grey scanned the entire area with his echolocation finding almost everyone was asleep except a girl who was muttering to herself at the very edge of the village.
grey quietly approached jade with a devious smile as she was lost in thought siting at the night sky muttering to herself about some sort of growing darkness.
she suddenly turned her head defensively until she saw greys face full of guilt as he was obviously trying to scare her.
"Grey? what brings you back so late." she gave off a weak smile as she stared at grey unamused.
"Tch, at least act surprised... I'm just back to clear mind, I guess. looks like you also have a lot on your mind want to trade stories and help each other out?"
jade turned her gaze back to the night sky ''I just got news from one of Tony's friends that the old village my father had taken over was destroyed by Para the blood ghost. now that my mother's killer is gone what's left for me... My vengeance is gone and I have nothing left.''
"Para the blood ghost? Isn't that the creepy beast that takes over the corpses of powerful foes and destroys whole armies on his own? why would he attack your father?''
jade's lips quivered slightly "from what I heard he attacked him after he possessed the body of the goblin king who was one if his main minions causing the two to battle after the bone goblins tribe was wiped out.''
grey felt like he needed to say something to quell the awkward silence but instead just patted her back while just being present for some reason he could physically feel the mixed emotions radiating off of her which gave off the feelings of saddens, rage, lost and a hollow emptiness he couldn't explain why but he knew she just needed someone at this moment.
A few silent minutes later that felt like hours jade seemed to visibly calm and became less tense before turning back to grey and noticing the look in his eyes "You don't look so good yourself what happened to you?"
grey let out a deep and exhausted sigh "Well I fought the way I usually do since awakening just instincts and a few ideas... because of that I got beaten.''
"Badly, nothing I did helped it just... hurt more knowing nothing I did was enough, I've only felt that helpless two times in my life. and I've come to realize every time it's my fault for just jumping despite everything.''
jade gave him an odd look before opening her mouth ''I think you're the weird one here.''
grey turned to her confused as she continued "Well its two things that I've noticed honestly for one Your a rabbit but you have as much hate and malice as a wolf while acting lazy to keep out of trouble. most other rabbits only fight as a last resort or if their hungry, but you seem to only thrive in combat despite being born in the most peaceful race.''
grey thought about for a few moments as memories flashed by in his mind of everything that has happened and she wasn't wrong.
she let her words sink in before continuing "The second is the stories I've heard about from your friends and family to what me and your buddies in the six claws have seen are polar opposites. it's almost as if you're pretending to be two different people at all times. a calm planner who like causing trouble is what your family sees but what we see is a irrational rabbit acting first and planning later, so who do you see yourself as?"
grey thought about it for a while in complete silence ''To be honest I've always known I was weaker than everyone so all the weapons and traps let me make up for it because I was tired of being hurt but not making bleed for hurting me, but I guess ever since I awakened I've stopped being cautious and more driven to hurt others no matter what happens to me as I enjoyed the feeling of power... but I think I need to change myself and be alone for a while.''
"But didn't you come to see your family?''
grey was about to walk away but stopped at that before looking back at her without turning ''I will just need some time to self-reflect on myself and what's important to me.''
with that grey left the bounds of the misty hills and entered the unprotected wilds in the cold dark night but instead of feeling fear he felt excitement that he kept at bay.
grey just walked the empty night aimlessly and every time a bird or predator tried to attack him, he unleashed grey a cloud of toxic gas that seemed to eat away at the flesh of all those who touched it while he just kept walking.
eventually it was midnight when he stopped as in front of him was a massive mountain sized mud nest in his way.
two bright glowing wasps flew above him in a circular pattern as if warning him they were going to attack grey quickly unleashed the grey gas and tried to walk around it to avoid problems when from the gas cloud came two stingers aimed at the back of his head.
greys ears twitched as he could hear them coming but not decaying so he quickly did a backflip over his attackers and slammed his feet covered in yellow poison gas into their backs.
while doing that he relished a sound barrier to stop them from calling for help and to make sure no one would hear their battle.
they laid their limbs twisted unnaturally and bodied being corrupted by bright yellow fluids when greys poison gas rune felt something.
"Hmmm, this smell is it some sort of last-ditch effort to kill me?'' as grey spoke, he could feel the very ground beneath him vibrate as if a giant was approaching.
suddenly the night turned day but when he looked up all he saw was eight more wasp glowing like beacons in unison to ward off the darkness while hordes of wolf sized wasp started to surround him from all sides. "Crap! I did it again.''
the poison rune on him grew brighter as he was about to change forms but stopped halfway through the change before looking at his paw thoughtfully.
''No! this is the perfect chance to truly understand myself and if this sound rune is at the core of my being, I need to understand it more to better understand myself. no traits, no form, no poison and no chaos just me at my base.''
Grey turned his gaze up to the unholy amount of wasp surrounding him and just smiled in a deranged manner.
grey let out a deep battle cry whilst mimicking the sound of the lion he heard so long a ago and used his rune to amplify the sound that already left his mouth.
his sonic scream killed hundreds of wasps and two that made the artificial suns, but they soon closed that gap as if it never appeared and swarmed him from all angles.
thanks to the sounds their wings made grey's echolocation could track them all down from every angle whilst also giving grey a constant full view of the entire area.
grey was jumping around the wasps as platforms while moving at high speeds hitting the with just his bare paws which seemed to be doing nothing.
in this seemingly impossible and horrifying situation grey was not only surviving he seemed to be smiling as his heartbeat faster almost as if it was in a rhythm of its own.
black blood started raining down as grey made claws out of compressed sounds and started hacking away at the endless swarm.
'This feeling, these sound? is this what it means to be free? nothing but me and the rhythm of the world to dance to.' greys thoughts stopped as he looked at the transparent claws.
"I see now if air is all about freedom, then sound is conditional freedom as I am only free under certain conditions.''
grey seemed to have an epiphany as he started trying new thing he just thought of with his life on the line and a crazed smile.
grey punched and slapped a few wasps while running past them while amplifying the small shockwaves inside into deadly blast making it seem like they exploded from the inside.
grey suddenly has an idea when he saw the silent barrier he made earlier.
"BELLS TOLL!'' he shouted as an anther sound barrier appeared around everyone, but it looked like the reverse of the other in a way only grey could understand as he created a silence barrier around his body.
the bell like dome seemed to amplify noise and send it back at double the sound which created an endless loop until the sounds grew to the point they not only hurt the ears but also started causing physical damage to those closest to it.
every time the sounds hit grey however his barrier canceled out sounds leaving only the force behind it which was like a rough push.
unfortunately for him that rough push was all the wasps needed as he was finally off balance, they quickly tried to sting him.
out of instinct grey started vibrating his body in turn hardening his body to the point his body wasn't pierced just bruised.
grey waved his paws wildly to get them off whilst channeling energy to them his left paw started firing off loud slashes of sound while his right created a blade of pure sound.
soon he got out of the swarm breathing heavily with his sonic saber he looked around quickly but realized something gave too late the sound slashes he unleashed in panic was now also bouncing off the bell dome and doubling in power and a few started coming his way.
He quickly released the barrier as there was no escape inside since the floor was littered in corpses and the upper part was a chaotic mess of gore and violence.
the slashes cut up the ones surrounding the barrier who just attacked the moment they saw grey like an angry mob out for blood.
grey looked in pure glee eyes glowing bright red and body covered in black blood ''I think I get it know I'm nothing but a weapon that causes death and only fully enjoy life when it's put to the test. This is my freedom and truth, expect I'm not mindless death I'll become a guardian spirit of death so everyone can also be free.
grey started clapping his paws together creating shockwaves killing all approaching wasps.
grey used the sounds from an injured was to create another saber in his free hand and started hopping on the sound midair striking through the swarm like a scarlet meteor out for blood.
An enraged queen soon erupted from the nest followed by four of her royal guards.
by the time the sun was rising grey was standing atop a disfigured queen surrounded by countless corpses all around him.
grey looked at the still struggling queen sadly "I'm truly sorry for your losses but thank you for helping me find myself.'' grey started eating the queen wasp's head.
faraway in the night sky a red eyeball was watching grey with fright ''My queen, are you sure this is one of the choices you want, he seems uncontrollable and too destructive for your goals?"
the flying eyeball heard an alluring voice enter his mind telepathically "hahaha, my dear watcher. You only see the negatives this creature here will be able to traverse the realms as a guardian spirit of death. he knows how destructive he is so he has been subconsciously holding himself back but now he's a blade with a purpose we can use that. So, no, he's not uncontrollable but what you're seeing is a free beast unbound by life ready for great things to come.''
see looked at images of grey and lily side by side ''How funny a beast that wants freedom and powers is bound by both family and a summoner. unfortunately there is no such thing as true freedom.''