Chapter Thirty-Eight: Our United Strength

Hey there, readers, before you read the chapter, I just wanted to say something, today's March 6th, exactly six months ago, I began writing this fic, I wasn't sure how'd it do, but to my utter surprise, it blew up, this must be how the Black Bulls felt after the six-month time skip :) But jokes aside, I just wanted to say thanks, to everyone who favorited, followed, and reviewed, you don't know how happy you've made me. I'm not sure if I'll finish the story before I turn 18 in 7 months, but I can worry about it later. With that out of the way, enjoy the chapter. Cya.

"A-Asta," Noelle said, not expecting to see the swordsman in front of her. "You're back on your feet?"

The magicless mage nodded. "That's right,"

"But how, aren't you still injured, should you be up?" the water mage asked worryingly.

Asta did his best to point at the song mage, who had been thrown just a few feet from where he laid. "Thank Kahono, she used the last of her magic to heal me a bit," he explained, remembering how the temple priestess healed him and gave him the nod to help Noelle.

Noelle looked at the song mage, who had fallen unconscious from her wound and low amount of mana. "Kahono, it seems I owe you again, don't worry, we'll avenge you and Kiato,"

Asta turned around to face his royal squadmate, he walked over to her and patted her head, a smile on his face. "But that's not it, I saw that spell you used, it was awesome, that's your second spell today, you're crazy amazing, I'm proud of you,"

The swordsman turned around to face Vetto again, missing Noelle madly blushing as she slowly put a hand on her head. "Leave this fight to me,"

Yami breathed a sigh of relief as he slumped on his seat. "Damn, they just love nearly giving me a heart attack, don't they?" he rhetorically asked. "Alright kid, you're back in the fight, let's see how you do,"

"Leave the fight to you?" Noelle repeated the swordsman's words, her eyes held obvious worry as she looked at Kahono, and then to Kiato as he laid next to Kenos. "Are you sure about that, this guy isn't just strong, he's ruthless, what if he cuts off your arm or something?"

Asta tightened the grip on his sword. "I know how strong and ruthless he is, but I want payback, I might've not been able to get up, but I was still conscious, I saw what he did to Kiato, but I don't think anyone was more worried than Kenos and Kahono, and then I saw what he did to Kahono, my friends were suffering and I couldn't do anything," he raised the sword up. "I won't let it happen again, but it's not just that,"

Noelle raised a brow. "What do you mean?"

"After you used your spell to blast his arm off, he easily grew it back, that means magic exists that can fix incredibly severe wounds, even dismemberment, if we can find out what kind of magic that is, we can fix Kiato's foot, and Kahono's throat," Asta replied.

The water mage was still unsure of letting her squadmate fight alone, but she relented, understanding how he felt. "Okay, but promise me you'll be careful,"

Asta gave her a thumbs-up. "You can count on me,"

Noelle walked over to where Magna and Luck. "Hey there, are you two alright?"

"We're fine, but we won't be able to get up for some time, but onto the more important matter at hand," Magna replied as he grinned. "We saw that spell of yours, nice work rookie, I'm proud of you,"

"Thanks, but what do you expect, I am royalty after all," she answered, flicking her ponytail in a sophisticated manner. "Oh, and that reminds me, I'm not a rookie anymore, I'm your superior now,"

"Whatever," the flame said back.

"Hey hey, I thought that spell of yours was so cool, when we get back to the hideout, can you use that against me in a fight?" Luck asked.

"Um, I guess, I do need to practice it until I have it totally mastered," Noelle replied as she slumped down and sat beside them. "I just hope that Asta will be okay,"

"Don't count Rasta out, he'll be just fine," Magna said.

From afar, Kenos looked at the water mage, a smile was on his face. "Nice work, Noelle, I knew you weren't a failure, I wonder what your siblings say if they were here," he said to nobody in particular, but then his eyes grew serious as he looked at his grimoire, it had stopped glowing a few seconds ago. "Great, just when I think I'm starting to understand the secrets of my grimoire, it throws some new thing at me that I don't understand,"

Not too far from where Kenos and Kiato were, was Finral, hiding behind a large rock wall. The spatial mage had found an alternative entrance, upon entering it, he arrived to see Vetto just unleash his Manticore Flare attack at Noelle, and Asta block it, causing him to immediately hide, knowing how strong Vetto was.

"Damn it, he still hasn't been beaten yet! Magna and Luck couldn't do it, Kenos couldn't do it, Noelle couldn't do it, not to mention those three unconscious temple mages, and now Asta says he wants to take him on alone, is he crazy, that guy is a captain-level mage!" he thought frantically.

Asta grinned as he looked at Vetto. "Time for round 2, you're facing off against me again!"

"You want to face me again? Forget it, the three points I stated earlier still stand, you couldn't beat me just a little while ago, and now I've unleashed my third eye, you definitely can't beat me,"

"Third eye? Oh, is that why the three of you guys are called The Third Eye, because you all can get a third eye on your forehead? Now that I think about it, it makes a lot of sense," Asta said, rubbing his chin in thought.

For the first time since he'd arrived at the Underwater Temple, Vetto gave a deadpan expression, baffled at the swordsman's action. "Um, I guess you're not wrong...but that isn't important now," he said before scanning his surroundings, he then grinned. "Because what is important right now is protecting everyone here!"

At that, he jumped into the air. "Beast Magic: Bear Claws!" he exclaimed as both of his hands wore the familiar spell, he shot six slashes, but this time they weren't aimed at Asta, instead, they were aimed at everyone else who was out of the fight.

"Shit, everyone!" Asta cursed.

"Damn it, I don't have enough mana to save everyone again!" Kenos called.

"And I can't protect everyone in time!" Noelle added.

The beast mage's attacks were about to hit their targets, but then.

"I think I can handle this,"

A voice spoke as a plethora of threads shot out from one origin, they quickly split up and wrapped around everyone who was there, conscious or not, they were then pulled to the wall immediately next to the main entrance.

"It seems I got here just in time," the voice spoke again, everyone looked up and smiled, seeing who their savior was.

"Vanessa!" they all exclaimed.

"Hey there kiddos, you must've had quite the fight," the thread mage said.

"You have no idea," Kenos said back.

"Yet another enemy, is this just going to be a pattern or something," Vetto mumbled to himself, but put the thought away as he prepared to charge forward, but noticed he couldn't as he was quickly bound by threads.

"I'm not letting you hurt my squadmates any further," Vanessa said seriously as she skillfully held a bundle of threads with both hands.

"Wow, you restrained him so quickly, now that I think about it, I don't think I've ever seen you fight before, I bet you're awesome," Kenos stated.

"I wouldn't really say that, my magic isn't too good for combat," the thread mage countered.

"That doesn't matter, look what you did, you saved us all from danger, and restrained the enemy, and all quite effortlessly if I might say," the solar mage continued.

"Ah, you're just saying that," Vanessa said as the two shared a quick laugh.

Vetto grit his teeth. "Don't think that these meager and pathetic excuses for restraints can actually hold me!" he exclaimed as he broke free, his grimoire then flipped to the page of a familiar spell. "I take it you remember this, Mythical Beast Magic: Manticore Flare!"

At his call, the same red magic circle appeared in front of his hands as the manticore head came out and released its ferocious attack.

Asta ran over to them. "Everyone, stay behind me, I already beat this spell before!"

Noelle quickly ran in front of him. "No way, you haven't regained all of your energy, I'll protect everyone with my Sea Dragon's Lair!"

"Are you sure that's enough, anti-magic is practically guaranteed to stop it," Asta protested.

"Anti-magic won't matter if you barely have any energy to work with," Noelle protested.

"Not the time you two!" the other Black Bulls exclaimed as the attack neared them.

"Okay Noelle, we'll compromise, you use your spell around us, and if it fails, I'll cut it," Asta suggested.

"Works for me, let's do this," the royal agreed as her grimoire came out. "Water Creation Magic: Sea Dragon's-,"

Her declaration was interrupted as a familiar portal appeared in front of the group, the Manticore Flare entered it and came out of another portal, heading straight for Vetto, but the beast mage quickly dodged it.

"Wait, that portal, that was spatial magic, which means-," Magna began.

"H-Hey there, everyone, what good timing I have, I just got here and saw this guy launch an attack at you, so, just thought I'd help," Finral lied as he walked to the others from his hiding spot, he didn't want to tell them that he was hiding, he may have been scared, but he would never let anyone hurt his squadmates.

"Thanks a bunch, Finral, and here I thought you were a coward," Vanessa said.

The spatial mage scratched the back of his head. "You're not entirely wrong, but I don't want to see any of you get hurt,"

Yami looked at them from the screen. "It seems those two have arrived, good, even though they're not combat mages, they can find a way to help Asta somehow,"

"Alright then, Noelle, I'm going to need you to keep everyone on the sidelines safe," Vanessa instructed. "As for me and Finral, we'll help Asta fight Vetto,"

"What?! There's no way in hell you expect me to go against that monster of a mage!" Finral exclaimed. "I might have saved you all from his attack, but protecting you and engaging in battle with him are two different things,"

"But what happened to not wanting to see us get hurt? You can't really do that if you're never willing to fight," Kenos said.

The spatial mage turned to the solar mage. "T-That's different than what's going on now, you see-,"

He was interrupted as Vanessa walked up to him. "C'mon Finral, just help us out, you're a part of our squad, plus, if you do it, I'll give you a hug," she hummed.

Finral quickly turned in her direction. "Excuse me, what now?"

Vanessa spread her arms out. "You heard me, I'm giving you a one-time chance to rest your head on my soft and bouncy chest, sounds good, doesn't it?"

Blood shot out of Finral's nose, but that didn't stop him from pumping his fist into the air, his face red with excitement. "Oh hell yeah! Count me in! Let's take this bastard down!"

Kenos looked at his superior with comedic indifference. "So, the well-being of your squad isn't a good enough motivation for you to fight, but boobies are...can't say I agree with your point of view, but to each his own, I'm not going to judge,"

"Liar, that tone of voice sounded super judgemental!" Finral exclaimed as he pointed at the solar mage.

The look on Kenos' face didn't change as he crossed his arms and looked away. "I don't what on Earth are you talking about, my pervy superior, whatever do you mean?" his face contorted into a small grin, but that was unseen by the spatial mage.

Finral comedically growled before he turned around back to his two temporary partners, he took his grimoire out. "I'm ready,"

Vanessa nodded. "Same here,"

Asta grinned as the three of them looked at Vetto, each doing a serious pose with the swordsman in the center. "Great, then let's do this!"

"So, are you finally ready to fight, good," Vetto said as he cracked his knuckles. "Bring it on,"

"Okay Asta, since you're the fighter among us, you'll be the only one to physically confront Vetto, Finral and I will use our magic to support you," Vanessa explained as she wrapped threads around Asta's wrists and ankles.

"That's alright with me, I trust you two!" the magicless mage exclaimed as he ran forward, holding the Demon-Dweller with both hands.

Once the two were only inches from each other, Asta began to attack, but Vetto dodged each strike, grinning as he did.

"Didn't I tell you your sword attacks were predictable, you never learn," the beast mage taunted. "What's next, you going to tell me that you're not giving up and that you'll eventually beat me?"

"That's right, but there's more," Asta began. "This time I'm fighting with the help of my friends and squadmates!"

"Ooh, your friends and squadmates, I'm so scared, I wonder why they're just standing there all helpless while you're fighting me, looks like they're helping a lot!" Vetto laughed.

"Be quiet!" Asta yelled as he jumped into the air, ready to strike.

"That's my line, Beast Magic: Leopard Kick!" the beast-man exclaimed as he turned to where Asta would land, his leg covered in the construct, as Asta was coming down, Vetto launched his leg up, ready to kick the teen straight up into the roof.

Thanks to Ki, Asta was able to anticipate his opponent's attack, he abandoned his offensive attack and quickly positioned the flat side of the Demon-Dweller sword a short amount of inches from his chest, using his right arm as support by placing it firmly in between the flat side and his chest. The kick hit the sword dead-on, even though it was dispelled, the force was enough to send Asta yards into the air.

"Asta!" everyone exclaimed.

"Don't worry, I'm fine, it'll take a lot more than that to keep me down!" the swordsman called back, thanks to his block, he had not hit the roof as Vetto had hoped, but he was starting to fall at a high speed.

"It'll take a lot more than that to keep you down, aye? Luckily for you, I've got plenty more, Beast Magic: Bear Claw!" the beast mage exclaimed as he quickly crouched down and jumped into the air, ready to attack, knowing that at the speed he was attacking combined with the speed Asta was falling at, it'd hit the swordsman just before he could hit the ground. "Take-!"

He launched his attack, but was surprised as Asta, somehow, got pulled in the left direction, completely evading his claw. "What in the?" he mumbled, but his surprise grew when he saw a portal appear and Asta entering it.

Vetto landed back on the ground with a decent amount of force. "Where the hell did that little brat go?!" he openly yelled.

"Right over here!" he heard the magicless mage exclaim from behind him, but he had no time to react as he felt a great sense of pain in his back, quickly dropping to the ground.

Asta landed a few feet from where his opponent laid. "Gotcha!" he exclaimed triumphantly, he had been able to get a good cut on Vetto's back thanks to his sword.

Vetto got up, he grit his teeth. "How the hell did you appear behind me, and how did you evade my first attack?!" he yelled, pointing at Asta.

"You're asking the wrong person," he turned to see Vanessa and Finral, the former was grinning. "With the use of my thread magic, I was able to wrap Asta's wrists and ankles, letting me pull him out of danger in a moment's notice, and thanks to Finral here and his spatial magic, Asta can be teleported from any direction I pull him in," she exclaimed. "So, I wonder if we're still those helpless people who are just standing here doing nothing?"

Finral cracked a small smile as well to not appear intimidated, but in his mind, it was a completely different story. "What the hell, Vanessa?! Don't taunt him, what if he decides to stop fighting Asta and come at us, your big mouth is going to get us both killed!" he mentally exclaimed with panic.

"Wow, that's a really good plan," Noelle stated.

Kenos nodded. "I know, with the help of those two, his mobility just got a major boost, now it'll be harder for Vetto to land a solid hit," he added. "Imagine if those two were here when I was fighting Vetto, with that strategy combined with my double aura, my speed would be unmatched,"

"Not bad, I'm impressed," Yami said.

Gifso looked at him. "What do you mean, are you talking about their combo strategy?" he asked.

The dark mage nodded. "You bet, when it comes to combat strength within my squad, those two are right at the bottom, that and out of everyone in my squad, those two are the least willing to fight, but they've proven themselves here, Asta brought out the best of them and their magic, their combo turned two non-combat centric attributes into it he greatest support move I've ever seen," he replied. "I don't think I'm exaggerating when I say…,"

He stopped as he quickly looked at the screen, seeing the three of them, a proud grin creased his face.

"...Those three make a perfect team,"

"You weren't expecting that, were you!" Asta taunted this time as he pointed his sword at his bestial opponent. "I remember that you said the second reason I couldn't beat you was that my physical strength and speed couldn't match yours that was magically enhanced, well thanks to my squadmates, I've practically conquered that, I might not match you in strength, but what's the point of being stronger than me if you can't hit me,"

Vetto turned around to look at the swordsman, his face full of rage. "How dare that boy taunt me, I'll-,"

He was pulled out of his thoughts by Asta as kept talking. "And I just realized something else,"

Vetto raised a brow. "And what might that be?"

"Thanks to our new approach, my speed and mobility have gone up, but as well as that, you can't predict where I'm going to attack anymore, meaning I just conquered the first reason as well, your third reason was total bullshit of course, which means that my chances of beating you have gone back up, third eye or no third eye!" Asta explained.

Vetto was angry now. "Why you little-!"

He was interrupted once more as Asta ran at him, but this time was different than the previous time, he jumped a few inches into the air and was immediately pulled by Vanessa's threads into one of Finral's portals, Vetto was expecting the boy to come out and attack him from behind again, but that's not what happened, what Vetto instead saw made his mouth gape open with disbelief.

He turned all around him, seeing a multitude of portals, they were opening and closing almost every second. Was it actually possible for his magicless opponent to be moving from portal to portal at such a frightening speed?

"Over here!" Asta exclaimed as he came out of a portal to Vetto's left, inflicted a medium-sized cut on the beast mage's arm, but before he could retaliate, Asta entered another portal.

"This is good, Asta is able to land hits while Vetto can't land any, but regardless, we have to be careful, it may not look like it to the others watching, but this requires a lot of focus, if either me or Finral act too fast or too slow, we could leave Asta vulnerable, and that could be deadly," Vanessa thought as she continued to pull her bundle of threads.

"I'll get you this time!" Vetto exclaimed as he launched a punch at where he thought Asta would appear, but he only ended up punching air.

"I doubt that!" Asta countered as he came out of a portal to Vetto's right, cutting his other arm too before retreating into another portal.

"Damn it, I'm so scared and I'm really nervous, but I have to fight, Vanessa and Asta are counting on me, I can't let them down!" Finral mentally exclaimed as he opened and closed his hands, respectively causing portals to open and close around the battlefield.

"That's right, keep going, make that bastard pay for hurting my family!" Gifso exclaimed as he saw the swordsman succeed in every attack.

Vetto gritted his teeth as more minor cuts were inflicted on his body. "Damn it, ever since that brat started zooming around, I haven't been able to land anything," he then looked at Finral and Vanessa. "And it's all because of them, spatial magic and thread magic, aye? Troublesome, I need to eliminate them first,"

Vetto then turned around, oddly letting his opponents see his back. "I have some new targets, and I know just who they are!" he exclaimed as his grimoire flipped to a page. "Mythical Beast Magic: Hystricidae Artillery!"

At his call, a reddish-orange aura surrounded him, taking the shape of an Old World porcupine, there were differences though from his Porcupine Artillery spell, the most notable one being that all of the quills were pointing in one direction, right at Finral and Vanessa, the quills then fired, coming toward them at a quick speed.

Finral and Vanessa widened their eyes. "Shit!"

"I won't let you hurt them!" Noelle exclaimed as she ran in front of the two. "Water Creation Magic: Sea Dragon's Lair!" the water barrier then formed around the three, protecting them from the deadly quills.

"Thanks, Noelle," the two said.

"I can't even get a hit on those two, this really sucks," Vetto mumbled.

"Hey, don't forget about me!" Asta came out of a portal directly in front of the beast mage, doing a slash, he formed a cut on his chest before being pulled into another portal.

"I need to anticipate his movements, or else this will continue until I'm defeated," Vetto muttered to himself. "There must be a pattern, try to remember the places he came out of, and if I do that, he should come out right over there!"

He turned around, and lo and behold, Asta came out, the swordsman was quite shocked to see the beast mage ready to attack him.

"Asta!" Vanessa exclaimed as she tried to pull Asta into a portal, but not before Vetto landed a cut on his cheek.

The magicless mage appeared next to his two teammates. "Damn it, he got me,"

"He anticipated where you'd end up," Finral said. "Sorry, it's our fault, you follow our movements and those movements have gotten repetitive, should we try a different approach?"

"What? No way, the combo is awesome, we just need to change up our movements, I have total confidence in the two of you and your magic, the three of us make an awesome team," Asta replied with a grin.

Finral and Vanessa both gave looks of shocked surprise when Asta complimented them. "Nobody's ever said that about us before," they both thought.

The swordsman ran forward once more, and again became a blur to the beast mage as he went from portal to portal.

A smile touched Vanessa's features as she continued pulling her bundles. "He believes in me, and my magic, Asta, you're just one more reason why I don't regret joining this squad, I remember the day I joined the Black Bulls," she began to think back.

[Flashback]

Years Ago.

The sun was shining everywhere around the Clover Kingdom, upon the capital, the buildings, the rural areas, they were all touched by the sun's rays, even in a place far from the kingdom, a place covered in trees, a place which is only known to others as the Witches' Forest.

Within the forest resided a large building, compared to all the other buildings in the area, it was clearly the biggest, but inside a room in that building resided a rather large birdcage, and within the cage, sitting down with her head resting on the table, was a young Vanessa.

In front of Vanessa's head was a group of dolls made from her threads, they were all in the likeness of a crow.

"I wonder how it is outside?" Vanessa asked her dolls, as if they would respond to her.

But they did respond to her. "I don't know, I've never been outside before, neither have you,"

Vanessa got up and walked to the side of her cage, she saw a small window that let her see the outside, the leaves were rustling and the sun was shining on them.

"It looks beautiful out there," she remarked as she walked back and sat down on her chair.

"That's good, we'll finally have something good to look at," another crow stated.

"Yeah," Vanessa said. "Hey, can I ask you all something?"

"Of course," they all replied at once.

"Why...is the Queen keeping me in this cage, I've been here since I was really little, just practicing my magic, but why, why can't I live outside like all the other witches?"

A dove made of threads flew down from a higher point of the cage and landed on the young girl's head. "Why are you asking us that, you created us, we don't know anything you don't, it's not smart to ask a question to us when you're practically talking to yourself," it said as all the birds began to undo themselves, becoming just a pile of threads on the table.

"You're right, I'm here all by myself," she said as a single tear fell down her face.

But just then, a sound was heard closeby, and in a few more seconds, a part of the wall where Vanessa's cage was within was broken through, forming a huge opening, and from that opening, a figure emerged.

"What the hell, that damn Queen dodged my attack again," the figure spoke.

Vanessa looked at the person, they were wearing a white tank top and black pants, and a cloak was around them. "Is that...a man? I've never seen one before, and did he say the Queen dodged his attack? That means he's fighting the Queen?" she thought.

The man looked at Vanessa. "Oh, she has a prisoner, don't worry, I'll get you out," he said as he drew a sword, forming an opening large enough for her to escape. "My name's Yami Sukehiro, what's yours?"

"Um...Vanessa...Vanessa Enoteca,"

"Well, it's nice to meet you, Vanessa, you're free to go now," Yami said as he started to turn around.

"No, you don't understand, I'm not a prisoner, I was born here, this cage is my home, at least, that's what the Queen told me," Vanessa said.

"Your home? I don't know, your Ki doesn't tell me you're very happy here," Yami said. "Tell ya what, why don't you leave this place and come live with me, if you were born in this forest, I doubt you know what the outside world is like,"

Vanessa looked nervous. "L-Leave this place?"

Yami nodded. "But if you don't want to leave, it's fine, I won't force you to go if you don't want to,"

"Wait!" Vanessa exclaimed as she turned around to look at the chair and table before she turned back to Yami. "I've spent my life wondering what outside life would be like, and now, it's time that I live it,"

"Cool, so let's go, we better get out of this forest before the Queen gets here," Yami said as he jumped down from the opening.

Vanessa started running and jumped out of the opening too, a smile on her face. "It's time for me to begin a new life,"

[End Flashback]

"Ever since that day, I've never once looked back, becoming one of the Black Bull's first members," Vanessa said to herself.

Finral also had a smile on his face as he opened and closed portals, he felt the same way as Vanessa over what Asta said, he watched as the swordsman went from portal to portal.

"Thanks, Asta, nobody's ever said they had confidence in my magic before, my life's never been the easiest, just like Kenos, I had a falling out with my own family early in life, it wasn't great, but luckily, it led to me becoming a part of this squad," he began to think back.

[Flashback]

Years Ago.

The sun was shining over the Clover Kingdom, touching everything with its warm rays of light, but that fact was irrelevant within the room of a noble house, in it stood three people, a tall grown man, a young boy, and a young Finral.

"Alright you two, for your magic practice, I want you to destroy as many statues as you can in ten seconds," the man instructed, pointing to the many simple stone statues that covered the room.

"Um, father?" Finral asked.

The man turned to his son. "Yes, what is it Finral?" he asked back.

"I...don't think I can do this, I don't want to use offensive spatial magic, I don't...want to hurt anybody," Finral replied before he was met with a harsh slap to the face.

"Stop being weak, this family prides itself on our mages with offensive spatial magic, that's the way it's been for generation after generation, you are my eldest son, I won't allow you to disgrace our family just because you don't want to hurt anybody," his father harshly said as he turned to look at the other boy, who had already succeeded in destroying 30 statues.

"Now that's how you do it, why can't you be more like your younger brother?" his father said, Finral looked at his younger brother, they weren't completely brothers though, only half brothers, same father, different mothers.

"If you don't try harder and abandon this compassion nonsense, your younger brother will become the next head of the house instead of you, is that what you want?!"

Finral looked down, clenching his fists. "No sir,"

"No hands,"

Years passed, both Finral and his half-brother had gotten their grimoires and shortly after participated in the Magic Knights Entrance Exam, his brother had impressed five of the eight captains present and had decided to join the Golden Dawn, but he had no such luck.

Night fell as he walked around the testing grounds, watching as new recruits left with their captains, slowly, the place emptied out, and he was all alone.

"What am I going to do now? I can't go back home, father won't be pleased with me at all, but...where will I go?" he asked himself aloud, his head down as we walked about.

"Why don't you join me?"

The sudden sound of another voice startled Finral, he looked up to see a man smoking, the spatial mage immediately knew who he was.

"You're Yami Sukehiro, the captain of the Black Bulls!" Finral realized. "What are you doing here, and where were you during the exam?"

"I arrived late, and I didn't feel like getting chewed out by the other captains, so I just kept a low profile and watched the exam from afar," Yami explained. "And I was quite impressed by your spatial magic, you can teleport people, even yourself, that's a useful skill,"

"You really mean it?" Finral asked.

Yami nodded as he threw a robe at him. "Here, now it's official, you're a member of the Black Bulls,"

Finral looked at the robe before putting it on. "Thank you," he mumbled.

"Now let's get moving," Yami said as he pulled out his broom and mounted it, Finral mounted his own broom as they both flew into the sky.

"Hey, um, is it okay if I ask you something?" Finral said.

"Ok, shoot,"

"I'm not a mage who likes to hurt anybody, my family are all offensive spatial mages, but I'm not, my father says I'm too compassionate, I want to know, does being compassionate make me weak?"

"What? Hell no, nothing wrong with compassion, it's what keeps us from becoming beasts...monsters. All I ask is that when trouble comes, you don't chicken out, you think you can do that?"

Finral looked at him, his fists clenched as he smiled. "Yes sir,"

[End Flashback]

"Just like what Captain Yami told me, danger's here, so I can't chicken out," Finral said to himself.

"By joining this squad, I was able to see what the world was like," Vanessa thought.

"By joining this squad, I was able to find a place that valued who I was," Finral thought.

"So that's why…," they both began to think as they looked at the battlefield before.

"...I won't allow us to die down here!"

"Is it just me, or does it look like Asta's moving faster?" Luck asked openly.

Kenos looked forward, all he could see was a blur. "I really can't tell, but if it's similar to what Vetto was planning to do to me earlier, then this is going to be powerful,"

"They're right Finral, can your portals keep up?" Vanessa asked.

"I can, if you can keep up with your threads," Finral said back.

Vetto could only watch as the blur that was Asta increased in speed. "It doesn't matter how fast you go, I'll survive whatever you throw at me now that I'm beginning to figure out your pattern of attack," he said. "You'll reach your physical and magical limits eventually, and when you do, I'll take full advantage of it, I'll make you fall into total despair!"

"Physical and magical limits you say?" Vanessa repeated with a smirk.

"Well, in the case that that would ever happen," Finral added.

Vetto looked at them, but realized that he had made a mistake, because, in the corner of his eye, he saw Asta speeding toward him, his body in a diving-like position with the Demon-Dweller protruding outward, the beast mage turned to counterattack, but it had proved futile as the anti-magic sword was driven right into the left side of his torso.

Asta grinned, ready to finish the statement his superiors had begun. "We'd just break right through them!"