Dimensional Descent

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Leonel blocked one blade, and the second cut into his chest deeply, lodging itself into his ribcage and almost ripping down and all the way through.

A flicker of surprise flashed through the man's eyes. The blow hadn't been blocked by Leonel's bones, but rather his heart. This was the first time he had ever seen something so astonishing.

The pain shot through Leonel's body like a spike. He had actually been outmaneuvered.

Sure, it was because he was trying to grasp a style he had never seen before instead of using his own techniques, but it made his rage flare up again.

'What is wrong with me? Focus!'

Though Leonel said this, he knew what the problem was. He was becoming irritable because of his fatigue.

The constant interference by the Idol Battlefield was really pissing him off, but he had nowhere to vent it. It wasn't really the fault of the people targeting him. Most of them didn't even know what they were getting themselves into. And it wasn't even really the fault of these legends of the past either.

The head of the person he really wanted to take was the one who had forced him into this situation in the first place, but he was still so far away from her, and now he was struggling with these small fry she could probably kill with a snap of her finger.

Of course he was frustrated. And the more frustrated he was, the more he leaned on the truest part of himself, the part that wanted to rip through all of these figures with his own techniques, the part that felt that his way was the best way and there was no need at all to learn from these losers, the part that wanted to look down on the world with arrogance and impunity.

That was when it clicked for Leonel.

He had already grasped it before, but he didn't truly understand it until now.

The more he attempted to increase his Spear Force's strength, the more it would begin to impact his psyche.

He had reached this conclusion already, but he had taken it too lightly.

Right now, he wasn't just in a battle against the Demoness; he wasn't just in a battle with the Idol Battlefield; he also wasn't just in a battle with these statues or the fools that targeted him outside...

He was in a battle with himself.

Leonel's hand flashed, and his short spear knocked the man's blade out of his body. He ignored the pain and the gaping wound in his chest, heaving deep breaths as blood leaked down his chin.

He wouldn't allow himself to fall like this.

These words weren't aimed toward the short man or the danger he posed. Instead, it was aimed toward himself, his own psyche, his own mind...

His own flaws.

Part of the burden on his shoulders was himself, and he had to acknowledge that.

Ie looked down at his spears for a moment before his gaze flashed.

"I hate your path. But I'm going to swallow it anyway!

Leonel spoke with blazing intent in his eyes, his violet hair fluttering wildly.

With a step, he shot forward, and the two began to clash once again.

They fought across kilometers in the blank white space, forgetting everything as they became one another's whetstone.

Leonel kept pushing. He knew that he hadn't brought out this man's full strength in the slightest bit. Even now, he didn't quite understand the path at all... and it was a long while before he understood just how impossible it was.

This man really wasn't a Spearman. He was a Swordsman.

He was a Swordsman that had taken his sword to the limits of Dharma, and then for an inexplicable reason, switched to Spearmanship.

'I understand!

When Leonel's Ability Index finished constructing the man's past, he grasped what it was.

The reason he couldn't grasp the man's technique was because there was no technique. His path was unpredictability. The more chaos there was in his strikes, the stronger he was. He had even managed to catch Leonel off guard several times in battle.

Leonel had never seen someone clash their weapons against themselves on purpose just to land a hit, and if not for his Innate Node Heart, he would have suffered a lethal wound in that first exchange. And that wasn't the last time in their battle he had faced such a thing.

It was no wonder he had such a hard time with this man. Leonel's battle style had always been based on calculations and deductions. There was very little chaos to his style at all.

The fact that this man would even go so far as to abandon the sword entirely...

After some thought, Leonel made a decision. He shut his Ability Index off, and his eyes seemed to almost become dull, almost as though a lid had been placed on a flickering flame.

This was dangerous, and he knew it.

It wasn't just that his Ability Index was key to analyzing and understanding his opponent's battle style, or the fact he wouldn't be able to rely on Dream Counter to save his life now, but it was also that if his Dream Force wasn't active....

There was nothing to suppress the Path of his Weapon Forces any longer. They would consume him.

At that moment, a new fire lit in Leonel's eyes, and the man was taken aback. The short man felt like he was facing off against a completely different person, a man with arrogance that sank down to his very bones, a man who would stand even above the Northern Star if he was given the chance to and not lost a wink of sleep about it.

The wounds Leonel suffered began to increase explosively, but the chaos of his attacks also increased.

He dug deep, trying to truly understand what this chaos was. He should be able to grasp it better than this man ever could.

Why?

Because he was Leonel Morales.