Second Genesis

The city was in absolute chaos. When Terran’s mansion fell to ruin, it only became worse. From their narrow perspective—the citizens of such lush and prosperous neighborhoods, that is—it felt like the world was ending.

And that feeling was only further entrenched when what felt like two gods came free from the destruction, turning any falling rubble that tried to touch them to ash with their presences alone.

One had the wings of an angel, the other the wings of mother earth herself.

And when they clashed, the Knights that came to settle and deal with the situation froze in place. The Holy Knights that came soon afterward were even more stunlocked because they knew exactly what abilities Terran was using, and yet there was actually someone that could match up against him.

This was above their paygrade. These two were practically at the limit of the Vector Class.

Only a Vanguard could stop this.

...

Grey and Terran didn’t seem to notice the commotion they were causing at all. Vicious snarls marred their features, their spears and swords clashing.

Grey pulled on Paladin Spirit more than he ever had before. It felt like Terran had something similar to enhance his combat, but he was also expertly trained.

Every attack was streamlined, precise, sharp, cutting right to the heart—sometimes figuratively in terms of how well he found the weakest part of an attack, and at other times very much quite literally.

It didn’t help that every time Grey was settling into a rhythm, a flying sword would break it. He would be forced to divert his attention away, using a pulse from Helion Resonance to send it flying away.

As fast as he could move using Helion Body and Helion Resonance to forge his body into a solar sail, Terran used skill and his floating swords to bridge the gap. And as fast as he could heal, if it wasn’t for Living Dawn constantly replenishing his focus, and his Epic tier cargo pants fueling his Intelligence every time, he would have already bled out.

When Edmun said that Terran was far beyond him in talent and would soon surpass him, Grey hadn’t taken it seriously, or rather he had at least glossed over it.

But there was no glossing over it this time. Terran was strong, and it felt like every one of the Holy Knight Abilities he used was an upgraded version of something Terran had seen before, almost like he was a step ahead of every other Holy Knight Grey had ever met—including himself.

It didn’t make things any better that his body was far larger now and a far bigger target. He had to move further to dodge, gear up more to accelerate, gather more energy to heat and repel himself.

But that didn’t stop him from learning from every exchange.

Grey’s spear howled through the air, arching up from his hip, twisting and then thrusting down from above as he gathered momentum for a powerful strike.

His Helion Resonance formed a rail of magnetism that accelerated it to an extreme by the time it made a move to land.

Who said he could only use it on things he was throwing?

BANG.

Terran hurried to block, but his armor glowed in response. Half the energy was transferred to his feet to stop his back slide and the other half transferred right into a follow up strike to slow Grey’s counter.

Grey spun his spear, side-stepping and swinging the butt against the body of Terran’s spear.

He pulled on Helion Resonance again, accelerating both his own blade and trying to rip it out of Terran’s hand.

Terran roared. He dispelled Grey’s attempt, expanding his skin of gold to cover his spear, but now he was burning through even more stamina.

Every step forward Grey took, he applied more pressure, and then more on top of that.

His spear spun again as he slid to the side of Terran’s body. Using the momentum of their clash just now, Grey accelerated his spear in the other direction and slashed at Terran’s side.

BANG.

Another treasure formed a barrier, and another one of them shattered in a glowing light of red gold heat.

Terran’s heels left deep trenches in the rubble, but Grey was already upon him again. He could feel it, that rhythm again, those drums—.

Chi.

Another sword came, piercing toward his neck.

Grey roared, stopping and raising a palm to it.

The blade came to a stop just in front of his hand and he grabbed it.

Terran sneered and then commanded the sword to spin like a wild, rotating drill.

Grey gripped it and countered the rotation with a clasp of his fingers and a spin of Helion Resonance. Before Terran could even fight against it, the blade disappeared into Grey’s inventory and Terran’s connection to it dimmed instantly.

Heaving for breath, Grey took a look at his stamina and then toward Terran.

—

Stamina: 47/222 (+100%)

—

"That was the last of those fucking swords." Grey growled. "I hope you’ve enjoyed your struggle. You’re not interrupting me again."

Grey was sure of it. Terran could hear those drums, maybe even the trumpets. He could feel exactly when Grey was about to enter his rhythm and he interrupted it perfectly every time.

Without those powerful swords, Grey didn’t believe for one second he would be able to do so as easily.

Terran stood to his full height, looked at the destruction around him for a moment and then sneered.

"You really think you’re getting out of this alive."

Grey wasn’t going to waste time exchanging in an actual conversation with this man. He had already said exactly what he wanted to say.

His eyes glowed and streams of white gold erupted from his body as he abandoned his Helion Frame entirely and entered his Paladin Frame.

In that instant of time, a weight sank Terran’s knees and his Holy Knight Frame quivered.

All he saw when he met Grey’s gaze were orbs of white gold.