Affinity:Chaos

"It's gone."

Elaris said in disbelief.

Grey had wiped off the mark from her body, something her Teacher isn't capable of doing. Grey did it within just a few days.

After Alice defeated the Gnome, it was very easy for Grey to extract its life-force and finish the process of removing the mark from her body. Even though she had been seeing the entire process, she still found it unbelievable that Grey was able to actually remove a mark that was said to last forever until she was killed.

"I can move freely now…" She muttered softly.

She looked at Grey, a little teary eyed, "Thank you, thank you so much."

This was the first time Grey was seeing her in such a manner. He didn't think she had such mannerism. From the first time he saw her, all he thought was that she was a proud lady. He believed this even more when she arrogantly removed someone from the group he picked and placed herself in. If not for Sylvia's brother, he would've kicked her out.

'So she's just like every other girl…' He thought internally. His previous pale complexion regained color all of a sudden and he said to his friends, "Let's leave. We still have things to attend to."

Grey had helped Elaris remove the mark, so it was better they left the secret realm.

Alice nodded happily, she walked over to Elaris, nodded gently to her and turned to follow Grey.

"Goodbye." Klaus and Reynolds waved and turned around to follow Grey and Alice.

Elaris could barely see them, the only person in her view was the nonchalant facial expression of Grey. His blank expression, and his back gave two contrasting feelings. His blank expression gave one the feeling that he didn't care about anyone else, but his back view portrayed a valiant hero who would hold the sky up for others.

It was a strange feeling for her.

"You said he's from the Dawson Family?" She asked Sylvia's brother.

"Yes, his father is none other than the legendary Lucas Dawson" Sylvia's brother replied with a nod.

"I see. So he's the one the Gnomes sent out a kill order for. Who would've thought." Elaris stood on the same spot for a while longer.

"How long will it take before we can acquire it?" She asked after a minute of silence.

"Tomorrow."

"Okay, I'll leave once we're done."

….

Klaus was beside Grey as they were heading to the portal once again.

"Bud, what do you think of her?"

"Huh?"

"What's your view of Elaris?"

"She's okay. Strong-minded and powerful."

"Nice, why don't you consider getting together with her?"

"..."

"Even Alice has someone now."

"What do you mean by that?"

"Hey… stop! Grey, tell her to stop!"

"Fuck! I'm stronger than you! Why are you still bullying me?!"

"Because I can. Do you dare to strike back?"

Klaus wanted to say yes, but when he saw the eyes of Grey and Reynolds who were like that of wolves ready to kill, he swallowed his words.

Alice laughed when she saw this. Being the only girl in the group meant she had privileges. And those privileges includes bullying the guys, even though they were stronger. The other one is that her friends were all extremely protective of her. When she was the strongest, she was the one doing the protecting, now, the others took the job.

Klaus gave up, "I didn't mean it that way, I just wanted Grey to at least live."

"How old is he? Twenty-Six, twenty-seven, and he has never been with a lady. How's that even allowed to happen with such a face?"

"You do have a point…" Reynolds agreed with Klaus' words.

"I have the perfect thing for him." Klaus gave a wide grin.

Grey gave him a tree sap that had exceptional qualities, the only down side was that it acted like a aphrodisiac. As long as Grey can not control it, he will surely do it!

"Or could it be that you're interested in men? I have a few friends I can link you up with."

Grey's expression fell, "If you keep talking, I'll beat you up."

"Aren't you guys going to support me? Do you want Grey to die a virgin?"

"Fuck! That's enough, Klaus."

"What do you mean it's enough. Until you accept to be with someone, I'll never let you be." Klaus didn't give in to Grey's fake rage.

"Wait, how come your complexion is back to normal already, were you acting like you were hurt?" Klaus was the first to speak on this matter.

Due to the fact that they left the place in a hurry, the others didn't speak on how his complexion returned to normal. But now that they didn't have to look at Elaris' beautiful face, Klaus was back to his normal senses.

"Yeah, I thought you were dying."

"Did you do it to make her feel pity for you?"

"That's my man! Now she'll think you risked your life to help her. Smart move bud. I'm impressed."

Hearing their assumptions, Grey felt like beating someone up. To be honest, he did act a little bit, but he didn't want to rest because he wanted to leave soon so they could continue their adventure across the Continent. The longer they stayed there, the shorter the time they would spend together.

Thinking about it, they were still spending time together here, it's just that there were others as well.

He let the trio come to whatever conclusions they had in mind while he headed for the portal. It was time to leave this place. They've spent longer than they were supposed to.

The group spoke as they headed for the portal.

….

"He needs to be stopped. Such atrocious behavior can not be condoned."

"He almost killed the Princes too."

"They were useless. How could such useless people be called Princes of our glorious race?"

"Your brother's son is one of the people killed."

"And he was weak, just like his worthless father."

"Are we going to pretend like he's not a treat? It's been only a year or two, yet he's already this powerful. According to the page at which we're moving, we'll still need a few more years before the seal is fully broken."

"How strong will he be then?"

"I'll tell His Majesty to increase the offer on his head. He shouldn't be allowed to break through to the Sovereign Plane."