"What the fuck..." Grey rolled, adjusting his crotch. "... I need to take a fucking leak... SHIT!"

Grey jumped up so high he went from the ground to nearly slamming his head on the ceiling in an instant. He looked around quickly to find Barkeep Ji was still standing in the same spot, but the world around them was no longer this pale grey.

That meant one thing.

The freeze on the outpost was no longer here. Everything was being recorded, fuck.

"Fuck me, how long has it been?"

Barkeep Ji’s eyes went up for a moment as he seemed to be calculating something. Then he nodded.

"It’s been about 17 hours or so since you passed out."

Grey’s eyes widened. "Why the hell didn’t you wake me up?! Shit! Shit! Shit!"

Grey bolted forward but then came to a screeching stop by the door.

"That wouldn’t have done you much good. Plus, I don’t think you would have allowed anyone to wake you up just now."

In reality, Barkeep Ji couldn’t even if he wanted to. By the time it made sense for him to wake up Grey, the protections over the outpost had vanished. When everyone was watching, he was even more restricted in how much he could help Grey.

And the second reason was... the Prometheus Spirit had kept him in a bubble before that. Unless Grey was in immediate danger, his soul was completely dormant.

There was no other choice. Grey had died too many times in a row. If he wasn’t protected from himself, he’d experience a true death.

Grey wasn’t listening to Barkeep Ji anymore. Instead, he was looking at the teleportation platform one more time as though he was confirming something, and then he hit a dash one more time. He was quickly out of the outpost but he didn’t run very far at all before he came to a slow stop.

His arms swung to a lull, his eyes wide.

"What the... fuck..."

It was like he had teleported to a whole new world. There was only destruction for as far as the eyes could see. Pits filled the ground, trees were razed, what foliage there had been was turned to sand and soot.

But Grey didn’t see or sense Thi Lan and Amunet at all. There was just no one here.

"No way."

Grey’s eyes widened as he immediately considered the worst possible outcome.

—

[GreyDominion: He’s finally paying attention to us again! Look, look!]

—

"What the hell happened?" Grey asked.

—

[EpicPelvis: We can tell you for a fee :)?]

[GreyDominion: Big boomboom happened. But then an Instance triggered and it yanked them all in. If you go forward enough, it will probably pull you into the Instance too. But I would be careful if I were you, boo. Inter-Race Instances are nasty because the Genesis System isn’t as constrained by the normal storylines anymore. Some Arc II stuff might appear]

[EpicPelvis: What the fuck? Can’t a man make some fucking money in peace?]

[GreyDominion: Fuck you. My Greypoo needed some help. Everybody else already abandoned him to go watch Amunet and Thi Lan’s stream, and you’re just here trying to make a quick buck]

[GreyDominion: Hello?]

[GreyDominion: You left too, you insufferable cunt!]

[GreyDominion: Don’t worry, Greypoo, I’ll never abandon you]

—

Grey closed the chat, his frown deepening. He didn’t know what to do.

If he went forward and entered the Instance, he wouldn’t be able to leave until it was done, and that would delay the other things.

If Giyoto ended up using the Mech Soul first, they’d be shit out of luck and they would fail the Arc. There was just no way that he’d be able to replace the Mech Soul in time, and fixing everything personally would both take experience and understanding he didn’t have, not to mention strength and time he didn’t have.

"Wait..." Grey’s eyes narrowed.

He opened his chat again.

—

[GreyDominion: You’re back! I knew you wouldn’t abandon me!]

—

"Have you seen others fall into the Instance too? Is that why there’s no one attacking right now?"

—

[GreyDominion: We don’t have those viewing angles. The main feed is displaying the Instance battle right now. But, there are Syrn and two Volthari that fell in, if that’s what you mean]

—

Grey’s gaze flickered. That was exactly as he expected.

The destruction out here was wild, but it was still too peaceful, almost like everything had settled down.

That meant that anyone that got close enough would fall into the Instance, not just him. That much was obvious, but laying it out like that meant that probably all of the invading parties had fallen in.

And it likely wasn’t something planned by their enemies. What would be the point in that? Just to kill Amunet and Thi Lan?

No. They wanted to humiliate the entire human race because of what Grey had done. That wouldn’t be enough.

Luckily for Grey, he had seen one other instance—no pun intended—of an Instance being randomly triggered. And back then... it was also because of Amunet.

"The Instance, you probably can’t tell me exactly what’s going on, right?"

—

[GreyDominion: No. They’ll ban my account. Especially now. They’re very antsy and want to take you down, boo.]

—

Grey nodded. He already had all he needed to know. The fact GreyDominion mentioned going to watch Amunet and Thi Lan’s streams meant that they were still alive.

If so many enemies had fallen into one Instance and those two were still alive...

That meant there was a chance to take them all out one by one.

How convenient. Every one of the names listed on Thi Lan’s contract was probably in there right now.

Grey held out his hands and his Pimp Gloves. Prometheus raged to life in Grey’s eyes and then sparks lit up the cracks in his mech. They fused together at a speed visible to the naked eye, and on the way, Grey started to tweak and change things.

He couldn’t overhaul the mech completely, but what he could do was make changes on the edges. And sometimes... those changes made all the difference.

"Yo, Udon, make sure you clip this genocide."