Asta’s eyes groggily fluttered open the next morning. Much to his surprise, he felt very little to no pain at all throughout his body from the harsh back-to-back battles from the previous night. He did notice he was still sore all over, as if he’d spent most of his day training while doing his breathing technique exercises.

He looked to the window, with the curtains letting the slightest bit of sunshine creep through the room.

“Alright,” he breathed in, “Time to get up.” He smiled widely and tried to move, “Ah…” His eyes trailed down to see what it was that was holding him down. “W-w-w-what the hellllllll…?” he wheezed as he looked at two sleeping girls wrapped around his arms in very revealing nightgowns.

Rebecca tightly held his right arm, and Noelle did the same to his left, with both arms in the dead center of their breasts.

Asta’s face turned glowing red while blood started to run down from his nose before his head hit the pillow again.

“I guess I shouldn’t be too surprised,” he told himself. “I probably had them really worried about me after Marco came back with my robe… Wait… How did I even get in the house, let alone in bed with them?”

He looked down at their faces, mostly, and then let out another content sigh. “I’m not even going to bother, cause Noelle will most likely get flustered and slap the piss out of me or blast me with water. I’m just gonna rest and let them be near me and enjoy their embraces while I can…” he remarked as he drifted back off to sleep.

Noelle slightly opened her eyes, as she had only been pretending to be asleep to look up at Asta’s snoring face. She knew she’d have to make a choice, one that she really didn't want to make.

“It’s still too soon,” she whispered to herself as she closed her eyes again. “I just want to enjoy our time for now…” she said as she dozed off again.

The caves outside town…

A black gate opened up in the cave system at the site of the grand battle of the Magic knights and the Eye of the Midnight Sun. Out of it stepped a very ragged and emaciated-looking shell of a human in a heavily armored black cloak, wearing a red mask. His golden eyes have sunken deeply into his jet black hair, which had lost its luster.

Fragment breathed heavily. “Damn that brat…” he coughed, “I had to use so much of my essence just to keep up with him… I doubt I’ll be fighting him again anytime soon.”

He took in a deep inhale through his nose. “But with his help, I was able to get this,” he held up his palm, and green and purple magic started to waft from the rock all around.

Steadily, the magic started to gather into a ball above Fragment’s hand.

“Yes,” he snickered with an evil smile as he clutched some of the purple magic smoke with his free hand and deeply inhaled it. In a matter of seconds, Fragment regained his youthful vigor and evillious charm.

“Aaaaaaaa…” he cracked his neck. “Pure Equestrian dark magic. Just what I needed, seeing as the essence in the Abyss is nearly gone,” he placed his other hand on the orb, “But with this, I’ll be able to maintain my form for so much longer, and even have enough left over for phase two.”

“It still won’t be a good idea to face him again. I'm grateful for his help, at least,” he thought while petting the orb and turned, walking into the portal. “I’ll still need to adjust my little Sunset, so she won’t have another conniption fit like this last time.”

He turned and looked out as the portal steadily closed, with his golden eyes glowing in the dark. He gave an evil grin while purple smoke flowed from his eyes. “SO much fun to have, and yet so many secrets that need to be kept. Hehehe…” he chuckled, “Continue to dance to my musical machinations for me, everyone, as you think you are doing your own wills. You’ll see! I’ll be the one who comes out on top to be the true king of my new empire! RAHAHAHAHAHA!”

Fragment's laugh echoed throughout the caves as the portal to his dimension finally closed.

Back in town…

Asta and the girls had stirred just about two hours after they’d gone back to sleep. They were awoken by the smell of breakfast. Rebecca was the first to throw the blanket off, more like take it with her, and run down the stairs to see what was going on, only to find the oldest of her younger siblings working the stove.

After her sibling quickly pointed out her attire, Rebecca’s face became utterly flush with blood, causing her face to nearly match the color of her hair. Rebecca proceeded to wrap herself up in the blanket she’d brought with her and quickly rush back to the bedroom to cool down and change clothes.

There she saw Asta getting dressed, and her face turned an ever brighter red until she saw the scars on his body. He turned to see her, causing her to look away. That’s when she took notice of the five-leaf clover inscribed over most of his chest.

Noelle was just as taken with the sight, as she had never actually seen this mark in much detail the first time she saw it. He would always cover it with linen bandages, with or without a shirt on. She couldn’t help but stare a little, too.

“It’s what remains of a powerful curse,” Asta elaborated, catching them by surprise. “Or I guess you could say it's more akin to a cursed scar. It was left by a powerful curse, from when an evil wizard tried to steal my body. I defeated the souls but was left with this as a result,” he placed a hand on the mark.

“You said you beat him,” Noelle wondered, “So, it was what, a fight inside your soul for dominance?”

“Actually… yes,” Asta confirmed, a bit stunned. “But even though he’s gone, his influence stayed with me,” he said as he pointed to the scar, “With this, and it's evident from last night that I can still fall prey to it….”

“We’re here, if you want to talk about it,” Rebecca came over and gave him a hug.

“Hey, I’m here, too!” Noelle immediately tackled them both.

Asta looked at them both, then let out a laugh, “Hahahahahaaaa….” He held his arms around both of them gently but still tightly. “Thank you both,” he then smelled the air. “Is something cooking?” he drooled.

“Oh, yeah…” Rebecca remembered. “The others made breakfast,” she said and then remembered why she rushed back up here and immediately kicked her boyfriend out of the room.

“Geez… if ya wanted me to leave, all ya had to do was say so,” Asta rubbed his butt as he stood up, “I know ladies need alone time in the morning to get ready for the day, but that doesn't mean ya have to kick me out. Damn, that smarts!”

He went down to enjoy some breakfast with the younger kids. He then left alone to do some thinking in the woods, only telling the kids to tell Noelle and Rebecca he needed to be alone and that he’d be back later.

In the forest, Asta walked for some time until he came across a small pool of water.

He let out a sigh. “This’ll work,” he said.

He stripped down to his boxers and stepped into the pool. He took in a deep breath and focused his Qi on his firebending as he breathed out jets of extremely hot steam and warmed the water up. As soon as it was comfortable, he flopped back and let his tired body enjoy the hot water, taking much of his soreness away with the ripples.

He raised his hand to the sky and then clenched his fist before slamming it into the water.

“The bastard has been gone for a year, and yet…” Asta growled before he took a deep breath and looked at the sky with a calm look, “Well…. Are you going to just stay quiet, or are you going to tell me how much of a fuck up I was or how childish I’d become?”

Silence was still constant as the wind swept through the grotto.

“SAY SOMETHING, DAMN IT!” he shouted as he shot up and looked around but found no one.

“Well?!” he called out, “Ed… Allen… please… I need…”

“You don’t need me for this,” Ed said as he walked out of the shadow of a tree. “What do you want me to say? ‘You were stupid and childish because you let your anger and hate toward Sunset Shimmer take root in you long ago, and it awoke a part of you that you weren’t aware of’?”

Asta just stared.

“You don’t need my advice on this, because you did what any creature who nearly lost someone they cherish would naturally do. I know, because it’s happened to me many times before, and it will most likely happen several times over,” the alchemist sat down, “I can’t give you advice I don’t have, little brother. The only thing I can tell you is to keep in mind that it’s okay to feel that pain and rage, but don’t let it take ahold of you. Don’t let it force you to do something you can’t take back. Remember your ladies and your little girl still need you.”

Asta let out a sigh, then flopped back in the water, “It was awful… it was like I was-”

“Drowning in thickets of vile that burns hotter than acidic magma,” Ed said, “No matter how hard you’d try you could break loose. I’ve fallen to my own hate many times to the point I even scarred the very world I call home at one time. All we can do is think of those we hold dear and pray they reach us if we do fall.”

“Thanks,” Asta floated, “Now, I need to get-”

“Some rest,” Ed interrupted. “Your body may not be in worse shape than when you last fought Fragment, but you still pushed it way too hard. You need to let not only your body recover but more importantly let your mind de-tox and heal,” he pointed at his head, “Take about a week for yourself. Go out to Hage and take the girls with you and spend some time out there and relax with them and your other little brothers and sisters. Make it a family event, so everyone gets to meet everyone else.”

Asta sighed, “Alright, but only a week, a week and a half tops.” His eyes drifted up and saw no one standing there, “Hehe… sneaky bastard…”

A couple of days later at the Black Bull’s hideout…

Noelle strode through the halls of the base, having just finished her share of the chores for the day. She was now heading back to the girls’ wing in order to pack a bag for her trip to the sticks, as she called it, with Asta, Twilight, Mimosa, and Rebecca. She was thrown off kilter by Asta with his state meant to her and Rebecca when he returned a couple of days ago from his morning walk in the woods.

To tell the truth, she and Rebecca had planned on having a nice long chat about him taking a few days off and away from any and all Magic Knight duties, for the next week at least. His saying that he wanted a break was pretty good news, cause they knew that they wouldn’t have to fight him over it. The part about taking them and the other girls and the kids out to Hage for the whole week along with him was the kicker that not everything was off balance.

Rebbecca wasn’t against it, but she had to clear it with her job first. There was also letting Twilight and Mimosa know and hopefully come. Who was she kidding though? She knew ALL TO WELL that those two would definitely make the time to be there, especially Twilight, as she did grow up there.

Asta had been trying to take it slow as he could. For the most part, that just meant taking his time doing the chores around the base. The most physical thing he really did was feed Yami’s pets, which still astounded everyone in the base, as he was the only one outside Yami that the beasts actually didn’t try and outright eat with their meals. He was also the only other person who they’d listen to fully with no worry of rampage or trying to rush out of their pin.

Yami had ordered Finral and Gauche not to explain the details of what happened between Asta and the captains. That order lasted all of twelve hours until Yami himself broke it after a bit of a drinking bender with Vanessa. So, naturally, every one of the Black Bulls did whatever they could to help Asta heal or gave him a pat on the back or celebrate how he took on not only the captains but the leaders of the Eye of The Midnight Sun, back to back, even if he was in a crazed state.

It only made Luck want to fight him all the more. Thanks to the lessons in magical control from his girlfriend, Helene Barbary, Luck was now about to use spells that had much better accuracy at a distance than just blasting around lightning. He was even able to make weapons and even needles of lightning to stun or confuse his opponents' limbic systems, though he rarely used this skill set as it took away from his fight.

Currently, Asta was just meditating in the shade on the edge of the clearing he and the other bulls used for training. He was just passing the time until Noelle was ready to go. They had plans to meet Twilight around midday or so outside the Blue Rose Mansion, with a bit of help from Finral, as he and Yami were the only ones who actually knew where the mostly women's knight base was.

It was then Twilight who would use her own portal spell to reach Rebecca's house and then the Golden Dawn’s base, where they would meet up with Mimosa. From there, the group headed out to Hage Village for the next week and a half to two weeks, where they would meet up with Asta’s family, or extended family.

Noelle was more than excited to meet with Asta’s little brothers and sisters again, especially sister Lily, wanting to get some tips from the more experienced water mage, in both magic and how to better handle Asta. Mimosa, Rebecca, and Noelle had this all in mind but in a much broader aspect, instead of just controlling him but how to get closer to him.

“Hey,” Noelle pulled the Anti-mage from his mental train. In truth, he'd dozed off about an hour into it. He was greeted by her calm yet concerned face, “Just came out to meet you. You alright?”

“Yeah, I’m fine,” Asta groaned as he got to his feet and stretched, with a few pops, “Guess I fell asleep. You ready to meet the others?”

“Yes,” she smiled and pointed over to a hog-tied Finral, whose eyes with steadily streaming tears down his face, “Magna helped me catch him.”

“I was gonna go into town and pick up some pretty girls…” Finral cried.

“You know, you could’ve just told him we needed a ride to the Blue Rose Knight’s Mansion, and he would’ve been more than willing,” Asta pointed out.

“I did, but as soon as I told him your name, he pretty much said no way and tried to bolt through a portal,” Noelle scowled with an annoyed tone in her voice as she crossed her arms. “I had to chase him through the entire hideout while you were out here snoozing, ya know?!”

“Sorry,” Asta apologized. “I’ll make it up to ya,” he smiled, causing her to blush a bit at the comment. “But later. Right now, we need to meet up with Twi.”

“Fine,” Noelle pouted.

“Hehehehe, you’re really cute when you’re pouting,” Asta remarked with a slight chuckle as he walked over and untied Finral, “We just need a lift to the mansion, then you're free to go.”

Finral scowled, “Just the mansion, promise.”

“Promise,” Asta smiled.

“Fine…” Finral growled.

The Capital…

The Wizard King is in an unusual place for himself at this current point in time, in his office. He was currently sitting behind his desk, going over his reports. Most of them dealt with incidents involving the Eye of the Midnight Sun. These incidents ranged from Asta and the Black Bull's mission with the boars and the rogue mages attacking the village and the dungeon, the capital’s recent invasion, and the most recent kidnapping of the children and direct confrontation with the inner circle and leader of the cult.

Marx opened the door and entered the room.

“Sir. I expected you to be out on one of your masquerades for new magics right now,” Marc jokingly remarked as closed the door. He turned and saw what he was going over.

“I normally would be, but after the most recent events…. it just all confirms my theories,” Julius added, “Still nothing from them?”

Marx just shook his head in disappointing silence.

“I’m at my wit's end with our prisoners,” Julius sighed as he held his face, “You’re the most skilled mind magician we have and not even you can see into the memories we need. Can you give me anything?”

“It’s definitely some sort of high-level spell,” Marx said, “It acts like some sort of protective curse.”

“A curse, eh…?” Julius shifted through his papers and pulled one out specifically, pertaining to Asta, “He’s our only hope then.” He looked to Marx, “When is the next captain’s meeting?”

Marx looked at his ledger, “In a few weeks, why?”

“Inform Yami that he is to bring his new recruit, Asta Ferris, to the meeting,” Julius said, confusing his assistant. “I know, but he’s the only one we can rely on for this. If our captains are coming to the same conclusions, then that means they suspect one of themselves to be our traitor, but the fact that said traitor is still operating as if things are normal means that the traitor is certain they’re still safe, thanks to this curse. This meeting will be the best time to catch them.”

“I’ll make it so then, sir,” Marx said, “If you ask them, Yami won’t just brush this off.”

“My thoughts exactly,” Julius said as he held up the letter he'd been writing to Yami during his explanation. “Send this off immediately, but don’t tell anyone why or what. You can leak that it involves Yami. Our traitor will just chalk it up to another scolding or something.”

“Yes, sir,” Marx saluted and took the letter, and departed to carry out his task.

Julius turned in his chair and looked out the window. “That boy… just how is he so strong and capable, even in a berserk state?” he then picked up and looked over the report from the kidnapping incident from only a few days ago. “You’re not telling the whole truth about who you are, kid,” he murmured as he held the report up to the candle on the edge of his desk, setting the paper on fire. “You may not be truthful, but at least we can count on you to go after the bad guys when it counts,” he turned back to look out the window, “For now, at least…”

Hage Village

Asta was currently out in the fields of his hometown with Nash. He and his girls and Rebecca's sibling had arrived about two days ago. With no room for everyone in the church, let alone his and Twilight’s old forest hut, he spent most of the first day here building a home. He did cheat a little in using bending and alchemy to make the house.

Safe to say, a large house popping up behind the church all of a sudden wasn’t missed. When the villagers came by to see what was going on, all of them were surprised to see Asta and his entourage there. It didn’t take long for the girls to take note of how the villagers respected the knight and kept thanking him for all he’d done for them in the past. He then said he’d help out with the harvest while he was in town.

The girls all looked at one another out of concern for their boyfriend but decided it was best to allow him to do as he pleased. It was just plowing the field after all. This is what they all thought, except Twilight, until they saw it was Asta who was pulling the plow. Nash had decided to join his brother in the endeavor, along with some of Rebecca's brothers and sisters, but they were limited to helping move rocks and helping stir the plow.

Sister Lily and Orfai were both more than a bit put off by Asta’s sudden appearance with so many girls. They’d already met Mimosa and Noelle but had never seen Rebecca, though they knew of her due to Asta’s letters. Twilight had been keeping them all in the loop of the girls in her and Asta’s lives and made it very clear about her and his stance on the relationship. After seeing how dedicated he is to every one of them, they decided against trying to talk him down, not that it would’ve done any good. In fact, knowing Asta, it only would’ve strengthened his resolve to be with the girls.

Noelle was currently helping Sister Lily in the kitchen, prepping lunch for everyone. Rebecca was with Mimosa, as the two had volunteered for laundry duty. Mimosa also took the chance to get to know Rebecca, only knowing of her via Twilight and Asta recountings, as well as a bit of a paranoid rant from her dear cousin Noelle. Twilight was sitting beneath the shade of a tree with one of her old books with Rebecca’s youngest sibling, while the older kids and Asta worked the fields.

Suddenly, a huge dust cloud was being kicked up on the road outside the village. A group of bandits that had recently popped up had started raiding the villages for supplies and money lately. Now, it was Hage’s turn, or so they thought.

“Well, what do we have here?!” one of the bandits noted as he grabbed Rebecca.

“Stop, let go!” she slapped him.

“Oh, fi-” he didn’t get to finish his sentence as she was blasted with water by Noelle.

“Thanks,” Rebecca said as she ran over behind the Magic knight.

“Think nothing of it,” Noelle said softly, “Mimosa went to get him?”

Rebecca nodded.

“Good,” Noelle held up her wand. “But,” water gathered along the tip of the wand in the form of a sword, “We may not need him. This is the perfect opportunity to practice what our boyfriend has been teaching me in terms of the sword.”

Noelle charged in and began to fight off the bandits with ease. She was able to hold her own quite easily. But, the thing was she wasn’t alone, and Rebecca couldn’t back her up. She was also doing all she could to keep her magic under control. Even if the bandits weren’t all that strong, they were more than plentiful, and due to having to also protect Rebecca, it didn't take long before Noelle was worn down. The bandits then had both girls held down, with them scowling at their captors.

“So,” the leader licked his lips, “I think we should have you pay us back for-”

He didn’t even get to finish the sentence as he was sent flying into a nearby tree, unconscious.

“Aaaa… what just happened?” one of the men said.

The dust settled to reveal Asta holding the two men who had been holding Noelle and Rebecca down up in the air with one hand each at their throats.

“Give me one reason why I shouldn’t kill every last one of you bastards right now?” Asta said in an ominous tone, with his eyes hidden by his bangs as he steadily tightened his grip.

“Where’d this kid come from?” another bandit asked as he drew a knife and slowly pointed it at Asta.

“Death it is then,” Ast snarled as he readied to break the two men's necks in his hands.

“Asta!” Noelle said, “Don’t you remember we’re Magic Knights? We don’t kill unless it’s absolutely necessary!”

“She’s right, Asta,” Rebecca looked at him, “Please, don’t do something you’ll regret.”

Asta looked at the two girls with his left eye, revealing a piercing slitted pupil. He then looked in the direction he’d rushed from and made out the kids in the distance, with Mimosa and Twilight.

Asta dropped the now unconscious men on the ground and moved over to the girls.

“I’m sorry,” he said as he looked at the two of them with his usual gaze but with tears starting to build in his eyes. The two of them were a bit put off, as neither of them had ever seen Asta cry before. He knelt down and wrapped his arms around them, and held them tightly, ”You’re both okay?”

“We’re fine,” Rebecca stroked his head. She figured this had to deal with some sort of past trauma.

“Get 'em while they're distracted!” one of the bandits called out, and they all rushed the trio.

Asta cracked his eyes to reveal slitted pupils again. He blurred out sight, and in less than ten seconds, he blurred back to stand in front of the girls. The bandits had all frozen in place, and one by one, fell to the ground unconscious.

“Asta?” Mimosa hesitantly asked.

“Mimosa, please treat them,” Asta motioned to Rebecca and Noelle as he pulled out his grimoire. “Dark Magic,” he said as the book opened. “Dark Binding…” he said, and a dark magic mist filled the field, coalescing around the bandits into restraints.

“Asta,” Nash came up. “You took them all down without any magic!” he said, “You’ve got to teach me that!”

All the other kids began to jump up and down with excitement, too.

“Twilight…” Asta said with a bit of a quiver, his eyes hidden under his bang again.

“I’ve already contacted Knights’ Headquarters. They’ve already sent out a team,” Twilight said.

“He seems to have started to relive the incident when we were kidnapped,” Midnight said in her head.

‘I think we should leave him alone to calm down, Twilight answered her other self.

‘Agreed,’ Midnight answered.

“I think you need some time alone?” Twilight said, “We’ll tend to this.”

“Thanks,” Asta walked off, leaving most of them confused.

Sometime later…

Yuno and Klaus both arrived at the church to pick up the raiders for transport back to Magic Knights’ Headquarters.

“This is what you’ve been doing?” Klaus looked down at Mimosa, “Playing with children and other girls! You have duties you should be fulfilling as a member of the Golden Dawn!”

“Well, excuse me if I want to support the person I love,” Mimosa shot back.

Klaus then looked over at the raiders’ bindings. “Oh, so it was Asta that did this then?” he looked around, scanning for the aforementioned Magic Knight, “Where is he? I would like him to be here for processing, too.”

“He’s not here,” Rebecca spoke up.

“He took a walk,” Twilight finally spoke up, “He wanted to calm down, so he went for a walk.”

“That… doesn’t sound very comforting in the tone you used,” Yuno said, “What exactly happened here that would cause Asta of all people to need a cooling period?”

“He…” Noelle looked at the two raiders with bruised necks, “He rescued us from those bastards, plain and simple!”

“It really seemed like it deeply bothered him though,” Sister Lily spoke up. “I’ve known you,” looked at Yuno and then to Twilight, “Three,” she looked out to the forest, “Since you were all small kids, and I’ve seen Asta get mad before. But, the way he looked then…. It was like he…”

“Was trying to stop something from happening again,” Twilight hid her eyes behind her bangs as tears started to fall.

“Twilight, if you know why he acted out like this, then you have to tell us,” Klaus said.

“YOU DON’T GET IT!” She yelled as she looked at him with outright fury and disgust, “This isn’t just something that we can talk about… It was… a very, very trying time for me, but more so for him…”

“Twilight,” Mimosa put her hand on the lavender-haired goddess’s shoulder.

Twilight looked to see the other girls come to her, “He’ll tell us when he wants to, but it would help if you could explain a little for us. But if you can’t, we won’t force you.”

Twilight took a deep breath, “I was kidnapped, along with two other possible wives for Asta. At the time, I really didn’t see him as more than a good friend, and he was far closer to the other two.”

The girls were all very concerned now.

“We were taken to be sold as no more than property. I and our friend, AJ, were lucky in that there were no buyers for us, but our friend Fluttershy… wasn’t so lucky…”

Mimosa put her hands over her mouth.

Noelle was finding it very hard to suppress her urge to lash out.

Rebecca looked down at the ground.

“She was and is still the closest to Asta, so naturally, when he found out, he lashed out and quite literally tore the city apart to get to all of us and then to the palace and the one who bought Fluttershy.”

Even Klaus was feeling disgusted and a lot more understanding of his friend's outburst at these bandits now.

“Asta doesn't like to shed blood unnecessarily but he’s more than willing to spill it for the right reason or-”

“If someone he cares about or loves is in serious danger,” Noelle finished, “I’ve seen that look in his eyes before, and it was outright cold. Nothing but killing was in his eyes.”

“Asta got to the palace and cut his way through and managed to stop the act before… Fluttershy was raped, physically at least,” Twilight wiped her eyes, “I’m guessing Asta hearing what the bandits had planned to do caused flashbacks of that night.”

Yuno was stunned at his sister’s tale for a whole different reason. He’d just heard Asta destroyed an entire city.

“I’m sure you’re just exaggerating when it comes to some of that,” Yuno spoke up, “It was a terrible time, I agree, but a small child destroyed an entire city?”

“It’s no joke, Yuno,” Twilight said with a serious tone, “Yes, he didn’t do it by himself, but he was and is more than capable of these feats if pushed to his limits.”

“I did hear a rumor about how it took four of the Knight Captains to subdue some rogue mage who went berserk not long ago in an incident with the Eye of the Midnight Sun in passing,” Klaus then put two and two together, “ARE YOU TELLING ME ASTA HAS THE POWER TO FIGHT AGAINST-”

“Klaus senpai,” Midnight glared as demon chains cocooned the steel mage, “Please keep your mouth shut. There are children and citizens trying to go about their day…” She then turned to Yuno, “I assure you that Asta has never taken your fights lightly Yuno. He always did what he did before, spurred on by emotions. As for now… I can’t say exactly how strong he is now without actually seeing him fight.”

“Well then,” Yuno turned to the forest, “We’ll have to go see him then.”

“It’s not a good idea to mess with him in his current mental state, Yuno,” Twilight said, now back in control of her body. “He went out there to be alone and calm down. It's the main reason all of us came out here in the first place. Please, for his sake, just leave him alone for now?”

“Fine,” Yuno said as he looked to the groggy awakening prisoners, “We have other business to attend to right now anyway.”

Klaus just gave a vigorous nod, as he was still in his cocoon as the kids had started taking turns poking him with sticks.

The Neutral Zone…

Asta had taken out his Slayer and flown a good distance away from any sentient life to the neutral zone in between the four kingdoms. He’d come here cause he knew he would run the least likely chance of running into anyone that was either a criminal on the run or just plain stupid, presently himself excluding.

Asta had wanted some space. Okay, so he wanted a lot of space, as far away from the others as he could get right now. He needed to think about what had happened and what caused him to become so hostile. Sure, the girls needed help, and the bandits made a very, very bad reference that severely pissed him off, but that was no reason for him to outright kill the whole lot of them.

“RAAAAAAA!” Asta roared as he tore through a canyon’s walls with his bare hands.

He kept punching and kicking everything that was in front of him, leaving nothing but rubble and dust in his wake.

“WHY!?!” he howled as lightning struck the land behind him, “WHY AM I FEELING LIKE THIS!?! WHY ARE ALL THESE MEMORIES AND EMOTIONS COMING OUT NOW?!?!!?”

He punched the ground, causing it to split open. Asta retracted his hand as blood dripped down the crevice from his raw knuckles along with tears from his eyes.

“Why am I feeling like this now?” he asked as he staggered back before his legs gave out, and he just slumped onto the ground on his knees.

He looked up at the darkened sky as more lightning flashed.

“Why am I so angry?!” he cried, “I don’t want to feel this way… I hate it, and I don’t know why…”

“Shall I tell you then?” he heard his elder brother’s voice.

Asta looked around but saw no one.

“Hehehe… Great…. Lecture me without even being here now…” Asta mocked, “Guess I don’t deserve a face-to-face talk!”

“Quit throwing a tantrum,” Ed replied, “I don’t have to show myself to you nor do I have to explain why you are acting this way.”

“Sounds like you’re just playing one of your stupid childish games to me!” Asta yelled as he got to his feet, “Too afraid to come out and fight me man to man. You know I’m stronger than you are, so you’re too af-”

Suddenly, Asta felt a metal fist nail him right in the face, sending him flying.

“Don’t you ever, and I MEAN EVER!” Ed roared, “Say I’m too afraid to face you. I’m not afraid of you, and nor will I ever be afraid of you! Not even if you gain more power than I have would I ever be afraid to face you!”

“I am your big brother, Asta,” Ed sighed, “Yes, there are many things that scare me, but facing you will never be one of them.”

Asta sat up, holding his swollen cheek, his eyes red and green with purple smoke, coming from them.

“As for why you are so angry and upset,” Ed pointed right at his little brother, “You have no one to blame but yourself!”

Asta stared at his older brother, and the dark equestrian magic faded from his eyes.

“You suppressed your emotions from the time you saved your girls, and even when moving forward, you continued to do so with each passing day of being a king,” Ed told him, “Coming here through the portal de-aged you. Physically, spiritually, and mentally.”

Lightning struck again.

“You might have been an adult mentally at first but being de-aged has caused some adverse effects and caused your mind to go through infantile regression,” the wandering alchemist explained, “You no longer have the same mental fortitude you had as an adult, meaning you have less control over your emotions and are more prone to outbursts.”

Asta thought about it, and it was true. He had been acting more like a kid and acting on impulse than he’d ever done as an adult back in Equestria.

“It has allowed those walls and dams you put in place to keep the feelings from those memories of the time of your girls’ kidnapping to crack and break down,” Ed clenched his fist, “And now that they’re down, everything has all come flowing out, filling you with a flood of deep-seated anger and rage that you blame yourself for, for not being there to protect them.”

“The unicorn crystal sewn throughout your body is especially adept at channeling and using these dark emotions as catalysts for its evil magics,” Ed explained.

“I…”

“The only one who can do anything about this is you, little brother,” Ed turned away, “There is no magic that can truly soothe a troubled mind, heal a wounded heart, or mend a broken spirit. The only way to truly heal these wounds is through the love of those around you and the trust you have in them.”

“What do I do?” Asta asked.

“Talk to your girls,” Ed said as he faded away, leaving Asta alone once more.

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