Zura and Noelle walked to the garden, its serene beauty a stark contrast to the turmoil in Zura's mind. The garden was empty, the silence broken only by the rustling of leaves and the distant chirping of birds.
"Noelle, attack me with all you've got," Zura said, his voice steady and determined. He took a deep breath, preparing himself for what was to come.
"Are you sure?" Noelle asked, her eyes reflecting a knowing look, her voice tinged with concern. She knew the power she wielded and the potential harm it could cause.
"Uh…" Zura hesitated, recalling how powerful Noelle had become in the recent chapters he'd read. He wasn't sure if he should compare that with the strange Black Clover world he was in. However, he didn't want to risk it. He sighed, his resolve firm. "Just a small water ball is fine."
"Are you sure?" Noelle asked again, her concern evident. "You don't have any barrier or anything protecting you. My attack can hurt you, you know?"
"As long as it doesn't kill me, I think I'll be fine," Zura answered, his voice steady and sure. He was ready to face whatever came his way.
"Okay then…" Noelle began to cast her spell, her hands moving gracefully as she channeled her magic. "Here I go."
Noelle fired a small water ball at Zura. As soon as it neared him, it disappeared, vanishing into thin air.
Noelle's eyes widened in surprise, her mind racing with questions. But Zura was disappointed, his hopes of understanding his grimoire's power dashed.
"I knew it," he muttered in frustration, his voice barely above a whisper.
Grimoires select their owner based on their magic. People are born with magic in this world, and only those who have magic get a grimoire. Zura, however, wasn't born here. He was an ordinary human living a very unordinary life. It was impossible for Zura to miraculously gain magic; he was magic-less. So the grimoire he gained had to be anti-magic. However, because of the power of the nine clovers, he didn't need to use any weapon to nullify the magic.
Zura picked up a stone from the grass, its surface smooth and cool, and threw it at the nearest tree in frustration. The stone hit the tree with a thud, the sound echoing in the quiet garden. Suddenly, a water ball hit the tree, its impact sending a shiver down Zura's spine.
Surprised, he looked at Noelle to check if she fired the water ball, but Noelle was as surprised as he was, her eyes wide with shock.
"That was… my magic…" Noelle managed to stutter, her voice a mix of shock and disbelief.
"Yeah…" Zura looked at his hand, his mind racing with possibilities. He tried to shoot a water ball again, but nothing came out. "Could it be…"
Zura looked at his grimoire, its pages blank and waiting. He saw the same spell Noelle had cast, its form etched into the pages.
"So this is the true power of a nine-clover grimoire…" he murmured, his voice a mix of awe and resolve. He had the power to absorb and use any magic, a power that could make him the strongest.
Noelle flipped her hair, her movements graceful and sure. She asked, "Would you mind explaining to me?"
"To put it simply, I can absorb any magic and store it inside my body. Then use it whenever I want. My grimoire will add the spell, and I will learn it," Zura asserted nonchalantly, his voice steady and sure.
Noelle's jaw dropped after hearing that. She stammered, "Doesn't that make you the strongest then?"
"However, I don't know the limit to what and how much I can absorb. Nor do I know anything about how I can use the spells from my grimoire. I will need time to learn it," he added, his voice tinged with determination.
Noelle placed her hand on her chin, her gaze thoughtful. "That's true. Since we don't have any knowledge of your grimoire, we don't know its full potential. But it's for the best. Because that means you can get even stronger."
"Don't make it sound so simple," Zura remarked, his voice tinged with frustration. "Even you should be able to tell that I am a human, and humans have limitations. There are things the human body can't do, and I… need to break that boundary. I need to get strong… or maybe not."
"What, why?!" Noelle exclaimed, her eyes wide with shock.
"I mean…" Zura shrugged his shoulders, his voice hesitant. "I am talking big here, but I am not sure what I am going to do to get stronger. If I could use magic, then I might have practiced it. What am I supposed to do when I only have the power to absorb magic?"
"But if you absorb magic, doesn't that mean you have magic in your body?" Noelle asked, her brow furrowed in confusion.
Zura nodded, his voice steady. "It should be, but when I had your magic inside me, I couldn't feel it inside my body. It's as though it's being stored in a different dimension—"
Zura stopped when he saw Noelle's face turn red as a beet, her embarrassment evident.
"What's wrong?" Zura asked, his voice curious.
"It's nothing," Noelle muttered, her face still flushed.
Zura knitted his brows, a smirk playing on his lips as he figured out why Noelle was blushing. He looked at her, his voice teasing. "When I had your magic inside me."
As he had expected, Noelle's face flushed even more, her embarrassment deepening.
"When your magic was inside me," Zura said it again, his voice teasing.
"When your magic was inside me," he repeated, his tone playful.
Noelle's face exploded in embarrassment, and she ended up firing a full-sized water ball at him. The water ball hit Zura, sending him flying to the nearest tree. However, he eventually absorbed it, his body shimmering with the absorbed magic.
'I should practice on the speed of absorption,' Zura decided as he somehow managed to get up, his body aching from the impact.
Noelle rushed to Zura, her voice concerned. "Are you okay?! I am sorry—"
"I am okay," Zura replied, his voice steady. He added, his tone playful, "Now more of your magic is inside me."
Noelle's face flushed again, but she managed to hide her embarrassment. She squinted her eyes, her voice curious. "You are doing this on purpose, aren't you?"
"Of course," Zura replied with a grin on his face, his tone teasing.
As they stood in the garden, the weight of the situation pressing down on them, Zura couldn't help but feel a sense of determination. He was in a world that was both familiar and foreign, a world that held the key to his journey and the challenges he was destined to face. And with Noelle by his side, he was ready to embark on this journey, to unravel the mysteries of the Clover Kingdom and the power of the grimoire that awaited him.
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Author's note- This chapter's content ended up longer than I thought. I will cover more (r-18) in the next chapter. Hopefully.