Leonel's eyes narrowed, his body explosively shooting backward without hesitation.
There simply wasn't enough space to maneuver. The road might have seemed quite wide being at least 10 meters in width, but with his speed, this number might as well have been a single meter.
In order to prevent accidents, he had been purposely leaving a meter of buffer space between himself and the edge, so this further cut down his room to just eight meters. This made it all the more difficult to avoid Kira and her thin sabers.
Leonel knew that Kira was in Tier 4 of the Fifth Dimension. It was clear that she hadn't listened to her own advice when coming here or maybe she just believed that she didn't have to be restrained by the same rules Leonel did.
However, Leonel didn't blame her even if the latter was the truth. He could tell that if it wasn't for the Star Force weighing her down, he wouldn't be a match for Kira. In fact, even if the Star Force was weighing her down, as long as she had access to her Lineage Factors and her ability, dealing with Leonel would be child's play.
What Leonel had yet to realize even to this point was the fact that had his own ability not been related to the mind, it too would have been suppressed in this place just like Kira's!
That said, Leonel also didn't feel bad that Kira was at such a disadvantage. What greater disadvantage could there be outside of being an entire Dimension beneath her?
Thanks to all of this, the playing field had been leveled… Until, that is, Kira suddenly began to use her Universal Force. Not only that, but it was also an entire level beyond Leonel—a complete Heavenly Body Realm comprehension.
Leonel smiled bitterly as Kira's energy rose explosively. Her strength increased by more than ten times and whatever heft her steps had been limited by seemed to practically vanish.
She became like a leaf floating in hurricane force winds, and yet her seemingly frail body was unaffected, following the ebbs and flows with a deft skill.
A map of the stars appeared behind Kira. Leonel could see the streaking meteors, the sparkling moons, the vibrant planets and the radiant stars.
All of it revolved around a delicately sculpted rose. It had more petals and layers than a lotus. Its color was as crimson as a drop of blood and more beautiful than a twinkling ruby.
Amidst it all, Kira's figure followed the strokes of the flower, her blade dancing in gorgeous arcs that left Leonel at a loss for words.
The cuts that ran across Leonel's body increased explosively in number. At times, the blade didn't even seem to touch him before a streak of blood was forced out, following the arcs of Kira's Force as though to become one with her saber as well.
Still, amidst all of this, Leonel could tell that the only reason he was still here was because Kira had no real intent to kill. He could see it from the twitch of her muscles to the trembling of her blade that she didn't seem to want to take that final step.
Of course, it wasn't because she was scared to kill, Leonel felt that wasn't it. Rather… It was more like pity, she actually felt bad for him.
"Hey Kira. What do you say about becoming one of my Generals?"
Leonel once again shamelessly asked such a question, his pale violet eyes sparkling as he observed every one of Kira's movement. Compared to Emna, not only was Kira far better in terms of strength, she also had character that Leonel was fond of. Of course, Kira was also a bit of an airhead, so she wasn't as intelligent as Emna was.
Kira was speechless. Couldn't this annoying brat tell that she was holding back? Was he trying to take advantage of her again?
"My family has never participated in the Morales Heir Wars, nor will it ever. Plus, even if I participated under my own name, it would cause some problems if I chose to help you as opposed to that annoying guy… Wait a minute! You're an Heir?!"
Kira had spoken off handedly at first, just assuming what Leonel meant by General. But, when she thought of the implications, she was left speechless again.
To be an Heir of the Morales family, one had to have both of their Lineage Factors. Now that she thought about it, the Morales family Metal Synergy Lineage Factor would be suppressed here.
"I don't mean just for the Heir Wars, I mean permanently." Leonel replied with a smile.
"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Kira looked toward Leonel through her blades as though he was crazy. "Forget it, you're too weak to recruit me anyway. Save me some time and just give up, will you? Just jump over the edge of the road and you'll be teleported back to where you came from."
Leonel blinked. So that abyss wasn't an instant death? He felt that he could believe Kira's words, but he obviously had no intention of giving up.
"So if I can beat you, that's a yes?"
Kira's brows furrowed. "No… I mean, no… Wait, I mean you can't beat me anyway, stop asking stupid questions! You're trying to take advantage of me again!"
Leonel couldn't help but chuckled. "You're so powerful, why are you always worried about people taking advantage of you? Just chop them up with your sabers."
"That's what my mom said to do too! But I can't chop everyone up. That annoying cousin of yours is one of them, I really want to chop him up too, but I can't!"
Leonel's lip twitched. He didn't know he had a cousin to begin with… Well, aside from a certain young man from Earth. Did his father have brothers or sisters? Or did she just say cousin because they were loosely related? Leonel wasn't sure.
"How about this?" Leonel's lip curled. "If I beat you here, you have to promise to become my General."
"Ah! That sounds like a terrible deal. Dad always says to not accept one sided deals. What are you giving up if you lose?"
"If I lose, I'll Craft you a pair of Silver Grade sabers perfectly tailored to you."
Kira blinked. "You're a Silver Crafter?"
Leonel's lip twitched as he avoided Kira's gaze. He wasn't one… Yet. But it was only a matter of time, right?
"Soon, I'll be one soon. Very soon." Leonel lied shamelessly.
Kira blinked again. But, during all this time, her sabers had never stopped. In fact, they only seemed to be growing more and more powerful.
"Okay! But it's not like you can beat me anyway!" Kira's mask moved in a way that could only have been caused by a bright smile.
Leonel laughed heartily. "Remember! You said it. It's not very good for people to lie."
Leonel's body suddenly began to shimmer. Runes were forcefully manifested all over his body, but rather than having the bronze color they usually had, they sparkled like a translucent blue diamond, coating Leonel's chiseled frame in a beautiful light blue.
Kira's eyes widened. "That's impossible! You shouldn't be able to use that here, you're cheating!"
Leonel's grin only widened as his speed increased explosively.
Dense Force began to billow out from his body like solar flares. And yet, despite how much he was giving up, he seemed to swallow even more, an endless supply funneling into him from the surroundings.
All of Leonel's pores seemed to open up at once, steam billowing form his body faster and faster with every breath. In just a split moment, his strength stepped over an unimaginable threshold.
'[Star Fusion].'
Leonel's irises became so bright that they shimmered like two floating balls of amethyst.
He shot forward, breaking through Kira's initial defenses with a shocking ease. The latter was so taken aback that she forgot to hold back, but just when she was panicking at having unleashed her full strength, she found that even that wasn't enough.
'What…?'
Kira was at a loss. Crossing Dimensional barriers to do battle was something you only heard about in Lower Dimensions. Such a thing happening in the highest Seventh or Eighth Dimensions was absolutely unheard of, especially not when the person in question was a genius like her.
Unfortunately… Kira was at too much of a disadvantage. Leonel had formed three Stars with the special blue Star Force in the surroundings, something even the creator could never have predicted. As a result, he was completely immune to the increases to his weight—a privilege Kira obviously didn't have.
To make matters worse, Kira's Lineage Factor and ability were sealed. She couldn't use any of the Elemental Forces she was practiced with. And, as though all of that wasn't bad enough, she was facing an opponent who had an endless supply of energy thanks to the gorgeous blue star that was up ahead.
Before she realized what was happening, she felt the ruby blade of a spear resting on her shoulder, just barely pressing against the skin of her neck.
Leonel stood before her, his hair a stream of radiant blue energy even down to his brows. Diamond blue Runes pulsed about his skin, even forming a crown upon his head. His whole figure radiated a striking hue that made one believe that he, himself, was a star... He looked as though he was a spirit deity, grinning down at her mischievously.
If there was one place Leonel felt he was almost invincible, it was here.
[Announcement Below]