Chapter One Hundred-Three: Like Mother, Like Daughter
"We're under attack!"
Going back a few minutes earlier, attention shifts to the area near the Royal Houses, a capital mage being the one to make the exclamation from outside as fellow hooded mages arrive just in time to see her get launched to the ground with a thud.
"What's going on? Who are we being attacked by?" one of them asked, holding her in his arms.
"Look…for yourselves," she told them, pointing forward before falling unconscious.
The others followed her finger, their eyes landing on a large group of mages in the distance that were fast approaching, all of them dressed in a single uniform. "No, it's not possible, it's just not possible, it's…,"
"...The Golden Dawn!"
The elven knights swarmed the area in no time, and at the center stood Latri, Baval, and Kivn, the possessed spatial mage spreading his arms out. "Greetings, Clover Kingdom, I hope you're ready for some anarchy!"
"What on Earth is Golden Dawn doing here? And why are they attacking us?" another mage inquired.
"Whatever reason it is, we don't have time to wait. If they're coming here, their targets are the Clover royals, we need to protect them, and that goes double for the king," another replied as they all took out their grimoires and charged ahead.
Baval couldn't help but chuckle as he crossed his arm. "They're coming straight at us? Surely they can sense how much stronger we are? They're a brave bunch, I'll give them that,"
Kivn, however, gazed at them with distaste as she placed a hand on her hip. "Don't be confused, this isn't bravery, it's stupidity, no more, and no less," she took out her own grimoire, already flipping it to the desired page. "We've reached optimal efficiency with our host's magic, let's do this already,"
"My my, somebody's eager to fight," Baval said.
Yurim, who was standing behind him, cracked her knuckles. "No duh, it's the whole reason we're here," her eyes turned to Latri. "As for you, you had better not let yourself die here, it'd be real embarrassing if you were taken down by some weak humans,"
The possessed spatial mage glared back at her. "I thought you would know better than to underestimate me," he then addressed the entire group. "Alright, my fellow elves, in the name of revenge, in the name of victory, attack!"
The others cheered loudly as they moved in to engage with the capital mages. What then proceeded couldn't be called a one-sided match, doing so would be a gross understatement, what proceeded to happen would be better described as a massacre.
"Compass Creation Magic: Defying East!" Kivn exclaimed as she manifested her rapier and held it in front of her chest as six enemies advanced, ready. "Only six of you? Do you mind doing me a favor and asking about a dozen more to come? It'll make things easier for me,"
"How dare you?! I don't know what's gotten into you, but prepare to be subdued!" one of them exclaimed as they used their magic to craft a fire sword, charging forward and becoming airborne, reeling the weapon vertically.
Kivn's expression clearly showed she had no intention of dodging, instead, she used both hands to aid her rapier in blocking the strike. "I surely hope you can do better than that. I'm not expecting much, but I'm at least expecting something,"
To her surprise though, the hooded mage grinned. "Then you won't be disappointed, because we can do better," he backed up into a backflip, the elf now noticing that four of them had already surrounded her and launched attack spells from all sides.
In response, her grimoire flipped to a page. "Compass Magic: Willful Compass!" four large compasses appeared in each cardinal direction, deflecting them elsewhere. "I don't know, I'm still disappointed," she reported, but then she realized something. "Wait, weren't there six of them? I see only five now. Where did the other one-," she paused as her mana sense flared and she turned at a 135-degree angle, her eyes noticing an earth snake coming from above.
The flame mage gasped. "No way, she saw it coming?"
"Compass Magic: Hazardous West!" she sent out needles that spun around the snake in a circle, holding it in place. From there, it wasn't hard to spot the mage who sent it, her demeanor now full of fear.
"E-Earth Creation Magic-,"
A shadow loomed over Kivn's eyes as she interrupted her declaration, firing a lone needle with deadly accuracy, striking her dead in the forehead. The mage didn't even have a chance to scream as her body dropped to the ground.
"I-It can't be," one of them said, but the truth couldn't be denied as they saw her grimoire crumbling away as it eventually ceased to exist, the snake following suit.
Calling off her second spell, Kivn looked straight at them, the shadow fading to reveal a murderous look that frightened them all to their core. "Pardon my brutality, I'm not very fond of sneak attacks,"
Moving with blinding speed, she fired four needles, each hitting their mark before she blitzed the flame swordsman and thrusted her rapier into his shoulder.
"AHHHH!" he wailed in pain, the sword dissipating as she pulled it out and he dropped to his knees, clutching his shoulder. However, that left him unable to block the kick Kivn launched at his face, blood leaking out of his nose.
The elf looked at the five defeated foes, her eyes locking on their grimoires, each one fully intact. "I'll let the others deal with you, I'm now in the mood to shed some royal blood," she said, walking away.
"Woah, looks like you missed me!"
While the first fight was going on, Baval was engaged in his own scuffle, but from what it appeared, the elf seemed to be enjoying himself a lot more as he was flipping around to evade their attacks.
"Ugh, could you just stand still for one moment?!" a capital mage demanded in frustration.
"What if I don't feel like it? After all, I don't take orders from you. In fact, why don't I take a turn attacking?" he flipped to a page. "Dice Magic: Gambler's Fallacy!" a pair materialized in his hand as he threw them, both landing on the number three. They then levitated before exploding, firing two magic blasts.
Every enemy mage cast a defense spell, but it was futile as the blast broke through them like a hot knife through butter, sending them all back.
While they were getting up, the possessed golden dawn decided to muse aloud. "Y'know, back in my day, we didn't have these things, dice I mean, but it is fun to roll. I assume they're part of some game or activity, so you absolutely must tell me: what do you use these for?"
One of the hooded mages pointed at him. "What the hell are you babbling about?!"
Baval rubbed the bridge of his nose. "I'm just trying to make some conversation so you feel more at ease when you die, I'm not a monster, that's your thing,"
"Enough of your nonsense! Take him down!" he created two portals for his allies which they jumped into, coming from behind at a higher point, throwing out their best attacks.
"Okay then, no more small talk, but remember, you asked for this," he side-eyed the two attacks, doing a wide side flip to get him out of range. "It's time I get a little more serious. Dice Creation Magic: Gambler's Beast!"
Upon declaring the spell, Baval created a single dye and tossed it high into the air, the object stopping in mid-air to reveal four pips. Then, the dye began to grow and morph, turning into a black and white goblin shark before it fell back down, floating two inches or so above the ground.
"Take them out," he ordered, the shark moving surprisingly fast. The capital mages launched multiple attacks, but it weaved around them all.
"Its reflexes are too good, we need to make distance and try something else," one of them suggested, the others listening as they made a break for it.
"C'mon, don't run, I was just calling you brave earlier," the possessed dice mage spotted the mage who appeared to be running the slowest out of them, firing a magic bullet straight at her, forcing her off her feet and to the ground.
And that was the worst thing that could've happened as the goblin shark reached her, biting one of her legs clean off. "AHHH! SOMEBODY HELP!" she screamed, her allies wanting to go back, but they knew it wasn't wise.
"Leave her to bleed, go and take care of the rest," he stated, the shark letting out a gruesome noise, following them. A few of the mages decided to face it head-on, only to learn the hard way that it was a mistake.
"Hey, Baval, do you mind if I lend a hand?!" a voice came out in the distance, said person being Yurim, running straight towards him.
"You want to come in and steal some of my kills from me? Hm…okay!" he jokingly asked before agreeing.
"Nice, be ready to boost me!" she told him.
"No problem. Fall back!" he ordered the shark before bending down slightly and coupling his mana-enhanced hands together as she got to him and was boosted into a high backflip.
A grin formed on her face upon noticing a capital mage below her, she knew exactly what move she wanted to use. "Plant Curse Magic: Darling Cobra!" she conjured a large snake with an appearance akin to a cobra lily as it dropped down, mouth open. It stealthily landed on him, sinking its teeth into his shoulder.
"Argh! What the hell?!" he yelled as a green liquid secreted from its teeth and into him, making him feel weak.
"Let go of me, you stupid thing!" he desperately tried to pull it off, but it was no use. Soon, there was enough venom in his system to make him drop dead.
Yurim chuckled as she called the snake to her, parting its head before removing it from existence. "From a spell that simply weakens someone to one that kills them on top of it, oh how I love the elven magic boost," she remarked before hooded mages surrounded her.
"That shark doesn't seem to be coming at us anymore, it must be because of her,"
"Yes, but not for the reason you're probably thinking. It's not falling back for my sake, but for yours. Plant Binding Magic: Sundew Devourer!" she exclaimed as a hexagonal pattern resembling her spell's namesake expanded outwards.
"Holy crap!" multiple mages gasped as they found themselves unable to lift their feet, and to make matters worse, they could feel a burning sensation below them.
"In case you're wondering, which you definitely are, Sundew Devourer doesn't just produce a strong adhesive, it produces a strong adhesive that's also corrosive. However, neither I nor you will get to see it in full action, because there's something else I want to try," her grimoire turned to a different page. "Plant Creation Magic: Deadly Flytrap!"
Slamming her hands on the ground, vines and leaves accumulating and amalgamating into a creature with a head resembling a Venus Flytrap, green drool oozing down its mouth as it stood tall behind its master.
"Eliminate them," she ordered as the creature advanced.
"You seriously think we'll just let you take us out?!" one of them retorted, raising his hands for a spell.
"Yeah, about that," Yurim snapped as vines erupted from the sundew, wrapping around their hands, and pulling them all down. "You're doomed,"
With that, the creature continued its advance, unhinging its jaw to a massive height as it tore into the confined mages, each of them begging for their lives, just to be ignored as their turn came.
"And that's that," she put a hand on her hip.
"Not yet, you bitch," a familiar capital mage declared, emerging from one of his own portals right in front of the elf, sucker-punching her in the face.
The punch didn't punch her back too far, but it did draw a bit of blood which Yurim wiped off with her hand, giving him a death glare. "Not bad. Mind if I try?" she blitzed him, launching an uppercut, sending him back dozens of feet.
The mage was struggling to stand, but he was able to rise to his knees, beckoning the possessed plant mage. "Is that all you got?"
"It looks like someone's a glutton for punishment!" she ran straight at him, her fists lighting up with mana as she jumped up a little, reeling one back.
But that ended up being her biggest mistake as the capital mage created a portal right in front of her, the elf unable to stop in time, resulting in her falling into it, the portal closing. "Haha, that's what you get,"
He wouldn't get the last laugh though as Baval approached him and lifted him by the collar. "Where the hell did you take Yurim?" he demanded with a dark tone.
"Somewhere far from here,"
The elf tightened his grip. "Bring her back, or suffer the consequences," he spat.
"Never,"
"Is that so?" Baval used his available hand to remove his hood, revealing a young man with gray hair and blue eyes, but what was most important was the fearless look in his eyes. Despite that, the possessed dice mage smugly grinned.
"Very well, have it your way," he tossed him aside, summoning his shark with a whistle as it ate the man alive, but it was never seen, perspective just remained on the elf's twisted face, his expression not even changing when the human's blood splattered over him.
He walked away, reconvening with Kivn as they both witnessed the end of Latri's fight, all the enemies were dead, and the landscape had been greatly affected by his Spatial Magic. "I'm going to assume that new magic of yours made things easier?"
"Yeah, it has. This magic just lets me erase space like it's nothing, the attributes of this era really are something," he nodded before glancing at the three buildings in front of them. "Based on what we know from our hosts' memories, the clover royalty live in each of these places, meaning we can enter all of them. The only question from there is: who goes where?"
Kivn set her eyes on House Silva. "I can take the one on the left,"
Baval did the opposite, pointing at House Vermillion. "The one on the right works for me,"
"I guess that means the center is all mine," Latri shrugged, looking straight at House Kira.
The possessed dice mage held his chin. "I suggest we don't go in there alone. Who knows what sly tricks the humans may have waiting for us, that and it makes the killing go faster,"
"Works for me," the other two said as they ran into their designated buildings, each being accompanied by one elven knight.
After they vanished from sight, one of the possessed knights stared into the distance. "While they're going after those royals, I say we spread out and help our brethren,"
"What the hell is that?!" he heard one of the elves scream, pointing at something.
The man followed her finger, his eyes landing on the elven base in the distance. "You don't need to be concerned. Can't you feel their mana? It's more of our friends,"
"I'm not talking about them, Johanis, there's something else that's about a mile or two ahead of it and it's coming our way!"
Johanis squinted, indeed noticing something approaching, it was Nozel's mercury eagle, the remaining Royal Knights atop it. "It's a pack of humans! Kill them!" he yelled as knights fired long-range spells.
"Everyone brace yourselves!" the captain told them as he had the eagle maneuver around the attacks. It then sped up and flew down a number of meters, allowing the knights to jump down, now standing a fair distance across from their possessed comrades.
"No, it can't be," Mimosa gasped, realizing that every possessed knight present was from her own squad, and there were so many of them.
"No denying it, ginger, your crew's gone crazy," Zora said, carrying Mereoleona on his back. The ash mage inspected the damage. "Not to mention they did a number on this place,"
"Whatever you do, don't let them get past you, we can't let them interfere with the ones who are inside!" Johanis shouted.
Noelle turned to her brother. "That means there are already elves in the Houses, we have to go after them before they kill everyone inside,"
"I understand that, here's the plan. Noelle, you'll come in with me to our House," Nozel began before turning to the other pair of siblings. "Mimosa and Kirsch, you two will go in and secure House Vermillion," he finally turned to the remaining three. "Zora, En, Alice, you three will stay out here and take care of these knights to the best of your ability,"
"But, what about House Kira? Shouldn't it be of higher priority? That's where the king is," the cherry blossom mage inquired.
The mercury mage shook his head. "Right now, we don't have the numbers to spare, we don't know how many elves went into each building, so going alone after them isn't wise, at least two have to go, and I'm not having one person stay to fight all of the Golden Dawn," he explained. "On the bright side, however, the king has his personal guards to protect until further help can arrive,"
"Alright then, it's a good plan, I just have one question," En spoke up.
"And that is?"
"How do you plan on getting past these guys and gals?"
Kirsch let out a flamboyant chuckle. "Fear not, En, leave that to me," he took out his fans, waving it around as wind and petals accompanied him, clustering together before he blasted it forward into the crowd.
"Damn it, I can't see a thing!"
"Quickly, move out!" Nozel exclaimed as the pairs broke up and infused mana into their legs, jumping above the chaos before sprinting into the destroyed gates of their respective homes.
A minute passed before the air cleared, the trio now being the only ones in sight. "Crap, I wasn't expecting them to do that, but things should still be fine, we can take care of these three!" Johanis glared at them. "Prepare to lose!"
"Us, lose?" Alice repeated, a few seconds passing before a battle-hungry grin formed on her face. "That's where you're wrong, you pointy-eared bastard, we're going to beat you so bad, you'll wish you never came back from hell!"
The wind mage turned to Zora. "Metalmouth, it's going to be a hassle for you to fight if you gotta watch the captain, take her somewhere safe,"
"No duh, thanks for stating the obvious," he retorted, a vein then pulsing. "And who are you calling Metalmouth?! Insulting nicknames is my territory, you crazy bitch!"
"Territory my ass, you don't own shit!"
En came in between them. "Now now, you two, there's no need to get so heated. Our enemies are the elves, not each other,"
"Fine," the two ended their quarrel.
"Good, now to the next matter of business. Fungus Creation Magic: Running Mister Mushroom!" the smiling shroom spawned next to him as Zora handed the unconscious flame mage over to it. "Take her somewhere safe and guard her, when she wakes up, direct her to where we are,"
It nodded and ran off into the distance. "Okay, now she's out of harm's way, let's start fighting already! Wind Creation Magic: Battlefield Dancer!" Alice wasted no time assuming her transformation.
"Hold on, I'll give you some cover! Ash Magic: Cinder Screen!" Zora joined in, blowing the smokescreen, moving his head as he did so for maximum reach.
The coral-clad knight was impressed. "I saw you use this spell back during the exam against my vice-captain, let's hope it's good," she was about to charge, but just seconds later, all the ash dispersed.
"Huh?" the trapster hung his mouth slightly open.
"Hm, never mind, that hope has faded," Alice jabbed, earning a glare from her teammate, meeting it back with a playful smirk.
Johanis nodded his thanks to the wind mage on their side. "We caught onto your plan, you try to blind us and attack us at our most vulnerable moment. Is the concept of a fair fight lost on you wretched humans?!"
In response, all three Royal Knights crossed their arms, Zora being the one to voice what they were all thinking. "But of course, the elf with over thirty allies who has no problem sicking them on three people wants to complain about fairness. The irony is astounding,"
"Shut up, you!" he pointed at him before a shadow loomed over him, the person responsible being Alice, her sword reeled back.
"You can go down first!"
"That's where you're wrong! Corundum Magic: Ideal Closer!" Johanis exclaimed as his body became covered in a large suit of armor. He then turned around, blocking the sword strike with his back. "Good luck hurting me now,"
Alice landed a few yards away from him. "Alright then, deal with this," she threw her sword, commanding it to spin like a buzzsaw, but to her shock, he perfectly blocked it with his arm.
"I meant what I said. Attack!" he cried out as the others charged.
"This is it, everyone, let's do our best and try not to die. Fungus Creation Magic: Fighting Mister Mushroom!" he declared, summoning a trio of the buff fungi to his side.
In an instant, the man was surrounded by ten elven knights. "Surrender, old man! You may be a human, but I don't mind showing at least a little more mercy to the elderly!" one of them said.
A mushroom spawned on his shoulder. "Elderly? Who do you think you're talking to?! I'll give you all a beating you'll never forget!"
"Fine then, have it your way!" he exclaimed as he charged forward, one of the fighting mushrooms intercepting him to throw a punch. "Don't get in my way!" he conjured a blade of lightning, front flipping above it before driving the sword into its back, destroying it.
"Now you'll meet the same fate, old man!" the other nine decided to accompany him as they all jumped, aiming for an aerial strike.
To their surprise, however, En didn't look worried in the slightest. "I don't think that was very smart of you. Fungus Magic: Growing Mister Mushroom!" he exclaimed as ten giant mushrooms spawned, one on each of their backs that forced them to plummet prematurely.
The royal knight let out a short cough. "I've been doing some serious training as of late, it's the first time I've cast so many of these at once,"
"Y-You bastard! Do you really think these will keep us down?!" the possessed golden dawn asked defiantly as they were in fact starting to rise back up to their feet in spite of the sheer weight.
"Do I think it will keep you down? Not really," he replied before casting the spell again, placing a second one on each of them that promptly flattened them an additional time. "Now I do,"
"Nice moves," Zora took some time to praise him before addressing the group that had chosen to do battle with him.
"What's the damn deal with this freak over here? He's got some weird stuff around his mouth, talk about ridiculous,"
"You watch your mouth! This is a stylistic choice!"
The elf put a hand on her hip "You chose to put that on yourself? I swear, you humans can have some of the weirdest tastes in fashion, thank heavens Yoveen isn't here to see this,"
Zora cracked his knuckles. "I don't know who the hell's Yoveen, and frankly, I don't care. Why don't you quit your yapping about my style and come get your ass kicked?!"
"We'll so who gets their ass kicked!" she yelled back at him, firing a dozen wind orbs.
The trapster just barely managed to weave around them. "Her wind was able to blow away my Cinder Screen with ease, I have to try a different approach," he thought, turning to a different spell. "Ash Magic: Cinder Bullets!" he blew with all of his might, shooting them at high speed, but despite that, they were all able to dodge it.
The royal knight sucked his teeth. "Okay, approach B was a bust, let's try approach C," he quickly drew a circle and imbued a command into it before tossing it on the ground and stepping on it himself, treating the elves to a bright flash of light.
"Crap!" they all covered their eyes, the light fading shortly after, but to their shock, the man was nowhere to be seen.
"Where did he go? That distraction couldn't have given him time to run away," the elven wind mage said to her allies who could only shrug in response.
"You're going to wish I ran away!" the voice came from behind her, she turned to see Zora, already in the middle of casting a spell.
"Ash Binding Magic: Cinder Remnants!" he blew the ash right at her, backing away. "I hope you liked merely one of my newest traps, the short-term invisibility trap. It makes me completely undetectable for five seconds, really handy,"
"That's what you were planning? It didn't even do anything to me. Kill him!" she told the rest of her comrades who fired long-ranged attacks.
Zora just smirked. "I wouldn't say it doesn't do anything," he clenched his fist as the residue restrained her, he then commanded it to quickly bring her in front of him. "It can turn you into the prettiest little shield,"
With the spells having already been launched, she had no choice but to take it all head-on, launching her dozens of feet back. "Ah, you gotta love it when a plan comes together. So, which of you would like to be next?"
The elves were admittedly a bit spooked by the tactic, but one of them gathered his courage faster than the rest, running forward, but it was all for naught as he was quickly sucker-punched by a buff mushroom.
"I hope you don't mind me butting in on your fight?" En intruded.
"I kinda do, but you're chill, so I'll let it slide just this once. What do you want?"
"I couldn't help but notice that Alice is in a bit of danger," he pointed, the ash mage following it to see that most of the possessed knights had ganged up on her, and that was all while dealing with Johanis. "You should go and help her, I can clean up your fight for you,"
"Thanks," he said back before leaving.
"Wind Magic: Cyclone Slam!" Alice encased both her arms in additional wind, backhanding two elves that had gotten too close, but afterward, she was breathing heavily. "Damn, you losers just don't stop coming, do you?!"
"No, we don't," Johanis came in, reeling his fist back, forcing the young woman to cross her arms as the attacker made contact, pushing her back. "These so-called 'losers' will keep coming until you're dead!"
Then, all of a sudden, he was unable to see, a smokescreen forming around him. "Great, this thing again," he muttered as he heard footsteps and could feel weak strikes hit his body in multiple places. The possessed corundum mage grinned. "Oh, is that what he's trying to do?"
He then crouched down and boosted himself up, jumping out of ash before landing with a crash, the sheer force of the fall blowing it away for a second time and pushing Zora back. "You were trying to find a weak point in my Ideal Closer, weren't you? Well, I'll save you the trouble, there is no weak spot!"
Alice walked past the ash mage. "Look, I appreciate you coming to help and all, but I've got it handled. Wind Creation Magic: Ventus Hunter!" she conjured her beast, ordering it to charge forward. It leaped into the air and landed on the enemy's shoulder as it tried to bite into him, but it was no use.
"Bye-bye, mutt," Johanis grabbed it, using both hands to rip it apart.
Zora raised a brow. "Yes, you so have it handled," he returned the jab.
"Hahaha!" the elf laughed in their faces. "Try all you want, humans, you can't beat me, your days are numbered, and your lives are-,"
He was cut off as a familiar portal appeared between the three, and a slash of darkness came out from it, crashing into Johanis and pushing him back. Then, two figures emerged right afterward, none other than Yami and Finral.
"It looks like we got to the party just in time," the dark mage said.
The ash mage facepalmed, but a chuckle still escaped his mouth. "To think I'd run into you of all people during this shitfest,"
The two bulls turned around, Yami letting out a chuckle of his own. "You say that like you're not happy to see me. It looks like you became a Royal Knight as well, good work, Zora,"
He crossed his arms. "Whatever," he then eyed the spatial mage. "Oh, you're awake? That's cool,"
Finral gave him a thumbs up. "Yup, I'm awake and ready to fight, although I wasn't expecting you and my captain to know each other. But I am curious about something, why did he call you Zora, Xerx? Is it some kind of nickname?"
Yami raised a brow in confusion. "Xerx?" he turned to his subordinate, narrowing his eyes in a comedic judgmental sense. "What did you do?"
"Oh, nothing much, I beat up a vice-captain with ease, stole his identity, and proceeded to dominate in a tournament, y'know, Tuesday,"
"You what?!" Finral was shocked by the news.
"That's right, I'm not really the vice-captain of the Purple Orcas, the name's Zora Ideale, a member of the Black Bulls,"
"Wait, you're a part of our squad?! Hold on, if you were lying about all that other stuff, why should I believe this?"
Zora shrugged, the guy raised a fair point. He reached into his satchel, pulling out his folded robe, unfolding it and putting it on. "Is that good enough proof for you?"
The noble nodded. "Why haven't I seen you at the hideout then?"
"I don't really go there, I think I've only seen the place once, but that was just so I know where it is. I usually crash at my house,"
"I see,"
"Do you have any other questions?"
He thought about it. "Um…yes actually. Shouldn't there be more of you? I can see that En guy over there but that's it,"
"After we raided the hideout of those Midnight Sun freaks, a lot of them got possessed some time after, the rest of us who weren't possessed were coming here," he began.
"Then during the journey, Asta, Yuno, and Kenos split up from us to handle other problems. When we arrived here, the royals went inside," Alice finished.
"Good, everyone is accounted for, then let's get back to fighting!" Yami turned back around, seeing Johanis with his arms crossed.
"Are you done yet?"
"Yup, thanks for waiting," the captain said before remembering something. "By any chance, you wouldn't happen to know an elf named Charla, would you?"
"She's one of my closest friends,"
"Ah, that explains it,"
The possessed corundum mage uncrossed his arms. "Enough of your nonsense! Attack!"
The knights all assumed battle stances. "Finral!" Yami exclaimed as he ran forward.
"On it!" he made a portal which the man ran into, appearing behind one of the elves.
"Dark Magic: Dark Cloaked Lightless Blunt Strike!" he knocked her out.
That action made about half of them turn around, launching an array of ranged spells. "Bad move there, buddies! Dark Magic: Black Hole!" he followed up by forming a pitch-black orb that sucked the attacks in once they got close.
"What kind of spell was that?!" one of them gasped.
"A spell that renders all low-powered ranged attacks worthless," Yami replied. "Finral, get me close to the big guy!"
A portal formed beneath his feet as he fell into it, appearing behind Johanis. "Dark Magic: Dark Cloaked Black Blade!" he attacked with all his might, but his katana just bounced off of his armor. "Shit, that thing's the real deal,"
"You better believe it!" the elf turned and threw a punch, forcing Yami to block it with his weapon, but there was a clear struggle happening. "I lucked out with this human's magic. I've now become the ultimate combination of offense and defense!"
Just before he was about to lose, it was Yami's turn to have someone come to his rescue as a figure dropkicked the elf with tremendous force, launching him back several meters, but not enough to do any significant damage.
And help had come in the form of Jack. "Keh keh, are these bastards that good, or are you just losing your touch?"
"Whatever, beanpole. So, what are you doing here?"
"I saw the commotion from my base and came here as fast as I could," he explained.
"I see. Where's Glynda?"
"She stayed back to clean up. We had a few bat-crazy people over there too,"
"They're elves, beanpole, not bats. You also left your woman to manage everything on her own, dick move,"
Jack resisted the urge to blush. "She's not managing everything, there are other subordinates there. A-And she's not my woman!"
The dark mage gave him a sly look. "But you want her to be, don't you?"
"One more word of this and I'm leaving you to die,"
"Fine, I'm quiet as a mouse, but in all seriousness, I'm glad you're here, Jack," Yami said, gazing at the army they had left to fight along with the Houses that were in ruin.
"Things are only going to get worse before they get better,"
"Everyone, run for your lives!"
Those were the words that filled the air of the Silva Household as people were running every which way, desperately trying to escape the bloody fate others had fallen victim to from Kivn's onslaught.
The possessed compass mage had just finished skewering a noble in the back with a needle as she now looked ahead at the individuals who were scurrying away, the fear clear in their eyes.
"They remind you of us, don't they?" the elf who had accompanied her, a taller female with purple braids, inquired. "Trying all they can to survive a massacre they won't escape,"
"You read my mind, Aerion. Seeing them like this makes me remember how scared we were, I almost feel bad for them…almost," Kivn said back.
"No, this can't be happening," their eyes fell on a man in the distance, having dropped to his knees from the shock of what transpired. "This trip was supposed to be perfect, all we wanted to do was try and gain favor with the Silva House in exchange for benefits. Why has this occurred now of all times?"
Aerion shrugged. "Consider yourself a primary victim of bad timing then, coming here sealed your fate faster than it would've otherwise, making you now a secondary victim of us,"
"No, you two are part of the Golden Dawn, the elite of the elite, one of our most trusted and celebrated protectors, you're supposed to keep people like me safe!"
"There's been a change in things, now we're the ones who will escort you to hell," the elf in glasses replied.
"Please, I can't die, I can't," he muttered in terror as his eyes darted around, searching for something that could possibly save him, but instead of spotting something, he spotted someone.
It was a female servant who had barely managed to hide herself behind a large object. "You there!" he scurried to his feet before running and pulling her out of her spot, forcing her in front of him.
"What are you doing?!" the girl screamed, horrified. "Let me go, please!"
"Not a chance! You're just a lowly commoner, you should consider this a great honor," he said to her, slowly backing up towards a nearby door. "You'll be my shield!"
"No, please, I don't want to die!"
"Shut up! Do you think I want to die either?! My life is worth more than yours, so my safety is of higher priority. Now do us both a favor and-,"
He didn't get another word in as a needle lodged itself in his shoulder, his hold on the girl releasing itself as he fell on the floor. As for the servant, seeing that she was free, she bolted for the door as fast as she could.
"And where do you think you're going?" Aerion formed an ice shard in her hand, expertly throwing it with pinpoint precision, lodging it in her left shin, making her fall abruptly.
"Ah, it hurts!" the man screamed as Kivn now stood over him. "I beg of you, have mercy!"
"Mercy? You want mercy, after what I just saw you do with my own two eyes!" she screamed at him, her eyes pulsating with rage. "To think I almost felt pity for your kind, you've reminded me why you can't be allowed to live any longer,"
She then brought out her rapier, slowly driving into his head, ignoring his screams of pain until they were screams no more. The possessed ice mage then spoke to her from afar. "Should I take care of the girl?"
"Please do,"
Aerion nodded and neared the servant who was now dragging her body to safety, but as she heard footsteps, she stopped, knowing she could never outrun her. Turning her body around, she clasped her hands together.
"Please, I'll do anything you ask of me, anything at all, you only need to say the word, just spare me! I don't know what issue you have with the nobles and royals, but I'm innocent, I swear!"
Instead of finishing her off right then and there, Aerion squatted down to her level. "Aw, you think you're innocent, don't you, well then let me tell you something," she formed another shard and drove it into her heart. "You're not,"
All the girl let out were a few gasps before she dropped dead. The two female elves then reconvened. "That looks like everyone who's in this room, but there are bound to be others who are hiding around. How do you think we should proceed, Kivn?"
The possessed compass mage didn't respond, making her friend tilt her head. "Kivn?" she noticed the girl was staring up at a tower in the distance. "Has something there caught her eye?"
"Yes. Can you feel it?"
Aerion now focused her senses in that direction, her eyes widening. "I can, two strong mana signatures, stronger than any we've encountered so far. They must be royals,"
"Precisely. Here's how we'll do it: I'll go up there and face them, meanwhile, you stay here. I'd like for us both to go, but it could give others here a chance to escape,"
"Don't worry, I understand, I'll be there in spirit," Aerion said, nodding.
Kivn nodded back. "All of our brethren will be," she then sprinted off.
"Ugh, this isn't fair! It's just not fair!" Solid exclaimed.
Going back a handful of minutes, before the attack on the Houses began, the perspective shifted to the room of the youngest Silva son, in the middle of a tantrum as he slammed his hand repeatedly on his mattress.
Just then, a knock was heard at his door. "Come in,"
The door opened and Nebra walked in, holding a few things. "Dear brother, if I might ask, what is your problem?"
"W-Whatever do you mean?" he stuttered.
"Don't act coy with me, I can hear your whining all the way from my room. I don't know about you, but I like to enjoy my snacks in peace," she replied, taking a seat next to a tray, setting down one of the things she had in her, said thing being an open jar of peanut butter.
Solid dug his hands into his hair. "Sorry, it's just that it isn't fair, I deserved to be a part of the Royal Knights. Nozel left to meet up with them yesterday, and I should've been going with him,"
"You're still upset about that?" his sister scoffed, her eyes looking down at the knife she was using to cut the apple in her other hand, dipping it in the peanut butter before popping it in her mouth. "It was weeks ago, get over it,"
"You expect me to just get over it? Well, I can't, it's humiliating, especially considering how I lost!"
Nebra didn't miss a chance to chuckle at her brother's expense. "Oh yeah. I still can't believe you lost to Noelle of all people, I'm starting to think Nozel and I have been spending our youth bullying the wrong little sibling,"
"Be quiet!" he yelled. "It wasn't my fault, I wasn't expecting her to have such a huge attack spell,"
"A large attack spell? From our little sister? I seriously doubt that. Stop making excuses, you probably just got overconfident and let her blindside you with some weak attack," she laughed before taking another bite of her snack. "I bet this 'Sea Dragon's Roar' or whatever you said she called it is actually a weak little-,"
Her talking was cut off by screams coming from outside. Solid turned his head to the closest window, seeing smoke rise up. "What's going on? Are we under attack?"
Nebra didn't seem worried. "Relax, would you? It's probably nothing big, don't forget, there are tons of royal guards stationed here, we don't need to be concerned about a thing,"
Despite her calm demeanor, the water mage got out of his bed and went to his closet. "What are you doing?"
"Looking for a coat in case it's chilly, I'm going to do a quick check,"
"What for? Didn't I just tell you we'd be fine, listen to your big sister and continue sulking on your bed, it makes for surprisingly good comedy,"
Solid glared at her. "I'll pass, I'd rather not be denigrated further for your entertainment," he kept searching.
"Alright, no more teasing you, we can talk about something else then. How do you think Nozel and the other Royal Knights are doing?"
"If our big brother is with them, the Eye of the Midnight Sun doesn't stand a damn chance. But they probably haven't even attacked them yet, they just assembled yesterday,"
"Yes, I guess you're right," the mist mage agreed as her younger brother came out of his closet, sporting a white coat.
"There we go, even in probable danger, as members of the Silva family, we must look good,"
"Amen to that, just make sure you come back soon,"
"No problem," he then grabbed his grimoire and was about to make his way to the door, but before he could, a violent kick opened them abruptly, revealing Kivn.
"A Golden Dawn member? I guess they must've solved the problem already, although I wished she knocked first," Nebra stated.
"Hey, I think I remember you, you participated in the exams," Solid racked his brain, trying to recall something, but he came up empty. "Nope, I can't remember your name,"
"That's alright, if it makes you feel better, I don't know your name either, but since you'll be dead in about thirty seconds, it shouldn't matter,"
"I'll be…dead?" the royal's face contorted with anger. "How dare you?! Do you have any idea who I am?! I am-," the anger on his face vanished in an instant and was replaced with fear as his body began to shake. "Hold on, what's up with her mana? Why is it so intense? I've never felt anything like it,"
"You seem to have lost your nerves, I take it that means you who I am?" she then summoned a needle.
"What are you doing, move?!" Nebra quickly opened her grimoire. "Mist Magic: Ambush Field!" mist covered the entire room.
Kivn looked around. "Interesting, I can't see a thing, and I can't sense them either,"
"Mist Creation Magic: Mist Daggers!"
The possessed heard the declaration coming from her right, and lo and behold, an attack came from there, giving her a chance to parry it with her rapier. "Is she an idiot? Yelling out her moves defeats the point of her spell,"
"Or does it?"
Kivn's eyes widened at the sound of Solid's voice just an inch behind her as she suddenly found herself wrapped up by a water snake. The mist then fell to reveal the siblings standing in front of her.
"And that's how we do it," the teenager said, high-fiving his sister. "Nice distraction,"
"Thank you, it gets them every time," her eyes then fixed themselves on the elf. "Start talking, girl, what is the meaning of this? An attempt to assassinate royalty isn't something that's taken lightly,"
"I can see why, that move of yours actually was decently impressive," she smirked before exerting a strong amount of mana, destroying her restraints. "What else can you do?"
"That's impossible, no one's ever done that to my spell,"
"Stop worrying about that! Mist Magic: Solid Mist Clones!" Nebra exclaimed, creating an octet of replicas, all of them firing magic bullets.
The possessed golden dawn had no trouble evading them with a combination of jumps, flips, and swipes from her rapier. "If these are clones, one must be real. Compass Magic: Useless North!" a single needle formed in front of her, shooting out and lodging itself in what appeared to be thin air, but soon revealed a concealed mist mage.
"She…found me?" she muttered before collapsing, her clones vanishing.
"Sister!" Solid ran to her, relieved to see her still alive.
"Don't worry, she's not dead, I can't have her suffering be too brief. It's your turn now, royal, entertain me before you die,"
"This…this is horrible,"
The lower rooms of the Silva Household were quiet as Noelle and Nozel floated past them, riding on mercury that the latter created as the former made her statement. All around the two siblings were dead bodies.
"Yes, it's…unfortunate," her brother said back, his tone openly displaying his disgust. "Those elves will pay for this dearly,"
The water mage started to feel an unease in her stomach. "I wonder how Solid and Nebra are doing?"
"You needn't worry about them, they are fellow royals, they're strong," he replied with confidence.
Those words struck a chord with Noelle as she stole a glance at him, recalling something he said earlier that night. "Um, Nozel, can I ask you something?"
He nodded without looking at her. "Fine, but make it quick, we need to keep our guard up,"
"Um…before we got here, before Asta and Yuno split up from us, you called me capable. Did you…did you really mean that?"
It was his turn to steal a quick glance at her as he sighed. "I-,"
"SOMEBODY HELP US!"
He didn't get to answer her question as the voice loudly entered their ears. The mercury mage waved his hands, causing his transportation to speed up, moving from room to room until they made it to where they needed to be, seeing Aerion cornering a male and female servant.
"Stop right there!" they cried out.
The possessed ice mage turned around, locking eyes with the royal knights, raising a brow with amusement. "Well well well, more royals. It seems that I'll get to kill some after all; your mana is pretty impressive up close, but it's nothing compared to mine,"
The pair of servants stuck their heads out to see who had come to their rescue. "It's Lord Nozel and Lady Noelle!"
"Noah, Emily, don't worry, we'll save you!" the water mage called to them.
"Save them? You won't even be able to save yourselves! Ice Creation Magic: Shard Storm!" she exclaimed, firing jagged pieces of ice.
In response, Nozel waved a hand, molding the mercury around them into shields that blocked the attack, he then made the shields melt into puddles, sneakily weaving them behind her before he commanded them to strike the back of her neck, knocking her out cold.
"Yeah, I doubt that," he taunted her unconscious body as he tossed her aside and the siblings hopped down from their transport.
Noelle ran over to the servants. "Are you two okay?!" she asked, kneeling to their level.
The two embraced her. "Yes, we're fine, thank you so much!"
"O-Oh, you shouldn't be thanking me, Nozel's the one who did all the work. Right, Nozel?" she turned her head, noticing him in the distance, looking up at something. The silver-haired girl stood up and walked to him, standing at his side as her eyes fell on the same thing his did.
A large portrait of Acier Silva.
"I'm glad this remained unharmed," he said with an uncharacteristically soft tone.
Noelle understood why though, simply nodding. "Me too,"
The mercury mage turned to face Noah and Emily. "You two, find somewhere safe to hide, and whatever you do, don't go outside,"
"Understood, my lord, be safe," they said, running away.
He now addressed the only other person with him. "As for us, we'll continue and-,"
He was cut off for the second time, but this one was from an explosion that came from a tower in the distance, making the water mage gasp.
"That's Solid's room! He must be fighting an elf!"
"Then we have to hurry up there!"
"Water Magic: Holy Water Bullet!"
Solid had fired the large ball of water right at Kivn just for her to deflect it with Defying East, putting a look of frustration on his face. He had used the spell ten times now, and each time it failed to hit his target, but he couldn't stop unless he wanted to die.
"As short as it was, your sister was more entertaining, however, watching the desperation on your face does bring me joy," she told them with a smug tone.
"Shut your mouth! I swear to you now, sooner or later, you'll fall, and I'll make you regret doing this to royalty! Water Creation Magic: Slashing Sea Serpent!"
The possessed compass mage expressed an annoyed look as his spell manifested. "The fact that even in the face of someone with such overwhelming power in comparison to yourself, you still show arrogance is astounding to me. I knew another royal, and for all his evil faults, at the very least he acted humble,"
"Quit your babbling and die already!"
She glared at him with serious eyes. "No. Compass Magic: Hazardous West!" she suspended the attack in mid-air. "Now it's your turn. Compass Binding Magic: Confining South!" she then shot a quartet of needles.
"Shit!" Solid attempted to evade, managing to dodge three, but was unable to dodge the one aimed at his right leg. "AHH!" he dropped to the ground, trying to move the leg, but it was futile.
"You're wasting your time, any limb the needle pierces will be paralyzed for as long as it's in there," Kivn explained.
"Then I'll just remove it," he attempted to pull it out, but was finding it difficult, just then, he could hear something whistling through the air, so he looked up, only to see a cascade of needles coming his way. Unable to run or deter them, his instincts just told him to cover his face.
Thankfully, as he let him see again, none of the projectiles had made contact, courtesy of his older brother who had emerged from the window.
"N-Nozel, you're here?" he then noticed another person with him. "And Noelle too. Wait a minute, you became a Royal Knight?!"
"Yup, seems like it," she answered almost sarcastically before her eyes met with the elf's, they then widened. "Letoile?!"
"Oh yeah, that's her name,"
"Letoile? That's Kivn to you, royal, don't refer to me by my host's name,"
Noelle silently sucked her teeth. "Damn it, I wasn't expecting her to get possessed too! If only Luck wasn't taken over, he's the only one I know who could've gotten through to her," she thought.
"Oh no, Nebra!" her eyes shifted to the left, shocked to see her sister on the ground with a needle in her side, Nozel already at her side.
"You and…the wretch…are here," she muttered.
"Your wound isn't lethal, that's good," he said, standing up, but not before noticing the unhappy look on his youngest sister's face. "Don't pay her any mind, Noelle, let's just focus on showing this elf the strength of the Silva family,"
Her frown contorted into a small smile. "Right. Water Magic: Mana Skin!" she became covered in a blue aura. "And then, Water Magic: Sea Dragon's Waterball!"
Nozel decided to attack in conjunction with hers. "Mercury Magic: Silver Shining Regal Spear!"
Kivn watched carefully as the two attacks closed in, the waterballs were coming straight at her, though the spear was different as it started going straight, then bent, now coming at her from the right. Assessing it in her head, she made her move, starting by performing a series of hand-free backflips, dodging the spear, but to her surprise, it bent again, now joining the watery projectiles in a frontal assault.
The elf came to a halt, coming up with a new plan, staring at her tome. "Hm, it isn't in her grimoire, but I can see this human's memories, there's a spell she likes to do, I suppose I can give it a try. Compass Magic: Willful Compass - Full Deflection!"
At her call, an array of compasses formed, curving back to where the siblings were as both attacks were sent back to their origins. Unfortunately for her though, it was of little inconvenience as Nozel easily blocked them.
"She took care of those like they were nothing, we need to kick it up a notch," Noelle said as her grimoire flipped to the page of its strongest spell.
Solid knew what was coming. "You're going to use it, aren't you?"
"Yeah, do me a favor and try not to get scared again," she fired back. "Water Creation Magic: Sea Dragon's Roar!" she declared, letting loose the large serpentine dragon. "See if you can handle this!"
Kivn's eyes went wide for a time, but it was only for a few seconds as she composed herself and prepared a counter. "I'll show you that I can! Compass Magic: Willful Compass!" she formed a singular one this time as the dragon got within, however, something was going wrong.
The dragon wasn't being deflected.
"C'mon, keep going!" the water mage yelled.
"Nice try, but I won't let it stop me!" the elf yelled back as the needle on the compass finally managed to turn, sending the attack to crash into a wall.
Noelle grit her teeth. "Dang it, and I was so close too,"
"Wow, so that's…Sea Dragon's Roar, I take it?" Nebra managed to ask her little sister.
The girl in question currently had her back to the mist mage. "Yeah. Is there something wrong with it?" she asked back with a little hostility.
"...No, I was wrong, it's…a pretty impressive spell. Nice work,"
For the second time that night, she was bewildered by the praise from one of her siblings, to the point where she was having some trouble responding. "Um, I, um, thanks,"
The possessed compass mage pushed up her glasses. "I have to be honest, I wasn't expecting you to have a spell that would give me such trouble, you're a lot better than the other two, so I'd better finish you before you pull out any other tricks. Behold my strongest spell!"
"Compass Magic: Another Atlas!"
A compass-like contraption emerged from her grimoire, and in no time at all, the room became surrounded by a green space, nothing from the outside being visible.
"Where are we?" the eldest demanded.
"Relax, we haven't left where we were, this spell overlaps a subspace over it," Kivn explained.
Noelle looked around. "That's strange, I never knew Letoile had a spell like this,"
"You seem to be familiar with my host, but you don't know of this move. Tell me, girl, this Letoile, does she fight on her own a lot?"
"Um, I'm not with her very much, but from what I've seen, she doesn't," Noelle answered, raising a brow after doing so. "Why do you want to know?"
The elf made a dramatic gesture. "By all means, attack me, and you will see for yourself,"
Nozel gladly took her up on her offer. "If you insist. Mercury Creation Magic: Silver Blades!" he exclaimed, expecting the liquid metal to mold into the desired weapon, but it was struggling to do so, turning back into a puddle. "What is the meaning of this?"
"This is the power of Another Atlas. It indiscriminately disrupts the magic control of every mage in this space except myself. If I'm being honest, a spell that doesn't let me fight alongside my comrades isn't my style, but it works perfectly against a group when I'm fighting alone,"
"If it only disrupts the control of those who are inside, we just have to get out of here," Solid reasoned, finally pulling the needle out of his leg.
"Trying to escape is a waste of time, the spell forms a closed space, no one gets in or out unless I want to, and I think you know what I want," she countered. "Compass Magic: Useless North!"
The Silvas were a bit worried, not by the lone needle racing their way, but by the fact that they weren't sure if they could block it. "Let me at least try! Water Creation Magic: Sea Dragon's Lair!" Noelle exclaimed, but to her dismay, instead of the barrier rising, all that rose was a couple inches of water.
"Damn it, scatter!" Nozel called out, grabbing hold of Nebra before he and Solid jumped backward to the right, while Noelle did the same to the left. "Solid, how's your leg?"
"It hurts, but the adrenaline should keep me going," he replied before seeing that the needle had decided to follow them. "Watch out!"
The mercury mage grit his teeth. "Running away will do us no good, we have to face it head-on," he reasoned, placing his sister down as he concentrated. "Come on, come on,"
His plan worked just in time, the liquid metal molding into a shield that blocked it, but just barely as it pierced the shield halfway.
The youngest child breathed a sigh of relief at their safety, but the relief ended as in the corner of her eye, she saw Kivn charging at her with her rapier. She managed to move to the side in time, but was unable to prevent total contact as a cut formed on her cheek.
"Letoile, I know you're in there, you have to fight the elf's control, you're strong, that's why Luck's so fond of you, he was able to fight back too, I know you can as well!" she tried calling out to the human within.
Kivn grinned at her efforts. "Your words go in one ear and out the other, it's pointless," she charged again, preparing to lunge, but then, all of a sudden, she stopped, her free hand now grasping the one holding the weapon.
Hope was in Noelle's eyes. "Yes, just like that, you can do it!"
"What are you doing?! Why are you resisting me now?! I'm the one calling the shots!"
Nozel was a little surprised by what he was witnessing, this having been the first time he'd seen an elf quarrel with their host, but as long as she was distracted, it didn't matter, he was ready to do what he could to incapacitate her.
Or at least, he was, until the eyes of him and his siblings widened at the sight they just beheld.
Kivn changed up her grip on Defying East…and used it to impale her opposing forearm, grinning crazily as the struggling ceased at last. "There we go,"
Noelle's face said it all, it was filled with horror. "W-What…did you do?"
The elf pulled the rapier out, using her cape to wipe off the blood coating it. "You needn't be concerned. You see, the pain I went through during my death was unbearable, compared to that, this is nothing. Now, where were we?"
However, she wouldn't get to strike again as her mana sense flared, detecting an attack coming from behind her, so she flipped out of the way before turning to see who shot it, the culprit being Nozel.
The captain stared at his hand. "So, even though spells are ineffective, magic bullets aren't, in that case," he extended both hands and fired two more.
"It's futile," Kivn channeled mana into the hand of her injured arm, slamming into them, neutralizing upon contact. "Like I said,"
"If basic magic works better here, then I can fight back after all!" Noelle pointed her wand at the elf, firing a waterball, but similarly to her brother's offensive, it was easily repelled.
"I think I've let you attack me enough, it's my turn," the golden dawn raised the hand holding her weapon as multiple needles spawned in the air, and as she pointed at her targets, they went on the move.
At this point, the two knights were doing everything they could to avoid getting hit, whether it was by evading them, or firing meager blasts to cancel it out, all the while, Solid and Nebra watched, unable to assist, and that fact eventually came to bite them as a needle got past Nozel's watch, about to impale his little brother in the head.
Not on his watch though. Moving quickly, he raised his arm up, selflessly using it to shield him from harm. "AHH!" he yelped in pain.
"N-Nozel, you saved me, but you're hurt,"
"It's what I must do as your captain and your older brother,"
Noelle regrouped with them once the onslaught ended, staring at where he was hit. "Will you be okay?"
He pulled the needle out, grunting. "I'll live, but there has to be some other way we can counterattack, if not, we're as good as dead,"
"Unfortunately, we can't. If there was a way we could get out of here like Solid said, we'd stand a fighting chance, but this is a closed space so-," she paused, gears were turning in her head. "I think I have a plan that can work. Nozel, on my signal, cover us all in your mercury, but don't cover my hands,"
His confusion was easy to see. "What? What kind of idea are you-,"
"Please don't argue with me, just trust me!" she yelled back, extending her hands. "Now!"
Choosing to put his faith in her, he did just as he said, the look of confusion now forming on Kivn's features. "What the hell is that all about?"
She would soon get her answer as tons upon tons of water started pouring out of her hands, the water rising at an astronomical rate, filling up the space in a matter of seconds.
The possessed compass mage was quickly submerged, struggling to breathe. "Damn it, she's using the properties of my spell against me, if I don't call it off, I'll drown before they do!" with that, she undid the spell, the subspace vanishing as the water gushed out of the windows.
The elf was currently on her knees, coughing. "That was close, these humans are crazier than I thought," she said, standing up, but then, after she did, mercury shot her in the back of her neck, knocking her out cold.
Nozel said nothing to her, addressing his siblings. "And that ends that, let's go find a recovery mage, Nebra needs treatment before her wound becomes fatal,"
"What about your arm injury?" Solid asked.
"It's nothing too bad, mostly discomfort," he replied, turning to another younger sibling. "And Noelle,"
She jumped a bit at the sudden attention. "Y-Yes,"
"That was a clever plan, we couldn't have escaped that without you," he told her, surprised to see her turning away, holding her cheeks. "Is something wrong?"
"Not really, it's just that I'm not used to getting so much praise from you guys, especially you since, well…you hate me and all," she frowned at the last part.
Nozel gave her a mixed look, he wanted to tell her something, but for a moment, he hesitated, wondering if he even could, it looked like the hesitation was about to prevail, but at the last minute, he sighed and spoke up. "Noelle…I don't hate you,"
"Um, no offense, big brother, but I wasn't born yesterday. For as long as I can remember, the three of you have put me down, made me feel miserable and worthless, that I wasn't fit to be a part of this family, you even said…you even said that you wished I died instead of mom. What do you call that other than hate?!" she asked, letting her pent-up anger take over, still not looking at either of them.
Solid and Nebra stayed quiet, both looking at Nozel as he thought about how to respond. "Yes, you're not wrong, that is the way one behaves with hate, but in my case, I did it to protect you,"
"Protect me?! Now you must think I'm an idiot!"
"No, I don't think that, it's just…," he paused, letting his voice become uncharacteristically soft as he continued. "...When Mother died, it hurt a lot of people, it hurt her squad, it hurt Father, it hurt Solid and Nebra, and it hurt me. When the father chose to leave the capital because of his grief, I was left in charge of the Silva House, and I was scared, I didn't…I didn't want to feel the pain of losing someone again, and when I saw how much you resembled Mother, it made me even more scared. Because of that, I wanted to keep you away from danger any way I could, so I figured…if I lowered your esteem, and made you feel more conscious about your shortcomings, you wouldn't have wanted to fight, but regardless, you still wanted to be a Magic Knight, so I put you in the Black Bulls, hoping you'd still stay relatively safe,"
The revelation shocked Noelle to her core as she finally faced her brother, seeing his face and hearing his voice; she'd never witnessed him being so vulnerable before. Is that really why all of this happened?
"Looking back at it now, I can see I made a horrible mistake, I set a bad example and let your brother and sister torment you for no good reason, I should've just been honest with you. You were never lesser, nor were you ever worthless," he faced her too, their eyes locking on one another's. "I know a lot of my words don't mean much to you, and I don't have the right to ask them to be, but just for the record, I want you to know…,"
"...That from the bottom of my heart, I'm sorry for everything, and that I love you,"
Noelle didn't know what to say, all those years of feeling like she was nothing, like none of them cared, and now, hearing those heartfelt words, words she would only hear in her dreams, she was confused.
"...I-," but to her misfortune, she didn't get another word in as three large needles suddenly inserted themselves into the side of Nozel's abdomen, blood gushing out of his mouth as he fell on the ground.
"Aw, how touching, too bad you won't get your happily ever after," the water mage turned, and lo and behold, Kivn was standing tall, her ponytail undone.
"That's impossible, you were knocked out just like the elf downstairs,"
"No offense to Aerion, but both me and this body are tougher than her, that move only stunned me momentarily," she explained as she looked down at the page her grimoire was currently on. "Let's try this again! Compass Magic: Another Atlas!"
The green space formed once again, this one being bigger than the last. "That plan you pulled off before was indeed clever, but with your brother out of commission, you won't be able to pull it off again,"
Solid grasped his head, shaking it slowly. "She's right, we're all going to die,"
Instead of panicking, the gears in Noelle's head began turning again, this wouldn't be the end, she couldn't let it be. "Alright, you have to think, powerful long range moves are out of the picture, weak long range moves don't accomplish anything, and attribute manipulation is being disrupted. If I want to stand a chance, I need something I can use, something strong," she stared at her hands, noting the glow that continued to accompany them. "All I have right now is my Mana Skin, but that's-,"
She halted her train of thought, her mind traveling weeks back to the Royal Knights Entrance Exam, recalling one fight in particular, the battle between Rama and Leopold's teams. She remembered noting the feats of a mage from both sides with awe, it was then that she was hit with inspiration.
"That's it! The thing those two did back then, that's what I need, something close to me and easy to control," she thought. "Although, it's kinda ironic, being the only one who can save those who thought I was weak, but if what Nozel says is true, I want to at least try and make peace with them, we're family after all, but to do that…," she pointed at the elf in the distance.
"...It starts with beating you!" she exclaimed as her grimoire flipped to a blank page and was filled with an inscription, the girl took a deep breath before activating it.
In an instant, Noelle became enveloped in a cylindrical stream of blue mana, the force removing the top part of her robe as she began to transform. It started with water coating both her hands, extending halfway up to her forearm, perspective then shifted to her back as coattails manifested around her waist, she then took a firm step on the ground as shoes materialized over her feet, the water then traveling from the bottom up as additional armor formed, covering most of her body, ending at her neck before a vertical tiara formed atop her head, and finally, water spiraled around her wand, becoming a large lance she took hold of.
"This is my all! Water Creation Magic: Valkyrie Armor!"
Kivn was shocked by the spell, she shouldn't have been able to pull off something like that in her space, but regardless, she couldn't show unease. "A new spell is going to save you!" she summoned a large needle, leaping atop it and taking to the skies.
"Shit, this isn't going to be easy," Noelle cursed before she stared at her armor. "Unless," she crouched down and was boosted in the air, remaining suspended. "Woah, I can actually fly! It looks like someone won't need to learn how to fly on a broom after all,"
She then raced over to the possessed compass mage, firing a stronger cascade of waterballs from her lance. "Take this!"
Kivn weaved around them, counterattacking with her own set of projectiles, but it was now Noelle's turn to weave around them as she got close enough to engage in melee combat. The water mage attempted to strike with her lance, but it was blocked by the rapier with minimal effort. She repeated the attempt three more times, but the result was the same, forcing her to back off.
"Oh yeah, I've never actually used a weapon like this before. Note to self, if we can find a way to bring her back to normal, ask Zuka for some pointers,"
From ground level, the other three were watching, and even though two of them were in agonizing pain, they couldn't help but gaze with amazement at their little sister's display, seeing how she freely danced in the air.
For Nozel, he was a little bewildered. "I could've sworn I've seen that armor somewhere else. Wait, I do remember…it looks just like Mother's," he imagined Acier in a similar outfit of a gray color. "When she fought in that armor…people would call her…the Battlefield Dancer,"
"Compass Binding Magic: Confining South!" Kivn exclaimed, attempting to restrain her, but she used her lance to parry them away. "Damn you! Why won't you just die already?! Why do you continue to get in our way?! We elves have already gone through enough suffering at the hands of your ancestors, and now we can live the lives we were robbed of! Why can't you just let us have this?!"
"Why can't I? Simple, because what you're doing is wrong. These are people with lives of their own, and they don't deserve this. Take it from someone who's been suffering for most of her whole life, your sadness and your grief, they don't justify a damn thing!" she charged right at her, prompting the elf to lunge with her rapier, but that was what Noelle wanted, skillfully weaving around her in a 180-degree turn with a curve, spinning her leg around before slamming her heel on the enemy's hand, disarming her.
"So you can take that kind of thinking and stuff it!" she now lunged with her lance.
"Compass Magic: Willful Compass!" she rapidly exclaimed, putting the object between her and danger, but like before, her opponent's attack wasn't being redirected right away, in fact, her compass was beginning to crack. "No..no…NOOOO!" she screamed as it broke apart and the lance hit her point-blank, knocking her out again.
"Because we're going to keep fighting until we win!"
Kivn fell off her needle, free-falling a few dozen meters on her way to the ground, but Noelle swooped in and grabbed her, holding her in mid-air as the green space came down a second time. "And now it's over,"
Nozel couldn't get up for the moment, but despite that, he had a smile on his face. "Mother, I wish you could've been with us to see how much your daughter has grown," he thought, imagining a better world in his head with Acier in the presence of all four of her children.
"You'd be so proud of her,"