Dream Rise House.
Inside the living hall, Eva placed the unconscious Agatha on the sofa.
"Finally some rest."
Eva dropped herself on the couch and relaxed.
When Kiba enveloped her and Agatha with teleporting force, they appeared some 15 kilometers away from Dream Rise House.
Even though Kiba hasn’t voiced out his intentions, Eva realized what he wanted based on the location she was teleported to. So she rushed here at her top speed while carrying Agatha.
"Would she be alright?"
Eva asked while looking at the listless face of Agatha.
[[Physically, yes, but mentally, I couldn’t say.]]
Claudia replied while examining Agatha through sensors.
[[The death of Lady Hope has killed her will to live.]]
Claudia added, her feminine mechanical voice filled with sadness.
She liked Hope as much as she did her master. So the loss of Hope has affected her no less than Agatha or Kiba.
But she couldn’t allow her thoughts to be clouded by emotions in such critical times.
"How is Kiba?" Eva asked.
[[I’m not sure.]] Claudia answered. [[When he summoned his true powers, the fluctuations cut off electronic signals----!]]
Her voice trailed off in the middle.
After the Anti-cosmic Field activated, she was able to receive signals from her master. Even before she could fully analyze his state, the bracelet and rings she gave him exploded. This completely cut off her connections.
[[!]]
She created the bracelet and rings to prevent him from losing control and going berserk. Now...
CREAK~
The fireplace split apart and moved to the sides, revealing an elevator.
[[Lady Eva, please take Lady Agatha with you to the underground section and stay there till things get better.]]
"What’s wrong?" Eva was startled.
[[Most likely, everything.]]
****
Weisz House.
Felicity felt her link with the emerald seed severed by an ominous presence. Since the seed consumed a great portion of her strength, the backlash made her shiver and cough up blood.
"Are you fine?!"
Loren and Jessica asked while supporting Felicity.
They were completely bewildered by Felicity’s behavior from the last few minutes. One moment she was crestfallen, the other moment her reaction completely opposite.
"I’m fine," Felicity replied while drinking water.
The second she witnessed the shocking scene on the battle site, she decided she wouldn’t tell anyone about it. Otherwise, there might be drastic consequences for Zed.
"Or maybe I’m being worried for nothing!"
Felicity bitterly thought as she reminded herself he was facing the titan! Yes, he was supposedly killed, but in just a few seconds he revived! And when he did, the frightening titan ran away!
With everything that has happened till now, she was completely numb to shock.
Had she not noticed the bracelet and rings on Zed, she would have believed some shapeshifter was impersonating him!
"But why did Zed’s facial features changed?!"
Felicity wondered about the last scene she witnessed.
Even though she has no interest in the opposite sex, she knew Zed was considered exceedingly handsome by the female students in the academy. Many of them would readily drop off their clothes for him!
And she felt the same would apply for this new appearance Zed has taken!
But with a difference!
Zed’s facial features emanated a sense of innocence like he could do no wrong. That was true with the personality she knew of.
The gray man, on the other hand, radiated something mystically different.
"Now that I think of it... the wife hunter the men so fears exuded a similar feeling!"
Felicity thought of her brief meeting with Kiba long ago.
From what she could conclude, Kiba was "devilishly" handsome! His charisma made everyone think of the devil!
Something that made sense when she thought how readily wives agreed to turn their husbands into cuckolds!
Then by the same standards, the gray man would be "sinisterly" handsome!
There was evil in his eyes!
*****
As the crater rapidly turned gray, Joshua wiped the sweat off his eyebrows. He has never been this frightened before, not even during the fight between Kiba and Hyperion because he knew he was protected.
But now his protector has run away!
"I can’t just stand here and wait for death!"
Joshua’s old eyes flashed with a sharp light.
Due to Anti-Cosmic Field, he was no longer able to derive strength from the bond he shared with Hyperion, but his own strength was terrifying! Otherwise, he wouldn’t have been the leader of Sky Fiend Group!
BANG
From his elderly body, orange airwaves swept out and swirled around him. They were as thin as needles and exceedingly sharp, no different than sword beams.
If these airwaves bombarded on a metal mountain, the mountain would turn into countless small stones! As for a human, the only fate would be turning into mincemeat!
"Omnidirectional Cutting Waves!"
Joshua shouted and the waves rushed out like a never-ending tempest, slicing through the ground and air alike.
With ear-piercing screeching sounds, the cutting waves entered into the grayish area, moving towards the gray man.
"You are exaggerating such a worthless attack?"
The gray man icily asked.
His voice was so cold that Hyperion felt a chill crawling up his spine and his face turned ashen.
The grayness continued to spread like before, and when the cutting waves entered the grayish area, they lost their color and their speed almost came to a grinding halt.
"No!"
Joshua bite down the tip of his tongue and transferred all his strength to the cutting waves.
The cutting waves accelerated forth and attacked the gray man in unison, from all angles, leaving no possible gap!
Swish~!
The gray man simply stretched the right index finger out.
"!" Joshua felt his heart tighten.
The moment the finger stretched out, it expanded by infinite, at least in his eyes.
"What type of attack is this?!" Joshua’s mind trembled.
The friction ridges that create the fingerprint swirled with grayish circles, imprinting the cutting waves with the fingerprint!
Kacha!
A pressure far greater than the worlds seemed to bore down from the fingerprint. The cutting waves smashed into powder!
The swirling grayish circles sucked the powder and then rotated at an impossible speed, turning into a gray whirlpool.
Even though Joshua was far away, he felt as if he was falling into the whirlpool. Wisps of grayish energy swirled around him and when they touched his body, he felt a strange power of death wrap him.
This feeling was peaceful as if he was becoming a part of something he was destined to be! It was a pure feeling, not at all like death for death meant a definite end! But the grayish energy offered something greater!
If he has to describe to the best of his ability, the feeling was like that of a newborn in the arms of the mother! He was blessed with purity and love!
Even without him realizing, the wisps of grayish energy rushed into his body, filling him with potent strength. Cracks appeared on his face and then expanded to the rest of his body.
BOOM
He exploded. Not into blood and gore, but rather motes of grayish light. These motes assimilated with the grayness covering the area.
****
Some forty kilometers away.
Hyperion quickly rushed forth by taking long jumps.
During his fight with Kiba, both of them have engaged in close-range combat and fully concentrated on attacking each other without wasting any energy. This was why the resulting shockwaves only turned surrounding sixty sq.kilometers into a depthless crater instead of the entire megacity.
Now, Hyperion regretted keeping the scale of damage limited.
Had he and Kiba fought wildly, the megacity would be razed to the ground, and they could have indirectly avoided the technology used to create Anti-Cosmic Field.
"I need to quickly destroy the Field Generator!"
Hyperion grunted and leaped forward.
His actions might be mistaken to that of a coward, but he wasn’t.
His aim was to smash the Field Generator and regain the ability to use his energy. Only that way could he avoid the most tragic fate!
If his energy wasn’t sealed, he could have arrived at Delta Military Base in a second. But now, with his size and weight, traveling a hundred kilometers would obviously need a few minutes!
"If only I had known he was infected with Genesis, I would have avoided him like a plague!"
Hyperion could only curse his luck.
When he first met Kiba, it was in the form of Astral Projection so he wasn’t able to scan Kiba due to physical limitations. When they met directly, Kiba has summoned Evolution Field so scanning him became impossible due to the rise in strength.
Hyperion felt it was ironic that he celebrated when Kiba turned into a useless human and collapsed under his spike!
The Anti-Cosmic Field that initially gave him ultimate joy now became his source of the worst nightmare!
Suddenly, Hyperion sucked a breath of cold air and ducked to the side. Just as he did, an overbearing pressure pounded down!
It was created by the enormous gray finger when it curled down!
"Damn! That good-for-nothing Joshua couldn’t even buy me a minute!"
Hyperion glanced at the gray index finger.
It was hard to tell if this finger was phantom or real, but regardless, the pressure it created was terrifying.
He has barely gazed at the finger for a moment and by then, a vast quantity of grayish mist rolled out of it; spreading everywhere.
Amidst the mist, there were illusory faces of various species and races that were alien to Earth, emitting painful cries.
"This is Sea of Sorrow! The first level of corruption!"
Hyperion saw everything exhuming out colors like smoke. These colorful smoke disappeared in thin air, leaving behind a region of absolute gray.
"That would mean no gray matter! I have a good chance of winning!"
Hyperion tapped strongly on the ground and jumped forward.