Devils Among Fairies

Chapter 15: Two Knights vs Lord of Nature Part 3

  (No one's p.o.v.)

  Asta and Erza charged at Azuma while brandishing their swords for their next attack. Azuma launched his next attack towards the knights.

  "Folium Sica!"

  Several massive funnels of sharp leaves began to swirl around him before they hone in an Asta and Erza, but Asta countered by using his Black Hurricane to slice through all of the small natural blades as he flew towards Azuma ready to attack. The tree wizard planned to counter Asta's incoming attack, but before he got within striking distance, the devil knight moved out of the way to reveal Erza with her Benizakura ready to attack. Azuma quickly defended himself by manipulating the roots to create a shield for him. As Titania's blade started to cut through the wall of roots, the tree wizard jumped back to a branch behind him before setting up his next move. He summoned a root to sideswipe Erza from the left while creating an explosion simultaneously on contact.

  "Burst Claw!"

  Before the explosion occured, Asta appeared in front and shielded himself and Erza with Demon Slayer coated in Anti-magic, softening the blow but causing them to fly back to a tree. Asta spun around to get behind Titania to cushion the impact for her so that she could bounce back into the fight quickly. Asta was able to withstand the force due to his dense muscles and shrugged off the pain and flew rapidly at Azuma again. The latter jumped at Asta to meet the charge head-on. The devil knight pointed both of his swords forward as he flew towards his opponent while Azuma reeled his arms back to unleash his own attack.

  "Bull Thrust!"

  "Bleve!"

  Azuma thrusted his hands forward to meet the two blades and an explosion erupted from each hand. The blast caused both fighters to fly back and crash into a tree. 'He triggered the explosion at the right moment to push me back and kill my momentum. This guy is good, even with all those injuries he has he's managing to hold his own. But he seemed to have forgotten I'm not his only opponent.' Asta thought as Erza appeared next to the tree wizard and swung her sword in a rising diagonal slash. He controlled the tree to block the attack while he merged with it. The magicless knight then focused on searching for the enemy's Ki. It was tricky since Azuma had merged with nature itself, but he was able to faintly sense his Ki. Asta then waited for Azuma to surface before casting his Anti-magic version of Fast-movement to appear behind him to strike the tree wizard in his blind spot. Azuma was hit with a horizontal slash to the left shoulder, forcing him out of the tree and crashing into another. Erza went at the Seven Kin member and struck him with a diagonal slash from the right shoulder to the left hip, causing Azuma to fall to the ground. After impacting and bouncing off the ground, Asta quickly came flying at him with his Demon Slayer sword ready to unleash a downward slash. Once he got in range, the devil knight swung his sword down and strike Azuma in the abdomen with great force, causing him to vomit spit and blood before losing the ability to move. He withdrew before reverting back to normal and Erza landed next to Asta as they both stood over the downed enemy.

  "I lost, and to 2 worthy opponents at that." Azuma said as tree saplings began to grow from his body and he in turn began to fuse with the ground. Asta and Erza were shocked to see what was happening to him as Asta asked concerned, "What's happening to you?" "I had used my power too much, Lost Magic can be quite dangerous if you're not careful." The tree wizard replied. Erza asked, "Earlier you said that you were seeking Zeref, for what reason do you need him?" While the two knights knew that Grimoire Heart's end goal is to create a world where magic is everything, but they do not understand what that has to do with the Black Wizard. Azuma answered, "We need his help to reach the Primordial Magic, from which all magic is derived from. Without it, we cannot achieve our goal of creating the Grand Magic World." "The Primordial Magic? What is that?" Asta asked but Azuma didn't answer that and instead stated, "You both have defeated me, so I will keep my word. I'll shall return the magic power to Erza's guild members." Shortly after saying that, Azuma had completely turned into a tree, and left Asta and Erza shocked to see what had become of him.