The recent chapter 273 of the Black Clover manga was a rollercoaster of emotions to say the least. While Tabata-sensei skipped revealing Asta’s new form of Devil Union with Liebe, there were many more interesting plot developments to look at.

As the Devil Triad of the Spade Kingdom is preparing for unleashing the Devils by the Tree of Qliphoth, the Clover Kingdom is preparing to undertake Yami and William’s rescue. With the help of Nacht’s Shadow Magic, a few chosen Magic Knights are hoping to sneak into the Spade Kingdom and launch their counter-attack.

Since Nacht can only take a few people, the Knights who are strong enough to fight the dark triad and their followers had to be decided. Chapter 273’s last spread finally told us which select candidates are going with the long-time spy. As expected, there are six squad captains, and three 1st Class Senior Magic Knights (hi there Sekke!).

But the real question is:

Who is the last person in this squad?

Next to Yuno in the right corner, we see another person wearing the new uniform. Who can this really be? It seems like Tabata-sensei has purposefully hidden this person. It can be anyone, but as stated earlier, the people selected have to be strong enough to fight alongside the members of this party.

Nacht?

A most obvious guess could be that this person is Nacht. The only person who is missing in this group of knights is the Black Bull’s vice-captain. So it would only make sense if it were him. But what stumps me is that there is no concrete reason to hide Nacht now that he has already been in the past chapters. Or are we overthinking here?

Julius?

We can safely conclude that this person is not Julius since he is chibi now and this person is easily taller than Yuno. Height differences do matter huh. Unless Julius had a plan B to revert back to his adult form this can’t be him. It would be super cool though if Julius can pull it off. However, a flaw in this theory is that if Julius had that much mana, he would probably prefer staying back and protecting the kingdom from any possible attacks.

Kaiser?

Since the Dark Triad mission squad is almost entirely made up of captains, save Dark Lord Sekke, Nacht and Yuno, the person could be Kaiser, the squad captain of Purple Orca. But if all magic knight captains end up going to the mission won’t the Clover Kingdom be more susceptible to attacks? Also, Kaiser is not seen as someone who is important enough to take part in this mission (unpopular opinion in the fandom?).

Mereoleona?

From the people missing in the picture here, Mereoleona is another magic knight who comes to mind when thinking of someone powerful enough to fight the Devil Triad. But her hair locks must have made it into the frame if she was it. The hair is a defining feature of our beloved Mereo’s looks. So if it is not Mereoleona too, is it a new character that we are looking at? Or is it someone we’re overlooking? Or maybe we’re just reading too much into this when it can just be Nacht?

What are your thoughts and theories? Let me know in the comments! Also, catch the latest chapters of Black Clover manga on Viz! I can’t wait for the next chapter.