Black Clover: Courage to Grow Again!
(So, Here it is! After deliberating for a while on what the title should be, I think I decided on something good, but that's besides the point, this story will be about a young noble mage joining the Purple Orca squad and how he deals with all that comes along with it, it'll also deviate from canon at some points, if you're okay with that -let's get this show on the road!)
Everything was burning, he could smell the smoke and hear the cries of the people outside of their base, he was trapped inside with the rest of his squad mates, he was a young man with dark purple hair that reached the base of his neck, it was normally neatly combed, but it was now messy and unkempt.
He was dressed in a black redingote coat with a purple dress shirt underneath, all under a purple robe decorated with an emblem displaying a sea creature, and black knickerbocker pants tucked into boots, on his belt was a holster for his grimoire, which was a deep purple color: this was Sieghart Edelstein, a member of the Purple Orca Magic Knight squad.
"Why aren't we out there, defending the people?!" He yelled, whipping around to face the other members of his squad, who all seemed as displeased with their situation as he did "They're dying out there and we're doing nothing!"
The first to reply was a thin man with long brown hair "What do you suggest we do? Go against the captain's orders? We'll end up facing his wrath if we do that!"
"I-I know that, but..." Sieghart replied, his gaze dropping to the floor as he gritted his teeth and squeezed his fist in anger, he let out a frustrated scream and walked over to a wall, leaning his back against it and sliding down, trying to take his mind off of the noises outside by going over his memories...
...It was the day of the Magic Knight Entrance exam, and Sieghart was in his families estate, training his magic in the courtyard "Sapphire Creation Magic!: Knight's Sword!" He recited, opening his grimoire to a certain page, which began to glow and a lavender colored portal appeared next to him as a sword handle emerged.
Sieghart pulled the sword out from the portal, examining the blade; it was made from purple sapphire and took the appearance of a knightly arming sword, he then turned to face the training dummy he had set up and began slashing at it, cutting it down "Well...easy enough, I suppose" He said, deactivating the spell, causing the sword to disappear from his hand "I shouldn't waste too much time..."
He left the courtyard and entered the estate, being greeted by the maids and other staff that worked there "Hello, Young Master, are you going to participate in the Entrance Exams today?" one of the younger maids asked him, approaching him and giving him a friendly smile, she was a beautiful young woman with flowing blond hair and caring green eyes: her name was Sophia and her family had served Sieghart's for generations, grateful for their patronage.
Sieghart nodded, returning the smile and waving "I believe I will, there's a lot of good that Magic Knight's can do, and I'd be honored to be a part of that legacy" he fell silent for a moment as he stared at a large portrait hung over a fireplace, the portrait contained his mother and father, as well as himself when he was still a child "And besides, I think it would be a nice surprise for mother and father when they return from the Heart Kingdom"
"Haha, I'm sure it would be!" Sophia replied, giggling "Forgive me for taking up your time, I should get back to work" she quickly said, curtsying and quickly returning to whatever task she had been doing previously, leaving Sieghart on his own, he watched her for a little while longer before leaving the manor.
He stood by the front gate of the estate for a little, taking a deep breath and preparing himself for what lay ahead, nodding to himself and taking a confident step forward, heading to the coliseum where the exam was being held.
Sieghart had to push his way through the marketplace, which was now filled with both civilians going about their days and young hopeful mages, overhearing many conversations as he made his way to the coliseum.
"I'm so nervous...what'll happen if we don't pass?" He heard someone ask their friend "With so many people here, there's no way everyone is going to pass!"
"Come on, don't talk like that!" A female voice replied, sounding proud and boisterous "If we fail, then we just gotta try again next time, by the way, what squad are you aiming for? I think I'm gonna go for the Crimson Lions!"
"I-I hadn't really thought about it...do they even let commoners in the Crimson Lions?" He asked, still sounding quite nervous "I mean, don't most squads try and recruit nobles? With the mana reserves, how could we even hope to compete?"
Sieghart overheard the girl start laughing "Not the Crimson Lions! They don't care where you come from, as long as you're strong!" Sieghart couldn't help but smile at that sentiment, finally reaching the coliseum.
Once all of the participants had entered the arena, they were surprised as a large flock of black birds had been released into the coliseum, they flew into the crowd and seemed to take interest to certain people "Anti-Bird's huh?" Sieghart thought, watching as three birds perched on his arm, he stroked one on the head, which it seemed to like "These birds can detect low mana in people...I guess it's good to know my noble birth wasn't a lie..."
After the initial shock of the sudden appearance of the birds passed, everyone calmed down and allowed the birds to land on them, some had large numbers of birds, while others seemed to repel them, two participants that stood out were a short boy with ash-blond hair who was nearly covered in birds, some were even pulling at his face with their beaks and the other was a tall boy with shaggy black hair, but what shocked everyone was that not a single bird had come near him...
"Whoa, he must have an amazing amount of mana, is he a noble?" Sieghart thought as he watched the boy, but before he could say anything, the captains called for their attention, announcing that the rest of the trials will begin shortly, starting with the ability to fly on a broomstick...
The tests were long and arduous, ranging from creating something with magic, to pouring magic power into a sapling in order for it to grow, but finally, they came to the last trial of the day as the sun started to dip below the horizon, casting orange hues over everything.
The final trial was, to the surprise of some participants; was a combat trial, those competing were to pair up with an opponent of their choosing, and they had to duel each other until one was either unconscious or forfeited.
Sieghart scanned the crowd, trying to gauge which opponent was best suited for him, before he could make a decision, he felt a hand on his shoulder, he turned around and saw that it was the girl who's conversation he had overheard, it was clear by her clothing that she was a commoner, pants with patches covering them and a plain beige tunic with some dirt marring it.
"Hey!, You're a noble, right?" she asked, when Sieghart nodded, she pointed her thumb at herself "I wanna prove something to a friend, think you can help me out?"
"Of course, I'd be glad to help out" Sieghart replied, holding out his hand "My name is Sieghart Edelstein, sometimes I go by Sieg" the girl seemed a bit shocked by his openness towards her, but eventually shook his hand.
"Nice to meet you, Sieg, I'm Chiara!" She introduced, at that time, her friend joined them "And this is my friend, Colin" she threw her arm around Colin's neck and pulled him close "Colin, this is Sieg! He's gonna help me show you that anyone can beat a Noble!"
When she revealed what her plan was, Sieg was initially shocked, but smiled at the two of them "Of course anyone can beat a noble, a greater amount of mana doesn't necessarily mean a greater amount of skill, it varies from person to person."
The three of them began talking to each other while they waited for the others to pair up, once the pairs had been decided, the fights were underway.
Eventually, Sieg and Chiara were up, they both walked to the middle of the coliseum, standing opposite of each other "Go easy on me, I've never fought a noble before..." she joked, pulling her grimoire off of her belt, it was a pale yellow color "Electrum Magic!: Molten Bullets!" she cast, thrusting her hands forward as globs of molten metal shot towards Sieg.
"Sapphire Creation Magic!: Grand Scutum!" Sieg followed, conjuring a giant shield in front of him and blocking several of the bullets, once the wall dropped, he was surprised to see that Chiara was right in front of him "What?! When did she move?!"
"Electrum Creation Magic!: Titan Uppercut!" She shouted as a large golden fist erupted from the puddles of metal at Sieghart's feet, the fist hit him under the chin and knocked him into the air, though he quickly righted himself.
"Your magic is quite strong, I'm impressed!" Sieg praised, opening his grimoire to another page "Sapphire Magic!: Flechette Volley!" his grimoire started glowing as shards of sapphires began materializing and shooting towards Chiara, who began dodging, once she had come to a stop, she realized that Sieg had landed back on the ground, preparing to cast another spell "Sapphire Magic!: Hochwinden!"(High wind)
Two long blades grew from his wrists, he held the two of them in front of him and leaped into the air, spinning around as he did, practically becoming a drill, Chiara tried to bring up her defenses, but it was too late as Sieghart struck her, sending her to the ground.
When she recovered, she saw that Sieg was standing over her, pointing a blade at her "I'm sorry, it wouldn't feel right to go easy on you..." the blade disappeared and he held out his hand "But I still agree that commoners aren't weaker than nobles."
Chiara was quiet, pouting as she looked at Sieg, before a smirk spread on her face "You let your guard down!" suddenly, Sieghart was covered by electrum and unable to move, she got off of the ground and was about to land the finishing blow...
"That's enough!" A voice called out, the two combatants followed it and found it belonged to William Vangeance, leader of the Golden Dawn squad "You have both performed admirably, this battle is over" Chiara deactivated the spell, dropping Sieg to the ground.
The two of them looked at each other, a look of shared respect in their eyes as they returned to the sidelines, the rest of the fights proceeded as normal, except for the blond boy, who soundly defeated his opponent in one blow with a strange black sword that seemed to cut through magic.
Everyone was still talking about that match as the results were tallied, once everything was counted, all of the participants were called to the middle of the arena, they were told that they would be called forward and see which captains had offers for them.
As the examinees were called up, Sieghart began to get nervous, unsure if his showing was enough to impress the captains, but he shook those thoughts out of his head "No! I gotta stay positive!" he watched as more and more people were called up and either sent away disappointed or accepted into a squad, and he was glad to see that both Chiara was accepted into the Crimson Lion squad, and Colin joined the Aqua Deer squad.
Soon, he was called up and he stood in front of the captains, nervously looking up at them "Are there any offers from the captains?" there was a moment of silence as the captains quietly deliberated, before long, three hands went up: one from Dorothy Unsworth, Captain of the Coral Peacocks, one from Rill Boismortier, Captain of the Aqua Deer squad, and one from Geuldre Poizot, the captain of the Purple Orca squad.
"I choose...the Purple Orcas!" Sieg decided, pointing at Geuldre, unbeknownst to Sieg, this would have been one of the worst decisions of his life, as soon as they returned to the base, Poizot told him that he would take 80% of whatever Sieg earned from jobs, and if he had found any Magic Items while on a job, they would immediately be turned into him.
And it didn't end there, members of the squad were berated for every failure, sometimes even beaten, the emotional and physical abuse continued for months, and then when a terrorist attack was launched against the capital, Poizot ordered them to stay behind and defend the base while he was away...
Back in the present, Sieg was pulled out of his memories after he heard someone pounding on the door "Please! Let us in! We'll die if you don't!" Hearing this, Sieg finally came to a decision, he pushed off of the ground and ran to the door, despite his squad-mate's protests.
He whipped open the doors and let in a mother and her child "What kind of Magic Knight's would refuse to help when people are suffering?!" Sieg yelled at the others "I can't sit here any longer! Even if it means forsaking my title!" he ran out of the building before anyone could stop him, summoning his arm blades once again, slashing through the army of zombies that approached him.
Sieg was about to be overwhelmed, but he quickly pulled out his grimoire and cast a new spell "Sapphire Creation Magic!: Lavendel Rustung!" (Lavender Armor) as he cast the spell, a suit of plate armor made of sapphire's began forming on his body, complete with a sugarloaf style great helm.
Now protected from the zombies, he began slashing his way through them "Is anyone out there? Do you need help?!" he called out, hoping someone would reply, he rounded a corner and found a couple, holding each other close as the horde closed in on them "Hold on!, I'm on my way!"
He began attacking the horde from behind, cutting through them before reaching the couple "Head to the Purple Orca's base, you'll be safe there!" He ordered, pointing off towards the base, the couple didn't reply, but headed off in the direction he pointed. "There must be more...I've gotta help!"
Sieghart set off into the city once again, cutting through zombies as they approached, soon, he encountered the man he assumed was behind the attacks, a lanky man with long, messy lavender hair, most of his face was obscured by bandages "Oh? Someone looking to play hero?" he asked, smiling wickedly at Sieg as his armor disappeared, upon seeing his Magic Knight robe, the man's eye went wide "That robe...you're one of them..."
The man turned his full attention to Sieghart, a deep-seated anger showing clearly in his eye "I don't know who you are, but as a Magic Knight, I must stop you here!" Sieghart yelled, holding his grimoire aloft.
As quickly as it appeared, the man's anger vanished, replaced with sadistic glee once again "Hahahaha! You're talking a big game, little knight, I have better things to do, so I'll leave my newest friend to play with you!" he opened his grimoire and recited a spell "No. 5- Arthur!" a magic circle appeared on the ground in front of Sieghart and a tall humanoid figure began to rise from the ground, clad in decrepit armor and wielding a broken sword "This should keep you busy for a while...burn in hell, Orca" The man cursed as he walked away.
Sieghart tried to intercept him, but he was quickly smacked out of the air by the corpse "Damn...looks like I'll have to deal with this before I can go after him..." Sieg stated, summoning a sapphire blade once again...
THE END!
A.N: There we go! The first chapter of "Courage to Grow Again!" and in case people were curious as to why I chose this period to start the story in, it's actually really simple, when I saw all of the squads fighting against Rades' attack on the capital, it made me curious as to where some of the squads were, I don't remember if it was ever touched upon, but I thought it would be cool to explore what the Purple Orca's were doing during the attack, anyway, hope you enjoy, and feel free to review and ask questions!
