In the inn, a certain ash-haired kid had taken a room in during the Bull’s mission to the beach. Asta woke up the next morning feeling much better than he had in the past few weeks, even though he’d taken up residence on the inn’s floor last night. He liked them, but at the same time, his comrades seriously got on his nerves, especially at night when they all gathered in a confined space. It was more than likely that the housing wouldn’t last the night, usually.

No, this morning was different, because he and Noelle had managed to get their feelings and emotions straightened out the night before. The water mage had fallen asleep on him last night and honestly had no clue which inn she was staying at, so he brought her to his room and let her sleep in the bed while he took the floor.

Asta stretched a bit before getting to his feet and then popped his joints. Sunlight had gradually made its way through the shutters of his room. He walked over to his satchel and pulled out his clothes then proceeded to get dressed for the day. He paused for a moment as he started to put on his left arm sleeve to look at the black dragon scar coiled around his arm.

“I know I can use my elven magic here,” he whispered “And I can use the mana in the air with the right swords. I wonder if it’d be possible to combine the skills to be able to use other types of magic using the eleven magic techniques by using different words and channeling it through a sword?”

He then looked over to the bed and the sleeping Noelle.

“She’ll be hysterical and freak out about being in my room if she wakes up in my bed and I’m here. I’d really rather not be on the receiving end of that fit.” He let out a strained sigh.

“Raava,” he called out, and the light spirit materialized in a chair at the table in the room.

“I’ll watch over her and be sure to tell her where she is and the reason why,” Raava smiled coyly, “I also will tell her you’ve gone out to run a personal errand. I also want to teach her more advanced waterbending. She proved she can handle it, from what I saw last night.”

“It’s fine with me,” Asta shrugged as he put his robe on and his grimoire satchel, “She’s your student, after all.”

He pulled his Demon Slayer from his black grimoire and then flew off.

Forsaken Realm Forest…

“Looks like no one’s here right now,” Asta said as he walked around the ruins of the ancient village of the forest he grew up in.

He looked around and made sure no one was looking before walking into the remains of an old house. He proceeded to feel around on the far wall for something.

“Let’s see,” he said as he worked his way up and down the flat service, “found you!”

He smirked as he pushed on an exposed brick to activate a switch and opened a secret door in the center of the building.

Asta walked over and looked down, “got to say I never thought I use this,” he said as he reached down and pulled out a tattered and dirty gray cloth-covered sword.

“Well, we’ll see if you can handle what I designed you for,” He snickered as he placed Wrapped sword into his black grimoire. “Best not leave this open either,” he said as he closed the trap door with his foot and used earth bending to pull the brick back into place.

“Now…” he hopped on Demon Slayer, “back to the beach so I can start my training. I’ll have to use an ID field as two isn’t enough to even get close to developing the basics for these new techniques! God I can’t wait! Ahahaha!”

He flew off into the sky once more.

The Beach…

“He could’ve at least left a note!” Noelle grumbled with a pulsing vein.

“That’s the main reason he left me with you,” Raava coyly smiled from her spot on the rocks as she oversaw Noelle’s training. “He seemed like he knew exactly what he wanted to do and wanted to do it quickly, Noelle. And don’t try and hide it from me…” the light spirit snickered lightly.

“A-a-a-ah, what exactly are you implying?” Noelle asked as her face turned bright pink.

“That you actually wanted to wake up next Asta, of course,” Raava knowingly smiled at the water mage who was now steaming slightly, “I may not have loved another in my existence, Noelle, but I do know what it is to feel love. Asta and I share more than just a simple contract of magic, after all. We are bonded at the spiritual level. What he feels I feel as well, and he does love you. I can’t say I feel the exact same love for you, but I do love you as if you were my daughter.”

Noelle just stared for a minute and then gave a soft smile, “That… means a lot to me…”

Suddenly, a thump was heard, as Asta landed not far away.

“Hey, girls!” Asta waved as he walked over to them and looked at the now annoyed glaring Noelle, “Sorry I couldn’t bring you back to your room last night.”

Noelle just stared blankly for a minute. “THAT'S NOT WHY I'M MAD, YOU IDIOT!” she yelled as she sent a waterball at him.

“AAAAAHHH!!!!!!!!” yelled as Noelle chased him around the beach, firing her magic at him, “I’m sorrrrrryyyyyyyyy!!!!!!”

“It’s good to see them back to normal,” Raava giggled before sipping on some tea she prepped for herself, “I must say I’m thoroughly enjoying this humanoid form as well.”

After Noelle blew off most of her anger, she was ready to get back to training, “I know you said you wanted to teach me higher level stuff by the time we’re supposed to go into the temple, but how am I going to learn these sets in just two days?”

Raava looked at her student and then to Asta. “Under normal circumstances, you’d have a point, but we have him,” she pointed to the soaking wet Anti-Mage, whose head was buried in the sand, with his butt sticking in the air.

“Does this have to do with an ability like bending?” Noelle asked, “A power or item that lets you take the time you need?”

Asta pulled his head free with a pop.

“Kind of,” he said as he bumped the side of his head with his palm to force the wet sand out of his ear, “I can create a field with a skill I have that allows me to extend time in it. In my world, I can make it last nearly two weeks. It would be more than enough time for you, but here, I can only do it for up to three, four to four and a half if I really push it.”

“So, what, we use this skill to train but with more time than on the outside? Not to mention food and water. Three days is a long time, ya know?!” Noelle scowled skeptical of this power, “Not to mention possible damages…”

“Food and water will be readily available, and we can leave the field to get it, as we need as long as Asta or I allow it,” Raava explained, “The space of the field is basically a dulled copy of the area it covers. So, there’s no need to worry about if something is destroyed, as it’s just in the field and not the outside world.”

“We have two days left before the moon is at the point we need to cross the strait to the temple,” Asta held up two fingers, “Which means we have a total of six to eight days in the field to cover what we each need to cover in training in order to cover what we need to learn.”

“So, you’re going to be doing some sort of specialized training, too?” Noelle asked.

“Yes,” Asta looked at his left arm, “Training, yes, but something more akin to developing new techniques as well.” He walked over and picked up the sword he’d brought back from its place in the sand, “In order to do it though, I needed this: A weapon used for channeling magic but untouched by either mana, someone, or even my anti-magic. So,” he smiled at the girls, “let’s get started!”

Asta held up his left hand.

“I.D. Create!” he called out, causing the surrounding environment to become a dull version of itself.

Two days later…

It was now the evening of the day before the mission was to start. Noelle had been pushing herself as hard as she could in not only her waterbending training under Raava but also in the efforts to come up with a spell that would allow her comrades to safely pass through the currents to the Seabed Temple. When water bending, she showed much promise, but she was severely lacking in the magic department.

Asta, too, had come a long way in his training to come up with his new magic and sword techniques. He wasn’t able to devote his full mental capacity to either though, as he was pushing his I.D. skill to its max, to keep the field up as long as he could. This, however, was not all bad, as doing so allowed him to level up the skill and split his focus to his techniques so that he could use both individually at the same or at once.

By the end, although it was rough, Asta had developed his new magic skill and couldn’t wait to test it in a battle, a battle that he knew would come later in the coming day.

Currently, he was resting not far from Noelle as she practiced her magic. He was a bit worn and tired physically, but that was minor compared to his mental strength. Mentally, he was exhausted to the point he was barely able to do image training while keeping a lookout. Not that he needed to sense anyone but just hear them more or less, as he knew who it was and that they meant no harm. In fact, he’d been waiting for the person to show up, as they could cast the magic on him he wanted.

Larger debits spanned the length of the beach’s sand around Noelle.

“Sea Dragon’s Lair,... even with the tips and tricks Vanessa taught me, I just can't get this spell under control,” Noelle let out a strained sigh as the turbulent ball of water footing in front of her fell apart, leaving another debit.

Noelle looked at her wand and then her hand. “If only I were better at waterbending larger amounts of my mana-infused water…” she tightened her grip, then turned her attention to Asta.

She came over and sat next to him, “Any advice…?”

“You’re too worked up about the situation,” Asta opened his eyes, “Calm your mind and don’t think about it. We all handle things differently, but you’re putting too much weight on your shoulders.”

“But… everyone’s counting on me to-“ Noelle started to tear up, but Asta silenced her by placing a finger on her lips.

“Listen to the ocean,” Asta said, “It is a force of nature that can’t be controlled, only navigated. Listen to the melodies of the waves and the crashing of doom on the rocks.”

“Hmhmhm…. You almost sound like a poet,” Noelle giggled, “But, what does this have to do with me?”

“It’s how I read the flow of someone’s Qi. I listen and watch everything, not just one thing,” Asta smiled at her. “What I’m trying to say is you think about everything when you should just be letting it all go. Your power is water itself,” he pointed. “It can do any number of things, from turning into a gas like steam or a solid like ice. It can destroy and create. If you just let your power flow then and simply direct it a little, it will do what it will and is meant to.”

“But…” Noelle leaned against him.

“My advice is to think about what you want the spell to do and then think of a moment that resembles the spell or situation you're in or trying to create,” came behind them.

Both mages turned around and stared at the brown haired with a long ponytail in a dress that resembled sea foam.

“A-a-a-a-a-a-a-a…..” Noelle stammered with an extremely bright red face and steam coming off the top of her head.

Asta sighed, “Sort of, but…” he looked at Noelle, who was shaking slightly, “It’s complicated, but first, names. I’m Asta, and this is-”

“N-N-N-Noelle…” the water mage stuttered as Asta helped her to her feet.

“Sorry if I interrupted your date,” the girl giggled, “I’ve seen you guys out here for the first few days with that large group of others during the day and was curious about you, as you both looked to be around my age. I wanted to talk with you about that spell you were trying to cast, but you were both gone the last couple of days. I come here a lot, cause I like the acoustics, and was nearby when I saw you both. I came over when I realized it was going to be my last chance to speak with you, and I just kind of… ruined your moment, hehe!” She stuck out her tongue a little.

“My name’s Kahono, by the way!” she finally introduced herself and held out her hand, “What do ya say? Wanna be friends?”

“Sure!” Asta widely smiled, taking the girl’s hand.

Kahono’s attention was immediately drawn at Asta’s grip with an intense gaze for a good moment.

“Hey!“ Noelle yelped at the newcomer, “How long are you planning on holding his hand?!”

“Oh!” Kahono immediately pulled back with flushed cheeks. “Sorry about that! Please don’t take that the wrong way!” she said to Noelle and Asta, “I just noticed you’re carrying around a lot of fatigue and strain in your muscles. You also seem to be on the mentally drained side, if you don’t mind me saying?”

“No offense taken, cause you’re right,” Asta gave an exhausted chuckle, “We’ve both been training pretty hard for the last few days. I’ve been developing new sword techniques. So, if I wasn’t worn down, then I either have instant healing or a ton of stamina. I have a lot of stamina, but it’s not endless, so yeah…”

“Then, let me help out!” Kahono happily clapped her hands as she activated her magic and started to sing. “Song Healing Magic: Healing Lullaby,” she sang as bubbles of magic glowed around the couple as light covered their bodies, causing them to feel much better.

“And all done,” Kahono winked. “that’ll be a hundred Yul!” She held out her hand.

Asta placed two coins in her hand.

Kahono looked and then blinked a couple of times before looking at the money, “Wow…You’re the first person to give me the money without complaining.”

“I’m from the Forsaken Realm, and we get by with what we can. What we can grow or make in excess we sell to others for the funds we need,” Asta shrugged.

“Hey, you know I could’ve paid for myself!” Noelle complained.

“I think you should just let your boyfriend do something nice for you, Noelle,” Kahono giggled, “You two really are an unusual couple. Usually, the couples I see where the guy is a musclehead are too dense to notice their girl's feelings, unless they end up being hit with a rock.”

“Believe me,” Noelle crossed her arms with a deadpan glare out of the corner of her eyes as she glared at her boyfriend, “It takes a hell of a lot more than a rock to get it through his skull, more like a mountain of pure iron.”

“It was that bad?” Kahono blinked.

Asta rubbed the back of his head, “She’s not entirely wrong, but I was the one who asked her out… hehe…”

“Wow,” Kahono laughed so hard she grabbed her sides. “That is a shocker! Ahahahaha!” she kept laughing for a minute before taking a breath, “Thanks… I needed that laugh, but back to your issue, Noelle. You were having an issue controlling your magic, right? Why not try what I told you?”

“It’s… not exactly that simple for me…” Noelle looked away. “I… don’t exactly have any good memories of my life with my older siblings…”

“Ohhhhh…… Sorry, I… didn’t know…” Kahono retracted a little.

“It’s not your fault,” Noelle shook her head, then looked at Asta who motored and smiled back at her. “Just cause I don’t have good memories with siblings doesn’t mean I don't have good memories with those who accept me like family.”

Noelle took a deep breath and then stepped forward and raised her wand. “And it’s because of them that I’m standing here now, and that’s why I can't give up and have to push past my own limits!” she shouted as her water magic surged forth and raised her into the sky in a massive whirling ball of water.

Kahono simply stared in amazement, “Wow…. She has incredible magical power!”

“That’s royalty for ya,” Asta said as the other Black Bulls took notice of their comrade’s action and rushed over and started to cheer her on in their own various ways.

Noelle opened her eyes inside the rushing ball of water that was surrounding her. Her gaze turned to Asta and Kahono as she took in what both of them had said about letting her mana flow freely and about good memories. She then thought of all of the good times she had recently since becoming a Magic Knight and everything the Bulls had done for her.

Suddenly, she got flashes of her older siblings berating her, and she gritted her teeth.

“So what if I’m a failure to you!” she called out as she raised her wand, “I found a place where I belong, a place where everyone accepts me for me! And more importantly… a guy who loves me for me!”

“Water Creation Magic: Sea Dragon’s Cradle!” Noelle called out, as her spell finally took form before dispersing, and Asta rushed forward and caught her in his arms.

“I knew you could do it!” he laughed with a big grin, causing Noelle to smile and then blush heavily as she realized he was carrying her princess style.

“Put me down right now! Put me down!” Noelle yelled as she beat her boyfriend on the head, causing the dressed effect. “Kahono, did you see? I did it….” she trailed off as her new friend was nowhere to be found, “Where’d she go?”

“Back to where she came from, I’m guessing,” Asta rubbed his head.

“I knew you had it in ya, kid,” Captain Yami laughed with a smirk, “Next stop, the Seabed Temple!”

All of the Black Bulls jumped up in excitement.

The Next Day…

All the bulls had gathered at the beach at sunrise the next morning. A couple of them had been buried up to their necks in sand by their captain, as they’d completely forgot the reason for coming to the beach in the first place.

After a few minutes of waiting on the numbskulls to dig themselves out, Noelle cast her spell around the group and then proceeded into the water, with everyone closely behind her in the spell.

Noelle was struggling to maintain her spell as they swam along the turbulent currents.

“Damn!” Noelle said through gritted teeth as she held tightly onto her wand with both hands, “I thought these currents were supposed to be calm!”

“They are,” Yami smirked. “As calm as they can get anyways! Ahahaha!” Yami then placed a hand on the magic water between him and the raging currents. “But now that you mention it, even with a moon’s phases having weakened the current, they’re a lot calmer than even I’d expected. Weird…”

“I say we don’t second guess it and get to the temple as fast as we can!” Finral cried out in terror.

“Hey, look ahead!” Luck pointed as they excited the currents to reveal a beautiful undersea reef, teeming with sea life, “I see a house shape and lots of different mana types inside it! I wonder if they’d like to fight?”

“Good,” Noelle huffed, “cause this barrier is hard enough to maintain without raging magic water opposing it…”

Without incident, the bulls were able to make their way into the Seabed Temple’s area. What they saw thoroughly shocked them. Instead of abandoned soggy ruins of a lost civilization, there were dry and neatly kept homes, with people living in them. People, that seemed extremely excited to see a group from the surface as they referred to the bulls.

The bulls walked along in a bit of an awkward stillness as they chatted amongst themselves.

“It’s a grand magic zone with a temple hiding an artifact!“ Asta said abruptly, “You guys honestly thought it wouldn’t have some form of maintained defenses?”

“He does have a point,” Finral thought. “But…. More importantly…” he looked about. “l look at all the cute girls!” he called out as he was about to run off but was stopped by Yami.

“You’re not goin’ anywhere,” Yami said in an annoyed tone as he hefted the spacial mage over his shoulder, “Now that we’re here, you’re our ride back up top.”

Asta walked next to Noelle, “You gonna be alright?”

Noelle looked over and gave a tired smirk. “Yeah… I’ll be fine. I’m just a bit winded from casting the spell and navigating the currents, is all.”

“If you say so…” Asta backed off, “Is it just me or do the people around here’s clothing look familiar?”

Noelle took a closer look, “I think so, now that you mention it. I know I’ve seen it somewhere before but can’t really remember where….”

“The grand priest is just inside, waiting for you!” an excited man motioned to the temple doors. “Good luck!” he waved before excitedly running back to the others.

“That was different…” Vanessa flicked her hair as she looked back.

“Yeah,” Magna added, “We’ve never had that kind of welcome before, at least. Not one where everyone was happy to see us…”

“Focus,” Yami ordered. “Let’s go in and see this Grand Priest. Seeing as he seems to be the one in charge, he must be the one with the magic stone,” he grumbled as he forced the large doors open.

Luck was the first one in. “Hello!” he called out, “Is there anyone in here who wants to fight?!”

Suddenly, a hoard of massive sea creatures shot from behind the walls and rocks.

Finral freaked out and headed for the exit like a wuss, but it had already vanished.Then when he tried to portal out he just walked through onto the other side of his magic, staring at the wall or beast that was in front of him.

Everyone but Asta, Yami and Charmy moved to fight. Asta rolled his eyes, Yami took a drag off his cigarette, while Charmy was being Charmy and whizzed about talking about which one would best to sample first for food.

“They’re not real,” Asta flicked one of the incoming beasts on the nose, causing it to go poof into mist, “They're made out of magic.”

“They may not be real, but they’re made of a spell. The spell has to have a caster, especially with this hastily done crap,” Yami pointed out as he used his cigarette to pop another beast. “You can come out now!” he called out to a rock, “Asta.”

“With pleasure,” Asta said in an annoyed tone as he picked up a rock and hurled it at the other rock.

There was an immediate cry of pain.

“OW!” the rock went poof to reveal an odd old man with a creepy smile on his face in elaborate clothes, rubbing the sore spot on his head, “That hurt, ya know…? You could’ve given me brain damage…”

“Does it look like I care in the slightest?” Asta deadpanned, “It’s your fault for trying to scare us anyway. All yours, Captain.”

Asta walked away before he got even more annoyed with the old man. Yami walked up after and was instant best friends with the old coot. The duo started to talk, and Asta paid it no mind, while Noelle came up.

“You okay?” Noelle asked, “I know the concerned look you have and the way you act when something is about to happen. You get really serious and somewhat more… by the book.”

“Just make sure to stay on your toes,” Asta sighed, “Right now, the captain is making a bet against the Temple’s guardians with the high priest about which of our groups is stronger and about providing the denizens of this watery get away with some long-awaited entertainment.”

“Oh, we get to fight?!” Luck said with sparkly eyes.

“Just in mock battles,” Asta said, “Nothing threatening, like life or death situations, but still serious enough that we have to take our opponents seriously. They have their own reason to fight that was promised to them by wispy gramps over there.”

“So, a no holds bar type of thing then!” Magna clenched his fist, “Hell yeahhhhhh! I’m down with that!”

“Go, 'cause it's about to start,” Asta smirked as he cracked his knuckles.

“You’ll be randomly transported through the maze of tunnels that make up the main temple!” The old man smiled. “Don’t try to escape,” he looked at Finral, “cause you can’t leave this place unless I say you can. As soon as you come in contact with one of our temple mages, then you duke it out to see who’s on top. Another thing is you,” he pointed at Yami, “have to sit with me and watch. You’re way too strong, and if you joined in, it would be over too quickly a very one-sided cheat, and that’s no fun at all.”

“You heard him, folks,” Yami puffed smoke. “I expect all of you to push past your limits when this thing happens, 'cause if ya don’t,” he wore a deadly glare, “I’ll freakin’ kill you instead.”

“Yes, Captain Yami!” everyone yelled out.

“Alright!” the high priest chuckled. “Let the games begin!” he snapped, and everyone was sent across the temple, while he and Yami ended up on a couch to watch all the fights. “Snack?”

“Got booze?”

“Who doesn’t?” the priest pulled out a bottle.

“Now we’re talkin’!” Yami laughed.

Next Chapter: Dances on the Seafloor Estimated time remaining: 5 Hours, 41 Minutes