Few Minutes Earlier
"Stop throwing these puppets at me and come at me yourself, you jerk!" Asta shouted, cutting down the puppet named Jimmy. His body was bleeding due to some strange curse effect—yet the wounds healed almost instantly.
"Thanks, Mimosa… you're a lifesaver…"
"You're welcome, Astaaa…" she replied hesitantly, eyes scanning the battlefield as she continued healing Noelle and Leo, who were locked in combat with a mud mage.
'That healer is a pain in the ass…' Rades, the corpse mage, clicked his tongue and redirected several zombies toward her. But thick vines burst from the ground, entangling them completely and halting their advance.
He realized he would have to use some numbered puppets, if he wanted her gone but the short brat was proving to be far too troublesome, even taking down his number three and dragging the fight into a stalemate.
Noelle and Leo continued battling another of Rades's mud puppets, while Mimosa held back the surrounding zombies. Her usual airheaded demeanor was gone—replaced by the composure of a seasoned healing mage.
She gripped a staff longer than her own height. From the gem embedded at its center, condensed blasts of mana fired rapidly, punching holes through the zombies.
"Miss Noelle, look there!" Mimosa called out.
Noelle, momentarily distracted while guarding the child Asta had saved, looked up just in time to see an incoming attack, Instinctively, she activated her defensive spell.
"Water Creation Magic: Sea Dragon's Lair!"
A swirling barrier of water formed, shielding the child completely.
"Please protect the child, Miss Noelle. I will handle the enemy…" Mimosa declared.
At once, a thick sphere of vines erupted from the ground, covered in sharp thorns. It engulfed the mud mage entirely, lifting it into the air. The vines tightened with each passing second, crushing and shredding it from within until the corpse was completely destroyed.
Leo and Noelle stared in shock.
"I'm sorry for killing you so painfully… but I must perform my duties. Please, rest in peace…" Mimosa said softly, apologizing to the already lifeless corpse.
Everyone looked at her in stunned silence.
"How did you become so strong? Where is my airhead Mimosa…?" Noelle asked, dumbfounded falling into thought about how much Mimosa had grown—only for both girls to suddenly feel a fist drill into their heads.
Captain Fuegoleon stood behind them.
"You're in the middle of a battle. Stop the idle chatter and focus on the fight—look at your comrade."
At his remark, their eyes snapped toward Asta, now joined by Leo, both clashing against a new puppet of the corpse mage—Number Two, Alfred.
Just as the flying puppet lunged toward Leo, an intense tornado of fire swallowed it whole, burning it to smithereens.
"I apologize for interfering," Captain Fuegoleon said calmly, stepping forward as the flames faded. His gaze locked onto the only ringleader present.
The enemy mage stiffened at the sudden intervention. His expression turned serious as he summoned his strongest puppet—a defensive barrier type mage.
"You think you can save these worms and defeat me at the same time? Ha… I will slaughter the entire noble realm today, as I promised my lord. And I will begin with—"
He never finished.
A concentrated beam of fire pierced straight through the shield, obliterating the puppet inside. The sheer force of it stunned everyone present.
"I have no interest in hearing your twisted motives," Fuegoleon said coldly. "don't even think about escaping."
Flames coiled around Rades, binding him in place as his grimoire was seized.
Fuegoleon was about to assess the battlefield when—
A surge of blinding light erupted in the sky. A magic presence even greater than his own pressed down on them.
"It seems the leader has made his move…" Rades laughed hoarsely. "Let's see if you can get out of this alive—hahahaha!"
For a brief moment, Fuegoleon raised his guard even further looking toward the sky.
But a spatial distortion tore open beneath him.
He reacted instantly, leaping upward—but another portal snapped open above his head.
In the next second, he was swallowed whole.
"Captain!"
"Big Brother…!"
Asta, Leo, Noelle, and Mimosa shouted in unison—but what followed shocked them even more.
A figure crashed into the ground nearby, creating a small crater.
El appeared beside them in a flash, his broken sword already drawn, his expression dark with irritation.
"How do you know we're related to the elves?" Rhya asked, his voice turning serious for the first time.
A moment later, his expression shifted. The mana around him flickered—he had received some kind of communication.
"…It doesn't matter," Rhya said, his tone returning to its usual lazy indifference. "You've involved yourself in more trouble than you can handle... especially now that you've been marked by our leader." He turned slightly, already losing interest deciding to leave.
"We've already achieved our objective here… we'll be leaving."
"Your objective… was to capture captains?" El asked, trying to piece things together.
"Not all of them," Rhya replied with a smirk. "Just one. A fierce tiger… who should be dealt by now."
A portal opened behind El, dumping a cold unresponsive body.
"Brother—!"
Captain Fuegoleon hit the ground, blood pooling beneath him. His right arm was gone, his life slipping away with every second just like his fading grimoire.
El vanished and reappeared beside him instantly, pulling out a senzu bean and placing it in his mouth. It dissolved the moment it touched his hot tongue—its miraculous properties activating at once.
Rhya, meanwhile, summoned a curtain of light, healing the minor scratches on his own body. A sly smile curved his lips as he watched.
Captain Fuegoleon's wounds began to close at a speed visible to the naked eye.
Flesh reformed, even his missing arm regenerated, yet the senzu bean failed to heal the mental wounds.
He remained unconscious—eyes open, frozen in shock.
El frowned. He should have been fully healed.
"Oi… you saved him?" Rhya's voice carried faint surprise but El ignored him.
Grabbing nearby Mimosa's hand, he pressed his other hand against Captain Fuegoleon's back vanishing.
In the next instant, they reappeared inside a medical facility. El placed him on a bed and turned to Mimosa.
"Summon Dryad, she might know what to do." Mimosa nodded, already raising her grimoire.
El appeared on the battlefield again which was drastically changed in just few seconds.
Rades and the spatial mage had already vanished from sight.
Rhya was slowly sinking into a dark spatial rift, yet his Light Magic remained active—hundreds of giant swords hung high in the sky, waiting to descend upon half the Noble Realm. If they fell, the entire district would be reduced to nothing.
The spectacle was visible even from the Forsaken Realm. Sunlight glinted off the blades, making them shine like divine judgment cast upon the nobles.
"I hope you enjoy my parting gift…" Rhya said, his voice calm, almost amused.
Asta dashed forward, trying to reach the slowly disappearing Rhya—but a sharp clap snapped him back to where he stood. The gap between them was absolute, and El had no intention of letting Asta get abducted by enemies of that level.
"Stay here and protect as many people as you can!" El shouted, pulling out a white card.
The moment it appeared, a chilling gloom spread across the arena. The air turned heavy, suffocating. A nonexistent, eerie laughter echoed throughout the entire block, sending a shiver through everyone present.
Even after Rhya vanished into the shadow, the spell remained.
The giant swords began to fall, below people froze in despair, their bodies locked as they abandoned hope.
And then El teleported above the descending blades a white card dissolving and merging with his body his black pupils turned red.
[Deducted 5,000 Xeni Coins]
***
Author Note: Please donate power stones and leave a review or chapter comment if you like the chapter...