Chapter 218: Breaking Free
As his body charged at the person who attacked him, Leo was thinking about what to do. He could have taken back the body at that time, but something stopped him.
He reached out his hand to his other personality because he wasn"t willing to let go of it. That was a part of him that might have been out of control, but it defined who he was. He wasn"t trying to change that but control it instead.
But because he hesitated and tried to go back to normal, he wasn"t able to gain control over the body before his savage sense.
His primitive mind controlled his body and flew it straight toward the arrows. All of them missed or were caught by him. They were coming at him at full speed and were filled with power so he needed to coat his hand in aura.
As he got closer to the archer, the arrows were getting faster and faster. Even if his hands could still handle the force of the arrows, he was not fast enough to catch them. His only option was to create a shield.
But instead of creating a shield that would slow him down, he chose to keep flying forward at full speed. This move was completely unexpected and took the arched by surprise. Why was the Blood G.o.d not trying to block any of his attacks? Was it c.o.c.kiness?
Some of the attacks missed, most were dodged, and Leo caught a rare few, but the rest pa.s.sed through. Around three of them struck Leo in his abdomen but he didn"t even wince. His expression only showed his one goal - to kill.
He wielded his halberd and sliced at the man immediately after getting near him. The green-robed man jumped back to dodge the attack.
"I am surprised that you took so many hits. It makes you seem very desperate to kill me. Anyone else would think we have a blood feud." He commented.
"I do want to kill you. Very badly."
His demeanor showed off that desire. He swung his halberd while he was almost a tenth of a mile away. A wave aura burst forth toward the Wind King.
He winced and quickly retreated while setting up a shield. The shield cracked and burst open when it impacted the wave of aura. He was thrown back a few meters but didn"t suffer from any serious damage.
However, when he looked up he was face to face with the Blood G.o.d with only a few inches of distance.
"And I don"t think you will be able to stop me," Leo said.
The distance between them was minute so the Wind King could see every detail of Leo"s face. From the bloodshot eyes to the numerous blood splatters on his face, everything he saw confirmed his conception of the Blood G.o.d. He reeked of a b.l.o.o.d.y stench that was proof of the people who died at his hands.
"Don"t think I will fall as easily as the Fire King. I am an Early-Stage 8th Circle Aura Knight like him, but there were multiple times when I have bested him in combat. And you are just a wounded person who fought a war. What makes you think you will even be able to touch me?"
Leo smiled. He flared out his aura without controlling it at all, revealing the extent of his power to the person in front of him. The minute he did that, the Wind King"s expression changed.
"No... no this. can"t be. You are a Late-Stage 8th Circle Aura Knight? Only one person on this battlefield is supposed to be on that level and it isn"t you."
He backed away slowly from Leo in fear. His smile faded and his face showed his fear. There was a very small chance he would win if he was going against a Middle-Stage 8th Circle Aura Knight. But if it was someone in the Late-Stage, then he would die instantly.
This was the reason the Gloves and the Elementals were at a stalemate. They couldn"t come up with a way to defeat the commander of the Gloves without sacrificing more than half of their army.
"Wait! Don"t kill me! If you spare me and the Water King, then we can offer you an alliance. If you help us defeat the Gloves, then we will give you-"
As he was pleading for an alternative, his head went flying. The Wind King completely gave up on fighting and tried to plead for an alliance, but Leo was not interested in him speaking at all.
"I don"t want an alliance. I only want to ki-"
As he said that, he suddenly knelt on the ground. His head started to hurt again and someone started to take control of his body. It wasn"t someone foreign though, it was Leo. Well, the part of Leo that had been pushed back and had a repulsion toward the obscene killing.
"Leave... leave me alone!"
Inside his head, the 10-year-old kid with blood shot eyes roared. In front of him, the grown-up 15-year-old was smiling at him. This teenager was properly nourished and didn"t seem as skinny as the kid.
"And what are you planning on doing once I do leave you alone?"
"I will... I will kill. If I kill, then I can become stronger. I will everyone I need to kill to become as strong as possible."
"And why do you want to be strong?" The teenager asked the kid.
"To live without being under anyone. I can do whatever I want without being afraid that I will die. I will be able to live with my friends without worrying about-"
"What friends? You said you will kill everyone. Once you do that, you will be alone in the world. What do you plan to do in a world like that?"
His question stumped the kid.
"I... I will spare my friends."
"We both know that once you start killing like this, then we will be the only ones left in the world. No one will want to be near us except our enemies. The only thing that will remain is fear. Do you want that?"
His question only angered the kid.
"What do you want? If you want to control the body, then fight for it! Stop trying to make me change!"
The teenager laughed. "We both know that taking back control isn"t hard for me. I am done with this stupid trial and I only gave you back control so that you would see the expression on that man"s face. What did you see when you killed him?"
"Fear! Fear toward me! It means that I have power and he didn"t!"
"Yes. And what did that give you? Now that you killed him? Another enemy. And you will probably be continuing this until you die. Killing enemies and forming new ones. It"s an endless cycle that I can"t allow. So I am putting an end to this."
"What do you want to do then? Kill me? Take back control and give up on the trial? You don"t even know how to do that!"
"No. I won"t kill you. You are, in the end, a part of me that I can"t let go of. Without you, I won"t be able to kill anyone. Killing isn"t what is wrong, lack of control os the problem. I am the control, and you are the killer. We are two halves of a whole and need to be whole. That is what this trial was about from the start."
"You know what the trial is about? Don"t make me laugh!"
"Yes. I do. Ever since the trial started and we lost control over the body for the first time, we separated. And you slowly merged with the mysterious power that was controlling the body. It pulled you out of me.
After a point, whenever I lost control over the body it was just you who was using it. I only realized it once you killed 150000 Soldiers. Outside of this conversation, you are starting to merge with the body and become a part of it instead of me.
That means that to finish the trial I only needed to get rid of the outside part that is trying to steal you away from me. By trying to win this war, I am only getting further and further away from my goal.
Everything that happened to us that pushed us toward killing just separated you from me. Every time I thought that Blood Aura was about killing it made me sh.e.l.l up away from it while drawing you closer to it.
To finish this trial. I need to merge with you and finally take over the body once and for all."
His long speech struck the kid. Once he heard and thought about what the teenager said, his body started glowing. He looked up.
"You might be right, but I am only trusting you because of who you are. Do remember, you will never be able to cage a part of yourself, so don"t try to do that."
The glow became brighter until it was blinding and then disappeared in the blink of an eye. The kid in front of Leo was gone and had transformed into a stream of light. It moved slowly toward his chest and disappeared into him.
The loud chants were still resounding in his head.
"Kill! Kill!"
But he ignored them. They no longer meant anything to him because he had full control over that urge. He opened his eyes and smiled. The red in his eyes had faded again, and there was no chance that it was coming back.