Chapter 87: A pawn of the gods?
Hearing Arthur dismiss his whole life as simply being ’dishonorable’ and unworthy made him angry.
The man knew nothing of the beatings, the cold isolation, or the mockery Leon had endured from his own bloodline before finally being exiled, making the dismissive judgment feel like an insult to his entire existence.
He didn’t care that Arthur was a renowned king, or that he was the true and original owner of Excalibur; all he knew was that he wouldn’t accept such a humiliating insult from him or anyone else.
He charged at Arthur again, every muscle in his body straining as he closed the gap, channeling all his raw hatred and desire for freedom into a single, overwhelming offensive surge.
He thought to himself as he locked his gaze onto the king, ’You’ll acknowledge me, and I’ll get back... and teach those bastards a lesson!’
He refused to let his bloody retribution at the Roaring Lions headquarters end in failure, driving his body forward with the sole focus of breaking through Arthur’s divine defenses and returning to the real world.
’Holy Severance!’ he thought, activating his skill as a sharp, vertical golden line appeared directly across Arthur’s chest and torso in a flash of divine light.
The golden spatial mark designated the exact path where his sword would strike to cut through space and ignore physical durability, setting up what should have been an unavoidable execution blow.
Before he could even swing his blade across the designated line, however, Arthur’s own golden sword moved in a blinding blur of light.
The king didn’t attempt to dodge or raise a barrier, parrying the incoming execution skill before Leon could even execute the physical follow-through.
It cut cleanly through the exact middle of the golden line, and to Leon’s shock, the line broke apart into scattered particles of light, evaporating into thin air.
Leon stared at the fading golden specks in disbelief, his heart dropping into his stomach.
’He can see it also!’ he thought.
He had believed the lines of Holy Severance were invisible to his targets, but Arthur had not only perceived the line instantly, he had possessed the precise knowledge and speed to sever the skill itself.
Arthur didn’t give him a second to process his shock or think through his next move, immediately swinging his golden sword downward at him.
The divine blade tore through the air with unimaginable force, leaving a trail of blinding light in its wake as it descended toward Leon’s exposed shoulder.
Leon reacted purely on honed combat instinct, immediately summoning Aegis in a flash of brilliant green light, the shield appearing directly between him and the incoming deadly strike.
A strange, subtle glint flashed across Arthur’s golden eyes when he saw the shield manifest between them, recognizing the origin of the legendary item Leon possessed.
Yet, despite identifying the legendary barrier, he didn’t stop his attack, driving his golden blade downward into the green shield with force.
The golden sword struck the green shield, and like a hot knife through soft butter, it immediately sliced straight through the barrier, cutting cleanly down from the top of Leon’s shoulder all the way to his waist.
The legendary shield offered zero resistance against the strike, its defense failing instantly as the golden edge tore through magical barrier and physical flesh in a single, fluid motion.
The sheer, overwhelming force behind the swing sent him flying violently backward across, blood oozing out of his deep wound in a heavy stream as he crashed hard onto the cold ground meters away.
His body skidded along the dark floor, leaving a thick, crimson smear in his wake before coming to a painful halt in the vast darkness.
Leon didn’t care about the agonizing cut on him though, his wide eyes completely focused on the two sliced pieces of Aegis in front of him.
The burning pain in his torso faded compared to the sheer horror of seeing his defense destroyed before his very eyes.
The shield looked exactly the same as it always did with its radiant green light, except it had been cleanly cut into two identical halves by Arthur’s golden blade.
The smooth, perfect edge of the slice showed no sign of cracking or fracturing, revealing that the barrier had simply been severed at a conceptual level by the ancient king’s strike.
He slowly got up from the floor, his trembling hand clutching his bleeding torso as he stared at the destroyed shield.
"How...?" he muttered, the word rasping out of his throat, heavy with the terrifying realization that his ultimate protection was completely useless against the opponent standing before him.
Arthur chuckled softly, his light laughter echoing gently across the vast space as he lowered his glowing sword back to his side.
He looked at the shattered pieces of Aegis floating in the air, a faint trace of genuine amusement in his voice as he said, "Aegis... how do you have something like it with you?"
He was still deeply confused about Leon’s true identity, struggling to comprehend how this young, vengeful player had managed to get his hands on Excalibur in the first place despite clearly not being of pure heart.
In his mind, the holy sword bound by ancient moral standards should have rejected someone whose soul was so thoroughly consumed by hatred and revenge.
He also had a strange, lingering curiosity about the fact that Leon possessed a functional projection of the original Aegis, along with raw strength similar to that of Heracles flowing through his veins.
Standing in the middle of the illuminated void, the ancient king stared at the battered boy, intrigued by how a single human in this modern era had gathered the power and divine artifacts of multiple ancient legends.
"Are you a pawn of the gods... what are they even planning?" He asked, wondering if Leon was an unwitting player in some grand divine scheme orchestrated by higher entities beyond the mortal realm.
"I don’t know what you’re talking about." Leon replied.