Affinity: Chaos

Chapter 2122: Stalemate

The white-robed Gnome met Grey’s opening strike with equal force.

The impact sent a shockwave rolling outward in every direction. Neither fighter paused. A second exchange followed immediately, then a third. Within seconds the two had traded more than a hundred blows, elemental energy colliding in rapid, violent bursts that scarred the air around them.

At the start of the clash the Gnome had been confident. He was a Peak Sovereign. Even without his puppet he should have been able to overpower a Ninth stage opponent with relative ease. After only a handful of exchanges that confidence began to crack. He could still sense that his raw power exceeded Grey’s, yet the difference was nowhere near as overwhelming as he had expected.

How is this possible?

The thought repeated itself with every blocked strike. A Ninth stage Sovereign matching a Peak Sovereign blow for blow was something he had never imagined, let alone witnessed.

Another heavy collision finally forced them apart. Grey’s body crackled with lightning, and two glowing inscriptions hovered behind his shoulders.

Doubt flickered across the Gnome’s face. He crushed it at once and charged again, throwing everything he had into the renewed assault.

Grey shifted into a defensive rhythm, slipping past a thrusting darkness spear before answering with a bolt of pure lightning. The two inscriptions flared. Twin beams of condensed light streaked toward the Gnome the moment he finished dealing with the lightning. The exchange tightened into a relentless, high-speed contest of attack and counter.

While Grey and the white-robed Gnome fought, Old Humphrey and Roherin were locked in their own struggle. The difference there was stark. Old Humphrey faced both Roherin and the Peak puppet at the same time. He could do little more than defend, waiting for any opening that had not yet appeared.

Elsewhere the remaining fights were more evenly matched, though two of the Gnomes were clearly on the back foot. Those two fought Odelia and Blaire.

Despite the ruin of her right hand, Odelia fought with ruthless, almost feral aggression. Grey still found the contrast unsettling: her delicate features and quiet demeanor gave no hint of the maniacal intensity she displayed the moment battle began. Blaire’s flames, meanwhile, burned hotter with every passing second, as though her rage itself fed the fire. The Gnome opposing her already carried injuries from the earlier surprise attack and lacked his puppet; under the growing heat of her assault he was steadily forced into a defensive shell.

The battles continued in this fashion for some time. When two fighters of roughly equal strength faced each other, a decisive kill was rare. One side might gain a temporary advantage, but finishing the opponent required a serious mistake that neither was willing to make.

Another ten minutes passed.

The white-robed Gnome had grown more cautious. He no longer pressed too aggressively and refused to overextend even once. After the opening exchanges he had accepted that the young human was an opponent who demanded full respect. Only now did he fully understand that Grey’s killing of Wilmot had been no fluke. The strength Grey displayed made it clear that a single error could cost the Gnome his life.

Grey remained calm throughout, searching for any opening that might allow a fatal strike. The Gnome offered none. At one point Grey deliberately left a gap in his defense. To his mild surprise the Gnome saw it clearly and simply ignored it, refusing to take the bait.

Just as the fight began to settle into a grinding stalemate, a massive shockwave rolled across the sky from the direction of the main battlefield. A Ninth stage Sovereign had fallen.

The Gnomes already held the numerical advantage among the Ninth stage Sovereigns as with the other cultivation stages. Grey’s earlier presence had been the only reason no human at that level had died in the opening phase. Once he left for the Peak Sovereign battlefield, that protection vanished. It had only been a matter of time before the first Ninth stage Sovereign human fell.

Odelia’s voice reached Grey’s ears, sharp and clear. ”Bring him here. Go lend them a hand.”

Grey obeyed at once, steadily forcing the white-robed Gnome toward the area where Odelia fought. She drove her own opponent in the same direction until the two pairs met. The moment the white-robed Gnome came within range she struck at him, compelling him to turn his full attention toward her.

With the Gnome occupied, Grey wasted no time. His figure blurred and vanished.

”Return quickly!” Odelia called after him, uncertain whether the words reached his ears.

...

On the main battlefield Reynolds stood wrapped in crackling lightning armor, a sword of pure lightning gripped tightly in one hand. The blade was still buried in the skull of a fallen Gnome. He shook the corpse free and turned toward the next threat, eyes flicking briefly toward the distant Peak Sovereign battlefield.

’What’s taking them so long?’

When Grey had first disappeared and the aura of one Peak Sovereign Gnome had vanished amid a massive explosion, the human ranks had surged with sudden hope. For roughly ten minutes they believed the tide had turned decisively. That hope lasted only until the Gnomes recovered their momentum. Without Grey’s rapid interventions the Ninth stage humans were driven back hard. It had not taken long for the first of them to fall.

The Gnomes pressed their advantage without mercy. Another Ninth stage human was already on the verge of being overwhelmed. Reynolds moved as fast as he could, yet he lacked Grey’s ability to appear anywhere on the field in an instant. He failed to help that one, but spotted an armored Ninth stage Sovereign surrounded by four Gnomes and their puppets. Lightning flared around his body as he shot forward in a bolt of pure energy, arriving just in time to force the attackers back before the killing blow landed.

The rescued man had no chance to offer thanks before the Gnomes closed in again. Even with Reynolds’s help the odds remained two against eight.

The Gnomes were preparing a fresh wave of attacks when a cold voice cut through the noise of battle.

”I only left you for a few minutes and you’ve gotten so brazen.”

A faint smile touched Reynolds’s lips.

”Good thing you’re here now.”