Asta didn't enjoy what he felt, but it did seem familiar. It was a lukewarm, slimy feeling as he slept. It crept up his body, leaving chills. His skin was swarmed with goosebumps as he tried to move, only to be rejected by screaming agony in his limbs and torso. His head throbbed in a headache as he attempted to open his eyes. He had never felt pain this severe before. It was frightening, he had no clue how he got this injured.
"Don't try and move Asta, I'm trying everything I can..." A calm and soothing voice warned. Asta knew that voice. He opened his eyes, pushing through the pain. He was met by a warm, and attractive, face of Sister Lily.
"Sister Lily! How are you faring today?" He asked in his cheerful tone. She only smiled as her hands glowed a faint blue. He looked down and saw he was getting covered in what looked like a slug made of water as it moved across his body.
Oh, his clothing had many tears and blood stains… and that was Sister's healing magic.
"What even happened?" He asked when he looked back at her. She sighed.
"I don't know. We were beyond our minds sick and then just heard explosions outside and saw someone, well… what's the word…?" She started.
"Kicked your a-butt." Nash finished. Asta turned his head and smiled.
"Oh hi Nash! Have you been well?" He asked with a smile. Nash looked away with red cheeks.
"Asta, this is serious. There was some black wisps on your body after the fight. I think your cursed." Lily said. Black wisps? He looked back at his body and looked at his hand. His righter pointer finger was bending the wrong way and then his magic popped out and pushed it back into normal position. He flexed it and lightly smiled as only a slight soreness remained.
"See!? What even is that?" Lily said panicked. Asta chuckled. He didn't tell them about his magic yet!
"My magic!" He said. They went silent and stared at him. They wanted him to joke but with his smile that didn't seem like he was lying.
"What?! You have no magic! If you have magic, than you could have been admitted into the Magic Knights!" Lily said panicked. Her spell stopped and faded.
"I did get into the magic knights… wait, did you guys think I couldn't do so?!" Asta panicked. Lily looked away in shame and Nash was happy. He did keep his promise so it was easy for Asta to understand why he was happy.
"What squad did you get into?" Sister asked. Asta looked at her and pointed to his headband.
"The Black Bulls! They are really fun!" He said. He looked down at his robe which was slightly torn and taped his insignia. Lily looked ashamed that she didn't realize beforehand but was quickly happy for Asta. He actually managed to do so, even though he now had this weird shadow magic that healed him.
"Im assuming Yuno got into the Crimson Lions or something?" Nash asked. Asta was about to tell them how he got into the Golden Dawn but instead he was cut off.
"I got into the Golden Dawn, not the Crimson Lions." A calm tone informed. Asta looked back to be greeted by Yuno walking to them. Asta smiled and Lily rushed up to give him a quick embrace.
"Wait, I thought the Golden Dawn was only for nobles! Your magic is that good?" Nash asked. Yuno nodded with little expression besides a slight smile. Asta looked at him.
"Yuno, why are you here? Did you get the day off too?" He asked. Yuno shook his head.
"No. The Golden Dawn received info on a high magical power in the area and I'm here with my squad to evaluate what happened." He said before continuing. "Asta, do you remember who beat you?" Yuno asked. Asta thought for a moment but all he could remember was his first attack. Everything else was blank. He didn't see what his face looked like or even his name. He didn't even know that he had intense magic.
Curse his inability to sense magic.
"No. All I remember he talked to me for a bit, shattered my knees before they healed and then I charged. Everything else is just.. Blank." Asta thought. He doesn't remember what happened but the unbearable soreness and pain along with the accounts of Sister and Nash, it wasn't a very level fight for him.
Just who was he? He clearly was more interested in Asta as a person rather than his swords. He mentioned someone, his boss. Who was that? Was he the real threat? His boss must be leagues above the man he fought if he was the underling.
"How bad did I lose?" Asta asked.
"We didn't see you land a blow in or be given the chance to even do so." Nash bluntly said. Asta just gulped. How or why he is alive is crazy.
"I swear you have the devil's luck or something." Lily mumbled.
"That seems troubling. Well, how injured are you?" Yuno asked. Asta moved a few limbs, sharp pain jarred him as he breathed through his teeth.
"A lot. Sore all over and with pains in other places." Asta replied. Yuno turned over and waved. Asta followed and looked on who was coming over.
She was about his height, maybe slightly a few inches smaller. She had long orange hair and a Golden Dawn robe like Yuno. She sorta smelled like she was just in a perfume shop when she got there. She had yellow eyes that was sorta feline in a sense. The same yellow but there was another way he couldn't quite place as well. Maybe it was the feeling of familiarity or just how alert and scanning they were for injuries on him.
"Oh Yuno! Is this another civilian that I need to check?" She said in a sweet tone. Asta looked at Yuno for him to explain something or anything.
"This is an old companion I grew up with." Yuno just said. Asta was just going to fix his statement but he pretty much was used to Yuno antics. He sure his identity would be revealed to her when he becomes a high ranking knight!
"Oh! Your one of Yuno's friends right? Did that strong magic enemy attack you?" She asked as she had her grimoire come out.
"Uh yeah, I was attacked. I have a few injuries gone but still am heavily injured." She nodded and a wooden cage enveloped him. Flowers pushed him up until he was on a little bed of petals. A green glow emitted from inside the flowers and filled him with warmth. His pains slowly faded away and the soreness seemingly disappeared.
"Uh.. thank you. This is cool magic." Asta said as he looked at the interior of the cage. He ran his hand through the petals. They were silky smooth and slightly wet. It was refreshing in a way.
"Thank you. I'm really good with healing magic." She said. Yuno walked up and slightly smiled.
"This is Mimosa. She is the other rookie in my squad. She is a part of the Vermillion family." Asta looked confused and she rubbed the back of her head in an embarrassing way. Vermillion kinda sounded familiar but he couldn't put his finger on it. She was noble probably.
"It's nothing. I just glad no one died or received grave injuries besides sickness." She lightly chuckled as the cage disappeared. Asta stood with no pain and moved his joints. Zero stiffness.
"Wow! That healing magic is incredible! It's super strong! No wonder your a Golden Dawn!" She made a peep and hid her flushed cheeks.
"Uh thank you. I trained for them to be this strong!" She replied. That reminded Asta of something. He turned to Yuno.
"Hey, do you have a tip for my flight? I need to get back to the capital to spend the rest of my day off with some friends." Yuno rose an eyebrow at Asta.
"Flight? But you have no magic. Can you use the broom somehow?" Mimosa asked. Asta looked at her with a smile.
"Nope! My magic is for some reason undetectable by others. I do have some magic!" He said. He grinned as she looked confused.
"If you do have magic, It's probably so vastly weak." A new voice said. Asta looked at the new voice. It came from a tall man with light blue hair. He had the golden cloak like Yuno and Mimosa and a pair of glasses rested on his nose.
"And this is my superior… Klaus." Yuno mumbled, clearly not enjoying this. The man looked around.
"And if this is your home, I can understand why your magic is weak. This is the farthest reaches of the Forsaken Realm. It's a miracle as to how you can even afford a day in the capital." He said in a condescending tone.
"I'm sorry?" Asta asked. He scoffed and walked off. Asta was confused as he watched he walked off, mumbling about how he had no reason to be there. Mimosa sighed at the man's actions.
"Sorry about him. He isn't very polite towards someone of lower status like you guys. He still hasn't gotten used to someone like Yuno, even though he is in the same squad.." Mimosa said. Yuno sighed and walked up towards Asta.
"So, what do you need my help with?" Yuno questioned. Asta looked up at him and nodded.
"Well, my wings aren't reliable and tiring. I was wondering if you had any tips to keep flying for longer with less stress on me. I thought you would be the best bet because of your magic type."
Yuno thought for a moment and looked up. Asta followed his eyes till they both laid on a nest full of crows. The mother was feeding the chirping chicks in the nest, each climbing over each other in desperation to get some more food.
"Ever try and use your arms to fly instead of the ones that come out of your shoulder blades?" He said. Asta thought for a moment before he slapped his forehead. He didn't even think to compare his wings to a bird rather than an angel. He didn't even know if he could make two shadow things on his arms.
He really needs to name his abilities so he didn't need to use terms that were vague.
"Ok, let me try this." Yuno stepped back and gestured others to do so. After he had an adequate amount of space he crouched, almost ready to leap. He spread his arms out and concentrated. He slowed his breathing and focused on the feeling of his magic. He felt nothing before the small storm had made itself known again. The whirling winds flooded throughout his body, feeling him with chills and a rush. His arms started to feel jittery as his shadow formed and wrapped around his arms. The grew outwards and took shape of large wings. They were easily more than 5 feet long but didn't go bigger than about 7 feet.
He stood with the large wings now on his arms rather than back. Already he felt that they were different. He felt less concentrated on them unlike his total concentration he needed to use his other wings. However, these hurt his arms. It was a cold and crushing pressure as he rolled his shoulders to prepare to take flight to test them out. He was met with silence as he looked up and brought them up. He breathed out, a fine mist had existed his mouth. He closed his eyes and brought the wings down as hard as he could.
The roar of the wind quickly came after his feet had left the ground. He kept his eyes closed as he rose and quickly brought down his arms to gain more speed. His skin was cold but his arms were experiencing pin and needles as he flew.
Not a good sign.
He opened his eyes and saw he was rapidly approaching the clouds. He raised his arms to slow down and kept a steady pace to keep afloat. He looked around and saw the damage of his village.
There were craters littering the village, trenches in the farmland, and destroyed forests. Lucky none of the buildings were damaged. People had started to come out and Asta felt a tingle of guilt.
He couldn't beat that man. Because of his lack of power and experience, it lead to him being defeated. If he could defeat that man, then he could make sure an event like this never occur again.
("Thank goodness Asta survived. He was merciful this time around..")
"Wow, the damage around Hage is just… bad." He mumbled. He looked down and started to dive towards his friends. The winds were slightly quieter than his travel up but he certainly was traveling faster.
Maybe he can utilize this aspect of travel in combat for more powerful strikes on foes.
He slowed himself before he touched the ground and gently set himself down. Nash and Lily looked shocked but happy. Yuno seemed slightly pleased with himself while Mimosa was just plainly shocked.
"How did you do that!? You didn't even use your grimoire for that!" Mimosa questioned. Asta let the shadow recede and stretched his arms to try and remove the pin and needles feeling.
"Actually, my shadow magic and grimoire magic are two seperate magics!" He patted for his grimoire and felt his blood run cold.
"Wait, where is my grimoire?!" He panicked. Lily tapped his shoulder and he looked back. His grimoire was placed back into his hands.
"Sorry for the panic. We took this off your person so we could heal you." Lily apologized. Asta nodded and put away his grimoire in his pouch. Mimosa took a gasp and he turned his head to look at her.
"What?" He asked.
"Your a Magic Knight! Yuno, why didn't you tell me you had a friend who was a magic knight?" Asta smirked as Mimosa stared at Yuno, who was avoiding her glare. Finally, he got recognized as someone who was a knight.
"He isn't that strong or important enough to mention." Yuno said.
"WHAT?! HOW DARE YOU SAY THAT? I'M YOUR RIVAL!" Asta shouted. Yuno looked at him, as emotionless as ever.
"It was a joke Asta. Did you not see it?" He said.
"You never joke!" Asta replied. Yuno actually slightly smiled that he managed to get under Asta's skin. Asta noticed this smirk and calmed down instantly. He started to chuckle and he tapped Yuno's shoulder.
"See ya Yuno. Get stronger for the next time we met, all right?" Asta asked Yuno. Yuno nodded for Asta's query. Asta walked over towards where he took off his lift off and looked back at Lily and the other children at the church, who all had started to come out to see the commotion.
"Bye guys! Keep Father and Sister Lilly safe for me! And Nash! If I became a knight, you can too! Alright?" He asked, rolling his shoulders to rid of any stiffness before the flight.
"Al-Alright Asta! Go save some villages and be a great knight, you hear? Get stronger for us!" Nash yelled. Asta took his words in before he nodded. He looked back towards the horizon where the capital was located. He focused on his wings and after a few long moments his wings solidified and he took off.
…
He looked over the spot he was only hours prior. He reconciled with the events that occured. The fight with Asta was.. Something he didn't expect.
He was far weaker than he imagined. He knew that his body would only start gaining his abilities but he never imagined that he would be this weak originally. Maybe it was because of his mother's previous status as a human as to why he is weaker than he thought.
Maybe it was because of that seal she placed on him.
"What are you even doing?" A males voice said behind him. He glanced back and smirked.
"What? Just seeing how he is so far." The male walked over to him and pulled him up.
"I swear if you touch him, I'll kill you. Same for my daughter." He said with venom. The man smirked
"Alright. I'll make sure nothing happens to neither. And don't you have your pupil to train still?" He man let go and grumbled as she walked through a portal, leaving the man to take off the hood. His blonde hair came out in a mullet since he never bothers to cut it really. His emerald eyes watched the animals folic as a warm smile grew.