Chapter 2: Page 2: Burcharest?
Heavy
That was all Asta could feel at this very moment. It was as if all sides of his body were pressed into each other, like the place itself was folding him inward into nothing. The air—or something that could pass for air—clung to his skin like thick oil, seeping into his pores, dragging at his lungs, and each time he took the smallest of breaths, his chest and lungs burned like the hottest of Iron. His senses were also going crazy, flooded by something that he couldn't even think of. It was ancient and endless, almost alive in a sense. It wasn't mana—not in the same vein as it; it was much heavier, deeper– like a huge slumbering beast, and he was inside it and as the place hummed with a tempo that wasn't a sound but a feeling, a low vibration that made his bones trambles.
Whatever he was, he was certain of two things: one is that this wasn't an ocean or any type of substance he had been in before, and secondly.
He wasn't in the Clover Kingdom anymore.
"Just where am I? The last thing I remember is holding on for dear life as some portal pulls us in—wait, Liebe!" Struggling to move as this place was constantly pushing him downwards as if forcing him down into the abyss, he finally moved to a position that looked like standing upright. Opening his eyes just a little, he saw something that was most unusual: a massive red line moving in strange ways but going down. Looking closer at the red line, Asta saw small transparent balls that were in the red line. Was this mana, he thought? He had never even dreamt of seeing this many, let alone any at all, so this was an amazing sight to see. Turning his head around, he saw a blue and a green one moving as if they were intertwined with each other, and the more he looked around, the more colors he saw, from yellow, pink, orange, and colors he didn't know the names of.
He was awestruck; never in life would he have ever imagined himself seeing mana at all, let alone to this extent. This was a once-in-a-lifetime experience that he would make sure he would never forget, but remembering his brother, he snapped out of his excitement to go and find his brother. Looking around this mysterious place, he tried to find Liebe, but to no avail until he looked at one of the colors, and he saw a very small but noticeable black dot that stood out like a blue flower next to a sea of red ones, so he figured that would be his brother. He tried to go to him, but there was no simple solution...how in the world would he get to him? At first he tried swimming to him, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't get an inch closer to him. Then he thought of using his black form to fly to Liebe but immediately turned it down because he needed Liebe to do it, so stumped, Asta continued to think of ideas, and a light bulb turned on.
"Why can't I just use a demon-slayer to ride on to Liebe? It doesn't need Liebe to use it, and there isn't anyone else here but us." It was an effective method; the only problem was the seemingly endless amount of mana the place had. Seriously, this place has so much mana; any spell that was used here could be nullified instantly, but having no other options His grimoire moved from his pouch, and he called out the name "Slayer" as the giant sword was launched right off the book like a homing missile and stopped right under Asta's boots as he landed right on the blunt side of his sword and rode it like a surfer to Liebe.
As he got closer and closer to his brother, he noticed something: he was moving a lot slower than usual. It was like a massive wind was pushing him away from his brother, but still he pushed on, and after a while, seeing his brother inside the color line, in one swift motion he grabbed his brother gently, put him back in the book, and continued moving away from the color.
"Good, now how can I get out of here? It seems like they know the exit around me, and it doesn't look like there is a surface above me." Stumped Asta looks at the colored lines around him; they seem to be going down to the bottom, to the abyss. Asta was intimidated by the size of it, worried that if he went down there he might never come out, but steeling his nerves, he rode Demon-Slayer down to the abyss as fast as he could. As he went deeper and deeper into the bottom, he saw all of the colors twist and twirl with each other like ethereal dancers as they gently passed through his body. like he was in a dream. He didn't notice it at first, but seeing all of the colors, it kind of reminded me of how he was inside an aurora borealis with how they move all around him. After taking a brief moment to appreciate the scenery, he spotted something in the distance.
"Is that light? Yeah, that is some type of light there." Looking around him, he saw all of the color going to the bright light. As they streamed towards it, they danced and twisted, and the closer it came to the light, the bigger and bigger it grew. "Looks like the light is the core of this place or something of the sort," he remarked, but seeing the light as an opportunity, he readied his swords and rocketed to the light at mach speed.
As he rode to the light, the sword kept getting slower and slower as he got closer to the light, to the point where it didn't feel like he made even an inch of progress, but he still kept pressing on, using his anti-magic to destroy the mana around him just to be able to move in this space. But as he keeps moving, more and more mana starts piling on him as he uses larger and larger amounts of anti-magic to destroy it. As he was doing this, something hit him and launched him back a far distance away, but gathering his bearings after that surprise attack, he stabilized his sword and himself and looked at what hit him, and to his shock, it was one of the color lines that hit him.
"Well, this is new. Never thought this place would have security, let alone be self-aware. But why did it attack me now instead of when I and Liebe were knocked out?" It was confusing for Asta because this space has had all this time to end him, but it only attacks him now? Just nothing here makes sense, and the more he thinks about it, the more his head hurts. "Ughhhhh, well, one thing is for sure: it does not like me here. Looks like I have to force my way out of here."
Getting into position, he moves his left leg to the end of the sword and his right one near the top, moving his front body to get the most stability. Rather than gathering anti-magic, he surrounds it, so not only himself but also the demon-slayer sword itself makes it bigger as well. As he nearly completed the preparation for this plan, he stared down at the light with a stare that would make most predators run away at the mere glance.
"Okay, here."
As he says this himself, the sword starts to be completely encased in anti-magic.
"We!"
The light sensing the danger readies the color lines, willing to strike Asta down.
"GO!"
As he finished his thought, he propelled himself to the light at such speed that he made a sonic boom towards the light, and in turn, the light responded by hurling some of the color whips at him. The first whip aimed for the head for a quick kill, but Asta dodged it without much trouble. Then immediately a second came in and almost made contact with his body, but he twisted his body and narrowly evaded it. As the third and fourth ones traveled to him, Asta got an idea; when the third one was close, he tilted his sword upwards so when the whip was about to hit him, it hit the sword instead, sending it downwards.
With that he rode on it, destroying it as he moved closer to the fourth one, and when it nearly hit his forehead, he leaned his upper body backwards and effortlessly dodged the attack. But when it missed, it looped back to him, headed in his direction. However, when he turned his head towards the whip, he had a sly smirking face, almost like he planned for this. As he turned his face forwards, he moved his sword around the whip that he was on, in turn making the whip that was chasing him go sound as well.
While Asta and the energy whip kept moving around and around the other energy whip, two more appeared and were heading towards him, but when they got close, he dodged them, and when they turned around, they were also going around the whip Asta was riding on, trying to catch up to him. Soon more and more energy whips were trapped inside this loop of tracking Asta; he dodged them, and they went in a loop trying to catch him. There were so many of them that they all clumped together into making a drill that was producing a truly enormous amount of magical energy, and seeing this, Asta was surprised as well as eager to see that his plan was working.
Turning back, he boosted across the button energy whip as he stopped moving around the whip and instead stayed on top of it while the huge energy drill did the same as they were headed for the huge light in the distance. As they moved across the whip, Asta moved across the whip as boosted to the light as the drill did as well, and when Asta was a meter close to the light and with the drill almost about to skew behind his back, he took a sharp turn upwards, leaving the drill no time to maneuver as it slammed against the light with a thunderous thud.
As the energy from the drill and light ripples throughout the realm like waves in an ocean, Asta glances to see if his plan worked. To his shock, however, not only was light not breaking, but the drill didn't even make contact with the light, as a giant barrier blocked it. As the drill unfolds itself back to whips, Asta thinks, "Well, it looks like I can't use its own attack against it. You think I'm going to figure out another way to break out.
But in an instant something was barreling toward him and almost obliterated him. But before his mind could even react, his body instantly moved him out of the way, getting a cut as crimson leaked out of it. When Asta rubbed his cheek, he was perplexed. "Just what happened?" was flooding his mind as he looked at the light and saw that it changed. It was not a mystic yellow like before; it was now a deep demonic red as it turned all the whips into lasers, and they were all pointed at Asta.
"Huh... It looks like it's getting serious now, and with that attack, if I was a second too slow, well, the blade would be the only thing left of me." As he reminisces about the time against the eyes of the midnight sun party and Captain Yami's harsh but admittedly fair response to Asta's plan to deflect the patrol Light Shaft of Divine Punishment, he looks back at the star with a determined look in his eyes. "Well, I guess I have to respond as well!
As hundreds, if not millions, of lasers shot out to Asta like stars in the night sky, Asta slammed down on his sword and released it from the bottom to his hands. And when the lasers were about to bombard him, he twirled around his demon-slayer sword at such speed he made a black tornado that destroyed every single laser that came into contact with him. When the lasers were nullified, the black tornado charged at the star, but at the last second the star put up the barrier, and the tornado smashed into it as it continued spinning, trying to break it down. After a while, the star unleashed a massive shockwave of pure energy, tearing through the air like a divine roar. The blast was powerful enough to rip apart the swirling tornado around it, scattering fragments of light and shadow across the endless void. As the energy slowly faded, a single figure stood at the center of it all.
It was Asta—though not the same one from before.
Now, two enormous black wings stretched from his back, their edges flickering with streams of dark fire. Four horns, jagged and sharp, curved upward from his head, pulsing faintly with the same energy that filled the air. Black markings ran up the sides of his face, crossing over his eyes like seals of darkness, and those eyes—once bright and defiant—now glowed a deep crimson, filled with overwhelming power and unshakable resolve.
Even his sword had transformed. The Demon-Slayer was now completely black, its surface rippling with anti-magic like liquid shadow. Every edge gleamed faintly, as if forged from the void itself, and the air around it warped under its pressure.
This was no longer the half-formed power he once relied on.
This was something absolute—
Full form Black Asta.
"I was hoping to try this out under different circumstances, but I guess fate has other plans for me. But hey, at least this can be a valuable experience in the long term." As he was thinking, several of the lasers came behind him to strike him down, but in one swing of his sword, he cut all of them down. "Yeah, it looks like this star isn't going to wait around and let me think, heh? Well, let's see what this new form can do!"
Moving at a speed faster than light, he launched himself towards the star and sliced down any laser that the demonic star threw at him. As he continues cutting away at the laser, some manage to get behind him, but he dodges it without even looking at it, but they still pursue him, so he flies upwards so he can get better maneuverability to evade them. As he continued to dodge them, he looked in front to see multiple lasers trying to cut him off, but instead of stopping, he continued flying faster and faster towards the laser.
As the lasers collided with each other, they made a huge explosion and reverberated throughout the entire area; as it slowly died down, the red was seemingly trying to find Asta or whatever remained of him. It wasn't until an object was launched at him and bounced off the shield.
It was the demon-slayer sword that was thrown at the star, and before anything could happen, another flying object was flying toward the sword. It was a black bubble, but it slowly dispersed as it was Asta who was in it as he got his sword and slammed the tip of the sword down on the barrier. As the star tried to move Asta away from its barrier, he kept pressing on it more and more until eventually a small crack appeared in the front of it, and this was the last straw for the star. It looked like it was furious as it turned a darker shade of red as it blasted Asta away from it with the sheer force of energy it was producing. When Asta recovered from the pushback, he looked at the star, and yeah, it was pissed now, but seeing that he could break the barrier, he just needed to figure out how to do that. Because if he tries to do the same thing again, it won't end well for him.
"I need to find something to distract it long enough so I can break the barrier at full force. But is there anything I can use for it?" As he was contemplating this, however, some lasers were shooting at him, so he was forced to evade them and cut those that got too close, and then when looking behind him at all the lasers, he got an idea. "This is very risky, but like they say, no risk, no reward!
Gathering a whole bunch of lasers behind him—so many that you could probably mistake it for the whole rainbow following him. Once he thought that was enough, he stopped and looked at the light of death rushing towards him as he gripped the sword as hard as he could and spun himself and the sword faster and faster until it became—
"BLACK HURRICANE!"
Making a huge dark tornado, he gathers all of the lasers and rotates them until they encircle him entirely. As they rotated around the tornado, they were generating massive amounts of speed, and when it was sufficient speed, Asta hurled all of them at the star as they all crashed against the giant shield, specifically at the crack Asta made. The star was probably thinking, if it had the ability to think, why he would do the same thing twice in a row if the first one didn't work, even if the barrier was slightly damaged. Well, it will soon find out. As soon as Asta threw those lasers at the shield, he busted right through his own move and flew toward the barrier with his sword pointed in front of him. Asta then poured a ton of anti-magic into the sword as it got bigger and bigger and bigger until it was almost the size of the Black Bull hideout.
"BLACK DIVIDER!"
At the moment when the Black divider hit the lasers, it created a massive shockwave that nearly made Asta let go of the sword. But he held on, and to his shock, the lasers were not getting destroyed from his anti-magic at all. Maybe because the lasers get put together and generate so much energy that anti-magic couldn't destroy it. This put Lucifero's power to shame, even if he was not at full power. "Just what is this place? Well, no matter, all I can do now is to break this barrier wide open!"
As Asta kept on pushing and pushing, the small crack became wider and wider, then some more cracks started appearing until the whole barrier was about to collapse. As a last resort, the star gathers up as much magical energy as it can and then blasts all of it at Asta as a huge laser cannon, as Asta can do nothing but tank the attack head-on as it launches several hundred meters away. Asta tried to defend himself by making an anti-magic bubble, but that didn't last, as it broke immediately. Now Asta was taking the near-infinite energy cannon to the face as his body was breaking down by the sheer force of the attack, and torn muscle and bleeding skin were made all over his body. But like a boulder in the middle of a storm, he did not budge, continuing to push on. But soon his body will not last, but what can he do? Moving out of the way, he could be attacked in a weakened state, and the star probably would not fall for the same trick a third time, so what can he do?
"You know what, SCREW IT! I JUST DO WHAT I HAVE ALWAYS DONE AND SURPASS MY LIMIT!
Generating as much anti-magic as he could possibly manage, he forms it around himself and the sword that looks like a dragon head as it bursts from the energy cannon and charges through it, destroying it to go to the barrier one more time. But as he charged toward the star, the very air around him began to twist and hum. The energy of this place stirred, drawn to him—no, to the darkness that cloaked him. It bled into the anti-magic surrounding his body, seeping into the grimoire until its crimson glow pulsed like a heartbeat.. But Asta didn't notice nor care as he continued to go straight to the barrier as it was breaking even faster as the star tried to push back even harder, but it wasn't enough.
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
And after a long struggle, Asta finally manages to break the shield as pieces of it fall and disappear and the giant energy blast stops. Asta, not stopping for a second, headed for the star. But at the last second, Asta looked at the star as it turned from red to green; he was confused about why it did that, but a second later, he was teleported to somewhere else. As the anti-dragon head disappears and his black divider dissipates, he is floating in a new place, and he sees nothing, nothing at all. It was like this place was devoid of all life, and all that was left was an empty place. Asta was now even more confused, as if he wasn't confused already.
"Just where am I now?" Asta questioned, and then he was shocked that he could talk in this place. "It looks like this place is different from the one I was in before.
As he looked around, he saw something that made him stand frozen stiff—in the distance, something that was spiraling very, very fast, and instantly the spiral got bigger than anything Asta had seen before. This vortex was that of absolute contradiction, a swirling expanse that somehow contained everything and nothing at the same time. No light could flee from its grasps, yet no darkness could deny the power it held on them. Asta felt his breathing stop as he could do nothing but gaze at the impossible spiral, sensing a dread that he could not even describe with words. One thing was sure: that this was the origin point, the source of all living things that emerged from it and will inevitably return to it. Time itself felt meaningless here, as if all past, present, and future were stretched, folded, and compressed into a single incomprehensible moment.
As Asta was staring into the spiral, he realized something about this place: it wasn't magic—at least not magic that he encountered in any kingdom in his world. This was older than the devils, grimoires, or even the concept that shaped his world. And as he stood there with muscles locked and anti-magic useless, he understood with frightening clarity that he was witnessing something mortal eyes were never meant to see—a place where endings and beginnings lost all meaning, where the boundary between existence and void dissolved into that eternal, churning spiral. But if there was one word that would represent this place in its entirety, it would be.
"Beautiful."
As he said this, he felt something ominous, and he turned around and saw a giant glowing eye. It looked furious at first, but it slowly calmed down as it stared at him as if looking into his soul. As it finished doing whatever it was doing, its eyes opened wide as if it were a puppy seeing its owner after a very long time. Asta didn't know what to think, but in a blink a white flash engulfed the entire place as he couldn't do anything but shield his eyes from the light.
"Not Agaaainnnnnnn!"
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[Unknown subject captured]
[Begin subject analyzation]
[Memory analysis complete]
[Anti-magic composition analysis 100% complete]
[Grimoire creation, history, and spells 100% complete]
[Subject bodily makeup 100% complete]
[Subject analysis complete]
[Subject power: managable]
[Alert: power discover in subject spirit}
[Warning: subject body now containing colossal amount of ı' ıµ']
[Subject power now: almost limitless, Consequence: untold destruction]
[Begin annihil—error]
[Begin annihil–error]
[Alert anomalies spotted]
[Checking worlds... anomalies threat levels: 5-9, Consequence: Immeasurable]
[Reevaluating subject existance]
...
[Checking body stability]
[error]
[Body unstable, problem: overload of ı' ıµ']
[Begin body stabilization of ı' ıµ']
...
[error]
[anti-energy colliding with ı' ıµ' mixing into new form: will result in the death of subject]
[Need powerful origin to separate the energies until future used]
[Searching origin to install]
...
...
[origin found]
[Begin installment of origin]
[Beginning insertment]
...
...
...
[Insertment complete]
[restart stablization]
[Body stabilize]
[Begin insert all Data to storage unit for backup plan]
[Backup...complete]
[Start up warp gate]
[Starting interdimensional gate, location Bucharest, Romania]
[Warp gate finished]
[Sending subject to designated location...ready]
[Good luck]
[Asta]
"Ughhhhh, my head. What happened to me just now? All I remember was seeing a huge I and—." After hazily opening his eyes after what felt like a dream, with his vision slightly blurred, he saw that he was not in his room; in fact, this place was a lot more spacious than his room in the Black Bull. It has a closet, a radius window, a weird-looking carpet with some creature head in front of it, a fairly sized bed with two medium-sized pillows, and next to the small drawer and on top of it was a thing that was producing light and his grimoire. As he looks at his grimoire to see if anything happens to it, he looks at his right arm to see that his arm guard has disappeared. He looked around from his bed to see it, and when he couldn't, he almost got out of bed when he heard a knock on the door. When the door opens, a lean old man, probably in his mid- or late 50s, wearing glasses and a deerstalker hat, waves at him.
"Hello, young man, Have a good night's sleep?"
"Uhhhhhh...yeah, I have. Thanks for asking." Asta answered, looking around the room one more time when his vision got better, and asked the old man, "So where am I exactly?"
"Oh, you're in a hotel in Romania, specifically in Bucharest, the capital of Romania. I found you unconscious near a back alley when I was driving fruit and vegetables to a shop owner and decided to take you to a hotel so you can rest."
As Asta took all this in, he concluded that yeah...he was not in the Clover Kingdom anymore. Meaning that Yuno, Noelle, Yami, Magna, Luck, Charmy, Vanessa, Grey, Finral, Fuegoleon, Mimosa, Mereoleona, Father Orsi, Sister Lily, and everyone else were forever gone from him, and he did not know how the heck to even find them. So he did what any normal person would do.
And mentally screaming for several seconds.
"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.
"Ummm, are you okay, young man?"
"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh—"
"WOULD YOU SHUT UP, YOU LOUD MOUTH!"
Asta stops his screaming as he hears his brother yell at him at the top of his lungs. "Liebe, your back! Oh man, I missed so much. I thought I would never hear your voice after what happened to us after we got sucked in—"
"HEY THERE, ANOTHER PERSON WITH US, SO TALK TO HIM FIRST BEFORE OUR TALK BECAUSE I HAVE QUESTIONS THAT NEED ANSWERING." Liebe commanded.
"Okay, we'll talk later." Asta acknowledged and faced the old man and replied, "Yeah...yeah, I'm okay, just taking this all in. It's an unexpected turn of events, to say the least, heh."
"Well, if I were unconscious and just woke up in a new place, I'll be shaken up too." TheI'd old man commented, "But don't worry, boy, I'll make sure you get back home to Trifas." He reassured Asta as he patted Asta's shoulder.
Asta was confused; he didn't know any places named Trifas, but as he looked at the back of his grimoire, he saw a note left on it. Taking it off from his grimoire and looking at it, writing down it says 'travel to trifas, sincerely your personal guide.' Guide? He has a guide. Was this the being who sent him here, or did someone else do it and they are just helping him out? "Well, whatever the case, they say I should go to Trifas, so maybe something in that city could lead me back home?"
Putting the note down, he turned to the old man and clarified, "Thank you, sir; this means a whole lot to me!" as he bowed his head.
"Hey now, don't be so formal. I just did it to help a person out, that's all. But before we head out, there are still a few more things I have to do, so in the meantime. Why don't you head outside and see the views? Because by the look of things, you don't know where you are."
"No, not really, sir," Asta admitted as he scratched his head. "
"Well, I'll be headed out." As the old man headed back outside, he stopped and turned back and replied to Asta, "By the way, I've been meaning to ask you, but what happened to your right arm?"
Looking at his corrupted arm, Asta realized that this man has probably never seen something like this before, so Asta has to make something up. "Ughhh, well, I—it's ahhhhh... A skin condition Yeah, a skin condition. I was touching some weird plants while helping, and this happened, so yeah. Asta admitted that it wasn't convincing but that it was all he could think of at the moment, and by the suspicious look the farmer was giving him, he wasn't that convinced as well.
"A skin condition?"
"Yep!"
"Really?"
"Yes, sir!"
As they both look into their eyes, Asta wears the biggest smile to make sure that old man doesn't think anything suspicious. But the more time they look at each other, the more Asta gets to the point where he starts sweating bullets. After what felt like forever, even though it was like only a minute, the old man signed, "Okay, just make sure that doesn't happen again, okay?"
"It won't happen again, sir, I promise." as he bowed his head again
"Hey, like I say, don't be so formal. I'll be near one of the stores next to here if you need anything." As he left, he left the door ajar, and Asta blew a hefty sigh of relief as he got out of bed and headed to his closet, where he saw his clothes and his arm guard hung by something he did not know of. After putting them on and putting his grimoire in its pouch, he headed outside to go see the views, and my god, they were absolutely gorgeous. The city unfolded before him like a world out of a dream. Towering buildings of stone and glass glimmered under the sun, their surfaces so polished they almost reflected the sky itself. The streets were paved smooth and clean, and everywhere he looked, strange machines moved with a will of their own—metal carriages gliding without horses, humming softly as they passed.
Smaller contraptions filled the hands of passersby: tiny boxes that flashed with light and sound, tools that could write letters faster than any quill, and screens that wove illusions so vivid they seemed alive. Even larger constructs loomed over the plazas—great glowing panels showing moving pictures, music spilling from them as if the air itself could sing.
Asta could barely keep his excitement contained as eyes form stars. Every new sight filled him with awe, his head turning this way and that, trying to take in everything at once. Yet, beneath his wonder, something faintly unsettled him. The people moved with hollow eyes and hurried steps, their faces blank even amidst all this brilliance. He didn't understand why—but before he could think more on it, a familiar voice called out in his mind.
"So are you ready to ask my questions?"
"Huh? Oh, yeah, right, okay, ask away."
"Okay, my question is WHAT IN THE WORLD HAPPENS AFTER WE GET PULLED INTO THE PORTAL!" Liebe demanded.
"Okay, easy on the ear man and be quiet too there other people you know."
"Well soooorry but I should be a little mad when we're in the middle of nowhere!" Liebe quietly retorted.
Signing Asta then took a breath and started explaining. "So after we got sucked in, we were in a weird space dimension place that looked and felt like an ocean but didn't. I woke first and found you in a weird-looking energy color line and remove you from it. then there were multiple of them that looked like an aurora borealis, and then a light was there, and then it started attacking me, but I managed to defeat it, I guess, and then after it sent me somewhere with a huge eyeball in it, and then it sent us here."
As he was explaining this to Liebe, the people gave him a weird look like he was some sort of madman, but he didn't mind in the least.
"Okay, that at least explains why we're here in the first place." Liebe commented.
"Yeah, it was an experience I'll probably never forget." Asta added as they continued walking down the street asta asked Liebe a question "hey Liebe have you noticed anything strange about these people."
"Heh, what do you mean by that? Do they stink more than you after training?"
"HEY, I TOLD YOU I DON'T STINK THAT MUCH!"
"Yeah, yeah, but seriously, what do you mean by that?"
"Just look at them and tell me what you find unusual about them."
As Asta goes silent, presumably as Liebe goes around looking at the people around them. At first he didn't find anything abnormal, but when looking at their waist, he found that they were missing an important piece. Even when he figured they were still carrying it in their hand still, he could not find it.
"Do you see it?" Asta asked.
"Yeah."
"Every person all around...does not carry a single grimoire at all."
This was strange, really strange, because in their home in the Clover Kingdom, people have grimoires to use spells for combat, to help with agriculture, to help people, or just for convenience. But the people of Bucharest not only don't have them at all, but in fact most of the things both of them say don't seem to have any sort of magic in them.
"That's not all that makes these people different from us." Asta says, "When I was seeing the sight, I saw one of the moving machines going into a building, and I went inside it and asked a person who owned it about this place.
"And what did they say?" Liebe inquired, genuinely curious about Asta's story.
"They say it was an 'autoshop'."
"An autoshop—what's that?" Liebe interjects.
"It's basically a place where those machines called 'cars' get fixed when they get damaged in any way. I asked the owner how those cars move around so much, and they said they run on a liquid substance called gasoline.
"Gasoline? But why would they use a different substance when they have magic? Even if they don't have grimoires, they should be able to use magic, right?"
"That was what I thought, but when I asked them if they use mana and they gave me a funny look and then laughed at it. In fact, the other people who were there also laugh as well, saying that those things are from myths and legends. It's like...this place doesn't use magic at all."
The realization crawled up both brothers' spines like frost through bone. If their suspicions were true—if this place was truly what it seemed—then every person here, every man, woman, and child, lived without a single drop of magic in their bodies. Not a flicker, not a whisper. Nothing. The idea alone was absurd. In the kingdoms of Spade, Diamond, Heart, and Clover, magic was life itself—woven into every breath, every heartbeat, every stone and blade of grass. Even those with barely a trace of mana could conjure a spark or stir the air with enough will. It was simply part of being alive.
Only Asta and Liebe stood apart—the two exceptions to a law written into the fabric of the world. And specifc for Liebe, his hatred for Demon it was what had given birth to anti-magic in the first place—his rage and despair twisting into a power that denied the world itself. But this... this wasn't two anomalies in a world overflowing with mana. This was an entire civilization cut off from it.
Which meant that magic had once existed here—had to have—but somewhere along the line, it vanished. Not faded. Not forgotten. Erased. Because magic doesn't just disappear. Not by time, not by nature. Something—or someone—had taken it.
But who could do such a thing? Captains couldn't, nor the Wizard Kings, or even the Supreme Devils, with all their malice, couldn't strip magic from an entire population. Not unless they wielded something greater—something ancient, like the Imperial Sword... or the Tree of Qliphoth itself.
Whatever had that kind of power wasn't mortal, nor devil. It was something else. Something vast enough to hollow out this place—and leave it breathing still.
"Well, in any case, one thing is clear: that this place is very different from our own, so you better keep up, Asta."
"No problem, Liebe."
As Liebe left Asta's mind, Asta continued to look around the city and then look at the sky. As the sun melted into the horizon and thick, gray clouds filled the skies as if they were on the brink of tearing by the sun's departure, Asta knew that he had, like, one more sight to see before his departure to Trifas, but in the sky he saw something. It was a floating object in the skies. Asta had never seen anything like it, so he traced it back to where it was found, and he saw a huge building that looked a lot more unnatural than the buildings he saw. So he decided he had to take a look before he made a dash to it as fast as he possibly could.
As he was dashing to his location, he noticed that there were doves, dozens of them, sitting together and all looking at the same thing.
"Huh, I wonder what they were looking at—oof!" Being distracted by the sight of the birds, he didn't realize there was another person in front of him until it was too late. As they bumped into each other, Asta saw the person fall, and without a second thought, he grabbed their hand to prevent them from falling down to the cold hard pavement. As he looked at the person he saved, he was, for lack of a better term, in awe at the sight of them. She was a girl with long blond hair tied up into a braid, with a white t-shirt, blue shorts, blue leggings, and a blue blazer, and lastly, she had gorgeous amethyst-colored eyes that looked so pure that even the tiniest speck could be seen by everyone. Asta thought that she was out of this world, and without realizing it, his cheeks were slightly, very slightly red by the sight of her but faded quickly as he picked her up and tried to apologize.
"I'm so sorry—"
"I'm so sorry—"
"My apologies—"
"My apologies—"
"You fir—"
You fir—"
...
"Hehe."
Hehe."
"I'll go first. I'm sorry I didn't see you there. I was distracted by those doves sitting up there." as he points to the birds.
"It's okay," the girl replied, "and to be honest, I think they were looking at me."
"Huh, for what? Were you giving out bread crumbs to other birds, and they were waiting to do the same?" Asta bantered.
"Hehe, no, I don't have bread, but if I did, I'd gladly share it with the birds up there.
"Well, let's hope you don't have any. I would hate to see a pretty girl like you get hurt."
"You don't have to worry about me; I'm more capable than I look, you know."
As they both smiled at each other, the girl looked up to the skies and saw it was past noon, so she needed to hurry.
"Sorry, good sir, but I need to hurry!"
"Hurry to wher—"
"No time!" she injected, and she bolted behind Asta and into the street of Bucharest. She then turned and shouted, "I had a pleasant time talking to you. Goodbye!" as her voice faded from Asta.
"O–OKAY... SEE You later I guess."
As the girl's silhouette faded into the busy street, Asta was standing there befuddled by the beautiful woman that he just met as he felt a little empty at her disappearance. It was only just a minute at most, and yet he still feels that lingering presence of her. Was it out of curiosity of the girl, or something else entirely but the sound of her voice still echoed faintly in his ear like a memory that refused to fade. Her hair, that smile, and those amazing eyes–they still wander around fresh in his mind, and try as he might he just couldn't get why this girl left such a huge impression on him.
He let out a small breath and shook his head, trying to clear the strange haze that clung to him. Whatever it was, he'd figure it out later. For now, he had a trip to Trifas waiting and the old man was probably wondering where he'd gone off to and so he run back to the hotel.
As he traveled back to the old man, he found that he was in a machine that was bigger than the car he had seen and also much, much older. It looks like it has been used for a while, with some of the paint on the vehicle removed and rust in other parts of the machine too.
"Good to see you, young man. Got to see some of the sights in this city?" The old man asked why as he tipped his hat. "
"Good, sir, and by the way, the way you are driving it seems different from the other cars I have seen."
"Oh, well, this baby is called a truck and is used for carrying a lot of heavy stuff over long distances," he said as he smacked the front truck door a couple of times as he looked at Asta's intrigued face. "What, never seen something like this before?" he says with a grin on his face.
"Actually, yeah, I have never seen something like this before," Asta admitted sheepishly.
The old man was a little surprised by Asta's answer, but seeing that he was unconscious when he found him and the fact he seemed confused about his surroundings, he just thought that Asta was a country boy who had never been to an urban city.
"Well, young man, you are about to experience something that you will never forget. So are you ready?"
"YES, I AM, SIR!"
"Well, I don't have space for you up here, so are you okay with sitting in the back?"
"I'M A-OKAY WITH IT, SIR!"
And then Asta ran to the back of the truck and jumped onto the cargo box, taking a seat where most of the fruit was. Asta could admit that the cargo box was uncomfortable, like sitting on a rock, but he was used to it back when he was going to the Clover for the first time with Yuno for the magic knight entrance exam. Man, those were the times—learning how to use his grimoires, meeting his comrades of Bull Black, and doing his first mission. It was all new and exciting for him and something he could never forget. As he was reminiscing, he heard what sounded like talking; it seemed that the old man was talking to someone, but as he listened closer, he heard a voice: "Yes, I shall do that." Wait, I know that voice. Is that the girl from the place where the flying object was? Could she be?"
When the conversation ended, Asta heard footsteps, and as he turned around, he was shocked. It was the same girl he met at strange places, and she was also surprised as well, seeing the same man she just left not too long ago. As they stare into each other, you can feel the awkward silence hanging in the air.
"Hey young man, this fine young lady asked me to take her to the same place you are going; she said she got some relatives from there, so do you mind one more passenger?
"Uhh, no, I'm good."
"You heard the man—take whatever set you like, but not on top of cargo."
As she sat next to the vegetable crates across from Asta, a series of banging noises, like what one would get from kicking an empty metal barrel, the truck settled and began to move. As the truck rumbled on, Asta watched scenes of Bucharest and its sights pass him by.
"This is definitely different from riding on my demon-slayer or a broom."
There are certain major differences between the magical smoothness of a broom vs. the repetitive shaking of a machine. The main difference is that a broom is that the broom can move anywhere across the sky, while this machine would probably take much longer to move from area to area. In fact, if a broom and a vehicle were to race, the broom would most certainly win.
As the truck slowly moves, a bunch of the crates begin to wobble as Asta tries to stabilize them. Surprisingly, the truck began to move at the speed of a house. But because the truck is below average at best, its speed was like that of a house close to retirement.
When Asta finished stabling the crates, he saw that the girl was uncomfortable being in the bed of the truck, so he decided to make her feel comfortable.
"You're new to this, are you?"
"What do you mean?" the girl replied.
"I mean, riding in this truck is probably something that you're not used to."
Blushing slightly from embarrassment, she looked to the ground and replied, "Well, this is certainly an intriguing experience."
"Well, you're alone on this. I never ride one of these to."
"Wait, you haven't?" she says as she lifts up her eyes to Asta.
"Yeah, in fact, I didn't do these things before I got here. Now all of a sudden people use them to move from one place to another like Zooooom. Asta said while making a car sound as the girl chuckled at this 'demonstration.'
"Well, at least you know that you are not alone in this strange new place.
"Yeah... Thank you, uh."
"Asta, the name is Asta."
"Thank you, Asta. The name Jeanne." she says while making a gentle smile.
"Yeah, no problem Jeanne." as Asta does the same.
As time went on, the girl came to the back window of the truck to ask the old man how long the travel will be to get to Trifas. The old man says it will be twelve hours because they will have multiple stops, so with that, she scoots right back to her, opens up a case, brings out a book, and starts reading it.
"Hey, I'm curious what you're reading there."
"Oh, this is a math textbook."
"Math textbook?"
"Yeah, it's basically a book of math problems that you need to answer before you tell if you did it right," she explains as she continues reading the book. "Right now I'm having trouble with this particular problem and don't know what to do.
"Hey, maybe I can help."
"Y-You will help me?" she says as she lifts her head up to Asta.
"Yeah, I mean, I know I'm not the best at math or science and stuff." He clarified as he moved to sit next to her, "But if I have the ability to help someone else out, even if it is small, I do the best that I can!"
At first she was a little hesitant to give Asta her book because she didn't really know him all that much. But after Asta talked about helping people with problems, even if they are small, it made her feel something she didn't recognize, but it faded soon after. Sighing, she gave the book to Asta to see what he was capable of.
"It is on page 177."
Okay, let's see page 177. Oh, here we go. Let's see what we have he-."
"Uggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh."
"Are you having trouble, Asta?"
"WHAT? NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NOOOO. I'M JUST LEARNING WHAT THE PROBLEM IS ABOUT." He lies as he goes back to 'solving' the problem.
"Okay, okay, this is fine. This is fine. All you need to know is about the number you have and—what? WHY DOES IT HAVE A LETTER? I THOUGHT THOSE WERE TWO SEPARATE THINGS.
As Asta was in shambles trying to find a way to answer this question, he got an idea.
"Liebe, LIEBE I NEED YOU RIGHT NOW!"
Aghhh, what is it now, dummy?
"I need your help to find a solution to these problems.
"Huh, and why me?"
Because I need some extra brain power so that I can solve this, so pleeeeease help me.
"Fine, I'll look at it."
At the moment that Liebe said the problem, his mind went completely blank.
"Asta, what is this?"
Huh...it's a math problem—"
"No, Asta, one plus one is a math problem. Two plus two is a math problem. This is FUCKING WITCHCRAFT!
"Sooo, will you help me?"
"...no," as Liebe silences his voice.
"Wait, no, brother, DON'T LEAVE MEEEEEEEEEEEEE.
Now as Asta is on his own, the girl next to him sees that he is clearly struggling. It was so much to the point that streams flowed from his head down to his ear.
"Asta, are you okay? Do you need help with this?
"I might need a little help," he said while his cheek flushed red.
The girl chuckled at this, seeing this boy helping her even though he doesn't know the answers. This made the girl appreciate the company much more, even though it won't last long.
"Here, let's do this together, shall we?" The girl smiled.
As Asta looked at the girl, he smiled back and replied, "Yeah, let's."
Then they both hold the book on each side as they work on the problem together as the truck slowly but surely heads toward Trifas.
Where the first battle of the Holy Grail War will ignite as the dawn will rise for a fated clash between warriors that will snake the very foundation of Heaven and earth.
Hello again my lovely viewer and I hope you'll having a good day. Sorry it took me a hot minute to release the second chapter sloth can be a real menace sometimes. But I hope you love this chatper as much as I love creating it. that is all I have to say see you later.