Affinity: Chaos

Chapter 2157: Trapped With Me II

Silver scales rippled across the surface of Grey’s skin as he pushed the lightning, wind, and light elements to their peak, boosting his speed. The reason he had been struggling so much since being trapped was simple: the effects of the array had also suppressed his physical strength. Without the ability to reinforce his body with elemental essence the way he normally did, he had been forced to fight at a clear disadvantage. He had spent the previous exchanges carefully using his light element to erode those restrictive effects. Now the suppression on his physical prowess was mostly gone, and he could finally push his physical abilities as far as they would go.

This time, before his afterimage even faded, Grey was already standing directly in front of the second Necromancer.

The man reacted on pure instinct. Sensing lethal danger from a direction where he could barely see anyone, he raised his defenses with everything he had.

Bam!

The second Necromancer’s feet slid across the ground as he blocked an attack he never clearly saw. He only stopped when his back slammed hard against the golden barrier wall. The force of the blocked strike still drove the air from his lungs and left his arms trembling.

Grey moved to follow up immediately, but golden lights shot out from the barrier and stabbed toward him in a dense barrage. He halted mid-air, twisting sharply to dodge the majority of them. Several still grazed his scales, leaving white marks. At the same time, thick earth spikes erupted from the ground where he had been standing and raced toward the array master in a rising wave of stone.

The array master refused to be pinned down. He leapt upward to escape the spikes, only to realize mid-air that Grey was no longer in his previous position.

’So fast!’

His heart skipped a beat as he saw Grey already in front of him, fist driving straight toward his head with terrifying momentum. If that blow landed cleanly, he was certain he would be either incapacitated or killed outright.

He rapidly formed a single hand seal. Golden light particles rushed out from the barrier walls and condensed into a protective sphere around his body just as Grey’s fist connected.

Cracks spread across the sphere almost instantly under the sheer physical force, but the formation repaired itself in the blink of an eye, the golden surface flowing back together like liquid metal.

Grey’s eyes narrowed. He poured more power into his fist, the silver scales on his arm gleaming as he tried to break through the golden defense. The sphere shuddered and more cracks appeared, yet it continued to hold. In his other hand a dense, multi-colored orb began to form, the early shape of a fusion orb drawing in multiple elemental energies at once. Before he could fully condense it, the second Necromancer recovered and charged in from the side with a heavy darkness-coated strike aimed at Grey’s ribs.

Left with no choice, Grey dispersed the incomplete fusion orb and turned to force the second Necromancer back. Their clash sent a sharp shockwave through the confined space, rattling the golden walls and making the entire barrier tremble.

The array master used the brief opening to steady his breathing and calm his racing heart. When the protective sphere had cracked under Grey’s fist, his heart had nearly stopped. The aura from the multi-colored orb had also felt extremely dangerous, far beyond what a normal Ninth-stage Sovereign could wield. Even after clearly being injured earlier, Grey was still moving at this level and pushing himself hard.

Boom! Bam! Bang!

The exchanges inside the golden barrier grew fiercer and more violent. Each collision made the formation shake, and webs of cracks began spreading across the ground outside the barrier. With every clash between Grey and the two Necromancers, the cracks grew longer and deeper, thin lines of golden light leaking from the fractures.

Bam!

Grey’s body slammed into the barrier wall with heavy force. The moment he made contact, the array master tried to lock him in place. Vine-like golden tentacles shot out from the walls and wrapped around his arms, torso, and legs in an attempt to bind him completely.

Grey did not let them tighten. A burst of bright golden light exploded outward with him at the center, the intense flash partially blinding both Necromancers and forcing them to rely more heavily on their mental senses.

”Get away!” the array master’s panicked shout cut through the air.

It had not even been a full second since the flash. As the second Necromancer turned toward his companion, he saw Grey already preparing his next attack, silver scales still gleaming and blue flames beginning to gather around his fist once more.

’How is he still so fast?’ The second Necromancer could not understand how Grey retained this much speed while clearly overexerting himself. The pressure coming from him had not dropped at all.

’Damn it.’ He cursed under his breath and rushed forward, determined to reach his companion in time. If the array master was taken out while the formation was still active, he would be left to face Grey alone. That was something he could not allow under any circumstances.

The array master was already in a state of panic. Elementalists of their level did not rely only on their eyes. Their mental senses remained active during battle, allowing near-instant reactions even when vision was impaired. Even with his sight affected by the blinding light, his mental sense stayed sharp and locked onto Grey’s position. He reacted without hesitation.

At the same time he shouted the warning, he threw caution to the wind and summoned a Seventh-stage Sovereign puppet, detonating it the instant it appeared.

The explosion swallowed Grey, the array master, and the second Necromancer in a roaring blast of force, fire, and shockwaves that slammed against the inside of the golden barrier. The formation shuddered violently under the sudden internal detonation.

Grey, closest to the center of the blast, did not panic. His dragon scales and layered defenses took the brunt of the force, protecting him from fatal damage. From the moment he had decided to go all out without relying on the bunny leader’s army, he had prepared himself for exactly this kind of battle. Through the expanding flames and flying debris he locked his gaze on the second Necromancer, who was still rushing in from the side.

The second Necromancer met that gaze at the last possible moment. His heart dropped hard in his chest.

’Oh no.’