[CRACKED WORLD]
[Grey Temolt VS. ???]
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[Description: You’ve fallen into a crevice of the past, a crack in history. Survive the instance to make your way back to the present.]
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[Congratulations, Genesis Candidate! You have triggered a Rare Arc Instance! Good luck and don’t die! :)]
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A shadow suddenly zipped forward, a rapier lined in darkness coming for his chest. Grey would have barely caught it, but maybe because of the bracelet, it felt especially stark against the darkness around him.
He didn’t even have the time to understand where he was standing before he was forced to defend.
Goblin Warlord Spirit guided his arm, but midway through the attack, Grey’s intention focused even more. If his other abilities could be better controlled by being more intentional with his communication with his Neural Frame, then Goblin Warlord Spirit would be no different.
Echoes of a music he had forgotten pulsed in his ears and he felt the weapon in his hand become even lighter than before.
He parried the blow of the shadow. Despite attacking second, he almost instantly regained the initiative.
With a single step back, the attacker must have felt as though their attack had landed on little more than a puffy cloud. And then, with a step forward and a twist of his wrist, the arm of the shadowy attacker was flung to a side, opening their chest wide for a strike that came swiftly and sharply.
A single exchange and yet the scent of death was already hanging in the air. The call of the Goblin Warlord Spirit flooded Grey’s veins, his reactions, his strength, the very synergy of his stats themselves pooling into a single powerful strike.
His curved rusted saw blade passed through nothing but air.
The shadow dispersed into wisps and reformed a half dozen meters away, crouching with a hesitating intent as though it was wary of a follow up attack.
Grey didn’t immediately act, half because he was still immersed in the feeling of using Goblin Warlord Spirit properly for the first time, and another half because he had noticed something odd about this "shadowy figure".
It wasn’t a monster.
Finally, the full scope of the room came into view for Grey and he found himself in a room he could only describe as a cross between a cathedral and a catacomb.
Much of the walls were rock formations, stalactites he might have found a bat hanging from any moment now looming above. And yet, there were openings that had velvety crimson curtains covering them, glass artwork of various colors that depicted what looked like saints and gods, and there was even a small stone fountain it looked like one might baptize a baby within.
It felt like any moment now either a nun or a vampire could walk in from around the corner and Grey wouldn’t be surprised by either.
"You’re not a monster." A woman’s voice suddenly said. "Why the hell did you pick that sort of get up? You look like you crawled out from under my bed."
Grey looked away from the stone fountain and toward the shadowy figure.
"What? You have a habit of hiding handsome men under your bed?"
"Only after I finish stabbing them a few dozen times. Your face fits the bill."
"Really? Is it the chiseled jaw? It does look good on me. You must be quite the sculptor."
"Shameless, too. Maybe you’d earn more than a few dozen."
"You’re the one who attacked me, and now you’re flirting with me. Are you sure I’m the shameless one?"
"You appeared out of nowhere in the middle of my Rare Instance. Why wouldn’t I think you were a monster?"
"Touché. But you appeared in the middle of mine, not the other way around."
A silence fell between them as though they had entered a stalemate. But eventually, the woman stood to her full height. She wasn’t exactly relaxed, but at the very least it didn’t look like she was going to be trying to take his head off anytime soon.
The shadows that covered her from head to toe remained, though.
’That has to be a treasure. No way anyone can keep up an ability for that long. Even if she’s wary of me, there’s no way draining her stamina like that would be worth the caution. But more importantly than that... she doesn’t seem to recognize me? Everyone should know me at this point.’
"What does your instance introduction say?" the woman suddenly asked.
Grey raised an eyebrow, but he obliged, reading his out.
"Yeah. Mine says the same but with my name. The question is, are the question marks supposed to be you, or something else?"
Grey didn’t know the answer to that question, but if the system knew their names, why bother with question marks?
Or maybe the real question was...
"You know, for someone who just called me ugly, you’re so chatty."
"Easier to talk to ugly men. The handsome ones have egos bigger than my ass."
Grey couldn’t help but look down to double check. Unfortunately, the only feedback his eyes got were wisps of darkness.
"Ugly and a pervert. Bad combo."
"That was just good bait. You got me." Grey nodded without the slightest hint of shame.
The shadowy woman laughed. "Alright, if you stab me in the back, I’ll just accept my fate. At least you have a sense of humor. Come on, we might as well try to clear this place together. You’re strong enough."
"Just like that?"
"What? So used to girls turning and running after seeing that ugly mug?"
"Actually, yes." Grey nodded.
She laughed again. "Left and right? Or front and back?"
"What is this? A doubles tennis match?"
"Well how else do you want to do it, smart ass?"
Grey chuckled. "Fine. Left and right. We’re both melee types, no?"
"Mm. Close enough." She said with a nod.
"Left and right, then. You can call me Grey." He held out a hand to shake hers.
"Amunet." She shook it.
"Is that Egyptian?"
"An American with some sense of the world? What a surprise."
"You’re the second person to think I’m American."
"You’re not?"
"No. I’m Canadian."
"Ugly and poor, you lead a sad life."
"Bold words for someone living off of glory aliens gave you."
"We built the pyramids!" she said defensively, but her voice started to trail off at the end, her lip twitching.
Given their current circumstances, she didn’t even know if she could say that with such certainty anymore.
Laughing at her sudden mid-life crisis, Grey went ahead.