Chapter 8 - Squad

After a couple more fights went down, it was eventually Yuno's turn to fight. To call it one sided would be an understatement as he completely dominated his opponent without taking a single step. Out of all the fights, only Yuno's and Asta's could rouse Grim's fighting intent as he was on the brink of drawing his sword out.

By the time most of the fights had finished, Grim and the fat noble were finally called up to the stage.

Walking to his position, Grim looked across at the noble and couldn't help but smile as the mana around him pulsed.

"Hmm?" All the captains raised an eyebrow and looked at him. Even Yuno couldn't help but take notice of him.

"What the hell are you smiling at you filthy peasant!" The fat noble yelled when he saw Grim's smiling face.

Instead of answering, he turned to look at the referee with a look of impatience.

"Start!"

"HAHAHA, now bow before me commoner!"

Opening his grimoire, the fat noble raised his right hand in the air and yelled out the name of his spell.

Gathering above the noble, a large sea of sand appeared and clumped itself together until it turned into a large looking fox.

"Whoa!"

"Impressive."

"Incredible..."

The candidates couldn't help but sing their praises as they saw the spell slowly take shape.

'Fufufu, that's right peasants, be amazed. Hahahaha.'

"Is that it?" Grim's monotone voice suddenly rung out and silenced the crowd. "How disappointing... I thought you'd at least make me take you seriously but... this is honestly such a disappointment." He sighed and toned down his fighting intent.

"Eh?!" The crowd responded.

"And to think I was seriously fired up too. If I knew I was gonna be fighting a giant dog then I'd have chosen someone with more impressive magic... *Sigh* such a waste." He shook his head and looked towards the referee. "Can I change opponents? This one's too weak."

Stunned by Grim's sudden request, the referee stood dumbstruck not knowing how to proceed.

"Now that he mentions it..." Someone from the crowd started. "Isn't it just a giant pet?"

"Yeah... its actually not as cool as I thought it was when you think about it..."

"Doesn't this mean he's just a glorified pet owner?"

"Yeah."

"How embarrassing."

"How humiliating."

"How pitiful."

Hearing the words of the crowd, the fat noble's face turned bright red as his anger started to rise to unprecedented levels.

"SHUT UP YOU DAMN MONGRELS!!" He screamed at the top of his voice. "I'LL SHOW YOU! I'LL SHOW ALL OF YOU!!"

"Pffthahahahahaha. This guy's hilarious!" Yami burst out laughing from above.

"So I really can't switch? What if I pay you? Surely we can come to some deal right?"

"YOU!!" Hearing Grim talk to the referee without a care in the world, the fat noble finally lost it and poured all his mana into his sand fox.

"ATTACK!!"

*RAAWWRRR!!!!*

Bursting forward at an incredible speed, the large sand fox bȧrėd its teeth and charged towards the occupied Grim.

"Hmm?" Feeling a cluster of mana approaching him, Grim put his conversation on hold and turned his head to look at the approaching sand fox.

[Breath of flames]

Opening his grimoire up, a faint glow of orange light coated his body as a katana with a flame shaped hand guard materialized in his right hand.

"Mana skin?" Fuegoleon and the other captains raised their eyebrows when they saw the orange glow appear on his body.

Yami on the other hand was frowning hard as his focus was concentrated solely on the sword in Grim's hand.

[Ninth Form: Rengoku]

Covering the blade in a dense layer of flames, Grim lifted the sword high above his head and look at the red face noble in the eyes.

"Don't interrupt me again."

*BOOM!!*

Swinging the blade down with a practiced level of grace, a large beam of concentrated flames shot out and blasted forward. Travelling at a shocking speed, the beam encapsulated the sand fox's body before passing by the red faced noble and slamming into the bottom half of the platform the captains were sitting above and causing it to shake.

"What the hell!" The crowd stood stunned as they looked at the smoking impression left in the ground that was still radiating heat.

"I-I" Looking down at his burnt clothes, the fat noble wanted to scream at Grim but stopped after seeing the aftermath of the attack that passed by him.

*GULP*

"Such power..." Someone from the crowd muttered.

"Hmm..." Yuno frowned and looked at him.

"Amazing..." Asta's eyes shone as he looked at Grim.

Even the captains were taking more note of him as everyone in the area looked at him with various emotions in their eyes.

Unfortunately this was unseen by Grim due to him turning his attention back to the referee.

"See what I mean, too weak! Let me fight someone stronger."

*Silence*

---

After Grim's match finished, a couple more fights took place, but none of them were flashy compared to the previous matches.

"Ahem." Captain Vengeance suddenly called for everyone's attention. "I want to thank you all for your participation in this examination. We of the Clover Kingdom are so lucky to have so many passionate youngsters such as yourselves aspiring to be magic knights." He paused. "But this is where things get serious." His tone suddenly changed.

"When your number is called, please take a step forward. Whichever captain wants that participant, please raise your hand."

Hearing this, a wave of unease spread through the testers as it finally dawned on them just how important this moment would be for the rest of their lives.

"Golden Dawn, Golden Dawn, Golden Dawn." Grim heard a couple of people pray while crossing their fingers.

"Now then." Captain Vengeance continued. "Will participant number one please step forward."

---

"Number 32... Purple Orca's."

"Number 78... Crimson Lions."

"Number 116... Failed."

Number 141... Failed."

"Heh, I guess that's all I'm worth." Number 141 muttered as he walked passed Asta.

"Number 164 step forward."

Closing his eyes for a brief second, Yuno stepped forward and awaited the captain's decisions.

*GASP!!*

"What!"

"A-All the captains raised their hands!"

"Yuno..." Asta couldn't help but say his name.

Looking up at the captains, Yuno made his decision. "I choose the Golden Dawn."

"Lucky."

"Looks like the Golden Dawn will remain the strongest."

Various mummers erupted out of the crowd.

"Ah, looks like a really good one was taken." Finral commented.

"Number 165 step forward."

Making and audible gulp, Asta took a deep breath and took a step forward.

'Oho, this should be interesting.' Grim smiled and for some unexplainable reason, he found himself looking forward to what squad this gray haired boy would join. It was just a shame that no one raised their hand.

*Silence*

'Wait! Are you serious!? Didn't these guys see what he did to that smug bastard before?'

And as if to answer his question, Yami suddenly spoke up.

"Of course no one would pick you." He stood up.

"Yami..." Finral said his name.

"Even if you're really good in a fight, nobody wants a power that they can't identify."

Feeling like he was about to throw up, Asta stood on wobbly legs but kept staring at the black haired man standing above him.

"As the name implies, the main thing we look for in a magic knight is-

*Releases horrific amount of magic power*

"Magic Power."

Feeling Yami's magic power, everyone including Yuno and Grim were rooted to ground as large beads of sweat started to form on their faces.

'So this is a captain...' Sucking in a deep breath, Grim felt his heart beat accelerate as the blood in his body started flowing faster.

Yami continued speaking to Asta.

"Nobody here will want you, because you have no magical power."

Hearing enough, Grim forced himself to speak despite the magical pressure pushing him back.

"Wait a moment!"

"Huh?" Yami turned to him in surprise.

'Isn't this the kid with the katana?'

"You said that what you guys are looking forward in a magic knight is magic right? What about the knight part? What could be more knight worthy than a guy wielding a sword to defeat his enemies?"

Yami suddenly turned his attention to Grim and released even more magical power that almost forced him to his knees.

'What pressure... Now I really want to fight him.'

"Eh? Why are you grinning?" Yami tilted his head and asked.

"Hehehe, you're really strong aren't you." Grim laughed despite his struggle.

Grabbing onto his head, Yami picked him up until the two were eye level.

"I'm a magic knight captain, of course I'm strong dumb-ass." Yami answered in the most Yami fashion possible before looking at him.

"That sword of yours... where did you get it?"

"It comes with my magic." Grim struggled to say.

"Your magic eh? What is it? Some fire type magic or something?"

"Huh?" Grim made a dumbfounded expression. "What gave you that impression?"

"....The fire...."

"Ah, no wonder." Grim nodded, which was really hard considering that his head was being held by Yami.

"...."

"...."

"...."

"...."

"Are you playing with me brat!!" Yami suddenly squeezed tighter after Grim ŀȧpsed into a state of silence.

"Ow, ow, ow, the fuċks your problem!?"

"I asked you what your damn magic was!" Yami's gripped tightened.

"Ow, ow, ow, okay I'll tell you! Just let me go."

Finally hearing something he liked, Yami released Grim.

"Damn, you really don't hold back!" Grim rubbed his head.

Seeing that Grim still wasn't answering, Yami cracked his knuckles.

"You were saying?"

"Demon slaying!" Grim quickly answered. "Demon Slaying magic!"