Chapter 6:A Dragon Acknowledged
"WHAT! I seriously slept for a whole week?" Asta cried.
It had been a full week since the dungeon raid and Asta had just woken up from his injuries. And he had just woken up this morning. At the moment most of the squad except for Tear were present in the bar.
Noelle smacked her lips "Why does everything have to be so dramatic with you?" She asked annoyed. "Poor Noelle, she was so worried about you. You have no idea often she came to check up on you." Vanessa said.
Noelle denied such a claim but Asta simply thanked her. Gauche was finding ways to bring up his sister and Luck brought up that fight Asta promised.
"Sorry but I don't think my stomach's healed all the way. Or maybe I'm just hungry." Asta said with an uncomfortable sigh. Luckily for him though Charmy came to the rescue with a ton of food for all of them. After handing it all out Asta immediately started digging in, shoving mouthfuls upon mouthfuls of food down his throat.
"Would you slow down!? You're disgusting!" Noelle said with a scared look. However Asta just ignored her and continued stuffing his face after taking multiple gulps of milk.
"You are such a pig." Noelle insulted with a disturbed look plastered on her face. "Hey now, the kiddo needs his sustenance to recover." Vanessa in her regular drunken stupor argued.
Asta kept on eating and Charmy had started cheering him on. "Yeah That's Right Asta! The Sheep Cooks Love A Guy Who Knows How To Eat!" Suddenly the door to the bedrooms had a boot going through it and the roof went through a similar situation.
"Why The Hell Didn't Y'all Tell Me Charmy Cooked!" Tear yelled with humorous rage. "Hey look who's up finally." Finral had said. "Where have you been for so long?" Vanessa asked slurring slightly.
Tear gave a quick yawn "Oh yeah, I thought I told you but I took a nap." The rest of Black Bulls just looked at him in confusion. "What? Is there still some sleep crust on my face?" Tear asked looking around. "Dude, it's been five days, what do you mean you took a nap?" Magna said.
"You act like I don't take long naps all the time." Tear said conused. "Uhhh, probably because you Dont!" Magna yelled. "What? Than where do you think I've been going to on some weekends? Or some weeks?" Tear questioned.
"Wha-!? We thought you were just going on missions! You're telling me that all this time you were just taking week long naps?!" Magna yelled again.
Tear dismissed him though "of course not, I only take those naps once every other week." Tear said like that made it any better.
"What could possibly even make you take week long naps in the first place?" This time Noelle chimed in. Tear turned to her and explained "When I was younger, Yami would wake me up but I would just stay in bed. Eventually he just gave up trying and I would just stay in bed for hours at a time until I got bored. Eventually I just started sleeping for days on end and now it's a habit."
The rest of the squad looked at Tear crazy but eventually just decided to let it go.
"Yeah, I really gotta stop letting you do that kid." Yami said, him being the guy to kick down the door. "You don't gotta do that. I think I'm just fine with how it is." Tear replied, taking a seat on one of the chairs and grabbing some of the food.
"That's great, but I'm not fine with how it is." Yami said suddenly appearing right infront of him, a menacing glare on his face. "So quit it." He stated absolutely. Tear gave an unimpressed look before looking at his food. "Well it was nice while it lasted." He said.
Yami took a seat at the short side of the rectangular table. "Well looks like you didn't die after all." Yami said while looking at Asta, taking a dreg of his cigarette. "Nope, still alive sir!" Asta damn near yelled enthusiastically. "Right, anyway knights headquarters wants a report on the dungeon raid ASAP. So if you can walk you're going" Yami informed.
Tear choked a little on the drink he was chugging and stood up quickly. "Welp I better be off. I have a monster hunting mission to complete." Tear said nervously. "Monster hunting?" Asta asked.
Tear looked at him confused before remembering that Asta had no idea all of things magic knights do. "Monsters are powerful animals that are not only extremely exceptional physically but also have some kind of access to some kind of magic."
"Oooooh, you mean magic beats!" Asta said im understanding. "Yeah that. Magic knights are tasked with capturing, repelling, or for the more stubborn and dangerous ones slaying monsters. I happen to specialize in fighting them since they're so strong." Tear explained.
"How strong are they?" Asta questioned. "It depends on the monster to be honest. Something like a jagras I could take down back when I was 8 and didn't even have a grimoire. But an apex like a Rathalos probably could've beaten that crystal mage from diamond with moderate difficulty." Tear said to the shock of Asta.
"Woah! And you hunt those things all the time?" Asta questioned in wonder. "Yep! Well not a high rank like Rathalos. Which by the way Monsters are sorted into ranks. High rank monsters are capable of taking down entire groups of senior magic knights while low ranks monsters can be taken down by above average citizens if they play their cards right."
Before Asta could ask another question Tear said one more thing. "But there are also legends of monsters that are invincible. So blessed by mana that they don't need to eat or sleep. Monsters that don't belong in any other known class of monster and are in a league of their own. Beings so strong that they were revered as gods." Tear said, suspense hanging in the air.
"The Elder Dragons."
Asta was gonna ask another question but Tear interrupted him. "Anyway I still gotta do that mission so I'll see you all later bye!" Tear said quickly as he tried to sprint off through the door.
However just before he could get out he crashed into what felt like a brick wall. "I don't remember sending you on aby mission." Yami called his bluff
"Oh well that's because it was given to me by Julius himself." Tear continued to lie. "Oh well than, I should go see Julius just to confirm." Yami continued. "Oh, you don't have to do all that. You know I wouldn't lie to you." Tear tried.
"It's also been a long time since I've seen Julius. So might as well go and visit him." Yami replied, narrowing his eyes in annoyance. Tear gave a nervous laugh before just cutting his losses. "You know what, that mission can wait. It was just a low rank anyway." Tear tried to save face.
Tear gave a defeated look and resigned to his fate. "Oh yeah and Luck before you get any ideas no way in hell are you going." Yami said after seeing the look in Lucks eyes. Luck protested but quickly shut up after he was instead assigned a battle mission with Magna.
WOAH! I Knew It Was Big But This Is Absolutely Ginormous!" Asta shouted at the top of his lungs in amazement. "Keep it down would you? You're embarrassing all three of us right now." Noelle said.
Tear didn't say anything and was just trying his best to disassociate from the unfortunate reality he was facing
"Why the hell did I have to go? I wasn't the one assigned on that dumbass mission. I'm technically a rookie just like these two dimwits. Why couldn't I have the cool battle mission? I bet it was a bunch if grunts that would be fun to play with."
To say the least he was failing miserably.
After a bit more walking the trio came up on Mimosa, Klaus, and Yuno. "Hey there!" Asta called out.
Tear got out his head to look at whoever Asta wss talking too and was pleasantly suprised to see some familiar faces. Klaus was the first to approach, talking to Asta. "We haven't seen you three since the dungeon. Is your wound all healed up Asta?" Klaus asked.
"Yep! Though sometimes my stomach will hurt a bit but after a bunch of food and sleep I bounced back." Asta replied. "Such a child." Yuno said right after Asta finished speaking. "Hey! We're the same age you know!" Asta shouted.
While Asta was greeting Klaus Tear walked up too Mimosa. "So how's it been going? Haven't seen you in a whi-." However before Tear could finish Asta interrupted him. "Oh Yeah thanks Mimosa! You were really a life saver back there!" Asta shouted while waving at her.
But just after he finished talking Mimosa ran away like she was embarrassed about something. "huh?" Asta said in question. "She was probably suprised by the fact that you're closer to a gnome in terms of height than a human." Tear said with a dead-pan look. "My thoughts exactly." Yuno agreed cooly.
Asta just looked between the two of them in shock. "Why are you both ganging up on me!? What did I do!?" Asta questioned loudly. Tear just laughed it off however, tail swinging around and had actually almost hit Klaus.
"HEY! Watch Where You Move That Thing! You Almost Took My Head Off!" Klaus scolded. "Tear looked back at him with his regular disinterest and just shrugged. Klaus gave him a shocked and indignant look but didn't say more.
Noelle on the other hand had followed Mimosa to figure out what was wrong. "What's going on Mimosa?" Noelle said as she walked up. Mimosa grabbed her cheeks with a nervous blush, "It's Tear, whenever he looks at me I just get this warm feeling in my heart. Ever since he gave me that pep talk he's all I can ever think about." Mimosa said, still nervous as before.
Noelle gave a brief sigh of relief. "Phew! For a second I thought she ran off all flustered like that cause of Asta... WAIT, Why Would I Care What She Thinks About Stupid Asta!?" Noelle thought.
"Honestly it's awful. I don't know what's gotten into me at all." Mimosa continued her explanation. "Wait, TEAR?! Why In The Hell Would She Like That Idiot?!" Noelle thought with a shocked look.
"Do you think he hates me now after I just ignored him and ran off?!" Mimosa asked in a panic. "There is no way I can just sit here and let this happen." Noelle steeled herself.
"What could you possibly see in Tear?! He's a low born, battle crazed phycho! He has no manners, he has no respect for anyone, he's extremely weird looking, and he is actively targeting royals for whatever reason. Oh, and he's actually very lazy, he'll go to sleep for 5 days straight without warning!" Noelle brought up some actual good points.
"To be honest I think he looks adorable, and when his eyes go red like that I can't think of any other word but beautiful, and I think he just has a strong drive to complete his goals! It's not like he's attacking every royal he lays his eyes upon. And I think sleeping like that is adorable too!" Mimosa argued dreamily.
"No, No, No! Anyone but that royal hunting, battle crazed, freak! Noelle panicked at her failure of convincing Mimosa to drop the idea of Tear.
"What the hell are they moaning about over there!" Tear questioned looking back behind him. "Maybe they have a headache or something." Asta pitched. "From what? And at the same time?" Tear challenged.
"Hey man I'm just spitting ideas." Asta defended. Tear just looked away and scoffed, mumbling under his breath about stupidity.
"Knights headquarters ought to be just through here." Klaus said slightly unsure. "I guess there are some things that even you're unsure of huh 4-eyes." Asta taunted.
"Even we 4-eyes can't know everything." Klaus responded, surprisingly not mad. "I guess he grew a little attached to the nickname." Yuno thought. Tear walked up to Mimosa, "Yo, you feeling okay? You just ran off and started moaning like you were sick." He said with concern.
"Oh i-it's fine. I just d-didn't have a good breakfast is all." Mimosa stuttered nervously. "Than you should try switching to the Black Bulls. I promise every meal will be 6 stars with our chef." Tear promised with confidence.
"I appreciate the offer but I'm okay with the golden dawn. It just wasn't agreeing with my stomach is all." Mimosa said with wholesome smile "Ah man, are you sure? I'd love to have you there." Tear said with a wide smile splitting his face.
Mimosa blushed and panicked at that but managed to stutter out that she was happy where she was. "Well, it's your loss. Don't say I didn't try when you get sick again." Tear said with his hands on his head. "Y-Y-Yeah, I'll make sure to remember that." Mimosa replied.
Tear suddenly started looking forward at nothing, his eyes still his natural gold but had dilated into jagged slits.
"I didn't know he'd greet us personally." Tear said with a wry smile. "What are you talking ab-" Klaus cut himself off with a bow; along with Noelle and Mimosa.
All of the magic knights stopped to look the man standing in the doorway. Extravagant jewelry, blonde hair, and a velvet robe with pristine white fur covering its neck and chest area. "Who is that guy?" Asta questioned cluelessly.
"You Idiot! This is none other than the current Wizard King sir-" "Julius Novachrono." Tear interrupted Klaus's shouting while Klaus forced Asta to bow.
"Bow down you fool!" Klaus whisper shouted to Tear. "Nah, I think I'm good. Don't want to get my clothes dirty." Tear joked.
Julius laughed a little before instructing them to stand up and follow him for the report.
The Wizard King was currently looking at Yuno's weird spell which was written in a language he didn't understand."I'm glad you were able to obtain this. This magic is extremely powerful and was most definitely the greatest relic in there." Julius said objectively; to Asta and Yuno's shock.
Suddenly Julius had gotten stars in his eyes reading the spell. Klaus pushed up his glasses, "So the rumors of the Wizard King being an unparalleled magic geak are true." He observed.
Julius asked for a demonstration in a childlike wonder, however Yuno explained that he only did it once in the dungeon due to being desperate and hadn't been able to do it since.
Julius gained a look of disappointment, "So the major spirit of wind, Sylph. Has chosen him for this era." Julius thought. "Well one thing I can tell you is that this spell will grow as you do. So keep working on it." Suddenly Asta appeared right next to Yuno to show Julius the weird writing in his grimoire.
"This looks like something I can't read." Julius turned down to Asta's expense. "I've never seen writing like that anywhere." "Actually, it reminds me of the writing in Tear's grimoire. The language is definitely different but the letters look very similar. Something I'll look out for." Julius thought.
Asta pulled out his new sword while he was thinking, showing it off. "Ahh, a new anti-magic sword, that's excellent!" Asta taunted Yuno about his working new spell, when Julius regained those stars in his eyes. "Bye any chance could I hold it?" He asked
Asta obliged and handed the sword to him. "Thank you so-WOAH MAANnn!" Julius almost dropped the sword the moment he grabbed it. "I'm surprised you can even hold this thing much less swing it." Julius complimented.
Julius realized something soon though as he noticed that his mana was being siphoned into the sword. "You better hold on to that. Your lack of magic power makes it so only you can weild it." Julius said
Asta questioned how he knew about his complete lack of magic power but Julius just avoided it. Thar however wasn't the end of the interaction ad Asta and Yuno both asked at the same time, "How can I become the Wizard King?"
Klaus chimed in immediately "The Wizard King must have a noble heart and have the implicit trust of all of his peo- No Klaus." Julius smoothly interrupted.
"It's about results." Julius said with a serious expression on his face for the first time since they met him.
That's when Tear chimed in. "What good does a noble heart do you when all your citizens are dead. People don't trust you either if you don't do your job and protect them either." "Couldn't have said it better Tear." Julis complimented, turning to him.
The Wizard King turned back to the entire group with a conclusion to the explanation. "If you want to be Wizard King than you need to get results; prove to the world that you are the undisputable and absolute strongest." Julius finished.
Asta and Yuno weren't intimidated by the revelation and took it in stride; to the appreciation of Julius.
Julius lost the serious act and reverted back to his more lighthearted persona. "Anyway I hope you're ready for something special, today all of the exceptional knights are invited to the distinguished service ceremony."
"The distinguished what now?" Asta said confused.
"It's a gathering where we give awards and accommodations for those who do extraordinarily well. I would appreciate if you all joined us for it." Julius clarified. Tear gained a look of exasperation at the idea, but knowing he didn't have a choice with Yami breathing down his neck.
While the others were wondering about the ceremony, Tear was wondering how to escape. "Why the hell do none of these windows open? I can't fly out of here without breaking one and Yami would definitely kill my ass for that. I'm too far in to just run off and I have no way of traveling out of here instantly. Damn Finral's only ever there when you don't need him." Tear thought, irritated.
Tear decided to just suck it up and deal with it. Tear hated parties, or social gatherings of similar sort with strangers. They were either boring or uncomfortable and sometimes they'd be both. Not to mention they were a waste of hus time wheb he could be doing something better.
Julius opened the door and Tear was completely shocked by what he saw.
Some of the ugliest bastards he's ever had the displeasure of laying his eyes upon. "But like actually though why do they have the good looking people on one side and what I imagine a jagras looks like as human on the other?" Tear wondered.
When the cerimony began an explanation of the magic knight ranks was given. "Magic knights are divided into three ranks and five classes. Those being Junior, Intermediate, and senior magic knights. Each rank has five classes, being 1st through 5th class, the number of stars you gain determine how much you rank up by." An attendant explained.
Julius immediately got to the ceremony and started with magic knight from the Crimson Lion Kings. He was Their age with red hair,blue long sleeved shirt with a red coat, and blue eyes.
"With a total of 7 stars I call upon Leopold Vermillion of Crimson Lion Kings." That's when Tear stopped paying attention. Instead he focused on Leopold. "He must have fire magic. Him and Mimosa are both Vermillions but he looks much more like he uses fire. Which means I've found exactly who I'm going to outdo at every turn. And after I'm done with him I'll get his older brother." Tear thought, a slight smirk of triumph on his face.
Julius continued on to a name Tear didn't recognize, something like Sold Maroon. She wasn't a royal so he didn't care. However the next person was someone he was interested in. "Next is Solid Silva, with six stars." Again Tear stopped paying attention to the rest after hearing the name.
"He's Noelle's brother then. He doesn't have nearly as much magic as her and he doesn't look very impressive either, but I could be judging too soon. As long as he doesn't disappoint me." Tear thought, rather unimpressed by solid.
"Next up is Nebrah silva with a total of nine stars." This time was no different than the last for Tear. "Another of Noelle's relatives. She has more magic than the last one but still not as much as Noelle herself. In fact the only one who actually reaches and surpasses her is the one with the dumbass front ponytail. She at least seems more impressive than the other one." Tear analyzed.
"With seven stars I call upon Hamon Caseus." This time Tear payed attention to the non royal, not because he was strong; but because he was genuinely too ugly to look away from. "What The Hell?! I didn't even know people could look like that! Why does he have his hair like that? And you'd think someone so fat would act less confident." Tear insulted.
After that Tear was starting to lose interest and just let his mind wander until something interesting happened.
That something came sooner than he was hoping.
"And Last but certainly not least, with a total of an astonishing 14 stars, Tear of the Black Bulls." Tear snapped back to Julius in confusion. "What?! How?! When?! Why?! What kinda bull is this?!"
With the announcement of his squad a bunch of mumbles could be heard around. If you listen closely you'll be able to hear confused and accusatory statements. Tear walked up with fake confidence, hiding his immense confusion from the audience. "You became an official magic knight just a few months ago and yet the amount of missions you've done makes it clear you deserve this promotion to 1st stage intermediate magic knight." Julius said.
This however only made the accusations worse as now people were thinking that he had stolen credit from someone else. "You're extremely efficient when it comes to monster hunting but I'd recommend taking some different missions. Also make sure that you don't destroy too much while you're fighting, that cost you a few stars." Julius advised.
Tear just stared at Julius before reluctantly taking the badge and heading back to his group. Luckily Julius's advice slowed down the accusations formed against him. But that's when people took note of his appearance. He wasn't able to hear much but he was able to make out a "Freak" or three before Julius started talking again.
"Anyway that concludes the formal part of this ceremony. We've prepared a simple banquet for all of you and you have probably noticed that I've invited some special guests." Julius said causing everyone to turn their attention to Tear's group; to his chagrin and anxiety.
suddenly his attendant Marx had whispered something in his ear and the Wizard King announced he had somewhere to be. Leaving them by themselves.
"This party is some ass." Tear said. The conversations going on weren't loud enough to fill in the background so he could comfortably drown it out; it was just awkward silence to him.
Tear looked around at all the people present, noticing that there was a man that looked similar to that Leopold guy but older. "Must be his older brother." Tear thought.
There were a lot more royals here than he anticipated, but it was all good. "All of them in one place means I can get a gauge on my power in comparison all at once. So maybe this was a goo-" "What Is This! It's gotta be the best food I've ever had in my life!" Asta interrupted his thoughts while stuffing his face, speaking in between bites.
"It seems the atmosphere hadn't affected him though. Completely unashamed." Klaus said exasperatedly. "More like uncivilized." Yuno corrected.
Tear was looking out a window when Mimosa walked up to him. "Excuse me Tear, but mind if I join you?" Mimosa asked with a blush. Tear noticed her red cheeks but he assumed it was due to the fact that she could be heard so easily.
"Yeah sure, I was bored out of my mind not being able to talk to anyone." Tear said with a straight face.
Mimosa gave him that wholesome smile that he liked so much. "Yeah, I was thinking the same thing." Mimosa said rather unconfidently, almost like she was just agreeing with him just to agree with him.
Tear was going to mention her odd tone when he heard a comment come from the golden dawn member that got 11 stars. "A gluttonous and loud commoner and an arrogant one who doesn't know his place. Why would the king invite such vulgar guests?" The green haired guy commented.
Tear was gonna say something when he heard another comment, this time it was from the silva girl(Tear has never been good with names)." If he somehow managed to clear the dungeon, than it must've been dumb luck." He heard her say.
Now Tear was getting angry, Asta had nearly died and he wouldn't let some royal pampered bitch talk to him like that.
That's when Tear heard another comment. "What a positively atrocious eater." It said with a posh laugh. Tear looked over to see the fat ugly guy with the weird tree shapes on his head. "Why the hell are you talking about eating?! You're probably wishing you were in his position! Speaking if atrocious, me being forced to look at you is an atrocity way worse than anything Asta could do." Tear wasn't gonna say any if this out loud however. He sucked at actually saying the insults but he could come up with them pretty fast.
Then Tear heard the unimpressive royal he had honestly forgotten about call Asta a rat. And that was the last straw. Tear wasn't gonna have all these half-wit probably inbred bastards dissing his squadmate like that.
Only he was allowed to do that!
But Tear shut himself down when Asta said he didn't care. Tear didn't understand it but he wasn't gonna be mad for him. So he just chilled out, letting the anger drain out.
but he didn't have much time because the Leopold guy also had something to say." Don't you have a commoner on your squad?" He asked the green haired noble. "Everyone thinks he's a big deal because of his 4-leaf grimoire but he's still a commoner, through and through." He continued.
"In fact, I bet that I could've done that dungeon crawl alone, and have done it faster than everyone of them that was present." He had finally finished.
Now Tear's short fuse was thinning fast. He was gonna let go of the insults on Asta but now they were insulting all of them; Him Included!
"Well Crimson Lion cub, aren't you cocky. His work may he sub-par but it's not like we expect much out of a commoner. While he is Golden Dawn we nobles are the ones who truly exemplify our squad and captain." He said, the noble arrogance spilling out of his every word.
When Klaus tried to step in to defend him the man got on him as well. "What about you Klaus. A man of your caliber ought to be ashamed to be seen with such rabble."
He then turned his attention to Tear and Mimosa who were to the right of them. "And Mimosa, I heard that you had been gravely injured and was forced to remove yourself from the front line. Your ineptitude is making royal house Vermillion a laughing stock." He said coldly.
Tear at this point was struggling restraint. He could feel every little atom in his body begging to say or do something for his comments. At this point Tear's eyes had long since turned the full blood red. Tail whipping against the floor aggressively.
"And you." The man said turning his attention to Tear. "Just what are you? A low born freak, with no normal features to speak of. A devil in human's clothing. The only reason I don't kill you is because the Wizard King informed us about you. But that doesn't change the fact that you have no right to be here with any human!" He said with true hatred laced in his voice.
Now Tear was seriously considering killing him when he heard Noelle's brother start talking. "Oh please Alecdora. Only one person here doesn't deserve to be here. And it's not that devilish child; right Noelle?" Solid said as he walked up and poured his entire glass on her head
"You can't even control your magic properly. Could there be any greater disg-" Solid never got to finish his sentence. As his head had been shoved through the floor by a dark skinned individual.
"What The Hell!" Noelle's older sister exclaimed.
Tear took Solid's head out the floor and brought him to eye level. "Just who the hell do you think you are?" Tear could barely growl out, completely overwhelmed by how angry he was.
In fact he was so angry he didn't even give Solid a chance to respond as he shoved his head through the floor again. After bringing him back up his face was covered in bruises and lacerations.
Nebra had recovered from her shock and had immediately brought out her grimoire. "Mist Restraining Magic: Mist Spider Binding Thread!" She called as a large wall of mist covered Tear completely.
"Now to teach that filth a lesson on assaulting those of a higher class." She said with a scoff. However to her shock, Black smoke ate away at the magic mist, until it was all gone. Tear was revealed to be completely unscathed, Solid still in his grasp; out cold.
"You self centered, disgusting, noble bastards are really good at finding ways to worsen an already bad day." Tear said, rage in his tone and eyes as he harshly threw Solid aside. "Whose ne-" Tear was cut off however when sand completely surrounded him.
"How dare you! I knew there was something off about you when the Wizard King told us of you! You Don't Deserve The Attention The Wizard King Gives You! And I Will Suffer It No Longer!" However before Alecdora could do anything else, Asta came in and completely dispelled the attack.
"Stay out of this Asta." Tear said with fake calm. "Hey, you." Tear said, pointing at Leopold.
Leopold gained a smile. "I presume you want to fight against me next?" He said, just as cocky as before. "No." Tear oddly replied, much to Leopold's, and everyone else's confusion.
"I'm gonna humiliate you." Tear said with scowl, eyes blazing red, pupils in their intimidating jagged slits. However, Tear's challenge didn't occur as a sand golem tried to grab him."Sand Creation Magic: Sand Armored Guard!" "I'm getting real tired of golems!" Tear shouted as he brought out his own grimoire.
"Dragon Magic: Stygian Flash!" The familiar red energy came down from the heavens and obliterated the sand golem. Alecdora didn't panic though as he expected such fire power from someone with so much mana.
Tear turned slightly to glare at Alecdora with one eye while keeping the rest of his enemies in his peripheral.
Tear quickly turned around and shot a ball of draconic smoke at Alecdora. Forcing him to dodge out of the way. Tear took advantage of this moment of weakness and sprinted at him, boosting his speed with timed flaps of his wings.
Alecdora had just gotten up when Tear was upon him; causing him to get kneed in the face so hard he flew into the air. Before he could hit the ground though Tear flew just above him and stomped his face while they were both mid-air.
Alecdora was stunned by the attack and when he had fully come to, Tear's boot was still on his face. Alecdora tried to make a move, but Tear immediately brought his tail barb to his throat.
"It's crazy that I've been a prevalent topic in your head for years while I just found out of your existence just today. People call the Golden Dawn elite yet here I am, a Black Bull embarrassing one of them." Tear observed. Alecdora glared at him but couldn't say or do anything due to his compromising position.
Tear walked away from Alecdora's downed form when a suffocating magic presence fillled the air. Completely stopping Tear in his tracks as well as Asta who was running over to him.
Tear furrowed his brow in frustration. He knew exactly who this was and he was absolutely sure he would lose if an altercation with him started up.
"This guy is Noelle's older brother. He carries himself like he's better than everybody, and that includes you. Not to mention how he lets his siblings treat Noelle. You shouldn't let someone like that go without trying to fight him." Tear's voice in his head instagated.
"The air, it's freezing. This ice cold pressure is different from Captain Yami's. So this is the captain of the Silver Eagles." Asta thought.
"A commoner who assaulted a royal while his back was turned, and then attacked a noble, even threatened a royal with humiliation. I wonder how I should punish you, not to mention your accomplice." The captain said, gesturing to Tear and Asta.
Asta was completely stuck frozen while Tear just glared. "This bastard. He watched his brother torment his sister and he doesn't even care? You're lucky Nozel; I'm not strong enough to beat you yet." Tear thought with pure rage as he let his magic pressure fill out the area.
"What the!? Is all that coming from Tear? It feels like the air itself is getting rended apart, like it's screaming for help from a monster tearing it to pieces." Asta thought, looking at Tear in shock.
"What is going on?! Is Tear really about to fight Nozel over me? This is all happening way to fast!" Noelle thought in a panic.
"Please just stand down Tear. You can't do anything against him, I know you're mad but please stop!" Mimosa begged in ber mind.
"Even he's involved in this?! This has escalated too far now. If Tear doesn't stand down he could get locked up or worse! Stand Down You Brat!" Klaus yelled in his head. None of them could speak due to the pressure so all they could do was hope.
"I can't keep this up. His magic control is much better than mine; while I have more magic, he's emmiting it way more efficiently." Tear thought nervously for the first time since he started fighting.
At this point Tear was sweating from the amount of effort he was putting in to match Nozel, and the rest of the group wasn't doing much better.
Nozel held his hand out to attack the both of them to Tear's chagrin. However before Nozel could attack a voice stopped him.
"This Has Gone Far Enough!" The man he had guessed as Leopold's brother has just saved them.(Tear will never admit that)
Nozel stopped his magic emission to look at him, giving Tear a much needed rest.
"What are you thinking ganging up on theyouth like this? Where is your sense of honor?" The man said.
That's when Tear and Asta looked behind them and saw Leopold, just looking at them. Tear was about to say something when he suddenly started laughing. "I guess Mimosa was right. You're a very intriguing kid. So chin up cause I just made you my rival!" Leopold said to both of them.
Tear looked him up and down and scowled. But didn't say a word, just focusing on catching his breath. "Who the hell does this bastard think he is!? He's lucky that Golden Dawn guy distracted me! That's the only reason he's even conscious right now, and he thinks he can rival me?" Tear thought offended.
"So what was your name again? Blear?" Leopold questioned, putting his hand on Tear's shoulder which Tear swatted away. But Leopold ignored the rude action.
"No Leo, I told you it's Tear!" Mimosa said adorably, catching Tear's attention and taking his mind off of his anger. "Alright Tear, You're not in a fight, and if you can manipulate the situation well enough with this idiot you can probably come out of this unpunished." Tear analyzed.
Leopold gave a hearty laugh after being corrected. "Yes Tear that's right! An admittedly odd name but a fine name for a rival of mine!" Leopold exclaimed. Tear continued to glare ar him when Leopold turned his attention to Asta.
"Don't think I didn't notice you now. I saw how you cut apart Alecdora's spell. Mimosa mentioned someone like that as well. Which means you're Asta." Leopold said.
"You know what, I think I'll make you my rival as well!" Leopold pridefully exclaimed, repeatedly patting Asta's shoulder.
"Well com on, look alive! This is a time for celebration!" Leopold said happily,
"So celebrate." Leopold said, suddenly losing his happy expression and gained a serious and intimidating tone.
Tear sideyed him at the change of tone while Asta gained a confused and empty look.
"You two are seriously related?" Yuno asked Mimosa. "Yep, he's my cousin on my dad's side. My father is their father's younger brother and my mother is Noelle's mother's younger sister." Mimosa explained.
"Uhhh, sorry but I already have a rival. Yuno over there." Asta said to Leopold's and Tear's confusion. "Well that's okay it's not like there's a rule at there that says you can only have one rival." Leopold said, this time Asta was confused.
"I don't have a rival, but if I did I'd prefer if they were actually at my level. So sorry you just don't fit the bill." Tear claimed.
Leopold laughed off the attempt at an insult and looked back to Tear. "I'm the one that should be saying that to you. While you may be strong enough to take down Alecdora, I'm still a royal of the Vermilion house." Leopold said with pure pride.
"Is that supposed to mean something? Vermilion is just a name and royal is just a title. It's not hard to tell which of us would win in a fight and believe me when I say it's not you." Tear stated without a hint of doubt.
Leopold again laughed at Tear's claim before becoming completely serious. "You're risking quite a lot speaking to me like that. You got off easy when Alecdora stopped you from fighting me, I may consider you my rival but I won't let you talk about my family like that." He said, similarly without a shred of doubt.
Tear smirked at him, whipping his tail in excitement. "Oh please, I can say whatever I want, whenever I want to about whomever I please. But if you want to try and shut me up then now's the chance. I said I was gonna humiliate you didn't I?" This time Tear's words got under Leopold's skin, and he wasn't doiya great job of hiding it.
Leopold gained a slight scowl "Are you sure. You can still take it back and save yourself the embarrassment." Leopold offered. "Nah, I have no reason to back down when I have no chance at losing." The tables had turned now as Tear now gained a cocky demeanor while Leopold was quite annoyed.
"Guys are so dumb sometimes right Char?" The girl that Tear hadn't payed attention to said. This gained Tear's attention as it was clearly referring to him. "You will address me as captain Sol." The captain of the Blue roses corrected to no avail.
Tear looked at Sol with curiosity. "Her skin's almost as dark as mine. But her hair isn't like mine though." Tear observed in his head, ignoring Leopold to his anger.
Tear hadn't ever really cared about his odd skin tone and hair type. Yami said that there were a lot more people like him in his home country. But it was pretty cool to someone at least kinda like him.
"This is an awful lot of excitement for a banquet." The fat guy saif with an ugly and haughty laugh.
"ThIs iS aN aWFul LoT oF ExITmEnT fOr a BaNQuEt." Tear mocked in his head. Tear has never disliked someone so much before even having a conversation with them. He just rubbed Tear the wrong way.
"Alright, for a moment there I thought things were about to pick back up. But it seems as though things are gonna stay calm for now." Klaus thought with relief.
"A royal has recognized two commoners as his rival. And one of them being an unnatural freak. Surely not." Nozel suddenly said, to everyone's surprise.
"Remember Nozel, the Wizard King invited them here and he informed us of the boy's odd appearance. Commoner or not can still be accepted." The captain of the Crimson Lion Kings reminded.
However Nozel wasn't in an accepting mood. "I never expected such nonsense to come out of a royal. It's extremely disappointing to see how soft house Vermillion has become. You're a disgrace to the family Fuegoleon." Nozel said coldly.
The now named Fuegoleon narrowed his eyes. "What did you say?" "As an eagle soaring the skies. How could I ever accept a lowly insect crawling the ground?" Nozel questioned.
All of a sudden the entire tower started shaking as the two captains released their mana presence. Everyone stood in awe at the feeling of the pressure being exerted except for one.
"I can't believe just how far behind I am compared to these guys. Their mana feels so much more potent than mine does. Yami's mana feels like this as well. Just what the hell are they doing that I'm not?" Tear groweled to himself.
Tear couldn't believe this. He had spent seven years trying to fix his mana control and output. He wasn't done yet but he was so close he figured that it would be negligible in the long run. Yet here he was, outclassed completely by three people if all the captains were like this.
Tear had just gotten a reality check he wasn't expecting and he was not happy about it.
However Tear's temporary inferiority complex would have to wait as suddenly one of the cloaked assistants ran in panicked. The two royal captains calmed down their mana so the messenger could speak.
"The Royal Capital! It's Under Attack!"
Outside, plumes of fire were everywhere as what appeared to be undead humans were attacking anyone they could find. Laughing could be heard as a man with long purple hair, clothed in a black body suit with spikes on the shoulders could be seen.
Chapter End
An: I was trying my hardest not to make any of the nobles say something racial. Tear has had a less than needed reality check after going so long of being one of if not the strongest in any room. Other than that Solid's bitch ass got what he deserved. The fact that he randomly dumps his entire glass on Noelle with no provocation and all he gets is his attack sent back at him never sat right with me. If you're wondering just how strong Tear is, I think he's in between Leopold and Kirsch(Mimosa's brother). My second track meet did not go as well as my first. My dumbass squatted 3 days before and I couldn't jump anything passed a 42 which is pretty embarrassing. If you ever feel as though you're alone or unloved remember that God loved you before you even existed and that he knew you before that as well. By now!