Hi! It's been way too long I know and I'm so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, sorry for that! Thankfully now though, school has all but wrapped up for me and I can focus a bit more time on this over the next weeks before it returns once again.

I really hope you enjoy, it's not the best considering my staccato construction of this but I hope it's fulfilling enough given the long enough wait.

On the positive end though, this gave me even more time to brainstorm some ideas and I accidentally came up with a few story beats which turn out to be actual proper theories people have for the official manga so I can't wait to get round to presenting my own interpretations further!

As a whole, the next chapters shouldn't take anywhere near as long, and I'll do my absolute best to keep providing!

Thanks for the mesmerising support, it truly means a lot to me so much love to all and I hope you're all well and stay well! Stay tuned! :D

"Loropechika?" The Queen of Hearts heard as her mind suddenly snapped back into reality from her mental wanderings. She surveyed the area briefly and let out a sigh of relief as she saw Gadjah before her, his expression as dead as ever.

"O-oh! Gadjah! You're back so soon!" Loropechika felt a wave of shock hit her from the sudden appearance of the Spirit Guardian, "you work so incredibly fast! What is there to report?"

"There was nothing of note. All other Spirit Guardians have surveyed no sign of the Spade Kingdom. All areas were firmly secured. I would have expected some action against us by now, but it appears Julius was right once more. They must have been set back," Gadjah admit begrudgingly, "Julius seems to always be a step ahead of most."

For a brief moment, Loropechika thought as she mounted her right hand to her chin, "The Clover Kingdom are quite like that. They are very much battle-hardened, their battlefield experience is eons beyond our own, it's something that makes them so valuable to us, especially their youthful knights. You had trained many of them well yourself."

Reluctantly, he accepted the compliment as he bowed his head, "I did what I must. You trained Mimosa and Noelle well too. They have certainly formed into much grander mages. But..."

"You're still uncertain, aren't you? About the young knights. You're worried how they'll hold against the Spade Kingdom," Loropechika deduced swiftly, seeing through her Guardian as if he were a pane of glass, "I understand your concern, but I think you underestimate their power."

"I think it's more of us underestimating our enemy," Gajdah sighed as he turned away slightly, "these kids are strong, a lot stronger than I could have anticipated, but the enemy is just as unbelievably powerful. If it weren't for the Arcane Stage mages, I would say they don't have much light in this at all. I shouldn't be saying this having mentored many, but I don't like denying truths my eyes can see."

"I see. Well, it can't be helped!" Loropechika more calmly sighed, "you mustn't forget though that they aren't fighting alone, they have the awing strength of their Captains too! All of them are so powerful on their own, I can only begin to dream of their combined powers! Oh and I can't forget the spear-head of the youth though...Asta."

"The Anti-Magic boy," Gadjah sighed, "he's most certainly one of the most powerful of their forces, if not for the raw nature of his magic alone."

Cheerily nodding, Loropechika leant back slightly as she relaxed, "He's one of our biggest assets, he's such a wonderful boy! After observing him for so many months now, I can certainly see why Julius took such a liking to him. I could just see in Noelle and Mimosa's eyes, whenever he was around, he lit them up tenfold! He's the biggest inspiration for them, the figure that keeps making them strive onwards just to try and keep up. Certainly, without him, things would be much different."

Solemnly, Gadjah bowed his head once more, "Perhaps. There certainly is a lot more to him than what meets the eye. I could tell you adored him from the second you made contact with one another, you most certainly are easy to read involving things like that. I understand that you seem to know a lot more about him than I though, past his battlefield capabilities."

"I suppose so. I managed to make contact of course with Julius recently, and he told me a lot more of his situation, not that I didn't know much to begin with. He seems to have knuckled down well over these long months though, so he's much more powerful than even you comprehend I assure. I would estimate he far surpasses where I believed his power would halt so long ago," Loropechika began.

"You found out more about the boy though, am I correct?" Gadjah questioned.

"Indeed. He's had a rough path in life, but as his character to me has shown so far, he managed to overcome all those hurdles that came his way, and I don't expect that to stop now," She continued as she raised once more, casually strolling past her Guardian as she stood in the open, surrounded by a small ring of water as she spread her arms wide to take in the atmosphere briefly, "however, that rough path may become too rough for him to handle if we aren't cautious for him. I assume you heard about Julius' predictions so long ago?"

Briefly thinking, Gadjah fully turned himself to her as he crossed his arms behind his back, "I did. I heard about the boy's supposed fate. From my own observations, it seems to have motivated his allies tenfold. They most certainly wish to see him live on through this war."

Energetically, Loropechika spun back around, still maintaining a similar posture, "And let that speak to how much they adore him. I, just like them, will up my game as much as possible to keep him alive too, as well as myself. I wish I could have him join us in the Heart Kingdom's defence as it would give me a much better watch over him, but I already know that he will be blooming on the retaking of the Diamond Kingdom, I'm trusting Julius' judgement once more on that front."

"I will do my best to protect them all too. You mustn't lose sight of yourself though. You are the most important of all to be protected in this war, so don't get carried away just trying to care for others. It could end up being your downfall," Warned Gadjah with a more concerned look, "I understand your adoration for them, but they must fall second to you."

"Perhaps to you they fall second, but for me, they are more than just battle-pawns. I like to consider them my friends. Asta falls under that too, and friends must care for one another, just as he's caring for me. Perhaps it's just my own situation that draws me more to him now than he does to you. I've been in his boots, and while my impending death may be more set at the moment than his, his fear I guarantee is all the same. I know all too well the feeling of an impending doom, it's indescribable," Loropechika sighed with a more solemn expression as she looked down more towards the floor.

Gadjah silenced himself more as kept his mind open for his superior's words.

Loropechika let the silence seep in as she felt her joy die further as she fully reflected the feelings which she expressed, "I...don't want either me or him to die just because it's been willed so by fate. I don't want any of us to die, but no matter what I say, we can only swerve fate through what we do."

"For you, we must thwart Vanica to save you, but what can even be done to save such a boy as he? Julius' predictions were always so certain, so what can we do against the word of one man?" Gadjah keenly questioned.

"There isn't much of anything for us to do, other than to try and protect him as I pray to do. For him though, it's much more of a mental battle at the moment. The struggle of overcoming the feeling of certain death is the greatest barrier he will face. Knowing that no matter what you do, you may die...it's a feeling that encourages to give up. However, my fate at the least allows me to empathise with him, it let me mould a connection between us through these months I'm sure you've seen...in-between all that combat training, even if you never originally realised," She assured.

"I suppose so, perhaps I had my focus too much on combat over these last few months, but, none of it shall be in vein. I will do whatever it takes to win, as will they I'm sure. We shall all live through this, the only that shall fall are the Spade's scum," Gadjah said, deep in his determination.

"It's the outcome we all hope for. I suppose for now we can just pray that their avid natures don't drive them too far. For now though, let's just wait for the results of their combat tests, I'll feel even more exalted when I get to see them in person again!" She cheered, "while we wait for that though, I think it's about time to resume preparations of my own."

Swiftly, Gadjah turned as he began away without a second thought, "I see. I shall further my preparations too. Time draws much thinner now."

A cold realisation washed over both Asta and Noelle as they connected lines of sight, completely blocking out any sense of anything else around them as they stared upon one another in complete awe.

"Hey! Asta! Don't ignore me! Are you ok!?" Nero pleaded for some sort of response, but she was completely out of mind for the boy as he hesitantly began towards the Silva, "what happened!?"

"Noelle! What's wrong!?" Mimosa also yelled to try and scavenge some sort of reply for her equally as unresponsive cousin as her focus also seemed to be dead-set on Asta. Just like Asta, Noelle began towards the boy as they met one another half-way, aimlessly staring into one another with no idea what to say as they still tried to fathom what they had both seen.

Finally though, Asta broke the ice as he managed to control himself slightly, correcting his irregular breathing despite the waterfall of sweat that fell upon his face, "You...saw something too...didn't you…? A vision or something..."

"I...did..." Noelle slowly said as the realisation of what had even happened fully came to her, still seeming quite frazzled herself as to what she had even experienced, "but...I still don't get it fully," she stared deeply into his eyes as he stared as deeply into hers, "there's no mistaking what I saw...but..."

"Saw what!?" Nero endeavoured for some notice as she shoved between the two, "have you both gone senile or something!?"

Glancing around, Noelle didn't see any other heads their way fortunately as she set herself straight too, "Asta, we need to talk, privately," grasping the boy's left arm and dragging him away forcefully as Asta's feet burrowed through the ground in a long trail.

Slightly bewildered, Asta followed suit with her and hopped back onto his feet as he flailed an arm behind towards Nero, "Oi! Go look after Mimosa! We won't take long! I promise!"

"You better not!" Nero puffed her cheeks as she tightly crossed her arms, furrowing her brow as she slightly glanced down towards the ailing Mimosa, still posted against the tree as she herself was glancing back towards her departing allies in concern.

"Don't worry, La! I'll help look after Asta's friend too!" Charmy cheered as she waddled towards Mimosa, a single cupcake in hand as she uplifted it as if it were sacred, "here! That fight must have emptied your stomach, you did so well, La! This will fill your mana and stomach, then you can get back up even faster, La!"

Pulling a rather frail smile, Mimosa nodded, looking still though like her brief joy could shatter at any moment, "Th-thank you so much, Charmy! I'll be able to help people that much faster now!" Still though, her concern diverged towards the fleeing duo as she glanced slightly back once more at them, pondering, "What was it that was bothering them?"

After a brief while of walking at Noelle's brisk pace, the two of them found themselves far departed from the rest of the group, finding a small open area surrounded by bulking, oak trees as the Silva finally released the boy, wandering to the centre of the area as she took deep breaths, taking in the environment briefly as Asta simply stood where he was left and caught his breath, desperately trying to subside the slight ringing in his ears.

"Alright, this will do," Noelle immediately swung into things as she turned towards Asta, the sweat meandering down her at least having halted as last as her body seemed to be quelled once more, "nobody should hear us here. Sorry you don't get to see Vanessa, but we can't just let this die on the back-burner."

"Yeah, yeah," Asta sighed as he relaxed back slightly against a tree, feeling his body quell too, "so, what did you see?"

Dialling her memory back briefly, she stared blankly at Asta, "It was...you. I saw a younger looking you...holding my hand. I hadn't ever seen you before we met at the hideout, but I could tell, your eyes, hair, clothing...it all added up to an image of you," she blushed ever so slightly as she murmured to herself, "and you admittedly looked quite cute."

"What was that?" Asta questioned, catching a slight mumble from her.

"NOTHING!" Noelle instantly screamed as her face shot to the brightest shade of red.

"Well, I saw similar," Asta corrected the course of the conversation, "I saw a younger you too, holding my hand. I couldn't catch all the details, but what I saw said enough to tell me I'm right. I think it was outside somewhere in the day, right? I got the impression it was too bright to be inside, and the floor looked more to be made of a greenery."

Placing her dominant hand to her head, Noelle thought thoroughly as she pulled a troubled expression in trying to draw out her memories, "I...think so. So much of it was a blur that it's hard to recall it all though. I'm starting to see a trend regardless though..."

Nodding, Asta finally dragged himself from the tree to close in on Noelle, staring intensely to further confirm his predictions, "Aye, too many details line up for them to be different memories. We're seeing the same scene, just from our different perspectives. But what I don't get is why did we get that vision...we for sure never saw each other when we were younger, I never left Hage and the townsfolk would have recognised you when you came for the first time! It doesn't add up at all!"

"It doesn't...I was always confined to the Royal Capital, I never left there! How could we have seen each other if we never left our areas!" Noelle was frazzled, "surely it had to be some sort of illusion! Maybe it isn't real at all!"

"No..." Asta huffed in frustration, "there's no way we could suffer the same illusion that's so concretely the same, especially one that felt so real. It has to be real, who the hell could even plant an illusion in our heads like that anyway!? It still doesn't make any sense at all!"

"There's no leads at all...we're stumped already," The Silva sighed.

"There has to be something! There has to be a reason for this! There has to be something that's missing!"

"But there isn't anything for us at the minute!"

"But there has to be!"

Frustrated, Noelle grasped and shook the boy violently, "Listen to me, Stupidsta! There's nothing we can draw out! We don't know why we saw what we saw, or how we triggered to see it! We know nothing!" She slowly stopped shaking him as she stared into him with a more saddened look, "Don't get so ahead of yourself, we need to just think about this methodically. Thinking back, there's a greater chance of me possibly going to Hage rather than you seeing me in the Capital. A peasant like you back then would have never had the chance to interact with me in such a way, from what I remember though...Nozel went on every now and then about wanting me to go out and see what your rutty area was like. Maybe there's a chance he'll know about it...or some of the folk at Hage."

A spark lit briefly in Asta's eyes as he jolted forth, gripping Noelle by her arms now instead, "A great excuse to go back to Hage! Brilliant thinking Noelle!"

"This is serious, you baka! We need to figure this all out, we have enough on our plate as it is so we can't let ourselves slack on this!" Noelle griped straight back at the boy as she screamed into his face before soothing herself the next moment, "I'll go talk to Nozel and see what he knows tomorrow, once all our fighting here is done. After that, we can figure out what to do, ok?"

"If you insist," Asta shrugged, "you're certainly taking a firm grip on this. Regardless, I guess we should put our attention back into our battlefield efforts now. You've still got a round to go and win."

"And you two have some explaining to do," Yami suddenly interjected as he appeared from seemingly nowhere, looking as casual as ever as he fiercely stared down his Bulls, "what do you idiots think you're doing out here? The battles are back there you know."

"C-C-CAPTAIN!" Asta yelled in shock as he swivelled around to see the mass of muscles overlooking them, "a-aren't you supposed to be judging the matches!?"

Yami immediately grasped a firm hand around the kid's skull as Noelle nervously looked on, "I am, and you're supposed to be watching. I noticed you two wandering off rather quickly before Vanessa's fight and Mimosa looked worried so my curiosity got the better of me. It's rude not to watch her fight when she so patiently watched yours, little ball of muscles."

Writhing in his discomfort, Asta yelled, "I didn't have a choice! I wanted to watch but Noelle dragged me away!"

"Oh?" Yami's curiosity peaked further as he tossed the boy to the side, stepping even more fiercely towards the young girl, "so you're the one acting as a rule breaker? What were you doing, eh? Trying to hit him up in secret finally?"

"NO, NO, NO!" Noelle immediately screamed as her cheeks exploded into an intense red, "NOTHING LIKE THAT AT ALL!"

"Then explain what it was that you were doing," Yami demanded, quaking Noelle further.

Glancing towards Asta, she caved into the intimidation, "Me and Asta just had to talk, that's all. We had a...vision, and we were just trying to figure it out!"

"What she said!" Asta mumbled through the dirt which his face was embedded into.

Thinking briefly, Yami continued his intimidating aura, constantly oppressing Noelle as she felt her confidence diminishing every long-lasting second, "Is that so? Guess you two are the mischiefs that always have strange shit happen to you. If that's all, then get your asses moving, you can focus on it after the battles. I don't want you preoccupied with this hocus-pocus right now. Your testing comes first, so knuckle down."

"HE DOESN'T CARE AT ALL!" Both Noelle and Asta internally screamed to themselves as their jaws unhinged on the spot from their sheer, bewildered nature.

"All this stuff is in your head," Yami began as he turned away from the two of them, "whatever you're dealing with is an issue not meant for me to help you with. It's in your minds, it's up to you make sense of. I ain't no mind reader to help you, but you got each other. You got that?"

"Y...yes Captain..." Noelle more lowly said as she glanced down towards the floor, "I suppose it's going on the back-burner after all...but there's greater priorities at the minute perhaps… Procrastinating a short while shouldn't do us any harm..."

"And you, kid," Yami groaned as he glanced off towards Asta as he was dragging his head out of the rough, "you should know even better. Your next opponent is fighting right now, so you should have been capitalising to analyse them, but you're wasting away. Get your ass up and stop wasting time."

"Y-yes Captain!" Asta enthusiastically saluted as he stumbled up from the ground, "I'm not gonna waste a single second more! Battles here I return!" Without hesitation, he vanished from sight with his blistering speed, rushing as fast as he could back through the path he trod as the two remaining figures both watched his back as he quickly vanished from sight.

Intimidatingly though, Yami immediately turned back to Noelle who was frozen in shock with her mouth stuck wide open in awe, "Well?"

"W-WAIT UP FOR ME DUMPSTA!" Noelle panicked as she just as blisteringly darted away in pure terror, Yami's eyes tracking her as she left, still puffing away his lungs on his cigarette as he watched her flail her arms around in her retreat.

"Welp, that settles that."

It took very little time for Asta to make his way back to where he once was, bolting through the seas of trees that obstructed his path as he found himself back to the group in no time at all. He briefly glanced around, seeing most eyes fixated on the unfolding battle, "That's Vanessa's ki alright. I made it on time!"

Catching wind of his sudden entrance, Nero and Mimosa's heads turned his way as Charmy simply rolled around the floor, too captivated by her grub to even take notice.

"Asta! You're back! What was all that about!? Where's Noelle!?" Mimosa urgently asked as she seemed eager to lift from her resting place, her broken leg already seeming to have regained some motion.

"You're jumping all over the place! Mind sharing what's actually going on now?" Nero grunted as she got right up in the boy's face.

"Oh, Noelle's just a bit behind," Asta calmly responded, "we just needed to talk about something, it's all sorted so don't worry about it."

Asta could see the judgement in Nero's eyes. She clearly seemed unconvinced but turned away regardless, "Fine, if you say so. I'm watching you though, you know."

Despite Nero's submission, Mimosa herself still seemed uncertain, "Something's off...my gut's telling me that, and I believe it. I should let it die down for now though...I shouldn't drag down Asta at the minute due to my own speculations. No matter what though...I'll figure this out, one way or another."

"Oh right, Mimosa! How's the leg holding?" He asked gleefully as he bypassed Nero who began to lightly cling to him and follow his movements.

"U-um...it's fine th-thanks!" Mimosa blushed slightly at his genuine concern for her, "Nero's recovery magic is superb, it'll only take me a brief while before I'll be up and running again thanks to Charmy too! I practically feel anew!"

"Well, good to see my mistakes are being well overwritten. I promise I won't be so careless again. Injuring you in such a way wouldn't bode well for my conscious," Asta sighed in relief, still noticing the bloody stain on her boot which remained from the initial injury.

"P-please! Don't let it concern you! I only caused it myself!" Mimosa laughed it off as she raised a cheery smile, "it was no mistake. It was a battle after all, I should have been prepared for anything. Now though, I think you should be preparing, right?"

The realisation hit Asta once again as he hastily began away, Yami's words rising back into his mind as he swiftly began away with Nero still attacked as she transformed and planted herself back upon his head, "Yeah! Don't worry, Noelle will be back in a minute! It's about time I scout out what's going on!"

He needed to only look a single moment to realise the flow of the battle, and he immediately was loving it as a grin raised upon him.

"What's wrong big guy? All that chatter and slander really isn't seeming to be paying off right now," Vanessa teased as she landed elegantly to the ground, her opponent not so much as he rumbled and tumbled against the floor.

"I...won't fall...like my inferiors," Alecdora panted as he arose, the floor beginning to drench in his blood. His face was decorated with cuts left, right and centre, blood etching out of every crevice in sight as he appeared deeply bruised and battered in general.

"Is that so?" Vanessa smugly asked, "judging by the last fight that unfolded, I'd firmly hold you to be the inferior one, so break out that complex you have going on, because you're not an ounce of what that girl is. On top of that, she isn't a complete jerk like you. You're not worthy in the slightest of even seeing my true power, I'm saving it for my lovable anti-magic boy."

Gritting his teeth, Alecdora only strengthened his position as his sand began to circulate around him once more, "You dare insult me!? A nobody like you!?"

Just as smugly as the moment prior, Vanessa swiped her right arm outwards, "Though I never like to boast about it, I'll have you know I'm not exactly a nobody," a more sinister expression came upon her as the pages in her grimoire turned, "I'm the Witch Queen's daughter."

Alecdora found himself caught off-guard by the sudden realisation as his concentration faltered, that was the only moment Vanessa needed however as she flashed an attack forth, surpassing Alecdora's anticipation as a wall of threads harshly collided with him, each one slicing deep into his skin and forcing blood to flood at an even great rate as he rebounded off of the wall to tumble straight back to the ground once more.

"A little birdie told me of you and what you tried to do to my poor little mana-less boy. If you think I'm the completely merciful and forgiving type, you'd be dead-wrong," Vanessa cynically chuckled, "perhaps if you spent less time being an ignorant pest, you could have spent some time growing stronger. Either way though, if you think I'd ever let you lay a hand to him, you'd be dead wrong."

"I won't cave in to the likes of you. I'll still win, I'll crush you all! Every last-!"

"I've had enough of entertaining you," Vanessa sternly interrupted as an even greater amount of mana began to swell around her, "I'll end you right now, just to shut your trap. Then, I'll go and fight Asta myself."

"Like hell I'd let that happen!" Alecdora raged as blood continued to flood over his lips, his determination, or rather arrogance, still pushing him onwards as he rushed aimlessly forth once more, forming dozens of blades rawly made from sand around him as they solidified and soared forth towards the target.

Each blade swiftly was met by a thread from Vanessa as they materialised, rushing towards each blade and colliding with them in the air, completely shattering them and breaking them down as Alecdora's offence was deconstructed in mere moments.

"Sorry, but you pitiable magic won't be enough now. You're done for," Vanessa eerily said as she outstretched her dominant hand.

"Whoa! When did Vanessa's threads become so sharp! She's cutting through him like butter!" Asta awed.

Just as keenly observing, Nero transformed once more and stood alongside Asta, "Perhaps she's refined them in a sense. They certainly didn't have such properties before, which makes me think she's gained a greater manipulation of them. We only see the superficial damage it has caused too, so I'm wondering what else it may do past the surface of his skin."

"Well I guess I'll be forced to find out in a short while, assuming I let her hit me," Asta grinned as he nudged her slightly.

"Whatever does the job, I wouldn't like to see what Yami would make of you if you were to lose to even Vanessa," Nero sighed as she tried to more deeply analyse Vanessa to find where this new level of strength stemmed from, but from her sensing, she couldn't quite deduce it.

Yami glanced off towards William as he approached from behind, "Looks like I missed a bunch of the fun. Not looking too good for you guy though, eh?"

William sighed slightly, "It certainly isn't looking too good. Vanessa's magic simply thwarts him completely. It's clearly far more developed and deadly. She has a superb manipulation, far greater than most mages I've ever seen before I daresay."

"It certainly seems like quite a delicate magic, to manipulate it to such an extent certainly speaks of her ability," Fuegoleon furthered, "you certainly have raised your knights well, Yami."

"I suppose though you were bottom of the squads all that time, you were never weak, were you?" Mereoleona chuckled as she admired the battle.

Smugly, Yami nodded, "Of course, I don't slack off on them, that's why I expect my Bulls to win. I think they're doing a good job of proving that so far."

"She dismantled my attacks so easily!" Alecdora felt his heart skip as sand began to envelop his arms, forming sand gauntlets, "I've got too much momentum now to halt my attack, I have to just commit!"

"Congratulations on playing straight to me, very intrepid of you! But, you've played straight to my hands! Victory is irrefutable now!" Vanessa grinned as she outstretched her dominant hand once more, Alecdora progressing directly towards it as he outstretched his own to meet her.

In an instant, Vanessa's power suddenly swelled at the tips of her fingers, immediately blasting an immense charge of mana at point-blank range straight into Alecdora. The charge deconstructed his gauntlet immediately, each grain of sand becoming one with the wind as it brushed away, revealing his exposed fist as it felt the tingling sensation of Vanessa's mutating power.

It only took a single breath after for it all to unleash, the sensation growing into a blistering pain as the charge let loose upon him, immediately blasting him with immense force backwards as it burned the surface of his skin in it's intense nature. He shot like a cannon ball across the land, his heavy weight being sliced through the air by the sheer power of the attack as he let out his screams of agony as he never once felt his feet connect to the floor.

"Such immense mana!" Alecdora admired in his thoughts as he felt the wind wiped from him which prevented him from murmuring those words instead. He lost all other senses in that moment regardless so that he wouldn't hear his own words, never mind the equally as shocked gasps of other surrounding knights.

"This feeling..." Asta immediately drew parallels, "it's similar to when she blew Zora away. It's the same ki! I knew there was even more to it than she let on...is the strengthening of her threads a bi-product of it?"

Another wave of realisations overcame him as his eyes widened in shock, Nero seemingly catching wind of this as she glanced more his way, "When she defended me from Zora, I knew I felt a strange ki from that new tattoo or whatever of hers! It's the only reasonable idea that I have that can tie this together! Mimosa's new strength had an outer source, that allowed me to gain an advantage through cutting it off, but Vanessa seems to have that power more imbued within her, it's gonna be a tougher fight, just for the fact I can't as easily manipulate her magic."

Nero had severed her attention slightly from the battle itself as she fixated her analysis more on the boy himself, "For how stubborn he usually is, he always bends to Yami's word. Either he's scared of disobeying, or he trusts him deeply. He's analysing so attentively, I can tell his puny brain is struggling to completely comprehend it all and keep on track, and he's only doing it because he was advised so. I suppose he's not a complete idiot then, but an idiot still all the same."

Through all of Alecdora's airy antics, his feet never felt the floor still, instead suddenly feeling his next impact rather soft and cushioned as he abruptly was brought to a slow. It brought him utter confusion as he hastily analysed around him and realised the many threats he had collided with, but they weren't sharp as they had been shown to be up to now.

Instead of being sliced into sushi by the threats, he was saved, slowly feeling them loosen backwards as they stretched out of their original position, "It's...a web of threads! Did she protect me out of pity? To...save me?" He felt the sudden shift of mana once more as the webs reached the end of their extension, sharply realising, "No. She's doing the inverse!"

"How pitiful you are," Vanessa grinned as she rushed forth, no magic being charged, but with her fist tightly clenched, "you just wanted to fight Asta, but if you can't lay a hand on me, you'd never last a second against him, he's way beyond the likes of you!"

"Impossible! I can't lose like this! I...still need my revenge! I can't lose to a pathetic squad like these Bulls! Mimosa may have lost too, but I'm not like that weakling!" Alecdora continued to deny his reality.

The threads which had been so torn from their original position abruptly jolted back into place, blasting Alecdora straight back towards Vanessa, who still continued her run. He flailed through the air at the same speed at which he had been blasted through just moments ago, losing complete and utter control as he could do nothing now to save himself.

With a grin, Vanessa's drawn back fist flung forth with a twist as she put her back into the swing, "I'm not usually a physical girl, but for you I'll be an exception!" Her swing finally connected in it's movement as the fight ended upon the impact, her fist burrowing into Alecdora's gut as he felt the impact slowly seeping into him, blood immediately spewing out his mouth and dripping upon Vanessa slightly as drops of red blended into the fabric of her clothing.

Alecdora let out the most pathetic wails of pain as he was shot straight back into the floor, tumbling to a pathetic defeat as he laid against the floor motionlessly.

"I think the ground suits you a lot better," Vanessa slightly chuckled as she strolled to his body, looking down upon him, "I'm sure it makes a change to be looking up once in a while."

"Alecdora is unable to fight on! Vanessa wins!" Mereoleona instantly announced, immediately seeing all life drained from the Golden Dawn knight.

The mage was at a loss, not willing to raise a single finger as he blended more in with the ground with each passion second, "I-impossible...I...let Captain down...I lost to scum…!"

"Try learning a bit of humility. Only then can you truly try and flourish," Vanessa sighed as she turned away, walking back towards the crowds as she knew her job was now done, now she had to look to her next battle.

"Wow Vanessa! That was so awesome!" Asta was first to jump out and greet her in his rabid nature.

"Not bad for a stripper," Magna chuckled as he and Luck both closed into the group too, "but you could have toyed with him a little longer."

"Unfortunately, I don't like wasting my time of scum like him. I'll have a bit more fun with my other opponents," The Witch shrugged as she glanced slightly towards Asta, "besides, virgin, focus on surviving your fight first, I think you'll struggle a bit."

Shaking his head, Magna stomped his foot forth with a determined look, "Nah! Me and Luck are in the same bracket! I'm gonna keep winning no matter what until I face him!

"Yeah! And them I'm gonna blow him to smithereens!" Luck cheered mercilessly.

"Hey! I'm gonna tear you to pieces small shit!" Magna raged back at him, "just brace yourself!"

Watching over his squad, Yami took a long puff of his cigarette as he began to feel light droplets of rain, seeing them begin to fall upon his smoke-maker as he tossed it aside from the embers beginning to die out in the humidity, "Talk about an abrupt weather change, we couldn't have picked a better day eh? Either way, that's two-for-two for me. That's a good start. We're gonna body these battles in no time."

Sensing Yami confidence, Fuegoleon only sensed his own growing, "I wouldn't be so sure about that, at least, not with the next battle!"

Mereoleona felt a smile wipe across his face, "Indeed, it's time for things to get a little hotter."

Glossing over the area, Asta broke from his small group slightly as he noticed a few things, firstly spotting Alecdora's body moved from where he was defeated as he spotted it alongside Mimosa who had moved slightly from her position against the tree to heal him. There was one main thing bugging his mind though as he constantly flicked his head from side to side, finding no answers for his questions.

"Something wrong?" Nero questioned as she was still as stuck to him as ever, "you seem bothered."

"It's nothing, I just can't see or sense Yuno. He must have cleared off somewhere, but he's not the type of person usually to up and leave for no reason," Asta sighed in disappointment, "his battles won't be for a short while, so I suppose he's still got a bit of time for wherever he is."

Nero took a brief moment to gloss over the area herself, returning the same negative result, "He may just be running a quick errand or something. Don't worry about it, you've got bigger things to think about now. Keep that battle-head of yours tuned in and don't distract yourself."

"Yeah, yeah," Asta sighed as he shook his head, "I'll at least try. I'll have to question him later."

"Hey! What's with the sudden weather change!" Noelle whined as she rushed back into the area, diving straight towards Asta with her robe's hood up and pigtails tucked into it to shield herself more from the growing rain, as the sky was now covered in a grey, dull blanket of clouds, "nobody told me I'd have to get drenched again today!"

"Noelle! You're finally back eh? What took so long?" Asta greeted as both he and Nero turned to the hooded girl.

She had her arms tightly folded, each one gripping the other as she tried to keep herself rather compact for warmth, "I wasn't in as much of a rush Stupidsta! I wanted to take my time and enjoy the environment a bit, but now this rain's kicked in I might as well have not bothered! It's too cold!"

"It's not that bad," Asta sighed, feeling the rain more intensely beat against him, "it's warm I'd say."

"You've already fought! You're warmed up! Anyway, that's irrelevant!" Noelle yelled as she shuddered slightly, "what did I miss?"

Nero pointed towards Mimosa, who was still at work, "Vanessa won, so she'll be fighting Asta in the next round. The other fights are underway soon. If they're going by group order like I suspected, then you'll be in the next wave of battles, though we're still only halfway into the group."

"That's too long!" Noelle cried as she shuddered once more, "you're lucky you fought so soon! But moreover..." Noelle suddenly lurched forth and tugged Asta's hood over his head which blinded him briefly as she tugged it a little far to obscure his vision, "keep yourself covered! Otherwise, you will go cold, dummy! Why do I have to look after you for such trivial things!?"

"You don't! You're just overly cautious!" Asta pouted as he crossed his arms and turned his head away.

"Hey! I'm the only one allowed to do that!" Noelle wined further as their bickering furthered before she finally relaxed back a bit, "well, whatever, it doesn't matter anyway. More importantly, I think we need to watch the next fight! Assuming you beat Vanessa, you could be against any of the other guys too! You heard what Yami was saying before about knowing your enemy!"

Nero glanced towards Mereoleona, still perched at the top. She seemed like she hardly had moved an inch the entire time, not even being effected in the slightest by the rain as it moisturised her skin and made it shine a little more to the human eye as it did with many other people.

"Now then, onto the next match!" Mereoleona announced at the top of her lungs, her voice piercing through the heads of many once more, "the penultimate fixture of round one in group one is Leo against Gordon! Both fighters step up!"

"Gordon!" Asta exclaimed in excitement as he flicked his head around in quick bursts, trying to catch sight of the creepy knight as he flicked down his hood once more.

"Hood up!" Noelle screamed into his ear as she forcibly dragged it over his eyes once more to blind him as she held it in place this time, "your hair looks better when it's nice and dry! It loses it's shape when it's wet buffoon! We're not out here for a shower!"

Asta continued to wail as he lost sight for that brief period, "Fine! Whatever! Why are you even bothered in the first place!? IT'S RAIN!"

Noelle's cheeks blushed up slightly as she let out a deep breath, "Th-that doesn't matter!" She felt her heart race the slightest bit faster as she let out her true expression while the boy was still blinded, looking down at him admirably, "Th-that idiot...I like his hair when it's up like normal, it's too cool when it's all soggy that it's distracting! I'll just influence it the way I like it...for now at least...he'll catch wind if I'm too persistent..."

"Go on Gordon! Make it three Bulls into the second round! We believe in you!" Magna encouraged from the sidelines as both opponents came into view as they centred on the battlefield.

"Leo's pretty strong, right?" Luck questioned, "I hope whoever's the strongest can fight me! Assuming they can thwart Asta of course! Oh boy this is so exciting!"

"You're too into this," Magna groaned.

"I'll do my best, I must do my best for Asta!" Gordon proudly mumbled as he faced down Leo blankly, who seemed filled to the brim with joy, "I can prove to Asta that I'm strong and we'll further our bond even more!"

Leo had his senses at his sharpest as he critically observed Gordon, "So you're of the Black Bulls too, right? That makes you a friend of Asta's, correct? I'm Asta's friend too! I'm one of his rivals in fact!"

"So you're a friend of Asta as well? That means I can prove myself to be an even stronger friend right here and now! Asta can see I am a worthy ally!" Gordon mumbled in excitement.

"Not much of a chatter eh?" Queried Leo as he failed to hear the words forming from Gordon, "that must make you like Yuno then! You must be the cool type as well! I failed to crack that wind knight's bravado, but I'll crack yours now instead!"

Blushing, Gordon felt himself shift a little bit in excitement, "Cool? Am I really cool? I've never received that compliment before!"

Mereoleona stomped her foot downwards to gain attention as she nearly shattered the ground beneath on accident, "Hey! Stop talking to yourself, Leo! The match is about to begin," she growled as she raised her arm in the air once more, "match three of round one in group one, Leopold vs Gordon, begin!"

The words barely just finished exiting Mereoleona's lips before L eo blasted forth, blazing fire propelling him forth as embers of his trail gently swayed to the ground. He had left a massive crack in the ground from where he took off, completely shattering the area as it crumbled itself down into nothingness.

"He's insanely fast!" Asta admired, "he's blasting fire from his feet to further his speed to crazy levels so easily! I'd have thought that would take some immense control of his mana to puff something like that off, but he's doing it like it's nothing!"

"Leo..." Noelle slowly mumbled to herself, "the rain is hardly dampening his flames at all. I suppose all that training immensely strengthened them naturally too. I don't think many of us had seen how powerful he grew, but I guess now's a better chance than ever. Even if he's immense though, I'll crush him too if I have to, assuming Asta doesn't, my affinity with him gives me a major advantage, never mind my creation magic."

Her tactical mind suddenly was distracted though as she felt an arm stretch around her and felt herself suddenly pressed against something. She blankly looked to her right in confusion as she saw Asta so close, his arm clearly being the one connected to her, "H-huh?" Her cheeks suddenly shot to a bright shade as she instinctively pulled away and caught his attention, "WH-WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?!"

"You looked cold," Asta shrugged, "you're not fighting for a bit so I thought to try and help you stay a bit warm until then."

Her embarrassment only furthered upon his concern for her as she noticed herself quivering slightly, staring at the tips of her outstretched hand before violently shaking a second or two, "Y-Y-Y-YOU CAN'T DO THAT OUT OF NOWHERE! I...I...I'M A-"

"A royal, right?" Asta sighed, still noticing her jittering as he turned away.

"Crap! I subconsciously crept back into my habits again! You had a million things you could say Noelle, and you used your status again!" Noelle immediately regret as her expression immediately saddened upon his cold turn.

Nero glanced between the two of them as she shook her head in disappointment, "There's never a minute without bickering. They should be concentrating, but they're doing the exact opposite. Idiots."

"I-it's just that..." Noelle stuttered, trying to still recapture his attention while digging deep into her thoughts, "I can...um...look after myself, and...I know you can too...I'm just...worried."

"It's mutual," Asta immediately responded, still with his attention fixed elsewhere as he watched the progressing battle in front of him, "I told you once before, we'll watch each other's backs. The worry and protection you offer me aren't just one-way. Don't keep letting it slip your mind that I feel the same way as you."

Noelle couldn't come up with much of a response as she gloomily looked to the floor in silence, tightly gripping one wrist with the other as she carefully thought of what to do next, persistently glancing over towards the boy as she began to slightly edge towards him. Even now, she hadn't received even another glance.

Begrudgingly, she broke through her nerves, gently gripping onto Asta's left arm as she raised it around herself as she subdued her flourishing feelings as much as possible while she tucked into him slightly, leaning her head against him, "I...suppose it's a bit cold. A little extra warmth wouldn't kill me..."

At last, Asta finally offered the gentle glance upon Noelle as he let out a deep sigh, still not offering any words greater than, "If you insist."

"You owe me another now," Nero chuckled slightly as she raised her right arm, holding up a single finger, causing a slight smirk to appear upon Asta's face as he bowed his head slightly.

"Show me what you got!" Leo demanded as he closed down the distance between him and Gordon during Asta and Noelle's bickering, both his hands enticed in flames as he swung his right fist downwards, smashing it against the floor straight in front of Gordon as his flames flooded out of his fists.

The impact blast Gordon away slightly, which saved him from any immediate damage as he immediately felt his senses going haywire, "This is unreal! I can feel his mana all around me! It's so intense and persistent! I can't predict his next move!"

Sensing his confusion, Leo grinned in confidence as he muttered to under his breath, "Sorry, but there's no time to waste, I'll end this in only a handful of attacks!"

Embers quickly seeped through the ground beneath Gordon, withering through the cracks which offered any air at all. Within mere moments, those growing embers swelled into grand strands of flames, rising in their irritating intensity towards him.

"Violett Schirm!" Gordon instantly yelled, a blanket of poison rising beneath him as it began to cover most of the immediate vicinity below.

"Not quite!" Leo chuckled, his flames bursting through the ground, mostly where the poison hadn't reached yet, as they shot through the sky, scraping past Gordon as he was seemingly safe from the attack. That was before Leo made his next action. Both his hands suddenly jolted downwards in a claw shape as his flames began to give off an even more intense feeling, the flames which had passed suddenly flipping back on their original direction, plummeting straight down towards the helpless knight in the centre of it all.

Even Yami felt himself jump a bit in shock, seeing the flames dancing around his squad ally, "He can manipulate his fire so precisely? They look to move so freely in the air, he must have trained really intensely for that sort of level."

"The Spirit Guardians weren't the only ones who trained up the little kids," Mereoleona grinned as she watched Leo's display unfold, "Leo hasn't just gotten stronger, he's pushed himself to a completely new level. I'd ensure your boy is prepared for he's got ahead of him."

"He's grown so much in such a short time," William admired, "his presence alone says enough about his tremendous power. He will certainly be such a towering threat."

His confidence remained unrestrained as Leo stood tall and confident, his smug look irremovable as he ended it all before it even began, "I wish I could have seen more of your magic, but I'm just too much at the minute. Sorry, but I've got a rival to go and face."

Upon his final words, it all collapsed at once, his flames crashing upon and drenching Gordon all at once. He was left with no room to defend himself, no attack to counter, it all ended from the very first attack.

Leo's flames spiralled around the victim like a fire tornado before dispersing ever so slowly into the atmosphere as Gordon's lifeless body was left to the floor, having hardly moved even a step.

"Gordon is out of commission! Leo wins!" Mereoleona promptly announced with a toothy grin as a wave of complete disbelief overcame the battlefield.

"He defeated him in just one attack! He hardly got to cast a spell!" Noelle shuddered slightly as she subconsciously held tighter to Asta, "his magic is so powerful and oppressing...I've never truly felt this nervous for an opponent I have such a grand affinity against!"

"Gordon..." Asta sighed in slight disappointment, blankly staring towards his motionless body as Leo immediately got on his way transporting him over to the healing station that was Mimosa, who was still up to her neck in work to do as Charmy simply sat alongside her and watched unproductively, "he didn't get a chance at all...but I suppose he'll have to seize truly the next one he gets..."

Luck still was as giddy as usual of course as he hopped in excitement, "Wow! Leo looks so powerful! I want to see more of him already!"

Magna was less enthusiastic as he nervously watched on, "His fire magic is quite sophisticated, never mind the intensity of his flames. For them to be so powerful...he's certainly taking full advantage of his massive pools of mana. Man, I've never felt so envious!"

"Oh! So he's in our group too!" Vanessa admired as she shifted towards the still bewildered Asta as she rested her arm upon his shoulder, "looks like he's in the other half though! Seems like you'll have to get though me to have sight of him! But since he's in the other match, that means he'll play the winner of..."

"I-I-I-I-I MIGHT BE UP AGAINST THAT!?" Finral screamed in absolute terror, "I'M NOT READY FOR THAT! HE'S GONNA BARBECUE ME!"

"I heard word of a barbecue!" Charmy lunged into the fray suddenly, wrapping around Finral's legs as her mouth was a waterfall of drool, "where is it!? I wanna have it! Are you the barbecue!? How good do you taste!?"

Finral instinctively kicked her away, "I'm not food, you idiot! Can you stop obsessing for five minutes!? Besides, aren't you supposed to be resupplying Mimosa's mana!? She doesn't have an unlimited amount, remember!"

Waving him away, Charmy sighed, "Of course, of course! But some things take priority! What is more important than my yummies?"

"Your comrades maybe!?" Finral screamed back as he shuffled slightly further away before feeling himself bump into something as he looked behind to see Vanessa towering above him.

"More importantly..." Vanessa began as she grasped the boy by his hair, tugging him upwards as she forced his scrambling feet to find some stern contact with the ground, "you're the last fight out of our group. Me and Asta already made it through, don't let Gordon's misfortune sway you!"

Her words came across in an incoherent manner to him as his mind focused primarily on the pain from being tugged, "Owie! Stop that!" Finral pleaded as he shook her off, the rain having lubricated her gloves a slight bit more which allowed Finral's hair to slip through. At the least though, a word or two managed to seep through his unfocused mind as he focused back on what was ahead, "Last battle? That's right! I'm up next dammit! But with Asta, Vanessa and Leo through...and Mimosa, Alecdora and Gordon knocked out...that can only mean..."

He needn't bother in his analysis for long as the event set straight back in motion again as the battlefield was baron once more, the only thing filling it being the bellows of the ferocious lioness, "Finally, for the last match in group one, it is Finral versus Rokken! Fighters step forth!"

"Rokken!" Finral exclaimed, "I don't have a clue who that is! But...that gives me all the more reason to keep on my toes...I should get into my mindset straight away and figure him out, even before greeting the battlefield!"

"Go on Finral! We believe in you!" Vanessa encouraged as she pushed him ahead, little by little.

"Go beat that bastard, you useless idiot!" Magna screamed from behind, shaking his fist more fiercely in the air before feeling a tight hand latch upon his skull as he himself was suddenly lift into the air, his flailing legs losing the feeling too of the solid ground, "OI! WHAT'S THE BIG IDEA!?"

"Shut up!" Gauche yelled straight into Magna's face the second he caught sight of him, "I'm just trying to admire my sister for an hour and all I can hear is your foul mouth running! All of you should shut it, before I knock you out myself!"

Magna continued to flail, swiping consistent punches which never met the target as he looked no more than a mere child, "Who are you to talk, you obsessed freak! I could kick your ass any time I feel like it!"

Luck felt his own blood pumping faster too, jumping even closer as he was practically sparking already, "Let me kick both of you! I can't wait to fight, I want an extra one now!"

"Clear it, you psycho," Gauche growled, snubbing the boy as he mercilessly flung Magna behind, abandoning him to the muddy floor.

"Asta?" Noelle glanced to him more as she slightly pulled her head away from where it rested, noticing his lack of motion, "is everything alright? You seem troubled...again..."

The boy's vision seemed to have drifted away still, aimlessly watching Finral ahead of himself as he entered the battlefield along with his opponent, "Leo..."

"Leo?" Noelle questioned, "what are you blabbering on about? He's already off the field!" It was then she finally took full notice, feeling Asta's body slightly trembling and his eyes displaying a look of pure shock as his pupils shrunk and the white in his eyes became ever so clearer in its place. "He's...shaking?" Noelle further pondered, "but what it making him shake? Even Leo's power then didn't disturb me so much. He was immense, but he didn't display so much that it made me quiver. Since he can't sense the mana, it means he must be feeling it through his ki detection, but, does that mean he could feel something I couldn't? Nobody else is reacting so much at all...so it doesn't make much sense why he'd feel the most terror of all unless we were blind to something only he could feel..."

Noelle quickly leant back against Asta, holding herself to him slightly more to try and quell him even the slightest amount as she took a deep breath, "Come on, Stupidsta...there's no reason to shudder to the likes of this. You're gonna be Wizard King, so that means you've got to be stronger than this!"

"It's not just that..." Asta shuddered slightly, striking a bit more shock back into Noelle as she felt herself hesitate, "it's not just his power, it's his ki in general...it's giving me a similar feeling to Fuegoleon and Mereoleona..."

"W-well they're related! Of course they should!" Noelle stated.

"I've never sensed it so deeply however...his flames themselves...they gave off a near-identical ki to that of them, and I mean that!" Asta exclaimed as Noelle still continued to soothe him little by little, "there's even more to his power than I could fathom...he really pushed himself even as much as I… Just how am I gonna compete with that?"

Noelle couldn't muster many words as she glared off to the confident Leo, sensing a little more to him than before upon the realisation of Asta's words, "W-well the first step i-is to get into the right mindset, r-r-right?" Noelle muttered as she tried to build some further words of encouragement, "you can't b-beat him until you b-b-believe you have it in you to!"

His breathing hesitated slightly as he glanced up towards Mereoleona with a slightly fiercer look, "She planned this out...she wanted me to become so much stronger not just for myself, but so I could test Leo. I knew they trained a fair bit together, so did she want to test me too so that she could see if I'd be a good challenge?"

Seeing the smug look Mereoleona looked down upon him with, he clenched his fists as tight as he could, with Noelle feeling his body tense up as his eyes stared so sharply, "So what then? I'll just have to prove I'm stronger, prove that I'm the one who's grown the most. I'll surpass all the Vermillions, no matter what it takes, it's part of my path."

"Looks like he's finally coming to terms with his competition," Mereoleona chuckled slightly as she glanced back to her brother as she stomped further up the cliff's edge, "and he seems pretty determined."

"As expected of Asta," Fuegoleon admired, "his iron will is certainly a page Leo aspired to learn from. Regardless, they both still have some troublesome foes ahead of them, the more they continue to learn about one another now, the better they can flourish on the battlefield together."

"They're really confident in him huh," Yami contemplated as he overlooked his nuisance of a Bull below, "even now, I bet he's got a lot more work cut out for him than he realises. It's soon gonna be about that time to push against his limits. Through win or loss though," Yami couldn't help but drift his vision to the Noelle suctioned to the boys side and to the Mimosa still neck-deep in her work, "I suppose he'll have all the support he needs."

Departed from the rest though, Finral refocused on his battle as Rokken entered the battle area too. There was a cold and eerie atmosphere in-between as neither opened their mouth for the other, only having their ears pick up the pattering of the rain around them.

"He's really serious eh? He must want to beat me pretty badly to prove himself, he's a Crimson Lion after all, Mereoleona was pushing them a lot over this training period. I'll respond in the same way though...there's no time for fun and games right here and now. I'm the last of the Bulls in this group to fight, I won't drop below the bar Asta set in his huge display," Finral boosted his own confidence as his grimoire rose before him, "this is my time to shine!"

"Asta..." Finral further pondered as he felt himself shudder slightly, "please, watch me!"

"The final match of round one, group one...Finral vs Rokken...commence!" Mereoleona announced as the last bout went underway.

Immediately into things, Rokken dived forth towards Finral, a mace of rock suddenly materialising in his hands as he swiftly began to form momentum, still not a word muttered.

In response, Finral immediately opened a portal in front of the mage, not providing him enough time to swerve it as he flew straight into it, being flung out of it an even greater distance away from his target as the gate promptly closed once again upon use, "Sorry, I don't feel like letting you so close to me yet. I'm controlling this battle!"

"So either of them could be my opponents next round?" Leo queried as he laid Gordon's body gently down, close to Mimosa who had just finished up on Alecdora as her attention turned to the fire boy, "Finral or Rokken...both interesting opponents for me ahead...but I won't let them stop me from getting to Asta!"

"I'm sure they won't with your insane determination," Mimosa smiled widely, "I'm sure you'll be able to put up a much better fight than I..."

"Your fight was incredible though!" Leo complimented, "especially for a support mage such as yourself to stand so well against someone as immense as Asta...it was aweing! I can only imagine how well you two combine on the battlefield!"

"P-please!" Mimosa blushed in slight embarrassment, "y-you're too kind..." "Perhaps my display was greater than I credited myself for...I mean...I'm not as deep in battles as Asta...I'm just his pillar that keeps him standing. Perhaps if I maximise my attacking potential...then..." She blushed slightly at the thought of growing even stronger, "yes...there's still so much room for me to grow… But if I were to become as competent in attack as I am support...I could be a perfect battlefield partner for Asta!"

Asta's mind was whizzing from one thing to another every other minute, processing everything as he tried to put multiple puzzles together at once. The puzzle he now focused on had him focus upon Mimosa as he observed her work so gleefully, "There's too much going on at once...why did it all have to unravel now? I still never forgot...even if she did...but my Destroyer reacted with her during the battle, I remember that for sure. It just doesn't make sense though...it only reacts to the after-effects of spells...so what the hell could be affecting her? Looking at how calm she is...how open, free, painless...it must be something subtle if it were to be anything at all..."

He held his right arm out slightly as he rolled his fingers into a fist, "My ki detection can't pick up a single bit of a hint either...she feels like...Mimosa still...just like the first time I met her besides her swelled presence from her increased power. She just seems like herself! For my blade to have reacted as it did...to the point of causing her pain...it would surely have to be something that deeply affects her, which would be something I could surely detect. The facts just contrast one another, it surely can't add up!"

Still though, he shook his head in dismay as he glanced slightly to Noelle by his side, her vision seemingly fixed ahead towards Mimosa's direction too, "Regardless, I'll piece this together eventually, but I should focus on my own battles ahead while I'm still in this bracket… There'll be enough time for this when I've won."

"Asta? They're in our bracket, remember?" Vanessa interrupted his thoughts as she nudged him with her elbow, simultaneously catching Noelle's attention as they finally fully recognised one another, "stop day-dreaming before Yami clobbers you! I only say this for your benefit; your lifespan will shorten the longer you'd defy the muscly man."

"O-oh!" Asta felt her interaction knock his senses back in place as he glanced towards Finral, who was already in motion in his battle, "y-you're right! I need to be mindful of all opponents I suppose. I'll have chance to see them in action again with the matches of the next round...but the more I see now...the more in-depth I know them!"

"That's right!" Vanessa smugly grinned as she leant inwards, "also, I see you're finally getting there with her, eh? You'll be making Mimosa jealous now!"

Noelle's ears picked up her mumbles as her cheeks shot to a flaming red once again, her eyes spreading wide open as her left arm flailed aimlessly in Vanessa's general direction, "WH-WH-WH-WH-WHAT!? ARE YOU DRUNK AGAIN!? I WAS JUST COLD, COLD! NOTHING ELSE! THERE'S NOWHERE FOR ME TO GET TO! I-"

"Ah, yes, yes, of course," Vanessa condescendingly chuckled as she placed a single finger over the crazed girl's lips, though she continued to mumble nonsense which never could truly be heard, "keep whining out them nonsensical excuses."

Asta let out a deep sigh watching the two of them as he finally redirected his attention back to the battle at hand, "Onto the more important matter...I don't really know of Finral's arsenal at the moment, I wonder how he'll plan on taking down Rokken..."

"You intend to ward me away it seems," Rokken chuckled lightly as he stared down Finral with a cynical expression, "you can open portals it seems, what kind of offensive capabilities could that have I wonder… Do you plan on sending my attacks back at me?"

"This won't last long," Finral sighed, "I don't really have a choice but to send his attacks back at him, but even so, Yami wouldn't have let me fight if he didn't have some belief in me… I have to think my way through this!"

Rokken held his right hand forth as a wave of rock stalactites pierced in a staggered motion towards Finral, "Let's see more of you then!"

"Trivial," Finral muttered as he swiped a gate wide open in front of himself, the rocks piercing into it and vanishing from thin air, reappearing behind Rokken and piercing straight for his back with the same momentum.

"I see..." Rokken grinned as a shield rose behind him, handling the attacks with ease, "your magic doesn't add any special affect, what goes into the portal exits as it once was. Unfortunately for you, hitting me with my own attacks isn't so easy, especially considering my own magic won't work on me as strongly. On top of that, you didn't route the portal to straight behind of me, that would make me believe these perhaps a proximity apart you can summon your portals."

Finral faintly was smiling through it all, not offering a word to correct or affirm any of what was said, "Focus Finral, focus on the next move."

"I don't fancy fighting so long though, especially with such an opponent as Leo up next in the bracket, I'll end this swiftly!" Rokken claimed as a hammer of rock materialised in his arms as he firmly gripped it, his pressure against it making it crackle a bit on its own before he even had the chance to put in motion, "you can only send projectiles back at me, so I'll just finish you easily with an attack you can't send back at me! As long as my attacks are within my own hands, you're completely finished!"

"It's a similar case as to Asta vs Mimosa," William observed, "it's support vs attack, except Mimosa had at least some attacking potential I suppose. Do even you foresee a victory in this, Yami?"

"Pfft! Of course I do! I don't raise my Bulls to break so easily. They'll take everything they physically can before even considering the bucket!" Yami scoffed, "their magic type will always provide an advantage or disadvantage in battle, and of course some are more suited for battle than others...but...no matter what magic they have...victory is never impossible, at least not for my little shits."

The slight smirk Finral had suddenly widened a bit more as he stood open with the attack coming towards him so rapidly, murmuring to himself, "Just what I want...if he keeps it at this rate then..."

Swiftly, Finral dodged sidewards into a gate, successfully avoiding the attack as it shattered the ground in it's wake. Behind Rokken though, Finral emerged from another portal, landing on a few meters away as the flick of the knight's head made them connect sight once more.

"Slippery," Rokken grinned as he slammed his right foot into the ground, erecting a row of spikes that would have impaled him if the Spacial user failed to leap. However, his assault wasn't limited to that, immediately following up with a fierce swing of his hammer in the middle of the air, "Let's see just how many situations that magic can escape you from."

"Don't worry," Finral grinned as he opened a portal behind which he fell into to immediately send him back out a few meters further away, "I'm used to running away from things."

"It's all good being able to evade, but, if you have no way to hit me as I am, then I'm afraid there's no chance of victory for you," Rokken concluded, "I can let you surrender if you like?"

Flinching slightly, Finral let out a deep sigh, "As if. Even if I can't hit you, there's plentiful amount of ways for me to win, for example by draining you out of mana, I have a significantly larger pool I can feel between us, and your magic at the moment I would consider a bit more taxing. And I learnt from my friends already that giving up is the last thing I'll ever do..." he glanced back the slightest amount, catching vision of his brother at the corner of his eye, "...because I still have to prove myself."

"Perceptive," Rokken solemnly nodded, "but rather arrogant too. Will alone can never win you such a battle."

"Pft! Try telling that to my friends!" Finral chuckled slightly, "as long as I have them, I refuse to lose to you, I will not lose to you."

"Well we'll see how long that iron-strong will of yours will last," Rokken responded as he spread his arms wide, two mounds of rocks forming ahead of him as they zoomed towards Finral in a meticulous ball shape.

As they rolled, Finral had time to process what was happening as his palms already opened wide, ready to open his gates, "Is he trying to make me play in the battle process he originally planned for? He immediately deduced that I could fling attacks back at him, and yet he's gone against his own word and given me this opportunity."

Two gates suddenly gaped wide open as both mounds entered them, instantly emerging in front of Finral himself as they rolled in front and collided before him as rubble fired everywhere, but Finral remained unflinching in the moment, "I won't let him into my head."

"You must be the brains of the attack in your groups then it seems," Rokken analysed further, "you think very sharply and decisively, not many mages have such instincts. However, our styles differ too greatly, your magic isn't offensive, and you can hardly get anything close to me. It'd be best if we didn't waste time, why keep running when we can make this swift!?"

"That's right...I guess I did kinda sound like my old self a bit there. I am used to running, but it doesn't mean I do so any more, at least not from a challenge like this! No, I'm taking the bull by the horns for me!"

"Then you'll be pierced."

"If that's what you believe, so be it," Finral sighed as his opponent approached close once more, hammer in hand, "by the way, there's one thing you may like to take note of..."

A slight hesitation overcame Finral's opponent it seemed as he kept strong on his path, his hammer practically in motion to slam upon Finral's head as he didn't move a molecule.

There was a slight silence of shock from many upon the complete swing of the attack. Instead of Finral yelping in pain, he remained smug and hadn't moved any distance at all. Instead, it was Rokken who let out a burst of cries as as he felt the force of his own weapon against the back of his head as it shattered in the palm of his hands upon impact.

"I...Impossible…!" Rokken mumbled as he saw the Spacial gate in front of his very eyes which engulfed his hammer. It didn't take a genius for him to sense the other gate behind himself which the hammer emerged from.

"When did I ever say I couldn't open a gate in such a manner?" Finral turned his head away as he slowly stepped backwards, "I never said a thing to agree with or disprove what you assumed, I let you run off of your own assumptions."

"Tch! I wallowed in my own thoughts too much!" Rokken grunted as he leapt away, feeling a stream of blood slither down his face.

Mereoleona let out a deep sigh as she bowed her head, not saying a word as Yami only grinned, "That's my boy! I knew he had a brain up there!"

William rolled his eyes as he keenly watched, "An interesting method to get a hit in. To think he would be so arrogant that he'd just assume about his foe in such a way...the likes of Leo would punish such insolence."

"But for Finral to reveal his true tactics upon such a trivial attack...there's something even grander in this that I cannot see," Fuegoleon sighed.

"That's the last drop of blood I will drop!" Rokken proclaimed as he stomped his right foot against the ground, preparing another attack.

"No…this is already over..." Finral forebodingly said as he caused his opponent to hesitate once more, "I've done enough now to be able to end this, and so I will. There's no time to waste!"

Suddenly, Finral's mana began to rise as the ground glowed a deep green around him, creating slight gusts of wind as his hair sporadically flailed. He himself seemed engulfed slightly by the thin aura around as his expression seemed as serious as ever, his arms crossed as small masses of Spacial magic began to arise in their dozens.

Rokken's movement was halted completely as he awed at what seemed to arise before his very eyes, "This feeling...what...is this…?"

"There's one last thing you assumed wrongly," Finral grinned as the rows of Spacial masses began to expand in their density and seemed overrun with different colours across the whole stretch of the rainbow's variety, "when did I ever say...I couldn't use any offensive magic?"

Everyone's jaws dropped at the same moment as the attack seemed at the brink of launching forth, "Finral's learnt something offensive!" Asta's jawed dropped lower than most, "I never knew he'd be able to considering the very nature of his magic! How!?"

"So even if it's not in his nature...he still can manipulate his magic in such a way..." Noelle awed as she barely kept to Asta in his jolting movements, "but...they look similar to the masses from his Fallen Angel Flapping spell, disregarding colour...maybe it's not the magic itself which holds offensive properties..."

"Oh my! Offence did I hear? He's really showing off now, eh?" Vanessa chuckled, "who would expect such a wuss to actually be able to do it?"

Luck hopped eagerly at the faintest trace of mana he sensed from it, "Wow! I wanna fight Finral now too! I wanna have a taste of his offensive magic!"

Magna immediately pulled him back and groaned as he felt the ball of energy jitter every direction possible, "Calm it you psycho. Save the fighting for against the Spade bastards and the people you're drawn against! You'd just try and kill the guy!"

"I spent ever so long trying to refine to even do an attack such as this. My natural talent definitely pales to the likes of Mimosa, she learnt offensive magic so simply even with it not being her forefront too. So many people are so much better than me...more talented...but that doesn't mean I can't try and shine on my own!" Finral boomed as the masses of magic around him intensified before finally taking motion, splitting and curving towards Rokken to cover every single angle possible, "It's finished! Fallen Angel's Requiem!"

"There's too many..." Rokken was shook to his core, feeling the oppressive mana incoming from so many directions at once as he admired the destructive beauty of colours coming his way. There wasn't a single angle for him to travel out of it's direction as his feet remained planted, "Each one of them...they all are emanating different levels of mana…! What is this attack!?"

"Thanks for playing right into my hands, it was a nice test-drive for this new ability," Finral grinned as the attack drew to a close, every last mass colliding with Rokken relentlessly as he wailed, creating a great blast as the wind picked up once more, shifting people around as a cloud of smoke mixed into all eyes.

However, it didn't take long for that very cloud to fade as Rokken's body was left there, buried into the ground with marks all over his body as he was knocked straight out cold, only mustering a single last word, "How…?"

"Phew! I'm glad that worked!" Finral let out a deep breath as he wiped the sweat which slowly meandered down, "that attack ended up being as effective as I hoped. Each mass of my magic can distort the area around it, you can consider it to be able to control it slightly. Each one I manipulated to absorb the latent mana in the area and use it as fuel for offensive power. I bet you never let it fully cross your mind as to why I was so open to your attacks, each one just intensified the concentration in the area, making my attacks stronger. On top of that, they picked up the mana left in the wake of previous battles. You were just hit by an attack of me, you, Mimosa, Gordon, Alecdora, Leo and Vanessa's mana combined."

"Such a tricky attack!" Mimosa awed, "and powerful too! His knowledge and manipulation of his own mana is really of a high calibre!"

"So he's my opponent in the next round, the barrier between me facing Asta..." Leo huffed, "I have no doubt Asta will pull through his tie, so I must too! I'm done falling behind!"

"You're very determined Leo!" Mimosa admired, "I'm sure Asta is anticipating your fight with him just as much!"

"I pray he does! I got a good read on him in your fight, so I must see even deeper into him upon his next!"

Mimosa couldn't help but gain an uneasy feeling for Asta from that as she diverted her attention towards him, blinding out Noelle from her peripheral vision, "Asta really used an extended amount of his power against me, though none to its full extent. Meanwhile, Leo only used a single attack, he won't be able to gain much context for their battle with that, so he must be relying on Finral to draw more of Leo out. Leo will be oblivious to Asta's maximum power, but he knows more of his current style and flexibility. Never mind that Asta must face Vanessa next, she more offensive that Finral, so it will be a similar situation to now by the end of the next round..."

"Well done Finral!" Vanessa cheered, "who knew you had it in you!?"

"Th-thanks..." Finral nervously chuckled as he glanced back at his opponent once more who was already being carried away by other Lions as the battlefield became plain once more, "guess I didn't disappoint this time. But now, I have to focus on beating Leo. My ace has already been shown, so I need to think even further ahead!"

"So you finally managed to do it, brother?" Langris abruptly asked as he stepped forth from the sidelines, catching the attention from the person whom he sought it from, "you actually learnt an attack spell? I suppose you could finally hit me now if you so desired."

"Of course, I only want to improve," Finral responded with a slight smirk, "maybe one day I'll learn something grander though, and I suppose you will continue to grow too."

Langris nodded solemnly, "Of course. I didn't spend the last months wasting away. More importantly though, I suppose I best let the gears in your head keep turning useful thoughts, so go and keep on winning, I'd love a fair rematch in the finals."

Finral turned and began away from his brother as he nodded once, "Same goes for you."

Noelle gently parted from Asta at last begrudgingly as she stretched slightly, "I need to stop dawdling and brace myself, my time to show my ability is imminent."

Her hood lowered as she let out a deep sigh, "No matter what, I'll win. Just as Asta did, I'll make it through and shoot to the very top, but this time..." she briefly cast her mind back to the last time she had to face her allies in such a way, reflecting on Yuno's brawl with Rill, "...I'll do it through my efforts alone. While last time our teamwork and flexibility was tested, if we aren't above a certain threshold of strength, we don't stand a chance, regardless of who we play buddies with."

Furthermore, she felt Asta's gaze cast upon her as he slightly flicked his vision towards her, seeing her determination, but refused to say a word, "She's grown...not just physically, but...mentally. I can feel it in her ki...her drive and determination...she's nowhere near what she once was, looks like I'm about to see how far of a gap she's bridged to now."

Mereoleona clenched her right fist as tight as she could without piercing her nails into her palm as she snarled at the loss of her Lion, "That concludes the first round matches of group one! Asta and Vanessa will face each other in the next round, as will Leo and Finral! Familiarise yourselves as the rest of round one unfolds! Moving onto the next group, we will begin with Noelle vs Gareth! Step forth!"

"I suspected as much..." Noelle sighed, "but it doesn't matter. I'll end this before it begins."

"Only the second group?" Gauche groaned as he glanced to the progressing opponents, "give me a break, I don't even wanna fight these twerps. Let me see Marie already."

"Th-th-th-this is for our good!" Grey tried to encourage, "I-I-I'm sure Marie would love for you to be able to protect us all as well as her!"

"As if you know anything of her," Gauche snubbed her as he didn't blink her direction once, "feel free to admire her, or burn at your persistence."

Yami was the most keen onlooker as he watched the Silva's progression, "Alright then, water girl. Let's see how far that determination really has encouraged you to leap."

Elsewhere, Yuno had departed from most, diverting a few hundred meters or so from the bustling group. He was dwarfed in the area by acres of trees, all engulfing any sight of him as he was posted up against one, clutching one hand to his head as his sweat flooded down his face like a waterfall, each drop leaping and dissipating into nothingness as he released his groans.

"What...was that…?"

The environment neglected his queries as a gentle gust of wind breezed through, being the most audible sound to Yuno's ears as the area was engulfed in silence as a whole.

"Why...did I see that… And that girl…! She was so young...but...I still recognise her..."

He continued to pant as he failed to keep any control or composure upon himself at all. His body constantly tensing and releasing in irregular patterns as his breathing withheld no rhythm in the slightest, never clearly alternating between a crochet and a quaver beat upon each fresh breath.

All things reset once more though as Yuno clenched a tight fist, slamming it against a neighbouring tree in frustration.

"Asta...Noelle...why is it that you infiltrate my mind?"

Thanks for reading! Once again, apologies for having such a large interval, I can't promise but only hope the next one is much more diminished now.

I primarily need to focus on not buffing out chapters so much but it's a bad habit for me so hopefully in due time my pacing and structure improves further but regardless, I hope what I can currently muster is satisfactory.

Not much I can think to say so stay safe and again, thanks for the continuous support, I know I'm far from the best writer and this is far from the best story, but it's encouraging to have such support regardless!

Next Chapter: The Void Months