"Kid, you have something of mine, return it."
An eerie voice came from the dust, and the full skeleton came to view. Its greenish flamy eyes struck fear into the eyes of everyone who stared at them for too long.
Grey was able to recognize the skeleton in an instant and his expression fell. He never thought the skeleton would come after him. In his defense, the flowers were there for the taking.
"This is troublesome." He caressed his head softly.
"I've been hunting you for a while, where are my flowers?" The skeleton asked coldly.
"I have no idea what you're talking about. But I have some flowers with me, I don't know if they're yours." Grey replied with an innocent expression.
The eyes of the skeleton flared up when it heard Grey's words.
"Kid, don't try to act smart with me. I've seen it all." The Skeleton was not having Grey's smart play.
Grey saw their situation and given the space in the room he couldn't help but feel slightly annoyed. If he were alone, he wouldn't be afraid to fight with the skeleton, but with others here, he didn't want them to get hurt.
Not just that, but the others wouldn't want to help him when they wouldn't be getting anything out of it.
'Void… wanna help out? I'll give you one flower.' Grey asked Void for help.
Void didn't reply to him.
'Fine, two flowers.' He increased the offer.
Void finally spoke up, 'It's too strong. Give up on them.'
Grey was taken aback by Void's words. From his usual experience with Void, he didn't take Void for someone who was scared of a battle, but from the looks of it, Void was afraid of getting into a battle with this skeleton even with Grey assisting him.
'Tough.' Grey thought to himself before bringing out all eight flowers.
When the others saw the flowers with Grey, they were beyond shocked. Of all of them, Grey was the first to leave the room, yet he managed to take all eight flowers.
One thing worth noting was that the flowers had all lost a bit of essence compared to how they were the first time they saw them.
"What did you do to them?!" The Skeleton was irate.
"Nothing I swear. When I took them I accidentally absorbed a bit of them, I didn't even expect it to happen." Grey explained.
Even though the flowers were in his spatial storage, he was still able to absorb some of their essences. When he tried to, he realized how easy it was for him to, and before he knew it, he had absorbed quite a bit of essence from all eight flowers.
The Skeleton looked at Grey, shocked. The only thought in its head was how Grey was able to absorb all eight elemental essences from the flowers.
"Oh, my cat has some elements that I don't have, so he absorbed some too." Grey threw some of the blame to Void. He knew it would be dangerous if the Skeleton knew he could use all eight elements.
"Kid, you will have to compensate me." The Skeleton said.
Grey heaved a sigh of relief when he saw this. Since the Skeleton was ready to speak to them in a calm manner, then they would be able to agree on something. From the looks of it, the Skeleton didn't want to get into a fight with them which Grey felt was logical.
The Skeleton might be strong, but there were more people present and its strength was only at the Peak. It might be able to take on two of them, but with all of them combined, the chances were slim.
Grey thought about it and brought out an orb.
When the Skeleton saw it, its eyes lit up. This was exactly what it wanted. Something that has a large amount of essence in it. The orb Grey brought out fitted perfectly in this description.
Over the years, Grey had acquired quite a lot of treasures, this orb being one of them. He didn't have any use for it, so it was okay to hand it over to the Skeleton as compensation for using the essence in its flower.
After tossing it over to the Skeleton, who took it quickly, he prepared to leave with the others.
"Did I say you're free to go?" The Skeleton asked with an amused voice.
Grey halted in his steps, unsure of what the Skeleton wanted even after he had given him the orb.
"I'm only taking that compensation for the essence you removed from the flowers." The Skeleton laughed, it added slowly, "Now I need you all to compensate me with your lives."
"I know you're strong, but don't think you can defeat all of us." Elaris was the one who spoke up this time.
She might've been shocked with the fact that Grey was able to take the flowers, but it didn't mean she wouldn't unite with him now that the Skeleton wanted to kill them.
Grey was very powerful, that was something she had already seen from the last time Grey acted. The fact that Grey gave up the flowers and even offered more showed that he knew he wasn't a match for the Skeleton. She, too, had accessed the situation and realized even the two of them might not be able to stop this Skeleton from doing whatever it wanted.
"You might want to bring out your cat." The Skeleton looked at them and said to Grey with an amused voice.
Grey's expression turned serious. He never expected the Skeleton to know Void was currently with him. Yes, he spoke about him, but since he wasn't here, it was easy for the Skeleton to assume that he wasn't close by. However, the Skeleton looked him in the eyes and told him to bring Void out, it meant it knew Void was close by.
Brax and Victor walked closer to them when they saw the tension. Sylvia's brother was the only one left behind them.
