Chapter Text
There are times in life where people are tested, where they are changed for better or worse.
Most people call those defining moments. Asta was going through one of them right now.
The 13 year old was bruised and bloody while his adopted brother was clean and crying his eyes out. As were the other kids in the church/orphanage.
Tears were falling from his eyes but they weren't from his injuries, it was from his perceived failure. His lack of strength had cost someone he cared about deeply happiness.
The object of his distress, Lily Aquaria was putting on a brave face as she turned in her robes.
“Lily Aquaria, you have broken your vows by taking the life of another. Turn in your robes and leave the church.”
Lily did as instructed with tears falling from her eyes, the Father took them with misty eyes.
“You may return to the church one day, but never as a sister. Do you understand?”
“Yes Father.”
The kids swarmed her and in tears and gripped her clothes. “Don't leave sister please!” They cried to her.
Lily struggled to remove herself from the kids as she bent down to hug them.
“Don't worry kids, you'll see me again I promise. But you still have each other so take care of one another alright.”
They nodded at her words and as she pulled herself away from them they reached for her but grabbed nothing but air.
As she walked out the door the only sounds in the church were the wails of children.
Asta blamed himself for this. If he was stronger he could have beat that guy and got Yuno’s necklace back.
If he was stronger he could have stopped him from nearly choking him to death. If he was stronger Sister Lily wouldn't have killed him.
Abruptly he got up and ran out of the church.
“Asta wait!” Yuno called out to him and tried to follow him but the Father stopped him. “Let him go, he needs time.”
Asta ran with all his might until he got to the edge of town where Lily was.
“SISTER LILY!”
She turned around in shock at his shout and found Asta panting in tears.
“Asta?”
“I promise, one day I'll be stronger and I'll make up for this! I’ll be the wizard King and make you happy!” Lily started to cry again as she made her way to him.
“Oh Asta, you don’t have to make up for anything. I made the choice to defend you two and I don't regret it. But I’ll hold you to it ok.”
Asta didn't say anything, but he felt warm lips on his forehead.
“I'll see you someday Asta.”
Asta didn’t go back to the church, instead he went to his favorite place to be alone. The demon's skull, the only thing special about his quiet home. The skull of the demon defeated by the first wizard king.
The mark of his dream.
As he sat there with nothing but the animals and the wind as company, the only thing he could think was…
“Stronger!”
“I have to get stronger, stronger than anybody!”
At that moment Asta didn’t want strength for his dream of being the wizard king, he wanted it because he didn’t want to feel weak anymore.
Suddenly the air grew heavy and frigid. Asta’s heart started to thump in unexplainable fear. Suddenly a book, no, a grimoire, rose from the ground in front of Asta.
It was glowing an ominous red and seemed to be waiting in the air for Asta.
“Is this a grimoire? But I don't have magic.” Asta grabbed the book cautiously and the red glow disappeared as did the pressure in the air.
He opened it and the glow returned and the hilt of a sword appeared from the pages. As soon as Asta grabbed it he felt something strange enter his body. When he pulled it from the book Asta had a sword that was even bigger than him and way heavier.
A normal child probably wouldn’t be able to lift such a weapon, but Asta has always been stronger than other kids. Naturally and because he trained his body to make up for having zero magic.
Asta swung the sword and it took his entire body with it, he stumbled and fell over in a second.
“Owww.”
When he looked and saw the sword still there he laughed, his earlier troubles momentarily forgotten because he had a grimoire. But that brought him to how.
You're supposed to get a grimoire at 16, but Asta was only 13. Plus as much as he hated to admit, he didn’t have magic. And while he would never give up, he had little hope of obtaining any.
So how was he staring at a floating, glowing, book right now.
“Wait, does this mean I have magic now?!” He shouted in excitement. But he didn’t feel any different.
Yuno says he can feel the mana inside himself, but Asta felt nothing. He decided not to worry about it for now and inspect his grimoire.
He looked at the outside that was nearly pitch black, it almost looked burned or stained by dirt that would never come off. Even the pages were not clean.
What caught his eye the most was the symbol on it. A five leaf clover.
“I’ve never heard of a five leaf clover before.”
He looked inside it, as he remembered that grimoires hold a mage’s spells. He checked the pages and he only had one.
“The Demon Slayer Sword, that sounds so badass!” The demon slayer was the sword he pulled out. A great sword with a cross hilt and a wide body. When he read what it did his eyes widened.
“This thing can cut through magic!”
Asta desperately wanted to test it out but he didn’t know where he could get some magic to test it on. Then he remembered his brother. A wide grin took over his face as he formed his plan.
He went back to the church where he found no one. He quickly went to his and Yuno’s shared room where he found the boy sitting on his bed gripping his necklace.
“Yuno.” When he heard Asta’s voice a smile made its way to his face.
“Asta!”
Asta shushed him and Yuno looked confused and shocked at that. He motioned for Yuno to follow him and the boy did so. He took him to the forest and stopped when he felt far enough away.
“Asta what are we doing out here?”
“I’m gonna show you something cool.” Asta said before he pulled his grimoire from under his shirt.
“What's that old book?”
“It's my grimoire.” The shock on Yuno’s face was palpable.
“That's impossible, you only can get a grimoire once you turn 16.”
“I know but look.” Asta opened the book and the hilt of the Demon Slayer appeared and he pulled it out. Yuno’s eyes were wide in awe as he stared at the intimidating sword.
“But how?”
“I don’t know but it's cool right.”
“Way cool.”
Asta felt immense happiness at being the center of praise even if it was only from one person. He never did get any considering his lack of magic.
“Yuno, I need you to shoot magic at me.”
“What why?” He said, sounding worried.
“Just trust me okay. Think of it like our training.” Yuno seemed to deliberate with himself for a moment before he nodded. Wind started to swirl around his hands before he sent a blast of it at Asta.
Asta swung his sword with all his might and nearly fell over again but to his surprise and happiness he cut through the wind.
“It worked, it worked.”
“What did you do?”
“This sword can cut through magic.”
“That's incredible!”
Asta looked at the sword with a smile but inside his head a plan was forming, something he knew no one in the church would like.
“Hey Asta, let's get stronger okay. And one day we can take the magic knights exam!”
“You read my mind Yuno, like I said I'm gonna be the Wizard King!” But Yuno said something that shocked Asta.
“No I will.” Yuno was uncharacteristically determined and passionate. Asta smiled at him.
“That means we're rivals now Yuno, and don't think I'll lose to you just because I don't have magic!”
“Of course!”
The boys walked closer and bumped fist.
“To be the Wizard King!” They said together.
/
It had been a week since the events that led to Asta getting his grimoire. He didn’t tell anybody but Yuno about it and he told him not to say anything.
He didn’t know how he could explain it or how the others would react, though he did ask the father what a five leafed clover meant and safe to say the answer thoroughly shocked Asta.
“A demon!?”
“Yes, the fourth leaf is gifted with good luck, and in the fifth resides a demon.” The Father noticed how worried Asta looked.
“Don't worry Asta, it's just a myth.” He said, rubbing the boy’s head affectionately.
“R-right a myth.”
Asta was scared of his grimoire for a few days after that. A demon hadn't appeared yet so he felt in the clear. But in the back of his mind he never forgot that ominous pressure he felt when it first appeared.
He was currently checking over his body, his bruises were starting to disappear and that meant his time in Hage village was coming to a close. At least for the time being.
Asta plans to leave the village to train for the magic knights exam. He’ll take it the same time as Yuno so that gives him 3 years.
He planned to go to someplace called the Grand Magic Zone, he felt he could get a lot of good training there. Plus he could learn how much magic he could cut.
He didn’t tell Yuno he was leaving, but he knew it was the right call. If he had said something Yuno would try to come along and frankly Asta knew this wouldn’t be safe.
Plus he would feel too guilty about leaving the kids, he already feels plenty of guilt about it.
After he was finished checking his wounds he got busy writing a note for his family. When he was finished he realized that everything was done. All he had to do was wait for nightfall.
He made sure to spend his time wisely, he went out and played with the kids, talked to Yuno and Father.
When the day was over he and everyone was asleep he left the note on the altar where he knew the Father would find it and snuck out. He had a small sack of Potatoes and a small bag of clothes. He also had a map on him.
He made his way to the demon skull first and looked over the village for that last time in a while.
“Bye guys, I’ll see you again in three years and when I come back I’ll be so strong I'll blow you away!”
He turned his back with tears falling from his eyes, it was so much harder to leave than he thought. As he was walking away a bird landed on his shoulder.
It looked at him with a cold but curious stare.
“You want to come with me?” The bird nodded.
“Hmm you're pretty smart huh, ok then if you want to come how about I give you a name. Are you a boy?” The bird pecked him relentlessly for his guess.
“Ow ow ow i get it you're a girl.” The bird landed back on his shoulder and nodded her head.
“Ok what about Nero?” The bird shrugged her shoulders.
“Ok then Nero it is. I’m glad you're with me Nero, I would've gotten lonely by myself.”
/
The next day at the church Yuno woke up and looked for Asta but couldn’t find him. He ran around the church and checked the demon skull but he wasn’t there.
“Father, have you seen Asta?” The Father looked grim.
“Yuno, Asta’s gone.” Yuno paused.
“What are you talking about?”
“He left last night. He wrote it down in this note.” Yuno took the note with haste.
Hey guys if you’re reading this it means I’m gone. I’m leaving the village so I can become stronger, so I can be the wizard king. I promise to be back in three years when Yuno gets his grimoire, so until then take care of yourselves and I'm sorry.
Yuno was gripping the edges of the paper so hard they were nearly ripping. Wind started to spin around his form in a rage before he threw the paper and ran off.
He went to the forest and started to cry.
“How could you leave me behind like that Asta?” His sadness turned to anger and his anger turned to determination.
He would stop being a crybaby and become strong. Like Asta, like sister Lily. He would be strong enough to make anything happen.
The wind around Yuno reflected his determination and swirled calmly.
“I’ll be the Wizard king.”