Second Genesis

Grey woke up the calmest he had since this closed loop began, his eyes reflecting a deathly chill. A cold wind ripped by, fog of darkness pooling and collecting around him.

Without a word, he grew his hair back, sitting up from the cot and pushing himself up to his feet.

He looked down at his hand and digital lines cut across the air as the Ancient Origin Wolf Gloves took shape, flexing around his fingers.

As expected.

He couldn’t take treasures through time loops with him, but mechs were different. They had a connection with his Cyber Space.

Whatever he could tie down to his body, he kept after every loop. Zara’s blood had been the same, Elowen’s blood this time likely was, and so too were his mechs.

Grey walked right out of the tent.

’How do I do damage to him?’ Grey asked Prometheus, sending his mind into his Cyber Space as though he didn’t need his consciousness present to keep walking forward.

Pulsing waves came from Grey.

The Volthari were elemental creatures. Grey had run a blade right through its chest, and yet he had done no damage at all. But somehow, when it touched him, it not only felt solid, but its lightning ripped through him as though he was a copper string bean.

It was the sort of enemy that felt impossible to defeat, but Grey knew there had to be some sort of limit. He just didn’t know what it was just yet.

Chi.

The echo of a ripping sound filled the air as Grey tore down Alvin’s tent.

"WHO?!"

"What is going on?!"

"STOP!"

Grey ignored the rain of attacks. They deflected away before they could even land on him.

He strolled right up to the large, fat man, his claws ripping through the air.

Alvin tried to block with his staff, only for it to snap in two beneath Grey’s force. He looked down in horror, only to find Grey elbow deep in his chest.

"Go fuck yourself."

BANG.

Grey kicked Alvin off of him. The blood whicked away from his arm as though it had a mind of its own, leaving his bomber jacket completely unblemished.

Without another word to Alvin’s party, Grey walked away. It was like he couldn’t even sense their attacks at all. He simply walked right up to the tent that held Amunet’s people.

This time, though, they were already outside. The commotion that Grey had caused wasn’t small, and his presence alone was practically still akin to a blazing bonfire.

"You have about a minute to get Amunet here, or I’m going to start killing."

One of them fired an arrow, but it reflected off of Grey’s magnetic field before it could even get close.

PENG.

The arrow spun impossibly fast through the air before it embedded itself between the legs of the archer who fired it.

A cold sweat covered their forehead and back. Somehow, they were almost 100% sure that Grey had done that on purpose. If the latter had wanted, that arrow would have been between their brows.

BANG.

Grey vanished. When he appeared again, his fist was in J Dog’s gut.

J Dog hacked up a mouthful of air and then his stomach heaved. Any breakfast he had had left spilled out in waves of acrid acid. Then he collapsed to his knees, the world swimming around him.

"The clock is ticking." Grey said coldly.

The shadowy figures stood frozen as though Grey was emitting a domain that controlled their muscles themselves. No matter how much they tried to regain control of themselves, it simply felt impossible.

BOOM. BOOM. BOOM. 𝐟𝕣𝗲𝕖𝕨𝗲𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝗲𝚕.𝗰𝚘𝐦

Grey looked up into the skies to find a streaking line of grey.

As expected, every time she appeared, the more aggressive she became. But what Grey had noticed was that the usual effects of the loop were very much muted in a closed loop.

Usually, by now, Alvin, for example, would already be highly paranoid about being suddenly killed, and Amunet would have already appeared in the tent feeling that something was off.

But whatever it was about a closed loop, the usual imprints of his loops were much less obvious...

That said, they were clearly still there in part. Otherwise, Amunet wouldn’t have appeared so quickly this time.

A rapier streaked across the air, the blade slicing and dicing through everything.

Grey vanished.

Before Amunet could realize what was happening, he appeared above her.

BANG.

Grey punched down, his knuckles hitting flush against the top of her head. Her neck nearly shattered beneath the compressive force, her body hitting the ground so fast she still thought it was the sky.

Grey landed on the ground so softly it didn’t sound as though he had landed at all, his gaze radiating a steely cold.

He picked Amunet up by her collar, ignoring the dissipating motes of shadow around her. She was trying her best to maintain it, but she was failing quicker and quicker.

"The Dark Kin Cycle. Hand it over."

Amunet’s pupils constricted. Her mind was rattled, her brain hardly working, but there was something about those words that snapped her back to focus.

After a long while, she nodded.

"The inventory space too."

Amunet blinked, but she somehow knew exactly how to do that this time. Without much of a fanfare, she did as she was asked and Grey gained a new Mythic item.

But before he could even pull it out, there was a surge that came from his inventory.

It shook and the bike manifested all on its own.

A wolf’s howl filled the air, and in that moment, it looked like a crimson Wolf Spirit was trying to peel its way out of Grey’s face.

It roared at the bike and flickering ghostly crimson roared to life around it.

The bike turned to face Grey and before he could react, it revved and then shot forward.

BANG.

Grey took a strong step back, the bike having disappeared into his heart.