Chapter Sixty-Nine: The First Victory

Hey there, readers, hope you're having a good day so far. I got some exciting news: I've officialized all the chapters of The Other Fifth Leaf, meaning there's a concrete number for how many chapters the story will have, and that number is 200! I've written out all of the future arcs, all I'll need are OCs for those arcs when they come, but I'll cross that bridge when I get to it. I know 200 is a lot, but I hope you'll continue on this journey with me, with that said, please enjoy the new chapter. Cya.

"Are you ready for this, Asta?"

The swordsman had finished pumping himself up, but heard his name, so he turned to see Kenos.

"Of course I am. You aren't doubting me, are you?" he asked back, a grin forming on his face.

The solar mage could only chuckle in response. "Me? Doubt you? I know you better than that. What I mean is that as the first team going up, you'll be setting the bar for the rest of us, make sure you don't choke up,"

"You don't have to worry about that, I never do. We've been fighting for our lives at nearly every turn and I've never faltered, I think I can handle a tournament," he returned.

Kenos was satisfied with the response. "That you can," he then turned his attention to the plant mage that was moving towards them. "Mimosa, good luck, when it comes to healing, no one has anything on you, but will you be ready for this? With just three people in a team, you may have to fight, and I know combat isn't in your wheelhouse,"

"You can rest easy, Kenos, I've been training for that very point. All of you are getting stronger, I can't be the only one not following suit," she told him.

He gave her a thumbs-up. "Awesome, can't wait to see how you've improved," he said, but suddenly, he could feel someone's gaze on him, and sure enough, he found it coming from the side glance Xerx was giving him.

Kenos decided to look back, and they stared off, both faces sharing a minor nonchalant expression. The solar mage looked deeply into the blue orbs of the man across from him, just trying to find out whatever could be going on in his head, without the level of Ki Asta and Yami possessed, all he had was his intuition, and he was determined to make it sufficient. But at the moment, he didn't need his intuition to tell that the opposing stare was mostly filled with a cold disdain, which he immediately found strange, the two had never met before. Could he have possibly done something and not realized it? No, it couldn't have been, he would recognize him, that path of thought was impossible. But suddenly, he saw something else in his eyes, it was…sadness, a small amount of it, but sadness nonetheless. What could it be? Where did it come from? And why did he make that look form in Xerx's eyes?

"Um, Kenos?"

The black-haired teen was pulled out of his head by Asta's voice. "Yeah. What's the problem?"

"Is everything okay? You and Xerx have been looking at each other for a minute," he replied.

"Do the two of you know each other?" Mimosa then asked.

Kenos was about to give a response, but Xerx spoke before him. "No, we haven't, it's just that he reminded me of something from a while back, namely, that pendant on him," he pointed at the wyvern-crested jewel on his chest. "You're a Rossiu, am I right? Along with that sword guy who attacked me earlier,"

"Yes, I am, and that 'sword guy' as you call him, is my cousin, Sylvester," he confirmed. "But you said it reminded you of something from a while back, does that mean you have a history with my family?"

"Not exactly me, my da-I mean, someone I used to know, was a magic knight back in the day and told me he went on some missions with two guys that wore those pendants and had that last name," Xerx answered casually. "They were all pretty chill with each other, but I never really got to know them,"

"Two guys? However long he's talking about can't be too far back, so he's most likely referring to Uncle Marcus and…my dad," the solar mage thought before walking to him and extending a hand. "Well, if that friend of yours and my folks could get along, then we should be able to as well, a pleasure to meet you, I'm Kenos-,"

The greeting was cut short as Xerx slapped Kenos' hand away. "Don't go around thinking that makes us friends or anything, just because the person I knew had no qualms with your family doesn't mean you're good in my eyes. The guy I knew was a bit too trusting for his own good anyway," he turned around and began walking. "Shortstack, ginger, stop standing around, we've got a battle to win,"

"Stop calling me short! And my name's Asta!" the swordsman called after him while running.

The plant mage was behind him. "And you can just call me Mimosa!"

"Yeah, no," Xerx sneered back as the two reached him. Together, they stood next to a capital mage, across from them was their trio of enemy knights.

"It's time to begin the first battle of the first round. On Team B, we have Asta, Mimosa, and Xerx. And on Team A, we have Rick, Curtis, and Forte,"

Julius and Augustus motioned towards two throne-like chairs, the former speaking up. "Good luck to both teams. A reminder, you're free to give it your all, Owen will be here soon, so don't worry about injuries, and of course, I don't think I have to tell you that murder is prohibited,"

"The six of you can head down the terrain, your groups will stand on opposite ends, and your respective crystals will head to you," the capital mage instructed.

"Awesome, we call dibs on the closer end!" Asta screamed, moving down the platform.

"Shut the hell up, dumbass," Xerx said, scratching his head, but similar to Kenos, he could feel a gaze on him. He turned around to see the three knights of Team A giving him the stink eye as they flew on a stone construct.

"I wonder what's up with them," he mumbled to himself, soon reaching where his two teammates were. "Alright you two, I don't want this fight to take any damn longer than it has to, so we're going to come up with a plan. First, tell me what you all do,"

Mimosa raised a hand. "I hope you don't mind if I go first," she began. "My attribute is plant, and I specialize in recovery magic and a little bit of navigation,"

Xerx fiddled with his fingernail, his facial expression showing a lack of care regarding her response. "That isn't bad, always nice to have a support mage on hand. Since the crystal reacts to recovery spells, it'll stay with you,"

"That works with me,"

Asta then took his turn to speak. "As for me, I don't have any magic,"

Those words managed to grab the orca's attention. "Excuse me," he turned directly to him and focused. "Now I think about it, you're right, I'm not getting anything from you. Are you a noble?"

"Not at all, I'm a commoner and proud of it,"

Xerx's eyes softened a bit. "A commoner with no magic, you must've had one tough life," he mumbled, but quickly got back on track. "Anyways, if you don't have magic, what exactly do you do?"

"I got these cool swords which can cancel and deflect magic, such is the power of anti-magic," Asta explained.

"That makes you our wild card as well as our frontal attacker,"

"Perfect. So, what kind of magic do you have?"

"My magic? Well, for starters, my attribute is-," he was about to reply before suddenly stopping, his eyes closing shut.

"Um, Xerx," Mimosa lightly tapped his shoulder, causing his eyes to shoot open. "Are you alright?"

"How nice of you to ask, ginger, but I'm fine, just a little bit of fatigue, now-," he was going to continue, but the interruption this time came from the capital mage.

"Both teams are at their points, we can now start!" he exclaimed, raising his arm.

"Ready, and, begin!"

"Crap, we're starting already, but we don't have that plan set up," Asta said. "Okay Xerx, go over it with-," he and Mimosa looked to their side, expecting the red-haired mage to give them instructions on his plan, but they were shocked to see him resting on the floor.

"What the hell are you doing?!" the swordsman screamed.

"I've reached the limits of my stamina, right now, I'm going to get some shut-eye," he yawned before drifting off to sleep.

"The nerve of this guy," Mimosa pouted, turning to her teammate. "Okay Asta, looks like it's just you and me,"

"Okay, we can do this, we told Kenos we'd be fine after all," he said back as he pulled out the Dweller.

Back on the main platform, others shared the same feeling as the plant mage over Xerx's sudden action. "What a wretched way to behave," Augustus scolded. "He was given the honor to participate in this exam, now he has the gall to sleep during it,"

Julius merely stroked his chin while he faced the king. "He must have a reason for doing so, after all, he arrived with so much confidence. Perhaps it's part of a plan of some sort,"

"Regardless of what plan it is, I wonder how Asta and that girl will deal with a 2 on 3," a close voice spoke, the time mage brought his head back to see the cotton mage sitting on his lap. "Greetings,"

"Hello there, Charmy, what a surprise. Why are you here?"

Charmy scarfed down a muffin before answering. "As you can see, I'm on the short side, and I didn't feel like using my magic for so long to keep myself elevated, so I decided to come to the spot which has the best view: right here. To be honest, either chair would do, but the king is a grouch,"

"What did you say?! I am no grouch! Moreover, remove yourself from there at once, it's not a place for you!" the pathetic light mage protested.

"See what I mean," Charmy fired back.

"Hold on, your grace," Julius stepped in. "I don't mind at all, it's nice to have some more company,"

Augustus could do nothing but shut up. "Fine," he mumbled, brooding inside.

"Thanks a lot, in appreciation, please accept this muffin. It's blueberry," Charmy raised one up to him, to which he graciously took.

"How did you know that blueberry's my favorite?" he asked, taking a bite.

"I didn't, but everyone loves blueberry muffins, that's just an undeniable fact," she replied.

He smiled back. "That it is,"

Sylvester and Marx chuckled at the exchange. "Those Black Bulls don't cease to amaze me," the former thought to himself.

"Hey Ves,"

The lunar mage turned to the sound of his nickname, seeing Kenos approach him. "How's it going, Kens?"

"Everything's going fine, I came here to talk about you, way to go, being chosen to help with participant selection," he praised.

"Thanks, but it's nothing new, with something as big as this happening, it only makes sense they'd call a Rossiu in to help," Sylvester told him.

"True words, but regardless, I know the family will be really proud of you,"

"I hope so too, especially my mom," the lunar mage said. "And speaking of family, when's the next time you're coming to visit? It's been quite a while since when you last stopped by,"

That question made the solar mage sweat a bit. "Sorry, I don't think it'll be soon, things are busy with the squad. Y-Y'know, gotta keep up the work if we want to keep our title as the second best squad,"

"Yeah, that makes sense. Should I say hi to everyone for you then?"

Kenos waved his hand in a refusing gesture. "No, that won't be necessary. In fact, I was planning to surprise them the next day off I get, so I'd prefer if they don't hear back from me just yet," he replied, starting to feel the perspiration form around his entire body.

Ves looked at him strangely. "Um, okay, if you say so. But, is everything fine?"

"Yup, I'm great, just feeling the nerves," he responded.

"I see. You don't have to feel nervous though. I'll warn you now, we may be cousins, but my selection will be fair and unbiased, that also goes for Dante and Oxanna. But luckily for you, I know you'll do just fine,"

"Thanks, Ves. So, how are your students doing? Don't you have classes today?" Kenos asked, desperately wanting to change the subject.

"Not today, I gave them all the day off. They've been working really hard lately, they deserve it, especially Nathan, he's been giving it 110 percent each and every day, he's improved the fastest out of any of them. The way he's working, you'd think he's preparing for the fight of his life,"

"You two are quite talkative. What's going on?" Julius asked from where he was sitting.

"Not anything important, nothing's going on," Kenos replied, sending a wave to Marx, but avoiding eye contact with Augustus, the memory of what the pathetic light mage tried to do to him fresh in his head. "But I think I should be the one asking that question. Why is Charmy on your lap?"

"Just here enjoying the view with me," was the answer he gave.

"What he said. Kenos, as your superior, I order you to walk away and not question this further," Charmy comedically commanded.

"Uh, sure," Kenos replied, walking away.

"And while you're at it, bring Yuno to me," she added.

"Okay, that, I'm not doing,"

"Damn it, well, it was worth a shot," she groaned.

Once he was a good distance from them, Kenos opened his mouth. "Never thought I'd see the day Charmy would actually use her authority,"

His grimoire floated in front of him and opened. "I must agree, but it is quite charming when she does," Emmanuel spoke.

"So, do you think Asta will be fine? It's no longer an even fight," Kenos inquired from his partner angel.

"Have some faith in him, as well as in Mimosa, it's like they said, they've gotten stronger, and no offense to those other knights, but I doubt they've been through as much to grow to the same level of strength," Emmanuel replied.

"Oh, is that a tone of confidence I'm hearing?"

The sound that came from the angel gave the impression he had just smirked. "You could call it that,"

Back on the battlefield, the two knights of Team B stood ready. Mimosa formed vines and wrapped them around the crystal. "Nice and secure, now we can-," she was cut off as a crack suddenly appeared on the top-right edge of the crystal.

"Shit, we're already under attack," the two thought in unison.

Meters upon meters away, hiding among the branches in trees, was Rick, wearing a purple helmet-like object with protruding eye components. Above the trees, on an elevated point of land, was Curtis, standing in front of a large rock crossbow, and behind it was Forte, holding two fire spears in his hands.

"Crystal Creation Magic: Crystal Scope,"

"Rock Creation Magic: Strong Bow,"

"Flame Creation Magic: Burst Javelin,"

A smirk crossed Curtis' features. "Now this is what I call a good plan, Rick spots out the enemy, and we work together to shoot their crystal from afar, not a bad plan at all,"

"Excellent work Curtis, we'll obliterate Team B, that Xerx bastard will pay for acting that way with Julius, he'll be humiliated by his swift defeat. As for those other two, no hard feelings, someone's gotta win," Forte added, shrugging at the end.

"Guys, you're not going to believe this!" Rick called.

"What is it?" Curtis asked.

"It's Xerx, he's…sleeping!"

"What?!" his teammates exclaimed

"The asshole is mocking us now, he thinks he doesn't even need to fight in order to win," Forte seethed.

"And that's not it," Rick continued. "The two remaining knights are on the move,"

"Plant Creation Magic: Magic Flower Guidepost!" Mimosa exclaimed as she and Asta took cover behind a stone wall. "Okay, based on the distance on my schematic, Team A and their crystal are about a good 75 meters away, and they don't seem to be moving either,"

"If they aren't moving, then their strategy must be to use some sort of sharpshooting tactic to take out our crystal before we can react," Asta deduced. "We should keep moving then, standing still ourselves won't do us any good,"

The plant mage nodded. "Alright," she agreed before the two moved away from their hiding place.

"They're on the move again!" Rick relayed.

"Okay, we can still do something, they haven't located us yet. Forte, load your spear," Curtis said before instructing.

The crimson did so. "On it,"

Curtis waved a hand and shifted the bow's head downward. "Rick, tell me when to release it,"

The coral knight gave a wordless thumbs-up as he focused on Mimosa and Asta, waiting for them to align with the path of the fiery javelin. He then counted down from three on his fingers.

3

.

.

2

.

.

1

"Fire!" he called, the flame spell being launched milliseconds after.

"How much closer are we, Mimosa?" Asta asked.

"Just 25 more meters to go, then we can-," the vermillion-haired royal was going to respond, but something suddenly caught her eye, and it was the flaming projectile heading their way. "Asta, above us!"

"It's not a problem, leave it to me!" the swordsman said back, his Ki already detecting it as he sped up in front of her and jumped, using the Dweller to cut the attack in half. "Easy peasy,"

"Ah shit, that must be the Black Bull with the anti-magic," Rick cursed.

"Then let's change up our approach," Forte spoke up. "Flame Creation Magic: Scatter Javelin!" he exclaimed, forming a fire spear that looked exactly like his previous spell before placing it on Curtis' bow as it fired.

Asta's Ki had picked up on the attack once more, but to his shock, the javelin broke apart, raining down on them. "I won't be able to stop that, take cover!"

The two noticed a nearby building-like spot and took refuge there. "Wasn't expecting that. Fighting other magic knights is different from the other threats I've faced, the ones in the past have always been so direct and usually confrontational from the get-go, but the way these guys fight is kinda cool. So Mimosa, how's our crystal looking?" Asta asked, his head facing away from the component in order to scope out the front.

"Not good," she answered worryingly as she inspected the object in question. Unlike them, it didn't manage to fully evade the rain of magic if the cracks surrounding it told her anything. "I'm going to have to start using recovery on it soon,"

"But that means we'll have to stay on the defensive, if we don't counterattack, we'll never win,"

"We'll never win, aye?" Mimosa muttered, her face starting with an unsure expression before it became one of determination. With a mental command, the vines unwrapped themselves from the crystal and she walked forward.

The swordsman was confused by what she was doing. "Mimosa?"

The girl looked at her guidepost, then up ahead. "If my schematic is accurate, we should be in a direct line with the enemy crystal,"

The magicless mage raised a brow. "And? I don't have any long range attacks,"

"I know that...but I wasn't talking about you," she replied as her grimoire turned to a page. "Plant Magic: Magic Cannon Flower!"

The vines began to grow before wrapping around each other in a strand-like manner, with the head of the vines opening to reveal petals, and in the center of it was yellow mana that released itself as a powerful blast of mana.

The sight of the new spell left Asta and Team A's mouths agape, but unfortunately, the guidepost was slightly off as the beam only managed to remove a chunk of the crystal.

"Good crap, not only did they locate us, they almost took out our crystal, we got lucky," Forte said.

"You're right, we have to use a new strategy, and one that won't fall prey to that boy's anti-magic, and I know just what will work," Curtis added.

Up on the platform, more people were impressed by the golden knight's offensive.

"I didn't know Mimosa had a spell like that. Did you?" Noelle asked Yuno who was beside her.

"I'm just as shocked as you are. I've been so focused on my own training that I haven't kept any track of her improvement," he returned. "This must be the result of whatever she was doing with Specs,"

"Yes, it worked, the training paid off, I'm so proud of you, Mimosa," Klaus proudly thought to himself.

Kenos smiled. "So this is what she meant when she told me to rest easy. Amazing,"

"That was so cool!" Asta exclaimed, starry-eyed. "An attack spell! I wasn't expecting that from you, but it was so awesome! You're incredible!"

Mimosa slightly blushed. "Me, incredible? What a nice thing to say," she whispered, but she got her head back in the game, it wasn't the time to be swooning. "This is the chance to counterattack. Are you ready?"

"Of course, as if you even needed to ask,"

"There you are!" a voice exclaimed, said voice belonging to Curtis as he emerged out in the open, the integral component beside him.

"One of the enemies!" Asta exclaimed back before noticing the damage done to their crystal. "Mimosa got a really clean shot, another one directly at the center could win us the match,"

"I won't let you get a second hit in, Rock Magic: Rockball Throw!" the silver knight declared, creating a large rock sphere before launching it at them.

"That's easy to stop!" Asta challenged, and he was correct, cutting the rock in half with hardly any effort.

Curtis said nothing in response, merely making a break for it, with Asta and Mimosa on his tail, not letting up.

"The tables have turned, your team was the one with the advantage, and now, even with just two knights, we've managed to put you on the run!" Asta yelled to his opponent. "The first victory will be ours!"

Curtis suddenly came to a halt. "Don't count your chickens before they hatch, our team can still snatch victory, and this is how we'll do it," he retorted, his grimoire flipping to a page. "Rock Creation Magic: Barbaros Club!"

At the sound of his spell declaration, a huge rock hand emerged from the ground in front of him, holding an equally large spiked club, heading forward at a moderate speed.

"That is a big spell, but stopping it will be easy enough," Asta grinned confidently, putting the Dweller back in his grimoire and pulling out the Slayer. "Bring it!"

"Whatever you say!" two voices exclaimed behind them, they turned to see Forte and Rick standing at different ends, the knights of Team A forming a triangle around their opponents.

"Flame Creation Magic: Cavalier Blade!" Forte declared, creating a large fire sword.

"Crystal Creation Magic: Crystal Slicer!" Rick declared, creating an X-shaped attack.

"Oh no, they're coming from each side! And with that range, there's no point in running!" Mimosa exclaimed. "If even one attack hits, it's over for us,"

"If we can't run, we have no choice but to take the attacks head-on," Asta told her. "I'll start with the rock spell, then come help you with the others," he charged forward.

But that's when something strange happened.

As Asta took one more step, the floor began to glow, revealing the glow originating from a circle on the ground with markings. "Ah!" the swordsman screamed out of nowhere, a strange purple thing growing on his face, and foam escaped from his mouth before he dropped to the ground, seemingly unconscious.

"Asta!" Mimosa yelled. "What kind of magic was that?!"

"It wasn't anything we cast, but regardless, we'll take full advantage of it!" Curtis bellowed as the spells closed in.

"Asta, get up, you can't lose this!" Yuno exclaimed from the platform.

Augustus, on the other hand, smirked evilly. "Ah, a ray of light in my day, that commoner will lose, it's what he gets for even daring to disrespect me,"

"We're in the worst position, even if by some miracle, I can get out of range, I can't leave Asta here. This might be it," the plant mage thought morbidly.

But to her surprise, a savior made itself known.

Three large circles with different markings spawned in front of each of the spells, said spells disappearing into them, but they didn't stay there for long as they came back out, this time bigger and faster, but also heading towards their origin instead of their target.

"What the?!" every single person exclaimed, totally caught off guard by what they saw as the three spells crashed into their casters, sending them to the ground.

"I can't believe it, that was…on another level," Mimosa voiced her thoughts aloud. "But who cast it in the first place?" she wished to know, but then, an unlikely answer entered her mind. "Could it have been…Xerx?"

"Ash,"

Mimosa looked behind her at the sound of the familiar voice, and lo and behold, it was Xerx, having just awakened, the mage walking past Rick and Forte.

"You and the shrimp wanted to know my attribute…it's Ash. And the power you see before you is the result of my specialty: trap magic!"

"Trap Magic?" Kenos repeated. "That isn't a spell category you see every day. Even with something as synergistic as Solar Magic, I don't have a spell like that in my repertoire,"

"By the name of it, I wouldn't use something like it either," Zuka added.

Her teammate nodded. "I can understand that, trap magic requires a lot of patience and planning ahead, not to mention it's ill-suited for a lot of direct combat. But as we can see, that too has its benefits,"

Xerx made his way over to Asta, lightly kicking him to see if he was still unconscious. "Shortstack over here fell into my Ash Trap Magic: Decaying Blight, but he'll be fine in a few minutes, the effects don't last long. As for what our trio of idiots fell into, just a power reflection trap, best kind of trap I got, takes any attack spell and bounces it back at double the power and speed,"

Mimosa gasped. "Wow, those traps have such power,"

"I'm aware of that, but this fight isn't over just yet, I've got something to handle," the ash mage then moved over to where Curtis was.

"Damn..you," he struggled to say, and his struggle furthered as Xerx stepped on his head.

"This has got to be utterly humiliating for you! Imagine being done in by your own attacks! It's hilarious!" he laughed.

"Don't you dare mock us," Curtis said defiantly.

Xerx wasted no time getting as close to his face as possible. "And why not? You bastards did this to yourselves. I don't know if this was a plan or not, but it's stupid either way, putting all your faith into some big offensive, you're magic knights, you should always question what's around you, because you never know what consequences it can bring, and there should always be some caution on your part, but you threw it to the wind, and now-," he began, now eyeing their crystal, his hand clenched into a fist, covered in magic, all before he punched it, shattering it entirely.

"It'll cost you!"

The capital mage raised an arm immediately. "Crystal destroyed, the winner is Team B! The next fight will be between Team C and Team D!"

Asta's eyes suddenly shot open and his body shot up. "What happened?"

Xerx walked past him. "We won, that's what happened. Nice of you to wake up,"

"You're one to talk, you slept through the whole match and left me and Mimosa to fight by ourselves!" Asta retorted.

"True, but it was his magic that won the match for us," Mimosa came to his defense. "But Xerx, if there were traps here, why didn't you tell us?"

"If I told you, you would've acted accordingly and steered cleared from the areas, that would no doubt tell the other team to do the same, you had to think you were safe in order for them to believe so too. It's like the saying goes, to deceive your enemies, you must first deceive your allies," he replied.

That put a frown on Mimosa's face. "But that saying only applies if you feel like you can't trust your allies. You can trust us,"

Shockingly, her words made the ash mage burst into laughter. "Me? Trust you? That's a good one, you'd make a great comedian!" he said tauntingly as he turned around. "Let's go, the next team has got to fight, we can't stay here,"

Eventually, the other two got moving, and the ash mage started to whistle, seemingly calm, but in his mind, it was anything but.

"Trust my allies? There's no way I'm ever going to make that mistake...not like him,"