Black Rose

Works Like A Charm

"Hey, Prickly Princess, all nobles should be wed in this place, right?"

Charlotte was surprised by the sudden question. "Uh, yeah."

Yami took an offensive stance, he gripped his sword with both hands above his head and focused his dark mana on a single point.

Charlotte gasped, he couldn't possibly be thinking what she was thinking, right?

It was outrageous to even think about it but the target in his mind could only be the cathedral itself - and everyone inside.

"Oi, Yami, what are you doing?" she felt dumb having to repeat the same question over and over again. Yami was never easy to read and even more difficult to predict.

"Don't worry, I won't kill those stinky nobles inside. Probably."

"That's not the point!" Charlotte could feel the panic creeping in. She's got to do something. She's not letting Yami turn into an actual criminal! Even the wizard king won't be able to save his stubborn ass if he intentionally hurt this many nobles, not to mention destroy a sacred structure such as a cathedral!

"He's a freakin' madman!" Her father exclaimed from a few yards away.

Yami must have heard her father as he answered him without turning back, "I'm not just gonna standby and watch her life rot away."

Charlotte bit lower lip to contain her emotions. Why did he have to say that? She gripped the hilt of her briar sword tighter.

Finral started to panic. "Captain Charlotte, you can't stop Captain Yami's attack, any physical attack won't work on that spell - he's literally cutting through dimensions!"

She wasn't deterred. "Who do you think you are talking to?"

She put a shield around herself with her briars and reinforced them with more mana as she stepped out of Finral's barrier. She instantly felt the heaviness of Yami's sinister aura, her magic couldn't completely cancel his. Every step felt incredibly heavy, like her weight increased more than tenfold.

Staring at his broad back, she slowly approached him. For years, she chased after his back, wanting to prove to herself that she was strong enough on her own, that she didn't need him. Oh, how wrong she was. She just wanted to be strong enough to be able to proudly stand beside him.

"Yami."

"Stand back, Charlotte, it'll be over in a bit." He started to concentrate the huge amount of mana around them onto his blade. "I'll make sure you're not marrying anyone."

"Oh, but I do want to marry," she told him. "I'm in love with someone."

Yami visibly bristled, the cigarette on his mouth dropped to the pavement due to his shock. His mind seemed to have gone blank. He turned his head towards her with dead eyes, like his soul left his body. "Oh, no worries, I'll just cut him too." He let out a hollow, almost robotic laugh. He looked ridiculous.

Then suddenly, his magic had gone haywire. The concentrated mana he amassed on his sword spred like wildfire The nobles started to panic, they tried to counter Yami's magic with their own various magic but the dark just absorbed anything they threw it.

She looked at Yami but he continued to laugh with a frozen expression on his face. He had gone nuts!

She's got to do something before this imbecile of a captain do irreversible damage to his already precarious status. But by the things were going, she'd be too late by the time she reached him.

"Captain Charlotte!" Finral called out to her. "I'm gonna transport you to where Captain Yami's standing, alright? You've got to do something quick to throw him off or something."

"Wha-? Wait!" Before she could finish her sentence, Finral waved and a portal ran over her. She blinked and there she was, standing right behind Yami.

He must have recognized her "ki" - whatever that was - because he abruptly turned to her. "Stay away from-"

She didn't have time to think. "Throw him off" he said. At that moment she cast away all her inhibitions, she threw her arms around his broad shoulders, cupped his rugged face and pressed her lips against his. It was a brief touch but she couldn't look at him, her entire face was on fire while he was completely still. "I - I w-w-was j-just--!" she was fumbling for words but her mind refused to humor her.

"C-Captain Charlotte.." Finral's voice reached her muddled mind then. She turned to him and something noticed instantly. There was no trace of dark magic anywhere. She succeeded in stopping Yami!

She mustered up her courage and looked at him. "Yami, I -!"

She didn't get to continue as Yami's huge body suddenly came crashing towards her, her knees buckled at his weight. She could have fainted right then and there when she noticed he was actually unconscious. But his hard body pressed against hers was still too much for her. He was draped all over her and she didn't know what to do.

Just then, she saw a familiar face over Yami's shoulder - Mimosa Vermillion. In her open palm, stood a tulip-looking plant about a foot tall with a needle-like center. She smiled at Charlotte hesitantly. "Did I butt in at the wrong time?"