Back in the outside world, the golden glow around Grim's body vanished much to Rhya's shock as he stood there staring at a smiling Grim.
"Guess I'm sticking around for a bit longer."
'What the hell just happened?! Was the body not compatible with the soul? No, I clearly felt my brethren's power in his body. But why did it suddenly vanish?'
!!!
While Rhya was thinking about why Grim returned to normal, he was sudden hit by the realization that if the power of his brethen vanished inside Grim's body, then what happened to the elf's soul?!
*Crack*
Clenching his fists tight enough that the sound of his bones became audible, Rhya's body suddenly vanished.
*BANG!!*
"GYAH!!"
Faster than his [Hyper Focus] could keep up with, the now white haired Rhya planted his fist deep into Grim's stomach.
"WHERE IS HE!!" Rhya screamed as he launched Grim's body through several stone walls and into a wide space.
Flashing into the air above him, a murderous glow surfaced in his eyes as he rained down his hatred and fury.
[Imitation Magic: Dark Magic - Lightless Slash] + [Imitation Magic: Light Magic - Light Swords of Judgement]
'Shit!!'
Scrambling to his feet, Grim took to the air barely managing to avoid the long ranged dark and light magic ranged attacks.
*BOOM!!*
*BOOM!!*
*BOOM!!*
'Shit! Shit!! SHIT!!!'
'How the hell did he get faster?! AND WHY IS HE NOW ABLE TO USE MORE THAN ONE MAGIC AT A TIME!!'
*BANG!!*
"ARGHHH!!"
Just managing to evade one of the lightless slashes, blood started to pour out of a small wound on his arm.
'He actually got me!'
"WHAT DID YOU DO TO HIM!!" Rhya screamed uncharacteristically as he flashed infront of Grim again and grabbed him by the throat.
"Where is he."
'Holy shit this guy might actually kill me at this rate!'
*Clench*
Feeling Rhya's grip get tighter, a flash of malice crossed Grim's eyes as he grabbed onto both of Rhya's shoulders and grinned.
"RENGOKU BITCH!"
*BANG!!*
Releasing the spell at such close range causing the explosion to be powerful enough that it violently threw Grim backwards.
*Cough* *Cough*
'Fuck, that bastard suddenly got a whole lot stronger out of nowhere.'
'No! I refuse to believe that a guy who was almost killed by my hands can beat me like this.'
Climbing to his feet, Grim's mana exploded out of his body as he had had enough of getting his ass beat.
'If my [Hyper Focus] can't keep up with him at this level, then I'll forcibly evolve it and surpass my limits!'
While Rhya used light magic to heal from Grim's surprise attack, Grim closed his eyes and started controlling his breathing. Emptying his mind and tapping into his senses, he recalled back to the time he sat inside Mereoleona's mana zone attack.
'More, I need to be more attune to my surroundings... Sense the attacks before they even arrive... Hone my senses until they become sharp enough to-
*FWOOSH!!*
'Dodge something even faster than light.'
*BOOM!!*
Moving his head to the side and dodgin Rhya's [Spatial Magic] + [Light Magic] attack that zoomed past his ear and exploded in the distance, a dark smile formed on Grim's face as his eyes slowly opened.
"You're so fucked now."
*BANG!!*
'What!!'
Using his [Grim style] [Unknowing Fire] to break the ground beneath his feet and flash into the air at an astonishing speed, he raised his sword high into the air and mercilessly slashed down at Rhya's head.
"DIE!!" He laughed feeling his battle lust being stimulated and pushing him to breakthrough his limits!
!!!
*SLASH!!*
Seeing the blade approach his face, Rhya used his imitation magic to copy Sally's gel magic and summon out the [Sticky Salamander].
"USELESS!!"
[Crazy Cutting]
*SLASH!!*
*SLASH!!*
*SLASH!!*
'He cut through my magic!'
Having never seen Grim use these swords before, a brief look of shock gathered on Rhya's face before quickly vanishing.
Spreading his arms wide, multiple Spatial Portals appeared around Grim.
[Imitation Magic: Light Magic - Light Swords of Judgement]
'Even if you can cut magic, you're not able to stop omnidirectional attacks moving faster than the speed of light.'
Now this would have worked if it hadn't been for him upgrading his [Hyper Focus] and facing a similar omnidirectional attack from Mereoleona mere hours before hand.
So to the sight of these portals with light coming out of them, Grim could only say one thing.
"BRING IT ON YOU FUCKER!!"
---
*Heavy Breathing*
'Okay *huff* what the hell is this guy?! No matter how much I attack him its like he knows where its going to appear from before hand! He wasn't like this when I was fighting before Patry activated the reincarnation spell... Don't tell me! Did he actually improve in that short amount of time!'
As he watched Grim slowly gaining the upper hand, he couldn't help but be thankful over the fact that the boy would die here. At the rate he was improving, he'd become a real problem if he was allowed to grow any further.
Just as Rhya was about to end things and vaporize Grim, the sudden appearance of an elven Rill breaking through the wall on top of several worm like creatures stopped him.
"Lira?"
"RHYA!!" The elven Rilll cheered and jumped down to meet him and pulled him into a hug.
Feeling the touch of his once dead comrade, Rhya couldn't help but laugh with joy as he hugged him back.
"You're as extreme as ever."
"Hehe." Lira chuckled before looking over at Grim.
"You having trouble?"
"Not really. I was just about to end things before you arrived."
"Boo, that's so boring. Let me join in!"
"Heh, knock yourself out."
Taking control of those worms, this Lira dude threw them into the magic barrge mix and watched as they tore away at Grim.
---
"Oh?" Lira raised an eyebrow. "He's actually doing quite well."
"Mmm." Rhya nodded as the two watched the speed Grim had previously exhibited drop as more and more injuries accumulated on his body.
"Whoa! He's covered in his own blood!"
"Yeah, he's done now."
"Ah, I wanted to see him struggle more." Lira whined with a disgusting smile smeared across his face. "At least there are more humans that will join him soon."
"Yeah." Rhya nodded.
As the two watched Grim's struggle slowly come to an end, that nagging feeling Rhya felt from the moment Grim arrived started to flare up again.
'Why? We've got him clearly out matched and out numbered, so why does it feel like something has gone terribly wrong?'
---
*Slash!*
*BANG!!*
"Gyah!"
*Slash!*
*BANG!!*
"ARGH!!"
'Damn this hurts! My [Hyper Focus] has already been pushed to its limit and I'm starting to feel the backlash from overusing it. So why... WHY IS THIS THE MOST FUN I'VE HAD IN SUCH A LONG TIME!!'
Despite the wounds appearing on his body, from the start till now, the smile on his face had never faltered for a single moment.
"More..." He whispered enduring those attacks.
"I need more- I NEED SOME MUCH MORE!!!"
"Eh?" Lira made a weird face after hearing him. Looking over at Rhya, he asked. "Did we hit him hard enough that he turned crazy?"
"Who knows, but its time to join the others, end this."
"Heh, consider it done." Lira grinned as one of his newly created worms opened its mouth filled with rows upon rows of sharp teeth and struck down at a powerless Grim.
---
(Grim's mindscape)
Sitting in the mindscape, Grim's original personality sat upon his dragon bone throne watching the fight take place as he spoke to darkness surrounding him.
"You feel it don't you?"
"Yeah." Grim's excited voice echoed in the emptiness as his overflowing battle intent filled the landscape.
"So why are you still playing around? Show them Grim *grins*. Show them why you're destined to be the strongest. Show them the power of reincarnation through blood!"
---
*BOOM!!*
"URGH!!"
"What the hell!!"
As the battle was just about to come to a close, a sudden burst of golden light burst out of Grim's body encompassing the entire room and forcing the two elves to cover their eyes.
'That boy... I knew he had a lot of mana, but this is just insane! No! Its not the amount of mana that he's releasing that's emitting such pressure-
*FWOOSH!!*
"URGH!"
Feeling their hair and clothes being blown and ruffled violently by the pressure exuding from the centre of the bright light. Rhya realized why he was feeling uncomfortable this entire time.
'His mana isn't growing in size! It's changing in quality! Could it be that the elf soul that went into his body is finally starting to emerge?!'
*BOOM!!*
*BOOM!!*
*BOOM!!*
From the moment Grim had arrived in this world, he wanted to win. But for the first time in his life, he started to wonder why he struggled so much to become the strongest. Why was it so important to him? All he's ever tried to do is be the strongest. But what was he before that? What was he when he was King? Was he the strongest? Or was he so weak that the desire to become the strongest had taken route in him?
---
(King Realm)
'To think you'd actually try to understand me while undergoing such a drastic change. Grim... You certainly are one of my more interesting reincarnations.
---
Inside the golden pillar of light, Grim closed his eyes as the light around him started to fluctuate strangely.
Closing his eyes, Grim felt the wounds on his body to start sting as wisps of steam started escaping from them and the wounds started vanishing.
'The strongest... Yeah... I wanna be the strongest, who says I need a reason to become stronger than everyone else! I'll become stronger not because King told me to, I'll do it for myself! I'll become the strongest being this world will ever see! Elf? Human? Wizard King? Whatever! In front of my power none of them will matter! All shall fall before me!'
*BOOM!!*
"My powers have been growing expotenially for the past six years, but there was always that feeling that something was missing, like I was fighting with one arm tied behind my back. But with body... With this blood... With this magic..."
Clenching his fists, the golden light that encompassed the entire room started to grow violent as Grim's voice could be heard.
'I WILL NO LONGER BE HELD BACK!'
"Haaa...." His voice rang out causing the the golden to pulse in and out of his body.
'What's going on? Is he trying to contain the elf power within his body? No... Its something different... The elven aura... Its being swallowed by something else!'
Feeling the elven blood in his body start to grow restless, Grim could no longer contain it as his both his magic and elven power started tearing his body apart.
'This power... I won't lose to it!'
Drawing the golden aura back into his body completely, the sound of miniture explotions sounded out from his body as the black in his hair started to rescind from the root and a beautiful shade of white so pure that it resembled snow took over.
'What the hell!" Rhya gasped.
But that wasn't the only change.
Following the sudden color change to his hair, Grim's eyes started to glow with a soft yellow light and his ears grew remarkably longer. Not to long after this change, the mana that had returned back to his body suddenly exploded out in droves.
*BOOM!!*
With a tremendous roar, a shimmering silver aura began to envelop Grim's body. As the light expanded outwards, more and more shockwaves started being emitted from his body making it harder for people to get closer to him. These shockwaves caused Rhya and Lira to snap out of thier stunned state and watch what was happening with clear and eyes. And what they saw could only be described as beautiful.
Snow white hair, yellow eyes, long ears and an aura so in touch with nature that it was clear how much mana loved him. All these were traits of the elf race.
"H-He's an elf." Lira muttered trying to understand Grim's change. Even Rhya was having a hard time understanding what just happened.
The mana waves coming from him were undeniably elven, but the colour of his aura clearly wasn't. Not to mention that his face lacked the marks of reincarnation. But why... Why does it feel like he was looking at one of his brethren? The power itself was elven, but its nature was completely different to his or any of the other reincarnated souls. Like something had been mixed into it. Altered it.
This was Grim's Elven Form.