The cavern trembled beneath the weight of despair as Vetto's laughter echoed off the walls. The air itself seemed to press down on the Black Bulls who were still conscious, thick with the overpowering malice of the Beast Mage. His third eye burned brightly, an unnatural magic swirling around him as if the very mana of the world was bending to his will.
Noelle struggled to stand, panting heavily, her magic slightly exhausted after unleashing Sea Dragon's Roar earlier. Blood streaked down her face, mixing with sweat as she clutched her grimoire, her hands trembling. Her eyes flickered to Kahono and Kiato, both collapsed on the damp stone floor, their bodies bruised and bloodied. Kahono's voice, had fallen silent with her throat crushed, and Kiato only had on functioning leg, the other one severed by Vetto in one strike.
Vetto grinned as he clenched his fist and raised it back. The air around it rippling as his mana coiled and crackled with deadly intent. It was no spell, but a punch—one brimming with overwhelming power, enough to reduce anything it touched to dust.
"You almost killed me," said Vetto, "Allow me to repay you with the despair of death."
In the brink of death, Asta's view of the world seemed to shift. His head turned as his eyes tracked the fist. He recognized the target immediately.
Noelle.
She couldn't see it coming. Even if she could, her body was too worn out to move and her only defensive spell was too slow to form in time, and that's assuming it would withstand the impact.
Asta's breathing suddenly hitched, his pulse pounding in his ears as time seemed to stretch impossibly thin. Instinct screamed at him to move, to act. His body followed.
"Noelle!" His voice cut through the suffocating air, desperate yet resolute.
He lunged.
With all the strength his battered body could muster, Asta threw himself between Noelle and the monstrous blow. He didn't think—there wasn't time to think—he simply moved.
The impact came like a thunderclap.
Vetto's mana-enhanced fist struck Asta squarely in the gut. A sickening crunch echoed as bones shattered under the force. Blood exploded from Asta's mouth, spraying the ground in front of him as the sheer momentum of the punch sent him flying backwards, crashing into the stone behind him with a deafening boom. Dust and debris flew everywhere as the cavern wall cracked and cratered beneath Vetto from the backlash.
"Asta!" Noelle screamed, her voice raw with terror. She tried to stagger forward, but her legs betrayed her and she fell on all four limbs.
"Damn it." She screamed internally, "Just move already"
The dust began to settle, and there, lying motionless amidst the rubble, was Asta.
His grimoire lay several feet away, fluttering weakly as though mourning its wielder. His arms were sprawled, one trembling hand still reaching out as if trying to grab onto something just beyond his reach.
Noelle crawled toward him, her tears spilling freely. He can't be—
But Asta's chest moved, barely—each breath labored, shallow, and wet with blood.
Vetto tilted his head, an unamused snarl curling across his face. "So much for that resolve," he sneered. "What a waste."
Noelle's heart pounded in her chest as she turned toward Vetto. Rage, grief, and helplessness ignited something within her. The look in her eye told Vetto everything. She was getting it back in blood. Her magic flared uncontrollably, as it responded to the rollercoaster of emotions within her and a shimmering blue mana erupting around her.
"You... I'll never forgive you!" Her voice trembled, but her mana surged beyond her control, spiraling in jagged arcs. She raised her wand and took aim.
Vetto's confidence wavered, his grin twitched slightly. The resolve in Noelle's eyes shocked him. She wasn't crumbling in despair. No, this was something else entirely.
She wasn't out for vengeance.
Sea Dragon's Roar manifested once more, far larger and wilder than before. She gripped the wand with both hands, forcing it forward with every last ounce of her strength as she forced even more magic into it. The colossal mystic wyrm of water tore through the air, its roar echoing like a storm as it shot toward Vetto.
Vetto sensed danger. He readied the only defensive spell he currently had. His grimoire flipped to a page and glowed omiously.
"Beast Magic; Rhinoceros Armor!"
A thick orange layer of magic surrounded his body and cry
The spell struck true, punching clean through Vetto's chest. The creature punctured the magical armor he wore, followed by a massive hole bursting through his torso, blood and mana spraying outward in a grotesque arc. The damage dealt was far greater than the first attack by Noelle.
Rather than tear of the arm from the sheer force, The much bigger attack had torn half of Vetto's upper body and a good chunk of the leg beneath it. For a moment, it looked as though victory had been won.
Noelle slumped to her knees, her body collapsing from the overuse of her mana. Her vision blurred, blackness clawing at the edges of her sight as she murmured Asta's name.
And yet—Vetto still stood. Somehow.
Blood poured from the gaping wound, but his monstrous grin remained, wide and unnerving. He coughed, his third eye gleaming brighter as he stumbled forward, then laughed—a low, guttural sound that sent chills down the spines of everyone still conscious.
"I am despair," he growled, his voice ragged but full of vile triumph. "And you… will know what it means to lose everything."
Dark mana began to coil around his body, consuming him in a swirling, suffocating cocoon of magic. The entire cavern rumbled as his energy surged to catastrophic levels. This wasn't the ordinary recharge. That amount of mana couldn't possibly be hold inside a living being's body. Trying to keep it bottled would up to much internal mana pressure, resulting to a massive explosion proportional to the amount of mana gathered. The chances of Vetto not knowing this were either slim or null, meaning it's intentional. That meant one thing, and one thing alone.
"A… self-destruct?" Venessa gasped weakly, her voice barely audible.
"No…" Finral muttered, his face twisted in horror. "He'll take everything with him."
With the amount of mana Vetto was absorbing, he could wipe out the temple alongside the nearby village, as well as everyone inside it.
The Black Bulls, those still standing, scrambled to react, but the overwhelming power froze them in place.
Then, he appeared.
Yami had a bad habit of arriving late when he was needed most in very important occasions. This time however, he got lucky. Bursting through the cavern wall, he landed on the stone floor with his katan at the ready. He didn't need a debrief. He could tell what Vetto was planning to do from the ki he was giving off. He had already surpassed his limits trying to get to his squad. In doing so, he had learned a new spell that was worth it's cost. Despite his already wavering belief in its power, it was time to surpass his limits one more time.
He raised his trusty katana above his head, its blade already pouring out an unnatural darkness that flowed like a liquid along the cutting edge.
"Dark Magic;Dark Cloaked…" he shouted, his voice slicing through the chaos.
The cocoon of mana shuddered.
"Dimension Slash!"
He brought it down. The effect was immediate. A black slash erupted forward, cleaving through Vetto's cocoon of mana like paper. The whole temple suddenly shook as the whole building was shook to its very foundation.
Time froze as Vetto's eyes widened in disbelief before the light left them entirely.
The Beast of Despair was cut down. Permanently
Vetto's massive form fell, his final roar drowned by the silence that followed.
But Yami's relief was short-lived. His sharp eyes scanned the battlefield, falling on Asta's broken body. His heart sank as he sprinted toward him.
"Oi… kid," Yami muttered as he knelt beside him. The sight was brutal—Asta's face pale, blood pooling around him from nearly every possible exit from his body. He brought his hand to his neck, checking for a pulse.
He found it. It was slow and weak, but very much there. He held a sigh of relief. The state of Asta's body shouted while the pulse did nothing but whisper.
Somehow, Asta was alive, despite the damage dealt by Vetto's punch. stirred. His eyelids were closed shut, but what muttered most was his health, and it was at an all time low.
"Captain…"
Asta's eyelids slowly fluttered open. The world was blurry but he could recognize his captain's white tank top anywhere.
Yami swallowed hard. "What the hell were you thinkin', dumbass? You're not planning to die, are you?" Despite the relative plainess he delivered his lines, Asta could tell he was worried sick from his ki.
Asta smiled weakly, the same determined glint lingering in his fading gaze. "I… I had to… keep my friends safe." He coughed violently, blood dribbling down his chin.
The rest of the Black Bulls gathered around, their faces pale with shock and grief. Yami could sense his Ki fading. Suddenly, the temple priest jumped in through the opening. Behind him a few villagers he had gathered with recovery magic. He had
His trembling hand lifted slightly, as if reaching for something unseen.
"To Yuno… tell him…" His voice cracked. Tears streamed down their faces as Asta's smile lingered.
"…Sorry… I couldn't… keep our promise."
With one final breath, his hand fell still.