Season 2, Chapter 10, Part 6
The frozen forest.
Trust!
Millie flies next to Asta, narrowing her eyes as she looks at the skull, which are staring back at them with its dark purple shining pupils. She changes into her true form and touches her bell, changing her clothes into a skirt and tank top.
"Master Asta, that creature's mana is enormous," Millie tells him as the skull roars, and the semi-liquid substance running along its features drips into the black lake below.
"Heh, that is fine by me," he says, a glimmer in his eyes, his excitement building for the battle that lies ahead.
The monsters close in on their group. She swings her katana multiple times, sending white flames slashing at each of them. She glances towards the skull, which opens its mouth, radiating a dark purple light as it gathers mana.
"It is condensing a vast amount of mana; be careful," Millie warns. Asta smiles, "That's fine," he says. Sure enough, the skull fires off a giant purple beam, and they both swiftly fly in opposite directions.
The beam homes in on Millie, and the skull pursues her with remarkable speed. Millie employs evasive maneuvers, cutting down the black, tar-like monsters with her white flames as she swiftly moves.
The beam veers off course, and Millie notices black tar projectiles hurtling towards her. She quickly erects a shield around herself, knowing that if she were hit by that tar, her movements would be restricted, much like with Asta's blade.
She increases her speed significantly, flying in a large loop before turning towards the skull. It has its eyes fixed on her as she extends her hands, gathering a vast amount of mana in front of her. However, the skull anticipates her move, gathering its own mana. They both release their mana beams simultaneously, pushing against each other.
"Come on," she softly grunts as she continues to fire the beam. Her eyes widen when she sees something black approaching her, and she slows down her beam, evading both the tar creatures shooting at her and the pursuing beam.
"Take this!" Asta yells in his dark form as he swings his extended black blade into the back of the skull's head. The tar around his anti-magic loosens its grip, and it flows towards his blade as Asta keeps digging the sword into the tar.
"Damn it," he grumbles, pulling at the sword. He then summons his Dweller Sword from his grimoire and uses it to block tar bullets aimed at him. Afterward, he continues trying to free his sword from the tar surrounding the skull and eventually manages to pull it free before flying away.
He observes hordes of black monsters heading towards him, quickly gathering anti-magic in his Dweller Sword and swinging it. "Black Slash!" he yells, sending black slashes towards the creatures. Just before they are hit, they are swept away by Millie's white flame slashes.
He turns his attention to Millie, who is also trying to take on the giant skull. "Hey, Millie, don't you want to take it easy soon?" he shouts. Millie pauses and looks at him, confused. "I am confused, Master. What do you mean by taking it easy?" she asks, swinging her katana, sending flames into the monsters behind her.
He turns his head to see more creatures approaching him. He is about to swing his Dweller Sword when white flames suddenly cut through the creatures and the black tar falls. "Seriously, she's taking on way more than necessary again," he mumbles.
A roar interrupts his thoughts, and he sees the skull floating towards Millie. "Maybe she is, but now we can try to focus on the big thing in here," Liebe advises. "Right," Asta replies and fills his Dweller Sword with anti-magic before sending a powerful anti-magic slash at the skull.
However, the tar's resilience is striking, as it momentarily loses its shape but promptly reconstitutes itself, defying Asta's attempts to negate it with his anti-magic. Asta traverses the eerie, dark expanse, acutely aware of the ineffectiveness of anti-magic against the enigmatic floating skull.
As he flies away, more tar-like monsters approach him, only to be swiftly slashed down by Millie's white flames once again. He sighs with a hint of monotony in his voice, commenting, "Okay, now she is just robbing all the fun out of this." His eyes shift to Millie, who advances towards the menacing skull.
Concern creeps into Asta's mutterings as he witnesses Millie unleashing a colossal mana beam at point-blank range. The tar surrounding the skull morphs into serpentine forms that ensnare her from all directions, even encroaching from behind. Millie, quick-thinking and resolute, erects a protective shield around herself. Slowly, she expands it, which decelerates the beam's advance and eventually halts it. Her eyes widen as the tar rushes to fill the void, prompting her to further expand her defensive barrier and hastily distance herself from the skull's perilous proximity.
As more monsters set their sights on Asta, Millie swings her katana, conjuring flames that repel the encroaching threats around him from a distance away. Asta's expression sags once more as he watches the creatures plummet. He reflects aloud, "I am just wasting my Dark form at this point." His eyes momentarily divert to Millie, and he muses, "She's once again trying to shoulder everything on her own, huh?" The implication of her determination to face overwhelming challenges independently doesn't escape him.
However, a sudden shift in his expression, marked by widened eyes, heralds the unexpected dissipation of his Dark form, causing him to begin an uncontrolled descent.
"Whoa!" With swift reflexes, he hurls his Slayer Sword and leaps onto it, soaring through the dark expanse. Asta takes in the scene of more creatures being vanquished by Millie's flames as he presses forward. He releases a sigh of exasperation, his attention inevitably drawn back to Millie, who is locked in a fierce struggle with the skull, narrowly evading its formidable beams and launching her own in retaliation. Asta finds himself at a loss for words, his concern for her unmistakable.
"What is it?" Liebe asks from his shoulder. "It is subtle, but I just noticed something," Asta says and changes direction.
"Millie!" Asta yells as he flies up to her. "Master Asta," she replies. "So what's on your mind?" he asks. "On my mind? Well, I figured something out earlier," she answers. "You did? What did you figure out?" he asks. "Watch out," she says, and they fly in opposite directions away from the huge beam.
Again, the skull flies after Millie, who puts up a shield around herself, but the beam breaks it apart with ease. Millie twirls away and rights herself, her wings carrying her swiftly through the air.
"What did you find out?" Asta asks, getting close to her again as the skull undoes its beam and shoots tar at them. Millie counters with shielded shard bullets.
"The creature is a form of life-sucking spirit," Millie explains. "Uh, okay?" Asta asks as Millie swings her katana, sending white flames at the monsters in front of them. "This kind of spirit doesn't really have a physical form. At its core, it is made of magic, similar to the four elemental spirits," she explains, keeping an eye on the skull that glares at them and roars. "Okay, what does that mean?" he asks. "It means that in order to defeat this thing, we must destroy its core, either by tearing it apart with an insane amount of magic or by neutralizing the magic within somehow," she explains, putting up a shield around them as tar is shot at them. "Great, so we just need to hit the skull's center with my sword. That sounds easy," Asta says. "Are you forgetting? That tar keeps you from reaching far enough in to do anything," Liebe tells him. "Ah, I forgot," Asta exclaims.
"How can you forget?" Liebe asks. "Well, there is a lot going on right now," Asta defends.
"The only effective way to deal with that viscous substance seems to be using my flames. However, using them on such a scale comes with substantial risks'' she softly explains while they fly through the air as she slashes down more monsters with her white flame slashes.
''Instead of my flames, it might be necessary to combine my mana beam with your anti-magic powers. If I can clear enough tar for you to reach the core and destroy it. But, I remain uncertain if this combined effort will be sufficient, as it requires a magnitude greater than we have used so far, which means we might need to-" she explains. "Just use your flames," Asta insists. "I would highly advise against it, Master," she softly warns.
"Why, though?" he questions. "As I previously mentioned, using the white flames at that scale will make them unruly and impossible to control. In other words, I will be putting you in danger," she tells him.
"It's fine; we could-" their eyes flick to the side, seeing a purple beam heading for them, and they both spin away from each other, avoiding the beam. They make a big loop around the space, and the skull's beam stops again. Asta flies up next to Millie.
"Millie, me and Liebe can use the Devil Union; that way, your flames won't be a problem," he tells her. "Devil Union?" Millie asks. "Yes, it is way stronger than my Dark form, in the Devil Union; magic won't hurt me. you can trust me on that," he tells her. "Are you sure?" she asks, her eyes going to her katana and back at him. "I am absolutely sure; together, we can do this," he reassures. "Alright," she says, feeling her hand shake a little.
"Right, and also," he tells her. "What is it?" she asks. "It will take me about 15 minutes before I can whip it out since I was recently in my Dark form," he tells her as they fly swiftly, avoiding the tar that is flung at them. "You can hold out until then, right?" he asks. "Of course, Master, I can do this for days," she reassures. "Great, then let's do this," he tells her, and they fly in opposite directions as another beam is shot towards Millie, who increases her speed greatly while evading the beam and flies straight ahead as monsters made of tar fly towards her. She envelops her katana in flames and swings it, sending slashes of flames at the creatures that burn away with ease.
"I don't like this. These flames will take on a life of their own if I use them at such an extreme scale," she thinks to herself. The beam gets closer, and she puts up a shield around herself that she rapidly spins it, and expanding it greatly. ("It really is on me,") she thinks to herself as the skull floats closer to her, gathering mana and firing its beam. She responds with her own magic.
"I wish I knew more about how this place works. The little I got from the journal was that they made the Reaper's powers be used against itself somehow," she thinks to herself as the beam in front of her slows down, and she slows down her own beam as well and flies out of the way.
Minutes pass with them clashing with the black monsters while Asta's words weigh on her mind. "It will be fine in the Devil Union; magic won't hurt me. you can trust me on that," his words ring through her, and her grip tightens on her katana while remembering her sister Malissa. "Trust me; it will get better. I am on your side," Malissa said, and the memory of Sara's dying eyes goes through Millie's mind. "Trust..." her mind thinks while remembering Thomsn saying the same thing. "I won't use the contract like the way Mal did. I promise, so trust me, and we will do this," Thomsn said. "Those were his words too, and yet..."
She remembers being forced to the floor by the chains and turns her face, looking at Thomsn. "Why would you? You promised you wouldn't use the contract like this," she asked, confused. "Things change, and I wouldn't have to if you just did as you were told." "You promised that you would never ask that of me."
"Silence!" Thomsn's anger rose as his words shot through her while his eyes were burning, and he gripped his hand tighter as the rest of the chains around Millie's body became visible and tightened, making it harder for her to breathe as she yelped out in pain. a moment later her mind moves on.
(''Hehehe, silly Millie, when will you learn? Betrayal begins with trust," someone of her kind said. "What are you saying?" Millie asked. "Well, one can't really betray someone unless they trust you first," the person said "That is sick," she said. "No, what is sick is a scorched one thinking she has a place among her own kind.")
"I don't like this," she utters to herself, as the metallic sound of her Katana is heard as her body shakes. "Calm yourself already," she whispers as another blast comes for her, and she makes evasive maneuvers while sending flames around.
Meanwhile, Asta flies through the sky, keeping an eye on everything, and he gets a sharp pain going through his muscles and bones, and he smiles widely. "So, Liebe, are you ready?" he asks.
"Of course," Liebe replies, and Asta's gaze turns to Millie flying through the sky. "Millie, you can start in about 30 seconds!" he yells, and she looks to him and back at the skull, while Asta places his hand on his sword, and he sees a shield form around him, keeping the black creatures away from him, and he smiles before he closes his eyes and concentrates.
Millie carves a grand, looping path through the air as she targets the ominous skull. Her blade crackles with white flames, adorned with vibrant orange and yellow sparks that race along the blade's sparkling edge.
Black tar gets shot at her, and she flaps and flies up high to avoid them while keeping her flame blazing with increasing intensity before she swings her blade, sending a huge slashing wave of white flame at the skull that burns into the tar, but more tar is formed to replace it.
Black tar projectiles are hurled her way, forcing her to swiftly ascend, her flames burning with ever-increasing intensity. With a deft swing of her blade, she unleashes a massive wave of searing white fire upon the skull. It scorches the tar, but the relentless substance promptly regenerates, replacing what was lost.
She narrows her eyes ("I will need way more flame than this, but") she thinks to herself while her Katana sparkles as she produces more flame alongside it. ("This is my limit; if I produce at any greater rate than this, then I won't be able to control them") she thinks to herself.
"Heck yeah, ready to tear things up!" Asta yells as his body is coated in a buff black armor with red lines and a big red splat pattern on his chest with a black clover in the middle. His eyes turn red and form like a cat's eye but in the middle a smaller line forming a mini-cross in the middle and 5 black orbs of anti-magic form and float around him as he grins, and he looks to Millie who produces flame and maneuvers around the skull, and Asta silently narrows his eyes.
"Millie! Don't hesitate; just let the flames run wild!" he shouts.
"Run wild, Master, I am confused; something like that would," she softly exclaims, concerned.
"It is fine; let go of control and let it run crazy!" he yells.
("Lose control... is he insane? It would incinerate everything, including") she hesitates, looking at her Katana as her hand shakes, and she looks to him. "Master, you might get hurt if-". Her voice is filled with concern.
"Don't worry about me; I will be fine; just Trust me," he yells.
"I-I darn it," she mutters, increasing her flames greatly. Sending a wave of white flames in every direction, while she focuses on the skull. And the black tar monsters burn away everywhere. A jolt of cold goes through her as the flames begin to do what it wants, and some white flames drip to the black lake below, and it bursts forth, and the black lake is set in a white blaze, and some of the flame seeps into every crevice of the space and burns into the fabric of the space that they are in.
The skull opens its mouth firing off a beam towards Millie. "Oh no, I must," she says and begins to form her own in front of her among the flames, but something huge and black blocks the purple beam.
She looks at Asta's back in his devil union form as he slashes the beam, and black lightning with red outlines sparks and shoots out as a wave of friction is created from nullifying so much magic. ("He is nullifying so much mana; it is").
"Millie, you are still holding back," he says and turns his head a little, lending her an eye, and her face grows pale. "I-I just," she utters, and she sees the look in Asta's eyes, and she gulps, looking at her katana ("Let go of all control"). "Right! sir," she kindly exclaims and touches her bell, and her katana and her broach go inside, and she spreads her arms wide ("It is not like I have much of a choice here, so just this once I will trust you"), she thinks to herself as she touches the cog on her belt and spins it so the crystal inside turns white, "No limiters then," she utters as she calls forth much more magic, and upon releasing an enormous wave of white flame filling the entire space that they are in, and Asta puts his slayer sword in front of him to block the wave from his face before he looks around and smiles.
("Unleash more... I must... I must unleash more!... Damn me and my stupid heart! What is wrong with you?! Are you afraid of getting hurt or something?! You should calm your nerves already!") her mind yells, driving her to increase the output of her magic with each passing second.
"Now we are talking," Asta says proudly, seeing the tar on the skull burn away faster than it can refill with the tar revealing a skull-like spectral form beneath.
Millie opens an eye ("the skull is drawing my magic towards it now? Does it plan to use it against us?") she wonders, seeing Asta fly for it.
"Master, be careful!" she softly yells.
"It will be okay," he says with a smile ("How can you be this confident; that") her eyes widen as he extends his sword greatly and swings at the giant's skeletal skull, and the black anti-magic collides with the core, and he pushes harder, his muscles screaming from the pressure as he uses all his might, digging into the skull.
While he digs into the skull, the flames fill every corner and seep into the ever-previous level of the space that they are in, burning away everything.
Millie watches as Asta pushes his blade further and further into the giant skull that roars and opens its mouth, summoning a vast amount of mana.
"Come ON!" Asta grits through his teeth before he finally slashes through the skull with his anti-magic, and the skull's mana falters as it is rapidly nullified, and it roars. Millie's eyes widen, seeing the power grow severely unstable in front of Asta.
"Asta, careful, there will be a backlash!" she gently shouts, seeing his anti-magic form around Asta as he is encased in a black and red orb of pure anti-magic, which expands, and a wave of static anti-magic pushes outwards.
("It is nullifying my flames so rapidly, as well as the skull's magic,") her eyes widen, and she flicks her hand. ("I need a shield, or else,") she thinks to herself, putting up an orb around her to avoid getting hit by the anti-magic, but it gets nullified in an instant, and the wave comes for her fast. She flaps her wings, and a feather falls as she gasps. "No," she utters and pulls up her legs up to her gut and with her arms she covers her chest and face, bracing for the impact.
She blinks, seeing only black for a second, and her body is gently moved. She blinks again, and she is in Asta's arms as the blast runs past them and does not affect the area within his five small black orbs surrounding him. With a confused and expression, she looks around herself, and she sees the anti-magic reaching the edges of the space that they are in.
She turns her doe-eyed gaze to Asta, who looks at her. "See, I told you we could do it together," he tells her with a smile, and she slightly blushes. "You are incredible," she sweetly utters in amazement, and Asta's smile widens.
"Huh?" he lets out and looks around as the space begins to rumble, and loud cracking and tearing echoes through the entire area.
Asta looks around, and Millie does the same. "Now what?" he asks loudly.
Millie looks to the center of the room where energy begins to gather rapidly. "This place has lost its powers, it is collapsing in on itself," she explains.
"Right, but where is the exit?" he asks, and Millie sees that the space below cracks open, and she sees the lower level.
"Look," she utters and points, and Asta sees what she sees. "Right," Asta tells her, and she notices he slightly holds her firmer before he stoops down. He sees the roots crumble and fall around them as he flies down, and soon the pieces begin to float upwards past them, and he notices himself getting dragged backward. "the heck?" he asks. "the space is collapsing in on itself, meaning the gravity is pulling everything towards the center before it gets crushed," Millie explains, looking behind Asta, seeing debris getting pulled toward the center at the level above.
"Either way, we need to get out of here," he says and keeps flying straight down. Millie looks at him as he keeps his eyes on the goal, and her hand goes to her throat, and her fingers touch the split tooth on each side of her bell. "Casimir," her mind says as Asta slows down a little and looks around. The space shakes as everything cracks, including the ground below, revealing an opening, and Asta smiles.
"there is the forest," he yells and flies on down towards the snow-covered pine trees below.
He flies swiftly, just above the trees, and heads to an open space before he stops and looks up at the space they just came from. They see a huge ball that slowly becomes transparent, showing glimpses of the space they just escaped from, before it slowly crushes and crumbles, leaving purple sparkles as it releases mana, and soon the space turns to nothing but sparkling dust.
("That sure is some spell we just undid,") Millie thinks to herself. "Uh," Asta utters and Millie's eyes turn to him. "Master, what is it," she asks and plop!. He and Liebe fall away from each other. "Time is up," he says, and they plummet into the snow below.
Millie sits up quickly, breathing heavily after releasing so much magic. She touches her bell, changing into her normal attire, and looks at Asta and Liebe in the snow as they both sit up. Asta hugs himself, ''Man it is cold'' Asta says, shivering in the cold. She looks at them both, confused, before looking up at the sky again. As the mist clears, and the moon becomes visible.
"Brr, I better get my jacket on again," Asta says, pulling his jacket out of his satchel. Millie's gaze turns to him as he puts the jacket on, and her eyes soften (''This kid'') she thinks to her self. Her thoughts drift to Meir, and she remembers his hazel brown eyes and warm smile, and Millie touches her broach.
She jolts to her feet and looks off into the distance like looking for something. "Millie, what is it?" Asta asks, getting to his feet.
"Master Asta, I just felt someone's magic."
"someone, like who?" Asta asks puzzled and looks to Liebe, who stands up too.
"I don't know; it disappeared as quickly as I felt it," she tells him. ("The mana was different, sure, but the way it felt and acted was almost like") she wonders.
"We should find the others; they are probably worried about us," Asta says while Liebe turns to is small form and gets to Astas shoulder.
"Yes Master," Millie replies, and they all turn their gaze to the icy tower in the distance among the forest of snow-covered pine trees.
Millie gets to her wings, and Asta gets on his demon slayer sword, and they fly towards the dungeon.
"Uh," Millie lets out as they are getting a little closer to the dungeon tower. "What is it, Millie?" Asta asks. "I believe that Lydia and Haze are in the top of that tower," she tells him. "Great, then we will meet them first," he says, and they head for the top, where Haze and Lydia stand and see Asta head for them. "So the orb in the sky, that is where he ended up?" Lydia says and looks up at the sparkles that are left hanging in the sky.
Asta jumps down from his slayer sword to the balcony and uses the door and walks inside and sees the teens standing there with a puzzled expression on their faces.
"How did you end up out here? I mean, a minute ago, it looked like the sky was breaking apart, and the next moment we see you come plummeting down. What's up with that?" Lydia asks, her curiosity evident.
''I am kind of surprised about it too'' Asta answers.
Millie looks at them all and takes the journal she found out of her bell. "I believe the answers to that may be found in here," she utters and hands the journal to Lydia. who opens it up and begins to look through it.
"We should probably find the others, as we didn't really find anything up here" Haze says with his usual tone of annoyance.
''Right, we will do that'' Asta says and the group heads for the steps and begins their descend down into the dungeon below.
