Of the four Gnomes about to attack Reynolds and the injured Ninth stage Sovereign, one recognized Grey's voice the instant it cut through the noise of battle. The sound struck him like a physical blow. For more than ten minutes he had been moving carefully across the battlefield, not in search of Grey, but in a deliberate attempt to avoid him.
At the beginning of the fight Grey had made his existence a nightmare. The human had danced around him with effortless ease, intervening in every nearby clash while the Gnome was left to endure the angry curses of his own companions for failing to pin the troublemaker down. When Grey suddenly vanished from the Ninth stage battlefield, it felt like the rays of the heavens were shining on him.
The Gnome seized the opportunity and joined hands with two others to kill the first human Ninth stage Sovereign. He had been on the verge of getting the second kill when that same cold eerie voice sounded again.
