It appeared as though humanity would be destroyed by the demons.
But a single mage saved them all.
He was called the Wizard King, and he became a legend.
The leader of the Eye of the Midnight Sun...
And that sword...
Licht had just awakened from a slumber of several hundred years.
Asta and Yuno were no match for his tremendous magical powers and strength.
Yuno is my...
Asta is my...
...rival!
Even their perfectly matched combo attack had no effect on Licht.
Well, let's go...
To get our other friends, and to destroy the humans.
Somehow, Asta and Yuno were able to escape from the hideout
and rush back to the royal capital with their comrades,
to save the Clover Kingdom
and the Magic Knights who had reincarnated as elves.
But...
Poison Plant Magic: Zhovniir's Garden of Lingering Burns.
That's...
...Hage Village!
Asta and Yuno saw that Hage Village was under attack.
Don't you dare touch her!
Nash! No!
Asta... Yuno?
Good job fighting...
...Nash!
Leave the rest to us!
Two Miracles
How impressive of you to block my attack.
I believe the same goes for this body's human as well,
but are you Magic Knights?
How about this, then?
Poison Plant Magic: Zhovniir's Breath...
and Zhovniir's Fingers.
Like the other humans, you can die from poison
or get skewered.
Choose.
We refuse!
They're both amazing.
It's a miracle...
You were both abandoned in front of the church on the same day,
and grew up in this village.
Then you ventured off, dreaming of becoming the Wizard King someday.
To think that Asta and Yuno...
have grown so much, and now... they've come to save this village.
Asta said...
Your dreams can come true as long as you don't give up.
That you can make everyone happy.
Yes.
Even though we haven't seen them for so long,
we know...
how hard those two have worked for their dream to become the Wizard King.
Oh?
Well done, Yuno!
He made it into the Magic Knights! He's truly our pride!
Yuno's so cool!
So cool!
I have to let the whole village know!
So, Sister, what does the letter from Asta say?
Man, his handwriting sucks. When's he coming home?
We'll have to cheer him up when he comes back.
I'm sure even Asta would be depressed about that.
We'll have a super tato party.
He says he passed.
Huh?
Asta passed, too.
What?!
Seriously?!
Wow... He really passed.
Th-Then I guess he won't be coming home.
I see... So they both passed.
All right, I'm going to tell the whole village!
This is the first bit of good news we've gotten since Hage Village was founded!
Yeah!
I see. So Asta passed, too... I see.
Ever since then,
all the letters we'd receive from Asta and Yuno
became something we looked forward to.
Dear Sister Lily...
Nash, Rekka, Arlu, Horo... How are you guys doing?
My first mission after joining the Black Bulls was boar hunting!
I even encountered a super strong enemy.
You have no chance of winning. Why won't you give up?
If I give up, who's going to protect them?
I've realized something.
It's not just because of our promise.
I'm going to become the Wizard King
so I can protect everyone!
Here we go, Asta!
Take this! My last remaining bit of magic!
Soul Ball!
Flame Magic: Prison Death Scattershot!
So this is your final spell?
How wasteful.
It's time.
It's not a waste!
They drew us in with a decoy, then used our blind spot...
Magic reflection!
Not yet!
I can still move!
W-Wait...
Like hell I will!
We somehow won, but we weren't able to stop
the enemies from taking their own lives,
or save all of the villagers.
At this rate,
it'll be a long time before I become the Wizard King.
But still, I'm still never going to give up!
If anything, he's better at not giving up than anyone else.
You can do this, Asta!
Do this!
"P.S. Marry me, Sister Lily! From Asta."
Asta's the same as ever.
At least give that part up already.
Read Yuno's letter next!
Read it! Read it!
Yuno!
Wait, wait. I'll read that letter myself.
Let's see...
"To everyone back at the church.
When I went to the Magic Knight Headquarters the other day,
I met the Wizard King. Yuno."
That's so cool!
What else does it say?
That's it, actually.
Yuno's letters are always so short.
Asta actually wrote a lot more about that.
Let's see...
"Yuno and I went to the headquarters to give a report about a mission."
Y-Your Majesty!
I never expected you to welcome us yourself.
Who's that flashy old guy?
You fool! That's the current Wizard King, Julius Novachrono!
What?!
This guy is the current...
...Wizard King?!
Well, anyway, you all did splendidly. Good work.
U-U-Um, d-d-do you have a moment?
What is it?
H-How...
...do you become the Wizard King?
I see. So you both want to become the Wizard King.
Any Magic Knight should have that aspiration.
You two! It's rude to ask the Wizard King that directly.
Listen. The Wizard King must be proud and have the trust of the people—
No.
It's merit.
You can't protect others with pride, and the trust of others comes with merit.
There is only one thing people want from the Wizard King...
Merit that proves they are the best.
Gain merit.
Continuously gaining merit is everything.
Anyone who can't do that can never stand at the top.
Bring it on!
To gain merit that proves we're the best...
Those were simple, but very deep words.
I'm going to get more and more merit... The most that I can!
Asta and Yuno are doing their best in a world that we who live on the outskirts
of the Forsaken Realm could never imagine.
Their hard work gave us courage and hope.
But...
Dear everyone back at Hage Village.
Our next mission is
exploring the Underwater Temple that's at the bottom of the ocean!
After we received this letter,
we stopped receiving letters from Asta for a while.
They sometimes say that no news is good news,
but we were all very worried about Asta after we stopped hearing from him.
After a while, we received a very, very, very long letter,
as though he had been holding in all his thoughts for some time,
and we were very surprised.
Dear everyone back at Hage Village...
I'm sorry I haven't been able to write for a while.
I really wanted to write you guys, but I couldn't.
Asta's letter said that after fighting an organization called
the Eye of the Midnight Sun at the Underwater Temple,
curse magic was placed on his arms.
And according to the doctor, he'd never be able to write letters,
let alone hold a sword again.
Hearing that, his friends from the Black Bulls
did everything they could to find a cure.
Then he said that after he met the Queen of Witches
in the Witches' Forest, the curse was lifted.
Never giving up...
is my magic!
That's quite the transformation.
But what exactly are you going to do with it?!
You're not getting away!
Damn you!
What... the hell?
What the hell are you?
Get out of my sight!
Why?!
I got this far by kicking everyone else down!
Why are you...
You might've kicked people down,
but everyone that helped boost me up
makes me strong!
Black Meteorite!
Soon after that, the letters we received from Asta and Yuno said that
they had participated in the Star Festival,
and that many of their achievements had been
acknowledged by the people in the royal capital.
Well, that was quite the entrance.
This is the rookie who worked the hardest out of the Black Bulls this past year.
Asta!
Oh, hey. Hey, there.
Yuno and Asta placed first and second in obtaining stars among all the rookies.
They're two new rising stars.
In only six months since they joined the Magic Knights,
they've both built up magnificent records.
On top of that, they're childhood friends, and they're both just sixteen.
They're both very impressive youngsters.
I wonder what noble families they're from.
Nope! Apparently they're peasants from the boonies!
Bah-ha! Not to mention that Asta kid doesn't even have any magic!
They're peasants? No way.
He doesn't have magic?
Did they really use their abilities to rise up the ranks?
Ugh! What's with these people?
Bell.
What?
Full power.
I wouldn't have it any other way.
Uh, Yuno? What are you doing?
Asta...
Doesn't this remind you of the training we did when we were little?
The hell?! Why do you keep doing stuff like that outta nowhere?!
Besides, we're not kids anymore!
Are you trying to kill me in the middle of my big moment?! You ass!
If you had died there, then that's all you were worth.
Glad you survived.
What?!
S-Such powerful magic...
And the other guy stopped it?
They're on a completely different level!
Now that you've seen their powers,
if any of you still doubt their achievements, please come forward.
It's true that they're both peasants.
But they've worked harder than anyone to get here.
Proud citizens of the Clover Kingdom!
A round of applause for these two new Magic Knights!
And... let us overcome our differences in status,
band together, and lead our country to victory!
Wizard King...
I guess peasants aren't too bad.
Yeah! Now's not the time to be talking about status!
Let's all work together!
Yuno...
Yeah.
We...
actually made it this far.
Dear everyone back at Hage Village...
I...
...will become the Wizard King, no matter what!
It just keeps growing back, no matter how many times I cut it.
There's no end to this stuff!
Father!
Please wake up!
Don't die!
Poison?
I might be able to fix it like last time with my Demon-Slayer Sword!
Yuno!
Can you fight on your own for a while?
Of course I can! Actually, I'll defeat him myself anyway!
Good! I'll leave him to you for a bit!
Father!
Asta! Father was trying to protect us and...
Please...
Damn it! It didn't work!
It's not a spell anymore. The spell's effects...
have already gone into effect,
and the poison's circulating through his body.
Father...
I might be done for...
Father! You've got this!
Is that you, Asta?
I got to see you and Yuno after you've grown so much.
I couldn't ask for anything else.
This must be my reward from God.
What are you talking about?!
To think that little Asta
has grown so much...
Take care of... everyone for me...
Father!
Father...
Not yet...
Not yet, Father!
Don't die. You can't die!
You still... You still need to see how much more I...
how much more we can grow!
This sword...
It's the sword he took back at the Eye of the Midnight Sun's hideout.
It somehow ended up back in my grimoire.
Maybe with this sword, I can...
To think I used to change those boys' diapers. They've grown so much!
You are both my precious sons!
Next time on Black Clover, Page 103: "Release from Misfortune."
Page 103 Release from Misfortune
Just so we're clear, they're my adopted sons.