A Desperate Escape

"He-He did it..."

Feeling the devil's mana slowly begin to vanish, Asta and the others standing below watched as Zagred's ashes scattered through the winds and eventually disappeared with no traces of him left in this world.

"It's over..." Secre was the first one to speak. "Our 500 year long fight... Its finally over..." For the lone girl who had endured living alone for 500 years, watching as different eras of the Clover Kingdom passed by, she was finally able to let her emotions out as she looked up at the white haired youth surrounded by black winds and flashes of yellow lightning.

"Thank you."

---

'So this is what it feels like to kill a devil...'

*Clenches fist*

'How amusing.' Grim grinned basking in the light of his victory.

It was only when Asta screamed "GRIM!!" that he realized that Zagred's underworld magic hadn't vanished and was continuing to spread at an unprecedented rate destabilizing the Shadow Palace.

'SHIT!' He cursed looking around for an exit.

Unfortunately, no such exit existed. And while he didn't doubt he would somehow survive being swallowed by this underworld magic, he couldn't say the same for the others. But more importantly than that, even if he did somehow manage to survive he didn't want to be trapped in a dimension between the living and the dead.

'Fuck!'

Gripping his sword tightly, numerous thoughts raced through his head as his brain went into overdrive. And that's when it suddenly clicked.

"HEY YOU!" He turned to Licht. "Elf leader dude, or whatever your name is. Where's the exit to this place located?!"

"Huh?" Licht looked up at him confused to whether he was talking to him or someone else.

"Yes you retard! WHERE'S THE FUCKING EXIT!"

Not understanding what his words meant but realizing that he was asking him for where the exit was, it took a moment for Licht to search through his memories and find the closest exit.

"Below us!" He yelled. "The bottom floor is our only hope!"

'The bottom floor?'

Feeling his eyes flash with golden light, Grim looked at the previous hole in the floor that had been covered by the underworld magic.

*Deep breath*

Not knowing how long his elven state or Storm Magic would last, Grim bit his lip and decided to risk it all.

Feeling the magic around him begin to fluctuate, everyone couldn't help but slightly move away as stray bolts of lightning began firing off in all directions.

Having only attained [Breath of the Storm] recently, his control of it needed some refinement. But with time running out he could only trust himself to not fuck it up.

'Okay Grim, you can do this. Worst case scenario, you escape and everyone else dies... Or is that the best case scenario?'

"Grim is it?" Licht's voice suddenly sounded out as he appeared next to him. "I don't know what you're planning, but whatever it is you need to do it fast!"

"I know, I know, stop pressuring me dammit! This shit ain't easy and you're not helping! So do me a favour and SHUT THE FUCK UP WHILE I TRY TO SAVE US!"

Taken aback by his sudden outburst, Licht looked over at a crumbling Lumiere who merely shrugged his shoulders.

*BOOM!!*

Feeling the entire structure shake and knowing that their time was basically up, the black wind around Grim's body began to speed up as the flashes of lightning became more frequent.

Gritting his teeth, his head snapped in Lumiere and Patri's direction.

"Use your light magic to create a whip or rope or whatever and tie it around my legs."

"What?"

"NOW!!" He ordered.

Not understanding what exactly he planned to do, the two light magic mages did as they told and created their rope.

Seeing both strips of rope tied around his ankles, Grim nodded.

"Good. Now everyone hold on tight and do your best not to let go."

Not giving them a chance to question him, as soon as everyone had grabbed hold onto a part of the rope, Grim's magic once again flared up as he shot downwards pulling the various elves and magic knights along with him.

""WAAAHHHHH!!!""

Having combined both [Breath of Wind] and [Breath of Thunder] into [Breath of the Storm] through the use of solo union magic, Grim put all his faith in the belief that [Breath of the Storm] had the strengths of both styles and not their weaknesses.

'Okay, lets FUCKING GO!!'

As if sensing the massive amount of mana descending towards it, tendrils of underworld devouring magic suddenly shot up at them.

"GRIM WATCH OU-

*SWOOSH!!*

*SWOOSH!!*

*SWOOSH!!*

To everyone's surprise, instead of facing it head on in the usual Grim fashion, he agilely evaded the underworld magic in a way that was reminiscent of how he used wind magic. The only difference was that he somehow managed to keep his lightning fast speed steady.

'Fast as lightning, as free as wind... So this is what the magic knights of this era are capable of... incredible!' Lumiere's eyes shined.

Continuing to race downwards towards the giant blob of underworld magic blocking the hole in the floor.

Grim focused all his attention on that one area as he condensed the [Storm Blade] in his hand once more. Without any hesitation in his movements, he grabbed hold of the hilt of the sword and like a javelin, he threw it towards the centre of the underworld magic with enough force and ferocity the wind had no choice but to whistle and scream.

[Breath of the Storm: 1st Form - Heavens Fall!!]

Bellowing out the name of the spell in his mind, an unknown bolt of lightning tore through the sky above. Shooting past Grim and the others, it slammed itself into the butt of the blade causing its speed to accelerate to a whole new level and effortlessly tear through the underworld magic without any chance of resistance.

'What!!' Everyone's eyes widened.

And to add more insult to injury, the moment the tip of the blade touched the blockade, a current of violent black wind exploded out causing the surrounding underworld magic that was beginning to regenerate to be shredded into pieces!

Faced with such a devastating combo, it was only natural that a massive hole big enough to fit Grim and his burdens was formed.

---

'Wh-WHAT THE HELL JUST HAPPENED!!' Patri screamed internally as he watched Grim descend into the hole.

'Such raw destructive magic... No, I can't even call that thing magic! It was like watching a force of nature at work!'

As beings beloved by mana the most, Elves were naturally sensitive to its changes. So for someone like Patri to equate [Heaven's Fall] to a force of nature, it showed just how impressive the spell actually was. Even Licht couldn't help but mentally compliment it.

While the others were in awe of the spell, Grim had no time to concern himself with the thoughts of the burdens he lugging around as he continued racing after the [Storm Blade] while doing his best to maintain his speed and keep the effects of [Heavens Fall] active.

'To think Zagred's underworld magic had spread this far already... Devils... I can't wait to fight even more of you!!'

Surrounded by the fleshy purple underworld magic on all sides, Grim couldn't help but think positively about Zagred as he soared downwards.

In fact, despite the [Storm Blade] creating a tunnel for him to fly through, the underworld magic was continuing to regenerate at an astonishing speed. If he slowed down for too long there was no doubt in his mind that he and the rest of the magic knights would be devoured... Maybe it actually would be better to cut these guys loose now... For the greater good and all that. No point in all of them dying right?

"Erm guys." Asta's voice suddenly sounded out.

"Is it just me or is the tunnel behind us beginning to close faster than before?"

Hearing Asta's words, everyone besides Grim turned their heads to look back.

!!!

"The space above us has already been devoured causing the rate of the underworld magic's growth to accelerate!" Licht explained looking towards Grim whose face was starting to show signs of fatigue.