Disclaimer: Black Clover is owned by Yūki Tabata, Studio Pierrot, and Shonen Jump.

Saga 37: Fortunate Son Part 1

Underground Tunnels, Heart Kingdom, Morning

"... So, remind me," Scheherazade spoke as she and Lolopechka sat across from each other in a sequestered meeting space. "... Why are we underground again?"

The Queen of the Heart Kingdom turns around before she raises her robe to reveal the crosshair-like mark still printed onto her back. "... Ziz still lives," she pointed out. "... Apparently, not even a Dwarven Totem God could bring it down for good."

"Speaking of..." The Queen of the deposed nation of Dama then turned her attention towards Charmy, who was sitting between where the two monarchs were situated at. "... I take it that we finally know who she is?"

Lolopechka nods as she then summons Undine, now a little bigger than her prior state after fighting Agni. "Everyone, this way."

The three of them then enter the Heart Kingdom's [Archive], a culmination of century's worth of knowledge and wisdom gathered ever since the nation's founding. The three walk between the floating bookshelves packed to the brim with various tomes and scrolls.

"... Here it is." The Queens then stop before a tome now no longer covered in obscuring muck of black. "... The truth."

The tome read: "Caucus of the Earthen Heart Faith," to which Lolopechka cracked open its pages.

Within the covers, it covered on the various accounts of the Dwarven Theocracy's founding, it's first ruler, it's ruthless expansion starting from the modern-day Diamond Kingdom, stretching to the borders of the Heart Kingdom before a Great War between the Theocracy and Sephira's alliance, and the internal collapse that deposed its ruling class, followed up by an outline of a family tree, with Charmy Pappitson being at the bottom of said tree, tracing her linage from her mother.

"... Mom?!" she choked out in astonishment. "... So I'm... basically a descendant of long-lost royalty?!"

Suddenly, from Charmy's shadow, Geri emerges like a ghost. "Yes, my master," the vest-wearing wolf-god answered. "Long I have watched over your family since time immemorial. I saw monuments built upon the corpses of our enemies. I have received tributes to those whom your honored ancestors have cowed. I saw many battles where we fought for our right to exist in this cruel world. I saw our proud legacy being torn down to rubble by those who only sought ruin. I continued my duties long after our name no longer inspired fear and entered a state of humble living. You, your mother, and her mother's mother, and her mother's mother and beyond, I skulked in your shadows, from parent to child... in vain hopes that one day, we may rebuild our proud dominion upon these lands."

Charmy's eyes looked at her lifelong companion with fear and shock. "... But I don't want to be a ruler of some kind of domain," she protested. "... I just want to survive."

"It is the only way to survive, master," the Totem God rebuked. "Eat or be eaten. Such is the law of this wicked world before and after Sephira descended upon this world."

"That doesn't mean that it should be the be all-end all," Lolopechka pointed out. "Not when the forces of Hell are encroaching this world."

"Irrelevant." The bestial god then sinks back into Charmy's shadows with an arrogant glare aimed towards the two female monarchs. "... All shall become fodder for my master, regardless of who they are."

The entirety of [Archive] goes silent as the many libraries that it had inspired.

"... Nothing changed, Miss Pappitson," Scheherazade pointed out. "... You're still our ally in a world where our enemies outnumber us."

"Still..." Charmy looked at her own hands. "... I'm scared. I can know for sure that I don't want to hurt you... but what about my other half?"

Undine sighs. "... I can offer nothing sans mere hope that our allies are fast enough runners." The still-recovering Water Spirit stated with reluctant apathy. "... It's difficult to work with someone who was an enemy during the Great War that led to the Golden Age of Magic. Trust me, I'm only willing to try and trust a hated enemy because I once fought for Da'at, where mercy was taught to restrain our necessary savagery."

The four sigh upon realizing that Geri's insistence for treating this whole world as an all-you-can-eat restaurant comes from the past being the ABSOLUTE WORST.

"... From a certain point of view, Geri's attitude seems the most ideal in surviving in these trying times," Scheherazade remarked. "That said, I don't want to lose what makes me... me, just for short-term survival."

"... What counts as 'short-term' nowadays?" asked Lolopechka, causing everyone, herself included, to groan.

"... I vote for the simple solution." Charmy then raises her hand. "... Don't think too hard about it and deal with our current problems first."

Everyone nods in mutual consensus before exiting the [Archive] through Undine's magic, returning to their meeting space.

"... So that leaves us with our problems on the board right now," spoke Lolopechka. "Mainly, Ziz and the Illuminati."

"The latter basically invaded our defenses during Caligula's own invasion-may that bastard burn in Ifrit's eternal embrace of flames-they're still on the loose, and with an agenda on their malicious minds," the Queen of Dama pointed out. "... Normally, a sane person would ignore them and focus solely on Ziz... but I'm afraid that my own sanity has now reached its limit the night before."

Both Charmy and Lolopechka nod in agreement.

"... So kill them the first chance we spot them as we head West?" suggested the Queen of the Heart Kingdom.

The Queen of Dama sighs before composing herself.

"... It's a start."

Elsewhere Underground...

"Are your fingers alright?" asked Gaja.

Mosin, the High Inquisitor then flexes her fingers before wincing. "... Thanks to your Queen's magic, I'm grateful that I'm still able to use my primary weapons," she answered before looking at her [Gleipnir] Relic rings laid next to where she sat. "... That said, they're only a fraction of their full powers, but it's better than having to amputate and replace them with prosthetics in a country where said tools aren't manufactured."

"Hey." Finral then walks in on them.

"Working hard or hardly working?" asked the High Inquisitor as the [Spatial Magic] user sighs before sitting down from across them.

"... I just... why?" he muttered out, his voice sounding defeated and exhausted. "... Magna, Henry, and everyone else from the other Squads... we're all dropping like flies."

"So are my own men and others' as well," Mosin pointed out as she looked at Finral. "... I'm sorry."

"Any way of contacting the outside?" asked Gaja. "Any method of using your [Spatial Magic] to make a quick way to connect to your home so that we may at least get the word out?"

Finral then wills his grimoire before him before trying to open a portal, connecting to his current plane of existence towards somewhere else. But as the spatial gap widened, it began to fluctuate and pulse until it fizzled out.

"... Still no luck," he answered before shaking his head. "... Seriously, who's keeping up with this dense of an interference?!"

Gaja then eyes towards one of the cave exits. "... I'll go check outside. If the Queen asks where I am, tell her that I am scouting for exit routes."

At Rotten Elysium...

The once-decayed home of the Elves and former-hive of the Thanatophages was now an idyllic paradise where the sun shone brightly above the perfect-blue sky without a single cloud in sight, where the grass was green, the palm trees sway in the winds, and sitting on a sun chair was none other than the peacock-like Demon, Adramelech, sipping on a coconut water from its shell while a pair of feather fans cooled his body while he was taking a tan.

"Ahh... this is the life..." he grumbled in a relaxed tone as he flicked down his shades. "Working from home, 24/7, and all I have to do is to keep everyone inside of my own bubble."

Surrounding his paradise was an endless ocean. From outside looking in, all that encompassed the territory was a featureless black dome so dark that no light could ever escape or enter it.

And the skies above were turning slowly turning into a kaleidoscope of eyes with mirror-like pupils, slowly transforming the world into the Demon's own image of a paradise.

"Sorry, but no one's allowed to leave." One of the eyes then emit a pulse that cuts off a magical connection trying to head outside of the Heart Kingdom's borders. "After all... you haven't seen the best of me yet."

Elsewhere Underground...

"... Can I, you know, talk?"

"... I ain't stopping you."

Jack then walks in on both Yami and Meroleona sitting next to each other, the former looking at his own dead-eyed reflection from the sheen of his kodachi's snapped blade while the latter was nursing her missing arm.

"What are you sad-sacks doing here in the dark?" Jack scoffed. "... About to make out or something?"

Yami then glares at the Captain of the Green Mantis. "... I'm not in the mood, man."

"And I don't give a shit." Jack then sits himself across the other two captains before drinking a bottle of procured booze.

Yami groans before confiding with Meroleona. "... Our last battle took out two of my own Squad. First Henry and then Magna, the latter of which I learned after the fact."

Meroleona snarls. "... Too many good-hearted people are dying while the Demons are still legion," she remarked. "... And some of us don't take a fucking hint and instead... pursue their own agendas, leaving the rest of us to drown!"

"No point talking reason with those Illuminati schmucks if that's what you're inferring," Jack replied before tossing aside his empty bottle. "The last people you want to have faith in you are people themselves."

Meroleona lets out a growling sigh before shaking her head as she tried to process what had happened during the last battle. "... You think I don't know that?"

"No, but at least I am upfront about it," Jack pointed out.

"Jack, our guys died and the enemy is still out there," Yami pointed out.

"So just kill em," the Green Mantis Captain bluntly replied. "Hurt back those who hurt you in the first place. No need to get all fancy about it."

"No, don't just kill them," Meroleona growled, the pain of her younger brother's corpse being puppeteered by that Necromancer. "... Make them regret that they were even born in the first place. Their sins against all creation must be paid in full and so much more...!"

Jack then lets out a groan before realizing that he has to play the role of the "sane man". "... Okay, enough is enough."

The two Captains of the Black Bulls and the Crimson Lion Kings looked back at Jack as he began talking sense into the two lusting for blood more than him.

"Do you know why I treat my own Magic Knights like a bunch of turds in the first place?" he began. "Its so that I don't get so attached to them to the point where I become revenge-drunk pissants like you two."

"... What do you mean by that?" Meroleona replied, her eye twitching.

"Sheesh, are your ears working or did your brains regress back by a few decades?" Jack taunted before he resumed. "I'm saying that it's better not to care about your own subordinates' welfare so that you can remain focused on the main objective. I ain't sticking around just to avenge those shits who were too weak to keep up with me. I'm sticking around because I need to kill those motherfuckers that piss me off and no one else. Emotions are nothing more than a hinderance on the battlefield. Kill or be killed. That's my reason for living in this world. Death is something I bring, and not something I concern myself with."

Yami's teeth bared slightly at his fellow Captain's apathy to life. "... Innocents died, Jack."

"So did my dad and I didn't give a shit," he pointed out. "The feeling was mutual. It was for my benefit. I understood that much."

"That damn Necromancer is WEARING MY YOUNGER BROTHER'S BODY AS A MEATSUIT!" Meroleona pointed out as she suddenly and literally erupts in fury, illuminating the cavern that the three of them were inside. "OF COURSE I WOULD BE GIVING A SHIT!"

"Then I'm so sorry for your loss, and your raging ovaries," Jack mocked. "... Fucking woman."

Just as Meroleona could pounce onto Jack like a starving predator, Yami then draws his broken sword before slamming a blade of darkness between them to make them stop.

"... Enough." Yami then sheathes his sword. "... You're both right. We still have to avenge our dead, but panicking like headless chickens about it isn't going to help. Not to mention, En and Vanessa are still missing, probably in the hands of the enemy doing Sephira knows what, so before we blow a gasket and end up accidentally murdering each other, I suggest we first calm down, and then come up with a semi-decent plan unless joining the ranks of the deceased is part of our so-called 'master plan'."

Both Meroleona and Jack blink before nodding in acknowledgement.

"... Fuck," cursed the [Fire Magic] user before she got up. "... I've been losing it lately, huh?"

"Trust me, you need to learn how to take a few lumps to the head before you can consider yourself sane," Jack pointed out before helping Meroleona up. "I mean, seriously. Have you lost an actual fight in your whole life before Heart Kingdom's Demon invasion?"

Meroleona then looks down before answering. "... I didn't," she answered. "I thought if I trained in the wilderness enough, then maybe I could one-up those nobles back home and show that I'm the best of the best, like any good Vermillion would."

"Clearly, even Clover Kingdom was too small for you..." Jack scoffed as he walked out. "... Well shit, guess not being an asshole for two seconds... feels weirdly gross."

"Take your time..." Yami is then the next one to get up. "... I need to go take a piss."

The Black Bulls Captain then finds himself a dark corner in the caverns to take a tinkle. Upon finishing, he then walks away after fastening back his pants.

"Captain!" From the darkness ahead, Yami spots Gauche coming towards his way. "I've been looking all over for you!"

"What is it?" he asked.

The [Mirror Magic] user clears his throat before speaking. "... We need everyone back at the main meeting area. We finally have a plan of attack."

At the Western Jungles...

"Wakey-wakey..." a cheery voice echoed in the dark. "... You look like you slept for a month and a half, sweetheart."

Vanessa groans as she then opened her eyes, only to find herself completely submerged inside of a giant bulb of slime as she gargled inside the viscous prison.

"Shh..." the wide-eyed scientist lady shushed the panicking Witch. "Don't worry, you won't suffocate inside of that thing. It's 100% breathable liquid, and a nutrient supplement! Also it's edible and strawberry-flavored! Don't worry about the bugs. It's scentless."

She tries to speak, but all she could do inside was gargle while tasting like strawberry jam. She then tries to escape, but the bubble she was kept inside pushes her back in, as if she were being squeezed inside like if she were inside a sack belonging to a giant from a fairy tale.

"Sorry, but I kinda had to muzzle you," apologized Sally. "... Since, well, some of my friends don't actually... appreciate your company."

Vanessa then turns around to see Angra (and her Demon, Mainyu), Valdes (his face covered in bandages over his nose and eye), Morris/Mammon, and Leopold, whose skin was now pale as a sheet of paper, and sporting a deep cut across this jugular.

"Hey." Angra then lifts up her head to reveal a wrapping of bandages around her neck. "Thanks to you, I now have to live with a scar around my neck."

Vanessa flips her off, to which Angra tried to retaliate with her blue flames, but Sally intervenes. "Girl, chill!" the professor ordered. "Your modifications are still in need of a cooldown! I can't repair them as well on field!"

The [Hellfire Magic] user groans in disgust before kicking aside some dirt. "Fuck."

"We'll get her next time," reassured the shadowy figure in her eye as Mainyu. "... After all, she still has her friends out there. Kill them first before saving the best for the very last."

"Excuse her, but she has developed a bit of a temper ever since she evolved her magic," Sally apologized to the captive Witch. "We are like that even in the best of times."

Vanessa still continues flipping the bird from her gelatinous prison of the mad scientist's making.

Meanwhile, Valdes is assisting Rades in his new body after the latter had finished picking out the maggots and bugs infesting the slashed throat and is now using the latter's [Spatial Magic] as a mirror to help him stitch up that particular opening.

"... I wonder why you didn't do it sooner," asked the [Spatial Magic] user.

"We were running, remember?" Rades!Leopold replied as he then cuts the thread after stitching the festering cut shut. "Thank fuck I can't feel shit."

"That seems like a problem..." Sally addressed from a scientific point of view. "... I mean in long-term, of course."

"I already get off on people screaming and suffering, so I'll be fine," the Necromancer dismissed as he then eyed through his host body's old grimoire. "That said, I now can use this brat's [Fire Magic]! Granted, I have no clue how to use it, but still, it's nice to have a grimoire that isn't a one-pager!"

"Hoo-rah, I'm for certain that you'll be a valuable asset to our cause, Mr. Spirito," deadpanned Morris/Mammon (the two are no longer distinguishable from each other). "... That said, can we get a move on?! The more we lag behind, the more likely that a Dragon's fossil will be lost from our grasp!"

"IT BETTER BE WORTH IT, YOU FUCKING TRASH-PANDA!" Rades!Leopold then flips the bird at the Contractor/Demon of [Selfishness]-hybrid before he and everyone else continues their march through the muggy jungle as daylight continued beating itself through the dense canopy hanging over them.

About a few dozen clicks away from the other group, another company was unknowingly walking within the same vicinity, albeit in the opposite direction with another objective in mind.

The group consisted of Akane and Mari Mitsurugi, twins who once were serving as Libratium's Chevaliers, but have now gone errant in pursuit of their own agenda after hearing Yami Sukehiro's name being uttered by that man with the white braid by sheer happenstance.

And carrying them as their hostage was none other than En Ringard, who's serving as their hostage and source of information of their target's whereabouts.

"Are you certain that our target is getting closer?!" snapped Akane, her patience running low. "Yami Sukehiro has eluded us for too long! Any longer, and I will kill every last living person on this forsaken continent, as long as he's among those who I've slain!"

"I swear, I practically flew from that direction from my last battle!" he defended himself, his grimoire being held hostage by Mari, whose iron death-grip alone was keeping it shut, preventing him from using any spells in the duration of his time spent with the twins. "Try and using your... ki-related stuff to see if I'm lying!"

Mari then closes her eyes to read his synapses flares and heartbeats for any irregularities. "... There're no indication that he's telling anything but the truth," she answered. "Either's he's genuine, or he's really good at lying."

Akane growls before prodding the captured Magic Knight with her sheathed [Murasame]. "You deceive us, then it's on you."

The three continued their trek towards civilization, with Mari killing every mosquito with her [Shien] kamitsurugi burning them out of the air into blue wisps before there ashes sprinkled onto the very dirt where they were treading.

"... Why are you both... so desperate?"

En then receives a smack across his jaw from Akane's sword's pommel, knocking out a molar and him down to the ground.

"No talking," she growled back as she tries to discipline him, only for her to be stopped by her younger twin.

"Ane-sama, restraint!" Mari begged, allowing Akane to calm down from her temper flaring up. "... Come to think of it, we might have a better chance of securing that traitor when we know what had happened to our captive, or at the very least, know who were' dealing with besides our priority target."

Akane growls before relenting. "Fine," she snarled. "Walk and talk. What happened before you fell into our hands?"

En then proceeds to give the abridged version of Caligula's invasion of the Heart Kingdom. The whole [Alf-Layla wa-Layla] to shut the Thanatophage swarm down, the desperate counteroffensive against the mightiest of the swarm, the DEVAs, Caligula himself showing up, forcing both the strongest Spirit Guardian and the stationed High Inquisitor to intercept the leader while everyone else had to deal with the enemy generals individually, En himself included.

"And during the fighting, you were sent flying to us," Akane deadpanned before letting out a sharp sigh. "... And I assume that your census of who died and who lived is foggy at best?"

"Sue me," En replied bluntly. "... There, I told you both what I already know, so for the love of Sephira, I deserve something in return, besides my own right to live!"

The twins looked at each other before nodding. "... Fair enough," sighed Mari. "On two conditions: keep it to three questions, and make it twenty words or less."

En tried to protest, but Akane instinctively flicks her sword from her sheath, deliberately leaking the poisonous blade's hazards into the open as a sign of warning. "... I abide by your terms and conditions."

"Good." The older twin the sheaths her blade back shut. "... Start talking. Make it count."

Carefully considering his next words, En then composes himself before taking a deep breath before asking the following first:

"How long have you two been on this continent?"

"15 years," answered Akane, to which En then did a mental math of their appearances and ages, indicating that they were in their early-to-mid-20s, indicating that they were just children when they found themselves within unfamiliar lands.

A tinge of sympathy was felt for the twins, but right now, he remembered the conditions to prevent himself from violating his own privileges. So instead, he continues to play by their rules.

"What were you two doing before you arrived here?"

"Executing traitors," answers Akane as she sinisterly smiled at the thought. "... Me and my sister pretended to be friends with those who have sought to overthrow our Daimyo, Matsugane-sama. We had the privilege of beheading them as common crooks before displaying their heads as examples of those who defy our lord's rule."

He tried not to gag at the prospects of children acting as executioners, let alone implied that one of them (at the very least) having enjoyed taking lives as if she were crushing ants underfoot. However, he also noticed that Mari looked... a bit hesitant to join in on her twin's elation, implying that she wasn't as enthusiastic as taking lives in a despot's name as her sister.

In fact, comparing the pair's behaviors, it indicted the following:

Akane was the active, confrontational one. Her demeanor tells a history of aggression, protection, and a hint of paranoia. The way she held her sheathed blade, the way that her thumb was rested against the sword's guard, readying itself to flick the weapon out of its scabbard at any moment, and her eyes always slightly shifting side to side, implying a seasoned lookout and anti-insurgent specialist, her overall demeanor was akin to a seasoned Mage Soldier from the now-deposed Diamond Kingdom, but half the age and even shorter time to gain a wealth of experience need on a constant battlefield.

Mari meanwhile, was more passive in her temperament. Her overall bearing was more composed, rationale, and a hint of worry for her and her twin's overall welfare. Her eyes were solely focused on what was in front of her, the present situation, a different kind of focus that prioritized keeping the group together rather than keeping a lookout for their enemies. And in spite of all that, there were still traces of zeal like her twin's, only more tempered and controlled rather than being on the verge of fraying apart into madness like Akane's. As for how she kept her sword, it was tucked around her girdle with her left hand instinctively waving over it, not held in hand, expecting a fight to break out at the next possible second.

Noting the differing (and possibly opposing) behaviors of the twins, En then propositions his final question:

"What will happen should you succeed in killing Yami Sukehiro?"

Both Akane and Mari's facial expression are then cast downturn, their unique behaviors giving way to both sharing an expression sharing feelings of longing and sorrow.

"... Then we can finally return home."

At the Meeting Spot...

"So," Yami grumbled as he and the other survivors came into their meeting place by word of mouth, "what's the plan here, Your Highness?"

Lolopechka clears her throat and slaps her own cheeks before speaking. "... Okay, I'll be blunt as possible, but we may need to make plans to abandon the Heart Kingdom."

The whole area goes ice-cold upon the monarch herself making that declaration.

"... You're telling us to fucking run?!" Jack pointed out. "After all the crap we been through?!"

"Not us, necessarily," Scheherazade rebuked. "... Rather, our people needs to evacuate to Clover Kingdom so that we can fight on clearer terrain. Our enemies have used our own people who can't defend themselves as well we can as leverage, so the best way forward is to get them out of the way."

"One problem." Finral then raised his hand. "Can't use my [Spatial Magic]. Something else is blocking it."

"I checked outside. Nothing but clear skies," Gaja confirmed. "The giant swords from the 'Rain of Steel'-incident are now inert, so there should be nothing in our way... until I went further outside, only to come back to where I have started."

A few of the gathered gulp.

"... You're implying that another enemy has entered the fray," Meroleona spoke in a flat tone.

"We can't catch a fucking break..." Gauche grimaced.

"Where there's govno, there're flies," growled Mosin, instinctively flexing her fingers, only for the numbness to make her wince. "... The denizens of Hell are opportunists. Where they've come from is irrelevant. All that is certain that they must be dealt with as soon as possible... along with the other rogues that we must fell."

"Which begs the question, how are we supposed to go after those assholes we saw running West when we can't move freely from this paranormal bullshit?" asked Yami.

"Funnily enough..." Scheherazade then catches [Samson] into her arms as her feline familiar cuddles against his master. "... It appears that the rule only applies to those who seek to leave the Heart Kingdom itself."

A shift in mood was felt throughout the whole meeting place. Not necessarily one of hope, but definitely a step away from despair. At least this time around, they can take the initiative to the enemy rather than the other way around (as it has it been for the past months, much to their ire).

"... We really can't afford to look at the gift horse in the mouth," Lolopechka remarked. "I'm eschewing sleep so I can turn this whole place into a veritable fortress to protect what's left of my people."

"I'll help." Scheherazade then summons [Solomon] and [Sheba] as the other two bipedal cats joined [Samson]. "Anyone else who has any engineering knowledge, raise your hand."

Everyone else blinked at the Queen of Dama's latter statement.

"What?" she remarked. "I was bored while I was in the harem. The palace guards allowed us girls to read recreationally. They didn't say anything against on what kind of things we can read in the king's collection."

"I'll plan the escape routes," Gaja suggested.

"I'll set the alarm and traps in case the enemy comes this far," Mosin volunteered.

"Let me use my [Mirror Magic] to scout the outside." Gauche then raises his hand. "... Didn't use my magic like that for a while, so it's good enough time as any to dust off an old skill."

"And I'll try using my [Spatial Magic] to see if I can somehow, break past this fucking bullshit we found ourselves in," Finral stated as he willed his grimoire. "... Gonna do you one like you, Captain. Gonna break my limits, in which case, in order to save our lives."

At the Moon...

Dry groaning and labored heaving was heard on the craggily surface of the satellite orbiting the planet where his victims called "home." Which shouldn't be possible given that outer space is an airless vacuum, but its sole occupant has their own ways of making this desolate rock floating in the cosmic void... semi-livable.

"Accursed gods... NOW of all times, they show... their faces?!" Ziz shrieked as his feathers ruffled. "To declare a challenge... upon MY domain?!"

For the first time in his existence, Ziz has been wounded. Some lowborn who had spent treading on dirt for their whole lives had dared to strike back from the muck below, him, a being beyond heavens, who has been stationed upon this world of filth.

Such a thought was beyond all concept of logic. It was impossible in his mind that a mere mortal channeling an earthbound god could even affect him all the way out to the infinite black sea of creation, where naught a single trace of magic sans his own could ever exist.

"Inconceivable...!"

For the first time, his body HURT.

"Inconceivable...!"

There were no umbral ichor that seeped out of his body. Naught or nary a scratch.

"Inconceivable...!"

Instead, it felt as all of his insides were sucked out dry. His limbs felt tight and dry. Feeling nothing but choking between his creaking sinews.

"... Inconceivable!"

For the first time since his advent, Ziz's pride as a tyrant was challenged.

"... I WILL NOT ACCEPT THIS!"

For the first time in his life, Ziz willingly descends back to the earth, now putting his own life on stake to avenge his diabolical honor.

The Next Day...

"Find anything?" Gaja asks Gauche after he returns from his patrol outside.

The [Mirror Magic] user in question was staring at his large mirror connected to his other mirrors surveying outside, grumbling upon not seeing anything. "... Sorry, but no dice," he answered. I'm covering every square inch of outside, but I ain't picking up shit."

Gaja shares in this frustration before composing himself. "... I'm afraid it's the same on my end as well," he addressed. "I tried heading East, but I ended up back where I started, but upon heading West, the furthest I got was in the middle of the jungle."

"What made you stop halfway?" asked Gauche, causing the last Spirit Guardian to begin sweating.

"... Call me paranoid, but I hypothesize that someone else is waiting in the wings," he answered with bated breath, causing Gauche to groan.

"... Do I hear four?!" the [Mirror Magic] user growled as he ruffled his curly hair. "In any event, I'll just use my mirrors to scout it out-"

Suddenly, all of the mirrors are disconnected from his main mirror as the latter shows nothing but static.

Surrounded by shattered mirrors were none other than Akane, causally flicking up a pebble in case if there were more of the former floating about.

"Was it necessary to give it away that we're here?" Mari's voice piped out behind the bushes as she kept a tight grip around En.

"Those mirrors noticed us even after we activated haten," the elder twin replied curtly as his clicks her tongue. "Now we wait for them to come out."

Back at the underground, the following order was given.

"What do you mean, we can't go outside?!" Jack pointed out.

"There's another enemy present," informed Gaja. "Most likely, they're waiting for her to come out to their field of vision and ambush us right then and there."

"THEN I'LL FUCKING KILL THEM BEFORE THEY COULD EVEN TRY!" the Green Mantis Captain snarled as he brandished his [Death Scythes] from his forearms before he was stopped by Mosin grappling him from behind. "LET GO OF ME, YOU BITCH! I GOT ASSHOLES TO MURDER!"

"NOT WITHOUT A PLAN, YOU JACKASS!" the High Inquisitor barked back. "WE RUNNING OUT OF CARDS TO PLAY, AND I WON'T LET YOU THROW OUR REMAINING CHANCES IN THE WIND JUST FOR YOUR SELF-SATISFACTION!"

"Great..." Yami then checks his pack for cigarettes before pulling out a freshly-rolled one (that he did himself) and lighting his daily dose of death with Meroleona's [Fire Magic]. "Just when we figured things out, a wrench gets thrown into the works."

Lolopechka and Scheherazade look at each other for each others' council of finding a way forward out of this predicament.

"Do we answer in kind, or do we wait them out?" the young Queen asked.

"Their ambiguity is their sole leverage." Scheherazade then opens her fable to then summon a band of skeletons wielding simple steel swords and wooden and bolted metal round shields from the ground like a brigade of undead. "Go my [Ghouls]. Seek out those who dare to impede us at our eleventh hour."

The skeleton warriors all march outside the caves at their master's command.

"... Remind me why you didn't do that sooner?" asked Meroleona.

"Despite their simplicity, their overall application is very limited," answered the Queen of Dama. "The Thanatophages basically reduced them to dust through superior numbers, and I need to be earthbound to actually use them. May I remind you that most of our opponents were either airborne, or had the means to get airborne on the account of being insect Demons."

"... So basically fodder," Meroleona commented, to which the Queen nodded immediately.

Back outside, Akane and Mari spotted the [Ghouls] patrolling, to which then then moved to the trees for higher ground and better chances of hiding in order to maintain their element of surprise.

"You know, given how strong you two are, I must wonder, why are you just bulldozing through the enemy defenses and just getting what you want?" asked En. "... You kind of seem like the people who can and do that kind of stuff regularly."

"That is not our objective," Akane answered. "Our main goal is Yami Sukehiro. Everyone else is of no consequence. You're just a means to an end."

The three then spot the [Ghouls] consecrating around a patch of scattered leaves and flattened grass, to which the skeleton warriors relayed what they saw back to their master.

"Someone was here recently," Scheherazade confirmed. "They're close by!"

She then looks up through one of her [Ghouls], the chosen skeleton warrior arching its head up to spot shadows within the branches.

"THERE THEY ARE-ARGH!"

The Queen of Dama then collapses in pain as Akane drives her [Murasame] into the undead's eye socket, transferring the (filtered) sensation back to their host before disposing the rest of them in quick succession.

"We'll take the four-eye's suggestion," she growled as she brandished her envenomated sword. "WE'RE BREAKING THROUGH!"

"THE ENEMY HAS REVEALED THEMSELVES!" Lolopechka cried out. "EVERYONE! PREPARE TO DEPLOY!"

Both sides then rushed out towards the ruined Heart Kingdom's clearing, before faintly spotting each other from a distance between them.

"IS THAT EN?!" Finral cried out.

"HE'S NOT ALONE!" Gaja warned as he readied his [True Lightning Magic].

"He's so close...!" Mari hyperventilated as she and her twin sister picked up on a familiar ki.

"YAMI!" Akane then breaks into a sprint with her [Murasame] radiating with miasma, rotting the air itself as she drew herself towards her hated target with her unleashing her reserved well of pure anathema...

... Until a hoarse but bellowing shriek was heard, literally shattering the sky as a giant black-feathered condor descended upon the world, with everyone stopping what they were doing to witness this shift in events.

"... No," Mosin gasped. "It can't be!"

Behind Charmy's shadow, Geri cackles in anticipation. "Saved me the trouble of hunting you down myself you oversized turkey."

"Die." From Ziz's wings, numerous spears of wind and lightning cascaded upon the earth, bombarding the wrecked homes and fields of the devastated Heart Kingdom, scattering everyone as explosions peppered throughout the morning sky bearing a glass-like breach in the air.

"YAAAMIII!" Akane simply ran through the bombardment of wind and lightning as her [Murasame] parried each projectile out of the way, the explosions blasting both her eardrums ignored in favor of her sight solely locked onto the traitor she spotted after 15 years of exile. "DIE SO THAT SO THAT I MAY REDEEM MYSELF-!"

Then Geri emerges from the half-dwarf's shadows, his host locked inside of his birdcage-like charm around his neck for her own protection, lunging itself towards Ziz as the former tackles the Demon down before Akane, sending her flying as she was caught in the impact's blast uprooting a tidal wave of earth that discriminated no one.

Wasting no time, the Totem God of Hunger sunk his fangs into the Demon's neck, to with the latter drove its beak into one of the lupine's eye, pulling the fleshy ocular orb by its nerves before driving his own beaked head deeper to pick away at his brain.

"YOU! WILL NOT...! OVERTHROW ME!" Ziz hawked as it fought for its existence and pride.

"SHUT THE FUCK UP AND BE MY BREAKFAST!" Geri then bit down harder until he ripped a fleshy chunk of cartilage and bone from its mouth at the cost of one of his eyes, to which Ziz then kicked up its taloned feet that scarred its maw.

Akane growled as she got back up to her feet, using her [Murasame] as a crutch to help her back up before letting out a roar that unleashes a wave of toxic anathema to the point where the two titans of legend took notice.

"GET OUT OF MY WAY!" Her violet blade then began to glow in a shade of red. "[POISON BREATHING: FOURTH FORM - DRUNKARD'S BREW]!"

A horizontal cut of corrosive energy was unleashed from her blade, to which it was countered by Ziz's blindingly-bright lightning blast right before the Demon was tackled back down.

"You're mine." Both Ziz and Geri resumed their melee as Akane's attack was met equally before it exploded.

"FUCK!" she cursed before running off as she was leashed by her own internal chaos. "YAMI!"

Back underground, Lolopechka was trying to build up her defenses while Finral was trying to get everyone else out of Heart Kingdom now that there was a clear breach in the sky, implying that someone or something was keeping them in there.

No words were needed to be said. Finral was doing his best to open a portal that connected to the outside from that breach, but so far, all he could do was steadily widen his [Fallen's Gate] to fit actual people, and not risk another telefrag that took out one of Yuno's legs.

Lolopechka even went as far as to donate her own magic to accelerate the escape process, until the portal was wide enough to fit people inside.

"IT'S DONE!" the recovering-Undine exclaimed. "EVERYONE INSIDE! ONE AT A TIME!"

Steadily, the people were jostled into the portal for their own safety, quickly forming a smooth line into the gate and towards outside to their freedom.

Back at Rotten Elysium...

Adramelech lets out a disappointed groan upon his paradise being breached. "... Assholes."

Outside, the kaleidoscope of eyes began to address the damage and begin its repair.

"They should be grateful that they're allowed into my [Eden]." The Demon of [Vanity] then goes back to sunbathing under the projected sun and drinking coconut water.

Back Underground...

Finral belts out a scream of pain as he then collapses to his knees.

"What's going on?!" asked Lolopechka.

"... The interference... NO!"

The [Spatial Magic] user then stands back up.

"I WON'T LET IT END THIS WAY!"

With all of the willpower he could muster and beyond, Finral stands his ground.

"I WON'T LET THE INNOCENT SUFFER THE HORRORS OF HELL ANY LONGER!" he declared as the fluctuating [Fallen's Gate] stabilized through his own resolve. "I WON'T BE USELESS ANYMORE... I WILL SAVE EVERYONE! AS BOTH A MAGIC KNIGHT OF THE BLACK BULLS AND AS A HUMAN BEING! I AM GOING TO BREAK MY LIMITS HERE AND NOW!"

The overtaxation of his magic then forms a streak of light-green across one of his bangs as his grimoire fluttered like a sheet in the wind. Finral screams against the raging wave of evil trying to force the gates shut, his body feeling like it was being pelted by arrows.

"FINRAL!" Lolopechka cried out.

"I AM THE GODDAMN CHAUFFEUR OF THE BLACK BULLS!" declared Finral as his grimoire shone like a verdant sun. "I AM FINRAL ROULACASE!"

Then the portal itself expanded too far out and too wide, consuming everything until the whole Heart Kingdom and the local fringes of the jungle were deserted.

"... Whatever," Adramelech scoffed before tossing aside his emptied coconut shell as he got up from his sun chair. "I guess the saying goes: 'if they can't do it right, you do it yourself'-"

A pair of screams was heard before they crashed before his feet, shattering the illusory beach and revealing the rotting remnants of Elysium.

"What the hell was with that sudden light-show...?!" Jack then remarked as he revealed himself.

"You tell me..." growled Meroleona before she noticed who was standing before them. "... Well shit."

The peacock Demon of [Vanity] then extends its kaleidoscopic tail feathers like an eye-dotted fan before letting out a screech declaring an intent to murder.

Gaja, Mosin, and Charmy (with Geri) all find themselves plummeting towards another pocket of jungle greenery.

"HOLD ON! I GOT THIS!" Charmy then temporarily reasserts control as she opens her grimoire. "[COTTON MAGIC: SHEEP FLUFFY CUSHION]!"

A massive ram horned-sheep was summoned below them, cushioning their fall with its extremely-soft tummy before it disappeared, causing everyone to land rough on the dirt.

"Could've gone better..." Gaja remarked as he got back up. "... Judging by the humidity... we're halfway towards Elysium."

"Saves us the trouble of actually traveling on foot," Mosin replied as she flexed her finger. "Come. We must make haste-"

Then the rustling of the green then revealed Morris/Mammon, Rades!Leopold, Valdes, Angra (w/Mainyu), and Sally holding Vanessa hostage within her gelatinous bubble next to her.

"... For the record, we followed the screaming," the mad Demon/mad scientist-hybrid pointed out.

"THEY GOT VANESSA!" Charmy panicked.

"No more needs to be said." Gaja's hands then crackled with his [Lightning Magic] as both sides then waged war.

Gauche slows his fall by riding on one of his mirrors like a hoverboard before Yami caught the rim of the mirror.

"Make it bigger next time," the Captain remarked.

"YAAAMIIIIII!"

Like a meteorite of pure rage, Akane shatters the mirror that the two were riding on as she dove between them, causing all three of them to plummet back to earth before both Black Bulls were safely retrieved by a bed of soft mushrooms.

"EN!" Gauche cried out as the Green Mantis Magic Knight ran towards them.

"I gave them the slip when the light blinded us," the bespectacled man explained. "... Come on! We need to find the others-!"

A shrill roar then uprooted the surrounding trees and vegetations with a blast of pure [Poison Magic], revealing Akane and Mari standing in the expanded clearing.

"... I don't think they're letting us get away," Gauche remarked.

"(After 15 years of shame... we finally meet)," Mari declared in Hanafudan as she drew her [Shien] from its scabbard.

"(Sukehiro of the Yami Clan, Lord Matsugane demands your head for the crimes of desertion and conspiracy against the regional lord)," Akane spoke in the same language as her [Murasame] radiated with hazardous aura around its blade. "... (In the name of the esteemed Mitsurugi Clan... WE WILL RECLAIM OUR HONOR)!"

Yami scoffs as his broken kodachi then manifests [Ankokuken, Kurogane] from his [Dark Magic]. "... (My day of reckoning has come)," he muttered to himself in Hanafudan before turning his head back towards the other two Magic Knights. "... You guys ready to fight for your lives?"

Gauche smirks as En breathes out to compose himself. "... Like we have a choice."

"(Now then, recite your death poem)." Both Akane and Mari rush in as they lifted their famed blades to killing trajectories. "YEEEART!"

"... Where am I?"

Lolopechka now found herself holding the motionless Finral in her arms after the latter had succeeded in teleporting everyone out of the Heart Kingdom. He checked for his pulse, but he was cold as ice.

"... No." She then collapses to her knees as she realizes that he'd given his very life to save her and Scheherazade's people. "... You brave soul."

Undine appears behind her host and friend. "... I'm sorry."

Lolopechka then lets Finral's body down gently before praying for his soul. "... I'm out of tears to shed," the Queen pointed out. "I know what must be done."

She and Undine begin exploring the cave they've found themselves in, wandering the dark tunnels before coming across a sun-soaked clearing that held a trove of bizarre things strewn about the rock formation.

"... Is that...?!" Lolopechka then clumsily slides herself down from the cliff face before running towards the object at the center. "... No, it cannot be!"

Undine nods as her host stumbles back in shock. "... Yes. A Dragon's bones."

Even in death, the once-living creature continued to radiate with power beyond human imagination. As the old bones laid still, a large spire of an unknown make and craft could be seen erected behind it, hidden underneath the cavernous shade.

"... Incredible," gasped Lolopechka. "... I don't remember seeing any of these in the [Archive]'s records."

"It is by design."

Both Undine and Lolopechka turned their heads towards the direction of the voice before revealing herself to be a young Daman girl in a simple white, sleeveless dress with gigantic pairs of wings the size of ship's sails, each made of rushing cerulean water that spouted out of her back like an ocean's waves.

Upon seeing her Undine immediately bows before the girl.

"Do not be afraid," the girl spoke in a gentle, yet authoritative voice. "I come bearing good news."

"... Who are you?" Those words were the only things that Lolopechka could utter.

Answering the young Queen, the being answers:

"I am the Archangel of [Determination], Djibril," she answered. "And I have come for you, my Chosen Child."

"... They got away."

Ziz then fans out his wings before taking off of the ground.

"THEN I'LL SIMPLY BOMBARD THIS WHOLE KINGDOM INTO A WASTELAND!"

From the sail of his obsidian wings, crushing deluges of scorching thunder and heavy storms pelted upon where the Demon of [Tyranny] flew over.

"... We're out."

The people of Dama and the Heart Kingdom looked around to spot the Demon's skull faintly from a distance.

"WE'RE FREE!" one of the people cheered. "EVERYONE! WE'RE SAFE!"

Cheers could be heard across one corner of the Forbidden Realm.

Author's Notes: While writing this, I've been... busy.

Aside from the reboot-fic (which the original author had finished up the arc where he had left off), I've also been getting back into Dungeons and Dragons (with Vox Machina Season 3 being on my watchlist), I've also been reading Order of the Stick webcomic and during my DnD-obsession phase, I've stumbled onto a YouTube video essay where it defies the "Gray-and-Gray Morality" in narrative-building, and in a word, I've hit upon an epiphany regarding this fic's overall tone and setting.

See, "Gray-and-Gray Morality," when done badly, can result in an unsatisfying narrative where the character's actions mean nothing in the long run, and without a clearly-defined baseline, what's the point of being either "Good" or "Evil"?

I sort of started this fic as the "Game of Thrones" to the OG Black Clover's "Lord of the Rings," but the latter has begun taking influence from the former (not to mention, I started this fic all the way back before Game of Throne's final episode sent everyone who watched it to a psychiatric intervention-IT'S A THING) and then it HIT ME.

This whole fic is the epitome of a mid-to-late-2010s dark/edge-fics because it is. So with that revelation running me over like an isekai truck-kun, a fork in the road was presented to me: do I continue with my plot or do I quit while I'm still ahead?

Short answer: I stick to it to the bitter end. Long answer, I use my old and unresolved ideas and tie it up into a neat bow. As best as I could, and hopefully reincorporate this fic back on a more consistent schedule around the start of 2025.

So as for the fic itself, yeah, magical interference is still making Finral's [Spatial Magic] extremely limited, and this time, Adramelech is fucking up the environment to his own image.

Not only that, but continuing on with my edgy-deconstruction fleet, this chapter takes apart the notions of "A Father to His Men", "Jerkass Facade", and "Enemy Mine"-tropes. First being that Meroleona and Yami are partially-emotionally compromised and while some may see them not getting numb at their charges' deaths as a moral thing, they're unfortunately stuck in an environment where morality is equally punished as apathy. Jack deconstructs his own asshole-behavior in that he was deliberately raised that way so that he doesn't get too attached to anyone and let him focus on the "main quest". While this make him rather consistent, he's also a negative morale multiplier just because he doesn't give a shit about anyone else and just focuses on when the next fight is, almost akin to a robot solely built for killing when humans are supposed to be a bit more versatile. As for the last trope... yeah, having two long-lived beings of magic who fought on opposite sides of a continental war and both parties could still remember it like if it were yesterday is going to cause some tension. Credit to Undine for being the one willing to try and offer an olive branch to Geri, but the latter just sees everyone as his master's fodder.

Not a good look for our heroes. But at least they now have a new plan. Too bad Ziz recovered in about the implied 24 hours before Finral had to cast the dice in random order, using chaos to save everyone at the cost of his life.

In spite of that, I think the reason why I continue this story is a way for me to reflect upon myself both as a writer and as a human being.

Basically, in spite of this fic's world going to shit, those who still fight on are those who resist the "black pill," and hence why the Illuminati/remnants of the Eye of the Midnight Sun who are still dedicated to being self-serving terrorists are the villains in that they're the people who partook in the "black pill"-option, choosing to follow their own desires rather than see the bigger picture.

Just because the world is always doomed doesn't give anyone the excuse to act like horrible people. Whoever "wins" or "loses" is irrelevant. Hence why Morris is the perfect representation of the "black pill" option: a person so motivated by their own needs that they are no longer distinguishable from the Demon that they've contracted with, ultimately becoming a single entity.

To those sticking around, thanks for doing so, even in this fic's sunset phase. After the three months are done, I have two more arcs before the final arc and epilogue. Wish me and you readers great luck!

References:

- This Arc's chapter is named after the same song by creedence clearwater revival, said song being the most associated with the Vietnam War.

- Angra's neck bandage is based off Ace Markey's injury from Nico's murder attempt during Chapter 2 of Danganronpa: Despair Time.

- Mari's "twenty words or less"-condition is from One-Punch Man.

- Scheherazade's [Ghouls] are based off the Arabic evil spirits/lesser demons of the same name and Jason and the Argonauts' skeleton warriors.

- Finral's last words is based off Cosmo Imai's declaration during his match against Seishu Akoya in Kengan Ashura.