Chapter One Hundred-Twenty Two: A New Threat

Hey there, readers, I hope you're excited, because we're one step closer to that special chapter. Right now though, enjoy the chapter for Day 4. Cya.

Without saying another word, Asta charged. Admittedly, he didn't know the strength of the soldiers conjured to fight him, but they surely couldn't be that strong.

And for the most part, he was right. While there was a decent struggle, he was effectively plowing through them. "Anti-Magic: Black Hurricane!" he became a mini-tornado, taking care of the few soldiers that remained, coming to a stop.

"Oh my, you took them out faster than I was expecting," Undine said, resting her cheek on her hand, sounding completely unworried despite what happened.

But the demonic swordsman cared little for her lack of fear. "Yeah, now start explaining what this is all about, or you'll end up like them soon!" he threatened. "Earlier, Gaja called me the solution. The solution to what?!"

"You'll know in time," the spirit wagged her finger.

Asta growled in annoyance, but then, in the corner of his eye, he noticed something. It appeared to be some kind of curtain. "Wait, I'm sensing Ki. Is someone over there?" however, his thoughts were cut short as his opponent got his attention.

"Young man, my eyes are over here," Undine said, as if she was trying to divert his focus away from the new observation. With another snap of her fingers, more soldiers appeared, all of them charging in unison.

The black bull assumed a stance. "Something tells me this won't end anytime soon. Fine then, bring it on! One way or another, I'm getting some answers!"

While one battle was continuing, another had just begun.

"Heaven-infused Solar Magic: Sunbeam Ray!" Kenos made the first move, assuming a higher vantage point before firing his blast.

To his surprise though, Gaja skillfully got out of the way, not even breaking a sweat. However, the man looked at the teen with interest. "Your mana feels different than it was a few minutes ago. That form you've assumed doesn't just appear to increase your power. So, this is the power of one who fights with an angel, fascinating,"

Hearing that caught Kenos' attention fast. "He knows about angels?"

"It makes sense to me," Emmanuel said through their link. "He told us earlier that Undine conducted the ritual to make him a Spirit Guardian, meaning they know each other. Each of the Four Great Spirits were present during the Advent War, some of my friends had even spoken to Undine specifically,"

"I see," he spoke under his breath as he prepared another move. "Heaven-infused Solar Creation Magic: Sundial Buzz Saw!" the construct appeared over his palm before he launched it, but like before, Gaja got around it.

"Let's see how long you can do that for!" the angelic solar mage threw the saw blade multiple times, sending it out as soon as it came back to him, keeping the man on his toes.

Now, with his attention focused on her squadmate, Noelle was ready to act. "Water Magic: Sea Dragon's Waterball!" she fired a pair of them.

It didn't take long for Gaja to notice the new attack coming his way, but rather than attempt to dodge everything, he simply flew higher into the sky.

"Why won't you attack?! Are you scared or something?! If you tell us where Asta is, we'll leave you be, for now!" the royal shouted at him angrily.

Kenos shared her sentiment, but another worry plagued his mind. "Emmanuel, I can't be the only one who finds this strange. We didn't come off as hostile in the least, we even made plans to come here legally, but as soon as we got here, they picked a fight with us. Could this be a sign? Is Heart the country Julius foresaw leading to Clover's downfall? What if the cursed person here is someone really powerful? What if they're a devil host? Heck, what they're the Ideal Devil Host Azaela spoke of?"

"I think it's safe to rule out any possibilities of devil stuff being here," his partner attempted to reassure him. "Undine is a spirit, there's no way she'd want to align with one given what happened in the past. As for Heart generally being a threat to the kingdom, that's a lot more plausible if what's happening now says anything. We need to find Asta, get out of here, and report this to Julius,"

The man gazed down at them, narrowing his eyes slightly. "You want me to attack? If that's what you desire," he said, taking out his grimoire at last. "Noelle, was it? Why don't you be the first target? Lightning Magic: Tenjiolia!"

With a composed declaration, his right hand glowed before extending it and firing a bolt of electricity, but the speed was unlike anything she'd seen before, just barely managing to fly out of the way with a sliding motion. "Shit, his magic makes Luck's look slow, I need to be cautious,"

"Hm, you evaded that decently enough, and that projectile you shot at me earlier had some good power behind it. The same is true for the angel user," the spirit guardian assessed, resting his hands by his sides. "From what I could sense alone, you both were around upper Stage Two, but transforming brought you to lower Stage One,"

The pair of bulls reconvened in the air. "What's with all that talk about stages?" the girl asked.

Kenos shrugged. "Not sure, it sounds like some way to gauge strength, but I've never heard of it before," he answered. "Putting that aside, we need to formulate a plan, if we don't, taking him down will be practically impossible,"

However, Gaja wasn't going to give them the luxury of time to coordinate their actions as he prepared to fire another attack, but before he could, another mage beat him to the punch, that person being Mimosa as the lightning mage turned to see multiple beams coming at him.

Quickly weaving around them, he now gave his attention to those on the boat. "The power behind that was the lowest I've encountered yet, but that's to be expected, she never was an offensive mage. Scale-wise, I'd put her around lower Stage Two," he thought analytically.

"Gaja, why are you doing this?! This isn't like you! Please stop!" the plant mage pleaded.

"Worry not, Lady Mimosa, all will make sense in time," he plainly replied, turning back to the ones in the air. "As for you, it's time to kick things up a notch," he extended his right hand in the same way he did before, but this time, strange yellow symbols encircled him.

"What's the deal with those runes? Did he make them with his magic? I didn't know that was possible," Kenos wondered to himself as the mage shot the exact same attack as before at them.

However, the pause in his stance had given the teens a chance to prepare themselves to scatter the very second it came their way, but something neither of them were expecting was for the bolt of electricity to break in two and chase them.

"Huh? How is he doing that? I could've sworn he cast this spell earlier," Noelle voiced her shock.

"You're correct, I did, but this time, I've given the spell a set of orders, specifically to divide and pursue," he put slight emphasis on the last three words.

"That's a lie and you know it!" the angelic solar mage challenged. "You can't assign new properties to a pre-existing spell that don't align with what it can normally do, such a thing isn't physically possible,"

"On the contrary, it is, the mere fact of the matter is that no one in Clover has ever sought to learn how," Gaja retorted. "Behold one of the techniques that we of the Heart Kingdom pioneered in the creation of: Mana Method,"

"Mana Method?" they both mentally repeated.

"Damn, I hate to admit it, but that actually is really cool," Kenos couldn't help but praise it.

"I bet it is, but back to the important matter at hand, as in how we're supposed to get away from these things!" the water mage brought him back on track as she did a flurry of abrupt movements in the air, but she couldn't lose it.

Thankfully, their savior called out to them. "Fly straight at each other and go at a reasonable speed!" Finral instructed.

Both knights nodded, putting their trust in him as they obeyed what he said, Noelle coming from the east while Kenos came from the west. All the while, Gaja wasn't sure what was happening, what he did know however, was that it involved the spatial mage, and so, just like that, he had a new target, and Finral knew it.

"Crap, he's trying to stop me!" his mind was a little calmer sounding than usual, not bursting into full panic. "Mimosa, I'll need you again,"

"You can count on me. Plant Magic: Magic Cannon Flower!" she had it fire a straight beam this time.

"Lightning Magic: Sciath Astrauza!" he countered as his left hand glowed a bright yellow before extending it between him and the incoming blast, acting as a shield. Once contact was made, it was evident that the royal's attack wasn't getting through, not even making him let out a sound of discomfort.

"His strength is just on another level," she thought, but thankfully, it succeeded in doing what it needed to do and gave Finral the time he needed. He moved fast, opening two portals right where they'd be in a few seconds, the pair entering it as it closed just as quickly, the two bolts crashing into each other.

That wasn't it though. Rather than appear somewhere safe in the distance, the spatial mage figured that increasing the pressure would be smart as a larger portal formed some feet behind the spirit guardian, the solar and water mages bursting out, demonstrating their support of Finral's plan as they were already ready to attack, weapons swung back.

"Impressive coordination, but futile," electricity danced along the man's body as he backflipped, dodging their attack before launching one of his own in the form of a wide-legged dropkick, hitting them both in the back.

"Ugh!" the two grunted as they were sent flying. Once they stabilized, they stared at their opponent, who appeared calm and collected.

"C'mon, even after the boost in power we got from our battle with the elves, we aren't doing anything to him," Kenos clenched his fists in frustration.

Noelle took a few quick breaths. "We can't give up though, not until Asta's safe with us,"

Giving them a silent nod, Gaja's grimoire flipped to a page. "I've seen all I needed to. Why don't we end this with a bang?" the runes from before appeared again, but this time, he raised a hand, the symbols soaring into the sky and joining in a circle, dark clouds forming simultaneously.

Gaja's face became deadly serious. "Witness the mighty power of nature,"

The clover quartet couldn't help but stare at what he created, partially in awe from seeing something practically unheard of according to their understanding of magic, but mostly in fear at what this meant for their chances of winning. At the end of the day, only one word could escape their mouths.

"Crap,"

"And that's the last of them again!" Asta cheered as he had just finished doing away with the second set of soldiers.

With the field empty of all threats, the demonic swordsman set his eyes on the spirit. "I'm getting really tired of this. What's your angle?!"

"My angle?" Undine tilted her head. "I suppose I just wanted to see what you can do, your strength is what I'm seeking, after all,"

"Then why are you sending these weak things after me instead of doing it yourself?! Are you some kind of coward?!" he taunted her. "I know another spirit from back home, the wind spirit, and she'd never run from a battle, even though she's like, way tinier than you,"

Undine gasped in a calm manner. "Oh my, you mean little Bell chose someone in Clover? I just hope it wasn't a guy, she always had a knack for getting overly attached to her male partners. But enough about her, you want to know about me," she took a step forward. "I had my reasons for not getting involved right away?"

"And those were?"

She snorted with laughter, as if thinking it was ridiculous to ask. "Why else? To glean information on how you use your power. Anti-magic sure is fascinating, but if I'm not mistaken, it has one more quality, one that can be exploited," she drew a circle with her finger, a blue light tracing out a large circle on the floor, the knight in the middle.

"Whatever you're going to do, I won't let you!" Asta's singular wing flapped once and he was off, but before he could do anything substantial, the light from the circle elevated, now resembling a cylinder that rapidly filled with water, said water pulling him in like a whirlpool.

Meanwhile, the spirit spun her pointer fingers in circles. "Anti-magic will follow powerful magic without fail, so I charged this water with tons of my mana, enough that negating it won't be easy, now you're trapped in a loop,"

"Not for long, I'll get out of this!"

"And then what?" she challenged his declaration. "Even if you escape, you don't stand a chance against me. I'm one of the Four Great Spirits, and then there's you. Being in need of your power doesn't erase the fact that you're at Stage Nine, heck, you're below that,"

Asta displayed confusion. "What the heck does Stage Nine mean?!"

"Oh, that's right, you don't use that metric, silly me," she giggled. "Stages are the way we measure one's magical strength. The weakest stage a person can be at is nine, then it goes up to eight, and then seven, and so on and so forth; but then there's the stage that stands at the very pinnacle, in fact, a mage of that level should be battling with your friends as we speak,"

Just as she said that, the perspective returned to the altercation far away, emphasis being put on Gaja's face as he stood menacingly below his spell.

"A Stage Zero,"

"I assure you that you won't die, but it won't feel pleasant either. True Lightning Magic: Irial Astrauza!" he exclaimed as a large bolt of lightning descended, striking down nearly everything in the area, and covering the battlefield in a blinding flash of light.

Gaja closed his eyes for a moment, waiting for the light to fade, and once it did, he opened them…just to see that no one was around. "What?"

Unbeknownst to him, Finral had gotten them out at the last second, bringing them somewhere safe and far, but just because they couldn't see him didn't mean they couldn't launch a counterattack.

"Plant Magic: Magic Flower Guidepost!" Mimosa created her schematic, eyes on the sole white dot present. "I've got his location, and he isn't moving!"

"Then we can't wait! Spatial Magic: Fallen Angel's Twin Gates!" the oldest created two bigger portals that were in front of their main attackers. "Now!"

"Water Creation Magic: Sea Dragon's Roar!"

"Solar Creation Magic: Wyvern of Helios!"

In no time at all, they let loose their ace spells, both constructs going into one pair of portals and coming out the others which were situated at Gaja's sides, leaving him in the middle while both dragons rushed his way. However, the perspective shifted away from him and back to them just as contact was made, the group merely hearing the sound of the collision, but that was enough for them as they shared a group high-five.

"Nice work, team!"

.

.

"Wait, you mean that Gaja is one of these Stage Zeros, and that he's fighting my friends?" Asta repeated.

"Correct," Undine answered as she now conjured a pair of water chains that sprouted from below, clamping onto the magicless mage's wrists and pulling him down. "Do you think you can ever compare to someone like that?"

"Of course-," Asta made the mistake of trying to respond while submerged, water entering his throat, but he wouldn't give up. Closing his mouth, he was determined to free himself before he depleted what little oxygen he had left, however, it was easier said than done as the way he was cuffed made it difficult to wield his sword properly, unable to have it make decent contact with the chains.

Thankfully, he wouldn't have to rely on it as the anti-bird flew in through the opening, diving into the pool with great speed. Once inside, Secre reverted to her human form, her grimoire already on the spell she needed.

"Sealing Magic: Inverse Release!" she thought, breaking the cuffs. "I don't much about how this stage stuff works, but it isn't wise to write off Asta so quickly,"

Exchanging a quick nod of gratitude, the demonic swordsman let the Slayer fill with more anti-magic before performing his Black Hurricane, the solution working as the pool dissipated and they were free, the teen now flying straight at the pair.

"If I cause my immediate space to be covered with anti-magic, she shouldn't be able to do what she did again!" he thought, the water spirit bracing herself, but to her shock, he flew right by her…and towards the curtain.

"It's finally time to see who's in here!" he yelled, slashing the curtain to form an opening before landing inside, his guard up, but that's when he noticed something.

"There's…nobody here?" he looked perplexed as Secre reconvened with him. The two saw a small throne, but no one was sitting on it.

"I am sensing faint traces of mana, but that shouldn't make sense," the sealing mage stated.

"And I could've sworn I detected someone's ki. Do you think it's some kind of-," before he could go further, a soft sound entered their ears.

"Is that…snoring?" they both thought. The sound was coming from the other side of the throne, so Asta stepped forward, his eyes widening as he spotted what looked to be a beaver-themed rug, and on it was a young woman.

"It's a lady, and she's sleeping. Strange, with how loud I was, you'd think she'd be awake," Asta knelt down.

"Be careful," his squadmate warned him.

"I will, besides, I'm still transformed, she couldn't possibly hurt me," the boy grabbed her ear before tugging it. "A little trick Sister Lily taught me, she'll be up in no-," it appeared his trick worked too well as the woman jolted upwards, hitting Asta straight in the forehead.

"Ow!" he yelped in pain.

"So much for not getting hurt," Secre chastised him.

In barely any time at all, the mystery woman was on her feet, fixing her glasses, revealing her long black hair and casual attire. "O-Oh no, I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to do that, I'm such a clutz!" she panicked. "Are you okay?!"

"Yeah, I'm fine, it'll pass in no time," Asta told her.

She breathed a sigh of relief. "Great. Say, who are you two?" she was still recovering from her fatigue, but once her senses were normal, she quickly noticed what they had on. "Those are…Black Bull robes. What?! Undine! The guests from Clover arrived and you didn't wake me up?!" she complained innocently.

The water spirit got closer and undid the curtain, her hands on her hips. "I tried to wake you up, six times, but you didn't budge, so Gaja and I had to conduct the tests on our own,"

"Really?" the woman's shoulders slumped.

"Yes. You shouldn't have stayed up so late last night, it isn't healthy," Undine scolded her in the way a mother would to her daughter.

Asta and Secre were surprised at how quickly the other two had seemingly forgotten about them, the former even feeling comfortable enough to revert to his base state. "Hold on, did she just say tests? What's really going on? And who exactly are you?"

Undine sighed. "Well, it seems we'll have to drop the charade sooner than expected," she said as she pointed to the woman next to her. "This is Loropechika Sylvia Goodheart, the queen of this kingdom,"

"That was certainly an experience," Kenos mused as he and Noelle undid their transformations, resting on the large tree branch they were standing on.

"Yeah, I don't know what got into Gaja," Mimosa sat down. "He didn't act anything like this during my last trip here,"

"Well, I guess something made him change. Two years is a long time, don't be too hard on yourself," her cousin consoled her. "What's important is that we at least took him out of commission for now. The next thing we should do is find Asta and then blend in with the people, we'll start asking around for info on the cursed individual,"

"And how do you suppose we do that without sounding suspicious or drawing attention to ourselves?" the solar mage asked.

"To tell you the truth, I'm not sure right now, but if we put our heads together, we'll think of something,"

Finral sat with his legs crisscrossed. "While the topic of Gaja is fresh, did any of you know what he was talking about when he mentioned these stages?"

"I assumed that it must be some way the Heart Kingdom gauges one's abilities, but I don't know for sure," Kenos replied.

The spatial mage shrugged. "Then I guess we won't ever know, but hey, I won't lose any sleep over it,"

"I beg to differ. You'll be learning much more about the stage system," someone said, the voice belonging to a figure who was to his left. In a mere second, the atmosphere shifted, tensing up to insane heights, and for good reason.

"G-Gaja?" Mimosa quietly gasped, staring at the lightning mage who was now sitting next to Finral, the spatial mage beyond terrified.

"I take it you're surprised as to how I withstood your combination attack. It was simple, I used Mana Method at the last moment to augment one of my defense spells," he explained plainly.

"You don't say?" although he stood still and didn't assume a stance, Kenos' fist was already lighting up, ready to go at a moment's notice.

"Yes, and now that I'm here, I can do what I came to do," he stood up and respectfully bowed his upper half. "I'd like to offer my deepest apologies,"

"Huh?" they all raised their brows.

"Everything that was done up until now was a test orchestrated by Undine and myself to see how powerful you were. We knew you wouldn't give your all if we told you beforehand, so we cooked up a plan to provide incentive,"

The plant mage breathed a sigh of relief. "So that means Asta is alright too?"

"He is. He was brought to the castle's training grounds for his test, it should've concluded by now if all went well,"

"Hm," the solar mage glared at the man before ultimately relenting. "Okay then, I guess we can forgive you. If it's not too much trouble, can you take us to him?"

"Of course,"

.

.

"No way! You're the queen of the Heart Kingdom?!" Asta pointed at her in disbelief.

"Hey, don't do that, it's rude," Secre nudged him with her elbow.

"Don't worry, it's alright," Loropechika waved it off. "I'm not exactly looking very regal right now, this is just what I wear when I'm relaxing,"

"Ok then, now for the other thing I want to know," the teen now addressed the spirit. "You were just testing me, weren't you?"

"You caught me," she didn't try to hide it. "And it's the same deal with your friends, I just hope Gaja didn't hurt them too badly,"

"Does that mean you were just playing around when you said I was below Stage Nine?" he then asked with hopeful glee.

"Uh, no,"

"Oh c'mon!" he comedically whined.

Secre spoke up. "Your Majesty-,"

"Loropechika is fine, I only go by that during formal settings," she politely cut her off. "I even go by Loro sometimes,"

The horned girl nodded. "Loro, if you don't mind me asking, how exactly do stages work? What are they?"

"The Stage System is the primary way we gauge the individual power of a single mage, with nine as the lowest and zero as the highest. From what I remember, neither Clover nor Diamond has adopted it, so your confusion is understandable. For the countries that do use it, it's how we gauge the strength of our nations, the more mages you have of a higher stage, the stronger your military is considered," the queen explained.

Asta nodded. "I guess that makes sense. Back when I was younger, I always figured the army with the most people was the strongest,"

"It's a common belief, but not one that holds truth," Loropechika said, her voice adopting a slightly serious tone. "The stage system is one that values quality over quantity; for example, just a single Stage Zero mage could beat dozens upon dozens of Stage Sevens,"

Secre held her chin. "I see, that's pretty interesting,"

The queen nodded eagerly. "I agree, it's very-," she suddenly paused, clutching her head. "Oh no!"

"What happened?" Asta asked with concern.

"I forgot to water the trees!" she screamed, the boy deadpanning.

"Oh,"

The woman hurried over to her grimoire that was resting on the beaver rug, the book opening itself in front of her as a multitude of water panels materialized, displaying multiple things going on outside. Loropechika extended her hand as dark clouds appeared over a select portion of the kingdom, rain falling down for a minute before the sky became clear again. "Okay, crisis averted, better check on everyone else,"

The pair of knights watched as she made comments about the many citizens of the kingdom. "Wow, I didn't think it'd be possible for her to see everything that's going on," Asta commented.

"Not everything," the water mage corrected with a wag of her finger. "I would never violate the privacy of my subjects,"

Secre shrugged. "That's good. Well, if we're all done here, we'll take our leave, we have a cursed person to find. Do you have any ideas about who it could be?"

Loropechika perked up. "I do," she turned around and walked to them, pulling up her shirt to reveal a purple spiral along her right side. "The cursed person is me,"

Their eyes widened in shock, Undine doing the same for a different reason. "What are you doing?! Don't show your skin!"

"But then how would I show them my curse?"

The spirit rubbed the bridge of her. "You could just tell them,"

"Oh yeah,"

Undine sighed. "Sometimes, I don't know what to do with you, if only this side of you wasn't absolutely adorable," just then, a beep was heard, so the spirit stuck her hand into her hair, pulling out a strange-looking communication device. Opening it, she placed it by her ear.

"Hello. You're done? Okay, thanks for the heads-up," she turned it off. "That was Gaja, the others finished their test and they're on their way to the throne room,"

Turning to their guests, the spirit created a singular water soldier. "It will lead you to the room, we'll be up there after Loropechika is done tidying up,"

"Okay," they nodded as the soldier led them through a series of paths, finally arriving in a large room bathed in a hue of dark blue with a grandiose throne in the center.

"There they are!" they heard familiar voices close by, turning to see the others with Gaja.

"Guys, you made it!" Asta waved.

"It's good to see you're okay," Kenos said. "This was one heck of a welcome,"

The fellow fifth-leaf holder nodded. "Tell me about it. Also, you'll never guess what I found out-," he was about to share his discovery, but he was cut off by loud footsteps behind him.

Everyone turned their attention to the new figure in the room, gasping as it was none other than Loropechika, discarding her casual attire for a long regal dress that was mainly red and white with accents of gold. She had removed her glasses, also opting to wear a crown that completely concealed her hair, and in her right hand was a golden scepter.

"I never got to meet the queen during my last visit, but she's absolutely beautiful," Mimosa thought.

"The magic coming off from her is so strong, yet so refined," Noelle thought as well.

The solar mage shut his eyes and opened them. "The ki of her mana is filled with noble strength and selfless love. Why can't our own monarch be that cool?"

Finral was last up. "Finesse is way prettier than her. I mean, not to say the queen isn't gorgeous, she definitely is, I'm just saying that-...hold on. Why am I trying to justify this to myself? I know what I mean! Ugh, stop being weird!"

Undine stood faithfully at the side of the room as the ruler spoke. "Magic Knights of the Clover Kingdom, welcome. I'll get to the point, the reason we permitted you to come here is because you are the solution to our problem. Please, lend us your strength that we may defeat-," then, as if fate was trying to screw her over, she stumbled on her gown and dramatically landed on the floor.

In an instant, the awe she put in the hearts of the foreigners vanished. "Did that just happen?"

But while they were deadpanning, Gaja had already hurried to her. "Are you alright?" his voice was laced with calm concern as he helped her to knees, now inspecting her face. "You're fine, that's good," the lightning mage now cupped his left hand around her cheek, the smallest of warm smiles present.

"Yup, I'm fine, you don't need to be worried," she said back. "Um…you can let go of me now,"

Gaja, having realized how this must've looked, composed himself in seconds as he removed his hand from her naturally. "Of course, my apologies," he helped her to her feet and made his way to Undine, standing beside her.

The spirit shot him a smirk with a knowing look in her eyes. "Smooth," she said, earning a side glare from him.

The woman cleared her throat, trying to fix the now awkward atmosphere. "Sorry about that. Why don't we start again? Actually, I suppose I should introduce myself, I was told the names of those who would be coming, but you probably don't know me. I am Loropechika Sylvia Goodheart, and I'm the cursed person you're looking for,"

"What?!" the uninformed exclaimed.

"Really? But, you're the queen, you literally can maintain a mana zone around your whole country at all times. What mage could be powerful enough to curse you?" Kenos asked, still in disbelief.

"That's the thing…I wasn't cursed by just any magic user," she began, looking at them dead in the eye. "I was cursed by a devil, one who goes by the name Megicula,"

Asta and Noelle widened their eyes. "Are you sure?" the former inquired.

"Positive,"

"Wait, you know of her too?" the water mage questioned.

He nodded. "Yeah. When we went to Gordon's house, we learned that his family was involved with her in the past,"

The angelic grimoire opened. "That checks out. Back when devils could freely roam the earth, they had learned to make contracts with mortals who were willing to cooperate with them, these contracts were so well-made that they didn't even need to fully exist in the physical world to establish and maintain one,"

Kenos rubbed his chin. "So, even though Megicula is still trapped within Sheva, her host can curse people," he thought. "Hey, Noelle, how'd you find out about her?"

"I found out a few days ago. It turns out that she's the reason for…," she paused, making sure to choose her next words carefully. "...My bad life,"

Her fellow knights knew exactly what she meant, choosing not to say anything more. Loropechika also chose not to ask. "Yes, I was cursed, granted, it was a year ago, I have gotten decently stronger since then, but even now, the Heart Kingdom doesn't stand a chance of beating her and her allies on its own,"

"Allies? You mean this isn't just a single person we have to worry about?" the question came from Finral.

The queen shook her head. "No. Megicula has allied herself with mages from another nation,"

"Which one?" all of them asked.

"The Spade Kingdom,"

"Holy shit,"

Those were the words that came out of the mouths of Magna, Luck, and Vanessa. Once Yami returned from seeing the group off, he notified the trio of the scouting mission Julius assigned, so they made the long trek to the Diamond Kingdom, making sure to be as discreet as possible, arriving at the border between their nations.

From what it looked like, this mission would be a fairly easy one, what with Magna's unpredictable moveset, Luck's speed, and Vanessa's ability to bend fate. However, they didn't end up so lucky. While they were still traversing the forest area that would lead to the nearest Diamond Kingdom town, a cacophony of screams was heard, causing the trio to advance with caution; upon reaching the end and finding a spot to hide, they attempted to figure out what the commotion was.

And it shocked them to their cores.

Standing in the center of a semi-barren space was one man, his back was facing the group, so they couldn't see his face, what they could see, however, was the large spade insignia on his coat. Scanning the area, they noticed that it had gone through the wringer, sustaining massive damage, but what surprised them more were the unconscious bodies of two mages, bloody and bruised.

"Aren't those guys Shining Generals?" the flame mage whispered. "They're supposed to be as strong as our captains,"

Luck said nothing, his eyes glued on the mage.

"Who knows, but it doesn't look like the fight is over yet. Check it out," the thread mage pointed to a group standing meters away from the spade mage, recognizing a few of them.

The group consisted of five people: Mars, Ladros, Lotus, Anna, and Arbus, all of them looking worse for wear, wind blowing through their hair.

"Just who the hell is this guy?" Ladros wondered aloud in slight fear, the spade mage's entire face being obscured by a shadow.

"I don't know, nor do I know why he's here, but we have to take him down," Anna said, dropping to one knee.

"Flame Recovery Magic: Phoenix Robe!" Mars exclaimed as each of them was cloaked in the red aura.

"Thanks,"

Arbus looked notably worried. "I hate to say it, but we may be out of our depth with this guy. This fight only started three minutes ago, Howzer Principle has been slowly boosting us, but in that time, he already managed to take down Andreas and Tantalus…it won't be much longer until we join them,"

"That doesn't mean we should quit," Lotus attempted to raise their morale. "If Spade is attacking, they must be trying to wage war. If we lose, then our nation is as good as done for,"

Ladros punched his palm. "There's no way in hell we're letting that happen, not when things have finally started to get better,"

The smoke mage grinned. "That's what I like to hear," he turned to the ladies. "I have a plan. Both of your best spells require some time to charge, we should pair that with the capabilities of Howzer Principle,"

"How do you suppose we do that, dear?" his wife asked.

"The guys and I will attack at once and buy you as much time as possible, then once you're ready, you'll get him with a unified super attack, he'll never see it coming,"

The typhoon mage crossed her arms. "It's the best we got. Let's do it,"

"Okay then, c'mon!" the men charged while the women's grimoires flipped to certain pages.

Lotus ran in the center while his juniors were to his left and right. "Smoke Magic: Haze Slash!" he launched the first attack, the opponent not even taking his hands out of his pocket as a string of bone emerged, blocking it.

"Basic Magic: Quick Flash!" Ladros paired the spell with a jump, putting him high in the air to the man's right. "Basic Magic: A.E Cannon Barrage!"

At the same time, Mars ran at a curve going northeast, attempting to strike the man's left. "Mineral Magic: Nemean Armor!" he coated himself in additional protection. "Mineral Creation Magic: Laevateinn!"

With the sides covered, all that was left was to handle the center. "Smoke Creation Magic: Smoke-impaling Spear!"

Despite the sheer number of attacks coming at him, the man would demonstrate Loropechika's earlier words as he deployed a flurry of bones, destroying the opposing spells in seconds, a trio of bones coming for each of the diamond mages.

Mars and Ladros had gotten unlucky as the ones coming for them went right through their torsos, taking them out of the fight in an instant, but Lotus managed to get out of it with just an impaled arm, his sword falling on the ground as his dominant arm was the one targeted.

"Damn it, we barely lasted any time at all. I hope the girls can finish this," he thought as he was carelessly tossed to the side, the man's attention now on the last combatants standing.

"We don't know why you came here, but you're going to regret it!" Anna screamed.

"Yeah, this will send a message to Spade and tell them that they shouldn't mess with us!" Arbus added.

With no more time left to spare, they released their spells in unison.

"Golden Eye Magic: Final Flash!"

"Typhoon Magic: Monsoon Devastation!"

Both attacks ruptured the ground beneath as they traveled to their enemy, receiving as much of a boost as possible. It looked like this would really be it, but alas, it wasn't as the man summoned multiple bones, crossing them together in front of him as they tanked the blasts without issue.

"It's not possible!" were the words that went through the minds of the conscious as the spade mage fired more bones at the women.

"Look out!" Arbus tried to flee, but she wasn't fast enough, her body getting skewered and tossed aside, on the other hand, Anna's armor managed to protect her from the brunt of it, though she was now struggling to stand as the Phoenix Robe around everyone died out.

Seeing that she was the last one standing, the golden eye mage did her utmost best to stay on her feet. "Do you think I'm going to back down?! I won't! This is my home, I won't let Spade take it away from me, not while I still draw breath! I will fight, as a Shining General, as a wife, and as a mother! For the sake of my children's future, I'll stop you!"

While no one could notice it, the obscured face of the man shifted, as if something she said got to him, but it vanished as fast as it had formed. Without warning, more bone spikes raced her way, destroying her armor until its form undid itself, leaving just the woman underneath, now on the ground.

It was almost over, the enemy group may have been done, but they weren't out…though that wouldn't be the case for much longer as the man did something he hadn't done since the beginning of the battle.

He took a single hand out of his pocket.

The second he did that, wisps of eerie mana began to emanate from him, like he was about to do something, but before he could…

"Wait!" Lotus' desperate voice was heard, the man rising to his feet, quickly coming in between his adversary and where his wife lay. The man said nothing in response, but he didn't move further, the smoke mage hoping that meant he'd be heard out.

"I still don't know the entirety of your objective, but I beg of you, please spare everyone here, especially my wife," he fell to his knees. "Please, I'll do anything you ask of me, I'll even give myself up as a prisoner, just don't kill them,"

"Lotus, no!" Anna tried to stand, but it was useless. "Don't do it!"

"I have no choice, we couldn't win. As your husband, I need to keep you safe," he told her, turning his attention back to the bone mage. "Please,"

However, his words didn't reach him as he resumed motion, but that's when someone else spoke up. "Accept his offer," the voice came from a device on the man's person. "It'll be of no consequence if they stay alive. And while you're there, can you grab some bodies? That sister of yours has gotten curious again,"

The volume of the device was fairly low, meaning no one else heard the words from the other side, that fact contributing to their shock as the man walked to Andreas and Tantalus, picking them up with large bone hands. He then faced Lotus, opening his mouth to speak for the first time.

"Let's go,"

His tone was cold, but the smoke mage didn't care. "Thank you," he got up, turning to each of his allies, ending on Anna. "Take care of the girls for me,"

With that, he left, following the man as they headed northwest, leaving the golden eye mage in tears.

All the while, the trio from Clover saw it all go down, all of them quiet, well, all except for Luck, the lightning mage chuckling strangely to himself.

"Don't you dare do anything stupid," Vanessa warned.

"...I won't," he finally spoke, shocking the two as they registered something in his voice that they never once heard.

Fear.

"I can't believe I'm saying this, but…I don't want to fight him,"

"The Spade Kingdom?" everyone repeated.

Loropechika nodded. "Affirmative. Megicula's host is a mage who hails from that country, and it wouldn't be farfetched to assume that other devils are also working with them, ones who rival her in power,"

Kenos raised his hand. "I have a question. You said that the Heart Kingdom wasn't strong enough on its own and needed our help, but is that really true? I don't mean to undermine our own efforts, but Gaja's way stronger than us. Admittedly, I wasn't fighting at my absolute best during that battle we had earlier, but regardless, he's on another level,"

"Is that what you believe?" the queen met his question with one of her own. "I take it you've all noticed the scar on his face?"

"Obviously,"

"To tell you the truth, he had gotten it rather recently…against Megicula's host,"

That revelation managed to scare them. "No way," the solar mage muttered.

The lightning mage passed a hand through the healed wound. "I wasn't strong enough back then, but I've improved, however, strength isn't the deciding factor when battling a devil,"

"It isn't?"

"No," the queen replied. "You all now know how stages should work and how Gaja stands at the top as a Stage Zero mage, but no matter how much stronger he becomes, he could never kill a devil,"

"She's right," Kenos spoke up, turning to Asta and Secre. "Remember when we were fighting Zagred and Licht used that spell of his?"

"I do, and Zagred just healed himself. He said that magic of this world couldn't kill him," the sealing mage recalled.

Loropechika gave her two cents. "I too have been made aware of this Zagred individual, the same issue you had with him is one you'll have with Megicula and her allies. A devil cannot be killed by the magic of our world, and due to Heart's culture, the only attributes our mages manifest are ones found in nature, making us useless against them. That's where you all come in,"

"What about us is so special?" Noelle asked with crossed arms.

"The Clover Kingdom's culture is different as over the years, you've cultivated unnatural attributes like spatial magic. Because of this, some of you with these unique types of magic have the chance to classify yourselves as a new tier in our system, one that comprises of people who can either destroy or affect devils, which I've dubbed the 'Arcane Stage',"

"Arcane Stage?"

"That's right," Loropechika tapped her chin. "In fact, I already know a few that you have, such as Yami Sukehiro with his dark magic, and Julius Novachrono with his time magic," she then pointed at two bulls in particular. "Asta and Secre are also of this tier. Anti-magic has already been shown to affect anything magical, and through the weg obtained by delving into the forbidden arts, sealing magic also has the power,"

"What about me? I imagine I'm also in the club?" Kenos wanted to know.

She nodded. "You're a special case. You've aligned with an angel, who are the sworn enemy of devils, meaning the heaven magic you've obtained can do it, but thanks to divine influence, your solar magic is classified as arcane too, despite being a natural attribute,"

The boy grinned. "Nice. Y'know, it's kinda cool to meet another human who knows a lot about angels and whatnot. Undine must've told you all a lot,"

The queen giggled. "Thanks for the compliment, but actually, she didn't tell us much, I already knew it myself,"

"I beg your pardon?"

"You see, back when the first heart queen established this kingdom and began her rule, she used her magic to create a special ritual, one where the knowledge and collected power of each queen would pass onto the next," she explained with a sense of pride, tapping her head. "I've got a lot of information up here. All of the stuff about angels is from the first queen since she was around while they could still roam freely,"

"Oh c'mon, can you literally get any cooler?" the solar mage praised.

"Aw, stop it, you're going to make me blush," the queen laughed.

"I have a question of my own, if you don't mind me asking," Mimosa raised her hand.

"Not at all,"

"Are Arcane Stage mages the only ones capable of killing devils?" she was curious. "Surely there must be something else?"

"As a matter of fact, there is," the queen replied, earning looks of joy. "Unfortunately, I don't know what it is," the joy faded away.

"What do you mean you don't know?" Finral questioned. "You said another one exists,"

"That doesn't mean I know its name or the details. The only reason I even know of it is because a previous queen had heard about it,"

Asta crossed his arms, going over everything he heard. "Alright, I've made up my mind, we're going to help you out!"

Noelle quickly slapped the back of his head. "What do you think you're doing? I want to help too, but you can't just decide that, it isn't your call, nor is it any of ours,"

"But I know who can make that call," her cousin took out the special communication device she was given, activating it as a large projection spawned. In a few seconds, another person appeared on the other side.

"Ah, you all made it, that's good," Julius said from his desk, spotting the queen. "Heya there, it's good to see you again,"

"Julius? Is that you? I hadn't been informed about your change in appearance,"

"That's because I've been working really hard to keep it hush-hush, but I trust you,"

"You've met her before?" the Rossiu asked.

"Of course. Back when I was a captain, I had a big mission on the border of Clover and Heart, that's when I met her and Gaja, we even had a big spar together. Reyna and some others came along with me, but I guess she must've just told Sylvester,"

"What?! My aunt came here?!"

Loropechika rested her face on her palm. "You mean that quiet young lady with the long and dark hair? I didn't know you were related,"

"So, what did you call me for? I take it you've found something interesting?" the time mage asked the royal.

"You could say that," she replied as the queen began explaining everything to him, ending with her plea for help.

Julius rubbed his chin. "Hm, devils from the Spade Kingdom? They must've been the ones I foresaw, and if that's the case, we're in danger too. Loropechika, we'd be glad to lend our strength to you,"

The older water mage clasped her hands in front of her lips. "This means so much, thank you," she said as the transmission ended. "Now that we have that out of the way, the next thing to worry about is improvement. I'll be blunt, at the level of power you're all at now, if you were to go into battle, the longest you'd last is maybe forty seconds, a minute at best,"

Hearing that shook the group deeply. "Y-You're just joking, right?"

"Not for a second. You had just finished your fight against this Zagred recently, if he and Megicula were to battle, she'd slaughter him ten times over without breaking a sweat," she gave them the harsh truth. "But worry not, because I have a plan. The curse that I have is designed to put my life on a timer, and right now, a year is all I have left, so in six months, we'll wage war on Spade,"

The group nodded. "Works for us,"

The queen smiled. "Great, thank you again for agreeing to help. As a primary display of gratitude, we'll provide you with a faster way to get back to Clover. I hope none of you can get seasick,"

"We're back!"

Night had just fallen over the kingdom, the doors of Black Bulls HQ opening as the five entered, being greeted by their squadmates.

"Hey there!"

Yami expressed some surprise. "I wasn't expecting you guys back until tomorrow,"

"So were we, but then the queen lent us some kind of boat rigged up with speed-enhancing items," Kenos explained as he took a seat. "Best ride ever,"

"I take it you found what you were looking for?" Gordon asked.

"Yup, turns out the cursed person is the queen herself," Asta answered.

"What?!" the room erupted in yelling.

"It's not just that, the one who did it came from the Spade Kingdom," the royal added. "Loropechika wanted to engage with them and asked for our help, and Julius gave the okay. We'll be at war with them in six months from now,"

Magna's attention was piqued. "Did you just say the Spade Kingdom?"

"Yeah. So what?"

"We got sent to scout the Diamond Kingdom, and that's when we saw a guy from Spade fighting the Shining Generals, and he beat them all by himself. They're all still alive though, and get this, Luck didn't want to fight him,"

All eyes shifted to the blond, unable to believe what just came out of their squadmate's mouth. "It's true," he confirmed, shaking. "The feeling he gave off was terrifying, and I could just tell he wasn't giving it his all, nowhere close to it,"

"Then it looks like we have quite the uphill battle ahead of us," Yami chuckled. "However, that isn't enough to stop us, is it?! We've been through one tough battle after another, and we made it out each time, so this time won't be any different!" he stood up from his chair and walked to the center of the room. "Well, answer me! Will it be any different?!"

"No, sir!" they responded, all of them standing up, determination on their faces.

The dark mage grinned. "I like that spirit, alright then, here's the deal. For the next six months, you only have one mission from me and one mission only: go wherever the hell you want, do whatever the hell you want, just get stronger, much stronger. Have I made myself clear?!" he declared, each of his subordinates clover-saluting.

"Yes, sir!"