Apollo stood, wide-eyed. It wasn’t just him, but it felt like the whole of the Valdi were feeling suppressed and restrained.
There was a great amount of suppression between Paladins and Holy Knights, something Grey had already experienced. However, when the Class gap was substantial enough, that suppression was greatly weakened.
As powerful a Paladin as Grey was, his Class was only of the Established tier, while most of his enemies were far beyond at Vanguard, often at worst.
But right now...
Apollo’s knees felt weak, a cold sweat matting his brows.
He couldn’t even react when Grey vanished, driving a fist into his gut. He keeled over, vomiting up what food he had just had with Zara.
In that moment, he could only be happy that he had been in too much of a rush to keep to his promise and bring her here.
"Know that you’re only staying alive right now because I’m trying to control my temper and it would be far too annoying to deal with what would come after killing you. But while I’m gone, feel free to get a few massages, really loosen up that meat for me. I don’t want tough skin knicking my blade."
BANG.
Apollo was sent flying away.
"CHOP CHOP, WOMAN! LET’S GO!"
Grey didn’t even look back at Amunet, rushing past the small troop of Holy Knights. They didn’t even dare to stop him, swinging out of the way.
But, unsurprisingly, Amunet was hot on his tail.
"You didn’t kill them, did you?"
"Do I look like you?" Amunet asked with a raised eyebrow.
"If you did, you’d be significantly more handsome."
"I don’t want to hear commentary on my looks from the sexual assaulter himself."
"Who said I was insulting your looks?"
Grey grinned and took a hard left turn.
"Where are you—?!"
Amunet’s question was answered swiftly as they made it into the Valdi’s teleportation compound.
"This will make things a lot easier."
Grey skidded to a stop in the large, circular, underground space. A complicated circuit was etched into a large stone in the middle, and to the side there was a control panel.
He easily knocked out the overseer, standing over his body and the control panel.
His eyes darted around and he felt like he was understanding what he was seeing pretty quickly. He had already seen all of this several times before.
He set the coordinates.
"Stand in the middle."
He leapt over the control panel and the ground suddenly shook.
Grey rolled his eyes. He recognized that stomp without it even being here.
"I swear to god next time I see that Guardian I’m knocking his block off."
Chi.
Grey activated the One Line Vessel and the circuits buzzed.
BANG.
The doors to the underground space were blasted open, but Grey and Amunet were already enveloped in a line of gold.
They blitzed by.
"FUCK YOU!" Grey called out to The Relentless.
He still hadn’t paid that guy back for the first time he killed him. Now he was trying to do it again.
Grey wasn’t the forgiving sort.
Chi.
They vanished into the horizon.
The Relentless landed on the platform a moment after they vanished, his expression unreadable. He stared out into the line of gold, the underground space having opened up a passageway that shot right into the skies.
Not just one disciple, but two of them. Two of them humiliated by the same boy, in near identical ways.
Neither battle was even close, and that not only hurt The Relentless’ pride, but his goals took a step back every time this happened.
He was trying to create the truest vessel of Relentlessness, and losers, capitulators, weaklings...
Could not be that.
Bas was a relatively new seedling. It hurt to lose him, but it was still within reason. He could, somewhat, let it go.
But Raze was a product he had poured a lot more into, and he was a lot closer to a final product than Bas had ever been.
But now... he was ruined and destroyed by the same boy.
The Relentless didn’t care about what reasons Grey had or what his disciples had done. He had simply never been more furious in his life...
And that was because Grey was standing in his way to the Ascendant Class.
And for that, Grey would die. By his hand.
BOOM.
The Relentless walked over to where the coordinates lay, only to find that Grey had actually erased and wiped it clean. His placid expression finally twisted into something more approximating the savage darkness in his eyes.
At that moment, he looked little different from a demon, the muscle of his face twisting so much that snaking lines of wrinkles bunched up all across his visage. His facial muscles stretched and tightened so much tears began to appear along this very skin.
Blood fell down through the crevices, adding to his demonic air. No matter how holy the energy he was radiating now...
No one could have convinced even the most naive child that he was anything more than a demon in human skin.
The Relentless turned and walked out. There were other ways to find out where Grey had gone. He just needed a circuit engineer to come back and deduce it for him.
And if that didn’t work, then he would simply demand reports from every zone under their jurisdiction until he found what he wanted.
Killing Grey here would be inconvenient anyway. There were too many who might want to interfere.
But this rage in his heart wouldn’t be sated until it was quenched with the blood of the boy.
That was what it meant to be Relentless.
It was something that Raze had understood. Unfortunately, he was now trash. Completely and utterly worthless.
"Grey Temolt."
A voice as deep as an abyss rang out.
...
Grey felt a cold shiver run down his spine and cringed a bit.
"Some asshole’s cursing me. Hey, can you give me a massage?"
"How about you give me some space?"
Amunet was practically stuck to Grey’s back. One Line Vessels could be used by two people, but it was like stuffing them both into a tube.
"No can do, concubine. You’re stuck with me. I’m going to take a long nap, don’t wake me up unless the world is ending."
Grey hadn’t slept in too long. He needed this.