Calixan suddenly leapt to one side, skidding along the ground before lunging forward again.

This time, Grey was ready. The belly of rage that was within him hadn’t vanished. Now that he suddenly had a target to vent it on properly, he wasn’t going to hesitate.

It was a shame that he couldn’t use Edmun’s blood to end Calixan’s life like he had wanted to, but there was no way in hell he was leaving this place without putting this bishop six feet deep.

Grey’s body flashed with a burning white gold light and he swapped from his Vampire Lord Frame back to his Last Paladin Frame. He felt that there was a lot about the Frame he hadn’t quite grasped fully. It had much more potential than his Vampire Lord Frame despite the both of them supposedly being perfect.

The difference was that while his Vampire Lord Frame Abilities were all at Core Sync, he had only just gotten these Last Paladin Frame Abilities. His use of them was choppy, and the power behind them was lacking because he didn’t sync with them as well as he wanted to.

However... Grey had just passed a trial that required him to understand them intimately before advancing. The reason they weren’t at Core Sync already wasn’t because he didn’t understand them, but instead because he had yet to acclimate to them.

Everything in his instincts was telling him that if he wanted to kill Calixan, he would need this Frame.

Grey was sure of it. Giyoto had forged that armor to deal with Calixan, and that armor had the markings of the Buddha on it. Meaning, Grey didn’t need the armor to kill this monster.

Whatever he needed was already in himself.

CLANG.

Grey’s blade deflected off of Calixan’s claw, a slashing might cutting into his side and nearly ripping him in two. He just managed to slip free of it, but it tore a hole right through his bomber jacket. Its circuits dimmed and Grey had no doubt that it had become useless.

Shadows flashed at his feet and he moved swiftly away, but one of the hovering palms followed him, slamming down from above and sending a wall of wind at him that knocked him off his feet before he could even properly anchor himself to the ground.

Grey tumbled through the hurricane’s force winds as it formed blades in its currents that cut into his flesh and ate into his bone.

—

You have been cursed

—

Grey’s jaw snapped and an ember of red gold flame sparked at its edges.

—

Curse dispelled

—

If Calixan was surprised by Grey’s unbotheredness, he didn’t show it. However, Grey instantly caught wind of the 1000 Energy Unit reduction in his Helm Frame immediately.

Even with his sheer amount of wealth, that sort of drain would eat him alive over enough time. It didn’t even feel like Calixan had sent out a real spell just now, it was almost like just being touched or cut by that energy was enough to be stained with a curse.

If Calixan sent an actual attack meant to do precisely that, then it might very well cost even more to dispel.

Luckily, Grey had a huge store of Cyber Cores in his inventory. And what made the Inventory such a Legendary item to begin with was the fact it functioned so very much like a Cyber Space.

He didn’t have to pull his Cyber Cores out to use them.

The Helm Frame was topped up to 12,000.1 units the moment Grey realized what sort of game he was playing. He pulled on Center of Balance and his mind became an endless chasm, one that only grew deeper and heavier when he likewise pulled on Abyssal Anchor at the same time.

While he couldn’t use Abyssal Anchor to its full Cyber Sync state without the Vampire Lord Frame active, he could still use it now.

Divinesever.

Chi.

Grey sliced down and cut Calixan’s arm before it could reach him.

He tapped a foot at the ground and accelerated backward, his blade glowing a fiercer and fiercer white gold.

The way the guardians had battled in the trial came to mind. The order in which the guardians appeared was almost like a clue. The fighting style of the Last Paladin was built off the back of Sacred Bulwark and Hallowed Endurance, and only then could you stack attack methods like Divinesever and Wrath Coronation, before you finished off with auxiliary accessory abilities like Knight’s Vigil and Swordsworn Ascension.

Grey’s spear flashed through the skies as he crossed attacks with the bishop. His speed was unconscious, one counter flowing into the next as he dodged and scraped by, his eyes glowing fiercer and fiercer crimson with every passing moment.

However, that wasn’t how Grey wanted to build his own.

The way the trial was set up was ideal if you built your rhythm on the horns alone. But when the drums were added, there was something off about starting with Sacred Bulwark and Hallowed Endurance.

No... Last Bulwark and Last Endurance for him.

Images of the Last Goblin Swordsman played in Grey’s mind. He didn’t have a shield at all. He stood there with pride and silence, his sword raising and silencing the drums for but a moment before they erupted.

Calixan shrieked, his maw opening wide as a rain of bats and blades shot from his mouth. They streaked through the air toward him, the bats sending out waves of sonar that should have been invisible and yet made Grey feel like his grip on his own rhythm was being shredded apart.

PUCHI. PUCHI. PUCHI.

A black blade pierced through one of Grey’s knees, the other just missing his heart as he tilted to the side—yet, it still ran through his chest down to its hilt. The last of them sliced into his gut.

Blood spilled out from Grey’s mouth as he stumbled, his vision blurring. He felt like he had just been so close to grasping something, while Calixan felt like he was perfectly suited to countering exactly what he was chasing after.

Had his assumption been wrong?