Chapter Sixty: How Far We've Made It
Hey there, readers, before you begin reading the latest chapter of the story, I'd just like to say a few words. Today, September 6, 2021 marks one year since The Other Fifth Leaf began, when I first posted this story, I didn't know how good it was going to do, so you can imagine my surprise when I saw this story become as popular as it did, every single favorite, follow, and review fueled my want to do more, the title of this chapter may be about how far our characters have made it, but it also shows how far I myself have made it, so thank you so much, to everyone who took the time to give my story a chance. With that out of the way, enjoy this chapter, and to my American viewers, have a happy Labor Day. Cya.
"The Award Ceremony's starting already?" Kenos wondered aloud.
"I forget, what exactly is the Award Ceremony again?" Asta asked.
"It's the portion of the Festival that's reserved for publicly announcing progress between the nine squads, each squad will be ranked according to the number of stars they've acquired within the year," the solar mage explained.
"Awesome, so what are we waiting for? Let's head over there, the others will meet up with us,"
Kenos nodded. "You're right, we should get moving, we wouldn't want to be late," he said as the two turned around and followed the crowd towards the spot.
Elsewhere, Zuka, Jack, and Glynda were walking down a path, having finished taking down the two stands, the sparkle mage spoke up. "Do you think the guys found Asta?" she asked.
"I believe they have, it wouldn't take them that long, and if it did, they would've come back here and we all could've gone searching," Glynda replied before turning to her captain. "So Jack, what's next on the list?"
"Right now, the Award Ceremony will be starting shortly," the severing mage answered.
"The Award Ceremony? Shauna and Oliver told me about it before we got here, isn't it the time where squads get ranked according to star count?" Zuka asked again.
"Bingo," Jack casually replied.
"Cool, I hope my squad does well, who knows, we might even rank first," Zuka hoped, a huge smile forming on her face.
"No way, not with that captain of yours," the captain countered. "Rill is so focused on that art of his, he'll never do what needs to be done,"
"Never do what needs to be done? That's odd coming from you, Jack," Glynda retorted as her eyes focused on him. "That's practically you in a nutshell,"
The severing mage lightly blushed from embarrassment, making Zuka giggle before the man cleared his throat. "W-Well, things are a bit different now, but regardless, even then I could fulfill my roles as a captain at times," his face then shifted towards the blue and magenta-haired teen. "Have you ever even seen your captain fight before?"
Zuka held her chin as she thought back. "Actually, I don't think I have, but he must be strong, he is a captain after all, and they don't just hand out that title, you have to become a Grand Magic Knight, and that requires a lot of hard work,"
"True words, I may not have exactly earned my title as vice-captain the traditional way, but I can fight with the best of them," the telekinesis mage added.
"Well, this has been a great talk, but I should get going, since the Ceremony will be starting, the other captains and I will be needed as we'll be standing at the castle summit together," Jack explained as he began to quicken.
Glynda did the same. "And I'll go gather whoever I see from the squad,"
Soon, Zuka was walking by herself. "This has been a lot of fun, I wish mom and the others from the village could've come," she mused before her expression suddenly fell. "Actually, no, mom wouldn't want to come, it is nearing that time, after all, she would rather stay in Hiroka,"
But just then, the sparkle mage heard a nearby familiar voice. "This has been a lot of fun, so how did you enjoy our little hangout?"
The voice that replied to it was one she didn't recognize. "Yeah, it was really fun, especially that part where Oliver tripped,"
"Hey, that wasn't my fault! Some idiot decided to leave their glass bottle in the middle of the street!"
Zuka's expression brightened up again as she located the source of the voices. "How's it going, you guys!" she called while running over to them.
"Oh, it's Zuka," Shauna voiced as their squadmate caught up to them. "Look who decided to show up, have you come to apologize for ditching us?"
"Ditching you?" Zuka repeated, her voice showing obvious confusion, but then she realized what the illusion mage was talking about, technically, she did ditch them to search for the solar mage. "O-Oh yeah, I'm really sorry, I just thought that Kenos could be here, so I went to look for him,"
"I see, so Shauna was right, she really must like Kenos, that Black Bull should consider himself a lucky guy," Oliver thought with a small smirk before straightening his expression. "Look Zuka, it's okay if you ever want to branch off from us, but would it kill you to just tell us, it would make us worry a lot less,"
"Yeah, you're right, my bad," she apologized again while scratching the back of her head, but then she noticed the pink-haired water mage. "Hey, I've seen you before, you were Shauna's ex-fiancé…Joshua, was it?"
"That's right, thanks for remembering, it's good to see you again as well, and this time, under happier circumstances," Joshua replied.
"True, but there's something I still want to know," Zuka said as she slung her arm around the boy and pulled her away from the other two. "Say, do you still have it for Shauna?" she whispered.
Joshua's face turned red and he twiddled his thumbs. "A-A little bit," he timidly replied. "I know she said she wanted us to be friends and I respect that, but still, I sometimes hope we could be, y'know…a little more,"
A warm smile appeared on Zuka's face. "You know something, Joshua, you remind me a lot of myself and how I feel about Kenos, although I'm nowhere near as shy, I wish you the best if fate ever lets you two be together," she thought.
"But to be a little more than what we are now, I feel like I should change myself a bit," Joshua spoke up.
"Why? We all like you the way you are, you don't find a kind noble every day you know," Zuka asked.
"I didn't mean changing my attitude, I meant losing my timidity," the water mage clarified. "I've always been kind of on the shy side, nothing too bad though, but that isn't good enough. When my parents eventually die, I'm going to be the head of the Sakuraba House, but what head of a Noble House acts the way I do? They're strong mages, as well as pillars of confidence and support, their actions and example make the people of their family proud. That's what I want to be, I want to grow some balls and leave this part of me behind someday, it'll be best for my future, and who knows…it might make Shauna find me more appealing,"
"Well damn, those were some pretty inspirational words if I ever heard them, if you ask me, I know you'll make it there someday," the sparkle mage told him.
"Really? Thanks, Zuka," Joshua said as they broke their small huddle and walked back to the wood and illusion mages.
"So what was your little talk about exactly, it kinda came out of nowhere?" Oliver asked.
"Oh, nothing much, just wanted to know how Joshua over here was doing, and it turns out he wants to start leveling up," Zuka responded.
"I just want to work on reinventing myself a little bit," the water mage clarified.
"That's awesome man, can't wait to see how that turns out," Oliver said.
"So, I heard the Award Ceremony is starting soon, were you all heading over there?" Zuka asked.
Shauna nodded. "Yeah, we were on our way there, now we can all go as a group," she said as they all started walking forward.
About 30 meters behind them, the Crimson quartet were all running forward, with Leopold at the head.
"Leo, why are we running?!" Oxanna asked, her hand still interlocked with Rama's.
"The Award Ceremony is going to start in a few minutes, and we were nearly on the other side of the capital, I don't want to be late and miss who the new captain of our squad is," the flame mage replied.
"Why did we have to run then? I could've used my magic and sped us all over here," Rama countered.
"I'm pretty sure you couldn't take us all at once, and going back and forth could be very draining," Erika replied. "But under any other circumstance, I too would be against the idea of running,"
"No point in complaining now, we're almost there," Leopold told his friends as they continued their fast pace.
"The waves of the sea sing to me!"
Elsewhere, Kahono and Kiato had just finished a dual performance of their singing and dancing for the people, passerbys stopped to cheer, while Noelle watched from the side.
"Amazing performance,"
"That young girl's singing is beautiful,"
"You're telling me, and that young man, I've never seen dancing as fluid as that,'
The siblings smiled as they heard the many comments of praise. "Thank you so much, everyone, one day, we're going to do this for the entire kingdom to see, and when that day comes, we're going to earn loads of money!" they exclaimed.
"I see they're not shy voicing their motivation," Noelle muttered to herself with a deadpan expression.
"Should we do another one, sis?" Kiato asked.
"You bet, tonight is our only chance to dazzle them, we won't miss any chance to do so," Kahono replied as she was about to sing again, but was stopped as she heard someone say something.
"My, it's getting late, I'm pretty sure the ceremony will be starting shortly, I can't wait to see how good the squads did this year," the person said, others heard their statement and started walking away in a direction.
"Um, what's going on? What ceremony?" the song mage wondered aloud.
"They're talking about the Award Ceremony," Noelle replied as she walked over to them. "It's done around the later times of the Festival, a little while before the Star Festival itself ends, the Magic Knight squads get ranked depending on how well they've done so far, which are tracked by stars,"
"I see, that sounds like fun, I bet your squad is going to do great," the dance mage stated.
Noelle slightly frowned. "I doubt that, the Black Bulls have been in last place every year ever since the squad got established,"
Kahono placed a hand on her shoulder. "I bet this year will be different, you did so much for us at the Underwater Temple, and I bet you all did great things both beforehand and afterward,"
The water mage's frown disappeared and was replaced with a small smile instead. "Thanks, now, let's go, but we should stay together, crowds can get pretty large during this time,"
"Right. I wonder if Kenos and Zuka ever found Asta?" Kiato voiced.
"They most likely did and are just doing their own thing now. There's a very good chance they could've run into one of my other squadmates and are just with them now," Noelle replied.
"You know something, tonight was a lot of fun, I'm glad we got to come here, and I can't wait to come next year," Kahono said as she pointed her finger under your chin. "Who knows, probably we could have another triple date, but maybe just for fun this time,"
"We are not doing that again, you hear me!" Noelle suddenly exclaimed. "And what do you mean just for fun this time?"
"Nothing, no reason at all, just need joking," Kahono replied with a light and partially nervous chuckle.
The reason behind her plan was something Noelle didn't need to know, now, or any other time for that matter.
"Wow, there are so many people here,"
Those were the words that left Asta's mouth as he saw the ginormous congregation of citizens around him.
"This is the usual amount we get each year, there have been some years where we've even gotten more people here than we do now," Kenos told him.
"Really? I bet those years were pretty awesome too,"
"Yo, it seems you two are the only other ones here I can see," a voice said, the two teens turned to see Yami approaching them, back in his normal attire.
"I see you back to wearing your daily clothes, I was actually getting used to that getup of yours," the solar mage stated.
"The festival is coming to a close soon, no point in having that on at this stage," he explained.
"Where's Finral and Vanessa?" the swordsman asked.
"Finral is off somewhere doing whatever Finral does, as for Vanessa, I think she's somewhere around here," the captain responded.
"Look, it's the Wizard King!" that sudden exclamation made the three Black Bulls turn their heads straight ahead. At the summit of Clover Castle, Julius approached, earning cheers from the people.
"Right on time, and the people seem quite excited, leave it to Julius to be popular with everyone," Kenos mused before he suddenly realized something, turning to Yami. "Wait a minute, if Julius is already up there, that means the captains should be up there too, why are you down here?"
Yami's eyes began widening before his face quickly shifted to a look of comedic indifference. "Oh yeah, well, I guess I'm going to be late then,"
"I guess? Aren't you worried in the slightest," the Rossiu continued.
"Not really, Julius doesn't mind if I'm late every once in a while, although I'm a bit concerned for the Prickly Queen, she's still passed out, you wouldn't believe how much she lectures me about punctuality,"
Julius raised a hand, silencing the crowd as he spoke into a floating magic item in front of him. "What a lovely night, I hope you've all enjoyed the Star Festival this year! I know that this year in particular has been tough, seeing that not too long ago, this very capital was under attack by the terrorist organization known as the Eye of the Midnight Sun, they set this place in flames, but it along with the people inside of it were saved by our fearless Magic Knights! And now, let's let the leaders of those individual forces come before us!"
On cue, the captains walked out from the darkness of a hallway in the back and into the view of the people, causing them to cheer even louder.
Despite the smile on Julius' face, his mind spoke with a stressed tone. "I told everyone to be punctual for this. Yami is nothing new, but I didn't expect Charlotte to not be here, but for some odd reason, I feel like she did something incredibly stupid to cause her absence," he then pushed the thought aside and began with introductions. "Let us begin with the captain of the Golden Dawn, William Vangeance!"
The name of the best squad's captain being announced made the crowd go into a cheering frenzy, but it didn't end as the time mage kept going. "Next up, we have the captain of the Silver Eagles, Nozel Silva! Then the captain of the Green Praying Mantises, Jack the Ripper! After him is the captain of the Coral Peacocks, Dorothy Unsworth! And of course, we couldn't forget the youngest captain in our ranks, captain of the Aqua Deer, Rill Boismortier!"
After announcing the familiar captains, Julius extended his other hand at two other people. "And now I'll introduce our newest captains, replacing Gueldre Poizot as captain of the Purple Orcas, we have Kaiser Granvorka! And replacing Fuegoleon Vermillion as captain of the Crimson Lion Kings, we have Mereoleona Vermillion!"
Perspective shifted to the crimson quartet as that last name was being announced, Rama was the first to speak up. "Wait a minute, if her last name is Vermillion, then doesn't that make her…,"
"…It's my sister," Leopold slowly stated, his eyes widening in disbelief and a little bit of fear. "They made my sister the new captain, but why, she hates politics,"
Contrary to Leopold, the phantom mage's face showed immense joy as she stared at the woman, the lava mage then spoke up next. "That's great, you already know her, so you can tell us how she's like and what to expect from her,"
"No, I couldn't," the flame mage disagreed with a somber tone. "…I wouldn't want to scare you,"
"Scare us?" Rama and Erika repeated in unison.
Julius then spoke up again. "I know that two of our captains aren't present right now, but we won't let that stop us, let's get on with announcing the squad rankings for this year! We'll begin with first place, and the squad that came out on top is…," a magic projection then appeared in the air, showing a squad's name.
"And first place is the Golden Dawn!" Julius announced as the people roared again.
"No surprise here, they score first every year, well, there was that time or two where the Crimson Lion Kings came out on first, but that hardly happens," Kenos said plainly.
"And now I'll welcome up the top-performing mage from the squad here, so let's give him a warm welcome," the Wizard King stated as a figure's footsteps were heard. "Accompanied by the wind spirit, Sylph, we have Yuno!"
The wind mage stepped into full view of the people, a small proud smile on his face as the people cheered for him.
"Holy crap, that guy's gorgeous!" a girl squealed.
"It's Yuno!" Charmy exclaimed, popping out of nowhere.
From the back, a few of Yuno's squadmates stood close to the dark. "Great work, Yuno, I'm so proud," Klaus congratulated.
The sand mage, Alecdora though, was not as supportive. "I can't believe that commoner performed better than the rest of us,"
Langris said nothing, his arms merely crossed as he looked at Yuno with a plain expression, but his mind replayed the words the wind mage said to him in Kiten.
"I'm not, my path to the title of Wizard King will start with becoming the captain of the Golden Dawn…I'm ready to take your position as well, so be careful,"
The spatial mage's expression didn't change as a thought entered his head. "You may have become the squad's top-performing mage this year, but don't let that go to your head, you'll never surpass me, I'll make sure of it,"
"It feels good to get some recognition, and not get looked at with disdain by some of our asshole squadmates, isn't that right, Yuno?" Bell asked.
"You're right, it does feel kind of nice. I wonder what squad ranked second though?" Yuno replied.
As if Julius read the teen's mind, he spoke up again. "And now it's time to announce which squad ranked in second place!"
Before the result even came in, the people were speculating who it could possibly be. "I think it'll be the Crimson Lion Kings," one person said.
"Nah, after Fuegoleon lost his arm and entered a coma, their progress must've taken a nosedive," a second person disagreed.
"Well I think it might be the Silver Eagles," a third person suggested.
"Now there's a good one, and if it isn't them, it's probably just the Blue Rose Knights or something," the second person stated again.
"What about you, Magna, who do you think will rank second?" Luck asked as he and the flame mage were playing a shooter game near the crowd.
"Who cares, not that it really matters, the squads will come in whatever order they come in, and of course, we'll end up in last place just like we always do every year," Magna replied.
Julius extended his hand forward. "And now, the second-place squad!" the projection then appeared, but the name that appeared shocked everyone to their core.
"The Black Bulls!" the people exclaimed.
"What?!" Luck and Magna exclaimed in disbelief, and they weren't the only ones as their squadmates joined in the bewilderment.
"What?!" Charmy.
"What?!" then Noelle.
"What?!" then Finral and Vanessa.
"What?!" next up were Gauche and Grey.
"What?!" Asta, Kenos, and Yami soon followed.
"What the fuck?!" Gordon finished, exclaiming for the first time.
"The foreigner just beat us?" Nozel said aloud, in total shock.
"Not possible, Yami's squad never comes in in anything but last place," Jack joined in.
"My, his squad really stepped up their game, I'm glad," Rill said, being the only positive comment of the bunch.
"No way in hell,"
The final response was a quieter one, and it came from Richard's mouth as he and Ellen saw the result as well as the rest of the people.
"I don't believe it, Kenos' squad placed second," Ellen said. "It's surprising, but it's good news, isn't that right, Richard?" she turned to her husband, but his face remained surprised. The woman deduced that her husband would need time to take it all in, so she didn't persist.
Meanwhile, in Richard's mind, the words Kenos spoke to him when he first visited home after joining his squad replayed, when the man thought the Black Bulls was a squad eternally destined to be a failure.
"Then what if we make it great, they can become a prestigious squad just like the others, they just need members like me, like us,"
Richard then clenched his fist as another thought entered his mind, but rather than input, it was of an early memory.
"Richard, listen well to me, my son, you are a Rossiu, we are a special family, with things to achieve, and things to protect, but the greatest thing you must protect as a Rossiu is your reputation, even over your family, for if that reputation is tarnished, your loved ones will become the first victims of scrutiny. Those of our family must also remember this, for if a Rossiu damages their reputation with no remorse, they don't deserve to be a Rossiu, in fact, they shouldn't-,"
The man's thought process was cut off as he started to hear the murmuring of people around him. After the initial shock factor had passed, the people had come to a unified conclusion about the result and weren't afraid to voice it.
"There's no way the Black Bulls could've possibly ranked second," a man stated what most of the people were.
"Yeah, they most likely just threatened someone, they're the nutjobs of the kingdom, like they could do something as impressive as that,"
Noelle stood in the crowd, her face becoming a frown again, she wasn't expecting her squad to do that well, but she also wasn't expecting how little the kingdom believed in them.
But then a unified voice yelled out.
"You shut up!"
Almost everyone turned upon hearing the passionate voice, Noelle did the same, but was surprised to see the Underwater siblings as the source.
"Couldn't do something that impressive? Please, when the Eye of the Midnight Sun came to our home ready to kill hundreds of innocent people, the Black Bulls bravely stepped up and saved us!" Kahono exclaimed.
"She's right, they're not just a pack of nutjobs, they're a group of good people and strong mages, they maybe weird and could get violent, but I know they earned that spot, and I'll be damned if they don't get recognized for it!" Kiato added.
"They're right!"
Focus then shifted to Rebecca and Eon.
"The Black Bulls helped us too, you can believe in them!" the former began.
"Two of my siblings were kidnapped by a pair of child traffickers that were working with the Eye of the Midnight Sun, but thanks to the Black Bulls, they're safe and sound, and won't have to worry about that ever again," the green-haired teen joined in.
Julius merely smiled. "You've gotten yourselves some good supporters, I'm glad,"
Asta grinned. "Rebecca,"
Noelle's frown changed to a warm smile. "Kahono,"
A small smile formed on the solar mage's face. "Kiato, Eon, thanks a bunch," he started walking towards them to express his gratitude, but was stopped as the conversation between two guys caught his attention.
"Hey, isn't there a Rossiu on the Black Bulls?" one asked.
"Yeah, there is, one joined them this year," the other one replied. "Then forget threatening someone, it's clear that the Rossiu did all the hard work, and the rest of that squad is just riding their coattails,"
"That sounds like typical behavior for them, I feel bad for the kid that had to carry them all the way to second place.
"You're wrong,"
The two men were startled by the sudden sound of a voice behind them, they turned to see the culprit was Kenos.
It didn't take long for the guys to see the solar mage's pendant and figure out who he was.
"It's you isn't it, you're the Rossiu that joined the Black Bulls?"
"I am," Kenos replied plainly.
"So tell us, how much work did it take to carry your squad the way you did?" one of the guys asked.
"It didn't take much work…because it wasn't just me, no mage, not even a Rossiu, could bring a squad up to second place on their own, it was a group effort, despite what's happened in the past, our squad has gotten better, so take it from me, we all earned this one," Kenos told them before walking away.
Julius took this chance to speak up. "I can understand your confusion, but let it be known, the result of this was legitimate, the Black Bulls have gone above and beyond this year, they've shown us what they can do when they start trying. Now, can the Black Bulls send up their top-performing member?"
The man who owned the shooting game Luck and Magna were playing looked at them. "Are one of you gentlemen going to go?"
Magna took off his shades. "Believe me, I'd love to go up there, but-,"
"Neither of us deserves that spot this year," Luck finished.
"I think we all know who's supposed to be up with Yuno," Kenos muttered.
Noelle flicked her hair. "I'm letting you take this one, Asta,"
Yami pulled Asta's robe out of nowhere and placed it on him. "Well kid, I can't think of anyone more qualified for that title than you, plus, there's no one else around, but anyways, get up there!" he exclaimed before grabbing the swordsman's jacket and launching him towards the summit.
"You could've warned me first!" Asta screamed as he flew through the air, earning gasps from the people. It didn't take long before he started to near his destination, so he quickly pulled out the Demon-Slayer and used it to break his fall.
The magicless mage didn't waste a second before turning to his rival. "Hey there, Yuno,"
"Right back out you, you sure know how to make an entrance, but I must say, your squad stirred up quite the ruckus, nice work ranking in second," Yuno said back.
"Thanks…but something doesn't feel right," Asta voiced as he turned to the crowd and took a deep breath.
"Kenos! I want you to be up here too! I'm pretty sure we're both the top-performing members!" the magicless mage yelled out.
The solar mage raised a brow. "Both of us, the top-performing members? I'm pretty sure that's not possible, besides, this moment belongs to you and Yuno, and for lack of a better term, I'm not becoming a third wheel-,"
His words were cut off as he felt something being placed over him, and it had a familiar feeling to it, he looked down and saw that it was his squad robe.
"Well well, would you look who I found," Yami said behind the teen before grabbing a hold of the back of his shirt.
"Wait, you're not going to-," Kenos began, but he never got to finish as Yami launched him up as well.
"Oh c'mon!" the solar mage screamed as he quickly took out his grimoire, flipping to a page as he neared the summit. "Solar Reinforcement Magic: Sunshine Aura!" he mentally exclaimed as the aura surrounded him, he then braced himself as he landed at an angle, using his hands to aid his descent before instantly removing the aura.
"Kenos, long time no see, I take it you've been well?" Yuno asked with a small smile.
The solar mage walked over to the Golden Dawn and they shared a high-five before he nodded. "That's right, I have been well, good to see you as well, Yuno, Bell,"
Kenos then turned from them and walked towards Asta. "And now that greetings are out of the way…what were you thinking?"
"Huh?"
"I'm not supposed to be up here, if I'm here, I'll just upstage you, I'm a Rossiu for crying out loud, people are going to think that I did everything," he told him.
"But isn't that kinda true?"
The swordsman's question caught Kenos off guard, but then he began to elaborate. "Sure you haven't done everything for us, but neither have I, whatever mission we were on, whatever enemy we faced, we had our squadmates by our side, we achieved our goals together, as a team, it was a group effort. I don't know how the Golden Dawn or the other squads do it, but for the Black Bulls, I shouldn't be here by myself, because in a way, that'd upstage the others, but if they don't want to be here, that's alright, but I at least want you to be here, you've earned it too,"
The solar mage was quite shocked, to say the least before a small smile appeared on his face. "You really have a way with words, have I ever told you that?"
"You should've seen him back when we were kids, he would just start speaking about becoming the Wizard King and making life better for the orphanage," Yuno said as they all shared a laugh before standing adamantly.
"My, that was quite the entrance for our two Black Bulls, but here they are, Kenos Rossiu, and Asta!" Julius exclaimed. "These three young men have done exceptionally well in their respective squads and defied many odds, and to think, they just joined our ranks this year,"
"Wow, that means they're in the late rookie stage," one man in the crowd stated as he held his chin. "For such youngsters, they're doing really great things,"
"I already recognize the Rossiu boy, but I wonder what noble families those other two are from?" a lady wondered aloud.
"That's the thing, they're not nobles, those two boys are commoners, and that shorter Black Bull can't even use magic!" Sekke exclaimed into the crowd.
Murmurs immediately started growing again. "Those two boys are commoners?"
"It makes you wonder if they really earned those stars,"
"Who knows, the nobles of their squads must've done the work and let those peasants take the top spot out of pity,"
The bronze mage chuckled to himself. "Sorry there, Asta, but I gotta get back at you somehow, and thanks to there being so many people, nobody will know that the one who started this was me, bah-ha-," he thought, but he was quickly proven wrong as he soon found his body unable to move. "Oh no!"
"My my, Sekke, you have quite the loud mouth," a voice said to the bronze mage's side, it didn't take long for Glynda to come into view, her arms crossed, one eye glaring at him.
"B-Boss lady, where did you come from?" Sekke asked, only a few seconds off from completely panicking.
"That isn't important, what is important was what you said about Asta and that other boy with him," Glynda said.
"I-I, I was just joking, honest," Sekke pleaded.
"Joking, aye? Nice try, but I'm not buying that, when we get back to the base, I'll take care of you," the telekinesis mage said, making the bronze mage gulp in fear.
Bell sighed as she heard what the people were saying. "Uh, what is wrong with these people, no wonder most of our squadmates act like douchebags, they live in a society full of these crappy people,"
"Bell," Yuno said. "A bit of your power please, let's demonstrate our skills,"
The wind spirit smirked. "Nice, this is going to be fun,"
Suddenly, a cylindrical green stream of wind and mana surrounded Yuno, making the crowd gasp, while the captains remained mostly unphased.
"Ooh, is he going to do something awesome!" Julius thought, starry-eyed.
"Wow, he's getting serious," Kenos stated before he started to back up. "But something tells me that whatever he's going to do, I'm not needed for it,"
"Hey Asta," Yuno said as he turned to the swordsman, forming a bow made of wind before pulling the bowstring back, forming a wind arrow. "These people are doubting us, so…let's show them what we can do," the wind mage then released the string, sending the arrow straight at his rival.
The magicless mage only had a second to react to the spell coming his way, but a second was all he needed as he grabbed hold of the Slayer and quickly cut the spell in half, causing wind to blow everywhere.
Kenos merely smirked, his arms crossed as wind blew over him. "Not bad, that ought to silence the disbelievers," he thought as he looked out into the crowd.
And just as the solar mage thought, the people were greatly surprised. "No way, the magic from that Golden Dawn was off the charts,"
"And that Black Bull stopped it so effortlessly,"
Glynda smiled as she put a hand on her hip. "So that's what Asta can do? Very fascinating,"
The time mage lightly chuckled to himself before he spoke into the microphone once more. "Please, if there is anyone who still doubts these two boys after seeing that demonstration, I ask you to step forward," he saw that no one did, but he wasn't expecting them to. "All three of these rookies have worked harder than all of their peers, and they deserve to stand here today. People of the Clover Kingdom, we must move past social status, whether you're a commoner, a noble, or even a royal, we must all come together if we want to make this place greater!"
"He's right, we can't let something like status hold us back, it didn't hold those two back!" a man exclaimed, cheers quickly followed.
"Well, I think it's safe to say that you've successfully convinced them," Kenos told the two rivals.
Asta silently nodded, in awe of the praise being sent his way. "I know, look at it all, Yuno, when we stand here, I can't help but think about how far we've made it, just a couple of months back, we were a pair of orphans that nobody knew, but now, here we are,"
"Yeah, we're a step closer to achieving our dreams," the wind mage agreed.
The swordsman then turned around. "And the same goes for you, Kenos,"
Kenos raised a brow. "Really?"
"Yeah, you've come a long way from the boy that didn't want to form bonds with his squadmates,"
"Not to mention that time we had our first mission together and I thought you were a stuck-up asshole like the others," Yuno added. "We've all made it far from where we began,"
"This little interruption was exciting, but we must continue with the other rankings, so here they are!" Julius announced. "Ranking in third place, we have the Silver Eagles! Ranking in fourth place, we have the Aqua Deer! Ranking in fifth place, we have the Crimson Lion Kings! Ranking in sixth place, we have the Blue Rose Knights! Ranking in seventh place, we have the Green Praying Mantises! Ranking in eighth place, we have the Coral Peacocks! That means our final place goes to the Purple Orcas!"
Kaiser gasped as he saw the ranking his squad received. "Oh my, well, I can't say it was unexpected, with the arrest of the former disgraceful captain, I suppose the missions we take and complete would drop significantly,"
"And now that I've announced our rankings, my time on the mic must come to a close, so I will relinquish it to our next speaker," Julius said as he extended his hand to the hallway behind him.
Footsteps were heard again as a figure emerged from the dark hallway and into view, it was a man of medium height, he wore very extravagant robes and a green cape, he had straight brown hair, as well as a brown mustache and goatee, and atop his head was a crown.
"Please give a round of applause for our wonderful king, Augustus Kira Clover XIII!"
"Hooray," the people said unenthusiastically, not caring in the slightest.
Richard on the other hand, merely facepalmed. "Good my god, it's him, our poor excuse of a ruler," he muttered.
"I honestly thought he was dead with how he's hardly made a public appearance, but then again, that'd be too good to be true," Ellen added.
Augustus saw the lack of cheers he got. "Louder dammit! I know you can do better than that!" he screamed, completely blowing his top.
The people then began to clap louder, but didn't cheer, but that was all the king needed. "That's better," he said before glaring at Julius, who was right next to him. "Um, can you do me a favor and move about ten steps back, you're too close,"
"Sure," the Wizard King agreed as he did so.
Augustus then turned his eyes back on the people. "As thanks for your applause, I shall dazzle you with a demonstration of my magic," he said as he took out his grimoire. "Light Creation Magic: Absolute Monarch of Divine Brilliance!"
At his call, light gathered behind the ruler, forming a large figure in his own likeness. "Watch in awe at my magic!"
"That's it," Zuka said somewhere in the crowd. "I guess he does have an impressive mana pool since he's the king, but, he has light magic, which I heard is supposed to be strong and fast, but that spell…it isn't even moving, in fact, what is it supposed to do exactly?"
"Nothing, it's just a spell for show, which is a waste if you ask me," Oliver replied. "You're a commoner, so you don't know this, but practically everyone despises the king, he weak and useless, he does nothing while the Wizard King keeps the kingdom functioning,"
Once more, the people clapped loudly, but didn't cheer at all as the king continued. "But I didn't just come here to show you my impressive magic, I have some important news to share with you…we have located the hideout of the Eye of the Midnight Sun,"
This time, the people were actually surprised. "What, we found it? I didn't even know we were looking for it right now," Kenos voiced.
"Yes, that horrid group of terrorists that attacked our capital has always been a few steps ahead of us, but this time, we got the drop on them," Augustus kept going. "I bet you're thinking that we'll send our Magic Knights to storm their base as quickly as possible and overtake it? Well I'm sad to say you'd be wrong, this group has proven to be dangerous as they even injured a captain, so we must face them with the best we have. That's why in 2 weeks, a special exam will be held for the Magic Knights, not every Knight will get to participate as they are randomly selected, but those that do participate and pass will join an elite team to defeat this threat, and that team will be known as the Royal Knights!"
"The Royal Knights?" everyone thought.
"Magic Knights of this kingdom, I ask you to train your hardest, as you will be fighting for the sake of your country!" Augustus exclaimed, clover-saluting.
"Yeah, good luck to the Royal Knights!" the people genuinely cheered this time.
The king's face kept its serious look, but his mind showed it as a smug expression. "Ah yes, my plan is working, this whole Royal Knight thing was all Julius' idea, but thanks to the fact that I announced it, I'll get all the credit," he thought. "And of course, as the king, I will select the ones who pass,"
"Why are you going to be the one who does that?"
That question was heard by the entire crowd as everyone shifted their attention to Asta, who said the silencing words, Augustus' face showed nervousness. "W-What did he just say?" he muttered.
"I honestly think that the Wizard King should be the one to choose, he's a much more amazing guy and has more personal connections with the Magic Knights," Asta continued before turning to Kenos. "Like, this is the so-called king, but has he even done anything good for the kingdom? I've certainly never seen him around before, what about you, you're a noble, do you know what he's done?"
"As a matter of fact, I have not, sometimes I forget we have a king, I guess he's there, but that's really all he does," Kenos replied.
"Not to mention I'm not feeling much of an aura coming from him," Yuno added.
"I know, I was just about to say that, and he has light magic too, right? Doesn't look very impressive, Licht gave us much more of a challenge,"
"True, heck, I would say I had more trouble with those bandits from Rielzu," Kenos stated.
"What, the guys you fought during your first mission, damn, then our king must be pretty weak," Asta said.
Jack could hardly contain his laughter. "I like this kid, he tells it like it is,"
Oddly enough, despite being royalty as well, a small smile formed on Nozel's face as he nodded approvingly. "I suppose I can take back a few things I said about that commoner, I guess he isn't so bad,"
Augustus on the other hand, found himself sweating profusely, to the point where a droplet of sweat fell off his face and hit the ground. "Execute them!"
Yuno turned to Asta with a comedic expression. "Thanks for getting us killed,"
"My bad," the swordsman apologized.
The crowd was also surprised by the sudden order, but were more annoyed than frightened. "Seriously, he's even going to execute a Rossiu, any member of their family is better than his useless ass,"
"I don't care if he's the king, if he harms even one hair on Kenos' head, I'm shooting him dead," Zuka mumbled.
"Kill them! Kill them! I want the heads of all three!" Augustus persisted before Julius moved forward.
"Your majesty, please, show mercy on this insignificant act of insolence, there's no point in getting worked up, after all, it will also show the people how merciful you are," the time mage said casually.
"F-Fine, I will pardon their act tonight, but if it happens again, mark my words, they will die!" he exclaimed before turning around and walking back into the dark hallway.
Julius spoke in front of the mic again. "And that marks the conclusion of the Awards Ceremony and the Star Festival, thank you very much for coming, I hope you had fun and I can't wait to see you next year!"
"Thank you so much for that!"
Inside a part of the castle, Asta and Yuno stood across from Julius, the former profusely thanking the Wizard King.
"No problem, sorry about the king, he has a really big ego, and he's not really good at taking insults, so while your words were true, please watch who you say them around," Julius told him.
"Right, I won't forget," the swordsman promised.
"I hope you don't, you almost got me executed," Yuno said.
"They could try, but I'd murder anyone who'd try to hurt you," Bell said.
"Thanks, but probably dial it down a bit, we don't want to kill anyone," the wind mage told her.
"Now we got that out of the way, I'd like to congratulate you, today you were able to show the people your results, you're a step closer to becoming the Wizard King, that would just depend on which one of you become that,"
"Easy, it'll be me!" Asta exclaimed.
"Wrong, it'll be me," Yuno protested.
"I'll leave you to that, have a good night, I have somewhere to be," Julius said as he walked away.
Asta and Yuno walked away in a different direction, down a flight of stairs. "I wonder how intense the Royal Knights exam is going to be?" Asta wondered aloud.
"However intense, I know we'll both pass and join their ranks," Yuno told him.
"You're right, I can't wait to start-," the swordsman was going to say, but was interrupted as he heard a loud scream.
"Start explaining!" the voice belonged to one of the new captains, Mereoleona Vermilion, she was surrounded in fiery mana as her squad was on their knees, fear in their eyes.
"What the hell did we just walk into?!" the rivals thought in unison.
"How in the hell did our squad rank 5th?!" the woman exclaimed. "From what I've seen, the lowest we should ever rank is 3rd, we even lost to the Black Bulls!"
Leopold stood up to reply. "You see-," he was cut off as his older sister punched him in the face.
"I don't want to hear it from you, we'll talk later, I want to hear it from them,"
"Holy crap, Leopold was right, his sister is scary as hell!" Rama and Erika mentally exclaimed.
"Hey, wait a minute, one of you is missing," Mereoleona realized. "Where's-,"
"Mera!" a voice cheerfully exclaimed, everyone watched as the person, who turned out to be Oxanna, ran in through an entrance and jumped onto the woman's back. "I haven't seen you since the banquet, how have you been?"
The new captain gently removed the teen from his back, pulling her closer. "I've been just fine, it's good to see you too, Oxanna, I see you've grown up, especially here," she greeted back as she casually began fondling the phantom mage's chest.
Oxanna's face turned red. "Mera, don't, there are boys here,"
"Don't worry, they wouldn't stare, would they?" she asked, turning to the other members, seeing that all the males were averting their eyes.
"To look at you in this situation would be disrespectful, that's not what my family taught me," Rama said.
This statement caught Mereoleona's attention. "That hair? You must be the White Tiger I've heard a bit about from my brother before he decided to go into a coma, I'm expecting good things from you, now Oxanna," she said before tightening her grip on the girl's arm. "Would you mind explaining why our squad ranked 5th?"
The look on Oxanna's face matched the face of her other squadmates: fear. Even though she was a bit closer to the royal, she knew better than to underestimate her. "W-Well, I guess the reason is that, we just got outdone this year, y'know, with the captain out, things have been tough," she replied.
"Is that so? Well, that takes me to something else, Randall,"
"Yes ma'am," the vice-captain answered.
"Thanks for keeping things in working order in my brother's stead," she stated. "It's good to know this squad has a reliable vice-captain,"
"It was no problem,"
"Now, let's get moving, before we head back to base, there's a place I want to take you all," Mereoleona said as she started walking towards the stairs, a bit surprised to see Asta and Yuno there.
"Um, hello," the swordsman nervously waved.
"Hey, it's two of the three top-performing rookies, didn't expect to see you here," she said before a fire paw came out of nowhere and latched itself onto Asta's head. "That demonstration you did was impressive, I like your potential, you're coming with me,"
"Huh?" Asta was confused, but he didn't want to be taken. "Yuno, help me!"
"Sorry, after what we saw, no way I'm doing that, make sure to have fun on your trip," Yuno said with comedic indifference before another paw suddenly latched onto his head.
"You're coming too, but there's another person I want to take,"
Elsewhere, in another building, a loud sound was heard.
"Ha! I'm going to remember this for a long time!" the voice came from Yami as he and the other present captains stood in the building, which was a bar.
"I can't believe we got second place! Who knows, probably next year, we'll take first!" Yami exclaimed happily, taking down a shot.
"Yes, congratulations Yami," William said.
"Yeah, same here," Rill added.
"Thanks, and good work too, Rill, this is the best your squad's done ever, I'm proud," the dark mage said back.
"Don't get cocky, foreigner, this year was just a fluke, I'll never let this happen again," Nozel challenged.
Yami cupped his ear towards the mercury mage. "What's that? Does Mr. Third Place have something to say?"
"Why you little-," Nozel muttered, ready to take his grimoire out, but was interrupted by the sound of glass hitting a counter, he turned to his left, seeing the bartender lay out a drink.
"Sir, we don't allow the use of dangerous magic in here, please accept this complimentary drink,"
Nozel sighed as he walked over to take the glass, taking a sip. "My, that's good,"
Kaiser stood in between the two captains. "Yami, while I commend your squad's efforts, please don't make fun of him,"
"Huh, you seem quite chipper, how does it feel switching places with us, I bet you don't mind at all," the dark mage continued mocking.
Kaiser was about to take out his grimoire, but the same sound as before was heard.
"I already explained the rule, so please accept this," the bartender said.
Kaiser took the drink and helped himself. "It really does taste quite good,"
Just then, the door burst open and Mereoleona walked in. "So this is where you all were?"
"Yo, it's Sisgoleon," Yami said.
"The hell did you just call me?"
"That's your name, right? Your brother's name is Fuegoleon, so you're Sisgoleon,"
"My name is Mereoleona, Julius even said it during the Ceremony, and speaking of the ceremony, you didn't even bother showing up with the rest of the captains," the woman said before a flame paw latched onto Yami's head, he was suddenly pulled out of his seat.
"Hey there Captain Yami, funny seeing you here," Asta said.
"What, she got you too, well damn," Yami said back.
At another table, the briar mage had her head down on the table. "I can't believe I missed the whole Award Ceremony," she muttered before the fiery appendage grabbed her as well.
"Charlotte, you didn't show up either, you're coming with me as well," the flame mage said.
Not too far away from the bar, Kenos and Noelle were standing with Kahono and Kiato. "It was fun seeing you two again, a shame we have to go now," the dance mage said.
"True, but there's always next year," Noelle said.
"You're right, bye, and say bye to Asta for us too," Kahono said as the two siblings walked away, looking for Finral to take them back home.
The two Black Bulls then walked in the opposite direction, Noelle spoke up. "Where's Zuka?"
"I'm pretty sure she's with her squad," Kenos replied. "What I want to know is where's Asta?"
Suddenly, a figure ran past the two, bumping into Kenos. "Hey, wait a minute, I know you, you were that girl with Charlotte,"
"That's right, I'm Sol Marron, and I recognize you two from the Merit Ceremony," Sol said back.
"Where are you going in such a hurry?" Noelle asked.
"I'm looking for Char, I can't find her," the earth mage replied before a large sound was heard from a nearby building, followed by a cloud of dust.
The three magic knights ran to the place and looked through the cloud of dust to see who caused it, but were quite surprised as the culprit came into full view.
"Mereoleona!" the solar and water mages exclaimed in unison.
"Ah, Noelle, and Kenos, long time no see," two paws grabbed onto them. "You'll come too,"
"Come where?!" they asked before noticing the other people she's taken. "Oh crap,"
It didn't take Sol long to notice Charlotte among Mereoleona's captives. "Char! Don't worry, I'll rescue you, I'm taking this lady down!"
"Hm, I like that spirit," the captain said as one of her paws also took Sol. "You'll be the last member to join, now let's get a move on!" she exclaimed as she started walking forward.
From the building, the bartender emerged, but then light suddenly enveloped him, revealing it to be Julius in disguise. "It appears our new captain is already starting to do things her way, I wonder how it'll go?"
"Wait a minute, Mereoleona, where are you taking us?" Kenos asked.
"To a great little spot I visit regularly, we're going to have a great time," she replied, but once they arrived, they immediately disagreed with the idea of having a great time as it was unbearably hot, and there was lava flowing from nearly every corner.
They were at the site of an active volcano, and the thought that went their minds was a unanimous one as they stood in the area.
"You cannot be serious!"