"*sniff* Argh... Just What sort of rotten smell is this~? It smells like Captain's hair for God's sake!"
Slap!
Magna was awoken by a crispy slap to face. He opened eyes with a pained groan, finding another pair of dead fish eyes staring down at him as his soul immediately left his body.
Magna begins stuttering, "C-Captain!? "
However Yami didn't care and grabbed Magna within his hand's grasp, lifting him above the ground while giving him dead eye look.
"You were saying something about my hair?"
"No-Not at All!"
"... Then are you calling me a liar, you brat!? I will kill y—"
The lights began flickering as Yami felt a chill ran down his spine and then a cold voice reached into his ears.
"You better put my patient down... Or I will make you."
"Tch! Whatever you say, you she-Ghost. It's not like I am afraid of you anyway."
The ever angry captain relented much to Magna's shock, his mind still believing that he was dreaming before a jolt of electricity ran through nerves, frying(lightly) most of body muscles in an oil of extreme pain.
The mohawk hair style of his rose to resemble a dinosaur's spine, then he collapsed, his mouth now filled with foam and a single tear of regrets slowly flowed down his eyes.
"This is hell! " Magna thought, " It's just like I feared! A crazy doctor's room where I am being experimented upon. "
Slap
Another slap hits Magna's other cheek, throwing his off the bed he was on as he finally found himself drifting back to reality.
He slowly pulls himself up, looking around aimlessly with two swollen cheeks as he took the sight of his surroundings.
The place he was in resembled a check up center but just much bigger in sheer size and having hundreds of beds.
"Oh! Magna! Over here!"
A voice called out, making Magna turn around as excruciating pain filled his muscles.
However being the tough guy he was, Magna barely manages to bring himself up to the bed where a familiar face greeted from the next bed over.
"Whatcha want now, luck...? Can't you see I am in pain— woah! What happened to you?" He asked the enthusiastic blond Luck who was looking at him with a smile while being covered from head to toe in plaster, tape and rope.
"The Doctor lady said I had a quarter of my bones broke. It should be healed by tomorrow."
"Damn." Magna exclaims in shock, " *realises something* where are we anyway?"
Luck visibly winces, his body shivering in excitement much to Magna's horror as his enthusiasm peaked for a moment.
But before that enthusiasm could explode, a pillow flew past Magna's ear, bashing Right into Luck's face, knocking him unconscious again.
Then a voice came, a voice carrying a message and a threat while using a tone of pure embarrasment.
"Why can't you morons just sit still for a moment! Can't you see everyone else here!?" Noelle spoke with a annoyed expression, visible disgust evident on her face as she gives Magna a death glare.
The threat silenced everyone in the room, atleast those that were still awake at the moment.
There were over 30 people, each laying down in their respective beds, half of them still knocked out and the other half still recovering.
These were all Asta's victims, every single one of them was a member of the magic knights that fell to the unfair combo of Gravity attribute Anti-magic.
The only people who even put up a resistance were the three veteran captains– Yami, Jack and Dorothy. The others simply lost the moment they caught a glimpse of Asta.
However as the squad that Asta held back against the most, the Blackbulls were relatively more damaged from the concussions they received before being put down with gravity magic.
But putting the details aside, currently only 5 members were currently awake, namely– Nero, Noelle, Magna, Yami and lastly Gauche.
Yet, just as they all locked eyes, all of them pushed themselves through the pain and gathered over at Magna's bed.
"So... What should we do now?" Noelle asks.
Yami shrugs, "Don't try escaping. I will suggest you keep that thought to yourself... I already tried."
The blackbulls give Yami a doubtful side eye before turning toward each other again.
"Forget escaping! Isn't there a bigger problem hanging above us!!? a problem that starts with A and ends with an A? " Magna flinches as the memory of getting slammed resurfaces.
"... Did you guys thinks it's possible? For him to come back." Noelle anxiously clutches onto her knees.
For a moment, the blackbulls fell deep into thought, each of them pondering the possibility of Asta they faced being another devil in disguise.
But deep down they knew, if it was a Devil then they would have died right there and then and would not have been cared over to a medicial room controlled by a ghost.
And just when they were pondering, Nero casually opens her mouth and says, " if the elves can Ressurect then I don't see why Asta can't. It's not like his body was completely obliterated."
The others turn towards the straight faced Nero, all of them getting a little less anxious after seeing her calm demeanor.
"That's true. knowing Asta, that guy would fight his back from the afterlife." Yami laughs at the possibility and imagination of Asta being kicked out of heaven for challenging the angel to a fight.
Over the next few minutes, the Squad members kept thinking of explanations for Asta still being alive. Eventually the explanation got so incorrect and wierd that even the stalker eardropping them lost his composure and began laughing.
The extra laughing voice garnered the attention of everyone upwards at the ceiling where they saw Lemiel just spinning in air while clutching his own stomach in laughter.
"You people are absurd, you know that? *wipes a tear from his eye* Even I couldn't come up with such comical ideas."
However the next moment Nero let out an accidental mutter, " Your majesty?"
"Oh, Secre! I almost didn't recognize you!" Lemiel blatantly lies and flies down, "So how do you guys like this place? I spent a lot of time renovating it."
The black bulls who had never properly seen Lemiel were confused. They all looked at Nero, surrounding her as they began asking for Lemiel's identity.
"You know this guy? No wait! Before that, -what do you mean Majesty? Is he supposed to be a king or something? "
"That's the first Wizard king. Lemiel clover."
"THE FIRST WI—omph! " Magna covers his mouth, " that young guy is the wizard king?"
Fwoosh
Lemiel appears behind Magna and whispers in his ears,
"It will be better to say I was~ the wizard king but I am fine with either... Anyway what do you guys think about this place?"
"It's wonderful!"
"Yes! It's completely comfortable! "
Noelle and Magna panicked, making a embarrassed faces while they tried to agree without even Considering.
Yami on the other hand, stood up and looked Lemiel right in eyes as if preparing to fight before asking a single question.
"Where is the bathroom?"
"Its in the cooridor behind me."
"I see. Much appreciated ."
Then without any further talk, Yami simply walked away very much to everyone's bafflement.
As they watched their captain ask a literal legend for directions to a toilet, Noelle, Magna and Nero accepted Yami's behavior out of habit but their expectations have never been lower.
They all gave Yami a "Are you serious, right now?" Look, however as if understanding their inner thoughts, Lemiel decided to mend the mood a little higher.
"Anyway... Would you guys like a trip around the city? Asta and the others are already done with their battles so it shouldn't take long before this place begans swarming in patients."
At the mention of Asta, The four of them including Gauche, immediately turned to Lemiel with a serious face.
"That was really Asta?" Asked Noelle, receiving a silent nod from Lemiel.
For a second everyone took a breath of relief, a burden lifted from each of their hearts as they felt their stress lowering at the mach speed.
Lemiel could tell by their faces, each of them had still not overcome Asta's death, and just knowing he was alive was more than relieving than any medicine out there.
He didn't rush them, just waited as minutes passed by and the tears ran dry. Eventually it was Blackbulls who turned to him, with the earlier darkness now replaced with a confident smile.
Yet among all of them, Lemiel was most shocked by Nero's reaction who was smiling more brightly than she ever did while serving as his maid.
Instantly a sudden urge to tease her came to Lemiel, a mischievous smile forming on him as he glided down to Nero and whispered into her ears.
"You never smiled like that before... You like him don't you? Secre. "
The normally serious face immediately melted for a millisecond only turn back serious before anybody could notice.
However Lemiel noticed the drops of sweat that were flowing down Nero's neck and his smile turned into a demonic grin.
The situation wasn't looking good and just when Nero thought she was out of options, a sudden jolt woke Lemiel from his half-evil plans, turning his grin into a frown.
The blackbulls saw Lemiel vanish from their vision and turns into ball of light before shooting out of the room at blinding speed.
Nobody understood what had happened, leaving them all with a question marks above their heads as they wondered what could cause a wizard king to hurry like that.
...
Meanwhile far within Brimstone's defenses, Asta was forced to sit on a table facing several others including the uninjured captains and the upper members of the Royal parliament.
The Nobels were filled with hostility, each looking down on Asta because of his background despite his strength being stronger than theirs.
However they didn't knew Asta could sense the emotions pouring out of them and kept whispering among themselves like idiots while the captains and Julius facepalmed in annoyance.
Bazzzz-zip!
Lemiel arrives, phasing through the walls like a phantom as he barely manages to brake above the conference table.
However he wasn't the last one as soon after, one by one, all the spirits that served the city's mechanism began appearing one after another, startling the nobles.
Then with a single slam of Asta's hand, the conference room descends into silence, leaving only his own voice to reach out to everyone.
"Shall we began the meeting then?"
____________