𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐟𝐢𝐞𝐝 || ʸᵘⁿᵒ

XXXII

—/<3/—

"papa, please get in contact with the captains. we've made contact with gaja and the mages are safe," elle sighes in relief, leaning on the doorway to her father's office.

"excellent. did you tell them of our plans to invade the spade kingdom?" he asked, laying his pen down on the table and beckoning his daughter in.

elle walked in slowly, shutting the doors behind her. she took a seat on the plush chair that sat in front of his desk and leaned back into it before speaking again. "they plan on joining the battle. they're currently with the elves building their strength."

"you should rest for now. i'll have lance wake you before dinner and then you can train. as much as I want you here and safe, I know you want to be on the frontlines so i'll allow you this time... not that you'd listen to me if I refused to let you go." julius laughed nervously before sighing. "outliving both my wife and my daughter is not on the agenda so you're under strict orders to make it out alive. do you understand me, elle?"

"i didn't plan on dying papa. i'll do what i need to do and come back to you in one piece." elle's smile wobbled slightly as she stood, rounding the table to hug her father. "i promise the first thing on the agenda after this is over is to make you old again. it's weird having a dad that's younger than you."

"...what do you mean 'old'?"

—/<3/—

Two days had passed and elle had spent them in solitary, training to the point of exhaustion, though it wasn't all for nothing. she had noticed her increase in strength and knew she had improved enough to be able to hold her own against the devils without almost dying like the last time.

she knew that with her strength along with the captains, vice captains and asta, they had a good chance of winning if their element of surprise remained.

they stood along the border of the spade kingdom bright and early that morning, donning sleek black winter cloaks with the clover insignia stitched into the breast. elle stood in silent thought with yuno by her side until nacht approached them, though asta didn't follow him, nor was her anywhere to be seen.

she was required to wear the crown during war, though since monarchs weren't usually on the frontlines she had settled for the small golden tiara she wore daily, not wanting to be weighed down by the clunky crown. her hair wasn't down as it usually was, it was long and would get in her way if the wind picked up so she settled for a low braided bun with the tiara pinned to her head.

"nacht where is asta?" elle asked, a frown settling into her features.

"it's going to take him a little longer" he replied, stopping in front of the group.

"no one was counting on him in the first place keke" jack growled, seemingly determined.

the group was joined by langris and the three ex-eye of the midnight sun members, who didn't really look like they wanted to be risking their lives, but they owed a great debt to the kingdom so were coming along to repay it.

sally had been the one to make their winter cloaks which doubled as magic camouflaging robes. she claimed she made them after studying asta's physical makeup but many of the captains remained skeptical.

"will asta really make it in time?" nozel asked, his eyes flitting over to nacht.

"he'll definitely show up" yuno interrupted "except i'm going to end it all before he arrives"

"that won't be you, it'll be me!" jack argued.

"it won't be you either..." nozel huffed, elle rolled her eyes at the boys from beside nozel.

"it'll be all of us, you'll get nowhere in this war without working as a team," elle said. stepping out from the crowd and walking ahead, nacht joined her and they both walk towards the border.

nacht's magic swallowed them as they fell into the shadows and elle threw open her grimoire as they reappeared in what seemed to be the entrance of the spade castle.

"stick to the plan." nacht said in a low tone as they sped through the hallways of the castle, the others followed him seeing as he knew his way around better than any other. a giant source of magic appeared outside just as the spade resistance announced their presence, though the clover mages couldn't concern themselves with that right now.

"this feels like stupendous magic... are the ones outside going to be alright?" fuegoleon questioned.

"they'll be fine," nacht said "our queen has stationed one of clover's strongest mages with them so they won't be in any immediate danger." he glanced at elle with a teasing smile.

"i thought all our strongest members were present right now?" nozel asked.

"not necessarily," elle replied "i managed to contact mereoleona, she's outside helping them as we speak."

"my older sister is out there dealing with that thing alone?" fuegoleon stammered.

"not alone, she's with the resistance." nacht answered bluntly.

"surely you know better than to doubt mereoleona, fuegoleon... she's a magic powerhouse and is fully capable of doing this, especially after spending the last 6 months in training," elle said, glancing back to see the worried look of his face, though he never stopped running.

he sighed "yes you're right she'll be fine, we'll all be fine."

hopefully.