231 The Ring of Nothingness [2]

Leon sat in his chamber with his eyes closed.

He was shirtless, and a blue glow manifested from within his body, highlighting every vein in his body.

Ba... Thump! Ba... Thump!

The beat of his heart quietly echoed throughout the room as his heart was also highlighted by the blue glow coming from within his body.

It was a sight that would leave anyone breathless.

"....."

Just like everyone else, he underwent the 'Trial of the Forgotten Minds.'

However, unlike them, he was able to retain his rationality. With the chalice in his body, all the mana that entered his brain was quickly absorbed by it.

"Pftt!"

The silence that took over the room shattered as Leon spat a mouthful of blood.

Drip! Drip..!

Covering his mouth, Leon lowered his head to stare at the centipede that squirmed before him.

"As expected."

Bringing the centipede closer to his face to get a better look at it, he stared at it for a few seconds before pinching his fingers together and squishing it.

A black liquid oozed out from the centipede's body the moment he squeezed his fingers and killed them.

Using his clothes, Leon cleaned his finger from the residue and took a deep breath.

"Hoo..."

The blue glow that formed around his body started to diminish gradually, until finally coming to a stop.

A powerful force then surged from the depths of Leon's body as his muscles tensed, and his expression turned red.

Clenching his teeth, he forced himself to not make any sounds.

Cracka! Cracka...!

Cracking sounds echoed throughout the confines of the room as Leon's expression twisted.

Bone Reformation.

A process that all those who went from Tier 3 to Tier 4 underwent.

It was a painful process that disintegrated the bones of the user and created newer, and sturdier ones. Unless someone underwent this process, they wouldn't be able to truly be called Tier 4 users.

To reach Tier 5, one had to create a domain.

".....!!"

The pain was starting to get to Leon's mind, and for a brief moment, his mind turned completely blank.

But he was quick to bring his consciousness back.

"Ahh...!"

He ended up screaming a little, but he managed to keep the noise down.

It wasn't that he was afraid that someone would hear as he was confident the soundproofing was quite good.

....He was just being cautious.

There were a lot of what-ifs in the world.

"Hooo."

Thankfully, the process didn't last for too long.

Leon was done in just about five minutes as steam rose up from his body which was entirely red.

"Haa... Haa..."

His clothes were sticky from the sweat, and his head was hot.

Still...

"Tier 4."

Leon stared at his arms which were thicker than before.

He could feel that he was currently bursting with power. With just a punch, he was confident in destroying the door that was keeping him in.

There were runes outside that prevented someone from forcefully breaking the doors, but those no longer were of concern to him.

"....."

Leon stood up from his spot.

Flapping his clothes which were soaked in his own sweat, he walked up to the door and pressed his palm against it.

'I need to get out of here.'

There wasn't much time.

He was without a doubt stronger than the Archpriest, but he wasn't Leon's main concern. There were more than a dozen followers who were all strong in their own right. While Leon was indeed strong now, he didn't think he could defeat them all by himself.

The only logical path for him was to run.

But,

"....I need to save everyone."

At least, those he could.

He couldn't escape by himself. He needed help.

For that reason, he started to think about ways to free the others. Soon an idea came to mind and he channeled the mana inside of his body, sending a subtle pulse towards the door.

'I hope this works.'

Rumble...!

Soon, the doors started to open.

Leon stood still on the spot until the outline of a figure in white appeared in his vision. With their hollow eyes, they were staring at him.

In the distance, he could also hear the sound of approaching footsteps.

'So they can communicate with each other rather fast.'

Leon closed his eyes for a brief moment before opening them again. Then, with a sharp glint, he pressed his foot against the ground and rushed through the small opening of the door as it opened.

His movements were quick, and within the time it took for someone to take a breath, he had already slid out of the chamber.

The moment he managed to get out of the chamber, the first thing Leon did was turn around and dive toward the guard stationed outside of his place.

Everything happened in a few seconds, and the guard was barely able to turn around before Leon slipped right behind them and grasped their neck.

Cracka!

Leon didn't waste a second and snapped their neck.

Thump!

Watching as their body fell down, Leon took a small breath.

He then kicked the body into the chamber and pressed his hand against it.

Rumble!

The doors started to close.

In the meantime, Leon placed his hand over his face. His muscles started to squirm, and so did his facial structure.

Soon, he adopted an appearance that was eerily similar to the guard stationed outside of the room.

He looked like an uncanny copy.

But Leon knew that it was far from enough.

Tak, tak, tak

The distant footsteps drew nearer, and he clenched his fists tightly.

Tensing his back, he looked towards the distance where he saw the depths of the tunnel which was covered in black.

He stood still for several seconds as the footsteps drew near.

They continued, coming closer to him.

Closer...

Clos...

"Hup!"

Leon pressed his foot against the ground the moment he caught a glimpse of a certain something in the distance.

His body blurred shortly after, arriving right before the group of guards that had come to check up on his area.

Bring his fist back, Leon punched forward.

Bang!

A loud explosion sounded.

***

"This is from me...?"

I looked around me in shock.

Threads...

I could see threads covering the entire space around me. They were thin, and almost imperceptible to the eye.

<nulli>'They look really sharp too.'

I brought my hand forward and touched one of them.

The moment my finger came into contact with one of the threads, I felt a stinging pain on my finger and when I turned my finger around, I spotted a line of red tracing down my finger.

"So sharp."

".....This is far from enough."

I raised my head upon hearing Owl-Mighty's voice.

"Far from enough?"

I looked at my arm. There, three threads coiled around it as they scattered throughout the room.

Just three were quite hard to control for me, but I thought that I had done quite a good job.

This was still far from enough?

"Julien was capable of handling ten such threads."

I frowned slightly.

There was a strange sense of discomfort within me the moment that I heard about Julien. During my practice, I had asked them about him, in hopes of finding out if he was really me, but the more I listened to their description of him, the more I realized that there was simply no way.

Especially when Owl-Mighty cast an illusion on him.

....He seemed like a robot to me.

From the way they described him, he was this perfect machine that could absorb pain endlessly.

At the same time, he also appeared to be a loner.

I was also a loner, but he seemed to be actively pushing people away.

Listening to their recounts of him, there was only one thought in my mind.

'I don't like him.'

Despite having never met him, I didn't like him.

He was strange.

.....Something about the way that he behaved repulsed me.

And to make matters worse, he was a mass murderer.

I...

Wholeheartedly rejected such a person.

That person could never be me.

"Focus. We don't have much time left. We're going to go through your abilities."

"Yes."

Listening to Owl-Mighty, all thoughts with regard to Julien vanished, and I focused on what was in front of me.

I could only control three threads, and it didn't seem like controlling a fourth was impossible.

For that reason, I moved on to the next skill which was [Veil of Deceit].

....For me, that was a lot easier to learn.

All I needed to do was imagine something and use my mana to cover it.

Indeed, staring at the rock in front of me, I imagined a wooden chair, and within a few short seconds, a chair started to manifest before my very eyes.

It wasn't very clear, but with the passing of the seconds, it became more and more pronounced.

After a certain point, it almost looked real.

"Not good enough."

Unfortunately, Owl-Mighty didn't seem satisfied with my progress.

"You need to be faster. Illusions that take so long are useless. You still have a few hours. Keep practicing."

"Haa..."

Lowering my head, I sighed in exasperation.

However, as I thought about my circumstances and was reminded of my brother, I chose to persevere.

'All of this so that I can get out.'

This much pain was nothing compared to the times when I was in pain due to my cancer or work.

This much exhaustion was nothing.

And so, for the next few hours, I continued to diligently practice.

"Again."

"No."

"That's bad."

"Julien could do this in a few seconds."

Owl-Mighty was relentless with his teaching. Perhaps it was because it was an animal, or whatever thing it was, it held no regard to my emotions and feelings and continued to force me to work.

....It was ruthless, but I still persisted.

Halfway through the situation, Pebble joined in and started to teach me his skill.

[Step of Supression]

Unlike the other skills, this one was a lot easier to understand and practice.

It didn't need as much control as the other skills that Owl-

Mighty taught me. Of course, there were still things that I needed to be able to control when using the skill.

In particular, I needed to remain focused so that I could distinguish who to affect under the skill, and who to not.

Apparently that was possible.

"That's enough."

Hearing Owl-Mighty's voice, I stopped and looked towards it. My breath was extremely heavy and sweat was pouring down from the side of my face.

"....You can rest now."

Thump!

The moment Owl-Mighty said those words as if all tension in my body left, I dropped down to the ground and started to breathe heavily.

"Heup...! Huep!"

I was tired.

So tired that I could hardly find any words to speak.

"Have some rest. After that, we need to plan a way to go out. You need to be fully healthy to do that."

"...."

I nodded in silence.

I wanted to speak, but my mouth just refused to open.

In the end, the only thing that I could do was blankly stare at the ceiling while I recuperated.

That was my plan.

At least until,

Bang!

A large explosion resounded in the distance.