Inside one Brimstone's many training chambers, Asta was currently sitting cross legged and was meditating in silence.
Outwardly he was calm, but inside his head, he was overwhelmed at the anticipation of the upcoming battle.
He took a few breaths every now and then, slowly calming himself down from within. He was focusing all the anti-magic within his body through his muscles, using the monk technique he learned ago with Anti-magic instead of normal mana like the book
In his mind there was a single face, a face that he hated with all his heart. "Lucius... This time I won't give you any chances."
Asta was determined, determined to end the root of his biggest enemy before he could take over Julius. However there was a problem he had to find a solution to, a very big problem.
"Normal attacks won't work on a soul." Asta recognised the short comings opposing his goal, "I need a way to Lucius soul without harming Julius, do you have any recommendations, System?"
The system immediately pops up with a reply.
[Considering Host's memories as a base. There is a possible path.]
Asta's mental stress lessens a little, "tell me about it."
[The path depends on Host's current traits: Devil hybrid]
[Thanks to your contract with Liebe and your recent battles as well the boost from trait battle fanatic, Your slots for replicable magic attributes have increased from 2 to 4]
" And?"
[The magic of Jack the ripper, also known by his nickname shrimp faced bastard as per host's memory, possess the power to cut phenomenon and disable traits.]
[The system advies host to take his grimoire and learn Slashing magic alongside the katana from Captain Yami and use it's anti-magic ability to cut Lucius's soul]
The explanation was a perfect one and considering Asta's situation, he found it to be the perfect one.
However there was someone else whose advice he could take right now as well.
"What do you about this, Sir Lemiel?"
"Hahaha, you caught me."
The joyful fleeting hologram of Lemiel appears through the ceiling, looking down upon the system's panel with a smile.
"It's plausible. But the problem is time and your morality, Fighting your own captain and stealing his weapon is more of a moral problem considering your current abilities. Moreover it's not easy to proficiently use a newly learned magic even if you can replicate it perfectly."
Lemiel's smile vanishes, replaced with a stern expression.
"Will you be able to do it? To hurt your close ones while acting as a villian?"
...
"If that's what it takes to save everyone, I will do it. " Asta said as he didn't even consider his own feelings. "They may hate me for it, but they aren't ones to hold grudges. After everything is over, I will make sure to fix any problems and If i can't..., then I will just deal with them for the rest of my life."
The sadness on Asta's face was easy to see. His selflessness even shocking Lemiel who was watching over him.
The wizard king sensed the looming darkness and decided it was for the better that he helped raise the mood a little.
"Anyway... What are your plans after you deal with Lucius? Have you considered my offer?"
"Offer?"
"You haven't forgotten have you? The thing you promised me?"
-flashback, about 15 hours ago-
After coming out of the central gem of the city, Asta was greeted by the familiar face of none other than the Royal pig, Augustus Kira clover aka the trashy king.
The king was being held in chains and ropes, his mouth stuffed with a black cloth torn out of luxury Royal clothing. Tears were raining down his eyes as he begged Conrad for mercy, only to receive a electric shock just a second later.
"CONRAD!!" Asta couldn't help but be shocked by Conrad's actions.
However the wizard king just looked at him with a "What you want?" Expression.
"Don't just yell and expect me to answer. What do you want? "
"Why is he here?! "
Conrad points at Augustus, " This pig? I grabbed him from his castle, you got a problem with that? "
"Indeed I do! "
Asta walks up to Augustus under Conrad's watchful gaze.
Then before Conrad could figure it out, he heard a loud smack and found Augustus sliding to the other side of the glass floor with a sound similar to a rubber belt scrubbed against glass.
"If you are gonna do something at least do this much. That guy looks to have got a lot of fat and his nerves have already corroded enough to dull his pain receptors." Asta said as he pulled back the leg he kicked Augustus with.
Immediately the image Asta had in Conrad's mind skyrocketed from a trustable ally to a friend.
But not caring about the state of his victim, Asta once more began yelling:
"Why did you bring that guy here!? Talk about a disgusting way to ruin my mood."
"I just saw him struggling under a collapsed fountain while I was bringing you back. He immediately began screaming at me with threats of execution and i brought him here as payback."
Asta found Conrad's words pretty convincing and in line with his knowledge and decided to not persue the details any further.
However~
"Who is this pig look-alike?"
The voice of Lemiel reaches the duo of Asta and Conrad, making them turn to find Lemiel looking at the suffering and fainted Augustus with pity.
"That would be your descendant. He the current king of Clover kingdom, Augustus Kira Clover." Conrad introduced the bastard king with discontent but the next words he heard were out of his imagination.
"Kira? You must kidding me, right? The Kira surname belongs to a exiled family from Diamond kingdom."Lemiel lightly dropped a bomb into the conversation, sending both Asta and Conrad into a sea of confusion.
Soon, the three of them began arguing and sharing the facts with each other. Inevitably forcing Lemiel to take drastic measures.
"Fine! I will find the truth myself!" Lemiel said as he closed his eyes and vanished into the gem, only to appear a second later with a book in his hand.
"What that book?"
"It's the history of my family that I took from the city's archives. Apparently most of knowledge in the four kingdoms have been recorded in it."
The trio then began reading the book from the start to the finish, going for reading about Lemiel's ancestors and then his descendants as per the memories filtered out by the city's mana engine.
The more they read, the more their anger grew, the three of them even took a break to beat up Augustus to calm themselves down.
In the end, it was Lemiel who was the most disappointed in his own descendants.
"To imagine that a enemy nation's noble family manages to blend into our royality through backstabbing and planned treachery on my people. *Lemiel turns to Asta* Asta, Can I ask you for a favor?"
"Of course you can! You saved my life before." Asta answered unhesitatingly.
Lemiel smiles for a second, grabbing Elsdocia from Asta's waist.
"Can you become the king then?"
"Of cours—" Asta stops like a statue. He slowly turns his neck like rusty valve, his mouth still holding onto the last word of his answer. "WHAT!?"
Regretfully for Asta, the slightest second of his earlier approval was enough to start up the process Lemiel wanted.
The wizard King's hologram grabs the hilt of Elsdocia, flooding it with mana from the core( the gem). The makeshift metal edge Conrad had made immediately disintegrated under the mana, and soon the crystal like blade reformed once more.
Lemiel looks at Asta with smile, sending shivers down his spine as he says, "That's one less problem for me. I just can't thank you enough, Asta, congratulations on gaining the throne."
...
Asta looks at Elsdocia that Lemiel just handed down to him then back to Lemiel. It took a few seconds for the situation to sink but the reaction was exactly one will expect.
"WHATT!!? I DIDN'T CONSENT FOR THIS!!" Asta yelled to the point his face turned into a child's drawing. He couldn't believe the audacity and trickery Lemiel had used on him, he wanted a refund.
However Lemiel just smirked, "You did consent for this. Mister new king."
"YOU TRICKED ME! I AM NOT EVEN A ROYAL WITH A LOT OF MANA! "
Thwack!
"Conrad!" Asta clutches his after being struck from behind, his turning to see Conrad's hand reaching out to his collar.
"Not a lot of mana!? You are Darn half-Devil who just became part Angel! If you don't have a lot of mana, then what does that make me and the others??! "
The sudden outburst of Conrad silenced Asta in his tracks, making him realize how much he was underestimating himself.
All this while he has been still thinking of himself as the same manaless Asta who got magic from liebe but he was wrong. Even if he didn't have liebe, he would still have enough mana/anti-magic to match a captain despite having only been training for weeks.
But before the tension could grow any further, Lemiel creates a small light pillar between Asta and Conrad, separating the two.
"Now now, you two. How about we give this topic a little rest?"
"I will appreciate that. "
"So will i."
-Flashback ends-
Lemiel winks at Asta, " You ready to become the king yet?"
Meanwhile Asta grimaces back from the sparkling eyes drilling holes into his determination, "Why are you so hell bent on making me the king!? I told I have no interest in it!"
But Lemiel doesn't answer, only staring ahead constantly under the hopeful and expectant gaze of a parental figure that could make another person doubt himself.
Eventually Asta couldn't endure the gaze anymore, his only option left now was ask for a explanation with a gamble.
"FINE...! Give me a solid reason and I will agree. "
Yet much to Asta's horror, Lemiel brought not one or two but an entire list of reasons and began reciting each of them right into his face.
"Firstly, you have a trustable personality, meaning. Second, you care about the people more than yourself. Third--...*a long three page speech later*And Lastly, I trust in your judgement...Is there anything else left?"
"Nothing!" Asta jumps, stopping Lemiel from going any further as he himself was already losing his mind. "Just stop! Huff. Huff. You just don't know when to stop, do you?"
At last, the Wizard king Lemiel left the room with satisfied face, finally leaving Asta who was on the verge of collapsing from the information intake again.
But before Asta could rest for even a second, an alarm begins ringing in his head followed by a alert from the system itself.
[Intruders have been spotted in the lower entrance. Personal intervention is requested]
... Sigh
"Who is it?" Asta said annoyingly.
[The Black bulls]
-to be continued-