The laughter held a madness that could only fill one with a sense of apprehension in fear. It was the kind of laughter that came from a man who had lost his mind, the kind only one who had stepped over their breaking point could produce.
The two halves of Alexandre's body began to stitch itself back together.
As though it was a mere surface stitching, as he tried to rise up, his body threatened to fall apart again. However, slowly but surely, the connection became steadier and stronger. By the time Alexandre had risen to his feet, the stitching began to mend itself, disappearing beneath healthy, healed skin.
In the skies, Leonel watched on with narrowed eyes. He was trying to understand if he had made a mistake or not. Where had he gone wrong? What exactly was this ability? Where did it come from?
Was this another ability of World Force? Did Alexandre's Apex Title give him superior healing? Now that Leonel thought about it, he had already injured Alexandre once before in this battle. And, though it had been an exceptionally shallow wound, it had also healed very quickly… Or, could it possibly be something else entirely? Something he had no idea about?
At this moment, the inconvenience of the dictionary shone through.
He was certain that his father had done it on purpose. He didn't believe for a moment that his father didn't have the skill to make the dictionary more convenient to use. Even the people of Earth could make microchips the size of a single cell, let alone what his father would be capable of.
Leonel could feel a great and suffocating aura coming from Alexandre. At that moment, he didn't dare to take out the dictionary. He primed his entire body to be prepared for battle and could only think about this himself.
Leonel's jaw set as Alexandre's manic laughter only grew more pompous.
Nothing about Alexandre's actions made sense. If he had such power, why is it that he would allow things to reach this point? If he didn't have such power and this was nothing more than a fa?ade, why was he wasting time laughing like this?
All signs pointed toward this man having fallen into madness, but why did Leonel feel a cold, murderous and calculating intent constantly locked onto him? The feeling was both chilling and sticky as though ice stuck to his skin was being forcibly peeled off.
It was then that Leonel saw Alexandre's eyes. With a single look, he understood where this feeling was coming from.
Alexandre's mouth was peeled open, his laughter ringing out to the point Leonel could even see his tongue vibrating. However, none of it seemed to reach his eyes. His irises were drenched in a cold fury as though his laughter was out of humiliation rather than humor.
It was exactly at that moment that Alexandre's aura shattered and reformed itself. His entire being seemed to transcend.
Leonel's pupils constricted. 'Fifth Dimension.'
Nothing seemed to make any sense anymore. This was supposed to be a Quasi Bronze Zone, how could a Fifth Dimensional threat appear here? Was it a Unique Zone? But where was the outside interference?
Leonel had done too much research, too much due diligence in the past two years to have possibly missed an outside influence. He would have noticed it long ago. That, he was absolutely certain of.
This aside, even if there was going to be an outside interference, they would have had to take some sort of action in order to cause this Zone to evolve, but where had this action been taken? Leonel hadn't sensed any outside Forces, no foreign energies, not even an unexpected change to the battlefield.
On top of all of this, this was supposed to be a Variant Zone. The fact that Leonel had had to slave away for two years and still hadn't seen any sort of reward yet was already outside the norm, so how could this also happen as well?
It couldn't be that all the variables had piled up to the point things reached this level of unpredictability? Was it even possible for him to fight a person on such a level?
Before Leonel could even think about it any longer, he found that Alexandre had appeared before him.
A fist that felt like it could collapse worlds drew closer, swimming through a see of dense Spatial Force with a speed that felt like it should be impossible.
Leonel dodged to the side, barely using his Divine Armor's warped Domain to leave unharmed. However, he instantly felt the drain, his body feeling like a fish out of water.
Fueling his Divine Armor to slow the movement of a Fourth Dimensional existence was one matter. But, to try to do that same against a Fifth Dimensional existence was almost a fool's dream.
Alexandre stood in the air where Leonel had been, not moving an inch as the latter rose higher into the skies and made some distance between them. He seemed quite shocked that his blow hadn't landed.
His manic laughter seemed to still hang in the skies, echoing through the slowly accumulating and greying clouds.
He rolled his shoulder, seemingly stretching it out or getting used to his new strength.
After a moment, he clenched his fist, causing all sorts of energies to begin rolling in from all sides.
First it was World Force. Then Leonel sensed Universal Force. Then there came a neutral Force.
The three together caused the space around Alexandre to quake as the images of four dark seasons began to form around his body.
The skies quaked, a rumbling, low growl of thunder accumulating momentum.
In that moment, a single drop of rain rebounded off of Leonel's armor. To him, it almost sounded like a pin drop… And yet, it resonated through his mind like the roar of a lion, resonating through his armor with impunity.
Then… Alexandre's fist shot forward again.