Page 2: Entrance Exam Preparation
Path to the Church-
After handing Revchi, who woke up and started screaming about seeing monsters to the surprised Tower Master, Asta, and Yuno began walking back to the church for the night.
"Man, today sure was great!" Asta said as he stretched his arms behind his head, "We got our Grimoire, I finally got magic! Nothing's going to stop us now!"
"Fine, I'll admit, it was great," Yuno admits.
"Of course, it-" Asta tried to talk but was cut off when his pointer finger suddenly fired a tiny fireball. Thankfully it didn't hit anything.
Yuno looked at Asta with a raised eyebrow. "He… he… Sorry," Asta apologized, sheepishly. "I'm still getting used to having magic now.
"Ok, that's enough magic for one day." He uttered, resuming his stride down the path towards the church, "You can mess with your magic in the morning."
They quickly arrived at the church. Yuno was about to open the door before Asta grabbed his arm.
"Hey, Yuno," Asta whispered, "Do you mind not telling them about my magic or Grimoire yet? I wanna surprise them tomorrow after I have a better handle on it."
Yuno simply nodded as he opened the door. The church was quiet, with everyone already having gone to bed, besides Father Orsi, sitting in a chair by the fireplace.
"Goodnight." Asta yawned as he walked over to the bedroom, giving a slight wave to Father Orsi as he passed.
"Do you think he'll be alright, Yuno?" Father Orsi said with a concerned look. Yuno only shrugged.
"Probably. Oh, and The Tower Master wanted you to stop by tomorrow if you have time." Yuno explained as he walked towards the bedroom, "Goodnight, Father Orsi."
"Goodnight, Yuno," Orsi replied as he also got ready to turn in for the night.
-x-
Morning?-
Asta yawned and sat up to stretch. "Yawn… Morning already."
Asta got up, "Morning, everyone?" He tried to say but realized he was the only one in the room. Come to think of it, Asta may not even be in the church anymore.
All he could see was an empty room with a massive table with seven large color-coded chairs.
"W-what the?! Where am I?" Asta said while looking around to find out what's going on.
"Oh! You're finally here." A rather deep and distorted voice speaks up.
That voice made all the hair on the back of Asta's neck stand up.
Asta turned around slowly, despite every part of his brain telling him not to. He finally managed to come face to face with the source.
It was a tall being, made entirely of black shadows with glowing red eyes and a mouth of sharp teeth. Asta couldn't make out any other features except that this being was humanoid, had six bird wings, a tail, two large horns on its head, and weirdly enough a tophat.
He didn't know how to process or deal with this sight so he did scream his head off.
The entity just floated there until it took a seat in the red chair, waiting for Asta to finish screaming. "Are you done yet, kid?"
Asta then finishes screaming and shouts. "WHAT THE HECK ARE YOU?!"
"Look kid, I wish I could tell you the whole story, but we're kinda pressed for time right now." The entity explained. "But the gist of it is that I'm here cause you managed to unlock your latent magic. Congrats by the way."
"Uhhh… Thanks?" Asta replied not what to say.
"The point is, the more you learn about your powers, we get to chat longer and the rest of us will be able to talk to you and give you several pointers." The entity adds. "And don't worry all will be explained very soon."
"Oh, OK that's good to-," Asta said but realized what the entity just said. "W-wait! What do mean by the-"
-x-
Actual Morning-
"-rest of us?" Asta sat up in bed, only to find himself back in the church. He looked around looking for that strange entity but saw nothing.
Asta was truly confused. Was any of that real? Was there more to his magic than he thought? What did that thing mean by meeting others? Should he be worried?
He could have pondered on that for a while if he wanted to. But that has to wait, there is something more important Asta has to worry about now.
"CRAP! IT'S ALREADY MORNING!" Asta screams out in horror. "I CAN'T LET YUNO GET AHEAD OF ME!"
He quickly got out of bed and bolted out of the church and towards the Demon Skull.
-x-
Asta arrives at his training spot, feeling more invigorated than usual. Now that he has magic, he wants to know how it works, as well as his usual training.
So once again, he practiced some of the steps he knew, hoping to activate his magic again. He stepped forward, braced his legs, and then pushed his hands forward while remembering what using the flames felt like; Nothing came out.
"Huh…?"
He tries again, but still nothing.
"Ugh…. Why isn't this working?" Asta sighed, looking down at his palms before they drifted back towards his pendant.
"Oh yeah, you were glowing last time." He recalls, examining the red gem.
He tried everything to get the gem to glow again but got no results. "Aw, man! What am I doing wrong?"
"How did I do it last time?" He asked himself. Asta then tried to remember his fight with Revchi to remember how he activated it the first time.
He then remembered that when it activated, he was filled with an incredible amount of 'pride' when Yuno called him his rival. It was the first time someone other than Sister Lily had shown faith and believed in him and that his dreams were possible.
At that moment, the red gem lit up, and once again Asta's hands were covered in a red aura with fire in his palms.
"Alright!" Asta exclaimed, happy to have figured out how to activate his magic. "Time to get training for the entrance exam!"
-x-
Meanwhile, Outside the Church
"Has anyone seen Asta today?!" Sister Lily asked as she exited the church.
The church children were working on getting water boiled for today's dinner.
"Haven't seen him since last night," Nash said as he lit some wood in the brick grill. "The quiet is certainly nice."
"He was so devastated when he didn't get his Grimoire. I'm worried about him." Sister Lily explained.
"Please. Asta's too dense to actually accept he doesn't have magic." Nash joked. "He'd sooner believe the sky was green than believe that."
"I don't know, Nash. Asta looked pretty upset when he left the ceremony yesterday. Getting magic means everything to him! I know I wouldn't be feeling good if I were him." Recca replied as she put a pot of water on top of the grill's grate.
"We should do something nice for him!" Aruru proposed.
"Aruru, that's a great idea!" Sister Lily said as she clapped her hands together. "Let's show Asta how much he means to us!"
"Yeah!" All the children besides Nash cheered.
"I'll go get things arranged with Father Orsi. Recca, make sure everyone does their chores!" Sister Lily said as she went back inside.
-x-
Meanwhile, at the Demon's Skeleton-
The sound of rocks being blown to bits rang out through the forest. Asta was now testing the limits of his firepower, even though he had taken off his jacket and tunic so as not to burn them.
"Nine-hundred ninety-seven… nine hundred ninety-eight…nine hundred ninety-nine…." Asta counted before the flames went out. "One thousand!" he declared.
"Time for Moguro Juice!" He exclaimed as he grabbed his canteen, immediately downing some of the liquid. "Gross! One more to go!" He declared to no one as he chugged down his last gulp. As he finished, he heard one of the weirdest bird calls ever.
Turning around, Asta noticed a strange-looking bird sitting atop a group of rocks. Its plumage consisted of white feathers covering its belly and black feathers on its wings, back, and head. It had two arrow-shaped feathers coming out of its broad tail. Two thin curved feathers on the top of its head. Its strangest feature was a pair of black horns on its head. It had a red face with a black beak and piercing eyes that seemed to be staring into Asta's very soul.
Shaking off its glare, he asked. "Do you want some, too?" before the bird turned around and flew away.
"Weird," Asta muttered as he sat down and rested his back against the rocks, feeling his body relax after the intense workout. He sighed before pulling out his pendant. His eyes centered on the gems, and he questioned where this Magic Tool came from and how it ended up in his possession. Is there something about his pendent that he doesn't realize? Was it connected to that dream he had? He put those thoughts off to the side, after all, he'd been wearing it every day for the last fifteen years already.
"No! I will never give these up!" Asta said towards the pendant, clutching the gems in his hand. "If it wasn't for these, I would've never unlocked my magic or gotten my Grimoire," He briefly massaged his shoulders before pushing himself back up.
He did a few stretches before his ears perked up after hearing what was becoming his favorite sound. "I'm gonna keep climbing up, even if I can't use proper magic!" he declared.
Asta stretched his arms above his head before shouting. "Time to get back to work! I'm not done yet!" He says as he quickly reignites his hands.
He immediately threw a punch at the nearest pillar, not even realizing that the fireball over his head reappeared.
"One thousand and one!" Asta declared as his burning fist collided with the pillar. "I'm sure Yuno's been training too! I can't lose."
He quickly jumped back before grabbing the fireball over his head and throwing the ball of fire toward the pillar. It hit, searing the rib even more than Asta's fire punches as he shouted. "One thousand and two!"
He only had six months to push his powers to their limit for the Magic Knights Entrance Exam that was taking place in the Royal Capital. He had to show that he had what it takes to help people and make a difference. Every second mattered to become the best version of himself he could.
-x-
In the forest nearby-
Yuno was training for the entrance exam as well. He left the church only slightly after Asta. His face was covered in sweat as he held his Grimoire, which was engulfed in the green glow of his magic. In front of him stood a tree stump that he quickly broke apart into perfect pieces of firewood before levitating them into piles of logs next to him. He had already managed to cut and prepare around a hundred full-size logs during his training. He was panting slightly, the toll of today's efforts finally taking effect on him. Yuno looked down upon his work.
"I should probably wrap up for today…" He muttered before quickly correcting himself as he looked towards a large boulder. "No, just a little more. I'm sure he's also…."
Yuno took his stance in front of the boulder. His right arm was wrapped up in a flurry of wind. The slight breeze it was creating helped to cool him off. "One thousand and one!" He shouted as he slashed his right arm in the arm, sending a small flurry towards the rock as it quickly grew and began cracking the boulder. Yuno didn't relent as he thrust his arm forward, shouting. "One thousand and two!" causing a swirl of wind to surround his arm and quickly blast towards the boulder, shattering it into hundreds of pieces. Yuno only started on in satisfaction as pieces of debris flew by.
-x-
The road back to the church-
Asta sprinted as fast as he could, leaving a small dust trail in his wake. He wouldn't stop training until he was back at the church doors!
Yuno also happened to be walking along the same path, using his wind magic to float the logs he cut, which were now cut into much smaller, more manageable pieces.
"Eat my dust!" Asta declared as he flew past Yuno. Not backing down from the challenge, Yuno quickly broke into a sprint as well. They were neck and neck, managing to pull only a few feet ahead before the other pushed themselves even further.
To get ahead, an idea crossed Asta's mind as the red gem lit up.
Yuno was ahead of Asta, thinking he was about to win. Until a red ball flew past him making him stumble, but he quickly regained his composure as he looked towards Asta.
Asta was pulling ahead, making flames from his feet to make himself jump far and using his flaming arms to shoot out quick bursts of fire to boost himself forward. "Found out I could do this earlier, you're not gonna beat me now Yuno!" Asta taunts.
"We'll see about that," Yuno replied.
-x-
Nearby-
The church children had just finished all their chores for the day. Enjoying their time outside as they waited for Yuno to arrive home.
"Yuno should have been back by now." The youngest, Holo declared.
"I'm sure he's just enjoying his amazing grimoire a little," Nash replied as he rested against the side of the church, enjoying the slight breeze that was passing by.
"Hopefully, Asta's back too. I'm starting to think Sister was right," Recca said, looking out towards the Demon's Skull.
Suddenly, Asta's voice pierced everyone's ears. Looking towards the source, the children could see Asta running down the hill with you trailing just behind him, but something was off about Asta.
"Is Asta on …fire?!" Nash questioned, quickly walking over to the fence to get a better look. He may not act like it, but he cares about Asta enough not to want to see him engulfed in flames.
The other children did the same as Asta and Yuno were soon neck and neck from the gate. All of a sudden, the flames surrounding Asta's limbs began to flicker and fizzle.
"No! Noo! Not right now!" Asta screamed before his flames went out completely just feet from the gate. Still not used to using magic (and the quick loss of propulsion), Asta lost balance, tripping and falling through the gate at the exact moment Yuno passed through.
"I win." Yuno declared as he began brushing off some of the dust that had accumulated on his clothes.
"Like hell you do!" Asta yelled quickly, getting back on his feet before glaring at Yuno, "I would have won if my flames hadn't gone out!"
"Yuno, Asta!" The children all exclaimed, coming up to the teens.
"Asta, are you alright?!" Recca worriedly asked while she looked at his arms, still glowing red.
"He's yelling so…" Nash said as he quickly splashed Asta with water from a nearby bucket. "I would say he's alright."
"Asta! Why were you on fire?!" Aruru asked, concerned.
"I'm just fine! Better than I've ever been, in fact!" Asta exclaimed as he began walking towards the church doors, beckoning for the others to follow him, "C'mon, I'll tell you guys all about it while we get dinner ready! Feels like I haven't eaten all day!'
As they went inside, Asta quickly turned off his aura and rolled down his sleeves.
-x-
Inside Hage Church-
Yuno and Asta had just finished preparing dinner, with some help from the children. Yuno handled most of the cutting, Asta handled boiling the water and potatoes on the fire pit outside, Nash and Aruru fetched drinking water from the water spout, and finally, Recca and Hollo set the table.
All the children, besides Nash, kept asking Asta about what precisely the fire on his arms was, but he refused to tell them until he ate. Finally, everyone sat down at the table, quickly enjoying the meal they had prepared. As they finished, all eyes fell on Asta, except for Yuno, who was going to see if any chores still needed to be done today as he went outside.
Aruru was the first to say, "C'mon Asta tell us!"
"Okay fine, if you insist," He said as he held up his left arm for the children to see.
"Pretty neat, right?!" Asta said, boasting. The two youngest started on in awe, while Recca and Nash looked at him somewhat confused.
"So what? You're just showing off your biceps again?" Nash exclaimed, unimpressed.
"It's different this time, watch my arm and my pendant closely!" Asta loudly explained. The children watched Asta closely as the red gem lit up a red aura and made fire appear out of his palm.
It took the kids a little bit to process what they just saw. But what they say next sums up their feelings perfectly.
"WHAAAAAAAAAT!"
"Since when do you now have Magic Asta?!" Recca said, shocked.
"Why is your pendant glowing?" Aruru asked as well.
"Well, Yuno and I faced off against this nasty ex-magic knight guy who was shooting chains everywhere!" Asta recalls the previous day.
"Really!" Exclaimed everyone but Nash, who was still dismissive of Asta's claims.
"He wanted to steal Yuno's great Grimoire! I stopped him, though, when my pedant lit up, giving me Fire Magic!" Asta boasted, standing up in his excitement, as she demonstrated by making the fireball reappear over his head.
"Now I can use Fire Magic whenever I want! Until… the magic runs out…" Asta sheepishly admits at the end.
"That's great, Asta! You've finally got magic!" Recca said as she and the others clapped her hands together, happy for their foster brother. Well… except for Nash.
"It's so great! I just can't wait to show the old man and Sister Lily!" Asta said, "Where are they anyway?"
"Everybody thought you'd be bummed, so Sister wanted to try and make you feel better." Nash explained as he stood up, "She went into town with father. He said he had some business with the Tower Master.
Suddenly Father Orsi came barging into the church with Yuno behind him, proud tears of joy streamed from his face.
"ASTA! WHY DIDN'T TELL US YOU GOT YOUR GRIMOIRE!" He shouted, feeling so proud, not realizing he just spoiled Asta's surprise.
The kids turn to Asta, shocked for a second time tonight.
"SERIOUSLY!"
-x-
Later-
"Nice going! Father! That was supposed to be a surprise!" Asta scolds Orsi. "I was waiting for Sister Lily to get back!"
Father Orsi looks to the floor in shame. "I'm so sorry Asta… I didn't mean to spoil anything, I was so proud and excited for you! I just ran back as soon as I could. After Drouot told me what happened." He explained.
Asta signed. "Ok that's alright, you didn't know." He then turns angrily at Yuno.
"How you just let the old man barge in here and spoil my surprise after you promised to keep it a secret?!" Asta growled.
"Don't blame me, Father just came running past me, I didn't have time to stop him," Yuno replied.
Asta groaned in annoyance. "Ok, so can we please wait until Sister Lily gets back so I can tell you guys more."
"Tell me what?" Sister Lily just happened to come back.
She looks confused about what's going on. Then she happened to see the fireball over her head.
"Asta! W-why is there a fireball over your head?!" Lily shouted, shocked and concerned.
Asta just hangs his head down in disappointment.
-x-
Later-
Asta explained everything again to his adopted family. From his fight with Revchi, activating his magic, and getting his Grimoire.
He also pulls out his Grimoire to show them he's not lying.
"You see I now have Grimoire that will help me become the Wizard King!" He proclaims, proudly showing off his Grimoire.
"That's your Grimoire?" Nash asked, unenthused.
"It looks so old and dirty," Recca added.
"Yeah… yeah, it's old and dirty. Also, it is not as grand and flashy as Yuno's Four Leaf. But it is still a Grimoire and it chose me. So that's fine by me." Asta argued.
"That's great Asta!" Sister Lily complimented. "I knew you would be able to get one someday,"
"Good for you Asta," Nash complimented, sarcastically. "But there's one thing, you still haven't answered."
"Why does your pendant glow every time you use your magic?" Recca added.
"Oh yeah! That!" Asta remembered. "Yuno and I are pretty sure that because my pendant is actually a Magic Tool. Without it, I don't think I can use my magic without it." He explains.
The others looked shocked by Asta's explanation until Nash spoke up.
"So you still can't use magic on your own." He noted. "That lame."
Asta growled at his foster brother. "Hey! You're just jealous that my pendant really was lucky!"
Then Father Orsi stepped up and broke up that argument. "Ok! That is enough, we shouldn't be wasting this time arguing, we should be celebrating Asta's new magic."
"Father is right, How about we use this time we were going to use to cheer him up to celebrate him." Sister Lily added.
"Sigh… Fine." Nash relents.
So for the rest of the night, The church celebrated Asta and Yuno both now having Grimoires and soon heading to the Royal Capital for the Magic Knight Entrance Exam.
It was a nice change for Yuno and Asta. But not for long, first thing tomorrow it's back to training.
-x-
The next morning-
Asta was back at Demon Skull. Ready for more training. But this time, he was not using his magic.
He pulls out his Grimoire and pulls out the massive sword.
"Alright! Time to try training with you today!" Asta said to the sword. "I don't want to be relying on just my magic." He added, recalling what happened when he raced Yuno.
Asta then starts whacking a rip with his sword only to realize something.
"Wait a sec! I've never used a sword before." He realizes.
He then lowers the sword and wonders what he's going to do. He needed to learn how to use this sword because it came from his Grimoire. If he didn't then he was just wasting the power of his Grimoire.
As he pondered, Asta's pendant gems began to glow vibrantly.
"What the-!" Asta stats shocked. He even lifted his sword back and the gems stopped glowing.
"That's never happened before," Asta noted. He then moves his sword down again and the gems glowed again.
It was then Asta realized the glow was connected to how he pointed his sword.
He pointed his sword outward until he pointed to where the gems glowed brightest. He takes a step forward and the gems glow brighter.
"Does it want me to go that way?" He asked himself. Asta then followed the lead of his pendant and moved deeper into the wood.
After what felt like forever, the gems finally stopped glowing when Asta reached a small clearing in the forest.
In the center, Asta sees something sticking out of the ground.
"What's that?" Asta runs over to the object.
He pulls out the object revealing it to be some sort of black wand. The top has a big circle with white side parts that are in the shape of wings. In the center was a gemstone that resembled a large red eye with a black slit pupil.
"Where did this come from?" Asta asked himself. Looking around for any other clues.
Then suddenly the wand's eye gem lights up startling Asta. It fires out a beam of light in front of Asta and creates a solid construct in the shape of a door. All it had was a keyhole in the center.
Asta looked down and noticed that the bottom was shaped like the end of a key.
Even though every part of his brain was telling him to go as far from this door as possible. But Asta was too consumed by curiosity to listen.
He inserts the wand into the keyhole and it merges into the door. The door then burst into flames leaving a flaming portal with the wand's eyeball gem on top with its wings all stretched out.
Asta hesitated in deciding what to do next. Unfortunately for him, the portal decided for him. It suddenly created a vacuum suction that pulled Asta in.
"Wha-! Woah… woah… woooaaahhh!" He shouts as he is sucked in.
The portal then closes itself after taking in Asta and vanishes as if it was never there.
-x-
The other end-
Asta is sent flying out the other end of the portal. The portal closed leaving behind the wand on the ground.
Asta recovers as he picks himself back up "Ugh… My head," He groans, then looks around. "Where am I?"
He appears to be in some sort of alleyway. He tries to leave but quickly grabs the wand cause it may be his one-way home.
Asta keeps walking until he sees someone sitting in a chair ahead of him.
He approached the person to get some answers.
"Excuse me, sir? Do you know where I am?" He asked. But upon seeing the 'person's' appearance, his face goes milk-white.
The person was not a person at all. It was a small red humanoid creature with white hair, a long tail with a point on the end, and two black horns with white stripes on its head.
Asta had never seen anything like this before and reacted the only way he could think of.
"Oh, sure. Your-" Before the creature could finish, Asta bolts away, screaming in the other direction. "Huh… was it something I said?"
Asta kept running until he ran out of the alley and ran into someone. He looks up and sees a massive creature resembling a large anthro crab.
"Hey! Watch it! Bub!" It growled, pushing Asta aside, and continued on its way.
Asta stood frozen as he looked around, seeing hundreds of monsters populating this place he found himself in.
"W-WHAT THE HECK IS GOING ON!" He screams into the red-colored sky.
TBC-
-Preview-
Asta: HHHAAAAAAA!
Charlie: Hey, are you ok?
Asta: WHAAAAAAA! WHAT THE HECK ARE YOU?!
Charlie: OK, calm down. I know I look strange to you, but I am not a bad person.
Asta: Uhhhh… OK, But I'm just going to stand way over here. Is that fine?
Charlie: Sure, baby steps are a good way to handle new things.
Charlie: Oh wait! I forgot… ahem… Next time on 7-Leaf Clover! "Enter The Hotel Of Demons!"
Charlie: You know, it's actually called the "Hazbin Hotel".
Author's note: Let me know what you think and as always. Constructive criticism is allowed. Trolling is not.
Well… Looks like Asta got himself in a real pickle this time, one that brought him to Hell. Let's wait and see how he gets out of this one.
Questions-
Guest, Justus80, and Gabriel: JSYK this is NOT a harem story. I'm focusing more on the story, and family and friend bonds. Also, we all know Asta is way too dense for a harem. But I will admit there will be plenty of girls from all three series who will develop crushes on Asta.
Gabriel (2): Satan will be interested in that, and so will the other Sins, since they all have soul contracts with Asta.
Gabriel (3): Yes, the red gem is Asta's conduit for Lucifer's power. Each gem connects him to a different Sin.
Red: Lucifer
Orange: Satan
Yellow: Beelzebub
Green: Mammon
Blue: Asmodeus
Purple: Leviathan
Pink: Belphegor
So when a gem glows, Asta is using that Sin's power, strengthening their connection.
Justus80: Don't worry I won't give up on this.
One last thing I forgot to add in the last chapter. This is my headcanon for the sizes of each Sin from shortest to largest.
Lucifer, Beelzebub, Belphegor, Asmodeus, Mammon, Satan, Leviathan.
Well, that's all for now. So until next time. AutoHunter, Rolling out of the hunt.