By Zephyria Andreas felt like the hairs on his whole body were standing on end. It wasn’t easy to feel this way since he was a commander, but his gaze was like the eyes of a golden beast that had taken him as prey and declared, ‘I’m going to kill you soon.’
It seemed that the guy had already grasped the approximate location of the main body from the moment he got rid of his clones and came to the back. Moreover, looking at the technique of dealing with the rushing clones, they all aimed accurately at the vitals and cut off their breath at once, a method that would only be used in assassination.
The clones he made couldn’t exert even half of the actual power, but they were definitely not dolls that would crumble in one blow like that.
Besides, just now, he hadn’t known that the clone in front of him was the main body and broke his neck, but he had already recognized the main body behind him and clearly showed the act as an example.
Andreas felt a chill no less than what he had felt when he first met Hugo for a moment.
Eventually, as Leonardo rushed fiercely towards him, Andreas drew the real sword he was wearing next to him. When the magic-resistant steel sword collided with the flaming sword, the sword blade made a creaking sound.
Andreas, confronting the burning fire demon in front of him, felt that the end of his sword, heated by the guy’s flames, was gradually receding. At the same time, he was not showing it, but embarrassment rushed in at the tingling sensation that was riding up his entire arm.
‘What kind of power…’
He was surprised from the moment he blocked his two clones with one hand each, but when he directly faced the sword, the power was so strong that he couldn’t believe it came from the pretty and handsome guy in front of him.
In the meantime, as he saw the sword blade melting while making a boiling sound, Andreas hurriedly struck away his sword and moved away, and immediately gathered the vines to grab Leonardo’s arms and legs.
However, the guy instantly burned them all with the heat emanating from his whole body, and only fiercely aimed at him and chased after him.
‘I’m not very confident in close combat… Besides, the compatibility is completely the worst.’
Andreas was mainly the type to shine in ranged combat. But the speed at which the guy dealt with them in one blow was much faster than the speed at which he created clones, and he instantly figured out the main body no matter how he found it, so there was no way to do anything at present.
Besides, when he faced the absurd phenomenon of his sword, which could withstand most high temperatures, melting away in such a short time, he couldn’t just keep clashing blades with him.
‘Where is Hugo and what is he doing?’
While running away from Leonardo, Andreas busily scanned his surroundings, looking for Hugo. Following the scattered shards of ice, his gaze shifted until he saw Hugo in the distance, having shattered all the ice blocks, finally looking up in his direction.
Andreas, with the most urgent expression he could muster, mouthed words, conveying his one-sided chase to him. His desperation must have been properly conveyed, as Hugo immediately soared into the air and quickly approached the battlefield.
Just as Andreas was about to feel relieved at the sight, a chilling voice came from behind him, as if he had a death wish.
“Taking your eyes off me?”
In an instant, his spine felt not just hot, but icy cold. Andreas barely managed to twist his upper body to block the attack coming down on his head. Leonardo, who had approached close enough to be right in front of him, was pressing down with terrifying force, wearing a chilling smile.
“Why don’t you bring out those pesky tree vines again?”
The sight of the increasingly bending blade flickering before his eyes made Andreas feel extremely anxious, thinking that the sword would break completely if this continued. Noticing this, Leonardo gave him no respite, wielding the magic sword in his other hand to drive him further.
With intense sparks added, Andreas was barely able to defend against the attacks raging from both sides, but even in the midst of it, he forced the corners of his lips up, pretending to be relaxed as he retorted.
“Damn it, am I supposed to provide you with firewood?”
Leonardo chuckled at that, wielding his sword mercilessly as if to break it completely, and said.
“Sending a tree against me, even though you sent a Battalion Commander.”
At that moment, Hugo, who had been approaching while concealing his presence, charged towards them at high speed. Seeing this, Andreas endured Leonardo’s sword and, timing it right, pushed him towards Hugo.
Thanks to the significant difference in physique, Leonardo was helplessly pushed back when Andreas put his weight into the push. Thoroughly enraged by the repetition of a similar situation, he tried to rush back at his opponent, but quickly ducked down at the energy he felt from behind.
Soon after, Hugo’s heavy sword came down with a whoosh, emitting a threatening aura as if to strike from above. Leonardo tried to dodge, but lacking the momentum, he couldn’t manage it, so he raised both arms from below and barely managed to block it.
As the sword, heated even hotter, and the sword, cooled even further, collided violently, the previous burst echoed around them, and intense air burst between them.
Hugo pressed down hard on the colliding swords, trying to sap Leonardo’s strength. However, Leonardo, whose pride had been hurt by being pushed back by him once, endured his strength with sheer grit.
Hugo, coldly looking down at the foolish figure enduring his sword with veins bulging on his neck and face, suddenly opened his mouth.
“Leonardo, stop it there.”
However, Leonardo, blocking his sword with trembling arms, looked up at him with increasingly sharp eyes, filled with bravado, and said.
“Feeling relaxed, I see.” Trying to persuade me or something?”
Hugo’s brow furrowed at the heavily sarcastic tone.
“Two Battalion Commanders are coming to support. Quit it unless you want to be dragged away looking pathetic.”
Leonardo did not respond to those words. Instead, he momentarily blocked Hugo’s heavy sword with one arm, pushed it aside, and swung the sword crackling with high-voltage current towards him with his other hand.
Then Hugo also created a long ice spear in his other hand and struck Leonardo’s sword. With a screeching sound that stimulated the eardrums, half of the ice spear shattered from the friction with the electricity and burst in all directions.
However, Leonardo, who would have normally dodged with sense, did not move this time and faced the sword as it was. As a result, the shattered ice fragments quickly grazed his cheek.
Blood streamed down from Leonardo’s cheek, where he had been cut quite deeply, causing him to squint one eye from the stinging pain.
Hugo, momentarily taken aback by the sight, pushed him away with force. However, Leonardo quickly approached again, met Hugo’s sword, raised the corners of his lips, and stared into his blue eyes.
“I thought I was mistaken earlier, but it seems what I felt was right.”
“…….”
He wore a bitter smile, as if he had caught a very good opportunity. Bright red blood flowed down his cheek and gathered on his lips.
As those lips, stained red with blood, drew an arc, the sight seemed quite precarious, yet it created a sensual beauty in conjunction with his surreal appearance. Hugo silently watched the hot, red blood flowing down to his lips before meeting his bent golden eyes again.
Hugo’s expression did not change, but Leonardo smiled bewitchingly at the sight of his face and whispered, as if his thoughts were correct, while still clashing swords.
“You have no killing intent.”
Hugo sighed inwardly.
This cunning bastard seemed to have realized that he had no intention of seriously hurting him. Hugo realized that he was now more likely to use himself as a hostage outright than to take citizens hostage, so he no longer made eye contact with him and instead forcefully pushed him away.
Then Leonardo, pushed back by the force, laughed as if it were amusing and said.
“How can you drag me away like that?”
Hugo was disgusted by the bastard’s confident face.
Even with one side of his cheek completely covered in blood and drops of blood dripping down his chin, Leonardo looked down at him with an arrogant face, smiling. As if he didn’t care about his own condition at all.
Hugo felt that he was more difficult to handle than any other bastard, with the carefree behavior of a child who seemed to be playing on top of his head.
At that moment, something large came flying towards Leonardo at high speed, making a heavy wind sound. Leonardo thought it was Andreas’s tree vines and lightly twisted his body to avoid it.
But the speed at which it was flying was much faster than he had expected, and before he could even dodge, the huge object strongly struck Leonardo’s left shoulder.
“Ugh―.”
A small groan escaped Leonardo’s lips as he felt a heavy sensation that made his whole body sway with a thud. He staggered slightly in the air, barely regained his balance, and turned his head. Then, once again, a huge clump of tree vines woven together came flying towards him.
‘What is this?’
Having his anger gauge rise after being hit once, Leonardo, with veins bulging on his neck, quickly dodged the flying object this time and checked its identity.
His gaze turned to Andreas, who was holding a huge wooden club made by weaving broken ice blocks with tree vines and swinging it around. Andreas smiled mockingly at Leonardo and said.
“Sorry to interrupt, but you can’t forget about me.”
Leonardo wiped away the smile he had been wearing for Hugo.
Andreas, who was smiling gleefully at that face, swung the wooden club with all his might again.
Leonardo, reflexively twisting his shoulder to avoid the incoming object, rushed towards him with a colder aura than ever before. Hugo, realizing his quite angry state from his unusual gaze, immediately followed and swung his sword.
Then Leonardo parried the sword, but this time he did not endure Hugo’s blade.
Feeling a very light sensation as if no weight was placed on the colliding blades, Hugo was briefly puzzled, but soon realized his purpose and hurriedly shouted.
“Andre―!”
Leonardo used the force of Hugo’s sword swing as a recoil to quickly charge towards Andreas. Andreas, startled by the sight of Leonardo flying towards him in an instant, reflexively pulled the wooden club towards him and threw it at him again.
But Leonardo, without even thinking of dodging it, went straight ahead and cut the huge shadow approaching before his eyes with his flame sword, splitting it in two in an instant. Then, he rushed right in front of Andreas through the split gap and asked him in a chilling voice.
“I really like trees. You know why?”
Andreas immediately drew his sword again and parried, but due to the acceleration that Leonardo had gained, his body was pushed back and floated upwards. In the midst of this, the guy who had been coming straight at him suddenly seemed to disappear from sight, and before he knew it, he saw that he was above his head.
He pressed down on Andreas’s shoulder with his left hand, whispered with a refreshing smile on his face.
“They burn well.”
At that moment, the brilliant sun floating behind Leonardo and his swaying golden hair overlapped in Andreas’s eyes. The sunlight seemed to reflect off the guy’s hair, making it shine even more.
‘Dazzling.’
Andreas’s brow furrowed involuntarily because of the excessive brilliance.
That moment felt as if time had stopped, and he tried hard to open his eyes to look straight at Leonardo. Then he saw a fatally beautiful man with white skin and red blood flowing down, smiling as he looked down at him.
Andreas, who had been momentarily distracted, was soon able to see the mass of red and gold flames in Leonardo’s right hand, heading towards him.
In that instant, Andreas simply smiled helplessly, as if he had foreseen his future that was about to come before his eyes.
“Haha, this is.”
Kwaaaang―!
A huge explosion erupted in the sky with a roar. Andreas hurriedly put up a barrier and raised his guard to block the fist flying towards him, but he was hit squarely and the impact was severe.
He plummeted straight down without even having time to gather the tree vines to cushion the fall, and soon crashed into the half-destroyed plaza floor.
As he fell, another roar erupted and one corner of the plaza was deeply hollowed out. The surrounding area was filled with dust due to the shockwave.