Muddy Waters

"Hey, what's your name?" Grim walked up to the black haired man.

Still wearing the monocle, the black haired man still couldn't comprehend the amount of mana emanating from the young man in front of him.

"B-Baro." He stuttered.

'What a shitty name.'

"Okay then Baro." He crouched down so the two were eye level. "Explain to me why I can't feel any mana from those kids?"

"F-Fuck off."

"Tch tch tch, wrong answer." Materializing his flame sword, Grim held it above Baro's leg and slowly pushed it down.

"AHHH!!-

"Shhh." Grabbing his face, Grim held a finger to his lips. "Now now, save your screaming for later. Because if you do it again, then I'll have to really hurt you."

Releasing a large amount of malicious aura, Grim's smile grew bigger in Baro's eyes.

"Understand?"

"Mmmpff." Baro hastily nodded while holding back his urge to groan.

"Good, now answer the question, why don't I feel any mana from those kids?"

"W-We sucked it out of them!!"

"Sucked?"

Looking at the boys laying on the ground, Grim misread the situation.

"You fucking pervert!"

"Wha-

*BANG!!*

Punching him again, Grim rained down a barrage of punches until Baro's face was bruised and bloody.

*BANG!!*

*BANG!!*

*BANG!!*

"P-Pwease Stwop!"

Pulling his arm back, a gray area wrapped itself around Grim's body as he switched to [Breath of the Beast]

"AHHH!!!" A scream suddenly sounded from the distance as Neige was knocked on his ass by Gauche.

'E-Even Neige lost! Fuck! We're screwed this time...'

"Hey." Grim called gaining his attention. "Why would you do this?"

Just as Baro was about to open his mouth, his little brother Neige answered in his stead.

"Friends *Sob* I just wanted some friends."

"Friends? You molested a group of kids and forcefully pulled their mana out because you wanted friends?"

'Molested?'

Standing to his feet, Grim turned away from Baro and walked over to the defeated Neige.

"You wanted friends?"

*Sob* "Yeah."

"Good." The smile on Grim's suddenly turned dark. "Because I'm sure you'll make plenty in hell."

"Wha-

*Stab*

"Ah?" Feeling a sharp pain spreading through his chest, Neige looked down and saw a jagged sword poking through his body.

*Splash*

Pulling the sword out and waving the blood off the blade, Grim watched as Neige fell to the ground.

Watching this happen from a distance, Baro couldn't help but curse internally.

'Dammit, he killed Neige!! Where the fuck are those bastards that are meant to be picking up the mana canister!'

"Hey Grim we came to hel-

Running in from the cave entrance, Asta was surprised to see children laying on the ground in a dazed state.

But what surprised him even more was the small pool of blood gathering around Grim's feet.

"G-Grim... Is he-

Before he could speak another word, Asta was interrupted by a cheerful sounding "HEYO!!"

Sounding out from above them, a portal opened up and a girl with messy black hair and red framed glasses appeared.

"ITS YOU!!" Asta pointed when he saw her.

"Heyo Asta!!" She smiled and waved before locking onto Grim's figure.

"Ah!! You must Grim! Valtos told us you were capable of using various different magic types! I can't wait to open you up and find out how you do it!!"

"Asta." Grim looked over at him with a bit of confusion. "Who is she?"

"She's one of those Eye of the Midnight Sun guys that kidnapped me!"

"Oh?... Is she strong?"

"Hmm..." Asta closed his eyes and put his hand on his chin. "Well she was with the ones that attacked the wizard king so I think so."

"She was there when that happened?"

"Yeah."

"Cool... I'm go kill her now."

"Eh?"

Switching to [Breath of Wind], Grim used [Dust Whirlwind Cutter] to launch himself into the air and charge towards the girl.

"GRIM WAIT!!" Asta yelled but it was to late. After hearing their conversation, Gauche's killing intent had soared.

'Eye of the midnight sun! They're the ones who organised the kidnapping of Marie!!'

Gathering his mana together, Gauche's didn't care that Grim was near the girl as he unleashed the full power of his spell.

[Mirror Magic: Reflect Refrain]

"Hehe."

[Gel Magic: Sticky Salamander]

Breaking her grimoire open, the girl created a salamander looking creature composed of nothing but gel.

"Woah!!" Grim exclaimed barley avoiding getting hit by one of Gauche's beams.

*BEAM!!*

Sinking herself inside the gel monster, the light beams bent once they passed through the gel.

'She distorted them!'

Gauche's eye widened.

'Interesting.'

Grim smiled as he held the sword above his head.

[Breath of Mist - 2nd Form: 8 Layered Slash]

Switching breath styles, Grim unleashed a flurry of long ranged mist attacks.

*SLASH!!*

*SLASH!!*

*SLASH!!*

"Oh?" The girl inside the gel tilted her head once she saw her salamander's limbs get loped off.

'He changed from wind to mist... How intriguing!!'

"Go Salamander!!" She yelled and commanded the creature to spit out a ball of gel.

"Nope!" Using [8 Layer Mist] Grim cut the ball of gel before it could reach him before switching to [Breath of Wind] to close the distance.

Appearing above her, the glow on Grim's body changed from green to orange.

[Breath of Flames - 9th Form: Rengoku]

Slashing down with all his strength, a beam of concentrated fire blasted down from his sword and tore a hole through the Salamander's back exiting its stomach.

"Damnnn!!!" A voice sounded out from the distance. "You can use fire magic too!! That is just to interesting!!"

Turning his head to the side, Grim saw a smiling Sally standing next to the collapsed Baro.

'How did she-

Thinking back to his [Rengoku], the memory of a ball of gel separating itself from the creature flashed in his mind.

'Was she inside that?'

"Hey hey Grim! What else can you do? Can you use water magic? What about earth? *Gasp* Can you use gel!? What about-

"Hey girl!!" Baro suddenly called out interrupting her. "If you can get me out of this rubble I can provide support with my mud magic!"

Falling silent, the girl turned to face him with a not to happy expression on her face.

"Did you just interrupt me when I was talking to Grim?"

"Huh?"

Before he knew what was happening, Baro found a large syringe being poked into his neck.

"Eh?"

Feeling a fluctuation in Baro's mana, Grim's eyes suddenly went wide.

"GET THE KIDS OUT OF HERE AST-

"GYAAAHHHHH!!!" Baro's scream cut him off as a mud like substance started pouring out of his eyes and nose.

"Ba...ro." Neige muttered still somehow breathing.

"What the hell?" Gauche said looking at Baro. "His magic's increasing like crazy."

"GYYYAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!" Screaming loudly, Baro's body started to expanded as mud started coursing through it and elevating his mana.

Dropping down next to Asta, Grim watched as Baro transformed into a gigantic mud monster.

"GYAARRRHHHHH!!!" The monster roared.

"Ah shucks, I guess this ones a failure as well." The glasses girl laughed after seeing what Baro had turned into.

"Get them out of here Asta!" Grim yelled remembering that the kids were still in that magically induced dazed state.

"Got it!" He nodded and started using the cross guard on his sword to dispel the magic on them.

"We're getting out of here Marie!" Gauche said picking his sister up and flying out with her.

"Eh!?" Asta looked in shock as Gauche took his sister and left.

"Monster!!"

"IT'S A MONSTER!!"

"WAAHHH!!"

The kids now snapped out of their dazed states screamed and cried when they saw the monstrous looking Baro towering above them.

"Shit!!" Grim yelled seeing the fist approaching him and Asta.

*BOOM!!*

"Yeah!!" The girl cheered seeing both Asta and Grim evade the attack. "I'll make sure to take both of you home with me!!"

"Tch." Waiting for the dust cloud to clear up, Grim spat out some mud that had entered his mouth, and looked at the girl with annoyance. "I'm really going to enjoy killing you, you crazy ass bitch!"

"Hahahahaha." She burst into laughter.

"Asta... Get the kids out... I'll deal with this."

"What! You can't deal with something that bi-

"Asta! I got this." He turned away to look at the monster. "Plus the kids will need you to protect them from any stray rocks that I can't block."

"I-" Clenching his fists, Asta grit his teeth and looked down before turning his back on Grim.

"Don't die." He said before gathering the kids and leaving the cave.

'Die? Heh.' He smiled. 'As if I'd end my vacation this early.'

"D..ie..." The mud monster spoke.

'So it can speak?'

Pointing his sword at the giant monster, the glow around Grim turned into that of a soft orange.

"Sorry bud, but there's no way I'm getting killed by a giant shit with legs."

[Breath of Flames - 1st Form: Unknowing Fire]

*BOOM!!*