Affinity:Chaos

Grey and his friends were the first group to escape from the field so they didn't have a chance to see the beast when it went on a killing rampage. But from how terrifying the roar was, he was sure the beast was at least at the peak of the Origin Plane, or it had even reached the Overlord Plane. There was no way they could defend against something that strong.

But what kept puzzling him was the fact that the beast only came out after they defeated the nine protectors.

Could it be that it was supposed to be another challenge for them, and after defeating it they wouldn't only get the nine drops of the Great Earth Essence Liquid but also all the treasures in the palace as well?

If that was its purpose, then the expert who made this place wouldn't expect there would be the anomaly called Void. Had it not been for Void, then there was no way Grey and his group would have been able to obtain anything.

As it stands, they were the ultimate winners.

_____

At the other side of the passageway, Grey and his friends could be seen stepping out of the passageway.

'You were able to obtain all the drops of the Great Earth Essence Liquid, right?' Grey asked anxiously.

When they heard the roar from the palace, Grey didn't dare to delay and quickly signaled Void who was still in the pond to come out so they could escape, so, he didn't get the chance to ask if Void was able to acquire the treasure.

Void was currently on his shoulder looking at the passageway without any signs of fear. There was even a look of contempt on his face.

'Of course, getting them was too easy.' Void replied proudly.

On hearing Void's reply, Grey heaved a sigh and a delighted smile spread across his face.

"Huh! When did the cat come back?" Alice asked after seeing Void on Grey's shoulder.

When they were escaping previously, she remembered vividly that the cat was not on Grey's shoulder, and she also didn't see it running after them. So how did the cat suddenly appear on Grey's shoulder after they came out?

"Firstly, his name's Void. Secondly… This isn't the place to talk about it, I'll tell you when we're alone." Grey said.

He was about to tell his friends about Void when someone came out of the passageway, so he stopped and postponed the conversation.

Seeing how cautious Grey was about Void, the curiosity of the group was piqued, and they all suddenly had a great interest in what sort of magical beast Void was for Grey to be this careful when speaking about him.

_____

"Wait, so you're saying there's an eighth element, and this cat happens to have it?" Klaus asked with a look of incredulity.

He wasn't the only one who had a shocked expression after hearing about Void and the space element. There had been no records of there being an eighth element so hearing about this came as a shock to them.

"Yes. Void." Grey answered before calling on Void to show it to them.

At least, if they saw him use it, it would be easier for them to believe it and he wouldn't need to explain much.

Void knew the reason Grey called him, so he disappeared from his previous spot and appeared almost twenty meters away. This was the furthest he could go for now, but he felt if he pushed himself, he could go further.

"Wow! That's an awesome element. How come no one else has it?" Reynolds exclaimed, fascinated by the space element.

If he had such an element, then wouldn't he be unstoppable.

The way the group looked at the small cat changed entirely.

"You also spoke of a spatial ring. What is that?" Klaus asked still shocked by what he just found out.

"This," Grey showed them the ring on his hand and went on to tell them about it.

"Can I see it?" Klaus stretched out his hand towards the ring.

Without thinking much, Grey threw it at him. Holding the ring, Klaus studied it intently but still couldn't figure out how to use it.

"Can I keep it?" He asked while flashing his best smile.

Who wouldn't want to keep something like this?

"No. And besides, you don't even know how to access it." Grey declined his request immediately.

'Like I'll give the only one I found to you?' He scoffed internally.

Had there been more, he didn't mind giving it to them. But he only obtained this one, why would he give it to him? It's not like he didn't have any use for it.

"Isn't this the ring we found in one of those boxes at the first palace we entered?" Alice asked.

As a lady, she was very observant of details, so she was able to easily recognize the ring even though she only saw it for a short time.

"Yes." Grey nodded.

"Grey, why don't I help you in keeping it. You should know this is a very attractive treasure." Klaus persuaded once again.

"Yeah, nice try. But it's only attractive to those who know of it. And as it stands, other than you guys, no one else knows of there being an eighth element, talk less of knowing about a spatial storage ring, I think." Grey chuckled seeing how Klaus was acting.

"*Sigh* Why are we friends? Had we not been friends, I'd have robbed you already." Klaus said sadly.

"Tch! With that little strength of yours?" Grey mocked showing an expression of scorn.

"Pfft!"

Alice and Reynolds were thrown into a fit of laughter when they heard Grey's response.

"What? You want to fight?" Grey continued mocking when he saw Klaus's expression.

"Don't think I'm scared of you. The only reason I'm not beating you up right now is that we're buddies, and buddies shouldn't fight against each other." Klaus proclaimed with a serious expression.

"Hehe." Grey chuckled lightly.

"Okay, now, you still haven't told us how you acquired the fire element," Alice asked curiously.

"Oh, that… Uhmmm." Grey fell into deep contemplation trying to figure out how to explain it.

He couldn't tell them that he refined a blue flame and then suddenly acquired the fire element. There was no way he could explain how it happened because Fire Elementalists are the only ones who should naturally be able to refine a fire element's natural treasure.

"It's the expert's legacy, right?" Alice said when she noticed he fell silent.

"…" Grey's mind went blank for some seconds.

"Yes, that's it. The expert's legacy. How did you know?" He feigned a look of surprise.

'Although this isn't the truth, it isn't far from it. I mean, I did see the legacy.' Grey thought internally.

"The expert wrote about it on a stone slab," Alice replied.

"Oh! Okay." Grey nodded.

He didn't know the expert wrote about his legacy on another stone slab, but since this had saved him from cooking up a lie, he was fine with it.

"Now people, guess what I have in my possession," Grey said mysteriously.

______

The valley. At the front of the black door.

The Darkness Elementalist and his companions were the first to exit the place just like he wanted. And after coming out, they've stopped and searched every single person that had come out through the door.

They didn't care if the person went close to the pond or not. What annoyed the youths who were coming out was the fact that the Darkness Elementalist's companions would take whatever they liked from their bags after searching them.

The youths didn't dare complain or even tried fighting back because of the fear of death. One youth had complained previously, and he was almost killed.

The blue-clothed youth from the Blue Wind empire walked out with four others. The four following behind him were people from his empire. Since he was from the royal family, it was natural for him to have multiple subordinates in his generation.

"Stop there! Hand over your bags." One of the Darkness Elementalist's companions said arrogantly.

"What insolence! How dare you try to stop me? What gave you such guts?" The blue-clothed youth asked even more arrogantly.

"I did." The Darkness Elementalist's voice came from where he was sitting.

"What is the meaning of this? I know I'm not your match, but that doesn't me I'll just allow you to step on me as you wish!" The blue-clothed youth yelled angrily.

He was the son of the emperor of the Blue Wind empire, when had he ever been bullied before? Never! He was the one who usually does the bullying, not the other way round.

"Someone stole the nine drops of Great Earth Essence Liquid, I'm just trying to get them back." The Darkness Elementalist said casually.

"But I was fighting alongside you! How did I steal it?!" The blue-clothed youth shouted angrily with veins starting to appear on his head.

"I don't know. Either you hand over your bag willingly, or, I'll come take it myself. And trust me, that wouldn't be the only thing I'll take." The Darkness Elementalist's tone went cold on the last part of his sentence.

The blue-clothed youth went silent, the four youths beside him did dare speak a word. They had seen the strength of the Darkness Elementalist, and they knew he could defeat them.

Both parties stated at each other for some time. .

The youths beside the blue-clothed youth were on the verge of crying. They regretted coming out at the same time as him. Had they been alone, they would've already handed their bags over. But since they were following beside the blue-clothed youth, they couldn't do that without his permission.

They all began praying for the blue-clothed youth to hand his bag over. The suspense they were currently in was on the brink of killing them, their blood was flowing faster than usual, and they had unknowingly started sweating profusely.

"Hmph!" Snorting coldly, the blue-clothed youth threw his bag at the Darkness Elementalist.

The four youths sighed in relief before quickly handing their bags over as well.

A minute later.

"Hmph! I'll wait and see who stole the nine drops of Great Earth Essence Liquid. Besides, one of them belongs to me." The blue-clothed youth snorted after retrieving his bag before going to the side to wait.

He was previously planning to leave, but on finding out the nine drops of Great Earth Essence Liquid was stolen by someone and given the method of the Darkness Elementalist, they would find it, he decided to wait so he could collect his share.

______

"The exit is just up ahead." Reynolds pointed at the portal that appeared outside the ancient paths.

"Finally, we'll be leaving this place." Klaus sighed.