The banquet

"With 7 stars earned, Leopard Vermillon." The wizard king gave a kind smile as the young boy's playful personality suddenly became serious

"I grant you the title of intermediate magic knight, second class." A medal was awarded, causing the young boy to bow humbly

the rest of the rewards were like that, going to different nobles, each giving a smirk to the others and showing off their medal with pride

Zakai was called next, walking up to the wizard king and giving a sloppy bow

"Slum rats," Nozel muttered under his breath causing the wizard king to shoot a kind smile at him, shutting him up

"Due to your recognized ability to stop One of the shining generals of the diamond kingdom by yourself and showing loyalty by protecting your teammate, and retrieving an important item that is important to the clover kingdom, and also expanding the treasury of the kindgom by a lot, you are to be promoted to Intermediate magic knight, third class."

2 tiers my ass! Zakai internally screamed Fugeleon you son of a bitch you; lied to me!

jealousy arose on the face of the crowd, except Leopard who smiled brashly

"Uh-thank you m'lord"." Zakai said, grabbing the medal and going back to his position

Asta and yuno had shocked faces in the crowd before asta said to Mimosa

"Uh, what are the tiers of the magic knights?"

Klaus pushed up his glasses

"From highest to lowest, the tiers are wizard king Grand Magic Knight, Senior Magic Knight , Intermediate Magic Knight, Junior Magic Knight"

"So Zakai jumped 2 tiers!"

"1 tier you idiot." Yuno stared at his adoptive brother

"Cool!"

The advisor near Julius suddenly whispered in Julius which caused him to clap

"I have matters to attend to, unfortauntley but my Advisor will lead you to a banquet that was prepared for the shining stars of the clover kindgom beforehand."

The Wizard king had done this before, so they were all ready to it

"You can come too" The wizard king looked at the group that was at the door

the advisor gave a bow and then led them to another room while Julius went through a separate door

"I wonder what being wizard king is like?" Zakai wondered, following the advisor

Leopard ran to me

"What did you do to skip one tier? your one of the singular cases of this happening!"

"Long story," Zakai said with a laugh, before going into the room that had countless plates of food in it

Zakai was chatting to Leopard when he sighed

"All of these stares are starting to hurt." Zakai sighed, looking back at the nozel twins who were snickering at him

"Get used to it" Leopard was munching down on a chicken breast "I bet they're going to try to Embarrass you or someone they think is weak, just watch it."

A scream resounded around the room, it was Asta consuming countless spoonfuls of egg fried rice

"Sooo good~" Piles after piles of rice were eaten, never to be seen again

Zakai walked over to Asta's group and smirked

"Enjoying the food?" Zakai said, looking at the boy that screamed yes

"How can you be so bold?" Mimosa gave a small blush causing Noelle to pout which caused Zakai to smirk

"Oh mimosa, are you eyeing up a piece of this meat too?" Asta handed over a piece of chicken while having grease-covered around his mouth

"Vulgar peasant." A green-haired man said, showing off his golden dawn uniform "Why did the mighty wizard king invite lowly scum like him?"

"I can't sense any magic from him" Nembra Silva swirled her glass in disdain "Them catching the dungeon must be pure luck." Her eyes fell onto me "He must have run away and that man must have spared him."

Zakai put his wind glass down and looked towards Umbra "Oh?"

"It's unnatural for the peasants to be here," Solid silva said "Filthy street rats."

Zakai was pissed off now. seriously, he doesn't say anything, and hes treated like garbage. how forced is this

Leopard was about to join in, but saw Zakai angry and wanted to see his reaction

"Now, now, although the peasants deserve to die, we know who's the most useless." Solid brung his glass over to Asta's group "It's you"

"Wouldnt we agree, Noelle?" Solid smirked

Noelle was paralyzed in fear, not wanting to turn her back and look at her brother straight in her eyes

*Drip*

Water splashed down from Solid's glass and went over Noelle's head

"You can't even control your magic, an embarrassment," Nembra said

something clicked in the back of his head, a memory that refused to unlock but was broken, a memory he would have never touched, sealed in the back of his head eternally

An old man was holding up a baby, playing peek-a-boo with a small baby in his hand

The old man had purple eyes and blonde hair, quite handsome and young-looking for his age

"You see, young Zakai." The man placed down the baby on his lap "Once you grow older, you'll feel the urge to protect who you love the most." The man said to giggle baby "Protect them with all of your might, only then you will grow old and happy, not plagued by your past"

the man held up the baby before saying "Even if you don't love them, protect them, may they be weak or strong, help them with all of your might. our strong need to be helpful to the weak, or you shall be corrupt"

Zakai was snapped back to the past, his left eye partly going black before a slip of a tear fell out

quickly wiping it up, Zakai tried to find the man's name, but couldn't

it feels like an eternity ago, but it must not be a long time ago

Asta was about to shout but was stopped by Zakai

Zakai went up to Solid and a crisp noise could be heard around the room

*Slap*

Solid retreated with a slap mark on his face

Zakai wasn't done as a portal arose under the feet of Zakai, Nembra and solid

"Huh?" Before solid could understand what just happened, he found himself mid-air, above the royal capital

"Try not to become A pile of shit on the capital pavement" Zakai looked at the 2 siblings that were screaming while falling

"Solid... help me!" Nembra shouted, her mist magic not being able to do anything

"[Water magic: Prideful Eagle]!"

An eagle carried Solid to safety, but Nembra was still falling

She was close to the pavement when a portal caught her and sent her back to the venue. of course, after Zakai drenched her in water magic

meanwhile, Zakai did the same to solid and sent him back

Suddenly, a voice resounded in Zakai's head, belonging to the plate scratching demonic voice that he heard for a long time

"You...must....not...let...them...ge.t...t.h..e..s..t..o....n.e.."

An explosion happened on the other side of the capital, causing a long time of screams

the fire was spread along with the capital, causing Zakai to freeze

A familiar yet not so familiar Aura drew him in closer

it seemed that countless magic knights were being deployed, comabtting the attacks of mindless creatures

"What are these things?" Zakai wondered, looking at the mindless humans that had lost all sense of rationality. the people that they will seem to become like them, making it a powerful magic

"I need to put a end to this." Zakai furrowed his brow