Leonel stood in a daze.
Just like that? It ended just like that?
There was still a swarm of English to his front. With his current condition, he wasn't confident in even defeating them, let alone cutting a path through and taking down Joan.
Leonel suddenly felt a cold shiver, causing him to quickly spin toward the source. However, he found nothing but more Englishmen and further back, a swarm of French knights.
His brow tightly furrowed, but no matter how he swept his Internal Sight, he couldn't find anything wrong.
Unable to find anything, he turned back, slowly walking to Joan's body.
By now, the English didn't dare to block his path. Their commanders were dead, and now the god on their side was also dead, how could they dare to continue to fight back? Even with Leonel being heavily injured, they just witnessed him say something seemingly ridiculous, only for that to end in the death of someone they thought was invincible.
They had no idea what thought process Leonel used. All they knew was that his strength was unfathomable.
Leonel used his good arm to flip Joan over, slowly removing her mask. Looking at the sight before him, he couldn't help but feel complicated.
The once beautiful Joan had become an old, wrinkled woman. She died with her eyes open, their bright blue having faded into a milky grey-white. However, Leonel was certain that this was indeed Joan.
Leonel picked up her golden polearm. It had once proudly held the French flag, but now it was barren and lonely. Even the faint golden light it once emitted was now gone, leaving behind a seemingly ordinary staff.
However, it was this very staff that caused the English to retreat several steps, worried that they would lose control over their bodies once again. Seeing such a scene, Leonel knew that this was truly over.
Paris had been conquered. In a flash of light, Aina and Leonel disappeared.
Jean silently watched this happen, a curious light in his eyes behind the slits of his helmet. No matter what, it most definitely didn't look like the eyes of a man who had just lost the love of his life. They pair of shining pupils almost looked amused.
"A failure, huh…"
**
When Leonel's vision cleared, he once again found himself in a familiar white space. But, to his disappointment, he didn't find Aina by his side. Maybe he had gotten a bit too attached having had her there all the time for the last several months.
At least he was in a better state than the last time he came here. He felt it was a bit nostalgic, not that there was anything good to reminisce about when it came to a near death experience and especially the excruciating pain of having his hip shattered.
Leonel rubbed his nose, smiling lightly. Anyway, he would see her again soon after he left this place.
When he thought to this point, he laughed to himself. If James was here, he would definitely be calling him a lovestruck fool.
'Wait… This is my left hand.'
Leonel blinked, realizing that he had used his left to rub his nose just now since his right was still holding onto Joan's polearm. He quickly tried to look at the Force Art on the back of his hand.
Leonel grinned when he realized the Force Art's core was shattered.
'As expected, the higher the Dimension, the higher the requirements for the Force Art to function is. This Force Art was incredibly strong in the Third Dimension, but this white space must at least be of the true Fourth Dimension if the core shattered like this.'
Almost as soon as he thought this, Leonel felt a swirling power surging toward him.
'Oh no, is my hair going to fall off again…?'
Using Force, it was easy to stimulate the regrowth of his hair, but he wasn't some sort of magician, at least not yet. His hair was still much shorter than it had been in the past , though it was growing faster than it normally would.
"Looks like you've done something crazy again, kid?"
Leonel, who had quickly sat up and crossed his legs in meditation, heard this voice drift into his ears.
"Uncle Montez? What's happening exactly?"
"Your previous breakthrough was interrupted due to lack of energy. Normally when that happens, it's fine as you can just slowly accumulate more. However, the formation of the third, sixth and ninth Nodes are all watershed moments no matter which technique you use, it was inadvisable to break through in a Zone like that unless its a Zone of higher grade than your current Dimensional Constitution.
"You're lucky your Force control is so great, or else you would have likely self imploded by now."
Though Leonel's eyes were still closed, he felt a cold sweat mat his back. Why does it feel like every mistake he makes causes him to face death? Why can't he be a normal teen and wield his immaturity with impunity?
Montez, still in his golden armor, brought out a scroll once more, seemingly not caring about Leonel's current state. However soon, his lazy expression changed and began to twitch.
"Idiot!"
Leonel, who was trying to meditate, felt a palm slap his forehead. He could even feel the blood rush toward the area as it began to swell.
"What the hell —"
Another palm slapped Leonel's forehead before he could finish.
"You dare use such language in front of your uncle?"
Leonel's lip twitched. He called Montez uncle because it was polite, it wasn't as though he had any real familial relationship with him. Why was he getting beaten now? Didn't this man know that if he lost concentration, something could go wrong? By then, maybe his luck would run out and he'd really explode.
"I already told you last time, but you don't listen. First you enter a four person Zone by yourself, now you enter an eight person Zone with just one another? What are you thinking?!"
Leonel felt incomparably aggrieved.
"What are you talking about? We had a device with 90% accuracy for Zones at the S-grade. It said only two could enter."
"What sort of snake oil device are you talking about?! Even a Tier 1 Black Grade detection device would be able to accurately decipher how many could enter a Zone, it's the easiest calculation to complete. It's impossible for it to be wrong."
Leonel's lip twitched again. He seemed to remember that his wrist watch had indeed told him that the person limit was eight, but he ignored it because he trusted Aina. He didn't even know what to say right now.
'Why would she lie about that…?'