Energy flowed through Grey like a tidal wave.
He found himself frozen in shock for two main reasons. The first was the fact that he hadn’t actually expected things to go this well.
His thoughts had been quite simple. Since Center of Balance could influence his emotions, and even leave him in a trance for as long as it had, he figured that if he applied his Resonant Type Neural Frame the way he should, it would logically follow that he would be able to influence the emotions of those around him as well.
He had a pretty good feeling about the idea, it was just that there were too many issues with it.
For one, the influence obviously wasn’t absolute. Even he had broken free of the calming effect several times, let alone Captain Terran. It had also been proven to him already that Abilities used on those who were far stronger came back with diminishing returns.
Second, Captain Terran already hated his guts, and the things that occurred during the previous loops would definitely influence the way he reacted. He was already in a worse off state than before, so the act of trying to make him "kinder" would come off far worse than it would otherwise.
So, Grey was facing off against two tall mountains. On the one hand, he should be far too weak to influence the Holy Knights, and second they weren’t even in a neutral state of mind to begin with.
Every time Grey nearly broke free of the calming feeling, it was because he was angry. And that was exactly the sort of state Captain Terran would be in.
However, Grey knew that he had to try. The worst case scenario was that he died at Terran’s hands again, and that was at least better than being fried to death by the Genesis System yet again.
What he didn’t expect was for things to go far more smoothly than he could have ever hoped for. It was like, for once, everything went his way.
And it wasn’t until the energy flowed into him from the old knight that he understood exactly why that was.
Holy energy.
Center of Balance seemed to feed off of the unique Frames that Holy Knights and the servants of the Goddess had. It made the calming effect far more potent to them.
Even so, Captain Terran had still basically broken free almost immediately, only hesitating for a short while. But the difference that saved Grey this time was actually the old man.
The guards at the gate had all taken a hostile stand toward Grey. Each one had blocked his path on the way here, forcing Silva to step in to identify him. Whatever it was that was influencing Terran was probably influencing them as well.
Terran wasn’t the only Holy Knight here, and he probably wasn’t anywhere near the strongest of the Holy Knights present either. Maybe he was amongst his tier, but Grey had felt from the beginning that the old knight was actually a step beyond.
Yet, despite hesitating and having the speed to stop Terran, the old man never did. And after the loop where Grey viciously attacked Terran, he was even more unlikely to step in.
This wasn’t because the old knight felt that Grey deserved death because of it, but instead because he didn’t want to be responsible for saving someone who would certainly hold a grudge against Terran and inevitably act upon it in the future. He had his own family and legacy to care for, and he didn’t know Grey as anything other than a madman who killed women and just so happened to have a decent military record.
Ironically enough, the nudge the old knight experienced compared to the influence that pulled on Terran was much lesser since he was the stronger party. And yet, because he was already inclined toward kindness, that small shift was enough.
That wasn’t all, though.
Unlike Terran, the old knight could sense the forcefield of Neural activity around Grey. He felt the soothing touching of Center of Balance, and he had realized two things in that instant.
First that Grey had a Resonant Type Frame, a rarity within their Church and the most sought after Type for the Goddess. And second, he felt that the aura of Center of Balance was of a sort of holiness a bad person couldn’t have possibly grasped.
Now, whether or not that was actually true and that Grey was such a person, it was unknown.
But unfortunately for the old knight, he only fell deeper into his assumptions when he felt how well Grey’s body responded to his Holy Frame. In fact, Grey’s body was so greedily eating it up that had the old knight not been as powerful as he was, it would have certainly felt the drain.
A light smile spread across the old knight’s face as a holy impulse roared out from Grey.
His white hair gained a halo of gold, even down to the eyelashes of his closed eyes.
All of his stamina returned in a single instant of time, and then, the invisible lines of the Neural Frame he was sustaining outside of his body to ensure that his knighting proceeded smoothly began to appear visible to the naked eye.
The old knight was lost in a trance, his body trapped in the quagmire of the infinitely branching lines of Grey’s Neural Frame.
’This...’
No, he couldn’t just see it, he could feel it.
A ruddiness reappeared in the old knight’s gaze and he stood taller and straighter.
At that moment, the fury in Captain Terran’s eyes was replaced by a flicker of fear as he felt a dormant presence within the old knight’s body suddenly lurch and shift. It felt almost like an old golden dragon slowly awaking from its slumber.
It was unknown just how long it was Grey spent like that, but when his eyes opened, he could feel the change almost too intimately. So much so that it shook him to his core.
He had gained another Frame... a Holy Frame.
—
[You have awakened a Perfect Resonant Frame of the Proving Class, Holy Knight]
—
The old knight smiled. "It seems that today we will not just be coronating a knight, but instead a Holy Knight. Welcome, brother. But I do have a question to ask of you."
Grey blinked. "Yes?"
"What do you say to becoming my disciple?"