1452: Smoldering Heat

Smoldering Heat

Leonel's mind spun with the events, his senses stepping into hyperdrive.  1

Aina had likely been within the house when she was suddenly attacked. Caught off guard, the home had collapsed onto her. 

For someone like Aina, a normal home collapsing wouldn't even be able to leave a dent on her. However, one that could stand in this dense Anarchic Force was a different matter entirely. It wasn't an exaggeration to say that if she was caught beneath the wrong avalanche, not to mention a severe injury, she could end up crippled, and there was even a small possibility of her being crushed to death. 

Aina managed to pull herself out, but by that point, the fire had latched itself to her and burned large segments of her robes. On top of that, her leg was broken. 

Before her healing factor could even deal with these things, she was surrounded by three Galaxy Ranked disciples, two of which seemed to very obviously be from the Viror family. 

And now, the Viror family member brandished a whip, treating Aina like some sort of dog she was punishing. 

"I've already said it once and I don't like to repeat myself. Sign this contract and we will let you go, it's quite simple. If you want to see how far we can take your humiliation, feel free to keep testing my patience. There are countless things I can do without killing you. In fact, if you let me go through the list one by one, you just might kill yourself before I'm through."

A cold light flashed in the young woman's gaze. However, seeing the cold glare Aina was giving her, her own flashed with rage. 

"Haha, Emonie, you're a woman. Aren't you aware of how to piss off another woman best?" The only one without green hair, a young man by the name of Eliot, grinned. 

"Just spit it out." 

The young man laughed harder. "Just look at her, even in such a state, she's actually such a beauty, and so much of her clothes have been burnt away already. Half the work is already done."

Emonie's brows furrowed. But, seeing the cold light in Aina's gaze and her lack of a reaction. She could easily tell that Eliot's "suggestion" wasn't just in the interest of their mission. However, she also couldn't deny that for a prideful person like Aina, it was the perfect tactic. 

The next time her whip cracked, it left a large gash across Aina's toned torso. The large cut ripped a streak across her robes, almost splitting them entirely in two width wise. 

"Don't test my patience any more or else you'll suffer. I'm sure you heard him, I don't mind stripping your naked and tying you up to allow everyone to admire—"

The words had hardly begun when a furious roar drowned them out. Aina's gaze flashed, her gaze snapping toward Leonel. The three youths couldn't help but turn to look as well, their expressions changing. 

However, under the astonished view of everyone, a resounding crack echoed. 

Leonel, who had just begun a billowing pillar of towering fury suddenly frozen, his crimson eyes twinkling before they began to dim. 

Out of his control, Leonel felt his consciousness fading. Then, he fell forward, crashing into the dried and cracked grey and black grounds. 

He… fell unconscious? 

The odd change to the situation left everyone, including Aina stunned. 

**

Leonel felt his mind spinning, the embrace of sleep clawing its fingers into him. He couldn't think or feel anything. He drifted off into a land of dreams. 

Leonel couldn't remember the last time he dreamed, the kind of dream that made little to no sense and yet felt so all encompassing and real at the same time, the kind of dream where you couldn't run or jump or even speak as well as you wanted to. 

It wasn't until a long while later that Leonel's mind suddenly snapped awake and he remembered what he had been doing. 

He went from enjoying comfort to absolutely furious in the blink of an eye, his eyes snapping open and his body rising up with fury practically manifesting around him. 

But, when Leonel awoke, he found himself high in a tree. His sudden movement almost caused him to lose his balance and fall from a height that must have been at least 200 meters. 

Before he could, though, two strong hands caught him, keeping him stable. 

The tree branch swayed, but it remained firm. The hands only released Leonel after they were sure that he had regained his bearings. 

When Leonel looked up, he realized that he had been sleeping on Aina's bosom. He wasn't sure how long it had been, but she smiled back at him with a beautiful smile. Her robes were beaten and torn, not to mention burnt and ravaged in many areas, but her face radiated a healthy, happy light. 

Leonel blinked. She was truly gorgeous. 

But, remembering his fury, his brows couldn't help but furrow.

"What happened?"

Leonel listened to Aina's words. But, his fury didn't vanish. However, this time, he wasn't furious toward someone else, but rather himself. 

Leonel really had lost consciousness back then. His mind had already been at its limit, but then he not only used it to analyze and simulate the past with far too much detail, his fury had also forced his King's Might to flood forth. 

All of these things were heavy loads on a mind that was already on its last legs. He couldn't just expect to magically poof more stamina into his body just because he was enraged. 

He was an idiot. This was the Void Palace, this place was no different from being stuck in a perpetual war zone. He couldn't afford to show weakness, ever. Even if he had to sacrifice for it, he had to always maintain at least some strength at all times if he didn't have his <Instant Recovery

easily accessible to himself. 

Leonel's jaw clenched. As furious as he was with himself, this was already the third time now that the Viror family had tested his bottom line. If he didn't thoroughly cripple their place in the Void Palace, he wouldn't be able to rest this smoldering heat in his chest. 

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