➨ "Now we can start running!"

Asta grabbed Mereoleona and turned on his heel. Zora leaped forward and used his magic to create an exit in the ground for the four of you to escape. He was first and you jumped in after him, Asta not too far behind.

When you realized there was no ground in sight once you jumped, it was too late for that fear to properly settle. But yeah, you were falling through the caves now. Did Zora know that before he made the move? Probably not, however now that you were descending through the air it makes sense that there's nothing else.

Scattered about, there were floating cubes which you used to catch yourself on, and continue to leap down from piece to piece. Using them like stepping stones instead of crashing into them. "Hey Asta, how did you know they'd even use a combination spell like that?"

He fell down onto the cube next to you, Mereoleona slung over his shoulder with no trouble. "I dunno. I just took a guess."

Zora was a few feet down below. "You talked a big game just to gamble our lives like that?"

"Well we didn't die, did we?" He jumped down onto the ledge Zora was on. "I think everything worked out fine."

Fine. Even after your elven friend decided to throw your plans off. It was hard to think about because Mereoleona could've been blown to pieces due to that mishap. Actually, everybody could've been obliterated had Asta not stepped in and changed the course of the attack.

You jumped down in between the both of them, and then off again to continue your descent down. Neither of them brought it up, and you figured that was for the best. All you had to do was get the hell out of this place.

The mana in the air shifted again, and you turned your head up just in time to see Ryha again. Rhya had appeared out of thin air through a spatial spell, his eyes wild and a large grin on his face. "Did you think I'd let you get away?"

He reached for Asta and you shot your hand in his direction. A string latched itself onto Asta's arm and you tugged him out of the way. If he hadn't been carrying a person, he would've been out of harm's way.

Instead, Asta twisted himself mid-air so that Mereoleona wasn't in the path of Rhya's grasp. In doing that, he also twisted your string in a way that rendered it useless for what you had wanted it to do.

Asta dropped Mereoleona into Zora's arms as he willingly let Rhya get to him the second time he tried. "What are you doing?" You shouted at him. "I could've–"

He just gave a thumbs up. Not caring that he was literally being pulled through a spatial portal. "It's fine, I'll be alright!"

Zora tucked Mereoleona under his arm. "What happened to all that talk about everyone getting out alive?!"

"I will!" He replies back. "Both of you just wait and see. I will be back in one piece. Just get to safety!"

You could strangle him. Truly. It probably wouldn't be hard to wrap your hands around his neck.

He was fearless. Smiling in the face of everything. Before you could say anything else back, he was gone.

"Shit." You swore and looked down into the dark abyss. There wasn't an end that you could see. "Okay, okay, and how do you think we survive the fall?"

He grumbled from above you. "I don't freakin' know. I just–" He couldn't even finish before his words fell into a string of curses.

You guys stopped on another ledge, after almost breaking your legs trying to soften the fall onto it. "Make another exit, I'm sure the outside isn't too far."

There was a small hesitation on his part. Most likely questioning why he'd listen to you after you almost brought him to an early grave. Instead of voicing any thought inside his head, he pressed his palm against the rocky wall, and used his magic to make a clean rectangle space out of it.

You were right. And it was dark outside.

He was more careful when leaving the floating boulder than you. Making sure the captain wasn't in any additional danger of being dropped out of his arms. Honestly, she'd probably survive the fall, but wake up pissed as hell.

Back on the ground, you were grateful. Maybe not so grateful because you didn't see anybody else around, and now you were completely alone with him. Just from looking at him, he seemed tense. Then he broke the awkward silence. "Can you bring that big guy back so he can carry her?"

"I could try, but getting him a third time in a row is very unlikely."

You gave it your best attempt, and tried to summon the right one of the three puppets you had. Looking at the ground for the shadows, you saw the smallest one appear. Acro.

He rolled his eyes. "Like that thing is gonna be able to hold her." He adjusted his grip and started walking to who knows where? It looked like his goal was the woods because at least there you could devise a plan.

"Maybe not hold her, but I'll send them out to see if they can find anybody." With that, Acro trotted away on its hands in the opposite direction.

He went quiet again.

"Um, I'm sorry by the way." You said out of the blue. "For, you know."

"Almost sending us to meet our makers?"

"Yeah that." You finished. "I can't help it. I think I've figured it out though. If I go against any of the reincarnations, it'll try to stop me. Which is why when I tried to fight back... I almost got everybody killed."

He sighed and kept walking. "Then I don't know what you're still doing here. If you can't fight them, why are you wasting your time?"

"Sorry I didn't know the entire generation of elves was going to rise back from the dead?" You threw back. "What else am I supposed to do? Leave and go where, back home?"

By now you were entering the canopy of the trees. The forest that surrounded the entire area. "From what you told me, you really don't have a home anyway. I'm sure you could go back to at least one of them though."

Yeah, that's the last time you tell him anything. "You don't seem like you had the most pleasant upbringing either."

"I had a decent life." He says, setting Mereoleona down against a tree trunk. She's upright, and still knocked out cold.

"Did you?"

His eyes shoot up. Oops, that might've struck a nerve. "You know I've heard about you. You're the one people have been calling a traitor since zombies or whatever stormed the capital. I guess you can add evil elf onto your list of treasons."

"I'm not a–" You cut yourself off. It doesn't matter, he just wants a reaction out of you. Unfortunately, he won't get that much today.

A buzz crept up your spine, and you remembered that Acro was out on a search for someone. They must've found somebody, and now they were heading back. It'd do you no good to look through their eyes because once again, Acro walks on its hands.

"Acro is coming back." You informed him. "I hope it's someone useful because that's what we need right now."

Zora took a seat on the ground, which ended up with him really lounging on his back with his arms behind his head. There was a hole in his uniform where he was using the spell that spits magic back at the user who threw it. Must've lost some fabric in the process.

"Not feeling a draft?" You questioned.

"Why are you starin' at me?"

Silently, you fully turned around and waited for Acro to come into view. Shortly afterwards they did, running back with two people behind them. One of them being Captain Nozel, and the other was some guy you knew dealt with mushrooms.

"I had a feeling this was your trinket." Nozel says once he's close enough. Immediately, he looks down at Mereoleona. "How bad was it?"

"She got caught in a 5 against 1." You explained simply. "We were able to get her out before anything too bad happened."

His gaze narrowed. "Just the two of you alone?"

"Plus Asta." You finished.

"So where is he?"

"That moron got kidnapped." Zora jumps in. "He said he'll be fine, so he'll be fine."

At least in Asta's words. Nobody knew what was going on right now.

There's a large light that illuminated the trees. It was coming from behind you. Your eyes widened when you saw it's a green streak and a light yellow streak. Who in the hell was fighting in the sky? From here, you could sense the great magic power. In a way, it felt... familiar? Yeah, it was. You've felt a small part of this before.

No way.

"Yuno..." Your jaw dropped. That was for sure his wind magic. Did he get stronger though? Not long after that, another streak joined him. A black one. It didn't take too much thinking to know who that one was.

"Who are they fighting?" Zora's question doesn't have an answer. Nobody knows.

After that, there's another blinding light and then an explosion. The impact of it reached where you guys were standing, but you only received a warm wind to the face and not anything worse. The lights subsided, and that's when you couldn't see anything else going on.

Nozel made a sound. "Mereoleona's team. You two go see if you can find anybody around the area."

He definitely wasn't in your list of favorite captains. Even then, he was still someone with much higher authority than you. Then Nozel eyes you carefully, and his posture stiffens. His arm swipes in front of him and then you feel a cool mixture of something around your wrists.

You look down and see his liquid mercury creating a handcuff-like restraint around your hands. "What's this for?" Right when you asked though, you cursed inside your head because you know exactly why he's doing this.

"We got attacked by knights with those same marks on their faces. I can also sense something different about you." He looks down at Zora. "You can go by yourself."

Zora's gaze shifts from Nozel, back to you. "Why'd you restrain her so late?"

Nozel's jaw tightens. "I was more worried about the status of Mereoleona. But there's no doubt that she's one of them."

You knew that Zora had little reason to defend you, or at least give an explanation about what really happened. Coming out of your mouth it'd hold no merit. Just as you suspected, Zora stood up and did as Nozel asked.

Once he was gone though, you gave your best attempt to defend yourself. "Listen, I'm really not fully possessed. If I was, I would've been attacking you, wouldn't I?"

"It doesn't matter." He shuts you up, not hearing anything. "Until you have some solid proof about that, I'm not letting you go."

"Nozel–"

"Captain Nozel." He corrects you. "And I'm done talking."

That went great.

About six minutes later, Zora comes back through the bushes with Mimosa, Asta, and Yuno. Even though you were restrained, you were so happy to see them in one piece. Well, Asta was knocked out cold, but he was alive just like he said he'd be.

Mimosa laid Asta gently on the ground, and then she raced up to you and put her arms around you. You couldn't hug her back, but you were grateful for her touch. "Y/N you're okay! I was so worried about you." She leaned back and looked down at the cuffs. "Why are you..." She trails off and her eyes actually look at you.

She takes a small step back, but not far enough to let you know if she's scared. "What happened?"

Then Yuno steps up and when you look at him you're confused. He too has elf markings on his face and pointy ears, but he doesn't look to be hostile at all. He tilts his head to the side. "You too?"

"Guess so." You shrugged. "But you look a little stronger."

"And you didn't change at all. My elf is better." He smirks and then looks down at the restraints. Something crosses his expression before he turns to Nozel. Without another question, he raises his hands up.

Nozel looks down. "What are you doing?"

"Well, if she got locked up, I'm assuming I'm next. And I'm too tired to fight it right now." He says plainly.

Sylph didn't approve of that and flew out to his side. "Yuno what are you doing? You don't have to do anything for this guy!"

"But I'm assuming he's restraining all the possessed knights." He says calmly and pushes his wrists out further. "Right?"

Nozel looked at Yuno with something you couldn't decipher. Then he looked at you, who hadn't really fought too hard against it. He sighs and raises his hand. The mercury slips off your skin and melts into the ground.

"What'd you do that for?" You asked him, wanting to know why he decided to release you instead of locking Yuno up too.

He opens his mouth to speak, but the ground shakes, leaving those words lost to time. When he looks up, you follow his gaze and you see that the entire hideout was glowing. And... moving? Indeed it was. The giant rock was on the move and the general direction was straight for the capital. 

Well that's not good now is it?

"Shouldn't we do something about that?" You question the group, mainly the silver haired captain.

Before he spoke, a loud shout cut him off yet again. This time it was Asta who sat up straight from the ground. He looked around at everyone frantically. "What's going on? And... um, where did the Midnight Sun go?"

Mimosa explained to him everything that happened while he was knocked out. Including the entire hideout driving out of the area. While you guys were sitting around, they were on the move. Nozel decided that everyone needed to heal first, and pulled out a magical item. You weren't listening to what exactly it did but the basic gist was that it healed injuries and restored energy and mana.

Asta, Yuno, Mimosa, and Mereoleona were sitting in the green light it produced. During that time, Noelle and Kirsch joined the group. Like everyone else, they had the same story of their teammates turning on them out of the blue. Considering who was still around, your stomach churned at the thought of Klaus being one of them now.

So far it sounded like every member of the Golden Dawn that was here was now a whole elf or at least a small bit of one. Except for Mimosa of course.

You weren't friendly with everyone on the squad, but there was no way that you were just going to let that stay the way it was. Earlier, Nozel got a call through a communication device and it sounded like the same thing is happening with all the magic knights. Even the ones who weren't on the mission.

"We need to leave." Nozel stated once everyone was healed up. "We need to go back and do everything in our power to diminish this crisis."

Mereoleona was still out. Healed, yes, but not conscious. That woman basically saved you, Asta, and Zora. She lasted way longer than you ever would've in a fight like that. How was she not a captain? No offense to
Fuegoleon obviously, because he's a strong guy too. You really hoped she would be okay when everything was said and done.

You glanced at Zora, who was quiet for once. His eyes were also settled on her slouched body. He definitely won't say it, but you're positive he's happy you guys went back to rescue her. Or maybe he's just happy that he's still alive and conscious.

Nozel gathered everybody that had convened in the small respite. He used his mercury to create a large silver eagle so everyone could fit on it. It was no Klaus chariot, but it would have to do for transportation.

Everyone climbed on, Zora lifting Mereoleona up even though nobody asked him to do it that time. "Y/N, Zora," Asta's voice came from in front of you as you made your way up. "You two didn't get into the healing thingy. Are you okay?"

You nodded. "I don't have any injuries that need healing. I'm starting to feel like I'm not injured enough considering what happened."

"I'm fine." Zora replied. "And I guess I have people to thank for that, but I'll give my credit where it's due when this shit storm is over."

Then Nozel's creation took flight. Right into the core of where possible mayhem was going on.