Breejha watched the scenes play out before her with a face that was half cold with ice and another shivering in fear. The two layered atop of one another, and her breath came out in short gasps.
The price she would have to pay for Grey’s choice would be heavy. It wasn’t even her fault. She wasn’t the one who drafted up the contracts. But they would never blame someone so high up who couldn’t even cover their tracks properly.
They would always use a scapegoat. And right now, she was the most obvious one.
As Grey defeated Caldrin, she was finding it hard to breathe properly.
The irony was that the chance they were going to offer Grey was a Dominion Class weapon. Who would have known that Grey would have already found his own?
It made her earlier threats sound like a complete and utter joke.
’What do I do? What do I do?’
If she ended her connection to the Genesis System now and went back, she would certainly be punished. She’d just be going back to die.
But how long would she be able to stay here?
Back home was just death. Staying here was just endless servitude. And eventually... the Genesis Games would come to an end and the chickens would come home to roost.
’Erik... my only chance...’
Breejah’s breathing still came out shallow.
Erik was the man she was speaking about before. A tall man with albinism. He had appeared in a snowy plain, and unlike the others, he had existed outside the limits of the empires.
There were several paths arc one could go with, but not everyone was transported into a Holy Empire. Many were, but not all of them. And even those that were in Holy Empires might have different chances to benefit from.
For example, the main power of the Holy Empire that Grey was currently in, despite the fact his first boss was a goblin, was actually the gnomes. The arc surrounded them, and this was why their lineages seemed to be everywhere.
Others might get more of a heavy leaning toward the goblins, or some the witches.
There would always be some overlap between the regions. For example, not only had Grey fought a goblin, but he had found the lineage of the Blood Witch as well. Though, one was in a tutorial and the other was in an Instance.
However, there were paths through arc one that existed outside of the Holy Empires as well, and according to their research, if there was any chance for a Cracked World to make it past arc two, Erik’s starting location was the very best one that you could have.
The problem was that while Erik’s path was clearer, there was no doubting at this point that Grey was simply the superior talent. He had been through much more, survived much slimmer odds, and he just kept coming back on top every time.
Though he had enraged enough people that he had more enemies than he had the patience to count to, it was hard to keep betting against him.
Breejah also didn’t have the luxury to.
Because if she just sat back and bided her time, hoping the Elementals or someone else he pissed off would kill Grey, what would she do if she got a direct order to return?
Right now, it was still her choice. But if that choice was taken out of her hands, what would happen to her family? Her friends? Her entire race, even?
Her body trembled from head to toe, her blood running cold.
She had to move, and she had to move quickly.
Taking a deep breath, she settled herself. If she was going to do this, then she had to do it right. She had made a mistake with Grey already by not understanding the kind of man she was going after.
She thought she had, but clearly her analysis wasn’t good enough. She needed to be more thorough this time, and yet she didn’t have the time needed to do so.
She closed her eyes for a moment, settling the last of her nerves.
When her eyes flashed open once more, it was like she had become little more than a machine.
One of her legs shimmered as sharp as a blade and it cut upward.
Chi.
Breejah fell into two halves, her lower half perfectly severed from her spider legs.
She collapsed to the ground, her pupils trembling with pain she harshly suppressed.
She pulled out what looked like a metallic spine, and with no more than a single breath to prepare, she reached down and stabbed it into the base of what remained of her own.
A shriek of pain filled the air. It sounded like a thousand howling ghosts, her pain receptors and Neural Frame fraying at the edges as it felt like every branching part was instantly burned.
The metallic spine latched onto her one, shattered it all, and then replaced it before extending from the bottom of her waist.
Quickly, flesh began to grow out from sparking lines of electricity. It was like the new spine was sending her body different signals to follow from that of her own genetic code.
And as a result, the naked lower half of a woman with wide hips and a round bottom came back to form right down to dainty little feet.
Even when the exterior was completed, her body continued to convulse, pulsing lines of electricity running through her irises over and over again as the incompatibility of it all was forced into a state of obedience.
Breejah spent hours suffering, her body laying in a pool of her own sweat and blood. By the end of it, the sweat somehow made up the far larger portion of it all.
She reached down and touched her new private parts, a flicker of helplessness, rage, and disgust overcoming her. She was no longer beautiful, she was ruined...
She closed her eyes and couldn’t bear to look at the legs and abdomen she had once been proud of.
She would make Grey Temolt pay for this one day. One day... One day...
She grit her teeth and slowly stood, getting used to her new limbs.
Like this, she should be far more attractive to Erik. She would have him wrapped around her fingers soon.