Leonel had entered the Ore Market with slow, deliberate steps. Everyone who saw him seemed to give him a wide berth whether it be by design or instinct.
Originally, he hadn't known exactly where to go, his hands now empty of Gersan and Thetris with them having out lived their use. But, Nigmir's shouts gave him an easy road map to follow. Since they wanted to roll out the red carpet for him, he would happily oblige.
…
Nigmir shot up from his seat, a deep frown on his face when he saw one of their peace keepers come flying through the tent's wall.
At first, Nigmir thought that this was Kaela's doing. With her fiery temper, he didn't think that she would take this laying down. He had most definitely expected her to at least try to inform the elders of Valiant Heart. But, directly attacking was a foolish choice, it would only give them even more leverage when it came to the inevitable trial.
Nigmir didn't think Kaela was this stupid. And, as expected, when he turned to face her, she was just as surprised by the turn of events as he was.
At that moment, a young man whose body danced with what looked like golden flames slowly made his way forward. His posture was casual, his hands even being in his pants pockets. Yet, no one dared to approach him. The heat he was giving off was simply too much.
"… Black belt?"
Nigmir was stunned. A mere black belt dared to make so much trouble?
Not only was this brat a black belt, but he didn't even have a Peak emblem on his belt either. The only youths who had yet to join a Peak by now were the average to below average talents. They would need more accumulation before they could think of passing the Peak Exams.
This meant that Nigmir watching Leonel stroll into the Ore Market like this was almost like a King Beast watching an ant try to take over its territory. It wasn't just a small bit ridiculous.
Before Nigmir could regain his bearings and realize that he should have been enraged at this moment, this so-called ant suddenly spoke.
"Sarrieth. Where is he?"
Leonel's voice was cold and detached. His words alone seemed to cause the elements to bow down even to the point many felt as though space itself had been constricted.
Nigmir's mind went blank.
Sarrieth?
He, of course, knew the name. But, since when did a mere black belt not respectively call him King of Ores? Since when was it a brat's turn to call out their leader's name so casually as though it was worth nothing more than dirt?
It was then that Nigmir finally recognized Leonel.
They had taken some liberties with the Leo the Cuck posters, almost making Leonel look like a caricature of his own self while making it recognizable enough to pick him out on the streets. But, at this moment, Nigmir found it almost impossible to match Leonel with those posters.
That said… This had long ago stopped being anything about Leonel's talent.
No person who could defeat a Tier 4 existence while in the Third Dimension was weak. No person who could claim ten tags during the Freshman Exam was weak. No person who could enrage the vice leader of Hero Peak was weak.
Those who still thought this was about Leonel's talent were fools. This was about nothing more than seniors enforcing the hierarchy they had worked hard to climb.
Nigmir stared at Leonel for a long while.
"Peace Keepers!" Nigmir roared.
At that moment, the sound of shuffling feet surrounded the massive tent.
Everyone knew that the Ore Market was nothing more than a hidden battle ground. Though it had been a long time since anyone deemed to test the King of Ores faction, that didn't mean they weren't prepared at all times.
Amidst the Peace Keepers, a young man with teeth as sharp and jagged as a shark's burst into laughter.
"Nigmir! Your prestige seems to have taken a hit! You can't control a black belt on your own and even had to call for help?!"
"Don't blame him too much, Cormus. His senses have gotten dull after doing nothing but counting money all day!"
The Peace Keepers erupted into laughter together. Their two leaders, Cormus, the jagged tooth young man, and Ardryn, a young woman carrying a massive great sword, bantering back and forth.
Kaela frowned at this sudden change of events.
Though Cormus and Ardryn only seemed to be joking, their underlying point still stood. It didn't make sense for the King of Ores faction to bring out so much fire power to deal with one young man. It was as though they wanted to end this swiftly and strongly, displaying their dominance to the utmost degree.
But the question was… why? Who was this boy? Since when did King of Ores care about a mere black belt so much?
Unfortunately for Kaela who spent 99% of her time in the lab, she was completely unaware of the viral Leo the Cuck phenomena. And, she was equally unaware of how much of an uproar Leonel's actions today had already caused.
'This is not good!' Kaela snapped out of her thoughts, suddenly realizing the severity of the situation.
If King of Ores wanted to make an example of Leonel, even if they didn't kill him, beating him half to death would at most get them a light punishment, especially since Leonel was seen as the aggressor in this case.
To make matters worse, even though King of Ores was all constructed of youths who had joined at the same time as Sarrieth, no more than five years ago, each an every one had become a white belt within two years and the most elite of them would at most need another half year before becoming blue belts.
If the elite of the sophomore class had to be picked out, it would most definitely be them. And now, they had all turned their weapons toward this one boy.
Yet, when Kaela laid eyes on Leonel, she suddenly felt frozen in time.
He stood there in silence, his hands in his pockets and his expression emotionless. Every so often, his eyes would flicker with a wild shade of violet-red, only to return to their original pale green as though the change had never occurred to begin with.
The wind was oddly still around him, the pumping of his heart even slowing to a crawl.
BANG!
Land in a 10 meter radius around Leonel instantly sunk down by a quarter inch.