Right Hand

Cornelius watched Leonel, his expression warping from time to time.

'30%... He's gotten 30% stronger in a few hours… 40… 50... 80…'

Cornelius felt as though his head was spinning. A part of him wanted to believe that this wasn't improvement speed but rather just Leonel showing more of the strength he already had. But, he felt like he knew better than to try and conclude such a thing.

What was the most baffling was that he felt a change in Leonel after that fight…

'Those three… That young man is from the Sith family, the leading head of Shield Cross Star's Stealth Unit. He isn't the best among their current generation, but he's still within the top five, he's even awakened the Sith Lineage Factor to such a level already. But…'

Cornelius could feel it. Leonel got bored, and the instant he did, the rapid improvement that he was experiencing plummeted. It was as though Leonel could use his own mood to influence how fast his own progress could be. Cornelius had never heard of something like this before. Belongs to (N)ôvel/Drama.Org.

'Does he not have goals and aspirations? Does he not have something to strive for outside of what's right in front of him?'

If Leonel could hear Cornelius' thoughts he would be baffled. Reason being, he definitely had a goal to strive after. He wouldn't be able to understand how or why Cornelius would come to such a conclusion. However, for any neutral outside observer, Cornelius' conclusion wasn't only sound, it was reasonable and felt like the truth.

A person who had bought into their purpose, who truly strove after it with all they had, wouldn't be like Leonel. Why would something like boredom slow him down? Monotony was something anyone who wanted to succeed would have to learn to accept.

Did that mean that Leonel didn't believe in his goal…? Not necessarily.

If Cornelius knew of what Leonel wanted to accomplish, rather than feeling that it was all ridiculous, he might look toward Leonel more like he was looking at a monster rather than just a child he was looking after.

There were only two real explanations for this.

It was either Leonel didn't take his goal to conquer the Dimensional Verse as seriously as he claimed to. Or…

Leonel was so confident in his inevitable success that he felt no pressure whatsoever…

…

Leonel knew that he was likely being observed, but he had already thrown such thoughts to the back of his mind, already focusing on his new goal.

Now that he knew platforms didn't disappear and that paths formed by others could be used, he realized that this was a great opportunity. The more time passed, the more complicated the structure would become and the more chances there would be.

There was a good chance that the more empty paths there were the more geniuses would begin to travel along them. If Leonel ignored the easy paths to take, then others could take them. Eventually , the opponents Leonel needed would end up coming to him rather than him having to go and find them.

Leonel could tell that this trial was built to allow this to happen. The more platforms were cleared, the more interconnectivity there would be, and the more likely it would be for two groups to run into each other. From the beginning, this was the design. Leonel was just making a decision that would allow this to happen faster. Rather than following paths that had already been cleared, he would forge new ones.

As Leonel barreled forth, the day waned and Aina finally showed signs of waking up. When she finally did so, she realized that she lay on something as soft as clouds. It took her a moment before she registered the fact that it was a special ability of Blackstar's.

She sat up slightly, Blackstar's twin tails allowing her all the room she needed to maneuver.

Feeling the change, Little Blackstar, who hovered in the forehead of his foggy construct, looked back.

"Yip! Yip!" He excitedly greeted Aina, causing her to reveal a beautiful smile.

Aina's gaze shifted toward Leonel's back. She knew that he was probably aware that she was awake already, but he was too focused on ripping apart the Rapax before him to pay attention to any of that. The defined muscles of his back, shoulders and lats rippled with veins and striations as he destroyed yet another foe.

Aina took a deep breath, looking down at her hands. She felt much better. In fact, she felt better than she had in a long time.

The Anarchic Force wasn't that much of an issue to her. After decades of dealing with a curse day in and day out, this felt like a light punishment. She had just needed to replenish her mind after draining it so completely. Even with how powerful her own mind was, Yuri was simply on a different level.

Aina stretched, her curves displaying an enticing sight as she pulled her torso taut. Her figure was enticing to an extreme, her skin giving off a healthy color.

She ran her hands through her hair, a light smile tugging at her pink lips.

With a light push, she flipped through the air, landing like a feather on her feet. In a blink, she had appeared by Leonel's side, a delicate fragrance of apple and cinnamon following her every movement.

Leonel's fist shot through the throat of the last Rapax, exhaling a light breath. He looked to the side as they vanished, appearing above the lake once more.

His gaze met Aina's and he smiled lightly, his palm flipping over to hand her a familiar battle ax.

Aina accepted it gracefully, resting the enormous two meter long polearm on her shoulder as though it weighed nothing at all.

Without a word exchanged, the two leapt to the next platform, Little Blackstar following closely behind.

Aina had come at the perfect time. The number of Rapax they needed to face increased from just one to two, and it would very likely increase from now on.

Leonel let Aina take more of the lead, allowing her to get accustomed to fighting this new enemy. Subconsciously, Leonel knew that his biggest reliance in the journey ahead would be this woman by his side now. She was the only one among his current group with talent comparable to his, and he knew that this would be what it took to reach his goals.

How could his right hand woman not be able to cut down Rapax just as easily as he could?