Spirit 》Black Clover

Twenty-Nine

Back at the Black Bulls Hideout, Tina kept cheering Asta on as he tried to surpass the number of pushups he can do with her on his back.

"Don't give up, Asta!" she cheered while a few of the Black Bulls tried to give the bird a name. "You're almost there."

Asta nodded with a grin. "You got it! 988. 989."

Tina beamed before looking at Vanessa. "What about Birdie?!"

Noelle shook her head. "That's dumb."

Tina glared at her. "Then you think of something, bratty princess. At least it's not Victor Von Whatever."

Noelle flipped her hair. "That's not what I said and you know it."

"I know, but everything that comes out of your mouth is garbage."

"You know maybe a different name would be better," Vanessa slurred. "Something like..." She saw the bottle of wine in her hand. "Wine! That's it! It fits him perfectly. Right, Wine?"

"I don't think he likes it," Tina muttered. She glanced down at Asta when she felt him shake. "You got this, Asta. Just a few more."

"Right!" Asta said before he continued counting. "993. 994."

Gauche held up his sister's picture for the bird. "This is my angelic sister, Marie," he said. "You may use one syllable of her name. Thus, I dub you... Mah."

"The bird's tough. It needs a cooler name than that," Magna argued. "Let me think for a second...ah. We'll call him Magnam Fire!"

"That's lame," Noelle shot the name down.

"Still better than what you came up with," Tina snapped. She heard Asta count to 1,000. "Great job, Asta! You did it!"

"And I still more energy!" he cheered before he counted again. Then he paused. "You do have a point, Tina. He should be name Birdie or Birdie Boy."

"No, his name is Silvantus Schnauzer," Noelle argued.

"No, it's Birdie Boy!" Tina counterargued.

"What happened to Birdie?"

"Well, I like this name better."

"You're always siding with him. That's totally bias!"

"Don't be jealous 'cause we agree on a lot of things, you pompous idiot!"

"I'm not jealous, you half and half psycho."

"Birdie Boy!"

"Silvantus Schnauzer!"

"You're giving a bird a dog's name, which makes sense coming from you!"

Asta started to yell when the bird started to peck his head. "Ow! Ow! Ow!"

Noelle gave Tina a look. "See, I told you he hates it," she said before sliding next to the bird. "You prefer Silvantus Schnauzer, don't you? Huh? Huh?"

Magna held his thumbs up and shouted, "HE LIKES MAGNAM FIRE!"

"Mah," Gauche disagreed.

"No. Wine," Vanessa suggested again.

Luck stared at the bird before saying, "Uh, how about we name him Nero?"

Tina's eyes became stars as she got off Asta. "Oooh, I actually like that name a lot better." Nero raised his wing. "See the bird agrees, too." Tina smirked at Noelle. "Still think I'm biased?"

"It means black," Luck told her. "Cool, huh?"

"Nero, uh," Noelle and Asta tried the name.

Soon a portal opened. Yami stepped through and said, "Ok, listen up, guys."

"Yes, Yami, sir!" Magna shouted.

Finral stepped around him. "Hey, gang. How's it goin'?"

"Hey, welcome back," Charmy greeted.

"What did they want you to shlep over to the castle for?" Vanessa asked.

"Is it a mission? I really hope it's a mission," Gordon softly mumbled. "Then we all could go together."

Tina grinned at him. "I know, right!"

Luck began punching the air. "Well, sir, is it a mission?"

"Kinda. Pay attention, everyone," Yami ordered. "Here's what's going on. I was called in because they discovered a new dungeon."

The Black Bulls gasped.

"A new dungeon?!" Magna repeated excitedly. "Seriously?! You mean it, Yami, sir?!"

"WOW!" Asta screamed. "THAT'S AWESOME! WHAT'S A DUNGEON?!"

Tina nodded her head. "Yeah, what's a dungeon?" she wondered.

Their squadmates looked at them confusingly. "Huh?"

Magna gave them the crazy eyes. "Are you guys kidding me?! Why are you acting shocked for if you don't even know what it is?"

"Everyone else was," Asta answered.

"I'm just excited to see a dungeon for the first time," Tina beamed.

"Typical of Rasta and Thumbelina," Magna said before explaining to them. "Listen up: Dungeons 101. Dungeons are like tombs where people from way back store their most valuable stuff. Sometimes they've got powerful ancient magic techniques or sweet magic items inside. What I'm saying is...DUNGEONS TOTALLY ROCK!"

The duo gasped and shook excitedly.

"One thing though," Luck interrupted. "They kinda try to kill you. The folks that build them added all sorts of crazy trap spells to keep people from getting to their stuff and misusing it." Luck got more excited as he talked. "So they're seriously dangerous and seriously fun, too."

Tina gaped at him. "Seriously?!" She started shaking Luck's shoulders, the boy laughing. "And we're going to this so-called dungeon?!"

Vanessa answered with a giggle. "Exploring a dungeon is kinda like going on a treasure hunt where you could die at any second. You can see why it's a sorta thing that lead to Magic Knights."

"Yeah, sure," Asta said.

"So, a new dungeon showed up," Noelle thought out loud. "And then Captain Yami was called to the castle, I'm guessing that means the Black Bulls are being sent to explore it?"

"That's right," Yami said. "And it's in a dicey location. Popped up near our border within enemy country."

"An enemy?" Tina questioned.

"Yeah. Diamond Kingdom. This mission has to be carried out swiftly and thoroughly. Wanna keep those Diamond guys' paws off the good stuff. Who knows what could happen. In the past, people have found items in dungeons that could change civilization itself. Some explorers that even come out of them are able to use the most powerful mag -"

Asta cut him off. He raised his hand very enthusiastically and said, "Ooh, send me. Please, send me, Captain Yami, sir."

"Me, too. Me, too!" Tina pleaded. "Maybe Asta and I can learn to use the most powerful magic."

"And how is he gonna be able to if he doesn't have any magic?" Yami asked.

Tina waved her hand toward Asta, her attention still on Yami. "You've seen him, Captain Yami, sir. Asta might not have any magic but he still has a grimoire."

"We won't know until we try," Asta added.

"Magic power or not, you and the moon princess are going on this mission," Yami said. The squadmates looked at him confusingly. "Wasn't my call this time, so don't look at me. The Wizard King asked for you two."

Asta and Tina froze. "What?"

Tina was still frozen, her breath hitched up in her throat what Asta screamed, "WHAT?! THE WIZARD KING?! THERE'S NO WAY!"

Magna grinned as he wrapped his arms around the duo. "Hey, that's awesome. Good for you guys. So what's the deal? Have you two gotten in with the Wizard King or something?"

Asta shook his head. "No, not at all." He realized Tina hasn't said anything. "Right, Tina?" No word. "Tina?"

Noelle looked at the bluenette, who's still frozen. "I think she's broken."