"I'd been waiting far too long to be able to flex this power onto a worthy opponent," Vanessa smugly said as she tightened her grip on the top of her right glove, "holding back for so long is never any fun!"
"Heh, so you're saying I can let loose a little more?" Asta perceived, "well, don't blame me if this comes back to bite you!"
Vanessa did feel a slight bit of pressure as she hesitated to move her arm, "Who cares if that comes to be? I won't get to find the limit of my strength if I don't give it my all against a strong opponent."
As her phrases faded, Vanessa pulled off her long glove, revealing the tattoo that Asta had become familiar with. This time, however, it glowed dazzlingly in a purple shade. Each molecule of black was under the same influence, making the entire length of her arm radiate in the eyes of all. Despite all the eyes upon her though, her only focus was on Asta, the magic radiating off of her already feeling like it wanted to edge towards Asta in his vacuum if anti-magic.
"This spike in ki...there's no mistaking it..." Asta grinned as his Black form began to form around him, "it's the exact same power I sensed and that she displayed a while ago against Zora. She tried to cover it up, but there was no mistaking how off it felt. My main question though is...what even is it beyond a power-up? Why does she have it? How did she get it? There are more questions than answers for now. Some might be answered though the more I fight and figure her out. We've always acted as a team, I've never really gotten to see her fight much individually."
"Well then, this is where to matches get far more interesting, wouldn't you agree, Yami?" Mereoleona grinned as her eyes reflected the excitement and anticipation which had been brimming within.
"Yeah, yeah," Yami waved away her words, "I only care about my little rascals though, so don't expect much of a word.
Glaring down at the battlefield himself, he was internally very intrigued, "Asta and Vanessa… That little brat should be far too strong for even her, but she has a lot of tricks behind her I suppose. On top of that, that strange pattern on her is noteworthy… I knew there was something off about it when she first started flashing that about. It contains boatloads of mana, but it doesn't seem like an accessory, it feels blended to her mana. Well, I guess the little shit will be a good test to see what it really is."
"The winner of this match progresses to the finals of their group, so no messing around any more! Asta vs Vanessa, begin!" Mereoleona boomed in her far too familiar voice to the ants below her.
Immediately, the two opponents dived into one another, Asta immediately aiming for a strong horizontal slash with his Demon Slayer. It was swiftly avoided though as Vanessa used her threads to help fling herself high above Asta and out of range of any attacks. As she was airborne, she maintained a stern focus on him, launching dozens of threads all at once towards his back, however, his head was already turned.
With his body turning along with his head, he swung his Demon Dweller towards the threads, creating a Black Slash which diced straight through and nullified all the threads at once and continued even further towards Vanessa. Before it reached her though, she promptly used her threads to pull her back downwards, but she couldn't make it all the way there without a pestering magic-less boy.
"She surely knows about my advantage in the air, so why leave herself so exposed? Is it a gamble that she'd land the attack? Is she playing risky and relying on threads to help her back to the ground before I can strike? It's unclear for the moment, so all I can do is stop her getting down," Asta thoroughly observed as he was gliding towards Vanessa at a slightly upwards angle, his Demon Dweller the only thing now in hand.
Mimosa's eyes widened in the realisation of Asta's intentions, "He's trying to employ a similar strategy to what he did against me! Asta is uncontested when it comes to aerial battles right now, so as long as he can keep it as an aerial battle, he'll always have the upper hand! To have such a complete dominance over a complete area...I can't help but admire it! No, it's not just that…!"
"Vanessa can lay her threads out pretty much everywhere so she can act instantaneously, given how hard it is to detect them too, it means I need to be as sharp as possible to even locate them. It's too big of an ask in the midst of battle, at least with the level of ki detection I'm at now," Asta's grin began to widen as his blade suddenly began to grow, the markings of the Black Divider surfacing, "thanks to anti-magic, I have more than one terrain advantage though. Her threads use so little mana to make them so that they can be so stealthy, but that therefore means they're easier to nullify with the level of anti-magic I have. They're nothing more than cobwebs in that form. Or, at least they are if..." Asta's eyes were drawn to the markings on his opponent's arm as the gap between them diminished, "...that adds a new variable in things."
"Come on little boy! Let's have a dance!" Vanessa teased as the very pattern Asta had observed began to glow radiantly. Asta felt a sudden spike in ki as he tried to revert from offence to defence, but he was far too slow as he tried to raise his sword vertically to block.
An explosion of threads flung by as the radiant light briefly blinded Asta. Hundreds of threads suddenly had pierced out from Vanessa from all directions slicing by like knives. Despite his slowness, the Demon-Slayer had managed to protect Asta from the majority of attacks, but even so, a slick cut slowly emerged on Asta's right cheeks as a river of red began to flood out.
"Tch!" Asta felt the stinging pain of his opening wound as all momentum halted and Vanessa stared confidently towards him.
"Didn't expect that, did you?" Vanessa chuckled, "first blood goes to me, and I'm only getting started!"
"What is that power? How did it make her so much stronger?" Asta spat in frustration as he flung forwards still, his Demon-Dweller emerging alongside him as he spiralled rapidly, erasing every thread in sight as he closed the distance at blinding speeds.
"Taking me seriously at least then? I appreciate that!" Vanessa chuckled as she glared down her radiant arm, "I guess it's about time I maximise my power for once!"
Threads suddenly emerged again despite the hurricane of anti-magic, withstanding the weathering as they pulled Vanessa successfully to the ground with an accelerated speed from the norm, "That hurricane attack is deadly. When he's in that state, I can't get close to him at all, unless I want to get shredded to pieces of course. That must be exhausting for him to do, so it'll give me a little bonus if he wears himself down from that, and I can also avoid that with little issue thanks to my enhancements. It looks like if I want to win this, it'll be an endurance match! Unfortunately, with his bottomless pit of stamina, it's in his favour regardless! The main thing I gotta do is just keep my distance and keep him chasing!"
Asta's eyes kept locked on to Vanessa as he halted in the air, ceasing all movements as their glare towards one another grew tenser, "She's fast, way faster than she ever has been. These reinforcements to her threads have made them far faster of all things too. This makes things extremely hard for me to land an attack, maybe as hard as it was to land one on Gaja due to her speed now. Even with my aerial advantage, it'll be hard to hit her at all! Even so, if I can exhaust her mana as we go, I can try and catch her deprived mid-air. Her pool of mana isn't infinite, and it'll require her to exhaust more mana to keep sustained in the air. The game-plan isn't much different after all..."
Finally, Asta took a long deep breath before diving forth with no hesitation. Before he even made an attack, Vanessa acted though, causing several threads to spurn towards Asta directly as she kept rooted to her position.
In a similar fashion to before, Asta spiralled around, if only for a single rotation in order to slash all the threads, but that distraction was enough for Vanessa to perform her true intentions.
"You've only seen a lick of what I've got in store for you now. It's about time I make things more complex! Creation Magic: Usurping Serpent!" Vanessa proudly announced as a sea of threads launching before her, forming into the shape of a serpent, baring its fangs at Asta as he was caught surprised.
"Creation magic! I've never seen her form anything so complex with her magic, is this another development from this new power? Or is this something she kept on the low-down!?" Asta panicked, scarcely managing to evade to the side, but he knew not to keep his eyes far away from the enemy, watching it swirl around and head straight towards him again. This time he didn't run from the issue though, extending his Black Divider and slashing the beast in half.
The blade cut beyond the serpent alone though, slicing straight for Vanessa, but she easily evaded again, landing a dozen or so meters further back as Asta landed flat on the floor at last too.
Taking a deep breath, Asta withdrew his Demon-Dweller, clamping both palms to the handle like a baby to its mother's finger, "Focus. Focus on manipulating this power of mine. I know what I want to use this power for, so I need to bend it to my will. Remember...remember what Vangeance told you..."
"What do you know about the Devil inside of you?"
The question left Asta perplexed a short while as he glared down at his grimoire.
"Ah, my apologies. I mean within your grimoire of course. It's like that of the Spade's devils I assume?" Vangeance continued before Asta did as much as murmur his thoughts, "but you didn't inherently make a contract with yours, did you?"
"Well...the Devil was always within my grimoire. I never got it from the grimoire ceremony because I never had any mana for one. It...just came to me one time, because I'm the only one who can handle it. It was never the case of me seeking out this power...that's why I never made a contract," Asta expressed.
William thought for a minute, glaring Asta in the eyes as he relayed his inner mechanisms, "So if you never made a contract, does that mean the amount of the Devil's power you use differs? Or can it be used by the Devil's will over yours? Does this make you disadvantaged to them?"
The sheer number of questions was weighing on Asta as he felt a slight unease, "I...don't know… I've never been able to easily use the Devil's power, and it feels like I'm not getting everything I can out of it. I don't have a real will over it at all. From what I know of the triad, they can at least use a greater range of it, but I'm just not sure what the maximum level of it is. Their contracts to the devil must be giving them greater freedom over it..."
"Well, the first thing you may aspire to do, is to stop seeing it alone as the 'Devil's Power'. This is a part of you now. Take this strength, and bend it to your will. Try and understand this power more, and the Devil inside your grimoire. Merge yourself with this power and develop it to new heights."
"Merge...myself..." Asta slowly thought, but his slowness in contemplation didn't restrain Vangeance.
"I like to think I can understand you, Asta. We are much alike in many ways," He began as Asta looked up to him in awe and wonder, "I understand the feeling of having another dwelling within your thoughts, so don't replicate the same errors as I. Make up your mind on your power, and craft a future from it, understand?"
Asta thought the words through, if only for a moment before he shook his mind clear, saluting to the captain in front of him, "Yes sir!"
"Craft a future..." Asta slowly breathed as he adjusted his stance, the tip of his blade still pointed forth, "that's just what I'll do. I'll cut through to what I want by all means necessary!"
"Seems like he's finally getting serious," Vanessa smirked as she gripped onto her tattooed arm, stabilising it as it began to glow even brighter than its previous maximum, "guess it's time we take the breaks off and have some real fun!"
"The warm-up ends now!" Asta announced as he trudged forth, shattering the ground beneath his feet.
Vanessa's grip increased as the level of mana within her intensified, "Is that so? Come on and dance with me already then!"
Noelle's brow raised as her glistening eyes watched the midget powerhouse, "Something's different about his approach… He's exerting a different aura all together," her eyes then shifted to the witch, "and don't get me started on her. They both seem...different to what they were minutes ago. What's running through their heads?"
As his joints creaked, Asta withdrew one last breath as he felt his blood pressure increase. The next moment, the floor shattered beneath him, helping to propel him forth as he toughed it out against the bitter winds and droplets of rain, "I need to get in close, but it's difficult. She's constantly keeping us at a fixed distance, and even when I catch her up, she's managing to evade and re-establish it again! I need to corner her, I need to get faster!"
Asta continued his stamp forth as a smirk appeared across his face as he began to move faster, "I guess it's unfortunate for her that this blade hones in on extreme amounts of mana. She can keep running, but with this extra wind of speed, I can catch her!"
"I already know it, no matter how much I avoid him, he'll catch up and strike me eventually. On top of that, the fact I'm on the run so much makes it so I can't counter him. It's just a game of cat and mouse at this point. I need to find a way to attack, just like Mimosa did! Even if it doesn't work out, I won't go down in a whimper! Watch for an opening...while he's desperate to catch me up, there must be a moment to counter!"
Asta's momentum was rapidly building on his approach as Vanessa constantly used her threads to propel further and further away, occasionally launching a pentagram of threads; they were easily severed.
His movements remained swift, keeping a rather low altitude to lessen the odds of Vanessa finding any true footing. Still though, her own threads acted as a decent compromise as she created small intersections of threads for some meaningful substitution for solid ground. Both by now were waiting for the other to have a lapse in thought so that they could manipulate the situation even slightly in favour.
"They're fighting so intensely, yet so reserved at the same time..." Mimosa sweat slightly, "Asta doesn't want to throw caution to the wind, I guess he knows more than I just how many aces are up her sleeve. With such a broad power as controlling fate as well...I suppose he's only doing right to exercise caution..."
Noelle's attention remained sustained too though as she fixed her eyes on Vanessa, who had slowed herself down and looked down on Asta herself from a road of threads, "Fate… Back in the witches forest, we saw Asta wasn't able to cut it himself. Even so, would that cat be able to dodge such a large influx of attacks, even if they're not lethal?" Glancing towards Asta, Noelle gently shook her head, "I guess we'll see. From his perspective, I assume his main way to try and nullify fate, would be to cover the area with his anti-magic..."
Pausing her thoughts for a minute, Noelle drew a long breath, leaning her back against a tree as she felt her thoughts cast back to the past, "I guess...he really has come a long way...at least from back before these six months..."
Snow reigned over the kingdom one cold, gloomy day as everywhere the eye could see was shrouded in white.
Noelle's covered feet trudged through the seemingly endless layers of snow as she battled against the oppressing winds, determined to reach her destination as she looked towards the end of the path, a figure standing tall there.
"Honestly! Making me walk so far out!?" Noelle pouted as she gripped her arms, shrivelling slightly even within her coat, which had taken quite the beating by the relentless weather itself, "who does this big dummy think he is?"
Despite the conditions, she endeavoured forth, forcing through the wasteland until she eventually reached the summit, where she felt the intensity of it all relieve slightly, and saw more clearly the figure ahead.
"...enough..." She heard Asta mumble as he stared aimlessly over the snowy landscape, his knees constantly quaking in their place as he looked ready to collapse, "it's not...enough…! How can I win...like this? I...need to get stronger…! I need to keep going, right now! No matter what my body thinks! I'll...surpass my limits!"
Just as the words of a true hard-head came out, his body accepted the reality. As if he had been kicked out from below, his legs failed as his weapons dropped into the cushioning snow and he began to fall backwards.
Noelle wouldn't allow any misfortune to befall Asta though as she stretched forth, preventing his collision to the ground by placing her left arm behind his back and wrapping her right around his waist.
Slowly, Asta glanced towards her as a grin overcame him, "Noelle! You're always with me at the right moments!"
"Honestly, is there a day that goes by that you don't torture that body of yours with training?" Noelle sighed as she helped to sit him down with her. Pulling him over to a tree chunk resting sidewards on the floor, "you should be spending these more festive times properly with us all at the base, not wasting yourself away out here..."
"I know...but..."
"You're not strong enough yet, right?" Noelle finished his sentence with a glare of disapproval, "cut that nonsense already. You'll only lose yourself if you try and devote every moment of your life to training. We can get stronger in more than one sense, you know?"
Hearing her unfaltering words, he conceded, "I...suppose you're right. It's just hard to hold back...especially when..."
Watching him, Noelle spotted his slight shivers, unable to differentiate if they were shivers from the cold, or his soul.
Before Asta finished his thoughts, Noelle interrupted, wrapping the rest of her coat around him after releasing her left arm from the sleeve, "I knew even you would be cold in these conditions, don't try and act all manly about things. I know you well enough now that I can recognise that delicate soul in you."
"You don't have to share-" Asta began but was once again cut off.
"But I will," She sharply retorted, "don't go thinking I'm fragile, I can put up with a little chill to even the warmth. I know I might seem harsh, but I need to be stern with you when you're out of order. I don't want to be a babysitter for you, but you're not looking after yourself, so I'm not afraid to correct you."
Asta grinned slightly, "I see. I guess it's always reassuring having someone to keep me in line," he tucked further into her coat and leant slightly further into her as his very minute shivering was eradicated.
The blushes couldn't help but emerge on Noelle's face as she felt his contact against her, but she suppressed her stirring anxiety as she forced herself into him more too, feeling his head fully rest on her shoulder, "O-of course. If there were no threads to keep you from going loose, then you'd be finding yourself a dead man!"
"Heh, maybe I would. You've saved me many times after all," Asta huffed as he closed his eyes briefly, "sorry, though. I guess this is quite an embarrassing state for you to see me in. I like being a pillar to others, but-"
"It's fine being weak sometimes, you know," Noelle groaned as she saw his glare return to her, "you've seen me that way too. If we were perfect all the time, I wouldn't know the true you, would I? I want to see your weakness: I want to see this side of you. When we're weak, if we can support one another, like now, then we'll be far better companions, right? If you were all high and mighty all the time, then I'd find you quite ridiculous."
"Maybe being weak isn't so bad after all," Asta sighed, "thanks for always having my back, Noelle. You're always so attentive about me."
"Because I care," Noelle grinned as their eyes met, "so I'll be there to keep you standing as long as I live."
Asta nodded his head in content as he felt the lurking feeling of cold begin to arise once more from his lack of activity, "Crap, I've been still too long."
"Let's go back then. Cut training loose for today and come relax with us. It's a festive period, we spend these times together," Noelle ruffled his hair a little bit as she tried to stand up.
Provoked by her movements, Asta stood too, but only for a second.
"Asta!" Noelle called as she watched him drop straight to the floor. Immediately, she kneeled by his side, gripping his shoulders to pull him up before hugging him into her to instate some warmth as her coat slipped off of him in his fall, "Are you alright!? What happened!?"
"Shit… My body's given up. I stopped a little while...now it's dealing with the withdrawal… I can hardly move now at all..." Asta panted, a frustrated tone lining his voice.
As he was left kicking himself, Noelle fully took off her coat, leaving her in a thick, woolly jumper, "Here," she blushed slightly as she put her coat on him, forcing his arms through its sleeves, "if you can't move to keep yourself warm, then this is the least I can do."
Asta looked rather glum but accepting as he glared at his own hand which could hardly raise. It was now quaking like it was under the spell of an earthquake, a complete contrast to what he feeling before, a fact he recognised for himself, "Things escalated quickly. I guess there is a limit to what I can take sometimes..."
"Then let it be a lesson to you," Noelle sighed as she scooped him off the ground in a cradling position, glaring him in the eyes as she began to walk back down the path she had once come from, "it's admirable seeing your desire for strength, but this isn't how you have to do things. Sometimes, the purest growth of strength comes with moderation. If you don't look after yourself, you'll only be setting yourself back. You got that?"
"Yeah," Asta sighed as he leant his head against Noelle, feeling his head brush against the cosy fabric of her clothing. Even in the extreme conditions, the warmth he felt from his potion felt like it was enough to put him to sleep. It felt like it was enough to put him out in any situation.
Noelle picked up immediately on his sleepy nature as she held him further into her in an effort to shield him from nature. As a consequence though, she was more exposed herself, feeling the bitter cold nipping away at her, but that was hardly a bother to her as she trudged on, reflecting to herself as she felt his breaths against her die down slightly, "I don't know what's going on in that tiny brain of yours, but I do hope you take my word to heart… Like this...you won't last much longer… You can't grow physically strong enough to match our next threat, and you know that, but even so, this mentality fixated in your mind… It'll kill you..."
For one last time, Noelle glanced at the tired face of Asta, picking up her pace a little, "How am I supposed to be worry-free in my own battles when you're a ticking time-bomb? No wonder I've had to act like your parent...although I'd rather be your..."
Quickly snapping out, Noelle blushed brighter than magma as she looked away from the slumbering face, "No! I don't care what I am to him! That doesn't matter at all right now! What does matter now is..." her mind flashed back to the petrifying image of Megicula that her mind had accumulated, "that. My battle… You're gonna support me all the way though, right, Asta…?"
Snapping her out from thought though was the noise of the creaking base door. Her head flicked upwards, and suddenly Yami was stood a short distance from her, puffing on his cigarette.
"Yo," The brute flicked his wrist as a welcoming. His oddly calm and quiet attitude was a bit jarring for Noelle as she felt a bit nervous on the spot, glancing down at the slumbering figure in her arms.
"C-captain..." Noelle mumbled, shivering the slightest amount from the cold, but enough for Yami's attentive eyes to catch on to as her coat was wrapped around a separate figure, "what are you-?"
"What are you doing, carrying that lazy ass about more importantly?" Yami cut her off to up the tempo of conversation having watched the snow build up upon the Silva.
"He got exhausted..." Noelle more timidly mumbled out, "I distracted him a bit too much and so now he's dealing with the withdrawal. I didn't wanna leave him out there to turn into a statue..."
Yami observed the uneasy and concerned look Noelle's eyes had observed Asta with as he only could smirk a little, "I'd say I'd take him off of your hands for you, but you wouldn't accept that, would you? You've become like that these past months, and I know you know that."
"E-eh!? What are you trying to say!?" Noelle yelled out before the regret immediately surfaced on her face as she looked down at the still slumbering Asta and covered his ears, "n-n-nothing's changed at all!"
Flicking away some ashes, Yami nodded, "If that's what you wanna believe, then alright, but I'm sure that itching thought at the back of your head is trying to tell you differently."
Those words made Noelle blush more lightly as she turned away in embarrassment.
"Whatever, don't go just standing there, I'm not a troll that's gonna eat you or anything," Yami sighed as he signalled her forth, "I don't want you to go catching and then passing around a stupid cold. Asta looks like he's dying for some proper rest for once, so go put him to bed. You know how he's been recently, his body probably gave in so easily from that pent-up fatigue."
"Y-yeah..." Noelle glumly agreed as her voice silenced out, leaving her words to only echo through her head, "Asta's been like this for a while now… I caught him frequently getting up in the middle of the night and going out to train. Well, really it was me catching him getting scolded by Yami, but it didn't change a terrible amount despite the frequency of times he got his head crushed. Maybe this time he'll listen to me though...even though I doubt it… If I can keep him close enough, I can prevent him from doing anything stupid like he has been doing recently. Maybe it wouldn't be so harmful to try and keep him with me tonight, knowing him, he'll try and get up even in this fatigued state. With no Mimosa for the moment to heal him, I can't have him overexerting any more. That's...the only reason…!" Noelle convinced herself enough as she began forwards, shuddering any snow which had accumulated on her as she breezed by Yami.
The Captain only watched as the royal strolled by and pushed through to the inside atmosphere as he turned his back to it, staring up at the shifting sky, "You better be going and putting him in check, Noelle. That muscle-for-brains is part of our biggest hope for the future, though I'm sure you know that more than anyone else."
"Phew," Noelle sighed as a door gently swung to a close behind her, "getting through the rest of the bulls wasn't easy, they're all just as lively as ever. It seemed like they were a bit too occupied to notice me much though."
With peace, Noelle glanced to the still slumbering Asta, easing her grip on him as she walked towards the bed before laying him down, "Alright, time to put you to rest, you small idiot. To think you can't even drag yourself to bed...maybe I let you get too comfy..."
Watching him lay flat, Noelle sighed, "It's not like you can hear me anyway..."
As her words trailed, she leant down into him, removing her coat from him as gently as she could. Her movements were at a sluggish pace to ensure she didn't wake him, but ultimately she still acted rougher than she thought. What mattered though was that the midget hadn't awoken again.
She tossed the object to the side as she loosely used her free hand to grasp his bandanna, gently pulling it off as his fringe released, "You must be a mass of sweat," she pinched her nose as she flung the waste aside, "I guess it's a testament to how hard you've worked if anything..."
"Pervert," A voice suddenly spoke as Noelle jumped with a shiver.
"Eh?" Noelle said in a monotone voice as she turned around to see Nero with her legs crossed, sitting on the desk.
"E-EH!?" Noelle screeched as her blood pressure rocketed, "WH-WHAT A-ARE YOU ON ABOUT!? WHY ARE YOU HERE!?"
"I was sleeping here, you're being a pervert," Nero coldly stated.
"YOU'RE THE ONE SLEEPING IN HIS ROOM!" Noelle continued to scream before glancing back in remembrance of the figure she had brought in, promptly lowering her as she spoke with a deep, embarrassed blush, "b-b-besides, I'm not a pervert! Stop saying that, people will get the wrong idea!"
Nero rolled her eyes, "Then what were you doing?"
Noelle's hands shifted to her hips, "Putting him to bed!"
In response, Nero eyed down Asta before looking back at Noelle's blushed face, "Maybe that's what you thought you were doing."
As Noelle was fumbling her words in shock, Nero strolled past her to the immobile boy on the bed, ruffling his hair slightly as she glanced back, "I'll take over from here then, I was sleeping already anyway. Just go and enjoy time with the rest of those troublemakers, he's fine with me."
"N-no, it's fine, I don't wanna just up and leave him like that..." Noelle mumbled as her arms shifted once more, crossing over one another as her head nestled into her jumper, "you can just go back to sleep, I brought him in, I can see it though."
Nero blankly stared for a while as her hand glided across Asta's cheek, refraining from pinching it as she sat down, "Then I'll sleep with him anyway. You do what you want."
Noelle watched herself be ostracised from Nero's thoughts as she laid down, her head resting on her arms which were resting across Asta's chest which she had covered with a blanket.
"She doesn't care!" Noelle was stunned as she shook in the shock of it all, "w-who's the one acting more perverted now!? I-I'm not jealous at all!"
After exclaiming to herself for the past few seconds, she suddenly calmed as she looked down on the two of them, observing their peaceful faces, "I guess it's a testament to how close they are too… I'm just not quite there yet with that big idiot, even though we've been alongside one another for so long..."
Slowly, she sat herself down next to the foot of the bed as she tucked herself into a ball, glaring towards her companions over the lining of her knees, "What is Nero to Asta that I'm not...? Am I doing something wrong?" She closed her eyes and buried her head against herself, "Envy really is an annoying feeling..."
Feeling the silent atmosphere begin to disturb her, Noelle turned to her side and locked her eyes shut, "I don't wanna think about it. If I'm not happy with my relationships now, I have all the time in the world to improve them after. Firstly, I need to conquer the Devil, I know that. All these internal feelings are just nonsense..."
After a short silence, Noelle felt her heart jump as she felt contact against her. As her head flicked back towards the bed, she saw Asta leant up, releasing his right fist which had clung to a blanket he had stretched across her. Nero was still loosely across him too, somehow being undisturbed by his movements as he had a hand against her head to keep her still on his lap.
"A-Asta…?" Noelle nervously stuttered as she felt the overwhelming comfort she now had, nearly accidentally shaking her newfound comfort away before clutching to the covers.
"I wouldn't go sleeping too bare," Asta whispered with a grin, stroking Nero's hair gently as he kept himself upright with his planted left arm, "you'll catch a cold and end up in bed all again."
Noelle glanced down more so at Nero, seeing another blanket spread across her back as the lurking feeling of jealousy waned, "I-is that so..."
"Anyway, don't let yourself freeze up. But as long as you find yourself comfy like Nero, you'll go under fast enough," Asta advised as he began to lower himself slowly, before he could though, his ears were full of sound again.
"Asta," He stopped his descent as Noelle glanced slyly at him, not even turning her head fully as she hid much of her face behind the sheets, "what...do you think of me as…?"
She received a rather blank stare for a while as she felt her embarrassment from asking the question weighing on her more the longer she waited.
Asta's face brightened a little more eventually though as he finished his thoughts, "Well...as a friend of course! We've been friends ever since we first joined the Bulls, really it's both you and Nero I spent the most amount of time with! Honestly, if it weren't for you, I might not be laying here right now! You've always been helping me to get stronger, even now, so thanks, I guess!"
Noelle wasn't very animated as she kept her face hidden behind the sheets as it blushed much brighter, "N-no problem… It works both ways I suppose..."
"Anyway, I guess it's a bit late," Asta heavily sighed as he glared back at the moon watching carefully over them, "I'd pull myself together to go push a few more exercises, but I know you won't let me do that now. It'd be rude of me anyway to go and fatigue myself after you took the time to lecture and look after me."
"Just remember what I said," Noelle mumbled, "moderate yourself as you get stronger. We both know there's a limit to how much you can take. I want to be able to fight alongside you on the battlefield, so don't go fatiguing yourself out of action… I want you by my side on the field..."
"Well, you don't have to worry on that end," Asta assured as he leant forwards once more, patting Noelle softly on the head, "I'm not going anywhere! We'll be able to fight together, I'll make sure of that because I think we'll be unstoppable! Wouldn't you agree?"
Noelle's face steamed up immensely in embarrassment, as she felt Asta's hand upon her head. Most of her face was hidden still behind her blanket, but she only hid it more the greater her blushes became, "O-of course! I'm royalty after all… I'm meant to be strong..."
"That so?" Asta grinned as he ruffled her hair slightly before finally laying flat on his back, staring up into the ceiling as he felt Nero snuggle tighter to him and further across him to keep him down this time. In response, Asta shifted the hand on Nero's head to across her back and used his other arm as a cushion for his head. "Well then, I'll be relying on you when the time comes. We're a bit of a distance away, but the war is still in sight. Until then, let's get stronger together, alright?"
"Alright, Stupidsta," Noelle grinned, "but don't go thinking I'll wait up for you! From here on, we'll get as strong as each of us can!"
Noelle's face had reddened as she stared downwards, steam practically puffing off of her, "I remembered a bit too much of that..."
Forcefully, she felt her mind disrupted from thought as a thud startled her, catching her attention as she glared ahead, seeing Asta land on his two feet, his blade being entangled with threads as they flooded over in their thousands.
"Huh? Asta?" Noelle's eyes glared on in confusion, seeing his rather mute face seemingly unflinching despite his situation. There was an eerie look lurking in his eyes as they were drawn towards his blade, watching it resist the waves of magic that Vanessa tried to compress him with. Soon, Noelle realised his underlying intentions as she nervously dared to smirk, "Heh, so smug, even on the back-foot… For all your talk, you really haven't been giving it your all yet, have you, Asta? Even I could sense it...you were still uncertain about that power, so you held back...to figure it out. Well then, show me what that small brain of yours conjured!"
Second by second, Asta's grin began to form as the ground beneath him crumbled further, both by the pressure of their magic and the erosion of the winds that raged around them.
"The power to control fate...and on top of that, having an overwhelming pool of mana to aid a tricky type of magic… She has it all. I might be able to hold out as I am, but to win, I need to go further. I need to surpass her!" Asta pierced his gaze through the sea of threads, meeting Vanessa's gaze despite all odds as she projected a cold grin.
"She's impossible to get a read on," Asta continued to think as his palms tightened around his weapon, "I won't be able to easily predict what she'll do, even with ki. Way back when, I would probably have been too short-sighted to realise how much of a good match she is to face off against me...but I'm a different person now!"
At last, Asta pushed against the oncoming force with more purpose, tripling the damage already dealt to the surrounding ground, "Now then, let's stop the dawdling. You better respond in like, I want to put on a good show!"
Vanessa, for the first time, felt a drop of sweat trickle down her as she kept her composure as much as she could, "Of course, stepping it up another gear… I shouldn't be surprised...when it comes to that little boy, there is no limit for him, he just keeps rising! No matter how much he's drained, he'll just keep surpassing himself!" As she stared more intensely through her threads too, she felt a disturbance in the mana of the surrounding area as her eyes widened, "My threads...I can feel his anti-magic swelling and nullifying them while hardly moving a finger…! Is this similar to that thing Mereoleona taught him: Anti-Mana Zone!?"
"Heh," Mereoleona grinned, "in the first match against Mimosa, he decided to compromise and use his blade to nullify her magic, but this time, he's giving it a real attempt! When I fought him, it couldn't nullify much, and he only used it to counter my Mana Zone, but with how deprived of mana each thread is, it's a perfect application to lessen how much he has to face. The very advantages these threads normally withhold in standard combat are complete disadvantages in the presence of Anti-Mana Zone."
Realising the consequences herself, Vanessa felt more uncertain than she did moments earlier, "My threads won't last in the environment he's trying to create. The very essence of Anti-Magic is to snuff out magic, no matter its intensity. If he extends the reach of his nullification in such a manner, then most of my threads will wither away!
"Right," Asta grinned as he began to exert a greater mound of Anti-magic, "I've talked big a lot already, and I haven't gotten to see a great extent of that new power of hers, but I have to stop this. It's time I end this as I should have done already! That one cut is all I'll let her have!"
The threads all purposed for Asta began to dwindle, relieving the pressure against him as he gained more ground by the moment, "I'll use it! This time for sure, I'll use it! Anti-Mana Zone!"
"I was right!" Vanessa panicked as she watched her threads being easily dispatched of, "my threads have too little mana within them to withstand the Anti-magic! Even if it's not fully developed yet, it's well more than enough to handle me!" As her thoughts were growing more wild and intense by the moment, she glanced at her glowing arm, "I guess it's time to bring out all that potential and use a power I haven't mastered either! Until now, to Asta, it will have just looked like it was here for show. I haven't made it apparent at all what this is, so I could catch him off his guard instead!"
Each moment that passed, Asta could sense the area becoming thinner, his ki sensing being able to read the threat more clearly as the sheer volume of attacks were diminished. All the threads before him relieved from his weapon and were fading away which opened up the area even more.
"She's open!" Asta promptly realised with the progression of events as he saw the loose footing under her. He was eager to be opportunistic, immediately driving forth to try and seize the opportunity, "Anti-Mana Zone should make it difficult for her to create threads, and even if she makes some, it'd be massively taxing to try and create so many! If I act fast, I might-"
"Too eager, aren't we?" Vanessa impeded his thoughts as the gap continued to thin between them, "I hope you're not underestimating me, because my limit is a lot higher than you think, little boy!"
Before there was even a moment to process the ongoing events, Asta found himself in a predicament as the fading threads surrounding him suddenly materialised once more. In their hundreds, they bound tightly to Asta, bonding his arms to his body and held him in place in the air.
"She materialised so many? I didn't expect her to have the mana for that!" Asta thought as he glanced up again to her confident, mildly sadistic expression, "it's all that arm! Her pool of mana is linked to that arm, and I never realised it! It's almost as if it's acting like a booster for her power! If that's its function though, then it's certain that she'll run out of mana faster either way! That arm is just serving to amplify her power, it'll be saving her the stain of using more mana herself. I guess that means she can keep going for a while. I'm not feeling like playing an endurance match though, so I'll have to go and finish this prematurely!"
Clenching her fists, Vanessa made the threads around Asta bind tighter, "Seems like my threads can withstand this now. As long as I can keep him pinned like this, I can win by default, but I know this isn't over yet. I have to keep stacking my threads and preventing those swords from acting, otherwise, I won't catch him like this again."
"It's tightening..." Asta realised himself as finding any movement in his arms became more difficult by the second, "she's wanting to keep me in place here so that she can win without taking me down! I hope she's not naive enough to think this'll be enough though!"
"Care to give up?" Vanessa queried in an effort to distract him, "if you give in now, I'll be nice and give you a hug! I don't want to harm such a cute boy!"
With a grin surfacing across Asta's face, Vanessa had her answer to that already, "Give in? Even if that's to stall me, you should know that's a ridiculous question to ask me! After all, if I'm to become the Wizard King, how could I go and give up here!?"
Watching from afar, Noelle could tell what was coming next, "He never makes it easy for himself, does he? I could tell from an age away though...there was no way he would go into danger like that with no plan!"
"Demon-Dweller!" Asta beckoned as the blade came flinging towards him, slicing through hundreds of the threads to eradicate them this time entirely. The severing of so many gave Asta plenty of room to work with, immediately grasping both hands around his Demon-Slayer sword as it mutated promptly into its Black-Divider counterpart.
"Let's see how you handle this!" Asta chuckled as he began to spin around in a circle wildly, yelling, "Black Hurricane!"
Raging was the chaos that followed. The simple attack brought clashing winds together, blowing everyone away as they had to shield themselves from the chaos forming. Rain, wind, rubble...all of it was accumulated in his attack.
"My threads!" It took little time for Vanessa to realise what was happening as she took the time to try and protect herself, "it's like a current of Anti-magic! He's trying to dispel as much as he can! Using that attack let him cover a wider area, and he's using a stronger version of that sword to boot! I have to get back and recollect myself!"
As she retreated though, Asta suddenly broke out of his attack, immediately darting in a single blink over towards Vanessa, his Divider extended already and swiping towards her.
The elegant motion nearly saw through to her, but she reacted in time, using a singular threat to begin pulling herself towards the ground. It wasn't a smooth escape though as she landed with a great impact, having been unable to lessen the velocity of her impulsive descent. She glared up with a more irritated look, her hair losing a bit of its shape as it overhung in front of her face, only leaving room for her left eye to gaze.
"I got her on the ground at last, so I'll keep her there!" Asta thought as he dived downwards, now with both blades in hand as he tensed up in anticipation.
"You really are trying to push me, aren't you? Sorry, but I won't let you do as you please just because you've gotten a little stronger!" Vanessa spat as both her hands placed against the floor. After a second of suspense, she finally proclaimed, "Creation Magic: Usurping Serpents!"
Following her words, two threaded beasts arose from the ground, their fangs up for display as they twirled around one another whilst reaching for the enemy. This time however, Asta was fully prepared for an attack of the sorts, twirling around with his two blades as he sliced through them together with minimal effort. As he felt the resistance against his attacks wane, he steadied his position, his eyes fixated on Vanessa as he held his blades together.
"Not good enough!" Vanessa growled as her threads were to her rescue once more, tugging her away as Asta slammed against the ground with little restraint. An impact like that though was nothing to him.
Grey, one of the many spectators, grew some worry in the situation, as she clung nervously to Gauche, "W-whaa! Asta's fighting so aggressively! He might hurt her if they're not careful!"
"What's the issue with that?" Gauche rolled his eyes at the girl so attached to him, "don't you realise that's just how our enemies will approach us? In war, it isn't a little spar match, they'll be out for our lives, so we have to fight in earnest...just as Finral's rat brother did to me."
"S-s-still..." Grey nervously mumbled.
"You already know it, I'm sure. When you fought Zora, you fought to win. That's what we have to do now, so wise up, I don't want you getting yourself killed because you're a wimp. Marie won't forgive me if I let someone like you die," Gauche added, glaring coldly at Grey as her face had blushed up slightly with those comments.
With her silenced in embarrassment, Gauche looked towards the battle himself, ending with, "If you're still unsure, just watch. They're both as eager as one another to land a hit...there's a reason Asta's bleeding after all..."
As she felt herself becoming desperate, Vanessa twitched in irritation and unleashed another spell, "Prowling Beasts!" Threading together before her were a quartet of beasts, all formed as bulky as the last in the shape of land mammals. They held no exact reference though, and simply charged mindlessly forth towards Asta, who had begun on his feet again.
"Black Slash!" Asta yelled as he swiped his trailing Demon-Dweller forth, slashing towards each of the abominations and connecting to each to immediately disintegrate them. He wasn't done yet though. As he continued, he pierced and dragged his Demon-Slayer along through the ground, leaving a giant parting in the ground before suddenly slashing upwards with it. What came of that was a giant smokescreen, totally obscuring any vision Vanessa had.
"Shit! I can't sense him! Because he has no mana, I relied on vision alone to stop him! Meanwhile, he has ki to sense me, just like Yami! I don't know at all where he's coming from!" Vanessa felt her heart rate faster as she tried to concoct a strategy.
"Something to obscure her vision?" Fuegoleon analysed, "he's trying to take advantage of his lack of mana."
"I know, he's actually using his brain for once. Believe me, he's ninety-five percent stupid, but also five percent pure genius," Yami groaned as he watched keenly, "sometimes, even I can't tell what he's planning."
Vanessa was far too hesitant to move with so many uncertainties. Instead, she kept firm in her place, forming a sea of threads around her which all intertwined in a dome shape surrounding her. She had a single focus in forming this dome as it spread about forty meters in diameter, reinforcing it too with multiple layers.
"If he's playing tricky now, then so will I," Vanessa said with grit, her eye rolled as her concentration was like never before, "with threads set up all around, I'm protected from him breaking through unnoticed. Wherever there's a break in my threads I'll know he's on the approach. In a situation like this, the one with the most information is usually the winner. If I can guarantee the location of his position, I can win."
Patience was of the utmost requirement in Vanessa's mind, not moving a single inch as she focused entirely on the levels of mana around her at all times, not letting any unnecessary thoughts crowd her mind. There was no compromise available.
A long time passed however, and yet, there was no sign of Asta at all. All around her was radio silence, not a single flicker of change within the surrounding mana.
"It's gotten quiet..." Mimosa noted in nervousness herself. Even from the outside, there was little to be seen. The clouds of debris had not only been blinding Vanessa, but the spectators too, and it looked as if there would be quite some time before they would fall again.
Yuno hadn't lapsed in concentration either, shifting by Mimosa as he pitched in, "It has. It's hard to believe Asta has the ability to keep his trap closed and move in silence, especially with his figure."
"Ah, Yuno!" Mimosa exclaimed in surprise, "I'm guessing you're intrigued by Asta's new techniques too? He's become so powerful..."
"They're interesting, that's for sure. Anti-Mana Zone...if he has something like that in his arsenal, I have much more to learn to match him. It may not be matured now, but power like that is a massive threat to anybody, not just us," Yuno rambled as Mimosa's ears were open to his thoughts.
"I see..." Mimosa muttered, glaring towards the unknown, "Asta...go and win this… I don't wish to see a shed of blood more from you..."
With such long anticipation, eventually, Vanessa felt her mind itching and had to split her thoughts again, "He has to act soon. I'm expecting it, and he knows I'm expecting it. This screen won't last forever, and it's bound to fall sooner or later, so how will he plan to catch me out? Surely he'll recognise how alert I'll be? Even more so, he'll sense the threads I set up, however, there's far too many for him to find himself in unnoticed."
As she tried her best to anticipate Asta's impending action, she suddenly felt a flicker in the mana around her, turning to her right, "There! He's broken through the threads!" Before she unleashed the next spell though, she flicked her head behind her, suddenly feeling immense confusion, "Another break? Is he trying to fake me out?"
The sudden severing of her threads filled her with more anxiety as she felt the mana becoming thinner both in front and behind her, "You might think trying to squash me will guarantee you getting in close, but I think you'd be underestimating me..."
Once again though, before Vanessa acted, she felt another shift in mana, glaring once more to her open left, "Huh? Another break? I'm being attacked from all three directions? I can feel them all closing in!" Eventually though, she was given all her answers, spotting what was closing in on her at last, "Swords!?"
"He isn't here at all. He manipulated them remotely! So where is-!?"
Vanessa's panic gave her no answers though as she felt a strong blow strike her across the face, making her spiral to the floor as she felt the swords she sighted before fly above her and stop before the figure that had struck her. As she dared to glare upwards, she spotted Asta staring as menacingly down on her, the Demon-Dweller pointed towards her.
"I'm right here!" Asta boomed.
"Shit!" Vanessa thought as she felt a wave of fatigue washing over her, "he managed to get close! Since he has no magic, I can't sense him, and he used his swords to create a distraction to get close! Right now, he's got the complete upper hand, so I've got to find a way to repel him!"
Spotting her itching fingers, Asta suddenly pounced, pushing Vanessa to her back whilst holding the blade to her neck, his gaze fiercely piercing into Vanessa's, "Surrender."
Feeling the overwhelming pressure against her, Vanessa felt pushed into a tight corner, more so than she had done up to now. Trying to resist even a bit would seemingly slit her throat on the blade and dye it red, so she in her mind had a singular option left.
"I knew I'd have to use this at some point, but not like this," Vanessa nervously grinned as it gave Asta suddenly a lot more to think about, "I hope you didn't think I had fully exhausted my arsenal!"
On instinct, Asta decided to leap away, and that soon seemed like the correct choice.
Rapidly, Vanessa's mana began to grow higher than the skies compared to where it was moments before. And it seemed to never really stop. Dozens of threads suddenly launched from the ground, supporting Vanessa as she got back up on her feet. However, things seemed different to before, to Asta, each thread's ki differed wildly than before.
"What's she done!? I can sense something's changed, but what!?" Asta sweat slightly as he crossed his arms to guard himself momentarily.
Guarding ultimately did minimal to protect Asta though, as with newfound confidence, Vanessa struck, launching multiple threads which all sliced through Asta's arms and drew blood. To add to that, they coiled around his arms and only tried to slice deeper. The pain wasn't the bother for Asta though as he analysed the threads, noticing a difference, "Blood? And it's not my own! Don't tell me...she's imbued her threads with blood magic too? But I didn't think it was possible to-"
"Aw, what's wrong sweetie?" Vanessa lightly chuckled, "are you a little surprised? Well, the surprises aren't over yet! This fight is far from its conclusion!"
Another alteration in ki caught Asta by surprise once more as his pupils which had been fixated on her blood magic watched it suddenly burst into flames, igniting her threads in their entirety and therefore burning Asta's entangled arms intensely.
"The blood ignited itself!?" Asta panicked, instinctively managing to cut at the flaming threads to give himself some more room before doing away with them in their entirety, "it was especially attributed to ignition! Her flames are crazy strong, my arms feel like they're in magma even after dispelling her magic!"
"Oh dear, you look a little lost," Vanessa continued to tease as her flaming threads danced around her, both shielding her and looking sharp to attack, "I guess it might be a little more difficult to swing your hefty swords with your arms in that shape, am I right?" She smugly glared at his tattered arms, looking like they were barely able to hold on to his blade alone as blood overran the tips of his irritated fingers.
Despite the weary state Asta was in though, he couldn't help but form a smile through all his trembling, gripping both hands as tightly as he could to his Demon-Slayer as he pierced his Demon-Dweller into the ground, "You'd be gravely mistaken to believe some measly cuts will make me rest. Throw all the flames you want at me, I won't cease!"
"What a pain..." Vanessa sighed as she admired her flaming threads as they evaporated each droplet of rain that dared to try and put them out, "you know now, but it was clear that you hadn't fully figured out my new strength. This wasn't just a vector for increasing my power...it was an enchantment of the Witch Queen's powers too. This power is no longer birthed from me alone...I'm taking full advantage of my heritage!"
"Heh, that's even possible? Well...I suppose anything's possible when it comes to the Witch Queen…! High-level spells aren't anything new from her...I got to learn that first hand. To add to that, it seems you're really taking after her in strength!"
"I appreciate the flattery, but that won't make me go any easier on you little boy. With the state you're in, let me finish the job and then I'll comfort you in my bosom!" Vanessa continued to nag at him as his panting never seemed to end. His exhaustion was becoming more apparent as his finite stamina was out on display.
Asta held his spot firmly as Vanessa slowly began to approach, "Those threads are the main threat I have. Initially, I considered her fate magic to be an issue but Anti-Mana Zone seems to have nullified that. While that's been suppressed though, her threads haven't, and their new thriving form is allowing for more to form again…! Each thread can cause serious harm to me now...I have to ensure I take minimal damage, but what's the best way to approach this?"
Glaring down at his blade, Asta huffed, "I suppose it's all or nothing. It's time to play risky! As I am now, my arms won't hold on for long anyway, each swing will become weaker than the last until I'm left vulnerable enough to finish off. Because of that, I should stick to my Demon-Dweller as much as I can, it's lighter than the Demon-Slayer and more efficient for tackling Vanessa compared to the Demon-Destroyer. I have to put faith in this one blade and cut straight through her defences. Even if I have to get cut or burnt along the way...I'll be ending this and getting up close one for time!"
Vanessa could see the crazed look in his eyes as she sweat slightly with a nervous smile, "Nothing breaks his will, does it? Looks like I'll have to scratch him up a little more to end things, but he's fully aware of that. I don't have time to hesitate, because he's in no mindset to do that either!"
"It's not over yet?" Noelle sweat slightly in nervousness for Asta as she watched his wounded arms, "how are they even able to move still? That's far too much blood for me!"
"The only way to put a stop to that buffoon is to knock him out entirely. It doesn't matter how wounded you make him, he'll never stop fighting. We know that the most, don't we?" Nero suddenly interjected, making Noelle jump slightly as she turned to her, "I have faith that he'll win...I know he will in fact."
Suddenly, Nero began to speak aloud, as if she was beckoning, "After all, it'd be uncharacteristic of a Wizard King to lose here, not while the opponent's still standing, wouldn't it, Asta!?"
"Wh-wh-what!? Why are you speaking so loud! We aren't meant to intervene!" Noelle stuttered with burning anxiety as she fidgeted around, not knowing how to react.
"I'm not intervening," Nero coldly replied, glaring at Noelle to make her settle again, "just making sure he's not losing sight."
The crazed smile of the desperate knight grew larger as he heard the bird's words funnel into his mind, "Of course I know that! What do you take me for, Nero!?" As his words trailed, his muscles began to tension once more as he focused his gaze even more sternly ahead, gazing past the dazzling flames.
"Oh? So now you get moral support too? Well, don't expect that to make me falter!" Vanessa continued as she finally dared to swipe her arms forth, launching a wave of threads towards Asta as he loosened his position.
"One rally...that's all it'll take before my arms give in. It ends now!" Asta said with the utmost confidence, slashing the Demon-Dweller multiple times to let loose multiple Black Slashes. Each one sliced cleanly through the threads targeting him and went all the way through towards Vanessa, but it was a simple set of dodges that required minimal concentration.
The slashes weren't the only attacking intent Asta had though. As if he were chained to them, Asta followed behind his own attacks to get in close, avoiding all lingering threads as the distance between him and Vanessa was suddenly very minimal again. However, looking to establish the distance again, the witch used her threads to tug her backwards and keep her sustained in the air, creating countless webs of flaming threads as she moved.
All before Asta there were flames, but knowing his weary state, he didn't let it hold him back as he released multiple more slashes, destroying the obstacles before him for the most part. Any surviving threads, Asta slashed straight through as they stood no chance against his growing momentum. His constant increasing velocity allowed him to begin closing the gap at a constant rate. Each thread that was slashed, each drop of blood that leaked from Asta, he was far closer than he was than the occurrence before.
"He's gone full-blown crazy!" Vanessa sweat as she continued to drag herself back, creating wave after wave of threaded walls as she began to conjure different spells too, "he's just an unstoppable force! But in that case, I'll become an immovable object!"
Asta's eyes had only more flames to admire as more beasts birthed from threads came for him, those being a pair of cumbersome cobras.
This time, Asta's slashes failed as they were avoided, allowing the beasts to attack him directly, but that didn't make him quiver at all as he dived directly towards them, his blade at his hilt.
"Come on now, I'm not scared of these serpents now they're a little hot! It'll take a lot more to make me worry!" Asta confidently yelled as he pierced his roughed blade forth, slicing his blade through one of the beasts whilst avoiding the other by using his blade as a pivot. Whilst he flung by, the serpent he slashed began to fade, but it wasn't the end of his troubles as the other turned to pounce upon him. Alert to the danger though, he quickly turned, flinging his Demon-Dweller as it pierced through the mouth and out again.
"He's vulnerable!" Vanessa immediately recognised as she turned herself more completely whilst stretching her arms out, the next spell practically materialising within her hands as she launched dozens of smaller creatures as well as straight attacking threads in support.
As Asta turned to face the incoming attacks he didn't falter, only grin wider, something which shocked Vanessa slightly, "Just what I wanted! You finally gave me a real chance to end this! Those moments you used to turn and attack me once more...you've finally left enough space for me!"
As his panting continued yet words trailed, a sudden boost of speed overcame Asta, bursting forcefully through the waves of attacks stampeding towards him as his trusted and fabled Demon-Slayer came to hand. Arriving at the other side of the offence, his blade was pointed for Vanessa, only a new slash on his cheek to show for the damage he took in his gamble.
"You thought I didn't want you up close at all? A fine lady like me is prepared for all scenarios!" Vanessa chuckled as her right fist was clenched, the marking painting it being covered in a grand, purple glow.
"And I was ready for it too!" Asta retorted as their own weapons came closer and closer to colliding, "you showed me far too much of your hand, Vanessa! Demon-Destroyer!"
"His third blade!" Vanessa panicked, suddenly realising the flaw in her actions as she glared behind her to see it coming straight for her.
"Demon-Dweller!" Asta continued to yell as the blade came soaring back towards his palm.
Noelle was in awe, seeing the flaming spectacle in the sky while all Nero did was simply smile as their efforts, "He tried to limit his style specifically to try and catch her out. That one variable she let slip her mind tips everything in his favour."
With everything closing in on her, there was little for Vanessa to do other than let loose her attack, but before it had even exerted from her fist, Asta ended things.
All three blades surrounded Vanessa closely, the Demon-Slayer and Demon-Destroyer pressing close to her neck as the Demon-Dweller aligned her knuckles, preventing her attack from releasing. A single movement meant certain damage as things were; Vanessa was as isolated now as an island in an ocean.
Quiet things were and remained for a short while as Asta's cold gaze told Vanessa the truth of what would become her if she tried to act. It was all but over now and her deep sigh and breaking of her own tension was a clear sign of that.
Realising the situation herself, Mereoleona quickly swiped her arm, indefinitely ending the tense contest, "Vanessa can no longer fight! Asta wins, and is the first group A finalist! Next up: Leo vs Finral!"
"Thank Goodness," Asta slowly sighed as he lowered his blades, a look of complete relief washing over him as he remained sustained in the air alongside Vanessa for a brief while as she had a minimal reaction.
Suddenly though, Vanessa lurched forwards, hugging the life out of Asta as she clamped a hand upon the back of his head and across his back, "Well done little boy! You did so well! I was trying so hard, but you're so strong! I knew you could win!"
"Th-thanks..." Asta stuttered in embarrassment, letting her coat him in her comfort as he gently hugged her back for as long as she gripped.
It wasn't Vanessa herself that interrupted the moment though, as the jealous royal from below bellowed, "Hey, Asta! How long are you going to relax up there!? Y-you've got wounds to heal, you know!?"
The blush in her face was fairly obvious, but very few took note of it as Mimosa came to her side and as Asta lowered gently to the ground alongside Vanessa, the witch though ultimately wandering off her own direction to leave the little boy free. The trio soon began to wander out of the spotlight once more and lined themselves by the far too common wall of trees.
"You got quite beaten that time around, Asta," Mimosa sighed as she didn't hesitate to get up close to him, something that sparked Noelle's internal frustrations as Mimosa leant him against the nearest tree, "you know what I think about seeing you so bloodied..."
"Sorry, sorry," Asta gently chuckled as he fully relaxed, trusting himself to Mimosa, "I fought quite carelessly, but I have no regrets, that's for sure. There are only so many ways to get Vanessa in a corner like that!"
"Even so..." Mimosa's eyes rolled slightly as she tenderly touched Asta's cheeks, flexing them slightly to sight how deep their cuts were. It bloodied her fingers slightly, but that wasn't a bother to Mimosa, not at this stage, "I know my words are futile, but please ensure you never get so wounded that you can't make it back to me any more. As long as I can fix you up, I can deal with you as bloody as you may be..."
Just as tenderly and gently, Asta reached and pat Mimosa on her head, "I appreciate that! Once again, let's do our best together, alright?"
With no hesitation, Mimosa nodded energetically and got to work on his wounds with not a word more said.
"I hope you're not forgetting about me in this," Noelle pouted as she stood condescendingly above the two of them, her arms tightly crossed. Mimosa spared little thought for her though while Asta turned to her with his gleaming smile, silencing her briefly as she blushed up once more.
"You're up soon, Noelle! We have Finral to root on too, but I really wanna see what you're made of!" Asta encouraged.
"I-I know that...d-dummy..." Noelle pouted before suddenly pointing down at him with a more aggressive expression, "and I'm going to put up an even better display than you, so you better watch keenly! I'll school you on how well I can fight!"
Nodding, Asta pumped his weary right fist out with the minimal strength left within it, catching Noelle by surprise as he left it hanging in front of her, "I've got big expectations for you then. Make sure you're not all talk!"
The blushes on her face intensified slightly, but ultimately Noelle fixed herself to portray a gentle smile as she met Asta's fist halfway, bumping her's against his, "I'll show you all right. Don't go taking your eyes off of me now!"
Aimlessly, Libra stared to the wall which dared to glare back at her, its age showing and passing the moments at which it captivated her.
Eventually, the weary warrior bowed her head, glaring down at her pained stomach which had been causing so much unrest. What was once a fine plain of smooth skin had now been stained red by her insides. Despite how unbearable it was to connect eyes to, Libra found herself fixated on it as she wrapped her dominant hand tightly around it.
"That bastard...his devil truly was one of the highest-ranking. As much as I loved to run my mouth against those weak ones who only had small amounts of the devil power, he had the real deal, just like me. He was just...impossible to kill...at least for now. Now I know the scope of what I'm against, I'll bring him down, but, I guess those triad assholes aren't all there's left to take out..."
Her mind cast back momentarily, recalling the words of Dante, "Another devil user called 'Asta' hm? Just how many are there? And since when were devils users existing outside the Spade Kingdom? That smug asshole knows a lot more than what he's shown."
Finally settling down her thoughts, Libra rolled her eyes whilst hiding her face in her hood, "Deary me...I seem to have another devil to slay..."
It's been quite a while! With how things are, it'll be a while before you see me again as well most likely :(
I'm in my FINAL set of exams (6 weeks worth), so I really can't afford to bomb them in honesty. I've already secured the next step in my education, but the better grades I leave with, the merrier :P
Rest assured though, there's more to come, but it'll be quite a while before we get there! I hope you stick around and stay safe until the next time!
NEXT CHAPTER: BURNING WILL