*Sigh*
'I even told them where I was gonna attack and everything.'
Looking at the bloody mess littering the floor, Grim couldn't help but sigh and shake his head. De-materializing his beast swords, he walked over to the frozen magic knights and held his hand out.
Realizing that he wanted the object that he had handed over earlier, the magic knights quickly returned it to him without saying a single word. Just the sight of him brought back some very unnerving memories that they would prefer to forget.
"Hmm..." Checking the object in his hand, Grim made a very serious face before relaxing and looking up at the magic knight.
"You didn't fuck it up, good job." He patted him on the shoulder.
"I- thank you!" The guy yelled and bowed with a lot of nervous energy.
The important object in question was actually a recording device he had looted from a shop after he left Rebecca's place. Since his goal was to mentally break Rhya, he went to several different areas in the Clover kingdom where the elves were attacking and recorded himself slaughtering them in the most offensive of ways. If that didn't bring him despair, he didn't know what would.
'That should be enough for now.'
Pocketing the device, just as he was about to leave a small voice called out to him.
"Grim!"
"Huh?"
Turning around, he saw a small civilian boy slip through the magic knights and run up to him. Funnily enough, the boy way clutching onto a toy replica of his flame sword.
"Here." He said handing him the toy sword.
'...Just how much did the boss make off me?'
Remembering that Rebecca told him that the boss was taking vacation thanks to all the money the Grim figurines had made him. Grim decided that if he managed to survive this whole then the two of them would have a serious talk about splitting the profits. That wasn't even mentioning that he didn't even know that the boss was selling replicas of his swords.
"Thanks." He smiled and recieved the sword much to the boy's glee.
"Um, Mr Grim." The boy called out again just as he was about to leave.
"Why is your hair white?"
'Why does everyone keep asking me that?'
Just as he was about to answer, the eyes of the little boy and magic knights facing him suddenly went wide.
"W-What is t-that!!" A magic knight pointed.
Confused by what they were talking about, he turned around and saw a large black shadow shaped like a castle emerging from the Clover castle.
'...I guess I know where I'm going next.'
---
(Inside the shadow palace)
"He escaped?!"
"Yeah." Rhya nodded explaining the Grim situation to Patry.
Gritting his teeth, it took a moment for him to calm himself down and take a deep breath.
"Do you think he could be a problem?" He asked remembering the black haired boy from the time he fought Yami in the cave.
'To think he was a part elf, no wonder there was that weird sense of familiarity.'
"If this was before, I'd say that his presence couldn't do anything." Rhya answered. "But after awakening the dormant power in his blood... I'm scared that only Licht would be able to handle him."
"Licht..." Patry whispered looking over at their motionless elven leader.
"That's fine." He said visibly more relaxed than before. "As long as we have Licht, there's no way we could lose."
"...Yeah." Rhya nodded not knowing what else to say. Even though he saw Licht beat him before, the memory of what he did to the elf inside of Rill made him very uneasy.
---
*ZOOM!!*
Flying through the sky at lightning speed, the sight of the shadow palace grew larger in his eyes as he raced towards it.
Sensing a huge amount of mana in front of it, a momentary look of surprise surfaced on his face.
'Luck? Mimosa? Mereoleona! And WHAT THE FUCK!! IS THAT FUCKING FUEGOLEON!! And why does he seem stronger than before?'
*Grins*
Feeling his body burning up from the excitement of sensing such strong and familiar mana signitures, Grim's speed sky rocketed as he approached the shadow palace from the back.
---
(Front of the shadow palace)
"Captain Fuegoleon!!" Asta cried seeing him and Mereoleona land in front of him and the rest of the black bulls.
"You're awake! And you've got the Salamander with you!!"
Hearing his voice, Fuegoleon sent him a warm smile.
"Looks like you've gotten stronger while I was asleep. Good job Asta."
"I-THANK YOU SIR!!" He bowed aggresively and looked up at Mereoleona who looked to be searching for someone.
"Oi brat." She called out. "Where's Grim? Its not like him to be too far from the action."
"Grim?" Fuegoleon raised an eyebrow and looked at his older sister.
Recalling the boy who caused so much trouble with the Silva siblings back in the magic knight HQ, Fuegoleon could only imagine the horror that would occur if the two met up.
'What a scary thought.'
"He said he had something to do and would catch up to us later!" Asta said answering her question.
"Tch, that foo-
Just as she was about to chastise him, the sudden fluctuation in mana vapidly approaching from the distance stopped her in her tracks.
!!!
'This mana... Feels familiar... But different.'
"Grim!" Luck exclaimed remembering the new quality in Grim's mana signiture.
"Grim?" Mereoleona and the others who hadn't seen Grim in his elven form raised their brows.
"So he made huh." Mereoleona grinned not questioning why his mana felt a bit different.
Fuegoleon, Nozel and the others on the other hand weren't as accepting.
Looking for answers, they all turned to Asta with an expression that said "explain!"
Unfortuneately, before they could get any answers, Magna's voice pulled their attention away.
"Um guys." He pointed up at the shadow palace. "That hole in the castle is getting smaller and smaller isn't it?"
Raising their heads, they all saw the entrance to the shadow palace shrinking at an incredible pace.
"This is bad!" Noelle suddenly exclaimed. "An elf we fought earlier said that if they insert all the magic stones into the altar up there, then their reincarnation will be complete and the original souls will be sent to the underworld!"
"What!!"
*BOOM!!*
Not giving them any time to collect themselves, a horde of Golden Dawn elves burst through a building in front of them looking less than pleased to see them
"You damn humans! Did you really think you could hide from us!"
'Dammit!' Mereoleona cursed.
'What terrible timing.'
"Captains!" Vanessa yelled and ran in front of Nozel, Mereoleona and Fuegoleon.
"Get inside the shadow palace, we'll hold these guys off."
"Vanessa..." Asta began.
"You to Asta!" Magna yelled standing in front of him. "That new sword of yours is probably gonna be helpful!"
"I'm comming too!!" Noelle declared.
"They'll probably need a healing mage to, go with them Mimosa!" Kirsch Vermillion yelled to his younger sister.
"Right!" She nodded.
"What are you doing Noelle!" A voice echoed out from above.
"S-Solid!" Noelle stuttered seeing her older brother.
*Grits teeth*
"What the hell do you think you're doing just standing around!"
"Solid?"
*Flashback to Noelle using Valkyrie armor to save them*
*Clenches fist*
"I... acknowledge you... As of right now, I acknowledge your strength! BUT DON'T YOU DARE GET COCKY NOELLE! ONE DAY I'LL OVERCOME YOU! AS YOUR OLDER BROTHER ITS MY DUTY TO PROTECT YOU AFTER ALL!!"
[A/n: Funny how a near death experience can switch your attitude like that.]
Feeling tears welling up in the corners of her eyes, the youngest child of the Silva household nodded her head.
"All right!" Fuegoleon yelled getting on top of Salamander. "LETS GO!!"
"YOU'RE NOT GOING ANYWHERE!!" The Golden Dawn elves screamed and attacked.
"NOT ON OUR WATCH!!" Vanessa and the rest yelled and went to confront them.
Seeing their window closing, Mereoleona and the others flew up into the air and entered the shadow palace.
---
"That's not like you Magna." Vanessa said to Magna as they charged towards the elves. "Normally you'd want to go up and fight with them."
"Heh, yeah." He grinned. "But I'm almost out of mana so I probably wouldn't be much help. Besides, with that person coming this fights in the ba- WHERE'D HE GO!!"
---
(Back of Shadow Palace 20 seconds earlier)
"Eh?"
Charging towards the shadow palace, Grim suddenly sensed something.
'Asta and the other's ki disappeared? I felt them flying towards me... But this weird shadowy castle is in the way... Did they go inside?'
*Grins*
'If that's the case, then I should go see what's so great about this place.'
Switch from [Breath of Thunder] to [Breath of the Beast] to yellow hue around his body transformed into a light grey colour.
[Sudden Throwing Strike]
Dashing both blades ahead of him, the magic cutting blades sliced through the shadowy castle and continued forward creating Grim's very own entrance into the shadow palace.