"Um... Are you sure about this?"
Standing in the middle of the destroyed courtyard, Grim stood bare chested looking at Asta.
"Yeah." He nodded before focusing on using Breath of the Beast.
'C'mon Grim, you can do this.'
Breathing out lightly, the glow on his body seemed solidify slightly as he struggled to raise his arms. Attached to each limb was a metal vambrace that weighed several pounds.
"Okay then, lets do this."
Gritting his teeth, Asta stomped down hard and shot forward at breakneck speed.
*BOOM!!*
*FWOOSH!!*
Ducking under his blow, Grim's left fist tightened up as he sent it flying forward at Asta's unprotected stomach.
*BANG!!*
"URGH!!* Feeling the air in his lungs being forced out, Asta unintentionally bent forward.
[Breath of wind]
Switching breath style, the glow around Grim's fist changed as a powerful gust escaped from his hand and sent Asta hurtling into the distance.
*CRASH!!*
Crashing down hard on the round, Asta was groaned slightly before standing back up.
"How... was that?" He smiled and asked after catching his breath.
"Pretty good." Grim answered after looking down at his fist.
"Okay Luck, you can join in now."
"Hell Yeah!!" Luck's voice resounded from the distance as he flashed into view. "Lets do this!!"
"Stick to ranged attacks please. Asta focus on close quarters."
"Sure."
Once the two of them knew their roles, the attacks started once more.
---
*BANG!!*
*BANG!!*
*BANG!!*
Using the enhanced senses from Breath of the Beast, Grim zig-zagged through Luck's attacks while watching out for Asta.
Pulling out his smaller anti magic sword, Asta charged towards Grim while absorbing and storing some of Luck's lightning attacks in his sword.
"HYAH!!"
*CLANG!!*
Pulling out his beast swords, the three swords clashed into the other as the wielders put all their physical power into pushing the other back.
*Crackle*
"Huh?"
"GOTCHA!!"
Releasing the trapped lightning inside his sword, Asta unleashed a powerful bolt of lightning magic that exploded between them.
'Shit!!*
*BOOM!!*
Sent flying backwards from the shock wave created from the lightning release, a yellow aura coated Grim couldn't help but be amazed at Asta's ability to catch him off guard.
'He absorbed Luck's lightning and waited until I was in a position in which I wouldn't be able to dodge his attack... Heh, looks like your combat senses are growing Asta.'
Feeling the smile on his face starting to widen, Grim dug his heels into the ground forcibly halting his momentum and bringing him to a stop. And thanks to him switching to Breath of Thunder, the damage that he received from the lightning was lessened and allowed him to keep on fighting.
"EYES UP!!"
Appearing above him, Luck's maniacal smile was quite frightening as he rained down a storm of lightning bolts.
*BANG!!*
*BANG!!*
*BANG!!*
Switching to Breath of mist, Grim countered the falling lightning by using [Eight-Layered Mist] and released an outrageous amount of arc shaped mist attacks that collided with the descending lightning.
*BANG!!*
Placing more and more mana into their attacks, the shock waves coming from the collision caused the air to tremble as both parties refused to give in. Fortunately for them, they didn't have to.
Appearing by Grim's side, Asta wasn't out of the fight yet as he unhesitatingly swung the sword horizontally at Grim's ribs.
Feeling his danger senses suddenly fly off the charts, Grim eyes widened as he subconsciously forced his body to fall back as he transitioned into back flipping over the blade before switching to Breath of the wind.
[1st Form- Dust Whirlwind Cutter]
Covering himself in a whirlwind of air, Grim shot backwards creating distance between the two and watched as Luck's Lightning fell onto Asta.
---
After fighting for half an hour straight, the three Black Bulls felt their sweat roll down the side of their faces as their heavy breathing was audible to the now spectating audience.
Breathing heavily, the glint in Grim's eyes seemed to intensify as he started trembling.
'This is fun... THIS IS REALLY FUN!!'
Pushed to his absolute limits, Grim started laughing loudly as the aura around him started to climb to levels that it had never reached before.
Feeling his ascending aura, even a battle maniac like Luck lost his smile for a second before the lightning on his body went out of control and bolts started flying off into random directions.
Drawn into their pace, Asta's grip tightened as he pulled his large anti magic sword out of his grimoire.
"Ha... ha... hahahahahahahahaha." Faced with the two of them, Grim couldn't help but feel his battle intent increase.
'Crush them! Crush them!! Crush them!!!'
Releasing an absurd amount of magic power, Grim lost himself to his base instincts.
Luck on the other hand had another thought racing through his head as he stared at Grim.
'FIGHT!! FIGHT!! FIGHT!!!!'
While unable to feel or use magic, Asta could tell from the pressure coming off the two of them that things were about to ramp up. Gripping his swords hard, a single thought ran through his mind as he felt his heart start to beat faster.
'BECOME WIZARD KING! BECOME WIZARD KING!! BECOME WIZARD KING!!!"
Losing sight of everything around them, the one thing that connected the three boys was their growing urge to battle.
---
Sitting on the sofa that they had brought outside, Yami sat next to a nervous looking Noelle who was watching the fight with furrowed brows.
Taking a puff from his cigarette, he looked at all three members of his squad and smiled.
'These guys... They're about to surpass their limits.'
---
*BOOM!!*
Shooting off from his position, the ground below Grim cracked and shattered as he turned into a violent whirlwind and charged towards both boys.
'FIGHT!!'
Forgetting about his own teammate, Luck gathered a large amount of mana into his right hand and charged it into a massive ball of energy before firing it off at the approaching Grim.
*BANG!!*
Seeing the massive ball of lightning closing in on him, Grim sped up even further as he was moments away from crashing into it. But at the last minute, he jumped into the air avoiding the attack completely before switching to Breath of Flames.
Feeling the sword in his hand change, Grim tightened his grip on the newly materialized sword as he raised it above his head.
[9th Form- Rengoku]
Slashing down without any hesitation, Luck watched transfixed as a descending beam of light filled his eyes.
Flashing in front of him, Asta pointed his smaller anti magic sword at the beam of flames and let his sword do its thing.
Watching Asta's sword absorb the attack, Luck's mind started moving again as he raced to the grounded Grim.
*SWOOSH!!*
Barely managing to dodge Luck's fist, Grim subconsciously switched to Breath of the Beast and started swapping hands.
*BANG!!*
*BANG!!*
*BANG!!*
Cracking his lightning covered knuckles against Grim's face, Luck unleashed a deadly flurry of lightning infused attacks.
*BANG!!*
*BANG!!*
*BANG!!*
Hit with upper cut that quickly transitioned into a swing, Grim was getting the beating off his life.
---
Watching Grim's face get pummeled, a worried Noelle turned to look at her captain.
"Captain! We have to stop them, they're going to far!!"
"To far?" Hearing her, Yami looked down at the silver haired noble before focusing his attention back on the fight. "I think you're forgetting something."
"Forgetting something?"
"That boy... He's still smiling."
---
'Not yet...'
*BANG!!*
'Not yet...'
*BANG!!*
'Just a little more.'
*BANG!!*
'Almost there...'
*BANG!!*
'NOW!!'
"Eh?!" The spectating members of the Black Bulls said in union as Grim suddenly dodged Luck's fist.
"H-He avoided it..." Finral muttered in shock.
"Must be a fluke." Magna laughed
*SWOOSH!!*
"He did it again." Vanessa noted.
"Impossible! Luck has clearly gotten faster while Grim's speed hasn't changed. He shouldn't be able to evade his attacks!"
"He figured out the timing..." Yami suddenly spoke up drawing everyone's attention.
"Timing?" Finral repeated in confusion.
Nodding his head, Yami gave a brief explanation.
"I don't how he did it... but that kid took those punches and figured out the amount of time Luck took inbetween landing one punch and launching the next... Now he's simply adapting to it."
"How is that possible?! At the speed Luck's moving at Grim shouldn't have enough time to think let alone dodge." Vanessa said.
"Yeah... But its like his senses have been heightened to the point that he's able to react during those small instances inbetween Luck's attacks. Its almost like he's subconsciously using Ki." The last point was spoken in a quiet voice.
---
'There.'
*SWOOSH!!*
'There.'
*SWOOSH!!*
'There.'
*SWOOSH!!*
Keeping his eyes closed, Grim felt the air pressure from Luck's fists brush against his cheek as his body seemed to move on its own weaving through attack after attack until finally-
*BANG!!*
*GASPS!!*
He landed a hit.
---
*SWOOSH!!*
*SWOOSH!!*
*SWOOSH!!*
*BANG!!*
*BANG!!*
*BANG!!*
Almost as if he could see what Luck was about to do, Grim managed to evade another round of jabs and counter with several Breath of the Beast enhanced punches that quickly pushed Luck into a disadvantageous position.
"Ha... Ha... Hahahahahahaha!!!" Tanking Grim's blows, Luck's speed increased to another level as both he and Grim lost themselves in the fight.
---
"I-Incredible..."
"Yeah..." Vanessa and Finral nodded. Watching Grim and Luck trade blows was always an entertaining spectacle to witness. But the fight right now was completely out of their expectations.
"Their rate of improvement... its frightening." Noelle muttered with wide eyes.
"You think that's frightening?" Yami suddenly spoke up.
"Captain?"
"While those two may be impressive, you're forgetting one other person."
Turning their attention back to the fight, the rest of the black bulls felt their jaws hit the floor.
*BANG!!*
Blocking Luck's punch with a punch of his own, blood seeped down Grim forehead while the smile on his face deepened.
'This is fun, This is fun, THIS IS SO MUCH FUN!!'
*BANG!!*
Blocking another one of Luck's punches, a single beast sword materialized in Grim's left hand as he blocked Asta's sword swing.
"H-He's fighting them both!"
"You're focusing on the wrong thing." Yami said.
"The wrong thing?"
"Yeah." He nodded. "While those two are improving at an unusual rate, the real monster here is the kid with no magic that is somehow managing to keep up with them."