Black Clover: The Anti-Magic Knight

Chapter 40: Goodbye Despair

Vetto got hit with a punch to each side of his face before getting hit in the gut, causing him to cough up spit. He heard Asta shout before feeling a foot crash into his face, sending him skidding back. Vetto looked up to see Asta already in his face, ready to continue his onslaught. Asta landed a combination of punches and kicks before finishing off with a kick that send Vetto into the air. Asta instantly flew behind Vetto before clasping his hands together and slamming them into Vetto's back, causing him to crash back into the ground. After landing on his hands and knees, Vetto looked up before bringing his hands up to block another punch from the dive bombing Asta. A pushing match started between the two, Asta trying to shatter Vetto's guard and Vetto trying to push Asta away. Breaking his own guard to create an opening, Vetto used said opening to grab Asta by the face and throw Asta away.

Asta pulled out Demon Slayer and slammed the blade into the ground to slow himself down. After looking up to see Vetto running at him on all fours like a wild animal, Asta replaced Demon Slayer with Demon Dweller and sent multiple Void Cutters. Vetto began to zig-zag all the Void Cutter and reached Asta. Taking a punch to the face, Asta was slammed into the wall behind him. Re-opening his eyes after hitting the wall, Asta saw Vetto's fist a foot away from his face and in response flew into the air, missing the punch by a hair. Asta looked down to see Vetto jumping in the air after him. Once the two met, they began trading blows until they crashed through the top of the cave and landed on the roof of the temple.

"Well done Brat, I'll admit it, out of everyone I've faced, you have given me the most trouble!" shouted Vetto with his manic grin as his magic flaring, "let's see how well you handle this attack when I actually try!". A magic circle appeared in front of Vetto Vetto's hand as a sphere of Anti-Magic appeared in front of Asta's Mouth.

"Devils Roar!"                 "Mythical Beast Magic: ꂠꌅꁲꁅꂦꋊꌚ ꋰꌅꈼꁲꋖꍩ!"

Both beams exploded on impact, creating winds that caused even the people at the bottom of the temple to be affected. Looking around, Asta couldn't get a visual on Vetto, 'where the hell is he!?'. "Behind you!", before Asta could fully turn around, Vetto's fist connected with his cheek and sent him flying back. Asta couldn't recover in time before Vetto was already behind him again and punched him back into the cave on an angle, causing Asta to be embedded in the wall high above the ground. "I've got you know, Anti-Magic Brat!" shouted Vetto as he jumped through the hole and went for a Bear Claw powered palm strike that caused a cloud of smoke on impact.

The smoke cleared and revealed Asta holding Demon Dweller by the handle and the flat side of the blade and using it to block to hold back the strike from Vetto. "That armor of yours has definitely closed the gap between you and me" said Vetto with a grin, "but I wonder what caused you to unlock this power? To save your friends? Or maybe because of how badly you wanted to beat me after how you lost the last time? I don't care either way, I'm enjoying this. Crushing you would be boring if you only lasted a few hits like our last battle!". Vetto threw a punch but was stopped when Asta caught Vetto's wrist, shocking the Beast mage. "So this would be boring if I didn't have this armor?" said Asta before his anti-magic began to flare, "don't make me laugh!". Vetto jumped away from Asta, but not before taking a diagonal slash to the chest that caused blood to release from the wound. "That's my line, Vetto. You're the boring one" said Asta before giving Vetto a threatening glare, "so do me a favor and don't lose that third eye!". Following up from his slash, Asta went for another slash that was blocked before flipping behind Vetto and sending him rocketing to the ground with a spin kick.

Asta landed on the ground as Vetto began to stand back up, "you still bored?". In response, Vetto began to laugh ."You confuse me! You call me boring and even though I'm trying to kill you, yet I can tell you are not fighting to kill! Even that last slash wasn't deep enough to be fatal" said Vetto as he wiped the blood off his lip and put his hand on the gash on his chest, "don't tell me you feel sympathy for me!". "It's nothing like that" replied Asta, "from how you've been talking, something must have happened to make you hate us. But, I still can't let go of what you've done to the people I care about and any other innocent people you've hurt! But unlike you, I don't want to kill anybody if I don't have to! So, if I can stop you without taking your life, that's what I'm gonna do!".