Here is the twelfth chapter in this story released when I wanted it to be released based of my release process for this series. The prequal arc is over and Akame and Tatsumi are well established in the Black Bulls, the Clover Kingdom, and as a couple so at long last it is time to move into the Black Clover timeline proper and begin with the arrival of the latest recruits to the Black Bulls. That is all I have for the administrative stuff I have for y'all and there are no guest reviews that need a response or questions to answer so I will end this here. Do keep them coming as your support is the best motivation for me to keep producing chapters at this kind of rate. That is it for this pre-chapter note so it is time to sit back and enjoy the twelfth chapter in Akame ga Clover.
Disclaimer: I own nothing related to these two great animes.
Chapter 12: Recruits
Tatsumi sat on a sofa in the common room his sword out and calmly sharpening it with a whetstone as the usual chaos filled the air around him. He wasn't on the curved sofa in the back, that was where Grey was smoke coming out of his mouth, well Tatsumi thought the person was a dude, but he wasn't actually sure as Grey never spoke unless it was when he was transformed into one of them, but rather one that was nearer to the door and off to the side.
As for the others who were around, Vanessa was as usual lounging in her underwear on a nearby chaise with several empty wine bottles around her so nothing new with her. Meanwhile Akame was currently in yet another unofficial meat eating contest with Charmy at a table that Tatsumi had bowed out of early on to relax and work on his sword.
He could of course had Akame sharpen it for him and do so to an edge no one could achieve without magic, or anyone but Akame could do with magic for that matter given that this was basically what her magic was made for, but he didn't want to. Sure, it would be easier to have Akame simple place her hand on the blade of his sword and use her Blade Magic to make it as sharp as possible but Tatsumi liked that calming effect of sharpening it himself. That and Akame was busy eating meat, and he knew not to get between Akame and her meat especially if it was from a new species like today's was.
Well, all that and it allowed him to ignore how Luck and Magna were currently fighting in the common room as they almost always seemed to be doing. It was the usual fight; Luck had stolen Magna's dessert again and was now laughing as he zipped around with his lightning boots while Magna hit fireballs at him and roared his annoyance. All over this Gauche was yelling at them to knock it off as he was working on yet another sculpture of his sister which just added to the din.
As such Tatsumi used the time to work on his sword, which he knew was an exact replica of Incursio now that Tatsumi had had the block removed, and think back over the time since the Star Festival as he waited for Yami, Finral, and Gordon to return. They were at the Magic Knight Entrance Exam so Tatsumi had been here for a full year now so he took this time to think back on the final part of that year as he waited to see if Yami had any new recruits for them.
Apparently they did have one new recruit who had joined via a different route, likely just someone Yami had found and liked like Akame, but the exam could yield more as well. Hopefully they did get at least one there as two new recruits would help the Squad more and you might find an interesting gem or two at the Entrance Exam.
Tatsumi still remembered his own exam and that battle with Venalia Highball which had ensured that only the Black Bulls would take him. It had really set the tone for the year, once the whole seeing Akame again, their confession and telling their story to the Squad, and dealing with that aftermath had subsided things, as things had gotten back to normal until the Star Festival when they ran into Mine and Chelsea at it. It had been a little more interesting since then.
The first thing they'd done after the festival, well the day after as Yami was too drunk to talk to when the festival ended, was see Yami and tell him what happened. He agreed that they'd handled it well and proceeded to inform Mushroom Head of the new development. It had already been assumed the that those two didn't have blocks anymore and seeing them confirmed it and thus allowed for the Wizard King to adapt from there. That adaption had paid off as now things were certainly progressing for Akame and Tatsumi in new and interesting ways.
With Mine and Chelsea now also in the same boat as Tatsumi and Akame the Wizard King met with all 4 of them a few days after the Star Festival using the guise of a cross squad training exercise proposed by Yami. The excuse for the training was to test Tatsumi and Akame's ki sensing by having them work to identify Chelsea's ki when she was transformed and to avoid Mine's long ranged attacks.
In reality though it was for Marx to confirm that the pair of Coral Peacock girls were reborn from the same world as Akame and Tatsumi had been and that they were who they said they were, which he did. After that the girls were fully brought up to speed with what Akame and Tatsumi were doing for the Wizard King in addition to their duties as Magic Knights.
With Mine and Chelsea in the fold Julius could expand him investigations into the corruption of the nobility in the kingdom and ultimately bring more of them to justice. There was corruption in the Magic Knights as well, but Julius apparently had someone already working on it, or at least knew someone doing so and didn't stop the person, so for the reborn members of Night Raid their roles were to focus on the nobility who weren't Magic Knights but who exploited the commoners of the kingdom.
Chelsea had experience with that, her questioning revealed that she'd been the one to kill that noble she'd worked for, thus finally answering how the noble died and confirming that he'd been assassinated. Unfortunately for Chelsea it was still a crime to murder a noble like that but with the man's corruptions and crimes the Wizard King had ultimately handed her the same sentence as he had Akame so now she was on a suspended sentence as well.
Mine hadn't committed any crimes so she was in the same boat as Tatsumi and was basically now back to doing what she'd done in her past life only now for the Wizard King. That and she wasn't used for assassinations this time around as they weren't assassins for the Wizard King though at times they would be executioners if the crimes warranted it.
Still, with them involved they could be used as an efficient team to broaden the scope of the investigation and as Chelsea and Mine were in the same Squad they were a natural pairing. Well, that and Akame wasn't comfortable allowing Mine to be alone with Tatsumi just yet as she trusted her boyfriend, but she wanted to make sure that Mine had moved on in that regard though the fact that Mine's skills worked best when paired with Chelsea's also helped a lot.
Of course Chelsea's Transformation Magic was the most valuable aspect of the whole thing as it allowed her to gather intel almost unnoticed as she could even transform her magical signature into her target's signature though she couldn't change her ki it seemed so Akame and Tatsumi could identify her through it. Her skills also meant that more nobles could be brought in alive for further questioning when Julius issued the arrest warrants for them though Chelsea had no compunctions killing if necessary and sometimes the intel brought in required an execution order that only her skills could achieve.
Mine meanwhile wasn't exactly great at infiltration but she was perfect for long range support, often setting up in a hide to observe Chelsea's actions, or if solo the actions of a target that not even Chelsea could get close to, and act if she needed to help. Mine had full authority to use lethal force if Chelsea was in danger and did so a few times but for the most part she was used to incapacitate targets from a distance so that they could be brought in for further questioning.
Regardless of how it was done, this had really expanded what Julius could do and the corruption was starting to actually be cleaned up. Thus, it was overall a huge boon as it helped Akame and Tatsumi out, gained them more intel, and was really making parts of the kingdom better. The Capital still had issues, as did other areas as the 4 couldn't be everywhere, but between them and Julius's wanderings they were making progress, so much so that he was leaning towards bringing in the others to increase the process.
Julius was still hesitant on that front though as there was a lot to do and trying to find the right time to do so wasn't easy. Add in that he still had this uneasy feeling that something worse than corrupt nobles was afoot in the Clover Kingdom but hadn't found it yet and he didn't want to do more than he had to until he was certain he knew what was going on. As such he'd decided to wait until the next Star Festival to decide what to do about the other reborn. His gut was telling him that the latest Magic Knight Entrance Exam was going to be pivotal and wanted that to be the focus and seeing how it played out.
Of course, unintended reveals could happen and if they did then they'd deal with it as best as possible but for now the focus was on the missions he assigned them and their other duties as Magic Knights. Even now the Wizard King had a mission in mind for Tatsumi and Akame, not that he'd told them yet that would likely allow them to test any new members of the Black Bulls if the mission produced the expected results.
Tatsumi understood that something like that would be needed as he finished sharpening his sword and picked up a bottle of oil to protected it before sheathing it in its scabbard. The new recruits had to understand his and Akame's roles in the team and be ok with it and what they did, they'd never ask their teammates to shoulder those burdens, before they got the full picture that all Black Bulls were entitled to when it came to their past life. Naturally, he'd accept a new member anyway but still it was the prudent thing to do.
It was as Tatsumi put the sword down now that it was sheathed again that the doors opened, and he looked up to see who was there. It seemed that Yami was back, and they did have a new recruit as a boy he'd never seen before with spiky gray hair held back by a black headband and green eyes wearing a blue jacket that was too short over a white tunic and ¾ length blue pants stood there looking into the common room. The kid's appearance and ki screamed commoner and misfit, so he was perfect for the squad.
"Hello, I'm the newest member of the Black Bulls." The boy yelled as Tatsumi took him in just as a fireball from Magna missed a zipping Luck and went straight for the spot right in front of the kid. "I'm from Hage village, name's…"
The boy didn't get to say his name before he was blown up by the fireball hitting the ground and flew backwards from the force of the explosion with a yell. Tatsumi just shrugged as he got up and put his sword on his back, it was time to meet the newest member after all and deal with his baptism.
"This is us." Yami said looking back at Asta with a grin on his face as a line of fire burned between him the entrance to the hideout. "Welcome to the Black Bulls, the worst Magic Knight Squad out there."
Asta groaned as he rose from the ground with his mouth full of dirt. It was an inglorious start, but he didn't matter because he was here, he was part of a Magic Knight Squad and that was what mattered. It was his first step on the path to the Wizard King and he was aiming for the top.
So what if the Black Bulls were the worst of the worst, they were the only ones who'd given him a chance after the Entrance Exam. Thanks to having no magic many had written off Asta and his dreams but that hadn't stopped him growing up and this was the first part of proving them all wrong.
It was true that he'd come close once in the wake of not getting his grimoire during the Grimoire Acceptance Ceremony when Yuno got a 4 leaf grimoire but then, right when he was going to give up, he received his own grimoire when he wasn't in a Grimoire Tower. It was an old beat up thing with a 5 leaf clover on the front and weird writing in it that allowed him to pull a giant sword out of that cut through magic, but it was his and he was going to treasure and use it to accomplish his dreams.
That started with the Entrance Exam that he and Yuno had taken after traveling to Kikka on foot from Hage because Asta couldn't fly. Yuno was amazing, he had as much if not more magic than a noble did, and his Wind Magic was unreal, so it was expected he'd get into a Squad while Asta wasn't expected to pass but that didn't stop him. Even when Yuno got offers from all 9 Magic Knight Captains, even the notoriously misandrist Charlotte Roselei and the classist Nozel Silva wanted Yuno, but he chose the Golden Dawn, the top Squad out there and became the first commoner to ever join it.
By contrast, Asta who was next up to get his results got no offers at once, but he refused to accept that. He was going to be the Wizard King; he'd announced it when he'd beaten that kid who tried to use him to get a cushy Magic Knight assignment and enjoy a life relaxation. That was not what the Magic Knights were about so Asta was pleased to break through his bronze sphere thing and drive him into the ground with his sword to win it. Alas that one good showing hadn't been enough to overcome his failures in every other test so initially he didn't get an offer.
Asta had stuck to his guns though and that had caused Yami to leap down, release his magic not that Asta could feel it though he certainly felt the intimidating aura Yami was producing, and threaten him to see if he was serious. Asta was intimidated as he may not be able to feel the magic, but Yami was built like a brick shithouse so very intimidating as he cloaked himself in a dark purple magical aura that didn't tell Asta what magic he had but he could tell from looking at it that it was a lot. However, Asta was here to join a Magic Knight Squad and become the Wizard King, so he didn't back down and reiterated his goal.
That seemed to do it as Yami suddenly laughed at it and said he liked Asta so he should join the Black Bulls. It took Asta a moment to get over his shock and accept the offer but somehow he'd done it, he'd joined a Magic Knight Squad and he was going to give it his all.
The rest of the results were, for the most part, standard after that. Sure some of the others got in but after Yuno's 9 for 9 when it came to offers and Asta's strange acceptance things were normal with one exception.
That exception came towards the end of the day when a girl who looked to be 15 like most of the applicants with choppy silver gray hairy that was tied in a tight braid leaving it off her ears and wrapped over her left shoulder so that it rested over her ample bosom stepped forward. Asta hadn't paid much attention to her even after his victory, so he was shocked when not one or two, but three Captains raised their hands to accept her into their Squads.
This alone was enough to raise eyebrows as it was rare to get one offer let alone two so if Yuno had not blown everyone out of the water with his 9 this would have been the most offers for a single person in years. This was especially so as the girl was apparently a commoner as well, so it had caused a whole lot of murmurs and confusion when coupled with Yuno's achievement.
As for the offers themselves, they came from the Blue Rose Knights, which was expected for a strong female applicant though Asta had no idea what her magic was having not paid attention to it, the Coral Peacocks, which again was to be expected as Dorothy liked cute girls on her team, and the Green Praying Mantises. That last one had been a true shock as Jack wasn't expected to take someone like her, or any female for that matter as there weren't any in his Squad making her the first woman he'd ever made an offer to, unless her magic was something he wanted to try and sever, which it was.
She then shocked everyone by choosing the Green Praying Mantises over the other two and judging by the tone in her voice it was the Squad that she'd wanted from the very start which caused Jack to laugh and Charlotte to stare in shock at the rejection she'd just suffered. The girl joined Sekke, the dude who Asta had embarrassed though had already forgotten the name of, as the two new members of that Squad.
After that though it had been normal until the end of the applicants and then Asta had gone to the bathroom before heading out with the Black Bulls, inadvertently being saved by Yuno on the way as Sekke was planning something though the woman who had also joined the Green Praying Mantis Squad got in on it as well and told Yuno she's make sure he shaped up. Asta knew none of this and had just headed out with the Black Bulls which had led to this moment now.
"I'm not done." Asta roared as he spat out the dirt in his mouth and charged towards the fire ready to, well he didn't know what, but whatever it was he was going to do it. "I will introduce myself."
However, before Asta could do anything the fire right in front of him parted and another blast of fire was sent out causing him to leap to the side of it with a yell as there was a roar from inside the room. Magna was now upping his attacks on Luck who continued to avoid them with ease as he laughed, the noise waking Vanessa causing her to sit up not caring about her state of dress and complain about the noise and what it was doing to her hangover as she tried to recall what she'd been up to before passing out drunk.
As this was going on Gauche was now getting more into the yelling as he was busy obsessing over his sister that added to it. Meanwhile Charmy and Akame continued to eat, Grey was being Grey and Tatsumi just sighed and took a seat to wait it out.
Asta took all this in as he entered the room with Captain Yami, Finral and Gordon behind him though he didn't know any of the people here or their names yet as Finral complained that they were at it again. They were certainly scary though, but he couldn't let that intimidate him. He was their new teammate and he had to let them know that.
"Hey, my name is Asta and I'm from Hage village." Asta yelled repeating his attempted introduction and adding. "And one day I'm going to be the Wizard King."
"Did he just say he'd be the Wizard King?" Tatsumi, who was the only one who heard what the new recruit, Asta apparently, had said asked as he turned to look at the new member. "As one of us? I'll give it that's dedication, best of luck to him in that endeavor."
Asta heard none of this as when Tatsumi spoke Gauche and Vanessa were now shouting at each other over being a creepy sister lover and a lecherous drunk respectively which added to the din in the room while Luck and Magna continued their fight. All the while Akame and Charmy were ignoring this as they ate more food that was being served to them by Charmy's Sheep Cooks almost as fast as the Sheep Cooks could cook it.
Asta realized quickly that they weren't listening to him at all as the fighting continued with Vanessa getting into it with Magna now as another stray fireball almost leveled him and knocked him down. Asta was on the ground as those two went at it, Asta taking a wine bottle in the process as they argued over Vanessa's hangover and whether or not Magna was a virgin street punk with Luck barging in just at the end.
This got Gauche to step up as the mirror he was using moved for an attack that he threatened to unleash if a stray shot hit his latest Marie statue. That got Akame's attention as her food was now on the line which was not something that she could abide by. Neither could Charmy but Charmy would only attack if her food was affected and not before but when she did she unleashed her wrath in a way not even Akame could match when it came to food related offenses.
"Can you please not add to this chaos with your damned mirror spells you creepy sister lover." Akame yelled as several handless and very sharp looking blades of various lengths suddenly appeared around the mountain of food, basically what Akame could create without a specific spell, and moved to point at everyone who was threatening her food. "I am trying to eat my meat, which is from a new beast I killed today, in peace so if you don't want to get skewered like it then stop throwing spells around the place."
"Shut it assassin, if they touch my Marie statue they die." Gauche yelled back at her. "You should understand that seeing as you had a younger sister before as well."
"Yeah, I loved her so much I killed her but that was a past life." Akame yelled back. "So different kind of love and yours is really creepy. If one of those blasts hits my meat I'll show you what my blades can do."
"Akame, calm down." Tatsumi said his grimoire floating up so that he could created the needed shields to protect the Squad and new recruit if Akame let her blades fly as only his shields could stop them having long adapted to being strong enough to withstand the sharpness Akame could impart on her blades. "You know how they get when it comes to this shit my love."
"I know my love, but this is new meat from a kill today that I haven't had before and it's so juicy and tender that I want to really enjoy it." Akame said as the blades tracked through the air to keep on target for everyone threatening her meat. "So, I will protect it."
"It was good, I'll give you that." Tatsumi agreed. "Well, I guess I'll just have to do my own protection."
"I've had enough of this." Yami said as his left arm glowed with reinforcement magic right before he punched the wall behind him with enough force to blow it out and back that completely destroyed his next point. "Quit breaking stuff already! Akame, dismiss those damned blades as well we don't have a healer in the Squad."
"Man, now it's even more broken than before." Asta said as what wasn't blown out fell down and covered the area in dust.
When that cleared Asta was met with the sight of frozen Black Bulls that had stopped what they were doing though at least the series of sharp blades weren't in the air anymore which alleviated the situation somewhat though Asta was still confused as to how they'd gotten there in the first place as he'd never seen magic like that. There was a pause for before they all charged Yami at once and leveled Asta in the process.
"Captain!" They cheered as they all began talking in an incoherent babble, even Akame and Tatsumi had leapt at the arrival of their Captain though were a bit more reserved by nature in Akame's case or because Tatsumi had actually seen the whole thing go down.
"Well, did you get us a newbie?" Magna asked with a grin. "An arrogant one at that as last year Tatsumi wasn't so arrogant and, well…"
"Hard to be arrogant when I already knew I was better." Tatsumi said with a grin.
"True." Akame agreed. "Wasn't hard to beat Magna."
"Well, I can take down this arrogant one a notch or two." Magna said ignoring the couple's comments though he still addressed them in his own way. "The last two bested me so I've got to remind them that I'm more senior."
"Please Captain, can I go up against you now?" Luck asked as he slapped Magna away before shadowboxing in front of Yami. "And don't hold back either, it's no fun if you do that."
"Now, now Captain, forget all these little brats and young boys." Vanessa said getting close to her Captain and not fully admitted crush her robe now one somehow. "Wouldn't you rather come out for a drink with me, maybe something more adult as well?"
"Hey Captain, try this, it's really good." Charmy said as she held up a cupcake. "Oh, and the latest meat, Akame got some new beasts on her way back from her last mission and they're delectably juicy. The meat will last for a good while as well."
"Don't worry, I abided by the rules of hunting them." Akame said. "But they are very good Captain."
"I can't take it anymore Captain." Gauche complained as Charmy tried to shove the cupcake at Yami while Akame produced a skewer for him to taste and Grey let out a puff of smoke with a long groan but didn't say anything as usual. "May I please go and see my angelic sister Marie?"
"Welcome back Captain, the last mission was a success." Tatsumi said. "Should yield more intel."
"Yeah, yeah, I'm glad to know how much you bunch if knuckleheads missed me while I was away today." Yami said with a laugh though he did hear Tatsumi's words and made a note to follow up with Julius on them when he had a moment. "Now shut up, we have a new member to meet."
"Yes sir, sorry sir." They said in unison before they jumped to it and sat on their knees before Yami with Akame at one end followed by Tatsumi, Magna, Luck, Vanessa, Charmy, Gauche, and Grey in that order.
"Alright good." Yami said with a nod, they may be a bunch of misfits and weirdos but when he gave an order, they snapped to it showing the loyalty and faith they all had in their Captain. "Now, I'd like you to meet our newest, uh, wait where is he?"
"Er will someone help me, please." Asta said as he struggled to breath.
Asta had been on the ground thanks to the stampede so when Yami got things under control he'd still been there, and the mass that was Grey had landed on him crushing him there. Yami sighed as Asta passed out, blood running down his chin from his mouth, and dragged him out to set him up in front of the Squad. This had gotten Asta back up and alert once again.
"Ok now like I was saying this shrimp here is our other new member." Yami said gesturing to Asta who was wiping the blood from his mouth. "That other decided not to socialize so I'll deal with her later."
"Wait what do you mean by other?" Asta asked as Yami confirmed to the Squad that they'd get two new members at the same time this time around.
"Tell 'em your name or something." Yami said ignoring that as he was sure that Noelle wasn't fully on board yet but would be when she realized that this was the best Squad for her, it was why that pretty boy of a brother she had had dumped her on Yami after all. "Get to it."
"Yes sir." Asta said as he snapped to it ignoring the whole other new member thing entirely now. "As I said my name is Asta and I'm from Hage village in the Forsaken Realm. It's nice to meet everyone."
"You're from Hage?" Magna asked looking up at him. "Damn that's out in the middle of nowhere. Only Tatsumi here is from more a backwaters place than that."
"Not like you can say much, despite that punk appearance you're from the sticks as well." Tatsumi pointed out. "But I'll give it to you, I'm from a place even more backwoods than Hage, at least Hage has history as it's by that cool demon skull thing, my village doesn't even have a name that's how remote and backwaters it is."
"Well, I grew up in the strong magic region and various training camps in the boonies." Akame pointed out. "So, I win the middle of nowhere award I'd say seeing as I didn't even have a village to live in."
"Enough chatter." Yami said. "Finral, introduce everyone already."
"Right well you know Gordon Agrippa already." Finral said giving Asta Gordan's full name as Gordon gave a low greeting that couldn't be heard by anyone. "He's hard to talk to at times but he's good people."
Asta wasn't sure what to make of that, so he just left it at that as Finral turned to the rest of the Black Bulls to decide how to introduce them. He opted to start with the two newest members as they were now no longer the two newest members.
"Next up we have Akame, just Akame." Finral said as he gestured to the girl at the far end with long black hair that pooled around her as she knelt and hard red eyes that seemed to stare intently at Asta now that she was being introduced to him. "She's a deadly assassin with more kills than everyone else in the Squad put together, not that many besides her, Yami, Tatsumi, or Luck have kills, who loves her meat way too much and is the only girl here with a boyfriend but she's good people."
"Er…" Asta said looking at the expressionless girl on the ground not sure what to make of her as her red eyes seemed to bore into him in a way that really unnerved him. "Assassin?"
"Yes, I was and can still be one when needed though I believe the technical term is executioner for what I do at times." Akame said simply as if it was nothing. "But so long as you're loyal to the Captain and survive your first mission we'll be good friends, just prove your worth and then I can share my meat with you."
"Trust me, Akame's like that with everyone." The brown haired guy next to Akame said who Asta was sure he'd heard was called Tatsumi.
"Tatsumi is right." Finral said moving onto Tatsumi and confirming that was his name. "And yes, he also doesn't have a surname. Tatsumi is like you, a hard working kid from the sticks who joined the Magic Knights to make his village better though he's got a hard side to him that allows him to do the necessary dirty work when it comes up. He's also Akame's super lucky boyfriend so he's good people."
"Hage isn't as remote as my village, but I understand the need to help out." Tatsumi said to Asta. "So hit me up for training or advice on the ladies if you need it because I can help there unlike Finral."
"Hey, I'm very smooth with the ladies." Finral protested.
"Thanks." Asta said ignoring Finral as he noticed a sword on Tatsumi's back so he was going to do just that as his only training had been from old man Zell so any help was appreciated, as it would be with winning Sister Lily's heart so that was also an area Tatsumi might be able to help him with. "I'll take you up on that when I have the time."
"Alright next up we have Vanessa Enoteca." Finral said moving on. "She's…"
From there Finral continued to introduce the rest of the Black Bulls. Vanessa showed how impressed she was with Asta's success in joining a Magic Knight Squad by flirting with Asta and getting really close which caused a nosebleed and a lot of confusion for him. It made sense to those watching as Vanessa was an attractive woman barely wearing anything though Asta resisted it because of his love for Sister Lily, and then Vanessa ruined it by throwing up though Asta managed to avoid that.
After that it was Luck as Vanessa continued to vomit and of course Luck want to fight but Asta wasn't able to give an answer as Gauche suddenly showed the picture of his sister as he bled from the nose and threatened Asta who just backed away from that. Next it was Charmy who was eating throughout, a quick one for Grey who just exhaled more smoke and finally Magna who was being a street punk and scaring Asta. Finral finished it off with himself, though the ladies man thing was a bit much as the Squad knew how great his record really was, and of course the Captain himself.
There were other members, 3 in total though neither Akame and Tatsumi had met them in the last year and change so they didn't know who they were or where they were for that matter. That was it for the introductions though and Asta was loud and happy to meet them which was so loud that Yami told him to shut up. Asta did and that was the last thing before his baptism.
Naturally, Magna was the one who volunteered for that and started to intimidate Asta while also baiting him with a Black Bulls robe as the others just began to move out the sofas and food to enjoy the show that was about to commence and rate it next to the last two baptisms that they'd watched. Naturally Asta wanted his new robe so he was more than willing to prove it as Magna got really into his role.
"He's way to into this whole thing." Akame said as she munched on a skewer of meat while sitting on Tatsumi's lap on the chaise they'd brought out for this due to the lack of space, and because she liked it, while Magna continued to brandish the robe that Asta had to earn in front of his face while the building behind them magically repaired itself from the damage Yami had done to it. "I already had the robe before Magna assessed my skills, and then lost to them."
"Akame, you're recruitment was rather unorthodox even but the average recruitment standards of the Black Bulls." Tatsumi pointed out as Magna began to test Asta's physical strength with a series of exercises like he'd done for the others as Vanessa complained about the baptism and Luck wanted one of his own so as to have an excuse to fight. "So it makes sense that you'd already have a robe. Mine was normal like Asta's and…oh that was unexpected."
"Ok I didn't expect anyone would be that dumb as to actually do that part of the test." Akame said as Asta rolled on the ground after slamming his head on the rock before getting up and doing it again this time cracking the rock. "Still, that's a hard head."
"He's actually pretty good at this stuff, better than Akame or Tatsumi were and that's saying something as those two are in excellent shape." Vanessa said as Asta complained. "Shame it doesn't matter."
"Yeah, as good as stamina and strength is magic is all that matters even if Asta's strength is off the charts." Luck said. "Hopefully that means that he's got some strong magic to back it up like the Captain has."
"There is some use to stamina at least." Tatsumi said as the baptism moved onto the magic portion of it. "I am sure that I will be able to unlock Incursio's trump card equivalent if I can improve my stamina as that was key to duration last time. Just depends on the kind of magic one uses."
"Sure, that's the only reason why you want to increase your stamina." Vanessa said with a sidelong look at the Squad's couple who were being extra couplie at the moment and gave them a wink that caused both of them to blush. "Now…woah."
Woah was right as Magna had begun to prepare his magic, so Asta did the same by pulling out his sword which really got the attention of all the Black Bulls who'd not yet seen it. That had been unexpected to say the least.
"Oh, cool he's got a sword that comes out of his grimoire just like Akame has." Luck said. "Though that's a different kind and doesn't look as nice as Akame's sword."
"It's a great sword." Akame said looking over the blade with an expert eye her magic and training having ensured that she knew bladed weapons really well at this point. "Odd, it's blunt, rusty and for some reason I'm not getting a sense of it at all. It's like my magic won't work whenever I reach out to it to check it's edge or properties."
"It's so big." Vanessa said impressed. "Bigger than Tatsumi's one."
"Really Vanessa?" Tatsumi asked as he looked at the woman. "Did you have to make that inuendo?"
"Besides, Tatsumi is no doubt bigger where it really counts." Akame said and while she hadn't seen what she was referring to yet as they were no where near that point in their relationship, she could certainly feel it at the moment given that she was sitting on his lap right now.
"Oh, you two finally at that stage, are you?" Vanessa asked with a teasing tone as both Akame and Tatsumi went bright red at that. "Have you used my tips Akame? They'll have Tatsumi eating out of your hand."
"N, not yet." Akame stuttered out.
"Finral, Tatsumi, be ready." Yami said interrupting them having not heard what was going on. "Best to be safe."
"Right." Finral said as Tatsumi nodded, and both got their grimoire's out for what they needed them for.
Barely 10 seconds later Magna began to hit the fireballs with his bat at Asta just like he'd done with Akame and Tatsumi when they'd been through this little test. Asta showed his skill by dodging all of them with his sword still out in front of him. He'd still not showed off his magic but so far he hadn't needed it as nothing Magna was doing was landing. This led to Magna switching it up and using his Exploding Fireball spell.
This really upped the battle, and it was clear that Asta wouldn't be able to dodge it or cut it because of the force of the attack that would still be part of it, so he'd be knocked back if he cut it like he'd done with other spells. Instead, and acting on pure instinct, Asta twisted the blade in his hands and swung it just like Magna had been swinging his bat earlier so that the flat of the blade got up and slammed into the fireball just as it was about to hit him.
There was a boom and the fireball was sent flying right back at a shocked Magna at twice the speed and power that he'd thrown it at Asta while no marks appeared on the sword. The Black Bulls, including those who'd seen Asta's sword before as they'd not seen this feature, stared in amazement as the ball of fire flashed back and slammed into Magna before it appeared he could react.
"Ha, he did it, he killed Magna." Luck said cheerfully while Charmy cheered in general at what she'd seen.
"I did not see that coming." Vanessa said. "What does that sword do?"
"Reflect magic at least." Akame said as she looked at it with a confused gaze as she was still not able to get a read on it. "Not something I can do with my blades."
"Again, Magna gets hurt doing this." Finral said with a sigh. "You'd think he'd learn by now but apparently he needs at least 3 beatings for it to sink in that this isn't working."
Only Yami got the full picture of it as he thought on what Asta could do. It was unexpected to say the least and really showed the base potential the kid had. All he needed was a bit more training and Asta would be a real force in time.
"What the hell was that runt?" Magna asked as he began to walk out of the flames from the fire the rebound had caused. "That was crazy. I was just about able to dispel it in time, but I was still almost killed by my own magic. At the very least Akame and Tatsumi used their own magic to hit me when they had their baptisms, and admittedly they could have killed me with their magic if they'd wanted to, but that was something else."
All this time Asta was screaming at Magna's rant before he suddenly began to charge at him. Asta was really nervous now.
"Why you…" Magna yelled as he ran and then grabbed Asta by the front of his jacket before he grinned. "You're really good, we've done really well with our latest recruits over the last 18 months or so. I like you little Rasta."
"It's Asta not Rasta." Asta said as Magna began pounding his back.
"Sorry about earlier Rasta." Magna said apologizing for his taunting and continuing to not use his name correctly. "As Tatsumi said I'm also from the sticks, right up from Hage in fact as I'm from Rayaka though I've spent a fair bit of time in Saussy village as well."
"Really, damn, Rayaka is way out there." Asta said. "It's in the middle of nowhere."
"Says the Hage kid." Magna said. "No wonder you're low on magic power though."
"Um actually I don't have low power, I have none." Asta revealed shocking everyone.
"What?" Akame asked her eyes wide at the statement though as she'd been reading his ki not sensing his magic she hadn't noticed that it didn't exist. "Then how did you make that sword, I thought you had Sword Magic, which is really rare but I've heard of it, that was somehow dominant to my own magic."
"That makes you're skills even more amazing then." Magna said as he continued to pat Asta on the back. "You're more than some random runt, you're a real man Rasta."
"Yeah, think of how good he can be if he trained up with that sword." Tatsumi said. "Though I don't think my sword is good against that thing as the weight differences would cause issues."
"I can make replicas so long as I can touch that blade once." Akame said as they all leapt up to charge Asta and properly welcome him to the Squad. "Or we use wooden blades like normal though my skills lie in the katana not the great sword. If Asta somehow gets a katana, then I can really whip him into shape like I've done with Tatsumi."
"I'll start his training but you're right Akame, he may one day end up with a katana depending on how that power works." Tatsumi said as Luck challenged Asta to his next baptism though it wasn't done as Vanessa took that moment to get up close and personal with Asta to congratulate him. "Maybe training in it would help though as general sword skills can translate no matter the blade."
"Here you can have half." Charmy said interrupting them as she thrust half a cupcake at Asta then brough it back. "Actually, half of a half."
"Well, if Charmy is sharing food, then I can as well so you earned this." Akame said as she thrust a spare meat skewer at Asta while he enjoyed the cupcake. "Welcome to the Black Bulls, Asta. I still want you to survive your first mission though, force of habit for me."
"Yeah, you earned this." Magna said holding out the robe to him. "It's officially yours."
Asta paused at that as he took it all in for a moment and savored the succulent meat he was now eating. He'd made it and it was all hitting him, so much so that he paused and had to be reminded of it by Magna so he held out his hand for his Black Bull robe.
Before he could take it, however, Vanessa produced her wand and used her Thread Magic to take control of the robe and put it on Asta properly. She then finished it by shifting his headband so that the red thing on it was at the back and she used her magic to form the Black Bull emblem on it to complete Asta's new look. He'd done it, he was officially a Black Bull and he knew it. From now on Asta would be part of the team and he'd do his best to live up to that responsibility.
With the baptism now over, however, and Asta in his new robe and fully accepted by the Squad they began to party into the night. Asta couldn't be happier as he enjoyed his new Squad and family as they celebrated his recruitment while the other new member just looked down at the whole thing from a balcony on the hideout with scorn as she still felt that she didn't belong here, but her time would come soon.
Akame and Tatsumi were just chilling in the common room the next day having gotten up a few hours ago and done some sword practice outside while Magna showed Asta around and introduced him to the other new member. Apparently the other person was a girl, Noelle Silva, so that explained why she'd not been at the exam as she was royalty though why she was in the Black Bulls was beyond them.
According to Magna, Noelle was a stuck up royal who couldn't aim her Water Magic straight and had quit rather than be associated with them and run off to the woods. Asta had followed her to find her, but Magna had come back to tell them what was going on.
To the couple it seemed like Noelle was throwing a hissy fit but then again she was royalty and House Silva wasn't great with class relations unlike most of House Vermillion though they were better than House Kira, so they chalked it up to her status and decided to leave her be. They'd see what she was made of in time though they didn't expect it so soon as before they could do more than hear Magna out Luck suddenly perked up having felt the huge surge of mana from outside and knew that something big was coming so he was eager to see it and if possible fight it.
"Something big is coming with a lot of mana." Luck said getting up and rushing outside as he pulled on his Black Bull robe. "I wonder what it is."
That set the alarm bells off for all of them and they hurried outside just in case they either needed to defend or evacuate the base though none of them knew that the base could actually defend itself if need be as they'd not met that member yet. That and those who had no issues killing were going to be ready to take all necessary measures to protect the Squad and hideout. What they found when they got outside, however, was, well, not what they were expecting though it was certainly still dangerous.
What greeted the Black Bulls was a massive ball of water that was floating in the air as it roiled and swirled with magic while spouts of water shot out of it and into the forest destroying trees and churning up the ground as it floated towards the hideout. It was unlike anything they had seen before and was certainly dangerous as they could all sense the immense amount of magic coming off it. The sheer amount of magic needed to create such a spell, if it even was a spell, had to be absurd and at a level only high level nobility or royalty could achieve.
It was the latter that made them realize what was going on because, well, Noelle was royalty, so she had a shit ton of mana that Magna confirmed, and to top it off her attribute was water. They could even see a figure in the center of the water who seemed trapped and unable to breath meaning that the person in the water had no control over the spell or magic if it was just the release of the user's raw mana.
Akame and Tatsumi hadn't met Noelle yet but, well, the girl in the water was wearing a white and pink outfit that had a distinctive and elaborate cut to it and had silver hair. Those were clear signs of someone from House Silva, so it had to be her though the twin pigtail style was interesting if significantly shorter than Mine's.
"My goodness." Vanessa said as Gordon mumbled something next to her. "What the hell is that?"
"Magic power that's gone out of control." Gauche said bluntly. "To be at that level, it's got to be someone with a huge mana reserve."
"We're going to have to do something, right?" Magna asked looking around. "Anyone here able to help? Tatsumi, that armor of yours seems like the best bet."
"Incursio is strong sure, but I don't know about that water pressure." Tatsumi admitted. "I watched bro take a lot of it in my last life and it broke the armor, almost killed him though he did die shortly thereafter thanks to his opponent poisoning his own blood and using that to poison bro. I could try though; the adaptability will likely mean that it would work in the future, and I can probably hold my breath for a good while in there if I'm using Incursio."
"Future adaptability is nice, and annoying as my blades can't cut it anymore now that your magic has adapted to mine, but this is more a here and now situation." Akame said as she looked at the ball. "So we need something that can destroy that quickly and efficiently."
"Attacking it with magic is out, even my own won't be good against that." Yami admitted as he puffed on a cigarette having been the last to join them. "Noelle will get hurt if we try that approach. Spatial Magic should work though so give it a go Finral."
"Please, think of the logistics of my gates." Finral pointed out. "I can't get close to that, and I'd just pull in a bunch of water at the same time which could cause problems of its own."
"Yeah I guess you are useless in this situation." Yami said with a sigh that annoyed Finral. "Man, would be good to have someone who could just cancel out magic right about now."
As if on cue there was a blast of water at the ground followed by a yell and Asta was thrown from the forest where he was fleeing from the ball having been there when Noelle lost control mainly because he was the target of her attack, and right at Yami who caught him in his left hand. He'd tested fate to get Asta here and fate had responded in kind so now it was time to put the new recruit to use to save the other new recruit.
"Speak of the devil we need, you picked the right moment to appear." Yami said looking at a shocked Asta. "Time for your first mission, do something about that massive ball of water."
"What?" Asta asked as he looked up and noticed that Noelle was on the brink of losing her battle with the water and drowning in her own magic which wouldn't be good especially as Asta felt partially responsible as she'd tried to attack him when he'd found her practicing only for her magic to backfire and create this. "Alright I'll try but, um, how am I supposed to get up there seeing as I can't fly."
"I don't want to hear any of your pathetic excuses." Yami said as he glowed purple with reinforcement magic. "Just suck it up and push past your limits!"
With that Yami spun and tossed Asta up and at the ball of water causing him to scream the entire time he flew up. The Black Bulls just watched as Asta flew at the water and then drew his sword from his grimoire and slashed the ball as soon as he got there. The sword cut through the water with ease and a moment later the whole ball exploded as he nullified the magic that had made it freeing Noelle and allowing her to breath as the water rained down upon them.
"Huh so the edge of the sword cuts through magic and negates it while the flat of the blade reflects magic with twice the strength." Akame mused as Asta began to scream from the fall. "That is interesting to say the least. Murasame wouldn't stand up to it but in a duel I'd stick with range or use my special spells. Still damned useful."
"Speak for yourself." Tatsumi said as Finral created a portal to save them with Asta taking most of the brunt of the landing on the ground. "Incursio would be fully dispelled by that and if that thing negates magic while also not being actual magic then I don't know how it would adapt to that. Pretty damned powerful attribute to have if you ask me, whatever you'd classify that attribute as."
"Anti-Magic." Akame said simply as the water rained down on them. "Makes the most sense to call it that."
"Wait, I didn't die from that." Asta said with a yell as he interrupted the idle chatter before as he got to his feet after he'd and Noelle had been saved by Finral.
"That looked so much fun." Luck said with a grin. "We need more of that."
"I'm all wet now and not the good kind of wet." Vanessa complained.
"Thanks for that portal Finral." Asta said walking over to the man. "Really saved us at the end."
"I thought you'd appreciate it and with the water gone it was safe to use my magic." Finral said glad to help and not be useless even if he'd needed Asta to first dispel the water.
"You pulled it off, pushed past your limits and saved Noelle." Yami said with a nod. "Good job there."
"Thank you, Captain Yami." Asta said with grin before he turned to Noelle who was still on the ground after being saved and approaching her. "Hey, Noelle…"
Noelle just braced herself for what was to come, and she'd deserve whatever was about to be said to her. She'd royally failed to control her magic yet again and so now it was time to be mocked like she had been basically all her life.
"You know…you got some damned powerful magic there, like it's absolutely amazing how strong it is."
Noelle winched and then blinked as she looked up at Asta's surprising words, her pink eyes meeting Asta's green ones to see how serious he was, and he was being dead serious as he looked down at her with a smile on his face. For the first time that she could remember someone was complementing her power without any mocking and of all people it was this brash lowborn orphan who'd just saved her life.
"I'm like super jealous of you, you know." Asta continued. "I have no magic at all, like none, but you've got loads so all you need is some training to get it under control and you'll be amazing. That's what we can help with as part of a Magic Knight Squad."
Noelle's eyes went wide as she didn't know what to say to Asta's words though she felt her cheeks flush at them as he honestly and sincerely complemented her. She'd never had this before and for the first time the shreds of confidence began to form in her heart, as well as another seed was planted at the same time, but she wasn't aware of that one just yet.
"Once you get yourself some control of that magic you'll be nigh on unstoppable." Asta said still grinning at her. "I know it."
"L, little ins…A, Asta." Noelle said finally finding her voice as she raised herself up onto her knees though her voice fell quiet when she finally said his name.
"Ah man I'm even further behind now." Asta complained as he looked down at his wet clothes. "I'm going to have to train extra hard to catch up to you Noelle."
"So that's why you were running away?" Magna asked as they whole Squad looked at Noelle who was now on her knees on the ground with her head bowed low. "Because you lack a little control, that's all? You should have just said something sooner you royal failure, it's not like we'd judge for it or anything. I mean what do you expect, this is the Black Bulls, we're a whole squad of failures."
At that Magna paused and Vanessa smiled as she produced her wand and used her magic to take control of the Black Bull robe that Noelle had discarded. She then put it over Noelle's head as she knelt on the ground, not as proper as she'd done with Asta's the night before, but it was still showed how Noelle was part of the Squad.
"So what if you've got a failure or three, that doesn't matter to us one bit you big dummy." Magna continued as the robe was put on her. "We've all got weaknesses here, that's why we're the Black Bulls."
"Yeah we're glad that you're alright and safe now." Finral said before he winked at her. "Oh, and I know a great place for pasta if you want to check it out with me sometime."
"Forget about pasta, you need to try some of this cupcake." Charmy said interrupting Finral's latest attempt to pick up a woman that naturally fell flat on its face. "It's delicious."
"That was quite a show you put on with that Water Magic, really impressive that you have that much magic." Vanessa said. "I happen to be particularly gifted at controlling my magic, it is a kind that requires extremely fine control to pull off so I've trained really hard to master it so I can teach you how to control yours. Also maybe give you some womanly advice. Just ask Akame, I'm great at that as well."
"If you ever get a boyfriend like me ask but not before then, it's rather explicit advice that might not be fit for royal ears." Akame said she had a small smile at her teammate being saved but she was still reserving judgement until Noelle returned from her first mission and learned the truth of hers and Tatsumi's past. "But yes we're all failures, I was actually recruited after I failed to kill the Captain so it's not a bad thing to be a failure here. Show yourself on a mission and I'll train you into shape just like I did with Tatsumi though let me make it clear, he's my boyfriend so don't get any ideas or else you'll learn how sharp my blades are."
"I'm sure Noelle isn't the kind of girl to just fall for someone pretty quickly unless he's really special to her, she is royalty after all." Tatsumi said looking at her, but he was smiling. "But yeah, magic control takes time and clearly someone failed to help you likely due to the backwards attitudes towards training that the nobility here has but you're part of a Squad now, a family of sorts, and we help and support each other to grow stronger. Stick around and we'll show you, with us you'll become stronger than you could have ever imagined."
"I'll tell you all about how adorable and angelic my sister Marie is." Gauche added as Gordon mumbled something and Grey let out a puff of smoke that was the guy's usual response to things. "So that you can worship her as well."
You've got a lot of power so master it quick because I bet it will be a blast to fight." Luck said with a smile.
"Now come on, we'll do our best together." Asta said holding his hand out and smiling at Noelle ending the chats helpful statements from the others. "How does that sound?"
Noelle rested on her knees for a moment as she looked at Asta and his hand. She had tears in her eyes but the support he was showing her, the trust and confidence he had, moved her and she realized for the first time since Nozel had told her that while he couldn't stop her becoming a Magic Knight he could still exile her from the family and the Silver Eagles by placing her in the Black Bulls that she could actually be a Magic Knight. She realized that here, away from her family with the worst of the worst Magic Knight Squad and with the aid of Asta and the others she could do it.
"Yes, we will, I look forward to working with you, Asta." Noelle said as she took his right hand in hers and rose to one knee and allowed him to help her to her feet as a rainbow formed behind them from all the water in the air.
With that there was a cheer from the others as they all rushed forward to officially welcome Noelle to the Black Bulls. Well all but Yami who was just smiling, Akame who as always was waiting for Noelle's first mission and after she learned the truth of what Akame and Tatsumi did and accepted it before fully embracing her as a teammate, and Tatsumi who was in the same boat. Still, she was the newest member of the Squad and so they walked forward to join the others in Noelle's proper welcome and got ready to party as they all looked forward to what the year would hold for them.
None knew yet but soon events would occur that would set everything that was in the shadows in motion as a scheme 500 years in the making entered its final months. That would all be revealed in time, however, for now the Black Bulls were blissfully unaware of it as they celebrated their two new members and the year to come.
Well, there it is, Asta and Noelle have officially joined the Black Bulls and been welcomed by them so now the main story of Black Clover can begin. There is still of course the little matter of them learning the truth about Akame and Tatsumi, both their past and the dirty work that they do, and that is about to be set in motion with the next chapter. For now though they can just party and enjoy being Black Bulls as their own first mission is coming up not that they know it yet. That is all that I have for y'all however so I will leave this chapter off here. If you like my story then please follow, favorite, review, PM, etc. it is all appreciated and helps me get better and stay motivated to keep producing more content and any questions asked I will do my best to answer both privately and at the start of the next chapter. Until next time.
Stringdog