Second Genesis

The room shook as the silver projectile of energy rebounded against an opposite wall. A deep crater was dug out of the concrete, chipped pieces and clouds of dust kicking up.

Grey pushed down the waves of nausea, disorientation, and fatigue he was suffering, jumping right up to his feet with a flip.

This time he didn’t stumble. The shock of adrenaline from nearly losing his head shook his entire body awake, familiar waves of a feedback loop coming from the Looping Necklace.

Clenching his sword hard, he faced forward.

He had faced one creature with ranged attacks like this on the way here. An ape beast with a tail like a monkey—well, three tails. It had not only been fast and agile, but it could spit acid like bullets.

Grey had to use the terrain to his advantage. But those creatures couldn’t leave the invisible dome of the battlefield, being restricted the same way he had been.

But the witch was dead, so the domed effect of this battlefield was gone.

However, this cabin was still an enclosed area, and the fireplace was a very narrow entrance. So...

’There are only so many angles they can attack me from.’

As expected, another attack didn’t seem to be coming any time soon.

Given the vantage point, Grey could see the woman’s legs, and she could probably see his. But there was no easy way for them to successfully attack the other. Her projectiles weren’t fast enough.

"You... you’re human?"

A small voice caught Grey off guard.

Grey was about to curse up a storm, but then he remembered the state of his face. That woman probably saw the mask, the wiggling worms, and the metallic jaw and—rightfully—lost her cool.

He relaxed a bit.

"I am. The mask I’m wearing is an item I picked up. I don’t want to take it off for... reasons." Grey said slowly.

It was a good thing he had a quick mouth. If he didn’t curse like that, she wouldn’t have known he was a human.

"Oh..."

The woman didn’t seem convinced, probably because his explanation wasn’t all that convincing. What was he going to tell her? He didn’t want to take off his mask so he wasn’t accused of getting off on killing women and stealing the clothes off their corpses?

"Hey, I don’t really have time for this back and forth. So if you don’t trust me, can you just scram please so I can leave this place? I’d rather not just stand around if I don’t have to."

Grey was irritated. He hadn’t eaten, he was thirsty, and he had just been on the verge of finally learning what he wanted to about this Frame he was given and the ring on his finger when this chick came out of nowhere and attacked him.

"I..." she fidgeted a bit.

"You?" Grey made a weird face. What was wrong with this woman? "Shouldn’t the registration be going on now? You’re pretty far from the city."

"Registration?"

Grey frowned. Had the registration not started yet? Then that probably meant that there really was a sunset between when the tutorial started and all of them had ended.

He thought he had been late, but it seemed he was still ahead of schedule. That meant if he hurried along the route he came from, he could make it back to the city before everyone set out.

Was that a good thing? He still wasn’t sure.

He had taken May’s Nexis Suit again this time, so what if that floating head bastard came again to sit on its ugly high horse?

But if he didn’t return to the city, was he going to sleep out here where he could be attacked?

’From what I know, those who successfully registered should be given free accommodations for the first day in the city. I haven’t used mine yet...’

Thinking of sleep, Grey almost swooned.

’Wait—.’ He snapped back to reality.

If the registration wasn’t going on yet, why the hell was this woman out so far?

’That face...’

Grey’s heart skipped a beat. He would have made the connection earlier if his brain wasn’t in such a fog.

He recognized the face of that woman. Wasn’t she right next to that uppity, failed politician bastard who cut his head off back when the Great Udon appeared?

Grey’s gaze became frighteningly dangerous.

Why had they followed him all the way out here?

Joaquin couldn’t have known Grey was in a time loop. As far as he knew, Grey didn’t even know who he was.

Unfortunately for him, he was wrong.

Grey’s adrenaline began pumping through his veins again.

"You haven’t heard of the registration? I guess that makes sense. I got to the city pretty early."

"... You got to the city early?"

Grey could hear a trembling in the girl’s voice, but it wasn’t out of nervousness.

What was it?

’... Suppressed anger.’

Grey could guess why that was. If she was with the politician cunt, then it meant that she should have been in the first group to arrive. Meaning, she would have been the first to see May’s corpse and the state of it.

Especially that it was stripped naked.

’Well, there goes my good guy act. But she’s restraining her rage for a reason. Probably the same reason she’s here alone. They’re trying to lure me into something. But why?’

Was it just vigilante justice? Maybe. But the effort of making it all the way out here without the map he had would have been an insane amount of effort.

"Yeah," Grey laughed. "I was the first to make it to the city, so I had some time to explore and learn some things others don’t know about."

"Oh, that’s pretty impressive." She said softly.

Grey smiled, but given the vantage point, she couldn’t see his face at all, nor how dangerous his smile was.

"If you’re here alone, I can protect you on the way back if you’d like. But I really need some water and food in exchange."

"Oh... yes, I do have some water here. I don’t have food, though."

"That’s fine, I’ll take water. I’m coming out."

Grey made his way to the fireplace, letting his sword vanish into his Weapon Space.