Black Clover: The Darkness In Me

by FuseBomber

Time runs thin as the war against the Spade Kingdom draws close. But now more than ever, darkness resides and surfaces in Asta. The Devil inside is raining havoc upon him and twisting his dreams inside out, and presenting mental struggles he's never faced before. With such a troubled war on the horizon, will Asta contain the darkness within him, or will he lose control?

6. Your Hero

Hey! I genuinely have no clue how I managed to bloat this chapter to such a length. I didn't think there was much to cover but I somehow produced this much. Sorry this came much slower than the last few but circumstances are setting back in and all so producing this became a bit more inconvenient and I had to stretch over some nights again in order to get time playing with my friends (I ultimately had to cut some of that to prevent this chapter taking a decade to write though but we move).

The morale took a bit of a punch because I haven't been as happy with the last chapter or two but once it's all out of the gritty I feel all the pent-up motivation will plough me through the next batch of chapters much better so I can't wait! Had a lot of good events conjuring in my mind that I can't wait to represent ;D

Sorry I suppose this has had a slow-ish start leading into the war events but I'll pick up the pace soon!

Either way, I sincerely hope you enjoy the chapter and stay safe! :D

---

A gentle breeze ran over Asta's face as his eyes gently plied themselves open. A blur coated his sights as he shuffled a tiny bit, finding it hard to resist staying so comfy it felt. Besides that, he felt a heavy hand against his head as well as a pair of arms wrapped around his waist which he felt loosen slightly as the person shifted around slightly for a view of his face.

"Finally awake, are we? You seemed quite comfortable," Vanessa softly smiled as she kicked a brighter mood into the day, "seems like you didn't have a nightmare for once!"

"It's...refreshing..." Asta huffed as he felt the hand on his head ease as he slightly twisted for a view of his captain's face that looked down on him.

"Yo, kid, you've been out for a decent while you know?" Yami informed as he flicked the boy aside into Vanessa who drew him closer to squeeze him like a teddy bear, allowing him to stand up at last as he stretched his legs, "you did well again, I thought hitting me was impressive, but Mereoleona? You're seeming to hit a peak in your ability at the moment."

Vanessa squeeze him even tighter, releasing the life from him it felt, "He keeps going beyond then, eh? I won't let you leave me too far in the dust!" Her eyes suddenly darted more intensely, "I also heard about your antics with Zora while I was gone, If you don't stop getting yourself needlessly hurt, then I'll have to bind you to me so I can keep enough eyes on you."

Wailing, Asta tried to free himself as Yami watch on unamused, "I promise I won't! Let me go!"

"Good!" Vanessa cheerfully smiled once more as she let him go, stretching herself as she swiftly began away, "I'm heading out early so don't get all beaten up again, or I'll have to leash you. I entrust you to Noelle for now though, I'll be back again tonight."

Rubbing the top of his head, he nodded, "Yeah, yeah. There's no reason for injury tonight anyway." His eyes finally drew to her arm, spotting the new patterns on it as they appeared as a dense black colour against her skin, "Also, what are those new...designs of yours? I didn't see them while I was awake yesterday."

"Must be going full-on thug now," Yami shrugged.

"Oh? This?" Vanessa leant her arm up for a clearer view as she admired the pattern herself, "it's just a nice little tattoo I got before things turn to shit. I wanted to have something nice to add on to me and this appealed well. What do you think?"

Asta scratched his head now in confusion as he shrugged it off, "I suppose it looks really nice, would they suit me too?"

Yami immediately grasped the child's head and crushed it in his hand, "Not in a million years kiddo. I wouldn't like to imagine the mana-less Wizard King having some weird tats scarred on him from when he was still young."

The Witch adored it more herself as she could feel the mana-flow practically oozing through the area, "I don't think they're for ya kid, keep building up those muscles instead. You might end up with a thicker neck than Yami at this rate!"

With that, Vanessa swirled away, leaving Yami and Asta together as they glanced upon one another, "Any more errands today for me to kill myself nearly on?"

"No," Yami groaned as he puffed once more, "I don't want you breaking too soon with the group battles in a day or two. If you don't win your bracket too, I'll do more than kill you. Regardless, your body is in tatters, Mimosa did some healing overnight and told me that your condition is a bit shit. You've strained yourself too much while wounded, so take a rest for the day. Nero's still passed out, so you can spend some time watching over her or whatever too, you're free as long as she spend your time in the base.."

"That sounds so boring," Asta whined as he aimlessly strolled about before feeling a giant, muscular hand stabilise his position, "owch! Alright, I'll stay here! I'll just relax or whatever..."

"That's right," Yami puffed as he released the child, "though you might get out later before you end up tangled in Vanessa's threads again. Given what you did against Mereoleona, I'd be gracious enough to be a bit lenient to you."

Asta stiffly bowed as he felt his muscles still stiff, "Thank you, Captain!"

Yami pat the boy's head as he strolled past him, drawing the kid's attention to behind himself as he caught sight of Noelle to the side, along with Mimosa, "Now I'm gonna take a long ass dump, take care of him girls, I'm gonna have to surpass my limits." The two of them tried to scratch out those words from their minds as they continued forwards towards Asta like a relay.

"Asta! I'm happy to see you're awake again! I managed to fix you up again over the night since your injuries weren't so bad that I could use light healing techniques. You may sting in some places a bit but you should be all pristine in a few hours," Mimosa explained as she had rushed to the little knight first, greeting him with a brief hug with a joyful look.

"Ah, thanks Mimosa! Sorry for making you heal me so much in such little time, I'll try not to be so careless next time," He nervously responded as he scratched the back of his head shyly.

"It's fine, but you seriously haven't changed..." The healer more sadly said, "I don't know what it would take to keep you in one piece for more than five minutes, you're practically a beacon of scars!"

Noelle shoved her way into the fray, trying to retract any attention given to Mimosa, "Well he's Stupuidsta after all, his brain throws his physical well-being to the side all the time! If you're body wasn't so trained, a normal person would have died tenfold by any of your injuries! We've been harping on about this for a whole year!"

Asta waved her away as he turned his head away sassily, "Yeah, yeah I know. If it wasn't for me toughing out the blows for you though, then we may not all even be standing here!"

"There's a lot of times where we would be alive thanks to one another, Stupidsta! We would have all died in the Witch's Forest if it wasn't for Vanessa; Licht would have killed you back in that cave...you're not the only saviour you dummy!" Noelle puffed her cheeks as she turned her head too and folded her arms.

"Now, now," Mimosa eased as she shuffled between the two and drew Asta's attention to leave Noelle neglected behind her, "I heard you'll have some free time outside tonight though, Asta, with the Royal Banquet on, I thought you'd like to join us too! I think Mereoleona and the Vermillions in general wanted to see you there, so I wanted to invite you up front!"

"H-hey! I was going to offer too!" Noelle stuttered as she tried to leap for attention, only to be coldly ignored as Mimosa blocked all sight of her.

Asta thought for a moment as he reset his attention onto the Vermillion ahead of him, "There'll be a bunch of royals and that there eh? Sounds like a perfect nightmare," he groaned as he saw Mimosa's joy slightly die down, "but with you lot there I suppose I don't mind it. It'll give me chance to meet up with some other faces I haven't seen for a short while."

A rosy red returned to the girl's cheeks as she filled with a joy like that of Vanessa's only a few minutes before as she placed her hands on his shoulders, "Great! I'll get you a seat near me and the other Vermillions! I heard Leo's been dying to see you too!"

"B-but what about-" Noelle tried to intervene as she was coldly cut off once more.

"S-sure! As long as Yami can be near too I suppose, he said he wanted eyes on me since he still doesn't trust me to look after myself," Asta nodded as he blushed very faintly.

"Don't worry, I'll make sure of that! You should be fine under my watch too, if anything happens, I'll defend you!" Her face continued to shine brighter like a star in excitement as her feelings were constantly stirred and enlarged the longer she got to interact with her beloved.

Asta nodded, "Well it should be civilised enough I'd hope, but there's always something happened I suppose."

Noelle constantly peeked around her cousin as she clenched her fists in frustration, "H-hey! I'll defend you too!" Her thoughts began to stir too as she tried to trap as many in her mind as she could, "Who am I kidding, Nozel will stamp me to a table for the night and she'll get him all to herself! I don't care, but I should get time to talk to my ally too! At this rate...she'll..."

"Oi, Shrimp," A voiced groaned as a tall, rather slender figure entered through from the corridor, hands in pocket as he constantly, and casually made his way closer to the group, "I finally found ya, ye bastard. I was gonna talk yesterday but you fucked yourself again before I got the chance too."

"Zora?" Asta questioned as the red-head came into view, Mimosa parting to the side to give them a clearer view of one-another, "you finally recovered after yesterday?"

"Of course, that slam hurt like hell for ages, you made poor Mimosa exhaust a decent bit of her magic I heard," Zora shook his head as he looked down to the floor before glancing up with a casual look, "now though, I want a peasant-to-peasant chat. No privileged asses allowed."

Noelle was only ignited further as she still managed to contain her thoughts to her mind, making her feel like her head was on the verge of busting open, "He hasn't looked to change since yesterday much at all! He's firing insults on all cylinders once again!"

Mimosa bowed her head before swiftly strolling away with no issue, "As you wish."

Noelle stumbled quickly behind as she reacted much slower, conflicting more in her thoughts as she glanced a concerning look back at the two, "H-hey! Wait up for me, Mimosa!"

"So, about yesterday..." Zora began having waited a while for the royals to exit, "it was a bit of a shit-show, eh?"

"I know it wasn't really you...or at least the real you," Asta eased as he avoided connecting vision as he held a hand where his burn once was that had wounded him so deeply, "some sort of spell hit you or something, but I managed dispel it fortunately to make you yourself again."

Zora bit his tongue as he begrudgingly spat out his words, "Well, I'm sorry I caused you some trouble then...and...thanks for saving me." The knight turned himself to the side as he only caused a greater discord between their sights of one another, "I honestly don't remember much of what happened, but, given the injuries I heard you got, I suppose I was a shitty asshole."

Asta grew the courage once more as his expression remained stern, "Yeah. The hurting isn't what bothered me, at least the physical hurting," he received a slight glance of interest, "during the time the darkness was with you, you slandered Noelle severely, you sounded like the old, colder Zora I thought you left behind. Please...don't tell me those words are still your real feelings...you know Noelle now a lot better than that!"

A gaping void of silence stood tall as neither flinched even an inch from where they once were before Zora finally pierced the dead atmosphere with his words, "Not a lot has change ever since the Elf war...about me that is. I suppose I still have a disliking, but it's not as grave as the me back then apparently pressured it as. In the end you're still my allies, or supposed to be at least."

"There's no reason to have a grudge against all royals and nobles you know," Asta soon after added as he peaked interest, "to me, you just hate them all until they prove their character...completely opposite to me...I only hate who I have a reason to hate.," his eyes pierced through the slight gaze of a returning Zora, "I said it back when you lost control, and I'll say it again. To hate them so...you're doing exactly what they do. You prove yourself to be no better than them..."

"Now that rings a small bell, asshole," Zora more menacingly said as he closed the friction between them as he moved closer, "that...my anger from that...was definitely resonating with me back then. Hearing that again was really the worst mistake you've made for a long while."

"My worst mistake was not drawing my blade on you sooner and letting you hurt Noelle!" Asta thundered as he felt a similar anger resonating between them once more, "next time you hurt her, I won't hold back so much."

An ominous, oppressing feeling exploded into the atmosphere as the two clashed heads against one another, Zora having to lean down to even create a connection. The area began to tremble greatly too, the bottles loose all over the room constantly jumping and clinking as some even leapt towards their death and some were cushioned to safety. The trembling was enough to move around the furniture even slightly as they found themselves covered in a new coating of dust from the shifting bricks.

"You know when I say I'm not holding back," A slight tint of red appeared to come into fruition in his right eye as the pupil slowly began to shift in it's shape, "I mean I'm not holding anything back."

"Oh, shut up that flimsy mouth of yours before I break it. All it'll take is a measly paralysis trap to end you dipshit. I never knew a pipsqueak like you would become so aggressive...if I didn't know any better, I'd say you were having issues with that Devil of yours yourself, right?" Zora pressured further as the two neglected the rising sound of footsteps, "If your short temper is being caused by that, who knows what would happen if you lost it around Noelle? You'd kill her yourself without my hand!"

The pressure between them only intensified as Asta rammed his head more harshly too, applying so much pressure that it felt one skull could cave in at any moment, "You shut your mouth! You don't know shit about me in reality! You don't know what's going on with me at all! You've got no empathy for anybody!"

Begrudgingly, Zora managed to resist raising his attack so soon, "Like hell you know me either you shrimp! Take a step back again and let everyone else boost you towards the end of this war again. Hell if I know what would be of you without having so many allies."

Meandering, the black streak on Asta's face finally began as the red tint in his eye became more clear than before, his grimoire too resisting the urge to jolt from it's place, "I said to shut it!"

Before the darkness within him fully came to be once again, he suddenly felt the pressure between him and Zora forcefully parted, being swiftly drawn in by someone as he felt an arm around him and caught a glimpse of Zora faltering backwards. He glanced up to see Vanessa once more, already changed so soon into her travel clothing as she held him tightly to her side with her right hand, the other slightly lurched forth as a small amount of mana circulated around it.

"Oh dear. You had a fight already and want another one so soon? What do you two idiots think you're playing at?" Vanessa sighed as she shook her head, most of her attention being fixated on Zora.

"Hey, get out the way, I was about to kick his head in!" Zora groaned as he eagerly took a step closer, "I can't have a bimbo like you shielding my mindless prey."

"I'm afraid my little shrimp is off-limits from vulgarity like you. I don't fancy sending him back to the repair shop again so hands off, he's too delicate for your grubbiness," The witch protectively said as she only held him to her more firmly, reading the fury in the opponent's eyes.

Any movement was hardly recoiled as Zora took another step forwards, the ground further quaking as it crackled more and more at each moment, "Aw man, guess there'll be two going to the repair shop then. Of course that's only if you keep shielding the bastard."

Delicately, Vanessa's fingertips twinkled in front of her as there was a gargantuan burst of mana from her, the tattoo beneath her glove hardly containing it's blinding rays as a small glimpse could be hardly seen at the top of her arm. Within a single moment, there was an equally as enormous blast as Zora was suddenly launched against the wall, the structure barely able to even maintain it's shape as the rubble clambered atop and around him. The burst of mana quickly declined as the pressure in the room reset itself back to nothingness, Vanessa clenching her fist and holding it over her heart with a sigh of relief, "No...that'd only be you."

"That explosion of ki..." Asta was bewildered as he felt blown out his soul, feeling the wild mana in the form of ki as it felt even more intense as he was so close by, "I know she's strong...but I've never felt so much power from her at once from her like that… An attack like that… When the hell did she gain so much power to perform something like that so casually?"

"I never expected that to be so powerful!" Vanessa internally celebrated as she tried to contain it all, "yes, this is the power I'd waited so long to feel...maybe family was the gateway once more. Now though, I can protect Asta...this is the power that will blossom!" Her attention finally fixed on the hardly motional Zora, a slight flicker of life seeming within him, "Now that you're in place, would you kindly let us talk before I end up hurting you a bit too much?"

The defeated knight's fingers shuddered in their raggedness as they slowly drew into his palm, feeling the rubble and dirt as he lazily rose his head to see the pink-haired witch looking down on him, his main target safely enveloped in her comfort as he let out a frustrated sigh, "Dammit, I can hardly stand after that shit...there's no way in hell I could beat her right now if I wished with this state..." He slowly began to rise as he constantly wavered in weakness and looked lazily ahead, "Damn you're stronger than I thought. Been working out or something eh? That's normally rare for a drunken stripper like yourself."

"Never underestimate the power of a drunk," Vanessa sighed as she saw how well beaten Zora already was, "now then, how about we get down to the actual conversation over insults."

"As if I'd have anything to say to that shrimp, I'd let him have a nice meeting with my fists though. If you'd kindly let him go, we can talk it out my way," Zora moaned in frustration as he resisted his boiling urges to move forth again, but learning from his mistakes.

"H-hey! Can't you just-" Asta tried to begin.

Swiftly, Vanessa wrapped her hand around his mouth to silence him as she let the fabric coating her hand prevent his rowdiness, drawing him further into a comfortable place as she asserted her full control over the situation, "Hush now cutie, let the adults talk for now while you take a moments rest. I wouldn't want your breath wasted on this pain."

All the dirt and grime was shuddered off by Zora as he failed to hold himself back and walked right up into Vanessa's face, the witch looking up at him slightly with an unflinching look, "Fine, we'll do your method of talking. It's lame though."

"How kind of you. How about we start off with an apology then?" Vanessa cheered.

"Apology? You're the one who just sent me flying into a wall."

"Because you were going to attack Asta."

"Because he was being a little bastard."

"Because you provoked him."

Asta rolled his eyes watching the two of them aimlessly bicker further as he felt Vanessa's grip on him tighten to keep him quiet, "This is getting further from being solved...we can't bicker forever." The silenced child clenched his fist and closed his eyes in deep thought, "Thinking back...perhaps I should have been better...I let my anger get the better of me again and...maybe if I don't set myself straight...I will end up hurting someone so close. I shouldn't have took this moment to release anger...I should have took in his words rather then use them as fuel. I need to set this right myself!"

Zora glanced down slightly at Asta as his thoughts began to set back on track too, "I don't fully understand what I did to him and Noelle, but he's clearly still affected by it, it's only been a day after all...I guess it was careless of me to pick on him while he's still digesting what happened. Damn that shitty shrimp for making me feel bad, but..."

"As long as you two are still flustered by one another so deeply, I can't let either of you away so freely, you'll just end up clashing again and that's the last thing we should have before a war! I don't care what happened at the graveyard, you're both allies, right? So see eye to eye before I make you!" Vanessa continued to groan as she loosened her grip on Asta purposely.

"I guess you're right, but I'm not the only bastard that's done wrong...and I'll admit...I have done," Zora begrudgingly said as he turned to give her the cold shoulder, "as aggressive as I am...of course I wouldn't do much harm to the shrimp."

Vanessa felt Asta force her hand off of his mouth as he took a step ahead of her, stood with his body tense as he glared up at the Zora that towered over him, "Listen...I'm sorry, ok?" There held a long, awkward silence as all eyes fell upon the manaless, looking down then to the floor nervously as his fist constantly tightened, "I...shouldn't have used you to unleash my anger. I've was just...irrational I guess."

Following one more silence, the kid felt a hand upon his head as his hair was ruffled, "Nah, you ain't got much to say sorry for, I guess I've been a bit of a bastard," Zora sighed as he let the wave of calmness overcome him, "I don't know what the fuck's up with my head, I guess some memories are starting to click back. I suppose..." he bit his tongue harshly, "I'm genuinely sorry."

"That's more like it!" Vanessa cheered louder as she wrapped an arm around them both and squeezed them tightly, "how easy was that now?"

"Put a sock in it already, your jolliness is beyond obnoxious," Zora complained as he shook away from her, leaving Asta enveloped on his own once more as Vanessa rested her arm upon the child's head as if it were a bar counter.

Breathing a sigh of relief, Asta rested where he stood as the pressure from the witch practically dug him into the ground like a metallic pillar, "Well I think you know too who needs to hear that apology more than me. Either way, I guess it's good to be back on even terms."

"Sheesh, apologising to a royal...I suppose it's physically impossible for me to stoop lower than what I am anyway," Zora shrugged as he knew now what had to be done, "my head wouldn't feel right if I didn't do this anyway."

"Well I suppose you don't have to stoop any further," The Silva royal interrupted as she appeared from the main corridor, "I don't want your apology."

Zora ran his fingers through his hair as he grit his teeth, "Ya kidding me? Don't be so tri-"

"Because I don't deserve it..." Noelle interrupted as she looked glumly to the floor, an utter wave of confusion taking over, "I know you hate a lot of us royals, deservedly so, and I know I'm an ally but I'm not innocent too...I...haven't been the kindest person to you...to any of you..." In her deepest thoughts, she knew exactly who she truly meant that too as she glanced towards her short ally, "Especially you...Asta, even if you don't truly see it that way...I'm far behind Mimosa in showing my best self too you...I was right to think at this rate she'll..."

"Hold up right there," Zora firmly shook is head, "I'm the one that should be apologising, don't apologise to me for nothing!"

"Wh-what do you mean for nothing?" Noelle stuttered in bewilderment.

Zora waved his finger in front of the royalty's face, "I mean you did nothing so there's no need to apologise!"

"But I did!"

"You wish!"

Vanessa and Asta both nervously watched on with a sweat, "At least all is back to normal I suppose," Vanessa shrugged as she glanced down to her little friend.

Her gaze was met with one back as Asta looked up to her with a grin, "Wouldn't have it any other way, right? It feels much better to be free of each other's throats." He was met with a nodded smile as he set his head back forth and subsided his issue with Zora and drew his thoughts to the next thing in his mind that was breaking towards the surface, glancing slightly up to the gloved arm upon his head, "Vanessa, what was that power you used before? I've never seen you with such strength before..."

"O-oh...it's a secret for now!" Vanessa improvised as she glanced towards her arm, "I thought he wouldn't be able to feel the mana that well but I forgot he can read ki so well. It must be blistering for him...I wonder if Yami could sense that too...as well as everyone else in the base..."

"Secret eh? If that's how you wanna play then it's on! You better win your matches in the tournament and fight me with that power!" Asta challenged confidently.

"S-sure," Vanessa nervously stuttered, sweat building up at the prospect of facing such a huge threat as she thought about the task to herself. "his anti-magic is too powerful that even this power would be negated in head-on attacks like what I used against Zora. If I want to challenge him, I'm going to have to become more versatile like the Queen recommended...he'll be where I can test myself fully, so I guess I have my targets for the next days."

The duo were split from their moment as another figure made it into the room, catching everyone's attention.

"Asta!" Mimosa beckoned desperately as she stumbled towards him, "it's about Nero!"

---

A short while had passed since the events upon Asta's awakening, not even a fraction of the day as the young, head-strong knight found himself atop the Bull's base. As with every day, the base had shifted, and this day was no different, the roof more slanted on both sides and covered in tiles as spires proudly stood upon the two opposing sides of the roof.

The clanking of colliding tiles were the only sound to be heard as pressure was applied from the progressing steps of the anti-magic child. They were the only silence in such a void of quiet besides the innocent chirps of little baby birds and the gentle breaths of wind. After a short while, those natural sounds were the only to be heard as Asta stood alongside his transforming ally, who stood staring out into the sun and over the ocean of trees alongside him.

"So you're awake again," Asta began as he tried to muster some conversation.

"Mhm," Nero rather groggily mumbled, seeming to have a firm layer of confidence to her speech, but with an underlying dead tone, "your commotion woke me up again, and I decided to take some time to get a good feeling of the environment again...being bed-ridden for even two days or so felt horrible."

"But you're still not fully recovered at all are you? You shouldn't pressure your body to act like this," Asta advised.

The knight received a slight cheek pull as she weakly let go a moment later, "I have recovered enough, I don't want to sit by without you for so much longer. Everything feels so much longer being so alone. Even with Mimosa there...it just wasn't the same warmth as being nestled into your hair."

Asta stretched his arms behind his head as he finally turned a complete look to her, "Cmon already, you shouldn't put your recovery second over being with me. I'm not that high maintenance if that's your main motivation to be back by my side."

"But you are," Nero sternly said as she turned a complete look too, "you've been in more fights while I was resting, weren't you? How do you expect yourself to become the Wizard King if you can't even look after yourself?"

"Pfft, I sure can look after myself! Don't underestimate me! You know me well enough to know I can care for myself," Asta pouted.

"Exactly, I know you enough to know that you'd die without the likes of Mimosa. You're strong, but invincible you are not," Nero grunted as she clenched her fists and tensed herself more upon every word, "you don't understand what it would mean if I were to let you be too careless and get yourself killed. How can you value yourself so lowly as to offer your life up like it's nothing so often?"

Slowly, Asta shuffled closer to Nero as he fully attained her attention, "The only reason I put myself on the line so much is because you lot are worth so much more to me than my own life. You're worth more than my dreams alone. I'd give up everything in order to save you all and protect you, you know, though I'll become the Wizard King regardless."

Nero broke a brief silence upon congesting his words, "Then how can you be so stupid?" Asta was confused by her coldness, "you're not the only idiot who has deep care for others. Haven't you ever heard of the phrase that you don't die for your friends, you live for them? Don't give up your life for us, live for us you idiot!"

"Eh? You never used to say stuff like that so long ago when I nearly died like against Vetto and Licht," Asta huffed as he read her disappointed expression, "your fear has settled fully into you, hasn't it? Your fear about me dying. That's why you're sensitive to me being in harms way now."

"Of course it has," Nero honestly affirmed, "why wouldn't I be fearful...every time I reminisce about my nightmare, all I can do is quake in fear about what could happen. And yet, even with death looming, your stupid self is still roaming with that threat around any corner. Stop being so careless already!"

"I promise I'll stay alive, ok?" Asta huffed, "you don't need to worry so much, just have faith in me, please? Besides, there's no way I'll be taking the easy way out, especially with so long of our journey together left."

Nero was stunned for a moment, "Together…?"

Asta placed his right hand on her left shoulder as he left himself more open to feel the environment around him, "Yeah, together! You were the first I met when I attained my power, there's no way I'd make it to the end without you! I'll make it to the end with you all!"

The girl blushed slightly, "I suppose it would be right to, there's not much else for me to do regardless so seeing this through is top of my list now, especially given what I figured of myself now."

"What do you mean?" Questioned Asta, pulling an intrigued expression as he recognised a new glumness across her face.

"Well...I deduced some things about myself over the six months I never managed to share with you that are blossoming in my mind now..." She noticed the appeal in Asta's eyes as she felt now obligated to finish what she stemmed interest to, "well...you know I became a bird for a...long while to say the least...they have much longer lifespans compared to humans, and my human origins seemed to not affect the ageing process as a bird."

Gaining a sense of direction, a wave of anxiety took a firm grip on the two of them, "Nero...don't tell me what I think you're meaning to say..."

Nero's eyes were shadowed as a clear frown painted her now, "To cut the chase short, my transformation between anti-bird and human has massively set a wrench in my ageing process as a whole, I can't age like a...normal...human any more..."

"Wh-what do you mean?" Asta nervously asked as he felt an immediate inner distress already stirring.

"The life-spans of humans and anti-birds are different you know...humans often don't even make it to one hundred, while anti-birds live for hundreds. As a bird...I had many generations fall by in front of me, I saw the births and deaths of the lifespans of several people. I thought death and destruction wouldn't mean much more to me any more, I've seen so much of it...but...with the concept of having to sit through generations more...it shudders me more. My life-span is completely confused, with two opposite biologies I can turn into, it meshed together my overall properties. As I am now...I'll age at a similar rate as to when I was an anti-bird, even in my human form. I could live a few hundred years more as of now."

The words funnelled into Asta's mind as he despaired even thinking about her having to live on so much longer, "H-hundreds of years…? Well I suppose it's good that I don't plan on dying for another hundred years more, not before I become the Wizard King."

"You don't get it," The anti-bird harshly said, "I can stay along with you to your end...but you'll never be able to live to mine. The only other way is that I die before my age gets to me. I don't want to live for hundreds of years more, I felt I'd already lived a hundred too many waiting to resurrect my prince, so to live so many more..."

"Judging by how ancient the Witch Queen is though, you know you'll still have the likes of Vanessa for a long while too, I'm not the only person you know!" Asta assured.

Sharply, a fierce slap overcame Asta's face before he felt a pressure against his body, feeling Nero's hands clawed against his chest and her head pressured against him too as the sniffles from her tears could be faintly heard, "But Vanessa isn't you, you idiot! The only reason I stayed after my prince died...was you...you are the only reason for me to live now. If I were to then lose you too...I'd be living out hundreds of years so alone! I'd rather die than spend the rest of my life without you for so long!" Asta left a long silence as he heard her constant sniffles as he felt how frail she seemed against him, "If I were to let you die...I'd have nothing to live for any more! I lived my life's purpose to my prince...without you...I'd have no more purpose at all..."

Softly, Asta placed a hand behind her head as he let her rest momentarily against him, "Don't worry, you've been close to me for so long that you know this won't stop me. I'll blot out your anxiety with my own two hands, whatever it takes. I'll make sure you find another reason to keep on going, and, if it's possible we'll find a way to fix your ageing back to it's natural state. No matter what happens, no matter how many long years are left for either of us...I'll be with you no matter what."

"S-sure..." Nero finally relaxed as she wrapped her arms around him, "I'll be holding you to all of that though..."

The two stood like statues in the breeze as Nero refused to move herself from the comfort of Asta, nestling herself into him comfortably as she let all the mental baggage she had stockpiled collapse in her tranquillity. Asta had managed to relax too, it was the most relaxed he felt the entire day, but even so, his mind wasn't as easily rested as Nero's.

"So she could live another few hundred years more? As much as I try, there'd be a limit to how long I could last and influence her to keep going onwards before my age strained too far to live. Right now, there's a foreseeable cap to my life, but for her...it's like trying to see a needle in a haystack from the sky. If I had to guess, her physical body must be ageing and working at abnormal rates, meaning all of her vitals, systems and all have a much longer working span then what they naturally would. I need to find some way to fix this...I will find a way, for Nero..."

"Ah, there you little bugs are," Yami interrupted as he suddenly appeared close to them, having approached seamlessly as he looked down at the comforted duo, "I was wondering where the hell your injured asses had wandered off to so suddenly, I had to surpass my limits a bit faster than I expected in order to make it out of the bathroom and find you so soon."

"Captain?" Asta questioned as Nero turned her head slightly while still resting it against Asta's chest and turned a single eye towards their leader, "what brought you to look for us?"

Yami nonchalantly approached his knights, looking down on Asta as he lit a new cigarette in his mouth, "I had to make sure you weren't doing what you shouldn't be, seems like you were behaving yourselves anyway. Before I send you back to rest though, I overheard some of what you was on about accidentally, I ain't normally a casual eavesdropper."

Nero's single eye looked slightly more saddened than it was moments ago as she more nervously gripped Asta. Still though, she remained rather shy and silent.

"I promise I'll take care of it, Captain," Asta firmly said, "I've known Nero out of the Bulls the longest, so I'll take care and figure this out myself!"

"She's a Bull, I know," Yami puffed, "which is why we should all chip in to help. For now of course, this information can stay private between us. This war isn't exactly the most ideal time to try and fix whatever has actually happened, so it'll have to be on the back-burner for now. When this war is over though, we'll sort this all out."

"It can't just be fixed," Nero sighed as she turned her head a little more, "we should just forget it for now...there's too much on our hands to worry about me. Asta's a bigger concern at the minute so forget I ever said anything," she promptly turned herself back into Asta and closed her eyes as if nothing at all had happened.

The other two knights met their visions as Yami nodded his head at the kid and began away, "She's right, now let's not waste time. Head back inside and put Nero back in bed, then find something to do until later, or I'll kill you."

Asta nodded his head and watched his captain begin away as he felt Nero shifting around once more, soon ending up on his back as she wrapped herself around him once more, "I'm tired, carry me back."

"EH?! This again!? Why don't you walk like how you walked up to this roof on your own!?" Asta yelled in confusion.

"I'm weak, if you don't carry me I'll tell Yami how mean you are right now," Nero tugged the cheek of the bewildered knight as she rested her head on his shoulders.

Shuddering at the prospect, Asta promptly began away, in a hurry, "FINE!"

---

Yuno had spent his last hours much more calmly and civilly compared to Asta, as Vice Captain now, he had much less time on his hands to dawdle, and held much more responsibilities. Much of the social time he had for himself originally was now consumed in organisation, and even some paperwork at times. He wasn't as close to being the free spirit Asta was, but what he was, was one step closer towards becoming Golden Dawn's Captain, one step closer towards becoming the Wizard King. Of course, none of his activity though was aided by the fact that Golden Dawn were the most active and requested squad. They were simply represented to be the best, so the people often demanded only the best at their disposal.

"Yuno, hard at work again it seems," Klaus observed the bypassing mage who paused to engage with him.

"Klaus," Yuno cheerfully greeted, "how's things? With Mimosa at the Bull's base and me busy, what have you been up to?"

"I'm well, I've ended up on more patrols to fill the time. It's given me more time to bond with the other members regardless. You met up with Asta recently didn't you? How is he?" Klaus question.

Yuno's mind was thrown aback to the previous day, his memory flashing over the encounter with Mars, reconciling Asta's cold words about his possible fate momentarily, "He's fine, he's for sure gotten much stronger, though you got to see some of that strength a few days ago anyway. I'm sure he and Mimosa will be thrilled to see you again since it's been a long while from when we last had a proper get-together."

Klaus' hands shifted to his hips as he let out a sigh of relief, "Well I'll only have to wait a few days more. Don't push yourself too much with your work either, Yuno. I'm sure it'd upset Asta also if you were to stress yourself too much with work, he must have heavy anticipations for when he gets to fight you at last."

"Indeed," Yuno sighed, "he's had a lot more battle experience than me though, especially recently, so he should give me a good fight. I heard from Captain William that he had a fight with Mereoleona too, and wounded her even, so my anticipations are high. I wouldn't want to let him down though so I'm keeping sharp."

"Well he's breaking all expectations still then," Klaus lightly chuckled, "who would have thought he'd be able to even stand against the likes of Mereoleona, never mind cut her! I shouldn't be letting myself pale so greatly in power, but he gets stronger like a machine!"

Yuno bowed his head slightly as he began to think to himself, "If I'm too careless, I'll fall behind if I haven't already. It's been harder to find opportunities to train with so much to do, especially with the city on such high alert, so I've been slipping more in my ability. I need to push myself over my limits and keep strong."

"Asta is quite the oddball, isn't he?" The Golden Dawn Captain interrupted as he approached seemingly from nowhere, "if I knew he'd have blossomed so much like you Yuno, I would have picked him myself at the exams. Unfortunately, Yami's foresight bode much better than mine and now he's in the hands of him, maybe it's better suited that way due to his sword combat nature anyway."

"C-Captain!" Klaus exclaimed from being caught off-guard, "it's rare to see you out roaming at such a time!"

"Yes, what brought you out here, Captain?" Yuno queried.

Willliam glanced towards Yuno more, "I came to see how everyone was coping, and I came to talk to you, Yuno."

Klaus glanced between the two of them as he sternly saluted, "I'll take my leave and go on a short patrol for now and leave you two it, Captain, Vice-Captain, please excuse me!"

"S-sure," Yuno stuttered as he nodded his head, building a sense of wonder of what was needed of him, "stay safe and report any abnormalities. There hasn't seemed much activity but it could swell at any moment." He received a nod upon a bow by Klaus as he soon parted, leaving the other two knights together in a quiet corridor, "What is needed of me, Captain?"

"Ah well, I'd realised I'd been working you to the bone so I wanted to ease you off for a while to avoid you overworking yourself like your brother often does. Even with all the work I've piled for you, you end up topping the group every week on credit, it's remarkable!" William admired.

"Well I have to lead by example I suppose," Yuno lightly laughed, "I always want to try and surpass what Asta manages to ram in a week so it's quite exhausting, but if I want to beat him to becoming Wizard King, I don't have much of a choice."

A more solemn mood suddenly took over as William's expression reverted back to seriousness, "Leaning back more to about your brother, there's not many in the upper-rankings of magic knights that don't know about his endangerment with the Diamond Kingdom. I, of course, know now of it too and considering you're the closest soul to him, I wanted to check in on your feelings about this all before this all becomes dire. You are quite the silent and concealing type, so I understand you contain a lot of your feelings to yourself, but it's best to express them too."

Yuno shuddered slightly and recoiled just thinking about what Asta had said as he responded with his same, blank expression, "I assure I'm fine. Asta's very capable so I trust he'll keep himself alive in this war. Even if it gets dire, I'll protect him myself, no matter what. I'm a bit nervous for him, but I'll be at my best again when we fight alongside one another. You can count on me to keep us all safe."

"I'm sure I can. You seem in good spirits though, so worrying wasn't necessary for me I suppose. Regardless, with you working so much, I thought it'd be best for you to come join me at the Royal Banquet tonight. Asta will most likely be there so I thought it'd be a good time for you to have some more time to interact with him, since you've only had short meetings recently. On top of that, you have hardly seen Mimosa and she'll certainly be there too. I'd take this as a last chance for some bonding before things get serious," William kindly offered.

"Asta..." Yuno quietly muttered to himself, "thanks for the offer, I'll ensure to come then. I wouldn't want to waste any time I have left."

"Good," William nodded as he swiftly turned away, "feel free to finish up any quick errands you have for the day, then you're free for the time being to prepare, you can just wear your normal knight robes so don't worry about impressions. I'll take my leave once again for now, there's some business I have to take care of for now before the banquet."

Just as silently as ever, Yuno nodded his head and saluted as he watched his Captain take his leave down the long hall, leaving him in silence, well, silence that wouldn't last for long regardless.

"A pair of peasants invited to the banquet? How pitiful," Alecdora tutted as he shook his head upon turning the nearest corner, "the prospect of you filth interfering in such a divine event makes my stomach churn."

"Have you no manners? You should know better than to eavesdrop on a conversation in such a way, never mind a private one. Captain would not be most pleased with you to hear that. For a person of your stature, you should know better. Besides that, mind the manner at which you talk to your vice-captain," Yuno disappointingly said.

Alecdora laughed slightly as he seemed to struggle to contain himself, "As if you have any concept of manners at all! You're a sewer rat! It's a disgrace that you're even considered my superior at all! In these trials, I'll soon enough prove my new worth by crushing both you and your detestable brother. The fact I'd have to follow you bastards on a battlefield alone is shameful, I can't wait to see your brother in a tough spot!"

Yuno's intensity slowly began to grow as he held a hand to his grimoire, "And what do you know of my brother truly? It's ironic that you talk down on him so much when he crushed you six-feet under so recently. You stand no chance against either him or me as you are, at least try and use your hatred as a means to grow stronger."

"Well getting crushed by him made me all the more desperate to see his washed up corpse on the battlefield. I heard about the threat the Diamonds are too him. It'd be hilarious to see him done in at last by the likes of them! The peasant roach can return to the ground where he belongs, and soon after, you," Alecdora sinisterly said as he chuckled manically.

Similarly, Yuno turned a rage-fuelled eye towards Alecdora before suddenly blasting into him, grasping a tight fist in his cloak as he energetically pulled him closer and stared with a crazed look into the victim's eyes. He blasted fear immediately into him as his overwhelmingly superior mana acted as a constant oppression, like a room with closing walls, "If you think you can talk down on us, then so be it, we've shot above and beyond you at every corner, and will do for the rest of your pitiful existence. But if you dare mock or take joy out of the scenario of my brother's death again, I'll rip you into a special hell. He means a lot more to me than your ignorance could ever comprehend," the astray knight constantly shivered and quaked in his place as he tried to break himself free, "I suggest you go follow after Klaus, and take the longest patrol of your life before this rage you've fuelled pushes a few too many buttons."

"I-I'm sorry! I-I'm sorry! I promise I won't!" Alecdora immediately quaked in fear as he felt Yuno slowly let him go, "I promise I'll bring no mention of it again!"

Yuno mercilessly tossed him aside as he began away, his blood boiling as he could barely contain his rage, purposefully setting off as he did his best to cool his wild emotions, "I'll make sure, Asta, these scum know their place."

---

A long few hours passed as a thick sheet of black took place of the joyous bright blue in the sky. The royal residence was bustling with noise and life with the royals and nobles of the Clover Kingdom. It didn't seem much different from the average party, with rows upon rows of tables, all packed with delicacies and surrounded by at least half a dozen guests per table.

There didn't seem much to distinguish this from an average party, other than the obnoxious posh attitude that occurred in most people and the overly formal attire that you'd never catch a commoner wearing even once in a decade. Despite that, there seemed nothing to overly take a grieving to, not even the King bled their ears for too long in introduction. It seemed miraculous.

"All this food is even greater than I expected!" Asta awed as he stuffed himself to his maximum, taking every bite as large as possible as he chomped through everything in sight like a lawnmower shredding through grass, "this night is way better than I ever imagined it could be!"

"Glad you gave it a chance, aren't you?" Mimosa lightly chuckled as she sat upon the seat to his left. She, wore different attire like many others, dawning a beautiful, glittering flower-patterned dress, seeming to have an overall theme of red and white as she wore two a long pair of black leather boots and a long pair of long, black leather gloves to further that, "it feels so much nice to have familiar faces around!"

"Yeah!" Asta affirmed as he glanced off towards her and admired her, "you look great tonight by the way, Mimosa! Did you pick that dress?"

Mimosa intensely blushed as she turned her head away slightly with a faint smile, "I-I wish I could say I did."

One around from Mimosa sat Leo. The flaming knight admired his rival's scoffing as he needlessly observed him so attentively, "Amazing! My gut would burst so much from eating so fast! Do you train your organs in such a way too? How ingenious!"

"It's not training that lets him do this, he's just a real weirdo. No human on earth should able to eat so fast, the only reason he doesn't have a pot-belly is because he burns off what he eats so rapidly," Yuno shook his head in shame as he sat the next seat around.

"Hey! You used to scoff down tatoes like this when you were younger! Don't act the well-mannered pretty boy!" Asta whined as he pointed towards Yuno with food clenched in both hands while chomping down on his last mouthfuls, "you didn't know what manners were until Lily taught you when you were too scruffy!"

"You can't be serious," Yuno groaned as he waved the boy away, "half of that's probably made up nonsense."

"Is not!"

"Is too."

Yami slammed his fist against the table to catch the small group's attention, "Stop acting so dumb, it hurts my head. Why did I have to be the one to be left here on child-care duty, I'd rather spar and kill you twerps."

Asta raised a hand and pointed towards Yami's face, "Not without getting cut you wouldn't!"

"Is that what you're gonna be boasting about for the next week? You'd be dead if I didn't baby you a fair bit of our fight. I praised you a bit but I'll kill you if you do it any more," Yami grasped the boy by his head and crushed it in his palm as he subsided the kid's cries for help, "give it a rest."

"A-are you ok, Asta?" Mimosa cautiously asked as the little knight was released.

"My heads gonna blow!" Asta exaggerated as he burrowed his head into his hands.

Yuno watched on with a blank expression, "Maybe I don't have so much to worry about in the tournament fights." He glanced around more at his surroundings as he began to notice a few odd looks their way from random nobles, "Maybe tonight won't be the best thing I could have imagined. I suppose some of us do stick out a little bit."

Wallowing there in self-pity, Yami practically felt his soul escaping from himself in boredom as he heard footstep more notably approaching them. When he finally gave full attention, he saw Charlotte standing close-by him, looking rather embarrassed as she grasped her own wrist, "Eh? What do you want? I thought everyone else was in the cool club chats while I was stuck with these little rats."

"W-well..." Charlotte stuttered as she tried to find her words, "y-you l-look rather l-l-lonely so I wanted to give y-you some c-company...if y-you'd have me."

"Sure, whatever," Yami casually responded without a care for a mile, seeming rather out of it from his boredom, "I could do with some decent company before these kids drive me insane."

Charlotte promptly sat herself as Yami turned more towards her, trying to ignore everyone else on the table. The female knight herself took a slight glance around to see the rest of the table's company as she focused towards Yami too, trying to muster some form of conversation despite her nervousness, "S-so...how has your squad training been? The battles take place so soon...r-right?"

Yami nodded slightly, "Yeah, it's a shame I can't get my squad to whoop yours, but mine have got a hell of a task in their opponents so it's a good time to push them. They've been working their butts off over the six months as a whole, especially Asta. By the end of the elf war, he didn't seem satisfied with his power compared to Yuno's, over this build-up, he's been working as much as he can. He's not wasted a single hour he's had where he can train."

"Y-you don't think he's overworking himself?" Charlotte asked as she grew some confidence in the conversation, "aren't you worried for the kid? You seem less than I do and he's not even of my squad."

"Well you care a bit for him, don't ya? It's natural to feel worried for someone you hold some care for, even if it's little. Of course I'm worried for the kid, but I know him better that I know I don't need to worry about him. The kid promised he won't die this war, and he's always dead-set on maintaining a promise so serious," Yami explained as he glanced to the kid on his left slightly, glossing over as he seemed to be making conversation with the rest of the group which Yami himself never spared an ear for.

However, Charlotte did spare an ear, hearing the bickering between the brotherly rivals, however that wasn't what most captured her attention. Like with Yuno, she caught onto the view of the numerous nobles and royals which turned their way, "I assume you can see what I see around us too?"

Yami relaxed back a bit more, "Of course I do. This ain't nothing new so I've gotten used to it. The kid is starting to get used to it too so don't worry about him. They're more of a pain in the backside than a threat to him."

"I see..." Charlotte murmured as she glanced towards the younger knights and reflected, "just how long will this prejudice reign over us? The hearts of some of these royals and nobles are not in the right place...how can they hold such a cold shoulder to a youth that kept their country standing..."

A few tables over, one of the royals overlooking Asta was Noelle. She was stranded on a table, alongside her oldest brother as she rested her head against her arm which stood against the table. Slowly, she was rotating her finger around the rim of the glass, her vision captivated by Asta as she looked tired, but mostly bored.

"Nozellll," Noelle whined as she didn't even face towards him, "can't I go sit with Asta and the others? I'm so bored! I was thinking tonight could be a bit better because Asta was here but it's even worse to have him here and to not be able to talk!"

"Cut the whining already," Nozel groaned as he took a sip of his glass, "we have to stay together on such an occasion as this. You can talk with Asta all you like back at your squad's base, for now we have to spend some time together, I don't get to see you often you know."

"But the Vermillions are over there! How come they get to split up like that and talk with Asta while I don't!" Noelle further complained as she completely neglected Nozel's reasoning still.

Nozel glanced off to his youngest sibling, "You aren't the Vermillions, you're a Silva. Now hush down and relax." He was met with a pout as she rested her head against the table. From there he neglected her presence too as he keenly observed the many eyes that were directed towards Asta's table. He identified and deduced some of the murmurs as he tried then to distract his pent-up feelings, "Why did I expect this to be an average night at all."

Back over on Asta's table once more, the short boy had finished his bickering with Yuno, patting his stomach and letting out a relieved sigh as he relaxed back into his seat, "Man, what a filling meal! I feel like I've expanded dozens of times!"

"Y-you're quite remarkable," Mimosa complemented, trying to draw some notice back to her, "I suppose you are always a cut above the rest in everything you do..."

"What admirable work!" Leo admired even further, "I've ate hardly a fraction of what you have and my gut feels like it's going to explode! Mereoleona was telling me it could be good for me to change up my diet a bit and I certainly see why now! And that reminds me, I heard about your training with my big sis! I'm amazed by your efforts!"

Asta scratched the back of his head in embarrassment, "It was an honour to be pit against her in such a way. She's crazy strong! I bet you'll grow to be as strong as her!"

Leo slammed his fist against his chest proudly, "Of course! The only way I could surpass you and become Wizard King is to surpass them too! You never seem to have your brakes on, so I refuse to drop mine! As my rival, I cannot let myself fall behind you so greatly again… I did once, but never again!"

"Right! I hope we can have a clash at the matches then! I haven't gotten to see your blazes for so long!" Asta cheered as he felt the excitement brimming within him.

"I'm sure it'd be a spectacular display!" Mimosa admired as she seemed quite eager too, "we'll all do our best!"

As the group cheered with one another, Asta couldn't help but perk his ears to the sound of voices behind him. There were so many conversations going on at once, but his concentration was focused well enough to pick out what he thought he heard from the seas of the upper-class, "Did you hear that? Leopold called that peasant boy a rival! He brings shame to his heritage!"

The voices piled on as he heard phrase after phrase in his mind, "Well he is the weakest of his siblings. He's been an embarrassment for quite some time, he's far behind where the like of Mereoleona and Fuegoleon were at his age. If I were his parents, I'd disown him for disrespecting the Vermillion name so gravely."

"Don't you see?" Another voice tittered in the distant conversation, "that peasant is even sat with Lady Mimosa! Have they no shame for who they associate themselves with? I'd honestly disown her too if she didn't promptly cut ties!"

"I see," Asta deeply sighed as he pushed his chair slightly more outwards.

"Haven't you seen from Golden Dawn too…?" Another voice began in the heard of insanity, "they have a damned peasant as their vice-captain! It's hilariously tragic! How could our top knight squad stoop so low as to appoint such filth as their lead!? This country surely is doomed if we don't put those cretins in line!"

Attention began to sway Asta's way as he took a deep breath, leaning back on his chair to balance on two legs as he rested his dangling feet atop the table, "Jeeze, how long are you tough shots gonna make fun of us for?! I think you've beaten the dead horse enough already!" The small knight received many confused glares as silence slowly washed over the room like a wave, but all he had was a huge grin on his face, "Come on then, if there's more of you lot that want to make fun of me, or have a problem that there is a peasant invading your banquet then go ahead, I'm all ears!"

Mimosa tilted her head slightly in confusion, "Asta? What are you doing?"

Noelle finally leant up from her laziness too as she glanced around to see all eyes fixated on Asta, like a cast of hawks, "Wh-what's going on now? Did I miss something?"

"No?" Asta sarcastically questioned, "I mean there's literally a massively muscular guy here smoking, nobody seems to care about him. Is he too scary for you to pick on?"

"Oi, mind who you mention," Yami thundered as he crushed the boys head, less intensely than usual though as he swayed from embarrassing the kid, "besides, you're muscular too, I'm just cooler, that's all."

"Like hell a guy who takes hour-long dumps is seriously the coolest! Fuegoleon probably spends not even a tenth of the time you take which makes him slightly cooler!" Asta countered.

Yami crushed the boys head slightly that time, "Oi, don't compare me to Mr Flaming Arm, that's impossible to surpass unless I lose an arm myself." The two recognised each other truly though as Yami could only grin at the child truly. He released his grip and pat the boy on the head slightly as he let him free, still with all attention his way.

"Alright then, let's set things straight," Asta boomed as he leapt upon the table where he sat, encapsulating absolute attention now, "most of you probably hate me, and I don't like a lot of you. I've already had to stand my ground against you people once this week but I'd ever so happily do that again to end your slander."

"Asta!" Charlotte muttered, "they're not worth wasting your breath!"

"Sorry, I've already began, I can't stop half way," Asta chuckled before reverting back to the sea of eyes around him, "the thing is that you forget where a lot of you stand. A lot of you are simple royals and nobles that sit back behind the scenes while many knights are on the battlefield. Most of you don't understand us so I'll say it straight to you. Just because some of us aren't born in your divine environment, doesn't make us weaker, or any less human than you. We all live in this country damn it, so it shouldn't matter where we're born! Yuno is the strongest outside of the Captains that I know, so why shouldn't he take the mantle of vice-captain?!"

There was a confused array of silence as Yuno glanced up towards his defender, staying quiet as he wandered in thought, "Defending me again it seems. I suppose he's a lot better with words than I am that I'll leave this in his hands."

From afar though watched Mereoleona alongside her slightly younger brother, observing what was happening with a slightly amused look, "There goes that iron will of his again. He'd act so head-strong against anybody, wouldn't he?"

"It seems so," Fuegoleon slightly chuckled too, "Leo definitely has been trying to take a page or two from his book. I hope to see them fight against one another soon."

The lioness revered her eyes to her youngest brother, seeing him admire Asta's stand against the others, "I do too. If they don't win all their matches until they fight one another, then I'll have to train them both even harder to make up for it."

"Yuno's gonna become a greater knight than any of you could ever imagine a peasant reaching, and then I'm gonna become even greater than him! Many of you aren't even knights or don't involve yourselves in a war like this, so you don't know the slightest ounce of what talent is, and what should make up our squads!" Asta raged on as he took a deep breath, "you should remember who the people defending your beloved country are. Your status may tower mine, but your morality reeks of the lowest of the low."

There was a long pause as Asta stood there motionlessly, breathing a sigh of relief before beginning to take a step back towards the ground having said his exhausting word. Before he could take his descent though, a voice ran through his ears, "Oh? What have we here? I heard an insect was causing trouble in my great banquet!"

There was a wave of shock and awe as Asta glanced behind himself to see none other than the King looking down on him from a higher up balcony. He was unamused by the sudden introduction as he calmly turned himself and looked up to the new entrance, not letting the general nerves reach him too, "Great banquet, eh?"

"He's standing against the King too!?" Mimosa awed, "he has nerves of steel! How can he be so brave?"

"The kid's playing with fire," Yami puffed as he glanced off towards Mimosa, "don't worry though, because he's used to playing with much hotter things."

"For a peasant like yourself to disrupt such an honourable event is sickly, you clearly know nothing of the place where you stand," Augustus shook his head in disappointment, "it'd be best for you to remove yourself for causing such disgraceful disruption!"

Asta leapt down from the table as he stood in the centre of the room on an open set of tiles which lined directly with the King's balcony. He felt his determination brimming as he strolled a few steps forth, only moving closer to the King, "Nah, I feel like having a nice chat! It's good to get a better idea of what I'm defending in this war."

The King more keenly observed the knight in front of him, regaining his more thorough memories of him, "Ah, you were the child on trial half a year back. The Devil boy. To think you'd still linger so prominently with that vile power inside of you is disturbing!"

"Ah? This power?" Asta rhetorically asked with a smug expression as he seamlessly transformed into his Black form, his Slayer sword quickly having been summoned from his grimoire. Many of the nobles and royals recoiled in shock from his new form as they all drew the same look of disgust and shifted further away.

"How unsightly," Augustus coldly said as he rolled his eyes at the boy, "that power you will most certainly lose control of one day. It is only a power of destruction, no more."

"Destruction of the Spade Kingdom, I hope for, but not of my own people. These people I walk and breathe with mean a lot more to me than you could ever imagine. This power will serve to protect them, not destroy them. That's what a knight such as I aspire to do," Asta immediately responded.

The King waved his hand to detest, "The word of a peasant is meaningless. What aspirations could a peasant like yourself truly have with such ugly powers?"

Asta admired his blade, "I said it once before, but this power, is the power that will protect your damned country. And also with this power, I'll overrule the prejudice that resides within this place, the prejudice that makes the lives of so many so difficult," bravely, he pointed the tip of his sword towards the King, sending immediate shock-waves throughout the room, "the world you've let stand is a corrupt one. I'm going to become the next Wizard King, and overwrite the corrupt hierarchy in place in this world."

"What's that idiot doing!?" Noelle exclaimed in her mind, "pointing a sword to such a figure...he'd be lucky not to get massacred!"

"Asta..." Yuno thought once more to himself, "he really won't contain himself against anyone. I wonder how long till that ends up putting him so many feet under."

Augustus' gaze intensified upon that action as he leant more eagerly forth, "Oh? Is this a threat from a slum rat? How foolish can a peasant truly be? Do you wish to die?"

Asta maintained his point as he didn't falter, "I won't be dying for a long while, I already made a promise about that."

"Then you clearly made the wrong move if you wished to live out that promise. Peasants like you have nothing to truly live to. The likes of you are only looked down on, because you are nothing but filth!" The King proclaimed sinisterly as a more ferocious look appeared in his eyes.

"Asta's not filth!" Mimosa suddenly proclaimed as she arose from her seat without warning. She held immediate regret as all eyes turned to her, but she maintained her strong resolve as she began towards Asta as she reflected briefly to herself, "I won't allow this royal to tarnish Asta! I'll prove my loyalty to him now and stand alongside him! If I just sit there...I wouldn't feel right!"

The rest of the room looked on in wonder at the Vermillion's brave actions as the King looked down intriguingly, "Oh? A girl of the Vermillion household standing alongside a Devil boy? What is the meaning of this?"

Noelle felt a sudden urge to act as she watched her cousin act so gravely to defend Asta, "What am I doing? I'm just sitting here while Asta's a sitting duck! I should be standing for him too!" As she tried to stand though, she felt herself put swiftly back in place as she felt Nozel's hand upon her head, "Nozel?"

"You stay put. Asta and Mimosa are enough as is for such a conflict. I don't want you ending up on the King's bad side too. Have faith in your friend to set this straight," Nozel sternly said as Noelle looked down more glumly, the Eagles Captain keeping a level head he kept focus on the events ahead.

"Asta is my ally, so I'll defend him! I believe you've not seen the true side of Asta! He's a vital part for this war, so it'd be best for you both to be on the same page I believe," Mimosa elaborated as she stood close to her ally.

"I agree!" Leo yelled from afar as he suddenly leapt alongside the other two, "Asta is my rival, and he's the only person here I could ever truly consider that! I didn't pick him as a rival as a joke, he's truly a great knight! I shall side with him, even if it means I'll have to go against the rest of you!"

Asta glanced to his two sides to see both of them standing alongside him as a smile swept across his face, "Leo, Mimosa! You'd stand with me even now?"

Mimosa responded with a pleasant smile while Leo showed a toothy grin, taking the next step ahead first, "Of course! We'll always stand together at time like now! A good ally wouldn't get cold feet like that!"

The King shook his head in disappointment, "So the Vermillions have developed a soft spot for trash? Both of you are disgraces to your house's name! To stand with such a spec that is opposing me is practically treason!"

"You still not gonna stop him? Things have escalated much further now you know," Charlotte nervously asked as unease swept through the atmosphere, seeing the three youths oppose the king in such a manner.

"He'll be fine," Yami assured, not even watching what was happening with his full attention, "the sooner he kicks himself out, the sooner I get to leave. It's not like the King will actually do anything, he'd have breathing down his neck at all time if he tried to fight a child."

"True I suppose, either way, you seem a bit too care-free for my liking," Charlotte huffed as she watched on intricately.

Yami shrugged, "Trust me, when I know I have to intervene, I will."

"They aren't a disgrace," Asta fiercely said as he lowered his blade before becoming more solemn, "the nobles and royals who can't look at others and see an equal person are those that are a disgrace. In each of those people though, I always managed to find something to admire about them, something I respected. No matter who they were, I could look to them and see a character of them which I could appreciate, however..." Asta raised his head as his red eye flashed an oppressive look forth, "in you...there isn't a single thing I could truly admire."

"Oh ho! Is that so?" The King cackled as he felt his emotions let loose a bit, "is an ignorant little boy like yourself calling me evil? How pitifully ironic. It's rare for me to do this..." he stood as he began to exert a tremendous amount of mana, "I'll do the honours of ridding you myself as you seem resistant to move."

Mimosa's jaw was unhinged in awe as the entire environment around them began to flood with mana into every nook and cranny, "What tremendous amounts of mana! He's not exactly a skilled knight, but regardless, the amount of mana he has in store is hideously gargantuan! Asta, are you sure we should be instigating this?"

Leo couldn't wipe his grin off his face as he felt the mana too, "There's a ridiculous amount of mana stockpiled in his body. I suppose it's the perk of being a king born with such royal blood. The natural mana he is born with must be tremendous! However...he's clearly untrained, all it feels is like he's exerting his mana, there's nothing oppressive about this at all...so to the likes of Asta, it must be literally nothing to him!"

"I can't detect mana, but with foes that contain oppressive levels of it, I'm normally able to detect a distinct ki of it. But with this guy, he's just exerting mana…he hardly gives a sense of ki at all," Asta deduced as he firmly stood and glanced towards Mimosa, "trust me, I'll wrap this up in a moment." He turned back towards the King with a smug look, "I wouldn't waste your power on me if I were you. I'm sure you'd hate to have to lay hand on a peasant."

"This will make them quake!" The crazed King thought triumphantly to himself as he spread his arms apart, "behold the true power of a King! The pinnacle of magic! You will rue making me even exert my strength!"

"EH?! ARE THEY CRAZY!? ARE THEY GONNA FIGHT THE KING OR SOMETHING!?" Noelle screamed in utter bewilderment as Nozel still managed to contain her to her seat.

The Silver Eagles captain eyed the events well still as he recognised Asta's smug expression, "No, this won't be a fight at all."

Noelle offered slightly more attention as she noticed Asta's general attitude too, "He's brimming with absolute smugness! He already read the King like a book!"

"Absolute Monarch of Divine Brilliance!" The egotistical King yelled as a great projection of himself appeared in front of the trio. It was an exact replica of the King but enlarged several times its normal size as it emanated with light as bright as the sun, "Now then! Quake at my divine power! Surrender yourselves to my omnipotent magic!"

"Just as I thought," Asta murmured as he sliced his blade so casually in front of himself, just as quietly adding, "Phantom Strike." In a literal instant, the attack was slashed out of existence. Asta's attack connected and quickly vaporised the attack like popping a bubble having given no effort in the slightest into countering. The entire room was silenced in shock, besides those who already truly knew of the King's pitifully weak ability.

Fuegoleon still found himself rather surprised mildly too as he queried to his sister, "Phantom Strike? Wasn't that attack only capable of vaporising weak bodies of mana?"

His sister nodded as she pulled a satisfied grin, "Indeed. If that was ever an indication as too how pathetic our King is, I don't know what is. With this now though, he should have silenced the pressure of the royals that were on his back, so I suppose this wasn't complete child's play."

"Well it's not as if we'll be relying on most of these nobles and royals in battle. Hopefully this wakes them up to how strong peasants can be in a modern day such as now," Fuegoleon extended.

"He so weakly subsided that?" The King gawped in utter disbelief, "he didn't put a single ounce of power truly into that! How is anybody meant to counter such a disastrous ability!"

"As I expected," Yuno sighed as he raised himself and exited without a care in the world, not even bothering to say goodbye to his brother, "I have some extra training in order to maintain any lead I may have. With this time William has given me, I'll use every minute of it to it's maximum."

Sylph finally decided to unveil herself as she flew in front of the exiting Yuno's face, "Eh? Back to training at this exhausting hour!? It's time for rest, not for magic! Why are you so worried about that kid anyway, he has way more limits to his power than you ever will!"

The wind mage didn't hesitate in the slightest, "Don't say that as if you know his strength. You can't read his strength, and neither can I, so I can't take any risks. I'll have to just keep getting stronger, no matter how far ahead I pull."

"Ugh, fine! But you owe me for dragging myself through such late training! How's a date sound?" Sylph cheekily asked as she raised a brow.

"Never going to happen," Yuno coldly said as he went onwards.

"Spectacular!" Leo admired, "just as I predicted, it was nothing to you! Your power becomes more formidable with every encounter!"

Mimosa held her hands to her cheeks as they blushed up slightly in adoration, "How can he be so cool, calm and insanely powerful!?" "That was amazing Asta! You were so cool!"

Friendly words and phrases weren't exactly the first thing greeting Asta's mind as he glanced towards the King before coldly turning his back and beginning for the exit too, "Keep sharp, King, because one day, peasant scum may end up being your hero."

"W-wait up, A-Asta!" Mimosa begged as she flailed after her crush, leaving Leo to stand there as he only offered a glance back and a content nod to himself.

"Way ho," Yami sighed in relief, "finally I have an excuse to get out of here. Feel free to tag on if you're as sick as I am." The Bull swiftly took his leave as the Blue Rose Captain followed suite, finally leaving their table completely baron.

"H-hey! Wait up for me you buffoon!" Charlotte cried after Yami as the whole room was caught in murmurs and whispers.

In the balcony at the top though, the King sat there in bewilderment, trembling from just the shock-wave of that phantom attack as he clenched his fists, "Damn that little rat! Is peasant scum now truly so strong?"

---

Just as it was when the banquet had began, the sky was a dense, black colour as the stars and moon offered some minimal lighting to brighten it ever so slightly. The wind had become much more chilling but not so much that you'd have to contain yourself in a tower of clothing, allowing for a rather bitter feeling upon every breeze.

Asta had wandered into the outside as it was now, and sat upon the bottom few concrete steps which connected to a flat plain with a nearby balcony which overlooked a gentle river or blue. He found himself embracing the calmness as he stared aimlessly outwards, still maintaining his transformation as he held out his jet black hand ahead of himself which was coated in the anti-magic. The serpent-like pupils of his devilish eyes were constantly drawn to his darkness as he began to frown upon it.

"Asta?" Mimosa questioned as she approached from the snake of stairs behind, holding her hands nervously to her chest as she observed the content nature of her ally as he didn't even turn himself towards her. She slowed her approach as she fully realised his attitude, sitting herself alongside him as she supported herself using her arms, "You went off so suddenly that I fell behind you a bit! I had to do a small bit of searching just to spot you!"

She received hardly a response as he still didn't even bat a glimpse her way, showing little interest as he offered minimal words to fuel her onwards, "Sorry for the hassle then."

The Vermillion knight noticed how fixed he seemed on his black arm as she nudged herself slightly closer to him and drew his attention once more, "Asta...I can tell already that there's something wrong...so please...don't bottle it to yourself alone… I don't want to intervene in your most personal issues...I...just want to be a source you can be open to..."

At long last, she did receive a full look as her words crept into Asta's mind, him turning himself to her as his blood-red eye connected sharply with hers, "Mimosa, can I ask you something?"

"O-of course!" Mimosa stuttered nervously as she felt the weight of each phrase he uttered, "you always can!"

"This power of mine..." he held his black-coated arm in front of her as he had his fist clenched tightly, "my devil half...is this evil to you? Does this half...change me for the worse?" There was a brief gap in his words, "I had never really thought about it, but this power is from a devil...I'm sourced by a demon, so what does that make me?"

Mimosa looked down to the floor as she momentarily thought about it, glancing slightly to him as her eyes more thoroughly analysed his darker half, "That side of you did honestly seem quite ominous to me when I first ever saw it, it was...frightening to see you so enveloped in darkness, mainly because I didn't understand it yet. It was a foreign discovery for me so I always had a slight inner hesitation to it since it changed your attitude a fair bit at times and even now still does. When I found out it was a Devil fuelling that side too, it made me more worried and cautious of it given that we had just faced one of them ourselves. I still then couldn't comprehend it fully and I didn't know what to make of it, and like you, I didn't really know if it changed you or how I perceived you deep down."

Asta looked rather lowly as looked down slightly, "I see… Maybe I've just been blind to the true way people saw me with this strength. Maybe this side of me-"

"But," Mimosa interrupted, "after these few months...after getting to be around you more and building up our connections more...after seeing more of the you I never got to see in our work...after seeing the connections you have with the rest of your allies..." there was a long, bottomless silence as Mimosa tightly gripped the clothing shielding her heart as she quivered slightly, "I realised through it all that something never changed..."

A curious look was slightly peaked by Asta as he kept most of his sight downwards, or at the least that was until he felt the soft, tender feeling of Mimosa's gloved left hand cup the right side of his face. He felt the fabric contact his face as her fingers and palm spread along like a gust of wind until it was nestled into a comfortable position like it was suctioned to his cheek. He felt himself drawn ever so slightly closer to Mimosa as he glared and connected vision with her to see her slightly blushed expression as she bestowed a gentle look.

"No matter what you were the same, core Asta that I adored from the very beginning at your roots. All you've done since then is grow and blossom even further, constantly blowing me away with how awing your strength is… But no matter how extreme your changes go, no matter what power infuses with you...it's all apart of the Asta I adore. This power is part of you, it is you!" Mimosa cheered as she ever so slightly caressed his cheek with the gentle brush of her thumb, "whatever happens, I'll always rally behind you, Devil or not."

A slight smirk overcame Asta as he blushed up slightly, "I guess I expected as much asking the most benign person I know. You're too benign for me to deserve you even," he lightly chuckled as he let the pressure of him ease, his Devil half slowly withering away again as he exhaled a long breath, the gust being visible in the rather chilly condition as his head had hardly moved a fraction of a millimetre away from Mimosa's touch.

"Don't start kidding!" Mimosa playfully chuckled as she crashed through her nerves, pulling her hand away from his cheek and patting him softly on the head instead, ever so slightly ruffling his hair every now and then as her cheeks swelled to the brightest shade of red, though feeling some odd connection which she ignored upon contact with the other knight, "I only wish I could truly be as kind as you..."

"Well if you're set on seeing it that way...I suppose I'll have to keep working to be like you, and you can keep working to be like me!" Asta suggested with his toothy smile.

While those words contacted her heart deeply, at the moment there was only one event in her mind that was truly blossoming, "I'M PATTING ASTA!" Mimosa screamed to herself as it felt like her cheeks became as boiling as the sun's surface, "I've waited so long to do something like this! His hair seems so nice and fluffy, my fingers breeze through it like running my fingers through water! Dammit if I didn't have these gloves on then I'd feel his hair even better!"

"Um, Mimosa? Are you ok?" Asta questioned as he stared into her cheery, zoned-out face as she repeatedly kept patting him with a long, thin stream of red drizzling down from her nose as she ever so slightly caught up with her mind and slowed her movement as she wiped the bloody stream from her face.

"Y-yes!" Mimosa stuttered as reality hit her. As a whole it did feel to her that her mind was spacing out slightly with every moment. She had a strange feeling throughout her body as a whole, but she decided to neglect the feeling, though it did make her feel slightly nauseous on top of it all, "S-say, Asta, it's g-getting quite late...maybe we should head back to the base?"

Asta pondered for a moment before relaxing back slightly, "I suppose we could soon, I just wanna relax a slight while longer. The bitter wind feels kind of nice and this view I'd love to make a mental picture of!"

Mimosa bowed her head slightly as she looked to her hands and clenched her fists, "Wh-what's this feeling? What are these urges I'm having? I don't...feel...right, I don't like this at all!" She grit her teeth as she closed her eyes to try and wash herself in tranquillity while Asta neglected sight of her for that brief time.

As he stared aimlessly outwards, the young boy clenched his fists himself, thinking over the day, "Yes, I could do with taking pages from many other's books. Before, I was weak, unable to take on the greatest threats on my own. Vetto, the Devil, Licht...all I needed the support of others to stand a single chance. I'm fine with being weak in comparison right now to the Captains and all...but if I want to be able to protect everyone indefinitely...if I want to become like Julius and Lumiere...I need to be able to protect them all on my own. I still need to go stronger, but these upcoming battles will let me fully realise how long I've got left to go."

Still, as Asta's mind was drifting into thought, he neglected the Mimosa next to him. Her fingers where constantly jolting and flickering in random directions as she looked down on them in worry, "What's happening? Why do I have this feeling?" Another huge wave passed through her as her eyes widened, at last catching Asta's attention as she constantly groaned and winced in pain as a constant ache in her stomach felt to attack her as she clutched both her arms around it, "I-it hurts!"

"M-Mimsoa?" Asta questioned as he saw her aching pain, slowly edging forth in worry as he caught a glimpse of a slither of a tear, "what's wrong?"

There was a brief silence other than Mimosa's agony as all of a sudden things escalated greatly. Within a single moment, Asta suddenly felt Mimosa's pair of hands around around his neck as he instantaneously reacted. He jerked any direction he could through his instincts as he immediately leant towards the bottom of the stairs, causing them both to tumble down together as they crashed into the flat plain of stone.

Still though, Asta felt the tight grip of Mimosa's hands around his neck as he found himself on the bottom, Mimosa positioned above him as she used her entire body weight in order to crush his neck. He felt his hands soon pinned down too as great vines stemmed from the ground, wrapping around his hands completely to leave no sight of skin as well as wrapping around his feet.

"What the hell!?" Asta thought as he struggled greatly, finding himself unable to move as saliva drooled over his lips in his struggle. He glanced up as he felt drips of tears from above gracefully fall upon him, seeing Mimosa's eyes swell with water as her face seemed an amalgamation of so many different feelings and expressions.

"M-Mimosa!" Asta managed to spit out through his lack of breathing as he struggled to keep his eyes open, "s-stop!" He stared straight into her eyes, seeing all the frustration in them as her grip on his neck constantly wavered in intensity. Asta analysed anything else notable too, seeing her veins tinted black and showing up slightly more under her skin, "W-why?"

Mimosa's tears never slowed as she flooded the area, seeing what she was doing to her ally, "A-Asta! P-please stop me!"

---

Helloooo, hope you enjoyed this chapter and sorry it took so long to do, I had few issues this week and all but hopefully I get my schedule back on soon. I'm a bit behind on work though so there way be a decent wait for next chapter too but I'll try to make it much sooner still.

Have a great day and stay safe!

---

NEXT CHAPTER: Vermillion Tears