Nightmare Mode (Dragon Ball Z Gamer SI)

Broken Vows (70.1)

As the pure-red ring approached Gray, intent on making a hole where his heart was, time seemed to slow. It wasn't that time actually slowed - no, Gray couldn't move his body despite his brain processing the attack moving at him so slowly. The world seemed to fade away around him, and it was as if he was in a white void - a void with just him and the ring of death. No thoughts, no interference, no planet below him, no Tree of Might, and no Turles.

What was only a fraction of a second felt like a lifetime, and Gray felt something he never thought he would feel.

Complete and absolute emptiness.

It wasn't that Gray himself had given up - no, if he had enough time to even think a thought, then he surely would've done everything he could to avoid the attack.

However, he couldn't. He had no time to think - no time to process. Even as the attack moved in slow motion, it was as if Gray's brain had turned off. As if it were actively fighting against him, demanding that he not think a single thought. One second, the ring was dozens of feet away from him. The next, it was about to tear through him. He didn't even have time to think of a counter - to try and dodge. To try and do anything to save his own life.

When Gray thought back on that moment later, he was sure there were a thousand different realities where he died there. The attack should've landed, he should've had a hole burned through his chest, and he should've been a lifeless corpse as the mission ended in failure. He should've been standing at King Yemma's desk right now.

But this reality wasn't one of those thousands. His body moved - not because Gray told it to, or because Gray intended to move at all. As he stared at his impending doom, his mind completely empty as his eyes were burning from the light, his body moved far quicker than his mind ever could.

In a singular instant - in a fraction of a second, Gray's body moved. In a move that should've been impossible for such a large ape, Gray's torso shifted perfectly. It moved just a few inches, angling itself so that the ring of death perfectly skirted past him, just barely making contact with his side.

-17,790,275 HP! (171,617,850/212,868,200)

FUCK!

Gray's brain caught up with reality, gasping as the world seemed to reappear around him. The void faded away, and the planet around him reappeared as his ears pounded.

The attack only grazed his side, but the result was obvious. The side of his armor burned away in an instant, along with his hair, and just touching the ring caused Gray's now visible side to become nearly pitch-black as a massive burn appeared on him.

W-What the fuck was that?!

Gray didn't know how to describe the feeling - in one moment, he was set to die before he could even process the attack, and the next, he was alive. Burnt, and, most notably, his HP had dropped significantly, but he was alive.

Was that just... me?

Gray would later think back on this moment and realize how stupid his thought was. He was certainly talented in fighting at this point, but to think that he'd naturally pulled off such a perfect technique - and one that should've been impossible for his current self, though it was more of a poor last-ditch recreation than the actual technique - was foolish.

But, years from now, Gray would also think back on this moment fondly. Despite almost dying, this simple step forward, even if he didn't know it now, would change his life in the future.

However, this wasn't years from now, and at the moment, Gray was given no more time to think about what his body had just done.

"[KILL DRIVER!]" Turles launched another attack instantly, not giving Gray a chance to recover.