Black Clover: Nah I'd Lose

The speaker's voice stopped and the murals reverted back to what they were originally before.

"My PROGRESS, my progress!" Akeru cried as he noticed the new runes forming in a different shape than before.

He could only helplessly watch as the whole thing was completed.

"NOOO!" Akeru was on the verge of tears at this point.

He had spent over 200 hours on this stuff with 'Still Spectator' on. The amount of things he could have done was phenomenal.

It was like completing a game or doing an assignment that was mostly completed, but then the power gets cut and due to your work not getting saved-- all the progress is gone.

"It's okay boss, you can always do it again quicker," Erza awkwardly patted Akeru on the shoulder as he started crying.

He completely ignored her words.

"I am fucking going to find that person and give him a painful death," Akeru started muttering.

Erza distanced herself from him as she was getting some dangerous vibes.

'That person is probably already dead,' she thought, however, she didn't dare to say that aloud.

She had common sense about what to say and when to say it, unlike some naive Shonen protagonists, believe it!

Akeru's muttering only became more disturbing to Erza, who could only make out a few words like "dungeon," "slave," and "goblins," the latter not making any sense to her.

Suddenly, Akeru took out the communication bracelet and checked the contents of the message he had received.

"Oh..." He muttered and looked at Erza.

Erza flinched as his current gaze was completely different from anything she had seen from him before.

If looks could kill, Erza would have died countless times despite not being the target of the hatred.

Tears on Akeru's face turned into vapors. "We are going to Cryobastion. Ren has done his share of work, we have the favourable situation."

Erza could only nod as she quickly packed their belongings.

'Ren is really dangerous, to be able to execute this. Takuma and Miko are really unlucky to be on the other side,' Erza thought.

---

Time- Next day, Space- Onyxspire

Currently, five individuals are having a meeting in a room in the most secure part of the city.

They were none other than the shining generals.

"Yagos really had it rough; he had to clean up the mess of the destroyed laboratory," Broccos shook his head with a sigh.

"Well, he is suitable for such tasks, so it is logical for him to be the one to do it," Zyphoria shrugged.

Suddenly, an individual slammed the door open, his voice urgent.

"We have received an urgent message. The most dangerous prisoners of Cryobastion are freed!"

Some people's faces turned grim.

"Call Takuma now," Aetheris ordered, the other guy scrambling to bring Takuma.

"Aren't those the prisoners we captured in a previous conflict with the Spade Kingdom?" Vespera asked with a nonchalant expression.

"It must be that brat's work. I think he is trying to make us spend manpower there so that he could take him back," Zyphoria said with an unimpressed stare.

"Weren't there some criminals in that prison having powers of devils with them?" Broccos suddenly asked.

"From what I know, old man Yagus once mentioned that there are two such dangerous people who could do that, and their threat level is equivalent to middle-class devils," Vespera recalled.

"Wh-what? Aren't those very deadly devils?" Zyphoria asked with a shocked expression.

"How strong are middle-class devils?" Mars curiously asked.

He was the one who knew the least about such things in the room.

"I would say that a middle-class devil would be on the level of Vespera, though whether she would survive would depend on the magic the devil wields," Aetheris said in a calm tone.

Mars was shocked at this statement, as were the others, as this statement also gave them a measure of Vespera's strength.

"I would definitely win."

Takuma finally came into the room through spatial magic.

"Please make a portal to Cryobastion," Aetheris politely asked, and Takuma complied.

"Vespera and Broccos will guard them at the location we devised before. Zyphoria will be on standby here, and I will personally go to deal with those criminals," Aetheris ordered before disappearing through the portal in front of him.

Broccos and Vespera went with Takuma to pick up Miko before they went to hide in a secured location in a different city. The location was only known to Takuma, Vespera, and Aetheris, nobody else.

So, they weren't worried about their location being discovered.

They knew the other party didn't have any spatial mage on their side, and if they were going to travel by foot, it would take a day to reach Onyxspire from Cryobastion, based on the speed of Akeru reported by Yagos.

And even if he reached Onyxspire, he wouldn't find anybody.

Zyphoria also exited the room to give some orders to others.

Mars was left alone in the room.

"What should I do?"

---

At around the same time, two individuals could be seen at a ramen shop.

"So, where are we going next?" A man asked the other man.

"We are going to Shardfall."

"Not Valkyrim? I guess luck is on our side. Have you informed the boss?" Kaiser grinned.

"Yes, also here is the item you requested. I hope you will do what needs to be done," Ren said with a serious expression.

He handed Kaiser a metal box.

"Yes," Kaiser sighed, his expression unreadable.

"It's time to put an end to this mission," he solemnly said.

"Yes, let's go to Shardfall and meet up with the boss. We don't have much time," Ren nodded and drank the soup from his bowl.

---

Time- One day ago, Space- ???

"Uhh, aren't we going a bit too fast?" Erza asked nervously.

She was currently being held by a very familiar big water hand.

Akeru had deployed his Seraph's shell while moving as he had forsaken any desire to conceal himself, so there was a chance he might get attacked.

Not only that, he also wanted to block the force from air resistance due to the speed at which he was moving.

"I guess this is my fastest spell. Recently I upgraded it due to some inspiration I got," Akeru said in a no-nonsense tone.

His mood wasn't really good at the moment.

'With improvement in mana control from Ladros, my other spells have strengthened too, and this spell had the most change due to its nature,' Akeru thought.

"I see, that does make sense. I am pretty sure that we are going way faster than the fastest attack I could throw," Erza said while smiling wryly.

Generally, a person's projectile attacks are considerably faster than their movement speed.

The same was true for Akeru.

So, Erza's statement just revealed a considerable gap between their prowess.

"Well, yeah, we are currently moving at around 18 Mach." 'If I was travelling alone, I would have reached 24 Mach.'

"Damn. Also, I have one more thing to ask, that red lightning..." Erza said with a grim expression.

She could smell blood.

"Well, we are low on time and I know recovery magic," Akeru shrugged and didn't elaborate.

He was still feeling frustrated about what had happened at the Polaris Gate.

They reached Cryobastion at night and decided to move the next day after a day of rest, as Akeru needed to properly heal due to extensive use of Orion's mischief.

In the morning, they decided to move.

"What the fuck," Erza said in an alarmed tone.

"The fuck indeed," Akeru said with a similar tone.

They were running in the same way they had been travelling yesterday.

"Why did that guy transform into a devil-like being?"

"The better question is why the fuck there is not one, but two middle-class devil realm existences here?" Akeru was really baffled by this.

Are middle-class devils like cabbages sold in a market?

"Won't that create too many casualties?"

"Nah, it's fine. It would just make them spend more manpower there," Akeru shrugged.

'I don't know if there is somebody on the level of Wizard King in this kingdom, but with some time, multiple generals might be able to defeat those guys. Otherwise, it's not my business if Diamond Kingdom gets destroyed; it's their fault for keeping such dangerous guys as prisoners instead of killing them outright.'

***

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