989: No Way

No Way

Leonel felt as though all the bones in his body were being shattered. Even his Divine Armor cracked in several places, finding it difficult to hold up. It was though he was being crushed by a continuous wall that only seemed to grow more powerful as he was shot into the air.  0

Blood flew from Leonel's mouth, marring the inside of his silver helmet. He knew well that if it wasn't for his Divine Armor's space domain being activated by him in the last moment, he would have already been crushed into minced meat. 

By the time the last of the water vanished, Leonel had been blown so high into the atmosphere that he could see the light of day again. His armor was filled with cracks from head to toe and his body felt like it was on the verge of collapsing. It was only thanks to a combination of his Spatial Domain and his Metal Body that he was still able to hold onto his consciousness. 

'Damn…'

Leonel coughed. 

If only he had the luxury of taking a breathing. Unfortunately, that was exactly what he didn't have. Seemingly sensing that Leonel was somehow still alive, the black swan appeared from thin air, delicate black feathers once again signaling its appearance. 

Its wings pierced toward Leonel's neck once again. Somehow, its feathers felt like an abyssal black hole. They had no weight or depth to them and seemed endless. A single touch from them could result in someone becoming just as empty… 

Before it could slice through Leonel, he vanished once again. His body might have been collapsing, but his Dream Force was just fine. There was nothing in this world stopping him from casting spells nor did he have any intention of dying in this place. 

The black swan seemed to realize that something was wrong, but it was already too late. 

'[Valiant Seal]!'

To form four pillars took more than half of Leonel's stamina, but that was if he was on the ground. Because he had to accumulate his own Earth Force without relying on the earth, the difficulty suddenly skyrocketed, taking with it at least 70% of his stamina. However, this time, Leonel felt he only needed three, so it took up just over 50%. 

At that moment, the skies trembled, three pillars etched with ancient carvings appeared around the black swan in an instant. 

It immediately tried to blink away as it had done before, but just when it rolled onto itself, vanishing into the shadows to blink away, there was a sudden spine tingling sound of bones snapping and breaking. 

BANG! 

The neck of the black swan was twisted into an odd angle. Leonel hadn't even needed to do anything before its vitality began to fade away. 

As expected, the black swan wasn't teleporting, it was rather moving through space at an alarming speed. When it entered its shadow world, its speed had almost no limits on it as it was no longer corporeal, so it would feel as though it was teleporting. 

However, the barriers of Leonel's [Valiant Seal] were almost like the barriers to a world. Trying to charge through that even with a shadow world would be impossible. In fact, even if the black swan was truly teleporting, it would have been in for the same rude awakening. 

The black swan just so happened to lead with its neck, the most fragile part of its body, so it was unlucky in seeking its own death without understanding the situation it was in. But, this saved Leonel the stamina he would need to use to truly finish this battle. 

He took deep breaths, stepping into the triangle of pillars and stretching out a palm. 

'[Twinkling Lily: Carnivorous Stem].'

At that moment, delicate flower petals formed of Light Elemental Force began to form around Leonel. However, their beauty only lasted for a moment before they suddenly whipped out with vines. The vines themselves were quite beautiful, being coated with delicate, white cotton filaments. But, their actions were horrifying. 

They latched onto the body of the dying black swan, tearing into its flesh and pumping out its vitality. Leonel could feel his body quickly healing. In just a few breaths, not only was he back in top condition, but even his Divine Armor had been healed of all its cracks. 

The body of the black swan turned to ash, leaving behind a Beast Crystal swirling with black fog. Leonel could tell that it was of exceptional quality. It would most definitely sell for quite a number. 

Leonel took a deep breath. The Dimensional Verse was really too unpredictable. 

He knew that it was a bit reckless to rush out into the ocean all alone like this. However, if that creature wasn't handled, it would only cause more problems in the future. Leonel felt like he was the only one who could do it. 

Of course, a part of him also understood that his grandfather had such great control over Earth that he could have likely stopped this already if he wanted to. It was once again a case of Leonel and his grandfather's ideologies clashing. 

Emperor Fawkes likely believed that this was a good method of tempering his people, while Leonel didn't feel like lives needed to be risked needlessly. And yet, here he was, risking his life. 

Leonel shook his head. 

Putting his black wood spear away, he flipped his palm to reveal another. It radiated the aura of a Quasi Silver Spear but it was very much different from the silver spear he usually used. 

It had a blade on just one end and it almost looked like a trident. However, its second and third blade were so small in comparison to the middle blade that they almost looked like accessories. 

The body of the spear was coated in beautiful sapphire scales and its blade was a translucent blue crystal  that the waters below seemed to have already reacted to. 

'Let's end this quickly.' Leonel thought, shooting forward. 

Leonel had no way of knowing that he wasn't the only one gunning for this mysterious, storm controlling creature. 

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