Second Genesis

When the last Demon finally fell, the violet-haired woman turned toward Elowen with a sneer on her face. None of her people looked particularly worse for wear, there were a few cuts here and there and a light sheen of sweat on some of their faces, but considering what they had just fought, they looked almost annoyingly fresh.

"I look forward to seeing you painted across the ground in your own blood," she said, her voice carrying easily across the arena toward Elowen.

Grey groaned audibly. "Can you shut the fuck up?"

The woman’s head snapped toward him.

"It’s hard to appreciate how hot you are when your mouth runs this much," Grey continued. "You’re ruining the whole experience."

For a moment, the woman looked genuinely stunned. Apparently, somewhere in her long and probably very spoiled life, nobody had ever bothered telling her that being attractive didn’t automatically make everything she said worth listening to.

A strange little snorting sound came from the side.

Grey glanced over and found one of the rock-headed creatures trying very hard not to laugh. It looked almost identical to the asshole Grey had killed on the mountain, big gemstone eyes, oversized head, tiny body, and the sort of proportions that made Grey wonder what the hell mother nature was thinking. He couldn’t for the life of him understand what sort of evolutionary advantage being a bobble head brought.

The violet-haired woman’s head whipped toward him. "Do you find something amusing?"

The little creature immediately stopped smiling. "No."

"You were laughing."

"I was coughing."

"Is that so? Why’s your cough suddenly disappeared now? "

Grey bit his lip.

The little creature’s gemstone eyes narrowed. "Must have been the wind."

"Do you believe that just because you are a talent that the Pope has taken a liking to that you can say and do as you please? I am the heir to the Orlith Throne, I have royal blood running through my veins and dignity in my bones. It is one thing for an outsider to speak ill of me, but if you dare to so much as snicker at such foolishness again I will put your oversized head on a pike."

The eyes of the imp rock creature bulged. It seemed that he was moments away from tipping into fury, trying to weigh the pros and cons of his chances at clearing the first arc if he killed an Imperial Princess.

Grey turned away, shoulders shaking as he tried not to laugh. "See that?" he said, looking at Elowen. "I’m a genius."

Elowen gave him a skeptical look. "You didn’t do that on purpose."

Grey’s expression hardened in mock offense. "Wow. After everything we’ve been through together, you still doubt my charm?"

"Yes."

"No hesitation either. Cold."

He looked back toward the violet-haired woman and found her glaring directly at him now.

Grey smiled, then he raised both hands like he was gripping invisible hips and began thrusting into the air.

The woman’s face twisted in disgust.

Grey gave her the middle finger.

POP.

The barrier around their circle vanished.

Grey froze.

"Ah, fuck. Karma’s a bitch."

Across from them, the violet-haired woman’s disgust immediately transformed into satisfaction.

Grey looked toward Mauve and Elowen. "Stay behind me."

Elowen frowned. "Grey—"

"I’m serious."

That was enough.

Mauve’s eyes lingered on him for a moment before she nodded as well.

Grey shifted Brad’s weight higher on his shoulder, making sure the bastard wasn’t about to slip off during the fight, then he noticed movement behind him.

Apollo.

His brothers were with him.

Actually, most of the others had already started grouping themselves behind Grey and Xerchen without even needing to be told.

Grey stared at them.

Apollo smiled.

"If you’re truly as strong as you claim," Apollo said, "I’m sure you won’t mind taking the vanguard."

Grey blinked. Somehow, he felt that this might have been part of the orientation he missed when he hopped in on his own. But if this was the plan, did that mean there was a later round where numbers were actually helpful?

’Did this motherfucker really just—’

The first Demon appeared.

Grey’s attention snapped forward.

Then another emerged, and another.

They didn’t stop.

Over a dozen Demons formed from the darkness in less than a breath, each standing somewhere between eight and ten feet tall, dark-gold circuits burning across their faces as their murderous eyes locked onto the group.

Grey sighed.

"Of course."

The Demons moved almost as a unit.

Grey’s pupils constricted.

The first group he watched had been impressive, their Wills forming a mesh that allowed one action to feed into the next, but this was completely different. A Demon leapt from the back, another dipped beneath it, a third caught the descending body by the hip and redirected its momentum sideways, while two more poured their Will into the exchange and multiplied the speed again.

Then the entire formation shifted around that one motion.

Not just four bodies, many more this time.

Every action was feeding into every other action.

Grey’s Resonant Sense spread and his expression changed.

’You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.’

Their coordination hadn’t become sloppier with more people.

It became stronger.

Exponentially stronger.

The mesh between four Demons had been impressive, but the number of connections between this many was on another fucking planet. Every Demon had more bodies to borrow from, more angles to attack through, more wills to reinforce its movements.

The group blurred and Grey’s eyes widened.

The entire formation rocketed forward like one giant organism.

Behind him, Apollo still looked smug.

Grey almost wanted to turn around and beat the shit out of him first. They had watched the Orlith Holy Empire crush four Demons and assumed these things were weak.

Fucking idiots.

Grey could already feel the difference in the pressure crashing toward him. This was exponentially more difficult. This batch was dozens of times more powerful than the last one had been just by the sheer coordination of their numbers.

And to make matters worse, all the morons behind him thought they were walking into an easy fight.

Grey lowered his stance, strands of white-gold Holy Energy spreading around him as he tried to figure out the best way to deal with this without pulling on more reserve Stamina than he wanted.

"Yeah," he muttered. Then his grin disappeared. "I’m gonna need a luck stat to boost because this is complete bullshit."

Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!