*CRASH!!*

The figure of an old man could be seen as he burst out through a wall. His guard was up, as he focused all of his attention ahead.

[Pause Step]

*KABAM!* *CRASH!*

Mid-air, a kick had landed on the back of his head, crashing him down into the ground in the process.

[Pause]

Just as the man lifted his head out of Gray's Grasp, the man suddenly shrank all of his weight, escaping from Gray's Grasp as he jumped up into the air. Floating high up as he did so.

[Pause Step]

Then, Gray vanished, appearing beneath his feet, with his arm extended, stretching towards him only to miss.

[Halfling Effect: Pause Step ranged increased from 10 to 15 meters]

Even so, the man had reached two meters higher than that. Observing Gray from the sky, he watched him fall.

[Gravity Manipulation: Float]

His fall accelerated however, as he felt a tremendous increase in gravity over his shoulders. His pause barely allowed him to catch himself before he fell to the ground.

"You who are not even aware of the existence, much less cultivation of evolution energy which fuels your own ability... Do you honestly think you stand a chance against me? You wouldn't even last a day on the war on your own." Said the man.

The old man, with his hands stretched out towards Gray, increased the gravity of the area as he tripled the weight on Gray's shoulders. The ground beneath Gray's feet cracked as the gravity increased.

However it wasn't enough to put Gray on his knees.

"Hoh... What's wrong? is it getting hard to breathe?"

Gray, lost in thought, missed the man's words. Evolution energy which fuels their own ability and War? Is he referring to the humanoids that came out of the portals in his vision?

"Also... For having touched his daughter. Perhaps I'll offer him your head-"

Gray's eyes widened. 'Daughter? Was he referring to Aurora?'

The old man glanced to the right, Realm suddenly appeared before him, his eyes bulging from rage as he bared his teeth. He was inside the field Realm had deployed in front of the hospital.

*SWOOSH!*

Being within his field, Realm swung his sword down at the man's neck, getting ready to cut him, only to end up plunging to the ground as he felt a mass of weight on his shoulders.

[Realm: Forcefield]

*CRASH!*

Thanks to the forcefield, he was able to cut off the momentum and fall.

[Realm: Field]

The two stood on the floor, side by side, their heads turned up to the man. On Gray's face was a frosty smile, while on Realm's a dark glare could be seen.

The man sighed when he saw this.

"Why do you stand in my path? Realm, why do you have a problem with the way the refugee is managed? Do you honestly think that we are doing a bad job? Think about it, being rich will incentivize the poor to work harder.

If the refugee wants to last, then we need people working. Those who are working must be rewarded and be given the right to live luxuriously, whereas those who don't work and expect to get things for free, are left with nothing. Isn't that the society we were born-"

The man was interrupted by Gray who suddenly appeared above him, after pause stepping off a platform mid-air.

"Fall." Said Gray as he slammed an axe kick at the man's blindspot causing him to burst downwards once more.

Realm, appeared beneath the man and the field suddenly contracted, compressing on his katana hilt, before he swung it up at him.

[Spatial Tear]

He tilted his body and sacrificed an arm in the last second before colliding with Realm, Crashing into him as Gravity increased his weight.

[Gravity manipulation: 300 kilograms of tackle!]]]

*CRASH!*

Realm was sent flying back after the collision, but that was only the beginning. Floating upward as if he were a balloon, Realm began to rise further and further until he unexpectedly plummeted to the ground at a high rate of speed.

[Realm: Forcefield-]

*CRASH!* *SHATTER!*

Realm's fall was cancelled out by the forcefield, but it was completely shattered as a result. At that instant, the old man appeared before him hisarms raised up and grasped together, ready to slam down at Realm's head.

[Pause Step]

*CRASH!*

The attack of the man was abruptly cancelled as his body dug into the ground after being slammed in by Grey who had appeared out of nowhere above him, once again.

The old man was gushing blood out of his mouth, his eyes bulging out, as Gray stood on top of him. As he stepped on the man's head, he was placing more weight on his feet.

'This person... He was getting his ass kicked just a while ago! How is he so much stronger!? Although I am many times more resilient than the average human, even I cant keep taking hits such as these.'

"Talking and talking and talking... You... And Axel... And The cunts from my school... You guys just love to talk don't you?". Gray proceeded to thrust his feet down at the back of the man's head once again, causing him to bury his face and beard on the dirt whilst Gray's bright yellow eyes looked down on him.

"Take a hint, I couldn't give two fucks. I don't care about the settlement or anyone else besides the people close to me. But the warning reached you, didn't It? What I'd do if you messed with us."

Gray crouched beside the old man, the smile on his face widening as his cheeks flushed red from the excitement. "That's right, I still haven't tested out the limits of pause yet. Whenever I've tried to pause a specific organ it's failed. But now that I've evolved, maybe it could work."

Realm and the old man felt chills go down their spine.

[Gravity Manipulation: Zero Gravity]

The old man, who had reduced his weight to little to nothing, forced Gray off his back as desperate as he could. Whilst Gray floated up, the old man leapt away, doing everything he could to get away from him.

'This is a temporary retreat, I underestimated him...!'

[Gravity Manipulation: Flight]

Despite the fact that he was simply floating, he would leap in the direction of where he wanted to go, making it appear as if he were flying. Thanks to his physical boosts from the awakening and cultivation, he could almost launch himself off like a cannon ball.

'I'll be back-'

After that, the man's world turned upside down as he saw his decapitated body beneath Gray in the motion of a swing.

It all then turned dark.

[You have slain a Level 3 Evolved Ability User]

[You have earned 50 XP]

He had been so invested in figuring out Gray's range that when he did, he hadn't thought of the possibility of Gray using platforms to extend it. The moment he dropped his guard, Gray paused, stepped 3 consecutive times in a row and slashed down, easily taking his head.

'It's a shame, I didn't get to question him.'

"Oh well."

[Time remaining until evolution completion: 11:43:42]