"Just what sort of monstrosity did so much damage? It's like I am looking at a wasteland."
"Honestly even that pantry guy couldn't do so much damage when he attacked the capital."
"Right? It's insane. To imagine someone uprooted half the mountain into giant spheres is already causing a headache."
A trio of golden dawn members converse from the distance while the scouts of their squad investigate the strange event in front of them.
The trio were Yuno, Klaus and mimosa. All three of them were sent to help in the investigation if any problem arises but none had so far.
"You both need to more vigilant. What if that guy was enemy or something? Even I can't guarantee a good front since my wounds haven't healed. Yet." Yuno said to the other two, immediately replacing their excitement to horror.
"There you go again ruining the mood. Why can't you be positive like as–*turns ...My bad. "
Realising she had made a mistake, Mimosa slowly backs away from Yuno. Inside she was still sad as well but the constant foul mood of Yuno just kepts worrying further.
The trio suddenly went silent, not one of them wanting to say any words to each other unless they want to risk causing internal conflict. They just sat their looking ahead in silence when Yuno noticed something in the distance.
"The scouts have returned...Lets move."
The trio hop onto their brooms, taking flight on them and then hovered down to the other squads. There were the crimson lions and blue rose squads sent as allies, however there was also a stranger between them.
"Who is he?" Klaus asked the scouts, refering to the teen monk– Lats.
"A resident...he was the only one we found in monk settlement."
"What about the others?"
...
Everyone turned to Lats, expecting him to say something like they were on a trip or something but-
"They were killed. I am the last and only survivor. "
The curious mood plummets, replaced by thoughts of pity and a few pats of emotional support.
However amidst the melancholy atmosphere, Yuno walked forward and spoke.
"What about the attacker? Did he leave?"
Lats thought for a second, point his finger to side.
"He got what he deserved... You will find his corpse there even animals haven't eaten it yet."
The nonchalant statement stupefied everyone. If a person who caused such destruction was dead, they couldn't even imagine how strong the one who killed him was.
However before they could ask further, those who wanted answers saw Lats walking away back to the mountain and tried to grab him down.
"Hey! We ai–"
Grab!!
Yuno grabs his fellow member's hand, looking a dead serious in the eyes. "The kid had watched his entire tribe die. Cut him some slack."
The other grew silent, just moments ago they had grabbed a mourning kid from a graveyard of stones and didn't even give a little consideration.. They were magic knights, not torturers or investigators.
But there was also someone between them, someone who cared more about the kid than the answers.
"Are you hungry?"
Mimosa asked Lats as she blocked his path, a lunchbox in her hand as she looked at him with unrefusable sparkling eyes.
"I-I am not hungry!! *growl* ..M-aybe a little hungry."
Lats embarrassingly looked down, relenting to a meal after a lot of pestering by mimosa. He was then taken to camp set by the knight where Mimosa sat him down at the campfire.
She looked at him, his weak skinny arms proving her worries correct. She was sure he had been starving for days since the one who reported the incident was a merchant who took days to arrive to the capital.
"So.. " Mimosa tried to inquire, "Who killed that monster?"
"Mouvster?? *devouring the ham sandwiches* he was more like a demon! Thankfully Asta gave him what he deserved... *looks at mimosa* WOAH!! You look a Ghost!"
A trail of red blood was flowing from Mimosa's lips, her earlier cheerfulness replaced by a darkened pale face that looked like zombies.
"A-A-Ast-t-ta!? Do you mean Asta!?!"
"Huh? You know him?"
Lats looks closely at Mimosa's appearance.
"Green yellowish eyes, Vermillion hair and a kind face... Are you Mimosa?"
The question startles the already weak Mimosa, immediately making her jump in shock before klaus appears from the side since his curiosity couldn't be controlled anymore.
"This Asta you are talking about... Can you describe his appearance to us?"
"Why?"
"Nothing in particular, just confirming it's the person we know."
"Light blue hair and a pair of glasses on a serious face.. You might be the four-eyes."
"Four Eyes!!?" Klaus's cool guy expression instantly shatters. "Just Answer my Question!"
Lats closes his eyes, remembering Asta's appearance details one by one. He begans speaking them out loud as well just so Mimosa and Klaus could hear.
"Ash coloured hair,sometime red sometime green eyes, a pair of black horns and a Loud voice... There was also a tail that looked like a arrow but elastic."
... Wooshh
The wind whistles in the awkward silence as the words slowly settle down.
Then in the next second, Lats opened his eyes to find two pairs of eyes staring in his face which looked flabbergasted before two hands grab his shoulder.
"Where is he?" X 2
The two of said at the same time in a creepy ghost like and chilly voice. There expression scared the heck out of Lats, sending tumbling backward right onto the dirt.
" HAGE! He Mentioned a place called Hage."
Lats involuntarily answered out of fear, his face carrying an appalled expression as he watched Mimosa and Klaus slowly turn around and walk to the side.
"We have to go! This is a grave matter!"
"Don't tell me you believe that kid!? Didn't you hear what he said? He said it was Asta out of all people! "
Mimosa turns sorrowful and sad. Her hands went down to her cape, slowly tightening their grip on it as a tear fell down her eyes.
"I know... But if it's just a small chance, I will still try.."
Klaus had nothing to say, after all he had clear grasp of the web of emotions that we currently in Mimosa's head right now. But still he couldn't refute her demand.
"Fine." He said with a sigh. "You can go... But remember that it could be a imposter. After all we saw it ourselves- the way Asta–"
-six hours later, Hage village-
"I died?"
Asta comments as he looked at the giant grave in front of Hage's church with his name on it.
The grave had a message on it too-
{In honor of the knight who fell victim to fears of royalty}
... There was no explanation or thought in Asta's head at the moment. It was purely just confusion and complete chaos in mind as he racked his gears till they broke but still got answer.
He was running on four
Luckily it was the still about five in the morning and no one was out yet. Otherwise they would have seen a supposed to be dead person looking at his own grave in pure bewilderment.
"How the heck? This... This is too different!! Did I change the world too much!?"
The panel pops up with answer Asta needed the most at the moment.
[Message received from creator... Open?]
"... Just do whatever you want at this point. A single message won't chan–"
[That version of you was supposed to die. It's not your fault.]
Asta halts for a moment, his earlier panic subsiding slowly over a few breaths before he turned back to the panel.
"What should I do then?"
.... No answer from the panel.
"AT LEAST FINISH THE CONVERSATION JACKASS!! " Asta yelled at the top of his lungs, waking up many villagers.
The subtle sound of villagers coming out of their eyes soon came, leaving Asta in a dilemma of whether he should stay or run away.
He choose the second option without consideration. If the villagers saw him and mistook him for a zombie then the magic knights might very well be called to capture him as a unlicensed undead (A corpse raised by a criminal necromaner).
So, without giving much thought. Asta ran towards the giant skull in the distance, sprinting towards the place he had once spent many months smacking trees to build up muscles and a firm grip. His own personal training ground in the woods.
He ran as fast as he could, arriving just a few minutes later while gasping for air. He would have flown here if he could but he didn't have enough Anti-magic or normal mana to even form a single wing and glide using it.
"Huff.. Huff. *collapses onto a rock* Why does everything always go down hill? I thought maybe, huff– I could just talk it out with the Asta of this world, but No! Of course he had to pass away just before I got here!!"
Asta slams fist down onto the rock in frustrating, cracking and splitting it into pieces before he himself fell after it collapsed.
His motivation was at the all time low, his plans for fighting Lucius stomped and crumpled before he could even take a single step. The death of Dante was the only saving grace since Asta himself made sure to destroy the high tier devil heart he got from lucifero and alongside it destroyed Dante's soul.
Slowly he pulls out Dante's Grimoire, then he pulls out the accelerator mage's. He had to make a choice before the low motivation gets to him. A distraction for himself so he found himself between two choices of which Grimoire to sacrifice to the system and which one to keep.
"Open trait menu..focus on Anti-magic apprentice, hide the description, show attributes."
[Trait: Anti-magic apprentice]
[Attribute slots(2/3): Nullification (inherent), Gravity(21%),
Asta's mana capacity has increased by devouring the accelerator's mana as well from a week's worth of training. It has barely risen to the second stage– rookie, meaning he can hold a third attribute for conversion.
The choice was which magic Grimoire he wanted to keep and learn from and which he needed to sacrifice since a Grimoire can convert basic mana to a certain attribute for him to learn.
So Asta just laid there on the grass, thinking and pondering about which one he was suited for and which he needed. A choice between Acceleration magic and Body magic.