𝐕𝐈𝐑𝐀𝐆𝐎 | 𝐁𝐋𝐀𝐂𝐊 𝐂𝐋𝐎𝐕𝐄𝐑

ten

// Time-skip//

A shackled man fell onto the ground face first, having passed out from mana exhaustion. The other prisoners could only watch on helplessly, as they were left completely at the mercy of their captors.

"Alright, so which one of you is next?!" One shouted, evil grins twisted onto their ugly faces.

A woman suddenly cried out, "P-Please, she's still small and barely has any mana. Please, have mercy!" She begged with tears in her eyes, holding her younger sister close to her.

The bald soldier scowled, "You have some nerve trying to talk to us," he said, an electrified tape like substance forming over his arms as he approached the two. He grabbed the woman roughly by her face, "You're nothing but low stage scum. You low stage trash who can barely manage attack spells can only be useful by contributing your measly mana to move this fortress!"

A few of the male prisoners stepped forward to protect the woman, "If you don't wanna get hurt, don't get any funny ideas." the long haired soldier told them, "You won't be killed until all your mana's gone."

His threat coupled with the countless bodies of people close to death quickly discouraged them from trying anything. Not wanting to be made an example out of, they realized there was no other choice but to obey.

The bald man released the woman's face, his predatory gaze scanning her body up and down while licking his lips. "Someone as low-class as you will actually be of use to me. You should be honored!" The man exclaimed, before ripping off the woman's sleeve, causing her to scream in protest.

Suddenly, the sound of glass shattering caught everyone's attention. A body flew through the window at high speed, before falling to the ground with a thud, causing a cloud of debris to rise.

Asta stood up, rubbing his neck in pain, "Man, what's with this crazy weather? Well, that's a strong magic region for ya." He said aloud before letting out a frustrated noise.

"Miss Yve's really a genius, I never would've thought I could fly using this thing. But I still don't have full control over it, damn it!"

"Demon-slayer!" Asta yelled, using his sword to slice through the cloud, revealing himself to the Spade soldiers.

"He came here by himself? What an idiot!" They laughed, also noticing the fact that he had no mana.

"I'll finish you off in an instant, you piece of trash!" The bald guy yelled, covering himself with his magic before aiming a punch towards Asta, only for him to instantly knock the man out with his sword.

With a determined look in his eyes, he pointed demon-slayer at the soldiers, "I don't know how many of you there are, but I'll take care of you instantly. So come at me all at once!" He yelled, before throwing the others back into the glass, swiftly dealing with them.

He then turned to face the prisoners, "I'm one of the Clover Kingdom's Magic Knights, Asta of the Black Bulls!" He introduced himself, "I won't harm any of you!"

The same woman from before spoke up, "B-but we're only being left alive so that our mana can keep this fortress moving. We can never leave this place! Even if we were to be free, we couldn't even escape this strong magic region. Why did this happen? We don't want war..." she sniffled with tears falling from her eyes.

Who's the one making them suffer like this? Asta thought to himself. "There's one of them in particular. He has some otherworldly, frightful power." The woman informed Asta, who nodded.

"Alright! In that case, I'm gonna go beat all the bad guys here." He said, turning on his heel to find the man in question. Suddenly, an alarm blared and three more soldiers fell from the ceiling.