Chapter 22 - Lotus

Shortly after Grim and Luck had left them alone, Asta and Noelle ended up running into some old friends.

"Yuno."

"Asta."

Standing ahead of Asta and Noelle were three members of the Golden Dawn. The first one was the black haired childhood friend of Asta's Yuno, next to him was a girl with vermillion coloured hair with a gentle smile on her face and a voluptous ċhėst that put Noelle's iddy biddy lil tiddies to shame.

[A/n: Don't know why I wrote that, Noelle's not even flat...]

Standing face to face for the first time since the magic knight's exam, both boys looked at the other with a competitive fire burning in the other's eyes.

"YUNO!!" Shouting out the name of his squad member, the last person in Yuno's team took a step forward with a look of disgust that resembled Noelle's the first time she met Grim and Asta plastered across his face.

---

-Deeper in the dungeon-

"Seeing as how you're not panicking, I'm guessing that you're the boss?" Grim looked at the mustached man who merely smiled back.

"Oho, such a wonderful youthful spirit... Must be nice." The man stroked his goatee and answered in a relaxed tone.

"Hey Grim..." Luck called his name. "He's strong..."

"I know..." Grim could bȧrėly hold his smile back as the thought of crushing someone who he recognized as strong nearly pushed him over the edge.

Seeing the fire in his eyes, Luck's own smile grew wider.

"So... Who gets him first?"

Watching the two young men converse, the diamond kingdom mage observed the two of them closely noting down a couple of things in the process.

From Luck, he noticed that he had clad his limbs in lightning armour and most likely used them enhance his speed and close quarter abilities.

Grim on the other hand was easier to read as his previous fight showed off his innate agility and accuracy with those jaggered swords of his. From this he guessed that he was a similar to Luck, a close quaters fighter.

But having made it this far in his career, he didn't opt out the possibility that they could use long distance spells.

"Hey old guy!" Grim called out.

"Hmm?" He lifted up his head.

"We're having trouble deciding which of us should fight you first so can you do us a favor a decide for us?"

'Well... it would be quite troublesome to fight the two of you at the same time... I guess if I had to choose an option it would be NIGERUNDAYO!!"

[A/n: That is what us cultured men call a high class reference]

"Huh?" Confused by what he had just said Grim and Luck stood stunned by his words while he proceeded to run away.

"..."

"..."

"...First one to land a hit on him gets to fight first?"

"Deal!"

---

"Looks like I've escaped fufu." While the blacked haired man was chuckling to himself, his body sudden jumped to the left as his danger senses sky rocketed!

And lucky for him he did, if he was any slower than that, Grim's beast swords would have impaled him from behind.

"What a dangerous young man."

Watching the swords fly off into the distance, the goatee man felt a single bead of sweat roll down his cheek."

"YOU'RE MINE!!" Appearing above him clad in his lightning armour, Luck outstretch hand reached for him.

Not wanting to be caught by him, the goatee man waved his hand in front of Luck and created a large smoke cloud that engulfed himself and a bit of the surrounding area.

*SWOOSH!!*

"Huh?" Passing through the smoke and appearing on the other side, a look of surprise appeared on Luck's face. "Smoke?"

'Smoke?'

Catching up to the smoke cloud, the glow around Grim changed as yellow light congealed on his body.

[Breath of Thunder- Third Form: Thunder Swarm]

Diving head first into the smoke cloud with a confident look on his face, he released a spinning wave of lightning that attacked all directions.

"Oho! Taking advantage of the thick cover of smoke to launch an area of effect attack. Not a bad tactic." Bursting out from the top of the smoke cloud, the black haired man avoided getting struck by Grim's attack and complimented him on his actions. "But I gotta say, that lightning magic of yours really surprised me, never would have thought that your actual magic would be the same as that other boy's."

Landing back on the ground, the black haired man still had the same relaxed expression on his face as he looked at the two boys. "So young yet so powerful, *sigh* looks like the future of the Clover Kingdom will be a prosperous one. As a citizen of the Diamond Kingdom I humbly ask for your forgiveness for all the grievances that my kingdom has caused you. But you have to understand that unlike our kingdom, yours is filled so much resources that we have no choice but to attack in order to sustain our own. *Sigh* Living can be so hard... You see I have three daughters and I'd hate if they had to suffer becaus-

Flashing in front of him, both Grim and Luck slashed down.

*BANG!!*

"Ah... So much energy." Narrowly dodging their strike, the black haired diamond mage looked at the destroyed area that he was previously standing at.

""I don't care what your reason for fighting is, as long as I get to fight/crush strong opponents then I'm happy."" Grim and Luck said in union.

"Ah, you're about to make this old man cry."

---

*BANG!!*

*BANG!!*

Having still not managed to land an attack on him yet, Grim and Luck continued their competition as they slowly started destroying the area around them.

"So destructive... You guys need to calm that raging spirit of yours if you ever want to attract a nice girl."

"Who cares about that!" Slowly adapting to the black haired man's tactics, Grim and Luck felt the end of their competition closing in.

Feeling the pressure on his person build up, the relaxed expression on the black haired man's face started to become strained as he felt his fatigue slowly catching up with him.

"Those robes... You're members of the black bulls huh."

"You know about us?" Grim asked not slowing down his attacks in the slightest.

"Ah well, I had a little bout with your captain in the past. He even gave me this lovely scar." The black haired man dodged a bolt of lightning while pointing at a long sword scar on his ċhėst.

"Woah! You fought Yami!" Luck exclaimed shooting more lightning at him.

"Sure did, he's the only man younger than me that I was never able to beat."

"Who won?" Grim asked slashing his sword at his face.

"We got interrupted before we could finish." The black haired man ducked under the sword and answered. "Hasn't your captain ever talked about Lotus of the abyss before?"

"Nope! [Lightning Creation Magic: Thunderclap Crumbling Orb]"

[A/n: Honestly triggers me whenever I write thunderclap and not add "and flash" on the end.]

"Well isn't that heart breaking." Lotus responded after avoiding Luck's lightning orbs.

'If he fought the captain without losing... Doesn't that mean that if I beat him I'll be one step closer to crushing Yami?'

Renewed with more fighting spirit than before, Grim couldn't tell this but his attack speed had suddenly increased by another level.

Faced with an even more energetic Grim who was using Breath of the Beast and the annoying attacks from Luck's lightning orbs, Lotus was slowly starting to be pushed into a corner.

'These kids... they're evolving in battle...'

"Hahaha! Grim I'm gonna win- huh?" Suddenly losing his sense of balance, Luck toppled to the floor before getting up again.

"What the hell?"

"So its finally kicked in at last." Lotus laughed and put some distance between himself and the boys.

"What did you do!?"

"Ah." Placing his hand on his forehead, Lotus made a smug smile. "To tell you the truth, this whole space is concealing my magic right now."

"Impossible!" Grim denied. "If that was the case we would have sensed it long ago."

"Oh but you did. Its just a shame that with all the magic you two have been throwing around so far, you wouldn't realize such a weak magic spreading around the area poisoning you while your focus was concentrated on landing a hit on me in order to win your bet."

"But when did you have the time to activate it? Me and Luck have been watching you the whole time! There's no way we'd miss you casting such a spell no matter how covert you were."

"You'd be correct in ȧssuming that. Good thing I casted it as soon as you guy came into this area."

"You mean before we even fought your minions?"

"Yep."

"But how would you even know you'd need such a spell in order to defeat us?"

"Ah, that youthful radiance you guys were giving off was more than enough to make me cautious."

"Erm Grim... " Luck interrupted, "I don't feel so good."

[A/n: *Salutes* Yes I did just add that reference.]

"Looks like its already set in." Lotus spoke while looking at Luck's dreary state. "Now then." He focused his attention back on Grim. "Since you're about to fall into the same predicament as your friend over there, I sugest you take a long nap and wait until we're gone." Turning his back on the boys, he waved his hand and set off.

"Gone you say?" Grim's voice reached his ears. "I'm sorry to say this but... I seem to have a bit of resistance to poison."

"Hmm?" Lotus stopped in his tracks.

"Hey Luck, I guess this means I win the bet by default."

"Heh, don't think you can get rid of me when things have finally started to become fun." Pushing himself up into a standing position, lightning crackled on Luck's figure as his infamous smile paired up with Grim's.

Seeing the two of them standing up and shaking off the effects of the poison, Lotus sighed and turned back around. "Ah youth... How enviable."