"Tian Yuan is a crafty one," Joestar said with a sigh.
"It is good that I arrived in time," he added.
Grey nodded; he was absolutely right.
Tian Yuan was way too smart, and Grey was simply not powerful enough yet to see through all the illusions and intricate plays he orchestrated on everyone.
"e inside, Joestar. I will serve you some tea," Grey replied as he clapped his hands.
All the people that were previously unconscious immediately stood up, rubbing their heads with looks of sheer confusion written on their faces.
"Miwa!" Alissa rushed in, profound concern written all over her face.
She swiftly took hold of Miwa, who was groggily opening her eyes.
Seeing her friend safe and sound, Alissa let out a deep sigh of relief and hugged Miwa more closely.
She had almost lost her. But it turns out Grey managed to get her back in time?
Or was it Grey...? Alissa slowly turned her gaze towards the towering figure of Joestar.
He wore a calm, polite smile on his face.
"Greetings, Miss Alissa," he said warmly. "I was just passing by and managed to encounter your friend."
"Thank you," she replied earnestly. Julie also came forward, bowing slightly to thank him.
Since everything was well and secure, Grey took Joestar into the tower and served him tea.
Grey had already begun mass-producing actual teacups using his replication skills, and everyone across the alliance was buying them like it was the most innovative thing ever. But it made sense; it was a popular concept and monly used by everyone in this world, yet no one had mercialized it at this scale.
He casually wondered, now that his powers had almost reached the threshold of the tenth rank, would he be able to alter reality on an even greater scale?
He decided he would test out his power of ’Nothingness’ once he finished settling Joestar down.
"Such a mon tea, yet it has been quite a while since I drank it," Joestar said with a nostalgic smile, taking a slow sip.
"Glad you liked it," Grey replied with a smile.
Then Joestar got straight to the main point. "Friend Grey, can I ask why Tian Yuan was trying to kidnap this specific girl?"
"Hm." Grey was thoughtful. Should he reveal it? On the other hand, this guy was already someone who knew about his Fateless One physique. There was no bigger secret than that, so he decided on revealing it in the end.
He gave Joestar a brief explanation about Miwa’s unique power to actively enter the Information Layer.
Joestar visibly became shocked upon hearing this.
"Enter the Information Layer... you say?" He was clearly not expecting this at all.
He knew exactly how hard it was to even glimpse the Information Layer, and now, hearing that someone could freely enter it while merely being a human, thoroughly shocked him.
"Well... it is a very good thing that I acted, or else Tian Yuan would have only obtained more chances at acquiring further ascendancy power."
"Yeah." That was the absolute last thing Grey wanted. Tian Yuan getting more successful.
He was really pissed off about how Tian Yuan played him like a fiddle with no apparent effort whatsoever. It really made him question his own life decisions and bat awareness.
He had to be extra careful next time when dealing with Tian Yuan.
Once Joestar finished his tea, he stood up.
"Well then, friend Grey. I will be on my way. I have some pressing matters to deal with."
"You be safe, and if anything goes wrong again, or if Tian Yuan es back to kidnap the girl... just summon me."
Grey nodded. Soon after a few more parting words, Joestar departed via World Breaking Source Power.
Once he was gone, Grey turned his attention to the table where the tea was sitting.
"No." Grey shook his head. He could not delete tables from reality. Tables were far too useful in any given situation.
He had to pick something that was popular but would not make a catastrophic difference to society even if it was pletely deleted from existence.
In the end, he decided to go with plastic water bottles.
Considering the types of beings that existed in this universe, he believed it would not make a difference. People could summon water with a thought.
Grey focused his mind, trying to feel the exact same sensation of ’Nothingness’ as before.
The world around him immediately began to flicker and violently distort. The following moment, static and a blaring noise erupted in his mind as reality itself glitched.
Grey’s body began to tremor as he saw a cosmic binary number click off from 1 to 0. The following instant, his body came to a sudden halt as he stabilized back into his room.
"What the hell," Grey muttered under his breath, sweating slightly.
The changes that came with the usage of his power were much more drastic than before, but now the technique only consumed twenty-five percent of his overall Axiom power. Meaning, he could use it more frequently if needed.
But before he pondered that, he slowly searched his network for water bottles.
"It is gone."
"What is gone?" Just then, a soft voice rang out.
Turning his head, Grey saw that it was Alissa. She was standing in the doorway with a slight frown on her face.
"What happened to you... Grey?" Alissa asked softly, walking closer. "Why did everything turn into a weird glitch just now?" she asked, incredibly confused by the visual phenomenon she had just witnessed.
"..." Grey was genuinely surprised hearing this.
"Alissa. You saw that?"
She nodded innocently.
"Do you know what a water bottle is?" Grey immediately asked.
"Yeah?" Alissa asked, looking at Grey even more strangely.
"What the hell," Grey muttered, immediately shocked. His power had erased the concept from reality, yet Alissa remembered?
"What happened, Grey? Are you pulling a prank on me?" Alissa pouted. She knew Grey would sometimes act exactly like this to pull a prank, just to tease her and make her angry later.
She was not going to fall for it this time.
"No." Grey sighed heavily. "Search the network for things about water bottles."
"Tell me if you get a result."
"???" Alissa tilted her head, clearly not believing him.
"Just do it." Grey sighed.
Now that the concept was successfully erased from reality, and since she inexplicably knew about the existence of the water bottle anyway, it would not be long before she found out the truth. Hence, there was no problem in revealing it to her now.
--------
At the exact same time, in a far higher plane of existence, a colossal dragon coiled in the shape of an infinity symbol frowned deeply.
"My temporal connection.... why did it suddenly cut off?"
"What strange power was that...."
"Did my daughter’s boyfriend find out about my observation?"
"Should I formally descend to the mortal plane?"
--------
Back in the Nexus Domain, Alissa stood there with a pletely shocked look on her pale face, her terminal glowing blankly.
"What is this... Grey." She started to panic.
"Where are the water bottles? Is this really also a prank?"
"Hey, do you think I always try to actively tease you whenever I see you?" Grey asked with a sigh.
Though, he had to admit, a panicking Alissa was just as beautiful and cute.
He stepped forward and gently pinched her soft cheek, which earned a quick blush from her.
The following instant, Alissa threw her arms around Grey, hugging him tightly.
"What is it that you did?"
"I will explain." Grey sighed. He gently held onto Alissa, wrapping an arm around her waist as he walked them to the side and sat down on the plush sofa, pulling Alissa onto his lap.
Alissa became incredibly embarrassed. Sitting intimately like this in the open, would the others not walk in on them?
Seeing her in an act of open intimacy with her boyfriend was the last thing she wanted the other girls to tease her about.
Though, deep down, she did want to spend more private time with Grey and was secretly very happy about this arrangement.
In the end, Grey began explaining the cosmic mechanics behind his power as Alissa listened carefully.
"The power to erase anything from existence...?" Alissa was stunned beyond words.
She almost jumped up from his embrace in pure shock, but Grey held firmly onto her waist and forted her softly, rubbing her back.
"Now, do not act so shocked. When you are with me, you should naturally build up more shock tolerance. You do not see Valeria or Lia acting shocked at my abilities anymore, do you?"
"Hmph." Alissa turned her head to the side with a small pout. "Show off."
But Alissa knew what Grey said was the absolute truth.
If someone else claimed to be the second strongest in the universe, no one would ever dare to claim the first spot while Grey was present.
"Just how many ridiculous powers do you have?" Alissa asked with a pout, leaning her head against his chest. "At this rate, how will I ever catch up to you?"
"You will." Grey let out a warm laugh.
"Out of all the girls, you easily have the most chance of catching up to my pace right now."
"Unlike the others, you have the most burning drive to bee stronger."
"In that specific aspect, you are exactly like me, Alissa. You relentlessly chase power just like I do."
"B-But I only chase power so I can properly protect you," Alissa spoke in a highly embarrassed tone, her voice barely a whisper.
She knew some things were better kept safely inside her heart, but the confession slipped out of her mouth regardless.
Grey was taken aback upon hearing this honesty. Then, he let out a soft chuckle before leaning up, gently grabbing Alissa’s face with one hand, and giving her a deep, passionate kiss.
"Mmm?" Alissa, who suddenly felt his tongue roll intimately into her mouth, was surprised for a second before she pletely melted into his warm embrace, fully letting him do as he pleased, returning the affection eagerly.
Once Grey finally pulled back, Alissa looked at him with a slightly angry, flustered look on her face, her chest heaving.
"What if someone else had walked in?"
"I would have just stopped time," Grey let out a cheeky chuckle. "Kissing you es at first priority."
"..." Alissa immediately became redder than a strawberry.
Grey was way too smooth with his words.
Still, she settled fortably in his lap, gently resting her head against his shoulder, taking this quiet time to slowly absorb the heavy cosmic information given to her by Grey.
The power to literally erase something from existence.
Grey’s power only grew more unfathomably extraordinary with each passing day. But instead of feeling defeated, Alissa only grew more determined.
She wanted to protect Grey. She wanted to be strong enough to save him when he was in a pinch. This singular goal gave her more motivation to grow stronger faster than anyone else.
"Then, Miss Alissa, what would you like to do now?" Grey murmured into her ear. "Would you like to kiss more, or do you just want to hug me all day?"
"I am fine with either."
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