fire flower; leopold vermillion x oc [Black Clover]

Chapter 38: Flight

Leopold yanks me back and a firestorm erupts from his hands, swathing the whole room in red and orange. I hear both Vivaldius and Briar grunt in surprise as they hastily back away. While the fire is still high and roaring, Leopold grabs my hand and pulls me with him, racing towards the wall behind us.

"Where are you going?" I scream as we hurtle straight towards solid stone.

"Blast it, Mari!" He yells back, sending jets of fire throughout the whole entire room.

My sword materializes in my hands, and I swing at the wall. My blade bounces off of it, barely leaving a dent.

"It's made of that magic-resistant material!" I freeze, heart pounding, drowning out everything. Leopold and I are going to die here. Briar and Vivaldius will come for our throats, and the rest of Moon Shade will lay waste to our bodies.

"Mari! Stay with me!" Leopold cries, repeatedly blasting the wall with fire but to no avail.

I sink to my knees, too lost in shock to process what's going on in front of me. Then, a dark figure comes hurtling into view. It's Vivaldius. He leaps past me, and I see him swing his spiked mace at Leopold. Metal against skin. Leopold screaming from the pain as he falls.

Something snaps in my chest, and I rise to my feet. I'm crying out in anger before I even realize, my sword angled at Vivaldius' neck. I swing at him with such fury that even though he blocks it, it sends his mace hurtling into the wall. There's the noise of stone collapsing on itself. And then, a crack slowly forms from where Vivaldius' mace hit the wall.

Scenes flash before my eyes. Vivaldius' heightened strength at the Crimson Lion training ground, his unlimited Creation Magic, and worst of all, Sebastian's slithery voice hissing that dreaded word.

Fire flower.

I lunge forward and wrap my free hand around the mace's chain. Yanking it out of Vivaldius' grip, I twist my body and use that momentum to strike the wall with his mace. The cracks deepen and spread, and I furiously hack away.

Almost... there!

He attempts to drag me away from the wall, but I land the final blow. The stone splits apart, forming a solid hole. Cold air rushes in, and I hear the sounds of the forest from outside, even though the night sky shrouds everything. I yank Leopold up from the ground and drag him through our exit, sprinting for our lives.
I turn for a second and see Briar chasing after us.

"Dark Magic: Shadow Wave!" I give a hoarse cry and slice at Briar with my sword. It hits her square in the chest and she topples backwards, stunned.

Not wasting a second, I mutter, "Dark Magic: Black Lightning!"

We speed forward, widening the gap between us and the Moon Shade base. We hurtle into the forest, and I ignore the leaves and branches scraping against my exposed skin. When Leopold becomes to heavy to carry, his body sagging against my shoulders, I stop and set him down. We're deep within this mass of forest now, and we'll hear Moon Shade coming if they decide to pursue us.

"Mari..." Leopold groans. He sits up and rubs his eyes. "What happened?"

"Where did he hurt you?" I sink to my knees and start checking him for injuries.

He tenses up and hisses in pain when I pat his left shoulder. "Right there."

I roll up the sleeve, and the amount of blood makes me dizzy. "I'm sorry," I whisper, tearing off a piece of his cloak. "I should have checked for it right away." I wrap the fabric tightly around the wound. Hopefully it'll soak up the blood and stop the bleeding for a little while.