"Run," Yuno said to Asta.
Asta stared back with a resolute expression.
"How could I possibly run away because of someone like this?"
Even Revchi looked slightly surprised.
"Someone like me? I'm a former Magic Knight. And you—a loser—want to defeat me? You wouldn't even dare dream of it!"
"It's not over yet!" Asta shouted.
"No. It's over," Revchi said impatiently. With a flick of his wrist, his chain slammed Asta into the wall.
Asta briefly lost consciousness.
In that fleeting moment, a thought surfaced in his mind.
How could such an attack be this strong? No matter how hard he trained his body, he couldn't compete with this. Was all of his effort meaningless?
With a mocking smile, Revchi stepped on Asta's shoulder.
"Since you've worked so hard, let me tell you something nice. My chains can sense magic power—but you don't have any at all. You were born without magic. You're nothing but trash."
"Hey."
A voice suddenly came from behind him.
It was Yuno, still bound by chains.
"Who are you calling trash? Asta is my rival."
Revchi twisted his mouth into a sneer.
"Hah. He's just useless. Don't make me laugh."
Hearing Yuno's words, Asta's blood boiled.
"It's not over… it's not over yet!"
At that moment, a black grimoire emerged from the wall in front of Asta.
The reason it appeared there was simple—it had been a brick embedded in the wall.
Of course, that wasn't the important part.
On the filthy black cover, a clover could be vaguely seen.
A black clover.
According to ancient legend, the three leaves of the clover represented honesty, hope, and love.
The fourth leaf represented luck.
And the fifth leaf… contained a devil.
This was an ancient legend of the Clover Kingdom.
Behind Asta, the shadow on the wall looked like a demon with claws, wings, and fangs—laughing silently.
"What—what is that?!"
Revchi was startled by the devil-like shadow and instinctively stumbled backward, lifting his foot off Asta.
Yuno smiled faintly.
"As expected. Asta wasn't chosen before… because that was impossible."
A massive sword appeared from the grimoire and crashed to the ground under its own weight.
Asta grabbed the greatsword.
At that exact moment, Sylvar Crowe knew the timing was right.
This was the moment.
He made a decision and immediately poured ninety percent of his magic power into the stone in his hand, launching a silent attack—one that carried a simple sealing effect.
Seal the enemy's magic power.
Because Revchi's magic power was far stronger than his own, an ordinary stone imbued with sealing magic could only interrupt the spell for a brief moment—a short silence.
As Asta lifted the greatsword, Revchi, still shaken, commanded his chains to attack.
At the same time, Sylvar threw the stone from behind.
After Asta cut through several chains with the sword, Revchi cried out in disbelief,
"My magic… it's not working?!"
The stone struck him at that instant.
His magic was interrupted completely, leaving him wide open, defenseless before Asta.
Asta seized the opportunity and slammed Revchi into the wall with a single swing, embedding him deeply into the stone.
After that strike, Asta was completely exhausted.
Even so, he still declared loudly,
"Even without magic, I'll become the Magic Emperor! Never giving up—that's my magic!"
Freed from the chains, Yuno walked over to the panting Asta.
"Do you remember our agreement?"
"Of course!" Asta replied.
They clashed fists together and said almost simultaneously,
"Who will become the Magic Emperor? Let's see who wins!"
Sylvar stepped out from hiding.
"You're here too?!" Asta and Yuno said at the same time.
"When Yuno was captured, I was hiding behind the door," Sylvar explained. "My magic has no direct attack power, so I couldn't risk exposing myself. When I saw Asta rush in, I went to look for the tower master instead."
"Just now, when Revchi was distracted while facing Asta, I threw the stone. It was wrapped in my sealing magic."
"No wonder," Asta said. "His magic disappeared before I hit him, not after."
The real reason, however, stayed in Sylvar's heart.
If Asta hadn't been struck, the grimoire wouldn't have appeared.
If there had been even the slightest mistake—
The Clover Kingdom might have been destroyed.
That was why, over the years, Sylvar never tried to explain complicated truths to Asta. With Yuno, he talked. With Asta, he trained.
This was the bond between real men.
Suddenly, Asta said excitedly,
"Sylvar, you should come too! Become my rival on the path to becoming the Magic Emperor!"
After a brief silence, Sylvar shook his head.
"My goal isn't to become the Magic Emperor. Don't force your dream onto me."
Asta looked shocked.
"The Magic Emperor is so cool! Why wouldn't you want that?"
Meeting his gaze, Sylvar replied firmly,
"My dream is to become stronger—stronger than anyone. Strong enough to prevent unreasonable evil from falling upon me and my friends."
"I won't be your rival on the path to becoming the Magic Emperor. But I will be your partner on the path to becoming stronger."
"Isn't that good enough?"
Sylvar placed his hand over theirs. The three of them stacked their hands together.
"Okay," Yuno said with a smile.
Asta laughed.
"That just means we're rivals anyway!"
Their laughter echoed in the sunset.
For a moment, Sylvar felt that the three of them were like the Three Heroes of the Peach Garden.
Then he remembered something.
This wasn't the right time.
"Yuno, Asta, go back first," Sylvar said. "I need to deal with something here."
He pointed toward Revchi.
After Yuno and Asta left his sight, Sylvar pulled Revchi's unconscious body from the wall.
He opened his grimoire to the desired page.
"Seal Magic: Grimoire Seal."
His magic power surged out violently. In just one second, his body was on the verge of collapse.
A few more seconds, and he would be completely drained.
To avoid death, Sylvar shouted,
"Release the Yin Seal!"
A massive surge of magic burst from between his eyebrows, passed through his grimoire, and flooded into Revchi.
In the end, fifty percent of the Yin Seal's stored magic was consumed—not because the spell required that much, but because the utilization efficiency was only about half.
The result was clear.
The Yin Seal dissipated. Sylvar's remaining magic power dropped below twenty percent. Revchi vanished completely, leaving only a grimoire behind.
A transparent crystal formed on its cover. Inside it, Revchi lay motionless with his eyes closed.
Defeated.
Picking up the grimoire, Sylvar muttered,
"I'm exhausted… but I gained a lot. Time to go home."
The next morning.
Now came the experiment.
The essence of his magic was sealing one thing inside another—but with that alone, he wouldn't pass the Magic Knights' exam.
There was a combat test.
And Sylvar's combat ability was inferior even to Asta's.
He needed a fighting method of his own.
He needed to re-condense the Yin Seal.
There was no time to waste. In a few days, they would depart for the royal capital.
Sylvar disappeared for a full day, after informing Sister Lily to avoid concern.
After ten consecutive hours of concentration, his magic reserves reached their current limit.
After eating a few potatoes from the church, he began.
He placed Revchi's Chain Magic grimoire atop his own.
"Seal Magic: Grimoire Seal."
White light burst forth.
Nearly drained, Sylvar succeeded.
Revchi's grimoire was sealed into his own.
He obtained Chain Magic.
Not all spells were preserved—only three remained.
Chain Control.
Chain Trap.
Demon Sealing Chain.
It was enough.
For the first time, Sylvar possessed offensive magic.
Passing the Magic Knights' exam would no longer be a problem.
Back at the church, he slept deeply until noon.
Asta and Yuno were shocked—Sylvar was usually extremely punctual.
Today was departure day.
"I'm sorry, I'm late," Sylvar said.
"It's fine," Yuno replied. "The exams won't start for another month."
"What did you do yesterday?" Asta asked. "You slept forever."
"I trained," Sylvar answered.
"Hey," Sister Lily said. "It's time to go."
The three boys walked through the forest.
Sunlight filtered through dense leaves. The air was damp. Fallen leaves rustled beneath their feet.
They stayed alert, gripping their weapons.
They crossed streams, climbed hills, fought wild beasts.
At last, the royal capital appeared.
They arrived just in time.
The Magic Knights consisted of nine squads.
They were the direct combat force under the Magic Emperor.
Heroes admired by all.
Inside the exam hall, countless anti-magic birds targeted those with weak magic.
None approached Yuno.
Several circled Sylvar.
After thinking, he wrapped his hand in Zetsu-like suppression.
The birds grew confused.
Sylvar reached out and gently touched one.
It felt… oddly comforting.
Named after this bird, he felt an indescribable fondness.
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Author's Notes:
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