Gray's eyes slowly opened.
He was greeted with an unfamiliar ceiling, and a soft cushion which his body seemingly seeped into.
It was a normal white room, with a reinforced automatic door leading out. Opposite to the bed there was another door which was open, through the frame Gray could see a toilet and bathtub.
Getting up, he felt a sudden throb in his head causing him to stop and think for a while.
"How did I... Get here?" He asked.
His eyes widened as he recalled the events which had happened before he found himself in this situation.
-Memory
"Of course… I'm a man of my word. Princess Ruby. Let's head to your world."
Ruby slowly nodded before taking his hand.
The instant she did, it happened.
Everything began to shake violently. The shaking wasn't coming from the ship but rather, the ground in the city itself.
"What's-"
Before they could say anything, a pillar of light up from beneath the ship, temporarily blinding them.
Being unable to see anything, Gray grabbed onto Ruby's hand and called out to the others.
"We're fine! This light...! It came from the Labyrinth beneath us!" Violet yelled out.
After the light faded, they all made their way towards the edge of the fleet, before looking down.
Beneath them, they could see the large hole in the ground in the middle of the city. It belonged to the Labyrinth.
Gray glanced at the others, they looked just as confused as he was. Ruby on the other hand, seemed to recognise that light, she had a confused and worried look as she mumbled. "That's not possible... Already...?"
"Already? Ruby - What does that light mean?" Gray asked.
"It means all the floors of the Labyrinth have been cleared." She replied. "I've only seen it once before, when I was a child..." She added.
[Affirmative, the labyrinth has been fully cleared.]
"The labyrinth's been cleared? But who..."
*Throb*
Gray was interrupted as he suddenly felt a stinging throb in his heart. The throbbing got stronger and stronger, before he collapsed towards the edge.
Everything turned black and he couldn't remember a thing after that.
-Memory End
"What happened to me? System." He said.
[The shop has been updated.]
[The user experienced the side effect of stopping time twice in a row and using the <Mark Of The King> the body had still not adapted to the mark.]
"So I fainted as a result?"
[The user seems to be downplaying the situation.]
[The health potion helped you the first time, but you proceeded to ignore my warnings and used the incomplete time stop ability again.]
[Your organs began to fail, and you almost fell over the edge of the ship.]
[If it wasn't for Ria, who caught you with teleportation and Ruby healing you with Lara alongside her, you would have experienced a much worst fate.]
"System you're being quite talkative... Are you mad at me for ignoring your warnings?" Gray asked as a smile grew on his face.
[…]
Gray chuckled to himself and through the corner of his eyes, he noticed a note on top of the table beside his bed.
Gray grabbed onto the note before reading it out loud.
"There's toothpaste, a new clean brush and warm running water. A spare set of clothes have been placed inside the toilet along with a towel. They've been wrapped to not have water fall on them.
Your pouch and tools will be waiting for you outside.... An officer will accompany you after you're ready."
Gray placed the note back on the table before getting up.
"So, where are the others and how did I end up here" he asked.
[Whilst you were being healed, a group of four individuals claiming to be working for the government showed up.]
[They asked for our cooperativeness and claimed that their leaders desired to speak to us.]
[The others had been in the room not to long ago with you, but they agreed it would be best to leave you resting as you had already gone through enough.]
Gray began taking his clothes off.
"Who was their leader and why did the girls and Kylo agree to trust them?"
[They claimed it was the president and the leader of the fallen angel opposition corps.]
[They trusted them because, someone familiar was amongst the four, so they decided to trust them.]
"Opposition corps? Never heard of them. Who was this familiar someone?"
[Realm.]
Gray stopped for a moment.
"So that guy's still alive, huh..." He muttered, with a slight smile.
Gray entered the toilet and looked at his reflection.
"System... One more thing. The thing that you did, it worked out this time... But don't ever do it again without warning me ahead of time." Said Gray with a cold smile.
He was referring to the hibernation process which the system hadn't told him. Because of it, if was a second too late, three of the most important people he had would have been lost.
Even now Gray couldn't stop thinking about how close he was to losing them.
Just the thought infuriated him.
[...Understood.]
After the shower, Gray changed into a uniform before stepping ahead of the reinforced doors.
Just as he had expected, they opened on their own.
Upon stepping out of the room, he was instantly greeted by two male officers who saluted ahead of him.
They wore a black uniform with a strangely shaped crest on the chest area. On their head they wore something which resembled a military cap, it too had that crest on it.
The one on the left was bald while the one on the right had short brown hair.
"Sir Gray, I-It's great to see that you are awake and well." The one on the left said with sparkling eyes.
"It's great to see that you are well." The other on the right repeated, this one was more calm.
A puzzled look grew on Gray's face.
'Why are they being so formal?'
[To them you are their saviour. You are the one who put an end to the war in this continent.]
'Oh... Right.'
"Is there anything specific you'd like? Might I ask that we accompany you over to where the executive and president are? We were given orders to take you there after you've woken up." Said the calmer officer.
"I don't mind, but before that, I'd like to see my group." Said Gray.
A troubled look appeared on one of the officer's faces.
"They're scattered around at the moment. Some of them are currently with the president at the moment. It'll take a while to gather the rest since they're exploring the facility... I've been informed the matter with the president and executive wish to discuss is urgent... I've been told." Said the one the right with a troubled look.
Gray noticed the troubled look on his face.
'In other words, not going will make his job harder. System, do you believe his words?'
[He does not appear to be lying.]
"If that's the case, then it can't be helped, can it?" Gray said. "Alright, if some of them are already there, take me to where I'm needed... Also, where exactly am I?"
They nodded.
"You are inside of an underground refugee made by the Fallen Angel Opposition Corps. It's currently linked with the government and is being used as a base for the two."
As they walked around, Gray got to see many things, one which being just how many facilities there were.
There were facilities where they were growing plants and animals. A power generating facility where people with electric type abilities were utilizing their abilities.
A facility dedicated to people receiving training by instructors. One made for those with abilities and one made for those without abilities.
Gray got to see all of these things through a glass panel as he walked alongside the guards.
Many people and soldiers roamed around, no fights or arguments seemed to be breaking out anywhere. There were people having fun as they ate with their families.
There were also guards on duty almost everywhere you looked, things seemed peaceful.
But just as they were peaceful, they were heavily guarded.
Reinforced metal doors were split in between most of the facilities he had seen.
The guards had explained to Gray, that they were done in case of emergencies. The same was for entering the refugee.
They had apparently been raided by a horned one with slick black hair who refered to himself as The Duke.
He alone killed many of the people they had on duty which was why a sad face could be present on some of the people's faces.
There was a lot more to uncover about the refugee, but Gray put it aside for now.
Instead he focused on what actually mattered, and that was what was on the other side of the doors which he stood ahead of.
Ahead of the door were two other officers which were guarding it.
One thing Gray noticed was that none of these officers were carrying any rifles, only swords.
The officers who had accompanied Gray, talked to the officers who were on guard, before allowing Gray through.
As the doors opened, the first thing he saw was Ruby arguing with one the two men seated there. Behind Ruby was Violet and Aurora.
Behind the two men were two secretaries.
"What do you mean we can't just let my people go? We're sending them back to where they came from, all they were doing was obeying orders given by the king-"
Ruby was interrupted by one of the soldier's as Gray entered.
"Gray has arrived."
The soldiers left leaving Gray behind on his own at a point where the tension around the room was at it's highest.
"Don't worry about me, carry on." Said Gray before waving at Ruby and the others.
Gray ended up entering at the exact moment where the tension was at it's highest and drawing the attention of the others at the same time.
He sighed.
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