Second Genesis

A pressure fell on top of Grey’s shoulders that nearly drove him to his knees.

’Well damn.’ Grey cursed.

His luck was really shitty. He could feel that this person wasn’t even a member of the imperial family. Where was the justice?

He had seemingly forgotten that he had unleashed a massacre on the entire city.

"Hey, could you give me a minute? I’m clearly busy."

"You killed my disciple."

Grey’s lip twitched. This guy was a bit slow in the head, wasn’t he? Grey wasn’t exactly expecting the guy to actually try and strike up a conversation.

Well, maybe this didn’t necessarily count as a conversation.

"Wait! Wait!"

Elowen rushed over some rubble. Her face was still covered in blood, her robes dragging behind her in what had to be two sizes too big still.

"Sir Guardian, please, mercy! It was Zara who attacked Grey first! Mother! Please! Mercy!"

Grey blinked. One moment he was about to make a comment about how hot Elowen was again. It was quite a feat to still look like that in baggy clothes, not to mention being blood-covered. But then he thought better of it.

The poor girl was actually trying to help him. It was kind of cute. He guessed it took her that long to recover from the fact he had killed her sister.

They said blood was thicker than water, but Elowen either really hated Zara or had a very strong sense of justice. It was probably a combination of the two, all things considered.

Unfortunately for her, she was a bit too naive for the world.

Grey raised a foot and stamped a heel down on Helion’s head. Blood splattered and brain matter oozed out, only to vanish beneath the buffs of shadowy energy that radiated from the Shadow Forces.

He exhaled a breath and gave Elowen a salute.

"Thanks for trying, but I need to kick this asshat’s head in, and beauties will most definitely get in the way of that. I can’t be distracted, you know?"

Elowen was stunned. "What are you talking about at a time like this?! Just shut up and let me handle it!"

Grey blinked. "Well I’ll be damned. I guess you were a firecracker after all."

Elowen felt like pulling her hair out. What was wrong with this man? Couldn’t he see that if things continued like this he was going to die?

He had just killed all three of Duke Valdi’s heirs and that was already a dangerous enough situation.

However, because Terran had killed a princess, there was more than enough room for Grey to still survive this so long as he could shut up and let her explain what happened with Zara to her mother.

But Grey didn’t seem interested in any of this.

Grey suddenly vanished.

BOOM.

To say a crater was left where he had just stood was an understatement. It was almost like The Relentless had driven a fist to the core of the planet, leaving a crater so whole, smooth, and perfect it swallowed any light that entered it.

Grey appeared a large distance away, standing tall for only a moment before he suddenly swayed.

"... Oh... fuck me... Your disciple was still weak as shit..."

BANG.

Grey’s head exploded.

He had reacted so fast, so perfectly. He picked up on exactly when The Relentless moved and not a second too late. And yet... the slight gathering of momentum, just a nudge of wind pressure that touched him...

Killed him.

It seemed the Dominus Class was on another level entirely.

—

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

—

"GREY!"

Grey didn’t even hear the princess’ cry.

**

Grey woke up with a start. He pressed a palm to his head, a hint of dizziness hitting him.

For a moment, he felt like his head was going to explode again, but he just barely managed to resist it and expunge the rest of The Relentless’ influence.

’Did it... follow me?’

Grey realized then that the attack just now was more than just wind pressure. It was because of the wind pressure that it connected, but there was a deeper secret to that attack.

It didn’t feel like something that came from an Ability, it was deeper than that.

’The Class.’

If there was such a boost that came from just going from Proving Class to Established Class, then one could imagine that the boost to Dominus Class was something unheard of.

Grey was so used to just beating people beyond him in Class that he wasn’t sure what that secret might be. 𝕗𝐫𝐞𝕖𝕨𝐞𝗯𝚗𝕠𝘃𝐞𝚕.𝐜𝗼𝚖

He took a breath and exhaled.

That loop wasn’t a complete waste. He had learned three things.

For one, he knew what would give his Last Paladin Frame more strength—the bloodline of the Imperial Family.

It also made him wonder if he could gain even more benefits if he found some goblins and absorbed their blood too... or if it had to specifically be humans.

Then there were also those unique ways they used the Holy Knight Abilities. He realized he had been too rigid in how he looked at the Abilities.

After Sir Trolley explained to him how they worked, he had been locked into that way of viewing them, not realizing that what his master had known was probably just a long game of telephone playing out in real time.

The last thing was something he hadn’t gotten to test out much, but he had still felt it. The feeling was still fresh in his mind. But he needed to do something else before he could confirm.

That atrium of hexagonal windows and its method of harnessing solar energy was fascinating, and it reminded him a lot of his own Dark Solveign Frame. The problem was it only focused on the Solveign aspects, but not so much the Dark aspects.

But then Apollo had appeared and Grey could have sworn he felt the young Valdi using some aspects despite not having a Helion Type Frame himself.

There was only one way Grey could confirm that, though.

He was going to go and fight that alien fuck again.

His gaze blazed as he walked a line right toward Amunet’s tent.

Not before he threw a burning pile of molten metal into Alvin’s tent first, though.