Affinity: Chaos

Chapter 2076: Arrival Of The Emissary

Grey sat cross-legged outside the cave, not entering to see what the treasure was yet. He wanted to kill the emissary, and he was confident he could achieve this.

By the side, the three Gnomes could be seen tied up on the ground. The corpses all around the forest floor had been burnt to crisp by the bunny leader’s bunnies. There was no way Grey was going to comfortably sit there with the strong stench of blood filling the whole area.

“You’re really going to wait for the emissary?” Natt asked, a little stunned by Grey’s boldness.

It was one thing to go against a Ninth stage Sovereign while also being a Ninth stage Sovereign, but going after a Peak Sovereign was no different from a death wish.

“Of course! He’s only a Peak Sovereign, what’s there for me to be worried about?” Grey replied offhandedly.

Natt shook his head when he heard this, he could not believe that Grey Dawson was this delusional.

‘How is he still alive with such an attitude?’ He wondered to himself before keeping quiet. There was no point in speaking to Grey about this since it was not his decision.

An hour went by in a flash, but there was no sight of the emissary.

Grey did not lose his patience, as he took the time to recover the essence he spent during the initial battle. He was still confident he could fight on even without recovering, but since he had the opportunity, why not take advantage of it and return to peak condition.

Thirty more minutes went by, and as Void was starting to get bored, a flash of light shot straight towards them, stopping only a few meters away from the cave.

It was a Gnome who wore bright golden robes, he held a red staff with a silver orb at the staff head.

He looked at Natt and the other Gnomes that were tied on the ground, then at the environment. Even without anyone pointing it out, he could tell a serious battle broke out a few hours ago or so. His eyes trailed along the forest floor before resting on the figure of Grey who was dressed in his usual black attire.

“I assume this was your doing?” He asked in a calm voice, devoid of any animosity.

Grey raised his head to look at the emissary, nodding he replied with a single word, “Yes.”

“And you waited for me even after you were informed I was arriving?” The emissary asked another question with curiosity.

“Correct.”

“You truly are a courageous boy, Grey Dawson.” The emissary praised.

Grey was slightly taken by surprise at his identity being exposed, but he did not show any reactions. He took a glance at Natt, before smiling under his mask. He did not know the content of the message Natt had sent to the emissary, but it was clear that he must have exposed his identity to him.

“I don’t think waiting for you is anything worth being deemed courageous.” Grey stood up from his sitting position.

The emissary laughed when he heard this, “You really are an amazing boy. I wonder if you’ll still be able to speak with such confidence after I’m done with you.”

Saying this, the emissary tapped his staff mid-air like it was on the ground, and a shockwave visible to the naked eyes spread out from where he was standing.

Grey felt a forceful wind blowing towards him, and with a step forward, a lightning shield enveloped him, stopping the wind from reaching him.

Natt and the other Gnomes were lifted into the sky before being thrown to another location.

As they were taken away, the emissary made a move without restraint.

Boom!

Grey and the emissary clashed mid-air. Grey struck out a punch, which the emissary blocked with his staff. After doing this, Grey kicked out, but it was once again blocked by the emissary.

The duo exchanged hundreds of blows in a matter of seconds without either of them using any elemental powers.

Bang! Bam!

The sound of two powerful items striking each other resonated across the forest floor.

Natt and the others could barely keep up with the movements of both Grey and the emissary as their speed was frightening beyond words.

Seeing Grey in action against the emissary, although it was obviously both parties testing each other out, Natt and the other Eighth stage Sovereigns had reevaluated Grey as someone who was stronger than most Ninth stage Sovereigns, and just below the level of strength of a Peak Sovereign.

The clashes got even more brutal as the few trees still standing around the cave started to fall one by one from the vicious physical brawl between the two.

Two minutes later, both sides separated as they both had the look of shock in each other’s eyes. Grey found it unbelievable that a Gnome could possess such physical prowess, whereas the emissary found it unfathomable that there was someone that could rival him in terms of physical abilities. He was thousands of years old and had been cultivating for just as long, and this was the first time he was seeing someone with such physical strength.

“It seems you’re even more dangerous than we had thought.” The emissary commented.

“You aren’t bad yourself.” Grey took the emissary’s words as praise, not caring what the latter thought as he replied. He paused and asked, “Your power doesn’t seem to stem from your body, how’s that so?”

The eyes of the emissary widened as he heard this question, he paused for a second before laughing, “Hahaha, I like you kid. It’s a shame we are on opposite ends. Here what will happen, when you’re almost dead, I’ll tell you. I’ll take it as me giving you your due respect.”

Grey chuckled and asked, “And what if you turn out to be the one on the verge of dying, do you think you will still be able to tell me?”

“Hahaha, you’re not like the other humans.” The emissary took a long look at Grey and replied, “If you can beat me, then I see no point in keeping the secret from you.”

“Good. Now I’m motivated.” Grey clenched his fist and struck out. This time he reinforced his fist with his fire and lightning elements.

As soon as his punch was blocked by the emissary’s staff, a powerful explosion spread out from his fist.

The emissary was forced to take a few steps back due to the impact of the explosion. Before he could regain his footing, another blow came his way.

The orb on the emissary’s staff started to rotate at lightning speed before a silver shield appeared, blocking Grey’s punch.

Bang!

Grey and the emissary entered a continuous back and forth battle with Grey being the attack and the emissary focusing on defending. It was not something the emissary had expected to happen at the start of their battle, but only in their second exchange, he was already being pressed back by Grey.

Although it seemed like he was on the back foot, the emissary did not panic nor speak. He was still in control of the situation.

After almost one minute, Grey knew there was no way he could break through the emissary’s defense at this rate.

He stood his reckless attacks and retreated, creating some distance between himself and the emissary.

“Oh, you’re tired?” The emissary asked cooly, and before Grey could reply, he added, “My turn then.”

The emissary’s figure slowly started to dissipate after saying this.

‘An afterimage.’ Grey’s eyes turned serious at the sight of this. His eyes looked around the forest at an amazing speed, trying to pinpoint the location of the emissary.

‘There.’

Grey turned just in time to meet the attack of the emissary coming at him. Using his space element, he barely dodged the attack. He was forced out of the spatial tunnel he dived into as the force from the emissary’s blow was strong enough to shatter the very fabric of space.

As Grey appeared, he was met with another attack from the emissary. Grey dodged the attack once again, only by a hair’s breadth.

The emissary did not relent in his attacks, chasing after Grey doggedly, with the latter doing everything to evade the attacks.

From the perspective of Natt and the others, the emissary was completely overpowering Grey.

“Fools who overestimate their abilities will always end up dead.” One of the Gnomes commented.

Natt did not say anything, only looking at the ongoing battle. He wanted to believe that Grey would be defeated, in fact, he did not believe that Grey even had any chance in this battle. However, he could feel something tugging at his heart, making it palpitate like something seriously bad was going to happen to him. There could be only one reason for that, he would end up dead after the fight.

‘Is the emissary planning to kill us?’

‘No, he wouldn’t do that. Then is it him?’