Destruction

The ground began to crack under the strain of Rokara's invisible force, and with a powerful surge, it shattered, sending dirt flying in all directions. Trees were uprooted as the force exerted its might, adding to the chaos of the battlefield. 

"What are you doing?!" Shouted Talon, his fog began to envelop the battlefield once more, its thickness increasing as he enhanced his strength with it and began to rush to his fallen comrades.

The closest to him was Quinn who he picked up from the ground and rushed with him away from the battlefield. 

"Silence worm!" Shouted back Rokara, shocking Talon. 

'She… has fallen… to help us?' Talon stared blankly at Rokara, then turned his face away and rushed to the others.

'The most important thing is to get the others to safety.' 

As he carried everyone away, he checked their conditions. Among the four, Thorn was in the best shape, having suffered a heavy backlash but otherwise stable. However, the others were barely clinging to life, each one hanging on by a thin thread.

"Try to cut this!" Shouted Rokara, her voice full of madness as she pulled out the trees from the ground.

Before, she could barely do this with one, now, she pulled out seven of these dead trees from the ground and aimed them directly at Grayson.

As the trees approached him at breakneck speed, his belt began to glow, another piece of beast gear used by the great reaper.

His strength multiplied, and without any real trouble, he cut the first tree coming his way into two and sprinted straight at Rokara who threw the rest of the trees at Grayson from all sides. 

Even then, Grayson's claws tear the trees coming his way to shreds, exploding them into splinters. 

As the destruction unfolded before him, Talon stared at the forest around them getting destroyed by the class of the two.

"That's not Rokara…" Muttering to himself as he stared at the orc girl before him.

'Maybe I won't be needing the church of the other side, Rokara is enough.' However, his thoughts were abruptly interrupted as another powerful surge of invisible force swept across the battlefield, shattering dead trees and tearing apart the earth. 

As Talon watched the battle unfold, his eyes wandered on the bleeding Rokara, blood still gushing from the previous attack.

And while she showed no sign of being in pain, her back was drenched in cold sweat.

'No, this won't be enough…' Talon began to feel his connection to his second Gift: Church of the Otherside.

The mark appeared in his hand, but he couldn't mark Grayson from afar no matter how much he tried.

"Need something else." Murmured Talon before shouting to Rokara.

"Hey, Rokara, I need an opening to at least touch that monster, can you get me that opening?" His question only made Rokara shout back at him in anger.

"Why would I help you, do it yourself you pathetic worm—" Raged Rokara but abruptly stopped mid-sentence.

"Okay, don't you dare miss the opening!" Shouted back Rokara and even greater force began to swirl around her making the very ground shatter beneath her feet.

Then, Rokara began to sprint toward Grayson who was still rushing towards her.

Before the two could collide with each other, Grayson sent out his barely visible blades of air coming from the air while Rokara punched into the air, creating a shock wave that blocked the blades.

The two attacks nullified each other in the air, leaving no choice for the two to continue their battle close quarter.

They collided like two forces of nature, the sheer force of their clash ripping through the forest, leaving destruction in their wake. 

Both of them get thrown away just by the force of the small explosion they created by their attacks clashing with each other.

The first one to get up from the ground was Grayson as he looked down at his damaged body, the fight against the Fallen Rokara only widened the cracks that filled his body, now, almost reaching his neck.

"Promise us master that you won't overwork yourself again, just let us handle this job."

For a moment, he could hear the voices of James and Derek, the two children from the slums, his two only disciples whom he loved like family. Now, their blood fed the dead forest, and their binding promise was nothing more than ash, just like the pendant now turning to dust in his hand. 

They were dead now, just like his wife and daughter, crushed by one of the fallen who lost control of his power and claimed the lives of many innocent people.

"I'm so tired of everything." Murmured Grayson as the cracks only widened on his body, now, reaching his jaw.

His claws began to extend once more, just like the glow around them intensified. 

Rokara, who was crushed into a nearby tree, fell close to Talon, as she got up from the ground, she silently whispered to Talon, "Be ready worm, your chance will be here soon."

Rokara cracked her fists before the invisible force enveloped her once again. At full speed, she began to sprint towards Grayson while throwing punches in the air, sending out ranged attacks of the invisible force.

As they came his way, with merely a brush of his claws, the force died down, just like that.

Grayson, who just stood still as he nullified the attack, now stared directly at Rokara, his eyes were tired, even when his body was full of energy.

Then, he activated another piece of his gear, his leather boots, now, his speed was multiplied to a high never seen before by any nongifted.

He sprinted to Rokara and appeared by her side in a matter of seconds, shocking both Rokara and even Talon who was still lurking in the fog, waiting for his chance to strike.

With a swift swipe of his pristine white claw, Rokara's back began to gush blood as the cut was too fast to even react to.

"This will be the only chance you get from me worm, don't mess it up!" Shouted Rokara who was still in a dangerously close distance to Grayson.

A sudden force pushed Grayson away, just like a part of the red fog that Talon hid in.

Grayson gets hurled away by the force and before he can find his balance, another wave of this force hits him, making even the smallest movements hard for him, even with his enhanced strength with the belt.

"NOW!" 

Shouted Rokara again to Talon who wasted no time and made his mist even thicker, and reached even further.

In the mist, Talon's movements were fast, way slower than the speed achieved by Grayson, but enough to reach him in a small moment.

His red spear's tip bore another strange red glow on him, unrelated to the spear itself, it was the mark, cast on it by Talon.

As the hunter was contained by the force pushing him down to the ground, he could just watch Talon who sprinted to his side and stabbed towards him with his spear.

And even then, even when he was forced down by this gift, that could tear apart a hunter just by itself, Grayson still managed to barely evade the stab from Talon.

As he watched his chance slip away from his finger, Talon's mind was getting showered by self-doubt, and as a last act of desperation, his spear began to glow and turn increasingly hot.

The ability of the spear has been triggered; Flame Surge created an explosion at the tip of the spear. The fiery blast carried the mark toward Grayson, whose side was exposed to the worst part of the explosion.

Thankfully, the mark has been applied to Grayson, but not without its own problem. Grayson propelled himself further before unleashing a black blade enveloped by black lightning toward Rokara, who was so focused on entombing Grayson that she was unable to dodge.

With a thud, she dropped to the ground. 

This time, Grayson had only one target left: Talon.

"This isn't the speed of someone at the green rating... In barely a week, you managed to break through to the blue rating... I can somewhat see why they view you as too dangerous to be left alive. I'm sorry."

Talon was lying on the ground, his palms had been burned by the spear and the explosion hurled him away.

Grayson began to slowly walk towards Talon, his claws reaching the ground and leaving a trail of destruction in their wake. As his claws made contact with the earth, the dead soil began to turn to dust beneath them.

With a sigh, Grayson raised his white claw into the air, aiming to kill Talon as soon as possible while causing the least amount of pain.

Talon tried to reach the connection to his gift and pull both of them to the church of the Otherside, but he needed just one more small moment.

Time that Grayson wasn't planning to give him.

Before he could finish Talon once and for all, a sudden black dot came crashing down from the side, aiming for his left eye.

In a sudden rush, he halted his advance toward Talon and brushed away the black dot, revealing the previous raven that Talon had saved. 

The raven was brushed away and crashed to the ground, it was damaged but still alive, even though just barely as it's small frame wasn't that protective against Grayson.

"Thank you." Said Talon to the raven as he got the time needed for the church of the other side, pulling both him and Grayson into the gift.

***

Both of them found themselves inside the dark hill, enveloped by red mist and surrounded by a seemingly endless sea of gravestones.

As Grayson surveyed his surroundings, he glanced back at Talon and sighed.

"It doesn't matter to me anymore," said Grayson, his white claw poised in the air once more, ready to strike Talon down.

But something halted his movement yet again—the distant sound of a bell.

Though no bell was visible, its clear chime echoed through the eerie landscape, ringing out eight times.

With a loud creak, the doors of the church opened.

Revealing a figure completely shrouded in red mist, wielding two short swords with an ominous presence.

Behind him, within the church, the stained glass depicted a one-eyed soldier drenched in blood, his expression twisted into a maniacal grin.