Affinity:Chaos

Rumble!

The secret passage opened before the duo disappeared inside.

"Huh? It stopped?" Gerald paused and looked in Diluc's direction while they were still in the stairway leading to the room.

"I can't sense him," Diluc said.

Gerald's pupils shrunk when he heard this and he quickly tried to sense if Grey was in the room, but his expression worsened. He couldn't find anyone in the room with his spiritual senses.

There was no way Grey could hide his aura from someone like him. This meant only two things, either Grey was dead, or he was not in the room.

But they sensed him while they were rushing here, even after they opened the passage they still felt him in the room. So there's no way he left the room.

That leaves them with only one possibility, Grey was dead.

"Impossible," Gerald muttered before sprinting towards the door.

He felt his life was attached to Grey's life while Grey was here. If Grey died under his custody, then he was most likely a goner.

Slam!

He didn't bother to knock, with a wave of his hand, the door shattered immediately.

"What?!"

Gerald and Diluc exclaimed simultaneously when they looked inside the room.

"Im… impossible," Diluc was the one to mutter to himself this time.

In the center of the room, Grey could be seen sitting in a crossed leg position, wearing a silver shirt and blue pants. The room was perfectly arranged as it had always been whenever they came to see him.

Grey opened his eyes to look at the duo who just shattered the door.

When the duo looked into his eyes, it was like it was sucking them into the boundless space. This feeling stunned the two Overlord Plane experts, this was something they have never felt before.

"You know you could just knock, right?" Grey asked while holding a piece of the shattered wood that shot his way when Gerald destroyed the door.

Gerald and Diluc looked at each other, it was as if they were staring at a ghost. Even after coming into the room, they still can't sense Grey's aura or presence.

"Phew… Thank the stars you're alright," Gerald breathed out a sigh of relief.

He didn't even want to ask what Grey was doing in the room, as long as Grey was alive and alright, nothing else mattered.

Diluc looked at Grey suspiciously, on seeing that Gerald refused to ask him what he was doing, he also refrained from asking as well.

Gerald stayed for a few more minutes, asking about Grey's well-being.

Grey didn't know if Gerald genuinely cared about him, or was just scared of his Teacher. It was only when Gerald wanted to leave did he get his answer.

"So… when will you be leaving?" Gerald turned around to ask just as he was about to leave.

"Soon, in a day or two," Grey replied calmly.

"Okay," Gerald nodded before turning around, just as he was about to leave.

"Uhmm, can I have a moment alone with you?" Grey suddenly called out.

Gerald paused, looked at him, before nodding to Diluc.

Diluc understood what he meant and immediately left the room, leaving the duo alone.

After confirming Diluc was gone, Grey pulled out Void from his shirt.

"Huh? What's that?" Gerald asked unconsciously, taking a step forward, "A cat, how strange,"

"Can you find out if he's fine? He's alive, but he isn't responding to anything," Grey said in a low voice while gently handing Void over to Gerald.

Gerald took Void from him and noticed Grey's hands were shaking after he passed Void to him.

'Hmm, so this is the cat they spoke about,' He thought while looking at Void.

He naturally knew about Void after doing his research on Void. When they told him about it, he felt overwhelmed by it. For a cat to be able to block the attack of a Peak Origin Plane Elementalists while being in the Early stages of the Origin Plane was unbelievable.

He always found it strange that he hadn't seen Void with Grey since Grey came to him, making him a little skeptical.

"What happened to it?" Gerald asked Grey.

"Him, not it, his name's Void and he's not something you can address as it," Grey snapped when he heard Gerald addressing Void like he was an object.

"I'm sorry, what happened to him?" Gerald was a little taken aback by Grey's sudden outburst, but on seeing his expression, he could tell he wasn't alright.

"He overexerted himself while helping me. Can… can you help him?" Grey said, guilt very evident in his words.

"Wait, let me check his condition," Gerald said.

A few minutes later, Gerald opened his eyes, looking at Grey.

"What exactly did he do?" He asked, but after being met without any reply, he added, "*Sigh* His physical condition is fine, but his consciousness is damaged. Whatever he was helping you with, he literally damaged himself just to make sure you did whatever you wanted,"

Grey clenched his fist when he heard Gerald's analysis, he didn't expect it to be this bad.

"Is there a way to help him?" He asked with a shaky voice.

"To be honest, it's going to be difficult. What you'll need is a natural treasure that has the effect of improving spiritual senses. That should be able to help mend his damaged consciousness," Gerald replied.

Grey felt a little better on hearing there's a way to help Void. This was all he wanted to find out about, so hearing it made him grateful.

"These treasures are very rare, and I haven't heard of anyone finding one in years," Gerald said to Grey, quickly waking him back to reality.

"I'll find it," Grey said confidently.

He didn't care where the treasure was, as long as it would heal Void, he'll find it.

Gerald shook his head wryly, "A lot of people say that, it's only after they start the journey do they find out that it's not as easy as it sounds,"

"I'm not like them, I'll find it. No matter where it is," Grey eyes gleamed with determination.

"Fine, then I'll give you a heads up, the only place you can find it is in the Magical beasts forest. That's the only place it has ever been reported to be seen," Gerald said after seeing how determined he looked.