The Other Fifth Leaf

by KenosDC1

The grimoires of the Clover Kingdom have always had three leaves, which represent faith, hope, and love. Within the fourth leaf lies good luck, but within the fifth leaf, lies one of two things, either a devil, or...an angel. (Cover by Elena Parker)

114. What Occurred Centuries Ago

Chapter One-Hundred Fourteen: What Occurred Centuries Ago

"WHAT?!"

It didn't seem possible, it just couldn't be possible, but there Finral was, having sent himself somewhere to save himself from attack and now he was witnessing the squad pet speak before his very eyes.

After letting out his loud exclamation, the spatial mage tried to rationalize it in his head. "Yes, now I know what happened. I simply hurt myself more than I thought I did and I banged my head on the ground; I'm just hallucinating this, that's it,"

"This isn't a hallucination. Now, are you ready to help me with that favor or not?" Nero spoke again as he flew on Finral's head and pecked it a few times.

"Okay, okay, quit it! I'm not hallucinating!" he swatted as the bird landed back on his chest.

"I'm serious, Finral, what I need you to do for me is incredibly important, it will help decide the fate of the whole Clover Kingdom," Nero said. "I need you to take me to the skull of the ancient demon. Have you been to the area near Hage Village?"

"The place where Asta grew up? Yeah, I went there once when I was…," the man trailed off, a frown beginning to form. "...Y'know what? Never mind that, all you need to know is that I can get us there,"

"Good, then let's go, time of the essence," the bird flew off of him, allowing him to stand up and dust himself off. Nero began to move a bit, almost like he was stretching. He then turned, expecting to see a portal ready to go through, but instead, he saw Finral, comedically holding his chin while in thought.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm just trying to figure out how you're able to speak, that goes against everything we as humans know about animals. Not even magic beasts can do that,"

The bird deadpanned. "Look, the truth is that I'm-,"

"Hold on, don't tell me, I wanna try to figure it out on my own," he cut Nero off. "Hm, is this a case of your species evolving enough to develop speech?"

"No,"

"Okay then. Were you…experimented on by a mad scientist and they used some kind of magic thingamajig to make you talk?"

"Uh, no,"

"Not that one either, aye?" he gave his next answer some more thought before snapping his fingers. "Wait, I got it! You were fed some alphabet soup by someone, but then the letters lost their way and traveled to your brain instead of your stomach, giving you the ability to understand our language,"

Nero didn't even justify what he said with a response, he just deadpanned, making Finral shrug nervously. "What? That's how it happened in a book I read when I was a kid,"

"This isn't a story, this is real life. Now, let's get moving before I start to lose my patience,"

"Right, sorry. But I'll warn you now, Hage is a long way away, it'll take some time to reach there, even with my portals," he said.

"That's alright, as long as we get there sooner rather than later, it's no problem,"

---

"And here we are," Finral said as he and Nero walked out of a portal, now at the base of the demon head.

"Thanks a bunch for that, now take us to the right eye," the bird instructed.

"Hold on," the spatial mage took a minute to stretch. "That was still a decently long trip. Man, what I'd give to increase my portal distance, I guess that's something I have to practice,"

Eventually, he was ready, forming a portal to the spot he was told, but as he walked over to the other side, he gasped. "What the?!" he pointed at an object that immediately caught his attention, that being the large tablet.

"No way," he got closer, inspecting what was embedded in them. "These are Magic Stones, the same ones the Eye of the Midnight Sun have. Wait a minute, is this one of their hideouts?! Holy crap, to think one was so close to where Asta and Yuno live,"

"We're lucky that no one around here got hurt, but that's not what we're here to discuss. I need you to remove the stones from the tablet and then bring us to the top where the statue is,"

"No problem," Finral obeyed, taking them off one by one before making a portal to the very top, walking to where he needed to. "The statue of the very first Wizard King. Y'know, I've always kinda looked up to him, it's sort of the reason I came here as a kid, to see him. To think he fought a gigantic demon, all to protect people, it must've taken so much courage and determination. For such a long time, I'd been wary of danger, scared of hurting and getting hurt, but things have gotten better for me, much better, and I guess I owe it to him, well, him and all my friends,"

"Yes, he was a very great man indeed, the greatest anyone could ever know," Nero said.

The black bull side-eyed the squad pet. "That sounded oddly personal. I take it you must be a fan of his? I'm surprised though, I never assumed a bird would be big on history,"

"I suppose you could call it that. Anyway, place the stones into the corresponding spots,"

"Corresponding spots? What do you mean?"

"Get closer,"

Finral did just that, and once he was just a foot away from the statue, he noticed them, embedded into the belt region. "What the? It's like they were made to match with them. That's pretty strange,"

"Don't dilly-dally," Nero admonished him.

"Right, sorry about that," he apologized, placing the stones one by one into the belt, but once the slots were full, he saw that he still had two more. "Where do these go?" he peeked around, finally noticing the matching shapes of the eye sockets, placing the pair into them.

Once he was done, he backed up. "Alright, all done. So, is something going to happen now or will it take a bit of-..!" he yelped as the statue suddenly began to glow.

"Good work, with the power of the Magic Stones, the seal on him has been lifted, and that means the one on me will lift itself as well," Nero said as he began to glow.

"What? You too?! This is getting even weirder than it already was!" Finral exclaimed.

"It's been so long since I last saw you, but I knew this day would come," the bird said as he began to morph…becoming human. "Are you ready, my prince?"

"I am," the statue opened its mouth to reply as it too transformed, revealing the light mage, his body slightly degraded, but that didn't stop him from smiling.

At this point, Finral was just trying not to explode. "What the hell kind of night is this?! First, I find out I was in a coma for three weeks, then elves start possessing people and going on a rampage, then our pet bird starts talking out of nowhere, and now it turns out the statue of the first Wizard King is actually the first Wizard King!" he yelled in a comedic manner, but that's when he realized something. "Hold on, but that means you knew this would happen, Nero. But how could you have-,"

In the middle of turning his head, he stopped and gasped. The anti-bird was no longer there, in his place was a female with short hair of a dark blue color, wearing a black dress with a frilly skirt. However, two features stood out the most, the first was the pair of short black horns sprouting from her head, and the second were her tired red eyes, ones she used to stare at the spatial mage.

"Holy shit! Nero, is that you?! You're a girl?!"

"Yes," she replied nonchalantly.

Steam blew out of the man's nostrils. "And what a gorgeous girl you are! We totally have to hang out sometime!" he ecstatically exclaimed, but her deadpan remained until Finral began to feel uncomfortable. "Um, sorry about that, you just caught me off guard. Say, you have bags under your eyes. When was the last time you got some sleep?"

"I can't remember, but that's not important,"

"Not important? Like hell it is!"

Lumiere chuckled. "You're quite the funny lad. Is he your friend?"

"Not exactly, he's a Magic Knight of the future. He hails from a squad that took me into their care as a bird," she answered. "They're comprised of nothing more than outcasts and misfits, but their hearts are pure, and their souls are just,"

"I see, they sound like an amazing group," he turned to the spatial mage. "Thank you very much for being there for Secre,"

"U-Uh, it was my honor, your majesty," Finral shyly accepted his words, somewhat starstruck by the man he looked up to, so much so it took him a while to pick up on something he said.

"Secre? Is that your real name, Nero?" the girl merely nodded in confirmation.

"Nero? I didn't know you went by another name," the prince remarked.

"I didn't exactly have a choice, but I don't mind it," she replied, but then she noticed the man staring intently at her. "Is something the matter, my prince?"

"Your clothes, I don't recall you ever wearing that,"

Secre inspected her current attire. "I'm not exactly sure how I got into it either. However, it does bear a strong resemblance to a getup you tried to make me wear one time,"

"And it looks like I was right to try, you look so pretty in it," he complimented her with no hesitation.

The girl looked away from him, a small yet shy smile forming. "You flatter me, my prince,"

"Um, not to interrupt your reunion or anything, but isn't time of the essence?" Finral brought them back on track.

Lumiere nodded, turning in the direction of the capital. "That's right, if my seal has been undone, that must mean the devil is back,"

"Devil?" the knight raised a brow.

"And it's not just that, the Shadow Palace is open," Secre added.

"Then we can't waste any time, we have to head over there. But first, a gift is in order," the progenitor king opened his satchel, pulling out a blue grimoire. "I kept it safe, just like I promised,"

"Thank you," the girl took it and opened it. "Finral, I need you to raise your hand,"

"Raise my hand? Like this?" he lifted it as high as he could.

"No, bring it a bit lower," it now descended to face level. "Perfect," she intertwined it with her own hand.

Finral certainly wasn't expecting that to happen if his flustered face said anything. "Um, not that I have a problem with this, but why are you holding my hand?"

"How else are we supposed to take you with us?"

"Take me with you? What do you-," in an instant, they were off the skull, encased in light as they zoomed to the capital.

"AHHHHHHHHH!" the man screamed, but was thankful the whiplash didn't kill him, but once he calmed down, he took note of the magic around them. "His mana, it feels so calm, yet so overwhelmingly powerful. So, this is the power of the first Wizard King, the power of Lumiere Silvamillion Clover,"

In just two short minutes, they had made it to the center of the capital, spotting the Shadow Palace. "It appears to be closed. Do you think you can open it again?"

"I'm on it," Secre commanded her grimoire to flip to a page. "It's been a long time since I've used this. Sealing Magic: Inverse Release!" blue marks appeared in front of her hand as the same markings formed on the dark castle, opening it temporarily.

But before they entered it, the sealing mage let go of the spatial mage's hand. "Your name is Finral, right? Thank you again for your help!" Lumiere said.

"You're welcome!" he screamed back, using a portal to prevent a rough landing, looking back up at them.

But he wasn't the only one to do so, the trail of light caught the attention of many of the mages fighting below. "What the hell was that?" Joshua wondered aloud.

"Your guess is as good as mine," Dante answered.

Only one person who was there knew what it was. No matter how fast they were moving, they couldn't escape Teiko's trained eyes, eyes that were used to seeing that sight, and he was glad they did because right before the pair entered the Shadow Palace, he was able to see them, friends who he hadn't been with in centuries.

"It's…it's really them," he thought with a melancholic smile.

"Are you okay?" Glynda asked him.

"Yes, I'm fine,"

---

Once the two found themselves within the eerie middle space, Lumiere slowed down. "This is a strange area. Even with Light Magic, I can't move any faster. Isn't that cool?" he said, getting starry-eyed at the end.

"If you say so, my prince," Secre said back as she stared straight ahead. "At last, after so many centuries, we finally have the chance to end all of this, the conflict that began back then, the conflict that set all this chaos into motion,"

[Flashback]

Clover Castle. Five Hundred Years Ago.

"I guess today's the day," Secre said to herself as she walked down the halls, wearing a different attire. The sun was shining and the day was beautiful, but one wouldn't think that looking at the girl's face, a nonchalant one that bordered on somber.

"I always believed that it was fate that I ended up with the Black Bulls in the present, as like some of their members, I too was a disgraced elite. I was born in a noble house and was blessed with strong mana, but all my attribute could do was open and close things, so I was shunned and forced to become a servant for the royal family,"

"They're having me work under the prince? I think I'd have a better time jumping off a cliff. I've never met him before, but with the way these royals act, I don't need to. I have heard that he's the eccentric type, but what if he's actually a weirdo? Or some kind of perverted deviant?" she listed off possibilities, but pushed them aside as he finally arrived at the door to his office.

"Well, there's no point in making assumptions, I'll know what he's like soon enough," the sealing mage was about to twist the knob, but before she could, she heard a loud crash on the other side. "What on Earth is going on in there?" she muttered as two voices spoke to one another.

"I told you it wasn't going to work, the mana inside them is too unstable,"

"But it could've worked,"

"That's what you say about almost all of them,"

"But we really were close to imbuing your water attribute into it this time. Another few tries may do the trick,"

"Fine, but do try to be careful,"

"I will,"

After hearing what she did, Secre changed her approach, letting go of the knob and opting to knock instead. This got the attention of the ones inside immediately. "Come in!" they both said.

Once she got the okay, she twisted the knob and entered the room. The first thing that immediately caught her attention was how messy the place was, filled with books, papers, you name it, her eyes then shifted over to the two, covered in residue.

Her gaze instinctively fell on the taller one who appeared to be 5'11 with long pink hair, he was also wearing some strange article of clothing that she'd never seen before, the thing in question being blue with raindrop and flower designs. The second man, however, caught her attention quickly once she looked at him, he was obviously the one she was sent to serve. He had blond hair and a kind look in his eyes, and it appeared that the trend of strange clothes continued as he too wore something she was relatively unfamiliar with, the main part consisting of white, gold, and red, along with a blue cape. It was a strange combination, but she admitted it looked quite fashionable, and it helped that he was fairly good-looking.

"Hello," she greeted, her voice less than enthused.

The two dusted themselves off before the light mage spoke to her. "Hello, and who might you be?" he asked, but quickly after, he snapped his fingers. "Hold on, now I remember, you must be Secre Swallowtail. I almost forgot you were supposed to be here today,"

The sealing mage curtsied respectfully. "Yes, and I'm at your beck and call, my prince,"

"There's no need for that kind of formality, Lumiere works just fine,"

"But it's the standard way to address royalty,"

Lumiere sighed. "Okay then, you can call me that,"

"Thank you," she stood up straight, maintaining her nonchalant tone as she turned to the other man. "And who might you be?"

"Hey there, I'm Teiko Kyo,"

"That's a strange name,"

He laughed. "I know, I'm not exactly from here,"

Secre gave him a cryptic look. "I…see. Anyway, what happened here? I heard a crash from outside,"

Lumiere perked up. "That's right. Teiko and I were working on our prototype. We're trying to create a Eureka,"

The girl tilted her head. "Eureka?"

Teiko facepalmed. "How many times do I save to say this? We're not calling them that," he turned to Secre. "Sorry about him. Lumiere and I are trying to create trinkets that are infused with magic for people to use,"

"I've never heard of such a thing," she stated. "Why exactly are you making them? You're a royal, my prince, you don't need something like this,"

"Exactly, which is why they're not for me," he replied. "These will partially help me achieve my goal, and that's to help those who are suffering, and one of the main sources of suffering in our kingdom is the discrimination that stems from our magic, so I've decided to try tackling that first,"

Secre turned away, feeling the sting. "You don't say?"

"Yes, with the Eureka, we'll be able to help those with lesser magic reach greater heights,"

"That we will," Teiko chimed in. "But we're still not calling them that,"

"I'm a bit confused. What does Eureka mean?" the sealing mage inquired.

"It's what you say when you discover something, and we've discovered this new theory of magic technology, at least as far as the Clover Kingdom is concerned. It's a perfect name,"

"But we also can't forget that we'll eventually be giving these to people, it's better that we call them something a little more self-explanatory," Teiko retorted calmly. "After all, not everyone knows what the word means. Look at Secre, she's a noble and she didn't even know,"

"Ugh, fine then," the light mage pouted. "What new name do you suggest?"

"I say we call them…," Teiko tapped his chin. "...Magic Items,"

"That's not too bad, it has a nice ring to it," Secre added.

"Hey, I already have one supporter,"

Lumiere sighed before chuckling. Okay okay, I admit, it's a pretty good name, but what it's called won't matter if we can't get them to work,"

That piqued the servant's curiosity. "How exactly are you getting these things to work?"

"I'd love to show you, but first, take a look at what it is!" the light mage excitedly walked over to his desk and grabbed an object, revealing it. "Do you like it? I built it myself,"

Secre raised a brow, her eyes now looking at a white ring. "That's it? That's what caused the loud noise I heard outside?"

"Correct. As for our process, the way we figured that we'd infuse magic into the ring is by transferring magic into it through touch, so I had Teiko do it,"

"Why him specifically?"

"Because we believe that doing so will also transfer my water attribute," the foreigner began to explain. "When it comes to the item's specific ability, Lumiere wants it to be able to grant higher water magic power to a weaker water mage. However, I noticed that because of the way I transferred my mana into it, the mana became unstable and exploded once the item was activated, most likely because it's not natural for objects to hold mana,"

Lumiere crossed his arms and nodded. "So we need to find a way to stop the magic inside them from becoming volatile, somehow," he turned to the newest person there. "Secre, what do you think we should do?"

The girl jumped a bit, surprised to be put on the spot. "Me? But I'm just here to serve,"

"And you are, you're going to help us brainstorm,"

"Um, okay. Maybe the key is finding a better way to transfer the mana into the ring," she suggested.

"True, but the question is how?" Teiko said. "Since this is a new thing in the kingdom, I doubt there will be a device that will do it for us, we're going to have to do it through a mage,"

"Yeah," Lumiere agreed before he suddenly facepalmed.

"Is something the matter, my prince?"

"There is. I'm so sorry for not asking earlier, but what kind of magic do you have?" he asked.

She immediately shifted her body, looking a little uncomfortable. "I…I have Sealing Magic,"

"Sealing Magic? Hold on," the prince said before closing the distance between them in an instant, looking at her with starry eyes. "Can you use your magic to solve our problem? You can seal mana inside the object,"

She backed up. "I don't know, I've never done anything like that before. Besides, my magic can't be of help to you, it's…it's useless,"

Lumiere's expression shifted in a snap, going from awe to seriousness. "Who told you that?"

"My family,"

"Then your family's wrong," he said. "All magic may not be strong, but all magic is useful, you just have to find out where,"

Secre's eyes widened, no one had ever told her that before, and he said it with such passion as well. She then looked to Teiko who gave her a silent nod of support. "Alright, I'll give it a try, but I still don't have experience with it, transferring water magic may be difficult,"

Lumiere's demeanor shifted again, going back to a happy one. "That's okay, we can simplify the effect, instead of granting stronger water magic capabilities, we'll…start with basic reinforcement,"

"Okay, I'm ready," she took out her grimoire and put up her hands, creating the blue markings, Teiko then walked up to her and extended his fist, lighting it up with basic mana. The marks then started to glow as the mana exited the teen's fist and coalesced into an orb.

He looked pleased by that result. "Hey, that's a good sign, this might actually work. Lumiere, set the ring on your desk,"

The man obeyed as the girl took a series of deep breaths and approached it, pushing her arms further as the orb sank into the ring before the object began shining brightly.

The trio covered their eyes until the light faded, the ring visually unchanged. "Did it work?" the servant was nervous.

"Only one way to find out," Teiko grabbed the ring and put it on. "Brace yourselves," he warned the group as he pushed the small button, ready for another explosion, but instead, he was encased in a light aura. "Alright, no mess this time. I feel strange, but I feel good, let's test it out,"

Extending his left hand, he created a familiar water blade around it, but he didn't look impressed. "Hm, I'm not feeling my magic strengthen,"

Secre expression fell. "Does that mean I messed up?"

He quickly reassured her. "We don't know that yet. This ring was infused with reinforcement magic, so if it doesn't boost the strength of spells, it must boost something else, and I think I know what," Teiko walked over to the door and opened it, he then crouched down and took off, already halfway down the hall.

The two were shocked to see that. "His mana…I didn't feel it spike up, he's going that fast all on his own," Lumiere said as they saw the water mage on his way back, but instead of returning to the room, he jumped on the balcony banister and leaped a dozen feet onto the roof, running across it before swinging in from the other side, now coming back.

"This proves it, the ring reinforces the wearer's physical traits," he stated before gazing at it, spotting a sight he didn't like. "Tch,"

"What's the matter?" Secre got closer to inspect the part he was looking at, which were four green outlines, one of them having gone black. "What are those?"

"These outlines were made to show how long the effects last. One being gone so quickly means it doesn't hold out for long," he answered.

"But it still worked, right?" Lumiere tried to see the positives.

His friend nodded. "That it did, Eureka is complete,"

The prince immediately picked up on the word he used. "But I thought-,"

"We're still calling them Magic Items, but I don't think it's a problem to give names to each individual one, and I suppose I don't have a problem with that being the one for this ring, you did make it after all," he clarified, taking it off and tossing it to him. "We will have to make an advanced model that can hold the mana for longer though,"

Lumiere caught it and stared at it with a look of satisfaction. "True, but that's an endeavor for another day. This is it, the very first Magic Item to exist in the Clover Kingdom. Happy Birthday, Eureka," he said before locking eyes with Secre, running over to tightly embrace her.

"M-My prince?" she was a bit flustered, not expecting the handsome man to get so close.

"Thank you thank you thank you!" he said in a giddy tone. "You made this possible, your magic is the key! I don't know why you were sent to me, but it must've been destiny!"

"You seem pretty happy, big brother," a new voice said, prompting all eyes to turn to the door, seeing Tetia standing there, her eyes locked on the two that were embracing. "Am I…interrupting something?"

"Not at all," Lumiere ended the hug, now placing his hand on her shoulder. "Sis, I'd like you to meet Secre Swallowtail, my new servant, and the best servant anyone could ask for,"

"Pleased to make your acquaintance, my princess," she curtsied. "But the prince gives me too much credit,"

"The pleasure is mine, and you've got it wrong, my brother doesn't say that about anyone. If he said that, you better believe he means it," Tetia said, addressing the other person there. "And hello to you as well, Teiko,"

"Hime-chan," he greeted her back casually.

"What did he just say?" the sealing mage was curious.

The wind mage giggled. "It's his nickname for me. Where he comes from, it's an informal way of saying 'princess',"

"I…see,"

"Well, I just stopped by to say that I'll be heading somewhere," Tetia said.

"Where exactly are you headed?" her brother inquired.

"I'm an adult, you don't need to know where I'll be going every time," she replied in a playful manner.

"Alright then, but don't do anything reckless,"

"I won't," with that, she left.

"She's nice," Secre commented.

"I know, you're going to love having her around, just like I'm going to love having you around," he smiled at her warmly, to which she responded with a shy smile of her own.

"It was strange, not even thirty minutes had passed since I entered that room. I believed everything would be miserable, that he would be miserable to be around, but I was wrong, so wrong. This man was warm, caring, and full of so much ambition, so I wanted to help him, more than anything, because he saw something in me that others, and even I myself, couldn't see, and because I…I…,"

A whole week had passed since that day, and the three were hard at work, spending day after day in the prince's office until they finally finished it.

"And it's done!" Lumiere exclaimed joyfully. "The perfected version of Eureka is complete!"

"So, what do we do with the prototype?" Teiko asked, the old model in his hand.

"We keep it, obviously, it still works, just not as well, no reason to dispose of it," he replied. "And now that our first Magic Item is done, what should we do for the second one?"

Secre raised her hand. "Well, I've been practicing with my magic for a couple of days, so I think I'm ready to try something a little more advanced. We should try to make an item that can interact with magic this time, like something that can actually boost it, or maybe absorb and store it for later,"

"Ooh, I like that last one, it provides a way to share mana between our different classes, and when it's done, we can donate it to towns or villages with crime problems so the people can be better equipped to defend themselves. I like it a lot," Lumiere was pleased. "And I already have the perfect name for it,"

"And that is?"

The light mage did his own drum roll as he said it. "Swallowtail,"

Secre almost blushed. "You want to name it after me?"

"Why not? It was your idea, plus, this is another way of showing my gratitude to you. You don't have a problem with it, do you?"

She shook her head. "No, it's not that, I was just surprised, but if this item is going to have that kind of ability and work on a large scale, it'll take some time to make,"

"A fair conclusion, so we should work on something simpler at the same time. Any ideas, Teiko?"

"I have one in mind," he began. "Now, we know that the initial plan was for Eureka to boost the power of a mage with a specific attribute, but what if we make another item that can mimic an attribute?" he suggested. "For example, we give a flame mage something that lets them also command wind while it's active,"

"That sounds interesting as well," the light mage nodded. "Alright, I'm going to go gather supplies, then I'll stop by town to collect some magic samples for that mimicking item. In the meantime, you two can get our tools ready, it's going to be a long day,"

The duo watched as he left, and once he was out of earshot, one of them spoke up.

"He's…pretty extraordinary,"

Teiko's eyes were on Secre as the girl had yet to take her gaze off the hallway. "Yeah, he really is, isn't he? He's got a bright mind, and the determination to back it up,"

"Not to mention how much he cares for everyone around him," she added. "He's a good friend, and he must be an even better brother to the princess,"

Those last few words managed to shift the entire mood of the room as Teiko suddenly stood up and walked to a nearby window, staring outside with a cryptic look.

The sealing mage was unsure of what prompted his reaction. "So, um, do you have siblings? We've been acquainted for a week, but I don't know much about you. If it's not a problem, could I at least ask about where you're-,"

"I don't want to talk about it!" he suddenly snapped, startling her. "I don't want to talk about my siblings, my parents, where I'm from, or how I got here! You don't see me asking about your life, so mind your own damn business!"

Once he was done, he turned around, his face full of rage, but it began to die down immediately upon meeting her shocked and saddened expression. From there, all he felt was guilt, so he quickly neared her and gave her a tight hug.

"I'm sorry, I'm really really sorry, I don't know what came over me. I'm not mad at you, and you didn't do anything wrong, I swear, it's just that-,"

"Shh, it's okay," she said softly, returning the embrace. "I understand, it's a sensitive topic, I won't ask about it again,"

The two stayed like that for a little while longer before separating. "I suppose I can understand how you feel, I don't really like to talk about my family either, I guess we have that in common,"

Teiko chuckled in a melancholic fashion. "I guess we do," he paused. "Is it alright if we…talk about something else?"

"Works for me," she replied, now thinking of something to ask. "What about…how old are you?"

He smiled. "I'm 19,"

"Not surprising, I was expecting you to be older than me,"

"How old are you?"

"17,"

"I see, so you're the youngest in our trio while Lumiere is the oldest,"

"The prince is older than you? I never would've assumed so, seeing that you're taller and all,"

"I guess that's a fair assumption to make. Lumiere may be shorter, but he's 25,"

"And you're talking about my age…why exactly?" the duo looked up, seeing their friend at the door with supplies in hand.

"No reason," they both replied playfully.

"I'll always cherish being able to know the prince, but he wasn't the only one. Teiko was always a strange one, but he was like the big brother I never had; he was reserved and helpful, and he always had ideas. I couldn't talk to him about everything, but I didn't need to,"

"And outside we go!" Teiko exclaimed, grabbing his friends by their hands.

In a twist of irony, Lumiere was the first to shield his eyes. "Ugh, it's too bright. How long were we in my office again?"

"Two days straight. It'll be good for us to get some sunlight, there's no need to take risks with our health," he said with crossed arms.

Secre yawned, but was smiling. "Thanks for keeping us in check,"

The foreigner nodded. "No problem, someone needs to make sure we aren't taking unnecessary risks, and I don't mind stepping into that role,"

The light mage gave his friend an impressed look, but just then, something else managed to catch his attention, making him grin. "And it's a good thing you did. Good morning, family!" he called out to a group before running to them, the pair turning to see a decent number of royals in the distance.

One man in particular nudged his head in the direction of the noise. "Well well well, if it isn't that son of mine? Finally coming out of your office today?" he joked.

"That's right, some sunlight will be good for me," he replied with a laugh, noticing that all of his aunts and uncles were, along with a few of his older cousins. "Why are you all out here together?"

"We're just having a chat, nothing important," his father answered quickly. "But enough about us, I'd like to talk about you. I know that I more or less stay uninvolved in your affairs, but many of us are beginning to grow curious as to what you spend so much time in your office doing,"

Lumiere became starry-eyed in an instant. "We're making Magic Items!" he said excitedly.

"Magic Items?" they all repeated.

"Yes, they're these trinkets with magic inside them that grant abilities. Just recently, we completed one item that amplifies one's physical traits, and we're working on two more, one that can mimic magic and one that can absorb it,"

"Is that so? Remarkable," he nodded in approval. "That's my son for you, a genius of his time,"

Lumiere blushed a bit from the praise. "Thank you, but I didn't do it alone, my friends were a huge help,"

His father raised a brow, looking past his son and at his companions, the lowly servant and the mysterious foreigner. He narrowed his eyes. "I…see. Anyway, keep up the good work. We royals are already powerful, but with these items of yours, we'll be even more powerful,"

Those words made the prince frown slightly. "What do you mean? It's not for us, I'm making it for the common folk. Once time passes and we can efficiently mass produce them, it'll be theirs,"

"Odd choice, but not too big of an issue. I assume you'll be capitalizing on them?"

"Um, no. You're the king of the whole nation, we have no need for money," he retorted.

His father rubbed the bridge of his nose. "Son, are you crazy? It'd be one thing if you were selling them, but why are you planning to just give them to those filthy parasites for free?"

Lumiere did his best to not yell. "They're not parasites, they're people like us, and it should be up to us to help them. That's why I made these items in the first place, so we can one day be equal,"

"Stop speaking this nonsense, peasants are beneath us, you're the Wizard King, you should know that more than any of us!"

While the father and son were going at it, Secre and Teiko were listening in. They decided it was best to not intervene, but once something was said, the latter spoke up. "Wizard King?"

"It's a title. After you told me how old the prince was, I did a little digging, and it turns out he was given the name when he turned 20 after demonstrating feats that established him as the strongest living royal, even stronger than his own father,"

"Really? Hm, the more you know," Teiko said as Lumiere walked their way in a huff, the other royals having left. "Is everything alright?"

"Yeah, just fine," he replied impatiently, tapping his feet. "I think we've had enough sunlight, let's head back to work,"

"Okay, if you say so," the sealing mage said, deciding not to ask what happened as they began walking back inside, but once they were close to the entrance, her head shifted to the right.

Why? Because she saw someone. In the distance, her eyes fell on a fairly tall figure who was draped in a large dark blue cloak, their back turned, making the only thing she could make out was their abnormally long white hair. The figure then walked to a nearby tree and squatted down, placing a hand on the bark.

"Guys, who's that?" she asked, pointing at the mysterious person.

Lumiere was the second one to look in that direction, his frustration being replaced by confusion and intrigue. "I don't know, I've never seen anyone dressed like that around here. What do you think they're up to?"

"I'm not entirely sure, but I guess we'll find out," Teiko answered as he cupped his hands around his mouth. "HEY! YOU BY THE TREE!"

That loud exclamation made the figure jump before they scurried behind the tree, sitting down and clutching at their hood. "That's certainly a strange reaction," the light mage said as they all broke into a dash, but once they were halfway there, a voice called out to them.

"Stay back!" the person's voice screamed in a panic, the group promptly halting, recognizing it as feminine-sounding.

"Hey, we're not going to hurt you if that's what you're afraid of," Teiko tried to reassure her.

"That's not what I'm afraid of, just don't come closer…and don't look at me!" she yelled back.

Secre was confused. "Don't look at you? Why not?"

"Because I'm…I'm hideous, okay! I'm the ugliest person on the planet!"

"Who told you that?" the question came from the foreigner.

"I did…and so did he,"

"He?" all three of them thought before Lumiere took a small step forward. "Look, if you have no ill intentions, you don't have to hide from us, my friends and I won't judge you, we promise. I believe that we should all be accepting of each other's differences, no matter what it may be,"

"No, you WILL judge me! No matter how kind or how caring you are, you will, I know that for a fact!" she retorted. "Now go away, please! I don't want to use my magic on you, but I will if you make me!"

Teiko walked to his friend and spoke in a whisper. "Do you think we should just leave her alone? She isn't hurting anyone,"

The prince gave his suggestion some thought before he came to a decision. "Wait here," he said as he flew inside, coming out a few seconds later as he landed closer to the tree.

"Hello,"

The woman was shocked to hear him much closer than he previously was. "I meant what I said!"

Lumiere put his hands up. "Hold on, I'm not going to look at you, I swear. See, I'm covering my eyes," he placed his available hand over his face as he got closer and tossed something over to her, he then turned around and let himself see again.

The woman picked up and inspected the object, it was a gold bracelet-like contraption with a purple strap. "What is this?"

"A Magic Item,"

"I've never heard of such a thing?"

"That's because my friends and I are making the first ones, or at least the first ones in the country. I guess you can call us pioneers," he replied, his back still turned. "That one you got there is our latest one, a bracelet that can mimic magic, specifically transformation magic. It's called…," he trailed off, realizing something. "Just a moment. Secre!"

"Yes, my prince!"

"That new item we were working on, it's your turn to name it!"

The water mage gasped, realizing what that meant. "Are you going to give her the item?! What are you thinking?! We haven't even used it to test out the kinks!"

"Don't worry, it'll be fine! So, what's its name?!"

The servant didn't give it much thought. "Call it Metamorph, it mimics transformation magic, after all!"

"Thanks!" he now addressed the mystery woman. "So sorry about that. As you heard, we call it Metamorph. All you have to do is put it on and visualize your new appearance, and it should work,"

"Should? You're not sure?"

"Not 100%, but we have experience now, I'm confident in it," he replied.

"Okay then," Lumiere heard the sound of her rolling back her sleeve and putting it on, and after a few seconds, there was a flash of light. From there, she walked out, her hood still on, but then he heard the sound of her taking it off, and then he heard something else.

Crying.

"Is everything okay?" his voice was laced with concern as he turned around on instinct, gasping soon after.

Beautiful and healthy black hair of decent length flowed in the light breeze, complimenting her skin which was a light tan, and in the center of it were turquoise eyes. Even though the rest of her body was covered, the part that wasn't was a sight to behold, tears and all.

Secre and Teiko rushed over to the prince and were also stunned by the transformed appearance of the woman. "It looks like it worked, you're pretty now, well, as far as society is concerned. Are you okay, miss?"

"Y-Yeah, I'm okay," she replied in between sniffles, using her hand to wipe away her tears before she embraced the light mage. "Thank you so much!"

He smiled. "You're welcome," he said back, happy that their device brought an end to her suffering.

The woman separated herself from him. "Sorry for yelling at you back there. Say, is it possible for me to…keep Metamorph?"

Before he could answer the sealing mage spoke up. "You can, but on one condition,"

The woman became nervous. "And that is?"

"You have to stay here…and be our friend," she told her with a small smile. "That item is still in the prototype phase, so it'll have to be here with us, meaning you'll be here, and if you're going to be here, you may as well join our trio,"

The woman looked uneasy. "I don't know, I'm not a very good friend,"

"Let us decide that, who knows, maybe you'll prove yourself wrong," she replied, placing both hands on her friends' shoulders. "I'm Secre Swallowtail, this is Teiko Kyo, and last but not least, Lumiere Silvamillion Clover, the prince,"

"Prince, huh? That's nice. I'm Azaela Peritome, and if you really have no problem with me, I guess I'll stay with you, it's not like I have anywhere to go,"

"Then it's all perfect," Teiko said before a question popped into his head. "Say, where's your grimoire?"

"I…don't have it anymore. I prefer not to talk about it,"

"That's okay. Why don't we head inside and get you situated?" Lumiere jerked a thumb at the palace.

"Um, sure," Azaela nodded with some reluctance as the four entered the castle and walked to the office. "Woah, what is this?" she gasped as her eyes were glued on the first thing she saw, that being a large spherical device.

Secre patted it. "You like it? It's another prototype item, this is Swallowtail, which will eventually be capable of "

"Your last name? You named it after yourself?"

The girl blushed a tiny bit. "Actually, i-it was the prince,"

"Oh, I see. I hope you don't mind me asking this, but how old are you?"

"17. And you?"

The woman paused for a bit, trying to think of something to say. "...Um…27. Yeah, that's it, I'm 27,"

The trio were obviously confused by what just happened. "You needed to remember your age?" Teiko was the one who asked.

"Yeah, I sometimes forget. We don't have things like birthdays or anything of the sort where I come from," she clarified.

The water mage made a comedic face. "No birthdays?! That's criminal! Where are you from?!"

"You promise not to tell anyone?" she posed a question first, the three raising their brows but nodding anyway. "I'm from…The Spade Kingdom,"

"The Spade Kingdom?! Really?! That's so cool!" Lumiere exclaimed with starry eyes.

Azaela wasn't expecting that reaction. "You don't have a problem that I'm not from here?"

"Of course not, after all, Teiko isn't from here either,"

She turned to him. "Is that so?"

He nodded. "It's true. If you're 27 though, you're the oldest in our group now," he then turned to his friends. "Also, I didn't know there was another kingdom here,"

"Yup, there are four kingdoms on this continent. Clover resides in the south, Diamond resides in the east, Heart resides in the west, and Spade resides in the north," Lumiere explained. "That being said, Spade is a long way from here. If you don't mind me asking, why did you leave?"

"I actually do mind," Azaela quickly responded before sighing. "Sorry for being so secretive about it, it's just-,"

"It's okay, you don't have to explain anything to us," Secre reassured her. "You're new to this kind of environment, it makes total sense that you won't want to share everything,"

The female foreigner gave a shy smile. "Thanks, I appreciate that. And speaking of appreciate, I'd appreciate it if you could lead me to the bathroom,"

The group shared a quick laugh as the sealing mage opened the door. "I'll take you there," she said as the two were on their way, now walking down the hall. About a minute later, the younger of the two opened her mouth. "Hey, Azaela, can I ask you something? It's not about anything personal,"

"If that's the case, then fire away,"

"Back in the office, you asked for my age. Why?"

"Because of how outspoken you were earlier. I'm a stranger that you don't know, but you extended a hand of friendship to me without hesitation, something I assumed an older person would do, but you're just a kid. I like that," she answered with a happier tone. "I am curious though, why did you want to be friends with me anyway? I didn't exactly give the best first impression,"

"Hm," Secre tapped her chin, formulating her response. "I thought it would be a courteous thing to do. You said that your original appearance is unsightly, so I'm assuming you've never had friends before, and if that's the case, I wanted you to experience what it feels like. I haven't been here for long, but being with those two has made me the happiest I've been in a long time,"

"They sound like a joy to be around," Azaela said as they approached a turn in the hallway, but before they got there, the wind mage walked out from the other side.

"Oh, hi Secre," she greeted, quickly noticing the stranger. "Is this a friend of yours?"

"Yes, princess, this is Azaela Peritome, we just met her today,"

The woman zeroed in on one word. "Princess? You're Lumiere's sister?"

"That's right, I'm Tetia, a pleasure to meet you," she introduced herself before closing the distance between them.

"Um, can I help you?" Azaela was uncomfortable with the proximity.

"Wow, you're so pretty!" the princess squealed, zooming behind her. "I love your hair, it looks so much better than mine,"

"Don't say that, you have lovely hair," she said back.

"You really think so? Thanks!" she hugged her from behind with a smile, but in a matter of seconds, the smile disappeared and a raised brow of suspicion replaced it. "Secre, where are you taking her?"

"To the bathroom. Why do you ask?"

Tetia let her go and stood in front of her. "You aren't wearing anything under that cloak, are you?"

The sealing mage's face turned a light shade of red upon hearing those words. "Is that true?"

Azaela nervously scratched the back of her head. "...Yeah. It's…a long story,"

"Then you can tell us some other time," the wind mage grabbed a hold of her hand. "If you're a friend of my brother's group, you're a friend of mine too, and I refuse to let my friend go commando. We're going to enjoy a hot bath, and then we're heading to my mother's room, she should have some clothes that fit you,"

"Hold on, wouldn't she be mad?"

"Don't worry, my mother's the queen, she owns so much clothing that you'd have to fill a room full of them before she realizes that anything's missing. A few pairs gone will be no problem," she then grabbed the servant's hand. "You can join us too, now let's get a move on!" she started running down the hall, taking the other females along for the ride, loudly humming.

Azaela inched her head closer to Secre. "Hey," she whispered.

"Yeah?" the younger girl whispered back.

"She's pretty cool too,"

"Yes, she is,"

A whole hour passed before the two returned to the office, opening the door, spotting the guys at work with their backs turned. "That was a pretty long bathroom break," Teiko joked as he and Lumiere spun around, but as they did, they were surprised to see that Azaela had discarded her cloak and now wore a casual beige and violet dress that complimented her hourglass figure.

"That looks familiar," the prince stated. "Is that my mother's?"

"Yeah, we ran into Tetia on the way and she insisted I wear it, well, I insisted, she wanted to put me into something more extravagant, but I'm better off with casual," she explained.

Teiko nodded. "I'm inclined to agree, you look really nice,"

"Thank you,"

The light mage snapped his fingers. "Now that you're here, we can show you how our process works,"

"By all means, lead the way,"

"Out of everyone I knew back then, Azaela was easily the most enigmatic of them all. I could tell right away that she was a good person, even if she was secretive, and for good reason I suppose, considering…what happened,"

"And just like that, the final version of Metamorph is complete," Lumiere said with a sigh as the quartet laid back into their chairs, stretching.

"That took way longer than I was expecting," the water mage commented. "Four days is a bit much for us at this stage,"

"Well, we were spending a lot of time on Swallowtail's prototype," Secre reminded him, getting up to stretch her legs. "It certainly doesn't help that getting the absorption feature to work is proving more difficult than we thought,"

"That's alright though, we'll figure it out eventually, in the meantime, let's celebrate what we could accomplish," Azaela brought attention to the positives, raising the second bracelet into the air. "This process is really cool, you identify a problem with the prototype and make a final version with the kinks worked out, very cool indeed,"

"Yup, but to think that the issue with Metamorph's prototype was the fact that it was prone to overload during the recharge period, like the mana charging it was too much. I never thought that'd ever be a problem, but hey, at least we fixed it," Teiko told her.

"That we did, but I'll still try to be careful when recharging it…for safety," the fellow foreigner said back.

With their task completed, the three began to engage in small talk, but not the prince, he was quickly taking down some notes in a notebook before closing it. "Alright, all done. Let's get going, we don't want to be late,"

His friends stopped talking immediately and turned their heads in unison, looking at him with expressions of comical confusion. "I beg your pardon?"

At that very same moment, a knock was heard at the door before it opened and Tetia's head popped out. "Greetings all. Are you ready to go?"

"Yeah, we just finished up for the time being," her older brother answered as he got up from his chair and walked to her.

Teiko shifted through a series of faces, trying to make sense of it. He glanced at the girls, but they shook their heads, so he turned to the royals. "Did we miss something?"

The siblings shared a laugh. "No, but we are going on a surprise field trip. There's somewhere we want to take you, but you can't tell anyone else,"

The male foreigner crossed his arms. "A place you haven't even taken me? Now this I gotta see," the five exited the office.

Lumiere held out his hand, Tetia holding it, he then held out his other one to his servant, surprising her. "My prince?"

"Take my hand, I'll be flying us there," he explained.

"I see," she said, staring at it with slight hesitation.

"Is something the matter?" Tetia questioned.

"O-Oh, um, no," Secre connected her hand with his, the princess noticing a small smile appearing directly after. From there, they took Azaela and Teiko's hands respectively as they flew off, surrounded by light.

It only took two minutes for them to arrive at their destination, landing in a luscious meadow, the trio gasping in awe at its natural beauty. "This place is amazing,"

"I'm glad you think so, but it's not what we brought you here to see, or rather, who,"

"Who?" they inquired in unison, but before the prince could explain, they began hearing the sound of talking, and as they got closer, they began to make out a group of people in the distance along with nearby buildings.

"It's Lumiere and Tetia! Right on time!" one of them called out to the rest as many more came into view.

"Elves?" Secre and Azaela tilted their heads.

Teiko did the same motion, but for a different reason. "The who?"

"They're a race of people who humans sometimes encounter, since you're not from here, you must've not had a chance to see them. From what we've seen, they're very powerful," the sealing mage told him. "However, I wasn't expecting them to know where the elves resided, it's supposed to be a total mystery,"

"Well, not to us. And what about you, Azaela? How'd you find out about them?"

"I've heard of them from somewhere,"

From the crowd of elves, a person made their way to the front, that being none other than Licht, the man opening his arms to embrace the light mage. "Lumiere, how are you?"

"I'm fine. How about you?"

"I've been managing," the sword mage replied before turning to his sister, his smile growing warmer and more affectionate. "And how have you been?"

"Me? Great, thanks for asking," Tetia responded, playing with a strand of her hair.

Licht couldn't help but smile brighter at her cute habit. "Did you do something with your hair?"

"No, but I did start using a new shampoo recently?"

"It really makes your hair shine,"

"Aw, thank you,"

The elf leader gave her one last nod before his eyes fell on the trio he didn't recognize. "And who are they?"

"That's right, we didn't come alone," Lumiere brought attention to the others. "Everyone, I'd like you to meet my friends!" he exclaimed as they introduced themselves.

"Teiko Kyo,"

"Secre Swallowtail,"

"Azaela Peritome,"

"It's a pleasure to meet you, I'm Licht, the chieftain of this village. If you are friends of these two, you're friends of ours. Please stay, we'll be having lunch in the hour,"

The group nodded as they were welcomed in, time passing as they made small talk with the elves. Azaela mostly kept to herself except for a few times she greeted the ones who came up to her, Teiko appeared to be the most outgoing of them as he was soon found playing with the younger ones, and as for Secre, she stayed close to Lumiere's side as he was speaking to a congregation. Eventually, the hour passed and lunch came and went.

"That was some pretty good food," Teiko said, satisfied.

Vetto sat down next to him. "I'm glad you think so," he eyed the teen's attire. "Say, you must tell me about where you're from, that thing you have on is beautiful,"

"Yeah, I want one, it would look great on me," Fana joined in, the spirit on her shoulder growling softly. "And a tiny one for you, Salamander,"

The water mage nervously chuckled. "Maybe some other time, I'd like to talk more about you. I didn't even know elves existed before today,"

Rhya yawned as he lay down. "Yup, we're pretty cool,"

Tetia shot up. "I couldn't agree more. Who's up for a spar? There's nothing better than an awesome battle after a good meal,"

"I'll take you up on that offer," Licht said back as he stood up and opened his grimoire, pulling out the Dweller.

Lumiere's eyes locked on the weapon in the elf's hand. "Hm," his eyes narrowed as he stood up. "I think it's time for us to go, thanks for lunch. Sis, are you fine heading back home on your own?"

"No problem,"

"Then we'll be off. Goodbye!"

"Bye!" the elves waved them off as the four walked further and further away.

Once they were far enough from the village, the prince spoke up. "Guys, I think I've got an idea for our fourth item,"

"A fourth one? Alright then, let's hear it," Teiko gestured for him to continue.

"This one's going to be a bit different from the rest, I want this item to be in the shape of a weapon,"

"Why is that?" the question came from Azaela.

"I want to be like that sword Licht has, the Demon Dweller. We had a spar some time ago and he told me it had the ability to absorb and redistribute magic from an external source and use it offensively. Every Magic Item has a purpose for existing, and I want this one to be for protection against powerful opponents,"

"So, like a more offensive version of Swallowtail?"

"Exactly,"

Teiko crossed his arms. "We have a problem though, we're still having trouble figuring out how to give our items absorption properties,"

"That's okay, I have complete faith in this team. Solving our problem isn't a matter of if, but when,"

"If you say so then, my prince,"

The light mage pumped a fist into the air. "Alright!" he then turned to his newest friend. "Azaela, it's your turn,"

"My turn for what?"

"I know we haven't started on it yet, but I want us to get the name of the item out of the way first before development. Each of us has named one of the items, except for you,"

"Oh, I see. I can name it anything, right?" she asked for clarification and was met with three nods. "Hm, what to call it? What to call it? How about…Elsdocia?"

"Elsdocia?" the trio repeated.

"I've never heard of that word. Does it mean anything?" Lumiere inquired.

"No, at least, none that I know of. Elsdocia is…the town where I grew up,"

"Is it now? That's cool," the fellow foreigner commented.

"It's decided then, let's hurry back and get started, we've still got tons of daylight!"

"And like before, we were back at it, attempting to do the challenging, but no amount of work we did could have ever compared to what I was going to experience next,"

"I think I may have figured it out," Secre said to herself, the perspective showing a rare moment of her in her own room, sitting down on her desk as he scribbled down some notes. "I have to show this to the others,"

She promptly got up and exited her room, taking a few steps forward before suddenly halting, her eyes darting to her left and right until they focused straight ahead again. "Strange, it almost felt like someone was nearby," she ignored the feeling as he made her way to the prince's office.

"Good morning, everyone, I think I-," she began saying as she opened the door, but stopped as she saw that no one was there. The servant closed the door behind her as she took a seat.

"Where is everyone?" she wondered aloud before someone knocked at the door. "Come in,"

The door opened and Tetia's head popped out. "Secre, just the one I was looking for. Can I-," she was about to ask her brother something, but did the same as the sealing mage seconds prior. However, this only made her smile as she entered the office, shutting the door behind her.

"You were looking for me?" the teen asked, narrowing her eyes. "You didn't happen to be near my room a few minutes ago, did you?"

The princess chuckled nervously. "You got me. Sorry for that, I was just trying to keep track of you. I wanted to talk to you about something in private," she took a chair and sat down.

"No problem, I'm at your service," her sitting posture shifted to a more respectful one. "What did you want to tell me?"

"Well, it's not about what I want to tell you, but what I want you to tell me, something along the lines of…advice," she began, looking a little hesitant, but she continued. "I know you're younger than me, so it might seem strange, but can you tell me…how to make a guy fall for you?"

Secre's posture broke almost immediately. "Excuse me?" she blurted out, wondering if the wind mage was serious, but by the look of her burning red cheeks, she knew that she was.

"Yeah. There's this guy I'm really into, and I'm not entirely sure if he likes me back. He's so nice, and strong, and caring, I want him to be mine so bad, but I'm not good at flirting and stuff like that, it's not something royals are exactly taught to do. Can you help me?"

"Um, it's not that I'm not honored that you trust me, but how can I help? I've never been in this situation, nor have I ever pined after a boy before,"

Tetia appeared genuinely surprised. "Really? I just assumed you had experience,"

"Why is that?"

"Um…y'know, I've noticed how…close you are with my brother, and I thought-,"

"What?!" the sealing mage exclaimed, blushing furiously for the first time in her life. "Y-You thought we were…?" she couldn't even bring herself to complete the question, but she didn't need to as the woman nodded slowly.

"Was my assumption wrong?"

"Yes, it was very wrong!" Secre didn't even register the fact that she rose up from her chair. "I guarantee you, there's nothing going on between us, nothing at all!" she started to breathe heavily as her heart calmed down and her face diverted away, letting her loud embarrassment turn into soft melancholy. "Besides, even if there was, he's a prince, and me, I'm just a lowly servant, such a union would be improper and bring shame to him,"

Tetia's face softened as she took hold of her hands, prompting her to sit back down as they remained locked together. "Hey, it's just us here, there's nothing to be ashamed about. I can understand why you feel the way you do, he's warm, ambitious, and sees the worth in everybody, it makes sense that you'd gravitate towards him,"

"But what about what the others will think?"

The princess briefly chuckled. "This is Lumiere we're talking about, you know things like that don't bother him," she tightened her hand's grip ever so slightly. "If you want to tell him how you feel, know that I support you 100%,"

The younger girl gave one of her usual shy smiles, but this one was warmer than the rest. "Thank you, Tetia, but I think I want to give it a little time,"

"That's perfectly fine, you two are young, you have all the time in the world,"

"You're right, but I'm sorry, you came to ask me for advice, and I'm the one who ended up getting help,"

"There's no problem with that. In a way, we're even,"

"If you say so, but I'm still not sure what I can suggest,"

"Trust me, nothing is off the table, I'm a total rookie,"

Right as she said that, the two heard the doorknob begin to turn, making the girls unlock their hands as the door opened. The pair were a little tense, expecting it to be Lumiere, but to their pleasant surprise, it was only Azaela and Teiko.

"Oh, I wasn't expecting you to be here, Hime-chan," the pink-haired teen greeted her. "To what do we owe the visit?"

Secre eyed the royal. "Is it alright if I tell them?"

"Sure, we're all friends here,"

The former spade resident took a seat. "Tell us what?"

"Well, a man has captured the princess' heart and she wants advice on how to woo him," the sealing mage explained, deliberately using a more dignified tone in an attempt to disguise whatever emotions lingered from her prior talk.

"Really? What a lucky guy," Azaela remarked, resting her chin over her palm. "And I take it you asked Secre because she's a girl? Well, I'm a girl, can I get in on this too?"

"Yes, the more people the better," the wind mage excitedly answered.

"Then I should join," Teiko butted in, earning strange looks from the noble and the foreigner. "What?"

"We don't have to explain it, do we?"

"There's nothing to explain. I may not be a girl, but that's something you want in these kinds of talks. We guys don't all think the same, but I can offer advice from the other perspective," he politely retorted, turning his attention to the woman of the hour. "Now, about you and Licht,"

"Huh?!" Tetia blushed. "I didn't mention anything about Licht!"

"You didn't have to, I saw the way you were talking to him the other day, it's obvious that you like him," his attention shifted to the other females in the room. "You saw it too, right?"

In response, they both deadpanned in an almost comical fashion. "Of…course,"

The water mage narrowed his eyes at their obvious fib. "Anyway, I'm right, aren't I?"

Tetia's head sank down, there was no use in lying to him. "Yes, he's the one,"

Teiko crossed his arms. "Then we're all done here,"

"What?" the others were flabbergasted.

"If you're looking for advice, you wouldn't be aware of this, but Licht totally has the hots for you, it's about as obvious as your feelings for him,"

Those last words brought a look of stunned happiness to Tetia's face. "He's…he's into me? Like, really into me?"

"Uh huh," Teiko nodded with confidence. "You don't need any plans or suggestions or anything like that, he's already fallen for you, and for good reason. You're fun, kind, determined, and you got a good heart, you two are perfect for each other,"

At this point, a tear of joy streamed down the wind mage's cheek as she got up from her chair. "I-If that's the case, then I don't have a second to lose, I'm going to go and tell him how I feel before I get cold feet,"

"Good luck, Hime-chan,"

Tetia was about to walk out of the office, but before she did, she turned around and ran to Teiko, embracing him. "Thank you so much for that, I'm so glad that you're here with us, I wouldn't want you anywhere else,"

One sentence. All it took was one sentence for the mood of the water mage to instantly sour, his happy face turning into one of guilt in seconds, the others blissfully unaware as his position along with Tetia's embrace left his expression obscured from sight. All of a sudden, Teiko could feel his hands throbbing, so he looked at them, shocked to see them covered in dirt and blood.

"What the?" he abruptly backed up, startling her.

"Are you okay?"

The water mage took another look at his hands, seeing that it was normal. "Um, yeah, I'm fine, I just thought something was on me,"

"Oh, ok. I'm off then," she ran a few paces before encircling herself in wind and flying off.

Azaela whistled. "I'm impressed, I didn't take you for a romantic counselor," she gave her props, but the teen ignored her. "Teiko?"

"Huh? O-Oh yeah," he answered absent-mindedly.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Secre asked, concerned.

"Yeah. I've got to go somewhere quick," he replied as he walked out of the room, jumping on the balcony banister, infusing mana into his legs as he jumped down, landing on the ground.

The girls exchanged a look, coming to the same decision as they walked out as well, staring down the balcony to see Teiko create his water board and glide away. "I'm worried. Should we follow him?" the younger one suggested.

"It would be the best move,"

"But how will we keep up with him without him noticing us?"

Upon hearing that question, Azaela stared at her hand, but ultimately shook her head. "I'm not entirely sure,"

"Hey, what are you two up to?" they turned their heads to see the light mage, the sealing mage looking away the fastest, trying to force down her blush.

While she was doing that, the woman answered him. "Perfect timing. Teiko was acting really weird all of a sudden, and then he went that way. Can you use your magic to trail him without him seeing us?"

"Is that so? It shouldn't be a problem, my light magic can go at whatever speed I need," he said back before cracking a rare smirk.

"Yes?" Azaela was confused by it.

"You seem very worried for him, and you're even suggesting how we can check on him. I don't know, that's the behavior of a very good friend,"

The woman paused before looking away. "I just want to make sure that if there indeed is something wrong, it's nipped in the bud before it has time to fester,"

"Ok then, if that's what you say," he teased before holding out both hands. Azaela took one while Secre reluctantly took the other, and then they were off, moving at about a quarter of the speed he usually did, eventually spotting Teiko down below, from there they made sure not to be spotted.

Minutes passed and they finally noticed him stop somewhere, so they landed nearby, hiding by a tall shrub. "We're pretty far away from the castle," Lumiere noted. "Whatever he's planning to do, he didn't want us to know,"

The three continued to watch as he got closer and closer to whatever he came for, until he reached it: a small gravesite, however, to the trio of spies, it just looked like he was standing in front of two large rocks.

"That's weird," Secre stated. "I remember him saying that he wasn't from here. Do you think it's some kind of custom?"

"Your guess is as good as mine," her friends replied.

They then saw him kneel down and put both hands together in front of his face and close his eyes, muttering inaudible words.

The light mage held his chin. "That stuff he's doing, it looks like he's…praying? But why?" he gave it some more thought, trying to put the details together, and then he did, his eyes widening. "Oh no,"

"What are you talking about?"

The prince's demeanor shifted as he grabbed the wrists of his female partners. "It's time for us to go,"

"What? But why?" Azaela protested.

"I'll tell you later, let's just go,"

"No, tell me now," she pulled against him, causing her to lose her footing and fall on the ground with a loud thud.

In the relative silence of the calm area, that fall was impossible to miss and Teiko indeed did not miss it as his body shot upright, using his sleeve to wipe away some tears. "W-Who's there?! Show yourselves right now while I'm still feeling generous!"

The woman stood up as the three of them walked into his line of vision. "You guys? You followed me?"

"Yeah," Lumiere answered for them. "The girls told me you seemed off and asked me to follow you, but we can leave if it's not a good time,"

"No," Teiko put his hand up. "Um…you can stay…if you want,"

Having gained his permission, the three slowly approached the stones he was kneeling to, Secre being the first to arrive as she looked at them carefully, spotting symbols in the center of them.

"Is this your native language? What does it say?"

He looked at her slowly, answering in a somber tone. "Haruna Kyo. Mebuki Kyo,"

Lumiere now spoke up, his tone just as somber. "Your mother and little sister. This is where you buried them,"

Hearing that made the girls gasp, with Azaela covering her mouth with her hands while Secre could only think back to the conversation the two of them shared alone, remembering what he yelled. "I'm…I'm so sorry. I should've never brought them up back then, I-I didn't know and-,"

"Stop," the water mage placed a hand around her arm. "You just said it yourself, you didn't know, an apology is pointless when you have nothing to apologize for,"

"Let's head back to the castle," Azaela said. "We can do something fun together, something to get your mind off of this,"

"No," he refused. "I don't want to linger on anything else right now. But…a part of me is happy you all cared enough to come here, it makes me feel less alone," he could feel tears coming, but he fought them back. "Um…since we're friends and all, would it be okay if…I tell you all something?"

The three immediately surrounded him, sharing a group hug. "Of course,"

"So he told us everything, where he was from, how his mistake brought him and his relatives to us…how that same mistake cost him everything, in more ways than one,"

"You're immortal?" the trio were in disbelief, sitting comfortably on the grass as their friend finished his story, now a little more calm.

"Not immortal per se, just that I'll physically age one year every one hundred years,"

"Wait, that means…,"

He nodded. "I'll outlive every single one of you. I'll outlive your children, your grandchildren, your great-grandchildren, and so on,"

"That sounds awful," Lumiere said. "This Mother of Curses sounds like a nasty individual. To think that magic of such a level even exists,"

"It exists alright," Teiko gave them his back. "That's why that blasted cult worshiped her, why they took my family from me…but at the end of the day, it was all my fault, because I couldn't listen for once in my life. I'll spend all my days hating her, and I'll spend the same amount hating myself,"

"You shouldn't spend thousands of years hating yourself," the sealing mage told him adamantly.

"Yes, I should. It's what I deserve,"

"That doesn't matter!" the sudden outburst came from Azaela as she rose to her feet. "Doing that kind of thing to yourself for so long doesn't help. All the hatred and self-loathing, it eats away at you until there's nothing left,"

He looked back at her. "You're saying it like you come from experience,"

"...Maybe I am,"

He stared at her for a little while before looking away. "Well, it doesn't matter, I'll find a way to keep going, after all, I have you three, friends I don't deserve,"

"Don't say that, you do deserve us!" Secre retorted. "You're such a kind and helpful person,"

He chuckled sadly. "That's not me deserving it, that's me being lucky. I cherish each of you, as well as those I've met here, but I know that deep in my heart, you're all too good for someone like me,"

"Well, I don't think that," the prince said back.

"Neither do I," the servant added.

"That's alright, you're welcome to think whatever you want, my mind will never change," his reply was calm. "Now, who's ready to head back to work?" his mood did a 180 as he summoned his board. "Well, what are you all waiting for?"

"We'll catch up with you," the light mage told him as he nodded and went on his way at top speed.

Once he was out of earshot, the female foreigner asked the question that was on all of their minds. "What do we do now?"

Lumiere thought about it, coming to a decision. "We'll respect his wishes,"

"Are you sure about that, my prince? Teiko needs help,"

"He's been feeling an immeasurable amount of guilt ever since that incident, nothing we say will do anything, so we'll behave like everything's normal. All we can hope for is that someday, even if we aren't around to see it, he'll have found peace. Can you do that for me?"

The girls looked at one another, reluctantly nodding. "Thanks," he said as they took his hands and flew away.

"We followed his order perfectly, none of us ever brought up what happened again. It was sad to know that the one I looked up to like a big brother thought that way about himself, but I could tell he appreciated our effort, so we kept it up. From there, months passed and other things changed, the biggest one being that Tetia and Licht were with child and were going to get married,"

"I'm going for a quick walk, I've been sitting down for too long," Secre groaned as she got up from her chair.

"Don't be gone too long, Lumiere already stepped out earlier," Teiko said back as she walked to the door.

The girl stared at his back, frowning, an expression that had become more common as of late when she thought of him. "No problem," she left, her stroll taking her to the top region of the castle.

"Are you excited?" she heard Lumiere's voice, hiding herself as she noticed him and Tetia staring out a window.

"Of course I am. In a little while, I'm going to be a married woman,"

"Yes you are. I'm really happy for you, but to think you'd get married before me,"

"It's all a matter of luck," she replied playfully before frowning.

"What's the matter?"

"I just wish I was as lucky at convincing our family to attend the ceremony,"

"Me too. I know they don't approve of you and Licht now, but maybe they will in the future," he tried to reassure her.

"Maybe they will," she rubbed her belly. "Especially when they see their adorable grandbaby,"

He smiled at her optimism. "Do you know the gender yet?"

"No, we'll just have to wait until the baby comes out,"

"I see. Hopefully, you're right about them coming around,"

She crossed her arms and gave him a sly look. "They had better, after all, we may have another unorthodox wedding happening in the future,"

Secre blushed as Lumiere was confused. "What do you mean?"

"I'll tell you some other time. And while the topic is fresh, it's a shame you'll miss the ceremony too,"

"Yeah, father said he wanted to talk to me about the Magic Items," he clarified.

"If that's what he wants to talk about, you had better bring your friends in case he tries to strong-arm you. I just wish I knew something like this may happen since I asked Secre to be my Maid of Honor,"

"You did? I didn't know you were close like that,"

She confidently smirked. "That's right,"

"I'm happy for you two then," he said. "You had better get going,"

"I should," she gave him a hug. "I can't wait for you to see me in my dress,"

"You're going to look beautiful," he said his last words to her as she flew away.

With their conversation over, Secre hurried away as quietly as she could back to the office. In an hour, the three left the room and met Lumiere in a long hallway, walking together.

"So? Did you finish it?" he asked.

"Yes, Swallowtail's final version is complete," Teiko answered.

"Nice work, and a special thanks to you, Secre, for finding out the secret to the absorption issue," he congratulated the team.

"Thank you,"

"We also got Elsdocia finished," Azaela added. "It's pretty impressive we got it done perfectly in one try,"

"That's just a testament to our growing skills," the light mage remarked. "Soon, we won't ever need to make prototypes again," he then crossed his arms. "And I'm glad you mentioned Elsdocia. Thanks to what we now know regarding the absorption property, I was able to add an additional ability to the item, a very…special ability,"

"And that is?" they were curious.

"I'll tell you after the wedding," he replied as they reached a wide door that was guarded by a pair of sentries.

"Ah, Prince Lumiere, his majesty is expecting you," one of them said, letting him pass, but as the others tried to advance, they were promptly stopped. "The king wishes to see his son alone,"

The royal neared his crew. "Don't worry, if I don't come out in five minutes, feel free to knock the guards out and come check on me, but please be gentle," he whispered.

The three nodded as the man opened the door and walked through another long hallway, beholding the majesty of the throne room, but to his surprise, the place was completely deserted.

"Father? I'm here! You wanted to see me?!"

"Right on time," a voice said to his left, he turned to see a pudgy man approaching him.

"Minister, it's you. Do you know where my father is?" he asked, but then he felt that something was off about the man. "Hold on, your mana, why is it…?" he was going to question him, but it was too late.

"Restrict," with just one word, the prince became bound by some strange power.

"What the hell?" he gazed at the man, now noticing the blank look in his eyes. "Your mana is completely different from before, it feels more sinister,"

"Hahahaha!" the sound of laughter came from somewhere close, confusing him, but not for long as a purple ether appeared above the minister's head. "Hello there. How do you do?"

Despite the polite greeting, Lumiere was on edge. "You…you're a devil, aren't you? I stumbled upon information about your kind while trying to do research on the Mother of Curses,"

Zagred chuckled. "The Mother of Curses? I wasn't aware you knew of her, I'll have to chat with her sometime about it,"

"Enough! Where is my father?!" he demanded.

"He and the rest of your family went on a little field trip…to the elven village. I did a little persuading and convinced them that things would be so much better if those pointy-eared folk were dead, in fact, they should've arrived a little while ago,"

"That's impossible, they shouldn't know where the elves are!"

"You underestimate me, prince, nowhere is too hard for me to find. I must go check on their progress, tata," the devil bid him farewell before vanishing.

Lumiere struggled to break free, but it was no use. "Help! Help me!" he screamed, soon hearing the sound of a short scuffle outside before the door was bursted open and his friends rushed in.

"Hurry, get me down!"

"Sealing Magic: Inverse Release!" Secre didn't waste time freeing him. "What happened?"

"I was trapped by a devil,"

"A devil?!" Azaela exclaimed.

"Yeah, we don't have time to waste, he sent my family after the elves, perhaps we still have time to stop them!" he explained quickly as they all held hands and flew at top speed.

In just a short fifteen seconds, they arrived…but it made no difference. "No," all of them muttered at the sight of a bloody massacre, the ground littered with the bodies of dead elves.

Without wasting a second, they ran deeper into the crowd of death, hoping to find any survivors, and in a sense, they found one, kneeling in the center of it all.

"Licht," Lumiere muttered, but then everyone's eyes fell on his grimoire that was beside him, and noticed something unbelievable.

"A five-leaf clover?!" they all thought in unison.

"I knew it," the sword mage's voice brought attention back to him as focus was put on his eyes, the right one beginning to blacken. "I knew you couldn't have been responsible for this," he said as the black part receded.

The prince slowly stepped forward. "Licht, I-," he cut himself off as the shock began to wear off and he finally noticed that in the hands of the elf was a dead body.

Tetia's dead body.

"N-No, i-it can't be," he muttered, shaking his head slowly while the others were too stunned to speak. The prince got closer and sank to his knees, caressing her face as tears flowed freely.

"Please don't go, y-you were so excited for today, you were going to be a great wife and a great mother, after all, you're an amazing sister. I…I-," he choked up, unable to say more as his tears strengthened. However, that wasn't it…a black substance had begun to encroach upon the leaves of his grimoire, threatening to engulf it completely.

"Lumiere!" Licht exclaimed, his new brother-in-law now looking at him, seeing that he too was teary-eyed. "Your grimoire,"

The royal gazed at his tome, shocked by its progressing metamorphosis. "It's too late for me, but not for you, don't give in to your despair, it's not what she would've wanted,"

Lumiere did his best to take deep breaths, now resting a hand on Tetia's face as he smiled somberly. "I was right…you look beautiful in that dress,"

The black substance on his grimoire receded, but the end of one problem gave way to another as Zagred appeared. "Now this is what I like to see, the destruction, the carnage, amazing work. And now for what I came to claim,"

The bodiless conscious of the word devil floated to where the humans were. "The grimoire of despair has been formed, with it, I'm one step closer to achieving my goal. Licht, your body will be mine for the time being, but don't worry, it'll be put to good use," he tried to fly into the elf, but a force pushed him back. "What? How did you-,"

He then saw it, on Licht's person was an item of sorts, holding all the Magic Stones as they began to glow. "You wouldn't? Would you really delve into forbidden magic?"

"I would," Licht answered as he set his wife's corpse down and stood. "There's no hope for me, the despair in my heart has filled me with negative mana, and if I want to prevent this creature of evil from succeeding in his plan, I must draw in more of that mana into myself and become something that's neither elf nor human,"

"What are you talking about?" Lumiere was confused.

"You'll see soon enough. I know that this is selfish of me, but I have a request,"

"A request?"

"When I transform, I'll lose all sense of self, unable to tell friend from foe. So when that happens…I want you to kill me,"

The prince's eyes widened. "What? No!" he tried to reach out to him, but it was too late. With one last smile, Licht disappeared in a flash of blinding light, one so bright that it even forced Zagred to flee. Once the light faded, the eyes of the group shifted, now looking up as they beheld a terrifyingly huge monster, the sky darkening.

"What…did he just become?" Secre wondered aloud in shock.

"A Demon God," they turned to Azaela who answered the question, the woman having sunk to her knees, her eyes fixated on the transformed elf.

"What's a Demon God?" Lumiere inquired, but he got no direct answer.

"No, please forgive me," the woman now said, perplexing her friends. "Forgive me, I tried my hardest to save you, I just wasn't strong enough,"

"Azaela?" Teiko knelt down beside and waved his hand in front of her face, but there was no reaction, it was like she was in a trance of her own making.

"I'm so sorry, I should've never let it go that far, I should've done something!" she now began to scream. "It's all my fault! Everything that's happening is all my fault!"

At that point, Teiko couldn't take it anymore. Readying his hand, he slapped her as hard as he could, knocking her out of her strange daze. "Hey! What's the matter with you?!"

Azaela's eyes now looked away from the demon and now at the water mage, transitioning to each of her friends as tears welled up and she embraced her fellow foreigner.

Teiko returned the embrace, his face portraying a look that was neither happy nor sad. "I guess you weren't lying when you said you came from experience,"

"I'm not entirely sure what's going on with you, but we'll give you some time to clear your head," Lumiere said. "In the meantime, I'll go and see what I can do about Licht, letting him run rampant will lead to hundreds of casualties. Teiko and Secre, head back to my office and get Swallowtail, we can use it,"

"Are you sure you want to use Swallowtail?" the water mage questioned him. "If you're going to fight him, wouldn't you be better off using Elsdocia?"

He shook his head. "No. Even if I have to hurt him, I refuse to kill him. I'm hoping that Swallowtail can absorb enough magic to weaken him, then perhaps we can reverse the process somehow," he explained.

"Okay then," they complied as the teen summoned his water board and rushed away as fast as he could while Lumiere flashed away towards the nearby town.

Now by herself, Azaela took one deep breath after another. "You're okay, calm down, just calm down,"

"Ah yes, I can feel the power coursing through me!"

The sudden registering of joyous statements filled her ears, her body turning around to see people in the distance, no doubt Lumiere's family, relishing in the bloodbath they caused.

"How dare you?" the woman was gritting her teeth like crazy, her eyes glaring at her hand as she clenched it. "Y'know what, screw it,"

In an instant, a black energy-like substance surged from her hand, enveloping her whole body until it vanished.

"This feeling is amazing, to think those filthy elves got to experience power like this every day," one royal said.

"I know, but now that power is under the control of human royalty, a more fitting place if I say so myself," another added before addressing a man. "What about Tetia though? She was down there, no doubt she's probably dead too,"

"Who cares? That daughter of mine was ready to turn her back on her own kind for those pieces of trash, even letting one impregnate her. I'm glad she's dead,"

"Here here," one of his relatives cheered. "The only good thing she did was give us the opportunity to claim this magic for ourselves!"

"And you're going to regret that for the rest of your short lives,"

The inclusion of an unfamiliar voice put the murderous royals on edge as the black substance from before coalescing and expanding before receding to reveal Azaela.

"It's that bitch who's with Lumiere's group. How'd she do that?" the relative from before said aloud before the woman's hand suddenly went through his chest, her hands clutching his heart before she yanked it out.

"AHHHH!" they all screamed, doing their best to get away rather than fight the deadly mage.

"Don't think you can escape me!" she yelled, getting her hands on one woman before promptly snapping her neck, cutting the heads off of two more with her bare hands before teleporting to one and ripping off his arms.

"You bastards make me sick, you don't deserve to call yourselves royalty! Even if they weren't perfect, you're nothing compared to them!" she continued her short massacre, killing thirteen of them while the others used it as a chance to get away far enough.

Azaela took a little time to catch her breath, she then looked straight ahead at Licht as he marched forward, ready to lay waste wherever.

"You're going to be fine, you're going to be fine, just try not to think much about it. Lumiere will need my help," she said as she began to advance, but then her eyes fell on something. "No way," she ran closer until there was no doubt.

"Swallowtail's prototype? They must've stolen it to steal the magic of the elves, which explains all the rambling about feeling stronger. I can't believe they used it against us, well, no longer," she swung her fist back and destroyed it with one punch. "We have the perfected version, we can afford to part with you,"

With the item destroyed, her attention went back to the scene of the approaching battle. "Let's do this," she was about to advance again…but then.

"At last, I finally found you," a sharp pain went through her head as she clutched it tightly, not expecting the sudden voice in her mind to act when it did.

"No, not now,"

"You really thought you could get away from me. I recall telling you that using your magic would act as a signal of your presence, but it appears you chose not to listen. So what made you finally use it?"

"That isn't…any of your business, you asshole," she defiantly retorted, fighting the pain.

However, the voice didn't sound offended. "Azaela, you wound me. Of course it's my business, after all, is it not my job to know what my baby sister is up to?"

Two words spoken in that sentence angered her greatly. "I thought I told you…never to call me that,"

"Why not? Whether you like it or not, the blood that runs in your veins runs in mine. Now be a good baby sister and help your big brother out,"

"Sure, I'll help you out. Why don't I start by tearing off your head?"

"But I like my head, it's so handsome. Joking aside, I have need for your magic, you're going to do something for me,"

"I already know what you want, and you can forget it! I won't let you hurt these people!"

"Stop talking like you have a choice!" her brother yelled angrily for the first time. "Don't forget, I won our little scuffle, I have dominion over you now. That's why I can communicate with you like this, and that's why you will COMPLY!"

All of a sudden, Azaela's left hand began to shake violently as it stretched itself out, the mage clutching it, doing her best to make the motion cease. "Stop it,"

"How about no?" the male jokingly refused her plea. "If you don't like your current situation, you have no one to blame but yourself, you should've been stronger. Now, about that thing,"

"You can forget it!" Azaela exclaimed, summoning a large amount of mana as it surged all around her body. "I'm not your little puppet to control! That's the biggest reason I left, to get away from you!"

"Attempting to use a surge of mana to disrupt my control and sever our link, aye? Real smart, baby sister, but it's only temporary, you know that, right?"

"No duh, but even a temporary solution is better than dealing with you now!" she replied as her mana surge became even stronger, clearing the pain in her head. However, it wasn't that simple.

Crack.

Looking down, Azaela inspected Metamorph, noticing that the main component had suffered a lot of damage from her surge, and in a little while, it would stop working entirely, a thought that scared the foreigner.

"Oh no,"

---

"What is that thing?!"

Many townsfolk began to ask that one question over and over again as everyone was now outside, staring at the ginormous sight of Licht who stood miles away.

"Are we going to die?!"

"Is it the end of the world?!"

"No, I won't let that happen," Lumiere silently answered their cries as he appeared atop a tall pole with a clover-shaped zenith, overlooking the demonic fiend that was his brother-in-law.

The demon god opened his mouth, letting it charge with orange mana as he fired a sweeping beam into the town, destroying dozens of buildings.

The prince grit his teeth and had his grimoire flip to a page. "Light Magic: Lamp of Avior!" he fired the beam of light at full strength, traveling across the sky as it hit Licht's shoulder, not damaging him, merely enraging him.

The citizens all gasped at the sight as they turned to the origin. "Who sent that attack?!"

One pointed up. "Look, up there! It's…I think it's the prince!"

"It might really be him, that looked to be light magic! We're saved!"

"But that thing is huge! Can even the Wizard King take it down?!"

The demon growled as blue mana coalesced in his hand and he fired a powerful straight blast, trying to take out the one who shot at him.

"Light Creation Magic: Lightsword Shield!" Lumiere countered, summoning a giant sword that lodged itself in front of the town, generating a barrier that blocked the attack.

Lumiere now got on the move, flying across the sky as he got closer, entering Licht's line of vision, the demonic elf tried to swat at the bright light, but the royal was far quicker, maneuvering around his enormous hand, firing multiple smaller beams of light.

Licht was more or less unphased by the attack as he let loose another beam, but the light mage dodged it, letting it make its way to the town, scaring the citizens, but their fears were quelled as the large sword's barrier continued to protect them.

With his second attack failing, the demon god's focus shifted, going from Lumiere to the construct he created. During the small altercation, Licht had more or less been standing still, but now he was on the move.

"Where is he going?" Lumiere asked himself, but he soon got his answer once Licht reached the border of the town, raising all of his fists as he banged against the sword.

"No, he's trying to destroy it!" the royal realized as he flew around him, trying to locate a weak spot, but couldn't find anything blatant. "I have to hurry or the town will be defenseless!"

He then appeared higher up, looking down at the mad demon, trying to think of something, and at last, he did as his eyes fell on another eye, the third one that rested on Licht's forehead. "I hope this works!" he flew up higher before calling off his magic, letting gravity take over as he rocketed downwards, lighting up his fist with mana.

"LICHT!" he swung back and punched his eye with all his might, the demon letting out a shrill cry and he began backing up, nursing the eye with two of his hands. With the enemy distracted momentarily, Lumiere took his chance to inspect the Lightsword Shield, seeing that it was riddled with cracks.

"Damn it, I don't think it can handle much more, I need to try and get him away from here until Secre and Teiko get back!" he flashed to the west where Licht was still minorly discombobulated.

"Light Magic: Lamp of Avior!" he fired another blast at full strength, hoping the closer proximity would help, and it indeed did as the spell hit his shoulder and garnered a response in the form of a loud roar.

"Hey! Over here!" Lumiere brought attention to himself before flying in the opposite direction of the town, expecting the demonic elf to follow him, but instead, something else happened. Licht's body began to curl up as an eerie electric-like mana of a black and red color began to spark around.

"What is he doing?" the light mage was confused, but not for long as his body uncurled, releasing a wave of mana that went in every direction, passing through Lumiere as the magic keeping him airborne came undone and he could feel sharp pain everywhere.

"What…did he do just now?" he wondered as he began falling.

But it would only get worse as Licht swung back one of his hands, bringing it forward at full speed as it slammed into the royal, turning him into a rocket as his body was sent flying miles away, on a collision course with his active spell as he crashed into it with tremendous force, the air rushing out of his lungs as the protective construct finally crumbled into nothingness.

"Damn…it," Lumiere coated himself in light once more, flying toward Licht, but then it began flashing in and out before ultimately dying as he crashed onto the grassy floor with a thud.

"That one is going to leave a mark," he said to himself as he tried to catch his breath.

"My prince!" he could hear Secre call out to him, she and Teiko arriving with Swallowtail.

"How are you feeling?" the male asked him.

Lumiere did his best to stand. "I've had better days," he replied with a weak smile.

"RAAAAHHH!" a deafening roar turned everyone's attention back to Licht as he raised all six of his hands into the air, channeling all the mana he could into them, creating an enormous orb that grew more and more before it suddenly began to shrink.

The sealing mage was bewildered by his action. "What's he doing? Why'd he make it larger just to make it smaller?"

"Because he's condensing it," the prince answered. "The mana coming off from it is insane. Forget the town, whatever direction he releases it in, it'll destroy everything within a couple hundred miles. I'll see what I can do to stop that attack, while I'm doing that, look for survivors and see how Azaela's holding up,"

"Got it," they said back as Lumiere attached his mana signature to the magic item, making it float next to him before he disappeared in a flash of light.

From there, the two made a mad dash to the village, but while they were on their way, Secre noticed something. Stopping momentarily to focus her vision, she could see a twinkling flash in the distance.

"Are you alright?"

"Yeah," she replied quickly. "You can go ahead of me, there's something I need to check out,"

"Don't be long," he formed his water board and parted from her and she ran in the other direction.

"What is that thing doing now?!" a citizen yelled in a panic as multiple people saw the attack Licht was charging.

"I don't know, but the prince will save us!" another replied.

Then…it was ready. The demonic elf pointed his blast directly at the town, firing it, the sheer force of it being so powerful that despite being hundreds of feet in the air, the ground beneath it ruptured and cracked. But it wasn't the end as miles before the beam hit anything, Lumiere appeared in between.

"I know this is your first time being used, but please, don't let me down. You weren't just made by my effort, but by all four of us!" he placed Swallowtail in front of him as the blast made contact, but instead of being vaporized, the light mage and the magic item withstood it.

"Yes, that's it, absorb more!" he was ecstatic by the result, but that excitement was short-lived as he felt pain welling in his arms, black and red electricity sparking around him. "C'mon, I can't give up now!"

Seeing that no destruction had occurred, the demon god poured more power into the blast, but it wasn't working.

"C'MON! C'MON!" Lumiere yelled to himself, telling his body and the magical device to not give out, but when it came to the latter, it appeared that it wasn't meant to be as Swallowtail began to crack under the pressure, ultimately failing as it ceased functioning and descended down to the ground, the sudden event resulting in a shockwave that pushed him back, but on the bright side, the blast had come to an end at last.

Using the little time he had, the royal caught his breath, but in his mind, he was worried. The strategy he was betting on fell short, and the fight was nowhere near finished.

Or was it?

"Lu…miere,"

His eyes widened as he stared straight ahead, there was doubt about it. "LICHT!"

"Lumiere, enough of my negative mana has been absorbed to bring me back for a minute. Please, you have to kill me," in a sight that felt wrong, tears ran down the face of the demon. "I won't hold against you. Please, do it now, while I can still fight it!"

The royal looked at him with sad eyes, he didn't want to, he was ready to try whatever alternative could lead to a better result, but in his heart, he knew the truth. "Okay. Light Binding Magic: Lightsword Constrictor!"

At his command, giant swords landed around Licht, shooting out strings of light that wrapped around him, preventing any moment the second he lost control. From there, Lumiere flipped to another page and raised a hand into the air.

"Light Creation Magic…," a sword that was larger than the rest came from above, cutting through the dark cloud.

"Licht…my brother…my best friend…goodbye," with teary eyes, the prince finished his spell.

"...Heavenly Skysplitter!"

He commanded the sword to fall, impaling the elf as his body imploded. It was over, the dark clouds receded immediately, letting the sun now shine on what remained of him: a skull.

The people, however, couldn't be more happy at that sight.

"We're saved!"

"The prince did it!"

"That's the Wizard King for you!"

Despite the cheers that echoed in the sky for him, there was no joy in Lumiere's heart. He just stayed airborne, crying; today was supposed to be happy, a day he was supposed to be crying tears of joy at the sight of his sister marrying the love of her life, but instead, all that came were tears of defeat.

Thirty minutes passed since the fight ended, and on the newly formed demon skull, Zagred appeared. "Oh my, what an interesting battle, sure I failed to get what I came for, but at least I got to see something amusing," he said, pausing a bit as he appeared to be in thought.

"I am curious though. That spell Licht used, I wasn't expecting him to take that form…the form of the Progenitors, very fascinating. Oh well, I must take my leave,"

"Not yet,"

"Huh?" he turned his bodiless form around, coming face-to-face with Secre. "Oh, it's you, um, you were with the prince. What's your name again?"

"That isn't important. What is important is getting rid of you! Sealing Magic: Eternal Prison!"

In an instant, a blue cube appeared around the word devil. "How are you-?" he was in the middle of asking, but then he finally noticed that she was wearing the same thing Licht was earlier. "You're using the Magic Stones to amplify your power? You do know you'll still be delving into forbidden magic, right?"

"Yes, and I don't care, you ruined everything!" sweat formed on her face as she brought her hands closer, shrinking the cube.

"You're making a mistake. It may be on a smaller scale in comparison to the stunt Licht pulled, but you'll still be throwing away your humanity!"

"That's a small price to pay to ensure that you don't do something like this ever again to anybody else!"

"Shit, she's committed to this. To think I'm getting sealed twice in a lifetime, oh well, time for Plan B," Zagred thought to himself. "Word Soul Magic: Noad Nepesh!" he exclaimed in his mind as small red circles appeared over each of the Magic Stones while a large circle of the same design appeared over the dead elven bodies. However, when it came to one of the stones, a blue one with an oval shape and a gold cross design, a circle with notably different symbols appeared over it.

"Time for you to go!" the servant gave one last exclamation as small horns began to sprout from her head.

"Mark my words, girl, this isn't the end of me. I'll break out of this and finish what I started, I don't know when, but it will happen!" he gave one last promise before fading out of sight.

The girl sank to one knee, breathing heavily. "I did it, he's gone…for now," she said to herself before her ears could register footsteps behind her.

"S-Secre,"

The sealing mage knew who it was immediately, feeling relieved. "Azaela, I'm glad to know you're doing better. We should go and-," she stood up and turned, but she gasped upon doing so.

Why? Because what occurred in front of her was a horrifying sight. With Metamorph damaged, the woman flashed in and out between her disguise and her true appearance…and her true appearance was a sight to behold. Pale skin, red eyes, abnormally long white hair that reached down to her knees, black mana that coated her body in the form akin to a zip front leotard, claws adorning her hands and feet, a pair of black dragon-esque wings.

And finally, atop her head were horns…resembling a Kudu.

"Who…what are you?" Secre was in complete shock.

Azaela turned her head away in shame as the item finally gave out, maintaining her otherworldly display. "I'm…I'm a devil,"

"A devil? Like the one who did all of this?"

"Yes, but I'm not like him, I swear! This is what I didn't want you seeing back then, I…I don't like being associated with them. Please, you have to believe me, I never meant you or the boys any harm, I'm sorry for lying and never telling you the truth. I know that asking for this now seems selfish of me, but…I need your help,"

The devil still had her gaze elsewhere, unable to tell what face Secre made at the revelation or what the teen was doing, so she was audibly shocked when she felt something: the sensation of being hugged.

"Of course I believe you, we're friends after all, I didn't need to know everything about you to know what kind of person you were deep down," she said. "And if it makes you feel better, you may be odd-looking, but you're not hideous at all,"

At that point, Azaela couldn't hold her tears, allowing herself to cry for a moment. "Thank you,"

"No problem. Now, you said you needed my help, what can I do?"

Nodding, the woman wiped her face with her hands. "Right. I need you to seal me away,"

"What?!"

"I can't explain everything now, but someone's after me, and he wants to use my magic to do something bad. The problem is that, if he wants to, he can arrest control of my autonomy. I managed to deter him for the time being, but he'll be back, so I need you to seal me away, that way he can't succeed,"

"But, how would I even do that?"

Azaela revealed the destroyed item. "Seal me inside Metamorph, I'll handle the rest,"

"Alright, I just hope I can manage it," Secre touched her recently-grown horns, the action making the devil privy to its existence.

"Woah, is that a Weg? Did you use forbidden magic?"

"...Yeah. I don't know what a weg is, but I used the Magic Stones, and now that other devil is gone for now; I knew what I was getting into,"

"Did you though? Forbidden magic can have powerful lingering effects, for starters, using too much can draw out your lifespan,"

"You mean like what happened to Teiko?"

"Something like that, but if you have to use more of that power to seal me, I'll find another way,"

"Absolutely not. You said it yourself, this someone wants to do something bad, I won't allow that to happen. Please, you know you can't convince me otherwise,"

Azaela gave it some thought before relenting. "Fine then, do it. Can I just say one last thing?"

"Of course,"

Though it was sad, the woman smiled. "Thank you again, for reaching out to me that day. You were right, being with you all was great,"

"Same here," she returned the sentiment as she extended her hands, calling upon the power of the stones again as the devil's body glowed blue before she transformed into light and shot into the bracelet, it was then covered in the substance emitted from before, disappearing.

This time, Secre fell on both knees, clutching her heart, her horns beginning to radiate some kind of electricity. "Come on, you're not done yet, you still have one more thing to do," she stood up as best she could and waved her arms, signaling her presence to Lumiere as he finally landed.

"You won, my prince,"

"Yeah, hooray," he replied somberly.

"I'm…I'm sorry, for your loss,"

"It was a loss for all of us," he corrected her. "And it was all because of that devil,"

"Yes, but I managed to deal with him,"

This surprised him. "You did?"

She nodded. "But he said he'll return one day to finish what he started. I don't know when that is, but I do know one thing: you have to be there to stop him,"

"But how? If we don't know when he'll return, there's a chance I won't even be alive,"

"That's where you're wrong. I can use my magic to seal your body so that you'll be around in the future to combat him," she explained.

He shook his head. "No, I already lost Tetia and Licht, I don't want to lose everyone else I care about,"

"You won't. You'll have Teiko," she then took his hand, placing it near her horns. "And you'll have me too,"

"What the? What happened?"

"Long story, but I know I'll be around for a long time,"

"How?"

"Azaela told me,"

"How does she know?"

"That's another long story," she responded, deciding to close her grimoire before placing it in his hands. "Here, I want you to hold onto this for me and promise that you'll return it. But let it also be a promise in of itself, my grimoire is tied to my soul, so if it's with you, you know I'll still be here, and that I'll be by your side,"

Lumiere took it and put it in his satchel, doing his best to smile. "Okay then, I'll hold you to it,"

Extending her hands in front of him, she cast one last spell. "See you soon," was the last thing he heard before he was turned into a statue. As for Secre, she turned into an anti-bird, watching as the Magic Stones left what they were embedded in and floated into the air, scattering in different directions.

"And that's how it ended. After sealing the prince, I realized that I would also need to make sure Licht's grimoire didn't fall into the wrong hands, but when I returned to the ceremony grounds, it was nowhere to be seen, and neither was Teiko. Many years passed and I finally found it, so I made sure to keep track of it. I hoped that if it didn't fall into the wrong hands, it would fall into the right ones,"

Centuries later, there Secre was, perched atop a grimoire tower, staring below at Asta, the five-leaf tome in his possession.

"And indeed it did,"

[End Flashback]

"I don't think we'll be in this space for much longer. Are you ready?" the light mage asked eagerly.

The sealing mage nodded adamantly. "Yes,"

---

"That's it! Entertain me some more!" Zagred exclaimed gleefully as Licht jumped from platform to platform to avoid the arrows being sent his way.

Once the volley ended, he turned his body around while still in motion, firing a trio of slashes from the Dweller, but the devil was ready for it. "Vacuum Wall!" he protected himself. "You're going to have to do better than that,"

The sword mage stole a quick glance at the surrounding area, becoming more and more engulfed by the life eaters to the point where the only thing that was still visible about the room's features was the exit to the palace itself.

"Don't get distracted, it won't end well for you! Tempest of-,"

"Heaven Magic…," a voice growing in volume cut Zagred off as both combatants turned their attention to the spot where the descending path was located, noticing it glow a bright white color.

"...Wrath of the Almighty!" the life eaters that were nearby were cut apart as the transformed solar mage emerged.

Seeing him made the word devil chuckle. "Ah, Kenos, so nice of you to join us. I'm surprised to see you still alive, but then again, such a thing should be expected from Emmanuel's partner,"

The noble ignored what he was saying. "Whatever. Start talking, did you summon this stuff?!"

"Guilty as charged, luckily for you though, those pesky angelic powers will keep you safe, but the same can't be said for your friends,"

"You shouldn't underestimate them, we humans have a knack of defying odds," he retorted before his eyes landed on the elf. Flying up to his level, they now stood side-by-side. "Licht, I presume?"

The sword mage didn't answer, he merely side-eyed the boy who sent back the gesture in kind. "Not the talkative type I see. I know we're enemies, but allowing Zagred to win isn't something we can let happen, so please work with me,"

Licht's gaze transitioned from the solar mage to his grimoire, his eyes zeroing in on the five white leaves at the center before he looked back up and nodded. Kenos grinned as he nodded as well.

"We're almost there!" another exclamation was suddenly heard from the same spot, and in a second, a swirl of black and gray emerged, revealing the pair of rivals along with the light mage.

"I was wondering when I'd see you, Asta," Kenos smirked. "And when did you get here, Yuno?"

"A good while ago,"

"I see," he said, but surprise overcame his demeanor quickly. "Patri? What's he doing here?"

"Temporary truce," the brothers answered together.

Hearing that made the noble laugh briefly. "We've been doing a lot of that tonight, haven't we?"

On the other side of the aisle, Zagred expressed a small amount of shock. "How did they revert Patri from his dark elf state? Was it the anti-magic boy?" he thought. "Your numbers may have increased but it makes no difference, it doesn't matter who comes, I can't be defeated!"

However, he was going to regret saying that as a flash of light passed in between the two sides, revealing the pair from the past. "Is that so? Then you won't mind us joining in," Secre retorted.

The eyes of everyone widened at the arrival of the newcomers, but none more than Licht. Regarding the word devil though, he was as gleeful as ever. "No way in hell, hahaha! I never thought I'd see you two again, I guess you found a way to not bite the dust yet,"

"That's right, we have, all for the sake of battling you, to finish what began all those centuries ago, but it's not just us. Mages of both the past and the present are standing together to put a stop to your evil," Lumiere said as the perspective shifted to each fighter, those who would be in attendance for the final battle, coming back to the prince as he shot the demonic creature a fierce glare.

"It's time we end this!"