358 Death Incarnate [1]
Leo closed his eyes and silently cursed in his mind once again. Yes, the situation was bad but he had to act.
He would kill everyone present here and get out of this place with his squad. For a split second, he contemplated using his strongest technique.
After all, the sooner he was to deal with everyone here, the faster they would be able to leave this place.
However, he couldn't allow himself to use Symphony for two distinct reasons.
Firstly, what if the Military Police possessed a Gifted individual who could see the past – psychometric perception, or some similar ability?
Leo had, more than once in his life, come across such troublesome Gifts. So, he had to be careful when it came down to how much of his real strength he could display.
Even if one of the members of his squad was already compromised…
Even if Spider's existence was at risk of being pulled into light…
He could never let the world and the Government catch wind of his affiliation with an insurgent organization.
No, that would surely mess up all their future plans. That notion alone was more than enough for his second reason.
Sighing once again, Leo decided to massacre everyone here in old-fashioned style – with his own two hands.
…And the twin axes in his grasp.
The whole underground auction hall was still for a few seconds. No one knew what was going to happen but by this point, all of them felt the foreboding feeling rippling in the air.
The tension in the atmosphere was so palpable that one could choke on it if they tried.
The man whose mask had shattered earlier was the first to move in this unsettling silence. He summoned another mask from his dimensional ring as if it wasn't already too late for it.
Regardless, he covered his face with the new metal mask, and, almost as if on cue, everyone stirred and started moving, swiftly attacking their enemies.
A cacophony of blades clashing against blades deafened all the other sounds in the world as sparks flew and blood was spilled.
The cloaked individuals were severely outnumbered – two to one.
They could hold back their assailants but they were not going to win against the task force of Shaolin and the Military Police officers.
Even after their initial clash, the clangor of metal hitting metal continued to fill up the air. No bodies fell, but death was imminent now that the Spider squad had changed the mission from extraction to annihilation.
However, it was them who were going to be annihilated. Yes, they were in a fragile equilibrium right now but it was about to break.
Spider's squad could not hope to get out of this gruesome battle alive given their large number disadvantage.
In a head-on battle, they would lose.
And in a battle of attrition, they would definitely lose.
A smart general would make the call of retreat right now. It was the best strategic choice.
All the relics they needed were already secured and their escape path was still completely open.
However, Leo was not just a smart strategist, he was also a strong soldier.
Yes, their annihilation was definitely set in stone… If the God Of War himself wasn't there to grace the puny mortals with his great presence.
After all, how could they hope to defeat him in war… when he himself was war?
Gripping his twin axes tightly, Leo moved forward with resolute determination. Yes, he knew it wasn't fair but no one would be spared mercy from his blade now.
Cling, Clang—!!
Kach—!!!
Striding forth as he was taking a leisure stroll in a park, Leo deflected the blade of a Shaolin official, who was about to cut down one of his squadmates, using the axe in his right hand.
He then brought his left axe to the Shaolin official's throat and slit it with unnatural ease.
Using the now-dead body of the official, he blocked an arrow from a police officer before throwing the axe in his hand at him.
Thaak—!!
The axe spun in the air, emitting a metallic hum. The police officer deftly raised his bow up and managed to awkwardly block the incoming attack at the cost of his weapon.
The bow was split in half but the axe lost its momentum and fell down along with the broken splinters of the black wooden bow.
Kach—!!
Unfortunately for the black-uniformed officer, it was all a distraction. Before the axe even touched the ground, before the police officer could even have a chance to react, another axe descended on him and cracked his skull open.
Blood spurted everywhere as if a crimson fountain was turned on as the spark of life in the guard's eyes extinguished.
Leo let the first axe fall to the ground and dislodged his second axe from the officer's skull. He then used his free hand to grab the dead body by its throat and hoisted it up.
Behind him, several Shaolin sect officials and Military Police officers rushed at him in hopes of catching him off-guard.
Even though they weren't aware of his identity and they couldn't feel much mana emanating pressure from him, most of the experienced warriors could already tell that he was a threat.
Obviously, the thumb of the rule in any battle was to take out the threat first and deal with the weaklings later.
It's a good rule to keep in mind, given that you have enough strength to take on the strongest.
As soon as they witnessed Leo lifting the corpse, all of them knew what was about to happen. So they did what they could do – they readied themselves for an attack.
Leo spun on his heel and threw the dead body at the rushing attackers as if he had pitched a baseball.
The largest member of the Shaolin officials – a tall and robust bald man with praying beads around his neck and a giant bladed mace in his hands – stepped forward.
He raised his bladed mace and batted away the speeding corpse of the fallen officer in one continuous motion while apologizing for disrespecting the dead like that in his heart.
Leo, who had once again used this set-up as a distraction, lunged forward. He kept his body needlessly close to the ground and pulled both his axes back.
He was targeting the bald man now, who was huge. In Leo's vast battle experience, the best and most efficient way to deal with imposingly large enemies is to use speed.
Since massive opponents couldn't move fast due to their large bodies, it was better to just rain down a barrage of attacks on them.
Eventually, usually under a few seconds, an attack or two would get past their defenses and end them in one fatal strike.
From his low position, Leo could either go for the bald man's knees or spring up and target his abdomen… or he could do both.
Rushing forward, Leo unnaturally twisted his upper torso as if he was made of rubber and unleashed two separate slashes at his opponent's knees and solar plexus.
However, Leo forgot that there were always exceptions. Yes, not all massive enemies could move fast, but the emphasis was on "not all."
The bald man hopped lightly in his place, the ground under him cracking from the applied pressure of his jump, and bent his knees.
Leo's first slash was missed. As for the second, the bald man brought his bladed mace up to swiftly intercept the second axe in time.
But instead of stopping his charge from the rebound, he channeled mana into his legs and pressed forward in a burst of speed instead.
So what if he failed? The second rule of battle was to never kill your momentum if you're in control, no matter what.
So he darted straight up ahead and once again pulled back his axes.
The people who were behind the bald man had their vision restricted by his extremely huge body, so they were taken by sudden surprise when their comrade jumped and Leo galloped from under him.
That split-second surprise delayed their reaction speed and that was all the time Leo needed to send a head or two flying.
In just under a few short seconds since the moment he joined the crucible of this utter bloodbath, Leo alone managed to take out five enemies.
It was as if he was moving with the knowledge of the future in mind. He seemed to know what move his opponents were going to make.
It also felt as if he had eyes on his back. He literally had zero openings and no blind spots!
He saw everyone and knew everything!
Everywhere he went, his axe whispered a silent song of carnage which in turn made the river of crimson flow.
He reaped lives as if he was death incarnate, descended on this mortal plane to punish these mundanes for their sins.
He was unstoppable. He vanquished the lives of those who could trouble him first and evaded the rest.
All everyone could do was just sit back and wait until he'd come to claim their life.
