Chapter 5

The ground shook and the sky darkened along with everything underneath it. People began looking up in alarm, pointing towards the sky whispering in either wonder or fear.

"What's happening?"

"Is this the end of the world?"

"The light! Why is the light being blocked!?"

Meanwhile at the back of Lunate Manor where a garden even larger than the manor itself resided, a 10 year old girl could be seen jumping up and down in excitement while pointing towards the sky, a magic circle could be seen on the ground around.

"Mother! Father! Look!"

Edward and Eupheme Lunate looked up to the sky in astonishment.

"Ed, isn't that-"

"The sacred spell.." Edward Lunate cut off his wife as he stared at the sky then back towards their daughter with eyes filled with surprise.

Soon those eyes were suddenly filled with pride and a wide grin graced his face as he ran towards their daughter, picking her up and spinning her around in joy.

Eupheme now had a smile of her own as she neared the laughing father and daughter.

"You did it, Elara! You actually did your grandfather's spell!" Edward beamed with pride.

"And at such a young age too.." Eupheme added, placing a kiss on their daughters button nose, which made Elara giggle.

"Your grandfather would be proud! Just like we are." Edward said, the grin permanently etched on his face.

Elara's eyes sparkled in wonder, "Really? You really think grandfather is proud of me!?"

"Yes dear, there's no doubt. With how much you and your magic has grown, there's no doubt you'll be able to join the Magic Knights! Just like he did!"

"Yayyyyyyy!"

From inside the manor, Reighan Lunate could be seen smiling fondly, looking down at the back garden from behind a huge window. Beside her, was Benjamin, who was also looking down at the happy family below.

"I can't believe she was able to perform such a spell at this age. She doesn't even have her grimoire yet!" Benjamin said in astonishment.

Reighan only chuckled in amusement, "She really is, indeed, the Lunate Family protégé. Oh Elly, if only you were here to witness this.." she sighed fondly, at the thought of her late husband.

The happy moment was, however, short lived when they could suddenly feel a rapidly growing mana pressure. Their smiles dropped, as they stared at the heart of the garden where it was coming from.

"Oh no... it's been activated! Quick! Get Edward and Eupheme out of there!" Reighan ordered as she frantically began running towards the entrance of the garden.

But it was too late...

Just as Reighan, Benjy, some maids, and guards ran through the back doors, they were sent blasted back inside by an explosion that destroyed the entirety of the large garden.

Reighan, Benjy, and the others that were sent flying back, all coughed as dust entered their systems, wounds gracing their skin, and their blood seeping through their clothing.

After the headache subsided a little, Reighan immediately shot up, looking out towards the garden which was covered in thick smoke. The back doors flew off of their hinges and were laying just in front of where they were supposed to be. The foyer, which was the entryway to the garden was blown to bits, what's left of it were just pieces of debris.

They all stood up with great effort, as their body ached from being thrown and wounded. They cautiously stepped out of the house and into the garden as the smoke started to clear. As they neared the heart of the garden, they started to hear a girl's cries.

Quickly, they all ran towards the sound.

"Lady Elara! Master Edward! Mistress Eupheme!"

They all stopped abruptly when the smoke cleared and they were faced with a horrible sight. Reighan's hands immediately flew to her mouth as tears started welling up on the corner of her eyes.

Edward and Eupheme's bodies lay cold and unmoving beside each other in a pool of blood. Their eyes staring dead at the sky but with no life inside of them. Their bodies looked mangled, and deep wounds could be seen all over. In between their bodies, was a weeping Elara, who looked clean and unharmed, aside from her bloodstained hands which were holding her mother and father's.

"Mother! Father! Wake up! Please!" She cried desperately.

The others could only stare on in horror and pity, unable to move because of shock. The little girl's cries only became more louder and desperate as the time passed and her parents still lay unmoving. They got louder and louder to the point where the others started to feel the same rapidly growing mana pressure from before.

Benjamin forced himself to snap out of his trance and immediately took action, bringing the young mistress into his arms, cradling her, trying to comfort her before she blows up again.

"Mother! Father!"

~

Elara was riding on her broom early the next morning, heading towards her squad's base. She decided to stay home yesterday, spending time with her grandmother, which she was unable to do for the last 6 years.

They talked and dined for the first time in years. Benjy also took that time to savor the last few hours with his young mistress before she had to leave and live her dream.

Elara smiled at the thought of her time with her grandmother. A warm feeling spreading across her chest with the knowledge that her grandmother didn't hate her after all.

Her smile dropped, however, when she was greeted with the sight of a huge water sphere that was heading straight towards their base. She looked down and saw her Captain and squadmates gathered in front of the base, so she decided to land beside them looking up at the huge water sphere, apprehensively.

"Oh dear..." Vanessa mumbled.

"Wow!" Luck commented, a bit too cheerfully for Elara's liking.

She heard mumbling coming from Gordon, but she unfortunately couldn't decipher what he was saying.

"Someone's magic is out of control." Gauche stated.

"Such insane magical power..." Magna breathed out, dumbstruck at the display, "This is gonna get bad if we don't do something."

It only appears as though the mana in the magical water sphere was only getting more intense.

At this rate, the whole thing would destroy the base.

At this thought, a fleeting memory of what happened 6 years ago appeared in front of Elara's eyes.

We have to stop this. We have to save her.

"If we attack it with magic, she might not make it out alive." Yami stated looking thoughtful, before turning to Finral, "Could you use your spacial magic to scoop just her up?"

"Please don't be ridiculous. I can't get near that!" Finral said incredulously.

"Right. If we only had someone who could nullify magical powers..." Yami said, scratching the back of his head.

Wait! We do have someone like that! Elara's eyes lit up at the thought, before she began looking around for a certain ash blonde male.

Where is he though?

As if on cue, the said person came flying in. The members watched as their captain caught the short male, who looked as though his soul left his body.

"You came flying by at the perfect time."

"Huh?"

Yami then pointed at the huge water sphere, "Could you take care of that?"

"Take care of that?" Asta exclaimed, looking towards the sphere, "Okay!" He yelled in determination.

Then, as if he was only hit with the thought, he asked, "Wait. How am I supposed to get over there, though? I can't fly..."

Yami's face darkened and he was suddenly surrounded by his dark mana, "Quit yer yapping."

"Now is the time when you need to go beyond your limits!"

Elara sweatdropped as she watched Asta getting thrown through the air by their Captain.

I'm glad I'm not in his shoes.

As he soared threw the air, his grimoire flipped open. He pulled out his huge, rusty sword midair and sliced through the water sphere, effectively nullifying the magic. The water sphere exploded, making it rain on them.

Getting soaked this early in the morning sure is one way to start a day, huh?

As the water cleared, the Black Bulls on the ground saw two figures falling through the sky. Finral immediately took action, opening his grimoire and creating a portal below the newbies before they could hit the ground. Although it didn't actually make things  better, as they still landed roughly on the ground after Finral opened another portal on ground level, where they came out of.

"Alright! I'm alive!" Asta, being the loud person he is, yelled.

Yami suddenly started laughing.

"That was so much fun, wasn't it?" Luck commented cheerfully, as per usual.

"Jeez. Now I'm all wet." Vanessa complained.

"Thanks for that Spacial Magic!" Asta once again yelled, walking towards the group.

Elara sweatdropped. He sure doesn't know know how to speak normally, does he?

"You're welcome!" Finral replied.

"Well done, brat." Yami praised, pointing at Asta with an amused expression on his face.

"Right!" Asta yelled in reply. He then turned his attention towards the silver haired girl, who was still lying on the ground behind him. "Hey, you!"

The other members followed his lead, and looked at the girl on the ground.

Those clothes... the hair... those earrings... Elara's eyes widened in realization, She's a Silva!

The others watched as the girl didn't move and just continued to lie on the ground, her face hidden from view.

Is she okay?

Asta moved forward a bit, now standing directly in front of the girl.

"You..." his voice dripped with seriousness. It was the first time Elara actually heard him say something in a normal tone.

Then in a split second, that seriousness was thrown out of the window, to be replaced with his usual loud self, an epic look on his face, "...HAVE SOME INSANE MAGICAL POWERS! THAT'S SO AWESOME!"

The royal finally made a sign of movement, raising her head to look up at the short but loud teen in disbelief, "Huh?"

"I don't have any magical powers, so I'm jealous, damn it!" Asta said. Then he smiled at her in encouragement, "If you train so you can learn to control them, you'll be invisinble, Noelle!"

Noelle, huh? Elara smiled.

Noelle sat up, "Insec-...Asta.." she corrected herslef, saying Asta's name as if she's just a baby learning how to speak her first word.

Asta let out a weird battle cry of some sorts, "I'm gonna keep doing my best so I won't lose, either!" He declared.

"Tch! Really? You just couldn't control your magical powers?" Magna said, "You should've told me earlier, you royal failure."

"We're the Black Bulls. We're a whole group of failures!" Magna proclaimed, his face morphing into the first kind expression Elara has ever seen on him.

Vanessa took a needle from out of nowhere, surrounding it with her mana. A Black Bulls robe then came floating over Noelle's head and onto her shoulders.

"No one cares if you have a flaw or two, you idiot." Magna finished.

"Anyway, thank goodness you're safe." Finral spoke up, "By the way, I know a great pasta place. Want to go sometime?"

"Before that, you should try this. 'Kay?" Charmy said, offering Noelle a muffin.

"That was amazing." Vanessa praised, "If anything, the one thing I'm great at is controlling magical powers, so I'll help you out."

"I'll show you some womanly techniques, too." she added, winking.

"I'll tell you how much of an angel my little sister Marie is." Gauche said.

Gordon mumbled out something too, but nobody seemed to understand what he was trying to say yet again.

Noelle looked on the verge of tears after hearing the members' words of acceptance. Asta was about to offer his hand to help her up, but Elara beat him to it, suddenly appearing in front of them.

"Here." Elara smiled her closed eye smile at her.

Noelle looked up at her in shock at her sudden appearance.

"I don't have much control over my magic either. My mana tends to blow up whenever I'm feeling a very strong emotion." Elara confesses with a sheepish smile, "So let's do our best together and help each other out, yeah?"

Mine may be a different case since it's actually a curse, but it all still works out the same way. She'll be training to control her magic while I'll be training to control my curse.

This, of course, was also new information to the others except for Yami. Elara might've not told him about it personally, but just by witnessing it a few times, he could already tell what's wrong with her.

Noelle looked up at Elara with wide, disbelieving eyes.

So I'm not alone in this then? Noelle thought.

She stared at the smiling face of the lavender haired girl in front of her before finally taking her outstretched hand. "Yeah.."

"It's a pleasure to work with you." Noelle said as she was pulled up by Elara.

"So wait! You blow up when you feel strong emotions, Elara!?" Asta being the loud boy he is, yelled, basically ruining the moment.

"Well that explains what happened yesterday during that initiation thingy" Vanessa said thoughtfully.

~

Elara once again woke up to the sound of Asta's yelling that morning. This has apparently become a daily thing now. She would wake up to the sound of Asta's yelling as he did the chores so early in the morning, then she would freshen up before eventually joining him in doing the chores. Today was no different. Apparently, the newbies are the ones tasked to care of the chores around here.

The first time she was given the task, she didn't actually know a thing about how to do any of it considering she was raised in a highly able family. Back at home, she didn't actually have to do anything of the sort, so Asta ended up becoming her mentor in that field for a while.

By that time, everyone already knew that Elara was from a noble family because they witnessed a couple of men march into the base led by Benjy, who carried her luggage with them. Although they still seem to be clueless about her past, in which she would like to keep it that way for as long as she can. 

After she got the hang of doing it manually, she started to learn how to do them with her magic. She found it much easier this way, but because she felt bad that Asta had to do it all manually, she decided to do it manually too. As for Noelle, she blatantly refused to do anything at all.

"I'm royalty. I don't need to do any of that." Was her exact reply to Elara when she was asked about it.

So it was just Asta and Elara who did all the work. They decided to split the chores which resulted to Elara being tasked to do the cleaning while Asta was tasked to do the laundry (just because Elara thought that it was highly amusing when Asta gets nosebleeds when he washes Vanessa's clothing) and taking care of the beasts. Lastly, they agreed to do the most dangerous task together: waking up the Captain of the Black Bulls, which usually ends with them running away from the captain's room after being threatened.

~

The Black Bulls were all seated in the cafeteria, eating breakfast together when Asta suddenly decided to ask Noelle, who was sitting beside him, "Noelle, why don't you help me and Elara with the cleaning and stuff?"

Elara, who was listening from the other side of Asta, sweatdropped when she heard the same reply she got from her not too long ago, "Cleaning? But I'm royalty."

"But you're a newbie just like us!" Asta argued.

"I've never cleaned or done laundry in my life." Noelle said, a little bit too proudly.

"That's not something to brag about, is it? And Elara also hasn't done any of those things before she joined the Magic Knights, but you can still see her helping!" Asta said, pointing at an eating Elara, who was just minding her own businesses.

As Asta and Noelle continued their banter, Elara decided to tune them out and concentrate on eating her food, but that seemed to turn into an impossible task when she suddenly started to feel a pair of eyes on her.

She peeked from the corner of her eyes to see Luck, who was sitting on her other side, staring intently at her, his head supported by his left arm which was propped onto the table, and a smile present on his face.

Ehh? She started to feel nervous under his gaze. He looked as if he was trying to find something from her, trying to look into her soul and his ever present grin didn't actually help to settle her nerves.

Elara swallowed the food in her mouth and decided to face him, "Is there something you want to ask me, senpai?" She asked politely.

Luck didn't even seem to mind that he was caught staring at her as he just continued to smile at her, "Yes, you seriously really look familiar to me, are you sure we haven't met before?"

Elara sweatdropped at that question. I should've known...

Ever since she joined the Black Bulls, Luck hasn't gone a day without asking her that same question over and over again. At first she was so sure that he might've just mistaken her for someone else, but as time passed by and she got to know him better, she suddenly didn't feel as if that was the case anymore. His aura...it just seems so familiar to her, yet she couldn't really point a finger on where she'd come across it. She decided that voicing her thoughts out to him was not a good idea until she can actually pinpoint on why he seemed so familiar to her.

Plus, she was still feeling pretty apprehensive about the guy. His grin always seemed to unnerve her. It's like there was something more to that grin than what meets the eye, something dangerous.

"I'm sorry, Luck senpai, but I can't really remember ever meeting you before." She told him with an apologetic smile.

Luck looked up, placing his forefinger on his lips, looking thoughtful, "It's just that your mana really seem so familiar to me and my mana detection hasn't ever been wrong before so..."

He then looked back at her with his usual grin, "I'll just have to think about it a bit more! Anyways, wanna fight?"

Of course... Elara sweatdropped.

It seems that ever since she joined the Black Bulls, all she has ever been doing is sweatdrop a lot.

Elara opened her mouth to reply when a question suddenly caught both her and Luck's attention. In fact, it caught everyone's attention actually.

"What do Magic Knights do anyway?" Asta asked.

"What? Are your seriously asking that?" Magna, who was sitting in front of Asta asked incredulously.

He then stood up and walked around the table just so he could grab Asta by his collar. "We protect the kingdom and handle security! It's the most manly job in the world, you dumbass!"

"Why'd you decide to join when you knew nothing about it?" Magna asked, pulling Asta closer to his face while the said boy sweats from the pressure.

"I'm sorry!" Asta tried to say but was still being held by his collar, which made it harder to speak.

Everyone else  just sat there and watched the scene unfold.

"I'm going to become the Wizard King. I'm going to barf everything back up!"

Elara snorted under her breath at that while Vanessa didn't even try to hide her amusement.

"They sure are lively first thing in the morning." Finral commented.

"Being energetic is the best. Can I have some of that energy?" Gordon mumbled, which wasn't heard by anybody yet again.

"Munch, munch, munch, munch..." It seemed that Charmy just went back to eating, while Grey was puffing smoke out of his mouth like usual.

"Damn it. Show'em what Magic Knights do, you drunk witch." Magna finally let go of Asta, who was now cupping his mouth, trying to get the food to go back in rather than out.

Vanessa finished her glass full of wine first before she answered, "Well...we keep the citizens safe? Something like that."

"You might even be able to get closer to some noble when you're assigned to protect them."  She added after drinking another glass.

"I see!" Asta said, sitting back down on his seat in between Noelle and Elara.

Luck suddenly scooted over to get a better glance at Asta, a little too close for Elara's comfort. She tried to make herself shrink as Luck leaned over from above her, so he could speak to Asta, "It's a super fun job where you get to fight with enemies all you want."

"If they're criminals, you can beat them up all you want and not get in trouble!" He said enthusiastically, as Elara leaned back so she wouldn't get hit by his playful punches.

Eheh... Elara sweatdropped while Asta and Noelle gave out a nervous laugh.

The three newbies then turned their attention to Gauche, who was showing them another picture of his little sister, Marie. At this, Luck settled back down and moved a bit so Elara can sit comfortably again.

"Most importantly, it's a wonderful job that my sister respects me for having." Gauche stated, "Isn't she an angel? I can buy her whatever she wants with my pay."

What a sweet big brother...but is he okay, though? Elara thought as she witnessed blood run down from her senpai's nose.

In a split second, Gauche's demeanor suddenly turned threatening as he told them to not laying a finger on his sister or they'll be killed.

I guess, his love for his sister is a little too much... Elara thought as she sweatdropped, seemingly not that much affected by the threat anymore after hearing it a few more times before.

Asta and Noelle on the other hand took that warning a bit more apprehensively than she did.

Asta then turned to Finral, quickly changing the subject. "Wh-what about you, Finral senpai?"

"It's the best job in the world, since I get to save girls and be popular."  The Spacial Magic user replied, winking.

At this point, Elara's sweatdrop didn't even bother to go away and just stayed put, feeling as if it was gonna be used for a while. It seemed Asta and Noelle's sweatdrop thought the same too.

They then turned to look over at Gordon, who was mumbling, which no one understood as per usual.

They were startled when Charmy suddenly let out a frightened yell.

"Charmy?"

The said girl was practically shaking, "I'm... out of food!"

"I'm nowhere near full." She said as her grimoire hovered in front of her, flipping into a certain page. "Cotton Creation Magic: Sheep Cooks!"

Sheeps with chef hats suddenly appeared out of nowhere and started cooking, peaking Elara's interest.

"Woah..." Elara mumbled out as she looked from sheep to sheep, her eyes sparkling in awe.

She can summon her own chefs that'll be able to make her all the food she wants, and since she really loves eating, this is a really practical spell for her.

More food was then placed onto Charmy's rather large plate, "Thank you for the food!"

Her appetite really is very inspiring.

"As long as you're a Magic Knight, you can eat plenty of food!" Charmy stated while holding up a piece of meat before taking a huge bit at it. "Munch!"

Asta, Noelle, and Elara was left speechless as they watched Charmy dig in. Although their attention was quickly taken away from the short girl when Grey appeared behind them.

"Uh, Grey?" The three newbies looked up at the huge fellow, blowing smoke.

The guy took out his grimoire and suddenly transformed into Asta with a poof of smoke.

"Ehhhh!?" Asta exclaimed in shock, as he stared at what looked liked an exact replica of himself.

Oooh! Transformation magic? Elara's eyes widened as she was now staring at two Astas.

Asta's double put a hand on the real Asta's shoulder before speaking in Asta's voice, "Well, basically, it's a good job."

"He looks just like you.." Noelle commented, who was also in shock.

"I'm looking forward to working with you on a mission." Grey as Asta said with a smile.

"R-right.." Asta stuttered out a reply, before Grey suddenly turned back into his normal self and walked away.

"Th-they're all weirdos." Asta mumbled loud enough for only Noelle and Elara to hear.

And you're not? She inwardly snickered to herself. I guess this is what makes this team unique and fun. I'll get used to it. She shrugged before resuming to eat her breakfast.

Noelle on the other hand looked like she was contemplating whether or not she should even be here.

"If you take this, and put them together and do this, it's really yummy." Charmy suddenly spoke from in front of them, holding out another piece of meat and pouring some kind of sauce on top of it.

Elara watched, while chewing on her own breakfast, as Charmy started shoving the piece of meat into Asta's face, "Try a bite? 'Kay?"

Asta leaned back a bit, shaking both his hands in front of him as if trying to decline the offer, "No, I'm full, thanks."

"Well? Do you understand what Magic Knights do now?" Magna suddenly asked in the midst of Charmy's persistence, who by the way, just shoved the piece of meat into Asta's mouth.

At this question, Elara decided to speak up, looking thoughtful, "Well, when I was a kid, mother and father told me that Magic Knights are supposed to protect the kingdom and its citizens like what Magna senpai and Vanessa senpai said earlier..."

Then her aura suddenly turned sparkly and her eyes now holds stars in them, "But then my grandmother told me that when my grandfather was a Magic Knight, he got to go on all these dangerous and exciting adventures and missions!" She told them excitedly, her mana building up.

Suddenly she was bonked in the head with a strong hand, "Don't go over-exciting yourself again, Miz Dynamite. The base still needs to be intact so I can do my business later.", their captain deadpanned, suddenly appearing out of nowhere.

"Ouch!" Elara hunched over, pouting as she rubbed the sore spot Yami just bonked on her head while the others sweatdropped as they watched the scene unfold.

"Speaking of which..." Yami then turned to Magna, "Let's go."

The atmosphere around the room suddenly tensed as Magna suddenly had a serious look on his face, "Yes, sir, Mister Yami!".

Asta, who still had food stuffed in his mouth, asked in confusion, "What's going on? What's going on?"

Noelle and Elara, who were also quite curious kept quiet, awaiting for an answer from Magna, who stood up.

"There's a mission.", was his reply, before he started to walk towards the door where their captain was now waiting for the delinquent mage.

Asta swallowed before muttering to himself which Noelle and Elara heard, "A Magic Knight's mission?"

What could it be? Would I get a mission soon, too? Elara thought as she watched Magna walk away from them.

Asta suddenly stood up from beside her, making her look up at him, "C-can I come with—"

"No!" Magna cut him off, taking Elara's attention away from the ash blonde, "We can't bring any kids along. This is a very important mission for the adults. "

Elara's brows furrowed in confusion. What does he mean by that? He doesn't look that much older than us, though.

"Alright. We're off."

"Hey! Don't break everything while we're gone." Their captain yelled from the doorway,  he then suddenly pointed a finger at Elara, "Especially you, Miz Dynamite!"

"Ehhh??? It's not like I do it on purpose.." Elara sulked, pouting as if she was being reprimanded by a parent.

She suddenly turned into a child! Noelle and Asta thought, looking incredulously at their usually quiet and composed comrade.

"Okay! Have fun!" Vanessa slurred, waving.

Luck suddenly stood up with a request, "Captain! Will you fight me when you come back?"

"Come back soon. I'll be waiting." Gordon's farewell, was unfortunately unheard by the recipients.

"Come back by dinner!" Charmy said while still munching on her food, "Munch!"

"Can I go see Marie soon?" Gauche asked, his nose suddenly starting to bleed again, "I'm having withdrawal symptoms."

Grey just puffed out smoke from his mouth.

"Maybe I'll go flirt—" Finral cut himself off, chuckling softly as he shook his head, "I mean, go on a mission, too." He then suddenly winked at Noelle, making the girl turn away with a nervous look on her face.

Should I really be in this squad? She asked inside her head.

With that, Yami and Magna left the cafeteria to go on their supposedly very serious mission which apparently only 18 year old 'adults' and above could go on.