Watching the beams descend from the sky, Grim used [Flowing Dance] to evade while everyone else fell victim.
*BOOM!!*
"URGH!!"
"ARGHH!!"
"UWAAHH!!"
"My my." A voice sounded out from the distance as a man came walking out from the forest. "I thought I was dead for sure."
Lifting his head up from the ground, with a pained expression present on his face, Fanzell looked at the figure with dread.
"Impossible, I felt your mana signature disappear!"
"Haha." Ladros laughed before looking at him. "You've grown old teach."
"And it seems like our dear Mars is having a bit of trouble." Looking over to the area Fana and Mars were at, he laughed at the fact that Mars had used his body to protect Fana.
"Oh well, I was planning to kill you anyway." He shrugged before shooting a magic bullet at him.
"NOO!!" Fana screamed.
Just as Grim was about to get involved, a voice appeared in his head telling him to stop.
"Don't get involved!"
"Huh?" Hearing the unfamiliar voice speaking to him, Grim managed to put the voice to a face. "Lesbo Queen?"
"..." Hearing him refer to her as that again, the witch queen couldn't help but scowl in silence.
"Don't get involved."
"Yeah, like I'm gonna listen to you." Ignoring her, Grim was about to go deal with Ladros but stopped when the Witch Queen said something that caught his attention.
"Wait! If you fight him now you'll miss something interesting!"
"Interesting?" Halting his steps, Grim paused for a second and watched as Asta appeared in front of the defenseless Mars and Fana and used the Demon Dweller sword to cut through the magic bullet.
"See." The witch queen continued. "Don't you want to see what that boy is truly capable of?"
'What he's truly capable of? Does the Witch Queen know something about Asta that I don't?'
"If you just sit back and watch, I promise that you won't be disappointed."
[A/n: Lol, the Witch Queen trying to tempt our boy.]
"...Fine, but if this isn't as interesting as your making it out to be, I promise to rename this place Salem in the future."
"Salem? Why would I be worried about you trying to rename my forest?"
"Disappoint me and you'll find out."
Ignoring her attempt to converse with him further, Grim played dead like the others and put on a pained expression as he watched the fight between Asta and Ladros.
---
[Million Laser]
"PISS OFF!!" Asta screamed as he furiously used the Demon Dweller sword to defend against the numerous number of beams raining down on him.
"Ahahahahahahahaha!!" Ladros laughed as he watched him struggle. "I know all your fighting techniques!" He grinned. "Without that spacial mage who's currently passed out, you can't do a thing against long distance magic can you!! Ahahahaha! I'll use you as target prac-
"I said PISS OFF!!"
*SWOOSH!!*
"Wha?"
Feeling a sharp pain boring into his shoulder, Ladros slowly lowered his head and saw the Demon Dweller sword sticking out of him.
*Heavy Breathing*
"That *huff* was for attacking my friends." Looking up from the ground, Asta watched as Ladros's previous confident expression warped into one of panic.
'I-I can't pull it out!'
[A/n: That's what she said.]
Feeling his magic getting sucked out, the magic he used to fly on that random branch stick faded causing him to fall to the earth.
---
'This is pretty boring, I thought she said I'd see something interesting... *Sigh* Looks like I'm really gonna have to rename this place Salem in the future, I just hope I can handle hearing those screams... Who am I kidding, I can just clog my ears if it gets annoying.'
'Oh? Something's happening.'
Desperate to get away from Asta, Ladros was forced to use reinforcement magic to run away and tear the Demon Dweller sword out of his shoulder.
"ARGHHH!!" He screamed while pulling it out.
With no other option left, he charged over to the weakened Mars and Fana.
"Oh no!"
Covered in sweat and desperate for a solution, he grabbed Fana up from the floor and started threatening her.
"L-Ladros!"
"Hey Fana, long time no see. I'm a bit short on time so do me a favor and bring out that powerful magic you were using before okay?"
"Powerful magic?" She looked confused.
Unfortunately, her confusion only seemed to enrage him.
"DON'T FUCK WITH ME!!"
*BANG!!
"MARS!!" She screamed after he fired a magic bullet at Mars's unconscious figure.
"HURRY UP FANA!! OR THE NEXT ONE WILL KILL HIM!!"
"I-I ARRRGHHHHHH!!!!" Screaming at the top of her lungs, an intense heat burst out of her body as Salamander's silhouette formed behind her back.
"Hahahaha!! Its here!!"
Still pretending to be injured, Grim watched everything from the sidelines and started wondering how he would deal with someone who could absorb and expel magic in the same way as Ladros did.
'Hmm... I guess I'd just stop using magic on my swords and just use them as normal weapons. I mean, if he can't absorb the magic within them, then wouldn't a simple decapitation do the trick? Hell, I don't think I'd even need to go that far. Since he hasn't shown any healing abilities so far, slashing his throat or stabbing him through the heart would probably be enough to kill him.'
"Fufufufufu. Out of all the magic I've devoured before, this is definitely the best!!" While Grim was thinking of ways to defeat him, Ladros had taken that time to absorb the Salamander's immense amount of magic power and surpass the spirit.
"You bastard!!" Asta yelled before charging him.
"Be quiet will you." Adding the power of the Salamander on with his own, Ladros no longer felt like playing with Asta as he lifted his hand up and shot a magic bullet enhanced by spirit magic through Asta's shoulder as revenge for the wound Asta dealt to his own shoulder.
'S-So fast...'
*Crash!*
Stumbling backwards, Asta fell flat on his back.
"Ahahahaha!!" Ladros laughed again. "This is it! This is the ultimate power! With this, even the other eight shining generals won't be able to stop me! With this power, the kingdom will be mine!!" Reveling in his own power, Ladros started firing magic off randomly. "HELL FUCKIN YEAH!! I'll wipe out all those who looked down on me!!" He grinned wildly.
'Okay, this is getting out of hand, if I don't step in now he might actually kill my friends... He can kill that Mars guy though. Not really invested in him... That Fana girl on the other hand could be an interesting opponent if she regained her former power and got like 3x stronger.'
Just as Grim was about to get up, the sight of Asta standing up caused him to hesitate.
"I'm *huff* not done yet!"
"Oh? Didn't think you'd be able to stand so quickly. Well who cares, I'll make sure you don't do that again."
Firing off another spirit magic enhanced magic bullet, Asta's body was sent hurling into the distance as he took that attack head on.
"ASTA!!" Noelle and the others screamed.
"WITCH QUEEN!!" Grim yelled in his head.
---
-Witch Queen Throne Room-
Hearing Grim's rage filled call, the Witch Queen looked at her viewing orb with confusion.
'He fell so quickly? Was I wrong about what he was capable of? Since he was able to wield that sword I thought he might have been that man's descendant but...'
Looking at the defeated Asta and the now hostile Grim, the Witch Queen sighed and raised her hand to the orb showcasing Asta's figure.
'Even if you're not that man's descendant, I will find out what you are.'
---
-Back to the Battlefield-
Laying face down in the dirt with his hand gripping his Demon Slayer sword, an ominous black energy started pouring out of the sword and crawled up Asta's arm.