Chapter 4: Page 4: Free-for-All!
Clash! Whoosh! Crash! BOOM!
The sounds of battle tore through the clearing, echoing like the aftermath of colliding natural disasters. The land itself looked wounded. One stretch of ground had been scorched into molten rock, still glowing faintly beneath collapsed piles of rubble. Another section was carved into impossibly clean, towering lines—as if a colossal blade had sliced the world open without resistance. Between them lay massive craters and churned‑up trenches, the soil ripped apart and scattered, faint trails of anti‑magic particles drifting like black embers in the air.
Heat shimmered. Dust spiraled. Mana residue crackled and refused to settle, twisting the air into a chaotic storm of clashing forces.
Then—
BOOOOM!
A violent explosion erupted from the very center of the battlefield, a shockwave tearing outward and flinging debris in every direction. A pillar of dust and smoke surged skyward, swelling and boiling until it formed a massive, mushroom-shaped cloud that swallowed the sky whole. The ground convulsed beneath the force, as if the world itself recoiled from the power unleashed.
Then Asta was thrown from the heart of the cloud.
His body shot out of the mushroom of smoke and flame and crashed into the ground back-first, both swords clenched tight in his hands. Skidding across fractured earth, he grunted and struggled upright, driving the Demon-slayer deep into the soil to steady himself before carefully lowering the Demon-dweller beside him. He sucked in a sharp breath, chest heaving, forcing his muscles to respond.
As he looked around, it became painfully clear just how much destruction he, Lancer, and Saber had carved into the land. Entire sections of forest were gone—trees scorched to ash, others sliced clean through, some brutally shattered in ways only Asta himself could recognize. The ground beneath his boots was a spiderweb of cracks, all born from their clash.
"Man… my first fight in this new place, and I'm already getting out of breath," Asta muttered. The distant clang of steel echoed through the smoke. "And by the sound of it, those two are still going at it. But… it's strange."
He squinted into the roiling cloud, faint silhouettes of Lancer and Saber flashing as they continued their relentless duel. Memories stirred. "Other than Captain Yami, Kiato, and Licht, most people I've fought use magic to boost their bodies. But these two don't even have grimoires. They're just releasing massive amounts of mana directly… kind of like Lardos."
His thoughts were cut short.
Saber was suddenly launched high into the air, his figure shrinking rapidly before plummeting far off in the distance. Asta turned toward the impact point—and instantly felt his skin burn as sweat evaporated in a hiss, heat rolling over him like a furnace blast.
From the thinning dust, a figure advanced.
Karna emerged from the cloud, wrapped in a blazing aura. With every step he took, the ground scorched black, plant life igniting and crumbling beneath his feet.
"Going up now, I was hoping to see more of what you can do." Lancer said, stopping just a few meters away.
"Heh—me giving up? Not gonna happen!" Asta shot back, pushing himself fully upright as he yanked the Demon-dweller from the dirt and settled into stance. "Not until every single bone in my body is broken—and even then, I'll keep fighting!"
"Good, then." Karna lowered his spear, adopting his own stance. "Shall we continue?"
"Took the words RIGHT OUT OF MY MOUTH!" Asta roared.
He burst forward, closing the distance in a blink, leaping high and bringing the Demon-slayer straight down toward Karna's head. Before the blade could land, Lancer effortlessly raised his spear and stopped the strike cold. Asta adjusted instantly, twisting mid-motion and swinging the Demon-dweller toward Karna's side—but the spear shaft snapped into place, deflecting the blow with precise ease.
Both attacks failed.
Asta disengaged, pulling his blades back just as Karna lunged, spear flashing toward his chest. At the last possible instant, Asta twisted and lashed out—
His boot slammed straight into Karna's face.
"Ha! How do you like that!" Asta grinned—
Then he froze.
Karna's expression hadn't changed. There wasn't even a mark.
A powerful hand clamped around Asta's leg, iron-tight. Heat poured from Karna's grip, searing and relentless.
"...Uh-oh."
Karna then slammed Asta down to the earth below, coughing up a little blood as the mere force of the action cracked the ground apart, flinging rock and rubble in every direction. Asta looks up to see Karna standing before him; his golden armor shines like the morning even in the night as he raises his spear up in the air while still holding Asta.
"You did well, but with this strike, you're finished." Then he thrust the spear toward Asta, hoping to end him, but at the last moment Asta parried the thrust with the Demon-dweller, moving it toward the side and smashing it toward the floor. As Karna was distracted, Asta then thrusted Demon-slayer. At Karna, leaving him no choice but to let go of his spear and narrowly dodge it, but it did graze his neck, drawing blood. Asta did not stop as he attempted to swing at Lancer again to no avail as Lancer jumped back to gain some distance from Asta, but the second he hit the ground, he looked to see Asta was already in front of him, holding his two swords in the air as he slammed them down on Karna, kicking up a bunch of dust.
Asta thought he got a clean strike, but as the dust settled, he was shocked to see Karna blocked the attack with his spear.
"Huhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! But how did he get his spear back? I didn't see him say its name or even give it some type of command!"
Still this wouldn't deter him one bit; putting more strength into his sword, he sent Karna forward a couple meters away as he sprinted across the battlefield at lightning speed, blowing the leaves away to continue the offensive against Lancer. Karna was put on the defensive as Asta attacked him again and again with enough force to cut through reinforced steel with ease, but each time Karna was able to block or parry the attacks with his spear or armor gauntlets, and after a while he started to counter with his own moves. Asta saw this and used Demon-slayer to block the majority of Karna's attack, although a few did manage to scratch him.
After a seemingly countless number of strikes that were either blocked, parried, or dodged by both of them, Asta then decided to jab Demon-slayer toward Lancer as he did the same with his, as both slid against each other, sparks flying off of them. Both Karna and Asta stood firm; their weapons were about to hit their marks. Asta backpedals his weapon, and as Karna sees his chance, he puts his attack at full throttle, aiming it at Asta right eye, but before it could land, he was stopped by something as the spear barely missed its target. Surprised by his attack, he looked around to see what could have made him stop until he looked at the ground, specifically at his left foot, to see that it was blocked by something large— Asta the Demon Slayer
"This boy purposely pulled back his weapon to make me lunge at him and then blocked my foot with his giant sword so that my balance would be messed up and I would miss my strike, but why…wait, his second sword!"
Karna looked back at Asta to see that he was filling up His Demon-Dweller with anti-mana, and the line within the sword turned dark.
"BLACK—"
Karna tried to reposition himself in order to block the attack, but it was too late.
"SLASH!"
As Asta swung his sword, a massive wave of anti-magic was launched out of it and nailed Karna directly in the stomach, launching him miles upon miles away until it came upon a rock pillar and rammed Karna to it. Looking at the direction Karna Asta took a breath as he thought he was in the clear until he sensed someone coming toward him insanely quickly. He turned to see a Saber rushing toward him as he swung his golden greatsword directly at Asta; luckily, he managed to block the swing with his two swords.
Locking swords with each other, Asta and Sigfried's engines smash with each other. It shakes the entire area around them as cracks appear right below their feet and spread out behind them, and their aura spreads even further, with Sigfried's power strengthening plant life and Asta withering them away. As rusted grit meets against dragonic steel, Asta begins to be pushed back slowly; as when Siegfried takes one step forward, Asta takes a step back.
"Dammit, we're going nowhere with this!" Asta shouts, putting more strength and anti-mana into his sword's edges, making them black, giving him the means to push back against Saber. Saber was surprised by this sudden strength but still held his ground until he saw that the edges of the sword started vibrating very, very fast. "Take this!"
Doing a cross slash, the vibrated edges suddenly burst, repelling Saber a far distance away. Asta then gives chase to him. Saber, meanwhile, was trying to stop his momentum, so he planted his feet into the ground, slowing it down to a stop, but before he could return to Asta, he was already in front and slashed diagonally across the chest, drawing blood. Saber tried to swing downward at Asta but he disappeared, so he slammed the floor allowing Asta to attack him again giving Saber a cut on the cheek. Now Saber was on the defensive, but even after trying to protect himself from Asta each time he thought he found Asta's next location and struck back, he disappeared from sight, blocking or countering him with no way for him to do anything, and that wasn't even the weirdest thing.
"The weird thing is that wounds he is giving me are healing really slowly, and even with my master using healing magecraft, the process has not accelerated. Does this mean that his weapons are able to nullify magecraft?"
He didn't have time to think of this, however, as he sensed a demonic presence behind him as he looked to see that Asta was right behind his back.
"I can't move fast enough to block it!"
Just when Asta was about to slash, he caught a glimpse of Saber's back, seeing what seemed to be a leaf-like pattern in the middle of the back and was slightly lighter in color than the rest of his skin.
"Huh, that's interesting?"
Putting that thought to the side he wind-Up Demon Slayer and swing it upward toward Siegfried back, but just before he could, he felt a burning sensation and took a surprise look, turned to see a pillar of fire he blocked an incoming attack with Demon-Dweller dispersing them to see that it was Karna.
"You didn't think I wouldn't have come back, did you?" Karna asked as he generated a ball of fire in his hand and launched a torrent of fire at Asta.
As the blazing heat flows from the stream of fire burning everything to a crisp, the only thing he can do is hold Demon-dweller in front of him as the torrent of flames crashes into Asta, sending him far away from the battlefield. Feeling the burning sensation all throughout his hand like putting it in molten lava, he grunted in pain but continued to hold on as the flames began to engulf him completely, causing a massive explosion. Siegfried was stunned by Karna's actions; sure, the kid wanted to fight against the two of them, but using that level of power on any human will surely incinerate them, let alone a kid, but he didn't have time to dwell on it as Karna turned to him.
"Do not be concerned with the boy now, Saber of Black." Lancer clarified as if reading Saber's mind. "I merely was testing the boy's resolve he claimed to possess. If he falls here, that means his strength was insufficient. So let's proceed."
Siegfried didn't hesitate for a second and downward slammed his sword to the ground as hard as he could, releasing a huge energy wave splintering the earth apart on its track towards Karna. As it rocketed toward Karna, he did nothing as the energy wave carried on with its course as if this was nothing to him, and true enough, it was true, as the moment the energy collided with Karna, it burst open from the flames coming from Karna.
Leaving a pathway, Karna goes right through the energy wave like lightning as he clashes with Siegfried, pushing him and himself over the sprawling valley. Glued to each other's eyes, Lancer then launched Saber away, letting him crash into a huge boulder. Lancer then glided to Saber, letting his cap flutter in the wind, glittering like stars.
Saber stands unyielding as Lancer rams into him, smashing the exterior of the boulder and going into the rock while clashing all the same. As the fighter kept battling inside, the boulder's cracks appeared all over it, slowly crumbling until the back of it ruptured open as the two warriors left the collapsing rock to continue on the fight. While light began to shine on the ruined battleground, the two fighters danced around in a ballet of war as their blades clashed continuously to see which one of them would fall first from their blades.
Clashing one final time, they smash their weapons together as huge shockwaves reverberate all over the field, causing leaves to be thrown up in the air and sparks to launch in every direction. Before they could continue further, they heard something in the distance.
"HEY LANCER I THINK YOU DROPPED SOMETHING!"
Looking toward the location where the voice was heard, Lancer saw something that truly surprised him; it was Asta, and he was riding on his own sword while it was seemingly hovering above ground flying toward him. Looking at the Demon-dweller he saw that now the black markings on the blade were now a bright orange as flames wrapped around the sword all the way down to the guard. Wondering how Asta managed to get those flames on his sword, Asta came charging toward Karna as he wound up the Demon-dweller.
"HOPE YOU'RE READY FOR THIS—'CAUSE IT'S COMING BACK HOT!"
The moment Asta swing Demon-dweller sword at Karna, a huge wave of flames was launched, forcing Karna to disengage with Siegfried and block the attack with his spear, but the second he collided with flames, he felt something draining him. Immediately after the collision, Karna is sent flying back while the flames slowly consume him.
"His second sword may have absorbed my magic flames and launched them back at me! But how can they be draining me? I don't remember any of my power being able to do that, so did he—" His train of thought was stopped as the flames grew bigger and brighter until they blew up in a huge gigantic explosion, melting the rock around him into magma and the plants around them into ashes. Asta watched the destruction of the attack and was in slight disbelief that Lancer was able to defend his attack with his own power without being amped by a grimoire.
"Geeh, this is SOOOOOOOOOOO COOOOOOOOOOLLLLLLL! With their cool magic, their cool design, and their awesome fighting styles, it is just so fricking AMAZING!" Asta was fanboying just seeing all the cool things Saber and Lancer were doing with starry eyes; even being in the action excited him to no end. In fact, he was fanboying so much that he completely forgot that Saber was right behind him doing nothing but staring at Asta. Seizing a chance, Saber ran in an attempt to slash Asta, but sensing Siegfried's attack, Asta got out of his fanboy daze at the last second and backflipped over the weapon, seeing his own reflections as he did so. Saber stops himself and repositions himself toward Asta as Asta begins to fall to the floor, puts his hands out, and says, "Slayer!" commanding the sword to go back into his demon hand, landing on the ground, rushing toward Saber, and clashing swords with him. As they continued to clash, Asta's mind was not on the battle but instead on Karna and Siegfried—more specifically, who were they?
While he was amazed by their skills, something was off about them. Most of the people he met and fought were human except for the elves and the devils (Charmy as well, but that is a whole different can of worms), but these guys might look human, but their ki is very different from every other person he met, including the elves and devils. Even though Saber's ki is more similar to humans' than Lancer's, both of their ki feel unnatural, almost ghostly in a sense, as if they're not even alive at all.
Seeing that Asta's mind was somewhere else Siegfried raised his sword high in the air and slammed it down toward Asta as he poured a ton of mana into the sword, cutting the air apart. Seeing the massive energy blade, Asta snaps out of thinking and uses Demon-slayer to block the attack, dispersing the energy around the sword. As Asta was about to counterattack with his other swords, he felt heat behind him as, in the distance, Karna was coming in close to stab behind Asta, so he had no choice but to block Karna's attack with Demon-slayer as he was now stuck between Saber and Lancer.
Both were surprised at Asta being able to block both of their attacks simultaneously and being strong enough to halt them from moving even if it was just a little, but it won't be enough just as they start to advance toward Asta one step at a time. Asta tried as hard as he could to stop them from advancing any further, but try as he might, he couldn't stop the both of them from moving; he was just too weak.
Well, in his base form, that is.
Smiling from ear to ear, dark energy rose from Asta's body and expanded rapidly, and every bit of plant life untouched by their fight instantly withered away. Both Siegfried and Karna felt the growing, ominous pressure pouring off him—something twisted, something demonic—as they watched his hair turn black like raven feathers. Even Ruler and Gordes, far from the battlefield, felt that threatening aura crash over them, leaving them in complete shock at Asta power. As the dark energy continued to grow, Asta's strength was steadily getting stronger and stronger, stopping the two fighters in their tracks completely as his Demon‑Slayer turned completely black, its edges sharpening while anti‑mana overflowed from the blade like a living shadow.
"Well now, it wasn't looking good for me for a moment there," he said with that same unsettling smile, black lines crawling across his face all the way to his temples, his eyes turning crimson and narrowing into a beast's stare, hungry and predatory, ready for the Hunt.
"BUT NOW LET'S STEP UP—AND TURN ON THE HEAT, BLACK HURRICANE!"
Spinning around faster and faster, anti-mana came from all around until he became a huge black tornado grinding against Saber and Lancer like a chainsaw, sparks flying off everywhere. As the tornado became bigger, it launched the two fighters off from it as it flew high to the sky as it vanished, revealing Asta in his full black form.
"What in the—?"
"How did he?"
Both fighters were shocked at Asta's new look, as they couldn't believe that not only would a person have the features of a demon but also, with this sinister pressure, the power of one as well. Jeanne and Gordes were the same, looking at the sky and seeing Asta in this demonic form, as Gordes couldn't move a single muscle while Jeanne started talking about Asta in his current state.
"Asta."
As Asta looks down at his opponent, he first looks at Lancer with his brilliant golden armor getting his spear ready for another round. He then looked toward Saber standing like a brick wall as all the cuts Asta made during their fight were slowly but surely getting healed as Asta looked to see his master frozen stiff but still giving Saber his magecraft to heal his wounds. While Saber's body was being mended to full, Asta knew that he was the easier of the two as his attack was seemingly making him tired much more than Lancer. So he closed his eyes and—
Zip
Asta was gone from everyone's sight; nobody knew where he had gone. As Karna, Siegfried, Jeanne, and specifically Gordes looked around to see where Asta went, but nothing came up. Siegfried was to stop looking for Asta; he felt the same ominous pressure, but it was even more intense. Looking to the side, he saw Asta seeing the demonic eyes of his as Asta pulled back Demon-dweller and with full force drive it toward Siegfried. Having seconds to use, he used the golden greatsword to defend against Asta's thrust attack, but it was too much, as Siegfried was sent flying, going past Karna and smashing against a rock pillar with such force that it fractured into chunks of rocks. Karna did not know what happened turning to his left and seeing Asta reappear where Saber should have been, and turning to his right and seeing Saber lying on the ground where there was a rock pillar but now just a pile of rubble. As he pondered just what happened, he felt the same pressure turning back just to see Asta right in his face, dragging Demon-slayer from the ground, about to strike him with a rising slash. Karna put his spear right up against his face, clashing with Asta's strike, feeling the monstrous strength the boy now possessed. Karna couldn't do anything as he was launched all the way up into the air. Moving faster than a rocket, Karna put a large amount of flame below his feet to act like jet propulsion to slow down his momentum and eventually come to a complete halt.
Recover from the strike. Karna looked in the distance to see that something was coming after him, and it was coming fast—it was Asta chasing him down immediately after the strike, putting Demon-slayer in front of him, charging it with anti-mana, and making it grow larger and larger.
"BLACK—"
He then moves it to the floor, condensing all the anti-mana into the form of a huge greatsword as tall as a building.
"DIVIDER!"
He then, with all of his might, swings Demon Divider upward to Karna, picking up speed while destroying the surrounding area as it heads toward Lancer. Seeing the absolutely enormous blade approaching, he moved out of the way, feeling the massive winds coming from the strike, but it wasn't done as Asta moved the blade to the side and swung it again, trying to slice Karna in half from the waist. Seeing this coming, however, Karna put his cape in front of him and the blade as the attack banged against the armor, but no matter how hard it was pushed, it couldn't penetrate Karna's armor. He then repelled the giant blade, pushing it back as it started shrinking as the anti-mana started dissipating into thin air. Going back to its original form Asta charges toward Karna, going for a slash with Demon-Slayer but it is immediately stopped by Karna's spear. Then they back away from each other and then instantly rush back to each other, Karna pulling back his spear and stabbing it at Asta but was impeded by Asta's Demon-Dweller and Demon-Slayer.
While Karna and Asta soar through the skies they clash over and over and over and each time they do they make large shockwaves and echo throughout the entire area. After clashing over a thousand times, they were about to clash again until they both sensed something was coming toward them as they turned to see a massive pillar of rock rocketing toward them. Stopping the flight toward each other they both go around the pillar Asta to the right of the rock pillar and Karna to the left, as the pillar continues moving forward. After their dodge of the pillar they were heading toward each other as they were about to clash, but at the very moment when their weapons were about to clash a streak of greenish light rushed toward them and clashed with them as the sound rang throughout the whole area and beyond. As both Asta and Lancer turn to see that it was Karna who somehow was able to get out of the rubble, run all the way to their location, slice off the pillar of rock from the ground, launch it toward them, and jump approximately 2 kilometers just to get to their level.
And he wasn't even done yet as he continued to push them both further and further until all three of them got smashed into the pillar, dust and rubble exploded from the impact, and the pillar began to move faster. But like with all objects in the air the pillar started to slow down and finally came to a stop as the front of the pillar started to tilt forward toward the ground as gravity was setting in and began to put it toward whatever location it was targeted at.
But then—
BOOM!
The whole pillar exploded as many fragments, big or small were hanging in midair while a huge dust cloud covered the whole pillar as rocks from the pillar began to fall from the sky to the earth below. Inside of the now destroyed pillar were three lights: one a deep emerald that looked like a dragon head, two golden shining like the sun, and the third was a deep black with a red outline chasing the two down like a demonic beast in the night as the three lights clashed endlessly. Siegfried was the first to get launched by one of the fighters slamming into one of the suspended rocks, forming cracks all over. Getting up, he sees both Lancer and Asta flying all across the collapsing rock structure, fighting all throughout. Seeing them fighting with all of them might have been exhilarating for him to see as he squatted down at the rock he was standing on putting all of his magical energy into his legs and rocketed himself toward them, shattering the rock into even more fragments and dust.
Asta and Karna were still battling it out, driving past much rubble as many of them would get sliced or melted by their missed attacks. Karna then flew up above Asta and rained down a hailstorm of fireballs at Asta, who, with his excellent sensing, was able to dodge all of the fireballs and then using Demon-dweller, fire a bunch of black slashes at Karna. Seeing all the slashes coming after him prepared him by igniting his spear on fire as he charged at the slashes, immediately slicing three of them with his spear, blocking a few of them with his armor, and for the several remaining, charging up a huge fireball as he flew toward the black slashes and throwing the large fireball at them, colliding and creating a massive explosion as their butt got caught by it.
Asta tried to see where Lancer was but he couldn't due to all of the smoke that was produced by the explosion, but in the midst of this smoke, a golden light was rushing toward Asta as Karna was using the smoke to sneak up on Asta. Just before he was about to use his spear and slammed it on Asta's head, another light appeared right below him as Siegfried attacked Karna right in the ribcage. Surprising both Asta and Karna as the smoke dispersed and Siegfried launched Karna right to the boulder just on top of him.
While Asta was still in shock by Saber's entrance Saber didn't waste any time as he moved toward another rock and launched him toward Asta. Asta saw this coming, however, and was able to evade the attack, but he wasn't prepared for Saber to do it again as he saw Saber was already flinging himself toward him going right past him but giving Asta a cut on the chin. Saber continued to do this over and over again, bouncing off the rocks so fast that he was nothing but a blur. It was the same thing Asta did with the multiple-headed hydra except Asta was a lot smaller and faster than the big lizard, so he flew all around the battlefield to make it less easy for Saber to hit him. The relentlessness didn't stop however, as even though Asta managed to dodge or block a couple of Saber sword attacks, a lot of them were able to bypass his defenses and cut him all over his body, and the rate of the attack increased higher and higher.
"Ha, ha, man, to think he still has this much stamina left!"
Asta goes to the middle of the destroyed pillar and closes his eyes. Siegfried sees this and is confused as to why he was just standing there doing nothing.
"Concentrate, Asta, concentrate."
The world went dark as Asta was the only thing that was visible in this void.
"Use all of your senses, not just sight, but taste, touch, hearing, and smell. Put all of them in action then—"
Saber leaped from another rock toward Asta, putting magical energy into his blade; he was to slash Asta in the back of the neck.
"STRIKE!"
Asta opened his eyes wide, roaring like a wild beast. He turned around, swung his right arm, and parried Saber's attack with Demon-slayer, moving Saber's sword to the sky. Saber was now wide open for a devastating attack. Asta didn't waste the chance, holding Demon-dweller in the air, ready to end the fight, but just before he could.
"Arggh!"
Something smashed into Asta's back. Grunting from the pain, he looked up to see that it was Karna, who slammed his ignited foot on Asta. Karna then made a mini explosion from his boot and launched Asta straight to one of the bottom rocks below crashing into it. Seeing the rock Asta crash landed on, Saber looked back to see Karna already thrusting his spear towards his chest. Saber then recomposed himself and slammed down his greatsword as the two weapons collided and released a large shockwave, sending the two away. As the two collided into one of the suspended rocks, Saber shrugged off the damage and rocketed himself forward to Lancer, raising his sword high in the air, ready to slash Lancer in half, but the lancer jumped out of the way, making Saber cleave through the rock instead. Seeing where Karna was located, Siegfried used a piece of the cleaved rock and shot himself toward Karna as both fought all over the destroyed pillar, making it look like a light show.
Far away from the battlefield, Jeanne was seeing the battle and was, for lack of a better term, astonished by the three fighters who were moving so fast that the only thing she could see was the color representing the fighter, but she was most amazed at Asta. She had a feeling that he was unique, but she never imagined it at this scale. Not only was he able to contend with servants on more than even ground, but he also had the ability to wield the power of a demon and seemingly not be corrupted by it.
But seeing Asta wielding that power conflicted with her; she is Catholic, so seeing Asta in this form should mean that he is her enemy, but seeing how innocent and kind Asta is, she didn't want to believe that he was a part of the devil. For now she put those thoughts aside, and she will ask him how he got the power later, but now she has a battle to witness, but she was a little worried about Asta after he was attacked from above by Karna.
Gordes, on the other hand, was absolutely gobsmacked at the absolute insanity that was this fight. Gnashing his teeth over this death match between Saber of Black, Lancer of Red, and Asta, he thinks to find any way he could use his magecraft to help Saber, but sadly there was none and the opposing master. Even worse is that his saber—the great hero Siegfried, the most powerful of sabers who can ignore attack rank B or below—was not winning. But what displeased him the most was Asta because, simply put, he was anything but normal. He was to fight Lancers and Saber to the point where when he fought against Saber, he was overwhelming him so much that Saber couldn't even land a blow on him, and if it wasn't for Lancer intervening, Saber would have been defeated.
Even Lancer could not entirely defend against the boy's assault, and Gordes couldn't even see the majority of Lancer's attack, but Asta dodged like it was nothing, and yet he still had a transformation that he wasn't even using until now. If Gordes has any hope to achieve anything in this fight, he must seek aid for his servant.
"O ruler, I beg of you. Please, at least, teach us his true name."
"I cannot. That will go against my impartiality as a ruler servant." Ruler replied sharply.
But Gordes doggedly continued.
"But he tried to kill you! If one of the strongest servants of Black were to fall here, he would just come after you again. We must—"
Like I said before, this has nothing to do with the fight at hand. I was summoned as a ruler—I cannot allow my personal matters to foul the battle between the three.
"…!"
Gordes's impatience resurfaced. They were watching, all of them were—Darnic and the other, through caster remote viewing magecraft and familiars. They were watching him, the fool of a master who stood frozen by the utterly dominating presence of two servants and a boy with no magic being off to contend and fight on an equal level, unable to give any commands or support in any way.
"This is preposterous! Are we not fighting the Holy Grail War? Is it not supposed to be the ultimate competition of thaumaturgy decided between two Masters and Servants? Where is the enemy, Master? Why is he not here? Does he fear for his life?
Come out and let me defeat you! I shall destroy you!" Gordes then lashed out to the sky, saying, "Show yourself, Master of the Red! Let Gordes Musik Yggdmillennia see how a dog of the Association measures! You are watching this, are you not? Are you not—agghhh!
Gordes was slapped in the face by something so hard that it made him topple over and fall to the ground face first.
"Geez, would you shut up? Nobody wants to smell your wine and cheese breath while you're whining."
Both Ruler and Gordes look up to the top of the rock to see a demon who was short with messy, white hair while the rest of his body was coated in black; a black line extends up his chest to under his chin, while two other lines extend across his red eyes, and he has two bat-like wings, two ram-like horns, and a long, thin tail with a trident-like tip that was used to slap Gordes. This was Liebe in his true form instead of the smaller, more chibi version of himself.
Gordes was frozen solid while Jeanne went into a defensive position, pointing her flag at Liebe. "Who are you, demon, and what are you doing here?"
Woah, woah, easy there, I'm not here to hurt anyone."
"Are you sure?" She really didn't buy that a demon, an evil spirit in the underworld, wasn't here to hurt anyone here.
"Yeah, I'm not here for any of that. I'm just here to see the fight without being around anything blowing up in my face."
"You're watching?" Jeanne replied, perplexed.
"Yep."
"But why?"
"Because my brother is in it."
Jeanne was now even more perplexed. How can a demon have a brother that was fighting in this battle? But taking a better look at Liebe, he vaguely resembles something she knew very recently.
"...!? What, your Asta brother?"
"Bingo, and no, we are not related by blood; he is my adopted brother." Liebe explained to Jeanne.
"Adopted…brother?" Now Jeanne really needs to ask Asta some questions about himself.
"Y-Y-YOU INSOLENT BRAT!"
Gordes gets up from the ground and begins to rage at Liebe.
"HOW DARE YOU SLAP ME LIKE I WAS NOTHING! I AM GORDES MUSILK YDDMILLENNIA, MASTER OF SABER, RIVAL TO EINZBERNS, AND I SHALL DEMAND RESPECT—"
"And when did you have any right to speak?"
Gordes was scared stiff at this overwhelming demonic pressure, like at any time this demonic thing would end with no hesitation.
"This is the problem with you humans," he said, his voice low and rough, heavy with disdain. "You convince yourselves you're above everyone else just because of something you were given—something we never had a say in, something you barely even understand yourselves."
He slowly raised his hand.
Anti-mana ignited around his fingers like black fire, the air warping and trembling as shadows crawled up his arm. The pressure alone was enough to make the ground beneath him groan.
"But strip all of that away," he continued, his eyes hardening, his voice turning cold and merciless, "take away what you rely on so desperately—and you're no different from anyone else. Just another person pretending they're untouchable."
His gaze locked forward, sharp and unyielding.
"So listen carefully," he warned, the anti-mana crackling violently as it surged higher. "Because if you even think about raising your voice—if you even think you can look down on me—"
The shadows twisted tighter, pulsing with restrained violence.
"—the last thing you'll ever hear is nothing but your own agonized screams. Do you understand?"
"Y-YYes."
"Good." Liebe put out the anti-mana and continued looking at the battlefield. "Well, it looks like the battle has entered its final stage."
Confused by what he says, Ruler and Gordes look up to see two lights shooting up into the sky.
As both Siegfried and Karna rose high into the sky, they continued their relentless battle, steel crashing against steel with deafening force. Each collision sent waves of energy rippling through the air, their auras flaring like rival stars locked in violent orbit. The heavens themselves seemed to tremble as their power raged unchecked above the battlefield. But they didn't know someone below them, as from within the shattered pillar, a blackened comet tore skyward, defying the very heavens themselves to force them to stand against the legends and carve its own place against them.
Shooting past the warriors in a streak of violent force, their eyes snapped upward just in time to see Asta suspended high above them, the lone star overhead glinting like an omen. He raised both swords toward the heavens—and in that instant, his power erupted. Dark energy detonated outward in a roaring surge, coiling and expanding until it took shape behind him: a colossal demonic silhouette with blazing eyes and outstretched wings, towering over the battlefield as if an ancient devil had descended to claim the sky itself.
As the world itself sees the might of Asta, the magicless boy who shouldn't be in this world, one thing becomes impossible to ignore.
"BLACK!"
Siegfried holds his weapon in front of him while Karna uses his armor to guard from the attack.
He will change the status quo of not just this world, but in every world beyond it.
"METEORITE!"
Charging forward at full force, the dark energy around him followed, making him look like a meteor falling to the earth as he slammed down both his sword and Saber and Lancer. As all of their auras collide, the shockwaves are so big the people in Trifas feel the massive amount of pressure that they would give and could see the light that was coming off from them. While three of them continued to clash, Asta's anti-mana power began to grow more and more and more rapidly, forcing the other two to put more energy into their weapons to push against Asta's attack.
"Argh-AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
Pushing his power even further, the rupture is like a volcano as it starts to destroy both Karna's and Siegfried's magical auras as all three start to spin rapidly toward the earth. As they spin around each other, weapons still locked together, they gain speed, spinning faster and faster until they become a multi-colored meteor and crash-land to the ground, shaking the whole area and creating a humongous explosion while the earth splinters and cracks. Huge clouds began to cover the land as both Jeanne and Gordes used the rock for cover, while Liebe just closed her eyes and slowly opened them up as the cloud started to dissipate.
Jeanne moved away from the cover, trying to look for Asta, but couldn't look for the three warriors, but she was especially worried about Asta.
"Asta! Asta, are you there?" She cried out.
"Don't worry, he'll be fine." Liebe nonchalantly answered as Jeanne turned around, surprised by that statement.
"B-B-But how! No human should be able to withstand the speed that they go at, much less a crash of that magnitude. There's no way!" Gordes said
"Well, if I learn anything about my brother, it is that he isn't normal; he is something extraordinary, and if you see the battles with the enemies he has faced, you understand too.
'What opponents did he face before this fight?' Jeanne and Gordes thought because he was saying that Asta fought enemies that are equal to or more powerful than Saber and Lancer, which should be impossible in this day and age.
"See for yourself." Liebe then pointed forward as the dust cloud around the crash site started to disappear as both people were shocked at the sight. Saber, Lancer, and Asta were all still facing each other down with their weapons drawn, but nobody had moved from their spot.
"Impossible. How can he still be standing!"
"Asta."
All three of them were covered in thousands of light wounds, but they were still ready to clash a thousand more times, but all of a sudden, Asta detransformed. Finally the knights have finally stopped, not from fatigue, for these matchless heroes won't stop continuing to fight even after three days. But time waits for no man as the pitch-black sky was becoming a gleaming twilight. In fact, several hours have passed since they first began the fight; neither of them are using their full power.
"At this rate, we will be fighting with the sun under our heads, though it is of little concern to me. What of you and your master?"
"..."
Saber then put his sword away, silent to the end. Gordes tried to say something but couldn't find the word for it. Crushed by the wills of the dueling men, he instinctively knew that there was no place for him to open his mouth. After some silence Saber spoke again.
"I dare to hope that our next meeting will allow us to battle to our heart's content.
There was a curious earnestness to his words. The Lancer of the Red, Karna, knew nothing of what was behind Siegfried's brilliant epic. However, something in those ringing words made an impression on him. With a slight nod, Lancer showed his assent—it was also what he himself secretly wanted, after all. To call it a promise or oath would be an overstatement.
Both understood and saw the other as an enemy servant. But that was all the more reason for them to share this feeling.
"I must say… Luck must be on my side. I am grateful from the bottom of my heart that my first battle was with you, Saber of Black. He then turned to Asta. "And to you."
Asta looks at Karna in surprise as he puts his swords back into his grimoire and points a finger at himself. "Me?"
"Yes, never in my life have I seen a boy like you. You have shown exceptional skills that could even rival or maybe even surpass even the best of servants. Karna complimented Asta, "If you continue working on sharpening your skills, then maybe you'll even rival the gods themselves."
"Well, I'll do my best!" He didn't know why, but the compliments the man gave to him made him smile widely.
Those words of approval by Lancer were beyond any prize. Between them was a bond that existed between warriors—an almost innocent, adolescent hope that they would be slain by the other's arms.
Farewell, you two."
"..."
"..."
Both Saber and Asta saw him off without saying a word. Abruptly, Lancer goes into his spirit form and disappears as the sky begins to turn a light violet, signaling daybreak.
"A splendid battle. As would have been expected from the greatest hero of Germany."
Saber nodded quietly at Rular's praise.
"And to you, Asta, your fighting skills have blown away all expectations of you."
She would meet his gaze steadily, her expression gentle but unwavering.
"Not many people alive today would have ever achieved the level of power that you have shown, and for that you have my respect."
"Ahh, it was nothing really." Asta shyly replied while scratching the back of his head.
"See, I told you he's not normal." Both Asta and Jeanne look down on Asta's shoulder to see Liebe in his chibi form. "You can drop a mountain on top of him, and he wouldn't budge an inch—well, maybe lose a few brain cells, but you get what I'm saying.
"HEY, NOT FUNNY, MAN!" Asta retorts as Jeanne puts her on his lips to stop herself from giggling.
"Just saying."
As the three continued to interact with each other, Gordes was glaring at Saber for speaking not only after but also before the fight started on his own accord, but he pulled himself together and turned to face the ruler once again.
"O Ruler, would you come with us now? If you wish to continue surveying the war in Trifas, I can assure you that the fortress of millennia will be the most welcoming of a guest such as—"
"I must decline." sharply replied as Gordes was dumbfounded by Ruler's quick answer.
"That would go against my impartiality, but you need not worry about me, for my power of detection is many, many times greater than that of an average servant. I will be able to make my own way to any battle occurring within Trifas."
This was the Great Holy Grail War, an unprecedented clash of two forces—under no circumstances should she appear to support one side.
"But—"
"You hear her say she can take care of herself on her own." Asta butted in on the conversation. "I may not know what's going on around here, but I can tell with the armor she is wearing that she is pretty capable of doing what she needs to do, plus you have that guy over there." point of Saber: "He was plenty strong when he fought him, so don't worry about being in any danger."
"Yeah, so scram, bucko." Liebe Demanded.
"Y-Y-YOU… Fine, we're leaving, Saber."
It was clear from the unhappiness in Gordes' tone of voice that it was his objective from the start to secure Ruler, but his plans were thrown into chaos by Lancer and Asta. And even if his Saber could forcibly restrain Ruler, he was out of time. Gordes was a magus, after all. He would never be so foolish as to fight with a Servant in broad daylight. Plus, seeing how Asta was overwhelming Saber without even trying made the thought of restraining Ruler even more foolish.
With Saber going into spirit form, Saber turned back on Ruler, and Asta's shoulder trembled in humiliation.
With Gordes gone, Ruler once again looked upon the traces of destruction wrought by the three men. There was no sense, no order, and no direction in the destruction—proof that it was not caused by malicious intent but was simply the aftermath of the duel proper. Yes... the cloven highway sign and the crater in the ground, looking like the impact of a meteorite, but even that pales in comparison to the impact of them crashing back to earth; this one came about simply from the shock waves of the battle.
Thank goodness this wasn't a bridge, Ruler thought. It would have buckled under them, and they might have brought it down completely. It would not kill a Servant, but the reconstruction would require a very long time. That would be rather regretful.
In any case, the battle between the Saber of Black, Lancer of Red, and Asta had come to a draw. Neither had suffered a severe wound or expended a great amount of energy. It was only a scuffle—nothing more than a skirmish.
And yet this simple skirmish left such a scene.
"Asta, I need to ask you a question."
"Uhhh, yeah, what do you want to ask?"
She then turns to Asta and asks him, "How did you get that much power?"
"Oh, well, that's a long one, but the short of it is that I and my brother had a fight, I won, we bonded, we trained together to help in an invasion, got in a huge fight that we won, then I was training some more, an incident happened, and now I'm here," he says with a grin on his face.
Obviously Jeanne knew that Asta was hiding a lot of things from her, but she decided that wasn't her business and left it at that.
"Okay then, I hope your visit to Trifas will be fruitful." She then turned and was about to walk away.
"Wait, Jeanne!"
She stopped.
"I—I—ugh, I—hmm, I…"
"I know what you want to say, Asta." She surprised him, her words landing before he could even form them.
"But you can't come with me."
"B-But I—"
"I know," Jeanne said gently. "You want to help me—and I'm grateful for the assistance. But this is not your war to be a part of." Her voice softened as she reassured him. "I am here for a reason. I don't want innocent people to get hurt because of me… and that includes you."
At those words, Asta's fingers dug into his palms.
"But what about you?" he shot back. "What happens if another attack comes your way and I'm not here to stop it? You could be seriously hurt—or worse."
Memories rushed in uninvited: moments where his friends had been on the brink of death, saved only because he stood between them and disaster. He couldn't bear the thought of someone he came to care about facing that same fate without him there.
Then he felt it—Jeanne's hand resting on his shoulder.
He looked up, meeting her warm, unwavering smile.
"I'll be fine," she said softly. "And besides, you've said it yourself—I'm capable of handling this on my own. So don't worry about me, okay?"
That gentle expression eased the tightness in his chest. Asta slowly relaxed his hands, pulling his fingers free from his palms. She was right. He had said that.
And no matter how much he disliked having his own words used against him, he couldn't deny them.
"...Yeah, you're right, but before you go, can I ask you a question?"
She hesitated for a moment but said, "What is the question?"
"Who were those guys I fought with? Because they don't look like the people I saw in Bucharest, and their pressure was like they're not from this world."
Jeanne was worried about him asking that. She didn't really know at first if he was trustworthy with the knowledge of the Great Holy Grail War, but after seeing him fight, she thought that telling a little bit won't cause any problem.
It wasn't like he was a master or could shake up the war itself by himself.
"Well, those people you just fought were called servants, spirits made into special familiars for the purpose of competing under masters in the war of the grail, a device that can grant any wish."
"A device that can grant any wishes?" Asta was perplexed by the mere thought of something of that nature. "Is there anything more you wish to tell me?"
Jeanne quickly refuses. "I'm sorry, but that's all I can tell you."
"Oh, okay, well then." Asta then put back Demon-slayer from his grimoire and put it on the ground as it began to float as Asta stepped on it. "I hope to see you later."
"As to you, Asta."
As they both smile at each other, Asta shoots like a rocket and rides Demon-slayer toward Trifas as Jeanne gently moves hair away from her face from the wind current Asta made. She smiles, then fades as he looks toward Tifas. From now on, the war will only intensify, and some Servants and Masters will likely attempt to break out from the framework. Was that what she—Servant Ruler, Jeanne d'Arc—had been summoned to watch out for?
Unsure, she could neither deny the possibility nor believe in it completely. Rumblings from within told her that something was amiss in this 'Great Holy Grail War.'
"...It's no help thinking about it now. I can only try my best."
Ruler told herself, tightening her fists. Then, looking down on her dress, she felt somewhat embarrassed to be standing in full battle dress in the morning light; she hurriedly released the magically woven armor and changed back to her normal clothes.
Under the faintly violet sky, the girl returned to the road, picked up her bag, and began walking slowly towards Trifas as the first battle of the Great Holy Grail War finally came to an end.