"What do you mean the capital is under attack?" I run to a nearby window to see if what the castle mage says is true. Being in one of the castle's upper levels I'm able to see several plumes of black smoke from many different regions of the city. The attack seems to be spread fairly wide and localized to different sectors suggesting multiple enemies. The messenger isn't wrong, there appears to be an attack on the capital.
"I'll use my stone creation magic. Stone Model of the World." Shiren says opening his grimoire. A large detailed three dimensional model of the city appears in front of us all. It's super detailed. Every brick and shingle of every house within the capital can be seen. Even each citizen has been re-created, their miniature voices screaming as attackers peruse him or her. If it wasn't such a dire situation I would have bugged Shiren about this magic. It seems like the perfect way to make model dollhouses, but some how I don't think that's what he does in his spare time. My eye is drawn to the central corridor, where my apartment used to be. No surprise there's a fire and many screams from that area of the capital.
Slowly I walk around the capital model. Something doesn't feel right to me. Now that Asta's swords don't plague me a continuous chill runs up and down my spine. It's similar to the one I got during my first mission and found the mass grave with the Dalmascus steel. It's my own internal sensor telling me a fair amount of death is nearby.
"A formidable spatial mage must have made them materialized in an instant." I hear Fuegoleon say to Alecdora as they observe the scene unfolding within the stone model. The amount of screams I hear from the model combined with the actual screams from outside the castle increase my worry. We need to act quickly, there are injured out there and I need to help them. I glance down at my bag only to see it's lighter than usual. Crap! I didn't pack any potions! I wasn't expecting anything to happen in the capital, now I really am useless as a medic. I'll just have to make sure to protect everyone before they get hurt. I think before taking my place next to Fuegoleon. They're trying to figure out how to split us all up to be the most effective.
"No! What're we waiting around for?! We know there are people who need our help out there! I'm going!" Asta screams as he starts running towards the door.
"Going where Asta?! We don't have a complete grasp of the situation yet, and anyway, you can't sense magic at all remember?!" The golden dawn knight with the glasses shouts at him. But Asta doesn't seem to care about this small detail at all.
"I'm going to where it's the noisiest!" Asta yells as he runs down the hallway. We're all left in the banquet hall staring at his disappearing figure. He seems very determined to help, yet his ability to fully grasp what needs to be done makes me wonder if we can depend on him.
"Hahaha! Interesting! Let's see what you've got! Wait up for me my rival!" Leo yells running down the hall after Asta. Great, now there's two of you I've got to worry about. I groan as we watch him run out the door. I'm starting to have flash backs on having to chase the cub down on the beach to make sure he was taking care of himself. I shake my head quickly to get rid of the memory. I have to focus right now.
"That Leo... he's still very much a child. I'll have to take him in hand later." I hear Fuegoleon mumble to me after an exasperated sigh. "Alright! I'm sure you find it irritating to take orders from me but listen well, magic knights! I'll follow Leo and the Black Bulls boy. After I've joined them, we'll head to the north district. You Black Bulls Girl! Come with me!" Fuegoleon's grimoire opens to produce the fire lion I'm familiar with. Apparently we'll be taking to the air again. He holds out a hand to help Noelle up onto the beast. "Silver Eagles, take the central district where the enemy is the strongest! Blue Roses take the eastern district, and Golden Dawn split into two teams and head to the west and northwest districts! If we fail to protect the capital we'll bring shame upon the Magic Knights. What ever you do, don't let the enemy escape!" He yells at us. Everyone breaks up into the teams and quickly prepares to leave through their magical vehicle of choice. I have just enough time to jump on the table and flop onto the front of the lion, stomach first before we take off.
"What are you doing?!" I can hear Noelle yell at me from behind Fuegoleon as I swing my leg around to fully sit on the lion while we make our way to destination. However because of the current sitting arrangements I wasn't behind Fuegoleon but in front of him so to prevent me from kicking anyone while I got situated I had to ride the lion backwards.
"It's fine Black Bulls girl. She does this all the time. Just don't fall." Fuegoleon says as I finalize my position. We're flying low enough that my fear of flying is only manifesting as a small hum instead of the usual sirens of death. I look around Fuegoleon to the silver haired mage before giving her a small wave.
"Hello there! I'm Ember Avest I'll be your attending medic for today. But please try not to get yourself seriously maimed or killed. You're Noelle Silva right? I should tell you, your siblings are real ass holes!" I tell the young girl. Her tense posture remains for a brief moment before comprehending my words.
"Wait a minute. Ember Avest? Aren't you Captain Fuegoleon's betrothed?" If I had a drink I would have choked on it right then and there. I'm surprised that this is the first thing people know about me, not all my ground breaking work as the formulations lead at the royal hospital. But I suppose it is better than being known as the mana-less medic in the royal hospital. Besides people love gossip and we did announce our relationship some time ago.
"Bespoken not betrothed yet. But there are other pressing matters at hand you two. Focus!"
"Sorry!" We both apologize to the captain. It's pretty easy to realize why he's calling our attention though. We've come upon the main plaza in the northern district. Fires rage all around us and there's an abhorrent horde of gross looking people attacking innocent civilians. But these enemies aren't moving like normal people. They're fairly sluggish, their skin tinted a heavy gray and all they do is groan. Quite frankly it reminds me of a scene from the zombie horror movies Thalia used to watch. I notice a lone castle mage or two shoot off a mana bullet at one of the enemies. It blasts a hole through their chest but they just keep moving forward. Totally zombie material here. I try to focus what I can on the enemies. I feel magic coursing through them, but I don't feel a soul keeping them tethered to this earth. It's a low level form of necromancy, using magic to manipulate human flesh as puppets.
"What are they?" Noelle asks.
"A strange army? I've never seen anything like them." Fuegoleon says peering down at the scene.
"I have. They're wraiths. It's a low level form of necromancy. They're using magic to manipulate human flesh as puppets. They may look human but make no mistake they aren't alive." I tell the two.
"Interesting. So if we find the caster we can wipe out their forces." Fuegoleon says still intensely watching the group. He's no doubt analyzing the situation, looking for a weakness.
"Where's Asta?" Noelle asks, worry in her voice. She's looking all over the plaza but it's hard to make out a ton of details as the chaos from the fire and smoke cloud our vision. We take our place in the middle of the plaza's chaos, which grabs all of the wraiths' attention. I quickly look around, there has to be at least 150 of them in this plaza. For a low level form of necromancy this caster sure has a lot mana to be able to control this amount of puppets. Slowly they all start to come our way. I squeak as I feel someone back into me. It's Leo, he must have found us when we landed.
"Big brother what are these things?" he asks.
"These things... there's magic in them but they're not living beings. So we'll just crush them until they can't get back up!" The swell of mana I feel from both brothers tells me to take a step back. I pull Noelle with me. She turns to scold me for touching her but she doesn't have the time to get the words out. "Flame Creation Magic: Leo Rugiens! Burn to ashes!" The lion becomes several sizes bigger than the one we just rode in on before it blasts through a large group of the corpses. If I didn't pull Noelle out of the way she may have gotten singed on the attack.
I was going to tell keep her guard up, but there's still a good amount of the horde in the plaza, along with a few civilians. Quickly I abandon our center hold we've carved out in the plaza in favor of the sidelines where the civilians are.
"That was amazing!"
"They're so powerful!"
"Is there anything they can't do?"
"Yeah we can't get rid of everyone of these bastards if you guys are still standing here!" I yell at them. They're all so busy fawning over Fuegoleon and Leo's attacks that they don't notice the five or so wraiths behind them. I jump over the people, spinning in the air before using my centrifugal force to land a heavy axe kick on the center wraith. I follow this up with two of my Sagitta's Arrow which pierces through and incinerates all enemies. "Are any of you injured?" They all just stand there like deer in headlights, before realizing my question. They all shake their heads no. "Fantastic. Then what are you waiting around here for. Go to the shelters in the north central corridor. Leave the rest to us." They all start to scurry away for a safe destination. Once I'm sure they'll be safe I turn back around. Our group has spread out quite a bit and even more fires have popped up across the plaza. The smoke makes it increasingly hard to see and breath but it doesn't stop a little girl's cries from hitting my ears. There's still a civilian left in the plaza. I run through the flames towards the screams but there's still a large amount of wraiths coming at me.
"Ewwww. Gross-" My arrow hits one on the left "-gross-" another arrow takes out several more, "-gross! You're all gross! Go away! Stop chasing me!" I cry as I run through the plaza, shooting off arrows and spewing flames, but the horde keeps following me like a cliché zombie film. There is one thing I've noticed about these wraiths though, they all appear have been male in their previous life. Maybe the spell caster has a thing for these boy toys. Finally through all the chaos I see the brilliant red cape of my captain and the barrage of flames he's released on a nearby hoard, saving Noelle. She opens her mouth to thank him only to receive a karate chop to the head from him.
"Concentrate! Black Bulls girl, don't tell me you've let the things your siblings said frighten you. There's no time for such things on the battlefield! One wrong decision means lives lost! You are standing here as a member of the Magic Knights! If you joined the knights of your own free will then steel yourself and get stronger! Being weak is nothing to be ashamed of but staying weak is!" He scolds her getting fired up in the process. I can tell something's clicked for her because she's no longer standing there passively. Instead she opens her grimoire and erects a protective water dome over someone in the middle of all this chaos. As I get closer I see it's the little girl whose screams I must have heard earlier. Asta has taken a protective stance in front of the little girl.
"What are you doing dorksta? I can't leave you alone for five minutes. How about a thank you for bailing you out again?! Now that you can move freely go take him down!" She yells at Asta.
"You brats!" A guy who appears to be the puppet master yells. He's got long messy light purple hair with blue eyes. But his left eye is covered with dark red bandages. His entire outfit is black except for the tattered grayish cape that he wears. "Now! You'll die!" He screams as more wraiths come at Asta. I quickly release a round of arrows while Leo, whose been watching the same scene casts his spiral flame magic. Both attacks hit their mark and all low level wraiths are turned to ashes.
"Don't worry! I've got your back rival! Now go give that monster a taste of your blade! Get out there and show me what you can do!" I hear Leo tell Asta. He looks so excited to see what this new rival can do. Hesitantly I take my place on the edge of this battle, next to Fuegoleon. This is the first time I've been able to fully see Asta's swords for they aren't causing me any pain, discomfort or even strain on the seal. This isn't right. From all previous encounters I should be on the ground, nearly knocked out cold by just being in the swords' presence. So something here must be distracting Helia from trying to break the seal. My hunch is, it's the wraith boy toy guy.
"Is he spinning like a top?" I ask Fuegoleon as we stand there watching the scene unfold. Just looking at Asta rotate that quickly makes me nauseous.
"It appears so... wait. How are you standing here so close to the swords? What about the seal?" He asks me concern seeping into his voice.
"No clue, but I've got a hunch something here is distracting her from using me. There's too much chaos and the wraiths.... Let's just consider this sheer dumb luck." I tell him.
"Now! Number two! Say hi to Alfred! Go and get him Alfred he's all yours!" Looking back at Asta it seems that the first puppet, Jimmy, was taken care of by Asta's over enthusiastic spinning attack. But now another high level wraith has taken it's place. This time it's an electric user, covered in bandages and missing its legs.
"Hi Alfred!" I yell waving at the monster in front of us.
"Really? Must you be so childish?" Fuegoleon asks me.
"What?! He said to say hi!" I pout. It looks like Asta may have more trouble with this puppet. I can tell Asta's already received several deep wounds that haven't stopped bleeding and this Alfred guy keeps floating around, just out of Asta's reach. Things are going to get nasty quickly and that little girl is still in the middle of this. She looks too terrified to move, and I don't blame her. There's fire everywhere, a sicko trying to kill her, zombies galore and the Magic Knight in front of her is severely injured. But if I'm to get her I've got to do it quietly. There's no telling if Alfred will come after me or another enemy will appear. So using the magic I have I encase myself in a protective mana skin before running into the fray. "Noelle let the barrier down!" I yell just as I'm right there next to the girl. Luckily Noelle hears me and quickly disengages her spell. I slide in on my knees next to the girl, and surround us with my Artic Firestorm spell. It's not actually a defensive spell but it will keep any of the wraiths from sneaking up on us. The little girl is visibly shaking, tears pouring down her face. "Hey, hey, hey. It's all right now. I'm going to get you out of here alright? It's going to be okay, everything is fine." I gently tell her, pulling her into a quick hug. She grabs onto my cape and buries her head into it. I pick her up, situating her on my right hip so my left hand can be free to defend if need be. Now I've just got to get her back to safety.
Standing up I look for my exit. Asta is still having trouble with the wraith but I can't do anything for him right now. My first priority is getting this girl to safety. He's a Magic Knight after all so defending the public is his primary role, just like mine. Seeing my chance, I make a break for it running past Leo and Noelle and stopping once I've past them.
"Thanks for acting quickly Noelle! I don't think I would have been able to get past your barrier easily! Do you mind covering my back?" I ask her as I put the little girl down. It'll help if I have someone else keeping an eye out while I'm taking this girl back to the safety point.
"Uh-Ah- it was nothing. I am royalty after all." She blushes slightly at my compliment. "But shouldn't Leopold be the one to help you? I-uh-don't have any offensive spells."
"Yet. You don't have any offensive spells yet." I correct her as I squat down to make sure the little girl is physically alright before picking her up again. "I suppose you should take this then." I say tossing her a knife from my bag. She gives me a look of surprise and 'what the actual fuck'.
"What am I supposed to do with this?!" She yells at me as I start running down the corridor with the little girl.
"It's simple! Stick them with the pointy end!" With that I'm out of the fray. I hurry as fast as I can, little girl attached to my hip. Our massive attack has pulled nearly all the wraiths to the plaza meaning I'm free to quickly get to the safety check point and drop off the little girl. By the time we get to there she's stopped crying. I gently put her down and give her a quick once over to doublecheck that she's alright. "Hey, you were great out there, very brave! I don't think some of the adults could be as courageous as you." I tell her as she sniffles.
"Th-thank you." I flash her a smile as I stand up and head back out to the battlefield. I can hear her mother's cries as they reunite with one another. Running out the door I follow the twists and turns of the alley ways I used to get here. I need to get back with the group to tend to Asta's injuries and anyone else who has been hurt. Just as I turn the corner though someone stand in my way.
"Thalia! I-"
"Ember-they're here! They're here for him." But I ignore her warning, running up to her wrapping her in my arms, but sadly all I grab is air. She's still a free roaming spirit. "I'm sorry. I couldn't foresee this until now. Please forgive me." I want to cry and hug her so much.
"What are you talking about? Please, don't tell me you had another vision? Thalia, you don't have to stay here. Pass on please, I'll be alright."
"Maybe, I haven't seen that far. But Fuegoleon won't. They're here for him." Suddenly all the mana signature of every knight in the city disappears from my internal radar. Just like that. Were they all suddenly killed? No a coordinated attack on that scale would be near impossible plus I would have noticed the civilian casualties. The more likely explanation is they're aren't here anymore. They've been transported, probably by the same mage who helped snuck in the wraith mage. By the time I've realized what's happened Thalia has disappeared again, leaving me alone in the alleyway. Dread hits my stomach like I've just eaten a pile of rocks. Thalia's visions were never wrong. Pushing myself as much as I can I make it back to the plaza in record time.
I don't know what I was expecting when I made to my destination. Before I had even turned the last corner I knew something was wrong. I could sense Leo's and Noelle's mana signatures but I couldn't sense Fuegoleon's. Was he dead or transported like the rest of the Magic Knights? It was hard to say from what I saw. The plaza's battle had progressed enough that nearly all the wraiths laid in giant piles scattered through out the area. Fires still burned, bringing more smoke and haze to the scene. But I can still see what's clearly in front of me. The wraith mage is ensnared in Fuegoleon's Leo Palma seal while Leo grabs the guy's collar yelling at him.
"Rades you bastard! Where did you send my brother!" Everyone is clearly upset, enraged even over our captain's disappearance. But he should be alright, right? The Leo Palma seal is still active meaning Fuegoleon has to be alive and well somewhere. But this doesn't seem to concern Rades. He's just sitting there laughing hysterically at a joke we don't yet understand.
"He's just toying with you Leo. He wasn't the one that cast the spatial magic spell. But the pinpoint accuracy of it all. No one could pull that off unless they were that close to their target. They're hiding nearby." Noelle clarifies as I approach the group. Asta's badly wounded, leaning on Noelle so that pretty much leaves me and Leo to try and find this spatial magic user.
"Nearby you say." I've got two options for snuffing this guy out. The first one is to blow everything away with a strong Artic Firestorm spell. But the power behind that spell means that I'll most likely kill or seriously injure the spatial mage. Then we'll never get Fuegoleon back. The other option is to hope that what ever traces of mana left in the corpses are low enough to be considered background noise and that Sagitta's Arrow can hone in and locate the bastard for me. So the second option is what I go for.
"Flame magic: Sagitta's Arrow." I nock three arrows in the bow and aim for one of the nearby buildings.
"What are you doing! We don't know where he is! You're wasting-" Noelle stops her scolding once the arrows are let loose. They scatter multiple directions but all quickly convene on one of the pile of corpses to our left. Severed limbs as well as unrecognizable pieces of flesh and blood go flying everywhere. But my spell has done its job. One fully intact corpse jumps out of the way of my attack and into a black sparkly portal above him.
"Nice observation skills. I had a feeling you suss out my magical transformation but I couldn't even get past you with this putrescent disguise. I expected no less of you... guardian." The spatial mage starts tearing his disguise off, but by the time he's revealed his true face I've got another arrow ready with his name on it.
"How the fuck do you know about that?!" I can sense all eyes on me as the three teens turn their attention from the spatial mage to me.
"It's irrelevant now. The seal will be broken. It's already over." With that a new portal opens overhead and with it Fuegoleon's lifeless body is toss haphazardly onto the ground. Blood, there's so much blood, and it isn't stopping. Why would it stop? His right arm is completely torn off. My mind is reeling. Is this what Alec and Thalia were trying to warn me about? Did Thalia already see Fuegoleon's death? It can't be. This just can't be how it is.
"Ember! You're the medic help me!" Noelle's pleas snap me from my daze. She's taken the knife I gave her earlier and started tearing her skirt apart for bandages in attempts to stop the bleeding. Kneeling down next to her I start instructing her where to put her hands in hopes to stifle the flow of blood. But surely he's dead by now right? The Leo Palma seal has been broken and there's just so much blood. My body starts acting on its own going through the acts of everything I've medically trained for but it's got to be useless right? I'm entirely useless. Vaguely I can hear the screams of Asta and Leo. They sound like wounded animals with nothing to loose. Are they foolish enough to attack these guys head on, after what they did to my lion?
"Ember! Ember! Captain Fuegoleon's grimoire, look! He's still alive! You got to do something! Use a healing spell." Noelle cries at me.
"A healing.... spell.... I don't know any. And I didn't pack any of my potions today for the ceremony." I really am useless as a battlefield medic mage. If only I had a spell to breath new life into him, to restore his mana and give him a fighting chance while Noelle and I stopped the never-ending flow of blood then maybe, just maybe. "Noelle...." I whisper but she hears me clearly. "What I'm about to do.... Just.... Tell Fuegoleon I love him and I didn't mean for it to be this way." I cry, tears flowing down my face. Reaching into my sparse bag I pull out the thing I came to return: the Dalmascus steel.
"Hey-what are you-" I run the tip of the stone over Fuegoleon's seal, marring my own pale skin. I gasp for breath as everything we've worked on for months is released. Months worth of mana, returned to its owner. I can feel my skin burning, blood boiling as his fire leaves me. I close my eyes and grit my teeth. I have to make it through this pain, otherwise what's the point. I need to make sure he gets every last drop back. The tears just keep coming, but they aren't from the excruciating pain I feel. No, it's from knowing that behind each ember of mana I return to him, there's a story to go with it. It's a story of trust, respect and love, for without him I wouldn't be here today, nor would anyone be here.
Just as quickly as it started, Fuegoleon's everlasting mana leaves me, cold and alone. But it's replaced by something even greater. The power it held back. The terrifying destructive force of a high guardian. Its icy power flows through out my veins, brining a sense of clarity I haven't felt in ages. This power does not want to be contained and instead chooses to seep into the ground beneath me. It moves about the streets as a black inky mess, connecting me to every living soul within the city limits. They're all so beautiful. Each different and unique in their own ways, different colors, different energies and different patterns. Most of them remain tethered to this earth, other start to slip off to the afterlife, the damage they received during the attack too great for them to handle.
So this is what it took for you to release me. And just look at the welcoming party you've so graciously thrown for me. All of these souls will surely replace the ones you refused to give me guardian. Horror continues to seep into me as I realize, this was Helia's plan from the beginning. She's planning on taking everyone in the capital with her to the underworld. To satisfy her sick addiction.
No! Helia, they've done nothing wrong! I won't let you!
Look around guardian. There's nothing stopping me. Your precious lion is nearly dead, his soul to be forever damned, trapped with me. Besides even if you could save one soul, you can't save them all, the gates to the underworld are open. She's right. I can feel the doors opening wide, ready to accept every soul here. It's going to be a mass killing, unless-.
I will. Helia, with the power you bestowed upon me as the guardian of the underworld, I refuse to let one innocent person here die today. I'm taking back what's mine! With a mighty yell I gather all the energy coursing through my veins. Despite not using it for years it feels like just yesterday that I was imbued with this power. I WILL STOP YOU! I scream as I force the heavy gates shut, causing all souls to return to the vessels from which they returned.
Impossible. You can't use my power without an exchange of some sort. What do you really intend. Slowly I pull myself to my feet, my senses returning to the battlefield at hand. I'm under Noelle's Sea Dragon's Layer defensive spell but there are roots sapping the spell dry. There's not just one enemy but five additional reinforcements all attempting to kills us all.
I intend to take all of your power to save them.
"Are you okay?! Please say something!" Noelle screams as Asta and Leo are pierced with what appears to be multiple wind torrents. Another round of attacks is just about to hit them, which would effectively end their lives as well. "NO!" A loud explosion kicks up all the dust, causing everyone to cough. "Ember! How-" She cries.
"Tsk. It's that guardian the master was warning us about."
"Yeahbut where did she get that giant scythe?" All the mysterious white robe enemiesstart conversing among themselves. For there I stand, in front of the fallen, my true form revealed.