The dark-haired young man vanished from the spot, in that very same instant before appearing in a completely different location.
"Did he... Just see me?" He asked with a surprised smile.
He shook his head slightly before leaning over at different building's edge to check on Gray.
From there he could see Gray's figure continue to ascend up towards the Airship.
He was no longer staring in his direction nor showed any signs that he was aware of his existence.
"But I doubt that was a coincidence..."
He placed his heart over his chest and could feel it slightly pounding.
"Gray... To be able to sense me from miles away whilst I'm hiding my presence..."
He giggled slightly.
"He'll become an even scarier being than I thought."
-
-
-
Whilst continuously leaping with no signs of fatigue whatsoever, Gray approached the bottom of the shadow coated airship.
The closer he got the stronger the sinister and ominous air became. It was oozing darkness and death itself.
The Kessho King was one thing but this, it was completely different.
[X-Ray: Level 1]
Gray's eyes widened as he saw through the airship with his Artifact eyes.
The defence mechanism of the Airship was no longer active allowing Gray's skill to work. This was most likely due to the shadows covering it.
It seemed to interfere with the viewable process.
It was good at first, but what he saw had quite honestly shocked him.
A bloodbath. Shadow didn't just coat the outside of the ship, it coated the inside too.
Spikes from the shadows had extended all throughout the ship and pierced into all the Kessho's in sight.
All of them.
The shadows had coated every room trapping each and every Kessho before finishing them off in one clean blow to the heart.
They didn't even know what hit them.
'Wow...'
'And I thought I had killed most of them.'
This Airship easily had more Kessho's than the previous one.
Open eyeballs moved around in the shadows, across the ship, almost as if they were in search of something.
It was both disgusting and aggravating.
And last but not least...
"What exactly is that shadow thing at the top?"
Based on the fact that it killed the Kessho's, surely it wasn't one.
So then what was it? It was clear that it was the root cause of all of this but that was all Gray knew.
Based on what Gray could see, it was just standing there. It wasn't making any moves, it was simply controlling the shadows from a still position.
It was probably at it's most vulnerable state, as of now. Or so he thought.
Without glancing to either side, Gray extended out his left arm and with a slight sigh, muttered. "Pause."
*Swoosh*
A mini air ship which was just about to blow by him, suddenly came to a halt right before him.
On the Airship there was Ruby with a terrified expression on her face as she shivered in fear.
"A-Ah... G-Gray?!"
She suddenly leapt at him for a hug whilst filled with Gratitude.
"T-Thankkk youuuuu." She cried out.
"I thought I was going to die. I figured out how to move it but I forgot to check for the breaks. I couldn't find any."
Gray gave her a slight hug back before tapping her on the forehead.
"What is the empress doing in the middle of the battlefield?" He asked, a little shocked by the fact that she wasn't being heavily guarded and held up at her fleet.
She looked away with narrowed eyes and chuckled. "I-I got permission from Charlotte to join the fight."
'That Charlotte gave her permission? Even after everything she said to me about keeping Ruby out of it now that she's empress?'
'I doubt it.. Either way, I'll play along. We don't have time to waste right now.'
"Hold on."
"Eh-"
He pulled her out of the paused Airship and lifted her up in a princess carry.
"We're going up." He added.
Before she could say anything else, with a tight grip around her, Gray leapt as far up as he could onto a platform of paused air.
"Ehhhhhhh?!?!"
Gray's muscles were much more defined and denser in comparison to before.
His leap had gone higher than he could ever previously manage. Such was the obvious effect of this evolution.
But there was more to it-
[Pause Step – Fast Forward Chain.]
By chaining the two abilities not only the range, but also the speed could be increased.
Why did a higher speed matter when the two abilities worked in a way similar to teleportation?
The reason was, the fact that there was always a delay before Gray would reappear. Although it seemed instantaneous, it would always take half a second to be carried out.
But now...
"Huh!? WHAT!??!" Ruby yelled out in surprise.
They were heading upwards from the leap, she was sure of it.
But in just a blink. They had gone from half up the Airship to standing on top of it.
She had misunderstood this as the ability he'd used back in the Labyrinth where he first stopped time. Although she didn't know how it worked, she knew just how badly it affected his organs and blood flow.
"W-Was that necessary? You're not hurt now are you?" Ruby asked worriedly as she tugged at him and checked for wounds in a rush.
Her arms were trembling from the fear of him collapsing once again like before.
Gray looked around, there was nothing in sight. The shadow figure was nowhere to be seen. Gray couldn't help but wonder if it had noticed their presence and was hiding.
Thus he decided to act like he hadn't realised this.
"I-If you're not feeling well, let me know! I'll cure you with my gem!"
As he heard those words, Gray couldn't help but recall the first time had met with her.
-Memory
Ruby proceeded to turn to Gray, he was a whole 10 centimetres taller than her forcing her to look up to see him.
Her irises glowed a golden light, almost similar to Gray's.
"You said you need a healer right?"
"This gem can heal most lethal wounds. So, who am I healing?" She asked.
-Memory End.
Ruby was so much different and colder back then.
Turned out she had a very soft heart for those close to her, and even her enemies in some cases.
Now this very same girl was worried sick about him.
"Ha... Haha..." Gray giggled slightly.
Her cheeks blushed a pink shade before she narrowed her eyes and stared at him.
"What...?"
"Nothing... I just found you quite cute."
Ruby's ears twitched, her eyes started to sparkle as her face quickly reddened, just a tiny hint of steam could be seen flowing out of her ears as she stared at him.
She looked like a bomb on the verge of exploding.
"C-Cu..Cu...Cute...!?"
Gray cocked his head to the right, unsure of why she was repeating it before replying with a smile. "Yeah."
The moment he did so, Ruby quickly lowered her head and covered her face to hide her expression.
"T-That's not fair...!" She declare whilst trembling.
*Thump* *Thump*
Her heart beat grew faster and faster as she completely forgot about their main objective. In her eyes all she could see was Gray.
"D-Don't call me that..." She squealed.
Despite saying such, to her surprise there was no reply.
She slowly raised her head to see his reaction, only to be left with surprise as she was suddenly pulled away by him.
*KARING!*
Condensed shadow needles rose out from the ground where she had been standing.
Thanks to Gray she was just about barely able to avoid it.
But that wasn't even a fraction of what was to come.
The shadowy figure which had been motionless, had an eye open up in the back of it's head. The eyes were bloodshot red as they gazed at the two.
[Shadow Dome]
The dark shadows rose up in a wall at the edges of the airship around them, the walls were slowly entrapping them within a cube of darkness.
Gray could have escaped but he felt as though defeating it from the inside would have been easier than from the outside.
Thus he didn't move a muscle, and the top was closed off, taking away any source of light.
The only source which allowed either of them to see now was the glow from his eyes and his [Night vision.]
"Ruby... That thing, what's the best way to deal with it?" Gray asked.
Ruby shook her head, she knew now wasn't the time to be playing around. Gray had also naturally assumed that she knew what it wa since she seemed to have been heading right towards it.
Gray didn't doubt her knowledge and Ruby didn't doubt his abilities.
The two knew that working together now would be the smart option.
"Looks like a Kessho who was consumed by his ability. And a scary ability at that." She said. "That's all I know, although it's pretty obvious at first sight... So not much help."
'So this is what happens when someone is consumed by their ability?'
'I wonder what happens if I were to get consumed by Pause or fast-forward?'
His thought was short-lived however, as he could feel it.
The strains of hair around his body were slowly rising. An attack was coming.
"Get ready." He muttered.
Ruby nodded.
Gray's Artifact eye widened whilst the other narrowed.
[Future Sight: Level 1]
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