The group of Magic Knights looked forward at the dense forest ahead of them, their objective lying deep within it.

Ichigo sighed. ‘Hey, Old Man? Please tell me you can locate the energy source from here.’

‘Yes, but there may be-’ The toned reply of White began, before Ichigo cut him off,

‘Eh, that’s a surprise. Sir White, helping us with what he so unceremoniously deems as “Grunt Work”?’ Ichigo remarked snidely at him.

‘Yes, Yes, I remember. Desperate times call for desperate measures.’ White answered back, surprising Ichigo.

‘Uh, am I missing something? Last I heard, it was just messing with our powers. No one said anything about desperate times.’

‘It is not wise to hold mental conversations for this long in company of those who can mistake it for something else. Just know that it isn’t something that can hamper your abilities to fight.’ The Old Man interrupted.

Before Ichigo could retort, he was sent reeling back to reality. Ichigo shook his vision for a second before realizing the entire group was intently staring at him, even Noelle.

He found Asta standing in front of him, hands stretched up to his face to wake him.

“That was some trance, man. You didn’t even respond to Asta.” Rudy remarked, his lips curving slightly.

“Are you alright, Ichigo?” Asta asked, slowly lowering his hands.

“Oh, sorry. I was thinking about something. I have news.” Ichigo said, before taking a pause. White took the cue to answer,

‘We have a general location, head north-east and we’ll find what we’re looking for.’

“I can sense the energy source now that we’re close. We should head north-east from here.” Ichigo parroted. However, Macy’s face contorted into confusion.

“Uh, Ichigo wouldn’t that be in the opposite direction of the forest?” She asked.

“Ah, yeah. Basically, we should head be heading around 2 O’clock from here.” Ichigo simply answered before saying,

‘White, next time be a bit more specific.’ The Hollow only rolled his eyes, nodding back.

The group began moving in the general direction.

‘Splitting up obviously isn’t even an option. What if we don’t find what we’re looking for?’ Ichigo mused as they marched forward.

The forest grew more thick, blocking out sunlight. The streams that did make it past the thick bushes of trees did not provide for much illumination. Only enough to not trip over something.

Finally, after 20 minutes of walking, the tree line began thinning, alluding to some kind of sentient presence.

“Be on guard, everyone.” Ichigo reminded. The group slowly nodded.

Light broke free of the meagre sparse trees, lighting up the land, right in the middle of the forest.

And there between the thickets of the dense forest stood a small village. Though calling it a village may have been a little too generous. A small gathering of houses, almost showing signs of being built haphazardly, roofs missing tiles, doors and beams having numerous conspicuous scratch marks.

“I didn’t know there was a such a small village, this close to the borders with the Spade Kingdom.” Macy remarked with surprise.

“Isn’t it weirder that the village is still inhabited and not ravaged by Spade kingdoms’ forces?” Daniel countered, Noelle nodding along with his observation.

Ichigo having easily begun spotting the suspicious parts of the village, spoke up,

“Keep your guard at all times once we enter the village. There may be a very good reason the village isn’t ransacked yet.”

Apprehension and tightness filled in the faces of the teenagers. Eyes darting around the mess of houses, they made way further towards a group of residents.

The villagers themselves were wearing normal t-shirts, pants and gowns. Though, it was the look they sported that tipped Ichigo that something was afoot. They were too clean for villagers that were supposed to be working to make ends meet.

Gasps filled the villagers as their eyes came to rest on knight’s squad capes, murmurs of ‘Magic Knights’ spreading across them.

“Magic Knights.” An elderly man came forward from the group, regarding them with reverence.

“What can we peasants do to help you?” He followed up quickly. The old man was wearing age-marked clothes, something one would usually find on a farmer, this far from the kingdom’s capital.

Before Ichigo could answer, however, Noelle spoke up,

“Why isn’t this village registered with the Clover Kingdom?” Noelle’s tone left no place for arguments. It was something, Ichigo could really relate to those of noble upbringings. The voice of authority.

The old man, once sporting a tranquil face now quickly furrowed his brows, hiding some sentiment of disdain behind a quick smile that bloomed.

“It’s a small village, Miss Knight. We can’t afford to pay taxes.” The group of people behind him shifted slightly as the words left the old man’s mouth.

“The land would be better for cultivation if you move further inland.” Macy suggested.

“What about our houses?” A random woman spoke from behind the old man.

The old man’s eyebrow twitched in annoyance. He quickly whirled towards the young woman, who quietened after a small squeak.

“Your houses can be built again. Clover Kingdom can help with you that. What good are those houses of yours, if you can’t even fill your stomachs?” Rudy spoke up this time, eyeing the haphazardly built houses. He was about to comment further, before Ichigo cut them off completely,

“We are getting off topic.” He stated sternly, directed at the teenagers.

“Have the villagers spotted anything suspicious nearby? We are here to investigate the sudden appearance of a powerful signature.” He continued.

The tranquillity on the old man’s face returned as he answered,

“No sir. We are simply peasants. If something powerful like you said had appeared, we would have either been killed or worse, captured.”

The ease on the old man’s face as he declared their life’s invalidity was unnerving. The old man didn’t seem to care much for his life, nor did the villagers if their nodding was any sign.

“Okay. We’ll take a look around just in case anyway.” Saying this, Ichigo began walking forward.

The old man nodded towards the group of villagers, most of them quickly dispersing in different directions. Ichigo paid them no mind as he walked forward.

The group of magic knights moved in further towards the centre of the village. Once out of earshot, Daniel spoke,

“They’re definitely hiding something here.”

“That’s right.” Ichigo confirmed. “And that’s why we’re moving towards the source of the energy itself. It’s right here in the middle of the village.”

Ichigo quietly eyed Asta as he continued walking. The teen was unusually quiet.

However, once he turned the corner towards the centre-stone of the village, everyone else too was shocked into silence.

A grotesque trunk of a tree stood right in the middle of their sights. Charred black, oozing wood as the base, it wrapped around itself like a creeper straight out from hell. There were weird patches of white all over it, amplifying its horror essence.

“What in the world is this?” Daniel exclaimed so loudly that someone could’ve mistaken him for Asta. “And what is with the ridiculous amount of magic power it’s emitting?” He continued blabbering.

Ichigo quickly sent a look around the group, his eyes rounding on Asta. The boy was shocked, but something akin to recognition shone in his eyes. Recognition and unbridled hatred.

“Asta?” Ichigo called out to him sternly. In the blink of an eye, he was by his side, shaking him awake of his stupor.

“Huh? Ichigo?” Asta shook his head, clutching it in his hands.

“Are you alright? Do you need to rest?” Ichigo asked, hands over his shoulder to support him.

“I’m fine. I thought I felt something emanate from that tree. And also from my grimoire. But that isn’t possible, is it? I don’t have magic, so I can’t sense it right?” He explained to the group, though he seemed to be pacifying his own instincts that were screaming at him.

And Ichigo knew what he was talking about. Asta just had a small taste of the power of hell of this dimension. Somehow, the particular mark of negative emotions was much stronger in this world’s hell than it was in his dimension.

The group continued to stare at the monstrosity, Daniel’s question left to imagination as an answer for the moment.

‘Old Man, that’s two more times than I would’ve liked to sense hell in this dimension. Also, weren’t we after something that was the opposite of this monstrosity?’

Before he could receive his answer, Ichigo quickly straightened as he realized people wearing masks were beginning to circle around them. It was plainly obvious from their attire that the villagers themselves were the perpetrators of this.

‘An ambush, huh.’

Magic energy bloomed to life as the grimoires of the knights flared to life.

“What is the meaning of this?” Daniel gritted his teeth as the villagers continued to completely surround them.

“Well, we aren’t going to tell you what we are up to, if that’s what you’re hoping for. But since you are going to die for our cause, we will be merciful enough to grant you a swift death.”

“You are meaning to use us as sacrifices to that?” Macy asked, confidence flickering in her tone, pointing towards the tree.

“Heh, there’s a smart one among the group. Either way, we’ll have some fun with you two girls, before sacrificing you obviously.” One of the ambushers spoke in a disgustingly sly tone.

“Shut up” Asta shouted back at them. He jumped straight forward towards the enemies, sword pointing grimly. As soon as his grimoire flared to life, the villagers began looking around themselves, murmuring.

“Boy, you don’t know what you’re trifling with yet. Leave your grimoire here, and maybe we’ll let you live and leave.” This time the old man spoke up.

“In your dreams, old man.” Asta replied as he readied his stance.

Ichigo, far at the back, had no intention of interfering in this fight. With all their bravado and them outnumbering the knights 2 to 1, excluding Ichigo and the old man, it was plainly obvious to Ichigo that he could end this fight in the second it began getting ugly.

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

He wasn’t planning on stunting their growth, so he held his place as the events played out.

A sudden water bullet shot straight towards Daniel. Before anyone could react, Asta jumped straight in its trajectory, dispelling it with a quick slash.

“Resorting to sneak attacks?” Asta and Daniel remarked together.

“Are you stupid, kids? We’re fighting for our lives here. There’s no honour here. Only survival.” The old man croaked.

“It’s also clear that one of y’all doesn’t intend on participating.” He said, pointing at Ichigo.

Daniel and Macy looked somewhat betrayed at the thought, but quickly sobered up when Ichigo simply declared in a monotone,

“My assistance isn’t required.”

Laughs erupted across the villagers, as they pointed at Ichigo.

“You think you’re a big shot? Wait till we deal with the kids, we’ll take our time with you, coward.” One of them shouted.

Ichigo’s eyebrow twitched in annoyance, but he maintained his silence.

Shifting slowly, it was clear that the enemies were forming two groups of four and going after the knights in a four-on-two battle.

Asta and Daniel faced four of the weaker ones of the group. Something, Ichigo could understand as a military decision. After all, in terms of raw power, the girls far outclassed their male counterparts.

Ichigo’s eyes spotted Asta, dancing through the attacks of the villagers.

He cut through most of their long ranged attacks, dispelling them on contact, as Daniel prepared stronger spells to take them out permanently.

With a sigh, Ichigo realized that the boys were about to make very quick work of the villagers group.

Suddenly, a small bullet pricked him on the backside.

“Yay, I got him! You should pay more attention to your surroundings, dude.” A hiding villager shouted as he revealed himself from behind a tree.

Ichigo slowly turned to face him, not even feeling a bit of pain at the bullet strike.

“Did you throw a rock at me or something? I don’t think I even felt that.” Ichigo mocked back.

“Whaa—” Before he could say something more, he fell face first on to the ground, Ichigo standing behind him, hand outstretched like a chop.

“Talkers, the lot of them.” Ichigo remarked.

The old man glared at Ichigo in particular annoyance, as if already realizing that he was going to the biggest thorn to take out. Before Ichigo could retort something clever back, he heard Macy,

“Noelle!” Macy shouted as a boulder headed towards Noelle.

The boulder nicked Noelle’s shoulder, drawing blood before whistling past the teen. Noelle’s grimoire flared with magic in retaliation,

“Water Magic, Water Ball.” A streaming ball of water shot from her hands headed straight for her enemies.

‘Heh? What’s going on? I expected the fight to be well along and over for both sides by now. So why do Noelle and Macy look so worn down already?’ Ichigo thought to himself.

The reason for his dilemma soon emerged as Noelle’s Water Ball met its mark, or rather missing it by a few feet.

‘She can’t aim!? Wow. And she still has that much pride?’ Ichigo mentally laughed.

However, he soon stopped dead in his thoughts as soon as his eyes met hers. The sheer fear reflected in them was something that he had never expected to see in the eyes of a 16-year-old.

“Earth Magic, Rock Projectile!” One of their assailants screamed, brown earth forming another boulder shaped projectile headed towards Noelle. The speed of this one far surpassed the previous. In a second, it was in front of Noelle, who in dumb realization dropped to her knees.

However, before the boulder could hit, it was cleanly split apart in two by none other than Asta who had managed to finish off their side of ambushers.

“Don’t give up so easily!” Asta shouted, though it seemed to be pointed towards a kneeling Noelle.

Ichigo relaxed a bit, ground cracking beneath his feet as he released the flash-step he was about to perform.

“It’s easy for you to say.” Noelle murmured in disdain. Her lips were trembling in humiliation.

“Your magic is amazing, Noelle!” Asta exclaimed with a bright smile. “With just a little bit more aim, you’ll be unstoppable.” He exclaimed, in excitement.

Daniel arrived at the scene as well, him and Macy working in tandem to stave off the ambushers. Magic colliding sounds wafted to the background as Noelle simply stared dumbfounded at Asta, a million thoughts running through her mind. The fight blurred out of her mind as flashbacks overtook her mind and tears formed in her eyes.

Ichigo flash-stepped towards them.

“That was why you were so much on guard?” Ichigo asked, as Noelle somewhat stiffened awake from her stupor.

“No control over magic, that’s it?” Ichigo asked once more. “If that’s the case, then you’re probably the least flawed person on the squad, Noelle. I mean have you seen the Mohawk guy? Or that semi-naked lady? They have issues.”

“From what I’ve seen in these past few days, we’re all flawed here, the Black Bulls, Noelle. In a way, you fit right in, eh?”

Noelle couldn’t hold in anymore, as tears stream downed her face. Still through the tears shone the brightest smile Ichigo had ever seen on her face. Seeing the smile made Ichigo somewhat warm and goofy inside.

Asta outstretched a hand to pick her up,

“We’re not done yet. Let’s finish this.”

She took his hand, nodding lightly. Her blush deepened as her hand met his, something that wasn’t missed by Ichigo.

‘Blackmail material already, nice…’

“Hey guys, touching as the scene is, we’re still fighting.” Daniel called out behind them. Both Macy and Daniel looked somewhat worn out, but were still fighting vigilantly, granting them this reprieve.

“Thanks guys.” Asta quickly replied. As soon as Asta joined, the fight went from slightly biased to completely biased towards the knights. With Asta dispelling any offensive magic making their way towards them and Macy and Daniel mercilessly attacking back, the villagers seemed to have no chance.

A sigh escaped Noelle’s lips, her previous attitude coming right back as she too came to the same conclusion as Ichigo.

“By the way, why didn’t you join the fight, Ichigo? We could have ended this way earlier.” Noelle asked.

“You can say I have a somewhat of a control problem.” Ichigo half-lied. It was somewhat difficult for Ichigo to hold back so much as to not kill the villagers in a single hit.

“Really?”

“Yeah.” Ichigo nodded back.

With a “humph”, Noelle faced the other side, as if she didn’t care. But Ichigo knew she was glad to know that even he wasn’t that much different from her.

With a resounding thud, the last of the villagers planted face down in to the ground. Only the old man was left standing now.

“H-How? How did you brats manage to defeat so many of us? Master’s not gonna be happy when he finds this out.” He stuttered, whispering the last part to himself.

“That was the easy part, old man. I’m more worried about keeping y’all in check until the other knights appear to apprehend you.” Daniel remarked.

“Apprehend? Pff-” The old man cracked up, manically.

“Has you lost it in the face of defeat?” Daniel mocked.

“Kids, you just signed your death warrants. Our master will be back any moment now. He could take you all down in a moment.” He stated grimly.

“Stop underestimating us, already.” Asta exclaimed back. “You’ve lost.”

“Lost?” Another voice erupted from behind the old man. In a moment, the old man crumpled to the ground as a ridiculously strong magic power washed over them.

“Monster” was the only words that escaped Daniel and Macy’s lips before they too fainted under the pressure of the massive mana wave.

Noelle and Asta too were on their knees, Noelle struggling to breathe. Asta had no magic, so only his instincts were reacting to the strong magical presence. Both their eyes widened as saucers as another ordinary looking villager entered the fray.

A blonde haired man, with well-built muscle from working on the farm. He wore a simple faded white t-shirt and brown pants. The sinister smile on his face however, creeped Ichigo to his core.

As the power emanating from the man finally registered on Ichigo, he realized with a jerk what it was.

‘A demon possessing a human!? Isn’t that rare?’ Ichigo wondered in his thoughts.

In the next instant, Ichigo’s reiatsu evened out the pressure of the man’s magical presence.

‘It’s rare because demons find humans disgusting, King.’ White answered promptly.

‘I think its mutual, White.’ Ichigo smirked at the thought.

Noelle and Asta stood up, blanching at Ichigo as they felt the two energies fighting for dominance.

“Ho-How are you doing this!?” Noelle stuttered, still catching her breath.

“Noelle, I need a favour. Remember, what I told you about me before? Do you think you could take Daniel, Macy and Asta away from here safely?”

Noelle stared at Ichigo for but a moment before quickly deciding.

“Hmph, yeah but you owe me one. Asta, pick up Daniel. We’re leaving.” Noelle answered.

“What are you talking about, Noelle? We aren’t gonna leave Ichigo behind.” Asta’s grimoire flared to life, piquing the man’s interest. However, a chop to the head from Noelle resulted in the grimoire dropping back.

“We aren’t leaving him behind; he’s just doing his part of the fighting now. He’ll join us in a minute, right?” Noelle asked.

“Yeah. I’ll be back in a minute, Asta. You head on ahead.” Ichigo answered back.

Asta reluctantly nodded, picking up Daniel, while Noelle picked up Macy.

“Be careful” Ichigo called out to them as they left.

“Hmph, you’re one to talk.” Noelle remarked as they left.

The two retreated back into the forests with Daniel and Macy on their backs. Once out of sight, Ichigo finally turned to face the demon.

“You are somewhat weird, demon. Why let them escape?”

“Ohh? You know what I am by just a glance? Well, to answer your question, they just became inconsequential to my plan. Your power will do just fine.” The demon smiled.

“Oh yeah?” Ichigo smiled as he pulled his smaller sword at, pointing it straight at him.

A brief moment passed between them, both Ichigo and the demon staring at each other. The moment Ichigo felt the teens cross past, another massive wave of reiatsu hit the area.

This time, the smile on the demon vanished completely. The reiatsu was so strong that even the trees were beginning to be compressed.

The demon struggled to stay on his feet, as he watched the blue coloured sword draw in an arc.

That was the last thing he saw, before his head disconnected from his body. The demon body dropped like a sack, his head rolling a few feet away.

The reiatsu vanished as the demon fell.

‘And that’s that. I need answers now, the two of you.’ Ichigo thought aloud as he entered his mind.

As he came to and stood up, he found Old Man and White both staring at him grimly.

“That bad, huh?” Ichigo expressed his surprise.

“I do not know, Ichigo. This world has an unusually advanced influence from Hell than our dimension.” The Old Man explained.

“From what we had felt in hell, the demons there would never resort to possessing humans. Well, unless…” White trailed.

“Yeah, unless they had a sure shot way of leaving. You guys think they figured something out here?” Ichigo rubbed his forehead in concern.

“Yes and that tree does seem to be part of it.”

“Are our hell powers out of question?” Ichigo asked, remembering back to some of his darker times.

“This dimension’s hell would not approve of us as it’s master, Ichigo. Plus, we are far stronger now. If we need to, we can make them submit to us.” The Old Man looked serious as he stated the last point.

“Weren’t we following something having the opposite signature as this energy? Did we get side-tracked or something?” Ichigo had wondered about this the entire time.

“About that. As White said before, it was difficult to pinpoint the location of that energy. We only assumed that the authorities of this world sensed the same energy as us and went along with the mission.

Also, the general location of the one we sensed was around here. So we didn’t suspect as well. As for this sudden turn of events, I would say, Ichigo to further inspect the diabolic tree. I am almost sure it has something to do with this.” The Old Man advised.

“Alright, anything else I should know about?”

Both the spirits shook their heads. Ichigo took the cue to leave, returning in a whirlwind to the real world.

Ichigo looked down at the dead body of the villager, feeling bad for the human trapped inside.

‘Wish we could help him.’

Ichigo sighed before making his way towards the grotesque tree. As he neared the tree, he felt a strange pull on his mind.

‘King, something like that dream episode can occur. Be on guard.’

“I understand.” Ichigo nodded.

Taking in the signature and power, the tree emanated, Ichigo could feel the absolute hatred and rage behind the power. As he searched more thoroughly, a more powerful signature of energy came forth pulling his mind in entirely.

Ichigo found himself in the same dark world as before, though this time he wasn’t bound. With nothing to explore, he waited patiently before trying to force his way out.

His patience bore fruit when once more the creepy ambience kicked in, the sinister voice singing,

‘One step forward,

One step backward,

At the same place?

Or somewhere entirely new?

Knowledge lost to the wind,

Brought back by the foolish breath,

Can the little child bear the consequences?’

The tone stopped once more and Ichigo patiently waited for the poem to be completed as last time.

“Now that it has no place to hide.” Once more the hoarse voice sang the last verse.

Ichigo was once more unceremoniously thrown back to the real world, where he found himself lying straight on the ground, Asta and Noelle staring at him in worry.

“Are you alright?” Asta asked, his tone somewhat sombre.

Ichigo began getting up, dusting himself off.

“Yeah, it’s nothing.” Ichigo’s eyes darted towards Noelle who also looked concerned.

“Aww, Noelle. Are you worried about me?” Ichigo teased, earning a solid laugh from Asta. The girl in question turned around with another ‘hmpf’ before answering,

“The only thing I’m worried about is how we would have to carry you.” She answered facing the other way.

Ichigo then turned towards the seated figures of Daniel and Macy.

“Hey guys, you alright?” He asked them as he approached the two. The teenagers looked up to him with utter surprise.

“We weren’t the ones facing that monster. How in the world did you manage to defeat him?” Macy asked in a trance, still staring wide eyed at Ichigo.

“Oh, him? He just kept underestimating me.” Ichigo answered light heartedly.

Noelle once more found herself staring at Ichigo as he chatted with the others. He was an enigma. There wasn’t a single mark on his clothes.

‘He won this with little to no difficulties. Then why was he sprawled on the ground, unconscious when we found him? And the main question remains, just how powerful is he?’

“I’m fine, guys. Let’s report back to our captains. It’s been enough adventure for our first mission.” Ichigo stated, turning around before coming to dead stop.

“What happened to that monstrosity of a tree?” Ichigo asked in absolute surprise, turning back to face the teens.

“We don’t know; it wasn’t here when we came back.” Asta answered.

“Yeah, we came back in the first place because of the lack of magic power in the area.” Daniel answered.

“That’s weird.” Ichigo murmured to himself. “Alright, whatever the reason, we won’t find it waiting here. Have you guys secured the villagers?”

“Yeah. Though we couldn’t find the old man. Did he escape?” Macy replied in question.

“No, right up until the end of the fight, the man was unconscious.” Ichigo answered. He looked over to the clump of villagers, bound in fire chains, looking haughtily towards him.

“The fire doesn’t hurt them, I suppose?” Ichigo faced Daniel, who nodded in affirmation.

“Alright, then this concludes our investigation. Though, I did say our fair share of intervention as well, hah.” Ichigo laughed.

“Yeah! Let’s go, Magic Knights!” Asta cheered, bringing smiles to everyone’s face. Even Noelle, Ichigo noted.

With their business concluding, the group of Magic Knights began heading back.

The next day, they reached back at Caerdyyd. The group spilt back into two, saying their goodbyes before the Black Bulls made their way back home.