The forming of the White Serpents
"This…...certainly is troublesome…." Julius said with a concerned expression on his face. Currently, Julius is being told about the evacuation-turn-battle mission from Charlotte, Kaiser and Yuno.
By some luck, the Magic Knights that took part in the "mission" were transported straight to Magic Knight's headquarters where the Sword of Logos Magic Knights(?) are taken to the infirmary.
"Were you aware about the existence of the sword of time, Sir Julius?" Marx asked, him knowing that the Wizard King has greater knowledge of the Sword of Logos than the rest of the Magic Knight captains, excluding Sophia.
"Yes, I was aware of the existence of Kaiji, but I didn't have knowledge on the current wielder." Julius responded, making hid assistant nod his head slightly.
"So what's going to happen to them now? They've pretty much been kicked out of the Sword of Logos." Charlotte pointed out, causing a thinking expression to appear on Julius's face.
"…..I may have an idea." Julius responded, a slight flicker of a smile appearing on his face before glancing towards Yuno.
"You are planning on retrieving your two Grimoires." Julius guessed, causing the vice-captain of the Golden Dawn to nod his head.
"Yes. It will be easy to reclaim them." Yuno responded, causing a pleased expression to nod his head.
"That's good to hear. For Sylph, we still have that scroll from that Dungeon mission, since Ryogo Shindai have reversed the flow of time around you, then Sylph would have likely returned there." Julius explained, making Yuno nod his head.
"Speaking about the swordsman of time, will people start to expect that you may have to get involve when fighting him, since they see you as the perfect counter." Kaiser explained, causing a frown to appear on Julius's face.
"Yes. That's going to be a difficult scenario to overcome." Julius said, remembering the how his ageing spell when battling that Demon deactivated so soon.
"For now, we need to keep a close eye on Miss Sophia and the others. Since Logos is keen on claiming their Holy Swords and Wonder-Ride books, Magic Knights from the Main branch will surely be lurking about. The other captains will need to be told about this as well." Julius explained, making the people in the room.
"Sir Julius, may I ask a question?" Kaiser asked, causing Julius to raise an eye-brow.
"Yes, you may." Julius responded, becoming curious.
"Going slightly off topic, but if we manage to steal Kaiji, then can you return to your original state with the sword of time's power?" Kaiser suggested, causing Julius to blink his eyes few times.
"I suppose that's a possibility….." Julius responded, but a part of him felt reluctant for some reason, similar to the time when he felt that something bad will happen in connection with the Devil invasion and Tree of Qlithopth.
"So, your the one responsible for helping the Magic Knights to escape, Victor." Master Logos said as he stare at Tassel from his throne, using the book-keeper's original name.
"What are you doing? The duty of the leader of the Sword of Logos is to deal with threat of the Megid whilst I deal with the barrier between the two worlds. That was the pledge that I made with the first Master Logos." Tassel explained, a more serious expression being present on his face.
Master Logos scoff at this.
"The mere self-satisfaction of hypocrites, something I did not pledge to." Master Logos responded coldly.
"What are you after?" Tassel asked just as Master Logos stood up from his throne.
"I will obtain the Almighty Grimoire and claim its powers for myself, reforging the world and becoming it's ruler." Master Logos explained as walked up to Tassel.
"Humanity's fate is not yours to toy with." Tassel objected, but Master Logos started to laugh.
"Of course it is! That right is mine, so I will exploit all I have. The Holy Sword wielders, the Megid…..and now you." Master Logos said as he looked at Tassel and raised his fragment of the Almighty Grimoire which glowed brightly before a beam of light shot out and struck Tassel, resulting in him disappearing.
"…" Master Logos became silent as he stared at the spot where Tassel once stood.
"…" Sophia's eyes slowly blinked open.
"Erh….." The former captain of the Sword of Logos groaned in a sleepy tone of voice as she slowly stat up.
"W…..where….?" Sophia muttered as she glanced around the room that she's in.
"This is…..the infirmary?" Sophia questioned herself, recognizing the structure of the room.
Glancing around, Sophia saw that she isn't the only one is present, all the rest of the Holy Sword wielders, plus Ekrixi, Shan and Fiona are in bed, unconscious...although Noelle is in better shape than the others.
"What happened? How did we got here?" Sophia thought as a small frown appeared on her face.
It took her a few seconds to remember everything.
"Right! I was planning on telling everyone our next step for the base got attacked and the room collapsed." Sophia thought just as the the door opened.
"Captain Sophia! You're awake!" Ryo said, his face lighting up.
"Ryo. I was wondering where you were." Sophia said, becoming worried at the absence of the wielder of Gekido.
"Do you know what happened? Do you know how we got to the infirmary?" Sophia asked, thinking that Ryo may know the answers.
"Headquarters sensed the Mana that came from the attack and recruited Magic Knights to investigate before they started to remove the rubble, with the aid of our mechanical companions. I'm the first to awake." Ryo explained, making Sophia nod her head slightly.
"Did anything else happened whilst we were still unconscious?" Sophia asked, becoming serious.
"I…...think it would be best if everyone has woken up first." Ryo responded, making Sophia nod her head in response, yet becoming worried.
"We're getting to see the Wizard King?" Rintaro asked, him and everyone else becoming surprise.
"Yes, due to the nature of the situation that we're in, Sir Julius will be involved with the meeting." Sophia explained, a part of her wondering how they will react to Julius's current state, something that is also going through Ryo's mind.
Sayo also has an unsure expression on her face.
"I wonder how Sir Julius is doing? I hope that he has fully recovered." Rin asked, becoming curious.
"I heard that that he took part in the battle against that Demon that invaded the Royal Capital, so he must have largely recovered." Tetsuo pointed out, causing the wielder of Hayate to nod her head slightly.
"You will soon find out." Sophia, Ryo and Sayo thought at the same time.
The group then started to make their way towards the headquarters of the Magic Knights where they are greeted by Marx.
"I'm glad to see that all of you are awake. If you please follow me." Marx said as he glanced at everyone before turning around and started to make his way inside the Headquarters of the Magic Knights, being followed by everyone else.
"I wonder how everyone will react to Sir Julius's current form?" Marx thought, becoming worried.
After a few minutes of walking through the corridors, the group reached the door that leads to the Wizard King's office.
"….." Marx froze slightly when he was about knock on the door.
"…..Is everything okay?" Rintaro asked, he and the others, minus Sophia, Ryo and Sayo, became worried.
"N-nothing! Nothing's wrong." Marx responded, attempting to remain calm.
However, everyone could see that this was a lie.
After taking a deep breath, Marx knocked on the door.
"Yes." Julius's voice responded and Marx opened the door….yet slightly to prevent anyone else from seeing into the room whilst he poked his head through the narrow space.
"Marx! Are the Sophia and the others are there?" Julius asked and everyone glanced at each other at how they noticed that the Wizard King's voice sounds younger than previously.
"Yes, Sir. But…..do you think that this is the right thing to do?" Marx questioned in a slight strain tone of voice.
"Of course. This is a serious matter after all. Anyway, it's far too late to backtrack." Julius responded, causing Marx to sigh in defeat before bringing his head back from around the door.
"Apart from Miss Sophia, Mr Ogami and Miss Rubah….just prepare yourself for Sir Julius's appearance." Marx said, causing everyone to glance at each other just as Marx fully opened the door and walked into the room, being followed by everyone else.
"Hello everyone! Its good to see that you have recovered quickly." Julius said with a smile on his face.
"….." Silence filled the room.
"He's…..the Wizard King, Sir Julius Novachrono?" Bahadur asked as he glanced at the others, raising an eye-brow.
"Of course not! Sir Julius Novachrono is a completely different person. I don't know who this brat is." Noelle responded with a scowl on her face.
"Er….." Julius said whilst sweat-dropping, although expecting this sort of reaction.
"Actually…..this is Sir Julius Novachrono, age 13." Sophia said, causing everyone to stare at her.
"Whilst it is believed that I was critically injured during the ordeal against the Eye of the Midnight Sun, the reality is that I was in fact killed, but through the usage of my time magic and a Magic Item that ables one to store Mana, I was able to revive myself, yet in the current state that is in front of you." Julius explained to the still dubious audience.
"I guess…..that….makes sense….." Rintaro said, attempting to make sense of the story.
"So who was your double during public appearances?" Asta asked, raising an arm.
"I had Owen acting as my double during public appearances, along with meeting those outside the Magic Knights, pretending that "I" lost my voice." Julius explained, making Asta nod his head slightly.
"Anyway. I think that we should move onto more important matters." Julius said, a serious expression appearing on his face.
It took the Wizard King, with Ryo's contribution, a few minutes to tell everyone the events that happened whilst they were unconscious.
"The swordsman of time! Seriously?!" Rin exclaimed in a shock tone of voice, something that is shared mostly everyone else.
"Ryogo Shindai, he and Miss Shindai are the closes Magic Knights to Master Logos, so it wouldn't be surprised that he will be a powerful opponent." Sophia said with a serious expression on her face.
"That isn't very much of a surprise. The Shindai family held the duty of protecting the supreme leader of the Sword of Logos ever since the founding of the squad." Ekrixi commented, making Sophia nod her head in agreement.
"Was there any serious injuries?" Yuri asked, becoming concerned.
"I wouldn't call them injuries, but the one that was mostly effected by Ryogo's magic was Yuno, the flow of time around his body returning to the point before he became a Magic Knight, loosing both of his Grimoires and Sylph. He's currently reclaiming them." Julius explained, causing Asta to perk up at this.
"Yuno…..got his his Grimoires "taken" away from him." The wielder of Rekka thought, becoming concerned for his brother-like figure.
"If you were in your original state, then you would be the ideal means of fighting against the magic attribute of time." Shan pointed out, causing Julius to nod his head sadly.
"Yes. That would be true…..." The Wizard King responded.
"…" Asta subtly perked up at this.
"So what is Master Logos planning with our Holy Swords?" Rin asked, remembering how Julius and Ryo that Ryogo and Reika appeared not just to eliminate them, but also to retrieve their Holy Swords.
"Considering the reason as to why Sophia was kidnapped in the first place, Master Logos will use the Holy Swords in order to reforge the Almighty Grimoire." Yuri responded, causing everyone to become become surprise.
"Really? The Holy Swords are capable of that?" Bahadur questioned, causing the "wielder" of Saikou to nod his head in response.
"Yes. Using Rekka, Nagare, Ikazuchi, Hayate, Sezume, Kurayami, Saikou, Kyomu, Noroshi and Kaiji, one can bring about the resurrection of the Almighty Grimoire by forming the Holy Swords into the diagram of the Sefirot Tree with a collection of Wonder-Ride books surrounding them." Yuri explained as he crossed his arms.
"….What about the other Holy Swords?" Secre asked, quickly glancing towards Bahadur and Sayo who seemed to have similar thoughts.
"The Holy Swords that I listed were the first to be created by the Daishinji family, so they will react more strongly to the Tree of Sefirot. But if you add more Holy Swords….?" Yuri responded before trailing off, seemingly pondering on the idea.
"Hang on a minute…..Do you think that Master Logos has already captured Finsternis and claimed Kurayami?" Rintaro asked, causing everyone to widen their eyes in realization.
"Yes. That could be a possibility. It's either or Finsternis is currently on the run and has been unable to contact us." Sophia mused a trouble expression on her face before realizing something.
"Even if Master Logos is in the possession of Kuryami or not, he already possess three of the required Holy Swords." Sophia said, causing everyone to become confuse for a few seconds before realization sinks in.
"You're talking about Kyomu, aren't you? I've heard from Asta about that ordeal." Ekrixi guessed, making Sophia nod her head in response.
"That's correct, and since Kyomu is sealed within the Grimoire of Ruin, Master Logos will need to release Bahato in order to claim Kyomu." Sophia explained.
"Let's hope that Master Logos somewhat manage to control Bahato, I don't think that anyone want to deal with Master Logos, the Megid and Bahato all at the same time." Ryo pointed out, thinking of the possibility of Bahato going rogue.
"Especially her…." Noelle thought, shivering at the prospect of having to meet a certain siren-themed Megid again.
"…" Yuri gained a slight discomfort expression on his face.
"Moving on, there's a proposition that I need to discuss with you." Julius said, causing everyone to look at the Wizard King.
"Since you have been pretty much been kicked out of the Sword of Logos, you will need to join another Magic knight squad to keep your status as Magic Knights." Julius explained, causing everyone to become surprise.
"Has any of the other captains offered to take us in?" Sophia asked, but Julius shook his head.
"No, the other captains aren't aware of my decision. But I actually decided on re-establishing the White Serpent Magic Knight squad for you." Julius explained, making Sophia and the senior Magic Knights, plus Noelle, to widen their eyes.
"The White…..Serpents?" Rin asked, tilting her head to the side.
"The White Serpent Magic Knight squad was a squad that existed years ago with the last captain being Conrad Leto, Sir Julius's predecessor as the Wizard King. The squad seemingly disbanded when all of the Magic Knights in the squad where killed on a mission and Conrad had to be taken down by the other captains." Sophia explained, causing Rin to become surprise.
"Conrad Leto. Yuri mentioned him and some other names of the Wizard Kings/Queen." Asta thought, remembering the motivational speech that the "wielder" of Saikou gave to him back then.
"What do you think? Should we call ourselves the White Serpents?" Sophia asked whilst glancing at the Holy Sword wielders that originally belong to the Sword of Logos.
"It will probably gives us more protection from the upper-class if we're still apart of the Magic Knight body rather than becoming independent." Ryo commented, causing everyone to nod their heads in agreement.
"Bahadur, do you want to become part of the White Serpents?" Sophia asked, turning her head towards the wielder of Endless Dash.
"Thanks for the offer, but I rather live the life of a mercenary." Bahadur responded, causing Sophia to nod head.
"Whilst I would like to join, as the guardian of the witch mountains, I have to priorities their safety." Sayo explained with a disappointed expression on her face, wishing that she could keep a close eye on Asta.
"It could be likely that Logos may target your home village, so that is the right course of action." Ekrixi commented, causing the wielder of Shinkiro to give the previous wielder of Rekka a small glare.
"Excellent!" Julius said with a smile on his face before it dropped slightly.
"Since your base is now destroyed, I'll be relocating you to a place which you can use until the repairs are made. However, we need to require materials first." Julius said, causing everyone to glance at each other.
"Should we contact Alyssa? She can provide the materials we want." Secre suggested, making Sophia nod her head.
"That's good. But until then, you have to set-up base in a temporary location." Julius explained, causing everyone to nod their heads.
"So we're going to be called by a new name." Asta muttered as he lay on his bed, staring up at the ceiling.
"And just when I thought that I will be returning to the Sword of Logos." The wielder of Rekka thought, snorting slightly.
It was at that moment that a knock at the door is heard.
"Yes?" Asta responded, becoming curious whilst sitting up just as the door opened.
"Noelle?" Asta said in a confused tone of voice as he stare at the silver haired girl.
"H-hi." Noelle greeted in an awkward tone of voice which is then followed by an equal awkward silence.
"…..Is there something you need...?" Asta asked, becoming concerned.
Noelle released a breath and relaxed when she saw that Asta isn't acting in a defensive manner.
"I….I just want to say thank you…..from back then." Noelle said as she walked further into the room and closed the door.
"What for?" Asta asked, becoming confused again.
This cause Noelle to gain an angry expression on her face.
"You're really are a Bakat-" Noelle began to shout, but quickly stopped herself and calmed down.
"The….the only reason why I was in a better state then everyone else is because you….dived towards me and shield from the falling rubble." Noelle said as a blush appeared on her face. "Your welcome…." Asta said scratching the back of his head.
"…...Why did you yourself covered me rather than casting a spell?" Noelle questioned, raising an eye-brow.
"I…..don't know really?" Asta responded, a thinking expression appearing on his face.
"Such a typical response from you, Bakasta….!" Noelle said before her eyes widened when she realize what she said.
This cause Asta to chuckle slightly.
"It's been a while since you call me that." The wielder of Rekka said with a faint smile on his face.
Awkward silence filled the air once again as Asta and Noelle attempted to come up with something to say.
"Asta…..back during the meeting, you seemed to reacted differently than everyone else when we spoke about time magic." Noelle said, causing Asta to blink his eyes slightly.
"You noticed?! I would have expected Rin to notice my reaction." Asta said whilst scratching the back of his head.
"So…..do you know something that everyone else should know?" Noelle asked in a calm tone of voice.
"…." Asta became silent.
"…...Asta? What do you know?" Noelle asked, starting to become concerned.
"After the Devil invasion….I had a conversation with Houyan Long." Asta began to say, causing Noelle to blink her eyes.
"And what did you talked about?" Noelle asked, causing Asta to start becoming nervous.
"Houyan Long….he kind of explained how the third Supreme-ranking Devil of the Underworld, Astaroth of time magic, has somehow managed to escaped." Asta explained, causing Noelle to widened her eyes.
"There's a Devil wielding the same form of magic as Sir Julius and Mr Shindai wondering about the human world?!" Noelle stated, making Asta not his head.
"Houyan Long confirmed that Astatoth already made a contract with someone and guessed that person helped them in escaping the Underworld, 20 years ago." The wielder of Rekka responded, causing the wielder of Argent-Couronne to widen their eyes.
"20 years?! A Supreme-ranking Devil has been freed from the Underworld for that long!" Noelle shouted in her head before calming down.
"Did Houyan Long mentioned anything about the identity of Astaroth's host?" Noelle asked, hoping for good news.
"...No. Houyan Long seemed reluctant to reveal any piece of information in that regard..." Asta responded whilst crossing his arms, causing Noelle to raise an eye-brow.
"Does Houyan Long already knows the identity of the Devil host, but has decided not to say anything..." Noelle thought before starting to gain a horrible feeling that the truth could be a few feet away from them.
And there we go, everyone learning about the current condition of Julius whilst being told as to why Master Logos is keen on claiming the Holy Swords to create the Tree of Sefirot ritual to reform the Omniscient Grimoire. Julius announced his decision of reforming the White Serpents so that the Holy Sword wielders are still able to act as Magic Knights. Later, Asta decided to tell Noelle about his conversation with Houyan Long in regards of the missing Astaroth.
In Gavv:
1) Whilst Shoma and Sachika looked after beetles, they attempted to persuade Lakia in becoming friends with Hanto, who he literally thrown out of Hapipare. Meanwhile, Hanto himself decided to reach out to the Inoue family, but discovered that the missing "Michiru" is a male who disappeared some time ago. Hanto decided to investigate the hairdresser, the last place that Michiru was known heading to, but ran into Lakia.
2) Within Stomach Inc, Glotta questioned Lango about the decision of the Jaldak family taking over where Lango explained it was the only option to prevent the Stomach family's downfall before Jeebh appeared who then instructed him to gather more Human Presses. Hanto and Lakia visited the hairdressers where Hanto posed as a customer wanting a haircut, but decided to wait until the other customer leaves...yet Laki decided to move. When they attempted to fight Granute Ripper, the Granute fired mucus at them trapping their hands together.
3) With failed attempts to remove the hardened mucus, Hanto and Lakia decided to search Granute Ripper and managed to find him with the resulting battle managed to break the hardened mucus, yet the Granute managed to escape. Spotting a slash mark on a tree, Lakia recalled the wound that was inflicted on Comel. Meanwhile, Shoma, who'd created a new Caramelmel Gochizo, ran into a Granute belonging to the Jaldak family before Lisel appeared who then invited Shoma to join her.
So even though Hanto located the Inoue family, the missing "Michiru" is a male instead of a female. This mishap could be because Shoma wrote the name in Hiragana instead of Kanji, or the other way around, but it is strange that the male Michiru is kidnapped as well. Also, Laki seemed to have found a clue on his brother's murder. What's going to happen to Shoma now that he has been encountered by his sister-in-law? Since we've got to know the president of the Granute world, I'm kind of hoping that we get to see more of the Granute society.
Please review and until next time.
howard576:
1) I'm not planning on making Ryoga overpowered with that reset spell, their will be limitations.
2) It seems that Alyssa is on the case with reconstruction.
3) I can see that happening, Lango will use any means necessarily to re-establish his control over Stomach Inc. Since he, and Stomach Inc, are the primary antagonists of the series, the focus will return to them at some point.