Manipulated

Chapter 8 • Broken Ties

Noelle holds a dagger, piercing it deep into Astas back as he coughs out blood, she caught him when his defenses were down, when he was off guard...

Asta steps back as Noelle pulls the blade out of Asta, him touching the spot on his back as he looks at it again, his own blood covering his hand as he coughs out again

Noelle has tears running down her eyes, she drops the dagger and steps back, trying to reach out to Asta

"Asta i- i'm, im sor-!" She says as Asta reaches out, grabbing her by her neck as he holds her up in the air, feeling the air being squeezed out from her

"You.... you too?" Asta says as he tightens his grip, Noelle reaching out to Asta as his arm turns to a dark black and blue mix, his tooth growing into a fang, his eye turning black and blue

"I- I ha- had too!" Noelle says as Asta lets her go, dropping her to the ground as she takes deep breathes

"Forced too?" He asks her as she nods, Astas still keeping profusely

"Not that... you're a monster Asta! you're killing everyone! you killed Nacht, you killed Julius, almost Yuno too! You're... WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS ASTA!" Noelle yells as Asta looks at her, truly thinking about what has happened, and what will continue to happen

"I was manipulated, i let them manipulate me and use me like a puppet, i thought they actually wanted me for who i was, not as a weapon, this is just showing them they shouldn't have messed with me" Asta says he begins to walk away, Noelle having tears in her eyes

"YOUVE KILLED A LOT OF PEOPLE, BUT YOUVE GONE TOO FAR THIS TIME ASTA, DONT YOU WALK AWAY FROM THIS!" Noelle yells as she rises up, water around her forming beautiful armor, bright blue wings coming from her as a crown sits upon her head

SPIRT DIVE!

Noelle uses the power of Undine, who's still with her, to go into her spirt dive, a move she learned in the war

Asta stops, turning around as he sees Noelle staring him down, her sword in hand as she has tears running down her face

"I don't want to face the boy i love, please Asta, just stop this" Noelle says as Asta has pain in his eyes, although all he wants to do is come home to his friends, he can't... it's too late, he's gone far beyond it, and now he'll have to follow this through till the end

"I'm sorry Noelle, but i won't stop until the people who have manipulated me, meet their end" Asta says as he looks at her, drawing his sword as he stares her down

"It might be time to use your magic" Asta says inside of his head as a faint blue rises from his sword, Noelle looking worried...

SLAM!

A huge explosion erupts from the middle of the field, Nozel stands there with Charlotte, Rill and Willam

"It's over Asta, give up now" Nozel says as mercury surrounds him, Asta looks both slightly nervous but full of revenge

"Pay for your crimes Asta, you've done a lot of damage, now come and get ready to be executed to pay for the deaths you have caused" Nozel yells as Asta looks angry

"AND WHEN WILL YOU PAY FOR YOUR CRIMES HUH?! JUST BECAUSE I FOUND OUT WHAT YOU ALL WERE DOING DOESNT MEAN I DO THIS WITHOUT REASON!" Asta yells as the other captains look down, knowing what they did wasn't good

"It doesn't matter, it's too late to be regretful about it now, you always were useless any-" Nozel says as a huge black flash of light flashes in the air, stunning everyone, even Asta

Asta falls to the ground, confused as too whats going on as a black mass forms in front of him, grabbing him and pulling him in... somewhere?

Nozel and the others recover from the blinding flash of whatever that was, and look to see Asta gone to his rage

"GOD DAMMIT! HE GOT AWAY!" Nozel yells as he slams his fist into the ground, as medics work on Noelle and Yuno

"He... he got away?" Yuno thinks to himself as they work on him, tears running down his eyes

"Thank god, i- this all worked out just fine huh?" Yuno says as he thinks back to why he even had to do this...

Before the battle.

"You'll what?" Yuno says as he gets up from his chair, obviously agitated from what he was just told

"I'll be demoting you from magic knight and taking your title, along with your other squad members" Yuno is told by Nozel as he looks down, shocked from what he was just told

"How... how dare you!" Yuno says as Nozel catches the punch Yuno throws, slamming his head into the desk as Nozel looks angry

"What will it be, your long gone friend, or your squad" Nozel says as Yuno looks down, knowing what he'll have to say...

Back to present.

Asta wakes up in a beautiful room, in a luxurious bed with a beautiful cover surrounding it, something akin to what royalty would wake up in

The smell of the room is beautiful, like the smell of the sea, the color of the room is amazing, almost everything about it is made for the best and only the best

Asta slowly rises up, not even knowing what time it was or what day it was, or even where he was at

Asta looks at himself, he was still shirtless, but many cuts and bruises he's had from battling the last couple of days have been patched up, he feels amazing actually

"Oh you're awake!" A voice calls out to him, one he actually remembers...

"Wait, don't tell me..." Asta says as he looks up, looking at the woman there, both a sense of relief, but shock

"Queen Loropechika..." Asta says as Loropechika smiles at him, waving kindly at him

"Hey Asta! It's been a while huh?" She says with a warm smile, Asta smiling back.

Elsewhere.

A well dressed man sits under a tree, having a drink of wine as he looks at the beautiful sunrise on a cliff

"You son of a bitch, who knew you'd be in this state when i found you" He says as he takes off his hat, revealing ash colored hair, his green eyes having a faint glow to them

"Asta, i'll continue to help you, as much as i can" He says as he rises up, leaping off the cliff as wings petrude from his back, flying into the distance...