Chapter 10

A carnivorous flower suddenly made its appearance, its mouth filled with acid that had bone remains floating in it. The plant dangled Asta over itself, ready to devour him.

Elara summoned her light bow and went into stance. Just when she was about to release an arrow, a bunch of daggers came flying in with a gust of wind, freeing Asta and defeating the plant.

Elara and Noelle stared at the wind blades in astonishment.

"Such precise and powerful magic..." Noelle muttered to herself, turning to where they came from in hopes of finding the caster. "Who could it be?"

Is it an enemy? If so, why did they save Asta? Then who.. Elara's eyes widened as she saw three figures standing on an entrance to a tunnel. But what really caught her attention was the robes they wore.

Other Magic Knights!?

"Now... I've repaid my debt, Asta." A black haired male spoke, looking at Asta with a minuscule smile on his face.

Elara's sleigh landed with Elara and Noelle quickly jumping off, running towards Asta.

"Asta! Are you okay?" Elara immediately asked after arriving in front of the ash blonde, grabbing his shoulders and inspecting his body for any physical injuries.

"Don't worry about me! It would take a lot more than a plant to kill me!" Asta said while scratching the back of his head with a grin.

Elara and Noelle sighed in relief before Noelle spoke with a faint blush on her cheeks, looking away in embarrassment, "I-I guess I should apologize for pushing you off the sleigh."

"Oh yeah! What was that for, huh!?" Asta demanded.

As Noelle and Asta started bickering again, Elara turned and noticed that the three other Magic Knights were walking towards them.

"Thank you for saving Asta." Elara politely thanked the three, bowing a bit in gratitude as they arrived in front of them.

That definitely caught both Asta and Noelle's attention as Asta immediately yelled "Yuno!" and walked to the front of Elara after spotting his childhood friend, putting an end to their bickering.

So he's Yuno? Elara and Noelle thought at the same time as they stared at the ebony haired male.

Elara's eyes widened in realization after inspecting this 'Yuno'.

"Hey! You're the guy with the flour leaf grimoire at the Entrance Exam!" Elara pointed at Yuno. "You must be really powerful! Hey, can you show me more of your magic please? Please?" She asked in excitement with stars in her eyes, suddenly resembling her honorary uncle in that moment.

You can't be serious... Yuno thought as he stared blankly at the lavender haired girl who was emitting a sparkly aura around her.

He looked away from her, completely ignoring her request making Elara pout and "Awww" in dejection.

And that's... Noelle's expression slightly turned sour as she stared at a certain green eyed royal.

"Yuno," A blue haired male with glasses spoke, making the ebony haired male turn to him, "why did you bother saving them?"

"Our mission is to explore this dungeon..." the blue haired male continued, pushing his glasses up. "In other words, to quickly reach the treasure chamber buried deep below. We don't have any time to waste with these fools."

Elara tilted her head to the side a little, question marks floating over her head. "Eh... but why? We have the same goal, don't we? So shouldn't we be working together to conquer the dungeon faster?", Elara asked, deliberately ignoring the fact that the blue haired male just called them 'fools'.

The blue haired male turned to her, his expression too mean for her liking, "Work together? The Golden Dawn such as ourselves don't need any help from lowly Black Bulls like you."

Elara's expression turned sour, something Noelle and Asta was only able to witness once before. Lowly?! How dare he!? If you're going to be this mean then maybe working together wouldn't be such a good idea after all, hmph!

"Hey, Yuno. What's the deal with this rude four-eyed dude?" Asta suddenly asked bluntly, effectively gaining a snort from Elara, an amused expression replacing the sour one before.

The blue haired male looked absolutely offended as Asta pointed at his face, making Elara just wanna double over in laughter but skillfully suppressing it, knowing she'd blow up if she didn't.

"He's my senior." Yuno informed quietly, before all hell broke lose as the blue haired male lost his cool.

"Four-" the spiky blueberry grabbed Asta by the front of his shirt, an irk mark appearing on his face. "You're the rude one! I'm a four... er, I'm a nobleman! How dare you address me so casually!?"

At this point, Elara couldn't help but giggle madly, her hand covering her mouth after hearing the spiky blueberry almost call himself 'four eyes'. She didn't even seem to hear the part about him being a nobleman, because if she did, she'd be freaking out, thinking he'd know about her past and make fun of her for it.

He's flustered all of a sudden. Yuno, who was watching beside a giggling Elara, thought with his usual poker face.

Meanwhile, a different interaction with a completely different kind of tension was taking place on the other side of the two spectators.

"Good day, Noelle." The green eyed female, who Elara suspected to be a Vermillion royalty just by looking at her appearance, greeted Noelle with a closed eye smile.

A closed eye smile in which didn't hold the same effect on others in them as Elara's did, in Noelle's opinion.

"I don't think I've seen you since the royal banquet last year." The Vermillion-looking female continued.

"You know her?" Asta, who was finally free from the spiky blueberry, asked.

"Yes... somewhat." Noelle answered.

"I'm Noelle's cousin." The green eyed female informed them.

I knew it! Elara thought to herself.

"So, you're here, too." Noelle spoke with a bothered look on her face.

It just had to be her... Noelle thought, irked.

Elara, who didn't notice Noelle's expression, was about to introduce herself to the friendly looking royal but stopped on her tracks when she heard what she said next.

"I've heard the Black Bulls are a very barbaric squad. Have you been faring well?"

You could've used a more pleasing word than Barbaric, you know?

"And are you doing okay, Mimosa?" Noelle suddenly asked.

"Huh?" The Vermillion royal who's name was apparently Mimosa, asked in confusion.

Noelle did her signature hair flip before elaborating, "I'm not sure someone as dense as you can make it in the Golden Dawn."

Oof. Elara slapped a hand over her mouth to stop herself from snorting.

"Yes! Everyone is so kind." The girl didn't seem to realize that she was being roasted as she replied rather pleasantly. "Because of that, I've been able to use my magic without hesitation."

She is dense. Elara sweatdropped at that response.

"If I remember correctly, you weren't able to control your magic at all." Mimosa gasped in realization, unknowingly roasting Noelle back. "Have you improved since then?"

She's as obliviously rude as ever. She still pisses me off. Noelle thought, irked.

Elara, who saw the look on Noelle's face, decided to help her friend, "Mhm! She's improved a lot in a short period of time. Her magic's gonna be really powerful once she completely controls it."

Noelle gave Elara a grateful look, to which the latter smiled and winked in response.

"Oh, the three of us recently received a star from the Wizard King himself for another mission." Mimosa informed, though it sounded more like bragging than anything else.

The spiky blueberry looked prideful as he pushed his glasses up, while Yuno had an indifferent look on his face.

"Hm, hm, hm." Asta and Noelle hummed smugly while Elara just giggled with her usual closed eye smile.

"We just got a star, too!" Asta exclaimed proudly with stars in his eyes and a sparkly aura surrounding him.

Noelle flipped her hair smugly at this, while Elara just settled for her closed eye smile, though it was a bit more proud than her usual one.

"You liars." The spiky blueberry stated bluntly, pointing at them. "Newbies from the Black Bulls wouldn't be awarded stars so easily."

Elara's smile faltered a bit before she opened her eyes and replied pleasantly, "How would you know, mister? We're newbies, aren't we? So how would you know our capabilities if you haven't seen them yet?"

"I wouldn't need to. The Black Bulls are the lowest of the low. A star? Please, you can't be serious." The spiky blueberry said, making Elara's thread of patience nearly at breaking point.

"We did get one! We're at minus thirty now!" Asta exclaimed.

You didn't have to go on saying that, Asta... Elara sweatdropped.

"It's laughable that you've been charged with this mission, too." The spiky blueberry said.

"The Wizard King appointed us to this mission himself!" Asta yelled with a large irk mark visible on his face.

"Such a blatant lie."

"I'm not lying!"

"Hmph."

He really is flustered. Yuno thought, watching from the side yet again.

"Come to think of it, I heard there'd be four of you, too." The spiky blueberry said, regaining his composure, "Where's the other one?"

Oh right! Luck senpai! Elara said, backing away from the conversing group. We got a little carried away talking to these people. Luck senpai's probably in big trouble right now.

Elara opened her grimoire and cast her Lunar Scope without anyone noticing. A hologram of the universe surrounded her with bright blue dots everywhere, representing the mana of the dungeon. Elara looked around and saw five different colored dots grouped up. She concluded that this must be them, considering Asta doesn't have any mana in him.

While Elara was in her own world, the spiky blueberry and Asta engaged in friendly(?) banter. Yeah, let's just call it that.

"You're an embarrassment to the Magic Knights."

"You've got some nerve, you jerk! We're going to conquer this dungeon first for the Black Bulls! Just you wait, Gol... No, Goober? No, uh... you guys with the weird masked captain!"

"Goober? It's Golden! And 'weird mask'? You scum! You dare mock our esteemed Captain Vangeance!? You're the one with a weird captain! What kind of freak runs around with all those muscles bulging out of a tank top!?"

"What'd you say?! He's manly and totally awesome!"

"How dare you talk to a noble like that!? Not to mention your senior!"

"Well, excuse me! My bad!"

"You bastard!"

This kept going while the others just watched from the sides. Yeah, he's really flustered. Yuno, in particular, thought with a deadpan expression.

By the end of their 'friendly banter', the two were breathing heavily from all the yelling.

"Very well, you fools!" The spiky blueberry said, pushing his glasses up. "We'll just have to show you the difference between the top of the Magic Knights and the bottom."

"Mimosa!" He called.

"Sure." Mimosa replied, her grimoire opening in front of her.

"Plant Creation Magic: Magic Flower Guidepost."

A fairly large flower suddenly sprouted in front of them, with the structure of the dungeon appearing at the top of the flower.

It's like Elara's spell but more elaborate. The two Black Bulls thought. Eh... where is she anyway?

The two started looking around, just now realizing that Elara was not beside them anymore.

After examining the dots more carefully, Elara finally saw the familiar lightning blue dot far away from where they were right now. He seemed to be fighting a lot of mages at once.

Oh no, we need to hurry!

Elara quickly deactivated the spell and looked towards the others to see Noelle and Asta looking right back at her, finally spotting her behind them.

She nodded at them, signaling that they need to go right now, "Lunar Creation Magic: Celestial Path."

The familiar peace of thread, once again, appeared in front of them, transforming into a wide pathway leading towards a certain tunnel.

"Let's see... Ah, got it." Mimosa mumbled to herself. "I've learned the basic layout of the dungeon." She informed her comrades.

The three not noticing that the other knights with them were already boarding a particular light sleigh, ready to go and assist their senior.

"Very well. Yuno!" The spiky blueberry ordered.

"Right." Yuno complied, flipping open his grimoire and summoning a surge of wind that carried the three of them.

"I hope you suffe-" the spiky blueberry was about to say when he finally realized that the three other Magic Knights with them were not on the ground anymore.

Where'd they go? Spiky blueberry thought looking around.

"Oi! Sorry, but we really have to go now! We'll see you at the entrance of the treasure chamber! Don't worry! We'll be waiting for you there before we enter the chamber so we can all go in together!" Elara yelled cheerily form inside her light sleigh, waving both her arms exuberantly.

Is that light magic!? But how!? When did they...? The spiky blueberry watched, shocked as the Black Bull newbies disappeared into a tunnel with an electric blue orb leading them.

"Why those little brats!" The spiky blueberry clenched his fists in irritation, an irk mark appearing on his face. "Yuno, let's go!"

He's totally flustered. Yuno thought once more before complying to his senior's commands.

~

From another part of the dungeon, Luck was indeed battling a lot of mages at once. Unfortunately for them, they were defeated in an instant by the young lightning mage.

"Huh?" Luck mumbled, sounding very disappointed while holding up a random mage by their head as if they weighed nothing at all. Much like how Yami holds up Asta when the ash blonde says something stupid.

"You're so weak." He then threw that mage away like a piece of garbage. "But I'm sure you're different." He continued, now looking at a middle aged, ebony haired male that was sitting on a huge block of debris.

"Well, this isn't good." The said male said, not at all sounding worried like what he was trying to imply. "Nothing good comes of raising hurdles too high."

"Enthusiastic young power... Terrifying, really." The man looked at Luck while caressing his short beard. "You took my subordinates out in a instant. You're pretty strong."

Luck laughed before replying, "Well, they are just subordinates. But if you're their boss and you're strong, there's no problem."

"So you fight wrapped in your own lightning magic. Not only is that practical, but you seem pretty powerful. And you're fast." The man commented. "You're making the most of your youthful strength. You got this old man shaking in his boots."

"What kind of magic do you fight with?" Luck asked, excitedly.

"Hmm... You seem rather enthusiastic." The man said, standing up and stretching his back. "You Clover people are also after this dungeon's treasure chamber, aren't you?"

"Come on, let's fight!" Luck said eagerly, his hand holding concentrated lightning magic.

"Good grief." The man mumbled before he suddenly started running away with a laid back smile on his face. "Actually, I'm pretty sure we don't have to fight. Let's just compete nonviolently! Yeah, great idea. Bye!"

"Nope!" Luck said, jumping up and easily catching up with the man.

As Luck was about to land a kick, the man covered himself with smoke to which Luck passed right through, completely missing the man. "You sure are fast."

Luck landed on the ceiling with a calculating look on his face, staring at the smoke he just passed through. He dodged me? Smoke?

"Goodness, that was scary." The man commented, reappearing after the smoke cleared up a bit. "I can see why the citizens of the Clover Kingdom would be mad. I mean we've been trying to invade here and there."

"I apologize for all the trouble the Diamond Kingdom's been causing you." The man said. "But you see, our kingdom's running out of resources, so we have it rough, too. If we want to survive, we don't really have a choice. Living can be so hard."

"You see, I have three daughters..." the man explained with a fond eye smile.

"Oh, is that so?" Luck asked, charging back in which resulted in him just passing through the smoke again.

This happened a couple more times before a laugh escaped Luck's lips as he landed on an upper part of the room they were in. "Whatever! I don't care as long as I get to fight strong people." He said, cheerily.

The man sighed as blood dripped from a fresh wound on his face that Luck was able to make. "Looks like I've caught the eye of some real trouble."

With that statement, a crazed grin appeared on the cheery berserker's face.

"This old man might just cry."

~

Meanwhile, Elara, Asta, and Noelle got caught up in a room with interfered gravity a little ways away from where Luck was fighting with the diamond guy.

Asta was sticking to the ceiling while Noelle was floating around, screaming in fret.

"Hold on, Noelle, Asta!" Elara, who has managed to grab hold of the sleigh which was keeping her grounded, yelled as she willed her light sleigh to go over to where the two were.

"What is this place? The gravity's all messed up!" Noelle said as she was helped onto the sleigh by Elara.

"Are you sure we're going the right way?" Asta asked Elara.

"Of course we are! My Lunar Scope has never been wrong before and Celestial Path has never took a wrong turn in the entirety of my existence." Elara told the ash blonde rather indignantly.

A treasure chest with legs suddenly ran past Asta on the ceiling, catching the attention of the three mages.

"Hey, treasure!" Asta exclaimed with stars in his eyes.

"I never knew treasure chests had legs! That's so cool!" Elara exclaimed, dawning the same look on Asta's face.

"Yeah, that's definitely not treasure." Noelle seemed to be the only who looked mortified by the treasure chest's appearance.

Just as the light sleigh arrived to where Asta was, the magicless boy defied gravity and started running after the treasure chest on the ceiling.

"Wait, Bakasta! That has to be a trap!" Noelle yelled after the ash blonde male.

"Go for it, Asta!" Elara yelled, curious as to what was inside the chest.

"Don't encourage him!" Noelle yelled at Elara, who just scratched the back of her head and sent the royal a sheepish smile in return.

"All right! I got it!" Asta exclaimed in triumph after catching the treasure chest.

"Hey, stop that!" Noelle yelled before both females watched Asta fall and land on the water.

"I wonder what's inside! I wonder what's inside!" Asta chanted, cheerily as he floated on the water with the treasure chest as support.

Elara quickly landed the light sleigh and ran towards where Asta was, letting her curiosity get the best of her and momentarily forgetting that they were supposed to be finding their troublesome senior.

"I told you to stop! What are you going to do if it's a trap?" Noelle asked from beside the two who were busy trying to open the chest.

"Don't be such a worry wart Noe! If it's a trap then we'll just have to destroy it immediately." Elara told the royal with a dismissive wave.

"Open!" Asta said as he and Elara successfully opened the chest.

But what greeted them right after was something they didn't expect at all and would probably scar their minds for a while.

It turns out, the chest was actually alive and had its internal organs inside of it instead of the usual treasure. Elara, Asta, and Noelle's eyes whitened at the disturbing sight in front of them, all three of them suddenly feeling quite nauseous and ready to vomit out their breakfasts.

"Wh-why did you have to show me that, Shrimpsta!?" Noelle demanded, landing painful hits on Asta.

"It's not my faul-" Asta was unable to finish his sentence as his breakfast decided to escape his stomach.

Elara, on the other hand, stayed frozen in front of the chest, her whitened eyes staring unseeing in front of her looking as if her soul left her body.

"Look what you did, Bakasta! You broke her!" Noelle continued her assault on Asta.

~

Luck went for another attack but like the rest of his attempts, he missed.

"You're so full of life." The man commented with his smoke surrounding him.

"Stop dodging, and let's fight!" Luck said while running, looking for a chance to strike once again.

"Please?" He said, throwing a punch but was dodged. "Come on!" He went for a low kick but that was dodged too.

"Oh, now I remember. The Black Bulls." The man suddenly said as he landed a few feet away from Luck. "I've fought with you captain before. He was pretty hot-headed, too."

"What? You know the captain?" Luck asked, interested.

"How could I forget?" The man said as he pulled the collar of his shirt a little bit to show Luck a huge scar that stretched across his chest, "He gave me this lovely scar. I pissed my pants and ran away. Goodness, that was scary."

"He had a very unusual fighting style." The man continued, "He was the only younger opponent I've had that I couldn't defeat."

"That makes you even more worth to figh-" Luck was about say before he suddenly felt something weird going on with his body.

"Wh-whoa there..." he mumbled, suddenly feeling dizzy, making him lose his balance.

"Oh?" The man said nonchalantly, "What's the matter?"

"It's... nothing!" Luck said in denial, trying his hardest to get rid of the dizziness.

Despite the dizziness, the lightning mage shook it off and went charging once again, but was easily dodged by the man.

"So slow!" The man said, barely even moving a muscle as Luck was too slow with his attack.

Luck felt as though he was falling into a whirl of blackness. His body wasn't cooperating well and his mind was a bit hazy.

What is this? Magic? But I don't remember getting hit by his magic... Luck thought absolutely lost about what was happening to him right now.

The man chuckled seeing the lightning mage weakened, "You see, this whole room is enveloped in my magic. Very thin smoke that you can't really see. It's called Weakening Smoke Magic: Garden of Plundering Smoke, if you were wondering."

My body's not listening to me. Luck thought, troubled, his body shaking before feeling another one of those strong surges going through his body. A spell that lowers physical abilities? When did he...

"I had a feeling you'd block it if it were a visible attack. I powered my magical ability as much as I could so I could use this without you noticing... " The man explained, answering Luck's internal question, " While you were fighting my subordinates."

Luck took a deep breath, his eyes staring at the ground disbelieving.

"They didn't go out in vain. They sacrificed themselves so I could use this spell."

Luck's legs gave out as he fell to his knees on the ground, his grimoire fallen beside him.

"It's very important, isn't it?" The man said, looking down on Luck while scratching his short beard. "Teamwork."

"Friends you can trust are worth their weight in gold." The man smirked before turning around with his right hand raised in the air as a farewell, "Sorry, but stay there a while and get weaker."

As the man started to walk away, Luck stayed on the ground, breathing heavily as a female voice rang through his head.

Win... Win...

His eyes widened, but not in shock as one would think, it was a crazed kind of look.

Keep winning, Luck!

A wide grin suddenly made it's way on to his face as electricity crackled around him, "Wait."

The man abruptly stopped walking feeling the sudden surge of mana from behind him.

"It's been a while since things actually got interesting." Luck all but whispered airily as concentrated lightning magic surrounded his arms and legs before disappearing, which showed the sharp gloves and boots made of lightning that covered his hands and feet.

The man turned around and sighed, smoke covering his being. This time though, before he could even think of dodging, Luck managed to scratch his face in a blink of an eye.

Luck landed with a 'clunk' as if his lightning boots were made of metal. The man turned and looked at the smoking scratch mark that Luck imprinted on his cheek with a troubled expression.

"More... More!" Luck said with a crazed look on his face as more and more lightning crackled around him. "Let's fight some more!"

"I'd rather not pluck a bud that's still so young... " the man said, rubbing a finger over the mark on his check, getting rid of the smoke.

As Luck stared at the man, flashes of his childhood ran through his eyes.

Why are you smiling like that? Why can't you cry or get angry? Why were you born that way!?

Then a flash of electric blue took over his vision.

One of the common students defeated a noble... That's never happened before in our school's magic exchange competition.

It's not normal for a commoner to beat a noble. Don't get involved with him. He'll beat you to pulp.

That's amazing, Luck! I had no idea you had such powers! You must be special!

Keep winning.

Win, win, and keep on winning with your powers. No one will help you in this world. You must use your own powers.

Luck raised his gloved hand forward and fired a surge of lightning towards the man. The man dodged. But he didn't stop there.

Win...

He lunged at the man, swiping, clawing, kicking. The man dodged it all.

Win...

"So dangerous." The man commented as he, yet again, dodged another one of Luck's attacks. "You've become faster and sharper."

Win...

"I'll keep winning!" Luck said with a smile on his face as he ran towards the man, swiping his claw upwards. "With my powers!"

The man jumped back, dodging the attack. "Sorry, but I can't afford to lose, either."

Luck just went charging again, jumping up, ready to strike once more.

"Smoke Creation Magic: Binding Cross Prison." The man casted as he crouched down, a wave of smoke coming out of him and surrounded Luck, successfully binding the lightning mage.

Solid smoke? I can't move. Luck thought.

"Ahh... This uses up a lot of magic, so I really didn't want to use it." The man said, looking up at the immobilized Luck. "I'm out of gas. You won't be able to zip around anymore, kid."

"Now, then... I wonder how our kid is doing." He said, scratching the mark Luck made on his face, before flinching in pain. "Ouchie!"

"He's not very good at communicating. Maybe it's the generation gap?"

~

"All right! We're almost there!" Elara said as she felt the mana getting denser the farther they went.

Noelle looked down with a troubled and calculating look on her face, "Maybe..."

Elara and Asta turned to look at Noelle questioningly as she spoke.

"...maybe we should just let Luck do all the fighting." The royal said, looking at her comrades in the eyes. "If the enemy really got in, I'm sure they're after the treasure chamber. It might be better to head over there first."

Asta had a serious look on his face when Noelle said that, remembering the time where he told Yuno something on the roof of the church at Hage. He was about to say something when he was abruptly cut off by Elara's arm stretched out in front of him, grabbing both her comrades' attention.

They looked at her and were surprised to see her dawning her usual closed eye smile.

"If you're worried about the treasure Noe, then you don't have to. The Golden Dawn's probably there already. They'll surely be able to secure the treasure before the enemy does. They're the best Magic Knight Squad after all." The lavender haired girl said.

Asta and Noelle looked at Elara incredulously, "Why do you look so calm about that?! Didn't we just challenge them to see who would get there first and prove that the Black Bulls aren't worthless?" Noelle asked.

"It's true that we did challenge them a race to to the treasure chamber. But we're all comrades here with the same goal. I knew that they would get riled up, especially that spiky blueberry. That way, they'd be even more motivated to reach the chamber faster. And with the chamber secured, we don't have to worry about the treasures being stolen and we would be able to help Luck senpai easily that way." Elara explained.

Noelle and Asta gaped at the smiling lunar mage. She planned this all along!

"Besides..." Elara trailed off, facing forward once again, feeling even denser mana than before. "We'll still be proving that the Black Bulls aren't worthless."

"..because we'll be proving to them that the Black Bulls would never leave their comrades behind to fend for themselves."

~

Win... I have to keep winning with my powers... Luck thought as an image of his mother flashed in front of his eyes.

"Looks like there's something tying you down." The man said.

What I want... is going away...

Luck's droopy eyes suddenly widened after a realization hit him.

Huh? What was the thing I wanted?

The man raised his hand and directed it towards Luck. "I'll set you free... "

Before the man could do anything else though, a certain anti-magic sword came slicing through the smoke that kept Luck binded.

The man's eyes widened in shock by not only the fact that the young lightning mage had backup, but also because of the fact that his binding smoke magic was easily beaten.

While the man was too preoccupied with staring at Asta, a light arrow came whizzing past his arm, successfully tearing a part of his sleeve and wounding the skin that laid underneath.

The man was once again frozen in shock as he felt a stinging pain on his arm where blood was dripping.

He regained his composure and carefully touched the wound on his arm, smearing blood all over his fingers. He brought his blood soaked fingers up to his face and inspected it.

"Looks like we've got more lively ones." He stated, looking up from his blood coated fingers to see a short boy with a huge rusty sword and a lavender haired girl clutching a bow made out of light.

"And who might you be?" The man asked.

"We're..." Asta trailed off.

"...his friends!" Asta and Elara yelled together.