Grimoire of Evangelion

by Traitor of All Traitors

Five years before the rise of the first Wizard King, there existed a royal family of the most unlikely sort. A family of nobles that believed all were capable of greatness, no matter who they were. They were hunted down and driven away from the kingdom, forced to await the day when they could return. That day...is now. The noble House of Ikari...rises once more.

22. Shinji's First Mission

Creation began on 05-05-19

Creation ended on 07-03-19

Neon Genesis Evangelion

Grimoire of Evangelion: Shinji's First Mission

The sky was a dark shade of red, with purple clouds and blue lightning, and at the center of it all was Yui Ikari, dressed in a white lab coat with her grimoire unleashing an unprecedented degree of magic.

"Accept this, Shinji," she uttered to her son, who stood a good distance away from her with his Guardian of the Void, looking worse for wear, with his Black Bull robes barely hanging onto his exhausted shoulders as he held his sword. "I have."

"This will never be accepted, Mother!" He yelled at her, just as a bolt of lightning struck two feet away from him. "You lied to me!"

"I didn't lie to you."

"Yes, you did! You told me that you were going to give life here in the Clover Kingdom a chance! That you would see how people here live, that you wouldn't try to screw things up! But you're trying to screw things up! You will never change! You need the whole world to change in order to suit your liking!"

"This is for the future, Shinji."

"Then it's a bad future…and an unwanted one, too. I don't want your bright future any more than our family does. It's poisonous…and you're spreading it across the kingdom as fast as you can until it can spread further across the world, leaving no soul untouched. I'd rather give up my life than to live in your so-called bright future, Mother!"

Those words really hit close to home for Yui to hear from her own son. She blamed her mother and siblings; they turned Shinji away from the fact that this was necessary and couldn't be averted. But she still needed to show him that everything that was happening had to happen because there was no other choice.

"Destroy his Guardian, Eva," she uttered, and from behind her, a large, armored humanoid charged towards Shinji and Guardian.

"No!" Shinji yelled again as Guardian, slightly larger and covered in grievous injuries ranging from the lacerations on his arms to the impalement holes in his sides and a bloody gash on his forehead, charged towards the abomination the keeper of the False Destiny Breaker grimoire was trying desperately to escape from in his past.

CLASH!

"Gaaahh!" Shinji gasped as he awoke from his slumber, finding himself on the floor of his room, drenched in sweat. What was that? Was I…was I fighting someone?

Getting up, he found his grimoire on the desk in front of his bed, opened to a page that had a spell he was suspecting had been active while he was asleep.

"'Time Dream Magic: Perceptions of Conflict'?" He read the spell that was likely what caused his dream that he couldn't recall. "But…why can't I remember what happened?"

He closed his grimoire and realized that his pajamas reeked due to his sweating whilst he was asleep and grabbed a cleaner pair of clothes and headed towards the men's bath.

"You do realize that your sweat got on my body, as well," he heard Guardian speak to him, causing him to forget that he was also in his room and had a tendency to self-summon from his grimoire whenever he chose, not just whenever Shinji desired him to, and was currently living in his room with him in the Black Bulls' hideout.

"Guardian," he responded, having forgotten that he was near, "I forget that you're quiet sometimes, so I didn't know you were there, here."

"No, your head was plagued by a dream you can't recall because it was attacking the part of your heart where you keep your doubts and dreads."

"What do I have to doubt or dread about?"

"That…is something only you can ascertain."

"Because…you can't see the future, is that right?"

"That's right. No perceiving the future, only the possibilities."

"Right…"

-x-

"…It looks like Shinji had a nightmare that he can't recall," said Fuyutsuki as he and everyone else in Gendo's office saw the page with photos depicting Shinji in some sort of struggle that was obscured by darkness.

"Whatever it was," went Misato, "it must've been something too terrible for him to comprehend, so he forgot about it the second he woke up."

Asuka turned to the next page in the album and saw a photo of Shinji with Guardian in the communal bath with Luck, who seemed to want to fight Shinji, who would rather relax than engage in conflict at the moment.

"That's why I have Guardian," they all felt like they heard Shinji's voice as they saw the photo on the right page depicting Luck getting held up by his neck by Guardian, who then sat him down on the other side of the large tub while Shinji continued to relax where he was sitting…until he sank under the water.

"Well, he seems to be taking it easy for the time being," Asuka said, and looked down at the bottom of the pages, seeing Rika Ikari in some village that clearly wasn't the one she was living in where her house resided. "I wonder what she's up to."

-x-

"I've been looking for you, Tenshi," Rika informed her son as she found him in Sosshi Village, helping some people build a new house.

Tenshi, assisting with carrying some stacks of wood for the men, looked over at his mother and placed the stack down.

"Nothing wrong with serving the people in non-magic ways," he expressed as he walked over to her. "Also, I had to confirm something that made no sense to me earlier."

"Oh, and what might that be?"

"I think I might be experiencing a temporary side-effect of our rejuvenation. My magic is heightened in a way that affects the majority of my spells."

"Elaborate, please."

"Well, I have tried a dozen of my earlier spells from before our exile, including the two required to summon Excalibur and Arachne, and as I did so, I was measuring the amount of magic necessary to maintain each spell, discovering that they were barely using a fraction of my magic. Last time, I would feel a few minutes of fatigue every time I used twelve spells or four spells a dozen times in a day or two, but now… I'm using ten different spells…and I'm not feeling the slightest bit of fatigue. Why is that?"

"I was wondering the same thing, Tenshi, and went to the Noble Realm to see a specialist in the field of mana manipulation. What I found out was unexpected."

"And what did you discover?"

"You, Suki and I have been gone for so long and forced to use our reserves of mana so sparingly when we were in Japan, one of the places in a foreign world where mana is so scarce that it's nonexistent that our bodies were forced to adapt in an economical way…and that's permanent. We can still use magic, but now most of our spells require less power than before. In a sense, we mutated magically during our exile."

"Did you make sure to get a second opinion, Mother?"

"I did, but it was the same as the first one…and third…and fourth: We use magic to a lesser degree…but still get the same results…if not better."

"Well, that's certainly going to help and hurt my chances of rising in the ranks of the Golden Dawn. One of the nobles in it has been looking down at me like something is wrong."

"Someone of the nobility that is egoistical, one that believes that the nobility are all that matter in the world?"

"More like self-righteous elitism when I choose to say it that way. I think the guy is a noble that cares so much for the old ways that he can't or won't settle for less than the best."

"And you, Tenshi? Are you anything like that?"

"If I can't move past my limits and get better at what I do, I will take the path of second best and settle for what is over what could've been."

"To achieve victory, you must sometimes admit defeat. So…have you been to any of the other villages since you became a member of the Golden Dawn?"

"Yes, but only six of them, including Sosshi here, in both the Common and Forsaken Realms. It turns out that some of the Magic Knights from other respectable squads have been…lacking in their duty of serving the people, so when I'm not on a mission for the Golden Dawn or training with Shinji or Suki, I visit these villages and assist in whatever is needed of me to do."

"Thank you for your selfless service, Tenshi."

"As a Magic Knight and as a man, I must be dutiful and able. To overlook the needs of the people overlooked by the world is to admit in silence that their lives are insignificant, which is far from the truth. I look at these people…and I see men and women that have the potential to rise above members of the nobility and royalty and change the world."

"You keep doing what you're doing, then, and show the people that they can change the world."

Tenshi bowed to his mother as she turned to leave, but then she noticed something from a distance that caught her attention.

"Have you been building benches, Tenshi?" She asked him.

"Yes, Mother," he answered her.

"Magically or non-magically, and don't lie to me."

"Non-magically; not everything has a magic solution. Not everything needs a magic solution."

Rika smiled at her son and bowed her head to him before leaving.

-x-

Luck, trapped in a Trap Magic spell designed to inhibit his Lightning Magic, looked down at Shinji as his opponent openly declared himself the victor of this training session.

"Water may conduct electricity, but it also grounds out electricity," Shinji told him. "Luck, you came closer than I can admit to winning the match, but your combat lust is quite high, almost insatiable. You could probably face a small army…and it'd be like an appetizer."

The trap spell ceased and Luck was freed, catching his breath.

"Again," he pleaded to Shinji. "Come on, let's go again. Maybe I'll defeat you this time."

"Not right now," went Yami as he stood beside the two, surprising Shinji because he didn't feel his presence near him. "The both of you and Suki, Asta, Noelle, Finral and Gordon have an assignment from the Wizard King to do, immediately. Reports of a sea monster attacking at random over at Raque, and you seven are going to deal with it."

"I have a mission to help with?" Shinji questioned, feeling elated; with the exception of training with the others in the Black Bulls and facing the Eye of the Midnight Sun, Shinji felt like he wasn't going to get a chance to prove his worth to his squad. "Finally, as I've been restless."

"You have been rather restless with your free time," said Suki to her nephew.

"Too restless," added Guardian, who saw the signs earlier than Suki had; there was only so many things one could do with their time while waiting for something to happen that would call upon them to do their duty as a member of a society that was charged with protecting the free people from harm, and practicing with magical spells was one of those things.

"Hold on, Raque?" Shinji suddenly realized something. "What sort of place is Raque?"

"Oh, you'll love it," went Finral. "It's in the Noble Region by the beach. Hot sun, pretty girls, it's like a dream come true."

"It's basically a resort area where people go to relax," Suki expressed. "I take it you've been to Raque before, Mr. Roulacase?"

-x-

"…Why in Gott's name does it look like that idiot is on vacation now?" Asuka demanded, seeing on a new page where it looked like Shinji and his aunt were with some of their squad mates on a pretty beach, staring out at the ocean.

"It's hard to tell if they're actually on vacation, Asuka," went Kaji to her. "They'd have to be sipping on cool drinks and sunbathing or trying to get a date with a girl that's probably on vacation there."

"Shinji doesn't seem to be on vacation there," Misato suspected, pointing to a photo at the bottom of the right page, seeing Shinji sitting on some rocks looking out at the ocean. "As he's in a place where magic exists, he's likely on an assignment or has to deal with something that requires his attention."

"Still, he gets to spend time at a nice place with a beach," Asuka retorted as she turned to the next page.

The next set of photographs displayed the beach at night, and in one photo was Shinji with his Guardian…accompanied by Suki.

-x-

"I think you've been out here for almost five hours, Shinji," the boy heard his aunt say to him as he turned to face her. "Sitting on these rocks for a long time is bad for your bottom, you know. You get bruises."

Suki, dressed in an oversized turquoise shirt with dark blue Crocs on her feet, had the look of a girl on vacation, but also had the look of someone that was ready for bed. This made Shinji shudder as he turned away.

"I'm not good with waiting for something to happen," he admitted to her. "To hear that a sea monster is attacking random people that go out into the water is making the town uneasy. If something doesn't change soon, the people will fear the water."

"You're taking this situation quite serious, Shinji."

"I don't want to be thought of as taking it easy when there is a sense of danger lurking. Only after the danger has passed, when the threat is dissolved and the peace has returned…will I feel that I can relax."

"Work before pleasure, a move that shows how those that do work don't have a one-track mind, how they don't focus solely on one thing over another. Well, while you, Guardian and Asta were out here looking at the water, I asked for Noelle and Gordon to help me gather information from the residents here that have seen this sea monster a few times. Some of their claims are inconsistent, but we were able to find comparisons to at least eight of them."

"And what comparisons were you able to find?"

"Four identical consistencies: The creature is big, serpentine, has a greenish-blue coloration, and causes a fog to form just before it makes its presence known."

"That's good intel, Suki. Thanks for sharing it with me."

"You were fortunate you weren't out in the town, though. There were three Magic Knights around from another squad that weren't exactly doing what we're trying to do here."

"Oh, is that right?"

"Yes, though, it seems that there's been a misinterpretation regarding the name of one the three. Noelle actually called this guy 'Ha-Hah', which made absolutely no sense, whatsoever…until the guy went and laughed about something he found funny. It turns out his actual name is Sekke Bronzazza of the Green Praying Mantis squad, and he's a complete jerk."

"Huh? That makes twenty-seven now."

"What?"

"You've mentioned twenty-six other people that you referred to as being jerks, with twenty-five of them being dead or close to it."

Suki went wide-eyed; she had forgotten about her list of people she believed to be jerks ever since she was restored of her youth. To know that Shinji kept track of her list was a surprise, too.

"Excluding the twenty-five, who is the twenty-sixth jerk?" She asked him, trying to make sure he remembered her list accurately.

"My father," he answered.

"Right… You do know I was old when I said that. Well, older."

"But it was the truth. My father is a jerk. One that you wished you had called him out on."

"At least he's the one jerk that didn't try to do what that Bronzazza jerk tried to do with me."

"What did he do? I mean, what did he try to do?"

"He tried to hit on me, and he didn't even know me."

Shinji suddenly felt his left hand ball into a fist, the joints in his fingers creaking, though his expression remained the same, albeit a little contorted with anger.

"Uh, Shinji," Suki went, "are you alright?"

"Um, yeah," he responded, putting his left hand behind himself.

"Momentary anger over what some stranger tried to achieve with you," said Guardian to her. "But you had zero interest in this member from the Green Praying Mantis, both as a Magic Knight and as a person."

"That's right. Anyway, I wasn't going to have anything to do with Mr. Bronzazza, so I pointed to my robe's insignia and made him see that I was with the Black Bulls and that he should get to stepping if he knew what was good for him. Unfortunately, he was hard at hearing, so I summoned Grizzly Mayhem to make him see that I wanted nothing to do with him. He practically soiled his pants before he ran off."

"Yeah, your Grizzly Mayhem is frightening enough to make some people mess their pants up when they see her claws."

"I've seen several men around here…and the craziest thing I know in my heart to be true…is that just like when I was in Japan, I'm not interested in any of them. How odd is that? Even when I'm back in the world I was born in, and I feel good, like I actually fit in around here, there's no guy here that I actually fancy."

"Maybe one day a guy will ensnare your heart, Suki. You're pretty, you have a great personality, you're a Magic Knight starting out, and… Well, if I could, I'd give an award for best auntie."

"Thank you, Shinji."

Guardian looked at Suki, seeing her possibilities for romance, and saw one such possibility that might've led her to a happy future in her rejuvenated existence.

"What?" She asked him.

"Nothing," he answered back; it wasn't anything he had to say to her right away. "Your physically-regressed age is an imperfect add-on to your wisdom. However, to obtain a future full of the potential for happiness, one must have weathered through one experience after another, including those that leave a sour taste in the soul."

"Where'd you learn that from?" Shinji asked him.

"Angelique Ikari, the tenth wielder of the grimoire you possess, also the fourth woman in the line. Some said she was a Healing Magic extremist when it came to injuries that threatened the very lives of those around her."

-x-

"…I don't think he's moved an inch from that spot since we showed up here," said Asta to Finral and Noelle when they noticed how Shinji hadn't left the rock formation after they arrived to Raque.

"Since this monster only appears by the water," went Noelle, "he's acting as a watchdog, on the lookout for it. He's…committed to doing what is required of him."

"If he gets to face it before I do, he better save some for me," Luck expressed.

"Shinji wants to prove his worth," said Gordon, a bit more coherent than before. "He's done nothing but train and train us when we spar with him."

Suddenly, they heard a female voice from a distance, singing a mysterious melody (A/N: It's the same melody that Kohano sings) that had them listening as the waves came and went on the beach in front of them.

"Who is that?" Noelle asked.

Then, they saw Suki get up from where she sat by Shinji and wave her arms around as she was suddenly walking onto a small formation of water that floated in the air.

"Suki can sing?" Asta questioned. "It's…beautiful."

"Yes, it is," Luck agreed.

"She's like an angel," Finral claimed, mesmerized by the girl's singing.

-x-

"…Do…any of you hear singing?" Misato asked everyone in Gendo's office.

"Yeah," answered Kaji. "It's beautiful…and haunting."

One of the photos depicting the Clover Kingdom showed Suki singing in front of Shinji, who appeared mesmerized or comforted by it. Another showed several of the people from the same squad as them also listening to her singing.

There is nothing special about her singing, thought Gendo as he looked at the photo showing Shinji, who looked like he was enjoying his life in the Clover Kingdom where there was no need for the Eva because there were no Angels around to fight.

I could never understand why, he heard his son's thoughts in his head, but every time Suki and Grandmother would sing this song, I always felt cheerful and safe around them. I could forget about my loneliness and pain after my parents… It just felt better around them.

"Even when he didn't spend a lot of time with them," went Misato, "he enjoyed their company to the point where he felt no pain."

"So, the song is an old tune," added Asuka. "Old…but one that idiot likes to hear."

Fuyutsuki, unsure if Shinji was even going to move past the point of where he stood with his parents if this song helped him to forget about their absence when he was little, turned to the next page, and saw a picture of Yui, who was looking outside the window of her room, looking like something heavy was on her mind.

"I wonder what she's up to with her time," Ritsuko wondered out loud.

Rei looked at Yui, who seemed very different from her son and other relatives. It was like she was so distant from them that it was safe to say they were on different planes or ships.

The integration of this world's magic into the science I specialize in would be ground-breaking if properly harnessed. That Anti Magic creature that came out of Shinji's grimoire, that…Guardian of the Void…might be more dangerous than I suspect it to be, even if it exists under his control. There is a lot about Anti Magic that nobody here knows about…except my mother, perhaps. But she's like the rest of the family: They dwell within a place that shows no need for science in any heavy sense because this world has an abundance of this metaphysical energy they call mana…and the worst thing of it is that they can't see past how beneficial the energy would be for more ambitious goals. Rei thought she heard the woman's voice in her head.

"What is she going on about in her own head?" Asuka asked.

"Something scientific, probably," suggested Fuyutsuki; he had a feeling he knew what Yui was thinking about, but chose not to say for certain.

Under her picture was one of Tenshi, who was walking down a forest path, eating an apple, looking up at the full moon.

On the right page was one of Rika, who was sitting at a table in her house, eating a small meal, looking as though she was depressed.

"I know that look on a woman anywhere," said Kaji, referring to Rika.

"And what look is that?" Misato asked him.

"That's Empty Nest Syndrome."

"What?" Asuka questioned.

"The woman's lonely because she's by herself and her children and grandchild are away. Any parent would feel that way after awhile."

Of course, all eyes had to turn to face Gendo, who, as a parent himself, would've been either subject to this belief…or one of the exceptions because of his estrangement from his son.

"Don't be ridiculous," he told them. "Only an infant needs to be coddled."

"Funny, the way you say that," Misato countered his belief, "since it seems that Shinji doesn't mind the attention he gets from Suki or Tenshi or Rika. Maybe he likes being coddled by them."

Rei looked back at the album and turned to the next page.

Zap! For a brief second, she saw something that seemed impossible and unlikely because it defied logic and societal order.

Shinji, with his aunt, in a field of petals on a sunny day, and then, despite the wrongness of it, Suki had gone and crossed her boundaries as his aunt…and kissed him.

Rei pulled her hand back from the book and backed away from it.

"Someone may keep Ikari-Kun from wanting to come back here," she stated.

"And who might that be, Rei?" Ritsuko asked her.

"Someone," she responded; it wasn't an answer…but it wasn't what she felt to be a truth, either.

Ritsuko then turned the page for them…and saw…a monster rising out of the ocean.

"What in God's creation is that?" Misato demanded, seeing Shinji and the other members of his squad facing the creature.

-x-

Basically, nobody was at fault for this. All Suki did was just sing the same song her mother had taught her how to sing when she was little, a timeless tune from long ago, and one Shinji enjoyed listening to every chance he got, and then the sea monster appeared as a fog formed above the water. It was everything the Black Bulls had discovered was right about it in the four consistent details that were right about it so far.

A big, serpentine creature with a greenish-blue coloring that caused fog to form just before it appeared. But among the newest details were its menacing red eyes and serrated fangs.

"Whoa!" Asta gasped, brandishing his Demon-Dweller Sword. "This thing is huge!"

"It's not that big," Luck declared, "but it looks big enough to bring back to the hideout."

"Is that a leviathan?" Noelle went.

"Wait, a leviathan?" Suki repeated. "Noelle, have you seen this creature before?"

"I read about them three years ago. They're supposed to be solitary creatures that live deep in the ocean. The only time they ever come close to the surface…is when someone with a lot of magic intentionally summons them."

"Someone with immense magic called this creature here?" Asta questioned. "Who'd be crazy enough to call a creature like to cause trouble?"

"Whoever did this has to follow one crucial rule to summoning a leviathan: They have to be close by just to summon the leviathan and once they're gone, it leaves."

"Maybe that's not the only way to dispose of a leviathan," said Guardian to them, looking at the creature, "and this one isn't likely to stand idle while we look for whoever summoned it."

"Is there a limit to the range of the magic required to summon a leviathan?" Suki asked.

Shinji looked, but got the feeling that whoever was responsible for this creature had to be pretty strong and capable of summoning from a distance.

The leviathan looked down at these mages and then glared at the Ikari boy, baring its fangs.

"Grr-aah!" It hissed as a ball of ice shot out its mouth at them.

"Whoa!" Shinji gasped, and the pages of his grimoire flipped to the necessary spell he required. "Spatial Magic: Redirect!"

A portal opened up in front of them and the ball of ice was sucked inside and disappeared.

His Spatial Magic's impressive, thought Finral, feeling a bit envious towards Shinji's prowess. And his Guardian was right about what he said to me… My doubt in my abilities reduces my success, like he knew what was going on, and he doesn't even know me.

"Guardian doesn't need to know people personally to know what their primary faults are," Shinji had told him once after he did more research in his grimoire regarding Guardian of the Void. "Whatever he says is only a truth that is between him and whoever he tells it to. If he says that your doubt in your abilities is what reduces your success, then you need to let go of your doubt. The less doubt you have in yourself, the greater you are to achieve success."

"But I'll never be as good as my brother," Finral had told him.

After explaining who his younger brother was to Shinji, Finral received a pep talk that wasn't what he expected from the newbie.

"The day I meet your brother will be the day I get a better opinion of him and his capabilities. But until that day comes, I'm talking to the only Spatial Magic mage within the Black Bulls that I see as capable of being stronger and fueled by confidence. Why doubt your abilities? I mean, Spatial Magic seems like a very powerful gift that enables those that possess it the freedom to go anywhere they desire without limit. Even my uncle practices it as much as he can, sometimes causing minor explosions in the process, and he doesn't let any mistake, big or small, hinder him. So, tell me, Mr. Roulacase, why do you show doubt in your abilities?"

"Have you ever been compared to someone that was viewed as being greater than what you thought you could be, if not more? Have you ever been overshadowed by anyone that people thought would one day be the best and have the keys to the future?"

"Not like what you're saying, but go on."

"Being compared to and later overshadowed by someone causes a lack of confidence and a feeling that you don't ever get over completely. And with my family, it's more complicated than I care to admit. When Langris and I joined the Magic Knights, he got into the Golden Dawn and became the vice-captain…while I joined the Black Bulls and…well, here I am."

"Why do you make it sound like it was the worst outcome for you?"

"The outcome was that he got picked as the heir apparent for House Vaude over me because of his success. After that, I accepted that I could never best my brother and should just spend my time doing what I love, which is…having fun."

Of course, Shinji had to ask this question to Finral, which was only possible because he spent months training with Tenshi and Suki for the Magic Knights exam, building up his own confidence and gaining more tolerable experience being around others, and it was, quite possibly, the most intense question Finral had ever heard him ask.

"But are you really happy this way?" Shinji asked him. "I mean, it's not my business to trespass upon your past, but does your current lifestyle give your life the meaning you seek from it?"

"Wouldn't you be if you were freed from your family's expectations?" Finral had once countered his question with one of his own.

"It would depend upon what their expectations of me were…and if they truly had any for me to start with. But to answer your question, no, it wouldn't. Not unless I was actually happy with what I was currently doing at that time. And what I had been doing originally before I even wind up here…didn't really make happy…and knowing that my parents wanted me to do something of the sort that didn't put a smile on my face… While it didn't make me question what they were up to in the beginning, my time here, less than a year it has been, has helped me to question it now. I either had to be a part of a twisted plan they came up with years ago…or just an attempt at their playing with life like it was a game they were making up. And this was back when I didn't have any dreams or ambitions. Now, I just want to pursue being a mage like those in my family are and were. That's…all I really want right now. It's simple and it would make me happy. And whatever transpires along the way to achieve that ambition would also make me happy."

It wasn't until this moment, in the midst of adversity against a sea serpent that could only be summoned by strong magic, that Finral, despite his internal, personal insistence that he was happy to be free from his responsibilities of being House Vaude's potential heir, accepted that he wasn't happy. He wasn't happy that he let his doubt in his own abilities limit his success, that he was reduced to being just a means of transportation, that his squad mates didn't respect him as much, despite the fact that he outranked some of them. And more importantly, he wasn't happy that he allowed this to be his lot in life when he could've done more to make it better for himself and his squad. While he might've been a nobleman that was cast out for not being anything like his younger brother, he was a nobleman that wanted to be seen as being different from his brother, if not greater than him.

"If you embrace your ambitions, show strength in your convictions," Guardian once told him as he told the others, "then you unlock a strength you didn't know you possessed."

His grimoire floated by him, flipped through a few pages, and a new spell presented itself to him.

This is a new Spatial Magic spell? He discovered when he looked. "Here's something new. Spatial Magic: Reversal Summon!"

A large portal opened above the leviathan, bathing it in light. It then lowered upon the leviathan, making it disappear…and in its place…was Vetto of the Despair, who looked surprised to be in the presence of the Black Bulls present in Raque.

"What?!" He yelled, confused by this turn of events. "No! How is this possible?! I was too far from this place to be noticed by any of you!"

"We Magic Knights find a way to persevere," Shinji uttered, holding up his Anti Magic katana defensively. "But this is a surprise. I was expecting someone new, not a member of the Midnight Sun. What brings you to Raque? It can't be simply to take a vacation."

Vetto looked at the boy and his Guardian of the Void, sensing a degree of increase in their magical aura, and several of these other members of the Black Bulls, their magical auras had increased, as well. They were much stronger than when he faced them the first time when they found their base of operations. Frowning, he glared at Shinji, determined to make him feel the despair his people had to face when they were betrayed so very long ago.

"No matter," he told them, raising his claws up. "I don't need a leviathan to deal with you."

"That's a shame," went Suki, summoning her Grizzly Mayhem. "We're not the same as we once were when we first met. And you're outnumbered, too. No matter how strong you are, you're just one person…and we're a team. Can you truly hope to defeat us without assistance from the rest of your allies or the leviathan you called up?"

"Yeah," added Noelle, feeling confident because of her choice of words, "what she said."

"It doesn't matter if your forces are one or many," Vetto countered, "for soon, not one of you will be any left to tell about me!"

He jumped into the air towards them.

"Get him!" Asta yelled, and he, Shinji, Luck and Guardian jumped into the air to face him.

-x-

"Whoa," Fuyutsuki sighed at the picture of Shinji and his fellow squad mates going up against this Vetto guy that represented despair. "I know this is only a picture, but it looks like Shinji's going to war with this man."

"Yeah," Misato agreed with him, looking above the picture and wishing that it was the serpent he and his squad mates were going up against instead of some man that looked like a beast.

Asuka then turned the page and saw Tenshi standing in front of a…grave?

"They have cemeteries there, too?!" She asked.

-x-

It might've taken him a while to locate this place, but Tenshi had gotten results as he stood in the Clover Kingdom Cemetery of those from over one-thousand years ago. As it had been the law of the Clover King from generations past, all mages and people that died over the years were to be buried here, even if there weren't anything left of their bodies to fill a coffin or a jar. So, here he stood, facing the grave of one of his relatives that ended up here.

"It's been too long since I last saw you, Kana," he spoke to the grave in place of one of his sisters. "There were three of us when we went into exile, but there are five of us now, and you should know about your nephew on our mother's side. His name is Shinji, and he's… Well, he's quite special. He's part of the reason we're all back in the Clover Kingdom. He wants to be a good mage like the rest of us were back in the old days. We were quite the successes we were before that day we were attacked by the other families that hated us. I am hoping he succeeds in his goal. God only knows that he needs something worth doing that is his motivation and not the goal of someone else that had other things in mind for him. Oh, and Suki's with him, too. She's around his age now. Our mother restored us to the ages we were at our strongest, and Suki was regressed to her early-teens. They're both in the Black Bull squad. I know, they could've picked a better squad to join in, but it's the one they chose. I chose the Golden Dawn, the same as our youngest sister. Yeah, we have another sister. Her name is Yui, and she's Shinji's mother. Sometimes, I think she's more trouble than she seems. You should see her husband, Gendo. He is not someone I would consider a nice guy in any sense. He's more like people with bad ambitions and knows only to get on people's bad side. I know he got on my bad side when he kept our mother, Suki and I from getting custody of Shinji when his mother went and faked her death when he was less than four years old. I might've been in a wheelchair during that time, but I wanted to beat him to pulp for his arrogance. He had absolutely no concept of how important it is for families to stay together when tragedy strikes, preferring Shinji to be raised in the custody of a complete stranger and out of our reach. But as much as I don't like him for being the loser that he is, I have my concerns for Yui, who picked him as her spouse. She was up to something that wouldn't get her in our good graces if she had succeeded, but I worry that she might do something that ends up hurting a lot of people, including her son, simply because she chose to do it. I'd ask you for advice, but I'm going to have to go out on a leap of faith and hope that Yui doesn't do anything to echo her mistakes back in Japan where we were exiled to. It's not easy to trust her…and I can't trust her yet."

-x-

"…I don't see how she could trust any of you with your ridiculous fairy tales, you old prick!" Gendo shouted, which made everyone else in the office look at him like he'd gone crazy.

"You're yelling at a photo album," Ritsuko reminded him of how pathetic he sounded for doing such a thing. "Besides, it's not like he or anyone else there can hear you talk about them, just as it's unlikely that we can hear them say everything they want to about any of us."

"And he's just talking to a grave marker in place of whoever was buried there," Asuka stated.

"One of his sisters," Rei clarified.

"Yeah, one of them that was murdered prior to their exile."

Misato turned the page and they were returned to Shinji and the Black Bulls present dealing with Vetto of the Despair, who looked as though he were having a difficult time facing these people that looked like misfits.

"We really owe it to Shinji and Guardian," she heard Suki's voice. "He brought out the best in us that he saw more than anyone else could."

"He said that everyone in the Black Bulls impresses him," she then heard Noelle's voice, "even when we don't look like we're anything special to most of the Clover Kingdom."

"A band of misfits and failures," Gordon expressed, "and yet, he chose to join us, even when there were other squads that seemed better and desired him. We'll defeat you because of him."

-x-

Vetto couldn't believe his predicament right now. He was among the strongest in the Midnight Sun, the sole mage that specialized in Beast Magic…and he couldn't deal with these lowly individuals that kept evading his attacks and throwing him off with their own that were undeniably stronger than what he had encountered previously.

"Lightning Creation Magic," he heard Luck say, "Taser Fist!"

A large hand made of electrical energy formed from his magic and was sent towards Vetto.

"Beast Magic: Rhinoceros Armor!" Vetto countered, enveloped within an aura shaped like a rhino. "You underestimate my…"

SLAM! Luck's Taser Fist collided with his Rhinoceros Armor and sent him flying backwards onto the wet sand.

"Poison Magic: Crippling Hemophilia!" He heard Gordon call out one of his new spells as he got back up to fight.

A dark red blast hit Vetto, and he suddenly felt like his blood was on fire…and it hurt.

"Aaaaurgh!" He groaned as he stood his ground in front of these misfits.

"Way to go, Gordon," Shinji praised.

"Thank you," he responded.

"Water Restraining Magic," went Suki as she kept her distance from Vetto; while Gordon's Crippling Hemophilia turned an opponent's blood into a firestorm inside their bodies, they all had to consider that the spell couldn't affect mages of the strongest level for too long, requiring them to be restrained. "Ariel's Gentle Caress!"

Large hands of water formed behind Vetto and grabbed him in grip, unable to break free.

"I've said it before," Shinji expressed, "and I'll say it again, Suki: I will never underestimate the power of influential Disney media."

"Gaaaurgh! Grrraaurgh! Don't you wretched fools dare look down upon me!"

"It's hard to look down upon when you're two feet above us," Finral told him, showing confidence against the beast man. "So we're actually looking up to you due to the restraining spell being used on you."

"You know exactly what I'm talking about, boy!"

"We've beaten you, Vetto of the Despair," Suki told him. "Right now, you only have two choices. The first choice: You surrender without further resistance, we take you to the capital, and you wind up in a prison cell awaiting a trial or what have you. Your second choice: You continue to persist…and we likely kill you in the process, something I really can't picture us doing…but comes with the position of being a Magic Knight. As a Magic Knight, I must do all in my power to make sure you're brought to justice…but as a person, I don't want to see you pay the ultimate price, even if it's likely that you do deserve it. So, I must ask that you make the former choice over the latter one."

Vetto, feeling his insides slowly return to normal, a sign of the Poison Magic spell he was being affected by wearing off, frowned at them and uttered, "Or there's a third option."

"And what might that be?" Noelle asked him.

Something formed in his left hand and unleashed a bright flash, blinding them.

"Aaah!" They gasped.

"I escape and live to fight another day," he was heard as the light diminished. "The next time we meet, I won't be alone."

"Damn it," said Finral in frustration.

"We should've checked him for any surprises," Shinji grunted.

"That was Light Magic, what Vetto did," said Luck. "How can he use Light Magic if his specialty is Beast Magic?"

"It was probably given to him as a failsafe," suggested Suki. "This…is both good and bad."

"How is this good and bad?" Noelle asked her.

"He couldn't best any of us on his own, so he fled out of desperation, meaning the next time we see him, he'll either be stronger or have aid, most likely the latter. It's good that we were stronger than he was tonight. What makes his escape bad…is the fact that we'll have to explain to Captain Yami why we were unable to get Vetto in a permanent hold."

"Technically, Suki," went Shinji, "our mission was to deal with a sea monster, not Vetto of the Despair. Thanks to Finral here, we dealt with the sea monster by exposing the culprit behind it, which was also due to Noelle's knowledge of the creature's behavior surrounding magic. If Vetto was the only one around to summon a leviathan, then it's likely we won't be seeing either around for the time being. The Eye of the Midnight Sun, the Third Eye and their leader, Licht… It's likely that we'll see them the next time they stir up trouble."

"And we'll have to be stronger to face them," said Asta.

"And we will be," went Guardian, looking out at the sea. "But why was he out here to begin with? What brought his attention to Raque? Most enemies don't take vacations."

"You think Vetto was here for something?" Gordon asked him.

"No action is without a reason. There is a feeling of magical energy associated with this place, something ancient and powerful."

This caught their attention, and they looked out at the ocean. If Vetto was here for something, then it was likely he'd return, meaning that this wasn't over just yet. But for now, they needed to return to base.

To be continued…

A/N: I know some are likely to say that something like this was not possible because of Vetto being an elf reincarnated, but the Black Bulls were strengthened because of their training sessions with Shinji and Guardian, along with facing certain issues that were keeping them from moving forward in their progression as Magic Knights, so they were able to best Vetto and even force him to flee.