Once More
The Division Heads were furious, but they weren't fools. Having seen the state of the battlefield, they knew that it would take someone at least as powerful as them to leave these unranked students in such a state.
The Arms had three sectors within them. There were the Division Heads, the unranked students and finally the Rankers. Number one among these Rankers was the Head of the Arm and there were three of them in total. Of course, these men were Syllar, Elaquin and Elody.
The other Rankers were reserved for students ranked in the top 1000. When one reached deep into the hundreds of these ranks, despite being a lower Tier than that of the Division Heads, the students themselves were considered equals. Above this, the Rankers could dwarf and even one shot Division Heads.
Rankers were the pool from which future Feather Sword warriors were chosen and it was impossible to enter the Patriarch's Faction or the Star Order if you had not been a Ranker in the past. Nôvel(D)rama.Org's content.
This was all to say that despite feeling the endless vitality coming from Leonel, and being certain that he was exceptionally young despite being unable to see his face, the Division Heads didn't make the mistake of underestimating him.
In the Luxnix family, strength wasn't decided by how old you were… It was decided by your ability.
At the helm of the Division Heads, there were three. These were men who had been in the outskirts of the Rankers in their youth but weren't quite good enough to become Feather Sword warriors. In addition, because they were so young, they couldn't join the Elder's Council just yet either.
Compared to the other Division Heads, they were several decades younger and they saw through their present situation with just a glance. They were Rayner, Ingram and Samson, a trio of Division Heads that usually acted as a trump card for these faction wars. But, it seemed like this matter wouldn't be able to be handled by them. They had no idea who this silver armored warrior was, but they could smell the danger.
"Send the signal again." Samson said with narrowed eyes.
"But…" Another Division Head tried descent.
"No buts. Those Rankers and especially not our Arm Head would never come out normally. This battle isn't simple and I'm getting a bad feeling from those pillars and that little beast on his head… If we don't make sure that they know this matter is serious, they'll never come."
All of them had a mightier and higher than thou attitude. They would always wait until the last moment to swoop in and see if it was worth getting in on the action. But, if things continued like this, their Healing Arm wouldn't even have anyone left.
"Rayner, Ingram, we need to take the helm."
The two Division Heads nodded, their auras silently brewing as the other Division Heads did as they were told. In that instant, a second round of signals were sparked and sent into the air.
Leonel's hand released one of his blades. With a sharp tug, he pulled on the other side, sending his spear spinning outward in a wide arc.
Everywhere the blade passed, an arc of crimson would follow. The range of the spear had increased by a factor of ten, its chains stretching outward as much as 30 meters under Leonel's control.
With a flick of his wrist, the spear snapped backward. A resounding and satisfying clicking sound echoed across the battlefield as it shot back into place, leaving the afterimages of a silver crescent moon in its wake.
The grass beneath Leonel's feet began to wither and fall to ash, small sparks of fire dancing about and spreading into the surroundings. His steps were slow as he walked toward the Division Heads, the little mink upon his head bearing his fangs menacingly.
A shimmering golden spear pulsed upon Leonel's forehead, an invisible Domain spreading out with his body as the center. It sounded like the whirring of a magnetic field coming to life, just the slightest and faintest purple hue coating the surroundings as the clouds above continued to grey.
The lush and beautiful atmosphere of the Luxnix family estate was withering away one step at a time. Blood pooled the ground, flames licked away at the foliage, and the skies slowly darkened, a slight drizzle beginning to pitter patter.
The first droplet that fell upon Leonel jumped about wildly, reaching a boiling point in an instant and evaporating into nothingness. At first, there was only the slightest hint of steam, but as the rain began to grow heavier, the billowing plumes of water vapor grew more and more prominent until it seemed like Leonel himself was made of smoke.
Casually using sword techniques was fine against the others, but facing these three, he felt the call of a sharper Force.
The Duality Spear vibrated wildly like a beast pulling against its chain. The billowing fog shot up around it, allowing its blade to split it in two.
The instant the Duality Domain crossed the three Division Heads, Leonel vanished. When he reappeared, he was already at Samson's throat, his spear blade threatening to take a head with its swing.
Samson's pupils constricted, but his reaction was calm. His task wasn't to win, all he had to do was stall. That was all. Just stall. Stall until they could get here.
But, what was this piercing pain?
Samson's sword had shot forward to intercept Leonel's spear and even successfully parried it. So what was this searing heat he felt in his opposite shoulder?
Samson's eyes widened.
In that moment, a three pronged strike shot out from in front of him and carried into the distance, leaving deep trenches in the ground and causing an explosion of earth and taking with it a spiraling arm and a thread of crimson.
Little Blackstar bared his shimmering teeth, his little claws still being held up in a swiping position.
Samson felt a foot land on his knee in his distraction, a violent pain erupting throughout his body as his leg was shattered.
By the time he had collapsed to the ground, Leonel had already flashed and vanished once more.