Affinity:Chaos

Grey was unaware of what was happening in the Aurora Continent. Although he would be quite surprised by the fame he had garnered due to the Gnomes wanting to kill him at all costs, he wouldn't be too shocked. The Gnomes hated him for a reason, he could stop their greatest means of attack. In a well-thought-out plan, he could easily take out a large group of Gnomes if he had others to help him out.

This was exactly the reason why the Gnomes wanted him dead at all costs. Grey was a time bomb waiting to explode on them. At the moment, they still had the advantage over humans, but the moment someone like Grey steps into the fray, they would be in trouble.

When battling with humans, they tend to collect the corpses of the top experts they kill, turning them into puppets they use for their future battles. While humans are reducing in combat strength, the Gnomes are increasing their numbers.

Three more months went by in a blink and Grey was preparing to leave the Chaos Battlefield.

His strength had gone to the Eighth stage, but he was already close to the Ninth stage. Cori was still at the Peak of the Sage Plane, Grey had blocked her from breaking through.

After spending time with her, he noticed the reason she was able to awaken her elements earlier than usual was due to a rare deformity in her system. What was supposed to be a curse turned into a blessing for her.

The disadvantage of that though was quite powerful. Grey was able to sense it early, or else Cori's life would've been in danger if she had broken through to the Elemental Venerable Plane within such a short time.

Her body isn't strong enough to contain the strength of an Elemental Venerable. At her current state, she was already at her maximum, adding any bit of strength would make her explode.

Cori was excited about leaving the place when Grey spoke about it. She had stayed in the Chaos Battlefield all her life, now was the time for her to finally leave and explore the new world.

Grey didn't show the same excitement. His only thought was how to get back to the Aurora Continent and help Arya's brother. Once he's done with that, he would continue his usual training, hiding in the Faction to increase his knowledge or strength.

As they were about to head for the portal, he was reminded by Void about Arthel. Grey promised to take Arthel with him when leaving. To be honest, he had completely forgotten about it, but Cori remembered and told him about it.

With no other option, they had to head back to the City where Arthel resided. It took around a week or so. Grey traveled at full speed, carrying Cori. With his current speed, he was confident he would be able to outrun most Peak stage Elemental Venerables.

The only ones who can give him a hard time are those who focus mainly on speed, the others wouldn't be able to catch up to him.

On his way back, he passed through some Peak Rank Seven Magical Beasts' territories, but none of them attacked him. His speed was enough to scare them off. They didn't need to sense his cultivation to know that he was a powerful foe. No one wanted to face off against someone that could give them a tough time, even fatally injuring them in the process. And from how fast Grey was going, they knew he didn't have any plans to stop by, so they let him do as he wished.

Grey was stopped by a Golden Horned Lion which felt it was disrespectful for Grey to fly above it. The result, it was smacked down by Grey the moment it rose into the air to stop him.

When the Lion hit the ground, it didn't dare to come back up, pretending like nothing happened. Grey didn't stop either, continuing his journey.

When he got to the City, he met up with the Old man who broke the news of Arthel not being in the City to him. He pleaded with him to wait for a day while he went out to bring Arthel back. According to him, a strange occurrence happened close to their region and Arthel with a few other Elemental Venerables went out to check it out.

Grey didn't want to spend too much time here, so he went with the Old man. He left Cori and the bunny leader in the City. She would be safer there.

From what the Old man said, he wasn't too sure about what happened. This was also the reason he wanted to check it out, he was curious about what would've happened to cause a massive fissure in the sky.

Grey followed the Old man, and after ten minutes, they got to where the incident occurred.

….

"This is unbelievable." Grey said softly.

This was the first time he was seeing something like this form on its own. The destructive power he could sense in it scared the living daylight out of him. If he could harness such a power, he would be even more frightening.

"This is not the first time something like this has happened." The Old man explained, "On one occasion, it wiped out an entire City as powerful as ours."

Grey didn't doubt the Old man's words, just from standing there, he could already sense the threat it posed. If this thing were to open up in an unsuspecting City, the consequences would be severe. Just like the Old man said, it could destroy the entire City.

"Where are they?" Grey couldn't see anyone present here. Arthel and the others should be here, but they weren't.

The Old man pointed at the fissure, "They must have entered it."

"People can go in?" Grey was taken aback.

"Yes." The Old man nodded and explained, "After the initial destruction, it would become docile and can be explored."

"Oh, but we can't get close to it at the moment. How are we going to enter?" Grey asked.