𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐟𝐢𝐞𝐝 || ʸᵘⁿᵒ

XXXIV

—/<3/—

just as the three mages thought they could finally catch their breath, clearly having the upper hand over zenon, something in the atmosphere changed drastically. the growth of the qliphoth was accelerating greatly. if the knights didn't rescue yami and william in time, the entirety of humanity would be doomed. the gate was slowly opening and until all three members of the dark triad were dead, there was nothing any of them could do, though elle suspected there had to be others working on the devils' side.

"what is this nauseating magic..." langris spoke shakily, his eyes widening in fear as the immense mana washed over them in pulses.

"the gate is opening. devils are slowly escaping into our world, and by how intense this mana is I'd assume they're of the highest order..." elle replied. she felt panicked but knew that as sovereign, she couldn't show it. if she was panicking then her mages would lose all hope.

"oh god, there's more." langris flinched, feeling more dark mana outside the castle.

zenon laughed maniacally, feeding off their obvious fear. "the first barrier opened and now our contracts with our devils are finally complete... we can finally use 100% of the devil's power!"

elle cursed under her breath as zenon's physical appearance changed. not only were all his wounds closing, but he had grown wings and bone armour. the power dynamic in this battle had switched within a second.

"your victory was just a fleeting dream," he mocked them. "as I said, you will be the ones to die... don't worry though, you'd have nowhere to return to in any case."

"what..." yuno snapped, his brows furrowing angrily as his grip on his polearm tightened.

"the grinberryall's were guarding two ancient demons. we released those demons in order to distract you. with so many of your mages here... will the clover kingdom be able to protect itself?"

elle tried not to lash out at his words. she needed to stay calm... yet she couldn't stop thinking back to her friends and her father who were back in the clover kingdom. her father couldn't protect himself or the kingdom in his current childlike state.

"my kingdom will be just fine," elle said nonchalantly. "we brought a fair amount of mages here yes... but we still have hundreds back home. two demons are nothing for my troops, but it's great you think so highly of yourself." elle knew she shouldn't taunt him but maybe in anger his attacks would be sloppier.

"you talking is only wasting time. i'll end this now." zenon said monotonously, the bone armour surrounding him creaking and echoing throughout the large room.

"langris, I need you to buy me three minutes, and elle if you wouldn't mind could you use your mana regeneration spell?" yuno spoke, his voice low so the devil before them wouldn't hear their plan. "I'll finish him off with my next attack."

all three of them knew that three minutes was next to impossible... but what other choice did they have? it was at this point that elle wished she knew an attack spell, any attack spell at all so she wouldn't feel so useless. she did what yuno asked, her figure glowing gold as she chanted her spell. she only hoped that all three of them could get out of this alive.

yuno sighed as he felt his rapidly depleting mana restore through the queen's magic. "langris, you're the strongest spatial mage of the clover kingdom so you should be able to tell by now that you're not going to lose a battle so easily!" yuno encouraged.

elle understood his plan now. her mana spell was to make sure both yuno and langris's mana remained at full capacity. the only way any spatial user could use their magic inside zenon's spatial zone was if they were on the same level as him... the only way langris had a chance at that was if his mana was constantly full and regenerating.

langris took a shaky breath as his grimoire flipped open. "spatial magic: mana zone"

"well done, langris" elle said happily, the feeling of impending doom slowly diminishing as she regained hope.

"what do you know, you could do it after all, i'm impressed," yuno encouraged once again.

"good grief you're the worst juniors ever," langris spoke back to them, beads of sweat rolling down his face as he strained to keep his mana zone open.

"alas there's still no way for you to attack me... none of you have any magic that could defeat me..."

"tell that to your siblings... you can't tell me you haven't felt their mana disappear?" elle said in an attempt to buy time whilst yuno built up his spirit dive. zenon glared back at her, his neutral facade broken. of course, he'd felt it but he couldn't show any type of anxiety on his face. or maybe he was so emotionally unavailable that he simply didn't care.

he knew though... he knew the reinforcements from the heart kingdom had come.

"yuno, hurry it up please!" langris barked, struggling to hold his magic open. "it's frustrating but i'll admit one thing to you... you really are the vice-captain of the golden dawn"

and with that, he charged. his mana zone formed barbed wire like ribbons that charged at zenon at an unmatchable speed, piercing through his armour and his body.

"wind creation magic: spirit of eurus" yuno chanted as he shot up into the air, a bow and arrow made of his magic clenched in his hands. with impeccable aim, yuno shot straight through zenon's body.

however, zenon bounced right back, seemingly even more powerful than just minutes ago.

"that arrow a minute ago" zenon paused to laugh maniacally "you narrowly missed my heart in order to avoid killing your comrade... if you had aimed at my heart and killed your comrade you would've won,"

elle cried out as she captured her boys in her golden defense magic, though she didn't have enough time to protect herself. she was impaled in the stomach by zenon's attack. despite the pain enveloping her entire body, she refused to show it.

a queen should stand tall at all times. if a queen shows her fear, her people will lose all hope.

—/<3/—