Grey's survival story was an epic one.
The Dark Mist Spider simply refused to give up. Like a goat, it remained stubborn despite the enticing calls from the god of death hovering over its fate.
The Coffin of the Ancients was an incredible mystic treasure with a powerful mystic ability. The Coffin did not just turn the beasts to pureblood beasts, it also ingrained a sense of loyalty in them that they could not break.
This was why all 3 of Rex's transformed warriors and beasts did everything to ensure that he fulfilled his goal, even if that meant giving up their lives in the process. Once he became their master, they no longer had a will over their fate.
From Ambition's sacrifice to hold the powerful Desert Snake and its minions, to Storm's sacrifice, to Grey's even more tenacious sacrifice, they were all synonymous of the incredible powers of the Coffin of the Ancients.
After doing his best to escort his master as far as possible to fulfill his goal, Grey finally fainted as the strain of so much stress finally settled in.
From there on, Grey no longer knew what happened.
The poison of the Desert Snake was deadly, it already took Storm down and was about to take him down also. Grey was helpless after fainting, and this time, there was no Rex available to administer the antidote to him.
Once his eyes closed, everything faded into darkness for Grey.
They said there was life after death, but did this phenomenon also apply to beasts? They also said there was heaven and earth, but did it apply to beasts?
This was a question that Grey had no answer to but even if it applied to beasts, there was a high chance that it didn't apply to Grey.
Unlike normal beasts, Grey was abnormal, in a sense, he was no longer living. He already died once to Rex, he only survived after being worked on by the Coffin of the Ancients. Even Rex didn't know the current form of Grey.
Grey's life was akin to that of a zombie, a living dead.
After an endless darkness that seemed to stretch to the ends of the universe and seemed to last a millennium, Grey finally opened his eyes again, he was alive.
Grey woke up alive but he was more clueless than ever before.
Once Rex entered the tomb of the Sword Saint, the connection between him and his transformed beasts and warriors seemed to be cut off.
This was why after Grey woke up, he felt off. This massive Dark Mist Spider for some reason no longer felt the connection between its master, all of a sudden, he felt like a stray pet that was abandoned in the wild.
Confused and clueless, Grey did not know what to do.
Despite his confusion though, one thing gave him direction, survival.
Even when facing the most confusing of circumstances, when life comes fighting at you, it's nature to respond and this response was survival.
With no other goal, Grey's sole goal became that of survival.
After waking up, for the first few hours, Grey was at his weakest state physically but despite this state, for survival, he had no choice but to fight 3 consecutive harrowing battles that almost resulted in his death again.
After fighting through those 3 near-death battles, Grey became strong mentally. The more death came knocking, the more its will to oppose it grew.
"I will not die!"
"I will survive!"
Though he did not voice them out, in his mind, these became Grey's slogans.
For the next few days, Grey sought to carve a territory for himself in this part of the desert. Every territory in the desert was ruled by a powerful Advanced mystic beast, just like they experienced with the Desert Snake.
To survive, Grey either had to submit to the rule of the leading Advanced mystic beast or to overcome it and become the new ruler of the territory.
For some reason, despite not knowing its master again or having any clear goals, Grey was extremely averse to the prospects of having to submit to another beast. Hidden in the back of its mind, it still had only one master.
Grey soon made his choice. To survive, he needed to become the ruler.
Becoming the ruler soon proved not to be an easy task. For the next few days, beasts attacked the intruder in this territory on a regular basis.
Grey did not have a single hour of rest. One moment, he was running away from enemies that were more numerous and powerful than him, another moment, he was annihilating an unlucky group of beasts that encountered him.
When playing with fire, expect to be burned.
As he danced so close to the edge of death, Grey soon paid the consequences as he suffered horrible injuries on a constant basis through his battles.
Every week, he came at least 3 times close to death.
He survived only because of his horrifying vitality and his strong will to live.
Through this extremely harsh life, Grey was remolded. His instincts became so finetuned towards survival that he soon became a master survivor.
After every battle, he was able to recognize his weak points and ways through which he could improve. After every battle, after every injury, after every near-death experience, he came out as a stronger and more tenacious survivor.
For 2 months, Grey went at this as he fought against all the odds that were against him. Having developed a notorious reputation for himself, during this time, he was able to clash with the ruler of this territory twice already.
The massive Rage Bull who was a pinnacle Advanced mystic beast was such a powerful opponent that before it, Grey was like a toddler.
Despite the massive strength difference, this toddler was able to overcome all odds and come out of all 2 terrifying clashes alive with only injuries.
During the 2 months, Grey recognized his main weakness as speed. Having realized this, he worked towards fixing it and he succeeded.
Grey worked great under pressure and it showed, pushed by the need to survive, he was able to unlock 2 new abilities of its Dark Mist powers.
[Dark Mist Ability: Stealth!]
>Stealth: When activated, a barely visible mist is created in the region that corresponds to the color of the environment. Through this mist, Grey is able to fade into stealth and hide in plain sight<
[Dark Mist Ability: Mist Strangle!]
>Mist Strangle: When activated, a thick mist is created around the target location through which grabbing hands made of mist emerges. The mist grabs, restrains, and strangles any target recognized as an enemy within range<
…
Through these 2 abilities, Grey strived.
Since he lacked speed to escape from his enemies all the time when the odds were against him, with the stealth ability, he no longer necessarily needed to run.
He could simply hide in plain sight and still fulfill his objective of escape.
The same thing applied to the Mist Strangle ability. Due to his lack of speed, most times, beasts that were faster than him ended up easily escaping from him or even worse, harassing him if they were also strong enough.
This always put him at a disadvantage in battles, but with the Mist Strangle ability now, this problem was finally rectified.
The grabbing hands from the Mist Strangle were more than powerful enough to tie down and restrain most beasts that he had to go against.
Having used both numerous times in battle, Grey knew their significance. They played crucial roles in him escaping from the powerful Rage Bull.
2 months later after so many harrowing encounters, Grey was still not able to go toe to toe with the Rage Bull but at least, he was able to survive now.
Today, Grey came out of his cave again to go on another survival food hunt. The massive Dark Mist Spider didn't have to move long before it discovered prey.
"Roar!"
"Hiss!" Grey hissed aggressively before rapidly rushing closer.
Over the course of the past 2 months, apart from unlocking the 2 new Dark Mist Abilities, he also formed a battle style that was perfect for his body.
Grey soon discovered that proactive aggressiveness in battles was the best way to fight at his full potential, and he did not shy from fully embodying it.
"Hiss!!!"
Grey hissed again as he finally engaged the massive Mutated Sand Mantis.
The battle was so aggressive that the commotion drew the attention of other beasts. 2 minutes later, as the other beasts arrived, Grey was already chewing on the meat of the mantis but in return, he now had much more enemies to fight.
Grey did not back down, he hissed again before aggressively engaging them.
He fought non-stop for more than 40 minutes, killing and killing till he was finally injured. Instantly, Grey stopped and was about to activate his Stealth to hide but this was when he paused, he just felt something.
Grey turned and looked into the distance. "Master?!"
Boom!
One of the more powerful beasts slammed into him as he was pushed away but he was not angered. Grey sprang up and instantly activated his stealth ability.
For a second, he disappeared from the sight of his enemies, confusing them and the next, he was already like a kilometer ahead sprinting into the distance.
Grey sprinted with all its might in the direction that its instincts pointed at.
9 minutes later, Grey saw 2 silhouettes moving in the desert.
Both silhouettes paused and took on defensive stances once they noticed movement, but Grey did not care as he hissed excitedly. "Hissssss!!!"
Rex who looked on from the distance was flabbergasted. "Grey?"
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