"One break." Grey mumbled, looking up into the skies. "Just one break, that’s all I’m asking for. Is it too much?"
Grey directed his question at Amunet, but she didn’t even look at him, focusing on the skies above. He could tell she was upset, it didn’t take a genius to figure that one out. But it wasn’t as though he could do much to help with that.
Well... that was an outright lie. But he also wasn’t 100% sure he wanted to be the one to help with that at all.
BOOM.
The walls of the city shook and the city itself swayed.
The fattest man Grey had ever seen appeared. He had skin of gold and eyes that looked like they could radiate with the majesty of a lighthouse overlooking a raging dark sea.
That was surely saying something too, especially considering Grey himself had been in quite the obese state not too long ago. The man was simply enormous. Let alone seeing his feet past his belly, the man couldn’t even see his own chest beyond his quadruple whatever-the-fuck chin.
"There’s just no way this dude can wipe his ass."
Grey’s words had only just echoed when both Lloron and Kaito lowered their heads in respect.
"Sir Boundless!"
’Oh, another one of these guys.’ Grey thought to himself.
Well, that wasn’t good. He still hadn’t figured out how The Relentless had killed him. But then the Forsaken’s disciple appeared, and now a real guardian was here.
Fantastic.
The Boundless had been about to accept the greeting of the two youths when Grey’s words reached him. He let out a boisterous laughter and looked over toward Grey.
The eyes were kind but Grey felt a bolt of something prickly race up his spine. His body instantly tensed and he almost summoned his blood blades.
Almost.
He just barely managed to stop himself before he did something too ridiculous, but this man was definitely not as jovial as he seemed.
’I really do need to watch my mouth... is something I would say if I was a pussy.’
Grey smiled at the man instead of drawing his weapon, recovering quickly.
"Hohoho." The Boundless chuckled. "Who is this?"
Lloron and Kaito rose from their slight bows.
"We are not sure. He says that he is a Paladin from the border regions."
"Oh? A Paladin? From the border regions? So like The Immovable, then. Fascinating."
The Guardians were all Paladins who had managed to reach the end of said trial without the bloodline of the Imperial family. In order to become as strong as they were, each one of them had to carve out their own paths, forming a unique Paladin Frame that didn’t rely on a bloodline they didn’t have and couldn’t have, but instead themselves.
It could be said that all Guardians really were a lot like Grey. The difference was, though, that Grey was a Last Paladin, not a normal Paladin. And... instead of tweaking his Frame he instead killed an Imperial Princess. But that was neither here nor there at this point.
"I assume that you are making your way to the capital, then?" The Boundless asked Grey.
"We were. At some point. Got a bit sidetracked." Grey said, casting his gaze over the city wall.
"Ah yes, true." The Boundless said with another laugh. "Chaos and war do tend to be chaotic and hawkish. I’m quite curious. Could you activate your Frame for me?"
Grey wanted to say no purely because he didn’t like this guy, but for once, he decided to do the decent thing and unleashed his Last Paladin Frame. He could tell that this guy wasn’t asking this because he was curious. He was asking because he wanted to see if Grey actually was who he said he was.
Surging white gold erupted and it was so blinding that Lloron and Kaito both had to squint. Their hearts couldn’t help but skip several beats.
"Oh my..." The Boundless’ pupils constricted. "We really must escort you to the Church as quickly as possible. Such a talent can’t be wasted out here. No, no, no. This simply won’t do. It is likely that one of the Guardians would like to take you in as a disciple, I haven’t seen a Paladin Frame this powerful in so very long."
Grey could feel that there was something off about the man’s words, he just couldn’t quite put his finger on it.
But the problem was that... this didn’t seem like it was a situation where there was autonomy and "choice" involved.
Behind the smile that scrunched up all that fact and swallowed up his eyes, nose, and mouth, was a dangerous man. A very dangerous man.
However, Grey still couldn’t help himself.
"Sure, but unlike these pair of asshats, I hope you’ll help the people of this city. There’s a whole bunch of Old One corpses down there, and though I managed to kill the one that’s actually still amongst the living, the others will find their way up here and attack the city any time now."
The Boundless’ gaze flickered. "You... killed an Old One? Its corpse, where is it?"
The man’s words were slightly hurried. But then seemingly realizing he was a bit pushy, he calmed and waited for Grey’s answer.
"Its corpse?" Grey blinked. "There’s none of it left. It was a rotting mess. I blasted it to pieces."
"Is that so? And you won’t mind if I check your spatial devices?"
It took everything in Grey not to say the first thing that came to mind.
"I don’t have any spatial devices." He held out his hands.
The Boundless didn’t seem to believe Grey and did a quick check, but to his shock, Grey really didn’t have any spatial devices on him. He thought of the possibility of an Inventory, but those were so rare and Grey already said he didn’t have a spatial device. If he pushed too much...
"Don’t worry. I will help these citizens. Then we will go to the capital."