Magus Supremacy

Chapter 908: A Romantic Reunion

Chapter 908

Everyone was gawking in total disbelief.

The truth had become undeniable.

There was no conceivable way for someone to fabricate such a diverse array of elemental affinities.

And Grey was right—aside from the Emperor, who commanded four, he was the only one known to possess such a high number.

But now, he had returned with a fifth.

"Monster! Demon! Beast! A truly terrifying creature!" Kael exclaimed in horror, tottering forward like a drunkard.

"No, no, no. I no longer deserve the title of ’Lunaria’s Demon.’ That belongs to you. Five affinities? It’s madness—utterly insane!"

Grey slowly descended, landing smoothly on the scorched ground while brushing off his crimson robe with a calm, practiced motion.

"It really is you." Vanica’s eyes grew moist as she and Arthur rushed forward.

Before Grey could even process what was happening, Raze, Vanica, Arthur, and Jay darted toward him.

They threw themselves onto him, their eyes welling with tears as they clung to his frame.

"You really are the one. You’re alive."

"Of course I am. Who possesses the power to truly take down the Supreme Magus?" Grey asked with a light, airy chuckle.

The squad squeezed him tightly, their sobs muffled against his heavy robes.

Only Greg, Scarlet, and Kael remained where they stood, though for the first time in an age, tears trickled down Kael’s stoic face.

He hurriedly wiped them away, masking his vulnerability while he watched the reunion.

"Oh Grey, where have you been? So much has happened in your absence. We were almost at our breaking points," Arthur cried, clenching the mage’s collar firmly while weeping into his shoulder.

"We—we missed you so much," Vanica sniffled, sobbing with the raw abandon of a toddler.

Grey was stumped.

He felt completely out of his element, unsure of how he was supposed to comfort them.

All he could manage was a clumsy pat on the backs of those huddled around him, a warm, bittersweet smile gracing his features.

"Well, I never knew I would be missed quite this much. Hahaha..." He chuckled, even as a lone tear slid down his own face.

Then another followed, and then one more.

"I—I missed you all too. So—so much." His voice cracked like a broken record, the composure he had maintained as a masked warrior finally splintering.

He clutched Raze’s robe tighter as grief, pain, and overwhelming sadness finally overcame him.

Months had passed—nearly twenty-four months since he had last seen their faces.

"I—I’m sorry I couldn’t return sooner. I wanted to, trust me. I really wanted to."

"Then why didn’t you?!"

A thunderous shout erupted, causing the sobbing mages to lift their heads.

Scarlet stood there fuming, her hands tightened into white-knuckled fists.

Soon enough, she began stomping forward with furious intent.

"You claim to miss us? Yet you were nowhere to be found for all these months! A year and a half—approaching two years! How can you stand there and claim to miss us?!" Scarlet screamed as she closed the distance.

Seeing her incandescent expression, Jay, Raze, Vanica, and Arthur simultaneously took several steps back, putting a safe distance of two metres between themselves and Grey.

The Supreme Magus looked around, realizing he had been abandoned to the storm.

"Betrayals...." he muttered under his breath.

In a jiffy, Scarlet was already standing directly in front of him, her glare sharp enough to draw blood.

"How dare you show your face here after so long?!" she screamed, grabbing his collar and jerking him forward so they were eye-to-eye.

"I—I—I..."

"You are what? Sorry?!" Scarlet’s jaw tightened.

And then, her hand blurred forward.

SLAP!

A resounding strike landed on the mage’s cheek, snapping his head to the side.

He tried to lift his gaze to offer an explanation, but another blow from her other hand landed with equal force, flinging his head in the opposite direction.

Pulling his collar roughly to keep him from recoiling, Scarlet glared into his eyes.

Her own gaze was glistening with tears that had begun to roll down her cheeks in earnest.

"I waited. I waited! Day after day, week after week, I waited. Weeks turned into months, and months turned into years. I thought you would return at any moment, but you never did!

I tried my best to hold the squad together. I really tried. But at the end of the day, we fell apart."

The others lowered their heads in a heavy, shared guilt.

The silence of the ruins pressed in on them as Scarlet’s words laid bare the fractures that had formed in Grey’s absence.

"We all... We all..." Scarlet’s voice cracked as she buried her face back into his chest, sobbing into his robe until the dark fabric turned moist.

Then, lifting her head, she forced herself to look at him.

Grey stared into her beautiful eyes, which were glistening with an endless stream of tears rolling down her flushed cheeks.

"... We all missed you, Grey. We all did..."

"And you?" Grey suddenly asked, the question causing the girl to pause mid-sob.

"What?" she croaked out, her breath hitching.

"Did you miss me? You said they all missed me, but did you miss me even one bit?" Grey asked softly, his own eyes glistening with a vulnerability he rarely showed.

Scarlet’s lips quivered for a long moment as she searched his gaze.

"I did. Every single day you were not here; every damn day I kept running outside to see if you would ever return. I kept thinking about you daily. I kept crying myself to sleep with only your memory to keep me company."

The rest of the squad watched the scene with warm, genuine smiles spreading across their faces, some of them almost blushing on behalf of the pair.

"... So yes, Grey Dawn, I missed you a whole lot—"

Her words were interrupted immediately as she was pulled forward by Grey.

He yanked her close until their faces were touching, the space between them disappearing entirely.

They could feel the warmth of each other’s breath against their skin.

And then, Grey leaned in and locked lips with Scarlet.

"Awwwww!"

"Finally! My boy is now a man!" Raze shouted, reaching into his pocket to grab a handkerchief and blowing his nose loudly into it.

Grey and Scarlet blocked out the boisterous noises from their friends, remaining frozen in place as they relished the sensation.

Their eyes drifted shut, every other concern in the world fading into the background.

Scarlet’s hands wrapped tightly around the Supreme Magus’ neck, her fingers tangling in his hair as she refused to let go.

Grey’s hands found their place on her slender waist, pulling her flush against him.

They explored the kiss with a desperate, long-awaited hunger, their lips meeting again and again as if to make up for every second of the last two years.

After five full minutes of kissing—while the others had nothing to do but watch with varying degrees of amusement and awkwardness—they finally disengaged with a loud, final smack.

Staring down into her eyes, Grey smiled softly and whispered,

"That was good."

"And long awaited," Scarlet added, a slight blush creeping up her neck as she replayed the memory of the kiss over and over in her mind.

Until—

"Hang on!" Jay suddenly shouted, shattering the romantic atmosphere.

He leveled a shaking finger in Grey’s direction.

"What is it now?" Raze asked, raising a skeptical brow.

"... I’m just realizing something right now," Jay stammered, his face pale.

"Which is? What is so important that you had to ruin the mood?" Kael glared at the noble, clearly annoyed by the interruption.

Jay looked up to stare at Grey, his eyes wide with a new kind of realization.

"Grey has five affinities, right? And he didn’t even use a single one throughout the whole fight! This bastard wasn’t even taking us seriously to begin with?!" he shouted in horror.

The corner of Grey’s lips twitched.

He said nothing, simply offering a knowing smirk to his friends, whose expressions shifted from joy to utter realization at just how much he had been holding back.