#Julius: did you learn any new magic

[tarjapearce]

Bad Teachings (Pt. 7)

Older!Miguel O'Hara x Reader

WARNINGS: A little itty bitty smudge of angst, fluff. Miguel into espectator mode. Tiny bit of jealousy if you squint. Relationship buiding, Slow burn, friends to lovers, tiny bit of Nerdy Miguel

Summary: Getting to know Miguel is as rewarding as a double edge weapon.

Special Thanks to my beta readers @tojismommymilkers00 <3

Pt. 8 Masterlist

The warm touch on your shoulder had lingered a second longer as Miguel said his goodbyes to you.

"Try to get some sleep." He'd mumble with a soft nod, "Goodnight, guapa"

"Goodnight, Miguel."

You couldn't help but look at the shelf with a little smile. A rather pleasant surprise to your aching and bleeding self. A flurry of thoughts came to your mind.

What made him apologize? was the biggest of them all, still, all you knew was he had made an effort first, and such a thing as apologizing was clearly meaningful to you. There were no bad dreams that hunted you tonight. ---------

Miguel's eyes drooped in exhaustion, the triumph over your distress made him close his lids and savor the victory for a moment. Apologizing surely was something he had been doing for quite some years, but that didn't mean it had gotten any easier.

Misunderstandings were just another part of his life, and if he deemed them problematic enough, he'd assess them. Some solved themselves most of the time, but again, a new lesson was learned thanks to you. Communication always leads to better places.

He drove home, a satisfied sigh escaping his lips. No more nightmares came to plague him. ---- Your morning started on the right foot, you found Hobie and exchanged some pleasantries with him, promising to give a little treat for his support back at his shop. Then went to work.

The job was rather easygoing, another day of making people's dreams come true, another day of taking pictures in the company's studio for you to work your magic later.

Bloomsearch had grown, you'd notice a couple of new people that were part of another team. Fingers crossed your workload would be less. After the pictures were taken, you did a bit of editing until your lunch break came.

It hadn't been five minutes since you started eating your salad when your phone buzzed, nearly choking at the name displaying on your screen. Miguel was calling.

"H-Hello?"

"Am I interrupting something?"

"Not really, I'm on lunch break. Just surprised actually"

"Hm? Ah..." He chuckled and there was a little shuffling on his line, "Yeah figured it was better to just call instead of texting."

"You really hate texting that much?"

"I just forget, and wouldn't want to repeat the little stunt we did"

"Right, uhm-"

"What about at four thirty?"

"Hm?"

"After work, to... Julien's Spells"

You giggled "It's Julien's Potions . But yeah, four thirty sounds perfect"

"Well, ahí nos vemos ."

"What?"

"See ya."

"So rude!"

"That's what it means, guapa." A little chuckle.

"Oh... Yeah you forgot I know a peep about spanish."

"Better get learning then"

"Right, right. Nose vemmos "

You butchered the word, he'd probably be hiding his face in his hand out of cringe, but hey, you were trying. ----

Complaints only piled up, thankfully you weren't in the main campaign teams, but your pictures had to be retaken since the client decided on a different packaging at the last minute.

Your name was called by your immediate boss as you were editing. You followed and he took you and your other teammates to a meeting room. Swallowing the sudden anxiousness that took over, you sat nearby the entrance.

Your boss and another elderly man entered the room. He was tall, salt and pepper hair neatly combed to a side, blue eyes that if you look long enough would find something hidden in them. The man was handsome, but something about him flared your mistrust alarms…

He carried himself arrogantly, the way he regarded you all as he entered the room was a bit frightening honestly.

"This is Julius DeSantis, our new Graphic Arts Division Manager."

"Nice to meet you all. As you may know the company is expanding-"

His voice was deep, some of your teammates couldn't help but ogle him, his white hair kind of reminded you the patches of silvery strands in your father's head, his neat lock shaped beard that encaged a pair of thin yet refined lips, reminded you of the Mall Santa's man true identity.

The meeting was over, a pair of icy blue eyes trailing on you for a brief moment.

Of course the talks of how attractive the man was echoed through your section of cubicles.

The I wouldn't mind him talking down at me , along with more of he's such a dilf! And such straightforward as I'd ride him, made you chuckle at the sudden memory of your classmates saying the exact things about Miguel.

Guys in general were a little known territory for you. Of course you'd had little boyfriends here and there, You had one in your freshman year of college but you'd barely see each other to the point you weren't sure that you were still a thing anymore. And then another in your sophomore year that dropped college to chase a dream in another country.

The only one that had met the little yet honest list of standards you had for a guy so far.

You didn't know if it was the weather getting colder as the year slowly crawled towards its end that made you a bit wistful, or the sudden little changes that added as your life went on. But your mood has certainly improved a little since yesterday.

A little sadness remained in the furthest and darkest corners of the mood shelf, hoping to not be noticed.

Four o'clock ticked and you picked up your things, checked out and went for your car. Nervous fingers dialed a certain geneticist, hesitating for a moment to actually reach back, but how would he know where the place was? Because it wasn't registered on the GPS map yet.

Silly girl.

You dialed, it rang a couple of times before his deep voice erupted from the other line.

" Aló? " (Hello)

"Uh... I will send you the location of the parking lot I'll be in."

"Alright, salgo en cinco." (Coming out in five) "Okay?. Bye"

Your mouth exhaled, but you were proud. Concise and precise.

------

You were the first to arrive, and waited inside your car, a black mini Cooper you had bought in an auction for half the price. A little repairs and restores here and there and it was brand new for you.

You scrolled through social media in the meantime, fetching ideas for your hobbies. A few ideas for your own photoshoots and knitting techniques that surely seemed easier than the current one you were trying

Around twenty minutes later, A red Nissan Pathfinder parked in the opposite row you were. An all too familiar car that made your brain flood with memories you thought buried for good.

Miguel stepped out of his car and looked around but frowned upon not seeing anyone. His lab coat was left abandoned on his passenger seat, he wore an olive green button shirt and a deeper shade of green pants, polished black shoes, of course a belt that always accentuated his waist and to your surprise a pair of sunglasses.

You stepped out of your car as he was calling.

"Hey"

His frowning softened upon seeing you.

"Hola, guapa"

"Ready for a walk?"

"Hm? Thought it was closer"

"It's fine, it's just a couple of blocks away. C'mon."

You gestured for him to follow you. You had gone for a black knitted long sleeved Maxi dress and boots. The belt around your waist only added enough seasoning for your curves to pop out. His eyes fell on your waist and a bit lower just to trail on the road ahead. Your perfume guided him through the streets, a soft yet delicious smell of sweet summer cherries.

He stopped you when you intended to cross a street. Nueva York Streets were always bustling with people. His arm before you, shielded you from any intrusion in your personal space, a new wave of people pushed you further and further away from him. His hand however took a gentle hold of your wrist and pulled you closer.

"Agárrate" (Hold on)

You didn't have to know Spanish on this one to understand that he was instructing you to hold on his arms. Your hand squeezed through his arm and secured it as you kept guiding him through the streets.

You couldn't help but sigh in relief and give a little squeal when you stopped before your little treasure.

"We're here."

Your arm let him go and opened the door for him. The outside layout only allowed him to have a little peek into the bar. It turned clearer as he walked in. A little wind chime echoed, announcing your presence.

Some of the tables were occupied, the assistants glanced briefly before attending their own business. Miguel’s face was sure a treat. His eyes scanned through the place, face contorting in confusion, wonder and of course some resignation.

"Welcome, travelers. Allow me to get you a place." The waiter guided you to a more private stall, away from the people and gave your respective menu charts.

"Thanks."

Pearly painted nails raked over the plastic menu, as he examined his.

"You've been here, what would you recommend?"

"I liked the mango muffin and the red berries cold brew. But they have more elaborate dishes if you're hungry."

You both ordered, he went for the 'Tavern's Special Panini' and a cold iced tea. He had a good appetite.

"How was your day?"

You both chuckled as you spoke in unison.

"Ladies first."

"Right. Nothing new to report except I've got a new division boss. Everyone is... swooning for him."

"How so?"

"A dilf, according to my coworkers"

"And according to you?"

"Uh, sure, attractive, but... ever feel that weird feeling upon meeting someone?"

"It's called anxiety."

You scoff. "Oh trust me, I know about it. And it's more like a "I don't trust him sort of feeling."

"Isn't that a bit prejudiced coming from you?"

"Maybe, but I'm trusting my gut. Besides, sure, older men are something else, but I'm not into that much of an age gap."

He chuckled and leaned on his chair.

You rolled your eyes. "But enough on me. How was yours?"

"The usual, people complain but at least this time we got something done. So, it wasn't that bad."

"Glad to hear so."

After a couple of minutes your food was brought to the table and he didn't waste a single second trying it. You snapped a picture of him after taking the first bite of his panini with a giggle.

"That good, huh?"

"Delete it"

"No. I actually like it."

You showed him the picture and he huffed with a roll of his eyes.

"Can I keep it?"

"No."

"Pleaseee?"

"...Fine." 

You chuckled and saved it. "Thank you" You dug into your muffin, enjoyment plastered all over your face.

"This kind of reminds me of something"

"What exactly?"

His eyes turned a bit serious and your lips pursed. "If it's something embarrassing, I'll share one to make it even."

He seemed to consider for a second and exhaled.

"Dungeons and Dragons..." He breathed.

Your eyes went wide then smirked "I'm sorry but that's the most unexpected thing I've ever heard you say."

"I was young once too."

"And a nerd , apparently."

You chuckled but stifled a laugh as he deadpanned.

"I met Peter there."

"Wait... Peter? As in Mr. Peter B. Parker?!"

"You sound surprised."

"Of course I am! Cause you're totally opposites!"

"And?"

"You played with him? "

"And many others, good kind of fun."

You both went silent.

"That sounded...so very wrong." 

He swatted your head gently and you snorted. 

"My god. This feels like getting classified information from a dangerous source."

He chuckled and continued eating, just like you.

"Please tell me that you have pictures of that."

"No."

"Dammit."

You put a hair strand behind your ear. Conversation slowly spreading through many topics. You'd learn that his favorite color was white, red and blue. That his coffee worked better with the least amount of sugar possible. And that he liked sweet bread, something called 'conchas'. He had a sweet tooth. Flan and Tres Leches are his favorites.

Your eyes came fixed on the little soccer ball keychain attached to his car keys. The edges were faded, some of the enamel had worn out. A little smudged outline of a couple of words you couldn't make out since his large hand covered the resin back.

"I didn't know you were into soccer."

His face turned devoid of all emotion for a moment, muscles rigid, jaw clenched and eyes casted at the keychain.

He knew the trinket and the words on it like the back of his hand, like the algorithm he had been working on.

'Number One Papa!' Scribbled in an infant like penmanship with a sharpie, a too round heart next to the last 'a'.

His eyes turned into something you couldn't exactly pinpoint, but it wasn't good. Hand held the little aluminum thing tighter, his thick and mildly labored breaths made you clear your throat, snapping his attention to you. A chill ran down your spine  but words managed to come out your mouth

"I'd love to try some aerial dance."

As stupid as the comment was, he had turned his gears into a different direction.

"Hm?"

"Or dance."

"What's stopping you?"

"I have the movement of a sessile organism." You pinched your fingers together at 'organism, earning a chuckle from him. Amused at your attempt to be science-y.

"Can't be that bad."

"I was the tree in a school play because I moved like them…"

He had to hold back an ugly snort, harder to contain as your brows scrunched.

"Oh c'mon I shared my embarrassing moment! What's yours?"

He took a moment to recover before he cleared his throat. "I was afraid of horses."

You cocked your head "Oh?"

"That's all I'm saying."

You giggled and nodded. "Alright."

The conversation died as you both finished your meals. The sight of a green smudge on his right cheek had caught your attention for a little too long.

"Uh, you have-" Your hands gesture on your cheek, he touched the wrong one, completely missing your cue.

"Open your hand."

He does and you grab it to point at the green sauced smeared area with his fingertips. Your hand, small and elegant against his.

"Why didn't you just wipe it off?"

"Because I don't know if you like having your personal space invaded."

His eyebrow quivered with a mildly amused grimace.

"We've fucked before and you now worry over personal space?"

You sighed at his bluntness. "Just because we did means it's alright to invade people's personal space."

" Como gustes, supongo " (As you like, I guess)

He shrugs.

"How's the shelf going?"

"Sturdy and holding up as it should. Thanks for helping me with it."

"Not a problem."

You clasp your hands together abruptly. "OK, wanna play something?" "Like?"

"Questions."

"Quite curious you are. Aren't we already playing then?"

"Well, I am meeting new people and trying to make new friends, remember? And now that I actually think about it, I didn't know much about you, until today. But, if you are uncomfortable sharing things, it's fine."

" La curiosidad te va a matar, gatita" (Curiosity will kill you, kitten)

"Again, not a peep on spanish"

"Good."

He smirked and gestured for you to continue, indulging you this once.

"What's something new you have recently learned?"

"Some plants react well to blood."

Okay you definitely weren't expecting that. "Uh... what?"

He laughed silently at your alarmed reaction.

"An experiment back in the lab."

"I'm kinda concerned as to what kind of things you actually do for a living"

"You'd be surprised."

"Why genetics though?"

He shrugs.

"Pays well and basically you're paid to fuck around to find out."

"Yeah, I kinda wanna be a geneticist now."

He chuckles

"What about you?"

"What about me?"

"Why knitting?"

"It's calming. Even though I can't get a technique right and it's costing me a lot of yarn. Anyways, last book you read?"

"Not a book precisely but more like a long ass report about an upcoming research. You?"

"Just finished Camille."

" La Dama de Las Camelias? " (The Lady of The Camellias?)

"I... guess? But yeah. I cried, but absolutely loved it."

"You think that Margarita did the right thing?" His arms lean on the wooden chair's arms, waiting for your reply.

"There are many questionable things she does. But if by the right thing you're meaning her giving up Armand's love so his sister could be happily married? No. I don't"

"Why not?"

"Because... She was about to die. She didn't have much time left. She should have enjoyed her love till the very end."

"Hopeless romantic, aren't you?" "I'm a sucker for tragic romances. But it actually surprises me you know the book."

"A gift, really. I'm not usually into pink novels, but gotta give Dumas some credit. Armando is such... a relatable character."

"Strong willed and quite stubborn?" Reminds me of someone."

"Ouch." "I really hated Armand towards the end though"

"He didn't know about the deal."

"Still! I don't understand that... pathological need to get revenge. He had such a fragile ego." 

"A proud man that has done almost the impossible to conquer a famous courtesan, that does little to nothing in keeping him in the shadows?"

"Hey, Marguerite spoke clearly to him ever since the begining! But he was too... possessive and impulsive."

"Last bit reminds me of someone"

He said as he poked his ear, you gasped playfully.

"At least it was a piercing and not a letter saying awful things or using a friend to make Marguerite jealous."

"I don't justify nor condone his actions, but Armando deserved the truth."

"On that we can agree. Keeping such a thing from him was terrible."

"What would you do if someone pulled a Margarita on you?"

"Depends."

"On?"

"Their excuse. Some things can't be said right away or face to face because they might be too much to digest. But there are things that can be said on the spot."

His eyes twinkled in amusement as his eyes widened softly at your response.

"Still. It's not that easy"

"I never said it was. They didn't communicate properly and that's how they ended up like they did."

"Communication is key to you?"

"Of course it is!. I mean, I might not have as much experience in relationships, but nothing can't work without communication. Not even friendships."

" Cierto, cierto."  (true that) He nodded with a small smile.

"I didn't expect this"

"What exactly?"

"Having fun."

"Are you calling me a bore?"

You snorted. "No. Just... feels different. The first time felt like an obligation. I know you said it wasn't, but I couldn't help but feel like it was."

His eyebrow quirked. 

"And this one feels different. It's fun."

"You looked out of yourself, yesterday. It was odd."

"Odd?"

"You're usually all... like that." He gestured at your clothes, "Pretty. Perfect." It was your turn to frown and cast away your eyes from him.

"I hate that word, y'know?"

"Pretty?"

"Perfect."

"Why?"

"You'd have to tell me something really personal too in exchange."

His eyebrows rose in surprise. You sensed an impending tension so you broke it, clearning your throat. "But I think we've shared enough for today."

He nodded, and you smiled softly.

"Thanks for your concern though. Ready to go?"

"Sure."

"Wait. I'll pay for my-"

His hands stopped yours and he shook his head. " Déjame ." (Allow me.)

"What?"

"You really need to start learning spanish."

"Seems so."

"Consider this my apology."

"B-But you gave me macarons yesterday"

"Still, it seems like a last minute idea for an apology. This is better"

A soft blush crept your cheeks and you couldn't help but nod. "Really appreciated." 

-----

You had gotten a little muffin box for Hobie and his mom, and another one for yourself.

You walked next to Miguel, silence stretched between you both but this time it wasn't awkward or discomfiting, after all you had spoken, it seemed only right. It was comforting even. Knowing a bit more of himself surely offered a new perspective on what made him Miguel.

Your thoughts however were interrupted by your name being called, both couldn't help but turn at the source.

A man, late twenties, athletic looking, kind face with short and styled to a side hair and a mild stubble approached you with a bedazzling smile.

Miguel instantly turned his spectator mode on, and let everything unfold before him.

You held the muffin boxes in one hand as the mystery man hugged you.

"Simon!" Your voice seemed more surprised than anything, as you hugged the young and attractive man with a little fondness plastered in your face.

"Look at you! So... different."

Miguel cringed inwardly as he stepped away from the both, but the hazel eyes from the young man stared at him.

"Oh... didn't mean to-"

"It's fine. Really. This is Miguel O'Hara."

"Friend." Miguel mumbled as he stretched his hand a bit rougher than intended.

"Right. Simon Morvan." He let his hand go

"Thought you'd stay abroad."

"Oh that... heh. No. Sure it was fun but I like it here better" He smiled and you returned it.

"You're staying?"

"Possibly, yeah."

"Nice."

"Mind if I get your number?"

"Sure do."

Miguel noticed that Simon input his phone number into your phone. Giving you the absolute power of a further interaction with him.

"See you then, gotta go. It was nice to see you again, cherie ."

"Same, take care, Si."

You both watched Simon go and then smiled at Miguel. He just chuckled as you made your way back to your respective cars. You gave him a mango muffin and went home. You gave Hobie the little box and greeted his mom in the process. ----

"Thanks for today, it was fun. Sorry for the sudden interruption, though"

Phone rested on your cheek, body tucked under the sheets as you both talked.

" It was interesting seeing you interact with someone else ."

"You say it like you and Hobie are my only friends."

" Isn't that the truth?" He chuckle and you groaned, mildly annoyed

"You're mean. But yeah. It's true. Didn't know you thought of me as a friend."

" And that is?"

"Good. I'm glad to know you think I am reliable."

" You are, guapa."

"Damn, just remembered, might as well start re-learning french."

" How come?"

"Simon is French"

" No mames, qué cliché " (No fucking way, how cliché)

"I certainly understood the last thing, don't be rude!"

" Spanish first, French later.""In order of arrival."

" Spanish first, trust me."

He pressed and you nodded with a yawn.

"Okay, okay. Goodnight, Miguel"

" Descansa, hermosa." (rest well)

------

taglist:

@jkthinkstoomuch @queenofroses22 @del-lightfulling @katitakenway @amylasagna @rositabluemoon @lyrasdrawer @plumplumpurin @damhanallagorm @chibiiichann @tatatida @incustellar @taeecups @vonev

#miguel o'hara #miguel o'hara x reader #miguel o'hara x you #atsv miguel #t writes✨ #miguel x reader #miguel o'hara fluff #miguel o'hara fanfiction #miguel ohara x reader #miguel o’hara x y/n

[aarcanechaoss]

1. Cosmik Debris

Masterlist

Ariadne is as foreign as Yami, she lived a year alone in a home that wasn’t her own- yet still Julius asked her to join his squad

Warnings: none

note smut is in tags because I want people to read it lol

What does one do when they arrive in a place that isn't their own?

If you were brave perhaps you'd try to make friends, figure out your way in your new home.

If you were Ariadne Grimmwolf... you'd hide from everyone in the first library you can find.

What does one do when a magical grimoire lands in your lap within the same month of your arrival? Ariadne wouldn't touch it for a solid month after, she wouldn't touch it even as it floated and followed her around- from room to room and town to town. It took that month before she even held it. It was a simple book, silver and black details with a black three leaf clover in the middle and the lightest shadings of a wolf along the spine again still detailed in silver and black. When she opened the grimoire it was empty... and she doesn't really know why it would have anything in it anyway. She didn't feel the shift of air around her, or any kind of magic as she looked upon the book but knew better than to try and get rid of it letting it float about or press itself against her beneath the cloak she'd found as if it had a life of its own.

She'd been in the Clover Kingdom a year before anyone approached her- she assumed word of her being a foreigner who washed ashore- not that she minded anyway she was too shy for social interaction most days. She'd spent her year trying to figure out what magic she had only to come up confused beyond measure. At most she was far, far stronger than she was before. (That definitely wasn't her who knocked the large oak down about six months ago... definitely not.)

But Ariadne never expected a man to appear before her, even if she had sensed him around following and watching (not being creepy about it at least just surveying her), bright and gleaming as though the sun were a crown upon his head. She'd practically thrown herself behind a tree when he actually spoke to her.

"Hello!" He said. She gave a meek wave. "Do you understand the language yet?"

She froze for a moment- though she assumed word travelled she didn't think they knew what she looked like.

"I do." She said quietly.

"Interesting.... What's your name?"

"Ariadne."

"Oh how pretty. I'm Julius captain of the Grey Deer."

"Okay."

Julius blinked- clearly he expected a better reaction than that. The two fell into silence both uncomfortable and comfortable all the same.

"What kind of magic do you have?" Julius was buzzing, he couldn't help himself- two foreigners appearing in the Clover Kingdom within the same time frame was enticing... though she was admittedly harder to find.

"I- I don't know." She frowned. She was being honest. She couldn't make water move or sink into the ground, she couldn't fly or make fire from nothing... she really didn't know.

Julius looked a little disappointed, but he realised- as he'd been watching her for days she seemed quite strong and well connected with the nature around her, that's all he could gather though.

"I knew you were following me." She said finally. "You didn't hide it very well."

He hummed, he most certainly did hide well- ah... like Yami she could sense people, how interesting.

"I have a proposition." Julius grinned. "Come join my squad. I have a team that could do with someone strong like you."

Ariadne didn't really have an option- she could continue to nearly starve in the woods and back alleys or live in a place she could learn about this new home of hers... she nodded- though she hadn't moved from behind the tree the entire time....

Julius wasn't lying when he said he had a 'team' though Ariadne wasn't sure if they really were one...

"William, Yami this is Ariadne." Julius announced once they'd settled themselves in the future Wizard King's office.

"What are you talking about?" Yami was the first to speak after scanning the room.

"Aria- Ariadne where did you go?" The man stood looking about the room- he was certain she was just standing there... before spotting her hiding behind the bookshelf beside them, her cloak's hood pulled down over her face.

"Come out they aren't scary."

"I'm okay from here." She said, both William and Yami looked towards her, Yami frowning- his concern as to why he didn't sense her presence was clear to Julius.

"Hello there." William smiled, Ariadne only further shuffled into the corner away from them.

"Such a shy thing she is- ran and hid behind a tree when we met." Julius laughed.

"Probably because you were being creepy." Yami muttered. "Let me guess found you, watched you for a few days then announced himself loudly and proudly, asked about your magic and boom you became a magic knight?"

Ariadne stared wide eyed as she processed what he said.

"Yeah pretty much... he's really bad at hiding."

"Yes Yami I believe you both may excel in what you called Ki." Julius exclaimed. "I noticed while watching her she seemed very keen with finding things like snakes and spiders etcetera."

"Ki? I was just keeping an eye out?" She said quietly.

"Anyway... anyway this is exciting isn't it boys? New member and I want her a part of your unit."

"Unit?" William and Yami asked in confusion.

"Since when did we count as a team?" Yami asked.

"Why else do you think I send you on missions together when I can?"

The room fell quiet.

William was still watching the shy woman who ducked further away when she noticed him. He smiled again; she was just really shy after all.

"If you weren't before you three are now an official team until stated otherwise. Understood?" Julius stated, there was no room for disagreement in his tone. The three magic knights nodded.

"May I ask why?" William questioned finally.

"You three are interesting and you'll work well- I foresee it now. So here is your first mission. You're going Wyrm hunting."

#black clover #black clover oc #black clover fluff #black clover angst #Ariadne Grimmwolf #grey deer #black clover smut

[the-black-bulls]

Hello! Original "William is classist" anon here! 😀 It's not just because his squad is strictly noble (though Luck is a good example that he did have other options). It's also that he continuously failed to address the classist bullying toward Yuno in his squad and showed consistent disregard for human life in such a way that disproportionately affects the lower classes.

On bullying: William is the captain and sets the example, but his entire squad was cruel toward Yuno except for Mimosa, a new recruit. William may have been a commoner, but he embraced nobility and its classism wholeheartedly, and this is portrayed in the people that he surrounds himself with.

As for the disregard for human life. Aiding in Patri's plan will hurt the lower class more than the royals, who have greater means of defending themselves. Also allowing Patri to blame all of humanity for crimes of the royals is majorly classist. We know for a fact that William has the knowledge to know that Patri's hatred of ALL humans is completely unjustified when only the ones in power hurt the elves. In addition, he made Langris, who is as unhinged as Luck (if not worse when it comes to killing civilians) the vice captain, which puts even more commoners and such at risk. At that point, it's not just that he's politely ignorant. He's making a series of choices that show his true colors.

It may not be that he's consciously thinking "I'm better than them," but his actions speak louder than his words: and as for words, he is the biggest liar in the series.

Oh finally you showed yourself, “William is Classist” Anon. Do you know how many replies and asks I got because of you? 🤨 (jk)

OK to be perfectly honest I’m not well familiar with William’s character and the only source I take is the manga. I don’t see the anime as a reliable source with character because most of the time it changes things or adds things that don't work with the original source. So I’ll be only talking about myself and my own interpretation of his character based on my personal reading, this will get long and excuse me to use your ask for this half-assed William meta but I have to get this off my chest.

Fair warning: long meta.

For starter William may not be a straight up bad person, but he’s still not a good person. He’s also not a good captain but we will talk about this later. William is a kind and likeable man by nature and he has a tragic backstory, so I can see why people may sympathize with him. However I’ve always seen him as straight up selfish and ignorant and hypocritical person who’s more flawed than you’d think and I love this about his character because humans aren’t perfect.

William only cares about two people, Julius and Patri. He becomes captain for Julius, his dreams is Julius’ dream, he wants to redeem himself for Julius first and foremost. He cares about Patri too, probably even more. He cherry-picks the magic knights with elfin souls for Patri, he commits treason and genocide and other awful crimes for Patri, and he keeps himself silent for years despite Patri’s clear danger (I mean he literally leads a terrorist group) to the kingdom because Patri always comes first. He cares only about two people and is only loyal to two people. For this reason he did not make any move until he found himself between two options, the best of which was bitter, so he gave up his responsibility and asked them to solve the matter, with his concern being only directed toward Patri and Julius, not the kingdom or his squad.

This makes him very selfish and ignorant and hypocritical in the sense that his priorities lie with his personal desires. He protects the kingdom while secretly helping terrorists, he leads the best squad and they idolize him but he doesn’t seem to keep an eye on them or is straight up being ignorant, “as long as this doesn’t harm our reputation it’s ok but don’t do it again" is the reaction I expect from William upon learning that Langris tried to kill civilians, and he doesn’t get any close dynamic with them or with his fellow captains. William also knew that he was doing a big mistake but didn’t stop, and it’s not that he “now” regrets his action, William always regretted his actions and saw them as sins since the very beginning, but again never stopped. He’s flawed to his core and I don’t get how people can see him any other way. This is why he’s one of the most interesting character in the series because I can see where he comes from.

Now all of this will make up for a great character, right. Well, nope. Unfortunately the story narrative failed to address his actions. He got little to no consequences. He didn’t even have to talk or show remorse, his inner thoughts were directed for Patri and Julius with no regard to the kingdom, and then when it’s the moment of his judgement Julius did all the talking and took some responsibility of William’s actions (sorry but why?) then gave him a second chance, then William cried and it was over and we moved to other things and, to quote my reaction when I read that part, What The Hell. This moment killed my interest in both William & Julius. There were so much that should be explored, like the captain reactions, the GD reactions, William’s inner thoughts because even if he’s a flawed person he isn’t a monster and I’m sure he has things to say and think about after the black bulls mess in the trial and y’know the kingdom getting destroyed--- *sighs*

Now back to the main topic, should all of this make William a classist person or not? It’s up to how you see his character. I see him as neither, or both depending on the situation. He’s so messed up with little focus so I can’t make up my mind on this topic. I think the “canon” wants you to see him as not, but his actions give you a different impression, so I don’t know. Man, he reminds me of Nozel, and I’m not fan of Nozel, but that’s a topic for another day.

OK this will be my last comment on this topic this is a black bulls blog damnit ask me stuff about them plz (jk lol), y’all are welcome to share your opinions through asks or reblogs but please spare me from the replies drama 😅

#not a quote #black clover #black clover meta #black clover critical #william vangeance #I’ll say it again: I crave a post elf war aftermath where Julius doesn’t exist. #like woohoo the drama the angst the tragedy the suspense #y'all ignore me and focus on anon #I'm just being talkative and I should learn to shut up

[lyranova]

Promise Pt. II

Hi guys! So I suddenly got hit with this idea today and decided to show what happened after Yami saw William in “Promise”. I hope you all enjoy and I’ll hopefully have “Children of the Future” plus the requests from my event out soon 🥰!

Taglist: @eme-eleff @jovialnoise @talpup @charlottesukehiro @ckjwnnbc

Word Count: 1,456

Warnings: Angst, mentions of death

———

Yami’s mind was somewhere between shock and disbelief as he flew back home after seeing his friend and his newborn son. He had heard William Vangeance’s wife had gone into labor the previous evening, but had decided to wait until after the child was born to go visit. Charlotte had wanted to come as well but, according to the physician, she was too far along to travel, so she wouldn’t be able to see them for a while unless they were able to use a magic item that would allow her to see them. After it had been 24 hours and they still hadn’t heard anything, that’s when both Yami and Charlotte had gotten concerned. Charlotte had told him that sometimes labor took longer, but normally not this long.

Six hours later Yami received a message from Julius, who had been like Yami and grew concerned after not hearing any news, and what he told Yami stunned the Black Bulls Captain into silence; Vangeance’s wife had died shortly after delivering the baby. Yami felt his heart drop into his stomach at those words, he knew Vangeance wife was having a difficult time with the pregnancy, but he hadn’t known it was that bad. After hanging up on Julius he walked out of his and Charlotte’s home, telling her that he was going to see Vangeance and would be back soon. But he hadn’t told her what happened, not yet anyway.

Yami landed outside his front door with a soft thud, he walked over and placed his broom on the stone wall next to the door and sighed as he stared at the door knob. The look in Vangeance’s eyes when he had first walked up to speak to him flashed in his mind; they were dark, sad, almost lifeless. But as he spoke to him, as Vangeance gave his son a name, he saw a small spark of life flicker in them once again. Yami offered to help him take care of the kid if he ever needed it, but he didn’t think Vangeance would; he would be able to take care of him.

Yami finally turned the door knob and walked inside to see Charlotte standing in front of the sink, doing dishes. He shook his head before he softly closed the door behind him. No matter how many times he told her to stay off her feet and that he would do things like that for her she would still refuse and be stubborn, saying she was pregnant not a fragile doll made of glass. Usually he would chuckle at the statement and convince her to at least let him wash the dishes as she sat in a chair and dried them, but after tonight, after what happened, all that was running through his mind was all the possible things that could happen to her and their child.

“ Yami? You’re back already?” Charlotte asked in a confused tone, but she didn’t turn around to face him, his mana was very distinct. She heard him walk up behind her before he silently wrapped his arms around her waist and leaned down to rest his forehead on her shoulder. She frowned before glancing at him. “ Yami?”

Yami didn’t answer, he just stood there and held her. He had come face to face with his greatest fear; the possibility of losing Charlotte. When she had told him she was pregnant he felt a flurry of emotions, but after everything had sunk in and he began to sort his emotions out he realized he had three fears: losing Charlotte, losing their baby, and not being a good dad. He hadn’t thought about those fears actually coming true until today. He couldn’t believe how lost and broken Vangeance looked, he silently wondered if he would look the same if it had been Charlotte. His wife dried her hands off on a small dish towel before turning in his arms and placing her hands on his chest.

“ Yami? What happened?” She asked softly, a frown gracing her beautiful features. Yami finally lifted his head to look at her, and she blinked in surprise. His grey eyes held a sadness in them that made her stomach drop. “ Yami?” She asked again softly.

“ She...She didn’t make it.” He finally answered, his voice soft, Charlotte couldn’t stop the gasp from escaping her lips, Vangeance’s wife..she was gone? How could that be? She had some of the best midwives and one of the best doctors in the Capitol, how could she be gone? Charlotte had to admit she hadn’t really been close to the woman before she had gotten pregnant, but considering they were going through this at the same time and their husbands appeared to be friends they had decided to start talking and hanging out as well. Charlotte had considered the woman a good friend and had enjoyed her company, so to hear that she had died, it hurt.

“ How’s the baby? How’s William?” She suddenly asked, she could only imagine what he was going through at the moment. Losing your wife on what was supposed to be one of the happiest days of your life, and to add insult to injury his child wouldn’t ever get to meet his mother.

“ The baby, a boy by the way, is fine. Vangeance is a different story, he’s...grieving.” Yami said, his voice still soft as though he were too afraid to actually say the words out loud. Charlotte had never seen him like this, ever. He looked, afraid. This had shaken him to his core.

“ I expected he would be, I’m surprised he isn’t in worse shape. I know if it were me, I would probably be broken beyond repair right now.” She muttered softly, Yami nodded in agreement, if something ever happened to either of them, the other would either never recover or it would take a long time before they ever did.

“ I think his son is the only thing keeping him together right now.” Yami told her and Charlotte nodded in agreement. She slowly wrapped her arms around her husband and held him close, well, as close as she could seeing as she was nine months pregnant and obviously had a decent sized bump. Yami chuckled slightly but he hugged her tightly, but not too tightly.

The couple stood that way for a while, just holding each other, not a single word was spoken but they each knew how the other was feeling; they were grieving for the friend they had lost, for their friend who had lost his wife, for the child who would never get to meet the kind and gentle woman they all knew. Charlotte could also sense Yami’s fear and his worry that this could happen to her. After being married to him for so long she had gotten to where she could read his body language and tell his mood and feelings just from that alone. A small piece of her wondered if she had unintentionally been learning Qi. Charlotte placed her hands on either side of his face and pulled back to make him look at her.

“ Yami, it’s ok to be afraid, it’s ok to be worried. I’m afraid and worried too, especially after tonight, but no matter what happens; I will be ok. You will be ok. Our child will be ok.” She told him, her voice just as soft as his was. “ Right now, we’re all here together and safe. I can’t promise that nothing will happen to me once I go into labor, and I can’t promise that I’ll make it out alive.” She held up a hand to silence him, once he opened his mouth to interrupt.

“ But what I can promise is that I’ll try to be brave and fight like hell just like she did to stay with you, to stay with both of you.” Charlotte finished as she rested her forehead against his, blue eyes stared into grey ones, they were speaking to each other without saying a word.

Yami smirked for the first time that night as he held Charlotte tightly once again, she wrapped her arms around him once again as well and gave him a gentle squeeze. Tonight, they would allow each other to be afraid, to worry about all the things that may never happen. But once the sun came up, they would hold their heads up high, they would face whatever challenges awaited them, and they would do so bravely as neither Captain was known to back down from a fight.

Everything would be ok, maybe not now, maybe not in a couple of days, but soon they would be.

———

Ah i’m sorry it isn’t very good but I hope you all enjoyed~! Thanks for reading and I hope you all have a good day~!

#black clover #black clover fanfic #black clover fanfiction #yamichar #yami x charlotte #charlotte x yami #charlotte roselei #yami sukehiro #children of the future #william vangeance (mentioned)

[thoughtfullyrainynightmare]

Hey, hope I'm not disturbing you. If it's fine with you, may I request a scenario where Julius is overworking to the point of near collapse to become the wizard king, and his squad members try convincing him to take a break? Thank you, hope I'm not breaking any of the rules.

Hello~! ^-^

No, you're not disturbing me dear, not by any means. Also, I love this idea for Julius, because he was, probably, going around even before becoming the Wizard King, in pursuit of magic. So that, plus his duties as a knight, would surely be taxing.

I do hope that you like this ^-^

Characters: Julius Novachrono

Genre: Slice of life (?)

Fic type: Oneshot

Another excursion in addition to the routine missions. Or rather that there had been a routine mission in addition to his excursions, since he had been going out to explore on a daily basis for months on end. Though magic had always been a passion of his, it was only lately that he had begun going around and exploring new types of magic on a regular basis.

But what else was he supposed to do? If he wanted to reach his goal and to become a Wizard King, he had to understand the world around him. And maybe, just maybe, through understanding the world around him, he might understand himself. It was a faint hope, one that seemed more like a shadow of a dream than anything real. But. That’s the thing about hope: no matter how small or faint, people cling to it.

So, once more, Julius made his way through the corridors of the Grey Deer headquarters with swaying steps, but not because of a night out at the town, but out of pure exhaustion. His mana wasn’t endless either, and he had exhausted it in an effort of cramming weeks’ worth of exploration and magic research into a two-day time period between missions. The Captain wouldn’t be happy, but he was rarely happy about anything, or at least didn’t seem like it.

He really should loosen up, Julius mused to himself while bumping against the wall. It’s not the end of the world. And besides… I’ve got time… He laughed at his own joke, hearing pairs of steps approaching him.

“Julius?! Did you go out again on those trips of yours?”

He turned his head towards his fellow squad members, who, in his opinion, could be far too serious at times as well. “Yesss, and guys you should hear about it! Guess what I found out! There’s this amazing-“

“No! We absolutely don’t need to hear about it!” One of them protested. “What we need to do, is get you to bed. To sleep. You. Need. To. Sleep! And rest.”

“Guys I have-“

“You’re always saying that,” the other shook his head. “You’re always telling us that you have time for it, and yet, you always seem to be the one with the least time around here. It’s like you’re in a hurry to learn everything.”

“And what if I am?” Julius chuckled with a wide grin and bags under his eyes, but the quiet chuckle, the laugh, it didn’t seem to end. It kept bubbling up to the surface from somewhere deep inside of himself, as if he had learned the joke of a century only yesterday, or perhaps today.

“Okay, that’s it. We’re getting you to bed, and you’ll be staying there for a week,” the first continued, grabbing Julius’ arm and placing it over his shoulders, assisting him with walking.

“Or two,” the other commented while also wrapping Julius’ arm around his shoulders.

The quiet bubbling laugh had died down as Julius found himself sinking into thought again, as his steps carried him forward, even if only because of the help of his friends. They’re-, hurry is a bad place to be. Haha ‘hurry’… ‘Place’… But suppose that they’re right. I don’t have, even if I’d like to have, all the time in the world. I think… I might need a focus. I can’t just internalize all the information the world has to offer, even if it’s exiting. It’s exiting, but I… need a plan. I need a plan, but first I need to sleep, take a bath, eat something, and then… I need a plan. I wonder if there’d be anything in the Magic Knights’ Headquarter Archives….

#julius novachrono #black clover oneshots #black clover fanfiction

[black-clover-zine]

Creator Spotlight #5 - One Leaf Grimoire!

Social Media:

tumblr: @one-leaf-grimoire , @bethcore

twitter: @oneleafgrimoire

Give us a little info on your creation for this zine!

I don't think anyone will be surprised to learn that I wanted to draw Julius for this Zine! He is inspiring, just as a character, but I wanted to do something that did his noble and kingly nature justice.

What does Black Clover mean to you?

Black Clover singlehandedly helped me get through a very hard 1 and a half years in my life, but it also lead me to many new friends. I've never met so many talented and lovely people in my life, all just through this one anime!

Any recent art that you're especially proud of?

This one!

Beth will be one of our featured artists in the upcoming Memories of Magic zine. Make sure to follow this blog to get more updates and learn more about our great creators!

#black clover #black clover zine #memories of magic #creator spotlight #animanga #anime zine #manga zine #animanga zine

[kuronanox]

My own fae - Fuegoleon Vermillion

(Author note: Reader is a fairy with wings, you can imagine however you wanna look. Warning not edited)

It was a cold winter night; Fuegoleon was just about to head to bed when there was a loud thud from outside his window. He was a little grumpy because of how late it was and he would be enraged if he finds to see some of his men just pulling a friendly prank.

Opening his window the strong gust of wind flowed through his hair as he looked around to find nothing. Assuming it was a branch or so till he saw a shimmering light from below.

It had wings and fair skin, back faced towards him the creature seemed distressed and weak as it only had a cloth wrapped around its body.

Heading down below the creature had features that were fairy and elf like to him.

"Miss are you alright?" Fuegoleon ask offering a hand but she looked at him in the eye and tried to fly away only to fall back down as she hissed in pain.

Gazing over to her back it seemed like a part of her wings were fractured. "Cold." She finally says looking back at him desperately.

Fuegoleon a bit mesmerized by the fairies beauty realized she only had a cloth that hid very little. Clearing his throat he took his cape off and wrapped it around her.

Before he could she somehow hid her wings as it disappeared.

Waiting on the floor she looked up at him. "I need help." She then says staring at her feet.

Fuegoleon being a gentleman as he is effortlessly picks her up bridal style. "May I get your name?"

"(Your Name) my name is (Your Name)." She says and stares into his eyes.

Fuegoleon was royalty and considered high in social status so looks from men and women usually didn't bother him, but the way she looked at him made him self conscious. He didn't know why but she was definitely different.

Luckily it was late at night and everyone had a curfew so no one was out, he would have to place her at his private quarters.

Dropping her softly on his bed he placed a robe for her to use.

"We'll talk in the morning. Good night." He says and leaves to his main office to sleep on the couch. (Your Name) doesnt say a word and watches his back leave.

It was early morning as Fuegoleon awoke he peaked into his room to find the fairy still sound asleep. Her hair was splattered and on her back was deep scars he had missed to see last night.

Awaking her eyes she turned to see him peering above her. He had never seen such eye colors before, they were dream like and ethereal.

"I-" he begins to explain but she giggles a bit and leaps out of bed in front of him. (Your Name) examined his face and features. He had royal blood running through his vain. Reaching up to his face she cupped his cheeks and closed her eyes before opening them and meeting his eyes.

"You were asleep for a long time." She finally says and then reaches to his arm that was cut off. "But you've grown stronger."

Fuegoleon lost for words stuttered "H-how did you know."

"I just know things." She simply answers as there was a long silence between the two. Not one moving an inch.

"Um well follow me." He says and brings her to a closet filled with Mereoleona old clothing she didn't wear anymore. "Just pick whatever you like."

After situating her clothes she followed him out and into the clover kingdom. She didn't say one word and followed silently and obediently. Fuegoleon didn't think she was a threat.

They met with the Wizard king. "Julius she is the lady I told you about." Fuegoleon says as the man... well boy at the moment eyes brighten up.

She hesitantly stepped up and showed the Wizard king her scars and wounded wing.

"Interesting, I've never met a fae in real life. What brings you to Clover kingdom?"

(Your Name) didn't know she just knew she was banished from her home.

"I- Well I was banished from home, I don't know how to get back. We aren't suppose to show ourselves to anyone but unfortunately I had to pay the consequences for that."

Fuegoleon studied her features, it was no wonder she was dreamy like.

"I see well! I don't see any harm coming from you. But we do need to place you somewhere safe do you have magic?" Julius asks curiously.

(Your Name) nods and lightly touches Julius forehead. He slowly turned back to a 40 year old man until she moved away he became tiny again.

"Interesting! It seems like you can see through most things. Luckily for you we are a kingdom based on magic so I think you will fit in just well." He assured as she smiled at him.

"I wish to stay by his side." She then says looking back at Fuegoleon.

"That is if he wishes so too?" Julius says looking back at the Crimson Lion captain.

"Of course. However our guest feels most at home. Then you will join my squad."

On the way out (Your Name) was shown to Owen to help mend the scars. The wings would have to heal over time.

"So you really don't know how to get back home?" Fuegoleon curiously asks the fairy as she looked around the kingdom.

"Not one clue but I don't mind. It is a beautiful place where I come from but, rules were super strict there. It doesn't seem to bad here. And if nothing works out I can always find my way home in nature." She assured him as they head to the market.

He doesn't say anything else as they shopped around the market so she could find her essentials. Observing her Fuegoleon could see she was a free spirit and nothing was holding her back as she helped a lot of the commoners.

He saw that she noticed a little girls flowers were dying. (Your Name) wriggled her fingers as yellow sparks came out and the flowers grew 10x healthier.

By sunset he would have to tell his squad that another member joined.

Dinner time came and the hall was rowdy as usual, he silenced the hall and made a few announcements.

"As many of you guys know now we have a new edition for the Crimson Lions. I would like you to welcome (Your Name)."

Curiously she hid behind him and poked her head out. "It seems as she is shy in larger groups that draw attention."

"I won't disappoint, please treat me kindly." She then says and gives a small smile.

"ANIUE! Something about her seems so dreamy. How did we get so lucky!" Leopold yells excited for the new member.

"I wonder the same." Fuegoleon says as the hall went back to a loud musical room.

"What troubles you?" (Your Name) asks as they entered his private quarters. Although it seemed scandalous Fuegoleon was drawn to her since the first time he set eyes on her.

"Just work, you are welcome to stay until the guest bedroom is prepared."

She walked from behind him and grabbed his two shoulders and laid him down on her lap. "It's about the demons right?"

Fuegoleon didn't even question how she knew but he nodded. Running her hands through his hair and braiding them she hummed. "Don't worry. Even the fairies fear them but that doesn't mean there isn't hope and courage." She soothes him as he closes his eyes and embrace the moment.

"You have trouble sleeping because you're afraid you won't wake up again when you were in a coma. It was dark and scary for you." (Your Name) says as he sighs.

"It scares me how much you know about me. It seems like you're the only who understands." Fuegoleon says as he looks up to her hues.

"Don't trust all fairies you come across not all of them are like me." She warns slightly.

"What if I don't wanna met any other fairy when I have one already?" He questions and she laughs kissing his forehead.

He was a grown men but physically touch hadn't been in his library to do list in a long time. Fuegoleon liked how gentle she was with him. "Are all fairies like this?"

"Hmm maybe, maybe not. I put a spell to make you sleepy. Get some rest." She whispers as he drifted off only remembering her looking down at him.

It had been a few months since (Your Name) was welcomed to the Clover Kingdom and she learned the culture simply fast as she fit in hiding her nature identity.

Fuegoleon and everyone that were magic knights were having a celebration. There would be a feast and party along with music and games it was a celebration for all their hard work and a break to have some fun.

He really wanted to invite (Your Name) as a date but was to shy to ask. Usually he was very straightforward but something about her made him smitten.

"What's wrong Aniue?" Leopold ask as they trained one morning. "Something on your mind?"

"It's nothing concentrate on your target don't get distracted!"

"FUEGOLEON!" (Your Name) yelled running towards them carrying a basket of fruits and flowers. Her dress flowing as her hair wrapped tight in a flower crown.

"Aniue watch out!" Leopold shoots as Fuegoleon fell onto the floor. "Ha! I knew it! You were distracted and I got you!" The younger Vermillion cheered.

(Your Name) helped Fuegoleon up as she then patted Leopold head. "Good job little one."

"Thanks! Well I'll leave y'all two to be!" He says running off giving Fuegoleon a wink.

The older Vermillion grumbled and looked towards (Your Name). "Your day off?"

"Yeah I went out and picked some stuff up!" She showed him the different varieties of fruits and flowers, placing a white one in his hair.

"You have a question for me?"

"Huh no I don't!" He denied and looks away as she giggles. "Yes you do. Just ask me. What is it?"

He sighed in defeat. There was no hiding from her. "Well we are having a Magic knights celebration and I wanted to bring you as my date..."

"I'll go! I was going to go anyways."

"But you'll go as my date?"

"Yes I will!" She assured and walks past him to set the fruits down in the dining hall. He grinned like a teenage boy and followed right after.

That night there were many people out and (Your Name) had a bright smile on her face. She was fascinated with the food and music that were surrounding her.

Fuegoleon smiled down at her as she pointed to many different things.

"Fuegoleon." Nozel says from behind as they turned around. "I see this is the commoner you've had in your squad.. you've been hiding her. No one know what she looks like."

(Your Name) looks at Nozel up and down and says "Aren't you his rival? Interesting."

"Why does she speak to me like we are the same level?" He sneers looking down at her and she tilts her head.

"I'm the fae he's been keeping a secret. I'm pretty sure we know who's more of a higher status." She then says and excuse herself.

Fuegoleon sighs and gives Nozel a look. "Seriously?"

"Hmph shes a know it all I see."

"You don't know how literate she can be sometimes." Fuegoleon says and smiles at her back as she plays with Leopold and his friends.

"So she isn't a commoner but rather a fae. Quite interesting how you came across one. I've never seen one in real life."

"Me too, she told me they aren't allowed to show themselves but she stuck here now. (Your Name) doesn't know how to get back home."

There was silence between the two as the two royal men watched her curiosity along side making new connection with other Magic Knights.

"So no one knows?"

"Only a few people know. She knows things on her own. She knew about my coma, the elves and demons. She even transformed Julius back for a few minutes."

Nozel eyes widen and then narrowed. "You sure she isn't a spy?"

"I highly doubt it."

Although she was Fuegoleon date she couldn't help but venture off and get to know more people.

"You are Nozel younger sister." She says to Noelle as the young teen watches Asta and Leopold afar dance to the music.

"I-I'm royalty yes!" She blushes at the older women. Noelle felt a sense safe in her presence, almost like a motherly figure.

"You like him." (Your Name) looks at Asta and smirks.

"I do not!"

Grabbing Noelle hands they dance together with Leopold and Asta. Noelle shy at first blushes and looks down but gains confidence because (Your Name) guided her.

"Ahh Noelle!" Asta yells as he and Leopold connects arms with her. "Yuno! Mimosa come join us!"

(Your Name) backed away and watched from afar, they seem happy.

A arm snakes around her waist as she looks up to find Fuegoleon watching the kids. She smiles at him and grabs his hand. "Let's dance too. We are known to like music and dancing."

He hesitantly follows. "I'm not sure about dancing."

"Just follow my steps." She encourages as he nods and follows her pace.

There was a comfortable silence between the two as they moved back and forth the ballroom. Looking around (Your Name) saw a lot of people were staring at them. She shyly hid her face in his chest.

"Why are people staring at us?"

He chuckles and takes the initiative moves now, twisting her around to wrap his arm around her.

"It's because they are jealous. I haven't been seen out with a lady in a long time."

Turning herself back around she touched his chest. "You are nervous, your heartbeat is fast."

He takes her hands with his and kisses it lightly. "You can see everyone else's feelings but always deny mine."

(Your Name) blushes and grip his hand tighter.

"I do know your feelings. I make you feel like a teenage boy chasing after a girl."

"Well if you put it that way..."

"You aren't allowed to be with someone not royal. Isn't that by law."

Fuegoleon smile fades as he caress her scar back and pushes some of her hair out of her face to see the little tiny pointy ears before hiding them again.

"You already know I don't care about status. I don't care what other people think about us either."

"Fuegoleon has been smitten over me since the first day we might." She teases as he grins a bit.

Pushing herself up she brings him down for a kiss that shook the entire kingdom.

"Does that answer your question?" She asks as he sheepishly nods and gives her another kiss.

"Oh I might go blind." Nozel says in disgust as he slightly smiles for his rival.

"Tch that means it's time for you to find yourself a girl." Mereoleona says crossing her arms and watching the two new lovers embrace in the crowd.

"As if, no one here is worthy!"

"Worthy of the braid." Yami cuts in as Nozel sends him death glares.

Meanwhile on the side Charlotte is staring at Yami hoping it would be them one day.

"Let's go aniue! I knew it was from the start!" Leopold cheers running between them and hugging (Your Name).

The night came to an end perfectly for them as the two new lovers left impatiently to discovering new beginnings.

#black clover x reader #black clover imagine #black clover imagines #fuegoleon vermillion #fuegoleon #leopold vermillion #mereoleona vermillion #nozel silva #julius novachrono #black clover asta #noelle silva #yami sukehiro #black clover #black clover oneshot #black clover oneshots #black clover fuegoleon

[sweetsforhikari]

Happy Birthday, Sakuya 🌸

Without you, there won’t be Mankai Company and our story together wouldn’t have begun. In honor of your birthday and the release of your second solo song, please read the letters that I wrote for you about how the troupe members think about you.

a.n. 

I know the format might be weird, but I wrote this addressing Sakuya, so the ‘you’ here refers to Sakuya. I just thought of writing something for him to read so yes, do take note that you need to read everything below as if you’re Sakuya!

Masumi Usui

Your days of taking care of him as a leader, as a friend, as a brother really made an impact to him. Although Masumi never explicitly reciprocated your love, he has grown to listen and respect you. Allowing you to be involved in his business, hugging him, choosing to depend on you, and taking the time to listen to your words are mere proofs of him considering you as part of his family.

Both you and Masumi never really knew what true family should be like, but I’m sure your time together made both of you understand what it meant to have a brother who would stick by your side no matter what.

Tsuzuru Minagi

He has immense faith in you, Sakuya. All the scripts he had written for your role have definitely been adjusted to suit you and you alone. He would have never written a role where he knew you couldn’t perform in.

Without you as the leader, he would also have gone mad dealing with the antiques of the other members. As much as he acts as the mediator, the middle ground of the chaos ensuing in Spring Troupe from time to time, he appreciates your presence as the leader who has grown so much more dependable throughout the years. 

Dare I say, sometimes, he glances at you and smiles softly, proud you as one of his little brothers that he cherishes deeply.

Itaru Chigasaki

Sure, he might view you as a token of gacha luck to bring that SSR home, but you’re definitely more than that. Him accepting his role as the father of Spring Troupe was his way of committing to the found family that he has now. The family that you have established.

Deep down, he’s eternally grateful for your ceaseless attempts to convince him to stay and perform with the troupe during Romeo and Julius. Without you, he wouldn’t have met this group of people with whom he could drop his mask and completely be his true self.

Citron

He enjoys seeing your face light up with wonder and excitement not because he takes pleasure in teasing you, but I believe he wants to preserve that childlike innocence in you as much as possible.

Despite what others might think, I genuinely believe Citron only wants you to feel happy and ignore the negativity and evil that lie in this world. The greatest pleasure in his days has always been to see you smile right after you wake up and before you fall asleep at night. Don’t you think that’s why he enjoys telling you those magical, bombastic, wonderous stories?

Chikage Utsuki

Admittedly, he still enjoys tricking you during your daily coin toss, but he will stop at nothing to ensure you do not need to worry about a thing in life.

After all, you were the first to not give up on him and still saw him favorably (or should I say objectively without any judgment) despite his actions towards Izumi and Mankai in general.

Putting all the other troupe members under the cut so this won’t get too long! 

Tenma Sumeragi

You do know this child actor genius took the audition for Mankai because of you, right? You, who thought your acting was sub-par, turned out to inspire a veteran to face his fears and took that step.

How could Tenma ever thank you properly for that? That’s why as a fellow troupe leader, he would make sure to practice often with you, giving you acting pointers whenever he could. Not to demean you, but to lift you up so both of you can bloom together on stage as equals.

Yuki Rurikawa

He comments about your naivety, but I dare say he actually envies you for it. Being part of the minority and adopting a cynical approach to life proves to be tiring at times. The positive outlook in life despite your background is definitely something that he has considered to adopt at some point in time.

To him, you’re a reminder that being positive is an option. As much as he seems baffled by your innocence, he is part of the crew that does his best to preserve that side of you.

Muku Sakisaka

You two are angels! I can only imagine both of you continue being the precious babies that you are. Muku adores you and definitely considers you one of his precious older brothers.

His enthusiasm is reciprocated with you around and your presence lifts up his spirit as well. You are each other’s healing spirit in a way. Always be there for each other, and just by being together, both of you remind all of us that staying pure is a choice and such sight heals us on a daily basis.

Misumi Ikaruga

He’s off on scavenging triangles for your birthday! Apparently, he heard the cats sang praises about you the other day. As thanks for being his friend and for being kind to the kitties, he’s going to find a special triangle just for you.

Thank you for being so kind and understanding to him, and for becoming his faithful friend, one of his precious treasures in life.

Kazunari Miyoshi

How many times have you appeared in Kazu’s Inste feed, I wonder. He always seem to find joy in sharing what he found that might be of interest to you.

Both of you are expressive so it’s no surprise either when Kazu wants to hear your opinion on anything. Hope you find those times to be exciting. It is after all, quite rare, to find someone to be candid with these days.

Kumon Hyodo

Both of you are quite literally sunshine in human form. At times too bright for some, but that’s why both of you should continue being you.

Even Kumon admits watching you lifts his spirits, can you imagine the influence you have in improving the mood of those around you? Sakuya, as Kumon said, please stay true to yourself and keep being you. Your smile and positivity radiate and I honestly think we all need someone like you in our lives.

Banri Settsu

Don’t feel bad if he lets you borrow his clothes, or if he buys you stuff! It’s his way of letting you know he cares deeply for you. Please don’t think that you’re not worthy of receiving such gifts or even having his company.

If anything, all he wants is to see you all happy with that beaming smile. Keep being the sunshine that you are because I’m sure that’s what Banri wants for you!

Juza Hyodo

The passionate duo; both of you talk about acting a lot and I’m glad you have someone to share your thoughts and passion with.

Juza considers you as a companion of some sort, he seems to always asking you to practice or do etudes together. Just knowing that both of you can support one another in your endeavours is heartwarming. But, please don’t eat too much sweets if you can’t take it. I’m sure Juza would understand.

Taichi Nanao

He likes to try out new things and he’s grateful that you are always open to his idea and agrees to accompany him whenever he tries them out.

Thank you for being a great friend for Taichi, but please make sure that you guys don’t go overboard and hurt yourselves. Wouldn’t want that to happen when you’re having fun, right?

Omi Fushimi

How’s the Neapolitan that he cooked for you today? It must be delicious! All the love and affection he has for you has always been included in his cooking.

Thank you for being the best at helping him out in the kitchen and actually doing the chores. He appreciates it a lot, especially since the dishes don’t clean themselves and with more hands on deck, he is eternally grateful.

Sakyo Furuichi

Both of you really have come along way, from him being doubtful about your potential until today. You did it, Sakuya! You proved him wrong, alright.

I believe you are his reminder to stay true to what your dreams are. In both of your cases, you both want to be an acknowledged actor. What a long way you two have come. Remember that you have the power to prove people wrong with your earnest determination and always remember that you manage to get Sakyo’s approval on your leadership and acting skills! 

Azami Izumida

This kid needs to learn a lot from you and he knows that even though he doesn’t readily admit to it. Being a leader isn’t a walk in the park, he realises that as soon as he meets the other troupe members.

Although both of you come from an entirely different background, with him being rebellious and all, he is bound to understand that being earnest as Sakyo has said, will benefit him in the long run. You are a great example for him to follow, and don’t need to feel the pressure! You’re fine the way you are, and this kid will soon learn so both of you can bloom together!

Tsumugi Tsukioka

I’m pretty sure the cherry blossoms in the courtyard are well taken care of by Tsumugi because it also reminds him of you.

He looks out for you in the smallest ways which you might not have noticed. I’m pretty sure you realise by now that you can talk to him whenever you’re troubled, right? He will listen and he will be grateful he could be an emotional support for you.

Tasuku Takato

Have you been working out a lot with him? I could start seeing those muscle lines on your arms and legs. Keep up the good work!

He cheers you on by always thinking of training menus for you, knowing that your motivation to be stronger is to build your stamina for better endurance while acting. Tasuku might not say anything, but deep down he appreciates you depending on him for such matters. (Don’t tell him I said this, please. He’ll deny it anyway)

Hisoka Mikage

Being in the Christmas play together must have made you guys closer. Hisoka even mentioned how he looks forward to acting with you again.

Your caring nature did not go unnoticed. I believe he even gave you some marshmallows to try? And if that’s not him accepting you as one of his own, I don’t know what is.

Thank you for always looking out for him. He has you to thank for all the times he slept and was protected by the cold weather. 

Homare Arisugawa

I’m curious whether you actually understand Homare when he’s gushing about an inspiration for his poems. But, you always seem to listen intently and take the time to attempt at digesting the verses. 

Homare adores you for that; not everyone can appreciate his poems, he knows that very well, but those who put in the effort to understand his world will always be remembered. And you, Sakuya, are one of them.

Azuma Yukishiro

Being one of the oldest members of the company also meant that witnessing youth in action is always something that he looks out for everyday. This might explain why he’s a bit sad you’re one year older and more mature now.

His wish for you is simply to let you have no worries in life as you experience youth and the splendour it brings. You’re still young, so many doors of opportunities left to open. With that in mind, feel free to embrace your passion and continue pushing forward to reach your dream, Sakuya. He has your back and nothing will ever get in your way anymore.

Guy

Honestly, please convince him that you enjoy Citron’s company. I’m confident that you never once considered Citron to be a nuisance or burden of any sort.

Just know that Guy is at your service for all the trouble that Citron has caused you. And in times of need, he will always be ready to assist you.

#a3! #a3! act! addict! actors! #a3! game #a3 headcanons #a3! headcanons #a3! actor training game #a3! sakuya #sakuya sakuma #a3! masumi #a3! tsuzuru #a3! citron #a3! itaru #a3! chikage #a3! spring #a3! spring troupe #a3! tenma #a3! yuki #a3! muku #a3! misumi #a3! kazunari #a3! kumon #a3! summer troupe #a3! banri #a3! juza #a3! taichi #a3! omi #a3! sakyo #a3! azami #a3! autumn troupe #a3! tsumugi

[sodalitefully]

Santa Slash is coming to town...

This fic is the Christmas-themed spiritual successor to my Easter Bunny AU.  Special thanks to @slashscowboyboots for supporting all my holiday nonsense! 

Four snapshots from Slash’s Christmas prep marathon through the years:

🎄🎄🎄🎄

Jingle bells.  

Fucking jingle bells.

There were FIFTEEN of them on the stupid-fucking-candy-colored costume he had to wear at this godforsaken excuse for a seasonal job.  “Earn some extra cash,” they said.  “It’s easy, you barely have to do anything,” they said.  "You'll be perfect, you already look the part!" they said.  

"They are about to find a size-ten jingle-toed bootie up their ass,” Axl said – to himself, as he rushed into the storage room turned "dressing room" and buttoned up his itchy red and green vest with one hand while sipping an Orange Julius from the food court with the other.  

“Hey, Axl! You’re barely late today, awesome!”

And then there was this weirdo.

Axl could not for the life of him explain why a shopping mall in Indiana elected to hire a skinny dude in his 20s with a dark complexion and a nose ring to portray Saint Nick himself, but whatever the reason, Axl was stuck working with this fruitcake until Christmas Day.  Sure Slash was nice enough (oh yeah, and his name was Slash, or at least that's how he introduced himself without offering any explanation or even a last name), but he was way too enthusiastic about getting paid minimum wage to let strange kids sit in his lap at a grimy old shopping mall.

Uh, not in a weird way, Slash was good with the kids, really.  But sometimes... it seemed like he was taking his role a little too seriously.  

"How come you don't have a beard?" the first customer of Axl's shift, a little girl in a Tweety bird sweater and blonde pigtails, asked suspiciously.

"That's a good question,” Slash said, scratching at his bare chin. The neck of his Motörhead Beyond the Threshold of Pain Tour T-shirt was visible over the faux fur collar of the Santa costume, and his shiny black boots clearly came from a military surplus store. “I get asked that a lot but the truth is, it just isn't a flattering look, trust me.  I tried it once, and the elves could barely look at me in the eye." To Axl’s incredulity, the girl actually accepted that answer.  "Now tell me, what would you like for Christmas this year, sweetheart?"

As usual, Axl tuned out at this point.  Fake a smile for the overprotective parents, take the painfully awkward commemorative photograph, try not to look like he would rather die than hear Slash try to gently explain that Santa will probably not be delivering a pony this year one more damn time, rinse and repeat – until about an hour later, when the unthinkable happened.

The less said about about the incident, the better.  Suffice to say, one of the darling angels tossed his Christmas cookies, and some of the resulting mess wound up soaking into the front of Axl’s elf costume.  As if he needed another reason to hate his job; this was just adding insult on top of injury (that is, the injury to Axl’s pride as a result of being forced to wear the most ridiculous-looking costume he’s ever had the misfortune of laying eyes on). 

“That’s it. I quit.”  He grabbed the elf cap off his head and slammed it on the ground, then stormed through the exit gate past the sign wishing customers a "Holly Jolly Holiday Season," the bells on his costume ringing merrily as he stomped his feet.

“Hey, wait!”

“No,” Axl growled, but he did turn around to look back at Slash, still sitting in the plastic candy-cane throne unbothered by the mess or the sniffling child now mostly placated by a peppermint candy.  "What."  

Slash offered him a bright, beguiling smile.

"What do you want for Christmas, Axl?" 

-----

Nothing said "holiday cheer" like wandering the tinsel-adorned labyrinth that was a Walmart superstore a week before Christmas, with Paul McCartney's "Wonderful Christmastime" echoing through the tinny PA system and surrounded by other last-minute vultures hopelessly scavenging the picked-over aisles.  

In Izzy's defense, he actually finished all his shopping early this year, for once.  But then his two little brothers begged him to drive them around town to find the perfect gift for a girl at school that they apparently both had a crush on, and like a fool he agreed. 

He was regretting it now.  Anything would be better than subjecting himself to nearly an hour of top-40 Christmas music.  The jingle bells were jingling, the carolers were caroling, the B-list pop stars were spitting out god-awful covers of Christmas classics, and don’t even get him started on the commercials. 

He wasn't about to walk around in public with his fingers shoved in his ears (at least, he wasn't that desperate yet), but he did squeeze his eyes shut and pinch the bridge of his nose, trying to force himself to relax.  Just take deep breaths and think of The Rolling Stones... 

"Hey, uh, you doing okay?"

Izzy opened his eyes reluctantly.  In front of him was a young man wearing a concerned expression and a Santa hat, stuffed onto a massive pile of dark curls.  

"I'm fine.  Just finding out if it's possible to die from overexposure to Christmas music."

"Ahhh."  The man nodded in understanding.  "It's not, unfortunately.  I've tested it, trust me."

"Do you work here or something?" Izzy asked.  A leather jacket and ripped jeans didn't look like an employee uniform, but his hat matched the store decor and he didn't have a cart or shopping basket.  

"No, I'm actually a seasonal distributor.  Just checking in to make sure everything's in place before that last holiday rush, you know? Shit always gets crazy at the last minute."

"Tell me about it," Izzy responded, as if he knew a thing about marketing as a cynical 16-year-old.  But he had first-hand experience with last-minute crises, and as if to prove it, his brothers came running up to him at that moment.

"Jeff!  We can't find anything good, what should we do?"

"What's the problem?" the stranger in a Santa hat asked, looking genuinely concerned.  

"We don't know what present to get for a girl at school," the boys explained.

"Hmm..." He tapped at his chin.  "Why don't you just – oh wait, you're underage.  Well, how about you bake her some cookies or something?  That's what everyone does for me and I have no complaints."

Desperate to remove himself from this musical hell, Izzy jumped on the idea.  "Yeah, you could do sugar cookies!  And decorate them like horses, she likes horses right?” The boys had only mentioned that a dozen times; Izzy was starting to wonder if this girl even had any other personality traits.  

To his relief, a spark lit up in his brothers' eyes.  Cookies were a perfect idea, and suddenly they were dragging him away to look at cookie cutters and sprinkles.

Izzy turned around to shoot the helpful stranger a grateful look, but when he looked back, the man had disappeared with no trace, leaving not even a furry white pompom behind.

-----

Slash glanced out the window and grimaced – it was cold as a witch’s big bouncy tit outside, nothing but snow and ice as far as the eye could see. He pulled the blanket tighter around his shoulders and took another swig of hot Irish coffee.   Damn the North Pole, there was a reason he took his summer vacations in Malibu.

But despite the miserable work conditions, Slash was nothing if not dedicated to his job.  In front of him was a sack overflowing not with toys but with the most recent letters to Santa, straight from the North Pole's post office.  With Christmas only a few days away, his daunting task was to go through the whole mountain of letters as quickly as possibly in order to take their special requests into consideration before it was time to start loading up the sleigh.  

Well, there was no time like the present to get started.  Slash stretched his back and got comfortable in his coziest armchair (by throwing his legs over one armrest and slouching until his head rested on the other), absentmindedly tapping the end of his peppermint stick on the edge of an ashtray.  He grimaced when he brought the stick back to his lips and realized his mistake. 

With a sigh, he dropped the peppermint stick back in the ashtray already full of cigarette butts and ruined candies, and unfolded the first letter.  In barely legible green marker, the message read: 

Dear Santa Claus,

My name is Steven and I'm 5 years old.  Please give me a skateboard for Christmas.  My brother has one and he won't let me borrow it to learn tricks.

Hmmm.  Five years old was a little young for a skateboard.  Knowing Steven, he'd probably knock his teeth out by New Year's...

...Slash shrugged.  Why not?  All things considered, he would have killed for a skateboard when he was five, so who was he to say no?

-----

Duff was seven years old when his older brothers cornered him in the backyard and gleefully informed him that Santa Claus was a fraud.  It was all a lie made up by parents to convince their children to behave during the year, they explained, and the toys were made on factory lines not by magical elves.  Their mother gave them a hell of a scolding afterwards but it was too late, the deed could not be undone. 

He tried to play it cool, but the truth was, Duff was very distraught as Christmas Eve inched closer.  Could his siblings be right?  He didn't want to believe it, but if he was being honest with himself, he'd suspected as much for some time.  He braced himself to accept the hard truth come Christmas Eve – but only if he was presented with definitive proof.

When the fateful night finally came, Duff and two of his brothers laid out their sleeping bags behind the couch, where they'd be hidden from view if anyone tried to approach the Christmas tree.  They all swore not to fall asleep, not even for a second until Christmas morning... And it wasn't until his brother started snoring that Duff realized he was the only one still awake and silently anticipating the moment of truth.  

It was imperative, of course, that he stayed hidden and didn't make a sound, or else risk giving their plot away.  But... it was past midnight, dinner was hours ago and Duff's empty stomach was starting to distract him from the task at hand.  He couldn't stop thinking about all the food he would get to eat with his family on Christmas Day: the glazed ham, mashed potatoes, apple pie and Christmas cookies... 

In the dim light, Duff could just barely make out the plate of cookies for Santa, waiting in front of the tree.  The cookies were still there untouched, all six of them... Surely no one would notice if Duff ate just one?  

He tiptoed over his sleeping siblings, as silent as the snow falling outside, making his way around the sofa to the plate on the coffee table.  But just as he reached out to pluck a gingerbread man from the assortment, he saw a shadow of movement out of the corner of his eye.  There, beside the Christmas tree in the flickering glow of multicolored string lights, was a mysterious figure in a fur-lined coat and a red cap.

Duff stared at the intruder, slack-jawed.  The cookie clattered back onto the dish, and at the noise the stranger whirled around to face him. 

"Duff!  What are you doing still awake?" he demanded.  Duff took a breath to answer – or more likely to ask how the man knew his name – but before he could, the man peered over the couch, narrowed his eyes and frowned.  "Oh I see what this is. You thought you would catch your parents pretending to be me!" he accused.  "Well, here's the real truth: adults are always wrong and you should never do what they say!" 

The man – could he really be Santa Claus? – he planted his leather-gloved hands on his hips as he scolded Duff.  "And don't even get me started on teenagers..." he griped, casting a stare over Duff's shoulder where his older brother's leg was sticking out from behind the couch, tangled in a blanket.  

Tears started to well up in Duff's eyes.

"Please still give them Christmas presents!  I know they said they don't believe in you, but they've been good, I promise!" he begged.  Santa's expression softened.

"Aw, I know, kid.  I promise they'll still get their presents, alright?  Let me just finish up here and then maybe you can help me out with those cookies, sound good?"

Placated, Duff sniffled and nodded, scrubbing his eyes with his sleeve. He hopped onto the sofa, swinging his feet and watching with awe as Santa pulled beautifully wrapped gifts out of seemingly nowhere and stacked them around the tree, one after another until all eight of the McKagan children were represented. He took a step back to take in his handiwork, made a few minor adjustments, then turned back to Duff: “Voila! That’s the magic of Christmas. Now pass me that plate, would you?”

Santa sat down next to Duff and propped his boots up on the coffee table. When Duff held out the plate of cookies, he selected one decorated to look like Santa Claus, white beard and all, and promptly bit its head off. 

“I love my job, but delivering presents is exhausting,” he sighed, accepting a glass of milk from Duff’s outstretched hand. “I’ve already covered Asia, Africa, Europe, and most of the Americas, so I’d say I’m due for a break.  Cheers, Duff.” He held up his glass and Duff tapped it with his half-eaten cookie. 

“To a merry Christmas and a happy New Year!”

🎄🎄🎄🎄

#which sounds better: #santa slash or slash claus? #what do yall eat on christmas? i realized while writing this that i have no idea what people normally have #sodafics #guns n roses #gnr #guns and roses #slash #saul hudson #axl rose #izzy stradlin #steven adler #duff mckagan #gnr fanfic #christmas

[blackcloverdatabase]

English Translation of Novel 2: Chapter 4 - Captains' Dinner Party (Part 1 of 2)

Here is my first translation of the Black Clover novels. These chapters are huge, so I’m splitting this chapter into two parts, making this section about 6500 words long. This first half features Marx and Julius at the beginning, then transitions into the dinner party itself. Asta and Yuno also get mentioned in a hilarious kind of way. It’s a lot of fun to see the captains interact with each other! I think I nearly died a few times while I was translating this…

--- Captains' Dinner Party ----

As a close associate of the Wizard King, Marx uses his memory and communication magic with absolute precision. He is a capable man. His incredible ability is made evident by the fact he alone is the Wizard King’s close associate, who has been entrusted to his duties. As we all know, the Wizard King is the one who stands at the top of the Magic Knights.

Of course, Marx does not take on half of the Wizard King’s duties by himself. There are several people who support him. However, right now, Marx is the only one who reports directly to the Wizard King. There are those who act as imperial guards or advisers in times of emergency, but Marx generally acts as the Wizard King’s sole support.  

In short, he is doing work that should be done by several people all on his own. Moreover, the current Wizard King, Julius Novachrono, disappears at every opportunity. It’s never related to his work, either. Rather, he’ll say “I’ve heard a rumor about some interesting magic in one of the neighboring towns”, and, like a mischievous boy, casually disappear for that reason. While protecting this (42-year-old) mischievous boy, Marx busily performs his daily duties. His position is one that a person without ability can never handle.

 But now……

“……Everyone, thank you for taking time out of your busy schedules to meet with me here today.”

Marx muttered through his teeth as a drop of cold sweat lined his noble face. His manner of behavior was clumsy, unbefitting of the capable man he is. He felt that he could throw up at any moment.

‘Why did things have to come to this…?’ he thought.

“…Hey, bowl-cut. Quit it with the formalities and get started already.”

The meeting place was the conference room of the Magic Knights’ main headquarters. Strewn across the table were many delicious-looking meat and vegetable dishes, as well as iced alcoholic beverages. There were also pots of food evenly spaced apart on the table, as well as…

“……Be quiet, Yami. A hideous man like you may not know this, but everything has a code of etiquette,” rebuked the Captain of the Blue Roses, Charlotte Roselei.

With her dispassionate reply, the others around the table began to speak up one-by-one.

“Huuuh? But, at this rate, the beer’s gonna get warm! Tepid beer offends my mana.”

“Kah kah. You two should stop getting to know each other so well! Marx can’t move on with you guys chatting so much!”

“Wh-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-Who’s getting along with each other!? Jack, don’t say such nonsense!!”

“Huh? Charlotte-san, why do you look a little happy……Eeek!?”

“……Young deer. The next time you speak, don’t be surprised if you find my thorns shoved down your throat.”

With Fuegoleon and Poizot absent, only seven of the nine captains were present. They were summoned by the Wizard King. A stormy aura emanated from them as they sat surrounded by pots.

“W-well then, at the very least, let’s toast…..”

Faced with such an explosive atmosphere, Marx forced a smile on his face and stood up.

“E-everyone! Today, let’s celebrate and get this party in full-swing……Cheers!”

And so, the dinner party from Hell began.

 --- A few hours before the hellish party began ---

 “……A dinner party for the captains?”

“That’s right. I’m thinking we should make today’s Magic Knight Conference like that.”

Marx and Julius had such an exchange earlier that day in the underground storehouse at the Magic Knight’s headquarters. They had heard that two members of the Black Bulls, Luck and Magna, captured an extremely difficult dungeon and brought the relics stored there into the kingdom. Of course, the two did not carry all those relics by themselves. At their request, Magic Knights from headquarters came to help them, but the dungeon was so full of relics that it took half-a-day to carry it all back. The relics were sent to the Magic Appraisal Division for appraisal, and, knowing that all of them have high research value, the Wizard King came to watch.

“Ooooh! Hey, hey Marx-kun! Look! This is amazing! This black skull is falling apart, but if you inject it with magical power, it becomes as good as new!”

…...Well, the other reason Julius came was to satisfy his curiosity.

“I must say, Magna-kun and Luck-kun are impressive, triumphing over ten opponents like that~! I want to ask them about it, but I wonder if they returned to their hideout already?”

“No, I’ve heard that they said they have some errands to take care of in Seitan, a village in the Forsaken Realm, so they left right away…They might have already left Seitan, but would you like me to try contacting them?”

“Hmmm…… no. They must be tired after a mission like that. Let’s let them rest…… More importantly, look! They say this skeleton has a magic room inside its body! This right here is supposed to be the switch to activate it!”

“Oh? As one would expect, all the relics from this dungeon are highly advanced…… wait, hold on!”

He was almost caught up in Julius’s pace. If you respond to him thoughtlessly, this magic maniac will babble on and on endlessly about magic.

“About the dinner party… well, that is, why do you think we need to do such a thing?”

“Why, you ask? ……Because we’re all comrades in the very same Order of the Magic Knights.  I don’t think we need any other reason than that to eat and drink together.”

“That’s true, but……”

That’s not what Marx was trying to say.

“Certainly, they have known each other for a long time now, and they all have their own personal connections with each other, but… this is hard for me to say, but, from what I’ve seen, their relationship with each other is indisputably bad. With everyone being like that, I’m not sure if they’ll be able to enjoy it……”

To put it plainly, this dinner party is going to be an incredibly unpleasant experience for everyone involved… is what he tried to imply, but Julius responded with an affable tone as he fumbled around with the skull.

“Yeah, the dinner party is probably going to be so unpleasant that you’ll want to die. Ha ha, I’ll remember you fondly, Marx-kun.”

‘I should kick this old bastard’s skull in!’ Such dangerous thoughts, which would most certainly be considered national treason if he did it, sometimes crossed Marx’s mind.

“But, you know, that is precisely why I’m throwing this party.”

With those words, Julius looked away from the skull in his hands and toward Marx.

“We’ve received a declaration of war from the Eye of the Midnight Sun, and we’ve been betrayed by Gueldre. Moreover, the Diamond and Spade Kingdoms are becoming increasingly aggressive. Now that we have more perils and unease, the Magic Knights must become more monolithic…… We’ve talked about this several times now, haven’t we?”

“……Yes.”

After Marx meekly nodded his head in agreement, Julius took a breath and continued,

“And, you know that I’ve been working these past few weeks in order to give form to that idea, right?”

“……Yes. Revealing the traitor in the Magic Knights, encouraging joint missions like what happened in Kiten, as well as the trial introduction of the new system called Experience Enrollment*…… and more, right?”

“Yup, that’s about it as far as mission-related tasks go.”

Strictly speaking, that’s all he’s done so far as the Wizard King. However, the truth is, there is one more thing he did behind the scenes. It’s true that Magna and Luck have just traversed a dungeon that has never been explored before, and they brought back a number of treasures. However, it was Julius who induced them into doing so. Julius knew that the Black Bulls were looking for a way to fix Asta’s arms, so he chose an extremely difficult dungeon that most likely held rare treasures.  He then used his transformation magic to transform into an old woman, told Magna about the dungeon at the black market, and gave him some hints about how to capture it. Whether or not they could capture it successfully was a bit of a gamble, and they did not find any clues about how to cure Asta’s arms (Well, it turned out that Asta had already healed his arms at the Witches Forest, anyway). Nonetheless, as a result, they became much stronger and successfully brought back the dungeon’s treasures.

Because of this achievement, the number of stars the Black Bulls have acquired now stands at 101, making them second only to the Golden Dawn. What was once the worst Magic Knight squad has clawed its way to the top in a flash. This will agitate the other knights and spur them on to work even harder. In other words, they must learn to cooperate with each other now more than ever. Though indirect, their efforts will serve as a great steppingstone for the Magic Knights to come together.

Of course, not everything will go smoothly. Still, just a little movement behind the scenes produced such magnificent results. For him, these results are more than enough.

“……What is it, sir? You suddenly started smiling,” Marx asked quizzically.

This made Julius realize that what he was thinking was showing on his face.

“Huh? Ah, no, ha ha, nothing really! I haven’t been doing anything behind your back, I swear!”

“……I haven’t said anything, yet…”

“…………”

Marx stared at him for some time before sighing in defeat.

“Well, it’s fine……I can more or less imagine what you did,” Marx said as he surveyed the piles of treasure in the room. He is truly a capable man.

“……So, what you’re saying is… this ‘Captain's dinner party’ is also an essential part of your plan to unite the Magic Knights?”

“Y-yup. That’s right.”

Julius cleared his throat as if to recollect his thoughts.

“I, too, am aware of the current state of their relationship. Though they aren’t exactly on bad terms with each other, it’s certainly not a relationship where they can laugh and eat together…… However, don’t you think it’s a problem if the Captains, who are supposed to set a good example for their squads, stay like this forever?”

“I completely agree with you, but I don’t think their relationship is going to improve after one or two dinners……”

“And it’s almost time for the Star Festival, you know? And I think I’ll probably be asked again, probably by either the King himself or one of the Royals “Are the captains working together properly?” …or something like that.”

Julius intercepted Marx’s words with a bored look on his face. Marx knew that Julius always makes that face whenever he talks about political matters.

“Well, I can be evasive if I need to be… but don’t blame me if something happens. The mere act of having a dinner party should have a little bit of appeal, I would think, which should improve their relationship a bit.”

It was only a few weeks ago since the attack on the royal capital, when royalty tried to place the blame on the Magic Knights. At the time, they were able to gain the people’s support, but that may not be the case next time. If such a thing were to happen again and the blame were put on discord amongst the captains, he wouldn’t know how to respond. Of course, Julius genuinely wants them to deepen their friendships with each other, and he also finds political diplomacy to be genuinely boring. However, one must pay attention to those trying to drag you down and prepare countermeasures accordingly.

“Sir……”

While Julius was thinking, for some reason, Marx had a look of admiration on his face as he said,

“You’ve been thinking about such delicate topics this much……!?”

“Sometimes I think about these things, just like how you sometimes don’t think of me as the Wizard King, right?”

‘Sometimes, you think of me as just a mischievous old man, right?’ he thought to himself.

“I was joking earlier…… However, I understand. If you’ve thought it through to this degree, then I will do all I can to help you,” Marx said with his hand in a three-leaf salute, his face finally breaking into a smile.

“Thank you.”

Julius expressed his gratitude with a small smile.

“……Well, I also have some personal reasons for doing this,” he said to himself quietly.

“Huh? I’m sorry, did you say something?” Marx asked Julius, but, by then, Julius’s usual smile had already returned to his face.

“No, it’s nothing. Well then, I hate to ask this of you, but can I leave preparations for the party to you?”

“……I understand. Are there any dishes in particular you think we should serve?”

He was a little worried, but he focused on asking pragmatic questions. The dinner was going to be in a few hours, so if he did not start preparing right away, he would never finish in time.

“Anything’s fine, but…… how about hot pot dishes? I heard from Yami that the people from his homeland all gather around a pot, strengthening their bonds with each other.”

“Understood. I’ll arrange for that, then.”

Hot pot dishes… it’s not a dish typically seen at parties in the Clover Kingdom. It’s a tall order, but that won’t stop him from preparing it.

“You have my thanks. Well then, I’m going to investigate these magic tools a little more.”

“That’s fine, but……”

Marx looked around the width of the room again with a bitter smile.

“Don’t get so engrossed in them that you arrive late to the party. I won’t be able to handle their questions by myself.”

“Ha ha! Don’t worry, I’ll be fine!” he said with a grin as he returned his attention to the skull. Marx made one more bitter smile from behind Julius before leaving the room.

“A hot pot party for the captains…… the atmosphere is probably going to be strained, but there’s going to be alcohol, and, above all, Julius is going to be there. Certainly, everyone will behave themselves to some extent if they are before the Wizard King.”

“Right, as long as the Wizard King is there.”  

 With that, we return to the present, while the starting toast is occurring…

 ‘……. That old bastard isn’t here!!!!!!!’

Marx screamed internally as the amount of sweat drops on his face increased twenty-fold. To make matters worse, not a single one of the captains raised their glasses for the toast. He went to retrieve Julius ten minutes before the party was to begin, and yet, for whatever reason, he wasn’t there. Instead, there was a note which read “I’m testing the skeleton’s functionality in a separate room. Please start the party without me.”

After being hit with that bombshell, Marx frantically began to search for him, but he wasn’t in any of the adjacent rooms, and he couldn’t even feel his mana. His communication was also cut off, as usual. As he hustled and bustled about, the time came for the party, so he reported Julius missing and started the party. However……. just as he expected, the atmosphere was terrible.

“Please calm down, Charlotte-san! Why are you so mad!?”

The party has barely even started and yet Charlotte, whose face was red for some reason, was shooting her thorns at the Captain of the Aqua Deer, Rill Boismortier.

“……S-shut your mouth, Rill. I’m merely teaching you how you should speak to your seniors!”  

“Uh, no! I mean! It really feels like you’re trying to kill me…… ow, ouch! One of your thorns cut me!”

Sitting beside them were the Captains of the Green Mantis and the Black Bulls, Jack the Ripper and Yami Sukehiro. A turbulent aura surrounded them as they began to quarrel.  

“Hey, Rose lady. Stop scarin’ the deer kid. Look, he’s shiverin’ like a newborn baby.”

“Kah kah! Yami, you’re the one who started this mess!”

“No way, isn’t this happenin’ because a certain skin-and-bone-head decided to say somethin’ that would push her buttons? I bet your brain is as emaciated as your face. You poor thing.”

“HUUH!?”

Sitting across from them was the Captain of the Golden Dawn, William Vangeance. Rather than do anything to stop the quarrel, he simply sat there and smiled as he usually does.

“Fu fu. Everyone is getting along as well as ever, I see…… Even so, the Wizard King certainly is late.”

Sitting beside him was the Captain of the Silver Eagles, Nozel Silva. He hasn’t uttered a single word since the beginning of the party. A sullen aura of displeasure radiated out from him.  

“………zzz”

And finally, beside Nozel sat the Captain of the Coral Peacocks, Dorothy Unsworth.

“……zzz……zzz……..zzz……..nom, chew chew……zzz”

Whenever she is asleep, there is often a snot bubble coming from her nose. This must mean she’s asleep right now, yet somehow, she’s eating. There are many things about her that are simply incomprehensible. In any case, aside from Marx, there was not a single other person interested in calming the place down. There was no sign that Julius was ever going to come, either. He has been trying to use his communication magic, but he still hasn’t been able to connect with Julius.

‘……As I expected, I’ll have to try to do something by myself.’

“W-wow! I prepared all this food myself, but I must say, this is a delicious-looking assortment of ingredients!!”

In an attempt to change the atmosphere of the party, Marx began throwing ingredients into the pot. While he was doing that, he turned toward Yami, who was still arguing with Jack.

“I heard this hot pot cooking is a dish from Yami’s homeland. But what’s the most delicious way to eat it? Ha ha, please teach me, Captain Yami!”

“Dunno!”

“…………”

With that single word, Yami went straight back to arguing with Jack. His eyes had met Marx’s for a single instant, revealing a killer’s glare.

“……. Ah, I see. Ha ha, that’s right! What’s most delicious is going to be different depending on the person, right? I’m sorry.”

Marx felt as if his heart was about to break. He needed to find someone to talk to so that he could recover. Just now, his conversation partner and his timing were both terrible. This time, he’ll find someone who looks more open to conversation……

“Ah, C-captain Nozel! Do you like poultry!?”

At that moment, Nozel, who was reaching for some roast duck, shifted his gaze toward Marx. He may be hard to talk to, but if it’s a conversation about his favorite foods, he’ll open up a little. At least, that’s what he thought……

“Kah kah, come to think of it, I’ve never seen ya eat or drink before, Nozel!”

“Oh, he’s eating! Somehow, I feel kinda moved by seeing this. It’s like watchin’ a feral cat who doesn’t let you pet it finally eat the food you put out for it for the first time… I feel like I’m gonna tear up.”

……This is the worst. Jack and Yami paused their fight to poke fun at Nozel. They both must have decided that teasing him is more interesting than fighting with each other. However, their target ignored them and continued to eat his meal with refinement. Marx isn’t sure whether he should be surprised by this development of if he should have expected it. After all, Nozel knows very well how those two are. However, even though he looked calm…

“Kah kah, a cat!? But, now that ya mention it, he’s totally like a cat! A very prideful cat!”

“Yeah. When you think of him like that, he starts lookin’ kinda cute.”

This made Nozel’s forehead muscles twitch, but then the two pushed even further.

“Cute? With that sour look on his face? Kah kah! What the hell are you lookin’ at?”

“Nah, he’s cute. It’s the braid, y’know? He does that every mornin’ cuz’ he wants to look cute.”

“……Hey, that’s enough you two!”  

Rill exploded. He puffed out his cheeks and pointed at Nozel’s braid.

“Nozel-san thinks his braid is cool! Seeing him get made fun of for that is just too pitiful…… Eeek!”

In the blink of an eye, Nozel thrust a spear of mercury into Rill’s throat.

“Huh, wait, what!? Why!? I was just trying to back you up! Besides, didn’t Yami-san and Jack-san say way worse things about you!?”

“……Silence. You’re hopeless.”

“Why are you being so unreasonable? ……Hey, o-ouch! Wait, the cut I got from those thorns earlier is even larger now!?”

Marx quietly looked away from the chaos that was ensuing between them. Nozel is certainly being unreasonable, but, no matter how you look at it, Rill is suffering the consequences for what he said. Let them handle their own problems, he thought.

“……H-hey, Yami”

After Marx made his cruel decision, Charlotte, who was sitting beside him, quietly divided the contents of the pot into small plates as a faint blush colored her cheeks.

“……Since I was already taking my portion, I decided I might as well make a plate for you, too…… I-it’s in the way, so hurry up and eat it,” she said as she placed a small plate in front of Yami.

……Come to think of it, ever since he told her that today’s meeting will be a dinner party, she has been acting a little strange. It seemed like she had to muster up her courage when she sat next to Yami, and she looked rushed when she did it. Even after the party started, she has been acting as if she was trying to get the timing right on something.  

Could it be that she wants to look after Yami? He wasn’t sure what her intentions were, but if that was what she was trying to do, then he’s very grateful. If she can hold Yami in check, then Jack should calm down a little, too. That would rein in the two biggest troublemakers here.

Just as Marx was getting his hopes up, Yami and Jack turned toward each other,

“……Hey, Yami, because you started saying weird shit, now even Charlotte has started acting out of character…. What the hell!? What the hell is up with this enigmatic woman!? Talk about terrifying!”

“I don’t know! H-hey Charlotte……Wha-what is your aim here? I-is it my life you’re after?”

“Y-you cretins!! I was trying to do you a favor!!”

“Wooooooooooooow, what a delicious-looking dish!! Y-Yami, if you won’t eat it, then I wiiiiiiiiiiilllllll!!”

Just as Charlotte was about to summon her thorns again, Marx speedily forced his way into the conversation.

“……Y-yes! Please eat it, Marx! I want nothing to do with this foolishness anymore!”

For just a moment, Charlotte’s face was like a demon’s, but then she replied with a pout as she pushed the plate onto Marx.

‘……I don’t really get what just happened, but, for now, the danger has been averted,’ he thought.

“Ah, I-I know! Captain Yami! You had Yuno-kun in your squad a few days ago for the Experience Enrollment! How was that!?”

Though he just averted one crisis, it was only a matter of time before they would provoke each other again, so he decided to change the topic of conversation.

“Ah, that’s right! I just remembered! Hey Goldy, I wanted to talk to you about that!”

Marx wasn’t sure if he chose the perfect conversation topic or if it was just his timing that was good, but Yami stopped arguing with Jack and turned toward Vangeance.

“Hand Yuno over, ya hear? Not as a trade. Give him to me free of charge.”

‘……Well, I successfully managed to start a conversation, but it sounds an awful lot like blackmail,’ Marx thought.

“Ha ha…… I’ve heard a little bit about what happened while he was with you, but does Yuno interest you that much?”

Vangeance replied with a smile as he gently swirled the contents of his cup. As far as Marx was aware, Vangeance is the only one who can behave so elegantly while being pressured by Yami.

“Yeah, I could make real good use outta him. He’s great at cookin’ and cleanin’, and he could buy my alcohol and cigs for me.”

“I heard about that from Yuno himself. When Sandler heard, he became very angry and said, ‘You may be a mere peasant, but to think he’d make members of our squad do things like that……’. I had never seen him make a face like that before.”

“Well, of course, I also think that Yuno’s magic is really somethin’ else. It’s really crazy, that spirit magic he has. Yuno’s magic by itself is strong enough, but with that spirit supportin’ him, all his other spells have gotten multiple times stronger.”

It is said that a spirit dwells in each of the four major attributes: earth, fire, wind, and water. Extraordinarily powerful magic that can only be wielded by those who have received the spirit’s blessing, that is spirit magic. Yuno has been blessed by the wind spirit, Sylph. She has already made significant contributions in many of his missions.

“He’s really somethin’. He dried the laundry so damn fast!”

That ability is not for housework.

“You get what I’m sayin’, right? So, hand him over.”

And it’s not something one can get so easily.

“Ha ha. No. You’re not even offering me anyone in return, you know?”

“Huh? What, you mean you’ll think about it if I trade ya for him? There’s someone on my team you want?”

“……Hmm, let me see.”

From behind his mask, a mischievous glint shone in his eyes.

“How about…… Asta-kun?”

“…………”

Everyone at the table paused in shock. This has to be a joke, the kind you usually make at a drinking party, they thought. Surely, neither of them was being serious. Still, even if they were joking, he brought up Asta’s name in a conversation about trading the Golden Dawn’s ace ……he’s essentially saying that Asta’s value is equivalent to Yuno’s. That peasant who doesn’t even have any magic? Everyone knows that Asta has been an excellent Magic Knight. His name has shown up frequently in recent reports, and some of the captains here have even fought together with him. However, not having any magical power whatsoever is too dire a handicap to have in the Magic Knights. Thus, everyone was shocked to hear Vangeance bring up his name. Marx wondered if he could sense some kind of potential in Asta.

“Huh, you kidding? You’d be fine with him? You can have him. His arms were broken until just a while ago, but he seemed fine yesterday, so feel free to use him however you want.”

However, Yami didn’t seem fazed, continuing to speak in his usual way.

“……Well, but,”

In the next instant, his mouth upturned into a provocative smirk as he said,

“I don’t think you’d be able to handle him.”

“……I wonder about that.”

For a brief moment, the two stood still, studying each other without a word.  

The atmosphere around them wasn’t unpleasant, but it was a peculiar air, as if the two were trying to measure something specific in the other. Just as Marx was getting ready to chip into the conversation,

“Fu fu, let’s leave the joke at that…. I won’t hand Yuno over to you. Everyone is expecting great things from him this year.”

“Huh~ What the hell? You stingy golden weird mask guy.”

“Ah ha ha…… huh? Was that always meant to be an insult? Not my nickname?”

With that, they started drinking again, smiling as they continued to converse with each other. Unlike before, when they seemed to be throwing riddles at each other, there was no unpleasantness at all between them, just genuine enjoyment of the moment.

If this keeps up, the other captains will probably get involved, and then they’ll all enjoy being part of a normal conversation. Marx felt a wave of relief wash over him, but then…

“Tch. Fine, fine. My brat has more guts than Yuno, anyway~”

Oh no. With that single sentence Yami casually blurted out, Vangeance’s smile stiffened by just a little bit.

“……I guess. Well, I think that Yuno has a considerable amount of guts, too. I haven’t tried to compare them before, so I can’t say this with certainty, but I don’t think that Yuno necessarily loses to Asta in that regard.”

“…………”

With those words, this time, it was Yami whose expression tightened a bit.

“……Naah. I don’t know about that. That Asta hates losing so much that he’d rather die, so I bet he’d come out on top. I can’t say that with certainty, though.”

“……Yuno also hates to lose. He told me himself that, during the raid on the Capital, the reason he was able to capture a member of the Eye of the Midnight Sun is because of how strongly he felt those very emotions.”

“Nah nah, if you’re gonna bring that up, Asta killed a ton of zombies during that very same attack.”

“He did, but Yuno defeated a member of their upper echelons. Because of him, we were able to obtain vital intel on the Eye of the Midnight Sun, wouldn’t you agree?”

“The only reason we were able to get that intel is because Asta used his sword to break the protection spell on them!”

“Huh, wait, what? Ha ha… what’s wrong, you two?”

Marx attempted to stop them, but his voice didn’t reach them, and the two continued their dispute. It’s probable that neither of them intended for this to happen. However, no matter what they might say, it’s clear that they both dote on their squad members. The two got more fired up with each exchange until their souls were practically screaming “My child is better than yours!”. Neither of them has had much alcohol yet, but perhaps the power of alcohol had at least something to do with it.  

……And then, finally,

“……Then, we’ll just have to do it.”

Yami spoke with a sharp gaze and a voice so low it could kill.

“You mean, we should summon them right here, right now, and have them fight until one of them collapses… right?”

“Hmmm…… I guess that will be fine.”

“THAT’S NOT FINE AT AAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLL!!”

Marx finally decided it was time to intervene, but he was no longer in their field of vision. He was used to Yami being like this, but it was rare to see Vangeance’s eyes like that. It might even be the first time he has ever seen Vangeance like this.

‘So, this is how strongly he feels about his squad members……,’ Marx thought.

“P-please wait! Having them fight now is…… it’s definitely too sudden, don’t you think!? Plus, the two of them hail from the same village, right!? Suddenly making them fight each other would be too cruel!!”

“Actually, I’ve been told that fighting each other is how they’ve honed their practical combat skills since they were kids. We just want them to do that one more time, so I don’t think they would find our request particularly unreasonable.”

Vangeance was surprisingly calm as he said this, which suggests that he was never carried away by his emotions to begin with. He’s just that wicked. People who are calm and logical when they’re angry are the most frightening of them all.

“Well, that may be so, but…… they don’t need to fight right now, do they!? What about the dinner party!?”

“Would ya shut up already!? We can eat and drink while the two fight it out!”

“What!? That sounds just like what rich people with bad taste do for fun! You’ll traumatize them!”

To watch two people who grew up together like siblings fight to the death against their will! Only a demon would do such a thing and smile about it!  No, this man is called the God of Destruction for a reason. Come to think of it, if these two are saying things like this, then, most likely……

“Kah kah! Hey, Yami! Are you two planning to enjoy such an interesting spectacle without me?”

Just as Marx predicted, Jack joined the conversation.

“Let me in on this, too. And then I’ll cut up whoever wins.”

“Eeeh!? Jack-san is going to fight, too!?

It was as if a chain-reaction had begun. This time, it was Rill who responded, making sideways glances at Charlotte and Nozel as he spoke.

“A fu fu……Then, maybe I’ll go, too. I-it’s not like I feel really uncomfortable around certain people and am trying to get myself as far away from them as possible or anything!”

“……I don’t know what you are so fearful of, nor do I care, but I plan on coming as well.”

“Huuuuuuh!?”

Charlotte quietly declared her intent to participate, unconcerned with Rill, who’s eyes were wide with shock. Marx’s expression mirrored Rill’s as he sputtered,

“B-but…… Why you, too, Captain Charlotte!?”

“……Usually, I care not for whatever these men might do. However, the Star Festival will soon be upon us, an event of great importance. These foolish men need someone to keep an eye on them so that they don’t do anything stupid.”

For some reason, she kept stealing glances at Yami’s face as she spoke.

“……It’s dangerous to leave him unsupervised.”

For the second time that night, Yami and Jack exchanged looks after watching her behavior.

“……Hey, Jack. What’s up with her today? Dangerous to leave me unsupervised, she says……? Is she planning to follow me and… attack me from behind with her thorns!?”

“C-calm down, Yami! Try to remember! You probably did something to make her mad! You know, like… you defiled her honor or something!”

“…...I-I’m going to kill you!!”

“Please don’t!”

“C-captain Dorothy, Captain Nozel! You think it’s messed up to make Asta and Yuno fight, too, right!?”

Marx desperately called out as he shielded Yami with his body, arms outstretched. He didn’t have any faith that either of those two would join forces with him, but they were the only two who hadn’t yet entered the conversation. They were the last two he could possibly depend on, so he had no choice but to stake the last of his fleeting hopes on them.

‘……But, when you think about it, neither of them has been enjoying the party at all, but they haven’t done anything to spoil the party, either. No matter what they might say, that in itself could be evidence that they feel quite at home at this party, which means they might be willing to help me dissuade the other captains.’

Holding such hopes in his heart, Marx waited for either of them to make a response. However…

“……………………..”

“zzz………zzz…….zz zz, zzz-zz-zz…….zzz……zzz”

It was no good. Nozel’s eyes conveyed the message, “I don’t care. Bother me and I’ll break your spine in half”. Dorothy’s only response was her snores.

‘……As I thought, I’ll have to do something about this myself,’ Marx thought.

“P-please calm down, everyone! For now, let’s all sit back down! This dinner party is a formal banquet organized by the Wizard King, you know!? To disregard that would be unforgivable!”

He didn’t want to do this, but he decided he needed to borrow some of the Wizard King’s authority, so he mentioned him by name. Even so, he wasn’t sure if that would be enough to settle everyone down……

“……Or, how should I put it? Regardless of the fact this party was organized by the Wizard King, please do not abandon this banquet.”

Maybe he’s spilling the beans too soon. Maybe this banquet is all just a political maneuver.

“……The Wizard King established this banquet to deepen your friendships with each other.”

At the very least, he wanted them to know that fact.

“It’s true that I think this is a clumsy way to do it. It’s true that I think it’s hopeless. In fact, I think that it’s really irresponsible of that magic maniac to organize a banquet and not even show up! I’ve been thinking that, just once, I want someone to give him a good thrashing!”

“H-huh? Marx-san, are you trying to back him up? Or, do you just want to insult him?”

Rill’s voice was full of worry, bringing Marx back to his senses. He nearly let the daily frustrations he has built up erupt out of him.  

“A-anyway, it’s an undeniable fact that this banquet was prepared in consideration of your relationship…… So, I don’t want you all to quarrel like this at the banquet he prepared for you.”

“………”

With Marx’s desperate appeal, the entire banquet fell silent.

…This banquet has strayed far from what the Wizard King intended. At this point, even if the Wizard King were here, it would be impossible to fix. However, this was the only way Marx could think of to keep the party from falling to pieces. Just as he feared, getting this group to get along with each other was impossible……

“……What nonsense.”

Nozel retorted as he slowly stood up from his chair. His retort felt like an attack on an already defeated enemy. With that, he made his way toward the exit.

“……Ah, wait! Captain Nozel! Where are you going!?”

Nozel stopped and turned his head over his shoulder, looking back at Marx with frightfully cold eyes.  

“I’m going home. His goal was to deepen our friendships with each other, correct? However, with this banquet now in shambles, that will not come to pass. Therefore, it is pointless to remain here.”

“………”

He was right.

“……Or rather, do you not agree that this was impossible from the beginning? Me? Getting along with a commoner, a foreigner, and a fallen noblewoman?”

His cold gaze moved from person to person before meeting Marx’s gaze once more.

“It’s true that cooperation among the various squads of the Magic Knights will be essential as the war continues to intensify.  However, cooperation and familiarity are not synonymous. Rather, such half-baked acquaintanceships give birth to carelessness, and carelessness disrupts cooperation. Instead of wasting time on such meaningless gatherings, it would be more worthwhile to conduct joint exercises.”

“M-meaningless, you say……!?”

But he couldn’t refute what Nozel said. Though Marx felt that Nozel took things too far, none of what he said was incorrect. Even so, the Wizard King is…..!

“……Isn’t discussin’ that kind of thing one of the reasons that guy set this party up?”

“………!”

The one who said the very remarks Marx wanted to make was Yami. His eyes and tone were as extraordinarily deadpan as usual as he continued,

“Also, you’re right when you say that a half-assed friendship would only lead to careless mistakes, but if we don’t start by half-assing it, then it’ll never develop into real trust. That’s what strengthens collaboration…… not that I don’t understand where you’re comin’ from. I don’t wanna do it, either.”

“……Shut your mouth, foreigner. It was because of your ridiculous proposition that the order of this event was disturbed in the first place.”

“Ah, that whole thing about how we were gonna make Yuno and Asta fight? Yeah, I thought it would liven this place up a bit, but I guess we really shouldn’t. Sorry ‘bout that.”

Yami glanced at Vangeance, who apologized with a wry smile,

“Yeah. Ha ha, I guess that wouldn’t exactly bring us closer together, would it? Just as you said, I thought it would be nice to have them fight it out a little and then treat them to the food here, but…… certainly, it was an impudent proposal. We got carried away, and I apologize for that.”

“……huh?”

Marx’s eyes widened in shock.

‘Did those two come up with that idea in order to revitalize the banquet? By making all those objections and trying to keep everyone here against their will, did I end up ruining their idea and making the situation awkward for everyone……?’  

“Anyway, sit back down, Mr. ball-o’-pride. I’m not sayin’ you need to get along with all of us, but can’t you at least wait for the Wizard King to arrive? You can just tell him what you told us earlier and then leave, so you won’t have to stay much longer, y’know?”

“…….”

Just when Nozel opened his mouth to respond to Yami’s words, they heard the sound of something distorting.

“Oh… I finally got through to you.”

When he looked toward the direction of the sound, Marx saw the Wizard King’s face projected through his communication magic.

--- To be continued in Part 2---

I’ll post the next half of this chapter next week if all goes as planned. 

A note of explanation: “Experience Enrollment” is referenced in previous chapters of this novel. Though I haven’t translated those yet, it appears to be the name of the program for Magic Knights to spend a day working in a different squad. An example of this is when Asta works for the Golden Dawn in chapter 2 of this novel.

#Black Clover #Order of Knights Book #Yami Sukehiro #Julius Novachrono #William Vangeance #charlotte roselei #Jack the Ripper #rill boismortier #dorothy unsworth #nozel silva #Marx #My translations

[blackcloverthots]

Any Grey Deer Days headcanons?

I’m sure you meant Nacht but I threw in some ones that included Julius, William, and Yami just to be safe! :)

-During his days as a Grey Deer Nacht was more jovial and happy. He spoke easier with others and was not as judgmental, and all around was a more positive person with an optimistic outlook on life. 

-He enjoyed training with others to strengthen not only his magic skills but his fellow magic knights as well. He trained with Yami since both of their magic was on the darker side, but Nacht preferred to train with someone else if possible.

-Nacht didn’t like Yami while they were in the Grey Deer either, but he was more willing to be around him and work with him if necessary than he is as vice captain of the Black Bulls. 

-Nacht and William were good friends. They were both seen as outsiders of the community because of their magic type/looks, so they shared a mutual understanding of each other. 

-Nacht and Julius got along pretty well, although Nacht would find Julius’ obsession with Magic tedious to deal with sometimes. 

-William and Yami got along well too, and their friendly rivalry enabled them to get stronger, especially when they worked together in battle. 

-Julius loved being the captain of the Grey Deer and finding new magic and mages. He was always the loud annoying captain that got way too into it at the Magic Knight’s Entrance Exam. He was also always finding mages on random trips and bringing them back to join his squad, much to the displeasure of the other Magic Knight’s captains and the Wizard King. 

-Yami didn’t really care much about being a Magic Knight in the way that others do. He did it for the ability to pass his limits, the training to learn from Julius, and the free food.

-William was the Grey Deer everyone loved. The ladies swooned for him. He 100% was the Grey Deer everyone wanted to give things to and they all wanted him to be the one to come and save or help them. He’s so soft.

#black clover #bcthotpost #black clover nacht #black clover nacht headcanons #black clover william vangeance #william vangeance #black clover william vangeance headcanons #william vangeance headcanons #julius novachrono #black clover julius #black clover julius headcanons #black clover yami #yami sukehiro #black clover yami headcanons #yami sukehiro headcanons

[talpup]

Summary: Yami Sukehiro just wanted to join the Magic Knights and make his mentor proud.  He knew there would be trails.  He knew trouble would come his way.  Knew he would be faced with discrimination for being a foreigner and a peasant.  What he didn’t know.  Didn’t expect.  Was that literal Chaos would come his way.  That he and his mentor’s sister would be at the center of world ending trouble.  Or that he would fall in love with his mentor’s sister and face more than discrimination; but the jealously of Nozel Silva who loved the same woman he did.

Please remember this fic is rated mature and has warnings of violence, abuse, sexual tension, sexual behavior, and other possible triggers. For a full list of story tags please check the fics AO3 (link to that at the top of my tumblrs homepage).

***Unlike most chapters which are segmented into a days events, this one is a continuation of the same day as the previous chapter.

Chapter 99

Yami and Teris had spent the evening out at the Saber Wolf pens.  It had meant missing supper but neither had minded.  With the way Yami had been this last month or so, it was clear he needed space to breath.  And with events having Jax bar Yami from going out riding, cuddling after sharing what happened during each others morning had been the least and best Teris could offer.

In truth, Teris had needed the breather too.  Her reluctance to leave the space and return to the rest of the world and its never ending troubles leading her to tarry longer than she normally would have.  Yami hadn’t been happy about the reminder of this evenings meeting.  But his hope that Jax would finally tell them whatever it was he had been hiding for the past few weeks kept him from putting up much of a fight when Teris said they should head in.

Jax was coming up from the back hall when Yami and Teris entered the house.  “There you two are.  I was getting ready to send someone out to search for you.”  His eyes narrowed.  “You didn’t go out riding did you?”

“No.” Yami glowered.

Teris sighed heavily.  There went any release of tension their evening together had brought.

Jax huffed at Yami’s growling tone.  “I see you’re still in a temper.”

“Yami!” Bran dashed down the stairs.  Seeing Jax, he straightened and gave him a nod.  “Captain.”  Clearing his throat, he turned back to Yami.  “I need to talk with you.”

“It’ll have to wait, Bran.  I have a meeting with my Vice Captain's.”  Jax turned, expecting Yami and Teris to follow.

“It can’t wait!  It’s important.”  Bran blurted.

Jax turned back, brow raised.  Bran wasn’t the type to challenge.

Looking up at Yami, Bran told.  “It—it has to do with that thing we talked about at my family's farm on Vanessa’s birthday.”

Yami rubbed the back of his neck, muttering a curse.

“What’s he talking about?”  Teris asked Yami.

“You know what this meeting is for.  Is this really that important?” Jax asked, subtlety reminding Yami of the people waiting in his office.

“Yeah.” Yami told the Captain.  He looked down at Bran.  “It better be.”

“Fine. Teris.  With me.”  Jax pointed at Yami.  “My office, quick as you can.”

Yami gave Jax a nod.

Teris hesitated by Yami’s side.

Hand brushing down her arm, Yami tilted his head toward Jax, encouraging Teris to follow the Captain.  “I’ll be there in a bit.”

99.1.2

“Where’s Yami?”  Greywright asked when Jax entered with only Teris.

“Had something important to deal with.  He’ll be here shortly.”  Jax closed the office door.

“Well in that case.  If I may, I’d like to start by discussing the meeting I had with Teris this afternoon at Magic Investigations.” Marx said, not wanting to spend the evening repeating themselves to catch Yami up.  He looked at Teris.  “I am correct in figuring you already told Yami about that, yes?”

Sinking into a hard-backed chair, Teris nodded.

“You had a meeting with one of my Vice Captain's?”  Jax turned from Marx to Teris.  “Why didn’t I know of this?”

Teris opened her mouth to explain; but Marx spoke up first, telling Jax, Greywright, and Julius about the small painting Magic Investigations had unearth in the ruins of Yurist’s lab.  Marx stopped at the point where he had asked Teris to look at the portrait and ask the History of Chaos about it.

Julius turned to his sister.  “You had never thought to ask the History of Chaos about its author before?”

At his incredulous tone, Teris became defensive.  “It’s called the History of Chaos!  How was I to know it had any information about Yurist himself?”

“Because most authors put some kind of note or forward in their work.” Julius shot back.

“Enough.” Greywright ordered.

Caught between annoyed and humored, Jax complained.  “You two are such siblings.”

“I said, enough.”  Greywright rumbled.  He glanced at Julius, thinking the same as Jax and cursed the way of things.  Even if everything worked out to its best possible outcome, Julius and Teris would still face hardship and heartache.

A Wizard King gave up all family ties to serve the kingdom and its people.  On paper it sounded sensible.  It kept the Wizard King, and therefore the Magic Knights from focusing on the welfare of certain citizens.  Cutting ties and taking on a new last name also meant enemies couldn’t exploit a familial weakness, since there wasn’t any.  But in reality, many Magic Knights still focused on the welfare of certain citizens.  And while enemies might not be able to fully exploit a familial weakness; becoming Wizard King, cutting ties and changing your family name didn’t erase the love and experiences one had before those ties were cut.

Sighing, Greywright focused on Teris.  “What did the page of Chaos say when faced with this portrait Magic Investigations found?”

“It’d be easier if I just showed you.”  Teris unclasped the case that hung at the back of her waist and called forth her grimoire.  The tome landed in her hand, falling open to the page of Chaos.

Julius didn’t even try to tamp down his curiosity.  Getting to his feet, he moved to stand behind his sister eagerly looking over her shoulder.

“Who is this?”  Teris asked the page, thinking of the man and pregnant woman she had seen in the portrait.

“There’s a mental link?”  Jax uttered, unnerved.

“What’s that?”  Marx asked, turning to him.

“Since when could she think something and have the page pull an image from her head?”  Jax asked, wondering why no one else seemed distressed by this.

Marx blinked, eyes going wide at the disturbing realization.  He censured himself for missing such a thing when just this morning he had asked Teris if all Nova’s were guilty of ignoring the painfully obvious.

Too mesmerized by what looked like ink billowing on the page of Chaos, Julius didn’t even hear them.  The swirling dark liquid coalesced into letters, words, and finally full sentences.  He reached without thought, needing to get a better look at the magical sight.

Teris gladly let her brother take the spell-book, having read the answering message twice.  Once with Marx and then when she had shown Yami.

“My son is death.”  Julius read.  He looked up at Jax and Greywright, and clarified.  “Lower case ‘d’.”

Jax exhaled, relieved at the distinction.

Eyes lowering, Julius continued reading.  “He killed my beloved Celeste who died bringing him into this world.  A world dimmed of light and full of darkness now that she’s gone.”

“Little ‘l’ and ‘d’?”  Jax asked.

Julius nodded and went on.  “If I had seen it, I would have stopped it. Found some way to save my sweet, beautiful beloved.  What good is a Prophecy Mage who cannot see what will effect him most?  But the more connected I am to a happening, the harder it is for me to see.  I left my newborn son with a governess and threw myself into my work.  Years must’ve passed for he is now grown.  I didn’t even know Erin had left for the Spade Kingdom until this portrait had arrived.  He looks happy.  He and his bride, heavy with their child.  He and Mir—“ Julius faltered, looking up at the others, “Mira Spade.”

The Azure Deers Captain looked at Marx.  “Not the Mira Spade?”

“The time frame fits.  Though we have no images of her.  So even if we had a proper date, we wouldn’t be able to say for certain.”  Marx answered.

“Why? Who’s Mira Spade?”  Jax asked.

“The daughter of some long past Spade Kingdom King.”  Greywright said. “There’s not much we really know of her.  But the little we do has fed into some fantastical tales.  It was said she married a foreigner who took her name as a show of fealty to his new home and family.  Story says she was cursed for the marriage, and began to wither soon after becoming pregnant.  She supposedly didn’t last till term.  Weakening and dying.  It’s said the babe was cut out of her.  And despite being only seven months, that the child lived. That every nursemaid that came on to care for the child began to wither and weaken just like Mira had; all the while the child continued to get stronger.”

They all stared at the Magic Knights Commander.

“What? I know things too.”  Greywright said.

“Hear the story from Sabine?”  Julius teased, mentioning the Knights Commander’s ex who had once been an Investigations Mage.

Greywright colored slightly at being caught.  “It was a favorite tale of hers.”

“And tale is all it is.  For there is little we actually know about Mira Spade.”  Marx said.

“Well I guess you now know she married Yurist’s son.  Bet you and your fellows in Investigations will have a field day with that.”  Jax said.

Marx had to admit that confirmation of such a long held question many had wondered over would be a rather large deal in Magic Investigations. That was if he wrote up a report detailing the discovery.  “There will be no field days for Magic Investigations yet, Captain.  The meeting I had with Teris was off book for a reason.”

Greywright nodded, glad he wouldn’t have to tell Marx to keep quiet.  “He’s right.  So long as Ellara is running Magic Investigations, nothing about Yami, Teris, or what we learn about the Agents of Chaos can be reported over there.  That includes anything involving the History of Chaos, Yurist, or any of his other works.”  He looked at Julius. “What else does the page say?”

Teris shook her head even as Julius answered.  “That’s it.”

“But what does it even have to do with Yami, Teris, or the Agents of Chaos?  Other than that Yami and Teris have the History of Chaos and Yurist wrote it and had a son who married some Spade Kingdom Princess who died before their child was born?”  Jax asked.

Marx opened his mouth to answer.  But before he could speak, a knocked sounded.  Yami entered with Bran in tow.

Jax shot to his feet.  “What’s going on?”

“That important matter was even more important than I thought.”  Yami said, closing the door behind Bran.  Sighing, he told them of the task he gave Bran the day of Vanessa’s party.

Jax stared in disbelief.  “You ordered him to spy on members of his own squad?  My squad!”

“Asked.” Yami corrected.

Jax scoffed, anger bubbling.  “As if he’d tell you no, even if you weren’t his Vice Captain.  In case you haven’t noticed, Yami, the boy looks up to you.”

“In case you haven’t noticed, the kid’s grown up.”  Yami snapped back.  “Yeah, he’s a bit creepy with the way he looks up to me. But I made it clear this wasn’t an order but a personal and dangerous ask that could land him in trouble if caught.”

Bran colored slightly, embarrassed at being called creepy and being discussed so openly.

Jax shook his head, still upset.

“If he didn’t have the backbone to tell me no, I wouldn’t have asked.”  Yami said.

Though nervous, Bran took a step forward.  “I did it cause I wanted to help.”

Jax ignored Bran.  “What did you tell him?  Did you tell him about Ellara?  Yami.  What were you thinking!”

“I was thinking that we have an unwitting spy and a creepy ass bastard, who knows more than he’s saying, living under this roof and it would be nice to know what they were up to when they thought no one was watching.”  Yami said, his own anger rising.

“He has a point.”  Greywright said.  “While I trust that you, Yami, and Teris are careful about what you say around Olsen; this is one area we can be pro-active about.  None of us want to think Olsen is being used to spy but what if Ellara used him to plant something?”

Jax frowned.  “Plant what?”

Greywright shrugged.  “I don’t know.  That’s the point.  None of us know. Bran’s ability to listen in was invaluable during the Nine Day War. It would be a waste not to make use of him.”

Bran ducked his head, tinting at the praise.

“Make use of him against my own people?”  Jax challenged.  Before Greywright could speak, he sighed and turned to Bran.  “What did you overhear?”

Bran quickly told how he had been riding a Jay following Iban through the forest when Ellara appeared, and had then explained how he jumped into several bees to listen in.

Jax was barely able to keep silent and let Bran finish.  As soon as he was done, the Black Bulls Captain exclaimed.  “She’s married to him!”

Disturbing as that was.  As troubled as Teris was hearing Bran tell of the deal Iban had with Alowishus, the entire thing sounding as if the Blood Mage use to have some personal and not just ancestral connection to the Agents of Chaos; she was more concerned about Yami.

Settling down Jax a glanced at Julius, Greywright, and Marx.  Naturally, he had told them about Iban and the binding vow Alowishus forced Iban into.  Jax had been disappointed when Julius and Marx confirmed that such a binding blood vow couldn’t be broken without suffering the ill effects stipulated when the vow was made; but somewhat reassured that Iban hadn’t lied about it.

The Black Bulls Captain looked at Yami.  “Well I suppose that explains your temper.  Good to know, I guess.”

Teris didn’t see anything good about any of this.  The Darkness within Yami was affecting his temperament, and according to what Bran overheard would consume him if left to grow.

“What do they mean, ’more desirous of Teris’?” Julius questioned, protective brotherly instinct simmering to the surface.

Mildly chagrined, Yami rubbed the back of neck, avoiding his mentor’s gaze.  “Yeah.  I’ve been struggling a bit.  Feeling pent up and angry.  But the force inside me isn’t going to consume me.  I’m handling it.”  He shot Jax a brooding look.  “Though it’d help if Teris and I could go riding on our wolves.”

Jax’s eyes narrowed.

Yami looked at Teris asking the question he had wanted to ask but hadn’t because he didn’t want to worry her.  “Did you have the same problem in the year leading up to the Solstice?”

“Yeah, but not--”

Teris was cut off by Julius.  “If the ritual the Agents of Chaos did on the Summer Solstice released the building force inside Teris.  What happens to Yami when we stop them from doing the same to him for the Winter Solstice?”

Teris’ eyes widened, darting from Julius and back to Yami.

“Let’s table that disturbing thought and come back around to it.” Greywright said.  “Everyone take a seat.”

Jax sat back down, while Julius handed Teris back her grimoire and returned to his place on the sofa.  Yami pulled a hard-backed chair next to Teris’ and sat down beside her.

Bran looked about nervously.  He hadn’t been invited to this meeting. He hadn’t even known the Magic Knights Commander, Captain Julius, and a top ranking Investigations Mage had been in here.  Yami had merely brought him in to relay what he had overheard while riding the bees.

“Take a seat, Bran.  You’re a part of this now.”  Greywright said.

Even though the Commander outranked his Captain, Bran looked to Jax for confirmation.

Jax nodded.

Bran looked at Yami.  This clearly surrounded him and Teris.  If either Vice Captain told him to leave--

“Sit!” Yami barked.

Bran nearly sat on the floor in his rush to comply.  He managed to back up a step and sit on a chest near the door.

“There’s that temper again.”  Jax chastised.

“No. That’s just Yami.”  Julius said, hiding his humor in his sympathy for Bran.

Greywright rubbed his forehead and sighed, thinking he was surrounded by a bunch of children.  “Julius, even though Marx was the one to discover it, Shadow was once a Captain of your squad.  So why don’t you tell Teris.”

Instead of telling, Julius picked up a fabric bound book from the coffee table and handed it to his sister.

“What is it?”  Teris asked, taking the book.

“It’s the last journal of Captain Shadow Banashe.”  Julius saw the change in Teris’ expression, and gave her a reproving look.  “I see you recognize the name.”

“She made no mention of Captain Shadow’s name in her report or debriefing of the geyser labyrinth.”  Jax said of Teris.

“I got it from you.”  Teris said, looking at Marx.

Eyebrows knitting together, Marx opened his mouth to refute ever telling her such a thing.

“Well not you directly.”  Teris went on.  “There were several files left open on the table during my debriefing that day.  I didn’t see her last name but I saw the first, and that she had been a Captain of the Azure Deers.”

Julius’ expression darkened, disapproval growing.

Marx bristled at the violating breach of classified files.  Julius never would've done such a thing.  Well, Marx amended in his head, Julius’ obsessive curiosity most definitely would’ve seen him do such a thing; but he never would’ve admitted to it without any sign of guilt or shame the way Teris just had.

Jax ran a hand over his face, both exasperated and impressed by his Vice Captain.

Thinking she would make one hell of a Magic Knights Commander one day, Greywright fought a smirk hoping Sir Jorah truly could find a way to keep Teris from being banished for her refusal to wed Nozel.

“Did you see anything else?”  Greywright asked.

“Nothing of use or that I’ve been able to piece together to make sense of.” Teris frowned, annoyed with herself.  Shadow had been the Clover Kingdoms last light magic user before her.  The mummified corpse had called herself the Light Bringer and Harbinger of Darkness.  She looked down at the long dead Captain's journal, the cover frayed and faded.  “When did you find this thing?”

“The day before Flic turned himself over to your comrades.”  Marx said.

Teris’ frown deepened.  She had held so much hope that Commander Greywright would learn something about the Agents of Chaos’ plans or whereabouts from Flic; but it seemed that even when something was dropped right in their lap, nothing of sizable use came from it.  It was frustrating.  They were always one step behind Alowishus and his followers.  No.  That was far too generous; they were no where near that close.  They were barely working on the same playing field.

“That was seven days ago.  You all keeping stuff from us again?”  Yami asked, eyes on Jax.

Jax stared back.  Even though he had listened to Commander Greywright and Julius despite his own wanting to tell Yami and Teris about the leather bound journal he found four weeks ago, he wasn’t about to be shamed by his Vice Captain for it.

“It wasn’t like we had much of a chance.  What with Nozel and Fuegoleon turning up missing the morning after Flic turned himself in.  You and Teris being taken later that evening.  Flic becoming gravely ill two days after you returned, and then him dying yesterday.”  Julius said, in defense of himself and his friend.  He glanced at Bran disturbed that what the young man overheard between Ellara and Iban all but confirmed his and Marx’s theory on how Flic was killed.  A part of him wanted to find Iban and force the man to tell everything he knew no matter how insignificant, and no matter the cost to the Blood Mages family.

“Julius only informed me about the late Captain's journal two days ago.  Marx telling him that same morning.”  Greywright said, thinking that they needed to come up with a better way to communicate.  But even communication crystals could be tapped into.  And according to what Yami had seen the morning of the Summer Solstice, the Agents of Chaos had hundreds of members.  Without knowing what type of magic those members had...

“A quarter of the journal is blank.”  Marx said.

“I’m guessing it’s more than just empty pages of an unfinished journal from a life cut short.”  Teris said, not seeing any other reason Marx would point out such a thing.

Marx nodded.  “While the blank pages are at the end and likely would have been thought of as empty, there are two sentences and a signature three pages later.”

“Three blank pages and then more writing?”  Teris looked between Marx and Julius figuring that even with everything going on they would've tried something to reveal what, if anything was written.

“You were able to sense what no one else did in the geyser labyrinth.  As if the remains of Captain Shadow had been calling to you.”  Julius said, disturbed and intrigued.

Teris darkened at the memory.  “She used me.”

Julius’ eyebrows furrowed in confusion.  “Used you?”

Teris picked at the threads of the frayed journal.  “She used me to get to Yami.  She called herself the Harbinger of Darkness.  Said she called to me to fulfill her destiny.  A destiny that was clearly to bring out the Darkness in Yami.”

Julius sighed.  “I can see how you might think that, but--”

“There’s no other way to think of it.  It’s what she did!”  Teris stormed.

Yami grabbed Teris’ hand and got to his feet, pulling her up with him. “Excuse us a moment.”

Jax and Julius blinked as Yami opened the office door, stepped out with Teris, and closed it behind.

“Well,” Greywright sighed, sitting back, “anyone want to relay to Bran the importance of keeping quiet about all this while we wait?”

Jax, Julius, and Marx turned to Bran.

Not knowing what to do, Bran smiled and waved.  Knowing that was the wrong thing to do but unable to stop, his other hand grabbed his waving hand and pulled it down.

An embarrassed blush tinted Bran’s cheeks.  “Sorry.  I’m just really nervous.”

99.1.3

Yami turned to Teris as soon as the door closed.  “You’re not some transformation mage pretending to be Teris, are you?”

“What?” Teris’ eyes furrowed.  “Yami, this is serious.”

“I know.  So why are you afraid to look at that thing?  It’s not like you.”

Teris bristled.  “You heard why.  She--”

“Whatever happened, happened cause I needed to get to you.”  Yami said, cutting her off.  He looked at her remembering the fear and anger he felt when she disappeared behind the rock wall.  He shook the memory away, telling himself as well as her.  “We’re not in some labyrinth where you can be locked away from me.”

“No we’re not.”  Teris agreed.  “We’re standing here after having just heard that the force inside you is growing so fast and strong that it might consume you.  That even the crazies who want to see that force grow are concerned.”

“Weren’t you listening?  I said I was handling it.”

“Yami. I’m worried.  I love you.”

Yami’s fingers clasped behind Teris’ neck, palms cupping her face in both hands.  His forehead pressed against hers, steel grey eyes staring into her dark bottomless ones.  “I love you too, Ikigai.” His nose bumped hers, breath fanning her face. “It’s why you have no reason to worry.  I’d never lose to anything, least of all some force inside me, so long as I have you.”

Head shaking in his hands, Teris opened her mouth.  Yami silenced her with a kiss.  It was meant to be a brief, reassuring kiss; but as soon as his lips touched hers his desire for her ignited like a broken jar of Wild Fire.

One hand dropped from her face, arm wrapping tightly around her waist. Yami pulled her close, leaning over her.  The words Bran overheard Iban tell Ellara replayed in his mind.  “The Darkness is already bleeding out and effecting him.  He has been more volatile.  Angrier than usually.  Possibly even more desirous of Teris and the Light that is inside her.”   That last sentence echoed as he kissed her.  “Possibly even more desirous of Teris and the Light that is inside her.”

Yami didn’t think anything could make him more desirous of Teris.  He certainly didn’t like the idea of anything effecting him that way. But as the kiss grew ever more heated, he thought he understood what Iban meant.  It had nothing to do with desire.  At least not his usual loving desire.  This desire was darker.  Consuming and unquenchable.  It wasn’t for Teris herself, but for what Teris was. What Teris could be.  A light and warmth that could fill a dark cold, bottomless hunger.

Yami pulled away leaving them both breathless.  “Read the damn pages.  I know you want to.”

Teris stared up at him.

Yami quirked a brow.  “Aren’t you the least bit curious?”

“Yeah. But…  The last time I gave into my curiosity where Captain Shadow was concerned bad things happened.”

Yami’s lips brushed hers as he spoke.  “You have no clue what you mean to me If you think some long dead woman could take me away from you.”

99.2

“A letter from Lady Ellara.”  Calen said, entering his Master’s office.

Alowishus frowned.  He wasn’t expecting anything from her.  Given the suspicions of Captain's Julius and Jax, coupled with the traitor Flic surrendering himself to the Magic Knights, Alowishus hadn’t imagined he would hear from Ellara for more than six months. Something had to have happened.

Alowishus opened the missive.  It was a brief message, straight to the point.  Typical of her communications.  But what wasn’t was that it didn’t bear her usual endearment at the end.  Curious.

Setting down the letter, Alowishus told Calen almost proudly.  “The Darkness in Yami is growing.”

“Already? Isn’t it far too soon?”  Calen asked.

Alowishus thought back to his latest dealing with Yami and Teris, three days ago. He supposed his eagerness and following anger over the Future of Chaos had something to do with his having missed the signs.  Still, that was hardly an excuse.  He was better than that. He had spent too much time and had too much riding on his plans to become sloppy and not notice every little thing.

“How do we tamp the force down?”  Calen asked.

“Tamp it down!  We will do no such thing.”  Alowishus said.

“But--”

“Yami is not the real concern here, his fix is an easy one.  What we need to worry about is Teris.  At this rate she will not survive the Ritual of Darkness.  If she doesn’t grow stronger, the Darkness within Yami will kill her and the Light inside her with it.”

“What are we going to do?”  Calen asked, worried for their hopes for the new existence.

“We will deal with Yami.  Contact King Morris.  I think it’s time I made good on my promise to let the Diamond Kingdom have Teris.”

  99.3

Back in Jax’s office, Teris took up Captain Shadow’s journal.  She hesitated, eyes lifting to Yami.

Yami gave her an encouraging nod.

Taking in a fortifying breath, Teris opened the journal to the marked page. Her eyebrows furrowed, wondering if the page marker had been put in the wrong place.  The pages weren’t blank.  Sure, that’s what Julius and Marx had been hoping for.  That as a light magic user like Shadow, she would be able to read the blank pages.  But surely it couldn’t be this easy.  Could it?

Teris began to read aloud, half expecting them to stop her and say that wasn’t the spot.  Only they never did.

“I was a fool.  I fell in love with him.  Everard Spade.”

Jax straightened in his seat.

Yami saw the looks the Knights Commander, two Captain's, and Marx shared. Was this about whatever secret Jax was keeping that the Captain had been going to tell him about before Greywright called in about Flic dying?

“But how could I not?” Teris continued reading.  “He was handsome and kind.  Powerful and strong.  More powerful than I could have ever imagined.  But we will get to that.  There was always something about him.  A melancholy.  Even when he smiled, it never fully reached his eyes.  He told of his mother's death.  And I thought that was why.  Who wouldn’t be forever marked by sadness when your own father said you caused your mothers death?  It broke my heart for him.  Opened me up to him.  Which I learned too late is what he had wanted.  He didn’t need to lie to gain my care and sympathy. His truth is that sad and broken.  He truly is a wounded, tormented soul. But the way he used that truth.  Sprinkled in just enough without telling the whole horrid tale…

I thought I was going to spend my life with him.  Little did I know.  It was my life he wanted.  The betrayal happened on the Summer Solstice.  He came to my base before dawn.  I thought it romantic.  Thought he couldn’t wait for our picnic that afternoon to see me.  He was ravenous.  Insatiable. The two of us making love as the sun rose on the longest day of the year.  Little did I know he was feeding on more than my lips.  He left me in bed weak.  Nearly dead and drained of mana.  My Vice Captain found me.  I was unconscious for days.  Stuck in Healer’s Hall for two weeks.  Confused. Heartbroken.  He had used me.  It was months later that I realized just much he had used me.  Had any of it been real?  I don’t know.  He never said.  Doubt I would have believed him if he had.

He was the Master of a group that called themselves the Agents of Chaos. The group apparently went back several hundred years.  Several say they were started by Yurist’s son.  Others that Yurist himself began the group.  All I know is that they were a group of zealots obsessed with ending it all to bring about some knew reality.  And that they were being led by the man I once loved and thought had loved me in return.

Everard Spade stole my heart to steal most of my mana.  Did he know I would survive?  Did he even care?  Was our accidental meeting even an accident?  Over the course our continued battles I would learn that Everard left nothing to chance.  Our meeting had been no accident.  Our love affair fully planned.  The man was patient.  Obsessed. While he might not have known I would survive having nearly all my mana taken the morning of that Summer Solstice, he had to have had a good idea that I would.  For his plans for me were far from over.

I don’t know how, but he began to enter my dreams.  Showing and telling me such haunting things that I wish I could have forgotten upon waking. One of the things he continually told me about were the primordial forces and the rise of Chaos.  That there would one day be a light magic user who was inhabited by a portion of Light; and a dark magic user inhabited by a portion of Darkness. That together their magic could end not just the world but existence itself. As time passed I came to dream of this Light and Darkness; but never when Everard visited me in my dreams which always happened on the night of the New Moon and the two nights before it.

It was during those dreams of Light and Darkness that I came to realize my destiny.  I am the Harbinger of Darkness.  I will call the Light and see the Darkness show itself, announcing the rise and growth of Darkness.  I don’t understand it or know why; but I am certain my fate as the Harbinger will be locked in place this day. Which is why I am writing to you, my fellow light magic user. Because those dreams have also told that I am the Light Bringer. I am the light magic user that comes before you, the one who is inhabited by a portion of Light.  It is to you that I write this warning.

Everard Spade is ancient and strong.  Older than any person has a right to be.  It is little wonder that he has gone mad.  Seeking out knowledge and making plans that will let him finally, truly, have the peace and rest he so desperately desires. But how does one kill Death?  Mana knows I have tried.  Tried to give him the death he wants and justly deserves. In the years following that Summer Solstice he has haunted and tormented my every step.  And I have tried and failed to rid the world of him and give him the eternal sleep he wants. I thought I had finally succeeded. That you and this dark magic user would be spared of his plans.  The world safe from his aims.  But I fear I was wrong. Though small and faint, I feel his presence once more. I fear I only succeeded in killing the body.  A body I know no soul could still reside in.  I saw that body burn to ash. I incinerated it with my magic.  But somehow the life force that had been within that body is growing and among us once more. Whether because of a curse.  A spell gone wrong.  Or a cruel twist of fate.  The man that calls himself Death lives on.”

Comments are VERY MUCH appreciated and really make my day.  Thank you to those who have left hearts.  And a special THANK YOU to those who have recently commented or re-blogged. It really means a lot.

Next chapter snippet:

Julius’ eyebrows pulled together.  He didn’t like Jax thinking he was right.  He didn’t want to be right.  It had been a crazy theory at the time.  It was still a crazy thought.  Just because what they had learned last night further pointed to such a possibility didn’t make the idea any less insane.  But given everything else; talk of Chaos and primordial forces, and crazy zealots who wanted to end everything to start a new beginning.  Was the notion that they were dealing with someone that old really that insane?

#yami sukehiro #julius novachrono #marx francois #Black Clover #light in the darkness

[silvyavan]

i looked up the raw and julius used majin for "country of demon(s)" which is the same word used for licht's demon and the pair that spade castle has and ok yeah that checks out. now as i was trying to learn new words i saw that when he said "ancient evil" he didn't use the usual words for evil, but 災い wazawai which apparently means "disaster, calamity, catastrophe, misfortune"... an ancient calamity? qlipoth????

I am physically in disassociation at the idea that Tabata, despite the less than desired writing of the spade arc, thought the whole arc through from the very end of the fucking ERA

But then again, Tabata has been very... subtle about specific foreshadowing but why these specific details might show a bit info from Julius' perspective

Assuming that Julius was wizard king before the Spade coup happened (which makes it about... a 15 year reign so becoming wizard king at about 27ish), the information he gets from Spade is essentially tainted by the Dark Triads' reputation.

The legend about the royal youths becoming demons/majin probably made Julius think that the devil from 500 years ago came from spade as well>>> Country of majin;

WHEREAS the whole Ancient Evil catastrophe thing makes me think even more that the first Qlipoth happened in Spade and was used by royals to gain power but essentially backfired, and that the place of the Qlipoth was up North/West in the Mysterious Spade Peninsula, and became purely uninhabitable (as we see the effect on the human psyche the Second Qlipoth has).

But this just means that the First Qlipoth was not known as the Qlipoth but more so a Great Catastrophe and throughout the world. So essentially a part of basic history but nobody knew what it was.

See, I don't think that the Qlipoth was an effort of just Spade Kingdom but ALL of the Kingdoms as

1) Spade Kingdom has the papers/manuscripts for the ritual

2) Lolopechka's knowledge shows that the previous Heart queens knew about the Qlipoth and HOW TO MAKE IT GO FASTER

3) Diamond Kingdom has been previously said to have dabbled in human experimentation and magic surgery and likely for a long time, so the whole "experimenting on humans to make them get the right magic for sacrifice" sounds pretty damn solid

4) Clover Kingdom ain't exactly slick with its Five Leaf Clover and history of dealing with Devils for powers and shit, so its likely the ritual was based on devil summoning and devil binding ritual but pumped full of steroids and cocaine

The whole thing ends up with a major dark age and Four Kingdoms become hostile of each other for about 1000 ish years because everyone thinks that something went wrong and is pointing fingers at each other.

It would also beg the question of how did the entire world not become riddled with Devils and how they managed to close it. Likely by, as Nacht previously mentioned, cutting down the tree before it went worse and killing the two sacrifices in the process. But also maybe not, as Nacht said that to disable the ritual, they have to defeat the casters first.

Its a whole mess but Julius calling Spade a country of demons that worships the Qlipoth implies that there have been PREVIOUS FAILED ATTEMPTS by Spade royals to raise the damned Tree Ritual of Doom again.

The entire concept both intruiges and annoys me because while I'm glad Tabata isn't necessarily spoon feeding us all the information, he's also not giving us a lot of lore and info on the topic either. The Qlipoth Incident, both current and past, could be made into "Power based off greed and made from the suffering of others will bite you in the ass and there is no one to blame but yourself for the sin" lesson for the Royals that they own interpret in their own way (Spade: we must guard this evil to prevent it from happening, Heart: we must accumulate as much knowledge to prepare future generations, Diamond: we must become stronger through any means possible, Clover: we must not believe outsiders) but were essentially forgotten, but like

Tabatas not really living up to the ERA writing he had but maybe that's just the new editor (I noticed that Tabata first had Kawasaki (vol 1-15) and then had Toide-san as his editor (16-23 VOL) in the ERA but now has Iwasaki-san as his new editor). While I'm not sure what the difference in editors could mean, but ever since the new guy came in (during the post timeskip as well) the writings been... eh in the world building department

#black clover #black clover manga #black clover meta #qlipoth #spade invasion arc #silv writes #silv answers

[bittybattybunny]

Did Kai have any sort of family after losing her foster family and becoming the Demon King? Or did she only have her husband?

Yes actually!!! A lot of Kai’s own story involves her own found family collection (i say collection just. cuz she tends to outlive them)

I’ve briefly mentioned she has a few kids and you see them in one of my sketchbook tours

but she also has a group of friends who she was close to

and the opening chapter of one of her ‘stories’ involves her dealing with the loss of a close friend she considered family (she even tried to go through legal means to see him but when humans turned around and said fuck you she snuck in. I can actually post this writing if people wanna read it?)

She also has some of her adoptive family still alive tho the bloodline is thinner. The Hellsing family she was raised in still exists to a point in her story (before the great catastrophe at least) Her whole ‘became the demon king’ thing happened when her uncle attacked her but she was able to get her sister in law and unborn nephew to escape while she distracted the rest (i have a whole ass animatic planned for this to the song “monster” from frozen’s musical. someday. someday I’ll be able to sit down on it weep)

This nephew was the one who hired Ren to help find “the king of fear” as she was known at that point. Alex is a good boy. His son was the one who went to find his great aunt after Ren’s death and she fully became a fallen god and offered her a place to stay and just. try to relax. She ended up falling into a deep sleep for a while and his family was the ones to build the ‘tomb’ she normally rests in when ever she has these extreme ‘low energy’ periods which can last between 5 years to her longest one was 5000. Typically she’ll rest for between 20-50 years at a time. and there’s a legit reason she does this too. But that’s not about family---

Point is that family is still very fond of their matriarchal demoness and she helped them found “Prometheus” a group to help humans deal with monsters and monsters live in peace. (cuz boy howdy do people have trigger fingers) there are other groups in their world with either similar goals or ones to ‘suppress’ monsters (example: The Order is a group who sees monsters as tools and lesser beings. sometimes Prometheus is forced to work with them and normally they send strong demons or dragons and such so that The Order can’t do anything to their operative. it was on one of these collaborations that Kai kidnapped Booberry from them. she regrets nothing.)

Kai often just refers to the current descendant as just “her nephew” as she’s too lazy to shove the amount of “great” in front of it because she’s old. there’s only one case of a niece and that’s where the bloodline ended (again that’s another story all together)

When Kai woke up after the Great Catastrophe alone she ended up meeting a young man named Leo (who if you look in Kai’s tag on my blog you can see him!) Who she bonded with and she likes hanging out with (and there’s other things but I’m not gonna talk about it)

There’s also her ‘generals’ and a few of them are gonna show in TLC soon (just a brief cameo) A group of 4 who’ve met Kai in a few incarnations and they always tend to get along. Original names were Matt, Trisha, Faith, and Maki is Maki (she’s an elf so she lives longer) Current names are Byron, Tiffny, Jacob and Maki. These four actually form Ren’s party when he’s trying to find his wife at the actual start of “Nightmare’s Dream” and you learn they each have a connection to Kai through the story.

Matt/Branden/Byron; he’s featured in the writing I mentioned up top, he’s kinda similar to Leo in the way he interacts with Kai as an almost human morality pet for Kai. He used to be Kai’s student when she was teaching, and his father was the warden at the jail her friend Sammy was in (this is the friend she lost) Matt can see through her disguise when she’s showcasing nightmares. Kai can cause hallucinations on targets using her ‘fear’ hence her title “king of fear” and normally they are only visible to her and her target. But Matt can see them.

He ends up getting in trouble a few times; once with a tribe of demons who want to turn children into imps, once with the literal Anti christ, once with a haunted house. And each time Kai was there and ends up saving him.

Matt later is in an accident and ends up reincarnating as a winged human named Branden and has all his past memories. So when he starts working at Prometheus as one of their ‘informants’ (aka he goes to gather information in both human and supernatural affairs. he’s referred to often as the angel of trust because of his silver tongue) and he meets her again he shouts something from one of his classes with her causing her to snap back on reflex until she realizes (running joke is Kai loathes Julius Ceaser and if you say his name she always whips around shouting “WAS A SLUT AND A HARLOT” in a very aggressive tone. It makes people laugh when she does and she always gets embarrassed afterwards)

The two of them end up working together for a while and become good friends (and maybe a bit more but they never state really) but then when with his new work partner Trisha (nicknamed angel of death, she works in the sector that deals with cleanup) he ends up betraying Prometheus and Trisha rips his wings off and kills him (this is the context between the ‘redraw’ meme I do every few years of a man with a bleeding back drowning)

Trisha is also someone who grew close to Kai (hence she killed Branden because his folly led to Kai nearly going berserk) but she was killed by a sleeper agent from the order. And this is how Kai lost two of her close friends.

Now backing up to Sammy the inmate one; he was with her when Kai met her first child, the young moon goddess Artemis. Arty is a constant for the demoness ever since she picked her up in the woods (her arc also has one of my favorite kai lines: (which i can’t find the direct line but)

Sam shuddered as he looked around the woods, “Do you ever feel like there’s 100 eyes watching you?”

“Yes but it didn’t work out so we broke up.” The demon responded flatly as she looked around with a deep set scowl.

While she was out with Sammy when he was hunting they ended up finding a little girl who turned out to be a new goddess and her elder sister was kidnapped by the embodiment of Greed in his attempt to become a god. Kai ends up stopping this but also kinda ends up becoming Arty’s mom. While she doesn’t raised Arty fully she does do a lot of teaching and such for her and does refer to her as “her daughter” and Arty calls her mom. when the great catastrophe occurs, Arty is one of the few gods who remained when the rest went to new ‘realms’ or simply vanished and is considered one of the main gods of their world because of this.

And then there’s her son Ganon, an Orc Lord she adopted when his village was ruined. he currently poses as her ‘demon king’ while she pretends to be the chancellor (this is the ruse she uses. normally heroes will fight the ‘king’ and lose but if they actually are a threat or have poor reasoning she kills them from behind. this is also how the story starts as someone found a spell to try and incapacitate her buttt)

There’s also morte and her daughter demeter (I’ve shown them before, a set of necromancers) who she’s very friendly with. Demeter even calls her aunty Kaya and loves to sit on her lap and such during meetings. (i have one snippet when Kai was recruiting someone to their side but hadn’t told her yet she was the REAL demon king and Demeter was sitting on her lap laughing) Morte is thankful to Kai for saving her circus (Morte runs a circus that helps those stuck in limbo pass on but at one point demons of sin over took it in a way to gather souls)

There’s also her friend Ciera, the daughter of the girm reaper. she’s Kai’s best friend for the most part of her life, and is the one who helps Ren when the gods of life and death try to prevent him from reincarnating again (which is like other things a whole other story) (she also briefly shows in Bone Stealer at one point. While visiting bunny’s sick grandmother, Bunny and Steve run into Ciera as she’s leaving. Steve stops Bunny from attacking her) She’s over all chill.

There’s also Nicki. Kai’s ‘twin’ brother. He’s the ‘bad guy’ through the arc that contains Leo and sets up ‘the great Split’ that Kai will cause (this is lore/plot stuff) He originally was raised to hate her by their maternal Uncle who’s a arch mage like Ren however he’s fallen due to his hatred of Kai’s birth. Nicki is not really her brother (in the first life) but a failed clone of the demoness. When Kai is reborn Nicki gets to actually be her brother and the two get along really well and he’s very protective of his sister now that he understands what her actual deal is and not the bs his uncle fed him. Before the rebirth too Nicki helped kai solve some stuff and worked with her until his death (unlike her, he was not immortal)

And then Kai actually has two bio children with Ren! Akito her son takes after her and he’s the one who takes over her role as the true demon king of Tir-Na-Nocht so she’s able to die and try life again, and a daughter, Rei who takes after Ren in looks but... she’s a himbo. pure moron. she got her grandpa’s himbo gene strong. She’s a cat girl who works with her brother and she is the head of the guard.

Aki actually has his own story where he grew up in a ‘mundane’ world but then his entire class got ‘isekaid’ to another. it gets shown that this isn’t truly the case. the great ‘split’ mentioned above was Kai literally broke the world in two realms. She made one primarily humans and high tech and then the other was magic and mostly monsters. there are a mix of both but it cut down heavily on the murder. She raised Aki in the human side for his and Rei’s safety due to them being the children of a fallen god (mama worries) and Aki inherited his mother’s odd ‘status’ “Hero/Demon King”  so he has to not expose his demon nature and also stay below the radar (it turns out the person who summoned them was attempting to break a centuries old treaty) until his mother and father can figure out what happened to him (thankfully he can go to a church and his older sister Arty can act as a messenger but there’s a bit of a time split in the worlds) That world is actually the one “Fae Rules” takes place in o7o.

She also is friends with a dead prince named “Shade” (yes this is who you think it is) as well as her ‘cousin’ Sena (who she loves to give shit to)

And in her second life she obvs has her brother, cousins, her father (her father’s boyfriend/her manny), aunt’s etc!!!

So yes; she had family other than her husband!!!! And she cherishes them all.

#ask #anon #nightmare's dream #sorry this got long #but i have so much stuff on kai's story and lore and just sfjdokjfkdsgsf #SHES MY BABY OKAYYYYY #KAI HAD FOUND FAMILY BEFORE I EVEN KNEW THE TROPE NAME #also i have a wip animatic of her dad's bf #when she was a kid after rebirth #and she just abused the guy unintentionally

[welcometoels]

Session Sixteen - Ebeneezer’s Offer

The figure by the fire is offensive to the senses.  He looks like a pile of filthy rags has somehow grown a man’s face, sounds like a cautionary tale about the perils of overindulgence, and smells like an ash tray at the bottom of a midden.  Something about him doesn’t feel right, and the rest just doesn’t bear thinking about.

However, Ebeneezer Chaotic-Neutral gives all impressions of shooting straight with the group.  He welcomes them to the safety of his camp, but also makes it clear that there is more to the situation than may first be evident.

Snapping his fingers, he calls over a luxuriantly mutton-chopped Human called Harry.  With a beguiling shuffle, Harry passes out pieces of paper to the party.  Printed on these papers are artistic representations of each of the bipedal members of the party, with their names printed beneath.  According to the text, the four of them - “and also a Dog” - are wanted for the crime of grand theft at the Dragonhall Bank.

(At this point, the penny finally drops for Julius, who honestly had no idea what was going on.  Bless his sweet Otter soul.)

According to Ebeneezer, these sheets were intercepted on their way out of Monthend to the surrounding towns.  So far, they’ve been held within its walls, but who knows what would happen if word of rhe party's crimes spread further afield.

Fortunately, Ebeneezer has the power to put the record straight.  What he lacks, though, is the funds and the motivation.  Granted, he made a promise to a certain group - a group with whom Cailynn is very familiar - that he would keep them safe for the immediate future, but that period of time is finite.

So, Ebeneezer puts forward a proposition.  It just so happens that, in a neighbouring town, there is a certain artefact: A certain artefact that a certain contact would pay a certain amount of money for.  A very, very large amount.

Being a businessman at heart, and one with a loose definition of property rights, Ebeneezer is keen to fulfil this contract.  All previous attempts, though, have been failures.

This is where our team comes in.  If they can retrieve the thornéd helm of Thornhelm, Ebeneezer promises to use all of the means available to him to clear their records and ensure that word of their supposed crimes spreads no further.

The team confers.  Some are less troubled than others - notably Oddsock, who barely even appears on the warrant.  In a panic, Julius momentarily transforms into a chocolate Labrador, but returns to Otter form after giving it a bit more thought.

Though it quite rightly tests their morals, the adventurers agree to acquire the artefact, and they head off north-northwest to Thornhelm.

Throughout all this, Kadis has been very quiet, and it is while they are journeying that he reveals why.  Before he entered the mysterious doorway and met his new friends, Kadis had spent a brief moment in Thornhelm.  While he was there, he helped fend off a group of bandits who were hell-bent on stealing the very item they were on their way to take.

Naturally, he is feeling very conflicted about this.  Though this plan is the simplest way to resolve their current situation, stealing the item he was previously charged with protecting just doesn’t sit right with him.

Fortunately, an unexpected distraction arrives as they reach town - a distraction in the form of a Half Orc in a utility kilt bedecked with various carpentry tools.  Though Kadis has never actually seen this person, he knows who they are as soon as they speak.

Khoth is a former sorcerer, now living a simple life in Thornhelm performing odd jobs.  Back when Kadis was living here, they knew each other well.  It was a fraught relationship at first - Kadis being very persistent with his questions about magic and how it might relate to the ruination of his home town - but Khoth grew to like the chatty blind monk.

Khoth greets Kadis warmly, and extends that warmth to the rest of the party, inviting them to the Harp & Spider - a welcoming boozer that serves a delightful foamy nut brown ale.

After fetching a round in for the group - and pouring Oddsock’s into his special dog bowl - Khoth quizzes them on what has been going on with them.

This is where Kadis makes a very bold move - and one which results in some pained noises from other members of the team: He opts to tell Khoth everything, up to and including their mission to steal the helm.

Khoth is quiet for a moment, then makes it very clear that, while he will not stand in their way, he will not assist them in stealing from his adopted home town - this is as far as he is willing to go for a friend caught in a difficult situation.

He also offers occasional pieces of advice as the team outlines a series of bizarre, nonsensical, and sometimes outright counterproductive plans:

Suggestions of giving money to Ebeneezer in place of the helm are quickly shot down, since they don’t know how valuable it is (probably very valuable) or how dangerous the intended recipient is (probably quite dangerous)

Finding an artefact of equal value is also mooted, but rejected since they don’t know of any other artefacts

A few vague suggestions of “using magic” are bandied about, though without much certainty of what kind of magic

Just packing it in and returning to Dogwood was also on the table, which would have been nice right up until the warrants for their arrest arrived

Talion does have one bright idea off the back of all this, and mentions that he can create a replica of an item magically, which lasts up to three hours (though it is sparkly and plays music when you touch it).

Somehow, this becomes a cornerstone of the plan, so they leave Khoth in the Harp to pursue... something?

One little piece of intel they did glean from Khoth was that the artefact is being held at the church, which is very easy to find.  The tallest building by several storeys, the church dominates the landscape with its tall, square tower.

The doors are open, and nobody is inside the spacious main area.  The crew takes a moment to admire the stained glass windows, the simple pews, the sturdy door at the far end, and the statues of a female Gnome holding an apple.

Julius becomes quite excited by the latter, and inspects the statue to confirm that this figure is indeed a Forest Gnome, just like his dear Pa.  Oddsock is also drawn to the statues, though mainly because the apple resembles a ball.  He has about as much success in extricating the apple as he had getting the ball from the statue in Mansion de Mortesque.

Kadis takes a moment to make sure that everyone understands the plan.  It is unclear whether or not they do.  What is clear is that empty churches are very echoey, and all the chat and apple-grabbing has attracted some attention on the other side of the closed doors.

The bearer of the attention turns out to be a Gnome by the name of Father Sassafrass - at least, that’s what they think his name is, but it is impossible to be certain thanks to his outrageous lisp.

Kadis approaches and asks if the priest remembers him.  One might more reasonably ask if Kadis remembers the priest - it’s not a voice one would easily forget - but the question has been asked the way it was asked, and the answer is “no”.

It transpires that the current Gnomish occupants of the church are recently new, with the previous priest having left due to stress cause by the constant threat of banditth.

Now, Kadis goes for the same bold gambit that he attempted on Khoth in the Harp.  Nobody else in the team is entirely sure why, but he begins to tell Father Sassafrass all about their recent troubles, the task they’ve been given, and the bandits they are working for.

It is at this point that Sassafrass begins to panic.  The mention of banditth has put him into a tailspin, and nothing the group can do will stop him worrying about banditth and the people in front of him who work for banditth.

[DM’s Note: It is also at this point that I learned that, no matter how well you plan a session, and how much effort you put into your presentation, your players may just collapse into incessant giggling over a Gnome who keeps saying banditth.  I learned a lot on this day.]

Talion tries turning on the charm to help disarm the situation, but Sassafrass resists.  Instead, it takes the soft brown eyes and luxuriant fur of a Golden Retriever to help calm down a manically lisping Gnome.

So delighted is he with the nice doggy, he calls his companion, Sister Rilliriwae, to share in the joy.  Rilliriwae does not have a lisp, but does have her own challenges, and tells the group they can call her Wiwwi.

[DM’s Note: I learned A LOT on this day.]

Once everyone calmed down a bit, a discussion followed wherein the group outlined what would eventually become their plan:  They would take the helm, hand it off to Ebeneezer, go along for the exchange with the purchaser, steal it back from them (leaving a replica behind), then return the artefact.

Though Sassafrass is unthertain, and Rilli thinks the plan is vewy convowuted, the team manages to get them onboard.  The helm is upstairs, at the top of the tower, magically locked behind a statue of the goddess worshipped herein.  All they have to do is go upstairs with the golden apple - handed to them by Rilli - and say the name of the goddess.

The goddess’ name is Salathawaras.  After a few repetitions from both Father and Sister, Rilli writes it down for the team, and they head straight to the top of the tower.

Well, most of them do.  Oddsock takes a scenic route, investigating two rooms on the way: one open, containing simple sleeping quarters and nothing interesting; the other locked, and smelling faintly of musty fabric and soap.  Oddsock drags his little canine arse across the latter door, and joins his friends.

After inserting the apple and speaking the special name, they gain access to a mostly empty room.  In the very middle sits the Thornhelm on a little pedestal.  Over in a far corner, an oversized suit of armour keeps watch.

Something about this setup makes the team feel somewhat paranoid.  Oddsock approaches the armour and investigates it thoroughly, both outside - using his own doggy senses - and inside - using a Mage Hand.  Finding it to be a normal - if unusually large - suit of armour, he demolishes it in disgust, leading to calls of concern Sassafrass downstairs.

Now that the armour has been disregarded as a threat, Talion approaches the pedestal and eyes up the helm, while Julius makes thorough annotated notes for the future replica.  In a departure from the plan, though, Talion makes the replica now, and takes the true helm in a manner best described as ‘Raiders Of The Lost Ark’ style.

The switch is completed with panache, and nothing terrible happens.  Then, Talion decides to take the replica as well, for reasons.  Still nothing terrible happens.  Sometimes a pedestal is just a pedestal.

Back downstairs, Talion shows off his replica helm.  Rilliriwae is concerned about how sparkewwy it is, and Sassafrass isn’t certain if banditth would like that, but Oddsock’s charm gives them total confidence in the plan.  The party leaves, and Oddsock pisses on the door on the way out.  Another church successfully marked.

To celebrate a job well done, the team gathers at Cones Of Coldness, a nearby gelateria, for a round of ice creams.  Oddsock eats his while it is held by his Mage Hand, to the delight of some nearby urchins.

Suddenly, Talion remembers that his replica helm only lasts for three hours from the point of creation, so the group sets off back towards camp.  He then also remembers that he doesn’t actually need it yet, and launches it into the trees for a squirrel to find.

On the journey back, the group inspects the Thornhelm.  The helm itself is utterly mundane, but the “thorn” rising from it undoubtedly contains a lot of magic - specifically necrotic.  Oddsock tries it on, but is unable to channel the power.  He does look magnificent, though.

The team puts their heads together to try and understand what the thorn could be. After a lot of thought, and some consultation of Julius’ notes, they notice how similar it looks to the teeth of the undead beholder that they fought all those days ago.  Similar, but definitely larger.

Kadis’ face mask begins to twitch, and the tiny baby beholder wobbles forth through the air.  It runs its tiny tentacles along the tooth and coos softly.  Their suspicions as to the nature of this artefact are all but confirmed.

Arriving back at camp, they make the handover to Ebeneezer, who graciously receives the bounty.  Keeping his word, he immediately despatches two of his best boys to Monthend to begin the name-clearing process.

In the meantime, Ebeneezer makes the camp’s sparse facilities available to the group.  They are welcome to bed down, enjoy some freshly roasted two-faced pig, and otherwise make use of what is there.

Julius asks if there is any fish, and, though there isn’t, Ebeneezer points towards a nearby stream where the Otter can try his luck.  His luck is good, and he returns to camp with a fresh fish the full length of a helm’s thorn, plus a couple of pretty little stones.

Talion also has a productive moment, penning a new song about a certain someone.  It’s not as pretty as his previous compositions, but it is certainly passionate, in an embittered way.

His performance catches Ebeneezer’s attention.  The wizened pile of filth knows a thing or two about the woman currently known as Zanthia, as it happens.  He knew her many years and several names ago, back when she was Nora Stumbletoe.

According to Mr Chaotic-Neutral, she fell in with a band of thieves and tricksters known as Olidammara’s Revellers.  She made a reputation for herself quickly, for being very good at two things.  Nobody present sees fit to ask what those things might be.

After this little chat, Talion puts forward a suggestion - that he and his companions should take care of the handoff to the purchaser.  Ebeneezer rejects this immediately - his right hand man Harry will be on that duty - but, after some persuasion, he allows the group to accompany Harry and a few select bodyguards tomorrow morning.

Julius also has things to talk to Talion about.  For a while, he has had concerns about everything that has been going on.  His dear old Pa told him not to stray too far from the cottage, but since meeting with the group he has seen and experienced so many things, good and bad.

What is on the poor little Otter’s mind is - did his Pa lie?  Has he missed out on so much life?  Talion comforts his friend as best he can, as the group settles in for a night of fireside sleep.

Tomorrow will no doubt be another eventful day.

#dnd #5e #dnd homebrew

[simpingforthisonedeer]

For the oc ask #4 past, #4 present, #3 future, please. Thanks.

Coming at me again with some really interesting questions thank you talpup 😎😎😎

Past #4 What was the most common argument between them and whoever raised them?

Aika used to have general child-parent arguments but nothing too serious, except when she was 10.

When she turned ten, her parents finally decided to to tell her that she was adopted. She was incredibly upset about it. Then, her mother gave her a choice to do a ritual that would make her their daughter. It was of course a forbidden ritual but Aika didn’t know at the time but her dads did. They didn’t want her mom to do the ritual while Aika was adamant about it. She desperately wanted to be a part of her family.

Eventually she won the argument, but her dads were upset at her mom for even enabling this situation in the first place. She did the ritual and overtime, she started looking more and more like her mom.

Another major argument was about dating astkgdkyvuho she saw this noble boy visit her village when she was 12 and developed a massive crush on him. She just thought he had the most adorable smile, beautiful eyes and hair she would just want to run her hands through.

But ofc her parents said no. Even her brother was like 🤨 and she was upset about it for weeks but it certainly made her idealize him even more and it even shaped her type afshdhdufkggk

Present #4 Do they have any enemy factions or groups? Why and how are they opposed, and how do they feel about it?

Well, there were some unnamed groups of people and sometimes, even countries, that sought after Aika for her Time Magic because it was OP asf but as I’ll explain in the next chapter, Arthur comes along and changes the memories of nearly everyone to forget she even had Time Magic in the first place. But these countries were already preparing to go to war and stuff and for their memories to make sense and match with reality, they had to go to war with other countries for serious or superficial reasons.

That is the price of asking Arthur for a favor. He didn’t do it on purpose because in the end, he is the one who has to mediate peace as the head of the Pascere Syndicate, but that was the only way the their new memories would make sense.

Aika hated that era of her life and carries a world of guilt from it because many of her friends died fighting in the subsequent wars while she was stuck being pregnant for nine months. Right now, though, her life is way better and she has enemies for different reasons.

Future #3 How would their beliefs or morals change in the future, if at all?

Aika is about to turn 36 in the fic soon. She is a grown woman who wouldn’t have changed as much if Julius hadn’t come along.

Before she even met Julius, she had just gotten better at dealing with her depression and anger issues but not much. She still has bouts of anger and ruthlessness, has self-confidence issues(which she hides very well) and doesn’t smile as much. In fact, people who had known her for years would find it strange if they see her smiling(well, everyone except Arthur). But Julius comes along and makes her smile as if everyday was Christmas. He’s such a positive influence in her and she even tries to model some aspects of her behavior after Julius.

Another thing about Aika is that she would never sacrifice her life for anyone. Not even her own daughter. She only surrounds herself with people who believes are capable and strong. She raised her daughter with high standards and ensured that she was strong. Holly had to grow up quickly because of it and she doesn’t complain now(but definitely will in the future). She wouldn’t put her life on the line but she would definitely save anyone from a tough situation. She just refuses to be a martyr and sacrifice her life.

Aika understands why anyone else would sacrifice their own lives for their loved ones or their kingdom and is perfectly content with Julius if he did want to die for his kingdom(cough). But that doesn’t mean that when the time comes, she wouldn’t be there to save him(well not exactly but I can’t say further than that bc then it would be spoilers 😏) but because of him, she learns that sacrifice is actually really satisfying and fulfilling and because of him, she learns to be a better mother.

#long post #oc: aika tolliver #julius novachrono #julius & aika #bc oc #black clover oc #oc ask game #thx for whispering 🥰 #talpup💕