Chapter 64 - Control

Looking up to the flying Salamander surrounded by fire and crystals, Grim couldn't help but marvel at Fana's sudden rise in mana due to her third eye.

'So this is the third eye that Asta and the others were talking about.'

Unable to help himself, Grim found himself grinning at the situation.

"Hey Grim, we're in real trouble aren't we?" Vanessa asked even though she already knew the answer.

"Maybe." He shrugged.

"Maybe? In that case, can you explain why you're smiling?"

"You feel it don't you?"

"What?"

"The blood flowing in your veins, the beating of your heart, every instinct in your body telling you to run. You feel it don't you?" He looked over.

"I- Yeah."

"Isn't it exhilarating." He grinned.

"...Not exactly."

"Ha!"

Stepping forward, Grim's mana started rising.

[Breath of Flames]

Switching to this fire magic, Grim used the fact that he had some fire resistance to get closer to them.

"I hate you, I hate you, I hate you, I hate you, I hate you, I hate you, I hate you, I hate you, I hate you, I hate you, I hate you, I hate you, I hate you, I hate you, I hate you, I hate you, I hate you, I hate you, I hate you, I hate you."

'Wow, she really likes to talk... Kind of like that Licht guy now that I think about it... At least that guy could say more than three words.'

"I hate you."

"Really? I never would have guessed."

"Grim!" Finral called. "Due to the surge of mana in the area I can't create any portals!"

"Then use a broom to take the others and escape." Grim called back without turning around.

"Escape? What about you."

"I'm gonna go knock her out the sky." He pointed at the pink haired psycho.

'Pink haired psycho... Why am I getting some weird deja vu?'

"Are you crazy!" Vanessa yelled. "You can't fight that thing!"

"Watch me." He grinned before using his increased mana control and fire magic to combust and explode the area between his soles and the ground.

"GRIM!!" She screamed as he shot upwards towards the enemy.

"DIE!!" Fana shrieked as she threw both fire, spirit and crystal magic at him.

"You first!!"

[Breath of Wind: Dust Whirlwind Cutter]

Using this spell to evade the attacks, Grim activated it in short bursts.

Watching the exchange from the ground, Asta, Vanessa and Finral were awestruck.

"He's actually fighting against her... and not losing." Finral muttered with wide eyes.

"Is it just me... or is Grim a lot stronger than before?" Vanessa asked.

"Cool!!" Asta's eyes shone. "If me and Luck fought him now, I don't think we'd win! But just you wait Grim! I definitely won't lose next time we fight!"

"Hey guys! What's going o-oh what the hell!!"

"Hmm?" Hearing a familiar voice behind them, the trio turned around.

"Oh, hey Noelle." They waved.

"Don't hey Noelle me! What the hell is that!" She pointed at the explosions in the sky.

"That? Grim's fighting the Salamander and that Fana girl." The three said causally.

*RAAWWRR!!*

Salamander screamed as Grim used the force behind [Rengoku] to slam it into the ground and causing the earth to shake as its landing created a crater.

'So fire magic works on this thing as well... Neat.'

"..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"Isn't he stronger than before?" Noelle looked to the others.

Their response was a "I don't know" shrug.

'Who knew that being able to control my mana to this extent would allow me to separate the heat from my attack and only leave the overwhelming force.'

*Cough* *Cough*

Dragging her body out from the crater, Fana coughed up a nice mouthful of blood.

"Y'know, my fire's not as hot as your Salamander's, but since you were also using crystal magic to fight, shouldn't you have lasted a little longer?"

Standing a bit away from her, a look of disappointment covered Grim's face.

Biting her lip, rage consumed Fana.

"I'll KILL Y-

*BANG!!*

"Get some new lines."

Using [Unknowing Fire] to flash in front of her, Grim kicked her in the side of her jaw and sent her sprawling back to the Salamander before she could complete her catchphrase.

---

-Witch Queen's throne room-

Standing in her tattered throne room the Witch Queen watched over the many battles happening in her territory. But the one that drew her attention the most was Grim's ability to fight the Salamander.

'To think he'd grow this much in such a short amount of time... I have to take him now before he's allowed to grow further.'

---

-Another battlefield-

"What *huff* the hell did they do to him!" Fanzell asked as both he and Mars dodged Ladross's [Million Laser] spell.

"After you left, he took the military reconstructive surgery and gained the ability to absorb and expel magic."

"WHAT!!" Fanzell looked shocked.

Ignoring his surprise, Mars kept speaking.

"If we hope to beat him, we only have two options."

"What are they?"

"The first is to feed him more mana than his body can handle . For that to work we'd need spirit magic, the Queen of this forest or... *Grim Flashback*... never mind."

"What's the other?"

"Anti-magic."

---

"Whoa! You actually beat her." Asta said after Grim joined the group.

"Did you get stronger?" Vanessa asked.

"In a sense." He nodded.

"How?! You've been doing nothing but sitting around the base all this time." Finral added.

"Well as it turns out, improving the way you control your own mana can actually be really effective."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"Grim... You do know the reason Noelle's been having so much trouble is because she couldn't control her mana right?"

"Yeah, but our situations are different, while she couldn't control her mana, I just never saw the need to put in too much effort in obtaining a greater degree of control."

"But now you have?"

"Yeah. You saw it didn't you." He indicated to Fana and the Salamander.

"Still... Isn't this increase in power too much?" Vanessa asked still unable to wrap her head around this.

"Not really, I've always had this much power, its just that I've only been able to bring it out recently."

"No wonder you were smiling when she revealed her third eye... You never even considered the possibility of yourself losing."

"Seriously?" Finral asked with a cramped smile.

"Mana control..." Noelle muttered.

"Cool!!"

Smiling at their reactions, even Grim could hardly believe his elevation in power. To think that just tweaking the ways in which he utilized his mana would give off such an extreme reaction. But this was only the first step, if he was going to grow even stronger than he was he'd need to further grasp his control of mana.

"How dare you..."

"Hmm?"

Feeling a fluctuation in mana from behind, Grim and the others turned around.

"How dare you, how dare you! HOW DARE YOU!!"

*BOOM!!*

*RAAWWRRR!!!*

"Whoa!" Releasing another wave of mana, Fana crawled to her feet as her eyes locked with Grim's, But instead of say her usual catchphrase, she merely raised her arm.

'Seriously? This three eyed bitch can still stand?'

"ASTA!!" Fanzell yelled from the distance as both he and Mars were running from Ladross.

"Fanzell?"

[Spirit Magic: Salamander's Breath]

*BOOM!!*

'Its coming.'

"Hit that fireball towards me!!" Fanzell screamed.

Confused by the order, Grim chose to stand back and let Asta run in front and use the flat side of his blade to deflect the fireball towards Mars and Fanzell.

"Now!" Fanzell yelled as he used his wind magic to push him and Mars out the way of the attack.

"WAHH!!" Ladross's eyes widened as the fireball engulfed him.