Chapter 49: Mortal Squabbles
Gray was disappointed with his poor performance in the english teacher's assignment.
Having completely forgotten about it, he simply couldn't do anything to stop receiving a bad grade.
Gray then thought that, with Replication in hand, he could possibly use it even for day-to-day task, even for things as mundane as an assignment.
The only issue was:
How could he activate it? Was it even worth it for such simple tasks?
He had just gone through unimaginable strains on his Fragments, there just wasn't any possible reason for him to take the risks!
And since Ophelia's powers couldn't heal metaphysical traumas—only working upon a being's physical vessel—if he damaged his only engines towards survival and otherworldly powers, there wouldn't be any way for her to heal them!
Replication also greatly reminded him about Intra.
Both could allow him to access memories extremely easily. Yet Replication didn't possess the more pressing weakness of Intra.
Firstly, Intra was a process that needed time to access its mind enhancing abilities, while Replication was something instantaneous.
Secondly, Intra needed a constant meditative mindset to work, while his Secondary Mercurial Fragment allowed him to use it even during combat.
Gray figured that, since the progress he had with Intra belonged only to the 'First Step,' there would be more improvements in the 'Second Step,' 'Third Step,' and so on.
It was also obvious that the more one gained experience with Intra, the more those weaknesses would get reduced.
Yet could these higher stages of Intra reach the power of Replication?
This question was something he was unsure about.
If Intra and Replication were branches of the same tree, figuratively, would this mean that The Monolith had a connection with Intra?
Or were his abilities two completely separate things, only coincidentally similar?
If they were conjoined, surely Franz would've had a reaction about it. They spoke together about his Mercurial Fragment, therefore, there wouldn't have been any reason for him to hide it.
Thanks to this crucial fact, Gray finally understood that Intra and Replication weren't mutually connected.
While this fact was proven to be false, it was obvious that Gray would have many doubts, especially given the fact of his sheer talent in Intra.
Consequently, this also meant that his theory of Intra being granted thanks to losing his Ego in his second dream, was proven to be correct.
Glad to have sorted his thoughts out—yet feeling defeated about one of his many social suicides, Gray decided to take a moment of silence and tranquility inside one of the only places that could allow him to do so—the emergency staircase!
Gray was also thinking of maybe climbing over the roof, but since there wasn't any important and necessary reason for him to do it, he decided to avoid it momentarily.
When he had to use Dusk Catcher on Nekare it was only because of its sheer importance, but now that he was safe, there just wasn't any point for him to risk falling and plummeting into the floor.
And since it was possible that his Primary Fragment, the engine of 'Genesis,' was recovering, he wouldn't be able to receive a revelation about a serious injury, or even possible death.
Did Gray survive a divinity against all odds to die for such a senseless reason?
Hell no!
…
Gray gripped the metal railing and gazed at the cloudy sky mindlessly.
When the occasional strong gusts of winds came, he shivered, placing his trembling hands in his pockets.
And even if there was nothing interesting to look at, nor anything quite fun to do, he enjoyed this moment of silence.
In his childhood, silence was something he could not obtain—be it because of the occasional yelling, the occasional shattering of glass, or the occasional shrills of pain.
Yet after his mother passed, silence became a constant in his life.
He had finally gained tranquility, but at the cost of losing his dearest one.
Was it worth it?
Gray was sure of the answer.
It just wasn't worth it.
He was about to return inside his school, when he suddenly heard the metallic noise of the emergency stairs being stomped into.
As he turned around, he saw three guys with cigarettes in their hands.
When they saw his face, their expression turned ugly.
The burliest one stepped forward.
"You're the worm who fooled my guys." he said.
Gray sighed inwardly.
Why was everyone suddenly having issues with him?
"…Fooled my guys? What are you talking about?"
The burliest one shot a glare towards the one next to him and demanded to know if he was the one they were talking about.
His goon nodded fervently, pointed at Gray and declared,
"He's the one who lied to us! He's the one who made us throw away our precious packs of cigarettes!"
"…"
Gray could now recognize them.
These were the guys who were smoking on the emergency stairs while he needed to use Dusk Catcher on Nekare.
Gray had to lie to them, saying the professors were coming, just so he could have the emergency staircase free from any people.
Gray's eyes twitched.
'…Are they really bothering me for this? They don't have anything else to do in their lives?'
After realizing his hypocrisy—the hypocrisy of someone who did nothing else but read all day, he coughed dryly.
Hoping to not have any further issues with them, he apologized half-assedly, bowing his head slightly.
"Sorry. I really thought the professors were coming."
Thinking nothing else about the encounter, he headed towards the emergency exit.
Yet the guys didn't move.
"Can I pass?" he looked up at the burly one and asked politely.
"No." he grinned.
Gray sighed.
Even if what they were doing was annoying, he just had to bear with it. They weren't Nephilim or other otherworldly creatures—there just wasn't any need for him to fight them.
Gray had always been someone rather peaceful, someone who avoided conflict at all times.
A little bit of power wouldn't change him so quickly.
"Do you want me to pay for what you guys lost?" he asked once more.
While he didn't have much in savings, Casanova would pay him a substantial amount soon.
That was going to allow him to soend money with little to no restrictions.
"No." the burly man said in a sneering tone.
Gray was starting to get really annoyed.
"What do you want me to do then?"
Hearing Gray's tone, the burly man's face turned even uglier than before.
"You don't seem to know who I am." he said.
"I really don't. Sorry." Gray replied, confused if the person in front of him was a npc or just someone he had forgotten.
"I'm Zeredveni Kalistos, the tiger of Rosano. In this school, if anyone needs something, I'm the one they come to!"
"Do you understand?!"
Gray couldn't speak.
If he did, a crazed amount of laughter might erupt!
So he stayed silent, stifling chuckles like he had never done before.
Zeredveni's eyes narrowed as he repeated, now even angrier.
"DO YOU UNDERSTAND?!"
"Y-yea…" Gray stammered, his voice cracking continuously. "Y-Yes."
Seeing his ugly face in front of him, however, he just couldn't hold himself back anymore.
He began to laugh like he had never done before, clutching his hips in pain.
'Who does this kid think he is!?' Zeredveni shot a glare towards the young man in front of him, angered beyond belief.
Seeing at his tear-filled face, his annoying laughter echoing through the air, and most importantly, the look on his goons' faces, he could not hold back any longer.
'I'm Zeredveni, damnit! I have a reputation to withhold!' he screamed in his heart.
Clenching his teeth, he wordlessly swung his fist towards Gray!
"…"
Yet his attack didn't hit anything.
Hell, the boy he wanted to hit had even disappeared from his point of view!
Gray sighed, sitting below Zeredveni's outstretched arm.
"It's really not that serious, Tiger of Rosano."
Although Genesis wasn't on, although Replication wasn't active, although Desensitization wasn't working…
The memoirs and traumas he had received marked his soul deeply, allowing him to move and dodge in ways he could've never imagined before!
Angered even further, Zeredveni tried to stomp right at Gray's face.
Yet,once more, he did not hit anything, for Gray had moved right at the last second.
This situation was slightly tricky.
Since Zeredveni wasn't someone he could rationalize with, he just had to fight him.
While Gray could avoid his moves, as they appeared slow in his eyes, he didn't have any offensive power.
For the last encounters he had with the otherworldly, he possessed a sword that could counter this weakness of his. But now, he just didn't have any means to harm his attacker.
During his physical struggle against the Sult-Hurni and Selene, the only way he could survive was all thanks to the inconceivable amount of adrenaline in his system.
But since his body was fully human, not enhanced with quintessence nor adrenaline in any particular way, it wouldn't be enough to penetrate Zeredveni's natural defense.
Zeredveni was both tall and pretty muscular.
Therefore, if Gray wanted to take him down, he'd have to go either for the soft or vital spots in his body.
The only ones he had in mind were his throat, his solar plexus, and his liver.
Going right for his throat was too dangerous because, no matter for one's stature, if hit, it could prove to be fatal.
Zeredveni was just a small-time bully. There was no way that Gray would risk killing him by mistake—it was clearly too exaggerated.
As Gray pondered of where to hit, he thought to strike at his solar plexus.
Whereas his memory had mostly faded, one of the more pressing mementos he retained belonged to some movies about martial arts he had watched with Kathy.
In those films, if people got hit in their solar plexus, they'd be unable to breathe properly, clutching their chests, feeling an extreme amount pain.
While he did not know the anatomical reasons for such reactions, he figured that this too, was clearly an excessive use of force.
Going for an attack that he himself wasn't aware of the consequences wasn't intelligent.
As he reached his final option—the liver, he felt slightly defeated, for this too, could also prove to do significant harm.
For the first time in his life, he understood just how 'squishy' humans were.
As he sighed inwardly, he promised himself to learn anatomy and fighting techniques. If he needed, he'd know how to subdue a person without harming them too much.
Zeredveni swung his fists at him continuously, yet Gray kept on dodging him effortlessly.
After fighting Selene, a normal human just couldn't be compared to her. Avoiding his half-assed moves was really just a child's play.
Even a newly awakened Nephilim could do that without any issues, let alone those who could enhance their bodies with quintessence.
Since Zeredveni couldn't possibly attack the nimble Gray, he decided to get help from his fellow goons!
"Get him!"
As they watched the young man avoid every move of their boss, they felt 'fear.'
For the first time, after meeting and working under Zeredveni, they felt terror towards someone else, towards someone who clearly was stronger than their boss!
They had watched their boss destroy his opposition, they had watched him demolish every single one of his enemies, no matter just how big or strong they appeared to be.
How could Gray—a kid younger and smaller than their boss—make him struggle like never before?
Zeredveni had faced boxers, kickboxers, and even MMA trainees—what the hell did this kid have that these fighters, warriors of the modern era, didn't possess?
Gray glanced at the boss' henchmen and said.
"You really don't have to do this."
Yet they did not listen, their loyalty seeming to be greater than their fear.
Since these two seemed weaker than Zeredveni, Gray could block and parry their attacks without having his body being harmed by the impact.
Yet there was an issue.
The emergency staircase wasn't vast.
With four people being engaged in combat, there consequently wouldn't be any places to dodge their assault.
Therefore, Gray would be constricted in his future movements.
He thankfully wasn't the only one who acquired this weakness.
Since the three had to be careful so their attack wouldn't hit their own, it led the strength of their attacks to weaken subconsciously.
As a blonde-haired henchman tried to spartan kick right at his enemy's torso, Gray lowered his body.
With a swift leg sweep, he made the blonde-haired henchman stumble backwards, causing him to hit the metal edge with his back, the metallic sound echoing everywhere.
The other henchman followed suit with a double hammer punch, yet Gray was able to block the hit with his hands, not allowing the henchman's fists to move anymore.
The henchman gritted his teeth and tried to release his fists, yet Gray's grip was unyielding.
'My body is becoming even stronger.'
When Zerednevi came to his subordinate's help, he tried to elbow at Gray's face.
Gray released the black-haired henchman and back-pedaled.
"…"
Without Desensitization, he was slightly unsure of how to handle them.
While he could grasp at opportunities lest they came at hand's reach, he could not formulate theories on how to deal with his situation.
Angered, the black-haired henchman ran towards Gray.
Gray kicked his knee, and after he hunched in pain, he slapped the shit out of him.
He too now became unable to fight.
Only Zerednevi and the Nephilim were standing.
"Your goons got hurt for less than six euros, you know?"
"You still do not understand!" Zerednevi clenched his fists. "You stained my honor, you shattered my guys' respect and trust in front of their eyes!"
"The disrespect you gave me is priceless, and now you must pay for it!"
Gray smiled slightly.
A new idea formed inside his mind.
While he moved his index finger up and down in a silent taunt, a silent call for his opponent to try to attack him, Zerednevi rushed forward, the sharp, metallic noise tremendously loud under his stomps.
As Zerednevi was at the right distance, Gray injected all the strength he could muster into his right leg, hitting the burly young man right at the groin!
His face paled in shock and his mouth widened.
If one looked closer, they could see his spirit float away from his physical vessel.
"…I told you guys it wasn't worth it."
'Luckily,' Gray sighed inwardly. 'The 'urge' didn't appear at all.'
'Even if what I possess as a Fragment is the devil itself…Even if I'm a corrupted being, I'm still human.'
He took a deep breath as he recognized the errors he made while fighting them bunch.
'I should have hit him in his nuts earlier—it would've ended things way more quickly…'
'His henchmen might have tried to pull something funny, but without their boss, their efforts would've been useless.'
'Ahhh…I now understand just of how precious and important Desensitization is. Even for the henchmen, with it, I could've ended things way more quickly, avoiding unnecessary energy waste.'
'And if I pair Desensitization with Replication and the knowledge one might find in anatomical and fighting manuscripts, I could become a war-machine of some sorts.'
Taking a good look at the sleeping trio, he was glad to see that their injuries weren't anything serious.
In no less than ten minutes, they would surely recover enough to stand up.
Zeredveni was someone who regarded honor and respect with the most reverence, therefore, he was not a person who would try to retaliate against him with the teachers' help.
And since he didn't want people to disrespect him, he would sweep this loss of his under the rug, not letting anyone know about it.
For Gray, one who didn't want any problems—this was the perfect outcome.
Gray calmly made his way towards class, wondering on what subject he had.
After facing divinity, this mere squabble was just a insignificant event.
This was the difference between the Nephilim and humanity—this was a difference spanning from the heavens to earth!
…
As the silence finally overshadowed everything, an invisible figure suddenly moved from its hiding spot, the swirling of moving photons slowly uncovering her female face.
This mysterious being was…
Nekare!
She looked at the unconscious guys Gray had fought against, impressed of just how quickly he had dealt with them.
She did not know that Gray was like 'this.'
Nekare used to think he just was a normal person, yet this 'change,' the 'change' everyone felt wasn't just something inside their minds.
It was something concrete, almost supernatural from just how quickly it had happened.
A doubt formed inside her mind.
…Could Gray be someone who possessed abilities like hers?