Chapter 303: Battle of the Lords: A Word of Advice
’Did I kill him?’
Leon dropped to his knees, coughed violently, and puked onto the ground. His eyes and nose were bleeding profusely. His head was ringing, and his entire body ached so bad that after a few seconds, he couldn’t help but fall face-first onto the sand.
At this mont, not only was his entire mana core depleted, but even his essence core was almost completely drained as well.
Now, although this outco was expected, it was also a bit surprising to Leon.
You see, out of all the cadets, Leon had the largest essence core. He had been cultivating it for a long ti now, so of course it was vast.
But more than that, he had the highest number of subjects of influence. Many cadets and so many people in the empire were under his influence that he usually received essence in droves.
In fact, it had gotten to the point where there wasn’t a ti when he didn’t receive essence.
Even in the night when people were supposed to be sleeping, there was definitely sobody out there in the empire whose need to know kept feeding him essence.
Yet, despite his large essence core, truth be told, he wasn’t sure that it’d be possible to use Judgnt Ti on this Lord without killing himself. The level gap was just too high, and the essence cost was even higher.
That was why he had been hesitant to use the ability all this while.
But when he saw how hopeless the situation had beco due to just how powerful this Lord was, he decided... you know what? Fuck it.
Even if it killed him, he had no other choice. He would use Judgent Ti, for if he didn’t act now, this Lord would kill everyone.
And so, he activated the skill despite the large cost. Just like he expected, it ended up costing him almost all of his essence.
To be honest, the only reason he wasn’t dead right now was because even at this mont, essence was flowing into his core, probably from many of his subjects of influence back in the empire.
...Well, his essence core aside, the good thing was that... this fight was finally over. He had succeeded in killing the Leader of the Lords.
Leon exhaled tiredly.
’I’m so tired.’
He felt his eyes beginning to close. He just wanted to rest... to surrender to the exhaustion.
However, right when his world had begun to grow quiet, he suddenly heard the voice of the person he least expected:
"Tsk. I really thought that skill would help
combat the effects of causality. Such a sha."
Leon’s eyes widened. His blood imdiately ran cold, and his heart began to beat like a mad dog.
’What?!’
He barely gathered enough strength to look up, and when he did, he could see the Lord he had just killed casually walking up to him with his left hand in his pocket.
’H-how is this possible?’
Each slow step brought the Lord closer to him, and he could see the man reach into his inventory, from which he took out what looked like a small, slim rod with his right hand. The black tallic rod was about the size of a small dagger.
Leon tried to rise in a panic. He forced his shattered, unresponsive body into a desperate crawl and scrambled back through the sand.
At the sa ti, not too far to the side, Goldie — who also looked to be in a very bad way — suddenly locked her attention onto the Lord who kept advancing towards Leon. In a desperate effort to stop him from killing her master, she quickly activated her ability using what little of her own mana she had left.
Suddenly, what looked like a transparent golden wall appeared in front of the man, causing him to halt. At the sa ti, another wall appeared to his left, right, and back before finally appearing above him, sealing him in a shimring, geotric cube.
Seeing that, Lee Lim took a step closer to the wall, wound his arm back, and delivered a devastating punch.
A small crack appeared on the wall in front of him, but that crack imdiately stitched itself back together, and runes began to etch themselves all around the golden surface.
A flash of annoyance ran across Lee Lim’s face as he delivered another heavy strike. This ti, the wall only vibrated but didn’t crack.
Of course, Goldie was using her all to maintain the barrier, but locking him in place wasn’t her intent because she knew it wouldn’t be long before he managed to break out of it. So instead, while the man kept delivering blows onto the wall to shatter the cage, she deleted the air in the containnt field, effectively creating a sealed vacuum.
When that happened, the air was violently ripped from his lungs, and for a brief second, she could see the expression on the Lord’s face stiffen as he clutched at his throat.
’Co on... die...’ Goldie pleaded as she felt her mana drain away like sand through sieve.
If she could just hold on for longer, maybe... just maybe, he would die.
Unfortunately, her hope was short-lived. To her utter despair, the sa golden cage binding the Lord began to manifest around her. It erupted from the ground one side after the other, sealing her in a shimring, geotric cube that mirrored his exactly. Goldie looked around the transparent prison in confusion, only to feel the air violently wrenched out of her lungs at that mont.
She collapsed to the ground, her fingers clawing at the sand as she experienced the very suffocation she had intended for him.
anwhile, Lee Lim, still trapped in his own cube, slowly lowered his hand from his throat. His face returned to a state of calm as the cube trapping him suddenly shattered, raining down in a hail of golden shards.
He slowly stood up and turned to look at the cage trapping the dying angel. His features contorted into a brief grimace before he let out a tired, heavy sigh.
At the sa ti, Leon was paralyzed. All he could do was repeat the word "no" in a broken whisper, his horror growing as he watched his summon perish.
Under normal circumstances, he could have opened a portal to return her to his sanctuary, but she was in no state to move herself into the portal. And so, he was forced to remain kneeling in the sand, heartbroken, and watch as the light in Goldie’s eyes began to dim.
At that mont, Lee Lim, who had resud walking, finally reached him and crouched down to his level.
Leon tore his gaze away from Goldie and shot Lee Lim an angry look with his bloodshot eyes. By now, the man barely looked human. Leon could see deep, jagged cracks spiderwebbing across Lee Lim’s skin. The cracks, which looked like molten burn marks, had spread until they covered his entire face, making him look like a porcelain doll that had been held too close to a furnace.
"You and that other antagonist have caused
so much headache and pain," Lee Lim hissed. He tilted his head slightly, raised the small rod in his hand, and added through gritted teeth, "Now that I have taken care of the other bastard, all that’s left is to get rid of you."
Upon hearing that, Leon couldn’t help but smile. "So, this was it?"
He let out a pained laugh, only for his expression to harden into a mask of pure, unadulterated spite. Gritting his teeth, he spat blood into the sand and leaned forward; then, his cold, mismatched eyes widened.
"I do not know why you keep referring to us as the antagonists. And truthfully, I do not care, because I do not see us as that, but rather, the protagonists of this war. So let
tell you how it will end," he rasped. "My comrades will win this war. Every last one of you Lords will be slaughtered before the sun rises on another day. But as for you?"
A jagged, bloody grin stretched across his face. "You will die a special death. If not by my hand, then by his!"
Lee Lim’s stoic expression cracked for a brief second, making him look genuinely distraught. However, his composure quickly returned. He exhaled, then said coldly, "I’ll give you a Word of Advice."
Upon hearing the words "Word of Advice," Leon lost control over his body. It was almost as if a skill had been activated.
"Take this," Lee Lim said, handing him the small rod. "Kill yourself, and put an end to my nightmare."
Under the weight of the command, Leon’s hand reached out. Despite the frantic screaming in his mind, his fingers closed around the cold, heavy tal.
His arm moved with chanical precision, slowly bringing the sharpened tip toward his left eye.
’No, no, no...’
The tip touched his cornea. Then, with a sudden, violent lurch of his arm, he plunged the rod ho. The sound was a sickening, wet pop followed by the crunch of the orbital bone shattering. Leon’s world exploded into a blinding white flash of agony before plunging into half-darkness.
Hot, thick blood erupted from the wound, pouring down his cheek and soaking into the parched sand below. His body jerked in a silent, agonizing convulsion, but the skill held him fast, forcing his hand to twist the rod deeper until the tal scraped against the back of his skull.
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