Key to Success

"Keep going Asta!"

With Mereoleona and the majority of the Black Bulls gone to confront Princia and Edward, all that was left was for Asta to punch a hole in the barrier.

*TAP* *TAP* *TAP* *TAP* *TAP* *TAP**TAP*

Running along the blade of the [Black Divider], the sound of Grim's footsteps echoed out as the intensity of the [Breath of the Beast] hue grew stronger.

"CONRAAAD!!!"

[Breath of the Beast: First Fang - Pierce]

Stabbing both blades into the same point as the [Black Divider], everyone watched in amazement as a large part of the barrier shattered into pieces like it was made out of glass.

"Woah..."

Watching as the shattered pieces fell from the sky and dissipated into particles of mana, the remaining crew couldn't help but mutter-

"They did it..."

Unfortunately for them, just as quickly as the barrier had shattered it started to recover.

"GRRRRIIIMMM!!" Blasting past the ship and into the barrier, Jester's sights lay soley on beast sword wielding Grim.

[Wind Spirit Magic: Spirit Storm]

*FWOOLSH!!*

Unleashing a torrent of highly concentrated wind magic, Jester was forced to create a protection barrier and had to back off a little.

"YOU!"

Standing above him in his [Spirit Dive] form, Yuno turned to look at both Grim and Asta.

"Go, I'll deal with him."

Nodding their heads, the two flew down towards the giant demon skull.

"Now then [Spirit of Zephyr] show me whatcha got."

---

*FWOOSH!!*

*FWOOSH!!*

As they dived downwards, Grim couldn't help but notice that Asta was riding the [Demon Slayer Sword] like it was a board.

'That's new.'

But this fascination didn't for too last long as the sight of Conrad's lone figure atop the demon skull didn't escape the eyes of the two.

"You know the plan Asta!" Grim yelled.

"Yeah!"

"Good! Get the sword - destroy the sword, do whatever you need to do. Just don't get in the way of my battle!"

"Huh?" Asta's brain stopped working for a second.

"That wasn't the plan!! We're meant to face him together!" He yelled back.

*GRINS*

"C'mon Asta, we both knew how this was gonna go. Don't pretend to be stupid."

Having no rebutal to that statement, all Asta could do was sigh and nod his head.

*BANG!!!*

Slamming hard into the ground and creating a large dust cloud in the process. Grim raised his head as Conrad lowered his.

"Grim." He greeted.

"Yo." He smiled waiting for the dust cloud to dissipate.

Raising his head to look at the airborne Asta, a flash of doubt passed Conrad's eyes.

"So you've come to." He muttered before returning his attention back onto Grim.

"I've been wanting to meet you for quite a while now."

"You wouldn't be the first."

"Is that so..."

"Yep, I've got quite the fanbase."

"Heh, I shouldn't be surprised. After all, you are the boy who dares to defy nobility. Stand above the magic knight system and unite the commoners. In fact, if the circumstances were different I'd like to have a long discussion with you. Alas *looks at beast swords* it seems talking isn't your thing."

"Nope."

"Very well." He closed his eyes and looked up at the stars.

"Then shall we start."

Not even a moment after he had said that, what seemed like hundreds of green coloured gates started blinking into existence behind him.

[Key Magic: Janus Abigail]

"Go."

*BOOOOOM!!!*'

Firing off multiple different types of magics at once, Conrad stood stationary and watched in silence as the untold number of magics rained down on him.

[Breath of Blue Flames: Grim Style First Form - Unknowing Fire]

*BOOOM!!!*

Compressing a large amount of of blue flames beneath his heels and reinforcing his body with reinforcement magic, the moment he stomped down he unleashed the compressed flames and shot towards the heart of the descending magic attacks with a huge grin on his face.

[Breath of the Beast: Tenth Fang - Whirling Fangs]

Directly entering into his elf form, the beastial hue around his body started expanding and spining at high speeds causing whatever projectile attacks that hit him to be deflected.

"CONRAAADD!!"

[Eleventh Fang: Sudden Throwing Strike]

Pulling his arms back, he poured his elven power into his swords and flung them foward.

*FWOOSH!!*

*FWOOSH!!*

*FWOOSH!!*

Rotating at high speeds and slicing through any attack that came near, the two swords were inches away from taking Conrad's neck.

But would it be that easy?

Using an unknown type of magic to teleport away, he appeared in the sky with a bigger gate beneath his feet.

Using the same spell as before that given him access to the magic he had stolen, a giant dragon made of water shot down.

[Sea Dragon's Roar]

*ROOOOAR!!*

Landing on the skull of the demonized Licht and skidding a little bit. Grim's head snapped upwards as the hue on his body turned yellow and crackled with electricity.

Gripping onto the hilt of the sheathed sword, lightning magic started pouring into it as he got into a lowered stance.

[Breath of Thunder: First Form - Thunderclap and Flash, Raikiri]

Unsheathing it in a fast and fluid motion, an arc of lightning magic shot out completely slicing through the dragon and traveling upwards towards Conrad.

*SWOOSH!!*

Swerving backwards and watching as the yellow arc flashed past him. He suddenly felt a presence appear above him.

*RUUUMBLE!!*

[Breath of the Storm: First Form - Heaven's Fall]

Slashing down with the [Warcloud Armour] on, thunder rumbled aloud as his sword slammed into Conrad's figure and sent him hurling towards the ground.

*BAAANG!!*

Crashing heavily into the ground below, the second stage of [Heaven's Fall] activated.

Following his descent, lightning and dark winds followed behind closely ultimately smashing into his downed figure and creating a fresh crater.

"Stop pretending. I know something of this level won't be enough to beat you."

Watching the fight from a distance, Asta was completely stunned. After seeing what he did during their black bull base rescue, he knew that Grim had become stronger in the past 6 months. But he never would have guessed he was this strong.

Compared to the time he had fought Zagred in the shadow palace, his current [Breath of the Storm] felt infinitely stronger. Even if he couldn't sense mana like the others, the pressure that the form gave off was enough to make him understand just how terrifying he had become.