"Grey Temolt, I have been watching you for a long while. I have to say, you are one of one. The most interesting little figure of a Cracked World I have ever seen. You are rambunctious, insatiable. You have star power, you’re unbridled, unfettered, the sort of champion I’d like to raise up to the highest heights and watch fall to the lowest lows.
"Your rise has been immaculate. I once tried to stamp you down for a little bit of fun, but you managed to burst free from my oppression and you spread your wings like a true butterfly—."
As though to follow the train of his words, the images shifted to a scene of Grey soaring into the skies, magnetic lines of red-gold following him as he streaked through the clouds. His wings spread for dozens of meters, flames and pulsing magnetic outputs causing the air to shiver, spark, burn, and writhe beneath his presence.
"—But what I adore the most about you is how ruthless you are."
One scene of Grey’s brutal kills after another replayed, from Joaquin’s death, to that of Terran’s, and even that of the younger Calixan.
"The odds you’ve overcome... I can only say that I am in awe. Your first feat, to defeat a Vanguard Class as the Proving Class."
A scene of Esmeralda’s death replayed, first starting with Grey’s craftsmanship, and then finishing off with a beam of light that cut through her head and ended kilometers away.
"An impossible Instance cleared by your ingenuity, your intelligence, your skill," the grin on the Great Udon’s face only grew wider.
"You claimed for yourself a place in history, battling against guardians of the Paladin Trials, and even the darkness of the Dark Kin."
Scenes of the trials and then that of present Calixan played out, right down to the puppeteering hands and the final strike of the Last Paladin.
"But I had truly thought that you ran to the end of the road. I believed that your genius would be snuffed out, that your name would be erased from the annals of history from whereupon it deserved to shine, that even I would have to forget your name lest I shed tears for a warrior fallen far too early.
"But no... you, Grey Temolt, are far greater than just that alone. You are a little caterpillar willing and able to break free of your cocoon on no one’s time frame but your own."
The scenes changed again and sights of the Dormaji leaping across mountains played, before it shifted to the Syrn soaring through the skies as it left cutting lines of black light in its wake...
And then to the Volthari, its menacing lightning supercharging the clouds from on high, its presence causing sweeping storms as it passed by, its mere existence so tall and untouchable that the stars felt like they just might weep.
"It isn’t fair, is it. Three such powerful existences descended unto a small little figure of a Cracked World.
"Such coincidence, such fanfare for the little Zone 234. But such a life, a cycle of pain and horror. A story that could be snuffed out at any moment."
But then the images shifted again toward present Grey.
That was when Grey understood. From the perspective of the viewers, they had no idea that this was his present self. The only ones who did know were Brad, Mauve, and Amunet. But to everyone else, with the fury in Grey’s eyes right now, and the way he looked up at the skies, it almost looked like the final act of defiance of a man who was soon about to die.
And maybe that was the image that the Great Udon wanted to project, he wanted Grey to feel helpless, to feel that one day that gaze he had now would be the final gaze he had.
But not just yet. This wasn’t the way the Great Udon wanted to end things. That wasn’t quite good enough.
"But none of this matters to you, now does it, Grey Temolt?"
The Great Udon’s audience was completely immersed in his story, so long they had forsaken even their own right to breathe, so focused they hung on every word without a care for anything else.
"When you see a challenge, you dive right in, you face off against it with the fervor of a warrior—of the Last."
Grey’s howls filled the air and the scenes changed to him crashing against the Syrns. His laughter played like a continuous soundtrack, his movements as swift as the wind, his rhythm undeniable. And then he began to hum, and then sing, and then rap.
The grin on his face, the blood that flew around him, one slash after another. He ripped his enemies to pieces, and as their blood splattered across his face, his laughter only grew more wild.
He cursed their ancestors, he stomped out their faces, and the universe watched as he cut down a Syrn as a mere human from a Cracked World.
Then watched as he cut down a Dormaji as a mere human from a Cracked World.
And then the universe watched as a small boy from an unranked race faced off against a God of Thunder and tore him to pieces.
Grey’s roar of defiance filled the air and it echoed in the ears of the spectators.
It faded away as he grabbed onto the lightning seed and swallowed it whole.
The universe itself seemed to fall into silence for a long while, the echo of their heartbeats, in line and in rhythm with Grey’s own being all that they could hear.
And then the crowd went wild.
The noise was filtered into Grey’s ears and it was so loud that they began to bleed, the drizzle of heat falling down his jaw, dribbling forward, then dripping to the floor.
All they could do was cheer and cheer and cheer, and all he could do was stare up at the skies, his gaze having met the Great Udon’s.
"I swear I’ll rip you to pieces one day." Grey said.