0713MM: Hey guys! I welcome you to the 6th chapter of The Silver Valkyrie! I do not own Black Clover, nor its characters. Chapter start!^^
Chapter 6
Early the next morning after the dungeon mission, Asta got up and got dressed and went downstairs. To his surprise upon entering the kitchen, Acier was already up. What surprised him even more was that she was cooking breakfast. For him and Noelle, it seemed.
"Captain?" Asta asked. "What are you doing up early?" Acier turned to face Asta, a smile on her face.
"Making breakfast for you and Noelle before our training session today." Acier replied.
"Don't the servants do that stuff though?" Asta questioned.
"Not this early." Acier laughed. "They come later in the day when everyone is up." She turned attention back to the frying pans and flipped the eggs, then the bacon. "Noelle should be up soon as well." She smiled, then added. "I hope you're hungry Asta. Because we're going to be training essentially all day."
"Sweet!" Asta grinned, sitting down at the kitchen table.
"What about missions?" Noelle asked as she came down the stairs, wearing her normal attire, consisting of a dress-like skirt, her Silva symbol earrings, and her Silver Eagles cloak. She then sat down at the table next to Asta.
"No missions for you 2 today." Acier replied as she placed 2 plates of eggs and bacon in front of them. "Training all day."
"Oh. Right." Noelle realized as she began to eat. She glanced over at Asta, who was stuffing his face. "Can you not? Please? I'll lose my appetite." Asta stopped eating and looked at Noelle. He took a large gulp of orange juice and laughed awkwardly.
"Sorry." He replied sheepishly. Noelle humphed, while Acier laughed.
"Asta is quite excited for this." Acier told Noelle. "So let him have his moment. Sure eating with your mouth full is rude and immature. But I'm willing to let it slide." Noelle crossed her arms, then sighed.
"Oh alright." Noelle spoke in defeat.
After finishing breakfast, the 3 of them went outside. Asta carried 2 liters of water, while Acier carried 1 liter. (The ones Asta are carrying are for him and Noelle respectively.) Due to it being around 8:00am, the sun hadn't fully risen yet, so the 3 got to enjoy the beautiful sunrise as Acier began to instruct them.
"Asta, please get out the Demon-Dweller Sword." Acier told her newest squad member. Asta nodded as he got out said sword from his black and red grimoire and going into a defensive stance.
"Alright! I'm ready for this!" Asta shouted, determined. Acier laughed, while Noelle almost covered her eyes.
"Not so loud Dorksta!" Noelle hissed. "You don't want to wake up the entire Royal Capital, do you?"
"Eheh. Sorry." Asta laughed sheepishly. Acier then turned to Noelle.
"Now Noelle, I'd like to use your magic and fire at Asta." Acier instructed her daughter.
'Eh? But I…" Noelle trailed off.
"You won't hurt him dear." Acier smiled. "Just look at him. He can take a blow from your magic. And if he gets injured, I'll heal him."
"You know Healing Magic?" Asta repeated, surprised. Acier nodded in confirmation to Asta's question.
"I do. My magic is versatile in what it can do. Attacking, defending, healing, etcora." Acier explained. Noelle turned her attention back to Asta.
Alright, I'll start small. Noelle thought she raised her hands up.
"Water Magic: Sea Dragon's Waterball!" Noelle declared. At once, several waterballs appeared around Noelle. Soon after, she fired them at Asta. Asta raised the Demon-Dweller Sword so it was in front of his face, but not enough to blind his vision. He let the first Waterball hit the sword, which it dissipated. Then he had to block the others because otherwise he'd be hit. Noelle fired 2 more rounds of the spell until Acier said:
"Okay, stop Noelle."
"Huh? Why stop?" Asta asked.
"It seems just firing spells at you will not make it work the way I read it did." Acier replied. Asta lowered his right arm while Noelle glanced at her Mother. Before Acier could continue, Noelle spoke up.
"Oh! Asta's Grimoire was originally a 4 leaf clover owned by Licht, leader of the Elf Tribe!" Noelle remembered. "Since that's the case, shouldn't Anti-Magic react in a similar fashion like a mage like you or me would in terms of getting a new spell?" Acier put a hand to her chin, then nodded.
"That could be the case." Acier remarked. "Alright, then we need to put Asta into fight or flight mode. And you have the perfect spell for that. If this works, then we'll be able to have Asta hone this ability of the Demon-Dweller Sword just like you would any other spell." She then turned back to face Asta. "Alright Asta, Noelle will use her strongest spell on you. If Noelle and I are right, your fight and flight instinct should kick in." Asta nodded.
"I'm ready for it!" Asta grinned. Noelle glanced at her Mother nervously, who only nodded back as if saying "It's okay.". After that silent reassurance, Noelle turned back to face Asta.
Mother trained me so hard to learn all these spells. This one is my most recent spell, but it should be enough to get the Demon-Dweller Sword to react the way Mother wants it to. Noelle thought as a massive orb of water began to appear around Noelle's hands, which began to become larger and larger. Eventually, it formed into the head of a dragon.
"Water Creation Magic: Sea Dragon's Roar!" Noelle declared; thus launching the water dragon directly at Asta. As the sea dragon flew towards Asta, Asta felt his adrenaline pump through his body.
So this is Noelle's strongest spell thus far. Asta thought. Well, hope the Captain is right about this. Otherwise I'll be bedridden for a month! Asta stepped forward and into a fighting stance and pointed the Demon-Dweller Sword forward, as if about to do a stab. Acier watched from the side, a look of concern on both her and Noelle's face.
He's not gonna be able to do it! Noelle thought.
"ASTA!" Noelle shouted in a panic as she watched her own spell about to (metaphorically) devour Asta. A loud *BOOM* was heard from Asta's side of the House Silva's yard. Acier began to run towards Asta's side of the yard, a very concerned look on her face. Noelle however, ran faster than her Mother.
Oh God Oh God Oh God! Please tell me I didn't kill him! Noelle thought.
"Asta?" Acier called out. For several seconds, neither Mother or Daughter heard an answer. After about 10 more seconds, they heard Asta's signature scream. And to their shock, Sea Dragon's Roar was coming back towards them. Acier disappeared in a flash before reappearing in her original position, she laughed happily.
"Ha! Yes! It worked!" She cheered as she watched the spell fly back towards Noelle. Noelle raised her hands up and declared "Sea Dragon's Lair" to block her own attack, which caused the sea dragon to explode into watery particles.
"Whoa! That was close!" Asta strided towards his liter of water and took a massive gulp before setting it down on the tree stump.
"I'm proud of both of you." Acier smiled as she too took a drink from her own liter of water.
"Thanks Mother." Noelle smiled as she followed suit with her own liter of water.
"So your theory was right Captain." Asta told her. "It reacted like that of a mage learning a new spell." Acier approached the 2 and wrapped her arms around the both of them, which made the 2 blush red. After a few seconds, Acier let go.
"Okay, now that you 2 have regathered the energy you lost from the past hour, we should continue." She told them.
"Right!" Asta grinned before frowning. "Wait, do I have to absorb another spell from Noelle?"
"Yes." Acier told him. Before either Asta or Noelle could retort, Acier continued. "But tell me Asta, what exactly were you feeling? What was going through the sword?" Asta pondered for several moments before he snapped his fingers.
"My adrenaline spiked upon my fight or flight instincts kicking in." Asta began. "I also felt a lot of Anti-Magic flowing from my grimoire into the Sword." He paused, then added. "I do remember watching Noelle's spell be absorbed by the tip of the sword. It seems the more powerful the spell launched at me that I aim to absorb, the longer it takes. Meaning I'll be more vunerable."
"Great observations." Acier smiled while nodding. "Now the main thing is to figure out how to replicate it. And I believe that will come with training and mission experience."
Acier instructed Asta and Noelle on training their abilities for another few hours before taking a 2nd break for lunch inside the Silva House/Silver Eagle HQ. At this point in the day, the many maids were now inside the house doing their duties for House Silva. The maids greeted Acier and Noelle with "Ma'am", and Asta with "Sir".
"Ah, I see Lady Acier has been training you 2 hard." One of the maids remarked as she set plates in front of the 3 after they sat at the dining table.
"I have." Acier confirmed. "And they're doing quite well." Asta and Noelle felt there faces heat up from slight embarrassment, but began to eat the food on their plates nonetheless. The 3 chatted for a long while. Mostly about training, and what else Asta could accomplish with his Anti-Magic Swords.
"It's still quite fascinating." Noelle noted. "The fact our House knows so much about these Swords, and possibly how to build them."
"Yeah!" Asta grinned. "It'd be so cool if I could build my own Anti-Magic Sword!"
"Even if you could, you'd need help to get it into your grimoire." Acier told him, which made him sheepishly laugh.
"I can't believe this!" Acier, Noelle and Asta looked up to see Solid storming into the dining hall. Fana and Mars behind him.
"What is it Solid?" Acier asked her 3rd child.
"I know they're living with us to show they've defected, but come on!" Solid complained. "How come the guest room is next to mine?!"
"To annoy the hell out of you?" Noelle couldn't help but snicker. Solid scowled at his sister's words. Acier glanced at Fana and Mars, then back at Solid.
"I don't know what you want me to tell you Solid." Acier replied. "I'm not going to have our house rearranged because of this little inconvenience." Solid went silent then threw his hands up in defeat, then walked off. Fana and Mars sweatdropped at Solid's antics.
"What was that about?" Mars frowned. "Oh. Mind if we join you?" Acier smiled and gestured to 2 open seats.
"Please help yourselves." Acier told them. "Asta and Noelle are just taking a ;lunch break from training."
"Training?" Fana repeated. "I thought that the Royals of Clover see training as a waste of time."
"Not Mrs. Silva!" Asta grinned. "Training hard enables you to become stronger, and being able to learn new and powerful spells!" Acier smiled approvingly at Asta's words, while Fana and Mars glanced at each other, then back at Asta.
"I see." Mars mused.
"We might do our own training a bit later." Fana added. "So if you're okay with it, we want to watch you guys."
"Sure!" Acier grinned. "After we finish lunch here, I'm going to spar Asta to finish up his training for the day. You 2 can back and forth spar Noelle." Fana and Mars glanced over at the youngest Silva child for confirmation. Noelle glanced at her Mother, then at Mars and Fana before she shrugged.
"Sure. Why not." Noelle replied. "Was getting bored of blasting Asta anyways."
"Hey!" Asta pouted. Noelle flipped one of her pigtails playfully towards Asta.
"You know it's true Dorksta." Noelle teased.
After lunch, Acier led Noelle, Asta, Mars, and Fana outside. By this point, it was around 2:30 in the afternoon. While Noelle sparred with the 2 soon-to-be former Shining Generals of the Diamond Kingdom, Acier and Asta were a good distance from those 3. Asta had both his Demon-Slayer and Demon-Dweller Swords out and in his hands. Acier on the other hand, had no armor on, nor any weapons except for her grimoire, which glowed a bright greyish color.
"Hey Captain." Asta began. Acier turned her attention back to Asta after watching Noelle sparring with Mars and Fana.
"Yes Asta?" She asked the young boy with a smile.
"How come you wanted to spar me?" Asta questioned. "I mean sure, I love a challenge, but don't you think this is a bit much?" Acier pondered Asta's questions for a few minutes before answering.
"I want to spar you for training purposes." Acier replied. "Also, it's to see how well you handle an opponent who's far more experienced then you in combat." She then got into a fighting stance. "I'm ready if you are." Asta stared at his Captain in surprise.
She wants to spar me? Asta thought. He then felt his lips forming a lopsided grin as he raised both his Swords.
"Sure! I'm ready too!" Asta shouted. "Here I come Captain!" And with that, Asta released a battle cry shout as he charged towards Acier. Just as Asta reached her, she sidestepped and grabbed his arm, much to his surprise.
"First thing." Acier began. "While you are physically strong, your movements are still a bit sluggish."
"Huh?" Asta questioned as he got his arm out of Acier's grip.
"Second," Acier continued. "Start in a firm stance. Like the one I was in a few seconds ago. You need balance. And while you have gotten better at swinging those swords, your form has not."
"My form?" Asta repeated. "I mean sure, I learned a few swordsman forms and techniques during the 6 month training period before the Magic Knights Entrance Exam, but I guess it's not good enough for actual fighting, huh?"
"Yes." Acier replied, regrettably. "But overall, the form is not bad. It just needs to improve here and there. Then again, considering you're charging a lot, your starting position doesn't really matter."
"Right." Asta nodded.
"Sorry." Acier chuckled. "Let's continue."
Asta and Acier then continued their spar. Despite Asta's improvement throughout the spar, he couldn't touch her with his Anti-Magic Swords.
Damn! She's so fast! Asta thought. I can't even read her ki at all! Acier fired a spell at Asta, who managed to absorb it into the Demon-Dweller Sword and fire it back at her. Acier either sidestepped her own attack, did a dance-like move to evade it, or would destroy her own spell with one of her steel weapons. The 2 sparred for a good hour or 2 before Acier appeared in front of Asta with one of her steel weapons at his throat.
"I win." Acier told him. Asta looked down at the weapon at his throat, then up at his Captain.
"Eheh. You did." Asta sheepishly replied. "I couldn't read your ki at all, while you could clearly read mine."
"It takes practice Asta." Acier smiled while patting his head. "Now, I believe you and Noelle have done enough training for today."
"Mother!" Acier and Asta looked up to see Nozel standing at the doors threshold holding what appeared to be a letter. "A message from the Wizard King. It's for a Magic Knight Captain meeting regarding….." He paused, then noticed Fana, Mars, and Noelle turn to look at him. Fana and Mars began to feel internal pressure. "Those 2. The 2 defectors of the Diamond Kingdom."
"When is it Nozel?" Acier asked her eldest child and Vice Captain. Nozel opened the letter and skimmed it for a date. After a few minutes, Nozel spoke up again.
"It's tomorrow." He finally said. Acier frowned deeply, then turned to look at Fana and Mars, who, from what Acier could tell, were feeling extremely nervous for this meeting. Nozel took notice of the 2's worry and waved his hands. "Oh, it's not an execution. No need to be so nervous." Fana and Mars looked up at the tall Silver Eagle.
"S-Sorry….." Fana whispered. "It's just…"
"We know how Clover feels about Diamond Kingdom Mages." Mars continued for his girlfriend. "So even if that's not the case, which you're probably right, we don't want to take that chance emotionally."
"I understand." Acier nodded. "Well, let's head inside for dinner and a good night's sleep, yes?" Fana and Mars nodded in agreement, then followed Acier, Noelle, and Asta inside House Silva.
At Clover Castle, a tall man with blonde hair, purple eyes, and wearing nobility clothing stood by the window as the sun had begun to set. He looked over at his desk where he had written the letters to all the Magic Knight Captains regarding a meeting to discuss what to do with Mars and Fana, supposed defectors from the Diamond Kingdom.
Should I have waited? He thought to himself when his office door opened to reveal a light blue-haired man with orange eyes and wearing light blue nobility clothing.
"Sir Julius, I just sent out the last letter." The light blue-haired man spoke. The blonde-haired man, Julius, turned to face the light blue-haired man, a smile on his face.
"Thank you Marx." Julius replied before turning back to the window. "The question is, did I make the right choice here?"
"What do you mean Sir?" Marx frowned. Julius then turned back to face Marx.
"Did I call for the meeting too soon?" Julius questioned.
"I don't think so Sir." Marx replied. "After all, if they truly are defectors, it is best to get information necessary to confirm it as either true or false." Julius pondered Marx's words, then nodded in agreement.
"You're right." Julius remarked. He then looked at his desk and groaned. "Back to doing paperwork, I take it until the meeting tomorrow?" Marx resisted the urge to roll his eyes.
"Obviously Sir. Goodnight." Marx retorted before he turned on his heel and left the office; leaving Julius Novachrono, the 28th and current Wizard King of the Clover Kingdom, to his own devices.