The Bishop didn’t look over. So focused on his séance, maybe he didn’t notice at all.

But that wasn’t the case for Sir Pebble. He instantly looked over with a frown, gripping his broad sword’s hilt. He yanked it upward, his expression instantly becoming gloomy.

When he saw that it was actually Grey, there was a brief moment of surprise before it was replaced by resignation.

"Not cool, dude."

Grey wasn’t in a talking mood. His Forces left streaks of black in his wake, his footprints leaving imprints of foul darkness as he accelerated forward at his fastest speed.

A speed that was no longer so pitiful at all.

Sir Pebble’s eyes flashed in surprise, almost not getting his sword up in time. He had a lazy, languid style that made him seem almost too laid back for how powerful he was.

Grey planned to take full advantage of that.

His fang daggers flashed, their bodies extending with blood into short, curved sabers that sizzled with dark energy. Insights about what Heart Lance was lacking inundated his mind despite his attempts to ignore it.

And then those insights flooded into his very soul itself. It was almost like the more Grey didn’t pay conscious attention to what was happening, the more his body adapted instinctively, and the faster he learned.

Heart Lance wasn’t weaker than the blood manipulation of the Blood Witch, at least it wasn’t weaker by as much as Grey had thought it to be. In reality, the hardening of blood was only one aspect of Heart Lance’s ability to begin with.

The far more important aspect was forming a loop between your heart, your blade, and the enemy you cut. And the moment you completed that loop...

Grey’s blade descended to meet Sir Pebble’s, their clash echoing in sparks and flashing crimson energy melting away at the gold.

Sir Pebble took a single step back, but recovered quickly, pushing back against Grey’s blade and curling his body away from the second blood saber that tried to disembowel him.

Grey’s Forces activated and he vanished, not far, just a single step back. But the sudden loss of a leverage point caused Sir Pebble’s sword to fall forward, his body’s balance being completely shifted out of line.

The great sword slammed against the ground and Sir Pebble’s frame tipped forward under its weight.

Grey vanished again, appearing right where he had been standing before but this time ducked between the arch of Sir Pebble’s body and the length of blade slamming into the ground.

Roaring, Grey slashed out at both legs.

Horror filled Sir Pebble’s expression. He had never seen a fighting style this wild.

His first reaction was to knee at Grey’s face, but that only accelerated his legs toward those cutting blades even faster.

Sir Pebble roared and a golden energy radiated out from him in waves.

Grey sliced right through it. Just not far enough.

The energy was split, Sir Pebble’s radiant armor cut, and the latter’s skin sliced, but his bone remained intact.

Grey vanished again, dodging out of the way before Sir Pebble could even think to follow up. He held up his blood saber, looking at the sizzling darkness where he had stripped the Holy Knight of his blood.

It looked almost as though it was burning in a dark curse, a unique energy pooling around Grey that pulled on both Void Gaze and Crimson Cognition.

The lines between the Abilities blurred and Grey felt like his comprehension of them was increasing by leaps and bounds every moment.

And the instant Sir Pebble’s drop of blood flowed through his blade, into the fangs, and through to his heart... it skipped a beat.

—

[Lv7 Crimson Cognition > Lv10 Crimson Cognition]

—

[Lv3 Void Gaze > Lv10 Void Gaze]

—

[Lv6 Hemorrhagic Regeneration > Lv10 Hemorrhagic Regeneration]

—

[Lv7 Heart Lance > Lv10 Heart Lance]

—

Grey’s crimson irises swallowed up the whites of his eyes, both pairs becoming orbs of red. The world changed around him.

One moment, Sir Pebble was a knight in shining gold armor, radiating a majesty and brilliant gold. In the next, he was nothing but an outlined silhouette and pulsing veins.

It was all black from the beat of Sir Pebble’s heart, right down to the tiny capillaries that flared out and formed his lungs.

And when Sir Pebble moved, Grey sensed it even before the Holy Knight seemed to.

Chi.

Grey suddenly accelerated, ducking beneath Sir Pebble’s attack and slashing at his neck.

He saw the blood flow around Sir Pebble’s neck change as he rapidly moved to dodge. But it wasn’t just that, it was the small hairs on the back of it that were fueled to rise as well.

The blade cut into Sir Pebble’s skin, but it was just a measure too slow, only nicking him.

The Holy Knight pulled back in his dodge, rapidly accelerating away, only to find that Grey had already appeared behind him.

Sir Pebble’s feet slid to a stop, cutting an arc across the ground as he spun back to slash wildly at Grey’s head.

Grey was already dodging before the strike was even built up. Crimson Cognition and Paladin Spirit naturally stacked and it was like Grey was practically reading into the future.

He advanced and then retreated, slashed and then dodged, pivoted and then twisted his blade. Sir Pebble couldn’t even begin to keep up. The man kept spinning and spinning, trying to get a hold of Grey, only for his body to be littered with one wound after another.

And with every nick he took, he became more predictable, more obvious, more of an open book whose pages could both be read with great ease and have its words written in his own blood.

Grey’s eyes suddenly flashed and Void Gaze gripped Sir Pebble’s heart. All at once, his blood stopped flowing and his mind didn’t receive any oxygen. For all intents and purposes, he thought he had sunk into the void, he thought he had stepped into the afterlife.

And then, right after this moment, that was exactly what happened.

Grey’s body flashed, his blade cutting across Sir Pebble’s neck and sending his head spiralling into the air before it landed on the ground in a sickening squelch.