Second Genesis

The creature blinked, not quite understanding what it was hearing. Was the human speaking to... it like this?

Grey pushed Amunet to the side. She toppled to the ground, but he was already not looking at her. She wasn’t his problem right now.

A common spear appeared in his palm and he took a step that shook the ground.

It fired out of his hand like a cannon. His forefinger was the last to leave its body, the friction between skin and metal sparking a line of flames that roared across its pole arm.

His Solarbrand ability had to be beaming across the skies in a line of bright red gold by the time it reached the creature.

Chi.

The spear touched the black light that surrounded its body and vanished in a blink. There wasn’t even the slightest bit of ash left behind. It was like it was erased from existence entirely.

’Well, damn.’ Grey clicked his tongue. ’What sort of ability is that supposed to be? Looks interesting. I kind of want it.’

What fun was there in having a heavy metal body? He would still need to tank things. But this... this looked a lot more interesting.

Grey looked down at his draconic Nexis Suit. ’You better be as good as advertised. Let’s do this.’

Reaching out a hand, Grey pulled a spear from thin air. His Neural Frame roared and it almost looked like a pale gold sphere of radiance rolled out from his body until it grew so large and all-consuming that it couldn’t be clearly seen any longer.

The Vanguard Grade spear was as simple as could be. It had no Ability or Stat-boosting abilities, and yet it seemed like it fit like a glove in his palm. He only took just a single step forward more, and yet his body already somehow seemed more in sync than ever before, stronger, more powerful, just... more.

Grey swiped a hand over his face and a jagged grin of crimson energy manifested.

His bomber jacket danced in the wind and then he was suddenly gone.

When his figure manifested in the eyes of those around him again, his spear was thrusting at the creature’s neck with a roaring momentum.

His Last Paladin Frame pulsed and Last Sever activated, a glowing blade of gold cutting across the air as though to split even space in two.

Chi.

The creature’s tail moved so fast Grey could only track it with his sixth sense. It slapped his spear aside, the speed so fast and the strength so powerful that Grey found his body spinning to the side.

His shoulder rammed into the creature’s body instead, his feet slipping as he tried his best to continue some sort of forward momentum.

The effort worked, but it wasn’t worth it in the slightest.

His bomber jacket turned to ash the instant it contacted the black light. His shoulder collided with it right after.

A whirring, whining sound filled the air, sparks flying as the black light combated against the defenses of the Crimson Dragon Nexis Suit.

BANG.

The creature stumbled a step backward, its big toe-like stubs grabbing at the soil to stabilize itself.

It blinked in shock and then looked down at Grey’s Nexis Suit. It looked like it had tanked the damage just fine.

"Mythical..." it said slowly.

Grey didn’t pause to listen to its nonsense, his spear already pulling back. He pulled his rhythm back under his control, pulling his feet back to a steady stance once again.

His spear swung in a wide arc, a scythe of gold forming in the air as he used Last Sever once again.

The creature absentmindedly deflected the spear away with its tail again, then it reached for Grey’s neck.

Shadow Meld.

Grey’s Shadow Forces activated and the creature’s hand passed right through him.

’Gotcha, bitch.’

Grey slipped to one side, ignoring the eerie feeling of something passing through his body. Using the momentum of his spear being deflected away and back again, he leapt and spun, arching his blades all the way back in a wide circle until he was slashing down at the creature from above.

Last Coronation.

Last Sever.

Grey roared, timing Shadow Meld perfectly as he slashed down right on the creature’s head.

It was too lazy and too unprepared. Grey’s slash was also far too well timed. Between Shadow Meld and Last Paladin Spirit, he flowed his defense and offense together seamlessly, finding a brief window to take advantage of, right between where the creature could counter him and lacked the timing to recover.

BOOM.

Grey’s blow landed with all the might he had, the ground cratering beneath them and shockwaves of gold spreading out in every which direction.

A violent upswell swallowed everything in sight, burying it.

But when it finally did clear...

Grey stood...

The creature stood as well...

Grey held his spear, a line of blood running down the webbing of his fingers.

The creature had a blade in its head and a trickle of sparkling black blood ran down its nose, then its chin, and then dribbled down to the ground.

The blade had struck, it had cut through the black light, but that was almost about all. It didn’t even look like it had cut through the bone, only splintering the flesh the smallest bit. It was barely deeper than a paper cut.

For a long while, the creature and Grey alike didn’t move. The latter shocked that his attack had done so little damage, and the former disbelieving that a creature from a Cracked World had drawn its blood at all.

"I have humiliated my ancestors." The creature said, still absentminded.

PUCHI.

It moved so fast Grey couldn’t even react. What Grey did react to, though, were the sparks that flew after it tried to claw out his heart and the dent that appeared where his heart should have been instead.

Every inner organ within his chest was torn to shreds and he hacked out a mouthful of blood. As his consciousness faded.

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[You have died. Better luck next time. Oh wait, there won’t be a next time. Toodle-oo.]

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