Affinity:Chaos

"Hehe, even when you had the advantage you couldn't beat me." Grey chuckled as his body was filled with the energy he was taking in, "I wonder what gives you the courage to utter such words."

The Pseudo-sovereign slashed out with his scythe and a powerful wind blade shot out.

This wind blade wasn't like the other attacks he had been using. The wind blade had rough edges like the teeth of a wild animal. And just like an animal, the blade struck, slashing Grey's figure.

To the shock of the Pseudo-sovereign, he saw his attack deflected to another direction.

"Haha, you're such a great sparring opponent." Grey laughed delightfully.

He just learnt the technique Melmera passed to him when she died. He had been practicing during his seclusion, but he hadn't been able to master it. However, on the verge of breakthrough, he got an insight on it and mastered it.

The thought of using it came to mind and he used it against the Pseudo-sovereign's attack. To his bewilderment, it was very strong. He didn't think there would be a technique that possessed such abilities.

The Pseudo-sovereign looked at Grey and attacked once again. This time, he made use of his domain, increasing the strength of his attacks.

Multiple wind blades shot at Grey and after deflecting two, realized there was a scratch on his scales, and they looked to be on the verge of being destroyed.

'Guess I can't use it against someone of his level.' Reality hit on Grey, and he reassessed his choices.

He wanted to use just this technique to deflect all the attacks, but he realized against someone like the Pseudo-sovereign, he had to be careful.

This gave Grey the strength of the technique. It was powerful, but like all techniques, it had its limitations. Against someone on the same level or stronger, using it was only detrimental to himself.

The Pseudo-sovereign noticed Grey started moving which made him smile.

The sky was filled with multiple blades as he attacked Grey aggressively.

Grey was still in the middle of absorbing the essence around the area. His eyes glowed and his icy flames spread out. A large ice wall, accompanied with flames appeared before him to block the blades coming his way.

Two symbols lit up the sky and he created his domains to fight against the Pseudo-sovereign.

The Pseudo-sovereign didn't expect Grey to use inscriptions. What he also didn't expect was how long it was taking for Grey to break through.

Grey's cultivation was still at the Peak of the Venerable Plane which was shocking given the amount of essence he had taken in.

The Pseudo-sovereign blocked the attacks from the inscriptions, but this was the chance Grey needed to get close to him.

He threw a fist at the man, and the man was sent flying by the punch.

Grey's physical attack power was on another level. The Pseudo-sovereign didn't even get the chance to block the attack before it hit.

Grey was too fast which made it even harder to block.

The Pseudo-sovereign crashed into the ground.

Grey didn't rush to attack him, rather, he stayed mid-air, quickly absorbing as much essence as he could. Internally, he was on the verge of tears.

'Why is it taking so long?!'

He never expected that his breakthrough would take so long.

The thought of his breakthrough not causing a commotion made him calm down and want to break through quickly, but now, it was looking so difficult. Even with the amount of essence he had taken in, he hadn't even got past the Peak of the Venerable Plane.

He was on the verge of begging for the Pseudo-sovereign stage. At least he would know there was an improvement.

The Pseudo-sovereign attacked once again, his attack power was stronger this time. On his head, a large feather appeared, made purely from wind essence.

On a normal day, achieving this was almost impossible, but Grey was in the midst of breaking through, and the essence in this place was higher than anywhere else in the entire Aurora Continent.

The Pseudo-sovereign used the opportunity to use one of the greatest wind elemental techniques of all time. With this feather floating above his head, his cultivation spiked, getting to the very edge of the Pseudo-sovereign stage and bordering the Sovereign Plane.

When Grey saw this, he knew the man was taking advantage of the situation, but he didn't care. He wanted to break through, and since this man was going to be his stepping stone, he would never allow him to escape.

The battle broke out once again, this time, it was even more intense.

Grey is probably the only one who could take this long to break through to the Sovereign Plane.

With the amount of essence he had absorbed, he should've broken through to the Sovereign Plane already, but it was proving difficult.

….

As the battle raged on, the phenomenon in the sky on the other parts of the Continent started to show signs of fading.

The Phenomenon which had hung on the sky for a few minutes and made everyone stop whatever they were doing was on the verge of disappearing.

No one knew what caused the phenomenon, nor did they truly understand what it means. All they could feel from the apparition was that it was supreme to them all. Even the likes of Lucas Dawson felt inferior to the apparition.

….

Grey and the man were in a stalemate, the only way the battle could be concluded was with Grey breaking through, or the Pseudo-sovereign escaping.

Grey slowly started to notice something happen… the essence isn't enough.

'What the hell?!' He couldn't believe his eyes.

He had absorbed enough for two people at the Peak to break through, but it wasn't enough for him to break through to the Sovereign Plane.

The feeling of the essence slowly weakening around him made his heart sink.

Just as the essence was about to fully fade away, another one happened. This time, it was a reaction from the man.

"Haha, you're finished!"