A/N:
" " : Speech,
' ' : Thought,
"Bold text" : Spells.
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Omniscient POV
A few months had passed since the day of the boys' promise to become the Wizard King, and they were now in spring. Yuno had taken to training his mana, while Asta had taken to training his body, and Dante was doing both and also training his demonic power.
In the time that they were training, Dante noticed that he could sense mana all around him at an extreme degree, as he could sense the miniscule amount of mana that exists in inanimate objects. But what stuck out to him was the fact that he couldn't sense even the slightest sliver of mana from Asta.
While Asta was focused on training his body, it didn't mean that he had given up on awakening and training his mana, despite the fact that he didn't have any. He had tried introspection, bit his mind was too tumultuous for that to succeed. So he tried using external means to try and awaken his mana.
Specifically, he'd taken a rumor that a certain weed called moguro had leaves, that if made into a juice and consumed would help increase mana literally, without trying to find proof. And so he had been using this as his own way to try and gain mana.
One day, during his regular training session, Dante approached him, his face sporting a rare grimace. "Dante? What's wrong? What's happened?!" Asta said, as he felt that something drastic must have occurred for Dante of all people to seem so downcast.
"Nothing's happened, Asta. I just... found out something." Dante said, waving away Asta's alarm from his mind. But Asta still felt that he must get to the bottom of whatever it was that was making Dante unhappy.
"Asta, what do you know about mana?" Asta looked up at Dante as he asked the seemingly strange question. "What do I know about mana, huh?" Asta said out loud.
Despite the rumors he has heard about increasing mana and other things, Asta soon came to the conclusion that he knows very little about mana. "Not much." Asta said with a shrug. "But why do you ask?" He asked, tilting his head to his right.
"I'll get to that. But first, let me tell you what I've learned about mana." Dante said as he sat down on a tree stump close to the area where Asta trains. "From what I've read and heard from Father, mana is meant to be an important part of everything. People, trees, animals, you name it, it most likely has mana as a part of it. Overtime, I've also noticed this for myself, as my mana sense is quite strong. And I've also noticed... that you don't have any mana, Asta." Asta shook as he heard Dante's words.
"What do you mean, I don't have any mana?" Asta asked, his voice shaky, and tears threatening to fall from his eyes. Dante looked hurt to see Asta being like that, but he shook his head. "H-hey, you might not have mana, but it doesn't mean that you can't use magic." He said, trying to reassure Asta, and also present a theory that he had made concerning Asta's state.
"What do you mean? Don't we need mana to be able to use magic?" Asta asked as he wiped the tears away. "Well, I don't think so. I think that it's just that no one has really been able to find something else that works. Until now." Dante said, then engulfed his hand in demonic power.
Asta was shocked as he looked at the dark, reddish energy around Dante's hand, that didn't seem like mana. "What's that?" He asked as he tried touching Dante's hand, which Dante pulled away. "I'm not sure, but I know that it's not mana. So, maybe you have some other energy that isn't mana, that will allow you to use magic." Dante said, happy to see that Asta didn't remain downcast by his plight.
"I don't have this energy?" Asta asked, and Dante shook his head. "If you had it, I'd have been able to sense it." Dante said, keeping an eye on Asta's expression. "Well, since we can't tell what energy you have, why don't you train what you're sure you have?" Asta looked at Dante in confusion. "Your body. I feel that if you train your body enough, you might be able to beat some people, even if they used magic."
For what was among the many times it would happen, Asta's simpleminded nature helped him use the methods available to him to push towards his goal. And so he continued to train his body to extreme degrees, gaining a greater amount of muscle than almost anyone else that was his age.
As the years passed, the trio continued training themselves while also picking up new interests. Dante and Asta had gained an interest in swords, Dante had done so mainly for combat, and Asta had done so mainly for training. Dante's interest in books and knowledge had rubbed off on Yuno, leading to an increase in the amount of books within the orphanage, as well as the orphanage's spending, much to Orsi's displeasure.
Dante and Asta had taken to practicing with sticks in place of training swords, as they couldn't afford them. In an attempt to make better training tools, Dante also picked up sculpting and carving, which he learnt to do at a surprisingly fast rate, allowing him to carve out wooden swords from thick branches, and stone swords from the boulders around them.
As they continued training, Dante noticed something that irked him greatly. "I'm no longer improving." His improvement had hit a plateau, be it his physique or his skills. He knew that there was no one that he could ask to help him with his training, as he was practically the strongest person in Hage Village, so he had to find an alternative.
Choosing to let all of the frustration he was feeling out, he picked up one of the many stone swords he had sculpted, and went to the back of the church. When he reached his normal training spot, he channeled some of his demonic energy into the stone sword and slashed out, releasing a wave of energy in the form of a slash, that impacted a tree and sliced through it with shocking ease before dissipating.
The sword in his hand crumbled, proving to be too fragile for him to properly use as a combat weapon. He looked at the dust in his hand with a grimace. "I need to find some other way to grow stronger. If I'm not strong enough, then there's no way I'll become the Wizard King." He said, then shook the dust off his hand.
He sighed out with frustration still nestled within his chest. Although the gap in strength between him and his two foster brothers was large, he was certain that they could grow past his current level of power if given time.
Shaking his head from the thought, he decided to work on his movement, especially with the use of demonic energy. He jumped a considerable height, then when he stopped ascending, he channeled some energy to his feet, and manipulated it to create a solid platform that looked like a circle with strange symbols, albeit momentarily, then jumped off the platform.
While in the air, he flipped and channeled a much greater amount of demonic energy into his feet, and at the halfway point of the flip, he seemed to stop for an instant, as if he had latched on to a surface. Within a tiny bit of time, the demonic energy at his feet surged back into his body, and he shot forward at a high speed, his body looking like a dark red shooting star.
As he landed, he immediately went into a fighting stance, his shoulders squared and his hands at chest level. He jabbed a fist out at a speed that eyes couldn't see, and an explosion of demonic energy was released immediately his arm finished extending. He continued releasing jabs filled with explosive demonic energy, while moving faster than the eye could track, and eventually he charged his right fist with considerably more demonic energy, then punched out, releasing a massive outburst of energy.
If a Magic Knight was present, they'd say that this 8 year old boy had the destructive power of a 1st Class Intermediate Magic Knight, a great achievement for anyone, let alone a toddler. But Dante felt like that wasn't enough for him. He simply wanted more power.
...
Two more years passed with Dante still at the plateau on strength. But in that time, Asta and Yuno had grown considerably stronger, putting a bit of pressure on Dante. Not to say that he hadn't experienced any growth whatsoever, as he had become more proficient in manipulating his demonic energy and mana, sculpting and combat, enough so that he could beat the both of them simultaneously.
Yet, as fall arrived, he decided to do something that was entirely out of left field. "I'm going to go into the Forest of Poisonous Magical Beasts." His words were immediately met with shouts and reprimand. Orsi didn't even consider his decision as one that had been thought out, and shot it down.
But much to their shock, the very next morning, Dante had already left Hage Village, leaving behind a note saying that he would return before their birthday, which was only 4 days away. Orsi was rightfully enraged by this action, and was ready to fly on his broom to drag Dante back if necessary.
Asta and Yuno were extremely confused, as they didn't know that Dante was feeling frustrated by his stagnant growth, and had come to the decision that he needed a certain degree of danger to pose as a wall for him to overcome, which no one in Hage Village would be able to provide at this time.
Of course, they weren't the only ones feeling this confusion, as even Rekka, their adoptive younger sister, Nash, their adoptive younger brother, and Lily, the Sister that aides Orsi as their caretaker, felt a similar way.
But unfortunately, they just didn't have full knowledge of Dante's feelings, or his physical capabilities, as he had travelled to the borders of the Forest of Poisonous Magical Beasts overnight by running at his top speed for hours on end.
...
After pushing past the tiredness that assaulted his body from the overnight trip, Dante climbed the tallest tree he could find on the outskirts of the Forest of Poisonous Beasts and slept there.
He slept mostly dreamlessly, save for the short appearance of shining red teeth in an abyss of black. Eventually, the sounds of the early morning crept into his ears, slowly coaxing him from his slumber.
He woke up with a few body pains, so he jumped down and stretched until he felt better. He grabbed the bag he had brought with him and stepped into the forest, ready to test his mettle against true danger.
Chapter End.
Word Count: 1,845