Chapter 685: Greatest Hope

Grey shot upright when a series of blaring horns tore through the private hall, his teeth snapping shut around something soft and painfully sweet at almost the exact same moment. He frowned as he chewed, then slowly looked upward and found James frozen beside the couch with one hand hovering over Grey’s face and another pink grape pinched between his fingers.

Grey stared at him long enough for James’ sheepish smile to start looking nervous, but Duke broke into laughter before either of them could say anything.

"You lost, motherfucker. Rules are rules."

"FUCK!"

James threw the grape aside, stripped before Grey could ask what the hell was happening, and within seconds had kicked off everything except his boxers before taking off around the room at a sprint. Duke nearly folded over laughing as he watched him go, then looked back toward Grey with enough satisfaction that Grey’s glare flattened further.

"You’ve really switched up, you know that? You know better than to be the first person who falls asleep at a sleepover."

Grey held up a middle finger, already preparing to tell both of them exactly what they could do with their little game, when a booming voice rolled across the auction complex and vibrated through the walls of their private bubble.

"LADIES, GENTLEMEN, THOSE WHO ARE BOTH, NEITHER, OR FAR TOO EVOLVED TO CARE, WELCOME TO THE INTRODUCTORY AUCTION OF ARC II!"

The transparent walls around them brightened as enormous screens appeared throughout the surrounding space, each one displaying a woman beautiful enough that Grey’s remaining sleepiness immediately lost ground. Her upper body looked almost perfectly humanoid, with glossy dark hair, jewel-bright eyes and features sculpted with the kind of care that made it obvious her Race had figured out how to weaponize beauty, while everything beneath her waist expanded into the sleek armored body of an enormous spider.

She spread several elegant limbs around herself as though embracing the entire auction hall.

"My name is Breejara, and I will have the pleasure of robbing all of you blind tonight."

Grey’s eyes narrowed slightly at both the name and the obvious resemblance to Breejah, though this woman carried herself with far more of the theatrical insanity he associated with professional Hosts.

"Now, I know what many of you are thinking. Where is our beloved floating nightmare, our darling terror of sensible broadcasting, the Great Udon?"

The audience outside answered with a surge of noise, and Breejara pressed one hand dramatically against her chest before sighing.

"Unfortunately, the Great Udon found himself terribly, terribly busy today, so he entrusted this humble little me with his precious auction instead."

That caught Grey’s attention properly.

’Busy?’

His eyes narrowed at the screen as he leaned forward slightly. Great Udon seemed like the sort of bastard who would delay a war just to host something entertaining, so Grey had a hard time imagining that he had simply decided there was somewhere else he’d rather be.

"You’re still here?"

Grey looked away from the screen and only then noticed Axion-9 sitting among the women as though he’d somehow been adopted while Grey slept. Sabrina was talking to him from one side, Amunet from the other, while Elowen, Lilac, and the others seemed perfectly comfortable listening as the smaller mechanical components around Axion-9 shifted in what Grey had slowly learned was an animated mood.

"If my presence is unwanted, I can—"

Axion-9 began to rise, but Amunet caught one of his limbs and pulled him back down before he got far, while Sabrina gave Grey an annoyed look as though he’d somehow become the rude one.

Grey lifted both hands.

"Alright, damn. I was just wondering."

He had no idea what had happened while he was asleep, but apparently the women had become more willing to protect Axion-9 than Grey himself, which felt like something he should probably be offended about.

Breejara’s voice surged through the room again before he could investigate, and the screens around her began cycling through silhouettes of items too quickly to properly identify.

"We have quite the collection for you tonight, with treasures submitted by some of the brightest talents currently tearing their way through the Genesis Games, along with several delicacies provided directly by the Genesis System itself. Mechs, weapons, blueprints, resources, inheritances, and perhaps a few things that should never have been sold in the first place, so please, spend irresponsibly."

The audience answered with another cheer, and Breejara let the noise build before sweeping one arm outward.

"But before we begin, we need to introduce the beautiful monsters responsible for drawing so many of you here tonight. The best of the best, the apples of our collective eyes, and out of the Eight Betting Favorites competing in this season of the Games, not one, not two, but FOUR have graced our auction with their presence!"

The surrounding auction erupted as the first image expanded across the screens, showing a familiar red-gold figure seated inside his own private bubble.

"AELTHAR INFERNIS!"

Aelthar remained in the same black tuxedo he’d worn when confronting Grey, the controlled flames of his body rolling beneath the fabric without consuming it.

"Inheritor of the Infernal Arc Clan, sovereign talent of the Fire Elementals, and the existence whose claim became so overwhelming that even the Four Infernal Princes beneath him stepped aside rather than contest his path. Aelthar has burned through every expectation placed before him, and according to our lovely betting markets, there are very few Candidates alive who should ever want to see that flame pointed in their direction."

The audience roared again as Aelthar’s image faded, and Breejara allowed the noise to crest before drawing one elegant hand toward her chest.

"Now, our second guest is a little harder to summarize, mostly since every time we think we’ve found the right title for him, he goes and acquires another one."

Grey’s eyebrow rose.

"A Candidate from the first Cracked World ever to clear Arc I, the newly crowned Emperor of Earth, a Duke, a Dominion Class Mech Tech whose certification has already caused more than a few arguments, and the madman whose auction submission displaced one of Axion-9’s completed mechs from tonight’s headliner position!"

The noise outside climbed with every word while the screens shifted toward their private bubble.

"GREY TEMOLT!"

Grey’s image filled the auction hall.

He was asleep on the couch with his mouth slightly open while James’ hand drifted into frame from the side, dropping a pink grape directly between his lips. Grey chewed in his sleep, James waited several seconds, then dropped another one in as though feeding some strangely cooperative animal.

The auction complex exploded with laughter.

Grey stared at the screen as the muscle beneath one eye began twitching, while Breejara somehow kept a perfectly straight face through the entire thing.

"And there he is, ladies and gentlemen. Earth’s greatest hope."

Grey slowly turned toward James, who was still standing in the middle of the room wearing nothing but his boxers.

James took one cautious step backward.

Before Grey could decide whether murder was worth the paperwork, Breejara swept two arms outward and the screens changed again.

"But don’t get too comfortable, darlings, our third Betting Favorite has been leaving entire factions wondering whether the rest of them should have stayed home."

A new silhouette began forming across the auction hall, broad enough to swallow half the screen as the audience noise started rising all over again.