Grey started to laugh. He yanked up Amunet’s hand when they started to near the last line of buildings before there was a straight shot to the gate.
His feet lit with some flames and in a hop and a skip, he had already appeared at the top of a building.
"Oh no..." Amunet mumbled. She tried to wrestle her hand back, but Grey apparently had no desire to let go.
"Focus woman. We’re about to fly."
Grey grinned ear to ear and Amunet was caught off guard as he hauled her over his shoulder, squatting down suddenly and so fast that her forehead nearly hit the roof.
"Protect yourself. Otherwise, you’ll burn to a crisp."
Amunet’s eyes widened, but Grey had already become a beacon in the skies. The sun had already begun to set, it was simply impossible for anyone to miss a sudden, large span of pulsing red-gold magnetic waves that appeared in the middle of the skies.
Grey felt his body churning and Amunet used all the energy she had to protect from the heat. It practically felt like layers of her skin were being burnt away in real time.
The roof cracked.
"SORRY ABOUT THAT!" Grey roared to whoever was listening. "AND DOUBLY SORRY ABOUT THIS!"
BOOM.
The roof shattered and Grey was suddenly launched forward. It felt like he crossed the first 100 meters in a parabolic arc around the skies in little more than a single blink.
By the second blink, he was already at the city walls, the guards on it aiming their bows as quickly as they could. But as ready and well-trained as they were, they were very much used to people trying to sneak into the city, not sneak out.
Grey was already nearly landing on the other side before they had locked onto him and nocked their arrows, but by then they weren’t even sure what they were supposed to do. Shoot at a "threat" who was leaving the city?
"STOP HIM!" a familiar female guard’s voice roared. It was the very same woman that Grey remembered coming across when he first tried to enter the city.
He hadn’t met her this time around because someone like The Boundless didn’t need to go through a check or inspection to enter. But it seemed that the moment she recognized Grey, she barked out her orders.
Clearly, Grey was right. If he tried to leave the city the normal way, they would have blocked his way. Then getting out would have become doubly annoying.
As the saying went, shoot first and ask questions later.
Grey was ready to shoot off again. He felt a little creak in his knees and a shot of pain ran through him, but he pressed it down. He had to hurry out of here.
He knew that little maneuver was going to take quite a bit out of him. He wasn’t a Dormaji, but he was more focused on speed so he didn’t slow his descent. If he had it would have given them more odds to aim and shoot.
While Grey was pretty powerful now, he wasn’t withstand-the-attacks-of-dozens-of-Vanguard-Class-elites-at-once strong. Especially not when they had ballista weapons at their beck and call should they really need it. And doubly especially not while making sure Amunet didn’t get a bolt through the forehead.
Well, at least not when they were at range like this. If they were in close proximity and he could use angles and divide and conquer to his advantage, that was another matter.
Still, as ready as he was, he stumbled.
"Fuck."
Grey’s healing factor kicked in, but it was too slow. He took another step and almost fell to his knees.
Amunet grunted, the jostling had made her sick, but the double stumble in a row pulled her back to reality.
"This is why we talk things out and plan them before we act!" she said through gritted teeth.
She looked up. Because of her vantage point on Grey’s back, she had full view of the city.
She could see the gates opening up, the ballistas turning, the archers readying to loose.
Grey took another step and stumbled, causing her vision to shift again.
"Goddammit, Grey."
She ripped herself from Grey’s shoulder, landed heavily on the ground. Before he could protest, she swept up one of his ankles and suddenly burst forward.
BANG. BANG. BANG.
Amunet left a black streak in her wake, moving so fast that the arrows that seemed to instantly reach them slammed into nothing but the destruction Grey had left behind.
The shrieks of the common man camping out on the roadside to wait out when next the gates would open filled the air, but Amunet directly ignored them, her speed getting faster and faster.
A gauntlet appeared on her hand and its claws turned inward. It prickled against her skin, leaching a drop of blood from each one of her fingers and sending them winding into the circuits of the gauntlet.
Her pupils dilated, her veins roared, a black energy seeping out from her. Tendrils of an Ability she didn’t quite allow to form flooded out.
And then her speed doubled.
BOOM.
The sound barrier shattered and the ballista bolts that came right after just missed them.
She could tell that Grey was yelling something behind her, but he kept eating dirt and it was honestly putting on her face.
They escaped the immediate range of the ballista. At speed, and from this far away, although the bolts could definitely get to them, there was enough of a lag to dodge well ahead of time.
However, that was why Amunet was all the more surprised when there was a sudden flash ahead and then a troop of white-gold armored people appeared... led by none other than Apollo and Raze.
Amunet skidded to a halt, her gaze flickering.
Grey let out a groan. "Fuck you. At least give me the benefit of a princess carry."
"And let you cop another feel?" Amunet sneered without looking back. "Absolutely not. Karma’s a bitch."
"Alright, then fight with that bitch Karma, then."
Amunet didn’t reply, her eyes darting back and forth between their enemies.