159 500 year Dream

Feeling like he had just been struck by lightning, Licht's words echoed in the depths of Grim's mind.

'A regressed form...

As in inferior...

Ha...Ha...Hahahahahahahahahaha-'

Hearing those words, time and space seemed to come to a halt as Grim took a moment to digest this new information. But contrary to expectations, unlike his normal reaction, Grim's current state was calm. Uncomfortably so. In fact, he wasn't enraged by this revelation at all. Rather than erupt with rage like he usually would, he suddenly burst into a fit of extreme laughter.

Sensing something mixed in with that laughter, Fana and Rhya looked at each other from the corner of their eyes before choosing to take several steps back.

It was that God!

THAT DAMN FUCKING GOD!!

Putting all the pieces together in his head, it wasn't hard for Grim to deduce that this was all a part of that bastard God's plan to fuck him over.

First he dropped an inexperienced/grimoireless Grim inside a forest infested with a shit-ton of magic beast that could easily kill him if he made a mistake, then he saddled him with a weak ass body that was weaker than the average persons, then he only gave him five years to train and catch up with the people of this world who had an entire decade more of time on him! And now you're telling him that the state he's in is a form that wasn't even his original! HOW MUCH MORE DOES HE HAVE TO BE NERFED BEFORE THAT GOD IS HAPPY!!

To go this far... What the hell did King do to earn this much vitriol from a God?

He was genuinely curious at this point.

But ignoring that for the time being, didn't this revelation make his achievements seem even greater than before?

To have essentially fought so many battles with one hand tied behind his back the entire time... Just what did that mean?

Killing top level humans, fighting elemental spirits, slaughtering elves. To do all of this without the use of his true form... wasn't this basically slapping that God in the face?

'And to do it without even realizing it... Fuck me I'm good!'

First some nobles, then a king of a nation and now a God!

I really am just THAT guy!

Seeing Grim suddenly freeze up and then erupt with uncontrollable laughter moments later, Licht couldn't help but feel lost at such a development.

"Erm Grim..." He started. "Are you oka-."

Before he could finish his sentence, Grim's head snapped in his direction. Placing his hands on the elf leader's shoulders, he showed him a dazzling smile so bright that it threatened to blind him.

"I'm GREAT! NO! I'M BETTER THAN GREAT! I'M FUCKING ECSTATIC!!" He laughed sending out nothing but weirdly positive vibes that well... unnerved the other elves.

Having thought that he had a gotten a good grasp of Grim's personality from seeing the way he acted towards the others inside the shadow palace, Grim's current condition confused him greatly.

Fana and Rhya on the other hand couldn't help but raise their guard once they saw the smile on his face.

Having experienced Grim's smiling face before, the two felt anything but calm when seeing it. To put it into simple words, that smile of his... it was uncomfortable.

This was especially true for Fana. Just the memory of what he did to her in the Witches Forest was enough to drench her back in cold sweat.

Having your soul forcibly pushed out of your body by having mana violently forced in to you through the process of someone bashing your face in was something that was kind of hard to forget.

'No, not again! I don't want to remember! I don't want to remember!!-'

Unaware of the mental breakdown starting to emerge in Fana, Licht decided to take Grim's positive attitude in stride.

"That's good." He smiled and began to talk to him about what some of their customs.

"Yeah no." He suddenly interrupted before Licht could go any further. "Listen Licht, I'm not gonna bullshit you. But I couldn't give less of a fuck about elven customs even if I tried. Hell, I barely give a fuck about human customs and I've lived with them for far longer than you guys."

"That's fair." Licht nodded understanding that despite Grim's good mood, he was still Grim underneath all of that.

'Hopefully Rhya and the others will have a better time teaching him than me.'

"Hey Lumiere." He called over his bestfriend.

Hearing his name being called, the decaying king quickly went over to his friend's side.

"Yeah?" He answered.

Seeing his friend again, even in this statue-like state, Licht couldn't help but feel a well of emotions gather in his chest as he introduced Grim to him.

"He's-

"I know." Lumiere put his hand up and stopped him. Looking at the bored faced Grim, he smiled and said. "He's our dream. The one you, me and Tetia had all those years ago. The one who bridges our two worlds."

Saying these words aloud for the first time since their ressurection, a floor of memories spawning from 500 years ago flashed through the minds of the two kings. Memories that hit them like lightning. Memories of Tetia, the elf tribe, of their wedding, and of his unborn son.

"To see the future that we wished for and all the possibilities that come with it *sniff* I couldn't be happier."

"Licht..." Lumiere spoke softly.

Unable to hold it back any longer, a stream of tears began flowing down from Licht's eyes as he pulled a surprised Grim into a hug.

"I'm sorry we weren't there for you."

"I-

"I'm sorry that as your leader I couldn't protect you or watch you grow."

"But seeing you here today, fighting against that devil, protecting your friends, defending both humans and elves alike, you've made us proud Grim. You've made us all so so proud."

'...I guess now would be a bad time to tell him about the elves I killed.'

Suddenly feeling the pull of the reincarnation magic wanning, Licht slowly released the confused Grim from his grasp and looked up.

And with a gentle smile on his face, he said. "It looks like my time is up."

As he said this, his spirit began to leave his artificial body and slowly began to rise.

"Looks like I'll be leaving first Lumiere, I've kept Tetia waiting long enough."

"Yeah." He nodded. "I'll see you soon Licht."

"Mmm." He nodded back and turned to look at his elven friends.

"Licht..." A teary eyed fana mumbled doing her best to hold back her tears.

Seeing the sad looks on her and the others faces, a warm smile appeared on his face.

"I'm sorry that our reunion was so short."

Shaking his head, Rhya step forward and spoke unable to hide both the happiness and sadness in his voice. "Its fine. Just being able to finally say goodbye is enough."

*Smiles*

Knowing that his time was quickly running out, he said what he could to them.

"I'll leave Grim's education to you guys. As his seniors please teach him well."

"Huh?!"

"Wait what?!"

Licht carried on.

"And you Grim... Thank you for fulfilling my greatest wish... Thank you for being born."

Turning to Asta and Yuno, Licht said a few more words before ascending with the rest of the reincarnated elves and vanishing from sight.