“It’s a good thing I brought you along this time, Asta!
Otherwise, just getting through this barrier would’ve been a massive headache!” Magna sighed with relief as they stepped through the cleaved mist.
“I have a deep affection for Saussy Village…
I won’t let anyone tear it apart!”
“If we turn left, we’ll reach the central square,” Magna instructed solemnly.
“If anything happens in the village, that’s where everyone gathers!”
“There are people ahead,” Asta suddenly spoke in a low tone, his eyes shifting into a crimson Sharingan as he surveyed the distance.
Whoosh!
With another clean sweep of his broadsword, Asta sheared through the final curtain of fog, exposing the central square.
The villagers were gathered below, huddled together in sheer terror beneath a cluster of massive ice spikes suspended directly above their heads!
“Execute,” a white-haired man in a green robe commanded lazily.
“Fire Magic: Explosive Shotgun Orb!” Magna erupted, launching a volley of fireballs into the sky to shatter the falling spikes into harmless slush.
“Magna brought help!” A blonde boy sobbed near the center of the square, clutching the lifeless body of Mayor Seyhi.
“Old Man Seyhi…?” Magna froze, his breath catching in his throat.
How could the old man who had beaten him at cards just days ago be lying motionless on the cold ground?
Seeing the devastation, Magna and Asta emerged forward to engage the hostile mages.
However, depleted of magic from flying the broom and facing an intricate web of ice and mist spells, Magna and Asta quickly found themselves pressed into a corner.
“I won’t let you hurt them!” Noelle shouted, seeing her squadmates struggling.
Driven by a desperate urge to protect her new family, Noelle taped into her vast mana reserves.
Her new wand focused her wild power, unleashing a massive protective water barrier that enveloped the entire square, shielding the villagers and giving Asta and Magna the breathing room they needed!
With the villagers safe, Asta’s posture changed entirely.
“My turn.”
“First Gate: Gate of Opening…
OPEN!” “Second Gate: Gate of Healing…
OPEN!”
Green aura exploded around Asta in violent, visible waves.
Moving faster than the enemy mages could register, Asta closed the distance in a fraction of a second, knocking out the three subordinate mages with heavy pommel strikes before slamming his blade into Heath’s jaw, rendering the leader completely unconscious.
Standing over Heath’s unconscious body, Asta sheathed his blade slightly and looked up.
“Magna, can you close a wound using your fire magic?”
Magna blinked, catching his breath.
“Yeah, I guess I can.
Cauterizing a wound is pretty basic, but nobody does that unless it’s an emergency.
Why do you ask?”
“That guy has a suicide magic crystal in his stomach,” Asta replied calmly.
“So I thought, why not cut open his stomach with my sword to remove it, and well…
the rest will be handled by my sword, I hope.”
“How do you even know that?!” Magna yelled in disbelief.
“Even if what you said is true, I can only close the outer skin layer!
As for his internal organs that your sword might or might not slice through, I can’t say anything about them!
So even if we succeed, we’d have to rush him straight to a medical mage!
Besides, I don’t go cutting open people—that’s Luck’s kind of job, and I’m no doctor!
Leaving that absurd idea aside, tell me how you even discovered a magic item inside his stomach in the first place?!”
It wasn’t that Magna didn’t trust Asta’s instincts, nor was he afraid of getting into trouble—after all, the Black Bulls were infamous across the kingdom for causing collateral damage.
But if a captive died under their custody based purely on unverified suspicion, the backlash wouldn’t just affect them as rookies; it would tarnish Captain Yami’s reputation as a squad commander.
Without answering verbally, Asta stepped forward and tapped Magna’s shoulder, sending a pulse of refined chakra directly through Magna’s nervous system.
Magna instantly recoiled, gasping as a strange, prickling sensation flooded his nerve endings—feeling as if hundreds of tiny insects were crawling all over the inside and outside of his body at once.
“WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT?!” Magna blurted out, jumping back and rubbing his arms in shock.
“You know…” Asta replied with a faint, sly smirk, “I just pushed past my limits.”
Magna stared at him for a long moment, let out a deep, exasperated sigh, and shook his head.
“I really don’t think that’s what the Captain meant when he said that…
Whatever.
Keep your secrets, kid.
I won’t pry.”
Setting his doubts aside, Magna trusted Asta’s lead.
Working together with surgical precision, Asta made a controlled incision with the tip of his anti-magic blade, carefully nullifying the crystal’s magic activation as he extracted the core, while Magna immediately used a precise, low-temp flame spell to cauterize the incision shut.
The operation succeeded seamlessly, keeping Heath alive and neutralized for proper interrogation back at the Capital.
Seeing the threat fully cleared, the surviving villagers cheered, and Noelle lowered her water shield, exhausted but beaming as Asta offered her a supportive nod.
The mission was a complete success.
“Whenever I see a scene like this, it makes me want to grow even stronger…” Asta sighed, looking out over the quiet hillside where Mayor Seyhi was buried.
“Not just to live a great life, but to ensure the people I care about don’t end up beneath the dirt.”
“Thank you for helping me bury him,” Nico sniffed softly.
“Grandpa loved coming up here to watch the valley when he was alive.”
“Nico, the old man loved a lively atmosphere,” Magna offered gently.
“He’d be heartbroken if he saw you crying like this.”
“Brother Magna…” Nico looked up, a spark returning to his tear-filled eyes.
“Do you think I can join the Magic Knights one day?
My grandfather always regretted never making it into the order.
I really want to fulfill his dream!”
“Of course you can!” Magna encouraged, slapping the boy’s shoulder.
“You have to fight for your own future.
If you want to become someone great, you just have to work for it!”
“But…
my magic power isn’t anything special…” Nico muttered softly, lowering his gaze.
“That’s no excuse!” Noelle chimed in, offering her own unique brand of encouragement.
“Look at this idiot standing right next to you.
He doesn’t have a single drop of magic power, yet he still worked hard enough to become a Magic Knight!”
Asta broke into a light sweat.
Is that how you comfort a kid?!
Exposing my complete lack of magic without skipping a beat?
“Is that really true, Big Brother?!” Nico’s eyes lit up as he stared at Asta in awe.
“Am I the type to hide the truth?” Asta rolled his eyes, shooting Noelle a smooth grin.
“Just like how I’ve been interested in you from the moment we met—have I ever tried to hide that?”
“W-What?!
What nonsense are you spouting, you idiot Asta!” Noelle stammered, her cheeks instantly burning a furious shade of red.
“Hey!
We’re supposed to be encouraging Nico about his future, not watching you two flirt!” Magna yelled, his veins popping as he threw his hands in the air.
Asta chuckled, then turned to Nico with a focused expression.
“There’s more than one path to strength in this world, kid.
If you truly want to become strong without relying on magic, go to Hage Village in the Forsaken Realm and look for a boy named Nash.
Tell him I sent you, and he’ll show you how to build a real physical foundation.”
Before leaving, Asta knelt down next to Nico and walked him through several basic bodyweight routines—proper push-up form, squat stance, and breathing techniques to condition his body.
“Start with these every morning.
Build your muscle and endurance first.”
“I’ll do it!
I’ll make it to Hage Village no matter what!” Nico declared resolutely, clenching his small fists.
Flap…
flap…
flap.
At that moment, the anti-magic bird flew back over, landing on Asta’s shoulder with a strange pink stone held firmly in its beak.
“You can come sit in my arms if you want!” Noelle offered enthusiastically, crouching down with open hands.
The bird gave Noelle a surprisingly disdainful glance before ducking straight inside Asta’s collar to rest, leaving Noelle both pouting and hopelessly in love with his stubborn personality.
“That’s the guardian stone Grandpa brought back years ago,” Nico explained.
“Since the bird likes it so much, you can keep it as a thank you gift!”
Asta agreed, slipping the odd pink stone into his pocket without thinking much of it.
After checking on the remaining villagers to ensure everyone was safe, Magna didn’t waste a second.
Taking the unconscious Heath Grice, Magna rushed directly to the Royal Capital.
Arriving at the inner gates, he handed the bound leader over to the Golden Dawn Magic Knights standing guard.
“Listen closely!” Magna warned the Golden Dawn guards urgently.
“This guy tried to commit suicide using a magic crystal, but we managed to remove it and seal his gut!
Take him straight to the medical mages immediately and lock him down!”
Far from the Capital, in a dimly lit chamber where stone tablets glowed with ancient light, a man with a lazy demeanor leaned against a pillage.
“Hey…” the lazy man drew, turning to a figure bathed in brilliant radiant magic.
“I heard Heath got caught…
Should I go and rescue him, or…?”
“No,” the light magic user replied coldly, his aura flaring softly.
“I will go myself.”
Back at the Black Bulls hideout, Magna returned after completing the drop-off, and Finral stepped through a spatial portal after checking in with the Capital’s interrogation unit.
Shortly after, Captain Yami pushed open the hideout door, throwing his dark cloak onto a chair as he stepped in from his border patrol duties.
Noticing that Magna and Noelle were still visibly affected by the day’s tragedy, Yami blew a long trail of cigarette smoke into the air and gave them a stern yet reassuring lecture on the realities of being a Magic Knight, reminding them that protecting the villagers was the best way to honor Seyhi’s memory.
“In short…
you bastards did a damn good job!” Yami grinned.
“THANK YOU, CAPTAIN!” Magna shouted, his dramatic energy returning in full force.
“Can’t you show a little excitement, kid?!” Yami grumbled at Asta’s impassive, calm posture.
Yami then turned to Finral.
“So, what did the Appraisal Department say about the magic item in that guy’s stomach?
Any words from the Capital while I was out at the border?”
“Captain,” Finral reported with a grave tone.
“The analysis confirmed that the suicide magic tool came from high-ranking nobles or a rogue royal family line.
But…
there’s a bigger problem.”
“What’s the problem?” Yami raised an eyebrow.
“The leader, Heath…
he’s dead.”
Yami stopped mid-drag, his eyes narrowing through the smoke.
“Did the kid do too much damage to his stomach when he cut him open?”
“No, Captain,” Finral shook his head.
“The doctor said the internal damage was minor and completely stabilized.
But the leader died right inside his prison cell before Marx could extract any memories from his head.”
Yami remained silent for a long moment, taking a slow puff from his cigarette as a deep frown formed on his face.
Dead inside the Capital’s prison before Marx could read his mind?
Yami thought to himself, his mind racing.
That doesn’t make any logic.
Julius was right there in the Capital—I’m sure he would keep a prisoner like that under tight surveillance or near him.
Did Julius get careless…
or does the enemy possess an ability that can bypass even his detection?
Yami scoffed quietly under his breath.
I highly doubt the second one.
Well, whatever it is…
I’ll have to go and check on it myself.