Standing in front of a grounded Dorothy, the sound of her comrades blood dripping down Grim's bloodied sword echoed loudly in her ears.
Looking at the bloody remains of what used to be her fellow captains, it took everything she had to not throw up again.
But while she was busy trying to keep her food down, Grim's felt nothing but satisfaction over his actions. Although he didn't know how strong the captains that Dorothy created were in comparison to the real things (outside of Charlotte). The fact that he was able to unleash himself on them was very therapeutic.
For a long time he had strived to reach the level of the captains. Excluding the first time he entered his elf form, he finally felt like he had surpassed them. And best thing yet, he had done it without needing to transform!
These five months weren't spent in vain.
Solidifying his foundations in the Grand Magic Zone.
Reawakening his lost power in the Witches Forest.
Learning how to properly wield that power alongside the Elves.
It had all meant something.
Now all he needed to do was develop his power in a way that suited him best. And Glamour World was the perfect place to do it.
So after getting Dorothy to admit her loss, he had her teach him the basics of how Glamour World worked.
"Remember not to fall sleep! If you do you'll die."
Rolling his eyes, he quickly ushered her out impatient to get started.
"Okay, okay I'm going. I'll be back to check on you in a couple of days."
Snapping her fingers and vanishing from sight, Grim was left all alone in Glamour World.
Using his [Hyper Focus] to confirm her departure, he looked off into the distance and closed his eyes. Moments later he opened them back up and came face to face with 5 copies of himself.
*Grins*
"Let the training begin."
---
-3 weeks later-
"Heya Grim!" Entering Glamour World for the first time since their battle, a mentally recovered Dorothy expected to see a sleep depraved Grim either on the verge of passing out or already dead. But nothing could have prepared her for what she saw next.
*CRACK!!*
Cracks... Cracks all over Glamour World.
"W-What is this..."
'Glamour World... Its falling apart.'
And in the centre of it all stood a silent white haired Grim whose hair was slowly returning back to its original colour. Surrounded by mountains upon mountains of white haired clones of himself, if one looked closer they could even see a graveyard of swords scattered all over the area.
[Flame Swords]
[Beast Swords]
[Thunder Swords]
[Mist Swords]
[Wind Swords]
[Storm Blades]
And many more...
"What do you want Dorothy?" A deep voice emanated from him as he stood with his back turned to her.
'He's tired.'
"Glamour world..." She began.
"Glamour world?" He paused and looked at the cracked sky.
"Mmm." He nodded and continued.
"They started appearing last week. Seems to be related to the amount of power I output. Wasn't to bad at the start. But it became quite annoying during this past week. Couldn't even complete my original training because I had to restrain my power to much."
'Restrain his power? Are you telling me that Glamour World can no longer contain him!'
It was just as she thought. The more power Grim unleashed here the less stable the space became. It got so bad that he couldn't use his solo [Union Magic] or else the space would completely collapse!
Alas, he went back to mastering his basics.
Realizing that this was a problem for her, Dorothy wanted to hurry and fix Glamour World as fast as she could. Unfortunately she couldn't do it with him in here.
With no other choice, she had to convince him to leave. Knowing that he would protest by saying that "his training hadn't finished yet," she told him that he wouldn't be able to continue his training if Glamour world completely collapsed.
But before letting him go, she gave him a offhanded suggestion.
"The Triumph is gonna start in a couple of days. Why don't you compete?"
"Triumph?" He frowned finding the name unfamiliar. "What's that?"
Hearing that, Dorothy was momentarily stunned as she looked at him with doubt in her eyes.
"You don't know about the Triumph?! Are you sure you're from the Clover Kingdom?"
Seeing that he wasn't going to reply. She sighed and continued.
"The Triumph is a fighting tournament held every ten years. With your strength winning shouldn't be to har-
"Pass." He immediately rejected.
"What?! Why??!"
"Are the captains gonna compete?"
"No."
"Then its a waste of my time. I'd rather sleep instead."
Remembering that Grim hadn't slept in three weeks and had only survived off Glamour World's ability to conjure up food and water. She understood that the temptation of rest far exceeded what the Triumph could offer him.
"How long have I been in here?" He asked.
"Three weeks. Almost time for the 6 months deadline to end."
"Mmm." He nodded remembering his original intention for training in the first place.
Having gotten the information he needed, he prepared to head out. But before he left he took advantage of Glamour world's unique laws to spawn out a set of clothes.
Taking inspiration from his fractured memories of Earth, he had Glamour World conjure up a modernized Japanese x Western outfit. This consisted of a short black jacket decorated with golden kanji on the right sleeve and a gold coloured Black Bull on the back. A light weight ragged purple coat underneath and black under armour.
By the time he was done, he left Glamour World and headed towards the nearest inn. Luckily for the owners he had also conjured up some money before he left.
Entering his room, he let out a loud yawn.
'Time to get some sleep.'
After three weeks of consistently fighting against his own clones, the fatigue had finally caught up to him and forced his eyes closed the moment his head touched the pillow.