With his short Gray hair swaying in the air and his golden yellow eyes, locked onto the tribes leader Gray kicked at his head.
The kick was fast, Gray put his all into it, he wanted to finish it all in an instant.
[Fast-Forward.]
*THUD!*
His eyes widened, his fast-forwarded kick was blocked. His feet had stopped right next to the tribe leader's arms.
He had raised his arms to block Gray's kick right before Gray fast-forwarded it.
He had also predicted it's trajectory, allowing for it to become a clean hit. Gray realised that while he was fighting and showing the move in his arsenals to get to their leader, the leader was observing it all.
[Paus-]
Because Gray could fully pause him, the leader leapt away from Gray's leg so that he wouldn't be paused.
He leapt onto the tree branch which was behind him.
Gray paused the air behind him, and planned to kick off of it to give chase.
But before he could – the tribe man with a shadow covering part of his body leapt towards him from the leader's side.
[Pause Step.]
With his feet touching the platform, Gray paused stepped to the front of the leader with a punch in motion.
*Tug*
Gray swung his fist forward with all he had, aiming to connect it.
But before it even reached half it's journey, he cancelled the punch and kicked off another platform to the side.
A shadow passed right by him as he did so – But it didn't end there.
There shadow, changed directions mid-air before extending itself towards him.
Gray didn't know why, but he felt that no matter what happened, he couldn't let himself be touched by the shadow.
He kicked off to the left before leaping down and to the right.
Gray's silhouette grew blurry as he began to leap around with all he had.
He was moving at the fastest he could go, pausing and unpausing platforms as he went all over the place.
Eventually, the shadow stopped extending as it got stuck on something.
Gray seized that opportunity.
[Pause-step.]
He appeared above the shadow tribes men and slammed his fist into the middle of it's face.
*Crack!*
[Pause-Blow]
The tribes men who was supposed to have gone plummeting down, froze in the air.
Using the same tactic, he used to avoid the shadows, Gray began kicking off platforms around to stay moving whilst he unleashed a barrage of kicks onto the tribes men.
[Unpause.]
*BA-BABABABABBABAM!*
The instant he was unpaused, the tribes men's body cocked side to side, back and forth as he plummeted towards the ground.
Blows after blows registered, one after another at all the spots he had been attacked.
*Crash!*
He crashed into the hands of his tribe members who caught him on landing.
Gray who glanced down to confirm, could see Delta, fighting her own fight.
Her body was covered in dark flames. The tribes men were having trouble hitting her,
Gray paid no attention to this, instead he focus his sight on the only one remaining ahead of him.
"Now... There's only one left." He muttered whilst panting.
'Do I stop time and finish it all now? But I can't afford another very strong potion... It needs to be at least that for me to be able to recover...' He thought to himself.
There was only one guaranteed way to finish it. Beat the shit out of him without stopping time.
Gray paused stepped onto the branch ahead of him, to catch his breath before looking over at the tribes leader.
The tribes leader looked down at his underling who had crashed safely before looking over at Gray.
"You have not killed a single one... Why have you come here?" He asked.
'So this one can speak too...?' Gray thought to himself
"Yeah, killing any of you would be bothersome. I'd rather have any unnecessary grudges... And I got lost." Gray replied.
"...It is impossible for you to end up here through getting lost. This place is protected by an ancient ability. Outsiders can't simply enter." Said the tribes leader as he got into a stance.
"So I'll ask one last time... Why have you come here?"
Gray sighed. He had a feeling this would have been the outcome.
"Truthfully, I followed one of the people of your tribe so that I could find a river or clean water supply of sorts. I come in peace." Said Gray.
"You call this peace?" The leader asked as he looked down at the members of his tribe who watched from below.
"I call that self-defence. I have a place I need to be, so If you want, I can just leave without causing any more trouble."
The tribe leader leaned in towards Gray, He pulled his arm with the battle axe back before turning his head towards Gray.
Steam could be seen coming out of his skull as he breathed out.
"Leave? What sort of a leader would I be if I let you leave after you took out my people? You can leave after beating me."
The branch which the leader was standing on suddenly pulled itself back before flinging him forward towards Gray.
Gray's pupils dilated, as the distance between them was covered in less than a second.
The tribe leader appeared before him swinging his battle axe vertically down at his head.
Gray who planned to leap away to avoid, was forced to parry as the wood from the branch he had been standing on, extended from the branch and wrapped itself around his feet.
*CLANG!*
With no other choice, he swung the katana horizontally towards the vertical swing.
When they collided, he felt chills rush down his spine.
A shockwave was sent through his body, down to his legs, cracking the tree branch.
Before he could fall, he paused the air beneath his feet creating a platform for him to stand on.
Gray's arms were staggering and trembling, he was being overpowered.
He felt as if a mountain had suddenly dropped onto his arms.
He grit his teeth and tightened his grip over his katana, whilst holding onto the sword's hilt with both hands.
Whilst this happened, wooden pillars extended out of the tree beside them, towards Gray.
[Wood Manipulation.]
[Pause.]
The tribes leaders eyes widened as Gray suddenly, stepped in, letting go of his sword.
'Is he crazy?'
It was then that he realised it. The sword was frozen in the air, stuck in place.
No matter how hard he tried pushing down with his battle axe, it wouldn't budge but it wasn't just the sword but also the battle axe.
It was now or never. Gray stepped in with him arm stretched out, aiming to land a touch on him to pause him.
Seeing Gray step in, aiming to get a touch in at his exposed chest... The tribe leader felt chills run down his spine.
Knowing he couldn't let Gray land a touch, he reflexively leapt away by kicking off of his paused battle axe.
After the leap, Gray's figure vanished and the wooden pillars passed right by the air where he had been standing.
Gray appeared behind the leader with a punch in motion towards him.
