Grown to hate

Chapter 15: Attack on the Capital

Asta froze and had his gaze locked on the girl who ran. Nozel looked toward the direction Asta was looking at and felt a pang in his chest seeing his sister run further away. The man's gaze had went to a different person who ran in their direction.
"You, why are you running?" Nozel asked.
The man caught his breath. "The capital's under attack!" He shouted.
Asta glanced at the man and looked to where Noelle was. He figured she already left the palace, and then looked at Nozel.
"I'll go to Noelle." He said as a black wing sprouted from his back.
"I'm sure you can handle the situation well." Nozel entered back into the banquet hall, and Asta looked to find a window.
The boy flew through the window and saw fire climbing buildings. People running on the streets and rotting corpses wreaking havoc. He looked under him and saw Noelle running into the destruction. He flew at high speeds to catch up to the girl and sliced the corpses on the way.
     "Noelle!" He shouted.
     The girl ignored his call and only shot water at the fire. She continued forward and found a tall skinny man leaning down at a little girl with a wicked smile on his face.
     "Do you like the clover kingdom?" The man asked.
     The girl whimpered and backed up to a wall. "Y—Yes." She stuttered.
     "Well that's too bad." The man said.
     A black flash crashed into the man and sent him flying into a building. Asta huffed and looked at the girl who trembled.
     "Don't worry little girl. I'm just a magic knight doing his job," He let out his arm for the girl to grab and he picked her up. "Hold on tight." Asta looked around and saw Noelle only putting out a fire in the distance. He launched himself and flew to Mimosa who healed several citizens behind her.
     "You, flower girl. Check to see if this girl is hurt." Asta said.
     Mimosa nodded and checked to see any wounds on the girl. Asta looked back to where he left and flew back to that location. He arrived and saw the man getting out of the rubble he was pushed in.
     "You son of a bitch!" He shouted.
     Asta furrowed his brows and launched himself. In an instant, the man in front of him disappeared and appeared behind him. The boy turned around and said, "So there's a spatial magic user somewhere."
     The man laughed and a portal appeared in front of him. "Even if you figured it out, there's no point because I'm going to kill you." He said.
     Asta closed his eyes and sensed a large object appear. He felt another presence near a pile of what seemed like bodies. The boy threw his larger sword at the pile of bodies and a man jumped into the air to avoid the weapon. The sword tracked the man and he made a portal hoping to teleport it somewhere else, but the sword cut through and hit the man's abdomen. He hacked out blood and crashed on the ground.
     Asta turned and looked at the soul magic user and saw his smile falter. "Jimmy, kill him!" He shouted.
     Asta took a deep breath and launched himself at the large body. He sliced it in half and landed kneeling on the ground. He stood up and slowly approached the trembling man.
     "And I thought I was stupid." Asta said.
     The boy called back his other sword and appeared behind the man in an instant.
     "Wha-" The man felt a blunt force crush the side of his ribs.
     Asta grabbed the man's arm and threw him on the ground. He pulled the arm and caused it to crack and bend in a way that was not natural. The man shouted and Asta stabbed his leg with his smaller sword.
     "No more magic for you." Asta said. He looked to his left and found Noelle staring at him with a sour face.
     A man with crimson red hair appeared behind her and was surprised to see two unknown bodies lying on the ground. A boy with the same crimson red hair had ran towards Asta with his hand curled up in to a fist.
     "Hey, no fair! I wanted to take care of them!" He shouted.
     "Seems like you were too late, Leopold." The man said.
     Asta only kept his eyes on Noelle and the girl knew. She looked away and walked in a different direction.
"Noelle wait!" Asta shouted, but Leopold had stepped in front of him.
"How the hell are you so strong?" Leopold asked.
Asta pushed the boy away and flew towards Noelle. He landed right in front of her which forced her to stop. The girl stayed silent and walked around him, but Asta grabbed her arm.
"Noelle."
The girl avoided the boy's gaze. She tried pulling her arm away, but Asta had a firm grip on her.
"Let go of me." She said.
"I can explain," Asta shifted himself closer and tried to look her in the eyes, and saw tear's running down her face. "I'm sorry."
"Sorry for what? I should have known you never cared for me. It's my fault for being a nuisance to you. I'm weak, you're not," Noelle tried pulling her arm away, but she couldn't. Her free hand raised and she slapped the boy across the face. "Just let me be!" She shouted.
Asta pulled the girl into a hug, but she kicked him on the groin making him kneel.
"I told you to let me go!" She shouted. The girl watched the boy groan and her tears flowed more. "I hate you! I fucking hate you!" She cried and punched the boy's head. "You lied to me! You told me you wouldn't go near my brother!" She stomped on his back. "I trusted you!" She tried to punch him once more, but a hand had caught her fist.
"Noelle, I don't know what you two have against each other, but this is no place to fight your comrade!" The crimson haired man said.
"Fuegoleon." Noelle's rage had turned to regret. She looked at Asta who slowly stood up and she knew he felt the same as her. The girl pulled her hand away and left the area.
Asta had gotten up with his downcast face. "Why did you yell at her?" He asked.
"As a captain, no, as a man with common sense it is my duty to correct any errors made by people who struggle with their work." Fuegoleon said.
     "How much did you hear?" Asta asked.
     Fuegoleon furrowed his brows. "I heard enough," he turned away and looked at the two lying in the same place as before. "I can see why Yami and Nozel took a liking to you. You're efficient and capable, but you lack spirit."
     Asta grumbled and looked to where Noelle had gone. She was out of sight and the boy grit his teeth. He sighed and walked back to the two men who laid unconscious.
     "On my way here I saw a witch. I don't sense her right now, so I assume she's been dealt with." Asta said.
     "You can sense her?" Fuegoleon asked.
     "Yami taught me about something called ki. It's like a energy everything has. Takes some practice to learn, but it's useful. Especially for someone like me." Asta picked up the soul mages grimoire and tossed it to the man.
     "Ki? Sounds like something from his homeland." The captain said.
     "I figured he wasn't from around here."
     Fuegoleon opened the grimoire and was shocked to only find one page. "He only had one spell in his arsenal. To think just this could cause all this damage."
     Asta kept his gaze on the ground and felt a sudden change. He snapped his head at the man and rushed towards him to push him.
     "Move!" Asta shouted.
     Fuegoleon looked down and saw a portal. "Maybe this can lead to some answers." He said the moment he fell into it.
     "Brother!" Leopold ran to where his brother once was and looked around. He saw Asta holding the pale skinned man from his neck and pinning him against the wall.
     "Where the fuck did you take him?" Asta asked.
     The pale man snickered. "Where he needs to be." He said.
     Asta gave the man a strong headbutt and he threw him on the ground. The boy slammed his knee on the man's chest and punched him on the face.
     Several other magic knights had arrived and saw the scene. Most were shocked, but three weren't surprised.
     "Asta, where's Noelle and Fuegoleon?" Nozel asked.
     The boy snapped his head up and got up from the man's chest. "Noelle left, but she's safe. As for captain Fuegoleon-"
     "They took my brother!" Leopold shouted.
     Nozel furrowed his brows. "Explain."
     "This man said he went to where he needs to be." Asta said.
     "Where he needs to be?" Nozel's brows only furrowed deeper.
     Another portal had appeared from the ground and Asta glared at the pale man. He summoned back both of his swords and went to charge at him, but Fuegoleon had come from the portal. This time without an arm.
     Leopold stared at his brother. Sweat dripped down to his chin and his eyes were wide.
     "Flower girl! Don't fucking stand there! Go heal him!" Asta shouted.
     Asta's voice had made Leopold come back to only one sense. "I'll kill you!"
     Several other cloaked mages had appeared. They surrounded the perimeter and every magic knight had kept their guard up.
     "It seems like we're outnumbered," One of the men said. He looked directly at Asta and saw the two swords he wielded. "That's the Anti-magic boy we were told of?"
     Asta furrowed his brows. "You people know of me?"
     One of the cloaked mages let out a deranged giggle. "Of course we've heard of you. I really want to run some experiments on you!" She exclaimed.
     Asta gripped onto his two swords tightly. Another wing had sprouted from his back, and black streaks climbed their way up to his face. His eyes had turned red and a two horns had erupted from his head. One horn was too small to be noticed, but the other was quite evident.
     "You people make me sick." Asta jumped and appeared right behind one mage. He slammed them into the ground and he flew to his next victim.
     Leopold's fire had died and he only stood there trembling by what he saw. "H—How?"
     "I wasn't lying when I said he was at the level of a vice captain. He might be even stronger than I thought." Nozel said with his eyes focused on Asta.
     "I'm already in a shitty mood." Asta said as he kicked the last mage near the others.
     The pale spatial mage only watched from the corner as everything happened. He flipped through the pages in his grimoire and summoned a portal for his companions.
     "If we stay any longer then he'll kill us." He muttered.
     Asta dived down inching closer to the mages, but every muscle in his body had begun to cramp. "Fuck, not now!" Asta tried maintaining his form,  but the strain was too much.
     Nozel got his grimoire ready to help the boy, but a dome of water had broke Asta's fall.
     "Water magic: Sea dragons nest."
     The man looked to where he heard the spell and saw his youngest sister pointing her wand. Her eyes were puffed and red which made him look down.
     Asta slightly chuckled before landing on the ground. "Thank you, princess."
     Noelle clenched her fist and approached Mimosa. "How's Fuegoleon doing?" She asked.
     "I managed to stop the bleeding, but he's still unconscious." The healing mage felt Noelle's hand on her shoulder.
     "You did well." Noelle said.
     Nozel approached from behind and looked at Fuegoleon's arm. His eyes traveled to where the mages were and was shocked to see them gone.
     "We were careless." He said with his fists clenched.
     Leopold grit his teeth and threw a fireball at the sky. "Dammit!" He shouted.
     Asta forced himself to get up and used his smaller sword to help him walk. "I knew you'd come back." He struggled to say.
     Noelle kept her gaze on her older cousin and ignored the boy. "I wonder who was behind all this." She said.
     "Noelle," Nozel brought his hand close to her shoulder, but stopped himself midway. "Why would you leave in the midst of battle?"
     Noelle froze and took a deep breath. "Why does that even matter?" She asked.
     Mimosa whipped her head and stared at her cousin with wide eyes. Nozel's mouth had went agape, and Asta only bit his lip.
     "You're the one who called me weak, useless, pathetic, pretty much anything. You of all people should know that I can't provide anything." Noelle said.
     Nozel stayed silent. He placed his hand on his sister's shoulder and it was quickly slapped away.
     "Don't touch me!" She shouted. Noelle teared up and her breath hitched. "I hate you! I wish I was never a Silva!" She put her hands over her earrings and took them off. She threw them away and gave the man a smile. "Looks like you finally got what you wanted. One less sibling. I'll stay out of your life, but you," she sniffled and grit her teeth. "But you have to stay out of my life too! You and your other two real siblings!"
     The silence was loud. Nozel took a good look at Noelle and felt his heart break in half. The other magic knights only stared at the two siblings, and their cousins only stared at Noelle.
     "N—Noelle," Nozel stood still and saw his sister stand up. She left leaving a few shocked, and the others uncomfortable. "The safety of the kingdom matters most. We'll check to see if there is any danger left to take care of, and then we take Fuegoleon to the infirmary."
     Asta looked at Noelle and felt a great disturbance in her ki. His heart wrenched and disappointment invaded his mind.
     It's all my fault. He thought.
     She's just fucked in the head. Liebe said.
     If I never had a deal with Nozel, she'd be fine. I broke her trust. I didn't think I meant that much to her. Asta said.
     I think you were her best friend. Besides, I have a feeling you didn't have a major impact on her decision. Liebe said.
     Asta looked at the ground. He felt his cheek become wet and he wiped his tear away.
     A blob of mercury had climbed up Nozel's leg and made its way to his hand. The mercury dropped onto the ground and the man had two silver earrings on the palm of his hand. He held onto them tightly and he took a deep breath. He felt a pang in his chest once he realized his sister was gone.