Creation began on 01-29-19
Creation ended on 04-10-19
Neon Genesis Evangelion
Grimoire of Evangelion: Wounded Sight
SLAM! Asta was knocked back against a tree by Vetto, who was enveloped in an orange aura that resembled a large bear.
"Fire Spirit Magic," he heard Fana's voice as she prepared to attack again, unhindered in the least by Charmy's Cotton Magic or Vanessa's Thread Magic, "Salamander's Breath."
The fire spirit on her shoulder unleashed another stream of fire at the Black Bulls.
"Spatial Time Magic: Magnified Return!" Shinji yelled as he appeared in front of Asta, opening another portal that absorbed the flames. "Can you still fight, Asta?"
"I'm not done yet!" Asta responded.
"Then let's tag team this beast man!"
Asta then summoned his Demon-Dweller Sword and charged towards Vetto with Shinji.
Slash! Both boys swung their swords at the man-beast and left several minute cuts across his chest and arms.
"Aaaaurgh!" Vetto roared, his body aglow like a person set ablaze. "Beast Magic: Leo's Wrath!"
Using his claws, Vetto slashed at the air in between the three of them and sent energy slashes at them, sending the two Black Bulls flying sideways to the ground.
"Ah, man!" Magna yelled, and threw a fireball at Vetto, who was unaffected. "Uh-oh."
"Was that supposed to hurt me?" He questioned, approaching him.
"Hey, dog face!" He turned back and saw Shinji getting back up, a trail of blood dripping from the side of his mouth and down his neck. "Right now, his fireballs are only an appetizer. You're about to get the main course!"
Suddenly, the ground around Vetto started to darken as something under him began to manifest.
"What is this?" He demanded, but didn't think to get clear.
BLAST! He was suddenly bathed in red-hot flames that shot up into the air above them all.
"How does it feel to be attacked by magic that belongs to one of your own?" Shinji asked him; the properties of his Magnified Return spell allowed him to absorb enemy spells and send them back, several times stronger than they were when used the first time.
Fana recognized her own spell being used against Vetto, but it was never like this before. It was stronger than what she was already capable, meaning this Ikari boy was able to take spells and amplify them to degrees where only those of a high level of magic would be capable of. Not only was he strong right now, but could become stronger as time passes, and she feared that he would become strong enough to not only to be an actual threat to Licht, but would become akin to a god. This meant they had to get rid of him now more than ever.
As the fire spell dissipated, Vetto was still standing, but his body was completely burnt beyond recognition. Turning to face Fana, he looked as though she had been the one to attack him, even though it was actually Shinji's doing.
"You're Vetto of the Despair, huh?" Shinji questioned as he walked over to the burnt man-beast. "You think you know all about despair? You think you're the only one that will ever understand it? You know, you almost had me feeling it when you hit Asta and I with that last attack, and we don't even know you. I hope you'll forgive me when I say it's nothing personal, because it's really nothing personal towards you or your friends or allies… But when you let despair get the better of you, it leaves you feeling exactly as I'm sure you're feeling right now. Lost and full of pain. Oh, full of pain."
Then, before Vetto could do anything to indicate that he was still capable, Shinji used a Sealing Magic spell to trap him inside a block of ice. The ice would cool him down and the cold temperature would force him to become hypothermic. This process also forced Vetto's grimoire to cease any magical action and fall to the ground.
"Vetto!" Rhya shouted, seeing this happen and watched as Shinji picked up his grimoire, feeling a sense of dread in that Vetto, who was stronger than he himself was, was quickly dispatched by a newbie from the House of Ikari. "You're going to pay for what you did to him, boy!"
He charged towards Shinji, intending to copy the magic of his grimoire and lay waste to him as payback, but was then tripped over by something.
"Aurgh, what?!" He demanded, looking at what tripped him, seeing thread. "Thread?!"
"You keep your hands away from my nephew, sir," he heard Suki tell him, just as her Grizzly Mayhem spell knocked aside several Midnight Sun members that tried to get the better of her and Venessa. "I don't wanna boast when I say this, but we have got skills you have never seen."
"Is that right?" He asked her as he got up, just to fire a magic bullet at them, only it was reduced so much in its potency that by the time it did hit Suki, it was like getting hit with a cotton ball. "How in the…"
Bash! He was struck in the back of his head by Grey, who had used her Transformation Magic to disguise herself as a member of the Midnight Sun, and quickly took his grimoire.
"Nice move, Ms. Grey," Suki praised the disguised girl.
"Thank you," she responded.
-x-
Yui had never seen this side of her brother before, but had to admit that it was impressive to see him with two magic spirits instead of one. Not only was he a powerful mage in that way, but was showing more of why he got to where he was in the family. It was no wonder their mother once stated that even if she had married Gendo, he wouldn't become a head of the family. There was no doubt that even now, nothing her husband did would've gotten him in her mother's good graces. And lately, she was starting to consider that nothing she did would get her in the good graces of certain people, either.
Tenshi, having befallen a creature of magic left from a trap spell, had secured the dungeon for the good of the Clover Kingdom. Now, all this treasure belonged to them.
"He's impressive," went Yuno, accompanied by his Wind Magic spirit.
"And he has two spirits," Sylph expressed. "Excalibur and Arachne. I've never heard of them,"
"Excalibur and Arachne," said Klaus in awe of their power working in tandem with Tenshi's. "I never thought that magic spirits of this sort existed."
Excalibur had aided Tenshi by giving him a bigger sword and Arachne tied her threads to the hilt and Tenshi's hands, allowing him to attack from a distance and control which way the sword was swung when used to attack or defend.
"Your brother's probably strong enough to go head-to-head with the vice-captain if he wanted to," Mimosa told Yui.
"Is that so?" She asked her.
-x-
Suki's Pacemaker Reduction spell was very effective against these members of the Midnight Sun, reducing their spells by so much that they were weak enough to be taken out by the Black Bulls. Going further, the threads she used were spread out all over the place outside the Bulls' hideout, and so thin, they were invisible to sight and the ability to sense mana.
And they only affect the magic of the enemy, not us, thought Noelle in realization; she had been wondering why, despite knowing for certain that she made contact several times with Suki's threads, her magic didn't falter each time she used it.
"If these threads are all over the place and weakening our forces," went Fana, angrier over the crippling losses plaguing the Midnight Sun, "then I shall burn away all that is to destroy you Ikaris. Fire Spirit Magic: Salamander's Fury."
The dragon on her shoulder unleashed another fireball, this one much bigger than the previous ones she had it unleash. It was as big as three-story building!
"Uh, Shinji, I don't supposed you can deal with that, can you?" Luck asked Shinji.
"I don't think so, but maybe she can," Shinji responded, pointing to Fana, just as a spatial rift opened in front of them, unleashing a fireball. "My Spatial Time Magic spell has expired."
An augmented Salamander's Breath attack against a Salamander's Fury attack; as both were Fire Spirit Magic spells associated with the same spirit, it was anyone's guess at how they'd react towards one another. It was possible that they would cancel each other out, but it was possible that the spell that was strongest would outdo the other.
Swoop! The augmented Salamander's Breath made impact with Salamander's Fury…and absorbed it into itself as it went up into the air…and exploded.
The ground shook as a wave of heat spread across the area.
"Whoa!" Charmy gasped as she fell onto her bottom.
When the shaking stopped, all the minions of the Midnight Sun were down, excluding Sally, Fana, Rhya and Vetto, whose ice prison melted, freeing him.
"You…you almost came close to killing me, boy!" Vetto roared, raising his burnt left arm up, and his grimoire, which Shinji had dropped in the rumbling, returned to him. "Beast Healing Magic: Viper's Molt!"
Then, bathed in orange mana, Vetto's burnt body…fell to the ground like a curtain or a sheet, revealing him in an uninjured, before he was scorched.
"You will learn despair," he threatened Shinji, "and your squad mates will be how you'll suffer from it!"
Shinji raised his sword up and glared at Vetto.
"I've already experienced despair twice in my life," he told the man-beast. "You're drowning in it and you want everyone else to drown with you. Your friend, the disloyal guy, how do you know if he's loyal enough to pull you out of your despair? And her, how do you know her hatred won't compel her to leave you? My solution to your despair…is let go of it before it consumes you beyond escape."
"Insignificant," Fana expressed, "unworthy, degenerative. You must die above all others, Ikari."
"Not while I'm around," went the Guardian of the Void to them, dragging a minion of the Midnight Sun by their neck. "Your followers have fallen. You may have more strength to spare, but you are outnumbered, and you know not what we're truly capable of. Persist, and your downfall may be the result of your pride, your arrogance to deal in death and judgment to those you know nothing of. But those that know they're better off running away from a fight they may surely lose…will live to fight another day. Accept this defeat…and leave while you're still able to do so."
"And why is that what we should do?" Vetto asked him. "Is it so that we will understand how fortunate we were to escape?"
"No," Guardian explained, "so that you can tell your comrades that didn't show up here how lucky they were not to have been laid waste to."
Fana was about to speak when Rhya opened his grimoire and activated a spell, summoning a dark circle under Vetto, himself, Fana and Sally, and they fell into it.
"We'll meet again, Ikari," he warned them, escaping while they still could, leaving the twenty or so Midnight Sun members behind.
"Ugh," the guy Guardian was dragging groaned, and was tossed among his comrades.
"This…was completely upsetting," Suki expressed.
"Your Guardian of the Void was most persuasive, Shinji," went Gauche, holding onto his right side as one of his ribs were likely broken. "And your spells were most helpful."
"Helpful, yes, but also exhausting," Shinji confessed, falling to his right knee in front of Asta. "Let's tie these guys up and send them off to the capital or somewhere in the Common Realm."
As they were restraining the defeated minions, Yami took extra notice of Shinji and Suki, and suspected that the younger member of House Ikari was still testing his limits and had yet to push past them because the Third Eye had taken the suggestion of his Anti Magic creature and fled before the fight could escalate further.
"…When Licht comes after you, you will be sorry you lived to see another day," of the minions warned them.
Smack! Luck knocked him out.
"When we meet him," the boy told them, "I hope he's as strong as those three were."
-x-
"What happened?" Licht asked Sally as she and the Third Eye returned to him.
Rhya knelt before him and uttered, "The Ikari boy with the Black Bulls…may be a little more powerful than we realize, and this might've been him on a bad day. This creature he had with him was strong, too. He was able to injure Vetto using Fana's magic and turning it on him. It told us to leave while we were still able to. I took us away before the battle could escalate further. I apologize and take full responsibility for this failure."
Licht turned away and looked at a picture of Shinji, sighing at how it was going to be more challenging to deal with him over the eldest daughter of House Ikari and the Anti Magic peasant of the Black Bulls.
"Tell me," he spoke, "what was this creature capable of that was with the Black Bulls?"
"It was also capable of using Anti Magic," answered Sally to him. "Several spells were used against it, but none of them seemed to harm it. I think the Ikari boy, Shinji, called it the Guardian of the Void."
Licht's left eyebrow raised up as he recalled an old story about a strange creature that went by that designation. But the last time anyone had ever seen such a creature was too long ago. Any accurate information revolving around the magical creature would've been lost alongside the majority of the House of Ikari. All he really knew was that it gave him a reason to ponder the fate of his group's goal if the boy was allowed to persist in the magical arts more than the rest of his family…and may be more of a threat than the Anti Magic boy with the Black Clover Grimoire in his possession.
"Another day," he told them. "This Ikari isn't strong enough to be a threat just yet…but is getting there. I look forward to meeting him soon."
When he said that, the Third Eye knew that meant only one thing: Licht aimed to face the boy himself and see how powerful he would be against him. This only meant that the leader of the Eye of the Midnight Sun saw within someone like this Shinji Ikari something worth his time. And rectifying the disgrace they were dealt.
-x-
Only twenty members of the Midnight Sun were rounded up, but quite a blow to the group and an advantage to the Clover Kingdom. Even if the majority were just new recruits, it was still good, as it meant potential advancement for the Black Bull squad; more stars, less negative stars, rank increase, even more recognition.
"…Hard to believe that nobody in our squad knows Healing Magic," Shinji heard Suki say to him, having healed him like she had done with the others that were injured.
"Not many mages are versed in the art," he responded. "Not enough experience to perform it."
"What about you? Do you have a Healing Magic spell in your grimoire?"
As they were at the Royal Capital getting the minions handed over, everyone within the Black Bulls were off doing their own thing until Yami summoned them. This left the aunt and nephew alone to wander the neighborhood.
"There's one spell I've found that does healing…but it's not…well, it's not user-friendly," Shinji revealed to his aunt.
"What do you mean?" She asked him.
"It heals people, but it doesn't heal the one using it, therefore not user-friendly."
"That's a pretty one-sided Healing Magic spell."
"It's probably meant as a last resort spell, only to be used during times of desperation."
"Like ensuring that your squad survives or recovers enough to deal with something or someone once they're vulnerable enough to take out?"
"Yeah, something of that sort, Shinji."
"Shinji and Suki?" They heard someone call out to them from behind, and turned to see Tenshi, who seemed happy to see them. "Wow, look at you two in your robes. They look good on you."
"Likewise with you in your robes, big brother," Suki told her brother. "What are you doing here in the Royal Capital, anyway?"
"I'm just reporting in my part in the claiming of a new dungeon and its treasures for the kingdom by the Golden Dawn. What about you two?"
"We're just…sort of the same thing," Shinji stated; he didn't want to boast about anything that happened or let anyone he didn't trust with knowing such sensitive information.
Tenshi seemed to understand that Shinji wasn't up for disclosing anything after getting the impression that his mother was nearby.
"After your mother gave her report to the captain of our squad, she up and left through a portal, saying she was off to do research," he told his nephew. "I don't think she's looking to make any friends within the Golden Dawn any time soon."
"Well, what about you, Tenshi?" Suki asked. "Have you made any friends?"
"At least two," he answered her. "They're nobles, though, so I can't exactly…relate to them."
"But…you're a noble, as well, right?" Shinji asked him.
"I am, but I never felt like I could belong with other nobles of a…particular mindset revolving around the sense of pride and social status."
"What kind of social status?"
"People that believe those of low birth should be disregarded and all Magic Knights should be of the nobility instead of mixed between themselves and commoners. It's a…wounded sight, in a way. They're in a rut, unwilling to see that the old ways are almost done."
"They still must be happy to have you in their squad, though."
"Two of them are, but the rest are… I don't really know."
"Who are they?"
"Mimosa Vermillion and Klaus Lunettes."
"They don't seem bad."
"If anything, they're nobles accepting of people from lesser beginnings, people that had to work to get where they are."
"Hey, Tenshi," Shinji decided to speak of something he didn't want to be something of a fluke regarding himself, "did you know about my rank after I was accepted into the Magic Knights?"
"Yeah," he answered him. "Everybody in my squad did. Didn't you?"
"I didn't know about it until earlier today…when we were attacked by a small number of the Eye of the Midnight Sun. One of its members, a girl who looked like a girl I saw at NERV a little, said Suki, Asta and I were a threat to them all, and these three people they called the Third Eye, named after the reverse of the Clover Kingdom's three virtues, seemed to be the strongest of the mages that were present."
"But we were able to repel them," Suki added, "and Shinji's Guardian of the Void made them leave before things got worse."
"But what I'm trying to ask is…was my rank a fluke?"
"It wasn't a fluke, Shinji," Tenshi told him. "You earned that rank. All you did was talk to a former Magic Knight and defeated him with common sense and reasoning. How many Magic Knights do you think were able to do what you did? Most of them are even wondering if you're aiming for the status of Wizard King, am ambition shared by many."
Shinji nodded in the negative; no matter how many times it was suggested or suspected, he didn't want to be the Wizard King, only a good mage like everyone else in House Ikari.
"Beneath the Wizard King, how many ranks are there within the Magic Knights?" He asked Tenshi, needing to know how far he could get in rank.
"Under the rank and title of Wizard King, there is Grand Magic Knight, Senior Magic Knight, Intermediate Magic Knight, and Junior Magic Knight. Going further, those four ranks are divided into five ranks, the first being the highest and the fifth being the lowest. You have to have achieved a certain measure of success, represented by the number of stars you've acquired for your squad, before you can be promoted to a higher ranking by the current Wizard King. The more stars you obtain for your squad by performing well in missions, the greater your chances are in getting a higher ranking. New history in our family-wise, Shinji, you're overwhelming by being the first of us to get a high rank when you got accepted. You outdid your mother, Suki and I, and we're still Fifth Class Junior Knights, but I aim to increase my ranking through hard work as time goes on."
"Wow, Shinji, you did better than the three of us," Suki praised him. "Work hard to get where you want to be."
Shinji smiled as he looked up at the sky. As happy as he was to receive praise from his aunt and uncle…he did wish for his mother to have praised him, too.
-x-
Standing before the royal library, Yui sighed as she felt her grimoire was…lacking in both spells and fortitude to her liking. Hearing that this place contained some information on how to improve one's magic, she decided to advance her knowledge in the magical arts in order to grow stronger. Being surrounded by the other members of the Golden Dawn was…not something she was into just yet. And there was something about the way that most of the members were all of nobility, including her big brother, while she was viewed as an intermediary like her son and this Yuno guy was a peasant that possessed a grimoire like her siblings that made her feel…inferior to them, despite her ability to perform various forms of magic.
I need to become stronger than they are, she thought as she walked into the building. I need to advance if I'm ever going to fulfill my ambition.
To be continued…
A/N: The title had some levels of meaning if you could see them. Let me know in reviews what you thought of it. Peace.