Run Awayy!

Although Grant was furious at being belittled the way Couzar was currently belittling him and he wanted to argue and fight back; he knew it would be a meaningless gesture.

In a way, Couzar was right, he had earned nothing.

He had simply taken advantage of situations where the people around him were vulnerable and desperate.

Even knowing all of that though, Grant was still furious. So rather than engage Couzar in a back and forth, Grant simply stood up from his chair.

"I have matters to attend too, if you'll excuse me."

Grant turned and walked out of the meeting room and headed for the entrance of the hospital.

He didn't have a particular destination in mind, he just knew that he needed to be alone, vent some of his anger, and reflect on the past, present, and future.

As Grant left the room, a small bone hanging from a chain around Couzar's neck, suddenly vibrated and floated up in front of him.

From the bone came a voice, "What are you thinking Couzar? We agreed that you would treat him with respect and train him. We need him to fight the wars here on Earth. Our people cannot afford to fight another war right now.

If you're degradation of his leadership and mindset causes him to lose his way, I will hold you personally responsible."

Couzar simply scoffed, "If that's all he's capable of then he was never worth training in the first place.

Besides, I never agreed to treat him with respect. Sometimes people need to be put in their place so they can rise above it.

You have your way of testing people, with your enslaved monsters, and I have my way. So if you want me to train him, you will stay out of this and let me handle it the way I want."

A deep sigh came from the bone before, "Fine. I will leave it to you for now.

That said, if he somehow overcomes your perverted personality and grows in strength while harboring a grudge against us, it will only be your fault when he turns against us in the future."

Couzar suddenly began to tremble in excitement at the thought of fighting a strong opponent such as Grant but he reigned it in as quickly as it appeared. Knowing that they had bigger priorities.

"Do you need anything else little brother? I have a date with an ant and I'd hate to be late."

"If he asks for the use of the portal again, do it. You may be stronger than I am, but I am in charge of our forces on this planet. Do not forget that."

"Bahaha goodbye little brother. See you soon."

After cutting off the connection with Skit, Couzar sat in the chair for a few more minutes replaying the meeting with Grant over and over.

[I'll give the kid credit, even with my full strength on display, he didn't buckle and even walked out of here. He's got potential, that's for sure.

Ahhh the future looks bright and I can't wait for the fighting to begin!

First up, I believe Grant called him Anthony? Lets go see if we can't get some one on one time with the oversized bug!

Strange name for someone from Gelvaemia though..]

While Couzar was talking to Skit, Grant had just exited the hospital.

Even when people stopped to greet him, he simply ignored them and continued walking.

As he passed by Tom's house, the man in question was just leaving his home to look for Grant so he was happy when he saw him walking by.

"Grant! Do you have a minute?"

"No."

"We gathered up the women though. Don't you want to question them?"

Suddenly the frustrations and emotions that Grant was bottling up came bursting forth in a wave of pressure and killing intent that spread throughout the area. Startling not just Tom but everyone else that was out walking.

"I said, NOT NOW!" Grant had inadvertently activated Terrorize when he spoke, so the surrounding people suddenly froze in place with fear radiating from their eyes.

Now frustrated even more due to his lack of self control, Grant quickly deactivated Terrorize and walked briskly away from the scene.

Although Tom wanted to give chase and ask Grant what had happened, he knew better than to put his life on the line for something like that. So he simply returned to his home to wait for Grant to settle down and return.

The rest of the people looked at Grant in terror as he walked away.

As Grant made his way through the camp, he decided that he needed to vent some of his frustrations and the most effective way to do that, at least for him, was to kill monsters.

Finally with a destination in mind, Grant headed for the entrance to the camp.

When he finally reached the gate that he himself had destroyed and subsequently recreated, he noticed Ethan sitting on top of one of the large spikes that Tectonic Slam had created. Straddling the tip as if it was some kind of animal that he was trying to tame by riding it.

Grant paused momentarily before heading in his direction.

"I'm glad you're awake Ethan."

Since Ethan's senses weren't as sharp as Grant's, he didn't realize Grant was there until he spoke, so he jumped slightly when he heard the voice behind him.

After turning around, Ethan simply smiled, "Thanks Grant, for saving my life, I mean."

Grant jumped up and cut off the top of one of the spikes next to Ethan before sitting down on the newly flattened surface.

Staring out over the area and taking in the sight of all the corpses he was responsible for as well as the destruction that The Path and weather had caused, Grant finally spoke.

"You're welcome. You would do the same for me if I needed you too. I'm surprised you knew it was me though, you didn't exactly seem conscious when I saved you. Were you aware of your surroundings?"

Suddenly, Grant heard a thud, so he turned to look and Ethan had just cut off the top of his spike to create a seating platform for himself.

Grant couldn't stop himself from laughing at Ethan's expense.

"I thought you liked a large spike ramming up your backside? I'm surprised you cut the tip off..."

After sitting on the now flat surface, Ethan shot a hateful glare in Grant's direction.

"I swear, if you weren't so strong, I would challenge you to a fight here and now...

God willing one day I will be able to smack some sense into you.

Since today is not that day though, I will answer your question.

No I was not conscious, at least in a sense. When I was wounded, I almost immediately passed out, but suddenly a strange sensation washed over my body and kept me fighting. It felt more like something had possessed my body and was fighting in my stead.

Since the others had run away to fight the ants that had escaped, I knew that when I was a silhouette approach me, it was most likely you. Especially since I'm still alive."

"You were possessed? Did you receive any notifications from the system about it?"

Ethan simply shook his head side to side.

Grant didn't immediately follow up with more questions though, because he suddenly remembered a similar sensation when he was fighting the horde of ants.

But in his case, he had retained his consciousness the entire time and it felt more like he was being guided than controlled.

"Can you tell me anything else about it, Ethan?"

Once again Ethan simply shook his head in denial.

As the two stared off into the distance, Grant decided that he would have to seek answers from Sherlock. But since Ethan did not know of Sherlock's existence so he said, "That's fine. I'll see if Skit and Couzar know anything about it. They might have some answers."

Ethan suddenly looked at Grant in confusion which Grant returned in kind because he didn't know what he said that would have confused Ethan.

"Who's Couzar?"

Grant suddenly balled up his fists in rage, "He's the brother of Skit. He's a complete and utter jackass! Just like you want to fight me, one day I will fight and smash him!"

"Bahaha I thought you ran away like a child throwing a tantrum. Turns out you are just out here trashing my good name!

You want to fight me human? Fine, come, let us fight!"

Grant suddenly had the urge to throw himself off the spike and into another adjacent spike.

Knowing that doing that wouldn't accomplish the outcome he wished for though, Grant only had one option left, to run away!

Grant jumped off the top of the spike he had been sitting on and sprinted off in a random direction.

"I'll see you tomorrow Ethan! Tell the others I won't be back until then!"

Confused by the whole situation, Ethan just looked back and forth between the giant set of armor and the direction that Grant had disappeared to before, "Uh okay? What the heck just happened? Grant ran away?"

"Bahaha what a fun human.

Who are you young man? Why do you have a spirit floating above your shoulder?"