Chapter 56 - Trance

Breathing heavily, Grim flicked through his grimoire.

'Lets see what starting spells I've got.'

[Breath of Water - Third Form: Flowing Dance]

'Starting with another third form huh, reminds me of [Breath of Thunder]'

Holding back his urge to groan, he pushed himself up onto his feet.

*Crack*

"Ssssss..."

Popping his shoulder back into its socket, Grim seethed in pain and walked over to his broom.

'Based on my estimation, if I rest properly, I should heal up nicely within the next couple of days...But that'd mean I wouldn't have time to practice this new style... But it would mean that I could focus on practicing my mana control.'

Sighing to himself, he took to the air and flew back in the direction of the black bulls base.

While it would have easier to fight them as himself, Grim didn't like the fact that the secret behind the ways he gains new styles would be exposed. Fighting as the masked pervert was way easier as it allowed him to have fun with them while also getting what he wanted. Besides, it would take too long to officiate and official match anyway.

'I wonder how things are going with the others?'

---

-Seabed Temple-

'Seriously... We're definitely screwed.'

Feeling the intense mana radiating off the three eyed figure. Finral felt like he and the rest of the black bulls were ants facing off against a giant.

Sweating at the sight of Vetto, Finral regretted the fact that he couldn't die in the arms of a beautiful women.

"You think you three can stop me! Ahahahahahaha!! I'll crush you like the insects that you are!!"

"Oh? Didn't think you'd make it." Vanessa laughed.

"You really don't have faith in me do you?"

Instead of answering, Vanessa smiled and turned to look at Noelle and the unconscious members of the black bulls.

"You have enough mana to protect the others right?"

*Nods*

"I'll leave them to you then."

'Not to mention this guys mana, even his attacks are overpowered, if any of get hit by them it'll be lights out.'

"Fighting a guy like this really makes me want to cry." Finral sighed.

"If we win this, I'll hug you and let you cry on my shoulder."

"SERIOUSLY!!" Finral said fired up.

Switching from playful to serious, Vanessa took a proper look at the three eyed Vetto.

"Normal magic attacks aren't gonna work on this guy, we're gonna have to rely on your anti magic Asta, think you can handle it?"

*Flashback to him and Grim on the roof*

*Flashback to him and Yuno as kids*

"Yeah." He nodded. "I told both of them to watch as I become wizard king... I'm not about to let this guy make a liar out of me."

"Asta..." Seeing the look of determination in his eyes, Vanessa smiled gently.

"Focus on hitting him, we'll make sure that you won't die, right Finral."

"Yeah." Finral nodded looking uncharacteristically serious.

---

Sitting cross legged on his bed, Grim took in a deep breath and focused on controlling the massive quantity of mana in his body.

After debating with himself during the journey back to the base, he finally settled on practicing mana control. While increasing his combat ability [Breath of Water] would have been good, the thought of him being unable to fight someone like Licht because he couldn't hit him deterred him.

*Sigh* 'This isn't working... Maybe if I focus on an element that allows for such an ability then I might gain some inspiration.'

[Breath of Wind]

Letting the green glow surround him, Grim focused on the attributes that this element granted him.

'Weightless, formless, ever changing.'

Focusing on the element of wind, Grim's attention slowly started slipping as he found himself entering a trance.

'Flexible, invisible and everywhere... Kind of like mana...'

Lost in this trance, Grim didn't notice how the mana around him was starting to surround and embrace him. Brushing across his body, the objects in his room started to shake and levitate.

'Mana is everywhere...'

Mana is love...'

'Mana is life...'

Breathing lightly to the point that it seemed like had stopped, Grim's body started suċkɨnġ in the surrounding mana and releasing it.

It is said that those born with an abundance of mana are chosen and loved by mana. A person with a lot of mana can do do a lot of things.

Entering his body, the surrounding mana started nourishing him and fixing the previous injuries he had sustained.

Breathing calmly, a serene look appeared on Grim's face.

Coming into contact with the mana, the blood in Grim's body started rustling as a faint glow surrounded it before disappearing.

[Demon Slaying Magic: Total Concentration Constant]

Floating in front of him, new words appeared on the first page of the grimoire.

*Releasing a breath*

Slowly opening his eyes, Grim felt like he was renewed. The previous pain he felt from getting hit by Sol and Risacca's attacks could bȧrėly be felt. Even his breathing was weirdly stable.

"Hmm?" Noticing his floating grimoire, Grim raised an eyebrow and looked at the new shining page.

[Demon Slaying Magic: Total Concentration Constant]

Reading the words on the page, a flurry of new information flooded into his brain as various panels from the Demon Slayer appeared in his head.

Breathing heavily from the tax that the new information put on his brain, Grim looked at his grimoire in surprise.

'Did I achieve it already?'

Total Concentration Constant was a passive ability in which the user of Demon Slaying magic could keep a single breath style active at all times without it interfering with the others. This effectively meant that he could use one of the passive abilities granted to him by a specific style as a base. While he wouldn't be able to use the swords while having another breath style active, the enhancement that the base style grants him wouldn't disappear.

Now he just had to think about which breath style to use as his base.