Ch. 69 Rivalry

"YUUUNOOOOOO!!!!"

"ASTAAAAAAA!!!!"

Klink! Klang! Swish! Klang! Their fierce training session was so fast-paced that the untrained eye couldn't even see them. Their dance of swords was so intense that Asta had no time for hand signs and Yuno couldn't gather enough mana for a reasonable magic attack. The two of them were heavily fatigued as they went back and forth but neither wanted to lose. A heavy slash's impact put several meters in between them and Yuno stepped back receding into the darkness.

"Wha- where'd he go?" Asta looked around panicked before he decided to focus his senses. He closed his eyes and waited before swinging to the right blocking a sword from nowhere. Several more slashes appeared to come from nowhere before "Got ya!"Asta grabbed Yuno's sleeve while two shadow clones weaved hand signs "Fire style; giant fireball jutsu!"

"Don't underestimate me Asta!" A torrent of wind quickly pushed out in all directions separating he and Asta, while also slowing the fireballs enough for him to split them with his sword. In his free hand a small tornado pulled in all the flames and he pointed it at Asta. "Heavenly wrath!" He fired a golden torrent of flames at Asta.

"Cool! But check this! Ogame style: True Tanryuu Hibaku!" Asta raised his sword with both hands as flowing waters followed it. When he swung down, he released his grip on one hand and extended his full reach switching his slash to an unexpected thrusting spear of water that shot through the flames. Yuno was blasted off his feet into a wall of house Vermillion. He sprang up before Asta could call the match, but his brother was no longer paying attention. He was looking around with a confused expression.

"What Asta?"

"Weird…I felt like someone was watching us just now…"

......

"Heheheh I gotta hand it to you stick bug you've gotten a little better," Yami said gripping his sword. He was out of breath and had cuts all over.

"That little bit is more than enough for you, meathead!" Two light magic blades protruded from Jack's forearms. He'd been giving it all this fight covered in his own cuts and bruises.

"Oh yeah? Show me!" The two of them rushed each other quickly but half-way through the charge Yami stopped and held his blade up high. "Aviyada dark slash!" Yami's sword was not only coated in darkness but haki as well.

"DEATH SLASH!" The impact shredded their surroundings with their intent, but neither were done just yet. They swung their blades clashing fiercely. Being kicked in his gut suddenly, Jack stopped cringing to see Yami's katana coming down like an executioner's blade. Using the body flicker technique with his leg enhancement magic, Jack swiftly dodged near decapitation.

"You can't get away! Following Jack's movements, Yami realized he himself was on the slower side so he had to wait for his opening. CLANG! Blade met blade as Jack attacked head-on at blinding speeds. A trade of countless more slashes ensued as both were getting more fired up. "Dark cloaked Aviyada wild slashes!"

"Death scythe: Lunatic slash!" A flurry of cuts split any surrounding structures tiny fractions of what they cut. However Jack and Yami stood at the center of the storm deflecting everything, their blades moving so fast they are barely visible. "Not bad but let's see if you can handle this!" From behind Yami, a clone of Jack came in for a decisive blown almost undetectably so.

"Dark magic: Dusk." Yami's free hand reached out towards the clone and a black hole like pull brought the clone's neck to Yami's hand before throwing him into the onslaught of Jack's slashes. The smoke from the poofing clone gave Yami an opening "Dark coated Iai, slash!" Quickly sheathing his sword, Yami's quickdraw slash split through the smoke and met Jack's blades. Though he blocked he was still sent sliding into a large tree. Yami gave no opening. "Dark magic: Dark coated black blade." Dark magic crawled up his sword greatly extending it's reach and power.

"Heheh finally taking me seriously huh "Jack readied his blades before charging in headfirst. Yami split a log in half before he noticed the real Jack coming at him. "Death scythe; omni-slash!" Waving the blades out in front of him, Jack threw a wide-ranging cutting shockwave. The two blades met and Yami was being pushed back.

"Damn stick bug you were hiding a skill like that?" Yami was more surprised because the attack which initially had no magic affinity, was still changing nature and cutting through Yami's magic as he slid backwards. Jack's slash seemed to be gaining power, even chipping Jack's blade. "(Come on Yami you got this, it's time to surpass your limits!)" Yami put all of his willpower into the sword and pushed back. After pushing forward several steps he flexed as hard as he could and split the flying slash in two. The shockwave that Jack had to dodge had no magic in it, but pure force. Looking at his sword Yami noticed its blade was black, even after his magic and haki had receded from it "my sword is permanently black now? What is this?" It felt a little heavier and carried an aura of strength and extreme sharpness. "Heh would you look at that, looks like I've surpassed my limits again! Get ready stick bug!"

...…..

Fuegoleon and Nozel were locked in a fierce rematch in a secluded area far outside of the city.

"You can't beat me anymore you silver chicken! Fire style; majestic destroyer flame!" Fuegoleon let loose an overwhelming blast of fire that threatened to engulf Nozel completely.

"Reusing your little brothers' childish old jokes…classy." Nozel said resting his hand on his sword. "Camelot style quickdraw; great schism." He quickly drew and unsheathed his sword so fast it seemed he didn't move it. Only a light clink could be heard as a devastating shock easily blew the flames away and continued to split a log as Fuegoleon reappeared a short distance away from Nozel.

"An art of Camelot?" Fuegoleon was surprised.

"Did you think I'd let you surpass me as the only captain to train with one of the world busters?" Nozel asked smugly turning around.

"You don't mean-"

"Yes" Nozel held his sword upright with two hands as if a large claymore, Mercury magic added to the blade's mass completing the look. For a second Fuegoleon was overwhelmed by the majesty of a regal ancient knight but he cleared his head to stay focused. "I've learned swordplay of Camelot from Siegfried. Now watch me take another step beyond you!"

"HA! You think you've seen everything I've got Nozel?" Fuegoleon grinned as fire burned all around him. For a second they faced off silently, then at the same time they attacked. Sword energy met an explosive burst of fire as the trees surrounding them were reduced to nothing. Nozel looked up to see a hail of giant shuriken raining down on him.

"A wasted effort." A shield of mercury covered Nozel from the Shuriken as he turned to see Fuegoleon behind him. "Camelot sword art; guillotine!" A falling horizontal slash threatened to split him in two.

"Solar style; Roar of the crimson lion!" Fuegoleon breathed in deep and let loose extreme burst of fire shining as bright as the sun. Sunfire and steel pushed against each other and the resulting explosion left them in a great crater.

"Multi-shadow clone jutsu!" An army of Fuegoleon surrounded Nozel.

"I never took you to be one for such an indirect tactic Fuegoleon." He thrust his sword forward as razor sharp metal petals spread throughout the air fluttering gently.

"This trick again?"

"Not quite. Silver requiem." On call all of the petals began to spin rapidly and fly aimlessly around the battlefield in all directions. Cuts appeared everywhere destroying the Fuegoleon clones as they struggled to dodge the countless blades coated in sword intent coming from every angle, while Nozel calmly stood in the center of the onslaught. The clanging of blades hitting as they bounced off one another sounded like a solemn melody. "I win again." Suddenly a startlingly monstrous shift in the quality and amount of chakra nearby made Nozel look up. "That's what you were planning?" He saw Fuegoleon stepping up on the air above preparing his next attack.

An oppressive heat turned the sky red as Fuegoleon's hand burned with molten lava. All of the crazy chakra he felt was amassing into the clenched fist. "TAKE THIS! LAVA STYLE: SCORCHING METEOR FIST!" When he threw the punch a giant molten fist crashed down at Nozel.

"Such a tasteless technique. Clover sword art; Silver eagle!" Nozel swung the sword horizontally and a massive metal eagle flew to meet it head on. As it folded it's wings deadly sword energy turned it into a piercing blade of destruction. The two met midflight and pressed against each other, refusing to give way.

"YOU WON'T WIN!"

"YOU'RE GOING DOWN!" Both of them gave an extra push, and the resulting explosion devoured them both.

...….

"How come everyone else gets to have so much fun?! It's not fair!" Magnus pouted as he appeared in the dining hall of the Pendragon estate after watching many fierce spars across the kingdom.

"What are you complaining about now?" Morgiana wasn't startled at all by her Magnus' sudden appearance next to her, more annoyed he came to complain again. "And what are you wearing today?"

"Oh, I'm glad you asked. This is my Detective Conan cosplay. I needed something for investigation (stalking strong sets rivals to watch them fight) and figured I won't have many more chances to pull this off."

"It might be a little late for that…"

"What? I still have the legs for these shorts."

"Sometimes I wonder which of us is the sister…"

"What was that?"

"Nothing, whatever makes you happy brother… I'm assuming he's another manga character I don't know, maybe I'll read it later" Morgiana was only giving him half her attention as she ate her food.

"Now about me."

"(We're already talking about you Magnus…)"

"I want to have a heated battle with my rival too! I haven't actually had a real fight since Doflamingo, and I wouldn't call that a fight. So since Lykan!"

"I don't know who Lykan is…"

"He's before your time."

"Doubt it. Anyways just go fight someone strong then I'm sure there's plenty of people around here willing to accept your challenge."

"In case you haven't noticed I'm the rival, the stronger one I might add, of the monster who's terrorized everyone here for almost a decade…who could really pose a challenge to me going all out?"

"I don't know Julius? He seems capable… Speaking of your rival, I've been thinking about this for a while now. You and Gali are not rivals, and probably never were. You two saying it all the time is the only thing that would make me believe it."

"Huh?" Magnus looked at her like she was stupid. "How could Gali not be my rival? He's the only one capable of filling that role."

"True he is capable, but he isn't the person who can do it. I can safely say you two are good friends…almost to an unhealthy extent, but nothing about the paths you've chosen really intersect. While you want to rule as many known worlds as possible, you have a need to develop everything around you, and strive to be the best at everything. Galileo is uninterested in most of that. He'd much rather explore, collect treasure, and just enjoy a simple life free of responsibility and restraint. Eating, sleeping and wandering through the wilderness is his ideal day while yours would be spent in an office or on the training field. His drive to grow is just knowing he'll be put on a leash if someone gets strong enough to do it…You guys are polar opposites, maybe that's why you do get along so well though.

"Huh, I never thought about it like that" Magnus pondered that. "(Am I putting too much expectation on Gali? It has been thirteen years, I have to admit we've both changed a lot.)"

"He'd probably still help you get things done with the right incentives. Manipulating has always been a strong suit of yours, and he's simple too. Use it to get him to at least care about the state of the nation, and I'm sure the kingdom would start seeing an immediate increase on his part, and he'd be a lot less hated."

"You've very insightful Morge. I'm going to strongly consider that. You should be my therapist."

"I refuse… just go make up with Noelle."