After disrespecting Langris by beating him half to death with his own grimoire, Grim swiftly took care of the enemy crystal under the watchful eye of Deathless King Sekke and the rest of the Clover kingdom.
And once again, he got away with his actions of nailing Fragil to the side of a mountain and brutalizing Langris under the cover of showing the Clover citizens that nobles weren't all powerful. And of course Julius couldn't say anything to him as he hadn't killed anyone or left them with lifelong injuries... As long a trauma didn't count.
*Sigh*
Exhausting a lot of his physical strength and stamina, Grim took a seat next to Julius and the Clover King and had Nebra prove herself by having her massage his shoulders while he slowly recuperated from his last fight.
"Mmm..."
Watching the last couple of fights in the tournament, Grim couldn't help but feel optimistic at the thought of fighting in the next match.
Asta, Yuno and Rill.
The only three competitors that were still capable of catching his interest. Asta's control over his black form seemed to be more refined compared to what he showed in the witches forest and back on the Ultima Volcano. Yuno seemed to be sweeping through the competition but Grim got the feeling that he hadn't shown everything just yet. And as for Rill, taking away the fact that he was a captain, the way he dealt with Luck's team's combination magic like it was nothing was more than enough to capture Grim's interest.
---
"THE SEMIFINALS!!"
Standing up and announcing the results of the previous fight, Julius stood in front of the magic knights and the Clover kingdom in order to address the final four teams in Royal Knight selection exam.
"At last we are drawing near to the end of this wonderous examination. For the final matches we have Team Rill, Team Yuno, Team Asta and Team Grim going head to head in order to fight it out in order to reach the final round!!"
Listening to the magic knights going crazy with excitement, Julius couldn't help but smile at their enthusiasm.
Quieting everyone down, he announced who would be fighting who in the semi finals.
"For the first match, the fighters will be Team Yuno against Team Rill!!"
"Whoa!!"
"Seriously!!"
"The kid with the 4 leaf clover fighting the kingdom's youngest captain!!"
"My bets on the captain!"
"I want some of that action!!"
Watching the magic knights placing their bets on which team would win, the corners of Grim's lips rose as he realized that this meant he'd be fighting against Asta for the semi finals.
"Yo Grim!!"
"Hmm?" Turning to the side to see who had called him, the figure of Asta waving at him with a ridiculous smile spread across his face came into view as the little ball of muscle ran over to him.
"We're gonna fight each other again!"
"Looks like." Grim grinned.
"Heh. It won't be like last time, this time I'll make sure I win." Asta proclaimed.
Instead of giving him an answer, Grim turned to face the battlefield as he felt a weird fluctuation in mana coming from Yuno.
---
"Bell... Lets do it." Facing off against the captain of the Azure Deer, Yuno felt his limits drawing close.
"Huh?" Flying next to his figure, the wind spirit Slyph had a look of confusion on her face. "You mean- *badump* Okay!"
From his experience of controlling mana coupled with his recent training of the mana skin technique, Yuno discovered a way to take all that excess mana and found a way to store it within himself.
"I planned to use this against Asta or that Grim guy in the finals, but since I'm up against a captain, I guess there's no better time to use it than now."
*BOOM!!*
While he was speaking, all the mana around him gathering around him as his cape part of his magic knight robe started blowing upwards from the crazy amount of mana going haywire around him.
"Ah Mmm...Yuno." Hugging her body and moaning to herself, the wind spirit started glowing green as she started to faded and her essence seemed to be absorbed by Yuno.
*BOOM!!*
*BOOM!!*
*BOOM!!*
'I knew it! He really was holding something back.'
Watching from up high, Grim felt the blood in his body starting to accelerate as gusts of strong wind managed to reach even here.
'Asta, I'm going to blow past you here, because as always, I WILL BE THE ONE TO BEAT YOU!!'
*BOOM!!*
*BOOM!!*
*BOOM!!*
Unleashing more and more mana, a tornado seemed to gather around him and hide his figure as bright green light burst out from within.
'This is it, the power I developed to make it to the top!'
[Spirit Assimilation: Spirit Dive]
*SWOOSH!!*
Slashing his hand forward, the tornado surrounding his figure was swept to the side as his form was revealed to all.
"Oh my god!!"
"Is-Is that the spirit's power!!"
Combining with Sylph, Yuno's left arm had turned neon green as a green circle of connected crosses appear around his wrist while a single green wing appeared from the left side of his back and a green half-crown of connected crosses manifested itself onto the left side of his head.
Feeling a single bead of sweat roll down the side of his face, Grim couldn't conceal his battle lust as his eyes were trained on the one winged Yuno.
Just looking at that form and feeling the mana radiating off of him, Grim's body began to tremble in anticipation.
'I NEED TO FIGHT HIM!!'
"A-AMAZING!!"
Grim wasn't the only one feeling excited at seeing Yuno's new form.
"Right now, I feel like I could paint anything!!"
Swiping his brush off his palette board, Rill manifested a purple harpy-like monster itself beside himself.
With each raising their arm and brush respectively, the two magic knights unleashed their strongest spells.
[Wind Spirit Magic: Spirit Storm]
[Painting Magic: Scream Of The Mystical Dragon Vouivre]
"Uwwaaaaa!!"
"Urrghhhhh!!"
Feeling the immense force from their clash, many magic knights had to shield their eyes and protect themselves from the magical discharge.
"Yuno's... GOTTEN SO MUCH STRONGER!!"
Seeing Yuno in this [Spirit Dive] form didn't seem to deter Asta in the slightest as it looked like he was both proud and ecstatic at the fact that his childhood friend was reaching greater heights.
"Grim." He suddenly called out.
"I don't know why but... Right now... I really want to fight you!"
"Hmm?"
Seeing the look of determination and slight battle lust gathering in Asta's eyes, Grim could hardly hold himself back as Asta's feelings seemed to mirror his own.
*CRACK!!*
Before Grim could answer, the shattering sound of a crystal rang out as Rill's crystal shatter due to his own magic power leaking out behind him.
'Well... I guess its me and Asta next.'