PENG!
Leonel felt like an explosion had suddenly gone off in his mind, but rather than pain, it felt like he was a blind man that could now finally see. Using the formation to finally be able to feel the full brunt of his own Force, his body roared with life and his cells shimmered like their own individual stars.
The halo bracelets around his arms solidified, and the world shuddered. The World Spirits, that had been somewhat fighting against Leonel's actions before, fell into complete silence and their fusion was completed without the slightest hindrance.
The halo bracelets, hovering around Leonel's wrists with a silent majesty, looked absolutely gorgeous. The sight was truly without equal. They were simple, just an unclosed, smooth loop of gold, pinching a bow in its one gap. It felt like one could reach out and pluck these weapons, completing the might of a true God.
At that moment, a crown appeared above Leonel's head. Bits and pieces of armor descended from the void, clasping themselves onto his body in woven tapestries of gold and gorgeous browns. All of this happened in an instant, but with Leonel's thinking speed, he had grasped it all in a single blink. And it was a change that made him quite shocked...
Because he wasn't the one who had created this armor.
It was like Existence was resonating with him, taking reference from all the most famous Bowmen to ever exist, and forming their armor for him. If it wasn't for the situation, Leonel wouldn't be able to help shouting out how cool the uniform was. Even so, his eyes glowed with a fierce light, as though his gaze carried the shimmering shine of blinding stars.
He was covered in milky brown leather armor embroidered with leaflets of gold. His arms were braced with golden braces, and his hands had been covered in gloves with small plate armor on the backs of his hands that almost looked like the scales of a dragon.
A brown cloak fluttered behind him and its hood covered his head, casting his face in a deep darkness that only allowed his violet irises to shimmer with just the same brightness out from within the blackness. The contrast of bright gold and warm browns made him look like an Emperor Archer, a God of the Bow that could strike down entire armies with just a single stroke.
And that was when a quiver took shape on his back. It was then that the world truly fell into silence. It just hovered there, not attached to him, and yet looming over everything. Despite having already drawn an arrow, Leonel still subconsciously reached back, taking an arrow from this quiver.
He suddenly came to an understanding he never had before.
Bow Force was the only one of the Forces stuck in an odd in-between state. That was because the Bow was actually pulled from two weapons, technically... not just one. In fact, if one wanted to be even more accurate, it seemed that the Bow was just the driving force, while it was the arrow that was the true weapon. This was only made more obvious when Leonel always applied his Bow Force to his arrows and not his actual bow. If he used it on his bow, the effect would be much weaker.
So... why was the Force known as Bow Force and not Arrow Force?
Under normal circumstances, Leonel might casually dismiss it. But over these last few years, he had listened to and translated more languages than he cared to count. Across languages, across cultures, across dialects... Bow Force was always Bow Force and nothing else. © 2024.
The arrow from the quiver connected with Leonel's original arrow and an explosion of Force in a spiral of swirling gold took shape. The violence of the change caused the constellations in the sky to blink and waver. Leonel's gaze couldn't help but narrow, but his focus remained the same.
'It's called Bow Force because the bow is truly the center of everything. An archer focuses on control. To dictate life and death, even from worlds away.
'The arrow was never important. No... the arrow, from the very beginning, was just my heart, my will. It cannot be the Weapon Force because it is me.
'To fire and to never miss. To fire and for your enemies to guide themselves to death. To fire and to control worlds.
'All with nothing more than your own Will.
'This is the clearest form of Bow Force.'
Leonel's fingers released. The world remained silent. It was as though he had never attacked at all. And unlike the devastating strikes he levied against Minerva, the world remained perfectly intact, as though it couldn't sense this arrow at all...
As though this arrow truly only existed in Leonel's heart.
Unfortunately for the Invalids charging into the world, they weren't nearly so lucky. The single arrow wiped them out in droves. As though the God of Death had descended, one after another, they were devastated.
In a single sweep, over a million had died. It was a level of carnage that made little sense, and one that should have certainly not come from a Sixth Dimensional existence.
Leonel reached back once again, and the trembling of the constellations grew fiercer. However, his heart was as still as a calm lake. His Force Manipulation hadn't increased, but he felt that he had found a way to resolve the conflict in his Forces.
If the Bow was guided by his heart...
How dare it not listen to him?
A large spiral of golden Force appeared around this second arrow, growing so large that it looked as though he was about to shoot a lance rather than an arrow. With every breath, the arrow grew larger and larger, swelling as though pushing itself to the limit to what Leonel's heart could handle.
Veins of violet began to appear across it and Leonel suddenly felt a shocking synergy with his King's Might.
PENG!