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"Fuegoleon, look out!" Dorothy screamed, fear and adrenaline coursing through her veins as she raised her hand, teleporting to Dream World a large stone spike that was about to hit her fellow captain. Fuegoleon reeled, turning around to balance himself before punching one of Vanica's goons in the face and incinerating his fist along with the enemy, who screamed guttural as his face was reduced to ashes.
"Thanks, Dorothy." He rasped, feeling his mana draining for this fight has dragged on longer than any of them anticipated. The woman nods in recognition. "I feel someone incoming."
"Ohoho?" At the sound of slow clapping, both look up to see Vanica Zogratis, smiling maniacally while she leers down at them in her half devil form. "Not bad, Clover Knights! You defeated my henchmen!"
Vanica then proceeded to laugh, and Fuegoleon, teeth gritted, stances himself as he prepared to attack. Dorothy raises a hand to stop him. "Don't. Let's listen to what she has to say."
His eyes bore into her psyche at her request. Without a word, he follows.
Vanica notices the short exchange between them and narrows her eyes. "Hey hey, what are ya talking about? Is it fun? How dare you not include me?" She demands like a kid. Fuegoleon grits his teeth, how dare she feign innocence when she's responsible for the loss of so many lives?!
"Sorry," Dorothy said much to his surprise, standing up once again as she readied herself, grimoire glowing bright, "we don't include megalomaniac, murderous women in our circle."
"Girl, I like your tongue." The Zogratis woman replied, a hint of edge in her tone although she was smiling. "And I play with things that I like."
Dorothy curses in her mind when she catches sight of the earlier enemy, Vanica's disciple, now restored to its initial state of body and power. Fuegoleon's eyes narrow into slits, arm flaring. "Salamander!"
With a malicious giggle, Vanica launches herself from her initial position, clawed right hand ready to tear through skin and bone. Dorothy narrowly dodges her attack, but due to tiredness, hadn't anticipated the kick to her hip from the demonized leg. The dream witch is sent reeling towards the concrete wall, a loud sound following her crash.
"Dorothy!" Fuegoleon shouted, thick fear dripping in his voice as he kicked off the charred corpse for the second time and ran over to his friend. Blood trickled down the back of her head up to her nape, and he figured that she must've broken a few bones. Her breathing was shallow yet visible, both arms shielding her abdominal part.
His chest twinges with sorrow. I have never seen Dorothy this beat up.
He pulls her close, looking left and right. "Don't worry, reinforcements will arrive soon."
"Reinforcements?" Vanica asks in a mocking tone, seemingly hearing everything with heightened senses. "Your buddies are probably dead by now!"
"They're not." He said with sure finality, and he feels Dorothy stirring awake again. Her eyes open blearily as glimmer enveloped her. She was healing herself, and all he could do was keep her temperature warm until a medical knight arrives, if there are any.
"You know why we're stronger now?" She asks, and when he doesn't answer she still continues. "Because the gate has opened!"
Fuegoleon stills. His mind goes blank, replaying the information he just heard. He looks up at the half she-devil, who takes great joy in seeing his now anguished face. "Twin Devils went out, and they probably killed all your friends by now! Being alone is lonely though," she flashes a wide smile, "so I'm sending you off with them! That okay?"
"Fue...goleon." He snapped out of his daze when he hears Dorothy's weak voice, the latter forcing herself to stand up. "Don't listen to her."
"Oho, you're alive?" Vanica hollers, now more interested at the woman who was barely standing. "Thank god, I thought you would up and die before I even got the chance to play with you more~"
"The one who is going to be played here is you." She replies, voice displaying that of ferocity and steel. Dorothy doesn't know where she's getting that courage, but she was a Magic Knight Squad captain. That was enough of an explanation.
Vanica's grin doesn't falter at the threat. Pressing her hands together, she puckered her lips at the witch. "Let's play!"
"No." A cold, male voice cuts between them. Fuegoleon's eyes widen in apprehension at the man now behind Vanica. Zenon Zogratis!
Zenon grabs his crazy sister by the back collar of her suit. "We have no time to spare on weaklings. We need to get these to Morris." He says, right hand holding two familiar grimoires. World Tree and Dark.
The Vermillion's breath hitched. "Those are...!"
"But Zenon!" Vanica pouts, stomping in midair. "I'm not done playing with my new toy yet! She just won't die, no matter what I do!"
"There are a lot of interesting people out there you can play with some other time." He said blankly, looking at the two beat-up Clover Knights below them in hidden contempt. "They do not seem to fit the category."
Bright, purplish glimmer suddenly smothered his hands, and the next thing he knew, the grimoires and the battered female magic knight had disappeared.
Vanica grins at him. "You were saying?"
"Tsk." He muttered under his breath, a veil of black shrouding his body. "Wait here."
"Don't die~!" She waves a hand as he disappears. "Now then," her gaze lands at Fuegoleon, who refused to flinch as he glared right at her, "shall we play?"
Dorothy instantly breathed out at the familiar pink clouds of her world. She hasn't gotten any chances to teleport her and Fuegoleon here since the man had been busy fighting off whatever was left of the henchmen and she decided to help him. But now, she had left him in the real world to steal the two grimoires from Zenon. Imagining a safe, she locks the two grimoires inside with magical chains.
I'm sorry, Fuegoleon. I hope you understood.
In this world only she can enter, as long as she protects it, the two grimoires will stay and not fall into the hands of who they called Morris.
A shiver climbs up the back of her neck just as she was about to start breathing easy. She stands up, safe floating behind her as a swirl of black suddenly appeared in her Dream world, a foreign foot stepping on her domain.
Zenon enters wordlessly, scanning the place before his eyes land on her. Her eyes widen.
"H-How are you here?" She asks, blood going cold because this is the world she made with her magic and no one else should have access but her. She knew he could do spatial magic, but not to this extent where he could traverse dimensions.
Zenon walks closer, presumably knowing that what he came for was right behind her. "Underestimation, humans. This is a skill your pathetic wind magic user didn't see when we fought. I can traverse through dimensions, as long as I track a large amount of mana coming from the caster itself." He says, pointing at her. "As long as you are here, I can enter."
She takes a step back, wrapping the safe in more chains before making it disappear, transporting it a thousand of miles away in her world. "Is that because of your devil?"
"I do not see the need to answer that." Zenon remarks, and before she could keep him more at bay, the safe she had just transported appeared beside him. She jolts. What-
"The grimoires have already been marked, lady." He says, enlightening her but to no avail as her face became more hard, desperately hiding the trembling of her lip. She stood ready, hands glowing bright.
Zenon's left hand moves. "You are going to die."
A large tiger appears before him, and pounces to his head. Without a word, the dream feline is suddenly impaled by bones as it disappears with a whimper. Dorothy winces, a herd of sharks appearing to attack her enemy. I am not done yet.
As the sharks landed on his position, they had exploded into a ruckus, probably tearing up his body by now since he made no move to dodge.
"As I said," she snaps her head towards the voice and froze when he was behind her, eyes glowing deadly red, "underestimation." And he grabs her neck, pushing her into black veils of what she felt was devil magic.
At the middle of Fuegoleon's struggle against Vanica, cracks suddenly appeared out of nowhere. Vanica laughs. "Oho, they're back!"
He stills, fear suddenly swapping his earlier anger. These cracks... no.
An explosion like glass resounds, and something is flung towards the floor, a few meters behind him. As Zenon had safely exited the forcefully-opened portal, the Vermillion slowly looks behind him, and his fear is confirmed.
"DOROTHY!" He screamed, rushing at Mach speed towards his fellow captain. Her back had been through much, as most of her clothes were now shredded. She came back even more beat up than when she disappeared, which meant that Zenon probably had a way to enter her domain. A massive amount of blood trickled down the back of her head, but her hands were still on her.... abdomen?
Zenon unlocks the safe. "I'll be taking this. Vanica, follow when you've finished disposing of them." And he disappears. The Zogratis woman's eyes narrow at the seemingly unconscious witch.
"Hey, I've been noticing this." Fuegoleon looks at Vanica who just spoke as she points at the barely conscious woman. "She was distracted earlier so we couldn't play better. She protects her stomach even though I hit her somewhere else. Did she eat too much before coming here? Does she not want us to see her puke?" She smirks widely. "A dying human protecting her dignity for whatever life she has left, how cute! Right, Megicula~?"
"No." The curse devil spoke, surprising Vanica at her disagreement.
The half-woman pouts. "Eh?"
"She was not protecting the dignity of her life." The devil says in a dark voice, one red eye observing the Clover Woman as a violet eye opened, looking straight and hard at them. Her breathing was shallow, but she put up a strong face.
With that, the devil could see. Desperation, worry, and what she had despised the most.
Love.
"She is protecting the life within hers." Megicula finished, and Dorothy's eyes widen.
Vanica gapes. "Eh~? You mean she has a baby?!" She gasps again, looking at the battered woman. "You mean I get to hit two birds with one stone? That is so cute!"
Fuegoleon looked at the almost limp body of Dorothy, her hands still placed protectively on her abdomen. That explains everything. "Dorothy... you..."
"Hey are you the father?" Vanica asks him, and he couldn't speak. Not when two important lives are at stake. Suddenly, the woman in his arms are pulled by streaks of blood curse magic, and she is now floating in front of a leering Vanica who coos. "Oh, you're right, Megicula! I can hear the tiny heartbeat!"
Dorothy rasped, pulling a streak of devil magic attached to her body with her bare left hand, which burned her palm.
Putting a hand on her chin, Vanica looks at Fuegoleon, then back at the small life. "Hmm. I guess you're not. I see different mana. Well, whatever. You're both going to die, so it doesn't matter." She says, a spike of cursed blood forming in her hands. She points it at Dorothy's hand on her abdomen, twisting and drawing a little blood from the witch's hand. "Now then, good bye, little baby!"
Fuegoleon prepares to attack. "Let her go!"
Vanica prepares to plunge the spear deep in her stomach when it is suddenly enveloped in glimmer, the same time a large spear of different element heads directly towards her. Dorothy falls to the ground, but another pair of arms catch her.
"Ohoho!" Vanica exclaims, grinning widely once again. "There's the father!"
Nozel Silva doesn't understand what she said, eyes focused only on the body of the woman in his arms. His pupils constrict at her lower body, scraped off and bloody. Blood, a massive amount could be seen trickling down her hip even though it was enveloped in her magic.
Fuegoleon turns to look at him. "Nozel!"
"What happened to Dorothy?" He asked, looking at his rival with what Fuegoleon could see was desperation. Shaking his head, the orange-haired man bit his lip. "You have to get her to a medic, now. She's- her stomach?!"
"Is bloody. Unfortunately, there are no medics around, and I do not see how this came to be. Fuegoleon, protect her for a second, I will poison this devil's blood." He says, teeth gritted as large spears of mercury appeared before him in regality.
Fuegoleon shook his head again. "Nozel, you don't understand. Dorothy is-"
"That magic. That sophistication." Both men look up at the dark voice, and it was Megicula. "That mana. Vanica, do you see who he resembles?"
"Hmm..." the half woman puts a hand on her chin, looking at the newcomer. After a few minutes, the hand lowers. Then her eyes widen. The silver hair, refined magic similar to steel, "Ah! Acier's son! You are Acier's son, aren't you?"
Nozel gives her a blank look. "Then what of it?"
"Can you believe it, Megicula?" She says, malicious wonder dripping in her tone. "Another Silva! It must be fate!"
"The fate here is your inevitable death." Nozel replied coldly, and a mercury spear attacks her, but one tilt of the head and she dodges it. "Now now, Nozel, I'm not done speaking yet."
"Do not speak of my name, murderer." He remarks angrily. "Fuegoleon, take Dorothy and go."
"You're still planning to save her?" Vanica said, leering at the pathetic state of the Clover Knights, with one acting to sacrifice himself. She points at the woman. "She's already beyond saving. Look, she even scraped off her own stomach!"
The two men froze. Nozel looked at a loss for words. "She... what?"
"What, you didn't know?" Vanica continues without a care. "She sent only her stomach to her world to protect her baby! Or yours? And I was so close on impaling both of them too!"
Nozel is silent, and he knelt down in front of the unconscious woman, brushing a few bloody strands of hair off her face. He sees the hole wound on Dorothy's right hand.
"I killed your mother, traumatized your sister, and now I get to kill your wife and newborn child! Fate, pretty fate!" Hollering like a madwoman, Vanica's eyes narrow playfully, a wide, devilish grin on her face. "Now, I'm not done playing with her~! Give her to me!"
The Silva stands up, and Fuegoleon is suddenly fearful of his possible expression, as he was not facing them, but the devil. "Fuegoleon, take Dorothy and go."
Fuegoleon picks Dorothy up. The woman stirs in his hold, right hand reaching out to the person in front of them. "No...zel."
The man turned around and walks towards her, eyes unexpectedly soft. He places a kiss on her forehead. "I'll take it from here."
He faces his rival. "Now go."
"You better survive and hurry up after us." Fuegoleon commanded, and he nods at him before the two left. Once he made sure that Dorothy was far and safe, he faced the enemy again.
Vanica smirks. "You took away my toy."
His gaze darkens. "I will make sure you never get to play again."