Chapter 39 - Monsters

Overflowing with mana, Grim's breathing was hurried as his stamina was reaching its breaking point.

Asta and Luck were both in a similar position, but just like Grim, the two of them were too caught up in this fight and neither wanted to give in.

---

"Are they going to stop soon?" Magna asked.

"Seems like they're at their limits." Vanessa casually said.

"Seems so." Yami nodded and got up. "Take them to their rooms once they collapse."

Switching to Breath of Wind, Grim dodged Luck's next swing and grabbed onto his collar.

'Gotcha!'

"Huh?" Surprised by his actions, Luck momentarily snapped out of battle crazed state.

Standing face to face with a stunned Luck, Grim's smile reflected in his eyes as he activated [Dust Whirlwind Cutter]. Surrounding his body in violent green winds, Grim who still holding onto Luck shot up high into the air until the two of them were above the base.

"What the hell?!" Asta said after seeing the two of them shoot into the air.

"Down you go!" Once they were high enough, Grim switched back to Breath of the Beast and used his enhanced strength to throw Luck towards the base with enough force that the sound of the wind whistling was heard by everyone on the ground.

*CRASH!!*

Crashing through the roof of one of the buildings, Luck finally stopped falling once his body made contact with the floor.

'So this... is my limit...'

Exhausting all of his remaining stamina in that last toss, Grim felt his eyelids grow heavy as he fell through the air and towards the earth.

"GRIM!!" Noelle screamed.

"Finral." Yami looked over at him.

Nodding his head, Finral opened up a portal beneath Grim and everyone watched as Grim's body vanished out of sight.

"Done."

"Good." Yami nodded before leaving.

"Wait, where is he?" Vanessa said confused at the fact that Finral hadn't opened up a portal next to them to bring Grim here.

"I opened up a portal to his room."

"You can do that!?" Noelle said in surprise.

"Pretty cool huh." Finral said with a smug expression.

"No, its actually really disgusting."

"Eh?"

"Going into someone's room whenever you want even if they lock the door. You're really disgusting."

"Pfftahahahahahahahahahahaha." Vanessa and Magna burst into laughter. "Oh god! She's got you pegged as a pervert!! Ahahahahahahahahahaha."

Watching his squad mates enjoying themselves, Asta's adrenaline finally started to calm down as he felt his body become heavy.

*Thud*

Dropping to the ground face first, sounds of his snores reached his teammates ears as they all turned to look at him.

"...Can you get him to his room?" Everyone looked at Finral.

"...."

---

*Yawn* 'What time is it...'

Waking up in his room, Grim felt a feeling of serenity wash over him as his body felt oddly refreshed. The fight against both Asta and Luck had really taken a lot out of him. Even with his versatile spells he still wasn't able to completely dominate the fight. In fact he had even lost himself in the process and enjoyed it. The feeling was quite new to him. He enjoyed crushing his enemies and driving them into a state of helplessness, but to actually enjoy the fight itself was definitely something he hadn't experienced before. That being said, his decision to fight against both of them seemed to have been the right one. Fighting against Luck always forced himself to evolve during battle, but who knew that Asta was also capable of pushing him this far.

That being said, it seemed like Asta and Luck also managed to improve aspects of their combat abilities as well.

'Even their growth is starting to become astounding. At this rate Yuno won't be the only one who can pressure me... I've got to get stronger even faster.'

Coming down from his battle high, Grim's personality returned to what it was before and allowed him to calmly analyze the situation.

Climbing out of the bed, he stretched his limbs and turned his attention to the outside of the window.

"What a nice day..."

---

"Hey Grim, wanna play some cards?"

Seeing Grim sitting down on the living space couch by himself, Vanessa wandered over with a pack of cards in her hand.

"Just us?" He asked.

"Yeah." She nodded. "Everyone else seems to be busy doing something."

"Oh... Guess that means its just us."

"Seems so." She smiled and started dealing the cards.

---

"So you don't have any memories prior to 5 years ago?"

"Pretty much."

"Woah, like aren't you curious about who you used to be? Or who your parents were or why you ended up in that forest?"

"Not really." He shook his head and picked up a card from the stack.

After playing cards with Vanessa for the past hour and a half, the two got to talking and discovered quite a bit about the other.

Remembering her own past and her own mother figure, Vanessa went silent for a minute before showing off a small smile.

"Family's overrated anyway. The Black Bull's are the only family you need."

"You think?"

"Yeah, don't you think they feel like family?"

"I wouldn't know, the whole amnesia thing remember."

"Oh yeah, but what about those people that you used to work with? Aren't they family?"

"Rebecca and the boss?"

"Yeah." She nodded. "You spent 2 years with them after all, surely you must feel something?"

Shrugging his shoulders, he thought back on his time with the boss and Rebecca.

'Did I ever view them as family?'

While Grim was thinking about this, Asta suddenly burst through the door.

"Grim!! What are you doing!!" He yelled when he saw him.

"Hmm?" Grim raised his head and answered calmly. "I'm playing cards."

"But what your promise to Rebecca?!"

"My what now?"

"You promised Rebecca that you'd visit the church today!"

"Did I?" He frowned not remember ever promising her anything.

"Yes! During the mixer remember!"

"I forgot you guys went on a mixer." Vanessa chuckled before taking a swig of her drink. "Since you all came back alone, I figured none of you got any actions so you came back to lick your wounds."

"I think that applies more to Finral than me and Asta." Grim added.

"That sounds right." Vanessa said before collecting all the cards.

"You're done playing?"

"Yeah, I'm feeling a bit tired at the moment."

"Oh, see you later then."

"Later." She got up and left.

"Grim!!"

*Sigh* "I'm coming Asta."