Asta's trial
"Captain Sophia has gone missing?!" Marx exclaimed in a shock tone of voice.
It has been a day since the Sword Of Logos and the other Magic Knights fought Calibur and the Megid Generals.
Whilst Nozel, Fuegoleon and William went straight back to Headquarters to give their reports, the Sword Of Logos Magic Knights, plus Mereoleona, who decided to stay with them, decided to sweep the area to see if Asta did managed to exit the pocket dimension before the door could fully close.
However, they started to become worried when Captain Sophia haven't contacted them.
"That's right. The last person to see her was Donna before she decided to fight Calibur." Ryo explained, him having gone to the Magic Knight's headquarters to give his report.
"And what about Asta? I was informed by the others that he chased Calibur through a doorway, the creation of the doorway was the goal for him and the Megid Generals." Marx asked, but the vice-captain of the Sword Of Logos shook his head.
"Nothing. I just hope that he'd managed to get out of the pocket dimension in one piece." The vice-captain of the Sword Of Logos said in a worrying tone of voice.
"Considering that I was informed by Captain Nozel that Asta gained a new form, Dragonic Knight I believe that he would be find it easier to better defend himself." Marx pointed out, making Ryo nod his head.
"Yes. I heard from Noelle and Donna about Asta gaining a new form, Noelle seemed pleased that the form is mostly silver." Ryo said, remembering how Noelle acted in her royal manner, commenting on how she is in the one who influenced the colour of Dragonic Knight.
"However, Donna said how everyone present during Asta's transformation felt someone else's Mana which then caused the Wonder-Ride book that use to be the "Emotional Dragon" Wonder-Ride book to transform into "Dragonic Knight"." Ryo said, making Marx nod his head.
"Yes, I was told about that part as well…?" Marx said before noticing the frown that is appearing on the wielder of Gekido's face.
"Are you concerned about this secret benefactor of Asta?" Marx asked, having a good a guess.
"…..According to Donna, the Mana belonged to a girl called Luna, another childhood friend of her and Asta who disappeared 11 years ago." Ryo explained, causing Marx to widened his eyes before a thought entered his head.
"Did she…..disappeared during the battle that the Sword Of Logos fought in?" Marx asked, thinking that there's a connection between the two.
"According to Asta, Luna disappeared into a gateway….which kind of sounds similar to the gateway that Calibur and the Megid Generals created." Ryo said, realization appearing on his face.
"Has Donna told you and the others what sort of girl Luna was, she must be skilled in magic if she aided Asta in creating "Dragonic Knight."?" Marx asked, becoming curious.
The questioned caused the wielder of Gekido to snort slightly.
"I actually know the girl during the time that me and Charlotte would babysit Asta….urk." Ryo said before realizing he shouldn't have mentioned the last part.
"P-please continue." Marx said, attempting to keep a straight face.
"To be honest, Luna is a complete mystery. I don't know anything about her such as family, I've never even seen her parents, but does wield a lot of Mana. Luna would have been a powerful Magic Knight if she didn't disappeared." Ryo explained, making Marx blinked his eyes slightly.
"Don't you think it was safe for the girl to be around Asta and Donna?" Marx asked, becoming concerned.
"You should really be asking Richita, Asta's mum, that question. But the three of them spend their time creating stories from a pop-up book that Luna use to possess." Ryo explained, making Marx nod his head slightly.
"So what's going to happen now on your side?" Marx asked, making Ryo gain a frown on his face.
"We've given our report to the main branch and now waiting for further instructions from them. When Asta returns, there is a chance that he managed to gain some answers from Daichi. Hopefully we can finally solve the mystery as to why him and Hayato decided to turn their backs on the Sword Of Logos. For now, I will be taking over Sophia's duties until she returns." Ryo explained, making Marx nod his head before glancing towards a door which Ryo has noticed to be slightly open throughout their conversation.
"Since you will taking over from Sophia until her return, then you should know something about the Sir Julius." Marx said, causing Ryo to blink his eyes slightly.
"Is the Wizard King's injuries more severe than they actually are?" Ryo asked, starting to become worried.
"Sir Julius doesn't possess any severe injuries...but the battle against Patry did caused a change to his appearance." Marx replied, which just caused Ryo to become confused just as the door fully opened and someone entered the room.
The wielder of Gekido blinked his eyes as he followed Julius as he walked up to the desk, which Marx has vacated himself from.
"Hello there, Mr Ogami." Julius greeted with a smile on his face.
However, Ryo remained in silence for a few seconds before turning his head towards Marx.
"I didn't know that the Wizard King has a son." Ryo said, making Marx snort slightly whilst Julius chuckled.
"Nope. I am Julius Novachrono. During my battle with the leader of the Eye Of The Midnight Sun, I was fatally wounded. However, I'd used some stored-up time magic to heal me, resulting in my current appearance." Julius explained with a sheepish smile on his face.
However, Ryo still has a confused expression on his face.
"If you're the Wizard King, then who is the man that was covered in bandages?" Ryo asked, him and the others seeing the Wizard King making a speech, that was spoken by Marx, a day after they returned from the battle against Falchion.
"That was Owen. He's acting as my double when in public." Julius responded, making Ryo blink his eyes.
"So you decided to wrap bandages around the most well known healer of the Clover Kingdom and make sure that he doesn't speak." Ryo stated, making Julius nod his head.
"Yes. We can't let the public know that I have de-aged into my early teen years." Julius responded, making Ryo nod his head slightly before a thought entered his head.
"So are you still going to lead the Magic Knights, even though your Mana has diminished?" The vice-captain of the Sword Of Logos asked, him sensing how low Julius's Mana has become.
"Yes. That's something I'm continuing with. I'll just to be careful about accidentally revealing myself." Julius said, making Ryo nod his head slightly.
"However, my current state also means that my influence amongst the upper-class has greatly diminished, meaning that the Sword Of Logos may encounter trouble from the nobles very soon." Julius warned Ryo, making the vice-captain of the Sword Of Logos gain a worried expression on his face.
"How are the members of the squad coping with the disappearance of Captain Sophia and Asta?" Julius asked, starting to become curious.
Back at the headquarters of the Sword Of Logos, the air seems quiet as everyone has become worried of the disappearance of their captain and fellow Holy Sword wielder.
A brief form of distraction appeared when Rintaro showed the other his new "King Lion Daisenki" Wonder-Ride book, making everyone surprise whilst making Rin enthusiastic.
However, whilst the wielder of Hayate would immediately challenge Rintaro, she'd didn't seemed to be in the mood.
With Donna, the wielder of Ikazuchi has decided to collect "Wonder Story" from her room before sitting with the others in the common room.
"Is that the book that you, Asta and Luna use to read together?" A voice asked, causing Donna to jump slightly before turning her head to see Noelle looking over her shoulder.
"Yes…..how did you now that?" Donna asked, gaining a small frown on her face since this is the first time that she actually shown it to the others, apart from Klaus that is.
This caused Noelle to freeze.
"I…..kind of overheard you two talking about book sometime ago…." Noelle responded in a sheepish tone of voice.
This caused Donna to blink her eyes slightly.
"Wow, Noelle. I didn't realized that you're the ears-dropping type of person." Rin commented with a smirk on her face.
"I….I…..I was just acting as a concerned squad mate, that's all!" Noelle shouted in response, her face turning red.
"I can confirm this." Fiona said as she raised an arm, causing Noelle to glare at the maid slightly.
"….Was this on the day of our outing to Wonder World?" Donna asked since that was the day that she first showed Asta "Wonder Story".
"…..Yes." The silver hair girl responded in a quiet tone of voice.
"How did you know that is was back then?" Rintaro asked, him gaining a surprised expression on his face.
"Noelle didn't fully trust me when around Asta since I could have potentially be using Asta's lack of memory as an advantage of getting close to him by pretending that I was his "older sister"." Donna explained, remembering the conversation that she and Noelle had when the two of them, Nero and Asta were heading towards the Dungeon.
"What?! You didn't trust Donna?!" Rin asked in a shock tone of voice.
"Like I said, I was only acting as a concerned squad mate." Noelle said, starting to feel embarrassed.
"You're meanie!" Rin exclaimed as she lunged towards Donna and wrapped her arms around the wielder of Ikazuchi's head, acting in a comforting manner.
"Stop it, Rin." Donna said as she attempt push Rin away from her.
"Never." Rin said in a firm tone of voice.
This caused Donna to a smirk on her face whilst shaking her head slightly.
The wielder of Ikazuchi decided to turn a page of "Wonder Story" before her eyes widened.
"What the-! That's Saber's Dragonic Knight form!" Noelle said in a shock tone of voice, making the others surprised.
"Really?" Rintaro asked, making Donna turn the book around to let see the pop-up image of Saber in his newly gained power-up form.
"Was it there before?" Tetsuo asked, becoming confused at Donna's reaction.
"No it wasn't…?" Donna responded whilst the wielder of Hayate examined the image.
"Wow! It does look different than Asta's previous forms." Rin commented as she glanced down at the opened "Dragonic Knight" Wonder-Ride book that has been drawn on as well.
"Where did you got that book, Donna?" Tetsuo asked, a small frown appearing on his face.
"It…..use to belong to Luna…" Donna said in a quiet tone of voice, but everyone managed to hear her.
"So a mysterious girl carrying a book carrying a book that draws images by itself." Secre commented with a thoughtful expression on face.
"Don't call her that." Donna said, becoming protective.
"Sorry." Secre said in a slight sheepish tone of voice.
"Do you think that…..I can examine the book?" Tetsuo asked, causing Donna's eyes to widened.
"Just to examine it! I'm not going to do anything else!" Tetsuo said in a quick tone of voice, attempting to calm Donna's worries.
"…..Okay." The wielder of Ikazuchi said in a reluctant tone of voice before handing "Wonder Story" to the wielder of Suzume.
"I wonder if my King Lion Daisenki form is in there?" Rintaro commented, becoming curious, causing Tetsuo to skim through the book, making Donna alarmed.
"There's no image of your new form in here." Tetsuo said, causing Rintaro to gain a depress expression on his face.
"Thank you for informing me." Nozel said as he ended a conversation with Julius, him having been told about the disappearance of Sophia and Asta.
"So both captain Sophia and the swordsman of flames have gone missing." Nozel thought, a look of concern appearing on his face.
He did had a feeling that the captain of the Sword Of Logos could potentially been kidnapped since Donna said that she was speaking to Calibur before the wielder of Ikazuchi fought him.
"Did the Megid somehow kidnap her whilst everyone else was dealing with the summoned minions?" Nozel thought, mulling over the question.
"And there's Saber. It was foolish of me to sent him to chase after Calibur by himself." Nozel thought, feeling becoming annoyed at himself.
But what choice did he had, the other two Sword Of Logos Magic Knights were still getting healed by Mimosa.
"And now he's gone missing, or even trapped in a different space all together." Nozel muttered, wondering what was on the other side of the doorway.
It was at that moment that there is a knock at the door.
"Come in." The captain of the Silver Eagles said, causing the door to open, revealing another member of the Silver Eagles.
The Silver Eagle Magic glanced around the room, a slight confused expression appearing on his face.
"I was speaking with the Wizard King through the communication device, informing me that both the captain of the Sword Of Logos and one of their members, the swordsman of flames, Saber, have gone missing." Nozel explained, him having a good guess as to the reason behind the Silver Eagle Magic Knight's confusion.
However, this seemed to cause the Magic Knight to become more confused.
"Weren't you informed, Captain Nozel?" The Silver Eagle Magic Knight asked, causing Nozel to become confused this time.
"Been informed about what?" Nozel asked, raising an eyebrow.
"A few hours ago, we found Saber, out his armor and being unconscious. We wee about to bring him here, but Saber was taken off us by other people." The Silver Eagle Magic Knight explained, causing Nozel to become inwardly surprise.
"Who are the people who took the boy off you?" The captain of the Silver Eagle asked, starting to become concerned.
"There were people who work for the Magic Parliament." The Silver Eagle Magic Knight responded, causing Nozel to blink his eyes.
"The Magic Parliament? What they want with Asta?" Nozel thought, remembering how Julius mentioned how the Magic Parliament is keen on punishing people due to the elf invasion.
"Asta Staria. You are found guilty of treason against the Clover Kingdom." A person with short black hair, wearing long green robes and carrying scales. Floating beside him is his Grimoire.
"Eh?" Asta said in a confused tone of voice.
Right now, the ash-white hair teen is standing in a middle of a giant room with three tiers of seating on one side of the room, all filled with nobles, including the Royal King...who has a certain Green Mantis Magic Knight standing behind him.
The person standing in front of Asta is called Damnatio Kira, a member of the royal house of Kira and the chairman of the Magic Parliament, the same building that the wielder of Rekka is in.
"How the heck I'm getting trailed! What is going on?!" Asta shouted in his head just as Damnatio hold out some papers, causing the ash-white hair teen to become tense.
"Asta Staria of the Sword Of Logos. Hailing from Hage village church of the Forsaken Realm. An orphan of the masses." Damnatio read from the piece of paper, causing the nobles to start talking amongst themselves.
"An orphan of the Forsaken Realm? With that level of Mana?" One of the nobles asked, becoming confused.
"A filthy peasant, eh!" Another noble said in a disgusted tone of voice.
That comment caused Asta to flinch slightly.
Damnatio noticed the sill confused expression on Asta's face.
"You are the dragon-themed swordsman that has turned his back on your squad and decided to aid the terrorist group that has been targeting the Clover Kingdom for the past year and joined forces with this second terrorist group that has existed a lot longer than the Eye Of The Midnight Sun, are you not?" Damnatio asked, causing Asta to widened.
"So that's why I'm getting trailed." Asta thought, beginning to understand the situation that he's in.
"No. There was a second dragon-themed swordsman, Calibur, he was the one who decided to turn his back on the Sword Of Logos." Asta responded, making the nobles speak amongst themselves.
"Can you confirm the existence of this second dragon-themed swordsman?" Damnatio asked in a serious tone of voice.
Asta was about to respond, but stopped when a thought entered his head.
"When the servants found me….was it just me?" Asta asked, causing Damnatio to raise an eye-brow.
"According to them, it was just you, your Grimoire and the equipment that you use to don your armor." Damnatio responded, making Asta widened his eyes.
"So it was just me who escaped that pocket dimension." Asta thought, starting to become concerned.
"If you gave me time, then I can find the Holy Sword and the "Jaaku Dragon" book to prove the existence of the second dragon-themed swordsman." Asta explained, deciding to leave out the "Wonder-Ride" part out.
"Just the equipment? What about the man himself?" Damnatio asked, becoming curious.
"…..He was in combat, but was killed by a rouge member of the Megid, the second terrorist group you've mentioned." Asta said, inwardly becoming angry as an image of Desast appeared in his head.
"And what would happen if we do give you a period of time to find the evidence to prove the existence of the second dragon-themed swordsman, you may take the opportunity to run away and rejoin the Megid." Damnatio explained, having a feeling that the Megid would easily be able to break any sort of tracking device that they would place on Asta.
"The other Magic Knights of the Sword Of Logos are keen on retrieving Kurayami, the sword of shadows. It's a powerful sword that the Sword Of Logos possess." Asta responded, hoping that would ease the parliament's worries.
"We have absolutely no trust in the Sword Of Logos." Damnatio said in a serious tone of voice, making Asta widened his eyes.
"I know that many of the upper-class have a low opinion on the Sword Of Logos, but you can't just let personal feelings be a ruling factor when putting someone on trail!" Asta shouted in his head, starting to become more angry.
"The incident that just occurred was you and the Megid's doing and some time ago, the headquarters of the Magic Knights was attacked by a rouge Magic Knight and a Magic Item that was being kept safe there was stolen. That was you I presume." Damnatio said, causing some nobles to gasp slightly.
"The attack on the Magic Knight's headquarter was caused by someone else." Asta said in a firm tone of voice.
"And where is this person?" Damnatio asked in a questioning tone of voice.
"He's already locked away." Asta responded, causing Damnatio to raise an eyebrow.
"So you can bring this person forwards then?" Damnatio asked, making Asta gain a frown on his face.
"I don't think that it would be a good idea to release Bahato." Asta responded in a slow tone of voice, thinking about the battle against the swordsman of the void.
With Damnatio, the chairman doesn't look impress.
"So you can't provide evidence that you aren't the dragon-themed swordsman that threatens the safety of the Clover Kingdom and the one who didn't attack the Magic Knight's headquarters." Damnatio stated, making Asta start sweating.
"If/There's no need to continue this trail. Asta Staria, you are herby sentenced you to execution." Damnatio said, causing the nobles to murmur in agreement.
"What…..just like that…..?" Asta thought in a stunned tone of voice.
"Take the criminal back to his cell." Damnatio ordered, causing the nearby servants to start approaching Asta.
The wielder of Rekka is still in a state of shock as he attempted to come up with anything to say.
It was at that moment that the wall behind Asta suddenly broke.
"Huh?!" Asta said, snapping out of his thoughts whilst spinning around just as a thick mist started to pour through the hole.
"What?! Has someone attempt to rescue the criminal?!" Damnatio thought, becoming shock just as the mist started to consume Asta.
"Quick! Grab the criminal before he can be taken away!" Damanatio ordered again, making the servants nod their heads and start to approach the mist.
However, it was at that moment that a shape appeared within the mist, a four-legged creature with pointy ears and a tail.
This caused the servants to halt and gain unsure expressions on their faces.
The four-legged creature remained still and after a few seconds, the mist slowly disappeared, revealing that Asta has disappeared.
The nobles started to talk amongst themselves as the started to get out of their state of shock.
And there we go, everyone starting to realize that Sophia has gone missing whilst Asta is convicted due to sharing the same dragon motif has Calibur before getting rescued by a mist-covered creature. Thinking about it, I'm starting to see how the idea sounds weak, but this only thing that I can think of that makes sense for Asta to get convicted of since Calibur/Daichi has only made his apperance to only a few Magic Knights, plus the Magic Parliament doesn't trust the Sword of Logos, so there's that as well. Bahato is mentioned again with the Magic Parliament beliving that Asta is linked to the attack on the Magic Knight's headquarters.
In Black Clover, the chapter shows more of what Asta learned during his remaining time within Hino which involves passing his anti-magic onto others, possibly granting their own magic the added effect of nullifying magic. The chapter also shows the Witch Queen deciding to step down and want Vanessa to take her place, but Dorothy decided to take Vanessa's place instead. There is something I found a bit odd which is that Ryuga knew where Asta gained his Demon Dweller sword, which raises the question of how long Ryuga has been watching Asta? Has he been watching Asta ever since he'd became a Magic Knight whilst observing Sukehiro?
In Geats:
1) The world that Geats has created is one where Keiwa's wish never happened, resulting in the Rider-lead gangs to disappear along with taking Ace and Keiwa to the space where Mitsume use to occupy where Ace was then bound. With Jitto, he receives angry comments from the VIPs, them being angry that they didn't got the Bad End that they were promised. Jitto then used the crystal-formed tear that he managed to take from Tsumuri which he used to create another Tsumuri with this version being called the Goddess of Destruction.
2) Daichi saw that his Tree of Knowledge have reformed, along with the memories that he has collected, but was approached by Beroba and Kekera who seemed eager to take the Tree of Knowledge for themselves, leading to the two of them fighting Daichi who was "rescued" by Baffa and Nago who then manage to drive Beroba and Kekera away. Neon and Michinaga then asked Daichi about if there is anyway to revive Sara, but he can't do anything as of right now just as Beroba requested that the newly created Tsumuri to use her powers on the Tree of Knowledge to create a powerful Jamato.
3) Michinaga decided to approached Beroba which then lead the two of them fighting, with Beroba transforming into her proper Kamen Rider form with Baffa being the victor with the use of his "Fever" Raise Buckle along with the death of Beroba. Kekera and (G.o.D) Tsumuri then appeared, with Tsumuri nullfying Beroba's Desire, and Kekera deciding to kill the heavily injured Michinaga, but was prevented as Kiewa suddenly appeared and somewhat apologized to Michinaga, causing Kekera to become angry before disappearing. Keiwa and Michinaga then went to the Tree of Knoledge where Daichi brought out a serum which can reverse Jamato corrosion which Keiwa used to revive his sister. This is all being watched by Ace who then noticed how his body is starting to transform into stone.
The rule for this episode is that those who house the power of creation will eventually lose their own will. Well, we can finally say goodbye to Beroba, where the appearance of Baffa's Hyper Zombie form was a surprise since it hasn't appeared since the the creation of Geats's world after he gained his Final Form, and welcome back, Sara. Things are taking a turn since Ace is starting to transform into a statue, like what happened to his mother and the appearance of the Goddess of Destruction.
It is revealed that Geats gains a movie-exclusive form known as Geats Oneness which Ace uses the Geats Oneness ID Core, the "Boost MII" Raise Buckle and the "Oneness" Raise Buckle which involves inserting a Ride Chemy card into it. I'm finding this interesting since this is the first time that two different Rider equipment are being used in conjunction with each other to create a new form.
Information about Gotchard's Ride Chemy cards have been revealed which shows that the Ride Chemy cards are organized into different types, with five of them already been revealed:
Insect: (1)Hopper-1, (2)Pikahotaru, (3)Gengenchoucho, (5)Ant-trooper, (8)Kaiserbee, (9)Kamatis, (10)Beetlx
Vehicle: (1) Spicle, (2)Skebows, (3)Hiikescue, (4)Gekiocopter, (5)Deep-mariner, (6)Mad-wheel, (7)Gold-dash, (8)Guts-shover, (9)Steam-liner, (10)Exceed-fighter.
Job: (1)Odorippa, (2)Dokkirimajin, (3)Doctor-Kozo, (4)Pilets, (5)Wrestler-G, (6)Sasukemaru, (7)BulletBaang, (8)Apparebushido, (9)Karyudos, (10)X-Wizard.
Animal: (8)Gorilla-Sensei, (9)Ganvhale.
Artifact: (4) Energyl, (8)Smaphone.
Plant: (2)Burning-Mero, (5)Venom-Dake.
So from the looks of things, for Gotchard to transform into his forms, he require two Ride Chemy Cards that have matching icons to each other and the numbers of each to add up to ten. However, I'm not sure how this will apply to the number ten cards, who themselves possess the color gold, they could be linked to a future power-up forms for Gotchard.
There are also images of the second "rider" of the series, Valvarad. However, he is classified as a pseudo-Rider, so he's not a proper Kamen Rider. Despite this, he will be using the (6)Mad-wheel Ride Chemy Card to transform using a sword/wrench-themed transformation device.
Please review and until next time.
TBNRGAMERX:
1) Unfortunately, Asta won't be able to wield Kurayami since it has gone missing...which may be a good thing, I think, since having Kurayami in his possession will mean that everyone of the Magic Parilament is fully convinced that he's the dragon-themed swordsman that has been aiding the Eye of the Midnight Sun.
2) Well...It seems that Asta has gotten aid from someone else. Let's hope that it's someone friendly...
3) I'm planning on not including the events of "Sword of the Wizard King" into the story, but I will be including aspects of the movie into story in someway. Thanks for the Wonder-Ride book idea, I can imagine "Legend of Clover Wizard King"/"Wizard King history" allowing the user to wield the Wizard King sword.
TheOkWriter: I'm just using the trial as a catalyst for the next arc and as you can see, the trial is based around Saber's and Calibur's shared dragon motif.
howard576:
1) Yes, Primitive Dragon will certainly use Asta's newly found hatred towards Liegel to become even more berserk. As for Richita's possible friend...Asta may learn something from her about his mum...and a few other things.
2) Whilst the version of the trial is similar to canon, it's slightly different since Asta, plus his friends, can prove his innocence more easier...that's if they can find Kurayami.
3) Luckily it's just a world where Keiwa's desire has become undone. Geats's movie-exclusive form does actual include this feature, somewhat, as Geats's Oneness form uses the "Boost MIII" Raise Buckle alongside the "Oneness" Raise Buckle. The only people that should really need to be back are the DGP management team since they are trying to reclaim Tsumuri, the Goddess of Creation and I think it's far too late to add anymore info on the DGP.
4) I'm not sure about if there is going to be a mix-and-match feature with Gotchard's forms since his Steam-Hopper form doesn't possess the same colours as (1)Hopper-1 and (9)Steam-liner. As for the lack of Kamen Rider bikes, I heard that Japan has a law which prohibit people from riding custom-made motorcycles, so I think that's the main reason.
Farhan Nugraha:
1) Agreed, she certainly would have been a better judge to have than Damnatio.
2) Indeed, Asta will become motivated on taking down Liegel...let's hope that he doesn't gain a dark personality because of Liegel being the cause of Richita's death.
3) You'll find out a bit more of Asta's family pretty soon actually.
4) I like how simple-looking Gotchard's form, or at least his Steam-Hopper form for now, is whilst being eye-catching and there are a few aspects that Gotchard has with previous series such as the Gotchard himself being a high-school student, Kamen Rider Fourze, the theme of alchemy being similar to Build's theme, the story roughly revolve around recapturing rouge monsters into cards is like Kamen Rider Blades and the monsters themselves being created through alchemy, Kamen Rider OOO.
itpowertime:
1) Asta certainly is screwed, first being put on trial and now getting kidnapped by a unknown creature.
2) I'm using the trial as a catalyst for Saber's betrayal arc and from the looks of things, that person won't have an effect on the trial, although I would imagine that they have some words to say about the behavior of the Magic Parliament. I could try to bring Ryoga into the story more earlier, or at the very least have him being mentioned.