It all happened so fast. One second he was there, and then the next thing they knew they had a sword centimeters away from slicing through their faces. If not for him suddenly stopping and jumping back in retreat, it was likely that the two elves would have met their end there and then.
"W-We're alive." Elf Klaus gasped with a tired sense of relief as he held onto his face and started hyperventilating.
Suddering at the fact that they almost died for the second time, the elf souls within the two of them started to feel extremely uncomfortable in their new bodies.
"Grim?" Mimosa called seeing him suddenly jump back and land in front of her.
Ignoring her call, his grip on his beast swords tightened as he looked up at the floating Licht.
'That feeling just now... What the hell was that?!'
Moments before his swords could cleave through Klaus and Hamon, Grim felt like lock onto him.
'To make me subconsciously jump back without moving a muscle... and to do so despite being in my elf form... You're exactly what I'm looking for!!'
"Ha... Ha... Hahahahahahaaahahhahahahahahahahaha-
"Grim?" Mimosa called out again not understanding the situation.
"GREAT GREAT GREAT!!!" He laughed loudly as the mana around his swords grew sharper.
Contrary to expectation, instead of being infuriated or unnerved, the feeling Grim was experiencing right now was unbriddled joy. Joy he hadn't felt since he first fought Mereoleona during their trip to the hot springs.
But even then Mereoleona didn't have the ability to subconsciously make him retreat! To face someone with that kind of presence... COULD ANYTHING BE BETTER!!
'He's trembling.' Mimosa noted seeing him standing still while laughing without concern.
'What's going on? Could it be he retreated because they were to strong? No!' She refused to believe that.
'He was toying with them moments ago, no way they'd suddenly become strong enough to bridge the gap in power in mere seconds. And even if they did, I don't see Grim retreating due to that. No... There must be something else that I'm missing...'
!!!
'T-That mana!!'
Feeling her eyes go wide, Mimosa suddenly felt her chest tighten as a wisp of fluctuating mana escaped from the floating elf leader.
"Oh?" Grim said with a massive grin on his face before looking at the two trembling elves.
"So that's how I get your attention."
Lowering his stance and planting his feet on the ground solidly, a wave of excitement and bloodlust burst out of Grim's body as he took a moment to understand his new spell.
Explosive Rush eh? Speed wise its not as fast as [Unknowing Fire], but since I'm using [Breath of the Beast] as my base, not only did my body become accustomed to it much faster than other spells, but I can feel that my agility isn't affected either. Unlike with [Unknowing Fire] that shoots me forward in a straight line, I might actually be able to maneuver with this one.
*Grins*
'Lets push the boundrary a little shall we.'
Seeing the look of excitement on Grim's face, the two elves in Klaus and Hamon's body couldn't help but feel like things had suddenly gotten worse for them.
'This feeling... w-what is this?'
*Looks down at trembling hand*
'This body... why is it so terrified... no... its not just this body that's refusing to move, even my magic isn't responding to me. To use magic isn't a physical thing, does that mean that I'm the problem here? Could it be... that I'm feeling unnerved. No, its more than just that! I don't know why this body is reacting so violently to that smile, but to think that its affecting my psyche as well. Could being seconds away from death moments ago be causing my mind to be thrown into turmoil? I-I'm scared of a half breed... NO! I REFUSE TO ACCEPT THAT!! I-I'M JUST NOT USED TO THIS BODY YET! YES! THAT'S WHAT IT IS! I'M-
[Breath of the Beast: 8th Form Grim Style - Explosive Rush]
*BOOM!!*
Seeing Grim's figure about to reach him, elf Klaus regretted the fact that he didn't take Rhya's warning more seriously.
'My body still won't move... *sigh* At least it's better than dying to the hands of a full blown human.'
Resigning himself to his fate, Klaus closed his eyes and accepted that he had lost.
'Yeah, this isn't the worst way to go. And besides... I got to see you again Licht.'
Despite being moments away from his death, a small smile managed to crawl its way onto his face as he faced death without a shred of fear.
"DIEE!!" Grim grinned as he slashed his sword down.
"..."
"..."
"..."
"..."
"So you finally move huh."
'What?'
Hearing Grim's voice but not feeling any pain, the death accepting elf Klaus peeked out with one eye before both quickly snapped opened.
"LICHT!!"
Standing in front of him and defending against Grim's slash with a shiny silver sword was non other than the leader of their people, Licht.
"Is *sob* is that really you." Overrun by emotion from nearly dying again and now seeing his leader come out to protect him, the mental fatigue he endured within the past 5 minutes was enough to last a lifetime as tears started to stream down his face.
Grim on the other hand could care less about how he was feeling and was more focused on the sword in Licht's hand.
'I can't cut through it... Interesting!'
Feeling his started to boil, adrenaline started to course through Grim's veins as he released his mana outwards.
*BANG!!*
"Whoa!!"
Blown back by Licht releasing some of the magic in his sword, Grim was sent flying backwards with explosive might.
"HAHAHAHAHAHHAHA!!!" He laughed as he stabbed his sword in the ground to slow his backwards momentum.
"NOW IT'S A PAR-
!!!
'What the hell!'
Not allowing him to finish his sentence, the silent Licht somehow appeared in front in a way that was completely incomprehensible.
*SLASH!!*
*BOOM!!*
"URGHH!!"
Barely managing to escape in time, the ground where he stood at previously exploded into pieces as if it had endured countless sword cuts.
'What the fuck was that! His ki and magic completely disappeared!'
Appearing behind him using the same technique as before, Licht raised his sword high into the air and slashed down again.
*BANG!!*
"ARGHH!!" Raising his beast swords above his head, Grim managed to block the swing, but upon contact with each other Licht released the magic power stored in the sword tearing Grim's apart and sending hurling towards the ground.
*BOOM!!*
Landing hard enough to create a crater in the ground, Grim felt the bones in his body rattle as he crawled up to his feet.
*Cough* *Cough*
'Okay seriously, WHAT THE FUCK!! Forget moving fast, that was something completely different! Even if he was moving fast my [Hyper Focus] would sense him the moment he stopped moving!'
After fighting with Rhya back in his human form, Grim had learnt that even if his [Hyper Focus] couldn't keep up with a person, he would still be able to sense them to a degree. So even if they sneaked up on him after outpacing him, he'd still sense them even if he couldn't stop them. Even a teleporter wouldn't be able to outdo him in this regard. But this guy... This guy was something else.
Whatever technique he used didn't utilize mana and completely hid his ki. It was almost like he was intergrating himself into the natural mana around him thus bypassing his [Hyper Focus].
"Ha... This might actually be a more fun than I initally thought."