'Yes, Yes, Yes, YES!!'
'At this rate they might actually force me to use that!'
Shaking in anticipation over the fact that he could be pushed far enough to use everything he had. Grim faced the attacks of both Princia and Jester with a face full of expectations.
'C'mon, c'mon, c'mon.'
Knowing that his current [Breath of the Storm] had to much [Breath of Wind] and not enough [Breath of Thunder]. He had to admit that while he was confident in beating someone of Princia's level, he could feel the limits of this form growing closer. If he wanted to improve its power any further he'd needed to equalize the number of forms between [Breath of Thunder] and [Breath of Wind] in order to have a perfected union.
But non of that mattered right now.
"DIE YOU BASTARD!!" Jester cried as both his weapons and Princia's soldiers were about to collide with Grim's lone figure.
Deactiving [Breath of Storm] and returning to his white haired elf form, something about Grim's eyes changed as he welcomed the attack with a smile on his face.
But just as he was about to do his thing, a spatial portal suddenly appeared in front of him with a familiar voice echoing out from the other side.
"GRRIMM!!" A voice yelled out from inside.
"Finral?"
Hearing his voice, a hand thrusted out from the portal and pulled Grim in moments before the soldiers and weapons collided.
"NOO!!" Jester howled as Grim vanished from the eyes of both himself and Princia.
Spatial magic here? That shouldn't be possible!
After seeing it used earlier by Finral and that other spatial mage who helped Klaus and the civilians escape from the Triumph, he had already altered his barrier to interfere with spatial magic! So how could this happen?!
The area!!
Closing his eyes and using his mana senses, his eyes suddenly flashed open as he realized that there was something different about the mana in this area.
He didn't know how they did it, but the battle between Grim and Princia had somehow managed to destabilize the mana in the surrounding area and allowed the use of spatial magic in this specific area.
But Princia and Grim had battled all over the capital. So why was it only the mana in this area that had been affected?
It was almost like something had stimulated the mana here.
Could it be related to this crater?
'I'll need to reinforce the barrier.'
...
...
...
-Golden Dawn Hidden Base-
"Ack! C-Can't breathe."
"FINRAL!!"
Seeing Grim holding Finral up by the neck, the magic knights who had managed to escape from Conrad and the others couldn't help but freak out upon seeing Grim strangling the only spatial mage amongst them.
"What are you doing!"
"Stop!!"
Charging at him with the intent to save Finral, the magic knights were in for a nasty surprise as a burst of wind erupted out of Grim's figure and forced them all back.
*BANG!!*
*BANG!!*
Slamming into the walls, the magic knights who hadn't rushed him were secretly thanking their comrades who held them back.
"Grimmm..." A weak voice caught his attention.
Turning his head slightly, he saw a bandaged Asta standing next to a disheveled Yuno, Secre and a slightly pale Noelle.
'Oh?'
This was the first time he had seen what Asta and the others looked like in the past 6 months... He wasn't impressed.
Pushing Yuno off of him and using his [Demon Slayer] as a crutch, with shaky legs he trudged his way up to his white haired squad mate. Ignoring the yells of the other magic knights who tried to dissuade him, he completely disregarded the pressure Grim began outputting.
Grabbing the wrist used to hold Finral up, Asta put as much strength into his grip as he could.
"Let him go."
"...No."
Having just faced Conrad, Asta's condition was good enough to face the others let alone Grim.
"He interrupted my fight. All of you know what that means."
"I know..." Asta nodded.
In truth, Finral didn't actually want to get Grim. For one, he didn't even know if his spatial magic would work inside Jester's barrier. But under the pleas of the others, he kept trying to open one up without much success. It was only when something seemed to happen on the other side that he got the opportunity to get in.
As for the other reason as to why he didn't want to get Grim... Well the current situation spoke for itself. While Grim was fine on most days, when it came to fighting it was like he'd become a different person. And depending on the type of opponent, he'd become more and more unhinged.
"But we need your help." Asta continued. "If we don't stop him, Conrad's gonna destroy the kingdom!"
Conrad?
*Flashback*
"Conrad wants him gone! If we let someone capable of swapping blows with us live he'll become nothing but an obstacle to the world we're trying to create!"
*Flashback End*
Relaxing his hold on Finral's throat, he turned to look at Asta properly for the first time since arriving and asked-
"Who's Conrad?"
---
-Conrad Pov-
"So he escaped."
Listening to the report from Princia and Jester, the more he heard about Grim, the more concerned he grew.
While he was confident that nothing could interfere with their plan, the fact that a variable like Grim existed was outside of his expectations.
After having dealt with Asta and his anti-magic, he thought that he had a grasp on the power of the current magic knights.
But for a 17 year old boy to have the ability to directly face off against a wizard king... Such a thing was inconceivable 10 years ago.
Using Marx [Memory Magic] he decided to dig a little more into what he knew about Grim. And what he found shocked him.
Just like him, Grim possessed a magic capable of using multiple attributes, he was also capable of combining these attributes in order to achieve a higher power. But even more than that, both he and Grim had crossed blows with the kingdom's nobility.
In a way, the two were incredibly similar.
"Hahaha..."
Sitting in silence, a small laugh escaped his mouth as he delved even deeper into Grim's past achievements. To say he was impressed by what he saw was an understatement. Compared to the prodigies of the past, Grim was on an entirely different level. If given enough time, it was likely that he'd surpass every wizard king in history.
It was just a shame that he had to killed off.
Unlike Asta and the other citizens he planned to ressurect with the Imperial Sword. Grim and the majority of nobles would not be among them.
As for the reason?
Simple.
Grim was not a good person.