Grey took a breath and his entire body seemed to settle in. There was a ripple that erupted and his muscles bulged.
Deep within his body, his bones turned an ashy black color and his blood rolled as though it had been doped.
He exhaled a breath, his Vampire Lord Frame erupting out with its full potential. His body emitted streams of crimson, his canines lengthening just a bit even beneath his Skrill Mask.
BANG.
It felt like something holding him back had popped and his muscles became limber all at once. An understanding of his abilities and how they related and connected with one another flooded into his mind and he grinned wildly, meeting the downward stroke of Silva’s one claw with both of his short blood swords.
BANG.
Grey pivoted, his body twisted as he twirled into a cyclone of slashes. Blood flooded to his brain.
—
[Lv. 1 Crimson Cognition > Lv. 2 Crimson Cognition]
—
The world slowed to a crawl around him, his pupils constricting into such fine circles it almost looked as though he didn’t have them at all. An iris of blood red nearly swallowed all the whites of his eyes, a creeping edge of blackness forming in lines of thin capillary veins woven in its stead.
Every change that occurred to him simply felt more demonic than the last. And every one of them only made him stronger.
In his spin, his back turned to Silva and the latter sought to take advantage, erupting with a roundhouse that whistled through the air and cut the wind as though a blade.
But it was like Grey could feel the pressure of the wind against his back even through his robes. He sensed the sway of the hairs that covered his body, the danger itself prickling against his scalp.
And he reacted in kind.
His body dipped down, his knees bending and the twirl of his blade descending right across Silva’s plant foot.
A roar of pain erupted from the silver fox man. His flesh was torn to shreds, but his bone repelled Grey’s blades, only faintly chipping.
Grey leapt back to his feet, tapping at the ground and accelerating back and away from another wild swing by Silva, only to close the distance even more quickly than before.
Not wasting even a moment of time, Grey accelerated forward, watching as the swing of Silva’s claw passed by his nose.
He could feel his stamina rapidly draining with every passing second, but it was like every aspect of the battle was in the palm of his hands. He could account for everything even down to the rhythm of his breath and how it synced with his attacks.
—
[Lv. 2 Crimson Cognition > Lv. 3 Crimson Cognition]
—
He comboed into one slash after another. He didn’t seem to care that he couldn’t cut through Silva’s bone, and he cared even less about the fox man’s rapid regeneration. He was a shadow of crimson and black, untouchable and relentless.
Every swing seemed to erupt with a greater and greater frustration, his movements becoming more wild and bestial.
And then he found the perfect moment.
He swayed to one side as Silva’s claw thrust past him. In the same motion, his short blood sword pierced upward, catching the gap between the fox man’s claws once again and twisting.
Without missing a single beat or even waiting for Silva to cry out in pain, Grey roared, slashing down with all his might.
Chi.
Silva roared. It didn’t stop the outcome in the slightest.
A savage twist and slash shattered his claws and ripped them from his hands. Blood spurted and the fox man tumbled forward, right into a knee that Grey threw from his side.
Silva’s nose bent inward, his world spinning as Grey kicked at his ankles, sending him twirling end over end in the air.
BANG.
Grey cut down with an elbow from above and right into Silva’s sternum. Blood pulsed out from his body, forming a black cauterized shield against it.
—
[Lv. 2 Iron Veil > Lv. 3 Iron Veil]
—
BANG.
Silva’s head rebounded against the ground and his daze practically became a permanent fixture as Grey thrust his short swords down and through the slight gaps in his rib cage, pinning him to the ground.
Another roar echoed. But this time, it was entirely Grey’s own.
He raised a foot and pressed it down right above Silva’s heart.
"I’m going to give you one chance." Grey said in a growl, ignoring all the commotion around him. "Tell me what the deal with Captain Terran is right now, or I kill you. Those are your options."
A deep growl came from Silva’s throat, but it quickly became a whimper as Grey pressed down even harder.
"Speak."
Silva’s defiance remained strong, but Grey still had one ability in his back pocket. As crimson streams of foggy ruby danced around him, the call of his Mind Combat Ability rippled through him.
—
[Lv. 1 Void Gaze > Lv. 2 Void Gaze]
—
Silva’s eyes widened as from his perspective, Grey’s eyes became a black abyss. Ironically enough, in Grey’s own eyes, it was Silva’s that did.
The fox man was suddenly thrust into a sensation of falling. His senses were stripped from him, from sight, to feel. He couldn’t even feel his arms in relation to the space around him, it was like he had been dumped into a hellish tunnel with an infinite fall to an unknown world down below.
It was a suffocating realization. That he was not only going to die, but that he would do so in the worst fashion possible.
In reality, a Level 2 ability, even from a Perfect Frame, shouldn’t have impacted an Established Class warrior to this extent. Unfortunately for Silva, his mind had already been pulled taut, and there were many berserk-like, mind bending realities to activating his Frame in full.
That was why he didn’t like to do it. All of that played right into Grey’s hands.
"He blasphemed the Goddess!" Silva roared out, wanting to do something, anything to make it all stop.
Grey frowned. If he blasphemed the Goddess, why was he still a Holy Knight?
’Shit.’ Grey cursed as his head snapped to one side. The sound of clinking armor and rushing Holy Knights filled his senses. They were coming.
He had taken too long.