Entrance

'Well... This is new.'

Unlike the others who had taken the proper entrance to enter the Shadow Palace, since Grim had forcibly entered, the anti intruder trap had activated.

*Swoosh!!*

Falling through the abyss-like dark space, he skillfully dodged the tendrils of solidified gold mana attacking him and used [Breath of the Beast] to rip the approaching ones into shreds.

"Pffthahaha, this is pretty fun!!"

*FWOOSH!!*

*FWOOSH!!*

*FWOOSH!!*

Three tendrils shot up at him from below, but by using his improved control of his own mana, he was able to use his ability to levitate to twist in mid air and dodge two while also managing to run on top of the third one before jumping off.

Free falling through the air, the sight of a horde of tendrils rising from the bottom and charging towards him filled his vision.

Smiling at the sight of it, the hue on his body became a blazing blue colour as he manifested his flame sword and raised it above his head.

[Breath of Blue Flames: 9th Form - Rengoku]

---

While Grim was in the midst of entering the Shadow Palace, Yuno who had a magic stone with him was able to freely enter inside with Charmy clinging onto him.

But like the magic knights that had entered before, the two of them were teleported to different regions. Charmy ended up with Asta and Mimosa who were fighting against Rill. There she discovered her status as half Dwarf... which would explain her size.

Yuno on the other hand ended up in front of the altar... Which just happened to be in front of Rhya, Patry and some other random shaggy haired elf.

"To think that the last magic stone would come to us, looks like our return is destined." Patry smiled and held his hand out to the elven Yuno who was in his [Spirit Dive] form.

"..."

"Not willing huh? Well that's fine too, you should cherish your last act of defiance-

*Summons shit-ton of light magic swords*

"It'll be your final act of free after all."

[Light Creation Magic: Light Sword of Judgement]

[Copy Magic: Light Sword of Judgement]

With Rhya adding in his own spell, the quantity of light swords doubled tremendously.

"We'll be taking that magic stone now."

*FWOOSH!!*

*FWOOSH!!*

*FWOOSH!!*

No longer playing around, the two elves unleashed the barrage of sword attacks at the motionless Yuno who stood watching with little to no change in his expression.

"Mana Zo-

Just as he was about to show off his new control of the elven mana he had been imbued with, a sudden explosion from above interrupted him as a loud a familiar voice rang out.

"RENGOKU!!"

'That Voice!!'

Recognizing that voice, Rhya's head shot up as a series of unpleasant memories flashed through his mind causing his body to instinctively produce a mountain level of sweat.

'No, no, no!!'

*BOOM!!*

From above them, the ceiling burst into small pieces of rubble as a plume of blue flames descended from on high and slammed into the ground with enough force that the shockwave it caused threw everything into chaos as Yuno and the rest were forced to shield their faces and take several steps back while also doing their best not to be blown away.

"URGH!!" They all groaned.

With the plume of blue flames engulfing all the light swords they had created, the hue in the room became a blazing blue in colour as the light swords were quickly destroyed.

"Found you Rhya-chan." A playful voice sounded out as a silhouette emerged inside the flame plume.

Hearing that the voice was directed at him, something triggered an intense reaction from him as his heart rate accelerated and his body started to tremble aggresively. His mouth became dry and his breathing became short and hurried.

"So this is where you we hiding."

As the flame plume started to die out, the sight of a smiling white haired Grim appeared before them all.

Seeing him standing there, Patry couldn't help but frown as he felt the mana fluctuations radiating off his body.

'No marks of reincarnation... He really possess our blood.'

"Patry." A shaken up Rhya called out. "Get the magic stone."

"Huh?

"IF WE DON'T WANT EVERYTHING TO GO TO WASTE, FOCUS ON GETTING THE MAGIC STONE NOW!"

"Magic stone?" Grim raised a brow hearing them. It was only after a few seconds that he realized that Yuno was standing behind him.

"Yuno? When'd you get here?"

"-_-"

'Now that I think about it, I didn't sense his ki when Asta and the others entered... Could he have entered later than me? But then how did he arrive here before me?... How much time did I spend dealing with those tendrils?!!'

[Light Creation Magic: Light Sword of Judgement]

[Copy Magic: Light Sword of Judgement]

With no other choice than to distract Grim and leave getting the magic stone to the third elf besides them, Rhya and Patry attacked with everything they had.

"Oh?"

Watching the blades of light aimed at him, a soft blue hue surrounded Grim's body as time slowled down and he placed reinforcement magic onto his legs.

*Crackle*

[Breath of Thunder: Grim Style 1st Form - Thunderclap and Flash]

*ZOOM!!*

"Is that really the best you can do?"

!!!

'W-What the hell...'

"Considering you're the mastermind behind all of this, I thought you'd at least be able to react to this speed." Grim smiled at Patry who was still trying to comprehend what happened.

Leaving behind a deep foot imprint in the ground and blasting through the light swords that were supposed to impale him. Grim's thunder sword rested nicely at the side of Patry's neck without him even realizing that he moved until he felt the cold steel touching his skin.

"PATRY!!" Rhya finally reacted seeing Grim standing in front of his friend.

"Now now Rhya." Grim grinned. "I'm feeling a little jumpy at the moment, any abrupt noise might cause me to accidently launch a spell."

Seeing that Patry's life was completely in Grim's hand, Rhya had no choice but to calm down and try to distract him.

"What do you want." He asked keeping his eyes trained on Grim's sword.

*Smiles*

"Funny you should ask."

Rooting into his pocket, he pulled out a small recording device and threw it over to Rhya.

"Watch it."

"What?"

"The recording idiot. Watch it."

Looking at the device in his hand and back up at Patry, he took a deep breath and pressed play.

---

Watching a compliation of Grim killing several elves and recording the footage, Rhya's couldn't stop himself from clenching his fists and gritting his teeth.

"How could you." He managed to force out. "Those people were your comrades!"

"Comrades?" He chuckled. "I think you're misunderstanding something. I'm as close to those people as I am to you. In fact, I might actually like you guys better."

"Why are you doing this! Fighting us! Killing Fana and trying to stop our return! What'd we ever do to you!"

"You mean besides trying to kill me for being a half elf? Nothing. But then again, does a God need a reason to step on a bunch of ants?"

"You're no god." Rhya said staring daggers at him.

"Of course I am." He smiled back. "I'm a God of life and death, I mean its up to me if this guy lives or dies right?... Kind of like a God of Death... Shinigami... Reaper... You know what I mean."

"What do you want?" Rhya asked again doing his best to contain his anger.

"Hmm." Grim humed lightly just to annoy him.

"I want-

Feeling a sudden cold chill on his spine like someone had dipped their hands in to ice cold water and pressed it against his bare back, he was forced to stop mid sentence as his grimoire started humming.

"What the-

Seeing the he was distracted for a moment, Patry took the opportunity to flash to Rhya's side and the two quickly retreated.

"Nice one Ronne!!" Rhya shouted to the elf that Yuno was supposed to be battling. "You got the magic stone!"

"Yeah." The elf nodded. "Now we can finally go through with our plan."

'That elf... somethings wrong... My grimoire hasn't reacted like this since... The first time I met Asta.'

"Who are you." Rhya frowned sensing that something wasn't right with Ronne.

*GRINS*

!!!

Unfortunately for Rhya, the gaping hole in his chest stopped him from asking anything further.

"RHYA!!!" Patry screamed watching his friend collapse.