Arc 6. A seemingly endless loss
Road to a Hero:
Three Chances in Another World
Chapter 61. If this be my destiny
Gray stares longingly at Smoler while the library melts away. Now Gray, completely drenched in the cloak of darkness, is ready for a fair fight. Smoler slides his foot forward, causing pillars of molten stone to force themselves up from the earth. Gray easily dodges the attack, but not by rolling or jumping, but by extending his arm coated in the cloak, stretching it out, and grabbing onto one of the statues two floors up. When he did this, most of the cloak unwrapped itself from him and flowed to his arms, causing both Gray and Smolder to realize the range. Gray feels the statue he’s sticking to begin to melt, so instead of letting himself be covered in purplish black lava, he leaps forward. He shoots the cloak out, wrapping around the collapsing statue, and pulls it with all his might, launching it toward Smoler. Smolder continues to use the molten rushing around on the floor to create a shield, hardening it right before impact. This stops the statue, causing it to fall and melt away on the floor, giving him even more firepower. Mid-air, Gray begins swinging around the room until he can get a hit on Smolder.
Gray {There’s lava surrounding him…I only have one ranged move so I could just spam that. No, it’d be wasting mana…I need to get in close and bash his face in.}
Gray lands on the large stained glass window behind him, staring down at Smolder. Gray's eyes continue to shine that bright white light, and he launches himself at Smolder. Smolder puts his hands on the ground, forming all of the lava in the room to one point, launching a melting pillar at Gray. Gray uses the cloak surrounding his body to grab onto the front of the pillar and pull him past it. He then begins running down the pillar as it crashes into the large window, causing piles of shattered glass to hit the ground.
The heat of the pillar vanishes as soon as Smolder lets his hands off of it, preparing for another attack on Gray. Gray leaps down the pillar, trying to kick Smolder in the face. Smolder ducks the attack, using his foot to propel another spike from the ground. In a split second, thanks to the spiritual state, he’s able to move and slide his foot across the spike, seamlessly dodging the attack. He then pulls his arm back, flows mana into his palm, and thrusts it at Smolder. Smolder barely dodges, getting hit in the shoulder instead of his head. But Smolder underestimated the strength of the attack and felt the force from Gray’s blow decimate his shoulder, cracking and denting from the attack, ultimately shattering under the pressure. Smolder rolls back, creating a large wall to block Gray from attacking any further.
Gray: “What’s wrong! SCARED!?”
Originally using palm strikes as a nonlethal attack, because his normal punches would kill somebody if he put mana into them, he would only use a little and tap their head, knocking them out. But Gray isn’t the same person he was a year ago, he’s far from it in terms of how he acts and his strength, especially his strength. Now instead of them being the non lethal option, they crush instead of dig, making them perfect for immobilizing a strong opponent. It’s like trying to defend against a stone wall trying to attack you, you can do it, it’ll just hurt like hell.
Smolder tumbles backward, grasping onto his crumbled shoulder, gritting his teeth in pain. He slams his feet as well as his hands on the ground, pushing as hard as he can to turn the entire building into molten lava. The entire library begins falling apart, causing the ceiling to begin crumbling. Gray boosts mana into his arm and punches the stone, trying to break through it. Then, in one punch, he bursts through the wall and is met with a wave of lava pouring onto him. He reacts as fast as he can, jumping backward. He looks up, trying to make sure nothing lands on him, but he realizes too soon that his side of the building is cracking and burning up, about to collapse.
The walls begin breaking down and the ceiling starts falling onto him, then to make it worse, Smolder turns the floor on Gray's side to lava, cracking open the ground. To escape the molten-filled grave, he charges Titans Impacts into his feat to launch himself up. Though in a strange spring of luck, parts of the falling ceiling can be used as launch points. He uses the cloak to grapple to each bit of the falling ceiling, leaping and grappling to another and then to another. Then in the last leap, he stretches the cloak to an opening in the ceiling, sling-shooting himself out of the library.
He’s given no time to think because the ceiling is still falling. The stone begins cracking and melting down, so he has to use well-timed jumps to get across. After just a few seconds, the ceiling is fully transformed into lava and falls to the library below, causing Gray to fall down as well. He uses the cloak like a wingsuit, gliding to a safe spot to land, but there isn’t any, so he tries to glide out of the library and back to the hallway of offices.
He finds Smolder blocking the door, and with Gray in his sight, he begins sprouting spikes from the ground. Gray narrowly avoids them, but his luck ends when his side is both sliced and burned by one of the spikes, causing him to crash land. He curves mid-air, attempting to kick Smolder, but Smolder creates a wave of lava to push Gray back.
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With lava falling on top of him, below him, behind him, and in front of him, all seems lost, but he attempts to do the same thing he had done before in the office.
Gray: “EL-WALNIC!”
Gray traps himself in a thick dome of mana, being covered in lava. Due to his quick casting, it isn’t at the level it should be at, so it begins cracking shortly after casting it. Smolder continues to rush it over him, not letting it flow away, keeping him trapped. Now, with seemingly nothing left to try, he’s been set up for death, though he does have his trump card.
Gray: “If it’s all I have left…then I HAVE TO TRY! KNIGHTIC!”
A golden aura flows into his OD, bursting out with great force. He begins swelling with power, causing him great pain, but he doesn't falter. He flows some of the heightened mana into the cursed charm, stretching the cloak to its maximum. Then he flows the cloak all around him, creating a large amount of the goo-like substance, and bursts out of the shield. With every ability heightened, the spirit mana flowing in the lava gains enough presence to spread away, and anything that doesn't is guarded by the cloak. Though the cloak is weak to heat, and quickly begins boiling and dissolving, Gray replenishes it faster than it can disappear and swells up a great force of mana to break through the hardened wall covering the exit.
With a small amount of time left on Knight's effects, he charges Smolder. Smolder had prepared for Gray to be able to escape, so he uses a bit of the now-metaled hall to try and skewer him. But Gray’s too fast for him, for now at least. He easily dodges and uses the powered-up cloak to form large tendrils that he stretches toward Smolder, pushing the lava away. Smolder, knowing he can’t beat Gray like this, turns the floor to lava and skates across it, trying to leave the building. With his hand sliding across the wall, he slowly causes this side of the building to fully turn the lava. Gray takes a page from Ganga’s book, using the tendrils to move instead of running.
Gray: “WHAT'S WRONG!? SOMEBODY SEEMS SPOOKED!"
The cloak was heavily influencing his mind, feeling like his mind was drowning in sorrow. Everything was making him frustrated and upset, wanting to be all alone, however his essence and desire to save held him over that just enough to keep doing it. Gray tries moving faster and faster, booming through the hall. He unsheathed the wrist talons and slashes at the air, sending a much larger and stronger version of breaker toward the fleeing Smolder. It carves through the walls, and when Smolder tries to make a wall behind him, it breaks through it, giving Gray another opportunity to throw another one. Then after he launches four separate breakers at Smolder, he finally lands and slashes his back open, sending him tumbling to the main door. Without a chance to breathe, Gray uses the cloak to spawn four large tendrils, shooting them at Smolder. He forms them into one, hitting Smolder so hard it cracks and breaks multiple ribs before sending him tumbling out of the crumbling building.
Smolder tries to get away, but Gray, filled with rage, is about to chase after him, but he hears Lisa’s screams from behind him. Conflicted, he runs back into the building right as Knightic wears off. Then the cursed charm begins to pulse purple before it is pulled back into itself. Gray watches as the cloak peels off his body and dissolves into the ash-filled air. At the same time, his body forces him out of the spirit state, making his already grueling headache even worse. But, like always, he continuously ran forward to try and find her.
Gray: “LISA! KEEP SCREAMING!”
Gray looks everywhere, trying to avoid being crushed by falling debris or sinking into the random pits of lava. As he screams he begins coughing, struggling to breathe with all of the ash and smoke in the air, but eventually, he finds Lisa trying to get out of a window, but it’s covered by fallen debris.
Lisa: “GRAY!”
Lisa grabs Gray, hugging him tight. He wipes the ash off of her face, picks her up, and goes to break through the rubble blocking the exit, but the ceiling collapses on top of them. With everything in Gray’s body feeling as if it’s trying to die, he fails to react quickly enough to leap through the window. He drops Lisa beneath him and catches the rubble, holding it above him. He kneels, being crushed by the weight of the rubble on top of him. He strains himself trying to hold it up and thinks after all of these close-to-death experiences, it’s over. The weight is so much that Khightic would only waste stamina, prolonging a crushing demise.
Any form of Walnic would be crushed with all of the weight, as he’s not in the right mind space to make an actual strong shield. The weight continues to pile on, pushing his legs to the ground. Lisa lies below him, passed out due to the lack of oxygen. Gray slips and is put on all fours, having to hold up all the weight with his back.
Gray: “Dammit…I’m sorry Lisa…I’m not strong enough…”
Tears begin to flow from Gray’s eyes, as he feels like this is it. All of his friends are heading his way but are too far to help, he tries using the cloak but it seems like Gray overused it, as it rejects being called out. This is it, his body begins straining to failure, and it’s all about to fall on him. Lava from the rooms around him begins flowing in as well, slowly leaking over to him.
Gray: “DAMMIT COME ON! NOT NOW! NOW HERE! NOT WITH THIS LITTLE GIRL UNDERNEATH ME! I CAN DIE ALONE! I CAN DIE RIGHT AFTER THIS! BUT NOT HER! NOT RIGHT NOW”
Gray finds some eternal strength and begins pushing harder and harder, sending his body into overdrive. With his OD about to shut down, he chomps at his tongue, forcing his OD to crack open and give him more mana. He forces his tongue down, bursting out more and more mana, until he’s used every last drop. His hand begins lifting up the ceiling, pushing through the stone and lifting all that’s above it.
Gray: “KNIGHTIC!”
He casts Knightic once more, ripping his muscles open, cracking his OD even further even if some of his bones are being crusehd, but he continues pushing. With Knightic, he’s able to fully stand up, then without his thoughts to do it, the cloak flows and stretches out a small tendril to grab Lisa. In one leap, he bursts through the window, dropping the rubble, and saving both of their lives. Though he lays unconscious, on his last legs. But with a bit of hope left, Lisa wakes up and puts her hands on the center of his chest. Her shoulder begins to glow and flows pinkish mana around his body. The open wound on his chest gets covered in a pink-like aura, blocking any blood from leaving it. The cracks in his bones are filled by the same bits of mana, as well as his shredded muscle fibers. It’s like she’s making a cast around his body. Then for the most important part, spirits begin flowing into his OD filling is backed up with the glowing pink mana.
Lisa: “Please…use this to keep going.”
End of Chapter sixty-one