LESSER

Leonel was speechless. This woman was so crafty, but did she have to be so paranoid at the same time? He could understand her feelings. He had taken her into the Segmented Cube in order to hide the manifestation of her Lineage Factor. It was impossible to tell what kind of trouble it would cause if this commotion was sensed by someone who knew what it actually meant. But from her perspective, it looked like he had taken advantage of her distraction to bring her into the very world she had been trying to avoid all this time.

'Fast,' Leonel's pupils constricted. © content.

His thoughts immediately went to using Anastasia to suppress this woman. It would be easy. In this world, he was invincible so long as Anastasia stood on his side.

Even if he didn't use Anastasia, as a person with the Northern Star Lineage Factor, it should be easy for Leonel to use the Life Tablet to subdue her as well.

But he didn't for two reasons.

The lesser of the two reasons was that he didn't want to sour their relationship. Obviously, using such means would make her think the worst of him.

However, this was the lesser for a reason. He felt that if he restrained her, he could explain what was happening quite simply and she was smart enough to accept it.

The real reason he didn't stop her was because he was fascinated. She had only just awakened the Lineage and she didn't even have the supporting techniques for it... So how come she was suddenly so much more powerful?

Her fist appeared before Leonel in a blur of Light Force. It was so fast that it felt like she had cut through space itself, bending the laws of causality and bearing down on him.

Cindra's thought process was quite simple. She knew that Leonel likely had great control over this world, so she wanted to catch him off guard and restrain him so that she would gain the upper hand again.

Unfortunately for her, Leonel's thinking speed was still far beyond her own, at least for now. He had already thought through her intentions and the only reason she was still standing was because of his curiosity.

In a blur, the two figures exchanged hundreds of blows, Leonel being on the back foot for much of the exchange.

They slid onto the surface of the vast ocean waters, their movements kicking up currents and forming tides.

The Cleansing Waters licked against Cindra's ankles, and to Leonel's astonishment, they began to pull away at the impurities in her body.

Cindra's strength was getting better and better under its influence. She was so focused on dealing with Leonel that she didn't even seem to notice.

Leonel blocked a blow with his elbows and countered with a fist to her chest. Cindra's body blurred and she appeared to his side, a vicious roundhouse kick lashing out against his chest.

Leonel's steps pivoted rather than taking a step back. He blocked the wind slicing kick with a shoulder check and braced himself, his core tightening as he unleashed a furious uppercut into Cindra's liver.

A flash of Light Force rippled, mixing in with the Cleansing Waters and illuminating them as though gorgeous rays of the sun.

The light covered her body and explosively retreated, but not before Leonel's knuckles barely managed to graze them.

Cindra's protective coating shattered, sending sparkling shards of glass falling into the water. Her feet smashed down into the water, forming a massive chasm as she erupted forward.

The two figures clashed once again, the furious cascade of strikes sending out shockwaves into the air. They weaved in and out of clashes, the wind seemingly imploding and the clouds above dispersing beneath their might.

A vortex of water formed beneath every one of their strikes, pillars of glistening geysers flying into the skies with every cacophonic boom.

Leonel's laughter peeled through the skies, three quick fists layering atop of one another and echoing with sonic booms as they ripped through the skies.

Cindra stumbled backward. The feeling of her life being in danger erupted in her mind like an explosion of magma. The heat pooled through her veins and her heart leapt out from her chest.

Familiar, gorgeous white scales erupted across her body as a pair of wings spread from her back. Golden runes danced within these white scales and her hair became a long river of pearly whites and shimmering golds.

This time, when she pressed off against the water, the ocean seemed to separate in two and she appeared before Leonel so fast that rather than a teleportation, it felt more like the very world had shrunk at her command.

An idea came to Leonel's mind as a strike of lightning linked in his Dreamscape.

His own Light Force flourished, several mirrors appearing in the skies under the might of his Emulation Spatial Force.

The world whined and buckled as Leonel vanished.

BANG!

In Leonel's place, a mirror was shattered beneath Cindra's fist, but he had already appeared in another high in the skies, a wide smile on his face.

Cindra tried to move toward the new Leonel, but he had already appeared in another mirror, smashing a fist against her back.

Cindra moved, aiming for where the last Leonel had been, but he had already appeared to her back again, smashing out another fist.

The barrages were continuous and came from all sides. Cindra couldn't even read or react, her mind becoming overwhelmed by the influx of information as though Leonel's speed alone was suppressing her thoughts.

She suddenly unleashed a roar, finally catching a hold of Leonel. She watched as his fist came toward her, her eyes locked onto him.

She erupted with all her might, wanting to severely injure him...

When a tap suddenly came to her back.

Cindra froze, feeling the hand on her shoulder. Her strike obliterated the mirror, but once again, there was no Leonel.

A chuckle came from behind her. "Alright, that was fun, but I think that's enough, right?"