Disclaimer: Black Clover is owned by Yūki Tabata, Studio Pierrot, and Shonen Jump.

Saga 39: Cherry Bomb Part 1

Ulster Territory, Spade Kingdom, Evening

"HYAHHHHH!"

"GURAHHHH!"

"... It's been over half and hour, and neither side has been giving in since their first move." Mariella commented at the two burly men pushing down at each other's grips.

"I'm surprised that the two of them kept it up for this long." Dominante remarked as she and the rest of the Remnants remained floating in the air, her hands patted down on her skirt from the others seeing too much.

"I'm even more surprised that not a single [Wyvern] showed up and tried to eat us." Dune pointed out. "... But then again, I did hear that it's only a month away until their mating season. Maybe we're lucky that we're amidst the tail end of the season... let me check my notes."

The Demonologist then takes out his notebook from his cloak and begins flipping through the pages.

"Look mommy, I'm flying!" Daisy giggled out.

"Come on, Daisy, stop playing around!" Peony remarked.

"Girls, please behave..." Iris sighed out worryingly. "... Violet. Watch the other two."

"Come on, you two..." Violet sighed out as she grabbed her two younger sisters under her arms. "Father's going to be worried sick..."

"Gurghh..." Lotus groaned out. "I'm starting to feel sick..."

"Father's getting airsick again." Violet grumbled out. "Mother, do you have his medicine?"

Back below, the two [Gravity Magic] users continued their stalemate, neither side receding from the other's mountainous strengths, keeping their grips firm onto each others, veins bursting through their skins on their hands, and the world around rent asunder.

"DIE, DEMON-WORSHIPPER!" Bizon bellowed out.

"HAHAHA! THIS IS THE BEST FIGHT I'VE EVER HAD!" Heracles cheerfully remarked.

"DO NOT MAKE ME DESTROY YOU!" Bizon snapped. "MY QUARREL IS WITH THAT FILTHY CONTRACTOR, NOT YOU!"

"HEY, I'M NOT LIKE THOSE DARK TRIAD SCHMUCKS, YOU IMBECILE!" Dune loudly retorted with his nose sticking out from his notebook. "Also, RUDE!"

"I DON'T BREAK THAT EASILY!" Heracles replied. "I'VE TRAINED MY BODY AS LONG AS I CAN REMEMBER!"

"I'VE TRAINED SINCE I WAS A BOY, YOU MUDAK!" Bizon roared back. "I WILL AVENGE MY PARENTS'S DEATHS WITH MY TWO HANDS!"

"THEN COME AT ME!" Heracles remarked.

"HAVE AT YOU, TY GÓWNO PRAWDA!"

Both then grab each other's collars and winds their respective right hands back into a fist, ready to wail away at each other's faces.

"[GRAVITY MAGIC: MONAD MELEE]!"

"[GRAVITY MAGIC: HEAVY HAMMER]!"

Both fists were encased in translucent gray orbs as they struck each other's faces, emitting a massive shockwave from both fists' impacts, causing the others floating in the air to be rattled like cuckoo birds in a shaken birdcage.

"HANG ON, EVERYONE!" Fanzell exclaimed as he tried to take Dominante's hand, only for her to slip, grab onto his belt, and drag down his pants down to his ankles instead.

"AGAH!" Dominante screamed. "KIDS, DON'T LOOK!"

Iris grabs Daisy by her waist and covers her eyes with her hand.

"LADY!" Dominante heard Dune from behind her, only to find his head under her skirt. "I GOT BAD NEWS-"

"GIVE ME A GODD REASON WHY I SHOULDN'T MAKE ME YOUR BAD NEWS, YOU TWERP!" Dominante screeched out as she jabbed her feet into Dune's shoulders.

Suddenly, a loud and piercing screech was heard from a distance. Behind her, a lone horned reptilian creature with massive bat-wings came flying towards her, it's fanged maw open agape.

"WHAT IS THAT!?"

"[WYVERN]!" Dune screeched out as he opened his grimoire. "[Brimstone Creation Magic: Judgement Anubis]!"

A faint visage of an ashen jackal was forming around Dune's palm right before it solidified into a hand sickle made of white-hot ash around the black-flame covered hand of the Demonologist.

"DUCK YOUR HEAD!" Dune cried out as he pivoted towards Daisy.

He then swings his ashen sickle over the girl's head, the hot blade melting though the [Wyvern]'s scales like hot knife through butter, steam hissing out of the Wilderbeast's wound, its fluids and blood fuming on the scorching blade's surface as the monster simply trails past the little, spill its insides out right in front of her, traumatizing Daisy for life at the macabre display of man versus nature.

"... Little girl, you alright?" Dune asked sheepishly, fully aware of what transpired.

Before the girl can even answer, more screeches and howls were heard from a distance.

"... Oh right, I forgot." Dune remarked. "When there's one [Wyvern], there's usually a whole flock of them."

From the horizon, a flock of [Wyverns], all horned and scaled to kill, came swarming towards the hapless Diamond Kingdom Remnants and the sole Demonologist.

"EVERYONE, HOLD YOUR GROUND!" Dune cried out. "WATCH THE NONCOMBATANTS!"

"Aw crap." Fanzell cursed as he drew his broken sword as he enveloped it in his [Slashing Wind Emperor]. "Not a moment of rest around here..."

"Get back, get back!" Dominante stated towards the three girls as she dragged them back with her [Cloth Magic]. "Stay with your mother, alright?"

The girls nod.

"I'm going in too." Lotus grunted out before being stopped by Iris grabbing him by his sleeve.

"Honey, don't." Iris protested. "You're hurt really bad, and I don't plan on losing my husband after we already lost too many!"

"What magic do you use?" Dune asked from the front lines.

"[Smoke Magic]."

"... Then please stay back." Dune stated. "I don't think the [Wyverns] count as falling under anti-infantry."

"Here it comes!" Mariella cried out as she drew out her [Crystal Kris].

Ahead of Fanzell, Mariella, Dominante, and Dune, a flock of green-scaled [Wyverns] come swarming towards them.

"Careful!" Dune exclaimed. "They're female [Wyverns] up ahead!"

"What does that mean!?" Fanzell asked.

"It's almost mating season, and they're really aggressive before courting starts!" Dune answered. "They're going to eat up whatever they can find around their airspace so they can lay their eggs properly!"

The lead matriarch [Wyvern] then lets out a shrill shriek, signaling the other Wilderbeasts to fly faster towards their prey.

Dune slashes one [Wyvern] across its chest, Fanzell parries one away with his sword, Mariella stabs one through its chin, and Dominante whips one away with her magical cloth.

The [Wyverns] went down easily enough, but the problem of there being too many of them still persisted.

"JUST HOW MANY OF THEM ARE THERE!?" Fanzell cried out as he stabbed a [Wyvern] through its chest. "THERE'S NO END TO THEM!"

"USUALLY, THERE'S ABOUT 200 TO 500 PER FLOCK!" Dune answered as he tapped his foot off of a floating corpse of a [Wyvern] to rake his [Judgement Anubis] across another [Wyvern]'s neck down to its chest. "THESE GALS ARE SLIPPERIER THEN THEIR SIZE SUGGESTS, SO WATCH YOUR BACK!"

And as Dune warned the others, three [Wyverns] came swooping down from right above Lotus and his family.

"OH CRAP!" Fanzell exclaimed as he tried to jump in, only for his broken blade to be clamped between a [Wyvern]'s maw.

"GET AWAY!" Lotus cried out as he opened his grimoire. "[Smoke Magic: Disorienting Screen]!"

A concentrated ball of smoke is then hurled towards the trio of [Wyverns], exploding into a cloud of thick black smoke.

"CHANGE OF PLANS!" Dune remarked as he slit a [Wyvern]'s throat open with his sickle blade made of hot white ash and brimstone. "EVERYONE, KEEP MOVING! SCRAMBLE! SCRAMBLE!"

"I GOT YOU!" Fanzell remarked after he kicked the [Wyvern]'s snarling maw off of his broken estoc, beheading it while the blade of wind was reforming into a different kind of sword. "[Wind Creation Magic: Wayward Wind Fool-Valley Scouts]!"

[Wind Magic] copies of Fanzell accompany each individual remnant, carrying them around the flux allowing each of them to move freely in the air.

"Hold on!" Fanzell remarked as he maneuvered around the mess of [Wyverns] and their brethren's corpses, some of them that were being devoured by other [Wyverns] in this chaotic feeding frenzy.

Back below, the two [Gravity Magic] users continued to clash, exchanging blow for blow, each hit to another visibly bruising and discoloring their respective skins to deep red to purple.

Neither side gave ground, nor they advanced any further. Both walking walls of muscle refused to give the other an inch to spare.

"JUST DIE ALREADY!" Bizon roared out as he wound back another [Heavy Hammer].

"YOU FIRST!" Heracles retorted as he wound back his own [Monad Melee].

The two strike each other's faces once more, now knocking each other off of their feet, causing the distorted gravity around them to temporarily cease before reestablishing itself once more.

"... Heheh. You're pretty good." Heracles remarked.

"Spare me your flattery, heretic..." Bizon gasped back. "Out of all the people I had the pleasure putting down... you're easily the most aggravating."

"What does 'aggravating' even mean?" Heracles asked in genuine curiosity. "Is it something that you eat?"

Bizon, in the first time in his life and 10 year-long career as an Inquisitor, simply stood where he was, mouth agape, completely in awe at this man's utter stupidity. His mind was completely blank, for he himself was no stranger to simpletons and barbarians like the Adaptors and the occasional Ulsterian Warbands that he'd run into in-between his assignments of purging cults and covens, but in front of him, was a being that simply surpassed the level of simple ignorance.

In Heracles's eyes were a spark that refused to die out, no matter what tribulations and torrents that it may face. An undying flame, of childlike innocence and wonder.

"... I'm literally fighting a child in a man's body." Bizon dryly remarked as his left eyelid twitched.

"Come on, come on!" Heracles cheerfully cried out. "Fight me, fight me!"

Bizon slowly grit his teeth into a nigh-feral snarl as he raised his [Labrys] into the air.

"... The Spade Kingdom has no place for you, dullard." Bizon snarled out as his battleaxe was slowly surrounded by a semi-translucent orb of kinetic energy, emitting sparks and crackles of black-colored lightning. "One last time, I will say this: walk, away."

"Make me, tough guy!" Heracles replied nonchalantly as he balled both of his hands into fists and raised them into the air. "I'm already having a blast here, and I want more!"

Bizon's grip around his axe tightens, veins being visible through his skin from the sheer pressure exerted from the Inquisitor's hands.

"... Then die."

Bizon suddenly disappears in front of Heracles's sight.

"... I know that you're moving faster then I can see, so come out where I can see ya so I can deck ya in the schnoz!" Heracles remarked.

"Perceptive, but it won't save you."

Bizon then suddenly reappears behind Heracles, axe-blade wound back far as his muscles can extend towards.

"NOW DIE!" Bizon roared out. "[GRAVITY & DARK RUNE MAGIC: RUPTURE AXE-EXECUTOR]!"

A heavy and oppressive slash from [Labrys] forms a dark crescent where Heracles's head was, obscuring it from the above view, right before it emitted a massive shockwave across the whole emerald glades, sending both people and [Wyvern] alike careening around the air in a disorienting mess.

"DOMMIE!" Fanzell cried out as he extended his right hand in the middle of this influxuation. "TAKE MY HAND, HURRY!"

Dominante reaches out towards Fanzell's hand, only to miss and grab him by his belt instead, loosening it, and pulling his pants down all the way to his ankles, exposing his blue and white striped boxers for everyone to see.

The two let out a loud screech as they find themselves in this weird predicament, with the others attempting to spare whatever innocence was left in the three girls, Mariella covering Daisy's eyes, Iris covering Peony's, and Lotus covering Violet's.

"Daddy, why can't I see?" Daisy asked.

"We'll talk about it when you're older." Iris remarked over the newlyweds' screaming of panic and embarrassment.

Around them, the [Wyverns] that were buffered by the emitted shockwave tried to fly back straight, only for the flock to constantly collide with each other and free-floating in the chaotic flux from the waning gravitational radius. A few crash land around the Bizon, scrambling to get back up into the air, trying desperately to get away from the murderous intent radiated around him.

"... I warned you." Bizon remarked plainly. "Now repent for your sins-"

Below [Labrys]'s blade, Heracles was nowhere to be seen.

"WHAT!?" Bizon exclaimed as he began to look around where he stood. "WHERE THE HELL DID YOU GO!?"

"You're not the only one who can move faster than a person can see."

Bizon turns his head back, finding Heracles behind him, crouched down as far as his knees can bend downwards, his hands enclosed together, forming a condensed orb of amassed kinetic energy between his hands.

"... You." Bizon grimaced. "How!?"

"The very first lesson I've learned when I started my journey? I learned how to dodge." Heracles answered with a smile. "But enough of that. You showed me yours, now I'll show you mine."

The orb between Heracles's hands enlarged in mass and force, creating a singularity ready to be released.

"[GRAVITY MAGIC: VECTOR RAY]!"

A torrent of released kinetic energy right in front of Bizon's face, blasting him off of his feet and into the sky.

The stream of [Gravity Magic] breaks through the dusk, with Bizon being sent flying into the stratosphere on the end of Heracles's [Vector Ray].

With the one [Gravity Magic] user now reigning victorious, the gravitational distortion ceases, reverting the gravitational laws back to its default state; i.e. everyone without wings falls right back onto the grass on their butts.

Thankfully, with the help of the [Valley Scouts], their landing has been proven less arduous, all of them safely landing back onto the earth.

*THUD*

... Sans Dominante and Fanzell, the former's head now somehow inside the latter's boxers, and the latter now exposed to whatever was underneath the former's skirt.

"Mommy, why can't I see anything?" Daisy asked again while her eyes were being obscured by Iris's hands.

"We'll talk about it when you're older." Iris replied, nodding to Lotus who was also trying to preserve Peony's innocence, both parents agreeing that the girls are going to need "the Talk" as soon as they settle down at Libratium.

Mariella simply groans in embarrassment, while next to her, Fana was still unresponsive to her surrounding, her fish-eyed gaze still fixed towards Mars's severed head encased in a block of translucent crystal.

"Hey guys, I did it!" Heracles cheerfully remarked with a thumbs-up.

"W-Wow... that's actually the first time I've seen someone best an Inquisitor in combat." Dune remarked as he plopped onto the grass.

"Yes, the boy is quite capable." Wadjet stated. "You've chosen wisely, boy."

"Well, he's was the only one roaming around these Ulster everglades..." Dune sighed out as he got back up to his feet and brushed his pants with his bare hands. "... We really shouldn't linger at this point. Come on, we need to go."

"But it's getting dark." Fanzell stated. "And after what just happened, I think we all need to rest."

"On that regard, I agree, but regardless." Dune stated. "Spending a night out in the open in Ulster is a death sentence. Wilderbeasts aside, there might be a chance that a Warband might come and sweep us up, not to mention, if rumors about Bizon are true, we need to move, fast."

"What rumors-"

Behind them, Bizon crashes back to the ground with a visible cloud of kicked-up dust, still alive, and ready to fight/KILL.

"... I assure you, it takes more than that to stop him in his tracks." Dune gulped out. "... We need to scram, now."

"Aww, no round 2?" Heracles complained.

"WE'LL ALL DIE AT THIS RATE!" Dune shrieked back. "AND I RATHER NOT MEET MY END UNTIL I CLEAR MY STUDENT CREDITS! LET'S GO!"

"... Aw, fine." Heracles pouted as he lifted the carriage up as the others got in. "We'll finish it another time, kay!?"

"Get... back here..." Bizon heaved out as he pulled out a small glass bottle of gleaming gold liquid as the carriage took off. "... I won't... LET YOU ESCAPE!"

Bizon simply chomps on the glass bottle between his molars, letting the [Ambrosia] seep down his throat and spitting out the fragmented glass bottle.

"Heretics... MUST DIE!" Bizon bellowed out as his eyes glowed in a golden light and his muscles bulged outward, tearing through his clothes and armor until it left him topless.

"HUSTLE!" Dune cried out from the carriage.

The Diamond Kingdom Remnants and one Demonologist Contractor make their hasty retreat towards Libratium, with a very, very furious and unkillable Inquisitor hot on their collective heels, leaving behind several surviving [Wyverns] to snack on the dead [Guerrilla Lindwyrm] and their dead flock mates, nourishing their bodies for the coming mating season happening next month.

Such is life at Ulster.

Wizard King's Audience Chamber, Magic Knight Headquarters, Noble Realm, Clover Kingdom, Morning

Gathered before in this opulent chamber where the Wizard King Julius Novachrono were all the Magic Knight Captains and all the Nobles, one each representing their house, all dressed and poised properly for the occasion, sans the Index representative, Jules Index, the "Theological Railgunner", former Coral Peacock Captain, now a pariah among her peers after hearing her daughter quit the Golden Dawn after seemingly, "cracking under the pressure".

She herself holds no grudges on her daughter. If anything, the whole Magic Knights business was also forced onto her as well, and internally, she's glad that Corrin got out as soon as she could. After all, the females in the Index family were infamous for not caring for outward appearances, and despite their influence rivaling that of the Silva and Vermillion Houses, the Index House lived a rather, frugal and humble life, settling near the Clover-Spade Kingdom Borders, and keeping themselves to their academic pursuits of both magic and numerology.

And upon hearing an emergency address called to all noble houses, her's included, Jules herself got really smashed last night on the finest red wine available, and her hangover is helping her ignore the jeers and looks of contempt aimed towards her.

Her simple white and gold dress that exposed her shoulders and bust were a complete contrast to all the garish colored clothes that the other nobles wore.

"Shouldn't you be rotting in your study in the boonies, you bar wench?" One of the noblewoman remarked with a barely-hidden disgust.

"Bitch, I can kick your ass a hundred times over just by reciting the first three-thousand seven-hundred fifty-eight numbers of pi while wasted." Jules dryly remarked. "If the Spade Kingdom's best can't best me, you have a snowball's chance in hell's rectum trying to so much as nick me."

The lady in blue and green simply turns away in a huff, with Jules's mouth creasing to a shit-eating grin.

For all her more "undesirable" traits, it was clear that Jules's time as a Coral Peacock Captain has built her a reputation as a fierce combatant, her wits and ingenuity unrivaled that only Acier Silva can match.

... Ever since she died, Jules has taken up to herself to find the cause for her death, even as the rumors of death by childbirth persisted. She tried to interrogate her former Vice-Captain, Dorthy Unsworth, but even she wouldn't budge, albeit, due to her semi-comatose nature.

Across the chamber, she saw her former Vice-Captain standing among her Magic Knight Captain peers.

"I will get to the bottom of this little enigma. As long as it takes."

The doors open once more, now introducing three strangers, neither noble nor Magic Knight-affiliated, enter the room, causing a minor commotion among the nobles.

"Just who are they?"

"Are they some sort of a new branch of Magic Knights?"

"They don't look like they're from around here..."

"Isn't he sweltering in that thick cloak of his?"

Jules however, was more open to this development.

"Hoh?" Jules thought to herself as she put away her flask that she was about to open. "Perhaps this isn't going to be a complete waste of time after all."

The three then walk towards the Wizard King, not even bothering to bow before him.

"Such disrespect..."

"Just who the hell they think they are-"

The man with the eyepatch over his left eye shoots a momentary glare at them, silencing them immediately, including Jules.

"... Whoa, that man's wild." Jules thought upon looking at the intense-looking man. "... If I wasn't married, I would've already rocked his world."

"... Well, I suppose we all settled down now." Julius stated. "With that said, let's begin the address. First, you three, you mind introducing yourselves just to get all of us started?"

The eyepatched man speaks first.

"I'm Dragunov Smirnov, Inquisitor of Avalon's Order of the Spade Cross." Dragunov introduced.

"Kalashnikov Turgenev, the same." The braided woman with a pair of longswords hung around her hips.

"Name's Dagda, ya idjits." The short blond male greeted in a disproportionately-gruff voice clashing badly against his schoolboy-like appearance. "If ya want to remember me, I was the one on the pig that ya tried to set fire to. Next time, knock first, ya daft bastards."

"Wait, he's the one-"

"What's an invader like him doing in these halls-"

"If ya wanna know..." Dagda interrupted. "... Well, I got nothing other than you shites being pricks. I ain't out for blood, just had to rough a few your folks up before I got really mad."

All of the nobles and Magic Knight Captains stood silent at his audacity to tell off other nobles only to come up with nothing, and rub their collective faces in it.

"I do apologize, the people from the Spade Kingdom can be a little... confrontational." Julius remarked.

"You don't say..." Jules thought to herself. "... Although judging by their appearances, I don't think they're the same ones that harass the Clover Kingdom at the borders. Eh, I'll let the others figure it out the hard way. I owe these shits nothing."

"Anyway, onto the main issue at hand." Julius regained order over the audience before turning to Marx. "... Show them."

Marx then projects several images of the ruined Nean with several wolf-like creatures raiding and ransacking the village and slaughtering its populace, a smallish-looking youth with a pair topaz snake-eyes holding a massive Diamond Kingdom Magic Knight by his neck as the latter's compatriots were massacred around the two, and a Black Knight with a pair black-plumed wings, wielding a massive charcoal-colored broadsword, leading several cloaked and masked figures wielding massive knives with blades that are curved outward, and around their shoulders were crude, yet finely-crafted bows with arrows tucked into their quills, all of them facing down against a squad of rookie Magic Knights from the Black Bulls and the Golden Dawn, with two visible casualties on the latter's side.

All Yami, Charlotte, Jack, and Nozel can do is look away in shame, while the rest, Fuegoleon, Rill, William, and the recently-promoted Purple Orca, Xerx Lugner, all had their eyes and mouths open agape in nothing short of utter horror.

Even Dorthy, who was once semi-comatose, now had her eyes glued to the projects of the three disasters, as mentally noted by Jules.

"... Who are those two?" William, the unflappable Captain of the Golden Dawn shuddered out as he looked at his hand. "... And why am I... shaking?"

"What kind of sick joke is this?" Xerx remarked. "Surely a few people isn't enough to cause this kind of calamity!"

"Those three..." Fuegoleon snarled out. "... They're pure evil."

"This is all a bad dream." Rill panicked while sweating out a lake. "Yeah, this is some kind of prank, is it?"

"... Just who are they?" Dorthy asked, surprising everyone around her, or would, if everyone else wasn't so horrified at what they're all witnessing right now.

"... Would you mind telling them?" Julius asked Dragunov. "I believe the experts should be the ones saying it, not me."

"Understood." Dragunov stated right before he spoke to the audience. "What you see before you are Demons. Beings of unspeakable sin and evil have manifested throughout this world, and now, they've come. They've come to your doors and ravaged your people, but we despair not, for we Inquisitors of the Spade Kingdom have long fought these vile beings since the founding of our domain, and we've come to lend you aid!"

"Demons!?" One of the nobleman remarked. "Balderdash! Those things are just a myth! Fantasy! Lies!"

"Then why do you see this before you?" Kalashnikov pointed out. "Do you deny that the many deaths of your fellow man? Are you that cold hearted to completely disregard the consequences of your ignorance?"

"Just who are you to judge my intelligence, you Spade Kingdom barbarian!?" The same nobleman barked back. "I don't care if you're the only ones who can deal with these so-called Demons, no one gets away insulting me!"

"Are all of these... nobles this pretentious?" Dragunov asked Julius with a raised eyebrow.

"They can be bit much at times." Julius remarked. "I let them be because they're the ones funding me."

"Says the man who's all bark." Kalashnikov retorted unflinchingly.

"Do you know who I am!?" The nobleman barked out. "Do you know what happens when nobodies like you insult me!?"

"I'm not insulting you, noble." Kalashnikov plainly remarked. "I'm simply pointing out stating facts, and your empathic deficiency."

"I'LL HAVE HEAD FOR THIS!" The nobleman bellowed out as he opened his grimoire. "I'LL LET YOU JOIN THE ADLAIS IN THE AFTERLIFE-"

"Niko, break his arm." Dragunov ordered.

Kalashnikov grabs his right arm and jerks it towards her, right before she pivots the arm around his back, pressing him down and pinning him to the floor.

"U-UNHAND ME YOU WENCH-"

*SNAP*

"GURAGHH!" The nobleman cried out as the others watched his arm be bent towards the other end of his elbow joint.

Now normally, the Magic Knight Captains would step in to stop her, but upon the noble's unwittingly confessing to his crimes of murdering the entire Adlai House few years back, none of them were that sympathetic to the noble eating marble.

Even Xerx, who's infamous for killing commoners for the most minor of offenses, wouldn't stoop so low to killing his fellow noblemen out jealousy or greed. They were attributes that the nobles were supposed to be above doing, and set themselves to a higher standard above those who're below their standing, or at least he perceives it.

"You do a horrid job at keeping them in line." Dragunov stated to the Wizard King. "I find their lack of discipline extremely disturbing."

"Next will be your shoulder." Kalashnikov hissed out. "You've done nothing to deserve my respect, only my ire for your lack of regard to others' lives. At Avalon, such sin is only punishable by death."

She then pulls out one of her swords and stabs the noble's grimoire into the marble floor, before setting it ablaze right before his eyes, smoldering it into a pile of ash in an instant.

"Consider that a warning." Kalashnikov stated as she pulled out her sword and sheathed it back in as she got her foot off of the noble's back. "Cross the line again, expect not Sephira's radiance, but the searing grasps of Hell's nail and fangs to embrace your soul."

She simply leaves the noble writhing on the floor in pain.

"... Miss Turgenev." Julius pointed out. "Need I remind you that you're under Clover Kingdom's laws?"

"Well, he confessed to mass murder, didn't he?" Kalashnikov pointed out. "And besides, with the grimoire burnt to ash, I don't think he's going to be of any harm anytime soon. I injured one to save a dozen."

"... That was your first and final warning." Julius reaffirmed. "For both of you."

"Niko, we're standing down." Dragunov ordered. "... I suppose for a land that's relatively peaceful, laws are more lenient."

"Eh, I enjoyed the show." Dagda smirked as he took a swig from his flask. "... Someone gonna clean that up? Or do we clean up after ourselves ere'?"

From the doors, Damnatio and several cloaked mages come into the chambers.

"O-OH THANK GOD! PUNISH THAT WHORE OVER THERE-"

"We're here for you." Damnatio stated coldly as the cloaked mages picked the man up and cuffed his wrists in chains.

"Heya, ya fucking poser." Dagda greeted at the Judge. "How's ya bones?"

Damnatio refuses to answer the Ulsterian's words, leaving the room with the noble dragged out in chains.

"... You know him?" Dragunov pointed out.

"I threw him and his posse out." Dagda answered. "I think Lugh broke his past record of people-hurling."

"I'm more surprised that he's still even walking." Dragunov pointed out. "Last time the 'Tyrant Terminal' did that, the pages and the other Thaumaturges had to scrape his insides off of the bastion walls. The Chapters were rather displeased that it happened during their mass."

"To be fair, he was trying to dine and dash." Dagda remarked. "Not to mention, he tried to threaten Aengus at knifepoint. He kinda had it coming."

"Am I doomed to clean up after you and your messes?" Dragunov sighed out.

"Love ya too, cyclops."

The other nobles and the Magic Knight Captains overhearing their conversation all contemplate on what kind of a place Spade Kingdom is. From their reactions to their remarks, their affirmations and assumptions of the Spade Kingdom inhabitants being barbarians are not deterred in the slightest.

"... And I thought you're the fucked-up one here, Xerx." Jack whispered to the Purple Orca Captain.

"Trust me, you're worse." Xerx bit back. "... You'd fit in with the Spade rabble like a glove."

"YOU WANNA GET CUT UP, YOU POMPOUS-"

"Order, ORDER!" Julius cried out as he raised his voice unexpectedly. "... Thank you."

The two Captains grumble before looking away from each other in a huff.

"... As you all witnessed, what you all saw were indeed, Demons." Julius stated. "Nean's destruction and the loss of over one-thousand casualties including both inhabitants and Magic Knights sent there were caused by Demon Faction known as Hellhounds."

An image of a small girl wearing fur and a battered and bent crown wielding a knife clashing against Tokarev was projected.

"That girl is their leader, Tiamat." Julius stated. "Alone, she's a threat, but the real crux of the problem is, she's never alone."

"Tiamat wields [Summon Magic]." Dragunov pointed out. "Using others' blood as catalysts to breach the living world and Hell, she's able to conjure up Hellhounds and occasionally a stray [Stygian] faster than we Inquisitors can purge them. In a minute, she's able to amass an army of Hellhounds and if able, she'll easily run your entire kingdom to the ground in a single day."

Then another image of cloaked boy with black scales adorning his cheeks right below his topaz snake-eyes holding up a larger man by his throat appeared.

"This is Yama." Julius stated. "According to the survivors, he'd managed to wipe out the entire army along with the rest of the Diamond Kingdom populace. He uses what the survivor called [Death Magic], the power to kill anything down to a metaphysical concept. The only boon, for lack of a better term, is that he can only kill one concept at a time, but that did not stop him from killing their 'control' over their magic that they rained down upon him, and... well you can guess the rest yourself."

Dragunov, Kalashnikov, and even Dagda were taken aback by Yama's presentation.

"... So he's the one behind the reports of Diamond Kingdom's literal disappearance?" Kalashnikov remarked.

"Niko, I think I'll help you out writing your report, because there's a lot we've just confirmed." Dragunov replied. "And Dagda, you and your tavern staff aid us, I'll try to appeal for your pardon."

"Fuck ye, cyclops." Dagda remarked with an extended out middle finger. "Yer not my mum."

And finally, an image of a black-winged Black Knight appeared before the audience.

"And finally, Clover Kingdom's domestic Demon threat... Astaroth, the Prince of War." Julius grimaced. "Our reports around this enigma are extremely recent and scant, but from what we're able to gather from eyewitness reports, he leads the Fallen Angels, and a user of [Anti-Magic], which is exactly what it sounds like. Anything remotely magic-related or uses mana against it... we lost three Magic Knights in one mission that way, and I hope to address this pressing issue in a more... prudent manner."

"Niko, you're getting all of this?" Dragunov asked.

"Crystal clear." Kalashnikov replied as she jotted down the notes on a loose sheet of paper with a quill pen.

"... Point is, as it stands, your Clover Kingdom's Magic Knights has been proven impotent in dealing with this emerging threat alone." Dragunov spoke out to the crowd. "Alone, you and your kingdom will surely die. But united, we will be able to weather this coming storm. I ask of you, let us aid you purging this coming evil, so that we may be able to prevent this calamity from destroying everything we all know and hold dear!"

Several of the nobles look and converse among themselves, with the Magic Knight Captains all of them trying to digest this situation on top of their current losses.

"Hmph, and what makes you so sure of that, thinking that we're impotent against this threat?" The Vaude representative, Ledior Vaude, spoke out as he emerged from the crowd to confront the Inquisitor personally. "We Clover Kingdom are anything but impotent-"

In a blink, Dragunov appears right in front the nobleman's face, his [Mithril Combat Knife M4] drawn out of his bootstraps, the steel-turquoise blade's edge pressed against his chin.

"0.12 seconds."

Dragunov removes the knife's edge away from the man's chin, wiping a small droplet of blood off of the blade with the noble's ascot before sheathing it by his boot.

"That's how long will it take for just the Hellhounds to rip your throat out before you can even start your incantation." Dragunov stated while glaring at the man. "I have nothing against you, only for the fact that I wish to correct your arrogance so you don't die meaninglessly."

The Vaude representative falls onto his rear, wetting himself.

"... Was that really necessary?" Julius sighed out.

"Had to prove a point." Dragunov answered. "I believe that action speak louder than words, and their lack humility will guarantee their deaths unless amended. So, if you have a problem with me, why not simply prove us wrong yourselves? After all, you consider us barbarians that you find yourselves associating away from us, so why not put us down like the dogs you think we are, if you can?"

"Don't worry, the only thing broken will be their arrogance." Kalashnikov reassured the Wizard King while amidst facing down several provoked nobles. "I've already broken one man's arm, and he's proven to be extremely brittle."

"So, does that mean sparring?" Fuegoleon pointed out.

"You seem up for it." Dragunov pointed out. "Although, unlike the others, there's an air of... wariness around you. You're not like the others, aren't you?"

"I'm firm believer judging an individual by their own merits." The Crimson Lion King Captain pointed out. "You seem credible in your words, but I need to make sure of it."

"If you insist." Dragunov remarked. "I can respect a man who's body shows valor in the face of wear and tear."

"Well said, Sir Inquisitor." Fuegoleon stepped up towards Dragunov. "Shall we-"

"LOOK OUT!"

Kalashnikov immediately draws her swords and throws them above Fuegoleon's head, breaking through the windows above, with a audible grunt of pain from above.

"SHIT, THEY'RE ALREADY ONTO US!"

"I TOLD YOU THIS WAS A BAD IDEA!"

"NIKO!"

Dragunov crouches down, hands cupped together, and catches Kalashnikov's heels, lifting her up, and springing her jump even further, out the same hole that she threw her swords towards.

She lands on top of the roof, picks up her bloodstained sword, and looking up, spots two figures with black feathered wings flying away.

"OLD MAN, THEY'RE GETTING AWAY!" Kalashnikov cried out from above.

"NOT ON MY WATCH!"

He then pulls out his bow, aims his nocked towards the two flying figures in daylight, and lets the quills loose.

"[Spatial & Light Rune Magic: Sagitta Vulnerans-Mico]!"

An arrow of light shoots towards the two flying figures at breakneck speeds, but as soon as the arrow was about to strike them down, a third winged figure appeared.

Kalashnikov sees the winged figure brush his hand across the light-speed arrows, the wave of black energy dampening the arrows's trajectory as they soon fall flat onto the stone floors below.

"Fall back." The newly-emerged winged figure ordered. "Inform the others."

"Y-Yes, Lord Claudius!"

"GET BACK HERE-"

In a flash, the third winged figure disappeared from Kalashnikov's sight.

"W-Where did he-"

*TWHACK*

The female Inquisitor's eyes rolled to the back of her head, as she slowly felt her brain turn off like a candlelight.

As the rain of black feathers fell around the unconscious Inquisitor, Claudius has already escaped, with Dragunov, Dagda, and Julius barely missing him.

"... The hell?" Dragunov remarked. "NIKO!"

He then runs up to pick up the unconscious Inquisitor.

"... Um, one question." Dagda pointed out towards Julius. "Just how much do you think they've heard of it?"

Dragunov looks towards Julius with a concerned look.

"... Assume... everything?" Julius pointed out.

"Just in case, I think we need to mobilize, immediately." Dragunov remarked.

Seventh Layer, Violence, Hell

[Violence], the Seventh Layer of Hell. A mass of thorny bramble and greenery, the air stinted with a suffocating scent of blood that choked to any who dared to enter.

The trees, the ground, the waters, the creatures, and even the air itself shifted endlessly, as the souls condemned here are forever doomed to wander the realm of conflict and brutality, with each corner hiding either a fight between two lesser [Stygians] or a violent end for whatever this chaotic bramble of carnage may offer.

Only a few dare to claim this place as their domain, one of them being Cain, the sin of [Hatred], lashing out his ire against the other lesser Demons and abominations that festered this place, pulling out a massive, serrated broadsword out of one of the [Stygian]'s faces, before spitting at its face in pure disgust.

"You bastards never learn, do you?" Cain snarled out. "You sheer stupidity is just disgusting, and worst of all, I can't kill all of you fast enough!"

He then tosses his broadsword aside, impaling a stray [Stygian] through its back, killing it instantly.

"... AREHAFODHSFKAHJSDFHGASEFKGHGGHGAGHHHHHHHHH!" Cain incoherently garbled out in unrelenting, unrestrained, ire, as he battered the corpse of a slain [Stygian] with a spiked cudgel. "ALL OF YOU, JUST STAY DEAD! IS IT SO HARD FOR YOU JUST STAY DOWN IN THE NINTH LAYER AND ROT THERE FOR THE REST OF ETERNITY!? IF I SO MUCH AS SPOT THE SAME DAMN FACE AGAIN, I SWEAR, NOT EVEN THE DEMON KING HIMSELF WILL BE ABLE TO PUT YOU AND YOUR ANNOYING ASSES BACK TOGETHER!"

"Oh? But what will you do in order to cause that much damage? Surely, I want a piece of that!"

Cain turns his head, only to find the equine Demon, Asmodeus, the sin of [Lust] behind him, waving at him with a smile on his face.

"Hey there~Cainy-Baby!" Asmodeus greeted in a flirty tone. "Working the shaft as usual-"

"Die."

In the ratel-Demon's clawed hands, a massive mallet size of a mountain formed out of thin air in Cain's hands.

"[Weapon Manifestation Magic: Grudge Hammer]!" Cain announced as he grasped the titanic hammer that overshadowed the entire forest around them, the massive hammerhead completely eclipsing the skies the led to Sixth Layer, [Heresy]. "DIE! DIE! DIIIEEEE!"

The hammer lands directly into the forest, uprooting roughly 4/5 of the entire layer of its trees, rivers, plants, and [Stygians], with a massive mushroom cloud of kicked-up dust and gravel rising up from the impact's epicenter.

"Well, glad you're somewhat receptive of my previous advice..." Asmodeus's voice spoke out from dust screen obscuring Cain's vision. "... But just because bigger is always better, doesn't mean much when you can't even get a single hit in."

At the end of [Grudge Hammer]'s business end, Asmodeus was found, on his back, his legs spread wide as possible, both of his ankles touching his cheeks, the hammerhead brushing against his throbbing crotch.

"When it comes to love and war, you must show that you care, and thrust it in!" Asmodeus cooed. "And once you got em cornered, give them everything, and leave no spot untainted."

"YOU WANT THRUST!? I'LL GIVE YOU ONE!"

Cain jumps onto the massive handle of his hammer, and his hands then projects a massive lance with an extremely-barbed spearhead aimed towards Asmodeus's head.

"[WEAPON MANIFESTATION MAGIC: DECIMATION SPEAR]!"

The titanic lance crashes tip first towards Asmodeus, only for the spearhead to barely brush across his cheek.

"Oh come now, Cainy-Baby, that was barely a love tap." Asmodeus teased. "Also, you only got the tip into the earth. For something called [Decimation Spear], I assumed that it would go... deeper in."

"FUCK YOU, YOU CREEPY SLUT!"

"Ah~YES! FUCK ME!" Asmodeus lewdly groaned out. "FUCK ME HARD AS YOU CAN! HATEFUCK ME WITH ALL YOUR HATE, FOR I WILL ACCEPT IT ALL!"

"DIE, WHORE!"

In once every blue moon, the integrity of the Seven Layer, [Violence] was strained to its limit by its resident and its sole visitor who dared to challenge the environment's hostility. The trees and brambles struggle to grow fast enough to keep up with the desolation caused by two of the [Eleven Elusive Evils]. A mixed cacophony of enraged bellows and immodest orgasms echoed throughout the layer as it was being systematically destroyed.

... Such is the life in the Seventh Layer of Hell.

Gallows Forest, Forsaken Realm, Clover Kingdom, Late Afternoon

"... You're serious?"

Claudius nods.

Around the treetop villages of the marshy forest, the Dark Elves and the Fallen Angels all hear the harrowing news.

There is an organization that know how to slay Demons, another faction of Demons has breached through Clover Kingdom borders, and now the humans have confirmed their existence.

"I'm not lying, milord." Claudius stated towards Astaroth. "Evidently, the humans have learned how to use two different kinds of magic on the fly, and now, everything has simply escalated beyond all my predictions."

"THEN WHAT DO WE DO!?" One of the Dark Elves cried out. "AT THIS RATE, THEY'RE PROBABLY GATHERING AN ARMY TO KILL US ALL!"

"And to think we just started working on the powder kegs too..." Astaroth grimaced as he looked towards the several wooden barrels with cords of glossy thread around them, "... Tell me, Claudius, what're our options as of now?"

Claudius then looks at the map to scale his current options.

"Our only option is simply to run, but the real problem lies where to." Claudius addressed. "Diamond Kingdom is now a barren wasteland thanks to Cleopatra's little pet project, Heart Kingdom happens to be in the same bed with the Clover Kingdom, and Spade Kingdom, from what we just learned, is a guaranteed death sentence with the presence of Inquisitors!"

Claudius continues to look around the map, gradually realizing that the mainland was no longer an option...

... So what if they went off-shore instead?

His eyes run across the map, and find a small, isolated island off twenty to thirty miles off of Eastern Clover Kingdom Coasts.

Clover Island, Magic's Origin, and the birthplace of his nemesis, Sephira's, former home. Holding Clover Kingdom's very first Grimoire Tower, now completely abandoned after a great disaster fell upon it, a perfect hiding spot and a new foothold for their forces, both in self-sustainment for the Dark Elves, and a geographical advantage for the Fallen Angels.

"... Desperate times calls for desperate measures." Claudius ruminated. "Someday, I will bury you and your legacy with my two hands, you upstart whore."

"We head here." Claudius pointed towards the small landmass far away from the mainland.

"Oh sure, we'll swim there." Thor sarcastically pointed out. "Last time I checked, NONE OF US CAN SWIM!"

"I have an old vessel that I managed to appropriate 10 years prior." Claudius stated. "Suffice to say, it's a stubborn one, and I do occasionally sneak off in the dead of night to keep it maintained... or kill off anyone who got too close to finding it."

"One question." Sinmara asked. "... How in the actual hell did you get an entire boat?"

"I killed everyone on board at the dead of night before reaching land." Claudius pointed out plainly. "... Let's just say that in hindsight, I should've killed the helmsman last. But regardless, it'll float."

"Of course." The female Dark Elf rolled her eyes.

"But there lies another issue." Odin spoke out. "... How are we to cover our tracks, or at the very least, deter them from going after our heels, if only for a little while?"

Claudius then looks towards the fresh test barrel of foul-smelling concoctions and spool of glossy thread for a moment. Then he looked at the ramshackle village around them.

"... I have a few bad ideas."

To Be Continued...

Author's Notes: And the chase is fucking on.

Bizon after the Diamond Kingdom Remnants and one Demonologist, Inquisitors and a (possible) Magic Knight united front now after the Dark Elves and the Fallen Angels, Cain after Asmodeus's horse-cocked ass, and shit's about to really get messy.

Also, Clover Island is a reference to Tabata's original Black Clover One-Shot/Chapter/Page 0, and it was too good to pass up, so, yeah, here ya go, canon welding. Sephira's birthplace, and Claudius/Lucifer's source of wounded pride.

A short chapter, but one needed so that I don't overheat from the Californian summer heat killing my brain cells, and burnout, because it's a bitch to deal with in the long run.

Stay hydrated folks, because I am.

And now, obligatory character voice actors, because for funsies:

Jules Index: Emi Shinohara (JPN), Alison Viktorin (ENG)

So, what do you think of this Saga?

Please leave a comment or a review, for I'd like to know what my audience are thinking!