The tunnel felt endless, repeating and ever expending in width. The Group fell not for seconds but 10 entire minutes.
The time was enough for each of the wizard kinge to get comfortable stop Asta. The cloth covered Demon-slayer sword on his back became their sitting spot, their eye filled with boredom as they tried to regain control on their mana once more.
"This is boring... First digging and now this. Just. How much are we gonna have to wait?"
"Whine all you want but nothing will change. Be thankful at least we won't turn to a paste thanks to the boy."
"- whatever you geezer." Jester barges into Princia and Edward's conversation, " Conrad. You mind waking me up when we reach the floor?"
"I won't." Conrad outwardly refuses
Jester smirks, "Thanks. I am counting on you,buddy."
Then as if his words weren't already a big annoyance for his wizard king, Jester tries to shove Conrad to the edge and a hand chop to the head in return and laughed.
Asta enjoyed such leisure talk, it reminded him of the Blackbulls. He wanted to join in on the conversation but the situation wasn't really on his side.
"Hmm. *Asta turns his head up* I see ground."
Down below, a several hundred meters in the distance. Asta saw a approaching end to the fall and slammed his foot on the wall.
He kicked at a angle, reducing the falling momentum by a bit while heading straight to the other wall. Then he repeated the same thing, kicking again and again, he slowly weakened the momentum to a tenth of its speed.
At last, just as they finally reached a mere 100 meters from the floor beneath. Asta clenched demon slayer, swinging it in full force while the wizard kings clutched onto it with firm grips.
He tossed it up and accelerated his own falling speed as a result. Nevertheless, a devil can't die as long as his heart survives, so he wasn't the least bit worried about his survival.
Splat!
The wizard kings watched in horror as Asta splattered across like floor, his body turned into a paste of black and red for a second before it began convulsing and pulls itself back together within a moment.
Uncaring of his own condition, Asta leapt up. He willingly collided with flat side of the sword, using his own speed to counter the speed that had formed over a 100m fall after he tossed it up.
Thudd...!!
"Ok everyone, you can leave now." Asta says as he puts his sword back onto his back. "We have no idea what this place is it, so i could really use some help."
However someone wasn't the least bit interested in his words.
"Damn! How did you do that?" Princia said in Amazement as sparkles being forming her eye. Her maturity immediately vanished, replaced toddler like curiosity.
She lifted Asta in her hands, analysing his skin like he was teddy bear ready to be hugged. She was even unconsciously increasing her strength by the second, threatening to tear Asta's limbs apart.
The shameful display was stopped with a shove from Asta. He pushed her away, slipping between her grip with nimble movements.
" *fake cough* Can we not do that...? I am a person too, you know?"
"Ah! Right right, my bad. I just get a little excited when I see things I like."
Asta and the others make a wierd face at Princia.
"Why are you looking at me like that!? Just look at his insane regeneration!"
She pointed at Asta and added, "He was just a blood stain a moment ago! Just imagine, what if someone like us had that? "
Stomp...
Conrad stomps his foot, interrupting the talk before it could go down the dangerous track. He walks forward, looks Asta in the eye and slowly lowers his hand to his shoulder.
"This regeneration... Is it a?"
"-Devil's?" Asta nods, "I am a half-devil now. Isn't that pretty obvious from the horns."
Conrad wasn't convinced. No one in the group have seen a Devil except Asta, however connecting the dots with the information he gave them was easy.
Honestly, none of the wizard kings carried about Asta's race, to them, he was more of a weapon to be used against Lucius and a future threat.
Edward saw him as greedy person who wanted the future to bend to his will. Conrad saw him as an enemy of his enemy or simply a temporary ally he wouldn't trust and Jester saw him as a fighter he wanted in his army to conquer the four kingdoms.
Thoughts like "I should keep an eye on him. " And "I must not let get stronger than me." were filled within their minds at the moment.
However like the oddball of the group she was, Princia wanted nothing more than to fight him despite knowing how weaker he was than her.
Ping-
A wave of hostility washed over Asta, a murderous flood of ki that he detected coming from below.
He involuntarily reached out for his sword, preparing himself to strike before the ambusher could , but the hostility suddenly changed to Princia, followed by a metal spike forming out of floor beneath her while she was too focused on Asta's movements to notice the spike.
It was at this moment that Asta finally took in the sight of his surroundings. He was in a large corridor made of blue metal, it's floor, walls and ceiling containing hundreds of embedded mana stones that lit it up in a light blue glow.
The floor wasn't made of a solid either, instead it was like a tens of thousands of sand grains, sand grains made of a iron and gold.
"Crap! I have to do something!"
Like a skilled swordsman he was, Asta decided to tackle the problem with his sword. He firmly grasped Demon-slayer's handle, swinging it down at Princia as he struck just a inch from her leg before shoulder bashing her to the side.
Almost instantly the sand recovered from the strike. It gathered together once more, turning into a dozen or so needles that at Asta and other before they were struck away Demon slayer's blade.
"Be careful! The ground isn't safe!" Asta says, his hands lifted into a defensive posture.
The wizard kings quickly noticed the brewing trouble and aligned themselves back to back with each other. They all couldn't cast any spells, leaving them with only the choice of using mana to strengthen their bodies.
Mana flooding into their cells, breaking down into manabits and then to pure energy that seeped further and reinvigorating them from within until the feeling of infinite stamina washed over them.
The needles moved towards Jester first, aiming at his neck and leg which he easily dodged by a twisting his body into a C on the x- axis while he leapt above to avoid the strikes.
Edward didn't bother dodging, his old body wasn't nimble or agile enough to bend like jesters. He stood his ground instead, focusing most of his mana into enhancing his sense of hearing. The sound of the needles gave away their trajectory, allowing him to dodge out in ease.
Princia didn't move, her armor was strong enough to block the needle, however just as a assurance she pumped mana into blood and muscles, turning into a shredded tomboy with arms as durable as literally steel.
And lastly, Conrad just used Asta as meat shield to not use up his mana reserves.
"Oi, Oi, Oi! I am not a shield God dammit it!"
"Now you are... Get to work if you want my support against lucius."
"We had a truce! This is blackmail, I won't stand for this! "
"You will... You took Elsdocia, didn't you? Make it count." Conrad said as he hide in Asta's shadow, watching him frantically block the dust needles.
The dust kept coming, increasing in quantity as the nearby floor and walls broke and also joined it on its assault. It grew from barely visible flying needles to a massive swarm of bees within second.
The change in size forced Asta to dual wield- his right dominant hand held Demon slayers, acting as his shield meanwhile he used Elsdocia with his left hand.
He stops for a second, his eyes narrowing in focus. He looked ahead, taking a deep breath as he pulled and stretched his arms to their limits. " Black CYCLONE! "
The anti-magic flooded out of his body, covering the dust and his swords as the mana in the dust was devoured by the wave of dark anti-magic, making him a spinning of orb of sword swings.
The winds from Asta's swings left deep slashes everywhere, turning the entire corridor into cut slabs of metal except the wizard kings who he barely managed to avoid slashing.
"That should do it... Hufhuff. I survived!"
"Uh... I wouldn't be sure about that." Princia said to Asta, "I don't it's over yet. "
Asta couldn't understand her words. He had just used Anti-magic to destroy most of grains in the corridor and there was nothing left to harm them anymore.
However he suddenly felt a vibration running into his body through the chopped metal floor. The vibrations were followed by a faint buzzing noise that slowly began getting louder, as if something was approaching them.
" Holy hell... We are dead."
Asta could only watch a literal tsunami of iron dust heading towards his group from both sides of the corridor. His eyes shrunk in frustration, as he witnesses the wave approaching closer and closer.
" Is this it? Is this how I die again? In a small narrow chamber far below the kingdom? " Asta reaches out for his swords. "LIKE HELL IT IS!!"
SLAMMM... crack-crack.
Asta stomps his feet on the floor, his crimson eyes turning cold while his pupils turned into a black dots with red spiral lines.
He looks down, feeling the vibrations coming back into his body. The floor wasn't much thicker than meters, meaning there was something on the other side.
"Everyone!" Asta called out, the demon slayer grasped in his arms as he pulled it up to his head and roared as hard as he could.
Then as he continues his words, the sword pierced through ground, "Prepare for a Fall!"