It had been a few days since Asta's sudden disappearance. Preparations to solve this issue were already in motion, however a new problem.

"What? Are you serious? You don't know where Julius is?" said Yami.

"My sinserest apologies. The last time I saw him. Julius told me that he had an urgent matter to resolve. Whilst he was gone, he told me to keep things busy within the capital and not to let anyone find out."

"...And you didn't bother to ask where he's disappeared to?" hissed Marx.

"Apologies, I should've been more assertive. When I asked, Julius told me it was super-topic secret, and no must know his whereabouts."

"THAT IDIOT!?" snapped the memory mage, "Going on a topic-secret mission, without telling anyone?! That fool."

"I, mean he did say it was a secret mission," said the Black Bulls Captain.

"SHUT YOUR MOUTH... You brute."

"Ok, I stopped calling you mushroom head, so you better stop giving me that lip."

"WHY YOU!"

Both the dark and memory mage continued to argue on sight, leaving the rest of the magic knights feeling awkward and embarrassed.

"That's enough", yelled Willam, attaining the attention of the whole room, "Due to unforeseen circumstances, we now have not one... but two matters to worry about. Asta has already been missing for a few days, and it's not like Julius to leave without a trace. I'm very concerned for the pairs well being, and the two of you think it's appropriate to be fighting." glaring with disappointment.

"He started it," said Yami, sparking a vein from Marx's forehead.

"Regardless, we have to focus on the matter at hand. Rill, Jack, all of you for that matter... gather your teams and let us assemble this search party."

"Yes, sir", saluted Rill.

"Don't tell me what to do," snarled Jack.

"We will execute this plan immediately. We will make our way through the borders of the clover kingdom and arrive within the spade and diamond kingdom with caution. From there, we will go on our separate ways. Does anyone have any questions?"

"Right here, Goldy," said Yami.

"What is it" Willam sighed

"Yeah, whose on my team?"

Captain of the Golden Dawn further briefed the Black Bull as he gave him the selection of the search team. Despite the calm deminer and composed body language, Willam was anything but comfortable. He was immensely worried at this moment, he tried very hard, but he couldn't get help but think about Asta's well being. Not to mention Julius's sudden disappearance only added more to the flames. He could only pray for their safe return.

...

"Ok Asta, sit tight. I think they're about to do it now."

"I'm not sure if this is a good idea."

"Nonsense Asta, you'll be fine."

Deep into the valley, far from the clover kingdom, resided another dangerous land located in the north. It was notorious for its wasteland and damaged communities... the diamond kingdom.

"Julius, I think we should go now. This is a bad idea."

"Oh, come on, Asta, we're practically outside their main base. We can't turn back now."

As it turned out, both the clover kingdoms wizard king and ace Magic knight were found inside enemy territory.

They were hiding in the bushes whilst diamond kingdom forces were conducting military training. Each soldier would go through their training in single file, destroying a large boulder with their powerful magic. If it would wasn't for Asta's lack of presence and Julius wrapping himself with cloaking material, the odds of them getting would drastically increase.

"I thought we were here to check if the diamond kingdoms were up to no code," Asta whispered.

"We are Asta"

"No, we're not. But it's obvious you just came here to drool all over their magic."

"Oh, you just figured that out quick."

"ARE YOU SERIOUS, JULIUS!"

"Shhhh, quiet down," placing his finger on Asta's lips, "We're undetectable, but that doesn't mean they can't hear us."

"But..."

"Just sit down and shut up. Will be in serious trouble if we get caught."

The Anti-magic user eventually gave in and condoned his superiours actions. He didn't like it the slightest bit. However, Julius was correct. If they weren't careful, they would've been in serious trouble.

The diamond mages continued their training programme, destroying their target with more destructive power than the last. A few mages even performed combo spells, smashing their mark in sight.

The beautiful and destructive spells had the time mage tingling with excitement. Julius never had this much fun ever in his life. It was nice being away from the office, he felt.

"WOW, DID YOU SEE THAT, ASTA! THESE MAGES REALLY DO KNOW THEIR STUFF."

"Yeah... they sure do."

"This guys, gonna kill us."

Despite Asta, praying for his whereabouts to remain unseen, he couldn't help but notice the powerful magic on display.

"I'm gonna lie, these guys are pretty strong. We should be cautious if they try to attack the clover kingdom."

Julius turned his head, "Agreed. However, I don't think we should worry too much about that. I know they put a lot of emphasis on the military, but they're pretty light on resources. With the power we have, they won't be troubling us any time soon."

"You think so?"

"I know so, Asta. Now, let's get back to the show."

Despite his concerns, the Anti-magic user knew realistically, the diamond kingdom was far from igniting a personal attack.

"Yeah, your probably right, Julius. I don't know what I was so worried about... But on that note, I'm just gonna find a quiet place, gonna piss in bush's."

"Alright, hurry back then."

"I will," replied Asta, "Try not to get caught while I'm gone. We have to get back to clover kingdom as soon as possible."

"Ah yes, that is true. Don't worry, I'm sure my understudy will stall for time."

"Oh, that's right, you got someone to cover for you, didn't you?" the Anti-magic user pointed out, "Say, who did you hire for my understudy? Must've been hard since considering I have no magic."

The time mage tilted his head in concern, "Sorry... whose understudy?"

"Mine obliviously," replied Asta, "You said you get some cover for me while I'm gone. That way, my squadmates won't worry about me."

"Yeah... Ummm, about that."

"About what."

"I forgot to put someone down for you."

"YOU DID WHA!"

Before Asta could finish his sentence, Julius swiftly placed his hand on the Golden Dawns lips.

"Quite down, Asta. You nearly got us caught."

The Anti-magic user mumbled before slapping Julius's wrist away.

"I can't believe you did this Julius, I've been gone for two days. The Golden Dawn probably worried sick about."

"Hmmm... I guess that would be a problem."

Asta clenched his fists as veins were slowly starting to pop out. He couldn't believe his wizard kings attitude towards the situation.

"Whatever, I'm going back to the campsite. If you ain't there in the next hour. I'm heading to the clover kingdom myself," Asta warned.

"Alright, alright," the time mage sighed, "Just have everything packed away when I get back. We don't want to leave trails behind."

"Understood."

The Golden Dawn Quitely slivered his way through the bushes and eventually made it out of the dangerous territory.

He was thankful Julius gave him the authority to leave the site, but he couldn't help but think about all the commotion and confusion he may have caused. His squadmates must be worried sick. He wouldn't be surprised if there was a search party already in operation.

"That Julius, I can't believe he did that."

The Anti-magic user slipped through trees, avoided enemy mages along the way and eventually made it to the campsite.

Fortunately, the campsite remained intact. Asta took a deep breath before placing himself on a small log tree and sat down quietly. As darkness was beginning to surface, he proceeded to start a small fire using nothing but all the logs and rocks he could find.

"Hm, that wasn't too hard."

The Golden Dawn ignited the fire and began to wait.

10 minutes later

It was boring at first, but Asta eventually found himself gazing within the centre of the fireplace. With the mixture of silence in the area and a gripping flame, he began to see things, never thought to see before.

"What is that?" he asked.

What resonated within the flames was a small human figure. The Asta repeatedly rubbed his eyes. Was he seeing this correctly, he asked himself.

Within a few seconds, a whole group of human figures suddenly appeared on the opposite side of the flame.

The small fire figure ran towards the other group figures, and it looked as though they were starting to cheer. Despite not having any facial expressions, Asta knew that the characters were happy.

However, what then followed was very unsettling. After the figures finished cheering, the first figure that appeared began to distance himself from the group. It started to wave its hand almost as if it was saying goodbye to its friends.

As the figure continued to wave, individuals from the group began to disappear.

"Wait, what?! What's going on."

Slowly each figure began to fade away, leaving just the one fire figure all on his own.

The Anti-magic user was left bewildered. He gazed at the figure for a few more seconds until suddenly, the whole campfire was diminished.

Asta fell off his log, landing on the back of his head. "Woah, what the hell was that? Was I dreaming?" Jumping on his two feet, "This place probably isn't safe. I should probably check on Julius."

Just as the Golden Dawn began to make way, he detected the presence of an unusual figure. He turned around confronted the matter.

"Whose there?! Show yourself! There's no point hiding I can sense your ki."

"Oh, how bothersome. I'm surprised you found me."

The Golden Dawn jumped back whilst pulling his demon slayer from his grimoire. "Who are you!" he warned.

The unusual figure jumped out of the trees and landed swiftly on the ground. The person was wearing a thick white robe around his body with a hoody to match. The robe had many patterns but what caught the eyes was the crest located on the chest, symbolising a diamond.

"I take it your from the diamond kingdom?"

"Why, yes, I am what gave it away," gazing at his crest, "I take it you must be Asta, from the clover kingdom. The boy with no magic."

"Ummm... yeah, I am... Wait, how do you know who I am," asked Asta.

The diamond mage giggled, "You built up quite a reputation, Asta. A person with no magic and able to climb the ranks as you did, that's quite something. It's an honour to finally meet you in person."

"Oh really," Golden Dawn replied, scratching the back of his head.

The swordsman remained cautious "who is this guy" he wondered.

"Indeed... you can say that I'm also a fan. I heard so much about you. I was thrilled that you ended being caught in my spell just recently."

"Your spell?"

"Certainly. Those images within the flame that you foresaw, that was all my doing."

The swordsman was puzzled, "Wait, what?! Really?! How... What is that magic?"

"Well, it's not very useful in combat. But to put it simply, once you look into my flames, it will collect all the raw emotions of the person who is gazing. Once that procedure is complete, the flames will then tell a story based on those emotions. Make sense?"

...

"Nope, not at all", replied Asta.

*sigh* "If if your emotions are happy, it will paint a happy story, vice versa if your emotions were the opposite."

"OOOHHHH, I get it now. That makes total sense."

The diamond cringed.

"Well, good, at least you know now."

The swordsman replied with a smile.

Unexpectedly the tension with the atmosphere began to fade. Asta, who was ready for close courter combat slipped his swords into his grimoire. Suddenly meeting this diamond mage didn't seem so troubling after all.

Despite everything that just happened, he couldn't help but think back to those images that he saw. Were they trying to tell him a message, were those flames really based off of his emotions? An awful lot was going through his head right now.

"You know I'm kinda glad that I met you," said the Golden Dawn, "If I met anyone else, they probably would've tried to kill me."

"That reminds me, what your name?"

The diamond mage grinned, "My name is Tetsu."

"Tetsu... that's a nice name. Well, I should probably get going now, Tetsu. If I stay too long, I could probably get into some serious trouble. I hope we cross paths again."

"Oh, it won't be necessary for you to leave the diamond kingdom."

"Huh..."

Suddenly a ring of hot flames appeared around the Anti-magic user, "Hey, what's going on?"

The diamond mage tilted his head forward with his hood down.

"Tetsu! These flames aren't funny. Put them out!"

Tetsu ignored Asta's request.

"Ok, if that's how you want it. Then I'll just cut your flames out." As quickly as he could, Asta pulled his demon slayer to extinguish the flames.

"That won't work," said Tetsu.

Suddenly out of nowhere, veins of branches burst out of the ground, wrapping themselves around the Golden Dawns wrist.

"Hey, what's going on."

The branches grip tightened, forcing the swordsman onto his knees, immobilising him to the ground.

"I can't believe this. LET ME GO!"

"Struggle all you like," said Tetsu, "You may able to nullify magic, but that doesn't make you immortal. All I have to do is separate you from your weapons."

"So this was your plan, all along."

"Hmmm, not exactly. I was planning to let you go, but I changed my mind. If I bring in the Clover kingdoms ace magic knight, I will be rewarded beyond compare."

"Rewarded?" Asta questioned.

"Why yes, did you not see from my magic just now. Thanks to the higher-ups, I'm now able to use two magic attributes, forest and fire. With you at my disposal, I will be granted even more power."

Sweat began to drip from his forehead as his pupils began to shrink. The swordsman was shocked. It was a long time ago, but Asta also met another mage with similar attributes.

"You're crazy. Is this what this is about, power?! All you are is just a test experiment, waiting to go wrong. They don't care about you."

"What?! I'm sorry, but I'm not following," frowned Tetsu.

"I'm saying the way they give you power is immoral and inhumane. You should know that better than anyone. They force innocent children into deathmatches and pick the ones that survive. That extra power that you possess, that was someone else's before they lost their life. Do, seriously, want to use that borrowed power?"

It was never Asta's intention to get through to Tetsu, but more to help him understand the severity of the situation.

However, that wasn't enough.

"You don't need to explain this. I already lived through all of that," sparking a worried look from the Golden Dawn, "As un fare as it might be, those who aren't strong enough will perish, and only the strong will survive."

"SO YOU'RE HAPPY YOU LET YOUR SQUADMATES DIE!"

"If they are not strong enough, they don't deserve to live."

"You're sick!" Asta refused to accept this philosophy.

"It's called survival of the fittest, Asta. Surely you understand that."

The swordsman clenched his fists, "I understand that completely, bastard. But I don't accept killing innocent people."

"Hm, have it your way," Tetsu clicked his fingers, and from that, the ring fire became even hotter.

"AAAAHHHHHH"

The swordsman screamed in agony. Fires around him proved to be fatal there, was no getting away.

"Don't worry, Asta. I won't kill you. I just need to be unconscious from my fire. It's over."

The Anti-magic just looked ahead, with his eyes beginning to get heavy. Was this it, he wondered?"

...

"SEA-DRAGONS-ROAR"

Suddenly, a mighty water dragon burst onto the scene, spirling through the air and heading headfirst into Tetsu's path.

"Whats this power," shouted the diamond mage.

The dragon had its target set, racing towards its victim.

"I can't dodge it. It's too fast!"

*CRASH*

From where he stood, Tetsu was catapulted face-first into a nearby tree.

"Wha.. was.. that.." The diamond mage fell unconscious on the ground.

Soon after, the fire's that surrounded Asta was put out, relieving him from his suffering. The swordsman looked up he, couldn't believe it.

"Noelle!"

What stood before Asta was the royal mage, fearsome spell castor from the Black Bulls.

"Noelle, I... I can't believe you're here."

The Royal Silva didn't say a word but instead returned with a menacing glare.

"Noelle?"