Episode 146

Those Who Worship the Devil (悪魔をあがめる者たち) is the 146th Page of Yūki Tabata's Black Clover.

Summary
In Bow Nocde's basement, Siona Caverly is writhing in pain due to injuries that she suffered from the Golden Dawn's intervention. Bow offers to prepare some pain medication, with Kabwe Carillon agreeing that she should. After Siona takes the medicine and is told that the pain will soon subside, Kabwe and Onoby Sinho have a drink of water. Kabwe pulls out his grimoire and states that he plans to execute Secre Swallowtail. Dazu Tayak tries to stop him by reminding him that they have more important things to deal with. Kabwe states that the five-leaf grimoire that they took from Asta needs to be dealt with too. Dazu tries to argue, but Kabwe believes that the book is of no further use. Secre says that she does not care what happens to her and pleads with the Devil Banishers to return the book to Asta. Kabwe compliments the nobility of her request, but argues that her words mean nothing since she is tainted by the devil's evil.

Siona starts screaming and clutching her chest and then suddenly dies. Onoby then collapses and dies as well, much to Kabwe's horror. Kabwe starts to feel sick and drops the five-leaf grimoire. He realizes that there was something in the water that Bow brought them earlier. He asks why the Banishers decided to betray them. Dazu picks up the five-leaf grimoire and reveals to him the groups true intentions: They are actually the Devil Believers, and instead of wanting to destroy the devil as they originally claimed, they worship the devil and seek to gain devil power for their own. Dazu reveals that they were taking advantage of the hatred that Kabwe, Onoby, and Siona felt towards the devil and were just using them for their knowledge as members of the Magic Parliament and their strong magical abilities.

Kabwe does not understand what Dazu means when she says they needed people who could actually use magic. Dazu notes that it must be hard for someone like him to understand that there are people in the world who are hated by mana. She tells him a story about when she was a child and used her Catalyst Magic to combine the Wind Magic and Water Magic of two of her friends, creating a cool rain shower to cool them off on a hot day. They seemed happy, and that made her happy, but she later overheard her friends talking about her behind her back, insulting her because she has so little magic power. Dazu tells Kabwe that people like the Devil Believers have no place in the Clover Kingdom, something that they have all been told since they were children. Dazu states that the Believers wish to become like Asta, who was able to become a strong and well known Magic Knight using a grimoire that granted him the power of a devil. Kabwe declares that he will stop them, but is stabbed by one of the Believers and collapses.

The Believers take Secre and leave Kabwe to die, but he is determined not to let things end like that. He contacts the Magic Knights and informs Damnatio Kira, the nine Captains, and the Wizard King of the Believers' true intentions before dropping dead. With this new information, Julius Novachrono deduces that Kabwe, Onoby, and Siona were ignorant of the groups true nature. Marx Francois enters the meeting room and informs the Magic Knights that the communication was traced to Tiulyu. Julius orders the Black Bulls to travel there and deal with the Believers.

Once the Black Bulls arrive at Bow's basement, they find the three dead Magic Parliament guards, and with no signs of their death being the result of an internal conflict, they concluded that the three guards truly were in the dark about the Devil Believers. Gordon Agrippa notices that the shelves in the house are filled with rare medicine ingredients. Gordon deduces that the potions that the Believers used had been made by whoever lived in the house. Yami Sukehiro wants to get more information on the owner of the house, but notes that information gathering could be difficult, due to the townspeople being wary of the Magic Knights.

Gordon takes them to see Maggie, an old woman in the town whom he befriended during the initial search for the Devil Banishers. Maggie asks about Gauche Adlai, to whom she had taken a liking. Gordon tells her that he is back in the Capital, looking after his little sister. Maggie tells them about Bow, the town doctor. Since Bow was an expert at making medicine, the townspeople went to her instead of healing mages, though she has very little magic power. It is precisely because of her lack of magic that Bow put so much effort into her pharmaceutical practice. Maggie also tells them about Bow's good friend Dazu, who lost both her husband and mother-in-law during the elves' attack.

The Black Bulls search through the wreckage of Dazu's house, where Finral Roulacase finds Dazu and Vide's wedding picture. Yami recognizes her as the woman they met at the cemetery. Noelle Silva believes that there is something not right about the picture; despite Maggie going on and on about how happy Dazu and Vide were together, Dazu had a dead look on her face. Yami wonders why someone who lost their family to a devil would become a devil worshipper.

The Black Bulls report back to Julius and he deduces that with the information they acquired from Magic Parliament guards, the Believers know about Megicula being in the Spade Kingdom. Yami deduces that the Believers want to give Secre and the five-leaf grimoire, probably Asta as well, as tributes to the devil in exchange for granting them power. Julius orders the Black Bulls to head toward the border. Before reaching Spade, the Believers would have to pass through the Forsaken Realm.

Finral goes to collect Gauche, who initially does not want to leave Marie, but Theresa Rapual convinces him to go by reminding him that he should think about what would make Marie happy. The Black Bulls head toward the Forsaken Realm in the The Raging Black Bull. The other Magic Knight squads spread out to search the Common Realm, in case they are wrong about the Believers' course of action. After several days of diligent searching, the Magic Knights find nothing. Julius believes that by this point, the Devil Believers are past the Forsaken Realm and are heading toward the Spade Kingdom's border. Yami reports that multiple people from various villages that they have searched just suddenly left.

Asta, Noelle, and Magna Swing overhear a boy arguing with his mother. The boy wants to join the Believers march to the Spade Kingdom and get devil power, but his mother thinks it is a bad idea. The boy's father tries to stop him, but the boy is determined to get to the meeting place outside of town. Asta, Noelle, and Magna ride Crazy Cyclone to where they believe the meeting place would most likely be. They do not see any people, but do find footprints, confirming that they were still on the Believers' trail. Asta, Noelle, and Magna realize that the people who have gone missing from the towns are all desperate people who see the Believers' ideology of the devil granting power as a ray of hope. The three mages ride toward Breed Mountain, which stands at the edge of the Clover Kingdom. Yami informs them that the mountain has strong mana and therefore volatile weather and that the Believers will likely be slowed down to wait out the storms. The three Magic Knights fly through the raging storm and Noelle catches sight of the Devil Believers trekking along the mountain path. The Believers have been joined by several hundred citizens.

Items used

 * Communication Magic tools
 * Crazy Cyclone