A cool morning breeze drifted through the fields surrounding the small church in Hage Village. The sound of birds chirping and children laughing filled the air.
Behind the church, however, someone was training.
David stood alone in the clearing.
It had been nearly two weeks since he began seriously training his mana with Yuno.
At first, he could barely feel the mana flowing around him.
Now?
It responded to him like it had been waiting his entire life.
David slowly raised his hand.
The invisible mana around him began drifting toward his palm.
Not violently.
Not wildly.
But smoothly.
Like gravity pulling everything toward a single point.
David narrowed his eyes in concentration.
"Let's try again…"
Over the last two days he had been experimenting with something simple.
Instead of just moving mana…
He tried compressing it.
The mana swirling around him slowly condensed.
The pressure built quickly.
The air distorted slightly.
Then—
A tiny glowing sphere appeared above his palm.
David blinked.
"…There it is."
The sphere was only the size of a marble.
But the density inside it felt dangerous.
He gently tossed it forward.
The small sphere hit the dirt a few feet away.
For a brief second…
Nothing happened.
Then—
BOOM.
The ground exploded outward in a violent burst of dirt and dust.
A crater nearly two meters wide appeared instantly.
David stared at the damage.
"…That's strong."
Way stronger than he expected.
And he wasn't even using a spell.
Just raw mana.
---
"WHAT WAS THAT?!"
A loud voice shattered the quiet morning.
Asta came sprinting around the church at full speed.
Yuno walked behind him calmly.
Asta froze when he saw the crater.
His mouth slowly fell open.
"D-DAVID?!"
He pointed dramatically at the hole in the ground.
"WHAT DID YOU DO?!"
David scratched the back of his head.
"…Testing something."
Yuno quietly stepped closer to the crater and studied it.
His eyes narrowed slightly.
"…Condensed mana."
David nodded.
"Yeah. I compressed it into a sphere."
Asta blinked.
"…You can DO that?"
David shrugged.
"I guess."
Yuno slowly looked at him.
"…You did this without a grimoire."
"Yeah."
"…And you learned it in two days."
"…Yeah."
Silence filled the clearing.
Asta's body started shaking.
Then suddenly—
"THAT'S IT!"
He pointed straight at David.
"YOU'RE MY RIVAL!"
David blinked.
"…What?"
Asta stomped forward with fiery determination blazing in his eyes.
"You're strong! Yuno is strong! Everyone here is strong except me!"
He clenched his fists tightly.
"But I'm gonna surpass all of you!"
He pointed again.
"So from now on—YOU ARE MY RIVAL!"
David stared at him for a moment.
Then calmly shook his head.
"No."
Asta froze.
"…Huh?"
"No thanks."
"…WHAT?!"
Asta looked like his soul had just been punched out of his body.
"WHY NOT?!"
David pointed toward Yuno.
"You already have one."
Yuno stood quietly nearby, watching the interaction.
Asta looked between them.
"But I can have TWO rivals!"
David shook his head again.
"Still no."
Asta's face turned red with frustration.
"WHY?!"
David answered casually.
"Because you're going to become the Wizard King."
Asta blinked.
"…Yeah!"
"And I'm not competing for that job."
Asta tilted his head.
"…Wait, what?"
Yuno also glanced at David with curiosity.
David stretched his arms lazily.
"Wizard King sounds like too much responsibility."
Asta collapsed dramatically to his knees.
"YOU CAN'T JUST REJECT THE WIZARD KING!"
David shrugged.
"I just did."
---
Yuno crossed his arms.
"…Then what do you want?"
David looked up toward the sky.
The clouds drifted slowly overhead.
"…Honestly?"
He smiled slightly.
"I just want to get strong."
Asta groaned from the ground.
"THAT'S THE SAME THING!"
David shook his head.
"Not really."
He looked toward Yuno.
"You're going to become the Wizard King."
Then he glanced down at Asta.
"And you're going to chase that title harder than anyone alive."
Asta jumped up immediately.
"OF COURSE I AM!"
David chuckled.
"Exactly."
Then his gaze drifted slightly.
"And someday…"
"…Yuno will become something even bigger."
Yuno's eyes narrowed slightly.
"…What do you mean?"
David shrugged casually.
"Just a feeling."
He couldn't exactly say the truth.
That one day Yuno would become the King of the Spade Kingdom.
That was information he couldn't reveal yet.
So he simply pointed back toward the crater.
"Anyway."
"Pretty cool, right?"
Asta instantly pointed again.
"TEACH ME THAT!"
David laughed.
"You need mana first."
Asta froze.
Then slowly collapsed face-first into the dirt.
"DAMN IT!"
---
Yuno looked back at the crater quietly.
His expression was thoughtful.
David had just created something powerful.
Not a spell.
Not magic from a grimoire.
Just pure mana control.
And if David could already do this…
Then once he received his grimoire in a little over two weeks…
His growth might become terrifying.
---
David looked down at his hand again.
The mana still gathered around him effortlessly.
But something about it felt strange.
Different.
Cosmic.
He couldn't explain why.
But he felt like this power was only the beginning.
And in just a little over two weeks…
He would receive his grimoire.
David smiled slightly.
"Things are about to get interesting."