Chapter Sixty-Seven: A Familiar Face
Hey there, I just want to wish Warmachine375 a Happy Birthday. Have an amazing day and thanks for all the behind-the-scenes help you've given me as my very first TOFL associate, you don't know how much I appreciate it. With that out the way, enjoy this chapter. Cya.
"Damn it all, this sucks!"
During that very same day, focus shifts away from the Black Bulls and onto its neighboring kingdom of Diamond. Two figures enter through an open gate into a very large building with an equally large hall. The figures in question were the two Shining Generals, Andreas and Tantalus, the former making the exclamation as the latter was digging into two well-sized double chocolate muffins.
"Ever since Mars, Ladros, and Brosnan went to that Witches' Forest place and got the longevity stuff for the king, our majesty's been acting super different, he's been, uh…good," the impact/combo mage stated, cringing in disgust at the last word. "He shut down all of the experimentations, not to mention he's been kind to us all of a sudden,"
Tantalus swallowed the portion he was chewing. "Probably it's a side effect of the substance. All we know is that it'll make him live longer, not what else it may do to him,"
"Bull. Shit," Andreas wasn't convinced and his voice showed it. "The Witch Queen is said to be ruthless, eliminating whatever obstacles are in her way, which is my type of ruler. No way a person with that personality would give something with that side effect,"
"Then maybe it's just a phase," the giant/food mage suggested next.
The man beside him sighed. "I hope so. Too bad we can't even ask Morris for advice since the king banished him, something about a conspiracy of him raising a secret army of enhanced dual mages to take the throne, at least, that's what Ladros told me," he then turned to Tantalus, looking at his hands. "Weren't one of those muffins for me?"
"Oh, that's right, haha, my bad," the obese man apologized. "You just let me get you one from the food hall, kinda slipped my mind,"
"Nah, it's fine, that's what I get for expecting you to not let it slip your mind," he said back before crossing his arms behind his back. "But what are we going to do now? In all my time of being a member of this kingdom's army, I've never not been getting ready for a fight. It's been what drove my life for years, now…I just feel strange,"
Tantalus understood his plight, putting his muffin down. "Yeah, I guess I do too. But look on the bright side, this could be an opportunity to branch out and do other things. I already have my love of food, but you don't really have something that can be called a hobby, maybe we can find you one,"
Andreas took a quick look at him before shrugging. "Sure, as long as I can destroy stuff,"
Tantalus sweatdropped. "I'm sure we'll find something that can meet your standards,"
"Good afternoon, you two,"
The generals turned their heads forward at the sound of a new voice. Said voice belonged to Lotus as he and Anna were standing ahead of them in the hall, the latter not wearing her armor, but rather her regal dress.
"Afternoon there Lotus, Brosnan," Andreas greeted back, with Tantalus merely waving. His eyes then shifted to the woman. "How are the repairs to your armor coming along?"
"It just got finished yesterday. That fight from the Witches' Forest really did a number on it," Anna replied, thinking back to the devastating might that was Kenos' wyvern spell.
"That's good, so what are you exactly doing here? Tantalus then asked.
"Just out here for a leisurely stroll with my beautiful wife," Lotus answered, making Anna lightly blush. "What about you two?"
"We're looking for something to do. With the king's sudden change of heart, our usual pastimes are on hold for the time being," the impact/combo mage explained. "Do either of you have an idea of what could be going on with his majesty?"
"I'd chalk it up to a phase," the golden eye mage quickly, yet calmly replied. "The whole reason Mars, Ladros, and myself went to the Witches' Forest was because the king was sick and feared death. Now he's got a new lease on life, he's most likely going through a happy period. I even heard he might even try to form a diplomatic alliance with Clover for resources,"
"See, even Brosnan agrees with me," the giant/food mage grinned, pulling a wrapped object from his coat, unwrapping it to reveal a well-sized turkey leg.
Anna inwardly sighed in relief, glad her excuse for the real reason was believed.
"Well, I hope it just remains a phase, but phase or not, I still kinda feel bad that Morris is gone," Andreas commented.
Lotus' brows raised at his words. "Yes, I heard about that too, truly tragic,"
"Tragic my ass, I'm glad that prick is gone. Serves him right for what he did to those poor kids,"
Everyone's eyes shifted to the left at the sound of a new voice and were greeted by a familiar figure. A young woman, her figure slim, yet quite well-endowed, a singular blue eye visible as the left eye was concealed by a fringe of her short brown hair. Her attire was mostly blue, and consisted of a blue dress similar to Anna's, but it hugged her curves more and had a slight resemblance to a nun's dress, white cross patterns were on her belt and chest area, and a black fur coat covered her with the Diamond Kingdom's flag on the coat's front right.
A smile touched the smoke mage's face. "Ah, Arbus Howzer, what a pleasant surprise. There are so many Shining Generals here, excluding me of course,"
The same smile came to Arbus' face. "Lotus, we've known each other for 2 years now, you know damn well just to call me Arbus. This isn't like when we weren't close,"
Anna giggled. "Yes, I remember, he wouldn't address you any other way for months,"
"What? Her name just sounded so cool," Lotus pouted.
"Yeah, and then Anna set you straight by threatening to leave in bed alone at night," the brown-haired woman recalled.
"I do remember doing that, but it was just as hard for me as it was for him, not being able to spend nights of passion with the love of my life," the golden eye mage added, not minding that Arbus called her by her first name.
"Hello, I don't mean to interrupt whatever…this is, but we're getting off topic. Arbus had just finished calling Morris a prick," Andreas cut in, his voice a little serious.
Arbus looked at her fellow Shining General. "You better believe it. Despite what other countries may see as inhumane when it comes to our nation's experiments, most are more or less harmless with the right materials, like the one to create dual mages, the real inhumanity is stealing the lives of children and then forcing them to kill each other for that god forsaken Evaluation just so the survivor can become modified. Utterly disgusting,"
"Leave it Arbus to always stand on the side of the kids," Tantalus said, almost half done with his turkey.
"Hey, when I first met Lotus and Anna, I hit it off with their daughters first. What did you expect?"
"Fair point,"
Lotus opened his mouth to speak. "So many changes have occurred in just a short time. It makes me wonder what's in store for our kingdom,"
Arbus began to walk away from the others. "The kingdom's doing just fine, our majesty is a lot happier than usual, Ladros has miraculously become less of a jackass, although I'm not complaining about that one, and Mars actually speaks to us,"
"Where are you off to?" Andreas asked.
The general didn't turn her back, but responded anyway. "Since Diamond is doing so well, I'm going to take a little bit of a trip, I should be back by tomorrow the latest,"
"What could be so important that you have to be gone for so long?" Anna asked this time.
"Oh, it's nothing too much, I…just want to visit an old friend," she replied, taking out her grimoire and looking at it intently, focusing on the symbol in the center of it.
A clover.
"Ah, what a beautiful day, perfect for a stroll," a woman stated with soft cheerfulness.
Focus returns to the Clover Kingdom, more specifically, the small village of Hage as the woman walks out of a church, revealing her black and white nun attire, her long dark blue hair, and soft blue eyes, all with a smile on her face.
In her hand was a bucket full of wet clothes that she had washed inside, and at her side was a clothesline.
The woman hummed a light tune as she systematically took a piece of clothing, shook it, and openly placed it on the line.
"There you are, good morning, Sister Lily,"
The woman in question turned upon hearing the greeting and was met by an old man wearing attire with a similar color scheme, complimenting his aging white hair.
Lily smiled at the man. "And a good morning to you too as well, Father Orsi,"
Orsi nudged his head over, seeing the few wet clothes that were on the line at the time. "Drying the children's clothes I see?"
"Yeah, but it'll take some time," she replied before giggling. "Yuno would always get these done in seconds,"
Orsi shared a laugh. "Yes, and Asta would try to compete with him to see who could do their chores faster,"
"I really miss the two, I hope they're doing well," the nun stated.
"Don't worry, they're fine. When we read their letter a week ago, it said they were training to join the Royal Knights I've been hearing people talk about. Those two are fighting for this kingdom, all to prove themselves so one of them can be the Wizard King. And we both know that when it comes to their rivalry, no force can stop them,"
"That's true,"
Orsi walked over to the outer wall where his broom was resting against. He grabbed it and mounted it. "I better be off to that meeting for the Church Fathers in Starym Village. Lily, you're in charge of the orphanage, I should be back by dawn tomorrow,"
"Okay then, be safe, I'll take care of the children," the nun waved as the man flew away.
Once he was out of sight, Lily returned to the bucket and continued what she was doing, enjoying the few minutes of silence.
"I'm back Sister Lily," a younger voice spoke up from her right, so she merely turned her head, her eyes falling on a young boy with brown hair, with something strapped behind his back.
"Hello Nash, how was your morning training?" she greeted him before asking.
"It was fine, and intense, but it needs to be more intense. I'm thinking of adding 20 more sets to everything," he replied.
Lily's face became a concerned frown. "Make sure you don't push yourself too far, it can be dangerous,"
"But Sister, Asta can do over twice as much as I can now, and that was when he was 12," Nash protested as he walked closer, climbing over the small fence between them.
Lily placed another piece of the clothing on the line before moving towards the boy, kneeling to his height. "That may be true, but Asta has been training from an earlier age than you. You don't need to do everything he does, do things at your own pace,"
A small smile formed on his face. "You won't have to worry about that, we're very different, unlike him, I'm not obsessed with marrying you," he said.
Lily giggled as she ruffled his hair. "And I'm thankful for that," she then noticed the things strapped to his back. "Wood?"
Nash scratched his cheek nervously. "Yeah, I know gathering wood is your job, but I thought I could use it for my training. Running with the extra weight is good for cardio,"
"Thanks a lot, it'll save me some time. Since Father is gone for a meeting, you'll be helping with dinner, we'll be having chicken and roasted potatoes,"
The boy jumped with excitement. "Oh yeah, I love it when we get other things to eat, thank you Asta and Yuno,"
The woman nodded as she stood straight. "I agree, now I just need to get these clothes-,"
She was cut off as a loud sound was suddenly heard, the sound of wind along with screams. They turned and saw a large tornado approaching.
"What? A tornado?" Lily thought to herself, she looked up at the sky, and saw that it was a clear blue. "This isn't a natural disaster, it's a spell, we're under attack!" she turned to the boy beside her. "Find the other children and hide inside, I'll handle this,"
"What? By yourself, let me come with you," Nash insisted.
But the nun sternly shook her head. "No, it's my job to keep you safe, now go!" she exclaimed, jumping over the fence and running towards the spiraling wind.
"Be careful!" she could hear Nash yell before he ran inside.
People were doing their best to avoid the tornado, but strangely, it didn't destroy any houses, in fact, it looked like the caster of the spell was doing their best to prevent that.
Lily lifted her nun's attire up a bit, revealing the hidden satchel holding her grimoire before it floated up to her. "I need to be ready to take out the threat quickly before it reaches the church, or else-," she was cut off once again as she got closer and felt something hit her face. "It's…water? Coming from a tornado?"
"Ah, there you are!" a voice suddenly bellowed from within the tornado as a figure jumped out of it, the spell dispersing as they did so.
Once the figure landed on the ground, Lily's eyes widened greatly, unable to believe what she was seeing.
"Lily Aquaria, my old friend, how have you been?" the figure casually asked.
The nun found her voice for a few seconds, but only muttered one word.
"Arbus?"
"We're about to begin. Are you ready, Yuno?"
"Yeah, I'm ready,"
Those voices belonged to Yuno and Klaus, the two squadmates were at an outdoor training area by themselves, the main building not too far away. The wind and steel mages took out their grimoires simultaneously.
"Let's do this! Steel Creation Magic: Spiral Lance!" Klaus exclaimed, sending the violent-spinning drills at his opponent.
Yuno let wind envelop him and lift his body into the air, effortlessly evading the attack. "Wind Creation Magic: Swift White Hawk!" he exclaimed, sending an attack of his own.
A small grin formed on Klaus' face as he pushed his glasses up. "That's what you're bringing? I hope you aren't going easy on me, Steel Creation Magic: Full Metal Fortress!" he responded, kneeling down and forming his ironclad wall, but he wasn't done yet. "Steel Magic: Guillotine Assault!"
At his call, thin sharp sheets of steel emerged from his grimoire, all lining up in front of his body. He then crossed his arms in front of his chest like an X before releasing them, which released the sheets as well at an incredibly high speed.
Yuno's eyes showed surprise. "I've never seen him use that spell before,"
Bell emerged and rested on his shoulder. "Do you need my help then?"
The wind mage began to dodge the incoming strikes. "No, Klaus most likely unlocked that spell recently. He's getting stronger for the upcoming exam, but the same is true for us,"
"That's right, we're going to take those other guys down," the spirit cheered.
He nodded. "Yeah, we'll show our results to the whole kingdom, and I'll get one step closer to becoming the Wizard-," Yuno was saying, but was cut off as he noticed a sheet pass right by his face, almost cutting his cheek.
"Crap, that was close!" Bell screamed.
"It was, I can usually chat with you while training, but it seems I can't split my attention this time," he stated as his grimoire flipped to a page. "Wind Magic: Towering Tornado!"
All of Klaus' guillotine sheets were blown away by the large tornado, but the steel mage wasn't deterred. "Impressive as always, but as your senior, I won't let a spell like that stop me! Steel Magic: Guillotine Assault + Spiral Drill Shower!" he exclaimed, two attacks forming both in front of and above the towering spell. They then assaulted the tornado in unison, dispersing it.
"I'm the one who should be impressed, you just pulled off a double spell," Yuno complimented. "You'll definitely do well during the exam,"
"Why thank you,"
"But…if we were to face off first, you'd be screwed right away,"
"Hey!"
"Oh, there you are!" a new voice exclaimed. The two looked over to see Mimosa.
"Is something the matter?" Klaus asked.
"Yeah, there's something…I'd like you to help me with Klaus, it's really important I do it before the exam," she answered.
"I see. I just need to finish my session with Yuno then-,"
"No, go help her," Yuno interrupted as he flew down. "If it's for the exam, it should take priority. We can't forget that Mimosa's a support mage, and if she is selected to participate, she won't be able to hold her own the way she is now, she'll need to upgrade her game. We can continue later,"
"Thanks a lot for that, Yuno," Mimosa thanked him.
"No problem," he said back as he walked into the base, soon arriving in his room.
He sat down next to his desk and opened his grimoire, spending some minutes looking through his pages.
"You did pretty well during training," Bell spoke up, breaking the silence.
Yuno shifted his eyes toward her. "True, but I wasn't expecting Klaus to do what he did, he even dispersed my Towering Tornado, no one's ever done that before, he's improving. And it isn't just him, I bet Kenos is doing the same, but the one to look out for is Asta,"
"I agree, that new form he went into at the volcano was crazy," the spirit added.
"I need to find a way to top it, because until I do, Asta is undoubtedly stronger than me, perhaps I could probably match him with Spirit Magic, but it's not likely," the teen put his head down, a hand on his chin, and began to pace around his room.
"Hmm, maybe I can find a way to outdo him in speed? No, I don't have a proper gauge of how fast he can go. Kenos told me that he unlocked the form recently, and with how much Asta trains, he's most likely gotten faster than he was at the volcano,"
After about ten minutes of pacing, Yuno opened the door and walked out, still in thought, Bell behind him. He went into the dining area and grabbed an apple, walking out and through the hallway.
"And what about power? From what I saw at Yultim, Mereoleona was able to sucker punch him even with his form, but he wasn't trying to fight that time, he's going to be much more formidable when he's serious,"
The wind mage had been walking around for another ten minutes, and the apple that he was snacking on was beyond finished, leaving him to nibble on the little parts of the fruit that remained, but his face was undeterred by that fact, as if he didn't even notice it.
"Damn it, thinking of a counter to his new form is more difficult than I thought. Asta has really outdone himself this time, but no matter what, I'm not going to-,"
"Yuno! Yuno! Stop!" his thoughts were cut off by Bell's sudden screams, but they stopped once he felt his face bump into something solid.
"Shit," he silently cursed as he rubbed his forehead. "What the hell happened?"
"You suddenly turned into a room and were about to hit a pillar, so I tried to scream for you to stop, but it's like you didn't hear me," the spirit explained.
"Oh, sorry, I was lost in my head," he apologized before looking around him and realizing something. "I…don't recognize this room, although, it is kinda small when compared to every other room in the base,"
It didn't take long for him to notice that the room had many stacks of paper around, all well-organized in different spots.
"What could all these be?"
"Yuno, what are you doing in here?"
The two turned to see Klaus at the entrance of the room.
"Specs? You and Mimosa are done already?" the black-haired teen asked.
His senior nodded. "Sort of, we're on a ten minute break. I was passing by on my way to the bathroom and heard Bell screaming,"
Bell flew up. "Yeah, apparently, he was thinking so hard that he couldn't tell he was walking into a pillar,"
Klaus raised a brow. "Really, can't say I expected that to happen to you,"
Yuno's face became slightly red with some embarrassment. "Whatever. Do you know what room this is? Seeing that you've been here longer,"
"As a matter of fact, I do. This is the Paper Room,"
"Lovely title," Yuno deadpanned.
"I said I knew what this room was called, not that it sounds good. This room is where all our papers are stored, some things would include the reports we file to Captain Vangeance after he takes a look and approves it, as well as forms of completed missions," he explained. "You're still new to a degree, so it's natural you haven't been asked to come here for stuff,"
"If that's what's here, why not just call it The Room of Records?"
Klaus thought about it. "I guess that name could work. The Paper Room never really was an official title. Vice-Captain Langris just called it that one day, and since then, the name just stuck,"
"Figures, he never could think of anything beyond the bare minimum," Yuno responded with a mumble as his peripheral vision picked up on two stacks of paper on a desk, and unlike the rest around him, they had pictures. One was placed vertically, the other was placed horizontally with some sort of red writing on it. "And what are those?"
Klaus followed the teen's gaze and fell on the same stacks. "Those are Wanted Posters, they stay in this room too. The vertical ones are criminals who are still out there, while the horizontal and stamped ones are those captured, courtesy of our squad,"
Yuno noted the size of the horizontal stack. "Dang, we caught a lot,"
Klaus proudly pushed his glasses up. "Of course, what did you expect? We are the best squad after all,"
The wind mage began moving towards the vertical stack. "I wonder how many of them are still out there then," his eyes fell on the top photo, but they quickly widened.
"What?! There's someone worth 2 million yul?!"
"I'm going to assume that's a lot of money," Bell stated.
"You bet. Imagine what that money could do for the orphanage back home,"
Klaus made his way over to them to see who they were talking about, but upon seeing it himself, his eyes narrowed. "Ah yes, her, she truly is worth her bounty. That's Arbus Howzer, she used to be a nun in an orphanage, but she apparently went mad and tried to kill the children in her care, thankfully, two knights from the Purple Orcas were nearby and fought her off, but one was killed during the fight, leaving his partner to return and explain what happened,"
Yuno was intrigued. "What happened to her afterward?"
"Afterwards, she left Clover and later aligned with Diamond, becoming one of their Shining Generals, committing even more atrocities under its flag. Truly despicable, a murderer and a traitor, hopefully, the day comes where she's brought to justice and pays for everything she's done,"
"There you are Yuno, I've been looking everywhere for you!"
The three turned to see Letoile at the door, breathing heavily.
"Oh, Letoile, what's the matter?" Klaus asked.
"And what do you need me for?" Yuno added.
"We got a sudden message, there's an…attack," she replied slowly in order to catch her breath.
"Where is it?" the wind mage asked.
Her reply was quick. "Hage Village,"
Not even a second passed before Yuno burst out of the room and through the hall using his wind. His squadmates said nothing as they ran after him. Once they reached the outside, Yuno was already on his hawk spell, going as fast as he could.
"Please be safe, everyone,"
"Ah, Hage, this place looks like it hasn't changed a bit, or maybe it has, what do I know, the only times I've ever been here was to see you," Arbus mused.
Lily took a step forward. "Arbus, where do I even start? Where have you been all this time? It's been 2 years!"
The general put a hand up. "Woah, calm down Lily, I'll explain. You see, once I left Clover, I found myself in the Diamond Kingdom, they took me in and made me one of their Shining Generals,"
"How can you say all of that so casually?! Sister Theresa and I were worried sick, and we don't even know why you left,"
Arbus looked away. "Why did I leave? It's…a long story, but know I never meant to make you and Resa worry,"
Lily's expression softened. "I know you wouldn't, even though you've apparently changed so much. So tell me, what exactly are you doing here?" she asked.
"I'm here to see you," she replied, turning her head to look at her friend with a small smile. "Diamond is turning over a new leaf, you won't be having any problems from us, as such, things over there have slowed down, which is why I had some time to come visit. I missed you,"
"Then stay here, you won't have to miss me ever again," the nun attempted to plead.
Arbus sighed with a somber note. "Sorry, but I can't do that, I'm a Shining General, I can't just stay here. Besides, the Clover Kingdom is no longer my home, I belong in a new place," the general said back.
Miles away, up in the air, Yuno continued to fly towards his home village, and soon, the familiar place was in his sight.
"I hope I'm not too late," he muttered as the hawk began to descend, letting the mage get a scope of the damage that was done, but doing so shocked him.
"The collateral damage…it's minimal, and whatever disaster happened is apparently gone. It's not as bad as I thought, but that's good, no fatal casualties should've occurred, I better check the church too," he thought with some relief as he flew further.
It didn't take long for the church to be in sight, giving Yuno a small sense of happiness to be back at the building which had been his home for as long as he could remember, and he soon saw a familiar face. "There's Sister Lily, and she's talking to someone, I wonder who it is though-,"
The wind mage choked on his words as he got a good look at the other person's face, all the happiness and relief leaving him.
Arbus Howzer. The murderer. The insane general who tried to kill children. Right next to the woman he viewed as a mother for his entire life.
Yuno's bleak look was replaced with anger as his hawk dived down, and even then, the wind mage jumped right off, plummeting downwards, his grimoire flipping to a page.
"GET AWAY FROM HER! WIND MAGIC: CRESCENT MOON SICKLE!"
It wasn't hard for the two women to hear the passionately furious exclamation from above, and therefore wasn't hard for Arbus to jump out of the way as Yuno used his wind to softly land protectively in front of his maternal figure.
Lily was surprised by the sudden arrival. "Y-Yuno," she muttered.
Arbus shared her surprise. "What the hell?! A magic knight, why are you here?!"
"That doesn't matter! All that matters is you being taken in and leaving Hage alone!" Yuno yelled back. "She's most likely the source of the disaster, I need to be careful,"
Bell flew down from Yuno's shoulder and towards the woman. "We were told a problem was here, so we came as fast as we could. I've been wanting to see Yuno's home, but under better circumstances,"
"A fairy? You must be Bell, Yuno mentioned you in his letters, but now isn't the time for this, I have-,"
"Yuno!" two unified voices yelled from above, the three looked up to see the steel and compass mages descend.
"Klaus, Letoile…you followed me?" the teen asked.
"Of course we did, we're your squadmates," Letoile replied.
"And it's a good thing we did, speak of the king," Klaus added, pointing at the general across from them. "Arbus Howzer, to think we were speaking about you just a few minutes prior, and now we have a chance to capture you,"
"Great, more magic knights, and from the Golden Dawn no less, but wait a minute," the woman pointed her own finger, but at the spirit wielder. "Your name's Yuno, right?"
The male in question narrowed his eyes suspiciously. "I am. What of it?"
For some reason, a short smile graced her features. "So you're the one Lily told me about, the pride of this village. I guess it makes sense you joined that squad,"
Yuno's eyes immediately turned to the nun. "Sister, you know her?"
"Um, yes, the two of us were friends from a little while back," she replied. "We first became acquainted with each other before I ever came to Hage,"
"Don't let the past cloud your judgment, a benevolent figure such as yourself shouldn't associate with her," Klaus stated. "She nearly murdered innocent children, actually accomplished in killing an innocent knight, and has joined the Diamond Kingdom. She's far from the woman you knew,"
Surprisingly enough, Arbus facepalmed. "Uh, here we go again,"
"Quiet, your days are numbered, Steel Magic-," Klaus was about to exclaim, before a voice raised up.
"Wait!" it came from Lily. "I don't know all the details about Arbus and all of this, but I do know that she loves children and would never intentionally try to hurt them,"
"Unfortunately, that isn't the case," Letoile retorted. "She's a madwoman who couldn't care less for the lives of kids, sad but tr-,"
"No! It's not true!" Arbus suddenly screamed, her face showing intense anger for the first time, shocking the magic knights. "From the shadows, I've watched people of this kingdom tell lies about me, but I will NOT let anyone question the commitment I have for my children! The story you've been fed is nothing but a load of shit, if you want the real story, then I'll tell it to you, so listen up,"
[Flashback]
Two Years Ago. Ruralside Village.
"Alright there young ones, let's get a move on,"
Focus shifts to a well-sized church as the door opens and five figures walked out. The center figure was a younger Arbus, wearing the usual nun attire, and by her sides were four children, two boys, and two girls.
"Yay, field trip around the village, this is going to be so much fun!" one boy cheered.
One of the girls walked over to Arbus and tapped her hip. "Sister Arbus, will we be able to go to other villages too?"
The nun looked at her and smiled. "We will Gaily, after a quick stroll through here, we'll head to the next village over for their harvest festival,"
"But there are only four of us coming with you, what about the other kids?" Gaily asked.
"They chose not to start their chores until half an hour ago, so they'll be working. It's important to work before you can relax, discipline is a skill you all will need in life, and it's my job to teach it to you,"
"I guess that makes sense," the girl nodded. "But I feel bad that they'll miss it,"
"Don't worry, the festival is going on for the entire week, the other children will have their chance to go tomorrow," Arbus reassured.
The little girl smiled. "That's a relief,"
"Relief is the right word, Gaily, wait for me!" a voice exclaimed from behind. The nun turned her head and saw a little boy running towards their group.
Arbus fully turned and crossed her arms. "Joey, what are you doing here? Don't tell me you finished doing the dishes that quickly and properly? With how many people we have eating here,"
Joey took some time to catch his breath before replying. "I was able to do it, Sister Arbus. I used a different, yet faster method. Instead of washing and rinsing each individual dish, I washed them all in one area and used my magic to rinse them all at once," he explained.
Arbus raised a brow, but eventually uncrossed her arms. "Ok then, you can come with us. I applaud you for your creativity, but try to not let this happen again,"
"I promise I won't," Joey responded.
"Good, now let's continue with our stroll," the woman instructed.
"What, a stroll? Boring, let's just head to the next village straight away!" Joey exclaimed as he ran ahead.
"Joey!" Arbus exclaimed, running after him, the other children following her lead.
The boy turned his head back while he was still running. "C'mon, why should we waste our time strolling? We live here, there's nothing new to see, that festival on the other hand is-,"
The boy was cut off as he bumped into someone, falling onto the ground. "Ow, that hurt," he mumbled before looking up, seeing two men, Magic Knights to be exact, wearing the robes of the Purple Orcas. One man was tall and skinny, the other beside him was shorter and a bit on the plump side.
"Hey, watch where you're going, you little brat," the skinny man spat, being the one Joey bumped into.
"I, um, I'm sorry," Joey's demeanor became sheepish before the two mages as he apologized.
"Yeah right, you say you're sorry now, but give it about an hour and you'll do it all over again, ridiculous," he rudely retorted. "That's the thing with peasants, they're so dumb,"
"Tell me about it," the chubbier man added. "How on Earth did we get the bad luck of patrolling this area? And what's worse, I doubt Captain Gueldre will even let us take somewhere else,"
"Joey," Arbus breathed heavily as she caught up to the boy, seeing him on the floor and the men standing near him. "This is why you don't run with your head turned behind you," she addressed him before her gaze fell on the knights. "I apologize if he caused you any problems,"
Regardless of being angry a few seconds ago, the two Orcas widened their eyes looking at the nun, immediately noticing her voluptuous figure. The cubby man spoke up. "Did I actually mention us being unlucky?"
"Nope, nothing of the sort," his skinny squadmate replied as they approached her. "Don't worry, he didn't bother us at all, just a slight bump, nothing strong knights like us haven't faced,"
"That's perfect," Arbus said as the other children caught up.
The man picked up on them quickly. "A lot of kids, are they with you?"
"They are, a few other church officials and I run a church not too far from here which doubles as an orphanage," she answered.
"So, you're like their foster mother?" the chubby man asked.
"Exactly,"
"I see, but…are you sure you want to work at an orphanage?" he continued.
The woman's eyes narrowed in a confused manner. "Excuse me? I'm afraid I don't know what you mean,"
The skinny man spoke up. "What he means is, look at you? A woman with a body like that shouldn't be constantly around kids, you'll corrupt their innocent little minds once they grow up and begin thinking about…things. The boys will start to get ideas, and the girls may grow insecure, you wouldn't want to do that to them, would you?" he stated, putting a hand on her shoulder. "Why don't you come with us, there's a place that's better for you,"
His face was smugly smiling the entire time, but it rapidly became a look of disappointing shock as Arbus didn't waste a second slapping his hand off. "Back off, I'm not interested in whatever debauchery you're into. And in case the threads didn't tell you, I'm a nun, a woman of the cloth, I will not partake in those kinds of manners,"
"No one will have to know, just take it off, plain and simple," he persisted. "Or maybe you can keep it on, some people find acts of taboo very exciting,"
"Didn't you hear her, she said back off," the skinny man turned to see Joey back on his feet, pointing a finger at him. "I don't know what debauchery means or whatever other things you're talking about, but I do know that it's bothering Sister Arbus, so go away,"
"Hm, kid's got spunk, let's see how far it goes," he said before lunging towards the boy and hoisting him up with a single hand.
"Hey, let me go!" Joey screamed.
"Can't do that just yet, I'm going to need you," the skinny man opposed before bringing his free hand up, watching as a rock appeared and fashioned itself into a buzzsaw, spinning violently, he then faced the woman. "Here's the deal, Sister Arbus, either you come with us, or I'll have to rough up the kid, your call,"
"What?! You're crazy!" the nun exclaimed.
"Debatable," he riposted with a shrug. "So, what will it be?"
"Don't go anywhere with these jerks," Joey said, doing his best to sound brave. "Don't worry about me, I'll be okay, just take the others and head to the festival,"
"Tough words, can you back them up," the man smirked as he brought the construct closer to his face.
"You…" Arbus began with a mutter as she quickly took out her grimoire and opened it. "DON'T YOU DARE HURT HIM!" she gave a mighty shout and moved her hand, a gust of wind blowing from behind the man, thrusting him forward towards her, the sudden action making him drop Joey and undo his spell.
But that wasn't it as she conjured a spear of wind, piercing him dead in the heart, killing him instantly.
"Holy crap, dude!" the chubby man exclaimed. "You'll pay for this!" he ran back and grabbed his nearby broom, flying off.
Arbus completely ignored both him and the dead body, going straight for the little boy. "Joey! Joey! Are you okay?!"
He was initially silent, but sniffles were soon heard. "I…I…I was so scared!" he broke into tears. "I was scared he'd hurt me, but I didn't want you to go with them, and you once told us we have to be brave against danger for the people we love,"
She tightly embraced him. "I know, but please leave that bravery to me for a little while longer, I don't want you to ever get hurt on my behalf, I could never live with myself,"
"It's ok," Joey sniffled as the other children ran over and joined in the embrace.
But unbeknownst to the nun, the children, and even the two magic knights, a figure stood cross-armed behind a building not too far away, having witnessed the entire ordeal.
[End Flashback]
"And that's how it went," Arbus finished. "The bastard who got away most likely altered the events of the story to make me look like the aggressor. It forced me to leave everything behind so the village wouldn't fall under scrutiny, the Clover Kingdom is no longer my home, those assholes took it from me,"
"You may call it the true story, but all we have is your word," Letoile challenged. "Do you honestly expect us to believe what you're saying?"
"I believe her," Lily spoke up. "As I said, Arbus is very dedicated to children in her care, trying to harm them just doesn't make sense,"
"If you'll take her word for it, then so will I," Yuno sided with his foster mother. "Besides, the old captain of the Purple Orcas got jailed for doing shady things on the side, it's not unlikely his subordinates were guilty of the same,"
Klaus sighed. "Fine, you do know her the best out of us, and I must admit the Purple Orcas aren't really a squad known for their honesty before the new captain took over. I'll believe her,"
The compass mage, upon seeing the other three side with the general, relented. "Okay, I trust you on this one,"
"But things aren't settled yet," the steel mage pointed. "Even if we've agreed to believe your story, it doesn't excuse what you've done for the Diamond Kingdom. Wrongfully accused or not, you're still a traitor, so we're still going to take you in,"
Arbus shrugged. "You're not wrong, but there's no way I can let myself get captured, I've got obligations as a Shining General," she got into a fighting stance. "This isn't how I planned to spend my day visiting Lily, but it appears I have no choice but to head back to Diamond, and it seems that some people will try to stop me. For Lily's sake, I won't kill Yuno, and for Yuno's sake, I won't kill those two, but…,"
She then began to exude tons of mana, not a single throat in that vicinity didn't tighten immediately. Yuno grit his teeth. "Crap, the amount of mana coming from her is insane. The other Shining Generals I faced never felt like this, she's different," he mentally told himself.
A serious look came to Arbus' face. "...That just means I'll have to beat you into submission!" she exclaimed, taking out her grimoire in full view of her adversaries. It was a navy green with wind circulating around in a circle, and a yellow three-leaf clover. But…
That was only the front cover.
The back cover was a light turquoise with streaks of dark blue at the ends, connected to the front cover by a set of stitches at the spine.
A drop of sweat fell down Klaus' face. "N-No way, she's…a dual mage?"
"That's right," Arbus was quick to confirm. "I have my natural wind magic, and I chose my secondary attribute to be water magic, in Lily's honor. Although, the prick scientist who did it had a little problem, something about a mutation caused by stitching a clover grimoire and a diamond grimoire, so he gave me this," she pulled her fringe up, revealing her entire face, thus revealing the two green jewels near her left eye, one above it, the other below it.
"These gems over here stabilized the mutation, which caused the two magics to combine into a concrete attribute, which I've dubbed by a new title: Typhoon Magic," she finished explaining.
"Typhoon magic? They actually found a way to combine attributes," Letoile voiced.
Arbus' grimoire opened in front of her. "Yeah, that's right, and now that introductions have been made, let's get to the fight," her tome flipped to a page. "Typhoon Reinforcement Magic: Howzer Principle!"
At her call, wind gathered around her and then divided, condensing and spiraling into four medium-sized tornados across the span of the massive space, with each tornado at one end, forming a sort of rectangle. Then, a stream of water shot out from one tornado and connected to the others, like a boxing ring.
The golden trio noticed a quick breeze pick up, blowing against the water connectors which blew the moisture all around them, but everything outside the rectangle appeared to be unaffected.
"Howzer Principle? You named the spell after yourself?" Lily asked.
Arbus shrugged. "It had a nice ring to it, so why not. As long as I'm within the boundaries of the spell, time and my strength share an exponential relationship,"
Klaus put his hands behind his neck, revealing a hood that he put on. "That means that as time passes by, she'll become stronger,"
Letoile followed his action by putting on her own hood. "But since it's exponential, her strength will grow at a low rate during the early stages, and grow at higher rates during the later ones,"
Yuno was the last to place the hood over his head. "So all we have to do is beat her as quickly as possible," he turned to the nun behind him. "Sister Lily, please stay back, we'll make sure not to hurt her too badly,"
The nun nodded her head. "I understand. Please, all of you be careful,"
"We will,"
The steel mage took out his grimoire. "Let's not waste any time, Steel Creation Magic: Guillotine Assault!" he exclaimed.
"That's it? Typhoon Magic: Hydro Cyclone!" Arbus exclaimed as a cyclone of wind and water formed in front of her, protecting her from the sheets.
Letoile quickly moved in. "Compass Creation Magic: Defying East!" she drew her rapier and closed in.
"Going melee? Since I promised to not kill any of you, I'll grace you with my main weapon, Typhoon Creation Magic: Wavestorm Staff!" she called as part of a staff of condensed wind and water partially protruded from her grimoire to which she pulled the rest out, revealing that the top of the staff was spiked.
Yuno watched as his grimoire flipped to a page. "Letoile's the best close-range fighter of the three of us, so I'll provide help from afar. Wind Creation Magic: Gale White Bow," he pulled on the bowstring as the arrow took shape. "Now to wait for an opening,"
An audible ring was heard as the staff and rapier clashed. Letoile swiftly turned her body around, getting behind the typhoon mage before lunging forward.
But she wasn't fast enough, Arbus used her magic to boost herself up in the air, all before facing forward and reeling her staff back. "Take this-," she was going to exclaim, but was caught off guard when an arrow flew right by her, totally messing up her attempt.
"Great assist, Yuno!" Letoile said and jumped up after the general, on an equal level with her, ready to strike her with a horizontal attack. "This fight is over!"
"Wrong,"
That was the only word that came out of her mouth as she caught the rapier dead-on with her hand, widening the eyes of the compass mage.
"A good minute has passed, it's time to kick it up a notch," she then spun her body, bringing Letoile around too before sending the knight hurtling towards the ground.
Letoile grit her teeth in pain. "That hurt a lot. She's already starting to gain power from her reinforcement spell,"
Arbus' reeled her staff back once again. "With the power I'm packing, this will just manage to knock you unconscious!"
"Too bad that isn't going to happen on my watch," Klaus appeared, standing in front of his squadmate. "Steel Creation Magic: Full Metal-,"
"You may say 'too bad', but you're too slow," the general shifted her body to land faster before her enemy could finish the declaration of his spell. "Why don't I show you something a little quicker. Typhoon Magic: Wavestorm Dispersion!"
She violently waved an arm horizontally, producing a blast of wind and water in every direction, pushing the two knights yards away.
"Letoile! Specs!" Yuno exclaimed as he boosted himself forward. "Wind Creation Magic: Wind Blade Shower!" he fired the blades forward before turning to his spirit. "Bell!"
"On it!" she responded, taking a deep breath before blowing, increasing the force of the spell, but to their surprise, Arbus used her staff to deflect the blades away and backed up.
"The hell, even my boost didn't work on her," Bell gasped. "That Howzer Principle is no joke,"
The steel and compass got up and regrouped with Yuno. "Bell is right, a minute was all she needed to get the strength to catch my rapier," the latter said. "But perhaps there's another way we can beat her,"
"And what's that?" Klaus asked.
"If she increases in power for as long as in the boundaries, let's just get her out of the boundary and keep her out. I can use my binding spell to immobilize her and remove her from the area, then Klaus can use his own binding spell for extra security," Letoile explained.
"That sounds like it could work. The two of us will provide long-range backup," Yuno added.
A smile came to her face as she blitzed forward, all the while, Yuno and Klaus stood side by side.
"Steel Creation Magic: Spiral Lance!"
"Wind Magic: Crescent Moon Sickle!"
The typhoon mage watched as the lone knight approached, with the two attacks behind her closing in. "Whatever could you kids be planning? Doesn't matter though, Typhoon Magic: Wavestorm Dispersion!"
Letoile jumped up, leaving the projectiles to get canceled out. "Compass Magic: Useless North!" she declared, launching the sole needle.
Arbus said nothing as she used her staff to deflect the needle away, but in the corner of her eye, she noticed the needle coming back. "Oh, a seeker spell. Not bad," she thought as the female knight landed, immediately attacking with her rapier. The former nun met each attack before performing a quick backflip to evade the seeking needle, not missing the chance to do a mid-air 360-degree rotation, the spiked tip grazing Letoile's cheek.
The compass mage backed up and wiped the blood running down her face, a smirk then appeared as she suddenly ducked, watching as attacks of wind and steel raced by her.
"Those attacks of yours are getting relentless, but don't forget…I'm getting stronger too!" Arbus exclaimed as she struck the needle with a vertical strike downwards, lodging it in the ground, not even a second after, she spun the weapon around her fingers, using it as a shield to stop the remaining attacks.
Letoile waited for the very second the general stopped her motion for her grimoire to flip to the desired page. "Gotcha, Compass Binding Magic: Confining South!" at her call, four needles appeared and made their way to their target.
Arbus saw the incoming spell and was in the middle of dodging it when one suddenly punctured her leg. "Shit," she silently cursed as she fell to the ground, but quickly discovered something. "I can't move my leg?"
"Oh no, is she alright?!" Lily asked worryingly.
"She's fine, the needle may inflict damage, but it's mostly paralytic," Letoile reassured her.
"Yeah, you don't need to worry about me Lily, training in the Diamond Kingdom has made me tough," Arbus gave her own reassurance.
"Did it prepare you for defeat though?" Letoile taunted as she hurried to her, ready to cast another binding spell.
"Didn't need to," the woman casually replied as she exerted an enormous amount of basic typhoon magic, pushing the compass mage back.
"I got you," Klaus said in an attempt to catch her, but the force created managed to send him and Yuno flying as well, all three of them landing on the ground with a thud.
"My greatest defeat was when I had to leave the life I had behind, when I had to leave the people I loved behind. But I made a new life in a new kingdom, I found a new place to call home, new people to care for and cherish, and new magic to call my own," Arbus said as she grabbed hold of the needle and forcefully pulled it out, wincing as she did her best to ignore the pain. "Damn, that hurts, but I can at least move my leg again. Regardless, I can't let this fight go on any longer,"
The general took a deep breath before she was propelled into the air with her magic, then she became enveloped in a strong spiral of wind and water that began to grow in size.
"So much for trying to get her out of the boundaries. What's she doing now?" Klaus wondered.
"What am I doing? Just charging my best spell, don't worry, it's not lethal, painful, however, yes, very painful,"
"And you think we'll just let you pull it off?!" Letoile yelled as she fired an array of needles, but they were blocked by the enveloping spiral of elements. "Ok…this is bad, we can't stop the spell from being cast, and to make matter worse, the more time she takes to charge, the more her reinforcement spell will boost her power,"
"There is something we can do," Bell spoke up. "Yuno can use my power and take it on with Spirit Magic,"
"I agree, it's worth a shot and our other attempts haven't been successful. At this stage, it's our last hope," the wind mage agreed as he and Bell flew up into the air, at the same level as Arbus.
"Oh, Yuno, are you going to try and interrupt me too? Sorry, but it's pointless,"
He shook his head. "No, I plan to beat your spell head-on,"
"Do you now? Well, let's see if you can," she responded as she pressed her pointer and middle finger of each hand together, and then fashioned them like an X. "Typhoon Magic: Monsoon Devastation!" she moved the crossed fingers forward, causing the spiral to move around her body before heading towards Yuno.
Meanwhile, the wind mage had his own attack prepared. "Ready, Bell?"
The spirit nodded, a green aura surrounding her. "You bet,"
"Good, Wind Spirit Magic: Sylph's Breath!" Yuno declared passionately as he thrust his left hand forward and the two attacks clashed, creating powerful gusts of wind.
The black-haired teen could immediately feel his spell's force struggling to prevail. "Bell, I need more power!"
"Ok," she answered as her aura intensified.
Yuno then turned his attention to his squadmates. "Letoile, Klaus, keep everyone safe!"
"Ok!" they responded, with Klaus casting a Full Metal Fortress and Letoile casting a Willful Compass in front of it for safety measures. Upon creating it, the two along with Lily took shelter behind it.
A look of relief came to Yuno's face now everyone was safe, but the relief rapidly vanished when he realized the typhoon spell was overcoming his own again. "Bell!"
"Right!" the spirit's aura intensified once more.
Lily watched as the two mages she loved dearly continued to collide with each other. She clasped her hands together. "Yuno, Arbus," she muttered.
"I'm impressed, you're doing a lot better than I expected. But you can't keep this up forever," the typhoon mage said with a tone of praise.
Yuno began to put in all of his magic into the attack, but to no avail. "Shit, we're still losing, and we're giving it our all," he mumbled. "Bell, can you lend any more of your power?!"
"I've never gone past this point, but I'll see what I can do!" she replied as she exerted even more power. "That's all I can do for-ah!" she suddenly screamed, diverting Yuno's eyes to her, making him see the same thing she did.
Her legs were gone, like they vanished into thin air.
Bell panicked. "No way in hell, what just happened to me, Yuno, I-," she looked up at the teen, but was just as shocked. "Yuno, look at your hand!"
The wind mage gazed upon his left hand and understood his companion's shock.
His hand, ending at the wrist, was glowing green.
"M-My hand, I feel strange, I feel…stronger!" he screamed, as he pushed his hand forward, empowered by a new surge of power.
Arbus' eyes became that of shock as for the first time during the collision, she was losing, and badly too. "What the? But how?!"
"You don't need to know about that, just that you'll lose!" the wind mage retorted with a shout.
"No, no, NO!" Arbus tried to push back, but it was no use and her spell was beaten and all the force was blown back at her as she fell to the ground with a harsh thud, her reinforcement spell disappearing.
Yuno and Bell dropped to the ground and kneeled, their breath heavy and erratic.
Lily, Klaus, and Letoile got out from behind their protection, the steel mage pumped a fist up. "Awesome, you two did it," he cheered as they all moved in on the fallen mage. "We're lucky to have been able to beat her, now we can take her in, Steel Binding Magic-,"
"Hold on," Lily intervened. "I'm sorry, but…I don't want her to be taken in. I know she's probably done wrong things under the Diamond Kingdom, but she's one of my closest friends and I don't want her to suffer any more than she already has. Please forgive me, I know I may sound unreasonable, I just feel a bit conflicted,"
Yuno sighed as he looked at her. "I can understand that to a degree. If it was Asta in Arbus' place, I couldn't watch him get taken away either,"
"Then will we let her go free?" the nun asked.
Klaus looked unconvinced. "But, everything she's done…uh, I'm really going to regret this," he put his grimoire away. "Fine, we'll let her go,"
"What?" Letoile was in disbelief.
"I'm with the girl, what did you say?" a voice loudly muttered, its origin coming from Arbus on the ground as she opened her eyes.
"We're letting you go," Yuno answered.
Arbus sat up to the best of her ability. "Really?"
Klaus sighed. "Yes, you can thank Sister Lily. Besides, I guess a little compassion in this situation wouldn't hurt, especially when I spent much of life giving so little of it," he replied before his voice grew firm. "But mark my words, if the Diamond Kingdom causes trouble for us again and you're a part of it, I will find you and end you myself,"
"You won't have to worry about that. Our king has had an epiphany of sorts and has decided to no longer attack you. The whole reason I was even able to come here was because nothing is really going on over there at the moment,"
"Is that so? I suppose it puts me at a little more ease to let you go," the steel mage admitted.
"True. Well, I better be on my way," the typhoon mage tried to get up, but dropped back down, looking at her bleeding leg.
Lily kneeled down on her level. "Let's head into the church, we can get it looked over,"
Arbus shook her head. "No, don't bother, I already caused quite the unintentional ruckus. I'll get this looked over when I get back," a spiral of wind and water grew under her and lifted her into the air before her eyes swiftly narrowed. "My mana is getting low,"
"Everything alright?"
Arbus' eyes returned to normal. "Yeah, I'm fine Lily, cya,"
"Arbus wait!" Lily grabbed her hand.
"What is it?"
"You said that this kingdom is no longer your home, but you're wrong. You have me, Theresa, and the people from your village, we all love you and continue to think of you as one of our own, no matter what you've gone through and what you've done, and as long as we do, you'll always have a home here," she told her.
The former nun gave a small smile. "I'll remember that, take care," she then flew off.
"Well, that was certainly quite the ordeal," Letoile voiced her opinion.
"Tell me about it. We should be on our way back to HQ, the day is still young, we can fit in some more training," Klaus added as he took his grimoire out. "Steel Creation Magic: Steel-armored Chariot!" he declared as his mode of transportation materialized and the golden trio hopped on.
Yuno turned to his foster mother. "It was good to see you again, though I wish under happier circumstances. Tell all the kids I said hi,"
"I will, good luck to you and Asta on your exam," she said back.
"Thank you," they then took to the sky, accompanied by a few minutes of silence.
Though the silence was soon broken as Yuno opened his mouth. "Hey, I almost forgot to mention, the two of you got here pretty quickly. If backup was coming, I was expecting it to come later since you all still had stuff to do, especially you Klaus, Mimosa must be pissed,"
"She'll understand once I explain, she'd probably be upset that we didn't ask her to come with us. Once we saw you leave, we pursued immediately," the steel mage told him. "You're our squadmate, a member of the Golden Dawn, and our friend. Whenever you're in distress, don't ever doubt for a second that we'll be by your side through every single step,"
"He's right, we know we can always count on you, so you can always count on us," the compass mage joined in.
Even after all they went through, Yuno wasn't expecting that answer. "I-I, I don't know what to say," he said before remembering something someone told him a while back.
"It wouldn't hurt to let your emotions show sometimes, at least, for the people you trust the most," he recalled Charmy telling him during their outing.
"Um, Letoile, Specs," Yuno began.
"Yeah," the two responded, looking back, but were shocked at what they saw.
On the teen's face, was a big happy smile. "Thanks a lot, you two are the best,"
The mages in glasses looked at each other in disbelief. "Did he just smile?" Klaus asked.
Letoile nodded. "Yeah, he did, so strange, but so special,"
"I get to see that smile again, best day ever," Bell added.
The wind mage turned to his spirit. "Oh, and by the way, about what happened earlier, with your legs and my hand?"
"I know, it was so weird. But when it happened, I felt more connected to your mana, and to you,"
"Is that so? When it happened, I felt a crap ton more power, and that more was on its way," he said. "Hmm…I think with some more training, we can turn this into something powerful, and Asta will meet his match,"
Meanwhile, close to the outskirts of the Clover Kingdom, Arbus was flying through, but…her speed was beginning to slow down.
"Ok, not getting help back at Hage was a bit stupid on my part, my mana's diminishing, and my leg is throbbing like crazy, not to mention the physical fatigue from losing to Yuno's attack. But I couldn't just accept help after doing all of that, I have to dig deep and…annd…annnd," she said, but began to trail off, and soon, her mana ran out entirely, causing her to fall from the sky, crashing to the ground.
The typhoon mage could hardly keep her eyes open, things started to black out. "Ah shit," she gave one last inaudible mutter before falling unconscious.
But be it either by luck or unluck, she landed close to a small wooden house. The door to that house then opened up as a cloaked figure stepped out, their face not visible, only their long curly pink hair blowing in the wind. The person in question looked at Arbus' body and walked to her.
They immediately noticed her injured leg and could feel her depleted mana. Not a single word came out of their mouth as they picked her up gently and walked back into the house, closing the door after them.
Author's Note
Arbus Howzer was on OC given to me by Warmachine375