Nero was dumbfounded.

"That was…"

What the hell were you supposed to say to a story like that?

"...brutal."

Asta chuckled a bit, then sighed.

"I guess you could say that. Afterward, even with Vanica's death, the Triad's plan succeeded, and lots of people died as a result… including you, Nero. I was the only one out of the Black Bulls to survive."

Nero's eyes widened.

"That's… bad..."

"Hahaha! Ya think?"

Asta leaned back on the tree and continued,

"In the end, the Clover Kingdom was decimated. The Magic Emperor in his condition had no hope of fighting back the invaders, and so was quickly killed. He was replaced by Zenon Zogratis, with Dante going back to Spade."

Asta closed his eyes and slouched forward.

"Hard to imagine, right? The Clover Kingdom falling?"

"Not really," Said Nero, responding with a nonchalant tone.

Asta paused for a bit, then burst out into laughter.

"Hahaha! I forgot- you've been around a while, huh."

Nero snorted, "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing much- just that you've probably seen a lot of shit," responded Asta while scratching an itch on his face.

An awkward silence settled in between the two. The light filtering through the leaves suggested that it was about time for everybody in the Bulls to wake up.

"So…" said Nero, breaking the silence, "Now that you've told me what happened, what's the plan? How do we avoid all of that from happening?"

There seemed to be a slight pause in time right before Asta started to talk.

"I'll kill them. I'll kill them all. The Dark Triad, the forces of Spade- all of them."

Asta's face showed no emotion when saying those words. It was almost as if he was used to saying them- and that scared Nero, sending shivers down her spine.

"You… can do that?", asked Nero a bit apprehensively.

"Assuming there was to be no outside interference, easily."

Asta's face contorted into a slight smirk, scaring Nero even further. She had to remind herself that this wasn't her Asta- which calmed her down, somewhat.

"So… no plan? Just go in and kill them all?"

"That is my plan."

"So… uh… how am I supposed to help?"

Asta was now smiling, the green of his eyes now looking more like sewage than anything alive.

"You weren't originally part of the plan, but now you are. Try to seal the three Devils once I kill their human host. No need to use Forbidden Magic. I'll keep them inside their prisons myself. From there, there's a lot of things that I can do."

"Right, Liebe?"

"Right."

Asta walked down the stairs to the main room of the Black Bulls.

Everybody was there except for Finral, who was probably still sleeping, and Nero, who had left earlier in the morning. Understandably, Noelle was the first one to notice Asta's presence.

"Good morning, Stupidsta. You were so late getting up that I was starting to get tired of waiting for you."

Realizing what she had said, Noelle started to go a bit red.

"B-by waiting, I wasn't worried about you or anything! I was just waiting, ok?"

Vanessa, who was sitting on the sofa next to Noelle, was visibly on the verge of laughter.

"Good morning, Noelle! I'm doing fine now, thanks!", Asta said, beaming at Noelle. However dense he may have been, he knew that Noelle meant well. It was a strange feeling. The last thing he wanted was to worry Noelle, but yet it felt so good that he did.

Why was that?

"Vanessa," Noelle whispered, with a panicked expression, "I really messed up there… I- I wasn't conscious of what I was saying and then…"

Vanessa was at her limit already. That last remark was the last straw, and she burst out into laughter, to the frustration of Noelle.

"SHHHH! Be quiet, they'll hear!", whispered Noelle loudly, index finger touching her lips.

"HAHAHAHA! ...JUST-" Vanessa then remembered that she was supposed to be whispering.

"Just the fact that you said a classic tsundere line… and without even thinking about it? That's just-" Vanessa snorted, "That's just a-"

"What's a 'tsundere' ?"

Noelle seemed genuinely confused.

"You're kidding… right? You've gotta be kidding."

Noelle shook her head. She wasn't kidding.

Vanessa was just… done at this point. She started to howl with laughter.

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! YOU- YOU OF ALL PEOPLE! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

Noelle started to panic again.

"SHHHHHHH! Stop laughing! They'll hear!"

Vanessa forcibly held her breath for a second to try to stop laughing. It worked, sort of.

"Okay, okay, I've stopped laughing…"

"So could you tell me what a 'tsundere' is?"

Vanessa was about to start laughing again, but this time, she stopped herself, causing Noelle to sigh in relief.

"I feel that…" Vanessa let out another snort, to Noelle's dismay. "I feel that you'd be better off finding that out yourself, Noelle."

"Okay, sure."

Noelle obviously wasn't really buying it, but Vanessa continued anyway.

"Also, about you saying that you messed up- I don't think you did. Look,"

Vanessa pointed at Asta, who was still positively beaming and was now greeting Zora, who was making some weird gesture with his hands.

"Just look how happy he is! My bet, Noelle? I think it's because of you!"

Nero had never seen a smile so deeply unsettling as the one on Asta's face now. She couldn't really put a finger on it- on the outside, it almost looked like one of the smiles that the Asta she knew would put on… but it just felt… wrong. It was yet another reminder that the Asta she knew was long gone from the man before her now.

Asta suddenly sighed deeply, slightly startling Nero.

"Well… none of that's gonna be happening all that soon- you've got plenty of time to prepare… of course if you actually want to come along, that is. I mean, if you don't, no problem. I can do it myself anyway. But I think you would be a help."

"...I'll come."

Asta chuckled.

"You don't need to decide now, but thanks for the sentiment anyway. Also, don't you need to go? Everybody at the base is bound to be up by now."

Nero's eyes widened as she stood up.

"Ah… right. Don't want to worry them. Well… Asta… it was nice… meeting you? Again?"

Asta stood up, laughing.

"Hahaha… Time can be pretty confusing sometimes, right? But I get what you mean. It was nice to meet you again too- you see, for me, it's been a while."

"Well, talk to you later, Asta."

"Seeya, Nero. I'll be here a while, so come around anytime."

"Alright."

Nero, in a puff of white smoke and black feathers, turned into a bird and flew away.

Once he was sure that Nero was out of range, Asta unsheathed the katana strapped to his back.

"Come out. I know you're there. You've been there for quite a while now."

Although his voice seemed calm, Asta was nevertheless releasing killing intent all around, causing the wildlife around him to retreat frantically in fear.

A voice sounded in response.

"Can't underestimate techniques from the Land of the Sun, huh..."

A man- the source of the voice- stepped out from the shadow of a tree behind Asta and smiled, waving.

"Long time no see, Grand Duke Astaroth," said the man, in a sarcastic, mocking tone.

The man was tall and slender and was wearing a satin black suit jacket over a black collared shirt, black slacks, and black shoes. He had jet black hair, matching his attire, and clear, porcelain-white skin, that definitely did not match his attire. His facial features were decidedly feminine, so much so that if it weren't for his deep voice, he could be mistaken for a girl. He had no weapon or grimoire to speak of, but his bright red eyes still radiated a sense of danger.

Asta turned around to face the man.

"Long time no see, 'outside interference."

The man frowned in response, but his eyes were still smiling.

"Clever- but I have a name, you know."

The man paused, switching his expression back to a smile.

"Do you remember? It's Laplace."

Author's note: Future Asta is ludicrously powerful. The claims that he makes about being able to decimate the entirety of Spade alone, devils and all, are all true. The nature of his power, and how he got to be so powerful will probably be discussed sometime in the near future, but not now. So how powerful is Laplace, a being that even Future Asta is cautious around? What is the nature of his power?

We'll see next chapter ;)

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