Chapter 578 Friends

It wasn't long before the last of the Guardians fighting Xerchen came sliding across the ground, The Forsaken's corpse carving a long trail through the broken stone before finally coming to a stop.

Xerchen stood in the distance gasping for breath, but when Grey looked at him, he wasn't convinced the bastard was actually tired at all. There was something about the tension in his body and the fury still burning in his eyes that made it seem like he was still searching for something to kill.

Xerchen's gaze swept across the catacombs, and the disciples who had wisely spent the battle watching from far enough away that nobody could accuse them of participating immediately shrank back.

His eyes passed over Legan, Modric, Lloron, and the others before eventually settling on Grey, lingering there long enough that Grey's expression twisted into a sneer.

"I don't know why you're looking at me like that, I'm not the one who made your master shove her arm through your chest, if you really want someone to blame, blame that bitch of a Goddess."

Xerchen's gaze sharpened, but to Grey's surprise, he seemed to take the suggestion completely seriously. His head slowly turned toward one of the distant walls, and although countless layers of stone and the ceiling of the catacombs stood in the way, there was no mistaking the direction he was looking.

The Imperial Palace was somewhere beyond it, and after only a few seconds of silence, Xerchen started walking.

Grey pursed his lips. "You're going to die if you go there alone."

Xerchen stopped and looked over his shoulder, fury flickering through his otherwise cold expression. "And what exactly do you expect to accomplish in your current state?"

"This state?" Grey looked almost offended before glancing down at himself, one arm still draped around Elowen while Mauve rested against him. "I'm just taking advantage of my wives a little bit, I'm in tiptop shape."

Xerchen scoffed, clearly not believing a word of that bullshit, and Grey chuckled before his expression became more serious.

"Either way, you're not strong enough yet. This is just a battle that only I can win."

Grey took a deep breath and stretched his back as far as his battered nervous system would allow, but even through the pain he could feel faint tremors spreading through the city above.

No matter how detached Empress Melix liked to pretend she was, there was no possible way she could remain unmoved after practically every pillar beneath her had been kicked out in less than an hour.

The Relentless was who the fuck knew where, The Boundless was unconscious, The Immovable, The Eternal, The Radiant, and The Forsaken were dead, the Pope was dead, and Sister Teresa had been left without functioning hands.

At this point, the Goddess's remaining pieces were the Noble Houses and her armies, which unfortunately was still more than enough to cause Grey problems.

He could already imagine them mobilizing throughout the city, thousands upon thousands of bodies being positioned between him and the Palace, and Grey was in absolutely no condition to fight through all of them before facing the one opponent who actually mattered.

Grey looked toward Xerchen more seriously. "I haven't steered you wrong yet, gnome boy, so give me the benefit of the doubt this once. Let me handle the Palace, and you make sure nobody else interferes, because I swear to you I'm taking that bitch down."

Something tightened around Grey's waist, and he didn't need to look down to know Elowen had wrapped her arms around him. Mauve had been unconscious for a while now, leaving Elowen to support most of Grey's weight alone, but the way she clung to him now had nothing to do with keeping him upright.

"We should run," she said softly, looking up at him with pleading eyes. "My mother is too powerful, and you're already this injured, but you're so talented that if we just had a little more time, maybe..."

Grey shook his head before she could finish.

"Right about now, that old whore is probably benefiting more than anybody from all the Holy Energy I dumped into Melix, and have you seriously not noticed that these catacombs are still standing?"

His gaze swept over the ruined underground chamber, where cracks covered practically every visible surface despite an army's worth of Dominion Class attacks having detonated beneath the city.

"We had damn near half the Guardians beating the shit out of each other down here and the ceiling hasn't come down, so why do you think that is?"

Elowen's expression shifted as she followed his gaze, and Grey could practically see the realization settling in.

"The formation is being reinforced by the Holy Energy we brought back, which means it's stronger now than it was before the Culling, and tomorrow it'll probably be stronger again. Give that bitch enough time and this whole thing might start repairing itself even without the Mech Soul, and once it reaches that point, we might never get another chance like this."

Grey lowered his gaze to meet hers and shook his head once more. "I was hoping for a few hours to sleep, eat something, maybe complain about how much my fucking brain hurts, but apparently that's not happening. No matter what, this has to end today."

From nearby, Petri drew in a slow breath before finally stepping forward.

"I have more people on my side than you realize, Grey, and there are many within the Church and the city who have been waiting for a chance like this." His gaze moved toward the ruined battlefield before returning to Grey. "So long as you can deal with Her Holiness yourself, anyone trying to reach that Palace to interfere will have to step over my corpse first."

Grey looked at him with a flicker of genuine surprise before slowly nodding. Apparently there really was some benefit to making friends in the Genesis Games, even if Grey usually seemed to acquire them by threatening, insulting, beating, or otherwise traumatizing them first.

"Alright, then I'll leave the boring shit to you."

He carefully handed the unconscious Mauve over to Elowen, ignoring the way the Princess's fingers lingered on his arm before finally letting go, then forced himself upright without either woman's support.

Grey's crimson gaze burned as shadows poured from his Black Forces, and before anyone could say another word, his figure vanished from the catacombs.

When the blur of movement finally resolved, Grey was standing high above the Holy City with shadows rolling beneath his feet like black clouds. He wiped the fresh streak of blood leaking from the corner of his mouth with the back of one hand and raised his gaze, only to find that even this high in the sky, the Goddess somehow managed to loom above him.

Her enormous golden projection towered over the city, the silhouette of a woman formed from light looking down upon everything beneath her. Grey slowly raised The Virtueless and pointed the bronze rod directly toward her face, a wild grin spreading across his blood-covered features as he said...

"I've been waiting to knock your head off for a very long time now."