Affinity: Chaos

Chapter 2010 2010: Elated Grey

Grey had his eyes on the Gnomes, not taking any actions. It was not that he did not want to take action, it is just that he was discussing with Klaus and the others the best way they could take advantage of the fact that he could cut off the connections of these Gnomes and their Puppets. As long as they were careful enough, they should be able to kill these Ninth stage Sovereign Gnomes without suffering any kind of injuries. Although this was not the first time Grey was facing off against Ninth stage Sovereigns, among the group, he is the only one who can definitely overpower his opponent, the others can only hang on against their opponents. If they could deal with their opponents, they would not have spent so long fighting with them.

The four Ninth stage Sovereigns separated from the Fifth stage Sovereign fighting against Hugh. At the same time, Hugh also gave Grey and the others some distance.

They soon came up with a plan and prepared to attack. At the same time, the Gnomes attacked as well.

Just as Grey was about to attack, he sensed something and turned to look in the direction of Hugh with a bewildered expression.

*Are my eyes deceiving me? How is he controlling vines?” He blurted out in surprise.

”Oh right, I forgot to tell you…” Klaus quickly gave Grey a short briefing of Hughʼs oddness.

Grey was beyond astounded as Klaus told him about how Hugh was able to actually come up with what would seem to be the wood element. When they visited Hugh all those years ago in search of a particular wood, from the short discussion they had at the time, he recalled the latter speaking fervently about being able to create wood. He also recalled Hugh was not particularly powerful at the time, and taking into account that he has been in the Azure Continent all this while, it would be difficult for him to grow powerful. Yet he was clearly in the Sovereign Plane, and this was the first Sovereign he had seen that did not leave the Azure Continent.

ʼA ninth element!ʼ Greyʼs eyes glowed at the thought of this. If it was anyone else, they would only be amazed by the fact that there was another element, but he was different from everyone else. Unlike others who had a fixed element from the time of their awakening, he did not have such restraints. So even if Hugh was the only one who could use the supposed wood element in the entire world, Grey could use it as long as he comes in contact with it.

He stared at Hugh with great interest, completely forgetting about the Ninth stage Sovereign Gnome that was before him. As soon as Hugh used the wood element, he finally understood the thing he found strange about the world essence when he returned. What he found odd though was why he only sensed it after coming back from the Gnome World. If Hugh had seemingly made something like the wood element, then he should have sensed the difference a long time ago, why was he only sensing it now?

He was still caught up in thoughts when he felt a chill run down his spine, only then did he recall that he was supposed to be fighting.

Klaus and the others had already started their battle after the former explained Hughʼs circumstances to him. They did not expect Grey to freeze after hearing about Hughʼs case.

Alice noticed Greyʼs situation and called out in a hurry, ”Grey!”

Her opponent was a Ninth stage Sovereign, and she had only exchanged blows with the latter just once before now. She was forced back by the Gnome, but she still kept her eyes on Greyʼs end and noticing his oddity, she hurriedly called out to him.

Grey, noticing the danger did not dally around, enforcing his legs with the lightning element, he quickly shot to the left, moving to the side and dodging the fatal strike of the scar-faced Gnome.

The scar-faced Gnome was ferocious in his attack, aiming for Greyʼs head the moment he attacked. Seeing Grey dodge the attack, he grunted in displeasure, taking a look at the Ninth stage Sovereign Gnome who was fighting with Alice, clearly faulting him for letting his Seventh stage Sovereign opponent the chance to actually warn Grey.

The Ninth stage Sovereign Gnome gave an apologetic smile to the scar-faced Gnome before chasing after Alice.

After dodging the attack, Grey focused on the battle, not daring to be negligent again. If not for the fact that he was blown away by Hughʼs use of vines, he would not have been so careless. The duo were immediately locked in a heated battle. The scar-faced Gnome might be injured after suffering multiple losses at the hands of the Commander, but he was still able to exert around eighty percent of his strength. A Ninth stage Sovereign is indeed a Ninth stage Sovereign, even though he was hurt.

Faced against an Eighth stage Sovereign, the scar-faced Gnome wanted to show his superiority and did not hold back in any way. At first he felt that Grey would only be able to hold on for a few minutes at most. However, as time went on, he started to notice something that made doubt start to sprout in his heart. No matter how forceful he was, Grey is not only able to take his attacks, but he was also able to occasionally attack as well. This was not the scenario he had in his head. From his thoughts, he was supposed to overwhelm this Eighth stage Sovereign and even kill him in a short time. What scared him even more is the fact that the young man did not seem to be in any form of strain, looking particularly calm and collected.

What the Gnome did not know was Grey was not even going all-out. Due to their plan, he did not bring out his space element, only making use of his lightning, earth, and fire elements. He could tell that these Gnomes did not recognize him yet, hence the reason the one battling with Alice had his Puppet out. Even the one fighting against Reynolds had his Puppet out. These two looked to be in the best shapes which showed that they had not suffered much during their past clashes.

Grey was waiting for the perfect time to immobilize them and kill them on the spot with the help of the others. All Alice and Reynolds could do was brace themselves and defend.

The two Ninth stage Sovereign Gnomes fighting against Reynolds and Alice would surely overpower the duo, so it was not a shocking sight.

Klaus and the silver robbed Gnome were both fighting on equal footing. One has to know that Klaus was a newly advanced Eighth stage Sovereign, yet he is able to fight with a veteran Ninth stage Sovereign like the silver robbed Gnome on equal footing shows just how talented he was. Of course, this is thanks to the fact that the Gnome was dealing with rampaging ice in his body, caused by Klaus himself.

The fight on each end was going in the same manner for almost fifteen minutes when a change suddenly occurred. Grey, who has been nonchalant and carefree throughout the battle with the scar-faced Gnome suddenly released a dangerous aura that made the Gnome sport a wary expression. The scar-faced Gnome sensed the danger and hastily retreated, only to feel a dangerous aura slashing at him from the void. The attack was imperceptible and he almost did not sense it, only when it was in front of him did he sense the attack.

Realizing he was in danger, the Gnome dared not be careless as he used all his strength to block the attack coming his way.

Grey did not have any intentions of chasing after the Gnome, his plan was to force him away. After doing this, his figure vanished.

At the same time Greyʼs moment disappeared, the Ninth stage Sovereign battling with Alice felt alarm bells going off in his heart. He hurriedly looked around to try to find where the danger was coming from, but he could not find anyone. Alice, who had already gotten the signal from Grey, attacked him at this time.

The momentarily hesitation he had from the sense of danger gave her a chance to strike. This was the first time she was attacking properly since the start of their fight began, and the attack made the scalp of the Gnome tingle. He did not expect this little girl could possess such power. His Puppet rushed to his front in a bid to block the attack. However, the moment the Puppet was about to block the attack, he felt his heart sink as his connection to his Puppet was cut off at this moment and he entered a dazed state.

This was not the only place this was happening, even Reynoldsʼs opponent faced the same situation.