The anti-birds had chosen their victim early. They swarmed around the short boy with grey hair, pecking at him, clinging to him, following him even when he ran. Saburo watched from a few paces away with his new grimoire tucked under one arm. Four leaves sat plain on the cover. He had opened it twice since arriving and closed it both times before anyone saw more than the first page.
The birds did not come near him. One landed on the fence, looked at him, then hopped away with urgent little steps. Saburo glanced from the bird to the boy buried under the rest of the flock.
“You are either very unpopular,” he said, “or very interesting.”
Before Saburo could decide whether that was idiocy or stamina, the captains appeared and the exam began. William Vangeance introduced himself as head examiner. Saburo’s fingers tightened once against the spine of his grimoire when he heard the name. He released it before anyone nearby could look.
The broom test went badly on purpose.
Saburo let his broom rise, wobble, and drift at an unimpressive height. A few examinees laughed. He allowed that too. During the blast test, he produced a thin branch that tapped the wall and left a shallow crack. During the moving target test, he missed by enough to look careless. During the creation test, he made a plain wooden needle and set it down without explanation.
Then came the seed, the examiner placed it in his palm. Saburo stared at it for a moment longer than he had stared at anything else that day.
His grimoire opened by itself.
The seed split. A white root curled around his wrist. A second root touched the ground. In the space of a breath, the shoot became a sapling, the sapling became a tree, and the branches reached high enough that several nearby examinees stepped back. Leaves opened across it in a bright green rush. The trunk was too pale, almost silver, and its roots had gone through the stone floor like it was soft earth.
William Vangeance looked directly at him.
Saburo closed the grimoire, the tree stopped growing.
A silence sat around his station until one of the examiners cleared his throat and called the next name. Saburo looked over at the grey-haired boy again. The anti-birds were still bothering him. The boy had failed the broom test completely and kept shouting anyway. Such stubborn tenacity was admirable, in a way
The final test was combat.
People began choosing partners. Nobles moved toward peasants with practised smiles. Saburo saw the pattern at once and disliked it before he had a reason to. The boy with no magic was being approached by a man who looked pleased with himself.
The arena fell into a tense silence as Asta stepped forward. He didn't think Sekke was a bad guy until they paired up. Sekke whispers to Asta that he doesn't belong here and should disappear since he has no magic.
Across from him, Sekke Bronzazza rolled his shoulders and flashed a smug grin, already drinking in the attention from the Magic Knights watching above. His bronze blonde hair caught the light as he lifted one hand, mana gathering around him in a heavy metallic glow.
“Heh,” Sekke said, his grin widening. “Bad luck, peasant! You should have prayed harder before getting matched with me! I'm going to make you regret coming here!"
Asta planted his feet and gripped the hilt of the massive black sword strapped across his back. “I don’t need luck,” Asta said. “I’m going to become the Wizard King.”
A ripple of laughter moved through the crowd and contestants.
Sekke laughed louder than anyone. “The Wizard King?!” he repeated. “You?! The brat with no magic?! That joke was funny the first time, but now it’s just sad.”
Asta’s expression did not change. He had heard those words too many times for them to matter anymore. The sneers, the disbelief, the easy dismissal from people born with power. None of it reached the place in him that had been hardened by years of training.
He drew his sword from his grimoire's pages as black energy seeps out. The blade was massive, dark, and rough-edged, swallowing the light around it instead of reflecting it. Several of the captains narrowed their eyes as they looked at it. When Sekke asked what he was going to do with a sword, Asta lowered the blade until the tip nearly touched the ground. “No,” he said. “I’m going to hit you with it.”
“Fine. Let me show you the difference between us. Bronze Creation Magic: Sekke Magnum Cannonball!”
Bronze armor formed around him in an instant, swelling into a thick, round, spiked shell that enclosed his body like a mobile fortress. The metal gleamed with reinforced mana, heavy and polished, built to protect him while he charged.
Asta immediately charges in with his sword raised, his speed astonishing those around thinking he is using magic. Some of the captains, however, realize that he trained his muscles to exceed normal standards of physical prowess which is why it seems like magic enhancements are at work.
Sekke braces subconsciously as Asta’s blade splits the spell in half knocking Sekke unconscious. Asta stands proudly over his opponent once again saying that he will become the Wizard King.
Asta looks towards Saburo with surprise at first before turning into a smile as he gently puts the sword back into the grimoire, black energy surrounding it as it seeps into the pages. "Oh, it's no problem, this is a test and I'll do what I can to make it through. I have to prove to others that it doesn't matter if you're royalty or a peasant, we all can achieve our dreams with enough hard work. I'll prove that when I become the Wizard King!" Asta shouts as a very peculiar anti-bird stays perched on the top of his head, using his hair as a nest.
Yuno walks over, looking at Asta with a slight grin before going back to a neutral expression. "You have it all wrong Asta, because I will become the Wizard King first. After all, I am your rival." Yuno holds his fist out to Asta to which he responds with a fist bump, smirk wide on his face. Yuno then looks at Saburo as if examining him before turning away while Asta tells him that Yuno is just shy.
"Kid's got spunk but there is no way he is going to be picked by any of the other captains. Still, he didn't use any magic to achieve that speed and power, which makes him interesting." Yami speaks to Finral then looks at Sabaru and Yuno. "The wind one is by far the best out of the bunch but the other one is hiding something. His ki is strained, meaning he is holding back which also makes him interesting. Let's see what he can do." Yami kicks his feet up onto the ledge, cigarette burning lightly between his lips.
