Ascension Of The Failed Mage

Sweat rolled down Noir\'s face as he stared at the man in front of him.

The newcomer was smiling in a pleased and friendly manner, but Noir knew the danger behind his expression.

Silence pervaded the area as a wave of uncomfortable pressure dominated the vicinity.

"So you\'re not going to say anything, even after all these years?" He finally spoke.

"What do you want?" Noir quickly replied, maintaining his guard.

The man sighed, not letting up his relaxed smile for a moment. Slowly, he began to walk toward Noir—the latter retreated at the same pace as well.

"You should know the answer to that…" He answered softly.

"… Yet you\'re asking me. You should know it\'s meaningless to stall me, don\'t you… Zero?" He said, still maintaining his pace.

"Don\'t call me that!" Noir snapped, donning an aggressive tone.

His eyes then widened as he suddenly regained his composure—realizing the rash nature of his actions.

"That\'s not who I am anymore…" The black-haired young man muttered with a distant gaze.

"Oh yes… you go by a different name now, don\'t you? Noir Novo."

The gentleman said, seeming to be enjoying himself as he prodded more into Noir, making the latter uncomfortable.

"I have to say, the name has a nice ring to it. Too nice for you to have come up with on your own…" He furthered, with his grin getting wider.

"Stop… " Noir said defeatedly.

"I wonder… who could have given you such a cool idea for a name…?" The white-haired man continued, obviously instigating Noir.

Noir\'s entire body was numb, but he did not want to exert himself more than he already had.

His hands folded into a fist, and he clenched his teeth. He could not afford to attack his foe.

"…Was it that girl you were so fond of back then?" The man suddenly said.

That was too much for Noir to bear.

"I SAID STOP!" He shouted with rage, dashing from where he was, with his super speed, and headed toward the white-haired fellow.

>VWUUUUSSSHHH!!!<

As Noir approached, the gentleman remained calm and rolled his eyes.

"Oh, please…You should know better… than to do that!"

Suddenly a loud ringing echoed through Noir\'s brain. His entire body lost control, causing him to stiffen up and fall on the cold, hard ground.

"ARRRRRRGHHHH!!!" He screamed in pain.

"Oh, come on… just from this little and you\'re already down… don\'t disappoint me so much." The man sighed as he raised his hands in frustration.

Noir covered his ears as the pounding and ringing increased in his head, sending an unbelievable amount of pain throughout his body.

"This is too unbearable." The man said, snapping his fingers.

Immediately he did so, the pain Noir was experiencing subsided. Noir still remained on the ground, however, unable to rise because of the extreme fatigue on his body, and his mind.

"What happened to you? Already fatigued after one Magic Territory? Even I can pull about three consecutively without being nearly as exhausted as you." The smiling man said, with a tone of disgust.

Noir could barely speak as he pathetically remained on the cold floor.

"Your amount of power has greatly diminished. Everything about you is lacking. I don\'t even see your Sacred Weapon with you. How odd.

In your current state, I doubt you could even use it if you wanted to."

Noir gave short gasps, as though wanting to utter words, but his lips failed him.

"You, who can\'t use magic, have been reduced to this… how boring. Seeing you struggle like this is just too underwhelming.

I didn\'t expect our reunion to turn out this way." He shook his head, looking at Noir.

"Satisfied with your monologue yet?" Noir\'s voice finally appeared.

The young man gave a weary smile on his face, wincing at the pain\'s aftereffects on his body.

"Hardly." The white-haired man mused. "And you should know why."

Noir knew the man before him, even more than most. He was not the type to easily forgive or let go of a grudge.

Though if Noir was being honest, he wasn\'t the type either.

"Sixteen years ago, you defected from the Empire… from our unit. Do you know the kind of havoc you caused? The Imbalance you created?" The gentleman was still smiling, though something about his eyes and tone made it evident that he was angry.

"If I remember correctly, I wasn\'t the only one who defected… now was I?" Noir responded with a forced smile.

Unfortunately, this defiance was rewarded by even greater pain.

"Gahhhhhhh!!!"

"You\'ve got quite the sharp mouth. Too bad you can\'t back it up with action. I know what you\'re trying to do, but it won\'t work, you know…" He smiled.

"Yeah… of course you do." Noir gasped for breath at this point.

"After all… You\'re #04: The Truth.".

"Glad to see your memory remains intact, even though I can\'t say the same for your worth." He shrugged, still maintaining his composure.

"I can obtain whatever information I want out of you, plus you can\'t lie to me…. My Bloodline Magic is quite useful, isn\'t it?" The Truth murmured, half speaking to himself.

"Then there\'s no point in this… Just tell me what you want?" Noir groaned.

\'The Truth\', also known as Homunculus 04, stared down at Noir. This had been one of his comrades, one of his brothers… And yet…

"Firstly, something doesn\'t add up. You\'re not the same Noir I used to know… You\'ve grown duller, weaker… why?" The Truth asked, with his eyes glowing blue.

"I… don\'t know… I just found out roughly a year after I left." Noir said flatly, looking a bit unsure himself.

An air of silence interrupted the two, and the defeated man\'s statement made the victor\'s face scrunch up a little.

"Weird… you\'re not lying. Yet it\'s strange. Does that mean The Doctor had something to do with it?" The Truth asked himself.

There was silence, the wind howled and the tense atmosphere grew even more so.

"How did you find me?" Noir managed to let out.

"Well… It wasn\'t easy I\'ll give you that." The Truth replied.

"But for me… It was only a matter of time."

"Were you the mastermind behind the incident…?" Noir asked, still eating dust, as his paralyzed body could hardly do much.

"Nah. Though it was really helpful. I should thank the person who planned the thing. Without that incident, you would have been able to elude me for longer." The Truth said with an even broader smile.

Noir remained quiet.

He knew exactly what The Truth was implying.

\'I should have just remained hidden…\'