Grey’s eyes narrowed and he let Amunet go. He didn’t even bother to pick up the bike this time. He could take it into his inventory if he stole Amunet’s space for it, but he would have to kill her to do that and as much as he hated her, he couldn’t seem to bring himself to do that much yet.

Was it because she always put on that whiny crybaby face? Maybe.

Was it because she was hot? Also maybe. Pretty privilege was real, and luckily for Grey, there was nothing pretty about that alien fuck.

BOOM.

Grey shot out in a blaze, the magnetic fields around him whirring with life and sending him rocketing through the air like he had been shot from a railgun.

"—so fragile. Now, who can tell me where—?"

Grey appeared in the skies before the Syrn.

"How about I tell you where my spear is instead, cunt?"

He thrust forward, a blaze of glory following his strike. His strike accelerated through the air, his blade being forced through one magnetic, pulsing current after another until it was so fast even Last Paladin Spirit could hardly control its trajectory.

The Syrn’s pupils constricted. For a moment, it found that it was actually caught off guard by Grey’s speed. The echo of the sound only just reached it, yet Grey’s spear was already bearing down.

Its tail whipped out from its back, meeting Grey’s strike.

BANG.

They separated in the air, falling through the skies and landing in heavy plumes of smoke.

The Syrn was shocked into silence, but Grey was already ripping a path forward again. His body became as light as a feather, solar radiation hitting him from all sides and turning his body into a solar sail of endless surface area.

Grey’s gaze became icy cold. He knew he could cut this creature, he had done it before. All he needed was a drop and then he could really feel out its limits.

BANG.

The ground beneath him shattered as he was crossing blades with the Syrn’s tail in another blink. His spear thrust and cut, slashed and swept.

The Syrn met it with what felt like the same ferocity, but all its focus was on its tail and tail alone. Its feet didn’t even move, its gaze slowly recovering from its initial shock.

Its head tilted to the side as it watched Grey’s relentless combinations. Suddenly finding a gap, its tail shot for Grey’s throat.

Grey vanished in a puff of shadows and appeared at its side. It was almost like he had left the opening on purpose.

A roar left Grey’s lips.

Solveign Storm.

His body looked like a star radiating solar flares. Wild arcs of molten energy rose from him, fueling his spear like the wings of a nuclear butterfly and jetting forward.

BANG.

The Syrn felt its side cave in beneath the blow, its body bending out of the way. Its black energy ate it up and it took a step back, its shock having returned.

Luckily, its blade light absorbed the blow, or else—

BOOM. BOOM. BOOM.

A combustible energy latched onto the black light, eating into it and devouring it for energy. It began to slam apart in a wild catalytic reaction of fusion and then a concussive booming cadence of fission.

A slash was torn into its protective coating and Grey’s spear slashed through, nicking skin.

Grey turned his wrist and his spear’s blade flipped its position in the air, catching the blood before it went far.

A thrumming beat came from his heart and he absorbed the blood faster than one could blink.

Grey roared as a wild energy filled his body. The blood catalyzed in his body as though a cancer trying to devour him whole, but Grey’s mind adapted faster than anyone could imagine, especially when he wasn’t thinking and was relying on instinct alone.

Corona Veil.

His mind split apart like the shells of a star, the interference and roaring might of the blood diluting again and again.

Abyssal Anchor.

The echoes of it fell into an endless void, and the instant the edge of the blood was taken off just enough—

Grey’s eyes pulsed.

Crimson Cognition.

The body of the creature reflected in his mind and suddenly he felt something click.

—

[Body Resistance Ability, {Null Veil}, Copied]

—

Grey grinned ear to ear.

His spear spun in the palm of his hand and he felt the tome change as he made a new decision.

He hadn’t yet evolved his Solveign Frame to Established even though he could have, because he felt like he might be missing something.

And it seemed he had made the right decision.

He originally wanted to learn this ability so that he could understand the creature more, and maybe even use it as a foundation to build his last Frame.

What he didn’t realize was that this would be the exact last piece he was looking for.

The golden raging flame in the Establishing Helion Path Tome shifted toward dark gold and its name changed again from Establishing Helion Path Tome, to Establishing Solveign Path Tome, and then finally to Establishing Dark Solveign Path Tome.

The Syrn was shocked once again. This was already the third time. But this time, it felt like something had been ripped out of it.

"I am sorry, ancestors. I have let you down..." the Syrn said almost softly.

"I’ll send you to go see them so you can apologize properly." Grey said with a sneer.

His body erupted with dark gold light.

—

[Body Resistance, {Solvmantle}, has evolved to {Dark Solvmantle}]

—

[Body Combat, {Solarbreak}, has evolved to {Shattered Eclipse}] 𝗳𝚛𝚎𝚎𝘄𝕖𝕓𝕟𝕠𝚟𝚎𝕝.𝗰𝕠𝐦

—

[Body Enhancement, {Stellar Drift}, has evolved to {Dark Stellar Drift}]

—

[Mind Resistance, {Corona Veil}, has evolved to {Horizon Veil}]

—

[Mind Combat, {Solveign Storm}, has evolved to {Dark Storm}]

—

[Mind Enhancement, {Helion Web}, has evolved to {Dark Web}]

—

[Perfect Frame, {Solveign}, has evolved to Perfect Frame, {Dark Solveign}]

—

The Syrn didn’t reply as Grey’s energy surged, its gaze only sharpened.

BANG.

Grey’s chest collapsed, his heart shattering to pieces.

—

[You have died. Better luck next time. Oh wait, there won’t be a next time. Toodle-oo.]

—