Screams reached his ears as Alucard dove down. Still keeping track of Asta and Noelle by locking onto her mana, he took a detour and investigated the attack. 'Undead?' He was confused to see them swarming the streets, but moved to help.
"Justice Magic: Righteous Shield." "Justice Magic: Unrighteous Blade."
A blindingly bright barrier formed between the people and the undead as a cluster of dark swords started cutting them down. "Flame Creation Magic: Healing Flame." He gathered the people together as the barrier reformed into a dome over them.
"Stay here, you'll be safe." He reassured them before leaving to help others. He could sense the rest of the Magic Knights finally arriving as he took two dark blades in hand and started slaughtering the undead horde. He created two more domes of light before moving towards Asta and Noelle.
'Dark Magic: Cloak of Darkness.' As the spell took hold, he melted into the shadows. Stalking through the streets, he finally spotted Asta. 'Both swords already? Yet still he continues to struggle.' He briefly glanced at Noelle, who was protecting a small child, before focusing on their attacker.
He was a tall, thin man, dressed in rags with a red patch over the right side of his face. For the most part, the man did nothing but scream at Asta as he sent what appeared to be corpses for him to fight.
'So he's the one powering all the undead, how pathetic. It is an interesting magic, however, being able to reanimate and control corpses.' He watched as Asta fought off the corpse of a magic knight as the man continued to rant.
Noelle also takes a few hits as her barrier starts to waver, when Leopold and Fuegoleon arrive to help. Seeing they're now safe, Alucard gets ready to leave when he feels a weak pulse of mana from under a pile of corpses.
He freezes and waits as Fuegoleon dominates the thin man, burning his puppets to ash as he starts to lose it. "NO! It's not fair!" Rades yells as Asta closes the distance. He brings out another body that keeps Asta at bay as he silently sends the signal to his partner.
Across the Capitol, dozens of high-ranking Magic Knights, including the Captains, freeze as a spatial tear opens underneath them. Fuegoleon lets himself be taken willingly as Alucard tears apart the one that somehow formed under him.
"Alucard! When did you get here?" Noelle flinched when he emerged from the shadows. "Stay back." Was his answer as he cast several spells in succession? "What? NO! Stop cheating!" Rades whined as his mind raced, trying to figure out who this new enemy was.
"Huh?" Asta was surprised as his wounds started to close when he noticed Alucard wreathed in flames, stepping beside him. "I may not like you, but our duty as Magic Knights comes first." He announced as his voice lowered, "Deal with the space magic user, might be in one of the piles of bodies. I'll keep you covered."
Asta blinked in surprise before beelining it towards the nearest pile of bodies as Rades' corpse puppets tried to swarm him. He incinerated them with a scoff as Leopold closed in. Rades then freaked out as the Vermillion approached, before a massive grin nearly split his face in two.
"Stop grinning, you bastard! Where's my brother!" Leo demanded as Rades' grin grew, and a portal snapped open. "Right here~" Rades said gleefully as Fuegoleon slammed to the ground, bleeding and unconscious.
"FUEGOLEON!" Leopold and Noelle screamed as a portal whisked Rades onto a nearby roof. Alucard glanced at Asta to see if he was still breathing, so he went and closed Fuegoleon's wound.
"Look alive, Leo, our enemies won't wait for you to gather yourself," Alucard said as several portals opened and more mages in robes arrived. "Any idea who they are?" Asta asked as he joined them next to Fuegoleon's body.
"Oh, look! It's the boy with the four-leaf grimoire!" One of the robes squeals and points at him as Alucard glances down at Fugeoleon. 'His pendant is gone, that's what they must have been after.' He then throws up a barrier as several spells slam into it.
"Aww, no fun." The voice pouted as Asta and Leopold came out swinging. Alucard watched them silently as he focused more on keeping Fuegoleon from dying, as he'd lost a dangerous amount of blood.
"Why aren't you helping them?" Noelle asked as she and the little girl entered his barrier. "They can handle themselves. Fuegoleon is the priority right now. Help them yourself." She blinked at the idea of helping them, before briefly hugging the small child she'd brought in before joining the boys outside.
"Oh, look, another friend!" Sally beamed as Asta risked a glance over his shoulder. "Noelle, stay back! She has a strange magic!" He warned as she kept coming closer. "Aww, is she your friend? Too bad, experiments can't have friends." Sally said darkly as Asta sliced through another attack from the giant slimy salamander she'd made.
'I can't do this, I don't have his drive.' Asta panted as the wounds Alucard had healed slowly began to return as the fighting dragged on. Luckily, he was only fighting Sally. Leopold and Noelle were gangning up on another mage as Rades was being berated by the new arrivals.
'Why won't he help us! Surely he recognizes we're brothers-in-arms, right?' He thought as he glanced back to see Alucard still healing Fuegoleon. He looked up at him, then back down at his patient as Asta continued his losing battle.
'That should be good enough for now. I'll take him to Owen once this is done.' Alucard stood up as the mages arguing with Rades froze. 'What strong mana!' 'Such power!' 'He'd make a great experiment!'
Rades then threw himself to the ground as a lance of water slammed into the wall behind him. As one of the others turned on Alucard, he easily dominated the battle. For every spell they cast, Alucard had a way to nullify or outright destroy each spell.
Asta and the noble pair didn't stay idle either, as they pressed the advantage. Using his twin blades, Asta danced around the massive salamander as Sally kept an eye on Alucard.
Noelle and Leopold were in lockstep as they quickly finished off their opponent before moving to help Alucard. "Go help Asta." He ordered as he snapped a mage's neck; they gulped and obeyed as the mages started to get desperate.
'How could we have missed such a strong Knight?! Surely there were signs of his power, unless our source is uninformed.' The lead mage ground his teeth together as Alucard almost killed another mage.
"Sir, mana signatures are approaching fast!" Valtos called out as the lead mage cursed. 'They weren't supposed to get back this quickly!' He seethed as Alucard stopped to watch a massive tornado rip through a cluster of undead in the next district.
"Alucard, help!" Noelle suddenly screamed, and he saw that Asta had been captured. Sally was giggling while she caressed Asta's body; he could barely hear her mumblings about dissecting him.
"Stand back!" He barked and used magic to drag them back as another salamander crashed down where they used to be. "Aww, no fun." Sally pouted as a cluster of spears fell from above.
"Valtos!" A portal opened and redirected the attack as the rest of the Magic Knights arrived. "Identify yourselves!" Nozel demanded as Solid and Nebra rushed forward.
"They're obviously the enemy!" Solid scoffed only to get slammed to the ground by the salamander, before Alucard sliced off its arm, freeing him. "Stay back!" He hissed at the noble who scrambled away from the fight.
"Hear us well, Magic Knights." The lead mage announced as the others formed up behind him, Asta still firmly beside Sally. "For too long you have ignored us, beating us into the dirt for daring to rise up. Now you will pay for your folly, the Eye of the Midnight Sun will not stop until the Clover Kingdom is destroyed."
A massive portal then opened under them as they sank down, taking Asta with them as Nozel froze when he finally laid eyes upon Fuegoleon lying on the ground, in a puddle of his own blood.