Asta's First Mission

Asta's First Mission is Asta and Noelle's first mission as Black Bulls, which occurs in Sosshi.

Prologue
During a meal, Asta innocently asks Magna Swing about the responsibilities of a Magic Knight, which incurs Magna's wrath for his ignorance. Magna explains that their job is to protect; Vanessa Enoteca adds that it could range from protecting peace to being a bodyguard, while Luck Voltia simply says that a Magic Knight is allowed to fight without restraint, especially against criminals.

Gauche Adlai reveals that he becomes a Magic Knight to use his salary to dote on his sister, while Charmy Pappitson believes the occupation allows her to eat various cuisines. Finally, Grey tells Asta that being a Magic Knight is a great job while transforming herself into Asta's spitting image. While Charmy offers Asta and Noelle Silva another dish, both of them agree that all of their squad-mates are very odd.

Asta's First Mission
Soon after, Magna reveals to both Asta and Noelle that their first mission will be boar hunting at Sosshi. Yami Sukehiro explains that the request comes from an old man who managed to win on a bet against Yami and Magna. Hearing the excuse, the new members try to get out of it but comply immediately due to Yami's threat. Noelle starts grouching over the circumstance but then reveals that she is just worried if she will only inflict further damage with her lack of magical control. Magna immediately appeases her by saying that he will be coming along as a supervisor. He then explains that they have to travel by a broom due to Finral Roulacase's inability to teleport to a place unknown to him. However, to his dismay, Asta and Noelle cannot ride a broom, which leaves Magna without choice but taking them along with his broom, the Crazy Cyclone.

At first, Magna has a problem on taking off due to the sheer weight of the passengers but manages to fly in the end. Unfortunately, it is not a very smooth flight with Noelle holding Magna too tightly while Asta is ignoring his own safety as he is amazed by the experience. In the end, Magna exhausts himself upon their arrival at Sosshi.

The moment they arrive, the first thing that they see is the village being covered by a very thick mist, which Noelle believes was created by magic. Magna asks Asta to cut it. Asta quickly does as he is ordered after being convinced that his sword is able to cut any form of magic. With the mist gone, they witness the villagers gathered at the center of the village with dozens of sharp icicles floating above them.

As those icicles start falling down, Magna quickly dashes over to them and manages to neutralize the spell with his Fire Magic. He then finds out that the old man who made the request has already died. He then sees a group of mages nearby and demands answers. One of the mages, Heath Graice, ignores him while being irritated by Magna's interference. The man, who is sitting on top of a broken wall, launches another attack towards them. Depleted of his magical power, Magna is not capable of retaliating but Asta manages to step in and cuts the spell in half and saves all of them. He then confronts Heath for his actions.

Asta begins by asking for the group's identity while Magna is considering the possibility of them coming from outside of the Clover Kingdom. At the same time, the group of mages also questions the appearance of the Black Bull squad and assumes that they are on an unofficial mission. Heath then looks at his pocket watch and declares their defeat within five minutes before pursuing their purpose. Asta begins his assault but one of the mages quickly activates a mist-based spell. Asta quickly negates the spell while Heath analyzes him.

When Asta asks him of his purpose in the village, Heath evades the question by simply saying that people who are from the Forsaken Region are nothing but brutes that are not worth saving. Heath's comments trigger a memory from Asta's past where he learned something similar from Sister Lily back in Hage. His ambition to become the Wizard King began on that day to protect the lesser people, which he reiterates to Heath.

The group of mages then activates a composite spell of mist and ice and manage to create a barrage of icicle spears. The icicles are launched at the villagers from multiple directions. Asta manages to deflect a few of them but Heath easily thaws them, leaving Asta and Magna on defense to protect the villagers. Magna starts to lose even more magical power but he determines to continue to fight due to his pride. Noelle tries to launch an attack but misses her target, which leads Heath to comment on her flaws. A discouraged Noelle begins to think about escaping, which is reinforced by Magna's request for her to escape as well. However, one of the children of the village approaches her and begs for her protection. Noelle regains her fighting spirit and it triggers her grimoire to reveal a new spell that manages to protect all of them with a water-based barrier. Seeing an opening, Asta immediately rushes towards Heath and delivers a thrust to his torso.

Unfortunately Asta's attack does not manage to land a significant damage as Heath reacts fast enough to freeze the ground beneath the boy, which dampens his momentum. He immediately lands a counterattack and begins to freeze Noelle's barrier while Asta is lying on the ground. As Heath proclaims he will finish in 25 seconds and Magna is nearly giving up, Asta comes back for another attack but is not fast enough to ambush Heath. Asta gets back on his feet but only to be sent flying once more.

This leads Magna to remember the moment he got accepted to the Black Bull while thinking that Asta should put this to rest. Heath asks Asta the very same question, and the latter shows his determination and his duty to protect. Asta's statement awakens Magna from his slump with him punching himself in the face. While leaving the protection duty to Noelle, Magna comes out of the spell and challenges Heath. He then asks Asta to recreate the initiation ceremony they had before with Magna activating one of his spells. Unfazed by it, Heath protects himself with a defensive spell while letting the strays to pass him. Unfortunately, he does not notice that Asta is deflecting those stray attacks back at him and his group. The attacks manage to take down all of them while Noelle protects Magna from the icicles coming from above him. When Heath tries to freeze the fire after realizing that it will not fade, Asta quickly jumps in and swings his sword onto Heath's body.

As Heath loses his consciousness, Magna quickly activates a restraining spell by taking advantage the fire that is still burning on the opponents' bodies. One of Heath's subordinates manages to escape by extinguishing the fire with Water Magic. While Noelle also deactivates her spell, Asta suddenly faints due to exhaustion. Seeing Asta's efforts in the fight, Noelle begins to see Asta in different light while silently complementing him.

Suddenly, an anti-bird appears from Asta's robe and flies away towards one of the villager's houses where it finds a magic stone with symbol of a crescent moon and three four-pointed stars on it. The bird then takes the stone, returns to Asta's side, and starts pecking Asta on the head until he wakes up. Noticing the stone in its beak, Asta tries to return the stone, which belongs to the village's chief, to the villagers but they decide to give it to him as a sign of gratitude. Unbeknownst to Asta, Noelle has been observing him and the anti-bird and has become enamored by the anti-bird's behavior.

Moments later, Heath regains his consciousness and finds himself and two of his subordinates tied and hindered from using any magic by Magna's Restraining Magic spell. When he learns that Magna intends to take them in for questioning, Heath immediately commits suicide by using a magic item he kept inside his stomach. Heath's act of suicide while taking his subordinates along with him completely frustrates Asta due to the former's lack of respect for life.

Meanwhile, Heath's escaped subordinate arrives and quickly gives a report about their failure to their employer. However, the employer, who wears a robe with the Golden Dawn squad insignia on it, does not seem to be frustrated by the turn of event while installing a piece of stone into a sephirot. The employer also reveals that there is no major setback on the plan after learning that the stone, which the employer asked Heath and his subordinates to retrieve, is in the Black Bull's hands.

In Sosshi, Asta is still being chased around by the anti-bird which keeps pecking on his head. Noelle, who has been following them, quickly offers herself as the bird's companion in an effort to take it from Asta. They then notice two children are standing in front of a grave which they learn to be the grave of the chief of Sosshi village and one of the children is his grandson, Nick.

The boy then starts reminiscing about his grandfather's past ambition of becoming a Magic Knight. His grandfather regretted not participating in one of the Magic Knights entrance exams as he had decided to focus on working at the village.

Nick then asks Asta if someone from the Forsaken Region like him could really enter the ranks of the Magic Knights. Asta replies that he is of the same status as Nick to prove the possibility of a peasant to become a Magic Knight. Subsequently, Asta encourages Nick to work hard in order to achieve his goal. The anti-bird then pecks Asta on his head yet again after hearing Asta's speech.

Epilogue
After completing their mission in Sosshi, the three Black Bulls return to the headquarters and are greeted by Yami and Vanessa. She reveals that the Magic Forensic Division has begun their investigation, although they have not found any clues regarding their affiliation just yet. Subsequently, Yami informs them that the Wizard King has bestowed them with a star for Magna, Asta, and Noelle's excellent performance. The additional star puts the Black Bull squad on a 100-star difference with the top squad, the Golden Dawn. Yami also distributes the members' salaries, and Asta is completely excited with his first earned money while Noelle is not amazed by the amount she received. While congratulating the new members with their first salary, Vanessa also invites them on a shopping trip to a castle town in the Common Region.