Affinity:Chaos

‘Oh… crap.’ Grey knew he was in for it this time. 

Seeing the gaze the beasts used to look at him, he knew they wanted to know what was in his body. 

‘I hate things I can’t control!’ He felt genuinely annoyed with the orb which was calm at the moment. As much as he liked the fact that the orb gave him the ability to use all elements, he also hated the fact that it seemed to be an entity of its own. 

With the occasional commotion it causes, he was sure it would put him in a whole lot of trouble sooner or later. He was already in some trouble, if not for the fact that his physical body was well above the strength of these beasts, he would’ve been very worried at the moment. 

“Human, why are you here?” The Elephant was the one who stepped forward to interrogate him. 

Grey looked at the Elephant and stood up, his body made cracking noises, and the pupils of the Elephant constricted. It gathered with the other two in the Seventh Rank. 

Although it was small, they all sensed the immeasurable power that lay beneath Grey’s small body. Even the Elephant or Bull didn’t dare to believe they were stronger than Grey, physically. They were Magical Beasts that had grown with the help of the chaos energy here and therefore are stronger than regular Magical Beasts, yet, they felt inferior to a human. 

“No wonder his body was able to hold so much energy.” The Elephant muttered in enlightenment. 

The Bull and the Peacock all had serious expressions. 

Grey, seeing them knew that they had sensed his strength, “I don’t want any trouble, I just want to study that.” 

He pointed at the golden fruit. 

“I told you it’s here for the fruit, greedy filths.” The Peacock said coldly. 

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“You have a point.” Grey replied with a thoughtful expression, however, he added, “I want it, can I take it?” 

The Bull was the first to lose its cool and with a cold snort, it stamped on the ground and Grey’s figure was sent into the air. 

The Peacock took to the sky and its tail spread out, sharp wind arrows shot at Grey from it. The speed of the arrows was beyond Grey’s imagination. Before he could react, the arrows were already in front of him, his armor sprang to action and blocked the attack, but he was pushed back. 

He quickly stabilized himself in mid-air, but the weak old Elephant appeared in front of him. This time, it didn’t look as weak as he thought it did the first time he saw it. 

The space around Grey and the Elephant felt like it was under the control of the Elephant, Grey felt his body being dragged down. While trying to fight against it, the Elephant used its trunk to slam him from above. 

Boom! 

Grey crashed into the ground, creating a crater after destroying the building he fell on. 

The trio of the Elephant, Bull, and Peacock stood in the air as they looked at the crater Grey crashed into. 

“Do you think it’s dead?” The Peacock asked. 

“I don’t think that’s going…” The Elephant was in the middle of its statement when a pale blue large fire blade slashed at them from the crater which was still covered by dust. 

The Elephant and the Bull, who were both Earth Elementalists, worked together and blocked the attack, shielding the Peacock behind them. 

The Peacock sent more attacks at the crater. 

The Elephant suddenly realized something and turned around. It saw Grey standing close to the golden fruit. 

“It’s taking it away.” It yelled and rushed in the direction of the fruit. 

The others who were there for the ceremony had given them a good distance. When they first sensed the ripples from the battle, they knew staying close would only endanger them, so they all left, including those at the Peak of the Sage Plane. A single attack from Grey could easily kill them. 

Grey, Void, and the bunny leader were staring at the fruit.ραпdα `nᴏνɐ| сom

‘You’re saying it will be enough for all three of us?’ Grey turned to the bunny leader. 

‘Not just three of us, but four or five more people. Don’t underestimate the energy stored in this thing. It’s more than five times the energy that almost tore you apart.’ The bunny leader warned Grey. 

It knew Grey might be having thoughts of wanting to absorb a lot of it, but it felt it was best to warn Grey beforehand. If Grey were to take too much, he might not get the chance to even convert it before he blew up from taking in too much. 

‘Alright, we better get going then.’ Grey didn’t delay anymore and plucked the golden fruit from the tree. 

The moment he plucked it, he saw the tree dry up almost instantly and all its energy was transferred into the fruit. 

After the tree dried up, it slowly started to turn to ash. 

The Elephant’s eyes turned red from rage as it roared and rushed after Grey. It was too slow and Grey left with the fruit. 

If one looked at the place where the tree was previously standing, one would see a tiny sprout coming from the ground. This was what made this tree special, it only bears one fruit, after that fruit is plucked, it would die and a new tree would be born. This new tree would take hundreds of years and nourishment before it can produce another fruit. 

Grey naturally didn’t know of this, and even if he knew he would still take it. There was no way he was going to wait for hundreds of years for the next fruit when he could just take this one. 

….

Outside the City.

Grey and the trio exchanged glances before masking their auras and disappearing into the City once again. 

They originally had a lot of things they wanted to take, but they didn’t want to attract any attention since the fruit was more precious. Now that they’d gotten the fruit, it was time to get the other things they feel might be useful to them. 

Grey headed straight for the Elephant’s mansion, taking everything he wanted. Although it was a bad act, he didn’t care too much about it. Besides, it wasn’t like he was taking everything, he still left a lot of things for them. 

Void and the bunny leader on the other hand were not so subtle, they straight up emptied the places they had in mind and left. 

Later that day, the city fell into chaos due to the trio’s stealing. 

The trio stood on top of a mountain, unbothered by the chaos that was going on. 

“How long will this last?” Grey could still feel his elemental essence was suppressed by the chaos energy that erupted earlier that day. 

What he noticed when fighting with the trio was that his attack power had reduced significantly, luckily, he was able to use the space element to get the better of them. This was the main reason he didn’t try to fight with them for long. 

Even with his physical body, he still felt some sort of suppression. Whenever the Beasts attacked him, he would feel the suppression worsen, this made it difficult for him to dodge their attacks. 

‘At least two months or so. How do you think these people become like this? It was due to constant exposure to this energy.’ The bunny leader replied. 

“I’m quite curious.” Grey looked at the bunny leader seriously, “How do you know all these?” 

The bunny leader replied almost immediately, not hiding anything, ‘I’ve been here before. I can easily travel through secret realms. Before I appeared in the place you first saw me, I stayed here for a few years. I know the main places to head when you need things.’ 

Grey already guessed this, but it was still amazing hearing it for himself. The bunny leader was definitely a tier above Void when it came to using the space element, unfortunately, it hated fighting, and would rather have people do its dirty work. This was exactly the scenario that occurred when Grey first encountered the bunny leader. 

Since he had gotten the fruit, he decided to use it first. He had already gotten a little understanding after studying the young man he kidnapped using it repeatedly, now, he wanted to see if he could use it. If he is successful, he wouldn’t have to bother about being suppressed by the chaos energy since he too would be able to use it. 

However, before he consumed the fruit he asked, “Wouldn’t this affect me when I go out?”

‘No, unlike these people who adapted to it, you got it instantaneously. There’s a difference.’ The bunny leader explained.