Cunning and True Strength

Impossible... How could this be?

Revchi knelt halfway to the ground, endless despair in his eyes. He looked up at the pitch-black starry sky, unable to understand how three brats like them could unleash such terrifying power.

Yuno's Four-leaf Clover aside, Asta's broad black greatsword gave him an overwhelming sense of pressure. Fortunately, Asta's stamina was not strong enough. Otherwise, it would be hard to say who would outlast whom. Still, all of that remained within manageable limits.

The one who truly drove him into complete despair was Carl.

Her Grimoire was tattered, with not even a single page inside. Everyone knew that the thickness of a Grimoire represented the magic recorded within it. Likewise, if a Grimoire did not even contain pages, then it was simply impossible for it to record any magic.

That was precisely why he had looked down on Carl.

Yet the Carl before him had far exceeded his imagination.

She had only thrown three attacks, yet unleashed three entirely different kinds of magic. It was as though the world's original laws, even the supreme magical system of Grimoires, had lost their effect on Carl.

Each of these three brats was stranger than the last.

The wounds on his body had been inflicted by the technique called Divine Dragon Tail. That water-attribute Creation Magic was tremendously powerful, in no way inferior to fire magic and perhaps even surpassing certain slashing-type spells.

A long, narrow wound ran across his body, blood flowing from it.

Revchi muttered to himself as though he had completely given up resisting.

Carl slowly walked toward Revchi, one step at a time. Her footsteps were like a countdown before the Grim Reaper swung his scythe. With every step, Revchi's pupils trembled—as did those of Asta and Yuno nearby.

At last, Carl arrived before Revchi.

She looked at him and revealed an odd smile.

"When you live by the sword, sooner or later, you pay the price. You should have known that."

"If we had been the ones who lost, you should be able to imagine how badly the three of us would have suffered."

"Magic thief Revchi, do you have any last words?"

Seeing Revchi's vacant expression, Carl showed no sign of softening.

But just then:

Revchi's previously unfocused eyes suddenly became wild and arrogant.

"Ah—hahahaha!"

"You finally fell for it!"

"Kid, when you make your living out here, what matters most? Not strength, but being cunning enough!"

"You think you're strong? You think being able to use magic of three attributes makes you some heaven-sent genius?"

"In the end, you'll still die at the hands of Magic Thief Revchi!"

"I'll remember you. I'll keep your Four-leaf Grimoire by my side, forever as a monument to Magic Thief Revchi's achievement!"

Revchi burst into maniacal laughter.

Then his blood surged, his magic power soared madly, and the chains around his body trembled violently, continuously channeling power through him as though they were forcibly squeezing out every last bit of his potential.

His eyes nearly bulged from their sockets.

A dangerous glint immediately appeared in Carl's eyes.

Revchi's gaze was filled with madness.

Although Carl had defeated him, during their long-range exchange, he had already seen through her method of attack.

Carl needed to use her fists, body, or even that absurd method of attacking Grimoires in order to release her magical abilities.

She did not need to chant, but that also indirectly meant that, in certain moments, she could not defend her own body.

And that gap was exactly what Revchi wanted.

All that previous daze and helplessness had been part of the scheme for this very moment.

With his plot succeeding, Revchi's lips curled into a scythe-like arc.

"Die! The winner will ultimately be me!"

The next instant, as the chains around him shook wildly, two thick chains shot out in an instant and raced madly toward Carl.

Yet his crazed, excited laughter abruptly stopped, like a duck having its throat seized.

"No... How is that possible?!"

Carl caught the two chains in her hands, one in each.

As the chains crossed—

Crack! Crack! Snap!

The chains were crushed apart by her bare hands!

Revchi was struck dumb.

"What? Your strength is actually this terrifying?!"

"Th-Those are my magical chains!"

Even if he died, Revchi never would have expected Carl's physical strength to withstand Chain Magic head-on.

This had completely exceeded his understanding.

And in an instant, Carl turned the broken chains into Revchi's final noose.

Revchi's body was torn apart like a rag doll.

Even at the moment of death, his eyes remained full of disbelief.

Blood splattered everywhere.

In the distance, Asta's eyes widened round.

"Th-This is Carl's true strength?"

"That was so awesome! So hot-blooded!"

To be honest, when Revchi had erupted so suddenly just now, a trace of fear and despair had even risen in Asta's heart.

Those people who spent their lives lurking around the borders of the Clover Kingdom, even traveling between the Heart Kingdom and the Diamond Kingdom, were simply too terrifying.

Their cunning was far beyond imagination.

Asta was certain that if he had faced that attack just now, he would have been severely wounded almost instantly, reduced completely to meat on the chopping block at someone else's mercy.

But Carl had relied solely on her own strength to rip apart Revchi's steel Chain Magic, even tearing him to pieces directly.

Huff—

Asta exhaled a puff of white breath, his eyes brimming with incomparable excitement.

Meanwhile, in the distance, Yuno felt the Chain Magic around him rapidly soften before finally turning into specks of magical light and fading into the void.

Only then did he fall from the air and land on one knee.

His eyes held both the relief of surviving disaster and complicated, indescribable feelings toward Carl.

They both possessed Four-leaf Grimoires. His was even a more complete wind-attribute Four-leaf Clover.

A Four-leaf Clover should have stood above all others.

Just as he had declared before Charlotte—he would become the Wizard King.

Yet compared to Carl now, Yuno only felt his face burn.

Why?

Why was Carl, with merely a tattered cover, so much stronger despite them both possessing Four-leaf Clover Grimoires?

Carl smiled at him from afar.

With a wave of her hand, the magical necklace that had originally belonged to Yuno, now missing a piece from its center, slowly flew back before him.

Yuno silently put the necklace away.

He would keep this necklace forever.

It would serve both as a warning of danger and as a reminder to pursue Carl's strength.

Yuno raised his head and looked at Carl, his gaze cold and resolute.

"Thank you for saving Asta and me."

"But you are also our rival."

"I will become the Wizard King."

"One day, I will become strong enough to catch up to you openly and fairly, Carl."

Carl grinned, revealing a mouthful of white teeth.

Yuno, who had been waiting for Carl to answer back, froze for a moment before falling silent. Meanwhile, Asta dragged his pierced legs forward little by little.

It had to be said that his physical endurance was truly astonishing.

He walked over to Revchi's corpse.

Revchi's Grimoire had already vanished.

But an embroidered pouch caught Asta's attention.

Asta picked up the pouch and casually tossed it to Carl.

"Here, see what this is."

"It's your loot."

"But that guy Revchi was way too poor, wasn't he? He didn't even have a single gold coin on him."