Returning to the base

"WE'RE BACK BITCHES!!" Kicking the door open, Grim and the rest of the squad that went to the Witches Forest strolled in much to the annoyance of Yami.

"Captain Yami!!" Asta yelled and ran to his side. "Look! My arms are healed!!"

Raising his head up from his newspaper, the first thing Yami said actually wasn't related to his arms at all.

"Why are you half naked?"

"Eh?" Looking down at himself, Asta remembered that his clothes had burned during his fight with Spirit Ladros.

"Yami san!!" Vanessa rushed to his side and handed him something. "We got a magic stone!"

"Seriously?" He said in surprise before calling Asta. "Oi kid!"

"Yes sir!"

"Now that your arms are healed I can give you a special mission."

"Special mission!!" Asta's eyes glowed.

"Yeah." He nodded. "It one that only you can do."

"Really!! What is it!? I promise I won't fail!"

"Good, good. Now go buy some booze, we're gonna celebrate tonight."

"YES SIR!!" Saluting to him for some reason, Asta ran upstairs, grabbed his money pouch then sped out of the building.

"And you." Yami turned to look at Grim before squaring up to him.

"Who gave you permission to kick my door?"

---

"Yeah, so now I can fly. Cool right?" Grim asked after telling him what went down in the Witches Forest.

"Mmm." Yami nodded taking a swig of alcohol.

"That's your reaction! Do you have any idea how much mana control is needed to do that!? Be more impressed!"

Gulping down the beer, Yami slammed the mug down on the table and looked at him.

"So what if you can fly now. Julius can fly, that pasty dude we fought in the cave could fly, hell even that bird that follows you and the shrimp around can fly! You're really not that special."

"Oh fuck you! If anybody can fly then why don't you do it!" Grim defended.

"Tch, you don't think I can? I just haven't surpassed my limits yet."

"What the hell does that even mean! Surpassing your limits and flying because of immaculate mana control are totally different!"

Suddenly realization dawned on Yami's face as he looked at Grim with clear eyes.

"You're right, now that you can fly we should use your abilities to their fullest."

"You finally understand."

"Yeah, now you can fly up to the roof and scrub away all the nasty bird shit that's been gathering there for years."

"...."

"...."

"...."

"...."

"You really want to go don't you?"

Before Yami could answer, Asta burst back into the room carrying bottles on top of bottles.

"I'm back!!" He announced slamming the alcohol on the table.

"Took ya long enough brat." Yami grinned cocking open another bottle and draining it of its contents.

"Hehe." Asta chuckled and scratched the back of his head.

"So, what's my next mission gonna be?"

"Next mission? After what happened during your last mission, I'm banning you from accepting anymore work for a while."

"WHAT!! But if you take my missions away from me, what will I have left!!"

"Muscles."

"Noooo!!!"

"And put some damn clothes on, we don't allow nudists around here."

Watching the two of them in silence, Grim wondered if other squads were like this.

"We're back!!" A sudden voice echoed out from the doorway.

'Magna?'

Remembering that Magna and Luck went off to a dungeon in search of a method to heal Asta's arms, he was stunned when he turned around to look at them.

'What the fuck!!'

Somehow managing to levitate off the ground, Magna and Luck were each covered in a aura of the exclusive magic element.

"What the fuck happened to you guys! And why do you suddenly look so cool!!"

'Wait a second! Are these fuckers flying!!'

Turning his head to the side slowly, he saw Yami looking at him was a massive "I told you so" grin on his face.

'FUCCKK!!!'

Magna who had his hair down and was missing his shades stood in what Grim remembered to be something called a Jojo pose while spouting off some random nonsense.

"So dark... So, so dark... In order to heal Asta's broken arms we delved into the depths of the dungeon and ended up getting outrageously stronger in the process."

"Mana is calling me." With his hair spiked back and surrounded in a cloak of lightning, a white eyed Luck kept repeating the same phrase over and over again.

"I'm sorry Asta, we managed to get stronger but we couldn't find a way to heal your arms."

"Mana is calling me."

"I'm sorry we failed you." A single tear fell from Magna's eye.

"Mana is calling me."

'...Should I have gone to the dungeon instead...' Grim wondered.

Regretting that he chose to stay at the base and practice his mana control, an aura of depression landed on Grim's shoulders.

"Its cool guys." Asta reassured them. "Look, my arms are fine." He waved them.

"..."

"..."

Just as everyone thought things were about to get weird, Magna and Luck snapped back to their normal selves.

"Well why didn't ya say so!" Magna grinned and wrapped his arm around Asta's shoulders.

"Alright!" Luck cheered. "Lets go have a fight!"

"No thanks." Asta rejected.

"We're back!!" Another familiar voice sounded out from the doorway.

'Not another one.'

As if feeling his depression, Nero fluttered its wings and flew over to his shoulder.

"Are you pitying me?" He asked after seeing the bird staring up at him.

*Stare*

"..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"Ha...ha... I don't know why, but for some reason I actually thought you'd answer me."

"Hey Grim." Noelle called out. "You doing okay?"

"Huh? Yeah I'm cool."

Walking into sight, Gauche and Gordon appear in... Otaku attire.

'Nope, not even gonna ask.'

Not to long later, Charmy and Grey finally appeared with mushrooms sprouting from their heads.

'What kind of drugs have they been taking?'

Not listening to anything going on around him, Grim's attention was caught by Yami's next words.

"So there's this festival coming up soon and you all need to get ready."

"Festival?" Asta said looking confused.

Seeing this, Finral stepped up to explain.

"You know how magic knight squads perform meritorious deeds they get awarded with stars right?"

"Hmm? I think the wizard king said something like that before."

"Right, so this festival is an event in which all the magic knight squads gather in order for the public to see who has the most stars and who has the least. Its basically a magic knight squad ranking system."

"A hassle is what it is." Yami butted in. "Besides, we're always dead last anyway."

'A festival huh.'

Thinking about everything that had happened in the Witches Forest and the time period until the start of the festival, Grim had a couple of things he wanted to get done.

Standing up from his seat, he drew everyone's attention as he walked up to Yami and said.

"Please fight me!"