Affinity:Chaos

"Heh! He's just a poser, he didn't even bring a gift for old man Gerald."

A few of the young men started poking fun at Grey when they realized he didn't bring a gift. He wasn't the only one who didn't bring a gift, but after drawing so much attention, he was the one who stood out the most.

Sasha looked at Grey, amused by his current situation. However, she was left disappointed when she realized he wasn't the least bit fazed by it. He was even eating what was left of his food, not bothering to look at the people speaking.

'A foodie?' She thought to herself.

This was the second time she was encountering Grey, and from what she has deduced, he was a lover of food.

At the front table.

"He doesn't seem to be bothered by the hate he's currently getting," Gerald chuckled softly while looking at Grey who was almost taking all the attention on his birthday.

"He wouldn't be so unconcerned soon," The older lady said.

"Hehe," Gerald laughed but didn't say any further.

He knew Grey had nothing to worry about. He's more curious how Grey planned on handling being public enemy number one.

The Earl sisters came back along with Randel after giving their gifts.

Grey sensed someone approaching him, he raised his head to see an elegant young man walking towards him with a smirk. He shook his head before looking away.

'I didn't even do anything to them, yet they're all hating me,' He complained internally.

He noticed he had been getting hate glares from some of the young men at the ceremony. Without being told, he could tell the young man walking in his direction is one of his haters.

"What do you want?" Grey asked while still looking in the Earl sisters' direction.

The young man who stood behind Grey felt disrespected because Grey didn't even bother to look at him when speaking.

He swallowed his anger before asking, "How useless can you be to come to a birthday party without even bringing a gift for the celebrant?"

The young man raised his voice to ensure he got the attention of everyone. His plan was to disgrace Grey in the presence of everyone, as well as make him look bad in front of old man Gerald and the girls.

"Is this your birthday party?" Grey asked unperturbed by the unwanted attention the young man was bringing his way.

"N…" The young man almost choked on his answer. But he summoned the courage to answer, "No,"

"Then why are you here clamoring for gifts?" Grey asked while taking a sip of the wine on the table, still not giving the young man a glance.

"You… you're disgracing the Earl family with this attitude," The young man said pointing at Grey.

"Are you from the Earl family?" Grey asked with a sneer.

The young man was currently at a loss for words hearing Grey's question. The answer to this question was also no, if he says no then Grey would just say it was none of his business.

All his plans were ruined by a simple question from Grey. Now everyone was looking at him as if he was a fool. It would have been okay if he was able to disgrace Grey, but having the outcome turned on him the moment he went there made things worse for him.

"Go back to your seat, stop disgracing yourself," Grey continued when he saw that the young man couldn't speak any further.

The young man looked around with a long face, "How… how can you come here with the Earl family and disgrace them?"

Grey stopped answering him entirely and focused on his wine, savoring the taste with eyes closed.

"He's not from this city and knew nothing of the birthday celebration. We only invited him when we saw him a few days ago," Aldreda spoke up when she saw the young man planning on continuing his taunts which Grey clearly wasn't bothered with.

"How could you bring a stranger to…"

"Are you really that desperate?" Grey interrupted the young man when he saw how far he was taking it.

After asking the question. He glanced at the young man from the side of his eyes.

The young man stood rooted when he saw Grey's stare, it was like he was looking at a grim reaper waving at him. He gulped before unconsciously retreating to steps.

Gerald and everyone else was watching the scene attentively. They didn't miss the part where a single glance from Grey sent the young man retreating in fear.

Gerald looked at Grey again before looking at the middle-aged man who was in charge of announcing the events in the ceremony. He nodded to give him the go-ahead to continue with the ceremony.

The middle-aged man quickly stepped forward and coughed twice to draw the attention of the crowd, "It's gotten to 'that' part of the ceremony once again. This time, we made sure to make a bigger platform to ensure everyone can use their full abilities,"

Grey gave the girls an inquisitive look. Aldreda quickly explained what the middle-aged man meant by 'that part of the ceremony'. Apparently, old man Gerald enjoyed watching youngsters spar, so whenever he celebrates his birthday, he would always have this segment at the end of the celebration.

The young man who was trying to disgrace Grey had long disappeared.

While Aldreda was explaining to Grey, the crowd all stood up and moved to the western part of the villa. There was a space that spanned at least four hundred square meters. A two hundred meter platform was placed in the center.

'A jade platform, damn!' Grey exclaimed inside when he saw the platform.

Jade might not be the hardest type of stone, but it was extremely difficult to destroy. Only an Earth Elementalist in the Overlord Plane could easily make jade. Grey was already very close to being able to make jade.

The crowd all took their seats around the platform, before the middle-aged man climbed onto the platform.

"I presume most of you know the rules, but since some of you are new, I'll go over it again…"

The rules of the battles were simple, anyone who first stepped onto the platform could challenge anyone they wanted. During the battle, as soon as one party is unable to continue or admits defeat, the battle is stopped.

Death was not allowed in the battle, and although there are mistakes since it's a battle after all. If the judges find out that the act of killing the opponent was deliberate, then the other party would be punished according to the rules.

"Interesting, this should be entertaining," Grey mumbled.

He could already almost foresee the number of challenges he would get. It wasn't hard to guess given the number of people who were currently looking at him with fiery eyes. The young man who previously walked up to him was staring at him with killing intent.

'If looks could kill, then you'd be dead by now,' Void snickered at Grey's misfortune.

'Being handsome is such a headache,' Grey replied with a shrug.

As soon as the middle-aged man announced for the battles to start, the young man who previously walked up to Grey was the first to get to the platform. Everyone naturally expected this, and most of the people wanted to see Grey's strength hence they let this guy go first.

"I challenge Zeke Hoover," The young man announced loudly.

The crowd turned to Grey's location, only to see him staring at the young man with an amused smile.

"Not interested"