Affinity: Chaos

”We don’t have to worry about him, right?” Reynolds asked.

Grey nodded. Reynolds shrugged and stretched his arms, lightning occasionally sparking across his shoulders and down to his wrists.

He sighed in amazement, ”This place is amazing.”

”It is,” Grey agreed.

The Magical Beasts held cultivation treasures that humans rarely matched in quality. Two weeks under the lightning tree had made that difference obvious. Grey’s physical strength, which had remained stuck around the mid-stages of the Sovereign Plane for a long time, had climbed sharply. He could now feel force comparable to an Eighth-stage Sovereign moving through his muscles, bones, and tendons. Among known Late-stage Sovereigns he remained the only clear exception. Most could not even match a First-stage Sovereign in pure bodily power, let alone reach the level he now held.

Grey felt an urge to test his new strength, he raised his head to meet Reynolds’s eyes. The same thought passed between them without either needing to speak.

They drifted apart until roughly a hundred meters of open air separated them. The forest canopy lay far below, still faintly marked by the lingering presence of the lightning storms deeper in the territory.

Reynolds merged with his Elemental Warrior. Lightning armor formed around him with a deeper, heavier resonance than before. The two weeks had refined the construct. In their merged state, Reynolds’s aura rose all the way to the peak of the Ninth stage even though his own cultivation remained at the Eighth stage. Previously the merge had only brought him to the level of an average Ninth-stage Sovereign. The difference was immediately noticeable.

Grey stayed bare-chested. He rolled his wrists once, feeling the denser power settle into his limbs.

”I just broke through in body cultivation,” he said, ”so I’ll stick to physical strength enhanced with lightning.”

Reynolds grinned. ”You sure you don’t want to throw in another element or two?”

Grey paused, considered it, then nodded. ”On second thought, I’ll add space as well.”

Reynolds’s expression dropped. He had only been teasing and had already started planning how to press the advantage. The casual suggestion had just removed most of the edge he expected to hold.

Nearby, Void and the bunny leader both brought a paw up to their faces in unison.

Reynolds decided not to say anything else. He simply raised one hand and gestured for Grey to begin.

Grey’s body lit with lightning.

A sharp crack split the air. An afterimage of pure lightning remained in his original position while the real Grey appeared directly in front of Reynolds, fist already driving forward. Reynolds sensed the attack a fraction late. He had not expected that speed when Grey was still relying mainly on his body and lightning. Even so, he brought his forearm up in time. Fist met reinforced armor with a heavy impact that sent a visible shockwave rolling outward through the air.

They separated for only an instant before colliding again.

Grey stayed close on purpose, forcing the fight into tight range where his physical strength and close-combat experience mattered most. He slipped inside Reynolds’s guard, drove an elbow toward the ribs, then twisted and aimed a lightning-coated knee at Reynolds’s side. Reynolds blocked the elbow with a reinforced forearm and caught the knee on his thigh. The impact still forced him half a step back through the air. Lightning flared brighter around Reynolds as he answered with a straight punch aimed at Grey’s shoulder. Grey turned with the blow, let it graze past, and immediately tried to lock Reynolds’s arm for a short throw.

Reynolds’s superior speed in the merged state showed itself at once. He broke the grip before it fully formed and answered with a rapid series of strikes. A lightning-wrapped fist scraped across Grey’s ribs. A follow-up kick forced Grey to lean sharply away. Each exchange pushed Grey a little farther onto the defensive. His space element let him shorten distances and avoid clean hits, and his experience in close combat kept him from being overwhelmed, but the difference in raw power and speed was becoming clear. Reynolds was simply operating at a higher level.

They moved in continuous streaks of light and residual lightning, never staying in one place for more than a breath. One moment they were trading blows high above the trees; the next they had dropped several dozen meters as Grey tried to use the change in angle to regain initiative. Reynolds followed without pause, his spear-hand forming and dissolving as needed while he kept the pressure steady.

Void and the bunny leader watched from a safe distance, neither interrupting.

After several minutes the pattern had fully settled. Reynolds advanced with heavy, controlled blows while Grey focused on redirection, short spatial shifts, and the occasional sharp counter. A particularly dense lightning strike from Reynolds forced Grey to cross both arms in front of his chest. The impact still drove him backward through the air and left a stinging numbness in his forearms. He used a quick spatial hop to create distance, only for Reynolds to close it again almost immediately.

The fight continued in that rhythm for nearly ten minutes. Grey landed a few solid hits of his own, enough to remind Reynolds that underestimating him was dangerous, but none of them changed the overall direction of the spar. Reynolds’s merged state simply gave him too much of an edge in speed and sustained power.

Then Reynolds’s lightning spear formed fully in his hands. He thrust it forward in a single clean line aimed straight at Grey’s chest. The attack carried both speed and a firm lock on Grey’s position.

Grey tried to slip aside with space. The spear was already too close. He would not clear it in time.

”I give up.”

He raised both hands.

The spear tip stopped an inch from his chest.

Reynolds held the position for a moment longer than necessary, then grinned. Grey flicked the spear aside with two fingers.

”What’s so funny?”

”Nothing,” Reynolds said, still smiling as he dissolved the weapon. Aside from a few wrinkles in his robe, he looked almost untouched. Grey, by contrast, carried several light burns and impact marks from the lightning strikes he had failed to fully avoid.

Grey pulled his upper robe back on and guided a thin stream of light elemental essence through his body, easing the remaining sting from the exchanges. The two weeks under the tree had clearly been worth it for both of them, even if the spar had ended with him on the losing side.

”Let’s head back,” he said. ”They should be finished with their discussion by now.”

Reynolds nodded, the last traces of the merge fading as his Elemental Warrior fully withdrew.

With Grey in the lead and Void and the bunny leader settled on their shoulders, the four of them turned and flew toward the large orange-leafed tree where the Half-God Clan leaders were waiting. The air still carried a faint charge from their fight, but the forest below had already returned to its usual quiet.