Affinity: Chaos

Chapter 2138: It Passed Through

The scarred Gnome stared in disbelief. He and his companion were both Ninth-stage Sovereigns, yet Grey had disabled the other so easily that it looked as though no resistance had been offered at all.

*How could he not even fight back?*

The thought barely finished forming before the scarred Gnome’s eyes flicked from Grey to the pale, frightened face of the sealed Gnome. A sudden realization struck him. Alarm bells rang in his mind and he roared without hesitation.

"Keep your puppets! It’s Grey Dawson!"

The scream snapped every Gnome back to reality. Only Alice and Reynolds remained unmoved; both had already prepared to attack.

The warning spread pure terror through the Gnome ranks. Every one of them still had their puppets summoned.

The scout leader had just begun pulling his puppet back when a dangerous surge of energy locked onto him. He never expected Lewis to strike at that exact moment.

Alice and Reynolds both turned on the scarred Gnome the instant the name left his mouth. Lewis, seizing the opening, charged straight at the scout leader who had wounded him earlier.

Panic flooded the scout leader’s face. He was not alone in his fear. Even the scarred Gnome could not put his full attention on blocking Alice and Reynolds. Most of his focus stayed locked on Grey, terrified of losing track of him for even a second.

Grey made no move to join the fight. After dealing with the second Ninth-stage in a single exchange, he simply stood and watched. His presence alone was enough to freeze the lower-ranked Gnomes in place.

The sealed Ninth-stage Gnome watched his companions—despite their superior numbers—begin to lose ground, and the sight left a bitter taste in his mouth. He wanted to shout orders, but the cold, emotionless eyes fixed on him made it impossible to open his mouth. He was certain that any sudden movement would bring Grey’s full attention back to him. While remaining still, he quietly tested the seal on his cultivation, searching for any crack he could force open.

"Don’t bother," Grey’s voice drifted over, quiet but clear. "You won’t unseal it."

The sealed Gnome gave no reply. He simply closed his eyes and pretended he had not heard.

The contrast between the two motionless figures and the rest of the battlefield could not have been sharper. Alice and Reynolds had already forced the scarred Gnome into a purely defensive stance after only a handful of exchanges. The scout leader was in even worse condition; Lewis’s well-timed strike had left him seriously wounded and struggling to stay on his feet.

The Sixth- and Seventh-stage Gnomes still held a clear numerical advantage, yet their fear of Grey kept them from pressing it. They moved hesitantly, constantly glancing toward the masked figure who simply stood and observed.

As the seconds dragged on, the scarred Gnome realized how badly the situation had turned. He could no longer count on his sealed companion while Grey’s attention remained fixed there. The others, however, could still be of use.

"Four of you hold him down!" he barked. "The other four deal with the girl! I’ll stop Grey Dawson myself!"

He had decided quickly. Grey was the true threat. As long as the masked man was occupied, the rest of the Gnomes would finally be free to fight without that crushing pressure. The scarred Gnome did not fear a direct confrontation. He believed the only reason Grey had disabled the other Ninth-stage so easily was the mental attack. Without it, he reasoned, Grey was no different from any other Sovereign of the same rank.

Reynolds moved to intercept when the scarred Gnome shot toward Grey, but Alice’s voice stopped him.

"Let him go. I need to protect the others."

She was right. Even with their fear of Grey, the Gnomes still outnumbered the remaining Sixth- and Seventh-stage humans nearly two to one. Many of Alice’s squad were already injured from earlier, having spent themselves shielding Sara and the Dual Elementalist. The longer the fight continued, the worse their chances became.

The scarred Gnome appeared in front of Grey a moment later. Grey remained completely still. The sealed Ninth-stage stood obediently a short distance away, not daring to move.

"Break the seal while I deal with him," the scarred Gnome ordered. Dark particles began to gather in the air around him as he started forming a domain.

Grey recognized the beginnings of a darkness elemental domain and the trouble it could cause. He did not wait for it to fully form. He flicked one finger. A thick bolt of lightning dropped from the open sky, aimed straight at the scarred Gnome’s head.

The scarred Gnome was ready. A film of dense darkness spread above him, intercepting the bolt with a sharp crack of energy. At the same time a long arm of pure darkness erupted from his chest and shot toward Grey with shocking speed.

Grey was not caught off guard. A deep brownish glow spread around his body and an earth wall rose in front of him. The darkness hand struck the wall hard.

Yet it did not stop.

Part of the hand had already passed through the earth wall before the barrier fully solidified. The rest simply continued extending, ignoring the obstruction as though it were mist.

A flicker of hope lit the scarred Gnome’s eyes. The darkness hand reached Grey’s chest and clawed inward with almost no resistance. Anticipation surged through him. For the first time he allowed himself to think not only of surviving this encounter, but of the rewards that would come with killing Grey Dawson.

That hope lasted less than a second.

A sudden, icy realization washed over him like a bucket of cold water. He could clearly see his attack colliding with Grey’s body, yet he didn’t feel the usual resistance an attack would get when it hits a physical body. This only meant one thing...

’It passed through?’

How could it pass through his body?!

The scarred Gnome felt like his mind wasn’t processing things properly at the moment.