- Why.
A pillar of golden light descended from the skies and seemed to blind the entirety of the battlefield.
Normand's roars shook the Capital, his conviction splitting the clouds in the sky apart and causing a fissure that divided the two opposing forces. owns all content.
When he reappeared, it seemed as though he had been completely reformed. His body was flooded with a white gold light, making it look as though he was wearing robes. His golden hair had been completely cleansed and his emerald eyes shone like two true gems. As though his form had become ethereal, he seemed as light as a wisp of smoke and as fleeting as a fragrance in the wind.
Then, he moved.
Leonel's pupils constricted. He circulated [Golden Feather Step], causing two massive wings to appear toward his back. Their white gold appearance was no less dazzling, especially as each feather became more and more defined.
However, they had hardly formed when Normand had already appeared before him. It was as though it had only taken him a single flicker, a small twitch of the muscle, a minute intention, for him to suddenly cross a distance of hundreds of meters.
Like a streaking light, his sword struck forward, its speed so fast and its pattern so all encompassing that a singular thin blade almost formed a curtain all to its own.
Leonel frowned. '[Grand Bell Construct].'
DING! DING! DING! DING!
Instantaneously, an illusory bronze bell appeared before Leonel, his casting speed having reached ungodly levels. However, before he could take advantage of the spell's construction to attack while he was being protected, his pupils constricted.
In the blink of an eye, Normand's sword lights doubled. In an instant, [Grand Bell Construct]'s defensive limit was reached and a rain of piercing swords surged toward Leonel's vital points.
Brandishing his spear, Leonel accelerated backward, a single flap of his enormous semi-illusory wings taking him dozens of meters with ease.
Yet, as though Normand was nothing more than his shadow, he pressed his advantage. It seemed to take not a single ounce of effort to keep up, his body draped in an endless white gold that streaked to infinity toward his back.
Leonel's eyes couldn't keep up with him even if they tried. But, his Internal Sight could see Normand's face almost as clearly as if he was standing perfectly still.
The red eyes, the gritted teeth, the streaming tears… The first opened a window to a man on the brink of madness. The second was so fierce that it drew blood, causing crimson to drip down his chin and be whipped away by the wind. The last sparkled beneath the golden light, carrying a beauty with it that it had no right to have…
Leonel's jaw set.
Every fiber of his being did not want to kill this man. Anyone with even the slightest shred of sympathy wouldn't want to do such a thing.
Emotions dictated that he should find a way, that he should climb through a mountain of corpses to save this man he had only just met today. It was a silly, meaningless nicety, especially when he knew very clearly that this was a person who wanted nothing more than to die.
However, logic told him a single life wasn't worth how many he would sacrifice by taking such a route. Wasn't that how he had dictated his life until this point? The reason he hated killing so much was because he didn't feel that his own life was worth any more than another's.
So, how could he on one hand believe that. Then, on the other, feel so torn in this moment?
Normand roared, his call feeling like the madden wail of a wounded beast. His shout spread throughout the Capital as he pushed himself to his very limits.
Leonel could see it all. The blood that fell from his eyes, how his bulging thighs tore streaks of flesh away from his legs… He could even sense his heart pumping past its limits, causing micro tears to appear one after another.
He wasn't just going all out. He was going beyond his means for just one goal…
To kill Leonel.
A deep breath seemed to silence the entire battlefield. Leonel could no longer hear a thing.
He couldn't feel the collapsing walls of the city. He couldn't sense the crunching ground beneath his feet or the shouts of his men. He could hardly even hear the beating of his own heart.
He closed his eyes, the flow of his blood reaching a crawl.
Why did everything always have to be such a burden? Why did every choice he had to make come with such a dull pain? Why did he live in a world where he had to make such choices to begin with?
Leonel's focus reached an extreme height. Beneath his thinking speed, even Normand's blazing speed seemed as slow to a snail's crawl. He felt that he could accomplish days of thinking in just a few seconds.
And so… He sighed.
The world sped back up, Normand's blazing pace starting to leave sparkling motes of red as his blood vaporized into the air. His muscle fibers tore apart one after another, but his roar seemed endless, bellowing into the skies above.
At that moment, Leonel lightly tapped his foot.
On a piece of ground to his back, a small patch of earth no more than three inches across rose a half centimeter up.
In the blink of an eye, he had already crossed this distance. However, Normand couldn't react to the change. No, maybe he never saw it to begin with.
Chasing after Leonel, his entire focus on piercing his throat, how could Normand realize that such a small change had occurred on the ground?
So… he tripped.
He fell forward at blazing speeds, his body losing all of its coordination in an instant.
It was just a small moment. Having stepped into Control with the help of his Title, coupled with his deep comprehension of Weightless, it wasn't more than a micro second.
Yet, it was in that second that he suddenly found a spear plunged through his chest, shattering his heart into an eruption of crimson flesh.