Chapter 19: Protect Those From Harm

A few minutes before Mars and Mystic had entered the treasure room...

"Wh-where am I...? It's just so dark", Mystic wondered. She turned her head around and saw nothing but darkness. As she tried to wriggle free of Lucas's Light Binding Magic, she started to sense a familiar mana signature right next to her.

She widened her purple eyes in surprise as she recognised who was next to her. "Mars? Don't tell me they defeated one of the strongest soldiers from the Diamond Kingdom!"

FLASHBACK - A FEW YEARS AGO:

A young, violet-haired teen was stood in the middle of a crimson-bloodied room. Bodies of other similar-aged teens were scattered around. Broken bones were protruding out of their burnt and torn skin due to the nature of the death matches that they had to go through.

Breathing heavily and her purple eyes shaking, Mystic closed them as she didn't want to see the destruction of the lives that she had caused.

"... I did this... with my... Illusion Magic. He said my family would be treated by the doctors... Mother, Father? Did I do well?" Mystic spoke to herself. She tried to make the horrid situation into a positive one by thinking about what she could gain from this.

A few weeks had passed since the conclusion of Mystic's death match. She had been experimented on by being embedded with certain mage stones. These artifacts would enhance the wearer's magic to a great degree. Another thing that changed was that her mana was mixed with another, more foreign mana. The artificial Memory Magic that one of the head doctors was working on was mixed in with Mystic's.

"Mystic. You are now part of the Diamond Kingdom army. Through you we will achieve prosperity like never before. Though your magic isn't very offensive based, you will still be on the front lines acting as support to other soldiers. One of them also won a death match on the same day you did... his name is Mars", the tall and shadowy figured smirked.

"All for my parents...", Mystic whispered.

FLASHBACK - END

Mars was arguably the strongest Diamond Kingdom soldier that they had in their ranks. Due to his win in one of the death matches, he was granted a ferocious power as well as being embedded with mage stones that amplified his mana and magic abilities.

"Mars... he is so strong. Even more than I am, and he was defeated? Well, we have to get out of this situation we're in... Hey, Mars!" Mystic called out, her voice slightly leaving the Coils of Trapped Light spell and towards her injured teammate.

The Illusion and Memory mage called out for a while, as well as trying to break through the Light spell she was in.

"Hey, Mars",

"Mars",

"Oi, dummy!"

After many tries of getting the Mineral mage's attention, he slowly opened his eyes to what was his name being called out. As his eyes opened, he took in his surroundings and gathered his thoughts. "I... was defeated. I need to complete this mission... but who was calling me?" He spoke to himself.

Or so he thought. "Mars, you idiot. Hurry up and get out of whatever is binding you. And help me too!" Mystic shouted.

"Mystic? You were trapped too... I remember that ginger mage carrying you in some spell. Fine, I guess...", Mars started to expend his mana outwards to shake and break off Klaus's Steel Binding Magic spell that had him immobilised. After a few minutes, he managed to free himself from the shackles.

"Now, to get Mystic out...", he stood up and walked over to the Light sphere that was floating in the air right next to him. He was about to summon a spell when he realised that his grimoire was missing.

"They must have taken it thinking they could study it or something. I'll prove to them how wrong they are". He then spoke to his bound teammate.

"Mystic. As soon as I destroy this sphere, we're going to attack them. Once I use my magic to break you free, they'll realise something is wrong since my grimoire will come to me. You better be ready", Mars ordered the Illusion mage.

"Okay", she simply responded, no sense of positive emotion in her voice.

"Mineral Creation Magic: Jagged Dagger". Mars's grimoire came flying to him as soon as he summoned his spell. A small, but sharp dagger formed in his right hand. It was the same shape and design as his much bigger Laevateinn, but this one was for smaller tasks. He quickly slashed the sphere with a few swings of his dagger. After a few seconds, he managed to rip a hole in the middle of it and then made his way through to Mystic.

"Let's go", he spoke coldly to the mage he just freed.

Back to the present time...

"Wh-what do we do...?!" Lucas cursed. He saw how injured Noelle was due to Mars's attack and he realised that he couldn't help since his legs were encased in the Mineral mage's Crystalised Hold spell.

"Noelle!" Asta screamed as he went to fight against the Mineral mage who had just injured his teammate.

"Your abilities will mean nothing now as I've analysed them. If that blade nullifies magic, then I will simply cast magic that is faster than your sword!" Mars spoke with a sense of determination about him.

"Mineral Creation Magic: Harpe". Multiple mineral blades formed all around Mars and started to spin at very high speeds. The rotations made it so even one little touch against them would result in deep wounds. The mage used these as projectiles and fired them towards Asta.

The Black Bull saw the onslaught of projectiles and tried his best to deflect and nullify them. "How dare you... injure my friend like that!" Asta used his Anti-Magic sword to hit the attacks that came for him but there were too many of them for him to deal with. He got rid of as many as he could, but this resulted in him tiring himself out as Mars realised this, he went in for a huge blow.

"You're done", Mars exclaimed as he punched the magicless mage's body with his Titan's right hand. With a tremendous amount of force and power, Asta went flying and crashed into a wall. His body had a few cuts on them due to the Harpe attack from Mars and he lay with his eyes closed.

"How dare you injure my friend like that!" Asta's words repeated in the Mineral mage's head.

"Friend...",

A memory from a few years ago resurfaced in Mars's head.

"Mars, we'll always be friends, won't we?" The same, young pink-haired girl spoke to him who he had began to think about recently for some odd reason.

"Fana...", Mars spoke quietly and shook his head.

Suddenly, he stopped moving and looked back at the commotion behind him. Noelle was beaten and bruised from his attack and Mimosa had rushed over to assess the situation and heal her.

"Noelle! Noelle! Please... For injuries like these I'm going to have to use my best recovery spell that I can right now! Plant Recovery Magic: Princess-Healing Flower Robe!"

The Vermillion's grimoire flicked through many pages until it landed on the one she wanted to use. With tear-stained eyes but wearing a look of determination, she looked back at her injured cousin. The spell she summoned covered her arms and the upper half oh her body in an array of pink flowers, different plants with healing properties, as well as multiple vines that stitched them all together. At the back, two wings that resembled the shape of a butterfly's sprouted and she began to heal Noelle.

"Noelle... I have so much I want to talk to you about... and so much to...

... apologise for", she spoke softly.

FLASHBACK - 5 YEARS AGO:

"Ahhhh!" A young, short-haired girl fell to the grassy floor in a clumsy tumble. Her vermillion hair was covered in dirt and twigs, and she tried her best to brush the mess away.

"Come on, Mimosa! You're so clumsy... I wonder what you'd do without me!" Another young girl with silver hair that twisted down into two thin ponytails spoke. She extended her hand towards Mimosa who happily took the gentle invitation.

"Haha, Noelle! You're the best!" The young royal laughed as she pulled herself back up.

The two cousins kept on walking with each other, Mimosa slightly behind as she was trying not to trip over again.

"Hey, Mimosa. Your magic revolves around nature, right? I was thinking, to help you practice we should be outside all around nature!" Noelle smiled. "We're only ten-year-olds but nothing hurts practicing... I mean... I'm only here to practice myself but thought you might get some good out of it! That's the only reason I brought you!" The Silva blushed.

It was during this time where Noelle was feeling severely outcasted by her family. The way they treated her was not the best and she didn't have a single person she could turn to... that was except for when Mimosa had come to visit.

Despite having terrible magic control, Noelle did her best to support her cousin from the Vermillion family. Although she masked it with annoyance, Mimosa knew that Noelle had the best intentions.

FLASHBACK - 1 YEAR AGO:

"Wow! Your magic control is very impressive, not to mention your recovery abilities are very powerful! Who taught you?" One of the royal guards spoke to Mimosa who had just finished healing his injury he had sustained from chasing a criminal around.

"Oh, my family were very helpful in helping me control my magic, as well as Noe-", she was cut off by another guard joining in the conversation.

"Very impressive magic! The royals are blessed with capable magic users... it's just a shame that the Silva House's youngest sibling is the only one who's terrible at magic", he spoke with a specific disdain to his voice.

Mimosa didn't know what to say. It was true that Noelle wasn't very good at magic control, but she knew how hard she trained every day, even though training was looked down upon in royalty. Mimosa also remembered how Noelle would spend hours with her training with magic, though this was a secret between the two. The royal wanted to defend her Silva cousin from the abuse she was receiving but it simply wasn't in her nature to argue with others.

"Wa-wai... wait. Noelle is... She's not usele-", she was interrupted once more by the guard who was talking.

"Oh sorry, Lady Mimosa. Were you saying something?" He bowed courteously.

"S-sorry, no I wasn't...", she looked down at the floor.

A few days later, the Vermillion thought about visiting Noelle again to see if she wanted help with her magic practice. She walked towards the Silva residence, escorted by the Vermillion House Guards, she heard the loud splashes of water to her right.

"Noelle?" Mimosa ran towards the sound and just as she thought, Noelle was there practicing with her Water Magic. "Okay, now we can practi-", the royal felt a presence behind her and turned her head to face it.

"Lady Mimosa. I know you two are close but a royal from the Vermillion House shouldn't stoop to the same level of ability as that young Silva right there", one of the guards commented.

"She's my cousin...", Mimosa responded quickly, yet softly.

"I assure you. Leaving her for now will be the best for the House of Vermillion and its reputation", the other guard added.

With heavy reluctance and a heart that began to be shrouded in confusion, Mimosa accepted. "O-okay...", she frowned.

FLASHBACKS - END

"After all that you had done for me, I couldn't do anything for you... let this be the first thing in me repaying you!" Mimosa concentrated on healing Noelle.

"I... I admire you for all your hard work! You-you're someone much stronger than me and... you're my family! I need you to live!" Mimosa shouted her desperate words of encouragement.

Mars was looking at the two royals who were on the floor and thought about attacking them, however, he noticed that he was just on his own when he was supposed to be alongside the other Diamond Kingdom soldier.

"Mystic, what are you doing back there? We're here for the treasure and to destroy the weak... don't forget that", he looked over to the Illusion mage who was slightly behind him. However, she wasn't listening and was instead in her own head thinking about something.

"I was told that my abilities aren't based around offence... so why did I decide to go off on my own to hunt for enemies in this dungeon? Was it a way to prove my strength? No, it wasn't... It was...", she was interrupted by another shout from the Mineral mage.

"Mystic!" He repeated again, though this time his tone shifted into annoyance.

The female Dual mage looked perplexed but knew she was jeopardising the mission. "S-sorry, Mars. I'll help now!" She walked forwards and stood alongside her teammate.

Lucas looked on at the two Diamond Kingdom soldiers. The person he had fought and beaten was back up and out of the Light Binding Magic he had placed around her, whilst the other was ready to attack at any moment.

"I... I need to help! This whole situation... if I told them about the dual attributes as well as me sensing the mana presence before, then this situation would be very different...", he thought. Then, he shook his head in annoyance and focused on how he would get out of the Crystalised Hold spell.

"The Dual blades are in my hand, but I can't use them just yet as they're being affected by the Mineral Magic. I can send out an Energy Whips spell, but it won't be as impactful as I need to be moving around to use it properly", he then sighed, "I hate to say it but I have no Time Magic spells either... so, just what can I do?!" He frustratedly thought.

Meanwhile, Asta who had crashed into a wall began to wake up again. He slowly opened his eyes and saw Mars as well as Mystic in front of him through the hole in the wall and they were stood talking or arguing about something.

"Damn it... I need to get back to help. I need to deflect and nullify the attacks, but I can't swing my sword fast enough!" Asta spoke to himself, perplexed at not knowing what to do in this current situation.

Suddenly, Nero who was flying above the magicless mage's head flew behind him and, with its wings, pointed at another object that was in the same room as them both. The object that Nero was pointing at was similar to Asta's large broadsword, though it was slimmer and looked much lighter.

"Another... sword? It looks so similar to my other one... perhaps they're a set?" The Black Bull quickly walked over to the sword that was lodged in the ground and picked it up. To his surprise it felt much different to his other weapon and with a few practice swings he realised how easy it was to move around. "I can work with this! Wait... is this really something I should be using? Let me try something...", Asta thought as he brought the thinner sword to his chest. He opened his grimoire and just as he had figured, the sword easily went inside the spell book.

"Woah... this is something, alright!" Asta thought as he ran towards the hole in the wall to fight again.

As soon as Asta had put his new sword into his five-leaf grimoire, a change occurred with Lucas. He felt a strong surge of power go through his own body. The Light mage felt a foreign power bubbling up inside of him that felt very powerful.

"Wh-wh-what is happening?!" Lucas thought to himself as he felt the difference in his body. His four-leaf grimoire started to give off black and blue sparks and the Light mage was very confused about it all. Due to the initial impact of the change, he quickly closed his eyes and flinched but as he realised that it wasn't hurting him, he opened both of his eyes slowly.

As he opened them, his blue eyes started to glow a brighter and a flashier shade of colour.

"Wait... I've seen this before... It was back when I bumped into Asta in the Black Market place as I chased the person who stole Mimosa's purse! Both of our grimoire's sparked... I pretended not to notice as I thought it was nothing, but it did happen...", he thought. "What really happened?"

With the surge of power flowing through his body, a blue light formed around his right arm which then fused through into both of his Dual blades that he was holding. His Time Magic had almost been absorbed by the newly-acquired weapons and, through a burst of force, the spell that Mars used to trap him in place was completely broken apart. "I'm free... then I can help!" The Dual mage then rushed forwards and stood before both Mars and Mystic and in front of both Noelle and Mimosa.

"That... was my Time Magic again", Lucas thought to himself as he assessed what had just happened. "The blades briefly absorbed my other magic... but not my Light Magic?" He then took a deep breath and decoded to focus on the current situation instead of worrying about other things.

"Don't worry, I'll help!" Lucas turned to face the two royals with a smile.

"L-Lucas...", Mimosa responded, bewildered by her teammate's declaration.

The Dual mage then turned to face the two enemies and with an angered expression, he flipped through his grimoire ready to fight. He didn't notice but the effects of the sudden burst of power started to fade from his body slowly, as well as from his Dual blades. Their blue glow had diminished into its original pitch-black colour. His eyes digressed from the brighter blue shade into his normal resting and warm shade of blue.

Just as he readied himself, he felt a familiar bout of screaming coming from behind him. Lucas quickly turned his head, and it was a sight he was happy to see coming towards him.

"Asta!" Lucas rejoiced. He had started to worry about the mage due to how hard he was hit backwards but seeing him running was a relief.

"Tsk", Mars uttered under his breath as he saw who was coming up to back Lucas. He turned to Mystic. "Look, I don't know what your problem is, but you need to shape up now. The weak must simply be destroyed and you need to learn that", he spoke with a disdain to his voice.

Mystic took in the situation and what Mars said properly. She realised that ever since she fought Lucas, she had begun to question certain things. The way she used her dual attributes and the way Lucas reacted to them was enough for the purple-eyed mage to re-evaluate her ideologies.

"I'll fight", she responded.

Asta and Lucas stood side by side, along with their opponents Mars and Mystic who stood opposite them. The Light mage readied himself and Asta readied his second sword that he just acquired.

"Mineral Creation Magic: Harpe". Mars summoned his mineral blades that started to rotate at high speeds. He then sent them all towards Asta, thinking that the same outcome would happen.

Though, he was wrong as with a succession of slashes, Asta managed to deflect and nullify them much easily than he would have with his larger sword.

"Woah, this new sword definitely does the job!" Asta smiled and admired his new weapon.

"What the hell...?" Mars thought. He summoned another array of long range attacks that headed for the Black Bull and the two continued to fight.

Meanwhile, just to the side, Lucas and Mystic started the second round of their battle.

"Mystic... I have my mission and you have yours, but I will never forgive you for what you did", the Dual mage said to his opponent. He thought about how she used her Memory Magic, coupled with her Illusion Magic, to fight against him a few hours ago.

Lucas saw how Asta moved with his swords and decided to replicate it with his blades. He started to charge in towards Mystic with both blades in both hands. "Asta fights in close quarters most of the time with his swords... so perhaps I can do it with these weapons?"

"Illusion Magic: Pitfall Abyss!" Mystic used her spell to conjure up the illusion of a massive hole forming underneath where Lucas was. Within seconds, her spell started to influence the Light Mage as he started to flail around.

"Damn it, I know it's an illusion but whenever she uses her magic it's still hard to work around!" Lucas was struggling with his footing and started to fall downwards into the illusion's endless hole. "I know!" He threw the right-sided Dual blade to his right hand so he was holding both of them together. Then, with his left arm, "Light Creation Magic: Energy Whips!" He then wrapped the closest end of the Energy Whips around his right hand so that he had more grip with it. He then flung the whip upwards and had it grab onto anything on the floor. Fortunately, the thing the Energy Whips wrapped around was a stone pillar, so Lucas had something durable to latch onto and drag himself up with.

With some upper body strength being utilised, he managed to get up and out of the illusion's range. With that, the illusion faded away and the Pitfall Abyss was no more.

"I really need to make sure not to panic when she uses her Illusion Magic... there's also that Memory Magic of hers that I need to be wary of", the Light mage uttered under his breath. He released his Energy Whips spell and, once again, had the Dual blades in both hands.

He ran towards the Diamond mage once again but with an increased sense of determination. She threw around Illusion spells, one after the other, but this time Lucas had the mental fortitude to realise that they were simply illusions that could not do any harm to him as long as he remembered what they actually were.

After a few seconds of dodging, twisting, and turning, he was face-to face with Mystic. "It's over!" He shouted as he went to swing both of his dual blades towards her.

Within the few seconds Mystic had to think about a counter, she thought about her Memory Magic. "Is it possible to use my Memory Magic to counter...? If I use it..., is it the right thing to do? Gosh... maybe I'll stick with my illusion-!"

The time she had to think had ran out as she began to feel the edge of both Dual Blades connecting with her body. It started from her right arm, and she expected to be sliced apart with how sharp they felt beforehand. However, nothing happened.

"Eh?" Lucas spoke aloud as he looked at his blades. They did not penetrate her skin at all but looked like they just bounced off. The sharp edge of the blades were still there, and they looked like they could cut through most things, but they just didn't.

The Golden Dawn mage was confused about why he couldn't cut through. "Am I not holding them or swinging them properly? I know they're new weapons but surely they can't be that hard to use!"

As Lucas contemplated about why his attack didn't work, the others who were still trapped in the Crystalised Hold wondered about both Asta's and Lucas's new weapons.

"They both got new weapons just like that? It's almost as if this dungeon was made for them to eventually visit it", Luck thought as he scratched his chin.

"Asta's new sword lets him swing and manoeuvre easily, but Lucas's... it seems like he need more training to utilise them properly. Though, we need something that will work now!" Klaus wondered; he was also frustrated with himself for being stuck whilst two rookie Magic Knights were protecting them.

In the back was Yuno, also annoyed with himself for being stuck in a relatively simple spell. "I can't just let Asta and Lucas work to protect everyone. I'm also a Magic Knight for crying out loud... if I can't do anything in this situation, then I can't be the Wizard King!"

The Wind mage then started to concentrate his mana and circulate it more throughout his body to increase its power. "In a few minutes, I'll be able to break through. I'd like to think I could break through now, but the enemy's spell really is quite strong for how simple it is".

"Lucas, cutie... looks like you need a bit more practice with those weapons of yours!" Mystic retorted, seemingly getting some of her confidence and passionate personality back. With some concentration, she put a lot of her mana power into one of her arms. "Illusion Magic: Reflective Shield!" She immediately pushed Lucas back a few metres away from her and tried to ready herself once again.

As Lucas was pushed back, he lost his footing and fell to the floor. As he fell, his grimoire followed as well as his Dual Blades, and just as Asta's weapons went into his five-leaf grimoire, Lucas's weapons went into his own grimoire. "These weapons... they definitely are a huge mystery. First, I find them in a treasure chest that only I can open. Then, I can't even use them properly, and now they fit into my grimoire, similar to Asta's?"

"It's clear I can't use the weapons just yet, so I'll have to stick with what I'm used to...", he turned to see a smiling Mystic walking towards him.

"It's my turn to be on the front foot now... though, this still doesn't feel right. I was defeated once and now going against him... knowing what I did with my Memory Magic...", she frowned. It was clear she felt bad about what she had done.

"She's not getting a counter on me... Light Magic: Angelic Strike!" Lucas rushed forwards, with greater intent than what Mystic displayed. In just a few seconds he was back face-to-face.

"He... he's fast!" This was all she could say as she felt the Light mage's punch in her stomach. His Angelic Strike attack propelled her backwards and she landed into the wall behind her, falling unconscious upon impact.

Mimosa saw what Lucas just did and her mouth was open with surprise. "He's... you'd think he would be on the back foot after his weapons not working, but he's proven... how strong he is!"

Lucas turned to see how Asta's battle with Mars was doing.

Mars was continually summoning his Harpe spell which Asta easily managed to nullify. However, as Asta was busy with the sharp minerals, Mars masked it with another attack spell. "Mineral Magic: Armoured Fist!"

With a heavy punch from the Armoured Titan construct that Mars was in, he landed a hit. "Ah!" Asta quickly used his thinner sword and put it in front of his body to act like a shield. It absorbed most of the blow but was propelled backwards towards Noelle who was on the floor.

Asta was visibly tired. His breathing was irregular, and his wounds were deep as a few blood droplets fell from them. "Damn it. This guy is hard to fight against... I wonder if I can beat him?"

Behind him, a familiar voice called out. "Honestly... why are you doubting yourself?" Noelle slowly sat herself up, her wounds were closed, and it was just a matter of fatigue and tiredness to deal with. "You've proved time and time again that you're someone reliable... in just a few weeks with you, I've witnessed your strength and it's enough to say that you're the first peasant I, a royal, have acknowledged. Please... win this, Asta!"

Asta's eyed widened and then rested. "Noelle...", he then looked at Mars. "Of course, I'll win!"

Just as he spoke those words, his new sword began to light up a bright blue colour. Asta felt a surge of power from his weapon, and it was similar to Noelle's power that she used.

"A new power? Not a chance that I let him use that! Mystic is already defeated!" Mars summoned more of his Harpe spells and directed them towards Asta.

On reflex, Asta swung his sword to nullify and destroy the incoming attacks but as he did, the blue power that was in his weapon was expended outwards in the shape of a crescent and flew towards Mars. Immediately, Mars was hurt by it and some of his Heavy Armoured Titan became damaged, as well as his ability to use Flame-Recovery Magic being severed.

"A water attack?" Lucas thought to himself. "Does he, in fact, have magic?"

"No... that wasn't his magic. Did he borrow Noelle's powers?" Luck analysed.

"Woah... a water attack? That was pretty awesome-!" Asta spoke but stopped himself as he felt a thunderous pain in his lower stomach. He slowly looked down and his eyes widened. "Oh... I guess I messed up". It looked like one of Mars's Harpe spells had managed to stab Asta. He fell to the ground with blood gushing from his wound as well as his mouth.

"Asta!" Everyone around exclaimed.

"Mim-Mimosa! Go heal Asta, please... I'm fine for now, so please!" Noelle pleaded with her cousin to which she listened straight away.

"Oh my... his wound is horrible. It's even deeper than Noelle's. I'm going to need time!" The Vermillion shouted out.

In the corner of Lucas's eyes, Mars was slowly walking back up in his Heavy Armoured Titan construct. "Mineral Creation Magic: Laevateinn!" The familiar sword attack was headed right for Asta.

Lucas was frightened about what was going to happen, however, in that split-second he had to think, his four-leaf grimoire started to glow a bright blue colour. The pages flickered through, and it started writing letters of a spell.

"A new... Time spell? I can't contemplate on whether I should use it or not. I'm going to have to! Time Magic: Heave-!" Just as Lucas began to use his first ever Time Magic spell, he felt extremely lightheaded, and his eyes started to close. "Wh-wha...", Lucas fell to the floor right next to Asta.

"Lucas!" Everyone shouted with worry as the Laevateinn was about to hit both the rookie Knights.

"Asta, Lucas!" Yuno shouted from behind. The wind mana he was storing up was ready to be expanded and as he did, he immediately flew over to the two injured mages. He flicked through his grimoire's pages. Sweat fell profusely from his head and his heart was beating extremely fast.

"I was basically a passenger this entire fight. First fight Asta saves me and now Asta and Lucas were trying to protect all of us while I watched... I need to do this. I will do this!"

Just then, his grimoire glowed even brighter. Yuno looked around and saw the area turn grey. Nobody was moving and the huge mineral sword had stopped in place.

"This... why is everyone still and only I can move around? Time is... stuck?" Yuno thought. He then turned his head to a faint sound of someone yawning. It looked to be a small fairy of some sort that wore a green dress with nothing else. It had short blonde hair and pointy ears.

The fairy looked at Yuno and then looked at the Laevateinn sword in front of them, With one of the softest blows ever, the small creature directed a small amount of mana towards the huge construct.

Then, the surrounding area returned to normal colour and when Yuno looked at where Mars was, he had ended up in the wall right next to Mystic with his huge sword nowhere in sight.

"That fairy... did she destroy it?" Yuno wondered.

The impact of what Yuno and the fairy did started to make the dungeon's walls and ceiling crumble. The room was falling apart, and the Magic Knights were about to be crushed. Thankfully, the impact also destroyed the Crystalised Hold spell that trapped both Klaus and Luck and everyone then thought of a way to escape.

"Everyone, we need to escape. Now", Yuno ordered. "Wind Creation Magic: Heavenly Wind Ark. Klaus can you help get Lucas on top of here. I'll get Asta".

Without questioning, Klaus picked up the unconscious Lucas and put him down on Yuno's transport spell.

Asta slowly opened his eyes. "Woah... the entire room is...! Wait! Please, can you get those two soldiers?" He pointed at the two enemies that were down and unconscious as well. "I know they're enemies, but we need to save them. They're people too...".

Everyone wondered what was going through Asta's head at that moment. However, there was no time to argue so Luck went to grab both of the enemies.

The Lightning mage was on his way when a huge chunk of the ceiling fell down right in front of him. It obscured his vision and blocked the way to the Diamond soldiers.

"Damn it! I can't get them anymore...", Luck spoke, annoyed at the situation.

Asta looked on as he flew further away from Mars and Mystic, and he wore a sad expression on his face.

An hour or so passed and when Asta and Lucas began to wake up, they saw the light of the setting sunset in the distance. A cool breeze was blowing all around and the grass underneath them was dancing in the wind.

"Ow, ow, ow!" Asta suddenly jolted up with his arms facing forwards. "My body! My body... wait, I'm not in that much pain anymore!"

"Well, of course. Mimosa healed you up while you were busy sleeping", Yuno commented, slightly smirking.

"Thank you, Mimosa!" Asta smiled.

"No problem, Asta...", Mimosa replied with a slight sadness to her tone. She was looking at Lucas who was barely awake.

To her relief though, Lucas slowly began to stand up on his two legs after he took his surroundings in. He turned around and smiled at the others.

"Thanks... for healing me, Mimosa... and I assume Yuno helped us all escape? Thank you...", Lucas spoke with a slightly weak tone.

Everyone noticed the sadness in Lucas's voice. Noelle then walked up to the Light mage.

"Lucas, why are you sulking around for? We're alive. Surely that's something to be happy about", she spoke with a stern, yet calming voice.

"It's not that I'm not happy. It's just that...", he took a deep breath before continuing. "I'm the reason you were so badly injured, Noelle! I... I knew that the soldiers had two attributes since I fought against one... I just... I just forgot to mention it! Also, just before they entered the treasure room, I sensed a huge mana presence from outside and I didn't mention it because I thought I was wrong... but then you were injured! I jeopardised my team as well as you three... I... I-!" Lucas was on the verge of fully crying. A few tear droplets fell from his eyes and stained the grass beside his feet.

However, he was stopped from carrying on by a sharp punch to the side of his body from Asta.

Lucas turned to face him, confused and worried that his friendship was going to end with Asta and the others, but what was said to him just reinforced the bond that they had started to form.

"Shut up, Lucas!" Asta screamed. "Don't you realise that without you we wouldn't have won?! You beat that Mystic woman all by yourself, both times as well! Sure, we all got injured but that's on us, right Noelle?" He turned to his Black Bull teammate.

"Hmph. I'll admit that it was my own fault I got injured from that guy's attack. It was nothing to do with you, Lucas, so don't go getting a big head over it! My injuries are my responsibility...", she then softened her tone. "Look, Lucas. I only realised this recently so take it from someone who has it fresh in their mind. When you're in a team, everyone caters for everyone. You'll make mistakes and your team will help you out. Your team will make mistakes and you will help them out", she smiled, but also flicked her ponytail to the right.

"That's what it means to be in a team", Klaus interrupted.

He walked up to Lucas and patted him on the head. "Don't worry, Lucas. We don't blame you for anything. You're... a true Magic Knight". Klaus repeated his earlier words but said them in a more confident tone this time.

The Steel mage then grabbed a hold of Asta as well as Yuno. The two of them, with Lucas in the middle were held on to by Klaus and he took them in for a hug. "Honestly... if anyone has to apologise, it's me. I looked down on peasants, but everything today made me realise that you three are amazing! So, I'm sorry!"

In the near distance, away from the Golden Dawn and Black Bull members, a small smoke cloud was floating away in the distance.

"Those Clover mages really are something, alright!" A man with a dark moustache and goatee spoke up. His name was Lotus, and he was the mage that Luck fought alongside Asta and Noelle. "I managed to sneak in the treasure room and get some treasure, but when everything collapsed, I'm glad I got you two", he looked at the two people in front of him.

Mars and Mystic had both survived and were laying down on the smoke cloud.

The two were silent with two very different thoughts running through their minds.

"Fana... that fight made me see things much more clearly and even made me remember a lot...", Mars thought to himself as he reached towards the sky.

"I... I need to get stronger to have a chance against Lucas. I have lost confidence in my Memory Magic, but I will be stronger...", Mystic thought as she looked into the distance.