Chapter 7: Hearts that Change
December 22nd, 1621
Waking up from his deep sleep, Asta rolls over to lay on his back, only to be met with the harsh glare of the sun beaming down on him. Taking a moment to adjust to the brightness past his eyelids, he slowly sits up and opens his eyes. The village looks to still be mostly empty, whether that's from fear of the Purple Orcas or something else, he doesn't know.
Shaking his head to get the blood pumping, Asta grabs his bag and starts rooting through it, taking out an apple and the yuls that he had saved up from the shadows he killed yesterday. To his six-year-old level of counting, there are definitely over 200 yuls in there. Hopefully, he can buy some extra supplies to take with him to the Inversion.
Gently prodding his finger against Secre's tiny bird face, she eventually shakes her head and blinks rapidly, finally waking up.
"Good morning, sleep well?" Snapping the apple in half, Asta gently places it in front of her.
"Yes, I feel good. Hungry though, so thank you." Without further delay, she begins munching down on the apple before her. The tine sounds of apple bits breaking off are amusing to Asta.
Going to town on his own apple half, Asta begins discussing what he learned in the Velvet Room yesterday. Ranging from what that world was, to what the villagers they saw were, to what Revchi's shadow was, and why he was called a Thief by one of the guards.
"A reality based on Revchi's perception of the village and its people, created by his own desires, which act as the roots in that world. And the guards are there to try and prevent someone like you from stealing that, otherwise, the world will disappear. Is that about it?"
"For the most part, yeah. It's crazy, but if we can find the room with the white haze inside it, we can find out more about how to steal it."
"In all my years of living, I've never heard of an ability like that. Much less an entire reality separate from this one. How did you mange to get wrapped up in this, Asta?"
"Beats me, but how old are you to have never seen something like this?" Secre grimaces as best she can with her bird face, fluttering on top of his head. Asta just watches her, until she begins to peck the hell out of his skull.
"OW, HEY, STOP THAT!" He flails a bit until she finally stops.
"It's rude to ask a lady her age, you'd do well to remember that."
"Ok, damn it! You didn't have to poke me like that!" The searing pain from the pecks remains.
"Doesn't matter anymore. Are we going to head right back into the Inversion?"
"No, not yet. I'm not that smart, but I think I have a little over 200 yuls, so I was thinking of going to that one shop we went to before to buy supplies. Maybe a new knife, some thicker clothes, or some food."
Nodding in agreement with his idea, Secre settles into his head. Climbing back down the latter that was there the night before, Asta makes his way through the vacant streets of the town.
(Take your Time)
Entering the general store he went to the day before, Asta begins to look around at the items that are there.
"So you're back, huh?" The voice of the shopkeep from yesterday calls out to him. Turning his head to him, Asta can see that the man is sober but tired.
"Yeah, I've got work to do if I want to protect this village." Asta goes back to browsing.
"So you seriously think you can take on a Magic Knight squad, kid?" The droll tone in his voice is indicative of his thoughts.
"I'm not taking on the Purple Orcas. If I can deal with their head honcho, Revchi, his cronies will go down with him." Without explaining anything more than his intention to take down Revchi, the shopkeep raises an eyebrow.
"Is that so?" Asta doesn't respond, instead looking through his money to see what he can afford.
"What do you need to do this?" That gets his attention. Turning to see the man getting up, Asta doesn't know what to say.
"Huh?"
"You said you had a plan last night, and you're still saying that you've got one. If this plan ends with the village being safe from the Purple Orcas, then I don't see why I should charge you for supplies needed to do so." The meaning behind the man's words makes Asta's heart swell with joy.
"You're saying I can just take what I need?!"
"Yeah, yeah. Go ahead and grab whatever, I'll grab a bag for you." The man turns and heads to the door on the wall, leaving Asta and Secre surprised.
"Asta, hurry up, that kind of generosity doesn't last forever!" Secre urges him to hurry. Darting around the shop, Asta grabs a pair of clothes, a poncho, a kitchen knife with a sheath, a ceramic jar that he'll use for water, and a thicker blanket. When he finally decides that he's got enough stuff, Asta waits for the man to come back out.
The shopkeep exits the backdoor with a small backpack. Kneeling down and gently setting Asta's chosen items into the bag, he watches as the kid profusely thanks him for what he's done. As the kid runs out of the shop, the shopkeep sighs in sadness. Knowing he put some extra food rations in his new bag, he mutters under his breath.
"Kid, I'm hoping you wise up and run while you can. No point in throwing your life away for a fight you can't win."
(Take your Time)
With renewed vigor, Asta returns to the inn, diving into the stall he entered the Inversion from yesterday. He yanks out the Crimson Key and shoves it into the mirror, watching the haze turn into a door. Setting his bag down and pulling out the knife he brought, he takes a deep breath and heads through.
When the red haze clears from his vision, Asta immediately squats down and jumps behind the nearest cover he can find. Two shadows are walking upstairs with their backs turned to him. Staying as quiet as possible, Asta watches as they exit and shut the door behind them, locking it with an echoing *click*. Waiting for a moment to see if they'll come back, he stands up in relief that the footsteps are growing quieter.
"It's you..." A voice from his left says. Jolting back, Asta relaxes when he sees the cognition of the woman from yesterday sitting in a pile of gold chains. The issue is the puddle of blood seeping from her midsection and beneath her feet.
As if his heart stopped, Asta wastes no time in summoning Pixie, trying to use Dia on the woman, in the hopes of staunching the bleeding. After three attempts fail, Pixie just nods her head at Asta, fading away in sorrow.
"Hey, hey. What the hell happened?" He asks but has a funny feeling he knows what. There's definitely a reason why she's the only person in the room with him.
"W-when you left yesterday, Captain Revchi came in, demanding to know how you were here. The chains we wove were flying everywhere, I got hit in the stomach, and thrown back here. When he was finished with the flurry, he said if you were to ever appear here again, that I was to tell you, or he'd make me suffer."
"...Are you going to tell him?" Asta ventures hesitantly.
Her bloody, tear-stricken face nods 'no'.
"He killed my child in his fury, and I'm going to die anyways. I won't tell him." Asta's heart breaks at that. Even though this woman is only a cognition, the fact that Revchi's shadow slaughtered these people without mercy is downright disgusting.
"I'm sorry I got your friends and family killed. I'm sorry."
"It's not your fault, dear. But please, promise me something." Asta gives her a determined look.
"Make him pay for what he's done. Make him regret all the suffering he's brought others. And make sure he won't do it again."
Grasping her hand, he can feel his own resolve strengthening. The thought of failing the villagers is enough to make him willing to go to any length to ensure he succeeds.
"I promise. He'll pay."
"Thank you. Now go, the treasure you're looking for is that way, beyond that door." The grip on his hand slowly loosens. When she can no longer hold on, her eyes close, and her entire form turns black. When everything about her turns pitch black, her body puffs away into the black miasma that defeated shadows leave behind.
Asta just sits there for a minute, silently coming to terms with the fact that he just watches the life leak out of an innocent person's body. It doesn't matter if it was a real person, what matters is that this could very possibly become real if Revchi gets his way.
"Asta?" Secre hesitantly asks. With his head tilted down, she can't see what his face says, but the way his fists are tightening, answers her unspoken question.
He is most definitely not alright.
After a minute of silence, Asta gets off his knees and wipes away the tears in his eyes.
"Secre, we can't afford to fail here. We can't."
"I know, and we won't. Now come on, we have work to do." With that said, Asta turn towards the door that the cognitive woman pointed to as his direction. Heading to the door, Asta opens it and steps through, silently closing it behind him. Walking forward, Asta finds himself in a hallway lined with doors, all with nametags on them. Looking left and right, he finally goes up to one, pressing his ear against it to listen in on whatever is behind it.
...
...
...
Nothing. It doesn't sound like there's anyone behind the door. Before he can worry about what's there any further, he begins to hear footsteps approaching from down the hall. Without any hesitation, Asta throws the door open and dives through. Taking extra care to close it as quietly as possible, Asta sees what's in the room.
Gold chains, piles upon piles of them. Unfortunately for him, opening the door so wide had rattled one of the piles, and it doesn't take much effort to hear the footsteps approaching faster than before. Deciding that he'll have to fight, Asta leaves the door slightly open to lure the shadow in. Hopping on the pile of chains behind the door, he waits for the right moment.
The footsteps get louder until they're right at the door. Without stopping, the door is thrown open, with a shadow in the garb of a Purple Orca member. Lifting himself on top of the thin wood of the door, Asta pulls out the kitchen knife that replaced his first dagger. After finding the best angle to dive, he wastes no time in leaping off the door, grabbing the loose cloth making up the uniform's cape. Yanking the shadow down with him even as it cries out in panic, Asta slashes the knife through the shackles without hesitation.
Taking the time that's left between the shackles breaking and the shadow erupting, Asta repositions himself to face his opponent on his feet. The fallen form of the shadow erupts into a deluge of red and black, with the winged form of a woman emerging. This woman is blond, blindfolded, and has a chain hanging around her neck, with very little clothes on her body.
Forcing down a blush, remembering that this thing is out to kill him, Asta makes his move. Charging forwards with his knife, he goes for the exposed areas of her hips, hoping to make a direct strike first, before he goes for a ranged attack next. The cut he makes isn't too deep but is nothing to scoff at. Jumping back in an effort to see her attack coming, what he doesn't expect is two tiny balls of light to manifest next to his head. Knowing in an instant what's about to happen, Asta twists his body to one side in an effort to dodge the attack, but only manages to dodge one of the two spears that manifest from the orbs.
Thrown to the ground, Asta gasps at the searing sensation of burning that's entered one of his arms. He watches as the being before him spreads its arms, and a familiar glow of light covers its body. The cut he inflicted on its hip heals before his eyes. Getting back up as the shadow takes a moment to recover from the cut, Asta summons his Persona.
"JOHN-BALL, EIHA!" A red and black miasma erupts from beneath the still-recovering shadow. Once his attack is finished, the shadow drops to the ground gasping for air after that attack. That was the weakness!
Pulling out his knife and aiming it right at the shadow, Asta decides to let the shadow begin the chat.
"So, care to explain what this is about? Because actions like this don't help anyone here." It seems pissed off. Not that shocking, but not unmanageable.
"What do I care, your boss is a bastard I'm going to change myself. That'll help a helluva lot of people." To meet the conditions of a contract, Asta has hit as hard as the enemy does.
"Hm, not wrong, this is definitely not a place most people wanna be."
"No kidding, there were literal slaves last time I was here."
"True, that is messed up... oh!" Is this it?!
"I remember now! I know who I am!"
"I'm you, or at least part of you. My name is Angel, don't wear it out!" When the angel stops talking, it starts to glow light blue, condensing into two chain links that fly onto Asta's tattoo.
When the fight dies down, Asta takes a breath. Looking into himself, he can feel the presence of another inside himself. Pumping his fist in the air, Secre gives her own piece.
"Nice job, now let's go, we have work to do." Her words remind him that he's gotta hurry. Stepping back out into the hallway after checking that it's empty, Asta begins to walk down the hall, passing more and more doors. When he reaches the end of the hall, Secre glances at the door on the left. This one has a nametag on it that's familiar to her.
"Asta, stop here." He does, following her gaze. Before him stands a door with the tag labeled 'Rustwallow'
"Do you recognize this name?" Asta asks.
"I have a bad feeling that I do, but it depends on what's behind the door. Open it, please." Her tone suggests that she wishes to be wrong. Pressing his ear against the door, he hears nothing coming from the other side.
Grabbing the door handle and shoving it open, the pair are met with a completely empty room. This confuses Asta but seems to confirm what Secre suspected.
"Oh god, I'm right."
"What? What did you figure out?" He really wants to know.
"The name on the door is the name of the village we're currently trying to liberate. If we assume that all the other doors have the names of villages, as well as them being full of those gold chains the slaves were spinning..." She trails off.
"...That would mean that every door is meant to represent a village that he's already gone through." Staring back down the hallway he walked from, Asta counts the doors.
Ten. Fifteen. Twenty. Twenty-Three villages. And Rustwallow is next.
Stumbling back out of the room, Asta has to catch his breath at the implications.
Why the hell has Revchi gotten away with robbing so many villages? Did none of the other Magic Knight squads care to act? Could they be in on it?!
Feeling his rage boil begin to boil over, Asta slams the door shut and trudges down the hallway. The unlabeled doors that he passes eventually meld into one in his eyes. Finally, Asta reaches the end of the hallway where a single shadow stands before him.
"So, you're the intruder that came by yesterday. Captain Revchi was wise to leave me here to guard the treasure." Asta can't even muster up the nerve to be intimidated. Still running on anger at the revelations of this hallway, Asta wasted no time in drawing his knife.
"Hm, so you choose to fight instead of fleeing for your life. Such foolish actions will mark the end of your days!" Without further delay, it snaps the chains on its wrists, erupting into a puddle, before rising as a man wearing green armor, carrying a spear, and rising a horse.
"You will go no further!" Charging at Asta with its spear aimed at him, Asta begins to guard his midsection for any attack that might come his way. The horse is too fast for him to slide past, and the hallway is too narrow for him to run around, so bracing himself to tank the hit, Asta watches the knight approach. With a swing coming down on him, Asta gets thrown back by the strike. It hurts like hell, but he swaps to Angel, healing the injury as best as possible.
He watches as the knight begins to charge at him again. This time, he's got an idea. Asta slides one foot back and waits for it to get a little bit closer. While he waits, Asta swaps over to Pixie, readying a Zio attack. With another swing towards his midsection, Asta jumps over the slash, kicks off the horse's head, and curves in midair as best as possible to see where he's aiming.
"Pixie, Zio!" With a jolt of electricity shot straight at the knight's back, its armor conducts the electricity Asta shot at it. The horse neighs in pain, and the knight struggles to move, only giving a few twitches. Realizing that the knight can't move, Asta jumps onto its back, wrapping his arm around the knight's neck, and stabbing his knife right in between the slits on his faceplate. The electricity that the knight's armor still has going through it begins to pass through the knife, directly into the being beneath the armor.
Turning his jump into a roll, Asta lands on the ground and takes a few seconds to recompose himself. Seeing that his attack didn't kill, Asta wastes no time in summoning John-Ball.
"John-Ball, CLEAVE!"
With a mighty swing of his sword, John-Ball slams into the knight, throwing it off the horse. With no more fight left in him, the knight fades away into a black smog, with his horse following behind. All that's left behind of the shadow is Asta's knife, a key, a pile of yuls, and some kind of cloth. Heading over to pick it up, Asta pulls his hand away and sees that it's covered in ashes. It felt really tough though, so he might as well grab it.
Retrieving his knife, his newly obtained riches, and the tough clothes, Asta shoves it all between his belt. Turning back to the door the knight was blocking, a voice calls to him.
"Are you alright?" Secre's concerned voice asks. And it's a good question.
Is he alright?
After some deliberation, he answers her.
"I...won't lie and say that I'm ok. This has been worse than I imagined it could be. This bastard, Revchi, has caused so much suffering to tons of other villages and has no plans to stop. He's fine with killing innocent people who've never done him any wrong and is fine with forcing them to hand over everything they're worth." Asta rambles on about his misgivings about this.
"But, I have the chance to do something about it. I have the chance to change things, to change HIM! As much as I'd like to make him pay for everything he's done with violence, I've got a promise to keep. Not just to the villagers, but to that woman that died in my arms earlier."
His resolve strikes a cord in Secre, and she makes her own decision there.
"And I'll be there to help however I can."
Asta turns to her and smiles, holding out an arm for her to perch on. She gently steps onto his arm, and he raises her to his head.
"Do you feel better now that you talked about it?"
"I do, so thanks for everything. Now, let's see if that guard was telling the truth." Taking the key the guard dropped off his belt, he slides it into the lock, turns it, and opens the door. Once it's open, Asta steps through, retrieving the key from the lock. Now standing in a room far taller than it should be without breaking the roof of the surface, Asta looks to the center.
In the middle of the room is a pedestal, with a white glowing haze above it.
"This is it! This is what we're here for!" Asta cheers, as Secre ponders what she's looking at.
"So, this is the place you were told to find? How exactly do you plan on catching a cloud?"
"I have no clue, so let's get out of here and go find out!" Asta turns back towards the door, only to come face to face with a shadow watching him.
Taking a second to realize what he should be doing, he draws his knife and charges at the shadow. Before it realizes what's about to happen to it, Asta has already severed the shackles. Watching the shadow melt and recreate itself, Asta readies himself to fight against a floating pumpkin with a hat and cape.
The pumpkin has to recover from the suddenness of its transformation, leaving it open to attack. charging at it, Asta swings with his fist first, then goes in with his knife, followed by ramming his knee into the shadow. With no way to recover itself, the shadow gets knocked down with no issue. Asta takes a deep breath, finally taking a moment after his flurry of moves.
"Hey now, what's the big idea? I'm super popular, you hee-know? Do you think my fans will let you get away with this?"
"What fans?"
"Hee-hee, I bet you're jealous that I've got fans, right?" Might as well play along.
"Yeah, super jealous!"
"He-ho thought so! Guess great minds think alike!"
"Hey, wait! I just remembered who I am, ho! My name is Jack-O-Lantern, ho!"
"From now on, I'll live on inside you!" With his little monologue over, Jack-O-Lantern turns into two chain links that fly into Asta's tattoos. Feeling more confident than ever in his ability to succeed, Asta makes his way back down the hallway to return to the mirror. Down the hall are two more shadows which he defeats with little effort.
Finally making it back to the loom room, Asta grabs the Crimson Key and creates the door to exit. With Secre on his head, Asta takes his leave from the Inversion.
(Take your Time)
Back in the stall that he entered the Inversion from, Asta finds his bag right where he left it. Without wasting any time, he pulls out the Velvet Key and pops it into the mirror. The door appears, and Asta steps through.
Now surrounded by the comforting presence of the Velvet Room, with its wonderful tune sounding throughout the church, Asta makes his way over to Igor and Angelica.
"Welcome to the Velvet Room, congratulations on how far you've come since you first infiltrated Revchi's Inversion. It warms my heart to see how devoted you are to defeating such a cruel man's machinations." Asta doesn't know what that last word means, but right now it doesn't matter.
"I did it! I found the haze that you said to! Now what do I do?!" Bounding in his seat before Igor, he can barely wait for his response.
"You did, and for that, you have our gratitude. Now, we will be explaining how what that white haze is, and how to materialize it for you to steal."
"That haze is the source of all of Revchi's distorted desires, and the core of his entire Inversion. Right now, it holds no physical form because he is not conscious of it. In order to make it appear, he must be made aware that it exists, and, that it is going to be stolen." So far, Asta is actually following what he's being told.
"So, how am I supposed to make that happen? I don't think I can just go up to him and tell him I'm going to steal something from him, he'd just try and kill me."
"I do believe that your avian friend promised to help out however she could, yes? My personal recommendation would be to ask her to help write out a card that names everything he's done and state your plan to steal his distorted desires. Then have her fly it out to him to deliver it to him personally."
It's not a terrible idea, but Asta doesn't want to risk his only friend's safety for his own plan. But remembering that she was on board with his whole crazy idea of infiltrating the Inversion in the first place helps to reassure his thoughts on her chances of success.
"Ok, I'll deal with that later. All I need to do is write a card that has everything he's done, as well as write that I'm going to steal his desires. That will make the haze turn into a physical thing that I can take and remove from the world, and that will make him change?"
"Yes, that's right. But be aware, the effect of a calling card will last no longer than 24 hours. Afterward, the process can not be repeated. You get one shot at victory."
Nodding to himself, Asta decided to try out the practical use of the Velvet Room.
"I'd like to try fusion!" Igor's grin widens.
"Wonderful! In that case, please present your arms." Asta sticks his arms out, and Igor holds his hand in between them palm-side up. After a moment, the chains on Asta's arms begin to glow and separate from him. Watching as the chains turn into little balls of blue light, they all converge onto Igor's palm.
Pulling his arm back, Igor places his hand down on the table before him and opens it. The lights spread out until the four separate balls flatten out into cards, each taking on the image of his Personas. John-Ball, Pixie, Angel, and Jack-O-Lantern.
"Now which would you like to fuse?" Taking hold of two of the cards, Asta instinctively knows how to determine the end result. Placing one card over another, the images printed on them melt into a new form. Placing Pixie and Jack-O-Lantern together would create... Incubus!
"I'll take this one!" Asta hands the cards over to Igor, who takes them in each hand. Asta watches in amazement as the cards begin to glow, returning to their ball forms, flying up into the air, spinning around and around until they meet at the center, converging into one.
The newly created ball of light sinks down to them, into Igor's awaiting hands.
"You have now created Incubus. Well chosen." Igor places the ball back on the table, and they watch as it turns into a card like the others.
"Now what would you like to fuse?" Asta picks up the card containing John-Ball and ponders for a moment. He doesn't want to erase himself, that sounds terrifying.
Placing John-Ball back on the table, Asta picks up the card containing Angel and Incubus, setting them on top of each other. The resulting being has a large head and a tiny body, but Asta can feel that it's just what he needs for the future.
"Here, I'd like this one!" Igor takes the cards and repeats the process, creating the Persona 'Obariyon'. It's got the skills 'Snap' and "Sukuna'.
"It occurs to me that I haven't even mentioned my assistant's role here. Angelica, if you would." Igor gestures to her, and she pulls out the book she always holds. As she begins to flip through the pages, Asta can see what's in them. The Personas he's caught and fused, she has recorded in the pages.
"For a fee, we are able to re-summon Personas you have previously captured. This will save you time from having to go out and find one in the wild." Angelica explains her duties with the Compendium, and Asta begins to note an issue he has.
"But, I don't always have room in my pockets for yuls, how am I supposed to carry enough money to buy this sort of stuff?" Asta complains. Igor is swift in rebuking this statement.
"Never fear, my boy. As a way to help ease the worries you might have about forgetting something after a fight in the Inversion, we will grant you this." Igor pulls out a velvet blue coin pouch. Asta takes it and looks inside, finding a surprisingly large amount of yuls inside.
"This pouch will automatically collect anything that is dropped by shadows after you have bested them, so you will never have to worry about that during an infiltration. As you can see, you clearly forgot some during your exit from Revchi's Inversion." Igor chuckles at his forgetfulness. Asta is simply in awe at this.
"Then, can I buy jack-O-Lantern and Pixie back?" Wanting to help cover his elemental range as well as his need for healing, these two seem to be the best choice. The coin pouch he's holding gets lighter, and two balls of light float out of the Compendium, flying into his arms. The remaining cards on the table fly into his arms and join the chains. Feeling his Personas return to him it relieving, and he knows that he can do this.
"Thanks, Igor, thanks, Angelica. Next time you see me, you'll hear about my victory against that bastard!" Asta declares, running out of the Velvet Room with the energy of the six-year-old he is. With his back turned, Asta doesn't see Igor wave goodbye.
"Master, do you believe he can win?" Angelica asks.
"He will. He must if he is to continue his journey." Igor looks pensive now.
(Take your Time)
Back in his body, Asta pulls out the coin pouch from his pocket and celebrates that he doesn't have to worry about losing out on the spoils of victory. Secre asks him what the plan is, and Asta explains what he knows about how to make the treasure materialize.
"The problem is actually getting the card to him, if I go near him, he'll kill me on sight. So, I need to ask for a favor Secre." After he says that, he bows his head, the same way he did back in the forest when she brought him to the apples.
"Secre, I need your help in writing the calling card, and I need you to deliver it. I know that this is asking for a lot, but if we're going to do this, we need to do it as soon as possible. So please, help me." Hoping against hope that she'll agree, Asta waits with bated breath for her response.
"I told you already, back in the hallway. I'd help however I could. So, if you promise that you'll succeed in this endeavor, I'll do my best to get you where you need to go." Her words lift the pressure from his shoulders, and Asta gives her a wide, toothy grin. Picking her up and setting her on his head, he grabs his bag and exits the inn's bathroom.
After they manage to find someone who sells thick paper in the village, they pay the overpriced fee and head back to the roof they settled in previously.
"Alright, what are we going to write? I'm not that smart or good at this kind of thing, so can you help make it fancy?" Secre nods at his words.
The two spend the next hour writing down everything they remember from the Inversion, every crime, and every grievance they have against Revchi. When they finish, they're pretty proud of what they've got down. But Asta feels it's missing something.
"Hey, do you mind if I add a few things at the end?"
"What do you want to put?" He tells her, and she can only smile at the irony of what his idea holds.
Once Asta's finished adding the final touches to the card, Asta pulls out one of the last apples, splits it, and gives half to Secre. They eat in silence, and when they finish, Asta wishes her luck with her search. She says she'll be fine, but that won't stop him from worrying about her. As he watches her fly off into the distance, Asta can see the sun going down as well and decided that he's going to need all the energy he can get. But before he can fully settle in, he sneezes at the familiar scent of ashes and recalls something he wanted to deal with before he went to sleep. Dissing through his bag, he pulls out the ashy shirt he picked up after beating the knight.
Looking around at what's outside the village, Asta spots a river running not that far. Pulling at his soul, Asta summons his ship, boards it, and heads off towards the river to start washing the cloth. He's diligent in his work and spends all the time needed to clean the newly discovered chainmail armor with cloth woven into it. This armor seems to have been created for someone slightly larger than him, but he can make it work.
Now freshly geared up with his armor, new knife, and powerful Personas, Asta can't imagine how he could fail. Summoning his ship once more, Asta returns to the rooftop and nestles into the blanket he got from the store. All he has to do is wait for the results of Secre's expedition. With that thought, Asta lets the events of his day finally catch up to him, falling asleep in minutes.
(Take your Time)
As she flies above the fields and trees of the Clover Kingdom, Secre Swallowtail wonders how her life changed so quickly. She really only spent her time around the demon skull, where the stone remains of her prince lay. All she knew about this kid was that he didn't have any magic and wasn't that well-received by his village. That infuriated her, as he deserved a chance to live as much as anyone else.
So she can't say was surprised when he finally decided to just leave. All she knew was that one day, the people of the village mentioned that they couldn't find Asta. She was curious as to what his plan was, so she flew around until she found him walking towards a riverbank, visibly hungry and thirsty. That was why she decided to take pity on him and show him the nearest apple tree. Sure it may have taken a few attempts to get him to follow, but it all worked out, and he even thanked her on his knees. That's never happened!
The kid seemed out of his depth, so she figured that if nothing happened to Lumiere for this long, she could spend a little time wandering with this him without any harm being caused. That notion was waived less than a day later when the kid fell into a pit leading straight to a dungeon. He was lucky that there was water at the bottom, or he could've died. After managing to retrieve his goods, he was gracious enough to wrap her in the dry parts of his thin blanket.
She doesn't know how long she spent in that pile of warmth, but eventually, she woke up and didn't see Asta near her, so she figured that he was in fact dumb enough to go wandering a dungeon on his own. She flew through, searching for where he could be when she came upon a study, with Asta passes out on the floor. The issue was, he now had some tattoos that weren't there before on his arms. She spent a minute or so pecking at one of his arms until he finally woke up. When he did, he was overjoyed to see her.
When she gestured to his arms, that seemed to make him remember something. He got up without bothering to help her up to his head, so she went and settled herself in on her own. Then the strangest thing happened. He wound up his arm for a punch and swung at the mirror. She winced at what she assumed would be either the mirror shattering, or his hand breaking, but what actually happened was beyond bizarre. The mirror acted as if it was made of water, with waves rippling from where his arm was shoved in. He put his other arm in and began to walk forward, as Secre tried to reason as to what was happening.
The truly impossible part is what came next.
Absentmindedly, she asked out loud how Asta did that since she could tell he didn't have any magic to speak of. She would've continued if not for his body jolting solid and turning back to the mirror to look at her. The next words out of his mouth brought a spark of hope and joy that she tried to contain as best as possible. He asked if she just talked. Praying that this wasn't a dream, she asked if he heard her. The screaming wasn't what she was hoping for, but she couldn't be bothered.
Because for the first time in almost 500 years, she was talking to someone! She was being heard! She wouldn't have to suffer in this isolation for eternity!
After he finished screaming and calmed down, he explained his situation. Back during her time as Lumiere's servant, she can say with confidence that she's never heard of this kind of ability. After he finished, he reached down and offered her a spot on his head. Her, a talking bird that he's known for less than a day, offered her a branch of trust out of nothing but the assumption that she was a good person because she showed him where some apples were.
Man, if this kid is that trusting, he could use a rational mind on other matters. That's definitely the only reason she wants to go with him, and certainly not the fact that she's cripplingly lonely and wants a companion.
After the events of the dungeon, where she first learned about how Personas and shadows work firsthand, the pair began to head to a nearby village. This is where the first road bump happened. The whole village was living in fear of Magic Knights that were occupying the town. It was infuriating, to see some lazy pigs dressed up as nobles flaunt their power to scare innocent people into serving their desires. Truly disgusting in her eyes.
That night, when Asta was attacked by Revchi, Secre was scared for him, as she assumed that his power only worked in the Inversion. So color her terrified when Asta told the guy who had him wrapped in chains to go to hell. When he threw him off, she was petrified, assuming he would die, and she would be alone again. But she was worried for nothing, as the chains holding Asta snapped, both Revchi's and Asta's own. She was quite happy when he rose up on that ship and smacked the daylights out of the arrogant punk.
But, pride cometh before the fall, as the saying goes. While Asta may have pleased the crowd with how he treated the punk, he didn't consider how he would deal with him in the long term. So when he got up on that roof and swore that he would solve their problems, she felt he was making a mistake. False hope is a cruel thing. As it would turn out, he did have a plan, and it did give them real chance. After he used that blue key to do something, he suddenly had a second crimson key, which seemed to give him hope.
When he ran to the bathroom in that inn, she watched in astonishment as he opened a crimson door in the stall's mirror, stepping through only after she was ready. When they stepped out, they were in a field of corn stalks. They wandered towards the noises they heard, and after taking a look at what was making the noise, she can somewhat understand Asta's desperate actions. For a literal peasant orphan, pure gold growing from plants sounds like paradise. Even still, she had to snap him out of it, and he at least had the decency to look ashamed at his actions.
When they finally made it to the basement and saw what was happening, she felt revolted horror, much like Asta did. They had to leave before going any further, as that 'shadow Revchi' would've caught them if they didn't. After shopping for more goods and returning to the Inversion, they learned more and more about how low Revchi had sunk. This drove Asta up the wall, and she had to ask after he brutalized that knight blocking the door if he was alright.
Thankfully he trusted her enough to share his thoughts, and that made her happy. After they found what they now know is the 'Treasure', they're in the home stretch of accomplishing their goal. All she has to do is get this to Revchi and make sure he reads it. Now, assuming that Revchi went back to go get some more of his cronies, would he be coming from another occupied village, or straight from the Royal Capital?
The answer turns out to be the Royal Capital, as she stumbles upon his squad's camp, with tons of greedy men and women spread across the area, drinking and feasting on likely ill-gotten gains. Fluttering down to the nearest tent, Secre looks around for any sign of Revchi. When she suddenly hears his voice hyping up his fellow squadmates for the pillage they're planning on doing to Rustwallow and its citizens. Seeing this as the perfect time to deliver the card, she flies over the bonfire and slaps the paper right in his face, flying away in the cover of darkness before she's found.
Revchi stumbles back after the paper hits him in the face, grasping at it as best as possible to get it off. Finally getting a good grip, he shut up the chuckles of his squads with a glare. Reading over the contents of the paper has him shaking in rage. Snapping his vitriolic glare at everyone around him, he shouts at them.
"WHO THE HELL WROTE THIS?!" Nobody has an answer, but Secre is satisfied with this. He's obviously read it and is pissed as hell. Her job is complete, and all she has to do is place her faith in Asta. As she flies away, back to the village Asta is currently in, Revchi is going around shoving the paper in the faces of others, demanding to know if it was one of them who did it.
Not getting the answer he wants, he orders that everyone head to bed now. Giving the paper one last look, he crumples it and throws it to the ground. Knowing in his heart that the contents are true, but not wanting to give the writer the satisfaction. The paper itself reads as follows:
To the great sinner of wrath, Revali Salek of the Purple Orcas.
You are a deplorable man who has plundered twenty-three villages to viscously satisfy your own greed and has bled them for all their worth. Both the villagers themselves and their riches. Let us be the first to tell you that you will not succeed in taking a twenty-fourth. We have decided to make you confess your sins with your own mouth. Before tomorrow passes, we will steal your distorted desires without fail.
From, The Phantom Thieves of Hearts
On the bottom of the paper is a little drawing of a tophat with raccoon eyes and a shark-toothed grin. A personal touch of Asta's, one that Secre believes really added to Revali's infuriation. Flying as fast as her little wings can carry her, Secre wonders what the next day will contain.
To Be Continued in Chapter 8...
A.N: So, here we are on part two of the Revchi Infiltration Arc. The next chapter will be the last of the flashback and will cut back to the moment before Asta left with Yami and Finral to get to the Black Bulls base. For now, I figured that Secre deserved some introspection because when you think about it, she's probably got tons of issues that she's bottled up in canon. Five hundred years spent as a bird, unable to speak to anyone else, stuck waiting for the Elves to reincarnate to help deal with them. I don't know about you, but that would drive me to the deepest reaches of madness. Next, I thought up more about how to symbolize Revchi's distortion. Labeled doors that lead to rooms filled with the gold chains that the slaves spin to represent the villages he's plundered. The name for the village Asta is is rn was a randomly generated fantasy town name. An issue I feel will come up with the combat is that anyone with half a brain could dodge these attacks, but if I never let Asta get hit, that'll turn into another cheap power trip story. So for the sake of integrity, I've gotta let him get hit by some things. Also, I hope you find the new fusion mechanic I came up with to be neat. I hope you enjoyed the calling card, as I wasn't sure whether I should only have Asta be known as the Phantom Thief, because Secre's been helping a ton, so I decided that yeah, THEY are the Phantom Thieves. Also, I decided to make a little homage to the first logo Ryuji made in P5.
Not much else to cover, so please review, I'd love to hear some critique or your thoughts.
Until Next Time :)