Part Three my fans, readers, and Writers. One more to go and the witch forest arc will close making the official three-quarter of the overall Clvoer Kingdom Arc of this story.

Enjoy and comment below,

Ghost Alvasa

Witch Queen’s Castle…

The Witch Queen sat back on a flock of crows and watched as the play unfolded before her on her massive crystal balls.

“To think that imperfect little brat had this much power,” she said.

She looked to Asta’s group, him specifically.

“It appears you were more bite than bark, but you’re far too kind and trusting for your own good,” she remarked, as she went back to the demonized mage, “But, to think, another more powerful mage than even myself is backing this Eye of the Midnight Sun. Truly imperfect. It appears he also has knowledge of how to use special magic stones. Most imperfect indeed.”

The Queen turned slightly and looked at the ball with the Diamond Mages.

“And those other troops…”

Diamond Army…

Fanzell approached the incoming troops on a broom imbued with his wind magic.

“I don’t know who this guy is, but he’s certainly not a witch,” Ladros commented. “But, he must have guts to stand up to this huge army, all by himself,” he mocked, “Either that, or he’s just plain stupid.”

“Mars,” Fanzell called out, “You remember me, right?”

Mars stayed silent as he stared.

“Wait a minute now,” Ladros mocked, “I might be totally off base, but I do think that guy’s our old teacher!”

“Yes, Ladros,” Fanzell solemnly confirmed.

“And, it looks like I get the honor of tormenting you!” Ladors giddily raised a hand. “Lucky me!” he shouted, as he shot magic beams at his former master.

Fanzell simply let the spell come in close. “Eaahhhh!!!!!!” and then activated his wind magic, to cover his sword in his magic, and dug the blade of his wind sword into the beam, and he destroyed it.

“Oooooh! Still got it, I see!” Ladros kept up his taunt.

“You two have changed quite a bit,” Fanzell said with a concerned tone, “And I can see it's not for the better.” He looked at their faces as he activated his grimoire and strengthened his spell on his sword. “You leave me no choice, but to atone for my mistake,” he fully activated his Emperor of Slashing Winds spell on his sword, and the wind gathered on his weapon as he reeled back.

“Euuooooo, feel that breeze!” Ladros kept mocking, “Nice and gentle…”

“I’ll ask you this one time,” Fanzell readied himself, “Any chance you’ll turn back?”

Ladros belted out a hard laugh, while Mars kept silently staring.

“Well, we’re the ones with the army, so I’m thinking that’s our line,” Lardos jokingly raised a hand. “You see, our king’s health hasn't been in the best of states these days, and we’ve heard that the Queen of Witches has been around for hundreds of years now,” he said with a gruffer tone. “The king wants to find out her secret, even if it means wiping out everyone in this pitiful forest. So, when we heard that the Eye of the Midnight Sun was already planning to stir up trouble,” he raised his hands outward and motioned to the troops behind him and Mars, “We thought we’d join in and make this a real party!”

“We want something,” he smiled evilly, “We take it by force! That’s always been our philosophy in the Diamond Kingdom. Right!?!”

“Which is why I left and never went back,” Fanzell said with an emotionless look. “Now!” he said, as he charged in and went above.

“Woohoo! Well, it's been nice seein’ ya, teach!” Ladros remarked as he followed Fanzell’s movements. “Haaa…” he laughed, as Fanzell went straight for the troops.

“All these soldiers, and he’s charging right for us?” a hooded mage remarked.

“Is he crazy?” another said.

“Here he comes!” the first said, and everyone started to fire spells at Fanzell.

“Now, Emperor of Slashing Winds,” Fanzell gathered his magic and motioned with his sword. “Winter Winds!” he called out, as he plowed through the army and shot off multiple wind sords into the enemy.

“He’s so fast,” a mage said.

“I know him!” another mage said, “That spell belongs to the traitorous coward, Fanzell Kruger! He’s a former commander and battle instructor for the Diamond Army, with a sizable bounty on his head! Let’s take him down!”

Everyone began to fire spells off at Fanzell, but he kept swiftly charging through on his wind-enhanced broom and firing off wind swords. Fanzell looked off to the side, to his former students.

‘They’re not moving,’ he thought to himself. ‘Must be hard to fire off spells, with your troops so close together, especially with the amount of magic power those two have at their disposal,’ he kept taking down the enemy mages, ‘But, there’s only so much one man can do, so I’ll count on my other half and my student.’

Meanwhile, below in the forest, Marilla was running around and stopped to look up.

I wonder if Master remembered to put clothes on, she thought before continuing on.

In another area, Dominante fiddled with the downed security golems.

“There we go,” she said as she finished, “I am such a genius.”

Above, the enemy commander began to instruct his troops.

“Keep calm,” the red mohawk guy called out, “He may be a former commander, but if you keep your distance and fire your spells, you’ll bring him down eventually!”

As he said this, the troops were hit by a volley and magic attacks from below. He looked down to see Mariella standing below, with a whole pack of witches pointing their wands at the Diamond Mages, with smiles on their faces.

“Now, that’s not exactly true, is it?” Mariella flatly proclaimed, “No matter how many troops your opponents have, you should always attack with three times as many. That’s what Master told me.”

“Ambush!”

“We’ll be fine. We have plenty of soldiers!”

“Go, squad two!” Mariella instructed the witches, and they fired more spells and took down mage after mage.

“What?!” Mohawk couldn’t believe what was going on. “They’re pushing us into the forest,” he added, as Fanzell charged on. “There’s no way this’ll work, with all these trees and fog. Switch to formation thirteen!” he called out.

Before anything could happen, Mariella called out for the next squad and took down the Diamond mages once more. She kept giving the order and getting the same results.

“How… how can they predict our moves?” mohawk asked.

“Easy,” Mariella appeared behind Mohawk, “Cause, not so long ago, I was on the Diamond Kingdom’s Assassination Squad. You’re not even a challenge.” She began to reminisce about her past, “I killed people who were only doing their best in order to survive, all so I could survive.
Maybe I’m trying to make up for what I’ve done, or maybe I’m just patting myself on the back. Still, it doesn’t matter.” She moved back and mohawk turned, “Cause I’m going to stop you,” she said, as she froze the guy from the neck down.

“You’re a damn traitor!” Mohawk glared.

“True,” Mariella smiled. “But there’s nothing you can say now that’ll change my mind,” she said as she recalled Asta, “Cause if I back down, then the person who saved my life won’t be very happy with me.”

“That girl sure is something else,” an elder witch commented to Dominante, “Charging in like that, as well as taking command of so many, isn’t easy.”

“Oh, I agree,” Dominante held up a controller of some kind. “Our Mariella is something else. Now,” she smiled, “time for phase three!”

She hit a switch, and the security golems flew into the mages and began to explode on contact.

“AHAHAHA!” Dominante laughed, “Thanks to my superior tinkering skills and magic items, I was able to give the security golem a much-needed upgrade!”

The elder witch looked on with an agape mouth, “That’s marvelous! But, it must’ve been expensive?”

“You won’t believe this, but the materials only cost me about three thousand yull each,” Dominante winked.

“Wow,” the elder witch smirked, “That much destruction for that cheap. What a value!”

The witches began to emerge from the trees.

“Now’s our chance, ladies!” Dominante called out, “Don’t let those lawless boys ransack our beautiful forest! Show’em these witches mean business!”

Ladros and Mars looked down on the destruction, as the explosions went off in the trees.

“Oh, would you look at that?” Ladros smirked, “They set a trap for us, expecting us to barrel right into it! It’s probably better if we tread carefully, but where’s the fun in that?! Now, where could they be? Uh oh?!”

Ladros readied himself to charge in when Fanzell came in front of him with a binding spell.

“I knew you would do that, Ladros!” Fanzell scowled. “Wind Binding Magic, Emperor of Slashing Winds, WHIRLWIND!” he called out, and covered Ladros’s arms and legs in vortexes of wind.

“Ah, rats,” Lardos mocked, still wearing his confident shit-eating grin, “You caught me!”

“I’ll ask you one more time,” Fanzell narrowed his gaze, “Do you want to turn around?”

“Hmmmm…,” Ladros pressured his lips. “Now, where would be the fun in that? I’ve got so much slaughtering left to do! WHAT’S WRONG WITH YOU?!” he mocked his former teacher, “YOU CAN’T TRAIN US TO BE KILLING MACHINES AND EXPECT US TO BE UPSTANDING CITIZENS IN A BATTLE LIKE THIS!”

“I’m sorry,” Fanzell closed his eyes as he readied his sword, “I promised my last student that I was done running, that I would live!”

Fanzell delivered a hard slash, right down the middle of Ladros. Ladros flew backward, still with his mock grin on his fac,e while Mars started to swiftly approach, the latter showing no signs of damage.

“Ladros’s specialty was reinforcement magic, so he’ll be fine, even if I attack like this. That always made him on the more unpredictable side. Mars was my top student back in the Diamond Kingdom,” Fanzel said to himself, as he recalled memories of these two as kids, “He could easily take me down at his current distance, so I’ll have to put him down, before he can!” he called out. “Wind Creation Magic, Emperor of Slashing Winds, Mountain Wind!” he called as he shot a whirled about case his wind magic to whip about to knock Mars off his spell and sent him hurtling down to the trees below.

With his contraction and magic having been transferred to Mars for a few seconds, Fanzell’s binding spell on Ladros dissipated, allowing the enemy to fall free.

“Oooooh…” Ladros mockly chortled.

‘I’m putting my all into this attack,[/]’ Fanzell concentrated, as he motioned and raised his weapon above his head, “Now, WIND CREATION MAGIC, EMPEROR OF SLASHING WIND, GALE!” He delivered a powerful thrust of torrential wind into Ladros, causing the mage to wail out in pain. ‘Not having an elemental attribute always made him feel odd…” he remembered when Lardos asked him about not needing an attribute to be strong, while the one in front was seemingly torn apart by magic winds. ‘He gave himself a complex over it, but he still had greater power than any of his peers. If he knows a long-range spell that he can pull out, I’m done for. I’ve got to put him out quick.’

Fanzell charged in, “Forgive me…”

“NOOOOOO!” Ladros called out, “I CAN’T TAKE IT ANYMORE! I CAN’T, I CAN’T, I CAN’T…! No more, master, please…“ He looked forward evilly at Fanzell with a wicked grin. “I’m stuffed…” his eyes glowed.

Fanzell stopped his charge and pulled back.

“Heha… You surprised?” Ladros kept smiling, as the wind gathered into the crystal embedded in his chest until it disrupted completely.

“There’s not a scratch on him,” Fanzell stared.

“Yeah. I’ve made a few changes,” Ladros put up his hands. “After you left, I went to the army, and they gave one of those special upgrade surgeries. I came out with some new tricks,” he said as he held his hand up, and his grimoire flipped to a page. “Absorption and Emission. My wonderful body can now suck up any magic attack that’s thrown at it, and then, I can release all that scrumptious pent-up mana whenever I like,” he said with a hard growl as he smiled with his hands up and a sphere of wind magic around him, “You know what that means, right?! I’m going to now kill all your little buddies down there, and I’m going to do it with none other than your magic!HAHAHAAHA!”

“What is this power? Where’s it coming from?” Fanzell said in disbelief, “It’s not just you, Ladros. It must be coming from something else?”

“By the way, teach?” Ladros smirked, “You didn’t happen to bring any loved ones into the forest, did you? Cause if ya did, then ya may want to go and check on them real quick.”

Fanzell’s eyes widened, as he realized what his former student was implying, and immediately raced down to the trees.

“And you’ll have to outrun my magic, while you’re at it!” Ladros bent over. “On your marks, get set, GOOOOOO!” he called out as he recoiled back and sent multiple beams of magic into the forest, “Million Lazer!”

The lazer went in every direction, not only targeting the witches, but the Diamond Kingdom mages, too.

“Ohhhh, whoopsie,” Ladros looked out. “I got so excited, I went and wiped out my own guys. Oh well. I wonder if Teach made it,” he said as he looked into the forest and found Fanzell, “There you are!”

Meanwhile, Fanazell had barely managed to make it down to put a wind barrier around his wife.

As the barrier died down, Dominante moved to her husband. “Oh, Zell…”

“Domina,” Fanzell irked out.

“Oh, would you look at that?” Ladros said as he landed and walked over. “Why haven’t you introduced us? Don’t you have any manners?” he said as he kicked Fanzell’s side pretty hard.

Dominante looked up in horror.

“Woooow… You didn’t tell me your lady friend was such a looker,” Ladros remarked as he grabbed the witch by her collar. Fanzell looked on in rage. “I’m jealous,” he said, as he lifted her high above his head, “Say, haven’t I seen you before someplace? Oh yeah. You’re that little minx he decided to run away with. Sooo… how have ya been?”

Fanzell gritted his teeth as he tried to lift himself from the ground to no avail, “Ladros. Please… stop this… I beg you. Use your power for what’s right.”

“Of course,” Ladros kept smiling. “I am, and I always have,” he remarked as he held Dominante up the whole time, “Come on… You and I both know that combat training was never meant for us to protect anybody.”

Fanzell groaned through his teeth, as he knew it was true.

“There’s absolutely nothing better than using your power at absolute max to debate your opponents, or anything that dares to stand in your way!” Ladros said with manic joy, as Dominante looked into his twisted grinning face in horror. “My goal is to be recognized by everyone all over this nation, and eventually, the entire world! THAT’S WHY I TRAINED HARD AND BECAME ONE OF THE EIGHT SHINING GENERALS!”

Fanzell's face showed a realization after hearing this monologue.

Fanzell looked his former student right in the eyes as he kept talking. “Why are you always spewing this idealistic garbage?” Ladros’s eyes reflected nothing beyond self-centered power-crazed mania, “No wonder you were defeated in that power struggle and had to flee the Diamond Kingdom. You’re such a coward!”

Dominante had had enough of this asshole bad-mouthing her husband and raised her wand up and hit Ladros in the side of the head with a small blast of magic.

“Shut your fucking mouth, right now!” Dominante said with anger as she glared at Ladros, “My Zell is no coward!”

Ladros turned, and his face turned to one of rage. “I think I’ll start by killing this noisy little witch,” he said, as he reeled back and threw Dominante into the air.

Fanzell watched in horror, as Dominante reached out for him as she was sent through the air.

“DOMINA!” Fanzell cried out.

Ladros cackled, as he gathered a ball of magic and shot it towards the witch, only for it to be cut to pieces by a gigantic crystal sword.

Ladros was left stunned.

Fanzell was left just as speechless.

“My powers,” Mars said as he revealed himself behind his sword, with Dominante in tow. “Are for protecting people. Everything you said…” he said as he landed in front of Fanzell, who was still staring in disbelief, “Well, I guess, it finally hit home.”

Fanzell just stared, “Mars… I…”

“Ah… you’re kidding,” Ladros motioned with his hands, ”What is this?”

“There’s no need for all this killing,” Mars said as he dispelled his sword, “We’re all here for the queen. Remember?”

“Oh. Now, you wanna pull out the kid gloves?” Ladros said with disapproval. “They turned their backs on the Diamond Kingdom. If we overlook that, then that means we’re basically traitors, too,” he held up a finger as he tried to reason.

Mars just looked back nonchalantly, “That’s fine.”

“R-really?” Ladros chuckled in disbelief, “You’re going to betray your country?”

“That seems to be the case,” Mars kept his stone face.

Fanzell just watched.

Ladros’s eyes went wide, and then, he bent his head over and seemingly let out a sigh, before reeling back with his hands above his head. “YAAAAAAYYYYY FOR MEEEEEEE!” he shouted in joy. “Now, I can kill you legally,” he shot magic lasers over the forest. “You’ve been a thorn in my side for too damn long! Always good at everything, and so nonchalant about it at the same time,“ he danced in place. “It’s like a pain in the neck. I knew if I kept aiming for the top, that you’d end up gettin’ in my way, somehow,” he mocked as Mars set Dominante down.

Ladros happily held up a hand and gathered mana in it. “And today is finally my chance!” he smiled with glee, “I get to kill you and our old teacher! This is the besssssssst!”

Before he could fire his magic off, Ladros was hit with three ice daggers to the back.

Fanzell looked on in disbelief. “Mariella…” he said, as the former assassin emerged from the shadows.

“He’s my teacher, too, you know?” she said, with an unnerved tone of voice, “Don’t treat him like he’s some sort of bonus kill.”

“Why don’t you and your pathetic magic stay out if this?” Ladros scoffed, as he turned and absorbed Mariella’s dagger. “That’s not enough to snack on,” he said as he refocused his blast at the assassin mage.

Mars immediately stepped in and activated his magic, causing a crystal spire to shoot out from under Ladros, keeping him from firing his spell. He then used more magic to make a floating crystal island under Dominante and Fanzell.

“There’s our little Marsy boy for ya!” Ladros smiled. “I’ll take all that power and send it back with interest!” he said as he jumped back and fired many lasers of magic power on the group.

Mars created a crystal to shield them, and then, stretched his other hand to Dominante and Fanzell, as he activated his second magic. “Flame Recovery Magic, Phoenix Robe!” he said, as he held the others with his flames.

“But, Mars, why would you help us?” Fanzell asked, “Ladros is right. The two of us are traitors. I mean… Losing your memories…”

“Not to worry, sir,” Mars looked at his old teacher. “I’ve decided I’m on your side, unexpected as our reunion may be,” he said, as he turned to face Ladros.

Ladros immediately came flying in, making a b-line for the crystal flame mage.

“We can talk later,” Mars said as they took off. “First, we should deal with him,” he motioned to Ladros, who had given chase.

“Okay,” Fanzell agreed, “But, how do we handle somebody that does what he can?”

“Well, he’s almost invincible, but I know of a few ways we can defeat him,” Mars looked at his teacher, “One is to keep feeding him more magic than he can absorb, until he self-destructs, but we’d have to use spirit magic or the Queen of Witches to help us. The other way is anti-magic.”

“Anti-magic… Asta. That’s right,” Fanzell thought, “It turns out we know just the guy, and he’s waiting for us at the opposite end of the forest, as we speak.”

Mars's face showed signs of shock, for sure this time.

“Let’s try and guide Ladros to him,” Fanzell said, as Mars kept staring.

“Good idea, master,” Mars said to Mariella’s disbelief.

“Hey!” Ladros called out, as he fired more magic beams, “Are you guys talking about me? It doesn’t matter what you do, 'cause it’s useless against my magic!”

Suddenly, the beams went in all directions, confusing the mage.

“Your power is what causes you to be careless,” Fanzell said as they head dove in, off to the side, allowing Ladros to come between them. “I’ve got a knack for reinforcement spells myself,” he said, as he and Mars charged their palms with mana.

“So, say goodbye!” Mars and Fanzell said at the same time, as they punched Ladros in the gut and sent him flying.

Massive Crater…

Furens simply floated in the air in front of everyone. Noelle, Vanessa, and Finral couldn’t believe how much raw fire mana was pouring off of the girls.

Noelle looked down at her wand. “I could put her out with that spell,” she said.

“Don’t even think about getting closer to her,” Asta said, “She’s generating too much heat. You’d have to generate a hell of a lot of your water to douse her before it evaporated from her heat output. I’d imagine it’d take just about all the mana you have left.”

“We could do it if we work together,” Vanessa said.

“Yeah, but we’d only have one shot,” Finral added.

“Exactly,” Asta nodded, “And that’s not a shot we can waste. Besides, I still have my own score to settle with little miss sunshine, but first, we need to deal with that asshole.”

As soon as Asta said that, Ladros came flying and skipped across the ground.

“Ooowwwwiiieee…” Ladros stood up and rubbed his head. “What a mean teacher and friend I have. All I was doing was trying to kill them, but they had to hit me so hard. Now,” he looked around, “Where’d they go?!” He stopped and looked over to the enormous outpouring of magic coming from Fana. “Oh, looks like I was knocked into a fight. Sorry, folks, but you wouldn’t happen to have seen an old man and some others fly through here?”

Everyone just stared at him.

“No? Then, I’ll just leave, but first, I’m going to kill all of you, starting with the fire lady,” Ladros sang. “MILLION LASERS!!!” he sang and shot magic beams.

“Bastard,” Asta said, as he summoned his Slayer, and it erupted with anti-magic and spun around. “Black Dome!” he said, while he created a dome of anti-magic over him and his friends.

“Asta, you can’t keep pulling off these big moves,” Vanessa said with worry, “You’ve just recovered your arms. If you keep this up, your body will end up in a worse state than when you got here.”

“Shut up,” Asta looked at her. “I know what I’m doing,” he said, as he pulled the anti-magic back into his sword. Furens held Ladros up by the throat, with severe burns covering his body.

“You are not required, so die, human,” Furens held up her free hand. “Salamander’s Talon,” she said, as she sent Ladros flying into the forest with a burning claw strike, while he cried it was too much, and then, turned back to Asta and friends. “Now, you shall fall to darkness, as Master Fragment commands,” she pointed a crystalline claw at the anti-mage.

High above the forest…

Fragment evilly smiled, as he watched the outcome of his interference on a projection of his abyss magic.

“Now that the little nuisance is out of the picture, I can proceed to the next stage of my plan, hehehe…” the evil mage chuckled as he activated his abyss magic and opened a small portal.

Reaching in, Fragment pulled out the orb of Equestrian magic he’d collected from the cave, where he and Asta had their last fight.

“With the Element of Magic’s amplifying effects on any Equestrian magic, and it channeling my dear Sunset’s dark magic, I only have to use a small piece of my stores in order to amplify my link with that little bastard down there,” he spat with venom, as he pulled a small strand of the magic from the orb before he returned it to his hiding place.

“Just a little bit of help from my magics of this world,” he said as he activated his demon blood magic and placed the magic strand inside a blood crystal.

“Time to wake up your true self, Asta,” Fragment said, with a wide manic smile, as he pulled his hood back to reveal golden blonde hair on the top of his head that abruptly stopped halfway down, with jet-black hair filling in the lower half, with the length going down to just past his shoulders.

Fragment reached up with his other hand and nearly lowered his mask to reveal his forehead. Reaching up with his other hand, he placed the crystalline Equestrian magic in the center of his forehead.

“Now,” he said, as the background of his eyes turned green, and his amber irises turned red with purple wisps coming from the corner of his mask. “DANCE TO THE SYMPHONY OF TURMOIL AND DREAD! FROM DUST TO DUST, THE DREAM OF RUIN COMES TO AN END WITH A BEIR OF BLACK LILIES, LET IT BE HEARD WITH BEAUTIFUL CRUELTY, THE RAPSODY FEARED BY DEMONS OF OLD! ABYSS MAGIC, HYMN OF FALLEN GRACE!”

A piece of evil music began to play, and below, Asta and Fara felt the effects.

In the Crater…

Asta’s eyes suddenly shot wide open as he hit the ground on all four screaming in pain.

“Asta!” Noelle said as she started to run over to him but found herself bound by Vanessa’s threads. “What?! VANESSA LET ME GO!”

“Sorry hun but no can do,” The string witch said as she looked at her friend with worry. “Whatever is going on with Asta is very bad. I know you want to rush over 'cause you're really concerned but trust me, he’s not in a state to go near.”

“Finral?” Noelle pleaded.

“Sorry kid but I agree with Vanessa,” Finral said as he was shaking slightly. “How could this be happening? He was completely out of magic with the last combo spell he used to protect the withes but no he’s overflowing with mana.”

“RAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!” Asta cried out as he reeled back and held onto his head.

Asta’s entire lower right arm had somehow crystalized itself, his bones clearly visible for all present to see. The lock of his spiky bangs were all raised upward with the tips turning a dark maroon color, almost forming something of a horned crown look. His eyes now consisted of slitted pupils with red irises on a green sclera as purple mist wafted from the corner of the boy’s vision.

Suddenly, shimmering spikes erupted from his form all over his body. The spikes themselves appeared to be crystalline in nature, as the light from the fires in the still-burning forest refracted through them to cast a madrid of rainbows on the ground around the boy. The spikes them selfs dripped with fresh blood and bone from Asta’s inner skeleton.

Noelle just stared in horror as she hit the ground on her knees after Vanessa retracted her strings from the girl, “Wha-what’s happening to him?”

“This is different from last time,” Finral took a step back.

“It all started after that massive flare of magic came from above us,” Vanessa noted as she looked up and her eyes widened as she saw the form of an evil ethereal castle.

Suddenly Furens started to move her arm and held it out palm toward Noelle, “You shall die, human. Your death shall greatly increase his descent into rage and agony…” A fireball formed in front of the demon’s claw, “Salamander’s Spear…” she said as she fire the spell off.

The spell was activated so fast Noelle couldn’t defend herself. She covers her face with her arms as the explosion hit but not her. She lowered her arms to see Asta standing in front of her bleeding with the crystal spike still protruding from his body, many broken now. The boy standing there with gritted teeth as he willed himself through what could only be described as immeasurable pain.

“Asta…” Noelle started to reach out to him.

“Don’t come near me,” Asta growled through gritted teeth. “I’m barely able to keep my mind focused on the demon in front of me right now Noelle. I.. don’t want… to hurt you…”

Noelle pulled her hand back.

“Finral, please…. Pull her back!” he coughed.

Finral did as he was asked and pulled Noelle through a portal back to him and Vanessa.

“This time he’s being driven mad by magic overload,” Finral deduced after he looked at what Vanessa had been staring at in the sky. “I bet it’s that Fragment guy’s doing. If we can get him one of his Demon swords I bet he’d be able to rest the spell for the most part.”

“Yeah but a few issues buddy,” Vanessa pointed out, “They're all stored in his black grimoire and currently, he’s only had that big fucker out. The main problem is none of us have enough magic power let alone muscle to even lift it a few inches off the ground let a lone get it into his hand.

A ways outside the Crater…

“What was that explosion just now?” Dominante asked.

“What is that massive outpouring of malevolent magic from a while ago?” Mars asked Fanzell.

“I don’t know,” the mentor looked ahead to the edge of the crater and the source, “But, whatever it is… it certainly isn’t good…”

“Do you feel that?” Mariella looked up to the sky, as a massive ominous phantom class appeared in the sky above, “So much anger…So much mana…”

“Zell?” Dominante started to hold on to her husband very tightly, while she shook in fear, “Ahead of us… it feels like we’ll die if we go there…”

“I feel it, too,” Fanzell’s eyes narrowed, “What bloodlust…”

“Yes, it most certainly is,” came the voice of a new person.

“What the hell?!” Fanzell said as he, Mars, and Mariella all activated their magic and drew their blades.

They all looked to see the form of a tall man in a red-hooded coat, with his face concealed under the hood.

“I didn’t expect Fragment to steal and use the Element of Magic like this,” the man rubbed his chin, as he walked over to a nearby fire.

“Element of Magic?” Dominante asked. “What the heck are you talking about? More importantly-”

“Who the hell are you?” Mariella cautiously asked.

“Edward. Call me Ed,” he said as he pulled an untouched branch from a nearby tree, before going to a witch's destroyed shop and sortied through the materials to gather what he needed.

“Where did you come from, and what are you doing?” Fanzell said, just as cautiously as his student.

“I’ve been here the whole time, little fella,I’m just choosing to show my face cause I sort of needed to intervene,” Ed said as he let the materials he gathered float behind him. “Now, I just need some untainted spirit fire,” he said as he looked around.

“Why are you ransacking witches’ homes?” Dominante glared.

“I need the materials for what I’m about to forge for Mars,” Ed shrugged. “He’ll need a weapon that can not only withstand massive amounts of heat, but also force before you go down to face the beasts in the crater. Ah, there’s some,” he pointed behind Fanzell, and before any of them could even turn their heads, the man in red was already there behind them, gathering the fire into a ball above his hand.

“Let me explain,” Ed said, as he started to work and threw various metals and bags of dust into the swirling flame above his hand and mixed them together, until they were a metal lump of almost liquid but not quite solid material. “An extremely powerful mage, by the name of Fragment, has been aiding the Eye of the Midnight Sun in their efforts to destroy the Clover Kingdom, and he has forcibly used an ancient artifact from Asta’s homeland on the leader of the cults’ forces,” he said, as he stretched and folded and repeated the process to the molten lumps, as if he was kneading dough, “to forcibly turn her into a dark and unnatural being, close to that of a spirit, but not quite there. At the same time, he’s also using that girl and the artifact as a sort of medium for the evil magic that he is using to try and force Asta into a berserk rage, to create more of the evil magic.”

“But why?” Mars asked.

Ed kept working without missing a beat, as the metal took on the form of a sword with double-serrated edges.

“Because Fragment’s very state of being is unstable and unnatural,” he explained, as he molded a guard and handle for the weapon, “He’s something that shouldn’t even exist at all, and yet, he came into being. Due to his unstable existence, his form is just as unstable, and the only thing that can sustain his form was what birthed him. But, that ran out sometime after the capital was attacked, and then Asta went berserk because he accidentally tapped into the evil magic of his homeland. Afterwards, the remnants of that power remained at the site of that battle.”

“And Fragment turned to it to keep himself alive,” Fanzell deduced, as Ed finished the sword and imbued the flames he used, to make it into the weapon’s blade, before tossing it to Mars. “So, he’s trying to get even more of the stuff, to make sure he keeps on kicking.”

“That, and backup plans, just in case,” Ed said, “The sword will only answer to you, Mars. It will help you reach the girl. Though in order to get through to her, you’ll need Asta to break the curse, but only you can save her from the darkness eating at her heart. Good luck…”

Ed then walked into the flames and just disappeared.

“Who was that?” Mariella asked.

“I don’t know, but I’m guessing he’s someone we don’t want to mess with, even on our best days. He’s not our priority right now. The others are,” Fanzell swallowed, “Let’s go. The others need us!”

Everyone nodded and ran toward the edge of the crater.

Witch’s Throne Room…

The Witch had been watching the battle extremely closely and was utterly thrown for a loop once she felt the evil masked mage’s spell activate from high above her. She was even more shocked about its effect upon Asta and its subsequent cause of his transformation.

“That boy,” the queen narrowed her eyes as she took a closer look at her future puppet. “He has magic stones infused throughout his entire body, but why couldn’t I find them when I used my blood magic on him? Most imperfect, but yet, perfect.”

She brought her crystal orb closer to her.

“You must have been put through a lot of torment to undergo such a surgery at such a young age in order to just gain power,” she said as she watched, “But who would have the skill and magical know-how in order to perform such a feat on a child like this? I would very much like to speak to this person. If this was your choice, then that's fine, but if not… they’re are some things not even I would be willing to go through with.”

She switched her orb’s view to see the sky. The only thing she could make out, though, was the small figure in front of a massive evil ethereal castle.

“He started acting up after this one did something,” the queen held her chin in thought, “But the way they spoke to each other was less than that of those of opponents and more along the lines of old enemies with much history.”

“I’d rather not interfere, but the way that boy is acting… more of the forest is in greater danger, with him in this state,” she activated her grimoire, “I’ll have to take control…”

“I wouldn’t do that,” echoed a voice.

“So, you are the one pulling the strings?” the queen looked around the room.

“Not at all,” the voice called out, “I am helping out where I can, but my role here is extremely limited. I’ve done what I can for your forest, little witch, so I will now turn my attention to the true problem in the sky.”

“It's been some time since anyone has referred to me as little witch,” the queen remarked with some annoyance, then she asked with a hint of nervousness, “I can trust you to destroy the issue then?”

“No,” the voice growled, “As much as I’d love to, I cannot destroy that vile thing. That privilege lies with the boy he’s messing around with at the moment, but as things are now, I am the only one with the power to put a stop to his intentions for the time being.”

“When it comes to actions involving what you say and do, I have never been able to stop you or so much as been able to stand in your way, so fine. Please deal with it as you see fit,” the queen sighed.

“I shall then,” the voice agreed.

“Perhaps we could speak over tea, once this incident is over,” the queen interlaced her fingers in front of her mouth.

“Perhaps, perhaps not,” the voice said as it faded away.

“So hard to figure out. Your father is always the ever mysterious one,” she turned to the bulls, specifically the witch of strings, “Vanessa.”

The Sky Above...

“Yes,” Fragment smiled wickedly.

“You sure get a high off tormenting others,” came a familiar annoyingly all-knowing voice.

“Better than sitting on my ass and letting my godly powers waste away,” Fragment turned with a snarl to see a tall man with shoulder-length brunette hair wearing a matching gray trenchcoat and hat over top of a red sleeveless shirt, black pants, and heavy boots. “Allen Ferris.”

“Just Allen to you,” the man lifted his head slightly, to reveal a singular glaring right eye.

“I’m surprised you haven’t acted sooner,” Fragment drew his sword, “It doesn’t really matter though. I have more than enough power to match you.”

“If you kept on living, then you might have eventually got there,” Allem drew a red dual serrated-edged sword with a silver guard and a black handle, with a white smiling cat’s head and red eyes for a pommel, “I’d have cut your cancerous ass out of this world long ago, if I could have, but you’d already meddled too much in this world’s affairs, so my hands are tied on that matter.”

Fragment smiled confidently.

“But that alone doesn’t prevent me from acting during certain incidents, like one where an event goes too far off the original path,” Allen raised his weapon to his face to reveal the left side in the crimson reflection of the blade, “Not to mention I have a daughter down there.”

Fragment’s eyes widened.

“She’s mine, but not through the means of an affair or that of a lover in this world either, mind you,” Allen raised his left hand and placed it on the hilt of the sword. “My girls know about this and ok’d the donation, and I have no intention of letting Vanessa know who her father really is. But, that doesn’t mean I’m going to sit on my ass and let you do as you please in the events that involve her, let alone try and corrupt my little brother!”

Allen lunged at the evil mage.

Fragment blocked the strike of both his swords.

The clash of the weapon rang out, like that of bells, across the sky.

The witch queen briefly looked up with a smile, as she hid her eyes under her hat. “Perfect,” was all she said, before she returned to Asta’s group.