- Familiar Feeling

Leonel's eyes narrowed. He felt that mysterious energy snuff out his flames much like it had suppressed his other Forces previously.

Wood should naturally had a weakness to Fire but it seemed that whatever this mysterious Force was had the ability to counteract this weakness to a small extent.

What Leonel saw next, though, left him baffled.

A lotus began to form amidst the winding wooden structures. But, it was completely unlike any lotus Leonel had ever seen or read about before.

This lotus was constructed entirely of arms and hands. They overlapped over one another to form petal-like structures, each layer exuding a more and more powerful aura. Although the Head of Misty Woods seemed to only be capable of forming three of these layers, it was more than enough to display his might to an almost heavenly degree.

The skies trembled, the earth shook and the density of Wood Elemental Force only seemed to grow exponentially with each passing moment. After a few breaths, it felt less like his Forces were being suppressed and more like there was simply no other Forces to call upon to begin with.

The lotus of arms and hands began to rotate, the piety in the Heads face only growing as he closed his eyes, feeling the world around him through his countless roots and branches. It was like the death of his comrade meant nothing to him, all there was in his mind was his Goddess. Nothing more, and most definitely not anything less.

It was hard to tell if he wanted to prostrate himself before this invisible Goddess or if he wanted to worship the lotus itself. But, those worshippers of the Evergreen Goddess had a hard time distinguishing between the two.

The Evergreen Lotus was the symbol of their Goddess. It was their privilege to be able to use even a portion of its power like this. They were blessed beyond belief and gratefulness overflowed in their hearts.

To kill the enemies of the Evergreen Goddess, that was their duty!

"DIE!"

A roar left the lips of the silent old man. He seemed to have changed into a completely different person.

The bark that covered his skin became an ink black color. His irises were painted over in an unnatural, almost poisonous sort of green. He bared his teeth, their pearly white sparkling amidst the contract of black and harsh green. At that moment, his murderous intent even made those of Crimson Hall bow out in inferiority.

The rotating lotus of arms and hands suddenly began to lash out. Each whipping palm was more furious than the last, leaving cracks of thunder and shattering sound barriers in their wake as they cratered the ground beneath Leonel's feet. Property belongs to Nôvel(D)r/ama.Org.

Without even touching the ground, the wind pressure of the palms alone made it feel like meteors were falling from the sky. The earth exploded apart, mushroom clouds of dirt and rock shooting upward and showering the battlefield in a fog of brown.

Even as he rolled and dodged for his life, Leonel couldn't help but be astonished.

He could tell that the power of these palm strikes was beyond just the Wood Element alone. It wasn't that a powerful enough Wood Elemental expert couldn't create such an affect, but rather that the Head of Misty Woods organization wasn't using enough raw Force to cause such devastation.

There was something else hidden within, a secret Leonel felt stemmed from the palms themselves that held a mysterious power.

Leonel felt that it was related to that mysterious Force that seemed to be a cross of World Force and Universal Force… But he simultaneously felt that it was a layer even deeper than that.

"O Goddess of the Evergreen! Shower your Blessings down upon me so that I might cleanse the world of a scourge!"

The aura only seemed to grow. The longer the usually silent old man held his palms upward, the longer his prayer lasted, the more powerful he seemed to become.

Leonel's pupils constricted.

The lotus of arms and hands was originally a gorgeous shade of brown, a beautiful grain of wood that woodworkers would give an arm and a leg to work with. But now, it suddenly became even more so, gaining vein patterns of gold that reminded Leonel a lot of his Bronze Runes.

The instant these veins appeared, the aura of the lotus of arms and hands skyrocketed, their strength more than just doubling in a single breath.

A palm shot out with such blazing speed that Leonel's knees bent beneath the wind pressure before he managed to dodge out of the way.

BANG!

An abyssal hole of at least 20 meters deep was excavated in the blink of an eye. Yet, the palm had already retracted, shooting forward in twos, threes and even fours as the aura of the lotus continued to climb.

'[Infernal Cyclone]!'

ᰍaꪧda ᱅o᱇ꫀl Leonel's spear began to spin in his hands, causing wheels of fire to jet outward, rolling through the ground and slicing through the air as they took out one arm after another.

'I have to end this…'

Leonel sighed. He realized that battling like this really wasn't his style. He was relying a lot on skill and technique, not to mention raw strength, as opposed to his mind. If he was using his ability like he usually did, this battle would have ended dozens of exchanges ago.

He needed to find a balance. But, right now, he couldn't afford to get embroiled in a battle that might injure him and also drain his stamina. After all, he had enemies closing in from all sides right now. It would be foolish to continue like this.

'Still… I have to thank you for opening up a new world to me now… I think I understand how to progress my Universal Force after so long.'

Leonel stopped holding back, his gaze suddenly turning a deathly shade of cold. The entire world reflected in his mind. If he wanted, he could envelop the whole planet in his senses.

Leonel's steps flickered, his body vanishing and reappearing as it weaved in and out of sweeping roots.

In the midst of prayer, the silent old man was shocked to find Leonel suddenly before him, holding a spear that had gone through his chest. And yet, he couldn't understand how Leonel had done so while standing more than 20 meters from him…

'[Vanishing Blade].'

Leonel retracted his spear, his head tilting up to the skies as the jungle of wooden vines collapsed all around him.

Were they finally going to take action now?

Suddenly, Leonel's expression changed.

This feeling. It was the same as when Shield Cross Stars branded him with a slave mark!

His head snapped toward the Head's corpse, the latter's face still etched with an endless piety.

'It's coming from there. Shit!'