Affinity:Chaos

Grey managed to escape the range of the attack on time, but as soon as he stood up, all he saw was a white flash coming straight at him, before he could react, it struck him on the chest.

Bam!

Grey's figure was sent flying, and Void couldn't help but shake his head at Grey's misfortune.

While he was previously rolling to try to escape the ice shards that were coming out of the ground, because of the trees he had to maneuver past without standing up, he unfortunately rolled within a few meters from his attacker.

Aetonth who was about to stop its ice beam instantly swung its currently snow-covered tail at Grey.

In such a short distance, Grey didn't have any chances of reacting before he was hit. Luckily, Grey not only has a strong body, but Aetonth went easy on him since it was told not to kill him, or else, it wouldn't have had any issues with breaking most of his ribs with just that attack even though his body was stronger than most people.

Bang!

Grey crashed into a tree hard on his side, before falling to the ground.

Void instantly attacked, in hopes of distracting Aetonth to buy Grey as much time as he could, but because of the huge gap in strength, he was quickly overwhelmed and sent flying by an ice pillar in Grey's direction.

Grey who was just standing was forced to catch Void, because of the suddenness, he could only put his body on the way before holding Void with his hands after Void hit him. The force not only sent him staggering back, but also increased the pain he was feeling on his chest from Aetonth's previous attack.

"Ah..." He groaned lightly in pain while his face winced because of it.

'Void, how about you return the crystal to it, I'll even allow you steal the shiny crown of the emperor.' After regaining his footing, he tried to convince Void to return the crystal since that was the current best course of action.

Initially, he thought this was going to be like the quasi dragon when even though they were overpowered, it wasn't by much. But now, he really wished he had tried everything he could to stop Void, although it might be futile since he couldn't keep up with Void's speed when he's using the space element, at least he would have known he tried.

Who knows, maybe he might have been able to stop him.

"Shiny crown?' Void asked a little excited by the possibility of stealing a shiny crown.

'Shit! I shouldn't have said that.' Grey thought to himself.

Now he had to make sure not to go close to the emperor or else Void might get him in trouble. But the funny thing was, he had only seen the emperor once, and at that time, he wasn't wearing his crown, so he didn't even know if the crown was shiny or not.

'Yeah, why don't you return this so we can leave this place in one piece. You know you can't get another shiny thing if you're dead, right?' Grey tried convincing Void to return.

'I know, but the truth is, I really don't have the crystal, it just vanished!' Void said feeling wronged.

He didn't recall taking the crystal out, so how did he lose it if it was in the same place?

'Come on Void, we're being serious here, return it before this dragon kills us.' Grey said a little annoyed.

He couldn't just let Void do as he pleases, especially when it'll put their lives in danger. Luckily, he told Klaus and the others to leave, else even though if they all fought against the dragon they might fare better than his current situation, the dragon would still be able to easily overwhelm them in the end.

But since he's currently alone with Void, he could easily run once he uses the Fusion State, without the fear of leaving anyone behind.

'I'm serious as well, it just disappeared! I swear it on all things shiny!' Void said while sending out an attack at Aetonth.

Since they're speaking via the mind link, they could communicate faster than when people speak openly, so although their small conversation seemed a little long, it all happened in a short time.

Grey created a large boulder that he sent at Aetonth.

'Wait, you're being serious?' He asked to clarify.

He wasn't really too sure if Void was lying, but since Void could swear on all things shiny, which is probably the most precious thing to him, there might be a chance that he's right. But he didn't believe him completely though.

'Yes, I still want more shiny things, I don't want to die now. Although I know we have a small chance of escaping, I really can't find the crystal in my spatial storage.' Void explained.

'That's strange, if it's not with you, and given how the dragon is still chasing, it shouldn't be with it as well, then who has it? Or is there a chance you brought it out while we were running previously and misplaced it?' Grey asked, he found Void's words baffling.

'We were together, did you see me taking out any crystal?' Void looked at Grey weirdly before disappearing from his position and appearing not too far from Aetonth, sending out a black mass that covered a three meters radius towards it.

Aetonth opened its mouth and sprayed out a stream of ice that gradually ate away the black mass.

The black mass started shrinking at a fast pace, and within three seconds, it vanished. But Aetonth's attack continued heading in Void's direction.

Grey who was by the side stepped in by using three elements simultaneously.

He first formed the strongest earth wall he could, before sending a lightning bolt, as well as a stream of fire in Aetonth's direction. Both attacks struck from the left and right side respectively, that wasn't all, two blue symbols also lit up in the air, they were inscriptions he made with his fire essence.

The symbols also sent out two huge fireballs at Aetonth, one headed towards its tail region, while the other targeted its back.

It was a four-way pincer attack, Grey was hopeful it might be able to do some damage, even if it's a little.

'Void, again.' Grey called on Void to repeat the same trick they did the first time.

Aetonth's attack struck the earth wall the same time Grey's four attacks got to it. Seeing them, it quickly formed its protective sphere once again.

Void who previously disappeared, appeared outside the sphere, and it sneered. It wouldn't fall for the same thing twice.

It quickly came out of the sphere, taking the path where his ice stream was going, heading towards Grey.

It all happened so fast that just after Void moved all of Grey's attacks into the sphere did it leave it.

Grey smiled on seeing this, as well as Void.

Unknown to Aetonth, Grey also released a fifth attack, with a third inscription, but it never appeared since Void kept it the moment it sent out the attack.

Boom!