Three days have passed since the trip to the mining town, Asta went to drop off the metals and materials at Elhart's shop and wait until his armor is done. In the meantime, they began hunting monsters and leveling up. Until he realized that his squad members completely changed, now they looked like teenagers like him. Raphtalia is now a height of 5'6", Tara's height of 5'3", and Kiera's height of 6'0". All of them are taller than him, but he cares about that, not a little. He just wanted to know why this was happening, and he thought about who to ask. After leaving his squads at Elhart's shop, he went to the place to get answers.
At the merchant tent, if there is one person who can answer his questions, it will be him. "My boy, you have returned here to buy more of my-" "Cut the crap I'm not here for that" after giving the man the same energy of someone skipping dialog. "Alright then, why are you here?" "I want to know my squad members grown up out of nowhere" The man thinks what the teen is talking about then release it "Oh I know what your talking about" the teen waited for the answer "You been leveling them up right" he nods to his question "Well you see my boy once a demi-human reach a certain level they go through a growth spurt" Asta blinked even though his eyes is covered "So your telling me they grow up is of leveling up" the man confirm the teen words "Is there anything else I should know about" "There one more thing when they reach level forty that mean they're ready for class upgrades" "Ok what I do when that happens" "Well you to take them to the dragon hourglass and let them choose a class" "Thanks for information I'll be back to… make some purchases" "I'll be waiting here my boy" after getting his question answered he went back to the Blacksmith.
When he went into the shop to see his squad members in new armors and weapons. Raphtalia looks her usual self with a longer sword, Tara wearing similar wear but white with a bigger bow, and Kiera is the same with Blue and a large hammer. All three also wear their robes even though they are too small on them, he's going to fix that "Girls hand your robes for a sec" once they give him their robes, he put them in his and takes out same size robes has his own with two have the same holes like the smaller ones. "Here these can fit you girls better" he handed them their new robes after the three put on, each one covering less of their body than himself. Raphtalia shows off enough to the top of her pants, Tara's a bit more her legs than him, and Kiera's just covered her top body, letting her belly show.
"Thank you for the new robes, master" "Its captain, and your girls welcome" "Captain do you know when the next wave will be" "Sorry Tara I don't have a clue when the next wave will be" Elhart spoke up about that "I have answered your looking for" they turn to him "Really is there a way?" Raphtalia asked the man "Yep go to the dragon hourglass" "But thought it's used for class upgrades, though?" The confused teen asks "Well it can do both of those things and can be found in the three heroes church" After hearing that, Asta feels disappointed knowing it's at the place that supports slavery. "You gotta be kidding me, it's at the one place that I don't want to go" the he says this with irritation "Fine, you girls go to the forest and test out your new weapons, I'll be going to church and get the time, Mr. Elhart, can I know when my armor is done" "Well kid since you gave me a lot of materials to work with, I'll be done before the next wave" After hearing the man what he wants, they split up, his squad members head towards the forest and the teen to the church with L.
During the walk to the church, L spoke up "Human, I hate this just like you do, but why don't you take those demi-humans with you?" "Because I'm not taking them to a place that supports slavery" "I see, but I don't get why it's called three heroes church if there are four of them?" "I don't know either, but I think we're going to like the answers when we do" now the teen at the front of church, sees the symbol of other three heroes' weapons leaving the shield out completely. So he went inside, seeing the interior of the church, some paintings, candles, nuns & priests, and there they were looking for the dragon hourglass. "So this is the dragon hourglass, how is this connection to the waves" he ask out loud "We don't know ourselves but it's comes very handy when the waves starts" he turn to see a nun who answered his question "Um hey there sister, do you know more about the waves?" "I don't know any more about waves like everyone else" "Then can you tell me, what's your religion is about?" "Well we believe in the three heroes who fight the waves and the world" he decided to ask a more important question "I heard about being four heroes. Does the fourth one exist?" The nun got upset but answered "Yes there is but known as the devil of the shield because he favors those demi-humans that way our king and high priest in slaves them" now he knows the real reason why this is happening, and feels in the first time disgusted towards a nun. She was called for reason, leaving him alone with the hourglass. "We need to get out of here now" Asta left his robe and let his shield expose a beam of light that hit the shield gem. Now he sees a timer on his status and heads out.
While outside the church, the spear hero and his party were about to enter, but a teen in black robe walked past them without saying a word. "Hey watch where you're going" Myne complained to the teen "Sheesh what that guy deal doesn't he know about the party of the spear hero was here" "Myne maybe that he didn't see us that's all" Motoyasu try to calm down the red head then enters the church.
In the middle of walking to the forest, Asta and L are having a discussion about their findings. "I told you we are not going to like the answer" "But it still doesn't make sense they did this out of jealousy, human" "No there has to be more than liking one over other" "You think it's more personal, like getting revenge?" "I don't know, but we should focus on the wave for now" Once they finished with a short discussion, he made the forest to meet his squads, now four days until the next wave.
They spent the days on training and collecting supplies for people who needed it after the wave. Now two hours before the wave start he decided to teach his squads to learn about Ki sensing "Ok listen closely I'm going to teach you girls how use Ki sensing" the girls was shocked by this "Master is it ok I mean this is one of your skill back home" "It's captain, and my captain taught me this even though it came from his homeland as well" "But captain how can this help us" "Well Tara, remember what I said back in the mines" Kiera wag her lizard's tail in excitement. "Ok just hear my word for you girls can get this down" he told them how they have to use all five sentences to feel the Ki of their opponent. A few minutes passed, and the three girls finally got a hang of it and now are testing themselves. "I'll be back. I have to do something first" and he left the girls on their own.
He first heads to Elhart's shop to pick up his new armor "So is it ready?" "What did I tell you, kid? I got it finished before the next wave" he showed the teen a box with his armor inside. "Here's a warning kid, this armor is much heavier than the one you're wearing, but it makes up for its defenses" then the teen takes the box and brings it with him to the changing room. When he walked back out with his armor on, now wearing black leather pants, dark gray metal boots, dark gray metal gauntlet with clawed fingers, black leather long sleeve vest with a dark gray metal chest plate, and a dark gray metal mask covering his eyes. He checks himself out, getting the feel of his own armor, "This is great thanks for the armor, " after he thanked the man "I see, well good luck at the wave, kid" after Asta finished his talk with the man he left and goes back to his squad.
Before meeting the girls, he asked L a question "How do you think it will take until it's ready to use" " It'll take a while but, do you have a clue how to use it?" "No but you never know when it becomes useful" "Remember the wave gets more dangerous over time" "I know, still there's still a monster attacking people, hope the heroes are strong enough to kill the boss monster" when they finished talking there in the forest where girls are waiting for him. "Master, your back" "It's captain, and yes I'm back with my new armor" he shows his armor to the girls "Captain, now we gotten the used to the Ki sensing like you say" "Good work, look like we still have some time until the wave, so is anything you girls want to do while we wait" he let's them to ask him anything. "Master, can you tell us about your home land?" "It's captain, and I don't see why not" he began to tell them about his home and what it's like.
Later, having less than two minutes, they stand together, ready for the wave, but there is one little problem. "Hey captain, do you know where the wave is going be" he froze with that question "Oh um… I don't have a clue" "Human, you did not spend all that time to just not know where the wave be" "Hey I'm trying my best here" "Well your best is the reason why you all can't to the wave right now" "We can figure something out" "The only you four can be there if you all teleport at the last second" the countdown just went to zero and the their group of five were teleport to the wave.
At the wave site where the sky is red and colorful tears in the sky, the group of five just appeared out of nowhere. "You know it would be nice if we knew that from the start" Asta spoke up in surprise "Why do I even bother anymore I'm going in the grimoire tell me when it's over" L go in the grimoire "Captain, is L ok?" "Yes Tara, he's just tired" "Master, look it's the town there monster attacking it" "I told you it's cap-, wait a minute… Oh right the wave let's go to the town" he starts running with the girls following behind him. They enter the town to see the monsters attacking the town people. One of those people is faced with a monster trying to fight back, but it was too much for him. Then the monster died from someone else killing it. He sees a man in a black robe with the tips of his swords sticking out. Asta turns to man his save "I should leave me and squads got this" he sees him leaving with the other people of the town.
"Now let's see what this wave is about" he sees some of those wasp-like monsters getting shot down by Tara's arrows. Then, seeing Raphtalia and Kiera taking care of the zombies, he went around and cut monsters left and right. This pattern has been going on for more than twenty minutes. "Captain, how much should this take?" "As long as that boss monster is alive so we have to-" "MASTER, LOOK UP" they see what she is pointing at the few dozen fire arrows heading toward the direction of the town. "Captain, those are going to set the town on fire" Hearing what Tara was saying, he put away the swords he was using and took out his slayer sword. "You guys stand back I'm going to deal with this" the girls gave him space, then see him get ready and transform keeping his robe on they only see his right eye glow red, he start to spin around yelling out "BLACK HURRICANE" becoming a black twister of anti-magic the arrows gets absorb snuffed out the fire on the arrows.
When he finished with that move, he changed back and let the burnt arrows fall. "Who ever gave that order I'm going to-" "What happened to the arrows?" He pauses at the man with a mustache who is leading a group of knights. "HEY ARE YOU THE ONE WHO GAVE THE ORDER TO SET THE TOWN ON FIRE" he shouted at man "So what I am the monster would have died" "And killing off the people and burning their houses as well don't you care when that happened" he tell off man who doesn't seem to care. "This is a waste of time let go help the heroes" the man leading his knights to help those heroes "The nerve of that guy whatever let's-" "AAHHHH" he hears screaming from the knights turn back to them to see a chimera push the knights a side knocking them out. "Master, what is that?" "I don't know. I still have no clue what all the monsters call, and it's captain"
Sometime before with three heroes and their parties in the middle of fighting the boss monster chimera "This is not working it's hard to get close to it" Ren spoke up "Just keep trying and make it stand in one spot my arrows aren't hitting" Itsuki says this while shooting "Or maybe you guy not doing it right" Motoyasu told off the other two heroes. They kept fighting the chimera until it stopped and looked in the direction of the town. Then, start running towards that direction, ignoring the heroes, leaving them behind. "Why did it run that way?" The bow hero asked, "I don't know, but it's getting away," the sword hero said. What no one knows the very moment that Asta transformed, monsters like the chimera can sense the demonic power he gives off and chase it.
Now, back Asta, he sees this monster with the body and heads of a lion, goat, dragon, and a snake for a tail. "How can something like this exist?" he asked himself, never seeing a monster with four heads before here and back home. The chimera starts to attack the teen in front of it, just to get hit by the slayer sword and fall on its side, then gets back up, ready to attack again. He told his squad members to fight back with him, Raphtalia begins to slash with her sword, Tara repeatedly fires her arrows at it, Kiera keeps bashing it with her hammer, and he keeps its heads. Until the chimera is now only one head left the Lion after the other ones were cut off. It pounced for one last attack, but it was in vain by being impaled through its chest from the teen's sword.
When the chimera died, the sky turned to blue, and the wave was over. "Oh this was the boss monster, then where are the heroes then?" Then he senses a group of people leaving a forest nearby. "Man were to late it's already died" Itsuki said "Hey what the big idea stealing our kill" Myne complained to the teen "I didn't stealing anything" "What she is that were the ones that get to boss monster" Motoyasu say with confident "So, why didn't you kill it then" the teen ask back "Um well that because we let go" he try to save themselves "That mean you guys let me kill it then" spear hero plan didn't work "Whatever you can have the corps then I'm going to help out the town's folks at the meantime" he left the heroes behind to see who need potions.
Asta and his squads are going round to give potions and help with fallen buildings until sunset. Then he was approached by a knight and asked to go to the banquet by the king's invitation. "Why did he ask me?" "Because the king wants to celebrate the success of the wave" the teen decides to go with his squad now to the castle dining hall where they stand together. "Master, this cake is good, you should try" "It captain, and give me a bite." After trying a bit of cake, the group of four were minding their business. Until a glove was thrown at Asta "I challenge you to a duel" Motoyasu says to the teen "Is it because kill that boss monster I already gave you the corps, what more do you want?" "No not that it's because those girls are slaves" "There not slave, so I'm not having duel for it" The teen spoke back "You can deny it all you want but doesn't change the fact there slaves" "Then I still refuse the duel and you can't make me, come on let's leave" they try to leave but was stop by the knights "If he can't make you, I declare duel between the spear hero and his opponent" the king declare a match for Motoyasu and himself "Fine if you are going to be like that, then accept your challenge" Asta accept the duel.
Now he is in the waiting room talking with L about the duel. "Human, what are you going to do about it" "I'm going to make them regret picking a fight with me" he puts out his two swords. He walked out of the room, both swords in hands looked straight at the blond man, then stood away from him, ready to fight. "Now let's the duel commence" the king made an announcement. The spear hero started to charge at the teen. When about to hit him, the blond man got kicked in the stomach, sending him backward. He got back up to just get kicked again, then the teen kept attacking, not letting the blond man fight back. Now beaten to the ground. Motoyasu tries to move up, but Asta stomps the back of his head, then repeats until he senses his Ki that he is out cold. It wasn't even five minutes since the duel started, and it was one-sided. He leaves behind a knockout spear hero, to head towards his squad members in the middle of his walk he sees a wind attack coming at him, reminding him of the time when he and Yuno did something like this, so he stands firm and lets that wind pass him without moving an inch once passed he look at the red head who did it and give her a stare she flinch back to the wall then he continued walking to his destination.
He made it the girls apologize "I'm sorry for putting you girls through that, I promise that were not returning to castle very again" he bowed to them "Captain, it's not your fault" "Yes master you can't blame yourself" he didn't listen and continued to bowed until he stand back "Now let's leave this place" the three girls follow their captain.
Out to the forest, they usually sleep, campfire on like every night since they first met. "Master, are you going to be ok" "I'm fine Raphtalia" This is the second time he hasn't corrected her. "Good night captain" "Good night, you three" now alone with L to talk "Human, won your fight, but why don't you like it" "Not all fight is worth it, if I don't want to for dumb reason" Hearing that L returned to the grimoire, he start thinking all of past fights and good why he has to win but that last one wasn't worth it with that in mind he fell to sleep. Ending day seventeen.