Khaled felt his heart seize. Something told him that no matter what he did, it would be impossible to dodge out of the way of this strike.
The White Knight roared at the top of his lungs, unleashing all the Force he had. There was simply no point in keeping anything in reserve. What good was reserve strength if he was dead?
He didn't bother to pull out his glider. At this moment, he didn't want anything slowing his descent toward the ground. In fact, the faster he hit the ground, the better. As for whether he could survive such an impact, he would deal with just a single problem at a time.
BANG!
The sound barrier shattered. Roaring winds shot in every direction, clearing out a path for the released bolt. It felt for a moment as though it was cleaving the clouds with a single sword strike.
Khaled flipped a palm, causing a spear to appear.
He poured all of his Force into it, striking out with all the might he could muster as he fell from the skies.
At the same time, he kicked hard at the air, flipping himself upside down to careen toward the ground even faster.
He hoped that the fact he was falling in the same direction as the bolt along with the fact he was putting his all into stopping it would dampen the strength somewhat. But, reality was cruel.
Though he was correct in his assessment, the diminishment in strength was practically negligible.
Khaled's spear point met the bolt, his eyes practically bulging out of their sockets under his strain. In that moment, he could swear that he had never put so much strength into a strike before. But…
His spear point splintered apart like dried weed. The bolt continued forward as though cutting through air, blasting a bloody hole so large in his shoulder that it took his arm along with it.
White Knight Diore paled.
His arm spun aimlessly in the air, sparkling droplets of crimson dancing around it. It looked as if a canon ball had taken a quarter of his body with it, trying its very best to reap his life.
In that moment, his spinning arm was sheered apart by the harsh winds left trailing the bolt. Had it not been for the Force Khaled had protecting his body, his head might have suffered the same force.
Leonel coldly looked on from above, nocking another bolt.
His senses swept over it all. It seemed that every crossbow had only been outfitted with three bolts. But, judging by their strength, Leonel understood why. With such devastating power, it was unlikely for any formation to survive the combination of the Predator Ravens' abilities and this crossbow assault. In addition, weight was a huge issue when it came to such an aerial assault and each one of these bolts rivaled even the crossbow itself in heft.
But just one more bolt was fine. Since Khaled had given him such an opening, Leonel didn't believe he wouldn't be able to kill him.
Leonel coldly aimed for the last time, watching the White Knight's falling figure.
At that moment, several of the Predator Ravens had swarmed once again, trying to obstruct Leonel's sight toward their commander. But, Leonel didn't flinch. If Khaled thought that he would lose sight because of this, he was sorely mistaken.
From start to finish, Leonel's Internal Sight had been completely locked onto Khaled. Beyond this, would the bolt really be stopped by just a few bodies considering its strength?
Leonel's chest expanded with an even breath. As though he was syncing with the crossbow, he released the moment he began to exhale, his calm breathing contrasting with the shattering boom of the bolt's speed.
KWWAAA!!
The bolt instantly tore through three Raven bodies in the blink of an eye, showering the skies in crimson.
Panic gripped Khaled's heart. He continuously kicked the air, trying to quicken his descent. Every time he did, he left concentric circles in the sky, accelerating himself downward with each attempt.
But the bolt was simply too fast. He realized at that point that obstructing Leonel's vision had been useless. In fact, using so many Ravens to block him only gave him easy access to more bolts.
A strong feeling of helplessness gripped at Khaled's heart, but his expression remained the same as all others who had died to Leonel's hand on this day.
He looked up toward his murderer, his gaze locking onto Leonel's. All he received in return was a plain stare, the same one that told him he was nothing but a data point, the same one that didn't seem to care for who he was as a person.
SHUUUU! BANG!
There was no sound when the bolt shot through Khaled's chest. In fact, it seemed as though the bolt had only flown through another patch of air.
Rather, the huge crashing sound came from the bolt colliding with the ground and leaving a crater that rivaled the impact of a small meteor.
For a moment, there was only a bloody hole. And in the next, Khaled's body imploded, shattering from the inside out into a rain of blood and gore.
Having realized he made another mistake by calling the Ravens to come and protect him, Khaled didn't bother to protect himself in the end, opting to simply stare at the man who ended his life. It was the kind of look only a man dauntless of death could form in his final moments.
Maybe, from the very beginning, Khaled's anxiousness, his panic, his trembling, never had anything to do with the danger his life was in and everything to do with his unwillingness to fail the mission he was given.
Leonel took a deep breath before releasing the crossbow in his Chain Domain and gasping for breath. He coughed several times, his lungs screaming beneath the strain.
"Yip! Yip!"
Leonel's chest heaved as he tried to give the little mink a reassuring smile.
Calculating the trajectory of such a fast bolt hadn't been a problem for Leonel. Others couldn't guarantee such accuracy and could only use these crossbows as siege weapons, but Leonel was different.
This was all to say that the reason for his fatigue wasn't this, but rather his use of his Chain Domain. But, it couldn't be helped, his surfboard couldn't fit such a large, heavy crossbow onto it.
Leonel shook his head, turning his gaze toward where the gliders had disappeared to. By now, they were definitely closing in on the first Barony. Even without the Predator Ravens, that city didn't stand a chance against so many Fourth Dimensional existences.
'… Dammit.'