COST
The ashen land of blood that had formed beneath their feet trembled, and ten Stars appeared behind Leonel.
Every time he attacked, he seemed to have made another breakthrough, and another surge of power followed it up.
It was suffocating to the point that Willowyn couldn't help but remember that pair of eyes that had shaken up the entirety of Existence.
There was a reason she had reacted so fiercely to those streaks of crimson lightning. That was because she recognized them well, though she had never seen them personally.
It was said that beyond everything, beyond the Northern Star, and beyond even those limits, there was nothing but a land of Destruction where primordial chaos reigned.
In that region, there was a hierarchy of energy, one that started from the lowest forms of Destruction and rose up to the very highest.
The lowest form was a smoldering wisp of smoke that looked like the dying embers of a flame.
The next form was a crimson fog, one that looked almost like paprika dancing into the wind after being blown away.
The next form beyond that was the very same Crimson Lightning that she had just seen, a form of Destruction so severe and heart-rending that it was the first of its kind that couldn't be sampled. Content © 2024.
There were samples of the smoldering smoke and the crimson fog in the Sylvan Race's stores. But as far as Willowyn knew, no one but the Pluto had managed to catch a wisp of this blood lightning.
And now, she was seeing it right before her eyes, a form of Destruction that only the rarest of Void Beasts should have been able to use.
But worse than that, barely after she had gotten over its form, she saw the next.
When the crimson fog and the smoldering smoke made themselves a match in Heaven and were then sparked by the crimson lightning, they formed the first level of Destruction... or rather... the first level that had a true name that wasn't just formed from its form and color.
Prometheus Flames.
Leonel took another step forward and his Destruction World trembled. His eyes caught fire, and every step he took looked like a meteor falling from the skies.
The world fragmented and became bits and pieces of flaming mirrors. Willowyn had just been about to activate her Ability Index, but she found that she suddenly couldn't access it.
Leonel had truly cut off her connection with the world. Ability Indexes were bestowed by Existence... but if you were in Leonel's world, what right did you have to communicate with the world?
Whether it was Ability Indexes or Universal Force, in his world... you didn't have the right to use it.
BANG! BANG! BANG!
Another three holes were torn through Willowyn's defenses. These three thrusts were even closer to her main body, and the fiery glow of her eyes dimmed. Her fury couldn't seem to keep up any longer, and she was quickly being crushed one step after another.
Every spear strike shredded everything in its path, and the world itself was forced to obey beneath Leonel's laws.
It could be said that this was the absolute worst place to try and ambush Leonel other than an Incomplete World. In this void... he had all the right to control any and all things.
Willowyn quickly found her vines being shredded apart with much faster speeds than she could create them. The world shuddered around her, and she coughed up a mouthful of blood.
Dozens of meters separated her and Leonel, and yet she could see those cold and indifferent eyes as though they were touching nose to nose.
They burned with a fiery flame, redder than anything she had ever seen in her life, and more violent than any meteor. They saw through any and all things, and with singular strokes, he destroyed everything that she could think of to use to counter.
As Bracken had said, her combat experience was near nil. With her overwhelming talent and power coming up with nothing to give, all she could do was slap out with the same attacks again and again. Even when she tried to go for variety...
It was all useless.
"Pierce."
Leonel spoke the word lightly, and yet it caused the earth to tremble. His voice was akin to a layered monstrosity, as though nine devils were speaking at the same time.
And when their voices began to echo, a Natural Force Art appeared before Leonel just as his spear thrust right through it.
It pierced through the air, through space, through time.
The spear strike didn't seem to have even finished just yet when a hole was torn through Willowyn's forehead.
At that moment, a violent aura came from her once more and it seemed like yet another Ancestor was about to take shape.
But this time, Leonel was ready.
"Piss off."
His Destruction World trembled and the connection that was trying to be formed from the outside world was severed.
In a distant world, an Ancestor of the Sylvans suffered backlash, shocking the entire Race. And yet, it had nothing to do with Leonel at all.
He grabbed out at the air and Willowyn's body surged toward him.
His arm pierced through her chest as he looked her in the eyes, his own dancing with smoldering flames.
Then, he ripped her heart out.
Willowyn's expression was painted with shock. Never in her wildest imaginations did she think that this would be the place she died... never did she think that she would lose her life to a human of all things... and never did she think he would do so with such candor... such indifference... as though she was insignificant and her background meant nothing at all to him.
She realized in those final moments that she had made a mistake, not just in where she had chosen to ambush Leonel, but also not taking him seriously enough to prepare like she would have with an enemy that she actually respected.
And it cost her her life.