Hage Village was a place of simple people and simple magic. To Karl Ardent, however, the world was a puzzle he was still trying to solve.
He was a reincarnator, but he didn't have a "system" or a guide. All he had were the memories of a story called Black Clover and a strange, heavy sensation in his gut that had grown since he was a toddler. As he grew, so did the pressure. Sometimes, while playing with Asta and Yuno, he'd scrape his knee or get a deep cut from a jagged rock. While the other two would carry their scars for weeks, Karl noticed his wounds closed up—not instantly, but by the next morning, the skin was always smooth again.
He wasn't invincible, but he was persistent.
The Grimoire Ceremony
The day arrived at the Grimoire Tower. The air was thick with the scent of old paper and the hum of mana. Karl stood in the back, leaning against a cold stone pillar. He watched the scene play out exactly as he remembered: Yuno receiving the Four-Leaf, and Asta receiving... nothing.
"Next," the Tower Master called.
Karl stepped forward. He didn't want the spotlight. He just wanted to know what his "magic" actually was.
From the highest, darkest corner of the tower, a book descended. It was thin—dangerously thin. It slammed into Karl's hands with a weight that made his wrists ache. It had no cover art, just a single, lonely leaf.
"A one-leaf?"
"And only two pages? What a waste of paper."
Karl ignored the whispers. As he touched the book, the information didn't flash like a screen; it seeped into his brain like ink.
Page One: Darkness. (Logia Essence: The power to pull and nullify.)
Page Two: Tremor. (Vibration Essence: The power to shatter.)
He realized his "magic" wasn't magic at all. It was the power of the Fruits he knew from his past life, translated into this world's energy. It felt raw. Unstable.
He tucked the two-page book into his belt and walked away. He wasn't going to baby-sit Asta or Yuno; they had their own paths to walk. But he respected them enough to stay close.
The Forest Encounter
Later that evening, the smell of burnt mana led Karl to the outskirts of the village. He found Revchi, the "Chain User," mocking a defeated Yuno and a bloodied Asta.
Karl stayed in the deep shadows of the trees. He didn't jump in immediately. He knew Asta needed this moment to awaken his own power. He watched as the Five-Leaf Grimoire manifested and Asta swung that massive rusted sword, slamming Revchi into the stone wall.
It was a perfect victory.
But as Asta stood panting, his back turned, Revchi's face twisted with a final, pathetic rage. The fallen knight flicked a finger, and a hidden iron needle—laced with a mana-eating curse—shot silently toward Asta's spine.
'That wasn't in the story,' Karl thought, his eyes narrowing.
He didn't have time to think. He wasn't a master of his fruit yet, but he knew the basic instinct: Pull.
Karl didn't reveal himself. He stayed in the dark and reached out his left hand.
"Darkness... Sink."
It wasn't a massive "Black Hole." It was just a small, swirling vortex of purple-black smoke that appeared for a split second behind Asta. Karl felt a sharp drain on his stamina as he forced the darkness to manifest.
The iron needle hit the smoke and instantly slowed down. The "Darkness" didn't just stop it; it nullified the mana-trap inside the needle, turning it into a piece of useless scrap metal before swallowing it whole into the void.
Karl's hand trembled. 'Damn... that takes a lot out of me.'
Revchi's eyes widened, looking at the spot where his last-ditch effort had vanished into thin air. He didn't see Karl. He just saw the darkness, like the mouth of a god, eating his attack. Terrified and drained, Revchi finally fainted.
Karl stepped back further into the trees, his breathing heavy. He checked his hand; the strain had caused a small blood vessel to pop in his palm, staining his skin red. But as he watched, the skin began to itch. The "Immortal Body" was already working, slowly knitting the internal damage back together.
"Karl? Is that you?" Asta shouted, looking toward the trees as he held his new sword.
Karl wiped his hand on his pants and walked out, looking as casual as possible. "Yeah. I was just making sure you didn't get yourself killed. Nice sword, Asta. It's almost as ugly as you."
"Hey! Shut up!" Asta laughed, the tension breaking.
Karl smiled, but his mind was elsewhere. He had watched the show, and he had changed one small thing today to keep his family safe. But he knew the world outside Hage wouldn't be so simple.
'Darkness and Tremors...' he thought, feeling the two pages of his grimoire pulse against his hip. 'I've got a lot of training to do.'