"well this could have ended better." Spoke Asta as he used Goliath as a shield to absorb the attacks of the prison guards.
Leaning forward, he blocked a stream of acid with wing, then he flew forward through a siege of ice shards and bolts of light.
Each magic attack was devoured by anti-magic, turned into Anti-magic as well at lessened rate but it's weight being much stronger than normal mana as it kept increasing instead.
At this moment, a sword was launched towards Asta, not a magic one but a real one as a person appears to swing it just it was deflected by Goliath.
Nevertheless the sword tore through the anti-magic but was blocked by a layer of wind that Asta managed to make using all of the remaining strength of the temporary spell in Asta's grimoire.
'I guess I will replace it with the warden's grimoire..' Asta thought as he perceived the world in slow-motion and swelled his ki around his body, enhancing it overall.
He switched back from goliath to his spear Crowos. Leaving the claymore to defend attacks on his backside while charged head-on into battle.
His figure blurred through the people like a dragonfly, his wings carrying him forward at his speed as he left weak scratches on every grimoire in his sight, disabling them for a few minutes to find himself a little time.
However by this time, most of ki users have assembled and all the mages had retreated after losing their grimoire. The group charged onwards in a horde, each preparing to strike while some of them screamed out their attacks.
"Tiger Pierce!"
"Sky sh-"
"SHUT THE HECK UP!"
Asta silenced the newbies screaming their attack names, their actions reminding him of his past self when he kept wanting to roar mid-attack thinking it would help his attack be stronger.
'Dont remind me.' Asta said mentally. The embarrassment of being a muscle head in the past coming back to haunt him now.
He switched back to his shortsword duo of judgement and redemption, any projectile stopped by Goliath before they could reach him while engaged in a swordshow with the attackers.
He defected a cutlass, using the hilt of redemption to bonk the guard using on the head before smacking his face with the flat side of judgement while absorbing the attack of a mage from the side.
A duo of guards that looked like twins approached him from behind, their age probably not much higher than himself but their movements were in full sync.
Seeing them block his barrage of slashes, Asta ramped up his ki to stage 3 without sparing them a moment's time to notice as he delivered a quick thwack to their necks from the back, fainting both of them in a instant.
This pattern followed, the archers were useless and so were the mages but not once did Asta go a fatal or even a slightly hurtful attack. Instead he opted for blunt strikes until most of the guards had either been disarmed or have fainted.
Meanwhile, as Asta was having a training practice for his morning routine in the prison grounds. A person who was standing on the ledge of a castle's roof, looked at the sun with a scornful expression.
"What is it?"
The person was Noelle and she was deep thought when another person called out to her before flashing beside her.
"Do I really have to marry that cocky bastard? I already defeated him last night." She spoke to person beside her with disgust evident in her voice, "He is good for nothing coward who will probably hide away when we need him."
The new arrived shook his head in denial. His similar white hair swinging side to side as his smile vanished into the void.
He turned to Noelle with a saddened face and began explaining, "the elders are in full favor of your marriage. Some even outloud saying that they won't support elder brother's rise to throne if you don't comply."
"Those greedy dogs!"
Noelle taps on her hand, strengthening her grip on it until she could feel her hand going numb from all the pressure.
The stage 5 ki of fighter was released from her body, a pressure of rage and blood cuddling fear rising from her entire body.
"But there is a way."
The words of her brother Solid brought Noelle out of her thoughts.
She turned towards him, grabbing onto his hands as she raised her tone beyond the normal and basically screamed at him to tell her.
"TELL ME!!"
...
Few seconds passed before Noelle realised she had broken her composure and cold face she had always kept which her brother couldn't help but smile at.
"Now that's the little sister I know."
"I am not a little girl!" Noelle retorted before he being shut up Solid's voice.
"Brother told us to take care of eachother, he had always valued family over everything from the day he was born.. you can act all rowdy you want in front of us." He said before returning back to his serious face.
He brought out a scroll from his pocket, a report send by one of their messangers which he showed to Noelle and continued her words.
"The family loyal to the machine king Jassin had began moving. There are rumors that the king had been reborned and had contacted one of them"
Noelle thought for a second, finding the report and rumors too unreliable to keep her trust on.
"They probably just rumors. What has that got to do with my marriage?" She asked out
However Solid could only laugh at her lack of history before giving her a rundown of the situation.
"Do you remember who made their city?"
"Our ancestors?"
Solid shock his head.
"The dwarfs? The mermans?"
Once more, Solid shock his head before he told Noelle the truth.
"It was the dragons."
"The dragons? Why would they make a city they can't even fit in?"
"... Is that all you could think off.?"
This wasn't even the level of clueless anymore, this was straight something she had been hearing from everyone since birth. To solid this felt like a sign to admit his sister to a healer to get a checkup for a disease or something.
"I wish I could use the paper fan to smack your head right now. *Points at Noelle's face* This thing is empty as hell!"
"Eh!!? Say that again i dare you!"
The brother sister duo has sparks flying out of their eyes. However a voice broke their stand-off at that moment.
"Your highn- Oof!"
A mid-aged man felt the two turn towards him, their eyes appearing to him like eyes of demons. He was butler and the sheer mana radiating was enough to make him back off.
"Prince.. there have been a.. problem at the prison." The butler said, enduring the harsh waves of mana.
His words broke the tension, a single thought appearing both of the siblings heads at the moment of notice.
"The one with more points win."
"I won't back from this. I have never lost against you once and never will."
"We will see about that, Noelle." Solid turns to the butler, " what is the problem?"
"Umm." The butler found himself unable to keep a straight face. "Someone broke out of prison."
"Broke out?" Solid couldn't believe his ears for a second. "Broke out when we just finished our inspection."
"What else are expecting for a prison problem? Embezzlement?" Noelle chimes into the conversation.
Solid nods, he could leave the complicated stuff for later.
"How many were there?"
"What?"
"I said. How many escaped?"
...
The butler gulped before speaking, "N-None."
Noelle looked at her brother, thinking either this was going way beyond the norm or the butler was just going senile.
"What do you mean none?! Did you just say it was a break-out."
The butler gulped once more, this time kneeling before speaking his words.
"The prison had been taken over. The guards were defeated and the prisoner is... Just sitting there."
Bulge.
A vien popped on Solid's fist. This situation was unacceptable to him. If it was stealthy escape he could accept it but to think the prison was taken over.
"Noelle. Change of plans. We are bringing this guy back, alive."
"Now that's my type of fun. What are we waiting for?"
The duo soared to the skies, their boots carrying them forward as the runes on glowed in a dim light that was very hard to notice in the sunlight.
Together they bolted towards the city prison, a smile now plastered on Noelle's face while Solid clenched his fist in anger.
On the other side, unaware of the visitors he would be getting soon, Asta wasn't even fighting anymore. He was just sitting their in front of the guards, repairing their items out of pity after the damage his anti-magic did to the weapons and grimoires.
It was a responsibility he had to burden, the clock tower wasn't his fault but this won't be something he could fight his way through in court.