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Canon: Mahou Sensei Negima! [Manga Canon]
Character: Kagurazaka Asuna [aka Asuna Vesperina Theotanasia Enteofushia.]
Timeline: Chapter 234. Specifically, when Fate attempts to use the cancellation spell to force Asuna to remember her past.
Personality: Asuna defines the term 'tsundere'. She's loud, abrasive, and tends to think with her fists before her head. She is often shown as a girl who is failing out of school and is judged, even by Negi, as a troublemaker during the first chapters of the manga. However, as the story progresses, so does Asuna, and she is quickly shown as a kind-hearted determined young woman who would fight to do anything to keep her friends safe.
Asuna grew up without any parents and lives with her friend, Konoka, in a dormitory at Mahora Academy. Konoka's grandfather is the dean of the school and allowed Asuna to go to the school for free, but Asuna dislikes being given handouts. Asuna still gets up every single morning to do a paper route before class, often working herself to exhaustion between school and work. She never complains about what she has to do and always goes to bed with plenty of time for sleep so she isn't tired for school after waking up so early. Asuna tackles life with this principal: nothing gets done unless you're willing to put in the work... though Asuna uses her own methods to determine what actually needs to get done or not. Her schoolwork is low on the list; her paper route and physical education normally reign supreme at the top. She's often referred to as “Baka Red” of the “Baka Rangers”, the supposed dumb students of 3-A. She has the lowest test average of the class, especially in English.
If anything is important to Kagurazaka Asuna, it is her friendships, particularly her friendship with Negi Springfield. Of all of the students of 3-A, Asuna is the closest one to Negi and is the one closest to being his actual “partner” in terms of fighting and being a mage. Negi is one of Asuna's best friends and Asuna would do anything to keep him safe. Being his partner in magic is one of the most important things in Asuna's life and it's something she takes very seriously. Protecting Negi is her number one priority and she is even shown to take direct magical hits, just to cancel them out, to keep him safe. She is extraordinarily overprotective of Negi, defending him from enemies, protecting him from her insane classmates, and even saving him from himself when he pushes himself too hard in his training. She herself trains diligently, learning kendo from Setsuna and practicing her magical incantations, just to fulfill her obligations of the contract she has with Negi.
She is powerfully strong and is reluctant to give up on her ideals. She often shows little to no fear in the face of danger, because Asuna knows what the right thing to do is almost instinctively. She often acts as a compass for Negi to guide (or kick him) in the right direction, whenever he feels overwhelmed by a large decision. She isn't afraid to say what she thinks, even if it means causing harm to herself, and has even raised her sword to Fate Averuncus, the series' most powerful villain, in order to get her point across. Do not mess with Kagurazaka Asuna, because she will make you regret it, as painfully as possible. This attitude gets her into trouble sometimes, but at the very least, Asuna can always be certain that she acted as her heart told her to, and not because anyone else told her to do something.
So, in synopsis, Asuna can be rash and impulsive. She is loud, abrasive, and occasionally violent. However, her deep-rooted love for her friends and her conviction towards her goals overrides these flaws, and ultimately makes her one of the most compelling characters in the series.
Background: Kagurazaka Asuna is a fourteen year old student at the all-girls school, Mahora. She isn't the most brilliant of students. She is often lumped into her group of friends, known as the 'Baka Rangers', for having the lowest test scores in all of 3-A. This doesn't seem to bother her all that badly, however; what Asuna lacks in grades, she makes up for in powerful strength and determination. Her best subject is physical education and she wakes up every morning, very early, to work before school in order to make ends meet and to repay her friend Konoka's grandfather for allowing her to attend Mahora for free. As far as you know, Asuna has no parents - she makes her own way the only way she knows how: through hard work and determination.
Her life was fairly normal - dull, even - before she met Negi Springfield, a ten year old prodigy who became the new interim teacher at Mahora. Her connection with Negi, at first, is very tumultuous - she finds him to be an idiotic brat who has a nasty habit of sneezing people's clothes off. After this happens to Asuna one or twenty times, she deduces that Negi is nothing more than a freakish moron who isn't worth her time. Unfortunately, Negi has nowhere to stay and he eventually winds up staying with Asuna and Konoka at their place, which irritates Asuna to no end.
This all changes once Asuna finds out Negi's big secret: he's a mage that is working to become a true mage and being a teacher in Japan is part of his task in order to do so. She discovers he's a mage when Negi uses magic to save one of her classmates, Nodoka, from falling down a set of stairs. No one is supposed to discover Negi's secret - if anyone does, Negi could be turned into an ermine for all of eternity as punishment - but Asuna swears not to tell a soul. After this incident, they quickly become close friends and Asuna works hard to ensure that no one else discovers his secret. This doesn't work out very well, as if no one discovered Negi's secret, the plot would be extremely boring, but she tries her best.
You quickly discover that the school of Mahora is seriously freaking weird. Asuna, Negi, and the other members of 3-A go on several adventures that normally end in ridiculous ways, but Asuna is always there to support Negi and her friends, no matter how insane the request is. These adventures range from exploring an underground library to trying to get a kiss out of Negi. She tries to stay out of the more crazy tasks, exhibiting a more mature and practical side of her character, but if her friends need her, she will always be there.
This is displayed in Negi's first real task as a wizard: he must fight against two of his students, Evangeline A.K. McDowell (who also happens to be an immortal vampiress) and Chachamaru Karakuri (who happens to be a robot). Evangeline has taken to attacking Asuna's classmates in order to draw blood from them. When Negi confronts her the first time, Evangeline nearly kills him... until Asuna intervenes and kicks her in the face. That is right: Asuna, with absolutely no weapon or knowledge of Evangeline's skills, kicks a vampire in the face. This only proves that Asuna a) acts without thinking, b) cares deeply for her friends, and c) is a lot stronger than she looks.
In their second meeting with Evangeline, something much more important happens - Asuna becomes Negi's first 'contract'. By forming a Pactio contract with Negi, Asuna is able to utilize some of Negi's magic to fight. This makes her stronger, faster, and more powerful than before - and, together, Negi and Asuna manage to defeat Evangeline and Chachamaru... though they spare both of their lives in the hope that Evangeline will not attack their classmates or them ever again.
After Evangeline, Negi receives an important mission. He must deliver a letter to a rival magical associate that resides in Kyoto, Japan. As a front, he decides to take the class of 3-A to Kyoto in order to deliver the letter. Of course, only Asuna and Negi's ermine familiar, Chamos, know of the true reasoning to go to Kyoto, which is to find clues to locate Negi's father, the Thousand Master, Nagi Springfield... and this is where the plot of Mahou Sensei Negima actually begins.
After some typical Negima hijinx that don't really matter much in terms of overall plot, Asuna and Negi travel to the headquarters of the Kansai Magical Assocation to deliver the letter. While stepping over the threshold, they become trapped in an infinite time loop and are attacked by Inugami Kotarou, a mercenary for the Kansai Magical Assocation. Negi and Asuna fight against him. By utilizing their contract, Asuna summons her super human strength and her artifact, a fan, to defeat the giant spider. She reduces the spider back to charm form in one blow, which is unusual, even with the powers of a Pactio Contract. Kotarou doesn't seem especially impressed by the display and quickly beats back Asuna and Negi. Breaking through Asuna's defenses, Kotarou punches Negi hard enough to shatter his magical barriers. Luckily, Chibi Setsuna manages to set up a diversion, and Asuna immediately picks up Negi and runs away to safety, leaving Kotarou feeling incredibly jipped of a good fight.
Kotarou quickly catches up to them, though, and proceeds to beat the ever loving shit out of Negi. They only escape with the help of Nodoka, who utilizes her artifact to help predict Kotarou's movements. They eventually bust out of the time space trap, leaving Kotarou trapped behind, and escape to a nondescript location to relax and recuperate from their second major battle.
Eventually, Asuna, Negi, and the other girls from 3-A escape from another major battle (in which Asuna is not involved in) against more Kansai mercenaries, escaping to Konoka's house, which conveniently happens to be the headquarters of the Kansai Magical Association. Konoka's father is one of the leaders of the organization and Negi finally delivers his letter, completing his mission in relative safety, and enacting peace between the Western and Eastern magical forces.
During their stay at Konoka's father's home, Asuna discovers that Kotarou and the others that have been attacking them have not been working underneath his control. They believe themselves to be safe within the home, but a white-haired mage infiltrates the Kansai Magical Associate and petrifies the entire class of 3-A save for Setsuna, Konoka, Asuna, and, of course, Negi. In order to defeat this powerful new enemy, the team splits up. Setsuna and Negi run to find the mage and Asuna elects to protect Konoka with everything she has, promising to meet with Setsuna and Negi inside the bathing house. When they arrive, the boy is already waiting in the water. When the mage attempts to petrify Asuna as well, it doesn't work... completely. Instead, her clothes shatter off of her, because Negima can't go ten pages without seeing Asuna naked. The boy, instead of killing Asuna, elects to keep her bound together and kidnaps Konoka, leaving Asuna lying there naked in the bathing house.... as bait to attempt to dispatch Setstuna and Negi. The boy eventually leaves them behind, but our three intrepid heroes are in hot pursuit.
When they catch up to Konoka's kidnappers, Konoka's power is unleashed and over 100 oni are summoned to defeat Setsuna, Asuna, and Negi. Here, Asuna's normally brave exterior cracks slightly and she shows nerves for the first time. She is, after all, only a middle-school girl - what business does she have fighting off 100 stone golems? However, she fights down her fear and volunteers to stay with Setsuna to fight off the oni with everything she's got. Together, Asuna and Setsuna dispatch 150 oni in three minutes, thanks in part to Asuna's fan, which dispatches demons in one hit.
A few people interfere, Negi makes it to Konoka, and surprise! The bad guys have summoned a giant evil spirit from Konoka's magical power that is 1600 years old and seriously badass. Negi has taxed out his magical power, but uses the last of it to summon Asuna and Setsuna to his side, to fight against Chigusa and the mysterious white haired mage, along with the evil spirit that they've summoned, to take back Konoka. However, the white-haired mage's power is too strong, and it forces Setsuna to reveal her true form - she is a hanyou, disguised as a human, with massive white wings. While she expects Negi and Asuna to recoil in horror, Asuna punches her in the back and tells her to stop being a moron. Setsuna takes this tsundere advice to heart and launches forward to fight the spirit, leaving Negi and Asuna to fight the white-haired mage.
Asuna, during this battle, discovers once and for all that she has the ability to nullify magic. She essentially becomes a human shield for Negi, taking attacks and nullifying them to protect him. She also manages to break through the mage's barrier with a single strike of her fan, somehow summoning a great power in order to do so. The battle looks like it is about to turn for the worse, as Negi actually manages to punch the mage in the face, inciting him into a rage... when Evangline and Chachamaru intervene, working with Negi and Asuna to help defeat him. And by “help defeat him”, we mean “Evangeline whips powerful magic out of nowhere and kills the spirit in one hit, therefore rendering Asuna and Negi totally useless.” After the fight, you learn that the white-haired mage goes by the name of Fate, a Western mage who is working with mages from the Kansai Magical Association for some inexplicable reason.
Before they return to Mahora, Negi and Asuna visit his father's old home. While there, they see a picture of Negi's father, along with some clues to try and figure out where he is. After that, Asuna begins to have dreams of a man who looks a lot like Negi, of when she was a small child. The child in the dreams recognizes the man as Nagi, but when Asuna wakes up, she believes them to be just dreams; she has no memory of any of these events. When she wakes, though, and looks at Negi, the similarities between Nagi and Negi connect abruptly, but she chooses not to say anything to Negi about it, electing to keep it a secret.
The group undergoes a bunch of magical training underneath Evangeline, in order to become stronger, so they can avoid another disaster against Fate. During this fight, Asuna discovers that Negi went to the underground library to discover more about his father without her. She is hurt by his actions, because she feels that she's done more than enough to prove her worth as one of his main fighting partners. This results in a very large fight in which Negi calls her a violent monkey girl and Asuna retaliates by smacking him in the face with her fan. This begins their first ever fight, which doesn't sound very important, but it sparks a very important event in Asuna's magical career: she discovers her sword.
The other girls of 3-A decide that Negi and Asuna can't go on fighting anymore, so Ayaka and the other girls devise a plan to get them to make up. They create fake sharks to attack Negi in the water and tell Asuna that he's drowning. Panicked, Asuna dives into the water without a second thought and summons her Artifact... but instead of her usual fan, a massive sword appears. It disappears as quickly as it's summoned. [Note: At first, Asuna can only summon her sword when she's extremely angry or upset, but she learns to control this ability and select which one she wants to summon.] Once she figures out that the entire situation is a prank, Asuna becomes angry and continues to not speak to Negi... but eventually forgives him once she realizes how truly sorry he is about their spat. They both apologize and Asuna resolves to become his proper fighting partner.
Unfortunately, her position as Negi's partner only gets her into more trouble. Asuna is kidnapped by Wilhelm Josef von Herrman, who is after Kotarou, who escaped from prison and stole a demon-catching bottle from him. Kotarou escaped in order to warn Negi about dangers to come, but only made it to Natsumi and Chizuru's household. When Negi arrives at the scene, he discovers that Konoka, Asuna, and a few other girls are missing. Negi and Kotarou resolve to rescue Asuna and the others from their capture and move to rescue her immediately.
When they arrive at the place where the girls are being held, a battle ensues... but all magical attacks that Kotarou and Negi use are nullified by Asuna's ability to nullify magic. Herrman uses this ability to his advantage thanks to a pendant he put on her. With magic nullified, Negi and Kotarou must think quickly in order to save Asuna. With the help of her classmates, the bond on Asuna is broken and Kotarou and Negi defeat Herrman with their combined magic, gaining Asuna back and a new ally in Kotarou.
And so begins the most useless filler arc in the history of filler arcs: The School Festival. Mahora throws a school festival every year and 3-A has decided to throw a Haunted House in order to compete with the other classes' events. The only remotely exciting thing Asuna does in this 100 chapters of ridiculousness is confess her love for her teacher, Takahata, and have a dream about confessing her love to an older version of Negi. Or maybe it's Nagi. Either way, it is an entirely useless 100 chapters that take place over about four days. Four days. However, there is a hilarious piece of filler that I'm going to mention just for the lulz.
Asuna, in wanting to conquer her fear of confessing her love, is talked into going on a practice date with Negi in order to get up the confidence to do the real thing. Chamos manages to get his furry little paws on a bottle of age-up-age-down pills, which both Negi and Asuna take. This turns Negi into a hot Nagi clone a fifteen year old. The date, at first, goes out disasterously - Asuna can't quite get over the fact that Negi is now a fifteen year old hot stud young man instead of his ten year old self, but the date progresses into something fun and lighthearted. Together, they make their way to the top of the hill where the wishing tree is located and Negi asks why Asuna likes Takahata so much. Asuna says that when she first arrived at Mahora, she had no one to take care of her, and Takahata took care of her when no one else did. It was Takahata who gave her the ornaments (small golden bells) that she wears in her hair. Unfortunately, Asuna catches Takahata on a date with another teacher, and she runs to the tree crying, cursing her idiocy and her ineptitude. Negi, now ten years old and in clothes that are way too big for him, comforts her, claiming that Setsuna, Konoka, Chamos, and himself love Asuna the way she is.
Asuna during this time period also has more dreams about Nagi Springfield. In this dream, Nagi calls Asuna “the little princess” and has apparently taken care of her since she was a young child. Asuna learns the “Kanka” technique at a very young age, but she does not remember how to do it past that.
Part of the Mahora Festival is a martial arts tournament. Asuna enters the tournament because her crush, Takahata, enters the tournament. While she wasn't planning on taking it seriously, she decides to give it her all. During the tournament, she and the other contestants meet a mysterious man Evangeline calls Al - or Colonel Sanders - who is a companion of Nagi Springfield's. He has a large amount of faith in Asuna's fighting abilities and even goes so far as to bet Evangline that Asuna will win. Asuna's first match is against Setsuna, her friend and kendo master. She fights with surprising skill and ability that she has never utilized before and it feels differently from the magic that Negi often infuses her with during her battles. She manages to perform the “Kanka” technique, which took Takahata years at Evangeline's special resort to learn. However, during the entire match, Al is giving her secret advice through a telepathic connection that no one else knows about. Halfway through the match, Asuna insists on fighting on her own strength, even though she knows it means she will probably lose to Setsuna.
During the fight, Setsuna launches herself towards Asuna to commit a finishing blow, but Asuna has an abrupt flashback to her youth. Nagi Springfield is apparently gone and a man named Gatou is bleeding to death in front of her. Asuna, as a young child, is crying. Gatou orders that Asuna's memory be wiped to avoid her remembering his death and everyone leaving her. Suddenly, Asuna is brought back to the present, and instead of holding her harisen, she is once again holding her massive sword, which has sliced Setsuna's weapon clean in half without any effort at all. The power of the sword seems to control Asuna and she launches herself towards Setsuna, sword in hand, ready to bring it down upon her, when Setsuna knocks her on her side. Asuna is disqualified from the tournament for wielding an illegal weapon and she abruptly comes to her senses to apologize. And, once the sword vanishes, Asuna's memories of being younger go with it. She feels as if she just remembered something very important... but it's out of her reach now.
While the tournament continues, Asuna discovers that Takahata-sensei has been kidnapped by Chao, a strange Chinese girl who is determined to tell everyone about the existence of mages. Asuna and her teammates manage to beat through a ton of robots to get to the end of the sewer systems, only to discover that Takahata and Chibi Setsuna have freed themselves. At the end of their fight with robots, Takahata claims that he can't keep his promise to spend day 3 of the festival with Asuna, but he offers to spend time with her at that moment. Pretty much everything possible goes wrong during their “date”, including a robotic tyrannosaurus rex that goes on the rampage. Together, Takahata and Asuna defeat it, and Takahata learns that Asuna is capable of the “kanka” technique.
Here, there is another flashback (or a dream), where Takahata and Asuna walking to Japan, in the snow. Takahata tells her to forget everything and calls her 'Princess'. There is no mention of it and it is uncertain whether or not this is a dream or a small piece of memory. It is only placed here for reference, as it becomes important later on in the plot.
After some fun in Evangeline's resort, the class of 3-A elects to return back to the festival. By some mistake, Negi, Asuna, and his team of partners wind up 7 days past the Mahora Festival. Chao has told everyone about the mages and everything has fallen to shit. Negi is thrown in jail, which leaves Asuna and the others to figure out what happened. Together, they go to Evangeline's to visit her in the resort to get help, only to find a message from Chao taped to it. The time machine that Chao gave Negi to use was triggered to keep Negi and Asuna out of the fight, allowing her plenty of time to tell the entire world about the existence of mages and prove it using ritiuals concerning the World Tree located in Mahora. The message peters out and Asuna has no earthly idea what to do... until Chamos appears to tell Asuna that Negi is going to be turned into an ermine and that the magical world has pinned the responsibility for the security breach on him. While the girls are trying to plan out what to do, two mages show up to Evangeline's cottage to take them into custody. Their only option is to fight. They manage to escape by utilizing all of their skills and set out to defeat Chao and rescue Negi.
Asuna and the others leave Kaede and Setsuna to handle the two mage teachers. However, Takane and her magical world army quickly catch up with the other. Luckily, Asuna's harsien cuts through demon magic like paper, rendering Takane's uniform and army useless. With Ku Fei at her side, they make a formidable team. Two other mages launch powerful magical attacks towards Konoka and the other girls unable to defend themselves, but Asuna summons her sword and nullifies the magical attacks easily. No magical attacks affect Asuna and, for the first time, Asuna looks confident in her fighting ability. With every magical attack, Ensis Exorcizans activates, and she beats back the mages, dispatching their golems with one solid hit of the massive sword. With Asuna's ability, they defeat Takane and her sisters, but Asuna spares them, promising them that they'll return history back to normal so no mage is penalized for the leak of their secret. They infiltrate Mahora and take out several of the teachers, with the help of Ensis Exorcizans and Asuna's ability.
Asuna and Yue find themselves facing off against Takahata to get through to Negi, leaving the other girsl to fight against a giant Cereberus. Asuna manages to dodge a lot of Takahata's attacks, but isn't able to attack right away. According to Chamos, “it takes a real master to even be able to dodge those attacks.” As the fight progresses, Yue figures out that the entire situation is an illusion, and breaks it, showing the girls fighting against nothing in the basement of the school.
They return to the past using the time machine to defeat Chao. Chao takes out Setsuna and Asuna. It's up to Negi to finish the fight. Chao is ultimately defeated and returns tot eh future, promising to see Negi again when the time is right.
After the festival, Negi learns that his father, Nagi Springfield, is alive and well... and he'll have to go to the Magic World in order to find him. Negi quickly becomes wrapped up in finding his father again and lets his attention drift during his lessons, which ticks Asuna off. They wind up in another spat when Asuna tells Negi that letting himself get wrapped up in his own personal goals is a lot like Chao. Asuna is worried that Negi allows himself to get too wrapped up in his dreams, which causes him to become reckless and endanger his own life. However, Negi refuses to give up on his dream to find his father, and resolves to return to Wales to try and find him again. This time, though, he asks Asuna to come with him, as his partner.
However, once this is settled, Asuna begins to have dreams... one in particular involves Negi's father, the Thousand Master, again. Nagi and his friends are battling back monsters when Nag discovers that they are using a small child as a barrier...a child that looks exactly like Asuna. When he enters the palace and defeats the enemies, he finds the girl bleeding from the mouth. He asks her her name and she responds “Asuna... Asuna Vesperina Theotanasia Enteofushia.” Nagi responds that that's a rather long name and tells her to sit tight... that he has to go vanquish some more enemies. Asuna wakes up with a shock, claiming that she remembers her real name. Once the shock wears off, though, she shakes it off as a dream and says “Why did I think that was my real name, though... it was too long ago.”
Despite these dreams (or maybe because of them), Asuna decides to put everything she has into finding Nagi Springfield. She organizes the class of 3-A into a special club of sorts, even getting Evangeline into it as an honorary advisor. Together, they all train on Evangeline's special resort, but Evangeline doesn't think that Asuna is suited to protect Negi once they depart to the Magic World. So, Evangeline decides to give Asuna a test: hit Negi Springfield once in a spar and Asuna passes. Negi is reluctant to fight his all against Asuna, though Asuna orders him to. Asuna, in fifteen minutes, cannot land a blow on Negi, and Evangeline tells Asuna that she is a burden. This only forces Asuna to work harder, to ensure that she can protect Negi, no matter who the opponent is.
As a result of her loss, Asuna decides to train with Kotarou and Negi in Evangeline's resorts, through different landscapes and temperatures. She learns that her kanka (a combination of magic and ki) can keep her warm. Kotarou helps Asuna learn how to control her kanka, to make her magical strength last longer, and Asuna catches on remarkably quickly... but Evangeline quickly interrupts Negi and Kotarou helping her, leaving her stranded in the snow without her Pactio Card or her Artifact. Asuna must survive on her own.
While lost in the mountains, Asuna has another dream of her younger self asking Takahata to teach her the art of kanka. She manages it in one shot, after Takahata tells her to envision herself as nothingness. When asked how she accomplishes it so easily, Asuna responds “Become nothing is easy. After all, I've never had anything in me to begin with.” Takahata responds that Asuna is surrounded by people who care for her, including Nagi, and that she shouldn't say such things about herself. She jolts awake, realizing that she can't fall asleep in such cold, and tries to stay awake... before realizing that she isn't cold. Asuna has learned how to use kanka without Negi's magic... but this isn't enough to keep her from almost freezing to death. Another day passes and Asuna grows weaker... she even contemplates ringing the bell that Evangeline gives her, which Asuna must ring in order for Evangeline to rescue her, but Asuna stubbornly refuses to give up. Kagurazaka Asuna never gives up and she is determined to grow stronger, to help protect Negi.
Seven days pass and Asuna does not return to the resort. Negi, Kotarou, and Setsuna decide to go find her, only to find her on a cliffside with Evangeline, who gives Asuna back her Pactio card. She summons her sword on command and slams it into the ground, proud of herself... but Evangeline doesn't look impressed. She asks Asuna why - why work so hard and why not give up? When Asuna doesn't have a response at first, Evangeline asks again, only for Asuna to confirm that she's not only working so hard for Negi, but for the sake of all of her friends, including Evangeline. The vampiress says nothing, though she seems disappointed that Asuna hasn't “remembered” anything... and then proceeds to say that Asuna is now her apprentice.
They train until they have to leave for the magic world. When they finally arrive at the gate, Negi and Setsuna feel like something is wrong. Before anyone can do anything, including Asuna, Negi is run through by a giant spear, courtesy of the Magic World's resident douchebag, Fate. Fate seems to be on his way to killing them all - all of their pactio cards and weapons are locked inside a magical box that is sealed by magic, and with Negi out of commission, no one can open it. As Fate moves to petrify Setsuna, Negi rips the stone spear out of his shoulder and hits Fate in the face with it. Asuna, meanwhile, punches the box open with sheer badassery (actually, she uses her magic cancelling ability to break the magical seal on the box, but sheer badassery is much more fitting) and frees all of their magical items and Pactio cards, making it an even fight. It erupts into a massive battle, Negi's team versus Fate. The battle ends in a stalemate, but not before Fate gets the last laugh: he separates Negi from everyone in his time except Chachamaru, sending Asuna to a far corner of the magic world, unable to reach anyone through their contracts.
Asuna winds up with Setsuna in the magic world. They train during their time apart from the rest of 3-A, even going so far as to hunt dragons for bounty. They meet up with Konoka and Kaede in a village and they all decide to head to Ostia, the magical city where Negi told them to meet once they were able. Asuna decides to wander around Ostia by herself for a time and keeps feeling as if she has been there before. She happens across an old gazebo, which she has dreamt about, but shrugs it off as freakish deja vu instead of anything of great importance. Asuna turns at the sound of her name to see Nagi Springfield, standing in the sunlight... or so she thinks. In actuality, it's Negi, and the two rush to each other in a massive hug... once Asuna hits him for a bit to see whether or not he's real.
Bit by bit, Asuna and Negi begin to gather their comrades, until Asuna witnesses Negi use his new technique - Magia Erebea, a dark magic technique he learned from Rakan and Evangeline. Though Negi decimates a bunch of demonic bounty hunters in no time flat, Asuna isn't all that happy about it. She claims that Dark Magic isn't to be used and demands that Negi never use the technique again. Negi argues that the technique isn't dangerous at all, but Asuna quickly spots the lie and, just as soon as her anger flares, it vanishes. She tells Negi that she made a promise to follow him, no matter how insane or crazy the world became, and she promises that she will protect him, just as Negi wants to protect her.
Rakan, after Asuna rallies the troops, decides to tell Negi about Asuna's past: Once upon a time, the ruins of the city beneath the clouds were floating in the sky through the power of natural mgic. It was a beautiful and ancient city, very powerful, the center of the entire universe. The capital of the Kingdom of Vespertatia was called Ostia. A child was born into the royal family who carried the ability of “magic cancel”. She was known as the Twilight Imperial Princess. In the great war twenty years previous, the islands plummeted from the sky, thanks to a giant magical disaster... all the magic disappeared from the world. The kingdom was ruined and it left a million refugees and problems behind.
Negi discovers that it was Nagi who exposed the people who had set up the war for their own stupid reasons. It was Nagi who ended the war and eliminated the evil at its source. However, Nagi had failed to save one single country and failed to protect a single little girl: Princess Asuna. Rakan tells Negi that it is Negi's responsibility to protect Asuna and do what Nagi Springfield had failed to do: protect the people that he cares about and move forward. Negi takes this challenge seriously and vows to protect Asuna and everyone else in 3-A with everything he has. Negi, however, does not tell Asuna of her own past... mainly because he doesn't get the opportunity to, as Fate Averuncus always shows up to ruin Negi's fun.
Once Fate makes himself known to Negi, the mage coaxes Negi, Asuna, and Setsuna into a tea party. (Seriously.) Fate tells Negi that he can let Negi and his classmates return home safely, but as with everything, there's a price: Kagurazaka Asuna. He demands that Negi hand the princess over to them... and Negi and the others can go home safely. Negi predictably refuses, but Fate pushes Negi further by claiming that the girl who has been living at Mahora Academy for the past eight years has a false personality, a false memory... and that if Asuna were to die, the real world would be rid of a troubling person. Asuna has no idea what Fate is talking about because Asuna has no memory of her previous life, but Negi reacts explosively. Fate realizes that he's not going to give up Asuna to return home safely, so Fate offers him another bargain: ignore Fate's activities, let the Magic World die, and return home safe and sound, never to hear from him again. Negi is on the verge of agreeing with Fate when Asuna interferes, punching Negi in the face and summoning her sword, ordering him not to listen to whatever Fate has to say. Asuna then turns her sword on Fate, informing him that they won't be leaving, that they will fight to save the Magic World... and Fate only laughs.
And then proceeds to declare war on Negi and his classmates, turning the crude strategy into a full blown clusterfuck. Asuna takes off to the city to protect the citizens and to try and help Negi, but is intercepted along the way by Fate's minions. She is knocked out and taken to Fate's lair™ and an impersonation is sent in her place to avoid suspicion... leaving Asuna in the hands of the enemy. She demands to know what Fate's problem is and why she's been kidnapped... but Fate moves towards her, raising a hand to force her to remember her past life - a cancellation spell to undo whatever both Nagi and Negi had done to cause Asuna to forget all of her past.
Character: Kagurazaka Asuna [aka Asuna Vesperina Theotanasia Enteofushia.]
Timeline: Chapter 234. Specifically, when Fate attempts to use the cancellation spell to force Asuna to remember her past.
Personality: Asuna defines the term 'tsundere'. She's loud, abrasive, and tends to think with her fists before her head. She is often shown as a girl who is failing out of school and is judged, even by Negi, as a troublemaker during the first chapters of the manga. However, as the story progresses, so does Asuna, and she is quickly shown as a kind-hearted determined young woman who would fight to do anything to keep her friends safe.
Asuna grew up without any parents and lives with her friend, Konoka, in a dormitory at Mahora Academy. Konoka's grandfather is the dean of the school and allowed Asuna to go to the school for free, but Asuna dislikes being given handouts. Asuna still gets up every single morning to do a paper route before class, often working herself to exhaustion between school and work. She never complains about what she has to do and always goes to bed with plenty of time for sleep so she isn't tired for school after waking up so early. Asuna tackles life with this principal: nothing gets done unless you're willing to put in the work... though Asuna uses her own methods to determine what actually needs to get done or not. Her schoolwork is low on the list; her paper route and physical education normally reign supreme at the top. She's often referred to as “Baka Red” of the “Baka Rangers”, the supposed dumb students of 3-A. She has the lowest test average of the class, especially in English.
If anything is important to Kagurazaka Asuna, it is her friendships, particularly her friendship with Negi Springfield. Of all of the students of 3-A, Asuna is the closest one to Negi and is the one closest to being his actual “partner” in terms of fighting and being a mage. Negi is one of Asuna's best friends and Asuna would do anything to keep him safe. Being his partner in magic is one of the most important things in Asuna's life and it's something she takes very seriously. Protecting Negi is her number one priority and she is even shown to take direct magical hits, just to cancel them out, to keep him safe. She is extraordinarily overprotective of Negi, defending him from enemies, protecting him from her insane classmates, and even saving him from himself when he pushes himself too hard in his training. She herself trains diligently, learning kendo from Setsuna and practicing her magical incantations, just to fulfill her obligations of the contract she has with Negi.
She is powerfully strong and is reluctant to give up on her ideals. She often shows little to no fear in the face of danger, because Asuna knows what the right thing to do is almost instinctively. She often acts as a compass for Negi to guide (or kick him) in the right direction, whenever he feels overwhelmed by a large decision. She isn't afraid to say what she thinks, even if it means causing harm to herself, and has even raised her sword to Fate Averuncus, the series' most powerful villain, in order to get her point across. Do not mess with Kagurazaka Asuna, because she will make you regret it, as painfully as possible. This attitude gets her into trouble sometimes, but at the very least, Asuna can always be certain that she acted as her heart told her to, and not because anyone else told her to do something.
So, in synopsis, Asuna can be rash and impulsive. She is loud, abrasive, and occasionally violent. However, her deep-rooted love for her friends and her conviction towards her goals overrides these flaws, and ultimately makes her one of the most compelling characters in the series.
Background: Kagurazaka Asuna is a fourteen year old student at the all-girls school, Mahora. She isn't the most brilliant of students. She is often lumped into her group of friends, known as the 'Baka Rangers', for having the lowest test scores in all of 3-A. This doesn't seem to bother her all that badly, however; what Asuna lacks in grades, she makes up for in powerful strength and determination. Her best subject is physical education and she wakes up every morning, very early, to work before school in order to make ends meet and to repay her friend Konoka's grandfather for allowing her to attend Mahora for free. As far as you know, Asuna has no parents - she makes her own way the only way she knows how: through hard work and determination.
Her life was fairly normal - dull, even - before she met Negi Springfield, a ten year old prodigy who became the new interim teacher at Mahora. Her connection with Negi, at first, is very tumultuous - she finds him to be an idiotic brat who has a nasty habit of sneezing people's clothes off. After this happens to Asuna one or twenty times, she deduces that Negi is nothing more than a freakish moron who isn't worth her time. Unfortunately, Negi has nowhere to stay and he eventually winds up staying with Asuna and Konoka at their place, which irritates Asuna to no end.
This all changes once Asuna finds out Negi's big secret: he's a mage that is working to become a true mage and being a teacher in Japan is part of his task in order to do so. She discovers he's a mage when Negi uses magic to save one of her classmates, Nodoka, from falling down a set of stairs. No one is supposed to discover Negi's secret - if anyone does, Negi could be turned into an ermine for all of eternity as punishment - but Asuna swears not to tell a soul. After this incident, they quickly become close friends and Asuna works hard to ensure that no one else discovers his secret. This doesn't work out very well, as if no one discovered Negi's secret, the plot would be extremely boring, but she tries her best.
You quickly discover that the school of Mahora is seriously freaking weird. Asuna, Negi, and the other members of 3-A go on several adventures that normally end in ridiculous ways, but Asuna is always there to support Negi and her friends, no matter how insane the request is. These adventures range from exploring an underground library to trying to get a kiss out of Negi. She tries to stay out of the more crazy tasks, exhibiting a more mature and practical side of her character, but if her friends need her, she will always be there.
This is displayed in Negi's first real task as a wizard: he must fight against two of his students, Evangeline A.K. McDowell (who also happens to be an immortal vampiress) and Chachamaru Karakuri (who happens to be a robot). Evangeline has taken to attacking Asuna's classmates in order to draw blood from them. When Negi confronts her the first time, Evangeline nearly kills him... until Asuna intervenes and kicks her in the face. That is right: Asuna, with absolutely no weapon or knowledge of Evangeline's skills, kicks a vampire in the face. This only proves that Asuna a) acts without thinking, b) cares deeply for her friends, and c) is a lot stronger than she looks.
In their second meeting with Evangeline, something much more important happens - Asuna becomes Negi's first 'contract'. By forming a Pactio contract with Negi, Asuna is able to utilize some of Negi's magic to fight. This makes her stronger, faster, and more powerful than before - and, together, Negi and Asuna manage to defeat Evangeline and Chachamaru... though they spare both of their lives in the hope that Evangeline will not attack their classmates or them ever again.
After Evangeline, Negi receives an important mission. He must deliver a letter to a rival magical associate that resides in Kyoto, Japan. As a front, he decides to take the class of 3-A to Kyoto in order to deliver the letter. Of course, only Asuna and Negi's ermine familiar, Chamos, know of the true reasoning to go to Kyoto, which is to find clues to locate Negi's father, the Thousand Master, Nagi Springfield... and this is where the plot of Mahou Sensei Negima actually begins.
After some typical Negima hijinx that don't really matter much in terms of overall plot, Asuna and Negi travel to the headquarters of the Kansai Magical Assocation to deliver the letter. While stepping over the threshold, they become trapped in an infinite time loop and are attacked by Inugami Kotarou, a mercenary for the Kansai Magical Assocation. Negi and Asuna fight against him. By utilizing their contract, Asuna summons her super human strength and her artifact, a fan, to defeat the giant spider. She reduces the spider back to charm form in one blow, which is unusual, even with the powers of a Pactio Contract. Kotarou doesn't seem especially impressed by the display and quickly beats back Asuna and Negi. Breaking through Asuna's defenses, Kotarou punches Negi hard enough to shatter his magical barriers. Luckily, Chibi Setsuna manages to set up a diversion, and Asuna immediately picks up Negi and runs away to safety, leaving Kotarou feeling incredibly jipped of a good fight.
Kotarou quickly catches up to them, though, and proceeds to beat the ever loving shit out of Negi. They only escape with the help of Nodoka, who utilizes her artifact to help predict Kotarou's movements. They eventually bust out of the time space trap, leaving Kotarou trapped behind, and escape to a nondescript location to relax and recuperate from their second major battle.
Eventually, Asuna, Negi, and the other girls from 3-A escape from another major battle (in which Asuna is not involved in) against more Kansai mercenaries, escaping to Konoka's house, which conveniently happens to be the headquarters of the Kansai Magical Association. Konoka's father is one of the leaders of the organization and Negi finally delivers his letter, completing his mission in relative safety, and enacting peace between the Western and Eastern magical forces.
During their stay at Konoka's father's home, Asuna discovers that Kotarou and the others that have been attacking them have not been working underneath his control. They believe themselves to be safe within the home, but a white-haired mage infiltrates the Kansai Magical Associate and petrifies the entire class of 3-A save for Setsuna, Konoka, Asuna, and, of course, Negi. In order to defeat this powerful new enemy, the team splits up. Setsuna and Negi run to find the mage and Asuna elects to protect Konoka with everything she has, promising to meet with Setsuna and Negi inside the bathing house. When they arrive, the boy is already waiting in the water. When the mage attempts to petrify Asuna as well, it doesn't work... completely. Instead, her clothes shatter off of her, because Negima can't go ten pages without seeing Asuna naked. The boy, instead of killing Asuna, elects to keep her bound together and kidnaps Konoka, leaving Asuna lying there naked in the bathing house.... as bait to attempt to dispatch Setstuna and Negi. The boy eventually leaves them behind, but our three intrepid heroes are in hot pursuit.
When they catch up to Konoka's kidnappers, Konoka's power is unleashed and over 100 oni are summoned to defeat Setsuna, Asuna, and Negi. Here, Asuna's normally brave exterior cracks slightly and she shows nerves for the first time. She is, after all, only a middle-school girl - what business does she have fighting off 100 stone golems? However, she fights down her fear and volunteers to stay with Setsuna to fight off the oni with everything she's got. Together, Asuna and Setsuna dispatch 150 oni in three minutes, thanks in part to Asuna's fan, which dispatches demons in one hit.
A few people interfere, Negi makes it to Konoka, and surprise! The bad guys have summoned a giant evil spirit from Konoka's magical power that is 1600 years old and seriously badass. Negi has taxed out his magical power, but uses the last of it to summon Asuna and Setsuna to his side, to fight against Chigusa and the mysterious white haired mage, along with the evil spirit that they've summoned, to take back Konoka. However, the white-haired mage's power is too strong, and it forces Setsuna to reveal her true form - she is a hanyou, disguised as a human, with massive white wings. While she expects Negi and Asuna to recoil in horror, Asuna punches her in the back and tells her to stop being a moron. Setsuna takes this tsundere advice to heart and launches forward to fight the spirit, leaving Negi and Asuna to fight the white-haired mage.
Asuna, during this battle, discovers once and for all that she has the ability to nullify magic. She essentially becomes a human shield for Negi, taking attacks and nullifying them to protect him. She also manages to break through the mage's barrier with a single strike of her fan, somehow summoning a great power in order to do so. The battle looks like it is about to turn for the worse, as Negi actually manages to punch the mage in the face, inciting him into a rage... when Evangline and Chachamaru intervene, working with Negi and Asuna to help defeat him. And by “help defeat him”, we mean “Evangeline whips powerful magic out of nowhere and kills the spirit in one hit, therefore rendering Asuna and Negi totally useless.” After the fight, you learn that the white-haired mage goes by the name of Fate, a Western mage who is working with mages from the Kansai Magical Association for some inexplicable reason.
Before they return to Mahora, Negi and Asuna visit his father's old home. While there, they see a picture of Negi's father, along with some clues to try and figure out where he is. After that, Asuna begins to have dreams of a man who looks a lot like Negi, of when she was a small child. The child in the dreams recognizes the man as Nagi, but when Asuna wakes up, she believes them to be just dreams; she has no memory of any of these events. When she wakes, though, and looks at Negi, the similarities between Nagi and Negi connect abruptly, but she chooses not to say anything to Negi about it, electing to keep it a secret.
The group undergoes a bunch of magical training underneath Evangeline, in order to become stronger, so they can avoid another disaster against Fate. During this fight, Asuna discovers that Negi went to the underground library to discover more about his father without her. She is hurt by his actions, because she feels that she's done more than enough to prove her worth as one of his main fighting partners. This results in a very large fight in which Negi calls her a violent monkey girl and Asuna retaliates by smacking him in the face with her fan. This begins their first ever fight, which doesn't sound very important, but it sparks a very important event in Asuna's magical career: she discovers her sword.
The other girls of 3-A decide that Negi and Asuna can't go on fighting anymore, so Ayaka and the other girls devise a plan to get them to make up. They create fake sharks to attack Negi in the water and tell Asuna that he's drowning. Panicked, Asuna dives into the water without a second thought and summons her Artifact... but instead of her usual fan, a massive sword appears. It disappears as quickly as it's summoned. [Note: At first, Asuna can only summon her sword when she's extremely angry or upset, but she learns to control this ability and select which one she wants to summon.] Once she figures out that the entire situation is a prank, Asuna becomes angry and continues to not speak to Negi... but eventually forgives him once she realizes how truly sorry he is about their spat. They both apologize and Asuna resolves to become his proper fighting partner.
Unfortunately, her position as Negi's partner only gets her into more trouble. Asuna is kidnapped by Wilhelm Josef von Herrman, who is after Kotarou, who escaped from prison and stole a demon-catching bottle from him. Kotarou escaped in order to warn Negi about dangers to come, but only made it to Natsumi and Chizuru's household. When Negi arrives at the scene, he discovers that Konoka, Asuna, and a few other girls are missing. Negi and Kotarou resolve to rescue Asuna and the others from their capture and move to rescue her immediately.
When they arrive at the place where the girls are being held, a battle ensues... but all magical attacks that Kotarou and Negi use are nullified by Asuna's ability to nullify magic. Herrman uses this ability to his advantage thanks to a pendant he put on her. With magic nullified, Negi and Kotarou must think quickly in order to save Asuna. With the help of her classmates, the bond on Asuna is broken and Kotarou and Negi defeat Herrman with their combined magic, gaining Asuna back and a new ally in Kotarou.
And so begins the most useless filler arc in the history of filler arcs: The School Festival. Mahora throws a school festival every year and 3-A has decided to throw a Haunted House in order to compete with the other classes' events. The only remotely exciting thing Asuna does in this 100 chapters of ridiculousness is confess her love for her teacher, Takahata, and have a dream about confessing her love to an older version of Negi. Or maybe it's Nagi. Either way, it is an entirely useless 100 chapters that take place over about four days. Four days. However, there is a hilarious piece of filler that I'm going to mention just for the lulz.
Asuna, in wanting to conquer her fear of confessing her love, is talked into going on a practice date with Negi in order to get up the confidence to do the real thing. Chamos manages to get his furry little paws on a bottle of age-up-age-down pills, which both Negi and Asuna take. This turns Negi into a hot Nagi clone a fifteen year old. The date, at first, goes out disasterously - Asuna can't quite get over the fact that Negi is now a fifteen year old hot stud young man instead of his ten year old self, but the date progresses into something fun and lighthearted. Together, they make their way to the top of the hill where the wishing tree is located and Negi asks why Asuna likes Takahata so much. Asuna says that when she first arrived at Mahora, she had no one to take care of her, and Takahata took care of her when no one else did. It was Takahata who gave her the ornaments (small golden bells) that she wears in her hair. Unfortunately, Asuna catches Takahata on a date with another teacher, and she runs to the tree crying, cursing her idiocy and her ineptitude. Negi, now ten years old and in clothes that are way too big for him, comforts her, claiming that Setsuna, Konoka, Chamos, and himself love Asuna the way she is.
Asuna during this time period also has more dreams about Nagi Springfield. In this dream, Nagi calls Asuna “the little princess” and has apparently taken care of her since she was a young child. Asuna learns the “Kanka” technique at a very young age, but she does not remember how to do it past that.
Part of the Mahora Festival is a martial arts tournament. Asuna enters the tournament because her crush, Takahata, enters the tournament. While she wasn't planning on taking it seriously, she decides to give it her all. During the tournament, she and the other contestants meet a mysterious man Evangeline calls Al - or Colonel Sanders - who is a companion of Nagi Springfield's. He has a large amount of faith in Asuna's fighting abilities and even goes so far as to bet Evangline that Asuna will win. Asuna's first match is against Setsuna, her friend and kendo master. She fights with surprising skill and ability that she has never utilized before and it feels differently from the magic that Negi often infuses her with during her battles. She manages to perform the “Kanka” technique, which took Takahata years at Evangeline's special resort to learn. However, during the entire match, Al is giving her secret advice through a telepathic connection that no one else knows about. Halfway through the match, Asuna insists on fighting on her own strength, even though she knows it means she will probably lose to Setsuna.
During the fight, Setsuna launches herself towards Asuna to commit a finishing blow, but Asuna has an abrupt flashback to her youth. Nagi Springfield is apparently gone and a man named Gatou is bleeding to death in front of her. Asuna, as a young child, is crying. Gatou orders that Asuna's memory be wiped to avoid her remembering his death and everyone leaving her. Suddenly, Asuna is brought back to the present, and instead of holding her harisen, she is once again holding her massive sword, which has sliced Setsuna's weapon clean in half without any effort at all. The power of the sword seems to control Asuna and she launches herself towards Setsuna, sword in hand, ready to bring it down upon her, when Setsuna knocks her on her side. Asuna is disqualified from the tournament for wielding an illegal weapon and she abruptly comes to her senses to apologize. And, once the sword vanishes, Asuna's memories of being younger go with it. She feels as if she just remembered something very important... but it's out of her reach now.
While the tournament continues, Asuna discovers that Takahata-sensei has been kidnapped by Chao, a strange Chinese girl who is determined to tell everyone about the existence of mages. Asuna and her teammates manage to beat through a ton of robots to get to the end of the sewer systems, only to discover that Takahata and Chibi Setsuna have freed themselves. At the end of their fight with robots, Takahata claims that he can't keep his promise to spend day 3 of the festival with Asuna, but he offers to spend time with her at that moment. Pretty much everything possible goes wrong during their “date”, including a robotic tyrannosaurus rex that goes on the rampage. Together, Takahata and Asuna defeat it, and Takahata learns that Asuna is capable of the “kanka” technique.
Here, there is another flashback (or a dream), where Takahata and Asuna walking to Japan, in the snow. Takahata tells her to forget everything and calls her 'Princess'. There is no mention of it and it is uncertain whether or not this is a dream or a small piece of memory. It is only placed here for reference, as it becomes important later on in the plot.
After some fun in Evangeline's resort, the class of 3-A elects to return back to the festival. By some mistake, Negi, Asuna, and his team of partners wind up 7 days past the Mahora Festival. Chao has told everyone about the mages and everything has fallen to shit. Negi is thrown in jail, which leaves Asuna and the others to figure out what happened. Together, they go to Evangeline's to visit her in the resort to get help, only to find a message from Chao taped to it. The time machine that Chao gave Negi to use was triggered to keep Negi and Asuna out of the fight, allowing her plenty of time to tell the entire world about the existence of mages and prove it using ritiuals concerning the World Tree located in Mahora. The message peters out and Asuna has no earthly idea what to do... until Chamos appears to tell Asuna that Negi is going to be turned into an ermine and that the magical world has pinned the responsibility for the security breach on him. While the girls are trying to plan out what to do, two mages show up to Evangeline's cottage to take them into custody. Their only option is to fight. They manage to escape by utilizing all of their skills and set out to defeat Chao and rescue Negi.
Asuna and the others leave Kaede and Setsuna to handle the two mage teachers. However, Takane and her magical world army quickly catch up with the other. Luckily, Asuna's harsien cuts through demon magic like paper, rendering Takane's uniform and army useless. With Ku Fei at her side, they make a formidable team. Two other mages launch powerful magical attacks towards Konoka and the other girls unable to defend themselves, but Asuna summons her sword and nullifies the magical attacks easily. No magical attacks affect Asuna and, for the first time, Asuna looks confident in her fighting ability. With every magical attack, Ensis Exorcizans activates, and she beats back the mages, dispatching their golems with one solid hit of the massive sword. With Asuna's ability, they defeat Takane and her sisters, but Asuna spares them, promising them that they'll return history back to normal so no mage is penalized for the leak of their secret. They infiltrate Mahora and take out several of the teachers, with the help of Ensis Exorcizans and Asuna's ability.
Asuna and Yue find themselves facing off against Takahata to get through to Negi, leaving the other girsl to fight against a giant Cereberus. Asuna manages to dodge a lot of Takahata's attacks, but isn't able to attack right away. According to Chamos, “it takes a real master to even be able to dodge those attacks.” As the fight progresses, Yue figures out that the entire situation is an illusion, and breaks it, showing the girls fighting against nothing in the basement of the school.
They return to the past using the time machine to defeat Chao. Chao takes out Setsuna and Asuna. It's up to Negi to finish the fight. Chao is ultimately defeated and returns tot eh future, promising to see Negi again when the time is right.
After the festival, Negi learns that his father, Nagi Springfield, is alive and well... and he'll have to go to the Magic World in order to find him. Negi quickly becomes wrapped up in finding his father again and lets his attention drift during his lessons, which ticks Asuna off. They wind up in another spat when Asuna tells Negi that letting himself get wrapped up in his own personal goals is a lot like Chao. Asuna is worried that Negi allows himself to get too wrapped up in his dreams, which causes him to become reckless and endanger his own life. However, Negi refuses to give up on his dream to find his father, and resolves to return to Wales to try and find him again. This time, though, he asks Asuna to come with him, as his partner.
However, once this is settled, Asuna begins to have dreams... one in particular involves Negi's father, the Thousand Master, again. Nagi and his friends are battling back monsters when Nag discovers that they are using a small child as a barrier...a child that looks exactly like Asuna. When he enters the palace and defeats the enemies, he finds the girl bleeding from the mouth. He asks her her name and she responds “Asuna... Asuna Vesperina Theotanasia Enteofushia.” Nagi responds that that's a rather long name and tells her to sit tight... that he has to go vanquish some more enemies. Asuna wakes up with a shock, claiming that she remembers her real name. Once the shock wears off, though, she shakes it off as a dream and says “Why did I think that was my real name, though... it was too long ago.”
Despite these dreams (or maybe because of them), Asuna decides to put everything she has into finding Nagi Springfield. She organizes the class of 3-A into a special club of sorts, even getting Evangeline into it as an honorary advisor. Together, they all train on Evangeline's special resort, but Evangeline doesn't think that Asuna is suited to protect Negi once they depart to the Magic World. So, Evangeline decides to give Asuna a test: hit Negi Springfield once in a spar and Asuna passes. Negi is reluctant to fight his all against Asuna, though Asuna orders him to. Asuna, in fifteen minutes, cannot land a blow on Negi, and Evangeline tells Asuna that she is a burden. This only forces Asuna to work harder, to ensure that she can protect Negi, no matter who the opponent is.
As a result of her loss, Asuna decides to train with Kotarou and Negi in Evangeline's resorts, through different landscapes and temperatures. She learns that her kanka (a combination of magic and ki) can keep her warm. Kotarou helps Asuna learn how to control her kanka, to make her magical strength last longer, and Asuna catches on remarkably quickly... but Evangeline quickly interrupts Negi and Kotarou helping her, leaving her stranded in the snow without her Pactio Card or her Artifact. Asuna must survive on her own.
While lost in the mountains, Asuna has another dream of her younger self asking Takahata to teach her the art of kanka. She manages it in one shot, after Takahata tells her to envision herself as nothingness. When asked how she accomplishes it so easily, Asuna responds “Become nothing is easy. After all, I've never had anything in me to begin with.” Takahata responds that Asuna is surrounded by people who care for her, including Nagi, and that she shouldn't say such things about herself. She jolts awake, realizing that she can't fall asleep in such cold, and tries to stay awake... before realizing that she isn't cold. Asuna has learned how to use kanka without Negi's magic... but this isn't enough to keep her from almost freezing to death. Another day passes and Asuna grows weaker... she even contemplates ringing the bell that Evangeline gives her, which Asuna must ring in order for Evangeline to rescue her, but Asuna stubbornly refuses to give up. Kagurazaka Asuna never gives up and she is determined to grow stronger, to help protect Negi.
Seven days pass and Asuna does not return to the resort. Negi, Kotarou, and Setsuna decide to go find her, only to find her on a cliffside with Evangeline, who gives Asuna back her Pactio card. She summons her sword on command and slams it into the ground, proud of herself... but Evangeline doesn't look impressed. She asks Asuna why - why work so hard and why not give up? When Asuna doesn't have a response at first, Evangeline asks again, only for Asuna to confirm that she's not only working so hard for Negi, but for the sake of all of her friends, including Evangeline. The vampiress says nothing, though she seems disappointed that Asuna hasn't “remembered” anything... and then proceeds to say that Asuna is now her apprentice.
They train until they have to leave for the magic world. When they finally arrive at the gate, Negi and Setsuna feel like something is wrong. Before anyone can do anything, including Asuna, Negi is run through by a giant spear, courtesy of the Magic World's resident douchebag, Fate. Fate seems to be on his way to killing them all - all of their pactio cards and weapons are locked inside a magical box that is sealed by magic, and with Negi out of commission, no one can open it. As Fate moves to petrify Setsuna, Negi rips the stone spear out of his shoulder and hits Fate in the face with it. Asuna, meanwhile, punches the box open with sheer badassery (actually, she uses her magic cancelling ability to break the magical seal on the box, but sheer badassery is much more fitting) and frees all of their magical items and Pactio cards, making it an even fight. It erupts into a massive battle, Negi's team versus Fate. The battle ends in a stalemate, but not before Fate gets the last laugh: he separates Negi from everyone in his time except Chachamaru, sending Asuna to a far corner of the magic world, unable to reach anyone through their contracts.
Asuna winds up with Setsuna in the magic world. They train during their time apart from the rest of 3-A, even going so far as to hunt dragons for bounty. They meet up with Konoka and Kaede in a village and they all decide to head to Ostia, the magical city where Negi told them to meet once they were able. Asuna decides to wander around Ostia by herself for a time and keeps feeling as if she has been there before. She happens across an old gazebo, which she has dreamt about, but shrugs it off as freakish deja vu instead of anything of great importance. Asuna turns at the sound of her name to see Nagi Springfield, standing in the sunlight... or so she thinks. In actuality, it's Negi, and the two rush to each other in a massive hug... once Asuna hits him for a bit to see whether or not he's real.
Bit by bit, Asuna and Negi begin to gather their comrades, until Asuna witnesses Negi use his new technique - Magia Erebea, a dark magic technique he learned from Rakan and Evangeline. Though Negi decimates a bunch of demonic bounty hunters in no time flat, Asuna isn't all that happy about it. She claims that Dark Magic isn't to be used and demands that Negi never use the technique again. Negi argues that the technique isn't dangerous at all, but Asuna quickly spots the lie and, just as soon as her anger flares, it vanishes. She tells Negi that she made a promise to follow him, no matter how insane or crazy the world became, and she promises that she will protect him, just as Negi wants to protect her.
Rakan, after Asuna rallies the troops, decides to tell Negi about Asuna's past: Once upon a time, the ruins of the city beneath the clouds were floating in the sky through the power of natural mgic. It was a beautiful and ancient city, very powerful, the center of the entire universe. The capital of the Kingdom of Vespertatia was called Ostia. A child was born into the royal family who carried the ability of “magic cancel”. She was known as the Twilight Imperial Princess. In the great war twenty years previous, the islands plummeted from the sky, thanks to a giant magical disaster... all the magic disappeared from the world. The kingdom was ruined and it left a million refugees and problems behind.
Negi discovers that it was Nagi who exposed the people who had set up the war for their own stupid reasons. It was Nagi who ended the war and eliminated the evil at its source. However, Nagi had failed to save one single country and failed to protect a single little girl: Princess Asuna. Rakan tells Negi that it is Negi's responsibility to protect Asuna and do what Nagi Springfield had failed to do: protect the people that he cares about and move forward. Negi takes this challenge seriously and vows to protect Asuna and everyone else in 3-A with everything he has. Negi, however, does not tell Asuna of her own past... mainly because he doesn't get the opportunity to, as Fate Averuncus always shows up to ruin Negi's fun.
Once Fate makes himself known to Negi, the mage coaxes Negi, Asuna, and Setsuna into a tea party. (Seriously.) Fate tells Negi that he can let Negi and his classmates return home safely, but as with everything, there's a price: Kagurazaka Asuna. He demands that Negi hand the princess over to them... and Negi and the others can go home safely. Negi predictably refuses, but Fate pushes Negi further by claiming that the girl who has been living at Mahora Academy for the past eight years has a false personality, a false memory... and that if Asuna were to die, the real world would be rid of a troubling person. Asuna has no idea what Fate is talking about because Asuna has no memory of her previous life, but Negi reacts explosively. Fate realizes that he's not going to give up Asuna to return home safely, so Fate offers him another bargain: ignore Fate's activities, let the Magic World die, and return home safe and sound, never to hear from him again. Negi is on the verge of agreeing with Fate when Asuna interferes, punching Negi in the face and summoning her sword, ordering him not to listen to whatever Fate has to say. Asuna then turns her sword on Fate, informing him that they won't be leaving, that they will fight to save the Magic World... and Fate only laughs.
And then proceeds to declare war on Negi and his classmates, turning the crude strategy into a full blown clusterfuck. Asuna takes off to the city to protect the citizens and to try and help Negi, but is intercepted along the way by Fate's minions. She is knocked out and taken to Fate's lair™ and an impersonation is sent in her place to avoid suspicion... leaving Asuna in the hands of the enemy. She demands to know what Fate's problem is and why she's been kidnapped... but Fate moves towards her, raising a hand to force her to remember her past life - a cancellation spell to undo whatever both Nagi and Negi had done to cause Asuna to forget all of her past.