Affinity:Chaos

"What's going on?" Klaus asked after they left the woods.

There was no way this person would chase them for no reason, especially given the distance they moved. Also, his statement to Grey when they were leaving meant that there was something between them.

Grey sighed wryly, he knew he wouldn't be able to hide it any longer, "I'm marked."

"Marked?" Alice asked with a curious expression.

"Yes, a necromancer used his life force to place a mark on me. Now I'm being hunted down by all necromancers." Grey shook his head wryly.

"All necromancers?" Klaus asked.

"Yes. They can sense the mark in my body if they're close to me. Initially, when I was marked there was an expert with me, and she managed to reduce the effect to only a one kilometer radius, but after encountering those creatures back home, they seemed to have increased the distance." Grey explained, a wry smile on his face.

He hated his current situation. When it was a one kilometer radius, he could still cope with it, but now, things have become incredibly difficult. If he were to go on an adventure on his own and he encountered these people, he might lose his life if they were stronger than he is.

"That's messed up. Isn't there a way to remove the mark?" Klaus asked.

"No, not even the most powerful expert in the Continent can help him remove it." Kyle told them the story of the genius from the number one Faction in the Middle Continent.

The group's expression changed when they heard about this. They didn't think it was this bad.

"No need to worry, necromancers are very rare. Since they're only Darkness Elementalists, they're population is low." Grey said, "And besides, they don't enter cities like this one. Even if they do, they wouldn't be able to show that they're necromancers since it will make everyone hunt them down."

The others knew that Grey was only trying to reassure them, but they still found it difficult to accept things as they are. If even the most powerful Faction couldn't protect their genius, then who could protect Grey?

"Come on, the competition will be starting soon. They'll be suitable Factions for us." Grey said to the others, trying to rouse their spirits.

"Sure, let's get going." Alice nodded.

She believed Grey would be able to survive this. Just like Kyle thought, she knew Grey was different when compared to other people. Maybe he would be able to create a miracle once again.

The others nodded and followed Grey as he led the way.

"Wait, you guys are trying to join a Faction?" Kyle asked as they walked forward.

"Yes." Reynolds replied.

"Wait, you're saying you guys weren't in a Faction or any of the large Families?" Kyle was dumbfounded.

How could geniuses like these not be part of any powerful Faction or Family? It was unbelievable.

"Nope." Klaus shook his head.

Kyle was lost for words. He wanted to speak, but he paused. This was a shocking discovery. He never thought this was even possible. When he was traveling with the group, he originally thought they were from large Families and their Families had ties with each other, hence the close friendship between the four.

"Where are you from?" He couldn't help but ask.

"Somewhere far away, even if we tell you, you still wouldn't know it." Grey was the one who answered him this time.

"Hmm." Kyle still didn't know how to take this news.

"Do any of you wish to join my Faction?" He suddenly asked.

He was a Fire Elementalist, so his Faction focused more on the fire element. But they wouldn't mind taking in geniuses of this caliber even if they were of other elements. And besides, Grey and Alice had the fire element.

"We plan to join different Factions." Reynolds replied.

"Why?" Kyle asked.

To him, it didn't make sense. Why would they actively separate? With their chemistry, if they stayed in the same Faction, they would be the most feared group.

"This would give us more of a challenge since we'd like to see how far we've grown after separating for months or even years. We all know Grey's stronger, and being with him isn't good for us." Klaus replied.

"It still doesn't make sense." Kyle said.

"Haha, don't worry about it. You can join in our little competition as well. The person with the highest cultivation stage and the most powerful person will be the leader of the group!" Klaus said.

"Do you think you can actually lead us?" Reynolds asked with a mocking smile.

Amongst the group, Klaus was the one who advanced the quickest thanks to his insane luck, so they knew he would definitely be the one with the highest cultivation stage. Grey was the strongest, even if they were two or three stages ahead of him, it would still be almost impossible to defeat him.

"What are you saying? I've been doing a great job all this while, haven't I?" Klaus turned to Void.

"I support you." Void said.

The group continued bickering as they entered the city. In the end, they decided that no matter what happened, Klaus wouldn't lead the group.

What Kyle found strange was that since he was following the group, they didn't seem to have a leader. Whatever decisions they wanted to make, they needed the permission of the others before deciding on it.

'They're just…' He sighed with a shake of his head.

"Looks like we managed to make it." Grey said as they entered the city.

The city was bustling with activity due to the competition that would be taking place. They got here two days before the competition, so they still had time to explore the city before the competition began.

They would take their time to access all the Factions that will be present in the competition before picking the one to join.

Kyle told them all the information he knew about the Factions. Alice and Reynolds picked two different Factions that focused on the Lightning element, while Klaus picked a Faction that was based on the water element.

"Which Faction are you joining?" Klaus asked Grey.

The competition would be starting that day, and the others had already picked a Faction they wanted to join.

"None." Grey replied.

"Huh?!" Everyone exclaimed in shock.

"There's no one I'm interested in. Well, to be precise, I would like to move to another Region." Grey replied.

Although joining a Faction was good, he didn't feel this was the Region for him, so he planned to check out other Regions first.

"Hmm, okay. But wouldn't traveling alone put you in danger?" Klaus asked.

After hearing about the necromancers hunting him down, the group felt he would be in danger if he moved alone. If not for the talisman Klaus had, then things would've been dangerous for him during his last encounter.

"I've begged Teacher for some talismans, besides, Void would be breaking through soon." Grey said.

After the last incident, he asked his Teacher for a talisman. The plaque his Teacher made was extremely useful, instead of sending a meal over, he wrote a letter and sent it over.

He knew his Teacher would throw a tantrum after seeing it, but since the talisman was important to him, he had to.

Chris didn't agree to make a talisman for him since he still hadn't recovered from the last ones he made for Klaus, but after being blackmailed and begged by Grey, he decided to take the risk.

The reason he agreed was that he couldn't afford to stop eating his delicious meals, nor could he let his cook die.

"Uncle? He agreed?" Klaus asked, surprised.

"Of course. I'm his student after all." Grey shrugged. Not telling them of how he had to blackmail him.

When Kyle heard their conversation, he finally knew the relationship between Klaus and Grey. This explained why the duo were so close and understood each other so well. But he still didn't know the relationship of Alice and Reynolds to the group.

"We should get going, the competition will start soon and you four need to register." He said to them.

"What about you?" Reynolds asked.

"I have no interest in joining the competition. I'm part of a Faction, and the rewards aren't important to me." Kyle said.

"I'm also not joining, but I only want to test out my strength." Grey said, trying to convince Kyle to join.

"Actually, I have a few enemies here. Going on stage will only show them that I'm around." Kyle said.

"Oh, why didn't you say that earlier?" Reynolds patted him on the shoulder.

The others didn't pressure him any longer and headed to the arena. Almost everyone in the city was heading towards the arena, so it was pretty busy.

When they got there, they were amongst the first few who made it there. Without delay, they headed towards where they would register for the competition.