Chapter 73: It's Too Easy
Ladros managed to take the sword out of his shoulder, but his mana was nearly drained. He tried to run away, and look for a source of mana, to replenish his lost reserves.
He saw no one suitable to replenish his lost mana until he saw a pink-haired girl who looked worried.
He followed where her eyes were and saw they were on Mars. Ladros smirked and made his way towards Mars.
Being low on mana, Mars had no way to defend himself. So, he ended up being held captive by Ladros.
"You! I feel powerful mana coming from you. Attack me with all you got or he dies!" Ladros yelled out to Fana.
Fana flinched hearing his words, she had just been sorta reunited with her lost friend, now she's in a captive situation.
"I can't," Fana said with tears streaming down her face. "I might hurt Mars."
"So be it," Ladros said as he pushes Mars, then sent beams of white light. After being attacked by Ladros, Mars's pupils were gone and only his eyeballs remained.
"Mars!" Fana screamed. Her teary eyes, now filled with rage. She summoned her Salamander and shot a powerful ball of fire his way.
After a few seconds, she dropped to her knees, due to her lack of mana. With her face planted in the dirt, she smiled to herself, knowing she put on a good performance.
-Flashback-
"A pale guy with spiky hair, when you talk toward them, pretend you know him. Put on a good show, cry a little to make it believable." Madara instructed Fana.
"Is that all I am supposed to do? Sounds boring... What is all this for anyway?" Fana said with a pout.
"Creepy-looking guy will probably take Mars captive and tell you to attack him. Only blast him for 6 seconds." Madara said, giving oddly specific orders.
"And you ask why I'm doing this? It's all going just as I planned." Madara said, almost sipping his imaginary tea.
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"Hahaha! My power surpasses those of the spirits. Now! Asta, fight me!" Ladros said while looking at Asta.
Madara could care less about the fight because he l knows the outcome. All he needs to do is wait until Vanessa The Red Thread of Fate.
While the battle continued, Madara got caught up in his thoughts. Since he knew the future, he needed to prepare everyone instead of going in blind.
Of course, he wasn't going to tell them the future. It would only rise cause suspicion. Since his theories have been correct all this time, what's stopping someone from thinking he is a traitor?
'After this, it is the Star Festival, then the introduction of Mereoleona. Then the hot springs, but I'm sure there will be a battle before that.'
"Then there is Royal Knights exam. If we're going to be infiltrating The Eye of the Midnight Sun, the squad should be trained. It decided then.'
Madara was lost in his thoughts, something flowed into his mind. It could become something serious in the future.
'If I take control of Zagred... What would I look like in Unite Mode? What would be my colors?'
After thinking about it for some time, Madara sensed that Ladros and Asta's battle was coming to an end.
Soon enough, The Queen took over Asta's body and commanded him to kill the others. Madara could hear Noelle say; " Where's Madara?" With worry and fear in her words.
"Where's Madara? You can't always rely on me. If I wasn't here and the situation was different, Vanessa didn't awake her Thread of Fate, you would be dead." Madara whispered to himself.
Madara heard Vanessa scream, a sudden bright light, and magic power. That was his cue to make his appearance.
Madara took a deep breath, then burned himself. He also cut himself so he would bleed. No, he is not an M.
How was he able to cause harm to himself and even bleed? Madara learned to slow his regeneration abilities, some time ago.
Madara did the bare minimum to make himself look injured. He wasn't weak and he wasn't going to make himself look like he was. He just needed to make it believable that he fought.
Madara then dashed across the forest, in an instant, he was where everyone else was. He saw Asta approaching Noelle and looked to the Queen, who was controlling him.
"I leave you all alone, next thing I know you about to get killed by your squad member. Can you do anything without me?" Madara said, causing everyone to look at him.
"Madara!" The ones conscious called out, seeing him, walk toward them.
'Madara...' The Witch Queen thought. She then had flashbacks, about what happened a few hours ago.
On the outside, she was glaring out at him, with pure rage. On the inside, she was trembling, remembering how he handled her.
She missed the feeling of him inside her. Her second pair of lips, leaked its juices thinking about Madara.
Realizing what was happening, she quickly controlled herself. But her acts didn't go unnoticed.
For some time, Madara could smell the Queen's love juices. When he realized he made an unforgettable impression on her, sooner or later, she would come back to him.
Now, before you say that's weird. Madara left his mark on every woman he has been with. Also, he has a strong sense of smell, it just happened to pick up on that...
"What happened to you, Madara? You look terrible." Vanessa commented, seeing the state Madara was in.
"You think you are any better?" Madara said before blocking an attack from Asta.
'So if I stopped the flow of my mana, would I be able to truly use anti-magic?'
Having no interest in fighting Asta, Madara targets the Queen. Since she is the one controlling him.
"Don't you think it's about time to stop? Vanessa has the power to control fate. Do you think you're going to be able to kill them now?" Madara whispered from behind the Queen.
"I don't want to have cut your hands off if that's what it takes. How will you serve me without them?" Madara said causing the Queen to flinch.
"Now, be a good girl and release them. Or would you like to see what punishment I give?" Madara said, starting to emit his blood lust and malice.
"Tch!"
The Witch Queen looked as if she was going to stop the spell, but she ended up running toward Vanessa, activating the puppets' blood.
Madara shook his head, as he made his way to an idol Asta. He took his arm, then made him hit himself with the sword, dispelling the effects of the Queen's magic.
'She must've thought that would work. Trying to target Vanessa, so she could use the Thread of Fate, to change the inevitable outcome.'
Asta fell to the ground, still in his black form. Madara looked over to the Queen to see her efforts failed, miserably.
After confronting her mom, the Queen heals everyone, but Madara avoids that. He continued to the regular speed of his regeneration and in a few seconds, he was healed.
The Queen seeing this winced. She knew something was coming for her. A beast coming to tear her apart at any moment, but knowing something was coming for her, the anticipation was driving her crazy.
After healing himself, he looks over to Fana laying on the ground. He only smirked thinking of her outstanding performance.
"It's over, now. You can stand up, Fana." Madara said drawing attention towards him.
A few seconds later, Fana rises from the ground and walks to Madaras' side. Everyone except the Queen was shocked.
"Madara! What are you doing?! She's dangerous!" Noelle yelled out, preparing for a spell.
"No need. She's on my side." Madara said, getting confused looks from everyone.
'Wait, did I just Ntr Mars? No~ they were never dating so it doesn't count, right?'
'My side? What does he mean by that?' Noelle thought, getting even more suspicious.
"What do you mean, your side? She's the enemy, isn't she?" Noelle yelled back.
"Not anymore," Madara answered, nonchalantly.
"I don't know what she did to you, but Madara! Step away from her! She cast something to trick you. Don't believe her!" Noelle said, readying her wand.
'Hmm? She seems to care a lot about him. Maybe there's more to it..." Fana thought as a wide smirk appeared on her face.
"If you are afraid of me taking Madara away, just say that," Fana said, grabbing onto Madaras' arm while blushing.
"W-What!" Noelle shouted, embarrassed. She didn't expect Fana to figure out her feelings so fast.
"Oh, I get it," Fana said as she began to trace her hands along Madaras' body. Feeling his chest, abs, and back. Even pushing going a little further, but Madara stopped her.
Now that she had a good look at Madara, he was almost naked. She couldn't hide her blushing she wanted to. She squatted down to hide her beet-red face.
"Fufufu, it's so easy to tease little girls who are in love," Fana said, after seeing Noelle's reaction.
"In love, huh?" Madara commented.
•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°
After explaining that Madara 'convinced' Fana to switched sides, they were still hesitant on trusting her.
Madara didn't have 100% trust her either, but she would soon show her loyalty. Now in the Queen's manor, Madara was intently staring at the Queen.
The Queen seemed to be not giving a second thought about his existence, on the inside, she was nervous. A feeling she hadn't felt in a long time.
"The Eye of the Midnight Sun was looking for the magic stone. Do you know anything about it?" Fanzell asks.
Madara never took his eyes off her. Madara knew she wouldn't, matter fact, she couldn't say anything.
He was looking to see her reaction to the question. Was she going to look his way and give him up or was she going to be a good girl and do what he asks?
"The magical stone you speak of, I have no recollection of it." The Queen said almost making him smile.
Madara was surprised that Secre didn't give him away. She didn't point out that he had the stone on his neck.
"Do you know why The Eye of the Midnight Sun was after this?" Asta asked.
The Queen then went into small detail about the elves. During her talking, Madara could feel Fana shaking. He grabbed her hand, not to comfort her, but to stop her from doing something dumb.
Noelle, Vanessa, and the Queen felt some jealousy seeing him hold her hand. She seemed to calm down feeling his touch.
After the talk with the Queen, everyone said their goodbyes. They were now heading back to the hideout, but Madara had something to say to Noelle.
"Noelle," Madara called from the back of the group. He called her name loud enough to hear, but considering how far they were it would be hard to hear them.
"What is it?" Noelle asked, not thinking anything of Madara asking her to talk, privately.
"Don't you think it's weird that your family treated you like that?" Madara said, shocking Noelle. She then put her head down, thinking of the past.
"It is weird. That isn't how your family is supposed to treat each other, but I'll show them!" Noelle said with determination in her eyes.
"You want to know two things I hate about you?" Madara asked surprising Noelle. Madara took her silence as a yes.
"Your attitude and how naive you are. Your attitude can be changed, but you being naive can only be changed with the truth." Madara said to Noelle. She didn't know what to say or how to feel.
'The truth? What does he mean by that?'
"Tell me! What do you know?! How do you know?!" Noelle yelled, causing the ones in front of them to turn their heads.
"Calm down. If you don't, you won't take it well." Madara said as Noelle snapped back.
"I am calm. Now tell me!" Noelle said in a quieter voice, but he could tell she was going through a roller coaster of emotions.
"Remember who your talking to," Madara said, glaring at her, making her calm down.
"If your mother was ill, how did she produce a child with such magic power? Shouldn't that baby have had some type of defect?" Madara said while Noelle listened.
"That wasn't the case. Before I tell you this, don't speak of this aloud or it may happen to you." Madara said getting a nod from Noelle.
"Your mom was cursed by a devil. The devil, Megicula. That's who killed your mother. Now, you must be thinking 'Why didn't my brother tell me this? Be-" Madara was going to say before being interrupted.
"He knows?!" Noelle blurted out.
"Let me finish. The reason why? Because he was and still is manipulating you. He told you all these things so you could grow stronger to defeat the devil who killed your mom."
When Madara said this, her eyes widened in shock and disbelief.
"You're brothers and sister, telling you, you are a failure. What does that do to someone who wants to prove they are not?" Madara said, Noelle then finished the sentence.
"They would work harder to get that recognition... Just like I do..."
"Your brother will say that he wanted to protect you from the battlefield so you wouldn't end up like your mother, but guess what?" Again Noelle finished the sentence.
"What he said only pushed me to the field. It pushed me to be... Stronger..." Noelle said, realizing that what Madara was saying was true.
Not only had she been manipulated her entire life, but she was also only made to defeat the devil that killed her mom.
Madara saw that her eyes lost of bit of their light and her face expressionless. Madara had to hold back the smirk from appearing on his face.
It was that easy. It was so easy to manipulate someone. He was starting to understand why Zagred took pleasure in it.
"Don't let what I told you, plague you. If you don't have a reason, let me be your reason. Get strong for yourself, but also strong for me." Madara said, not getting a response from her.
"Live for me. Let me be the source of light in your darkness. Let me be your resolve. Devote your life to me, and I will make you strong enough to kill that devil. Because I know deep down, you want to kill it for taking your mother's life, am I right?" Madara asked.
"That's right... I will... I will live for you, Madara!" Noelle said with a new look in her eyes. Not angry or sad. A look of determination and a new reason to continue to fight.
'A cakewalk.'
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