Mist And Mysteries

Hello everyone and welcome to the latest chapter of The Fallen! The Black Bull's newest recruits are taking on their first mission today and it might turn out to be a little tougher than they expect. But one thing that's not so tough is checking out my Pat reon and seeing about becoming a patron! Anyway, this chapter is a good length so I won't keep you long, so with no guest review questions this week, on to the story!

The Forest Outside of Saussy Village

'This is why getting as much information as possible is important,' Asta mused in mild annoyance as he and the others hid in the bushes to observe one of the so-called boars they were hunting. It turned out that these particular ones weren't your average boars, easily being three times the size with flames coming from the undersides of their bodies. 'Did the client intentionally leave out the species or just forget to mention it? Surely he's seen them at least from a distance if they've been tearing up the fields for a bit.'

One thing was confirmed, at least, these boars were invasive. Such a species usually stuck closer to high magic areas so for them to be here meant one of a number of things was happening. Either something stronger drove them out of their native range, it was mating season, or the magical beasts were looking for something. The second one could be ruled out because Asta had read up on the species at one point and knew their mating season wasn't for another few months.

The second option was possible but still had some holes as a driven out species typically looked for the closest suitable environment they could find. Saussy Village didn't seem the most suitable environment for this large species of boar, meaning the third option was the mostly likely. Problem was, he had no idea what the boars would be looking for all the way out here. Speaking of problems, Noelle's impatience had just gotten the better of her.

"That's enough waiting, there's only one," she stood up and held out her hand.

"Noelle, think before-," Asta tried to warn her but was too late as she fired off a large orb of water. The boar turned towards it but, as the anti-magic boy had feared, the attack flew off course and impacted a nearby tree. "Now you've done it." The large mammal spotted them and began charging then.

Asta stood up and walked forward slowly, showing no fear of the large beast barreling towards him. Instead, he focused his anti-magic through his right hand, picturing the image of a knife. As the boar was upon him the ashen-haired boy made a slashing motion with his hand, cutting into the side of the beast's neck and causing it to roar in pain. Despite the wound being bloody it wasn't too deep, but the pain was more than enough to cause the animal to retreat.

"How did you do that," Noelle emerged from her own hiding spot.

"I'll have to explain later," the sword wielder didn't relax his stance as more boars emerged from the foliage, no doubt drawn by the cries of their injured fellow who was now leading them. 'The fire coming from their bodies is meant more for increasing their vitality and endurance,' he mused, 'I shouldn't have to worry too much about getting burned.' He also had an idea now about the thickness of the boar's hide. So when the first boar he fought charged again, he lengthened the blade and slashed upwards like before.

This time the boar's cries ceased as its pupils dilated. In the next instant its head detached from its muscular neck and fell to the ground. The beast's body collapsed shortly after, now nothing more than a bloody corpse. The other boars watched their apparent leader's head roll around next to Asta's feet before focusing back on him. "Alright," he drew his sword from his grimoire then, "the rest of you want to do this one at a time or all at once?"

The boars all snarled and charged the anti-magic boy who took his own stance and counterattacked. A few minutes later, all the boars were dead as Asta dissolved the blood off of his blade with a small amount of anti-magic before returning it to his grimoire. Now came the difficult part, getting them all back to the village. It wasn't the carrying them, per se, that was the issue but rather the fact that one particular person had no interest in trying to carry them.

"Another display of your freakish strength," Noelle commented as the trio walked along. Asta was carrying the majority of the boars while Magna had two, one on each shoulder.

"You're capable of carrying these too, you know," he pointed out, "mana strengthening is a good way to learn magic control."

"Do you actually expect a royal like me to carry one of those filthy pigs," she flipped her hair, "You two are more than capable of handling it."

"You're still talking like that to your senior," Magna stopped and turned towards her, "you're just a rookie in this squad and that means you need to pull your weight."

"Brute strength is your area of expertise, isn't it," Noelle put a hand on her hip, "Sure I could use mana reinforcement but what'll you do if I mess up and get crushed by one of these things?"

"Let's find out," Asta managed to drop one of the boars he was carrying onto the silver-haired girl, quite unceremoniously. Naturally she began flailing about beneath it.

"How dare you!" The royal tried pulling herself out from underneath the dead animal, "do you know how long it could take to get this smell out of my clothes?!"

"You should be more concerned with just getting it off you," the anti-magic boy pointed out, "concentrate and focus your mana into your muscles. Anyone with a decent amount of magic is able to do it and even with your current lack of control you have more than enough mana that you won't have to worry about running out. Just take a deep breath and be calm." Noelle let out a huff but didn't protest further, instead focusing on what she needed to do.

Magna and Asta watched and waited for a few minutes and eventually the royal girl lifted the boar up with a grunt. "Just so you know," she gave them an annoyed look, "I have no intention of becoming a muscle head like the rest of you."

"You get control of your magic and you won't have to worry about that," Asta assured, "but for now congratulations on taking your first step."

"Let's just get this over with," Noelle started marching ahead as the other two Black Bulls followed behind. Along the way Magna explained to them how he became associated with the chief of Saussy Village, Seihi. Turns out his village was right next door and after getting his grimoire, the fire magic user went on a bit of a delinquent spree but was stopped time and time again by the old man. Naturally the two new recruits thought about pointing out that he still acted like a delinquent but refrained as he continued his story.

It seemed after a couple years of Magna duking it out with Seihi the old man, who'd been strong enough to be a magic knight candidate, suggested that he try out to be a magic knight. The rest, as one would say, is history. "He sounds like a nice person," the royal girl admitted.

"He's the one who made me the man I am today," Magna glanced back with a grin before looking forward again, "It's my dream to become a guy like him some….what's going on?" He tossed the boars off of his shoulder and into a safe place. Asta and Noelle did the same before following him, curious about what was causing such alarm. It was then they saw that the village was surrounded by a strange mist that swirled around it unnaturally, forming a dome.

"Is this a type of barrier magic," Asta wondered as they approached the stone walls of the village entrance.

"Whatever it is this magic is enveloping the entire village," Magna observed, "none of the villagers here are capable of doing that and Seihi summons armor and weapons with his magic. Something bad is going on in there."

"What should we do about it," Noelle passed her hand through the mist, "it's not a physical barrier so more than likely it's meant to throw off anyone trying to enter. We'll basically be walking around blind in there."

"Asta," their senior turned to him, "use that anti-magic sword of yours and cut through this fog."

"It should work in theory," the ashen-haired boy pulled out his weapon from his grimoire, "but you should know that whoever cast this spell will likely sense it being dispersed. We won't have the element of surprise going in."

"We don't have time to be subtle," Magna argued, "who knows how bad things are in there so right now we have to get there as fast as possible."

"Alright, stay behind me," Asta swung his sword then, the blade dispersing the magic particles in the air and causing the fog to clear. 'I'll be,' a slight smirk crossed his features, 'so I can cut through this kind of magic too.' The trio proceeded into the village then with Asta cutting through the fog every few feet. Despite it being all the way out in the forsaken realm the village was surprisingly large.

Thankfully, Magna's history with Saussy meant he knew it like the back of his hand, allowing him to call out directions as they proceeded. Before long they'd figuratively and literally cut their way through to the village square. While the group hadn't expected to be met with cheers, they didn't expect the sight which greeted them, either. All the villagers were huddled in the middle of the square, clearly frightened and hurt.

The reason being was the large collection of ice spikes hovering over them, poised to kill at a moment's notice. A group of four figures stood nearby and one of them gave that signal. The floating ice spikes descended towards the frightened villagers, too fast for any of them to run away in their current condition. But not fast enough that Magna didn't have time to cast a spell.

"Fire Magic: Explosive Scattershot!" He unleashed a hail of fireballs all at once which flew up and intercepted the falling projectiles, exploding on impact and shattering the lethal crystals. "Is everyone alright? What's going on?!" The people moved aside, revealing the body of an old man with short grey hair and a goatee.

"Is that," Noelle gasped.

"Old man!" Magna rushed over and tried to shake him awake, "come on, get up old man! Please, wake up!"

"He was just trying to protect us," one of the villagers spoke up, "because of that, they-."

"Say no more," the fire magic user stood up and approached the four figures. They were all wearing greyish blue robes with three of them keeping their hoods up to conceal their identities. The apparent leader was an older man with short white hair, a scar starting from his forehead that ran across his face, and three straps connected to the grimoire holster on his back. "Why are you here, why did you do this?"

"You three have thrown off my schedule," he answered while glancing at a pocket watch, "I don't appreciate that. So in the next ten seconds, everyone here will die." His grimoire opened then and a giant boulder of ice formed in seconds before being launched.

"Shit," Magna realized he didn't have enough magic power to destroy a projectile of this size, "ASTA!" The anti-magic boy was already rushing forward, leaping up and slicing the attack in half. The two pieces of it went sailing in opposite directions, completely missing the villagers and landing on some buildings instead.

"What exactly is it you want," he asked. Despite having a neutral look on his face his sword was still pointed at them with a few veins standing out on his arm. "There's already been enough blood shed here today, so why don't we find an alternative?"

"That's surprising to hear, considering your squad's reputation," the man breathed out a cloud of mist, as if he was in cold weather, "you're the Black Bulls, correct? The roughest, most undisciplined, most heretical of all the magic knight squads."

"But we are still a magic knight squad," Asta reminded, "and as you've seen, being rough and undisciplined hasn't done anything to dull our combat capabilities. So what's it gonna be? Can we negotiate or is this gonna get messy?"

"I've already wasted enough precious time dealing with you riff-raffs," the ice magic user glanced at his pocket watch, "we'll wipe out you and the villagers in five minutes and then continue our search."

"Afraid I can't allow that," Asta stepped forward but one of the mages unleashed his mist at him.

"We will not allow you to approach Master Heath Graice," the mage declared, "be lost in the illusory mi-SLASH!" He gasped as the ashen-haired boy casually swung and dispersed the mist with his sword.

"So you're the one controlling the mist," he observed while continuing to walk forward, "good to know."

"Wait," the man now revealed as Heath spoke, "you said you wanted to negotiate?"

"Are you willing to," Asta stopped advancing and narrowed his eyes.

"I still have time, so I'll indulge your curiosity," the leader began his explanation, "there's the Noble, Common, and Forsaken realms here in the Clover Kingdom. Saussy Village resides in the Forsaken Realm, meaning most of its people are of inferior stock. They're capable of only performing a few meager spells to help with the drudgery of-."

"I'm from the Forsaken Realm, dumbass," the anti-magic user cocked his thumb towards Magna, "and so is he. If this is your pitch it needs work."

"But you're both proof of what I'm saying," Heath insisted, "You two had enough magic power to get into the magic knights, demonstrating that you're above the rest of these useless beasts. While you've been charged with protecting them, surely you can see what insignificant creatures they are. Such stock can only serve to waste my time and yours."

"You're not wrong, I am wasting my time," Asta sighed before taking a stance, "I thought I was dealing with someone reasonable. But you're just a murderer and a criminal, so it's my duty as a magic knight to bring you in."

"Interesting, if these people mean so much to you," he held up his hand, producing several ice shards. The wizard with mist magic aided him, "let's see how well you can protect them. Ice and Mist Compound Magic: Endless Ice Cage." The ice shards launched then but Asta cut through them with his sword in one hand while unleashing waves of anti-magic from the other.

Any attempts to reflect the magic back were nullified thanks to Heath thawing the crystals out. Magna assisted in holding off the barrage with his fireballs, but more and more ice shards were produced every time they destroyed the current wave. Thanks to the mass number of them, Asta couldn't get close to the enemy. 'There has to be an opening,' he tried to analyze the situation, 'neither me nor Magna can keep this up and Noelle can't aim yet.' Case in point, her one attempted attack going off target.

'What am I even doing here,' said royal looked around nervously, 'I can't fight, I just now started learning to control my magic. Even with enhanced muscles I'll get skewered before I even get close. I'm just holding us back by being here.' She was about to turn and leave when a small girl with red hair suddenly grabbed the left tail of her outfit.

"Please miss magic knight," the child begged, "you have to help us, please!" Noelle looked into the eyes of the frightened girl as all around her she started to hear the sounds of pain as some of the ice shards started to get through, hurting the villagers. 'What was I about to do,' she realized, 'after all the mocking and jeering, after all the people who told me I couldn't be a magic knight I finally make it and then I try to run on the first mission?! NO!'

Her grimoire suddenly glowed blue with power in response to her will, opening up to a new page as a spell is created or rather gained. "I am royalty and a member of the Black Bulls!" Noelle proclaimed as she cast her spell, causing a vortex of water to appear, "and I will protect these people, Sea Dragon's Nest!" The water swirled around everyone, creating a spinning dome.

The naturally surprised Heath attempted to assault the new defense, but his ice shards were swallowed up no matter how many he fired. "Now that's what I'm talking about, you never know what you're capable of until you give it a try!" Magna gave her a thumbs up. Noelle simply sighed in relief, happy that she was able to help. As for Asta, he crouched low, sending his silent thanks to the girl as Heath Graice was distracted by the spectacle.

He waited a moment then launched through the dome with incredible speed. His enemy noticed him closing the distance and his eyes widened as Asta arrived in front of him in less than a second and jammed his sword into the ice mage's chest. Heath let out a cry of pain, blood running out of his mouth as he was lifted off the ground from the force of the attack. But something was off.

'My attack lost force at the last instant,' Asta looked down to see an almost transparent sheet of ice on the ground, 'shit, he saw me coming after all. I slipped on the ice, and it reduced the power of the blow.' There was no time to follow up on his failed charge, however, as Heath Graice raised his left hand and cast a spell, Heavenly Ice Fang. A large spike of ice shot out of the ground at him.

Asta didn't have time to move out of the way before the attack hit him with enough force to send him flying back onto the ground. He let out a gasp of pain before lying still. "It's impressive that your sword can cancel out magic," the ice mage walked past his seemingly dead body, "but that can only take you so far as an ordinary human. Now then, how to deal with this spell?"

Heath held his hand up to the swirling dome, projecting a layer of ice against it. "I might not be able to break this spell entirely, but I can make an entrance wide enough for one person to get through. It should only take twenty-five seconds." The girl clung to Noelle's leg in fear while Magna tried to figure out what to do.

Despite having a type advantage their opponent outclassed him in sheer magic power. That was before he factored in the other three, two of whom hadn't even used their magic yet. He needed some kind of plan to…Magna's eyes widened as a figure reflected off of his shades. Graice caught sight of the reflection and instinctively caused a giant ice spike to grow behind him.

"Dammit," Asta jumped back in the air to avoid the ice spike and stopped his momentum by hitting his foot against the other ice construct. He winced slightly as the sharpened edge went up through his shoe but still managed to land safely.

"You're a tough little idiot and that reaction was incredibly fast," Heath observed, "how are you still alive?"

"I dulled the point of your first attack with my left hand," Asta held it up, "I also noticed your stance change slightly before that last attack and knew I'd been found out."

"Yes, your little plan might've worked but luck doesn't seem to be in your favor," the ice magic user sent out another Heavenly Ice Fang but this time the anti-magic user was ready and easily cut through it.

"Yes, you have been lucky up to this point," the ashen-haired boy remarked as he cut through even more ice shards, "lucky that I was keeping collateral damage to a minimum, lucky that you saw my attack from behind coming. But your luck is slowly running out. There's nothing keeping me from fighting you at full force now." And that included his foot which had already healed up thanks to the enhancements his body obtained from Megicula.

"Strong words from someone who's going to be dead in a minute," Heath glanced at his pocket watch before firing smaller ice shards. This time Asta only slashed the ones he couldn't directly avoid while evading the others, quickly closing the gap. He took a deep breath as he approached Graice, already anticipating his next move. When he went to use Heavenly Ice Fang again, Asta swung his sword and unleashed a wave of anti-magic, obliterating the ice construct and knocking his opponent over.

"Lord Graice!" His three subordinates fired their own magic at Asta who reacted by throwing his sword at the center attack. It cut through the spell and embedded itself in the ground right behind the center mage, barely missing him as he and the others looked back in surprise. That was their mistake as Asta appeared in front of the trio and slashed them all with the same attack he used on the boars earlier that day. The cuts weren't deep, but they were plenty painful, knocking all three enemies unconscious.

"What's going on here," the ice magic user's eyes widened as Asta pulled his sword out of the ground, "what did you just do?"

"Did you think my abilities required me using this sword," he asked while resting the weapon on his shoulder, "sorry, but it's just a good conduit for them."

"After seeing all of that, I don't really have any more excuses," Magna suddenly declared as he exited the water dome, magic flames surrounding his body, "I gotta prove that we're both real men!" He focused his magic into his right hand then. "So let's wrap this up by using all my remaining magic power! Fire Magic: Prison Kill Scattershot!"

A mass of small fireballs was unleashed and went soaring towards their target. "You think something like that will take me out," Heath summoned up floating shields shaped like massive snowflakes, the ice magic Crystal Ice Shield. The fireballs impacted against it one after the other as Graice formed ice shards above Magna who'd now collapsed due to using the last of his magic. "Your time is u-AAAAARGH!"

To his surprise, the multitude of fireballs was enough that one of them managed to get through and impact against him while the remaining three hit his subordinates, ensuring they were down for the count. Now the area around him was covered in small fires, but that wasn't the most pressing issue. "What, these flames on me won't go out?" Indeed, Magna's magic had produced specialized flames which stuck to their target, ensuring some damage was done one way or the other, "no matter, I can freeze them!"

He did just that, sprouting icicles on his body that managed to quell the majority of the fire on him, but that was only a small and ultimately futile victory. "I think your time is up," Asta appeared in his blind spot, this time without his sword. But he didn't need it. As the ice mage tried to cast one final spell, the ashen-haired boy slammed his fist into his face so hard it sent him corkscrewing into some nearby barrels, shattering them and rendering him unconscious.

"Did we win," Magna raised his head back up, "and wait, how am I alive?" Despite striking the ice mage the icicles he'd produced hadn't disappeared. That's when he noticed another, much smaller dome of water surrounding him.

"You can thank me for it later, lowly street punk," Noelle flipped her hair in the usual manner whenever she was acting dismissive. But internally she was ecstatic. She'd done it, she'd actually controlled her magic not once but twice and saved people while doing it.

"Never can keep your mouth shut, can ya," the flame magic user grinned before holding out his hand towards the flames. The still active fires moved towards the defeated mages and wrapped around their upper bodies like bindings. "Prison Death Scattershot now becomes Flame Binding Magic: Flame Bondage Formation."

"Will this also prevent them from using magic," Asta asked while dragging the leader out of the wreckage of barrels.

"Since they're unconscious it shouldn't be anything we need to worry-SHIT!" As Magna was explaining one of the grimoires of the subordinates activated and floated upwards. "Asta!" The ashen-haired boy dropped the leader and leapt over as the mage's body turned to water and dispersed, leaving only dirt for his hand to come into contact with.

"Damn it, they got away," the anti-magic user huffed in annoyance as Noelle dispersed her water magic, accidentally soaking herself, Magna, and the rest of the villagers. Naturally they had some comments about how cold the water was but at the very least they were all alive. And also naturally, the villagers were grateful for all of their help. Asta, for his part, took a seat to rest and let the adrenaline settle down.

While this was going on, an anti-bird flew above the village, seeming to be searching for something. Whatever it was, it emitted a purple glow that only the avian creature could see radiating out of the roof of the village's church. The bird flew in through an open window and found its prize awaiting in the rafters: a purple square-shaped stone with the symbol of a crescent moon and stars on it. Mysteriously, the anti-bird grabbed the stone and flew out of the church, landing on top of Asta's head.

"Uh, Asta," Noelle points at the bird on his head, "what's that thing have in its mouth?"

"Huh," he reached up and found the stone in the bird's mouth. Strangely, it kept a tight hold of the object when he tried to pull it out.

"Oh, that stone belonged to grandfather," one of the villagers noted, a child with blond hair.

"It did," Asta asked in slight surprise while still trying to pry the stone out of the bird's mouth. Sure, he could've easily yanked it out, but he was more curious why it was on his head but refusing to give up the stone in the first place.

"You can have it if you like," the village child assured, "it's the least we owe you for saving all of us." Oddly, the anti-bird seemed to understand what had just been said and let go of the stone, finally allowing Asta to take it. 'What is this thing?' He wondered while turning it over in his hand.

"Asta," Megicula's voice suddenly sounded as her astral form appeared next to him, "sorry I haven't shown up until now. I was dealing with my other contractor. It looks like you've been busy."

"Just a far more exciting first mission than anticipated," he thought back while discreetly showing her the stone, "I'm more interested in what this is?"

"Hmm, a magic stone," the winged woman mused aloud, "that is fascinating, but we have another problem."

"What would that be," Asta cocked an eyebrow.

"That bird on your head," she pointed to the anti-bird, "it's not really a bird. That's a woman in disguise."

"I thought something seemed off," the ashen-haired boy glanced up at the bird still resting on his head, "this particular bird has been hanging around a lot lately and knew where to find the stone. I'll bet it's what these guys came looking for."

"Best hold onto it for now then," Megicula advised, "the more urgent matter is what to do about that girl hanging around on your head?"

"Whoever this is supposed to be probably has a reason for not revealing themselves," Asta mused with a hand on his chin, "and she hasn't done anything detrimental to me or any of the Black Bulls so far. For now, I think it's best to wait and watch what she does."

"Just remember that she's not a bird when you're in your room changing clothes," the demoness crossed her arms, "I won't have her ogling that body of yours."

"I doubt she is, but I'll keep that in mind," the anti-magic user smirked before heading over to his fellow magic knights. He learned that Magna still needed time to regain his magic power, meaning no flying on his broom for the time being. Which is why they found themselves standing in front of Heath and his captured subordinates ten minutes later as they started to come too. They were lined up against a broken brick wall and only the leader was awakening.

"Hey, finally waking up," Magna growled, "we're still waiting on my power to come back, but when it does, we're hauling you sadistic jerks back to the capital. We've got magic knights there who specialize in interrogation and when they get their hands on you it won't be long before you're spilling your guts about why you were here and who you work for. After that, you're going away for the rest of your lives for what you did here today."

"Sorry to disappoint you, but none of that will be happening," Heath revealed calmly, "the end times are upon us, and we are but the first of its messengers." A purple glow suddenly shined from his body; the result of a magic item implanted in his intestines being activated. "Engage, Ice Magic: Ice Burial." The three criminals were instantly encased in spiky ice prisons, their bodies freezing not only on the outside but on the inside as well.

In the next moment, they shattered, the remaining particles blown away by the wind. The disintegration of Heath's grimoire was further proof that all three of them were now dead. "They…were willing to go that far," sweat stood out on Magna's forehead while Noelle looked on in shock. The only ones unphased by all of this were Asta and Megicula.

Both had borne witness to far worse things and, despite his loathing of the man, Asta could tell from the look in his eyes that he was committed, so his suicide didn't surprise the boy. It did, however, leave several questions.

Later: The Forest

"Why are we out here," Noelle huffed while pushing aside a branch, "haven't we run around in the forest enough today?" Their senior's magic power was basically back now, having returned while they buried Seihi and took a moment of silence to remember him alongside his grandchildren. But as they were about to depart, Megicula noticed something out in the forest.

"I only asked Magna to come out here," Asta reminded while slipping past a tree, "you didn't have to come too."

"I haven't been on this squad long but I'm certain I'll never hear the end of it from the captain if something happens to you two," the royal pointed out, "so even if it is annoying, I'll just have to stick with you two until this mission is done."

"Nice to know you're doing this out of the goodness of your heart," Magna quipped as they entered a clearing, "but she does have a point, why are we out here?"

"I think I mentioned before that I have a sense that's different from magic sense," Asta explained as he and Megicula walked around the area, which was dotted with rocks, "I'm able to feel magic power in a manner of speaking but also things like incoming attacks. Right now, that same sense is telling me something's out here." It wasn't entirely the truth. He and Megicula did feel something, but he doubted his friends would believe him if he said it felt like that something was calling to him.

"Are you sure you didn't just take a hit you didn't notice during the fight," Noelle put her hands on her hips.

"I actually noticed this feeling on the way to the village," the anti-magic user revealed, "but we had much bigger priorities at the time."

"We still need to report back to the captain about what happened," Magna reminded with his hands in his pockets, "so could you speed things up a little? It's my ass that'll get kicked alongside yours if we take too long."

"Alright, brace yourselves then," Asta warned as he raised his fist. He channeled a large amount of anti-magic into his hand before slamming it into the ground with maximum force. The result was a giant crack forming as a hollow section of the earth was revealed.

"What, is that a cave," Noelle asked while looking down into the dark abyss which had opened.

"More of a cavern," Asta corrected, "I was wondering why the feeling I had was stopping here, looks like my hunch was right."

"I see why you brought me along now," Magna lit a fireball and dropped it down into the crack, "it's pretty dark down there. Did you know this was here?"

"No, I didn't," the ashen-haired boy shook his head, "but I figured it was best to be prepared."

"So you're actually going down there just based on a feeling," Noelle frowned.

"You don't have to come along if you don't want to," Asta pointed out.

"Hmph, as if I could leave you two alone," the royal did her trademark hair flip, "you both would've died today without me."

"In that case, hold on," the anti-magic user scooped her up bridal style, getting a yelp out of the silver-haired girl before dropping down into the abyss. He landed deftly on his feet and moved out of the way as Magna dropped down right after him.

"Oof, that was farther than it looked," the flame magic user grunted as he stood back up on shaky legs.

"Warn me before you do something like that," Noelle struggled and hopped out of his arms indignantly.

"I figured you'd say no and try to jump down yourself," Asta explained, "you only learned mana reinforcement today, so it's best to take it a little slow at first."

"But I'm also royalty," she huffed with her arms crossed, "you should always ask permission before even thinking of laying your hands on me."

"I'll remember that," Asta turned away and started heading towards the darkened tunnel that was the cavern's only feature.

"Gotta say, something's weird about this place," Magna mused as he controlled the fireball to give them a bit more light.

"You're not wrong," the anti-magic user ran his hand along the wall, "the ground is all packed down and these walls are perfectly round with no protruding shelves. It's almost like someone carved this out."

"Who or what would be carving out caverns under the ground," Noelle questioned before tensing up as a loud groan came from the dark tunnel. A tremor was felt then as the group backed away, hearing a yawn that sounded like it belonged to something giant. More tremors followed after that, albeit much smaller as the sound of something moving towards them could be heard. A figure emerged then, so enormous its head reached almost all the way up to the top of the cavern.

The group moved out of the way of its draconic claws as the creature adjusted itself. They could see now that it was indeed some type of dragon with a stoney face that was covered in numerous curved spikes that looked like they could be used for digging. Slabs of stone appeared to be attached to its long neck and batlike wings were attached to its reptilian front legs. When it looked down, the group caught a glimpse of its small golden eyes.

The dragon studied them for only a moment before taking a deep breath and letting out a roar which shook the caverns. The group tried to back away, but the creature charged, stomping towards them with the intent of crushing or skewering them in any number of horrible ways. Asta instinctively grabbed Noelle, who was closer, and leapt out of the way while Magna dived to the side. "AAAAAAAH," the royal screamed while holding out her hand, "go away, go away, go away, GO AWAY!"

She fired shot after shot of water with each exclamation at the beast, but the monster wasn't slowing down, forcing Asta to maneuver around the room to keep from getting stepped on. "Will you watch where you're aiming," Magna called, dodging some of the water blasts which accidentally sailed his way while also throwing fireballs at the dragon.

"Asta," Megicula suddenly communicated with him, "Asta listen to me, there's nothing to be afraid of."

"Could you please explain," he thought back while leaping over one of the dragon's swiping claws. By this point Noelle was clinging to him and firing her attacks blindly, making maneuvering a rather interesting prospect.

"Stop and take a moment to breath," the winged woman instructed, "you'll see then that nothing is happening to the dragon when it's hit, because nothing's hitting it."

"How is that possible," Asta did as instructed and stopped, looking up to see that both Magna's fireballs and Noelle's water orbs were flying through it. The only impacts that were occurring were when the flaming orbs met the airborne water. "So that's what's happening."

"Asta, why are you stopping?!" Noelle asked frantically, not having noticed the oddity due to her panic. 'Guess I made that mistake too,' he admitted before repositioning himself to stand protectively over the royal girl. "Now what are you doing?!"

"Close your eyes," the anti-magic user instructed firmly.

"But what about-," she started to say before being interrupted.

"Close your eyes!" Asta insisted as the dragon lifted its claw above them. Noelle gave out a nervous cry but did as instructed, holding onto him like a lifeline as the limb came down.

"GUYS!" Magna yelled as he threw a mass number of fireballs at the dragon, again to no effect. The cavern shook as its claw impacted. But there was something missing. Magna hadn't heard the sound of flesh and organs splattering.

"Hey," Asta poked his head up through the dragon's claw while waving one hand, "it's okay. The dragon isn't real, it's just an illusion!"

"Wha," the fire magic user opened his mouth in confusion before flinching as a dragon claw came for him, and promptly passed through his body. "I'll be damned it is an illusion."

"See, nothing to worry abou-GAAAH!" He was silenced by a punch to the face from Noelle which knocked him over.

"Why didn't you just say that in the first place?!" She stood up, clenching her fists while blushing in embarrassment, "I thought we were about to die!"

"Yeah, sorry about that," Asta rubbed his throbbing cheek, "I didn't think I had time to explain. But now that we know it's an illusion, we shouldn't have a problem." In fact, the spell or whatever had been put in place must've recognized they were no longer afraid and suddenly disappeared.

"Why would someone put something like that down here," Noelle sighed, "just to give people a heart attack?"

"No," the ashen-haired boy started down the tunnel again, "something's here. Whoever put that illusion there probably did so thinking no one would find this place."

"And if we happen to run into something real wherever this tunnel leads," the water magic user raised an eyebrow.

"We're magic knights, remember," Magna reminded with his trademark grin, "and just think, if we find something valuable, we could make a lot of money. I could get back my lost wages!"

"Nice to know we're being so altruistic about it," she shook her head before following after him and Asta. Truthfully the money Seihi had won off them had been put to good use, buying more supplies for the village and even a couple presents for his grandkids. Still, if there was something valuable down here it was worth a look. It would be as they were approaching the end of the tunnel that Asta stopped and knelt down at a certain spot where his senses seemed to be leading him.

Before Magna or Noelle could question what he was doing he began digging. It only took a couple minutes and before long he pulled out a shape that was just over a foot long and covered in shimmering scales that looked like polished metal when the light shone on it. The pattern on the oval shape resembled swirling stars, like a Triangulum galaxy. As Asta picked it up, he got an odd feeling from the egg, as if an aura of preciousness was emanating from it.

What was more, he swore he could feel the heartbeat of the little life inside of it. Asta was so enthralled he almost jumped when Megicula let out a gasp. "That's no ordinary dragon egg," she realized, "this is a star dragon egg."

And so the first mission of our heroes wraps up with not one but multiple mysteries! Who was the ice mage working for and what is a Star Dragon? Let me know your theories in your comments and reviews along with what you liked/disliked or if you've got any neat ideas for future chapters! And be sure to check out my Pat reon for news and other tidbits involving my writing! Last thing, stop in next time as our heroes report back on their first mission and try to figure out just what to do with their new treasure! 'Til then.