364 God Of War [3]
The pillar of light plummeted down, leaving sheer devastation in its wake – reverberating tremors shook the ground, chunks of concrete were hurled in all directions, buildings were destroyed, parked vehicles obliterated, and clouds of dust and smoke surged forward.
The drenching rainstorm had already obscured the visibility, but now, it was practically impossible to see anything on this street.
It wasn't until a few minutes later when the howling storm winds cleared out the smoke and dust, the flashes of lightning lit up this scene of utter destruction.
Everything was in ruins, and amidst the deluge of heavy rainfall, something stirred a few steps away from Nero and Anastasia.
It was the cloaked man. He was standing. His robes had jagged and burnt patches, but overall, he seemed unharmed.
Nero's face paled as he saw that. He had just unleashed a monumental pillar of light capable of splitting a mountain in half on that man!
Why was he still standing? His body should have been a mangled and charred mass of burned flesh at the very least!
Unbeknownst to his thoughts, Leo had indeed taken some damage. He exhaled deeply and looked at his spasming hands.
Tanking that attack had taken a toll on Leo.
Although he hadn't used Symphony or any of his other main weapon arts, Leo's mana core was still at the platinum rank.
Logically speaking, both his defense and offense should be above that of Anastasia and Nero.
Yet somehow, they had managed to momentarily push him back.
And both of them were displaying a degree of mana output that should have been impossible for someone with their mana core ranks.
The last attack Nero had unleashed and the devastating force behind Anastasia's punches were sheer madness!
No one at the Silver or even Gold mana core ranks should have been capable of delivering such a level of offensive power.
And to top it all off, the synergy between their strange techniques was just perfect. It was as if these two were designed to work with each other.
While Nero was destructive and swift, it was Anastasia who impressed Leo the most. Not only was she precise, but she was also more agile and ruthless than her friend.
Leo was genuinely amazed by her. He always knew she was hiding something, but he had never imagined she wielded this much power.
For a brief moment, Leo was tempted to just use Symphony to quickly kill them both with a mere flicker of his finger.
The street was completely deserted, and all security cameras were also destroyed. Even if a few remained operational, Leo doubted they could capture him clearly amidst the violent rainstorm.
A smirk formed on Leo's face.
However, this was now starting to get fun.
Shaking his head, Leo dismissed the idea of using Symphony.
While their techniques were flawless and worked perfectly with one another, Leo was confident about winning without going for the overkill.
The powerhouse in this duo was the golden-eyed girl. She was stalling Leo and diverting his attention, allowing Nero to swiftly jump in for the finishing blow.
Their strategy was good but it had a single fault. They didn't have a defender for Anastasia.
Despite this being Leo's first time seeing them fight together, he sensed Nero and Anastasia needed a third member to truly push their limits.
His plan was simple: isolate his opponents, prioritize killing Anastasia, and force Nero into a direct fight. Once in close range, Leo would quickly kill him after a few clashes.
However, there was a small problem.
To execute his strategy, Leo needed a weapon. Without a weapon, this fight was bound to be dragged on for much longer.
Anastasia only survived close-quarter combat against Leo because he didn't have a weapon on him, and Nero's last attack also managed to hit him for the same reason.
In the military, there was a saying – As long as Leo Kurogami had a blade in his hand, not even the Gods could defeat him.
So what was the problem? Well, Leo did not see any of this happening so he only brought four sets of weapons with him.
Now, three lay were destroyed, and his halberd was god knows where.
Scanning the surroundings in search of his halberd, Leo's gaze suddenly caught sight of a glimmering silver blade.
The blade wasn't part of his halberd. In fact, it wasn't his weapon at all. It was Raymond's long dagger—a bowie, to be precise.
All he had to do was get to it and—!!
Before Leo could finish his thought, a sudden burst of golden brilliance engulfed the area.
Leo furrowed his brow and craned his neck to look upward.
There in the sky, a pair of radiant orbs of light blazed, illuminating the stormy night and vaporizing the raindrops like a pair of golden suns.
The glow intensified by the second as Leo realized the two suns were closing in on him.
Leo's eyes widened as he moved away from the descending orbs of golden light.
Thwaaam—!!!
Anastasia landed on the spot Leo was standing a few seconds earlier, shattering the ground as a massive shockwave rippled through the area.
The windows of the surrounding buildings were shattered while Leo used the surging shockwave to propel himself forward.
He lunged in the direction of the dagger and landed on a roll before grabbing the bowie by its hilt.
Behind him, Anastasia had already begun moving toward him. In a burst of blurring speed, she caught up to him within the blink of an eye.
Without wasting any time, she stomped her foot on the ground, cracking the road under her feet as crevices appeared on the concrete from her mana pressure.
After securing her footing, she clenched her right fist as it shone with even more golden brilliance, and whipped her right arm forward, throwing a right hook with all her might.
It looked as if her fist was encased inside an incandescent sun. Leo could physically feel the scorching heat and the turbulent wind around her fist as it closed in on him from his left like a golden orb of light.
Leo ducked by bending his knees at the last possible moment. The mere swing of Anastasia's arm broke the sound barrier once again and created a sonic boom.
Once more, a crushing shockwave surged forth and it looked like the rainstorm itself was momentarily cleared.
Even though Leo wasn't hit by either her punch or the shockwave that followed, he could feel the tremors in the air.
Anastasia acted quickly and retracted her right arm before swiftly bringing her left fist down on Leo.
"Tsk," Leo clicked his tongue and quickly sidestepped in an attempt to avoid the attack.
Anastasia's punch connected with nothing but air, creating another sonic boom. This time, Leo took the lead and went on the offensive.
He stepped closer to the golden-eyed beauty and thrust his dagger at her face, intent on splitting open her skull.
Anastasia's eyes widened as she reacted in time to tilt her head and avoid the cloaked man's silver blade. However… the attack never came!
Leo abruptly halted his thrust, releasing the dagger from his grasp, only to catch it again with his other hand positioned at his waist level.
Before Anastasia could react, Leo shot his hand forward and plunged the silver blade of his dagger into her upper torso, piercing her lungs.
"Khuaaa!" Anastasia's pupils constricted and an agonizing yelp escaped her lips as an organ-rending pain assaulted her body.
Nero shouted her name in the background and recklessly rushed at them, wanting to get Leo away from her.
But it was already too late and the damage was done. Leo twisted the dagger and then dislodged it from her body.
Anastasia gasped once again before she lost the strength in her knees. She buckled to the ground and fell face-first on the hard concrete.
Suddenly, she felt cold, unbearably so. It was chilly… the warmth was draining out from the stab wound on her upper torso.
It was getting hard for her to breathe… Had she already stopped breathing? It was getting dark.
The pouring rain was painful. Each drop of water that fell on her from the sky felt like small pebbles hitting her at top speed.
Tak… Tak… Tak…
The sound of rain itself was also painful, it felt as if her eardrums were about to burst open.
Thankfully, before lightning flashed and thunder followed, the darkness got to get… And oh, it was so warm and comforting.
The blinding light around her fists faded as Anastasia loosened her clenched palms, simultaneously, the bright golden glow in her eyes also dulled and the spark of life in them slowly started to extinguish.
Leo indifferently looked at the fallen girl, the crimson blood seeping out from her wound and mixing in with the rain.
He then turned his attention to Nero, who had used this time to dash in on him and was now just a few inches away from him.
There was a glint of uncontrollable and downright maniacal anger in Nero's eyes… It was almost as if he was on the verge of losing his sanity from wild, rabid rage.
Leo casually turned sideways to face him in a head-on clash as Nero swung his sword at him.
The world, at that moment, turned static.
Everything stopped.
The raindrops froze in the air and the arc of thunderous lightning flashing in the air also stopped.
Only the blade of Nero's sword, which was enveloped in a bright azure glow, moved at a speed almost comparable to a flash of light.
His blade cut through the drops of water frozen in the air and made an arc in the air, nearing Leo's neck.
Klang—!!
But before Nero's sword could cut off Leo's head, the God of War moved and parried the attack with his dagger.
Nero couldn't help but gasp in surprise. A net of cracks appeared on his azure blade and in the next moment…
Thak—!!
It snapped.
His sword broke.
"....?!" Nero staggered sideways, carried by his momentum.
But before he could do anything, Leo brought his dagger up in one fluid motion and thrust it toward Nero's chest.
Nero blocked the attack in time by letting the blade pierce his left arm. Leo clicked his tongue again and thrust his free palm into Nero's abdomen.
Thwack—!!!
Nero reeled back by the force of that palm thrust, it felt as if he was hit by a speeding truck.
Before he could compose himself, Leo stepped in and whipped his right leg up, performing a flawless front snap kick.
Nero once again reacted at the speed of lightning and crossed his arms below his chin to block Leo's kick.
Thwack—!!!
Although he managed to block the attack once again, Nero was thrown into the air by the force that Leo's kick carried.
"Khuu!" Nero winced in pain as his whole world flipped, right now he was facing the black clouded sky while falling down.
Gritting his teeth, a grimace appeared on his face. In mid-air, Nero mustered all his remaining strength and performed a backflip.
Getting into a straight position, he extended out his uninjured left hand and unleashed his Gift.
This was it. He didn't want to do this but he had no choice left. He was going to kill this guy no matter what!
Whips of flames ignited around Nero's stretched hand and suddenly a crimson-red sword appeared in his grip.
He gracefully landed on the ground as the whips of flames around his arm started to stir up and churn.
The once red flames around his arm and sword turned purple then changed to blue before finally turning white. Finally, the white flames began to crackle and turned into sparks of electricity.
"You're dead," Nero growled at the cloaked man and gripped his sword harder.
In the next moment, Nero's whole body was lit up with sparks of electricity as he slightly bent his knees and rushed at Leo at the speed of lightning, swinging his sword at him.
Leo deflected the blow and pushed Nero back. Nero, on the other hand, once again moved at the speed of lightning, leaving trails of electricity behind.
Leo once again parried the attack and pushed Nero back before he attacked from another angle, then again, then again.
If one were to look from the sidelines, it almost appeared as if strikes of lightning were hitting Leo from all directions while he was swatting them away with just his dagger.
For the final time, Nero let the charge build-up around him and dashed at Leo at a speed incomprehensible to the human eye.
But once again, Leo reacted just in time. He parried Nero's attack with an upward swing and sent him flying skyward.
Thwooom—!!
Nero gritted his teeth as he was thrown up in the air. But that was fine. He could use this!
In the sky, amidst thunderous roars, several bolts of lightning flashed… before unusually converging toward Nero, or more precisely, toward his sword.
After converging around him, the bolts of lightning twisted and turned, taking the shape of a giant winged creature.
It looked as if a colossal dragon made of lightning was appearing from behind the dark, stormy clouds.
Leo's lips curled up into a smirk. God damn! What was this power?!
This boy was just a first-year, but he was using the kind of magic that even the most experienced soldiers would have trouble pulling off.
The majestic lightning dragon opened its giant maw and let out a thunderous roar capable of shaking the heavens.
It stretched out its wings before turning its head down at the mortal standing on the ground, facing the majestic creature of lightning without a speck of fear on his confident face.
After all, what reason would a God have to be scared of a mere dragon?
The lightning dragon once again opened its maw and descended on Leo, intending to devour him.
At the edge of its maw, enveloped by its lightning, was Nero. He had his sword pulled back, ready to unleash one final strike.
Leo's smirk widened into a grin and he gripped his dagger tighter… and thrust it up at the lightning dagger as soon as it entered his weapon's reach.
†
As soon as the dragon hit the ground, an apocalyptic lightning explosion spawned almost instantly, followed by a loud and world-ending thunderstorm.
At the eye of the thunderstorm, a man whose face was covered with a metal mask stood proudly.
The cloak draped around his body before was now in burnt rags, leaving his toned muscles exposed to the world.
His red hair was also flowing down to his shoulders, fluttering with the raging storm around them.
He was using his right hand to grab a black-haired young man by his neck and had him lifted in the air.
Meanwhile, his left hand was grabbing the hilt of a silver dagger that was plunged into the young man's chest, piercing his aorta.
Nero was on the brink of losing consciousness. His eyes were already closing and his vision was also darkened.
Leo pulled out his knife, removed his hand from Nero's neck, and let him fall to the ground with a thud.
He then let out a deep breath. This was fun.
Though, he should confirm his kill. As he thought that, Leo moved to pierce Nero's skull.
However, before he could do that, he felt his earpiece buzzing. Sighting, Leo tapped on it and spoke, "Selena, I'm a bit busy here."
[Yes, I know] – the reply came from the other side of the call. [Stop playing with kids, I need you to get our squad out of there.]
Leo frowned. "Kids?! Excuse me? I want you to come here and try fighting them! These hellspawns might as well just apply for the military right now because they surely don't need training."
[Leo!] – Selena yelled from the other side, redirecting Leo's attention back to the matters at hand. [I have info. Police are going to be at your location in a few minutes. Get! Out! Of! There! Now!]
Leo sighed again. "Fine, let me recover the relics, I'll get the squad out. Also, one of our guys–"
[Yes, I know. We are exposed. You did good by trying to silence the crowd, but a noble still managed to escape. Our cover is blown.]
"Fuck," Leo cursed. So one of the nobles did manage to escape in the end, huh?
That meant all of those deaths were for nothing…
[Leo, I know what's going on in your mind, but for now, focus on the mission! Okay?! I just… just come back to me, okay?]
Taking a deep breath, Leo nodded and tapped on his earpiece to disconnect the call before saying, "Okay."
He sighed once again and cast a look at the young man lying at his feet.
He then looked at others with a somber gaze before turning around and leaving the scene like a passing breeze that was never there.
He didn't need to kill them now that the Spider was already going to be pulled out of the shadows, but he didn't know whether these kids would survive either.
