Second Genesis

"Three."

Grey started counting despite the fact several attacks came for him. Instead of reacting to them actively, he simply activated his Solveign Frame.

Daggers deflected away from him without even touching the hem of his jacket, arrows reflected back, and energy attacks found themselves combusting and shredding apart before even reaching him.

"Two."

Grey continued just as calmly, but this time, Amunet didn’t step out as quickly as before.

"She’s not here!" J Dog roared, already feeling the heat and knowing it would only take a thought from Grey to burn them all to ash.

Grey frowned and retracted his Solveign Frame. Was she going to arrive at the last minute like he had before?

’Dammit. That means I’ll have to waste 30 minutes before I can get my hands on that bike again?’

Grey had been hoping that he could leave now and explore his options with the Mechanical Jaw Lineage ahead of time, then make it back in time anyway.

But if Amunet didn’t arrive until the last minute, then that would be impossible. Even with that bike, he doubted it would be all that easy to avoid the Syrn. It had travelled here from another zone entirely, and Grey doubted it perfectly bordered them, otherwise they would have been found by the alien races a long time ago.

That meant that the Syrn’s travel methods were excellent as well. If Grey didn’t leave before it laid eyes on him, that would be its own form of trouble. Though, maybe he could escape by leaving underground?

Grey’s gaze flickered.

"When is she getting here?" Grey asked coldly.

"We—we don’t know."

It wasn’t J Dog who responded this time, but instead a woman with a soft voice. Their bodies and forms might be well obscured, but their voices... not so much.

"Is that so..." Grey nodded and then took a seat right in the middle of their tent, crossing his legs and his arms. "In that case, I will wait right here. You all won’t mind, will you?"

The group looked toward one another, then at the destruction around the tent, and even the flames that had caught on some of the fabric...

Could they even say no if they wanted to?

Grey closed his eyes, his brows furrowing as though he was in deep thought.

A peculiar silence fell. The shadows couldn’t go about and do what they had been doing before, but they also didn’t dare to leave. The one Grey had bowled over could only slowly pick himself up and limp toward the others.

As for what they did, Grey wasn’t paying attention at all. His mind was whirring with thoughts of what else he could do if this didn’t work out.

Should he use Frantz’s item to see if that might shake things up? But if he did that, then he couldn’t make it back. There was only one use left in the item.

That said... the One Line Vessel would definitely get him to a place with markets where he could auction his items off properly. He might be broke in terms of credits, but he still had a bunch of Vanguard items he had yet to pawn off.

That might give him the money he would need to build a proper vessel for the Wolf Spirit in the fang, and maybe a better vessel for Prometheus. Then he would be able to put the Mechanical Jaw Lineage Spirit into his Helm Frame and reach a much stronger Sync Rate.

He always thought about his sync rates in terms of making Prometheus stronger, but what about the other way? Was he leaving potential on the table with his Helm Frame? Could it bolster the power of his helms even more than it already was?

’Maybe.’ Grey thought.

His eyes suddenly flashed open as something shifted in the tent. A figure appeared in front of him, a rapier in her hand.

"Took you long enough." Grey said coldly.

"If you want to fight, we can fight." Amunet replied, a chilling undertone in her voice as well.

Grey sneered and received a rapier in response.

Chi.

His Solveign Frame activated once again, a strong radiance pulsing outward. He didn’t even move, and yet the rapier froze in place right before his nose.

Grey slowly stood up, the blade in Amunet’s hand quaking, but unable to move even an inch forward. At this point, Grey preferred his own self-created Frame over Last Paladin and Vampire Lord.

Grey reached forward. Amunet tried to pull her rapier back, only to find the magnetic field reversing and yanking her in instead. By the time she thought to release the blade, Grey had already caught her by the throat.

"Now," Grey said with a grin, "hand over that bike. I’m in need of it."

Amunet’s eyes widened. How did Grey know about that? She only used that item under the most covert of circumstances. It was how she managed to deal with things in the hub and go back and forth to clear Instances and complete her Quests at the same time.

In fact, it could be said that this bike was the most valuable thing on her person. Without it, even with the Dark Kin Frame Lineage, she wouldn’t have been able to take advantage of things as quickly as she had.

After a long while, Amunet took a breath and exhaled.

"I guess you do deserve to have it." She said softly.

Grey frowned. What was this chick on about? During these last three loops she had been like this every time he confronted her.

If you were going to do something only assholes would do, then stand on it. He couldn’t stand this wishy-washy bullshit, it left him not knowing where to direct his anger and it only pissed him off more.

However, Amunet did as she said. Without resisting, she waved a hand and summoned the bike.

BOOM.

Grey’s pupils constricted, his head snapping out.

The moment the bike was summoned, he sensed something land.

’Fuck!’ He covered his eyes with a forearm.

What Grey hadn’t realized was that the trail left behind by the Dark Kin Cycle was what had led the Syrn to their hub in the first place. Because he pressed Amunet’s team for her, they were forced to call for help early, and she had also shown up early...

Leading the Syrn to them much faster than before.