The Earth seemed to respond to Leonel's call. At that moment, Bronze Runes jumped to life all across his toned torso, a halo of light appearing about his head.
But this time, something seemed different.
Black sparkling energy, radiant golden light, glimmering soft blue brilliance and a raging inferno of crimson followed the path of his Runes, fusing with his body as though they had always been there.
In the blink of an eye, over 80% of the Peace Keepers fell face first into the ground, facing a level of gravity they had never experienced before. Even those who managed to remain standing found it difficult to stop their knees from trembling.
Many innocents were caught in the crossfire, namely those who had been waiting to purchase Ores of their own and even Kaela who had been thinking of helping Leonel. But at this moment, the youth didn't seem to care.
Leonel could feel the ground beneath his bare feet. Well, he had always been able to and this only became easier after he began to wear Valiant Heart's uniform.
But at this moment, it almost felt as though the world was in the palm of his hands.
He could feel it. Even without summoning a Force Art, controlling the Earth was as easy as thinking it.
The instant he thought it, numerous earthen chains shot out for the group, shooting toward every Peace Keeper present.
Those that had been on the ground didn't have the time to react. In the blink of an eye, their limbs were wrapped and locked, their faces pressed so hard into the ground that they even found it difficult to breathe.
Cormus, Ardryn and Nigmir reacted quickly, the first and the last jumping high into the air while Ardryn swung down her heavy sword, bashing the ground beneath her apart.
The white tent collapsed, everything that was once inside it falling to the ground in a bloom of dust.
However, that had only been the beginning.
A pillar of earth formed beneath Leonel's feet, rising two meters into the air. As though it was an artillery unit with a mind of its own, a rain of earthen arrows began to fly out from within it, aiming toward Cormus and Nigmir who had both jumped into the air.
Unable to dodge, Cormus growled, bearing his sharp teeth as a tough, leathery grey skin instantly spread across his body. The bones in his knuckles grew out, piercing through his skin and forming gloves of white that shimmered with a glossy finish.
He rained a hail of fists forward, displaying much more power than he should have been able to midflight.
Nigmir's reaction wasn't slow either. An illusory pair of greenish wings appeared to his back, his body becoming wrapped in a typhoon of wind.
With a single flap, a violent, surging tornado tore the earthen arrows apart.
BANG! BANG! BANG!
Cormus landed on the ground and instantly shot for Leonel. By that point, Ardryn had done so as well. Her speed was much slower than Cormus', but their teamwork was impeccable. Their timing was so on the nose that they both reached the base of Leonel's pillar in unison, the latter jumping into the air again with a rain of fists and the former swinging her heavy sword with every intention of cutting the pillar in half.
Nigmir stood in the air, a whirl of wind around him. He brought his hands together, his lips beginning to move in a silent chant. The more words he spoke, the greater the winds around him seemed to become.
It grew more and more dense, the illusory green becoming almost solid as time went on.
The wind gradually coalesced, forming a vibrant ivory armor around him.
His hand grabbed out, causing an ivory lance with a length of over four meters to appear in his palm.
The sky whimpered and wavered as he shot downward, his gaze flickering with thoughts of violence.
At that moment, Cormus' fist reached Leonel even as the base of the latter's pillar was cut across by Ardryn.
However, Leonel didn't even react. Cormus found his fist smashing into Leonel's chest, a bloody grin on his face.
BANG!
Cormus' face twisted.
In that split instant, he looked up to meet Leonel's indifferent gaze. The man stood above him, his hands still in his pockets. In fact, it didn't even look to Cormus that Leonel was actually gazing upon him. Rather, it felt like he just happened to be in his line of sight. Nothing more, nothing less.
An audible crack sounded. The bones that covered Cormus fists fractured and shattered, causing a roar of pain to leave his lips.
Ardryn, who had just severed Leonel's connection with the earth and sought to take advantage of the moment was caught off guard by Cormus flying back toward her.
She side stepped, gritting her teeth and ignoring her teammate for the moment in hopes of still getting to Leonel.
But, what she didn't expect was for the pillar she had just cut down to suddenly shoot into the air, taking Leonel alone with it.
BANG!
Cormus landed heavily on the ground, his entire arm feeling as though it had been shattered into a million pieces.
Leonel rose his foot, his gaze locking onto Nigmir who was swooping toward him with lance in hand.
Nigmir's expression changed, but it was already too late.
Leonel lightly lowered his foot, a ripple spreading across the pillar beneath him.
What once was a pillar of more than a meter and a half tall was suddenly left with nothing more than a small disk beneath Leonel's feet.
The rest of it?
Plunging down toward the ground, directed toward a horrified Ardryn and Cormus.
BOOM!
The two Peace Keepers were instantly buried, their life and death completely unknown. The collision was so violent that even if there were cries of agony, it wouldn't have been heard over the loud, cacophonic ripple of the earth.
The ground quaked and splintered, cracks spreading like wildfire all through the Ore Market.
Leonel stood in the air upon his thin disk of earth, his hair violently flying about. A dense fog of violet hung around him, his body singing as it brimmed with overwhelming strength.
The synergy between Leonel's Metal Synergy Lineage Factor and Camelot's magic system was completely beyond even his expectations. But now, the King of Ores faction had to accept the brunt of this surprise.
Nigmir came to a grinding halt, his body quaked with rage and the wind around him kicked up a violent storm.
The clouds above him seemed to react, becoming a churning swirl of white hanging in the skies.