"Noelle died…" Asta took a deep breath, "...during our battle with Vanica. It was... hard fought, to say the very least, even with our intense training regimen.

Through the last part of the battle, only Noelle and I were in fighting condition- Finral was down for the count, Vanessa was out of mana, and Yami was still nowhere to be found-"

Nero widened her eyes, "What do you mean that Yami was nowhere to be found?"

Asta sighed, "He'd been kidnapped along with the captain of the Golden Dawn- the Triad needed a practitioner of Dark Magic and a practitioner of World Tree Magic as a sacrifice to break open the gates of the underworld to release the true power of the Devils."

Nero looked at Asta with a slightly confused expression.

"Alright… this is news to me…"

Asta cleared his throat, "Well, it's pretty important, I'd say…"

Alternate Timeline, 1 year later

Spade Kingdom Castle Laboratory:

"Curse Warding Magic: Decay," Vanica hissed.

A malevolent black beam erupted from Vanica's right hand, narrowly missing Asta in his Black form. It struck the stone wall behind him, sizzling as it burned a perfect, circular hole in the solid surface. The room they occupied seemed more like a sprawling gymnasium than the castle laboratory it was supposed to be.

Vanica cackled maniacally, reveling in the excitement of the battle before her

"Oh? It missed? Or did you dodge? These new spells I received from that pale devil, they're really fun… But I've gotta say, you're good, anti-magic boy… I'm surprised."

Summoning her resolve, Noelle called upon her magic for a surprise attack.

"Water Magic: Sea Dragon's Roar!"

However, Vanica was already ready with magic of her own. "Curse Warding Magic: Spellmelt."

The formidable water dragon's roar and torrent halted abruptly, melting into a shapeless puddle on the tiled stone floor.

"Boring. From you, I expected better."

Noelle, her Valkyrie Armour spent, her robe in tatters, panted heavily and fell to one knee. Her mana reserves had been drained to their limits.

"Heh…" she wheezed, struggling for breath, "do I really… disappoint you so much…?"

Vanica's sneer twisted with disdain. "Yes. Your mother was so much more interesting."

"Noelle!" Asta exclaimed, concern etched across his face.

As Vanica gathered dark energy for another assault, Asta launched himself into action, flying toward her with the Demon-Slayer Sword in hand.

"Black Divider!" Asta bellowed, and his sword grew in size as he swung it at Vanica. She managed to evade the brunt of the attack, but it still tore through a significant portion of the laboratory, scattering debris and chaos.

With Noelle wounded, Asta gently placed her against a nearby wall, his eyes locked onto Vanica. A fierce scowl dominated his features. "Don't you dare touch her."

Noelle managed a soft, grateful smile. "Thanks, Asta."

Asta's eyes met hers, his own reflecting determination and protective resolve. "No problem!"

Vanica snickered wickedly as she floated upwards. "Playing hero, anti-magic boy? Or…"

"Demon-Dweller!" Asta's command invoked the Demon-Dweller Sword from his grimoire, rapidly filling it with Anti-Magic energy.

"Black Slash!" Asta released a swift, airborne slash in Vanica's direction. She deftly avoided the attack but was taken by surprise when Asta seemingly disappeared from his previous position. Instead, he reappeared behind her, brandishing two swords.

Asta brought down the Demon-Slayer Sword with force, landing a blow on Vanica's shoulder. She was sent hurtling into the ground, creating a deafening crash upon impact. Asta gracefully descended and returned the Demon-Dweller Sword to his grimoire.

Winded and catching his breath, Asta inquired urgently, "Where's Yami?"

Vanica, mostly unharmed apart from a few minor injuries, scoffed. "Not here."

"What?" Asta's brows furrowed in concern.

Vanica sat up, determination gleaming in her eyes. "Blood Magic: Red Beast."

A menacing red monster materialized from Vanica's injuries.

Vanica smirked, addressing Asta with chilling confidence. "Who said that we had to do the sacrifice AT the underworld's gates? What kind of idiot would do something SO important at such an obvious location? Do we really look like such idiots to you?"

Vanica began to float upwards, her gaze locked onto Asta. "Also, anti-magic boy… you're strong, yes… but you're far too soft. You had the perfect chance to finish me there, but why didn't you? You're soft, little boy, and it's sucking the fun out of here…"

Her malevolence turned toward Noelle, sending a shiver down Asta's spine. "Oh, I know."

Asta swiftly moved to position himself between Vanica and Noelle, determination etched on his face.

"Don't touch her," he warned, his voice quivering with restrained anger.

Vanica let out a twisted, triumphant laugh. "Oh? I already did."

"A- Asta…"

Asta looked back at Noelle in response, eyes wide.

"...Noelle?"

Asta couldn't take his eyes off of Noelle, however much he wanted to. A bloodied stone spike was protruding from her chest. She was dying.

"This is the laboratory that my devil friend gave to me. I control all of its features- did you seriously think it was a good idea to leave her against a wall in here? Really? This is what I mean when I say that you're soft. I hope that after this, I can finally have some fun…" said Vanica, sneering.

Asta did not hear a single word. All of his focus was still on Noelle's dying figure.

Putting away his sword, Asta walked slowly towards Noelle.

He wasn't angry, sad, or even confused. In fact, he saw the situation unfolding around him with such clarity that it seemed to him like everything was in slow motion. What he was feeling was much more complex, much deeper. It was that sense of worthlessness that he always pushed to the back of his mind his whole life.

Noelle knew the feeling well.

Of course she would- it was exactly what she was feeling now.

Asta bent down on one knee in front of Noelle.

"Noelle, I'll get you out of this."

He broke the spike with a swing of his bare arm. But as he tried to pull Noelle from it, she caught onto his shoulders.

"A- Asta… it's alright…", Noelle coughed blood, and continued, "...you don't have to do this- get out of here, Asta…"

What else could she say? She couldn't ask anything of him- he had already given her everything that she wanted.

"No, Noelle, I have to. I can't leave you here."

Asta's voice was shaking… no, trembling.

Had he actually given her everything that she wanted?

No- he hadn't.

Noelle cursed herself for thinking selfish things all the way to the end.

The end? She'd never thought about that before.

"Asta… be honest… I'm a worthless human being, aren't I…"

Noelle didn't know what she was saying.

"No, Noelle, you're not. To me, you're… you're… rather, aren't I the worthless one here? I couldn-"

"You've never been worthless to me, Asta. I've never thought that. Not even once."

"Noe-"

"Asta, I love you."

There was no going back now.

"Everything you do, everything you say, I love everything that makes you you… although maybe you could fix those eating habits a bit-"

She coughed up more blood.

"Hahaha… I've waited so long to say all of this… why did I wait so damn long? I'm sorry, Asta, I-"

"I love you too, Noelle."

"Wha-"

Asta only said what he said by reflex, but the truth of the words that came out of his mouth slammed into his heart one by one. There was no turning back now.

"I do. I've always admired you, Noelle- that the crazy power that you have never affects the way you treat others. You seem harsh, even a bit mean sometimes, but inside, I think that you're maybe the nicest person I know. You're not worthless, Noelle, at least to me… I wouldn't trade you for anything in the world."

Asta was smiling, but he was crying. Noelle wasn't sure if it was either out of happiness or sadness. It was probably both.

But she didn't care. She was never the nice person that Asta thought she was. She was a selfish prick, and she knew it.

She was happy.

Asta was crying, and she was happy.

She finally got what she wanted.

She was satisfied.

Was that so wrong?

"Asta… thank… you…"

Noelle never saw or heard Asta's response.

The end… was it?

She'd never thought of it, but it didn't feel so bad.

Was that… wrong?

Noelle was dead.

Only now did Asta really know how he felt about her.

He loved her. With all his heart, without even realizing it.

But she was dead now.

Dead.

"Heeeeey, anti-magic boy, did you forget about me? She died so I could have some fun, yes?", said Vanica in an almost playful tone.

Asta had forgotten about her. In that couple minutes with Noelle, Vanica went from being a focus to simply being a part of the background. For something so insignificant to destroy something so precious… unforgivable. It was absolutely unforgivable.

"Liebe."

"Yes?"

"No mercy."

"I was waiting for you to say that."

The rest was a blur of violence and the color red.

By the end, Vanica was reduced to what could barely be called mist.

And Asta? Sweet, sweet Asta? He was smiling, his robes tinted with the color of blood.

It was now the dead of night for Asta, and his sunlight was never coming back.

Author's note: Don't forget to follow and leave a comment for me! It can be reactions or whatever, I don't care- anything will help me write, you know?

And to that guy who read my original and found out that this existed just a little later in the comments, nice timing :0

Non-Canon Spells List:

Curse Warding Magic: Decay

Used by Vanica, the final result is similar to the accelerated time beams fired by the Wizard King, but they work on a different principle. Instead of manipulating time, Decay manipulates the trace amounts of caustic substances and multiplies their occurrences within an object. Thus, Decay is especially effective against living tissue and less effective on non-living targets.

Curse Warding Magic: Spellmelt

Used by Vanica, Spellmelt directly alters the target magic formula to make the target spell harmless. Because of its invasive nature, Spellmelt is only effective when the wielder has the magical knowledge necessary to deconstruct the target spell. If there is not enough knowledge, Spellmelt can backfire, causing damage to the caster instead.

Curse-Warding Magic: Inanimate Programming

Used by Vanica, it allows the caster to program an inanimate object to do something, such as change form or move.