A/N: I own copies of volumes of Black Clover, but not the franchise itself. I do own Wilhelm however, as he is a characterization of me, and I hope I own myself.
A figure stood on a branch of a tree, across a field from the town of Kiten. They looked out at the town and and thought about the defenses the town would have in place. The town would no doubt have sensors in place to detect any mana foreign to the town got close. They therefore took their grimoire, a light blue book with ornaments of shards of ice, with a diamond on the center of the cover, and put the book in a bag that would hide it's mana presence. They then secured a io tool on their wrist that would cloak their mana for the next few hours.
They had two objectives, to retrieve or silence the captured Hedri. And most importantly to eliminate the mana-less foreigner who has caused this slip up in the first place.
Wilhelm couldn't go back to sleep after Selena and Sol left, so he opted to get back up, ignoring his sore body, and left his room, heading for the main hall to get breakfast.
Upon entering the hall he saw only three people, two of them eating at the bar and behind the counter a bartender.
"Aye foreign kid." The bartender, a middle aged man Wilhelm had only spoken to once, which was him saying okay to hearing that the was given a temporary residence at the Inn. "Food?"
Wilhelm nodded and sat at the bar, while the man took the silence as to get Wilhelm anything, the man learning the day before that Wilhelm wasn't particularly any either way on food. To Wilhelm food was just food.
The teen sat in silence while waiting, thinking of the information he got from Selena earlier. Diamond was after some magical item that could empower them, and it was around Kiten. That meant Diamond mages would probably cross the border and attempt to fight to get it, especially if they heard that it was located. Wilhelm didn't know how these dungeons worked exactly, but it was likely that the artifact was in one of those.
Either way it didn't matter at this point. Sol said he needed to at least do some damage to her golem. That in of itself sounded easy, just getting a scratch on something. However this was a magic rock that already broke a few of his bones, and it was very doubtful that Sol would have the thing stay still for him to hit. That meant he had to train harder then he originally planned. Forget being not even fast enough to maneuver around the thing smoothly, he definitely wouldn't be able to strike the thing to damage it, not with his bare hands anyways. He'd have to split his time between speed and strength training, with a definite focus on the latter.
His food was placed in front of him, a plate of ham and eggs, and the teen absentmindedly ate it while thinking about training. After a minute the teen took out his grimoire and looked at it, leaving his plate half eaten as he flipped through the book. All the pages were blank still, just like he had seen the day before, and he wondered if anything could even be written in it. Mana made the spells that in turn can be used for magic, and if he had none that does show that it was definitely likely for him to not gain a spell. However he can't mope about that and focus on what he can do.
"What kind of magic do foreigners even get?" One of the other men at the bar asked as he faced Wilhelm. "Some magic can get pretty out there." He didn't look like someone who was trying to mock Wilhelm or start drama, then again Wilhelm wasn't the best at reading people.
Without sounding rude, a surprise to Wilhelm, he responded to the man's question after a second. "I don't have magic. The book is blank."
"Ain't that a kick to the teeth." The man rubbed his neck. "I thought it was odd to hear 'bout a lad with no mana washing ashore, but getting a grimoire and nothing with it is just putting lemons on the thing."
Wilhelm didn't reply because he didn't know what to say. Conversations were not his strong suit as back in his original life no one wanted to so much as look at him for the most part.
"It's curious that you got a book there though." The man continued. "A grimoire is an extension of a person's soul made through mana, or at least that's what people say. It makes it seem like mana is necessary to gain one. So someone who doesn't have mana at all, a whole different rarity, gaining a grimoire is a bit odd isn't it?"
"... Nothing about most of my time here has been normal compared to what it was back where I am from." Wilhelm took a second before speaking.
"I suppose that's a good point." The man rubbed his chin. "I think that book may have mana and is just being stubborn about what it has."
"Either way it doesn't matter." Wilhelm didn't want someone else to try to cheer him up about the book. "Mana or not, I'm still doing what I intend to do." He ran out of willingness to participate in conversations and got up to leave, wanting to train even if it wasn't even four a.m. yet.
The man watched Wilhelm leave the Inn and thought about the kid. "Feels too similar to Yami on first impression."
Wilhelm walked down the quiet streets of Kiten, planning to not stay in the walls while training, opting to be where other people were not. If he needs to get more power first and foremost, finding heavy objects to lift would be the smartest way of going about it.
The night sky actually gained Wilhelm's attention, as looking up at it he can see all the stars and even the moon brightly. A sight he didn't really get to see in his other life as he was in a city where light pollution took away the sight. It was mesmerizing to Wilhelm, and his awe at it is what let him see something that wouldn't have been seen had he not looked up.
A shadowy figure had jumped from one rooftop to the next, running along the buildings going the way Wilhelm had come from. Wilhelm stopped to observe them and took a second to resize they came from outside of Kiten, or somewhere along the edge of town. Recounting from Selena and Sol that Kiten is pretty close to Clover's border with Diamond, he took the safe assumption that the person he saw could very well be another Diamond mage. Therefore the teen quickly went back the way he had come, running quietly along the streets and trying to keep a general idea of the person's pathing along the roofs. It was relatively easy to do, as the person went towards the main square, a straight run from where Wilhelm had started following them.
The person stopped on a building bordering the square and looked around, scanning buildings. Wilhelm stayed out of sight but also tried to get details on the person, but needing a better view. Opting to climb the building quickly, a task that wasn't too demanding of the teen who had lived on the streets his whole life, he made his attempt at scaling the outside of the building. Architecture was on his side and he had a decent amount of leverage to use, so even with his still sore body he was able to make his way up quietly and decently quick.
When he finally got to the top he was surprised to not see the person on his roof anymore, gone like they hadn't been there at all. Quickly looking around the roofs bordering the square to his left and right he saw not a trace.
"Dammit." The teen cursed verbally as he rolled his right shoulder, annoyed at messing with the still-recovering limb for what was now a pointless reason.
Before he could even think about going back down off the roof he heard a step behind him, and turned to see a wooden board almost hit him. The teen barely got out of the way of the board before grabbing the end that would have been imprinted on the back of his head, stopping the person who had tried to hit him. He couldn't discern anything in the person's appearance due to them having a black furry coat that had a hood hiding their face. All he could see in the moonlight was their slender arm that was pale in tone compared to his.
"Hey!" Wilhelm responded as he yanked the board, which was released from the other person's hold without much struggle. "What're you doing?!"
Gaining no response Wilhelm had to back up as the person pulled a knife out from in their cloak, giving Wilhelm a chance to see that the person had a sand colored top underneath the cloak. He had to make sure he got as many details on this person as possible. The person made to slice at Wilhelm with the knife and he blocked it with the board, getting the blade wedged into the wood.
Deciding that words weren't fitting for this encounter Wilhelm went against thinking of questioning the person till at least they had no more weapons to try to attack him with. Twisting the board he managed to make the person lose their grip on the knife before he tossed the board aside. He was a bit taller than this person and seemingly had a better build, even if his was mostly lean and not yet all that muscular. Without the board and knife between them, Wilhelm moved at the person and attempted to swing a left hook before they caught his arm and moved to twist it.
Wilhelm undid the action by spinning with his shoulder as the center and bashed his shoulder into the person, before raising his right fist up and managing to strike underneath their hood, hitting what felt like their nose. The person stumbled backwards from the strike and their hood fell off their head as well, revealing their face.
The person was a girl his age, with short black hair and pink, cold eyes. Her nose was indeed hit and had blood coming from it. This didn't deter her as she kept her haze on Wilhelm and got into a fighting stance.
"Who are you?" Wilhelm went against his earlier thoughts and asked her that question. He thought they may admit their identity now that he had seen her face.
"Why not use your magic?" The girl asked her own question, moving to her right very slowly.
"Why not use yours?" Wilhelm was in no way going to admit he had no magic, although she should probably sense his lack of mana like everyone else was seemingly able to.
"Because I'd rather not set off the alarms here."
"So you are from the Diamond kingdom?" Wilhelm jumped to his first assumption.
"Obviously." The girl kicked her foot at the ground, hitting the board she had managed to get right next to, sending it and the knife still wedged into it at Wilhelm.
The teen caught the board and had to hold it tightly as the girl had rushed at him at the same time, slamming a foot into the board again, making Wilhelm stumble back a second before he flipped the board and held it longways, swinging the board as she tried to attack him again. The girl caught the board and grabbed her knife, trying to pull it out, but was stopped as Wilhelm released the board and swept a leg underneath the girl, throwing her off balance.
The board was dropped again and kicked away by the girl as she recovered from falling to the ground, right before she quickly spun to knock Wilhelm off his own balance, making him fall on the ground just the same.
The girl tried to make a move for the board, which she only kicked away to keep from Wilhelm's grasp. She was stopped momentarily from moving for it as Wilhelm kicked her in the leg hard and made her fall back over.
Wilhelm moved towards the board, thinking that whoever got that knife would definitely have the advantage here. As he tried going for it, the girl elbowed his side, before she made a chop at his neck with the same arm. Wilhelm caught the arm and copied her earlier action, twisting her arm and getting behind her, having her twisted right arm's elbow pointing straight up.
"Why are you even here?" Wilhelm spoke as he kept pressure on her arm.
The girl made a sound of pain before showing surprising flexibility and managing to jump and twist her arm to a safe position before slamming a knee into Wilhelm's chest, while still in the air. The sudden action and strike made Wilhelm lose his grip on her hand and stagger backwards, which gave the girl the chance to grab the board off the ground. Before Wilhelm can properly guard himself the girl swung the board and struck Wilhelm right on his face, cracking his nose and making him stagger again.
The girl quickly made to remove the knife from the board in the small window of time she made, and successfully freed her blade. She discarded the board and made to move at Wilhelm with the knife, who dodged out of range of a slash. As she made a second cutting attempt, Wilhelm caught her by the wrist and yanked her closer to him before striking her nose again. Before the girl could react, Wilhelm used her arm to spin her around and twisted her arm behind her, yanking the knife out of her hand in the process as well. Wilhelm held the knife to her throat and spoke again.
"I have the upper hand. Give me answers or I'll have no issues killing you like that fire mage." Wilhelm spoke coldly. "What are you doing in Kiten? Does it have to do with the asshole I gave a concussion?"
The girl didn't speak for a second, before she gained a look of thought. "You made Hedri get captured?"
"That wasn't the answer I was looking for."
"But you are him? The mana-less foreigner?"
"So what? My identity doesn't matter, yours does, focus on my questions. Why are you here?"
The girl gained a small smile as she realized why he had not used any magic, he was the person she was sent to deal with. "To eliminate you."
Before Wilhelm could react the girl gained ice covering her neck as a grimoire rose from a hidden place in her cloak. The teen couldn't pierce her neck anymore and instinctually moved away as large shards of ice ruptured out of the ground where he had stood.
"I don't have to hide my magic if you are here. I can eliminate you in the minute before anyone can react to the alarms I set off by using my magic." The girl turned to Wilhelm and pointed her arm at him. "Ice Magic: Piercing Glacier."
Spikes of ice rose from the roof in a straight path for Wilhelm, who was thankful for his earlier action of making space between him and the girl, and moved out of the path of the ice. Just as he moved out of the ice's path, he saw another wave of ice coming at him from the girl. Wilhelm couldn't get out of the way of this wave completely and it crashed into his left thigh, cutting and scrapping away at his skin as it knocked him over. The teen smacked into the ground on the edge of the roof, his senses out of focus as his head collided against the stonework. He struggled to get up, but was kicked onto his back by the girl slamming her foot onto his chest.
"Ice Magic: Frozen Blade." The girl spoke as ice appeared in her hand and formed into a sword, with the tip right against Wilhelm's chest. The ice-made blade actually made him feel cold around where it was touching his chest. "Before I kill you, tell me if anything was pulled out of Hedri."
Wilhelm groaned as his head came back together. "I don't know what he said."
"Liar." The girl pressed the blade just enough to make a cut in Wilhelm's shirt and draw small amounts of blood from him. "I never confirmed that I knew he said anything yet. You slipped that he did say something just now."
"That's just phrasing." Wilhelm reasoned.
"Either way I will kill you now." She raised her sword to thrust back into his heart. Before she could pierce his skin a second time, Wilhelm punched the blade with his left arm, hitting the flat side and knocking it off the intended path.
The sword went right into Wilhelm's right upper arm, making the teen clench his jaw to hold in the yelp of pain. As that happened, Wilhelm raised his foot off the ground and managed to kick the girl in her back. She gained an expression for the first time and looked annoyed with Wilhelm and yanked the sword out of his arm, making the teen hiss in pain again.
The girl tried to stab Wilhelm in the chest again only for him to raise his left arm, and catch the blade, with it stabbing into his palm. The stabbed teen reacted and used the fact that the blade was caught in his arm and moved his arm to make the blade go away from cutting any other part of his body. Before the girl could pull the sword from his hand, Wilhelm gripped the sword tightly and pulled backwards, making the girl lose balance due to her own grip on the sword and she fell forward, right towards the edge of the building.
Wilhelm spun to get another kick in, hitting the girl in the back of her knee, sending her to a kneeling position as he quickly made to get up. It wasn't easy due to his right arm's now uselessness from being stabbed, and his left hand having a sword made of ice currently lodged in it. He couldn't defend properly as the girl sucker punched him in the throat, his breath taken away from the action. The girl used that moment to rip the sword out of Wilhelm's hand, and raise the sword to point at Wilhelm's throat. The wounded teen was kneeling on the ground still, with the girl actually standing just inches from the edge in front of him.
"I now understand why Percy had retreated back to Diamond. Even with no mana you managed to put up a fight that would put some of the mages I have killed to shame." The girl said as she moved to make a slice across his neck.
Wilhelm refused to die and used every ounce of energy in that second to leap forward, jumping at the girl and slamming his forehead into her jaw. He was still struck by the sword, but his sudden action made it only cut deeply into his left arm, which was better than his throat, as the momentum of his leap sent both teens off the building.
As the two fell they couldn't really react to their situation well, Wilhelm crashing into a wooden post that held a lantern before being slipped to his back and slamming into the street, rattling his person. Wilhelm felt intense pain from both arms as the blade, which was still stuck in his left arm, had been twisted from the impact with the ground before falling out, and his right arm had been what hit the ground first, breaking his forearm at an uncomfortable angle. The girl had fallen a few feet away from him, having slammed into a few crates next to the building, injured her leg and bruising her left arm and side. Both teens groaned in pain and tried to get up at the same time, weakly due to their injuries.
Wilhelm couldn't feel either of his arms at that moment, making him have to try to stand without their assistance. The teen got to his knees and saw the girl slide off of the crates and limp her way down the alley next to them.
The girl felt panic as she could feel the approaching mana of other people. Meaning she was not going to be able to kill her target now unless she herself gets captured. For now she had to get away and plan for a later success.
"Hey!" The teen called out as he staggered getting to his feet, attempting to chase after her despite the massive disadvantage he had.
"Ice Magic: Chilling entrapment!" The girl pointed beyond her and made a huge wall of ice, covering every part of the alley as it moved forward, covering even a big portion of the street. As it reached Wilhelm's feet the ice spread up his legs and stopped halfway up his thighs, freezing him in place and making him watch as the girl disappeared.
Wilhelm groaned again as he felt too weak to even attempt trying to get unstuck that moment. It didn't matter either way as he heard the sound of a few people arriving a few seconds later.
"What happened?" The voice of Charlotte called out from the roof he had just fallen off of.
"Dia... mond..." Wilhelm wheezed, his breathing harsh due to his nose's broken status. "Diamond mage." He looked down the alley, hoping everyone caught on since he couldn't actually point in the right direction. "She went that way."
Charlotte dropped off of the roof and landed on the street with a soft sound, and kept her weapon out. "Puli, Liv, you get the boy out of the ice and to a medic. Rest of you girls come with me." The remaining members of the Blue Roses all followed Charlotte as Puli and the girl named Liv both got to Wilhelm.
"Fire Magic: Flaming hearth." Liv said as she pointed at the ground in front of Wilhelm and a fireplace was formed out of the ground and began to melt the ice.
"You seem to have a knack for attracting fights with Diamond mages." Puli commented as feathers of hers chipped at the ice.
"She said she was here to kill me."
"You specifically? Or was she being dramatic and such?" Liv asked.
"Wing Recovery Magic: Feathered Cloak." Puli used a spell that made feathers cover Wilhelm in a cloak-like fashion. He felt the pain lessen and gained relief.
"I doubt she was being dramatic. I don't know why she would target me anyways." Wilhelm replied to Liv.
"My recovery magic is next to barely usable. The cloak will only stop the pain and not let injuries worsen for now." Puli turned the focus of the conversation. "Let's continue the questions after we get you to a better recovery mage."
"Okay..." The wounded teen didn't argue that, but as soon as he was freed and tried to take a single step he ended up falling forward, his legs in worse shape than he realized.
Thankfully Puli quickly had feathers catch him. "Quickly now." She had the feathers carry him with haste as she and Liv escorted the teen.
Charlotte had a neutral expression as she looked around the buildings, standing on top of the one where the foreign teen had been attacked. The search was fruitless and she has some of the Roses looking around while she returned to the original spot of action. Blood and ice covered the roof and made it clear the two had indeed fought. She didn't know how the mana-less teen would have prevailed if the sensors didn't alert the city guard and the Blue Roses, however luck was on his side and they got there and ended the fight before his death. Only issue now was finding out why that mage was here, and where she went. No one had any reports of seeing a person cross over the walls, meaning the diamond mage was more than likely still in Kiten.
The captain of the Blue Roses was stopped from continuing her thought process as she heard a humming sound. Turning to the source she saw a grimoire, a plain green one with the three leaf clover on the front. It had gained a slight glow coming from a page inside. Moving to investigate she picked up the book and opened it, seeing that words were writing themselves onto the first page, meaning whoever's grimoire this was, they had gained a spell.
Dropping against the wall the girl coughed hard, her body aching. Now that she had gotten away she had time to think, and specifically about her target.
That mana-less teen was heavily underestimated, which led to her having to retreat for the time being. She shouldn't have tried to interrogate him about Hedri, that could've been done with Hedri himself. Her incompetence let him live for the moment, and she planned on making sure she wouldn't fail when she recovered and went after him again.
An hour later Wilhelm was lying in a bed in a room at the Blue Rose's base in Kiten, having a mage use her magic, wind magic, to heal him. It wasn't even just her as a Rose with Stone magic had to also help, Wilhelm's injuries being bad this time.
Wilhelm was content with not speaking yet and being silently thankful for the healing magic, and the silence was broken when Sol came on in.
"So you couldn't not be a dipshit for more than a few hours?"
"She was being suspicious and my gut said to at least see what she was up to." Wilhelm didn't look at Sol, thinking the floor to be a better place to look. At least the floor didn't refer to him as a dipshit.
"Puli already told me what you told her. You should be glad that we saved your ass."
"You weren't even there."
"Either way, Blue Roses saved you from dying."
"They did. Thank you." When he said that the stone magic girl next to him, using a spell that used clay to somehow heal the gash on his arm, gave him a look of surprise that made him look at her confused.
"So you can be appreciative?" Sol remarked jokingly.
Wilhelm looked up at her with a flat expression. "Sorry I didn't show that after you used a giant rock arm to slam me into the sand right after I woke up washed onto a beach and accused of being an enemy."
"Don't be suspicious then."
Wilhelm's expression looked like he wanted to headbutt a wall. "You didn't give me a chance to properly explain myself."
"I was guarding the border, you seemed out of place. I was right on that since you're not from here."
"Your logic pains me."
"More than you being stupid and tackling someone off of a roof?"
At that point Wilhelm stopped talking and the Stone magic girl couldn't help but let out a small laugh, making Wilhelm look at her again, although not showing irritation as he did.
"Sorry." The girl responded again as she went back to her magic.
"Good job not dying." Sol sat down on a table in the room. "Guess you can do something without mana."
"She wasn't using her magic either. She only used it when she learned I was the mana-less guy. She was apparently here to kill me."
"Which is why you are now on lockdown." Charlotte entered the room. "Puli told me what happened. Diamond was willing to send an assassin after you specifically. That suggests that the mage that escaped the other day was someone with enough pull and spite for you to do this. I doubt she was the first so you have to be under guard detail. However my squad isn't here to babysit so I am sending you to the capital with Gina so you are out of the way."
"What? You're kicking me out of Kiten?" Wilhelm actually sounded like he wanted to protest being removed from the city.
"You were just almost killed, and you still have no mana or better means to defend yourself in case this happens again. We have business to do and as do the guards of the city. No one can afford to be stuck babysitting at this time. I have already made arrangements for Gina to use her magic to take you to the capital for now. The people there can handle your situation. You leave in one hour." She pulled out a book from a bag on her person. "This is yours correct?"
Wilhelm looked at the green book and realized it was in fact his. "My grimoire!"
"It gained writing inside." Charlotte only personally gave it to him to admittedly see if this occurrence finally gave him mana, and still couldn't sense the energy in the boy.
"Wait you have a spell?!" Sol snapped to look at the book that Wilhelm grabbed, albeit weakly due to his arms still being healed.
Wilhelm opened the book to the first page and saw writing was there, writing that to the others looked like pure gibberish but to him it was plain to read. At the top of the page it read a single sentence, before showing messages in a pattern.
Leveled up: Gamer Magic is now level one.
A/N: Yea I decided to end this chapter right as I began to get to his magic. That's right, I'm annoying.
His magic was actually supposed to be called "Game Magic" but I remembered that the priest from the Seabed Temple arc has that, so Wilhelm has Gamer Magic. I feel like most of you are already understanding how it may or may not work. If you PM/DM me I can probably explain how you may be right. The next chapter will definitely cover his magic and how it works.
Also remember, Charlotte said she couldn't feel no mana from Wilhelm, so he doesn't have proper magic. His grimoire just gained the writing.
If no one got who that was, the Diamond assassin, it was Mariella. Sparky, a guy on Discord, was the first to guess it was her and if you must know, his question pertained to Nero. Mariella is not done by a long shot, I have a good plot planned for her.
Also, we debated on Discord how likely it was for someone to grip a sword that has been stabbed through their hand, and most people agreed that realistically it may not be feasible. However this is fiction and Wilhelm is a tough boi, so I went with that happening.
And now I respond to reviews:
Raidentensho: It may not have been the nagic you thought of, but those do sound interesting not gonna lie.
daniel santiago.4545: I dunno if I'd consider him and Sol as bonding as much. I mean they do bicker like me and my friends do from time to time so maybe they already have lmao. And I hope Wilhelm does get more out of life as well.
JumpRanger: I dunno if it'd be fair to the world of Black Clover if Wilhelm got a Zenkai boost and the stuff that entails. I didn't give him gambling magic, it's a decent guess though. I think the Golden Dawn member with the Dice magic has true gambling magic. Wilhelm's future will have high risks, but that comes with the choice of him placing his goal as becoming the Magic Emperor.
As I say at the bottom of every chapter, I have a discord server with the link in my Bio.
Hope you enjoyed this chapter, let me know how it was and have a good day!