Dawn, a time Noelle normally wouldn’t get up at. But, with how early they had to leave for their short day trip to matter she was forcing herself up. As per usual, Asta was already doing the morning chores for the base and making sure the gifts they were bringing were secured to Magna’s broom. Without asking Charmy had awoken, maybe because of the growling stomachs of the pair and their rides and had a fresh breakfast ready for them.
It was time to leave, and, much to the couple's reluctance, had to sit on separate brooms. The frankly absurd amount of gifts making it hard for Magna to fly with more than one extra person on Crazy Cyclone.
“So who’s riding with who?” Magna yawned, the couple looking between him and Finral as they mulled things over.
“I’ll ride with Mister Finral!” Asta said, his voice still filled with energy despite how tired he looked. The spatial mage yawning in agreement as Noelle walked over to Magna’s broom and climbed on.
“Then I’ll ride with the delinquent,” She said, fighting the urge to yawn. Magna not bothering to fight against the nickname he had as Asta got a hold on Finral’s broom.
“So we drop you off, we warp back and then pick you up in the evening right?” the man yawned only being brought along for an easy way back for Magna.
“Yup!” Asta said excitedly, almost visibly bouncing with his feet still on the ground. “This is going to be awesome!”
“Seriously how can you be so hyper in the morning?” the other three people thought, Asta looking like he was about to launch off of the broom and start running from sheer energy alone. To absolutely prevent the muscle-headed knight from doing this they quickly took off, the Black Bull hideout slowly fading in the distance. The quartet of mages slowly fell into an idle conversation, Asta gushing about how much his little siblings would probably annoy Noelle, how the father of the church would have an impossibly over the top reaction to everything. What caught the other three knights attention however, he didn’t even try to say anything about the sister of the church.
‘Maybe he doesn’t want to think about a past crush?’ Finral mused, the knight rambling about how much of a brat his little brother Nash could be. ‘Well with how he focuses on one thing at a time he’s probably thinking about making Noelle happy, ah... To be in love.’
‘Seriously how does he have this much energy?’ Magna mentally grumbled, he briefly forgot the night before that he agreed to an early morning flight and had a bit too much to drink. ‘Though, I’d probably be as hyper as him if i were bringing someone to meet my folks.’ Both chaperones let out a somewhat tired but happy sigh, at least this was a calm and peaceful trip.
Absolutely nothing could go wrong.
“So, I’m absolutely making this little trip of theirs go wrong.” Mereoleona chuckled, squatting on a rocky outcropping on the expected flight path the Black Bulls were taking. Her little brother Leopold nervously looking around as he was dragged out in the middle of the night.
“Then… why am I here, Sister?” he asked, the menacing grin from Mereoleona getting him to sweat. A flaming Lion paw materialized and reached out for his shoulder.
“So you know exactly what to expect when you bring someone home and I’m around,” she said, her voice terrifyingly sweet as Leopold hoped against all odds that she was kidding. The menacing grin, however, told him she wasn’t. “Besides, that idiot knows what’ll happen if he gave me the wrong time.”
Elsewhere Yami Sukehiro felt a chill go down his spine and his entire body tense while he was on the toilet. “Damnit, hurry and walk into her ambush, I want to live to see tomorrow,” he muttered before looking at a newspaper.
Leopold shuffled a bit, his older sister not missing it as she looked out on the horizon. Part of him was still nervous standing up to his sister, with how much time she spent away from their family he honestly didn’t know her as well as he wanted too. A few minutes passed, nothing coming into view, the youngest lion taking a few deep breaths.
“Seriously?” his sister said, getting him to jump a bit. “You’re acting like i’m going to kill them. Is there a problem?”
He took a breath and turned to face his sister, her mana glowing around her due to her impatient nature. To say he wasn’t intimidated would be a bold face lie, unlike his brother he froze up more around her, even if she was family. To no one’s surprise he was still feeling guilty for taking part in interfering with Asta and Noelle’s first date, and that he had lacked the courage to speak up and try to stop Mereoleona.
“Why are you even trying to do this anyway, sister?” he said, feeling sweat drip down the side of his head. Mereoleona looking almost annoyed at his question.
“To toughen them up,” she said quietly, giving her youngest sibling a very serious look. “Do you really think we’re the only royals who have taken notice of this?”
Leopold shook his head, “Of course we aren’t, my rival and Noelle are getting more well known after all!”
“And would you rather someone actually try to kill them?” his sister continued, Leopold looking at her almost stunned before pausing to think. “We may accept them, hell even that idiot braid brother of hers accepts it on some level. But you spend more time with the royalty bullshit than I do. You know what could happen to either of them.”
Sadly, he did. More than a few times that a noble had eloped with a commoner or peasant one of the two was found dead, or any tie between them was violently severed. He swallowed, starting to understand what his sister was deterring.
“And you’re probably wondering what our idiot brother would do if he were up right now aren’t you?”
“He’s not an idiot!” Leopold half shouted, Mereoleona looking at him and narrowing her eyes. “But he’d… probably be more vocal about it? Make it clear not to target them or face him in a duel!”
“He would,” she sighed, the figures of Asta, Noelle, Finral and Magna all coming into view. “That’s how he’d support them, this is how I’m supporting them. So what would you do to support them?”
Leopold stood there, the exuberant voice of his rival coming into earshot about how excited he was for a relaxing vacation. He watched his sister stand up and stretch her arms, grinning like a predator ready to attack a deer. They were getting closer now, none of the four were aware of what would happen if they flew too close now. Leopold took a breath, opened his grimoire and readied himself for what was to come.
“I’ll support them by defending them!” he shouted, shooting a spiral of flames at his older sister. The older lioness grinning and seemingly effortlessly dodging out of the way as his flames shot up into the sky.
“About time you decided that, you whelp!” Mereoleona laughed, doing one last stretch before starting a brawl with her youngest sibling. The fight beginning, and ending in an instant as Leopold was hit with a powerful uppercut directly at the quartet flying overhead.
“AAAAAAAAAAAAAUGH” Leopold screamed as he flew wildly past the four Black Bulls. The four knights looking at him before a large fireball followed suit. Inside, Mereoleona was just visible enough to get a terrified scream out of Asta and Noelle, with the couple urging each one of their rides to move faster.
“Fly faster!” Noelle screamed, Mereoleona for the moment focusing her magic on grabbing her youngest brother.
“I am!” Magna screamed back, Asta yelling something similar to Finral as a spatial portal opened up in front of the knights. They warped not too far away, Mereoleona’s magic was still tangible to the three of them that could feel magic. Asta craned his neck to look behind the group, he just caught Leopold being grabbed and put under the substitute captains arms as she grinned at them..
“If you want a mushy day off! Think again!” She roared, Leopold screaming as he tried to fight his way out of his sisters grip. “If you can get to that sticks village then you’re safe!”
“Seriously?” Asta shouted back, his voice carrying the distance as Mereoleona started her charge. “Can’t we just have one date!?”
“Apparently not!” Noelle screamed, Magna doing his best to dodge any incoming fire magic. She paused, the world slowing down for just a moment as her mind raced for an answer. A burst of magic was cut down from Asta’s sword, the knight precariously hanging on to Finral’s broom to block it.
“I have one chance,” she thought. Knowing about Mereoleona’s skill, her Sea Dragon’s Roar would be powerful enough to make her defend herself, but if she didn’t put enough force behind it It would more than likely just have the Uncrowned Lioness be confirmed in her idea that they weren’t strong enough.
“Turn us around!” She shouted at Magna, the fire mage looking at her as if she had lost her mind.
“You can’t be serious!?” He shouted, Noelle nodding and readying her wand.
“I can beat her!” Noelle shouted back, nervously getting ready to aim as Magna nodded and reluctantly turned to face the Crimson Lioness. “Asta!”
“I think I got it!” He yelled back at Noelle, swinging himself back into a sitting position and grabbing his sword with both hands.
“Oh?” Mereoleona laughed, the quartet now facing her. “Oh? You’re approaching me? Instead of making a break for that village you’re coming right towards me?”
“We can’t have a nice date without dealing with you first!” Noelle and Asta shouted back, the former firing off her powerful water magic as Asta entered into his transformed state. The head of Noelle’s water dragon being the most concentrated point of mana drew Asta’s anti-magic form towards it. It took all her focus and control to keep it moving towards Mereoleona and Leopold, while directing Asta towards their target as well.
Mereoleona, as a response to this, effortlessly threw her youngest brother towards a rather tall tree. The young lion grabbing on for dear life as Asta and Noelle’s spell approached his older sister. He took a deep breath, and managed to steady himself on a branch and prepare his own spell.
Mereoleona forced her mana out, creating a barrier of heat and flames that started to evaporate Noelle’s water magic. Asta, following the flow of magic, was starting to get pulled towards the Lioness. Leopold however, took a deep breath, steadied his aim and sent off pillars of spinning flames at his sister.
Naturally, Mereoleona wasn’t caught off guard by something like this. Her little brothers spell met the same fate as Noelle’s, harmlessly impacting his sister’s defenses. Now, she was just waiting for Asta to get in range.
Asta had a feeling what would happen the second he got through Mereoleona’s defences, she had done something similar at the Yultim volcano, and appearing behind him despite his homing ability. However this time, he felt he could do something about it.
He pierced the flames, his free hand grabbing his other sword from his grimoire and getting ready. Mereoleona was grinning, which is truly never a good thing for the person she’s grinning at. She disappeared in an instant, Asta turning and just managing to block her fist with the flat of his sword.
“Next.” she laughed, disappearing and leaving Asta to try and feel where she’d be coming from. He took a deep breath and focused, feeling something coming from his right, and moving his sword to block.
Mereoleona was no fool, she knew the anti magic swords would hurt like a mother fucker if she got hit with one. What she didn’t expect was her hand to hurt after punching it, so naturally she used her left hand this time. The young knight barely blocked the blow in time, and sent a similar sensation through her other arm.
Asta got ready to attempt to block whatever she did next, knowing that his luck would run out against her very quickly if this continued. He readied himself, and then Mereo’s flames died down.
“Congratulations!” she roared, her words sounding more terrifying than welcome as Asta’s transformation ended and Finral warped him back onto the broom. “You now have earned the right to go about your business!”
There was a beat, all four of the Black Bull mages and Leopold looking at the captain with sweat forming on their brows. In a single motion she grabbed her younger brother and disappeared into the tree’s below, the quartet looking at each other before continuing on their way.
“So uh….” Asta started, grunting about the pain through his entire body after the transformation ended, “...Did we win?”
“I think so?” Noelle replied, still unsure if they were actually in the clear. But, they weren’t going to look a gift horse in the mouth. Magna and Finral turned their brooms around and continued towards Hage, flying just close enough for Asta and Noelle to hold hands for the remainder of the trip.
To be concluded.
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