“Consider yourselves a warm welcome gift to our new territory!” Kerr sneered from his vantage point atop the high rock, his eyes gleaming with malicious delight as he gestured to the hundred-plus bandits blocking the ravine.
The applicants erupted into absolute chaos.
The chubby boy who had been boasting earlier dropped to his knees, sobbing hysterically as his grimoire clattered to the dirt.
The three girls shrank back, trembling in terror, while Check huddled behind a boulder, his teeth chattering loudly.
“G-Give us your grimoires, your money, and all your gear!” a heavily scarred bandit captain barked, stepping forward with a massive serrated broadsword.
“Do as we say, and maybe we won’t slit your throats!”
Among the panic-stricken crowd, only two people remained completely calm.
Yuno didn’t even draw his Four-Leaf Grimoire.
He simply stood with his arms crossed, a cool, indifferent breeze churning gently around his feet.
Beside him, Asta let out a long, relaxed breath.
He reached over his shoulder, his calloused hand wrapping tightly around the worn leather grip of the Demon-Slayer Sword.
With a smooth, effortless motion, he unclasped the greatsword from his back, resting the massive, rusted flat edge against his shoulder with a heavy thud.
“Kerr, was it?” Asta asked casually, his voice cutting through the panicking crowd with grounded authority.
“You said you were a noble who knew a shortcut…
but it turns out you’re just a glorified bandit scout.”
Kerr’s face contorted in anger.
“Shut your mouth, peasant!
Look around you!
You’re surrounded by over a hundred seasoned killers!
What can a magicless brute like you possibly do?!”
“What can I do?” Asta smirked, a sharp, dangerous glint flashing in his eyes.
“I can give you all a firsthand lesson in the spirit of youth.”
Without another word, Asta lowered his stance, bending his knees as he directed his internal energy straight into his neural network.
“First Gate: Gate of Opening—RELEASE!”
A visible wave of pale green chakra exploded around Asta’s body, sending a shockwave through the dirt that kicked up a cloud of leaves and gravel.
His brain’s natural safety limiters dissolved instantly, granting his body 100% access to his immense physical muscle potential.
“Second Gate: Gate of Rest—RELEASE!”
BOOM!
A second, violent burst of kinetic pressure rippled outward.
The energy forcibly re-energized his entire body, his stamina pool expanding dramatically as his speed and reflexes surged to terrifying heights.
The scarred bandit captain’s eyes widened in horror.
“W-What kind of magic is that?!
He doesn’t have a grimoire out—”
WHOOSH!
Before the bandit could even finish his sentence, Asta vanished into a blur!
He reappeared directly in front of the bandit captain, the speed of his motion tearing a trench straight through the dirt floor of the ravine.
With pure, fluid Taijutsu momentum, Asta swung the flat side of the Demon-Slayer Sword in a horizontal arc.
CRASH!
The massive rusted blade slammed into the captain and four bandits beside him like a runaway battering ram.
The kinetic shockwave hurled all five men backward through the air, crashing violently through the dense tree line before dropping unconscious in the brush.
“Attack him!
Kill that monster!” Kerr shrieked in sheer panic, scrambling backward off the rock.
A dozen bandits charged at Asta at once, their grimoires glowing as they unleashed a flurry of fireballs, earth spikes, and water spears.
Relying on the heightened reflexes of the Gate of Rest, Asta didn’t even need to block.
He ducked, weaved, and sidestepped through the barrage of magic with microscopic precision, the elemental spells exploding harmlessly against the cliff walls behind him.
Closing the distance in a microsecond, Asta whirled on his heel, using the heavy momentum of the Demon-Slayer Sword to deliver a sweeping, non-lethal strike with the flat of the blade.
BANG!
BANG!
CRACK!
Three, five, ten bandits were sent flying in rapid succession!
The sheer wind pressure generated by his swings alone shattered incoming stone projectiles and blew away surrounding fireballs.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the ravine, a group of bandits attempted to flank the defenseless applicants.
“Don’t forget about me,” Yuno said coldly.
Flicking his wrist, Yuno channeled his wind mana without even opening his Four-Leaf Grimoire.
“Wind Magic: Crescent Storm!”
Violent, razor-sharp gales erupted around the flanking bandits, sweeping them off their feet and slamming them helplessly into the stone cliffs, trapping them in a swirling vortex of wind.
Within less than three minutes, the hundred-strong Fierce Dragon Bandits were completely dismantled.
Over eighty men lay groaned or unconscious across the ravine floor, their weapons shattered and grimoires scattered.
Kerr was the only one left standing, backed against a high cliff face, his knees knocking together in utter terror.
Sweat poured down his pale face as he stared at Asta, who was casually resting the Demon-Slayer Sword over his shoulder, his pale green chakra aura slowly fading back into his body.
“Y-You’re a demon…” Kerr stammered, dropping to his knees and pressing his forehead into the dirt.
“P-Please!
Spare me!
I’ll give you all my money!
Everything!”
Asta walked up to Kerr, stopping right in front of him.
He looked down at the trembling scout with a calm, stoic expression.
“You took advantage of people’s trust and led them into a trap,” Asta said, his voice quiet yet heavy.
“A real man uses his strength to protect others, not to prey on the weak.”
Asta lightly tapped Kerr’s shoulder with his index finger—infused with a tiny pulse of kinetic chakra.
The impact sent a mild shock through Kerr’s nervous system, knocking the corrupt scout out cold instantly.
Behind them, the twenty applicants stood frozen in absolute silence.
Check, the chubby boy, and the three girls stared at Asta and Yuno with wide, disbelieving eyes.
They had just witnessed two fifteen-year-old commoners from the border region single-handedly obliterate a notorious bandit guild without suffering a single scratch!
“A-Asta…
Yuno…” Check stammered, tears of awe streaming down his face.
“You guys are incredible!”
Asta sheathed the Demon-Slayer Sword back into his grimoire storage, stretching his arms with a satisfied grunt.
He turned to the crowd of applicants with a bright, confident grin.
“Alright, everyone!” Asta called out.
“The path is clear.
Let’s make sure we all get to the Royal Capital in one piece!”
Two days later, after tying up the bandits and handing them over to a nearby Magic Knight outpost, Asta, Yuno, and the rest of the travel group finally reached the crest of the final mountain ridge.
Spread out below them in all its glorious, sprawling grandeur was the Royal Capital of the Clover Kingdom.
Towering stone walls, grand spires, and magnificent castles shimmered beneath the afternoon sun.
The other applicants cheered in relief, rushing down the paved road toward the city gates.
Asta and Yuno stood side by side on the overlook, the wind rustling their clothes as they took in the breathtaking sight.
“We’re finally here,” Yuno said, his eyes fixed on the distant Castle of the Wizard King.
“Yeah,” Asta chuckled, slinging his heavy arm over Yuno’s shoulder with a sharp smirk.
“This is where our real story begins.”