Chapter Text
The current 2 vice-captains of the Golden Dawn, Langris and Yuno, are walking through their base towards their captain's office for an urgent meeting. The 2 are walking in silence until Yuno breaks it.
“Do you know why the captain is calling an urgent meeting with us??”
“Does it look like I know??” Yuno gives him no response. “He wouldn’t call me to his office as well if I knew, idiot”.
“Yes he would.” Langris stops to give Yuno an annoyed look. “If you have additional information to update on for whatever this is about”. Langris opens his mouth to speak, but closes it and begins walking again. “I was just answering a question”.
“Yes I’m well aware of that” Langris grumbles out annoyed at Yuno. “Though I did want to ask, have you seen Mimosa recently??”
“So you noticed too?? That she has been avoiding both of us”.
“Did you do something to upset her??”
“Strange, I was going to ask you the same thing”. Langris gives him another dirty look. “But no, I didn’t”.
“Me either. But a few days ago she had asked me to open a portal up to the Rose Garden Knight’s Base. She seemed quite panicked”.
“Mimosa, Klaus and I were all seated together when she received an unmarked letter. After reading it she became panicked and left as quickly as possible. Klaus and I were concerned but she hasn’t mentioned anything about it. Do you think that whatever Mimosa went to assist with is what this meeting is about??”.
“I believe so”.
“So you did know what the meeting was about” Yuno states being a smart ass.
“Shut. Up.” Langris grumbles out. Yuno gives a slight sly smirk at Langris' response.
“Couldn’t resist, could he. Damn he gets on my nerves” Langris thinks.
“You walked into that one. He is easier to mess with than Asta” Yuno thinks. Yuno starts thinking about Asta and he believes he knows where Langris is going with this speculation.
“She has been not only avoiding both of us, and when she isn’t avoiding either of us, I can see a look of dread and concern on her face.”
“Hm, I have noticed that too”.
“Now what would cause Mimosa to have the same concern for both you and I. The only thing the 2 of us really have in common are both being the vice-captains of the Golden Dawns and…”
“...and both having brothers in the Black Bull squad”.
“Yes”.
“The letter I got physically mailed to me from Finral only amplifies my concerns.”
“If you're trying to ask me if I heard from Asta recently?? I haven’t. But I do know Asta and I know he wouldn’t be defeated that easily, he is my rival to becoming the Wizard King after all”. The 2 open the door and walk into the main entrance of their base to take the stairs up to their captains office.
“I know Asta wouldn’t die that easily”.
“Yes, your anti-magic monster of a brother may not die that easily but my brother is a kind-hearted idiot who dislikes fighting”.
All of a sudden the 2 hear a crash and look over to see none other than Finral freaking out on what to do about the now broken vase on the floor. Langris lets out a sigh of relief to know that his brother being dead isn’t what the meeting is going to be about. Yuno lets out a breath that he didn’t know he was holding onto.
“I found your kind-hearted idiot of a brother who dislikes fighting. So my anti-magic monster of a brother shouldn’t be too far than” Yuno states, pointing to Finral who has not noticed them and is still freaking out about the vase.
“Damn it. I said that out loud”.
“Yes you did”. Langris, now embarrassed, strides away from Yuno and towards his brother.
“Hey Finral, what did you do??”
“Oh, um, hi, um…I kind of…may have…broke your vase…hehe…sorry”. Finral says rubbing the back of his neck with his right hand and looks at the floor.
“It’s alright. It’s not like it was worth that much anyway”.
“Are you sure it’s not a problem??”
“Ya I am sure idiot”.
“Oh, well thanks. But I mean the least I can do is pick up the pieces since I broke it and all”. Finral gives Langris a smile, then goes to pick up the pieces of the vase.
“He is as friendly as ever I see. I am relieved he isnt dead or injured, but then what was the letter all about”.
Before he can ask though Yuno speaks up first.
“Why are you here??”
“Oh…um…may have…sort of…lost something important while on a mission and I’m now trying to find it”. Finral again rubbing the back of his neck with his hand and guiltily laughs.
“You idiot. If it's so important you shouldn’t have lost it”.
“I know. I know, I already got a lecture from Noelle. Even though I am the older one and should be giving out the lecture”. Finral says the last part underneath his breath.
“Is this whatever it is part of a mission?? If so, I think the captain may be able to give you some information to help”.
Finral sighs “No, I just came from his office. He couldn’t tell me anything”. Finral looks up at Langris and Yuno. “So it seems like I may be on my own for this one…” Finral gives a sad laugh, then goes back to picking up the vase pieces.
“Now is my chance to ask”.
“Finral what did you mean in the letter you sent me?? And why did you even physically send me a letter, you have spatial magic?? You could have dropped the letter off at any time or better yet talk to me personally??”. Finral stops picking up the vase pieces and looks at Langris.
“I’m sorry. I don’t know what you're talking about. I didn’t send anyone a letter”.
“Finral you physically sent me a letter, I got it in the mail a few days ago”.
“I’m sorry what??”. Langris can feel himself getting annoyed.
“Finral you physically sent me a letter. You probably don’t remember because for it to have physically gotten to me you must have sent it out weeks ago. So that's probably why you don’t remember”.
“I think I would remember sending a letter even if it was a few weeks ago, especially since I actually have never written a letter before, so I really wouldn’t even know where to start in writing one”.
“What is he talking about?? I know we both got the same education and I know he has had to send letters out to other nobles before. So why is he lying?? Is this a joke??”
“Finral, come on, if this is a joke it's very annoying. I know you were taught to write letters before. Our tutor Laya had us both practice writing letters as we were growing up”.
“Laya who’s that??”
“What is he talking about?? He knows who Laya is. This joke is starting to piss me off”.
“But…um…you also said our tutor…like we shared a tutor”
“Because we did”.
“But the thing is…um…this is my first time meeting you??”
“Wait what??”
“I have been meaning to ask your name?? Oh and also how you knew mine because I really haven’t introduced myself yet”.
“Wait what?!?! What is going on?!?!?”. Langris can feel himself getting on edge.
“Wait, you're not a stalker are you??”
“No you idiot!! I’m your brother!!”.
“Wait brother??”. Finral stands up and places the vase pieces on a table nearby then gets close to Langris to look at his face. “I mean we do look alot alike…hm…but far as I know I have been an only child so…um…I’m sorry”.
“Wait what!?!”
“Are you sure you’re not confusing me with someone…”
“NO!! I AM NOT!! YOU’RE MY BROTHER FINRAL!!!” Langris yells. He can feel himself slipping into a panic.
“Why?!?! Why is he saying this!?!? After I got possessed by the elf, we resolved things. He…he made a promise.”
“FINRAL THIS JOKE…IT’S NOT FUNNY ANYMORE SO STOP!!”
“This has to be a joke right?!?! I mean…I mean it just has to be!!”
“Something isn't right here. There is no way this is a joke. I may not know Finral that well but I know Asta and Asta would never be around someone who would do such a cruel joke on another person. I need to get Langris away from…”. Yuno’s thoughts are interrupted by a door slamming open; Klaus, Letoile, Mimosa and Hamon now enter the lobby.
“We heard some yelling, what’s going on??” Klaus asks.
“Well…” Yuno gets interrupted by Finral speaking to Langris.
“I’m really very sorry I didn’t mean to make you upset, but I really have no idea who you are”. At that statement the newcomers in the room stare in shock, except for Mimosa who is looking between Langris and Finral with extreme concern. Finral puts his hand on Langris’ shoulder trying to comfort him. “Um…but if you want I can help you find this person you are looking for”. Mimosa takes out her grimoire.
“ She does know something, and whatever it is she is deeming Finral a threat ” Yuno thinks.
“Langris. I think you should…” Mimosa is interrupted by another voice.
“Get away from him now!!”. Everyone looks to where the voice came from and sees William covered in fresh wounds. He is halfway down the stairwell, leaning on the railing to keep himself upright.
“CAPTAIN!!” Mimosa runs over to heal him. “Are you alright?!?”
“What happened?!?! How did you get this injured?!?!” Klaus asks.
“Who did this to you captain!?!?” Mimosa asks. William only responds with a very serious look towards Finral.
“Wait, is the captain saying Finral did this?? There has to be a mistake, I fought alongside Finral in the Magic Knights Tournament and could tell the knight was a kind soul. A person like that would never do this to a captain or anyone for that matter” Hannon thinks.
“Don’t…worry…about me…get Langris…away…” William struggles to get out.
“Wait…Finral did you…did you do that to our captain??” Langris asks.
“Whoa whoa whoa, hey hey hey.” Finral says waving his hands in front of himself. “Please don’t go jumping to conclusions”.
“Right Finral wouldn’t do that”.
“I mean…come on…I only really did that because he won’t return something that belonged to me”. Everyone in the room freezes as they process what Finral just said and how nonchalantly he just said it. William tries to stand up with Mimosa’s help and looks at Finral.
“Finral,...we are not…giving you…back…your grimoire…it's…” William doubles over due to the pain from wounds.
“I know Finral is Langris’ older brother but he isn’t that strong. From my understanding he is the weakest of the Black Bulls. But if that was true he wouldn’t have been able to injure the captain this badly” Letoile thinks.
“He must have done a sneak attack on the captain to injure him this badly, otherwise there would be no way. But why?? Why is Finral even attacking the captain??” Klaus thinks.
“So you’re not going to tell me where my grimoire is at??”. William gives Finral another glare before shaking his head. “Agh. Damn that sucks. I guess I’m just gonna have to transport your organs out of your body one by one until you tell me where it is”. Finral takes his hand to move to cast a spell but Langris grabs it.
“What!?! What are you doing Finral?!?!”
“Huh?? I mean I am trying to get my grimoire back, thought it was obvious, oh, but I guess it wasn’t sorry about that”. Again Finral is rubbing the back of his neck. Finral seems to have his usual demeanor, but his words are so volatile and twisted. Everyone in the room is unsettled by it, especially Langris who is even more confused and panicked about the situation.
“Finral…why?? Why are you doing this?? You are part of the Black Bulls, a magic knight squad and this is not how magic knights act”.
“This isn’t how my brother acts”.
“Hm, since when was I a magic knight, I don’t remember becoming one…”.
“So Julius was right, his memories have been altered” William thinks.
“Finral, what is the meaning of this?!? The Black Bulls are the magic knight squad you are a part of, you know this!!” Klaus states.
“Noelle is also a part of that squad,” Yuno adds.
“Wait really?!? Since when!?! She didn’t say anything about being a magic knight the last time I saw her”.
“I’m not really sure what is going on here, but it seems as though something has caused Finral to lose his memories and possibly twist his personality as well.” Yuno thinks.
“Yes she is, most young nobles with magical power join the magic knights as it is an honor to their noble hou…”
“Ok, but Noelle isn’t a noble though”.
“Based on that response, it seems possible that the other Black Bulls were affected as well. Wait, what about Asta?!? Is whatever this is, gotten to him too?!?” Yuno worriedly thinks.
“What are you talking about, yes she…” Klaus gets cut off by Yuno.
“Where’s Asta??”
“What??” Finral asks very dull and monotone.
“I said, where is As…”. The next thing that everyone knew Yuno was on the other side of the lobby with Finral’s hand around his neck, choking him.
“Now. I will only ask once. How do you know that name??” Finral demands in a monotone voice, with a dark aura coming off of him. Yuno is struggling to breathe and can only manage to get coughs out.
“You need to release Yuno now.” Letoile demands.
“Oh, do I now. And what if I don’t??”
“Compass Magic: Another Atlas”.
Then a green moving dome surrounds them all. “I personally do not care if you are a noble or a magic knight, you do not come in here and attack our squad” Letoile states.
“I mean but I kind of already did” Finral states mockingly. Which pisses Letoile off and she materializes some of her compass needles, while Hannon and Klaus pull out their grimoires to assist in the attack.
“If you think you can get away with that spatial magic of yours, think again. Another Atlas is my domain, I control everything within the dome and that includes magic flow”.
“No, they are going to attack”. Langris opens a portal.
“No stop…” William tries to say.
“Compass Magic: Useless North”.
“Steel Magic: Blazing Spiral Lance”.
“Glass Magic: Verre Epee”. Langris was able to grab Yuno and pull him through his portal before the attacks made contact.
“...don’t attack him”. But it was too late, the attacks already made contact and set Finral flying into the wall, sitting slouched in the rubble.
“Sorry Captain I know you don’t approve of the destruction or attacking another magic knight but it had to be…”
“No…you don’t…you don’t…understand everyone…needs to move now…before…”.
“Before what cap…” Letoile doesn’t get to finish her sentence as she gets slammed into the wall by something. Everyone looks over to see Letoile being pinned to the wall by a steel lance, to be more specific Klaus’ Blazing Spiral Lance.
“Wait, what happened?? I aimed that at Fin…”. Klaus gets cut off by Hannon screaming only to look over and see Hannon skewered with compass needles.
“Move” William states.
“Wait wha…??” Mimosa asks, but before she can finish William pushes her away from himself. The next thing Mimosa knew, she was feeling a sharp pain in her left arm and leg, she looks to see multiple large shards of glass protruding from both limbs. Mimosa looks over to see a wall comprised of a multitude of glass shards going in all directions.
“What?? Why did Hannon’s glass magic come at us??”
Mimosa looks for her captain only to find his body laying across multiple shards of glass and his blood quickly running down the shards that are skewering him.
“No…captain!!”. Mimosa takes out her grimoire again and begins to try to heal William.
“Plant Magic: Princess Healing Magic Robe”
“Is the Captain alright, Mim…”
“HAHhahaHHAHAhahahAHahAH!!!” is what those still conscious hear, getting them chills right down to their bones. They look over to Finral who is producing that laugh. “Did you really think that was going to work?? haHAHAHAahAH!! You knights should really be listening to your captain”. Finral gets up and dusts himself off, while doing so Yuno examines him.
“Wait how?? How does he not have even a single scratch on him??”
“How is there not a scratch on you!?! And why did our attacks hit our comrades instead of you!?!” Klaus yells.
“Spatial magic…he used spatial magic to divert the attacks…but I don’t…I don’t know how he did it at such close range though??” Langris states still in shock.
“Oh, hoho. Congrats you got it right. I did use spatial magic to divert the attacks…but now as to how I did it..haHAha…that's actually quite simple you see…” Finral puts both his arms out to each side. Then his whole body including skin and clothes all turn a mix of gray and white, giving off a tv static look. “…my body became my own portal, neat huh??”. Finral’s body turns back to normal. “You know the best part is…that no one can land a single attack on me because if they did…well…”. Finral looks at Klaus and Yuno with an evil smile. “...you all saw what happened. And frankly it's a bit too much blood for my taste.”. All of a sudden, Finral disappears. “So why don’t I show you what I can do??” Finral is now sitting on the railing on the second floor balony. “Now since your dear old captain doesn’t want to give me my grimoire back, which I say is just plain rude, I’ll just have to use my other grimoire”. All of a sudden another grimoire comes floating out of the ground and it’s not Finral’s normal grimoire, this one was so dirty you couldn’t make out the cover and it seemed as though it would fall apart any second. “Hm, now let's see, which spell should I do??” Finral starts to flip through pages.
“Other grimoire?? How does he also have another grimoire he can use??” Yuno asks.
“I don’t know. I don’t know what’s going on?!? Whoever this isn’t Finral. This isn’t my brother”.
“You’re right…it's not”.
“Captain??”
“We don’t fully know what happened…but something…had corrupted…his actual grimoire. We think…that this corruption…may be affecting…his personality as well.”
“What about this other grimoire??”
“I’m not sure…but I have seen…”.
“Ah, I found it”. Finral then stands on the railing and puts both his arms out in front of him and closes his eyes to focus. After he does that everyone in the room can feel the intense bone chilling mana coming off Finral at the moment and it's only getting stronger. “Since that girl before showed her domain type spell…”. Finral smiles demonically as black veins start climbing up his face. “...why don’t I show mine as well”.
“Spatial Magic: Spatial Domain”.
After casting the spell everything around them starts to move around and rearrange itself. When Langris, Yuno, Klaus, Mimosa and Willaim open their eyes everything is different. There are now doors on all the walls including the ceiling, stairs leading in every direction, some stairs and doors are even upside down. Before anyone can say anything Finral appears sitting a stairwell above them seemingly upside down. No one can tell right from left or up from down.
“What is going on here?? Where are we??” Klaus asks.
“How do you all like my magic here?? This is my spatial domain and I personally think I did a very good job.” Finral says genuinely happy, then his face turns sinister and gets a devilish smile on it, still with the black veins on his face. “You should know though, in this place I control everything and I can do what I want”.
“What??”. They all look to Klaus who now has something impaled into his stomach and falls over.
“KLAUS!!” Yuno, Langris and Mimosa yell.
“See I told you it's my world. And what I say goes, even if that means killing every single last one of you here HAHAhaAHhahahHAha!!”
“WIND MAGIC: SPIRIT DRIVE!!”.
“WING MAGIC: SPIRIT OF ZEPHYR!!”
Yuno dawn his glowing green crown, wing, and sword.
“I won’t let you! I won’t let you kill my friends!”. Yuno leaps into the air and lands a hit on Finral, or so he thought.
“Where are you even hitting?? I’m over here” Finral states from behind Yuno. Before Yuno has time to turn around he is hit with a piece of a building which slams into a wall, or so Finral thought. When Yuno is now behind him swinging his sword down on him. Finral moves out of the way just in time to not get hit and creates distance between the 2 of them.
“Well that was close??”
“Sure was so close you had to physically dodge it. Or is it that you can’t transport physical attacks, just magical ones”.
“Wow you figured that out, congrats. But it's not going to save you. Though I am curious how you dodged my attack??” Finral looks to where remnants of his attack were and sees a massive chunk missing from it. “Hm, how did that happen??”
“FINRAL!! I DON’T KNOW WHAT IS HAPPENING BUT SNAP OUT OF IT!!”
“Oh so it was you??”
“Shit he is going to go after Langris. Normally I wouldn’t worry Langris is strong and can handle himself, but… with his brother attacking like this he is not completely focused. Also I don’t think he will attack his brother either way. Especially since the last 2 times he did he almost killed Finral”. Finral is now standing on the same platform as Langris, Mimosa and William.
“So that was you that saved him”.
“So what if it was, Finral, what are you gonna do about it??”. Finral starts to walk closer to Langris, who is in a battle stance, but before Finral can get any closer a plant root comes shooting between them.
“Oh, so you're still alive. Unfortunately not for much longer”. Finral throws a spatial orb at William, but Langris throws one of his own canceling out Finral’s.
“No way you have spatial magic too, that's so cool!!” Finral says acting like his normal self again. Finral starts to walk over to Langris. “I have never met another person with spatial magic be…”. Finral gets interrupted when he faceplants onto the ground and the Spatial Domain spell dissipates.
“What happened??” Yuno asks.
“What the heck just…” Finral asks but gets interrupted.
Meow
Everyone looks over to see a maroon cat sitting in between Finral and Langris.
“Rogue!! What the hell?? You are supposed to protect me, not make me trip, canceling out my spell”.
Meow
Then, the cat named Rogue, turns and jumps onto Langris’ shoulders and begins to nuzzle into his face.
Meow
“What is going on?? Who or what is this cat??”
“Really!?! Agh!! Well it seems Rogue is here, wants to be very annoying right now”.
Meow
“Do you really have to get in the way like this right now?? Like really??”
Meow
“Fine. If Rogue is here I’m not going to get anything done. No point in staying then, but don’t worry I’ll be back. Make sure my grimoire is ready when I get here. Good bye”. With that Finral disappears. Langris stands there in shock thinking about the events that had just unfolded.
“How did this happen?? Why would he do this?? That can’t be Finral right?? Finral isn’t violent, never has been, he doesn’t even like attacking people. But he was able to use spatial magic and his mana, up until that other grimoire came out, felt exactly like Finral’s. What made him…”. Langris is snapped out of his thoughts by Yuno.
“Langris…are you ok??”
“When did Yuno get in front of me??”
“Yes. Nevermind me, how are the others??”
“The Captain and Klaus are stable now, Mimosa is currently healing Hannon and Letoile now”.
“Wait, all that has happened already?? How long have I been standing here??”
“The captain is conscious and able to talk, so let's see if we can get some answers about what happened to both of our brothers. Ya??”.
“Yes lets do that”. Yuno and Langris walk over to William who is lying on the floor.
“I assume the 2 of you want to know what is going on, correct??”
“Yes. Why is Finral behaving like that??”
“And what happened to Asta and the other Black Bulls??’
“Before I explain, I would like to apologize to you both. I wanted to explain the situation before you found this way”.
“We understand captain” Langris and Yuno both say.
“Thank you. So I guess I should start with how we found out the Black Bulls were missing. You see Captain Charlotte received a request for her and some of her Blue Rose knights to take down some bandits in a city located in the Forsaken Realm. Although when they arrived there were no bandits to defeat, but instead was a person who tipped us off that something had possibly happened to the Black Bulls”.
—-----------------------------------------
1 week earlier
Charlotte and 2 of her knights were inside a church talking to the priest of the church.
“You lied about the bandits. Why?? You know making a false mission request is a pretty big offense” Charlotte states to the priest.
“Yes I understand”.
“Do you??”
“Yes I can assure you, I do. And I am sorry for misleading you knights, but there is another reason I requested you knights here, it's a very pressing matter. I feared stating what the actual reason for the mission request would put people in danger”.
“May I ask what this mission is??” Charlotte asks. The priest looks and the knights behind her then back at her.
“Yes, but if I could talk to you alone it may be better”.
“No way…” Sol yells.
“Go. I can handle this”. The other knights leave and the priest pulls out his grimoire.
“First let me explain my abilities when a person places a drop of their blood in my grimoire. I am able to read or detect a multitude of things from their blood; such as illness, injuries, poisons, etc. But the part of that ability that pertains to this situation is lineage. You see, with only a drop of blood I can see a person’s entire family tree.”
“I do not understand”.
“I am sorry for beating around the bush on this matter, I’ll be more direct. What would you do if I told you that you had an illegitimate half sibling?? What would you do??”.
“I'm sorry what?!?”.