Asta woke up in a dark lake of water. His sword in his hand he stood up. He noticed something else. He couldn't talk. He looked towards a faint light at the end of the lake. He saw a boy sitting on a chair with a fishing rod made of bamboo and a string in his hand. Next to him was an old man with a beard who sat next to him holding another fishing rod.
"Hey grandpa, why do we have to eat the beautiful fishes?" Asked the boy
"Ah, well you see, we need to eat them to survive. We eat life to gain it." Said The old man "however we can't eat too much or we'll get a tummy ache!"
The old man then tickled the boy's stomach, making the boy laugh uncontrollably. Asta tried to wave his hand towards the two. He wasn't seen.
'What the—' Thought Asta
"But grandpa, why do we need to take life to gain it?" Asked the boy
"That's just the way life is." Said the old man "a constant cycle of birth and death over and over again. Don't think too much about it."
Asta then felt the water swallow him, pulling him into the water. He lost all of his senses for a few seconds. He couldn't see. He couldn't feel. He couldn't hear. He couldn't breathe, yet felt no necessity to. He felt as if he was only a conscious floating in nothingness.
Suddenly he regained his senses. The water pushed him out. It revealed a kind of funereal where the same boy appeared only a bit older. Asta walked up towards the casket and inside was the old man from before. The boy started to cry uncontrollably while a sister from the church held him.
"Why?!" Yelled the boy sobbing "Why did grandpa have to die?!"
Asta then turned around to see a demon in front of him. The demon reached through Asta. Asta jumped and walked towards the side quickly, seeing the demon put a hand on the boy's shoulder. They were now in a shed. There was a strange circle on the ground written in blood.
"Are you sure?" Said The demon
"Yes of course!" Yelled the boy
"Very well then." Said the demon putting his hand on the boys face
Flashes of light appeared around the circle on the ground. Black and red Lightning surrounded the circle. The demon began to get sucked into the boy going in through his eyes, nose, mouth, and ears. The boy fell down, screeching in pain. Asta ran up to the boy and tried to help him. His hand went through the boy. Asta was then forced back into the wall.
"AHHAHHH!" Yelled the boy in pain "MAKE IT STOP!"
The boy grabbed his hands in a tight grip. His body had small amounts of lightning appearing all over his body. You could see shades of black in his eyes.
Then suddenly the boy spouted small horns on the front of his head. His teeth grew sharp and his pupils turned into a shade of light gray.
"Is...is it over?" Asked the boy weakly on the floor
'What just happened?' Thought Asta
"Lucy?" Said the boy quietly "Lucy? Where'd you go?"
Asta then sunk into the wall and was pulled out to see the same boy. The boy sat down on the ledge of a mountain next to a tree and sobbed over and over. The horns were gone this time however. He cried uncontrollably as he held himself in a hug.
"What have I done?" Cried the boy "why does this happen?"
The boy took out a book and began to flip through the pages. Each page containing weird symbols and signs. Tears stained the page as he flipped through them.
"There has to be something!" Sobbed the boy "there must be! Anything! If not I'll make it possible!"
The boy then flipped to a page that caught his eye. He looked through it as his face dropped.
"This is going to hurt." Said the boy quietly "but that doesn't matter. As long as I can have her back!"
Asta was then forced backwards into the ground and was dragged by chains. He was being dragged underwater. He could not breathe and could barely see.
It suddenly all stopped. He was held down in a chair by rope and chains. His mouth covered by a cloth. He saw gravestones of his friends and family on the ground. Every single one was there except for one. Yuno's.
"You'll be there too." Said a familiar voice
Asta was then forced onto his feet. He held his sword forward. In front of him Yuno appeared.
'Yuno?!' Thought Asta 'what the-?'
Yuno shot beams of wind at Asta making them go through his body. Asta's sword suddenly appeared inside of Yuno's chest. Yuno coughed up blood onto Asta's face.
Asta was then swallowed by the murky depths once more and saw flashing lights. He saw small fragments of Ryoto's memories. He mostly saw flames, lightning, and bloody swords. He then saw something that terrified him.
Ryoto was on top of a ledge looking over a pit of flames. In the pit, there were screams and yells of pain. Ryoto looked down into the pit with his bright red eyes, black and red tears flowed from them.
'Why am I seeing this?' Thought Asta
Ryoto wore a white kimono and a haori with blue cloud designs on it. On the center of the back of the haori there was a red dragon symbol. He also wore black pants that were tucked into his black boots.
He was stepping on a man with a sword going through him. Ryoto picked up the sword and drove it into the man repeatedly, smiling as the man screamed in pain.
Ryoto then stabbed him in the chest and made a rod of iron. He heated the iron with his hand and stuck it to the man's face, melting it. Ryoto then with a swing of his sword cut off the limbs of the man. He then swung the rod into the man's face repeatedly and at the same time healed him enough so that he wouldn't die. He then took the rod and stabbed the man through the chest.
Ryoto then threw the rod and the man into the pit of flames. His screams of pain could be heard as Ryoto looked into the pit. There was no regret in his eyes. Only anger and sadness. Ryoto walked off flicking his sword to get the blood stains off of his sword before putting it back in its case.
'What is this?' Thought Asta
Asta looked in terror. Flames and thunder hit from all sides. There were destroyed buildings everywhere leaving scatters of metal and rubble as far as the eyes could see. Bodies and corpses littered the ground with knives, swords, spears, and arrows through them. Asta looked around in one eighty. It looked the same everywhere.
The only person that walked out alive was Ryoto. Asta's head suddenly felt light. His vision was blurry. He collapsed on the floor. The last thing he sensed was the stench of blood.
Meanwhile
Ryoto arrived at the Black Bulls base two days later. Magma, Yami, Vanessa, Noelle, Charmy, and Finral were all there including Yuno, Mimosa, and Klaus from the golden dawn. Ryoto walked in through the door.
"Man, I always forget how tiring it is to walk." Said Ryoto kicking his feet on the ground
"Enough." Said Yami "why'd you call us all out?"
"Right well I suppose we should get to it." Said Ryoto "Asta is going to wake up any minute now. I'll need your help to make sure that he'll survive."
"Wait wh-"
"All right. Let's get started!" Said Ryoto "Klaus right? I'll need you to make some chains."
"If it'll help Asta get well." Said Klaus
"Vanessa wrap your strings around Asta's body." Said Ryoto, "Finral make a portal just in case."
"Just in case? In case of what?" Asked Finral
"Charmy, I'm leaving the most important job to you." Said Ryoto looking down at Charmy who was stuck to Yuno's leg
"You got it!" Said Charmy hopping off his leg and putting her hand up in salute
"Charmy I need you...to make food!" Said Ryoto
"That's what I know what to do best." Said Charmy with a serious face and putting a thumbs up
"Everyone else, hold him down with your magic. Mimosa I'll need you to heal him constantly." Said Ryoto
"Got it." Said Mimosa
"Is no one going to question this kid?" Asked Yami
"Right, I should probably tell you about what's going on in Asta's body right now." Said Ryoto
Ryoto then continued to explain to them about what was happening to Asta.
"...then on top of all of that, unless we do it incredibly specifically, his head could...might...has a chance of...exploding." Said Ryoto
"Oh no!" Said Mimosa
"His head could what?!" Asked Noelle "will he really be okay?"
'Not that I care or anything! I'm just interested in knowing.' Thought Noelle
"If we do this right then yeah." Said Ryoto
"Hmm..." Said Noelle as she looked at the ground and put a finger on her chin
"Just one thing Mimosa." Said Ryoto "no matter what, no matter how much he screams or yells, don't stop healing."
"Right." Said Mimosa seriously
"All of you should keep that in mind. He's basically going to hurt all over and be starved so just remember that." Said Ryoto
Asta was then held by metal chains and Vanessa's magic string. He was being healed by Mimosa and being held down by almost everyone.
Asta began to sweat profusely. His eyes suddenly snapped open. He yelled and screamed. A dark force then surrounded Asta making him kick around. He couldn't move his legs due to the chains and string. Asta's muscles began to flex as he started to panic.
His eyes began to bleed and his nails dug into his palms drawing blood. He started to cough up blood. Black and Red Electricity started to spark around his body.
"Mimosa! It burns! Stop!" Coughed Asta looking at Mimosa with desperate eyes
'I'm sorry Asta I can't!' Thought Mimosa as a tear ran down her face
"Noelle...!" Said Asta coughing blood
"Shut up you idiot we're helping you!" Said Noelle as she held down his arms
'What the hell is happening?' Thought Liebe from inside Asta's grimoire.
"Just a bit longer!" Said Ryoto
After a few minutes the electricity faded and Asta went back to normal. Ryoto snapped his fingers, putting Asta to sleep.
"Why'd you do that?" Asked Vanessa
"Oh, Asta needs some sleep. His muscles and tendons have gone under a lot of strain. When he wakes up he'll be starving." Said Ryoto "he should wake up in like five minutes or less."
"Hey! What's the big idea?!" Said Liebe in his tiny form
"Oh well that's a surprise." Said Ryoto "you've already managed to do this much."
"Answer the damn question! What the hell was that!" Yelled Liebe in a tiny voice
"I'd almost forgotten how cutesy demons could be." Said Ryoto poking Liebe's cheek
"Shut up!" Yelled Liebe putting his hands up over his head
"Everything should be fi-"
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!" Yelled Asta making everyone jump "I DON'T WANNA DIE!"
"You're finally awake A-" Said Noelle before being cut off by Mimosa, Who ran past her
"Oh Asta you're okay!" Mimosa said hugging him "I was so worried!"
"Mimosa! You're squeezing me!" Said Asta
"Oh I'm sorry." Said Mimosa jumping back and blushing
Noelle clenched her fists and pulled out her wand and splashing Asta with water before yelling "Idiot!"
"Why?!" Said Asta
"Hmph." Noelle pouted
"Asta catch." Said Ryoto throwing him a loaf of bread
"Thanks! I'm starving!" Said Asta biting into the bread
"You're always starving." Said Yuno
"Hey what's that about?!" Yelled Asta
"Charmy! You're up!" Yelled Ryoto
"Got it!" Said Charmy throwing a bowl of rice and pork "eat up!"
"So Ryoto," Said Liebe "Just what did you do?"
"Well firstly, I erased a part of his memory. I only erased the memories that contained anything from what he saw. Secondly, You and Asta are now both almost one hundred percent compatible with each other. Meaning that you both can now create even stronger moves and that your demon power in general has risen."Said Ryoto pointing a finger up "You'll also be happy to know that I've also extended the time limit for all of your different forms. There's also a new form that I've given you. You'll both need to figure that one out on your own. That's about it for now."
"For now?" Asked Asta eating
"Well Yeah. Once you're prepared, I can make you even stronger." Said Ryoto "you're a bit far from that though so I wouldn't think about it too much."
After Asta finished eating around thirteen bowls of food, Kentaro came bursting in through the doors with Takai in his back and Maimi in his arms. Both were bloodied and had several injuries. Ryoto turned around and tensed in fear of what he saw.
"Ryoto!" Said Kentaro "help!"
"Are they awake?" Asked Ryoto rushing over
"Yeah barely." Said Kentaro laying them down on the floor
"Let me-" Said Mimosa
"It's okay. Don't worry I've got it." Said Ryoto putting a hand over the magic knights "you healed Asta so you must be tired."
A surge of green magic went over them, enclosing them in healing magic. Water went all over their bodies except for their faces. Their wounds were healed quickly and the blood on their bodies and clothes began to dissolve in the water. Moments later the magic disappeared and the two woke up.
"Maimi!" Said Kentaro embracing her "you're okay!"
"Yeah." Said Maimi "I'm just fine."
"Yeah, don't worry about little old me." Said Takai
"Ryoto! It's really bad!" Said Kentaro "one of those monsters is in the capital. It went on a rampage across the town. It's being contained by some magic knights and even some captains. For some reason it won't die!"
Ryoto then exhaled. He stood up and stretched
"I'll take care of it." Said Ryoto stretching "how'd it look like?"
"It looked like a cow!" Said Kentaro
"No you idiot it looked like a bull!" Said Maimi hitting Kentaro over the head
"Oh right!" Said Kentaro
"A bull?" Asked Ryoto seriously "oh...shit."
"I'll go too." Said Asta
"No." Said Ryoto, looking at them seriously. "you'll all come along to see how to kill these things, but you won't do a thing. Understand?"
"R-right." Said Asta
"Anyone else?" Asked Ryoto
"Why should I? I'm a damn captain!" Said Yami
"Wow this sword will be great for this." Said Ryoto holding up Yami's sword
"What the-how'd you get that?" Asked Yami
"All right everyone let's go." Said Ryoto walking off
Meanwhile
"Damn this thing just won't go down!" Said Nozel
"Just keep attacking it!" Said Fuegoleon shooting fireballs at the monster "it'll die eventually!"
The monster stood tall on two legs and strong with long horns on its head and red eyes. It was blue with fur on its shoulders and small pink scars all over its body. It had red eyes and carried a giant sword.
"For now we just need to keep it under control." Said William
"Where'd this thing even come from?" Asked Dorothy
"No clue." Said Mereoleona "reinforcements won't arrive until later so we have to either kill it or contain it for a while."
"Where the hell is Ryoto when you need him?!" Said Kana
"Wow. So this is what he fights all the time?" Asked Yuka
Yuka wore a white tunic with a short light green cape. He also had brown pants that went into his leather boots.
"Pretty much." Said Kana "don't get carried away. This thing will kill you if you're not careful."
"Right." Said Yuka
"Why is there a child here?" Asked Fuegoleon "he doesn't even have a grimoire."
"Well he doesn't need one with the amount of power he has now." Said Kana smirking
The monster then attacked. It sprayed shots of acid at the captains. It grabbed chunks of rubble and threw them in the air.
"We need to figure out how to kill this thing first." Said Dorothy
"Let's go." Said Mereoleona
Can't say I've been feeling the best as of recently. I've been writing a lot but I haven't had the time to actually go through it and proofread it. Sorry.