PIECES
Lyra, or rather Aina, appeared by Aerin's, or Leonel's side. They looked forward without a word, seemingly having already expected this outcome.
When Patriarch Khafra finally deduced what happened, he stumbled back. Was the Spiritual Race's Princess always such a monster? That was impossible.
He realized what happened now.
Aina, or rather Leonel, didn't set up the board for the sake of victory. The entire time, he was manipulating combinations of Force Arts to get his desired effect.
But first he needed to run a test, and that test was precisely Morgok's first attack. Everything had hinged on the Nomad Race's ability to teleport their Hands of God through space. Who would have thought that this ability the strongest of them took pride in, would be used against them like this?
Ultimately, in order to be able to create an instant teleportation like this, there was a constant connection that needed to be maintained between the floating hands and the person using them.
Space was a very dangerous thing. If there was an error in a teleportation platform, not only could you not make it to the other side, but you could ended up stretched across millions of miles, your body crushed into atoms.
Leonel's idea was simple. What if he put the teleportation of Morgok's hands and the Portals in conflict? Just the slightest tug on either side could end up destroying everything, including Morgok.
But this was far easier said than done. This text is property of Nô/velD/rama.Org.
For one, he had to lock onto the exact frequency of Morgok's personal spatial control. Then, he needed to not only create a Portal that could perfectly counter that, but he had to do so in a way that not only forced Morgok to attack a particular square, but hid his real intentions while it seemed like he was just playing the game normally.
Just nailing one of these factors was impossibly difficult. Nailing all of them at once was more than just a stroke of genius, it was impossibly monstrous, to the point that Patriarch Khafra thought he was dreaming.
Could he even do this?
No matter how he spun the problem in his mind... he knew that he couldn't.
Deciphering what the two had done was one thing, but actually doing it was a different matter entirely. Back on Earth, there were thousands of people that could dissect a game of chess, but there were only a few dozen who could play a game of the highest caliber.
Patriarch Khafra felt his heart beating out of his chest. Did they make a mistake here? What was happening?
Unfortunately for him, it was already too late. Leonel didn't even give him a chance to consider his option. He directly chose the next challenge and they both vanished.
Patriarch Khafra and Leonel stood across from one another. The latter was calm, but the Patriarch, on the other hand, still hadn't quite recovered.
From his experience, he knew that he had to calm down. With his mind in this state, it was too easy for a Dream Force expert to take advantage of him.
But understanding was one thing, actually executing was another matter entirely.
It could be said that Leonel had killed two birds with a single stone. Whether Patriarch Khafra wanted it or not, his mind was practically puddy in Leonel's hands now.
At that moment, the world shook and numerous beasts began to appear.
This challenge wasn't much unlike the first time Leonel faced off against Patriarch Khafra. It was all about defeating beasts.
They both stood on opposite ends of a long corridor. Between them and the middle stood nine sections. Each section held a different Dream Beast of various levels of Strength.
Whoever made it to the center first would be the winner of this round. It was that simple.
Logically speaking, Patriarch Khafra should crush Aerin in this challenge, he knew that. He had seen the other challenges there, and this was the last one that he thought Leonel would pick.
But it was precisely because of that that his mind was so shaken.
Just what... just what was happening?
DING!
Patriarch Khafra's heart shook. He had been watching the entire time... but how had Aerin crushed the first beast with such speed?
A Snowy Star Owl flapped its wings and lunged at Patriarch Khafra, obscuring his vision to the other side.
DING!
Patriarch Khafra was flustered as he struck out with a palm, only to hit empty air. A slash of wing crossed his chest like a scythe, but it couldn't draw blood. The creature was far weaker than himself, so how could it?
DING!
DING!
DING!
Every second that ticked by, every sound that echoed shook Patriarch Khafra to his very core. He was shocked beyond belief. By the sixth DING! he could feel the real horror settling in.
Was he going to die here?
He didn't know why the thought came to his mind. He was so much stronger than these creatures, this Dwarven Prince was no match for him.
He tried to comfort himself, saying that it had to be that the Spirituals were just hiding a genius, it couldn't be that they would both have such a shocking performance, right? That was impossible.
DING!
DING!
DING!
The despair truly set in. That was the ninth. Aerin had won.
DING!Patriarch Khafra's eyes opened wide. He could feel his mind collapsing. He felt that he had offended someone he shouldn't have, but he couldn't remember who it was, he couldn't grasp it.
He had killed too many people, ruined the lives of too many families, he couldn't possibly remember them all.
DING!
DING!
DING!
The sounds kept getting closer and closer until he saw those eyes.
18 beasts stood around him, bearing down with menace.
It was when he looked into that gaze that his mind truly collapsed.
Even if the face was different, he remembered those eyes.
The entire time Lyra was inside the challenge, he had had his eyes closed. Wasn't that identical to how Leonel had been acting when Aina appeared?
He looked down toward Aerin's finger, looking for a marriage bond.
But he was out of luck.
Patriarch Khafra was shredded to pieces.