About 10 mins before the "impact".
Mimosa and klaus were flying on the broom as they made their way to hage in haste.
The two of them had made excuses of their families summoning them to leave Yuno behind. They wanted to confirm it was really Asta they heard about from Lats and not someone else.
Lats was also with them, hauled by klaus on a floating of metal. They needed someone to recognise Asta from his appearance and Lats as the only witness was dragged alongside the two.
"Keep your eyes peeled, we are reaching hage." Klaus called out to the Lats in a stern voice.
The little monk immediately straitened his back, a drop of sweat flowing down his forwhead despite the chilly winds hitting him in the face.
"Now Now, Klaus... You don't need to be harsh on a kid like that."
"He will fall if I don't. Don't you see him looking down the edge!?"
The safety of the witness was a self proclaimed duty Klaus had taken by himself. He will be strict if he needs to ensure that.
Nevertheless despite the constant warning and arguments, The trio eventually reached the outskirts of the village while the morning sun and had still not rose.
The brooms then descended, slowly going straight to the church's gate. If there was a place Asta could be at then it was a high chance he will be at the church.
Mid-way through the descent, Mimosa notices someone. "Isn't that the Sister and the church father...? What are they looking around for?"
"We better go Ask. " Klaus said calmly. "If it's a problem then we better solve it first."
Mimosa nods, heading straight ahead to sister Lily then lands gracefully with a gust of wind.
Lily looks at her, a little stunned for a second before she recognises her. Klaus also landed soon after, the sound gathering Father Orsa's attention as the two of them sprinted to Mimosa and Klaus in a hurry.
"Mimosa! Klaus!"
"Did something happen, Sister? You look pale... Is everything alright"
Father Orsa arrives from the side with a lamp in his hand.
"It's the children!! W–we tried to find them but they are nowhere to be found."
"Are you saying they went missing?" Klaus asks with a frown.
.... Father Orsi stops talking for a moment, his gaze wandering to the forest.
"They has been talking of a drunk self-talking madman in the forest. Its the place where Asta used to train, the kids probably couldn't stand the thought of their elder brother's training ground being used a drinking spot by a shameless man."
"Umm... Can i ask something?"
Everyone heard a weak voice from behind klaus and looked to find Lats standing there with hand raised to ask a question.
"You can... What do you wanna ask?"
"Was the madman trying to tap in the air while talking to himself?"
Father Orsi gets shocked by Lats's question, however since he was asking it genuinely, he closed his eyes and began trying to remember.
"Well I did her one of the herbalists say something like that. They said he was trying tap the air as if touching something like a illusion."
A thought immediately pops up in Kate's head. He turns to Mimosa, making a sort of gesture before he turned around and sat back on the disk.
Everyone noticed the gesture. However Father Orsi and Sister Lily thought the boy knew the madman but on the other hand, Mimosa and Klaus were the one who truly understood the message.
They both immediately jumped back onto their brooms, taking flight as they waved to the Lily and father Orsi.
"We will get the kids back!...Leave this to us and rest!" Klaus assured before advancing to the skies, his eyes noticing the tense expression on Lats's face.
Mimosa followed behind the two of them, her eyes stuck onto the forest as she prayed in her heart.
The three of them flew to the forest in a hurry, scanning it throughly from the skies for any sign of Asta or the kids. Lats, as the only one without experience as a mage used his keen eye sight while Mimosa and Klaus used their mana vision alongside their normal sight to focus on finding any abnormalities in mana nearby.
"I see something on the right! " Mimosa states half-heartily, "But... I don't it's Asta or the kids."
Both Klaus and Lats raise a eye at the lacking confidence in the statement and turned for a better view.
They saw a figure, It was Asta but the mask and cloak over his face and the darkness blocked Lats from getting a good view at the colour of his clothes.
"That must be the madman. Just look at all that mana he is in taking into his body! Not even the captains try something that risky!"
"—Into his body?" Lats picked up on that minor detail felt something nagging at him from his memories. He remembers a certain book he had saw Asta reading back at his house.
Lats was sure the person below was Asta, however with no way to prove his thoughts he could only sit still and watch as they passed over the figure.
Then they heard a scream, the most blood curdling scream like of a mana being torn apart by his mana. They looked down below at the source of the scream, finding a explosion of white mana where the figure once stood.
Mimosa gasped. Klaus closed his eyes regretfully for a second. Lats however saw a figure slump onto his back as the clothes were brightened just enough to make out their colour.
'Thats!! That's the Clothes he wore!"
Lats mentally recognized the clothes, his face immediately brightening as he moved to turn towards mimosa and Klaus.
"IT'S AS—AHHHHHH!!!" Midway through the turn, Lats slips in his hurry and fell down the metal disk he was standing on. His fall was noticed by Mimosa first who reacted in a split second while jumping towards him, Meanwhile Klaus opened his eyes after being startled by Lats's yell.
Like a ragdoll, the young monk flipped uncontrollably in the air. He flailed his arms aimlessly, trying to balance himself, but to no avail.
Mimosa saw the situation. She brought her hands together, gathering her mana while her grimoire did the chant with its runes. "LesserPlant Magic!!! Net of vines!" She casted the spell on the plants below.
Like a bullet her mana shot downward, forming a sort of liquidy shape as it seeped into the trees. The twigs and branches of those trees began tangling in a instant, merging and knotting to create a net of vines.
Krkkkrk!... Ting ting ting. Snap!
The vines stretched the best they could, however they still failed to completely stop the momentum of the Mimosa and Lats. The net snapped from the middle, however luckily for them, a certain Asta shaped figure was right below them.
First Lats landed, hitting and bouncing right off Asta's chest like he hit a trampoline. The impact awakens Asta from his previous pain, making him awake for a moment to see Mimosa heading straight for him in a rather nostalgic event after the branches she was holding onto snapped as well.
"Mi...Mo...sa? Asta said in a low voice, only to get his head bashed into the boulder by Mimosa's cleavage like what happened when he went to stop the revival of elves.
There was however, a single change– he had just been weakened from the mana explosion, so the " Impact" kinda worked as a finishing blow and sent him to sleep.
The confused Mimosa slowly opens her eyes after a minute, looking around aimlessly as she find herself crushing down Asta but she had no knowledge it was him so she jumped away.
To the side Mimosa saw Lats, his face planted into the mud below and becoming a brown face pack around his entire head.
Immediately Mimosa walks forward, grabbing Lats by the ears as she began scolding him earnestly while puffing her cheeks up in a flustered expression.
"I Should have listened to Klaus! Just look at how much trouble you caused us!" She yells. " Why can't you just sit still and look around?!"
Lats wailed in pain, trying to speak only for a tug on the ears to silence him up. Mimosa was giving him no chance to speak. She didn't care if it was a excuse or answer.
"I told you. You brought this yourself with all that excessive leniency, so...deal with it. "
Klaus arrives, carrying Mimosa's broom in hand while looking at the two of them sternly and seriously. However when he looked at Lats's mud covered face, he chuckles to the other two's amusement.
"He could smile?" Lats said in surprise. His question got him a bonk punch on the head, causing a small bump to rise underneath his hair. "Ow."
...
As he awaited for another tug or punch, Lats closed his eyes. However Contrary to his expectations, he received no other hit.
He slowly opens his eyes, noticing a worried gaze from two people barely 2–3 years older than him. They seemed to care about him, just like old monks and his fellow brothers in the monastery.
"I... I am sorry."
A heartfelt apology came out instinctively, a genuine apology of someone who felt guilty.
That Sorry was enough to calm down Mimosa and Klaus a little, its not like they can expect no mistakes from someone younger than them. They both sighed in sync, looking at each other for a second before turning back to Lats.
"Why did you turn like that anyway? I remember seeing you trying to say something before you fell. " Mimosa asked.
The question brought out the words Lats wanted to speak before. His finger immediately pointes at Asta as he spoke to them: "That's Asta!"
... The two of them looks at him confusedly and wandered if he had went mad from hitting his head.
The wierd expression on their faces turned the atmosphere awkward, the confusion eventually spread to Lats who also made a doubtful face.
"That can't be Asta, kid. Asta doesn't have mana, he has something caller Anti-magic."
"But These are the clothes he wore! I am sure of it!"
"But–"
"Atleast look...! Trust me on this!"
The constant request eventually made the two relent. Both Mimosa and Klaus had no hope but nevertheless their was nothing wrong with clearing Lats's doubts.
Klaus let Mimosa handle the work, watching as she moved closer to Asta and slowly lifted his mask.
She had her eyes closed the entire time, not even bothering to take a peek since she knew it Can't be Asta thanks to the mana still flowing out.
"See." She said, turning her sight to Lats and Klaus.
However what she was a brimming smile on Lats's face and a expression of pure disbelief on Klaus's. She had no idea what it was but inwardly she had a fleeting thought she hoped was true.
She finally glanced, finding Asta's face looking up while his eyes were rolled back after being hit by the "impact".
... Thud!
Immediately she lunges onto him, tears bursting out of her eyes as she clutches onto him and begans crying in relief. She forgot even her dignity for the moment, not even bothering about the gazes she was receiving from Klaus and Lats.
" Is she his lover or something? Why is she crying?"
"Well... I am not quite sure, myself."