A few months had passed since Asta had gotten his grimiore. Currently inside the forest where the demon skull was located, he was training for the magic knights entrance exam that would be taking place in the capital. He was shirtless as he cut into a large rock with his giant black sword, "997, 998, 999" he said as he cut into the rock, he then placed the sword into the ground as he took a drink from his cantine.
"Uh, Yunos probably still training right now so I should probably still keep going" he said picking up the sword again when he heard footsteps from behind him, "Come to see me training huh" he said thinking it was Yuno. But when he turned around he looked to see one of the kids from the orphanage with a bored look on his face, "Oh hey Nash, what are you doing here".
"Not much, I was looking for an idiot doing stupid things and it looks like I succeeded" he said with a bored look on his face making Asta looking annoyed, "What are you doing anyway".
"I'm training, gotta get stronger" said Asta resting the sword on his shoudler.
"Why are you even going to the exam when you know you'll fail, you may have that sword now but you still have no magic" he said.
"Don't underestimate me, I'll join the magic knights and become the wizard king" said Asta smiling.
"NO YOU CANT" yelled Nash surprising Asta, "Were commoners, people like us don't get to achieve our dreams" he said looking annoyed. Asta didn't say anything as he slowly walked over to Nash.
"I DON'T WANT TO HEAR THAT FROM YOU UNDERSTAND" he yelled smacking Nash on the top of his head, "I'm going to achieve this dream, to show everyone that peopl like us can succeed" he said as he grabbed the handle of his sword and cut into the rock as he began his count again. Nash just stood there looking surprised.
A few days later in the morning Asta and Yuno stood outside the church where the other kids, the priest and sister Lily were saying theirs goodbyes.
"Now Yuno we all believe in you, make sure to make the village proud" said the priest looking at Yuno who nodded. He then looked at Asta, "Now Asta remember you always have a home here even if you fail" he said making Asta look annoyed.
"Hey Cmon don't you have any faith in me" he said.
"Asta" said Nash, "I'm not saying I believe in you, but by some small miracle you do join a magic knights squad, I'll start believing people like us can dream" he said.
"Thanks Nash" said Asta smiling.
"I hope you remember who that girl is Asta" said sister Lily.
"Thanks sister Lily, alright Yuno let's get going" said Asta picking up his bag. The two of them left the village and began their journey to the capital.
As they were walking through a forest, "Asta have you thought about what your going to say to the girl if you remember her" asked Yuno?
"Well I guesss the first thing I'll say is sorry I forgot about you" he said rubbing the back of his head looking embarrassed, "But for now I'm going to focus on joining the magic knights, plus this journey is long so it's the perfect opportunity to train" he said smiling as he ran ahead. Yuno then started running aswell.
The two of them took a break looking exhausted, but then a few seconds later they started running again. When they were passing by a large cliff small boulders started falling towards them. Asta destroyed one of the boulders with his sword while Yuno used his wind magic to destroy the rest.
One night the two of them were eating the meat of the boar Asta had taken down, "I wish the people at the church could have some of this" said Asta.
"Yeah" said Yuno.
The two of them then reached the capital the next day. The capital was full with people and there were stalls with some people selling food, "Whoa this place is big" said Asta looking around surprised.
"This is the capital after all" siad Yuno looking calm.
"Whoa look at all this" siad Asta looking through a store window which had different kind of weapons, magical items, he then noticed a gem in the window, there was large piece of paper in front and there were a lot of zeros after the number nine, "It costs that much" he said looking shocked.
"This is where the nobles and royalty live after all" said Yuno when they looked to see red haired woman with a baby in a small seat that was strapped to her back. There were two red haired boys and one red haired girl behind her. The woman was trying to pick up a bag she had dropped.
"Cmon we need to hurry back before my work starts, let's go" said the woman as she picked up the bag and started leading the kids away.
"Kind reminds you of the others back at the church huh" said Asta. Yuno nodddd agreeing with him.
As they walked through the the city Asta had gotten some food form an old lady in a cloak. It was grilled snake on a stick as he bit into it he noticed a large structure at the front of the city surrounded by a wall like the one in front fo the city.
"That must be the castle, does the wizard king live there" said Asta.
"Yeah but this country's king lives there aswell" said Yuno.
Asta smiled, "Well someday it's going to be my castle" he said pointing his first towards its direction.
"Actually it's going to be my castle" said Yuno calmly.
Asta turned around smiling ignoring what he said, "Tell you what, when I'm wizard king you can live with me there" he said.
Yuno smiled, "When I'm wizard king you'll be luckily to even get a room" he said.
The two of them then reached a large building that looked like an arena. There was a barricade set up, while people around their age were walking in to the opening of the building. On each side of the barricade people were cheering for the people from the village who would be taking the exam, "You can do it" one of the people yelled.
Inside the building people were walking up to a part of the wall where there was a hole that lead into a room where a wizard sat waiting. The wizard would touch a persons grimoire and then tell them what number they were. Yuno reached the wall and placed his grimoire in front of the man, "I'm Yuno from Hage" he said.
"Wow that's a four leaf clover grimoire" the man said looking surprised.
"That's him, he has the same grimoire the first wizard king had, but isn't he just a commoner from a far away village" some of the people said looking surpsied to see the person they had heard had been chosen by the four leaf clover grimoire.
The man placed his hand on Yunos grimoire making a magic light surround it, after removing his hand, "Your number 164" he said smiling as Yuno walked to opening in the wall that someone could walk through.
Asta walked up to the man next and placed his grimoire down, "I'm Asta from Hage Village also" he said smiling.
"Are you sure that's a grimoire" said the man looking bored at the state the grimoire was in.
"Of course it is can't you see" said Asta looking annoyed as he pushed his grimoire closer to the man.
The man placed his hand on Asta's grimoire making it light up like Yunos, after removing hs hand away from it he said, "Your number 165, next".
Asta then walked through the same path leading into a small round Arena. There was a second floor which had nine stone chairs facing the arena. There was already a crowd of people in the arena, but some of them were being surrounded by dark blue and white couloured birds.
"What are these things" said one man looking annoyed trying to make the multiple birds surrounding him go away.
"Their special birds that can detect how much magic power you have, the less magic power you have the more birds surround you, look at that guy" said a man pointing to Yuno who was surrounded by no birds looking calm.
"This where our journey begins huh Yuno" said Asta walking over to his rival. Yuno looked to see Asta surround by multiple birds, some of them were pecking at him, poking his clothes and one of them was moving his left cheek, "This where we become magic knights" he said. Asta then looked at all the birds surrounding him, "Ahh get off me will you" he said waving his hands at the birds while running away.
Asta then ran into someone tall, the birds surrounding him flew away. Asta looked up to see the man looking annoyed, he was wearing a white vest and aorund his neck was a small black rhobe, "He looks big for someone around our age, no wait I can just judge someone by their appearance" he thought. He then smiled placing his hand on the mans shoulder, "Sorry about that, you look really tall for your age, you must have had a hard life".
The man then grabbed Asta's head squeezing it, "Do you wanna die" he said annoyed as Asta screamed.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry please let me go" said Asta looking worried.
"5, 4" the man siad starting to count.
"What are you coutning down to" asked Asta?
"The time till I kill you" he said making Asta scream.
"There you are, where have you been" said someone walking into the arena. The man holding up Asta looked to see two people wearing rhobes simlilar to his. Their rhobes were black with a yellow line surrounding it. One of them was wearing a hat with the symbol of yellow bulls head on it, he has black highlights aorund his eyes and his face was white, the one next to him seemed to be wearing a green cloak underneath his small black rhobe.
"I had to take a dump and got lost" he answered.
"Wait those rhobes, their from the black bulls" siad one of the men in crowd.
"Yeah that's Finral the spacial magic user" said one of the women when Finral walked up to her holding up her hand.
"Well hello, you sure do look great today, I know you'll do great in the exam" he said mailing at the woman.
"Yeah and that's Gordon, I heard he always muttering to himself" said one man in the crowd. While he said that Gordon was muttering to himself silently.
"Wait then that means" said someone in the crowd poijng to the man who was still howling Asta, "That's the captain of the black bulls, Yami Sukihero".
Asta then looked serious as he gripped the arm that was holding his head. Yami looked a little surprised by the boys strength. There was a sound from above them and Yami let go of Asta dropping him to the ground, "You got lucky today kid, try to impress me won't you, let's go" he said walking out of the arena with Gordon and Finral following him.
"Good luck lady's" said Finral winking at the woman he was talking to earlier.
"Here you need a hand" said a voice above Asta. Asta looked up to see a man reaching out his right hand.
"Yeah thanks" said Asta grabbing his hand and allowed him to help him up.
"The names Sekkei, let's do our best together" he said smiling, "Perfect, if I stick with him I can make myself look better in comparison" he thought smiling. Above in the stands eight people walked over to the chairs. They were all wearing differenet coloured rhobes, each one respresenting their different squad. They were the other magic knight captains.
"Wow that's Charlotte Rosalie's, she's beautiful" said one man looking at woman who was wearing armour and a blue cape.
"That Fuegoleon Vermilion, Captain of the crimson lions" said another pointing to a man wearing a red cape. There was a symbol in the middle of his forehead that looked like a a star. There were red highlights under his eyes.
"There's Dorothys Insworth, Captain of Coral peacock, wait is she asleep" said a woman in the crowd. The captain of the coral peacock wore a pink witches hat and rhobes. Even though she was walking, she was asleep.
"That's Jack the Ripper, captain of the green mantis, I heard his cutting magic could cut through an entire mountain" said another person in the crowd. The captain of the green Mantis was wearing a small green cloak around his neck, he had a messy black hair and had a scar that went through his left eye.
"Hey look that's the captain of the silver eagles, Nozel Silva" said Sekkei.
Asta looked up at the silver eagles captain after hearing his name. The mans hair was done in a braid that went down the middle of his forehead. Asta then clutched his head in pain, "Hey what's going on" asked Sekkei looking confused?
"Nothing it's just, I've feel like I've heard that name somewhere before" said Asta looking confused.
A man wearing a mask and that covered the top of his head stepped forward. He was wearing the cloak of the golden dawn, "Welcome everyone to the magic knights entrance exam, please remember if you don't get accepted into a magic knights squad today you will have to leave" he said.
"That's William Vangeance, captain of the golden dawn" said Sekkei looking surprised while Asta and Yuno looked at the golden dawn captain of the golden dawn with a sirious look on their faces.
"So this the one who's closest to becoming the next wizard king" they both thought.
Up in the stands Yami sat down in his chair with Finral and Gordon standing behind him, "Could you have not shown up sooner, this is a sirious matter" said Feugoleon.
"Your sirioios enough for all of us Feugoleon" said Yami calmly.
"Yami this is important, some of the people here could be future comrades" said Charlotte siriously.
"Yeah alright" said Yami.
Nozel then had a surpsied look on his face meaning he sensed something, "Will you exuse me for a moment" he said getting up from where he was sitting and walked away.
"Charlotte is right this could very much effect these young people's futures, so let us begin" said William as his Grimoire opened up, "Now tree creation magic" he said. After he spoke these words a light shine over the arena as a giant tree started growing from the ground.
The people in the arena looked surprised as branches started to stretch out towards them, the branches then formed into brooms. Each person grabbed a broom looking confused, "Your first task will to show us how you can fly on a broom, this is one of the ways many magic knights travel to their missions" said William instructing them.
Some of the people started flying up their brooms, "Hey this isn't that difficult" said man who was flying a few inches from the ground.
"The more control you have over your magic power the better you can fly" said a man who was flying higher then the one who spoke, "Look at him" he said pointing up at Yuno was standing on his broom looking calm.
"It seems we have some promising candidates this year" said William was Yuno flew around easily on his broom.
Asta however was struggling, he was gripping his broom tight trying to make it fly, "Whats going on, even if he has a small bit of magic he should be able to get his feet off the gorund" said Feugoleon ndering why he easng even able to fly off the ground.
"Hey Asta try to focus and it will work" said Sekkei who was flying above Asta.
"I'm trying" said Asta still struggling.
Inside the arena standing behind a pillar a girl holding one of the brooms, this was Noelle who had grown since the day she had met Asta, her hair was done into two pony tails that went down each side of her face and was wearing a white dress, "Okay, now to try and" she said about to walk into the area when someone spoke.
"What do you think your doing" asked Nozel with a calm look on his face.
"Oh brother Nozel, I was just going to" she began to say when he interrupted her.
"I already told you that royalty do not have to take part in such tests, there's no point in participating when your path has already been chosen" said Nozel turning around.
"Yes I know but I wanted to" said Noelle. But before she could finish her sentence Nozel had walked away to return to the other magic knight captains. Noelle then looked towards the crowd of people with a sad look on her face, "I wonder if you're here today, Asta" she thought. She then looked worried wondering if he even still remembers when they met.
Over the course of the exam people were given differenet kinds of tests. There was when they were tasked what damage they could to to the wall with their magic power, Asta was able to cause a little damage with his fist. They were then tested to show what they could create with their magic but Asta wasn't able to create anything. They were then tested to use their magic power to make a plant grow, Asta's plant stayed as a seed.
"Now we have reached the final test" said William getting everyone's attention, "It will be a one on one battle" he said making the people in the crowd look surprised.
Feugoleon quickly stood up, "As this countries magic knights we must be able to fight at any moment to protect the kingdoms people" he said with a sirious look on his face.
"We will have a medical wizards on standby if their needed, please choose a partner and we will begin" said William.
Down in the arena people were choosing a fighting partner, Asta was looking around worried since no one has chose him as a partner yet, he then felt a hand on his shoulder and looked to see it was Sekkei, "Hey Asta how about you and I fight" he said smiling.
"Yeah thanks" said Asta as the two of them stood in the middle of the arena while the other members of the crowd stood behind the columns. Some of the people complained that Sekkei had chose the weaket partner.
A wizard in the cloak stood between Asta and Sekkei, "Alright let's give this everything we've got" said Asta smiling.
Sekkei smirked as he placed his hand on Asta's shoudler, he then leaned close to his ear so only Asta could hear him, "Why don't you stop trying so hard" he said making Asta looked surprised by Sekkei insulting tone, "A commoner like you has no place among the magic knights, I don't what your goal is but I plan to join the magic so I can sit back and relax, so try to make me look good and then you can go back to that dump you call a home" he said still smirking as he stood away from Asta who now had a sirious look on his face.
"Begin" said the wizard in the cloak bringing down his hand.
"Haha, Alright Asta let's give this our best" said Sekkei as his grimoire opened. A blue sphere surrounded him, after it was fully formed small cannons started appearing out of it, "Sekkei cannon shield" he said smiling. He then looked up towards the magic knight captains, "What do you think of this magic knight captains, this shield is almost invincible and even if he can't penetrate this shield I'll shoot him away" he thought.
"Alright, here we go" said Asta as his grimoire opened in front of him and the handle of his sword sticking out of the pages, he then dug his feet into the ground and jumped at incredible speed towards Sekkei.
"That grimoire" thought William looking surprised at Asta's grimoire.
"He's fast" though Yami.
Asta took out the sword and easily cut through Sekkeis shield, he hit Sekkei with the sword sending him into the ground making it crack from the force of the impact. The people in the crowd looked surprised that the one who hadn't succeeded in most of the tests had easily cut through the spell. Yuno just smiled.
"I didn't come here to join the magic knights so I could sit back and relax, I have a much more important goal in mind" said Asta as he rested his sword on his right shoulder, "I'm going to be the wizard king" he said looking determined to achieve his dream.