Second Genesis

Grey was only vaguely listening as the halo explained that the first challenge would be simple enough. Every Region would be matched against an equal number of Demons, and only once those Demons were defeated would they be allowed to move forward.

Grey had absolutely no idea what a Demon meant in this context--whether it was an actual race, some corrupted monster, or just another dramatic name--but frankly he didn’t give a shit.

He had bigger problems.

For one, there was still the angel lady doppelganger floating above them, which meant Grey had to hope and pray that whatever was controlling that halo couldn’t sense The Virtueless on his back.

If it could, then he was potentially one stray thought away from getting the entire Melix Region smited out of existence again, and considering his Helm Frame probably had one death left in it, that wasn’t exactly a mistake he wanted to make again.

But that wasn’t even the worst problem.

If this really was something that seamlessly led into the second Arc, then the aliens gathered here weren’t the bottom-feeding scraps Grey had been fighting before.

The Dormaji he’d slaughtered, the Syrn he’d crushed, even the Volthari he had eaten his way through had all been the weaker members of their Races, people who had entered early because they were expendable enough to throw at a Cracked World for sponsorship money and entertainment. These people were different.

They were talents expected to spearhead the completion of the first Arc for their worlds.

Grey looked toward the massive Dormaji again, then toward the lone Elemental sitting on his rock, and clicked his tongue.

’I’m going to have a very, very bad time soon.’

Worse yet, he already knew roughly how strong most of the people standing around him were. Legan and Modric were talented, Lloron wasn’t weak, and the Duke heirs probably had all sorts of treasures shoved up their asses by their families, but scaling them against what Grey now knew was possible made the problem obvious.

He and Xerchen were probably the only two here who could actually fight.

’Fuck me.’

Grey glanced around at the dozen-plus people standing inside their circle and almost felt like swearing at The Immovable all over again. If she knew so much about how this place worked, why the fuck had she sent everyone in?

The halo had just said they would fight an equal number of Demons.

Which meant every useless extra body standing around Grey had just added another enemy.

If these Demons were calibrated to challenge the best talents from every Region, then most of these idiots would just be burdens. And they didn’t even have the common decency to have big tits. What was his life coming to?

Grey let out a long sigh and rubbed his face while the halo finished whatever the rest of its speech was.

Elowen looked over. "What’s wrong?"

Grey dropped his hand.

"When this starts, stay behind me."

She blinked. "Why?"

"Just do it."

Elowen stared at him for a moment. Grey rarely said things like that without a joke attached somewhere, and the seriousness in his eyes made the usual argument die before it even formed.

"Fine," she said slowly.

There was something else in Mauve’s expression, though, a flicker Grey might have normally noticed immediately, but his attention was pulled elsewhere.

One of the circles of light disappeared. Not theirs, but another Region.

Grey’s eyes narrowed.

The people standing there belonged to the same race as the crystal-headed idiot he’d killed on the mountain. The same oversized skulls, the same gemstone eyes, the same midget bodies, and one of them was already staring directly at Grey.

The bastard seemed to recognize him.

Grey was about to say something when someone else spoke first.

"Princess Elowen."

Grey’s attention shifted.

A woman stood in another circle, her hair such a bright violet it looked almost luminous against the dim stone. But, surprisingly, she wasn’t looking at Grey at all.

She was staring at Elowen.

"Your Empire barely survived by the skin of its teeth during the last Culling," the woman said, a smile tugging at her lips. "This time, I’ll make certain there is no chance of success at all."

Grey blinked.

Then he slowly looked toward Elowen.

She was young enough that there was no way she’d been involved in whatever the hell this woman was talking about.

Elowen frowned back at her.

"Orlith Holy Empire," she said quietly.

Grey raised an eyebrow.

"I don’t know the details," Elowen continued, keeping her voice low. "My mother has always told me to be careful around them, but she never explained why."

Grey sighed.

"Great. Anyone else?"

Elowen gave him a bitter smile and her eyes shifted.

Grey followed them.

The massive Dormaji from earlier still stood in his circle, glaring directly at Grey, but now Grey noticed the people behind him more clearly. They looked human, or close enough to it, and each one carried the mark of a white-gold sun on their foreheads.

Grey stared for a second.

Then another.

’Yup.’

He exhaled slowly.

’My luck is shit.’

As if they wouldn’t have enough of an incentive to hate his guts already, now they’d be united in their great hatred. As though that wasn’t annoying enough, Grey was feeling a great deal of pressure from that aura farming Fire Elemental over there. He hadn’t looked at him again after their first pissing match, but Grey could feel that it was paying attention.

Normally, Grey wouldn’t care about all this. In fact, maybe he could justify it as being some fun. But the angel lady’s doppleganger was really throwing him off his game. Something was itching at the back of his mind, telling him that this was definitely not a simple matter he could hand wave away with a few jokes and deaths.

Grey opened his mouth to ask Elowen exactly how many fucking enemies her mother had collected over the years.

Then the arena shook.

BOOM.

The circles of light flared.

Something began to emerge from the darkness between them.

The Demons had arrived.

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