Magic Knights Entrance Exam Arc | Dungeon Exploration Arc | Royal Capital Assault Arc | Eye of the Midnight Sun Encounter Arc | Underwater Temple Arc | Forest of Witches Arc | Royal Knights Arc | Elf Reincarnation Arc | Heart Kingdom Joint Struggle Arc | Spade Kingdom Raid Arc
As Pitch Black as It Gets
With the devil finally defeated, the Magic Knights try to rebuild the damage done to the Clover Kingdom. Unfortunately, Asta and Nero are blamed for the destruction but they are luckily saved by the Black Bulls. The squad is then assigned the mission to investigate the devils. Their investigation leads them to the Heart Kingdom, where they ally with the country to fight against the Spade Kingdom.
Tropes:
- Big Damn Heroes: The Black Bulls break into the Magic Parliament through the building's wall to save Asta and Nero, with all of them prepared to fight.
- Darkest Hour: Despite the Magic Knights' best efforts, the Dark Triad has captured Yami and Vangeance, the mages needed to form the Tree of Qliphoth to bring devils to the living world, and Lolopechka, the ruler of the Heart Kingdom. In the process, Zenon and his Dark Disciples kill half of the Golden Dawn, and Vanica detonates her Dark Disciples, ravaging the Heart Kingdom.
- Deal with the Devil: To the gain the power needed to help Yami defeat Dante, Asta asks the Anti-Magic Devil to lend him his true power. He agrees to a "devil's bargain", taking control of Asta's right arm as the price.
- Four Lines, All Waiting: The main trio (Asta, Yuno, and Noelle) are spread out throughout the continent and facing a different member of the Dark Triad shortly after Asta separates from Noelle following their completion of a mission against the Spade Kingdom:
- Yuno learns about his heritage and he and the Golden Dawn fight Zenon and his Dark Disciples when they attack their headquarters to try and capture Vangeance.
- Asta and some of the Black Bulls (Gauche, Vanessa, Grey, and Henry) fight Dante, who is trying to capture Yami, near the border of the Spade Kingdom. Yami and Finral later join them when he returns from the captains conference.
- Noelle, Lolopechka, and Nero fight Vanica when she invades the Heart Kingdom to wipe out Lolopechka and her Spirit Guardians, with Luck, Leopold, Charmy, and Mimosa fighting Vanica's Dark Disciples.
- From Bad to Worse: First Zenon and his Dark Disciples kill half of Golden Dawn and capture Vangeance, with Yuno unable to stop them. Then Vanica captures Lolopechka, despite Noelle and Nero's efforts, and detonates her Dark Disciples throughout the Heart Kingdom. And although Asta and Yami manage to defeat Dante, Zenon arrives and captures Yami anyways.
- God Save Us from the Queen!: Subverted. Lolopechka is immediately compared to the Witch Queen when her status is revealed, and portrayed as an ominous figure who wants Asta's devil power, attacking him and having Gaja fight the others. It's later revealed to be a test and she's shown to be a benevolent figure who wants to ally with the Clover Kingdom.
- Knight of Cerebus: The Dark Triad's introduction as the new main villains change the story to a much darker tone, with Zenon and his Dark Disciples killing half of Golden Dawn and leaving Yuno near-dead. Even when the heroes try to fight back, their sheer sadism, cruelty and misanthropic world views make the battles much more grisly.
- Midfight Weapon Exchange: When Dante ensnares Asta's anti-magic swords with his Body Magic, Yami passes his katana to Asta, with his transformed right arm coating it in anti-magic. Asta uses it to land the defeating attack on Dante just before the time he can use his right arm runs out.
- Power Levels: The Heart Kingdom and Spade Kingdom use a scale for magical power and skill known as Magic Stages, with Stage Zero the strongest and Stage Nine the weakest. Then there's Arcane Stages, whose powers are unconventional enough to not fit into the scaling.
- Put on a Bus: Right after the six month time skip, Magna is off traveling with Zora. As a result, they don't fight against Vanica, her Dark Disciples, or Dante along with the rest of the Black Bulls.
- Really Royalty Reveal: In Chapter 233, Yuno is revealed to be the lost crown prince of the Spade Kingdom, explaining his incredible magical ability. Yuno himself is shocked by the reveal and doesn't want to accept it, declaring himself Yuno of the Clover Kingdom.
- The Reveal: The Dark Triad's plan is to form the Tree of Qliphoth, letting devils come to the living world and killing over 90% of the population. The Advent of the Qliphoth requires Yami's Dark Magic and Vangeance's World Tree Magic.
- Time Skip: There is a six month time skip after the Clover Kingdom allies themselves with the Heart Kingdom to prepare for war against the Spade Kingdom. During this time period, the Magic Knights trained to become stronger, with some going to the Heart Kingdom to learn the kingdom's unique rune arrays to strengthen their magic.
- Title Drop: Yami uses the words of the title of Volume 23, "as pitch black as it gets", when telling Damnatio that the Black Bulls are the worst of the squads and will save Asta and Nero.
- War Arc: The Spade Kingdom wages war on the newly-allied Clover Kingdom and Heart Kingdom to obtain the power of Yami and Vangeance, whose magics combined can create the Tree of Qliphoth, which would bring devils into the living world.
- Wham Episode:
- Chapter 215/216: Now that it's known Asta is cursed by a devil, one of the following will happen according to Julius: Either Asta dies, the Clover Kingdom is destroyed, or both of the aforementioned.
- Chapter 222: The Reveal when Noelle confronts Dorothy about the connections between her mother and devils. It is revealed that Acier was killed by a devil's curse not by Noelle's birth and only Nozel knows about this which is why he only told Dorothy about it. Why? It's because those who spoke out its name dies and he didn't tell the truth to protect Noelle and his siblings but Dorothy's Dream World is immune to effects. The devil that killed Acier is named Megicula.
- Chapter 227: The previous chapters had Asta and company involved in a couple battles with extremely powerful mages, but it's eventually revealed to be a demonstration and test of just what they're up against if they wish to confront Megicula, who's taken over the Spade Kingdom and threatens the other three. Meanwhile, the other Black Bulls scout out the Diamond Kingdom and discover it's already been curb-stomped by a single mage. The level of danger involved is invoked by Luck, for the first time, not wishing to fight this adversary.
- Chapter 233: Yuno is met by Ralph of the Spade Kingdom who is on the run from the Dark Triad who rules it and leading the invasions against the Kingdoms. He then tells Yuno that he is not only of the Spade Kingdom but also a royal prince of the Grinberryall family!
- Chapter 234: The two bombshells being that Yuno got a good look in the past via Ralph's Memory Magic of how he was delivered to Hage Village by Ralph's father on the run from the Dark Triad but it doesn't explain Asta who was delivered there with Yuno. The second? The Golden Dawn are under attack by the Spade Kingdom lead by one of the three Dark Triad's Zenon!
- Chapter 235: The Dark Triad's two of the elite soldiers, the Dark Disciples, also can use powers of the devils and while they can use 40% of its power; the Dark Triad can use 80%! The difference of power is shown that while William who's still captain takes on Zenon, Yuno just arrived just to see the majority of the Golden Dawn bloodied and/or likely killed by just the Dark Disciples! The fact that Yuno is furious in an understatement!
- Chapter 237: Just as things were looking up for Yuno, Klaus, and Letoile who defeated the two of the Dark Disciples while surviving; William falls to Zenon in what looks to be an utter Curb-Stomp Battle!
- Chapter 238: Death-related here. Klaus and Letoile are mortally wounded and possibly killed in the process by Zeno, and then Zenon uses only 55% of his Devil's power to curb-stomp Yuno who's in Spirit Dive and with Sword of Zephyr spell in utter fashion! By the time Ralph arrives, William was taken and Yuno is dying while impaled by Zenon's bone sword and Sylph crying for him to wake up! To put it shortly; the Golden Dawn, the best of the knight squads of the Clover Kingdom above the Black Bulls, were utterly crushed by what was just a small taste of the Spade Kingdom's true power.
- Chapter 255: Vanica successfully captures Lolopechka and detonates the devil power in her Dark Disciples, turning them into curse bombs. The panels show giant explosions that destroy much of the Heart Kingdom before the story switches back to the fight between Yami and Dante.
- Chapter 260: Although he manages to defeat Dante after a grueling battle with Asta's help, Yami is captured by Zenon anyways in spite of the Black Bulls' efforts. Now the Dark Triad have the mages needed to form the Tree of Qliphoth and bring devils into the living world.
- Chapter 268: The reveal of why Asta's Devil, named Liebe was in Licht's grimoire. Lowest of the low due to not having any magic, he somehow survived crashing into the gate that separates the Underworld from humans, and found himself in the human world. He was eventually adopted by Licita, Asta's mom, who left Asta at the church due to her body's condition, believing it would be harmful to her newborn. Liebe was later possessed by Lucifero, who then fatally attacked Licita to take control of Liebe's body. He was warded off, and as a last resort to save Liebe from further possession from Lucifero, Licita sealed him inside Licht's grimoire before dying. Liebe's end goal is to kill the entire Devil race, even if he has to use Asta's body to do it.
- The Worf Effect: The Golden Dawn members are all utterly beaten by Zenon and his Dark Disciples. And this is after they trained for half of a year and were possessed by the elves, having some of their magic remaining within them.
