Ki Guardian Chapter 1 (Patreon)

Black Clover parody: Tier 1

Ki Guardian

Asta didn’t have magic power, things weren’t looking for him even though he trained every day. He built up a strong vessel hoping it would allow him to produce magic. It doesn’t but a passing traveler tells him he could tap into his ki, through ki Asta learns to make a guardian.

Chapter 1

Asta and Yuno changed on a certain day, Asta with no magic, fought to get back Yuno’s treasure. He got beaten up a lot, and he needed a lot of healing, but he got it back. Yuno was so scared, he didn’t leave Asta’s side all through the healing. The two had made a pact to become the Wizard King, becoming rivals.

They both wanted to get stronger and become the Wizard King, but Yuno had another desire. He wanted to stay by Asta’s side in the future.

He began training his magic in secret, the raven haired youth seemed to have an affinity for wind magic. Asta tried to use magic every day with no luck, with each failure he worked out trying to train his vessel. Another thing Asta did, at least once a week, much to Yuno’s annoyance was ask Sister Lily to marry him. It was sad, as a woman of the cloth she took a vow of chastity, and she was married to the church.

“I’m not giving up.” Yuno patted his shoulder.

“Asta...this is the one time giving up isn’t a bad idea.” Asta cried and the raven haired young man sighed. He didn’t know why Asta asking Sister Lily out bothered him so, and much like a child he didn’t handle his emotions well. Often showing up Asta using his magic during the chores.

This just made Asta train harder. Four years passed by like this, and Asta was gonna meet someone that was gonna change his life.

Asta had spent all day training, coming back from from a hearty work out. Yuno blushed at the sight of him. “Asta you stink, you should go bathe!”

“You are so rude!” He snapped. Yuno just huffed not clarifying that he was also going to the bath, and that he wanted them to bathe together. It was hard for Yuno to tell Asta how he truly felt. “I’ll show you Yuno I got this new medicine!”

He drank some strange dark green liquid that was really bitter, but was supposed to double magic power. “You can’t double 0 Asta.” Yuno pointed out, frustrating the male.

“You are such a jerk!” Asta ran out.

“Asta wait!” Sister Lily called out. He kept on going.

“He’ll be back, I’m going to bathe.” Yuno took his bath, sulking in the water. ‘Stupid…’ He cursed at himself.

“Asta isn’t back yet?” Yuno asked, arriving for dinner.

“No and it’s late, shouldn’t we go look for him.”

“Asta will come back when he’s hungry, he’s stubborn, but hunger will teach that boy a lesson. He can’t just run off like that.” The Priest said.

“Yuno...would you go look for him after dinner?” Lily asked. Yuno didn’t say anything but planned to do so.

Asta ended up running out of the orphanage and training all night in the woods. His stomach growled. “Quiet stomach!” He ate some herbs he found in the woods, that didn’t help. “This sucks!”

He tried working out to ignore the hunger, and that just made it worse. “Grrr Grrrr!” His stomach growled loudly, making the boy groan.

“Sounds like you are hungry.” Asta jumped as a man in strange clothes wearing a mask seemed to pop in out of nowhere.

“Waahhh!” He gasped.

“So sorry, didn’t mean to scare you.” He spoke in a strange way, slowly as if what he was saying wasn’t his native tongue.

“Who...who are you…?” Asta got up and took a fighting stance, only for his stomach to growl.

“Poor thing, you must be hungry. I saw an apple tree nearby.”

“Huh, I know that tree, it’s dead, nothing grows on it anymore.” The man chuckled.

“It still stands, yes?” Asta followed the man to the tree. “It just needs some life, I have plenty left to give and this is a worthy cause.” He laughed again.

Asta didn’t understand. The man walked up to the old tree. “Ah old one, still standing tall, old but not yet dead, strong, still alive.” His body pulsed, Asta felt a strange sensation in the air, but it didn’t feel like when Father, Sister, or Yuno used magic. “Life Force!”

Before Asta’s eyes the tree was filled with life, the once old bark became firm and lush, the barren branches became healthy and green. Fruit flowers bloomed before becoming apples. “Ah there we go!” The man sighed.

“Oh wow mister, that’s some awesome magic.” Asta climbed the tree and picked some apples.

“Magic? No no, I cannot use magic. I used my ki!” Asta didn’t understand. He ate some apples as the man explained. “I am Cloud, from the Hino Country, Ki is natural energy given off by people and objects when they move, it exists separate from mana.”

“I don’t know where that is, or what ki is but it sounds amazing!” His eyes sparkled in wonder.

The man chuckled. “In my country we train using ki, using it we can detect attacks and sense the presence of other things. It is how I found you.”

“So that means you are a foreigner?” The man nodded.

“Yes, I came here, looking for one that was lost, but it has been difficult, I had to learn your language to even get this far.” He sighed. “Sadly I am old, it’s not easy to teach old dog new tricks; and this country is vast, I may not be able to find the one that is lost.”

“Hm, you don’t look old?” The man appeared to be in his late 20’s at least.

“That is because of my ki, it preserves my strength and youth, but it means fighting with it and using it takes a toll on me.” Asta felt guilty. He didn’t notice some of the man’s dark hair was now white.

“I’m so sorry!” He bowed.

The man simply laughed. “It is fine, you remind me much of the one that was lost.”

“Can I use that ki stuff?” Asta asked.

“My boy, do you not have magic?” He was sure people in this country used mana.

“I don’t have any magic power, I keep waiting for it to come but it never does.” He stared at his hands. “But even if I’m just some peasant with no magic power I still want to become the wizard king!” He declared.

“Wizard King? That sounds important.”

“It is, it is the coolest position in the whole Clover Kingdom.” Asta gushed about the Wizard King, the Magic Knights, and the legend of him defeating a demon.

“O-hohoho, I’ve faced a few demons in my day, impressive!” Asta got starry eyed again.

“You fought demons!” The man nodded.

“Oh yes, in my country we don’t have magic knights, but we have strong warriors called samurai and the strongest earn the title of Demon Slayers.” He tapped his mask. “I earned this mask by becoming one.”

“That’s so cool!” Asta gushed. He had tons of questions, so they went back and forth Asta learning that the man’s clothes were called a kimono, and Cloud learning that the boy was from an orphanage. They talked a bit over some apples.

“You could be a samurai yourself, you have a strong ki!” Asta blinked in surprise.

“I do?” Asta looked himself over, not really sure if he could see it.

“Oh yes, such a strong ki for one so young, you must train very hard.” Asta began to cry.

“I do!” The man chuckled.

“I suppose I can train you to use your ki, there is a trick that might suit you well.” He rummaged through his kimono and pulled out some slips of paper. “This is ki paper, it is able to draw out one’s ki, we use it in tests to find out a person’s ki type. It also has another use.”

Cloud made a small camp fire. “Here!” He gave Asta a slip of paper.

“What am I supposed to do...whoa…” He felt something surge inside of him and be drawn into the paper.

“This paper draws out one’s ki easily, it helps one get used to feeling the flow of ki.” Asta closed his eyes and focused on the feeling. “Let your ki flow into the paper.”

Asta nodded, the paper was pulling out a trickle, the boy opened the tap and let his ki flow out. Strange writing appeared on the paper. “Alright that’s enough.” Cloud instructed and Asta took some deep breaths and managed to stop his flow of ki.

He was surprised at the weird writing appearing as if by magic. “Did I do this?” Cloud nodded.

“Now apply some blood to the paper.”

“What for?”

“It is to form a blood seal, a binding contract. Asta you are about to make a Ki Guardian.”

“I do not know what that is but it sounds so cool.” He bit his thumb and drew blood, applying it to the paper. “Is that enough?”

“Yes the amount of blood isn’t important but the amount of ki.” Cloud explained. “Now throw the paper into the fire.”

“Okay…” He did and boom!

A pulse of power rippled through the air, and the once tiny camp fire giving off very little light exploded illuminating the area. “Whoa!”

The fire grew wild and mighty before being drawn into the paper and forming a ball and then ping! The area was being illuminated by a tiny sun with a face on it. “Good morning!” He cheered.

“Wah the sun just talked, wait did I capture the sun. I’m so sorry!” Cloud laughed.

“This is a Ki Guardian, one of fire. He came to life with your ki and by your blood he is bound to serve and protect you.” The little sun floated over to him.

“You are so warm!” Asta was amazed again.

“I am at your service master.” The sun gave it’s version of a bow.

“This is so cool, are there other ki guardians, do you have one, can you teach me the trick you did with the tree?” Asta bombarded him with questions.

“Easy, first you must give your guardian a name. Names are a powerful thing.” Asta gave it some thought.

“I’ll name you Sunny!” The ball of fire glowed.

“Thank you master!” Sunny cheered.

“Now you must understand something creating a guardian isn’t easy, it takes a lot of ki. You must remember your ki is your life force if you expend too much of it you will die.” Asta gulped. “Your guardian is made from your ki and thus it can be healed by your ki and your ki alone. You two keep each other alive, that’s how a ki guardian works.”

“How do I get more ki?”

“By training and living, a person builds ki naturally with their body as they live and interact with others. I knew of a samurai who built up their ki by having sex with different people.” This made Asta blush. “You seem to be doing fine with training, keep training your vessel and your ki will grow.”

Asta nodded. “Now, sadly I don’t have a lot of time left in this world, so I will teach you the basics of using your ki, the more advance techniques I’m afraid you’ll have to learn on your own.”

“But is that really okay, what about the Lost One?”

“My goal was to see him again, but I must hope that he found a home in this strange land and lived a good life.” Cloud smiled and lifted his mask. “And besides I still have a few more years left in me, and if I can impart some wisdom onto the next generation and it helps them grow, that is a worthy cause.”

Asta smiled and hugged Cloud. “Please teach me!”

To be continued...Something About Yuno

Yuno finds Asta, and is surprised about the strange little creature following him around. He doesn’t trust Cloud and Asta thinks Yuno is acting weird. Cloud gives Asta some unique perspective.