NOT ENOUGH

Leonel moved like lightning, his agility hitting a completely different level. Every time he came across a Shield Cross Star member, he slaughtered them without mercy.

Although he didn't think about it much, it was almost amusing how difficult it used to be for him to kill. But he felt like he was a boulder one had rolled up from the bottom of a steep mountain. He reached the other side now and was tumbling with such speed that it was hard to tell what would happen when he got down to the bottom.

Would he smoothly roll out and crush everything in his path? Or...

Would he smash himself into countless little pieces?

Leonel turned another corner, but this time his fist flashed, coated with a beautiful gold, black armor. Death Force erupted from in a raging steam. It didn't seem to want to form into something solid, preferring to be an amorphous fog akin to Dark Force, but Leonel's Mage Core compressed it down, forcing it into a gauntlet that smashed through.

A rush of pressure came gushing out. Screams filled the room as a dense heat and a leak of the Fusion Core spilled boiling energy into the region.

Leonel seemed entirely unaffected. Could this Fusion Core's energy be hotter than the Innate Nodes that burned in his kidneys? Hot Star Force? Was there a hotter Star Force than Scarlet Star Force?

Without even turning back, the energy was pulled under his control, forming a curtain that Cristal braced herself to storm through. Her speed picked up, her hair singed and her fury bellowing as loudly as the hissing steam.

She couldn't understand how a mere Tier 1 could blast a hole through the walls of this ship at such a critical point. How could channels carrying such hot Fusion Core energy not be heavily reinforced? But Leonel had burst through them so easily that she hadn't even been able to catch up after he slowed.

Watching her subordinates die one after another, her blood threatened to boil over. The frustration of not being able to unleash her full strength for fear that she might cause more damage felt like she had been wrapped in plastic, her nose and mouth in all. She couldn't even run with her full force because her legs would blast through the floors, destroying whatever was below.

The other Cross Elders had told her many times that she had to learn to be more delicate, but she had never expected that it would come back to bite her like this.

She roared out in frustration as she turned a corner. As though a dragon, a line of Force shot out from her lips, aiming for Leonel's back.

'Earth Force?' Leonel sneered inwardly. 'Trying to use Earth Force as though it was Fire Force is amusing enough. Trying to use it against me, though, when you haven't stepped into the Impetus Stage despite being an Ancestor is even more amusing.'

The breath of Force split around Leonel's body, being ripped from the Cross Elder's control. Leonel turned back as he continued to glide forward, his steps just as light.

He raised his fists, the Cross Elder's Eighth Dimension backed Force pulling into gauntlets on his fist. He could feel their rage, shaking and quaking as he struggled to control them. In the end, an Ancestor's full strength was still beyond him... But this wasn't her full strength.

He inhaled a breath and his Spear Force surged before he punched out twice.

He turned around and continued to rush forward, not even looking back.

Cristal's expression changed once again, feeling a slight sense of danger. In the back of her mind, another question rose. Just how had Leonel used Spear Force with a punch? She had seen other masters use two fingers before, but that was still with the intention to treat their arm as a spear. But Leonel clearly hadn't had that intention, he had been thinking about punching all the while. Doing that should have caused his Spear Force to scatter. Exclusive content © by Nô(v)el/Dr/ama.Org.

'This boy is... dangerous.'

BANG!

Cross Elder Cristal stumbled back a strong step. The ground beneath her crumpled slightly as though it was aluminum foil. Her palms stretched out as she caught her own attack. She thought that she could deal with it easily as it was her own Force added with a mere Seventh Dimensional expert's Force. But the spike of pain was immediate.

She retrieved her palms after the Force had vanished, looking down to see a spiral of blood trickling down her hands. She was astonished.

A Seventh Dimensional brat had... injured her?

Cristal realized at that moment that this matter was far more serious than she knew. If she kept holding back, then she would have to stand here and watch as every Shield Cross Stars member onboard died. Even if some died beneath her rampage, they would just have to be sacrificed.

Leonel sensed the towering aura behind erupt moments later, but a smile spread across his face.

'It seems that she's quite smart... and cruel, at that. Unfortunately...'

Leonel's figure flickered to the side.

Dream Step.

He slid by Cristal's blow by a hair, her fist gliding just over his shoulder and by his cheek. In fact, if all he did was shift to the side, her equally as monstrously sides chest would slam into his back. But that... was exactly what he wanted.

'[Star Fusion: Combustion].'

BOOM!

An eruption of red Force flooded out of Leonel's body, his strength increasing so explosively that his bones cracked and his skin splintered.

His hands reached up, and he grabbed Cristal's elbow with two, strong hands.

The Cross Elder's eyes opened wide, but Leonel had already dropped his hips, twisting his core and powering through his legs with his greatest might. Flares of foggy crimson Force billow out from his armor as he roared.

Cristal flipped over his shoulder, arms flailing as she tried to fly to change her momentum. Unfortunately... It wasn't enough.

She flew right into the Fusion Core, blazing with energy.

BOOM!