Crater…

Furens sent non-stop fireblasts at the deranged crystal beast formerly known as Asta, but found it incredibly hard to do so, due to the boy's sheer speed and agility.

“You shall die!” Furens raised a clawed hand, “Spirit Flame Crystal Magic, Burning Obsidian Blades!” Several black obsidian-glass scimitars formed and started to spin as they targeted Asta.

Asta dodged what he could, though he was mainly doing so on instinct rather than technique, so he was still taking rather nasty hits that left his clothes in tatters and his body more than covered in a few burns and cuts. Thankfully, the partial crystallization he’d undergone had also boosted his already impressive durability.

He suddenly stopped, as a crystal spike erupted from the ground in front of him, causing him to backflip, landing on all fours to glare and sneer at Furens.

“You are truly troublesome, even for a human,” Furens glared back. “Now, Flame Sprirt Crystal Magic, Blazing Shard Rampart!” she flung a hand forward and shot red hot explosive crystals at Asta.

The deranged boy charged straight forward. In the process, he was hit extremely hard in the chest and shot back with a bang. He had his right arm blown off just above the elbow.

“Asta!” Noelle and Vanessa cried cried out, but were held back by Finral.

“You can’t go out there!” he gritted his teeth.

“He just lost his arm, Finral!” Vanessa said with tears in her eyes, after seeing the state her friend was in.

“I know,” Finral gritted his teeth, “Trust me, I know, but we can’t get in his way, as he is now. He’ll just see us as more enemies. I know he’d never forgive himself, let alone me, if you guys got hurt, especially you, Noelle!”

He looked at Asta, who steadily got up. “Besides… I don’t think he’s even close to being finished off that easily,” he swallowed, “I noticed it earlier. His transformation allows him to regenerate.”

Just as Frinal said this, a crystal spike grew from Asta’s stump, until it was as long as his previous arm, before splitting at the tip to form five new fingers.

Asta held up the clawed crystal appendage and flexed his new hand a little, to show off the glinting firelight behind him through it.

“Truly a disgusting display,” Furens snarled as she fired another spell, “Spirit Flame Magic, Salamander’s Talon!”

“(Dark Crystal Magic),” Asta finally spoke in a broken tone, but also in elvish, as he held his crystalline hand above his head, where a large dark piece of blackened crystal formed above his palm. “(Emperor’s Javelin!)” he roared, as the massive crystal turned into a dark ornate lance that he flung at the demoness.

The lance tore through the flame spell and headed straight for the girl. Furens threw up both hands and caught the beast of a spear. She was forced back quite a ways, and her obsidian claws were badly damaged, to the point they’d cracked and were falling apart.

“Damn you, human,” she glared, but Asta wasn’t where he’d been.

He was instead right beside her, and just as the demoness turned her face, she looked at the deranged smile plastered across Asta’s face as he grabbed ahold of her face with his crystal arm and slammed her head into the ground so hard there was a small crater under it.

“We’ve got to do something!” Nolle said, as she was now extremely concerned about losing Asta to this madness.

“We don’t have a choice,” Vanessa looked over at the Demon Slayer Sword, “We have to get him his sword.”

“Maybe I can help with that,” Fanzell said as he and his team showed up.

“Is that really Asta?” Mariella asked as she looked down at the two mages. “It looks like demons fighting, instead of mages…”

“Another higher-up from the Eye of the Midnight Sun known as Fragment showed up with a magic stone and turned a girl known as Fana into the one on the ground,” Finral pointed to the flame demoness.

“You said Fana?” Mars asked, “You're not mistaken? A red-haired girl with streaks of amber gold and green eyes?”

“That right,” Noelle said, “Oddly enough, she has the exact same type of crystal magic you do. You’re siblings, aren’t you?”

“Not exactly…” Mars looked at the ground in shame, “We were very close to each other once, but that was a long time ago. It can’t be her…”

“She’s pretty hard to miss, with the fire all around!” Vanessa motioned. “And the fact she matches your description isn’t a fluke either! Let’s not forget the fact she’s using your crystal magic, too!”

“Now that I think about it…” Finral looked at Mars as she recalled the time Asta and Noelle told him about their time in the dungeon with this guy. “She does have a spell Noelle mentioned you have. Phoenix Robe…”

Mars just looked at him in shock.

“It can’t be her. it just can’t be… 'cause I killed her!” Mars said, shocking Fanzell, Mariella, and Dominante, “With my own hands, that day…”

“Well, she’s pretty much alive, 'cause she’s right there!” Noelle pointed out.

“It must’ve been her recovery magic that saved her,” Dominante said with disdain, “But due to the severe nature of her wound, it took time for her to heal, but they decided to keep her recovery a secret for further experimentation. That magic research-obsessed bastard!”

“I agree,” Fanzell said, “Right now, we need to break those two up and get Asta his sword. Hopefully, he’ll snap out of that…”

Mars looked at the sword the stranger had given him and remembered his words, “I’ll take on Fana. You guys handle getting Asta his sword.”

“I’ll help,” Mariella said. “You’re not the only one who was her friend,” she smiled

“Very well. We’ll save her this time,” Mars looked at the demon girl, “I won’t kill her twice.”

“We need to act now,” Noelle said, as she saw Asta raise his left arm, and black flames erupted to burn away the sleeve on his shirt and his glove, to reveal the dragon mark coiled around it. “Those flames aren’t normal, and they can’t be put out and won’t go out until they burn away whatever it is they come in contact with. Not even other flames are a match for them.”

“Leave it to a woman to know her man,” Dominante joked.

“Now’s not the time for jokes, Domina,” Fanzell said as he summoned several of his wind swords, “Mars, I’ll get his attention, and when he comes for us, you move in and try to get to Fana.”

“Yes, master,” Mars nodded.

“N-Noelle…” the water mage heard a faint, but yet, well-known voice.

“Raava!” she looked around, “Where are you? We need you!”

“T-trap-ped…. i-inside… with… As-sta’s c-conci-io-usne-esss… we- ne-ed t-the d-d-demon… de-stro-yer… s-sword….”

“But, we don’t have it, and Asta’s other grimoire is somewhere else,” Noelle said, as Fanzell launched the wind swords and successfully got Asta’s attention, while shredding most of his shirt off in the process.

Everyone froze for a moment when they saw the massive red five-leaf clover on his chest and black veins spreading from it.

“That’s awful,” Vanessa placed a hand over her mouth, “What sort of magic was he forced to endure to have been left with that sort of a mark?”

“Ask him later,” Finral said, as he opened a portal under them and safely portaled them to another side of the crater.

Mars and Mariella rushed over to Furens, and Asta rushed the rest of them.

“I’VE… GOT THIS!” Fanzell shouted, as Asta’s crystal arm collided with his teacher’s blade, Fanzell’s feet sinking into the ground nearly six inches from the strike. The wind mage gritted his teeth hard, “Damn it… He’s gotten a hell of a lot stronger than the times we sparred, and I was barely able to keep up then. This berserk state he’s in isn’t really doing anything to hamper his strength!”

He forced Asta back, causing the possessed mage to land next to the lance he shot earlier.

“Oh, crap,” Fanzell gave a nervous grin as Asta took hold of the spear and charged in, and suddenly, threw the weapon as hard as he could.

The lance spiraled for Fanzell and Dominante, when a portal opened under the old man, and strings pulled the witch to the others. Afterwards, the lance bore into the side of the crate with such force that it tore a trench into the forest.

“Thanks for the save,” Fanzell said, “This is bad. Normal Asta strength but Berserker Asta strength is just too much.”

“It’s weird though…” Dominante added, “He used the lance instead of a spell. Why? He could’ve just used the spell again and rushed in like he did earlier.”

“It's that magic he’s using,” Noelle explained, “I don’t know any great detail about it, but when he uses that magic, the words he says are literally what he’s conjuring, like normal. However, he’s forcing raw magic to bend to his will and into a form he perceives to make it do what he wants. I’ve seen him use a healing spell to save someone who nearly died, just by saying Heal in that language he used, but the drawback is the toll it exerts on his body. It drains him mentally and physically at the same time.”

“Hate to burst your bubble, but he’s not showing any signs of tiring out, Noelle,” Vanessa said, “And with this being Asta… his stamina is bound to last way longer than even ours, let alone our magic.”

“Don’t you think, I KNOW THAT?!” Noelle countered, “We need to get him his Demon Destroyer Sword from his grimoire and into his hands. At least, that’s what Raava managed to say, before she was completely cut off.”

“The Light Spirit?” Finral asked, “And which one of the swords is that, specifically? He only has, like, five!”

“It's the second smallest one,” Noelle explained, “The double-edge one, with the fan-shaped tip.”

“I know the one you’re talking about,” Finral nodded, “It's the one he used during the capital invasion to break that curse on the zombies.”

“It was actually Raava’s spell, but the same difference,” Noelle shrugged.

“And how exactly do we get this sword?” Vanessa asked as she pointed to Asta, who’d changed his left hand into a sword blade and used it to mercilessly attack Fanzell, who was barely holding his own against his crazed student, “It’s stored inside his black grimoire, and Asta is the only person in this whole world who can access it. Then, there’s the fact we need to get him to hold it.”

“I may have a way,” Noelle said as she looked over to where the grimoire had fallen on the ground, “I need you guys to cover me, in case his attention turns to me, which it will…”

“Stop right there,” Finral said as he opened a portal, and out came the grimoire. “You guys always want to do things the hard way. Let me save you some trouble,” he smirked as he handed the book to the water mage. “Whatever you’re going to do, you better do it. The old man won’t last much long against our berserker loudmouth.”

“I hope this works,” Noelle said as she placed a hand on the cover of the black book and concentrated, as she went into a mindscape.

Everything around her was nothing but bright red.

Noelle cupped her hands around her mouth. “Liebe!” she called out, “PLEASE, I NEED YOUR HELP!”

Suddenly, a massive black silhouette of a demon appeared in front of her.

“Why should I help you?” Liebe asked.

“Asta and Raava need you!” she begged. “If you don’t help, Asta might be lost to his own dark feelings. Fragment cast some sort of mind spell and has provoked Asta into some sort of crystal magic form.”

“What could you even do against him?” Liebe shrank down to his true form and floated right in front of her. “You wouldn’t even be able to come here to ask me anything, if it wasn’t for him teaching you to enter your own mindscape. What exactly can you do to even try and save him?”

Noelle held her chest and looked down, “I’d at least, try instead of loafing around in a damn book! I sure as hell can do a lot more than you can! At least I know I’ll be there for him when he needs me, unlike you!”

Liebe eyeballed the water mage for a moment. “I like that fiery side you have, so I’ll help you save the idiot, but you need to know a few things first,” he explained, “Here’s how things work. I can’t really do anything from inside, unless Asta allows it, or he summons the zanpakuto, as that’s a literal physical manifestation of me in the physical world. Seeing as he’s totally out of it right now, I can’t even reach him to talk. I need a physical form or a medium, to even start off with. That’s where you come in.”

“But I don’t have the mental strength to summon your sword,” Noelle said.

“No, but I am still a demon and can manifest through contracts, and we will be making a very short one,” Leibe smiled. “I will grant you temporary access to the Demon Destroyer Sword and a limited amount of anti-magic alongside it, to save the idiot. In exchange for this, you must always be on his side. Even if you two end up going in separate directions in life, should you ever fail in this, you will belong to me… Magic, mind, body, and soul… Deal?” he held out his hand.

Noelle looked at the smiling demon, and then, at his hand. “Like I’d ever betray him,” she smirked and shook the demon's hand, causing a small black crest to form on her upper arm.

Noelle opened her eyes, and the black grimoire was now floating in front of her, covered in its red aura, and turned to its Destroyer page.

“Noelle…” Vanessa looked at the girl as she stood up. “What… did you do?”

“No time to explain,” Noelle said. “Domina, I need you to help me get the big sword. Vanessa, you make a slingshot to launch it at Asta. Finral,” she looked over to the spatial mage, “When I say so, you open a portal right to Vanessa’s strings and then right to Fanzell. I’ll need one right before, to get in close to Asta and get him his Destroyer. We only have one shot.”

Everyone looked at her and then nodded, before doing as she said.

Dominante contacted her husband mentally via magic, ‘Zell, we need you to push him back. Noelle has a plan, and it involves you using Asta’s Demon Slayer sword against him at just the right time. Do you think you can manage to hold him off until I tell you?’

Famzell gritted his teeth as he pushed Asta back and layed a series of strikes against the berserk mage.

‘I’ll do what I can, Fanzell replied as he narrowly blocked an overhead strike. “I’m running out of magic and steam quickly though. Asta definitely has me at a physical disadvantage, but I have the edge in overall mentality right now,” he smirked. “Guess I’ll have to push my limits against you this time, my youngest student!” Fanzell said as he pointed the tip sword of his sword at Asta, who only gave a manic smirk. “He might be possessed or whatever, but he’s still in there. At least, some form of him is,” he remarked as he concentrated his magic around his body.

“Come on, kid, show me what you got!” Fanzell roared as he and Asta rushed in and relentlessly slashed one another so fast that it was just a whirlwind of movement.

Domina, Noelle, and Finral had made it to Asta’s Slayer and managed to barely lift it off the ground. Finral opened a portal and pulled it over them, to land in front of Vanessa.

“Gonna need you to flex those muscles again, hun,” Vanessa winked at the spatial mage, who was huffing on the ground.

“How… does… Asta… swing… this… thing… with… just one… hand?” Finral grunted, as he pushed himself up, and he and Domina pulled the sword back on the string slingshot Vanessa had quickly whipped up with her strongest yet most elastic threads.

“One shot,” Domina gulped, as she was the one left to align the Sword’s path, while Noelle had the black grimoire floating in front of her.

“We best do it now,” Domina said, as Noelle nodded and reached for the sword as it pulled itself from the book.

Noelle quickly pulled it out and felt a surge of power as she raised the sword above her head and allowed the anti-magic to wash over her, giving her appearance something akin to Asta’s black form, but slightly more revealing.

“Wow…” Finral said, as his nose bled a little.

“Keep gawking like that, and I‘ll tell Asta when he’s back to normal,” Vanessa darkly whispered, causing a shiver to shoot down the spatial mage’s spine.

Fanzell forced Asta back with a Gale spell. “NOW!” Domina called out, and they shot the massive sword.

The huge weapon went rocketing down, just as Asta had closed the distance and swung his sword against his teacher’s and shattered Fanzell’s sword to pieces. Fanzell used his wind magic to blast the sword, causing it to turn into a massive high-speed anti-magic buzzsaw, narrowly cutting off its owner’s crystal arm.

Noelle suddenly appeared from above and delivered a downward smack to the face with the Demon Destroyer sword, before losing her grip on the weapon. It fell into the dirt in front of Asta, tip first.

“Nice outfit,” Fanzell said, causing Noelle to cover herself, as her face went flush before her clothing returned to normal, “Did that do it?”

“No idea,” Noelle glared as Asta grabbed his face and looked around, his eyes still red and green.

The anti-magic growled at them, and then looked at the sword, before taking hold of it.

“Great. Now, he’s got a real sword,” Fanzell remarked, as he started to back away.

“Come on… work…” Noelle said.

Suddenly, Asta flinched, and his body cracked with black electricity.

“RAAAHAHAHAAAA!” he roared, as the evil magic was forced from his body and drawn into the Destroyer, where it was converted into anti-magic.

Everyone’s attention was suddenly drawn above them, as a massive galactic crescent appeared and swallowed up the evil ethereal castle.

“What the hell…?” Asta said, as he grabbed his head and then looked over to his right and let go of the Destroyer, causing it to hit the ground, “AHA! WHERE THE FUCK IS MY ARM!?!”

“Yep. He’s back,” Fanzell said, “But what do we do about his arm? We just went through hell to get them back.”

“He’ll be fine,” Noelle waved off the windmage as she rushed over to Asta’s cutoff limb and brought it to him, “Here. Can you reattach it?”

“Thanks, Noelle… As long as the stump is still crystal,” Asta flipped his arm around and held the end up to his stump. “(Heal),” he said in elvish, and the two pieces of his body were one again.

Asta wasted no time in testing his motor function on his right hand.

“So, Asta…” Noelle got his attention, “You going to explain what happened to you?”

“That's a good question, Noelle, and I’d like to know myself,” Asta narrowed his eyes as he looked up. He then closed his eyes and concentrated, causing his body to return to normal. “One thing is clear though… Fragment and I definitely have some sort of past with one another, one that goes a lot deeper than I originally thought.”

An explosion suddenly caught his attention.

“WHAT THE HELL?!” he said, as he looked over and saw Mars and Mariella fighting Demonized Sunset/Fana, dubbed Furens by her handler. “That’s right. She’s here,” Asta said with guttural disdain, as he raised his hand and summoned his swords to his hands, before he started to walk over to the source of his rage.

Fanzell suddenly jumped in front of him, “Hang on there, Asta. Let Mars handle this.”

“Get out of my way,” Asta said with killing intent ever so present in his tone.

“I can-” was all Fanzell could say, as he immediately hit his hands and knees, as he found it quite hard to breathe as Asta flexed his spiritual pressure. “P-please, Asta, tell me,” he wheezed out, “What are you… going to do?”

“What has to be done,” was all he said as Domina rushed over.

“Zell,” she cried out, “Are you alright?”

“Yeah. I’m fine,” Fanzell gave a weak smirk, “I just asked Asta, but nothing was said when it comes to what he’s going to do… I hope my student will make the right choice.”

Meanwhile, Mariella and Mars were doing their best to try and to get past Furens’ outer self and reach their last childhood friend, buried somewhere in all of the evil magic she was exuding.

“I didn’t think that sword that guy gave you would actually do anything, but I’m glad I was wrong about that,” Mariella said, as she held her arm up while she squinted. “It's helped us get this close, without her roasting us. It doesn’t look like she’s even listening to us though.”

“FANA!” Mars called out to the girl, “I know you’re in there! Please, listen to me! Remember…It’s me, Mars!”

The flames girl only shot more fire at the duo, which Mars managed to cut apart with the sword. It actually seemed to be that the weapon was absorbing the magic, instead of cutting through it.

“COME ON BACK TO US!” Mariella called out. “Remember how you and Mars used to talk about going places together!?! You can do it now, with him… with all of us!”

Suddenly, the flames began to shrink in size.

“What’s going on?” Mars looked around and came to see Asta with his Demon Dweller sword raised above his head, using it to convert the magic flames into anti-magic, and absorb and store it in the weapon.

“Is he… absorbing the flames?” Mariella asked.

“His powers have definitely advanced since our encounter,” Mars noted.

Asta reversed the grip on his sword and plunged it into the ground, to allow it to continue to quell the rampaging flame. He then turned to face Furens and walked straight for her.

“Time to finish our little tussle,” Asta glared with a deadly glint, as he let go of the Slayer and let it float behind him, freeing up his hand to pull out his Demon Decapitator sword to pair with his Destroyer. “You still owe me your head!” he launched himself forward.

“Mars, stop him!” Mariella called out.

“Die, humans!” The demoness shot fireballs, only for Asta and Mars to cut them down before the swordsmen collided.

Mars immediately jumped in the way and caught Asta halfway to Furens with his flame sword, fending off Asta’s Demon Swords. The two fighters were a near-even match at this time, due to the massive amount of fatigue and flames they had to put up with as they exchanged slashes. Asta’s advantage was his three swords and anti-magic, while Mars mostly relied on his strength, speed, and greater amount of physical stamina.

“You're in my way,” Asta remarked with a deadly chill, as he brought his Destroyer down extremely hard, causing Mars to buckle slightly from the sheer amount of force created by the impact, stumbling back with his hands shaking a bit, but still maintaining his grip on his sword.

Mars felt a surge of heat coming from his sword along with a strong presence coming from within the sword telling him to use its power. He concentrated on this sensation coming from his sword for a moment and then sent out a fiery slash at Asta, before charging in. Asta didn’t even blink and used his Destroyer to dispel the magic slash, before converting and absorbing it.

“What did she do?” Mars gritted his teeth as he pushed back and charged with an overhead blow against Asta’s Decapitator with a hard clang. “She’s never deserved such malicious feelings from anyone. She was always kind and sweet to everyone. She hated fighting! Those Third Eye bastards did this to her!”

“If that's what you think, then you have no idea who she really is, boy,” Asta shot back as he pushed hard with his Destroyer and was gaining the edge. “That girl is a killer. She has no qualms about doing what’s necessary, if it means getting more power. The fact that she’s in league with Fragment is all the proof I need to see she’s just another power-obsessed fool who needs to be put down!”

Asta controlled his blood flow and increased his strength and threw Mars back, knocking the flame sword from its wielder’s grip. Dodging a shot of exploding crystals forced him to backflip away.

Mariella rushed in with her dagger and tried to hit Asta’s nerve cluster to paralyze him. The daggers hit their marks, and Asta froze where he stood, motionless for a moment.

“I expected better from you,” Asta flexed and shattered the ice blades, “My bare skin is harder than iron at times like this. Even if your little daggers are made of magic ice, they’re still not strong enough to break my skin, and when using my anti-magic, you might as well be trying to tickle me!”

Asta motioned his arms and sent the Demon Slayer at the assassin. The sword missed, as the tip dug into the ground, and Mariella narrowly sidestepped. Asta had counted on this, and with a simple flick of his finger, the sword tipped over and landed on top of the girl, pinning her down.

Mars had managed to get back to his feet and get his sword, before rushing in with a downward slash. Asta raised his Destroyer up and blocked with the flat of his sword.

His gaze met Mars’s. “Your eyes have changed,” he pushed the crystal mage back, “Last time you wouldn't have fretted to let her die. Why are you trying so hard for her?”

“BECAUSE SHE’S THE MOST IMPORTANT PERSON IN THIS WORLD TO ME!” Mars called out. “I’LL DESTROY THE WORLD BEFORE I LOSE HER AGAIN!”

Asta's face became extremely rigid and rushed over and hit Mars's sword with a loud clang. He pushed hard, forcing the older boy to kneel, as Asta looked him right in the eye.

“Say that again,” Asta seethed.

“She’s the most important person in the world to me!” Mars grunted out.

Taking a long look in his opponent’s eyes, the anti-mage spoke. “Fine,” Asta let up. “I’ll help you get her back to her senses, but that doesn’t mean I will let her go for what she’s done.”

“What?” Mars shakily stood up.

“Get away from here,” Asta looked over at Mariella and summoned his slayer back to him, and it flew into his black grimoire.

“I’m not about to let you kill my friend, Asta,” Mariella readied to fight.

“That wasn’t a request,” he countered by releasing an overwhelming amount of bloodlust, flooding the area with killing intent. “I won’t kill her until she knows her charges,” he added. “I can break her curse with this,” he held up his Destroyer, “But, you’ll have to get through to her.”

Mars looked at the sword and recalled what the man in red had told them all earlier about Asta being the only one who could break Fana’s curse. “Right,” he nodded “But first, Flame Recovery Magic, Phoenix Robe!” he motioned, and the two of them caught fire and were healed.

“I’ll take the crystal hits. You take the flames,” Asta motioned.

“Right! Let's go!” Mars said, as the duo charged in.

“Pathetic humans!” Furens called out, as crystals erupted from the ground around her, “Die! All of you, just die!”

Asta reeled his Demon Decapitator back and covered it in anti-magic, “Shattering Black Crescent!” He yelled as he sent out a slash that broke into several smaller crescents and cut through the crystal spike. He quickly stabbed his sword into the ground, to steady himself from falling over, as his breathing became heavy, “Damn it… I don’t have much stamina left…” he looked at Mars, “We need to end this fight soon… Damn, the transformation and ancient magic drain is starting to take its toll on my body…”

“All I need you to do is keep watching my back and cover me,” Mars said as he sliced through flames, and they were absorbed into the sword. “Break the curse on her, and I’ll do the rest. Just promise me you won’t hurt her.”

“I’m sorry, but that’s a promise I won’t make,” Asta sliced a crystal spear apart, “I’ll restrain myself as much as I can. I at least won’t kill her.”

Mars glared at Asta, who just wore a stern expression on his face.

“Fine…” Mars groaned.

“LET’S GO!” Asta said, as he took a deep breath and controlled his blood flow. “Thunder Breathing,” he said, as he shot off and darted from spike to spike in a random pattern, to draw Furens’s attention.

Mars created a diamond platform under his feet and shot toward the flame demon.

Somehow, the flame user was able to keep track of not only Asta’s movements, but also when and where Mars was coming for her at the same time.

She wasted no time. “Spirit Flame Crystal Magic,” she threw out her hands and burning crystals started to form. “Salamander’s Fangs!” she cried, as the crystals turned into miniature salamander heads and shot at the opposing duo.

Mars and Asta quickly found themselves on the defensive, as the crystal heads weren’t dodgeable. No matter how many they cut down, more quickly came down for them, and they were doing a great deal more damage than any other spells before. Even with his Anti-magic, Asta had a hard time cutting down the lizard heads.

“How can she send spells at both of us?” Mars panted.

“That third eye isn’t just part of a curse is my guess,” Asta wiped the blood from his mouth, “At this rate, we'll both be killed. I say we charge in head first. I’ll take the lead.”

Mars narrowed his eyes.

“I’ll only target the curse and the artifact,” Asta rolled his eyes.

“You better,” Mars readied himself.

“GO!” Asta called out, and they both b-lined it for the demoness.

With a wave of her hand, more spikes erupted from the ground at the men. The Demon Slayer shot out of Asta’s grimoire, and the mage jumped on the sword and flew on it, gaining speed and meeting the crystal spikes head-on. Mars quickly gained behind him.

“Black Comet!” Asta cried, as he raised his Destroyer, and with a swift motion, sliced through the horn and the cursed eye below it.

Mars tossed the sword off to the side and caught the girl, not paying mind to the flames and the massive amount of heat she was giving off. The flames and obsidian that covered her body steadily started to fall off and die down, while her size returned to normal.

“It really was you,” Mars placed a hand on Sunset’s face, “Fana…”

Sunset steadily regained her awareness. “Ah…. where am I?” she looked around and saw Mars with tears in his eyes. “Ah… Mars… but I thought I….” she recalled very blurring memories. “AH... my mind… It feels like…”

“You were under the effects of a curse and someone’s control,” Asta said as he walked over and peered down.

Sunset looked at him and immediately knew who he was. “You… you made it here, too…”

“Seeing that reaction, I can now say what comes next with the utmost confidence and conviction,” Asta appointed his sword right at her. “Sunset Shimmer, you are hereby charged with the following: Stealing a treasured artifact of your homeland, attempted murder of the owner of said artifact along with several other guards, assault of the royal family of the Black Clover Kingdom, and many other charges... How do you plea?”

Sunset looked down, and Mars was utterly confused, “Fana?”

“Guilty,” she said without hesitation.

“Then, as the ruler of the nation with these charges, I will now act as judge, jury, and executioner,” Asta narrowed his gaze.

“Wait a minute!” Mars called out. “You can’t just levy charges like that on someone just after they…” he was interrupted by a kiss from Sunset. He looked at her, stunned, “F-Fana…”

Sunset gave him a soft smile, “Thanks for speaking up for me, Mars. You were always the one protecting me, but this is something I have to meet. I consciously did all of the things he said, so I have to own up to it. I’m glad I got to meet you again… and tell you what I really wanted to, on that day…” she returned back to Asta, “I’m ready, Your Majesty…”

“If you ever set foot in my Kingdom, you will be detained and severely punished,” Asta glared as plopped down and let out a harsh sigh. “I can’t make the call for Equestria or the Crystal Empire though,” he looked at her with one eye, “You’re lucky I have no real political power here, but you should be thanking Mars the most. He’s the one who wanted to save you. I just wanted to cut your head off and be done with you,” he said, and she gulped hard.

“Might want to put some clothes on, before that fire dress is gone, too,” Asta whistled, causing the girl to look down and scream before hiding in Mars's cloak. “Here,” Asta reached into his grimoire and pulled out one of his spare shirts, and tossed it to the crystal mage.

“Thank you for sparing her,” Mars looked at Asta.

“Don’t be thankful,” Asta narrowed his eyes. “I still haven’t changed my mind about her. She’s got a lot to make up for, but I don’t want to kill her, cause then, she wouldn’t suffer and atone.”

He stood up. “Time for the next one,” he sighed, as he summoned the Decapitator, as Ladros somehow survived and wandered out of the forest and tumbled into the crater.

“Owie,” Ladros whined. “Where is that little girl who shot me? I NEED MORE OF THAT SPICY MAGIC!” He saw Asta coming at him. “Oh, no good. You have no magic at all. Sorry. Gotta kill ya, buddy!”

Ladros raised his finger.

“Thunder Breathing, Thunder Clap Flash!” Asta said, and in a swift motion cut down Ladros with his Decapitator, but more importantly, the stones on his forehead and chest while leaving him looking like a belemic.

Ladros fell onto his back and stared at the sky, as everyone came over to check on what had happened, not knowing the witch queen was getting ready to act.

Asta wobbled slightly, as he felt his strength finally starting to fade away. He quickly dug his katana into the ground and steadied himself, as the others rushed to him.

“Asta,” Fanzell said, “I don’t remember teaching you to be so merciless.”

“He’s not dead,” Asta looked to his teacher and friends.

“Hey, where am I?” Ladros asked as he sat up and held his head. “Ow… everything hurts… What happened to me?” he looked over and saw Fanzell. “Hey, teacher… long time no see…”

“He seems to be back to normal,” Mariella noted as Ladros got to his feet. “Hey, the gem on his forehead is gone…”

“Makes sense,” Mars said as he helped Sunset over. “When Asta fought me in the dungeon, I cared for nothing, like all my emotions had been erased. I would imagine it had something to do with the procedures that man performed on us when we had the magic stones implanted in our bodies.”

“Wait, they did what to you!?!” Sunset pulled back and looked her friend up and down, “How could they do such a thing?!”

“Look who's talking, little miss all I want is more power,” Asta scowled, causing her to retreat behind Mars, “In short, I did what I did to… Fana to Ladros and destroyed the stone holding the spell.”

“Why are you so hostile toward her?” Dominante asked outright.

Asta’s stern gaze shifted to the witch, causing her to flinch in fear.

“I really don’t think you have a right to know,” Asta growled.

“Asta,” Noelle scowled, “Please tell them, so they can at least try and understand. They’re your friends, our friends, and they won’t know unless you speak up.”

“Fine,” Asta sighed, “That girl you know as Fana is known as Sunset Shimmer in our homeland.” That caused everyone to freeze, “Before she ended up in the Diamond Kingdom, she stole the Element of Magic, the same one that was just used on her, and tried to kill me and just about every other member of the Royal family. She nearly succeeded in killing Twilight.”

“I can see now why you wanted her head,” Mars stated, “But Fana has never done anything of the sort. She was always too scared to fight.”

“It's all true, Mars,” Sunset spoke up, with her head hung in shame. “I wanted power so bad I did terrible things for it, 'cause I believed it was supposed to be mine, but then, I nearly died over that and truly killed someone. Once I woke up on the Diamond Kingdom’s borders, I realized what I’d done and didn’t even have the thing I sought out. I decided that I would never seek out that power again and try to be better. Soon after, I was taken in by the research department, where I found everyone, and most importantly, you.”

“You didn’t kill Twilight,” Asta blurted out, “But she did very nearly die because of you. You will be answering for your theft to her by the way.”

Mars readied, but Sunset stopped him with a shake of her head, “I promise I will.”

A hard thud was heard and felt as something shot out of the sky. The dust cleared to reveal a very battered, beaten, and injured Fragment. He shakily got up to reveal he was much worse for wear, and his right arm was hanging very limply by his side.

“Damn him…” Fragment coughed blood. “How can he be so strong? I’m supposed to be stronger, not him!” He roared and then saw the group. “Hmmm…. My connection was severed after that damn sage destroyed my spell. Come along, dear Sunset,” he held out his one hand still clutching his core sword to his Cursed Blood Blade, “We must leave now.”

Sunset shuttered, as she tightly clutched onto Mars.

“Hmmm… It seems you’ve regained some autonomy,” Fragment pondered, “No matter. Demon Blood-”

Asta didn’t let him finish, as he rushed in with the Decapitator, but Fragment very narrowly blocked the heavy downward strike.

“Bastard!” Fragment grunted.

“Takes one to know one, asshole!” Asta shot back, as the two unleashed extremely hard strikes at one another, but Fragment was clearly at a disadvantage, with his arm pretty much useless.

Asta gripped onto the katana with both hands and brought it down hard and fast.

“Sun Breathing,” Asta said as he coated his blade in antimagic, “Black Blade, Flame Dance!”

Fragment pulled back just enough to marginally avoid it, but the very tip of the sword cut into his mask and skin.

Asta didn’t let up and quickly reversed the blade of his sword and pulled back up in a slanted horizontal motion. This time he drew blood, cutting off Fragment’s useless right arm.

“GRAAAHAHAAAAAA!” Fragment cried out in pain as he staggered back, dropping his weapon in order to hold his stump of a limb. He positioned his hood just right, to hide the right side of his face, as a piece of his mask fell off as he fell to his knees. “BASTARD! I’LL END YOU!”

A glint from the ground caught the evil mage’s eye. Right next to him was the severed crystal arm of Asta. It had ended up there from the earlier skirmish with Fanzell earlier.

Fragment’s hatred melted and turned into utter joy.

“AHAHAHAHAHA!” he laughed, as he activated his Abyss magic and opened a small gate above his bloody left hand, and out of it came Sunset’s blackened obsidian crystal horn, that contained the Element of Magic.

“I WON’T LET YOU USE THAT!” Asta rushed in, but Fragment countered. With a flick of his wrist, the Element of Magic was flung from the base of the horn, nailing Asta in the forehead, causing him to fall onto his back.

“Don’t need it,” Fragment chuckled, as he stabbed himself in the forehead where his blood crystal horn had been, “HEHEHEHEHE.”

“Bastard!” Asta glared as he jumped to his feet again and shot over towards Fragment, who again barely countered by using his Blood Blade’s core blade to block the strike and then used an Abyss gate to get back to his target.

Fragment let out a hardy chuckle as he proceeded to bend down and pick up the discarded arm and slammed it into what was left of his own arm. “Demon Blood Curse Magic, Blood Curse!” he yelled out, “Binding Cursed Blood Flow!” He laughed as the crystal appendage bonded to him almost instantly.

Asta stared in shock as his enemy flexed his discarded arm as if it always belonged to him. Suddenly, crystal spikes erupted through Fragment’s cloak at his shoulder.

“Argh!” the evil mage staggered just a bit.

“Hehehe…” Fragrant chuckled. “Been some time since I've been able to feel as complete as this…” he hissed, looking up to reveal the crystals had also grown around his right eye and into his mask, to replace the missing piece of his mask. “NOW, COME!” he called out, as he held his new arm above his head, and evil green and purple mist began to swirl from all around to coalesce into a ball above the evil mage's palm.

Asta and Sunset felt a burning surge of pain run throughout their entire bodies, as the evil magic was ripped from them. Even the dark crystal lance Asta had conjured was pulled in.

“Hmph,” Fragment scoffed. “To think you had the gall to attempt to imitate the imperial lance,” he waved off the weapon, as it was broken down into magic. “Though it lacks decorum, it's still a sight, as it requires a great deal of dark magic. I’ll put it to better use than you did, at least.”

As soon as the magic had gathered, the sphere’s circumference was that of the crater and Fragment condensed it down to the size of a basketball above his hand.

“I’ll be taking my dear Sunset, too,” Fragment smirked, until he felt a piercing gaze directed solely at him, coming from high above in the sky, just out of sight.

“Perhaps that sword instead then… Abyss Magic,” he changed his target and tried to take Mars’s sword with a gate, only for the weapon to activate on its own and shoot into the sky. “What?!”

The sword flared with magic fire and began to suck up all of the flames throughout the entire Forest of Witches, before rocketing off high into the sky and transforming into a winged humanoid form with horns, bright yellow hair, and red-toned skin. The figure let out a roar, as it pulled more of the flames from the blade into its mouth until every single flame

“What the hell was that?” Sunset shouted in shock before she felt the dark equestrian magic that had consumed her in the air. She looked over towards her former master and noticed his body starting to shrivel, “What’s happening to him?!”

“I’ve wasted too much time and power here,” Fragment panted while he looked at Asta and smiled evilly. “Next time we meet will be the last time for sure, Asta…” he said as he walked through an Abyss Gate. “Continue to regain your strength, because if you don’t… beating you next time won’t be at all enjoyable, mahehehehehehe….” he laughed as the gate closed.

“What the hell was that?!” Dominante shouted.

“A nuisance that is now gone,” everyone heard the witch queen’s voice from everywhere, as a flock of crows suddenly formed into the ruler of the forest.

Asta glared at the queen, “Alright, lady, we did our part and held up the end where we took out the Eye and the Diamond Kingdom mages. Can we go?”

“You did indeed, and all without me having to lift a finger to the nuisance. However, your leaving would also be a nuisance, one that I will not allow,” she remarked, as she activated her grimoire, while raising a finger and sending out a torrent of blood that washed over the crater and swept everyone in it, too, solidifying and suspending everyone on crosses. “Blood Creation Magic, Fresh Blood Executions Ground. Now, allow me to move ahead with the next stage of my perfect plan.”

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?!” Asta cried out, as he stepped forward to run, but his legs suddenly gave out, due to the strain and something else. “RAHAAAAAAA!”

“I am the queen here, and ever since I used my healing magic on you, my blood magic has been thoroughly infused and coursing throughout your body. Ever since then, I have been influencing you ever so slightly,” the queen manically said, as she motioned her hand about and caused Asta to writhe in pain, as a blood web wrapped around him, “Blood Magic, Puppet’s Blood. You are particularly powerful boy. A match for even myself in a serious fight, I’d say, in terms of just magic power alone, but your anti-magic is what gives you the true edge in this world. Even when not using it, I could barely do anything after I used my spell, but thanks to the fighting, you have been worn to exhaustion, both physically and magically. Now that you have been worn down to this point, I can enact my will in full force upon you.”

Asta writhed in agony, as the Demon Slayer Sword was thrown to him. The boy was in a trance as he took the weapon with his right hand, and took a single shaky step, cracking the hardened blood under his feet.

“Let him go!” Vanessa and Noelle said in unison.

“It would be quite the shame to lose such a fine tool as yourself,” the queen commented. “Not only do you have light and dark magic, but you have anti-magic as well. You also displayed a plethora of other magics and powers I’ve never seen before. To lose you would be most imperfect. You will be the most dangerous weapon in this world, especially when wielded by me. Blood Recovery Magic, Curse Breaking Blood Filled Cocoon,” she drowned as she healed Asta with blood coming from her fingers again, knowing he was totally hers to control now.

Asta was once more lifted into the queen's cocoon spell and infused with her blood, as she meticulously performed and watched the process.

“Stay by my side, and you may wreak as much havoc as you wish,” the queen confidently remarked.

‘She’s casting so many advanced spells, one after the other,’ Noelle thought, as she looked on with her mouth hanging open. ‘This isn’t like Raava’s Spirit Magic at all. Just being close to it is making my blood run cold… She’s far worse than I thought…’

“That sword is the key, and if I can’t wield you, then you shall for me,” the queen motioned with her hand and balled it into a fist, while anti-magic erupted from the blade and down to cover Asta. “You will carry this weapon, as though it were mine.”

Allen watched all of this unfolding from high above, grinding his teeth in rage.

Asta emerged from a black ball of anti-magic in his one-winged black form, as black lighting shot passed Vanessa’s head.

“No, this whole time she was only after Asta!” Vanessa said with utter worry.

“Now, for your first order,” the queen commanded. “Kill these weaklings. Do a perfect job and leave no one alive.”

“Asta, fight her!” Noelle called out, “I know you're still in there! You’re stronger than this!”

“Now, who shall we kill first?” The queen looked around and then looked at Noelle. “Ah, yes, let’s not deny royalty. Kill her!” she ordered, and Asta obeyed.

“Asta, wake up!” Vanessa cried out.

“Come on, Asta! This isn’t you!” Fanzell called to his student, “It's no use. I can’t get through to him…”

“It’s me! Noelle!” Noelle cried out, with tears in her eyes, “You have to remember!”

Vanessa gritted her and looked at the queen.

“Now, this is justice…” the queen joyfully remarked as Asta kept walking, “To think, a Clover Kingdom royal would be vanquished by their knight’s blade.”

“You can’t…” Vanessa remarked in worry, as Asta stood in front of his lover and raised his sword.

Allen kept watching from his spot, readying to step in if needed, still holding back his spite.

“Asta…” Noele said, with tears starting to fall.

“Snap out of it!” Vanessa cried out, “Please!”

“No…” Noelle cried, as she looked at him readying to bring his blade down on her, “Please stop!”

“It's time to say farewell,” the queen tacked on.

“ASTA!” Vanessa yelled.

“Don’t listen to her!” Fanzell added.

“Do it!” the queen ordered.

Asta swung, but suddenly stopped and pulled back, using his left arm.

“So, she still doesn’t have full control,” Fanzell remarked with confidence.

“Curses,” the queen held out her hand and activated her magic, “He isn’t even conscious yet he still has more than enough willpower to resist..”

Allen smirked.

Noelle gritted her teeth. “I won’t die!” she cried out. “I won’t let you kill me!” she shouted, not at Asta, but at the queen, as she started to struggle against her restraints. “I won’t! I have too much still left to do! Once I get free, I’ll show you just what I can do!”

“Puppet’s Blood binds to the target's blood throughout the target’s body and bends him to my will,” the queen announced. “He can fight it, but he can’t deny it. Normally I wouldn’t be able to use the spell on one as strong as him from the start,” the queen flexed her fingers, “But he has been pushed to passed his breaking point and can not escape my hold.”

Asta kept struggling.

“So stubborn,” the queen remarked.

Asat inched closer.

“Stop this, please!” Vanessa called out to her mother. “I’ll make you a deal,” she said, causing the queen to look over. “Let them go, and I’ll stay here! I’ll never disobey you again! Please…” she pleaded with tears.

The queen looked outright disgusted. “No,” she refused, causing Vanessa to recoil, “He’s going to kill each of them perfectly here and now, so that I can put an end to your defiance. Vanessa, my scrying foretold that you would one day return to the forest with something I wanted. That’s why I didn’t search for you. However, I hadn’t foreseen that that something was this human boy wielding not only contradicting magic elements, but also anti-magic. What did you gain by fleeing my forest?” She looked over at her daughter.

Vanessa watched in horror.

“You may have shared a fleeting bond with these imperfect worms, but in the end, it only led them to their deaths,” the queen noted as Vanessa started to shake, “No matter where you run, your ties to me can not be broken.”

“To you?” Vanessa muttered.

“You are my daughter, after all,” the queen added, “And family lasts forever.”

“We’re family?” Vanessa shakily added, “What do you mean by that?”

“You belong to me,” the queen bluntly stated.

Vanessa started to remember her time in the Witches’s Forest, while being trapped in a cage, as a tear rolled down her cheek. She recalled hearing witches leaving and seeing the queen, her mother, and begging to be set free, only to be denied for the fact she may have a power the queen wanted to possess, but never achieving it. She remembered passing the time by speaking to a doll made of string. She kept lamenting and crying to herself, until one day, someone broke into the forest and her cage.

It was none other than Captain Yami, well, just Yami at that time, who somehow made it to her prison. He noticed her and decided to ask her what her story was, so they struck up a light conversation about telling him how she never left this place. It was then that he told her it was her lucky day, cause now there was a hole, so she could sneak out, only for her to deny it and say it was her fate. Yami then said she ended up here cause it was her fate in disbelief. He then told her he knew all about fate and told her to kick its ass and live how she wanted, before taking his leave, and Vanessa followed immediately.

Vanessa then started to remember her times with the squad and the most recent times with her friends.

“You want to know what I gained from the outside world?” Vanessa called out. “Well… I learned something…”

“Which is?” the queen asked not even really caring about the answer.

“You’re not my family, and you never were!” Vanessa retorted. “Cause the Black Bulls are my family,” she added as tears streamed down her face, “and now, they’re about to be taken away from right before my eyes by someone who claims to be my own mother! If I can’t stop that, then what good am I to them? Please…” she looked down to her grimoire, “If that power really does exist,” the grimoire flipped through its pages. “Magic of mine, change this fate!” she called out, as the book opened to a fresh blank page and began to inscribe itself with red writing, as the book glowed a blinding white light.

Threads spring from Vanessa and her grimoire and swirled all around and coiled around into a red mass, until they formed a small red cat.

“What is that?” Vanessa looked up, surprised.

“Incredible,” the queen said proudly. “She’s done it,” she admitted as the cat perched itself atop Vanessa’s head and stared right back at the queen, ”At last, the red thread of fate.”

Allen smiled widely from out of sight in the sky at the display of his daughter's newly awakened power, “Now, make me proud and show your mother what you can do!”

The cat let out a slow meow, before jumping down and landing in front of the string witch and letting out another meow.

“In all these years,” Vanessa admitted, “I never thought it’d look like this… A cat.”

The cat meowed some more and rolled on the ground.

‘So, she’s discovered the spell. She really can manipulate destiny,’ the queen thought before she raised her hand. “In that case, let’s give it a try,” she motioned her hand, and Asta started to move to Noelle.

The water mage recoiled.

“Asta!” Vanessa called out, and the cat immediately pounced and perched itself on the boy’s left shoulder with a meow.

The witch queen watched the cat with the utmost interest. “It just touched him,” she said out of disappointment, “But nothing happened.”

Allen kept smiling from his lookout in the clouds, “That’s all it takes, little witch…”

“It’s time to pay for underestimating the Great Queen of Witches,” the queen motioned her hand, causing Asta to lower his left hand and begin heading for Noelle again, while the queen reveled in her own self-satisfaction.

Asta struggled as he reeled back and brought his sword down with a single motion to meet with Noelle’s neck, causing her head to go flying off to the right along with the cat, while Vanessa cried out for Asta.

“NOOOOO!!!” Vanessa cried.

“It appears you are still imperfect, but not to worry. In my infinite perfection, I will see to it that you receive proper training, from this point forward,” the queen gloated.

“Asta!” Vanessa cried out and then stopped to stare.

The queen, too, was utterly speechless, as Noelle was still there in one piece, and Asta stood there, posed in the same position and at the ready.

“She’s still alive,” the Queen pondered, ‘Impossible! I saw her cut her clean in two,’ Now, it’s time to pay, for underestimating the Great Queen of Witches.”

Asta wasn’t moving.

“Mmmm… I said kill them,” the queen flexed her magic.

Asta shakily moved, but it was to face the queen with a look of utter disgust and rage plastered over his face, startling her.

“You think… you can… make me…” he grunted, as he dropped his sword on the ground with a hefty clang, “Kill my…friends… and one …of my girls!”

The queen’s eyes went wide with shock, while the anti-magic freely flowed from Asta’s now-present black grimoire over his body.

“I… will…. die… first!” he roared, as the anti-magic completely covered him and hardened into a new form, an anti-magic armor.

The Black Knight now stood before the queen in checkmate.

“My puppet’s blood spell has been broken. Impossible…” the queen motioned her hand, and the red string of her spell appeared above Asta. “A mere imperfection that I have now dealt with. Now, pick up that sword and kill.”

“As you wish, Your Highness,” Asta spoke fluidly this time, causing the queen’s eyes to widen as he reached towards his back and pulled the sword from it, all the while her puppetry spells strings were snapping with each motion of his body.

“How can this be?” the queen recoiled slightly.

Asta’s hand, in the meantime, had reached the hilt of his weapon and pulled it from his back, to reveal a massive katana-like blade with an upper and lower handle in the spine of the weapon.

As soon as the tip of the weapon touched the ground, the hardened blood magic evaporated in anti-magic.

Asta raised the sword and covered it in his anti-magic, and with a single motion, he swung the sword behind him and sent a single crescent of anti-magic toward his friend, dispelling their bonds and setting them free.

“Impudent witch,” Asta said, drawing the queen’s attention back on him as he started to step forward, and with each step, more and more anti-magic poured into the ground from his armor. “You want me to kill, then I’ll oblige, but you never said who!”

Asta flexed, and the queen reacted immediately and created a massive scythe of blood to counter Asta’s incoming strike.

“I barely managed to block the attack,” the queen uttered, as she struggled to fend off Asta.

“I won’t let up,” Asta roared, as he and the queen began to trade blows, but his armor made it impossible for her weapon to do any sort of damage. He sent her flying into the trees with another hard swing. “You shouldn’t have healed me,” he said, as he stepped and then shot in front of the queen, who knocked him back with the butt of the scythe to the forehead, rocketing him backward.

The queen looked at Vanessa. “I must have it,” she narrowed her eyes and went for her daughter, “Come to me, fate. I am your master now!”

She suddenly felt something grab onto her ankle.

The queen looked down, and her eyes widened. “You’re not going anywhere near my friends, you old hag!” Asta said, as he threw the queen through several trees across the forest.

“Asta’s actually fighting the queen and winning…” Dominante said in shock, “Is it the anti-magic?”

Asta shot forward like a bullet and collided with the queen, sending out a shockwave.

“That armor is made of hardened anti-magic,” Allen said from amongst them, causing them to jump, “No doubt it's playing a major role in helping fend off the little witch's attacks, while also boosting his attack power. He was right. She really shouldn’t have healed him.”

“Excuse me, but who the hell are you?!” Vanessa and Finral yelled.

“No one of consequence,” Allen said with a subtle shrug, as he looked to Vanessa at the corner of his eye with a smile.

The string witch was a bit more than perplexed but didn’t mind his gaze. In fact, she found it quite comforting.

Meanwhile, the queen again was sent clear across the forest, but this time became much worse for wear.

She struggled to push herself off the ground. “How is this boy so strong?” she asked herself, as she coughed up blood. “This isn’t my power’s doing,” she said, as she looked toward his direction.

“You’re done,” Asta said, as he raised his sword with both hands on each handle and pointed the weapon toward the queen.

All of the anti-magic began to gather at the tip of the blade from everywhere the two had fought into a large ball.

Allen looked shocked at his brother's control of this much of his anti-magic.

“Black,” Asta said, as a waft of anti-magic passed in front of his face, to reveal the outline of the wrathful mage’s face inside the armor.

“MASER!” he roared and shot a massive blast of concentrated anti-magic at the queen.

“Not good,” Allen said, as he immediately vanished without even activating his magic, and this left everyone shocked.

“Master,” Mars looked at Fanzell, “Could that man be the same person that made the sword?”

“If I had to guess, then yeah,” Fanzell said dumbstruck. “Just who is that guy?” he looked over at Vanessa, “He talked like he knew you.”

“I have no clue,” Vanessa shrugged, “Never met him before.”

Allen reappeared in front of the queen. “You seriously fucked up this time, little witch,” he said, as he threw up his hand and caught his younger brother’s attack. “Damn it,” Allen said with gritted teeth, “Seals of Sin, Full Release,” he grunted, and his physical abilities quickly skyrocketed.

“How?” the queen asked.

“My powers aren’t limited to magic, my dearest,” Allen grunted. “At his full strength, Asta could’ve easily tore through you, but in the state he’s in now, he only has access to a fraction of that power. I’m more than a match for him physically in this state, but with this much conpressed anti-magic, even I can’t rely on my magic and have to use my other abilities,” he said, as he concentrated and traced the flow of the the anti-magic, and then, began to pull on it.

The anti-magic began to swirl all around Allen as it was unraveled and spun into a new form, a form that Allen knew quite well, as it was one he’d made several times before, just not one made of anti-magic.

Above the man’s palm floated a black stone with a reddish sheen to it.

Allen wiped his face. “An Anti-Sage Stone. Never thought I would make one of these,” he said, as he placed it in his vault for safe keeping, “Too dangerous to let that thing out in this world, let alone in any Equestria.”

The man looked to the Queen. “I will tell you this only once, little witch. Don’t ever try and mess with him or my daughters again, or I will do far worse than he did just now,” he glared at the women. “Arc of Time!” he called out, and a silver spell matrix appeared behind him and above the Forest of Witches.

Suddenly, everything except for the people began to rewind back to the places they had been, just before the assaults of the Diamond Kingdom and the Eye of the Midnight Sun.

Asta looked around. “What the hell is this magic?” he said.

“Only one person we know with this sort of power, outside of the wizard king,” Raava appeared next to her partner, as the anti-magic armor crumbled and faded away, “I never knew you could make solid armor and weapons out of it.”

“I had no idea either,” Asta scratched his head, “Liebe?”

“First time I’ve seen it done without a contract, and even then, I’ve never seen or heard of anything that solid before either,” the demon acknowledged, “How are you feeling?”

“Sore,” Asta said, as he flopped on his back, hard. “OWWWWWWW!!!!! Oowowowowow!” he called out as he rolled around on the ground.

“Asta!” all of his friends cried out, as they tackled him just as he stood up.

“THE HURRRTTTTTTS!” he cried out.

“STUPID IDIOT!” Noelle cried as she dashed to him.

He looked down. “Sorry, Noelle,” he hugged her, “I’m really sorry.”

“How touching,” the queen said from her bed of crows as she appeared, looking worse for wear, as the others got defensive, “You can relax. I don’t not wish to fight you any longer.”

“Your majesty, who was it that cast that spell?” Dominante asked.

“An old ally,” the queen said while looking at Vanessa, “How do you feel after meeting your father, Vanessa?”

Everyone’s eyes widened.

“That man… was my father!?!” she looked at the queen.

“Yes,” the queen nodded once, “In fact, he is the father of both you and your older sister.”

“Dorothy, too,” Vanessa said in disbelief.

“I’m afraid I’m lost here,” Asta said, though he had a theory.

“Yeah. Me too,” Noelle added.

“Same,” the others, outside Fanzell and Dominante added.

“Let me explain then,” Dominante stepped up with a proud tone of voice. “See, we witches consider ourselves the superior sex, and though we do leave the forest on occasion, most of us still call it our home and live in it. Witches like me, Vanessa and the captain for the Coral Peacocks, Dorothy Unsworth, are outliers. We left and never came back, deciding to settle in the outside world.”

“Yeah. We already know that,” Mariella said flatly.

“DON’T INTERRUPT ME!!” Dominante shouted at the ice assassin and cleared her throat, “Most of us will never stay with a man, let alone get married. You see, when it comes time for witches to want to reproduce, we generally spend some extra time out in the world, scouting out a suitable male we consider to have a good magic for our next generation.”

“Does that mean all witches solely give birth to females?” Mars asked.

“More like an eighty/twenty ratio, actually,” Vanessa replied with a teetering of her hand, “The males as cared for until it is determined they’ll survive and then sent off to an orphanage, unless the witch leaves the child with its father or decided to raise the boy outside the forest, while continuing to live here or at least very close by. Once they reach a certain age, then the witch usually leaves the boys to find for themselves, only checking in if they want to.”

“Interesting,” Mars raised an eyebrow.

“The point I’m getting is most of you grow up without even knowing your fathers,” Fanzell put the pieces together, “Let alone ever meeting them.”

“That is correct,” the queen added, “Most witches will spend one night with a man and leave, them being none the wiser and thinking it was all a dream, while the witch leaves with the next generation of offspring for the forest.”

“Who is that man you call my father?” Vanessa asked directly.

“The oldest and most powerful mage in this world,” the queen said, “Your string magic and Dorothy’s Dream magic are products of his bloodline mixing with my own.”

“This man,” Asta narrowed his eyes, “Blonde hair, amber eyes. Wear a redcoat?”

“Most of the time,” the queen nodded once. “I see you are acquaintwed with the Wanderer.”

“He’s my older brother,” Asta said outright, causing everyone to look at him.

“Ah, I see. That explains your extraordinary magical abilities and other abilities,” the queen held her chin, “But by that pretense, that would make you something of a brother-in-law to me, though we never actually exchanged vows.”

“CAN WE PLEASE GET BACK TO THE PART WHERE ASTA’S OLDER BROTHER IS MY FATHER?!?!” Vanessa yelled out, “I can’t believe he’s my uncle! No way! I have nearly ten years on him.”

“It was no mistake when she called him the strongest in this world, dear niece,” Asta poked at his new family, knowing this was one hundred percent true after reading the queen’s QI.

“Indeed,” the queen acknowledged, “He is the first person in this world I have seen to be able to use time magic. The skill you all just saw was beyond that level, too,” this caused them all to freeze, “The second being capable of such being the wizard king. My dearest is less of a human and more along the line of an entity or spirit. This is why asked for him to father you and your older sister.”

Vanessa looked at Asta, and he only nodded.

“To say his powerscope is outside of the laws of this world is nothing short of truth,” the queen continued, as she reached up and pulled the magic stone from her earring. “I believe you should have this,” she tossed the stone to Asta. “The third eye did come here looking for it, after all, and I would not chance anymore encounters with them here,” she then created a bottled healing spell and handed it over to Mars, “For your ailing king.”

“Thanks,” Asta looked through the stone, and then, looked at Noelle, and then, to the others, “I think we should go.”

They all headed out, but Noelle turned back to ask, “Vanessa, are you coming?”

“Ah… yeah…” Vanessa looked back to her mother, “I won’t forgive you for what you did.”

“I don’t expect you to,” the queen said, “Neither will your father, but I hope we can at least move past it. Please know that I am sorry, my darling girl. I was blinded by my own delusions of power and control. Go, and be with those you call family. That is where you belong, after all, but know that you’ll always be welcome here, Vanessa and know that your father has always loved you.”

“Will… I ever get to meet him again?” Vanessa asked.

“I cannot say,” the queen closed her eyes< “Your father is the one being I have never been able to get a read on, no matter what I try, but knowing him, you will meet again at some point. But, if you wish to know about him, then I suggest you ask your uncle.”

The sound of a car lurching to a halt was heard in Vanessa’s mind, before she looked to Asta.

“If he really is my uncle, then that means he’s not really what he appears either,” Vanessa realized. “Please tell me, what are they? Asta and my father, who is he really?”

“That boy is exactly who he is now,” the queen said. “Nothing more, nothing less. But there is coming a time very soon where he will no longer be that and must return to what he was. As for your father, not even I know that for sure, Vanessa.”

“Thank you, mother,” Vanessa said, before she turned to leave.

“And Vanessa,” the queen called out, causing her daughter to freeze, “Please be sure to visit.”

Vanessa then smiled and waved a hand, before leaving and joining her friends.

The queen then returned to her castle.

“That was more fun than I’ve had in the last four hundred years,” she said. “Tea?”

Edward walked out from the shadows, “Yes. We have much to discuss, my little witch…”

The doors shut on the couple as the night came.

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