Arrival of the Grey One

Deep below the surface of the sea, a monstrous dark and large body surged through the waters in a spiralling motion, projecting a lethal charm that was scary yet beautiful. It was hard to witness with normal eyes since the body had a black colouring that was greatly camouflaged in the deep sea, but the perfectly measured and hypnotic movements could still be faintly seen.

But what held the greatest attention was not the graceful movement of the body but instead the 3 glowing scarlet eyes that were glaring at a single being. Seeing them move in a circular motion due to the spiralling movement of the body was honestly eerie. Not much could be inferred from them, but it would be to nobody's doubt that those were not the eyes of a herbivore. This being was a complete predator that was experienced in taking lives.

Obviously, this was Jörma the Devourer, sole Queen of all Snakes and Beast Empress to even more races, and she was currently travelling to the West Continent along with the others. They had already gathered their allies from distant lands and this was their last stop before they launched their war on Envy with full force.

Naturally, despite her huge size, nobody dared to ride on her back and it wasn't because of the winding motion she was swimming in. She was the publicly recognized strongest being on the continent despite their being a goddess there, and nobody wanted to disrespect her. They would rather swim themselves from continent to continent than climb on Jörma's head and possibly lose their life.

As for Jörma herself… She was currently feeling a great hunger along with a slight agitation.

Something delicious was on that little birdy continent and thanks to her stupefying ocular abilities, she could actually see just what that 'something' was. It, or rather he, was a winged man with a 3rd Eye on his forehead, which was most definitely an Evil Eye.

This was her first time coming to this continent but it wasn't as if she hadn't heard about its most prominent figures. After a few meetings, everyone was mostly aware of each other and there wasn't much of importance that Jörma didn't know.

She had been looking forward to meeting the so-called Pharaoh, the progenitor of the Golden Roc race. Because it was said that he had suddenly gained a 3rd blue Eye some years ago (meaning he wasn't born with it), which had granted him control of a terrifying blue flame that turned whoever it touched into ashes. Furthermore and most terrifying of all, it didn't even need to be launched.

Whoever he looked at would just start burning. This was a very scary ability that was reminiscent of her Eye of Petrification which turned whoever she looked at into stone.

So obviously, she had wanted to meet this being who she suspected had an Evil Eye of his own. Technically, it was possible that his 3rd Eye was just a very lucky evolution or mutation, but thankfully she had not been disappointed. As soon as she caught sight of him her Eye of Petrification had started to throb, sending waves of abnormal hunger into her mind.

She wasn't a stranger to being hungry for various things, some of which were completely inedible to other people, but normally the hunger pangs came from her stomach and not her eye. This was a completely new experience that she was both wary and excited about.

She continued to look at Pharaoh who was also looking back at her now, and her eyes narrowed.

…

Zero, also known as Silver Owl King by most, or the Grey One/Grey Lord by fewer, finally arrived at the gathering of the alliance and ignored the distrustful or downright hateful eyes that were glaring at him. By his side were two 4th Realmers from the Serene Moon Owl race, and a small bunch at the peak 3rd Ream.

As soon as they touched down, he and the other two 4th Realmers initiated the switch to their Enlightened Forms.

He had come a long way since his fateful moment with the Moon and he had accomplished much since then. Nobody had been ready for the complete resurgence of his race and many had paid dearly for it. They had been unable to stop him by the time he and his people had been ready to fight, and he had slain many foes before he claimed a territory for himself up north.

The northern region of the continent wasn't popular for a number of reasons. First, it was very cold and there weren't many who could take that. Second, even for the people like the Ice Phoenixes who would love to be there, there was no one who wanted to remember their past as descendants of the 'Honourable Brother', so they mostly stayed away and only visited when they needed resources.

Third, worse than the worry people had for Honourable Brother, was the terror they had for his new form, Envy. From the scummiest thief, he had gone all the way to become the world's biggest menace who many and around the world had gathered to slay.

It was utterly frightening, but not to Zero.

The only being he had regard for was the Moon. And thus, he had no problem in slaughtering his way into the Northern region with his brethren and making sure there were no witnesses. He and the rest of his race had affinity with both wind and ice so they weren't affected by the cold. In fact, the cold territory was even ideal.

But it hadn't been safe. The land owner who was technically Chad even if he never visited, would not just stand by as the Ice Phoenixes who had been there died. Ever since taking an Ice Phoenix as a true mate his prejudice against the Ice Phoenixes had vanished, and he had even turned around to smite justice on whichever Fire Phoenix that was racist.

Previously the Fire Phoenixes had been called Pure Phoenixes but as one could expect, after Chad's new change that title had been changed. All Phoenixes in the Pure Society were now Pure and the Fire ones were just that. Fire Phoenixes.

So as expected, Chad's ever-surprising well of rage had been turned on Zero. Although Zero was no longer afraid of him he had been so back then. Chad was the craziest man on the continent and no one wanted to go against him. However, Zero had been fighting for the prosperity of his race and he also wanted some revenge for what had been done to him, so he fought long and hard.

In the midst of all the deadly fights that took place, even though Chad never intervened personally Zero had almost died many, many times. Phoenixes were just too tenacious, and the lucky Fire ones who followed in their ancestors footsteps to evolve at the 4th Realm and become Phoenixes of Life were almost undying. Their golden flames contained the Laws of Life along with the Laws of Flame, and it was the best healing substance for their elemental flame bodies.

However, it hadn't been all bad. Towards the end of that war, Zero had been able to comprehend a new Law. A Law so powerful that he was almost certain that no one else had seen it. It was that special.

The only reason he couldn't say for sure that no one else had it was because making use of the Law was so deadly that it had almost killed him the first time he used it, so he himself tended not to use it.

He had been forced to utilise the Divine Lunar Enhancement to save himself, which others did not have, so if there were others like him that had this Law then they would likely be in the same predicament of being unable to use it, if not worse.

However, recently, he had grasped a bit of control over that Law and ever since then he had never been afraid of any other being. Perhaps Pharoah could cause some trouble, but he had never met the man and he had trouble believing that his blue flame could really work with just eyesight alone. It had to be some sort of trick or exaggeration.

Regardless, Zero was very confident in his abilities. The only thing he found unfortunate was that now that the war had long ended due to their need to unite against Envy, he had been unable to find a suitable target to use his new control over the Law on, without drawing the ire of the whole continent and possibly more. But that would soon be changing.

"So you decided to come, Grey One."