BLACK CLOVER: Through the Looking Glass

As soon as they registered the sight of Wizard King, other than the two country bumpkins, the rest 4 kneeled in front of him.

"Who is he?" Asta asked registering the action of his teammates, and while Yuno did not voice his question it was easy to see that he shared the same query.

"You idiot! He is the Wizard King. Julius Novachrono" Both Wilhelm and Klaus said at the same time as they tugged down Asta and Yuno down to kneel with them, but they did not regard the action instead focused on the words.

'He is Wizard King.'

"Hahaha…no need to kneel." Julius said with a genial look, easing the group. Begrudgingly, taking time, Wilhelm, Mimosa, Klaus, and Noelle stood up, while Asta and Yuno were on their feet immediately.

"it seems we are blocking the entry for other people. How about we take this to some other place, shall we?" Julius asked which seemed more like a statement to the others, who nodded without even a second thought, even Wilhelm who was willing to kneel and act to his whims.

Reasons?

'He is stronger than me and has the respect of all the people in the kingdom. Not only is it a social suicide to act like a douche in front of him, I have no reason to.

He is one of the few Wizard Kings that actually look favorably upon peasants, is a fellow magic nerd, and is a genuinely nice person.

If anything, I consider him my teacher of sorts, or someone who has walked the same path as me before.

So as his one-sided dutiful pupil, if my pride refuses me to kneel in front of a person whom I aspire to be like, then that pride is the greatest enemy for me.'

"Good."

*SNAP*

Wizard King said as he snapped his fingers and suddenly Black Bull and Golden Dawn members found themselves at the top of a tower that was high up in the air.

'I heard that Wizard King had Time Magic. How did he use teleportation?' Klaus thought while Wilhelm tried to deduce what had happened.

'Did he just freeze us with time magic and make it seem like teleportation.'

Seeing the gawking and contemplative faces of everyone Julius smiled on the inside.

'It's cool, right? Right? Magic is cool, right? I know.'

But freeing himself from those thoughts, he said snapping everyone out of the reverie.

"Yuno, I heard that you got something from the dungeon. Can I see it?"

"Yes, Wizard King." Yuno said as he presented his grimoire to him without another thought.

Taking his grimoire in his hand, Julius scrutinized it carefully and then opened the page to the new spell.

'Hmm…oh…this is indeed…the true treasure from that dungeon. So he is the one Wind Spirit has chosen in this era.'

Wizard King thought with shiny beady eyes looking like a kid who had gotten a new game that he really liked.

"This an extraordinary spell that will grow strong with you and become your greatest power." Julius said with a charmed look, and followed up, "Can you show me the spell, please…?" Julius said as he grabbed Yuno's hand like a kid asking for chocolate from his parent, but like a poor parent, Yuno had to deny it with a sad look, "Sorry, but I cannot use it."

"Awww, that is sad…" Wizard King said with a teary-eyed look but jumped back to his usual joyful look, this time his gaze directed to Wilhelm who was feeling that his decision to kneel to him.

"Wilhelm, I heard about your grimoire too. Can I see it?" He asked with the same fascinated look.

"Okay…here." Wilhelm said plucking his grimoire from his waist and presenting it to Julius. Julius took the grimoire in his hand as if it were the most precious and fragile thing in the world.

"Ohh…so this is that unique grimoire. The multi-attribute grimoire." Julius said as he started to flip the pages of the grimoire, going from spell to spell. His fascination continued to grow until he landed on the last spell in the grimoire, and his expression morphed into one of confusion.

"Wilhelm, is this that spell that you used in the dungeon? That spell that shoots lion made of lightning?" He ended as he showed Wilhelm the spell where a giant depiction of a lion was, with some words written on it that neither Wilhelm nor Julius could understand.

Nodding to his question, Wilhelm replied, "Yes, but even I can't read what is written on it."

"But then how did you use the spell with incantation without being able to read what is written here?" Julius asked in a curious tone.

With a posture that suggested he was having a hard time explaining the phenomenon, Wilhelm replied, "It is hard to explain…think of it like, I just did as if it was calling to me."

"So instead of reading the spell, you 'understood' it?" Julius suggested in a more coherent sentence.

"Yes, as you said, I looked at it and then I suddenly knew, what it did, how to use it, and what the incantation is." Wilhelm affirmed his statement posed as a question.

"Interesting…and about your grimoire's unique nature to…devour the grimoire of your 'opponents'." Julius said whitewashing it as much as possible, tip-toeing so as not to hurt Wilhelm's character due to something he had no control over, but Wilhelm like a bull in a China shop said, "About me getting magic of those I kill?"

"I would not put it like that, but yes."

"Oh, that past thinking of mine was wrong. I don't get people's magic by killing them." Wilhelm said nonchalantly at which not only Julius but the rest of the people who were standing calmly said in surprise or confusion at the same time, "You don't?!"

Nodding to every one of them, he finally turned to Julius who was listening to him like an attentive student whose eyes urged him to go on, and continued, "My magic does not give me the magic of people who I kill, but it gives me whatever magic that dissipates in the surrounding."

"Eh?" Asta made a sound as if he did not understand what he heard, the same was true for others other than Julius who had a rough idea.

"Umu. I took a grimoire that I did not kill anyone for, which disproves the theory that I need to kill to get magic.

So, I started to think of the reason why I got the grimoire that I did without killing after our trip to the dungeon when I realized something. Even though I used more spells than I ever did before, I did not run out of mana. Not only did I use a mana-intensive spell of the lightning lion, but I also used an illusion spell that would drain me of my magic within seconds, but I did not.

Then I knew the reason why. My grimoire absorbed the abundant mana from the surroundings and gave it to me, so I did not run out of it.

Now, we know when a person dies, their grimoire dissipates…"

"So, just like mana in the air, your grimoire absorbed all of the mana that is being released into the air from the grimoire and the person, hence acquiring their magic." Julius completed Wilhelm's statement looking at it wide-eyed, his reaction more animated than the others.

"Umu." Wilhelm voiced his agreement and Julius' mind was thrown into a flurry of thoughts.

'This is…extraordinary. This would mean that if he is given exposure to places where lots of grimoires dissipate, he would become an unstoppable force. Not only that, if he engages in combat with his opponent, he can potentially defeat them in a battle of attrition.

But what about magic items and artifacts, weapons like Elsdocia? If they were to be broken in front of him, would he get its power too? Does he even need to dissipate a grimoire to copy its magic? What if he can copy someone's magic if he fought against them for far too long making them release so much mana that it could reach even a fraction of what is released when the grimoire vanishes.'

As he was getting lost in thought, he was snapped out of his reverie by Asta who shoved his grimoire in front of Julius' face.

"Wizard King, please see my grimoire too."

"Hmm…oh, let's see…it seems Asta that I can't read your spell as well." Julius replied as he squinted his eyes at Asta's grimoire.

Hearing this, Asta became momentarily down, and just as quickly getting back up, he said, "Then see these." as he pulled out the anti-magic sword.

"I-I-Is this the anti-magic sword?"

"Yeah!"

"Can I touch it?"

"GO ahead!!"

After a brief exchange, Julius took the anti-magic sword from his hand, and as soon as he touched it, he not only found that it was extremely heavy but it soon started to drain his magic at an alarming rate.

Quickly, he passed it back to Asta and said, "Asta, you should keep it because it seems no one in the world can use it other than you."

Then he said turning to others with a face that broke the rhythm of the conversation, "If that is all-"

"I have a question." Asta and Yuno said at the same time, walking toward Julius.

"Hey, that is rude. He-" Klaus was about to say when Julius raised his hand, stopping him from continuing when both of them said, "How do I become a Wizard King?"

"Merit." Julius said with a serious face, his eyes boring into them, which caused them to halt in their step and listen to what he had to say.

"You can't protect others with pride, and the trust of others comes with merit. There is only one thing people want from the Wizard King...

Merit that proves they are the best. Gain merit. Continuously gaining merit is everything. Anyone who can't do that can never stand at the top." Julius said as he looked into the eyes of the two in front of him, whose eyes instead of dimming in color burned with spirit.

This brought a smile to Julius' face who nodded inwardly.

Then getting back to the conversation, he said turning to Wilhelm, "Now, before going to the Decoration ceremony, I would like to assign you your stars in person." Everyone went stiff with their backs straightened up.

"For the members of Golden Dawn, a golden star for completing the mission assigned to you without fear in your heart in the face of certain death, as a true Magic Knight should. Step forward."

In unison, all three of them stepped forward as Julius with a neutral expression gave a star to Klaus, who stood proud without showing his feelings on his face.

'He is giddy on the inside.' Both Mimosa and Yuno thought. Then just as the three walked up, they walked back.

Knowing their turn was coming, Asta, Wilhelm, and Noelle too got ready.

"For the members of Black Bull, a golden star for completing the mission assigned to you without fear in your heart in the face of certain death, as a true Magic Knight should. Step forward."

Similarly, like Golden Dawn, all three of them stepped forward right in front of Julius who took a golden star and placed it on Wilhelm who stood at the center, who took it without change in his features like Klaus, unlike Asta who was grinning like a child.

But Julius did not end it that and continued.

"Wilhelm Sylvesterus Diluc Rothchilde, for your calm leadership and leading not only your own team but a team from another squad that you had no experience working with. I award you a golden star."

He added a star on Wilhelm's coat on his left side. But it was still not the end.

 "Wilhelm Sylvesterus Diluc Rothchilde, for securing a valuable information asset in the form of Lotus Whomalt from the Diamond Kingdom. I award you a golden star."

Then Julis' expression softened away from his neutral look, "I would also like to provide you with a golden star for creating a perfect report that saved hours from my day and stopped Marx from nagging me."

"Huh?" Klaus voiced in confusion, something that Wilhelm thought so too.

"What? Do you know how many reports I have to go through every day, every week, every month of every year? And none of them is properly done, and I would have to do it myself.

So imagine my surprise when I found a report that was fully complete with every single detail which saved me 8 hours. Naturally, if it was not wrong to do so, I would have given you another star." Julius said with righteous anger which shut everyone up and made them feel guilty for something they did not do. Especially those who were new to this.

Not wanting to touch the sore point, Wilhelm said, "Glad to know that you appreciate."

*Cough cough* Reeling back to his normal behavior, Julius said, "Also, Marx told me to ask you about the contraption you made to transport all of the treasure in the dungeon."

"You mean steam-powered train?" Wilhelm asked for clarification.

"Oh, that is what you call it? Steam-powered train. Sounds interesting."

'My, I did not think that the mobile train that I made would catch their attention.'

Yes, Wilhelm made a train. Not the one with the permanent track, but instead he used Klaus' magic to create a 5-coach train and its track that he would put in front and make it disappear from the back. He used his new Fire magic and Noelle's water magic to create steam and move it, while Yuno used his magic to accelerate the train and decrease its weight as well. This left Asta whose job was to cut any trees or stones that got in the way and Mimosa who acted as the compass.

Truly a marvelous show of teamwork.

"Yes, Marx and I are interested in that. Will you be willing to have a talk about it?" Julius asked which coming from him, the Wizard King sounded like a command to Wilhelm, who agreed without a single problem.

'If anything, this will get me in his good graces and help me to access something that is not easily available in the market. Enchantments.

Even if its products are available, the method to do enchantment itself is closely guarded. Even those who sell enchanted products don't dare to share how to do it.

But if the Wizard King himself permits me to learn them, then no one can have any problem with it.'

"It is good to hear. Now, without any further due, let's go to attend the Decoration Ceremony. It's a ceremony where we award those who

have done exceptionally well and honor them." Julius said at which Klaus muttered from behind.

"I don't have a good feeling about this."

"You and me both." Wilhelm affirmed his statement.

***

 Please leave power stones.

I want to get in the rankings.