Interrogation

After watching the Clover King slump away, Julius announced that due to the attacks received from the Eye of the Midnight Sun that they would now be going on the offensive since they've discovered their base of operations. But in order to do that, the kingdom will be choosing from the strongest and most talented magic knights from each squad in order to form a powerful offensive unit called the Royal Knights.

For Grim who was on the stage listening to all this, he honestly couldn't care less about the name. But the part that caught his attention was the examination they'd be having a week later. Apparently only those capable of passing the examination would be allowed to join the ranks of the Royal Knights. But even better than that was the fact that every magic knight was included in this examination! Meaning that Grim could finally compete against the knights that weren't at the base when he attacked. And to make matters even better, now that they recognized who he was, he was sure that they'd be gunning for him. Just the thought of so many people to break made his body tremble with excitement.

[A/n: Yep, he still has issues.]

---

"Oi, what the fuck is this?"

Sitting in a darkened room with his hands restrained by magic depleting handcuffs, Grim found himself sitting at the opposite end of a table facing the smiling wizard king.

"Hello Grim." The king smiled.

Not in the mood to be in the same room with someone absurdly stronger than him who he knows could beat him without breaking a sweat, Grim kept his sentences short and to the point.

"Why am I here?"

Seeing the frown on his face, the wizard king showed off a gentle smile and explained the situation to him slowly.

"Well after that little show you put on in front of our citizens, don't you think its only natural that you're sitting here?"

"Show?"

"Yes, where you admitted to attacking your own country's bases and sending several of them to the hospital. Not to mention that you publicly disrespected our king. If any other noble was here, your head would have already been rolling by now."

"Eh?" Grim looked at him puzzled before quickly regaining his posture.

"First of all, the clover kingdom ain't my country, it just so happens to be the place I'm chilling at until I get bored. Second of all, those people sent themselves to the hospital the moment they attacked me, it was purely self defense on my part. Third of all, and this is the one you should pay attention to the most, the only reason I'm in these handcuffs is because you were on the scene. If any other person even attempted to touch me, well I would be covered in blood at the moment, and trust me when I say it wouldn't be mine."

[A/n: Unless it was a captain, but lets not talk about that.]

Looking at the smug look on Grim's face, the wizard king sighed before smiling again.

"Do you know why we're having this conversation?"

"Because you can't imprison me without causing public outrage?"

"No, while that may happen, it wouldn't take to long to quell the voices of the people by giving them something more interesting to look at. No Grim, the reason we're having this conversation is because I want you to join the Royal Knights."

"What?" Grim said surprised by the answer.

"I want you to join the competition." The king repeated.

"I mean I was gonna do it anyway so... okay?"

'Well this was a waste of time.'

"Of course this comes with a condition."

'Of course it does.'

Annoyed at having to sit alone in a room with the wizard king, Grim frowned but kept the conversation going.

"What condition?"

Seeing Grim basically agree, the smile on the wizard king's face grew wider.

"You have to let me see everything your magic can do!!" He said slamming his hands onto the table and jumping up from his seat. "I mean demon slaying magic! I've never heard of it before! And then there's the fact that you can use multiple elements!! Arghh!! I'm so curious that I just gotta know more!! Show me! Show me!! Show me!!!"

By this point, the king had somehow managed to crawl over the table and was now looking at Grim was stars in his eyes.

'What the fuck.'

"...Sure." Was the only response capable of coming out of Grim's mouth.

"Haha YES!!" The wizard king cheered.

'Wait a second! Was this his goal all along!?'

---

Walking out of the castle mentally drained after showing off his magic to the wizard king, Grim came upon an unexpected scene of that ginger haired woman from the stage and the rest of the Crimson lions following behind her. But what really caught his attention was the fact that Asta, Yuno, Noelle, Yami, and captain Charlotte were being carried around by flaming tiger paws made from the ginger haired woman's mana.

"..."

'I wonder when seeing such sights became so normal?'

[A/n: Around the time he joined the Black Bulls.]

Feeling someone's gaze land on her, the ginger haired woman turned to face the lone standing Grim.

"..."

"..."

*BOOM!!*

Unleashing their fire magic, both Grim and the ginger haired woman had blazing aura's surrounding their bodies.

Utilizing [Breath of Flames] and her fire magic, the temperature in the surrounding area rose to such a degree that Yami and the others could see their skin drying at a visible pace.

"Hoh?" Feeling the heat radiating off of him, Mereoleona found herself taking a proper look at the boy. "That's some good heat ya got there."

Hearing her compliment, Grim couldn't help but smirk at her.

"Right back at cha." He grinned.

Smiling at each other, the two raised the temperature to the point that the sweat on the Asta and the others were starting to steam.

'Incredible.' Grim thought to himself.

Even though he was using [Breath of Flames] to boost his resilience to fire based magic, he was speechless at the fact that he was starting to sweat.

'Even with my resilience she's able to make me feel the rising heat! This woman is on a whole different level compared to the other captains!'

He thought that the biggest obstacle in his way to being the strongest being in this world was the captains and the wizard king, but now it seemed that a new challenger had appeared.

Without his knowledge, Grim's smile was growing wider and wider as his mana started to surge.

*SWOOSH!!*

Burning brightly, the fiery aura around his body started pulsing as a wave of hot air hit Asta and the others.

"HOT, HOT, HOT!!" Asta yelped while Yuno frowned doing his best to conceal his sweat.

'This crazy kid wants to challenge this damn lioness while I'm around!!' Yami cursed in his head. While he wasn't worried about Grim hurting him, he couldn't say the same for Mereoleona.

"Ah?" Feeling Grim's aura rise, Mereoleona found herself grinning as her own aura started raising.

*ROAR!!*

Appearing behind her, a phantom lioness made out of fire emerged and roared towards the fearless Grim.

Seeing the phantom image, Grim was forced to take a step back as the roar contained what felt like an unstoppable force.

'He was forced to take a step back!!' Noelle, Asta and Yuno looked at Grim in shock. While they could imagine just how powerful Mereoleona was from the way she handled Yami and Charlotte, to see Grim actually take a step back from her merely releasing her aura was jaw dropping.

'This woman... I WANT TO FIGHT HER!!'

'