240 Despair [2]

<nulli>'Almost'

Leon bit his lips while staring at the mysterious cadet in the distance. He was currently cornered, surrounded on all sides by the people in white.

.Leon could tell from a glance that the Archbishop planned on killing him, and thus, he hurried up.

It wasn't so much that he wanted to save the cadet since he still seemed to have a few lives left, but it was more about the fact that he wouldn't have much time following his death.

Closing his eyes, Leon focused his entire attention on his body and directed his focus toward his heart where the centipede was.

The centipede coiled around his heart, its many legs digging in as it latched on tightly, blocking the passage of energy from his mana core situated at the center of his abdomen.

Furrowing his brows, Leon felt a sharp throb in his head. The veins across his body pulsed with a blue light as he activated the chalice that rested within his heart. The energy surged through him, each pulse intensifying the pain that he felt.

Nevertheless, he continued to focus on the mana channels and the centipede.

It didn't take long for him to find a connection.

'I got it!'

Immediately, the centipede began to squirm as the blue pulse enveloped it, its grip on Leon's heart loosening. The creature writhed and squirmed as it released its hold, its many legs flailing desperately against the surge of energy that Leon threw at it.

Leon felt an immediate sense of relief as he did so, but it didn't take long for him to yet again feel pain as his eyes flared open.

Drip Drip!

Leon stifled a groan as he felt a sharp pain in his heart, forcing something wet to trickle down the side of his mouth.

Leon didn't need to look to know what it was.

<nulli>'That hurts.'

"Ukh."

The pain was soon accompanied by an unsettling sensation as he felt something crawling up his throat. His expression twisted in horror as a thousand tiny legs skittered inside his mouth.

To make matters worse, as he looked around, he could feel the gazes of several people in white lock onto him.

<nulli>'..I'm being watched.'

Despite all the attention still focused on the mysterious cadet, there were still several people in white looking out after them.

Leon understood that he had no choice but to stay still without making any rash movements.

Therefore

<nulli>Crunch. Crunch.

A bitter sensation washed over his tongue as he chewed slowly. His entire body tingled with disgust as the strange, slimy goo coated the inside of his mouth, each swallow being one swallow away from a gag.

Crunch...!

He persisted and eventually swallowed everything down.

"Ukh"

Leon felt like puking on the spot but managed to hold himself back as he started to circulate the mana inside of his body.

Immediately, he felt his body cool off as he directed his attention towards the shackles that were binding his body.

Cli click!

Subtly, he heard clicking sounds. Immediately, his head rolled up to see if anybody had noticed a thing.

He felt several gazes on him, and he felt his breath leave his body.

He sat rigidly in his spot without making a single sound. The gazes were firmly locked onto him, making him feel suffocated.

It was as though two hands were gripping his throat tightly, making it hard for him to breathe.

The gazes continued to persist, and Leon knew that he had no choice but to ignore them.

'At least for now, nothing.'

He took a deep breath before looking at the person who sat next to him.

Leon pursed his lips at the sight of him and turned to his left, where another person sat.

His expression turned grim.

'Of all people, them'

The two top seats of the Aurora Empire. Aiden and Jessica. Leon felt his heart squirm in annoyance.

Especially since he didn't feel like he could trust them.

Kaelion had pretty much broken all the trust that he had with them.

However, looking at them, he felt his thoughts change.

'Maybe it's possible.'

The way they were currently looking at Kaelion was as if they were looking at the lowest scum in the entire world.

Leon could tell from a glance that they wanted nothing but to kill him, and it was such a sight that made him change his mind.

Well, it wasn't as if he had much of a choice to begin with.

"Haa.."

Secretly letting out a long sigh, Leon went on to hold the hands of both of them.

".!"

"What the!"

The two flicked their attention towards him, but Leon kept his gaze firm and looked ahead without making a sound.

"Quiet."

He slowly whispered.

"What?"

Obviously, the two wanted to protest, but Leon channeled a little bit of his mana into them, and the two immediately stopped what they were doing.

As if they suddenly understood what was happening, their expressions turned stern as they looked away from him.

'Good, it looks like they get it.'

Leon sighed in relief as he looked at the people in white who stood at the back. They were still expressionless, staring at him without making a single sound.

Leon didn't know whether he had been caught or not, but he had no time to think about such matters as he slowly channeled his mana into the two and directed it toward their hearts.

He slowly started to speak as he did so,

"Eat it. Don't make a sound. Free others after."

He spoke as low as possible and made sure to emphasize the first part.

In order to not get caught, they had no choice but to eat the centipede that was soon going to crawl up their mouths.

As expected, the moment he relayed the plan to them, their expressions turned slightly into one of disgust.

Still, that was all that happened as they soon accepted their fates and squeezed his hand back in affirmation.

'Good.'

Leon felt more at ease as he closed his eyes and focused all of his mana on their bodies and their hearts.

The process wasn't a difficult one. With his mana free, it didn't take long for him to lock onto their hearts and make the centipede squirm away from it.

"Ukh..!"

"!"

The expressions of the two changed the moment the centipede left their hearts as blood dripped from the corners of their mouths.

Drip. Drop..!

Leon soon heard crunching noises as their jaws moved slightly, biting and chewing the remains of the centipede.

It was unfortunate that he couldn't see their reactions as he didn't want to arouse too much attention, but he could tell that their faces were completely white from disgust.

Especially the girl on his left who gripped his hand extremely tightly.

Thankfully, it didn't last for too long, and they were soon done as Leon heard swallowing sounds from them.

Their breaths were slightly heavy, but it was insignificant.

Leon finally glanced at them for a brief moment, and he could tell that they were trying to free themselves from the restraints.

That process was also quick, and once they were done, the two of them repeated exactly what he did to the people next to them.

'Good, it's working.'

Leon sighed in relief at the situation.

The plan was rather simple.

In the time that the attention was focused on the mysterious cadet, he wanted to free as many people as possible to buy them a chance to fight back.

The plan was great, but there was only one problem.

Thump!

The mysterious cadet

He didn't last as long as Leon expected him to.

Hearing a low thumping sound, Leon felt his heart drop as he looked up.

'No way.'

He watched as a head rolled on the ground, and his heart sank.

"He didn't even put up much of a resistance."

The Archbishop's words followed shortly after as Leon felt his entire body freeze. The same was true for the people next to him.

"Oh?"

But by some miracle, the Archbishop still seemed to be interested in the mysterious cadet as he lowered his body and rummaged through the cadet's belongings.

That was when he found a strange blueprint. Almost immediately, the Archbishop's expression showed signs of change.

"What's this?"

He opened the blueprint, and his expression turned extremely cold as he glanced at the cadet's body, which slowly started to squirm as a head began to form.

"Someone has been in my study room without my permission."

The Archbishop's tone was cold. Extremely cold.

There were times when he had displayed such coldness in his tone, but it was different this time.

Leon could feel his skin crawl at the tone as he urged the people beside him to hurry up.

He knew that the situation was about to turn for the worse.

And, as expected, he was right as the Archbishop's gaze flicked in their general direction.

"Did I mistreat any of you?"

The Archbishop spoke, his white and muddled eyes locking onto each and every one of them.

None of the people present responded, all eyes locked on him.

"Seeing as no one is responding, I take it that no one thinks I've mistreated them."

Leon felt like rolling his eyes. If not for the urgency of the situation, he would've done so.

"I think I've been far too lenient on all of you. The reason why I allowed you so much freedom was because I knew that by the time this was over, you'd join me. And you will. Of course, you will. Nonetheless, it seems like I've been far too lenient with all of you. I haven't made it clear to everyone what happens when you cross the line."

The Archbishop lowered his head and grabbed the mysterious cadet by the hair as his head had already started to regrow.

With his other hand, the ring he wore suddenly glowed, and Leon swallowed his saliva.

But at the same time, he started to feel more relieved.

'.This is good. It might buy us even more time.'

So long as they had more time, then he was sure he could free more people and have a fighting chance in all of this.

Leon felt his heart beat faster at the thought, and just for a brief moment, he thought he might just very well succeed.

Sadly, all his hopes crashed down the moment he felt the Archbishop's gaze on him.

Leon felt his entire body grow cold at the sight of those eyes, and he held his breath.

"Hm?"

Leon watched as the Archbishop suddenly frowned. Time seemed to slow down for Leon at that moment as his heart stopped beating.

He could feel his entire body grow tense, and the same appeared to be true for the people beside him.

'No, I have no choice.'

Leon didn't waste a single second.

At that moment, he understood that his cover had been blown, and he didn't hesitate to stand.

"Now!"

He extended his hand where a sword appeared.

Innate [Sword Materialization]

It was an innate skill of his that allowed him to create swords out of mana, and as he gripped the hilt of the sword, he didn't hesitate to swing it in the direction of the Archbishop as a wave of pressurized mana burst out from it.

Swoosh!