Affinity: Chaos

Chapter 2136: Who Said Anything About Leaving?

"You said it would only take a second. What happened?" Reynolds flew to Grey’s side, lightning still faintly crackling around the edges of his armor.

Grey stood without any visible elemental fluctuations, yet every member of the Asterope Faction could feel that he was anything but ordinary. The quiet pressure around him was different from raw power, it was controlled, dense, and difficult to read. The Gnomes sensed it too. Unlike the humans, however, their reaction carried a clear edge of concern. Several of the lower-ranked ones shifted uneasily on their platforms.

The two Ninth-stage Sovereign Gnomes stood side by side. Behind them the remaining Gnomes and their puppets quickly formed tighter ranks. The scout leader stepped forward and whispered urgently, "Sir, I thought you said it was impossible for anyone from the outside to come in."

He froze for a second. His pupils dilated. "Unless..."

"He’s not a Peak Sovereign. Relax." The scarred Gnome’s expression remained frosty, but a faint tension sat in his jaw. He had boasted earlier that no one below the Peak of the Sovereign Plane could break the seal on this place. Yet a Ninth-stage Sovereign now stood calmly in front of them, and from the way the Lightning Elementalist had arrived, this was clearly the one who had brought him inside.

Only now did the scarred Gnome fully understand the earlier question..."How could you not invite us?" He had wondered who the "us" referred to when only one person appeared. The answer stood in the open air before him, unbothered by their combined auras.

The second Ninth-stage Gnome shared the same wariness. What unsettled him most was that he had sensed Alice’s aura the moment she spoke, confirming she had survived the earlier explosion. Yet even after looking in that direction he had only noticed the second figure when his eyes actually landed on him. If he had not seen Grey with his own eyes, he would never have known anyone was standing there. The man’s presence simply did not register to mental sense the way a normal Sovereign’s should.

*How can a fellow Ninth-stage Sovereign completely evade my senses?*

The same question echoed in both Ninth-stage Gnomes’ minds as dust continued to drift through the sunlight now pouring in from above.

While the Gnomes studied him in silence, Grey finished explaining the delay to Reynolds.

"The seal placed here is quite interesting. I had to inspect it briefly before coming in."

Reynolds let out a short "oh" and turned his gaze downward for the first time, taking in the full view of the cavern. Ancient buildings stretched across the uneven ground far below, their roofs half-collapsed, walls cracked and weathered by time. Some structures still stood three or four stories high, while others had been reduced to little more than broken foundations. Dust still drifted through the air from the earlier fighting, catching the new sunlight in slow, golden motes.

"To think an entire ruined city was hidden underground," he muttered, genuine surprise in his voice.

Alice, standing beside them, answered quietly. "They said it’s been here for thousands of years, even longer than my Faction."

Her eyes moved across what remained of her squad. Several of them were injured, their clothes torn and stained. Coldness settled into her expression, and thin waves of killing intent began to leak from her body, sharp enough that the nearest Gnomes noticed.

"Can you take them out?" she asked softly.

The opening Sara and the Dual Elementalist had been struggling to widen was no longer necessary now that Grey was here. The tablet in Sara’s hands had gone still.

Grey looked upward thoughtfully, studying the cracked ceiling and the bright sky beyond. "Why don’t we take the fight outside?"

Alice followed his gaze, understood immediately, and nodded once.

With her confirmation, Grey took a single step. His figure appeared only inches from the cavern ceiling. He reached up and tapped the stone lightly with two fingers, feeling the residual energy of the formation, then gave a small nod.

"Good formation."

His eyes glowed a deep, steady blue. Three complex array patterns formed behind him, rotating slowly. These were different from the inscriptions he normally used for attacks, special patterns he had developed while researching faster ways to dismantle formations. Sara’s mouth fell open as she watched. Creating even one of these patterns required a level of array mastery that most top array masters never reached in their lifetime. Grey had formed three at the same time and made the process look almost casual.

The patterns shattered into countless smaller fragments of light and sank silently into the ceiling, disappearing into the stone like water into dry earth.

Grey raised one hand and formed a precise seal.

"Break."

The soft word was followed by a deep, heavy tremor that ran through the entire cavern. Pebbles began to fall first, tapping against platforms and rooftops. Then larger stones followed. Cracks spread across the ceiling in branching lines, racing outward from the point Grey had touched. The ancient formation that had held the cavern stable for so long could no longer support the weight once its core was broken.

In only a few seconds a small hole opened. A thin ray of real sunlight pierced the darkness for the first time in who knew how many centuries, illuminating floating dust and the upper edges of the ruined buildings below. More sections of the ceiling gave way with loud, grinding cracks. Larger chunks of stone crashed downward, some shattering against the platforms, others plunging into the darkness beneath the city. The hole widened rapidly, flooding more of the cavern with bright, almost harsh daylight.

None of the Gnomes moved to stop him. It was not that they did not want to, Grey had simply been too fast. The array had been dismantled before they could even fully react.

The scarred Gnome turned his head slightly and sent a voice transmission to his companion. The second Ninth-stage met his eyes for a long moment, expression unreadable, then gave a slow nod.

The rest of the ceiling collapsed in a thunderous cascade of stone, earth, and broken formation runes. Bright sunlight poured into the cavern in full, revealing the complete extent of the ancient ruined city in clear, unforgiving light. Dust rose in thick clouds. The temperature shifted noticeably as outside air rushed in, carrying the scent of grass and open sky from the field above.

"You’ll regret this, human." The scarred Gnome’s voice was flat, almost emotionless, yet it carried clearly through the settling dust.

When Grey gave no response, the Gnome continued, "Take them and leave."

The members of the Asterope Faction stared in open shock. They had fully expected to fight their way out against overwhelming odds. The sudden offer of free passage left them momentarily stunned, some still gripping their weapons tightly as if the words might be a trick.

Before any of them could feel real relief, a cold, completely emotionless voice cut through the sunlight and the drifting dust.

"Who said anything about leaving?"