Helion and Zephros felt their blood running cold.
To call the man that Grey had just taken down a juggernaut wannabe wasn’t too far from the truth, but only in the first part, not the second.
The powers in the city were divided into the church, the palace, and the noble families.
The palace was, of course, the imperial family—the Paladins and the most powerful Holy Knights of the empire.
The noble families were shored up by the Valdi and the Enphro families, the two Dukedoms and the most powerful families beneath the imperial family themselves.
And then there was the church. They were the overseers of the lesser branches. They had their own collection of Paladins, but they were not called Paladins.
Many assumed that the imperial family had the only collection of Paladins in the empire, and this was true, but not exactly at the same time. What was more accurate was that the imperial family had the only collection of True Paladins in the empire. The Main Church had variations and mutations the world rarely saw.
These were people that had managed to become Paladins through peculiar means, dividing themselves down paths that didn’t necessarily conform with the bloodline requirements that the imperial family held so close to their vest.
These False Paladins weren’t necessarily stronger than High Tier Holy Knights in all cases, but they were in many, especially those that followed the paths of the Guardians.
The Main Church had six such Guardians. They were all granted Titles by the Goddess herself, and they all had their treasured disciples.
The man that Grey had just taken down like it was nothing... that was the third and youngest disciple of The Relentless.
Every one of them was known for their defenses, for how hard-nosed and relentless they were in combat. He might have only been in the Vector Class, but despite both Helion and Zephros being in the Vanguard Class, they would be cautious before they decided to fight him.
Grey had bulldozed right through him.
It didn’t even look like a real fight.
A Vector Class False Paladin treated like he was an ant, and the one who killed him was laughing like he was having the time of his life.
"Together." Helion said coldly.
"Together." Zephros agreed.
Helion summoned a sword and shield, Zephros pulling a spear from the air like he was yanking it free from the void itself.
Zephros leapt up and Helion blocked the skies with his shield. Their synergy seemed perfect as Zephros landed on the shield and Helion roared, swinging his arm out.
...
Grey was blazing a trail toward the Imperial Palace when he caught sight of Zephros peeling through the skies toward him.
His grin widened.
Grey was already starting to lose momentum. He couldn’t fly, he could just leap and soar. And now a convenient leaping pad had come right for him.
Zephros’ rhythm had already started building up, though. Grey could hear the echoes of Divinesever, the horns peeling across the skies in tighter pitches and greater speed.
By the time he was close to Grey, it was like he had become a true divine blade through the skies, fusing with his spear until they were one—almost akin to a golden arrow cutting across the skies.
Grey’s pupils constricted. ’Not good.’
He switched tactics. The Turning Shield became a tower shield and he hid his entire body behind it.
BOOM.
Grey was sent flying back, cutting across the air almost as fast as he had come.
Zephros roared in pain, his wrist snapping on the impact and his spear’s blade chipping.
Grey coughed up a mouthful of blood as he soared. The Turning Shield was unbreakable, but it didn’t have any dampening effects.
BOOM.
Grey crashed into a building, his bones feeling like they all shattered at once.
He coughed up another mouthful of blood.
’Fuck.’
He had almost forgotten that his stats were nothing compared to these people. He was overwhelming them with Ability, Energy, and Skill, not stats. If he took a single blow the wrong way, it would be a problem.
Zephros landed on a building, looking down at his snapped wrist to notice that even his forearm was bent the wrong way. His jaw set and his muscles flexed, snapping them back into place as Helion shot by him.
"Heal up!" Helion roared.
"He’s heavily injured!" Zephros called. "His Abilities and skill are high, but his stats are not!"
Helion didn’t waste his breath replying. He had seen that as well.
Instead, he had geared up his rhythm as well, activating his Frame and syncing up Wrath Coronation and Divinesever.
He was going to end this in a single blow.
That was when Grey walked out of the debris like nothing was wrong. He looked like he hadn’t suffered a single injury and he smiled toward the incoming Helion.
"A mother’s grace really isn’t that bad. I bet my mom would have been quite the nice lady, don’t you think?"
Helion was confused and had no idea what Grey was talking about, but Grey’s energy had already shifted.
The butterfly wings of dancing magnetic field lines vanished. Instead, a crimson energy began to radiate from him like the crimson solar flares of a red giant.
Grey exhaled and rolled his shoulders. The Turning Shield shrank into a small parry shield, both of his blood blades returning to his palms.
As powerful as it was, he hadn’t progressed his Dark Solveign Frame to the Established Class just yet. So for now, it still had its limits.
It seemed that he was going to have to kick it up a notch. He still needed to preserve his stamina, but he was going to have to dig into some reserves to end this quickly.
"Let’s dance." Grey grinned. "No homo, of course."
**
Deep within the Main Church, a pair of dark gold eyes snapped open. He looked to the side to find that of the three candles burning bright by his side, one had been snuffed out.
The shift in his heartbeat alone made the concrete box he resided in tremble.
"... Setto..." the voice trailed off. "...Who killed my disciple...?"