Kana breathed out before falling on her knees, sweating profusely.

"Kana-chan!" Asta run over his friend in worry.

"I'm *pant fine." She swallows hard. The last attack used every last drop of her mana that she can feel every part of her body shaking. "I *pant don't think I can do *pant that again." Glancing at Asta with a tired smile. "You can take it from here, right?"

"Leave the rest to me!" He confidently points his thumb over his chest.

Fuegoleon stole a glance at his young lioness before looking back at their enemy. "In the instant, you attack, for just a moment, the mana of the barrier thins in places. That's what I aimed for."

"That's so cool how you managed to notice it too!" Asta whisper-yelled at the red-haired girl.

"Sure~" She laughs half-heartedly. 'Honestly, I just got lucky.' She shudders at an image of her captain's fiery looks as if she missed the attack. 'I actually don't want to earn another lecture if I didn't hit that corpse.'

"Listen well, all of you!" Fuegoleon roared, gaining all younger members. "As long as you are Magic Knights, you will find yourself constantly pitted against powerful enemies and magic! But when that happens, if you gauge the ability calmly and maintain a bold fighting spirit, you will never lose! Is that clear?!"

"Yes, sir!" The shouts of Leopold and Noelle from a distance reached them.

"I-Impossible! My Number One was trounced.... D-Damn it! Damn it!"

"Rades, wasn't it?" The Crimson Lions' captain asks as he approaches the muttering rogue mage with his junior trailing near him. "Even if you possess extraordinary abilities and polish them to their fullest, without a righteous spirit, your deeds are nothing but violence! No one will acknowledge something like that!"

Kana clamp her ears upon her captain loud voice. 'So loud~'

The ash-blonde haired boy chuckles, knowing fully well what's playing on the girl's mind.

The loud voice of Leopold makes all of them look over the other duo who managed to take down their opponents with the help of each other not long after the fall of Number One.

"How'd you like that?! I made him evaporate with intense firepower!"

"Excellent! Well done!" Fuegoleon praised with a proud look on his face. "You are definitely a man worthy of leading this country!"

"Yes, sir!" Noelle and Leopold salutes.

The red-haired girl grimace, clamping her ears even more. "My body hurt, my head hurt, and now my ears~~."

"You have done well too!"

"Now you're just pushing it!" Irk marks appear on her forehead as she glares at her captain, who smiles and is proud of their actions.

"I-Impossible..." Rades breathed out in disbelief with fear flash in his eyes as he watches Fuegoleon slowly approaching him. "Impossible! I've got as much magic as a royal! I—"

"Honō Kōsoku Mahō: Reo Paruma! (Fire Restraining Magic: Leo Palma!)" Several lion's palms appear upon his calls, composed entirely of fire and slowly wrapped around Rades, leaving him immobilized.

The rogue mage's grimoire falls over as he was taken off guard since he still in shocks after being defeated. "L-let go of me! I'm still— Damn it! Damn it!"

Noticing the fallen grimoire, Kana walk towards it and pick it up. 'Lighter than I thought.' Passing it over his captain without another word, she can only hear the pleading voice from the owner, not giving a damn of him until—

"What is this grimoire?" As if the same thought hit the same to her captain.

"S-stop it!"

Fuegoleon flip opens the grimoire only to gape at the sight, not hundreds, but one—just one side of a page that have spell written on it. "There's only one page?"

'He did all this with just that?!' Kana's jaws loosen in shocks.

"Don't! Don't look at it!" Rades shouts in despair as he tries to wring his way out of his holders. "Give it back! Don't you dare look down on me!"

"Who's gonna look down on you?" Asta's voice coming from behind. He painfully approaches them while clutching his stomach with a sword in his hand. "Couldn't you think of any other way to get people to acknowledge your power?"

Kana watches in silence at the pained looks on her childhood friend's face. She knows how much the boy wished to have what the ungrateful rogue mage has, yet he learned that if he weren't born with mana, he would fight with his willpower, which makes her respect him more than anyone.

"You have amazing magic, and you were strong enough to claw your way up—"

The red-haired smile softly before adding. "What's there to be embarrassed about anyway? You created so much chaos with just a spell, and it took Magic Knights numerous spells to take yours down." She smirks. "What an idiot."

Rades couldn't believe his ears after hearing those words. Never had he ever thought about it. He always hates his grimoire for bestowed him with a single spell while others keep gaining more of them. Yet a child in front of him doesn't have mana in himself, and he wasn't hiding anything.

"What you lacked to overcome adversity— was a righteous heart." Fuegoleon bluntly pointed out. "Pay for your crimes."

A soft yet faint voice reach Kana's ears, and from the look on Asta's face, he also hears it.

"What's wrong?" Her captain asks after watching a thoughtful expression on her face.

"Voice—" She tilts her head in confusion. "I hear a voice. Eh?" Turning her head toward the other parts of the city where the other Magic Knights' members should be, she frowns as she can sense strong magic from four different places, but she no longer can feel the other members' mana.

"What the—" Fuegoleon and the others, also noticing the sudden disappearance, look around in confusion.

"The Magic Knights' mana—" Noelle sweats, not understanding what just happened.

"I can't feel them anymore!" Leopold finished.

"This is unprecedented spatial magic. Was there another spellcaster?" The lion predicts.

-On the other part of the city-

Yuno, who managed to escape the spatial magic, appeared in front of Catherine, who been tormenting the citizens with his grimoire flipped open.

"Ara~ ara~ You're hot and my type." The long, curly, blonde-haired woman glee at the sight of him. "Say, want to have some fun with me?"

"Get away from this, people." He coldly states. "I already have someone, you old hag."

Her brow twitches at his last words before her expression turns murderous. "I will kill you!"

Kana suddenly sneeze, making her glance around, rubbing the tip of her nose. 'Did someone just talks about me? Better not have a cold at a time like this.'

"You're working with at least one other." Fuegoleon deduces with his grimoire flare in front of him. "Where are they?"

Silent

"Have they fled?"

Silent

"No matter where you might've sent the rest of the Magic Knights, you don't have enough power to take over the royal capital. I can't imagine that this was just to go after the king."

The lioness glance at the castle where the king is supposed to be, then back at the rogue mage.

She notices that the attacks that happened through the city were everywhere, but none of them near the castle. The king might be the target, but why send the other Magic Knights away out of nowhere, or this attack was just a mere distraction. Some things happening around here don't fit the puzzles; she just couldn't find herself to find the answer.

"You've made it clear that your motive is revenge, but what are you and the others after overall?"

Rades starts laughing after hearing Fuegoleon's question. "Our true motive—

Is you, Fuegoleon Vermillion!"

His confessions send chills all over Kana's body as a voice swiftly ringing her ears—

"The necklace— The ground—"

"What do you—"

"Captain, look out!" Kana jump towards her captain before anyone or she can think off.

"Kana, don't!" Her captain wasn't fast enough to push her out of the spatial magic as both of them disappear.

"Nii-sama!!/Kana-chan!!"

A/N: Double chapters for you guys as apology gifts. Hope you guys like it.

Please leave some of your opinions and vote for them.

Thank you!

https://youtu.be/g7Xeh82MzSQ