Chapter 302 - Gaze

Lamorak's expression changed.

He didn't know what Soul Force was, it was a completely foreign concept to him. He had no idea that what Leonel called Soul Force was the very same Spirit Pressure he had known all his life.

This had been deliberate on Leonel's part. Without understanding what was going on, Lamorak only became more hesitant, allowing Leonel a few extra precious seconds. To the current Leonel, every single one of these moments mattered.

Still... it was just for a few seconds.

Lamorak wasn't a fool. He knew whatever was happening now would inevitably help Leonel even if he didn't know what Soul Force was. If he kept hesitating because of the unknown, the role of predator and prey might flip right before his eyes.

Ultimately, he was a veteran general of countless battles. The one thing he didn't lack was decisiveness.

Without hesitation, a fiery red and dense Force shot up around him like flickering flames.

He reached toward his back, pulling a massive, blunt and cylindrical mace from its holster before shooting toward Leonel.

He put his everything into this strike, not holding back in the slightest. He put so much power into his attack that the sturdy polearm of the mace bent into an elegant arc, whistling through the air with an opposingly grating sound.

BANG!

Lamorak was stunned.

This time, it wasn't because he missed or that Leonel managed to find a way to evade. Leonel hadn't moved a single inch. His brow didn't twitch, his fingers didn't tremble, his cold eyes didn't waver even as the mace smashed into his body, sending him flying into the sturdy walls of Camelot's castle.

Lamorak couldn't help but watch on with a speechless expression. What just happened? Was Leonel suicidal?

He had no choice but to do this even if Lamorak saw it as a form of defiance.

Unfortunately, that was exactly how Lamorak saw it. Every time he put his everything into a strike, he would find Leonel's gaze looking back at him as though nothing had happened.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

The bones and flesh across Leonel's body shattered, splintered and bled. If it wasn't because he reached the Standard State, allowing his current body to match the Weak State when his Runes were activated, he would have long since been beaten into a meat patty.

Leonel was truly barely holding on. Being forced to pause his technique at the instant Lamorak hit him only made everything worse. An already slow process only became slower.

His two Stars were slowly picking up speed, but with the pain racking his body, it felt to Leonel as though the time would never come.

Lamorak's gaze was completely bloodshot.

He reached forward, picking up Leonel by his throat. His arm bulged, slowly squeezing the life out of Leonel.

Even as his face turned red, Leonel continued to stare at Lamorak. From this close, Lamorak felt as though a winter storm was brewing around him, causing goosebumps to run up his tanned skin.

Leonel couldn't have been in a sorrier state. His limbs were bent into awkward angles, his chest had bloomed into an open cavity of shattered bone and organs as though a crimson rose, and his blood dropped to the floor like a savage rain.

He had never been in such pain in his life. What held him together wasn't a deep sense of pride or responsibility, but simply the will to live. The shame of giving up on his own life still weighed heavily on his soul. Whether consciously or subconsciously, he refused to feel that same shame again.

Yet... his gaze made Lamorak feel as though he was the one suffering such severe wounds.

Maybe the only good things about Lamorak's crazed gaze was that he didn't have the presence of mind to turn any of his rage toward the little mink Leonel had tossed away to a far off corner.