Leonel dropped to the ground, a surging pain that started from his face radiating out to the rest of his body. He wanted to clench his teeth, but doing that only made things worse. He didn't even realize how many micro expressions relied on the stability of his jaw until this very moment.
He looked up and watched Edrym with a sharp gaze. Since he could control blood from outside of his body, then there was no telling if such an injury would be enough to kill him. For all Leonel knew, unless he could attack Edrym's soul directly, he wouldn't gain victory.
Luckily, things weren't so exaggerated. This didn't seem to be Edrym's choice either. The moment the tribulation sensed his 'death', it was over. His body began to shimmer, his spear falling to the ground.
"I haven't lost yet!" Edrym suddenly roared, realizing what was happening. By now, his casual demeanor had vanished and he was absolutely furious. It wasn't to the point that he looked like a madman, but he definitely couldn't hide his real thoughts anymore. "Dammit!"
Edrym's bronze gaze blazed as he looked toward Leonel. By now, the latter knew that he likely looked ridiculous. He couldn't even hold his own jaw up, a combination of saliva and blood pooling out under no control of his own. However, he still withstood the pain, closed his jaw, and grinned a bloody smile.
""Babye, have a nice trip."
Edrym's gaze turned malevolent, but Leonel's smile only grew brighter. It was only after Edrym vanished that he coughed, shaking his head. He had actually almost died in such a foolish way. Without his Ability Index, Edrym's speed of thought was naturally faster than his own just because of his Race, that made falling into traps a troublesome eventuality.
This was probably how others felt when they fought him, being several steps ahead of your opponent meant that even if their raw strength was greater than your own, much like Leonel's was here, your chances of winning were likely greater.
It was funny, all this time Leonel had been learning of the benefits of truly just relying on nothing more than his talent and instinct in battle, only for the end result to smack him in the face.
Leonel struggled to his feet, shaking his head.
He reached down and picked up Edrym's spear, fusing it to his own. At that moment, the world around him shifted and everything was surrounded by a blazing light. Leonel could feel that the pain wreaking havoc in his body was slowly vanishing. By the time he couldn't see anything remaining, the pain was entirely gone.
When he appeared once again, he stood in the depths of the Spear Domain. Up above, black lightning crackles and beneath him, black gravel crunched. However, when Leonel looked around, his eyes widened.
This was no normal region of the Spear Domain Ring, it was the highest peak there was, that very same distant peak he had seen the first time he stepped foot into it. However, where there should have been a spear, there was nothing at all. In addition, on the other side of the mountain peak, there was nothing at all, a vast nothingness that branched into countless paths, all equally filled with nothing.
Leonel was quite surprised by this. He was absolutely certain that whatever was at the peak of this mountain should have been the spear that suppressed all others, but there was nothing here at all. But beyond that, he was certain that there should have been spears that encircled the mountain completely, so why was there nothing on the other side at all?
Leonel turned around, but just as expected, all of the spears that he was used to were still there. This was definitely his Spear Domain, and those empty spaces...
Leonel's gaze flashed and he suddenly realized that his thinking speed was back. No matter how he flipped the problem in his mind, it seemed that there was only one answer. The missing paths must be in the rings of those enemies he fought in the tribulation. The only way to complete it, and likely the only way to find the spear that should be on this mountain, was by fusing them all.
Leonel shook his head and sighed.
He had no idea where those people came from. There should only be a single Spear Domain Ring in existence. If Leonel continued with that assumption, then it should be that the enemies he faced were displaced through time rather than displaced through space.
This didn't feel impossible. After all, the Spear Domain ring had the ability to send his consciousness back to fuse with a Primitive Man's. The tribulation was the same, just a displacement of consciousness, so it seemed to fit.
Also, the Spear Domain Lineage Factor itself seemed to have some faint connections with time, although Leonel had his own theories about that. He felt like any Lineage Factor, affinity or Ability Index taken to its absolute extreme would have some influence on Space and Time Force.
But regardless of whether he was correct or not, there was not, what was of core importance was the fact that the Spear Domain should have the potential to do so.
But the question was why?
To find the best Spearman across eras?
That didn't seem right either because of what he had heard from Nelligan. At least in Nelligan's case, his people seemed to interact with the tribulation in a linear fashion. It felt weird that the Spear Domain Ring would displace itself across time, just to allow it to continue to be passed on normally. What was the point of that?
Leonel's frown deepened. The more he thought about it, the more entangled and nonsensical it all seemed.
'Forget this, where are my rewards?"
Leonel was a bit worried about what might be happening back on Earth, so he wanted to take his rewards and leave as quickly as possible, but he was beginning to worry that there were no rewards at all. If there were no rewards, what was the point of the tribulation? Just for the right to keep the ring? That would be weird, and more than a little annoying.
"Hm?"
Suddenly, Leonel understood something.
Could the reason he was brought here to begin with be the reward itself?
Leonel looked toward the paths of darkness ahead of him and he felt a mysterious feeling.
'I see..."
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