Episode 144

Those Who Wish for the Devil's Demise (悪魔の滅びを願う者) is the 144th Page of Yūki Tabata's Black Clover.

Summary
Dazu Tayak is visiting her husband's and mother-in-law's graves, remembering the good times she shared with them. She sees Yami Sukehiro and Finral Roulacase, who talk about how many of the graves were from the elves' attack. They approach Dazu and ask her if she has seen Marie Adlai or Secre Swallowtail and she replies that she has not. Yami asks her if she knows of anyone with a grudge against devils. She tells them that everyone has a grudge against devils and asks them if they had heard about how a devil was responsible for the resent attack. She recognizes them as Magic Knight due to their cloaks and asked why they did not come to help. Yami takes responsibility and apologizes.

In another part of town, the villagers are surprised to see members of the royal House Silva. Noelle Silva tries to question the villagers if they had seen Marie or Secre, but they would not give her the time of day. Nozel Silva deduces that the townspeople are bitter about how so many of the Magic Knights were possessed during the attack and that no one came to help them. Nozel decides to keep a level head and suggests that they try something else.

Gauche Adlai is running through town in search of his little sister. He thinks he sees her and runs to hug her, but it turns out to be a different girl entirely. Gordon Agrippa tries though comfort the girl by giving her a lollipop, but she gets scared by Gordon's ghoulish face. Gordon tells Gauche that he needs to be more careful, but Gauche adamantly states that he will do everything in his power to save Marie if he thinks he sees her, no matter how small the chance that it is actually her. Gauche shouts Marie's name to the heavens, getting the attention of an old woman named Maggie, who thought he was calling her.

Dazu makes her way back to Bow Nocde's house, keeping to the shadows along the way. Once there, Dazu and Bow descend into the basement where the Devil Banishers are waiting for them. Dazu informs them that the Magic Knights are in town and they discover that Secre is in possession of the magic tracker bracelet that was placed on Asta. They are about to break it, but Dazu has an idea.

The Magic Knights reconvene outside of town and report to each other that they had found nothing. The magic item used to track Asta's bracelet shows the signal moving away. Nozel, Noelle, Gauche, and Finral chase after the tracker, while Yami and Gordon stay put and take another look around town just in case. Back in Bow's basement, the Banishers discuss how the Magic Knights have betrayed the ideals of justice. The Magic Parliament guards want to kill Marie and Secre immediately, but Dazu believes that the Banishers should keep them alive for now and use them to lure out Asta, which they agree to.

Nozel's group follow the tracker to the ruins of a far off town and discover the tracker around the neck of a bird.

In Bow's house, Bow tells Dazu that without her, she would have no purpose in life, and Dazu replies that she would otherwise fall into the depth of despair.

Back in the Royal Capital, Asta finally wakes up. He remembers what happened and tries to go save Secre, but is stopped by the arrival of Captain Yami, who tells him that he should not go before hearing about what has been going on while he was asleep. After hearing about the situation and that the sleeping potion has been purged from his system, Asta wants to head out immediately, but Yami reminds him that they have no information about their location and tells them to return to the Black Bulls base instead.

A meeting is held consisting of the Magic Emperor, Julius Novachrono, the Magic Parliament chairman, Damnatio Kira, and five of the Magic Knight Captains, Yami, Nozel, Fuegoleon Vermillion, Jack the Ripper, and Charlotte Roselei. The other Captains are absent because the Golden Dawn and Aqua Deer squads are handling border patrol while the Coral Peacock and Purple Orca squads are helping with the kingdom's reconstruction. Damnatio tells them about his subordinates Kabwe Carillon who uses Permeation Magic, Onoby Sinho who uses Barrier Magic, and Siona Caverly who uses Paper Magic. Jack claims that he could take down all of them by himself, but the other Captains remind him that saving the hostages takes priority, especially since Secre is an Arcane Stage Mage, and therefore vital in the upcoming war with the Spade Kingdom.

Fuegoleon finds it hard to believe that the Banishers were able to beat Asta, and Yami informs them that they used trickery, putting Asta in a situation that he is not used to, as he has only had to deal with direct combat before. The Magic Knights assume that the Banishers have an excellent strategist among their ranks. Jack questions why the Banishers have not killed their prisoners yet, and Damnatio assumes it is because Kabwe wants to do a public execution to get the people on their side. Julius reminds them that they are preparing for war and cannot afford an internal crisis at this point. He tells them to tread cautiously, as he feels that a piece of the puzzle is missing.

In the town of Lehart, a message from the Devil Banishers was written on a wall, stating that the servants of the devil would be executed at noon that day.

Items used

 * Communication Magic tools