Affinity: Chaos

Chapter 2193: Taking Back The City II

The two Necromancers were still weighing whether to break toward the approaching reinforcements. In the distance, four powerful auras had flared the moment the Faction Leader and the others launched their first attacks. Those auras were closing fast. The knowledge that four Peak Sovereign Gnomes were only seconds away gave the Necromancers a surge of confidence. They believed they only needed to hold on a little longer.

That confidence lasted less than a heartbeat.

A sharp wave of mental energy suddenly swept across the courtyard. Both Necromancers felt it at the same instant their instincts screamed danger. It was already too late. Grey’s mental attack cut cleanly through the links connecting them to their puppets. The puppets froze in place as did the Necromancers

The Faction Leader and the other Peak Sovereigns had been waiting for exactly this signal. The moment they sensed the fluctuation of Grey’s mental energy, they struck without hesitation. Five concentrated attacks, fire, earth, wind, and raw elemental force, converged on the two immobilized figures.

The Necromancers broke free of the mental suppression only in time to see death descending. Neither managed to raise a defense. One man’s head vanished in a burst of blood and shattered bone. The other’s body was obliterated completely, leaving nothing but scattered remnants and the fading echo of his aura. Both died in the space of a single second, never having launched a true counterattack.

In the final fragment of awareness left to them, only one name surfaced.

Grey Dawson.

Every Gnome and Necromancer knew the effects of Grey cutting off the links between their puppets and them, hence for this reason they wanted him dead. Since he wasn’t dead however, they were all warned to never take out their puppets in his presence.

The Necromancers knew the four Peak Sovereign Gnomes would arrive in a matter of a few seconds, yet they never expected they wouldn’t live to see it

The Faction Leader watched the remains of the two Peak Sovereigns and their inert puppets fall toward the broken courtyard. His gaze then shifted to Grey, who hovered a short distance away, expression calm. In all his years of battle, against other Peak Sovereigns, and even against Lucas Dawson before the man stepped into the Half-God Plane, he had never imagined it would be possible to kill a Peak Sovereign in such a manner. The ease of it left a cold weight in his chest.

The four approaching auras arrived a moment later. The Peak Sovereign Gnomes came to an abrupt halt in the air opposite the human group. They did not look at the Faction Leader or the other Peak Sovereigns first. Their eyes locked onto the one figure they had hoped never to meet on this or any other battlefield.

One of them spoke through clenched teeth, voice low and venomous.

"Grey Dawson."

They had been too far away to intervene, yet close enough to witness everything. When they saw the two Necromancers take the full force of the attacks without moving or calling on their puppets, the truth had been immediate. Only one person produced that effect.

The expressions of the Faction Leader and the surrounding human Peak Sovereigns shifted as they registered the pure hatred directed at Grey. Seeing how effortlessly two Peak Sovereigns had been erased made the Gnomes’ long-standing obsession with killing him entirely understandable. Anyone who possessed a method that could end a Peak Sovereign before they could even defend themselves would become a priority target. That Grey had survived long enough to reach his current strength only deepened their urgency.

A new aura flared from the lower slopes of the mountain and shot upward. Heidens arrived in a streak of controlled power, stopping beside Grey before offering a brief nod to the Faction Leader and the others. The addition of another Peak Sovereign made the human side’s numbers even more unfavorable for the Gnomes.

The four Gnomes’ faces turned unsightly at the sight of this. They already could not use their puppets thanks to Grey being here, now the humans had another Peak Sovereign, making them five. They also couldn’t count out the annoying Grey who, although in the Ninth-stage, is rumored to be able to take on a Peak Sovereign on his own.

While the Peak Sovereigns faced one another in the air, the lower battlefield had already begun to move. The Ninth-stage Sovereigns and the rest of the human army had been waiting for the signal. They had seen the attacks destroy the two Necromancers with their own eyes. So had every Gnome and lesser Necromancer still inside the city.

The moment the two Peak Sovereign auras vanished, the human forces charged.

They poured out of their holding positions in coordinated waves, striking at every Gnome within reach. The sudden appearance of a full army of Sovereigns, combined with the public execution of two of their strongest experts, shattered the Gnomes’ composure. Most of the enemies still inside the city were only at the Venerable Plane or the lower stages of the Sovereign Plane. Against an organized force of higher-level humans riding a wave of momentum, they had no chance of holding ground.

Panic spread faster than any order could counter it. Many Gnomes turned to flee toward the outer edges of the city or the mountain paths beyond. A few tried to form hasty defensive lines, but those efforts collapsed almost as soon as they formed. The human warriors pressed forward without pause, cutting down the disorganized resistance and driving the survivors toward the open slopes.

Above the chaos, the four Peak Sovereign Gnomes remained locked in place, their attention still fixed on Grey. The lower battle was already turning into a rout, yet the real decisive clash had only just reached its opening stance.

The air between the two groups of Peak Sovereigns grew heavy with killing intent. The deaths of the two Necromancers had set the tone. What followed would determine whether the sealed city was truly reclaimed or whether the cost would climb far higher.