Black Clover: Null Script

Chapter 2 "A Deer and His Ink"

The Aqua Deer base was anything but quiet.

A wind-blown stack of unfinished spell scrolls tumbled off a shelf. Someone yelled from upstairs about a missing robe. Paint-covered boots walked across a wall like gravity was a suggestion. Cairo Varnette stood at the front hall, surrounded by chaos, his blank grimoire floating silently beside him.

He felt like a misplaced period in a sentence no one had written yet.

Captain Rill Boismortier clapped loudly, beaming with enthusiasm. "Everyone! Stop whatever weird thing you're doing and meet our new recruit!"

Someone from above crashed into a pile of crates.

Rill didn't flinch.

"This is Cairo Varnette. He passed the entrance exam with some... very unique magic. So give him a warm Aqua Deer welcome."

The squad stared at him.

Cairo gave a small bow. "Cairo Varnette. I look forward to working with you all."

There was silence then a sudden swirl of snowflakes burst from the side as a girl floated in midair, riding a platform of glowing frost.

"Name's Fragil Tormenta!" she said brightly, spinning in place. "I do snow. I also do healing. And I'm very good at both."

She looked at Cairo and squinted. "You're the ink guy, right?"

"I suppose that's accurate," Cairo replied.

"Cool," she grinned. "Try not to explode anything unless I'm watching."

Next came a boy seated cross-legged on a hovering bronze jackal, sketchpad balanced on one knee. His shaggy hair partly hid his bored expression.

"Cesc," he said without looking up. "Bronze Magic. I make constructs. Mostly to shut people up."

He looked at Cairo's floating grimoire, eyes sharp. "You write your spells? Like, literally?"

"Yes."

"Huh. That's sick."

Then there was Francis, arms crossed in the doorway with a calm stare. He had a quiet presence, like water just before it turned into a wave.

"Francis. Water Magic," he said simply. "If you're here to make a name for yourself, don't step on ours to do it."

Cairo met his gaze. "I don't need a name. Just a place to stand."

That earned a faint nod.

Captain Rill gave a dramatic spin. "And now that you've all bonded mission time!"

It was a low-level recon. Escort a team of Clover Kingdom scholars into the forest near the Spade border. The ruins there had been stirring with strange mana.

"Split into two groups," Rill instructed. "I'll stay back with half of you in case something goes wrong. Francis, take Fragil, Cesc, and Cairo with the scholars."

The path was quiet. The ruins older than anyone could guess. The stone walls had words written in no known language, worn down by centuries of weather and silence.

The scholars took notes, sketched diagrams, and muttered among themselves.

Cairo kept to the back, watching.

He wasn't interested in ruins.

He was listening.

There was something pulsing under the earth. Like ink beneath paper.

Then it happened.

The ground cracked. One of the scholars stepped on a trigger seal. Cairo shoved him out of the way just in time but the stone gave way under Cairo instead.

"CAIRO!" Fragil yelled.

Cesc reached, but it was too late.

Cairo fell.

He hit the bottom hard but didn't lose consciousness.

The chamber was quiet. The air thick.

It wasn't just a ruin. It was a tomb.

In the center floated a sealed book wrapped in dark threads of mana, humming like a heartbeat.

His own grimoire glowed faintly, as if in recognition.

He walked forward.

The moment he touched the book, the threads snapped. Ink burst into the air like smoke in reverse rushing back into him.

The book opened.

Four leaves.

And on the blank page, words began to appear.

But not from the book.

From him.

His hands moved without command. Hair dripping ink. Fingers trembling.

He wrote: Break.

The stone around him cracked.

He wrote: Climb.

The ink reshaped itself into a staircase.

His grimoire pulsed with each stroke.

This wasn't just magic.

It was a script.

And Cairo had just begun to write.