In a quiet district of Aluteria. A girl named Alyssa is waiting in a cafe for his childhood friend who is working around in this town. Her childhood friend Kenny appears behind hin and covers her eyes as he ask to guess who he is.
"Kenny, you're off?" Alyssa ask as he drops his hands and sit on the other side of the table. They are in an outdoor cafe, currently meeting and they are actually discussing how to move forward about their relationship.
"Hey... Alyssa, you think you're parents wil be willing to meet with me later?" The nervous teen ask as the girl nods shyly as she blushes. She then hold his hand as the clouds looms over them. "I know you are nervous, but trust me. They are good people. They'll accept you for who you are."
Kenny then touch his scaly skin under his ears. "I hope so... We've been together for sometime now. I believe that we can convince your Father if we show how strong our love is." Kenny sweetly says to Alyssa as he also hold her hands as well. The two then lean forward as they look into each other's blushing faces, something that make Alyssa buckle up and pull out.
"Hey we are in a public space right now. We can save this for later at the dorms." The girl says as the mixed race guy leans back to his seat and silently agrees, even though he is a little bit annoyed. "I just want atleast a smooch." Kenny shares as Alyssa giggles. "Yes you can do more when we return to dorm." Alyssa replies as this perks Kenny up.
"Anyway, how's the studies? Hope that snooty fashion teacher of yours doesn't bug you about colors and design often." Kenny ask as he recalls why the two of them meet in that cafe. Later on the waitress comes out with their coffee. They thank her and continue with their discussion.
"I guess I can say it is getting better or worse. I don't know. All that hag says are so vague that I can't figure out specific colors or mood that she wants to get from my design. I often ask around if the design and coloring are already impressive enough." Alyssa groans while she takes out the sketch of her gown design to show to her boyfriend if he can share some insight.
"Oh? Quite a design you have here. Backless and having a zipper upfront. Tell me, are you thinking of me when you design this?" Kenny tease his girlfriend openly while he sips his coffee, something that make her go and lightly lean to hit him. "Ouch ouch ouch..." Kenny sarcastically says as he wants to express that he get it. "You are really a meanie Kenny." Alyssa says as she goes back to her seat. She lifts her coffee up as she looks back at her gown design.
"Thing is that I want to envision our wedding to be as sweet as this is. I want to ask you... Do you wanna marry me?" Alyssa ask of her boyfriend that makes him look up and look at her directly. "What kind of silly question is that? We are discussing meeting with your Father earlier. No way we will not take this to the next level then."
"We are talking about that earlier because I want to introduce you to them. I have ex before that they only want something from me and..."
Before Alyssa complete what she wants to express, Kenny slams the table and stands up. "I'll not be like them. I really love you! I will not let any of our feelings go to waste." Kenny declares that startle the other customers beside them. This make him blush and embarrassed as he goes back to his seat. Alyssa smiles as she can tell how genuine his feelings for her, but this will not take too long.
An deafening explosion hits the cafe as the patrons and the staff are screaming and running outside. Debris flies off as Kenny grabs Alyssa out of the way to protect her. His back are hit with several splinters and pebbles, but he can walk it off right now.
"Are you hurt? Are you okay Alyssa?" Kenny ask as the girl drags him away to look at his back. She's horrified but she tries to see what she can do to help her man. "Oh my... You're bleeding! I hope we can see something to patch that up!" Alyssa utters as she is looking from the source of chaos. "What is going on? What is that?!" Alyssa ask out loud as suddenly a man in a hoodie jacket and in a sprinter shoes appears beside them.
Gran is now being drag into the civilian zone, where he is trying to drive out Soli, and the latter already knows what he is doing.
"Hah! Is that best that you can do Mr. Exorcist? Back on Earth I am appalled by how your superiors handles anything, from property damages to the lost lives due to monsters and such rampaging. Do you intend to continue showing me their ugly incompetence?" Soli mockingly ask of Gran, who's panting heavily and thinking what he should do next.
"I need to conserve Stillness of the World for now. His Deconstruction can erase my dagger if I am not careful enough to keep it with me and the only thing that I can pull off against this monster is my fists. I need to have this under control or else!" Gran thinks as he blinks and Soli disappears. He can see the Dimensional Flow and he trace it to his left side, where Alyssa and Kenny are.
"Oh? Are you two lovers?" Soli asks as he grabs their faces while Gran turns and give Soli a fist to the gut and a kick to the chest. The first one connects, but the second doesn't as Soli blocks it with his right hand. Gran turn his gaze back to the couple, where they are quickly been turn into a statue by Soli.
"Mhmm... What a beautiful commemoration of love! Won't you agree Gran?" The Monster ask of Gran. Gran's mental hold is slowly detaching as he looks at this and he recalls the horrors that he remember from Earth.
The image of his bestfriend sacrificing himself to let him and his little sister escape. The time when his little sister get's killed and her chest is filled with blood. The time when he tries to fight the monster, only for him to be beaten down and he slump in the side of an elevated expressway, dying and hopeless. All of his memories are swirling inside of him. Then he remembers Gina.
"Hey... What did you do to her?" Gran ask, baffling Soli as he couldn't understand what the Exorcist is talking about. "Looks like you are losing it Gran. Who are we talking about then?"
Not a moment of hesitation, Gran's eyes become filled with anger. He uses all of his speed and strength to send the Monster up to the air with a kick. Soli spins through the air as Gran throws his dagger and his pendant and dagger glows with crimson light. Gran cast a Compression as he seemingly teleports to where Soli is going, and he gives the Monster another wicked roundhouse kick.
Soli is able to create a wind cushion to soften the blow from Gran's kick. Even though he manage to block this, the impact is so powerful that he jets out of the city as he lands half a dozen of kilometers outside Aluteria. Mid air Gran searches where is Gina, and he is able to spot her standing with a visible bruises on her. He quickly throws his dagger there and uses Compression to pull himself there. He lands violently as this is his first time to use Compression in such way.
"Sorry for that... Are you okay? Can you stand?" Gran ask as he looks at his girl for any injuries. He can see some wounds from the icicle strike the Monster made from their battle earlier. "I'm fine... That bastard is just unbelievably strong that's all." Gina answers as she uses her spear as a crutch. Gran puts his hands at the wounds his lover receive and uses his Flow to heal it. His brain is pressuring itself, to the point that his nose is bleeding.
"My wounds are closing... Hey what are you doing? Stop!" Gina notices how Gran is bleeding that she ask her man to cease. He then drops his hands and he leans at her again, something that Gran will share something to her. "I... I couldn't forget it. Please, stay with me. Don't leave me..." Gran plea to Gina as she rubs his head again and caress his hair.
"No I won't. Just hold yourself for longer. I am here..." She whispers to him. Since Soli's reappearance, Gran is relieving the past that he hope to bury when he is transported into this world. He hope to start a new life as he wants to forget the horros he face back from Earth, only for him to confront it as well. Gina does know what he is dealing with, even with a little bit of information he shares, but she knows that he needs to steel himself up as they are standing in a battlefield, a battlefield that Soli returns to.
The Monster floats above the entire Aluteria and it make Gran shiver. "Gina get out of here!" The Exorcist commands his love. When he looks at her as she's having difficulty moving herself, he princess carry her and get's her outside the walls. By doing that, Soli is able to spot him and he raise his hands to manipulate the air temperature and create a plasma bomb again.
"Hey Gran! Do you remember how Master wants to preach that we shall be the instrument of peace? Yes! I'd love to make this peace into pieces!!" Soli monologues as Gran lands to hand Gina over Veronica and her teammates. "Please, take care of her." Gran says as he sees them tending through their wounds. Sylvia then steps inside the city as she have an ongoing beef with the Monster.
As soon as Soli drops the plasma bomb, Sylvia raise her sword and its blinding glow signals to all of the residents and people in Aluteria one thing, the whole place is gonna be dangerous.
"You'll pay with the blood you've spilled here. This is justice! Finishing Move!!"
She then arcs her blade to swing it upwards to meet the plasma bomb that Soli have dropped. The two massive attack meets, and the chaotic morning of Aluteria becomes apocalyptic.
The two attack meet as the plasma bomb is pushing Sylvia's beam of blinding light struggles and fights back. The Finishing Move is being push into brink, but Sylvia squeeze all of Mana that she can muster and she shouts her anger with all of her might.
"RRRAAAAAAAAHH!!"
*Crashing noises.
Every building, structure, tall trees and anything near the said attack are flatten up and obliterated. Smoke and debris are all being push into the sides as the Holy Knight Captain is able to push through and eradicate the plasma bomb that Soli have created. In that moment, Soli is also swallow by the light, hitting him with a wicked force that sent him to the heavens.
After that energy sapping move, Sylvia's arms simply drops as her longsword falls to the ground. Gran then jumps to catch her before she falls face first, and he leaves her with few words. "Thank you Sylvia. You simply change my life when I'm transported here." Gran whispers on her ear as she carries Sylvia outside the walls and into the Valkyries again.
As Gran drops the Holy Knight Captain to the resting adventurers, the Exorcist notice that the faint trace of the Monster is going back to the city. He steels himself for their next confrontation. And he ask them all one thing.
"Hey guys, live your life well. I'm not sure if I will survive... But I'll come back."
Gran states as he smiles back to them. Veronica and the others doesn't feel too good about his farewell, that's why Mayuri, Rinko and Veronica grabs his jacket as they beg him not to go.
"Hey I'll never forgive you if you leave Gina!" Mayuri says while she fight her tears. Rinko sobs as she can't form any words that she wants to tell Gran.
"Don't go!" Veronica says as Gran faces them all and hit their head lightly with a handchop. "Don't worry! I'll come back." Gran says as he wants them to bid him farewell with confidence.
The Exorcist doesn't wast more time as he goes again inside Aluteria while Soli is still healing his injuries due to Sylvia'a Finishing Move. "I've never expect to have a being push me this far with just her Mana and beam stuff." Soli remarks as he instantly heals his wounds and fix his priestly like robes. As soon as he stand, a familiar face is waiting for him.
"Why hello Gran, want to have a scrap again?" The Monster ask as he blinks, and Gran closes the distance and he gives him a straight punch through the chest. He then grabs his face and proceed to grab Soli out of the city and jumps through the air. Gran then throws the Monster into a cliff, where Soli and Louis stay before.
The Monster hits the ravine and into imprinting his body there. Gran then runs and chases him down. He jumps and uses Compression to close the distance as he rend the space and he straight up strikes Soli in the gut again, only for the Monster to disappear and hit Gran in the head with his knee when he dodges rightwards. He follows up with a hook kick, only for the Exorcist to block then catch it. He throws Soli again away, and this time he sees a lake underneath this cliff.
Soli gracefully jumps and reorient himself and lands near the lake with a smile in his face. Gran does the same, but he lands with an intensity surrounding him. He is angry, not only for himself and his past. He is angry in behalf of everyone he have harmed in Aluteria and Vulcana. "Hey, what do you say... We stop holding back?" Gran ask as his Flow attuned pendant and dagger is glowing sharply with a crimson light.
"Oh? You are still holding back after all this time? Really? Well I agree. You aren't using any technique of yours against me." Soli takes a stance as he feels the Dimensional Flow surrounding him. He gauge how Gran is holding on his sanity and concentration with him feeling the disturbance in the flow of reality, only for Gran to deny the pleasure of letting him see it.
"Oh you're being shy. That's a bummer. We all know that we are the only ones who knows how this works. You could say that we are the ones destined to curse each other like this." Soli shares as Gran sighs as he agrees with what Soli says, but in his heart a denial forms into words.
"You're right, but inside of me tells me one thing. I need to end the nightmare. I need to end you." Gran sharply replies as he takes a stance. The wind slowly breezes as the world becomes silent. The serene flow of water from the lake fills the noise like a calming music through the air, while the aura Gran and Soli giving off starts to fade.
In both of their hearts they know that this is something that needs to happen. As both of them are able to grasp the Dimensional Flow properly, they waste no time. Gran and Soli dashes through one another. The Exorcist opens this last round with a dagger throw straight to the Monster's face, something that he actively avoiding before.
Soli response with snapping his fingers and shooting windblade and windblast against the dagger itself, only for Soli to get suprise as Gran teleports above him as he realizes something. "That's a mere distraction huh." Soli thinks as Gran chambers his left fist and he swiftly smash Soli's head, only for the Monster to intercept it and counters with an elbow.
Gran then uses Compression to the dagger to pin Soli down and the Monster feels that his fist becomes heavier. Gran then follows this one up with a punt kick, hitting Soli's face in the process. Soli is able to block this though with his left hand.
Gran calls off the Compression and pulls the dagger back. He then charges again to Soli, but the Monster unleashes the Quasi Antimatter on his hands. The Exorcist reflexively dodges the colorful particles, but this made him lose his focus for a moment and Soli send a right hook through his face. Soli follows up with a thigh kick and a liver shot.
This make Gran wince and Soli attempts to add another hit with a left hook kick, only for Gran to ignore the pain at the moment and ducks the high kick and slot a twisting left punch om Soli's jaw. He then grab the Monster and throws him in an over shoulder throw to the ground and he goes on top of him, making him submit and pounds him.
Gran unleashes his anger while pinning down Soli on the ground. The Monster answers with a quick earth rise when he touches the ground. This send both of them upwards and Soli deconstruct the ground, making them fly mid air. The pounding that Gran makes are turn into Soli's opportunity to trap him instead and delivers a gut punch and spike him down to the ground.
This send Gran beaming down the earth as he left a trap for Soli. While the Monster's eyes are following Gran's violent descent, Gran throws up his dagger and when he exactly falls flat to the ground and creating a considerable crater, his dagger drops exactly to Soli's face.
"Heh gotcha..." Gran turns his head to peek as Soli's face glows with crimson light. "Repel Blast." Gran says as this technique, which reverses Gran's Barrier technique from inward movement of Compression to outwards release, sends Soli to the treelines and he angrily crashes through a bunch of wood and splinters.
Gran stands up to fix himself and wait for what Soli will be doing. He is confident about one thing, he can tactically overwhelm Soli in this battle, a thing that will change as Gran sees that Soli floats through the air from far away and he aims to the Exorcist.
The cloudy day starts to clear up. The sunshine starts to flourish through the surrounding, and this make Gran's eyes widen up. He feels the disturbance in the Flow as he focuses. In an instant, as he can't see any trajectory or any movement, he move his body away from there. In an instant when Gran looks at where stands, the wind and cut in the ground is suddenly produced. Gran looks at Soli again, only for him to points at him.
"Tch! Stillness of the World!!"
Gran cast his anti entropy, time stop for the fourth time. This time he needs to dodge the hard light attacks as he notice that even though everything is too dark in this time stop state, he can feel the Flow that Soli makes through the rays of photon that touches his skin.
"Geez, you can make thing such as photon into a weapon now? You are really designed to be a demon killer." Gran remarks in such place as he jumps and reaches the edge of the Stillness of the World.
This ability of Gran are a manifestation of what will happen if Gran creates a Barrier within the 4th dimension in a limited range. He can only use this within 200 meter range and he can actually set if he wants to stop the time within a minute or 25 seconds due to the improvement the attuned Flow materials of Gran are.
He dashes through the distance as he wades through the unnerving darkness. He closes the distance as he put his right hand at Soli's nape. "And the world goes on." Gran's code to have the time flows again. He then quickly manipulate the reality on his palm and commands.
"Repel Blast!!"
This send Soli flying back to the spot where they all began, at the side of the lake. Gran lands into the ground while Soli is bouncing like a ball and he stops it with his hands and feet. The Monster is getting annoyed as his expression is not the same as before, and he touches the earth as he creates a massive distortion to the ground. He forcefully send this earthquake like technique into Gran, who is now running towards him while he is observing what is Soli is doing.
He leaps and slides through the spires and the platforms that he can use to either land or dodge out of, then he sees an opportunity to close the distance again, a thing that Soli deliberately left for him to exploit.
He throws his dagger into a slit on the chaotic earth rising and crumbling that Soli is doing. The dagger flies through the slit and straight to Soli's right side. Gran uses his Compression to rend out the space as he blinks into that spot. As soon as he appears, Soli smiles. "He fell for it." The Monster thought to himself as he produces some quasi antimatter on his left hand and he jumps out to throw this to Gran.
The Exorcist have no time to react to it. He conentrates and he activates his Repel Skin in order to tank the colorful particles and he is able to do it. Since he is focusing on protecting himself from the dangerous attack, Soli then uses this chance to deliver a wicked one inch punch to Gran's chest. It send the Exorcist into the lake tumbling down.
He falls into the lake as sink into the water. His body is somehow feeling peaceful yet his mind is refusing to just lay down there as he still needs to fight.
"Hey... Never you go down now!!" The bloody Gran thinks out loud.