Chapter One Hundred-Nine: Battlefield Dancer

"Take this, motherfuckers!"

While the fight with Romit was going on, another short battle was raging somewhere else to the east. Similarly to the crimson trio, another trio had gradually drifted away from the greater collective, and that trio consisted of En, Ryusei, and none other than Alice, the woman being the obvious one to make the previous statement.

She was currently untransformed, but she didn't need it as she charged at a possessed blue rose knight. "Wind Magic: Cyclone Slam!" she spun around while in motion, slamming her arm at the side of his neck, knocking him out cold.

"C'mon, you elves have been talking shit all night, that can't be all you've got," she lightly kicked him to see if he would wake up, but there was no response. "Hmph, I guess I win,"

She turned around, her eyes falling on an array of unconscious elves, all on the ground. "I don't know if it was because they were possessing stronger people, but these guys aren't as tough as the Golden Dawns we fought earlier,"

As soon as she said that, En jumped to her side, the two standing back to back. "I'd be inclined to agree. Speaking of that, would you mind helping me with them?" he pointed to the eight possessed knights that were surrounding them.

"What exact help do you require? Surely not to take them down?" she asked with a playful snark.

He put up both hands, waving a denying gesture. "Of course not, I simply wanted to try something and was wondering if you'd give them a lift for me,"

"No problem!" she performed a rising gesture with her hands, creating a powerful blast that lifted them up into the air.

The possessed knights were surprised to see the position their opponent put them in. "Are you some kind of idiot? You've just given us a perfect vantage point to attack from!"

"I wouldn't see it that way. Do your thing," the wind mage said to her teammate.

"Thank you. Fungus Magic: Growing Mister Mushrooms!" En exclaimed, large mushrooms spawning on their back, making them plummet prematurely, the impact knocking them out.

Alice put a hand on her hip. "Yup, these guys are way weaker, but hey, I suppose that makes things easier,"

Just then, Ryusei approached them. "Perhaps, but the ones Kenos and the others went to fight will be the strongest they've got to offer. I'm a bit worried,"

"Ryu, you have no need to be concerned, Kenos is a strong guy," she tried to reassure him, crossing her arms. "Besides, that Emmanuel is with him, he's going to be fine,"

"...Right," the dragon mage, his tone an odd one.

And his friend picked up on it. "Is something on your mind?"

"Yeah, actually," he replied. "Have you ever wondered…why, or even how Kenos got involved with Emmanuel?"

Alice held her chin. "I'll admit, I was a bit curious when it got revealed during the Royal Knights exam, but I think it's up to Kenos to give us the details. We're his best friends, he'll let us in on more when he's ready,"

The dragon mage relented. "Okay then," he said before he noticed something in the corner of his eye. "Well, would you look at that?"

The other two turned to see that two of the knights Alice had beaten were on their feet, ready to fight again. "You can still get up? Not bad," the wind mage spoke a word of praise.

"Hold on, I'd like to handle them," Ryusei volunteered. "If that's alright with you?"

The woman shrugged. "Be my guest, but make it quick,"

"You got it," he gave her a thumbs up as he moved in.

One of the possessed knights pointed at him. "We're not going to lose to you! We will have our revenge on you humans!"

The teen raised a brow. "I know this might come off as a weird question, but have you ever wondered if this revenge of yours may be ill-founded?"

"Are you trying to tell us we're wrong?!" the other one asked in an accusatory manner.

"I suppose you can interpret it that way, but I'd likely say you may be partially misinformed. Just a thought,"

"Stop talking like you know anything!" they yelled back furiously as they fired blasts of lightning and sand.

Ryusei jumped back, using the momentum of his movement to transition into two backflips, evading the blasts. His grimoire then flipped through pages as he charged ahead. "Dragon Magic: Grand Dragon Smash!" he leaped up high and coupled his glowing hands together.

But they were fast too, jumping back in different directions, leaving the ground to take the hit, however, that ended up working against them as they were assaulted by both the resulting shockwave and flying debris.

His initial attack may have failed, but there was a new opportunity, so he took full advantage of it. "Now I got you! Dragon Binding Magic: Flaming Fangs!" he made an uppercut punching motion, a solid material rising up from the ground around the elves like a cage, the material resembling teeth and was on fire.

Ryusei dusted his hands off. "And that's that, nice work," he congratulated himself as he reconvened with the duo.

"That was pretty cool, especially the last part, a very creative concept for a binding spell," En said.

"Thanks, I'm particularly a fan of when they try to escape, but end up wailing in pain from burns," he said back plainly, making the fungus mage sweatdrop.

"Um…I see,"

"What was with the stuff you were telling them though?" his former crush questioned.

"I was trying to see if I could talk them down first," he replied.

Alice put her hands on her hips. "It's a nice thought, Ryu, but you should be less focused on talking and more focused on winning,"

"I don't know, I say you can do both,"

Just then, a loud blaring sound was heard, and it was coming from Ryusei's pocket. "Oh, my communication device," he took out and flipped up the top half, pushing a button in the center that stopped the noise. "Hello,"

"Ryusei," a male voice called on the other side, in obvious distress.

This worried the teen greatly. "Dad, is everything alright?"

"Sadly, no. Our house is under attack by magic knights calling themselves elves,"

"What?!" he exclaimed. "Are you and mom at least okay? And the servants?"

"We're all okay for the time being, we're hiding in the center room. Where are you? How are you holding up?"

"I'm a magic knight, Dad, I'm right in the middle of the danger. But don't worry, I'm on my way, just stay safe," he said before ending the transmission.

"We'd better get moving then, the sooner, the better," Alice told them.

"Hey, I see some people over there!"

The three mages turned their heads to the east, spotting six elves quickly approaching them, two of them being possessed knights while the remaining four appeared to be possessed citizens. "Let's take them down!"

Ryusei sucked his teeth. "Shit, we don't have time for this," he then stared at his grimoire's cover. "Should I use that power? No, not with the others around,"

En gave the enemy hextet a brief glare before addressing his allies. "You two go and handle what you need to. Leave them to me,"

"Are you sure? It'll be six on one," the dragon mage asked him.

"I'll be fine, take a look at them," he answered. "The elves can only power up their hosts so far, meaning that the civilians will be weaker than the knights. Since there are more of them than not, it should be a little easier,"

Alice nodded at his logic. "If you say so, just be careful then,"

"I will, and make sure you do the same," he said back.

Ryusei placed a hand on his shoulder. "Thanks a bunch, I owe you one. Let's ride, Alice," he extended a hand. "Come out, L-Drago!" he summoned his crimson ace, the two mounting his back before the dragon took off.

The elves pointed at the duo in the air. "We have to stop them!"

"I won't allow it!" their eyes fell back down to the fungus mage, or rather the talking mushroom on his shoulder.

"Huh?"

"Try all you like, but know this: you shall not pass!"

"So, we all got separated, aye? Then tell me why I had to be stuck with you?!" Yami exclaimed aloud in annoyance as he and another person walked down a path.

The person in question was none other than Jack. "Hey, I didn't ask for it to be like this either, but there's no point in whining,"

Yami sighed. "Yeah, I guess you got a point. So, what's the new plan?"

Jack lifted his arm, a blade growing out from it. "We find someone, we beat them,"

The dark mage initially raised a brow at the idea, but then he thought about it, ultimately shrugging. "Y'know? That might not be such a bad idea,"

"I know, that's why I always resort to it," he said back. "We got a plan covered, so what else should we talk about? You know I'm not a fan of silence,"

Yami resisted the urge to smile smugly. "Something to talk about, you say? I think I might know a good topic of discussion-," he stopped himself as his eyes met with Jack's, his eyes narrowed in an accusatory manner that wordlessly said one thing.

"Don't you dare,"

The black-clad captain relented. "I hear you loud and clear. Did you have anything in mind?"

It was the severing mage's turn to be in thought, it lasted for about ten seconds before he thought of something. "Since you wanted to talk about me at first, why don't we talk about you?"

"Talk about what, exactly?"

"What about where you're from? We've known each other for a good number of years now, and all I know about your homeland is that it's called the Land of the Rising Sun. You don't have to divulge into anything personal, obviously,"

Yami poked his chin with his pointer finger. "That's actually not a bad topic. Let me think, it's been some time," he paused before continuing. "I lived my whole life in my hometown, called Yunigawa,"

"Yunigawa? What does it translate to?"

"It doesn't translate to anything, it's a name. Yunigawa was one of the greatest emperors in our country's history, so the town was named after him, being later deemed as the capital of the Land of the Rising Sun," he explained.

"The capital, you say? I'm guessing that means the place was bustling?"

Yami let out a short laugh. "You got that right, that's why my family moved there some generations ago. A family of fishermen needs a steady stream of business, but that wasn't it, the atmosphere was amazing. It had the best view of the ocean, the yearly festivals were off the charts, not to mention Yunigawa is where the emperors would live, so we'd get to see and greet them from time to time,"

"Interesting. What about your folks? Are they all as obnoxious as you?" Jack asked jokingly.

"I suppose it would depend on the day, my dad's a pretty lax guy, while my mom's very headstrong. Looking back at it, I could say I've inherited some traits from them both and I'm proud of that," he said with a smile, but then it trailed and became a frown.

"Is something wrong?"

"Well, it's been fourteen years since I last saw them, and fourteen years is a long time. A part of me sometimes wonders if they're still alive, or if they even still remember me,"

Jack was silent for a little while, thinking of the right thing to say. "Maybe that is the case, or maybe it isn't. If the bond parents have with their children is strong, they'll never forget you, no matter what. As for whether or not they're still kicking, sometimes it's ultimately best to not know for sure," he said before turning his head away.

"...Then at least you'd still have hope,"

Yami gazed at him before looking away himself and lightly punching his shoulder. "That was a pretty cool speech, beanpole…thanks,"

Jack's head became straight once more as he returned the gesture. "You're welcome, but don't expect me to keep consoling you, or I'll start charging by the hour,"

"Like you could do that for a whole hour,"

"Touche. What if I charge by the minute?"

"Then you're a cheapskate,"

"How dare you?! Fine, what about every ten minutes?"

Yami held his chin. "That sounds like a fair deal,"

"Then it works for me. Who knows, I can even turn it into a side hustle or-," he cut himself off, noticing that Yami had gone quiet as well. Why? Because in that split second, both captains heard something, a sound that they recognized.

Footsteps.

They peered ahead, spotting an entrance in the distance. The two decided to be cautious though, seeing if they could sense the mana of whoever it was…but what they discovered surprised them.

"I'm not picking up the slightest trace of mana,"

Yami's eyes widened as that surprise turned to relief. "Then it must be Asta. This is perfect! We have to hurry before we lose him!" they broke into a sprint, entering the room some seconds later.

"Kid, it's us, we're over here!" he called out, but there was no one around.

"That's strange. Did we already miss him?" Jack tried to think of a reasonable explanation.

"That can't be, we were moving too fast, we'd at least hear him leave," Yami challenged it, but then his twin senses went off, causing him to unsheath his katana, rotate his body to the left, and cut a magic bullet in half with a fluid set of motions.

"Wow, that was pretty cool, I wasn't expecting you to pull that off," a playful voice spoke, making both captains look up to find its origin, spotting it when they saw Baval, standing on a high platform connected to the wall.

"An elf? But how? We should've sensed your mana!"

Baval chuckled. "Yes, you should've, but thanks to a little interference, you didn't," he softly tossed a pair of dice up and down. "Turns out that if my rolls are really good, Gambler's Fallacy can do a shit ton of stuff, even temporarily mask my signature,"

Yami pointed at him. "Wait a minute, you're not an Apostle, are you?"

"I am indeed not,"

"Then how are you here?"

"What? You think only you humans were allowed to just barge in, me and two of my friends came to provide backup, and it seems we were right to do so. I'll handle you before any Apostle has to even consider wasting their mana on you,"

"Tough words, buster, but do the math. There's two of us and one of you, and we happen to be pretty strong," Jack stated confidently.

Baval paired a raised brow with a grin as he jumped down. "I already did the math, and it's actually two against three. Observe. Dice Creation Magic: Gambler's Beast!" he cast the spell twice in succession, tossing up two dice. The first one revealed three pips, growing and morphing into a huge dead leaf mantis; the second revealing five pips, growing and morphing into a huge wailing armadillo.

Baval crossed his arms as the two creatures landed by his right and left sides. "Now these are numbers I like,"

Yami entered a stance with his katana. "Alright beanpole, I'll fight the armadillo, and you fight the mantis,"

"Hold up, why do I have to fight it?" Jack protested.

"Huh?" the dark mage's stance comedically broke. "Well, that thing's a mantis, and you have your whole mantis theme going on, I thought you'd like that,"

"Guess what though? You're wrong. Need I remind you that armadillos are known for their defensive capabilities?"

The reason then dawned on Yami. "Yeah, I guess it would make sense to combat it with your adaptive magic,"

"You think?"

"Okay okay, I get it, I'll fight the mantis,"

"If you're done squabbling, my beasts can commence! It's lunchtime!" Baval ordered as they charged.

Yami and Jack did the same, moving faster in order to separate the creatures, each heading over to their desired target from there.

"Dark Magic: Dark Cloaked Black Blade!" his katana covered itself in darkness as he swung it horizontally, but the insect sprung into the air, evading it.

That didn't worry Yami though. "Being up there isn't going to do you much good. Dark Magic: Dark Cloaked Lightless Slash!" his words spoke the truth as the slash hit it, forcing it down with a thud, creating a cloud of dust.

The man waited for the cloud to disperse, expecting to see the injured mantis, but to his complete shock, the disappearance of dust revealed nothing.

"What the hell? Where did it go?! Something that big doesn't just vanish!" he scanned the area, going as far as to call his ally. "Hey, beanpole?!"

"What is it? Can't you see I'm busy?!" Jack replied in a scream, getting ready to launch a death scythe.

"Is that huge critter anywhere around you?!"

"Obviously not!"

Baval just burst into laughter. "Oh man, this is too good!"

"You shut up! Once we're done with these things, you're next!"

"Am I now? Then you'd better hurry and find the mantis,"

"Find the mantis?" he repeated, thinking it over before he realized it, snapping his fingers. "Of course, it's camouflaged! But where?"

Just as he said that, the mantis bolted at him, being directly in front of him, coming at him with its jagged front legs. "Crap!" he was startled, but managed to put up his katana in time to block the strike, but was pushed back a notable number of feet.

"So, you like to be sneaky, aye? You aren't the only one,"

"Now that I'm no longer being rudely interrupted, Severing Magic: Death Scythe!" Jack launched his staple attack, but the armadillo just turned around and let its shell take the brunt. "I'll tell you right now, relying on that too much will come back to bite you, so why don't you just quit now and-,"

"WAHHHHH!" the creature cut him off as it opened its mouth and let out an ear-piercing cry, forcing the emerald-clad captain to cover his ears.

"Holy shit! What did you do?!" Yami yelled over the noise, covering one ear with one hand while he kept his grip on his katana, currently using it to block a strike.

"I didn't do anything! It just started screaming out of nowhere!"

"Yeah, it has a tendency to do that!" the possessed dice mage raised his voice, not annoyed in the slightest as he also protected his ears. "I learned that the hard way when I first summoned it,"

"You don't say?!" Jack spat, but that's when he noticed the armadillo charging straight at him, standing on its hind legs once it closed the distance, coming in with an attack.

"Damn it!" he stepped back multiple times, unable to remove his hands from their current position as the beast kept following up. But eventually, the screaming stopped and the armadillo let out a short series of coughs.

Jack freed his ears. "Oh, sweet relief,"

"Beanpole, I swear, you better destroy that thing fast because I am NOT going through that again,"

"Agreed. Screw the long game, I'm killing you now!" he raised the blades on his arms up.

"Good, and now for you," Yami diverted his attention back to the mantis, watching as it leaped into the air, creating another cloud of dust, the same thing happened as it dispersed.

"You wanna do this again? Fine, I know your trick now," the captain closed his eyes and focused. In time, the mantis came out from hiding and tried to strike him down once more, but now, he was ready.

"Dark Magic: Dark Cloaked Dance of the Eclipse!" he vanished, dodging the strike and appearing above it. "I told you I can be sneaky too,"

Jack continued to charge his spell, watching the armadillo assume its defensive stance. "You think you can block it? Good luck," he said as they cast their spells simultaneously.

"Severing Magic: Gargantua Punisher!"

"Dark Magic: Dark Cloaked Gloomy Dusk!"

In a split second, both of their attacks connected, destroying the beasts of dice. The two then reconvened, confronting Baval.

"Hm, you handled that faster than I was expecting, impressive,"

"Yeah, we did, but why did you just stand there?" Yami was curious.

"It's a simple reason really. You two have exhausted some of your mana while showing me how you fight," he replied.

"Seeing our style isn't going to do you anything!" Jack retorted as the two blitzed forward.

"Dice Magic: Gambler's Fallacy!" he threw the pair of dice and they both landed on five. They then transformed into light and raced in between the three, becoming two translucent shields that killed their momentum. "I'd say it does do something, after all, that's the way you approached my beasts,"

"Okay, it might not be that easy after all," the severing mage took back his statement as the duo backed up, rubbing their noses.

On the other hand, the dark mage held his chin. "Maybe it might be, let's try it again,"

"If you say so, but you better not be wrong!" his peer agreed as they did so again, but this time, Yami ran in a sense that lowered his center of gravity.

"What are you doing?! You look ridiculous, utterly ridiculous. Oh well, I guess you humans are gluttons for punishment. Dice Magic: Gambler's Fallacy!" he threw the dice again, but Yami was prepared, speeding up and catching them before they had a chance to touch the ground.

Baval's eyes widened beyond all belief. "What?!"

The dark mage grinned smugly as he was now behind the elf. "Surprised? You shouldn't underestimate our resourcefulness. Dark Magic: Dark Cloaked Lightless Blunt Strike!" he slammed the katana against the back of his neck, knocking him out.

Jack let out an impressed whistle as the dice vanished. "I'll give you props, I would've never thought to do that,"

"Thanks, I try," he said back as they exited the room, the walk being a short one before they stopped.

In front of them was a split in the path, going in two directions. "There are two paths, and two of us, this is a no-brainer," the captains thought in unison as they split up, with Yami going left while Jack went right. However, they made sure to say something to each other before going their separate ways.

"You better not die!"

The night sky became illuminated ever-so-slightly in a crimson color as L-Drago flew past many buildings. The two mages didn't look down, but they could hear the destruction occurring below, along with the efforts of knights to combat them.

"This whole thing has gotten pretty huge," Alice commented. "Let's just hope your folks are still okay,"

"We'll see soon, we aren't too far away from my house," Ryusei said back.

The woman rested her chin on her palm. "Y'know, it's been some time since I've last been to your place. I'm pretty sure it was a year, it's going to be nice to see it again,"

"Funny you say that. Despite coming over a lot when we were younger, you've hardly seen the full area,"

She shrugged. "Because I didn't need to. As long I knew the location of your room, the kitchen, and the bathroom, I was satisfied,"

That made the teen laugh, making her raise a brow. "It wasn't that funny,"

"I mean, it was to me, I like your style of humor," he told her, turning back to make eye contact. "If memory serves me correctly, it was the third thing that made me fall for you back in the day,"

Alice playfully punched him, making him turn his head back. "You're lucky I wasn't my nervous self when you said that, or I'd be a stuttering mess right now,"

"I know, that's why I said it," Ryusei snickered, but then he paused. "Now that I think about it, you never did tell me or Kenos how your whole situation happened. I know we haven't really asked about it over the years, but these days, I'm a little more curious,"

Alice sighed. "I'd prefer the keep the reason to myself, at least for now. It's a…pretty fucked up story,"

"I see," he said, deciding not to persist further, and thankfully, he wouldn't have to worry about another conversation springing up as the Kaiyo House came into view, but the dragon mage gasped at the amount of damage the exterior had suffered.

"Shit," he cursed under his breath. "Hey, I forgot to ask before, but what about your house?"

"Don't worry, my family are no slouches. If they have contacted me yet, it means they're handling any potential attacks just fine on their own. Right now, our priority is making sure the Kaiyo residence is secured," she replied.

He nodded. "L-Drago, take us down," he commanded as they landed right by the entrance, seeing that the outside was vacant. "The elves must be inside!" they ran in through the front door.

Upon entering, the two traversed the long hall, also spotting nobody. "Damn it, they can be anywhere. We need to get them all together, that way we can avoid a goose chase," Alice suggested the idea.

"Good plan, and I know exactly what will lure them out," the dragon mage took a deep breath.

"HEY, WE'RE OVER HERE!" he screamed as loud as he could, and in the span of a minute, all the elven knights rushed into the hallway area, grinning at the sight.

"Death to the humans!" they charged at them.

"Um, how about no?" Ryusei countered, turning to the coral peacock. "Alice, think a little combo attack might take 'em out quick?"

"I don't know why it wouldn't?" her grimoire flipped to a page. "Wind Magic: Hurricane Formation!" she formed one tornado, moving it to the center, growing in size.

"You're up, L-Drago! Dragon Magic: Dragon Emperor's Star Blast Attack!" his crimson ace blew the glittering red magic right at the tornado, creating an explosion. And just as fast as he did his part, the dragon encircled around the human duo to protect them.

A cacophony of screams erupted before everything turned silent, L-Drago unraveling to reveal the sight of defeated elves. "Good work, boy, return. Follow me, the room they're at is a good distance from here," he ran ahead with her right behind.

The two continued straight before making a left, which led them to a staircase. They ascended them and made a few more turns, finally arriving at a room with a decorated door.

"This is the place," Ryusei opened the door. "Are you all still here? It's me,"

"Son!" two voices called out as multiple people came out from multiple hiding places, but attention was placed on the two who spoke. One was a tall man with flowing crimson hair tied up in a ponytail, the other was a shorter woman who was still of a good height with short hair of a hollow purple color.

"Mom! Dad!" the teen ran up and embraced them in relief.

They embraced him back before noticing the woman accompanying him. "Oh, Alice. It's been some time,"

The woman showed her respect. "It truly has been, Lord Kion, Lady Atlanta," she greeted. "The elves here have been defeated, we're safe for the time being,"

As she finished saying that, something caught her eye. Aside from the places where the denizens had been hiding, the large room was relatively empty, seemingly to draw attention to what was in the center: a statue.

Alice walked over to get a better look at the statue, it was of a tall man with short hair, the most notable feature being the dragon resting on his shoulder. "I haven't been to this room before, so this may come as a strange question, but who is this?"

Ryusei placed his hands behind his back as he approached her. "That is Andrius Kaiyo, the third patriarch of the family from 300 years ago, and the greatest mage to bear our name,"

"Wow, he must've been a big deal," she said, shifting her gaze to the creature. "He had Dragon Magic too, huh?"

"Yup, he inherited it from his father, but his proficiency with it far surpassed him. Even back then, many called him the greatest Kaiyo that might ever exist; in his life, he had partaken in numerous exploits, and the very last one he did was a day before he died,"

That piqued Alice's interest. "And that was?"

"You know that mages inherit their attributes from their parents, right?" he responded with another question.

"Obviously,"

"Well, Andrius made a spell, which many call his strongest one, born out of the desire to aid his future descendants. It would increase the chance of a child inheriting the dragon attribute even if their parents didn't have it, but the child would need to be born with something first," he explained.

But before Alice could inquire further, Ryusei took off his squad robe and trench coat, lifting up his shirt before turning around, and showing her a medium-sized tattoo of a red dragon flying around.

"Damn, how have I never seen that before?"

"Um, Alice, I'm a boy, and you're a girl, it's not exactly commonplace for us to be shirtless around each other," the dragon mage commented jokingly, putting his clothes back on.

"Oh, right. Does Kenos know?"

"No, I felt uncomfortable showing it to him, so I always kept a shirt on, even when we would go to the beach," he replied. "That being said, we aren't kids anymore, and I've told you about it, so I'll fill him in once this is all over,"

"I see. Although, it's a pretty cool thing to have happen to you,"

"Agreed, though it does carry expectations with it. Because of Andrius' legacy, it's said that whoever inherits dragon magic is destined to do something of note in their lifetime," he explained. "And I've got a long way to go before the same can be said for me,"

"There's no need to be impatient, son," Kion placed a hand on his shoulder. "You're only 19, your time will come,"

Atlanta then spoke up. "If we're going to continue this conversation, I think we should do it some other time. If all the elves here have been beaten, we need to secure the estate,"

Her husband nodded. "She's right, we must hurry-," he was cut off by the sound of the ceiling suddenly collapsing above them. Alice was the first to respond, using multiple wind blasts to keep them safe from falling debris.

"This spell is pretty useful, it already found us so many humans," a voice said from above, everyone looking up to see an elf standing on the roof, peering down at them. He held a puppy in his hands while a translucent blue wolf stood by his right side.

However, despite the fact that he wasn't in his knight uniform, one person there recognized him and made that fact known. "Dwight?!" Alice pointed at her squadmate.

The possessed Dwight shook his head. "Not anymore, human. I'm Den, pleased to make your acquaintance,"

"How did you find us?! You couldn't have sensed us or something!" Ryusei demanded.

"Correct, I couldn't have sensed you, but he could," Den brought attention to the wolf beside him, softly growling. "Sensing the mana of those far away is no issue with Beast Creation Magic: Canis the Tracker,"

"This is bad, we need to get out of here," Kion said.

"Good luck with that, because you're going to need it," the possessed beast mage said as he snapped, and on cue, two other elves came up beside him, appearing to be older. "I hope you don't mind if I invite a few friends,"

Alice and Ryusei observed the two elves, not recognizing who they were possessing, but if the last member of their friendship trio was present, he'd be able to identify them in a heartbeat.

Benjo and Reginald.

The elf in control of Benjo grinned wickedly. "I'm seeing a lot of targets. This is going to get exciting, wouldn't you say, Rickert?"

The elf possessing Reginald crossed his arms, nodding in agreement. "You're damn right about that, Judeau. Hey Den, how do you want to split it?"

"We should probably take turns killing one at a time, it should make things equal enough," he responded as the dog in his grasp licked his hand. "And we also have to find a safe place for George to hide,"

"None of that will be necessary, because we won't let a single one of you shits hurt anyone, mark my words!" Alice exclaimed. "Ryu!"

"I'm with you!" they both crouched down, channeling mana into their legs before leaping onto the roof.

"I have a plan, follow my lead!" the woman told him as they both leaped into the air, the coral-clad knight suspended them there with her magic.

"I don't know what they're trying to do, but something tells me staying down here might not be a good idea," Den said as they leaped up after them.

But that was their biggest mistake as they fell right into Alice's trap. "Wind Binding Magic: Cyclone Tangle!" two strings of wind materialized, one in each hand as she sent them out, but instead of wrapping around the whole body, one wrapped around Den's wrist, while the other wrapped around the arms of Judeau and Rickert as they were close to each other.

"Thanks for making this easy, suckers!" she spun around, taking them with her, letting go of the duo first, launching them miles away to the south, doing the same to Den next, but to the north.

"Awesome plan, now they're both away from the house and split up from each other," the dragon mage praised. "You knew the guy that one elf was possessing. You wanna take him on?"

She nodded. "It only makes sense. Those other two will be up to you, don't lose or I won't be happy,"

He chuckled. "Don't worry, I know better than to disappoint you," he watched as she flew away before he summoned L-Drago once more, pursuing them.

Ryusei's eyes were on his house until it was out of view. "Be safe, everyone, I'll be back," the dragon continued to fly until it spotted a dust cloud rising into the air.

"There they are, take us down!" he commanded, spotting them in the middle of a wide road, choosing to retain the high ground.

Judeau was the first to get up. "Holy crap, I wasn't expecting that," he stretched his back, offering his friend a hand. "How about you?"

"Definitely wasn't expecting it," Rickert accepted the hand and was helped up, stretching as well before he took a look around. "It seems like nobody's here,"

"Think again! Dragon Magic: Dragon Emperor Meteor Shower!" the teen declared, his ace firing a slew of fireballs from above, hoping to catch them off guard.

Unfortunately for him, it was ineffective. "Look out!" the possessed glass mage pointed up, both elves having enough time to jump away before spotting him.

"Hm, these guys won't be my only opponents tonight, I need to conserve mana. L-Drago, return!" he stated before jumping down, standing fifteen or so meters across from them.

Judeau crossed his arms. "An ambush from above? Nice to see you humans haven't changed up your tactics, but we're ready for it this time,"

Ryusei narrowed his eyes. "I don't know what either of their attributes are, and I shouldn't wait in case something in their repertoire is particularly nasty. I should start off simple and bring out the trio," he thought as he cast three spells in succession.

"Dragon Creation Magic: Draig Teine!"

"Dragon Creation Magic: Draig Gaoth!"

"Dragon Creation Magic: Draig Dealanaich!"

Both elves raised a brow at the sight of the three small dragons that appeared. "Four against two, aye? It won't be a problem though, it'll be back to two against one soon enough," the possessed earth mage said smugly.

"That's some confident talk, but can you back it up," the human turned to the green dragon who was by his left. "Gaoth, start us off!"

The dragon growled softly in response as he spread out his wings and flapped them once, sending a strong gust of wind forward.

"I assure you that I can. Earth Magic: Rock Guard!"Judeau exclaimed, a heavy slab rising up to shield them both.

"Earth Magic? Okay, that's manageable. Everyone, here's the game plan, you three will scatter while I get close and engage them however I can, when you see an opening to attack, don't hesitate to take advantage of it. Are we all clear?"

They each gave him a short nod. "Good, move out!" he ran forward as they did as they were told. Once Ryusei closed the distance by a half, he attacked.

"Dragon Magic: Lotus Dragon Dance!" he went through the motions, shooting the mini dragons at them.

The two were able to cartwheel out of the way of some of them. "C'mon Rickert, show him what you can do!"

"No problemo! Glass Magic: Storm of Shards!" he exclaimed, firing the projectiles to cancel out the remaining one. "And now, Glass Magic-,"

He was cut off by a mighty blast of fire coming his way. His eyes widened as he just managed to get out of its range, but he could still feel the residual heat. "What in the world?" he looked up, spotting Teine on a nearby roof.

Judeau looked around, spotting Dealanaich and Gaoth in similar places, quickly turning his attention back to Ryusei. "Earth Creation Magic: Geoforce Cannons!" he created four cannons, scattering them up so that each one was pointing at an enemy, releasing their blasts.

The dragon mage opted to jump into the air to avoid them, meanwhile, the Draigs met the blasts with their respective elemental attacks, leaving them temporarily vulnerable.

"Dragon Magic: Grand Dragon Smash!" Ryusei was ready to use his current position to his advantage.

Rickert snickered. "Bad idea! Glass Creation Magic: Jagged Dome!" he declared, creating a barrier with spikes that lined the exterior just as the boy made contact with it.

"AHHH!" Ryusei howled in pain as he jumped back to the ground, on his knees as he inspected his injury, noticing how only his left hand had been impaled, a steady stream of blood leaking from it. "Fuck,"

The possessed earth mage watched as he tore off a piece of his trench coat, wrapping it around his hand. "Now, while he's distracted!" his elven ally dropped the barrier, now setting its sights on the blue dragon. "Glass Magic: Crystalline Saucer!" he used the spell he was unable to earlier, forming a thin, circular sheet of glass, throwing at his target while he was occupied, cutting him in half.

"No, Dealanaich!" his master called out as he finished tending to his wound, glaring at the elves with intensity. "That was a dick move!"

"As if your kind are no strangers to that. It looks like someone can't handle getting a taste of karma," Judeau retorted.

The cannons promptly reached their duration, leaving the two dragons able to attack, but Ryusei put up a hand, silently telling them not to strike.

"I'll tell you what I told some of your brethren earlier, this revenge plot of yours may be ill-founded."

"And just what do you know?!" they pointed at him in an accusatory manner.

"Well…let's just say I have a reliable source," he replied.

"Then you can tell this 'reliable source' of yours to kiss my ass! You can't fool us! Earth Magic: Seismic Upheaval!" the ground began shaking underneath the building Gaoth was atop of, collapsing as a pillar shot through it.

"Hold on!" Ryusei was about to transform the green dragon, but his moment of distraction was what they wanted as glass shards came his way, forcing him to move while Rickert made quick work of the wind-wielding creature.

"And that's two down, with just one more to go," Rickert was confident. "Y'know, I want to take the human out next,"

Judeau nodded. "Works for me. I say we get up close and personal, really take advantage of his injury,"

"Ooh, I like the way you think," he said back as they both cast a spell.

"Earth Creation Magic: Blade of the Stone Sovereign!"

"Glass Creation Magic: Crystalline Death Scythe!"

Ryusei watched as both elves brandished their weapons, resting them on their shoulders. "So, that's how you wanna play it? Sure, we can do it that way," his grimoire flipped to a page while turning to the orange dragon. "It's a good thing you're still here. Dragon Creation Magic: Teine - Scorched Bane!"

The dragon became an orb of orange light, shooting to its master as it became a longsword with a thicker blade than the norm, covered in inscriptions that were ablaze, causing it to radiate a warm orange aura.

Ryusei raised up the sword with his right hand. When it came to Scorched Bane, he typically liked to use it with two hands, but with one out of commission, he'd have to compromise, even if it meant performing with less efficiency.

He glared at them once more, pointing his weapon at them. "Alright, let's dance,"

"Where the hell is he?" Alice wondered aloud as she landed on a roof, peering around in every direction. "I could've sworn this is where he should've been, unless he started moving,"

"I take it you're looking for me?" a voice said in the relative silence, the woman's eyes gazing downward to find Den near an alley.

Alice raised a brow suspiciously as she jumped down. "That's strange, I was expecting you to look more injured, y'know, because I launched you a number of miles away. What, do you not feel pain or some shit?"

"If you must know, I used a spell that summoned an animal to help my descent be more pleasant," he explained.

"I see, after I'm done with you, you won't be feeling so pleasant anymore," she said, about to charge.

But that's when the elf put up a hand. "Wait!" he raised his voice, making her halt.

"Why are you stalling?"

"I'm not stalling," he simply retorted as he kneeled, setting the pup on the ground. "Listen up, George, I need you to hide somewhere safe. I'll come back for you after I win,"

He barked back happily, Den patting his head as he scurried off. The elf stood up, turning to Alice, but was surprised to see the woman's gaze not on him, but strangely fixated on the rottweiler.

"You like dogs?" he asked, his tone neutral, almost friendly.

"I'm somewhat indifferent to them," she replied, giving him her full attention.

"Well, I love them, in fact, I love all animals, so I guess you could imagine my joy at getting beast magic, now I can fight beside them too," he said with happiness before it vanished instantly, replaced with a scowl. "Not to mention they're better than you in every conceivable way,"

"And how is that?"

"Beasts are like us elves, pure and without malice, sure some of them may kill and intimidate, but it's done solely to survive, no more, no less. You humans on the other hand couldn't be more different, greedy and selfish desires are the only sources for your actions!"

Alice put a hand on her hip. "That's bullshit. Do you really think things are that black and white?"

"I don't need to think anything, I know," he retorted.

"Sure you do. Why don't we cut the chit-chat and get to the action?"

He punched his palm. "Now you're talking,"

"Wind Creation Magic: Battlefield Dancer!" Alice exclaimed as she donned her armor, rushing straight at him, a punch ready. "From what I know about Dwight, he completely relies on his beast magic to fight, I don't know every spell he's got, but I do know he doesn't engage in combat himself. Even with the elf possessing him, I should still have the advantage if it's just me against him!"

In her mind, she believed it would be a quick win, but she was about to be proven wrong as Den's fists lit up with blue mana and he reeled one of them back, meeting her punch with his own, resulting in a shockwave.

The woman's eyes widened at what occurred, even though she could feel that she was physically stronger as she was slowly overpowering him, the fact that there was a struggle in the first place shocked her.

As the weaker one in the clash, Den was the one to end it and relent, but not before getting in a jab. "You thought I would be easy pickings, didn't you?"

"I did, but you're tougher than I gave you credit for," she said back. "It doesn't mean you'll win though,"

"I wouldn't be so sure about that! Beast Creation Magic: Deadly Vixen!" blue mana exited his grimoire, clustering and shaping itself into a fox. "Get her!" he ordered as she obeyed and charged, revealing her sharp fangs.

"I can't get distracted, he's my main target," she muttered to herself. "Wind Creation Magic: Ventus Hunter!" she created her own creature. "Handle the bitch while I handle the bitch tamer,"

With that, they parted ways, the beast of wind increasing in speed as it leaped and pounced on the fox, the two wrestling on the ground, each attempting to get on top of the other, but were pushed down before they truly could make the most of it.

Meanwhile, Alice ran at Den again, brandishing her sword. "Bring out your next beast, I'm ready for it!"

"Good to see you prepared, it'll only make it more satisfying when you fail. Beast Creation Magic: Savage Leghorn!" the mana clustered and shaped itself into a tall and buff chicken that stood straight on its hind legs.

"A chicken? How ironic, that's my favorite kind of meat. I normally prefer it crispy or glazed, but today, I'll have it diced!" she swung her sword back horizontally, ready to strike the right side, but the leghorn raised his left leg, going for a high kick from the opposite side.

"Shit!" she thought, quickly changing up her position as best she could to meet the kick with her weapon. However, she didn't plan on staying in a stalemate for long. She deliberately weakened the resistance on her end as she slid to the side, freeing herself, setting her sights on the leghorn's right leg, sweeping it with a forceful kick, and putting the creature on the ground.

She then stood over it with her sword. "Lights out, birdy!" she was about to drive her blade into his chest when she noticed a strong magic bullet coming her way, forcing her to divert her attention and cut it in half.

"Now!" Den exclaimed as the leghorn used the distraction to kick at Alice's chest, launching her back, and giving him a chance to stand.

The wind mage narrowed her eyes at the possessed beast mage who just sneered back at her with glee. Her eyes then darted to another place, watching as her wolf had yet to overpower the fox before shifting back to the foe in front of her. "Even if things are tough and I'm on my own, I will win!" she charged again as the leghorn did the same, the two engaging in a back-and-forth.

Den watched from afar. "If I didn't step in, that creature would be destroyed right now, she shouldn't be underestimated for the most part. I had better provide some air support. Beast Creation Magic: Arrow Sparrow!"

At his command, the mana formed into the titular bird. "Remain in the sky and help when necessary. Okay, girl?" the sparrow nodded, flying into the sky, zeroing in on the main fight but also making sure to keep track of the secondary fight.

And speaking of the secondary fight, a moment had caught her attention. The Ventus Hunter had managed to pin the vixen down, successfully sinking its sharp teeth into her neck, causing her to wail in pain.

Not on the sparrow's watch though. She flew over and lifted her wings above her head, a mana arrow forming in between them before she fired it. However, the arrow was slightly off, missing by a few inches, cluing the wind beast in on the existence of a new enemy. It growled at the bird viciously, its eyes eager to tear her apart as it started running toward a building, jumping on its wall while using it as leverage to get a boost.

The distance between the two were closing, the wind beast raising its paw to strike her down, but she quickly flew out of range, leaving it to plummet back to the ground. With its initial plan failing, the wolf went over and finished the fox off. However, it soon found itself needing to evade more arrows.

"Just you wait, chicken, I'm going to finish you!" Alice exclaimed, jumping up a few feet and performing a spin kick, but the buff poultry brought up his arms to block it, punching her back a few feet.

The wind mage was about to go again, but that's when she could hear her beast's growls along with another kind of attack. Turning around, she saw the current battle going on between the creations.

The leghorn noticed her lack of attention, trying to launch a kick, but she noticed it in the corner of her eye, ducking before sliding behind him. "Wind Magic: Cyclone Slam!" she bashed her arm against his neck, rocketing him away.

She diverted her focus back on the sparrow. "Whether it's you or the chicken, one bird is dying today!" she tossed her sword above her before commanding it to spin like a saw, shooting it at her, successfully managing to cut her in half.

"No!" the elf exclaimed.

Alice, on the other hand, jumped for joy. "Fuck yeah!" the wind beast standing by her side. "The numbers are back in my corner,"

The possessed beast mage took some deep breaths before smiling. "Don't speak too soon, human, I have a surprise for you, or rather, for your adorable mutt,"

"And that is?" she asked suspiciously.

"Just wait and see. Beast Creation Magic: Mastermind Arachnos!" he exclaimed as a large spider took form beside him.

"An overgrown bug? Whatever it can do, it won't get the chance! Sick him!" she ordered the beast to charge.

"Fine then, it's your mistake! Arachnos!" Den extended his hand, the spider shooting a blue silk thread that stuck to the hunter's head, its eyes glowing blue as it suddenly halted.

"Huh? What's wrong? Carry on!" Alice exclaimed, but then she gasped as her spell began walking to Den, standing by his side.

"What you see before you is the power of Arachnos. It can shoot a thread that gives me control of whatever sentient magic construct it touches," the elf explained as the leghorn reconvened with him, making it four against one.

Den grinned smugly as the wind mage grit her teeth. "It looks like the numbers are now in my corner,"

"C'mon boy, don't tell us that everything you've got!"

Perspective shifted back to Ryusei's fight, and admittedly, things weren't going too well for the dragon mage as he was pushed back by the two elves.

"Damn it," he muttered under his breath, staring at her injured hand. Even though he had dressed the wound, he had been unable to stop the bleeding, watching as blood slowly leaked down from his makeshift bandage.

Judeau rested his earth blade on his shoulder. "What's the matter, boy? You said you wanted to dance. Can you not keep up now?"

"Hello, can you not see the injured hand?!" he revealed it. "I'm not expecting you to hold back, but I thought you'd at least cut it with the snide remarks,"

Rickert shrugged. "You can't blame us, when we died the first time during our leader's wedding, we didn't get the chance to tell any of you off, so we're unloading all of our pent-up frustration on you, and after you're dead, we'll do it to someone else,"

"A cycle of hate on those who are innocent? Doesn't sound like such a good thing to me,"

The possessed earth mage groaned. "Are you still trying to fool us into thinking that we somehow are 'misguided'?" he asked rhetorically, putting air quotes around the last word.

"I'm not trying to fool you, but if you don't want to listen, that's fine, you'll have no choice but to do so when I beat you! Dragon Magic: Spiral Demolition!" he fired the large mana orb.

"Let's cut that thing down to size!" the possessed glass mage ran to meet it.

"I'm right behind you!" the other elf joined his friend. The two ran until they were close enough, so they reeled their weapons back and partially halted, using the kinetic energy they built up to cut the attack in an X fashion.

"You're next!" they suddenly broke into another dash towards the crimson lion king. Ryusei was ready to do what he needed to fend them off, performing a wide low slash with his sword that released an arc of flame.

Since Judeau was the one who was more ahead, the fire stopped him, but the same couldn't be said for Rickert who leaped onto his shoulders, using him as a boost before doing a fancy spin while in mid-air as he descended.

Ryusei knew that trying to clash against the strike would only fail as long as gravity was on his side, so he just backed up a half yard, waiting for the possessed glass mage to land before he lunged forward, coming in with a vertical strike.

"Nice try," Rickert did a basic spin with his scythe before the blade of his weapon hit the side of his opponent's blade, his trick from before doing its job as the additional force coupled with Ryusei's weakened grip resulted in the fiery sword getting knocked to the side temporarily, but that was all he needed to get in close and land a punch directly in the face.

"Crap!" he grunted, backing up as blood leaked from his nose.

While he was doing that, Judeau wasn't standing idly by, the elf ran up at a curve going northeast, preparing to strike. "Get ready to die!"

"Keep your distance!" the dragon mage spun, creating a larger arc of flame.

"No, I don't think I will!" he took to the skies. "Earth Magic: Jagged Stone Spikes!"

The noble could sense mana building up under him, so he powered up his legs and leaped up, avoiding an array of stone spikes that emerged from beneath. "I already faced someone who could do that! You're going to have to do a lot better!" he met him up in the air, dropkicking the elf.

The kick landed successfully, launching the elf into a wall. As the dragon mage landed, he kept going, determined to not let up, but then someone got in his way. "Glass Magic: Storm of Shards!" the projectiles were shot at him.

"Shit," he cursed under his breath, not advancing further as one elf reconvened with the other, watching the teen breathe heavily.

"That was a lucky hit you got on me and nothing more, it won't happen again! The next time you touch me, it'll be while you're a bloody mess begging for mercy!"

"Not…gonna happen!" Ryusei exclaimed back defiantly in between breaths, calming down as his breathing stabilized. "As long as I still draw breath, I won't let it end like this!"

Hearing the passionate cry made Judeau pause, the possessed beginning to chuckle, the chuckle turning into full-blown laughter. Even his companion was a little taken aback by the sudden outburst.

"What's up with you? Did you go insane all of a sudden?"

"No, I'm fine, I'm just laughing at the coincidence of what he said," he started to calm down.

The dragon mage was flabbergasted. "What coincidence?"

"You see, boy, those words you said just now, I said them myself, 500 years ago, they were my last words before dying. All those centuries may have just been an instant for us elves, but I feel like I'm a different person than I was back then. In the past, I was naive, I said that as long as I was still breathing, everything would be fine, but it wasn't. I died, we died," he began.

"Not to be rude, but what's your point?" Ryusei questioned. "We're in the middle of a fight, I'm not interested in hearing your life story,"

The possessed criminal put a hand up. "Just wait a second, there's a point to this, be patient. What I'm trying to say is that talk is cheap without the power to back it up through actions. Anyone can say anything, but that doesn't mean it's going to happen, it'll only happen if you have what it takes to make it happen, and that now brings us to you,"

"Me?"

"Is there some other kid we've been fighting this whole time? Yes you," he replied with a snarky tone before going on. "You're outnumbered, you've got an injured hand and a bloody nose, and soon, you're going to burn through all your mana, Rickert and I have got you dead to rights, but despite that, you still say you'll come out on top, when your actions have told the opposite story. Face it boy, you're lying to yourself, trying to give yourself some kind of false peace of mind. I'm right, aren't I?"

Ryusei didn't say anything for a minute, the teen's expression was unreadable, but that changed when he finally opened his mouth. "You're incorrect. I don't tell lies…at least not right now I'm not, I'm going to live, and you're going to lose,"

Judeau shook his head. "Deluding yourself to the end, aye? Oh well, to each his own. Ready to finish this?"

"You better believe it," Rickert answered excitedly.

"Hold on, I think it's them!" a new voice exclaimed from behind the elves. The duo turned around, initially unsure of what could happen, but the uncertainty turned into joy as their eyes fell on eight other elves.

"It is them! Judeau! Rickert!" the octet ran to them.

"Guys, it's been such a long time, but the band's finally back together!" the possessed glass mage cheered.

"It really is! We heard fighting over here, it's a good thing we came to check it out," one of them cheered as well before spotting Ryusei, his joyous look turning into a scowl. "Who's that?"

"Him? Just a naive human who talks a big game. We were just about to kill him before you showed up. Wanna join us? It'll be fun," Judeau answered.

"Count us in!" the others graciously accepted the invitation as they lined up, standing side by side.

The possessed earth point crossed. "Tell me, boy, do you still think we're going to lose? It's ten against one now, you're done for,"

This was really it, there was no way Ryusei could defeat them all as he currently was, and if he tried, he doubted he'd last more than two minutes at best. So he came to a decision. "I got no choice, if I want to win, I can't hold back," he muttered as he commanded his blade to become light, shooting back into his grimoire. He then inhaled deeply and exhaled.

Breathe in, breathe out.

Breathe in, breathe out.

His body was calm at last, so he closed his eyes, and thought out loud. "HERE WE GO!"

All of a sudden, a mysterious black energy emerged from his grimoire, surrounding him, putting a look of unease on the faces of his foes, none dared to disturb him. The power traveled up his arms, healing his injured hand as the sleeves of his coat began unraveling, seemingly merging with the energy as it touched his hands and arms, the skin turning pitch black, crimson red markings appearing on his palms. Afterward, two jet-black wings sprouted from his back, resembling a dragon's. His hair changed too, obtaining streaks of white that almost threatened to erase his old hair color from existence. He then opened his eyes, revealing them to be blood red.

And last, but definitely not least, two black horns sprouted from his head, resembling that of a Kudu.

The elves were now looking at the teen with horror. "W-What did he just do to himself?" one asked, but none spoke up to answer.

His transformation was complete, and as soon as it was, Erebus appeared behind him. "Looks like I can still pull it off,"

"Are you sure you want to do this, Ryusei?" a voice asked, speaking within his mind. "It's been a while since you've used my power, not to mention how much time has passed for Erebus,"

The dragon mage looked up at his second ace, grinning. "You don't need to worry, she's up to it, and so am I," he responded. "Tell me, girl, are you ready to show these guys what you can really do?"

The dragon just nodded. "That's what I like to see. Our dance isn't over, there's still one part left, so let's do this," he said, taking one last deep breath before uttering two simple words.

"Void Magic…,"

"Everyone, get her!"

Things weren't looking too much better for Alice as perspective shifted back to her fight, Den having just commanded his small army to attack.

However, the woman still had one trick up her sleeve. Crouching her legs, she boosted herself up, taking to the skies. "I take it you weren't aware of the fact that I can fly?"

"In all honesty, I was not. You seem to know my host, but I'm not seeing much info about you in his memories," Den confessed.

"We weren't exactly friends, I've just noticed him around here and there, and I'm now grateful for that, because none of your beastly bastards can touch me, but I can touch them!" she dove down at fast speeds, encircling the leghorn before flying up behind him and driving her sword into his back, destroying him.

"Now for that spider, I'm getting my spell back!"

"Oh no you're not! Beast Creation Magic: Soaring Terror!" a large eagle formed in front of him, quickly flying in between Alice and her target.

The wind mage relented. "Wow, you really like your birds, don't you?"

Den shrugged. "Hey, they aren't my spells, I just use them. And speaking of using them, take her down!"

The thisavros flew higher up, the eagle in hot pursuit as they were now above the other buildings by at least an additional twenty-five feet. "Hm, so I'm fighting an eagle? How ironic. Well, I should at least be grateful that it's not silver,"

The bird was the first to attempt an attack, zooming close, and positioning its talons to strike, but Alice brought her sword close to her chest, blocking it as the talons wrapped themselves around the blade. "Take this!" she took advantage of the close proximity to throw a punch, the eagle retreating.

"Time to wrap things up, you feathery little shit. Wind Binding Magic: Cyclone Tangle!" she attempted to restrain the avian, but it got out of range as it dove down towards its caster.

"Hey, don't you run away!" Alice dove down after it, but once she had dropped to twenty feet above the ground, Arachnos began shooting its silk at her, so she weaved around it. "What's the deal?! I thought your bug's thing only took control of magic constructs?!"

"It does, but if Arachnos' webs hit a person, it gets them stuck, and they become easy pickings," he explained.

"Then I won't let that happen to me! Wind Magic: Hurricane Formation!" she created a trio of tornadoes, each targeting an enemy on the ground, however, one of those enemies was saved from her attack as the eagle swooped in and picked up the Ventus Hunter by its back.

"What the fuck?" Alice was perplexed by what she was seeing, but got her head back in the game to engage them in combat.

Meanwhile, Den was working to get himself out of danger on the ground as he was currently outrunning the tornado that was chasing him, but he knew it wouldn't be that way forever. "This thing goes wherever I go while growing as time passes, a tricky spell to get around," he looked around, seeing resources everywhere. "But it's not impossible. Arachnos!"

The spider was currently getting chased by two tornados, but it turned its head at the sound of its master's call as it hurried over, now running side by side with Den, the tornados clustering together into one huge one, generating an even stronger amount of wind.

"We need to take care of this thing and fast, I have a plan," he ran ahead, his sights set on a nearby building. His fists lit brightly with blue mana as he punched the wall with all his might, destroying a portion of it.

"Use this!" he picked up the largest piece of debris he could find, the spider shooting its silk thread on it and pulling it, raising it high above the tornado before letting it drop, Den helping out again as he jumped up to its level, kicking it to give it a boost. The speed of its descent was incredible, dispersing the tornado as it touched the ground.

"I'm right here, come and get me!" Alice goaded the eagle her way as she readied her sword, flying straight at the combination of land and sky, but that's when the avian curved away at the last second, gaining more altitude before releasing its talon, dropping the wind beast.

This wasn't a move the woman was expecting, the beast pouncing on her and bringing her down to the nearest roof, landing with a thud as she let out an audible groan. "You're a lot heavier than I thought," she muttered, but she didn't have time to be in pain now as her spell was still under the influence, doing its best to rip her throat out.

Alice bobbed her head in every direction she could. "C'mon, you've gotta fight dammit, you're a spell I created, you're better than this," she tried to reason with her creation, but she was getting nowhere. The beast opened its mouth again, so she used her arm to defend herself, putting her faith in the armor that was coating it.

"I would rather not have to do this, but I will if you leave me no choice!" she brought it her legs closer to her chest, storing potential energy as she put it to good use, kicking the wind creature off of her. She then dashed forward, gripping her sword with both hands as she moved in and landed a decisive hit on its chest destroying it.

"Fucking finally, now it's time for bird number three," she spotted the eagle, flying after it, the creature spotting her and flying away, the pursuit becoming a full-on chase.

"Quit trying to resist, your buddies all tried to take me down, and they failed miserably, you'll be the same!" she threw her sword, having it stay how it was as it glided across the air, impaling one of the eagle's wings. She then zoomed forward and dove after the bird, pulling the sword out of its wing before finishing it off.

Alice flew back and landed a few meters across from Den. "And just like that, the numbers are looking good again. As long as I'm quick and don't make another wolf, that spider is practically useless,"

"I suppose you're not entirely wrong,"

"Yeah, I'm not wrong, that means I'm going to win!" she bragged, pointing at him. "If you surrender now, I'll agree to knock you out fast,"

"I don't think so, I still have one last spell of use in this grimoire," Den manually turned to the page, inspecting it. "And it seems to be my host's strongest one,"

The wind mage put a hand on her hip. "Lemme guess, another bird?"

"Actually, no," he replied. "Would you like to see it?"

"Sure, why not? Dwight's spells so far have all been slouches, maybe this one might give a bit of a challenge,"

Den smugly grinned. "Oh, I think you'll find it very challenging. Beast Creation Magic: Earthshaker Behemoth!" he exclaimed as a tremendous amount of mana exited his grimoire, clustering and forming a massive creature that had the most resemblance to an elephant, but the feature that captured her attention the most was the large stone globe that was tied to his back.

"Holy shit, that thing looks like it's nearly fifteen feet tall!" Alice thought to herself.

"Do you still think this spell is a slouch?" the possessed beast mage taunted, parroting her prior words.

She may have been feeling a little uneasy, but she was determined. "It may be big, but I've faced big beasts before, and I've survived! No matter how hard the struggle is, I will come out on top!" she charged forward with her sword, noticing that the creature had made no attempt to move out of the way, or do much of anything.

But the wind mage wasn't complaining, she flew up a few feet, driving the sword into his chest as deep as it would go. "Oh yeah!" she cheered, but it was premature as she looked into the beast's eyes, seeing that he didn't react one bit. "Huh?"

"Hahahahaha!" the elf burst into laughter. "Oh man, your face! Surprised?! You should be! An important feature of the Earthshaker Behemoth is his thick skin, your sword will have no effect whatsoever. You'd probably have a better chance if he wasn't being boosted by my elven power, but he is, so it sucks to be you,"

Alice removed the sword, but that's when the beast started moving, trying to swat her like a fly with his hand, moving surprisingly fast, but she was able to fly out of range just in time. She then undid her sword. "If a blade can't hurt you, I'll just use my fists!" she zoomed ahead, reeling back a fist.

Like before, the behemoth stayed still, but that changed once the distance between them became ten meters. Positioning his legs, he quickly spun his body around, forcing Alice to abandon offense and switch to defense as he slammed her crossed arms with the stone globe.

The wind mage could feel the pain in her arms as she roughly crashed on the ground. "It looks like that rock isn't just for show,"

"It indeed is not," Den said back. "Not only does it double as a weapon and protection, it also adds weight to his body, and it lets him do this,"

On cue, the massive spell leaped up about four feet, landing with a tremendous crash that sent a ripple of force going forward, the ones behind him remaining untouched, but the same couldn't be said for Alice as the ground beneath her feet shook violently, the woman tripping.

"Quickly, Arachnos!" the possessed beast mage commanded, the spider shooting its projectile right at her.

Alice rolled over to avoid it by the skin of her teeth, standing up the best she could as she took to the skies. "If I'm not on the ground, his move won't work on me!" she exclaimed defiantly as she flew away, the distance between them almost reaching half of a kilometer.

"Are you trying to run now?!" Den taunted.

"Don't flatter yourself, I just need some setup!" she responded as she turned around and zoomed ahead as fast as she possibly could, both fists stretched out.

"So, she's trying to win by pairing her attack with built-up kinetic energy? It's certainly not a bad plan," Den muttered to himself, now addressing his mighty creation. "Meet the attack!"

The behemoth obeyed, entering a stance as he swung back his right fist, waiting for the enemy mage to get close enough. As she got closer, Alice could see the counterattack waiting for her, but she didn't stop, she just kept going, pushing past her limits, not a single shred of fear in her eyes.

"I will win! I must win!" she repeated those two sentences in her mind over and over again, and then…the two forces collided.

A powerful shockwave rippled throughout the entire area, threatening to push Den and Arachnos back. At the moment, neither side was winning, but that changed as the behemoth was slowly getting pushed back.

"Yes! That's it! Just a little more!" she was thinking to herself ecstatically, but then a sharp pain jolted through her arms. The impact that had begun their clash wouldn't go unpunished for the wind mage as the pain only increased, her performance decreasing, and the behemoth took full advantage of that as he began pushing back, eventually winning out as the woman was sent rocketing into a nearby building, the entire thing collapsing from the force.

And things only got worse from there as the coral peacock ended up getting buried under the debris, her body no longer in sight. "Hm, nice work. I'm not sure if she's dead though, so let's wait for a bit. I'd hate for her to escape because of impatience,"

From within the pile of debris, Alice groaned, struggling to move, in her mind, she thought to herself weakly. "No, this can't be all I've got, I have to be stronger. I…I can't be weak, I can't lose, not again, not like back then,"

[Flashback]

Thisavros Household. Nineteen Years Ago.

"Just you wait, I'm going to catch you this time!"

It was a particularly bright day in the Clover Kingdom, the breeze was strong, and the clouds were puffy and white, signaling a lack of rain. As far as a young Alice was concerned, it was a perfect day, so she had left her room and ran happily outside to her estate's courtyard.

Once she arrived, the first thing that caught her attention was the multitude of butterflies flying about in every which way. "Ooh, pretty!" she ran over to them, trying to trap one in between her hands, but they were nimble, escaping her.

Making her prior exclamation, she scurried over the grass, jumping time after time to catch one, but each attempt came with nothing to show for it. "Come on, let me catch you, I won't hurt you, I promise," she pleaded, expecting it to do something, but it obviously didn't.

The little girl was now crossing her arms. "You guys are no fun," she pouted, puffing up her cheeks. Then, suddenly, a butterfly flew in front of her, staying where it was, but that wasn't the part that had captured her intrigue, but rather the fact that its wings were glowing a beautiful rainbow color, the light reflecting in her eyes.

"Wow," was all she said as she tried to cup it in her hands, but like the others, it wouldn't surrender without a fight, so Alice gave chase. "Come to me!" she ran after the butterfly, doing twists and turns, ignoring everything else, now running straight ahead.

"Alice!" a pair of strong hands suddenly wrapped around her waist, stopping her dead in her tracks. The butterfly flew away, the little girl now seeing that the only thing in front of her was a pillar. Her focus then went to the one who stopped her: a tall man with medium dull white hair, wearing casual clothes, and forgoing shoes as he was currently barefoot.

"Daddy!" the girl was happy.

The man, however, was less so. "Don't 'daddy' me, young lady. What were you doing? You almost ran into the pillar and hurt yourself,"

"Sorry Daddy, I was chasing Glowmacus," she replied, apologizing innocently.

Her father accepted the apology, but then he tilted his head. "Glowmacus?"

"The butterfly, I just named him that, or her that, I don't know if it's a boy or a girl," she explained.

"I see. Where did you get the name from?"

"Nowhere, I made it up," she replied with a smile.

"Hm, you don't say? Well, never mind that, there's something I want to ask you," her father kneeled down to her level. "You may just be five years old, but you're a smart girl. I think you're ready to come with Daddy on a field trip,"

That piqued the future wind mage's interest. "A field trip?! Where are we going?!"

He chuckled at her excitement. "You'll see, just be ready in an hour," he stood up and started walking back into the building, but that's when he got careless, stubbing his toe against the base of a wall.

"Fucking shit!" he yelled involuntarily as he knelt down in pain, but as quickly as he did that, he clasped his hands over his mouth, turning slowly to his daughter.

It was the little girl's turn to tilt her head. "Um, Daddy, what were those words you said? I've never heard them before,"

The man silently admonished himself for letting the swear slip in front of her. "Sorry sweetie, I just said that because I hurt myself," he clarified.

"So…those are words you say when you're mad?" she asked.

He quickly went over to her. "Yes, and no. You shouldn't repeat them, it's not a thing kids like you should say. In fact, I want you to forget that even I said it, okay?"

Alice nodded. "Okay,"

He ruffled her hair. "Good girl. Now go get dressed," he said, turning to leave again, making sure to be more cautious.

An hour passed as the man was standing at the front of the estate, now dressed in formal dark blue attire. Another minute passed before his daughter came out, wearing a cute white dress.

"Hey, isn't that the one your mother bought for you last week?"

She nodded. "Yup, I want to wear it today!"

"Fair enough, make sure it stays clean," he told her as they mounted his broom and took off. For half of the way there, the ride was relatively silent, but eventually, the girl couldn't wait anymore.

"Daddy, if you can't tell me where we're going, can you at least give me a hint? Pretty please?"

Her father pondered the idea. "Just know that it's somewhere important,"

Another twenty minutes passed as the two nobles now descended near a thick forest, but what was more important was the large estate next to it. They then landed and dismounted, the girl scanning the area. "Wow. What is this place?"

"Welcome to the Augustyne estate. Do you remember what job our family does?"

She nodded. "I think so. We make money, right?"

He chuckled. "Not quite. The Thisavros family is in charge of trade, we help keep the kingdom rich, and so does the Augustyne family, so we visit each other often. Once you get older, you'll be coming here more often,"

The two then walked through the entrance, finding a man who was there to greet them. "Allen, there you are!"

The men gave each other a brief embrace. "How have you been, Charlie?" Allen greeted back, motioning to the girl. "This is my daughter, Alice,"

"Hello," she waved politely.

"What manners. It's nice to meet you, Alice," Charlie greeted her as well. "Why don't you go play while your dad and I talk? Our courtyard is that way,"

"Okay," she embraced her father one last time before heading in the direction she pointed in.

"We had better head in quick, Allen, we're not the only ones in the meeting," she could overhear Charlie saying.

"Who else will be there?" her father asked.

"A guest from the Silva House,"

Despite hearing a bit of what they were saying, the girl paid them little mind, at least reaching a spot that looked similar to hers back home. She may have been alone, but she found ways to entertain herself for a whole half hour, soon sitting on the grass.

"That was fun. I wonder what I'll do next?" she asked herself, but just as she did, a butterfly flew in front of her, with wings that glowed a rainbow color.

Alice couldn't believe it. "Glowmacus, is that you? Or just another butterfly that looks like you?"

She didn't have time to ponder as the insect began flying away, the light reflecting in the girl's eyes once more. "Hey, wait for me!" she gave chase, hoping to succeed this time, ignoring everything around her again.

But this time was worse…because she didn't realize she had left the estate and began chasing it into the dense forest.

"Please slow down! I won't hurt you! I just wanna look at you!" she exclaimed, running as fast as her little legs would take her, her brain becoming slightly more cautious than before as she weaved around a tree, paying it no mind as she kept going.

"Alright, you leave me no choice!" she extended a hand, shooting a weak blast of wind, but it missed.

"C'mon, just a few more times!" she fired three more blasts, each of them failing, but the fourth one was the charm as it hit, the butterfly slowing down.

"Yes!" she congratulated herself, finally catching up as she cupped it in her hands, admiring the pretty glow.

"Sorry I had to hurt a little, but you were making it hard. Now, let's go back and show you to my daddy-," she turned around, but that's when her eyes widened, finally realizing where she was, no longer in the Augustyne estate, but somewhere in the forest.

"How did I get here?" she wondered aloud, beginning to panic. She looked around in every direction, but each path looked the same.

"S-Somebody help me! Please!" she screamed as loud as she could, involuntarily releasing the butterfly. "Please, is somebody here?!" she screamed again, but heard no voice answer.

How long was she running for? And how deep was she in the forest? These were questions she didn't have a response to, and it scared her. Tears began to well up in her eyes, but she stopped herself at the last second.

"No, don't cry, you're a big girl, you just have to find your way back, somehow," Alice tried to reassure herself as she wandered the woodlands, searching for anything that could get her on the right track.

However, while her body began to wander, her mind did the same. "I hope there aren't scary animals out here, o-or ones that like to eat people," her fear began to grow so much that she didn't notice the elevated root in her way, tripping over it and falling into a small pool of mud.

"Oh no!" she yelped, rising back up in an instant, seeing that her white dress had become stained. "Daddy's not going to be happy about that,"

She did her best to wipe off as much mud as she could before something on the ground caught her eye: it was a big stick, a bit over two feet long. The future wind mage picked it up and inspected it, noticing that one side was sharpened.

"Cool, did someone make this?" she held it, flailing it around randomly, her worries temporarily vanishing. "I'm the queen of the forest!"

Her moment of joy was interrupted as a growl could be heard in the distance, putting her on edge as she yelped and hid behind a tree, peering out to get a better idea of where it was coming from. Over time, the growling became louder, and in a few minutes, the creature that made it was in Alice's field of vision.

However, her eyes widened greatly as she noticed that the beast in question wasn't just a beast, it was undeniable…it was a magic beast. The animal looked like something akin to a tiger, and its size wasn't anything ridiculous, but it wasn't small by any means. The little girl held her breath as the beast walked by the tree she was hiding, doing her very best to not make a sound.

At last, she was now watching the animal's back. Slowly, she began backing up, hoping to make as much distance between them as possible, and for now, it was working.

But then…she stepped on a branch.

Her heart sank as the tiger-like creature's head darted back, spotting her, its eyes peering into her frightened ones as it turned its whole body around. Alice gripped the sharpened stick, but the grip was weak, her hands were shaking, and her palms were sweating.

"S-Stay back," she tried to sound powerful, but it just came out as a squeal. The magic beast then took a step forward, and then another, while the girl was stepping back. "G-Go away, please,"

It didn't listen, only getting closer. "J-Just go, I'm not going to hurt you," it took another step.

The girl was close to breaking down, she couldn't stay still. "AHHHH!" she yelled as loud as she could as she turned and ran, the beast chasing.

"Somebody help me!" she kept screaming those words as she looked over her shoulder, seeing the creature closing in, leaping up to pounce on her.

She then stopped and backed up, evading it by the skin of her teeth as she backed up further, but found a tree stopping her from continuing. The tiger-like creature stood still, slowly approaching her, all the while, she shook her head, telling it to go away.

Just then, it jumped again, determined to finish her off and have a snack, but that's when Alice raised up the stick, closing her eyes. Soon enough, the sound of whimpering was heard, she opened her eyes to see that her makeshift spear had impaled a spot close to its neck.

The girl slowly neared the beast, pulling the stick out, noticing that while the beast was alive, it was moving a lot less. Alice couldn't feel relief just yet, because right now, she was filled with anger, anger she needed to vent, so she searched her mind for the right word to say, and soon, she found it.

"Fucking shit!" she swore for the first time as she drove the spear into the beast's body, removing it to do it again. "You no good fucking shit! Why did you do all of this?! I told you to go away! Why didn't you leave me alone?! Why did you chase me?! Why didn't you listen?!" she kept stabbing and stabbing, stopping once she released all her rage.

She then looked down at her hands, finally noticing they were wet with something, and upon inspecting it, she saw that it was the creature's blood. Her eyes shifted to the beast, widening at the sight of its mutilated corpse at her hands.

Alice shook her head and backed up. "No, I…I didn't mean to," she muttered before something suddenly built up in her mouth, the girl turning away as she puked on the forest floor, dropping to her knees.

She couldn't take it anymore, she couldn't hold it back. Tears welled up in her eyes and she began to cry, crying for multiple minutes. "Somebody, please, I wanna go home!"

Eventually, her tears dried themselves as she wiped her bloody hands on her dress, staining it further, but she paid it no mind as she grabbed her stick and walked around.

Hours passed and there was no sign of progress for her, and it didn't take her long to notice the sun was already setting. "I need to get somewhere safe," she looked up at the tall trees, noticing one with thick branches. "Perfect," she began climbing it. By the time night fell five minutes later, she made it up, placing her spear in a hole as she got as comfortable as she could on the branch.

"It's not my bed, but it'll have to do," she said as she yawned, closing her eyes and drifting off to sleep.

In her mind, she dreamt, but her dream was more akin to a nightmare. It began with the safe haven of her home, but then, second by second, everything grew dimmer and dimmer, continuing until it was pitch black, that black panning out to become the eye of the tiger-like creature. Or rather, what was left of it, as an image of its corpse was clear in her head.

"AHHH!" she woke up abruptly, the movement, making her slip as she was now dangling on the branch, hanging for dear life.

"Mommy! Daddy!" she instinctively called out, looking down, unable to see the ground in the darkness, but she could hear sounds beneath, and the thought of what it could be frightened her. Using all her strength, she managed to pull herself back up.

"Okay, you can't let that happen again. You can't go to sleep, you have to stay awake. You have to stay awake,"

.

.

.

.

.

"You…have…to stay awake,"

She kept repeating those words over and over again as the sun finally began to rise. There were bags under the girl's eyes, she had never missed a night of sleep before, but there was a first time for everything, and this was hers.

Gazing down below to make sure everything was safe, she climbed back down, but as she reached the base of the tree, her stomach began to growl. "That's right, I hardly ate, I need to find some food and water,"

Just then, she heard footsteps, her whole body becoming alert, but her hands were still shaking, her mind conjuring up an image of the tiger, but she pushed the thought away. The sound was coming from behind a tree, so she slowly closed in on it, inching closer and closer.

"I've got you now!" she jumped behind it, expecting to see something big, but instead, she saw something small. It was a young magic beast, akin to a moose if the antlers on its head said anything. The beast opened its mouth, letting out a cute growl.

"Aw, you're adorable!" Alice dropped her guard completely as she also dropped her weapon, picking up the creature, her eyes falling on its testicles. "And you're a boy. Are you lost too, little guy?" she set him down. "Well, I wish you luck in finding your parents, bye,"

She picked up the spear and began walking north, but that's when something began to nibble on her dress, the culprit being the moose kid. She knelt down. "Do you want to stay with me?" she asked, the young magic beast licking her. "I'll take that as a yes. If you're going to be with me, you need a name. Hm, let's see…what about…Tyrmore?" she got another lick. "I guess you like the name,"

She then stood up, watching as Tyrmore jumped up and down, but stopped upon hearing the girl's stomach growl. He then started running south. "Hey, wait up!" she ran after him, five minutes passing before her ears could begin to register a sound.

Once they stopped, the girl's eyes beheld a stream, her eyes glistening at the sight of running water. "I'm so thirsty," she said as she got close, but then she reeled in disgust, seeing that the water was very visibly dirty.

"Aw man," she was bummed out, but then she noticed Tyrmore digging a hole near the stream.

"Whatcha doing?" she walked up to him, her eyes widening as she saw that water was beginning to come in through the hole, but it was much cleaner. "Good thinking, boy," she then watched as he approached a tree, the girl looking up to see it was full of fruit.

"Are you going to climb it?" she asked, but she got her answer as he rammed into it multiple times, a few fruits falling down as he bit into one of them. Alice's stomach began to growl louder, so she went over and picked one up, sinking her teeth into it. The first thing her mouth registered was how soft it was, like a mango, but it was very juicy, and very sweet.

"Hm, that's really good," she expressed with satisfaction as she sat down, resting her back against the tree. "Now we just have to wait for the water to fill up,"

She stared at the hole intently, but with a night passing without sleep, she could feel her eyelids getting heavy, and slowly, they shut.

.

"Alice,"

.

.

"Alice,"

.

.

"ALICE!"

Her eyes shot open, scanning her surroundings, her hands already gripping her spear. "What was that? How long was I asleep for?" she checked the hole and saw that its progress had barely increased from the last time she checked. "I must've been out for just a few seconds,"

She then felt Tyrmore licking her hand. "I'm okay," she scratched behind his ears. The two waited for the water to fill up, and when it did, they helped themselves, the future wind mage sighing in relief.

The rest of the day passed by much better than the last. Thanks to Tyrmore, Alice had been able to acquire a steady source of sustenance, but more than that, he helped her avoid encounters with other magic beasts.

Night had fallen for the second time in the forest, and Alice was up in her tree, but this time, her four-legged friend was up there with her. "Y'know something, I really don't like being here, not at all, but I'm glad I was at least able to meet you," she said, massaging him.

And with that, she stared up at the sky again, telling herself to not sleep, but it was even harder this time as she found herself dozing off for minutes at a time. Eventually, the sun came up while she was waking up from another one of these bursts.

"Good morning, Tyrmore," she greeted him, but to her surprise, he wasn't there. "Tyrmore?" she climbed down, looking around, but that when she heard a loud roar in the distance.

Her heart sank as she feared the worst. "Oh no," she ran in the direction it was coming from, arriving ten minutes later, and her fears came to life as she saw her friend up against the largest magic beast she'd ever seen, easily dwarfing the tiger in size.

"That thing is huge," she muttered, she wondered why the smaller beast was trying to go up against, but then she noticed something beside the boar-like creature: devoured corpses, specifically two of them, and they bore a strange resemblance to Tyrmore.

"So that's how it is, huh? Hey!" she called out, getting the attention of both, the smaller beast rushing to her side while growling.

"That brute ate your parents, didn't he? Don't worry, we'll make him pay!" they both charged at him, the girl going first as she went for a direct attack, but the boar was undaunted, merely swatting her away with his hooves.

However, for her young body, getting swatted away hurt like hell as she hit a tree, but she got back up. "I'm not done yet, you fucking shit!" she raised her spear, but then a sharp pain went through her arm. She checked it and saw that the boar's hoof had cut her wrist, but she ignored it and went back into action.

Tyrmore jumped up and sunk his teeth into the beast's ear, but it didn't seem to be doing much of anything based on the fact that it didn't react. Alice was up next, jumping on his back and trying to stab him in the back, but his skin was tough.

"C'mon, there has to be a weak spot!" but there wasn't one they could find fast enough as they were shaken off and sent flying. The boar then set its sights on the girl first while she was still down, rushing at her, attempting to impale her with its tusks.

But before it could, Tyrmore ran in…and took the hit for her.

"NOOO!" Alice quickly pulled his body out of the bloody tusk before extending both hands, shooting all the wind she could, blowing him back.

She now turned to her companion, a huge hole in his chest. "Tyrmore, please don't leave, I don't want to keep being here by myself," she cried, tears falling onto the young beast's chest as licked her hand one last time before succumbing to his wound.

Alice turned around, her eyes full of fury. "YOU WILL FUCKING PAY!" she ran as fast as she could, jumping on his back again. If she couldn't find a weak spot, she'd make one; raising her spear up, she drove it into the boar's left eye, the creature wailing in pain as she went for the other eye.

The boar was now flailing like crazy, knocking the girl off in its blind frenzy, inadvertently crushing her right arm and part of her leg. "AHHHH!" she screamed just as loud as the boar ran off into the distance.

Alice fought the pain the best she could, and it wasn't much, it all felt numb, and that made sense, the minute she encountered the tiger two days prior, her body had nigh consistently been on adrenaline. She weakly walked over to Tyrmore's remains, kneeling down and giving him a kiss on the forehead before standing up and limping away.

"I'm all on my own again," she said to herself tiredly as she stumbled across the forest, dripping sweat stinging her eyes, tiny drops of blood leaking from her wounds, fatigue still gnawing at her without end. "But I can't stop, I have to keep going, I have to…survive, I have…to win, that's the only way I'll go back home,"

"Alice! Alice! Alice!"

"There is it again, fake voices calling out to me, I wish it would stop, it's annoying," she mumbled.

But just then, a figure appeared in the distance, it wasn't an animal though, it…it was a human, a woman, donning some kind of gray armor.

In her current state, Alice wasn't sure if the person coming her way was real or a figment of her imagination, all she knew is that she couldn't stand anymore, dropping to her knees and fainting.

"Her eyes are opening, I think she's waking up!" her ears registered an unfamiliar voice as her eyes did indeed open, the girl now finding herself on her bed, in her room.

"Where am I? What happened?" she questioned groggily, her eyes shifting to her parents, and then to another man.

"Thank you so much, Owen," Allen said to the man.

The water mage nodded. "Glad to have been of service,"

Alice sat up on her bed, and was immediately embraced by her mother and father. "Don't you ever worry us like that again!" her mother cried.

"I'm so sorry! It was my responsibility to make sure you didn't leave! You're still just a kid, I should've known better!" her father teared up too.

"So, it wasn't a dream?" Alice realized, the events of those days coming back to her at once as she cried as well. "I was so scared! I thought I was going to die! I'm sorry, everything's my fault! I was chasing Glowmacus, and I got distracted!"

Owen stayed silent while the Thisavros family relieved their grief before eventually calming down. He then spoke up. "You were asleep for two days, I'm guessing you were sleep-deprived during your time in the forest. Luckily, you haven't suffered from any form of malnourishment, but you do have an injured leg and a broken arm, but they'll heal in time,"

Alice noticed the casts on her. "Wait, before I passed out, I remember seeing a woman in armor,"

"You must mean Acier," Allen clarified. "She was at my meeting, and when she heard what happened, she volunteered to help with the search,"

"Is she still here?"

"She's in the courtyard," her mother replied. "She didn't want to leave until she knew you were fine,"

The little girl then carefully got out of her bed and walked to the place where she played just days ago. Once she arrived, she met with an amazing sight, the Silva matriarch was currently in her armor, flying around, moving beautifully into the air before landing.

As she did so, butterflies began flying around. "Wow, you're all so pretty,"

"I think so too," the future wind mage said suddenly, Acier jumping a bit as she turned.

"Oh, you startled me-...Alice?" that was all she said before she came up and embraced her too. "I'm so glad to see you're okay? How are you feeling, dear?"

"Fine enough, I suppose, I heard you were the one that found me. Thank you,"

"There's no need to thank me. As a mother, I couldn't imagine one of my kids being in your situation, the second I heard about it, I was on board to help,"

"You have kids?"

"I do, three youngsters, but my husband and I are thinking about having a fourth," she replied.

"I see," she said, now paying attention to what she wore. "What's this?"

"Oh, my spell? This is what I call Valkyrie Armor,"

"Cool, it looks so powerful, like you can win any battle with it,"

"Well, I wouldn't say any battle, but I have won a lot, that's why they call me the Battlefield Dancer,"

"Really? Do you think I could be that strong one day?"

"Of course, if you're willing to work for it," she answered. "Now that you're awake, I had better get going. Be safe, Alice!" Acier bid her farewell before flying away.

All the while, the little girl looked at her, imagining herself in the royal's shoes, gliding through the sky, nigh unbeatable.

"The Battlefield Dancer,"

[End Flashback]

"That's right, I was saved twice that day, and I swore to myself that I'd be stronger, strong enough to win!" Alice summoned a burst of wind, blowing away the debris.

"What do you know? She's not dead after all," Den said. "But there's no way you aren't running low on mana," he walked over and leaned against the behemoth's legs. "It appears that beasts aren't just purer and more loyal than you humans, they're far stronger too,"

The magic knight said nothing just yet, but then she spoke. "You're right, beasts are pure, and they are loyal, but humans can be too. We can help each other, save each other, and lift each other up. To call all humans bad is to put disrespect on the ones who are good, and I will not allow that!"

Just then, her grimoire opened up, flipping to a blank page before inscribing words onto it, however, when Alice saw the name, a tear fell from her eye. "Well I'll be damned," was all she said before casting her new spell.

"Wind Creation Magic: Tyrmore, the Ever-Faithful Companion!"

At her call, a sphere of wind appeared behind her, growing in size before the beast from her past emerged, fully grown and towering over his caster, standing at fifteen feet. Alice gave a rare innocent smile as the beast licked her.

"I missed you too, boy, but we can play later, now is when we fight!" she pointed at the behemoth, Tyrmore charging at him, piercing his side with his antlers, the opposing creature crying out in pain for the first time.

"The power of that spell is amazing. I must have it by my side, Arachnos!"

The spider attempted to use its power, but before its silk could touch Tyrmore, Alice cut it apart with her sword. "I won't allow you fuckwads to interfere with my boy. Take him down!"

The massive wind beast removed his antler from the behemoth before pouncing on him, trampling with ease as Den's spell ceased to exist.

"No way!" the elf gasped.

"That's not it! Roar!" Alice commanded as Tyrmore obeyed, roaring loudly, calling forth a tremendous blast of wind that lifted Den off his feet and launched him and Arachnos into a nearby wall with incredible force, destroying the last beast and knocking the possessed beast mage out cold.

"I win," the fight was over. The wind mage detransformed, calming down as she reverted back to normal, her new spell coming up to her. "Tyrmore! It's so good to see you again! Well, I know it's not the same you, but I'm still happy," she then mounted him. "C'mon, let's go find Ryu. This way,"

The beast nodded as he jumped over buildings, traveling a mile in just a matter of seconds, soon, the wind mage could spot some smoke in the distance. "Over there," she pointed, but gasped at the sight of the dragon mage standing idly by, his transformation undone.

"Ryusei!"

He turned, waving to her. "Alice! Woah, nice spell. Is it new?"

"It is. But what happened here?" she asked, gazing upon the defeated elves who were all knocked out cold. "Did you take down ten by yourself?"

"Yeah, but they weren't very tough…Erebus was able to make quick work of them," he told a half-truth.

"Wow, that's awesome. Should we head back to your place? They might need help with repairs,"

"Good idea. Let's go," he mounted the beast behind her and they took off.

"We can't win, they're too strong!"

Perspective shifted one last time, to a building known as the Magic Parliament. At the moment, ten capital mages were engaging with two elf knights, and if the prior statement said anything, it was a losing battle.

"You humans can't stop us. Tonight will spell the end for you kind!" one of them exclaimed, launching a spell that took two capital mages down.

The other eight grouped up. "This isn't good, if this keeps up, we won't last another minute,"

"I know, but we have to keep trying. The Magic Parliament acts as a symbol of justice in the Clover Kingdom, we can't let it fall,"

The others begrudgingly nodded as they launched attack spells in unison, but they were deflected with ease as the possessed combatants brandished elemental weapons.

"Let's finish them quickly," one said.

"I'm right behind you," the other agreed.

But then, when all hope seemed lost, the building's door opened, and a lone man walked out, dressed in a long green robe with a white stole over it, his black hair combed back, and in his left hand, he held a scale.

One of the capital mages gasped. "Lord Damnatio, you mustn't be out here, it's not safe!"

"Nonsense. If it's for the sake of justice, we all must do our part. Scale Magic: Scale Regulate!"

He pushed a finger down on one of the scales, the enemy constructs shrinking in size. "I've temporarily weakened them, attack!"

The others wasted no time in obeying, and just like that, they were victorious. "Thank you for your aid, Lord Damnatio!"

"It's quite alright," he said nothing further to them as he walked back inside. "Though I am curious about something," he then stopped, narrowing his eyes seriously.

"Who is responsible for this?"