Boom!

"These things are constantly pouring out of these tendrils," Vicky observed the Grey Biters, her left arm was already equipped with her Gatling gun. Beside her was Boulder brooding with his colossal great sword at the ready to cut some enemies.

"If that blind bat had listened to me and burned the damn object when I told him to then none of this would be happening right now. It's all his fault!!" Boulder cursed Hao's name while launching himself at a couple of Grey Biters. SLASH! He sliced them apart like butter but they regenerated in no time.

"That piece of shit has been doing nothing but causing us trouble since he got here." Scar was also having a hard time fighting off the Grey Biters. He too was using his Blade Edge to slice through them, but it wasn't working. They just kept on regenerating again and again.

"Get away, you nasty little things!" Lanor kicked away one with her boot before impaling it with her Rapier. Glancing over her shoulders, she noticed that Ciara was doing nothing but sticking close to Hao. 'Tsk, why is she being so clingy instead of helping us? Not even her Blade Edge is equipped.' She wanted to say something else but a loud roar from Vicky's direction drew her attention.

"You pests are really getting on my nerves now! How dare you mess with my property?!" She aimed her Gatling gun at the Grey Tissue's vortex and began unleashing a barrage of bullets.

Bam! Bam! Bam!

Everyone had to duck or take cover from the bullets that were whizzing past their heads. Even the Grey Biters took cover behind the counter as if they were cowards. As for the portal, it swallowed up the bullets like they were merely snacks on a plate. Then the Grey Tissue began to shift and twist into an even more grotesque form. It was as if it was morphing into something else. Something big.

"What the hell is going on now Vee?" Mentos inquired with a hint of panic in his voice.

"I don't know. But it is generating a lot of Tunes." Hao's Vibe Goggles was being populated with notifications.

<29 Tunes collected>

<18 Tunes collected>

<37 Tunes collected>

Hao was just about to collect another few more Tunes when he felt the ground quake beneath his feet. A gap was formed and from that gap came an ominous tendril, thicker and more robust than the ones before. It shot towards Hao like a snake and wrapped around his body. He was frozen in shock. The tendril pulled him up like he was a fish in a net. Hao was able to resist its force for a second but his balance was thrown off.

"Vee!"

Mentos and Ciara tried to run over to help Hao, but the Grey Biters were blocking them. They were too occupied with fending off the Grey Biters to help allay Hao's predicament.

"Ahhhhhhhh!!" Hao gave a shrieking cry as he was tossed into the portal. Everyone who saw this was devastated. They had no idea whether or not he was disintegrated or alive.

Boom!

The Sword Fishes burst into the shack with rage glistening off their scales when they heard Hao’s resounding cry. Sadly they were too late. Hao had already been swallowed up by the vortex. Yet, this didn’t stop them from holding out hope. Both Euphy and Symphy offered their combat prowess to the ongoing battle in the shack to help mitigate the Grey Biters' numbers.

Whoosh! Whoosh!

They were spewing multiple bubbles from their mouths, enlarging them with their soft graspers and then launching them like torpedoes at the Grey Biters. They were powerful enough to destroy most of the Grey Biters upon impact due to their freezing properties. Vicky was impressed by their skills. Even more so when they were able to keep the Grey Biters at bay while Mentos and Ciara made their way toward the vortex in order to rescue Hao. However, this was proving to be a difficult task because the tendrils that the Grey Tissue was now producing were a lot larger, more active and more terrifying to the point where even Acadian was having trouble biting through them. They swarmed the Bastian like piranhas would prey and kept him pinned down.

"Damn you pests! Do you have no conscience about your actions?!" Mentos huffed with Shark Skimmer in hand. He sliced through the tendrils with his blade but they regenerated quickly. He had no choice but to resort to brute force.

"Unbound, Scaleblade!" Ciara finally called on her Blade Edge to assist her. Scaelblade was a singular sword, covered in unique scales that were capable to separate into another half, Expando and Smallo she called them. Expando could magically expand and Smallo could shrink. Her Sword Spirit enabled her to skilfully wield them with ease.

To demonstrate her abilities, she split the blade into two halves. The first half of the blade became larger. It was thick and heavy with sharp jagged edges along its metallic surface. She used it to commence cleaving through the tendrils. Simultaneously, the second half of the blade shrunk to a microscopic size which allowed it to be a rather invasive presence within her targets.

"Smallo go!" She sent it forth into a Grey Biter nearby, a few moments later, she could hear a loud crunching sound coming from the Grey Biter's body. Its insides were being compressed by the small blade before she decided to return it to its normal size which caused the Grey Biter to explode into slime.

"That's more like it, Ciara! Let's go save Hao before this thing kills him!!" Mentos cheered her on as they both charged towards the vortex. But the tendrils kept making their advance very difficult. Just to elaborate, it started producing macho Grey Biters that were bigger in size and more vicious.

Boom! Boom!

The shack was a chaotic display of explosions erupting everywhere followed closely behind by screams. No matter how they tried, they couldn't get rid of the tendrils. While they struggled to deal with the Grey Biters, we travel into the vortex to take a peek at Hao's situation.

He was currently in a world that looked like a desert with silvery-grey sand. The sky was a dark red hue and there was a huge bone-like object towering over his head. It closely resembled the colossal Tokyo bone structure that he came across in the eerie Conclave. The way the bone was formed was peculiar. It was hollow on the inside and had many holes that were spewing out crimson slime.

As for Hao, he was taking in the sight, puzzled by what his Vibe Sense was perceiving. The frequency of the bone was causing an unusual reaction with Judgment Day. He wasn't sure what was happening.

"Am I inside the Grey Tissue? This is weird." As he continued to look around very cautiously, Hao noticed strange movements in the sand around him. "Huh, what's going on here? It feels like something is crawling beneath the surface of the sand. Is it the Grey Biters? Well, whatever they are, I'd rather not touch them if I can help it."  Seconds later, Hao discovered what they were.

Boom! Boom!

One after the other, Grey Biters were bursting through the sand and pouncing on him. However, this time, they weren't the normal variety. Their size was more advanced and more dangerous. Some were as big as a house dog, while others were as small as a mouse, which meant they were all a threat to be reckoned with.

"Ugh, you damn bastards! Get off me!!" Hao was struggling to keep these Grey Biters at bay. They were trying to bite him everywhere, including his nether regions, but he was managing to dodge their attacks by spinning his body like a top. "This isn't good. I should have kept my trap shut. Stupid me for being so curious about the Grey Tissue's origins. What a blunder! I never imagined that this is where it would take me." Hao didn't realize that he was muttering aloud.

'Maybe if I defeat enough of these Grey Biters then I'll be able to break free.' With that thought in mind, Hao swung his Vibe Edge around and launched a volley of Resonance Amps at the Grey Biters. 

Boom! Boom!

<Volume Raiser!>

Hao also sacrificed a bit of Tunes to cast a wide enough net of vibrations to uplift over a hundred Grey Biters and sent them flying into the air. "Blade Sprites release!" While they were in mid-air, Hao combined his energy blades along with his Resonance Amp slashes to attack his targets. They were turned into grey dust quickly. Unfortunately, the Grey Biters that were already on the ground were now attacking him more savagely than ever before.

"Damn, there is no end to these nifty bastards! It's like they are multiplying to the point where it's impossible to fight them off. I don't know how long I can keep this up. I'm running out of stamina and they aren't dropping any Tunes." Hao was coming down with a headache as he continued to dodge and block the Grey Biters' attacks.