Chapter 24: The First Cut

"Be on your guard, guys!" Aiden shouted, prompting both Lucas and Daisy to tense up their bodies. Lucas gripped his Dual Blades tightly, and Daisy got ready to summon her spells.

The Magic Knight trio looked up towards the Eye of the Midnight Sun member who was floating in the air. The hooded enemy smiled, and he finally removed the top part of his cloak, his face being revealed for the first time to the mages.

The man had long, black hair that stretched all the way down to his shoulders. It was quite messy, and you could tell the mage didn't bother to keep his appearance clean. The man also had two, deep scars underneath his dull, brown eyes.

Once the hood uncovered the Eye of the Midnight Sun mage, both Lucas and Daisy reacted in a sad way. Daisy saw the man and felt overcome with sadness. She could tell that he had gone through some sort of ordeal due to his facial injuries.

"His facial injuries… what happened to him?" Daisy thought. Then, in the corner of her eye, she saw the Golden Dawn mage shudder ever so slightly.

Lucas, though he generally kept his composure, he started to shake a bit. Another noticeable thing about him was that his blue eyes had widened with surprise and that he actually brought his left hand to the left side of his face where he just slowly felt his ingrained scars and injuries.

The Blue Rose Knight was silent as she turned her focus away from Lucas and back to the Eye of the Midnight Sun mage, though the feeling of unease about the similarity regarding the injuries between the two was now lingering in the back of her head.

"It is getting quite hot here with all the flames and burning and whatnot! I thought I'd show you my face! Not a nice sight, is it? Well, you can thank the Magic Knights for that!" The man screamed. He then brought out his grimoire.

"He's the one attacking this time? Not the zombies?" Lucas asked.

"If it's only one person then the three of us can deal with this easily!" Daisy replied.

"I wouldn't be quite so sure…", Aiden interjected. He pointed in the direction of the enemy.

From behind the enemy mage, two large and black Spatial Magic portals opened up. One either side of him and out came an army of the undead. The zombies had ripped, green skin with their skeletons partially showing, as well as the look of confusion and anger.

"Your Spatial Magic is getting really old!" Daisy shouted.

"Hmph. You must think I'm the only enemy here in the Royal Capital… this Spatial Magic isn't actually mine", he smirked. "I use something a bit more basic! The name's Max, by the way".

"There's more than one main enemy… and your magic is something else?" Lucas tensed up.

"I mean it makes sense. I defeated one of those hooded weirdos earlier and nevertheless… an attack on this magnitude is generally impossible for one singular mage to cause. The other Knights are doing their job. Let's do ours", Aiden spoke calmly, yet assertively.

Lucas looked towards the Purple Orca mage and realised something. "He's quite calm in a situation like this. To keep his head and think like that on his toes is something…".

Daisy also noticed how Aiden presented himself and she realised that he was quite mature in terms of his personality, though there was something about him that irked her the wrong way.

Right now, the enemy was looking to get himself ready to attack while the two pitch-black Spatial portals were emptying out the zombies to get ready for another attack. Lucas was in the middle facing the enemy, while the other two were either side of him focusing on those specific portals.

The Purple Orca mage addressed the other two mages. "So, Lucas. You seem to the be the one that's ready to take the main guy on with those… interesting blades. You focus on him, and Daisy and I will concentrate on defeating the undead. Does that sound alright?"

Lucas nodded his head. He knew there wasn't enough time to debate on whether or not they could do anything else. "Sure, I'm fine with that plan".

As this was said, the three got to work. Lucas ran towards Max with his Dual Blades in his hands. To both sides of him, the Spatial portals were throwing up zombies, group after group, but Lucas knew what the plan was.

"I need to pour some of my Time mana into these blades… Light mana won't work". Lucas concentrated and breathed steadily. His bright blue eyes started to glow showing that he had tapped into his other half. As he did this, the mana started to flow into the pitch-black blades causing them to vibrate and give off a faint blue tint.

"Okay… The Wizard King gave me a hint with how to use these blades, so I guess he knows my secret. Whatever the case, he did help me out". The Time mage then focused on Max ahead.

"Well then, here I go!" Lucas spoke to Aiden and Daisy. He started to run forwards, still concentrating on his mana flow, and sticking to the plan.

Max had a look of surprise as he saw the mage approach. "This kid seems different. I need to be careful". He flicked through his grimoire and revealed his magic.

"Water Creation Magic: Aqua Spear!" Max summoned a stream of water that solidified into a large and sharp spear. The mage grabbed it with two hands and launched it towards Lucas who was running towards him.

"Water Magic? That's not a good match with me", Aiden noticed, glancing towards the battle.

"I could freeze the water? But then again, we have a plan, so we ought to stick to it. Even though that guy just barged in and started spewing orders around...", she sighed. "Lucas-san can do it", Daisy thought to herself.

The water attack was coming at full speed to the Golden Dawn mage. Without thinking about it, he instinctively held his blades out and crossed them over each other, protecting Lucas's body from the impending force. He closed his eyes and hoped that he wouldn't be hit.

As the water hit, what happened next was very unexpected. The powerful water attack managed to contact the blunt edges of the two blades but the very force of them slowed down slightly, as if their very time had abruptly came to a halt. This very quick pause in time for the water attack made its power and speed decrease slightly which made it no problem for Lucas.

"Huh?!" Max started to become animated, waving his arms around. He didn't understand what had just happened and was becoming agitated. "My spell slowed down? Did I not put enough into it?"

In contrast with Max's emotions, though Lucas was confused, he felt elated. "Wow, these blades are something else! I don't really get it, but I think I have a feeling these… hang on, this is only one case so let me see if my hunch is correct". The Time mage continued with his attack.

"That must have been a slight lack of focus on my part, I'll go all out this time!" Max took on an angered expression as he turned a page in his grimoire. "Water Magic: Slipping Edge!"

The mage extended his arms and water started to pour out from his palms. It started to flow and fill the floor that Lucas was running across. The water would only effect Lucas as the other were just out of the mage's range.

"I'll go for this spell and try to make him lose his footing!" Max smirked.

Lucas was running across but as his feet met the slippery floor, he started to lose his balance and stumble. Every time he would move, the sound of skidding was being made due to the lack of control.

"Tsk! This is impossible. I'll do this then…". Lucas used his left arm to cast a spell.

"Light Creation Magic: Energy Whips!" A beam of light energy formulated, and Lucas gave it a physical shape. With this he used it to bounce off from the water surface and propel himself forwards towards Max and within a few very short seconds, he successfully came face-to-face with him.

Without hesitation, he swung his Dual Blades at Max, aiming for his arms but he was met with a very familiar experience.

Just as he had swung the blades at Mystic, the Diamond Kingdom soldier they met in the dungeon, he realised the same thing happened.

The blades did not cut at all. Instead, they bounced off the enemy leaving Lucas exposed and unguarded.

"That's a shame, boy. I really thought I was going to lose there!" Max quickly summoned a spell. "Water Creation Magic: Aqua Spear!" This time, the spell hit Lucas with full force in the chest and caused him to be launched backwards.

The Dual Mage flew into the back of a half-broken building at a high speed. As he hit the bricks, he let out a sharp shout of pain, blood spurting out from his wounds.

"Lucas-san!" Daisy reacted and turned around, about to run off towards her newly-made acquaintance.

"Leave him!" Aiden shouted, prompting Daisy to look at him with a look of annoyance.

"Leave him? Are you mad?!" The Ice mage shouted. "He could be really hurt!"

Aiden sighed. "We had a plan, and we'll follow it. Lucas will get up. He knows the importance of this" the Purple Orca squad member spoke.

"Lucas will get up? Didn't you just meet him earlier? You don't even know him enough to make that sort of conclusion!" The Ice Magic user looked in disgust as she clenched her fists. "We had a plan? It was just yours...".

"And you're acting like you know he won't get up. Didn't YOU only properly meet him earlier too?" Aiden reciprocated what Daisy had said to him, towards her.

"That's! Th-that's…", Daisy stuttered.

In the distance, just where Lucas had landed, he let out a soft tone. "He's right, Daisy. Don't worry, I'll be… fine", he then slowly got up, picking up his grimoire from the rubble.

As he said that, Daisy's eyes widened. It was as if she had remembered something as she stood frozen for a few seconds. However, once she came to, she turned around and focused on her own enemies.

"I guess you're right, Aiden. He'll be fine", she stated, this time wearing a soft grin.

Back where Lucas was, he was slightly struggling due to the injuries he had sustained from the initial Aqua Spear attack, as well as the collision into the building. He slowly made his way back to where the enemy was.

"Every enemy we face is going to get stronger… and stronger. I…", the injured mage thought hard about what he was going to decide to do. "… I can't keep hesitating about my Time Magic. Maybe I should be more willing to use it and not just through these blades…".

The orange-haired Magic Knight locked eye contact with Max, the enemy. "I think I will start using my Time Magic… but... just now...", he quickly glanced at his Dual Blades. "I felt as if I was getting somewhere with using these weapons, before I failed that is". Lucas deadpanned at his blades as if he was frustrated with them, as well as with himself.

"They were working before! It slowed down that guy's spell, but when I went to cut him, the sharpness just went… away. What could've happened in those few seconds where they were working and when they weren't?" The Dual mage pondered in his head as he slowly walked towards the group.

Just ahead of them, Aiden and Daisy were getting to work. They had just witnessed Lucas get injured but left it up to him to carry out his side of the plan, whereas they would do their side.

"You up for it?" Aiden asked.

"Well, it's a bit late to ask me that when we're in the thick of it!" Daisy responded comedically.

"Guess that answers it", the Purple Orca smirked.

He looked at the gaping Spatial hole that was floating and pouring out zombies. "This shouldn't be too hard".

"Flame Magic: Apollo's Burst!" Aiden generated the same sun-like orb around his arms. He used them to push in the direction of the undead in a quick manner. However, what he wasn't expecting was…

"Ice Magic: Frozen Quake!" Daisy pushed her two hands down onto the rocky floor and from that it started to generate a shockwave that rumbled through the ground. The cracks that formed on the floor had made sharp ice crystals form from them. They went upwards and stabbed the zombies through their bodies making them immobile.

Though this worked for Daisy, it made Aiden's aim go slightly off causing his magic attack to miss some of the group of zombies.

Aiden slowly turned his face towards his temporary partner, a vein seemingly about to pop out from the side of his head due to how annoyed he had gotten.

"Daisy… why did you go at the same time as me? You could see I was about to pull of a strong attack!" Aiden shouted.

"It was taking quite long so I thought I'd finish my side off first! See? It worked", Daisy winked.

Aiden wasn't taking it in a humorous way though. Why are you joking around at a time like this?" He angrily spoke.

"I'm not joking around. I saw where I could attack, and I did. That's all. It was in line with this 'plan' of yours, which by the way wasn't really even a plan. It was just you ordering us around". The Ice Magic user responded, subtly hinting at how the lack of communication annoyed her.

"Fine. Do what you want. Just defeat the enemy", Aiden scoffed as he flicked through his grimoire again.

"Gladly", Daisy scoffed too, flicking through her grimoire as well.

There was clearly some discontent brewing between the two and it didn't look like it would get sorted anytime soon. Nevertheless, they carried on with their attacks.

The zombies kept pouring out and headed for the two targets whilst the main enemy mage, Max, floated above doing nothing.

"What actually happened with my magic back there? Why did it slow down?" Max continued to wonder. "That guy uses Light Magic and uses those weird weapons… so why?"

On the left, "Flame Magic: Hell's Heatwave!" Aiden stomped his foot down and from the impact, a wave of flames began stretching all the way to his side and burning the zombies up in the progress. Though, just before it burned them up…

"Ice Magic: Skater's Heaven!" Daisy had pushed a blast of ice in front of her causing the undead to freeze immediately, again, rendering them immobile. The blast's power was about to break their bodies apart but…

Aiden's Hell's Heatwave spell had spread out to Daisy's side and, after thawing the ice, burned the zombies to a crisp. His spell had easily overpowered the Blue Rose Knight's and she reacted just as anyone would have expected her to react.

"You…" she grumbled. "I guess that's payback for me putting one over you. I'll show you I can do much better though, just you wait", her eye twitched suggesting she was furious.

Just then, a sudden and bright yellow flash raced across the two Knights' eyes. They reacted slightly later due to how quickly the flash had come through but as they focused, they saw that it was the mage that had been out of the plan for a period of time.

Lucas had raced across, not caring about his own injuries. He had his Dual Blades out and went for Max again. He swung his Dual Blades in the same way.

"Ha! Those weapons are worthless… they can't even cut through my clothes", he laughed.

"I wouldn't be so sure…!" Lucas forced his blades through and this time, to Max's surprise, he had finally managed to cut through. His skin and his flesh on the side of his torso started to bleed due to how sharp the pitch-black blades were.

He quickly jumped backwards and onto the floor, creating a bit of distance between the two. He felt the cut with his hand and looked at the blood.

"They… cut? But how? They were so soft before but now they're one of the sharpest things I've ever seen!" He pointed and shouted at Lucas.

Lucas breathed a sigh of relief. "Phew… my hunches were all correct", he smiled slightly.

"First of all, the reason I couldn't cut through at first was because at that point I had actually stopped using my Time Magic. I used my Energy Whips to cross the Slipping Edge spell. I didn't really think about it, but I had turned off my Time Magic to use my Light Magic and without noticing, I used the blades whilst still having focus on my Light Magic…", Lucas mentally explained to himself.

"So… I can't use my Dual Blades if I'm using my Light Magic. It's not ideal but that's the hand I've been dealt. I also figured something else, but I feel like I've done it before…". Lucas looked at his left hand and squeezed it.

"My Light Magic has been a slow attribute for as long as I've known. It's not like other recorded Light mages where it's quick, and I never knew why… but this time I tried to quicken my Light Magic with my Time… and well… the hunch was 100% correct. To be a quick Light mage, I have to be using my Time Magic at the same time", he sighed and frowned slightly.

Lucas suddenly felt a soft pat to his back. He turned to his right and saw that Daisy was unusually close to his face. So close that her lips were practically in line with his own.

"Hey, Lucas-san", she winked. "I don't know what you did but you figured out something about yourself!" The Ice mage smiled.

Aiden noticed the sudden change of personality with Daisy and mentally questioned it. "She was being so uncooperative and annoying, but now she's so cheery? What is it with this girl?"

Lucas, internally, was freaking out. He quickly glanced at Daisy's bright blue eyes that were tinted with a violet colour, though they were slightly obscured with her orange bangs hanging over them the tiniest bit. He, without thinking about it, looked down and saw… those… those two well-sized racks. Their shape was clearly seen through her yellow sweater, and he just gulped, his cheeks turning a rose red.

Daisy tilted her head. "Something wrong?" She wondered.

"Yes, of course there is!" Lucas shouted mentally. However, he was much more composed when he spoke. "Ah… no, don't worry". He stepped back a few steps to calm himself.

"Wait… there was something I noticed about you Daisy, and you too Aiden", Lucas spoke.

"With me?" Aiden questioned.

"Hm?" Daisy wondered.

"It was your arguing! Both of your magic is incredible and so cool to see. I've seen you use your magic earlier, Daisy, and there was something amazing about it… but when you were arguing and competing with Aiden… it sort of dulled the effect of it. It also messed up the plan slightly", he scratched his neck.

"That's right!" Aiden added.

"But it was you too, Aiden. Your magic seems insanely powerful but arguing and being petty definitely made you less effective…", Lucas turned to the Purple Orca mage and added.

A few seconds of silence passed, and Lucas realised he may have overstepped the boundary. His cheeks grew a rosy red once more.

"I… I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to go that far… I just had some ideas and blurted them out without thinking", he apologised. He realised that these two Knights were most likely above him in terms of ranking and didn't want to put a bad impression of himself out there.

Aiden and Daisy looked to each other and then back to Lucas.

"We apologise", they both spoke in unison.

"I guess I got a bit too competitive at first", Daisy added.

"Maybe I should've been more mature instead of carrying on", Aiden added.

Lucas's embarrassment slowly turned into a smile. "Haha… I guess that's alright then".

"Um, are you three done yet? Couldn't you have waited to be all sentimental until after?" The Eye of the Midnight Sun mage spoke out from in front of them.

"Oh, you're still here?" Daisy asked.

"Yes, where else would I go?!" Max screamed. "Anyway, I asked you a question! What is it with those blades?" He repeated his question.

"Oh, these?" He turned his blades in the air. "I just found them in a dungeon".

Three sets of poker faces formed on Aiden, Daisy, and as well as Max.

"You just found them?" They spoke together, seemingly unimpressed with how anti-climactic the response was.

"Well, never mind that. Now I know how tedious you three are… I'm going all out!" Max shouted. "Valtos! Two more please!"

"Valtos?" Aiden questioned. However, before he could even finish that train of thought, the same two pitch-black Spatial portals opened, and another horde of zombies fell through.

Aiden tensed up. "Looks like we're all fighting together now. You ready, Lucas and Daisy?"

"Yes!" The two responded back.

Meanwhile, as Lucas and his group were fighting Max, plenty of the other mages that were at the Awards Ceremony had been busy protecting the citizens as well as fighting off the zombies. Some of the Golden Dawn members were at the West district.

"When will this end?" Klaus moaned. "Steel Creation Magic: Twin Drill Lances!" The Golden Dawn's Steel mage created a pair of identical lances that had spinning drills at the end of them and fired them at the group of zombies. They broke apart partially and fell down to the floor, but as they were undead, they continued to move towards the group despite the obvious damage.

"I can't believe these things interrupted me eating the delicious food at the banquet!" Hamon spoke with a slight annoyance to his voice. "You will pay with this! Glass Creation Magic: Verre Fleur!" The Golden Dawn mage exclaimed, summoning sharp spikes of glass from the floor to pierce the undead enemies.

Just next to them, Shiren, the Stone mage was trying to pinpoint where and how this attack was originating from. "Stone Creation Magic: Stone Model of the World". The mage created a similar stone formation of the Capital that he had done before. However, this time it tried to show him the main mana signatures of where the sources of the attack were coming from but due to the amount of zombies there were, their own mana signatures were interrupting his reading.

"I can't see a way out of this", Shiren commented plainly.

In the Central district, the Silver Eagles were easily defeating the enemies and protecting the citizens.

"Water Creation Magic: Sea Serpent's Fang!" Solid summoned a snake-like spell that quickly knocked the zombies over as well as broke their bodies apart.

"This is too easy!" He sneered.

"Mist Magic: Solid Mist Clones", the eldest Silva daughter exclaimed. She created clones of herself and used her added manoeuvrability to defeat the enemies.

"Solid, Nebra. You two are too focused on offence and leaving the citizens vulnerable", Nozel stated. He saw that his two siblings had let go of their defensive duties and left the people behind them, who were scared and fearful, with no help.

"Mercury Creation Magic: Silver Shield". The Silver Eagles captain quickly formed a seemingly impenetrable wall that separated the citizens from the zombies that had gotten through Solid and Nebra.

"Thank you… S-sir!" The group of people shouted.

"What did I tell you two? Protecting the people is our duty too", Nozel exclaimed at Solid and Nebra.

"Oh, but that's no fun! Let me get the real problem and I wouldn't have to worry about saving some people that are lower than us!" Solid smirked.

Just as he said so, he felt an enormous amount of mana quickly fluctuate towards him, bringing him down to one knee. It was just like what happened in the banquet hall between Nozel and Fuegoleon where they exerted their powerful mana.

Nozel looked down at both Solid and Nebra, who had also knelt down, and just stared them down.

"Sorry, brother…", they spoke softly with their heads down.

In the Northwest district, Yuno, Mimosa, and Alecdora were busy protecting the people of the Capital.

"This will do, Wind Creation Magic: Swift White Hawk + Wind Blades Shower!" Yuno summoned two spells at the same time to easily get rid of the zombies that were about to attack the people that were running away to a safe area.

The Hawk roared and soared into the undead, slicing them apart, whereas the Wind Blades targeted the zombies that managed to evade the first spell.

Yuno looked and saw that the people had successfully ran to safety, though a few of them did have a few worrying injuries on their bodies.

"Tsk, I wasn't accurate or quick enough and they managed to hurt them!" He turned to his teammate. "Mimosa! Could you go look at them please? We can't let anyone get hurt even more than they have already", he asked.

"S-sure, Yuno!" The royal Vermillion rushed over and flicked through her grimoire. "Plant Recovery Magic: Dream-Healing Flower Basket!" Mimosa created a basket full of pink flowers and green vines that could heal other people's wounds. "Okay guys, the kids should go in first and then the adults! Trust me!"

"Th-thank you so much, Lady Vermillion. We don't know what we'd do without you!" A few of the adults in the group showed their praise for the royal.

"Hmph. Double spell activation and ordering your squad mates around?" Alecdora pouted, clearly focusing on Yuno when he should be doing his duties. "Who do you think you are? You're no Captain or Vice-Captain…".

Whilst Alecdora was brooding, he didn't notice an enemy reaching out for his neck. Before it was too late, Yuno caught sight of what was happening and shouted.

"Watch out!" He reached out. His four-leaf grimoire flickered, "Wind Magic: Towering Tornado!" The mage summoned a tornado spell and used it to blow away the zombie, making it crash into the floor and rendering it useless.

"Woah, Yuno! That was amazing!" Mimosa praised the rookie mage.

Instead of thanking or appreciating the help, Alecdora turned away in spite.

"Well, whatever", he looked to the sky. "This situation isn't the best, and they keep coming… I wonder if Asta and Lucas are having any better luck?"

In the shadows, a blacked out figure of a woman was seen watching everything unfold. She was perched above on a rooftop, using the shade created by the flames and smoke to hide herself away.

She licked her lips and tilted her black and pointy hat downwards, rustling her long, curly, blonde hair.

"I guess it's time for me to have a bit of fun with all these people… maybe their mana can feed me and I'll become even more beautiful…", she giggled.