Second Genesis

Motes of gold shattered out in every direction, lighting up Grey’s face. Or rather, the coverings on it.

The dark mask, the wiggling mass of worms, the iron jaw... it all came together to send a chill down Sabrina’s spine. But none more than the eyes behind the mask.

Grey seemed to be looking right through her. And hidden in there... there seemed to be an unextinguishable crimson, a color so subtle and yet so persistent she somehow got the feeling that even if she killed him, he would just come right back.

And then he suddenly launched himself forward.

Sabrina felt her heart constrict, but she panicked for little reason. Grey had only closed in half the distance when his body was forced to twist to the side, barely avoiding the blade that cut at his hip.

But rather than engaging again, Eli accelerated back until he disappeared into the tree line once more, his speed much greater than Grey’s. In fact, it was his highest stat at nearly 30.

Grey shifted to continue his sprint toward Sabrina, but this time she cast something new—a shield that appeared between them.

Without hesitation, Grey swung down on it.

CLANG.

His blade rebounded, his wrists shaking under the pressure. Faint cracks spread through the shield, and Grey didn’t hesitate to react, stomping a foot and accelerating to the side to run around it instead of attacking again.

But Sabrina reacted just as swiftly, a movement of her staff moving the shield along with it. But just when she thought she had Grey in a bind, he ducked and rolled right under the floating shield of gold.

BANG.

Eli crashed into the shield with his blade, missing Grey by a hair’s breadth, while Grey himself was already on the other side, flipping up to his feet after his roll and rushing the rest of the distance.

Panic lit Sabrina’s eyes, and she hurried to cast another bullet of gold, but Grey’s eyes were too focused, his pupils too dilated as though to allow every hint of light and detail there was in.

Sabrina was sure.

He started to dodge before her casting was even finished. In fact, his footwork, the grip of his toes to the ground, the shift of his hips and weight—they all said one thing.

He had already decided where to dodge the moment he was back up on his feet, before she even made the choice to fire.

Grey had already seen it. Sabrina could cast the bullets near instantly, half a second delay at most. That shield, however, had taken over two seconds.

She didn’t have the time to make it again.

Maybe she had a third method.

He was gambling she didn’t.

And he gambled right.

Grey’s side lateral only took him a single step, the toes of his plant foot and the bulge of his calves already changing his direction forward the moment it was completed.

His reactions were so fast, so precise, so perfect that the golden bullet Sabrina formed only whizzed by his side after he had already taken yet another step forward.

It was like she had just missed completely. From an untrained third party’s perspective, that was exactly what it would look like.

But they both knew the truth, especially in those last moments when Grey’s sword thrust through what remained of the distance between them.

There was no pause. It was like he hadn’t been flirting with her just moments ago at all.

His blade ripped right through her gut, and he twisted it for extra measure. He pulled the sword out half a second later with a slight upward arc, tearing a path out through her side, then kicking what remained of her away.

Grey didn’t even look back at her, already spinning around to face Eli.

The special forces man had already run around Sabrina’s shield, rushing to close the distance to support her. But the irony was that if he had waited a split second, he wouldn’t have had to. Then, maybe, just maybe, he could have lived for a little longer.

The shield disappeared with Sabrina’s death.

"Fuck you," Grey said coldly.

Eli’s eyes went wide. For some reason, he felt like he was prey to Grey’s predator.

"SABRINA!"

A voice roared out from the distance—clearly not Eli’s—but Grey didn’t even bother to waste his time with an eye roll. His eyes didn’t even see Eli in front of him. He saw lines to cut, weaknesses to exploit, a predictable chain of events that boiled his blood...

And he saw a target for his fury.

Not for one moment did he expect to meet the man who forced him to suffer his first death here of all places, but maybe that was the point. There was no grand conspiracy waiting for him. This bastard probably hadn’t even needed to kill him.

Eli had been among the first group to finish. They were so strong, they were probably among the first to register as well.

But Grey? He had to scratch and claw to make it as far as he had. He had been so close to finally registering, finally getting a semblance of a chance—and for what?

To die to this midget?

And for what? Because of a lie those Producers had come up with?

Probably. It was probably the same reason these vigilante assholes had come after him this time too. They thought he was evil.

But Grey was too furious to explain, too tired of the bullshit to bother.

Anyone who stood in his way, he would cut down.

Whether it was Sabrina, or Eli, or Joaquin, or the Producers, or the Great Udon, or even the assholes who made this damned game in the first place.

He would kill them all.

Sparks of fire arched like bolts from Grey’s jaw, and he seemed to flash forward.

He met Eli’s blade and twisted his wrist to parry it upward with his sword. The dagger flew into the air as though Eli had magically lost all of his strength.

What happened after wasn’t a death; it wasn’t a murder. It was a dissection.

Grey targeted the joints of Eli’s armor with the precision of a surgeon, slashes and cuts filling the night air with light colder than even the cool breeze.

When his final sweep cut half of Eli’s throat, the latter couldn’t even raise his arms to stop the spurt of blood...

He had already lost them.