Theory Test

~Brief Recap~

You were on your way back to the church from training with Asta. You sparred against each other to train for the Magic Knight's Entrance Exam, but it ended with you and Asta getting a little... intimate. During the training battle match you tried to cast a wind spell at Asta like you did when you faced your older brother, but it didn't work. Your bewilderment gave Asta an opening and he ended up giving you a minor injury. You lifted your shirt up a bit to inspect how severe it was and accidentally exposed yourself to Asta who got turned on. This lead to you losing your virginities to each other. After your heated session, you mentioned to Asta that you couldn't cast a wind spell when sparring with him. He then came up with a theory explaining why that was. So you two were going to ask Yuno and Nash to help test out this theory.

~Main Story~

While you and Asta were on your way back to the church, you got out your royal blue, elegant black bordered six leaf clover grimoire and flipped through the pages. There were lots of wind-based magic spells and spells for summoning various melee weapons other than your scythe inscribed on the pages. But the lettering for the magic spells were faded gray in color whereas the lettering for the weapon summoning spells were prominent black in color. These details peaked your interest and you tugged on Asta's sleeve to get his attention.

"Hey Asta, check this out." You said as Asta stopped in his tracks and glanced at you with curiosity.

"What is it Lil?" Asta asked you as you gestured for him to take a look at your grimoire. He approached you and leaned over your shoulder so he could see what you wanted to show him. You started to explain the peculiar details to him.

"I have lots of wind-based spells in my grimoire as well as spells for summoning various melee weapons. But look at how the wind spell glyphs are gray and the weapon summoning spell glyphs are black. If my scythe doesn't keep the magic attributes it comes in contact with, then why are there even wind-based spells printed on the pages of my grimoire?" You asked Asta who shrugged.

"I don't know. Maybe the wind spells appear faded in color because you can't use them right now. Try summoning a different weapon other than your scythe. We already know that you can't use the wind magic." Asta suggested as you nodded and prepared to summon a nodachi style sword from your grimoire. Your grimoire floated up from your hand and hovered as shining bright blue light aura surrounded it and the handle of an extra large katana-like sword emerged from the pages which you grabbed and pulled out.

"It seems like the spells in black are usable and the spells in gray are unusable." You confirmed as Asta smiled. You willed the nodachi sword to be returned back to your grimoire and it dissipated in a very faint smoke-like cloud that dispersed into the air.

"Good! We solved one mystery. Now we just need to find Yuno and Nash so we can test out my theory. Come on let's go!" Asta said as he grabbed your hand, which caused you to blush slightly as he started running towards the church with you. Yuno was outside the church building, using his wind magic to dry the laundry for Sister Lily while Arlu and Horo giggled and clapped in amusement as the clothes rapidly spun in a ball of swirling air. Rekka stood between the two young children with her hands on their shoulders. Nash stood behind them with his usual dull bored expression with his arms up behind his head.

"Hey Yuno, Nash! You guys got a minute?" Asta asked loudly to get their attention as he came to a stop with you right beside him. Yuno finished drying the laundry and used his magic to manipulate the air currents to fold the clothes and linens and float into the empty laundry basket in Sister Lily's arms before turning towards you and Asta along with everyone else.

"Thanks for all your help Yuno. You and Nash can go see what Asta and Lily need of you. Rekka, Arlu and Horo come with me." Sister Lily said and walked away towards the church doors with the basket of clean folded laundry, the three children following close behind her. Yuno sighed and approached you two with Nash following behind him.

"What do you want Asta?" Yuno asked, sounding uninterested in what Asta had to say.

"Lil needs yours and Nash's help testing out a theory I came up with regarding her grimoire." Asta explained to Yuno. As soon as he heard that Asta was asking him a favor in order to help you, his twin sister, his attitude changed immediately.

"Alright Asta. Nash and I will do what you need us to do. But I'm only doing this for Lily, not you. Remember, you're still my rival." Yuno reminded Asta as an annoyed look appeared on Nash's face.

"Hey! Don't decide for me, Yuno!" Nash raised his voice as Yuno completely ignored him.

"Awesome! Thanks guys! We're probably going to want to get a little further away from the church for this though." Asta said as he started walking away from the church, gesturing for everyone to follow him.

"Tch, fine. I guess I have no choice. This better not take too long." Nash groaned and reluctantly followed the three of you away from the church, a ways out just beyond the fence surrounding the perimeter of the property.

"Okay, what is it you wanted me and Yuno for?" Nash sighed, sounding highly uninterested in the matter.

"We need you two to attack Lil using your magic." Asta put it bluntly as a worried look crept onto Yuno's face and Nash's jaw dropped in disbelief.

"Asta, are you crazy?! I can't attack Lily! She's the only blood-relative I have that matters to me! What if I seriously injure or even kill her?! I would never be able to forgive myself nor you. Me because she got hurt or died by my hands. And you because you were the one that insisted on it." Yuno raised his voice at Asta, upset that he asked him to attack you and risk putting you in danger.

"Yeah and I don't even have a grimoire yet!" Nash pointed out, still trying to weasel his way out of the request.

"You can still use magic though, can't you? Grimoires only enhance your magic power not grant it to you, remember?" Asta told Nash who adverted his gaze to the side and crossed his arms in a pout.

"I-I know that already! Believe me, I don't need a magic-less freak lecturing me about a grimoire's purpose. But seriously, am I really strong enough for this kind of exercise?" Nash asked Asta, turning back towards him, tilting his head up so he could look Asta in the eyes.

"As long as you can use your fire magic to attack, you should be good. Besides, we've got Yuno here for the big guns!" Asta said, roughly clapping his hand against Yuno's upper back. Yuno just rolled his eyes.

"Hey! Are you saying that I'm weak?!" Nash raised his voice at Asta who just chuckled, not answering the boy's question.

"No, I'm not doing this. I'm not going to put Lily at risk like this." Yuno said, crossing his arms in defiance. Seeing that Yuno wasn't going agree to the request now knowing what he had to do, you decided to try reasoning with him yourself. You grabbed onto Yuno's arm and clung to it. He looked at you as you stared up into his golden yellow eyes with your storm blue ones. Asta gave Yuno a jealous glare.

"Yuno, I really need your help for this. If you're not willing to use your magic against me, I'll never get stronger. If I ever had to defend myself against a strong opponent, I would be in greater danger because I wouldn't be prepared. Besides, I have anti-magic weapons and so does Asta. If I can't handle yours and Nash's attacks, he can step in and assist me. Yunooo, your pwecious little sister really needs you! Pleeease, for me?" You pleaded while clinging onto Yuno's arm even tighter and looked up at him with a sad puppy dog look of desperation. You were 4'10" and Yuno was 5'6" so you were literally his little sister. Yuno just sighed and shook his head. He couldn't bring himself to say no to you, his precious twin sister.

"Alright, fine. But if you get hurt or end up dead, I'm never going to forgive myself nor Asta." Yuno finally gave in as you smiled.

"Yay! Thanks Yuno, you're the best! Anyways, you don't have to worry so much. Geez! You're like an overprotective older brother. And besides, I'm stronger than you think I am. I'll think I'd be just fine if you went all out." You said to Yuno, giving him a hug then playfully punching his shoulder.

"But I am your older brother. You said I was born right before you, right? We are twins, but I'm the older one of us two." Yuno said with a playful smirk.

"Sh-shut up." You said while pouting. Yuno found your little sister pout absolutely adorable. He chuckled which was rare for him. Asta cleared his throat to get everyone's attention and began to explain the theory and strategy to Yuno and Nash.

"... and that's why we need two people with different types of magic, one needing to be wind magic, to test out this theory. Everyone understand?" Asta finished explaining everything as Yuno and Nash nodded their heads, showing that they understood.

"Okay! Yuno and Nash, you guys move further away from Lil and prepare yourselves. Lil, you get ready too. I'll go off to the side with my sword in hand so I'm out of the way and ready to intervene if needed. When I say, you guys can start sparring. Remember you only need to cast one offensive spell." Asta said as he summoned his sword and ran to his position while Yuno and Nash went to theirs and prepared themselves for the battle. You opened your grimoire and pulled out the nodachi sword you summoned earlier and stood in a defensive stance.

"Ready? Start!" Asta shouted as Yuno flipped open his grimoire and made the first move, Nash following his lead.

"Wind Creation Magic: Swift White Hawk!" Yuno spoke loudly as air currents gathered and swirled, taking the form of a large hawk that was opaque white in color.

"Fire Creation Magic: Blazing Fist of Fury!" Nash yelled as a good sized flame formed a fist shape and raced towards you at incredible speed and Yuno's hawk followed the fiery fist, not far behind. Yuno watched in anticipation and concern as you charged towards the two magic attacks and slashed your sword right through the fist, making it split and dissipate. The tiny flame mana particles were quickly absorbed into your sword the same way the wind mana particles were absorbed into your scythe when you were fighting your older brother. The hawk, however, quickly dodged out of your sword's range, made a swift circle around you and dove straight at you with ridiculous speed. A look of fear and terror quickly washed over Yuno's face as the hawk stormed toward you with its talons aimed at your heart, ready to rip right through you.

"Lily!" Yuno shouted in your direction as he just watched helplessly. Tears started to form at the corner of his eyes as it looked like the large bird of prey was about to end your life by tearing right through your body. But in the last second right before the hawk was about to collide with you head on, you leaped high into the air and quickly used the momentum to propel yourself into a front flip with your sword held above your head with both hands. Your sword sliced through the predatory bird as it passed beneath you. It let out a screech of what seemed like agony before it too dissipated into tiny particles of mana and was absorbed by your blade. You landed from your midair somersault, kneeling on your right knee with your left hand planted on the ground and the sword in your right hand pointed diagonally backward away from your body. Asta, Yuno, and Nash just stood there slack-jawed in astonishment.

'See, Yuno? I told you not to worry so much about me. I'm much more capable of holding my own than you realize. And it's all thanks to training with Asta.' You said mentally as you looked up and flashed your twin brother a confident smile. Yuno sighed with relief that you were completely unharmed. He was really impressed with how quickly you reacted and how smoothly you executed your move. You set your nodachi sword on the ground. You held out your left hand below your glowing, floating grimoire and willed it to descend into your hand. Resting the grimoire on one of your knees, you quickly flipped through it to see if anything about it changed. You saw that the wind-based spells were black just like the weapon summoning spells. New fire-based spells had been added and were solid black in color as well. But the most exciting change you noticed were the prominent black glyphs of wind and fire combo spells inscribed on the pages. You stood up and stuck your nodachi sword blade into the ground.

"Okay, now let's begin the real test! Wind & Fire Creation Magic Combo: Towering Flame Tornado!" You shouted as your grimoire glowed an even brighter blue and levitated off your hand, hovering above it. When the aura of your grimoire brightened, two massive mana tendrils formed in the sky and began to twist and circle around each other. One of them made of wind and the other made of fire. They spiraled closer and closer to each other, picking up in speed until they unified and touched the ground as a single terrifyingly destructive force. The fiery vortex scorched and tore at the ground as it rotated rapidly and violently. A massive cloud of smoke quickly spread throughout the area as the grass surrounding the raging hot twister caught fire and burned. The blazing funnel continued to spin ruthlessly in place until multiple fists made of water slammed down on it, eventually putting it out along with the fire that had begun to spread out from the base of the tornado when the grass around it had caught aflame. As soon as the swirling pillar of flame was out, Sister Lily ran towards you all.

"What are you guys doing?!" She raised her voice at the four of you. She was clearly upset and concerned about all of you.

"Hey Sister Lily! Did you see how awesome Lil was?!" Asta ignored Sister Lily's question and enthusiastically bragged about you, which made you blush out of flattery. She gave him a stern expression. But you could see her relief which slightly softened her facial expression.

"Thank God I put out that fire tornado when I did. That was extremely reckless of you guys! You could have destroyed the church and village! Or worse, you could have severely injured or killed yourselves and others!" Sister Lily scolded you four.

"But all of us are alive and unharmed, aren't we? No one else is hurt either. And there wasn't any significant damage dealt to the land thanks to you. Don't worry, we're done experimenting now." You reassured Sister Lily with a wide cheerful grin. A small smile formed on her face which was replaced by a look of curiosity shortly after.

"So what exactly were you guys up to out here?" Sister Lily asked the four of you. Asta responded to her question, raising his index finger upwards.

"We were testing out a theory I developed regarding a mystery with Lil's grimoire." Asta answered Sister Lily straightforwardly as she tilted her head to the side, seeming a bit puzzled.

"A theory?" She asked as you took over and explained everything to her. You began with the moment your grimoire first appeared when your siblings attacked you and Asta. Next, you described what happened during your training match with Asta (obviously leaving out the sex scene). Then you told her about the theory Asta developed on how your grimoire worked and the details of the spell runes printed on the pages that you noticed. To help her better understand, you showed Sister Lily the contents of your grimoire. You pointed out how all the magic-based spells were a faded gray but the weapon summoning spells were solid black. And finally, you explained every detail of what happened during your battle with Yuno and Nash. Asta, Yuno, and Nash occasionally nodded and added their inputs. Sister Lily listened to every word, amazed and intrigued. After you finished your explanation, Asta concluded the story.

"It turned out my theory was correct. And we couldn't have solved this mystery without these guys." Asta said, smiling as he wrapped his arms around Yuno and Nash roughly but playfully, pulling them in towards him.

"We had to do this in order to confirm Asta's theory. I needed to figure out how my grimoire works. After all, I won't be very useful to the magics knights if I don't even know how to use my own grimoire. But I'll admit, that was pretty reckless. Sorry for worrying you, Sister." You apologized to the nun who smiled then shook her head and sighed.

"Well I'm just glad you're all okay and the situation didn't get out of control. You were lucky the church grounds only received minimal damage and there were no injuries or casualties. Anyways, you guys must be exhausted from your battle. How about coming in to rest while Father and I prepare lunch?" Sister Lily said as she turned around and headed back toward the church building. Father and the other three orphans Rekka, Arlu, and Horo were waiting in front of the double doors. Along the short walk to the church, Sister Lily occasionally glanced back at the four of you as you all discussed the highlights of the theory test and exchanged praises. While observing your interactions with the three males, she noticed just how much of an impact you've had on each of them since you became part of the family.

'Lily really is an amazing girl and has a lot of potential. She's kind, caring, encouraging, strong, and ambitious. And she has quite an influence on the three oldest boys of our foster family. Nash seems less sullen and more hopeful, even gaining a little more confidence in his magic abilities. Yuno's aloof disposition has softened a bit and seems happier overall. But the one who's affected by her the most is Asta. Even before he met her, Asta always worked hard to prove himself. But when Lily entered his life, he started training more than ever before. And when he's by her side, he always looks so happy. You can hear the enthusiasm in his voice every time he talks about her or directly to her. The fact that Lily has no magic power like Asta forms a deeper connection between them through mutual understanding. Whenever he's with her, he seems so relaxed as if he feels completely free to be himself around her. It's like all the tension in his body melts away, knowing that she can fully relate to and understand his struggles. Asta, you've found someone very special. I hope you realize soon that Lily is your one and only, not me.' Sister Lily mentally reflected as she arrived at the front entrance of the church and let herself in. You stopped in your tracks at the double wooden doors and faced Asta, Yuno and Nash who did the same. You approached Nash and knelt down, putting your hand on his shoulder. He averted his gaze to the side at the ground, trying to avoid eye contact.

"Hey, thanks a bunch for helping me out. You're pretty good with your fire magic, especially for not even owning a grimoire yet. I think you'll have no problem getting into a magic knight squad when you're old enough." You thanked and encouraged Nash. He raised his head and looked you in the eyes, a small glimmer of hope danced in his purple orbs like a faint candle flame.

"Thanks, but I wasn't that good. But if you and Asta get into a magic knight squad, I'll start to believe in myself and train hard to pass the Magic Knight's Entrance Exam!" Nash said as a small hopeful smile appeared on his face.

"That's the spirit, Nash!" You said in an upbeat tone, patting Nash on the shoulder. He motioned for you to come closer. You leaned in closer to Nash as he raised his hand up to your ear, speaking in a hushed tone so no one else could hear.

"But just between you and me, I think you have a much better chance of becoming a magic knight than Asta does." Nash whispered into your ear as you giggled and pulled away.

"Aww that's so sweet of you Nash. I'm glad you have faith in my skills and abilities. But I think Asta has a pretty good chance of getting into a magic knight squad too." You said as Asta glanced back and forth between you and Nash with a puzzled look on his face.

"What are you guys talking about?" Asta asked as he tilted his head to the side and twisted his pinky inside his ear.

"Don't worry about it Asta. It's nothing to be concerned about." You said with a smile as you flicked your hand up and down, dismissing the subject. You then walked up to Yuno as Nash went ahead inside the church.

"Thank you so much for helping me out even though it was potentially dangerous. I really appreciate it. But I can understand why you were reluctant to participate in my grimoire theory test. You didn't want to hurt your long-lost twin sister that you've only known for a few years now. After all, we were separated from each other not even a day after our birth fifteen years ago, only meeting for the first time ten years later. It really meant a lot to me when you finally agreed to battle against me even though there was a chance it could end in disaster. But thanks to you, I've figured out how this grimoire of mine works. And now I can become even stronger." You said as you gave Yuno a bear hug. He returned the embrace then ruffled your hair.

"You're welcome Lily. You are my precious twin sister after all. I realized that taking the risk was more important than halting your progression." Yuno said, smiling softly before he went ahead and opened one of the double doors. But before he went inside, he looked back at you as you approached Asta with a faint blush on your face. A small smile formed on Yuno's face because he knew you had a crush on Asta. He really wished that Asta would just give up on Sister Lily already and go after you instead. Normally, a good older brother would be particularly overprotective of their sister when it came to dating, but Yuno grew up with Asta so he trusted him with you. But he wouldn't hesitate to intervene in order to protect you from any kind of harm. Since he wasn't there for the first ten years of your life, he felt even more obligated to look after you as the older twin of the two of you. Yuno went ahead inside the church and shut the door so you could talk with Asta privately.

"Asta, thanks so much for everything: for taking me in and adding me to your family, for encouraging me and giving me hope, and for helping me get stronger. I may have been born to a royal family and never had to worry about food or money while I lived with them. But these past five years of living in Hage Village with you and everyone else have been the best few years of my entire life. Even though it's a vastly different lifestyle, I prefer this little village over the castle back in the Spade Kingdom. And it's all because of you, Asta. You made me feel truly loved and valued which, for me, is something that money and social status can never do. Thank you for giving me a life worth living. You'll always be the most important person in my heart." You said as you leaned in close to Asta's face and gave him a sweet kiss on the lips. As you pulled away, Asta leaned in more as if he didn't want the kiss to end yet.

"Come on, let's join the others for lunch." You said as you gently grabbed his hand and opened one of the church doors and led him inside the building.