Chapter 22: Royal Capital Riot

The day started off as normally as it could for Lucas and his friends. The sun was shining high in the sky and a gentle breeze was blowing in the air. He spent the early hours with his Golden Dawn teammates basking in the sun.

Fast forward a few hours later and Asta is fighting with royalty.

"How has the day led to this?" Lucas internally thought to himself, sweat dropping from his face. He witnessed Asta defend Noelle and his declaration to become the Wizard King. The magicless mage was even stood on top of one of the tables and he projected himself to everyone who defied him.

"Asta… I could never do something like that", Lucas mumbled thinking no one could hear him.

"What are you on about? You talked back to Alecdora and stood your ground to him just earlier", Yuno nudged the Light mage in the arm, trying to jog his memory from just a few minutes ago.

Lucas was in his mind trying to unpick his clogged memories. "Mimosa also told me that I defended her, but apparently it didn't seem like me? I don't even remember doing something like that. All I do know is that when I felt that intense anger, I just blacked out". Lucas scratched his chin and was in deep thought.

The three Silver Eagles who had started the commotion were now silent. As Asta declared his goals to them, they stood and thought for a while until, after a few seconds, Solid and Nebra started to laugh.

"You? Become the Wizard King?"

"Don't make me laugh!"

A few tables over, the Crimson Lion Kings were completely silent too. Though, their silence wasn't to poke fun at Asta but instead they had looks of curiosity and surprise to them.

"He wants to be the Wizard King? Perhaps I can judge him then and see the type of Magic Knight that Yami recruited", Fuegoleon thought.

"That guy… he's pretty cool", the younger Crimson Lion King, Leopold Vermillion looked on towards Asta.

"Asta has always been like this by the way. This is just the first time you're seeing this properly", Yuno spoke to Lucas. "Even when we were young, he would step up and defend anyone who he thought was being wrongly treated. If you ask me, he's just looking for trouble but then again, this part of him isn't too bad", the Wind mage smiled.

"I've noticed it too. Asta will go far and beyond any realm to protect those close to him. He's definitely someone I look up t-", Lucas's train of thought was interrupted by the two shouts of the Silva siblings.

"Water Binding Magic: Sea Serpent's Coils!" Solid Silva summoned a large blue snake from his grimoire and used it to attack Asta.

Just as Asta nullified Alecdora's attack spells, he swung his Anti-Magic sword and destroyed the incoming attack, much to Solid's surprise.

"Mist Binding Mag-!" Nebra was about to summon her attack spell but was immediately stopped by another, more overpowering presence just behind her.

"That is enough, Solid. Nebra, you too". The words that were spoken sent shivers down the Silva sibling's spines and they retracted their grimoires and put them back in their satchels.

"B-but, brother… A peasant like that should not be allo-" Nebra looked behind her and saw the expression her older brother and captain had and deduced that it was wise to stop talking.

"What did I just tell you?" Nozel spoke again, this time in a more annoyed tone. "If the King finds out about the needless commotion that is occurring, then I will have to punish you".

"The King? Not the Wizard King?" Lucas looked towards Klaus for more information. The Steel mage knew a lot about what was happening around the Kingdom in a political and cultural sense, so it was wise to seek him out for any extra information.

"He must be on about the problems within the Kira household", Klaus responded.

"Problems in the Kira household. Kira… Kira… now, where have I heard that name before?

"This building we're win, even though it's essentially owned by the Wizard King, the King likes to put his hands on everything he has… it's kind of like this weird obsession where the King wants what the Wizard King has for him to be more liked or something. Anyway, if there are problems such as fights or scuffles in any buildings with his name on, then he hears about it first. Captain Nozel must be on about that", Klaus spoke to Lucas.

"I see. So, it's a percentage ownership type thing? The Wizard King owns 50% of the building and the King owns the other 50%?" Lucas asked.

"That's some hopeful thinking from you, Lucas. That's what it should be but since the King is a bit, uhh, possessive, he owns more of it even though he doesn't actually use it" Klaus corrected his glasses.

"The King must be quite weird then… anyway, what was this problem in the Kira household you mentioned?" Lucas wondered. He was still confused as to where he had heard the Kira name before.

"Oh right. Well, the King is of the Kira lineage and just recently he disowned one of his nephews. There was a huge thing about it. You should really pay attention to recent affairs!" Klaus spoke up.

"Dis-disowned? He must have done something really bad!" Lucas wondered.

"The person who was disowned went by the name of Richard Kira. I heard he lost in the Magic Knights Entrance Exam to a peasant and that was the reason he was disowned. He joined the Magic Knights through the back-door, but I don't know anything else about him since he just keeps to himself now. Anyway, Captain Nozel probably said that because anything bad that happens will probably make the King angrier than he has been since he disowned Richard. It's also because the King will jump on anything that could make the Wizard King look bad. It's weird… let's leave it at that", Klaus ended his explanation.

Lucas didn't respond. He simply froze up and realised what this all meant.

"Kira… Richard Kira… he was the one I beat in the versus battle in the Entrance Exam! He got disowned because of me?" Lucas shuddered, not wanting to think about what would happen if they ever met again.

The banquet hall had a weird atmosphere to it. Nozel had just stopped Solid and Nebra from fighting Asta, but instead of that being the end of it, he turned around instead.

"That said… I'll just deal with this quickly and by myself. You two would cause a mess anyway". Instead of calming the situation down, Nozel took it into his own hands and decided to teach Asta a lesson.

Yuno's face adorned that of a poker expression. "So, the captain did all that just so he could finish the job? You can't be serious… royalty is just too much for me", he sighed.

"Now, how shall I punish you?" Nozel spoke aloud towards Asta, though the question was rhetorical.

The Head of the Silva family started to expend his mana as he walked up and this instance sent shivers down everyone's spines, even Asta's considering he couldn't even sense mana.

"This feeling… it's such a cold and ominous feeling of mana", Lucas gulped.

"I can't feel what's happening but…", Asta looked at Nozel slowly walking up to him. The ashen-haired mage couldn't sense his mana but just the way his cold, yet calm, eyes looked at him gave him the feeling of a jagged sword piercing into his body.

"Brother… please stop…", Noelle closed her eyes and wished for what she wanted.

Her wish ended up coming true, though it was in the form of another royal stopping Nozel from 'punishing' Asta.

"Now, now, Nozel. I think you should show some respect to the kid, not to mention towards the Wizard King since he did invite him here". Another captain had joined in on the situation but this time it was to the defence of Asta.

"Fuegoleon…", Nozel spoke with a stern tone.

Lucas and the rest of the group sighed a breath of relief. They were worried about Asta and a few of them even started to bring out their grimoires in a bid to try to help the Anti-Magic mage out. They were grateful that they didn't need to attempt to defy the Silver Eagle captain, though.

"Captain Fuegoleon… wait. Vermillion? He's a Vermillion! Is he your older brother or something, Mimosa?" Lucas quickly turned to the Plant mage who was just as shocked as the rest were at what was unfolding.

"He's not my brother, but my older cousin", Mimosa replied.

"Just how big is the royal family?" Yuno asked rather sarcastically. All the business about royalty had gotten too much for the Wind mage to handle.

"Well, it's quite simple really!" Mimosa giggled. "You have Captain Fuegoleon who is my father's older brother's oldest son… then the younger one you see next to him, Leopold, is the youngest brother of that family. Oh, and Noelle is my mother's older sister's daughter!" She explained.

The Plant mage's explanation fell to confused heads as both Lucas and Yuno had zoned out from the topic. You could swear that smoke was coming out of their ear holes suggesting their brains were fried from listening to all this.

As the Vermillion stopped talking, another Vermillion started talking.

"Hahahaha! You, in the Black Bulls robe! You're pretty cool standing up to them like that! Not to mention…", Leopold turned around and looked at Lucas who was just as confused as everyone else. "… Lucas, was it? You're cool too!"

"Is he…"

"…complimenting us…?" Asta and Lucas thought in unison.

There was an air of silence with Asta and Lucas which Leopold clearly showed his anger for.

"I complimented you both. Be happy". The young Vermillion ordered to which they both smiled awkwardly about.

"Haha… thanks…", the both of them replied rather confusedly.

"Asta! For showing guts and the fire that is welcomed by the Vermillions, I hereby declare you, my rival!" He then turned to Lucas. "Oh, sorry for not declaring you my rival, I just thought Asta was a bit cooler!" He laughed.

With a few drops of sweat falling to the ground, Lucas was relieved he wasn't being involved in whatever was happening with the two. "Aha… no, that's alright", he chuckled nervously.

A few seconds passed, yet the word rival was ringing throughout Lucas's head. "I'm surrounded by people who are rivals with each other… will I ever have one? What does it really even mean?" He wondered.

Suddenly, two waves of extraordinary mana started circulating the room in a matter of milliseconds. One look could tell that it was coming from the two Heads of the Silva and Vermillion families.

"You and your family have become soft. You are a disgrace to the Kingdom", Nozel spoke.

"How dare you utter such nonsense", Fuegoleon replied.

The two royals started to clash, and their fierce mana started erupting. The glass windows started to break apart, the tablecloths that were spread across the table started to violently sway within the mana pressure. Most of the Magic Knights in the room started to lose their balance as they bared witness to the clashing of enormous mana.

"Sis… should we stop them? You protected that Lucas kid so maybe you should interfere here?" Sol wondered as she ate another bite of some cake on her plate.

"This is none of my business. There was a reason why I stood up for that Golden Dawn boy. This time, however, let the men act foolish", Charlotte responded. "Also, call me Captain, Sol".

"Sure, Sis", Sol responded.

The clash of the two royals was starting to get out of hand. Food was falling from the tables, as well as the floor shaking. It was getting to a point where the talk about Nozel wanting to stop things from getting to the King's ears was clearly not going to happen.

Lucas was looking down at his feet. He just tried to keep his line of sight away from Nozel or anyone else that wanted to feel like fighting since he didn't want to be involved. The Light mage was feeling extremely uncomfortable in this environment as it didn't match well with his quiet and reserved personality. However, as he kept looking down, he spotted something rustling underneath the table.

"Did I just see… a small hand? Is there a child here?" Lucas bent down and lifted the white tablecloth ever so slightly to see if there really was a child underneath. To his surprise, there was.

Kind of.

"Don't tell anyone that I'm here, Golden Dawn boy!" The small child-like person spoke. She was munching on a tray of cupcakes, away from the sight of anyone else.

Lucas stood back up and tried to ignore the weird situation he just unveiled. "That was a child… right? Wait, she had the Black Bulls robe on. When did they start accepting children?" Lucas wondered, sweat dropping.

Just then, the two clashes of mana stopped abruptly as the two large, brown doors suddenly flung open with one of the cloaked Capital mages bursting through in hysterics.

"It's… it's just crazy! I can't believe it… it's the end of the world!" He screamed loudly, sending confusion into the hearts of everyone in the banquet hall.

"Calm down. Tell me what happened in an orderly manner", Fuegoleon ordered.

"Perhaps you could enjoy this chicken wing while you collect your thoughts", Hamon spoke as he offered the cloaked mage some food.

"I can't eat right now! It's the apocalypse out there! Zombies are roaming the streets of the Royal Capital and attacking everything and everyone out there!" He shouted, prompting everyone to focus their full attention on the situation.

"An attack? Is it from the Diamond Kingdom?" Fuegoleon asked.

"I can help with finding that out. Stone Creation Magic: Stone Model of the World", Shiren summoned just what he said, a stone model of the Royal Capital formed on the floor with each distinct building made in great detail. It also showed different mana fluctuations that were surrounding the area, in real-time, as well as the voices of the citizens that were outside.

"Woah, Shiren. You're so cool!" Lucas said quietly. His words were heard by the Stone mage, and he gave a slight smile towards the Light mage. "It's a bit similar to Mimosa's Magic Flower Guidepost, but this is on another level".

The royal Vermillion was quiet as she stood in awe of Shiren's magical ability.

"There are five places where the mana and magic fluctuations are the strongest suggesting that these are the main places the enemy is attacking. To do something so drastic and so quickly… they must have a talented Spatial Magic user". Shiren analysed the Stone Map and relayed his findings.

From behind them, a familiar voice started to shout. Everyone turned around and saw that it was none other than Asta who was very agitated as well as frustrated.

"Um, why are we wasting our time analysing? We should be out there and saving as many people as we can!" Asta commented much to the frustration of a few who were just as worried as him. "There are people who need our help, so I'm gonna head out!" He then ran and exited the banquet hall.

"Haha, that's just like my rival! I'll join you!" Leopold shouted out as he followed the Black Bull.

"Insolence", Nozel muttered.

This time Fuegoleon somewhat agreed with the Silva but not to the same extent. "Asta… Leopold… The two are still immature when it comes to organisation and planning, though I do commend their enthusiasm", he noted.

"Well, it looks like those two made the first moves, so I'll now give orders to everyone here!" The Crimson Lion Captain spoke up.

"I'll go and join up with Asta and Leopold and then head to the North district. Noelle! You come with me", Fuegoleon summoned a large flaming lion from his Flame Magic and used it to ride on top of. Noelle then joined with him.

"Nozel and the Silver Eagles, you go to the Central district!"

"The Blue Rose Knights! I ask that you go to the East district".

"The Golden Dawn! I ask that you deploy into two teams and head to the West and Northwest districts!

"Things are getting scary and intense", Lucas thought. He was then about to join up with Yuno and Mimosa when his name was called out from someone, he wasn't expecting at all.

He turned around and his eyes fell on the Captain of the Blue Rose Knights who called his name.

"Lucas, you come with me instead. I want to assess how you do in a situation like this and see if me wanting to choose you at the Entrance Exam was the right move", Charlotte ordered.

The Light mage was very nervous. He was being asked to join another team for this mission who he had relatively no knowledge on.

"Don't worry, Lucas. Go for it and show your power", Yuno put his thumbs up to show he had his belief that he'll be alright.

"Okay!" Lucas then hopped on the golem that Sol had conjured up and they set off to their destination.

"Be safe, Lucas", Mimosa hoped.

"That was a wise move from Charlotte. That Lucas is an interesting one… I just wish I had the idea to do the same", Fuegoleon commended.

The Knights then left the room. However, there was still someone left munching on the food. It was none other than the 'child' that Lucas had spotted underneath the table.

She slowly peeked through the tablecloth and, noticing that she was alone, left her hiding space. She stood up and wiped down the crumbs of food that were on her clothes.

The girl was very petite with shoulder-length black hair that was sported in an upside-down bun. She had bright green eyes that looked around the room to doble check her situation. However, when she stopped wiping her clothes, her stature grew slightly, and she looked the size of a slightly older child. She wore the Black Bulls robe with a light-coloured tunic that extended below her waist and with long sleeves. She also had dark-coloured pants that extend slightly below her knees.

"It looks like something terrible is happening outside. This is the perfect job for Charmy! Maybe if I play my cards right, I'll be awarded with some food!" She drooled.

Just then her train of thought was interrupted by the smell of warm and delicious-smelling food from the direction of the kitchen where all the food came from.

"I… will first fuel myself up for the battle!" The girl then reverted back into her smaller form and ran towards the enticing smell of the food.

The large group of Magic Knights then separated from the banquet hall and headed to their designated areas that they were assigned. The Knights, just as they left, saw the immense chaos that was being caused by the enemy. Large pillars of flames and smoke were rising up into the sky, buildings were being broken and crumbling to the floor, as well as many citizens being heavily injured.

"This… is nothing like I've ever seen", Lucas noted. There was a part of him that was scared about what was going to happen but there was also the part where he knew that he had to swallow his fear for the betterment of the people.

"Things like this are unprecedented. You can never be sure when situations and incidents like this arise. The ability of a Magic Knight is tested in many different scenarios, and this is one", Charlotte replied, trying to give some advice to the Golden Dawn mage.

Just in front of the two, Sol was beginning to think about why her captain asked Lucas to join them. "Why did Sis ask him, a male, to join the female-only squad for this mission? Surely, he can't be that impressive", the Earth mage bit her lip in anger and frustration. Then, she looked around and stopped her spell. "We're here", she said.

The three mages jumped off from the Earth golem and saw just what was happening around them. There were hordes of the undead crawling, walking, and running. They were attacking men, women, and children. Their targets were anyone they saw.

"It's time to protect the people", Charlotte brought out her glowing blue grimoire and summoned a spell that shocked Lucas through its power.

"Briar Magic: Spinning Briar Strike!" The Blue Rose Captain summoned a swarm of sharp green briars that were patterned with poisonous thorns as well as the Blue Roses that seemed like her trademark. They collated into one, huge spinning cone-like shape and immediately shot out and rendered the attacking zombies useless.

The attack had pierced their skins and filled their bodies with poisonous thorns which made it so they couldn't even stand up to continue their rampage.

"Woah… so this is the captain of the Blue Rose Knights!" Lucas looked in pure admiration. The way Charlotte used her magic was amazing and it surprised the Light mage.

"What are you looking at her like that for? Hmph, my Sis is the strongest woman! Things like this are common", Sol commented.

"What are you two looking at? Do your job", Charlotte ordered.

"Y-Yes, ma'am!" The two replied in unison.

"Earth Magic: Pitfall Trap!" Sol opened up a hole in the ground and forced the zombies to fall into the ravine she had just created. After a bunch of them fell in, she closed it up with her Earth Magic and made it so they all suffocated and became stuck within the ground, causing them to become immobile. "I'll show that Golden Dawn guy the power of us women!"

"This is the level of the other squads? I have so much to do in order to level up! I can't keep staring though. I'll help the citizens out and move them away from trouble". Lucas then looked around and saw a group of the undead chasing after a pair of young children.

"Someone! Please save us!" The two boys shouted in fear. They were trying to run as quickly as they could away from trouble but because they were so young and small, the zombies were catching up.

"Light Magic: Angelic Strike!" The blue-eyed mage's left arm started to glow a bright yellow colour as it became enveloped in his magic. Immediately, he ran forwards towards the group of zombies and placed the open palm of his left hand on them and they disintegrated as he did so.

The two kids stopped running and saw that they had been saved. They ran and hugged Lucas who appreciated the gesture but knew that it was no place to relax.

"Thanks for that you two. I'll move you to safety!" Lucas turned around. "Light Creation Magic: Energy Whips!" A whip formed in the mage's left arm, and he used it to wrap it around the two children to move them towards safety.

"He's good", Charlotte thought as she caught the Light mage's performance in the corner of her eye.

There was a little building that had been set up as some sort of relief area where people were offering a place to stay whilst the attack was happening. The building was surrounded by a barrier from a few Magic Knights that were busy reinforcing buildings to stop them breaking apart so easily.

Lucas was trying to move the two kids over there in his Energy Whips spell whilst he was fighting the zombies that were coming from the other direction.

"This is quite difficult…! Should I use my Dual Blades now? I'm not even sure if I can use them properly and I don't exactly want to risk it in a situation like this!" Lucas then managed to transport the two kids to the safe building and tried to turn around to continue his mission of getting rid of the zombies, however he was just a bit too slow, and he was about to be hit by the swarm.

"I took too long overthinking…!" Lucas prepared his body for impact from the undead and closed his eyes. He started to reinforce his body with his Light Magic to offer some sort of protective coat to make sure he wasn't dealt that much damage. However, as he awaited the hit from them, they never came.

"Ice Magic: Skater's Heaven!"

The Golden Dawn rookie opened his eyes and felt a cold sensation in front of him. He turned around to where he thought he was going to be hit from, but instead he saw the frozen and broken bodies of the zombie swarm, on the floor and in pieces. The ground was covered in a bright and glowing light-blue colour which was the Ice Magic that had gone into effect.

"Someone saved me? Who has Ice Magic?" The mage then looked from where the Ice Magic came from and saw who it was. The sky and air was filled with a dark smoke but when Lucas looked at who saved him, there was a light peering through the black clouds and shone on her almost as if she was an angel of some sorts.

Charlotte stopped and saw what was happening and as she saw who the Ice Magic came from, a smile came across her face.

"I guess you managed to join up with us after all!" The Briar mage spoke.

"Nice to see you!" Sol commented.

"Haha! It's been a while! I was coming back from visiting my family when all this occurred… it's crazy what's happening!" The girl waved.

"That's...!" Lucas realised who the girl was that saved him.

She had short, light-orange hair which formed a few bangs across her forehead. Her big blue eyes were tinted with a slight violet colour looked towards the Light mage that she just saved. She started to wave at Lucas in her light-yellow sweater that was covering a plain, white-collared t-shirt. Her short, blue skirt ended just before her knees, and she had a pair of dark blue boots that went just above her ankles.

The light that peered in through the clouds glistened off her skin and she looked like some holy being, at least in Lucas's point of view.

"You're the girl from the Entrance Exam!" Lucas commented, surprised that he saw her again.

"Haha! Hello there, Lucas-san! Nice to meet you again" she stuck her tongue out and winked towards him.