Affinity: Chaos

Chapter 2192: Taking Back The City

Grey and the final group of warriors felt their vision blur for a fraction of a second. When the spatial light faded, solid stone formed beneath their feet. They stood inside the sealed mountaintop city.

The newly arrived Sovereigns moved quickly to join the forces already assembled. Grey walked straight toward the small cluster of figures waiting near the center of the compound. Reynolds and Conor stood with the Faction Leader and Mayor Zane.

The Faction Leader turned as Grey approached. ”All set?”

Grey nodded once.

”Good.” The Faction Leader’s voice stayed low but firm. ”Here’s the plan. The two Necromancers are still inside the city. We surround them and kill them first. Only after they are dead do we move against the four outside. If we let those two live long enough to coordinate, the situation might become much harder.”

The plan was simple and direct. No one offered objections. Grey remained silent; he saw no flaw worth commenting on.

”Where is Heidens?” the Faction Leader asked. He knew the Peak Sovereign had not entered the city with Grey.

”Not far,” Grey replied. ”Once the fighting starts, he will appear.”

The Faction Leader accepted the answer without further questions. He stepped away to address the combined force of Molten Crest experts and the exhausted local defenders who had held the city for more than a week. His speech was brief.

”Kill them all.”

A low, fierce murmur rolled through the ranks. For the survivors who had endured the siege, the order carried the weight of long-delayed retribution. For the newly arrived warriors, it was the signal that the real battle was about to begin.

Grey, the Faction Leader, Mayor Zane, Adkins, and two additional Peak Sovereigns from the Molten Crest Faction broke away from the main group first. The rest of the army would hold position until the two Necromancers inside the city were dead.

Mayor Zane led them into a narrow opening hidden behind a collapsed storage building. The entrance was barely wide enough for two men to walk abreast. Once inside, the passage slanted downward into the bedrock beneath the city. The air grew cooler and carried the damp scent of stone that had not seen sunlight in years. Faint moisture beaded on the rough walls. Their footsteps echoed softly as they moved.

Zane had governed this city for centuries. The network of emergency tunnels was his design, built for exactly this kind of desperate moment. The group followed the twisting route in silence for nearly thirty minutes. No one spoke. Even the sound of their breathing stayed controlled. Even though they were Peak Sovereigns, they did not dare send out spiritual senses in fear that might alert the enemies above.

When they finally stopped beneath a section of solid rock, the Faction Leader leaned close to Grey and whispered, ”How is it?”

Grey closed his eyes for a moment, receiving the feedback from the bunny leader’s scout. The small creature had already slipped through the upper levels unnoticed. To any casual observer it would appear as nothing more than a common magical beast searching for food.

”Clear,” Grey murmured. ”Don’t resist.”

Spatial energy, layered with assistance from Void and the bunny leader, wrapped around the group. The darkness of the tunnel folded away.

They reappeared in an open courtyard not too far from the heart of the city.

Two thin men sat in carved chairs beneath a faded canopy. One of them lounged back while a young girl in her teens held out a plate of fruit. Bruises marked her face and the exposed skin of her arms. Her eyes stayed fixed on the ground.

The sudden appearance of six powerful auras shattered the quiet. Both Necromancers surged to their feet.

The one who had been eating spat the half-chewed fruit into the young girl’s face and jabbed a finger toward Mayor Zane.

”Zane. It seems you’ve grown tired of the little cage we left you in.”

His gaze swept over the rest of the group and stopped on Adkins. A cold snicker escaped his mouth.

”You even managed to bring help. Wait... aren’t you Adkins of the Molten Crest Faction?”

Recognition flickered across both Necromancers’ faces. For a brief instant panic showed in their eyes. Then it settled into wary calculation. They had received word not long ago from the four Peak Sovereign Gnomes outside the city, so they knew the four were still alive and in position. If they could hold for a short time, reinforcements would surely arrive.

The Faction Leader had no interest in conversation.

”Die!”

He struck first. A dense wave of fire elemental energy roared across the courtyard. Adkins and the other Peak Sovereigns followed an instant later, their attacks converging on the two thin figures.

The Necromancer who had spoken reacted with ruthless speed. He seized the young girl by the arm and hurled her directly into the path of the incoming strikes, using her body as a shield while he launched himself into the air.

The attacks closed in on her in a deadly arc of fire, earth, and cutting wind.

Grey moved.

One moment he stood with the group; the next he was beside the falling girl. His hand closed around her waist, and both of them vanished in a short spatial shift. The combined assault tore through empty air and slammed into the chairs and stone floor, shattering the courtyard in a burst of flying debris and scorched rock.

Grey reappeared at the edge of the destroyed space, the young girl still in his arm. He set her down behind a half-collapsed wall where she would be clear of the fighting, then turned back without a word. The girl could only watch without uttering a word. She barely knew what just happened, one moment it felt like she was about to die, the next she was standing there perfectly fine.

Above the ruined courtyard the two Necromancers hovered, faces dark with anger and sudden urgency. They had not expected the first exchange to go so poorly. Against five Peak Sovereigns they could not afford to fight without their strongest weapons.

Both men summoned their puppets at once. Dark energy flared as the puppets took shape beside them, each radiating the aura of a Peak Sovereign. The Necromancers’ thoughts aligned in the same cold calculation.

’Hold them. Just a few seconds. The others will come.’