Affinity: Chaos

Scott looked at the array that was on the ground, it was dangerous, he could tell. This wasn't something that could kill him, but if he was careless, then it would make winning this competition too difficult.

Grey was still unconscious, well, he was still all bones. Although he was already slightly recovering, he didn't think Grey could fight again.

'He has done enough, I'll end this. His efforts must not be in vain.' Scott repeated in his head.

His driving force at the moment was not just winning the competition, but seeing how far Grey was willing to go made his blood boil. If Grey, someone who was not from their Family could go this hard, then he didn't mind risking his life just to make sure they were victorious.

What was worse was that Grey had even removed the toughest obstacles, leaving the weaker ones for him. If he couldn't complete the task in this state, then he was more than useless.

Taking big strides, he stopped restraining himself. He would use his full strength now.

Boom!

The battle heated up immediately.

On the side of the Burchard Family, Lucas was not even paying attention to Scott or anything that was not Grey. His brows were furrowed as he studied the extent of Grey's injuries.

'It's healing, that should be a good sign…' He felt a headache as he looked at his son.

Grey's cracked cores were healing, but for some reason, they were shrinking in size. On another person, it would be a miracle that he was already healing his cracked cores, and shrinking means that he was consolidating them. This would make the person grow stronger.

However, Grey wasn't normal, not just that, but Grey's cores were being filled with a black substance. When he used his spiritual senses to try to investigate it, he felt the thing almost eat away that part of his spiritual senses. He didn't need to take a second look before he knew what it was… poison miasma.

'How did this thing enter his body?'

He felt his head banging from these things. He didn't know how to solve this since miasma was something that was dangerous even to powerhouses like himself. The miasma in Grey's body was even stronger than some of the ones he had encountered.

With his strength, unless he stayed in a place filled with miasma for too long, then he wouldn't have any problems with it. But the one in Grey's body almost harmed him with the first contact.

He looked around, he could sense the eyes of the old man, the Family Head of the Burchard Family, the Leader of the Nether Faction, as well as some of the Elders.

The main reason he showed himself was Grey, if these people had been the one to take him after he fell unconscious, they would've known his secret. This was something that would definitely endanger Grey's life, so he didn't want to take the risk.

Not just that, but he missed his son. The figure guarding Grey told them of Grey's plan to attend this competition, so he left immediately, leaving his wife behind.

When he got here, Grey had already started to fight. So he watched pretty much all of Grey's battles. He couldn't hide the shock in his eyes when he saw how powerful Grey was. The truth was, he didn't really know the extent of the orb he put in Grey's body, he only knew it would give him all the elements, well, that was what it said.

Seeing Grey only use four elements, he was a bit skeptical. It was only after he checked Grey's body did he notice the other four cores. This means that Grey was hiding his true strength. He was impressed by Grey's foresight.

'Thank you, Martha. He has grown up so much because of you.' He smiled softly.

Although he hated to admit it, he knew he didn't have much of a say in Grey's upbringing, hence he appreciated Martha for her hard work. Of course Martha still left Grey alone after he passed fifteen, but some of her teachings must have already been inbuilt into Grey's mind.

He studied Grey some more and noticed Grey's shriveled body was his own doing. Other than the cracks which were healing up, Grey should be fine after some rest. Calming his mind, he looked at the Head of the Burchard Family and gave him a nod.

The Head of the Burchard Family heaved a sigh of relief before focusing on Scott's battle. He had been so worried about Grey's well-being that he barely glanced at Scott who was fighting. Now that he knew that Grey was fine, he faced the battle again.

The battle was already getting very heated. Scott had taken some hits, but not enough to cause him any serious issues.

The youth from the Nether Faction wasn't doing any better. He still hadn't recovered from his previous battle, and after being struck multiple times by Scott's attacks, he was bleeding all over. A large chunk of the flesh on his back was missing as a result of taking an attack from Scott.

He was hanging on by a thread, he knew he hadn't done any significant damage to Scott, so leaving now would not help the young man who was left. He had to make sure that Scott was at least injured, not any superficial injuries, but a serious one that would affect his combat power.

He soon came to a decision and decided to take the risk of getting another hit just to ensure he manages to harm Scott.

Gritting his teeth and hoping he doesn't die from the attack, he charged at Scott, neglecting everything else.

Scott noticed the menacing look in his eyes and he soon understood what he wanted to do.

'Do you think I'm a fool?' He thought internally with a grin.

There was something he had been hiding all this while.

Seeing the young man charge at him, he didn't hold back and attacked.

Boom!

The attack connected with the young man, but the young man forced himself through the pain, and after getting within striking distance, he attacked.