Asta was getting tired of fighting. How, you may ask? This is Asta after all.
Well, when your opponent doesn't go down no matter what you hit him with, you eventually get tired of it, both metaphorically and literally.
Asta was cutting up all the crystals, Yuno was flying around distracting Mars' attacks, and Lucy partnered with her summons to attack on the ground. Somehow, they couldn't deal enough damage. Even when they did hurt him a bit, he pulled out a second magical element, fire, and used it for healing. This guy got on Asta's nerves, and was without mentioning his monotone personality.
Eventually, I was able to land a shot and take out this Mars guy. He just wouldn't stop talking in that monotone voice about how I had no chance and should just give up. Didn't he get it after our fight. I don't give up. Ever. I even needed to give Yuno a reminder of that.
"I guess you did, passably. Don't think it will make me like you." Klaus said. Honestly, when would four-eyes stop with the commoner slander. it was getting annoying, and I'm the one saying that.
"So, how do we get in, just open the door, or ... " I asked.
"That door has a lot of magical protections on it, we won't get in easily."
"That's completely fine, I'll just cut it open!"
"WHAT?"
Right, not everyone was used to my ideas. But, if my sword can cut through magic, and the door is magic, why not just cut it open. I'm not that much of an idiot, of course it'll work. Who am I trying to reassure anyways. With three swings of my sword, there was now a human-sized hole in the door, letting us see the room for the first time. They really weren't kidding about the treasure. it had mountains of gold just piled up all over the place. I bet not even the King had that much gold laying around.
"This is awesome!" I screamed.
Inside the treasure room, everyone was busy searching for something to take for themselves. Yuno took a pot that released a green wisp that healed him. Mimosa was holding a regal red cloak; it should fit her well. Meanwhile, Lucy seemed to be searching through all the gold, looking for something special. We'', I might as well help.
"Uhh, you looking for something?"
I got a response. "Yeah, small gold key, should have a constellation drawn on it. I know it's here somewhere, but I'll never sort through all this gold. Ugh, never thought I'd say this but there's too much gold." Small key, huh. I spotted one of those earlier. I picked it up and handed it over. "Here, you mean this one?" Lucy looked like she had stars in her eyes.
"Oh, thank you, I've been looking for this ever since I arrived here, and I finally have it. You must be Asta, nice to meet you, I'm Lucy."
"Did Yuno tell you about me?"
"He may not admit it, but he has the best stories about you. I'll try not to embarrass you too much." She said playfully. Damn it Yuno, do you have to go telling those stories. I'll just have to beat him in the embarrassing story game too, that's something I can win at.
"Sounds like him. So, what's the key for?"
"Right, you haven't really seen it much. These are part of my magic; each key lets me summon a new spirit. I still don't know too much about you, but canceling magic, that's so cool." Wow, she actually thought it was good. What a weirdo. I probably shouldn't be judging this early anyways.
All of the sudden, an explosion came from outside the door. I turned around only to see a looming shadow. Mars was somehow awake, and now inside a two-legged crystalline beast towering over us and the hills of gold. Around him was clear fire magic, despite him using crystals. Much like Lucy, he was using two different types of magic. Lucy explained it away by saying it was all under celestial, but what about Mars. How was he pulling that off?
Immediately, the fight started. The arms of the crystalline beast lashed out pushing back Klaus, who used a steel drill as defense. The other arm shot for Luck, who was grazed while dashing away and dropped down to recover. Noelle was aiming a water blast at Mars, which just hit the broadside of the beast doing no damage. She was in po position to evade, and the next arm swing caught Noelle off her feet, throwing her across the room and leaving her on the ground, blood running down her chest. How dare he hurt my friend. How dare he.
"You'll pay for that!" I Yelled, charging straight at him. mars only looked on calmly and said, "I've figured out what you do. You cancel any magic that touches that blade. Show me, then. What happens when the magic is faster than you are?" He formed small crustal shards and sent them at me at high speed. I've trained a ton to deal with projectiles ever since Magna's initiation. I can handle this.
Turns out I actually could despite the speed of those projectiles. I swung my sword faster than the eye can see, letting out a furious battle cry in the process. I cut up so many of those projectiles I lost count, I just let my rage drive me forwards. I couldn't keep running forward though, and when the arm came in for a punch I wasn't ready. I took the hit and went flying into the back wall so hard I went through, ending up in another room entirely.
Back in the treasure room, the fight was on. The golden dawn took over the fight and engaged Mars, with Mimosa staying back to heal Noelle. The trio of Klaus, Lucy, and Yuno stayed mostly on the defensive for now, protecting the injured members behind them. It was Klaus doing most of the work, putting up shields of steel to deflect any attacks headed their way. Yuno was trying to look for an opening, but he could find none. Lucy stayed with Klaus, using her star dress powers to aid on the defensive. Klaus called out, "I'm ordering you to go in and attack. Leave me here."
"You won't be able to defend on your own. Stop trying to put yourself so high. The mission's no good if we don't all make it out. I'm staying back and that's final.
"You commoners are too selfless for your own good. Fine, I'll just have to show why I'm a senior magic knight and step up."
Back inside the wall, I was laying on the ground, robe torn to shreds so much he might as well not wear it. As I got up, I saw the furious fighting. Four-eyes was barely standing, barely using his steel to guard himself and Noelle. Noelle, she was still injured because of what that Diamond freak did. What can I do though. His speed is too much for my sword, especially one that big and heavy. I felt a small weight on my head. "Huh, Nero. What is it?" I asked. The bird just chirped and flew over to another sword laying in the ground. It looked a lot like mine, but this one was smaller and thinner, exactly what I needed. I could actually fight back now.
With a scream, I jumped out and swung my sword, breaking apart all the crystals aimed at Klaus's heart. They were all shocked to see me back on my feet. I thought the figured out already that I don't give up.
"What is that sword you're using? Where'd you get that?" Mars demanded. I wasn't going to answering that. Instead, I just responded saying, "Your new opponent is right here, me," and charged headfirst into the action.
With another person in the fight, Lucy finally left Klaus alone and went on the attack. "This time, you won't hurt any more people understand! Open, gates of the lion and crab. Loke and Cancer." The lion spirit from before returned to fight, but this time, a new spirit joined in. He wore sunglasses and a costume that had crab claws on each side, and he held two impossibly sharp-looking scissors in each hand.
"It's been a long time, ebi. Fight already? I've heard from the other spirits, we can talk later. This one needs to be taken care of, ebi." Ok, what was it with this crab man, and ebi, that's not a word I've heard before. Maybe it's a foreign language from her homeland. No, stop thinking Asta, it's fighting time. Thinking never did you very good. The duo of spirits worked together quite well, with Cancer's scissors somehow cutting apart crystal to protect Loke, who was clearly able to hurt Mars with his attacks.
I didn't wait around to listen; instead, I jumped and slashed at Mars' crystal beast, cutting through and landing a hit on the man himself. This new sword worked even better when I needed speed over power, and I'm glad to have it. The hit left a bleeding cut on his upper body, though the recovery was slowly covering it up.
"Don't you get it, you can't defeat me. The Diamond kingdom will complete it's goal here, and I shall wipe you all out," Mars spoke.
"Don't give up just yet Asta." I turned around only to hear Noelle somehow awake, talking. "I'm royalty, and I accepted you despite your status. You're not allowed to lose, go beat him."
As the words were being spoken, my sword glowed blue. Well, that was odd, but I wasn't questioning it. Noelle put her trust in me, and I wasn't going to let it go to waste. I charged at Mars again, cutting through his suit, This time, his recovery was slower than normal, and I noticed he was now surrounded by water. Where did that come from? Did Noelle somehow ... No, impossible! She couldn't possibly have the strength. How did it happen, then? Was it the blue glow? It came alive only when Noelle was awake. Did I just use a bit of her magic? Whatever it was, it slowed the recovery magic. Lucy, having seen this happen, was now in Aquarius form and blasting water at Mars, which put out his flames. Right then, Loke landed a shot straight at Mars' chest, knocking him out of the mech. I think we may have won.
It took a few more moments for me to realize I was much more tired than before. Did I take too much damage. I looked down only to see blood. A crystal had gotten past my guard and impaled me in the stomach. I was coughing up blood. Was this really how I went out, failing to beat some villain trying to kill my friends. How pathetic.
And then he fell unconscious.
The rest of the magic knights were scrambling. Mimosa immediately left Noelle to heal Asta, Lucy immediately jumped over to where luck was trapped and had Loke recover his grimoire. A quick burst of lightning later, and Luck was back in the battle. Yuno took over the fight, using his powerful wind to blow away any crystal projectiles.
After the next round of attacks, Lucy and Yuno were standing shoulder to shoulder, facing Mars while Luck bounded across the walls looking for a chance to strike.
"I exist solely to destroy. I don't care who fights me, I will kill you all!" Mars shouted in rage.
"No one exists just for destruction. Who really are you? We all fight for something. I fight for the new friends I've made here. You don't fight for destruction, you just have no goal!"
That seemed to strike a chord with Mars, who was lost in his memories.
"It doesn't matter, now die." He created a crystal sword and swung it straight down at Asta, who couldn't move at all. Lucy was too out of position from breaking everyone else's bindings. Only Yuno could do anything about the attack, and Yuno wasn't going to let it land.
As it turned out, there was something he could do that he didn't know about.
a few minutes after the battle ended and the dust settled. A few strange things happened. First off, the new sword entered the five-leaf grimoire, filling in a new page. Almost as soon as that happened, the dungeon started to collapse, and rubble fell from the roof. This was also the time that Asta finally woke up again.
I couldn't feel anything, I just heard the sounds of the dungeon collapsing. What else was going on. I think Yuno was using his magic, and Lucy was barking orders. I found myself on Yuno's wind being carried out of the dungeon before falling asleep again.
The next time I came to, we were outside the dungeon flying back home on Yuno's solid wind, Mimosa still healing the gaping hole in my chest. Everyone was looking over me.
"Welcome back Asta," "Hey, you made it, can we fight now," and many other such lines.
I responded with, "Thanks guys, it's good to be alive. OW OW OW it still hurts."
"I'm sorry, I didn't get enough time to heal you completely, I ran out of magic back there. Just calm down a bit Asta, please."
"It's all good. You saved my life back there. Thank you, Mimosa."
The girl didn't respond, instead just hiding behind Noelle. Was she really that shy?
"Glad to see you alive Asta, was sure you may have been a goner back there haha," Luck said. Yep, guy was still crazy as ever, but he was my friend and comrade.
"No dying for me, not until I reach my goal. Not until I'm the wizard king."
Of course, Yuno just looked down on me and said, "Silly Asta, you have no chance. I'm going to be the wizard king." Everyone else was used to the banter at this point.
"As determined as you are towards that goal, I see no reason you won't make it. With a clear goal in sight, you can reach any goal if you work hard enough," Lucy told me. That was actually something new, I'd never heard someone encourage me before. Add the fact it was Lucy of all people, who was able to do almost everything that fight without getting taken down once, who beat Yuno in a fight? Why would she feel I could reach my goal.
"No one's ever believed in me before, thanks a ton."
"Hey," Yuno complained, "You're supposed to believe in your teammate, not the other squad's member."
"Of course, you are just as determined too, you know. A bit of friendly competition never hurts, and no one said the journey would be easy. You have to face challenges, or the journey isn't worth anything." Yeah, somehow, Lucy knew the right thing to say every time, maybe from experience.
"Uh, if you don't mind Lucy, what's your goal?"
Lucy stuttered, "Uh, I'm actually not too sure. You know, Asta. Just from what I've already seen, I can say this. I'm jealous of you."
Wait, really. The girl that seemed to have everything, jealous of the kid with nothing. "Of me? What do I have that you don't."
"You have purpose, a goal that you'll do anything for, and friends who pick you up whenever you're on the wrong track, like Yuno here. That's powerful determination, and that's what let you get all the way here. Me, I'm a girl who lost her friends, lost her family, and lost her purpose. Ever since I landed in Clover. I've just been going with the flow, not working to any goal. Hell, I even joined the magic knights mostly on a whim, then ended up here. You know exactly who you want to be, and I have no idea other than a past version of myself. So many young people don't know what they want to do with their lives, and so many choose wrong. You're one of the lucky few who made the correct decision as a kid and wasn't brutally shut away from it by a cruel life. You have a lot more going for you than you give yourself credit for, Asta."
Wow, this was way too deep for me. So, I'm an idiot who made a decision to be wizard king as a kid, then never gave up on that goal, which makes me lucky? How many people could really be unable to reach their goals? I never gave up, but then again it probably would've been impossible if I didn't get my anti-magic. That's what she meant, then. Some people literally weren't capable of following their goals, and I was. Meanwhile, Lucy was in that group who couldn't reach her goals, because she wanted to reunite with her lost friends and had no idea how to do it, and something made her give up. it's like she knew it was impossible. I had always been motivated to get stronger because of my goal, but if she had no goal, there was nothing motivating her. How was she even here, doing what she was doing, if it was all just going with the flow?
"You'll find something to work for eventually. As you said sometimes it takes a while to find."
I opted to put that conversation behind me. I finally tried to stand up, and even though I was still coughing, I managed it. I had to lean on Yuno, who complained but didn't push me off out of fear of hurting me even more. I heard a voice behind us. "Asta, Yuno, can I talk to you for a moment. I have something to say." It was Klaus, looking a lot less stuck-up than before. Yuno just nodded for him to keep going. He stepped forward and hugged the two of us, leaving shocked expressions on everyone else.
"I'm so terribly sorry for the way I treated the two of you. You're commoners, and completely worthy to be magic knights. I'm so ashamed of my terrible actions towards you." Wow, one of the spoilt nobles actually learned his lesson and tried to make up.
"Uh sir, a bit too tight," Yuno said.
"Yeah spectacles, you're hurting me a bit here."
"Oh, yes, sorry. As I was saying I shouldn't have been so blind to your ability just off class alone; it was a terrible mistake."
"Klaus, can you tell me how you grew up to see commoners?" Lucy asked.
"You were born into nobility yourself; you probably know that it was my parents and the nobles around me who instilled the belief in me. Until now, I hadn't seen any example of how wrong they were," he responded.
"As bad as that sounds, it makes sense. Even the nobles could be considered victims of the system set up so long ago. They're unable to see the truth for themselves unless they give up their lifestyle, which no one does willingly. Otherwise, how would they ever see successful commoners. I was like that until I ran away from home and had to live on the streets for a year," Lucy said. With a look of determination on her face, she said,
"I think I have it now. The nobles can never change their actions unless they see the commoners aren't that much different, that they're just people living their lives. I think that's the goal I'll work to. As someone who was once like them, I'll show those nobles that they can change, like Klaus here, and try to end this kingdom's discrimination! That's my goal from now on, you heard it first. I'd ask for your support as friends."
"Of course Lucy, isn't that what friends should do. You're my friend now, let's work towards our goals, together.
"YEAH!" everyone cheered.
In the skies above the Diamond kingdom, a smoky car was flying in the dusk, heading back home after their fight. Manning the car was Lotus of the abyss, an elite from the Diamond kingdom, and alongside him was a still unconscious Mars. Mars was only now waking up.
"Ah, you're awake Mars. Good to see you're not dead. Look at the bit of treasure we got. Sure, it's not everything down there, but it's still sizeable. This should keep our kingdom's finances in order. Even if we couldn't stop Clover or the foreigner from getting powerful treasures, we still got what we were looking for." In his hand. Lotus was holding a seemingly ordinary vase. Inside the vase was a red, glowing sphere, about the size of a tennis ball, that radiated mana. "Now that we have this, we'll be able to complete our King's request. You did very well Mars, I'm impressed."
Mars was silent as ever, but deep in thought. That near-death experience actually had an effect on him, and he could clearly remember the face of his dear Fana after so long. When was the last time he fought for himself or her. Probably back in the training facility while she was still alive. She told him to live on for both of us, yet Mars hadn't really done that. If he wasn't keeping her last request, what was his goal? There would be more time to find out, but he may as well start changing now from whatever he had been inside the dungeon.
"Lotus, you saved my life back therein the dungeon. Thank you."
"Oh, so you do know how to have emotions, that's always good to hear. Anyways, with our mission complete, we should head back. For the good of our Kingdom we must keep going."
When was the last time Mars had really thought about that? Back when he still had Fana, they used to talk so much about what they would do once they left. Every time, it came back to one thing. Making the Diamond kingdom a better place for themselves and other kids like them. He would keep working towards that for her memory.
"For the good of the Diamond kingdom."
AN:
Yeah, this one's really overdue. I'll be back to a regular upload schedule after this, every 3 days.
As for this chapter, it's by far the hardest to write chapter I've done so far. Asta as a character has too many traits that define him that are hard to depict accurately. He's kinda an idiot, but how can you write a story from that POV. In canon, especially in the eye of the midnight sun base, he's shown to overthink things a lot, but can be perceptive. In addition, the loud battlefreak part was actually quite hard to write due to how different it is from every other character, and it required going with a different writing style. I can only hope I did well in depicting an in-character Asta, because I don't know many fics that do.
The final two scenes were the bright spot of this chapter. That Lucy and Asta scene about goals was one of the scenes that I had in mind exactly how it would play out before ever starting to write, and I enjoyed finally including it. It's partially my problem with other crossovers, especially of the one character in another universe type, where the out of place character has no clear goals. Now, Lucy's goals are set, for now. Though, how many 20-year-olds know exactly what they want to be. Maybe that's the most unrealistic part of anime, not even all the magic nonsense.
Anyways, that's enough rambling from me. Reviews are appreciated as always, and hearing from you guys gives me the motivation to keep going. Until next time.