Black Bull's Hideout...

"Man I am starved!" Asta complains as he sits down and props his head on the table.

"Hey Asta when did you get back?" Magna asked.

"Last night," he grumbles. "You were all busy being yourselves. Hungry...."

"Must you be so dramatic?" Noelle looks off to the side.

"Noelle was worried about, you ya know," Vanessa chuckles.

"I was not!" Noelle sharp shot back

"I mean you took off without so much as a goodbye to her after all." Vanessa teased.

"I was not worried!" Noelle yelled. "I was..." her face turned pink, "Wondering if he'd ever come back is all! yea that's it! Ehehehe..."

"Yea and looking out the window and staring off into the direction he flew is a fad around here," Finral added as he sits his glass of water down, "Hate to tell ya, but that's worrying plain and simple."

"Sorry about that Noelle," Asta sits up. "I should've at least said goodbye to you and the others. Thanks for worrying about me though," he smiles

"I mean you did get cut all over your body and conquer a dungeon and bad guys," Magna adds. "Anyone would need some r-n-r after something like that."

"I think a whole week of going dark somewhere where no one can reach you or knows about is a bit much," Noelle looks sternly at everyone.

"I was worried about you too and glad to see you're back safe and sound..." Gordon murmurs.

"Shoooo..." Grey blows smoke.

"Enough of this idle chit-chat. Think of my Goddess Marie," Gauche says as blood runs from his nose while he turns his head and reveals the picture of his little sister, "Someone tells me something interesting. I need more stories to tell her. I only have thirty hundred and ten left."

"How is that not enough?!" Finral says.

"Here ya go," Asta remarks as he reaches into his black grimoire and tosses a book labeled,

"It's a book my parents read to me back in my homeland. It's got all kinds of stuff little girls will love in it."

"She will most certainly adore this when I present it to her," Gauche says as he imagines Marie's smiling face and gets another nosebleed. "Oh Marie, My Marie."

"You know you really shouldn't encourage him," Noelle berates.

"Hey if it keeps him happy let him fantasize," Asta nonchalantly throws a hand up.

"Thank you, Asta," Gauche remarks as he knelt down. "How can I repay you for this treasure. Oh, I know! I let you see my latest picture of my Darling Maire!" He joyfully pulls out a new picture, "Isn't she just so beautiful!"

"Ah yea...." Asta has his hands up. 'Yea I think I made a mistake with this one...'

"So how ya feeling now?" Luck asked. "Can we have a fight?"

"Ya good as new," Asta flexed. "But I can't fight ya just yet bud. Need food first."

"Ah yea!" Luck happily laughs.

"Hey Everybody!" Charm happily shouts as she and a procession of sheep cooks with large plates of food over their head march in. "Hope you brought your appetites cause the sheep cooks prepped a lot!"

"FOOD!" Asta roars as he gluttonously dives in scarfing down huge portions and immediately starts to gag.

"Seriously!" Noelle remarks as she holds up a glass of water, "You really need to pace yourself."

"Thank You," Asta took the glass and washes down his gullet. "Sorry about that Noelle. You're a lifesaver!"

Noelle's face lights and she turns away.

Suddenly the hallway door explodes and Yami steps in. "Alright time for food then back to bed," he remarks as he sits down. "Hey kid, nice to see you back and ready to go."

"Yes sir," Asta replied in between his portions while Noelle just sighed and held her head.

"Ahaha!" Yami laughs. "Yea it's really good cause now ya can go give a report on the dungeon to Knight's Headquarters."

"Oh, can I go?!" Luck raised a hand.

"No. I don't like that look in your eyes," Yami pants, "Knowing you it wouldn't be ten seconds until you tried to fight someone. You can go on a Battle mission with Magna as Back up!"

"A battle mission! Yea!" Luck threw up his hands. "Let's do our best Magna!"

"Ah... who are you and what have you done with Luck?" Magna says out of shock/

"Oh, can I go?" Charmy throws up a hand. "Just thinking about all the yummy food in the capital makes my mouth water!"

"Yea, why would I send you," Yami raised an eyebrow. "All you'd do there is eat and that's all here anyways. Besides," He blew smoke, "They're big kids. I think they can take care of themselves. Have fun!"

Noelle and Asta at each other and then he shrugged and went back to eating."

The Noble Realm...

Asta and Noelle walked through the streets of the Noble Realm. Finral had dropped them off pretty close to the Knight's Headquarters but not at the actual spot as he said he would compromise as he had a date to get to and any close to the Headquarters would make him later for said date. Noelle and Ast just flatly looked at him and went along with it as they didn't feel like wasting energy on him, so after that, this is where they were now.

"The meeting isn't set for any time why don't we enjoy some of the vendor shops on the way?" Asta asked.

"We need to get to a debriefing and you want to go sightseeing?" Noelle says bluntly.

"I never said we were gonna play hooky. I just said we have a little time to kill and why not do so on the way there as long as it's on the street that leads to Headquarters," Asta held up a finger then smirked.

It stayed silent for a while. Asta noticed she hadn't really even been backbiting him since his return to the base like she usually did.

"Hye," He jumped in front of her startling her causing her to 'eep' and jump back. "I thought so. You're lost in your own head. So, what's going on Noelle? You look like something is really eating you up inside."

"Am I really that bad?" She sulks as she bows her head.

"You haven't even dosed me with water since I came back from my break," Asta points out. "If you need to talk about it I'm here for you."

She looks at him and sees he's seriously worried about her.

"Alright. Here goes," Noelles looks at him right in the eyes. "I spoke with Twilight about her relationship with you. I figured it went deeper than just friends and growing up together. It appears I was right after seeing... How she... K-k-kissed you on the lips right in front of all of us." She stuttered a bit as her voice dies down slightly while pinks flush slightly, "She told me about what you two went through to get to this country but told me to ask you about what's going on if I really wanted to know..."

"This has been bothering you since the dungeon?" Asta scratches the back of his head as he looks off to the side. She nods once with a lot of force. He sighs, "Okay then are you sure you really want to know the truth that bad."

"Please," Noelle says weakly.

"Alright then," He sighs and crosses his arms, and thinks. "How can I put it gently?" He bites his nail. "Screw it. Twilight and I are engaged. We've been engaged since we were very small," he says.

That news hit Noelle hard. She felt as if someone shot her through the heart.

"It was something our parents set up. It basically an arranged marriage," Asta says. "Do you have those here?"

"Y-yea..." Noelle says as she feels a bit relieved. "Lots of Nobes and royals do it all the time. But since your parent and hers aren't alive anymore that means you don't have to get married."

"Hmmm..." Asta crossed his arms again. "Technically yes. But we grew up together too. Twilight was one of the few constants in my nomadic life and I looked forward to seeing her every chance I got. I didn't have a lot of friends living the way I did. Twilight was... special too. She's considered very pretty and was sheltered due to her linage as that of a lesser noble house that was often sent to serve as the emperor's concubines. If she was already set up to marry someone already then she was automatically exempt from that rule."

"I see..." Noelle says as she knows full will this was usually the way things went, unless the noble or royal in question used other means to get what they wanted. Most often they did.

"We gradually grew to like each other over our visits," Asta continued. "To the point, our points set in a contract. After our parents passed away and she found we grew closer to the point we decide to continue with it."

There is was. The one thing that she was hoping not to hear in this.

"Have to say I wasn't excepting you of all people to be interested in things like this," Asat says is mock humor with a chuckle.

"I can see it now!" He walks on.

"W-what do you see?" Noelle says as she does her best to hold back tears.

"Twilight putting you in a wedding dress!" He laughs.

Noelle recoiled and froze in place for about ten seconds, "WHY WOULD SHE PUT ME IN A WEDDING DRESS?!" She shouts and sends a blast of water at him.

Asta uses his waterbending to kick the ball into the air where it explodes and send a short rain elsewhere. "There's the real Noelle. And say that because where we come from it's normal for even commoners to have more than one wife."

"WHAT?!" She repeats in shock. "Why is it normal for commoners to have more than one wife? I mean here many noblemen have mistresses that range down to lower class nobles but very rarely is there a commoner amongst them!"

"In our home country females outnumber males," Asta says. "So in order to keep it up man take more wives. My father had another wive before my mom and another after her too," he holds up three fingers. "I have both and older brother and a little brother by each of them."

Noelle blinks. "If you have an older brother then why didn't you stay with him instead of running away?!"

"Cause he is nearly ten years older than I am and left the family to pursue his own women and dreams," Asat shrugs. "He didn't want to burden him. My younger brother was still very little and I made sure he got to our older brother and then I lift. When I saw my older brother I saw he had three kids of his own about the same age as my baby brother. I ddin't want to be a burden but I also wanted to be like him and live my own life my way. So I left."

"S-so back to the wedding dress thing," Noelle says playing with her hair.

"See she probably took your asking as that you might be interested in me romantically," Asta smirks with a light chuckle.

"Oh," Noelle says as her face turns bright red.

"See back home there is still a process for a woman to go through," Asta adds. "If the man in question is interested in a woman and not married already then that's wife one if she says yes. That is her spot and she is the head wife. If the guy wants to add another woman to his harem as it's called then the woman must be approved by the head wife. She is the deciding factor for the most part. If the other wives, if he has any, are against it then they can't really do shit about it but at the same time, they can still be very nasty to the new member. The headm- wife can also put certain stipulations in place in place if she proves this new woman."

"Like what?" Noelle asked, genuinely curious as she rushed to catch up.

"Let me think... Hmmmm... Oh," He raised a finger. "Like you must spend this much time with me before her or you can only spend the night with her on a specific day. My father wasn't allowed to....," His cheeks turn pink slightly, "Ah.... be intimate with my mother and second mother except on extremely specific days."

"I think I understand it now," Noelle looks up, "Is there any limit to a harem's number?"

"Hmmm," Asta held his chin, "I don't think so.... The ones empower were the ones who generally had the most wives and they generally had ten or more gone the amount of wealth, status or influence. At most any given small home would range from two to three wives. A medium home would be around four to six while a larger home at most had seven to eight. The wives would also help in fields and take care of the kids in shifts to make sure they could interact with their sister wives and children. It was usually up to the man when he would bed them, unless of course there were stipulations as I said before."

"Sounds pretty complicated...." Noelle flatly while looking to the side. 'So I need to speak with Twilight again... Not that I like him that way...'

"Good morning you two," they heard from above. They both turn their heads and see Yuno, Klaus, and Mimosa. "On your way to headquarters for the debrief?" Klaus asked.

"You got it," Asta points with a smirk. He noticed the little fairy floating next to Yuno. He jumps up and lands on the bars in front of them startling Klaus, the Fairy, and Mimosa.

"Hey what the big idea?" the fairy yells. "You better not be trying to put the moves on my Yuno!"

"You are," Asta points. "And relax dolly, I don't swing that way. Never that I'd see wind spirit here..."

"Me! Wait did you just call me a doll?!" She fumes. "And how do you know what I am!?! I'm a really powerful force of nature made conscious! I'm Sylph, one of the four cardinal spirits of nature!"

"I know what you are and of your race little wind sprite," Asta says bluntly. "In my homeland spirits are quite common. So much so there's usually one in every home."

"Yeah right," She scowls. "Again I'm one of the four cardinal spirits," she proudly puffed out her chest. "Even if there are more of use in abundance, they can't compare to me!"

Asta pokes her in the cheek and she froze at his touch, "Yes your top of the top alright but don't let your pride carry you away," Smacks his finger away, and then she froze in horror as she saw the form of a tall white glowing woman with blue tattoos on her face in a white kimono with blue trim looming over the man in front of her. This was an old spirit and she irradiated power from every part of her being.

She quickly darts away to hide behind Yuno only barely peeking over his shoulder, "Belle?" Yuno raised an eyebrow, "I know Asta can be blunt but he's not that bad."

"We should get going," Asta says as he backflips and lands next to Noelle. "See you three there," he waves and looks at Noelle, "You ready?"

"Sure," Noelle nods, her mood had greatly improved. "I didn't know your mere brutish presence was so great that all you had to do was look at a fairy to scare it," She slightly jabs.

"Oh, come on... I'm not that bad," Asta shoots back, and then they both laugh as they walk away.

"Let's be on our way as well," Klaus says while adjusting his glasses, "We don't want them to beat us there do we," he chuckles and walls on.

"Yuno," Slyph whispers.

"What is it, Belle?" Yuno asks and then his eyes widen slightly as he notices her shaking uncontrollably. "What's wrong?"

"That guy," She whispers

"Asta?" Yuno raised an eyebrow. "What about him?" He looked at Atsa for a second then back to Slyph, "If you're worried that much don't be. He's powerful and really loud but a good guy."

"You have no idea... He is extremely powerful..." she looks down and grasps his knight's robe tightly. "But he's also really really dangerous... You need to be careful around him."

"Why?" Yuno chuckles. "I grew up with Asta. I know him pretty well. We used to spar together."

"He has a spirit like me inside him!" Sylph blurts out.

"So he has spirit magic to..." Yuno smirks at the idea.

"No, or at least he will soon," She looks away. "I don't know if he knows he has it but I can tell you it's been there for a very long time, most likely since he was born. It's a lot like me as I since wind from it but different too. I also since earth, water, and fire coming from that spirit."

"Since he was born..." Yuno hints and images of what happened in the dungeon at the end of the scuffle between Asta and Mars flash through his mind. "It does explain a few things. What else can you tell me?"

"Just that the Spirit has the four basic elements as secondary powers and that its main power is pure light," Sylph says as she starts to settle down.

"It makes sense seeing as Asta uses light magic," Yuno looks up. "Did you see another spirit?"

"No why?" Sylph asks as she comes to rest on Yuno's shoulder.

"Because Asta also uses dark magic," Yuno whispers. "I thought maybe if he has a light spirit then he has to have a dark spirit too."

"Dark spirits aren't really a thing as for as I know," Sylph thinks. "I mean it does make sense that they should exist but I've never come across one before but that doesn't mean they're not out there somewhere."

"We're here," Klaus says as they stop.

"What took you so long?" Asta waves with a smirk and Sylph immediately hides behind Yuno again.

The Debreifing area...

"This way please," one of the magic knights in an extravagant robe motioned to a set of stairs.

The party walked up the stairs to be met with the wizard king himself.

"Good morning to you all," Julius smiled. "I heard you had quite the run-in down in the dungeon."

Asta salutes then quickly drops it, "Yea," he sighed. "One o the eight Shing General along with Hell lotus a crew of powerful Diamond mages."

"Ooooo I so wish I could've seen that!" Julius gushes. "Crytal magic, Black SMoke magic, and even fire recovery magic!"

One of the attendants cleared his throat.

"Oh yes let's move on to the reports," Julius sighed and everyone began to tell their stories.

"It seems like everything lines up with what the blue roses told us earlier this weak sir," Marx says checking his papers.

“Now that that’s all said and done I heard you received a new spell in the dungeon,” Julius looked at Yuno, “or should an I say spirit.” He looks at the fairy hiding behind Yuno, ‘Hmmm…. She seems unnerved by something. That’s saying a lot for one of the four cardinal spirits.’ His eyes drifted to Asta. “You’re the fabled duel grimoire user. Tell me what new spell you got in the dungeon. If by going on the reports you’re the true hero of the day.”

“If you wish,” Asta hands his black grimoire over to the wizard king.

“Interesting design,” Julius said starry-eyed as he opens the book and his opened wide. “Ah…. I… can’t read any of this…” he says as he flips through the pages.

“Allow me,” Asta as the book activates and he pulls the demon dweller sword from its pages in anti-mode. He held the sword up to the king.

“Thank you,” He happily smiles and puts a hand on the hilt of the weapon. As soon as Asta lets go the blade falls with a heavy thud. ’Huh… this sword is already sucking up my magic power like crazy. How does he wield such a weapon with one hand let alone with its magic draining ability?’ His eyes drifted to Asta, ‘Yet right now I sense no magic power in his body at all. Could it be that he can switch it on and off?’

“Thank you for letting me take a look,” Julius smiles and hands the sword back to Asta, “That sword is certainly unique that’s for sure. It's too much even for me to use.”

Yuno took note of that, “If I may ask sir what does it take to be the wizard king?”

Asta’s eyes shifts slightly but stayed quiet.

“Yuno know you can’t just so rudely ask something like that!” Klaus cuts in.

“Ahaha!” Julius laughs with a warm smile that turned serious, “It's quite alright Klaus but to be frank, you must be the strongest there is around. Get results, climb the ranks and earn the hearts of you people and fellow knights around you. Prove it that your someone that gets things done while also showing others you can be relied on.”

’Not exactly the same but close enough,’ Asta mentally remarks.

“I think that about wraps our business up,” Asta says returning his sword. “Let’s head back to base,” he says to Noelle who nods with a yea.

“Oh you don’t have to run off,” Julius quickly steps in front of them. “Were about to have a ceremony for those magic Knights that earned enough stars to get promotions. I was hoping you'd stay and join us?”

Asta looks at Noelle who shrugs.

“Alright but don’t blame me if something nasty goes down with commoners being there,” Asta crosses his arms.

Julius smiled and led them all through the castle to a set of doors that open to reveal a chamber full of knights of varying squads. Julius would call them to the front and tell them their new spot in the power structure then give them a bit of advice about how to use their powers. The knight in turn would take it with a smug smile and play it off as nothing.

After the ceremony was finished Marx came in and whispered something to Julius. The wizard king then excused himself to tend to urgent business. He told everyone to enjoy the food and to mingle before promptly leaving.

“What a fowl atmosphere,” Klaus comments. "How could the wizard king subject us to this."

Everyone around them was giving off the air of superiority with smug grins while looking at them.

"You're playing right into their hands Klaus," Asta remarks as he eats ."Best to ignore the arrogant bastards and enjoy the food that's been set up for us," he swallows. He looks over his shoulder at Mimosa, "Come on Mimosa dig in!" he held up a piece of meat to her.

"Oh ah..." Her face went a bit red, "Thanks I will!" she says happily and takes the offering.

"As usual the atmosphere has no effect on him," Klaus gave sigh.

"Filthy blunt commoner," Alecdora Sandler of the golden dawn members remarks, "Why would the wizard king invite such a vulgar guest?"

"I can't sense any magic power from him," a woman that had been introduced as Nebra Silva snickers. "If it was in fact that cleared that dungeon then it was nothing more than luck."

"What a positively atrocious way to eat, uhaha...." the golden dawn's Hamon Caseus mocks.

The silver eagles Solid Silva was up next to insults, "It's much like have a rat in a thrown room. It's unnatural."

All three enjoyed laughing at Asta who simply went on eating.

"If I remember you have a commoner in your squad too?" Leopold Vermillion of the Crimson Lion Kings says as he walked up the golden dawn members. "Everyone thinks he's a big deal because of his four-leaf clover grimoire. But he's a commoner through and through."

Alecdora looks over at Yuno and Yuno took a bit of an annoyed look while Slyph started to grind her teeth. Asta placed a hand on his shoulder causing Yuno and Slyph to look at him. Asta just handed him a plate with a smile on his face. Yuno gave a relieved sigh and nodded once.

"They may have pulled off the dungeon crawl but I have no doubts," Leopold smirks with confidence, "I would've done a far better job." He turns to them.

Alecdora smirks, "Will crimson lion cub aren't we full of ourselves, "he scoffed, "While it is true his work may be subpar and he may be golden dawn, it's not like we expected much of him to start with as he is a commoner. It is we nobles who embody the ideals of our squad and Captain."

"Now with all due respect-" Klaus cuts in.

"And what about you Klaus," Alecdora cuts him off. "A man of your caliber ought to be ashamed being seen in the company of those commoners." Klaus let out a slight utterance, "And then there you Mimosa," He glares, "I heard you were nearly hurt killed that dungeon and were forced off the frontlines."

"Ah... I..." Mimosa looked down ashamed.

Asta looks over at him while he continued his rant, "Your actions are making house Vermillion a laughing stock."

"NO, SHE PERFORMED ADMIRABLY!" Klaus glares in rage.

Alecdora looks at him then a voice of one of the silver eagles speaks up, "Come now Alecdora," Solid Silva looks at them with a smirk as he held a glass of wine,

"Ah..." Asta gave a satisfying sigh. "All done," he remarks to himself and sets the plate in his hands down while all of this was going on.

"We all know who the most inept person here is," Noelle froze and Klaus Looked to the older Silva as he walks over and stands behind Noelle.

He holds the wine glass over her head and begins to lean it over but before he could pour the contents of the glass out on Noelle's head Asta had walked over and abruptly wrapped his grip around Solid's wrist, shocking everyone there.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Solid says.

"I'm not about to let some pathetic excuse of an older brother like you degrade his little sister by pouring wine over her head like that," Asta coldly smiles,

Noelle looks at him in awe while Soiled struggled in vain to pour the wine on Noelle and get his wrist free.

"I'm surprised you were able to move that fast without any magic," Nebra says. "But now you're going to unhand my brother and we're going to put you..." She looked at Asta who was giving her a very cold glare that caused her to free immediately.

Solid in the meantime was doing his best to try and free himself from Asta's vice-like grip, "You filthy commoner release me at once!"

"Shut up," Asta tightens his grip.

"AAAAAAAAAAA!" Solid cries out of pain.

"YOU WILL RELEASE HIM NOW!" Alecdora remarks as sand start to rise from the ground but Asta draws his dweller and simply placed the tip in the sand and the spell stopped. "What?!"

"You will release my younger brother at once," Nozelle Silva, Captain of the Silver eagles demands. "Now peasant."He loomed over Asta. "If you do as I say that-'

He was cut off as Asta's spiritual powers causing everyone to freeze.

"How can he have that much magic power?" Nebra shook in fear while Solid cowered in Asta's grip. "He had none earlier."

"You think just because you're born with magic and money you're special," Asta remarks coldly and easily tossed Solid across the room. "Guess what, it doesn't. If you want to counter my statement then by all means do so. I'll show you the power of someone who was raised without magic. Oh, wait I just did," He dares as he retracts his power. Asta turns to the Silva siblings, "You should show your sister a lot more respect. She has more power in one arm than both of you combined and she works hard to master it! She was vital in the dungeon!"

Nozelle steps in, "I will not acknowledge you or her," he states as he flexes his mana, "Now kneel and -"

Asta vanished only to reappear above the captain and slammed his face down into the ground, "No, you'll kneel and beg her forgiveness," he demanded, "I don't care for your reasons. I will not stand for someone I call my friend and comrade to be treated this way by anyone, least of all the likes of you, most of all their family! You will apologize or face my wrath in full," he threatens as his eyes become slitted and his teeth sharp.

Everyone just stared at how easily he took down one of the magic knight captains alone and one of the top three captains at that. Asta held Nozelle as the captain gritted his teeth and tried to activate his magic but quickly found he couldn't

"When I'm the wizard king there's going to be a lot of changes around here," Asta says. Solid suddenly dives in with aid from his sister but Asta grabbed him by the wrist again and threw him down "You're all pathetic," Asta scoffed. "I felt your bloodlust before you could even act." The sword floated in midair. "Just because your nobles and magic knights doesn't mean I'm above speaking my mind to your lot or putting you in your places."

Solid suddenly dives in with aid from his sister but Asta grabbed him by the wrist again and threw him down. "I think you need a lesson in pain. See how it feels when dealing with your bullshit," Asta pulls, and Solid cries out for him to stop.

Everyone just stared in horror unitl Noelle steps up, "Asta! That's enough! You've made your point," She says with tears in her eyes. "I'm thankful that you stood up for me but that doesn't mean you need to lower yourself down to Solid's level."

“Please," She begs, "Let my brother go."

"You're sister just saved your ass rich boy," Asta comments while dropping Solids arm. "And to think she still considers all of you family. She deserves better than all of you."

Suddenly three of the knights active their grimoire.

"Fine! I'll show you what I can do!" He says as he actives his black grimoire and his three other demon blades shoot out of it and have their tips at the throats of the mage who'd activated their grimoire. "By the way," he smiles, "the power you felt earlier wasn't magic but the cry of my soul," his dark/light magic grimoire floats next to him. "I spent a week training to wield both of my grimoires at once," his magic power started to surge. "You want to judge someone based off their magic powers alone!"

Light magic began to waft from his left eye while dark magic wafted from his right. The swirling yin-yang symbol appears in the center of his forehead.

"Then let me show you my magic power!" The magic pouring from Asta snaked around each other. A mental image of his magic formed in their minds and what they all saw was what looked like twin black and white dragons tie sting around one another.

Everyone was in awe of the amount of power Asta was putting out. Then there was laughter coming from someone, it was Leopold Vermillion.

"I like you!" he points causing Asta to pull his magic, "Asta! You are now my rival!"

"Eh...." the group says.

Soon the captain of the Crimson Lion King and Leopold's older brother Feogoleon Vermillion step up.

"With such power as yours, I must agree," Feogoleon smirks. "I'd heard rumors of the powerful duel grimoire user and recall your statement during your exams. I just played it off as a fluke when I saw you and chose the Black Bulls but now I see Yami was right in testing your resolve.”

Held out his hand.

"That's more like it!" Asta smiles as he shakes Fuogoleon hand and noticed how callused they were

"This is preposterous,” Nozelle Silva scoffed, “Not only one but two royals acknowledging a commoner as the rival.”

“Did I just hear the chirping of a little bird?” Asta mocked. “I don’t really care about what you have to say about me rich boy. The fact that acknowledged my presence is more than enough respect. But don’t expect me to see you as a human being! You treat little sister like she is an embarrassment when the fact is she could wipe the floor with you and your good forth nothing brother and sister. She puts in the effort t every day to master her power. As far as I’m concerned, she’s the person truly here besides the Vermillion’s that deserves such an honor to be called a royal.”

“Asta…” Mimosa and Noelle blushed slightly.

Nozelle scowled at the commoner who just ignored it and walked over to the windows and pushed it open. Just then alarm sounds and screaming were heard from outside.

A mage then burst into the room, “The royal capital is under attack!” He cries.

Asta walks out onto the balcony while his swords returned to his black grimoire except for fort he slayer that floats into his hand.

“Where are you going?” Leopold looked confused.

“To end the bastards that are tormenting our people,” Asta coldly replied as he jumps up and surfs off through the air on his slayer.

“HAHA! I expect nothing less from my rival!” Leopold proudly boasts. “Wait for me, Asta!” He jumps out the window and runs after the Black bull.

“Damn it, Leo!” Fuegoleon scoffed, “Always running off before forming a plan!” He then began to assign the knights in the room to go to certain areas of the city to provide aid, “Finally Noelle you’re with me!” He says as a lion made of flames appeared and he jumps on his back then pulls Noelle up, “Nothing less than victory will be permitted!”

“Right!” they all called out then departed!

In The city Streets…

“What are these things?!” One the mages yell Ashe blasts a hole straight through an assailant's chest but they merely got back up and walked on.

“I planted a hole straight through him and he’s still moving!”

“Thunder Breathing,” Asta says from above as he jumps down and lands in between the squad of knights and assaulters, “Sixteen old Thunderclap and Flash!” In a blinding burst of thunder Asta swiftly removed the heads of all the aggressors causing them to fall down and stay down this time.

“These are obliviously some form of undead reanimated by a magic caster,” He says as he pulls one of the knights to their feet. “Simply throwing magic at them won’t work. Target the head and they’ll stay down. Be careful if you come across any using magic. They’ll obviously be stronger than these corpses. There are other knights on their way. Please help direct them where most of the commotion is. Civilian evacuation should be your top priority.”

“Thank you, sir,” The knights bowed, “Right away!”

Leopold just stared at what he saw Asta just due, “He took those things down without an ounce of magic…” He looked at his rival, “How…”

“Leo,” Asta calls out, “Get it in gear! Your fire magic should be great against these things!”

“Oh right…” Leo jumps down and starts to burn the walking corpses. “They're not very strong at all….”

“That may be but they're still more than a hassle due to their sheer number!” Asta say as he cuts off the heads of three more walkers, “Push them back!”

Meanwhile, in the skies…

A figure in a black armored cloak and red half mask watched the display with a wicked fanged grin on his face. He maintains his flight on red leathery bat-like wings that shined in the light of the sun. each flap.

“All that training with the devil kid upped to his control of those words of his,” the figure smiled wickedly with a fanged grin, his eyes hidden under his mask and hood, “He now has much finer control of the swords then if she were to just summon them to his hand. No, he’s more like a puppeteer now,” he snickers, “I wonder how Rades will fare against him? No doubt the fool will lose…”

“Sir the preparations have been made,” came the voice of someone who’d emerged from a black portal wearing a white robe with a golden three-eye key-like adornment at the neck.

“Thank you for the update Vados,” the hooded man kept smiling as he crossed his arms, “Let’s see if these magic knights are really all he’s made them out to be…”

“Shall we proceed with the next step?” Vados asked.

“You may proceed as you see fit Vados,” the smiling man snickers, “I’m just watching as everything plays out. I’m not part of your little group. I’m only here for my own reasons and I’ll interfere if it gets to the point I know you guys won’t be able to handle it. So you may do as you wish…”

“Then we shall commence with the next stage,” Vados dove into his portal.

“Hehehe,” The man snickers, “I don’t think you’re plans are going to go as nearly as smoothly as you think it will….Hehehe… The main objective for me is to get the stone. And to see Asta show off a bit…. Hehehe… he sure has gotten strong since I last fought him….”

Next Chapter: Capital Invasion Estimated time remaining: 11 Hours, 27 Minutes