A whole freaking month to write this out. Way longer than I wanted to and I had so many ideas I wanted to pack into it but I try to use only the best. Next chapter or two well be more of a down play and rest for our boy and his marry band of obnoxious knights, not to mention some much needed screen time with our favorite resident red-haired village girl.

Hope you all enjoyed this because it was a bitch of an itch not to mention a pain int he ass to stich together.

Alvasa out!_!

Somewhere in the Temple…

Finral ran through the tunnels at his own pace.

“GEEZ…. Can they make any more noise?!” Finral complained, “I just wanna go home! Why did we have to come out to this stupid temple and get into a brawl over a stupid magic stone?!”

He complained, “I can’t even use my spacial magic to hop between rooms unless I’m at a wall, and even then, it just takes me to more tunnels!”

Suddenly, there was a tremor that shook the temple, causing Finral to stumble, but he managed to catch himself.

“Just what the hell is going on that would cause the whole damn structure to shake like that?!” Finral said out of concern, “Whatever it is, I don’t like it. I have to find a way out of here before this whole place comes down, and knowing the Bulls… yeah, done thinking…”

He shook his head and ran on.

Meanwhile…

“KAHONO!” Kaito called out as he rushed over to his younger sister’s side.

He looked at her, and his eyes were immediately filled with rage as he saw the wounds on her neck.

“Sis…” he touched her face, causing her to look up.

Kahono tried in vain to say her brother’s name.

Kaito gritted his teeth. “You rest,” he stood up, “Once this is all over, we’ll get you to the temple healers, and you’ll be as good as new.”

Kaito turned and faced Vetto. “You’re going to pay!” he rushed in, only for Vetto to activate his bear claw spell and bat the dancer mage away without even breaking his vision away from Asta.

Kaito just looked around while he flew through the air to land next to his sister. He then saw his own leg land in front of him, Vetto having cut it off in the assault.

Kaito was left laying there on the floor as he realized what was going on.

Another Tunnel…

Vanessa steadily walked through the tunnels.

“This place would be a good place to have a drink or to get over a hangover,” she chuckled,. “Those temple mages sure had a lot of nerve, trying to sneak up on a lady while she’s relaxing.”

She grumbled as she remembered how she laid string traps around her chair and started to take a nap, but not too long after, a temple mage triggered his first trap and ended up in a cocoon of string.

Vanessa just decided to leave him there, dangling upside down from the ceiling as punishment for trying to sneak up on her.

“I wonder how everyone else is holding up?” Vanessa said as she tapped her chin with her forefinger, “Those kids are tough, so I’m sure they took down those temple mages in no time flat. We should get drinks to celebrate when we get back!”

Suddenly, everything started to shake.

“Uh oh…” Vanessa held onto her hat as she steadied herself, “That didn’t sound good…”

“Hang on, guys, I’m coming!” she rushed on towards the source of the tremors.

Fight…

Asta and Vetto stood across from each other, glaring at the opposite side of the chamber.

“You seem a bit different from last time,” Vetto smirked, “Stronger, I’d say. Stronger or not, I recognize those eyes filled with rage and bloodlust anywhere! Last time, it was Fana you wanted to rip to pieces, but I acted as a deterrent. Now, it’s me that you want to tear into. It took everything we had to keep you from reaching her last time.”

That statement shocked everyone in the chamber to the core.

“Asta… actually fought this guy before and was winning…” Noelle said with a shaky tone in her voice.

“But things are different now, I’m stronger than you and I combined last time!” Vetta belted with a maniac laugh, “Even if you are stronger than last time, you still can’t win! I’m going to plunge you into the deepest despair of all, and then, I’m going to take the Demon Slayer Sword and the Demon Dweller Sword, before I finally crush you into nothing more than a boiling puddle of red mud!”

Asta reached up with his left hand, “Come to me, Dweller!” he called out.

“WHAT!?” Vetto said. “YOU DON’T HAVE THE SWORD!?” He roared with rage, “TO MAKE THINGS MORE INSULTING, YOU THINK YOU CAN SUMMON IT?! THAT SWORD ISN’T YOURS! IT’LL NEVER ANSWER TO YOU!”

Vetto started to charge at Asta, but suddenly stopped halfway and turned to look out the hole Noelle’s spell had made. He jumped back just in time to dodge the incoming Demon Dweller Sword as it rushed to its master’s hand.

The sword floated in front of Asta’s hand, as it radiated massive amounts of water magic. Asta took a firm hold of the sword and then pointed the tip at Noelle, his gaze never shifting from Vetto, still frozen at the fact the sword came. Suddenly, the water magic in the sword flowed into Noelle’s body. The surge of wild water magic pouring into her was so euphoric that she nearly passed out.

“Asta…” Noelle said. “What did you do?” she said with a red face.

“In order to help calm the current, I swam down as far as I could and managed to find a nearby current,” he pulled his weapon away. “I left the Dweller in its light state, to absorb as much magic as it could to help calm the currents, so we could pass through them while you navigated us here to the temple a little easier.”

“I knew you’d be able to get us here in one piece, Noelle, even without leaving the sword in the water, so don’t think I did it for you,” Asta said, “You are much stronger than you realize, and that strength is one of the many reasons why I love you.”

Noelle froze and looked at him.

“It’s also that strength that allowed you to face me and tell me how you felt,” Asta added, “The magic I gave you won’t stay in your body for long. You need to use it to treat Kaito and Kahono’s injuries as best you can with your bending.”

Asta raised his hand, and the earth under the siblings broke away from the ground and floated over to Noelle.

“This is my fight now, Noelle. I won’t let anything happen to any of you from this point on,” he said as he never turned around.

Asta headed for Vetto, who’d finally come out of his stupor after taking note of Asta’s earthbending stunt.

“That wasn’t magic of any kind,” Vetto said with a wary voice, “It’s like that ability that royal bitch used with the water, but hers had magic in it. I’m guessing the water she created from her own magic and controls with that ability is much stronger than normal water. You must have taught her that skill.”

“Some of it,” Asta said, as his eyes were hidden behind his bangs as he pulled the Demon Slayer Sword from his black grimoire.

“Your abilities with that power, however, are on another level,” Vetto snickered as he readied to pounce. “But still, you have no magic behind the version of the power you have, am I right?”

“Correct,” Asta said with a menacingly calm tone in his voice. “You also noted I’m stronger than last time… That’s because, last time, I was out of mana…” Asta motioned his head to reveal his glaring slitted green right eye with the briefest spark of gold magic.

“That was true,” Vetto said. “It's the only reason you can even wield those swords in the first place. To think a brat with no magic is wielding the demon swords! It makes me very very angry!”

Vetto lunged at Asta with a beast claw spell.

“Light Magic: Particle Light Transmission,” Asta said as he vanished in a sparkling flash, only to appear beside Vetto, who used his Cheetah Dash to quickly move out of Asta’s downward slash with the slayer. “Ah… I missed…” He turned at Vetto, who was now shocked and even more engaged.

“That shouldn't be possible!” Vetto raged, “You! You can’t have light magic!”

“Oh… I have more than light magic…” Asta revealed his other demonic green eye that sparked with dark magic. He raised his dweller as the sword became coated in Dark Magic. “Dark Magic: Lightless Slash!”

Once more, Vetto dodged the attack. “This… this shouldn’t be possible… How can a mere human have two contradicting types of magic?!”

“I don’t know the answer myself…” Asta said with a dead tone, “But it gets even worse for you…” he said as the second grimoire floated out, and his eyes changed to the spinning yin-yang pattern. “Because when I use both their power, it is quite hard to control…”

“You’re not a human at all!” Vetto pointed.

“(Come find out),” Asta stated in elvish, thoroughly enraging the beast mage and causing him to charge in.

Vetto now wore a look of utter disdain and outrage burning on his face as he glared at Asta

“BASTARD!” Vetto charged straight at Asta, who blocked a hard strike from a rage-enhanced bear claw by blocking with the flat of his Demon Slayer Sword, causing a loud thrum to reverberate throughout the chamber on the adjoining tunnels. “HOW DARE YOU SPEAK THAT LANGUAGE IN MY PRESENCE?! I’LL THOROUGHLY MAKE SURE TO RIP THAT TONGUE FROM YOUR MOUTH BEFORE I KILL YOU, SO YOU NEVER SPEAK OUR GLORIOUS WORDS WITH THAT FILTHY MOUTH EVER AGAIN!”

“YOU’RE MORE THAN WELCOME TO GIVE IT YOUR BEST SHOT!” Asta shot back at the beast mage, not even showing the slightest sign of his strength faltering, as even with all of his opponent’s magically enhanced strength and speed, the spell had barely caused the magic knight to barely move back six inches.

“How can you be this strong?!” Vetto grunted as he struggled to take a step forward, “My power is easily five times what it was the last time, but you're matching me?!”

Vetto raised his free hand and ignited his magic as he brought it down.

Asta countered with his own offhand weapon, the Demon Dweller Sword.

He flooded the blade with his light magic and swung upward. “Light Magic, Blinding Slash!” He roared as he sent out a crescent of golden light, forcing Vetto back, but his swift action also cost him the sword, as when both spells collided, he couldn't maintain a firm grip on the weapon, causing it to go flying out of his hand.

The Demon Dweller landed across the chamber, far out of Asta’s reach, and if he was to try and summon it to his hand, it didn’t have a fast enough reaction time to close the gap before Vetto would make it to him.

“Hehehe…” Vetto chuckled, “What are you going to do now that I’ve disarmed you of your main offensive weapon?!”

Asta instantly threw the Demon Slayer into the wall, thoroughly shocking his opponent.

“I never said I needed my swords to fight…” Asta said with a grim tone as he took a fighting stance. “I have excellent swordsmanship skills, yes, but those abilities were never my forte. No,” he controlled his breathing and blood flow as he flexed his muscles, as his light and dark magic wrapped around his arms and started to entangle and coalesce into what looked like armored gauntlets.

“I was extremely well versed in many martial arts long before I even picked up those blades as my main weapon,” Asta said as he quickly flexed his arms back to his side with a quick motion, causing the excess magic to disperse and reveal his newest gauntlets, “and I am thoroughly going to enjoy using those skills to rip into your flesh and tear you apart, piece by extremely painful, writhing, and bloody piece!”

Noelle turned just as she finished all of the healing she could with her bending to see the two powerhouses as they shot at each other in a blur. They moved so fast a normal person would never even be able to keep sight of them, let alone follow their movements, as they darted around in the chamber in booming clashes of raw physical might.

“He wasn't even fighting seriously against me earlier…” Kaito grunted, “He’s holding back so much power magic power, but yet, I didn’t sense him using any of his body-enhancing dark magic at all… Sea goddess…” He looked at Noelle, “Is Asta really able to match the magic magically enhanced strength like that of the beast man with his own raw physical strength alone, and without his swords?”

Noelle didn’t even look away as the two fought and clashed again, with Asta landing a palm strike against Vetto’s right shoulder. Vetto followed up with a heavy right to Asta’s gut.

“Asta’s normal physical strength is far beyond that of any normal human of our age group,” Noelle said as she still found what she was watching hard to swallow, “His body is… Has been tempered to the point of perfection and has become near superhuman because of it. He can also further augment his strength through special breath techniques to push his power well beyond what he can normally do without magic.”

“Back when we fought, he said water breathing form something,” Kaito added, “Is that what you mean?”

“Yes,” Noelle nodded, “But he rarely uses his strengthening magic in conjunction with when he’s using his breathing techniques, let alone use his duel light and dark magic at the same time, as it puts a big strain on his body, not to mention his mind…”

Kahono manages to sit up and look at the ongoing fight. She tried to speak, only to feel the great pain from the strain of just uttering a single sound put on her throat, causing her to fall back to the ground as she started to bleed from her throat again.

“Kahono!” Noele turned and immediately tried to heal the song mage’s throat with her waterbending again.

“That power,” Kaito said, “You learned it from Asta.”

“Yes, but I only just started not that long ago and am at my limit,” Noelle said, “Asta’s much more skilled in the art of using bending to heal. I can do it, but it takes a lot of concentration and time for me. With my mana depleted, I can’t make any more of my own water. It’s a lot easier for me to work with than normal water, let alone this heavily mana-infused ocean water. At my current level of control, all I can do is relieve the pain for now.”

“Shall I lend a hand?” came a familiar motherly-toned voice as Raava appeared in front of Noelle.

“Raava!” Noelle called out in relief, as the light spirit raised her hand and took over the bending, causing her student to fall back.

Water then covered Kaito’s leg again and started to brightly glow, along with the water around Kahomo’s neck.

“I was afraid of this,” Raava said.

“What?!?” Kaito called out, as he winced slightly from the pain.

“I can close your wounds, but that beast mage imposed an underlying curse in his spell,” Raava said as she lowered her hands and the siblings looked at her. “I can heal you, but the damage has been done, and until the curse can be undone, you two will not be able to use your magic again.”

“Can’t you undo it?” Noelle pleaded, “You’re the great light spirit after all!”

That statement caught the siblings by surprise.

“I can heal, but ultimately, I don’t have the power to remove curses,” Raava shook her head.

She then turned and looked at the fighting mages as they clashed, with Asta landing a kick to Vetto’s gut.

“The fact that there’s an underlying curse to his magic means the power he’s using is in itself unnatural to this world,” Raava hid her face behind her fan.

She sensed it earlier when she was with Asta when he performed his headbutt on the beast-man. There was something very wrong with that man's spirit.

“The appearance of that third eye on his forehead and the fact it was triggered by a deep emotional hatred after Noelle’s attack injured him… As soon as it appeared, his magic drastically spiked, and he regenerated nearly a third of his body with a single spell. Not to mention when he uses those spells, he’s not using beast magic but demon beast magic. There’s also the detail that no one understands what he’s saying when using the spells. I’d have to say some sort of forbidden magic was invoked when that eye opened up. The curse was already there, but it was too weak to do any lasting damage. When he pumped up the output of his magic, so was the effect of the curse enhanced,” she calmly analyzed.

‘If Asta wasn’t being held back in using the anti-magic and the swords, then we might be able to remove it with the Destroyer, but I doubt he has enough control over the power and weapon’s ability in his current body, let alone his current state of mind’.

Meanwhile, the two fighters continued to clash, before ending up on opposing sides of the chamber. Both were covered in deep cuts from head to toe, breathing heavily.

“This kid isn’t a normal human…” Vetto said, “We’ve been going back and forth, yet his mana pool is still just as strong as mine…”

“Let’s see if you handle this, little brat!” Vetto raised his fist, “Demon Beast Magic: (Trolls Fist)!”

Vetto charged in with a gigantic magical construct of a fist.

Asta glared. “Damn,” he murmured through gritted teeth. “I can barely control my mana in this mental state, and my body has started to feel the effects of his damn curse…” He looked at Vetto charging in. “No choice,” he raised his left arm, and his black rider’s mark glowed white.

“Moon Breathing,” he inhaled and concentrated on his left arm as he formed a palm. “Mystic Martial Arts, Ape’s Palm,” he said, causing the mana pouring out of his rider’s mark to coalesce into the form of an ape’s arm around his arm. “Mystic Martial Arts Lunar Technique,” he called out as the fingers of the construct took on a crescent moon appearance, “Lunar Sickle Ape’s Claw!”

He rushed in at top speed, with his own attack outstretched.

The two magic fighters collided, but the amount of power they were putting out from their attacks alone kept them from even getting within six feet of each other. Asta and Vetto both pushed forward, as blood vessels popped in their eyes, and as they pushed on, blood was forced out of their bodies.

Grand Priest’s Area…

“This is insane!” the grand priest ran around, “I thought you said your knights were all at the junior level?! That boy is clearly just as powerful as you!”

Yami just stared, as he’d never seen Asta even attempt to do what he was currently doing. Suddenly, his sword started to shake in its sheath.

“Look like it's time to start my joining in,” Yami stood up as he pulled the katana from its sheath, “You’re eager to try out that new technique we've been working on, too, aye?”

The sword shook even more frequently in its wielder’s hand.

Dark magic steadily gathered around the weapon. “Let’s get started then…” Yami said with a smirk as he took a stance.

Fight…

Asta and Vetto were both locked in a battle of endurance at this point, one that Asta was quickly losing, thanks to the strain his technique was putting on his physical body, not to mention the further mental, physical, and magical exhaustion this prolonged use of his mark was imposing on him with each passing second.

Vetto took immediate notice of Asta, as he started to buckle, and poured his magic into his spell, forcing his way forward.

Asta couldn't handle the outpouring of power from his opponent and was with the troll spell, sending flying across the chamber, to land in front of Noelle’s group.

“Asta!” Noelle rushed over and leaned over him.

“Sorry….” he coughed as she reached up and wiped a tear from her eye.

“Shut up and don't move,” she said as she started to heal him.

Vetto took note of the scene. “Oh… so that’s why he was so pressed to fight in front of you, hehehe….” he started to walk over, “I’m going to tear you apart right in front of him, then…”

He immediately froze as he looked at Raava, “You’re… the great spirit of light…”

“Yes,” Raava raised a hand with her fan drawn.

Vetto’s attention was now back on Asta, and he started to snarl, before turning back to Raava.

“How can you have a contract with this human?!” he reared, “You should be contracted to Licht! He’s far more pure and powerful than a lowly human!”

“I would never have a contract with that sociopath!” Raava countered in anger as Kahono made her way to Asta and activated her magic as best she could and healed most of the wounds on his body that could be healed before collapsing. “I have been with Asta most of his life. Why would I ever contract with a villain who knowingly goes after the innocent people of the Clover Kingdom?!”

Vetto was now more than furious, ”You bitch! You have no idea what these bastard humans’ ancestors did to us!”

“You can’t judge the descendants on the actions of the ancestors!” Raava yelled as she ignited her own spell on her fan. “Spirit Light Magic: Light Gale!” she waved her fan, and a massive blast of golden wind flooded the area and forced Vetto out of the temple through the hole in the wall.

“I have to use it,” Asta grunted as he got to his feet and held his hands out, summoning the Slayer and Dweller to his grip. “Thanks, Noelle, Kahono…” He looked back at the girls, who were now both completely out of magic. “Let’s go, Raava,” he walked on.

“Right,” Raava said, turning into magic and entering Asta’s body, causing blue intricate markings to appear all over his body.

“Round three,” Asta said, taking off after Vetto through the hole.

Tunnels…

“That didn’t sound good,” Vanessa said as she ran through the tunnels.

Suddenly, she ran into something and took a hard tumble.

“Owwwww…” she said as she held her head, “What the hell hit me?”

“Mmmmmm…..” came from below her.

Vanessa looked down, and her cheeks flushed a little, “Finral, you should know better than to just shove your face in a girl’s chest…”

Vanessa had run right into the spacial mage and landed right on top of him, burying his face right in between two fleshy mounds of softness.

Vanessa got up and dusted herself off to reveal Finral’s deep blush, satisfied smile, and healthy nosebleed from both nostrils.

“At least buy a girl a few drinks first,” Vanessa mock pouted as she placed her hat back on her head, “I thought you would’ve used your portals to cut tail and run by now. Why are you heading towards the danger?”

“Oh, get off it,” Finral wiped his nose on his sleeve, “You don’t think it was the first thing I tried? Seeing as how I can’t even leave, I thought I might as well try and help… Not that I’d have much of a choice otherwise…”

“I figured as much,” Vanessa deadpanned, “What kind of a fight is going on to cause so much racket though? Could the Captain have joined in?”

“I have my guesses….” Finral thought back to Asta’s fight with the Eye of the Midnight Sun’s upper three and then the three captains plus Yami. “I just hope we're not too late… if I'm right…”

“Well then, let’s go,” Vanessa helped the spacial mage to his feet, “And you owe me two bottles for your little stunt.”

“You’re charging me for an accident!?!” Finral cried out in outrage.

“A happy accident for you,” Vanessa stuck out her tongue with a wink.

“Errrrrr….” Finral groaned, “Fine…. Damn drunk…”

The duo took off, but it wasn’t long before they came across Noelle, standing at the hole in the wall and looking out while Kaito and Kahono resting on the floor not far away.

Finral looked around and took note of all the battle damage.

“What the hell happened in here?” Vanessa asked as she looked around.

“Where’s Asta?” Finral asked.

“Out there,” Noelle motioned with her head.

Vanessa and Finral quickly walked over and looked out.

Outside…

Vetto bounced across the living structures of the temple residents after Raava blasted his ass out of the main structure.

“That bitch of a light spirit!” he growled, “How can she have a contract with that human and not Licht?! He’s far more worthy than that little bastard!”

“That’s where you’re wrong,” came Raava’s voice.

Vetto turned and saw Asta coming for him, with Raava’s transparent visage next to him.

“We don’t seek the blood of the innocent!” Asta yelled as he slashed and left a cut across Vetto’s chest with the Slayer.

“Pathetic!” Vetto ignited his magic and brought his right hand down, only for Asta to counter with an upward swing from the Dweller, cutting the finger off of Vetto’s spell.

“What?!” Vetto said in confusion. “You….” He looked at the swords as their appearances had changed to those dirt and grime-covered forms. “That’s what they looked like last time?! Anti-magic….” he growled.

“That’s right,” Asta showed a sinister smirk as he hid the upper right-hand corner of his face with the Slayer.

The fighters immediately shot at each other and started to exchange blows and slashes at each other. As the duo clashed, they darted around the area while trading blow for blow.

“How can you match my power with no magic like this?!” Vetto roared in annoyance.

“I spent my whole life without the use of magic!” Asta shouted as they landed and kept running forward. “I’ve always fought on and trained my body to fight against stronger and stronger opponents without relying on such a crutch. It was even more apparent once I arrived in this land that not relying on magic was the greatest strength I possessed, so I continued to hone that skill into the strongest ability of all, stronger than any mage or magic. My power of Anti-magic is the strongest power of this kingdom!”

He jumped up. “Black Crescent!” he roared as he sent a massive black slash at Vetto.

“If I get hit with that, I’ll lose a huge chunk of the magic I have left,” Vetto said as they reached the edge of the living area. “Or maybe not…” he looked at the water. “Demon Beast Magic: (Mermaid’s Grace)!” he called out as demon magic covered him, and he dove into the water.

“Come and get me! If you can!” Vetto mocked.

“Very well…” Asta glared as he raised his Slayer up, pointing the tip upwards.

The sword pulsed once as it covered itself in its black anti-magic coating. Asta released his hold on his sword, allowing it to float in the air above his head.

“It won’t be hard to cut through that mana-rich water with my swords,” Asta said grimly as he took his Dweller in his right hand and drew The Demon Destroyer from his black grimoire with his left.

“No…” Vetto hissed as he saw the third Fenon blade, “How do you have that one, too?”

“Now, that’s just a stupid question,” Asta said with his own evil smirk now. “They came with my grimoire…” he said as the Slayer floated down, with its flat parallel to the ground.

Vetto was now fuming at Asta as he stepped onto the Slayer and used it as a surfboard. Asta took in a deeper breath and controlled his blood flow to minimize his excessive use of oxygen supply and maximized his lung capacity to its fullest.

“Let’s go!” he shot into the water straight at Vetto, who did the same in turn.

“He’s moving through this water as if it were nothing!” Vetto growled as he swam forward. “But I’m still faster and don’t need to breathe!” he laughed as he landed a hard right fist into Asta’s gut.

Asta took the hit but didn’t cough up any air. Luckily, his Qi-sensing and self-hardening body still worked to the fullest of their abilities. This didn’t mean he didn’t take any internal damage, however, though it was greatly lessened thanks to these skills.

Asta was knocked back off his Slayer and sent through the water and hit the seafloor, causing a large cloud of sand to be kicked up.

“Stupid boy!” Vetto smiled. “You can only get around easily thanks to this sword,” he looked at the Slayer, “And I’ll be taking it!”

Vetto reached for the blade, but the weapon immediately pulled itself back.

“What?” Vetto looked confused.

Suddenly, the sword shot forward and quickly changed its position with a sharp twist and raised up as it got in front of the beastial mage.

Vetto narrowly pulled his body out of the way as he moved off to the side, with the edge of the sword cutting off a small chunk of his hair.

Below, Asta, with Raava’s help, created an air pocket with a quick spin while using his air and waterbending at the same time.

Asta suddenly found himself on his hands and knees in the wet sand, his swords on either side of him. He coughed up a bit of blood and water he took in through his nose from the blow he took.

“Damn….” Asta coughed as he shakily got to his feet, “I nearly lost all my air. I don’t think I’ll be able to fight out here against him as easily as I'd thought….”

“Then, how about I help you out?” Raava appeared next to him. “If we use the avatar state, we could finish this quickly.”

“I’m in no shape to use it right now,” Asta shook his head.

“Then, use me,” they heard the voice of their favorite demon in their heads, “Raava may have evolved into the great light spirit she is now from exporser to mana in this world, but she’s still not a true spirit formed from the mana of this world but still a spiritual eistence that originally came from the other world.”

“He has a point,” Raava thought, “But I still can't use anti-magic. It’s not a part of me or something I can access without Asta being the medium though.”

“Like I said. Use me!” Leibe said, “We’re not just separate entities anymore, but a part of Asta and his soul.”

“The zanpakuto!“ Asta realized. “If you use Liebe in his Zanpakuto form, then you should be able to use some of the Anti-Magic powers or at the very least control the Demon Swords with it.”

“I took control of the Slayer to keep beasty boy busy, but it’s extremely hard to do so, let alone hold this fucking conversation!” Leibe yelled.

“You two focus on controlling the Slayer,” Asta manifested his Black zanpakuto and handed it to Raava, “I’ll focus on the attacking.”

“You can count on us,” the spirit and demon said in unison.

“I’ll provide air bubbles when I can,” Raava said.

Asta nodded and jumped out into the water as the Slayer shot down, and he jumped on, taking off again.

Asta sped through the water and hit Vetto with a hard right slash. The beast mage managed to block it with his Rhino Armor spell and followed up with a strike from his Bear Claw spell, knocking Asta back and off the Slayer.

Raava quickly used the zanpakuto, Liebe, to take control of the Demon Slayer sword and directed it with the katana, zipping through the water to catch Asta. She found it a lot harder to control the sword in its anti-magic form than she’d initially thought. If it wasn’t for the demon, she wouldn’t have been able to do it at all.

The light spirit used her bending to make an air pocket for Asta, who quickly dove into it and started coughing. Blood dripped from his mouth, partially from the internal injuries he’d received, partially from the strain the water pressure was exerting on him, but most of all due to the amount of strain he’d been expending over his already exhausted body.

“Damn it…” he wiped his mouth, “I can’t keep fighting like this… If I was fresh, that would be different. It’d be difficult, but not nearly as hard as it is now with the water…”

‘Those damn ancient sword techniques just put too much strain on me, from the amount of mana they use up….’ he thought as he looked over at the Dweller.

“It has been soaking up the mana in the water during the fight,” Asta grumbled as he focused on the sword and felt how much magic it had managed to accumulate, “There’s just enough for one super big spell, but after that, I’m going to need the others' help in order to finish this.”

“What’s the matter?” Vetto laughed, “Running out of steam? I think it's time to wrap things up myself, and I plan on taking out that stupid temple at the same time!”

The beast mage threw out his hands as the demonic magic flared from his entire body.

“I’ll just take the magic stone from the rubble! Demon Beast Magic!” he laughed as the aura exerted turned into a massive undersea beast from many legends or tales, “(Kraken's Fury)!”

The magic around Vetto’s body coalesced into a massive squid or octopus-like form of some sort before lashing out for Asta with its writhing tendrils.

“Raava!” Asta called out.

The light spirit immediately vanished, along with the zanpakuto in her hand. As soon as she did, Asta opened his eyes to reveal them to be filled with a blinding white light, while intricate blue glowing blue markings covered his whole body. On his left arm, his rider’s mark erupted with a blinding white magic, as it burned off the arm covering he used to hide it from view.

Asta released his hold on his Demon Destroyer, allowing the weapon to return to its page in his black grimoire, along with his Slayer. The air in the pocket around him had also started to swirl and expanded as he took a firm hold of his Demon Dweller with both hands and focused on the magic stored within it. His rider’s mark then took on a bluish tinge.

“What is this brat doing?!” Vetto asked as his Kraken’s form was blocked by the churning tides around Asta.

“Water Breathing,” he said to himself as he controlled his blood flow once more but also his magic. “(Magical Swordsmanship, Water Sword),” he said in the ancient elven language, “(Whirlpool, Flow!)”

Asta leapt from his bubble into the tides as he flipped and twisted about.

“It doesn't matter what spell you use! I'll still crush you!” Vetto laughs as he reached out with the Kraken’s tentacles.

Asta easily shredded every last assault that came his way with bending and slices of his sword as he kept gaining momentum.

“How can he use water magic?!” Vetto said. “Wait… his words….” his eyes widened as he realized too late as Asta had made his way right to Vetto, in the center of the magic construct.

“(Drop Ripple Thrust)!” Asta said in the ancient language once more as he thrust his blade into Vetto’s chest.

The beast mage had already decided he wasn’t going to die at the hands of the last human, least of all this human, without leaving his mark. Though Vetto hadn’t realized the force of the attack Asta had used as it hit him, he immediately grabbed a hold of Asta’s arms and squeezed as hard as he could while invoking his bear claw spell as both shot back towards the temple. They rocketed through the wall of the air bubble around the living area, right into the hole they’d come from.

Vetto hit the ground, and the force of the impact sent Asta rolling across the floor, losing his grip on his sword from the amount of exhaustion he was now in.

“Asta!” his comrades called out as they rushed to his side.

“Hehe… hey, guys…” he winced out as he looked to see Finral, Vanessa, and Noelle, “How’s it going?”

“Stupid!” Noelle said as she summoned what remained of her magic to create water and used her bending on his arms.

She immediately knew what was going on, as tears started to run down her face, as this was the same thing that had happened to the temple siblings earlier.

“Well, we won,” Finral said. “But… at what cost?” he looked at Asta’s thoroughly destroyed arms.

“Sure did a number on you, didn’t he, kiddo?“ Vanessa said as she knelt down and pulled out a few medical supplies she kept in her bag.

“It’s not….” Asta said shakily as he sat up.

“Idiot, don’t move!” Noelle said.

“Ah… guys…” Finral said shakily. “He’s getting back up!” he pointed as Vetto rose to his feet, the Demon Dweller still lodged halfway in his chest.

“Bastard!” Vetto growled with anger as he cracked his neck, “You nearly had me, but luckily, I was able to narrowly move my heart and lungs just out of the way. I was able to remove your most powerful weapon against me and also break those troublesome arms of yours at the same time!” he laughed at Asta’s state.

“Tell me, humans…. How does your despair feel?” Vetto licked his lips.

“Despair?“ Asta growled as he shakily got to his feet, shocking even Noelle at this point.

“We have no clue what true despair is!” he growled as he walked toward the beast mage one foot at a time, while his Demon Slayer emerged from the black grimoire once more, while Asta reached back with his broken right arm. “As long as our friends and family need us, we’ll never despair! Not at all!” he looked at the beast mage with slitted eyes.

Finral and Vanessa looked at each other in disbelief for a minute, and then at Asta, then back at Vetto with renewed smirks on their faces.

“Hang in there just a little while longer, Asta!” Finral as he activated his grimoire and magic, causing several portals to open in the chamber around them.

“We got your back, kiddo!” Vanessa said as she activated her own magic and used her strings to bind Asta’s arms and hands to his Demon Slayer’s hilt. She then pulled on her string, and Asta was pulled into one of the open portals, only to shoot out of another behind Vetto.

‘Both of his arms are broken. His body, magic, and even his anti-magic are all exhausted, yet he still persists,’ Vetto thought as he blocked attack after attack from Asta, as he was pulled from one portal to another at random by strings that were so small they were the same size as hair.

“You still think you can win?” Vetto smirked as he blocked Asta’s slashed with his bear claw behind his head, without looking. “You’ve already exhausted your magic and anti-magic, not to mention I’ve broken your arms beyond a usable point!” he looked over his shoulder.

“Yeah! So, what?!” Asta shot back as Vanessa waved her hands in front of her grimoire to control her magic, as Finral did the same, causing Asta to be pulled into another portal, only to come at Vetto from another, but above this time.

‘I saw it!’ Vetto yelled in his mind as he did all he could to fend off the incoming assault, which was growing harder and harder with each passing second. ‘They were all in despair, and yet, he=!’ he looked right at Asta as they collided again.

“You! What are you?!” Vetto yelled in horror, “No human can deny despair as you have! You’re some sort of demon!”

“No,” Asta countered, “I’m a human who trusts his comrades and has denied the deepest despair of ALL!”

“Don’t count us out!“ Gauche said as he, Charmy, and Grey came in. “Mirror Magic, Mirror Brigade!” he yelled as he used his magic on Asta.

“I-I c-can help, too!” Gray added as she activated her magic and conjured several versions of Asta, ranging from identical copies to extreme caricatures.

With the additional help multiplying him several times over now, Asta was soon able to even further overwhelm Vetto’s senses with his increasing barrage of attacks.

Asta yelled as he emerged from a portal above Vetto and slashed down, finally making full contact and taking down the maddening beast mage.

“We gotcha!” Vanessa pulled Asta to the ground, allowing Noelle to catch the exhausted anti-mage.

“I think we finally won,” Finral plopped down with a hard sigh.

“You stupid idiot!“ Noelle scowled at Asta.

“I think I overdid it…” Asta said wearily.

“Someone cast a binding spell on this guy, please!” Gauche said, “I would like to return to my sweet Marie as soon as possible… oh, Marie, we’ll be together soon….”

“I got it!” Charmy says as she marched over, “Asta, pull the sword out, or it won’t work!”

“You think I can right now?!” Asta shouted as he felt something pop, “Ooooooowwwwwww!”

“Don’t move!” Noelle yelled, “You’ll only make it worse!”

The dweller then removed itself from Vetto’s body and entered the black grimoire. As soon as the sword was gone, a sinister and extremely powerful magic erupted from Vetto.

“YOU DAMN HUMANS!” Vetto howled in the depths of desperation and madness, “I WILL BRING YOU THE GREATEST OF DESPAIR OF ALL, ALONG WITH THIS WHOLE DAMN TEMPLE! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!”

“Looks like he’s lost it,” came a new voice.

Everyone turned to see Captain Yami strolling in with his katana in its awakened state.

“You all did good,” he smirked as he walked forward, “I’m proud of ya for diggin’ deep and pushing past your limits, but I think it’s my turn…”

He blew smoke and tossed his cigarette off to the side, as he kept walking, while Vetto’s magic started to build to critical levels as he prepared to level the entire area.

“Dark Magic, Dark Reinforcement,” he said as his magic covered his body. “Dark Magic, Jet Black Blade,” he said as his katana’s blade turned to an all-consuming darkness.

“Sorry, guy, but you’re not going to despair anybody today,” Yami added as he took a stance. “Dark Magic, Dark Cloak,” he raised his sword, “Black Dimension Slash!”

Asta smirked as Yami instantly slashed down in a single motion, sending out a singular slash that took the entire magic, and Vetto’s life, in less than a second.

“Good riddance…” he said as he finally blacked out.