Chapter Text
As the sun rose over the Clover Kingdom, two young men were walking side by side as they explored the capital city of the kingdom. The two were a short and squat one named Asta while the other one, Yuno, was tall and lanky.
Asta was super excited, he walked along the city street and watched all the different stalls with their different people using their different magic with a sparkle in his eyes; it was all just so different! His rival/brother/best friend Yuno looking at everything with indifference as usual.
“Woah, check it out, they’ve got all kinds o’ staves and tools!” He said as he went in front of a shops window, before noticing the seven digit price tag- that was way too many numbers! “But look at that price!” He exclaimed
Yuno merely said “Very different from our village” with his calm and emotionless tone
Yuno was kind of an ice prince, the other orphans had told Asta. He didn’t really get it, Yuno was made of flesh not ice, but he did get that Yuno tended to be reserved and quiet in a way that Asta could never be. He was a boy of few words, tall and reserved with black hair like the night unlike Asta’s own silver hair.
Apparently those words included his previous sentence.
It really hit Asta then, that he and his fellow orphan were in the capital city now, that the two were about to enter the Magic Knights Entrance Exam.
“This is where the Wizard King lives,” Asta murmured in a soft voice that would have everybody in the orphanage trying to take him to a doctor “maybe even the king.” He continued
But then his grin, which had fallen off, went back onto his face “What I mean is, one day it’ll be my castle.”
“My castle, you mean” Yuno rebutted, like the butthead he is.
“‘Course man, I’ll make sure there’s a place for you and e’rybody else” Asta countered, finally able to speak all the things he’s wanted to say since the two were back to talking terms.
Yuno smirked, happy that the two were talking again as well “You just stole my line”
The two then had their attention diverted by the sound of a baby crying.
The pair of orphans looked at a red haired lady with a baby on her back walking what was probably her younger siblings along the street since she was too young to have been the mother of the eldest one, who was probably as old as Asta’s brother/fellow orphan Nash, a ten year old boy, while the other one was around 4 like Aruru.
Looking at the four… “They remind me o’ e’ryone in the church.” Asta commented, he put his hands behind his head as he thought about everybody they’d said goodbye to “Sister Lily and the others must be real lonely without me.”
”You wish” Yuno said as he walked past Asta.
“Oi!” The silver haired boy yelled as he ran to catch up
The two ended up finding where the Exam was by following a crowd of other exam goers, Asta having some grilled snake that an old lady caught and cooked for real cheap. Yuno decided not to have any much needed nutrition like a total dumb dumb.
Some time later, they came in front of a big round building, Yuno said it was a coli-something but Asta was gonna call it a round building because it was. They entered the building along with the other exam goers who had people cheering them on at the sides, probably because they’re actually from the capital.
They went past the crowd and signed up, Yuno causing a commotion with his four leaf clover while Asta had to argue with the receptionist to get through, before ending up at the arena where the other examinees (Yuno called them that) were at.
After getting harassed by a bunch of birds and then threatened by a scary old guy, Asta managed to survive almost getting killed by a Magic squad captain of the Black Bulls before the actual exam started with the other squad captains showing up as well.
‘Speaking of those stupid birds, how come they didn’t try to peck Yuno?!’ Asta lamented ‘Him and his stupid lookalike don’t have to worry about feathers in their hair! So unfair!’
One Yuno was bad enough but now there were two!?! Granted, the other guy was a little shorter, his eyes were hazelnut brown, and his hair was more wavy than the poof of fluff that was on Yuno’s head; but the major strokes were similar enough. He also sported a frown whereas Yuno just looked indifferent.
Enough about that though.
The exams then proceeded pretty poorly for Asta.
First was trying to fly on a broom, which Asta couldn’t do no matter how hard he tried. Even though the nice guy next to him was trying to give him advice.
It didn’t help that Yuno and his lookalike were doing pretty well.
Then came the magic power test and Asta did poorly at that too.
Yuno did it really easily, smashing four walls with a single blast.
The lookalike went away for a bit but came back with a really cool looking bow made out of silver and gold accents, when asked all he said was “My shitty magic won’t fire without my bow!”
Then came the magic power control test, and again Asta did poorly at it; unable to hit a single one of the moving target.
Yuno and his lookalike were again breezing through it, one with his wind magic and the other with his bow that shot bolts of gold magic.
Then came the magic creation test and enough said about that the better.
Then came the evolution magic test, where one put their magic into a seed that would sprout into a plant.
Yuno’s flower looked more like a wind colored bush. The lookalike’s was a fifth of the size but no less impressive with its golden shine.
Asta’s…
“It’s not over yet!” Well… it was still a seed
Finally, the final test came and this one was the one Asta super excited about.
The combat test, where people would pair and then fight against each other. Thankfully, his new buddy Sekke was willing to fight Asta even after his lackluster performance the entire exam.
But before they could, the Yuno lookalike raised his hand.
“I get letting us pair up against each other. But ain’t a single fight a poor way to tell if a guy’s a decent fighter?” He asked
The Captain of the Golden Dawn, William Vengeance, inclined his head and smiled at the lookalike. He looked like he was thinking about his reply with some serious thought.
“That might be understandable for most individuals, but we Squad Captains are more than capable of making a judgment regarding an individual’s capabilities after years of experience doing such in the heat of battle.” Then William nodded “However, if we believe that you require a second duel then you can pick anyone who won their own match.”
The lookalike grinned and lowered his hand with a “Thank you”
Now, Asta and his buddy Sekke could finally have their duel. Except Sekke wasn’t actually as nice as he tried to turned out to be. So Asta gave it everything he got and used his sword to cleave right through Sekke’s bronze magic ball thing, knocking out the blonde haired boy in a single hit.
Wait, maybe Sekke intentionally riled him up so that Asta would give it his all.
Man, what a nice guy!
He was super happy, having taken down a guy who was pretty strong.
The next few matches after him were much less cooler which made Asta think that he had the combat test in the bag.
But then the nobles came, and they brought their super cool magic.
Suddenly, Asta was less certain about his performance.
He looked to Yuno, wondering what his rival’s performance will be like, and noticed that lookalike approaching him. The lookalike opened his mouth to say something but got cut off by a blonde guy in really fancy clothes, meaning he was a noble, who came up and challenged Yuno. The lookalike scowled and left to challenge a different noble, one who Asta idly remembered having a pretty strong performance as well.
Yuno and the blonde noble, Salem was his name, went into the arena and fought. Salem brought his really bright lightning magic ball attack that had a really long and fancy name. Yuno simply said “Wind magic: Towering Tornado” and managed to use the spell to both block and attack.
He knocked out Salem in a single blow.
Then came the lookalike, who was called Luke while the other guy was a noble named Guilliame Langchester.
Luke pulled out his three leaf grimoire and started off the fight with a spell that surprised everyone.
“Victory magic: Victor’s Weapons”
Out of his grimoire came many transparent weapons, like his bow that he put away somewhere after the shooting test, each of them different like the silver shield or the golden mace. In fact, that same bow was there with the weapons.
Luke’s eyes scanned over the weapons before locking onto a spear that he grabbed, the pointy stick losing its transparent look while the others faded away. He gave it a twirl before pointing it at his opponent and then slamming it down, lodging the butt of the spear into the arena which made the field glow a dim gold.
Guilliame on the other hand activated his ice magic, unlike Salem he definitely wasn’t gonna underestimate his foe.
“Ice magic: Frigid Lance Arsenal!”
Seven magic circles opened up and out of them came these really small and sharp looking ice spears, just waiting to pierce their foe.
Then Luke used a second spell, before his opponent fired off his first.
“Victory magic: Victor’s Vault”
His grimoire, which was already open in front of him, changed pages and glowed that same golden light the spell shining as out of it came a grimoire! And then another! And another and another and another until there were ten whole grimoires floating around the first.
The crowd and even the Squad Captains looked at the display with shock and surprise. Guilliame was stunned for a good second before snapping out of it and firing a whole barrage of ice spears out of the seven magic circles floating in the air.
One of the grimoires came in front of the ten others, a red one, and Luke said a completely different spell.
“Fire magic: Tinderburst”
The ice spears suddenly collided with an explosion of fire, evaporating most of them while the rest were easily dodged by Luke. A second grimoire left the bundle of books, this one a blue color.
“Water magic: Aqua Strings”
Like the name of the spell, multiple strings sprang forth and tried to ensnare the noble. Switching to a different spell, the fancier dressed opponent used a spell that froze all the water trying to connect to him, rendering Luke’s spell useless as the water strings turned into ice just as they were about to make contact with Guilliame.
Nonplussed, he simply brought two different grimoires out of the bundle, these ones were green like Yuno’s and red like the fire one.
“Fire magic: Burning Blaze”
“Wind magic: Great Gust”
A big fire appeared in front of Luke right as a powerful gust of wind swept forward through his hand. The two spells met together and the heat of the fire spell carried forwards in the wind, melting the ice lance spell that had continued firing again and the ice turned water spell.
A fifth and sixth grimoire were already there by his side. These ones brown and yellow respectively.
“Earth magic: Earth Mound”
“Lightning magic: Lightning Dagger”
The earth magic raised the floor he stood on a foot above the arena while the self explanatory yellow lightning dagger materialized in his hand.
Luke then tossed it onto the arena floor.
The wet arena floor.
Guilliame only had a second to widen his eyes as he saw that the water on the floor was touching him before the electrical current shocked him, yellow electricity sparking on the water and the nobles body.
After a couple moments, Luke outstretched his right hand in front of him before closing it into a fist.
The lightning dagger and the spear from the beginning disappeared, making the field no longer glow golden or yellow.
Guilliame fell backwards, knocked out.
And then Luke brought out his final surprise.
“Victory magic: Victor’s Spoils”
A golden tether appeared, exiting from Luke and then entering Guilliame before it disappeared. Not a moment later, the nobles grimoire floated into the air with a golden glow.
The crowd, Asta included, watched with wide eyes as Guilliame’s grimoire suddenly had a second similar looking grimoire appear right next to it in the air. A perfect match as both looked to be bright baby blue underneath the golden glow encompassing both.
The second grimoire started floating towards Luke while the first fell down next to the noble who owned it. The floating grimoire then entered Luke’s- and this was crazy to just think about in Asta’s mind- first grimoire, the other ones not far behind before the golden colored grimoire snapped shut.
“And that,” Luke said to his audience “is why I wanna fight more than one guy.”
Whatever hope Asta still held about having the coolest showing crawled into a ditch and died.