Affinity: Chaos

Chapter 2141: Short Stay In The Asterope Faction

When Alice and the remaining members of the Asterope Faction reached him, Grey used the wind element to lift the two sealed Ninth-stage Gnomes into the air and dropped them neatly at her feet.

”They’re yours.”

He had left them alive because there was a chance the Asterope Faction would want to question them.

Alice looked down at the two listless figures for several seconds, then gave a short order. Her people moved forward at once, binding the Gnomes securely before preparing to leave the ruined underground city.

As the group began the journey back toward the Asterope Faction, Alice turned to Grey and Reynolds, who walked on either side of her.

”What are you two doing here?”

”We were in the area and decided to come see you before continuing,” Reynolds answered.

”How did you find me?” she asked, then immediately continued before either of them could speak. ”Let me guess. He used that device of his?”

Reynolds nodded. ”Yeah.”

None of them fully understood how Grey’s communication device could locate people across such distances, but it had never failed them yet.

Alice invited both of them back to the Asterope Faction. Grey and Reynolds accepted without hesitation. They had not come all this way only to leave again after a short conversation.

Later that day they arrived at the Faction.

The Asterope Faction sat deep among steep mountain ridges, its buildings rising in clean tiers against the rock. According to what they found out from their last visit, this mountain is a hotspot for lightning in this region, hence the reason the Faction was set up here. This was Grey and Reynolds’s second visit. The first time they had come, Alice had been in the middle of a formal sparring competition against a rival Faction. The atmosphere now felt heavier, more focused on the ongoing war.

Word of their arrival reached the Faction Leader almost immediately. He summoned them to his manor.

Inside the main hall of the Faction Leader’s residence, low tables had already been set with plates of fresh fruit. Grey, Alice, and Reynolds took their seats. Reynolds picked up a piece of fruit, bit into it, and, finding the taste pleasant, continued eating. A moment later Void and the bunny leader appeared on the table as well, each claiming a piece of fruit and taking large, unapologetic bites.

Footsteps approached from a side corridor. The Asterope Faction Leader entered the hall. He looked to be in his late thirties or early forties, short black hair neatly kept, dark-skinned, and roughly the same height as Grey. A short, well-trimmed beard framed an amiable smile.

Alice and the others rose and bowed. The Faction Leader lifted one hand, gesturing for them to sit again, then took his own seat. His gaze moved from Grey to Reynolds and finally settled on Alice.

”I’m surprised you managed to bring two Ninth-stage Sovereigns back alive.”

Alice pointed toward Grey. ”It’s all thanks to him.”

The Faction Leader turned fully to Grey. ”Ah. Grey Dawson. We finally meet.”

He studied the young man for a moment longer. ”Your reputation precedes you. Capturing two of them without assistance is not something most Ninth-stage Sovereigns could accomplish.”

Grey showed no pride at the praise. ”The first one didn’t know who I was. The second one gave up almost immediately. If he had put up a real fight it wouldn’t have been quite as simple.”

The Faction Leader’s smile widened slightly. To most people the words would have sounded humble. To someone of his experience they carried quiet, absolute confidence. Grey had not claimed the fights would have been easy; he had only said they would have taken a little more effort. Coming from a young man who had already killed a Peak Sovereign, the statement carried weight.

”How are things on your father’s end?” the Faction Leader asked. ”I’ve wanted to visit, but as you can see, my region is not in the best condition.”

They remained in the hall for nearly an hour. Most of the conversation stayed between the Faction Leader and Grey, covering the state of the war on both continents. When Grey learned that the region controlled by the Pyrmond Faction was also under heavy attack, he decided he would stop there once they left Alice.

Three more days passed.

Grey and Reynolds spent the time with Alice, accompanying her on several sorties into the surrounding area. On the first day alone Grey killed six Ninth-stage Sovereign Gnomes by himself. Word of his presence spread quickly through the region. After that, almost every Gnome force stopped summoning their puppets the moment they realized who they were facing. The number of kills dropped as a result, yet Grey still added another four Ninth-stage Sovereigns and one Peak Sovereign over the following two days. The sudden losses forced the local Gnome armies to reduce their activity sharply.

On the morning of the fourth day Grey and Reynolds prepared to leave. Grey asked Alice if she wanted to travel with them. She declined, saying she would only return to Red City when they were ready to go back. Until then she would remain at the Faction. When the time came, they could come and collect her.

True to his usual efficiency, Grey inscribed a teleportation array directly inside Alice’s residence, bypassing the Faction’s restriction arrays in the process. The sudden appearance of an unauthorized array immediately alerted the Faction Leader. When the group explained what Grey had done, the Leader chose not to make an issue of it.

His decision had little to do with wanting a good relationship or simple leniency. Over the previous three days Alice had taken Grey and Reynolds across several areas of the region. The results spoke for themselves. Grey’s presence on a battlefield was unlike anything the Faction Leader had seen before, efficient, overwhelming, and deeply unsettling to the enemy. That alone was worth far more than the minor breach of protocol.

For those reasons the Asterope Faction Leader pardoned both Alice and Grey, and the two young men left the mountains.