𝐀𝐥𝐥 𝐒𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 𝐀𝐭𝐭𝐚𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐝 || 𝐙𝐨𝐫𝐚 𝐈𝐝𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐞 𝐱 𝐅! 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫

𝐂𝟏𝟒

➨ When your eyes opened again, you inhaled the dry air. Your body felt like it was on fire, but that burn only lasted for a few moments after you woke back up. You looked around but couldn't find Mimosa anywhere.

You felt the ache in your right shoulder. Thanks to Mimosa, you weren't bleeding anymore, and the wound wasn't actively see through now. It was stiff, and you were grateful for that being the only negative sign.

A loud crash made you turn around. There was a swarm of elf-possessed knights attacking the same area that you swore was just empty. Everyone was taking a short break here not even ten minutes ago, so where did all of them come from?

Next to you, you saw there was an unusually large bowl of food. That definely wasn't there before you knocked out. You inspected it carefully. It looked... extremely delicious. But you had to wonder who found the time or energy to whip up a meal that fast.

As you were thinking about the meal, a body flew across your vision and crashed into the rubble. The groan sounded familiar, and if that didn't tell you who it was, the white magic circle blocking the next attack did.

The red hair popped into your view shortly after. He dragged himself up to a seated position. "Finally done sleeping?"

Another knight came from behind him, one in your squad's attire. Vines shot out from her arms and Zora was still wedged in between rubble so he wouldn't be able to dodge it. At that moment, all you could think about was getting in the way to stop them.

Without thinking too hard about it, Aegis rose up from the ground right behind Zora and blocked the incoming attack with just his body. The vines then grabbed onto Aegis instead. Similar vines wrapped around the girl's arm, creating a bracer, and she flew forward, ready to strike Aegis down.

If it had been Sylvania, that would be a killing blow, and she would be marked with Sylvania's poison curse mark.

At the thought, Aegis' body started melting into a black ooze.

Through the murk, Sylvania's dainty and posed figure took his place. Once the girl made contact with her, she broke apart and crumbled into the ground. You felt the same pain in the similar spot, but it was nowhere near as bad as it would've been normally. The pain synthesis was much weaker now.

"What the–" She stops in her tracks and clutches her stomach. You were already running towards Zora as she collapsed onto the ground. You climbed up to where he was stuck, and saw the reason why.

Zora's leg was caught underneath a fallen fragment of rock. He took one look at you and frowned. "Like hell you can lift that up."

And you proved him wrong.

It was like raising a sack of grain from the ground, but you did it. Once it was off his leg, he moved it out of the way. Then he stared at you like you sprouted an extra head. "How did you..."

You weren't listening and tried to summon Sylvania back to the field. When she didn't return, you remembered that your father had said that your creations are always out. Meaning, after she was taken out, realistically she's back in the realm unable to battle for the time being.

"Wait for a few more minutes. I can bring her back in a sec." You told Zora.

"Don't bother, I'm fine." He groaned and pushed himself up with a limp. "Since you were knocked out, let me recap for you. You see that right there?" He gestured up towards the dark floating mass in the sky. "That's the reformed hideout of the Midnight Sun. Both of your friends went in there, so did the shrimp, and a few other people."

Yuno, Mimosa and Asta went inside that thing?

"So what's going on out here?" You asked about the current chaos. The Black Bulls were still fighting out there as well, but it still looked like everyone was reaching their limits with how far they could go.