Dimensional Descent

Silam's expression changed. He felt as though all the strength he had put into his daggers was suddenly sapped away. His control was broken in an instant and all the effort he had put toward digging toward Leonel's heart went up in a puff of smoke.

However, he was already in the air and the Segmented Cube was in arm's reach. Who cared what happened as long as Leonel could no longer heal himself? He had already torn a path through Leonel's bones and lungs. Practically the entire left side of his body had become nothing but a useless pile of mush. If he lost the ability to heal, he would be finished.

It was right then that Leonel's arm reached out, grabbing onto the end of Deloris' whip to pull hard.

At first, Deloris thought that Leonel had a death wish. Firstly, her whip had the ability to turn intangible just like she could. With just a thought, she could freely turn its body into pure Water Force. And secondly, did Leonel think that just because her whip looked flexible and flimsy that it truly was? A single snap of her weapon could shatter an entire mountain range, even Siris wouldn't casually reach out to catch it.

And yet… That was exactly what happened.

Deloris' expression changed, immediately reacting to turn her whip into pure Water Force, but in that moment it felt like all the Force she poured in was sucked out by a powerful vacuum. No matter how much effort she put in, her whip remained solid.

By the time she realized the problem, it was already too late.

Her body propelled through the air like a streak of blue.

In one swift motion, Leonel released the whip and flipped his palm, revealing his spear once again.

His arm, beaten and bloodied, erupted with Vital Star Force, healing in the blink of an eye as he pierced forward with all his might.

A spiraling vortex of Level Two Spear Force manifested, twisting and spinning about Leonel's Radiant Core.

"NO!"

Somehow, Deloris' screech made just how fake Leonel's earlier outcry was seem all the more obvious. They had been lured into a false sense of security. But, their mistake was ever believing that they could be safe around Leonel at all.

SHUU! BANG!

Deloris' Force shield was blown into smithereens. Her dress was shredded to pieces, allowing the underlying armor to save her life for just a moment. Unfortunately, Leonel's drill was too large.

Her torso remained somewhat safe, but her arms, legs and head were all torn to shreds, causing a rain of blood to fall upon the battlefield. In ironic fashion, it was only after the Head of the Rain family fell that the first rainfall followed.

Silam and the expressions of the others warped wildly. The idea that one of them could die had never truly crossed their minds.

Silam had no choice but to continue reaching for the Segmented Cube. But, he too was stunned by what happened next.

The Segmented Cube suddenly shifted, opening wide. Before Silam could stop himself, he fell into the midst of the lights, vanishing before all their eyes.

In a final struggle, his roar pierced through the battlefield, but he still vanished nonetheless.

BANG!

Leonel was sent flying as Avarone's beam finally reached him. The back of his armor was torn to pieces and blood gushed down. However, that was all. Even with five now becoming three, Leonel still stood.

Coughing heavily, Leonel rose to his feet once more. He ripped the dagger out from his shoulder, Vital Star Force erupting around him. Slowly, the pieces of his armor began to reform even as his body itself healed at a speed visible to the naked eye.

The battlefield was quite chaotic at this moment, however there were still plenty of individuals who were still within earshot and eyeshot of this battle. Seeing the five Leonel was facing be whittled down to just three, a surge of fire was lit beneath those of Earth while the exact opposite occurred for the Invaders.

"I see." Avarone spoke lightly. "When your armor broke, you purposely revealed your broken and bruised arm, displaying none of the blue Force. Then you absorbed it from the cube above even though you could produce it yourself to goad Silam into falling for your trap, now maybe the most dangerous one of us is out of the way for you, hm? But, I really don't understand how you managed to gain enough strength to kill Deloris with a single strike."

Leonel remained silent.

"No, no. It wasn't that you have the strength to kill her in a single strike, it was Silam who did, right?"

Leonel's gaze narrowed, but he still said nothing.

"That odd power and speed displacement ability you have, I bet it works better based on proximity too, hm? I guess we're all fools in your eyes, then? Silam was pouring in his own strength into your body, likely trying to kill you. But in the end, all he was doing was giving you the exact strength you needed to kill one of his allies. Fascinating…"

Avarone looked Leonel up and down.

"You know so much about our abilities and you always act accordingly. Yet, we know absolutely nothing about yours and fall into such simple traps.

"Let me guess… You managed to open my younger brother's bronze eye?"

Leonel's gaze narrowed further, but silence was still his choice, his breathing becoming more and more even. He had only 10 more minutes of Star Force left, he couldn't afford to waste it. He needed to kill these three swiftly.

"I'll take your silence as affirmation." Avarone chuckled. "Siris, kill her."

At that moment, Belize's expression changed. She had been putting so much effort into silently healing herself all this time, not having taken any action whatsoever. It was clear that she had expected something like this to happen. But, now that it was actually happening, she was completely flustered.

Siris sprung into action, brandishing his fists as he pounced toward Belize.

"Avarone, you dare!?"

Avarone didn't even look in her direction. Instead, he looked into the skies as the boundary of this Fold of Reality began to splinter and crack once more.

"It's about time we end this."

On the horizon… A second junior starship made its presence known. And it seemed that when it came to this one… Avarone was confident that Leonel didn't know a thing about it.

[One more chapter coming today]