𝐔𝐍𝐈𝐅𝐈𝐄𝐃 || ʸᵘⁿᵒ

XXXIII

—/<3/—

"the ritual of the advent is a large magic circle which is powered by four functions. the one in the centre is the site of the advent of the qliphoth and the remaining three are the dark triad, who will activate the ritual." nacht said lowly as the continued to run.

"we need to make sure that the ritual doesn't go forward. the only way to do that is to defeat all three members, but not a single one of us can beat them alone. we'll split into three groups and you will work as a team. i don't care if you despise a team mate with the fabric of your being, you are best friends until the war ceases and we are safe. that is an order." elle added, keeping her eyes forward and scanning every inch of the rooms they passed.

"intruders!" an unknown voice screamed, alerting the dark triads soldiers.

"split now!" nacht yelled.

elle continued to run forward as many of her teammates split off to the left and right. she could hear a few peoples footsteps continue to follow behind her but she did not turn to check, instead she kept moving towards a familiar dark mana.

zenon.

the clover mages halted in front of zenon. making sure to keep their distance. elle now had the chance to see who exactly was following her; yuno and langris.

"you two... how are you still alive?" zenon asked, though no sign of shock showed on his face. he turned to face them fully.

"we're taking back captain william vengeance." elle stated calmly, though her heart was beating so erratically that it echoed through her ears. her grimoire now floated at her side.

"we'll take you down first though." yuno seethed, sending his first attack. it wasn't one of his better spells but when it clashed with zenon's bone magic elle could tell that this simple attack was stronger than many mages best spells. yuno was smart for training the basics, seeing as all his attacks would now be top tier and wouldn't waste too much mana.

"a foolish endeavour really... if you stayed quietly at home you would've lived a little longer..." zenon smirked as he took on his demon form, horns protruding from his skull and black tattoo-like marks covering his face.

langris' familiar condescending chuckle sounded from beside her before he spoke, "they tell me you went on quite the spree whilst i was away... i'm not the type of guy who'll sit idly by while a guy like you is on the loose."

langris chanted his spell, a huge cluster of his spatial magic releasing from his grimoire and thundering towards the demon.

zenon easily captured langris' magic, locking it within his own spatial magic. "if i didn't exist, it's likely that you would be the ultimate spatial mage" he spoke.

"well lucky for him, you're dying today." elle smiled. she had yet to make her move. she didn't want to do it absentmindedly so instead she observed. she looked at how zenon blocked and manoeuvred around her teammates' magic. she needed a plan. one that she was guaranteed to win.

"so optimistic... unfortunately, i don't plan on dying any time soon, but don't worry your majesty, once i kill your teammates i'm going to take you alive and you'll put the spell you stole from me back in my grimoire. maybe after that, if i'm in a good mood, i'll keep you alive... but probably not."

"if you couldn't kill us last time how do you expect to kill us this time? aren't you the one being optimistic?" yuno laughed humourlessly.

he and elle knew perfectly well that they were on the verge of death that day but he didn't need to know that.

zenon smirked before turning his attention back to langris. "it makes sense why you were brought along. i guess they thought you'd cancel out my spatial magic," he flicked to a different page of his grimoire "spatial magic: spatial mana domination... you're gonna die without me even needing to take a step."

"let's go belle" yuno whispered. the little fairy flew out from her hiding place under his cape and began to power up, deciding to threaten zenon as she did so. as stupid as that decision was it was quite entertaining.

"listen here you bony loser, yuno and i are gonna take you out! nobody nearly kills my friends and gets away with it!"

"spirit dive: spirit of boreas."

"y'know zenon... you may have thought that since you cast that spatial spell that the mana is this room would be completely under your control right? i hate to break it to you but yuno is beloved by mana. he has complete control over your mana zone" elle patronised the demon in front of her. "time magic: maneo restututio." she was finally making a move of her own.

her magic caused as soft golden glow to surround the three of them. they immediately felt the effects of the boosted mana elle had gifted them with and a newfound confidence filled them.

yuno took a few condescending steps towards the enemy before speaking. "you said you're going to kill us without even taking a step," he paused to chuckle "you're talking to the wrong people."

yuno's magic took the form of a spear, much like elle's, and then faster than light, it was through zenon's chest, piercing his heart and breaking through his bone barriers without even breaking a sweat.

"you're the one who's going to die. and you're going to regret ever messing with the golden dawn."

yuno's amber eyes were wide and angry as he stared down at the dark triad's youngest just as zenon had done to him a few days prior. the three of them knew it wasn't over yet but they were off to a great start. none of them were injured and zenon had a giant hole in his chest so it was safe to say they were winning.

—/<3/—