As the attack settled there was only one left standing between the two of them, floating in the air with a slight strained expression.
Gris breathed out a sigh of relief as he scanned the result of their clash. A crater that looked like the impact site of a nuke lay beneath him. At the centre of that crater was a body of a young woman, who seemed to be barely alive. However, weirdly enough her face which had cuts and burn marks was smiling like she just had the best dream.
Gris looking down at her like some god that had descended to the mortal plane and felt the familiar surge. That acquainted feeling trying to overwhelm his senses and make him fall into depravity once more. Like a drug addict who was resisting their next fix. He calmed himself and centred his psyche mentally. What came to his mind as he was fighting an internal battle were two faces. As soon as he saw them he seemed to compose himself and was able to focus once again.
What he didn't seem to catch was that a specific skill that had activated in support of his resistance.
"Phew! Passed the first hurdle."
He then floated down next to Jaune who was slowly healing but seemed to be passed out.
"What an interesting girl. She will be fun to watch in the future."
He then grabbed her by the scruff of her top before shooting off into the air. Location? The meeting area.
-----------------------
The meeting site:
Quiet reigned among the meeting grounds. Well except for the slightly restrained screams of the daemon beneath Violet. Who seemed to be passing the time by punishing her subordinate.
However, if one looked closely they could see on her cute, child-like face, that she was also calculating something. All of a sudden, a few minutes after the last explosion was heard, a figure holding an unconscious young woman floated to the ground beside them.
This was Gris he landed and dropped Jaune like she was a bag of potatoes. As he walked towards the table the subordinates of Jaune seemed to rush forward before they could act a crushing force hit them. It was so strong it forced them to the ground effortlessly.
"Are you okay in the head?!" Gris growled.
"To dare to try and raise a hand to me? If you wish for death you should have asked!" As he kept piling the pressure on until they screamed in agony and their forms broke apart at the spiritual and soul level. This caused them to continue to shriek and thrash about before splattering outwards and dissipating into nothingness.
He then continued on to the free seat by Violet as Blanc and Kali stood and bowed "Master!"
He nodded at them as he took his seat. "Sit."
"Well that was quite a show. You know they were her loyal followers of centuries?"
"Yeah well they had too much muscle in their head. Better off dead. Which any enemy of mine will be if I do not think they are worthy of being useful to me."
"My my~ Is that a threat?"
"It is a promise."
"Now that I look at you, even though this is our first time meeting face-to-face I cannot find the same man from the rumours. The power is there, and the obvious intellect behind each carefully chosen word. But that twisted and dreary coldness, hmm~ I cannot sense it. And trust me, I would sense it. Hehe~"
As Violet said this she pulled the knife to her lips and started licking the blood off it.
Gris let out some of his Daemonic Haki as the ground seemed to tremble. "Do not try and push your luck Violet, I could as easily crush you as I did Jaune."
"Oh?~ Then why not do so? I do not understand."
Gris seemed to look over quickly to Kali, as he then averted his eyes before looking at Violet who seemed to have caught him.
"Do not tell me the cold and twisted Gris has been struck by love?~"
"Don't be so ridiculous."
"Hehe~ so I can just go and cut her to pieces then? As I enjoy the sound of her cries? She isn't a Primordial after all. Actually, now it makes sense why she is allowed to sit at the same table as us."
BANG!
His Daemonic Haki seemed to flare all around him as he blitzed toward Violet who seemed to be caught off guard by his reaction. Not expecting it to be so extreme. Gris grabbed her by her small and tender neck as he squeezed while lifting her in the air. Her petite body dangled like a corpse.
The daemon she was sitting on and torturing and her other subordinates she brought along seemed to have exploded from the sheer pressure Gris exerted.
"Do. Not. Test. Me." He said through gritted teeth. The same feeling as before washed over him as a coldness took hold and that same euphoric sensation tried to insert itself as he stared at the struggling Violet. That voice wanting him to dominate and crush her to revel in the cold darkness.
"That's it... hehe~ I knew... it had to be.... in there somewhere." She said through gasps of breath.
Kali wanted to say something but felt reluctant, not wanting to overstep. Blanc sat there enjoying the cruelty and power on display. Feeling almost happy that Violet was experiencing a sliver of what she did. However, on the outside she masked this with her usual calm and elegant persona.
Gris seemed to regain control as he closed his eyes and his Haki calmed down. He then dropped Violet to the floor and created a new seat before sitting.
" Haaa.... haaaa...."
"Violet know this. The reason I am letting you sit there and negotiate a deal is because I want to. Because I see you as the least useful of the Primordials and because I am testing myself, trying to find myself. To be better. To let go of a lot of baggage I carried which no one in this world will understand. Even those now close to me." He said as he side-eyed Kali.
"That is why and right now you are merely a neutral force in my eyes but you are very close to becoming an enemy. And you do not want that."
Violet seemed to look at Gris with a slight fear and respect but that calculative glint in her eyes did not leave. Before she stood and created a proper chair. Once she sat down after catching her breath she spoke like non of this just happened.
"Very well, I will take your advice onboard. I agree to your deal."
Gris nodded before he looked over to Kali she seemed to smile back at him and when she did Gris's presence noticeably softened just ever so slightly.
"Kali, take Jaune back to the castle she will become one of my Pillars."
"Yes master."
"Blanc you can go back too. I will be heading to train for some time longer."
"Of course, master."
-----------------------
Some distance away from the site of the meeting a figure was concealing himself as he watched the events from start to finish.
"Interesting indeed." He mumbled to himself.
"I guess the curtain is about to draw on an era and Gris is just too enthralling to miss out on. I did not think he would act like this... Out of all the futures this was not one I expected." He chuckled low.
"I cannot wait to see from up close what you end up achieving in this world!"