Chapter 334: Revenge
(Time-Stilled World, Desert Plateau, Leo’s POV)
Leo felt his heart jump into his throat when the captain was sent flying in his direction.
*Thud*
Her body slammed against the side of the very dune he was hiding behind, skidding down the slope before landing in a crumpled heap not ten feet from where he crouched, as for a brief moment, he stopped breathing altogether, feeling afraid that Karl would follow through and discover him next.
’No... stay down. Please just stay down,’ Leo silently begged, eyes fixed on the broken woman whose body twitched with pain.
’Don’t get back up. Don’t draw his attention in this direction... just die quietly if you have to.’ Leo prayed silently, however, to his dismay the woman did not stay down.
Her spirit burned too bright, and even with blood in her throat and fractures in her spine, she reached for her broken spear and pulled herself to her knees, barely able to hold steady as she gathered mana one last time.
’Why? Why do you have to be so brave?’ Leo grit his teeth, his mind racing as he realized he had no time left to hesitate.
The woman trying to attack Karl meant that it was a guarantee that he would discover him soon enough, which was not an ideal scenario for his ambush.
Hence, in that split second, he made a choice.
A reckless, bold, and innovative choice to force an opening.
As the moment Karl observed her attack and began charging towards her, Leo stood up from behind the sand dune and bolted across its crest.
*Tap*
*Tap*
*Tap*
Sand kicked beneath his feet as he ran, exposing himself fully to Karl’s corrupted gaze.
As looking at his visage, Karl froze.
His steps halted mid-charge, and his blood-smeared face twisted into confusion.
"Skyshard...?" he muttered, squinting toward the figure running across the dune, as recognition flashed in his eyes, but so did hesitation.
If he still had his full mind.... if the taint hadn’t dulled his logic.... he would have realized the obvious in a split second.
That this had to be a trap.
However, with the taint of this world dulling his critical thinking skills, he couldn’t figure out how Leo, who wasn’t supposed to be alive in the first place, was now not only alive, but also running away from him out of nowhere?
*Swoosh!*
Making the most of the distraction, the silver haired captain clutched her broken spear and used the last dregs of her strength to release the spell she had been forming.
[Ice Thrust]
A pulse of energy surged forward from the tip of her spear, as she forced Karl to bend backward with that unnatural curve of his spine to dodge the attack.
However, in doing so, Karl also backed himself into an awkward angle from where he couldn’t easily maneuver anymore.
Which was the exact opportunity, the real Leo had been waiting for!
The figure running across the dune shimmered and dissolved into glass-like fragments.
It had never been him.
It had been a decoy projected by [Mirror World], while the real him remained crouched just behind the dune all along.
And in the exact moment that Karl bent backward to dodge the captain’s spear, the real Leo who was desperately waiting for an opening to attack, immediately burst into action, as in that same breath, he triggered [Blade Shift].
A burst of black mist kicked up behind the sand dune, barely visible against the swirling winds of the desert, as his body blinked across the battlefield with razor sharp precision.
He appeared just behind Karl, his cloak trailing in the wake of the teleportation as he gripped his dagger tight, mana already surging violently into the edge of the blade, as he activated [Dark Blade].
*Sizzle*
Flames of deep obsidian swallowed the length of the dagger, licking up the sides like living shadows, as the weapon vibrated in his hand, thirsting for a cut.
*SLICE!*
Leo struck.
A single, calculated swing.
His arm moved in silence, guided by months of repetition, as the black flames hissed against the air—and then came the contact.
The blade kissed Karl’s neck.
There was no resistance.
The dagger sank in as if slicing through melted butter, and for a brief moment, Karl’s eyes widened to their limits—flickering with something between disbelief and pure animal confusion, as his left eye twitched, while his right one convulsed.
And then everything went still.
The obsidian blade passed cleanly through skin, tendon, and spine, parting muscle like cloth soaked in oil. There was no splatter. No burst of gore. Just a soft *shhhhkkk* sound and a surgical separation, as Karl’s head slid away from his body in a slow, smooth arc.
His face froze mid-expression.
Mouth open. Eyes wide. Brows furrowed, as if still trying to process the fact that Leo Skyshard—the boy he had betrayed—was standing behind him in the flesh.
*Thud*
The head landed on the sand with a dull, lifeless bounce.
The body followed a moment later, collapsing in a twitching heap, its nerves firing off one last confused signal as arms jerked and legs spasmed like a puppet with its strings cut.
A small curl of smoke rose from the clean cut on the stump of his neck, dark flame still eating away at the nerves, cauterizing the severed flesh from within.
And just like that... Karl was dead.
Silenced by a single, perfect strike.
*Land*
Leo landed lightly on his feet, Karl’s blood sizzling and misting on his dagger as it came into contact with the dark flames on his blade, as his expression remained cold and empty.
"Tell your superiors in the Cult that I said ’Hi’," Leo muttered as he looked into Karl’s shocked eyes.
"Ooops.... Guess you won’t be able to.... Afterall, I am sending you to the same place I sent your friend who attacked me before you.
I guess the only person you can tell ’hi’, is him in hell!" Leo said, as he stomped cruelly on Karl’s decapitated head, the repressed rage inside his body finally bubbling outwards now that he had the chance to claim retribution.
*Stomp*
*Stomp*
*Stomp*
He stomped on the head with all the force he could muster, however, the hardened skin and bone did not disfigure or break, as the only thing that happened was that a few milliliters of blood slowly trickled out of the base, while his shocked eyes finally closed forever.
"Shouldn’t have tried to kill me, motherfucker!" Leo said at the end as he kicked the head away like a football, while Della and the Captain, the only two survivors of Karl’s carnage, studied his antics with a shocked expression on their faces.
"Sorry ladies, I didn’t mean to scare you, but I have been waiting for a long time to kick his head away.... Hope you guys don’t mind—" Leo said, as he finally acknowledged the crowd, and calmly apologised for his actions, in case he accidentally scared them both.
*Thud*
The captain was the first to pass out, as after the adrenaline wore thin, she did not have it in her to stay conscious for too long.
While Della passed out next, as she had picked up injuries of her own, and had lost too much blood to stay conscious as well.