Chapter 1: Meeting the Evil of All
*Sniff* "God damnit… I blew it…"
To say that Asta's life has now sucked balls deep was already a huge disaster for him; he wasn't feeling so good at night, too. Not before he was officially leaving the Black Bulls. A while back, the poor anti-magic boy had a merciless confrontation with all of his former squad-mates, and it didn't end very well for him. He lied to the many faces of his squad, including Captain Yami. Plus, ridiculing and embarrassing a very close ally and friend, Noelle, was the worst of all.
He betrayed all of their hearts, their friendship, loyalty, and trust. He let himself down on his decision to abandon his squad without saying anything to join a different brigade. But most importantly, he let his companions and his captain down by lying to them countless times purposefully. Asta wished that he could take it all back and reset everything from the beginning so he wouldn't be in this stupid situation he has brought on himself. But it was already too late. The damage has already been done and there's nothing he could do to change it. Asta continued to walk down the road with his pack of stuffs to his new headquarters, the Golden Dawn, where his rival Yuno was waiting for him to arrive as a new member. He was having a difficult time walking normally because his emotions were overloaded with distress, regret, despair, and remorse from the consequences of being a fat liar, his departure, and to his incident with his former friends of the Black Bulls.
His body was in a slouching stance, his head hung low, and his eyes were covered in the dark as he looked lifeless like a zombie. The peasant no longer felt the same afterwards along with his energetic feeling. His Black Bulls robe was now gone, stripped from his past actions. Asta was quietly muttering to himself, feeling more guilt as he travelled deep into the forest, regardless of where he's going. Later, he found a large tree to rest on so he could fall asleep, but he couldn't drift off. It was nearly impossible for him to sleep after the recent horrendous events that took place for him. His mind kept rewinding back to those horrible moments in the fight.
Flashback
The entire worst squad were losing their heads, going ballistic, and no one was thinking straight, especially for Asta too.
"Honestly, you fail to control your magic and fail to listen to people, even your own squad-mates. No wonder your siblings call you a failure!" Asta rants out to Noelle with sarcasm after failing to reason with his comrades.
But it was at this moment that he knew, he screwed up.
"WHAT DID YOU SAY?!" Noelle screamed.
It was an utterly shocking moment for the Black Bulls, including the anti-magic boy. He stood there in silence, eyes and mouth wide open, instantly regretting what he said and thought:
"Oh no. What have I done?"
Despite the fact the water mage has improved her magic control drastically through time thanks to anti-magic swordsman, Asta knew that Noelle was sensitive when someone spoke badly of her flaws. But instead, the young Magic Knight himself was the one who insulted her and reminded her of the hell her siblings put her through in her past; it was simply uncalled and unexpected for everyone to hear.
"Noelle… I-I didn't mean to… "
"WHAT, ASTA!?" the water mage wept with deep anguish and sadness. "IF YOU'RE GOING TO TALK TO ME LIKE THAT, THEN WE'RE NO LONGER FRIENDS ANYMORE! IF YOU'RE GOING TO EXPOSE MY FLAWS; IF YOU'RE GONNA MENTION MY PAST, THEN WHY DON'T GET THE HELL OUT OF THIS SQUAD RIGHT NOW! THE MAIN REASON I JOINED THE BLACK BULLS IS TO ESCAPE THIS AWFUL NIGHTMARE. I JOINED BECAUSE I DIDN'T WANT TO ENDURE ANY MORE ABUSE FROM MY SIBLINGS. BUT NOW, IT'S HAPPENING ALL OVER AGAIN THANKS TO YOU. WHATEVER HAPPENS AFTER THIS, I'LL NEVER FORGIVE YOU!
"Did you not hear me, I said get out. You said you wanted to be friends, but how could I ever be friends with someone like you." Noelle growled with wet eyes. "You brought this upon yourself, you lied to us not once but twice. You betrayed our trust…. IS THAT WHAT FRIENDS DO, HUUHH!? You're nothing but a lying, cheating scumbag! I HATE YOU, ASTA!
End of Flashback
Asta remembered those brutal words very clear from his important comrade. Every time those sentences came to his head, he felt like he was stabbed, pierced, and impaled by many knives or shrapnels all at once. The swordsman now realizes why mostly everyone he knew sees him as a reckless, obnoxious, annoying idiot who has no magic. It's because he was selfish. And as for being that person, he failed everyone. Asta seemed to be on the verge of having a mental breakdown. It was basically an endless torture in Hell for the peasant and his wrongdoings.
For the first time in his life, he felt hopeless and he was going to give up hope after a long time of determination. Asta even first sobs loudly with many tears streaming on his face, eyes shut as he visioned many memories. He remembered the moment he first joined the Black Bulls, first meeting his weird friends including Noelle, fighting off against dangerous foes with insanity teamwork, the laughs they made with Captain Yami, having a joyous BBQ eat-out, the times when he helped Noelle to become stronger, and the looks of everyone's face in his squad smiling at him with pure joy.
It tore his heart apart and got crushed into tiny, bite-sized pieces thanks to his stupidity. The poor Magic Knight couldn't bear it any longer, and it completely drove him to madness.
He yells out angrily and started to go insane as a beast when he drew out his Demon-Slayer Sword from his grimoire. Asta then made heavy, violent blows on one of the thickest trees. Not to his surprise, he managed to cut down the tree with just a few hits, falling with a huge crash to the ground. This was only because he had a strong build on his body, having incredible physical strength and energy. With anger and his strength combined, it made him feel like a madman that would cut down anything in his way.
But it didn't stop Asta from losing more control of himself as he continued on his rampage to chop down more trees as a savage monster. About ten minutes later, the magicless boy stopped destroying the nature surrounding him, regaining his sanity and dropped onto his knees.
He found himself all alone without any help or friends to support him, in the forest where most trees have been chopped down. Asta looked to the ground with no emotions, feeling more hopeless to move on. The peasant continued to contemplate himself on what he should do now, but all of a sudden, Asta felt an unknown life presence behind him using Ki.
He heard a loud, clear rhythmic breathing from someone behind him. He turned around to see who the stranger was, and his appearance made him feel terrified. The man was wearing a dark, shiny black suit that has a control panel on his chest. He has a fancy robe, a cape, and a perfectly symmetrical mask that has red lenses. He dawns shoulder pads with a pair of gloves and boots that are also black.
His breathing sound was deep and gloomy, seeming to be coming from his mask breathing entrance when he inhales and exhales like a rhythm. He also makes a tall, menacing figure over an average person's height, being over 6ft tall. This man gazed upon the boy as he scanned him.
The young anti-mage felt a cold wave of the negative emotions coming from him. The hate, the anger, the fear, and the evil feeling coming from this person.
"W-Who the hell are you?!" Asta exclaimed. The dark figure just stood there menacingly, not doing anything until he first spoke to him.
"Who am I is not of any importance to you, young boy." his voice being deep and stiff, making Asta feel the tension closing in on him. "What you only need to know is that you and I are not so different."
"Wha-What do you mean?!" the anti-magic boy asked nervously, while properly holding the Demon-Slayer Sword with two hands in his grip. "And what do you want from me? Just leave me alone!"
Asta was in a fighting stance, and so was the stranger too. But he made the peasant feel tense again when he pulled out his weapon.
"Like I would let you go." the masked figure said coldly. "You're not the only one being turned against by former allies with self-making decisions."
He ignites the weapon, and a long red beam of bright light energy made a good extension out of the lightsaber with a terrifying slicing sound; it was a lightsaber. The man first attacked Asta with a diagonal strike at him. The young Magic Knight had good reflexes and movements with his sword, in which he managed to clash his weapon together against the Sith's lightsaber.
It made the black-suited man a little surprised and more interested about Asta and his ability because his anti-magic sword can withstand the power of the lightsaber. On top of that, they didn't seem to be damaged or get sliced off immediately. The stranger concluded that these swords that this boy holds was something far imaginable and greater for the Emperor to possess.
"I sense strong anger in you, child, along with the secret demonic power hiding within you and your weapons," the Sith lord tells Asta. "You will soon serve the Empire with this power you possess."
Asta uses his second anti-magic sword called the Demon-Dweller Sword as he pulls it out from his grimoire with his left hand while he occupies his opponent. He attempts to hit the Sith with an opening on his chest by slashing him across with it. But, the Sith has foreseen Asta's attack so he used his lightsaber to quickly thrust Asta's large sword back a bit, and turned his saber downwards on his side. He blocked the peasant's short sword fast enough with his precise movement.
"Your feelings and emotions are your real obstacles. They have caused you to lose the ones who used to love you." the Sith intimidates Asta, but he doesn't seem to listen to him.
The tall figure then made immediate short direct attacks on Asta with swift blows on his upper or lower body, however, the manaless boy kept up the pace in this sharp duel. The peasant has learned to predict his movements with Ki and the moment when he knows how to be carefully offensive and defensive every time. Asta tries to find another opening, but his opponent was far too good from being hit because he outsmarts his every move. The Sith had lots of past experiences in his duels with the other Jedis who fought him before. He knows how to counter each of the mage's sword attacks and eventually worked his way around Asta.
The masked man did more attacks on the boy, which were now faster and vicious this time. He did some quick thrusts to Asta to impale him partially, but he made sure not to hit his vital organs so he wouldn't kill him. Luckily, the ash-blond hair boy read his impaling attack coming with Ki again, in which he expertly dodges them all with his good body built movements. The Sith was still impressed with Asta's swordsmanship and reflexes, especially the fact that he managed to last much longer in the fight than the ones who previously fought him. He was still pushing and forcing the peasant back with more upcoming slashes or thrusts, letting Asta block them with two swords. With the Sith's last downward strike, the swords were locked to each other mere seconds again. However, it had brought the dark man to his advantage. He brought the anti-magic boy's swords lower to ground as he did a circular twist with his saber, making scorch marks into the ground surface. As the Sith expected, he successfully flung the Demon-Dweller Sword out of his hand and landed somewhere behind Asta.
"No matter how much you try to fight back, you will give yourself to the Dark Side." the Sith said, trying to convince Asta. "Join me, and I will help you to become more powerful than anyone in this kingdom."
"I don't know what you're talking about, you bastard!" the swordsman yells back at him. "Listen, I'm not gonna join you or this 'empire' of yours! I've had a pretty messed up day, and I'd appreciate it if you wouldn't be in my way! Not giving up is my magic!"
"Then I will show you the power of the Force."
Suddenly, some rocks, broken logs, and other things that were cut down by the swordsman before, were now being lifted in the air.
"Let's see how worthy you are at your surroundings..."
They all flew in mid-air to instantly hit Asta in every direction. The peasant didn't have a hard time dealing with the projectiles coming in his way as he sensed them coming close to him. He takes cover by dodging and swiftly cutting through many random projectiles coming straight for him. He even repelled some large objects back with the flat of the blade.
The anti-magic boy turned his head back to face his opponent again, but he was met with a Force push that allowed the poor mage to be instantly be sent back mid-air and his body gets hardly slammed into a huge tree trunk. The no-magic idiot also dropped his Demon-Slayer Sword in this process. The Sith Lord had done all of that with the use of his right hand only. After being hurt badly, Asta felt something disturbing around his throat area of the neck and he couldn't breathe in or out either. He was being lifted up from the ground, sliding upwards on the trunk.
"Ack! Nggh! Let... me… GO!" the helpless mage wheezes while being choked to death; his grimoire fell to the ground. He tries to free himself from the clutches of his vile opponent. Unfortunately, even his physical strength didn't help at all.
"If you are willing to serve for the Empire," the Sith calmly states, showing no pity. "Only then I would show you mercy."
The Sith's Force Choke became tighter, tighter, and more tighter, ready enough to crush Asta's windpipe.
"N-Never… Never g-gonna… g-give myself up… f-from the likes… of y-you…, t-treacherous jerk!" Asta hardly speaks as he felt that his life was nearly over for him.
"Looks like you want to do this the hard way…." the ruthless Sith says with little disappointment. "You are as clumsy as you are stupid as always…"
As soon as the mage was about to die, the Sith released him. Asta fell to the ground by surprise, not expecting the Sith had spared him for some reason. He laid on all fours with a huge gasp, exhaling and inhaling air into his mouth in agony, coughing harshly. He softly touched his throat to see if it was okay, now knowing it hasn't been damaged. He is somewhat relieved that he was still alive… for now. His throat was now parched, feeling dry and quenched for water. The anti-magic peasant realized that he lost in his extreme sword duel with an unknown person. He was way too strong and powerful for the peasant to handle with. Then, the masked man walked up to him and crouched beside him.
"You gonna *cough* finish me off right here, *cough* right now?" Asta wheezes, still coughing.
"No, but don't worry. I won't kill you. I have something better in mind for you." the mysterious man said. "You have impressed me with your skills, child. And I believe that you be some great use for us."
"Just… What are you?" the Magic Knight asked.
"I am the one who can bring an end to a destructive conflict, for as I am… Darth Vader."
Before Asta got a chance to wonder what type of vile person Vader was, he passed out when he felt a force wave energy knocking him out cold. The Sith took the magicless boy's headband and looked at it for a moment before he tossed it away from him.
Darth Vader called two white-armored men called Stormtroopers, that were nearby the battle, to come before him. And soon enough, they immediately arrived.
"Bring this child and his weapons aboard my ship. Restrain him too. The Emperor would be pleased to know about him."
"Yes sir." the troop responded.
One of them picked up his weapons, and the other carried Asta to the Lambda Shuttle. Vader walked to where Asta's dirty grimoire lays, picked it up with his hand, and carefully inspects it. The black grimoire's tattered condition didn't faze him, but he manages to spot a five clover leaf emblem that was hardly shown on its front cover due to the smudges for any viewers to look at. He opened Asta's grimoire to get more info about what was written in it and to know why this boy was an odd person, but he couldn't read what was scripted in each of the pages he flipped to. They were all written in a strange foreign language that nobody has ever seen in ages. The creatures, or the races of the galaxy, or the Empire wouldn't know what it means; not even a droid could translate it. Darth Vader put a mind note to that later as he closes the grimoire shut and walks to his ship with it in his hand.
"Your friends, your teachers, your loved ones, and everyone else on this land will all be gone soon, child."