Affinity:Chaos

"Hello." Grey waved at the group behind Keith. 

The young man in the Ninth stage of the Overlord Plane was a little taken aback that Grey took the initiative to speak to them. 

He nodded as a form of greeting.

"Can you just forget whatever he did to you and let him go?" Grey asked with a smile. 

This was completely out of his character since he rarely spoke with people, much less even begging on someone's behalf. Normally, he would've attacked these people since he was already acquainted with Keith. But he felt he had been too detached from people for some time now, although he wouldn't become like Klaus who befriended everyone, he didn't mind making a new friend now and then. And these people might probably join the same Faction as himself, so he didn't want to complicate things. 

The other reason he hadn't attacked was that he didn't know why they were chasing Keith, nor the relationship they had. What if he attacked them and Keith turned on him? 

He wanted to clarify things first before coming to a conclusion on what to do. 

Keith looked at Grey, never expecting him to be someone this humble. He had seen Grey fight, and knew for a fact that Grey could take on two of these guys, so their two had no problem with defeating this trio, but Grey wanted to settle the issue in a way that wouldn't involve any conflict. 

The young man in the Ninth stage looked at his companions and fell deep in thoughts. He was trying to figure out Grey's intentions. On a normal day, he would feel like Grey was weak so he was trying to find a way to safely resolve the conflict, but from Keith's expression, he knew that wasn't the most likely case. 

"Since you're asking on his behalf, I will let him go for now. Take care." The young man said before turning around and leaving with his group. 

"Alright, take care." Grey waved at them with an amiable smile. 

"Well, that went better than I imagined." He turned to Keith. 

"Robert is a wise person, he could tell there was something off about you, so he decided to retreat instead of pushing on." Keith shook his head with a sigh. 

"I see, sensible people like that tend to live longer." Grey commented before walking back to the cave. 

Keith looked behind him with cold eyes, before walking after Grey. 

"So, what have you been doing?" Kieth asked as he caught up with Grey. 

"I've been resting here." Grey replied nonchalantly as he entered the cave. 

When Keith entered the cave, he knew for a fact that Grey wasn't lying. From how the place looked, it seemed like he had been staying here since he came for the trial. 

"You're probably the only one who doesn't seem to care about the trial." He said with a wry smile. 

His contact with Grey had been short, but he couldn't hide his interest in him. Grey seemed to have a certain mysterious halo around him that makes people want to know more about him. 

"Not really." Grey shrugged and took a seat. 

Keith had gotten a good number of beast cores, so he didn't mind staying with Grey. If he went out on his own, he might risk being attacked once again. It was best he stayed with Grey for the last two days to ensure that he passed the trial successfully. 

In another part of the forest. 

The trio who just left paused and started discussing. 

"Robert, why did you let them go?" One of the young men with him asked, confused with Robert's decision making. 

"Do you think that guy who appeared is simple?" Robert asked the young man. 

"He's only in the Eighth stage like me, I can take care of him." The young man replied. 

"You need to learn to be more observant, if not, you'll die without even knowing how." Robert said calmly before looking back in the direction Grey and Keith headed. 

"What now?" The second youth asked. 

"We'll have to join the Faction, what else can we do? The young lady ordered us not to return without the news of his death, do you want to go back while he's still alive?" Keith said before walking away. 

"I wonder why these people can't mind their own business." The youth in the Eighth stage of the Overlord Plane said angrily. 

To him, Grey's involvement was the main reason they were unable to complete their objective. Even if they couldn't kill Keith now, they would get the chance to once he was eliminated from the trial. Now they had to risk joining the Faction, which would mean spending more time on the mission. 

Time went by and it was finally the last day of the seven days trial. 

Grey had been living a pretty comfortable life, eating the meat of the Golden fur panther while also discussing with Keith. He found out that Keith was a small figure in his family and he somehow managed to offend the young family head, and now he wanted him dead. The reason for their dispute was all because of a young lady who fell in love with Keith. 

Keith was a handsome figure with sparkling blue eyes and white hair, although he was not on Grey and Klaus' level, he wasn't too far behind. 

Grey found the story to be absurd. How would someone want to kill another person all because the person he liked likes someone else? 

"Something is definitely wrong with whoever that guy is." Grey stated after he heard the complete story. 

"Is that the reason you joined this Faction?" He asked after a moment of silence. 

Keith nodded, "Honestly, I would've never joined this Faction. It is on the verge of falling, and there are more powerful Factions that I can join, but I don't have enough time, so I had to join them. Although they're on the decline, they're still a powerful Faction." 

"Interesting." Grey said before looking at the entrance of the cave with a thoughtful expression. 

"How about you, why did you join this Faction? I'm sure someone of your talent wouldn't have a problem joining the very best Factions around." Keith asked when he saw Grey's expression. 

"I find them interesting, so I decided to check them out." Grey said nonchalantly.