The Other Fifth Leaf

by KenosDC1

The grimoires of the Clover Kingdom have always had three leaves, which represent faith, hope, and love. Within the fourth leaf lies good luck, but within the fifth leaf, lies one of two things, either a devil, or...an angel. (Cover by Elena Parker)

120. Searching For Clues

Chapter One Hundred-Twenty: Searching For Clues

Hey there, readers, here's our chapter for Day 2. Cya.

---

"You have a mission for me?"

The next day came as the afternoon had just begun, but rather than finding someone inside a room, or even inside period, it found two people outside the door of Black Bulls HQ. One was Yami, the other was the one who asked the question, none other than Gordon.

The dark mage blew smoke from his cigarette, the wind carrying it away. "Yup. The Prickly Queen reminded me last night that your family has experience in curses or hexes or whatever, so head over there and see what you can find out,"

"Head back home, aye?" he held his chin, a slight look of worry present.

His captain noticed it. "Is something wrong?"

"No, it's just…my family and I haven't spoken in a while. Admittedly, we haven't really been good at keeping in touch," he answered. "Back when Vetto broke Asta's arms, I sent them a letter asking for help, but I never got a response,"

"I see, then a physical visit will give us the best chances,"

"Okay. Is it alright if I go with the others?" the poison mage requested.

Yami shrugged. "Sure, just don't bring too many people. I don't know about your folks, but when I was growing up, my pops would go ballistic if we got a ton of guests without being told beforehand, too much prep work and whatnot," he then began to walk inside, but right before he pushed the door open, he stopped.

"This will be the very first mission that you'll be in charge of. Can I trust you?"

Gordon clover-saluted. "I won't let you down, sir,"

The man let out a chuckle. "Good. It's still so weird to hear you speak," he said before heading inside, his subordinate following him, being greeted by the sight of nearly everyone in the main room.

"Cherished friends, may I have your attention?!" he raised his voice to a decent volume, startling a few of them, but they did as he asked regardless. "Captain Yami has sent me on a mission to my home for the sake of the devil investigation! However, to my dismay, only a few of you can accompany me! So, who would like to come along?!"

Asta finished what was left of the sandwich he was eating and raised his hand. "I'm definitely coming, it wouldn't be right not to since you're going through all this trouble for me,"

"Perfect. Anyone else?" just as he asked that, their newest member walked out of the hallway and into the main area, holding a book. "Raven, what about you?"

"Raven?" everyone else questioned in unison.

"It's his nickname for me," she explained plainly.

"So it's just like with me and Ves," Kenos commented. "Ah, there are few greater displays of platonic bonds than the giving of nicknames,"

Secre walked over to her friend. "So, Donny, what exactly do you need me for?"

"We're going to my house to ask about curses,"

To the surprise of literally everyone, the sealing mage's response held a tone of tame excitement, but excitement nonetheless. "Really? That actually sounds amazing. I've always been curious about how you grew up, y'know, considering how much stranger you are to everyone,"

"Then you won't be disappointed," he said back. "I think I can take two more people,"

In a shocking turn of events, Grey stood up and walked to Gauche, grabbing hold of his wrist and raising it along with her hand. "Is it alright if you include us?"

"Not a problem at all,"

"What the hell do you think you're doing?!" the mirror mage was pissed. "I never agreed to go, I'm busy doing my daily Marie stuff,"

"If you ask me, that's exactly why you should go," Noelle told him, cringing. "The last thing I ever need to see again is that creepy excuse for a novel,"

The teen sighed. "Ugh, fine, I'm going, and for the record, my novels are perfectly normal!"

"Looks like you did that pretty fast," Yami sat down on his couch and got comfortable. "Don't be gone for too long. I know Gordon's house is kinda far from here, so try to be back by tomorrow at the latest,"

"Yes sir!" they clover-saluted.

Just then, a portal opened out of nowhere above Asta, a letter falling out of it and onto his head. "What the?"

"Hm, we haven't had one of those in a while," Yami noted. "Who's it from?"

The swordsman took the letter and scanned the front. "I don't know, there isn't a name on it. Kenos, take a look," he winded it back.

"Wait, don't throw it, it'll-!" he was in the middle of exclaiming, but to his surprise, the letter was shot perfectly to him, which he caught without issue. "Huh?" he was still in minor shock, inspecting the firmness. "This is probably the most aerodynamic letter I've ever seen,"

Asta laughed. "Nah, it's a regular letter. Making it move like that was a trick I picked up on when I was younger. When you're poor and don't really have toys, you find ways to entertain yourself,"

"Hm, the more you know," the solar mage shrugged as he turned the letter around, his eyes widening. "He's right, there's no name, but there is a crest…the Silva crest,"

Noelle perked up immediately. "Is it for me?"

"Only one way to find out," he walked over and handed it to her, the girl opening it immediately.

"It's from Nozel,"

"He sends letters to you now?" Zora questioned.

"Seems so," she replied. "But I guess I'll have to get used to it now that things are starting to get better between us,"

"What?!" most of them exclaimed.

The royal was confused by their reaction, but quickly realized why. "Oh yeah, I never really explained. It turns out that my bad childhood was some kind of plan to keep me out of danger by essentially destroying my self-esteem,"

"Really?" Magna crossed his arms. "That's beyond dumb,"

"I agree, especially since it quickly got out of hand," Noelle said, clutching the letter. "But…he apologized and I can tell he meant it. I want to at least try giving him a second chance, he's family after all,"

"What about your other siblings?" Vanessa asked.

"Eh, I'll have to see, they certainly were the crueler ones," she answered. "But enough about them, let's see what this letter says," she began to silently read its contents, but it made her audibly gasp. "What?!"

Charmy slightly jumped from her seat. "Woah, what did he say? It must've been intense to make you do that,"

"Yeah, it's intense, but I'd rather not say, it's…personal,"

Kenos nodded. "We understand completely,"

"Thanks. Looks like I've got somewhere to go too," she stood up, turning to the solar mage. "Shouldn't you be also heading out? You have your own lead for the investigation,"

He raised a brow. "I do?"

"Yeah, Ryusei and that devil that was with him. Her name was Azaela, right?"

The eyes of the others widened while Asta and Yami inwardly tensed up, only Secre keeping her composure.

"Wait wait, by Ryusei, you mean Kenos' friend from the exam? That Ryusei? He has a devil like Rasta?" Magna asked in shock.

Kenos sighed. "Yeah, it seems so. I haven't spoken to him since I found out…and I don't think he wants to talk to me either,"

"Hey, you don't know that for sure, it wouldn't hurt to ask," Noelle told him. "If you wait for too long, it might be too late,"

The solar mage thought about it. "I guess you have a point," he agreed, holding his chin in thought. "I think I have an idea,"

He motioned to his satchel, opening a small compartment as he pulled out his communication device before beginning to walk out, but the other bulls could hear him say something before he was fully out the door.

"Hey, Alice? It's me. Can you do me a favor?"

Yami cleared his throat. "Alright, everyone who's going somewhere, get going, we don't have all day,"

---

"So, we're going to your house?" Gauche voiced with little enthusiasm as the five were high in the sky. He and Grey were flying on their brooms while Asta rode behind Gordon, the anti-bird perched atop the poison mage's hat.

"C'mon, don't be like that, I bet this will turn out to be a great experience," Asta tried to get him in the mood.

"I agree, Donny is a valued member of the squad, we should be interested in learning more about him," Secre added. "Speaking of that, what else can you tell us about your family, other than things related to curses?"

Gordon held his chin. "Hm, let's see. Oh, I got one. I don't know why, or even when it started, but for some reason, our family is obsessed with snapping,"

Grey tilted her head. "Snapping? Like, snapping your fingers?"

"Yeah, we get the compulsion to do it when we hear a certain kind of music," he divulged further into it before shrugging. "It's not really something we mind, it's just something we do,"

"I see, and while the topic's fresh, I just gotta ask," Gauche began. "How long have you been doing this nickname stuff for?"

"We started doing it yesterday," the poison mage replied. "Is there a problem with it? Did I do something wrong?"

The mirror mage sighed. "Relax, I was just making an observation. Not too long ago, Nero would almost always be around Asta, but now she's gravitated towards you,"

"That's because I was protecting Licht's grimoire, but I don't have to anymore," she plainly answered. "As for the nicknames, it was Gordon's idea,"

"Yeah, I figured that since I can speak up now, it would be a nice thing to do," he said before perking up. "Hey, that reminds me, I should try giving you all nicknames. Gauche, I can start with you,"

"Not a chance," the teen declined. "It's nothing personal, it's just that if I'm going to be given one, it'll be by Marie and Marie only,"

"Oh. Asta?"

"Sure. Magna and Noelle already have ones for me, another one wouldn't hurt,"

"Awesome. What about…Einheit?"

"I don't think I've ever heard that word before,"

"It means unity, I think it encapsulates who you are to us perfectly. Once you joined the squad, we really started to come together, as both a cohesive unit and a family,"

"Ooh, I like it," the transformation mage agreed.

"Aw, you're giving me too much credit. I like it too, but is it possible to make it a little shorter?"

"Sure, I can shorten it to Ein, that means one, it's pretty much the same thing from a definition standpoint," he complied.

"Thanks,"

"No problem. Now for Grey,"

"Right," the woman was excited for her turn, but in just a matter of seconds, her smile turned into a frown. "Actually, I'll pass,"

Everyone picked up on the drop in her mood, but in a strange twist, Gauche was the first one to check on her. "What's up with you?"

"Sorry for worrying you, it's just that I don't want a nickname anymore because…Grey is my nickname,"

That revelation shocked everyone there. "You mean that Grey isn't your real name?"

The woman shook her head. "No,"

"But isn't that how you introduced yourself to everyone?" Asta inquired.

"That's because when I was younger, I was called Grey so much that…I sometimes forget what my real name is," she replied somberly, her face becoming as she awkwardly buried it in a single hand. "I-I'm sorry for bringing the mood down, I should've kept that to myself,"

"No, it's okay," Gordon flew closer to her. "Do you want us to stop calling you that?"

"No no!" she quickly waved her hands in a refusing gesture. "It's basically a part of me at this point, I guess I just wanted to let it off my chest a bit,"

Gauche flew closer too. "So, are you going to tell us what your real name is?"

She smiled awkwardly. "Sure, once I can remember what it is again," she responded. "Um, can we change the subject?"

The poison mage nodded. "Of course. Ask anything you want,"

"Thanks. Say, the whole reason we're going to see your family is because they're so skilled in curses, but how did they come to be so good?"

It was now Gordon's turn to look slightly uneasy, but he did say she could ask anything. "They acquired that skill after years upon years of being things called Hex Mercenaries,"

"Hex Mercenaries?" the others repeated.

"I'm guessing that meant they cursed people for money?" Secre deduced.

"Right you are, Raven. From political rivals to unfaithful spouses, it didn't matter who they'd hurt as long as they were paid. I love my family, but that part of our history has always put me at odds with them in my heart, I want to make friends with people, not curse them,"

"Let's just hope you're on good enough terms for them to help us," Gauche said with crossed arms.

"We'll see soon, we're almost there," the man lifted a finger, pointing to a single house in the distance.

In ten minutes, the group landed in front of the building, the newcomers being taken aback by the eerie ambiance around it. It was quite large, not the biggest one they'd seen, but big nonetheless, and it was saturated with black and gray. Long story short, it looked like something that came out of a horror novel.

"Y'know, after seeing your room that one time, this makes sense," Secre commented, still a little unnerved as she flew off of him and reverted into her human form.

"So, how do we get in?" Asta asked, eyeing the metal fence around the estate.

"I'll handle it," Gordon raised a hand and snapped his fingers twice, the acoustics of the area carrying the sound further. His action was effective as the fence opened, allowing them to enter into the front yard, from there, the front door slowly opened, revealing four people, all of them snapping their fingers twice.

"Holy crap, why do they look so similar to each other?! And they really do like their snapping!" the others mentally observed.

The quartet was mostly female, but the lone man stepped up, muttering something.

"What's he saying?" Gauche asked.

The man's eyes slightly widened as he tilted his head to get a better look at the ones next to the poison mage. "Oh, visitors," he said audibly, turning to his family. "Outdoor voices, everyone,"

"You mean that they just choose to mutter like that? Odd family," the others thought once again.

"Son, how nice it is to see you, it's been months," the man greeted.

"Likewise, father. Today is a special day, it's the first time I'm bringing friends over," Gordon motioned to his group. "They're also from my squad. This is Asta, Grey, Secre, and Gauche,"

"Hello," they greeted back in unison.

Gordon now motioned to his folks. "And this is my wonderful family. There's my father, Nathaniel,"

"A pleasure, but you can just call me Nate,"

He then transitioned to the tallest woman. "This is my mother, Jonna,"

"Hello, it's so nice to see my boy has finally made some friends,"

Next to her was the second shortest female. "After her is my younger sister, Roxanne,"

"Hi," she said plainly.

"And last, but certainly not least, there's my grandmother, Nilenia," he pointed to the shortest one present.

All the old lady did was blink in their general direction, warranting strange looks.

"Last? Aren't you forgetting someone?" Nathaniel asked rhetorically as barking was heard.

In no time, a white dog with black circles around its eyes ran out of the house and into Gordon's arms. "Of course, how could I forget you?" he scratched behind the animal's ear. "This is our family pet, Pugsday,"

"He's missed you, as have we all," Jonna said. "But we weren't expecting a visit. Why are you here?"

The poison mage got to business. "Yes, I've come to ask something very important. I need to know everything you can tell me about-,"

"Patience," his father cut him off. "We can worry about that later. Right now, our son has come home, this calls for a celebration. Come inside, you all are just in time,"

"In time for what?" the sealing mage inquired.

"What else? Dinner,"

---

"So, that's House Thisavros? Very nice," Emmanuel commented as Kenos was still in the air, his transformation active as the building came into view, the teen landing soon after, reverting back to normal.

"That makes sense, you only see what the grimoire has seen, and I haven't been here in a good while," he said before paying attention to his left fist, shifting it repeatedly from a clenched state to an open state.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing, but I'm certain it's official now. I can access 30% of power and transform back without experiencing any exhaustion whatsoever," he stated.

"Perhaps, but you wouldn't be able to accurately determine that now. You only use Angel's Child to fly here, not to fight anyone, it's obvious you wouldn't burn anything substantial,"

"You may be right, but I at least have to be improving a decent bit," Kenos laughed, but in a matter of seconds, his jovial expression vanished and was replaced with one of seriousness. "Speaking of anyone," he now eyed the estate before him.

"Are you ready for this?"

The solar mage nodded. "Yeah. Are you?"

"I'll try my best,"

Having prepared themselves, Kenos walked inside, first entering the courtyard area before passing through the front door. As he strolled down the subsequent hallway, the solar mage couldn't help but sigh, feeling a wave of nostalgia. "It's kinda nice being back here after so long,"

"It certainly does have a nice charm to it," the angel agreed. "Alice must've had a very nice childhood,"

"Hm, I guess you can say that, though there is that whole personality switch thing of hers,"

"True, but now that I think about it, how exactly did that start? I'm not a human, but I'm certain that isn't genetic,"

Kenos shrugged. "I don't know, she never gave us a real answer, even now. Alice is 24, if she still hasn't told us, that means she'd rather keep it to herself, and I can understand that, especially after what happened with my dad,"

"Well well well. Would you look at who finally decided to pay us a visit again?" a voice in the distance said in a sarcastic manner. The noble shifted his gaze from his grimoire to straight ahead, spotting two adults, a tall man with medium dull white hair and a woman of similar height with longer dark pink hair, both in matching blue and gray outfits.

A chuckle escaped the boy's mouth as he got closer to them. "What can I say? I missed the place," he answered with the same level of sarcasm. "In all seriousness, it's good to see you again, Lord Allen, Lady Melosa,"

"Call me crazy, but I think you've gotten a bit taller since the last time I saw you," Melosa observed, inspecting him.

"That's to be expected, I've got some growing left to do," he answered before getting back on track. "Say, do you know where Alice is?"

Allen held his chin. "If memory serves me correctly, she should be in the guest room," he told him. "You two enjoy yourselves, we'll be heading out,"

"Where to? If you don't mind me asking?"

"Not at all," the man waved it off. "Melosa and I are heading out to help with the damages,"

"I imagine that you, Alice, and the other magic knights were fighting very hard that night, so it wouldn't be right for us to sit around and do nothing," the woman added. "In fact, we've already dispatched all of our servants to aid wherever they can,"

The solar mage nodded with respect. "I expected nothing less from you two, there's a reason Uncle Marcus likes working with your family so much,"

"And it's the same reason we like working with him. See you later," with that, they departed.

Once they were gone, Kenos' face became serious. "So, everyone else is gone? What oddly perfect timing," he walked further down the hall, making a left before going up a short flight of stairs, finally arriving at a door.

"Here we go," he psyched himself up as he took hold of the knob and twisted it, the door opening as the small talk that went on promptly ended. As he was expecting, Alice was there, sitting on a chair, but sitting across from her was the person he truly wanted to see.

"Ryusei," his voice was monotone.

The dragon mage tensed up a bit at the tone used in his friend's greeting. Kenos had to admit that it was strange seeing him so uneasy, but he could understand why. "Um, hey. Alice didn't tell me she invited you,"

"That's because I'm the one who orchestrated this meeting," he answered with crossed arms, addressing his older friend. "Thanks again for doing so on such short notice,"

"No problem," she nodded.

Ryusei shifted in his seat uncomfortably. "So, you got me here. I guess you-,"

He was cut off by Kenos putting his hand up. "Hold that thought. Luck is on my side today, nobody else is here right now. Follow me, we're heading to the courtyard in the back,"

The pair watched as he was already on the move, neither of them wasting time as they followed him to their destination, the walk there being deadly silent.

Arriving out back only took seven or so minutes, but with the tension between them, it felt like an eternity, so much so that the dragon mage tried to lighten the mood. "This spot brings back memories. It was here that we first formed our friendship trio,"

In his mind, Ryusei hoped that mentioning the wholesome fact would divert attention from the conversation he was dreading, but all he did was play into Kenos' hands. "Our friendship trio, you say? That's right, that's what we are, people who trust one another above everyone else, so that begs the question: Why didn't you think you could trust us? Why didn't you tell us about Azaela?"

The kaiyo tensed up inwardly, there was no stopping it now, but despite that, his eyes fell on Alice, her expression undisturbed. "You know about her too?"

"Kenos told me today while we were setting up the meeting," she explained. "I hope you don't mind,"

"No, I guess it's not a problem now," he scratched the back of his head. "Zae, could you come out for a bit?"

At his request, his grimoire did the same thing it did two days prior as Azaela ripped open a portal and stood beside him, her eyes immediately on Kenos. "Your angel buddy isn't going to try and attack me again, is he?"

"I've agreed not to, but I have my eyes on you, so don't try anything," Emmanuel answered for himself, issuing the warning.

"As I said, I mean you no harm, but I understand your concern," she said back, now fixing her eyes on the wind mage. "Alice, it's so nice to finally meet you face-to-face,"

Now that she was no longer in the presence of just her friends, the woman's shyness began to kick back in. "O-Oh, it's nice to meet you too," she fiddled with her fingers. "And if you don't mind me saying it, you're really pretty,"

"Thanks, and so are you. I can see how you were able to capture Yuyu's heart back in the day," she returned the compliment.

"Let's not get sidetracked," Kenos said with seriousness. "Answer the question, Ryu. Why didn't you tell us anything? And how long have you two known each other? If you're on a nickname basis, you must've been acquainted for some time. What happened to the guy who would rather stab himself than lie to the people around him?

"She's a devil, I didn't know how'd you react," was his answer.

"Why didn't you tell us and see for sure?" he challenged the response. "Maybe we'd be a little spooked at first, but you're our closest friend, we would have more trust in your judgment than not. Besides, after seeing Asta transform during the exam, you'd have to know he had a devil too since you'd undoubtedly recognize his Weg, and you didn't see any of us have a problem with it. You could've told us afterward when you stopped by for that spar,"

Ryusei sighed. "Okay, you're not exactly wrong there, I guess it was just that I was already keeping her a secret for so long, it just felt safer that way. The only reason she even made an appearance two days ago was because she noticed Secre and Teiko and wanted a reunion,"

Kenos ignored the last sentence and zeroed in on the specific answer. "It just felt safer? What do you mean by that? Did you think you were somehow protecting us? Do you think we're helpless or something?" he asked in a tone that sounded less accusatory and more hurt.

"Okay, I have to intervene," Azaela got involved. "Please don't be mad at him too much, I was one who told him it was better if no one else knew about me, he wanted to-,"

"No," Ryusei extended an arm. "I'm a person with autonomy, I chose to agree with you when I could've easily refused," he sighed a second time. "Y'know, I think it'll make more sense if I just tell you how this all started,"

[Flashback]

Thisavros Household. Five Years Ago.

"Ah, that hits the spot!"

Good fortune was something that acted on its own, occurring by chance, and for the trio that sat on the grass of the spot they were fond of while currently enjoying an ice-cold cup of lemonade, good fortune was on their side as they were graced with yet another sunny day.

"There's nothing better than enjoying some good juice after a good hangout with your friends," Ryusei commented, sitting on the far left.

Alice, who was at the far right, nodded. "Yeah. Can you believe it was raining all last week? We had to hang out indoors, and it just isn't the same,"

Kenos giggled, gulping the rest of his lemonade down. "I personally don't mind where we are. I actually liked being inside for that week, I got to show off my super special awesome card skills,"

The older pair laughed. "I'll say, you were a beast, not something you'd expect from an 11-year-old," the future dragon mage commented.

"Ah ah ah, I think you mean a 12-year-old," he corrected him.

"Your birthday isn't for another few days though," Alice spoke up. "Don't be in such a rush, enjoy being 11 for as long as you can. Take it from me, you're childhood seems long now, but once you're my age, it'll feel like it all came and went in a flash,"

"Eh, I guess, but I'm still excited anyway," he said back. "We should do something cool today, something we don't usually do,"

"Such as?" Ryusei was accepting suggestions.

Kenos held his chin. "What about…a spar? We can do a threeway fight, that's a new one,"

"What's the point in that?" the future dragon mage shot it down bluntly. "Alice is the only one with a grimoire, we wouldn't stand a chance,"

The future solar mage's arms slumped. "Oh, I guess you have a point,"

"Y'know, if you're bored, I might have a suggestion," a voice from afar said, the trio turning their heads to see Allen some feet away, approaching them.

"Hey Dad," the girl waved.

"Hello all," he waved back. "But as I was saying, if you want a cool adventure, you can try searching for a Ratatoskr,"

"A what?" the three asked in unison.

"A Ratatoskr," he repeated. "It's a semi-rare breed of magic beast. Back when I was a kid, I would spend so much time scouring around terrains to spot exotic things, whether they be animals or plants,"

His eyes then fell on his daughter as he blushed slightly. "That's actually how I met your mother, you should've seen her back in the day, she was incredible, and the way she smiled when she found something was just the cutest thing-,"

"Um, Mister Thisavros, are you going to keep talking about your wife, or the magic beast?" Ryusei interrupted him.

Allen cleared his throat. "Right, sorry. The Ratatoskr is a semi-rare breed, they vary in size and resemble squirrels, but they aren't known for being overly large. However, what they're known for is being incredibly quick,"

The future dragon mage raised a brow. "No offense, but that doesn't sound very impressive. Why look for this beast in particular?"

"That's because they can mimic sounds they hear, all you have to do is catch one and gently squeeze their sides," he replied.

"Have you ever caught one before?" his daughter was curious.

Allen nodded. "I have. They usually appear more often around this time of year, so now's your best chance,"

Kenos held his chin. "That does sound like it would make for an amazing adventure, let's do it!" he rose to his feet. "Where should we start looking?"

"The same place I encountered one: the forest next to the Augustyne estate,"

Alice tensed up ever-so-slightly. "Is that so? Then we should get moving. I'll go get my broom,"

The man could sense something was off with his child. "Are you sure you'll be fine going there?"

She turned around while in her stride. "Don't worry, I'll be okay," she replied, disappearing into the house.

"Did something happen to her there?" Ryusei inquired.

"What? Oh no, I was just asking," Allen lied. "She's never gone exploring in a forest before, at least, not that I'm aware of,"

Alice appeared a few minutes later. "C'mon boys, all three of us should be able to fit,"

"Nice, let's go," Kenos helped the future dragon mage up as they ran to her.

"Make sure to be careful. Alice, you're the oldest, don't let them get hurt. Also, act cautiously around the Numbroot trees, that's where Ratatoskrs like to eat,"

"You can count on me," she said back as they mounted the broom and were on their way.

---

"Wow, this place looks incredible," Kenos commented aloud, the eleven-year-old eagerly looking in every direction. "I've never been here before,"

"Same, but this area is so big, it must cover like a dozen acres or something," Ryusei added.

Alice wasn't as excited as them, but she managed to remain composed. "Let's not dilly-dally. Since we don't want to run the risk of getting lost, we'll search as a group," she told them.

"Works for me," the boys agreed.

From there, they began their search, looking everywhere they went, succeeding in spotting regular animals, but for the first forty-five minutes, the beast they sought had eluded them. "Um, Alice," Kenos spoke up. "Before we left, your dad said that these things liked to eat around Numbroot trees,"

"Yeah. I think I did some reading about that type of tree, it produces a really sweet fruit. The Ratatoskrs must like it a lot,"

"Then what if, instead of looking for one of them, we find the tree and let one of them come to us?" he suggested.

The second oldest nodded. "It's the best idea we've got, beats aimlessly searching,"

"Very well, let's find one," Alice agreed as their target changed, this one being far easier to locate as it only took them seventeen or so minutes. Once they found the object in question, they hid next to a nearby tree and waited.

Ryusei stole a peek at the tree, it wasn't the tallest thing out there, but it wasn't short either. The color of their leaves contrasted that of every other tree as they were a light orange rather than a deep green, but what caught his attention the most was the oval-shaped fruit hanging from its branches.

"I'm curious. Why is it called a Numbroot tree?"

"Because there are tons of quills around the entirety of the tree's trunk," the wind mage began explaining. "They aren't visible from a distance, but once you get close enough, you'll see them. If one pricks you, it releases some kind of chemical into that area which makes it super numb,"

"Cool defense mechanism," the future solar mage mused. "Now we wait, let's just hope that it doesn't take too-,"

Before he could even finish his sentence, a squeal was heard, silencing the trio as they noticed a magic beast nimbly running across the forest surface. The first thing they noticed was how fast the animal was, generating wind in its wake, but after that, they noticed its features. It was primarily brown with streaks of green around the shoulder region, and it greatly resembled…a squirrel.

"A Ratatoskr," the trio thought in unison, waiting until the creature carefully climbed up the tree and rested on one of the branches to come out of their hiding place.

"That's what it looks like, aye? Your dad was right, it really isn't that big," Ryusei said.

Alice slowly inched closer as the beast neared a piece of fruit, pulling it off as it helped itself. "That's good for us. You two stay back, I'll try first," she focused wind beneath her feet as she rocketed toward the target.

"Hi there!" she extended her arms, but to her shock, the Ratatoskr quickly noticed her and began scurrying toward a hole in the trunk. "Oh no you don't!" she changed her body's position and gave chase.

The race was a brief one and it ended in the creature's victory as it took another bite of the fruit, rapidly chewing it before spitting it with deadly accuracy, the slosh hitting Alice directly in the eye.

"Ah!" the teen screamed, losing control as she slammed onto the trunk before plummeting down.

"Alice!" her two friends rushed to save her, breaking her fall.

"Ew, gross," she wiped the fruit away. "Thanks, you two, I-...AHHH!"

"What's wrong?" the boys were startled by her sudden cry.

"My leg! This sensation!" she replied before calming down. Kenos looked at both of her legs, noticing that three quills were lodged in her left shin, bypassing her pants.

"That isn't good, it must've gotten you when you lost control," he told her.

"How are you feeling?" the future dragon mage asked with worry.

"I feel better now, but my leg is really numb, I won't be able to stand properly,"

Ryusei stared up at the hole. "We need to find a way to lure it back out. Perhaps we should try using our magic?"

"I don't know," Kenos answered. "That may just end up making the Ratatoskr stay inside,"

"Do you have an idea then?"

"I think I do," the youngest boy carefully took off his family pendant before creating a solar orb, commanding it to levitate a few inches above the violet gem as it emitted a beam of light, reflecting off the pendant and onto the tree.

"I hope this works," he began to move the pendant, doing the same to the beam of light until it was inside the hole. From there, he slowly began tilting it, the beam exiting the hole and landing on the branch, the creature following it with fixation.

Kenos couldn't help but grin, glad his plan worked so well. "Nice, just a little more-," before he could finish his sentence, the squirrel-like beast's head shot in his direction, then, faster than any of them could truly perceive, it bounced off the branch and dove right at the boy, snatching the pendant from his grasp.

"Hey! That's mine!" he yelled in a panic as the Ratatoskr dashed up north. "Give it back!"

"Don't worry, I'm on it," in what seemed like no time at all, Ryusei gave chase.

"I'm coming too, Ryu!" Kenos called out to him, preparing to run.

"No, stay there! Someone needs to watch over Alice! I'll get your pendant back, I promise!" the future dragon mage dissuaded him before they both disappeared into the distance.

"Good luck,"

When Allen spoke of the speed of that breed, he wasn't kidding, and the kaiyo was learning it the hard way as he struggled to keep the beast in his line of vision. "Crap, I need to go a lot faster. Reinforcement Magic: Leg Strength Boost!" he pumped as much mana as he could into his lower body as his speed drastically increased.

"Get back here, you little rascal! That doesn't belong to you!" he was getting a little closer, stretching an arm out, his hand nearly close enough to grab its tail, but alas, the chance slipped away as it shifted directions, now going northeast.

"Woah!" Ryusei was forced to come to a stop for a second, unable to turn so abruptly at his current speed, that limitation costing him as the Ratatoskr was notably ahead of him now. "Look, I get it, you think the pendant is really shiny and nice-looking, but that isn't an excuse. If you still intend on trying to get away, it's time I resort to my original plan for catching you!"

His hand lit up as he fired a singular magic bullet, the creature running past a tree to use it as a quick shield. "Damn it, you just got lucky, dodge these!" he fired more, but no matter how fast he tried, the beast evaded each one.

"Damn it, what I'd give to have my grimoire right now," he muttered under his breath as he quickly began to notice the number of trees dwindle, and for good reason as they had exited the forest's territory were now staring at a vast field with tons of hills.

"Holy crap. How far out am I?" Ryusei wondered aloud as he stopped, needing a moment to take in the surroundings, however, a squeal took him out of his thoughts as he could see the Ratatoskr scurrying down a hill, entering what looked like a decrepit opening.

"Alright, no time to think, better move!" he ran down as fast as he could, hoping the short rest he was provided would be enough.

In a matter of seconds, the teen entered the opening as well, being met with the sight of a long and dark path with a light at the end. "You can do this, Ryusei, Kenos is counting on you. Be brave, be brave," he gathered his nerves as he bolted inside, running at top speed until he reached the end, and from there, he was met with an incredible sight.

All around him were yellow orbs, illuminating the vast room that only had one path. The area was unlike anything he'd ever seen before, but as he blinked, his mind began to access information. "Hold on, I'm sure I've read about places like these. Am I…in a dungeon?"

He would soon get his answer as he heard panicked squeals. Staring into the distance, he saw the squirrel-like creature doing its best to evade the traps it unknowingly set off.

The future dragon mage smirked. "It really is a dungeon! Finally, fate is on my side, this is perfect!" he hopped down and ran at it, but just then, his foot landed on a tile, the object in question flashing before a large log tied to a rope swung by at a crazy speed. Thankfully, Ryusei just managed to back up, but he was understandably terrified.

"Not perfect, not perfect! Holy shit!" he began catching his breath. "I can't be complacent, or else I'm going to die,"

Thinking fast, he knelt down and shot a horizontal wave of magic along the floor, attempting to trigger any nearby traps, and from what it looked like, he was in the clear. "Nice,"

But looks could be deceiving.

Upon taking two steps forward, another trap was activated. This time, it took the form of the tile opening and spitting out an upward blast of fire, the future dragon mage just managing to get out unscathed, but the same couldn't be said for a part of his shirt, causing him to quickly pat it down.

"Oh c'mon, I thought I was safe," he groaned. He then looked ahead, the magic beast having evaded the nearby traps and was on the move again. Ryusei took a deep breath, if he wanted to have a chance, he'd have to throw caution to the wind. "Here goes everything," mana filled his legs as he dashed forward.

From that point on, the amount of traps he faced was without number. Whether it be raining spikes, poisonous bugs, or elemental blasts, Ryusei trudged on, no matter how much damage his clothes sustained or how many small injuries he was dealt with, he kept on going.

Ten minutes passed and he was still on the move, but his crimson-colored cheeks showed that he was nearing the point of complete exhaustion. "Gotta…run…more…or…or," he couldn't even muster another word before eventually collapsing, taking multiple exasperated breaths. Beyond him, the Ratatoskr was still going. "Stupid…squirrel,"

But just then, the creature stepped on another tile, unknowingly triggering the dungeon's final trap. The entire space began to shake violently as if an earthquake was occurring, the floor splitting into two with the other half lowering in elevation, turning the straight path into an uneven chasm, a change the magic beast wasn't prepared for as it was moving too fast to stop, jumping over the chasm with an inefficient amount force, doomed to plummet to the bottom.

Not on Ryusei's watch though. "No!" adrenaline pumped in his veins as he bolted there as fast as he could, boosting his legs as he took the leap, catching the creature in his arms before bracing himself, landing brutally on the other side, his shoulder region taking the brunt of the fall.

The teen could hardly believe the feat he pulled off if his surprised face said anything. "I'm alive!" he cheered, the creature still in hand before he winced in pain. His eyes fell on his right shoulder, which had suffered severe scraping, blood flowing freely down his arm. "I'll have to check on it later, right now, I have to get what I came for,"

Shifting his grip, he used his available hand to squeeze the beast's mouth, the pendant now falling into his hand as he put it in his pocket. From there, he looked at the specimen curiously. Holding it with both hands, he gently squeezed its sides, the Ratatoskr opening its mouth as sounds came out of it, ranging from the song of birds, to the boy's own exclamations made in an effort to catch it.

Going through some trouble would be an understatement, but seeing the neat trick left Ryusei a little less annoyed. "Okay, that actually is pretty cool. I can't wait to show you to the others," but it didn't take long for him to realize his situation as he turned around, the newly-formed chasm still there. "Correction, I can't wait to show you to the others after I find a way out of here,"

He put the creature down, but rather than run some more, it stuck close by, rubbing its head against his leg. "Don't tell me you did all of that just because you wanted to have some fun? Actually, don't answer that, I'll find us a way out," he focused on what was in front of him.

Stuff. Tons and tons of stuff.

"This must be the end of the dungeon by the looks of it, there's bound to be some kind of treasure that can help," he mumbled to himself, searching for anything that appeared useful, but in no time at all, something caught his attention. He knelt down, picking up a gold bracelet-like contraption with a purple strap, but what caught his attention the most was that it looked incredibly damaged.

"Odd, why is this here when it's broken? Could someone else have been here?" he wondered, but just then, the item began to glow with a strange aura, making the teen jump as he dropped it and stepped back.

The bracelet floated into the air before a gray portal appeared next to it, hands coming out to enlarge it as a female figure stepped out, paying the visitors no mind at first as she grabbed Metamorph, but then, a single red eye peered in their direction, looking straight at them.

The figure blinked multiple times, as if she was surprised to see him as well. She faced forward now, allowing the teen to get a good look at her abnormal features. "Wow, an actual person,"

Ryusei understandably couldn't speak, shocked beyond all belief, the Ratatoskr hiding behind him. However, the figure was the opposite, appearing comfortable as she took a step forward, the teen immediately taking one backward.

In an instant, her comfortable expression vanished, replaced by a frown. "Oh, that's right. You're scared of me, aren't you?"

Having a little more time to process it, the future dragon mage opened his mouth. "...Yes, you look really scary, but at the same time, you're…kinda pretty,"

"Huh?" she tilted her head in confusion. "Can't say I was expecting that, granted, it's not the first time someone told me that," her eyes then focused on his body, noticing something that made her get close to him in an instant.

Before Ryusei could make a frightened yelp, the figure put her hands up. "Hold on, I'm not going to hurt you, I swear. Besides, it looks like something else beat me to it," she pointed to his bleeding shoulder.

"Yeah, the traps in here are dangerous as all hell,"

"I see that. May I?" she said before requesting permission to touch him.

He was understandably skeptical, but he relented. "Ok,"

"Thanks," she placed a hand on his shoulder, a dark substance oozing onto it. She then poked at every other spot where he was injured, secreting the same substance, a few seconds passed before it evaporated, revealing his healed wounds.

"Woah. How'd you do that?" Ryusei was amazed, his fear gone in an instant.

"It's just a trick I learned to do with my magic," she replied, walking back before taking a seat on the rough floor. "I guess you're wondering what exactly am I?"

"Obviously,"

"Promise you won't freak out. I'm…a devil,"

The noble stared at her blankly. "Don't lie to me,"

The devil wasn't expecting that to be his response. "Excuse me?"

"You heard me, don't lie. You're not a devil, devils are supposed to be ugly, you're way too attractive,"

The figure across from him held back the urge to burst into laughter. "Do you have a girlfriend?"

"Uh, no. I'm 14, a bit young for that stuff, there was a girl I liked a year or two ago," he answered, sitting down too.

"I see, I've never seen someone compliment another person so bluntly. However, I am telling the truth, I am a devil, but I guess you could call me…a special case,"

"A special case? What do you mean by that?"

"Don't worry about it. I'm Azaela, by the way,"

"Ryusei Kaiyo,"

"A fascinating name. So, what exactly are you doing here?"

The teen grabbed the magic beast beside him. "This little rascal snatched something that belonged to a friend of mine, so I chased him here to get it back. It's the furthest I've ever run in my life, I'm probably miles away from where I started, but it means a lot to him…so it was worth it,"

Azaela's features softened. "You went through all of that trouble, huh? You're a good friend,"

"It's nothing, I know he'd do the same for me," he waved it off. "What about you? Were you inside that bracelet? And why did you put yourself in a dungeon?"

"I guess you could say I was inside Metamorph, that's its name in case you were wondering, but not anymore…sort of," she began. "As for why I'm in a dungeon, it wasn't my choice. One was just created around me, I've been in this general area for a while, so I guess something was bound to happen,"

"How long?" Ryusei was curious.

"500 years," she replied, taking minor joy at his comical shock.

"Really?!" he tried to wrap his head around it. "So you put yourself in a bracelet, brought yourself here, and did nothing for 500 years?"

"I wouldn't say 'nothing', but you're correct for the most part,"

The teen frowned. "Weren't you lonely?"

Azaela frowned too. "Yeah, it did hurt being all alone, but it had to be done,"

"What do you mean?"

"I didn't put myself in Metamorph. Five centuries ago, I had friends, a trio of humans, but… something happened, so I asked one of them to use her magic to seal me away, all so I could escape him,"

He noticed the emphasis put on the last word. "Him? Who are you talking about?"

She spoke up to answer his question, her voice laced with contempt. "Iscariot,"

"Iscariot?"

"Yeah. My, ugh, 'brother'," she added air quotes to the title. "If you can even call him that. He's a bastard by every definition of the word,"

"Sibling issues, aye? I wonder how'd that work between devils?" Ryusei thought to himself. "Why do you want to get away from him?"

"He wants to use my Void Magic to help him in some kind of insidious scheme, but I want no part of it,"

"What's so special about your magic? Well, except for being able to heal injuries so fast?"

"My attribute can do a plethora of things, a 'jack of some trades but master of none' type deal, one of these abilities is the one to bend small amounts of space. He wants it to use that power to leave where he is and come here,"

The future dragon mage was nodding, understanding everything she said until reaching the last part. "Wait, he couldn't physically be where you were? Then how'd he find you?"

"We're linked, in a sense. It's a long story, but he can basically locate me whenever I use my magic,"

That spooked him. "But…you just made that portal earlier. Does that mean Iscariot knows you're here?"

"Not this time he doesn't," she grinned. "As I said, a friend of mine sealed me in Metamorph, but over the centuries, I've had time to use my magic to alter the seal a bit. I'm still sealed in a sense, but now I'm tethered to Metamorph, that's why it glowed before my portal formed. As long as I don't use my magic in strong bursts, he won't have a clue as to my whereabouts,"

"That's genius," Ryusei was impressed. "Now what?"

Azaela raised a brow. "What do you mean?"

"You managed to hide from Iscariot. Have you made a plan to beat him yet?"

"There is no plan," she answered bluntly. "I'm going to stay here. Iscariot is powerful, and he has strong allies, I can't take the risk of him using me, not when I'm weaker than him,"

The noble didn't like that, so he stood up with determination. "What if I help you then?"

Azaela was flabbergasted. "I beg your pardon?"

"If he's that strong, I'll lend you my strength. I'm going to get my grimoire soon, then once we join forces, perhaps we'll stand a chance,"

The void devil liked his tenacity, but as her eyes glowed white and she looked at him, she frowned. "I don't know. You don't appear to be up to it,"

The boy was insistent though. "I know I'm young and inexperienced now, but I can train, and you can teach me or something, anything to get stronger. Please, let me help, it hurts to see a friend of mine have to suffer for so long,"

Azaela's eyes widened. "A…friend?"

"Yeah, you healed me, and you shared your story with me, not to mention I like your vibe; that makes us friends and I won't leave a friend behind, no matter what I have to go through. Plus, there's no way you can really be content with staying here any longer, let me put an end to your loneliness,"

The woman would be lying if she said she wasn't moved by his passionate words, but she couldn't deny the facts. However, maybe he had a point, isolation wasn't good for anyone, even if it was for the greater good; even though it was brief, she enjoyed these few minutes of actually getting to talk to someone rather than just speaking to herself. Beyond that, perhaps it was also time to take the fight to her brother somehow. But there was one more reason, something that made her judge more with her heart than what her eyes saw.

A sigh escaped her lips. "Fine then, I'll accept your offer…it's hard to refuse the passion of one who acts on behalf of his friends,"

"Really? Don't worry, I won't let you down, I swear!"

"I hope so. But to make this easier on you, it'll be for the best if we form a contract, that way, you'll gain a boost in power as well as access to my Void Magic. Iscariot is linked to me, not you, so you using my power shouldn't cause any issues,"

"Is something like that even possible?"

"It is for a devil," she responded, crossing her arms. "You're lucky though, I'm here on this plane of existence with you. If you were going to do this with any other devil, it'd take a lot more work, not to mention a sacrifice on your part,"

Ryusei breathed a sigh of relief. "You're right, I did get lucky. Alright, let's do this,"

"Okay, to start, I'm going to have to mark a part of your body that will act as the signifier of our contract," she began. "Where do you want it?"

"What?!" he yelped. "You can't do that, my parents would freak once they saw it,"

"That's alright, just choose a part you can hide,"

"Easier said than done," the teen began thinking before he snapped his fingers. "I know where you can do it," he took his shirt off and turned around, revealing his dragon tattoo. "I was born with this, they won't suspect anything if you mark it in the same shape,"

"You were born with that?"

"It's a family thing, I'll explain later,"

"I see," Azaela accepted it as she got up and neared him, her finger surging with eerie mana as she dragged it along the dragon, the entire thing turning black momentarily before becoming red again. "A little void camouflage for extra measure. How do you feel?"

"Incredible, but not like I'm surging with power,"

"That's because you're not actually using any of my power yet,"

"Oh," he said, becoming excited. "I can't wait to introduce you to Kenos and Alice, those are my best friends. We can even train together, that'd be awesome,"

"Absolutely not," Azaela became stern. "Look, the less people know about me and my situation, the better,"

"But…I've been gone for a while, they're going to ask where I've been,"

"And? Just make something up,"

Simply hearing those words made Ryusei stumble. "You want me to…lie to them? But, I've never lied to my friends, or my family, or anyone,"

"Then I'm afraid you'll have to start now," she said, placing a hand on his shoulder. "I'm not saying they're untrustworthy or anything, but I'm a devil, who knows how they'll react, it's best to not take that risk. If they're to know, it'll only be if we have no choice,"

The future dragon mage still didn't like the position he was in now, clenching his fists. "...Fine. I'll lie to them,"

She smiled with understanding. "Thank you. Now, are you ready to get out of here?"

"Sure," his enthusiasm was virtually gone as he picked up the Ratatoskr. Azaela then placed a hand on their shoulder, the black substance covering them before they disappeared, reappearing outside the dungeon.

The devil immediately shielded her eyes. "Damn, it's been so long since I've seen the sun. I take it you can make it on your own?"

"Yeah,"

She placed Metamorph in his other pocket before ripping open another portal. From there, Ryusei dashed up and into the forest, letting the beast go as he moved, many thoughts raced in his mind, but he pushed them back as soon as he could spot his friends.

"Guys!" he called out to them.

"Ryusei!" they yelled back as he convened with them. "You're okay!"

The future dragon mage put on a smile. "Yup, I told you I could do it," he reached into his pocket, pulling out the pendant and giving it to Kenos. "Here you go,"

The boy hugged him tightly. "Thank you so much! We were starting to get worried. What happened back there?"

"You'll never believe it," the teen put his hands into his pockets to relax, but in that moment, one of them bumped into the bracelet, his expression becoming uneasy. "I…I…That beast really gave me a run for my money, but I was able to trap it using my magic," he said, laughing nervously.

"Are you okay?" Alice asked.

"Y-Yeah, just a little embarrassed, it managed to give me the slip more times than I thought,"

"That's alright, keeping up with it is impressive by itself," the wind mage slowly rose to her feet. "I think the effects are wearing off. What do you say we head home?"

"Works for me," Kenos agreed. "A shame we didn't really get to see anything interesting," he strode in front of them, the girl right behind him.

But Ryusei stood in the back, a look of guilt present. "Yeah…what a shame,"

[End Flashback]

"And that's how it happened," Ryusei finished his story. "After I turned 15 and got my grimoire, Zae was able to use her magic to transfer the seal and be tethered to it rather than Metamorph,"

Kenos and Alice couldn't believe it. "To think all of that happened and we were none the wiser," the latter said.

Ryusei rubbed his arm. "Yeah, and I'm sorry again for not telling you. I don't think either of you was ever helpless or anything, I just didn't want to get you involved because, well…it was supposed to be my burden. I was the one who offered to help. Heck, looking back at it now, I did it without even really comprehending the risks, I just wanted to be there for a friend. I didn't want to drag you into it,"

As he finished, silence reigned, but it didn't last as the solar mage finally spoke. "I'm sorry too," he said. "I thought you didn't trust us or something, but if you were just trying to protect us in your own way, I can't complain about that. Besides, I'm no stranger to wanting to keep things personal. I should've been more understanding,"

"Hey, you don't have to do all of that," the dragon mage extended a hand. "Why don't we just agree that from now on, I'll be entirely honest with you?"

Kenos shook his head. "No, it's alright if you feel like you have to keep some stuff from us. You've always been against lying because of how fast it can destroy trust, but the two of us will trust you no matter what,"

"And don't you ever doubt it," Alice added.

The crimson-clad knight smiled. "Thanks,"

While they were having their heartfelt talk, Emmanuel was processing what he heard in his mind. "Iscariot. I don't recall any powerful devil with that name. Could he have been present during the Advent War? It's also possible that he could've started off weak and rose through the ranks, Azaela did mention devils gaining power in rare cases,"

However, he figured this mystery devil could wait, something else was on his mind, and he wished to voice it. "Very well then, if what you say is true, I'll put a little more faith in you,"

"That's perfectly fine with me," she accepted.

From within his space, the angel raised a brow. "Say, were you around during the Advent War?"

"I was, but I didn't hurt anybody, honest. Once I was on the mortal plane, I kept to myself and wandered around,"

Unbeknownst to everyone else, Emmanuel breathed a silent sigh of relief. "So that means you came into existence within Underworld Prime,"

"Underworld Prime?" the humans repeated.

The angel began to explain. "When devils first began to appear, they were free to roam the Earth like everyone else, but once we angels learned that they were a threat, we fought against them in multiple battles. Eventually, we were able to combine our powers and create one large prison dimension for them which is now referred to as Underworld Prime. Things were going fine for a couple of centuries and we had no issues…then Zagred happened,"

Kenos' mind flashed back to his encounter with the word devil. "That's right,"

Azaela, on the other hand, raised a brow. "Who's Zagred?"

"He's the one who was responsible for what happened to the elves and why they were trying to kill us," the black bull replied.

"What?!" she punched her palm. "So he's the one who ruined everything? I wish I was there to take him down, but Yuyu and I were needed elsewhere,"

"As I was saying, Zagred changed everything. It turned out we had failed to capture him during the round-up, no doubt thanks to his tricky magic. Then…he found a way to open Underworld Prime,"

"How?" Alice asked the question in all of their minds.

"We don't know, even now. We were able to locate him after he did it, and it looked like some kind of ritual. We tried to stop him…but it was too late, devils were pouring in like crazy, so many more having come into existence,"

"It didn't take long for the Advent War to start, did it?" Kenos deduced.

"No," Emmanuel answered. "Those days were catastrophic and full of casualties on all sides; humans, angels, devils, everyone, no one got out unscathed. Fortunately, we were able to win in the end, we created the Shadow Palace to punish Zagred, as for the other devils, well, except for Azaela it seems, we rounded them up again. Since we didn't know how Underworld Prime was opened or if the ritual could be replicated, all we could do was try to make it more secure. We used Prime as a foundation and created a new underworld, one as strong and complex as possible…but it took everything we had. Even though every single angel contributed, it took us seven days of constant effort to complete it,"

Ryusei whistled. "Seven days is no small feat, you guys must've been drained,"

"That we were, but we couldn't stop, not until we were done. Once it was completed, the Lord dubbed it 'Underworld Sheva'. However, just as that happened, we all disappeared. At first, we thought we were dying, but it turned out we just couldn't exist in the physical world anymore, eventually we could again, but there were-,"

"Consequences," Kenos finished. "So that's how it happened?"

"Indeed,"

"That means that Iscariot was trying to use Zae to leave Underworld Sheva," Ryusei pieced it together. "Well, even if he does find a way out, I'll be waiting for him,"

The solar mage smiled at his friend. "I imagine so. You've been partnered with Azaela for five whole years, you must've reached insane heights with her power,"

"On the contrary, time isn't actually the greatest factor when it comes to the progression of a devil host," the void devil corrected him. "Instead, it's factored by their affinity,"

"Affinity?"

"It's a statistical number assigned to a person when they're born that dictates how well they improve with devil power," she began. "Granted, something very important to know about affinity is that it's not decided by genetics or anything similar, nor can it be strengthened or weakened, you either have a good affinity or you don't,"

Kenos nodded. "I see. So, what's the verdict for Ryu?"

Upon hearing that, the kaiyo's face turned red with nervous embarrassment as he scratched the back of his head, chuckling. "Yeah, about that,"

Azaela answered the boy's question as she fashioned her fingers into a number. "Yuyu has absolutely zero affinity as a devil host,"

That sure shocked his friends. "Zero?!"

"It's not that surprising actually, that's the number most common in the mortal population," her eyes glowed white as she scanned the other knights. "Even you two have affinities of zero,"

"How far have you progressed then?" Kenos inquired. "Do devil hosts also measure power in percentages like angels do?"

Ryusei nodded. "Yeah, but my low rate isn't the only issue. Since no one could find out about Zae, I couldn't practice as often as I wanted to. Combine that together and all I can manage after five years is 50%,"

"What are you talking about? 50% is a great amount," Alice chimed in. "It's halfway to 100, it has to be good,"

"In a vacuum, yes, but after affinity, the next important thing that's factored in is the power of the devil," Azaela politely countered, facing the Rossiu. "As you noticed during our first meeting, I'm not exactly the strongest out there,"

"That does make me curious though. What's your rank?" the angel asked.

"Devils have ranks?"

"Your partner's correct, there are four ranks that devils can fall into: Low, Mid, High, and Supreme. As I told Yuyu when we first met, I'm a…special case, so I don't really have an accurate rank, when it comes to my strength though, I'm around that of your above-average mid-tier, meaning Yuyu got lucky with me again. If he, by some miracle, managed to contract with a supreme devil and went through his five years of minimal training, the best I could see him reaching is 3%, maybe 4%; on the flip side, if I were to gauge how long it'd take him to reach 50% with a supreme devil, it'd be 37 years give or take, and that's if he trained his butt off every day without fail,"

Kenos held his chin. "Hm, the more you know. Say, I know about having zero affinity, but what about the opposite? Are there people with a perfect affinity?"

In response, the devil chuckled. "There'd have to be from a common sense standpoint, but good luck finding one. They're SUPER rare, in fact, no devil I've known has ever encountered one, but legends say they can master the power of even the strongest devils in mere months. Back when I lived in Underworld Prime, I would hear talk about them. Many of us believed that the reason we never came across them was because only one could exist at any given moment,"

"Damn. I take it you had a name for them?"

She nodded. "We called them 'Ideal Devil Hosts',"

"Ideal Devil Hosts. Let's just hope none of the other kingdoms have one on their side, or they could very well be what Julius saw in his vision destroying Clover," the solar mage thought.

Ryusei shrugged his shoulders. "They sound like a big deal, I may not be one of them, but I'll still work hard," he said. "It was nice getting to have this talk, I'll see you all later,"

"Hold up," Kenos' voice stopped him. "Asking about your connection to Azaela wasn't all I came here for," his grimoire flipped to its special page. "Heaven Magic: Angel's Child!"

They watched him transform as he raised his sword at his male friend. "I want to see what this power can do!"

The dragon mage grinned. "Then I won't disappoint," he answered as Azaela retreated into her portal. "Devil Power: 50%!" he transformed as well, the two forming distance from each other.

Alice's eyes shifted between her two friends. Were they really going to have a spar in her backyard? No way. She would not let that happen.

Without her, that is.

"Wind Creation Magic: Battlefield Dancer!"

The boys focused on her now as she stood in her own transformation. "I'm getting in on this too. I might not have a devil or an angel, but you better not underestimate me,"

"We wouldn't dream of it!" they grinned.

"Come, Erebus!" the demonic dragon mage called his dark ace.

"You're not the only one with a buddy. Wind Creation Magic: Tyrmore, the Ever-Faithful Companion!"

"Looks like I'm the only one who will be fighting alone, but that's by me," Kenos said.

"Bring it on!"

---

"She's got to be around here somewhere,"

While a battle was going on elsewhere, Noelle strode through the ruined streets of the capital, looking in every direction. To be honest, she hadn't really gotten the chance to inspect how much damage the area sustained, so seeing how much destruction was around spooked her a bit, but she had no time to be unsettled, she was searching for someone.

Despite reading it a single time, the water mage perfectly memorized the words stated in her brother's letter.

"Hello, I hope this letter finds you well. I'll be blunt, I've never done something of this nature with anyone before, let alone you, but if you'll allow me, I have crucial information to share with you regarding Mother. For your whole life, you've been under the impression that she died giving birth to you…but that isn't true, something else took her from us, as for what that is, I can't tell you, but there's someone who can. If you want to learn more, find Dorothy Unsworth,"

"I've never spoken to Captain Dorothy before, but I hear she's finally awake, so she's got to be helping out, I just need to find out where,"

"Careful with that debris, you guys, bring it over to me!" a familiar voice was heard atop a roof.

The royal smiled, it was as if fate was doing her a favor. "Nice," she reached the building in question, spotting Coral Peacocks nearby. With mana-enhanced legs, she jumped to the top, landing with a notable thud.

Hearing the sound, the dream mage turned around, seemingly unbothered by the unexpected visitor. "Hey, you're from Yami's squad. Are you looking for something?"

"Yes, I'm here to speak with you,"

"Little 'ol me," she poked her chin in a cutesy manner. "Sure, just give me a second," her attention was quickly diverted to her knights and the debris they brought to her. With a snap of her fingers, it was all gone.

"Holy crap, you're amazing, captain!" the knights gushed.

"Aw, you guys are the best. Now, spread out and see who else needs help,"

"Yes, ma'am!" they clover-saluted and went on their way.

"Sorry about that," Dorothy's attention was back on Noelle. "What can I do for you?"

"I want you to tell me how she died if it wasn't through giving birth to me. Was it because of-," she was promptly stopped by two fingers pushing against her lips.

"Slow down there. It was Nozel who sent you, wasn't it? That means he couldn't tell you to watch your mouth or you may end up cursing yourself," she said. "We can't talk here, let's go somewhere else,"

In an instant, the two of them glowed and vanished, appearing in a whimsical space, the water mage now standing on a cloud.

"Glamour World," she said aloud.

"Oh, you know about my spell?" Dorothy appeared, sitting on a floating throne.

"Some of my squadmates told me about this place,"

"Then you know that I'm in charge here. I can make whatever I wish, and nothing from the outside world will affect us. With that being said, would you like some tea?"

With a puff of smoke, a teacup and kettle appeared in front of the royal, pouring some out for her. "Sure, thank you," she took a sip of it, surprised by the taste. "What is this?"

"Mint and cinnamon stick, my favorite blend, it never fails to warm the soul," she replied.

"I can see why, this is good,"

"Really? Can I try some?" another voice was heard, one she wasn't expecting.

"Asta?" to say she was shocked would be putting it lightly. "How did you get here? Did you come to see Dorothy earlier? Wait, what about your mission?"

The swordsman hopped from construct to construct until he was standing on the same cloud as her. "That isn't important. Right now, there's something I have to know,"

"And that is?" she raised a brow before the boy quickly invaded her space.

"Did you do something with your hair? Because it looks super cute," he asked with a big smile on his face.

"H-Huh?" it took all her willpower to not blush on the spot.

"Surprised?" Dorothy appeared behind her with a smug smirk. "I can read minds to a certain degree here, and I can see that you think about this boy a lot. This is how you want him to talk to you,"

"Yup, it's true," he crossed his arms and nodded.

"So, he isn't real? I see, and for the record, I-I don't think about him a lot, and if I do, it's about how dumb he is," she said in complete denial.

The fake Asta shrugged. "Sure, whatever you say. Anyway, do you mind if I have a piece of that cake?"

"What cake?" she was confused, just to realize that the teacup had turned into a plate with a slice of cake on it, a fork inserted in it. "What the?" her eyes found Dorothy sitting on her throne, her chin resting on her palm, an amused look present.

"Ugh," she groaned.

"Whenever you're ready. Ahh," he closed his eyes and opened his mouth.

"Wait, he wants me to…feed him?!" her mind was going crazy. "I-I guess it wouldn't h-hurt," she grabbed the fork and broke off a piece, slowly bringing it to his mouth, her hands shaking violently.

The fork was getting closer and closer, but as it did, her shaking increased and so did her blushing. But then, just as she was about to do it…

"You're shaking," without warning, a copy of Kenos appeared at her side, grabbing the plate and fork from her.

"Huh?" was all she could say.

"The cake was going to fall off at that point. Don't worry, I'll handle it," he now turned to the fake Asta. "Say ahh,"

"Ahh," he obeyed as the piece entered his mouth. "Wow, that's tasty. Thanks, Kenos, what would I do without you?"

"It's nothing," he replied, turning to the girl. "Noelle, you want some too? Say ahh,"

However, in contrast to their bliss, the water mage's eye violently twitched, her expression shifting to comedic anger. "AHHHHH!" she pointed her wand at them, blasting them both with a strong torrent of water, blowing them both away, breathing heavily.

Dorothy approached her again, this time looking uneasy. She wasn't expecting that. "Should I ask?"

"No," she replied with intensity. "I didn't come here to play, stop screwing with me!"

"Sorry," the woman put her hands up defensively. "I guess I just wanted to lift your mood, because the information you want to know is by no means happy,"

"I know, but I'm ready for it. So tell me, what killed my mother?"

The captain's whimsical expression vanished instantly. "It was a devil,"

"A devil?" fear set in quickly. "But who? And how?"

"I think it's best I start explaining how first," the dream stepped off your throne and onto a floating pane of glass. Extending her hands, an image conjured in the air. "Tell me, how much do you know about devils beyond the obvious?"

"Not much,"

"Hm, that makes sense. Devils are supernatural beings who reside in another dimension separate from ours and under normal circumstances, cannot enter our plane of existence," she began.

Noelle crossed her arms. "That means there's a way by other means,"

"Smart girl. To one who has knowledge in demonic practices, they can breach the gap and interact with devils," the image moved, portraying a hooded figure standing in front of an array on the floor as a black hand stuck out. "However, these actions come at a cost and only allow the devil in question limited access. There's harnessing the power in basic ways, then you take it a step above by forming a contract with them,"

"Does that mean my mother fought someone like that? Did they fatally injure her? Is that how she died?"

Dorothy shook her head. "No, Acier Silva died from a far worse fate…she was cursed,"

"Cursed?" the girl gasped.

"Yes, it was a terrible one, it caused her body to physically deteriorate until she passed,"

The water mage clutched her head, just trying to make sense of it. "But then, why? Why did I have to suffer for it!" she exclaimed in a fit of rage. "Why did I have to be treated like garbage every day of my life?! Someone else had to know! Why didn't they say anything?!"

The captain's expression didn't change, she knew that the girl needed to vent after years of torment. "I understand your frustration, but there's a reason for that. You see…Acier wasn't the only one who got cursed,"

That one sentence managed to turn her mood around in no time. "What? There was someone else? Who?"

"Me," the person in question spoke up, Noelle turned around to see the mercury mage behind her.

"Nozel. Wait, is that you, or are you just another fake? Do something I know my brother would never do," she told him.

With a series of steps, the distance was closed between them as the man wrapped his arms around her clavicle, stroking her head. "There there, baby sister, your big brother is here,"

"Yup, a fake,"

About ten seconds passed before the dream mage said anything. "Aren't you going to blast him away?"

"No. I've always wanted to be pampered like this, anything to feel like my family actually loved me," she replied, letting it go on for another few seconds. "Okay, that's enough for now. So, you were cursed too?"

He let her go as he nodded. "Yes, and it's stopped me from telling the truth lest there be severe consequences, but the public needed an explanation, so I told them the most plausible lie…that Mother died from birth complications after conceiving you," as his words continued, the tone of remorse grew in them. "Once again, I'm so sorry, I should've never let anything that happened to you happen. Name it, just tell me how I can make it up to you and it'll be done,"

The water mage crossed her arms, looking away from him with a look that mixed nervousness with an underlying sense of happiness. "Well, why don't we start by explaining this to Solid and Nebra? Dorothy can go to the real you and you can bring them here at a later date,"

"Of course," he said before vanishing in a puff of smoke.

"I have no problem with that either," the dream mage added. "Now, you know how this all happened, are you ready to know who did it?"

Noelle nodded adamantly. "Yeah,"

"The devil in question goes by the name…," the coral-clad captain had the image move again, now revealing a figure obscured by a silhouette, exuding a darkness that consumed everything.

"...Megicula,"

"Megicula," the royal repeated.

"Yes, she's the devil responsible for the existence of all curses in general, from the smallest ones to the most consequential, so much so that her most famous title is the 'Mother of Curses'. She's very ancient and, if you couldn't already guess, very powerful,"

"I wouldn't expect anything less. That reminds me, before we came here, you stopped me from speaking, and you mentioned me cursing myself,"

Dorothy flew next to her. "Correct, while saying Megicula's name in the physical world won't do anything to you, the same can't be said when it comes to mentioning the specific details of her curse, specifically how it came to exist,"

"I appreciate the warning," she thanked her as they left Glamour World, appearing back on the roof. "You have no idea how much that meant to me, thanks again,"

Dorothy gave her a thumbs-up. "It was my pleasure,"

---

"AHHHHH!"

With a unified battle cry to begin the spar, the three friends all charged toward the center, preparing for an inevitable collision.

"I think it goes without saying, but please try not to damage the place too much, my parents will kill me!" Alice shouted to the boys.

"Don't you worry, we know better than to make your folks mad," Ryusei responded as he decided to act first. "Show them what you can do, Erebus! Void Magic: Omega Blast!"

At his call, the dragon opened her mouth, firing a powerful blast at Kenos. "Not bad, but that isn't good enough!" the angelic solar mage quickly flew to the left, dodging it, but that's when he noticed that she was now planning to come at him directly.

Or at least, she was going to before Tyrmore rammed right into her side, launching the serpentine dragon far away, thankfully with a low enough impact to not damage the lawn.

"Ryusei!" Alice charged at him, winding back her sword. The crimson knight focused, his enhanced reflexes showing itself as he caught the blade in between his hands.

"Awesome strike. You've gotten stronger," he twisted his hands to the left, bringing the sword and its wielder with him before he ended contact and quickly backed up. "Since Kenos wanted to gauge my devil abilities during this spar, I hope neither of you mind if I stick solely to void spells?"

"I wouldn't have it any other way," the black bull answered, snickering. "Besides, since void magic is linked to a devil, I've got an advantage anyway,"

"That you do," Emmanuel thought back.

With his attention away from Alice, Ryusei now set his sights on Kenos. "Check this move out, dude! Void Magic: Lama Mietitrice!" he straightened out one of his hands before launching a horizontal slash.

"Nice! Check out mine! Heaven Magic: Divine Scission!" he met it with a vertical slash, the two attacks canceling each other out.

"Tch, a stalemate, let's try something else out," the demonic dragon mage was saying, but then his mana senses fired off and he turned around, just managing to cross his arms in time to block the coral knight's dropkick.

"Don't forget about me!"

Kenos watched their short bout with minor intrigue as he landed, waiting to take advantage of an opening. "Hey Emmanuel, I've been thinking,"

"About what?"

"That trick that protects angelic spells from demonic properties, I'm thinking it could use a name," he mentally replied, but his piece was interrupted as Tyrmore was coming his way. Rather than fly out of range, Kenos positioned his sword defensively, taking the hit head-on as he was pushed back for a number of meters, finally coming to a stop, teen and beast locked in a close stalemate.

"There's no need for that, it already has a name, we call it 'The Effect Veil'," the angel informed him.

"Ooh, it has a nice ring to it. I gotta say, I really lucked out, having an ability like that to use against any and every devil is awesome," he geeked out momentarily before focusing on the opponent in front of him. "Solar Creation Magic: Rain of Solar Daggers!" he took advantage of their position as the projectiles pierced Tyrmore's back, causing him to wail in pain, the beast backing up.

But while one creature was handled, another came to prey on him. Erebus flew at him with great speed, intending not to fail this time, opening her mouth. Kenos prepared himself to use Amaterasu's Guard, but in the corner of his eye, he saw the wind beast back on his feet and ready, opening his mouth as he released a devastating blast.

"Hm, how fortunate," he took to the skies just as the void released her own blast, the two attacks meeting in the middle, but only for a short period as the dark ace won out, her strike hitting Tyrmore. The eyes of the beast now focused on the dragon as they charged at each other once more.

"I'll leave them to it," the angelic solar mage said as he flew in the direction of his friends at a moderate speed.

"I think you may have misunderstood the parameters of The Effect Veil," Emmanuel spoke in his mind. "Granted, Zagred didn't go into too much detail. When you use a spell, The Effect Veil will factor in three components: the power of the partner, the power of the angel, and the specific power of the spell being used. These combine to form a value, which is then compared to the combined value of the power of a devil and the spell they deploy, if your value is greater, The Effect Veil will be successful and their properties won't affect you, but if it's lower, it won't work,"

Kenos nodded. "I see. Anti-magic's negating properties have never worked against any of my spells, meaning Roth can't get past our Effect Veil, and it was the same deal with Zagred, meaning our value was higher. Very interesting, let's just hope it doesn't fail me anytime soon,"

It didn't take long for the wind mage to spot her youngest friend flying their way. "I didn't forget about you either!" she escaped from the devil host, flying straight at him.

However, in a move that utterly surprised her, Kenos weaved around her, the demonic dragon mage being his target. "He…ignored me?" the woman was confused, sounding a bit hurt, but she had no time to ruminate on it as a loud cry entered her ears. Turning around, she saw her companion in danger.

"Tyrmore! I'm coming, buddy!" she flew over there to tip the scales. "Wind Binding Magic: Cyclone Tangle!" she summoned the thread and launched it, wrapping around Erebus' tail before pulling it, limiting the dragon's movement. "Now, boy!"

Tyrmore wasted no time charging forward and raising his paw, slamming her dead in the face, the dragon letting out a pained cry.

Returning to the other fight, Kenos sped up considerably, a grin on his face as he switched his sword over to his right hand, winding his left hand for a devastating punch.

"Come at me! I'll take it head-on! Void Magic: Braccia Del Mietitore!" his right fist lit up with dark mana as he made the same motion he did, their clash resulting in a shockwave. Granted, the angelic solar mage had a better buildup and it showed as he was quickly beginning to win.

"Oh no you don't!" Ryusei called upon a surge of power that gave him the victory, pushing his friend back.

"Heaven-infused Solar Magic: Sunbeam Ray!"

"Void Magic: Porte Dell'abisso!" the teen made a sweeping motion with his hands, creating a sizable wall that shielded him. "Y'know, I'll admit, when I first learned that you were partnered with an angel, I too was wanting to test that power. Thanks for giving me the opportunity,"

"No problem, it's a win-win after all," he said back.

The demonic dragon mage kept his wall up for a bit longer just in case, but then his eyes wandered, seeing that Erebus was getting ganged up on. "Crap," his grimoire flipped to a different page. "Void Magic: Dark Flux!"

At his command, mana surrounded Erebus, then, with a roar, that mana spread in all directions, pushing Alice and her creation back, freeing herself from her binds. "Regroup with me!" he called as the dragon returned, the mage dropping his defense.

The other two didn't make a move yet, just wondering what their friend was up to, but the mystery didn't last long. "Think fast! Void Magic: Richiamo Dell'abisso!" he brought his hands together and spread them out, creating an orb that he threw into the air, said orb generating a force that threatened to pull them in.

Kenos was fast, he dug his sword into the ground and held on, Alice doing the same. Unfortunately, the same couldn't be said for another participant.

"Tyrmore!" the woman shouted as the beast couldn't resist and was sucked in, causing his caster to dislodge her sword and join him in an attempt to pull him out.

Alas, it was too late. "That's one down. Void Magic: Black Impulse!" a spiraling sphere of black mana coalesced in Ryusei's hand as he flew up and rammed it right into the belly of the beast, destroying him, the action also putting him in a good position to strike the wind mage, something she too realized as she assumed a protective stance.

However, like before, she was skipped. "Excuse me," her friend said to her as flew above her, Erebus following him as they went for the Rossiu, the black hole vanishing at the same time, the woman landing on her feet.

"Again?" she mumbled, staring at the boys, her eyes narrowing as she took to the skies.

Seeing the pair coming at him, Kenos quickly pulled out his sword and made distance between them. "What do you say we finish this?"

"Fine by me,"

"Solar Creation Magic: Wyvern of Helios!" his brought his ace.

Ryusei was getting pumped up. "Now you're talking! Erebus! Void Magic: Apocalypse Crash!" he exclaimed as an aura of mana enveloped her head and she flew to meet the fellow dragonic being. But that wasn't all, their casters decided to join in as they flew right behind their creations, preparing for a clash of their own.

Meanwhile, Alice floated high up in the air, overlooking what went on below, the wind produced by the high altitude blowing against her hair. "What's the deal with them? Why were they ignoring me those times? Do they think I can't hold my own? That I can't…win?" in an instant, her demeanor shifted, her expression showing a familiar fierceness. "We'll see,"

The woman took telekinetic control of her sword, the tip pointing downwards before commanding it to spin, but unlike the other times she's done so, it didn't spin like a buzzsaw, instead, it rotated like a drillhead, drawing in the adjacent wind as it spun faster and faster until the blade couldn't even be seen.

"Kenos, Ryusei, I love you both to death, but I thought I told you…," she started to say as she raised her right foot, demonstrating her flexibility as it was now above her head.

"NOT TO FUCKING UNDERESTIMATE ME!" she yelled at the top of your lungs, slamming the handle with her sole, shooting it down like a rocket before boosting herself downwards at an insane speed.

Back down with the boys, the inevitable clash was nearly about to happen between their constructs, but just as an inch separated them, Alice's sword descended onto them with immense force, destroying them both, and forming a crater underneath. The eyes of the otherworldly mages widened greatly as they closed in on each other, but neither had any time to think about it as the wind mage herself appeared in between them, both arms outstretched.

In no time at all, they were both on the ground with a huge thud, Alice's hand on their backs. "...I win, spar's over," she let go of them before helping them both up, the boys stretching their backs, their expressions obscured.

"That was…awesome!" they exclaimed in unison, awestruck.

"I mean, you were up there and then you were down here," Kenos tried to wrap his head around it, but he just couldn't. "Holy shit,"

"I know, and we were transformed too. It's official, you're stronger than both of us," Ryusei added to the praise.

Even though she was smirking, Alice shook her head. "No, that was just luck and good timing, not to mention you were more focused on one another. If we were fighting for real, I'd be the first one to fall, so that's gotta change, after all, the first step to surviving is acknowledging your limitations and improving, once you do that, you can win. I'm going to do whatever I can to get stronger," she said as the trio detransformed.

Despite what she told them, she still felt proud of achieving the small victory, however, that feeling was fleeting as she now had time to focus on the crater she formed. "O-Oh no!" she reverted back to normal, clutching her head in a panic. "I got carried away, my parents are going to kill me, I have to fix this!" she summoned Tyrmore and began trying to fill the hole.

Meanwhile, Kenos and Ryusei stood beside each other. "Thanks again for giving me a chance to share this," the latter said. "It feels a little better to not have to keep Zae to myself,"

"Your secret is safe with us," the former nodded. "On the positive side, my entire squad knows about her, so if you ever want a place to train to your heart's content, stop by, you're welcome anytime,"

"Really? Awesome," the two shared a fistbump.

"Don't just stand there, help me, please!" their friend called out to them.

"We're coming,"

---

"I hope you brought your appetites with you, dig in,"

When the group of bulls heard that they were invited for dinner, a part of them felt glad that the Agrippas had taken them in so easily, avoiding the tension they feared could form, but as they all sat at the dinner table, maybe the awkwardness wouldn't be so bad as it would provide a good enough excuse to not indulge in the sorry thing before them called 'food'.

Eyeballs, arms with the hands still attached, intestines among various other bodily organs, all things people unanimously agree shouldn't come anywhere near the human tongue, but they lined the table.

"Holy crap, these people are crazy!" Gauche and Grey thought.

"U-Uh, do you normally make all this food?" Asta queried with a twitching eye, trying to sound polite.

"No, but when we saw you, we figured we'd make more," Nathaniel told him with an almost happy tone. "I hope everything will be to your liking,"

The newcomers watched as the eerie family all filled their plates and began to help themselves, their eyes zeroing in on Gordon, the poison mage also partaking in what should be a bunch of inedible body parts.

"How are they doing that?" the swordsman muttered under his breath.

However, despite being just as weirded out, Secre remained indifferent, garnering the attention of the one sitting next to her. "Are you not going to eat?" Roxanne tilted her head.

"Oh, of course," the sealing mage had no choice, refusing to do something would be beyond rude, and the last thing they needed to do was offend the family they came to for help.

The first thing her gaze fell on was a bowl of eyeballs, the closest dish to her. Grabbing a single one, she slowly brought it to her mouth, the other bulls watching with bated breath as she popped it inside and started chewing on it, but then…her eyes widened.

"It's a meatball," she realized. "And it tastes really good too,"

"Wait, it's not actually an eyeball?" the mirror mage was confused.

Jonna giggled. "Of course it's not. Making our food look odd is a little extra thing we like to do, we figured it added onto the feel of our home,"

"I…see," the quartet slowly nodded.

Gauche took one of arms and split it, revealing something in the center he recognized. "Bread," he then took a bite of it. "This is amazing. How'd you get it so soft and chewy?"

"It's all in the yeast, we make a special kind," the head of the house replied.

Asta went to town on a bowl of spaghetti made to look like intestines. "The sauce in this is on another level, Charmy would love it here,"

"Charmy?" Jonna spoke up.

"She's a member of our squad who loves to cook," Grey answered.

"I see. Speaking of your squad, how are things going over there, son?" she rested her chin on her palm. "I bet you've been working very hard to help maintain the kingdom,"

Gordon nodded. "I have, especially as of late. As for the Black Bulls, it's been a delight being with them, I've made so many precious friends,"

His father nodded. "That's good, I'm glad to hear it," he faced the others. "Thank you very much for being so good to my son,"

"It's no problem, we like having him around too," Asta made a waving gesture.

The poison mage smiled at that as his eyes now scanned the table, searching for the next thing to help himself, and that's when he saw it. At the end of the table was a single plate, holding a single item that resembled a liver. "No way, is that…?"

"You finally spotted it," Jonna said. "I was able to make it quick with your sister's help, I know it's your favorite,"

"Thank you both," he took it gratefully, cutting into it before taking a bite. "Hm, it's as tasty as ever. Raven, you have to try this, it's a veal schnitzel," he cut a piece before standing up and reaching over, the girl doing the same as she took her fork and pierced the slice of meat, taking it from him.

"I've never heard of a schnitzel," she mused as she ate it. "But I like it,"

"Can I have a piece too?" Grey and Asta asked.

"Sure,"

Roxanne watched as her brother shared with his other friends, but her eyes fell specifically on the girl next to her, which she noticed quickly. "Yes?"

"He called you Raven just now, but I thought your name was Secre,"

"Raven is just a nickname he has for me," she answered plainly.

"Is that so?" she rested her face on her palm and lowered her voice. "Say, what's your relationship with him?"

"I beg your pardon?"

"He gave you a nickname and you were the first one he shared his schnitzel with," her voice remained low. "So, what's the deal? Are you two, y'know…dating?"

Secre blinked twice before tilting her head. "Uh…no. We're just friends, no funny business,"

Rather than persist, the girl's eyes shifted elsewhere. "Then he must be dating that girl with the blue hair,"

"Not her either, he's not involved with anybody as far as I know. Do you want a sister-in-law or something?"

She shrugged. "Not really, I guess I'm just curious, but that's my hobby,"

"Hobby?"

"Uh-huh. Gordon and I never had friends growing up, so we'd find ways to entertain ourselves, he would make dolls of people while I went outside and write romance stories about any two people I saw,"

The sealing mage raised her brow. "Why romance?"

"It's easy to write, I'm not good at writing action or comedy," she replied with a shrug.

"I...see,"

Gauche stayed quiet for the most part, silently enjoying his dinner. "I wonder if I can take any of this stuff to Marie, she'd love it, I'd just have to explain that none of it is real," he thought before feeling a tug at his sleeve, his gaze now on Nilenia. "Do you need something?"

"Nathaniel, be a dear and get me some butter for my fork," she said, her body shaking.

"What?" the mirror mage narrowed his eyes. "Look, I'm not Gordon's dad, and did you just say you wanted butter…for a fork?"

"Silly Nathaniel, why would you put butter on a fork? It goes on bread," she chuckled, serving to only annoy the teen further.

"Do any of you care to explain?"

Roxanne got up from her chair. "Sorry, she has episodes like this every so often," she walked over to the old lady. "C'mon grandmother, Pugsday and I will take you to your room to rest,"

The bulls watched as they began walking down a nearby hallway. "Rest? I have no time to rest, I must make sure all is ready and that our family lives up to its legacy as vassals for Megicula,"

It didn't take much longer for them to be out of earshot, and once they were, Asta asked the question a few of them were thinking. "Who's Megicula? That's a funny name,"

Nathaniel put down his utensils and wiped his mouth. "I'm not entirely sure of all the details as I've only heard her name in passing, but she was an entity of sorts that our family cooperated with a very long time ago,"

"This is the first I've heard of her. Why did we form ties with her?" Gordon inquired.

"From what I remember being told by my grandfather, she assisted us in the education of various curses,"

Hearing that made all of the bulls tense up immediately, but none of them dared to show it. "How ironic," the poison mage began. "That's exactly why we've come here, to learn more about curses,"

His father narrowed his eyes. "Have you now?" he faced his wife. "Dear, would you clean up here? I'll be taking them to my workshop,"

"Of course,"

The man rose from his seat, the aura around him changing. "Let us be off," his tone was more serious than it had been all afternoon, the quintet of knights taking note of it as they stood up as well, following him as they left the dining room.

The group approached a door that was close to the kitchen, the man of the house produced a key from his pocket before unlocking and opening it, revealing a dark flight of stairs that led down somewhere.

"Creepy," some of them thought as they descended down the steps, making a left as they were met with another door. This time, no key was needed as he turned the knob.

"Welcome to my workshop," he said eerily as they all entered and were quickly met by a darker ambiance. There were no lights present, rather, candles were lit all around the room, only adding to the weird vibe.

"S-So, this is your workshop? Cozy place?" Asta said nervously, his eyes darting everywhere as they observed a plethora of odd paraphernalia.

"Thank you, this room belonged to my great-grandfather, it was from here that many great things were created and cultivated, after finding the right ingredients, of course!" he exclaimed for the first time with outstretched arms.

"Finding the correct ingredients is right, this is some quality stuff," Secre stated plainly, already staring at a glass cage that held a special grass. "If memory serves me correctly, this helps with the synthesis of magic through the use of their pores which absorb nearby mana,"

"That it does. I wasn't expecting you to be so learned," the man complimented.

"Well, I've had my fair share of exploring for the wonders our kingdom produces,"

"Yes, they are wonderful indeed, there are so many things that this world has to offer and humanity has only grasped a mere fraction of it, so I've made it my personal mission to learn all that I can," Nathaniel turned to his son. "You've come to know about curses, that means you wish to follow in my footsteps,"

"No, I haven't," Gordon's voice was adamant, holding a fierceness never before heard from him, catching the attention of his friends. "Make no mistake, Father, I love being a part of this family, but I can not and will not carry on this dark legacy created by the suffering of others. I acknowledge the fact that curses are bad by nature, but that doesn't mean we should use what we learn for malicious purposes. The actions of our ancestors as Hex Mercenaries were wrong, and they still are, I won't partake in any of it,"

The man's passionate speech was followed by a few seconds of agonizing quiet before his father gave his answer. "So, that's how you feel?"

"That's how I've always felt,"

"I see," he said as he took out his grimoire. "Black Oil Creation Magic: Cursed Nails," a substance covering the nails of his right hand.

Asta gulped. "Uh, Mister Nate, what are you doing?"

But he got no answer as the patriarch suddenly shot his hand in the magicless mage's direction, the oil extending into a fingertip that rushed toward his neck.

"Ein!" Gordon yelled, attempting to stop it, but stopping upon hearing no scream of pain, or even discomfort.

"Huh?" Asta looked down awkwardly, seeing that it only pricked his neck a tiny bit before returning to its origin.

Once it came back, the oil transformed and displayed various numbers. "A perfect internal temperature, you don't have to worry about getting sick any time soon," Nathaniel said plainly, as if what just happened didn't occur.

Gordon put his grimoire away. "Father, what's the meaning of this?"

He gave his son a cryptic look. "You aren't the only one with grievances. Admittedly, I too haven't been the fondest of our family's history, but there was one thing you got wrong, curses aren't all bad. I've been developing a way to use curses as the basis for various medicinal purposes, one such way is through my Cursed Nails, which lets me know a person's physical condition,"

The poison mage was shocked to hear that. "Really?"

"Yes, I want to use what I know to help people, not hurt them. I'm the first Agrippa and probably the first mage to ever try,"

"I…I never knew,"

"You weren't supposed to back then, only your mother knew. This new type of curse magic is still in its beginning stages, I wanted to improve it before I let the family know, that way they could see that this new path was worth it,"

"So that's why you didn't respond to my letter about Asta's arms," he realized.

"Um, that's cool and all, but we came to learn about curses and hexes and shit," Gauche barged in. "Surely you got some old notes or something from your ancestors that we can take with us,"

Nathaniel shook his head. "Sadly, I don't. Upon obtaining all the information they accumulated regarding the subject, I burned them, every last one, I want that part of our past behind us so no one could use it,"

"So what you're saying is this whole damn trip was a waste of time?"

"Hey, don't be rude," Grey admonished him. "This wasn't a waste, I think this application sounds interesting,"

"As do I," Gordon nodded. "If this is the road you want to take us down, then I'll be glad to help,"

"Thank you, son, but I don't want to leave you empty-handed. If you're looking for information on curses, one of the best people to ask are the ones who've been cursed, at least, under certain circumstances," Nathaniel's grimoire flipped to a different page. "Black Oil Creation Magic: Curse Candle Ritual Disk,"

At his command, oil converged together, becoming a large circular table; from there, multiple blue flames sprouted, each of varying strength. "This is a map of the entire kingdom and a bit more, the flames represent curses,"

"Hm, fascinating," Secre remarked as she pointed at one. "That one is right where our base is,"

"Then it must be Henry," Asta deduced. "And I see two near the capital, one must be from Captain Charlotte, as for the second, it's gotta be from Yuno's captain. I remember hearing about a curse when I was in Patri's head,"

"What the?!" Grey exclaimed as she pointed at a flame, shocked by how it dwarfed every other in size.

A bead of sweat dripped down Asta's face. "Holy crap, that curse is off the charts. Where is it?"

"It's near the outskirts of the kingdom that's close to the Diamond Kingdom," the black oil mage replied. "I've never seen one so strong before, I could only imagine what its effects are,"

The sealing mage focused on it for a little while before her eyes widened. "It's from Teiko,"

Asta held his chin. "Teiko? He's that friend of yours, I didn't know he was cursed. This is perfect, we should go ask him what he knows,"

"Absolutely not," Secre shut him down. "He…wouldn't like to talk about it, trust me, it's connected to a real bad memory from his past,"

"Alright then, we won't question him," Gordon accepted her words with no pushback. "Then let's go ask the person with the second strongest flame," his finger landed on it, said flame being the furthest away.

Nathaniel raised a brow. "Are you sure you want to do that? Look carefully, that flame…it's not within the Clover Kingdom,"

Grey did what he instructed and gave it another look. "He's right, it's not in the country, it's in…,"

"...The Heart Kingdom,"