Rey grinned from ear to ear. He had forgotten how smart this girl was. Only she could have figured out something like this. If she had lived through purgatory, he could only imagine what sort of hell they could’ve raised together.

  Gravity was the perfect Element to take down the brothers. He wasn’t sure of the skills, but he was sure he could nullify their speed by increasing gravity. It wouldn’t stop Zarius from teleporting, but it could pull him in as soon as he reappeared.

  I was wrong. There is an element that can fuck with time.

  His physics lessons were coming back to him now. The heavier or more mass an object contained, the greater the gravitational field around it and the slower time moved around it. In essence, time moved more slowly on Jupiter than it did on Earth. So, if he could create a strong enough gravitational field, he could slow down time around his enemies so that they were barely moving.

  He brought up the Elements menu and found the Gravity Element, which was quite hidden. Rey came in his pants as he read the description.

  [Gravity: You can control one of the most primordial forces of the universe. You will have dominion over reality. With it, you can control weight, pressure, attraction, repulsion, and even bend space-time to your will. Master this power, and you can crush your foes to dust, throw mountains with a mere gesture, or even create mini black holes. Your enemies won’t just fight you, they’ll fight the very force that holds the universe together.]

  He rubbed his hands and gave Kassandra a vicious smile. “Oh, you have no idea what you’ve given me.”

  Kassandra gulped. “Why does it feel like I gave a madman the nuclear launch codes?”

  He giggled and slapped her shoulder. “Because you did, Kassi.”

  She raised an eyebrow, but didn’t correct him this time.

  He had three Talent points remaining. With one, he acquired the Gravity element. Then he went to the skills menu, and the skill tree for the Gravity element opened up for him. Only two skills were available so far, and he took them both.

  [Gravitational Attraction: You can manipulate gravity to pull enemies, objects, or projectiles toward you or a specific target with unstoppable force. You can target a weapon from your opponent’s grasp and rip it violently out of their hands or drag them into melee range. You can even move yourself toward a specific target. Your enemies can run, dodge, or resist, it won’t matter. Gravity always wins.]

  [Gravitation Repulsion: You can generate a powerful anti-gravitational force that pushes away enemies, objects, or incoming attacks. You can even create an invisible barrier of sheer force. This skill ensures that nothing gets close unless you allow it. If your enemies step closer, they’ll learn what it means to be cast aside by a force that cannot be denied.]

  The other skills were locked and would only unlock once he ranked up, but he wondered how broken they would be. With just these two skills, he could wreak havoc on the battlefield. He didn’t think he even needed a weapon anymore.

  With a combo of these two, he could repel a demon from the ground until he was high enough and then let it fall. The demon would be nothing but a blood splatter on the ground.

  He could even attract massive objects, like a boulder or even a chunk of this castle itself, and then repel it or throw it at an enemy. The possibilities were endless. He hoped to gain the skill to fly or increase or decrease gravity, but this was pretty good, too.

  “So, did you pick the Gravity Element?” Kassandra asked.

  “Let me show you something.”

  He looked around and found some tiny rocks scattered around the walls. He held out his hands towards them and activated Gravitational Attraction. The rocks shot into his hand at an alarming speed. It stung, but not too badly.

  Kassandra’s eyes popped open. “That was something, alright?”

  “You haven’t seen anything, darlin’.”

  He held out his second hand, and all the loose rocks in the room zipped to him. Even Kassandra’s hair was attracted towards him. Before the stones crashed into him, he activated his second skill, Gravitation Repulsion.

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  The rocks shot back with an audible whoosh and were propelled at such speed that they embedded themselves in the stone walls like tiny bullets.

  “Okay, that was definitely something,” Kassandra exclaimed.

  He wondered what else he could do with just these two. He could shoot arrows or have pieces of metal on him and become a ‘human gun’. If he could attain the ability to reduce the gravity of an object, hence making it lighter and repelling it at incredibly fast speeds,

  He could rip the trees around him and send them hurtling through a horde of demons, earning massive experience and stat points.

  Oh, this will be so much better than shooting lightning from my hands.

  Though that was quite fun, this was the new toy, and he couldn’t wait to take it out for a spin. The thought of trying out new combos and how he could crush, break, and smash his enemies was making his pants tighter.

  The possibilities of causing bodily harm to his enemies were endless. Still, there was one glaring problem, not with the Element or the skills, but with his Magic Affinity, which was abysmal. He doubted he could even use these skills three or four times before he was out of Mana. The worst part was that even if he put all the stat points into Magic Affinity until he reached the D tier, it still wouldn’t be enough to make much of a difference.

  “What happened?” Kassi asked. “Why do you look like you’re about to cry?”

  He quickly blinked a few times, hoping the minor watering would go away. “I’m not crying.”

  “Is the Element not as great as you had thought?”

  Rey sighed and plopped down on the ground beside her. “The problem is my shit Magic Affinity, or, in other words, Mana. I can barely shoot off one or two skills before I run dry.”

  “I see; then why don’t you just put all your stat points into it from now on?” Kassi replied.

  “Gee, thanks, Kassi, you’ve solved all my problems. If only it weren’t so fucking hard to rank up in this shitty place, and we only get one stat point per rank at our Tier, which is like adding a drop in a bucket.”

  “Something is better than nothing,” she responded.

  She was right. He knew she was right, but couldn’t feel hopeful, for it would take too long.

  “But I want to become a powerful gravity warrior now,” Rey protested.

  She chuckled. “Quoting my mother—everything good takes time, Kassi. You must let the cookies bake properly, or they won’t come out right.”

  Rey nodded and didn’t ask about her mother. He knew what had happened to her. She had failed to protect her when the demons attacked, just like Rey had failed his grandmother.

  Maybe Zalathar had her mother killed, too.

  He couldn’t be sure, but he did intend to find out before ripping out the demon’s heart and feeding it to him. But that was a long way off. He had other things to prioritize first. Other immediate dangers were on the way, and he needed to be ready. He needed to get certain individuals ready before it turned into a massacre like last time.

  “Can’t you gain stat points for Magic Affinity like I did for Dexterity when I killed those demons?” Kassandra asked.

  “I can, but it is as annoying as shaving a chimpanzee’s nuts.”

  She snorted. “I’m sure that’s very annoying.”

  “Oh, you have no idea.”

  His instinct was to continue sitting here and talking to her, but he had other things to accomplish—mainly staying as far away from her as possible before he started developing those pesky feelings again.

  Why is it that the harder I try, the harder the universe keeps bringing us together?

  Maybe the future was set, and no matter how hard he tried, it would resolve to the same conclusion, but that couldn’t be remotely true. For one, there were different people here in this round, and two, more people were alive thanks to his meddling.

  So, I don’t have to worry about the future turning out the same because I am going to take a wrench to its forehead, crack open its skull, and scramble its brains.

  “Are you remembering chimpanzee balls again?” Kassandra asked.

  Before he could reply, there was an exasperated cry from the main hall, down on the main floor. They exchanged a confused glance. Rey jumped to his feet and rushed to the door, with Kassandra limping close behind.

  He almost paused to help her, but he was sure the idiots downstairs would let in a big bad wolf dressed as a grandma. Besides, Bahar said she was fine. She’d only lost a kneecap. It wasn’t that life-threatening. She could make it downstairs by herself, and if not, it would probably be best for her to stay upstairs.

  He ran to the stairs and jumped down as Filomena’s hand reached for the door to unlock it. There was a muffled sound coming from the other side of the door. It seemed like someone was talking as they frantically pounded on the door. Rey couldn’t make out the words but figured that wasn’t important.

  “Don’t open the door!” Rey shouted.

  Everyone stopped what they were doing to stare at him.

  Filomena frowned. “What for? It’s—”

  “A demon…most probably,” Rey quickly added, getting bewildered looks from everyone.

  He didn’t remember any overly strong demons paying them a visit around this time, but he had stuck his leg out and sent the future for a spin. So, he couldn’t be sure it was Unokir who had come to pay an early visit. If that were the case, his vengeance would end quite abruptly.

  “I-It’s not,” Ajay stammered from the lookout window on the third floor, looking down from above. “It looked like...like a man. I couldn’t tell his features, but he definitely was a man.”

  “Oh no…”

  “What’s happening?” Kassandra called from behind him.

  But he didn’t have time to explain. Just when the schemes for his revenge were beginning to take shape…Just when he thought he could change the future, it gave him a rude awakening that maybe he couldn’t change it all that much.

  He pushed through the crowd gathering at the door, opened the small window, and shook his head.

  Dear future, that part about scrambling your brains, I didn’t mean that at all.

  For, on the other side of the castle door stood Phil.