136 You should have gone for the head

Seeing the huge mana attack die down without leaving any traces of Sekke made the remaining Royal Knights shocked.

"S-S-SEKKEEE!!!!" yelled Asta as he saw his friend die in front of his eyes.

"S-Sekke....san...." muttered Mimosa with a dark expression on her face. She continued to stare at the sky for a while when out of nowhere she fainted and fell on the ground.

"Mimosa!" called Noelle as she caught her fellow royal. She had tears in her eyes as she caught the ginger head. She looked back at the sky and started to cry out loud once she realized that Sekke was actually gone.

"....That bastard....how dare you call yourself the dark lord and just go like that..." muttered Mereoleona as she looked down with a pissed look on her face. Her fists were tightened so strongly that blood started to drip down from them.

Sitting on one of the trees Secre looked at the sky with tears as well.

'You idiot!! Why do you have to jump into dangerous situations like these!! Think about how your mom and dad will feel! Think about your unborn sibling!... THINK ABOUT ME!!!' thought Secre as she just silently cried at her partner's death.

The other royal knights were silent at the loss of one of their comrades as well, but all of them turned serious when the elf hideout started glowing out of nowhere and started to move.

After a while the Royal Knights that were separated started to gather together and soon started explaining how the situation went on their end.

"...Just because I wasn't strong enough...Sekke..." said Asta. He felt pissed at his weakness which resulted in the death of his friend.

"Asta..." said Yuno as he saw his childhood friend and rival blaming himself. He too felt frustrated at his inability to do anything at that moment.

"...For the time being get healed. Seeing that Mimosa is unconscious use this," said Nozel as he brought out a cylinder out of his robe.

[Magic Item: Eilia's Booth]

An area of healing magic appeared around Asta and Yuno seeing which the other people who were injured got inside as well.

Suddenly Nozel's communication magic tool started making noises making the squad captain pick up the call.

"Captain Nozel! Thank goodness! I finally. Got through to you! A number of our squad members suddenly went berserk and started saying strange things like, "We're elves!" They have way more magic than usual! We can't handle them on our own! Apparently, similar incidents are happening with all the squads. Something is going on all over the king- AHHH!!!!"

Before the man could even finish the report, a scream was heard, and the call got disconnected.

"The same thing is happening all over the kingdom?!.... Just like Sekke predicted," said Asta.

"...Let's get going. That bastard did ask us to get healed and save the kingdom's ass," said Mereoleona with wounds all over her body.

She took a step forward but immediately fell unconscious. She was too injured to even stay conscious at the moment.

The others looked at her before Nozel ordered Noelle to get her inside the healing area.

"We are Magic Knights. We must save the Clover Kingdom, no matter what happens. I know one of our comrades has fallen while trying to save some others, but don't forget your duty...don't let his sacrifice be in vain. He did his best to injure most of them including their leader. It is now our job to carry it through and defeat them." said Nozel getting back into his captain mode.

Noelle then told them about how Luck didn't kill her even though him being superior in both speed and power. She then told that just like Yuno others may be able to regain back their consciousness and be saved as well.

The other nodded listening to her theory while Nozel secretly smiled at his sister's words.

Asta nodded as well before he picked up the Demon Destroyer sword that Sekke threw at him earlier. He didn't know why Sekke gave this sword to him, but he was sure that there must be a reason behind it.

He put the sword inside his grimoire and promised himself to use it to save all the people that he can.

---------------------

Currently inside the elf headquarters that was heading toward the Clover kingdom, most of the elves that were present there were low on mana and were injured.

They gave almost half of their mana in the final attack to Licht, and the sudden mana depletion made them feel nauseous.

"Those with healing magic. Get on the job. We will be arriving at the capital soon." said Rhya as he started healing himself and Licht.

Despite being the strongest, Licht was the one who was injured the most. Several broken bones, quite a few wounds, and running low on blood.

'Seriously what even was that brat? Even the combined mana of 12 elves was not enough to stop him. It's a good thing that we had Licht with us otherwise that kid could have been quite a big hindrance to our plan.' thought Rhya as he continued to heal Llicht and himself.

A few hours passed by as the elf hideout continued to move toward the capital. The elves were now healed up and were stocking up on mana as they waited to let their wrath out on the people of the Clover kingdom.

In one of the chambers of the HQ, Rhya was looking at two huge glass tubes filled with green liquid and two people inside them.

Suddenly the mana inside the tubes started acting up and soon they shattered making the liquid spill out.

"Oh, you are up. How are you two feeling? Remember your previous reincarnations Fana, Vetto?" asked Rhya as he looked at the former third-eye colleagues.

The two smiled and started talking to Rhya about what they remembered and all.

After they were dressed, the three elves came out of the lab and Fana and Vetto started looking around.

"The castle is highly damaged. Looks like a huge battle took place," said Vetto.

"Don't ask, if not for Licht we would have been defeated. It was terrible. That Sekke Bronzaza kid was a menace." replied Rhya.

"Wait? Sekke? As in the one whom I fought? Blonde hair, green eyes. Great muscles," asked Fana with a surprised look on her face.

"Yeah, that one. Though I am surprised that you paid such close attention to him that you even remember his eyes...Fana-chan don't tell me that you two did something inappropriate during th-"

Before Rhya could even finish a punch welcomed his grinning face shutting the elf's mouth.

"Don't speak nonsense...It's just that....he was different from other humans...He kept his word, he was honest with me, and at the end of the battle even after I was defeated and was about to use self-destruct magic, he saved me and told me that he doesn't hate me...he was kind of cool for a human." said Fana.

Rhya got up from the ground and started healing himself. He and Vetto stared at the pink hair elf for a while before they got close to each other.

"Vetto...I am not mistaking it, right? Are you thinking what I am thinking?" asked Rhya in a hushed tone.

"I guess....but to think Fana, the one with the most hate...this is surprising," replied Vetto with a slight dilemma.

Rhya looked at Vetto and understood what was going through his mind and sighed.

"Be that as it may...that kid is dead, now," said Rhya and started moving once again. They were far too into their plan for Fana to have a crush on a human. Their mission was to eradicate all humans and he didn't want Fana to have second thoughts.

Vetto looked at Rhya with a surprised look on his face before he glanced at Fana with worry, and just as he thought, Fana too was shocked by the news.

He sighed and gave a pat on Fana's shoulder before he followed Rhya.

"Don't you think that was harsh?" asked Vetto.

"We are far too into the hell hole for Fana to have second thoughts. She needs to get her thoughts back on track....although it's a bit regrettable to not tease her more about this," replied Rhya.

The two talked for a bit before they joined the other elves. Fana soon joined them as well and the elves started preparing for the attack.

--------------------

Meanwhile, the royal knights decided to split up since Asta and Yuno wanted to save their village and Nozel wanted to hurry back to the capital.

Noel also decided to drop off Mereoleona at the shelter to get her healed up while the rest of the royals along with Zora and En continued to head to the capital.

Once their village was saved Asta realized what the sword that Sekke threw at him could do and was grateful to him for giving him a way to bring his friends back on his side.

The two Hage Village rookies along with Secre, who went to see the first wizard king, then got back on their way to the capital, but soon split up once again when they saw reincarnated elves causing chaos in the different towns.

It was there that Asta met Magna and Vanessa who were fighting elf Luck.

They fought for a while and the three of them were finally able to bring Luck back.

"Oi, Asta what the hell is that sword?!" asked Magna as he looked at the sword that brought Luck back to human form.

"I don't know how it actually works, but this sword can umm....what do you call it...release..effects of magic or something...It's something Sekke gave me before he died..." said Asta in a sad tone.

"Wait...WHAT?!?!"

"S-S-Sekke..."

"...."

The three of them were shocked after hearing the news about Sekke's death. Magana outright denied believing it, while Vanessa was shocked beyond belief. Luck stayed silent since his elf form was also responsible for this. He didn't know what to say.

Asta remained silent for a while but soon started to use his [Shounen Magic: Protagonist Talk] on his squadmates and soon they cheered up and decided to save the kingdom for Sekke's sake.

The four of them then headed toward the Black Bulls HQ to regroup with their squad and get more hands for the upcoming battle.

---------------------

At the capital, Nozel and his group surprisingly reached before the elves. Mimosa was now conscious but had a slightly lifeless look on her face. She knew that she has to help others and save them, but seeing Sekke die was quite a shock for her.

Noelle was worried about the ginger head but didn't know how to do so, she was about to ask her to focus on the job, but before she could Nozel asked her to come along with him and head towards the Silva castle to save the people who were in there.

Thereafter, Nozel, Noelle, and Zora headed toward the Silva castle, while Kirsch, Mimosa, and En headed toward the Vermillion castle.

Once they were done saving the royals and the workers inside the castle they spotted the HQ that was flying towards the capital.

The top of the castle was gone and now a platform with some inscriptions written on it appeared.

Nine elves glowing with mana were standing inside the circles.

"Licht-san!" called Pattoli as he spotted Licht standing with an expressionless look on his face.

But Licht didn't respond back and just continued to stare into space.

Rhya patted the young elf's back and started walking toward the circle where he was supposed to be standing.

"Don't worry, He'll be with us once everything is complete. Just wait over there," said Rhya as he gestured for Pattoli to stand aside.

"Alright..." said Pattoli in a slightly dejected tone and walked away from the ritual zone.

Once all ten spots on the ritual platform were filled, the Apostles of Sephira, elves who were able to receive divinations and opened the gates of the shadow palace, passed their mana, and the giant inscription on the platform started glowing.

Pattoli looked at the giant glowing inscription and was fascinated, but suddenly his gaze fell on one of the Gravito stones, the material from which their castle was made, flying up.

It was not surprising since a lot of the castle was already broken and these gravity-defying rocks continued to fly up. But still, this specific rock caught Pattoli's attention.

He used his light magic to conjure a light whip and catch the rock and brink it to himself.

Meanwhile, the Shadow Palace was already in sight and the elves were all joyous seeing the dark portal that lead to it.

"What is this, a sword in stone....held by a metallic hand?" muttered Pattoli as he inspected the rock that he caught earlier.

But all of a sudden the metallic hand twitched and a black snake-like appendage shot out of it and latched onto Pattoli.

"Wha!!! What is this?!?!" cried Pattoli in panic making the nearby elves look at him.

"Oi! Pattoli? What is it?" asked Rhya.

But Pattoli didn't reply and tried to free himself from the thing that latched onto him.

Suddenly the appendage glowed and Pattoli felt mana being drained out of his body.

"What is this thing!!!" yelled Pattoli as he formed a light sword in his other hand to cut the snake-like thing.

But just as the sword formed it shattered and disintegrated into mana.

Pattoli tried to use his magic once again but no reaction occurred. It was as if, he couldn't use magic at all.

Soon Rhya and some of the elves came closer to him only to find the hand that was gripping the sword that was stuck in the store to be glowing.

The metallic hand then started to grow bigger and bigger until it formed a whole metallic arm. The continued to grow as it sucked the mana out of Pattoli and soon a humanoid figure made of metal started to form.

"A human? But who is he?" asked Rhya but soon the man's face formed and a look of fear appeared on the faces of the elves.

"Phew, for a while I thought that I died. It would have been so uncool for the dark lord to just die like that. So the fake Licht-kun became my battery. Thank you." said Sekke who appeared to be made out of bronze.

The metallic Sekke then looked around and saw the scared elves looking at him before his gaze fell on the emotionless Licht.

"You should have gone for the head," said Sekke with a smirk as his body soon started to gain color and totally naked Dark Lord stood in front of a group of surprised and scared elves.