Chapter 11

"And who might you be?" The man asked.

"We're..." Asta trailed off.

~

Yuno, we're family, right? But we're more connected than people who share the same blood.

What brought this on?

I'm saying... We don't have any blood relatives, but all of the friends we've made... And all of the friends we're going to make... Let's treat them just like they're family.

~

"...his friends!" Asta and Elara yelled together, standing firm in front of Luck.

Noelle ran to the front beside Elara and Asta, finally catching up as they landed pretty far away from where the actually fight was. A small miscalculation from Elara's part, so they had to run the rest of the way.

"Now you're gonna have to face us, old man!" Asta yelled.

"Oh, dear... Having your friends show up is definitely not in my favor." The man said as nonchalantly as ever.

As Elara, Asta, and Noelle were speaking to the man, Luck had a flashback of when his mother died. He was in the graveyard, crying with a smile on his face as the rain poured on him.

"He's... " Luck said standing up, catching his juniors' attention.

"Luck?" Noelle asked.

"He's my prey." He said with a crazed look on his face, that startled both Elara and Noelle a bit.

Luck senpai..? Elara thought, her whole being wary as she stared at the lightning mage's grin. They're not his usual ones that promised mischief. That grin... it's promising destruction.

Win... I'm going to win and keep offering those victories to my mom. Luck thought, staring hungrily at the smoke mage in front of them, as lightning once again crackled all around him.

The newbies was caught off guard when their senior suddenly sped past them, charging towards the enemy.

"I'll take care of him myself." He said. "I don't need any friends. Just my powers..."

"Hey, what are you—" Noelle was gonna say but was cut off when Luck suddenly said something else.

"Otherwise, Mom won't accept me."

Asta, Noelle, and Elara dawned serious looks on their faces at that statement.

"Have it your way." Asta suddenly said which shocked both Elara and Noelle.

"Hey!"

The man, once again, dodged Luck's attacks easily with the help of his smoke. "Guess I shouldn't be holding back anymore." The man said, sending smoke Luck's way.

The lightning mage dodged that, jumping into the air.

I... I... I need to... make Mom accept me...

Once he landed, he turned around only to see that a surge of smoke was coming his way.

...or I'll be alone!

Just when he thought he was about to get hit, Asta came meddling and sliced right through the smoke, nullifying it.

"Do whatever you want! And I'll do what I want!" Asta told his senior.

"I'll do this alone..." Luck said, stubbornly.

Elara gripped her light bow tightly, before disappearing from beside Noelle and reappearing high in the air above all of them, which gave her a perfect view of the ongoing battle. This was an ability that came with light and lunar magic. The ability to run or move to a different place in the speed of light.

"No can do, Luck senpai!" She yelled before launching her arrow towards the smoke mage.

Despite the speedy attack, the smoke mage was able to dodge it in the last milisecond.

Asta ran and lunged at the man, swinging his sword against his smoke, nullifying some of it. "We won't leave you alone!" He yelled.

Despite the man just making more smoke come right at them, Asta was equally as persistent and kept slicing at it. "Not yet!"

Luck just stared at his companions, thoughts racing in his mind.

Some part of me...

"I don't care what you think about me! Do whatever you want!" Asta yelled while repeatedly swinging his sword at the smoke.

...was trying not to realize...

"I've already acknowledged you as my... as our friend!" Asta said, persistently swinging at the smoke while Elara could be seen shooting a barrage of arrows at the man in different angles.

...that I had friends I could rely on.

A picture of all the Black Bull members he knew appeared before his eyes.

I'm sorry, Mom. I...

The crazed look on his face suddenly disappeared, a genuine smile taking its place.

...wasn't alone.

The man landed on the ground, most of the smoke already cleared by the ash blonde. Elara reappeared beside Asta, the both of them panting heavily from their continuous attacks.

"True, it seems like it'd be more fun if we all fought together." Luck suddenly said from behind them.

"Yeah!" Asta said, looking back at his senior, happy that he got his message through.

"Looks like you've finally come to your senses Luck senpai." Elara sent him her closed eye smile.

Luck laughed, "Hey, I didn't know you were fast! Wanna fight? We could have a super speedy battle!" He asked excitedly with his fists in front of him.

Elara's smile didn't leave her face as she nodded her head, "Sure! But I don't think this is the right time for that, senpai." She said, turning her head to look at their enemy.

The four of them stood in front of the man, their grimoire open in front of them, ready to attack.

"Well, this isn't good at all." The man said. "You're going to make an old man get serious."

The old man raised his hand in front of him as his grimoire glowed brightly. A lot of smoke suddenly came surging out, surrounding the four Magic Knights.

"Smoke Creation Magic: Prison of the Fallen King."

"You won't be able to get away anymore, kids." The man said from where he is inside the smoke.

"No matter who we're facing, we, the Black Bulls, will win!"

Asta swung his sword around, but they all ended up fruitless as the smoke just kept on regenerating. "I cut and cut, but there's no end! It keeps coming back!"

The others tried their own attacks on the smoke, but just like Asta's, they all ended up unsuccessful in penetrating the smoke.

A sudden attack suddenly went for Asta, pushing the ash blonde onto a wall of smoke. Asta coughed up the smoke as the smoke that attacked him cleared. "I'm getting dizzy..."

The smoke just keeps getting thicker. At this rate, we're going to suffocate. Noelle thought, covering her mouth.

This isn't good. We have to hurry up and defeat that mage. Elara thought, looking around, trying to think of a way to defeat the smoke magic user.

I can pretty much tell where he is with my magic, but he'll probably dodge, even if I attack. Luck thought also looking around at all the smoke with a calculating look on his face. Thinking back on our last battle so far, he's able to travel at high speed within the smoke. And his ability to sense magic is high. If we're to land a hit on him, we'll have to surprise him. But how do we do that without him noticing our magic?

Luck suddenly caught sight of Asta —who was still swinging his sword around— and blinked, an idea appearing in his head.

"Oh! Hey, Asta!"

The downside of this magic is that it drains my powers a lot. Thought the man as he hid within his smoke.

"My magic level is still fine, though." He said, trying to reassure himself.

Well, that and the fact that I can't see the enemy. His thoughts retorted.

"But that's no problem, because I can sense your mana just fine."

The man suddenly became on guard as he saw that mana was being concentrated somewhere from below him.

Luck was aiming lightning balls at the man using his mana detection while Elara did the same with her arrows and Lunar Scope as her aid in detecting where the man is.

So this is how Luck senpai found the enemy, easily. His mana detection is off the charts! Elara thought as she looked at her senior from the corner of her eyes.

When she saw Luck release his lightning balls, Elara diverted her attention back to where the enemy is supposed to be and released her arrows as well.

"Woah, there!" The man said, dodging the attacks. "Wow, a barrage. Are you getting desperate?" He asked, as the attacks just kept coming, following his dodging form.

"That's not going to hit me or get rid of the smoke. You're just wasting your magic. I think the difference in our experience levels is staring to show. After all, I've fought far more mages than you have."

As the man kept talking, he didn't notice a certain anti-magic user fly his way and when he did, it was when he was already struck by the infamous rusty sword on the shoulder —the uninjured one.

"Huh?" The man said baffled, blood coming out of his mouth as he stared at the anti-magic sword that probably broke his arm.

With a battle cry, Asta sent the man flying out of the smoke and into a wall. And with the caster down, the thick smoke that surrounded them, started to clear.

"That was amazing, Noe! You were actually able to hit the designated target!" Elara excitedly praised the royal with sparkly eyes.

"Of course, I did! I'm royalty after all!" Noelle said calmly but on the inside, she's actually squealing in accomplishment.

"I guess teamwork really is important." Luck observed.

Ow... The man thought as his nonchalant look finally disappeared to be replaced with a look of apprehension, feeling his whole body ache, especially his newly injured arm. How could you do that to a defenseless old man like me?

Man... it's definitely broken. He thought as he looked at his left arm before he went to lightly clutch his torso. Pretty sure he got some of my ribs, too.

I won't be able to fight anymore. There sure are some oddballs in the Clover Kingdom. A boy with no magic who wields a giant sword... He thought as he watched the short, ash blonde male walking towards him. I can safely say that even I've never met someone with no magic on the battlefield.

The man looked up exasperated and feeling defeated. If I'm going to end up a prisoner... I'll di—

As Asta went to approach the mage from the Diamomd Kingdom, smoke suddenly appeared right before him, making him stand on guard with his sword in front of him, ready to slice through an attack if needed.

As the smoke cleared, what looked like the front cart of a train made out of smoke appeared, speedily chugging away from them with the man, in an attempt to escape.

Or just run away. The man thought.

"Hey!" Asta yelled, quickly running after the man with Noelle not far behind, "Wait!"

Luck and Elara weren't planning to let the man escape either. If it's a battle of speed, then say your prayers in advance because you won't be able to get away from these two.

"You're not getting away!" Luck said as lightning crackled around him. His lightning boots made its appearance before he took off, leaving a small crater on the ground he stood on.

Elara only smirked, "I'll even give you a head start, mister."

"Smoke Creation Magic: Hustling Lazy Car." The man said.

"Caught up to you!" Luck exclaimed cheerily, hot on smoke car's (w)heels.

As Luck said that, Elara disappeared from her original spot and reappeared in a flash of light a few meters in front of the smoke vehicle with every intention to stop it.

Just as they thought that they got the diamond mages surrounded, the smoke vehicle let out huge puffs of smoke that sent Luck flying backwards and Elara sideways.

The two had sharp enough reflexes to land on their feet, but as the smoke that sent them flying cleared, the smoke vehicle along with its passengers were nowhere in sight.

"Aw..." Luck said disappointed, though a smile was still present on his face.

"He got away..." Elara sulked, walking over to Luck as Asta and Noelle finally caught up.

"Damn it! We lost him!" Asta yelled as he arrived and didn't at all look like he was worn out despite the run he just took.

Noelle, on the other hand, was not as fit as Asta because she came arriving next, panting heavily while leaning forward with her hands on her knees. "You three... are way too fast."

"I shouldn't have given him a head start." Elara muttered to herself, not being able to move on from the fact that someone got away from her.

"I wanted to finish him off, but I know we have more important things to do." Luck said, turning around to face his juniors. "We need to hurry to the treasure chamber." He added, closing his eyes and tilting his head to the side a bit.

"You really have the nerve to say that?" Noelle asked the lightning mage incredulously.

"Oh, yeah! Let's get going!" Asta exclaimed.

Luck's mana detection suddenly acted up, making him look up.

What's this magic?

"It looks like there's someone even stronger here."

~

While the Black Bulls were fighting the smoke magic user, the Golden Dawn were having trouble themselves with fighting a mineral magic user in front of the treasure chamber. The mineral magic user from the diamond kingdom seemed to have magic so powerful, that not even Yuno at his best could scratch him.

Mimosa ended up being taken out of the battle from the start since she was ambushed. The spiky blueberry, on the other hand, was also no match for the mage with stones embedded on his forehead.

The mage then summoned a giant mineral sword and sent it crashing towards Yuno. Thankfully, he dodged that attack and started getting chased by the sword all around the room. He was hit and was sent crashing to a random peice of floating wall, blood coming out of his mouth from the impact of the sword and the wall on his body.

The sword released its hold on him and was swung back from an invisible force before it swung back towards the wind magic user ready to strike again. Thankfully, Yuno dodged that one too.

The sword came chasing him once again but this time, Yuno started throwing his own attacks towards the diamond mage while he was at it.

"It's no use." The diamond mage said with no emotion.

Yuno ignored him and continued firing spells at the guy.

"I told you, it's not use." The diamond mage said.

Yuno landed and just stared at the mage as a memory with a certain ash blonde suddenly came to mind.

It's no use. He once said to the ash blonde. Let's stop this training, Asta.

Not yet! Asta was as persistent and stubborn as ever when he yelled this. I'm not quitting until I hit you!

Despite being thrown away so many times by his magic, Asta wouldn't relent and always came back, not at all planning to stop until he actually lands a hit on him.

Let's stop.

No! I'm never... going to give up!

Yuno closed his eyes as Asta's words rang in his head. He then opened them as he sent another spell at the diamond mage.

"Stop your useless attempts—"

"I won't!" Yuno yelled stubbornly, releasing another spell.

"Move." The diamond mage demanded.

"I won't move!" Yuno said in defiance.

The diamond mage raised his hand which made the giant mineral sword behind him raise too, ready to strike. "Give up."

"I won't give up!"

The diamond mage lowered his hands forward and following his command, the sword did to, its tip threatening for death.

In a last attempt at breaking the sword, Yuno sent a slash of wind towards it, but to no avail.

"Yuno!" The spiky blueberry, who was busy fighting a mineral clone, yelled for his junior.

It looked as if it would be the end for Yuno.... until a short, ash blonde male came rushing to the scene. Asta, pulled out his sword from his grimoir and sliced the mineral sword in two just as it was about to hit Yuno.

Yuno, the spiky blueberry, and Mimosa only stared in shock at the ash blonde, while the diamond mage held no emotion. The tip of the sword struck the ceiling which caused rubble and pieces of debris to fall all around them.

"Hey, pale guy." Asta spoke, still in his last stance. "Hands off! Yuno's my rival!"

"Unbelievable... and I thought I finally repaid my debt to you." Yuno muttered.

Asta turned around to face his rival in a scolding manner, "I finally catch up with you, and look at you! What the hell are you doing, Yuno!? Damn it!"

"Who said you could get your ass kicked?" Asta yelled with an irk mark on his temple.

Yuno's face now held an indifferent look as his rival was present. "Why'd you get in my way? I almost had him." He said, standing up.

"Liar! You're all beat up! You were about to die!" Asta accused, pointing at the ebony haired male.

"I was just about to unleash a ferocious counterattack." Yuno retorted calmly.

"You're such a liar!"

"I was about to do it."

"You're always like this!"

"Did you come to get in my way?"

"What!?"

"You can go home now."

Despite their little banter, the two childhood friends had smiles on their faces.

"Fine, then." Asta said, closing his eyes and looking down before he faced the enemy mage once again. "Let's see who can take this guy down first!"

Wh-what's going on? The spiky blueberry thought as he stared at Asta.

We, the Golden Dawn, didn't stand a chance against his magic, and yet... That peasant from the Black Bulls...

As he stared at Asta, he didn't notice the mineral clone coming right at him, and when he did, it was already to late to counter.

Oh, no!

Luckily for him, a certain lightning mage was there to save his butt, kicking at the mineral clone with his lightning clad feet and successfully decapitating it.

"Weak." Luck said.

He's... the one who made trouble at the Entrance Exam by beating his opponent far worse than necessary! Spiky blueberry thought, staring at the smiley mage. Luck the Cheery Berserker!

This was the other member of the Black Bulls that was here? Spiky blueberry held his head in his hands as he contemplated how in the world did he just get saved by the Black Bulls.

Is he alright? Elara, who was standing at the side, questioned the blueberry's sanity. Luck, who finally turned to look at the spiky blueberry also seemed to be questioning the same.

"Mimosa!" Noelle, who immediately went to her cousin upon seeing her injured state, exclaimed in worry.

"Well, this is embarrassing... " Mimosa said weakly, as she turned to face her cousin. "Just as you said, I'm a bit slow."

"Yes. You've always been like that." Noelle agreed, her grimoire glowing brightly beside her. "That's why... I'm going to protect you."

A water dome surrounded Mimosa's healing cradle as Noelle turned around, facing their foe and ready to defend her cousin from getting hurt any further.

"Noelle..." Mimosa breathed out with a smile, her eyes glinting.

"Are you the one who beat up the Golden Dawn?" Asta asked, already in stance with his sword in front of him.

"What if I am?" The diamond replied. "The weak will perish, and only the strong will remain. That's all that matters. "

A lot of mineral clones suddenly started appearing beside the diamond mage.

"He summoned so many at once!" Spiky blueberry said in alarm.

"Waahh!" Luck, who was on spiky blueberry's left, marveled at the clones, his cheeks dusted red a bit.

"Hey mister! Can I ask for your name?" Elara, who was on spiky blueberry's right, asked  while poking his shoulder, seemingly more disturbed by the fact that she didn't know his name rather than the mineral clones appearing before them.

"There is no reason for the weak to stand on the battlefield. I was born to break people like you." The diamond mage said.

"Oh, really?" Asta bent down before he went speeding towards the diamond mage with his sword swung back. "Then go ahead..."

"..and try to break me!" He yelled, striking at the diamond mage. He hit a mineral clone instead and saw that his foe was above him with his own larger sword.

"I intend to." The diamond mage moved his hand back, making the huge mineral sword follow.

He then swung his hand forwards and the mineral sword came crashing down on Asta. Though it didn't seem to faze Asta one bit as he just fearlessly ran towards it and sliced it midair. He used the upper part of the sword to run on, so he could get closer to the enemy and was ready to strike again when the diamond mage raised his hand and spiky minerals grew from where Asta was standing, grounding him there.

Asta was stubborn and just broke those spikes with his sword. He then jumped towards the diamond mage and finally landed a successfully hit that sent the mage crashing to the ceiling.

But he didn't stop there. As debris fell towards Asta, he hit one and it came barreling towards the diamond mage.

It did nothing though as the mage came flying out of the smoke and towards the ash blonde. The diamond mage raised his mineral clad hand forward as Asta swung his sword. Anti-magic sword meets mineral gloves but Asta was stronger so the diamond mage was sent flying into the water, seemingly ending their clash.

He's so strong!

"Aw, man..." Luck, who was clad in his lightning boots, started destroying the mineral clones while laughing. "I wanted to be the one to fight him!"

"Right, Asta-san! You didn't have to hog him all to yourself!" Elara exclaimed as she shot her arrows towards the mineral clones, flawlessly taking them down in single shots to the head.

Yuno, being the powerful mage that he is, destroyed a lot of mineral clones in one slice of the wind.

Meanwhile, the spiky blueberry was gritting his teeth as he stared at Asta in frustration.

Impossible... How could a peasant that I can't feel a shred of mana from do all this?

Busy with his thoughts, he didn't notice a mineral clone running towards him until Noelle destroyed it and spoke, "All you've been doing is whining."

"Negating magic... That's Asta's power." Noelle told him.

"Negating magic?" Spiky blueberry repeated thoughtfully. "How can he have a power so unfit for a peasant!?"

"So he just got lucky and ended up with this power." He said while pushing his glasses up.

"Just watch him, and you'll find out if it's just luck or not." Noelle retorted, looking at the ash blonde male.

"Hey, come on! Are you finished already, you jerk?" Asta yelled, pointing his sword in the direction of where he just sent the diamond mage flying.

The grimoire that the diamond mage owned suddenly started glowing brightly from where it was hovering above the water.

The Knights watched as sharp minerals suddenly started appearing on the water until something big emerged from the it.

Mineral spikes came rushing down at Asta, which he sliced into two. But then mineral spikes started forming from where Asta sliced, which surrounded him until all the others could see was a large mineral ball which looked painful to be in.

"Asta!" Yuno yelled as he watched his childhood friend be encased in minerals.

Asta-san! Elara yelled in her head with wide eyes.

It turns out that the large mineral ball was actually a large mineral fist that was attached to a large mineral armor which their enemy was now wearing.

"What... are you?" The diamond mage asked.

"I'm someone who was born without any magic!" Asta said as he laid on the ground.

"He doesn't have any magic!?" The spiky blueberry asked baffled, "So it really was just luck—" he wasn't able to finish his sentence as he gasped in shock.

"But even so, I'm going to become the Wizard King!" Spiky blueberry watched, speechless as Asta stood up with half of his extremely well-built body on display. "And I'm alive... to prove that!"

Elara let out a low whistle, "Asta-san really has a nice body."

Luck, who was beside her and heard what she said, smiled a weird kind of smile that he hasn't worn before (and that's saying something considering the fact that he smiles for almost every emotion). Something deep inside of him just felt slightly irked after her hearing her say that about Asta.

What is going on with his body? How much has he trained!? The spiky blueberry thought incredulously. The Wizard King? Does he truly...

"I'm just going to destroy everything!" The diamond mage yelled.

"Destroy everything?" Asta asked, struggling a bit. "The Wizard King protects everyone!"

"Like hell I'm going to lose to someone like you!" Asta yelled.

Elara smiled at that. He's really up for that, huh?

"You're in my way... Begone pebble!" The diamond mage said.

"I may be just a pebble, but I'm... " Asta then jumped and went soaring towards the mineral armor. "...a pebble that shatters diamonds!" He yelled as he swung his sword, defeating the diamond mage for the second time.

The others just stared as Asta raised his sword in the air and let out a yell of victory.