Grey sighed, rubbing his hair.
"Well, things could be worse," he said as he watched the cracks accelerate just to the point the dome was on the verge of shattering like glass, "I could be bald."
Chi.
The dome shattered, sprinkling motes of light descending in a rain of energy.
A howl came from the depths of the abyss below, but before the large hand could strike down again, it began to sizzle and boil in the sun. A foggy acid rose into the skies, and the howl became a shriek.
It pulled back and the grey hand looked as though it had been dunked in boiling oil. Pustules filled with thick liquid bubbled to the surface of its flesh, popping continuously to reveal the raw red and sensitive tissue below.
The hand pulled back further and finally disappeared into the shadows, but the howls didn’t stop. Instead, they only slowly faded into the background.
Grey scoffed. "Pussy."
BOOM. BOOM. BOOM.
As though in response to his taunts, the much smaller arms turned toward the city as though they had finally detected it. They began to smack down and the instant they began it felt like they were having one earthquake after another thrown at them.
Grey almost lost his footing, but managed to catch himself before he tumbled over the edge of the wall. He grabbed Amunet before she fell, yanking her up by the back of her collar.
She made a sound somewhere between throwing up her breakfast and choking as the collar clipped her throat.
She rubbed at her neck and exhaled. "Thanks."
"I’m sure there are far better ways to thank me." Grey said.
"Would it kill you to not be a pervert for all of two seconds?"
"What are you good for if not eye candy at this point?"
Amunet glared at him, but didn’t refute. She still thought it was too much to say that out loud, but right now, given the gap between their strengths, she didn’t really have much room to play with.
She exhaled and looked down. "All the more reason you should let me get the Frame."
"I’m good, thanks." Grey said with a smile. "I already let you get a Frame you shouldn’t have before and what do you have to show for it? What’s going to be different this time?"
Amunet gritted her teeth, but again, couldn’t refute. She really wasn’t sure how Grey grew so powerful so fast.
Of course, she didn’t know that while everyone else was coming up on about two weeks in this place, Grey had experienced maybe double that time at this point.
But he wasn’t going to tell her that.
"Alright, alright," Amunet finally said. "I get it. I’m a raging bitch who stabbed you in the back. I get it. I get it. I don’t expect you to forgive me, but if you’re going to drag me along to be part of your team, just the barest amount of respect is all I’m asking for. And maybe instead of finding new angles to insult me, we deal with the problem at hand?"
—
[Rare Instance Event Trigger: Hellish Escape]
—
[Congratulations, Genesis Candidate! You have triggered a Named Instance! Good luck and don’t die! :)]
—
[Grey Temolt VERSUS Anchors of Hell]
—
’It really is the same name as the last time,’ Grey thought to himself, almost ignoring Amunet’s words as he looked over toward the Enphro kid and the Forsaken dude who both looked like they were on the verge of pissing their pants.
Well, to be fair to them, they actually looked a little bit more decent than that. But clearly they had no real intention of going down there.
Once that Instance notification came down, though, the both of them paled even more than before.
"Grey!" Amunet almost shouted out through gritted teeth.
"Hm?" Grey looked over.
"What I said—."
Grey raised a hand. "I got what you said, I just don’t care, lady. I dragged you along not to make you part of my team, but because your Producer might give me an opportunity to trigger something that would make me stronger, and it looks like that’s what’s happening right about now.
"So all this other nonsense about your feelings or your respect or whatever, you lost that after you put a knife in my back.
"You’re here not because you want to be. You’re here because you’re too weak to stop me from dragging you wherever the hell I want. I could bend you over my knee and spank you and you wouldn’t be able to do a damn thing about it. Got it?" Grey’s gaze bore into her eyes. "Good, great."
A hand slammed down from above and a spear appeared in Grey’s hand. A holy light radiated out from him and his eyes flashed with a ring of gold.
A blazing crown of white gold flames appeared above his head and he slashed.
Chi.
The hand was ripped in two, black and violet blood splattering across the city wall as more shrieks filled the air.
The eyes of both Kaito and Lloron constricted into pinholes. That arm alone carried strength comparable to a Command Class. No, it wasn’t quite there, but it was close.
How had Grey severed it in a single blow. Was the Holy Energy of a Paladin really that strong?
That was impossible. The Paladins that formed outside of the Imperial Family were often misshapen and sometimes even weaker than High Tier Knights. They didn’t have the bloodline to make use of the Frame properly, which was why though they were talents, until they carved out a niche and path unique to themselves like the Guardians had, they wouldn’t be all that great in the eyes of elites like the two of them.
But Grey, he...
’Fuck, I don’t have the Stamina left for this.’ Grey sighed inwardly. The only reason he wasn’t jumping down was because his Stamina was blinking red right now. He barely had 50 left, if that at this point. It had nothing to do with how scary all of this was.
If only he could just...
Splat.
The arm Grey severed landed on the city wall beside him as he was lost in thought and suddenly his stomach grumbled.
Grey’s pupils constricted into pinholes. This wasn’t a hunger that came from his Vampire Lord Frame.
It was coming...
From his jaw.