Black Clover: The Anti-Magic Knight

Chapter 46: The Forest of Witches

"So, is this the place?" said Asta as the group of mages were floating in place in front of a massive forest. "Yes, this is the Forest of Witches" replied Domina with a nod. "Fantastic" said Asta, "now....are you gonna tell me why we're here!?". 'If we lie, he'll be able to tell thanks to him sensing our ki. Better go with a half-truth' thought Noelle, "We think Vanessa is being kept here by the Queen of Witches. We didn't tell you sooner cause we didn't want you running in without a plan.....like you are now". Noelle sighed in annoyance as Asta was racing forward, now with his wings active and Demon Slayer in his hand, "hang on Vanessa! I'm coming!".

"Hold on, I got this" said Finral as he created a portal in front of Asta and brought him back to the group. "Why did you do that!?" said Asta as he turned to Finral, "I thought you brought me here so we could save Vanessa!?". "The Queen of this forest runs her magic throughout this entire place, if even a drop of our magic is sensed we'll be immediately spotted" said Domina, "we have to be careful from here on out". "What will happen if we're spotted?" asked Noelle. "We'll be riddles with holes" said Domina, bluntly, causing everyone to stare at her. "But what about me?" said Asta as he pointed at himself, "no magic to sense, remember". "No offense Asta, but I'm pretty sure the witches will notice a man with devil wings holding a giant sword flying through their forest" said Finral.

"Ok, so how do we get in?" said Asta as he tilted his head to the side. "With these!" said Domina as she pulled out two cloaks, "these special You-Be-Gone cloaks hide your magic, your presence and even-very lightly- your physical form!". "Well that's convenient" said Finral. "Alright enough talking!" said Asta as he rolled his shoulder, "let's go save Vanessa!".

The group then split into two groups and sat on Domina's and Finral's broom to hide under the cloaks and started making their way through the forest. Domina's cloaks were working like a charm, they were making their way through the forest without being noticed by any of the Witches in the forest. Noelle, Domina and Mariella were able to fit comfortably on her broom....the boys however.

"Agh! I can't believe I'm in a forest full of beautiful girls and I'm stuck in this man-sandwich!" said Finral with tears in his eyes. The boys weren't so lucky, Asta and Fanzell were clinging onto both sides of Finral for dear life. "I still think we should've just charged in" said Asta as he rolled his eyes. "You're really telling me you'd fight a whole forest of women!?" said Finral as he turned to Asta. "Damn right" said Asta as he brought up his closed fist, "these hands don't discriminate based on gender...or I guess hand".

Noelle looked up to see a small golem made of dirt floating in the sky, "hey, what's that?". "That's a security golem" replied Domina, "it may be small, but if it spots us it'll call more of its friends and rain magic bullets on us. But as long as we're wearing these cloaks we should be safe".

However, as is perfectly timed, Fanzell's jackets got caught on a branch and ripped off the protective cloak....along with everything but his underwear. "How!?" shouted everyone as they turned to Fanzell.

The security golem released an alarm announcing that there were intruders in the forest. Dozens more golems arrived and started to send wave after wave of magic bullets at the two groups. "Agh! A naked man is clinging to me!" shouted Finral as Fanzell gripped him tighter as the group sped up to avoid the golems. "Yup I'm out" said Asta as he jumped off the broom and started flying with his wings. "We'll just have to make a beeline for the Witch Queen's castle!" shouted Domina before seeing a Castle that appeared to be part of a massive tree come into view, "there it is!". "Hey? Does the castle always have a gaping whole in the middle of it?" said Asta as he turned the Domina. "We'll use that as our way in!" shouted Domina, "come on let's go!"