TTTSSSSSSSSUUUUUUUUU!

The arrow embodied the word. It didn't have to fold space or shatter its way into the void. It was speed in its truest essence, velocity in its sharpest definition.

It moved so quickly that it truly did seem to do all of those things, and yet both Leonel and Minerva, with their sharp Dream Force, knew that this wasn't the case at all.

There was no curve, no tricks, no distortions. It felt like it was ancient in its creed and almost arrogant in its directness.

And in that instant, it pierced right through Minerva's body, ripping into her chest before she could even think to move to the side.

TTTSSSSSSSSUUUUUUUUU!

The sound came long afterward, a grating noise that made it feel as though the air was a pot and the arrow was a fork scraping along its bottom. The arrow seemed to have forced the world into submission, forcing it to remain steady to allow it to display its mighty speed, and it was only then that a trail of fire and fragmented space appeared in its wake.

It was faster than even the world could react to. © 2024.

It was the embodiment of true, unbridled, unabashed speed.

And it was because of that it ripped through Minerva's body before she even felt anything.

She stood there, frozen, still wondering what had happened. Like a person who had been shot but had yet to realize because of the adrenaline, she stood there stunned.

Her senses told her what had happened, but she still didn't dare to believe it.

On the other side of the battlefield, Leonel was stunned as well, but for a completely different reason.

'I missed?'

The arrow had certainly ripped through Minerva's body, but not in the location he was aiming for. It missed her heart and went right through her lung, just centimeters from his intended target.

Someone else might feel it was just unfortunate, but for Leonel... this left him shocked to the point he lacked the words to describe them.

From the first moment he had picked up a bow, to this moment here, he had never missed.

Surely, many had dodged his attacks, blocked them or parried them...

But had he ever missed?

Never.

His arrow always seemed to be guided by his heart and landed on the exact target he was aiming for every time without the slightest hint of failure.

But this time, he was actually off. He could have killed Minerva with that blow, but because he missed, he hadn't.

At first, he thought it was because he had miscalculated. Maybe he misjudged the speed of the arrow, compensated for where he thought Minerva would try to dodge, and ended up overcompensating too much.

But no, that wasn't the case. If that had happened, he wouldn't summarize the events as him having missed, it would have been worse than that. It would have been him misjudging his own strength, underestimating his own power, and that was likewise something that he had never done.

Soon, he realized exactly what had happened.

The power of the arrow was too great for him to control. He had missed because it was too unruly for him.

He was so used to the bow coming so naturally to him that he didn't even think before he released the arrow, and that was part of the reason he didn't immediately understand why he had missed as well. He had been forced to use his Ability Index to return to that state to figure out exactly what happened.

And it left him stunned.

He had put in a lot of effort to begin to tap into the opposing half of his Ability Index. The applications of it felt endless, and it was a path that would allow his Control Ability Index to transcend to an unprecedented level.

If he could both perfectly control himself and perfectly control the world around him, what could possibly stop his steps?

However, what he didn't expect was that this success would make him too powerful, powerful to the point he wasn't able to even control his own strength.

It was almost ridiculous...

No, it really was ridiculous.

If it wasn't for the situation, he wouldn't have laughed at himself.

However, just when he thought he was going to have to burst into action on another long, drawn-out round of this battle, Minerva violently coughed up mouthfuls of blood, her body shuddering.

Leonel watched this in silence and almost couldn't help but laugh at himself again.

He had missed, sure... but it was only by a few centimeters.

For him, this was a devastating matter and entirely unacceptable. He had exceptionally high standards for himself, and he had projected his perceived failure onto the battle.

However, was it the same for Minerva?

The strength of Leonel's normal arrows could already shatter worlds. If he was in an Incomplete World, a single one of his arrows could probably run through a gauntlet of planets and shatter their star in one sweep, eradicating a solar system. Every single one of his arrows ripped and tore open space...

So how could his arrow pass through the body of a person and leave them unscathed?

Whatever carnage this Bubble World had to suffer every time he released an arrow, wouldn't Minerva also have to suffer just the same? Except this time... it was within her own body, and so close to her heart at that.

Even though she wasn't dead like Leonel wanted, she was probably in no fighting condition. And unfortunately for her, the healing method she had as a trump card had been used on Leonel and had yet to replenish itself.

It could be said that she had lifted a mountain, only to drop it onto her own foot. But that was her pride.

Looking at her, Leonel couldn't help but remember himself.

If he hadn't changed his Dream Force Path, would he have ended up like this?

Maybe he wouldn't have experienced personal failure, but wouldn't the death of his friends and family be another sort of heartbreak?

Leonel's pupils suddenly constricted as a figure appeared by Minerva's side.