In this world, Magic is Everything. All people, all races, are granted with the power to perform mystical and magical feats via grimories, mystical tomes granted to each and every child on their 15th birthday. Those blessed by the mana can have their names written down in legend.
Shattered Grimoires is the work of the mind(s) of Ardere & Shattered Grimoire's staff. All characters and content are copyright their creators, and may not be replicated without their creators' permission. Black Clover is owned by Yuki Tabata and published by Viz Shonen Jump. All images belong to their original owners. The theme you are currently viewing was made by Eliza of ElizaCodes exclusively for Shattered Grimoires.
The Royal Capital, the massive capital city of the Clover Kingdom.
Hans never really travels to this area of the region unless a job requires him to. Now however, he was here for other reasons. A tournament was being held here apparently and it was advertised to have quite the hefty reward for the victor, or rather victors as they were going to be double team matches. Even though this is isn't what he normally does to make yul, Hans thought it wouldn't hurt to give it a try. Plus a part of him wanted to test out his magic more, and this would be a good place to do so. Even if he fails, the merc will still come out of this knowing what he did wrong, and learning from his mistakes...even if he doesn't get that cash.
The merc walked down a busy path with many people heading in different directions. As expected of the Royal Capital, almost everyone around appeared very well kept and noble, making Hans stick out like a sore thumb to the point that he'd get the occasional side eye from some of the citizens. This is where majority of the wealthy resided after all as well as the kingdom's royalty. Still not seeing himself as a true citizen of this kingdom, Hans didn't care much for its royalty. Hell he doesn't even care for the Diamond Kingdom as well. If he was ever given a job that'd place him on Clover, Diamond or any other kingdom's bad side, it wouldn't matter to him and he'd take the job so long as the price was right. Though, Hans knows his own limits at the same time and wouldn't take anything past it which is why he must get stronger, so he can handle more dangerous things.
The coliseum where this tournament is suppose to be held was coming into view. It was towering much like the other structures in the capital. Many others were heading that way as well, most of them spectators who paid to watch this tournament while others were potential competitors. There were two different sections, one for ticket holders and another for the fighters, most of them seeming like they were already partnered up. There was no rule against already having a partner to fight, but for those who didn't would get partnered up with someone else at random. The merc waited in line which wasn't that long as most of the fighters already checked in. When it was finally his turn, the man approached the desk and only said, "Hans Walker." It was quite obvious that he was there to fight since he was in this section so not much else needed to be said. "Alrighty." The woman behind the desk said before putting in some paper work. It was of Hans' designated number, his name and where his waiting room would be located. After making a copy of it with her magic, the lady gave one of them to Hans before sending him off. "Good luck in the fight." is what she added, something she was required to say to every fighter.
Hans went into the coliseum and went down a hallway to the right before heading up a flight of stairs to the second floor. After walking down yet another hallway, the dark mage found the door to his waiting room. After opening it, the guy stepped inside and saw all the typical things these waiting rooms have like a place for refreshments, a lounge like area and section for a little exercise. It all looked like enough for two people which reminded Hans that he was currently alone. A partner must not have been assigned to him yet. The merc decided to take a look around the room as he waited for someone to show up, the matches not starting yet until everything has been situated.
Post by Athan Ravencrest on Jun 12, 2020 9:06:48 GMT -5
Athan had been running around ever since he had become a knight doing mission after mission, it was exhilarating for the boy to be constantly trying so hard to prove not only his worth, but his families and squads as well. He had a lot to live up to afterall, being part of one of the biggest families and the most notable squad he had a large burden on his plate to prove he was as strong as his family's name. This led him to a tournament, a tournament taking place in the coliseum of his favorite new home in the capital city. Lucky for the boy it was a nice day out, the sun was hidden behind the marshmallow wall of clouds above, wind existing much like a person breathing, here and there. It was almost Athan’s ideal sort of day for something like a tournament where he would be fighting for his livelihood.
Athan made his way down the street, walking around much as if he was skipping, he was excited for this. Passing the incredible buildings of the city he came upon the coliseum. It was a huge building shaped like a circle, an open roof that had stands all around a field in the middle. To anyone not used to the capital would be almost amazed this sort of architecture was even possible with the sheer size of the coliseum. But not Athan, not only had he been to the coliseum and seen shows ever since he was a kid, the mansion of the Ravencrest family was just as massive. What really made Athan love the coliseum however was what it stood for, a place of power, where everything Athan loved about being a knight took place. Fighting.
And today he had the chance to show what he was capable of. The tournament was supposed to be rather massive, there was no limit on contestants and very few rules. The only rules listed was that it was limited to civilians or junior ranked knights, nothing more. This of course was one of the only reasons Athan was allowed to enter. If this limit wasn’t in place it was unlikely his family would ever let him in a tournament where there were simply people much stronger than him, after all he could become an embarrassment. Thankfully he finally had a chance to fight a large number of human opponents for the first time in his life, at least in a non sparring fashion with a teacher or friend. This was the boy's chance to really prove to himself and others, what he could be capable of.
A line had formed in front of the coliseum, a line for people entering that progressed much slower than those entering who were buying tickets to watch. But of course Athan joined the check in line for the tournament. He was by no means one of the first people, and was in fact much closer to one of the last people when it was all said and done. Making his way finally to the lady checking in each of the people, she spoke.
“Hello, name please?” asked the lady in a nice tone from behind a counter
“Athan Ravencrest” Athan replied rather quickly and plainly. The lady quickly wrote it down, after doing so it seemed like just then she realized what she had written.
“Ravencrest hunh? Like the noble family, not often we get big noble family members here. Did you come with a partner today?” she asked as her face went from surprise back to work.\
“Nope, all alone.” He replied. The interaction didn't last much longer as she copied his information and he was sent off with a number and a good luck wish from the lady. Athan made his way into the rest area which was full of far too many people for his liking, the room being vastly more crowded than it should have been. It didn't take long after the boy was in this crowded room for a large announcement to be heard throughout the room. The announcement stated that the bracket was made and all partners found, those who came alone only needed to look at the back of the room on a board to find their partner.
It wasn't long before Athan found his own name, looking on the large board he scanned it quickly searching for his name, and when he came across it he was surprised to see the name of his now partner. Hans. He remembered the name from the mission they had done together before, a quiet man who was simply the opposite of him. Seemed fate was at work, the two coincidences now were almost too much to believe it not to be something else at work.
Hans continued to explore his designated waiting room for a bit. He didn't really touch anything and instead quietly inspected the items around. He had went over to the punching bag and started pushing it a little out of boredom. He was just about ready to sit down and wait until a voice came over some mana powered speakers, telling the contestants to head to the main rest area to find out which teams will be fighting who and for those who came alone, to find out who their chosen partner is. Feeling a little relieved that he will not have to sit around idly for much longer, Hans walked out of the room and started going down the hall.
Even though his face isn't really showing it, the merc was looking forward to this tournament. It was a great way to test his skills against those of a similar skill base. Plus the near lack of rules, one of them being the obvious "No killing or maiming." would allow Hans to go all out against his foes.
Entering the crowded rest area, Hans stood there at the entrance, taking in all the potential opponents he'd be going against. There were folks of various races and nobility standings here, mostly the lesser nobles, and commoners with the occasional upper noble. There were some people who appeared like they were no stranger to fighting and surprisingly others who didn't look like they fought a day in their lives. Still, one couldn't just judge a book by its cover as anyone here could be capable of anything.
Finally, Hans decided to step further into the room, walking past the other battlers while they talked among themselves which was hard to follow since almost everyone was talking. There were already some partners who were already arguing against other partners which was not a surprise. There were higher ranked knights standing guard at different parts of this room just in case any unnecessary fights broke out.
With the board now within sight, Hans was making his way towards it until someone who was walking in the opposite direction of the merc purposely bumped shoulders with the dark mage. Hans stopped and looked up. The mage was huge and very bulky. He had an intimidating look on his face as he looked down at Hans. "Got somethin to say, shrimp?" the man asked in an aggressive tone. Hans simply looked at him for a second, his face remaining stoic as usual before he decided to continue on his way to the board. "Ha ha ha! Yeah you better run! Better not see you out there on the stadium, boy!" the man continued to laugh, Hans not paying him no mind. This stuff was to be expected after all, and the merc knew better than to have people get under his skin, especially idiots.
Drawing closer to the board, the first thing Hans took notice of is the familiar blonde hair and pointy ears of a certain someone standing there. "Athan?" the man called out to confirm if it was really him. He stopped next to the elf noble and looked towards him with a slight surprised expression. He wasn't expecting to see the teen here, but then again it didn't seem all that surprising with how he performed in that previous job. Hans had completely forgot about the board at this point. Now he was curious of whether he'd have to face Athan in this tournament, not sure how his dark magic will fair against the teen's light magic. Now he was mentally preparing himself for that. Little did he know that this was going to be his partner.
Post by Athan Ravencrest on Jun 15, 2020 0:00:05 GMT -5
Athan almost jumped from the sound of the voice behind him, doing his best to remember what he could about the man he had not so long ago done a job with. Of course up to this point the two had no contact with each other and had never managed to run into each other, but now...this was fate. Turning to face the man who had said little words to the boy before he spoke. “Looks like you are stuck with me! Shame really, would have been cool to see your magic clash with mine, sure it would have been a cool fight but I love winning too so all the better if you are with me and not against me.” The blonde haired boy said quickly.
This time he took the chance to truly look around the room, making sure to note all of the people around. It was exactly what you would expect for a tournament like this, a large payout as well as a large amount of notice for the winner was something that attracted many people. And with the cap on knight strength it brought out a lot more people who otherwise may have been too scared to ever even try the tournament. It was clear for the most part who stood no chance however, Athan always assumed those with the loudest mouths were the weak ones as well as those who simply acted weak minded. However it was the couple of duos of serious people who stood together quietly that caught the boys eyes, he noticed a few of them. Clearly people who had came together and most looked like nobles of some sort or at least knights, the civilians rarely ever stood a chance after all.
Athan himself had decided to of course forgo any of his fancy clothing and cloak this time, opting instead to attempt to blend in. He still wore his general dress clothes but took away the fancy cloak and accessories. Nonetheless he just looked like a well dressed young man, though an upper noble was an unlikely assessment with the messy hair.
The two didn't get much time however to really talk as the speakers went off again. “Everyone is now going to be teleported into the arena! Be ready, this is a fight to the last duo standing! Good luck, and try not to die!” Just as the message ended everyone shined a blue light before being teleported. But what freaked Athan out the most was it was not the coliseum he had remembered. Looking around he saw the stands on the far outside, but the inside was no flat ground by any means. It had been transformed into a much larger space, taking up almost five times the area before, and within it was now a green field almost. But there were hills and even cliffs within. It simply became a green arena of sorts. It was almost impossible to even describe as the boy was so perplexed. But he was quick to speak “We gotta go, I don't know about you, but those spectators look extremely far away, we are probably in the center which is most likely the worst place in a “stay alive” scenario?” Athan questioned his partner letting him make the decision but being prepared to follow.
The two were now left in an arena, on the bright side upon looking to the sky a counter shone, 150 contestants remaining, a large number especially for the size. It was unlikely the two wouldn't run into someone quickly, but only time would tell. Athan was ready to go to blows if he needed of course, but that was most likely not quite the winning strategy.
"Ah." That was definitely Athan alright, right down to that running mouth of his. "I see." Turns out the two won't be fighting each other in this tournament after all. Of the one hundred plus people here, these two managed to end up on the same team by pure chance...or was it more than just that? Hans looked at the paper on the wall to confirm this for himself. Seems the light elf wasn't mistaken. This would make the tournament a little easier now having a strong and capable teammate like this noble. Hopefully he won't accidentally get caught up in his own spell again...
Still, just because of how strong the dark and light mages were didn't mean they had this tournament in the bag. They had no idea what other mages they'd be up against, what kind of magic they possess and how they use it. Having four leaf grimoires alone won't be enough to ensure victory. Once again the speakers went off, signifying the start of this tournament as the contestants were all teleported away through the use of spatial magic.
Hans and Athan found themselves in the middle of the battleground...which oddly looked like a forest. Hans looked around a bit confused. He was expecting an ordinary tournament with brackets and such but instead he was placed right in the middle of a large battlefield with over one hundred other fighters. The battleground was huge and very diverse. Not only was there a huge forestry/mountain area where these two mages were currently located, but there was also a more winter themed area with blizzard like conditions on one side, another area had a scorching desert, while there was also an area that resembled the royal capital but to a smaller extent as well as open fields here and there. Of course Hans couldn't see these other areas because of how far and wide this battleground was. Hell, he could barely see the spectators, but their collective cheers were still loud enough to reach around the entire field. Battling could be heard from all around as well as countless duos began fighting each other. This was beginning to look more like a battle royale than an actual tournament...but it only made things more interesting.
Hans nodded at Athan. The teen had a point since the area they were in was a bit open. Surprisingly no other team appeared to have teleported in this location as well, so they had at least a moment to themselves.
Taking the lead, the merc walked deeper into the forest which very much came off as an ordinary one with various wildlife and birds flying about. One could almost forget that they are even on a battlefield if it weren't for the sounds of magics clashing in the distance and cheering. Walking for a bit and it seems like they have come across no one yet...but little did they know, or Hans at least that they were being watched. From a tree a few meters away, a woman hid within the leaves with an ice formed bow trained on the dark mage. After he took a few more steps, the girl fired an ice arrow, nearly missing Hans taking small bits of his hair before striking a tree behind him.
With a small gasp, Hans quickly looked up before saying, "Look out!" As the ice girl prepared to fire another shot, the merc's dark grimoire floated to the air and opened up. Just as the woman fired another ice arrow, Hans held his arm out and a small black hole formed in front of his palm, breaking apart and absorbing the ice spell. "What the..." Before the woman could question what just happened, Hans drew his sword and his grimoire flipped to another page. The once silver blade of Hans' katana turned pitch black just as he swung it in the woman's direction in a horizontal fashion, sending a flying dark slash her way which instantly cut the tree in half, causing it to come crashing down. Fortunately for the ice mage, she managed to jump off of the tree just in time. She now had her arrow aimed at the merc again, looking back at the tree he cut down before placing her attention back on the opponent. "I don't know what that was, but I'm not going down that easily!" the woman claimed. Hans now had his blade aimed at her while the black hole he conjured remained idly floating by his shoulder.
"Be on your guard. Her teammate might be nearby." the dark mage said to Athan before charging at the woman. Now things were beginning to pop off!
Name of Spell: Darkness Magic: Black Hole Elemental Type: Dark Rank & Spell Type: Junior - Defense Creation Range & Speed: 23 meters - 10 m/s Mana Cost: 10 (Initial) - 5 (Sustain) Stats Effected: N/A Applicable Perks: Quick Shot, Skilled Sniper, Self Repairing Description: After landing on the correct page, the user creates a small black hole that floats idly beside them which they can control up to twenty-three meters around them. Other spells of the same rank or lower that come into contact with the black hole will be absorbed so long as the user has +5 Durability over the opposing spell. This spell still follows the Defense Creation health and spell clashing rules. An additional black hole can be formed for every ten control the user gains. (Spell gains +5 Durability)
Name of Spell: Darkness Magic: Flying Chaos Slash Elemental Type: Dark Rank & Spell Type: Junior - Attack Creation Range & Speed: 23 meters - 10 m/s Mana Cost: 10 (Initial) - 5 (Sustain) Stats Effected: +4 Power (Battle Knight) Applicable Perks: Battle Knight/Quick Shot/Skilled Sniper
Description: As the user's grimoire flips to the page of the spell, the blade of the user's sword (or their arm if no weapon is in use) will be wrapped in a pitch black aura. The user then swings their sword (arm), releasing the dark aura from it in the form of a wave of darkness taking the shape of a waning moon with a length of five feet. The slash is mostly blunt, but is capable of leaving minor cuts to those struck with it, the dark aura fading away shortly after. The user can follow up with an additional slash every ten control gained. (Spell gains +5 Durability)
Post by Athan Ravencrest on Jun 16, 2020 10:45:46 GMT -5
Athan was quick to follow the man that he had come to find as a partner, and while they had seemingly been alone it wasn't long into their walk deeper into the forest when they found their first opponents. All in all Athan was by no means disappointed to fight, that was what he was here for after all, but this girl was not as strong as him just by looking at her Athan could tell. She was by no means any stronger than Hans either. From what Athan saw she was no noble for Athan did not recognize her, and she hardly looked like a knight either. Athan knew if he let hans handle her he would be plenty capable, but where was the fun in that. The girl had barely managed to dodge the spell from hans that would have split the girls body in half much like the tree. Athan had to give it to the man, he had not seen his attacks before but he was impressed, it was definitely dark magic. Whereas Athan got all his power from the sheer velocity of his spell Hans just had pure power in them, it was scary.
“Lets see if her partner is near her then” Athan said before his grimoire flashed in front of him a bright golden color, flipping to the second page a light shot out of his hand directly above the girl. The girl didn’t even have the time to look up before the spell crashed down in a ray of light. The whole event took only a second before the girl was hit by the spell and reaping the effects of the magic. “Imagine what she’d look like if you hit her though” Athan questioned seeing the girl’s body that now looked burnt by the rays. She was still standing, but very barely. The ice archer must have realized what she was up against, looking back at the tree and the bow that was now in Hans' hands. She was well aware now that the two guys were strong, no, impossible for her to even beat and as she fell to her knees it seemed as though she had given up.
If it wasn't for the sound of a yell from behind Athan he would have assumed her partner did too. But the yell was dumb, a giveaway, and Athan quickly side stepped going backwards as well. As he did so the man's sword came down from above where athan had just been standing. With a swift kick out he stepped into the back of the man's knee. Athan gave the man props as he stood standing, but he stumbled enough to just now be in front of Han’s off balance he was surely finished.
“Brother!” Was all Athan heard now when he looked over to the girl who was still on the ground but once again with bow in hand, pulling it back she shot another ice arrow, this one aimed at Athan. Athan reacted swiftly, his grimoire flashing open as three shards of light appeared. Each shot off towards the girl, the middle most meeting the arrow while the other two sped towards her. Somehow she just managed to avoid one as she rolled to the side, however the closer of the two still struck into her thigh as she now rolled on the ground. She would be lucky to stand for some time now.
Athan trusted his partner to do well himself as he moved towards the girl quickly, he made no plans to kill her, only to make her quit.
Before the archer could react, a ray of light had blasted down from above her, causing the woman to take full damage! Hans was still put off guard by how fast Athan's light spells were. Darkness magic with how hard it is to control, made it naturally slower in comparison to not just light magic but other forms of magic, but in return the spells formed from that element are known to be very powerful, and durable. When it comes to the dark spells Hans use however, their speed is surprisingly on par with other elements due to how long he's been training with this magic as well as using his sword in a way like a wand to help with moving his spells out faster. Still in comparison to light, his darkness was still slower.
Athan did have a point though. It was probably better that she was hit with the elf's spell over his own or else she would've been sliced in half. This is why the merc mostly aimed for the tree, to try and knock her from the high ground. Even after the woman bowed in defeat, Hans remained weary with his sword drawn out. She could still be up to something despite how badly injured she was...or her teammate was still around. Seems that the latter was true as a yell could be heard from behind the light and dark mages. Hans quickly turned around and was about to react to the leaping man with a sword until Athan jumped out of the way, but not without swiftly kicking the guy out of the way and towards the merc. The male managed to keep his footing and was now targeting the dark mage! As he brought his sword down, the man's blade collided with Hans' and the two exchanged a few blows. It was obvious that Hans was overpowering the guy though as with every clash the male was forced to step back, causing Hans to step forward every time. Even without his magic, Hans was a capable sword fighter, having learned to wield one by his guardian years ago.
The woman who previously surrendered appeared to have gotten back her fighting spirit most likely from witnessing her partner. She was now Athan's problem, but there was no doubt he'd be able to take care of her.
"Wha-" As Hans continued to clash with his opponent, he'd notice that his legs stopped moving. Looking down, Hans saw that his ankles were now tied up by some roots growing out of the ground. It was from the sword guy's plant magic. With a cocky grin, the sword guy was now charging at Hans with sword in air, believing the merc to be completely vulnerable. Unfortunately for the guy, that wasn't the case. Hans' grimoire flipped to another page and started to glow. With his palm extended out in the direction of his opponent, Hans conjured a skull made of dark magic. "The hell?" the guy who was still charging looked at it in confusion, but before he could do much else, the mouth of the skull opened and a blast of darkness burst out of it, engulfing the sword guy and sending him flying! He was now out for the count.
With that done, the roots that held Hans' feet down disappeared and he was free to move again. The merc was just about to turn to see how Athan was doing, but from the corner of his eye he noticed something flying towards him from the sky! It was a giant bird like creature made of sand magic. As it dove down, the sand bird took a few trees down with it, destroying some of the forest. "Shit!" Quickly, Hans moved the black hole that floated idly by his shoulder to in front of him. Despite how big the sand spell was, the black hole was still able to break apart the spell and absorb all of it. After that, Hans looked up into the sky to see another sand bird flying above, carrying someone on its back. It was yet another challenger ready to fight. To make matters worse, there was now a stampede of rhinos formed out of fire heading towards Hans, Athan, and presumably the ice mage if the elf hadn't dealt with her yet, burning down whatever plant life was in their way. This was the work of the sand mage's partner, a fire mage who was at the back of his stampeding spell.
Name of Spell: Darkness Magic: Burst Elemental Type: Dark Rank & Spell Type: Junior - Attack Creation Range & Speed: 23 meters - 10 m/s Mana Cost: 10 (Initial) - 5 (Sustain) Stats Effected: +4 Power (Battle Knight) Applicable Perks: Battle Knight/Quick Shot/Skilled Sniper Description: Landing on the correct page of their grimoire the user extends their palm out and conjures a dark skull around anywhere within a twenty-three meter radius. They then clench their hand, causing the mouth of the skull to open, releasing a wave of darkness that is four feet in width and height, dealing blunt damage to those hit by it and knocking them back two meters (an additional five meters added every ten power gained). The user can conjure an additional skull to use against another target(s) or the same one every ten control gained. (Spell gains +5 Durability)
Hans gritted his teeth and quickly conjured up a barrier of darkness in front of him. The stampeding rhinos made of fire all collided into the barrier and faded upon impact! With that crises averted, Hans was able to see who the culprit of that attack was. It was a fire mage who emerged from one of the bushes close by with his grimoire glowing with a fiery aura. The screech from the sand eagle above was enough to remind the merc that he had more to deal with than just the opponent in front of him. Looking back up, Hans watched as the sand mage conjured up three spears of sand and was aiming to trike the dark mage with them while the fire mage was starting to cook something up as well. The dark mage was ready as well...until he heard something that caused him to pause in his tracks, and so did the other two...
"Attention battlers!" It was one of the announcers speaking to every single mage on the battlefield through the use of communication magic. "There appears to be a technical difficulty in one of the arena's sections. Unfortunately we cannot continue on with the tournament because of this. You will all be teleported back to the waiting area. We apologize for the inconvenience!"
With that, Hans, and every other battler were teleported out and back into the main area. Hans looked around a bit puzzled at first, looking at all of the other confused battlers. With an exhale out of his nose, the merc slid his sword back into its sheathe and his grimoire lowered back into its resting spot. "Guess that's that." he muttered with a shrug before proceeding to the exit like most of the others. It was a shame he didn't get a chance to earn that prize money, or see more of what Athan was capable of, but he wasn't too bothered about it. A part of Hans hopes that he'll be able to cross paths with the light mage again one day, but for now it was time to find something else to do.
