Grey didn’t even wait for the Dormaji to land. His butterfly wings might have vanished, but he was still a crimson laser cutting through the skies, his skin reddening beneath the strain of his pumping blood.
He soared forward.
BOOM.
He collided with the Dormaji in the air, his blades piercing right through its palms, his head slamming against its own. Blood leaked down the contours of his nose, his Helm Frame taking a beating as though it might shatter any moment.
But Grey didn’t seem to notice, or maybe he simply didn’t care.
He wasn’t dying this time. He swore that to himself.
"Not this time you piece of shit."
They spiralled around one another, falling through the skies with a naked abandon for their own lives. The Dormaji still hadn’t recovered its intelligence. Suddenly running into an enemy, it didn’t seem to have the safety valves to do so.
It immediately went into battle mode, no longer caring about whether this was Joaquin or not. All it wanted to do was rip Grey to pieces.
But Grey wasn’t going to fold so easily. Not even close.
BOOM.
They landed on the ground, rolling and snarling.
The Dormaji spread its arms out wide and Grey’s own weren’t long enough to keep up. However, instead of losing his grip on his blades, Grey tightened them. Unleashing a roar, he squeezed as the Dormaji pulled apart.
’What a fucking idiot.’
The Dormaji’s arms were split in two right down the length of its forearm. Grey used its own strength against it, his blood blades sucking up its blood for all that it was worth.
Unfortunately, there was very little of that blood. It was like he was cutting into actual rock rather than flesh and blood.
BANG.
The Dormaji roared and slammed its head against Grey’s this time.
Grey could practically feel his brain slip and slide in his skull, scrunching back and then rocketing back forward. His mind went into a daze, the echo of harsh, high pitched whines filling his ears.
He reacted as quickly as he could in such a state, reverting his state back to three seconds ago and undoing his concussion. But that was still enough time for the Dormaji to rip one of his blades out of it, grabbing his waist with its other hand and throwing him through the air like a rag doll.
Grey flipped through the air, landing on his spikes as a shadowy fog rippled through them.
BANG. BANG. BANG.
The Dormaji roared, slamming its broken, stone fists against its body in clipped echoes. It sounded almost like a double bass drum, the halves of its fists beating together and yet separately.
Grey found himself in another daze as though it was resonating against his body. His vision blurred and he felt like he couldn’t quite see correctly.
Abyssal Anchor instantly snapped him out of it, just in time to find a foot coming for his head. It looked like the overgrown bastard wanted to punt him like a football.
"Too fucking slow, bitch."
Grey shifted to one side, his figure blurring. That was already the best chance the Dormaji had. He had been a bit hot headed, trying to match it in a contest of strength and endurance, but that was never how he planned to win this battle.
Chi.
Grey sliced into its side, cutting into its stone as though chipping away at cement.
He slipped another attack, weaving beneath the giant’s leg and cutting at its achilles.
Another chip was cut, but it wasn’t nearly deep enough.
Grey didn’t even seem to care. He became faster, sharper, dancing around the creature like executing a choreographed death. He looked like he was dancing on the tip of life and hell, and yet not a single edge of his bomber jacket was caught.
He entered a unique rhythm even without his Last Paladin Frame. This one was deeper, more violent. He could practically hear the heavy metal in his ears, his head banging sending his hair bobbing in the air.
BANG. BANG. BANG.
Grey jumped through the air, holding out one blood blade far out to the side and drawing the other in a circle as though strumming the final notes of a raging riff.
He landed on the shoulder of the Dormaji, his blade cutting across the top of its scalp.
It instantly slapped at the top of its head, but Grey had already vanished in a flicker of shadows, appearing right in front of it and driving a steel-toed boot right into its crotch.
It howled, but so did he, his white hair dancing in fluorescent strands. His blood roared through his veins.
Landing on the ground, he busted out a few dance moves, the smile reaching his eyes for the first time in maybe too long.
He dodged, weaving through another attack. He appeared between the legs of the giant and stomped out a spiked sole at its inner knee.
The Dormaji buckled and fell.
Chi. Chi.
Grey cut at its achilles again, twice in quick succession.
BANG.
The giant’s achilles snapped like a steel cord, its body toppling forward.
Grey stood at its back, his blood blades held out to his sides. They grew larger and larger, feasting on the energy he was emitting until they were wider than even his butterfly wings had been at their best.
"I really don’t give a fuck how many of you fuckers come." Grey said, his voice booming. "I’ll slaughter every last one of you, then flirt with your mothers.
"Wait, maybe not yours. I’d imagine she’s not my type," Grey winced looking at the Dormaji’s meaty body.
It roared.
"Yeah, yeah. Shut the fuck up."
Grey’s blades flashed. One landed on the cut he had made across the top of its scalp, perfectly flush, perfectly perfect.
He split its head down in two.
His other blade flipped in his hand with the dexterity of a small knife despite its ridiculous size. It cut across the earth like butter, leaving waves of destruction in its wake.
The Dormaji screamed out in pain.
"Would you shut up and let me aura farm a bit please?"
The last blade flashed and the head of the Dormaji flew into the skies in two pieces.
BOOM. BOOM.
It crashed to the ground, nothing but a silence being left in its wake. That was... except for Grey’s laughter.
"COME ON! I’M WAITING!"
He pointed his blades to the skies as though to cut down the very clouds themselves.