Chapter 12

The Knights all gathered in front of the chamber's entrance as spiky blueberry detained the diamond mage with his steel mage.

"Is this actually going to keep him restrained?" Asta, who was eating some sort of herb, asked while pointing at the diamond mage.

"Of course it is!" Spiky blueberry replied indignantly. "My magic is not so weak that it'd be broken by someone who's injured."

"Look! We've taken his grimiore too." He added, raising up the diamond mage's grimoire.

"Don't get so pissy." Asta commented. "Want some medicinal herbs?" He asked, offering some to the spiky blueberry.

"I don't want your leftovers!" The spiky blueberry said.

"What about you, Yuno?" Asta asked, turning to his childhood friend.

Yuno had a deadpan expression on his face before turning away, "Not a chance."

"I'm glad that you're all safe." Mimosa said, addressing the group.

"Should you be moving around now?" Noelle asked, concerned for her cousin.

"It's fine. I feel much better." Mimosa replied with a smile. "It's all because you protected me, Noelle."

"I-I didn't protect you." Noelle defensively denied while blushing, being the tsundere she is. "You're just so helpless that I couldn't leave you alone."

Elara, who was on Noelle's other side, giggled with her hand covering her mouth. "There's no harm in showing your true feelings, Noelle. Come on, just let it out." She encouraged.

Noelle only blushed more at this and turned away from Elara with a 'hmph'.

Mimosa giggled along with Elara at the Silva. "Still, thank you very much." Mimosa told her.

Noelle, who was flustered as hell, decided to change the subject, just so she could escape further embarrassment. "M-more importantly, Asta, do something about your clothes!"

However this seemed to be the wrong subject to turn to as she'd just get even more flustered and embarrassed.

"Well, what am I supposed to do?" Asta asked.

"Aren't you embarrassed?" Noelle blushed as she asked, pointing at Asta.

"Why are you the one turning red?" Asta pointed out.

"I'm not turning red!" Noelle turned away from the ash blonde, crossing her arms over her chest in denial.

Elara and Mimosa seemed to have turned into twins as they were the same height and dawned the same closed eye smile as they watched the two.

"Actually..." Asta said, looking down at his ripped Black Bulls robe with his voice suddenly turning worried. "My robe's ripped to shreds... Magna senpai's gonna kill me."

"Vanessa will fix it for you when we get back." Luck spoke up with a smile, trying to reassure the shorter male.

"Well, that's good, I guess." Asta said, though his voice still sounded quite down a bit.

To think that we'd be saved by the Black Bulls... The spiky blueberry thought while pushing his glasses up. Though his pride seemed too big for him to express his gratitude towards the Bulls.

"We were the first ones to arrive, therefore we win this competition, but I will allow you four to enter the treasure chamber, also." He said.

"Why do you always sound so arrogant, four eyes?" Asta asked, ticked off a bit. "Well, thank you very much, you jerk!" He said, mockingly.

"You're very welcome! Watch how you speak to me!" Spiky blueberry retorted.

"Well excuse me, Lord Four-Eyes!" Asta replied in the same mocking tone he used before.

"Who are you calling 'Lord Four-Eyes'!?" The blueberry asked, indignantly. "Hmph! I don't have time to argue with you!"

"Well, excuse me, Lord Four-Eyes!"

"Shut your mouth!"

They sure like wasting each other's time. Yuno thought with his look of indifference.

The rest, though, were just watching amusedly at their interaction, finding it to be quite funny and entertaining.

"Keep it up and I'll break those glasses of yours!"

"That's just cruelty!"

"I wouldn't say that, Lord Four-Eyes!"

"That's enough!" Spiky blueberry finally yelled, "Let us head to the treasure chamber!"

"Yeah!" Asta yelled too, standing in front of the spiky blueberry. "It'll be the Clover Kingdom's Magic Knights who get to the treasure chamber!" He added, raising his sword in the air.

"You're so annoying!" Spiky blueberry yelled, moving his upper body to the side a bit so he could be seen from behind Asta.

"You're the one who's annoying!" Noelle decided to butt into their 'conversation'.

After Asta and the spiky blueberry settled down, the Knights stared thoughtfully at the door to the treasure chamber.

How do you get in?

The door didn't exactly have any handles, or keyholes or locks. It was just two large double doors that looked too heavy to open.

"There must be some code to open this door somewhere." Spiky blueberry said, examining the door further.

"You can do it! Think harder, four-eyes!" Asta encouraged loudly.

Though, spiky blueberry seemed to take it as an insult still. "Shut up! Stop calling me that! My name is Klaus!" He informed.

Yayy! I finally know his name! Elara beamed after hearing spiky blueberry—Klaus—speak.

While Asta and Klaus were bickering again, the others watched curiously as Luck stepped forward towards the huge doors and touched it with his palm.

"It appears this door is made with magic, so just cut through it. Like, swoosh." Luck informed the group.

Luck senpai's mana detection is so cool! Elara thought as she stared at the blonde with stars in her eyes, much like her uncle's.

Klaus and Asta stopped their bickering and looked at Luck.

"All right!" Asta exclaimed, enthusiastically.

"Hmph! There's no way you can open it." Klaus said.

Asta looked at Klaus, clearly irritated. He then took out his sword and with a battle yell, he sliced at the door creating a triangular opening for them.

"Yes!"

A bright light came through the opening, momentarily blinding them for a bit.

Elara, much like when they first entered the dungeon, wasn't affected by the blinding light so she was the first one to marvel and gape at the sight that greeted her.

"Woaaahhh!" She exclaimed, her eyes literally glinting from the amount of sparkly stuff in the room.

The others followed in marveling at the treasures once the they got used to the light. Asta in particular, was quite loud with his marveling. "That's awesome!"

"It's a mountain of treasure!" Asta exclaimed with stars in his eyes, before he went running in.

"Hey! Be careful!" Noelle yelled after him.

The others followed the ash blonde in, separating and inspecting things that have caught their eye.

Asta found a magic item for communication of some sort and opened it, curiously. He was shocked when Luck suddenly popped up, "Heya, Asta."

"Luck popped out!" Asta exclaimed with stars in his eyes once again.

Yuno held up a golden vase and was slightly startled when a small green orb came flying out of it, leaving a trail of green sparkles.

Mimosa wore a glittery red cape she found and admired it, "It's beautiful."

Noelle found a floating bubble the size of her palm and stared at it, curiously. "I wonder what you use this for. I haven't the slightest idea." She then proceeded to poking it, making it shake. She immediately retracted her finger and gasped in shock.

Elara, on the other hand, found some golden weapons, though what really caught her eye the most was the golden archery set.

"I wonder if these weapons are magic items that have unique abilities." She wondered aloud, testing out the bow and playfully aiming at the others. Though when she playfully aimed at Klaus, she couldn't help but giggle at the irritated expression on his face.

"All of you! Stop touching things without permission!" Klaus yelled. "They might be magical items worthy of being national treasures!"

"A little bit won't hurt, crabbypants." Asta said.

"Who are you calling 'crabbypants'!?" And so the banter has started yet again.

While the others were busy either bickering or inspecting the treasures, Yuno was following the glowing green orb he came across earlier.

The orb led him to a scroll which was emitting wind and it somehow made him drawn to it.

He grabbed the scroll and opened it to be met with a bunch of characters and symbols that Yuno didn't at all recognize.

What are these symbols? I've never seen them before. He thought as he scanned the scroll.

The scroll suddenly glowed a bright green and unbeknownst to him, so did his grimoire. His eyes widened, startled as he watched the symbols from the scroll disappear.

The others noticed the bright green glow and looked over to where Yuno was.

Oooh~! What's going on over there? Elara thought, putting down a sword with a golden hilt and ruby gems embedded on it.

"The symbols..." Yuno mumbled as the glow faded and the scroll was now completely blank.

"What was that just now?" Klaus asked as he and Mimosa neared Yuno.

"No idea." Yuno replied.

"Don't go around touching things." Klaus said. "Put that back."

Yuno closed the scroll and put it back down from where he took it.

Elara shrugged and turned back to the golden set of weapons, examining each and everyone on of them.

On another part of the chamber, Asta was being pulled by the hair by Nero, who looked like they wanted to show something to the ash blonde.

But this is a rather rare, strange grimoire. Klaus thought as he stared at the grimoire he was holding. It's as though it's stitched together.

The grimoire in question, indeed looked as if it was stitched together. The left part of the grimoire was crimson in color with gold designs framing it. On the right was an ice blue color that had gem-like crystals all over it.

Well... We have a four-leaf clover, He thought, looking at Yuno, and a grimoire so filthy you can't even read it. He then turned his head towards Asta, who was still being pestered by Nero.

I have three oddities on my hands.

"Isn't there anything interesting here?" Luck, who hadn't found anything that piqued his interests yet, asks while looking around.

Klaus suddenly became alert as the grimiore in his hand suddenly glowed, the magical binds around it, disappearing. The grimoire then left his hand and sped towards the chamber's entrance.

Luck's mana detection was immediately triggered and he looked towards the door. This power...

"Everyone, run!" Luck yelled, in alarm.

As if on cue, the diamond mage, who was now free, came barging in with his huge mineral armor.

He broke out of Klaus senpai's binds? Elara thought with wide eyes as she stared, shocked at the diamond mage's appearance.

Mineral suddenly came rising from the ground, trapping Yuno, Klaus, Luck, and Elara.

Oh no! Elara thought, struggling to free herself.

I-impossible! Klaus thought, staring in disbelief at the diamond mage. My restraining magic... And in so little time... How could he have survived!?

Elara squinted her eyes a little and saw that the enemy mage was not only surrounded by his mineral armor, but also flames.

Her eyes widened as she saw this. He could use two magic attributes?! And ones that are so different from each other too... who is he!?

"I'll put that fire out!" She suddenly heard Noelle say.

Elara turned and saw that Noelle was pointing her wand at the enemy mage and is concentrating her mana to form a water ball. But to everyone's horror, before Noelle could even send it towards the enemy, she was sent flying back by the diamond mage.

"Noelle!" Mimosa, Elara and Asta screamed upon seeing Noelle land on the ground, badly injured.

"You bastard!" Asta yelled, summoning his sword. "How dare you do that to my friend!?" He said, running towards the enemy mage.

While Asta was fighting the enemy mage, Elara was still staring in horror at Noelle's body. An image of her parents, bloody and mangled on the ground suddenly flickered in front of her eyes, momentarily replacing Noelle.

"No...elle...hu..rt...Noelle...hurt.." she muttered to herself as her emotions were slowly getting the best of her.

Klaus, Yuno, and Luck, who were trying to get out of the minerals that were grounding them, started to feel a strong wave of mana. They turned to look at where it was coming from to see Elara, shaking and breathing heavily while staring at Noelle. It looked like she was having a panic attack.

"Hey—" Klaus was about to try and 'comfort' her —which was basically just yelling at her to get herself together— when he was cut off by Luck.

"Wait, don't! Just leave her be." Luck said as he stared at Elara, remembering the times when she blew up in their base. The mana she emitted when she was having those episodes, were stronger than most nobles and probably even royalty. If Elara would blow now, the force of it could break the minerals binding her.

"What are you—" Klaus was cut off when he suddenly felt that the mana emitting from Elara was only getting stronger and overwhelming.

What's happening? Yuno and Klaus thought as they stared at the girl who was still having a panic attack. What is this overwhelming magic?

Their attention was taken away from Elara when they suddenly saw Asta getting thrown through a wall.

Elara's wide eyes now stared at the gaping whole that Asta made when he was thrown through it. "Asta..."

"Noelle! Noelle!" The diamond mage's attention was suddenly on Mimosa, who was trying to heal Noelle.

Plant Recovery Magic: Princess-Healing Flower Robe!

"The strong will survive, and the weak will die." The diamond mage chanted as he summoned mineral daggers, pointing towards Mimosa and Noelle.

The others were alarmed and started to struggle more, trying to do the best they could without their grimoire's help.

The daggers started spinning and when the diamond mage was about to release them, an explosion caught everyone's attention.

She did it! Luck thought turning to where the explosion came from.

The smoke cleared and Elara appeared, free from the minerals, a shadow over her eyes, and her fists clenched at her sides.

Her comrades' eyes widened upon feeling the mana she was emitting. It was nothing like they've ever felt before. Even Luck, who had witnessed her explode a lot of times was taken aback by the amount of mana he was feeling right now.

"How dare you..." Another explosion took place in another part of the chamber. "How dare you...", and another one from a different part. "How dare you..." and another.

Her mana's everywhere! Luck thought.

"How dare you hurt my friends!" Elara finally yelled at the diamond mage, lifting her head up to meet his eyes with her own which flashed a dangerous glint.

Her grimiore glowed a bright light beside her and flipped to a blank page. It didn't stay blank for long though as a new spell suddenly appeared.

A blinding light suddenly appeared from the space surrounding Elara, making the others close or shield their eyes.

"Oh? You shouldn't lose sight of your enemy when in battle mister or they'll might just kill you." Elara said sweetly, hiding malice behind it.

A chill suddenly went through everyone's spine at the tone of her voice.

When the light dimmed down, the others saw a bunch of light arrows all around Elara, pointing towards the diamond mage.

"Well, for your case now, it doesn't matter even if you don't take your eyes off me." Elara continued, raising her hand, directing her palm towards the enemy. "I'll still kill you either way." She finished with a crazed glint in her eyes.

"Lunar Creation Magic: Divine Punishment"

Lunar Magic? She's from the noble house of Lunate? Klaus thought with wide eyes. ...and she's a Black Bull?!

The arrows sped towards the enemy, breaking the mineral daggers and going straight for the armor. The diamond mage summoned minerals (like what Fana used with Salamander in the witch's forest but bigger) in front of him, to shield himself from the attack but some of them still made it through, breaking parts of his armor with some even wounding him.

This spell...

~

2 years old Elara was on her mother's lap, laughing and clapping her hands in delight while her father entertained her with his light creation magic. The small family of three were all on the king sized bed of their bedroom, playing and laughing merrily.

Small animals, flower petals, stars, moons, and planets made out of light were floating around the three, entertaining their precious little girl.

Although she could already speak some simple words, albeit being unrecognizable at times, she was always talking gibberish when excitement and pure joy overtakes her —which was almost all the time.

After a while of playing with her father's magic, Elara wanted to make some of her own so she stopped clapping. Light started emitting from the little girls palms taking her parents' attention.

To say the least, they were both shocked when an arrow made out of light appeared between her small chubby hands. The little girl laughed and raised her hands in the air, making the arrow float above her. The arrows multiplied into three and started circling above her head. The little girl only giggled more as her eyes started to follow the circling arrows and at one point making her dizzy and fall over on her mother's lap.

Her parents looked at each other with wide eyes before looking back down at their little girl, who sat back up and gave them an innocent gummy smile.

Edward snapped out of his shocked state after seeing his daughter's adorable smile and chuckled out loud. He took his daughter in for a hug, laughing joyously before raising her in the air.

"Oh, my little moonchild! You casted your first spell! Oh, this is wonderful!" He exclaimed full of pride before bringing her in for another hug.

Elara squealed and giggled at her father's display of affection and joy despite not understanding what her father actually said. Eupheme, on the other hand, was also beaming in pride and giggled at her husband's antics.

The whole Lunate Manor celebrated that night for the young Lunate's accomplishment.

~

This spell was the first she ever casted. But on the day she received her grimoire, she forgot about it and started using her grimoire's spells instead. From that day, she couldn't summon her light arrows without summoning her light bow... until now.

A nostalgic smile crept it's way onto her lips as an arrow in the size of a sword, appeared in between her right hand. As the arrows kept firing at diamond mage, keeping him busy, she disappeared from her spot and reappeared behind him. Elara striked at the mineral armor and disappeared again, reappearing in front of another part of the mineral armor to strike at it. This process kept repeating while Elara laughed, thrilled, gaining the diamond mage's attention. It was no use as everytime he tried to land a hit on her, she'd disappear and hit another part of his armor.

This all happened while explosions were still happening all over the chamber.

Elara tried so hard to contain her emotions the whole time they were exploring the dungeon, but now she didn't care. She just wanted to kill this guy already for hurting Asta and Noelle, and for trying to hurt Mimosa.

Due to her emotions going berserk, so was the curse. Her mana was overflowing throughout the whole chamber, which caused explosions everywhere.

Her fellow Magic Knights started to grow concerned as it was starting to get more destructive and shook the whole room. At this rate, the chamber might collapse if she isn't stopped.

Luck seemed to be the only one who was fascinated by battle. He watched Elara's every move with glittering eyes. Today was the first time he actually saw her in action —as she didn't actually fight Magna on their initiation— and she only managed to fascinate him even more.

From their last battle with the smoke magic user, he was in awe at her speed. Now, she was enticing him with her power.

I... want to fight her even more now. He thought with a faint blush on his cheeks and a wide smile on his face.

At some point, an explosion occurred in between where Luck and Klaus were held and broke some of the minerals. The two took this chance to try and break the rest of it, but it was proving to be more difficult than they thought.

More.. Luck thought as he channelled his lightning around him.

Suddenly, Elara stopped all her attacks on the diamond mage and reappeared in front of Mimosa and Noelle, facing the enemy. She raised her arms, her palms facing upwards as she concentrated her mana on the space above her.

A bright light appeared above her, forming an arrow which grew bigger and bigger. The arrow was half the length of the chamber when it was done growing and as everyone saw it, they knew that once you're impaled, it could lead to immediate death or at the very least an extremely fatal wound.

"Die." She said monotonously as the flow of mana around her caused her clothes and hair to sway in the wind.

But just before she could throw the giant arrow on the enemy mage, she collapsed on the ground, her spell disappearing and the explosions ceasing.

The moon wasn't up and she pushed herself way past her limits. She still wasn't strong enough...

The others stared in shock at the unconscious figure of the lunar mage.

She overexerted herself! They all thought.

Her efforts weren't in vain though as the diamond mage's armor crumbled to the ground from Elara's long and close ranged attacks, catching the others' attention.

This would've been a great time to attack! If only I could use my grimoire! Klaus, Yuno, and Luck thought.

"Help... her..." Mimosa was startled when a hand suddenly weakly gripped her wrist.

"Noelle..." she mumbled as she saw that her cousin was concious but weak.

"Help... her..." Noelle, once again said weakly tilting her head to her left a bit, showing that she meant for her to heal Elara.

"I'm sorry, Noelle. I can only heal injuries and wounds. She just used up way to much of her magic." Mimosa explained apologetically.

The diamond mage, who fell when his armor was destroyed, stood back up, the flames still surrounding his body. With Flame Recovery Magic, the wounds Elara has instilled in him were healing —though extremely slower than normal as she had caused great damage on his body.

He raised his palm forward, the mineral blades appearing again. "...the weak will die... Begone!"

The blades started spinning and went straight towards the unconscious body of Elara.

"Elara!" Luck yelled.

Suddenly, the mineral blades were sliced and broken to pieces as Asta appeared with a new sword.

The others were stunned upon seeing the ash blonde moving swiftly around, breaking the daggers easily.

"What is that sword?" The diamond mage asked, surprised.

"This sword will work." Asta said, pertaining to his earlier problem.

Apparently, the reason why he was thrown through a wall earlier was because the enemy mage figured out his way of fighting. So when he was caught off guard by how he couldn't move fast enough to cancel all of them out, the diamond mage punched him with his armor which led to him flying through the wall.

Fortunately, he found a smaller and more practical sword in that room behind the wall he was thrown to and it was easier for him to swing around.

"Your opponent... is me!" Asta yelled charging at the diamond mage with his new sword.

The diamond mage summoned more spinning blades and threw them at Asta. The ash blonde didn't look affected as he swung his sword and kept running.

Once the diamond mage saw that Asta was getting too close to him, he summoned back his mineral armor —a weaker one due to his weakened state— in attempt to defend himself.

Asta, unfazed by the armor, strikes at the diamond mage. Most of his strikes went to the armor but he managed to wound the diamond mage by his shoulder.

"How's that?" Asta asked.

The diamond mage seemed unfazed as the wound Asta gave him just caught on fire and healed.

"Disappear!" The diamond mage said, throwing a punch at Asta.

The ash blonde was able to block it by his sword the last minute, but he was still pushed back. At this point, Asta knew that he couldn't beat the enemy mage by just cutting him because they'll just be healed by his recovery magic.

What should I do?

"What are you doing, Bakasta?" A weak and strained voice suddenly spoke.

This caught both Mimosa and Asta's attention.

"You're the first peasant... that I, a royal, ever acknowledged." Noelle said with great difficulty. "Hurry up and defeat that guy, Asta!"

Asta's new sword suddenly glowed a bright blue, surrounded by Noelle's mana. "Yeah, leave it to me. I'll throw enough at him from the both of us!"

"Move. I'm going to make those girls, those weaklings, disappear!" The diamond mage demanded

"Like hell I'll let that happen!" Asta yelled in retaliation. "I don't have any magic, but I've got... my friends!" He said, swinging his sword, releasing a water attack.

"This is nothing!" The diamond mage yelled and crossed his mineral clad arms in front of him to shield himself.

But because of his already weakened state from taking on Elara's relentless attacks and the previous battles with the others, his armor was weak and he was thrown as soon as the water attack from Noelle's royal mana hit him.

The others were shocked upon seeing the wave of mana coming from Asta's sword.

Wh-what just happened? He's not supposed to have any magic! Klaus thought.

A water magic attack? Luck thought before turning to look at where Noelle and Mimosa were. He borrowed Noelle's powers?

What in the world is that sword?

Asta was breathing heavily as chuckled in triumph, "I don't really get it, but I did it!"

But admits that victorious moment, he looked down and saw that a single mineral shard had impaled him. Blood came out of his mouth before he fell forward, "I messed up..."

"Asta..." Noelle muttered as he saw Asta's body fall, his sword clattering beside him. "Asta!"

"Mimosa, I'm fine now, so please just take car of Asta!" Noelle said.

This time, Mimosa was able to do as she requested as Asta was injured unlike Elara, "R-right!"

Mimosa moved to heal Asta. I'm not sure if my remaining magic will be enough.

"Asta!" Yuno exclaimed, worried about his rival.

"Brat! Open your eyes!" Klaus yelled. "Where's all that energy you just had!?"

"You can't die before I kill you!" Luck said.

"Asta!"

"Can you hear me, Asta?" Mimosa asked as she tried to heal him, "You're not alone!"

"I'm... fine alone, because I have extremely powerful magic." The diamond mage said to himself, "Those without magic are weak. And the weak will die."

The others were shocked by the fact that the diamond mage could still move much less stand back up.

"It can't happen..." the diamond mage said. "Someone as naive as you cannot win against me!"

The giant mineral sword made its appearance again, ready to strike at both Asta and Mimosa.

"Asta!" Yuno yelled, his wind magic started to surround him.

His flame recovery magic should've been negated by Asta's attack. Klaus thought, gritting his teeth. This is the perfect time to finish him off, but...

Just a little more... Just a little more, and I can break through these restraints. Luck thought as lightning crackled around him.

"Die!" The diamond mage yelled, swinging his sword down on Mimosa and Asta.

Due to the potential death of his rival, a surge of wind broke through Yuno's restraints and he immediately made a dash for the ash blonde. "Asta!"

No matter what spell I pick from my grimiore, I won't make it in time. He thought. I won't let him die here!

A strong gust of wind suddenly came from Yuno and broke the diamond mage's sword and armor, sending the enemy mage flying to a wall, unconscious.

The others looked on, shocked and confused at the scene.

"Did Yuno just do that?" Klaus asked no one in particular. "What just happened?"

The minerals restraining Klaus and Luck suddenly disappeared, freeing them. "The spell... has been broken."

"Yuno! What did you do?" Klaus asked his junior, running to him.

"Was that magic? What did you use?" Luck was the next to ask.

"I'm not sure." Yuno answered, even more confused than anyone else.

"You're not sure?"

"There was a little girl, and... " Yuno said, looking around.

"A little girl?" Klaus asked, confused.

"Well..."

Klaus approached him and put a hand on his shoulder,  "You must be tired. Let us talk later. More importantly, we've defeated him for sure this time."

Yuno looked down on his grimoire and noticed that the symbols on the page it was on, was the same symbols he saw on the scroll earlier.

The ground and ceiling suddenly gained huge cracks and the whole chamber shook.

"What's..." Klaus said, looking up to see debris falling. "Is this a trap?"

"The dungeon is falling apart!" Yuno stated.

As more debris started to fall, Yuno casted a spell. "Celestial Wind Ark!"

"Everyone, get on!" Yuno yelled. "We're getting out!"

Everyone complied with Luck carrying Asta and laying him on the wind ark.

As Noelle got on, she remembered that Elara was unconcious and looked for her. Her eyes widened once she saw that the ceiling above her was about to fall.

"Wait! Elara!" She shouted, which caught the attention of others.

Luck, who was still clad in his lightning boots, immediately reacted and jumped off the wind ark.

Elara groaned, her conciousness coming back to her. But what greeted her as soon as she opened her eyes, wasn't something a person would wish to see upon waking up.

A huge piece of the ceiling was about to fall on her and she was still too weak to move at the moment.

Just when she thought that she'd get squashed like a tomato, the debris exploded above her, making her shield herself from the falling smaller pieces of it.

It was Luck.

Elara yelped, startled as she felt herself being carried in someone's arms. She looked up to see Luck, who was busy trying to get her to Yuno's wind ark.

"L-Luck senpai?" She muttered.

"Oh! You're awake! Hang on, we're getting out of here." Luck told her, greeting her with his usual smile.

She blushed upon seeing it, and the fact that she was in his arms wasn't helping at all. For the first time since she met him, she wasn't uncomfortable by the fact that he was so close to her and even his smile that used to unnerve her, didn't bother her. She didn't know why, but the smile on his face suddenly looked more genuine.

Doki Doki

In that moment, her imagination has gone haywire and she was suddenly captivated by Luck's face which had a sparkles in the background, making her feel like a princess being carried by her prince. Everything was in slow motion and she was suddenly seeing Luck in new light.

Doki Doki

What is this feeling? Why does Luck senpai suddenly look so handsome and cute? Why does his smile suddenly look so pretty?

Luck jumped and finally landed on the wind ark, "Let's go."

To Elara's dismay, Luck put her down and went to the front to lead the group out of the dungeon with his mana detection. She found herself pouting as she missed the warmth she felt when she was in his arms.

"Lara! You're awake!" She suddenly heard Noelle say from beside her.

Elara decided to shake it off and push away those strange and new feelings for now and think about them later, because right now, they were trying to escape a collapsing dungeon with the possibility of not making it out alive.

"Mhm! I guess I passed out again." Elara said, scratching the back of her head with her closed eye smile, embarrassed. Her expression suddenly turned to worry when she suddenly remembered something. "What about you, Noe? Are you okay now? You were hit pretty bad..."

Noelle shook her head and smiled, "Don't worry, I'm fine now. Mimosa healed me pretty well. Asta, on the other hand..." she trailed off, her own expression turning worried as she turned to look at the ash blonde being healed.

Upon seeing Asta's beaten up body, Elara's eyes widened, "What happened to him!?"

A huge crash suddenly sounded above them and they saw large peices of debris about to fall on them.

Klaus and Luck immediately reacted and destroyed them, granting them safe passage through that area.

Noelle shook her head, "I'll explain later, we should focus on getting out of here first." She said.

Elara nodded and stood up, staggering a bit. Noelle looked at her worriedly, "You can just sit this one out if you'd like."

Elara shook her head and gave Noelle a reassuring smile, "No, I want to help."

Soon the group was speeding through the dungeon with Klaus, Yuno, Luck, Noelle, and Elara destroying the falling pieces of debris falling their way.

~

"We got out!" Elara exclaimed in glee as the group appeared through peices of debris.

"Yeah!" Noelle cheered along, thankful that they got out alive.

"We did it!" Mimosa said, who was still healing Asta.

"That was fun!" Luck commented cheerily.

"Honestly..." Klaus muttered in disbelief at the shorter male.

"We'll head over there." Yuno said, pointing at a spot somewhere in front of them.

Though, unbeknownst to them, a certain smoke vehicle loaded with treasure followed them out of the dungeon.

The group landed and they carefully moved Asta and let Mimosa continue to heal him. Noelle then told Elara the details of how Asta got hurt, which earned quite the reaction from Elara.

"If I wasn't weak then I could've helped Asta, but I was and here he is, injured again!"

"Poor Asta-san... he always manages to get himself hurt, everytime."

"He's waking up!" Mimosa suddenly said after a while.

The group crowded in front of Asta, watching as he opened his eyes. "Everyone..." He said weakly...

"Asta." Yuno said relieved as he looked down with a minuscule smile.

"Asta!" Noelle greeted him brightly.

"Thank the heavens you're okay!" Elara exclaimed, giving him her closed eye smile.

Klaus turned away, pushing his glasses up as he let out a "hmph."

"Asta!" Mimosa said, clapping her hands together.

"Hooray." Luck said, smiling as he placed his hands behind his head.

"Ow..." Asta winced as he sat up.

Realizing that she looked too worried for Asta, Noelle turned on tsundere mode and turned away while folding her arms over her chest, "Hmph! As long as you're okay, Bakasta."

"It's unbelievable. Your recuperative ability is amazing." Mimosa said as she deactivated her spell.

"He's resilient, if nothing else." Yuno said, playfully.

"What'd you say, Yuno!?" Asta asked, standing up. "I'm more than just resilient... ow, ow, ow..." he winced, clutching his stomach halfway through walking towards the raven haired male.

"I-I'm so sorry! I didn't have enough magic to fully heal you." Mimosa said. "I just did what I could for now, so you probably shouldn't move."

"N-no worries." Asta relied. "You saved me. Thanks." He smiled at Mimosa.

"N-no problem at all!" Mimosa stammered, running to hide behind Noelle, flustered. "R-really..."

"I thought you were going to die before I got to kill you." Luck spoke up, making Elara turn to him. Though it seemed like a bad idea as she only got flustered once she saw his smiling face.

It's that feeling again! Elara exclaimed in her mind.

"I won't die. Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow..." Asta winced once more before looking up at Yuno. "Not until I become the Wizard King."

"Not a chance." Yuno shook his head. "I'm the one who's going to be the Wizard King." The two rivals smiled at each other at their declarations.

Asta then stood up and tried walking again, only to wince in pain once more, holding onto Yuno's shoulder for support. "Ow, ow, ow, ow..."

"Don't use my body as a crutch." Yuno said.

"What's the big deal? It's not like I'm hurting you."

"You two..." Klaus suddenly spoke up, catching both boys' attention.

"Klaus senpai." -Yuno

"I'm so..." Klaus walked towards them and suddenly hugged them both, shocking the others, "..sorry!"

Elara gasped with wide eyes, bringing her hand up to her mouth. The others pretty much had the same reactions.

"I'm so ashamed that I didn't acknowledge you just because you were peasants!" Klaus said still hugging the two. "Both of you are... magnificent Magic Knights of the Clover Knigdom!"

It was quiet for a while as the rest processed what Klaus just admitted. But then the two childhood friends started to feel that it was getting hard to breathe.

"Senpai..." Yuno said, trying to gain Klaus' attention. "Senpai." He tried again.

"You're suffocating us." Yuno said, bluntly.

"Lord Four-Eyes... it hurts." Asta breathed out.

Klaus immediately let go which caused Elara to cover her mouth as she giggled.

"What!? And after I just..." Klaus trailed off, embarrassed.

"Who knew you were such a good four-eyes?" Asta asked playfully as he fell to the ground from exhaustion.

"What do you mean by that, you fool?!" Klaus asked.

"You're too serious, Klaus." Mimosa commented with a giggle.

"Hey, hey, Yuno!" Luck called while raising his hand up in the air before he walked towards the raven haired male. "Let's fight sometime."

"No." Yuno immediately replied before Luck even got to finish his sentence.

Asta chuckled a bit before noticing something.

"Hey, Noelle. Your clothes are all ripped up." Asta said.

Noelle looked down to see that her shirt was ripped in between her chest area which was showing a lot of skin. She blushed before screaming in embarrassment.

From beside Yuno, blood suddenly came gushing out of Klaus' nose.

Noelle covered her chest and ran towards Asta, stepping on him, making him unconscious from the pain.

"Oh, he died." Luck said casually.

"Asta!" Mimosa exclaimed in worry as she ran towards Noelle and Asta.

"I couldn't help myself!" Noelle said, sounding apologetic. "Bakasta! Wake up!" She said jumping off of the ash blonde and kneeling beside him along with Mimosa.

Elara couldn't help but laugh at the situation. Watching Asta and Noelle interact was always a delight.

Asta opened his eyes, showing that he was fine which made the others smile as well.

But then Noelle became flustered once again, "What are you staring at?" Just like that, Asta was slapped in the face. "Ow!"

"Hmph!"

~

I didn't even have to do anything... Looks like even this soul couldn't resist the charms of my beloved...

~

Meanwhile, during Elara's recent episode,

"Let's fill this car up with treasure!" The smoke magic user who fought the Black Bulls said to his comrades.

"Yes sir!"

Soon, they were all loading treasure into the smoke vehicle that the smoke magic user escaped with while the Magic Knights were busy fighting the mineral magic user.

But due to Elara's emotions going berserk, so was the curse. Her mana was overflowing throughout the whole chamber, which caused explosions everywhere.

An explosion suddenly appeared beside their car which alarmed the diamond mages.

"Do they know we're here?!"

"No, these explosions are happening everywhere!"

"Let's move over there!"

The mages moved and started loading the smoke vehicle once again. But then another explosion took place near them.

"Gahhh!"

"Let's move there!"

And so they moved again.

BOOM!

And again.

BAAM!

And again.

KABLOOWI!

Until finally... they were done.

"Phew!"

"Well done guys!"

"Now let's get out of here, before an explosion happens agian!"

Too late...

KAPOW!

The explosion happened on the smoke vehicle this time. Although the vehicle itself was unharmed due to it being made of smoke, the treasures the diamond mages loaded on it were blown away and scattered around them.

"You can't be serious!"

"Now we have to do it all over again!"

~

"Oh! Elara-san! You promised me a battle, right? Waah! Watching you beat up that diamond mage earlier really got me excited!" Luck suddenly said cheerily admist their momentary rest from the events inside the dungeon.

"Yeah, you were pretty scary, Elara-san. You even tried to kill the guy." Mimosa piped from her spot on a rock.

Die.

Elara's face suddenly burned up and turned tomato red as she was reminded of her fight against the diamond mage.

"Eeek! I can't believe I tried to kill a person! Oh, I'm such a terrible person!" Elara suddenly started exclaiming, startling the others.

"Oh, great gods! Please forgive this tainted soul!" Elara yelled, repeatedly bowing on the ground with tears falling down her face like waterfalls.

The others just sweatdropped, with the exception of Luck who just laughed, as they watch Elara apologize to the gods for committing an extremely unforgivable crime such as 'trying to kill the enemy who tried to kill them first'.