Chapter Forty-Seven: Golden Eyes
Hey there, readers, hope you've been enjoying your day, earlier on Sunday, I closed the poll I made and checked the results, and the four characters who had the highest votes were Zuka, Oxanna, Sylvester, and Rama, thank you so much for participating, to thank you even further, I'll give you some facts about the creation of these characters, except for Rama as he's an OC I didn't make.
Zuka Glitenia - If you watch Avatar: The Last Airbender, then you might recognize that Zuka's name is similar to Zuko, I used his name as inspiration for hers, I was even planning to give Zuka Flame Magic, but decided upon Sparkle Magic when I decided to put her on the Aqua Deer, which then led to the creation of her last name.
Sylvester Rossiu - When making his character, I initially planned to make him Kenos' brother, but decided on Dante when I realized Sylvester was too nice of a guy, so I made him Kenos' cousin.
Oxanna Rossiu - When thinking of her attribute, I based it off of the main antagonist of a book I read as a boy (although I don't remember the name of the book), that was a kind of phantom.
Kenos Rossiu (I know he only got 2 votes, but he's the MC) - I actually named him after my dad, Kenos, his name is what inspired my actual name, and I look up to my dad, so I named the main character of this story after him.
With that out of the way, please enjoy the new chapter. Cya.
"Do we have...what it takes?" Kenos repeated Brosnan's words in his head as he, Yami, and William stared down the three Diamond Kingdom mages.
Lotus made the first move, taking out a sword as a relaxed smirk came to his face. "Are you just going to stare at us, or are you going to fight?" he asked, his blade becoming enveloped in smoke, he then pointed to the dark mage. "C'mon Yami, I challenge you,"
"I still don't know why you think I should remember you, but…," he began drawing his katana as it became enveloped in darkness. "...Nobody steals my technique, one bastard already did it, and I won't let another one do it too,"
The two mages then jumped at each other, their blades clashing in midair, they were at a complete stalemate, but before they could drop all the way to the ground, they jumped back to their respective branches, right next to their respective allies.
Yami turned to Kenos and William. "Leave this bastard to me, you guys get the other two,"
Lotus chuckled. "Well well, it seems Yami wants to fight me one on one, how lucky am I,"
Brosnan turned his head to face Lotus. "Good luck out there Lotus...but be careful, Yami Sukehiro is no joke," he said, but the tone was different than when he spoke to the Clover mages.
This time, his voice was laced with concern.
The smoke mage's face softened a bit. "I'm touched by your worry, but you don't need to be concerned, I'll be just fine, this isn't the first time we've fought," he responded as he and Yami jumped to a different branch to duke it out.
Brosnan then turned his focus on Kenos and William. "I guess that means one of you gentlemen will be my opponent," he said before taking out his grimoire. "Golden Eye Magic: Heat Ray!"
At the sound of the mage's declaration, his two eyes began glowing a bright shade of gold before he fired two straight beams, right at the two mages.
Kenos was ready to react, taking out his grimoire. "I've got this, Solar Creation Magic: Amaterasu's-,"
His declaration was interrupted as William reacted even faster, with a wave of his hand, branches came in front of them, forming a shield to protect them.
The world tree mage walked up, extending his arm in front of Kenos. "Leave this fight to me, Kenos, Brosnan is too powerful of a mage for a rookie to fight alone,"
"You don't need to worry about me, William, I'm a Magic Knight, just like you," Kenos protested in a respectful manner.
"That's true, but we must understand the limits of our strength, I know Yami always says that you must push past your limits, and I may not be your squadmate or captain, but that doesn't change the fact that I care for your safety, you're an aspiring young mage, I don't want you to die," William said back.
The solar mage thought about everything that was said to him before he sighed. "Alright, you can take him on,"
William smiled. "Thank you," he then turned to the golden eye mage. "Brosnan, I will be your opponent! I am William Vangeance, Captain of the Golden Dawn, on my honor as a Magic Knight of the Clover Kingdom, I will not permit you to take Kiten!"
"William Vangeance, aye? I've heard of you, you're quite the big deal, even in the Diamond Kingdom, although everyone there would rather prefer you dead, it appears the opportunity to make that wish a reality has come to me," Brosnan said.
William quickly jumped on a different branch, with a motion of his hand, it began speeding towards Brosnan.
"I'm off, I guess the last one's yours," Brosnan said to Tantalus as he jumped to a different branch, William on hot pursuit.
Kenos looked at the obese mage. "So, you're going to be my opponent, you may be on the fat side, but I won't underestimate you, after all, you didn't become one of the Eight Shining Generals by being weak,"
Despite what Kenos said, Tantalus didn't respond, merely holding his chin in thought, the solar mage raised a brow in a confused manner. "Hey, are you listening?"
The shining general once more said nothing in response, Kenos decided to jump down a few branches in order to get closer to his enemy, once he did, he was able to hear the Diamond mage mumbling something.
"Hm, I wonder what types of food they have here, I can't wait to try them,"
The solar mage had to resist anime-falling as he heard what his enemy was concerned about, he began thinking. "Food? We're in the middle of the battle to decide the fate of this town, and he's thinking about food? I don't know why I'm surprised, this is literally Charmy in a nutshell, but maybe this isn't a bad thing, he probably hasn't noticed me, I can take him out now, then go join either William or Captain Yami," his grimoire flipped to a page. "Solar Magic: Sunbeam Ray!" he mentally exclaimed as he fired the beam right at Tantalus.
But then he did something that Kenos completely wasn't expecting, he merely moved his body a bit to dodge the attack, all while looking like he was still thinking about food, but that didn't last long as Tantalus put his hands down to his sides before looking right at Kenos.
"You?!" he exclaimed, pointing at the Magic Knight. "You dare interrupt me when I'm thinking about food, that's unforgivable, I'll kill you, then devour all that's in this damn town!" he then took out his grimoire.
At the sight of the magical book, Kenos widened his eyes, it didn't take him long to notice a feature of Tantalus' grimoire beside the colors and the diamond in the center. "In the center of his grimoire...they're stitches, just like the ones on the grimoires Andreas and Mars used when we fought in the dungeon, that means he's a dual attribute mage too,"
Tantalus' grimoire stopped once it reached a page. "Giant Magic: Full Size!" he exclaimed as his body began to grow to gargantuan proportions, his height equalling a bit over half of the large tree he was just standing on a few seconds before.
"Holy shit, he's huge!" Kenos screamed as he looked at his opponent.
"Giant Magic might be my artificial attribute, but it's by far my favorite of the two, I can eat more, not to mention I become stronger!"
"Damn it, this just got a lot harder, if he's larger, that also means his range has increased, to match him, I'm going to need to increase both my speed and my strength to their absolute maximum...and I know just the combo to give it to me," Kenos said as he reached into his pocket, pulling out his ring, he put it on and activated it.
His grimoire then flipped to a new page. "Solar Reinforcement Magic: Sunshine Aura!" he exclaimed, becoming surrounded in the orange aura as well. "This is my first fight of the day, my mana and stamina are full unlike my fight with Vetto in the Underwater Temple, hopefully, I can last longer before I have to use Mana Charge, I can't let myself stumble behind William and Captain Yami, I have to win too!"
Kenos then took a step before he flashed forward with the familiar godspeed, ready to take his foreign enemy down.
"I almost forgot to ask, but why exactly are you here?" Yuno asked his foster brother.
"Well, as I said earlier, we had a run-in with the Eye of the Midnight Sun yesterday during a mission, as for the specifics of the mission, we were to go down to the Underwater Temple in Raquey to find a Magic Stone," Asta began explaining.
"And after we got it, we rested up a bit from the fight before coming to Magic Knight HQ, that's where we were told of the attack on Kiten, and then, we're here," Charmy finished.
"Speaking of the attack, I wonder if the Diamond Kingdom has retreated, from what I can see now, their forces don't appear to be advancing, they would've been in this area otherwise," Finral pointed out. "I'm going to go look around to see if there are anymore-,"
The spatial mage's words were cut short as a large shadow began to loom over them, they all turned, the Black Bulls immediately widened their eyes while Yuno didn't appear as shocked.
What they saw was a ginormous tree that looked like it could cover the entire town.
"Holy shit, what is that?!" the Black Bulls exclaimed together.
"It's World Tree Magic," Yuno replied.
They looked at him and raised a brow. "World Tree Magic?"
"It seems Captain Vangeance has chosen to get serious, I feel bad for the fool that has to remain in the tree,"
At the sound of a new voice, the four Magic Knights turned around once again to see someone standing on a nearby roof, he was wearing a Golden Dawn robe and had short brown hair.
"Wait, so that tree is Captain Vangeance's magic? Damn, that thing is huge, but now that I know that, there's one more thing to ask," Asta thought as he pointed at the man. "Who the hell are you?!"
"Huh," the man said, noticing the group below him. "Who am I? I'm-,"
"This is the Vice-Captain of the Golden Dawn, Langris Vaude," Yuno cut in, introducing him instead.
"That's right, I'm impressed to see the commoner remembers my name and title, perhaps you're not so bad after all," Langris said with a smug grin on his face as his gaze shifted from Yuno to another mage. "Ah, if it isn't the disgrace, I didn't think you'd be here,"
Charmy was confused. "Disgrace? Who's he talking about, there's no disgrace around here,"
The spatial mage sighed before he stepped up, causing everyone to look at him. "He's talking about me,"
"You? Why would he do that? How do you know the vice-captain?" it was Yuno's turn to ask questions.
"How do I know him? He's...my younger half-brother,"
"Half-brother?!"
"I didn't know you had a brother," Asta said.
"Same here," Charmy added.
"That makes three of us," Yuno finished, but unlike the other two, he was speaking to Langris.
"It's true, but since we're only half-brothers, I only need to be half ashamed of the fact that I'm related to him," Langris mocked.
"Enough, Langris," Finral said. "What are you doing here?"
"Well, if you must know, I was pursuing one of the Eight Shining Generals, but he managed to get away from me," he replied. "It's my turn to ask questions now, like why are you here in Kiten? Were you trying to be useful and fight the Diamond forces, I wonder how that turned out, did they beat the crap out of you and make you run away, I'd pay good money to see that!" he began laughing.
Yuno was mildly shocked, he knew that except for a few people, his squad was loaded with classist douchebags, but it was the first time he had heard someone from his squad mocking a family member who was of the same status, but then again, it wasn't anything new, his mind went back to his first time visiting the capital, and seeing Noelle's situation with her siblings first-hand.
"Damn, and they like to ridicule us commoners, but the family life of nobles and royals must suck," the wind mage thought to himself.
Asta and Charmy looked at Finral, they could see him clenching his fists, but it didn't look like he was going to say anything in response, despite being mocked, well, even if he was going to stand for it, they wouldn't.
"Hey you!"
Finral and Langris looked up in surprise to see Asta and Charmy stepping up, their voices full of anger.
"What did you say about Finral? He's not useless, in fact, during our last mission, he was a huge help, we fought one of the strongest mages of the Eye of the Midnight Sun, if it wasn't for Finral's help, our entire squad could've died!" Asta exclaimed.
"Yeah, and how dare you make Finral out to be a coward, sure he can't fight, but he's been brave enough to stand by us during whatever challenge we may face, what kind of guy talks crap about his older brother, regardless of whether you're half-related or not, you know what, you can quite figuratively and literally fuck off, now there's something I'd pay good money to see!" Charmy added, sticking up two middle fingers.
"You guys," Finral muttered.
Langris stopped laughing, his face looking deadly serious before it shifting back to its prior smug look. "So, Finral needs a couple of shorties to defend him, aye? I take it you're his squadmates, well that explains that rant of yours, but then again, you are the Black Bulls, your squad is full of failures with the only exception being that Rossiu boy I heard joined you, after him, everyone there is a total weakling, I bet you're all so weak, Finral's weakness doesn't even stand out, in fact, it makes his weakness look strong,"
"Shorties?! We're about the same height!" Asta exclaimed.
Bell flew over to Yuno. "Damn, was the vice-captain always this much of a jackass?" she whispered.
"Don't know, I've never really spoken to him," the wind mage whispered back, but regardless, he couldn't take anymore, even though Asta, Noelle, Charmy, Kenos, and Finral were the only people he knew from the Black Bulls, it wasn't right for Langris to talk bad about fellow Magic Knights.
But before he was about to open his mouth, someone did it faster.
"You shut up!"
Everyone widened their eyes and looked to see the exclamation come from Finral, the tone of his voice matching the look on his face. Anger.
"That's enough out of you, Langris, you can say whatever bad thing you want about me, you've been practically doing that for years, but don't you dare talk bad about my friends or my squad you hear me!"
Everyone was taken aback, Yuno looked at him intently. "As long as no one mocks those close to him, he'll take whatever ridicule comes his way, I'd be lying to myself if I said I didn't respect that,"
But nobody was more taken aback than Langris, it had been the first time his older brother had ever retaliated to one of his taunts before, and with such passion as well, the Golden Dawn knight then involuntarily smirked, either out of mockery or respect, he didn't know.
"It seems you've-," he was beginning to say, but didn't get to finish as an odd sound was heard, like a sloshing kind of sound, the five Magic Knights didn't know what it was, but they did know where it was coming from: right to their left.
They turned, and then they saw it, a figure emerging from the corner of a building, it was an old man, wearing primarily black attire, but he was completely surrounded by a weird substance, almost like a kind of mucus.
Asta, Charmy, and Langris were the only ones who recognized his face, but only one of them knew his name.
"Yagos," Langris spoke. "The Shining General I was pursuing, I didn't think you'd show your face willingly to me, seeing how I almost killed you during our last encounter,"
Yagos looked down at his right arm, or at least, what remained of it. During his previous encounter with the mage, the shining general had underestimated his opponent, and it cost him dearly as the Golden Dawn used his spatial magic to cut off a large portion of his arm.
"You might've almost gotten me back there, but that was because I wasn't taking you seriously, but it won't be the same this time, in fact, I won't take any chances to assure I defeat you!" he exclaimed, his grimoire flipping to a page. "Mucus Creation Magic: Mucus Nail!"
At his call, the mucus surrounding him began to change shape, into that of a snail, it then launched an array of tentacles, but not at any of the Magic Knights.
But at the people.
"The citizens we were caring for!" Charmy exclaimed as she and the others watched them be quickly pulled in and absorbed into the mucus.
"My Mucus Nail spell doesn't just capture, it drains whatever's captured of their energy until they're dead," Yagos bragged. "Now tell me, Magic Knight, how are you going to stop me with the people so close, and their lives ticking down on the clock?!"
"Help us!"
"Get us out of here!"
"I don't want to die!"
Langris heard their screams of terror, pleading for help, he sucked his teeth. "Well damn, he really made this tougher," he said, calmly raising up a hand, ready to use it to cut whatever was in its path out of existence, courtesy of his offensive spatial magic.
The vice-captain looked at it from different angles, but there was no way he could take down Yagos without hitting the people, he then shrugged and opened his mouth to speak, but the words that came out of his mouth put looks of absolute shock on the faces of his fellow Magic Knights and the wind spirit.
"I guess I have no choice, these people have to die too, well, it's for the kingdom, they should be honored to make such a sacrifice,"
"What?!" they all thought.
Langris was about to swipe his hand forward and erase Yagos along with some random citizen, but before he could do it, a powerful gust of wind blew right at him, stopping him, he looked down to see the source of the sudden gale, his gaze falling on Yuno, the wind mage's face indifferent, as well as Bell's face.
"You bastard, how dare you give up on the people like that, we're Magic Knights!" his gaze then shifted to Asta, who started running at Yagos, Charmy and Finral beside him.
"Asta," Yuno spoke up, the swordsman stopped and turned to him, the wind mage's voice didn't sound like it, but Asta knew he was concerned, he gave his foster brother a grin.
"Don't you worry, Yuno, I'll be okay, I'm not doing this alone," he said before running again.
"Asta, over here!" Charmy exclaimed as her grimoire flipped to a page. "Cotton Creation Magic: Wool Slingshot!" a line of cotton appeared in front of her, slung back at an angle.
"I'm on it!" the magicless mage exclaimed back as he jumped and planted his feet on the slung part, he was then immediately sent flying towards Yagos.
"You want to try fighting me, it's pointless, if you hit me, you'll get absorbed as well," Yagos said.
"That's what you think," Asta replied as his grimoire came to him, he dug his head in and pulled out the Demon-Dweller Sword, holding its handle in his mouth.
"Normally, if Asta had his sword in his mouth and tried to attack, he couldn't build enough kinetic energy to do anything, so my slingshot built it up for him," Charmy stated as she watched Asta hit the mucus around the people, freeing them instead of trapping him.
The mucus mage was shocked, and so was Langris. "How?!" the former exclaimed.
"That doesn't matter right now, Finral!" the cotton mage called, pointing to the falling citizens.
"I got it," Finral replied as his grimoire flipped to a page. "Spatial Magic: Fallen Angel's Gate!" he exclaimed, creating two portals simultaneously, one in the air, and one right above a bed of cotton Charmy made. The people fell into the first portal, and came out of the second one.
Yuno gave a small smirk. "That was some good coordination, and from what I saw, none of it was planned, that was all just instinct, impressive,"
"It's your turn now, Asta!" the spatial mage exclaimed as he formed a portal in front of where the swordsman was going, he flashed right into it.
"Where is he going to come out from?" Yagos silently wondered, but unbeknownst to him, the portal appeared right above his spell.
Asta wasn't able to speak with the sword in his mouth, so he merely grunted, it was loud enough for Yagos to hear and turn around, but he was too close for him to do anything, the swordsman cut right through the mucus, the anti-magic making it disappear, causing Yagos to begin falling to the ground.
"He's not the only one getting a hit on you, this is for endangering those innocent people, Cotton Creation Magic: Strike of the Sleeping Sheep!" Charmy exclaimed as the large sheep appeared, punching Yagos midair, right into a building, knocking him unconscious. "Then, Cotton Binding Magic: Restraining Coils!"
Finral made a portal as Asta was landing, letting him appear right next to them as he put his sword back.
"That was awesome, you two, thanks for the help," he said, his squadmates merely replied with a thumbs-up.
Finral then turned to where Langris was, he was still a bit shocked at how efficiently they had defeated the enemy. "Langris, you were right earlier, I'm not that strong, and I'm not better than you, but mark my words...one day, the Black Bulls will become better than the Golden Dawn!"
Langris narrowed his eyes at his older brother. "Is that so?"
"It is," the Black Bull said back, turning to his squadmates. "Let's move, it's been a while since Captain Yami and Kenos split off from us, we should find them in case they need help,"
"Right," Asta and Charmy said back.
"Oh, Kenos is here too? I wonder what he's doing, perhaps he's helping one of my squadmates," Yuno thought as the three ran past him.
Asta turned around. "Hey, Yuno, I know you wanted to keep me safe, but we're going to need someone to stay and watch the people,"
"Don't worry, I can handle it, just try not to overdo it. Charmy, Finral, please have his back," the wind mage responded, he was met with three nods as they ran off, and were soon out of view.
Langris jumped down the roof, ignoring the stares the people were giving him as he walked to Yuno, the two were then standing just inches away from each other.
The vice-captain opened his mouth. "Listen and listen well, commoner, don't you ever fire wind at me again," his voice was deadly serious.
Yuno's face didn't seem to show any care for the spatial mage's tone, he merely turned around. "You're the one who should be careful, the job of Magic Knights is to protect the people, not sacrifice them on a whim, if Captain Vangeance was here to witness your actions, there's not a doubt in my mind he'd demote you on the spot, and that would've been just letting you off easy, because if I were in charge, I'd kick you out immediately. You heard what Asta said, then you saw what he and the others did,"
"Asta? Oh, you mean that short boy, now I think about it, I didn't sense any magic coming from him, that move of his was sort of impressive, but he's still just a loser,"
"You're wrong," Yuno said, turning around once again to face the vice-captain. "He's not a loser, he's my rival, we're competing to see which one of us can become the next Wizard King,"
"Wizard King?!" Langris laughed. "You must be joking,"
"I'm not, and my path to the title of Wizard King will start with becoming the captain of the Golden Dawn," Yuno replied.
The wind mage's statement caused Langris to stop laughing, his face became one of seriousness. "Become the captain? You do realize that I'm the vice-captain, right?"
"I'm fully aware of that, I'm ready to take your position as well, so be careful,"
The two stared each other down, neither saying a word for a few seconds before Yuno started to make his way towards the citizens, Langris turned around and glared at him, repeating the wind mage's statement in his head.
"There's no way I'll ever let that happen,"
"Take this!"
Going back to the fights on the tree, Kenos was jumping from branch to branch at high speeds.
The earlier exclamation had come from his opponent, Tantalus had tried to punch him, but with his increased size and the solar mage's increased speed, it was proving difficult.
"It seems that giant spell is a double-edged sword, you may become bigger, but hitting me is harder, so I'll take full advantage of that," he said as his grimoire flipped to a page. "Solar Creation Magic: Solar Construct - Warhammer!"
Kenos raised a hand into the air as the new construct formed, he then started running towards his giant foe before jumping high into the air, Tantalus saw him and launched a punch.
"Damn it, he's sending a punch right at me, I know what to do," Kenos thought as he used a basic magic blast to thrust himself upward, he did it just in time as Tantalus' knuckle passed right by where he was just a few seconds ago.
"There we go, and I'm not done yet," he continued as he planted his feet on the giant mage's fist and began quickly running down his arm.
"What're you doing?" Tantalus asked.
"Oh you'll see, just be patient," Kenos replied as he flashed through before jumping up, appearing right in front of the shining general's face.
"Thanks for waiting!" he continued as he horizontally spun the hammer, slamming it right into Tantalus' head, normally it wouldn't do much against an enemy of such a large size, but thanks to his enhanced strength due to the ring-aura, that wasn't the case.
"Shit! That hurt!" the giant exclaimed. "You're going to pay for that, Giant Magic: Titan Blaster!" at his call, he backed up and fired a massive beige magic bullet at the solar mage. "It's time for my close-up attack!"
"Ah damn it," Kenos thought, quickly using the warhammer to shield himself to the best of its ability, unfortunately, it didn't do that good of a job and it disappeared, leaving the solar mage defenseless to the attack as it sent him flying right into the large tree, thankfully, he managed to land on a branch. "Well, that just happened, getting close has its own double-edged sword," he muttered.
"Are you alright, Kenos?"
Kenos looked up to see William, standing on the branch above his, he was currently firing a trio of magic bullets at Brosnan, to each the armored general either dodged or shot down.
"I'm doing alright, what about you?"
"Eh, could be better, Brosnan is really proving himself to be quite the adversary," William replied before taking a look at the solar mage's opponent. "It appears Tantalus is quite tough as well, are you sure you can handle him?"
"Don't worry, he just got in one shot, and I won't let him get a second one," Kenos replied before he realized something. "I wonder how Captain Yami's doing?"
"I bet he's fine, your captain is no weak mage, despite the large gap in reputation between our two squads, he and I are basically at the same level of strength," the world tree mage assured him.
"I hope you're right," the solar mage said.
"As do I," William said as his gaze fell back to Brosnan, his grimoire flipping through pages before stopping on one. "World Tree Magic: Dracaena Formation!" he exclaimed as he placed his hand on the branch, instantly causing roots to grow and wrap around Brosnan, constricting him tightly.
"Hm, an impressive attack...but it's not strong enough to hold me!" Brosnan exclaimed as magic surged around him, breaking the roots. "Golden Eye Magic: Multi Spread Barrage!"
At his call, he placed a pair of fingers on the side of his helmet and began firing golden lasers in rapid succession, William quickly responded by commanding branches to cross together and protect him, while they were doing so, he jumped onto a different branch.
"Hm, from what I could see, Brosnan appears to be a long-range style offensive mage, meaning that he would be vulnerable against close-range attacks, but then you have to factor in that armor which bolsters his defense...wait a minute, that gives me an idea," Kenos thought, keeping his gaze on the golden eye mage, but that didn't last long as a shadow loomed over him, he looked forward and gasped before jumping into the air, just managing to dodge Tantalus' punch.
"Ah, I almost got him," the giant mage pouted.
Kenos landed on another branch and looked at his ring, surprised to see only one outline went black. "I should be able to use the ring-aura combo for another 10-12 minutes if it's dropping this slow, but back to my idea, Tantalus' large size made him slow, but his Titan Blaster spell makes up for it if opponents try to get close, just like Brosnan, they possessed a factor that compensated for a weakness in their fighting, so I shouldn't try to exploit Tantalus' weakness, but overpower his strength, that means I'm going to need to use it," he thought as he closed his eyes.
"Feel what's around you," was all he muttered before he opened his eyes, smiling as he once again saw the white beads of mana around him. "It's getting just a little easier despite the fact that I learned how to do it less than 24 hours ago, although, I still have to stand still to do it, learning to do it while moving would be awesome, first, I need to locate Tantalus-,"
He stopped his sentence midway as he looked at Tantalus, or rather, the mana around, it was beige in color, but one more thing was obvious about it.
"Holy shit, his mana is huge, just as huge as him, it must've grown when he used his Full Size spell," Kenos thought before he started to focus, drawing the neutral mana close to him, he then grinned. "It's ready, Solar Magic - Mana Charge: Solar Cross Destroyer!"
He formed the two Xs and divided one before shooting it at the giant mage.
"What the? Why can't I move?" Tantalus wondered, even though the Xs were vastly smaller than their target, they were still succeeding in immobilizing him, but with his large size, immobilization was all they could manage instead of the crushing feeling that his fellow Diamond mages were subjected to during the dungeon mission.
"Alright!" Kenos exclaimed, jumping into view, Tantalus saw him and did his best to extend his hand to him, but it was futile as the solar mage clenched his fist, releasing the powerful blast right at his enemy's arm.
"AH!" Tantalus screamed in pain, his arm was starting to bleed from multiple areas.
"He's wide open, I should attack again, Solar Creation Magic: Rain of Solar Daggers!" Kenos continued as the daggers began to fall, heading for the shining general's injured arm.
Tantalus grit his teeth. "I just wanted to capture this damn town and eat some scrumptious food, but it seems I can get neither, and it's all because of you!" his grimoire flipped to a page, but the spells on that page were of a different attribute. "Behold the power of my original attribute, Food Recovery Magic: Ambrosia's Delicacy!" he exclaimed as he began breathing it, creating a vacuum that drew in Kenos' daggers and sent them...straight into his mouth.
"He's...eating my spell?" Kenos was beyond confused, that confusion only rose once he noticed Tantalus' injured arm was beginning to heal itself, he landed on a branch.
"That's the power of my original magic, and I'm not done yet, Food Creation Magic: Persephone's Hammer!" the dual mage exclaimed as he formed a large hammer, named after the Greek Goddess and Queen of the Underworld, he then swung it towards Kenos, breaking four branches in the process.
"Son of a bitch," Kenos muttered as he dodged and jumped to a different branch. "Not even Mana Charge could take him down, I think I could only manage to do it one more time, so I have to make it count,"
Onto the last pair of adversaries, Yami and Lotus, the two were fighting on a high part of the tree, separated from their respective allies, their blades clashed time after time again, the sound of steel was ringing out, but no one else heard it.
Lotus backed up as his grimoire flipped to a page. "Smoke Magic: Haze Slash!" he exclaimed, firing a crescent-shaped slash of smoke from his blade.
"I said stop copying me, Dark Magic: Dark Cloaked Lightless Slash!" Yami exclaimed back as he fired a slash of his own, the two attacks canceling each other out.
"I'm not copying you, Yami, we both knew those spells, during our first battle some years back, don't you remember?" Lotus said before asking.
"I already told you, I don't know you," Yami replied.
"Maybe this will remind you," the smoke mage said as he stabbed his blade into the ground and unbuttoned the top half of his shirt before opening it, revealing a large scar going across his chest.
"Ew, what the hell are you doing?" Yami asked with a look of comedic indifference as he looked away.
"This is the scar you gave me during our last fight, I've never forgotten it, it was during my early years of being a Diamond Soldier," Lotus explained.
Yami then looked at him, and then...it clicked. "That scar? Hey, I remember you, Smoky,"
Lotus chuckled. "That's what you called me when we first met,"
The dark mage chuckled too. "I know, hey, how are your kids doing? I remember you saying you wanted to live so you could see your daughters again,"
"They're doing just fine, they're all grown up, soon they'll find husbands and move out, it makes me feel old," Lotus replied.
"Don't worry about it, they have to go eventually," Yami said before he pointed his katana at him, his face grew serious. "Sorry about this, Smoky, I don't feel good about killing a father, but the fate of Kiten depends on one of our sides losing,"
Lotus grabbed his blade and pointed it at Yami. "I understand, but don't hold back, we both have obligations to our kingdoms," his grimoire flipped to a page. "Smoke Creation Magic: Smog Lash!" he exclaimed as a whip of smoke appeared on top of his sword, he then jumped up into the air as made a whip motion with it.
Yami read the Ki of his opponent and dodged his attack, the whip then disappeared as Lotus began falling down, but he made the most of it as he prepared his blade for an aerial strike.
The dark and smoke mages clashed once more, but the force of the clash caused the branch under them to snap, causing them to freefall onto another branch, by complete coincidence, they landed next to William as he was in the middle of blocking one of Brosnan's attacks.
"Hey there, Goldy, how are you holding up? Brosnan isn't giving you too hard of a time?" Yami asked with his back facing the world tree mage.
"I'm doing fine, it seems you and Lotus are evenly matched," William responded.
Lotus poked his head out. "Hey there, William, I almost forgot to ask how you were doing?"
"I'm doing just fine, what about you? Are your daughters doing well?" he asked back.
The smoke mage smiled. "They're doing great, nice and tall and healthy," he replied as he and Yami continued to push back with their blades.
William smiled as well. "That's good to know, we may be from different kingdoms and are enemies, but it doesn't hurt to be friendly,"
"Tell me about it, it baffles me sometimes how we can talk so casually to one another when we're literally trying to kill each other," Lotus realized.
"Well, we better get back to it, let's go, Smoky!" Yami exclaimed as they broke the clash, he then jumped into the air.
"Right behind you," Lotus jumped up as well.
William commanded his branches to fall so he could launch another attack, but the armored general reacted first.
"I was waiting for you to drop your shield, Golden Eye Binding Magic: Overpower Glare!" he exclaimed as his eyes glowed gold, William's entire body then glowed gold, leaving him immobilized.
"Shit," William muttered.
Brosnan then jumped into the air, his fist reeled back, ready to strike William. "My Overpower Glare will remain in effect as long as you're in my line of vision, and with your allies occupied, there's no one who can save you!"
"That's where you're wrong!"
The sudden sound of a voice surprised Brosnan, he was even more surprised as Kenos appeared in between him and William, bursting from under them, the solar mage did a midair frontflip, kicking Brosnan with his heel, causing the armored general to plummet downwards, luckily for him, Tantalus was there to catch him.
"Thanks," Brosnan said to his fellow shining general.
"No problem," he said back.
A similar exchange of words occurred as Kenos landed next to William, the latter being freed from the paralysis.
"Thanks, I owe you one," William said.
"Don't mention it," Kenos said back.
Tantalus looked up at the two Clover Kingdom mages. "I wonder if I should use Demeter's Harvest, it's the strongest Food Magic spell in my arsenal, as it will drain all the mana in the area, but doing so will stop Brosnan and Lotus from casting any spells along with our enemies, so that's a no go,"
"Should we launch an attack against them?" Kenos asked William as he pointed down at the golden eye and dual mages.
"Not for now, we need to think of a plan to take them out more efficiently, they're proving to be quite the problem," William replied, but then, he and Kenos looked up to see Yami and Lotus landed on a nearby branch.
The two mages clashed blades over and over again, neither one letting up against the other, the two sides watched as they did so.
"I'm finishing this right now, Smoke Magic-," Lotus was beginning to say as he backed up a fair distance from his opponent, but was interrupted by the Black Bulls captain.
"Too slow, Dark Magic: Dark Cloaked Dance of the Eclipse!" Yami exclaimed as he disappeared.
Lotus stopped. "Okay, I don't think I've seen this spell before, I wonder what it does?"
"Funny you should ask," began a voice behind the smoke mage, he abruptly turned around to see Yami just a few inches away from him.
"It's a spell that lets me put an end to this fight, Dark Magic: Dark Cloaked Gloomy Dusk!" he finished with an exclamation as darkness enveloped his katana and he slashed Lotus right in the chest, the close proximity of the attack also causing the smoke mage to lose his footing on the branch and begin plummeting down.
"That last spell, Gloomy Dusk, I remember it, that was the exact same spell that put a scar on my chest, and now he hit me with another one...ah damn it, I'm losing too much blood, now I'm starting to fade out of consciousness, I guess I'll have to leave the fight to you two now," he thought as he kept falling.
Tantalus was quite surprised to see anyone get such a hit on Lotus, but he wasn't as surprised as Brosnan, the golden eye mage watched the smoke mage fall like it was in slow motion, he couldn't believe what he was seeing, and who was responsible.
"LOTUS!" he screamed as he crouched down and jumped straight up, catching Lotus midair, he quickly noted his ally's injury. "A slash to the chest, and by that dark mage no less," he then looked down at the dual mage. "Tantalus!"
"I'm on it!" the giant exclaimed, raising his palm up as Brosnan landed on it, he set the injured mage down and looked at the dark mage.
"Yami Sukehiro, I'm going...TO KILL YOU!" he exclaimed as his grimoire flipped through pages, stopping on one. "Golden Eye Magic: Sweeping Beam Cannon!" his eyes glowed gold before they fired two beams that unified into one beam, it hit the far side of the tree and began quickly moving horizontally, straight for Yami.
"Shit," he muttered as he ran away from the beam, his grimoire flipping to a page, ready to cast a spell to counter the attack once enough distance was made.
"Captain Yami!" Kenos exclaimed as he jumped towards the dark mage, while in the air, he looked at his ring. "I burned through two more outlines, if I maintain the ring-aura combo, I may not be able to pull off another Mana Charge attack, but I won't need it, I just need to get to the captain and cast Amaterasu's Guard,"
Unfortunately for the solar mage, he was spotted by his earlier 1v1 enemy. "You're not getting in the way, Giant Magic: Titan Blaster!" Tantalus exclaimed, firing the magic bullet.
"Shit!" Kenos cursed, crossing his arms as the attack hit him head-on, he was shot into the tree, his auras protected him from further injury, but disappeared in the process.
"Kenos!" Yami exclaimed as he stopped and watched the solar mage get hit into a tree, but by stopping, the dark mage had let the beam catch up to him, once he finally noticed, it was too late.
"AH!" Yami let out a painful scream, but his instincts kicked in and he jumped up, evading the rest of the beam, as he landed, he kneeled down, holding his left arm.
Kenos heard his captain call his name before screaming, he had never heard him scream like that before, it scared him, but then, branches began to appear, shielding their entire side from the enemy. "Kenos, check on Yami, I'll cover you!" he heard William call out.
"Right!" the solar mage called back as he gathered his strength and jumped to the branch where Yami was. "I'm coming, captain!" he arrived by the dark mage and saw him holding his left arm. "Is it bad?" he asked.
But as he saw it, he almost wanted to puke.
Yami's left arm was nearly cut off, connected by only a few lines of muscle and his arm bone, blood was leaking from it, the dark mage was desperately trying to keep it from falling off.
On the other side, Brosnan looked back down at Lotus. "Golden Eye Recovery Magic: Healing Gaze," he said as Lotus began to glow gold. "Tantalus, let's retreat, we've lost this battle," he said, not breaking eye contact with the smoke mage.
"Are you sure, what about our forces, and the other Shining Generals?" Tantalus asked.
"They've made no attempt to try contacting us, meaning they were most likely subdued, there's no point in staying here with Lotus injured," the golden eye mage replied.
The dual mage sighed. "Fine, we'll retreat, and I was really looking forward to some Clover Kingdom food,"
The giant's hammer disappeared as he walked out of Kiten. "Tactical retreat!" he called out as he kept walking, all the way back to the Diamond Kingdom.
William commanded his branches to fall as he ran to Kenos and Yami. "How is he?"
"Not good, my recovery spell won't work here, he needs to be treated by a high-level recovery mage," Kenos replied.
"I understand," William said as he commanded his branches to carry up his broom, he and Kenos carefully helped Yami onto it as they quickly flew to the capital.
"How are you feeling, captain?" Kenos asked. "Should I use a spell to at least lessen the pain?"
"I've been better, but you don't need to waste your mana, I'll be just - AH!" Yami was replying, but stopped as pain surged through him again.
"Hold on, we're almost at the capital," William told them as he took out his communication device, calling Julius.
"William, is something the matter, how is the battle going?" Julius asked.
"The Diamond Kingdom has retreated, we are victorious, but we have a problem, Yami has been gravely injured, if he's not treated soon, it could be fatal, I'm taking him and Kenos to headquarters, please have Owen on standby for when we arrive," William informed the time mage.
"Alright, I already sent Marx on it, Owen is on his way," Julius said, his voice laced with worry and urgency as the transmission ended, the broom carrying the three then increased in speed.
Seven minutes passed and they finally arrived at the capital, more specifically, Magic Knight HQ, William saw that the doors at the entrance were wide open, so he wasted no time landing and flew straight in, mentally being thankful that the inside of HQ was big enough to fly in, only a few seconds of turning passed before they arrived at the door to Julius' office.
They landed as Kenos quickly opened the door before helping Yami inside, he quickly noticed the Wizard King, Marx, and the gray-haired healer, Owen. "Owen, it's been some time,"
"It's good to see you too, Kenos," Owen greeted before his eyes fell on Yami, he walked over to him and checked his arm, he looked very concerned before turning to Julius.
"This is a high-level injury, I can't heal it by myself, Lord Julius, if you would, I'd like your assistance,"
The Wizard King wasted no time in nodding. "It'd be my pleasure,"
Owen then took out his grimoire, but Julius didn't, regardless, a blue orb appeared above his hand.
"Time Recovery Magic…,"
"Water Recovery Magic…,"
Yami was then surrounded by a large orb of water and lifted into the air, a ring with roman numerals was around it, like Saturn's ring.
"Combo Spell: Chronoaqua Restoration," they said together as Yami's arm began fixing itself, until it was brand new, the orb then disappeared as he softly landed on the ground.
"That feels a whole lot better, thanks, I owe you two one," Yami as he moved his left arm in a windmill motion.
"Now that Yami has been treated, I can thank you both for your help in defending Kiten, I'll be sending stars to both of your squads," Julius said to the two captains.
"There's something else that needs to be done," Kenos spoke up as he walked to Yami, he then put his head down. "I'm really sorry, captain, you only got injured because you were worried about me, if only I was able to move faster, or maybe get away from Tantalus' attack, you wouldn't have to go through that pain,"
Yami ruffled the solar mage's hair. "Don't worry about it, I don't blame you at all, I should've been more careful, in fact, I'm proud of you, you held your own against a Shining General in a one on one match,"
Julius stepped up. "He's right, don't let it get to you. Now, if you don't mind, I need to speak to everyone about something important, if you could exit the room and wait outside, I'd really appreciate that,"
Kenos put his head up and lightly smiled. "Alright," he said before exiting the room, but as he did, his smile disappeared, replaced by a look of anger as he walked to the wall across from the door and punched it.
"Damn you, Brosnan, you hurt the captain, I'm going to make you pay, one day, if we ever cross paths again, mark my words!" he angrily thought as he clenched his fist.
Hours passed and the sun was beginning to set on both the Clover Kingdom and the Diamond Kingdom.
"So Lotus, how are you feeling?"
Inside a large building within the Diamond Kingdom, Lotus was face to face with a man wearing a lab coat, wearing shades.
"I'm feeling just fine, Morris, the recovery mages said I should be okay," he replied.
Morris smiled. "That's good, and what about Brocks, Lagus, and Yagos, I noticed they didn't come with you,"
Tantalus spoke up, he was standing to the side, next to Andreas and Mars. "They were most likely captured,"
"I knew relying on those old-timers would screw us over, the only Old Generation Shining General that's worthy is Brosnan, the rest should make way for us of the New Generation," Andreas scoffed. "So, Morris, what's the next plan of action?"
"Not sure right now, the attack on Kiten was a bust, so for now, let's keep a low profile before we do anything else," he replied before he started to walk out of the room, he then stopped and turned around, looking at Lotus. "Oh, and by the way, Lotus, I think Brosnan wanted to speak to you,"
"Oh, okay then, I'll see you all around," Lotus said as he left, walking to Brosnan's room, as he arrived at the door, he knocked.
"Come in,"
The smoke mage entered and saw Brosnan, still in his armor, the golden eye mage on the other hand was happy to see him. "Lotus, have you made a full recovery?"
"Yeah, I'm all good, but I got a new scar, Tantalus told me you were healing me all the way to the Diamond Kingdom, thanks, I owe you one, Brosnan," Lotus said.
"Lotus...what did I say about calling me Brosnan when we're not in combat," the armored general said as he laid a hand on his chest, suddenly, a spot began to glow as the armor began disappearing.
Once it was fully gone, he turned around to face Lotus, but...it wasn't a he, but rather...a she. Before Lotus was a beautiful, curvaceous woman who was just a bit shorter than him, her skin was a caramel brown, she had piercing golden eyes and medium-long black hair, she wore a light coating of regal red armor over a long red dress, and around her neck was a pendant which she used to summon her armor.
The woman put a hand on her hip. "You know very well that Brosnan is my last name, or at least, my maiden name, ever since the two of us got married," she walked over to Lotus as the two held each other and shared a kiss. "You wouldn't believe how much you worried me when I saw Yami strike you, next time you go into battle, don't worry me like that ever again,"
Lotus smiled. "I promise, I'll never make you worry again, Anna,"
Author's Note
Anna "Golden Eyes" Brosnan "Whomalt" was an OC given to me by Warmachine375
Tantalus was an OC Warmachine375 made based on a nameless character in the anime