Second Genesis

The halo finally reacted the moment Grey ripped control of the blessing away.

"HERET—"

"Can you shut the fuck up?"

White-gold tendrils descended before the halo could finish, wrapping around its fractured surface and tightening until the projection froze in place. The cracks across it still leaked light, but the entire thing had gone rigid, no longer able to move, no longer able to speak, and Grey sighed in satisfied relief.

"Ah," Grey said, rolling one shoulder. "That’s much better."

Behind him, Veyrath shifted.

The remaining clone was still missing an arm, its flames weaker than they had been before, but the look in its burning eyes had lost none of its hatred.

"You have offended the Elementals beyond reason," Veyrath said. "There will be no end to the price paid for your transgressions. The Infernal Arc Clan will—"

Grey looked down at him and blinked.

"You know, I’m known to talk shit when I’m down and out too, but I’m usually more creative than this. Can’t you sound a little less like a bot?"

Confusion flickered through Veyrath’s expression.

Grey sighed. He really wasn’t in the mood to explain Earth slang to people who thought threatening someone with hell counted as clever banter. Save that for the religious fanatics.

He stood to his full height and stretched, his back cracking loudly as he checked his remaining Stamina. The number made his expression flatten slightly, because if not for everything the rebirth waters had done to his body, he would have been running on fumes a long time ago.

Even with that baptism hardening him to a ridiculous degree, this Atlas form, or whatever the fuck he was supposed to call it, was draining him far too quickly.

It would last a couple more minutes at best.

’Good thing I figured this out fast, otherwise I’d be cooked.’

Grey finished his stretch, exhaled, then raised one hand.

"Alright," he said. "It’s about time we end this bullshit."

Keeping the halo alive had started as a matter of spite, because rage-baiting a God’s projection was simply too entertaining to throw away early, but there had always been a second reason. The halo was the overseer of this entire culling, and from everything Grey had observed, it wasn’t merely watching what happened here. It was almost like the central brain or hub of everything.

Grey had deliberately avoided calling out to the angel lady again because her voice triggered something beyond this projection. The halo was exactly what the Dormaji had claimed, a remote manifestation connected to a true divine body somewhere far beyond this place, and Grey had no intention of testing whether pissing off that main body would result in a fight he could bullshit his way through.

The important part was that everything here seemed automated.

The thresholds had already been established before anyone arrived, the challenges were preset, the standards for passing or failing were fixed, and the halo itself was simply enforcing decisions already woven into the trial. It wasn’t judging them creatively in real time, it was following a structure.

Which meant Grey didn’t need to defeat the structure, he only needed to exploit it.

The entire culling revolved around Holy Energy.

Every time a Region met the proper standard, energy was allocated to it. Every success, every comprehension result, every advancement added to that territory’s share, and when the halo had decided it needed help killing Grey, it had drawn from that same reserve to bless everyone else.

There was a well--a finite well--of energy, and Grey had just taken control of the faucet.

His raised hand clenched and white-gold power twisted across the arena.

"NO!"

The violet-haired Princess screamed as the blessing surrounding her began to peel away. She charged forward, but her power dropped with every step, the Dominion-like Holy Energy that had been forced into her body siphoning out in streaming ribbons and racing toward the Melix Region.

By the time she reached the edge of Grey’s territory, she was already too weak. The wall of power surrounding Melix buffeted her backward. She slammed into the ground and rolled.

The same thing happened everywhere else.

Holy Energy abandoned one Region after another, lights dimming, barriers fading, and the strength that had been handed out moments earlier flowed in a single direction: toward the Melix territory.

By the time the redistribution ended, there was only one territory still glowing. Theirs.

The halo rattled violently in the distance, shaking against the white-gold tendrils binding it, but it still couldn’t move.

Grey turned.

Elowen was staring at everything with worry plainly written across her face. He understood why.

Without the alliance, Melix would have to face whatever came next alone, and worse yet, the moment this projection collapsed, there was a real chance the God connected to it would learn exactly what Grey had done here.

That was a fairly large problem.

Grey grinned.

Not through the crystal mask this time. He had removed it somewhere during the battle, and the smile Elowen saw was completely his.

Then he winked.

Elowen froze.

She remembered what Grey had told her before the Angelic text appeared, how casually he had put his hand on her head and said everything would be fine so long as he was here.

She hadn’t believed him. Not at all.

Now, for reasons she couldn’t quite explain, her shoulders loosened.

Grey had restrained even the projection of a God. At this point, what exactly was she supposed to believe he couldn’t do?

Grey chuckled, then turned away and squatted beside Veyrath again.

"Want to guess why I’ve kept you alive this long?"

Veyrath said nothing.

Grey’s grin widened anyway.

"You see, this body of mine needs a lot of fuel right now, and getting enough food is a huge pain in the ass."

Veyrath’s eyes narrowed.

Grey leaned closer.

"So I’ve been thinking."

His grin became positively vicious.

"I really need a portable oven."

Veyrath’s flames surged.

Grey rested his chin on one hand.

"What do you think? Would an Elemental make a good Spirit for a Mech?"

Veyrath’s eyes bulged.

His entire body erupted with sparks, fire lashing wildly in every direction as fury overwhelmed whatever composure he had left.

There wasn’t just one taboo of the elementals, there were two. Eating their seed was just the first. And somehow... Grey had just stumbled into the second.

Grey’s smile stretched wider. There it was.

He really was the king of rage-baiting. Who the fuck was this guy to try stepping on his toes?

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