Arc 5: The Heart Within
Road to a Hero:
Three chances in another world
Chapter 25. The Phantom Knight
Everyone other than Gray is finished. Edward barely breathes, Julius has a blade in his abdomen, and Peter, Soku, and Rosemary are all unconscious. But Gray Kyojin is still standing. On the same ground as his first proper understanding of himself, Gray is once again forced to meet himself within his mind. Arthur understands this as well, making him laugh. Arthur has various injuries and burns. His eyes are bloodshot, his body is covered in dried blood, and his throat is scratchy. Arthur starts coughing, wheezing even. Gray removes his mask, looking at Arthur face-to-face.
Gray: “Why do you have to be the bad guy? Caesar told me he felt like he had to like he had no other choice…but I still don’t get it. You told me your story, of how you got here, how terrible your life was and you just want to be the villain now?”
Arthur begins to laugh hysterically.
Arthur: “That sob story I told you wasn't real IDIOT! I was trying to guilt-trip you. I was just bored, so I ended it. And then I got the chance to do whatever the hell I wanted to do. Caesar was a joke, a pawn of the Pillars, the true “Gods of the new world” as they call themselves. I’m not broken, I don’t have some terrible back story, and I don’t have a reason. Caesar could have been a good man but he turned into my worker, I just want to do this. I like being the “Villain” as you say, 'cause it’s just more fun that way.”
Gray stands still, completely shocked.
Gray: “So you ruin lives, take lives, and break good people for no reason. And you like doing that? You are just a bad person, you are trash.”
Arthur: “Hey, being trash can be fun. You play the hero and I’ll keep playing the villain. It sucks you’re going to die here though. You’re the only one that can have a dialogue with me, banter with me. If it means anything at least you’ll know you were fun.”
Gray puts his mask back on, and a sudden boom of mana erupts around him. All his current emotions are pulled into an eternal ocean of spirits, where he can think. But his body is consumed by the spirit state, his eyes become a blazing bright white, causing Arthur to feel a sudden fear. Gray's possessed body fights Arthur, and since Arthur uses spirit mana for his flames, Gray can nullify any flames he makes. Arthur notices this when he tries throwing a fireball at Gray, which fades away once it gets near him. Gray's cloak grows with his anger, absorbing the spirit mana, and getting even stronger than before. Gray's mind floats in a black void, getting bombarded with what sounds like his own voice.
“Really? I thought we were past this”
“Damn, we are useless…I thought this was our third chance.”
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Gray is unable to respond, not due to an actual inability, but because he believes what is being said. Gray's body bites its lip, letting Arthur know that Gray’s mind is still active. Gray's body uses the wrist talons to attack. Arthur is solely forced to fight with his physical strength, using Gray's sword to battle. Gray stretches his cloak to try and grab Arthur's limbs, making multiple tendrils to do so. Arthur cuts through all of them, then swings the sword down right on Gray's face. Gray's body blocks it with the wrist talons, but doing so puts pressure on the tools, pressure that they can barely handle. Gray's mind continues to race, trying to block out all of the voices in his head. He thinks about his talk with Azeala back when he made his vow. His voice played all around him, like a surround sound speaker.
“No matter what happens to me, no matter how much pain I feel, how deep the pit of despair gets, I will do everything in my power to ensure they’re safe!”
Gray's body gets kicked back, sent tumbling down the street. Arthur uses this opportunity to charge plasma onto the blade of the sword. Gray gets thrust back into his body right as Arthur swings the sword, which causes the plasma to blast like a beam. Gray puts his arm up, uses all the spirit mana flowing around him, and casts his spell.
Gray: “WALNIC!”
A thick, transparent blue barrier flows off Gray's arm, which blocks the attack. But due to how strong the beam is, it breaks through the shield, hitting Gray in his left shoulder. Flames burn through his armor, placing large burn marks on his shoulder. The sword Arthur was using was destroyed by the plasma, so Arthur leaps at Gray, shooting flames out of his arm. He then punches Gray directly in the face, breaking his nose, tossing him back, and shattering his mask into pieces. Gray lands on his back, severely weakened.
Gray {My mana…it’s gone…I’m out. With all the spells I’ve used my OD hurts…if I try to pry mana out of it, it’ll break…and then I may die….hell I’ll die if I don't…wait? I can’t use the mana surge because he’s from Earth…oh…I know what I can try. THIS IS IT, IF IT DOESN’T WORK THEN I DIE, BUT IF IT DOES I DIE ANYWAY…TO HELL WITH IT!}
Arthur stumbles back and forth, swaying side to side, about to pass out.
Arthur: “...come on…COME ON!”
Gray gets up, stands tall, sticks his finger into the air, and pulls it down, pointing his thumb at his heart.
Gray: “MY NAME IS GRAY KYOJIN, THE PHANTOM KNIGHT, AND I WILL BE THE ONE TO STOP YOU!”
Gray goes to bite his tongue but is quickly stopped by an intense mana surge. His OD cracks, and then he puts even more pressure on it.
Gray: “KNIGHTIC!”
Mana is forcefully stripped from Gray’s OD, breaking a hole in it, and letting the rest of it flow out like a blazing flame. Arthur uses the last of his strength to charge at Gray while screaming.
Gray: “EL-CENIC!”
Gray casts the enhanced version of Cenic, coating the area in an intense wave of black smoke. With everything happening Gray’s body is forced into fight or flight, causing his eyes to surge white. With all his power-ups blazing, he can use the spiritual state's enhanced senses to move through El-Cenic, sensing Arthur's location, which looks as if he can see him from a third-person view. Once he knows where Arthur is he jumps above his head. At the last second Arthur looks up, the glowing, blazing knight known as Gray Kyojin is using the last of his strength, using his life to kill Arthur. With no strength left Arthur is forced to take the attack head-on, giving Gray one last chance to finish the fight. Gray flows all his mana into his palm, forcing it into a sphere shape. Arthur just waves flames around him, unable to aim them, and the flames flow into Gray's palm, combining with the attack along with all the mana he has. The pure power resonating from the attack completely tears through the wrist blade along with the fingernails and skin of his right hand. Gray pulls back his arm, letting the power flow onto his entire arm, peeling off even more skin. Arthur stares up at him, smiling as blood flows out of his mouth.
Gray: “TITANS, IMPACT!”
To end it all, after all of this fighting, after all of this pain and destruction, Gray swings his arm down on Arthur's face, consuming them both in the blast of mana. The strength of the attack demolishes the ground below them, creating a small crater. Arthur lies on the ground unconscious, then Gray falls to the ground, doing the same. Then they lay there, with barely any life in them, and with Gray's OD leaking, he could die at any second.
End of chapter twenty-five