Affinity: Chaos

Chapter 2089: Rarest Puppets

Grey chuckled when he heard this, he was about to make a move when he suddenly froze and the smile on his face faded.

‘It’s different.’ Grey said to himself as he looked at the puppet and then at the old Gnome.

He had spoken with a Gnome earlier and knew not all Gnomes could achieve something like this. He had faced someone who was also like this some time back, hence the reason he was able to tell just by coming in contact with the invisible thread connecting the puppets to the Gnomes. The thread of these Gnomes is usually thinner than that of other Gnomes. Grey still did not understand how they were able to achieve this, but he was grateful not all Gnomes could do it.

Realizing he would have to actually fight and not immediately take out the old Gnome, he felt a little frustrated. He took out his anger at the puppet. A fire spear was shot at the puppet. Grey made sure not to use his blue flames since it was well-known that he had blue flames. Luckily, he could alternate between his blue and red flames. This was something he found out ages ago, but since his blue flames were the stronger version, he generally prefers using it, except for instances like these where he wanted to hide his identity.

The puppet did not move from where it stood, opening its mouth, a large black swirling hope appeared that swallowed the fire spear. This black swirling hope gave off shocking levels of darkness elemental essence.

Grey knew this attack would not be enough to end the puppet, and after seeing how it was able to deal with it, he understood he was going to have to put in more effort.

He made a move, shooting forward covered in lightning, he used a lightning sword to slash at the swirling black hole. The lightning sword cut the black hole in half with one slash.

The puppet attacked the moment Grey’s lightning sword sliced through the black hole. Shards made from the darkness element appeared and shot endlessly at Grey.

Grey used his lightning sword to cut the darkness shards coming his way, stopping all of them from touching him. The sound of his lightning sword and the darkness shards clashing resounded in the mountain range. Smoke quickly covered both Grey and the puppet.

Sparks flew out from the smoke cloud from time to time, and the figures of Grey and the puppet clashing would occasionally be seen inside the smoke. The mountain range was still dark after the arrival of the puppet, and only the occasional lightning flashes from inside the smoke lit up the sky from time to time.

The fight grew even more fierce, and after some time, a figure was sent flying from the smoke cloud.

The old Gnome, along with his entourage, all looked with interest to see the figure that was sent flying. To the surprise of the old Gnome, it was actually his puppet.

Bang!

The puppet crashed into the mountain below, creating a large crater in the process. The smoke died down and Grey’s figure appeared before their eyes. He stood there unscathed. If not for the fact that they knew he was the one fighting with the puppet all this while, they would have thought he just arrived.

“Who is this person?” One of the Necromancers asked as he looked at his comrades.

“I don’t know, why don’t you ask him to take off his mask?”

“You’re the elder here, you should do it.”

The old Gnome stared at Grey’s figure for a while before controlling his puppet to come back. Out of everyone, he was the only one who knew what the puppet experienced inside the smoke cloud, after all, it was under his control. From what he could tell, the difference between this Grey and his puppet was not that large.

The puppet only sustained some superficial injuries and could still fight. Besides, it was not like the puppet felt any pain.

“You’re strong I’ll admit, but I don’t believe you can beat him.”

After saying this, the Gnome brought out a talisman and crushed it in front of the puppet. The talisman turned into a red drop of liquid and seeped into the body of the puppet.

The aura of the puppet flared, jumping into the Peak of the Sovereign Plane before returning back to its previous state. From time to time, the aura of the puppet would enter the Peak of the Sovereign Plane before returning to normal.

Grey observed the puppet, before looking at the smiling old Gnome.

The old Gnome could see the inquisition in Grey’s eyes and explained, “Now that he’s in this state, he can not only tap into his peak strength, but also one above that.”

“I figured.” Grey finally commented.

Hearing his voice, the old Gnome was a little taken aback as he could tell that the owner of the voice was clearly quite young.

‘A Ninth stage Sovereign so young. I must have him, his potential should remain even after the procedure of turning him into a puppet.’ The old Gnome looked at Grey with greed.

Grey did not know what was going through the head of the old Gnome, the puppet made a move after the old Gnome finished his explanation.

A large darkness cube appeared around Grey, trapping him inside as it shrunk rapidly.

From where Cory was watching, as she saw the Grey being covered by the darkness cube and it shrinking at such speed, she wanted to just out to try to help Grey, but was stopped by Void. She looked at him with her teary eyes, only for him to shake his head and point in the direction of the darkness cube.

The cube shrunk to around two meters before it stopped. It tried to contract even more, but whenever it would try to shrink, it would be forcibly expanded. This struggle continued for a few seconds before cracks appeared all across the darkness cube. The cube shattered the next instant, releasing Grey who charged at the puppet.

Boom! Bam! Bang!

The duo traded hundreds of blows in seconds, shattering mountains and trees around them.

The old Gnome and his entourage gave the duo space to fight properly.

As the fight dragged on, the expression of the old Gnome was slowly getting darker and darker. He thought in this state, the puppet would have been able to deal with Grey. The reality, however, was completely different from what he had in mind. Grey was still able to put up with the puppet, despite it being equal to a Peak Sovereign in its current state.

The old Gnome’s worry soon turned into a bright smile. The last time he encountered someone like this, he succeeded in turning that person into his puppet. Now even if he eventually loses his current puppet in the fight, he felt it would be worth it when he turns Grey into his puppet.

With this thought in mind, he controlled the puppet to fight even more aggressively. He wanted to wear Grey down so they could kill him after he was exhausted. His only concern now was if Grey’s backup is just as strong as he was. When he thought about the strength of those in the underground cave, he felt a little more confident. If there was another person as strong as Grey, they should be done with dealing with those weak Gnomes and Necromancers back at the cave. The backup not being here yet only meant they were held back by the Gnomes over there.

Even if they succeed, he did not believe they would be able to take on their current group without Grey’s help. He tried to control the puppet to trade injuries with Grey. Since the puppet would not be held back by the injuries, he was confident this was the best option.

Grey, faced with the fierce attacks of the puppet, saw right through the old Gnome’s intention. He scoffed at the naivety of the Gnome. Of course, the old Gnome could not be blamed for this as he did not know the full extent of Grey’s abilities.

Grey had been keeping his space element hidden and had only used his fire, lightning, and earth element since he started fighting with the puppet. When the puppet’s attacks became stronger, he knew he could not hide any longer.

The puppet was about to stab him after taking Grey’s attack head-on, when Grey suddenly vanished from the puppet’s attack range.

The puppet looked around, searching for its fight partner.

Grey reappeared a few hundred meters away, standing opposite the old Gnome and the puppet.

“He’s also a Space Elementalists!” The old Gnome exclaimed. Now, he started shaking from excitement. One of the rarest puppets among Gnomes and Necromancers, were puppets who were Space Elementalists.

The expression of one of the Seventh stage Sovereigns changed at the sight of this.