[—Three Months Earlier: The Grimoire Acceptance Ceremony, Hage Village—]
Kaito stood near the back wall of the Grimoire Tower in Hage, his black cloth mask pulled up a little higher than necessary. Simple and cheap, it was nevertheless part of the efficiency kit he had learned to rely on. It cut down the peripheral noise, both the verbal noise of shouting villagers and, more importantly for him, the overwhelming sensory noise of the Six Eyes.
He was fifteen, the same age as the twin orphans from the church, and he felt every single year of the nine years since his world had come apart in mathematical components. His six-year-old self, abandoned and terrified, had found solace only in the cold, unfeeling perfection of physics.
[SIX EYES ANALYSIS: ENVIRONMENT
Building Integrity: 65% (Foundational erosion evident due to localized high-mana density).
Ambient Mana Density: 45,000 units, moderately high for a rural area.
Mana consumed: 1,200 per second (Maintaining floating grimoires).
He wasn't here out of excitement, but out of obligation. An orphan from a nearby, smaller village, the church elders had insisted he participate. Kaito already possessed his Grimoire-a plain, five-leaf volume he'd received three months ago after showing enough raw power to qualify. Sealed, it hung discreetly at his waist.
He looked across the gathering to where the two familiar, distinctive Ki signatures stood out against the crowd:
Yuno: His Ki was a brilliant, towering column of gold so stable and wide that it seemed like an ancient spirit residing within a boy. That was the Ki of absolute control and potential. The mana coursing through him was almost pure elemental wind.
Asta: His Ki was chaotic, frantic, but overwhelmingly warm. It wasn't strong in volume, but the simple, frantic sincerity was almost painful to perceive.
Kaito let out a sigh. Even Yuno, with his incredible mana capacity, was wasting a very minuscule amount of energy given the simple fact of him standing still and exuding his natural aura. Asta wasted absolutely nothing since he had absolutely nothing to waste.
The tower master initiated the proceedings, his voice booming and poorly using the echo in the chamber.
As the Grimoires flew in every direction, Kaito engaged the high-level filtering of the Six Eyes, only monitoring the trajectories and magical signatures of the books while excluding the celebratory chaos.
[SIX EYES CALCULATION]
Grimoire Path Prediction: All books are seeking the most compatible mana signature in the room.
Asta Prediction: 100% Zero-Match Probability.
Yuno's Prediction: 99.999% Match Confirmation. Mana signature perfectly matches Wind Elemental structure.
It was predictable, yet an astonishing phenomenon occurred when the books hit the ground.
Dozens of colored Grimoires zoomed through the air, each reaching their masters in magical bursts. Then, one magnificent book—ancient, glowing emerald, sealed with a four-leaf clover—started to descend and release surges of power that caused the entire tower to vibrate.
The Four-Leaf Grimoire floated directly toward Yuno and settled in his hand.
The crowd burst in amazement. Kaito felt Yuno's Ki swell with quiet, controlled triumph, but his mana signature remained perfectly composed. Yuno was the very definition of natural elegance.
Then came the silence.
Asta stood alone, shivering slightly, utterly Grimoire-less.
Kaito watched Asta's overwhelming, desperate Ki signature waver, hitting a trough of pure humiliation and disappointment. It was a raw, agonizing emotion that hurt Kaito's secondary sense just to perceive.
"I… I'm not done yet!" Asta screamed, a pointless energetic gesture of defiance.
It was instant, efficient, and cruel laughter.
But Kaito was running a different calculation.
[SIX EYES ANALYSIS: ASTA]
Mana Index: 0.000 units.
Ki Index: 95,000 units (Massive, latent, unprocessed life force/fighting spirit).
Magic Potential: Undefined (Anomaly).
Structural Integrity: Physically over-developed for his age- consistent with excessive, mana-free training.
Kaito had to admit, seeing a human with zero mana with that powerful of a Ki signature was a mathematical anomaly. Asta was a true outlier, a variable Kaito couldn't simplify.
It devolved into chaos as the ceremony ended. Kaito looked for the quickest way out, but his route was hampered by the commoners' sudden, panicked flight.
Suddenly, two things happened at once:
Ki Alarm: Kaito's Ki sense flared, not with the massive, destructive rage of the monster from Chapter 1, but with a cold, focused, calculated malice—the intent of a predator targeting vulnerable prey.
Six Eyes Detection: Kaito's vision immediately isolated the source. A skinny, dark-haired man-a mage named Revchi, Kaito quickly categorized from residual village data-was moving with a calculated, low-mana stealth toward the distracted Yuno.
[THREAT ANALYSIS: REVCHI (CHAIN MAGIC)]
Mana Flow: Low to mid-level, all channeled into a single thread. Highly effective for low-power capture.
Ki Signature: Envy and petty aggression (predictable motivation).
Attack Trajectory: Invisible, high-speed mana thread targeted at Yuno's wrist/Grimoire. Time to Impact: 0.5 seconds.
Yuno's Reaction: Yuno is mainly focused on Asta's Ki fluctuation. DEFENSE LAG: 0.8 seconds.
Kaito could intervene. A single, micro-Reinforced tap to Revchi's center of mass would render him unconscious and solve the problem with zero wasted effort.
But Kaito hesitated. His entire life was built on avoiding involvement in inefficient, chaotic human drama. This was Asta and Yuno's problem.
Just as the chain wrapped around Yuno's arm, Kaito saw Asta surge forward.
Asta ran, his body coursing with pure, desperate Ki. He wasn't looking to hit-he was looking to stop.
Kaito watched the resulting beatdown with cold, calculated detachment, seeing the equations of the fight play out. Revchi's Chain Magic was efficient against mages, but useless against Asta's sheer, mana-less physical durability.
When Revchi had Yuno in chains and was mocking Asta, Kaito took note of the exact moment Asta's large, chaotic Ki stabilized and came to a single overwhelming point of purpose: I will protect him.
That was when the second magical anomaly happened.
Kaito's Six Eyes screamed data overload as he saw a massive, swirling black vortex of energy that was not mana but Anti-Mana suddenly manifest around Asta. It ripped apart the ambient mana flow in the room, creating a chaotic void that the Six Eyes struggled to process.
[SIX EYES ANALYSIS: ASTA – GRIMOIRE AWAKENING ]
Mana Index: bleibt 0.000 Einheiten.
Manifestation: Five-leaf clover Grimoire - Type: Anti-Magic.
Anomaly Index: OFF THE CHARTS. Unquantifiable energy output.
The beautiful, chaotic disaster that Asta summoned was a massive chipped black sword.
Kaito watched Asta swing the sword and cut through Revchi's chain with such ease. All of a sudden, its mana got nullified, making the high-grade spell nothing more than ordinary metal.
"A tool of perfect, absolute severance," Kaito thought, entranced by the data. The Anti-Magic swords represented the ultimate in efficiency-they didn't fight mana; they erased it, using zero energy of their own.
Revchi, now staring at the surreal sight of a mana-less boy holding such a terrifying anti-magic weapon, panicked. He sent what little mana he had left into a flurry of chains.
[SIX EYES ANALYSIS: REVCHI COUNTER]
Trajectory: 12 different chains that target Asta's limbs and core.
Impact Time: 0.3 seconds.
Asta's Reaction: Slow. He is fighting on instinct. HIGH RISK OF IMPACT.
It was here that Kaito determined to perform the minimal intervention.
He funneled the minimum amount of Reinforcement Mana possible into his own legs, enough for an explosive burst of speed. He was so quick that the commoners didn't even see a blur, before he appeared instantly between Asta and the chains, his reinforced arm held horizontally.
He didn't hit the chains with his hand; he calculated the perfect deflection angle and slammed his reinforced forearm against the main nexus point where all twelve chains originated from Revchi's body.
It was a clean, jarring impact that severed the flow. Revchi cried out as the magical connection was severed, and the chains instantly dropped to the floor, inert.
Kaito disappeared just as quickly, re-appearing back by the wall before Asta even registered his presence.
Asta, seizing the moment, let out his fierce war cry and struck with a wild, mana-less headbutt that sent Revchi into unconsciousness.
The battle was over, and Yuno was safe. Asta's hand grasped his new, dark Grimoire with a chaotic energy that couldn't be explained logically.
Kaito watched as the final, beautiful symmetry of the scene unfolded:
Yuno's powerful Ki was now filled with thanks and fierce resolution.
Asta's frantic Ki had settled into pure, exhausting triumph.
Revchi's malevolent Ki was now just simple, unconscious pain.
Kaito looked down at his own hand. His intervention had been 100% successful and had cost him only 5,000 units of mana for the burst of speed and the deflection. Zero wasted effort. Perfect efficiency.
Kaito turned and left the tower. Two magical outliers of Hage had just been introduced to the world, but the third-the one who saw the strings of reality-was already moving.
His path was now clear: if he was to survive the chaos of this world, he needed allies who commanded power capable of severing even the most complex equations. The boy with the Zero-Mana and the Anti-Magic sword had just proven he could erase variables Kaito couldn't touch.
That was a partnership worth the inefficiency of social interaction.