NOVEL NEXT Chapter 250: Second Chances
"If I'm seeing you, I guess I really did die."
Standing in the middle of his mindscape and looking at the distorted figure of the all powerful King, Grim smiled.
"So what now?" He asked. "Gonna chastise me? Call me a failure? Tell me how disappointed you are?"
"Oh? Do I really give off that impression?" King looked at him funny.
Shrugging his shoulders, Grim plopped down next to him no longer giving a damn.
Seeing his actions, King shook his head and smiled as the two stared off into the distance.
"You did well Grim." He finally spoke breaking the silence. "You fought 4 Supreme Devils back to back without taking a break and still won. You should feel proud."
"Proud?... Heh, yeah I guess so."
Sighing loudly he looked up at the sky and cursed.
"Fuuuck~"
Tilting his head to the side, King asked. "What's wrong?"
"It's just... so frustrating you know?"
*Sigh*
Closing his eyes, he took in a deep breath.
"I worked hard you know. I wasn't like the others. I didn't rely on any external factors nor did I use magic techniques created by others. *Shakes head* I carved out a path that was mine and mine alone. I did something that few could ever claim to do. I fought devils, killed terrorists, vanquished deceased kings and battled revenge fuelled elves that were thought to have been long extinct and lost to the annals time. And the amalgamation of all that... The [0th Form]... It was everything that I ever wished it to be. Unrefined as it was. It was special... it was mine."
Reminiscing on all his past experiences while staring up at the sky, his lips couldn't help but form themselves into a soft smile.
"But I could have done more... I could have been so much more..."
"...Do you regret your choices?" King asked.
*Shakes head*
"I don't." He smiled. "I did everything that I set out to do. Saying anything else would be selfish."
"But you are selfish."
"...Yeah *smiles* I guess you're right..."
"..."
"...Vanica..." He finally said. "I wish I could have saved her."
Looking at Grim, King found himself smiling.
"I regret not being able to reach my full potential... Not seeing where my limits lay and then overcoming them. I regret not being able to refine the [0th Form] and fight Lucifero again. I regret not getting the chance to train my kids and start a real human vs elf world war. FUUUCK! Just thinking about it pisses me off!"
"Yeah." King chuckled. "Death usually has that effect on some people."
Rolling his eyes, Grim laughed sarcastically and said - "Well aren't you a comedian."
*Shrugs* "Was I wrong though?"
"Fuck off."
"Heh." He smirked getting one over on him.
"But still, I think you're luckier than most."
"What do you mean?" He frowned.
Smiling mysteriously, he looked the young demon slayer up and down.
"You know Grim, talent may get you to the top, but its not enough to keep you there."
"..."
"Your hard work, it wasn't for nothing, and your journey... it isn't over just yet."
"... I swear King, if this is a joke-
"You haven't even realized it have you? From the moment you activated that [0th Form] of yours everything changed. Your body, all this time its been in a state of constant flux. Slowly reconfiguring itself from the cells upwards to better accommodate the form. You could even call it a form of evolution."
"Better accommodate the form?"
"Mmm, that's not even the funny part. Your arrival in the underworld... it helped you out even more than you could possibly imagine."
"What do you mean?"
"Being in the Underworld... In this environment coursing with so much negative mana... For an elf such as yourself, it was a huge shock to your system. And with your impending death quickly closing in, your body's natural self preservation instincts seems to have kicked in. In order to compensate for your rapidly declining health and your lack of access to pure mana, your body seems to have entered into an extreme state of fight or flight. Thankfully your body was already in the midst of evolving. This situation just seemed to accelerate it."
"But to evolve don't I need to be-
"Alive? That's what makes this whole thing so funny! Your death is what triggered your evolution! Even as your final breath left your body. [All Devouring] activated by itself and forcibly pulled it back."
"I don't understand. How can this be?"
"[Total Concentration]." He cut him off. "Do you remember it?"
"Total Concentration?" He repeated back remembering the time he chose to permanently incorporate the power of [Breath of the Beast] into his base.
!!!
That's when it hit him.
The [0th Form] is a [Breath of the Beast] spell!
"You're finally starting to get it." King grinned. "[Total Concentration] incorporates all of the [Breath of the Beast] power into your base. The moment you activated the [0th Form], [Total Concentration] registered it as a part of your base state. But since the power difference between it and your base was so drastically different, your body had no choice but to evolve in order to handle the power increase."
"You mean-
His eyes twinkled.
"Yep! You just overcame death and got even stronger than before. By the time you wake up, you'll be on a whole different level."
A whole different level...
Those words repeated themselves in his head.
"Ha...Ha...HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!"
'I survived! This is not the end!'
Who said people die when they are killed? Get that weak shit outta here! Not even death could stop me!
'Lucifero... *grins* I'm coming for you!'
While Grim was busy thinking about what he would do to the poor devil king, King was looking at him was proud eyes.
"This second chance of yours, I'm looking forward to seeing what you'll do with it."