The moment Lencar reached the heart of the royal capital, he felt it —
a massive, sickening swell of necromancer mana rolling outward like a wave of rot.
He didn't need to think twice.
His mana thinned, folded, vanished.
His breathing slowed.
His body sank into the shadows.
[Composite Magic: Umbral Traversal]
Shadows stretched, wrapping around him like a cloak. His presence disappeared, erased from sight and mana-sense alike. To everyone in the capital, it was as if Lencar didn't exist at all.
He slipped behind a collapsed building and stopped.
He didn't move.
He didn't interfere.
He waited.
The moment he had prepared for was close.
The mana signature he sought — the royal flame of a Vermillion — would soon arrive.
And so, Lencar became still as stone, watching from deep within the darkness.
And the story shifted to someone else entirely—
(Asta's Perspective Until Fuegoleon Arrives)
Smoke rolled through the royal capital like a second, suffocating dusk.
Stone streets cracked under the force of undead soldiers clawing their way from the ground. Hideous, reanimated corpses, controlled by the obsidian-clad necromancer floating at the center of the destruction.
Rades Spirito was grinning.
"Dance for me, you trash! Isn't it wonderful? The capital trembling! Nobles screaming! This is ART!"
Asta didn't flinch—not even when a horde of undead sprinted toward him with impossible speed.
His sword swung in a wide arc.
KRAASH!
Bodies flew.
Mana shattered.
Dust exploded outward.
"Asta! More on the left!" Leopold shouted.
"I got them!" Asta roared back, swinging again.
Noelle stood behind them, breathing steadily—far steadier than the last time she had fought anything serious. Two weeks with Lencar had changed her from an anxious liability into something sharper. Something calmer. Something more dangerous.
She placed her hand over her grimoire.
"!"
A rotating disc of swirling blue water formed in front of her.
But this wasn't the panicked, unstable whirlpool she used to create by accident.
This was controlled.
Contained.
A shimmering, rotating dome of layered water shields that moved with her command rather than drowning her in its own mana.
Three undead archers fired arrows of condensed mana at her.
TWHIP! TWHIP! TWHIP!
The Tide Shield spun once—
PING! PING! PING!
—and all three attacks were deflected cleanly.
Noelle smiled faintly.
"I… did it."
Leopold grinned wide. "Nice one, Noelle! You're finally acting like a real royal!"
Noelle's eyebrow twitched. "…Leopold, was that supposed to be a compliment?"
But she had no time to argue.
Dozens more undead rushed them.
"Scream louder for me!!" Rades cackled, spreading his arms.
"Your attacks are useless! My babies don't die—they come back stronger!"
A silver-bladed undead general slammed his sword into Asta's anti-magic.
Asta grinned.
"Good! I'll just knock them down again!"
He swung the Demon-Slayer sword harder.
BOOM!
The undead general burst apart.
Then—
Its pieces crawled back together.
Noelle's face paled slightly. "They're… regenerating?"
Rades laughed hysterically.
"That's right!! Infinite despair! Infinite resurrection!"
But Leopold stepped forward, flames erupting around him like a miniature sun.
"That just means we burn them ALL so they can't regenerate!"
"Leopold, don't overdo—!" Noelle started.
But the boy was already unleashing a torrent of blazing fire.
"!"
The pillar of fire tore through the undead ranks, incinerating dozens instantly.
Only ashes remained.
No regeneration.
Asta whistled. "Leopold, you're amazing!"
Leopold puffed up his chest. "Of course! I'll surpass my brother, the captain—"
"—who's about to appear, by the way."
Noelle suddenly froze mid-sentence.
A cold chill passed down her spine.
A wave of mana—immense, overwhelming, divine—approached.
Asta turned his head.
"What was that…?!"
But before that mana could arrive—
Rades snapped his fingers.
"Now, let me show you the REAL masterpiece of my collection!"
Mana roared into the sky.
"COME FORTH—FRANKENSTEIN!!"
The ground shook violently.
A massive, grotesque undead construct rose from beneath the cobblestones, stitched together from several corpses and overflowing with necromantic mana.
"Noelle! Behind me!" Leopold shouted.
"No!" she countered, stepping forward instead.
That surprised Asta.
And it surprised Rades.
"Hohoho—what's this? The useless royal brat thinks she can fight? Go on then! Collapse in fear! Offer me a better scream this time!"
Noelle lifted her grimoire, eyes sharp.
"Feel free to underestimate me. You'll regret it."
Her newfound confidence made Rades falter.
Only for a second.
"Kill her," he ordered the monster.
A massive fist made of rotting flesh and bone crashed toward her.
Noelle took a single step back— then thrust her hand forward.
"!"
The rotating shield spun at triple speed, forming three overlapping layers.
BOOOOM!!!
The fist collided—
—but couldn't break through.
The water barrier trembled violently.
But held.
Asta's eyes widened. "Noelle! You actually stopped it!"
Leopold gaped like a fish. "Wh—when did she get so strong?!"
Noelle's cheeks burned with embarrassment, but she did not lose focus.
"I've been… training."
A small, proud smile tugged at her lips.
She didn't mention whose training.
She didn't have the time to think about it.
The creature pulled its fist back and swung again.
Noelle dropped her stance lower.
"Rotate!"
The Tide Shield spun harder, changing angle.
When the second strike came—
CRAACK!
The water shield deflected the blow entirely, redirecting it into the ground.
A crater formed.
Noelle stood her ground… unshaken.
Rades snarled in frustration.
"ENOUGH! Stop showing off, brat!!"
He sent a dozen more undead soldiers charging toward them.
Asta dashed forward to defend her.
Leopold blasted fire around her side.
But Noelle raised a hand.
"Don't. I can handle this."
She formed a thinner, sharper version of the Tide Shield—
"!"
—a slicing arc of water that shot forward like a blade.
The undead soldiers were bisected instantly.
Leopold's jaw dropped.
"Asta… you trained with her, right?"
"Nope," Asta said proudly.
"But I KNOW who she trained with!"
Noelle's eyes twitched.
"A-Asta, don't say—"
"LENCAR TAUGHT YOU THIS MOVE, RIGHT?!"
Rades blinked in confusion.
"…who?"
Noelle's face turned tomato red.
"ASTA!!"
But even as she yelled, she didn't break her stance.
Not even for a moment.
A sudden vortex of flames erupted from the sky.
An overwhelming torrent of noble, crushing mana descended like judgment.
Everyone froze.
Even Rades.
The necromancer's face went pale.
"W–wait. No. No no no no—THIS wasn't part of the plan!"
A huge shadow fell across the battlefield.
A man surrounded by swirling fire landed upon the stone street with grace and command.
Crimson cloak. Royal crest. Unshakable presence.
Captain Fuegoleon Vermillion.
Asta's mouth hung open. "He's… HUGE!"
Leopold's face lit up with radiant pride.
"BROTHER!!"
Fuegoleon surveyed the battlefield calmly, flames coiling at his feet like living serpents. His gaze passed over Asta. Leopold. Noelle. Rades. The monster.
He had arrived.
Finally.