Ryu decides for his first bit of training he's going to train where he tried to find a cure for asta's arms
Ryu: alright mana skin activate
Ryu is training his ass off he's recently thought of instead of calling on the power through his body parts just let inflow through him and strike
Ryu's got a new technique in mind but it will take very long to master
Ryu: phew this is taxing didn't realise how much this power drained me but I need to fully master it before I face the spade kingdom if this truly is the power similar to a devil it will be the ki to slaying them
Ryu faces down an entire pack of wolves
Try your luck furball
They are all taken out by ryu releasing his power
after a long time Ryu needs to channel his captain and take a dump
Suddenly ryu feels the magic item in his pocket buzz it's something that allows people to contact him
Ryu: Hello
Marx: yes this is Marx
Ryu: who?
Marx: you know the guy with memory magic
Ryu: oh mushroom head
Marx: yes sure why not we need you to attend a meeting with the captains and some of your sqaudmates about what to do with the devil
Ryu: yeah sorry I'm quite far away right now and I'm taking a dump
He hangs up
Ryu could've sworn he heard his captain laughing
Ryu: whatever that was about it's not as important as this
Ryu cleans up once's he's done in a nearby river
Ryu: ahh that felt good now back to training
Ryu spends the next few hours meditating letting the natural mana absorb into him as well as allowing his power to flow he feels like he can already see so much further than he could before
After a few days of this ryu returns to the hideout much to the love of his squadmates
Asta: so ryu what did you do when you where training
Ryu: nothing much brought back a ton of meat though
Asta: THAT'S AWESOME
the next day
Ryu wakes up and hears asta screaming about beating yuno
Ryu suddenly senses something flying at him it's a burger
Ryu: sweet Charmy thank you
Charmy: no problem vice captain
Suddenly everything starts shaking
Ryu: (why am I getting a sense of deja vu)
Magna: whose making all that racket don't you know this hideout is the home of the black bulls aka the future best magic knight squad in the who-
Suddenly the door gets blown down and
The beast is back
Asta; wow why does this moment feel so familiar
Ryu: (I really need to ask Leo if they have to replace the doors at their home)
Asta: wow it's the scary lady captain Mereleona
Mereleona; you should do something about that weak door for yours
Asta: hello what can we do for you today mam
Mereleona grabs asta
Mereleona; I don't see Yami but that's fine
Everyone in this room is coming with me immediately
Ryu: bye
Ryu tries to bolt out the window but he's grabbed
Ryu: dammit it was worth a shot
Mereleona: come on Ryu Leo is going to be there
Ryu: tch fine where are we going anyway
Mereleona: oh I think you know
Ryu: yeah..
They get there
It's the volcano place again
Ryu: yeah this is about what I expected
Magna: wait just happened one minute we are at the hideout and then the next minute we are surrounded by molten lava
The rest of the black bulls start freaking out
Asta: yeah I guess this place can throw you for a loop if you haven't been here before it's a strong magic region yoltem volcano
Neolle: excuse me mam but why exactly do you bring us here
Mereleona: for your training of course
Ryu suddenly senses something
A massive fireball comes hurtling at him
Ryu quickly draws his sword and slices it in two with his magic
Ryu: you certainly know how to greet a rival
Leo: HAHAHA just what I expected lighting quick reaction time as usual
Ryu: Feugoleon is good to see you too
Feugoleon: yes it's always welcome to see my rival
Asta and Leo begin talking
Ryu notices Leo has gotten taller when asta mentions it
Randall: black bulls can you share a moment, I happen to be the vice captain of the crimson lion kings my name is Randall luftair during the last battle the three of us had our bodies taken over by elves
Mage: and even though we weren't in control we are exceedingly sorry for betraying our land
Ryu: don't sweat it
Asta: yeah none of us are to blame except for the devil
Feugoleon: and I hear the devil in the spade kingdom is an even greater threat our squads must be strong to protect our nation but in order to prove asta's innocence we each have to improve ourselves individually as well
Ryu to leo: sounds fun
Leo: oh yeah
Mereleona: precisely so just like before my own squad the crimson lion kings will trian alongside the others I invited
Ryu: (we where kind of kidnapped but whatever)
Asta begins to climb to the top
Mereleona: hold it they'll be no climbing this time instead I'm going to have you venture alone to the underground cave
Ryu: (interesting)
Deep beneath the surface lies a great mana gear source so the further you go down the hotter it becomes if the mana skin falters they will be reduced to ashes however they'll get an even better hot spring this time
Mereleona; Now then does that motivate you
Feugoleon explains mana skin quickly and gives the black bulls who can't use it something that will help them use it
Leo: aww yeah I've got flame magic so a volcano's going to be cinch I'll fight fire with fire and blaze a path right to the finish line
Ryu: oh yeah we'll see about that I'll beat you there
Leo: oh you are so on
Lighting flies between them
Asta basically invents anti mana skin
Leo: hey that's pretty impressive I'll take you on too
Magna: yeah I'm ready too I don't have time to be scared I need to figure out how to use mana skin so I don't get barbecued
Ryu: heh come on Leo I'm bored let's go
Ryu charges off
Leo: HEY THATS CHEATING
Leo quickly catches up with him
Asta is then by there side quickly as well
Ryu: I'M GONNA WIN
Leo: NO I'M GOING TOO
Asta: DON'T YOU DARE FORGET ABOUT ME
All: I'M GONNA BE THE FIRST ONE THERE
Ryu: (DAMN ITS SO HOT SHE WASN'T WRONG ABOUT US BEING REDUCED TO ASHES)
All three: HAAA!
Later they all eventually are out of breath
Ryu: (Damn gotta push past my limits sure I've been in strong magic regions before but this on a whole other level)
Leo: I'll be the first one to the hot spring
Asta: no i will
Ryu: no way I'll lose to you two not ever!
Neolle passes them
This motivates the trio to speed up
Asta: DON'T GET COCKY NOELLE I'M GOING TO BE THE MEXT WIZARD KING SI THERE'S NO WAY I'LL LET MYSELF LOSE
Ryu: WE'LL I'LL BE THE STRONGEST AND I CAN'T LOSE NOT EVER
They begin running even faster
Ryu and Asta are neck and neck
Ryu: (Leo come on you can do this when we first met I finally had a true friend someone who I could fight beside and test my limits and it's even further beyond them we've completed to grow stronger together so there's no way I'll leave you behind)
Ryu: HEY LEO ARE YOU GOING TO LAG BEHIND THIS WHOLE RACE OR ARE YOU GOING TO LET US WIN COME ON I KNOW YOU CAN DO BETTER THAN THAT
Leo looks briefly surprised before his face hardens: YEAH I KNOW I CAN JUST WATCH ME
Leo catches up with Ryu in the blink of an eye
Ryu: yeah that's how you do it
Suddenly the hear Noelle scream
They see a massive spider
Asta goes into his black form and tries to fight the beast but he gets tossed around like a ragdoll
Neolle then attacks it but it doesn't work
Leo: EAT THIS FLAME MAGIC SPIRAL FLAME
Ryu: DARK MAGIC SOUL EXTINCTION
They both let loose their blasts
Ryu and Leo: HAAA!
This gets the beast to back off
Ryu and Leo fall to one knee
Neolle: Ryu, Leopold are you ok
Ryu: yeah no problem
Suddenly salamander appears
Feugoleon: you can stand yes
Leo: yeah
Ryu: of course
Mereleona: you four handled yourselves pretty well against that beast I'm impressed I suppose we can call this training mission a sucesss
Mereleona explains that that mutant beast recently showed up and started eating all the other creatures that lived here
Mereleona: I was hoping to teach it a lesson but it seems to be able to see foes that are too strong for it so it never showed itself in my presence so I decided to bring all of yuk down here instead and of course it tried to devour you just as I had intended
Asta: so you planned this whole thing
Noelle: you knew it was down here why didn't you...
Mereleona: silence the battlefield is rife with surprises besides that we are preparing to challenge a powerful devil how will you win if you can't squash a bug
Ryu: (dammit shes right)
Mereleona: that's what I would say except this spider is more dangerous than a typical mutant I sense man made mana in it mana that it definitely have at birth
They explain that the spider may be cursed
Salamander suddenly destroys a rock and reveals a door
Ryu: wait is that
Leo: yeah that's a dungeon
And that's a rap this chapter was a bit lame but next will be better