BLACK CLOVER: Through the Looking Glass

Soon, the Magic Knight Selection Exam was over, and then everyone retired to their respective places, which were their own homes for those who were not selected, and the squad headquarters for those who were indeed selected. And for this very reason, the two new recruits of Black Bull, Asta, and Wilhelm were standing in front of Yami who with Finral and Gordon, was scrutinizing the pair while taking a puff off of the cigarette.

"So, Shrimpy and Mr. Creepy are the new members of our squad. Well, it is better than the previous year's recruits."

"Hahaha…we did not have any recruits the previous year."

Finral replied laughing awkwardly in response to Yami's words, but then Yami turned to him with an annoyed expression and said in his signature gruff tone.

"Huh…!? It seems you are becoming a smartass. Well then Mr. Smartass, you will accompany me to wherever I go for the next 2 weeks."

Hearing those unfair words, Finral was about to retort about the injustice but remembering what type of person Yami is, he gulped his complaint down. Then Yami turned back to the rookies of his squad. He observed Asta, a kid without magic but able to wield a sword that can cut magic looking at him with shimmering eyes, and moved to Wilhelm, the person who stood out to him the most. Not because he was the owner of the 4-leaf clover grimoire, neither was it the fact that he has a magic that is more tricky and would land him a good spot in Golden Dawn, even more so since he is a noble from his name and behavior.

No, what stood out for him was the fact he chose his squad of all. He knows that his squad ranks at the very bottom and has done nothing to earn any praise, instead it is relegated as the most useless of the bunch. So why would he choose his squad, when all the squad's door were open to him.

Hmm…he also has that smile that Nacht has on his face.

Yes. The last point was the reason he irked him the most.

Then taking another smoke, his face hardened as he turned to Asta and said, "You have got some nerve making me wait. How long does it take you to take a dump?"

Hearing this Asta fiddled in his spot a bit and replied quickly, "Actually it was really something…long and huge-"

*SMACK*

"Oww!! What was that for?"

But before he could complete and give the description of what transcribed in the toilet, Wilhelm hit him on the back of his head, which caused Asta to ask Wilhelm with an accusing tone, at which without breaking his expression, Wilhelm replied, "I rather not learn about your experience in the toilet."

"Let's go Finral."

Yami said since he too did not want to waste too much time here and had to take a dump of his own.

"Right-o." Finral said as his grimoire hovered with a green hue and he created a ripple in the space of circular shape.

Seeing it, Asta asked with a fascinated look, "What's that? It looks so cool!"

Ah, it is so good to see someone admire my magic with that look. Ah, how long ago was it someone looked at it like that? I cannot remember.

At his question, Finral become a bit emotional due to his expression, which was not something he saw since he was unofficially just a transport for the captain of Black Bull and was not able to reply, so Yami replied to his question instead.

"This is Spatial Magic. It will lead us directly to the base of Black Bulls. Normally, it is a tradition for the new recruits to fly there but since you can't magically fly, we will have to use the portal instead."

"Umm captain, I should we should go. It is difficult to sustain a portal of this size." Finral voiced his problem but was silenced by Yami's eyes and ate his words.

Then Yami went to Asta and…

"WAI-!OW! WHOAAAA!!"

…threw him into the portal.

"Come on kid." Yami said as he walked into the portal himself leaving Finral and Wilhelm behind. Looking at him sheepishly, Finral said, "Don't mind him. He just speaks that way and acts like a giant who takes more space than necessary, says whatever is in her mind, and does not care for other people's feelings, and all in all is a terrible person who treats me like a means of TRANSPORT!!!"

"…"

 *Huff**Huff**Huff**Huff**Huff*

Finral said those words as he took deep breaths. Seeing it Wilhelm housed an impassive face and seemingly to preserve his dignity, strolled into the portal without saying anything.

Instantly, the surroundings changed around Wilhelm and his face broke from his fake smile for a moment as it changed into something more contemplative.

So this is Spatial Magic, one of the rare few and one of the most important magic there is. While it is really hard to master, there are numerous ways to control it. From the usual application of moving around, it can be used to displace an object into different parts to kill something that is difficult to kill. Move projectile magic to launch it at someone.

And seeing how it went throughout the series if my memory serves me right, only a handful of magics like Spatial Magic, Dark Magic, and Anti-Magic are able to counter it properly.

Hmm…I want it.

 With an imperceptible smile, Wilhelm surveyed his surroundings. In front of him was a rundown castle made of stone from the ground up, in the middle of nowhere surrounded by trees on all sides.

Then with a slight sound, the portal behind him closed and Finral too stepped out of it.

"Whoa! Black Bulls headquarters…!" Asta said with a gawking expression, while Wilhelm just gave it a runover and said, "Nice."

Bolstering a laugh out loud, Yami said, "Well, pretty magnificent, isn't it?"

"It's actually pretty run down." Finral whispered from the back barely above his breath.

Then Asta seemed to vibrate on his place, when he suddenly screamed, "YEAHHH!!!!!!!!"

*THUD*

"I'm Asta from Hage Village!

I'll be joining the Black Bulls to-"

*BOOM*

Asta screamed as he barged the door open but any words that were next died in his throat when he had to dodge a fireball that struck the side of the wall where he stood. Then his gaze moved to the chaos that was being unfolded inside of the castle.

"Welcome to the Black Bulls! The worst magic knights squad in the Clover Kingdom." Yami said with a shit-eating grin as Wilhelm started to doubt his choices.

Damn it! I should not have chosen this squad. I already regret my choice.

I should have chosen Coral Peacock instead.

They are nice too…right?

"Hahahaha! Kid no taking back!" Yami said as he smacked Wilhelm's back and laughed walking in, leaving Finral behind who started to make things better for Asta and Wilhelm seeing the latter having an existential crisis.

"Ahaha! Don't mind them. Even if they look rough around the edges, they are all good people."

It was then that the members of Black Bull finally registered the presence of Yami and the people behind him. After halting their operations for a second, with renewed vigor, they launched themselves at Yami.

"Captain, look at my sister Marie. Isn't she an angel? Can I go visit and see her?"

"CAPTAIN! You look so~ so thirsty~ Care about a bottle or two~"

"Captain, you look weak~ Here, eat a cupcake~"

"Ohhh!!!! Captain Yami!! Are these the new recruits?"

"Hahaha! Hello, my name is Luck! Are you strong? Can we fight?"

The last two people, the one that looked like the textbook definition of the word "Punk" and another that was blonde and had a sort of maniac atmosphere around him.

"Yeah, these are our new recruits this year, Shrimpy and Mr. Creepy." Yami added as he slapped the pairs back.

"Hahahaha! Don't form bad opinions about them."

Finral then pointed to the man with a pale white face with dark circles under his eyes.

"You have already met him, but he is Gordon Agrippa. Although he looks pretty gloomy and you can never guess what is going on in his mind, he is a good guy."

Then he pointed to a pink-haired girl in her undergarments and drinking booze.

"And over here is Vanessa Enoteca.

She'll get in your face when she's drunk, but she's a good person."

As he uttered the sentence, Vanessa sauntered over to the pair but slipped on her step and fell face-first into the ground.

"…"

"This is Luck Voltia. He loves to fight and is obsessed with battle, but he is a good guy." Finral said pointing to the overly chirpy person who was standing too close to comfort Wilhelm.

"Hey, want to fight?!"

"No." Wilhelm refused.

"Please! Please! Pretty please!"

"Yes." Wilhelm replied with a kind smile.

"Really!?" Luck asked with an excited tone.

"No." Wilhelm refused with a deadpan.

Luck became sad…internally.

"Anyway…this is Gauche Adlai. He is a bit too obsessed with his little sister but he is a good guy." Finral said about the man who was having nose bleed as he looked at a picture of his little sister.

'Creep.' Wilhelm thought internally.

It was then a small woman came with a plate full of cupcakes and extended it to Asta and Wilhelm, "Here, take one. It is good." both of them took it with varying expressions.

"*Chomp* Oaaaaa! It is delicious! Way better than the food at home! Thank you so very much!!!!!"

"*Bite* Ummmmm~ It is delicious. Thank you."

It was then that Finral introduced the little woman.

"This is Charmy Pappitson. She eats way too much, but she's a good person."

Then Finral pointed to a huge person from whose mouth smoke was coming out.

"This is Grey. I don't really get him but he is a good eye."

It was then the guy with the mohawk barged in and with a characteristic intimating face said, "Ehhh! Who are you and where are you from?"

"I-I-I AM ASTA FROM HAGE VILLAGE!" Asta managed to utter those words shaking under fear.

"Wilhelm Sylvesterus Diluc Rothchilde. Nice to meet you."

"Huh! A noble, huh? Are you looking down on me, huh?"

"Hahaha! Don't mind him. He is Magma Swing. He sometimes acts like a punk, but he is a good guy." Finral said putting his hand in face of Magma, pushing him away, and then standing in front of the pair, he said pointing to himself, "And I am Finral Roulacase, I'm super popular."

Then he continued after pointing at the captain of Black Bulls himself.

"And last but not the least, the captain of Black Bulls.

Yami Sukihero."

"You are not going to call him a good guy?" Wilhelm asked quirking his eyebrow.

But it was then Yami had enough.

"Stop yapping and thrashing around"

*BOOM*

And he made it known by thrashing the place himself, breaking its wall in the process.

…

The scene changes to the one where Wilhelm and Asta are standing outside the Black Bulls HQ. The reason for this meet is Magma, who challenged the pair of rookies in their induction ceremony in the squad. The test he decided upon was a one-on-one duel between the rookies, Wilhelm and Asta, and the existing members, namely Magma and Luck.

Before going to the main part, Magma decided to make Wilhelm and Asta do 5000 situps and pushups and then finally, leading to dueling themselves.

The matchups were decided to be Magma v/s Asta, and Luck v/s Wilhelm.

So, at present, under the watchful eyes of the rest of the members stood, Asta and Magma, facing each other, with Magma, bursting fire from his hand as an intimating tactic, and on the other side stood Asta, looking at Magma with no hidden tripedation in his heart.

Then Magma spoke,

"The final trial in the initiation!

You can use magic or whatever else you want to either block or dodge my attack magic!

If you're able to do that, you'll officially be one of us Black Bulls.

You'll get your precious robe!"

"YEAH!!!!"

Asta shouted as Magma internally grunted in affirmation, though he did not show it outwards.

"Ready your grimoire you dim-wit!" Magma shouted breaking Asta's rhythm.

"Ye-yea-yeah!" Asta replied all flustered as he readied his grimoire, from where he took out a black sword that looked to be something that nobody would trust with their life, something that was accepted with varied expressions from the people.

"Huh!"

"It looks big."

"So is his magic sword creation." 

But not listening to those comments, Asta readied his gaze at Magma who with a wicked grin shouted at him,

"Here I go!

Flame Magic: Exploding…Fireball!"

He ended as he hit a giant ball of fire with a club made of fire itself.

Seeing the ball of fire approaching him, Asta realized something.

It's too fast!

I cannot cut through it too! The fire will still hit me from the side.

So…

He tilted his blade to the flat side and instead of cutting the fireball, he hit it back to Magna…

"WHA-"

…who could not respond in time.

*BOOOM*

…

So, a moment of silence for Magma Swing.

A friend to some, junior to some, senior to some, but a pain for all.

A former black bull.

A person who will be remembered for exactly 2 seconds-

"You little bastard!

I was able to nullify it in time, so I'm fine, but I was almost offed by my own magic.

You little bastard!"

Magna said as he got out from the smoke caused by the explosion, with veins pulsating at his forehead which caused Asta to dread every second of his life that was to come.

Then…

"You're not half bad!

Huh? What?!

Not only were you able to block my magic, you actually sent it right back at me!

I like you, Shrimpsta!"

…his face broke from his registered trademark punk face as he started to praise Asta earnestly which caused Asta to release a breath of air that he did not know that he was holding.

Phew! I thought he was going to kill me for a second and my dream of becoming a magic knight will remain a dream.

Such a thought wandered into the mind of Asta.

With his face splitting into a wide grin, Asta said out loud, "It is Asta."

But as if ignoring his words, Magna continued, "Shrimpasta, I like you. So here you go…" *SNAP* Vanessa snaps her finger with a smile, following which a glittering heap of thread forms around Asta's neck finally taking the shape of a black robe, identical to the one worn by Black Bulls themselves.

As it was happening, Asta literally had stars in his eyes as he admired the robe that formed over him. Left speechless for a moment, Asta did not knew what he could say, so he just said sincerely, "Thank you for having me!" in a loud voice.

Then suddenly, Luck jumped in front of Wilhelm, and like a child that could not wait any longer, he said, "Hey! Hey! Now it's our turn. Let's fight! Let's go!"

"Calm down a bit." Wilhelm said as he pushed Luck's face in front of him and finally said after taking a gulp of fresh air, "Let's go."

"Yay!!!" Luck said as he launched himself at Magma, delivering a swift kick to his forehead.

"Make way!!!"

With a thud, Magma fell to the ground and looked back at Luck with an expression mixed with anger and annoyance. "What the hell! Wanna have a go at it, huh!?"

"Nah, you are weak." Luck replied, dismissing Magma which fueled his anger more only, but not giving him time of day, Luck turned to look at Wilhelm who had walked in front of him, right in the place where Asta stood previously.

"Ho, so it's Mr.Creepy's turn." Yami commented off-handedly as he stared at the red haired boy, who looked at Luck who was sparkling with electricity, with a seemingly calm expression, if not for his eyes that were sharply moving around Luck and the hand behind his back that had a ball of glass floating in it.

Looking at each others eyes, under the watch eye of the others, and if under a tactic agreement, they begin.

"Lightning Magic: Creation"

With lightning crackling around him, small pieces of armor formed around Luck's hand and legs as he shot himself at Wilhelm who immediately bought his hand forward shot the shard of glass at Luck who shattered it upon touch, not getting away from Wilhelm and chortled, "Hahahaha! Your magic feels weak."

*BOOM* 

And finally crashed into Wilhelm…

"Huh?!"

Only to not feel any impact upon touch.

"Good. Because it should." Wilhelm whispered from behind Luck. Immediately as the sound fell onto his ears, Luck attacked behind from his elbow, again not to feel a thing.

"What?"

Luck muttered as he found himself standing in the place where he was before the fight begin, with Wilhelm also standing at the place where he stood previously.

Huh?! Is this some mind or illusion magic? It must be.

Luck deduced with his sharp mind, that despite his childish demeanor was monstrously well-equipped for battle. But even still the problem still existed, since even if he was able to figure out that his senses were betraying him, it does not mean that he was able to find out the means to use something else in its place.

So his power of illusion will remain useless as long as I don't mov-

*BANG*

Such a train of thought was stopped in its tracks by a slash that appeared on Luck's body starting from his left shoulder to right rib.

But instead of an expression of pain, Luck's face showed an expression of even more excitement.

"Hahaha! One more time! Do that one more time!!"

He shouted as he changed his plan of remaining completely still and started to move around erratically to not let Wilhelm get a hit in on him. But instead of replying to his taunt, Wilhelm kept his eyes absolutely still on the figure of Luck whose speed just kept on increasing, until he could not follow him at all.

Something that Luck did not miss and attacked at him, once more.

Gotcha'!

Luck thought internally as he saw Wilhelm face turn into one of fear as Luck's crackling arm a hairs breathes away from his chest when…

*SLASH*

Lucks arm that was about to hit Wilhelm was cut from his torso.

Seeing it, Lucks eyes that was enhanced from his magic, dilated. Before his body cold even register the pain, he felt more sensations in his body, which were caused by the pain from lost limbs.

*THUD*

With a thud, his limbless torso fell to the ground and Luck's eyes became hazy and the last thing he saw was a sight of Wilhelm who was looking down at him.

…

Until his eyes stirred open.

"My…arms." He said half unconscious as he found himself on the ground with every limb attached to his body with no amount of pain.

"What…happened?" Luck muttered when he saw Vanessa standing above him, looking at him with a worried gaze and asked, "You tell me what happened? One moment you and the new kid were about to fight, and the next moment you are lying on the floor, knocked out cold."

Groggily, Luck stood up and said still in daze, "We fought…he cut my hand…then I was on the ground."

Hearing this, Vanessa's face contoured into confusion before she looked behind to see that Wilhelm was standing with the rest of squad, who gazed back at them and smirked a little.

***

The scene changed to inside of the head quarters with all of the squad members sitting on the dining table and eating with each other. Even if the fight with Wilhelm was rather anti-climatic, he was still given the robe for Black Bulls because that initiation ceremony was just a farce made by Magma and the rest of black bulls went with the flow.

As they were eating and chatting with each other, finally the topic came to Wilhelm, specifically the type of magic he had.

"So, what magic do you use?!" Luck asked, getting back to his battle-hungry demeanor without much problem.

Not giving the full true answer will cause needless problems, but giving it all is not something that I would like to do.

It will go against the very reason I joined the black bulls for.

Such a thought drifted in Wilhelm's mind as he decided to answer, looking invested in the conversation to not seem like a stone-cold uncaring douche.

"Illusion Magic. I can create illusions. That's it."

"So what is with the glass?" Finral asked thinking back to the moments that Wilhelm used his magic for.

Nodding at his question, Wilhelm said, "It is a medium for me to cast illusion with. Don't overthink off of it."

Content with the reply, Finral went back to eating but it was then Asta, who asked Wilhelm, "I am from Hage Village. Where are you from? And why did you decide to become magic knight for?"

Wilhelm moved his head back a little, a bit too stunned to reply to all the flurry of questions launched by Asta at him, but getting his bearings back in an instant, he replied, "Well…I am from Lewin Town, and I decided to become magic knight…because I can." He ended, putting much thought into the last part of the question.

"Oh! I became a magic knight to become Wizard King one day." Asta said in a firm and hopeful tone one would hear only from children who dream big but have never faced reality. It was then Wilhelm began questioning, "What is your magic?"

At this question, Asta become flustered and scratched the back of his head and replied, "I don't know. All I know is that I can summon the swords that cut through or hit back magic."

"Cut through magic, huh? Can I see your grimoire?" Wilhelm asked, this time really invested in the conversation.

"Sure." Asta said as he handed his grimoire off t0 Wilhem when Yami said, "Quick yapping and eat your food and go to bed."

 ***