Leonel expressionlessly met Amery"s gaze before his own s.h.i.+fted toward the latter"s hand.
Amery obviously hadn"t had a chance to properly heal himself. His right hand was now useless to him and wrapped up in several bandages. The two of them were ironically the same in this facet.
Amery didn"t seem to react very much to the appearance of Leonel and Aina. It was clear that he had been expecting as much. The light in his eyes didn"t seem to have faded at all despite his loss, being just as starry as they always were. Maybe the only difference between now and then was the fact he actually looked at Leonel this time.
Both men looked away at the same time, observing their surroundings.
Aina, who had been observing this scene, shook her head.
"Men…"
If you want to kill each other, just do it. There obviously wasn"t a chance to do so now, so in that case, what was the point of the d.i.c.k measuring contest continuing?
Her lips curled into a smile despite her thoughts. Seeing Leonel act like this was adorable to her. Sometimes he seemed less than human, but it was things like this that grounded him a bit.
She didn"t know which was the real Leonel, and it somewhat worried her that he was only able to be this "human" at all because of the restraints his father had placed on him. However, what she did know was that no matter what the answer was, she wouldn"t be changing her mind about whether or not to stay by his side or not. That much was already decided.
Despite spending some time observing the world, Leonel couldn"t" pick out anything. There was nothing but an endless blackness in every direction.
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The only good news was that at least Ossenna wasn"t just messing with him again. Since Amery was here as well, it meant that he didn"t get a chance to rest either. Though, there was a gap of few hours, that much could only be blamed on Leonel himself.
"Welcome to Void Tower."
The voice boomed, enveloping everything.
Leonel"s brows shot up. Would they actually get an explanation of what was going on this time? This was great.
"This must be what victims of Stockholm Syndrome feel like." Leonel shook his head, how ridiculous was it that he was getting excited for the bare minimum?
"As wielders of the Amethyst Token, you will be allowed one free entry into the Tower, do not squander it."
The voice vanished.
Leonel was speechless. Was this supposed to be an explanation?
Before he could think any more, a strong pressure enveloped him. Leonel realized at that point that letting Aina carry him was out of the question. It seemed that this would be a solo venture once again. Looking down at his right hand, he could only sigh.
When Leonel"s vision cleared, he found himself in a room filled with weapons.
"You have 10 minutes to pick your weapon of choice."
Leonel looked down at himself, realizing that all of his accessories and spatial rings had vanished. He was stark naked, being stripped down entirely. Soon, though, his naked body was covered in a skin tight black onesie that felt like a second skin.
"My metal arm is going to crumble without my conscious protecting it."
Leonel frowned, realizing instantly that this wasn"t his real body. But, to make things worse, the Void Palace wasn"t nice enough to give him back use of his right arm.
"What the h.e.l.l is the point of a virtual simulation if you"re handicapping me anyway."
Though Leonel was complaining, he understood why. This was an extension of the True Selection, of course they wouldn"t be nice enough to let him heal. They wouldn"t make things so convenient.
The good news, though, was that this skin tight suit was able to adjust based on Leonel"s thoughts. He solidified the fabric around his hand and then caused extensions to grow so that his arm could sit in an arm-sling.
He rotated his right shoulder and nodded once it was secure. Now, his right arm was practically fused with his body, it wasn"t going anywhere.
"What weapon do I pick…"
Leonel"s brow furrowed.
He couldn"t use a bow with one arm. And, while he could get away with using a spear with one arm, it wasn"t ideal.
Now wasn"t the time to suddenly start experimenting with new weapons.
Leonel"s gaze flashed. Since he was only getting one shot at this, there was only one right answer.
"I guess the quarterback of the Royal Blues is going to make an appearance today. Time to bring the show to the wider Dimensional Verse."
Leonel began to load himself up, his thoughts flickering and new weapon racks appearing again and again as though he was flipping through pages. No one had ever said he could only pick one weapon, right?
…
Leonel had no idea that currently, outside the Void Tower, a large commotion was brewing.
Every year at this time, the spectacle was just the same. Seniors would gather to watch their Amethyst Token wielding juniors either fall flat on their faces, or soar beyond their previous records.
This year, the number was fewer than they were used to, being just three. But the spectacle was just the same.
A large crowd acc.u.mulated at the bottom of the tall black tower, many of which were representatives from Factions of various ranks.
The atmosphere this time, though, was a bit odd. That was because just hours ago, Velasco Morales had made an appearance, crippling the Shared Majority Leader of the Void Senate. And now, rumors said his son was about to undertake his first Void Tower challenge.
Velasco had long since vanished, but the commotion he stirred lit a blaze of fire beneath the Void Palace, causing even those that wouldn"t normally come to such an event surge over.
The crowd this year was easily ten times larger than it had been in any other True Selection era.
And it was right then that three screens flickered to life.
Almost instantly, a large wave of whistles rang out.
"Who"s that beauty?"
"We have another one for the list?"
"Shut up and focus, which one is Velasco"s son? None of them have the Morales family"s bronze hair and I don"t see anyone wielding a spear…"
It was obvious in the end that only Leonel could have been the one they were looking for. But, seeing his choice in weapon or rather… weapons…
Their faces couldn"t help but turn odd.
In the crowd, though, six particular young men watched silently, waiting to see what their baby brother could do.
[More coming]