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 day was only beginning and yet Vile was already training as per usual. This day was going to be the start to a completely new training regime. Vile had protected a travelling merchant, along the road towards the capital, from a band of mercenaries hired to capture goods to resell illegally. The merchant as a thanks had given him a book on the basic elements and their traditional combat uses. This was extraodinarily relevent to the man's current goals of changing the world as it would be the first step towards mastery over combat. To be the strongest and then to enact one's will upon the world would be the catalyst for great social and political change. The entire exchange of blows was not as clean as one would hope, the homeless man's rib still sore from the day prior.
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The book lay flat and closed next to Vile as he crossed his legs, placed his hands in the centre, maintained a straight posture, and closed his eyes in order to relieve the brief fight. Vile had only come upon the mugging as he was travelling from the capital after an unsuccessful business venture. He saw an older man in extravagent blue robes being held at knife point by a short and ill tempered man. He was shorter than Vile and slimmer too, but it was apparent from his stance and calm attitude that this was not his first altercation. The man accompanying him was taller than he was and carried a hammer in one hand with a grimoire in the other. About to just keep walking by, Vile spotted a large savoury pastry lying in one of the broken boxes of the cart. Without a second thought he offered his services for such a delicious meal. Considering the danger he was already in the trader happily accepted and then jumped back and hid behind the cart as the two mercenaries were momentarily distracted.
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Despite being over ten metres away from the pair, and not having his grimoire drawn, Vile would be the first to take action. He stared at both of the men with an intensity and toothy grin that radiated a vibe of sadistic glee. Vile grabbed at the side of the collar region of his cloak. In a single motion he pulled at it to unclip and remove the cloak near instantly. Under his clothing he was wearing the same skin tight jumpsuit he always wore with its black baggy pants over the top. He lowered his entire body towards the ground in an animalistic stance before rushing toward the two men.
The largest of the pair raised his hands with grimoire in row. The pages flipped as it glowed with intense grey light. Immediately the man became completely covered in iron formations of segmented plates. The plates interwove and locked into one another given the appearance of a secondary set of muscles over his already considerable frame. It was a technique that would surely warrant further investigation of Vile's own shadow magic. It might be as durable but it sure as hell could enhance his already considerable strength and speed. The armoured titan then flexed his muscles briefly before leaning down to brace himself. It would only be a second before he pushed hard against the ground and propelled himself forwards to his opponent; Vile.
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The hulking iron brute pulled back one of his fists as he sprinted towards Vile. At about a metre off he momentarily pulled back further before sending a straight punch directed towards his opponent's face. Meanwhile the man with the knife was also getting read for an attack. The knife wielder pulled back out a dagger from behind his belt. It was must have been hidden behind the tail of his jacket and attached somewhere to his belt. This assassin then jumped over to the side with speed that Vile assumed to be roughly equal to him during the use of his Vile Step stance.The jump was deliberately timed in such a way that their opponent's view of him was hidden momentarily. This gave a split second in which the assassin was able to pull his arm back into throwing position before loosing the dagger in Vile's direction. The accuracy and speed of the attack was wholly impressive.
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As he rushed forwards toward the pair of assailants, Vile's grimoire would manifest next to him as he called for his weapons to aid him. In a split second a dark aura would form over each of his hands before losing density and becoming a slight shadow of each. The man's stance was low but it was immediately apparent he was using an aggressive form for combat. With his centre of gravity lowered Vile unintentionally dodged the dagger as he dropped down on all fours. He slammed one of his hands towards the ground as a black claw shrouded it. The claw allowed him to dig into the earth suddenly anchoring himself, he then pulled his hand from the hole to use the momentum his body already had to rapidly spin his form towards the armoured warrior. Luckily for Vile this single motion had rapidly changed the direction of his initial trajectory which caused the dagger to land into the ground behind where he was only moments ago.
As soon as his spin was in motion Vile stretched his left arm out and formed a claw shape with his hand. The magic of his previous spell manifested mid rotation as he then swung at the hulking brute. In his thick iron suit the first mugger was simply too slow to connect his initial punch in time. Vile's rotation strike had actually allowed him to go over the fist as he came swiftly forwards. The motion behind the homeless man's strike had done little more than help dodge rather than add any true power. The Vile Claw was however a very potent method of attack and hit with such force that it would cause immediate splintering of the metal. It cracked into a web-like structure before crumbling into pieces around the face and neck. This left the man's face exposed and shockingly unharmed despite a direct hit.
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Vile began his next move without delay. The man landed behind the brute and used a spell from his grimoir once more. The book was completely black with no discernable features, even the writing itself was a dark hue of people and hard to read. The pages flickered in dark hues before another formation of shadow appeared on the trader's savior. Vile's feet were now covered in the same apparition of inky otherworldly shadows. The ends of his feet were now tipped with hooked blacks resembling demonic claws. The casting of this spell had however given both of his opponents enough time to recover for their second attacks.
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The assassin pulled out another dagger from inside the back of his left boot before switching his positioning o that of a low, double reverse grip dagger stance. For a moment Vile thought he was copying his own style before he started running. He didn't stay nearly as low on the ground as he threw one of the daggers directly towards Vile, and if he were to dodge, the brute. The brute remained totally unaware of this attack as he wildly swung the entirety of his body weight into a left side haymaker. It came out of nowhere and was incredibly fast despite the sheer size and weight behind the brute's body. Rather than being able to dodge Vile was caught off guard by the sudden change of pace. The side of the brute's forearm hit with more force than the homeless man had ever endured. The breath escaped from his body as he was knocked back into the cart itself.
The world distorted and seemingly rotated as Vile was regaining his senses. The pain had sent shockwaves throughout his body and he was all too painfully aware that he had broken a rib. The crack he had heard and the sharp pain located at the bottom of his rib cage was more than enough proof of this. Despite the pain and disorientation the vagabond began to smile in a sadistic manner, his lips curled in such a fashion that it stretched into a hideous scowl. With blood dripping from either sides of his lips, it would be hard to call it anything bar inhuman. He gathered himself and stood back on two feet before readying his responsive strikes to the two assailants now following up with combination attacks to follow up the previous blows.
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The assassin's dagger had actually lodged itself in the brute's iron shell, despite this the brute did not even notice. The assassin ran full force at the brute pulling out is dagger in a single motion as he then shifted directions towards Vile. In this short window it became wholeheartedly apparent the assassin was faster than even Vile himself, even when using Vile Step. This infuriated the vagabond and fueled him towards an appropriate response. The dagger wiedling assailant dropped low and attempted a sweep kick on Vile. In combination to this maneuvre he would follow it up with two reversed grip slashes at the chest of the man provided the initial sweep was successful.
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The brute pulled up his grimoire. Suddenly the pages flipped through to a grey page with diagrams featuring a variety of hammers. The page began to glow as the man pulled up a hammer from the page itself. With hammer in hand he began advancing upon Vile meanwhile his partner flew past to begin his assault. The brute was far slower due to his armour and would only reach about half way before his partner had. He arrived by the time his partner had fully used his combination attack, with this opportunity to strike he brought up the hammer and swung down with all of his weight towards Vile. Neither of their attacks would land as the true vicious side of their opponent would come to light.
The assassin's sweep was incredibly fast but it was not going to hurt Vile for one simple reason, they had initiated his blood lust. In a single moment Vile's entire expression had changed into what could only described as sadistic. The sides of his lips would purse upwards in a full, toothy grin so wide that the skin itself would split at either sides of the mouth. His teeth grinded against one another in a shudder of anticipation as blood would begin leaking from either side of the smile. Vile's grimoire would glow with a black and purple hue as his legs would become covered in a similar hue. The legs themselves would be covered in claw like greaves and sabatons with the appearance of a demonic shadow.
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Vile's mana shield alongside the claw appendage on his leg would completely nullify any damage the assassin would have done with his sweep. The vagabond would glance at the approaching brute before covering his hands in the same material as his feet. The wispy shadows masked the appearance of his strike towards the assassin. The assassin's daggers landed against Vile's flesh only for the mana shield to block those entirely as well. Just before the moment of impact Vile sent his left, clawed hand directly at the assassin's chest. A slash would cut across the chest instantly breaking the assailant's mana shield leaving him wide eyed. With absolutely no hesitation Vile followed up this attack with another spell.
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Vile's right hand had an oscillating shadow that gathered at the finger tips. His right arm was sent through the man's exposed neck with little resistance. Briefly after impact a shockwave was sent through the hand and directly into the flesh of his target. The sheer brute force of the attack and the additional spells were more than enough to have tremendous explosive force. This force detached the bone and flesh of the man as his head would be shot straight up and into the sky. His body would go limp with a suddenly and forceful drop onto the ground. The shockwave was directed at the armoured brute in an attempt to open up his foe to attack. The shockwave was not enough to knock him back but it stopped the attack he was about to send full force into Vile before it could even start. With this initial attack completed Vile was left standing in a stance ready to press onwards covered in a vast array of gore. Pieces of flesh would be spattered across his face with that ever creepy, toothy smile.
Left unbalanced from the vagabond's spell Vile Resonance the brute was anticipating a strong force of impact. Vile lowered his body before pushing off the ground with a sudden burst of speed. Using the momentum and the opening he had created just moments before woud give this next attack far more weight behind it, or so the brute would think. Rather than a direct assault, which even Vile's strength would struggle against such armour, the vagabond would lead with a feint. Vile's raised both of his claws as though he was attempting to strike at his still raised arms. This was to appear as ythough he was trying to disarm the brute rather than go in for the kill. The large mage would fall hook line and sinker.
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The brute was entirely shocked by what he had just witnessed happen to his friend only moments before. He was not the sort of person to feel afraid but that display would leave any man with doubts as to what to do next. With the shockwave knocking back his hammer the man would resist the force and attempt to bring it forwards in front of him in order to follow up with a different attack. Due to the weight of both the weapon and his armour restricting his movement the brute was horrified to see that Vile was already upon him and swinging his claws directly at his arms. He raised both arms up to cover his face that was fully exposed from the previous strike. The hammer was tilted on an angle and was no longer in a viable location for a quick and broad swing, the only thing able to stop Vile's next incoming strike.
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With the plan working flawlessly Vile's grind somehow grew even wider. Due to the sheer width of the facial expression he lips had actually come into direct contact with both his teeth and gums aplifying the horror and cuts into the lips' flesh. With this attack his sudden shift of body weight and cancelling of both hand strikes would leave the brute entirely unguarded from this attack. With each hand withdrawn he rotated on the back of his heel before pushing off and up into the air with both feet. With this sudden height gain Vile began to rotate his entire body weight with his right leg following the rotation. The fluid motion of the propulsion into rotation allowed for a single full turn before slamming his clawed foot directly into the opening of his face. Once again the shadows had formed around his appendage and gathered to a single spot. Upon impact the claw shattered the skull of the brute, caving inwards it was then followed by another shot of Vile resonance that would leave the area in another large spatter of gore. The merchant who requested assistance in the first place left completely mortified by the entire exchange itself.
