Chapter 333: Leo’s choice
(Time-Stilled World, Desert Plateau, Leo’s POV)
Leo crouched low behind the sand dune, his gaze locked onto Karl’s twitching frame, as blood from the two fallen assassins pooled into the cracked earth beside their fallen bodies.
Currently, he wasn’t the only one hesitating.
The remaining five assassins stood frozen around Karl as well, their gazes landing nervously on one another, as they wrestled with the same uncomfortable question as he was:
Do they stay and fight?
Or do they run while they still could?
It was the kind of decision that couldn’t be made lightly. And for Leo, it ran deeper than just fear or rage. Because for him, this wasn’t just some random lunatic roaming the sands.
This was Karl.
The man who had betrayed him.
The man who had smiled in his face and fed him food, while secretly working to deliver him into the hands of death.
The man who had turned on his team without a flicker of remorse.
Leo’s hand brushed the hilts of his daggers, as the urge to strike within him was strong.
He wanted to carve justice into Karl’s flesh. He wanted to repay the betrayal in full. But the image of Reed flying backward, and of the young boy torn apart like wet paper, kept playing in his mind.
The current Karl before him wasn’t the same man he knew.
The current Karl... was stronger. Sharper. Wilder. He was a Transcendent tier warrior—with skin that resisted blades, and muscles that snapped bones with casual precision.
’Fuck me, I hate that bastard too much to just walk away knowing that he’s alive!’ Leo thought, as he clenched his jaw in fury.
’If I can get close enough, I can probably decapitate him with a single blow.
But that’s only if I get the chance to land a clean strike....’ Leo thought, as he retrieved a dagger from his utility belt and stared into his reflection in the cold steel.
During the last 200 days, he had trained many moves in his arsenal including his newly obtained moves:
[StormFlash Traverse]
And
[Astral Hook Bind]
Which he improved to (Advanced) mastery.
However, the most important move that he had trained was the [Dark Blade], which he discovered to be a technique that could easily help him slash through flesh, steel and rock, with almost no resistance.
After initially struggling to kill monsters with his raw strength, he had eventually began to rely on the move more and more with each passing day, which was why he knew with confidence that the attack could help him kill Karl with one strike.
’If I can use Dark Blade, I can probably take his head clean off in a single strike, but for it to work, I need to time my attack perfectly.
The bastard is too fast and moves erratically, so if I don’t time it to perfection, he will escape and I will be forced to fight a difficult fight from that point onwards....’ Leo thought, as he clutched the dagger tightly and returned his gaze to the battlefield.
On one hand, he knew that the sensible choice here was to run and leave Karl alone.
However, on the other hand, he was sure that he would not be able to live with himself if he let the bastard that backstabbed him just go free, which was why he decided to stay back and wait until the perfect opportunity presented itself.
’This isn’t about pride, or ego... but if you fuck with me then you must pay,’ Leo told himself as he took another quiet breath.
If he struck now, he would die.
But if he waited for the right moment—if he studied Karl long enough, found the cracks in his rhythm and learned how the madness flowed through him—then maybe, just maybe, he could kill him.
*Sigh*
Leo exhaled slowly, his decision made.
He would not run.
But he would not strike yet either.
He would watch. Wait. And when the moment came, he would end Karl with no hesitation.
—---------
"We must fight!" the captain declared, her voice cracking like thunder. "Della, restrict his movement! Everyone else, target his vitals! We end him now, or we die!"
Her words lit the team into motion.
Della sprang forward, mana condensing under her heels as she activated [Burning Arc Step], which launched her around Karl’s flank in a tight loop.
With the momentum of the circle, she activated [Meteor Bind], summoning burning chains from above to trap Karl’s limbs.
The restraints struck true, coiling around his wrists and ankles mid-lunge, locking him in place.
"Now!" the captain shouted, as Four assassins closed in on him from all angles.
The gauntlet fighter led with [Abyssal Impact], driving both fists into Karl’s sternum with the explosive power of a close combat fighter.
Behind him, the dagger wielder lunged high, triggering [Heaven’s Carve], a dual slash toward the neck that aimed to decapitate from both sides.
The third charged low, blade flashing as he triggered [Piercing Fang], aimed for Karl’s exposed liver.
The captain herself surged forward last, her spear wrapped in a white aura as she released [Frostbreak Slash], a freezing attack aimed at Karl’s jaw to shatter the skull entirely.
For one fleeting second, it looked like the plan had worked.
And then—
*Snap*
*Crackle*
*Laugh*
Karl laughed.
A low, slithering, broken sound that oozed from his throat like rot.
Then he flexed once—and the binds holding him still exploded, hitting the assassin’s charging in on him with tremendous force.
The gauntlet assassin was thrown back first, his chest armor dented inward as he coughed blood.
The dagger wielder managed to avoid the debris, but was caught mid-air, Karl’s shoulder slamming into her with impossible speed and force, as she slammed into the sand, spine-first, and didn’t move again.
And then came the captain.
Her ice spear connected—only for Karl to open his mouth and bite down on the metal with a sickening *Crunch* sound, as he bit through the metal like a savage.
"The hell?" The captain murmured, looking confused as her trusty weapon was broken in the most absurd way possible.
"Night night...." Karl muttered, as he kicked her straight in the sternum, sending her flying backwards, as she hit the same dune that Leo was hiding behind.
*Thud*
Blood gushed from her lips, as she struggled to stay conscious, watching as Karl went after Della next, however, she was unable to intervene or help.
Her own body refused to move, and although she was conscious, she could do little more than barely staying upright, as every bone in her body ached from the sudden impact.
"Can’t... die.... here" she muttered, gripping onto her broken spear, as she showed guts and staggered forward, only to stumble to her knees and cough blood, as the damage to her body seemed to be worse than what she initially estimated.
At this point it was pure adrenaline that was keeping her conscious and nothing else, as the amount of internal damage that she had accumulated was enough to kill anyone.
However, despite her vision blacking out, and the strength seeping from her limbs, she still pooled mana into her spear, as she tried to launch one last long range attack to help Della before she passed out, only for Karl to notice her futile struggle and charge towards her, to end her life for once and for all.