Second Genesis

"Oh hey." Grey said with a grin. "This must be what the red pillers on the internet are always talking about. Do you want me for my money now?"

Megan’s eyes almost seemed to retreat. The woman didn’t move at all, but she suddenly wanted to look anywhere but at Grey. She remembered that Grey had made a pass at her that she completely ignored a few hours ago, was he holding a grudge?

"Hey, hey, I’m just joking around."

Grey was speechless when he saw the visible sigh of relief on Megan’s features. This woman was something else. Maybe she had just ignored him before because she was just that shy in general.

Either that or the fact they were about to fight to the death.

’Semantics.’

The funny thing about Megan was that she wasn’t exactly his type. She was definitely older than him—well, a lot of people he came across these days were older than him. He had yet to come across another teenager.

Actually, he wasn’t sure how old Amunet was. But he refused to think about that woman.

But Megan was more than just a little older than him. She was definitely in her mid-thirties, and she was tiny. Giving her five feet was already being generous. She was probably more like 4’11", maybe even 4’10".

Grey had always preferred taller, more substantial women. Was that why he had liked a certain alien woman’s thighs so much? Maybe. But that was beside the point.

"Do you know what’s happening?" Megan asked in a soft voice, seemingly not trying to alert the driver right next to Grey.

"Not a single clue—" unfortunately for Megan Grey didn’t seem to have any tact. "—They’re just stringing me along at this point. Did they at least help your teammates heal?"

"Um..." Megan’s head lowered.

It was a bit tough to see every face in the carriage the further from the front you got, but Grey could tell that everyone was paying close attention, and he couldn’t exactly see anyone that was heavily injured in there either.

After her slight mumble, Megan didn’t say anything else. But when her gaze did look up, she looked from Grey, to the driver, then back, before lowering her gaze again.

Grey’s eyes flickered a bit. He wasn’t sure if the caution was because Megan was so timid, or if it was something else. But Grey certainly took note of it.

...

The carriages rumbled to a stop.

In the distance, over the setting sun, there was a city with beautiful tan-brown walls that looked like an artisan had meticulously drawn every curl and flicker of curve within it.

The city radiated a golden light almost as though every speck of grass was made from the precious metal.

It seemed like they weren’t going to get the chance to enter it, though. The carriages stopped far outside the city. They could only see it on the horizon while their accommodations were shitty tents and barbed wire.

’Are we prisoners or what?’

Grey looked to the side and spotted a relatively empty carriage. Inside, a trussed up Blood was knocked out cold.

If Grey’s antennas were up before, he was half sure there were actual protrusions coming out of his forehead now. Of course with his luck things couldn’t have possibly ended so easily.

’This has to be related to the teams.’

This was the only clue that Grey had.

For some reason, teams of people were sent here. Giyoto had also prepared to send in a trio. There was definitely some sort of reason for that.

If Grey had to come up with a reason for it, the easy answer was that they needed the numbers. If the first leg of the Instance was meant to be handled with the help of the Church, then maybe this leg was meant to be handled with the help of the others who entered the Instance.

Grey slung the enormous battle axe from his back, resting it on the ground as he looked ahead.

"Right this way." A young Holy Knight took it upon himself to direct Grey toward his accommodations.

"Is there any reason we aren’t being shacked up in the city?" Grey asked.

"Sorry, I don’t have any details about this." The young Holy Knight said politely. "Once Sir Pebble returns, you can ask him."

"And where’s he going exactly?"

"His number one priority right now is to report to the Bishop. Outside of this, I—"

"Don’t have any details. Yeah, yeah," Grey said with a shake of his head as he entered a tent.

It looked more substantial than the others from the outside, but taking a look at the inside left him feeling it was impossible the accommodations could get any worse.

If his tent looked like this, what about the others?

His "bedding" was just a small cot by the side. There was an odd prayer mat looking thing placed awkwardly in the middle of the room that looked like the sort of thing a dog had spent the last few months marking with piss and shit. As for the lighting, that was left to a cracked lantern by the side that probably couldn’t even burn oil anymore.

’Oh my.’

There was one silver lining, though. There was a hole in his tent that looked off into a hole in another tent just nearby. Inside it, the back of a red-head unclipping her armor was in decent view.

Grey whistled.

The woman went stiff, but seemingly aware of the hole, she finished her business with her back facing Grey the entire time.

’Uh oh.’

A dangerous aura filled the air and Grey got the feeling that—.

The woman disappeared from the tent.

BOOM.

Grey dodged out of his tent, rolling away and then popping back onto his feet to spot a red-head with a streak of white hair across her forehead wielding a palm full of lightning bolts.

"Hey, hey." Grey held up his hands in surrender, his battle axe pierced into the ground by his side. "There’s no reason for all of this, is there?"

The woman’s only response was a flicker. In an instant, her palm was in front of Grey’s chest.

’Fast.’

Grey’s pupils constricted. This woman wasn’t in the Established Class, she was in the Vector Class.