Clinging to what little consciousness he had left, Grim forced his broken body to its feet. Feeling his body scream at him to stop, he grit his teeth and stood up straight. Barely managing to stand properly, he opened his mouth and inhaled deeply.
Trudging forward slightly, he picked up his grimoire and looked up at the levitating Licht who also happened to be looking down at him with lifeless eyes.
Clenching his fists tightly, he did his best to calm the urge to go back up and fight.
'One sword, no grimoire or spells... To think there was such an absurd opponent out there who could do this to me...'
Humiliated?
Yeah, for the first time in his life Grim had felt what it was like to face humiliation. But there was more than that. Something deeper. Something that stronger.
Against such an enemy, the only emotion that could overshadow this feeling of humiliation was non other than inspiration!
One sword and no spells? How could he not be inspired!
He knew his own power well, and with this elven power boosting it even further... the fact that was someone out there who could deal with him at this level without casting a single spell was awe inspiring. Imagine being so strong that all you needed was a sword to beat someone whose strength rivaled/exceeded a captains.
Instead of an representing an insurmountable wall, Licht had just become a new bench mark of power that had entered Grim's crosshairs.
"Ha...Ha...Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha-
Suddenly bursting into a fit of uncontrollable laughter, Grim ignored the pain in his body as his mana started fluctuating violently.
Hearing his laughter, Mimosa paused her attempt to wake Yuno up to look back at the now standing Grim who was slowly levitating upwards.
'It hurts! It Hurts!! IT HURTS!!!'
"Grim..." Mimosa whispered upon seeing the look in his eyes.
'This pain... It hurts so bad but... IT ISN'T ENOUGH TO STOP ME!!'
Shooting forward using [Unknowing Fire], he appeared in front of the emotionless Licht and struck down.
*SLASH!!*
Watching the blade draw closer to face, Licht made use of the melding with mana technique to vanish and appear at his side.
"GRIM!!" Mimosa screamed seeing Licht's sword aimed towards Grim's head.
!!!
*CLASH!!*
Suddenly lifting his sword upwards, Grim's sword locked with Licht's.
"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!!!"
Continuing to laugh,he used reinforcement magic on his arms to force Licht backwards and charge at him.
Looking at him with those same emotionless eyes, Licht made use of the mana melding technique to ambush him again.
!!!
[Hyper Focus] + [Spatial Awareness] + [Beast Instincts]
Combining all three moves together, Grim was able to sense the slight vibrations in the air Licht made whenever he disengaged his mana melding technique. Using [Spatial Awareness] he was able to find where Licht was once he stopped using the mana melding technique. Using [Hyper Focus] and his natural beast senses from his [Breath of the Beast] base, he was able to react fast enough to the point that he was just barely able to block and counter-attack.
*TING!!*
*TING!!*
*TING!!*
Losing himself to the feeling of the battle, Grim was somehow able to evade some of Licht's attacks while also being able to strike back.
That being said, it wasn't like he was able to actually touch Licht. If anything, the only thing that had changed was that he wasn't getting hurt as often.
It was unknown whether it was due to his own will or the clear adrenaline rush, but he was able to ignore the pain and fight with a smile on his face.
Dodging left and right, he switched breath styles so fluently that his attacks were starting to blend together.
"W-What is this..." Watching Grim fight from her standing with Yuno, Mimosa's eyes shone with awe as her heart started to palpitate.
"So handsome." She muttered.
Seeing the guy she liked losing himself to something he loved doing, words were unable to describe just how she was feeling.
In truth even Grim didn't know what he was feeling. Right now the only thing in his mind was the urge to swing his swords.
The strongest elf... He certainly lived up to the hype!
*BANG!!*
Locking swords with him once again, the smile on Grim's face grew so wide that it looked like it was about to tear off.
[Crazy Cutting]
Switching attack methods, Grim bombarded him with sharp slashes while also weaving in some other attacks in.
[Blazing Universe]
[Scorching Rising Sun]
[Flowing Dance]
"I-Incredible..." Elf Klaus and Hamon muttered upon witnessing the sight above them.
"We need to help him."
*Nods*
Opening their grimoires, both shot their magics at the focused Grim.
"NO YOU DON'T!!!"
"Huh?"
As if on queue, a falling Asta appeared out of God knows where and using his demon slayer sword he deflected the attacks right back at them.
*BOOM!!*
"ASTA!!" Mimosa gasped.
"Yo." He grinned seeing that she was okay.
---
After what felt like a couple of minutes, Yuno finally woke up and with the help of black Asta, they both defeated the combined magic of Elf Klaus and Hamon.
"Whew." Asta exhaled as he wiped a bead of sweat off his forehead.
"Y-You did it!!" Mimosa cheered.
"Of course!" Asta smiled and patted Yuno's back.
"No way someone could beat me and Yuno when we're working together. Right Yuno?"
"..."
Instead of answering, Yuno was frowning as he stared up at the battle raging above them.
"Oh right!" Asta said realizing that a fight was still going on.
"Who is that?"
"Huh?" The two Golden Dawn members looked at him with confusion.
"He seems pretty strong." Asta nodded. "Though I don't remember him from the royal knight exam."
Seeing Grim's torn up outfit, he naturally assumed that he had gotten here due to passing the exam and that the robe had ended up in such a state due to the battle.
"That's Grim." Mimosa said seriously.
"Eh? No its not." He laughed. "Grim has black hair."
"Asta..." Yuno suddenly spoke up realizing that his childhood friend truly didn't recognise a squad member that he had known for over 6 months. "Your hair changes color when you use this form."
"....YOU'RE RIGHT!!" Asta suddenly gasped realizing that it was in fact Grim up there.
"Why'd his hair turn white though?"
"Is that really what you want to ask right now?" Yuno chastised.
"Hmm... I guess not." He said getting into a battle stance. "Lets give him a hand."
Nodding his head, Yuno also prepared to help out as the two shot into the air.
But before they got a chance to help out, Grim's voice filled with oppressive might slammed into them.
"FUCK OFF!"
*BOOM!!*
Clashing with Licht again, a wave of uncontrollable mana burst out of the two of them forcing Yuno, Asta and Mimosa back.
"DON'T YOU DARE RUIN MY FUN."
Unfortunately for him, everyone had a limit. And Grim had naturally reached his.
With his body in such a state, it didn't take long for Licht to gain the upper hand and kick his half elf opponent to the side.
"GRIM!!" Asta screamed as both he and Yuno ignored his previous words and charged towards the elf leader.
What followed next was a fight that concluded with Asta getting his Demon Dweller sword taken from him by Licht and him, Yuno and Mimosa being blasted out of the base after Licht absorbed and condensed Yuno's [Spirit Storm] spell and redirecting back at them.
By the end of it all, a huge hole had appeared in the base with no sign of Yuno, Asta or Mimosa seen anywhere.
Only an unconscious Grim lay in a set of rubble on the floor as Rhya, elf Rill, Luck and a couple others appeared in the room.