chapter 20: Aftermath of battle

The eye of the Midnignt sun has disappeared and have taken Rowan with them.

Noelle: Rowan... They took Rowan! We have to save him.

Charlotte: I want go and look for him too...! But there's no way to locate their destination. 'Dammit'

She gritted her teeth.

Noelle: Yes but...

Nozel: No. RIght now our top priority is reinforcing the Capital's detenses. There's no guarantee that those were the only enemies. we don't have time or the

magic to spend on someone like him.

Charlotte looked at Nozel with angrily but didn't do any thing, she new that he's right.

Charlotte: Yes, you're right! But don't disrespect his efforts to saving peoples. He is better than you greedy man's!

Nozel:....

Nozel just started at her and didn't say anything.

Mimosa was healing Captain Fuegoleon, Leopold, and Asta. Asta was staying quiet, obviously disheartened about the situation with Rowan.

Mimosa: With my magic, first aid is the best I can do! He needs to be taken to the medical ward for more advanced healing magic, or... or else..!

Solid: Some Captain. That's just pathetic!

Nebra: The Vermillion Clan sure ain't what it used to be. Makes me embarrassed to be a Royal..!

Noelle: Solid.. How could you say that! ?

Asta, who overhead the conversation, grew angry.

Asta: Shut up! Captain Fuegoleon is a great Magic Knight! And Captain! He's a better Magic Knight than you'll ever be!

Solid: why you-

Nozel: Enough! We are Magic Knights! Unless we win, our existence is pointless.

Noelle: Nozel...

Solid: He's right! This is gonna trash the reputation of the Crimson Lions too!

Nozel: However Solid... As we were not even present at the fight, we are less than he is. Straighten the detenses so that the damage spreads no tarther.

Nozel spoke with a cold tone, scaring his younger brother.

Solid: Uh, Right...

Alecdora: He's right! They spread around magic that blocks transmission spells, and the chain of command is in chaos! Thanks to that, reinforcements from outside the Noble Realm failed to arrive! We can't let

our guard down yet!

Some where in the Clover kingdom:-

The Eye of Midnight Sun, along with Rowan, arrived at a castle hidden away in the woods.

Hooded Mage 1: Rades! We ended up with a headache because you stepped out of line! Don 't get carried away because the Master has taken a liking to you.

Hooded Mage 2: "I want to fight the Captain alone!" You said. "I want to lay waste to the Capital!" Conceited tooll Simply achieving the objective wouldn't have taken half this much work!

Rades: Shaddup! My toys are what took damage! That's no skin off your noses!

Sally: Buuuut.. It sounds like Catherine was defeated and is still out cold in the Capital.

Rades: Like I care about that old hag! we got what we went in for, so it's all good

Valtos: By the way Sally, we can t take that boy with us. Kill him.

Sally: What!? No way! He can use firey ice! Who knows what other secrets he's hiding!

Rowan was starting to regain consciousness.

Sally: I'm going to use him tor my research!

Rowan: 'Where am I?'

Neve: 'Rowan you awaken, that's good! Let's kill them and get out of here!'

Rowan looked around and surveyed his surroundings.

Rowan: 'Oh, right...I got captured by these idiots. Where are you Neve, why can't I see you.

Neve: 'I'm in spiritual form rights now, I can appear and disappear whenever I want to.'

Rowan: 'Hmm...l Should wait to see if they actually take me in... once I got info... I'll beat them up!'

Valtos: Only those acknowledged by our Master can go there. Don't cause unneeded trouble. Kill him before the meeting time.

Rades: Yeah! Let me kill him! I'm gonna make him into a toy!

Sally: Rades, you be quiet!

Sally noticed that Rowan was awake, she went closer to the bubble he was imprisoned in.

Sally: You're awake! You want me to investigate every last inch of you and your grimoire and run all sorts of experiments on you, right? You want to be useful to my

research right? Right, right, right?

Rowan's sweat down from his neck.

Rowan: 'now she's freaking me out!'

The group walked inside the castle and reached a large room. Rowan felt a strong presence of familiar mana.

Rowan: 'Finally... l get to see what you can do...'

Julius: Hi there! I've been waiting for you. How was the Capital?

Rowan: 'Wizard King..'

In a blink of an eye, Julius completely destroyed two of the mages. Leaving no trace of any remains.

Hooded Mage: What...? Impossible!

Julius: I killed them. It would have been a bit too hard with numbers like these... Restraining you I mean.

Another mage tried to attack Julius with his tree magic, only for the Wizard King to shoot a blast that penetrated through the roots and killed the user.

Rowan: 'So this is the power of the Wizard King... And he's not even breaking a sweat. Looks like I got long way to go before I can match that..'

Julius: You just came from attacking the Capital, didn't you? You can't possibly have gone to kill... Without being prepared to be killed, right?

The remaining mages were stunned to silence, a lot of their magic was already drained and the ones who did have enough magic were killed so easily.

Julius: That said... You seem pretty skilled, I'll probably have trouble here. What do you say? I'll let just one of you live, want to surrender? It's first come, first served.What do you think?

Julius had a big smile on his face as he threatened the Eye of Midnight Sun mages.

The mages responded to Julius' proposition by attacking him, which proved to be useless because none of the attacks could hit him.

Julius:I might be able to handle numbers like these. [Time Binding Magic: Chrono Stasis]

Julius trapped them all in spheres that trapped them in time, unable to move.

Julius: Nice, I got all of you. Were you more worn out that I though? See how it feels to live... In one unending moment.

The spell that trapped Rowan off as he landed on his feet.

Julius: Oh, hello Rowan.

Rowan: Wizard King.

Julius: Why didn't you break out of the spell sooner?

Rowan: Wanted to see what you could do.

Julius: Ha ha ha! I see. Well in that case... Watch carefully. You seek to become stronger, yes? This is a small fraction of what you need to surpass.

Julius turned his attention back to the mages of the Eye of the Midnight Sun.

Julius: You four had some pretty interesting magic. was surprised. Now, then... There are some things want to ask you. What are these jewels and this stone

slab, hm?

Julius stood next to slab that had various engravings and slots to place jewels in.

Julius: I've never seen the characters or the pattern before. What are you trying to do with it?

The mages didn't respond.

Julius: Well, even if I ask now, you can't do a thing inside that spell. We'll have this talk later, at leisure, in the Clover Kingdom.

Suddenly a bright light appeared, leaving no place in the room to go unlit. As fast it came, it disappeared with the mages.

Rowan: They're gone.

Julius: He got us. He's taken his companions away. He seems interesting.. mean, tough.. Light magic faster than mine... Was he the enemy boss. But... We managed to keep one.

To the side of the Wizard King was one of the trapped mages. A communication spell then appeared next to Julius.

Marx: I finally got through! Where are you, Wizard King!?

Julius: Hello there Max. Sorry about that. Things got a bit busy, and I blocked the communication spell.

Marx: But you' re always doing that Something really awtul happened here...

Julius: The Capital was attacked correct? And you repelled them safely correct?

Marx: Yes, but... Never mind that, Just come to the Medical Ward!

Everyone except the Wizard King and Rowan stood Outside the Medical Ward, waiting With anticipation about the current status of the Crimson Lion's Captain.

The two missing individuals then arrived, flying and landing on the floor.

Julius: Yo! Good work everyone.

Mimosa: The... The Wizard King!

Klaus: And... An enemy! And... Rowan!

Rowan: Hello there.

Charlotte looked at him from distance and only take a sigh of relief.

Noelle: You're ok!?

Rowan: Ofncourse l'm ok.I only got stabbed.

Noelle: You idiot! I hope you learned something from all this! 'Thank goodness'

Klaus ran towards the Black Bull, pushing Noelle out of way.

Klaus: I'm so glad you came back alive! I was Sure you were deadl

Rowan: Yeah... Nah, I'm good. Thanks for worrying... I guess.

Mimosa: Rowwwan!

Mimosa came running as well, pushing Klaus out of the way this time. she embraced him as she wrapped her arms around him.

Mimosa: l was really... Really worried!

Rowan: Y.. Yeah... Can you n-not squeeze so h-hard... S-Still got s-stabbed..

Mimosa: Oh I'm sor-

Mimosa moved her head back to look at Rowan and noticed how close she was to him, making her face go red.

Asta: Rowan!

Rowan: 'Another one...'

Asta ran at Rowan, knocked over Mimosa, and gave him a right hook to the jaw.

Rowan: What the hell... Was that for!?

Asta: Why did you get me all worried like that, You Jerk!

Rowan: C'mon, you know me. I'm not gonna die that easily.

Neve: He twerp!

Neve got in between Asta and Rowan surrounded with dark aura.

Neve: I'm going to kill you if you ever gonna hit him again.

Asta: WHHHAT!?

Rowan: Hey Neve what got into you, this is the second time you're talking about killing!

Are you infected by captain yami!?

The Wizard King came back outside after taking a look at Fuegoleon and his injuries.

Julius: People look at the Magic Knights for one thing- The peace of the Kingdom. In order to preserve that, we'll keep fighting with everything we have.

Nozel: If you'll excuse me...

Solid: Nozel!

Nozel: I will find the scum who did this to you... and bury them my self!

After saying that Nozel walked away.

Julus: Has the enemy awa kened not a sleeping lion, but a hawk?

Asta: ???

Rowan noticed the confusion on Asta's face.

Rowan: if you think so hard, your head is going to burst open, Asta!

Asta: WHAT DID YOU SAY, YOU JERK!?

Hamon: Either way... I'd rather not end up this useless again.

Sol: You said it!

Magic Knights: We... Will get stronger as well!

Outside of the Medical Ward, a familiar face came running out.

Leopold: l'm the one... Who's going to get the strongest!

Mimosa: Leopold! You need to rest.

Leopold: Rowan! I'm glad you pulled through! You and Asta are my rivals. We faced death together and Survived. And so.. expect you two to get stronger too

And this...

Leopold made a small flame on his thumb and pressed it on his forehead.

Leopold: Is the mark of my oath! l'l become the next Wizard King... And the strongest in all the Kingdom!

Asta: Whoa! I don't realy get it... But you look like you'll make a decent rival! So who the heck are you anyway?

Leopold: Huuuuh!?

Mimosa: Tee hee. Hovw can you still not know that?

Leopold: I'm Leopold Vermillion! We're gonna be friends so call me Leo!

Rowan approached Leopold, and everyone grew silent. Most people who've met him know he isn't particularly fond of Royals or Nobles, and before the attack he paid

no mind to Leopold. As Rowan closer to Leopold, Leopold had to look up at him.

Rowan: Be sure not to fall behind too quickly..

Leopold smirked in response.