From the vantage point of the small troop, it was difficult to see Leonel from behind the water fountain. But, his bullets seemed to have eyes of their own.
Flying through the mermaid's arms, beneath the whale's fins, through the jets of water, he rained hails of lethals shots toward them as though he could see through everything.
Sometimes, his bullets even hit the statue. But, despite the sturdy material it was made of, they pierced right through. Leonel seemed to always perfectly aim toward the weakest and thinnest parts of the statue, tearing through it like tofu.
"Fire!"
A commander roared, suddenly seeing his troop fall into turmoil. It had only been a few seconds, but over a dozen of his men had fallen, unable to rise again.
BANG!
Another sniper rifle rang out as a hail of bullets came from the troop of 200. But, Leonel pretended as though he hadn't sensed anything, his steps only shifting slightly.
The loud clanging of metal resounded as the bullet rebounded off of Aina's ax. Despite the power, Leonel's stance was strong and steady. It was like he didn't know his neck had been moments away from being pierced through.
"Narrow the formation!" The commander barked.
Leonel's lips shrunk into a fine line.
'I can't shoot anymore down from this angle. If I can take advantage of the fountain, so can they… In that case…'
Leonel's fire suddenly concentrated on the water fountain.
Seeing that no more men were falling, the commander felt that his previous command had been the perfect response. Leonel wasn't the only one who could take advantage of cover.
"Hold! HOLD! FORWARD!"
The troop charged. There was barely a hundred meters between them and Leonel. As long as they closed in on him, they could fan out the formation and he would be surrounded.
But what happened next left them speechless.
Leonel suddenly dashed forward and leapt into the air. With all his might, he kicked with both legs at the whale's head.
Those who caught faint glimpses of this were left speechless. The action seemed ridiculous. However, those thoughts couldn't last long.
With a BANG, the water fountain collapsed and the remains of the mermaid and whale soared through the air for a moment before skidding violently along the ground.
The commander of the troop's eyes widened. He could have never guessed that Leonel's concentrated fire was aimed at the base of the statue's connection to the fountain. In that moment, he had weakened it just enough to kick it to the ground.
"Scatter! Scatter!" He roared.
Unfortunately for him, Leonel was riding atop the sliding whale, his hands pointed forward with two tactical rifles. Almost like a charging cavalry, he madly surged forward, bullets raining down with him as their point of origin.
The whale slid across the ground, smashing into the front line of the troop and squashing several of them before finally slowing down.
Leonel didn't even bother with the rest of the scattering troop. This was the perfect opportunity.
He jumped down from the whale, dashing toward the inner city doors with all of his might.
Bullets rained down toward him, but they all clanged off of Aina's ax.
However, in all his fervor, Leonel had forgotten one thing.
The moment he stepped out of the inner city and back into the outer, he felt that his Force was no longer restricted. This was good.
What was bad was that he had forgotten that there was an outer city. And in the outer city, he saw a unit of eight waiting below the steps for him. These eight alone gave Leonel far more pressure than those 200 soldiers behind him had.
Leonel gaze met theirs, his breathing ragged. It felt as though a hot coal was traveling through his lungs.
'Dammit.'
Leonel had already been pushing past his limits for too long already. He had been half a step into his grave before he even entered the Fort, let alone now after being madly chased for over an hour.
Just now, he had been on the highest of highs, thinking that he had escaped, only to find that he hadn't at all. He came crashing down heavier than he went soaring up. The pain in his body seemed to want to tear him apart.
"Put down the weapons, boy. You've done enough harm."
The man who led the group seemed to be quite old, but his eyes and voice held a youthful vigor to them. There was something especially magical about his voice that made one want to bend over backwards to please him.
Seeing that Leonel was a bit dazed, the special unit slowly mad their way forward, encircling Leonel.
It wasn't that Leonel couldn't tell what what was happening. In fact, from the very beginning, the pleasing voice hadn't influenced him at all. He just wanted a bit more time to rest, just a bit longer to catch his breath.
'I'm so tired…' Leonel thought with haggard gasps.
However, the special unit continued to approach and Leonel realized that the few seconds they would take to surround him wouldn't make much of a difference to the situation of his body at all.
Leonel's grip of his rifles tightened. He willed them to flex as though pulling out the last of his strength. Once they were close enough he would move and leap over this hurdle too.
Who would have known that at that exact moment, just when Leonel was going to hit another wall, he would suddenly feel that his back was exceptionally light all of a sudden?
His eyes blinked open, but he hardly reacted when a shadow appeared between the eight whose expressions were now changing drastically.
A scythe of red-gold energy severed their necks at once, causing a rain of eight fountains of blood to shoot into the skies.
Beneath the rain, a petite woman took a black helmet off, her appearance making Leonel's heart, which had been steady even through all of this, beat wildly.
The crimson droplets seemed to radiate beneath her aura, her amber eyes shining so brightly that they appeared to be golden. Her long hair fluttered in the wind, catching the moonlight like a waterfall beneath the cool night air.
"Aina…"
At that moment, Leonel suddenly understood something.
According to the analysis machines of the Empire, Aina's ability fell under the healing type. This had always been odd to Leonel because the way Aina had described her ability to him, it didn't seem to have anything to do with healing.
But now it seemed that he was wrong. Healing might very well be the foundation of Aina's ability and was the root of her strength. But, her healing must only work on her own body.
Aina probably guessed how things would go if they returned, but instead of stopping Leonel, she allowed him to go back and see the truth of the world for himself. It was possible that she had been healed for over a day already. No, maybe she never spent very long injured in the first place.
Worried that they might be being monitored, she continued to feign her injuries to make them underestimate the pair and only made a move at the most opportune time.
Aina took out a jewelry headpiece and put it on. A small, fingernail sized gem dangled from her forehead, looking like a drop of water.
Then, she turned toward Leonel and smiled lightly.
"You've done enough, I'll handle the rest."
"So beautiful…" Leonel mumbled like an idiot.
Aina blushed profusely, her Valkyrie-like aura vanishing like a receding tide.
Feeling embarrassed and seeing that Leonel still wanted to stare for a bit longer, she marched up the stairs, grabbed his wrist, and pulled him along. If she didn't do this, this little fool would stare for who knows how much longer. It wasn't as though they were out of the woods yet.
The moment she turned away from Leonel's bumbling appearance, her gaze turned cold.
'This little fool really made an enemy out of the Ascension Empire just for me… In that case, anyone who stops me from taking him out of here can be cleaved in two.'