Chapter 135 - Embodiment: Living Lightning

Leo's mind was starting to waver.

His current Mana pool was dwindling to zero, and it wasn't strange to see why.

Throughout this entire time, he had used his own Mana to pull through and attack his enemies. It was a surefire way for him to do things as quickly as possible.

In hindsight, though, it might not have been the best idea.

Even though the two parties might have been equal in terms of level, the reality was entirely different. Leo didn't expect to deal with an enemy that was as tough as he was fast. Meaning, Leo's method of attacking with speed was useless.

However, Leo didn't let up.

He now had a proper plan of attack, after all. Leo knew that he had to attack continuously to lower the enemy's Mana reserves. Simply maintaining his metal-like defense would take a toll with Leo's Thunder-Attributed attacks.

It was now only a matter of having his Mana reserves last.

Swinging his sword with a growing recklessness, Leo started wailing on the elite soldier, each swing reducing the enemy's Mana by a certain unknown degree.

After a few whacks at the enemy's body, Leo retreated a few steps.

"My, my. Getting tired, are we?"

The elite soldier was looking at him with an overly mocking gaze. Leo felt chills go down his spine as he realized that the situation might have gone worse.

Panting and sweating, Leo had a strained look on his face. He could seriously feel the tiredness of his muscles.

"Tell me," Leo stalled by initiating conversation. "Why the hell did you not do anything to stop me? I killed all your fellow soldiers... And, now, you don't seem to give a damn that I did."

It was an accurate explanation of the situation.

For a while now, Leo had noticed that the elite soldier wasn't angry. He wasn't pissed off by the fact that Leo killed the others. No sign of anger. No sign of revenge. In fact, the guy just stood there, not giving a single damn about the deaths of his comrades. Not moving a muscle to save his friends.

So, why?

"How adorable..."

Leo's eyes widened at the unexpected answer.

"You care about your enemies. Truly adorable. But..., so naive. Allow me to explain it to you then, my Prince. I used those soldiers to wear you down. And, now, I know my plan worked. Seeing that look on your face... It fills me with so much joy!!"

Leo's face turned from shock to pure rage. His mind started to race as he felt that he had been played with. He felt guilty for killing his opponents with great burden.

But... it was all just a ploy?

With a disgruntled look on his face, Leo gripped the handle of his blade tightly. He took a fighting stance that indicated he was serious about eliminating his target. Blade in front, Leo stared at his enemy.

The elite soldier opened his mouth wide, mockingly imitating a shocked person. He knew that he succeeded in getting under Leo's skin.

Everything that happened was all in the hopes of getting Leo psychologically unbalanced.

The number of deaths that weighed on Leo's head caused him to be mentally drained. Not to mention the Stamina and Mana consumption, Leo was physically tired as well.

From there, the elite soldier made him feel weak by showing that his attacks didn't work. Following this was a simple reveal. Telling him that it was all a game to get him to feel tired. To get him to feel weak.

Simple words pushed Leo off the ledge and into his own personal hell.

The elite soldier did all of this just so that he can get satisfaction. The satisfaction from Leo's disgruntled look. The satisfaction from Leo knowing that he had met his match. The desperate look on Leo's face was more than enough to make him feel an inexplicable amount of joy.

"What's your name?"

The tone of Leo's voice was cold. His face darkened at the realization that he had been played with all along. The thoughts in his mind were racing.

'How could a person like this exist? Why give him the power to defend?'

The looks of people's faces as they died by Leo's blade came up to mind. He could remember a lot of fear in their eyes. Yet, this so-called "elite" let his fellow soldiers be sacrifices?

"You know what? Don't tell me. I don't need to know the name of a dead man."

Running at full speed, Leo didn't hold anything back. Leo fully committed to this one attack of cutting through the guy instead of hacking and slashing.

Cling!

The same sound of metal resounded within the street.

Leo ran past the elite soldier and successfully made contact as he cut through his damned defenses. It was a successful attack, but there was another sound that followed.

Turning his head to the side, Leo watched as his blade crumbled into pieces. It was worth it, though.

From a distance, blood started to gush out of where Leo had cut. With a smile on his face, Leo knew he had succeeded in breaking past the elite soldier's defense; all he needed was a different method of attack. Instead of standing toe to toe with a steel wall, Leo had to run past it.

"Ha... hahaha..."

It wasn't enough.

The elite soldier was still standing. He was laughing too. Turning around, there wasn't a sign of pain in his expression. No, he was smiling ear to ear.

"Truly magnificent, my Prince! As expected, you wound find a chink in my armor! However... It is not enough. How does it feel?! How does it feel to have your hope crushed before your very eyes?!?"

Leo clicked his tongue in disappointment. The cut wasn't deep enough. It was clear that the Mana Armor had blocked most of the attack. What's worse is that now he had no weapon. Leo was bladeless.

"Fuck this!"

He screamed into the open air as he ran up to the soldier. Leo may have been bladeless, but he had other weapons in his arsenal. A weapon that was so powerful that he himself had sealed it off. A weapon that he had sworn he would never use until the moment comes.

Leo threw his arms out and grabbed ahold of the soldier. Not inching to let go, Leo gritted his teeth as he braced for the pain that followed.

"Embodiment! Living Lightning!"

Violently releasing, all of the Mana inside Leo's Mana Core exploded. From there, the Mana collided with the ambient Mana around them that it caused a chain reaction.

Thunder donned from the sky and infused Leo's pure Mana, turning it into live electricity. Leo, naturally, wasn't spared from the reaction. The live electricity infiltrated his Mana Channels and shocked his Mana Core.

The main reason why Leo had sealed this spell off was because of this. It was, for lack of a better term, a kamikaze attack.

If Leo had to explain the spell, it would normally go like this: Live electrical wire into running water, but he himself cut open the wire and jumped into the water.

The water being Mana, and the electrical wire being the Thunder from the sky. It was a barebones explanation to Leo's overwhelmingly powerful spell.

Leo, admittedly, was surprised when he first encountered the spell.

The Mana cost was zero. At the same time, the damage dealt was extremely high. However, carefully inspecting the description made Leo skeptical of whether he should use it or not.

'To become a being of pure lightning, one must be willing to risk everything. However, it is unattainable to those without any talent for the Thunder Arts. Therefore, a frustrated mage, longing for power, created this spell. Once the mage activated this spell, however, he was never seen again.'

That was the description Leo read when he first got the spell during his Class Advancement. He never dared using the damn thing because of the ominous explanation. Of which, the Thunder God soon clarified during their first encounter in which Leo got his sigil.

However, right now, Leo had no choice but to use the damned thing.

Pain shook the very core of his body down to his veins and arteries. The feeling was indescribable. Leo couldn't tell which way was up anymore as he felt the electricity pulsating inside and out of his body.

'What... is this?'

The elite soldier was astounded as his entire surrounding was covered in electricity. It was too bright to look at, making him instinctively cover his eyes. Although, he noticed that even his Mana was being drained.

Confused, the elite soldier was questioning what was happening. The rules of reality didn't seem to exist anymore as the body that clung to him was made entirely out of electricity.

Leo managed to drain the Mana through the arcs of lightning that shot towards the elite soldier each second that passed. The elite soldier, meanwhile, couldn't do anything to stop it.

Soon enough, the electricity that was passing through Leo made its way to the elite soldier. Pain shot through every orifice in his body as he audibly screamed. However, no sound came out.

He was dead.

The electrified Mana on the road suddenly stopped, though, as a thunderclap emanated throughout the sky. From there, Leo's unconscious body plopped to the ground, reverting his condition to when before he used [Embodiment: Living Lightning].

At the same time, another body dropped to the ground. However, this one's face was unrecognizable. The body was covered in burn marks making the body rotten to look at.

"Didn't I warn you not to use that?!"

The sound of thunder rumbling as the voice angrily yelled.

From deep within Leo's consciousness, the fog was emanating throughout his surroundings. He knew where this place was. However, he didn't want to be here for no real reason.

"I apologize, Thunder God. I had no other choice in the matter!"

Leo learned early on that he should bow his head and respect the Thunder God. From what he can tell, the Thunder God had temper problems. Obviously, Leo wouldn't go out and ask that.

"Then! You must have a reason! Speak, and I shall spare you the lecture!"

With a deep breath, Leo proceeded to explain the situation. He explained how he had felt during the battle. Why did he use the one-off spell that he would willingly risk his life for. The absolute scum that had used him and his people for his own satisfaction.

By the end of his explanation, the fog started to clear; and the sky turned from rainy gray to daylight blue.

"A good reason."

'Eh? Where did the angry voice go?'

Up until this point, the Thunder God hadn't shown her face to Leo. And, subsequently, she talked in a scary, thundering voice. Every time she spoke, the thunder seemed to rumble someplace in the world.

But, now, though, it was clearly different. The situation had turned on its head.

A cute voice came out from the beautiful clear blue sky. Leo was dumbfounded by how cute the sound of the voice was.

'What the hell is going on?!'

Leo was completely confused as to what happened. Where was the angry Thunder God that had scolded him mercilessly? Where did the overbearing and, truthfully, scary voice go?

From the clear blue sky, there suddenly descended a small girl. She was dressed in a cute white dress and had her ash grey hair tied up in pigtails.

"Who- Who are you...?" Leo asked softly.

"Why, it's me, of course! The Thunder God!" she cheerily answered back.

'Oh my god. You're kidding me, right?'

Leo's mouth was wide open as he stared at the cute girl, not even half his height, smile at him.

'Man, I hope that guy had a much less confusing time than this.'

Somewhere inside a narrow street, Rynold sneezed.