360 The Protagonist...
FWOOSH—!!!
The moment Leo stepped out of the shopping mall and into the street, a javelin made of turbulent wind shot toward him from his right.
Clicking his tongue in frustration, Leo swiftly thwarted the wind javelin with a downward slash of his axe.
Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed faintly glowing sparkles of light at the street's turn.
Since this was a business district, the street was brilliantly illuminated by side lamps and neon signs.
But despite all that, the light sparks shone just brightly enough to be noticeable amidst the dazzling cityscape.
Yeah, the fact that this was an ambush became painfully clear. However, instead of retreating, Leo boldly rushed toward the glowing sparks.
Taking the right turn upon reaching the street's end, he spotted Nero standing a few feet away, fearlessly facing him.
Nero swiftly raised both of his hands, curling his fingers into the shape of guns, and aimed them at Leo.
In the blink of an eye, a river of ethereal white sparks of radiant light began to converge into two blinding orbs right in front of his "gun barrels."
At the same time, the hard concrete road under Leo's feet quickly turned malleable. The ground shifted and rose, grabbing his legs and immobilizing him.
Also at the same time, Leo sensed a vast amount of mana stirring in the atmosphere behind him like a large whirlpool in an ocean.
Since this street was in a 'T' shape, Leo had taken the right turn without checking the left.
Far behind him right now, Anastasia stood atop a street pole, her long, slender fingers pulling on a taut bowstring.
A cascade of radiant mana particles was flowing toward her and accumulated on her bowstring, quickly materializing into an incandescent arrow.
Chase was also hidden behind the same pole and had completed his mission by binding Leo in place.
As for Raymond, he had communicated with all the nearby police precincts using his radio and evacuated the entire area beforehand.
He was also the one who launched the wind javelin at Leo earlier, helping lure him to this exact spot.
Right now, he was airborne several meters above the ground, right over Leo's head. It was an application of one of his spells that granted him the ability to fly.
While floating up there, he had both his hands stretched out. The wind was howling all around him, flowing toward his palms and compressing into the shape of two long javelins.
As Leo sensed that, he couldn't help but be impressed. It was actually a near-
perfect death trap.
Chase had immobilized him, Anastasia and Nero were launching two separate attacks from two opposite directions, and at last, Raymond was targeting him from above.
Truly, even the most dangerous masters of martial arts, no matter how extraordinary they might be, would not get out of this one alive.
…Unfortunately for Nero and the group, however, they weren't facing a dangerous master. They were facing a God.
They thought they were doing something original, and they sort of were doing that by forcing him into a four versus one situation.
However, Leo had been fighting while being outnumbered and overpowered all his life.
At the border, the enemy would always try to isolate the fight with him, lead him into a trap, or force him into an unfavourable situation.
Even before he went to the border, he was always alone… fighting. All his life he had been fighting.
They thought they could win just by luring him into a death trap? Well, news flash for them… he is death.
He is victory.
He is… war.
Gritting his teeth, Leo bent his knees and crouched slightly while pulling back both of his axes.
As if waiting for that cue, Anastasia let her incandescent arrow loose.
Nero followed suit by launching his own spell at the exact same moment, the light orbs in front of him erupting in radiant white beams.
However, Raymond, who had chanted his spell only a split second later, had to wait a moment longer before he pitched both of his wind javelins down at Leo.
Right there! There was a small disharmony in their coordination. That slight delay in Raymond's spellcasting was a mistake.
And even the tiniest mistake was all Leo needed at that critical moment. He almost smirked under his mask.
Infusing mana into both axes, Leo swiftly extended his arms and sliced through the air, unleashing one of the hundreds of weapon arts in his arsenal.
Two crescent arcs of azure energy shot forth from his blades at breakneck speed, leaving behind a luminous blue trail.
But he didn't stop there.
Leo continued the motion of his arms, with his left axe sweeping behind his back. Meanwhile, he changed the direction of his right arm, raising the right axe above his head.
As soon as that happened, he released his grip on the axes, sending them hurtling forward.
The axes spun and sliced through the air with a sharp whistle, following the precise trajectory on which Leo had thrown them.
The crescent energy slashes he had sent forward intercepted Nero's light cannon spell and a blinding explosion of light erupted.
One of the two axes he had thrown hit Anastasia's arrow, while the other clashed against one of Raymond's wind javelins.
His axes instantly shattered, but they had achieved their objectives of thwarting all of the enemies' artillery spells… except one.
One of the two Raymond's turbulent wind javelin was still set on its trajectory, about to make contact with Leo in the blink of an eye.
…And it was all according to Leo's plan.
Once again, as though his body was made of nothing but rubber, Leo unnaturally twisted his upper torso in a way that allowed the wind javelin to harmlessly brush past him and hit the ground.
To be precise, it hit the exact same spot on the ground where his legs were ensnared.
Kwaaash—!!!
The part of the road instantly shattered upon impact, chunks of concrete flew in an explosive outburst and Leo was free to move his legs again.
As soon as the God of War was capable of moving again, he lunged forward in Nero's direction.
Nero was young and inexperienced, but not even for a second did Leo dare to underestimate the young cadet.
In fact, he recognized that Liz Snyder's disciple was the only real threat on this battlefield.
Obviously, he moved with the intention of rooting out this threat. But Nero was more than prepared for it.
Yes, much like his friends, Nero was startled when the cloaked figure in front of them not only stopped their attacks but he also used their own spells against them to free himself.
However, Nero knew better than to let the shock paralyze him in the middle of a life-or-death battle.
As soon as their attempt at ambush failed, he summoned out his bastard sword.
While rushing toward him, Leo also took out a halberd and a short spear from his dimensional ring.
A split second later, the protagonist and the strongest character engaged in a murderous clash of blades.
