Huff. Huff.
"It's not working... NOTHING IS WORKING!! "
These panicked thoughts belonged to none other than Conrad the Wizard king.
"Three decades, I have wasted three decades worth of my mana... But why can't I hit her!? "
For the entire time Asta had spent moving and saving around the city, Conrad was alone stalling and fighting off the dreaded Angel, stopping her from escaping with a movement seal that he was barely maintaining.
He could occasional feel the movements around him, the chilly breaths and confident giggles that seeped into his ears from time-to-time.
"Heh."
"DIE!" The wizard king yelled as he reacted to yet another movement, missing completely once more with his spells as his Stamina and patience finally hit rock bottom as he slumped down in the air.
Helplessness, despair and Disgust, the dark emotions that swept through his mind were running rampant within him.
The Angel saw that chance as her opportunity, her figure once merging with the light as she appeared behind Conrad again with a blade of light pointed at his neck.
"Sweet dreams." Osersia said with a eerie smile, her hands already in a stabbing gesture as her blade reached out to decapitate Conrad with a single blow.
The bright edge sizzled its way into the skin, threatening to kill Conrad before he could move away and retreat.
However—
"Bullhorn thrust."
Asta interceptes the blade, his newer appearance sending Angel into defensive mode as she leaps back to avoid unexpected troubles.
Yet as she retreated, Angel saw Asta keep up with her, forcing her to parry a sword strike from Demon dweller before she was stuck with half repaired Elsdocia.
"You don't look very good, Conrad. That can't be all your strength, right?" Asta smirked, smiling towards the panting wizard king, "I will handle her. You can take a rest."
Slash!
"You talk a lot for someone who was losing a minute ago."
The sound of cutting wind was followed by Osersia's cold words as she plungs her Sword ahead.
But Asta just shrugged off the attack with a single slap. He didn't even bother to counter attack as the Anti-magic reactes on it and devoures Angel's hand by itself.
All Osersia saw was a giant black jaw biting away her arm before she could pull back, the speed of the attack so fast it made her question her own reflexes.
"HOW!?" She questioned, "YOU DIDN'T HAVE THAT POWER, BEFORE!! "
However Asta just looked into her eyes, smiling as a little chibi demon popped up behind his shoulder. "You weren't lying , brat. She does look a piece of garbage if I watch from upclose."
" *sigh * Liebe... What did I say about mocking others?" Asta felt a need to argue.
"Don't blame this on me! Your explanation was more pathetic then your height. It's a good thing I am smart or else I would be yelling at you instead."
The insult struck like a ice spike, targetting one of the deepest insecurities of Asta as he immediately frowns inwardly from the emotional damage.
The scene he was in felt more comedic than serious. The looming tension from earlier was now gone, replaced by a atmosphere of sibling quarrels.
Meanwhile the Angel was trying to figure out what was going on in front of her. Her mind was now filled with confusion, while also being slowly shrouded with anger of being ignored.
Eventually she felt like pride was being trampled upon, leaving her frustrated. She couldn't take it and attacked forward, covering herself in a bright orb of light which she used a distraction while her realself appeared behind Asta.
Without hesitation she struck, using a spacial portal to bring out a real sword from her treasury which she grabbed with her remaining hand and slashed downward.
However her attack struck nothing, leaving her baffled as she noticed the merciless eyes it Asta locked onto her, following her movements despite the distraction.
Completely stunned in her tracks, Osersia couldn't notice Asta's grimoire appearing above her without warning. The next second, the Demon slayer sword darted out of the fluttering pages, severing Angel remaining hand as well before a axe kick to the head sent her stumbling downwards.
----
Meanwhile from Asta's Pov.
He was currently living the worst moment of his life in a slowed world. All this time he had been using Acceleration magic on his head, turning his perception of time to over 20 time slower than reality.
He wasn't reacting fast, he was just reacting within time. However the fact that his body was over 10 times slower than mind was greatly annoying to Asta.
The world was nothing more than pictures from his view, a stuttering film freezing for a second after every frame of movement.
"H-o-w w-e-a-k. "
Even the words coming out of his mouth were stuttering uncontrollably, however if he could win by doing this, Asta would gladly let himself be annoyed.
Since he had just kicked Osersia to the ground, Asta followed after her in his slow motion vision. He used his wings to carrying himself forward, matching Osersia's falling speed with his own accelerated body to deliver another crushing strike with the blunt Demon dweller right to her chest, mid-air.
The strike crushed few ribs, leaving a caved in body with skin that was moving away from the place of impact. But he didn't stop, instead he kept going, using his head to keep counting while he attacked.
"Thirty. Twenty-nine. Twenty-eight, " Asta repeatedly counted down to calculate the time he had left.
The slowed vision didn't come from nothing, it took all of the mana Asta recieved through Elsdocia to make it.
The efficiency wasn't great, but thankfully the quantity made up for Asta's lack of knowledge of magic and his experience in spells.
However he gave the makeshift spell a name— "Stuttering World".
But uncaring of the details, Asta knew he had to finish the fight quick before the time run out.
He couldn't use Anti-magic from liebe to keep the spell, however just being able to use Anti-magic after using every bit of his own Anti-magic was perfect option for now.
Soon both he and Osersia crashed into the ground, the momentum from the crash carrying into the ground, tossing massive amount rubble in every direction possible.
The stunned Angel couldn't keep up, her light magic now completely sealed away from her as another strike arrived, leaving a long wound alongside her frontside.
Then another came, and another. Each strike carrying enough Anti-magic to prevent any use of magic as the Anti-magic seeped into Angel's skin with each hit.
However Asta knew that his attacks were meaningless, the wounds were nothing that Osersia couldn't recover from the moment she gets a chance to retreat.
The time was ticking down, his focus tightening with each second until he had already bashed Osersia throughout the city and smashed her into the giant stone gates on the outskirts.
"Hehhh, " Osersia smiled, "Y-o-u... L-o-s-t."
Osersia could sense the mana surrounding fading, filling her mind hope and confidence in her own victory as his body began slowing down.
However that when Asta closed his mind, his head completely emptying out in a instant in a last ditch effort as he let go of all his other senses and focused on his hearing.
"... Found it... The heart. "
Tear-Splurt.
"H-oww?? How did you *cough * find it?" Osersia stared in disbelief as Asta's hand had pierced right through her right shoulder, striking where she had moved her heart within her near hollow body.
His claw like hand was tightly gripping her heart, even stopping it from beating as his lips rose into a satisfied grin.
He looked into her eyes, taking the sight of despair in them while feeling a sensation of victory passing through his mind.
At that moment Asta heard a familiar
ding of the system, a small panel appearing in front of him.
[You have gained the item: an Angel's heart]
[Use trait creation?]
"Go ahead."
[... Command accepted.]
Before he knew it, Asta was left standing near a broken stone wall. His perception of time returning back to normal as he finally found himself standing empty handed with his hand shoved through the wall.
To the side he could see the body of Angel turning into dust, crumbling away from old age after being stripped of centuries of mana that was keeping it alive.
But before Asta could move, the after effects arrived as extreme pain knocked him cold in a instant.
The last he could see before he fainted was the sight of Conrad heading towards him from the distance, allowing him to rest easy since at least he won't have to die again since a trustable maniac was still looking out for him.