When Yuuki said he planned to stay in the royal capital, both Yuno and Asta's faces lit up with excitement.
"Even if you didn't join a Magic Knight squad, I know you'd never give up on getting stronger. Just don't let me leave you in the dust, Yuuki," Yuno said with a sincere smile.
After five years together, Yuno knew better than anyone that Yuuki was a genius. Techniques like magic reinforcement and compressed mana bursts to enhance speed were things Yuno couldn't even imagine doing.
He was confident that even if Yuuki didn't become a Magic Knight, his strength would never stagnate.
If Yuuki were the type to give up just because of a setback, then he wouldn't be the Yuuki Yuno knew.
"Being overconfident isn't always a good thing," Yuuki replied softly with a calm smile.
"And don't forget about me!"
Asta suddenly spoke up. "Oh right—here, Yuuki. Take this."
As he spoke, he hurriedly pulled a small pouch from his pocket and pressed it into Yuuki's hands.
It was the travel money Father Orsi had given the three of them before they left the village, though Asta had been the one carrying it the whole way.
In the eyes of Father Orsi and Sister Lily, Asta was basically just going on a trip—they didn't think he'd be chosen as a Magic Knight—so they had simply entrusted all the money to him.
It wasn't much, but since they'd barely spent any on their journey, Asta was now giving Yuuki everything that remained.
"Yuno and I are about to join our squads, so we probably won't need to spend much," Yuno added, worried that Yuuki might refuse. "But you'll be staying in the capital—you'll definitely need it."
Yuuki hesitated for a moment, then nodded. "Alright, I won't be polite about it."
As Yuno said, he truly would be needing it soon.
"Making me wait, huh, brat? You've got some nerve!"
A rough, cold voice cut through the air from behind them.
"C-Captain!"
Asta stammered, his body tensing as he turned to see Yami walking toward them.
Yuuki turned as well and saw the Black Bulls' captain, Yami Sukehiro, flanked by two members—Finral and Gordon.
Yami didn't seem interested in explanations. He grabbed Asta by the collar and hauled him upright with one hand, then lazily turned his head.
"Finral. Let's go."
"Got it, Captain."
Finral smiled elegantly and opened his grimoire. With a graceful wave of his hand—
Whoosh!
A shimmering circular portal, about a meter wide, appeared in the air. The space within it gleamed with silver-gray, snowflake-like patterns.
Only Finral himself could control the destination of his portals; no outsider could tell where they led.
Yuuki's gaze sharpened slightly. Seeing such a spell stirred a deep longing within him.
That was Spatial Magic!
No matter what world one was in, it was always among the most powerful forms of magic—one that manipulated the very laws of existence, and one of the hardest to master.
And yet, in this world, there were people born with such rule-defying powers. It was hard not to be in awe.
Still—
Perhaps because this world made such powers too accessible, the mages of Black Clover's world only ever displayed fragments of what those forces could truly do.
Take this Spatial Magic before him, for instance.
Finral's magic wasn't particularly offensive in nature. Its essence was spatial transfer—the ability to teleport people or objects to any place the caster had been before.
Of course, during teleportation, if the spell was interrupted mid-cast, the spatial rift could also be used to cut through objects—though that was merely a byproduct of the spell's true nature.
Just like within the Black Bulls—
Magna Swing's Fire Magic was classified as Explosion Magic in essence. Fire naturally carried a burning effect, but the core of his spell lay in detonation.
Finral belonged to the noble Vaude family, a lineage renowned for their innate mastery of Spatial Magic. His younger brother, Langris Vaude—the vice-captain of Golden Dawn, the very squad Yuno would soon join—was also a user of Spatial Magic.
If Finral's Spatial Magic was the support-type variant of the art…
Langris, on the other hand, was the purely offensive type of Spatial Magic user.
The essence of his spells lay in Spatial Severing—magic that sliced through space itself.
Once unleashed, it was utterly terrifying.
That was the true uniqueness of this world's power system.
"What is that?!"
Asta's panicked voice rang out as he stared wide-eyed at the swirling portal in midair.
"If you can't use mana to fly, I could've taught you a simple movement spell—oh, right."
Yami sighed lazily, still holding Asta up by one hand. "You don't have any mana."
Without another word, he casually tossed Asta straight into the portal.
Asta's screams were abruptly cut off the moment he vanished.
Yuuki silently watched the scene unfold. Just when he thought Yami and the others would follow through the portal, Yami turned around leisurely and looked directly at him.
"With your results, I thought you'd be sulking or bitter about not being chosen," Yami said, studying Yuuki with mild curiosity. "But you seem… oddly calm."
"Captain Yami."
Yuuki was surprised that the man had bothered to address him at all, but he still bowed slightly out of respect.
After all, Yami Sukehiro was one of the nine captains of the Magic Knights—someone whose status, strength, and authority were far beyond the reach of a commoner like him.
"What's the matter? Got nothing to say?"
Yami's voice remained relaxed, almost indifferent.
Yuuki hesitated, uncertain why the captain had suddenly chosen to speak with him.
Could it be that Yami intended to recruit him?
No—unlikely.
With Yami's personality, if he'd wanted Yuuki in his squad, he would've said so on the spot, not lingered like this.
"…No, Captain." Yuuki shook his head quietly.
"Hah! You're a lot more composed than I expected."
Yami let out a low laugh, then his gaze sharpened ever so slightly.
"Well, that's good. Better calm than reckless. Still, since you're friends with my new recruit, I'll give you a bit of advice—"
His tone turned serious.
"Don't mess around with noble magic. That's just asking for trouble."
"C-Captain," Finral interrupted nervously, his arm trembling as sweat beaded on his forehead. "Maintaining a portal this large is… kind of exhausting. So if we could maybe hurry up—"
"Who do you think you're ordering around?"
Yami spun on his heel, eyes narrowing.
"Hold it together, and surpass your limits right here!"
Finral's expression twisted into pure misery. His face was pale, and his breathing ragged—clearly, his mana was running dry.
Seeing that, Yami gave an unconcerned wave and stepped into the portal.
Finral and Gordon followed right after, vanishing into the shimmering silver gateway.
"You should head out too, Yuno," Yuuki said lightly, gesturing toward the group of Golden Dawn members waiting not far away.
They hadn't approached—nor did they intend to.
Even though Yuno had been officially accepted into Golden Dawn, his lowborn origins still made him an outsider in their eyes.
The only reason they were even waiting for him at all was because of Captain William's direct orders.
"…Then I'll be going, Yuuki."
Yuno looked like he wanted to say more, but he swallowed his words, gave Yuuki a firm nod, and turned to leave.
He knew Yuuki didn't need comforting.
Among the three of them, Yuuki had always been the calmest, the most composed.
Until next time, Yuuki.
(End of Chapter 33)
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