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Thankfully, Asta is healed by Owen with the help of other mages, reducing the danger on his life. The wounds also stopped after a few hours and now, they are only waiting for him to wake up.
The Black Bulls’ hideout is instantly crowded the moment Magic Knights and Asta’s family knew what happened to him. Sister Lily, Father Orsi, Nash, Aruru, Hollo, Recca, Yuno, and the healers are currently in Asta’s room.
They needed to be there if, and only if, something happens.
Guarding Asta’s room are Noelle, Vanessa, Luck, and Nero. Noelle and Nero have the worst red and puffy eyes from crying. Vanessa has her Rogue cat ready in case something happens.
Luck, for the first time since this morning, didn’t smile. He has the blank yet thunderous expression on his face, while lightning is visible around him.
Needless to say, they are all intense and on a fighting stance, creating a heavy tension on the entire hide out.
In the living rooms are Asta’s friends, and the magic knights. They are all chattering, but they know it’s their own way of distracting themselves from worrying over Asta.
The captains informed Asta’s friends on their squads about his condition and they rushed to his room right away, and after they made sure he’s still breathing, they exited the room to give Asta’s family their privacy.
The rest of the Black Bulls, especially Finral and Yami, immediately found the culprit. He was too easy to capture, like he’d been waiting them to come.
Yami thought it’s suspicious, but anger took over.
They are currently in the dungeon, the same place where Marx, Julius, and Asta revealed Gueldre, the traitor captain.
Yami is punching the culprit, named Mason, while the captains are watching him do it.
Yami is releasing his dark purple mana, causing the captains and Finral to shiver in fear. They can’t deny that they don’t want to get Yami that mad at them. He’s just using 10% of his strength to Mason, but the latter looked like he’d gone through hell.
They can’t stop Yami for the reason they don’t want to end up like Mason too. They knew Yami has murder on his mind but he’s still holding back as Dorothy reminded him that killing the mage won’t stop the ability from affecting Asta.
Mason, on the other hand, looked like dying.
He is punched on different parts of his body, with most damages on his face, that he passed out several times just to wake up because of the pain Yami keep giving him.
They won’t be surprised if Mason gets a severe concussion, or even be comatose.
The mages who witnessed it felt pity on him first, but the moment they saw Mason grin at them, they wanted to cast spells on him too.
Dorothy, on the other hand, is just observing the surroundings and the culprit. She has a strange feeling in her gut, but she needs to confirm it first. It will be disastrous if her deduction and plan won’t work out.
But before they pull out their grimoires, the door opened and revealed Julius. They breathed a sign of relief as the wizard king’s the only one who can stop Yami from going berserk.
To their surprise, Yami stopped before turning to Julius with the dark aura still around him. He stepped away and stood beside Charlotte.
Julius thanked the heavens that he didn’t need to scold Yami anymore, and they got to the point right away.
Marx casted his Memory Magic on Mason and they saw what happened.
Asta is on an individual mission where he needed to scout a village with a rumored strong and dangerous mage lurking around. The villagers said the mage puts people to sleep before stealing things on their houses.
Asta caught the mage, which turned out to be Mason, and they fought. Obviously, Mason has a low on mana and didn’t fight too much so Asta easily defeated him and called a backup magic knight to help him get Mason to a prison.
However, before Asta gives Mason to the magic knights, the sleeping magic user casted a spell upon him.
“Sleeping Magic: Thou Shall Be Alone!”
Asta slashed the wind containing Mason’s spell with his sword and also cut himself slightly on hand so he can cancel the ability, if by any chance it touches his body.
The captains, wizard king, Marx and Finral watched in confusion as they finished watching the memory of Mason.
If Asta nullified it, then why is he still affected by the magic?
Mason wore a smug grin on his face.
The most worried of them is Dorothy, who stepped up. The uneasiness and odd feeling did not go away, despite seeing it in Mason’s memory clearly, it still did not sound right.
Like they were missing something.
Dorothy glared at Mason on how problematic his magic is.
“Wizard King, can I bring him to my Glamour World?”
Everyone stared at her in shock as they didn’t expect her to say that. Julius had a look of hesitation first but eventually nodded and smiled.
“Sure, take care,” that’s the only sign she needed before she brought Mason to her glamour world.
“Where... I?” Mason had trouble speaking, but Dorothy understood him.
“You’re in my world! Welcome! Now, I’ll ask you questions!” Dorothy cheerfully said quickly, not making her intentions be seen by the tricky mage. Being alone with the thug on her glamour world sends a warning on her mind, and she feels like she needs to solve it quickly.
She knew it’s a big gamble to let this dangerous sleeping mage on her glamour world, but she needs to see and know something.
Before everything goes wrong.
And she can only know it if they’re in her Glamour world. That’s an advantage and a disadvantage at the same time.
Mason glared at her, but did not reply.
It’s okay.
“What is the spell you used on Asta?” Dorothy asked with a happy but calculating gaze. She glanced at the clock on her glamour world.
She internally sighed, before organizing her thoughts and deductions. She knew it’s going to be hard.
The culprit did not answer her.
After a few minutes of staring battle, Dorothy had a frown, eventually became satisfied look on her face as she put her two fingers on her lips while still grinning, as if she’s figuring something.
Mason shivered.
“Hm... so Thou Shall Be Alone is a spell where you put the person on a Time Loop, and they needed to make someone kill them so they can go back in their present reality?”
Mason’s eyes widened, as the realization hit him.
Dorothy can read his thoughts.
Dorothy laughed maniacally before nodding.
“Yes, you’re right! I can read your thoughts. Now tell me, how can we cancel that tricky ability of yours?”
Mason did not answer physically but through mentally. First, he can’t speak as Yami really did a thing on his face and second, Dorothy can read his thoughts, so why all the effort?
“You can’t cancel it. My spell works for one month and if Asta doesn’t make anyone kill him there, he will die here and stay there forever. Even if you kill me, that ability will go on. You’ll only dirty your hands.”
Dorothy raised her eyebrow before clapping and chuckling.
“Hmm, guess that’s all.”
And with that, they went back to the dungeon with a flick of her hand.
Julius and the others expected her to explain.
“I was wrong before on Asta needs to realize it’s a dream. Asta is stuck on a time loop, and he needs to be killed or he will live there forever and his physical body will die in a month.”
The captains gasped in shock, while Yami punched Mason again.
Julius only stared at Dorothy, expecting her to add something, but Dorothy only smiled.
“Everyone, let’s go back to the Black Bulls’ base. I want to be the one to say his magic to everyone.”
Dorothy stated, which made everyone stop looking at Yami fearfully.
Julius raised his eyebrow, a conflicted gaze on Dorothy.
Finral opened the portal and they all gathered around the living room quickly.
Dorothy glanced at the clock wall.
Then, she went on the bathroom.
She hummed while staring at her grimoire.
“So I’m right, huh?”
She smirked to herself and happily went to the living room, to see everyone gathered there. Dorothy ordered earlier to bring Asta to the living room too, so they are all crowded even more.
She went in the middle and stared at Mason for a few seconds before smiling and looking at the rest.
“Okay, it’s time to wake up!”
Mason widened his eyes.
Dorothy gazed at him before smirking.
It’s currently midnight, Asta is coming home from a successful individual mission. He’s tired from walking but he wants to arrive in the hide out to surprise them, so he’s fighting with all his might to not sleep here in the roads.
He’s smiling ear to ear, while recalling the mission earlier.
To be honest, he felt different from that sleeping mage, but he thanked his fast reflexes to shield him from the ability. He knew that mage is dangerous, but he wondered why the mage did not fight fairly.
Asta thought the mage could have beaten him easily, but the mage only casted spell when he’s about to be arrested by the magic knights.
He sighed, while trying to brush off the pain in his stomach...
...wait, stomach?
His eyes widened and he dropped his bag when he saw crimson red leaking out from his stomach.
A man appeared in front of him, holding a knife.
Asta looked up to him and he felt shivers down his spine as the man grinned.
“MASON?!”
Mason, the sleeping mage.
“Wait.. I... I thought you’re arrested?!” Asta tried to stand, to position himself in a fighting stance and grab his sword from his grimoire, but all the chances ran out as the man stab his left chest.
He sank to his knees, while desperately trying to ignore all the pain.
He cursed himself for not noticing Mason’s ki behind him. He is so tired, and drowned in his thoughts that he forgot to stay alert.
“It’s easy to break out. Do you really think I was that weak?” Asta wanted to shook his head, but his whole body protested for every movement he wants to do.
“Why...” is all he can say.
Mason glared at him and punched him in the face.
“I can’t just let you win! For sure, your petty friends are on their way right now. I need to hurt you a lil bit, don’t I?” Asta’s face drew confusion.
“You really think my spell was directed at you?” Mason punched him again.
Asta laid in the ground, hurt evident in his face. He wanted to scream, he wanted to fight, he wanted to know why and how, but his body is not allowing him anymore.
It may not be a magic, but knife wounds still hurt.
“I knew that you were an anti-magic kid. And that’s why my spell was compatible to you. Because it won’t work on you, instead, it will work on those people around you...” Asta’s eyes widened in fear.
No way...!
He needs to go home, he needs to escape, he needs to nullify the spell!
But how can he go home if the mage stabbed him in his right arm?
“...that means, they were the one trapped in the dream.”
Asta lost strength.
Dorothy opened her eyes wide as she’s finally free from Mason’s magic. Still wearing her pajamas, she ran out of the room to wake her squad and thankfully, they were already awake in the living room.
As she expected, they filled her with several statements like ‘how did you know?’ ‘are you okay?’ ‘you were great!’. She had enough of their chitchats so she raised her right hand, automatically silencing her squad.
“Where’s Kirsch?” she noticed that their vice-captain, Kirsch Vermillion, is the only one missing in her head counts.
“He went to the Black Bulls’ base, to make sure everything is alright there, especially Asta.”
Her subordinate said. Dorothy is relieved and grateful that their vice-captain is reliable at times like this.
“Okay, thank you. I need to go there,” Dorothy quickly grabbed a jacket and her robe before flying to the base of the Bulls.
She hoped Asta is alright.
Now that she ended Mason’s unique spell, there’s a high chance that he might go after Asta.
She looked at the calendar and her suspicions are right.
The Black Bulls watched while Owen healed Asta, who is severely injured. Mason is currently on the dungeon again, being interrogated by Marx, the captains, and the Wizard King himself.
Dorothy arrived in the dungeon and saw the memories on Mason playing above his head.
After she was informed that Asta is already being taken care of, she can only smile and a deep sigh.
She turned to everyone to explain everything.
“Mason’s Thou Shall Be Alone is a reverse type of sleeping magic. Instead of Asta being stuck in a nightmare, it was the people around him. Thou Shall Be Alone is the reversal of another spell of his that is Time Loop Nightmare...”
“... Time Loop Nightmare is a spell that traps the victim in a time loop and they need someone to kill them before they can go back to their reality. In other words, Mason used a Thou Shall Be Alone spell on us, then Time Loop Nightmare on Asta after.”
Everyone went silent, figuring out and understanding the tricky ability of the mage. They can’t believe they fell under a spell, then fell on another spell after.
“That was what I thought too. We have to be thankful that Mason didn’t have enough mana to put a spell after spell on us, otherwise we’re good as dead.”
Julius spoke, while smiling at Dorothy. Dorothy smiled back and fixed her clothes.
“Wait, I don’t get it. The spell you explained at our dream doesn’t match what you say right now,” Yami raised an eyebrow, and the other captains agreed.
Dorothy laughed, knowing she has to explain it again, but she knew it’s really annoying and tiring not to be familiar with a magic.
“Mason manipulated our minds when we’re under the spell. Time Loop Nightmare is what happened to Asta in our dream, but, before he casted it on him, he casted it in our present reality first. Like, our true world. Instead of Time Loop, it was Thou Shall Be Alone, we’re affected by it, not Asta,” she stopped.
“I noticed the suspicious actions of Mason in our dream. Number one, he was easily defeated by Asta. Number two, he was easily captured by Yami. No offence, Yami. Number three, you guys need to do reality checks,” she saw the confused gazed on everyone.
“As I, myself, is a dream magic user, I need to do reality checks so I won’t be stuck in my dream, or glamour world. The purpose of reality check is to be able to identify if you’re in a dream or not...”
“...first step on doing a reality check, glance at the clock. The moment I had a hypothesis that the culprit might be a dream magic, like mine, I started doing reality check. I glanced at the watch on Marx’s wrist watch first, and I saw his watch is not moving.”
“Then, I saw the clock in my glamour world when I brought Mason to it. I also sensed a manipulation spell in his thoughts, that’s when I confirmed we’re the one stuck in a dream, not Asta. Second, check your reflections on the mirror. Is it blurry or inaccurate? Third, try to hurt yourself and see what happens to your wounds. There are many ways to do reality checks but those three are the best one from me!”
The mages only stared at her in disbelief, and astonishment.
They knew Dorothy is a genius, even if she sleeps all the time, but they did not know that she figured it out fast.
“So this is our present reality now? We’re not under Mason’s spell anymore?” William, for the first time, asked. Dorothy nodded, and smiled cheerfully.
“That means...” Yami turned to Mason and drew out his grimoire.
Everyone froze in place when they realized what he’ll do.
Mason pissed himself.
After Asta woke up, he heard everything that happened and he immediately demanded to see Dorothy.
Dorothy arrived, and sat on the chair beside Asta’s bed.
Asta smiled at her and bowed deeply.
“THANK YOU FOR SAVING US!”
Dorothy laughed.
“You're welcome, Asta.”
Finally, she can sleep peacefully again.