When Osmond charged forward, Leon did not retreat to create distance for his throwing needles. He was a Tempered Body 5th layer. There was no need to retreat when he could overpower his opponent.
Unaware of Leon's true strength, Osmond thought differently. Assassins were experts at killing, but they were not good at close combat. Otherwise, they would not resort to tricks and hidden weapons. Leon's young voice further strengthened his belief that he was the stronger one between the two.
It did not cross his mind that Leon was one of those powerful nobles as they wouldn't throw away their prestigious family to become an assassin. So, his opponent was most likely a commoner that was trained to become a killer by some hidden faction with ulterior motives. No matter the ages, there would always people who judge others based on their age.
Osmond threw out a powerful fist, aiming for Leon's throat. Such a move would've been lethal if it was able to connect, unfortunately for Osmond, Leon's reaction time was not to be underestimated. Although Leon was unable to use his needles in such close proximity, he instinctively brought them closer to himself as he shot out his elbow to receive the blow in that instant.
The elbow was the strongest and sharpest point of the body and with Leon's superior strength and body, the result could be imagined.
"Arghhhh!!!"
When the fist and elbow connected, Osmond was struck with an incredibly sharp pain that travelled along his arm to the rest of his body as his hand was crushed in the clash. Osmond retreated, while hugging his right hand that had transformed into a mangled mess. An ugly expression was wore on his face.
He had made a grave mistake of underestimating his opponent's strength! It had costed him his right hand, but more importantly, it may very much cost him his life too!
In fact, Osmond was correct! In the instant Osmond created distance between them, Leon shot out all his burning hot acupuncture needles.
Osmond's body was unable to react in that instance, but he utilized his ability to create a body of water in front of him in a desperate attempt to reduce the momentum of the needles and buy himself some time to evade.
Unfortunately, the body of water was barely formed before the needles shot through it with a brief "Shh" sound. The needles continued its trajectory, completely piercing through all 9 death acupoints on Osmond body. The 9 needles only stopped after it had drilled halfway through the stone wall behind him.
Osmond's body fell to the ground wordlessly with a thump. He couldn't be anymore deader than dead. One of the death acupoint was located on his head and it had cut off his brain receptors. The effect brought by striking all nine death acupoints simultaneously had led Osmond to a swift and painless death.
Leon stood quietly by the body with a thoughtful expression as he did a self-reflection on the battle that just finished. He did not feel proud for being able to kill two 3rd step awakeners in one night. If he couldn't kill them at his level of strength, then he was no different than trash. Only when he was able to defeat those at similar or above his level would he have the right to feel proud.
Moving on, he was surprised that the Azure Wolf was a water user. He thought fire and water users were uncommon, but it did not seem as uncommon as he has heard from the Old Man.
In his understanding, the 5 elements formed a natural balance and shared an intricate relationship of creation and destruction among each other. There was no single absolute element that could dominate the rest among the five. Leon didn't understand why the people of this world deemed metal as the strongest element when it could be destroyed by an equally strong fire.
Perhaps the reason Duke Agni aimed for the throne was because he had deemed himself more worthy after the realization. In history, the Hero king was recorded to have the greatest contribution to the construction of the Great Wall, but it would not have been possible without the fire users. Otherwise, the metal wall would not have been fused into a single entity and just be a lump of various metal pieces piled together.
Leon had to admit that humanity was fortunate to have someone who was able to surpass the peak 9th step awakening and becoming a Transcendent. But it was also their misfortune that it was Transcendent metal-user. A lot of blood and sweat had to be poured into the construction of the wall and the development of their civilization was strained and restricted as a result of it.
If it had been a Transcendent earth-user instead, they could have filled the entire area in earth, connecting the steep mountain ranges and fully enclosed the human domain from the outside world.
When an Awakener breakthrough and become a Transcendent, their power increases by ten-fold. The difference between the two could be imagined. Beneath Transcendent, all Awakeners were ants!
Leon speculated that the ratio of elements among awakeners are so unbalanced had something to do with their lifestyle and understanding of the elements.
The living residences of most people are built with earthen substances. The usage of wood and metal were in the minority. In addition, these people interacted with the earth the most in their daily lives. Thus, many tend to awaken as earth-users, is what he believed to be the case.
People like the Duke Ignis and Duke Agni's family, who tinker in the blacksmithing business and played with metal and fire all their life naturally had greater chances of awakening as fire-users and metal-users.
The queen's maiden name was Elizabeth Arkwright. Duke Agni Arkwright was her uncle. It's understandable that her personality went through a complete transformation after being torn between family and relatives. She was also the only member among the fire-element family to awaken as a metal-user before marrying into royalty.
Leon was confident that bloodline had nothing to do with one's affinity to the elements. He himself was the best example. He's body was remolded and attuned to all five elements, but he awakened as a fire-user thanks to his past life's comprehension of fire laws.
The world had a severe misconception of awakening!
The staff members had no idea what to do in this situation and could only remain silent and obediently in their corner. They had no idea who Leon was or who he worked for and was afraid that Leon would silence them.
Leon was still self-absorbed in his own thoughts and had no idea what were going through these people's minds. His body moved to extract his acupuncture needles from the heads of the dead bodies and from the wall.
Through this battle, he had a clearer understanding of his strengths and weaknesses. His close combat prowess was terrible as usual, but his killing potential could only be described with one word. Frightening!
With his medical skills and comprehensive understanding of the human body, he can perceive all life and death acupoints like an open book and strike them with pinpoint accuracy.
Doctors were the masters of life, but they can also be the masters of death! They can deliver heavenly pleasure and pain like hell with the touch of a hand and decide life and death with the use of one needle.
If Leon hones his throwing skills properly, even 5th step awakeners may not be able to dodge his needles like Osmond successfully did the first time. Leon was clear on what to focus. To build upon the foundation he already has and increase his killing potential. Increasing his killing potential would also increase his martial prowess, killing two birds with one stone. As for battle experience? It can only be gained through battle.
Leon was ready to head back to the Deadly Nightclub. The only reason he let Alroy live a bit longer was because there was something, he wanted to test out on him. In other words, Alroy had become another lab rat for one of his experiment.
Alroy was still unconscious, while being delivered to the nightclub. He had no idea what fate had in store for him.
Leon was ready to return after collecting all his needles. He smiled wryly at the state of his needles. Some of them had lost their straight pointy form and were no longer usable. He needed to get his hands on a set of stronger needles, but steel was already rare on the market. Acquiring needles made with metals stronger than steel is going to be a very difficult task. However, he has no choice but to figure out a way if he wants to become stronger.
"Oh right." Leon turn towards the staff members. "You can all return home for today. Someone else will come clean up the mess. Business will resume tomorrow like usual."
The staff members all heaved a sigh of relief after Leon disappeared from their vision. They were just ordinary people looking to earn enough to feed their families. Although there was a level of risk involved in working for gang-owned businesses, they had gotten use to peaceful environment after working at the Grand Serenity Hotel for years.. They didn't expect their workplace to transform into a death zone one day.