Grey didn’t need to be a genius to figure out what was going on. There was absolutely no reason for the Great Udon to do this.
Regardless of the strengths of the candidates he had hand selected to reveal, every time a Cracked World was introduced, the ending would be the same. Of billions upon billions of people, there were bound to be some promising talents.
The problem was that they were few and far between, and they often had to carry the burden of an entire race with them.
In truth, the Hosts of the Genesis Games were expecting these talents to appear. They were expecting the likes of Grey, and Amunet, and Thi Lan to show up and throw a few wrenches in their expected outcomes. This happened every time a Cracked World was introduced and was part of what made the First Arc fun.
The combination of non-optimized routes and potential rare talents was where all the fun was.
It was just that they were too far behind and had too much slack to keep up with to possibly make a huge difference. They would go further than their counterparts, but they would eventually die horrible deaths much like most of everybody else.
These people were destined to die anyway, and yet by speaking out their Zones...
Grey’s mind clenched his fists. His fingers began to twitch, but he didn’t seem to notice at all, his gaze having gone completely red.
He was absolutely furious.
He didn’t know these people at all. When he targeted the Great Udon, the entire point was to piss him off and force the War Head to target Grey himself. That way, there would be more odds of him showing up...
Not to target other people.
As furious as Grey was before about the Great Udon targeting him, he was even more enraged now. He couldn’t stand the feeling that this was his fault.
No, this wasn’t his fault.
Grey looked up, his searing gaze boring a hole through the Great Udon.
The images changed and a tall man appeared in place of Thi Lan. A swirling blizzard raged around him. His skin was impossibly pale, likely some form of albinism, while his eyes radiated a sparkling blue that was accentuated by his frost-tipped, white eyelashes.
His hair danced in white hues, but his body was wrapped in black garments and heavy chains.
He, too, faced off against a Region Boss. But this one was a mound of snow as tall as a small hill. It formed palms that smacked down in heavy bursts, gusts of wind and violent hurricanes kicking up in an endless tirade.
And yet... the man seemed to have more control over the blizzard than even the boss did.
Flying snowflakes formed into illusory and so very real rotating blades of icy blue cut forward, slicing the hill of snow into pieces.
"INTRODUCING! Erik Lindqvist of Zone 27333."
The image changed again.
A woman who felt just as tall as Erik appeared. She had long, slender legs wrapped tightly in what looked like elven armor and snake skin. Her skin had a deep, rich darkness to it, reminding one of a soothing cup of coffee with just the barest hints of cream poured in.
A rain of arrows fell toward her, and Grey couldn’t help but flinch. Watching grown men get their skulls beat in was fine by him, but he had a soft spot for beauties.
However, the arrows phased right through her like she wasn’t even there. She walked forward through a troop that must have been at least 50 deep. Her hand phased through their skulls and when she pulled it out, they collapsed, their orifices bleeding out in real time.
She was simply untouchable and she didn’t use anything more than just the lightest of strolls to steamroll the entire Instance.
It was definitely an Instance at least on the same level as the one Grey had cleared to meet the young Calixan in, yet she made it look impossibly easy.
"INTRODUCING! Amara Okafor of Zone 377,369!"
The images shifted once again, landing on a young man whose knuckles were coated in what looked like the cheapest brass knuckles you could find online. Yet, when he punched down, hitting the earth, it felt like an entire city would tremble.
The ground split into three valleys, a large swath of what actually looked like other Genesis Candidates falling in his wake.
He raised his head up high and started to laugh, punching out at the air with so much force sonic booms echoed and ripped apart trees dozens of meters away.
He lay waste to everything in his path and he clearly seemed furious about something. But the Great Udon didn’t seem intent on explaining what it was.
He didn’t even seem to be telling a story anymore, it felt more like he was laying out a hit list for anyone who might have been watching, anyone who might have been listening.
And then the Great Udon looked down. Even though he shouldn’t have been, Grey could almost feel like he was staring down at him, and Grey was staring right back, his eyes full of absolute fury.
The images changed one final time, and this time, it didn’t reflect an image of the past, but instead of the present.
An image of Grey stuck in place, staring up with absolute rage in his eyes was reflected for the universe to see.
"And the last." The Great Udon said slowly, his voice rumbling like thunder. "You all do not know this name, but it is very likely that you will soon. Of my three candidates to watch out for in the last recap episode, I chose a Joaquin. What I didn’t mention was that this was actually motivation for a different player I had my eyes on."
One of the screens kept Grey’s live view up while the other displayed the scenes of his slaughtering Joaquin until he squealed like a pig.
"But I must say, this one most definitely blew all of my expectations out of the water. I would be remiss if I didn’t give him his due shine."