Here is the sixth conversation Noelle has to have and the fourth and final one with someone who she suspects is going to be a definite rival since realizing that she was in love with Asta. So yeah, for those who know some of my other work, I have a habit of completely underestimating my competency and efficiency when it comes to my fanfiction and I got all my edits and drafted the next conversation done in a day so I had the time to make the edits to this conversation as well and thus upload it as soon as it is ready well ahead of schedule. That means that I am back on track and should be able to upload the next chapter by the end of the day EST so long as I get the 8th one drafted in time. Anyway, this is the second conversation that draws a lot from the canon as it is similar to the Rebecca one in that there is only one, completely controlled, setting in which it can happen so it has to be within the episode it is from (episode 140 for those interested so spoilers up to that) but with the change of Noelle knowing she's in love with Asta. There is one more conversation planned that will take place within an event in an episode (I think some will guess which event it is) but redone to fit with this fic's realization. However, that is all I have to say for now as there are no questions to answer or guest reviews to respond to so it is time to sit back and enjoy Noelle's latest conversation.

Disclaimer: I own nothing related to the Black Clover franchise.

Summary - At last a normal day where Noelle can train with Asta alone at the hideout and try to not let her feelings for him distract her as they do have to get stronger. Noelle has been through so much lately that she needs this moment to recenter herself and focus on training and other conversations she might have. What could possibly interrupt their training and why does that pink gel like substance behind Asta look so familiar. Oh no, not her, anyone but her!

Unleashing the Yandere

"Alright get ready." Noelle said pointing her wand at Asta. "Water creation magic, Sea Dragon's Water Ball!"

Almost instantly several balls of water shot out of her wand at Asta who was facing her a few feet away. However, unlike most of the times when Noelle fired water at Asta, he had his large Demon-Slayer sword out this time and was cutting down the balls as they reached him. The anti-magic of the sword easily destroyed Noelle's Water Magic before they reached him.

It was a standard day with nothing eventful happening for once in their lives, so the pair were training in front of the hideout as they helped each other get stronger together for the inevitable invasion of the Spade Kingdom. Nero was in her bird form on a nearby branch watching the training as she normally did while most of the squad were out in the surrounding area doing their own training. A few like Yami were elsewhere but for the most part they were all here.

Noelle felt a little off just training with Asta outside the hideout. Not because she didn't want to do this, this was just what she wanted because she had Asta all to herself as they trained together, well Nero was here but she wasn't in human form, so she didn't count, but because it was just odd to be training normally like this. Over the last month or so things had been pretty hectic for them, Noelle in particular.

First there had been Asta and Nero's false trial by the Magic Parliament that the Black Bulls had crashed before they had been given a reprieve to investigate the devil in the Spade Kingdom to clear Asta's name. That had led them to discover that there was a curse in the Heart Kingdom and Noelle had gone there with Asta, Mimosa, Finral, and Nero to learn that the curse was on the Queen herself.

They also learned that it had been put on her by the devil Megicula who was currently in the Spade Kingdom and had been the one who had murdered Noelle's mother. That had been another thing Noelle had learned since the trial, the truth of her mother's death and the fact that Nozel, while he couldn't talk about it due to the curse, had treated her the way he had to protect her as he didn't want to lose her like their mother.

His protection had been what had sent her to the Black Bulls, well that plus her lack of control, which Noelle was grateful for as she knew that only the misfits of the Black Bulls could make her who she was today. It was also what had led her to meet Asta, the biggest misfit of them all and the man who had helped her the most since she'd met him.

Of all the things that had happened since his trial, Noelle's realization that she was in love with Asta was second only to the truth about her mother's death, and both of those things had happened on back-to-back days. It had all started shortly after getting the hideout here at the start of their investigation when Yami and Asta had gone to visit Captain Charlotte Roselei of the Blue Rose Knights to ask about the curse that had been placed upon her as a child.

Apparently it took a while to get through to her, something Noelle now had a very good idea why that was the case, but they did in the end even if they didn't get that much from her. Her Captain and Asta had given Charlotte something to think about without realizing it, however.

That something was that Noelle was similar to Charlotte in a lot of ways apparently though only towards Asta while Charlotte was like that towards Yami, that way was due the trust the women had for the men which wasn't entirely right. The truth was because of the romantic feelings that the women had for the men in question.

Regardless, it had gotten Charlotte thinking and that thinking had led her to realize that Noelle liked Asta as more than a friend the way she did with Yami, though that little detail Noelle didn't know until recent events. It had also led Charlotte to contact Noelle and use a ruse to get her to meet the Blue Rose Captain.

It was during that meeting that Charlotte revealed the last bit of her curse that she hadn't told Yami due to her not wanting to admit to him that she was in love with a man. However, the main purpose of the meeting had bee to bluntly confronted Noelle on her feelings for Asta.

Charlotte had done this by creating a cocoon of briars to ensure privacy and so that Noelle couldn't escape when the Captain shifted the conversation over to Noelle's issue. Noelle had no choice but to face her feelings for Asta, push past her the limits that had been set by her denial, and accept the truth. She was madly in love with Asta and had been for a while but had been too deep in denial to realize it.

Since then, things had picked up as that conversation had been before their brief trip to the Heart Kingdom. Not only did Noelle now know why she did what she did around Asta, but she had to deal with her rivals for him and annoyingly there were a few. She had hoped to not have to confront many of them, there was one she couldn't avoid and one she'd have to face at some point, but fate had decided that she was going to run the gamut of them much sooner than she'd wanted to.

It started with the one she wasn't certain of but also the only one she couldn't avoid in Nero. That one had yielded no change from Noelle's confusion as to whether Nero liked Asta in that way or not as the girl herself was undecided on the matter. She was as loyal to Asta as Noelle was and wouldn't leave his side unless propriety or events dictated it but hadn't decided if what she felt towards Asta was platonic or romantic for various reasons. That said, Nero had made it clear that Noelle should consider her a rival until she decided, which Noelle did and was still often jealous of Nero.

After that Noelle and Asta had been kidnapped twice in two days by Mereoleona Vermillion with the second time being taken to her family's residence in the capital for a special event that had included the presence of Mimosa Vermillion, Noelle's childhood friend and a confirmed rival for Asta. Noelle had used the one moment of privacy after the event when they had a bath together to confront Mimosa and admit her own feelings for Asta to her cousin so that they could be rivals for him. Mimosa had accepted the challenge though it hadn't affected their friendship.

Noelle had hoped that that would be the last of it so that she could focus on training and trying to get Asta to notice her in that way but fate in the form of Finral decided she needed a round 2 with another known rival. That was because he'd persuaded Asta to help him strengthen his heart to prove himself worthy for a noble woman's hand in marriage, though his training took the form of a mixer in Nean.

Naturally, that meant that Asta would ask Rebecca to it as she lived in Nean. She was also a girl Noelle knew liked Asta in that sense but who Asta had no clue liked him despite the fact that she'd once kissed him on the cheek, in front of Noelle no less much to her extreme chagrin.

Thankfully, the mixer had been as disastrous as a Black Bull mixer can be, more so in fact because there had been a second mixer upstairs that had involved Captain Charlotte and Yami that made everything worse thanks to Charlotte's extreme insecurity over her feelings for Yami. Noelle had been in disguise as a waitress, as had Nero annoyingly as the girl was a lot cuter in the outfit then Noelle was, and would have gotten away with it to had it not been for a screaming Charlotte bursting through the door and causing chaos.

In that chaos Noelle was outed as being there by Rebecca, though she made sure Nero was as well because she wasn't going to go down alone, and Asta found out that she was present. Thankfully, he was too dense to understand why she had a job at the tavern, but Rebecca did, and Noelle used that as her moment to confront Rebecca privately and finally declare her intent to be Asta's girl one day. Rebecca was pleased that Noelle wasn't in denial anymore and had accepted the challenge though the rest of the mixer was too awkward for either to gain anything from it.

That should have been the end of it but almost immediately after the mixer Noelle had been given the chance to confront another rival of hers when the squad went to the beach near the Underwater Temple for some practice there. Naturally, that had led to them helping Kahono and Kiato with an underwater problem that required Noelle's skills, which had the added benefit of Noelle learning something new about her mother as well as giving Noelle the chance to confront Kahono over her feelings for Asta.

That confrontation had been different from the others, mainly because it turned out that the songstress didn't like Asta that way. No, the cunning minx had simply faked it to make Noelle jealous enough to admit her feelings without realizing that Noelle's denial was stronger and resisted all of Kahono's attempts to get Noelle to admit them to herself or Asta during the Star Awards Festival. The underwater girl was in complete support of Noelle being with Asta and had helped strategize a bit, after Noelle stopped strangling her for the stress her actions had caused Noelle that was.

Other than all that, Noelle had also had to deal with a Charmy incident recently and had made a trip to Hage with Asta back before the two Mereoleona incidents. All that had kept Noelle busy though she had really liked the trip to Hage, minus the embarrassments that she'd suffered there and Asta's sudden marriage proposal to her that she still couldn't think on without becoming a blushing mess, because she got to see Asta's home village and meet his family there.

It had also given her the idea to visit it again on her own before they went back to the Heart Kingdom when she had a moment as Noelle felt there was someone there she needed to talk to about Asta. However, that conversation and at least one more that she knew she would have to have in the coming weeks with someone else would have to wait until the right moments came up to have them.

Right now, she was enjoying a simple training session with Asta and enjoying not having to deal with any rivals other than Nero, but she could handle the horn headed girl most of the time. In fact, if you looked at what they were doing in one sense it was almost like a date though the moment Noelle got that thought her cheeks went bright red at the idea of being on a date with Asta.

"It's not enough." Asta yelled breaking Noelle from her thoughts and bringing her back to the task at hand. "Don't hold back against me. We need to get stronger so give me all you got Noelle."

"Very well but don't cry when I win." Noelle said with her usual tone to hide her gushing insides at being alone with her love and channeled her insecurities into her magic as she pointed her want at Asta ready to attack him with permission for once. "Water creation magic, Sea Dragon's Roar!"

Her most powerful offensive spell blasted out of her wand in the shape of a roaring dragon made of water and tore at Asta. It was an extremely effective spell that Noelle had learned when facing Vetto in the Underground Temple and perfected since then, using it notable to beat Solid in the Royal Knights selection exam much to her pleasure and against Fana in the Shadow Palace. She knew that it had the power to rip a body in half or tear a limb off, even if the elves had regenerated both much to her disgust.

Of course, no matter how strong it was, it was no match for Asta and his anti-magic. He easily cut the head in two with his sword and dispersed the magic all along the dragon so that it crashed around him with the blowback reaching Noelle and causing her clothes to flutter in the wind. Not even her Sea Dragon's Roar could affect him. That was fine with Noelle though, she still had her Valkyrie armor so that would be next up for Asta to face and she was looking forward to seeing how he handled her in it, as well as the complement he would give her because of how cool she looked in her armor.

"It's not enough." Asta yelled again and Noelle agreed, they needed to do more as they only had a limited amount of time to prepare before going back to the Heart Kingdom from some intensive training there with the Spirit Guardians.

However, as Noelle was getting ready for her next attack, a large pink blob materialized behind Asta that Noelle knew she'd seen somewhere before. Before Noelle could act though, Asta had already turned and slashed the blob in two with his sword sending the top part high into the sky before it exploded having sensed its ki and reacting accordingly.

"Awe, you destroyed it, you're no fun." A very familiar voice said with a pout in it, and Noelle turned to it.

As soon as she saw who was standing there her eyes went wide and her blood ran cold. She had hoped to not deal with this psycho bitch ever again, but it seemed that fate had decided she hadn't finished her challenges just yet. That was because standing in front of them wearing only a white shirt and black leggings was a short woman a little older than Noelle and Asta with short black hair and crazy red eyes behind half rim glasses smiling unnervingly at them.

"It's Sally." Asta said sounding confused while Noelle was getting over her shock at the former Midnight Sun member being there and immediately began to put up her guard.

"Hey Asta, how are you doing?" Sally said as if it was a normal day and clearly ignoring Noelle.

"What are you doing here?" Asta asked ignoring her question and asking one of his own.

"Don't tell me you escaped." Noelle added with a chill in her spine but if it came to it she'd crush this psycho beneath her using all her power to make a statement.

"Nah I wish." Sally said holding up her arms to show that she had a set of heavy manacles on her wrists that were connected by a long chain though it didn't appear to be hindering her arm movements all that much. "Mr. Mushroom head over there brought me to visit."

Noelle and Asta looked behind Sally to see the Wizard King's aid Marx, known to all of them as Mushroom Head due to his really bad haircut, standing there next to a blonde man in a lab coat that neither of them had seen before. Well that at least explained how Sally was here and at least she was still in custody, but they didn't know why she was here.

"I'd prefer it if you didn't call me that." Marx said in an annoyed tone.

"Oh yeah that's the Wizard King's assistant." Asta said waving at them. "And, er, some other guy."

"Makusa." The unknown man said introducing himself to them. "From the magical items research lab."

"Can we go inside?" Marx asked preventing any further questions. "We have stuff to discuss, and it is best that we do it there and quickly."

Noelle looked to Asta who looked back and shrugged before they nodded and led the trio into the base, even if Noelle did not like being near Sally at all. She was clearly a rival for Asta given her obsession with him and completely unhinged and that was before you added in said obsession. However, if Mushroom Head was here then it had to be important, so they needed hear them out at least. Nero also flew in both to keep an eye on Asta and to hear them out as magical items were her specialty.

The royal just hoped that this would be uneventful. Alas this was Sally they were dealing with, that was unlikely, so she braced herself for another confrontation with the most insane person Noelle had ever known, and that was an achievement given the insane people she'd met since joining the Black Bulls.

"Woah that is so cool that you can make magical items." Asta said once Marx and Makusa had explained everything to them as they sat in the Black Bulls common room across from the three newcomers.

"Yes once we learned that Sally was skilled in making them, Julius tasked her with making something that would help in the coming war." Marx said with clear annoyance in his tone. "I have my reservations, but we could use an edge against the Spade Kingdom, and it is part of her punishment to help us to the best of her abilities."

"Okay, first off I'm going to need some baseline data to work with." Sally said happily as she got to her feet. "So, I'll just experiment on the two of you."

"In your dreams." Noelle replied defiantly, she was not going to let Sally get her claws, or her blades, into her Asta and Noelle had no problems admitting to herself that that was the reason for her refusal. "Only an idiot would agree to that."

Alas, as soon as Noelle said that, said idiot next to her proved his stupidity once again by standing up. Then, for no reason that Noelle could decern whatsoever, Asta proceeded to rip off his shirt and stood there shirtless for all to see.

"Let's go!" Asta said enthusiastically as he flexed his muscles.

"Did you really have to rip your shirt off!" Noelle screeched going bright red at the sight of Asta's bare chest.

It wasn't so much because her love was half naked, she'd seen him without almost any clothes more times than she could count, it was more the fact that he was doing this in front of Sally. Noelle knew that Sally liked Asta's body, a shallow and stupid reason to like someone as amazing as Asta who had many more attractive qualities than his meathead body in Noelle's mind, but the psycho did like it and what's more she had no qualms feeling it up.

That always triggered Noelle's jealousy as she didn't have the courage to touch Asta unless it was to hit him no matter how much she wanted to be held in his arms. Well, that and when one was dealing with a nut job like Sally those hands might actually be scalpels and Asta got hurt enough fighting, he didn't need to add being Sally's research subject to the list of health hazards he experienced on a near daily basis it seemed. He already had one crazy woman in Mereoleona Vermillion being a health hazard, he didn't need a second one, especially one who was interested in him the way Sally was.

"I gave you my word." Asta said seriously, his tone immediately calming Noelle down and reminding her of how honorable he was, it was one of the many qualities that she loved about Asta. "After the last fight I said you could do what you wanted to me so long as you fought for us. You held up your end, now it's my turn to do the same."

"I'm so glad you remembered that." Sally said with a wide smile and a lick of her lips at the chance to experiment on Asta while Noelle proceeded to get jealous at the hungry look in Sally's eyes.

"Just don't make it hurt super bad ok." Asta said nervously.

"So, you'll let her take all your organs so long as she numbs you first." Noelle yelled at him, her anger replacing any jealousy or embarrassment at Asta's unbelievable stupidity, she wasn't sure how Asta always managed to out stupid himself, but he did. "You might want to rethink that."

The two mages from the capital suddenly looked really worried at Noelle's words. She was glad, at least they had some sense and if things got really bad she was sure that between the four of them they could restrain Sally before she did too much damage though the woman's Gel Magic was a tricky thing to contend with.

"Lets do it!" Sally said excitedly as she spun a scalpel on her fingers that had suddenly appeared out of nowhere it seemed to shock Noelle as the rogue mage leaned towards Asta her tongue out in anticipation. "Actually, here's a better idea, I'm going to save you for last Asta."

"Huh?" Asta asked confused as Noelle had to agree with him for once, why was Sally waiting with him when she was so enthusiastic about getting her grubby hands on his body.

"Well, the thing I want to make is supposed to increase mana output and you don't have any." Sally said before turning her full attention to Noelle and grinning at her as she pointed the scalpel at the royal. "Which means I should probably start with you."

"Look I'm royalty so you can't and even if I wasn't I don't want anything to do with you." Noelle said imperiously as she turned her head away from Sally rejecting her.

While what she said was true the main reason why she was refusing was because she didn't want to be anywhere near Sally or her sharp scalpel. The girl was already a rival, Noelle was not going to give the bitch any chance to get an upper hand on her even if it was for the sake of the Clover Kingdom. Noelle's patriotism had its limits, and those limits were a 17-year-old girl with a few screws loose brandishing a scalpel and who was also into the boy Noelle was deeply in love with.

"By the way, are your squad mates here?" Marx asked them and Noelle sighed in relief, if they were around then they could be Sally's test rats and she could protect Asta from her rival's sadistic clutches.

"They're out right now." Asta said, which was true they were all doing their own thing right now. "Assignments and training and what not."

As he was saying this Asta turned to the doorway, Noelle followed his gaze and was happy to see Finral, Vanessa, Magna, Charmy, Gauche and Grey all standing in the doorway watching them and trying not to be seen by a hungry looking Sally. They'd been busted and knew it.

"Oh, looks like some of them are back." Asta said loudly to their teammates.

Instantly all turned, made excuses and walked away and into the woods to get away from the crazy scientist and her scalpel. Noelle couldn't deny that they were being smart about the situation and fleeing while they could. Of course, that didn't stop Sally who was already on her feet and running towards the door, her chain clinking as she did and making Noelle wish they'd put the woman in leg irons as well.

"Lucky me, so many test subjects." Sally almost cackled as she began to run after them, eager to start her experiments and get her baseline data.

"Hey stop." Asta said as Noelle stared in shock at the sudden problem of letting a former, well to her still current, enemy run off even if she had a restraint on.

"Come back." Marx ordered joining Asta. "You need our permission to do that, and you don't have it."

"Look." Sally said happily turning and pointing behind them. "It's the Wizard King."

It was a foolish, childish gesture but she'd done it because it worked. Noelle, Asta, Marx, and Makusa, all turned to look behind them out of reflex. That split second distraction was all Sally needed to act. As soon as their backs were turned she created a wave of gel with her magic and sent it at them before turning and running outside after her Black Bull prey cackling the entire time.

Asta and Noelle had been out of the range of the gel, or they weren't the targets as it only incapacitated Marx and Makusa and moved towards the wall. Sally's gel was a tricky thing to overcome, and Noelle knew it, it could even stop Nozel's Mercury Magic if Sally gave it a boost. The only good things against it were Asta's anti-magic and apparently Grey's Transformation Magic but right now they had more pressing matters to deal with, mainly the mad scientist on the loose in the woods.

"Leave us." Marx said from the gel. "Go after her."

"We're on it." Asta said as Noelle nodded next to him and they ran after Sally hoping that their teammates were alright.

It didn't take them long to find the first signs of Sally's work when a fiery explosion happened nearby indicating that Magna had likely been found and tested upon. However, by the time Noelle and Asta reached him he was already out of it moaning on the ground and singed from whatever Sally had done to him. There was a large syringe near him though where Sally had gotten it or even hidden it was anyone's guess.

That was followed by another explosion of blue smoke but again the pair were too late to it when they reached the location to find Gauche and Grey in a similar state to Magna. That was a surprise given how Grey was the only one who could successfully counter Sally as she knew how to avoid Asta's swords most of the time, though when Asta was in his Black Asta form Noelle doubted that Sally could avoid that.

One look at Gauche's bloody nose though gave them the answer as to why Grey hadn't been able to stop Sally. Sally had clearly used her magic to turn her usual gel salamander into a model of Marie which would have forced Gauche to stay Grey's hand long enough for Sally to experiment, another comically large, discarded syringe showing that part. Seriously, that man needed to get over his creepy sister complex, or at the very least be able to let a fake Marie be destroyed.

They were getting closer to her, the sound of a large gel salamander wandering the forest punctuated by occasional explosions wasn't hard to follow, and soon they heard another explosion nearby. They were not in time again and found Finral on his back groaning and a confused Vanessa on her knees clutching a corked bottle of wine with a red ribbon on it that had no doubt been used as bait. Seriously, where was Sally keeping these things and how did she know the perfect ways to distract the Black Bulls long enough to experiment on them.

Vanessa was the first teammate they'd found who could talk but she wasn't any help as she seemed to not know what was going on, so they left her and went on their way. They heard a muttering and ran towards it in time to see Sally's large gel salamander standing still as she fussed over a notebook she was writing in while sitting cross legged on its head.

As this was happening, the salamander shat out Charmy. Literally, she slid out from where its asshole would be under its tail and onto the ground mumbling something incoherent about food. Sally was clearly unaware of this as she kept muttering that her data wasn't giving her the results that she had hoped for. However, she wasn't moving so they had her, unfortunately not until after she'd finished experimenting on all the Black Bulls who had been present other than Asta and Noelle.

"Hold it." Asta said up to Sally to get her attention while Noelle got on her knees and pulled Charmy into her lap to check up on her.

"Say something Charmy." Noelle said worriedly to her friend, but all Charmy did was continue to mumble about food which for her was no different to normal.

"Asta, what gives?" Sally asked from atop her salamander. "Your supposed to be the last one, did you get tired of waiting?"

In response Asta just took his shirt off again causing Noelle to blush and protest again. Seriously, did he have no care for her poor heart when he stripped in front of other women. Well, women who were Noelle's rivals and wanted to slash up Asta that is as Charmy was ok due to her massive crush on Yuno so no threat to Noelle at all. In fact, she might be an ally given how their crushes were rivals, brothers, and best friends but that could wait for a bit, first Noelle had to stop Sally and send her back to prison.

"I won't go back on my word." Asta said seriously. "Do what you want to me but leave my teammates alone."

"You should go back on your word." Noelle protested from behind him. "This lunatic is going to chop you to bits."

Well, that and she really didn't want Sally's hands all over Asta, her jealousy wouldn't be able to handle it. Plus, who knows where Sally's hands might go as she might not stop with his chest. No, Noelle was not going to have any indecent thoughts of Asta, especially not with Sally, at least not right now. Noelle needed to focus on the task at hand first.

"We owe her." Asta said seriously as he looked up to Sally. "Because of her group we were able to reach the capital in time to save our friends. It's why I have to keep my promise to her."

"Good boy." Sally said happily as she leapt off her salamander's head her chain waving around her and looking rather useless. "It's important to be a man of your word."

"Just please give me something to knock me out." Asta said nervously.

Noelle sighed as Sally cackled, her tongue out in a near seductive way to Noelle's imagination, as she approached Asta claiming it wouldn't hurt a bit. As worried as Noelle was, and she really was worried for Asta, she couldn't do anything about it.

Asta was honoring his word to Sally, he was showing true integrity and nobility in a way almost no noble Noelle knew could do. It was just another reason why he was so amazing and why she loved him so much so for the moment Noelle held off, not for Sally's sake but because it was what Asta wanted, and she couldn't get in Asta's way unless it was to save his life.

Asta and Noelle closed their eyes as they waited for the inevitable. There was a snipping sound and then the clinking of chains as Sally backed off. Noelle opened her eyed to see that all Sally had done was take a lock of Asta's hard and was now holding it and the scissors happily though she could have at least taken another lock from the other side to make it symmetrical and not an affront to Noelle's eyes when she stared lovingly at the back of Asta's head.

"At last, it's all mine." Sally said gleefully holding up her price between her left thumb and forefinger. "I'll have to wait until I get back to culture it but now that I have it I can work with it."

"Wait all you wanted was my hair?" Asta asked confused.

"Weird." Noelle added just as confused at Sally's actions but for once glad she wasn't all over Asta so that was a huge positive.

"Well yeah don't you remember what you said to me?" Sally asked tilting her head at them and looking a little confused. "You said I could experiment all I liked so long as I didn't harm anybody. I guess I did cause them a lot of distress though, huh? Don't worry, they'll be back to normal soon. All I did was crank their mana up to the max and their bodies kinda just shut down."

As if to emphasize her point Charmy didn't seem to be in pain in Noelle's lap but was smiling and rosy cheeked from whatever Sally had done to her. That was a huge surprise to say the least.

"Wow Sally, crazy or not you held up your end." Asta said with a smile at her that Noelle knew was his charming smile that she loved to see on his face and pouted behind him as it was directed at Sally and not her. "And you're helping rather than hurting, good for you."

"Actually, I don't think I can get by with just your hair." Sally said coming up to Asta and feeling his chest and sides up. "How about some nail clippings as well."

"Sure, I don't mind." Asta said raising his hands and letting Sally gently caress his naked chest with her fingers as it was for the sake of science and helping people, so he wasn't embarrassed at all.

Noelle on the other hand was bright red and furious behind him. That was not how you got nail clippings from someone. The psycho was all over Asta and he didn't mind because he was far to oblivious to see what Sally was actually doing but Noelle could see it bright as day and her jealousy was kicking in full throttle. She was going to confront this woman in a matter of moments, once she put Charmy safely on the ground behind her first as this was about to get violent.

"While I'm at it how about I draw some blood, it's in the name of science." Sally said her head now against Asta's chest as she crouched down in front of him and Noelle's rage nearing its boiling point. "And your heart, lungs and eyeballs of course."

"Take your hair and get lost!" Noelle yelled giving Sally one chance to stop feeling Asta up in front of her.

"I don't care what you do so long as your research helps people." Asta said still smiling.

That single act got Sally thinking and she backed up, though still crouched before Asta as she looked up at him with new eyes. That was the first time someone had supported her work so long as it helped people and the way Asta had said it, and how he was smiling at being willing to aid her was new to Sally.

In the past she'd only joined the Midnight Sun because they let her do what she wanted and look where it had gotten her; used for her research followed by a painful death that was reversed thanks to Rades and a life sentence of penance in service to the Clover Kingdom. However, despite her crimes, Asta was still supporting her and giving her another chance so long as she helped people.

Add in that Asta had praised her when she'd help up her end of the bargain, even if she were only doing it to get her hands on some of Asta's genetic material, and she was starting to like the feeling he was giving her. Now, as she looked at his smiling face above her, she felt a tingle in her lower body that she'd never felt before, or at least not like this for another human as she had felt it when doing or wanting to a really interesting experiment.

Of course, that was also the moment that Noelle finally snapped. She'd hoped to get out of this ordeal without confronting Sally as it was likely they'd never see her again or if they did she'd still be in chains like she was now, maybe more as Noelle was going to suggest that to Mushroom Head as soon as she could, but this was too far. Noelle honestly wasn't sure what had caused the sudden snap, but she felt something shift in Sally's demeanor as she looked up at Asta and that was too much for Noelle's jealousy to handle.

She'd already put Charmy safely on the ground behind her and as soon as Sally created enough space between her and Asta, Noelle pulled out her wand and blasted Asta into the sky with water from beneath him the way she'd done so at the Star Awards Festival. It was both to get him away as she confronted a now startled Sally and to punish Asta for making her so jealous by allowing Sally to feel him up so shamelessly in front of her. She knew Asta would be fine and now she had her chance to confront Sally.

Before Sally could react, Noelle had already put her wand away and strode up to her. With Nero Noelle had been cautious when she'd confronted the girl, with Mimosa she'd been relaxed, Rebecca direct, and Kahono careful as each situation had required a different approach based on who the girl was.

With Sally, the only appropriate way to handle her was with violence. That was why Noelle grabbed Sally by the front of her shirt and hauled her up so that they were eye level and glad that this wasn't Asta's undershirt this time. She had to get in the psycho's face to make it clear who would win Asta.

"Look here you nutjob." Noelle snarled into Sally's shocked face at the sudden change in situation and too startled to use her magic. "Asta is going to be mine, do you hear me. I will win his big, lovable, generous, stupid, heart and that is final. He's been kind enough to let you experiment on him so long as it isn't painful and benefits us because that is just the kind of man that he is. It is because I love him and trust him implicitly that I will not stop him from allowing you to do what you have to do short of bodily harm, but you are do keep it professional with him. Do you understand me?"

"I think so." Sally said confused at the sudden shift in the royal's personality but given her words Sally had an idea what was going on. "I will do what Asta said and keep it professional with him. I only care for him and his body, as unique as it is to me, for scientific purposes."

"Good." Noelle said dropping Sally hard on her ass and backing up a few paces to be out of her blade range but never turning her back to the mad woman before her. "Glad we are on the same page but so you know, I don't like Asta for his body, I love him because of who he is as a person. He's the guy who is so kind and caring that he saved a girl who was an utter bitch to him when they met and then praised her power and promised to get strong with her. He's the guy who has given his enemy a second chance to prove herself and atone for her many crimes. Don't waste what Asta has done for you or else I will bury you."

"I won't." Sally said seriously, she owed Asta that much after he'd made that deal with her that had given her this second chance, but Noelle's words hit her hard and gave her pause to think on how she felt for Asta, she'd have to think more on it as she was confused about that right now. "I will use my second chance to help people, I promise. I will take what Asta has given me today and make items that will help the Clover Kingdom defeat the Spade Kingdom devils."

"That's right you will." Noelle said seriously as she heard Asta coming back. "Now don't say a word of this to anyone. This will be our little secret."

"As you wish." Sally replied though she was too distracted to really pay attention but if the girl who always got jealous when she was close to Asta was like this then she had a reason and if telling prevented her from experimenting on Asta, or even seeing him again which for some reason she didn't want to happen, then Sally could keep it a secret. "I won't tell Asta how you feel about him."

Noelle just nodded and glared at Sally not taking her eyes off the woman for a moment. It seemed that her fears had been unfounded and Sally's closeness to Asta wasn't because she had feeling for him but because of her lack of social graces and insanity when it came to her test subjects. It was good that Sally wasn't a threat like that but still, Noelle would never let Asta be alone with her for his own safety as she didn't trust the rogue mage as far as she could throw her without magic.

Little did Noelle realize that her words, combined with Asta's suggestion that she use her talents and his material to help people had hit Sally hard. She had a lot of thinking to do about how she truly felt around the fascinating anti-magic boy, and she had some time to do so before she had to return to her cell and the research that she was allowed to do.

"Alright where were we." Asta said returning and completely oblivious to what was going on between the two still conscious women, Charmy was still out of it behind Noelle. "What's next?"

The rest of the day was uneventful as Sally did her tests, collected her data, and let Mushroom Head and the science guy out of the gel she'd trapped them in. Well, Asta did that with one of his swords, but Sally didn't protest.

The Black Bulls who had been experimented on were clearly pissed until Asta calmed them down as only he could, and they were all alright as it was no lasting damage, and it might help people in the future. Add in that the science guy was clearly fascinated by the data and the potential it had and they couldn't be too mad at what Sally had done to them.

"What are you waiting for." Noelle said in her most annoyed voice to Finral as she was ready to be rid of Sally's presence around Asta. "Use your spatial magic and send them away."

"Er right." Finral said as he created a portal behind the three people facing them that led to capital while he cried about Noelle bossing him around again.

She didn't care what that sleaze thought. She wanted to see the back of Sally once and for all as soon as possible. The sooner that psycho was away from her and Asta the happier she'd be.

"Let's go Sally." Marx said as he and Makusa turned and entered the portal.

"Coming." Sally said as she ran to the portal with her chain clinking but paused just before it thinking on what Asta had said about research that helped people, her brief confrontation with Noelle, and how she felt about her best test subject.

"Good luck." Asta said happily waving at them. "See you soon."

That was it for Sally, she was sure that it was more than just some physical attraction to his unique anti-magic now. At first that was what it had been as Sally had always felt some level of attraction to those who fascinated her enough to want to experiment on them. Asta was different though. He was willing to give her a second chance to prove herself, as well as let her experiment on him, so long as she didn't harm anyone, and it benefited people. He was different and she liked it.

Now, after his earlier words about helping people had hit her so hard and the confrontation with Noelle had made her confront things about herself that she hadn't realized before, Sally knew that what she felt towards him was more than just interest in him as a research subject. His statement that he wanted to see her again soon was the final nail in the coffin for her. She had a romantic interest in Asta as well as a scientific one. Guess that made Noelle her rival as that girl had it bad for Asta. This was going to be fun.

"I hope you're right Asta." Sally said licking her lips as she turned to get one last look at him before glancing to Noelle and locking gazes with her as she spun a scalpel on her fingers before grasping it and pointing it at Noelle's face. "And you too Noelle, thank you for helping me see the truth about how I feel. We're going to be great rivals in the future."

With that Sally laughed and jumped through the portal as Noelle stared white eyed in horror at the spot where the portal had been, her hair on end and her mouth agape at what Sally had said. She had somehow done the exact opposite of what she'd planned. She'd hoped to get Sally to stay away from Asta unless it was for scientific purposes, but her confrontation had done the exact opposite. It had made Sally realize that she liked Asta and now openly called out Noelle as her rival. This was not good.

"What did Sally mean?" Asta asked confused as he and everyone else stared at the horrified Noelle. "You are her rival now? Why are you Sally's rival?"

"This is Sally we're talking about; she's probably just messing with us." Noelle said recovering enough to give her usual distain and flick one of her pig tails as she turned to head into the headquarters. "Now I don't know about you, but I could really use a bath after dealing with her."

With that Noelle strode into the base ignoring everyone else as she went towards the woman's bath. She wasn't wrong, she really needed to wash the day and Sally's presence off her with hot water. The others seemed to understand as they too returned to the base to do what they needed to to clear their minds of what Sally had subjected them too.

Noelle was pissed at herself for letting her emotions get the better of her and somehow making things worse rather than better, but it couldn't be helped. She'd been right that Sally was a rival, she just had miscalculated and unleashed that rivalry rather than preventing it.

Well, it didn't matter anyway. Noelle was going to crush Sally just like she was going to crush all her other rivals. She was going to win this and Asta would be hers. She just needed a few more conversations with non-rivals to make sure she was in the right place going forward. Only then would it be time for her to make her move, only then could she finally tell Asta that she loved him.

There it is, the last rival done, and it looks like Noelle has managed to make the situation worse by confronting Sally. I did this because it is a little confusing as to the nature of Sally's feelings for Asta as she's usually a borderline yandere around him but for the sake of experimenting on his body and not some twisted sense of love like a typical knife wielding yandere would be (looking at you there Toga). However, it seems like she does feel something for Asta as she honors the deal with him to not harm anyone and does want him to be safe even if it is so that she can experiment on him, not to mention the time she straddled him, licked him, and bit him after calling him pretty though a lot of that was for science (still, Asta should never tell Noelle what Sally did to him in the cave). Lastly, there is the way she looked at him in episode 140 when he said she could use what she wanted so long as she made items that helped people as that looked seemed to be her realizing something more and she really wanted to see Asta again when she left. It is because of that that I went for the Noelle accidentally unlocked Sally's for Asta and created a rival in the process, hopefully that worked as this is my interpretation of it. Anyway, that is all I have for this but even with all the rivals done with, Noelle still has important conversations to have and the next one is coming up soon, I wonder if y'all can guess who it will be with. As always, please let me know what you think in your reviews and PMs as I do like hearing from y'all and don't forget to follow and favorite my work.

Stringdog