Pause System: Harem In The Apocalypse

"..."

"..."

Gray found himself standing once again in the middle of a large golden hall with golden sculptures laying around the edges.

At the very end of the hall was a seat and in that seat was but a single man.

His chest was covered in long grey hair, and his golden yellow eyes had dark circles beneath them.

His beard was trimmed, and his body was shredded. It looked as if he was in his late twenties at most. He had scales running along the side of his face, beside the edges of his eyes.

There was no doubt about it, that man was the Chronos King.

"Ho... You have some nerve coming back after what you did last time."

"To present me another opportunity to kill you... You've gone foolish haven't you?" The King spoke  with his majestic tone.

Every word held a hint of bloodlust and pressure into it, and that pressure alone made Gray feel like dropping to his knees.

It was as if a bundle of weights were on his back, as if the gravity was pushing him down.

But it wasn't the first time it had happened to him, this time he could stand his ground.

"King... Was it?" Gray asked without budging a muscle. "How about you stop with the acting?" Gray continued.

The King's right brow raised up in curiosity.

"Now that I'm stronger... I can tell... You are powerful." Said Gray as he stared at him.

Through the reflection of Gray's eyes, one could see that the figure of the king had an unparalleled amount of energy flowing out of it.

'Excluding the dark-haired guy who can negate all kinds of abilities.'

"You are without a doubt the most powerful existence I know... Therefore I know you wouldn't have had any difficulties defeating the past me."

Gray chuckled.

"I thought back on it, the fact that I even managed to last over a second is proof of that..."

Gray began his tread down the hall towards the throne. With every step, a silent quake would emerge, showing just how much pressure Gray was under.

Gray read the words in the screen before him as he walked step after step.

[Your Training Has Begun.]

[First Trial Initiated.]

"And if I'm here right now... Then I guess I need to test how far my abilities have grown in comparison to before."

Gray grinned, his forehead began to glow as he had plans for going all out from the beginning.

[Mark Of The King First Stage: Activated]

"So get up King." He muttered as he suddenly appeared before him.

Gray swung his fist straight at the King's face, at phenomenal speeds.

Even without using his extra stat points, Gray's physique had become unparalled from all the training.

*WHAM!*

Gray's eyes widened as the fist which made contact first was not his own, but the King's as it slammed against his face.

With his eyes still widened, Gray's body was launched rolling down the hall in the direction of he had come from.

Mid-air Gray rotated his body to fix his posture, causing him to go sliding down before coming to a stop.

*Drip* *Drop*

Gray looked down only to see blood dripping down his nose, it had broken from that single punch.

"Now we're talking..."

Gray kicked off the ground, dashing right at the King in the very same instant.

The King who had gotten out of the top of his seat received Gray with a killer glare. He planned on speaking words and speaking only through his action.

Whether or not Gray discovered the truth wouldn't matter.

The pupils of Gray who was a few steps away from the throne, dilating as he suddenly lost sight of the King.

He had vanished.

While still running, Gray's eyes flashed left, and then right, only to see a giant approaching fist heading right for his face.

[Pause Martial Arts: Trajectory Shift]

Gray's body rotated 360 degrees as he lightly leapt up just before he was hit.

*Cut*

The fist grazed him, cutting at his cheek. Gray made use of the momentum and launched a spinning kick at the King's head.

*THUD!*

The King caught the kick with his other hand.

*SWOOSH!*

Whilst grasping onto his leg, the King threw Gray down onto the ground before him – It happened in a blink.

*CRASH!*

Gray's figure crashed into the ground with his hands on the back of his head, he had placed them there prior to protect it.

'Whoa! He's levels faster than be-'

Gray was thrown into the air by the King, only to appear in mid-air before him the next instant with his entire arm stretched back, ready to deliver a devastating blow when the next punch was extended.

The amount of blood lust released as his fist was propelled at him made Gray's heart skip a beat.

*SPLATTER!*

Blood gushed over to their surroundings.

The King's expression was neither surprised nor amused as he noticed that the blood which was spilled belonged to not Gray but him.

From the center of his fist down to his elbow, his arm had split in half.

[Pause Level 1: Linear Trap.]

The King had noticed it, Gray had created a trap by creating a line with his nails and pausing that line on his way up. The King punched straight into the line unaware of this.

'I underestimated him.' The king thought to himself.

Gray's grin widened before he kicked at the King's surprised face.

*COUGH!*

Gray coughed out blood as just before his kick could connect, countless sudden fist marks appeared all over his chest and stomach.

*WHAM!* BABABABABAM!*

A barrage of air bursts simultaneously passed through his body in that instant before he blasted away.

*CRASH!*

Gray crashed head-first into the wall beside the throne, his body and fingers twtching heavily as he did so.

Meanwhile...

*POW!*

The King's head was cocked to the left.

*Drip* *Drop*

Blood was dripping down the King's left nostril. He glanced over at his cheek, it was slightly swollen, he had also been hit.

"Hoh... He got me-"

His eyes which had been looking away, suddenly looked up only to find Gray missing.

Next thing he knew, the palm of a hand grabbed onto his head from behind. It was Gray.

Whilst holding on tightly onto the King's head, Gray kicked off the platform in the air above him with all his power, forcing the two to crash into the ground beneath them.

*CRASH!*

Right upon collision Gray had slammed the King's head into the ground.

He was sure of it.

And yet for some reason, he was the one with his head sunk into the ground.

'Shit... And I was sure I got him with that one too...'

'Fuck my ears are ringing and my vision is getting blurry.'

Gray was slowly starting to lose his cool. The pattern on his forehead began to solve itself and expand.

[Mark Of The King Second Stage: Activated.]

The King's eyes widened as a halo of light suddenly manifested out of the golden mark on Gray's forehead.

He watched as runic patterns made their way throughout his body.

His arm which was holding Gray down began to tremble as Gray began to exert force upon it.

"Oi... This is boring... When are you going to stop holding back?" Gray asked as his slowly began to push against the arm pinning him down.

Slowly but surely, he was overpowering the strength fo the King, pushing his arm back as he slowly got up.

*Swoosh!*

Gray's arm swept up from the side, Grabbing the King's arm which was grasping his face.

"Come on... Hit me harder... Go all out for the purpose of my training."

[Fast-Forward & Pause Step Chain]

Gray's figure suddenly vanished from the King's grasp.

In the the very same instant, the mark of a shoe's heel appeared on the King's chin.

*BAAAMM!!!*

The King's head cocked back as a powerful blow crashed at his chin from below.

With his head cocked back staring at the ceiling above him, he could see it.

Gray's figure descending down on him with an axe kick.

"Pause And Forward Skill Combination... Self-Created Move."

[Execution Barrage.]

-

-

-

"Lita... Are you sure that's what happened in the dream?" Violet asked with a worried look.

Everyone understood what it meant for Lita to have bad dreams, they all knew the true extent of her abilities.

Lita nodded.

She just just finished explaning to them what sort of dream she had just had. She also said that it was the second time that she had said dream.

Lita's eyes grew teary just from thinking and talking about it. They knew she wasn't the type to make up things like that.

"If that dream really is true... Then... I can see things going really wrong in the near future..." Aurora muttered.

"Were we anywhere to be seen in the dream?" Ruby asked.

Lita shook her head.

"It was only me and Gray..."

Hearing her words made the group feel even more worried. Just where were they at such a serious time?

"...Keep this a secret from Gray... Don't tell him about it when he wakes up... Can we all agree on this?"

Delta, Ria, Ruby, Aurora, Violet and Lita all nodded.