Chapter 59: Duskwood Trial Grounds (V)
"Oooohhh~, so this is an inheritance dungeon!" Cassandra exclaimed with a voice full of surprise.
’...She’d make a good actress.’
[...Actress?]
’...Actress...?’ Gray frowned at his own thought
’...Where the hell did that come from?!’
"Agh...!!!"
A sudden, sharp pain stabbed through his skull, forcing him to grit his teeth.
The headache hit so hard his knees bent, and he clutched his head with both hands.
But Cassandra didn’t seem to realize it.
She continued looking around with the same curiosity.
"...I wonder what kind of Goddess this is..." she looked at the statue in deep thought, "maybe the Goddess of Weapons or something like that?"
She nodded slighly.
"Considering the amount of weapons she wields... it seems so," she smiled, her lips quirking as if proud of her own thoughts.
Cassandra tilted her chin, her long hair sliding across her shoulders as she paced.
"Now then... where would the trials be?" She looked around, and as she explored, her eyes widened as she suddenly found a strange sigil.
It was trapped by multiple chains.
"Is it here...?"
She analyzed the sigil for a moment... the sigil strangely carried the shape of a western dragon, wings stretched, soaring through the circle.
Her lips instantly curled up.
"Interesting..."
She reached out to it...
GRIP!
Until a hand suddenly grabbed her wrist.
"...Gray?" She turned around, but suddenly, she frowned as she looked at his eyes.
His eyes no longer swirled with their usual hypnotic rings.
Instead, they had sunk into bottomless black voids, the kind that seemed to consume someone if they stared too long into them.
"...Stay away from that."
His cold voice reached out to her.
"Bu—!"
"I won’t say it twice." His grip tightened, enough to make her flinch.
"Agh...!" She winced.
To her surprise... his strength really made her feel pain. She frowned almost immediately.
Swish!
She twisted sharply, knocking his hand aside and springing back. Her scythe flashed into her grasp, the blade leveled directly at him.
"Who are you? Gray isn’t that strong!" she said coldly.
Considering that she was in an inheritance dungeon, Gray could be possessed.
"Me?" His lips barely moved. "I’m Gray. The real Gray."
"...The real Gray?"
"Yes."
He nodded faintly, his eyes looking at his hand as he flexed his fingers slighly... as if getting used to his body.
’...Hello?’ he spoke inwardly.
And just like he had thought... Jasmine didn’t reply to him.
’...It seems that Jasmine’s soul contract only applies to the other soul inside of my body, huh...’ Gray thought.
Honestly, he didn’t expect a soul to enter his body when he was struck by lightning, and right now, from the actions of the soul...
He seemed to want to realize his desire for revenge.
"What do you mean by that?" Cassandra asked again, her voice as cold as before.
Gray simply looked at her coldly.
"...I lost my memories before. Along with part of myself... my strength, my will. But now..." his hand curled into a fist, then loosened.
"Now they’re back," he turned sharply to Cassandra.
Cassandra narrowed her eyes.
"How do I know you’re not lying?"
At her words, Gray simply scrutinized her eyes at her, before his neutral lips turned into a cold smile.
"Cassandra Weaverheart... daughter of the fallen family, Alaistair V. Weaverheart."
FWIP!
The words had barely left him before a blade of black mana ripped toward his chest.
Gray didn’t even blink at it.
"[✧Swap✧]"
He vanished, reappearing where a loose rock had been a moment ago.
"HOW DO YOU KNOW THAT?!"
BAAM!
Cassandra shouted in pure rage, unleashed another wave of crescent mana blades.
Gray simply jumped, avoiding one of them, but just as quickly came another one, which he simply sidestepped to avoid.
The others came, and he avoided them as well, slowly approaching Cassandra.
"...We’ve met when we were young... at the Black Rose’s Banquet," he said casually, still avoiding the incoming mana crescents.
"LIAR! I DON’T RECALL EVER MEETING YOU!" Cassandra shouted, her swings coming even more madly.
Fwip, fwip, fwip!
Her black crescents screamed through the air, but Gray’s body moved as if guided by instinct.
He ducked one, slipped past another, stepped just out of reach of the next.
"That’s because in that banquet I was under a false name and appearance... we even talked, don’t you remember?"
"I DON’T REMEMBER THAT!"
"...My hair was snow white, and I had blue eyes. As for my name..." his voice trailed off as he looked at Cassandra, who froze slighly.
The incoming mana blades stopped, and now, Gray was only a few inches away from her.
"Emryn..."
She spoke on his stead.
Gray finally smiled lightly, although his voice remained as cold as ever. It seemed like his emotions had dried out.
"...It’s good to see you again, Cass."
He reached forward, pressing her nose gently between his index and middle fingers.
Cassandra’s expression melted instantly.
The scythe dissolved from her grasp as she stepped into him, resting her forehead against his chest.
"...Emryn..."
Gray wrapped his arms around her shoulders, softly caressing her hair.
"...I thought... You had left me," her voice turned inexpectably soft.
"...I’d never do that," he muttered softly.
In truth, Gray and Cassandra had been childhood lovers. Well... not really lovers, but as children, they were as close as possible.
But Gray could only ever meet her under a false face. After his talent had awakened, his mother forbade him from showing his real appearance in public.
At the time, he didn’t understand why...
When he got older... he quickly figured out why she said that, but even with that, his talent was still stolen away.
Rustle~
Gray cupped her cheeks in both hands, his thumb brushing lightly against her skin. His lips curved into a faint smile as he studied her face.
"You’ve grown... and become beautiful."
Cassandra blushed slighly, but smiled brightly, showing her white teeth.
"You’ve also grown quite handsome... but somehow, I feel like... when you got back your memories," her expression wavered, caught between wonder and unease.
"Your aura... changed a little, it doesn’t seem as charming as before..."
She muttered in a dazzled tone.
"It’s probably nothing..." Gray gave a small nod.
’I don’t have access to her authorities... huh,’ Gray blinked twice, and slowly, a translucent panel materialized.
[———✵ Status Panel ✵———]
Name: Gray Vireux D’Aurélion [1]
Titles: Exiled Noble
Race: Human
Class: N/A (To be chosen...)
Rank: Peak Advanced Realm
Unique Skill: [✧Swap✧]
Active Skills: Shadowless Sword Art [Master Stage]
Passive Skills: High Mana Recovery, Parallel Mana Processing, Heightened Senses
——+——+——+——
’...[1]?’
His eyes narrowed faintly.
’So the Akashic Records still recognize me as the primary soul. My sword art remains as well, along with the passives I made sure to train well. Meaning the other Gray didn’t inherit them...’
He nodded thoughtfully.
’...Does that mean if our souls fuse... we could potentially have two classes?’ His eyes narrowed slighly.
’...But why did I suddenly awaken?’
His thoughts gradually got chaotic, but as he saw Cassandra’s smile, they instantly dissipated.
’For now... let’s focus on her.’
Still, even as he watched her, he frowned slighly.
’How... did she become a Vessel?’ He wondered inwardly.
He still had the memories from the other Gray, so he knew that Jasmine had told him that she was a Vessel.
’And my cultivation... Peak Advanced Stage? That doesn’t make sense. With my past training, I should’ve already reached at least the early stage of Grand Master.’ Gray thought.
Before he had been struck by lightning, Gray had been holding back his cultivation by sealing it.
That was how he developed his passive skill, [Parallel Mana Processing]—a way to let his body absorb mana naturally, without effort.
So once he unsealed it, he should have shot up much higher than this.
’Unless... it’s because of that forcefield Jasmine mentioned. If that’s true, then I’ll need to learn more about the Master realm before I can push forward.’
’But even so... how much time do I have left before the other soul takes the body back?’
He was still lost in thought when a soft voice pulled him back.
"...Why did you stop me?" Cassandra asked softly.
Her silver lashes lowered slightly as her gaze moved from his eyes down to his arms, his hands that had stopped her only moments ago.
"Well..." Gray reached up, brushing a few stray strands of hair off her forehead.
His touch lingered for a second before he pulled back, a faint smile curling his lips.
"This isn’t really an inheritance dungeon. It’s a Goddess’s temple."
"A temple?" Cassandra raised an eyebrow. "Like... the ones where gods were sealed, or worshipped?"
"Exactly," Gray nodded slowly.
"That’s why I stopped you. I don’t know if breaking that seal and letting a god out is a good idea."
"Mhm..." Cassandra hummed under her breath, thoughtful, but then her expression darkened.
"Then why did the portal even open—!"
"Did you forget?" Gray cut in gently, and as soon as she heard his words, her face widened in realization.
"Your ancestors were from Eliora, so maybe..." His voice trailled off, waiting for her to finish his words.
"...I’m a descendant of this Goddess."
"Yeah," he said at last.
"Divika, the Goddess of War."
"Divika..." Cassandra whispered, her gaze drawn back to the towering statue.
"I’m not completely sure," Gray said thoughtfully, "but it’s worth trying. If you really are her bloodline... she probably won’t harm you."
Her head snapped back toward him.
"And what about you?!"
His lips curled up slighly.
"Don’t worry about me."
He had already marked a stone outside.
Seeing his confident look, despite her worries, Cassandra took a step forward and approached the glowing sigil.
She brought out her scythe, and swung it.
Fwip!
The chains broke.