{Asta's P.O.V}
I woke up in random place that looked sort of like a cave. The last thing I remember before getting knocked out was getting sucked up by someone's magic and hearing (Y/N) yelling for me. I'm hoping that she's alright. There were a lot of people around me, but I couldn't make out a lot of what they were saying. I did hear one thing though. They were saying something about "killing them before the master gets back". My arm flinched, and the black haired girl turned to face me as she took her hood off.
"Oh goodie goodie, you're awaaaake." I just stared at her, unable to say anything.
"Come on, you should help me convince them! It'll be great, I'll study everything about you and your grimoire and do some experiments on you and then dissect you! You want to help with my research don't you? I'll analyze every last cell, nothing will go to waste, I swear! Just think of how much we can learn!" I couldn't analyze anything this girl was saying. She was completely insane. I knew I had to get out of here or I'll be dead meat, buuut I couldn't exactly move. They began to bring me down into wherever we were. The girl continued to ramble on and on about experimenting on me. My eyes widened at the sudden sight in front of me. Julius, the Wizard King, had appeared out of the darkness.
"No, it can't be!" Everyone looked in frustrated at the fact that the Wizard King had found them.
"Did you have a pleasant visit to the capital?" He asked with sarcasm.
"Kill him now!" One already had his grimoire open and ready to fight, when Julius suddenly used his magic to kill two of the enemies in a flash. This left their allies uneasy.
"Sorry about that. It would've been too difficult to restrain all of you. Much easier for me this way." One summoned a large hand out of tree roots and shot it towards Julius, but he easily blasted through it.
"You started this. It was your choice to attack the capital, and now you're nervous? Don't tell me you came to kill without being prepared to die yourselves." Everyone else had their grimoires open now standing in a battle position.
"Tell you what. You're skilled enough to make this a challenge, but I'd rather not go through the trouble. So let's make a deal, I'll let the first person to surrender survive. Do we have any takers, don't be shy." He still had a smile on his face.
"Not a chance." They said in unison. At once, they all began to shoot at the Wizard King, but he easily dodged all of them, moving at a pace where you could barely see him. When he had the chance, he teleported behind them.
"A test then. Let's see if it'll work on this many. Time Binding Magic: Chrono Stasis." In not even a second, the remaining members were frozen in time, unable to move a muscle.
"Well would you look at that, I got you all! Guess I overestimated your skills. I hope you enjoyed this moment because you're going to be stuck like that for a while." The girl's magic was cut off, letting me and my grimoire drop to the ground.
"Oh, Asta, there you are. It's nice to see you again, we keep running into each other." I was still confused on what just happened, so I was sorta dazed.
"Uh, yeah." It couldn't say much if anything else. There was so many mages, but he was able to capture all of them. It shouldn't be possible, but he pulled it off. Amazing.
"You want to be the Wizard King someday, isn't that right," He snapped me back into my realizations. "Then I suggest you carefully consider everything you've seen here. This is only the smallest example of the power you'll have to outmatch." I realized that this is who I'm chasing, the strongest person I've ever met. The most powerful mage in the kingdom, and the one I have to surpass. He held a hand out to me to help me up.
"Can you stand?" I struggled, but I stood up by myself. I tried not to look weak as my body shook. He walked over to the tablet with the jewels and asked the frozen-in-time mages about it. Asking things like "what is it?" and "I've never seen something thing like this before." He joked around, saying that they should hold that thought because they couldn't respond to him. He planned to bring them back to the Clover Kingdom for questioning. He stopped when he felt something, or someone.
"Get ready. Somethings coming." He felt it right away. Just then, a blast of light came from behind the tablet. It was so bright that I had to cover my eyes. A man with a similar hooded coat, but somewhat larger hovered lowly in the air. I went to look up at him but in a moment, he and all except one enemy had been teleported away.
"He got away, his pals too. A light magic wielder that's even faster than I am. I wonder if he's there leader. How fascinating. Fascinatingly troubling. Anyways, we've still got this one at least." I saw his speed earlier, so it's hard to think of someone who could be faster than him. A glowing image appeared between us, showing Marx, the Wizard King's assistant.
"Good, I got through. Now, sir, where are you?" Marx sounded frantic as he tried to speak to the King.
"Easy, Marx, I'm alright. I've been a bit busy though. I had our transmission magic temporarily suspended."
"Please explain sir. You're needed at the medical ward." I remembered Captain Fuegoleon and the state he was in.
{Time Skip-Medical Ward}
The Wizard King had himself and I teleported to the medical ward. While he carried me under my arm, I saw various members of different squads and their captains. Members from such as the Blue Rose's, the Golden Dawn, the Silver Eagles, and Noelle and (Y/N) from my own. From where I was, (Y/N) look really beat down. Noelle tried talking to her, but she just shrugged at everything she said. Although when she sensed Sir Julius' mana, it broke her out of her state. Her emotion really change when she saw me.
{Your P.O.V.}
When you saw Asta almost completely unharmed, it was if a truckload of weights was lifted off of your shoulders. You could finally regain your breath and slow down your breathing. Once the Wizard King dropped him, you didn't say anything, but you ran over to him and immediately threw your arms around him. You thought it would be days, weeks, maybe months until you saw him again, but because of the Wizard Kings' amazing power, you were able to see him only a couple hours later. You held in tears as you sunk down into him, pressing your face into his chest. He wrapped comforting arms around you, letting you know that he wasn't going anywhere anymore. He pushed you back and placed a hand on your head.
"I'm glad you're alright, (Y/N)." He stared into your eyes, causing you to wipe your lingering tears away and smile. The reunion was over though, as Klaus came barging through talking about how he worried so much about him and that he was glad he was alright. It was Mimosas' turn to talk about how she was glad that he was safe. Noelle kept her normal demeanor and scolded him for being in over his head and always getting in trouble, but you knew she was partly relieved as well. Nero just came over and pecked on his head. Later on, it was received that Captain Fuegoleon had been knocked unconscious because of his injury, and it was unknown when he would wake up. Also, the pendant he was wearing had disappeared. They might of staged the attack just to obtain it. Sir Julius wasn't sure of who these people were, but according to rumors, they have some sort of grudge against the kingdom. He suggested that we continue to keep peace to the kingdom, and to continue fighting, putting everything on the line. As Asta put up the Magic Knights solute, the three Silva siblings of the Silver Eagles had already began to leave. Out of nowhere, Leopold came bursting out of the ward. He was out of breath and needed the support of the nearby wall to stand.
"Asta, I'm glad to see that we both survived. It's appropriate that my rival evaded death, too. We must grow stronger together. I will work until I've surpassed even my brother, and then I will become the next Wizard King! And now, for this.."
He used his magic to create a seal almost identical to his brothers', and said it was the symbol of his personal oath. Although most of what he said went right over Asta's head, he still had a feeling he had a good rival.
Although Asta had forgotten who Leopold was.
"HUUUH? ARE YOU KIDDING? HOW CAN YOU NOT KNOW?!" His sudden outburst was able to make everyone laugh.
The Wizard King confirmed that the attack on the royal capital was by terrorists targeting the Clover Kingdom for an unspecified reason. He later gave a public speech to show his determination to continue to fight. Apparently, the attack was made possible because some of the mages who maintained the magic barrier had vanished.
{Time Skip}
You, Asta, and Noelle were able to find and meet up with a little girl Asta saved at the beginning of theattack. She thanked them for saving her. You apologized for not being there as well, but she said it was fine because she had Asta and Noelle and that you were helping other people. She handed Asta a basket of cupcakes that she made herself. She thanked them again and ran off, Nero flying from her head to Asta's. As you watched the girl run off, a little hand grabbed the handle of the basket and pulled it out of Asta's hand, grabbing a cupcake with it. Charmy began digging into the cupcake.
"Hey Charmy, when did you get here?" You were thinking the same thing.
"Where there is tasty food, there I shall be. Here, I've got a few to spare, wanna try?" She wasn't wrong, really, but you think she was missing the point that they were your cupcakes to begin with. Asta brought it up as well, but she continued as if they were hers, offering them to you. Confused, you still took one. When you bit into it, you were surprised by how good they were, considering they were made by such a young child. Charmy had a cupcake and was skipping around the basket. She seemed way more cheerful than usual today.
"Hey, how did you even get into the castle anyway?" Noelle asked a good question. Charmy just appeared out of nowhere. She took out her grimoire and a ball of cotton formed around her. It shrunk as it floated right into Asta's robes hood. It was so surprising that she was able to get in without anyone noticing. Asta noticed a few people walking on a bridge above them. It just so happened to be Klaus, Yuno, and Mimosa. They stopped to look when he called out to them.
"Is your stomach wound all healed, Asta? Wait, I asked you that before, didn't I?" From the distance this conversation was being held, you looked sort of insane.
"Yeah, you did, but I'm fine. Do you always worry this much? Hey, Yuno! I heard you went and finished off some big enemy like it was nothing, you big jerk!" You didn't see the reason Yuno was a jerk for that. Charmy yelled out something that you couldn't even make out and hopped out of her cotton cloud. You suggested that you could fly everyone up so they didn't have to yell, but you were cut off.
"What's the matter with you?! Aren't you at least gonna say hi or something? Or do you think you're too good for me because you're super powerful now?! Come on, I don't think a simple hello will kill you!" You tried to step in front of Asta to calm him down, but Yuno already had his grimoire out. He summoned a huge spell of wind magic in the form of an eagle and shot it right towards you. Asta pushed you aside and pulled out his sword, quickly nullifying the spell. All of you fell to the ground landing on yours butts.
"Jeez I was just teasing him, I didn't think he would actually try to kill me. You alright (Y/N)?" You nodded and noticed a message appear in front of Asta. It read "Later, lil Rasta." "Where did that nickname come from?" You thought, although Magna used it frequently.
"OKAY THAT'S IT, YOU'RE AN EVEN BIGGER JERK NOW! YOU WANNA GO, LET'S DO IT I'M READY WHEN YOU ARE-" Asta went on screaming for what seemed like forever until you finally flicked his forehead telling him to be quiet. At this point, Yuno had already walked away.
{Time Skip-At the Black Bull's Hideout}
You were finally able to head back to the base after the chaos that had happened. Magna and Luck has returned from a mission, and they were speaking very highly of themselves. They did so well though, that they were able to earn a star for the squad. You congratulated them for their work. Asta was also able to become a Junior Magic Knight: Third Class. Although the two were shocked, Magna had no idea what that was so Yami had to explain it. Magna and Luck were Junior Magic Knight: Fifth Class, and Charmy was Junior Magic Knight: First Class. Asta exclaimed how he was worry about Captain Fuegoleon, but Captain Yami said he was too stubborn to die like that.
"All right! I'm going to train even harder and get stronger too!" If you had a dollar for every time he said that, you'd be rich. (did I use that already hmm)
"No, you're going to rest. You're too injured, you're going to die. Are you stupid?" Captain Yami argued, and you slightly agreed with him. Asta gave a look of annoyance. Noelle even agreed with the Captain.
"A break? You're getting time off, Asta? Then let's go to a mixer!" Finral had the nerve to ask that right in front of you. Asta's jaw practically hit the floor, Noelle as well.
"Finral, get to work." Captain Yami added clearly annoyed on his offer.
"I'll set everything up!" He ignored Captain Yami's demand.
"I just told you to get to work."
"Things are getting busy!"
"I'll kill you, Finral."
~~~~~End of Chapter~~~~~
Total word count: 2540
Holy crap I am so sorry this took so long to come out. I've really wanted to write more but usually can't find the time, sometimes the motivation. I'm going to try my hardest to keep updating. I've been reading comments, and thank you for supporting the story and waiting. It helps a lot knowing you've been waiting!
Any feedback is helpful whether it be compliments or criticism. I want to make sure you enjoy the story!