A Vengeful Path (Resumed)

Ch. 10 The Demons and the Spirits

Asta was squaring off with the spirit guardians and the Undine, with the Magic Knights unable to do anything but watch. "Feel our pain," Asta snarled. And suddenly, he was behind the nature guardian. He swung the blunt side of the blade, striking his leg. He fell forward with pain, and Asta swept his leg and blasted him with a beam of red energy. The nature guardian was sent flying across the throne room. The earth guardian, Sarado, sent a surge of rocks towards him, but Asta disappeared and instantly reappeared right behind her. "Too slow," he said, striking her with the blunt side. He sent her across the room, and then teleported to where she was about to land and struck her again. She gasped for air and hit the ground hard. He was about to strike her again when the nature guardian, Potrof, sent a number of vines towards him. Asta just cut through each of them and went behind him. He was barely able to react before Asta started landing endless blows on him. Potrof was hit multiple times and was knocked back hard. He went and hit a gathering of rocks in the corner of the cavern. "Take this!" the fire and wind guardians, Floga and Smurik, shouted at the same time. Floga shot a fire beam at him, and Smurik enhanced it's size, speed, and strength using his wind. Let me take over, Liebe said in Asta's head. Sure. But don't kill them,  Asta thought back. He was still for a moment, and then suddenly his power seemed to increase way over the top. "I'm not allowed to kill you, but critical injury is a different story," Liebe said, cackling. Liebe just walked into the flames, erasing them as they went past him. "W-what is this?" Floga stuttered. "Power that is far greater than your own," Liebe mocked. He was behind them and drove the blade of his katana into his leg. Floga howled in pain as Smurik redirected his magic to Liebe, but he just reflected it and pointed it towards Floga. It connected, blasting him away. "Floga!" Smurik yelled, before Liebe was in front of him. 

Demon Magic: Demon Ray.

 Red energy flew out of Liebes palm and hit Smurik's chest. He stumbled for a moment before Liebe shot it again and it blasted him away even further. Just then, Gaja was behind him. 

Lightning Magic: Irial Astrauza.

 Bolts of lightning shot out fast as light and nearly struck Liebe before he dodged it. *Seems as though my armor can't keep up with the speed of those attacks,* he thought. "Doesn't matter," Liebe said out loud, chuckling. 

Hell Magic: Hellish Chains. 

Pitch black chains shot out from behind Liebe and pursued Gaja. He dodged and teleported, but wasn't able to shake them. Eventually they all wrapped themselves around his arms and legs and he dropped to the floor. Liebe moved behind Gaja and chanted a spell. 

Anti Magic: Negative Zero. 

It was the same spell as Asta, but much more powerful. Red lightning sparked out and advanced on Gaja. He was ultimately knocked out. *Ah. Shit. I'm running out of time here,* Liebe thought to Asta. *Let me take over,* Asta said in his head. Liebe nodded and they went still for another moment before Asta was in control again. "Liebe had to take a little intermission," Asta said mockingly to the water spirit. "You'll be fighting me." Undine flexed her hands. "I don't have a problem with that. Two birds with one stone," she hissed, before shooting a stream of water towards Asta going really, really fast. His armor just erased it, but he still got a little wet, showing that some of Undine's attack was able to get through. "Just like last time," Asta said. Undine started to shoot a barrage of jet streams, each one barely making it through his armor, but they still made it through. 

Demon Magic: Demon Beam. 

This was the same thing as Demon Ray, but it was stronger and faster. Black energy shot of out Asta's palm and towards Undine. She easily dodged it but not before he shot a second beam. It connected with her hip, causing her to grunt in pain. Now it was his turn. He started his barrage of beams, each one connecting cleanly with Undine. She was sent into the back wall, but Asta continued shooting her. "Asta, I think you've proven your point," Klaus said."Yeah. You might kill her!" Noelle exclaimed, stepping forward. He stopped his barrage to turn around and say, "Haven't I said it before? I've killed multiple times to survive. This will be no different," then he turned back around and was about to continue before Queen Loropechika spoke up. "Asta. Please don't kill her," she pleaded. She walked down her throne and walked over to Asta. He drew his katana up to her as she walked closer, but he didn't attack. "Please. She's so important to me. She practically raised me. Please, please don't kill her Asta," she pleaded again. He looked conflicted, and everyone realized he was asking Liebe on what to do. It was a few long moments of silent before Asta withdrew his sword. Everyone exhaled with relief. "Queen Loropechika is the only one who hasn't done anything to me yet. I can follow and listen to her without regretting it and having second thoughts." He put his katana in his sheathe and offed his full form, but keeping his half form on. "Thank you," Loropechika said, relief written all over her face. "Thank your lucky stars I still trust you," he said to her. 

Demon Magic: Demon Blood. 

Asta glowed red, and he swept his hand over each spirit guardian and Undine. When they all awoke, they instantly ran their hands over their bodies to check for wounds, but everything was healed. "How did you..." Queen Loropechika started, astonished. "This will be the first and last time I ever heal them," he said to her. "Don't get yourself killed," he called to the guardians. "I'm pretty sure you are all tired, so why don't you rest up for tonight and we'll start training tomorrow?" Queen Loropechika said to the Magic Knights. "Good idea," they all agreed. "I'm gonna go hunt for my noms in the morning," Charmy said. "Don't you have a magical hot spring here?" Noelle asked. "Yes, we do in fact," the queen answered. "Get settled in your rooms and I'll come show you where it is," she said to Mimosa, Nero, and Noelle. They all nodded excitedly as all the Magic Knights followed Floga and Sarado up some stairs to what looked like some cabins. Asta was about to go follow them when Loropechika called for him. "Asta?" she said. "Hm?" he responded. "Because of your, uh, anti-magic, you'll be staying here with me. You're special condition could potentially disrupt the natural mana outside," she said nervously. But he just shrugged and agreed. "So? Where's my bed," he asked. "Actually, I'll just sleep on topof the palace," he said again. "But-" she started, but Asta interrupted. "It'll be fine. I wanted to look at the stars anyway. "Okay then. If your not awake, I'll come get you in the morning," she called out as he started walking towards the entrance. "Yeah, got it," he answered back. He walked out into the courtyard and leaped up to the arch. It was arched on the sides, but flat on the top. He settled himself on the flat top, using his grimoire as a pillow. He was gazing at the stars when Liebe appeared, lying on the arch under him.  "What now?" he asked Asta. "Just go with the flow, or something," he muttered. Liebe laughed. "Sounds like a very you plan," he said, still laughing. "Yeah, whatever," Asta responded, also laughing. The two spent a few hours talking about random things, discussing stars, what life was like in the underworld, what their mom was like since Asta never met her, etc etc. It went on like this for a while until Asta yawned. "I'm not sure about you, but I'm tired. You gonna sleep?" he asked. "Yeah I guess I will. I can't say I'll get a good night of rest. It may seem weird, but I'm not used to sleeping," he responded. "Go to sleep, don't go to sleep. It won't affect how I sleep," Asta teased. "Unless I decide to put caterpillars up your nose then it will," Liebe responded. "The caterpillars will probably die the moment they come in contact with my muscles," he shot back, chuckling sleepily. "All right, goodnight," he said as he turned over. It was about half an hour after Asta fell asleep when Liebe heard someone land on the roof. It was dark out, but he could make out 3 people, walking as quietly as they could and whispering. "We'll be doing her majesty a favor by getting rid of the demon," he heard one whisper. "We don't need a demon's help to kill other demons. We're just fine on our own," he heard a new voice whisper. He waited until he could hear their footsteps clearly when he spoke up. "Can I help you with something?" he said, drawing the Demon-Destroyer sword. He heard shocked gasps. Liebe struck his sword on the stone, creating sparks so he could see their faces. 3 of the spirit guardians they fought earlier. "What do you need?" Liebe said in a menacing voice, pointing his sword at them. "N-nothing in particular. The queen asked us to check on the boy," one of them lied. "Oh, come on. At least come up with a better lie than that. I heard your conversation all the way from the Clover Kingdom," Liebe mocked. They all grumbled. "If you don't need anything, off you go," Liebe said, making sure his sword reflected the moonlight off of it. They all somewhat agreed and turned around, jumping off of the palace roof. He was staring at the other side of the roof where the guardians jumped down. "I agree with you, little brother," Liebe said to a sleeping Asta as he sighed. "This will be a very, very long visit."