Sorry this chapter took a long while, got very distracted and was still struggling a bit with some personal issues but I'll try to get back into my groove ASAP! (Been keeping up with the manga still though and chapter 253 gave me as conflicted feelings as you can get). Hope you enjoy :D

"Asta and Mimosa, step forth!" Mereoleona beckoned as she keenly stared down on the two of them, spotting them already from her vantage point as Asta swiftly moved into the battlefield, while Mimosa still stood there nervously with all eyes upon her.

"Mimosa is forced to face such an opponent so soon? It's a shame we'll have to see one of us eliminated so soon," Klaus sadly sighed, "at the least, if they both perform well, they'll both be fully recognised. I'm expecting great things."

Yuno narrowed his eyes on Asta, noticing his confident stance, "As am I."

Yami just as keenly stared down upon the knights, "The last fight the kid was in was against her, and it's his new fight too I suppose. It didn't go smooth for him last time, so this is his chance to redeem his last mistakes. Don't let me down kid."

"What a promising first fixture," Fuegoleon grinned as all the captains lined up once more along the cliff's edge to get a clear look of the battle, "I assume you know of Asta's ability, William. Are you worried for Mimosa?"

"Of course," William begrudgingly sighed, hating his own feelings of having doubt for his own knights, "Asta and Mimosa's offensive styles differ quite greatly, so I worry if she'll be overwhelmed by his persistence in combos and how much he endeavours to land a blow. It will be tough for her, but now is a time where she has to show her growth."

"A-A-A-ASTA!?" Mimosa internally screamed as she held her hands to her cheeks and blushed immensely, "I-I-I-I HAVE TO FIGHT ASTA!?" She looked ahead to see her opponent ready already as her instincts forced her immediately into moving towards the field of open space, "I...I've fought him once before I suppose...but I wasn't even in control for then!"

Tensely, Noelle watched from afar, "What were the odds of this fixture being so soon? Mimosa should easily be within his capabilities of beating, but I can't help but feel nervous... What if this darkness reignites? What if Asta loses? I just need to focus on this clash at face-value, and hope he wins. As much as I care for Mimosa, I want to test myself against him seriously! I can still feel the gap between us that I've been trying to slowly close, but I'll only be able to seriously gage our differences by tackling him head-on. I'm not as scared to attack him as Mimosa, so I think I could dish out a better fight, but I'll have to wait for the chance to prove that."

Eagerly, Luck leapt alongside Noelle, constantly edging forth as his eyes locked onto Asta, "Woah! Asta's fighting first! I can't wait to see how strong he is now, I've only heard of how strong he is now! Even so, I'm gonna pummel him so I can fight Yami, no matter what!"

"You're...excited..." Noelle nervously stated, feeling his ecstatic presence, "I don't think you'll quite cut down Asta though."

"Eh? I'll just prove you wrong! You're in my group, right!? You wanna win too, so I'll eventually fight you! Then, I'll beat you and show how strong I am!" Luck excitedly exclaimed.

"S-sure..." Noelle nervously chuckled as she turned her attention back to the battle at hand.

Mimosa trembled as she finally reached her place, seeing Asta's open and confident nature now herself, "I-I-I'm about to do it…! I'm actually going to fight Asta...but...I don't want to! I don't want to hurt him! I couldn't bare bringing him more pain! Do I give in easily and let him finish me off? Do I just throw this battle away? What can I do!? I don't want to hurt him!"

Noticing her nervousness, Asta drew her attention as he stomped his right foot forth and drew his Slayer and Destroyer blades, "Hey, Mimosa! Let's do our best, ok!?"

Those words were few, but they were enough to impact Mimosa as Asta hoped they would as it spurred her thoughts, "My best…?" She was suddenly struck with a realisation as she took deep breaths and soothed herself slightly, but deep down her nerves still trembled, "That's right...my best… I was being selfish! Asta's here to fight and prove himself, if I don't even give him a challenge, I'll be doing him a disservice to the eyes of the captains!"

A great amount of mana swelled within Mimosa as her grimoire opened before her, Asta seeming thrilled as he detected the spike in her ki, "If I truly want the best for Asta, I need to help him shine for the captains! But...I shouldn't be doing this just for him..." she clenched her left fist as she swiped her right hand across her grimoire as the pages turned to her desire, "this is all for war...and now more than ever, I need to prove myself! I need to prove I can stand my ground, that I can protect Asta and everyone else! I won't let Asta down...I'll prove that he can fall back on me in battle too! I'll prove my individual strength!"

"My interest is certainly at it's peak," Mereoleona grinned to Yami, "I hope you being overprotective of your rutty little boy hasn't made him rusty. This is the most excited I've been to see our knights fight for a decent while."

"Overprotective?" Yami sighed, "not my fault I didn't want him turning up in about ten different pieces, especially with the calibre of opponents he could end up against. By the way, shouldn't you be supporting your cousin more? I would have thought you'd be more concerned about your relative rather than a little mana-less kid."

"I don't play favourites based on my relations. I'm a bit more stirred by what I've seen so far in Asta, that's all. I've never even really seen Mimosa in combat so I'm keeping an open mind to her ability. You've seen more of the girl so you probably know more of what to expect," Mereoleona thoroughly explained in a serious tone as Yami stared on at her still with a blank expression.

Yami shrugged, "Well, I guess you're unbiased which is nice. I'm not though so I'm backing my Bull all the way though, he'll tear through these fights."

Fuegoleon nudged the foreigner slightly, "Then I hope for his sake that your over-confidence isn't a curse on him."

With the confidence of Yami, William sharpened his analysis on both Asta and Mimosa, "Admittedly, both Asta and Mimosa were knights I never paid much attention too. Mimosa I was confident in, but she always sailed under my radar. As for Asta, well, I never knew a boy with no mana could grow so strong. The question I'm looking to be answered now then is the question of how far apart their abilities are."

"Just to let you know," Asta grinned as he slowly began to transform into his Black form, "I'm not going to be holding much back," his right eye swirled into it's devilish red colour as his right arm was enveloped in a pitch black and his wing spanned from his back, "I'm aiming for victory!"

"If that's the case, then I'm meeting full strength with full strength!" Mimosa exclaimed as she began to exert an ever greater amount of mana, "sorry, Asta, but I'm aiming for victory too!"

The plant knight began to exert so much that gusts of wind swirled around her, making everyone shield themselves slightly and stand their ground apart from Asta, who stood firm despite the pressure. She withheld the same serious expression as Asta as her hair gently was raised by the very gusts that she had created as if it was floating.

Asta swiped his blade to the side, "She has so much mana in her store, it's ridiculous. She definitely feels to have more control of her mana compared to her taken over body, but her attacks should be less powerful too as a whole. There's nothing she should be able to dish out that I can't deal with. He glanced up to Mereoleona who had her right hand raised high into the air.

"To make clear, to win, you must force your opponent into a surrender, incapacitate them, or we call the fight on a clear decision! Respect your opponent and when the fight is called, you can no longer attack the opponent! Understand!?" Mereoleona yelled down at the two.

"Yes Captain!" The two shouted together as they focused their vision on one another.

"Good!" She swiped her arm downwards, "BEGIN!"

Asta immediately let loose his breaks as he instantly blasted towards his opponent, both weapons by his sides, "If my last fight was any indication, I need to be wary of her vines. If she summoned them on me so easily out of concrete, then god knows what she can do here with more nature to her aid! In terms of the battleground, she has a natural advantage to me, so I need to even things out, I need to take full advantage of something I have superior to her! If she has the ground under her control...then I..."

Mimosa confidently jolted her dominant hand forth as it was lightly surrounded in a green aura, "Sorry, Asta, but here I have the absolute advantage. It's not just that I'm just exerting a tremendous amount of mana like it feels to you most likely, I'm using nature's mana itself. My plant magic makes it much easier to manipulate the environment to my will, in fact, with me training so hard to do so, I can connect to the mana of nature itself, but only in plains like this. It makes me feel like I have an infinite mana store virtually!"

Suddenly, a large vine pierced from below Asta that was at least twice the size of himself, "Sorry, Asta! But this area bends to my will!"

"So she's synced her magic with the ground," Asta thought as he managed to block the vine with his Slayer before slicing it with his other to cut it's growth prematurely, "she practically has mana zone with the way which she infers this. But..." he felt himself quite open in the air, with no assault laid upon him as he spiralled around and plummeted like a comet down towards Mimosa directly.

"Asta's a very aggressive fighter, and he's a very hard-hitter. If I get hit, it'll be detrimental to me, so I can't take many risks. I need to use my control of this area to slow his assault on me and open him up!" Mimosa deduced as she easily dodged back from the attack, being blast even further away by the force of his impact as she skid another dozen meters further.

"Binding Vines!" Mimosa beckoned as she gently placed her hand to the floor upon the raising of Asta's head as a wave of vines rose around him and immediately pinned him to the floor.

Instantly though, Asta found some room and sliced through the vines attached to him, releasing them all at once as he burst through and dived straight again towards Mimosa, but flying slightly higher into the air, "I can't afford to fall to tricks like that many times, even I couldn't react quite fast enough because of the smash I did. Is she trying to take advantage of when I'm vulnerable? Either way, staying too close to the ground is a death trap, so I need to pull an advantage!"

Once more, Mimosa scarcely managed to dodge the swing of the boy as she tracked him as he passed, "Raising defences against Asta's attacks simply won't work. I have to constantly evade, otherwise he'll simply slice through it and me, so reinforcement magic is my only hope in evading him. At the moment, it seems to be enough, but I know the more confident he becomes at reading me, he'll start slicing through me with ease. This isn't sustainable in the long run, so I need to think ahead!"

"Both of them look to be thinking pretty hard, Asta's poor head should be exploding," Vanessa lightly chuckled, "even with how up-front he's acting, he's still thinking just as quickly as her it seems."

"It's a battle of the mind too," Finral observed, "Asta is natural at thinking on the go, but Mimosa is coping with him well too. She's a lot weaker physically in about all aspects, and still is managing to stay out his path and read him decently."

"Well she is pretty cute, maybe he just can't bring himself to hit her," Vanessa winked.

Finral rolled his eyes and turned to focus on the battle once more, "Sure."

Mimosa jolted her right hand out towards the passing threat, "Blooming Cocoon!"

Following her words rose like a cage of plants around Asta, perfectly positioned on him as the walls of the cage began to close in on him. Each wall of it looked dense and lubricated as they seemed to be able to connect to one another as if they were pieces of a puzzle.

"Not again!" Asta yelled as he swiftly spun around, slicing each of the walls easily in half in a single rotation as the plant slowly faded away. From there, he began to try and fly upwards as he reflected, "again, she exploited my opening after an attack! Her connection with the environment is a pain in the ass for me, she can summon whatever she wants, where she wants, whenever she wants!"

"And you're not escaping again!" Mimosa exclaimed as she swiped her alternate hand outwards. Before he processed it, Asta felt himself held back as he felt like he was being dragged closer to the ground rather than raising to the sky. As Mimosa's hand swiped downwards, the vines gave in all the force they had behind them as Asta was dragged in an instant against the ground, creating a great shock-wave upon the impact as some rubble flung into the skies.

Klaus adjusted his glasses, "Oh? It seems that Mimosa has dealt the first bit of damage."

"No," Yuno immediately overruled as the wave of dust began to vanish, revealing Asta to be standing with the vines constantly pulling him downwards still, "he controlled his landing despite the chaos so that he could avoid getting damaged. He's not fooling me, I can tell he's not being truly serious yet."

Mimosa could see Asta's resistance as he withstood the vines. She suddenly closed her fists though as the vines reformed, suddenly wrapping around Asta's limbs tightly and tugged them outwards with as much force as they could. At that moment, Asta seemed completely helpless, but Mimosa's mind was distracted too, "D-d-d-dammit! Wh-why's he look s-so cute l-like that!? I c-can't focus fully!"

The stream of red down her nose was as apparent as ever as she only strengthened the mana of the vines to keep him at bay as she reset her mind and wiped away the blood, "This is my chance now though! I've restrained his arms apart so he should be helpless to an attack! I won't get many opportunities, so I have to give each attack all that I have!"

"These are so troublesome still! But that's helped me realise..." Asta thought as he managed to wiggle enough room to toss his blades ahead of himself, utterly confusing most around at why he would throw his only weapon in a time of importance, "and I should have realised this sooner..."

"Magic Cannon Flower!" Mimosa urgently yelled as she wanted to seize the moment before it passed. Her flower came raging out the ground, immediately charged with an intense concentration of mana as it instantaneously shot it straight towards the helpless opponent, "I've got you now!"

"Not quite!" Asta proclaimed as he held his palms open, both his thrown blades came spinning back to his palms, cutting some of the vines which bound him as he was freed slightly. With more leeway, he easily finished off the rest of the vines and immediately swung for the flower's cannon attack, slamming the flat edge of his Slayer into the attack, reflecting it back straight towards Mimosa who's eyes widened in shock.

Promptly, Asta flew into the air while Mimosa was distracted as he flapped there a brief while, looking down as the beam travelled towards her, "While she's got complete control of the ground, I have uncontested control of the air against her. Any attacks that she tries to hit me in the air with are like the rest, they stem from the ground. Her tapping into natures' mana can't let her create attacks as broadly as the like of Yuno, it doesn't exactly give her the same benefits of Mana Zone!"

Mimosa raised a guard of plants in front of herself as she easily managed to block the reflected attack, "Him hitting it back at me doubled it's intensity, but luckily it has a weak output against me regardless, he just did that to give himself more time," she took a deep breath as her guard slowly lowered once more and she looked up towards Asta, "he's acting slower, normally he'd have dived straight back in, so what's he trying to conjure?"

"To attack her, I'll have to breach my own vantage area to land anything meaningful. I need to disrupt her vantage so that I can fight more comfortably around the ground, but for now, I have no choice but to use more distance to work her down. It won't be enough as she's performing, but I'm beginning to get familiar with her current style regardless," Asta figured as the two still glared at one another, "Anti-Mana Zone is my best bet for disrupting her connection with the ground, but it's still minimalistic. I can't cover this whole battlefield even, so how am I supposed to keep the skies but also stay close enough that I can sever her connection?"

"Both their defences seem strong," Fuegoleon observed, "neither one has hit one another and are both managing themselves well it seems."

"Yeah, but Asta's defence matching hers is an issue for her. Mimosa's attacks are much weaker in comparison to him, and he only needs one good attack to end her instantly. She's physically weak so even one decent attack will set her back a lot just trying to heal herself," Yami began.

Mereoleona swiftly cut in, "Meanwhile, Asta's immense durability and endurance allows him to persevere through her attacks. He's taken some strong attacks and lived through them before, so even utilising all the mana she can, I'm uncertain that she'll be able to end him with even her most powerful spells, assuming she finds an opening."

William retained his focus on the battle as he finally spoke once more, "Mimosa certainly seems out of her comfort zone to be acting so offensive when she's usually so supportive. All her offensive attacks seem uncertain despite the confidence she seems to try and boast. She should know best though, that the first step in order to defend others is to be able to defend herself."

With no more hesitation, Asta began downwards again, emitting his anti-magic energy, "I'm able to use this a lot more comfortably now. Getting the hang of this Anti-Mana Zone certainly has taken little time, but it's the inverse of turning into my Black form so I guess it's to be expected. Like with my Black form though, I can't use it's maximum potential, but maybe I can work with this," he watched on as Mimosa flicked through her pages in preparation, "at the least, it will weaken all her spells, so I can fight a bit more close-ranged without the risk of her capturing me. No matter how much mana she can exhaust on attacking me, I can suppress it all!"

"I can feel my mana being slightly weakened, he's suppressing the area's mana as a whole a slight bit! I have a very faint memory of it, but I remember at the least that he's exerting his anti-magic into the area," Mimosa recalled as her attention severed slightly. Within the moment she switched off though, her head kick-started her mind rapidly again as she raised another blossoming guard, suddenly blocking multiple slashes as she reinforced her position, "stay alert dammit, Mimosa! Don't let yourself swindle from the moment so much!"

"She was off of her guard like I thought. With her on the defensive, I need to break her down right here and now!" Asta thought as he landed just short of Mimosa's guard and sent out Black Slashes as he dived forth, constantly oppressing her defence as he prepared a swing.

"These attacks..." Mimosa grit her teeth as she instinctively stepped back slightly and tried to retain composure, "each of them aren't dispelling my defence, only nullifying it! I'm fortunate I can block these, but if Asta's blade itself connects, it instantly obliterates it!"

She was blown away and thrown into disarray though as Asta suddenly blast through her guard, landing just short of her as his blades were in motion, "He's so fast! I didn't see it coming so soon! My defence was hardly even an obstacle for him." Her feet shifted as her whole body was surrounded once more by a familiar green aura, "I was careless not to expect this of Asta, now he's at close range with me on the back-foot. A perfect situation for him."

The boy maintained his composure this time though as he stomped his right foot ahead of himself and instantly swung an attack once more for Mimosa across her stomach. In a flash, he saw Mimosa suddenly fling away as his attack sliced through thin air. His vision perfectly tracked her movement as he saw the worry setting in, "I can't let her get away with such an advantage now! I need to seize this, I won't catch her slacking so much again!"

"Dammit!" Mimosa exclaimed to herself as vines began to flood from the ground to connect to her. All of them were of a decent size despite Asta's ability, wrapping around her waist to tug her even further away, "he's breached my area of advantage, which leaves me on the defensive now. With me being weakened in my area, he basically has full reign over me at the moment, and he seems desperate now to land a blow! I can't use the sky either if I wanted, I'm much less mobile compared to Asta in the air, I'd essentially become his punching bag if I leave myself too exposed so I need to keep grounded as much as I can. I can only keep my distance with him for so long so I need a way to slow him down!"

"The vines are weakened, but they're still enough to help her have some control. Even being so close, she's managing to exert so much mana, maybe it won't quite be enough on it's own, but then how the hell do I weaken that connection further?" Asta pondered as he sliced across his chest once more, blasting a black ray into the base of the vines as it severed them completely, "I can just keep cutting her down for now though, if I concentrate a slash enough, it can dice through magic like that."

"I don't have time to build up mana for constant strong attacks, there's too much pressure upon me to consistently find openings large enough, so I can only throw barrages of weaker attacks, but they won't be enough to hold him back for long either, I need to think of something! At the least, I can maximise my reinforcements," Mimosa figured as she noticed herself lowering from her collapsing vines, landing back on the floor as she boosted herself away from another slash and bound Asta by frail vines at the same time.

Once more the vines were sliced away in a mere instant as Asta immediately blasted straight towards her, slicing multiple beams towards her using his Destroyer as he wound up an attack to his hip using his Slayer.

Promptly, Mimosa boosted herself high into the air again as she jolted her right arm towards the direction of the approaching threat, "I'm practically improvising at this rate. If I stay on the floor too long, he'll easily glide through everything towards me with how weak my attacks will be, if only I had better control of this! I can't delay him with these pitiful attacks though, so I need to mix this up as much as I can!" From her hand, multiple small spheres of mana were shot in the shapes of seeds. They floated there on their own as they glowed brightly in the air, emitting a decent amount of mana within each, "Impact Seeds!"

"These seeds..." Asta awed as he noticed them flicker, "their ki tell me that it must be some kind of compact mana. Her condensing mana in such a way to be able attack straight from her is just like what she did when she was taken over! With such tremendous mana on her side...she could dish out some serious damage with attacks like them...but what do these do?"

"I've got him right where I want him!" Mimosa bloomed as she closed her fists, the seeds suddenly spiking in ki from Asta's perspective.

Noticing the sudden spike, he furthered his speed, "I'm stuck in a minefield of these! At the least, some will hit me if I don't react fast enough, there's only one way for me to get through this unscathed..." Seamlessly, he suddenly began spiralling around like a tornado, blitzing through the area in an instant as he sliced through each and every last seed, severing them completely and disabling their blast as he screamed, "BLACK HURRICANE!"

Mimosa was awestruck, "He cut through every last one of them in a singular moment! I've seen him do it once before myself, but even this outshines that! How can he so elegantly handle it all! Surely his mind couldn't keep up!" Within the next instant, Asta was inches from Mimosa, his Slayer suddenly vanished from his hands as he only wielded the Destroyer, "W-what!?"

"These patterns in his attack...it reminds me of his battle with Ladros..." Noelle awed his rapid speed, "Mimosa's funnelling the mana all to herself that she's taking from the environment...it's making her like a beacon of mana itself! However...the anti-magic...just like against Ladros...goes straight for such extreme traces of mana. It'll constantly close on her until it reaches the source of this tremendous mana!"

"He's following her mana traces then?" Magna rhetorically asked as he nudged the Silva and Luck, "he's using a similar method to how he kept up with the little lightning bastard then. Anti-magic sure is insane."

"So Asta can keep after me like this? Oh boy! I'll head straight for him too! Our fight will be so destructive!" Luck hopped in excitement, "Asta's power is so amazing!"

Noelle severed the two of them from her mind as she focused on Asta, "When Asta surpasses his speed so much, she doesn't stand a chance. Up until now, sh was just managing to creep by, but he wasn't putting his all into it. With more momentum and raw speed, she's just too slow compared to him. He's got the absolute advantage."

Furthermore, Noelle's attention was brought more to her cousin as she caught a glimpse of her bravado breaking, seeing her trembling hands, "Mimosa...when we were younger, I always looked up to you. You were so much more than me...now though...it seems I've grasped the superiority. I'm stronger now, and I hope to stay that way. I've seen you work yourself to the bone the last six months to become stronger, but, there's still a bit of a ways to go for you...and I."

"There's nothing I can do! He's too close! He made up all this distance in mere moments!" Mimosa panicked as she managed to kick away from him slightly as she began her slow descent once more, "I may not have had much time to charge this up, but maybe it will be enough! While he was pressuring me, I couldn't throw out any decent attacks consecutively, so I was just charging up this one big one!"

"This feeling..." Asta thought as he quickly swerved and blast straight down towards Mimosa, "she's too high up in the air to hit me on time with a plant attack from the ground, which means she's attacking me directly again!" He furthered his speed as he saw the desperation in her face, he had her completely against the wall now.

"Blooming Ray!" Mimosa yelled as a great, concentration of mana launched out her conjoint hands, propelling her down slightly faster with her back still turned. The ray was tremendous on its own, shining greatly in the sky and blinding all those around as many had to shield their eyes, making it slightly harder to see, but from what could be made out, Asta seemed to be travelling straight towards it.

The young boy didn't flinch upon the attack at all, facing his sharper edge forth as he headed straight for the attack, "If I reflect this attack now...it will most certainly end her for good. Her body isn't capable of handling so much mana, especially when I double it back to her. I...don't have it in me to hurt her so much though...I'll end this peacefully." He promptly glided through the ray as he had done to so many attacks before, it didn't even set him back a single second as his momentum carried through as the attack began to fade away beside him.

Mimosa was shot with fear as she saw her attack fading away, now she had absolutely nothing left for that moment as she felt Asta right hand connect with her left shoulder, "I-I'm done for!"

"It's finished!" Asta claimed as he drove them straight into the ground together. Upon the collision, there was a slight blast as tornado of dust ran rampant around everyone, blinding everyone's vision briefly as everyone gawped in awe.

However, instead of a harsh impact, Mimosa felt more of a jolt before her collision, landing with much less force than she anticipated as she reopened her eyes, still feeling Asta's firm hand upon her, "He...dampened the impact so I wouldn't be hurt so much… That should have crumbled my bones, but it was just like a simple fall. He...didn't want to hurt me… Because I'm so much less stoic...he..."

Yami wasn't fooled, picking up on Asta's action too, "That kid's too nice...it's gonna bite him in the ass one day if he doesn't pull it together. He should have ended it right there, but he let his feelings get the better of him."

"Impressive," Fuegoleon admired, "he turned the battle on it's head from a single opening. He's certainly good at taking his chances."

"It's not over yet, so I think this is about to shift a new direction," Mereoleona observed.

Gales of dust circulated through the battlefield still but faded little by little as Mimosa slowly grew a grander view of Asta. His Slayer sword was deep into the ground beside them with the hand which once grasped the weapon against her. His Destroyer however, was still firmly enticed in the palm of his hand, pressing gently against her chest as he looked down upon her with a more pitying expression. He had the complete upper hand now, as he had a leg around either side of her corset, using his body weight alone to keep her down.

Deep down, it wasn't her helplessness that bothered Mimosa...no...it was the stirring feeling in her chest that she felt around where the Destroyer sword connected. It was like a steadily rising pain, becoming more prominent with each second as it swirled more vividly. A strange feeling overcame her as a whole as the sword in Asta's hand began to jitter, control of it seemingly slightly lost as Asta tried to strengthen his control as he was enticed in confusion himself.

"Wh-what's this feeling? What's happening!?" Mimosa panicked to herself as she began to glow slightly in a pure white aura before letting out screams of pure agony as she struggled immensely and wriggled in restlessness. Her screams deafened all ears and shot pure terror into all hearts as tears immediately swelled from the pain as it became too much to withhold. With how limited she was, there was no way to release all her agony as it boiled her blood, her fingers subconsciously clawing against Asta as she was losing track of everything as a whole.

"Th-the hell!?" Asta thought as he withdrew his blade, immediately feeling a sense of calm come back as Mimosa's pain severed. She cooled back down as she panted relentlessly, her movements slowing again as the tensions in her body ceased. The aura around her had immediately died. He glared upon his own two hands as he immediately pieced together some deductions, "My weapon...it reacted with her? This only reacts to dispel the after-effects of spells though...which would mean that she's being effected by something...but why did it react so vigorously with her? What the hell kind of spell is effecting her? And why is it? How have none of us noticed?"

"That feeling…!" Mimosa's eyes widened in fear, "why the hell did it resonate with me!? Why did that hurt so much!?" With her mind warping back into reality, she immediately saved herself and blast a sphere of energy directly towards the bewildered opponent, "I need to seize the moment!"

Instinctively, Asta managed to grasp his Slayer sword and blocked the blast with his flat edge as he was blast far away, fortunately managing to flip to his feet as he skid against the floor. On the contrary, Mimosa had no control at all, harshly tumbling across the floor as she barely found the opportunity to claw her hands out and slow herself. She looked up worriedly towards the confident Asta as she raised herself once more.

"What on Earth happened there?" Klaus questioned as he eagerly leant forth, "I couldn't see much due to the havoc, but I certainly heard some distress weaved through this all! Just what is unfolding?"

Yuno dialled his mind back as he had attained a much better view of the event, and the disruption of the area's mana certainly spoke well to him too, "It was just like back in Hage...he used that blade to dispel the poison affecting Father. That can only mean that she has something affecting her too...there's nothing else it should be able to resonate with in such a way. But...there's nothing apparent about her...I can't pick up a single thing about her that would tell me what spell is affecting her..."

However, it wasn't only Yuno who had caught a glimpse of the events, "Oh? That was rather peculiar. What happened?" Vanessa questioned as she gently caressed Rouge upon her left shoulder.

Curiously, Finral observed, "I don't know. But whatever it was, it wasn't good. I think it'd be best for us to keep an eye out, it didn't give me a good feeling at all."

"Drat! I let her slither away while I was distracted! I could have ended it all easily then and there, but that just distracted me, dammit!" Asta grunted as he begrudgingly began forth once more, seeming rather hasty, "I don't want to hurt her any more, but due to my idiocy I have to. It may take me a moment to find a hole in her defence like that, and if I take too long, I'll end up exhausting this form rather quickly. I've got the clear superiority, but still I'm struggling more than I should, I have a faint idea though..."

"I'm nearing my limit," Mimosa begrudgingly admitted to herself, "exhausting so much mana, even if it doesn't exhaust my mana store, is so physically draining on me...my body will cave in on itself soon enough if I don't pull myself together! The fact he's oppressing the amount of mana in my attacks means I have to unleash so much more just to dish out anything half decent, all it's doing is draining me even more… At this rate, I'll just pass out. But I still have control of the ground, I can work with this if I try! I can still impress Asta because this isn't enough right now, I need to go further!"

"Hey! Dumpsta!" Noelle yelled from the sidelines as attention shifted towards her, "stop playing around already and play serious so this can end quickly! We haven't got all day you know!" She was met with a confused expression initially but stared more deeply into Asta's eyes as her meaning eventually brushed into his mind.

Asta tensioned up slightly as he reconnected his vision with Mimosa, breathing in a slow and controlled manner as he darted a serious gaze towards her, making her quiver slightly in nervousness as he tightened his grasp around his blades, "She's right, I've been too ignorant this whole time. The longer I drag out this fight, the more I'll ultimately have to hurt her. The sooner I end this, the sooner I can lay down my weapons. I'll end this fight right now, in this rally! I'm going to win!"

As his confidence rose, Mimosa's only began to diminish as she began to tremble slightly more, "I can't think straight, but I need to! My mind's too distracted! I just need to be calm and think methodically! This isn't out of my reach yet!"

"I think it's time I put this to bed," Asta coldly said as he pierced his Destroyer blade into the ground before immediately piercing forth. "I never took the time to realise other clear methods of suppressing her magic. My anti-magic swords drain mana, that's why I'm the only one who can wield them. Even if it doesn't do it completely effectively, the sword just piercing the heart of her source of mana should greatly disrupt it. My Anti-Mana Zone at the moment may not work as well, but as soon as I master it, it will. It's not the kindest move on my part, but I'm winning this, this rally!"

The difference was immediately felt as Mimosa felt her connection falter, "Huh? My mana...it's being disrupted even more!?" She immediately tried to summon a wall of vines in front of herself, but it was much more pathetic than before, the vines being of mediocre size and quantity, "Don't tell me he-"

In that moment, the whole orientation of the battle shifted, Asta appearing in front of her in an instant as she scarcely managed to react in time and blast herself to the side, letting him fly past, "Shit! No! This can't be happening! My attacks are so pitiful and he's only upping his game! This isn't right, I've still got so much to prove to Asta! I need to show my worth still! I can't let him down like this!"

"I see," Yami observed, "the kid's being experimental at least. He's turning this on it's head so I wouldn't be surprised if this ends up becoming a bit more ugly."

"What do you mean?" William question as he felt his anxiety growing himself for his knight.

"Through this battle, each of them had an area that they had the advantage in. With her manipulation of the environment's mana, she had a wide control of the ground. She could unleash fairly powerful spells with the amount she had in store and on top of that, Asta would always have to approach her in order to attack, giving her a fair advantage. On the contrary, Asta had the air as Mimosa has no real aerial and he can fly in his Black form. It gave them an advantage each that they both tried to exercise. However, now Asta has found a way to strip away her area of advantage, he has the upper hand. He now has control of the field," Mereoleona explained, cutting in for Yami.

"I see," William sighed, "she's losing any footing she has in the battle quickly, she must find a way to challenge his advantage herself."

"This isn't how I bow out!" Mimosa screamed as she began to give her all, "I can already feel my limit knocking, I'm becoming rather light-headed from the stress my body is under from exerting so much mana, but it isn't enough yet! I can control myself!" She desperately began to fling through the pages of her grimoire, desperately trying to find some hope to cling to, "I have no choice but to exert everything I have left. I have to give my everything, no matter the consequences!"

Keenly, Asta flew around Mimosa, analysing her as he felt her ki dying down slowly, "She's really giving it everything. But even so, everything won't be enough. I can fight more grounded now, and she doesn't have any easy was to challenge me aerially." Swiftly, he flew inwards as he headed straight for Mimosa, unleashing many slashes in his wake as he then pulled his blade back to unleash a devastating strike.

She was at her wits end, raising several vines individually to meet the slashes as they seemed enough to dispel them just barely. She raised a guard of flowers in front of herself to meet the slash of his blade, but nothing ever truly came as she immediately flicked her head to behind herself in terror to see Asta's blade already in motion, his cool and ferocious expression driving a further fear into her.

Fortunately for the Vermillion, she managed to twist her right arm around her waist just in time to blast a sphere of mana straight into Asta, meeting his blade as it caused a small explosion between the two of them, sending them apart once more. On one half, Mimosa rolled like a barrel along the floor, unable to control herself as her head began hurting more and more. For her, it was difficult to keep up, she could hear a constant beat in her head like a drum that died out much of the sounds of the battle. This of course never aided her much as she couldn't sense Asta in the first place. Being stripped of her senses left little other than her vision to rely on.

Asta recovered well however, transitioning into a glide during the blast apart as he swooped around to head straight for her with a plan in mind, "Now I've seized her area of advantage, she's as far back against the ropes as I could hope for. Now...I know how to finish this. It won't be pretty, but it's the only way to keep her down."

"I've hardly gotten to my feet and he's already straight back at me! No! This isn't fair! I need to show Asta my worth still! I won't give up here, not for Asta!" Mimosa encouraged herself as she was clinging onto the thinnest sheets of hope.

"It's over!" Asta claimed as he slammed his weapon straight down on where Mimosa stood, landing alongside it. With it being so clearly telegraphed, she easily managed to dodge to the side, but it left her momentarily in the air. He quickly followed though, dragging his blade through the ground as he sliced it upwards underneath Mimosa who was still vulnerable.

"He missed on purpose!?" Mimosa suddenly realised as she was forced to blast another sphere of energy against the blade to propel herself upwards, leaving her wide open in the sky, no land close enough to protect herself, "he's got me right where he wants me!"

The ground shattered beneath his feet as Asta bent his knees and propelled upwards, his sword wide out as he was aimed perfectly, "BLACK..."

Immediately, Mimosa deduced the attack as she formed a small shield of greenery from her very hands, "He's going to use Meteorite! That attack was enough to finish Langris and the crystal with ease! I need to block this no matter what! I'll be done for if I don't! I just need some more footing! I just need a little more! I need to do this!"

All that determination though was burned to a crisp all at once. Asta swiftly manoeuvred around Mimosa before she could blink, though, she turned in time to see her crush with his blade now instead above his head and already nearing it's impact upon her. To see Asta so cold and calculated was frightening, to feel his strength unleashed upon her was an impact like no other she felt before. She managed to turn her arms to shield herself, but she had no magic protecting her this time, not like it could even do so at this point. Though her terror though, all she could murmur was, "No..."

"I hope this is the only blood I have to shed from you, Mimosa..." Asta deeply sighed to himself as his expression turned slightly more saddened, but it was too late for his attack to hesitate now, it had to land, "I'm sorry..." He let loose all he had into his one swing though, slamming his blade down upon her as he raged, "GIANT'S SLASH!"

All in a moment, the attack slammed down upon Mimosa, blasting her with great impact against the ground and raising a hurricane of dust once more. The impact shook the ground tremendously, making everyone quake upon it as they all gawped in awe at it's power. Enticed in the sound of the trembling ground though, were Mimosa's screams of pure agony, striking more fear into everyone's hearts as they watched on eagerly. The area was left speechless as Asta dropped himself while he faded away his Black form, landing back against the floor with a much more pathetic impact in comparison before rushing towards where he sensed Mimosa's ki.

The mayhem finally calmed as the clouds of dust faded once more, giving a clearer view to all as Asta slid towards where he heard Mimosa's continuing agony. However, he was greeted with a sight he didn't quite expect. Mimosa was laying there on her side, writhing in pain as her left arm was a bloody mess with a deep cut along it and her right arm was tightly gripping to her right leg. There wasn't a moment where she didn't seem in discomfort.

"Shit! I still put in too much power!" Asta regret as he clenched his fist, "dammit Asta you blithering idiot! She guarded the blow with her left arm, which left the deep cut and she must have landed awkwardly and broken her leg which isn't promising since there's even a stain of blood staining through her boots! You're really done it this time, haven't you!?" "Mimosa! I'm sorry! Are you ok!? Can you still feel your leg!?"

There was a lack of a response outside of her constant cries of pain as everyone anxiously looked on. Mimosa however was mainly dwelling in her thoughts, "Dammit! Look at yourself Mimosa! You've embarrassed yourself in front of Asta! I couldn't quite control my landing, now look at what I've let happen! What will he think of me now like this? How pathetic do I seem like this!? I was supposed to prove myself, but I'm just here rolling in agony because I couldn't defend myself. Worst of all...Asta's being apologetic...he thinks this is his fault! How could you let him feel that way, Mimosa!?"

"Damn, that's a nasty end. It was a solid attack from the boy, but her body couldn't handle it at all," Yami sighed, "maybe he should have held back a bit more, but I guess he wasn't trying to hurt her like that, he's not that kind of kid."

"This wall was perhaps insurmountable for her," William sighed too, "her injury was completely preventable on her end, she couldn't quite wrap her head around the situation though. I think we needn't see any more."

"I agree," Fuegoleon solemnly nodded, "it'd be plain cruel for her to fight on in that state. What do you think, Mereoleona?"

Noelle looked down to the floor sadly, unwilling to see her cousin so injured, "Mimosa..."

Worriedly, Asta nudged the Vermillion as he held his hand over her open wound on her left arm, "Hey! Mimosa! Can you hear me? Don't drop out on me! I'll have you patched up in a jiffy!" He glanced back to Mereoleona, who still seemed hesitant.

"Pathetic! That's what you still are! You've not changed at all since your first dungeon!" Mimosa sobbed to herself, "your failing right before the boy you want to impress the most! Even through all the talk, you've not proved your own strength, you're as incompetent as you used to be dammit! Why haven't I learnt anything!? Why can't I get stronger!? Why...am I still not enough..."

Within the moments of her deepest despair though, that's when Asta's words stuck her back once more, 'You're not a failure, dammit!'. Internally, it was if she was staring down into the darkest depths of despair, but upon those words, her head slowly began to rise, "I'm...not…?"

His words funnelled into her all at once as she became rather motionless to Asta as her screams began to die down, 'why can't you see how amazing you are!?' 'you're the kindest I know!' 'you're so much greater than you realise!'. "I...am…?"

'just open those eyes a little more!'

"That's right..." Mimosa reconciled, "I...I'm not a failure! This pain...this agony...is what's telling me to fight on! What am I doing!? I need to stand up and fight!"

"I have no choice," Mereoleona sighed as she swiped her arm downwards, "this battle is finished! Mimosa is out of commision! Asta wins!"

"No." Mimosa sternly said as she slowly began to push herself up with her right arm as her left was pulled into her chest. She seemed to immensely struggle as she continued to release winces of pain. She stared up fiercely towards Asta, "I'm not done yet dammit!"

Everyone let out a gasp of disbelief as Mereoleona only grinned, "Is that so? Then so be it! Distance yourself from one another before restarting!"

Seeming uncertain, Asta stayed on his knees alongside her, being hesitant to do anything as he begrudgingly leaned forth to lend a helping hand, only to feel Mimosa's hand against his chest as she looked up to him with a weary look, "I'm ok, Asta. I need to do this alone."

"Don't push yourself too much," Asta sighed as he stood and moved back to his position anxiously with no more interference.

"My right leg is completely shattered it feels. I can't apply any pressure at all without it causing the worst pain I've ever felt. I have to support it with vines while I try and heal it, but it'll be hard to find an opportunity as it would take some extensive work to repair a broken bone," Mimosa began her cool thinking as vines wrapped around her broken leg, firmly supporting it and keeping it in place as they wrapped around her other leg too, "I can't just go hop around with one leg in vines so I'll have to rely on vines to make me mobile. I have to exert a tremendous amount of mana alone just to summon something so minute, and my mana store now is already nearly depleted."

Mimosa met eyes with Asta as she briefly managed to heal her left arm, stopping the bleeding at the least as a ring of flowers surround the arm as a whole to cover the damage and slowly heal it, it was reminiscent of the cloak of greenery she dawned when entering her flower dress, "However, I have very few embers of my strength left, and I'm going to make those embers burn as bright as the sun!"

Seeing the craziness in her eyes, Asta sighed and swiped his Slayer sword to the side as he refused to show sympathy through his expressions, "She's desperate. One more full-blown attack from either of my swords would break her completely, beyond being a simple repair. I will not hurt her more. I have no choice but to finish her with that move...so that I don't have to shed any more blood."

"She's running off of adrenaline," Yami observed, "the blood's pumping fast for her, she won't be thinking as calmly as she was before. Keep an eye on her, we don't want her over-exerting herself too much."

"She's already hit her limit," Fuegoleon furthered, "what she's displaying now is just the remnants of her power. While Asta's still practically unscathed, it's not too early to call that she can hit him with something devastating. It all comes down to what she can muster."

Aside them, William still keenly observed, "Mimosa...I've never seen her pushed to such an extent before. Seeing such a pure an innocent youth so bloodied and frazzled...it's unbearable to see unfold. The battle is so pushed in one direction now though, that I pray Asta ends this soon...purely to end her sufferings. The spirit she has though to continue to fight in such a state...it's unbelievable..."

The Vermillion was left panting profusely, constantly battling for air as she immensely struggled just to keep her back straight, "I'll burn all this mana at once. I can't afford to conserve anything any more, just trying to beat him with mediocre power won't get me anywhere any more. Through most of this battle, I've been suppressed by his Anti-Mana Zone. He's forced me to exert double what I normally would at least just to materialise normal spells, and that's still ensuing. With the mana I use now...I won't be able to fight for long, but, I should be able to overcome his Anti-Mana Zone completely to use more powerful spells."

"This will be tricky of me," Asta thought as he grasped his abandoned weapon, "my latent abilities won't be enough to suppress her at all, so I'll forego trying to suppress her altogether and focus on my fighting."

"Asta..." The girl began as she drew his attention, "I know you probably pity me because of my state right now, even though you probably don't wanna show it...but just because of how I am now...don't hold back on me. I'm not finished yet, I still can beat you!"

"Sorry," Asta sternly began as he began forth, his Black form taking over, "but I don't plan on giving you much of a chance to grasp that victory. I never intended to hold back." Instantly, he flung forth, dragging his Slayer through the ground in his path as his blistering speed headed straight on at Mimosa.

She immediately reacted, vines more spiked rising as a defence ahead of her as other vines wrapped around her to uphold her in the air, "With him wielding both swords again, I can take back the ground as my advantage in terms of how I can manipulate it. My broken leg means I can't avoid his attacks when he gets in close, and the amount of mana I'm exhausting now means I'll have to be more offensive regardless. I need to use these vines to breach his area of advantage too!"

Focus. That was the one thing on Asta's mind as he grew closer to Mimosa. He heightened his ki sensing to his maximum and propelled himself forth as fast as he could, "I'm going so fast that I should be able to outpace most vines she tries to lurch on me, and my ki sensing is so alert that dicing apart them fast enough shouldn't be an issue. There's always a faint feeling I get before they spring on me, so I'm going to trust that as a signal! With her state, though it'd be cruel, I need to prevent her healing as much as I can. She'll grow more weary with those injuries, meaning she'll tire faster and give me an opening."

The vines enveloping Mimosa quickly tugged her upwards as Asta sliced through her defence with ease, immediately directing himself towards where she floated while dragging his blades through the vines in his ascent, slowly killing those supporting her as she began to feel her altitude lowering. Within seconds, all her vines began to wither away as she began head-first toward Asta, his weapon already winding up to attack.

"Is he underestimating me?" Mimosa pondered, "he's giving me the chance to unleash all this mana...but is it through arrogance?" As she fell, she more keenly stared into him, "No, this is all part of his plan. Does he want me to exhaust myself? Regardless, I won't let it happen his way." Several grand plants sprouted in an instant and charged up a magnificent amount of mana as they rose above Asta and each blast their cannons simultaneously down towards the boy.

Unflinching, Asta held the tips of his swords ahead of himself as the cannons all blast out at once, their beams intertwining with one another as they created one giant beam, blinding most people's eyes. It wasn't enough to stop the spirited boy though as he pierced straight through the attack, briskly boosting out the other end as he found himself a dozen meters or so away from Mimosa. What he didn't expect to see though, was the giant fist of greenery swinging down towards him. It was a grand fist, dozens of times the size of both Mimosa and Asta themselves as it glistened a beautiful shade of green. It was a clear amalgamation of leaves and vines with flowers blooming throughout, making it appealing on it's own, but the threat outweighed the beauty in Asta's eyes.

"She charged that before I even realised! I can't so easily cut it away right now, not without my Divider, and it's too close now to that I can't swerve it!" Asta panicked slightly as he tried to keep his mind as level as possible, "no! I can't think of anything! All I can do is..." Asta crossed his blades ahead of himself as the attack connected to him, immediately blasting him to the ground as he landed on his two feet, the attack still trying to break through his guard as it only grew stronger, "WITHSTAND!"

"NATURE'S FURY FIST!" Mimosa screamed as she put all she could into her attack, constantly expanding it upon Asta as he was thrust deeper into the ground, the ground shattering around him as huge chunks of rubble began to rise and float around as the force of the attack alone kept Mimosa in the air. "I'VE GOT YOU!" Mimosa claimed as she continued to flood the attack with her mana, the vines constantly swelling larger and the leaves expanding in area as more force was being gained.

"My! What a beautiful attack!" Vanessa admired.

Finral however, was more anxious, constantly shifting in his spot as he trembled for Asta, "Th-that's some crazy mana! If that were to hit Asta's body...even he may not be able to tank that! Maybe he gambled too much! He could have opened a door to his own demise!"

Vanessa nudged the boy slightly as she wrapped her right arm around him, "Come on now, you always worry too much for the boy. No spot is too tough for him, remember? Untwist your panties and just watch," she had a smug grin seeing how confident and calm Asta still seemed on the outside as he blocked the attack still, "he's no where near finished yet."

Up above, Nero had gifted herself a more aerial view, overseeing the complete fight on her own with no interruption as she had her complete attention upon Asta, "Interesting. Mimosa's never shown this sort of offensive style before. It's swelling with tonnes of mana, even Asta will recognise that through his ki detection. As a whole, she's never shown such a style in combat before, so spells like this are unexpected, however," she noticed a grin beginning to form on Asta as he seemed to become more stable at fending off the attack, "Asta is more natural than anybody else when it comes to adapting on the battlefield."

"With the attack connecting to my blades, it should be weakening slightly due to the flow of anti-magic, but instead, it's slowly growing stronger as she constantly manages to overwhelm the flow of the anti-magic. If I had just one of my blades, she'd have crushed me by now, but I'm slowly getting my footing, even if the area around me is shattering to pieces," Asta began to push more fiercely against the attack as the muscles in his legs more noticeably tensioned, crumbling the ground beneath him only more and more.

"He's...pushing back…?" Mimosa awed as she tried to respond with more force, but was only being further pushed back, "no, no, no! I can't let him push me back! I need to see this attack through! I'll land this hit no matter what! I won't be repelled!"

"Such incredible strength," Fuegoleon admired, "I can only ever imagine what kind of pressure that attack withholds, and he's managing to match it! I could count very few people I'd imagine to have such raw strength!"

Yami grinned, "He's not just matching it..." the ground around the battle area began to tremble greatly as the fist began to slowly be pushed back and Asta's feet left the floor, "he's surpassing it."

It didn't take too long for Mimosa to catch wind, hearing Asta's rage as he gave his all into repelling the attack, "Wh-what!? That's impossible! No! He can't be doing this! I've always known he was strong...but seriously!? I can't be outdone like this! I have so much mana on my side, I have the natural advantages! I should be overwhelming him!"

"Sorry Mimosa," Asta said in a thunderous tone as he began to consistently push back the fist, "no matter how much is going for you, I'll still win! No amount of advantages can put me down!"

"Impossible!" Mimosa screamed as she gave her all, but her all wasn't seeming to be quite enough, "I...can't lose!"

In an instant, Asta let out one last roar of his efforts as the fist was abruptly blasted far back, repelling all the way back to Mimosa as it unravelled back into mounds of vines. Following that Asta immediately began to ascend at full speed, closing in on Mimosa rapidly, "It's finished!"

She was left bewildered briefly, glancing around at her flailing vines as they slowly wavered around her, "Huh?" It took a long moment to realise what had happened as the reality slowly sunk into her, "He applied so much force...so abruptly..he's even beyond my imagination! B-but that's all the more reason to prove myself now! I still have so much left to show!" Her hands jolted forth as new vines had sprouted to keep her in the air still. All those wavering vines which had been split from Asta's force all shot down towards him at once like a storm.

He sliced through the vines as swift as a knife, soaring through the sky as a bird as he spiralled around, slicing through all the incoming attacks, left, right and centre seamlessly as he smoothly severed the gap between him and his opposition.

"I can't afford another hit!" Mimosa realised as her vines took complete control of her movement as both opponents began to flow naturally, not thinking much about each of their actions. Mimosa was constantly on the back-foot, her vines constantly tugging her back and weaving her out of harms way while also sending out simple thorned vines to chase down Asta. He on the other hand was constantly chasing her, easily fending off any of her resistances as he slowly but surely began to catch back up.

"This whole time I've been wary of staying too close up with her, but it's taken me now to realise how monotonous her attack are. Throughout, she's only been attacking with her vines or cannons really, she hasn't shown me much of else, other than that giant green fist from earlier. She has all the power behind her attacks that she could desire, but she still hasn't reached a level of versatility where her attacks are unpredictable and dangerous. I practically don't need to think to avoid most of them. It makes me gaining openings more systematic," Asta thoroughly deduced as he swiftly diced through several vines in a zigzag shape, closing the distance even more as he saw more of the panicked expression enter Mimosa, "just a little more..."

"It's no use!" Mimosa grit her teeth in frustration, "I can't find an opportunity to heal myself, never mind attack him!" She glanced slightly down at her broken leg, the bloody stain still blended into her boot, "His constant pressure means I have to constantly divert my mana to fend him off, but I'm not skilled enough that I can use high level healing to repair my broken leg and use such grand amounts of mana to hold him back. My leg is too injured to passively heal, I'd need to concentrate on it to amend it."

Asta finally closed the distance enough to worry Mimosa to her maximum, seeing her trembling more and more the closer he grew as he carefully tracked her movements, "Her back's against the wall now. It's time to end it, for real." Sharply, he turned and blasted towards her directly as she made herself more stationary in the air, fiercely staring down Asta as he approached.

"My last stand..." Mimosa slowly breathed, trying her best to quell her trembling, "if I don't try and end this now, he'll end me. I won't be drained of my mana...I'll be drained of any strength at all. With me unable to heal, trying to sustain this any longer is impossible...he's outdone me so simply… I have no choice but to win it now!"

Dozens of humongous vines suddenly spurred from the ground in a circle formation just ahead of Mimosa. They began to take a familiar formation to Asta, soon twisting into the shape of a gargantuan Magic Cannon Flower as an equally as gargantuan mass of mana abruptly charged in the heart of the attack.

"It's...massive..." Asta awed as he approached the attack head-first, "but...it seems exactly like her normal attack, it's just scaled up...a hundred or so times...or at least it feels that way."

"Th-this is the end, A-Asta! I'll take you down right now!" Mimosa nervously proclaimed as the attack quickly reached it's breaking point before release as she reflected to herself, "I improvised this slightly, but I managed to get a feeling of it's formation well," she panted, "it may not be an all new move but it's the strongest I could probably muster right now. It will be enough!"

"Huh, that's a big-ass spell for a young-ling like her. Ain't exactly complex, but still big as hell," Yami puffed, "she must be using all that she has left to do something like that."

"The amount of mana she's managing to exert into attacks, such as there, are certainly of a high calibre. It's only unfortunate that she's against such a high calibre of opposition herself. I believe it matters not how much mana she tries to flood into her attacks. Asta's ability virtually makes all magic meaningless, so a little more mana in her attacks won't falter him much, he'll nullify it all the same," Fuegoleon sighed.

Still calmly, Asta stared into the attack as he saw Mimosa's hand flickering in hesitation to unleash the attack. He held both swords ahead of himself as he tensioned his entire body and tucked himself in slightly, "A few seconds...a few seconds until I end this. Stick to your thinking...believe in yourself."

Begrudgingly, Mimosa unleashed her attack by the jolt of her dominant hand, "RAVAGING MAGIC CANNON FLOWER!" On her command, a gargantuan beam blasted directly towards Asta, who approached it fearlessly. The tips of the vines spread apart as if it were a blossoming plant, the raw mana itself seeming to have tinted the tips of the vines which had connected to the blast.

The attack dwarfed Asta greatly by multiple times his height and width alone, but it was still never enough to deter him as he headed straight for the attack at full speed, hardly fluctuating that pace at all as his blades began to further his speed and only draw him closer to the attack.

"Flower Cannon eh? So it's just a modified version of another attack," Asta affirmed to himself, "but modified or not, I'll still bring them down all the same."

The two forces finally clashed as Asta pierced straight into the attack, the beam constantly flooding it's excess mana all around him as he burrowed through the beam with as much ease as he had with most attacks from Mimosa. He let out one great roar of his efforts as the attack sheerly wasn't enough to hold back his anti-magic. Instantly, he found himself pierced through the attack and through the dam of vines shielding Mimosa as he fixated his eyes indefinitely upon her. His blade felt drawn to her from the tremendous amount of mana she was exerting.

"N-no!" Mimosa shook her head in disbelief as she began to tremble in genuine fear. She found herself frozen. Too frozen to defend herself. Too frozen to truly think, "A-am I...g-going to lose?"

The gap between the two was instantly closed once more as Mimosa was left completely open and vulnerable, no defence, no hope of meeting any attack. All she could do was watch in horror as Asta approached through her withering plants, "He...he's too much… I can't unleash a thing any more...now I pay the price for my weakness..." She closed her eyes tight, unwilling to watch the final blow as her whole body tensioned itself in fear and anticipation.

In a flash, Asta slashed past Mimosa, ending the fight then and there as he whispered, "Black Butterfly Strike."

Nobody quite knew what happened as Mimosa showed no sign of agony from the blow, but she became still in the air, slowly beginning to fall backwards with no control over herself at all, "This feeling...I can't move at all...but...it doesn't hurt…? I didn't feel...anything..."

"What was that?" Luck awed, "that looked like a cool attack!"

"Asta..." Noelle felt her chest tighten slightly, "he...finished her painlessly...I don't need to see her in any more physical agony. I'm not sure how much more my heart could have taken of seeing her so helpless… Well done...Asta."

"Oh? I hadn't seen that attack before," Mereoleona observed, "to me, it seems like his blade never connected with her. It was the faintest of strikes that it was hardly recognisable at all, but that strike seemed to send a sort of wave that struck through her. It must have just affected her insides, like it jumbled her nerves around a bit to throw her into a sort of shock. He did his best to end her painlessly, so he let her weaken herself from exerting so much mana in the first place."

"He never runs out of tricks eh?" Yami chuckled, "but it looks like a wrap for real this time."

Glumly, William looked to the floor slightly, "She never landed a single blow on the boy. It will be a tough loss to take, but if she's truly as strong as I know, she'll recover and come back stronger. Even in sight of this loss, it's amazing to see how much she's blossomed from where she once was. She is certainly hundreds of times the fighter she once was, the main difference though is that Asta was thousands."

After slicing past, Asta immediately curled back around to the falling Mimosa, catching her in the air as he gently landed with her laid across him arms, seeming hardly awake at all as her eyes were on the verge of closing at all times, "The shock will out her for a bit, but she should be fine," he sighed as he gently laid her down against the floor.

"Mimosa now is unable to fight further! Asta wins!" Mereoleona announced in her usual boisterous voice, "Mimosa is eliminated." There was still an overall awing feeling through the crowd, many seeming in disbelief at the body's confident victory.

"That's my Asta!" Magna cheered from the sidelines as he pumped his fist.

"Keep winning like that and then let me crush you after!" Luck more demandingly said, "you've got so many new tricks you never showed me!"

Vanessa glanced down upon the Spacial Magic user with a sly grin, "What did I tell you, eh? You worry too much! He won, so you can stop acting like a baby!"

Finral let out a huge sigh of relief, "He knows how to make my poor heart race! Well at least he won in the end..."

"Mimosa? You ok?" Asta asked as he knelt down alongside her as her eyes began to creep open slightly more, "can you hear me?"

"Asta..." She faintly said as her head turned slightly to look up to him, "did...I...lose?"

He solemnly nodded, "Yeah, but you put up a hell of a fight! You had some insane mana in that fight! You blew me away!"

A frown was extended across Mimosa's face as she looked more glumly to the floor, "Don't lie...I...never stood a chance. You outdid me in every single way...everyone can see that..."

Asta's ears perked as he began to catch wind of the conversations around, "What an embarrassing defeat for a royal...she should be winning fights against such pitiful opposition!" Another knight joined in on the charade as Asta grit his teeth more tightly until it felt like he would shatter them, "Didn't you see? She didn't land a single hit against that boy, even with such grand magic to her side! She's certainly failing her bloodline right now… How are we supposed to believe in a healer who can't even protect herself?"

He saw the darker thoughts growing within Mimosa once more, all the anxieties and self doubts as tears began to brim in her eyes and she sniffled slightly as she hardly found the strength to wipe her eyes to avoid embarrassing herself further.

"Asta...over this time...I tried so hard...I trained so much…! And even now...I was worthless...am I forever going to be so weak? Am I failure again…? How am I supposed to be by your side on the battlefield...if I can't even stand against you in a battle…?" Mimosa sobbed tremendously as she lost all control of her tears.

Taking a deep breath, the boy helped steady her upright as he placed his hands on her shoulders, "When I said your not a failure, I damn well meant it. Even if you didn't win against me here now, even if you don't win here in the future, you're amazing damn it! I wasn't lying, the mana you threw at me was amazing, you still have so much more potential stemming within you to let blossom, so don't blot it with your fears! Use your fear to make that power blossom!"

"Potential..." Mimosa slowly said.

"Yeah! Look at the amazing mana you have! When you learn to control that even further, just imagine what amazing things you could do! We're still so young, we can still get so much stronger, all together! Me, you, Yuno, Noelle...everyone...we're still so youthful! So we're gonna keep getting stronger together...'kay?"

"O-o-of c-course!" Mimosa stuttered through her tears as she energetically wiped them away as her cheeks swirled into a bright red. It was virtually impossible to ignore her natural instincts, her body making her grasp so tightly around Asta as if he was a teddy bear as she squeezed out all her stress into him. Asta simply just wrapped his arms around her gently as he let out a sigh of relief, letting her briefly snuggle up to him as she rested her head on his shoulders.

Internally, she was blossoming even more than she was on the outside as she could hardly think straight, "I-I-I-I'M HUGGING ASTA AGAIN! I thought my love for him was at a m-maximum...but I think I just managed to fall for him even m-more! A-at the least, since I've lost...it means I don't have to try and hurt Asta any more...I can just support him!"

Noelle grit her own teeth slightly at seeing the two so cuddly as she puffed her cheeks and crossed her arms, "Sh-shes's taking advantage of the situation just to hug him! I-I totally am not j-jealous, i-it's just unfair she gets more time being so close!"

"Good job kid," Yami puffed as he leapt down to the two of them, "you both did well throughout. How's the leg? It looked like a nasty fall."

"U-um, it's completely broken," Mimosa shyly said as she pulled her head from it's resting place, "my body's too exhausted now to heal it myself, so I can't really walk for now, not until my body has rested a bit."

"That's no problem. Kid, carry her out of the battle area," Yami began as he looked up, immediately spotting Nero, "Nero! You take care of Mimosa's injuries!"

"Yes Captain!" The two said as Nero immediately swooped down towards the group, transforming back into her human form on the way down as she landed with the lightest of impacts alongside Asta.

Asta set himself in motion too, sweeping Mimosa up in his arms as he held one under her legs and the other behind her back, "We'll take good care of her!"

Satisfied, Yami nodded his head, "Sure. Also, you better keep winning and keep your eyes out. The winner of this next battle is who you'll face next, so study them well. You'll have a greater advantage the more you figure out your opponent in advance."

"Of course! I don't plan on losing!" Asta grinned as he slowly began away with Mimosa and Nero.

After a short shuffle through the crowds of knights, Asta pierced through the other side, spotting a towering oak tree as he laid Mimosa up against it, and was soon joined by many other of their friends.

"I'll make short work of this," Nero sighed as she bowed down next to Mimosa, "I should be able to repair it in no time at all."

"Th-thank you..." Mimosa huffed as she let out a wince or two of pain as she began her work, "normally I'd be the healer, but my carelessness led me to this."

"That was a splendid fight you two!" Klaus complimented as he appeared alongside Yuno.

Noelle shuffled into the fray too, sticking close to Asta's side, "I suppose it was ok."

"S-sorry for my lacking display, Asta was running the whole thing, he's just too powerful," Mimosa sighed.

"No, you had a great display. I hadn't ever seen you fight so maturely," Yuno assured, "we all know meat-head would be a great challenge in such a fight."

"Well I don't expect you to hold back either," Asta lightly chuckled as he raised an eye to Yuno, "I'll cut through whoever I have to so that I can fight you this time. I failed once before, but I won't do so again."

"We'll just see about that, regardless, I'll be the one to sever you in this fray. I'm not losing to you," Yuno stated.

"Hmph! You two get real! Neither of you will trump me! You have no idea how powerful I am now! I'm going to win my group, and win this whole thing for real!" Noelle screamed.

Yuno shook his head, "I'm not so sure about that. Last time we were in a tournament, I had to thwart Rill for us. This time I'll be the one thwarting you."

Asta stood between the two as he shrugged, "Whatever, you two don't even know who you're fighting yet! I've gotten through now, so you'll have to get through before you start boasting at even beating me! Besides, who's fighting next?"

The whole group looked towards the Captains, Mereoleona already glaring with intimidation over all as her chest was boosted out, already looking to boom at every innocent soul, "Now! You've seen the calibre of opponents you may come to face! If you're not willing to put up a similar effort, I'd run with your tails between your legs right now! As for the next battle of group one, it's Vanessa against Alecdora! Both combatants step forth!"

"Whoa! Vanessa's up now! So if she wins, I'll be facing her soon! Sweet!" Asta said with clear stars in his eyes at the excitement.

"Alecdora..." Yuno sighed, reflecting to only a few days back, "I don't know much about Vanessa's magic, but I heard rumours of how powerful it is. With how sub-par Alecdora is...he might not even have a chance."

"P-please, go and watch the fight and forget about me! I need a little amount of time to rest up anyway, then I'll be going onto healing duties instead," Mimosa insisted herself.

Asta was visibly conflicted, "B-but your leg!"

"It's fixed," Nero interrupted as she rose from the ground, "my magic is more than enough to make short work of injuries like it. I agree though, it'd be best to leave her to rest up for now regardless, she's physically exhausted."

"I'll watch over her just for safety, you lot go enjoy the fights." Noelle ordered as she begrudgingly moved closer to her cousin, parting more from Asta, "go quick! It'll be starting at any moment!"

Pinching his cheek, Nero dragged away Asta along with her, with Yuno and Klaus following shortly after with little hesitation, "You heard her, stop dawdling."

"OW, OW, OW! OK!" Asta submit immediately as he followed along, breaking into the front lines of the crowd as the two opposition were already facing down one another, "look! It's gonna start."

"You're far too excited for this. It's just a bunch of fights," Nero sighed before catching his attention, "now though, give me a hug."

"EH!?" Asta wailed in confusion as Nero suddenly wrapped her arms around the boy, "why!? What's this for!?"

Nero tugged his cheeks slightly as she puffed her cheeks, "You hugged Mimosa, so I want one too."

Still lost in confusion, Asta blushed slightly, "What kind of reasoning is that!? I'm not a hug stall! I was just comforting her!"

"Then comfort me now too!" Nero whined.

In that moment, something very peculiar then happened. Asta felt a very strong beat of his heart out of the blue as a weird fuzzy feeling entered his mind. He was seeing something odd, something he felt he had no reason to see. In his mind, it was like he saw a photo reel in his perspective, holding the hand of a young girl with silver hair and glistening pink eyes. It was all fuzzy to him, everything was fairly blurry, and that was the little he managed to realise. However, it was enough to trigger his mind and to draw the immediate comparisons.

Nero felt the great beat of his heart too as she pulled back from her embrace to see him quivering slightly, as sweat poured down his face in a constant stream, "Asta! What's wrong!? You're acting up! Did something happen!?"

He said naught as he slowly turned his head back towards where they once were. His eyes connected with another individual as he panted from the shortness of his breath, his mind still not comprehending what had happened fully.

He stared into the pink eyes of the young Silva of his squad, who seemed to be quivering just like him, with a wave of shock seeming to have hit her as she connected eyes with him.

The only word he could could muster as he fully confirmed his suspicion, was, "Noelle?"

There's a little cliffhanger for you ;D

This fight ended up being a lot longer than I anticipated, something that's becoming a clear trend, but don't worry, not all the fights are gonna be as long as this, only the major ones :P

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed, adding in some mystery is fun, so I hope it manages to build some more excitement since I like the reveals I have planned :3c

Next chapter I hope won't take as long, but I shouldn't promise anything, soon I'm gonna have to be heading back into school every now and then here so things are gonna become a bit more disjointed but I'll do my best!

Stay safe and have a wonderful day! :D

NEXT CHAPTER: FORBIDDEN MEMORIES