BAM! CRACK! BANG!
The sounds of trees being splintered to pieces repeated as two people waltzed through forest, one chasing after another.
Dante watched Asta pounced like a mad beast, his claws aiming straight at his neck only to completely disappear the second they almost reach him.
Hit after hit came from his blind spots, striking when his senses involuntarily focused on the bloodlust that seemed to be coming from everywhere, forcing him to be vigilant but also amazed.
"To think I would get challenged... How amusing! " Dante grins, his skin tightening as the impacts begin feeling like mosquito bites.
For a moment he caught glance of Asta– the real Asta. However for some reason he couldn't sense it, almost as it was not a living being, completely devoid of any mana.
"ZEHAH-AHAHA!! Why did you stop!? Entertain me! ENTERTAIN ME MORE!!"
"Tch!"
In the heat of battle, Asta found himself growing more and more frustrated as the fight extended on. Initially he wanted to end it in the first strike, but his anti-magic wasn't really enough to even put a dent on Dante's mana.
One after another, he dodges while he thought. His feet carrying him to hide behind trees as he blends himself between the chaos of rubble being tossed around by the random gravity.
He looked down at his hands, finding himself shaking helplessly but deep down he was excited within. A normal person might have given up by now but not Asta, even if the sky fell he would still stare at it instead of thinking of taking cover like most would.
Then suddenly Amidst the chaos, a voice called out to him:
"How long are you gonna hide? Just attack already!"
It was his own voice or more precisely his devil side who whispering from within his head.
"Why don't you try it then?! We got nothing to pierce his defense! " Retorts Asta as he barely avoids getting crushed by a boulder ten times his size.
... The devil Asta thought for a moment, "why don't you use Anti-magic?"
The statement left Asta dumbfounded. He had been using Anti-magic in all of his hits but it was so weak that Dante's mana just smacked it away on touch.
"The Heck You Think I Am doing THEN!?!"
"A waste of power.. That's all."
"You piece o–"
"- watch me you idiot, this is how you use Anti-magic!"
The world shifted for Asta, his conscious creaking as his control over his body faded.
Soon, he found himself looking at himself from a third perspective, watching his body moved on its own. His devil side had taken over, overthrowing him to back of his head.
"H-how!?"
Unable to say anything else, Asta gasped in disbelief as he felt something akin to hands pin him down.
From his view, he saw Anti-magic surge through his body. A absurd amount compared to his, like comparing a drop of water to a bath tub.
The dark energy devoured all mana it touched, destroying the gravity field as well as the surrounding trees to dust.
The sudden change Intigrues Dante, making him turn his head at Asta who was coming straight at him with his claws aiming straight for his neck with bone-chiling malice.
For a second he panicked, however his instincts screamed him back to normal. He used gravity to soar to the skies but He was left breathing heavy, his eyes enlarged in a emotion he had never felt in his life– Fear.
'Did I... Dodge? Me? the strongest person in the dark triad?'
The earlier laughter faded from Dante's face replaced with a expression of self shame and disgust. His eyes narrowed, glaring down at Asta who was looking up at him while licking his blood on his claws.
Involuntarily Dante reached out to his neck, there was a wound on it– only a small scratch that wasn't even fatal if left as it is. However his pride wouldn't have it.
"Lucifero!"
Dante's mind appears into the domain of five leafed grimoire. His eyes stuck at the massive devil looking down at him in his shadow like form.
"What is it?"
"I want power! More power!!"
"Why? That mana-less rat shouldn't be that hard to ki–"
Dante interrupts, " I Don't Care!! You can have my heart, But give me the power to overwhelm him!! I want to see that vermin despair as he gets crushed into meat paste before my eyes!"
The mention of the heart startled Lucifero a little, however it was still well within his expectations of Dante so he didn't bother reading too much into it.
The massive shadow form of his reached out, grabbing Dante in his hand as he spoke:
"Very well.. You got 10 mins, make them count."
- Meanwhile in the depths of Asta's mind-
Surrounding by thousands of hands, pinned down as hundreds of mouths whispered into his ears, Asta looked around, unable to move as his mind began to drifts.
Above him is the crimson sky like one he saw when meeting liebe, the ground is made up of shadows. However despite all of this he could only regret his own weakness.
'If only I was stronger. If only I didn't get weaker.'
His thoughts were filled with melancholy and sadness, devoid of even a single hint of his earlier hope and enthusiasm. Even then He refused to give up, struggling endless as he ripped away the hands one by one in the darkness.
'I will get out of here! I will take back my body and change everything!'
Rumble! The sound of thunder came as a silhouette descended towards Asta with his own face but transformed into devil's skin.
The devil version looked at Asta, grinning with a smile that reached up to his eyes, slowly he opened his mouth, laughing:
"Get out? You are never getting out! *comes closer* Got weaker?.. If you were stronger?.. Then what? All of you have are a bunch of excuses to hide your weak mind."
'Shut up.'
"Huh? Did you say something?"
'Shut up!'
"Now now, say it louder! Those muffles ain't even reachi–"
Asta lunges, tearing apart every hand grabbing him as he clutches his devil version by the neck and slams him down.
"I SAID SHUT THE HELL UP, YOU BASTARD!!"
....
"Che-chehchehche.."
The sound of eerie laughter began leaving Devil Asta's mouth, filling the dark world with a terrifying pressure that descended onto each hand, mouth and also Asta himself.
Asta watched as his devil counter part opened his grip like a child's hand and grab his own in retaliation.
"You are nothing but a defective human. The only thing special you had was your determination–"
Devil Asta cluthes his fist.
"– AND YOU GAVE THAT UP!!"
The heavy fist dug into Asta's chest, sending in flying into the air. The air has left his lungs, the single punch had almost send him to the afterlife.
Even so, the devil had no mercy as he appeared above him and sent him crashing back to the ground with a heavy swing from his two hands clenched together.
BAAM!
The floor caved in, leaving Asta in a crater as he bled from his head, a trail of blood slowly flowing down his lips as he spaced out in defeat.
'Everyone...I have failed you.. Forgi– GYAAHH!!"
"Now now, don't go asking for forgiveness already already! I still haven't told you master plan, have I?" Devil Asta said as he landed on Asta's chest.
Laying down on the floor, Asta looked at him with contempt and hate, wanting nothing more than to tear him into pieces.
"Master.. Plan? "
"Indeed! *leans forward* I have spent days planning since our awakening a few days ago. Now imagine, what I can do with this face of yours?"
Asta didn't understand, a question mark appearing above his head. He was confused, what could the face of someone like him even do?
However the next words that left Devil Asta's mouth made him shrudder.
"First I will go find the you in this world.. And kill him.. Then I will seal his soul in that grimoire of his and kill all his friends in front of him!!"
...
"Why?" Asta questioned, still not understanding. "Why would you even do that? "
He watched his devil side lift his feet a little only to slam it back down, injuring him further.
"Why?.. Because it would funny!"
"Funny?"
"-Think about it! Just how much hate will he accumulate from seeing everyone he loves die before him! The terror on his face as I slaughter eve– huh?"
Halting for a second, Devil Asta looked down to see Asta glaring at him with blazing eyes. He was grabbing his foot, slowly lifting it higher as rage filled his body.
With a sudden surge of strength, Asta slammed his Devil counterpart like he was piece of wet cloth, throwing him with strength enough to ragdoll him over a hundred meters away.
"You just had to do it, didn't you?"
Step..step.step.
"I don't what the deal with you devils are but... Are you all really that bored that suffering makes you feel happy?"
The darkness slowly recides, backing away with each step Asta took as he made his way towards Devil Asta who could only watch as Asta slowly walks towards him.
To him, the tone Asta spoke in was something drilled into his memories– A uncaring voice filled to brim with confidence.
It was for just a second, but he could see a shadow behind Asta, a shadow of muscled guy with a cigarette in his mouth and a katana hanging at his waist– the shadow of Captain Yami.
" I thought..maybe if it was a stronger version of me then he could save my friends... But I guess I have no choice to began trying again."
Asta said as he grabbed the katana from the Yami's Shadow. The darkness lifted at his touch fading away to reveal the shine of the blade.
"I have nothing more to say... So you better be prepared to die, because what I am about to hit you with... Are the memories of everyone I care about, all together, gathered into one."
(To be continued)