Second Genesis

At that moment, when Grey was halfway to Calixan, a radiant spear appeared in his hand. This wasn’t his spear, nor was it Joaquin’s—it was Frantz’s.

The instant before it appeared in his hand, one of his shadows had picked it up off its corpse. In the next moment, it was in his hand, the wild digital grin on his face becoming more demonic.

"ENOUGH!" Calixan roared and the church quaked on its foundations.

"Useless." Grey said coldly.

A pressure descended. It brought Sir Ovaal and Edmun to their knees instantly. However, the squires themselves were surprisingly unaffected by the change, though Blain and Chogh most definitely were.

It didn’t take a genius to realize that this pressure was something unique to the Bishop of a Church and it allowed them to control their subjects.

Unfortunately for Calixan, as he had realized earlier, this pressure was worthless in front of Grey.

Calixan’s pupils constricted and his staff appeared in his hand again. A bubble of gold appeared around him and began to bubble. Lines of golden energy shot out from it in a rapid, gatling fire so thick it almost felt like two large streams of gold river water pouring down toward Grey.

Grey sneered, his digital grin reflecting his indifference as he flickered past it. His Shadow Forces carved through the line and left shadows in his wake as he appeared before Calixan, striking out with a spear that sang.

Divinesever.

Chi.

Grey cut through the barrier like butter, the tip of the blade appearing before Calixan’s throat in a flashing instant.

Bishop Calixan’s eyes widened.

’Shit.’ Grey cursed.

It was too late.

Bishop Calixan’s body was swapped with another and Grey’s spear ripped through Edmun’s chest.

All of Grey’s momentum came to a sudden halt, a blast of wind ripping the air around him apart.

Edmun grunted, holding onto the spear that impaled him with a slowly fading shock in his eyes.

A chuckle left the old knight’s lips.

Everything changed far too fast. Grey was sure he was going to dominate the battle in one moment, and in the next it was his own teacher that was on the end of his spear.

A blank look reflected in Grey’s eyes. In that last instant, he had sensed an energy reach out toward Edmun, but he had thought that Calixan was going to attack him in retaliation.

Part of Grey realized that unless he was strong enough to kill Calixan in a single blow, there was no way he could stop something like this from happening.

Even if Calixan didn’t swap places with Edmun, it would take nothing more than a thought to kill the old knight. The control Calixan had over his Holy Knights as a Command Class Bishop was too strong. If he told them to kill themselves, there wasn’t any stopping it.

Grey thought about what would happen if he let himself die, and every time the rhythm played in his head, and he planned out how the battle would go, it ended the same way every single time.

"Not bad." Edmun said with another cough. "I knew you’d surpass me eventually, but this has to be record time. I’ll go... first, then..."

Edmun just barely managed to reach forward, leaving a trail of blood on the back of one of Grey’s hands as his body went limp.

Grey stood there in silence as though he had forgotten that he was in the middle of a battlefield. Streams of white gold and pulsing red gold came from him, his body being weighed down by his own energy.

Edmun fell from the end of Grey’s spear.

The body felt so fragile, crumpling into a heaping, squelching mess. There was nothing pretty or valiant about it. A man who had once saved his life with the power he held was now an ant snuffed out on a whim by the decision of another far more powerful than himself.

Maybe the worst part was that Grey hadn’t even felt any real resistance going through his body. It was like passing through air, like life was no less fleeting than a current of wind.

The blood slicked off the spear until it was spotless. No doubt some cleansing sort of circuit running through it, or maybe its polish was just that perfect. Even what lingering sentiment Edmun had in the world was gone.

Grey just looked down at the corpse, his expression hidden behind his Helm Frame.

He really didn’t like this feeling. He hadn’t been particularly close with Globb, nor Memm, and he had known Edmun for too short a time.

Their deaths didn’t move him to tears, but they filled him with frustration. It felt like no matter what he did, no matter how strong he grew, or how fast he did it, he would just keep losing people like this. 𝕗𝗿𝕖𝐞𝐰𝗲𝕓𝐧𝕠𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝐨𝚖

There was no amount of power that seemed enough, no amount of success.

He had somehow managed to survive against a Territory Boss like the Wicked Forest Witch, yet got rewarded with Globb’s death.

He managed to get out of one of the worst loops he had ever been trapped in, and successfully cleared an Instance that should have taken several teams of people to clear all on his own, just to get rewarded with Memm’s death.

And now he had come out the Last Paladin, he had seen the secrets of the universe and been blessed beyond what even Calixan and maybe even the Dukedom that now sought his head could fathom...

Only to be rewarded with his master’s death.

Over and over and over again.

Was he going to have to watch his grandfather die one day? Would there be nothing he could do about it then no matter how strong he got?

Dark plumes began to radiate from Grey’s body as the last mark of Edmun’s life became the center of his focus... a single line of blood on the back of his hand.

His heart erupted with rage.

--

[Quest Received]