Second Genesis

Stamina: 29/111

—

’Fuck me...’

Grey took deep breaths as he cut down the fifth of the guardians, his body feeling like it was weighed down by lead.

The good news about integrating all the fat of the Mark of the Buddha was that every Stamina point he had seemed worth far more than before, not to mention his newly minted healing factor.

The bad news was that it almost felt like low Stamina hit harder, as though his body was punishing him more for using the Stamina he had now.

Grey had a feeling that part of that was because while Prometheus had helped him integrate the fat, there was still a thin layer of separation left that would truly make it his.

That was just speculation on his part. But what was definitely true was that with his Stamina lasting this long, his mind itself took a larger hit.

It was taking a lot to focus on the rhythms, to understand and decipher what he was seeing, and to react and counter effectively in response.

When Divinesever appeared, it was already a nightmare to deal with. The guardians didn’t seem intelligent, but they seemed to have a natural understanding of their own rhythms and how they could best work together.

When it was just the Sacred Bulwark and Hallowed Endurance Guardians, they just both worked together to cut him down. Grey thought that would continue to be true when the Divinesever Guardian appeared.

He was wrong.

The three rearranged themselves. The Sacred Bulwark and Hallowed Endurance Guardians became the vanguard and the Divinesever Guardian became like a scurrying rat in the background, poking and prodding at him, only attacking in brief gaps where Grey’s judgment seemed to lapse.

That one battle ate away 30 of Grey’s Stamina points as he tried to figure out how to deal with the situation, cutting him down to almost 50.

When he finally did manage to win the battle, the platform didn’t give him long before it expanded once more and the fourth appeared.

The Wrath Coronation Guardian.

If Grey thought that the addition of coordination and the Divinesever Guardian was a nightmare, then the appearance of the Wrath Coronation Guardian should have ripped him to pieces.

Divinesever was the Body Combat Ability of the Holy Knights, but Wrath Coronation was the Mind Combat Ability. It formed a ring of blazing white gold around the guardian. Not only did this ring enhance physical stats, it went further and also enhanced the potency of the guardian’s INT stat as well.

This allowed the guardian not only to wield stronger, more violent attacks, but to slash out from a distance as well.

If Grey used 30 Stamina on a three versus one battle, this should have brought him down to zero.

But he had learned a lot from the addition of the Divinesever Guardian, namely how to force a clash between the rhythms of the guardians.

By changing his position, how he attacked, and forcing their hands, he could disrupt the coordination between the guardians.

As such, the addition of the Wrath Coronation Guardian—at least after Grey mastered its rhythm—made things easier.

That was because the idiot guardian couldn’t control the trajectory of its ranged slashes after it released them. So Grey was able to use its attacks against itself and end the battle after only giving up seven Stamina points.

But then the fifth battle came.

Grey thought that he would be able to do the same thing when the Knight’s Vigil Guardian appeared.

He was wrong. Very wrong.

It turned out the ability of Knight’s Vigil was a Priest Ability incarnated into a Holy Knight. Even at the lowest level, it gave passive damage reduction to allies.

What the hell this had to do with Body Enhancement was beyond Grey—at least at first.

At the highest levels, the Knight’s Vigil was able to grant a sort of spiritual state that allowed a perfect comprehension of the state of its allies. It could even provide a limited heal and protection against some status effects.

Grey thought he was screwed, and he burned away his Stamina even faster, until he realized that the Knight’s Vigil’s rhythm was almost like a baseline.

It didn’t just synchronize with the others, it almost faintly guided them. It communicated, setting the tone.

Grey set everything to the side at that point, focusing his entire being on the Knight’s Vigil rhythm and using it as a conduit to understand the other rhythms instead of trying to grasp all five of them at once.

When he did that, the burden on his mind plummeted and he was able to slowly cut them down one by one until the Knight’s Vigil Guardian fell beneath his blade.

Now, the platform was shaking for the sixth time.

Grey stretched his back out. "If I’m going to get fucked, I might as well be limber."

He exhaled a breath through pursed lips. It shot out like a jet, his heart roaring like an engine.

Hopping a bit, he forced the blood to churn through his body, keeping himself in a primed and ready state.

’Come on, Grey. Let’s lock the fuck in.’

Six enormous figures took shape.

The Sacred Bulwark Guardian. The Hallowed Endurance Guardian. The Divinesever Guardian. The Wrath Coronation Guardian. The Knight’s Vigil Guardian. And finally...

The Swordsworn Ascension Guardian.

The last of them trembled and nine blades of white gold unsheathed from its back, floating in a formation high above that protected both itself and the Knight’s Vigil Guardian.

’Fuck me.’

Grey had seen this ability many times before, Terran had used it continuously. But this was on another level.

It wasn’t just a matter of controlling blades from afar anymore, there was a resonance forming between the swords. They fed into one another, strengthening one another, forming a unique rhythm between them...

A unique circuit as though they had a Resonant Neural Frame for themselves.

And that was when the last piece of the puzzle fell into place for Grey.

The rhythm...

His eyes glowed.