Following his decision to practice so the called arts in the monk texts, Asta spent the rest of the noon and evening, training to bring out his ki like he once used to.
The time he spent mostly was on sprinting or exercising with a occasional break he spent on breathing and channeling his ki. However amidst the training he found something wierd.
His body was repairing faster than before, making it much easier to do something the second time, almost as if there was no muscle pain in his body.
The pain and exhaustion didn't even matter,instead the rate of his recovery was what made him shiver. It was like he was being hand fed potion of regeneration one after another, constantly getting healing, constantly repairing his torn muscles which once took days to heal as a human.
"I don't what this is, But I don't mind! Let's see how many Push ups I can Do!!"
True to his words, Asta began doing pushups without stop, 1.2.3.4...100, his limits was hundred pushups with a 30 second break. A unbelievable feat considering he couldn't even walk straight yesterday.
"This is Amazing! *falls on his back, exhausted to limit* This body is Amazing! Man do those devil have it good... Can really can them those when I am one myself?"
Asta looks his hands for a second and at the horns sticking out of his forehead.
"Who cares."
Feeling satisfied with his workout, Asta closed his eyes and drifted to a half conscious state since he couldn't sleep. He wasn't a devil from birth, so it was not a big matter if his human side took over his mind to fend off the mental fatigue that had piled up.
The sun sets, night arrives while Asta layed on the dirt, his eyes full open but with no pupil, completely blanked out.
The birds and insects retreated to their homes, leaving him alone while the beasts who already had their lunch passed by while giving him a disgusting look.
But–
BANG!!!
"I AM AWAKE!! ... Huh?"
In the middle of silence, a loud noise spread across the forest, startling Asta back to reality as he jolted up to his feet like a terrified squirrel.
Still in a daze, he slowly recovered from the nightmare he was in and took a look around himself. He didn't knew how he could have a nightmare in a half sleep state but atleast he was back with his friends in it.
For a second Asta looked down, disappointed. Then he shook his head, wording his thoughts "what was that noise? I felt..Familiar."
Gathering his strength, Asta stood up and dusted his clothes. It was at this moment, Asta noticed the grass, finding it wierdly pressed down for some reason.
The ground was also flat, almost as if someone had used a roller to plain it out.
He realised his movements also felt heavier, taking more strength than before, like being held down by a invisible weight.
....
Placing a finger on his chin, Asta pondered about the mysterious pressure. He thought about it but his poor vocabulary took sometime to find the right word.
"A pressure, a downward weight... What was it called again? Gravy, gravty... Ah right! Gravity! "
Asta was right, the gravity was indeed what was increased on everything... But the implications and trauma that came with that realisation was also big.
As far as Asta knew, there was only one person he has seen to have used a sort of gravity manipulation. A person he despised with every thing in his heart.
Then as if give confirmation to his terror, The sound of rocks being pulled and the ground being uprooted followed as the trees and dirt levitated to the skies in the distancd, gathering into spheres above the mountains peak.
"LUCIFERO!!"
There was no time for hesitation, no time to stop. If Lucifero was indeed up there at the peak then the monks would surely die at the hands of his darned contractor.
The image of Lats being turned into a paste or a being ripped into pieces just for amusement flashed in Asta's head, he had to hurry there and sto–...
"How am I supposed to stop him?"
The hurried steps of Asta slowed down, slowly coming to a stop as he was left fear struck on his path. He was no longer the Asta who had a endless amount of Anti-magic pumping through his body, he was just a mana-less devil, weak and pathetic.
"Why risk your life for some stranger? Just escape."
" It's not like that guy is your friend or anything, so why don't you leave him behind?"
"Forget fighting, your life comes first right?"
"Is it worth it? Dying fighting someone you can't defeat?"
The corruptive voices returned, each calling out to Asta to escape, telling him to give up or not bother with being a hero.
"shut... SHUT UP YOU BASTARDS!!"
Asta roared back at the voices.
"You cowardly pieces of garbage! Who gave you the right to bother me with your nonsense?!"
...
"But are we wrong?"
The voices replied, followed by appearance of shadows in Asta's mind.
"Are those monks more valuable than your friends? Will dying to Dante help save everyone?"
"B-but! I– "
Asta tried to argue, only to get silenced as the dark shadow hands shut his mouth.
"You can't save everyone. You are not a hero, not anymore. Think of the bigger picture Asta, is your revenge's value lower than life of a fodder?"
The facts were true to the core, each word spoken striking at the deepest insecurities in Asta's mind. Was his revenge really so cheap? What is supposed to choose?
...
"Why bother?"
A nonchalant voice spoke between the others, an uncaring tone evident in its words as it gathered Asta'a attention.
He couldn't see it, but Asta knew what it like Iooked like. A splitting image of himself standing there in front of him the darkness of his mind.
"Y-You are?"
" *sigh* is it really that complicated?... I am you and you are me, simple as that."
Asta paused for a second, his face distorting into one of annoyance and confusion.
"Simple my Ass! How the hell are you supposed to be me!? You don't look li– wait. you do look like me."
" There, you got your answer dumbass. Now will you come back to reality? That dante guy is staring a little.. Too amused for my preference."
"Eh?" Asta confusingly thought. He watched silently as the darkness faded from his eyes, replaced by a disgusting face of dante just grinning in front of him, menacingly.
... " Yo–"
"FACE BUSTER!!"
A crispy upper cut to the chin sent Dant flying to the air. The pose he struck mid air made him look like someone ascending to heaven for a moment before he came back down with double the speed thanks to Increased gravity.
Slam!
Eyes blanked out from shock, Dante was planted upside down, looking Comidical and hilarious to look at, but Asta only retreated back, making distance between him and Dante.
He watched as the bastard in front of him pushed himself up without even using his hands. The only injury the punch did was already healed back to normal as well.
"Did I scare you too much? I just wanted to introduce myself to a devil, even if you are a lesser one."
The horrific expression and that disgusting Smile that Dante was making was enough to give Asta some memory trauma. Just staring at his face made him want to punch it even harder than before.
"Dante."
"Oh! You know me?.Then how about coming with me? You can become my servant wh–"
Fwoosh
Dante watched as Asta vanished from his vision, appearing beside him like phantom with intense bloodlust pouring throughout him.
" Gravitate! ", the senses trained through battle screamed, telling him to cast a spell to intercept Asta before he could strike.
However... The moment the spell casted, the bloodlust shifted back to the front where Asta was, his fist clenched to the point his claws dug in his own skin.
" Let me tell you something, Lucifero's slave. I would kill you and your so called contractor with this fists, ingrave this in your mind."
"Hu– GROAH!!"
The scaled fist slammed into Dante's face, cracking his jawline as the impact sent him flying back.
Meanwhile Asta plantes his leg into ground, gathering every bit of his strength as he darted forward at Dante to continue his assault.
It was gonna be tough battle, but Asta smiled since he had never liked easy things to begin with. He was gonna kill the second biggest threat to his revenge, right there, right now.
(To be continued)