Grey appeared high above Caldrin, his eyes blazing with lines of white gold. Thin threads wrapped around the rod, turning it into a spear with a blade head so large it almost dwarfed the rest of its length.
With a roar, he sliced down.
Chi.
The sphere of black ink was split in two, crashing down to the ground below.
Waves of current swallowed buildings and tumbled over earth. Streets were swallowed whole and the armies of Holy Knights did their best to try and control and contain them, but it was minimally effective.
Grey couldn’t split his attention. His body was stretched thin, his mind feeling like it was fraying at the edges. Every one of his senses was pulled to an extreme, a roaring might pulsing endlessly within his body.
SKKKKREEEEEEEEEE.
A tentacle swung for Grey’s head, whipping at the air with such speed it felt like space was warping around it. And maybe that was exactly what was happening.
The power of a Dominion truly couldn’t be underestimated, but Grey didn’t have the time to reach that stage, nor the patience to wait for a chance to break it some other way.
He had to defeat Caldrin. He had to kill the Goddess. He had to clear this arc.
Everyone was counting on him to do so. He was counting on himself to do so.
His blood boiled in his veins, his blazing crown of white gold flames growing larger until it hovered like a halo above his head. His white hair danced, his crimson eyes blazing.
A rhythmic pulse coming from Prometheus calmed his nerves and for a moment, his ears became hollow of all sound. All he could hear was his own heartbeat, his own rushing blood.
And then came the drums.
They were louder than before, more feverish, more violent, pulsing in waves that matched the cadence of his heart.
And then came the horns soon after. Trumpets, french horns, trombones. A range of high pitches and low, from shrill calls to rich, deep echoes.
Then came the strings. Violins harmonized, cellos swayed, the bass thrummed underneath it all.
The resonance of wood and brass, of timber and metallic string, of nature and human blended into a symphony that split the skies and caused a holy light to descend.
Grey felt like a cocoon broke out around him and his halo shone through.
His body turned and he met the tentacle in the air. His spear crossed over his chest.
BOOM.
His eyes bulged, his veins writhing with might. With a roar, he parried it to the side, sending it slapping down with such force it connected against a second tentacle once swinging toward him from the back.
Last Bulwark and Last Endurance thrummed through him, the echo of a shield forming around him.
Grey flashed forward, gripping his spear with both hands, he slashed down with such force it curved into an arc. The sturdiness of the rod seemed to respond to his power well, becoming elastic where it had once been rigid.
Violence filled his very being as he activated Last Sever.
In that moment, he didn’t believe that there was anything in the world that he couldn’t cut, no barrier that could block him, no obstacle he couldn’t overcome.
And then he slashed.
Chi.
The line of white gold descended for miles. If you were on the ground, it would have felt like you were watching the world be split in two.
SSSSKKKRREEEEEEEEEEEEEE
"GREY TEMOLT!"
"That’s my mother fucking name! RAAAAAAAH!"
Two tentacles were severed at once. Violet blood flowed and Grey landed in an ocean of it.
But not a single bit of that stopped him from biting down on the severed tentacle and swallowing it whole.
BOOM. BOOM. BOOM.
SSKKKKREEEEEEEEEE!
The echoing booms in Grey’s belly resounded in his ears as loudly as the horns and drums.
"You taste like shit."
"I’LL SLAUGHTER YOU! I’LL TEAR YOU LIMB FROM LIMB! YOU RUINED MY LIFE, I’LL MAKE YOURS A LIVING HELL IF IT’S THE LAST THING I DO!"
"You really should have worked on your villain origin speech before you started this. Because that was very, very lame. You didn’t mention my mother once, you should have said at least one thing about fucking my bitch or something, and talking about tearing me limb from limb when I just took two of yours is just—"
BOOM.
A tentacle swiped down from above, but Grey vanished in a puff of shadows. He appeared high in the skies, one hand holding his rod, and the second holding onto one of Caldrin’s severed tentacles.
He took a big bite out of it, his jaw unhinging far wider than it had any business to.
The violet blood drizzled down his chin, pooling across his chest. But one would have thought that he didn’t notice at all.
There was a savage light in his eyes as his spear spun in his hands.
There was nothing he wanted more now than to give Caldrin the absolute worst death possible.
And that was exactly what the fuck he was going to do.
He tossed the tentacle into the air and his blade flashed. When it wasn’t attached to Caldrin’s body, slicing him to ribbons was as easy as breathing.
Grey inhaled and large amounts of flesh and blood were swallowed into his belly.
His stomach expanded and the echoing booms filled the air. But this time, Grey matched the rhythm of his Belly of the Forge to the drums in his ears on purpose.
The skies around him began to resonate with his Resonant Frame, and in that moment, Grey began to mimic something truly astonishing...
He began to mimic the effect of a Dominion with his Resonant Frame.
"Not only am I going to teach you how to shit talk properly, I’m going to humiliate you on a national—no, a universal scale."
Grey pointed his spear forward as his belly continued to shrink, power radiating out from him in waves.
"To whom this may concern, watch very closely. Every one of you who’ve pissed me off is going to end up exactly like this."
BANG.
Grey shot down from the skies in a line of white gold.