224 Nine Tails

Honestly speaking, based purely on mana capacity, the fused devil was stronger than Grim. Unfortunately for her, [Breath of the Kitsune] was not only the bane of all fire users, it also held the elemental advantage against ice.

And as for that final punch? Well no one in this universe really trains their physical bodies.

Simply put... The game was rigged from the start.

***

Hearing the playful way in which Grim described his plans of turning her into his plaything, the despair in the fused devil's heart had finally reached its limit.

"AGGGHHHHHHH!!!"

Screaming out at the top of her lungs and pushing her damaged body past its limits, she dug down deep and pulled out the last embers of rebellion within her.

So you still had some fight in you eh.

*FWOOSH!!*

With a single flap of her wings, she shot up into the air and threw the snow into disarray.

'I WILL SURVIVE!!'

Moving faster than she had ever done before, she easy cleared the distance between her and the clouds.

"Oho. Would ya look at that."

Watching the Devil's last attempt at escape, Grim used his hand to shield his eyes from the sun as tired looking Nacht hobbled his way over to him.

"You aren't going after her?"

Turning to him, Grim flashed a smile.

"I will... Once she's built up enough hope."

"..."

'Thank god he's on our side.'

Zooming through the air with blood leaking out of her eyes, it was just like Grim had predicted. The flames of hope had reignited in the fused devil's heart. Unfortunately, something unexpected happened.

'Hahahah! He's not chasing me!... I've escap-'

Before she could finish celebrating, the sight of burning petals falling from the sky caused her to stop.

"No..." She whispered.

Turning back, the sight of Grim standing below with a wide smile on his face burned its way onto her eyes.

'H-He's playing around...'

Realizing that she was still in the palm of his hand, the flames of hope that had just been re-lit vanished without a trace.

'I can't escape him...'

"Ha...Ha...Hahahahahahahahahahaha." Grabbing the front of her face and throwing her head back in despair, laughter filled with anguish and pain echo all throughout the kingdom.

" Hahahahahahahaha!! I'm going to die!! I'M GOING TO DIE!" 

Finally snapping from all the mental blows, the corners of the fused devil's lips curved upwards.

Laughing it up and raising both hands up to the side like some religious zealot, her mana started to rise and fluctuate wildly.

"DEATH DEATH DEATH."

Combining the power of both Nahamah and Lilith together, magic of a dark nature started to form as the space of above her head started to expand as ice and fire fused together and took on the form of a giant-

[Freezing Sun]

Putting her everything into it, even her own life force, madness flashed through her eyes as she pointed at Grim and grinned.

***

Facing the descent of the [Freezing Sun], it wasn't hard for Grim to deduce the fused devil's thought process. Even if she knew that such an attack wouldn't kill him, if he failed to stop it his pride would be injured. And because of the type of person Gtrim was, there's no way he wouldn't try to take the attack head on.

'Devils... You truly are the greatest playthings!'

"Erm Grim?"

Feeling the immense power of the [Freezing Sun], Nacht looked towards the grinning Grim.

"Hmm?"

"You can stop this... right?"

Looking back at the falling sun, the only word to leave his mouth was an excited "Nope."

Removing the mask off his face, a look of anticipation flashed through his eye.

"An attack like this... I truly can't stop it."

In fact, if the [Freezing Sun] hit the surface, not only would every citizen in this kingdom die, but the Spade kingdom would be wiped off the face of this earth.

As for his current options... It was too big for a detonation of Sakura petals to deal with, its mass exceeded his [Red Sun]'s level of gravity control. Even if he used [Fire Thief] to siphon off its flames, at that size it would take too long and he would still have to deal with the remaining sun sized ice ball.

Simply put, his current level of power wasn't enough...

But-

*BADUMP!*

"You made one mistake devil."

*BADUMP!*

Switching to [Breath of Wind] for a second, the breeze carried a message from him to the fused devil.

"This world, it isn't your playground-

*Pulls Kitsune mask down like a balaclava*

"It's mine."

!!!

Listening to the almost inhumane way he said that, a tingle ran down the fused devil's spine.

'Why... WHY CAN'T I STOP HIM!

IT WASN'T SUPPOSED TO BE LIKE THIS!

IT SHOULDN'T BE LIKE THIS!

This... THIS ISN'T FUN ANYMORE!'

I-I want to go home...

With the [Freezing Sun] now so close that it took up the majority of the sky, Grim felt his heart quicken as his feet left the ground.

"Yeah."

[Breath of the Kitsune : 1st Tail - Foxfire]

"This is what I needed."

[Breath of the Kitsune : 2nd Tail - Burning Sakura]

"The thing the wizard kings couldn't give me."

[Breath of the Kitsune : 3rd Tail - Fox Trot]

"The thing the Dark Triad couldn't give me."

[Breath of the Kitsune : 4th Tail - Rightful Ignition]

"The thing even the twin devils couldn't give me."

[Breath of the Kitsune : 5th Tail - Blaze Born]

"I finally have it now."

[Breath of the Kitsune : 6th Tail - Flare Cloak]

"A REASON TO GO ALL OUT!!"

"GRIM!!"

*BOOOM!!*

Ignoring Nacht and leaving the ground behind to charge the [Freezing Sun]. The air around him started vibrating.

"I'M COMING DEVIL!!"

Soaring through the air at an insane speed, his drained mana pool started filling back up as the world started pouring its mana into him.

[Breath of the Kitsune : 7th Tail - Red Sun]

Unlike the humans of the Clover kingdom who used natures mana to gain access to ultimate magic, Grim took full advantage of his elven genes and the fact that his race was beloved by mana to refill his draining pool and negate the large mana drain from using both the Kitsune mask and [Solo Union].

[Breath of the Kitsune : 8th tail - Fire Thief]

Soaring through the air and forgetting about the world around him. Now that all eight tails had sprouted and with the ninth emerging, the air around Grim was quickly changing. Even the fused devil was taken aback. Despite losing her mind to the constant mental abuse, the change in Grim's aura filled her with a rising sense of dread.

And then it happened, the ninth tail sprouted.

[Breath of the Kitsune : 9th tail - 9 Flames Annihilation]

With the appearance of the ninth tail, everything changed.

Similar to the lightning orbs that appeared around Luck when he used [Lightning Battle Fiend], the moment the ninth tail spawned, nine balls of different coloured flames formed behind his back.

But unlike Luck, the feelings the flames gave off were... different.

-Foxfire

-Hellfire

-Blood Fire

-Spirit Fire

-Cold Fire

-Divine Flames

-Sacred Flames

-Void Flames

-Astral Flames

Thanks to the fact that grimoire's were connected to the soul, Grim was able to forged a brief connection with King's other incarnations and use this world's mana to manifest their flames into his grimoire.

Controlling the floating flames and forcibly fusing them all together, a singular flame with shifting colours formed in the palm of his hand.

Copying the way in which Nahamah and the fused devil used their [Devil Fire] to create a beam, Grim stood in front of the [Freezing Sun] and held in right arm out and whispered-

"Annihilate."

"N-NOOOOOOO!!"

Watching as the beam crashed into her [Freezing Sun], the fused devil could only watch in horror as the attack that she put her all into was erroding away before her very eyes. Now that the flames of annihilation had been unleashed, it spread throughout every inch of the [Freezing Sun] annihilating its magical and physical properties until nothing remained.

"So this is it..."

Having put her lifeforce into the [Freezing Sun], she no longer had the strength to avoid the beam.

Watching as its glow filled her eyes, she took one last look at the smiling Grim.

'I see...'

Closing her eyes and accepting her fate, she let the beam engulf her.

'I really never stood a chance from the start.'