A Vengeful Path (Resumed)

Ch. 6 Bones and Swords

  A gate opened beneath all of them and they fell through. "What happened? Where did we go?" Finral looked around and saw that they were outside the Colosseum. A second later, another gated opened, and the captains and the Wizard King fell through. "Since when can he use spatial magic?" Dorothy asked. "He said "Hell Magic" so it was probably that," Yami muttered. "Now then. It's your turn, Satou." Zenon looked bored. "Let's go already." 

*Bone Magic: Bone Prison."

Bones sprouted at Asta's feet, but Asta shot up in the air to dodge it. 

"Hell Magic: Hellish Rain."

Blue flames appeared and launched themselves at Zenon, raining down on him. Bones sprouted in a cage around him, shielding him from the flames, but not his dark disciples. They may have had the power of a demon, but Asta was a demon himself. They tried to use their magic to block the flames, but they were instantly vaporized by the blue flames.

"Anti-Magic: Black Divider." 

Asta appeared behind Zenon and swung his reformed katana at him. Bones sprouted and blocked his blade. But Asta just powered through and slashed through it. The bones snapped in half and the sword was going for Zenon. Until Zenon used his spatial magic to teleport through the ground and behind Asta. Zenon thrust a bone sword at Asta. 

"Anti-Magic Zone: Absolute Zero." 

Black lightning, and all of Zenon's bones disappeared, along with his portal. Asta thrust forward, aiming for Zenon's throat. But Zenon dodged and put some distance between them. 

"Mana Zone: Eternal Pursuit." 

Bones sprouted underneath Asta's feet, so Asta flew away to dodge it again. But then when he looked up more bones were growing in the air. *Mana Zone...* he thought to himself, before flashing away from the trapped area. When Asta stopped again, more bones grew behind him, so he had to dodge again. Asta was dodging the bones that were sprouting from out of nowhere but every once in a while, one would cut him. *Damn it. I can't keep dodging forever.* Asta was maneuvering through the bones when suddenly one appeared right in front of him, aiming to stab through his chest. He just barely moved his katana in time to redirect the bone, but he wasn't able to completely dodge it. It gave him a deep cut on his side and he winced. 

"Anti-Magic Zone: Absolute Zero." 

Another explosion of black lightning dissolved all the bones and temporarily the mana in the area so Zenon couldn't use mana zone. Asta was panting from exhaustion of all that dodging and from the pain of his wounds. *I can't get close to him without risking getting hit by the bones.* Then an idea hit him. *We'll see what happens.*  He  appeared behind Zenon and thrust his sword. It got blocked, just like he thought. Then Asta went kept on dodging. Zenon was releasing bones from the ground near his feet. *It's a gamble,* Asta thought, then took a deep breath. He faltered in the air for a moment and a bone pierced right through his fore-arms and his stomach. Asta could hear Zenon chuckling. "This is where you die. I turned the tables and now I'll be the one to run you through." Zenon said. Meanwhile, the others were watching through Marx's communication magic. "A-asta..." Noelle said, her eyes wide with horror. "We have to go help him!" Magna shouted. Luck silently nodded and went to stand behind him. "If we do, we'll just get ourselves killed. Asta is on a whole other level than us, and if he can't even beat him, we have little to no chance." The Black Bulls looked distressed. "But-" Magna started, then was cut off by Dorothy. "Look!" The captain was pointing to Marx's communication bubble. Asta was glowing, and sparks of black lightning were flashing out of him. Asta's mouth curved into a devilish grin "You fell for it," he said. 

"Anti-Magic:Black Flash." 

Bolts of black lightning started to zip down the bones that stabbed Asta, aiming for Zenon. Zenon tried to withdraw the bones, but Asta grabbed onto them, keeping them in place. The black lightning reached the ground where Zenon was standing.

"Black Flash. Incinerate!" 

Asta shouted. The black lightning intensified, electrocuting the ground that Zenon was standing on. Zenon started to howl in pain as the lightning sucked away his magic power. It started to swirl around him, going up and up until it enveloped him. All you could hear was his screams of pain as the lightning did away with him. And then, the black swirl dispersed, incinerating the bones and Zenon along with it, leaving only his grimoire behind. The bones that stabbed Asta disappeared, and Asta started to fall. "Asta!" Finral shouted. Asta was barely conscious because his wounds hurt so much, especially the one in his stomach since it stabbed a scar that hadn't fully healed yet. Asta saw a portal open somewhat beneath him, but he was falling too fast and he was too far away from Finral for him to be accurate. "Hel- *cough* 

"Hell Magic: Hell's Gate"

Asta opened a portal beneath him and he fell unconscious as he fell through Asta then tumbled through the gate. "Where did he go?" Vanessa asked. "We have to find him before he dies. Did you see those wounds? On top of those, the wounds from before. Why was he even fighting in the first place?" Finral looked helplessly at Vanessa. "He could be anywhere," Charlotte said. "First we must calm down. Spatial Magic boy, do you think you could check as much parts of the kingdom as you can think of? William asked Finral. "I could try..." Finral said doubtfully. "Let's go to base first and try to strategize this and check the most possible places he could've landed," he said. The Black Bulls agreed, and Finral opened a portal to their base. But when they walked in, they were in for a surprise. In the main room, chairs were overturned, the table was smashed up, the bar counter had a hole in it, and the floor looked like something was dragged through it. Everyone drew their grimoires and searched the room. It wasn't long before they heard a gasp. The Black Bulls turned to who had gasped, and it was Gray, staring at something on the floor. When they rushed to her side, they saw a body. It didn't take a lot of looking before they noticed it was Asta. "Asta!" Noelle shouted. She ran to his side and crouched down, putting two fingers on his neck. "He's still alive, but barely." There was blood seeping from Asta's wounds and into a puddle underneath him. "Get him on the table," Vanessa said frantically. Magna and Luck grabbed him and gently set him on the table. Asta's black form was going berserk, most likely due to the fact Asta was dying. "We need to get him to the capitol," Magna said. Finral nodded and opened a portal. When they walked through, they were at the steps of the castle. They saw captains Fuegoleon, Rill, Dorothy and Charlotte standing in front of the entrance, talking about something. The captains looked over at them coming through the portal and saw Magna and Luck carrying Asta's body. They immediately tensed up. "Where did you find him?" Fuegolean asked. "He was in our base, bleeding. We need to get him to Owen," Finral said. The captains looked at each other and nodded. "Let me take him," Fuegolean said. "No, we're gonna carry him ourselves. He's our teammate and our friend," Magna and Luck both said at the same time. "If you insist. We musn't waste time," Fuegolean said. "Come." Magna and Luck speed walked to catch up to Fuegolean who led them to Doctor Owen. The rest of the Black Bulls waited in the court yard, along with the other 3 captains. "I hope Asta will be okay," Rill said gloomily.  Silence, but at the same time all the Black Bulls were thinking, We all do.