Chapter Text

Frieren

As we gain distance from the great city of Äußerst. Fern turns her head to look at me. “You tend to keep goodbyes so short, why is that?”

I look up towards the cloudless skies, the memories dancing in the back of my head, and smile. 

“Himmel?” He turns back to look at me. “I noticed you tend to keep goodbyes short. Why is that?” He looks a bit confused at first.

“She’s right, you know,” Eisen speaks up, the man behind had joined our endeavors for two weeks now. 

“We drank with that guy on so many a joyous occasion!” Heiter smiles gleefully.

Himmel’s laugh lingered in the air, “You're right, it seems cruel to utter such a quick goodbye, but think of it. Teary goodbyes wouldn’t suit this party well, besides…”

“It would be embarrassing when we met again,” I mutter. Fern and Stark look at each other in Confusion. 

I turn around to face both of them. “I suppose we’re off to Ende then.” They both smile. 

Unfortunately, our joy was short-lived, as the ground soon began to shake, and the cold feeling of unfamiliar Mana pulled us apart

“Oh?” I mutter to myself, “What a sour turn of events.” As I eventually succumb to the chilling sensation. 

Chapter Text

Asta

I lounge back at the Black Bulls’ headquarters, the Chaos unfurling around me, but it doesn’t bother me in the slightest. I welcome it more than any other tranquility in the world. 

I feel rather tired, even though I am no longer bedridden; I still feel weak. It frustrates me to my core. I should be out there honing my skills rather than sitting on the lounge chair. 

Noelle sits beside me, looking rather Annoyed. I’ve started appreciating her a lot more. I’m not sure why. I’ve been with her since the start of my Journey to becoming the Wizard King, and while I wanted her to try her hardest on her own Goals, I guess the siege of the elves has given me a new look at her.

“Noelle!” I grin at her. “What’s up!”  

She sighs and turns to me. “The wizard king has asked for both of us to help with the cleanup. I was going to tell him no since—”

“I’m coming,” I persist. 

“I had a feeling you would say that,” She sighs, “But no. It’s a bad idea. Not only are you not fully healed, but some of the people have convinced themselves that the whole devil business was your fault.”

“But it wasn't!” I sit up straight. 

“And we know that, but the Clover Kingdom believes otherwise. So please.” She gets up, but I grab her hand. 

She turns back to me, her face flushed. “Noelle. Please, I want to go.” She turns from me and pulls herself out of my grasp. “I… I’ll see what I can do,” she covers her face with her other hand. “I should go now.”

“Thank you,” I said to her. She doesn’t turn back. 

I get back up and stretch. There are people to help, and I’m not going to just sit back and relax while the city is in shambles.

Chapter Text

YUNO

I look around, exhausted. 

The Golden Dawn was the first of the Magic Knights squad to get called up for repairs. It was the choice of the squad captains to start with the capital and eventually branch out to the neighboring towns and villages.

 I’ve been rescuing people trapped under rubble and moving debris out of rocky paths for hours now. Belle—the wind spirit—sits on my shoulder, sleeping. I sigh. She probably deserves the time off. The siege of the elves took a toll on all of us. I haven’t quite recovered from my injuries yet. 

After being promoted, my responsibilities have doubled, which is quite tiring, but I’m grateful for the extra pay. The extra money could go to my family back home, which makes me happy.

I hear the sound of someone talking, looking around, I’m unsure of where it came from till I looked up. I pause laughing as I look to the skies. “Damn Asta, You’re so loud I could hear you from a mile away.” 

Asta came plummeting to the ground and stood grinning heavily in front of me. 

“Take it easy, you idiot! Your Injuries are never going to heal at that rate!” The other novice from the black bulls runs up to him. Although I doubt it’s fair to call her that. Her and Asta’s contributions to the recent attack may have just saved us all.

“It’s alright, Noelle,” Ah, so that was her name, “I’m perfectly fine! See?” 

Despite everything, I’m happy to see him. It’s nice to be just talking again. Just the two of us… and her too. 

“Do you two feel that?” Bell says, yawning. 

“What do you mean?” I turn to my shoulder, where she has just woken up. 

“She’s right.” The newest member of the black bulls group—Originally Asta’s pet bird(it’s a long story)—walked up to them. “I sense a deep disturbance.”

Now that Nero has mentioned it, I can hear it as well. Not to mention the cold rush of Mana I’m getting. What is this?

I can feel it too. The numbing sensation of unfamiliar Mana swarms us. Slowly, I can see it closing up around us. I feel it dragging me into a lulling sleep. I don’t understand the feeling, but I feel a deep sense of Dread. 

I struggle against my drooping eyelids, but I feel myself being lulled to sleep. The last thing I hear is Belle’s panicked Cries.

Chapter Text

Fern

I rouse, and I immediately get on my feet. Looking around, I realize we’re in a dungeon of sorts. Just our luck, I suppose. There’s no time to dwell on such things. My priority is finding Mr. Stark and Miss. Frieren. “Miss. Frieren! Mr. Stark!" Can anyone hear me?” I immediately close my mouth. My panic made me unwary. I cannot sense the Mana of my master, but I feel the mana of one other person. They’re the only ones within my range of mana detection. Yet this mana feels different. I am unable to place a finger on it.

I pick up my feet and walk. It would be in my best interest not to make too much noise, lest monsters and unfriendly mages find me through the sound. They shouldn’t be able to sense my mana, so I am safe in that regard. Mistress Frieren took great care of that when she was training me. 

The best way for me to try and find either of them is to keep walking. Perhaps I’ll find my Master stuck in a Mimic somewhere. 

A smile teases my lips. My master was quite foolish for falling into those all the time, yet it never fails to make me smile as she explains her logic for finding a legendary grimoire. Perhaps with her constant trying, she might find one.

I purposefully leave behind small deposits of mana, not enough for a regular mage or monster to pick up on, but I’m sure Mistress Frieren will detect them easily. 

My feet suddenly plant themselves on the cobblestone floor underneath me. The sudden feeling of a great mana engulfs me. I feel it this time, each sense of mana has a different feel to it, it’s how I can tell one image apart from the other.. My Mistress feels like a great crushing force; however, this one feels a soft breeze.

 Approaching with caution would be the best choice here. A companion in a situation like this would be Ideal, I suppose, but first I need to figure out if this person is friend or foe. 

I force my mana deeper inside my body. 

As a result of Miss Frieren’s training, I am always in a state of compression when it comes to mana; however, I need to make sure this person doesn’t see me coming at all. 

I peer in the corner and see a boy with Darker hair, he stares down—Oh no.

It’s a Demon.

Chapter Text

Asta

I wake up rubbing my head. Looking around, I realize how dark it is. “Damn… A torch or a flame would be great right now. 

I get on my feet and pull out my anti-magic sword. Having this at hand may make it easier, just in case I have to defend myself. I yell out. “Noelle? Captain Yami? Yuno?” Ugh, no one. 

Faint tapping echoes from the wall. And I whip around. Who is that? What is that? “Uhh, very funny guys, you got me there.” I chuckle softly. “Come on out now.” The tapping persists. I freeze up. As I edge close to the sound, I can hear faint screaming. Oh no. Someone’s in trouble. Damnit, I may be scared, but someone needs my help. I pull out my anti-magic sword and continue down the path.

I can hear it get louder by the minute. Whoever you are, hang in there. I’m coming. 

The tapping is almost insane. The closer I go, the more frantic it sounds. I need to find out where they are to help them. 

“Help! It’s so Dark! And so Scary! Fern!” I hear it coming from a corridor to my left. I rush in, using the light from my Grimore to guide me. 

I stop in front of… a treasure chest. A treasure chest? I see sharp teeth lining its opening and inside…A pair of human legs? 

“What the—Hey, don’t worry! I’ll get you out of here in no time.” Can’t cut it with my sword. Just gotta pull her out. I grab her legs and pull with all my might. I pull harder and harder with no luck. It feels like with each pull, she just gets further inside. 

“Hey…” the voice says. “If you want to not rip me in half it would be nice of you to stop pulling.”

I step back, “But you were the one crying out for help.” Who the heck is she? 

“I do need help.” Her voice sounds the same as a child who has lost their favorite toy. “You’re just doing it wrong. If you want to get me out, you need to push me deeper inside.”

“What? How does that even work?” 

“Pushing me in further would cause the Mimic to choke. So it’ll spit me out.” 

“So that’s what this thing is called. Okay!” I grab her legs and force them further down this thing's throat. Sputtering and choking sounds emit from the inside of the Mimic, and like she said, it spits her out. 

My back hits the ground from the force of the Mimic vomiting out. I choke. “Are you okay?”

“Yes, I’m fine, thank you.” The girl stands up, brushing saliva off her white hair. As my vision clears a little bit, I recognize her, “Noelle? Is that you?”

She turns back to look at me. “I’m afraid I’m not Noelle.”

 That’s when I look at her. Her ears, she’s an elf? I’m back on my feet immediately. If one of the elves from earlier managed to avoid all that, would she try to attack me? I grip my sword harder. I get a read on her Ki, and it’s off the charts. Just who is she?

“You seem rather threatened by my presence,” She says, still wiping saliva off her shoulder.

“You’re—You’re an elf.” Strange, I don’t remember ever seeing her during the attack.

“Yes, I am painfully aware of that. Is it an issue?”

“What do you mean by that? You’re people just attacked our home at random, claiming to rid the world of humans and such nonsense.” I guess it wasn’t 100 percent their fault. They were being possessed by a demon at the time. Doesn’t make encounters with one much better.

“I have no recollection of such events.” She bends down to grab a briefcase. “The last time I even saw one of my kind was months ago; there was no such talk of ridding the world of humans.”

“What? I was there, I saw the destruction you guys caused.”

“Where I’m from, there are precious few elves remaining. Such a large-scale attack on our part would be impossible.”

“How is this possible?”

“I am unsure, but I know that I am not responsible nor had a hand in any of the attacks in your home.”

I've got a bad feeling about her. She has a faraway look to her, as if she’s here but she’s somewhere else mentally. 

“It seems I haven’t rid myself of dungeons quite yet, have I?” She mutters to herself; she looks as if she’s pouting, like a kid. 

“Hey!” I say, “Maybe I would be best if we stick together, you never—"

She cuts me off. “I sense a demon nearby. Perhaps we get rid of it.”

I freeze. A demon? If it’s anything like the Devil I faced, I hope it's not too bad. I wonder how powerful and destructive it is.

Chapter Text

Yuno

As I make my way through the dark corridor, I pause… Is that crying? I whip my head around, but I can’t see anything. If someone is crying, they’re either in danger or they are just as lost as I am. Either way, it’s best to try and look for them.

I continue down the corridor while opening my grimoire to an attack spell. I sense mana coming down from upstairs, so I begin to climb. The mana I feel gives me a feeling of nausea. I’ve never felt this way about encountering anyone, human or elf.

I round the corner to see a child. Hunched over, crying in the corner of a large room. Their hands are over their head, and they seemed to be scuffed up but not injured. The kid is probably just scared. I don’t blame them if I’m being honest. Their most striking feature is a set of horns on their head. Their appearance reminds me somewhat of Nero, but I can’t dwell upon that.

I walk forward and offer the child my hand. “Hey, you don’t have to be afraid. I’m Yuno of the Golden Dawn. And I’m here to help.” The kid’s crying pauses as they look up at me.

Belle, the wind spirit, shudders on my shoulder. “Yuno, I have a bad feeling about this.” 

Whispering back to her, I say, “It's just a kid, Belle.”

I turn back to the child, “Do you want to come with me?”

The kid looks at me and smiles. “I think I found the way out, but there’s a scary monster guarding the exit. Do you think you can help me?”

I pause. If there truly is an exit they perhaps I can find it and lead the others there if they’re here. But if the monster he speaks of is truly powerful, I may need assistance.

Before we can continue, the kid turns to look at the hallway behind me.”We’re not alone.” He mutters, “I’m scared.” 

My eyes widened in surprise. I can’t sense anything at all. How does this kid know? Could it be he’s just scared? What’s so odd about this kid is that he was bawling up a storm earlier, and now he’s just stoic. It’s weird. But if he’s right about someone being there, a confrontation would be the best.

“If anyone is there, you had better come out.” 

A woman, a few years older than I am, walks out from around the corner and aims…Is that a branch? Her expression is cold, and she doesn’t even look at me, her gaze fixed only on the kid behind me. 

“I must ask you to please step away from the child.” She says in a monotonous voice, “It’s a demon.”

If this kid was scared of someone, it was her. I couldn’t see her coming at all, but that’s probably because of her extremely low supply of mana. If she’s a threat, I should be able to get rid of her easily. 

“I understand this must be strange, but I plead that you step away from the demon.”

“Unfortunately, I will not, unless you explain who you are and what your motive is.” The kid clings to my foot and sniffles, “I’m scared.” I pat his head. The woman grips her staff.

“You don’t have to worry about anything,” I say to him as I step forward. I doubt this fight is going to be very difficult. “I’m not going to step away from a kid and allow you to hurt him.” I summon my crescent moon cycle spell and aim it at her. This should be enough to finish her off. It files at an incredible rate. She’s not going to be able to react. It crashes into her and leaves a dust cloud behind. I turn to the kid and grab his hand. “Everything is going to be okay, ” I turn back to the cloud to find the woman still standing. In front of her is a hexagonal shield blocking the trajectory of my attack. 

So it seems this fight isn’t over yet…