By Zephyria Leonardo, who had been spinning around in the air, soared as if to pierce the night sky. Hugo watched him, who had become a small star in the middle of the darkness, and then compressed and threw cold air into the center of the crater.
A vortex containing white steam was temporarily created as the heat and cold of the volcano met. It pushed Leonardo’s back and sent him flying higher into the sky.
Since Diego, the former 11th squad leader of Dark Silver, was the only one who had ever picked him up and thrown him, Leonardo was almost entranced by the sensation he was feeling for the first time in years. Then, as he regained his senses and twisted his body in the air resistance to regain his balance, he was already safely in the sky, wrapped in the rough wind.
“Captain!”
One figure brushed past his dizzy eyes. Nero, who had flown quickly, lightly caught his staggering body.
Although it was a small sound, Leonardo turned his head with a startled look at the familiar word calling him. Seeing Nero quickly closing his mouth and putting on the face of a member, he thought it was amazing that he hadn’t been caught until now.
Leonardo glared at him, blinked his spinning eyes, and then shifted his gaze downwards, moving his gaze to the thick smoke swirling around him.
Thanks to the cold air raised by Agrizendro, the lower side was full of hazy steam. Occasionally, the blue lines created by the Council’s commanders flickered, but the fog obscured the vision, making it impossible to properly grasp the situation, let alone the location of the target.
“If you cover it up like this, how am I supposed to aim…”
Leonardo, who was muttering as if he was dumbfounded while holding his head, suddenly stopped talking and twitched his eyebrows. His lowered golden eyes rose again and moved to Nero, who was sticking close to his side.
‘……Could it be?’
Leonardo’s expression hardened rapidly, and his Adam’s apple slowly moved up and down. Then, Nero, who was watching his expression, stuttered and made the first move.
“Why, why? Anyway, they can’t hear this much voice from down there.”
“…….”
‘Is it on purpose?’
Nero and Leonardo, alternating glances below, raised an eyebrow at the thought that had just flashed through his mind. Then, suddenly remembering Hugo’s words that he would hold it for ’10 seconds,’ he widened his eyes and pushed Nero’s shoulder. This was no time to be doing this.
“Nero, quickly. We have to do it now.”
“Now?”
Leonardo conjured flames in his hand, creating two daggers, and handed one to Nero. Nero, who had been wearing a bewildered expression at the Legion Commander’s solemn tone, gripped the dagger in his hand and sharpened his eyes as if he had never been fazed.
Leonardo suppressed his bursting Magic Power and honed the rippling blade of the dagger sharply.
He hadn’t had time to be told how to hold the monster, but the ‘Pentagon’ spell he had heard a little while ago seemed to be the key.
It was a magic he had heard of often since he had been running from the Council’s pursuit. He had heard that it was a difficult binding magic that several people cast simultaneously, so it took some time from casting to completion.
This was because only when the power was evenly matched and maintained could the target be perfectly bound. It seemed that Agrizendro had thrown him higher than necessary for that reason.
Of course, he had heard that only the Council’s senior commanders could use it, so with their skills, they would be able to finish it relatively quickly. If so, he wouldn’t have much time either, so he had to hurry to take out ‘it’ to execute the monster.
In the brief moment when the two men’s eyes met in the air, Leonardo said to Nero in a solemn voice.
“Nero. After we kill him as planned, you get out of here before the Barrier Stone is activated. And get out of this peninsula altogether. So that the Council’s people can’t find you.”
“What?”
Nero asked back with a puzzled look. It was completely different from the plan they had put together earlier.
“Legion Commander, what are you talking about? We agreed to stay together until we left the peninsula.”
“I’m sorry, but I don’t have time to explain everything now. I’ll do whatever I can about what you’re worried about, so answer me quickly. Get out of the peninsula after the operation is successful. Understood?”
“…If I leave alone, it might raise more suspicion. I have to stay and at least match my story—.”
“Nero.”
Leonardo, looking down anxiously, cut Nero off in a rather overbearing tone. But Nero couldn’t open his mouth easily because of his complicated mind and hesitation.
To be honest, although he had prepared temporary measures, there was still a lot of cleanup and work to be done that the Legion Commander didn’t know about. He didn’t know what problems might arise if he disappeared like this.
“Legion Commander, so—.”
“It’s for you, no, for us. There’s no time. Just listen to me once. Okay?”
The swirling smoke around them, and the unusual energy felt from below. The Legion Commander’s urging voice clearly told him that, as he said, there was no time to be talking.
But Nero, equally anxious, only glanced down once, his tightly closed mouth not opening at all.
Leonardo grabbed his hand, unable to answer easily, and added anxiously.
“Promise me.”
The reason Leonardo was so insistent on even a verbal promise was because he knew that Nero, who had stayed on the peninsula because of him until now, wouldn’t listen easily. But the power of words was quite great, so he had a small hope that if he got an answer like this, it would at least put a stop to him trying to think nonsense.
Nero’s brow gradually furrowed at the Legion Commander’s repeated requests for an answer. He couldn’t understand why the Legion Commander was suddenly changing his mind. He wasn’t the type to be capricious for no reason, so he was worried that there might be a problem he didn’t know about.
Finally, Nero, who had been hesitating for a while, was about to open his mouth with difficulty.
Kyak!
A sinister monster’s roar was heard from below. The chilling howl, like scratching at the throat, vibrated the fine particles floating in the air.
Clearly, if the binding magic had been cast properly, even this kind of wave wouldn’t have leaked out, and the two men, sensing that the situation was going strangely, looked down at the same time.
Nero, realizing that there was no end to be gained by confronting each other with arguments, met the Legion Commander’s eyes again and reluctantly nodded.
“Okay. I’ll do as you say, Legion Commander.”
As soon as Nero’s sighing answer fell, Leonardo nodded briefly. Then, the two men simultaneously raised the hand holding the dagger and the opposite hand that was not holding anything in front of their faces. Then, they slashed their palms with the sharply honed blade of the dagger in one swift motion.
Shwaak!
It was so instantaneous that the blood from the blade scattered into the air along the trajectory of the dagger. The two men, who had wounded their palms, held out their left hands, dripping with blood. Then, with all their might, they tightly gripped each other’s red-soaked hands.
The two men’s blood mixed thickly, and at the same time, intense Magic Power gathered in their hands. Fierce flames spread around Leonardo and Nero, and their hair shook violently along with the hot yet eerie energy.
Just as Gold Eyes and red eyes were stained with each other’s flame colors, Nero opened his mouth first.
“Let’s go.”
“Yeah.”
After a brief exchange of signals, an explosive energy suddenly erupted from the two men. The surrounding area was boiling with ultra-high temperatures, distorting the space like a heat haze.
Leonardo and Nero pulled their clasped hands toward themselves, bringing their faces close for a moment. Then, putting weight on their tightly held hands, they pushed each other away with powerful force.
At the fingertips, which were moving away from each other in the blink of an eye, a heavy wave seemed to split the space. It scattered the overflowing dust in all directions, clearing the dark sky transparently.
A red thread connected by blood stretched long across the night sky, and the clear slash sucked in the air, gradually widening the gap.
Soon, a mysterious figure appeared from a strange space that appeared with an ominous purple light.