"Fire Fist!"
Yuuki raised his right arm, and the silver-white mana coursed rapidly beneath his skin, writhing as it gathered and transformed into a blazing flame. It enveloped his entire arm, burning with a fierce momentum as he hurled his punch forward.
"This time, I'm not gonna lose!"
Asta shouted, charging straight ahead instead of retreating. He took Yuuki's fiery blow head-on, grunting from the impact.
At the same time, Asta seized Yuuki's flaming arm in a tight grip.
"Now you can't run away!"
Asta's voice rang with excitement, his whole body practically hanging off Yuuki's like a stubborn vine.
In their previous bouts, Asta had been completely outmatched by Yuuki's speed, unable to keep up at all. That was why this time, from the very start, he made sure Yuuki couldn't get away.
Anyone watching from the outside would have noticed immediately—though Asta was clinging to Yuuki's arm wreathed in flame, his body showed no trace of burns, as if the fire weren't even there.
"So this is the big move you came up with?"
Yuuki couldn't help twitching the corner of his mouth as he looked at Asta clinging tightly to his arm.
"Of course it is!" Asta declared shamelessly.
"Yuuki, can you put out that fire already? It's clearly not doing anything!"
As he shouted, Asta drew back his fist and swung it toward Yuuki's handsome face.
"Don't you think an arm wrapped in flames looks way cooler?" Yuuki raised a brow, speaking lightly even as his movements didn't slow—he reached out his free arm and effortlessly caught Asta's punch.
To be honest, Yuuki would have liked to fight like Yuno, casting spells from a distance instead of getting dragged into close combat—but circumstances didn't allow it.
"You realize that by grabbing my arm, you've trapped yourself too, right?"
Yuuki raised his knee and drove it hard into Asta's chest.
"Gah—!"
Asta's eyes widened, his face flushing red. A sharp pain shot through his chest, forcing him to release Yuuki's arm.
Three minutes later.
Asta lay sprawled on the grass, gasping for breath, completely drained of strength.
Yuuki, meanwhile, leaned back against a nearby boulder. Aside from his slightly disheveled clothes, he looked almost exactly the same as before.
Once again, Yuuki was the clear victor.
"Next time, I will win, Yuuki!"
Asta declared after a short rest, as he always did after losing.
Yuuki had heard that same proclamation so many times his ears could practically recite it, yet he still chuckled softly.
"Alright," he said.
Rustle. Rustle.
The sound of footsteps brushing against the grass and the faint swish of fabric came from behind them.
"It always ends the same way. You really never get tired of this, do you, Yuuki?"
The calm voice drifted closer along with the steps.
"Well, I gain something from every match," Yuuki replied without turning around; he already knew who it was.
Asta's fighting instincts were remarkable—through each bout, Yuuki could sense himself improving too.
Every fight helped sharpen his control over mana.
"Yuno!"
Hearing that voice, Asta instantly sprang up from the grass, though the sudden motion made his expression twist in pain.
"Ow, ow, ow!"
"Idiot," came the dry remark from a tall, slim boy with dark brown hair and a cool, distant look in his eyes as he emerged from the trees.
"You're the idiot!" Asta shot back, puffing up with indignation.
Yuno simply turned his head away.
He knew that if he so much as responded, they'd fall into their usual childish back-and-forth.
"So you're here to spar with Yuuki too?"
Asta asked, undeterred, his excitement returning full force.
Yuuki looked up at Yuno, a hint of amusement playing across his face.
This stretch of forest was usually where Yuuki and Asta came to train.
Yuno rarely showed up here, so his sudden appearance today—whether or not it was to spar—was most likely connected to tomorrow's event.
"A fight without a winner or loser has no meaning."
Yuno gave Yuuki a sidelong glance as he spoke, his tone as calm as ever.
When they sparred, Yuuki could evade Yuno's spells, yet he himself could never get close enough to land a hit. Their duels often dragged on until both sides were drained of mana—tedious more than anything else.
Yuuki shrugged lightly. He actually found it rather interesting.
"Tch."
Seeing that no match was happening after all, Asta clicked his tongue, sprawled out on the grass in a big X, and stared blankly up at the sky.
For a while, silence filled the forest.
Yuuki leaned against a rock, gazing toward the depths of the woods.
Asta lay on the grass, body loose and relaxed.
Yuno stood motionless, lost in thought.
None of them spoke, almost as if they were savoring the quiet.
"Tomorrow's the Grimoire Acceptance Ceremony, huh?"
Asta's voice suddenly broke the silence, his once-vacant eyes focusing again.
Yuno remained silent.
"Yeah," Yuuki replied with a nod.
The air settled into stillness once more.
Yuuki's gaze shifted between Asta and Yuno. From their expressions, he could roughly guess what was running through their minds.
Asta had no mana. For him, tomorrow's ceremony was his last glimmer of hope. His heart was surely pounding harder than anyone else's right now.
Yuno, on the other hand, was the opposite.
As the most gifted prodigy in Hage Village, receiving a grimoire was a foregone conclusion. His silence clearly came from worry for Asta's sake.
Yuuki, however, wasn't all that anxious for either of them.
He knew what was coming—one of them would obtain a four-leaf-clover grimoire, while the other would awaken that bug-level power known as Anti-Magic.
Rather than worry about those two monsters, it made more sense to worry about himself.
His mana reserves weren't as vast as Yuno's, but far above most commoners', so obtaining a grimoire shouldn't be an issue.
Still, Yuuki knew all too well: once Asta and Yuno got their grimoires, their strength would skyrocket.
In the original story, it took Yuno barely two years to reach the power of a squad captain.
And Asta… best not to even start.
The power of Anti-Magic was the natural enemy of every mage alive.
Their growth speed was terrifying. Yuuki didn't consider himself a genius—right now he could still beat Asta, maybe fight Yuno to a draw—but give it some time, and both would leave him in the dust.
Just thinking about that made it hard to feel happy.
Honestly, Yuuki wasn't the competitive type. If he could spend life eating, sleeping, and taking things easy, that would be ideal.
But this world was anything but safe.
Even putting aside the later demon crisis, just the elf invasion alone could kill you before you realized what happened.
Remembering that colossal light-sword that once engulfed the Clover Kingdom, Yuuki shivered involuntarily.
Leaving his fate in someone else's hands? Not a chance.
When he really thought about it, he only had two advantages.
First—he knew how the story would unfold.
Second—he could sense the mana in the air. Through meditation, he could connect his own mana with the world around him, accelerating recovery and extending his endurance.
He still didn't fully understand how that ability worked.
But so far, neither of those advantages had improved his strength by much.
The only thing Yuuki truly looked forward to now… was his magic.
Magic differed from person to person—its uniqueness could bridge even massive gaps in raw power.
Take, for instance, the Wizard King's Time Magic or the Vaude family's Space Magic—rule-type magics like those could make even an ordinary person formidable.
Come to think of it, there weren't many worlds like Clover where people could so easily wield the power of laws themselves.
(End of Chapter 3)