought, sweat beginning to drop down his face.

Meanwhile, Rufel was in awe of his form. "Awesome! I feel like I can take out all the humans by myself!"

"Newsflash, you're not even going to be able to beat the two of us, so you can forget about all of humanity! Time for some action! Flame Magic: Exploding Fireball!"

The elf made no attempt to move out of the way, he merely brought up a hand and swatted the projectile away. "My expectations were already low, but I think you just lowered them further. That can't seriously be all you've got, even for a human,"

Magna growled. "You're right, that's nowhere near my best, let's kick it up a notch! Flame Magic: Prison Death Scatter Shot!"

Now Rufel was pleased if the smirk on his face said anything. "There we go!" he did a series of backflips to get himself out of range before he crouched his legs and shot his body into the air.

"You got your attacks in, now it's my turn!" he assumed a one-legged dropkick position, diving down with blinding speed, faster than either knight could perceive. In less than a second, he made contact with the mage in shades, nearly splitting him in half. "Nice, a lethal attack that won't kill him right away, gotta make him suffer like I promised," he thought, glad that one foe was defeated.

Or so he thought.

Instead of seeing blood on his boot as he expected, the only thing covering it was dust and rocks. How? Because, through some mysterious force, his attack had decimated the wall of a nearby house rather than the target he could've sworn he hit. In fact, standing a good number of feet away was Magna, safe and sound.

"Odd, I shouldn't have missed so badly," he muttered before suddenly hearing a sound close by. He turned his head a few inches, seeing the scarlet cat atop his shoulder. "Ooh, a kitty, hello there, hold on, I'm sensing magic from you,"

As soon as he said that, the feline jumped off and ran back to her owner. "I see, that's yours. I gotta say though, I've never seen a spell so adorable,"

Vanessa cracked a smirk. "Thanks, but Rouge is more than a cute face, she'll make sure you don't lay a finger on us with Thread Magic: Red Thread of Fate - Absolute Evasion,"

The possessed lightning mage showed an expression full of intrigue. "Red Thread of Fate, you say?" he then blitzed Magna again with a lethal strike, but like before, he ended up hitting a house. "It's true, the humans actually have a spell that lets them alter fate itself. That isn't right, their kind shouldn't be allowed to have such a power. They're cruel and ruthless! It should've been ours! We're the ones who are righteous, we're the ones who are-,"

He stopped his internal monologue upon his mana sense going off, he brought his focus to where it was coming from. But to his complete shock, it was a large fireball that was mere centimeters from his face.

"What the hell?!" he thought, surprised he was caught off guard, the spell close to blowing up in his face.

However, something strange then happened. Despite what was about to happen, Rufel still allowed himself to blink, but after he did, his surprise turned to bewilderment as the fireball was no longer next to his face, instead, it crashed into a building to his left.

He wasn't the only one to be bewildered. Magna was hopeful when he noticed the elf stuck in his head for a moment, so he released one of his largest fireballs, intending to take advantage of it, only to be shocked when it ended up missing by a very large margin.

"How the hell did that happen?!" he got his answer when he heard meowing near his shoulder, and standing there was Rouge. "What's your deal, cat, we're on the same side!"

Like before, the feline returned to Vanessa. "I feared that might happen. Rouge will always protect the Black Bulls from harm, even though that's not Luck, it's still his body, so she'll protect him too,"

"I don't think I need to tell you that our plan won't work if I can't hurt him. You think you can get her to not try and stop me again,"

"I'll try," the woman grabbed her cat, holding it gently. "Rouge, sweetie, mommy's going to need you to listen, okay," she gave an affirming meow. "You see, Luck isn't himself right now. You like the old Luck, right?" she was given another meow. "If we want to bring him back to normal, we'll have to hurt him a little. You think you can let us do it this one time?"

The cat meowed again and nodded. "Aw, you're such a good girl," Vanessa scratched her head, making her purr. She gave Magna a thumbs-up. "You're all good to go,"

"Nice,"

Rufel stared at the spot where the previous fireball hit. "That was my fault, I shouldn't have lost focus," he murmured, a confident smirk then formed. "But if I'm being honest, it probably wouldn't hurt even if it did hit me,"

"Hey! You got lucky with that last shot, but that's changing right now!" the flame mage called out to him.

"You say that, but it won't happen. Lightning Magic: Voltage Trail!" he sent out the attack with a kicking motion.

"Woah, it's moving way faster than usual," he mentally stated. "However, it's not impossible to get around. Flame Reinforcement Magic: Risky Stolen Base!" he quickly sprinted out of the trial's range, now making a mad dash for its caster at top speed, reeling his bat.

Once he got close enough, he made three wide swings, all of them missing before Rufel established some distance. "It looks like you can be pretty fast too, we'll see how you handle this one! Lightning Magic: Thunderbolt Destruction!"

Magna snickered. "Ha! That's Luck's go-to attack, countering it will be easy!" he exclaimed, creating a multitude of fireballs before hitting them with his bat with all the force he could muster. Despite his confidence, the additional effort just barely succeeded in canceling them out.

Frustration was beginning to seep in for the bull. "Damn it, I don't care how long it takes, or how hard I need to try, I'm going to beat you and bring Luck back!"

"I know he's your friend and all, but you must care an awful lot about this Luck?"

"Of course, why wouldn't I? He shares a strong bond with our squad, and an even stronger bond with me. That's why I'll-,"

"Hahahaha!" Rufel cut him off by bursting into laughter.

The flame mage shot him an angry glare. "Was something I said funny?"

The elf took a few seconds to calm down. "Indeed there was. These bonds you speak of can't be anything substantial, at least not in comparison to the bond I share with those who are close to me. Besides, what good will your bonds do you anyway when you'll be nothing more than a corpse in, say, five minutes?"

"We'll see who'll be done in five minutes, you bastard!" Magna commanded his grimoire to flip to another page. "Flame Magic: Annihilation Seeker Shot!" he exclaimed, performing his usual throw, appearing like a regular scatter shot, but while in mid-air, they suddenly halted, suspended in place.

"What kind of spell is that?" the possessed lightning mage inquired.

His question was met with a smirk from his opponent. "You'll see, for now, I suggest you start running," just as he finished saying that, one of the fireballs resumed motion, zooming at the elf with impressive speed.

Rufel managed to dodge it in time, but that's when the second fireball came rushing, to which he dodged it again. "Okay, I'll play along," he said, running in the opposite direction, making all the fiery projectiles chase after him at once. "A spell that follows the target around?! You don't see attacks like those every day, at least not back in my day!" he turned his head back while in motion, seeing they weren't close to touching him. "Regardless, it isn't fast enough to catch me, so in the end, it's nothing to-,"

A large piece of debris. That's what he saw in his peripherals as he brought his focus back to the front. Unlike the fireball, there was more distance between him and it; also unlike the last time, he had no qualms over not seeing it coming, after all, debris is no spell, but spell or not, he was confident.

"Easy," he said to himself as he brought his body down, sliding underneath it. He didn't stop there though, immediately after reaching the other end, he did a quick backflip, landing on the debris before using it as leverage to push himself into the air. While in the skies, he set his sights on Vanessa. "That move was your doing, I presume?"

"You better believe it! Luck means a lot to me too, I won't stand idly by, I'll fight just as hard to bring him back to us!"

"Very well then, I should start paying a little more attention to you now,"

"Bring it!"

"As you wish!" he screamed crazily, diving down headfirst, his grin hungry for blood.

Vanessa, for whatever reason, stood firm, not daring to take her eyes off of him, something Rufel quickly took notice of. "What's wrong?! Have you been scared stiff?!"

"No…" she began as her lips contorted into a snicker, and it soon became clear as to why. The moment he got close enough, an invisible net became visible, and tiny threads emerged, wrapping around him tightly. "...I'm just waiting for something. Thread Magic: Arresting Dark Weave!"

"Awesome work, Vanessa! Mission accomplished!" Magna congratulated her.

"Don't praise her yet!" Rufel exclaimed as he broke free, landing right in front of her. "Let's say goodbye to that pretty little head of yours!" he readied his hand to decapitate her.

The woman was shocked by how easy it was to escape, but for the most part, she was calm, Absolute Evasion would come to her aid. However, this time it didn't…because it didn't need to.

His hand was only an inch from her neck, but before it could even begin to graze her skin, it stopped dead in its tracks, shaking violently. The elf was not pleased as he backed up, clutching the defiant limb. "Damn you! I thought I told you not to get in my way!"

"He didn't hurt me? But it wasn't Rouge's doing, it was…Luck's. He's fighting back!"

At this point, Rufel was gnashing his teeth. "You better stop! I'm the one who's in control, you hear me?!" he roared as the shaking finally came to a halt. His attention returned to Vanessa. "Where were we?" he blitzed forward, cutting her head off, but like before, another building ended up as his victim.

The elf was beginning to breathe more erratically than before, so he allotted some time to compose himself. Taking a deep breath, his eyes met the witch's once again, they were back to their smug disposition. "Tell me, human, that cat of yours that alters fate, how much of a magical toll does it take on you? I bet it's a lot, more than you can maintain for a prolonged period. So let's make this a battle of attrition and see who lasts longer, either you, or one who's loved by mana itself,"

"Cut the bullshit!" Magna riposted. "Mana can't love people, it's not a person!"

"With the way it favors my kind in comparison to yours, it might as well be," he fired his own retort before he had his tome flip to a certain page. "I've had my eye on this spell from my readthrough, and I'll think you'll find it very…shocking. Lightning Magic: Indiscriminate Discharge!" he slammed his hands on the ground, lighting it up with electricity.

However, as he suspected, the cat came in to save them, but instead of changing anything Rufel did, it changed the actions of her allies as Magna and Vanessa suddenly found themselves in the air.

"Great, he makes puns now too," Magna said under his breath before addressing the obvious oddity. "How the hell did we get up here?"

"Rouge must've had our reflexes act faster to escape the attack," the thread mage guessed, the feline confirming it with a meow.

Rufel ended his attack, now staring up at them. "So, that's how you're going to play it, huh?" he then disappeared in a flash, reappearing even higher up in the sky above them. "Hey there!"

"Crap!"

"I wasn't expecting you to evade me in such a manner, but let's see how that cat gets you out of this one! Lightning Magic: Electric Conquest!" the elf elevated his hands, illuminating the night with the glowing blue orb, but instead of kicking it like Luck normally did, he zoomed back down to the ground, zooming up again in a second to put him above the orb, all before slamming it down with his fists coupled together.

Vanessa's eyes quickly darted around, landing on the roof of a nearby building. "Oh, we won't be needing Rouge for this one," she summoned a long thread, winding one end around her wrist and the other end around her squadmate's abdomen. "Make sure you stick the landing!"

"Stick the landing? What are you talking about-!" Magna was suddenly sent flying, taking her with him, the stunt ending with the orb hitting no one.

Though it was abrupt, the flame mage landed on the roof with near-perfect accuracy, but that didn't mean he wasn't pissed. "What the hell?! Was a simple warning so hard! Besides, the furball could've kept us safe!"

"Didn't you hear what he said? He's trying to make me burn through my mana by overusing Absolute Evasion, I have to be smart," she answered, watching as the possessed lightning mage performed his own landing.

He punched his palm angrily. "And it doesn't help that everything I've thrown at him hasn't done jackshit!"

"Don't be discouraged, you've been training, right? Trust in the fruits of your labor,"

He nodded. "You're right, I've stick got a trick or two under my sleeve,"

"Humans, are you planning on coming down here or would you rather have me come up there to you? Either is fine with me!" their opponent called out.

They didn't need any further warning as they jumped down to meet him. "Alright, you punk, you had your fun, my turn to go on the offensive!" the mage in shades declared.

"Don't you mean it's your turn to try and fail again?"

A bright ball of fire came to life in the bull's hand, reflecting against his shades to reveal determined eyes. "Not this time," he reeled his arm back. "This time, I'm coming out of this the winner! Flame Magic: Timebomb Explosive Scatter Shot!"

Rufel stood ready for whatever was coming. "Hm, I haven't heard him use that before. I wonder what it does?" he soon got his wish as the projectiles suddenly disappeared. "What the? They vanished! That shouldn't be possible. Wait, I can still sense the mana they're giving off, the fireballs aren't gone, they're just invisible,"

Deducing what was going on, the elf's eyes darted to his left as two fireballs reappeared and came at him. Despite the impressive speed they were going at, he had no trouble evading it with a backward leap. "Looks like all that confidence was misplaced, as I expected," he gloated, but that's when he picked up on something else. "Hold on, he didn't launch just two. Where are…?"

He came to that realization just in time to be surprised when another pair appeared behind him. "Crap," he cursed under his breath, managing to dodge it, and then the third pair showed up above him. The process kept repeating itself, forcing the possessed lightning mage to stay on his toes. "This is ridiculous, to think a human of all people could pull off an attack of this nature, all without utilizing the ways of Heart,"

His train of thought was put on hold as he dodged another set, his chosen method bringing him mid-air. "Okay, if memory serves me correctly, he launched thirty fireballs and they all came in pairs. So far, I've gotten around twelve of them, meaning only six remain,"

And he was right, there were just six, but these six were different. Instead of appearing in pairs like the other twenty-four, the hextet emerged together, one pair coming at him from the south while the others came from the east and west. However, there was a flaw and Rufel noticed it immediately. "What a stupid move, all I have to do is move back a little more and they'll hit each other and cancel themselves out, easy-,"

He cut himself off as he detected a sudden fourth mana signature. Shooting his eyes behind him, he saw none other than Magna, a move ready. "What?! But how?!"

The mage in shades cockily smirked. "Looks like my plan worked, I figured the random attack pattern from my Timebomb Explosive Scatter Shot would occupy enough of your attention to not sense me coming until it was too late. I guess you elves aren't as good as you prop yourselves up to be! Now do me a little favor: go down and stay down! Flame Magic: Gargantuan Exploding Fireball!" the fire in his grew to great proportions as he slammed it into him, the earlier six getting their hits in two. Smoke covered the sky as Rufel crashed into the ground, forming a crater beneath him.

Magna landed soon after, not wasting any time. "Flame Binding Magic: Flame Bondage Formation!" he declared, summoning fire to restrain him.

"A very impressive plan," Vanessa congratulated him. "But we may want to do more than that, just in case," she added onto his spell by wrapping him and multiple layers of thread.

The flame mage let out a sigh of relief. "Damn, what a pain in the ass, at least it's over. Now what?"

"Not sure, we did what we set out to do, I guess we can start by taking his grimoire and then-," she was starting to say before they both heard something.

Chuckling.

It started off softly, but then it got louder, and louder, and then it turned into full-blown laughing; being bound seemed to not matter to Rufel in the slightest.

"What's so funny?!" Magna demanded, but he was ignored as the laughing continued, and it would turn out to be the least of his worries as the elf's body began glowing in the familiar light blue color, raging electricity danced all around him, destroying the restraints as he slowly stood up.

The eyes of the knights widened as Calamity Fiend changed appearance. The gloves and boots looked a lot more…savage, the horns became larger, and a blue circle formed behind him.

But what truly frightened them was the look on Rufel's face, a twisted grin that put anything Luck ever did to shame. "Fine then, I'll admit it, I was wrong. I came here thinking you humans would be easy to kill, but your efforts have managed to best me, so credit where it's due. You're still weak, but you aren't as weak as we elves believed you were,"

"W-What did you just do?"

"Oh, this? Nothing much, I just used my mana to supercharge the spell," he answered, turning his head to Vanessa. "I didn't forget what I said about our battle of attrition. I'm interested in seeing how long you can last now…because I'm coming at you with my all!"

"Are we going to be okay, Daddy?" the scene cut to some miles away, where the citizens of the town were staring up, observing the smoke and lightning, but the one who was staring the most intently was the little girl who asked the question.

"Of course we will, sweetheart. Though I am a little skeptical, we have to have faith in the Black Bulls, they're our only hope right now," her father reassured her, patting her head.

"Okay, I'll have faith in them too," she smiled, but then she noticed something up in the sky, something that was moving. "Daddy, what's that?"

Her father also saw the strange thing. "I'm not sure, it doesn't look like a bird, in fact, it kind of looks like…a spell. I guess someone's just flying by, hopefully, they stay safe,"

Back in the town square, a mere two minutes passed by, but the fight was over, and it wasn't pretty. Houses near the area were virtually destroyed, the ground was filled with craters, Vanessa doing her best to climb out of one of these craters with Rouge by her side, neither looking too well as the former was covered in dust and dirt while the latter's physical form was beginning to break apart. Once the witch got herself out, her eyes fell on Magna's shades, the right lens severely cracked. But where was their owner? Rufel was holding him up by his neck.

"Would you look at that? I won!" the elf laughed in his face, choking him harder. "However, even though it's more than you deserve, I'll allow you to speak your final words, so choose them carefully,"

Magna was looking just as bad as Vanessa if not a bit worse, his hair was all messy and was covered in dust, the same was true for his clothes, his face had a number of scratches on it, and blood was leaking down his chin from a gut punch he'd been subjected to thirty seconds prior. But despite all of that, his expression held no fear. "Come…out…and…fight me,"

The elf was confused, but mostly amused. "Huh? Did your brain decide to stop working? We already fought,"

"I'm…not…talking…to you," he retorted weakly. "I'm…talking…to Luck! Can you hear me…you jerk?! Are you really going…to let him do this?! Are you going…to let him win?! I thought…you were stronger than that! Was I wrong?!"

"Save your breath, nothing you say can possibly get through to him, he's gone!"

Magna managed to crack a smirk. "Really? Then…why are you crying?!"

Rufel felt his face with his available hand, and tears were indeed flowing, making him growl. "That means nothing! You've said more than enough, it's time to die!" he reeled his hand back, prepared to have it pierce his abdomen.

Not on Vanessa's watch though. "Rouge, we need to concentrate and do what we did before," she said to her companion, the cat meowing back as she shot a thread from her tail high into the sky. "Please, let's change fate one more time, bring someone, anyone, just so long as they can save those two! Thread Magic: Red Thread of Fate - Altered Destiny!"

And just like she hoped, someone grabbed onto that thread and raced down, that person being none other than Asta. "Stop right there!" he exclaimed, freeing Magna, the mage breaking into a fit of coughs.

Vanessa smiled warmly as she looked at Rouge, watching the feline disappear. "You did great, mommy's proud," she muttered.

Rufel backed up, raising a brow at the newcomer. "And who might you be?"

Asta didn't answer just yet, he carried the witch over to Magna before standing in front of them protectively. "Who am I?" he began before assuming his transformation stance, accessing his other-worldly power. "I'm Luck's squadmate, but more importantly, I'm his friend!"

"Friend, aye? Great another one, though you seem more interesting. No matter how hard I try, I can't sense a drop of magic power in you. I didn't know there could be a single living thing so hated by mana,"

"Zip it, I'm here to get Luck back, not chat," he fired back, kneeling down.

"Are you okay, Rasta?" Magna inquired.

"Sort of. This is my fourth transformation tonight, I'm really running low on energy," he told them both. "But thanks to this sword, I'll just have to fight until I have an opening,"

"If that's the case, you can't waste any time, you have to win as soon as possible," Vanessa then said, forcing herself up. "We're here to provide backup if you need it, right Magna?"

He got up too. "You're goddamn right,"

"I appreciate it, just make sure you don't push yourselves!" Asta rose to his feet and charged forward, swinging at the elf, only for him to dodge it.

"I don't know what kind of power that is, but it shouldn't be that big of a deal," Rufel commented as he did what he did to the other bulls upon upgrading his form, that being he ricocheted from surface to surface, becoming a blue blur ready to strike from anywhere. "Those two couldn't pick up on me at all when I did this to them, this magicless human should fare even worse," he thought as he decided to go on the attack.

But he was proven wrong as Asta not only turned his body in the right direction, but countered with enough force and speed to bring the possessed lightning mage to a standstill. "The hell?" he tried to make some distance, but that proved pointless as the swordsman closed whatever was made in a second.

Thinking it could get him off his tail, Rufel landed and blitzed forward while doing zig-zags, but all Asta needed to do was fly straight after him. "How are you doing this?!" he turned while in motion, casting Thunderbolt Destruction.

The magicless mage cut them effortlessly. "This power is drawn to strong magic, you can move as fast as you want, but it will always chase you down. And it's not just that, your Ki is so easy to read, it's full of rage!"

The chase continued as they reached another part of the town, descending in elevation. Rufel was the first to fall with Asta coming in hot, the force of their landing raising debris into the air which the elf gladly leveraged to reach the skies once more.

"You're right, I am full of rage, but it's a righteous rage! You're the ones who brought that pain onto us, you deserve whatever punishment you get! Lightning Magic: Thunder Fiend!" he transformed his body into electricity, racing to Asta's left side before reassuming his solid form, kicking him in the side of his gut.

"Ugh," the teen grunted, coming to a stop, his foe doing the same. "We aren't all the same y'know, no one deserves to get punished for something they didn't do,"

"You aren't all the same? Of course you are. You may say or act otherwise to make yourselves feel better, but I know how you truly are deep down, you're ugly and evil,"

"You can't know that for sure, you only think you do!" Asta challenged.

Rufel wasn't happy at that retort. "Lies!" he charged, fists clenched.

The demonic swordsman crouched his legs, taking flight, the elf jumping after him back to the level they were previously. He brought his hands together, gathering mana as he fired five large lightning orbs. "Anti-Magic: Black Hurricane!" his opponent countered, cutting them all in half.

"Anti-Magic? What a strange thing, a power that directly opposes magic,"

A smirk came to Asta's face as he noticed that with his rapid counter, he had the opening he needed. All he had to do was repeat what he did against the man who beat him, but just a little faster. "Anti-Magic: Black-," he stopped spinning and dropped to his knees, breathing heavily.

"Damn…it, not now," he mumbled, he needed help. "Guys, I'd really appreciate that backup!"

"Get close to us, we have a plan!" Vanessa exclaimed as Asta did so. "Now Magna!"

The flame mage conjured a fireball in each hand, throwing them on a collision course with each other, the explosion resulting in a smokescreen.

Rufel sucked his teeth. "So, that's their plan? I already couldn't sense that guy, but now I can't see him either. However…that fact won't save them!" he crouched his legs at a diagonal angle and shot off, thrusting himself a few inches off the ground. "There's still a way to see you, I'll just send my mana out in every direction, and once it makes contact with you, your anti-magic will nullify it, then I continue sending it out in that direction to track your movements,"

With his strategy formulated, he closed his eyes and spread his mana in a strand-like manner, and just as he predicted, one of those strands vanished, the utmost north strand. "Gotcha," he whispered, funneling the mana in that direction, his mind's eye visualizing Asta's movement, the boy flying straight at him. Rufel raised his hand, ready to strike a near-killing blow that was guaranteed success.

Well…not so much.

He entered the smokescreen, and once he reached the ideal range, he swiped down with all the force he could muster. The attack would've hit without a doubt if it wasn't for Asta coming to a sudden standstill right before the action was made, courtesy of threads wrapped around his foot, resulting in Rufel hitting air.

"No, they messed up my timing!"

"My turn!" Magna threw a fireball, burning the thread, releasing the magicless mage as he landed a clean strike, not only sending the elf flying, but undoing his form.

"Not possible," the elf grunted before Asta undid his own form, jumping on top of him.

"Just one more thing to do!" he was about to press the mystery sword, but was being pushed back by a strong wave of mana.

"GET YOUR FILTHY HANDS OFF ME!"

The swordsman was about to be shot back by the force had it not been for Magna and Vanessa coming to his aid, each holding down one of his arms. "You've had Luck for far too long, we're going to save him!"

"No, I won't allow it, not after what you did to us!" he yelled back, remembering the last day of his former life. "You took away everyone who was precious to me! My parents, my friends, my big sister! I finally have a chance to be with them again, I won't lose it!"

"I'm sorry for what happened back then, really I am, nobody deserves to go through something like that. If I lost everyone I cared about, I'd feel sad and angry too, but…," Asta began saying, forcing his sword down. "...Luck is precious to us, he's our dear friend, he's like family, and we won't lose him either!"

With one last triumphant push, the sword finally touched his chest, the black and red circle forming beneath them, and after it formed, the mana died down.

"I believed him, y'know,"

The three knights were drawn in by Rufel's voice, it was soft and kind. They also paid attention to his face as his marks were fading away and his ears were shrinking. "I knew a human back then, he said our kind could live together, I believed him…and I still do," he took a good look at the trio. "I'm sorry for all of this, I was blinded by my grief. This Luck person is very, well, lucky to have friends who will go this far for him, I…I wish we all could've been friends, but I'm afraid it wasn't meant to be. Goodbye,"

Despite everything that had happened between them, the bulls could feel the sincerity in each of his words, it was like they were talking to an entirely different Rufel.

"...Goodbye,"

"This sucks,"

Those were the words Luck kept repeating over and over in a soft, monotonous tone. The teen was surrounded in the black space of his mind, lying down in a fetal position, he had tried everything he could to stop Rufel from hurting the others, but all his best efforts bore no fruit, only being able to muster momentary resistance of his hand. He had nearly given up, letting a tear fall down his face.

"It isn't fair," he began saying now.

"Luck, what's troubling you?" a new voice suddenly asked, making him jump to his feet, he recognized that voice, it was one he never thought he'd hear again, but there it was, coming from an equally familiar person.

"M-Mom? It can't be. How are you even here?"

"I'll always be here for you, never underestimate what a mother will do for her child," she replied in an almost eerie fashion. "But you need to stay next to me where I can watch you, not out there in the world. I'm the only one who loves you, remember?"

"The only one…who loves me," he repeated her words as his eyes grew foggy and he marched over to her, reverting to his child self. "The only one,"

But then suddenly, a bright light flashed, illuminating the dark space, but that wasn't it as light returned to the boy's eyes as well, making him stop. "No, you're wrong, I've finally found other people who love me just as much as you, and I can't leave them behind," he then embraced his mother. "But thank you for everything. Goodbye," he said his last words to her before turning and running off into the distance, leaving the woman in tears of happiness.

"I'm on my way," Luck thought as his speed increased and memories of his squad flashed in his head.

"Welcome to the Black Bulls, make me proud or you're dead," Yami.

"You must be the new guy the captain told me about, if you need anything, just holler," Finral.

"Well, aren't you just the cutest thing? You can be like my little brother," Vanessa.

"So, you're an only child? That sucks, here, look at Marie to make you feel better," Gauche.

"Hello, my good friend?" Gordon.

"...," Grey.

"I see you eyeing me. You want something to eat, don'tcha?" Charmy.

"You're a real maniac…but I'll accept you anyway. Be glad royalty acknowledges you," Noelle.

"You're our squadmate, we won't let you do this alone!" Asta.

"I won't ever desert you, none of us will," Kenos.

"So I'll tell you right now, the final battle won't be between you and your rival, it'll be between me and mine!" Magna.

He reverted to his usual appearance as he leaped into the air and the space became fully enveloped by the light.

Luck's eyes were concealed by shadows as the three let go of him and stood up, giving him a chance to stand up as well as they stared at his back.

"Guys, I'm sorry, this is all my fault, it's because I wasn't strong enough, but…," he faced them, revealing a rare face flooding with tears.

"...Can I still be a part of the Black Bulls?"

No one spoke to answer him until Magna walked to him, closing the distance between them with a one-armed embrace. "What are you talking about, you idiot? It doesn't matter what happened here, you'll always be one of us," he said, letting his rival burst into sobs.

Vanessa let the two have their moment as her eyes fixed themselves on what Asta had in his grasp. "I don't recognize that sword. Is it new?"

"Um, you can say that,"

Luck's crying began to die down as the flame mage gave him a few headpats before breaking the embrace, leaving the boy to wipe the lingering tears. "By the way, Rasta, do you mind explaining what the hell is going on? I thought you two would be with the other Royal Knights,"

Asta clenched his fist. "That's what we thought too. Our attack on the Eye of the Midnight Sun's base began early this morning, we raided it without issue, and then out of nowhere, people began getting possessed by the souls of dead elves who want to kill all humanity, and a good amount of those people included Royal Knights," he informed them. "But don't worry, this sword I was able to swipe from Licht can undo the reincarnation,"

"That's nice. So where are the others?" Vanessa asked.

"Soon after everything started flipping on its head, the elves found a way to get their base flying, and we were chasing after them for a while to the capital, but then Yuno and I split from them to handle a problem,"

The flame mage held his chin. "Hold on a ding dang second, you mean that floating thing we saw earlier was their hideout?"

"Seems like it,"

"Magna, you dropped this," he turned to Vanessa who was holding his shades before handing it to him. "It looks like it got a little beaten up,"

He inspected the lens, putting it in his satchel. "That's alright, I got more pairs," he then asked the looming question. "Should we head to the capital then? That's where they'll be,"

"No, not right now," Asta responded. "The three of us are low on mana and energy, we should head back to base to recharge and regroup with the others. Now, the only thing to worry about is how we're going to get there. I can't transform again, and you two don't have enough mana to fly on your brooms,"

"Leave that to me, I have a great idea!" Luck shot his hand up.

Minutes later, the bulls were ready to leave. Luck's idea was certainly an interesting one to say the least, having Vanessa tie two threads around his abdomen with the other ends connected to the two brooms where the three were sitting.

"Are you sure about this?" the question came from the witch.

"No worries, you're not too heavy. Lightning Creation Magic: Calamity Fiend!" he replied before transforming. "There's also the fact that Rufel upgraded my spell, I've got more than enough power to take us," he then crouched his legs, building massive amounts of potential energy before taking off. Pumping their fists, they all shouted in unison.

"Next stop, Black Bulls HQ!"