Affinity:Chaos

"Hahaha, I never would've thought that you would die from your own sneak attack," Ezel laughed when he witnessed Grey being struck by his attack.

The explosion covered the area Grey was located, but he was certain of Grey being hit by the attack since he saw Grey's figure bouncing heavily off the ground from the impact of it.

After a few seconds, the explosion died down, and Grey could be seen standing in the position Ezel was previously standing on. His countenance wasn't the same as before, the mask was broken, his hair was in disarray, and his clothes were ruffled, with burn marks on some parts of it.

But one noteworthy thing was that he didn't seem to suffer from any burns.

Grey's face revealing to the crowd was completely unexpected. Seeing his face which could almost be described as beautiful, most people didn't think he was the same person from before.

A lot of Elementalists who wear masks were mainly to hide scars they suffered on their faces. Who in their right minds would want to hide a face like Grey's?

"It will be a shame that I'll have to kill you now," Ezel said as he walked towards Grey.

"Kill me? Heh! We're just getting started," Grey said while cracking his knuckles and neck.

After doing that, his figure disappeared, appearing almost fifty meters above the platform.

"Meteor descent," He muttered.

Large balls of fire appeared in the sky, spanning across the entire stage, even slightly going over it. Its strength was unbelievable, for a wide-scale attack.

The large fireballs soon started descending at a fast pace, heading towards the stage.

Ezel watched them come towards him with a smile, he couldn't leave the stage, and to be honest, he didn't plan to.

"Ah! Supreme Push!" He yelled, clamping both hands together.

A powerful repelling force, just like when he sent Grey flying spread out, with him at the center.

The fireballs that got close to him were simply pushed back, moving towards Grey. He could not only repel things back, but he could also control the direction he wishes for them to go.

Grey moved across the sky, covered in red lightning as he started shooting lightning bolts at his opponent.

Bam! Boom! Bang!

The battle intensified, Grey attacking with multiple elements, while Ezel attacked with his wind element.

For an element people mostly use to increase their speed and attack, Ezel took it to a whole new level. His control and use of the wind element was something that was beyond Grey's understanding.

For the first time, Grey acknowledged an enemy.

Whoosh!

Grey was lifted off the ground by the wind, but before Ezel could capitalize on this, he was attacked by two different inscriptions, forcing him back.

Even though he had been able to use his control of the wind element to make things extremely difficult for Grey, he had not been able to cause him any major damage since Grey always had a countermeasure once he was in a tight position.

The battle had been going on for almost ten minutes now, and Ezel was starting to feel slightly worried. When he saw Grey's battle with the youth previously ranked fifteenth, he thought he would be able to handle him since the strength difference between him and that young was not much. It was only after the battle started did he realize Grey didn't really show all his cards.

….

The entire arena was quiet, watching the battle attentively. They couldn't say they weren't shocked by Grey's display. His strength wasn't something someone in the Origin Plane should possess.

Ezra and Jesse looked at each other, dread evident in their eyes. It was only now they understood where Grey's confidence came from when he challenged both of them simultaneously. In front of him, they were nothing but a joke.

The crowd was all awed by Grey, not just them, but the judges as well. Even Ezra's Teacher didn't have an angry expression like he usually does when Grey was fighting.

Grey's performance was stunning, simply stunning.

….

Back on the stage.

The battle had hit its peak, with attacks flying around from both sides. Both fighters were already slightly injured from being struck by each others' attacks. Unfortunately, no one has been able to get the upper hand, yet.

'Lightning rain,' Grey said internally.

Just as the lightning rain started, he slammed both hands on the stage, and water spread across the entire stage.

Where he was standing was quickly turned to ice, lifting him off the ground. After getting to a high level, ice shards started appearing beside him as they shot towards Ezel.

This sequence of attacks happened within the space of three seconds.

Ezel, seeing the lightning that was raining down, was about to dodge to the side, but when he felt water below him, he quickly figured out Grey's plan.

A gust of wind blew below him, as it took him airborne. It was almost like he was being raised by a small tornado, with only his upper body being visible.

He escaped from the range of the lightning rain but was still attacked by the ice shards nonetheless. He set up a windscreen before him, using it to block most of the attacks while also sending wind blades towards Grey.

He didn't aim for Grey, instead, he aimed for the ice platform Grey was standing on.

When Grey felt the ice breaking below him, he couldn't help but smile inside, before jumping towards the center of the lightning rain.

That was not all, two more inscriptions appeared mid-air, all attacking the location he was about to land on at the same time. Not just that, but ice spikes sprang out from the ground around where he was about to land, leaving only the spot his foot would touch open.

His actions stunned Ezel and everyone who was watching the battle. From what he was preparing, even he would find it difficult for him to escape from his attacks since they were just too much.

It was only when his foot was about to touch the wet floor did the expression of everyone in the entire arena changed. Some of the viewers even stood on their feet, as they watched the scene unfold before them.