’Woman? He’s in a relationship? Since when?’ Nikko’s thoughts spiraled.
Her face was unreadable, not a single crack in her expression. But her mind, her mind was in chaos.
Taco, too, blinked in confusion. ’Was I wrong? Are the two of them not engaged? That girl over there... she’s closer to his age, yes. But when has age, ever been a problem in federal nobility.’
Even Rebecca paused. ’I had my suspicions, but I didn’t think they were this close.’
Only Raven remained unaffected, as if everyone else had forgotten the actual problem.
"So," she said again, looking at Elizabeth, "She has a teleportation skill?"
Leon shrugged. "Sothing like that."
That answer hit harder than any blade.
Teleportation wasn’t just rare, it was borderline mythical. Even among the most elite, it was near impossible to acquire. Completing a thousand trials might not even be enough.
But if it wasn’t a skill, and instead... a spell? That was an entirely different level of mastery. A spell ant comprehension. Talent. Control over space itself. Mages needed a specific affinity for that, and Elizabeth was below C-rank. She shouldn’t have a space affinity.
So the only conclusion was terrifying.
She’d learned it.
Nikko’s thoughts chilled. ’Before I got my short-range teleportation skill, I had to reach S-rank and clear an S-rank trial. And I still can’t use it freely. And here she is... casually appearing like it’s nothing. A skill this powerful... and it might not even be a skill? It might be a spell?’
She didn’t like what that ant.
Taco’s mind echoed her fear. ’What kind of monsters are being born in this generation?’
Leon caught their gazes and sighed internally. ’If only you knew what she was really capable of.’
Elizabeth’s Dragon Tongue let her bend spells to her will. She didn’t need an affinity, she could force understanding with ti. It had taken her days of preparation just to set up the teleportation spell. But she’d done it.
Still, Leon had no intention of sharing that secret. If Elizabeth hadn’t revealed she was a dragon hybrid, then it wasn’t his place.
The air finally settled.
Then Rebecca stepped forward, her voice clipped but firm.
"For now, let’s return to base. You’ll give a full report there."
Leon nodded. "Alright. But first, we need to get my other two squadmates."
Rebecca gave a small nod of approval.
Nikko moved quietly through the rubble. Her eyes scanned the jagged stone walls until she found him, Adrian, unconscious and half-buried, attached to a glowing magic circle. She freed him gently.
Not far away, they found Eden, crumpled and barely breathing. A backlash, no doubt from Eleanor’s loss of control.
With both of them secured, the group turned and began the long journey out of the cave.
Behind them, the cavern groaned. The shadows swallowed the dead, and the silence whispered promises of trials yet to co.
****
The battlefield was finally still. The roars of demons had been silenced, their bodies strewn across the broken land like grotesque reminders of what had unfolded. The scent of scorched earth, charred flesh, and blood lingered in the air, but it was over.
The Federation’s soldiers, bloodied and bruised, began their march back to base. So limped. Others leaned on comrades. But none of them could forget what they had seen.
One soldier, dragging an injured leg, exhaled as he spoke through a split lip. "The S-ranks... they were monsters."
Despite the pain twisting his face, there was awe in his eyes, pure admiration.
"Yeah," the man beside him muttered, wiping soot from his brow. "If Vanguard Taco hadn’t shown up when he did... we’d all be corpses right now."
The others walking near them didn’t argue. Heads nodded quietly, the unspoken truth pressing on all of them. The tide had only turned the mont Taco arrived.
But then, another voice chid in.
"Still... Combatant Leon was just as spectacular."
That stopped everyone. For a heartbeat, no one responded. Their silence was not disagreent, but mory.
Images rushed back: Leon, carving through A-rank demons like paper. The shockwaves of his strikes. The raw strength behind every movent. He hadn’t fought like a new recruit. He hadn’t even fought like a veteran.
One soldier broke the quiet. "At this rate... it wouldn’t be crazy if they made him an Azure Colonel."
The others paused. That was a leap, but... was it?
"Wait," another said. "When did he even join the military?"
"I heard he was promoted to Combatant right after his deploynt," soone else added, voice low.
"Then it wasn’t a fluke," ca another, firr voice. "He’s the real deal."
The conversation lulled again.
But among the crowd, a small group of Combatants remained quiet, especially one. Michael. The sa Michael who had loudly questioned Leon’s promotion. The sa one who had scoffed when Leon claid he’d rank up again in weeks.
Now he laughed softly to himself, shaking his head.
"I should’ve just kept my mouth shut."
While the soldiers returned with heavy limbs and scattered thoughts, the man they praised lay in a clinic room, seated between two beds, Adrian on one, Eden on the other. Both were being tended to, wrapped in bandages and hooked to IVs.
Leon had already given his report. His tone had been calm, direct, but his eyes kept straying to the unconscious figures beside him. This wasn’t victory. Not really.
Eleanor was being kept in a different room, one reinforced with anti-magic seals and watched closely by Vanguard Taco and Raven Stone. She hadn’t woken yet.
anwhile, Elizabeth stood in a separate chamber, giving her own account of the mission.
Just then... ti froze.
The whirring of dical machines halted. The faint murmurs outside the door faded into silence. The clinic lights hung frozen mid-flicker.
Leon didn’t flinch.
His eyes calmly scanned the now, silent room before landing on a figure standing in the far corner, a man cloaked in flowing robe, half-faded into the air like a living echo.
"I didn’t say anything about you," Leon said quietly, "because sothing told you were going to appear again."
The man smiled. A calm, ageless smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes.
"Finally," he said. "We can talk."
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