First Step

'Fuck your 'none of it was real'! The suffering I endured, the torture that Anne and Isabel endured, and the deaths of my friends were all real!'

[You are free to think of it as you like. It is simply my job to explain The Defiled Expanse and answer your questions.

You asked a question and I answered.]

'Whatever. How long until I can get out of here? What are we waiting for?'

[Are you finished answering questions about the system?

Yes or No?]

'Whatever I don't know or whatever else I need to learn, I will learn in this so called battleground.

So, Yes.'

[Very well. You will now be given two options.

You can either:

1) Begin transfer to The Defiled Expanse

or

2) Remain here in the void in a dormant state. Keep in mind, if you decide to remain here, your life will be forfeit if your race should lose its place in The Defiled Expanse.

Once you have made a choice, it cannot be changed.

Choose wisely.

Fight for your own life or leave your life in someone else's hands?

Which option would you like to choose?]

At first Grant couldn't fathom why anyone would choose option 2 but eventually he realized: just like some of his classmates, the idea of having to put their life on the line was totally unacceptable to some people. Simply put: they were cowards.

But Grant couldn't help but admit that maybe that was a good thing.

Had some of his classmates been given that option, they would still be alive today.

For himself though, option 2 wasn't even a choice.

He chose the first option without another moments hesitation.

[You have chosen to join the fight in The Defiled Expanse.

I wish you and your race the best of luck.

Goodbye.]

'Fuck you.'

With those parting words, Grant disappeared from the void in a flash of light.

------------------

After the flash of light subsided and Grant had disappeared, Azrael and Austeria suddenly appeared not far away from where Grant had been.

"Hahaha! I told you that guy was interesting!

So angry.

So full of hate.

And yet, still so rational when he needs to be. It's amazing that he hasn't completely broken after what he's been through, wouldn't you say, Austeria? Hahaha!"

Austeria however, wasn't paying attention to Azrael. She was staring at the spot where Grant had disappeared from, lost in thought.

"Austeria, are you listening? Hellooo?

Wait, don't tell me... Did you become attached to my little hero? Was it love at first sight?! Hahaha!"

Austeria, pulled from her thoughts, stared at Azrael with disgust.

"You really don't see it, do you Azrael?"

For the first time in centuries, Azrael was left speechless.

Seeing the dumb look on his face, Austeria continued, "I really pity your creations. A more competent god would see it and understand..."

Azrael wanted to argue but Austeria didn't give him the chance. She quickly disappeared and went back to her own personal space.

Azrael just stood there glancing back and forth between where Grant disappeared and where Austeria disappeared.

No matter how long or how hard he thought about it though, he couldn't figure out what Austeria was hinting at.

Eventually he shrugged off his annoyance and disappeared from the void, leaving behind an echo of his trademark laugh.

------------------

After the flash of light, Grant found himself standing on solid ground once again.

He quickly looked around and realized that instead of being in a large city such as the one he had first arrived at when he first appeared in Revonance; he was in a massive open space.

Well what would have been an open space if it wasn't jam packed full of people.

How many people were jammed together?

Grant couldn't tell for sure, but if he had to venture a guess, there were at least a few billion people standing there.

Even knowing that it was probably a lost cause with so many people standing around, Grant still began to search for his parents.

He wasn't sure if they would choose to come to The Defiled Expanse or not, but he hoped they would.

What if the fight lasted 50 years?

They would be safe and sound in the void while he was nearly 80.

He would lose out on any time he had left with them.

And for that reason, he hoped they had come.

After an hour of searching, however, Grant had still been unable to locate his parents.

Just when he was about to give up, however, he found someone he had not expected to see.

"Grant! Grant Hutchens! Is that you?!"

Hearing his name, surprised that anyone recognized him, Grant turned towards the direction the voice was coming from.

When he saw the person hollering, he couldn't believe his eyes.

"Brian?! What the fuck man! I can't believe it's actually you!"

Brian quickly walked over to Grant and gave him a big hug.

"I can't believe it's actually you Grant! My dad told me he heard a rumor that you were back and had been interrogated by some of the detectives at his precinct! He had snapped a photo of you from one of the cameras and showed it to me just before all this shit went down! I told him it was you! I can't believe I was right! Although you look old as shit, you haven't changed one bit!"

For the first time in a long time, Grant let out a genuine laugh.

Brian had been Grant's best friend when they were in school together.

They had known each other since they were in 1st grade and had been practically inseparable growing up.

Although Brian was happy to see his long lost friend, he was also concerned about their current predicament so when Grant told Brian an abbreviated version of his story, Brian took the opportunity to bombard Grant with question after question hoping to get a better idea of what was going on.

As they stood there talking about their current situation, their little reunion was cut short by the sound of yelling and fighting.

Grant had heard the arguing long before Brian but he had chosen to ignore it.

Since they weren't bothering him, he wouldn't bother them.

However, the same could not be said for Brian.

Brian's father was a cop and put his life on the line every day for his fellow citizens and Brian had inherited that same attitude.

In response to the commotion, Brian quickly began to shove his way through the crowd trying to make his way towards the commotion.

After a moments pause, Grant decided to follow.

He only followed so as to ensure that whatever happened, Brian would be fine.

As the two of them pushed their way through the crowd of people, they could hear the voices of the quarrel more clearly.

"Fuck you asshole! What makes you think you can just walk up to a girl and grab them like that?! That's my daughter! How dare you touch her like that!"

"Who the fuck are you to stop me?! This clearly isn't Earth and we're all fucked anyways so why can't I just do whatever the fuck I want before we're all dead?!"

"You're just going to take advantage of some helpless girl because you're scared?! What the fuck kind of reasoning is that?!"

"We've been here for nearly two hours just standing around with our dicks in our hands waiting for something to happen! I just plan on doing something with mine while we wait!"

Hearing the second man's voice talk about taking advantage of a young girl just because he had nothing better to do, reminded Grant about what had happened to Anne and Isabel.

As those memories flashed through his mind, the bloodlust that Grant had been consciously suppressing, burst forth.

The people in his immediate surrounding quickly backed away.

Even shoving the people next to them out of the way just so they could get a little further.

Brian, who was in front of Grant, suddenly wheeled around to face Grant when he felt the pressure.

The look on Grants face made him nearly unrecognizable.

Hatred.

Sorrow.

Loss.

And a myriad of other emotions.

All of it was present in his eyes.

Brian knew that whatever was going to happen, it wouldn't be good.

He wanted to stop Grant, but he couldn't.

Something told him that if he tried to stop Grant right now, he himself would be in serious trouble.

So he too, moved aside.

As the crowed split like the parting of the red sea, Grant reached a small clearing in the crowd where two men were facing off.

The smaller of the two men had his face covered in cuts and blood and looked like he was on the verge of collapsing.

In a voice that sounded like it came straight from the pits of hell, Grant spoke, "Which one of you wanted to take advantage of the girl?"

Caught off guard, and terrified by the look on the newcomers face, the smaller of the two men quickly raised his hand and pointed at the man across from him.

Without a moments hesitation, Grant began to walk towards the larger man.

Seeing Grant move the larger man turned to face him.

"What the fuck do you want? You going to try and tell me what I can and can't do too?! Try and stop me if you can!"

The large man followed up his threat with a sweeping right hook towards Grant's jaw.

Seeing the slow moving fist, Grant raised his left hand and caught the punch.

Before the large man could even be surprised at how easily Grant had caught his fist, he felt Grant exert pressure on his fist and slowly begin to crush the bones in his hand.

"AHHHHHH!! STOP! You're crushing my hand!!! Help! Someone help!!!"

Grant ignored his screams, as did everyone else in the surrounding.

Although the man was despicable, it didn't seem right for Grant to do what he was doing and some people in the crowd wanted to help but something stopped them from moving their feet or their mouths.

As the mans hand was being crushed he quickly dropped to his knees in pain all while clutching his forearm with his left hand.

Once the man was on his knees, Grant brought his right leg back, before pivoting slightly on his plant foot and twisting his hips, unleashing a devastating kick to the mans abdomen.

As the man lay on the ground, coughing, puking, and writhing in pain, Grant took a step forward until he was towering directly over the man.

The man looked up at Grant with terror in his eyes.

He wanted to beg and plead for mercy, but the pain from the kick was so severe he couldn't formulate words, let alone make any sound other than a glutaral squeal.

Not that Grant gave him much time to try however because while he towered over the collapsed man, Grant raised his leg up directly above the mans head.

Before stomping down with all the force he could muster.