Chapter One-Hundred Seventeen: Aftermath of Chaos
"J-Julius?"
It wasn't possible, it couldn't be possible, but there he was. Standing before Yami and William was a boy draped in the familiar robe that was now too big for him, acting as a dead giveaway in of itself, but regardless, they still felt the need to confirm it.
And to their shock and ultimate joy, the boy smiled back. "Yes, it's me,"
With those three simple words, tears began to silently fall down their faces, their features still expressing disbelief. Yami slowly stepped forward, bending down to his new height, embracing him in a rare display of vulnerability.
"You're alive…you're really alive," he managed to maintain a bit of composure.
Julius caressed his head, like a father comforting his son. "It's true, sorry for worrying you back there,"
The world tree mage watched from the sidelines at the happy reunion. In his heart, he too wanted to go there and tightly hold the one who saved him from his misery and gave him the strength to stand where he was today. But, how could he, after what he's done? How could he feel right holding the man after coming back from the grave when he was partially responsible for putting him there in the first place? With those questions circling in his mind, he stood where he was, it was what he deserved.
Pulling away from the hug, Yami wiped his tears and took deep breaths. "Okay, okay, I'm calm now. I have questions. For starters, how the hell did you pull this off?"
"I'll explain later, it's best if more people are around so I don't have to repeat myself ad nauseam, but first, there's something I want to take care of sooner rather than later," his eyes turned to the other man who had yet to approach him. "William?"
"Y-Yes?" he responded, overcome with shame as he averted his eyes, refusing to look at him directly.
Yami's eyes darted quickly between the two of them, already sensing that something would happen, the only question was what.
"I don't think it'd be too unreasonable to say that I'm not exactly pleased with you right now," he said with gentle strictness, a tone the dark mage hadn't heard in years since the time mage was his captain, but no matter how much time passed, he never forgot what it meant.
Julius was not happy, at all.
"Yes, and I want you to know that I understand completely. If I did what I did to myself, I wouldn't be too pleased either,"
"I suppose that's not a bad start, but words of regret aren't enough. Your actions, or rather the lack thereof, helped plunge the kingdom into chaos, even if just for a night, I can't even imagine the number of casualties and collateral damage we have yet to assess,"
"Of course, I understand," the man said again, just accepting the reprimand.
Julius noticed this, deciding to add something else he wasn't planning to. "And do you know what the worst part about all of this is?"
"Um, no,"
"The worst part…was that this whole thing is partially on me,"
The heads of the captains all shot in his direction the second he saw that. "What?"
William began to slowly shake his head. "No, that's not true,"
"It is true. I was the adult here, I took you in as a knight and brought you up, I was your captain, and later on, your Wizard King. But despite all of that, I failed to notice Licht along with any red flags because I blinded myself, not wanting to even consider that the fine man before me would ever try to bring the kingdom harm. Perhaps if I was acting less like a father figure and more like a protector, none of this would've happened-,"
"No!" the scarred man suddenly screamed, finally embracing the boy, tears flowing freely. "You didn't do anything wrong, it was all me and Patri, I swear! You…you saw something in me that hardly anyone did, you took me somewhere I could be cherished and valued, you were the closest thing I had to a father! Please don't blame yourself for being a good person, you don't deserve that,"
Pulling himself away, he closed his eyes, the tears still falling as he made a clover salute. "I know it's not worth much to you now, but still, I want to make this second oath. Until the day I die, I won't ever betray you again, nor will I endanger the Clover Kingdom,"
The time mage smiled. "Alright then, it wouldn't be polite to refuse such a passionate statement, I'll give you a second chance. But, you'll have to work hard to truly regain my trust,"
"Yes, I'll do whatever it takes," he nodded.
Julius then faced the other person present. "And for you, Yami?"
He raised a brow. "What do you mean?"
"Forgiveness is an individual matter, just because I've given him another chance doesn't you or anyone else have to. How do you feel?"
"How do I feel?" he repeated the question, getting close to William. "To be frank, I'm still mad over the shit you pulled, and it'll take just as much work to regain my trust as it's going to be for Julius, but…I'll let bygones be bygones,"
"Thank you, Yami,"
"Don't go thanking me yet, I also want you to know that if, for whatever reason, this new oath of yours ends up going south, I'll be right here, and I will kill you then and there," he voice grew threatening.
But to the world tree mage, he just smiled. "I'll hold you to that,"
"Hm, good. You got anything to say, kingy?" he reverted to his casual demeanor as he turned, but instead of seeing Julius where he was, he spotted him further out, his back turned. "Is something wrong?"
The boy stared out into the distance with a blank expression, his eyes glowing, but in a few seconds, he snapped out of it, simply turning around, a serious look now present.
"We need to head back to the capital ASAP. I…saw something,"
"C'mon, put your backs into it!" Jack's voice boomed.
An hour or two had passed, the sun now fully in the sky, daylight covering the entire kingdom, including the capital, and that revealed the heavy amount of collateral damage the area had received. So, here the severing mage was, helping out. How, you may ask?
How else? By yelling at people.
The man stood at an elevated spot, staring down at the ones he was barking orders to, which were none other than Gueldre and Revchi, the two bound with cuffs.
"What are you talking about?! How do you expect us to lift that?!" the chain mage pointed to the large piece of debris they were expected to haul.
"Yeah!" the former captain revealed what was binding them. "These cuffs seal our magic as well as most of our mana! This is too heavy for us!"
In response to that, Jack wordlessly grew a blade from his arm, firing a pair of slashes that cut the piece of debris into quarters. "There, now it's less heavy, get moving!"
The disgraced knights groaned and begrudgingly did what they were told. "This isn't fair, we were supposed to kill that little brat and go our way, but instead we're here, prisoners again, and to make matters worse, we're being supervised by a guy who looks more like a criminal than anyone else," the permeation mage complained, shutting up as another slash came his way.
"I heard that! Less being jealous of my handsome face and more lifting!" he bellowed, his gaze shifting to the far left, a proud smirk forming. "Why can't you be more like them?" he pointed in that direction, the pair following it to see Rades and his crew.
"Hey, we're almost going to be done with this pile," the wraith mage said aloud to the others, firing a pair of bullets to break apart a fallen roof.
"Nice, then we'll be done with this section and can get started on the next one," Annalise added, doing the same as they finished the pile of debris they were working on. "You're up, Valtos,"
He nodded as he created a portal beneath it, sending it somewhere far away.
Sally shot her hand up. "Ooh, I have an idea. Why don't we have a race and get the next pile done on record time?"
"Works for me," the spark mage had no objections. "The faster we get this done, the faster we finish atoning and can start brainstorming ways to kick Patri's ass to oblivion. Valtos, has Rhya sent you the coordinates yet?"
"Not yet, but it's to be expected, they only departed three to four hours ago," he answered.
"Well, all we can do is wait, let's get back to work,"
While their words couldn't be heard, Gueldre and Revchi could still see them, and that enraged the former. "Be more like them? Have you lost your mind? They were part of a literal terrorist group! And why can they still use their magic?!"
Jack crossed his arms. "Keh keh, that's a pretty ironic statement coming from you, fatso, you were helping that group too. As for why they can use their magic, that's because, unlike you assholes who tried to scram the first chance you got, they stayed and helped against the elves. Now, get back to work!"
.
.
"Dragon Magic: Grand Dragon Smash!"
Elsewhere in the capital, a few of the Crimson Lion Kings were helping out too, one such person being Ryusei as he punched a pile of rubble, freeing a woman that was partially trapped underneath.
"Let me help you, ma'am," he offered his hand.
"Thank you, sir magic knight,"
He smiled. "Just doing my job," just then, another knight approached him. "Davis, perfect timing, I got another person here, I don't think she can walk right now,"
The dragon mage handed the woman over to the rubber mage. "Thanks, I'll take her to Lucy's triage,"
"Cool," he said before smirking. "But try not to get distracted by your girlfriend," he teased.
"Ryu, please don't, we still have to talk about that whole situation, but in the meantime, helping comes first. Either way, I'd really appreciate it if you act a bit more mature,"
"You're all good, I'm just pulling your chain," he gestured for him to get moving, so he did, and after doing that, he whistled. "Gaoth, over here!"
At his call, the green dragon came over from where he was, blowing away the rubble his master pointed at. "Good work, bud, go see who else needs assistance,"
Gaoth nodded and went on his way, leaving Ryusei to scour for anything else out of the ordinary, but the teen found nothing. "This building's all clear," he said before gazing at the sky. "Hm, I wonder how Alice is doing? I was pretty surprised when she offered to stay and help around the Kaiyo estate,"
"You don't need to worry about her, she'll be fine. She probably just wants to spend some time with your folks," the voice in his head stated.
"If you say so," he then turned, seeing Magic Knights HQ in the near distance. "Once we're done here, we should head there next. If anyone inside got possessed, there's bound to be some interior damage,"
However, just then, he could see six people entering the building through the front, recognizing one of them immediately. "Hey, it's Asta, and Captain Sukehiro, along with those two royal friends of his from the exam. Can't say I know who those last two are, they must be other friends,"
"Follow them,"
Ryusei raised a brow. "What for?"
"Just trust me,"
He shrugged. "Um, sure then. To HQ I go,"
The sound of footsteps.
Within the halls of Magic Knights HQ, there was relative silence, only being invaded by that singular sound.
Kenos' eyes were red as he walked through the halls slowly, his expression blank and somber at the same time, not registering anything around him. Occasionally, he'd pass by a capital mage or two, not noticing them take note of his Royal Knight uniform nor did he try to greet them.
He didn't know why, but everything felt like a dream to him all of a sudden, like all he could do was walk aimlessly forever.
But in time, the one closest to him felt like he had to intervene. "Kenos," his call was ignored, so he tried again. "Kenos,"
The same thing happened once more, so the angelic grimoire outpaced its master, the angel coming out as the solar mage bumped into him. Not saying anything else, Emmanuel pulled him into a hug.
Feeling the warm gesture of his partner finally got through to him, new tears fell down his face. "What's going on? Nothing feels real to me anymore,"
"It's because of your grief. The people we love mean the world to us, especially when we're really close to them, it's only natural that losing them will hurt so bad that you feel disillusioned,"
"W-What about you? Have you ever felt this way?"
"...I have," the angel replied. "Our kind may be immortal, but we can still be killed. I've lost many good friends over my lifetime. We all handle grief in different ways, so I won't tell you that it gets easier, just know that I'm here,"
The solar mage broke the embrace and wiped his tears, finally allowing a smile to grace his features. "Thanks, you always know just what to say,"
"Don't mention it," the angel returned to the grimoire.
Feeling just a little better, Kenos continued his stride. "I should head to Julius' office, perhaps going there will give me some sense of closure,"
The noble was now on his way, pushing down whatever nerves were rising up, he didn't want to put it aside for later. However, once he got close, he noticed something.
"The door's open?" he frowned. "I guess Marx must've found out, poor guy," he approached the office, peeking his head in, but instead of seeing the memory mage, he spotted the six, walking into full view.
In turn, the hextet felt a presence behind them, turning to see the Rossiu, many of them shocked by that, considering what happened. "Hey there," Yami was the first to reach out.
"Hey," he simply replied to his greeting with a simple wave, remaining at the room's entrance.
"What are you doing here?" Mimosa asked.
"I'm just…strolling, if you could call it that," he answered absent-mindedly. "I guess it sort of helps me cope. Well…not really,"
"Whatever you need to do, we'll leave you to it. That Zuka girl told us all to give you some space," Secre said next.
"Oh, that's nice of her," he then scratched the back of his head, appearing a little nervous. "But…I wouldn't mind having a little company right now, b-but if you're busy, I could-,"
He didn't get in another word before Asta and Noelle each took hold of his hands, gently pulling him into the office. Their squadmate looked at each of them before nodding. "Thanks. Um, captain,"
"Yup?"
"I…I just wanted to say I'm sorry for what happened with William. I shouldn't have lost my temper like that,"
"You've got nothing to apologize for, I planned to do the exact same thing when I first found out," the dark mage put him at ease.
"Okay. So, what are you all doing here?"
"Someone wanted to see the kid and the rest decided to tag along," Yami replied, stealing a quick glance at Teiko.
Kenos then asked the obvious second question. "But why in here? Is the room going to be repurposed already?"
On cue, the answer to his question emerged as one of the windows suddenly opened from the outside and the young time mage flew in on a broom, now wearing clothes that fit. He then landed and dismounted, a grin present. "Oh man, it's been so long since I've ridden on one of these,"
"It's about time you got here," Yami comically smacked him in the head.
"Sorry, I had to take care of a few things first," he explained, eyeing the group that came. "Greetings, all,"
"Uh…hi," they were all incredibly confused.
"Captain Yami, why is there a kid here?" Asta inquired.
Yami lit up a cigarette. "Why else? He's the one who sent for you,"
"What?! Hold on, a kid called for Asta? And you listened?" the water mage was even more bewildered than before.
Her cousin was fully on her side. "I have to agree. Is he part of some important family?"
The others had continued to murmur amongst themselves regarding the man's seemingly idiotic decision, but not Kenos. He didn't know why, but something about the kid felt…familiar.
The boy, on the other hand, was entirely unworried by their reactions, he was fully expecting this. He then was about to open his mouth to divulge his reason for needing a meeting, but just then, his eyes fell on Secre, or rather, what was atop her head.
"Holy crap!" his sudden squealing got everyone's attention as he zoomed over to the sealing mage, jumping up and down with stars in his eyes. "Wow, are those horns what I think they are?! So cool! I've never seen them up close before!"
Secre couldn't even answer him, she was just stunned into silence by how giddy he was, but for Kenos, that made his eyes go wide as he stepped forward ahead of the rest, standing in front of the boy.
"Yes, is there something you need?" he asked the solar mage with a smile, Kenos' voice breaking as he said a singular word.
"J-Julius?"
Saying that made the rest except for Yami widen their eyes. "Huh?"
"Julius, is…is that you?" Kenos asked, needing confirmation.
However, rather than answering directly, he opted to answer with a familiar question. "Can you guess what kind of magic I have?"
The solar mage's eyes became damp with tears as he answered. "I don't know,"
"Watch carefully," he aimed at a nearby shelf, firing a magic bullet that hit it and knocked a single book down, but before it could touch the ground, he clenched a fist, encasing it in a blue sphere.
"What the?!" the other knights gasped, realizing the truth.
Yami chuckled. "I guess that was a pretty big giveaway,"
"Wait, you knew?"
"You bet I did, Goldy Boy and I found out earlier after we left you guys," he replied, all eyes now turning to the Wizard King, but once they did, they saw Kenos tightly embracing him.
"It really is you! It's a miracle!" he cried. "Please, just please don't let this be a dream!"
"I'm sorry I worried you so much, but I'm here now, you're not imagining it,"
"How are you alive?" Kenos asked in between sniffles.
"Hm," Julius counted how many were present. "Not a bad number. Sure, I'll tell you," he replied and was promptly let go. "I owe it all to Swallowtail,"
"To what?!" Secre and Teiko exclaimed.
"Oh, I take it you know what that is?"
"We certainly do, after all, we helped build it," the water mage responded.
Julius tilted his head. "Are you…sure?"
Calming himself down the best he could, Kenos spoke up. "He's telling the truth. As it turns out, these two were friends of the first Wizard King and found some way to keep themselves alive for 500 years,"
Julius was in awe. "Is that so? Remarkable, to think there are actual ways to get around death, well, except for mine," he said. "I digress. As for how Swallowtail saved me, it was years ago when I was still a part of the Gray Deer, a mission brought into an uncharted forest that was some miles away from the Forsaken Realm. I was searching for a large bandit group that was rumored to have their base set up nearby, but while I didn't find them, I found the device, damaged, but functional,"
"How'd you know what it did though? Or what its name was?" the sealing mage was curious.
"That leads to the second part of the story," he walked to his desk, opened a drawer, and took out a journal, one the past mages recognized. "This belonged to Lumiere Silvamillion Clover himself, his journal detailing the creation of the first four Magic Items along with further information. It's been passed down for centuries after his death, the information acting as the basis for the items we have today,"
"Wow, I haven't seen that thing in so long," Teiko sighed as he reminisced. "Remember how he used to scribble doodles next to them every once in a while?"
"Yeah, and he thought we didn't notice," his friend nodded with a small smile.
"After doing some research on Swallowtail and testing it out, I noticed it was very compatible with my attribute," he continued explaining before pointing to his forehead. "Do you all remember the symbol that used to be here?"
"The blue star? Yeah, but it's gone now," Noelle answered.
"That was because of Swallowtail. Due to the high compatibility, I was able to store time into it and come back from the dead with that same amount of time,"
"Really? How much time did you put into it?" the swordsman eagerly asked.
"Fifteen years," he answered, extending a hand as light formed above it, cracking away to reveal a small version of his spiraling tome. "I got really lucky, I was able to come back old enough to keep my grimoire, but virtually all my good spells are gone, the only ones I still have are Chrono Stasis, Chrono Alter, and Luminous Minutes, not to mention they won't be as strong as they normally would be. I can't even do Mana Zone anymore, so I'm back where I started,"
"Hold on, so you're saying that at least physically, we're the same age?" the question came from Mimosa.
"Pretty much, but that's a sacrifice I'll gladly make, there are still things I need to be here to do,"
"I second that. It's good to see that Swallowtail was put to good use again," a voice from behind said calmly, the group turning their attention to the entrance where the dragon mage was standing.
"Ryu?" Kenos raised a brow, his friend sending him a quick nod.
"You said 'again' just now. How do you know about Swallowtail?" Teiko questioned him.
Entering the office, he answered without hesitation. "I was told by a good friend,"
At that moment, his grimoire floated in front of him, but it didn't open, instead, it revealed the front cover, a glow forming around the pair of dragons in the center as it coalesced around the black one. From there, a small gray portal formed beside the book, two hands coming out as they pulled against the portal, forcing it to enlarge so the one on the other side could step out into view, their presence shocking everyone, but especially two in particular.
"Azaela?!" the pair exclaimed.
"Why do you look like that?" the foreigner queried.
"That's what she always looked like," the girl clarified. "When we gave her Metamorph, she disguised herself to look human,"
"Secre, Teiko, it's so good to see you all again. I thought we'd never-,"
Cold steel. As the woman advanced to give her friends an overdue hug, Emmanuel moved quickly, floating behind her before coming out for a rare second time in a day, his sword pressed against her neck in an instant, his face deadly serious.
"Don't move, devil," he commanded, his tone colder than ever before. "I don't know how you were able to get here, but you won't be here for long. I may not have my magic, but I still have my prowess,"
Azaela put her hands up in an effort to appear less threatening. "I'm not going to hurt anybody, I swear,"
"I can vouch for her, she's not like Zagred," Secre spoke in her defense. "She's a friend of ours and Lumiere's,"
"I can vouch for her too," Ryusei added. "Zae is trustworthy,"
"Not to insult either of you, but she's a devil. How do we know she hasn't been manipulating you into thinking she's on your side?" the angel asked them.
"To be frank, I don't know, maybe that can be the case, but from what I've seen, you can trust her," Ryusei said back in response.
The heaven mage still didn't feel like budging, so another person spoke up. "Emmanuel, you can stand down," Kenos said. "Ryu's my friend, if he says this Azaela chick is good, I'll take his word for it,"
Narrowing his eyes, Emmanuel pulled away. "Alright, but be ready to transform at a moment's notice in case things go south," he gave the devil one last glare before retreating into his grimoire.
"Cool, thanks for that, Kenos. I totally appreciate the-," the dragon mage was saying, but stopped upon seeing the unhappy glare the solar mage sent his way, one he's never been on the receiving end of, making him avert his gaze.
"Wow, two devils in one span of time, it must be my lucky day," Yami joked.
"I don't know, I still feel strange being around one of them," Mimosa commented, now noticing Azaela's gaze on her. "Yes?"
"Sorry for staring, but you look oddly familiar," she turned to her friends. "Doesn't she sort of remind you of Tetia?"
"They're saying that too?" the plant mage thought to herself.
Julius composed himself quickly. "Alright everyone, I know we've been dealing with one big revelation after another, but we should stay on track and remember why we're here,"
Asta nodded. "That's right, you wanted to see me for something. What is it?"
"I've identified a problem that's emerged, and that problem has led me to see two predictions,"
"You can see predictions?" the magicless mage was a little bemused.
"Yes, it's a passive trait of my time magic. I can't do it on command, but I'll see something every once in a while, a possible vision of the future," he explained.
"I see. So, what's the problem?"
"The problem is that I'm no longer effective as the Wizard King now that my body is fifteen years old, and that lack of strength will also translate to a lack of control over the selfish elites of our society once they figure out what happened to me,"
"Then the solution to that is simple: don't let them find out," Kenos said.
"To be fair, that's easier said than done," his captain politely retorted. "The Wizard King is a high position in the kingdom, hiding his predicament is going to take a lot of work along with a few strokes of crazy good luck,"
Noelle crossed her arms. "Okay, we know the problem. What about the predictions?"
"Right, the first one I saw was of the Clover Kingdom being destroyed at the hands of a foreign nation," that first answer managed to put everyone on edge, but he didn't choose to wait. "And the second one is the reason I called for you specifically, Asta," he paused momentarily.
"...I saw that you would end up dead,"
Shocked faces littered the room as the mood dropped in an instant. Surprisingly, Yami was the first to regain his voice. "Are you absolutely sure? Your predictions are usually spot on,"
"It's what I saw, but let's take this one at a time. The first prediction regards a foreign nation, and as you know, we share the continent with three other kingdoms," Julius put up one finger. "The Diamond Kingdom that resides in the east is a nation low in resources but strong in military presence, which is why they give us the most trouble out of anyone," another finger went up. "The Spade Kingdom that resides in the north is quite mysterious and has been rumored to delve into various shady practices, but we only get a little trouble from them every so often," a third finger went up. "And last is the Heart Kingdom in the west, which is rich in natural mana. Unlike the last two, Clover is entirely on neutral terms with them, they haven't been known to bother anyone and usually keep to themselves. If one of these nations will play a hand in our downfall, we need to keep an eye on them,"
"Okay, but what about the part where I die?" Asta was understandably concerned. "Did you at least see how it happened? Then maybe I can try to avoid it,"
The teen shook his head. "My predictions don't give me specific details, but they do provide hints. The only hint of note I saw was that whatever is going to kill you, it'll be related to the power of your devil,"
"Roth? But what about his power can be lethal? I've been using it just fine,"
"Perhaps, but there's always more to this power than we know," he walked back to his desk and searched for a small stack of papers. "I have a…let's call him a friend. He's from a family who has experience in the field of devil magic. I sent him on a mission a while back, so he isn't here now, but some time back, he helped me with some research and told me about a curse linked to the other world. It goes by the name 'Weg',"
"Weg?" Secre recalled her friend using that word after she sealed Zagred.
"What's that?" a few of them asked aloud.
Julius looked up, eyeing Azaela. "Would you like to explain, miss? Something tells me you may be the biggest expert here,"
"Sure, I could do that," the devil replied, walking to the front. "Of all the curses in the Underworld, Weg would have to be the most prominent as it's a signifier of one's use of our power," she then pointed to her head. "As for what it looks like, Weg takes the shape of a horn,"
Asta nodded, recalling how one would grow whenever he transformed. "Why a horn though?"
"That's because where I'm from, horns are the ultimate symbol of everything. Rank, power, authority, all of it is expressed through our horns. Regarding important details, the number of horns a devil can have varies, but the highest number any has been known to have is four,"
Kenos' eyes fell on the two horns on her head. "So I'm guessing you're not that high on the totem pole?"
"Um…yeah, you could say that. However, numbers in of itself isn't it, devils with the same amount of horns aren't guaranteed to be at the same level of strength, there's a scale, going from minimum to maximum. Oh, and before I forget, there's another important thing to remember,"
"And that is?"
"It's incredibly rare, but if a devil becomes strong enough, they can actually increase the number of their horns,"
The solar mage held his chin. "That part's true, I noticed it with Asta. When he evolved the Demon Slayer Sword into the Black Divider, he grew a second horn,"
"I have a question," Secre raised her hand. "You told me that I had Weg, but my horns are different from Asta's,"
"I see. Well, Asta mentioned a Roth, who I'm guessing is his devil partner, meaning his power is coming from direct devil magic, so his Weg will take the shape of the devil's horn, however, you delved into forbidden magic indirectly, so they'll look way more basic," Azaela explained before resting a hand on her cheek. "And I'm glad it's that way, Yuyu is just the cutest thing with my horns,"
"Zae and Yuyu? So, nicknames?" Kenos spoke with an underlying accusatory tone, side-eyeing Ryusei.
"Oh, um, yeah," the dragon mage replied, displaying a rare expression of discomfort.
The others picked up on it, but decided not to get involved, so Noelle chose to divert attention elsewhere. "So, Nero, or Secre, you were an anti-bird this whole time. Are you back to being a girl permanently or should we not get used to this?"
"Actually, no," she answered as blue mana surrounded her before shattering, revealing her avian form, perching atop the magicless mage's head. "Now I'm free to shift between forms,"
"Really, that's so cool," Asta remarked before noticing the water mage inch closer to him, lowering her head, her eyes on the bird.
"Um, you can rest on my head, if you want,"
Nero gave the girl one of her usual indifferent stares before ultimately shrugging, flying off of Asta's head and perching on hers, much to her happiness as her eyes lit up.
Her cousin gave her a strange amused look. "You never told me you were fond of animals,"
"Just the cute ones," she said back, not noticing Kenos' comedic deadpan.
"Yes, and apparently fawning over babies is weird, of course," he thought before refocusing on the matter. "Based on what Azaela said and what we've seen, what if Weg itself isn't lethal, but how it's used?"
Julius raised his brow. "What do you mean?"
"When I use Emmanuel's power, he tells me that using too much can kill me, it could be the same in this case too,"
Azaela thought about it. "I mean, I've never seen it happen, but it sounds plausible,"
Hearing that gave Asta some needed relief. "If that's what it is, then we're good, I'll just make sure I don't go that far,"
"Easier said than done, kid," his captain retorted. "If whatever nation that might do us in is super tough, it could very well make that happen. I'm all for pushing past limits, but it's kinda pointless if you die,"
"That's only if this is true," Teiko interjected. "Mister Wizard King, is it possible for these predictions to not come to pass?"
Julius shrugged. "I mean, there's always a possibility. The only question now is: can you pull it off?"
"It seems we might not have a choice," Kenos answered.
The time mage closed his eyes methodically. "Okay then," he sighed and opened them. "That marks the end of this meeting, thank you all for coming. I have some business to attend to,"
The group watched as he left the room. Asta punched his palm. "Alright, whatever danger's on the way, we got this. I think I'm going to help out with the repairs. Nero, wanna tag along?"
"Sure, it'll be good to assist," she replied, flying off the royal's head, much to her comedic dismay.
"Really? I was actually hoping we could do some catching up," Teiko suggested.
"Maybe some other time, Yuyu and I have to get back to work," Azaela ripped open another portal. "Look on the bright side, we've been separated for 500 years. What's another few hours?"
He sighed. "Fine, I suppose I should make myself useful as well,"
"Sure. We'll see you all around," Ryusei waited for her to enter before waving goodbye, intentionally avoiding his friend's gaze.
"I'm still kinda shocked he has a devil as a partner too, I guess that's one thing we have in common," Asta commented, noticing Kenos walk out next. "Where are you headed?"
"To find Julius. I thought he was dead just a little while ago, so now I'm at the part where I become incredibly clingy. Cya," he joked, leaving the office.
"I had better head back to base," Noelle said next, facing the bird. "It's alright if I tell the other bulls about you, right?"
"Sure, if Finral doesn't beat you to it," she replied as the water mage left.
"I should head back to base too," Mimosa yawned and started leaving. "I need a nap,"
"I better go find the other captains and tell them about Julius, and I forget Marx either, the guy is going to have a heart attack," Yami was about to walk out too, but then he halted.
"Something wrong, captain?" the swordsman questioned.
"Yeah. I don't know why, but I feel like I'm forgetting someone,"
"Thank you very much!" a shrill voice exclaimed.
Faraway from where all the reparations were happening, there were two people standing amongst the rubble. The first one was the man who forced any nearby wildlife to endure the awful torture that was his screaming, none other than Augustus. And who was the one next to him? None other than Sekke, his eyes twitching.
"I owe you my life, you saved me when no one else would! You are a hero that transcends even the Wizard King!" the king continued.
"How the hell did I get into this mess?" the knight thought to himself.
His mind went back to after Jack and Glynda left HQ, the vice-captain had him and the rest of their non-possessed squadmates scatter to help out, and he knew better than to disobey a direct order from her. Unfortunately for him though, while he was on his way to do that, he made the grave mistake of flying near Clover Castle, and that's when Augustus came falling from above, slamming his head on his spell, falling unconscious. Sekke knew better than to desert the king in such a vulnerable state, so he stayed right where he was, keeping his body hidden when needed until the sun rose and the man awoke.
"You honor me, your Majesty, but I wouldn't say I'm above the Wizard King,"
"Nonsense! Wherever Julius is, he's failed at the most important task in the kingdom: protecting me from all harm, but you, you understood the task and safeguarded your king! You shall be rewarded handsomely for your noble deed, sir magic knight!" Augustus continued to yell before he calmed down at last. "Now, tell me your name and the noble house you hail from,"
"My name is Sekke Bronzazza, and I'm actually…a commoner," he answered with some reluctance at the last part.
"A commoner?" the king's voice was laced with disdain.
The bronze mage needed to act fast. "B-But I'm still very capable, I mean…," he struck a confident pose. "...How else would I have defeated those ten knights?"
The pathetic light mage raised a brow. "What was that?"
"I think he's buying it, this can work!" he internally sighed in relief. "Yes, you should've seen it. I was surrounded on all sides, they were all trying to get to you while you were vulnerable, but I fended them off and defeated them one by one. Their numbers were overwhelming at first, but they soon became easy pickings,"
"Amazing!" the king bought every word he said without the slightest bit of skepticism. "Peasants in general are still weak eyesores, but you must be different if you can take on so many powerful mages by yourself, a person set apart from the ordinary. Come, let us return to my castle, your reward awaits,"
At that point, Sekke shrugged, he did do something, so getting compensated was fair. "After you,"
"Not so fast,"
Upon hearing a new voice and a group of rapidly moving footsteps, the two turned all around to see that they had been surrounded by seven men, six of them were draped in white cloaks that concealed much of their faces, but the one that stood at the perceived center was different. His cloak was still white, but had notable navy blue accents and his face was in decent view, revealing kempt brown hair and a medium-sized mustache of the same color.
"Who are you people?! Answer me!" the pathetic light mage demanded.
"You don't need to know that, just know that we're going to put an end to you right here and right now, Augustus Kira Clover!" the leader replied before addressing Sekke. "Hey, kid, we don't have any problems with you. Scram, or die with him,"
"How dare you mock the loyalty of this fine knight! Try to kill me if you like, I know he'll protect me!" the king hid behind the emerald-clad blond, nudging him forward.
"Huh?" Sekke audibly voiced, his face full of confusion as he just realized the situation he was put in.
"Very well! Time to die!" the group took out their grimoires, creating various weapons.
"Hold on!" Sekke put his hands up, but did his best to not sound scared. "Are you sure you want to do this? Murdering the king is the highest crime of all, you won't get out unscathed,"
"That's where you're wrong," the leader snapped his fingers, one of his men revealing torn scraps of a familiar robe. "Once we're done, we'll leave this behind, so the Eye of the Midnight Sun will take all the blame,"
"Shit, they came prepared, I'm doomed!" the teen yelled in his mind. "Damn it, you stupid king, this is all your fault! You're going to get me killed!"
The seven were about to jump in all at once, but before they could…
"Well well well, to think I'd run into you again," another new voice entered the fray, and by the looks of Augustus and the leader, it was one they recognized, and lo and behold, their eyes soon fell on Damnatio.
"Ah, perfect timing, now I'll have even more protection," the pathetic light mage smiled.
"Worry not, I'll handle them," the scale mage calmly said, his eyes falling on the leader. "Merrick Tourmaline, I'm not surprised to see you here. After all, once a criminal, always a criminal,"
"I am no criminal!" Merrick roared.
"Yes, you are," Damnatio retorted calmly. "You lead an anti-monarchist group, trying to peddle that odd system you want to take over our government. Was what it called again, a…democracy?" he sounded out the last word as if he'd never heard it before. "It'll never work,"
"Yes it can! It just needs a few high officials to die first, in fact, you should be one of them," on cue, his allies all diverted their attention to the royal. "Get him!"
They all charged at full speed, but it was pointless. "Scale Magic: Scale Regulate!" he declared, pushing down on the contraption in his hand, greatly reducing the size of their constructs. "Now you've been weakened, you can be subdued. Scale Creation Magic: Ammit the Arbitrator!"
Upon casting the second spell, he pushed down on the balance again, creating a portal that grew bigger the lower he brought it, and once it was big enough, a creature resembling the Egyptian goddess walked out, standing beside him.
"Incapacitate them, they shall be taken for judgment," he ordered and the creature obeyed, charging ahead.
The men were now panicked, left essentially defenseless against the beast coming their way, but they weren't going to quit now. One by one, they charged back, hoping to do anything, but each attempt resulted in failure until only Merrick and another remained.
"This isn't good, we can't win,"
"Don't lose hope, we still have a last resort," Merrick reached into his cloak pocket, pulling out a black bracelet. "I'll use this,"
"No, it's too risky," the man discouraged him. "That item will only supercharge one of your spells before it destroys itself, we can't take the gamble of Damnatio affecting it too," he placed a hand on the leader's shoulder. "You have to flee and strike another day,"
"Me? Don't you mean we?"
"No, we can't all escape, so go, I'll buy you time!" his ally charged in bravely as Merrick watched, looking away as mana filled his legs and he ran away as fast as he could.
Damnatio saw this, but there was little he could do, Ammit couldn't handle them both. "Run along then, criminal, but justice will find you," his eyes now fell on the six apprehended anti-monarchists.
"And that's why you never mess with the Kiras," Augustus proudly crossed his arms as he and Sekke approached him. "Excellent work. Damnatio, I'd like you to meet Sekke Bronzazza, my Royal Aid,"
"Your what?!" the teen gasped.
The scale mage remained as composed as ever. "Augustus, the title of Royal Aid doesn't exist,"
"Then I'll make it exist. I'm the king, aren't I?"
His relative shrugged. "Very well," he accepted it, facing the bronze mage. "A pleasure to meet you,"
"Um, and you too," he returned the greeting as the scale mage stared into the distance. "Is something on your mind?"
"A question has been plaguing me lately: who caused all of this?"
Sekke shrugged. "Your guess is as good as mine," he replied, but then something strange caught his eye. "Uh, sir, your scale,"
The royal's eyes fell on his contraption, widening for the first time. On the right balance, a black flame hovered over it. "This feeling, it comes from the forces of evil…a devil. Now it's all fitting together, someone must've harnessed the power of a demon so that they could plunge our kingdom into chaos. The only question now is who?"
"If a person allied with a demon is what you're looking for, I already know who it is," the pathetic light mage entered the conversation, making the statement with absolute confidence.
"Is that so?" Damnatio raised a brow, gazing back at the black flame.
"Tell me more,"
"Okay, you must calm down, you gotta calm down," Marx breathed in and out as he stood at the front of the wizard king's door.
"Julius is alive," he still had trouble believing it, but it was true. The memory mage had been in a similar slump to Kenos, just standing in his own office and staring aimlessly at the window, but then Yami came in and dragged him into a room with the other captain before breaking the big news, relief entering his eyes immediately.
"Everything's going to be fine," he finished pumping himself up as he knocked on the door.
Surprisingly, it was Kenos' voice that answered. "Come in,"
Marx was a bit confused for a second before realizing that his presence made sense. He slowly opened the door and walked inside, beholding the sight of Julius and Kenos laughing before the former turned to face the newcomer.
"Hey there,"
The assistant's tears were slow to fall, but he smiled. "Hello, sir,"
The time mage got up from his chair and walked to his friend, the two sharing a brief, but heartfelt hug. "You really gave me a scare,"
"Sorry, I wasn't entirely sure if I could come back, so I didn't want to get your hopes up, but luckily, it didn't come to that,"
"Yeah," Marx wiped away his tears. "Y'know, I never knew you when you were fifteen, you look kinda strange now, but I'll get used to it. Well, now that this problem is resolved, we should get back to work,"
Julius chuckled. "Classic Marx, already keeping me on track. Do you mind staying to help? Something tells me the elf situation is going to result in way more paperwork than usual,"
"I'd like that,"
"I wouldn't mind helping out," the solar mage offered.
"Perfect, we'll get this done in no time," Julius slung his arms above his head. "I wish we could do it like this all the time, rather than me doing it solo,"
"And you see, right there is why I don't want to be the Wizard King," Kenos joked as they shared a quick laugh. "Alright, let's get-,"
"Everybody!" a frantic voice cut him off as Owen suddenly rushed into the room, the normally calm doctor noticeably worried.
"What's the matter?"
The water mage raised a newspaper in his hand. "The daily paper just came out half an hour ago. You all have to read this,"
"My, I've never seen you so interested in the news," Julius said as he took it and the three looked at the front cover, gasping in unison.
"What the hell?!" they exclaimed together at the image that was smack dab in the center, an image of Asta in his transformed state, the boy grinning in a suave manner.
"How in the? Why in the?" Kenos was flabbergasted, but then he began to read the article, and once he was finished, his heart sank.
"Oh no,"
.
.
"Are these people fucking serious?" it wasn't just the capital, the newspaper had already reached the Common Realm, including Nean.
"Luca, language," Eon admonished as she sat down on an outdoor bench, reading her own copy.
"Sorry, but how can they say such mean stuff about Asta?" the girl then began to read the first part of the article aloud. "The discovery of the century: Asta of the Black Bulls has been accused of the absolutely devastating catastrophe that occurred last night, but let's be honest, saying he's accused is just for technicality, we all know he did it. Read more to find out how,"
"That's how some people just are, they lie for drama because that's what gets engagement," Eon told her as she noticed Rebecca and Neige walking her way. "I take it you read it too?"
"Yeah, what a bunch of nonsense," the snow mage was adamant. "Asta would never do such a thing,"
Rebecca nodded. "Yeah, that whole stuff with people going crazy is way too large scale to be caused by one person, let alone a guy with no magic,"
"Then we all believe in the young man we've seen," Theresa joined them as well. "The best we can do is spread the word and keep everyone informed with the truth,"
The others nodded in agreement, but just then, Luca saw something. "Uh, who are those guys?"
The rest of the group turned to see a pair of hooded mages, but they looked different from other capital mages. Their cloaks had noticeable amounts of red present.
"Yes, may I help you?" the nun went to meet them.
"You can, actually. Are you Theresa Rapual?" one of them inquired.
"I am she,"
"Good," the other grinned in an almost unsettling manner.
"There's someone we're looking for,"
.
.
"Ah man, I really needed that," Mimosa yawned as she walked out of her room, still in her pajamas. "Nothing like a glorious four-hour nap, and after a quick snack, I'll go take another one," she smiled blissfully to herself.
The royal continued walking until she was close to exiting the sleeping quarters, but before she did, she couldn't help but notice the large crowd that had gathered near someone's room.
Her eyes shot open slightly. "That's Klaus' room. I wonder what's going on?" she altered her path, heading there instead as she pushed through her squadmates, reaching the center.
"Hey, is everything alright?"
"I'm doing fine, but it might not be for Asta," the steel mage turned to Hamon, who was reading the article along with some others. "Let Mimosa see it,"
"Sure," the glass mage complied, handing it to her.
"Hm," she took hold of it, briefly wondering what the content would pertain to, but the first thing that caught her attention was the swordsman's admittedly attractive photo. "Oh my, they certainly got his good side,"
"You won't think that for long, start reading,"
She obeyed Klaus' words and did just that, her expression becoming horrified. "They're blaming him for the elf crisis, and it says that the Magic Parliament will get involved too, that isn't good, especially if Damnatio Kira is going to be there,"
David held his chin. "The Chairman of the Magic Parliament, I've heard some nasty things about him,"
The plant mage nodded. "Yeah, he prioritizes justice over everything, so much to the point where he condemned his own father to twenty years of imprisonment. Asta is a commoner, the parliament will eat him alive,"
"There is a bright spot in all this," Klaus spoke up. "If the Black Bulls can get Asta a good lawyer, he'll be fine, for the time being, it's best he stays as far away from the Parliament building as possible,"
"Do you think Asta knows about this?"
The steel mage waved it off. "This is about him, of course he knows about it,"
"And that finishes that one off!"
Asta, in fact, did not know about it.
The magicless mage laughed victoriously as he finished clearing a pile of rubble, the sealing mage beside him as she was tending to a little girl who injured her elbow.
"And there you go," Secre finished containing the pain. "Does that feel better?"
"Mhm, much better," she nodded, staring up at her horns. "Wow, those are so small and cute. Can you tell me where you bought them from?"
"Hm," the girl was thinking of an answer to give her, landing on one as she knelt down and pressed a finger against her lips, winking. "It's a secret. You'll know when you're older,"
"Ooh, I can't wait then!" she cheered as her father took hold of her hand.
"We should go, thank you very much for your help,"
"Bye, pretty lady!" the girl waved as they walked away, the sealing mage waving back.
Asta came up beside her. "You handled that pretty well. I was thinking you'd try and hide your horns,"
"Everyone seems to be under the impression that they aren't real, I have no problem with that," she plainly said back. "Should we head back? We've been here for a good amount of hours,"
"Let's do a little more, it's our responsibility to help as best we can," he replied.
"Ah, a great answer," someone joined in on their conversation, the pair spotting a hooded mage approach them, draped in the same reddish cloak.
"Hi there," the black bull waved.
"And hello to you too, Asta,"
The boy tilted his head. "You know me?"
"Of course, I've heard a lot about you, the magic knight without magic, you've become quite famous around some circles," the mage responded in a friendly tone.
"Aw shucks, you're making me blush,"
The mage then noticed Secre next to him. "Oh my, and who's your lady friend?" he zeroed in on her head. "Are those horns? Fascinating, you seem like quite the interesting one,"
"Uh, not to sound rude or anything, but did you need anything?" Asta asked.
"That's right, my bad. I've been tasked with taking witnesses of last night's events for questioning so we can get an idea of what happened. You two can be the first ones, if you like?"
"Sure, anything to help, we actually have quite a lot to say, so I hope you don't mind," the swordsman answered.
"Not at all. The more info we get from you, the better. Follow me," they walked with him until they reached a tower-esque building with an emblem of a golden scale plastered in the center.
"What is this place?" Asta curiously eyed the structure.
"This is the building where the Magic Parliament resides," Secre replied. "They act as the judicial branch of the Clover Kingdom,"
"Your friend knows her stuff," the mage complimented.
"A friend told me about it," she confessed.
"I see, you can head on inside, I'll be right behind you," he told them as they advanced, not seeing his mischievous grin.
"Cool, the place looks amazing on the inside," Asta commented on the interior decoration.
"Thank you. This place has been around for such a long time," the mage said before pointing to a door in the distance. "The room is over there. Oh, and before it slips my mind, can you two connect your wrists, we have to give you some clearance bracelets,"
"Clearance bracelets?" the pair repeated.
"Yes, it's a new security measure we implemented earlier to make sure the ones who enter here have actually been invited. It really helps with spotting trespassers," he explained, snapping his fingers as a hooded woman appeared, the two approaching them.
Asta and Secre did as they were instructed. "Okay, then I guess I can tell you who's responsible for this now so that we can go over the details during questioning. It was-,"
Clack.
The eyes of the two teens shot down to their wrists, now seeing that they were cuffed. "What the hell?!" the magicless mage backed up. "Are these clearance bracelets?!"
"Why yes, they are," the mage answered, his friendly tone gone, replaced by a snarky one. "I wasn't lying, they do indeed help us know who was invited…and we only invite criminals,"
"What are you talking about?! I'm no criminal! I didn't even do anything!" Asta tried to free himself, but the cuffs weren't budging.
"Don't waste your energy, those have been created with reinforcement magic, brute strength isn't enough. Now, please don't make this harder than it needs to be, just enter the room," the mage snapped his fingers again as ten others emerged, all readying spells to aim at them.
"We got played, we have to comply, for now," Secre said.
Asta relented, seeing her point. "Fine," he said back as they marched to the door, the mages opening it to reveal a huge room with tons of people.
"That's where you'll stand for questioning," two mages pushed them onto a platform.
"So, the guilty ones have finally arrived,"
All eyes present located the cold and strict voice. It came from an elevated platform, preceded by a long flight of steps, and standing at the top was Damnatio, staring at the detained with a sharp, merciless gaze as he raised his scale, the black flame stronger than ever.
"It's time for judgment,"