Affinity: Chaos

Chapter 2212: Friendly Advise

Grey and Reynolds stayed silent as the Half-God experts faced one another.

The quiet stretched. Only the distant sounds of the ongoing pursuit drifted up from below. After several seconds one of the Gnome lords snorted.

”We will make sure you pay for this when the time comes.” He turned his eyes on Grey. ”As for you, your days are numbered.”

Grey raised a brow and looked at Sir Astarot. ”When you’re allowed to fight, can you help me kill him?”

”Certainly,” Sir Astarot replied without hesitation. ”Trash like that will only take little effort.”

”Thank you.” Grey turned his gaze back to the Gnome, his expression cold. ”I’d advise you to spend whatever time you have left with your family. And make sure they don’t cross over to this world. If they do, I’ll kill them in front of you.”

The Gnome clearly had not expected a direct threat in return. He gave a short, cold laugh, then vanished along with his companion as if they had never been there.

Sir Astarot waited a moment longer before speaking. ”They’re gone.” He glanced at Grey and Reynolds and gestured toward the battlefield below. ”Do you still want to join the chase?”

Grey shook his head. ”I’ve lost interest. There are a few things I want to handle first before we head back.”

Sir Astarot nodded, though a flicker of confusion crossed his face. Grey had just said he would not take part in the pursuit, yet he still intended to remain on the field.

That confusion cleared when Grey began giving quiet orders to the bunny leader. The instructions were simple. Secure the spatial rings of the Sovereigns they had killed, and do it cleanly so they did not take anything that belonged to someone else’s effort. The three Half-Gods exchanged looks. Even while the Thunderbirds were still hunting the last fleeing enemies, Grey was already thinking about the spoils.

The bunny army moved at once. They spread across the nearby sections of the battlefield with practiced efficiency, collecting rings and returning them in organized groups. Some of the smaller bunnies darted between broken trees and scorched ground, while the stronger ones kept watch for any remaining threats. Void sat on a broken tree stump, tail flicking as he watched the process like a supervisor. Every time a group returned with a new collection of rings, he gave a small nod of approval before sending them out again. It was obvious this was not their first time handling the aftermath of a large fight.

Sir Astarot chuckled at the sight, then turned into a stream of light and headed back toward the Thunderbird Clan. The two Thunderbird leaders followed soon after, leaving the final cleanup to their subordinates.

The battlefield gradually grew quieter. Not because the fighting had completely ended, but because the Thunderbirds and Dragons had pushed the remaining Gnomes farther away. The heavy smell of blood and scorched earth still hung in the air. Grey stayed where he was, unbothered by it. He sat cross-legged on a relatively clear patch of ground and closed his eyes. Reynolds, preferring not to sit still, flew out to inspect other parts of the field. He moved from one section to another, checking whether any stronger enemies had been overlooked and whether the Magical Beast forces still held full control.

Nearly an hour later Reynolds returned and found Grey in the same spot.

”Still nothing?” he asked.

Grey had remained seated because he wanted to understand the strange feeling in the space around them. He had closed his eyes and spread his senses carefully, testing the area in every direction. The distortion was still there, faint and inconsistent, like a thin seam running through the void that refused to settle into any clear pattern. Sometimes it felt closer. Sometimes it slipped away the moment he tried to focus on it. He had first thought it had something to do with the Gnomes, but the enemy had already been driven off and the sensation remained without any change.

He opened his eyes and shook his head, frustration clear in his expression. ”It’s too vague. I can’t pin it down.” He glanced at the bunny leader, who had been examining the same space beside him the entire time. The small creature only shook its head. Even with its sharper control over space, it had found nothing solid. Whatever caused the irregularity was either too deeply hidden or too incomplete to grasp.

”If you can’t find the source either, there’s no point in me forcing it,” Grey said. ”Let’s head back. We should claim the reward while things are still settled.”

Reynolds gave a snide remark. ”I almost thought you’ve grown accustomed to this place.”

”You know I can’t remain in one place for too long.” Grey shrugged.

Reynolds nodded. ”True, true.”

The two of them rose into the air and flew toward the Thunderbird Clan. They took a slower route this time, deliberately looking over the vast forest below. Constant lightning storms rolled across sections of the canopy, illuminating the treetops in brief white flashes. The light reflected off the dense leaves and the occasional bare rock face that broke through the greenery. Grey watched the display in silence for a while. It reminded him of the early days after he first awakened his lightning element, when he had searched everywhere for natural lightning to deepen his comprehension. Back then he had waited patiently just to get a chance. If he had seen a place like this, his elemental grade might have eclipsed whatever the Azure Continent had seen before.

Reynolds flew beside him without interrupting the quiet. Only when the orange-leafed tree of the Thunderbird leaders came into view did he speak again.

”You think they’ll still honor the lightning tree agreement after everything that happened?”

”They should,” Grey answered. ”Sir Astarot was the one who offered it. He won’t go back on his word.”

When they arrived, Sir Astarot and the two Thunderbird leaders were already deep in discussion. With the Gnomes driven from the territory, the next question was how to keep something similar from happening again, not only here, but across the other Clans of the Inner Court as well. The mood inside the tree was more settled than before, though the blue Thunderbird still carried a trace of its usual sharpness.

Sir Astarot noticed Grey and did not waste time. ”We’ve talked it over. The speed you showed getting onto the battlefield made something clear. If the major Clans in the Inner Court had a way to reach each other quickly, situations like this would be far easier to handle. We want you to set up teleportation arrays linking several of the Magical Beast Clans.”

Grey considered the request carefully. The idea itself was sound. At full speed it would take him only a few days to cross the entire Inner Court. Compared to the full expanse of the Magical Beasts’ Forest, the Inner Court was only a small portion, roughly three or four percent, but connecting its strongest forces would still make a significant difference in how they responded to future invasions.

He saw no real downside. The work would take time, yet it would also give him a chance to see more of the Inner Court and strengthen his existing ties with the Magical Beast side.

”I can do that,” he said.