Grey stared at himself through the cracked mirror. The bits of it that fell free, clattering against what remained of the bathroom counter, caught his reflection for brief, fleeting instances before he was erased from its presence.
The sparkling shards echoed outward with the sound of breaking glass, but it did nothing to snap him out of his trance.
Annoyance billowed up from the depths of Grey’s soul, mixing in with the rage he couldn’t quite control. The frustration of his own weakness kept bubbling up.
Maybe it was because of those scenes he had seen from the first two candidates that the Great Udon had picked out, but he felt like he was spinning his wheels for more reasons than just the loop itself.
This world was nothing but a joke to those Producers and the ones probably pulling even their strings. They treated Earth like it was just some casual side entertainment to kick things off because their real entertainment would speed run the start.
They had said exactly as much, as though their lives weren’t worth much more than making things a little bit more interesting. They probably didn’t even expect any of them to survive beyond the first act in the first place.
And here he was, wasting time against a little Holy Knight who wasn’t even well respected by his own people. It was hard to take things like this as they should come.
Grey wasn’t used to feeling so useless. Usually, back on Earth, if he wasn’t doing something, it was because he didn’t feel like it, not because he couldn’t.
Here, he didn’t seem to have the choice at all.
Grey’s fists clutched at the pieces that remained of the counter, but even what should have been the shocking result of his own strength felt so hollow. There was no way that just a few days ago he could have crushed a marble counter with his hands or shattered a mirror with a roar.
Yet what was that compared to leveling a city with a single attack?
A knock came at the door, the faint voice of Silva asking if everything was alright coming from the other side. Grey could only do his best to not snap. Where would that even get him? Even though he wanted to put a fist through anything with a little give right now, he clung to a small bit of rationality.
’There has to be a way. Don’t be a pussy, Grey.’
Grey took deep breaths and exhaled.
Just going back to the knighting ceremony wasn’t going to do anything for him. But because of where he set his checkpoint, he only had about an hour or so to work with. That wasn’t exactly a lot of time, but it wasn’t a minor amount of time either.
’If there’s no obvious solution, then there’s just one way to go about this. One step at a time.’
Grey stepped through the shards, his Level 8 Metal Body not even registering the pain. The shards couldn’t even penetrate his skin. The irony was that none of that mattered to Terran’s blade at all.
After cleaning himself up, Grey stepped out into the world and made his way to the lobby where the others were waiting for him. It seemed that Silva had gotten the hint and didn’t pursue what might have happened just now. Instead, he calmly ushered everyone into the autonomous carriage.
Grey hadn’t been all that interested in the carriage before, but right now he was trying his best to take in all the information he could, hoping that he would be able to grasp some inkling that would end up helping him in the end.
The carriage looked like it had been plucked right out of one of those vanity rides in the heart of New York City. But there was no driver and there were no horses. It was probably about 20% larger than one of those carriages though, and the wheels were a lot shinier and more steel-like and sturdy.
Within them, there were spinning gears and what were probably more complex mechanisms that Grey couldn’t quite understand at a glance. Though, that was probably because it was at least something crafted to an Established Class level, if not a tier above.
Grey shook his head. Unless he was planning on using the autonomous carriage as though it was some sort of tank, none of that information was of any use to him.
He stepped into the carriage and the ride began much the same as it always did. He tried to question Silva, but ran into the very same brick wall. The others didn’t seem to know anything either.
This time, Grey had been observing more of their expressions out of the corner of his eye, but judging by the balance of disgust and curiosity their faces sported, there was nothing to be seen. In that case, they probably didn’t know anything about the Holy Knight’s situation either. Not that he actually expected them to.
"Then if you can’t tell me about that, do you know anything about any newly appointed officials of the Church?"
Grey was obviously asking about Joaquin. He wanted to know if the silver fox would have anything to say about him.
"Newly appointed?" Silva nodded. "Ah, yes. I have heard of someone through the grapevine. Why do you ask?" Grey suddenly felt like he was the one being questioned all of a sudden. For whatever reason, Silva was very interested in knowing why he would be asking about this.
"I’m curious about how often the Church invites newcomers. There is a gap between normal knights and holy knights, no? I was wondering how close I was or how difficult it might be to take that step."
A frown came across Stella’s face. Clearly, she wasn’t a fan of Grey gaining more power. But thinking of the words that Baron Giyoto had spoken before, she forced herself to keep it down.
"I see." Silva nodded. "It is quite difficult to take that step. Becoming a Holy Knight is probably more difficult than becoming a Baron. But what I can tell you is that the person you speak of didn’t take this path. He awakened a rare Holy Type Frame that allowed him to be graced entry as a clergy of her Holiness. This status is technically much higher than a Holy Knight. Though he is but an apprentice, they must still show some small deference to him."