Chapter Summary: Asta and Liebe begin the gruelling grind, some gossiping from Undine and Dryad and Asta finally deciding that he's taking murder into his own, unhinged hands.
A/N: apologies for the long wait, this was a bit difficult to write and uni has been huffing me. Nonetheless, go ham.
CHAPTER WARNINGS: burnout, suicidal ideation, memory dumpster diving and talks of murder.
"By the way, why do you want to know about Satanael?" Nacht asked, bringing the umpteenth stack of books with chicken scratch writing and loose papers. The stack of books made it's place among many others that Asta had yet to skim through.
It's been a little over an hour and a relatively busy schedule was made. Asta and Liebe would train with Nacht to master their union mode, then they'd take a break, during which Nacht would dump an entire library into his lap and they'd scrap through each book to find even a mention of Satanael.
It felt... weird looking through diaries of your dead past life that you weren't connected to. On one hand, the soul was kind of the same so there wasn't any necessity to feel bad about it. But on the other hand, it felt like an intrusion of privacy to a dead person, no matter how similar Babylon's chicken'-scratch writing seemed to be to his own.
Asta had already had a... hint of sorts that the house- or was it basement?- they were in was actually Nacht's past home. And that he was a ruined noble who fell because of some devil disasters. So maybe the stuff he had was something of a family heirloom.
Still. Babylon wrote a lot, a heinous amount even. Nacht alone had managed to dig up god knows how many stacks of writing from... somewhere, and even then he admitted that "this wasn't everything". Just what he could find.
And even then, the amount of information they could find was... scarce. And not even in the safe meaning. Most of the information they found was in footnotes, general chapters, small remarks and even hidden paragraphs. Some pages were ripped out, burned or even completely tainted in old flaky blood with incomprehensible coal scribbles over the page.
Either Babylon wanted to keep Satanael hidden, Satanael had edited himself out while Babylon was absent or some random devil-worshipping families had attempted to summon him, only for things to go wrong somehow.
Satanael was notorious in the Underworld. One of the oldest devils to have walked across the seven gates and one of the most ill-tempered and malicious ones to boot. If one were to look at him, they would assume he was a midrank devil, with his seven heads, oddly broken chains and shackles that seemed to merge with his skin and shredded figure.
One could not be more wrong about that and the assumption would cost them their lives. High ranking devils, contrary to Asta's previous assumption, came in a variety of body types. Satanael just so happened to be ripped, scarred and angry, having six heads as both decoys and limiters. Even his tail appeared different, similar to that of a serpents and with stakes- of all things- in them.
Maybe a testament of how quick to anger he was. Satanael was feared for how easily and quickly he'd do in devils of any rank, depending on his mood. Even humans weren't spared. Hell, a book even mentioned how nigh impossible it was to form a contract with him. He killed humans for no reason outside of simply because he could. And not even for their despair or malice. Just taken out, like a particularly mad person would swat out mosquitoes.
A page had even mentioned he wasn't above ripping horns and wings out, which brought out a shudder from Liebe and him.
All talk, though. There was so much information on why you wouldn't want to cross paths with him, but very little actual information about his magic.
"Uhhh..." Asta groaned, side-eyeing Liebe who gave a shrug, and lowered the book he was holding. "Remember when I said Satanael is the reason why Babylon kind of disappeared?"
Nacht simply nodded.
"We kind of saw Babylon die? In a dream, I mean. And not just some random death and reincarnation. We actually saw what happened during the first Qlipoth." Asta said as he lowered the book. "Something... happened that made it impossible for Babylon to use their contracts, they got attacked, Satanael found them and they kind of..."
"Babylon said fuck the Underworld and it's devils and got sick of it, Satanael indulged them and basically wiped both himself and them out of existence. Soul, body and everything." Liebe finished.
"But you're here." Nacht said, shadows overlooking his eyes. "And if Satanael and Babylon both exterminated themselves, then it would make sense that if Babylon were to be reborn, so would Satanael."
That was terrifying. Nobody wanted to deal with a very angry high ranking devil, much less if that devil was Satanael who had been rudely awoken from their sleep in oblivion.
"Maybe? I mean, he already kind of is. In me, at least. He kind of sacrificed himself to kind of wipe the slate clean-"
"But how?" Nacht asked, much more invested in the question now. "Maybe he sort of cursed you? Curses are similar to traps, just long functioning. They have a set criteria for activating and set ailments for being in a passive state."
"That's likely. Babylon did say they wanted to die and forget all of devil kind, not to mention how they didn't want to be Babylon anymore. Remember? I'd rather be born with no mana and no family, yada-yada." Liebe said, putting his own book down. "But isn't the only devil with Curse Warding in the Underworld Megicula?"
"Maybe so, but many devils have spells that function longterm. If I'm correct, the devil that caused the elf reincarnation event had sent the souls of the elves 500 years into the future and then had them stay dormant for another ten or twenty. It's all dependent on the intent of the spell." Nacht added.
"So Satanael made a spell that kind of... shattered his and Babylon's soul, making them forget their memories and distorting their mana?"
"No, melded would be more like it. Kind of like when you melt two different metals together? If we had a better understanding of Satanael's magic- if it even exists at this point- then we'd get a lot further." Liebe sneered.
"I mean, maybe? But his magic is weird. Kind of like light magic but more... volatile?" Asta said scratching his head. All this theorizing wasn't getting them anything but headaches.
"Maybe so. Devil light magic isn't a stretch. If I'm correct, some records mentioned two twin devils having devil ice and devil fire magic, but the extent of its power is unknown." Nacht added, sitting down on a pile of dusty books.
"...it still doesn't feel right. I mean, it kind of does but it also kind of doesn't." Asta groaned. He wasn't wrong about the feeling. Devil light magic sounded like a ludicrous type of magic, even if the users he's fought were insanely strong. "I mean, isn't light magic supposed to be yellow and white, not red?"
"Red?" Nacht asked. "That... doesn't make sense."
"What do you mean?" Asta asked, looking over to the vice captain. Liebe had also managed to shimmy his way closer.
"The color of light in the Underworld is purple. Violet even." Gimodelo piped up from Nacht's shoulder. "Naturally, the Underworld is different from the human world, but all the light that comes out of it is a variation of purple. If Satanael had devil light magic, it wouldn't be red. It would have had to be purple. Honestly, red isn't even that much of a natural color there. Outside of our eyes, it doesn't really appear all that often."
Liebe and Asta looked over each other, confusion evident. This was very weird. One, because the closest equivalent of Satanael's functioning magic doesn't actually match its description but also because Liebe's magic, while primarily black, had red hues.
This just made no sense.
"How did you say Satanael managed to kill Babylon again?" Nacht asked. "You never mentioned that. And how did the color red come into this, actually?"
"Babylon was running around with a spear in their stomach, they kind of collapsed, Satanael came around in a form of red light and burned the spear and the people chasing-" Asta recounted before flinching. Burning, burning! That's it! "I got it!"
"Oh boy, another stupid idea of yours. C'mon, let's hear it." Liebe sighed.
"Satanael's magic isn't light magic because the light was a side effect of the magic!" Asta said, waving his left arm around. "It's not fire or light, it's burning! Erasure magic!"
"No, no, but you're on to something. Red light as an additive reaction from his magic might make more sense. But it begs the question, what kind of affinity radiates red light." Nacht pondered while patting Asta's arm to not scatter dust.
"Hell if we know, how does red light come across naturally in the first place? Do we even know anything about red light?" Liebe added. Asta thought for a moment.
What was the biggest emitter of red light?
...
No. There's no way. That sounded ridiculous.
"What sounds ridiculous?" Liebe asked. Asta forgot they could read each other's minds now. Damn it.
"...The sun?" Asta presumed. There was a moment of silence between the three.
"The sun?" Nacht asked again, leaning just a bit more on his elbows. Asta nodded sheepishly. "How?"
"I mean, you know when the sun sets or rises really close to the horizon? It turns red, doesn't it? Since the light isn't as bright or can't hit us as much, it isn't hard to see what color it is, right?" Asta explained.
"... we need a book on color theory. And light. And light refraction and reflections." Nacht sighed.
"Wait, don't you have one?" Liebe pointed at the vice captain.
"I have books on devil summoning and theory, not whether or not the sun is actually red." Nacht's eye twitched in annoyance. Shadow arms grabbed the books and pulled them to a safer spot as Gimodelo bounced back into Nacht's shadow. Oh no. "Since you have enough energy to sass me, you have enough energy to train."
For Noelle, to wake up in an elf village, Elysia, and to know they were rescued by the people they had fought six months ago was... a shock, to say the least.
Shock didn't last long when the situation had ended the way it did. They had to get stronger, all of them, as quickly as possible.
Which somehow made her the temporary host to Undine, who was unarguably picky and unreasonable with her vague standards, and learning of Saint stage.
"You see, we spirits and deities are the manifestation of natural mana and human hope. The direct counter to devils, who are made from the Underworld's negative mana and human malice. As such, we alone have the base mana that can purify malice, specifically because we're in our home turf!" Dryad explained cheerfully. "Under normal circumstances, Ultimate magic would be enough. However, these aren't normal circumstances. In your case, Megicula isn't just a big shot, they're one of THE big shots. Just about anyone can destroy a devil's body with Ultimate magic but destroying the heart demands that you directly purify it."
Noelle bit her lip in frustration. That did make sense. By fighting Vanica, she would be fighting Megicula as well, to an extent. And she has to win. She will. She doesn't want to think about the suffering Lolopechka and Asta probably underwent, much less what would happen if she were to fail. Megicula seemed like a zealous devil that simply liked to toy with humans. First her mother, then captain Charlotte, then Lolopechka and now Asta-
Wait. Didn't Asta go up against a devil? And delivered the final blow? Was it because of antimagic or-
"Wait, but if deities are the embodiment of human hope, then that means Babylon is a deity too, right?" Noelle asked. Maybe, maybe, the reason why the devils were directly after Asta was because his past life was a deity that sided with the devils? Then if they can prove that Asta's switched factions, the whole situation could be salvaged. At the very least in court. To think all this started because Asta was wrong judged in court and they needed evidence...
Dryad and Undine's tense posture and uncertain glances told another story.
"The thing is... we're not sure. We're not sure what Babylon is, or, was for a matter of fact. Deities and devils are similar in a way, that we're one singular being that can contract themselves to humans but not each other and most of the time lack a physical body. Babylon is... an exact opposite. And an ancient one too. To be fair, I'm only five centuries old! Undine is older so she might know~" Dryad looked at Undine, effectively switching the conversation to her.
"... its true. Before I contracted the Heart Queen twelve hundred years ago, I bounced from host to host. But even then, Babylon still existed. They were a blight, constantly causing either havoc or luring others with their power into devil contracts. No matter how many times anyone killed them, they always came back. I had to chase them out of the Heart Kingdom multiple times before the first Qlipoth. Salamander had even proposed that they were a devil that stole the bodies of newborns. That turned out... not so swell for him." Undine began.
"But the matter of fact still stands. Babylon wasn't a devil, nor a deity but certainly not human. A human form, yes, they had that, but that was as far as it went." The water spirit finished.
"But the human body implies that whatever they are, they came from humanity, right? And the fact that they weren't immortal or had longevity either. So they had to have had human origins, especially if they had been gone for a thousand years." Noelle pushed forward. Maybe, maybe if they could prove that Asta was definitely on the side of humanity, the threat of a second trial with an execution would be considered null. They already knew his devil was against other devils, so they could rule him out as a neutral party.
"Maybe. But... we certainly know they died by someone's hand during the Qlipoth."
"How do you know that?" Noelle asked, seeing Undine's almost nauseous look.
"... Gnome. Gnome bragged to us that his host had killed Babylon. An iron magic mage. He bragged about it for two years." Undine said with a decent amount of distaste. "Two years later a devil host had taken that host's head and spell in vengeance. We haven't seen or heard head or hide of him ever since."
"You're joking." Noelle said drily. They were actually joking, they had to be. The only spirit they hadn't encountered yet was the one that knew all the answers to what the hell happened that day. Noelle wanted to rip her hair out.
"No. I'm not. We had assumed that the thousand year hiatus meant that Babylon was gone for good. Well, one part of them is, maybe even the most crucial one. Gnome said his host's iron spear had stabbed them through the abdomen and they were forced to retreat from the ritual site, some followed after. When he tried to follow the steps, he said all he found was a completely charred earth." Undine answered. "What's weird was that most of the bodies could be identified but none of them were Babylon's. And with so many contracts to devils..."
"You don't think-" Noelle said, a new wave of sweat going down her spine.
"Babylon committed suicide? It's a shot in the dark. We don't know why they would do that, or why they decided that we shouldn't be able to bury them. It's never happened before. Why then? Why during the Qlipoth? What were they trying to achieve? We don't know. And if Asta truly doesn't remember anything, then it's likely we'll never know." Dryad added.
A chilling silence enveloped the cave.
"Why the sudden interest? I know you know the new Babylon but why such... attachments?" Dryad broke the silence.
"Asta was the first person to actually respect me. Back when I couldn't make even a single spell, or control even a single spout of water. I nearly drowned in my own magic. It was a failure, a mistake I nearly payed with my life- but he called me cool. He didn't look at me like I was some black spot on the team. He just looked and me and saw me." Noelle answered, the encounter playing in her head. "It was the first good memory I had. But-"
"But?" Dryad drew out the word, clearly interested.
"We grew, both in strength and bond. I felt happier in the squad, we both did. I guess I grew attached to him. And when I heard that- that those devils hurt him and in such ways- and how Asta suffered because of it. I just wanted to do something, so bad. But-"
Rage clogged in her throat like a rock. The fight against Vanica ended horrendously, even if the casualty was Lolopechka. Perhaps because the only casualty was Lolopechka that it made all the more horrible.
Another person. Another person who she was unable to protect, regardless of whether or not she swore it-
First it was her mother, and as such the reason for all her suffering, then later it was Asta, who ended up losing so much at their hands and to live with that pain in fear of it repeating, and now Lolopechka-
Lolopechka, who was unfairly cursed because of her position and power, was taken away as a bargaining chip.
Lolopechka, who was terrified of death at Vanica's hands, was taken on a mere whim, likely suffering even now.
Lolopechka, who knew Asta was Babylon and didn't hate him for it, who even understood how little Asta wanted the position, in spite of notoriety.
Megicula's words still echoed through her head like a curse.
"A magic knight from Clover, you say? Beelzebub's host razed Diamond Kingdom to the ground, and me and Vanica don't particularly sense anyone here. That means Babylon is from Clover Kingdom. If you wish us to spare the Heart Kingdom's "wisdom", then how about you give us a reason for that. Bring us Babylon and maybe we'll let Lolopechka live."
A trade. Asta's life in return for Lolopechka. Even the horrendous remark about kidnapping a child to fight her mother, Acier Silva, seemed tame in comparison to the nigh insulting proposition.
The answer was obviously no. No a hundred time with a million profanities added. At least, that's what she wanted to say but Vanica had decided that no, this isn't enough, let's blow the kingdom up!
So Noelle swore, she swore she will not accept such terms. She'll get faster, get stronger, get more brutal and defeat Vanica, along with Megicula. For the sake of the kingdoms, Lolopechka, Asta and her mother's tormented soul.
And for her own piece of mind. Maybe both her and Asta's minds. God knows Asta would feel relief at knowing there was one less predator waiting for him in his sleep.
"Noelle?" Undine asked softly. Noelle snapped out of her inner rage, remembering she was still there.
"I'm fine. We'll win. We'll defeat Vanica and rescue Lolopechka, no matter what." Noelle said.
"I know. But you need to learn Saint stage first." Undine said. Noelle sighed. No, she was right. No time for boiling in rage. She needed to get stronger.
Asta doesn't remember how long he and Liebe have been training and fighting. The ache in his bones and itch under his skin has been prevalent for so long it's been forced into the back of his mind.
It's like a fever dream at this point. Fight, lose, eat, drill through the books only to find nothing outside of what they know, rinse and repeat.
It's become a haze. A haze of adrenaline, sweat, words on parchment and buzzing in the back of his head.
Asta felt so stressed and frustrated at it. Liebe didn't know how to do it and, frankly, neither did he or Nacht. The contract they had was virtually unheard of so they could only figure it out, step by step. The only problem was that neither of them knew what step one or two was.
How the hell did Babylon manage to pioneer at least a hundred contracts like this?! Asta was already going insane with how both he and Liebe were boiling their brains over how to do it.
Devil union, for Nacht at least, was him managing to utilise 100% of his contracts' power. To him, it was like drawing mana from a secondary source, easy as making simple spells, as he explained. That had only garnered Asta and Liebe's frustrated and tired glares, mostly because how the fuck were they supposed to do that when neither of them had any mana?!
There's a nigh limitless amount of frustration, just waiting to boil over in both of them and time is running out for everyone.
They didn't sleep, they barely ate, one can't even consider the literature scouring rest. There's so little left of both their sanity that even Nacht seems to purposefully make his attacks seem easier to dodge.
The haywire ideas Asta made up to try and work them through, even at least one helpful shot in the dark, didn't get them anywhere.
They don't need a guide, they just need a direction. Even one step in the right path would do so much.
Just a small hint, even a crumb of chance would be enough.
"It's about time to meet up." Nacht suddenly said. Asta's heart nearly stopped.
"Huh?! It's already been two days?!" He couldn't help but exclaim. Time didn't really register properly anymore, probably due to a lack of sleep but still. They still didn't manage to achieve union. Damn it, they just needed a bit more time. Just a little bit, just-
"No choice then..." Nacht said, shadows illuminated in the candlelight suddenly growing as the candles went out. "If it's not going to work anyway...then die here."
Asta could feel something shift in the air and made a grab for Liebe's hand, who had already been reaching for him. They managed to enter black mode just in the nick of time as they were suddenly engulfed in darkness.
It was pitch black. No sound, no light, no warmth, not even the barest hint of ki anywhere. Simply pitch black, devoid of anything that could be sensed.
A blunt force attack smashed into Asta's left cheek.
"You did have potential and yet... What a shame." He could hear Nacht say. "In the very least, we'll take out Babylon before they could become a threat or a bargaining chip."
More attacks suddenly started raining down on him.
Death was slowly creeping on him, weighing him down, threatening to crush and Asta couldn't sense a thing. His senses feel like soup, its dark, he can't see a thing and blows against his body don't relent.
He's reminded of the time he got drunk in the Underworld and knocked out but this was different.
This was true terror.
And yet, with both their backs against the wall, neither could feel any closer to union. If anything, the panic and lack of senses made them even further.
Why?
Why, why, why-
Neither could die here, they couldn't they had to-
- save captain Yami-
- avenge Licita-
And yet-
They couldn't let the other die. They had to live, they had to survive-
They couldn't let him die-
Their vision suddenly burned red.
And when Asta opened his eyes again, he saw the world blurr, fade and twist, as if swimming through murky waters.
Only to have his sight cleared and be in the Underworld. But something felt off, Asta could tell. This wasn't the Qlipoth catacombs, where Asta was chased constantly. No, this was a wasteland with a sky that had no sun, with muddy ground that seemed to ripple and strange structures and rock structures.
Asta was brought out of his musings when a demon literally walked through him. As if he was intangible. The ki in this place, it felt like-
"A memory?" Asta said out loud, and as assumed, no reaction from the horde of devils that seemed to scattered about. Were these... Liebe's memories?
The sound of something hitting a rock brought Asta's attention to the scene in front of him. When he turned, he swore his heart stopped.
A small, scrawny devil had been thrown into the wall. Blood had been smudged around the wounds of him, some parts of the white, pale hair turning a sickly pink. The wings, small and torn, twitched weekly along with a familiar tail.
Asta instinctively ran to small one, reaching out with hand, as if to try and snatch him away from the danger that lurked.
A large, black, clawed hand beat him to it and a high ranking devil shaked him around, causing the small devil to cough and bleed more.
Asta suddenly realised what was happening as the words of the devils got clearer.
"Hey, let's throw him into the gate! I bet he'll explode into little bits!"
No, Asta wanted to say, too caught up in the moment to realise it wasn't real. Let him go, he didn't do anything-
"Ha! Like a firework! Why not! That way, this miserable existence will go out with a bang!"
Let him go, Asta's blood boiled, trying to reach for the small, malnourished and oh-so familiar little devil. He's so small, he doesn't deserve this, he's just-
"Go ahead. Cry and scream like you always do." Said the devil, holding the little devil by the head before reeling back his arm to launch him into the sky - towards the giant stone gate embedded in it.
"LET HIM GO!" The yell tore from Asta's throat. But it was too late, the small devil was already launched into the sky, the distance between the manaless demon and the gate shrinking in seconds.
'Finally, this garbage life can end.' Asta heard in his head resonate.
Asta's hands, still gripping the sword, moved on their own and swung with no direction in general - as if in desperation to tear this vision apart.
And it did. The scene melted away from the bleak Underworld back into the mausoleum and-
He had his sword raised, pointed directly at Nacht, coming down on him. And yet, everything felt like it was moving slowly. As if he wasn't even there. At that moment Asta realised, huh, the whole world looks tinted in red.
Realisation struck and Asta just barely managed to redirect the blade from slicing his vice captain in half. Even then, the oncoming antimagic slice seemed so concentrated that when it hit the wall, it consumed everything in a black fire that rapidly ate away at Nacht's devil union and the lit candles. Asta could've sword the leftover slice on the wall grew upwards onto the ceiling.
'Holy shit we did that, we nearly killed Nacht and destroyed this place, we are so getting a paycut.' Asta thought.
'Holy shit we did that, we are the fucking shit, Lucifero is gonna go down faster than a bag of rocks.' Simultaneously, Liebe thought.
In the split second of realisation, both ended up splitting and, from the nausea and stress, collapsing on their knees, with Asta holding the sword.
There's a small minute of silence that's filled with Asta's blood pulsing in his ears, Nacht's shaky and terror induced hyperventilation and Gimodelo's wheezes.
And in the next, half of the candle lit chandelier falls down with a crash, to the right of him, kicking up dust.
Both Liebe and Nacht flinch at the impact. Asta does not. Asta couldn't. Asta physically couldn't flinch, with his mind trying to wrap around what he just saw.
Those were Liebe's memories. They had to be. They were his memories and-
'Finally, this garbage life can end.' Those faded words, in a small, squeaky and familiar voice made a crack form in his heart. The grip on Yami's sword tightened momentarily, rage and hopelessness burning through him.
He couldn't let go of the sword. He just couldn't. All he could do was hold it in a vice grip, eyes blank as they kept seeing that scene play over.
"Asta?" But Asta didn't reply at Nacht's call to him. Instead, his head was replaying over and over what he saw. The fear, the rage, the desperation. The need and rush to reach, save, protect-
"There's bound to be some poor sod who doesn't go by a day before bleeding." Liebe's words from that day at the trial suddenly don't seem so bland. Right now, as Asta's mind flashes over to Liebe's small, tiny little bloody form getting picked up by its head, those words feel like a sting in his heart.
How old was Liebe when all of that started? For how many years, decades had he gone through torture, forced to endure and suffer? How long until he felt so broken that death seemed favorable?
Asta had barely survived the many encounters in the Qlipoth system with his fair share of mental instability from the devils.
But the devils broke Liebe. Hurt him to the point where pain seemed normal. And the damage may have been fixed, or smoothed over, somehow, but its there. It can't be fixed and-
Liebe suffered so much and he still chose to protect Asta in his nightmares, against the very things that hurt him.
Asta felt guilty tears swell up in his eyes. How many times did Liebe had to swallow his fears to grab Asta out of the situation? How many times was it a close call? How many times he had felt too jittery to simply be left alone? Was that why he kept Asta around after fetching him from the Qlipoth caves, scared that Asta might fall back in and scared of being left alone?
How long had Liebe been in the grimoire in the first place? Before the grimoire chose Asta?
"Hey." A clawed hand gripped Asta's shoulder, firm cold grip ripping him out of his assumptions. "It's fine."
"It's not!" Asta replied to Liebe, tears of outrage threatening to fall from his eyes. His throat burned and he felt like he could barely push the words out. "They nearly- and you were fine with- and you nearly-"
Hands finally let go of the sword and embraced Liebe. They wrapped around him tightly, scared to let go. A lanky, pair of arms returned the gesture
'I know. It's not fine. It never will be. But I survived and that's what matters now.' He heard Liebe in his thoughts.
'We'll talk about it after this, right?' Asta asked.
'...Maybe.' Liebe said, unsure of himself. Was he unsure of whether or not he and Asta will still be together after this, or whether or not either of them survives? Asta couldn't tell, but his eyes burned with tears that threatened to spill.
Why was Liebe so... so ready to die? Why was the goal of killing Lucifero sounding less as vengeance and more like a suicide mission? Who did this to him? Why would they do this to him?
Asta already knew the answer but it didn't stop the outrage at the devils of the Underworld.
'It's just how it is in the Underworld. You can't change it.' Liebe whispered into his mind again.
'Promise me you won't die. Promise me you won't give up. Please. Even after the Qlipoth, even after we kill Lucifero, promise me you won't die. Please.'
'Then you have to swear you won't die either. I won't last long at their mercy if you die, you know that.' Liebe answered. Small memories of how angry the devils were at the fact that Asta was contracted. How they seemed to loathe Liebe without even knowing who he was. 'We've only got each other to go to help for, so we have to look out for one another.'
Asta, at that moment, vowed he'd protect Liebe. He'd protect the Black Bulls. He'd protect Vice Captain Nacht. He'd rescue and protect Captain Yami.
And he'll do it, one severed devil head at a time.
Omake:
Asta: peace is always within reach-
Devils: do that
Asta, pulling out the devil decapitator: peace was never an option