Utterly Pathetic
Hahaha...
Leon’s laughter slowly faded.
Ah...
He wiped the tears from the corners of his eyes and snuck a sidelong glance at the Emperor.
The man was sprawled languidly in his chair, fingers of both hands tapping lightly against each other—looking for all the world like an excited child.
His master was happy. Enjoying himself. So what problem could there possibly be?
This is fun. So much fun.
His spirits rose.
Leon swept his gaze across the seething assembly.
The Panthelion family was having a collective fit. The family head, however, seemed to have glimpsed something a moment earlier and was now frantically sending telepathic messages to restrain them.
Leon pointed to one side.
Oh, finally the first challenger?
“...”
A woman in a crimson military uniform strode forward with a murderous glare, her expression as solemn as a hero setting out to slay the Demon King.
Looks like a combat mage... but five circles?
Leon clicked his tongue. Unless it was Aria, five circles wouldn’t cut it.
She spoke with a carefully composed calm.
“I am Wanda, chief apprentice mage-soldier of the Burtvis family. I challenge you, Young Master.”
Chief ‘apprentice’ mage-soldier?
Even a full chief mage-soldier would have been barely adequate...
He glanced toward the Burtvis contingent. There were clearly many stronger mages among them.
He could roughly guess their reasoning. Sending their true strength would damage the family’s prestige, they must have decided.
In other words, they still did not regard Leon as a serious opponent.
These people still haven’t come to their senses.
Since she had at least observed outward courtesy, Leon answered without sarcasm.
“Very well. Go stand over there.”
He did not, of course, set down his knife.
Wanda glared for a moment at Leon, who still refused to draw a sword, then raised both hands.
“...I’ll go first.”
Wooong—
Her core activated. Both hands formed seals while her mouth chanted an unbroken stream of incantations.
In an instant mana flooded outward and magic took shape.
Shockwaves erupted. White flashes blazed. A heavy mass of mana plummeted from above.
“Hmm.”
For an apprentice, it was reasonably swift and well-structured—proper mage-soldier work.
...Not that it was impressive. Merely passable.
In a single instant—
——————CRACK!
Leon’s demonic hand stretched out like a claw. In one breath it tore through the three layers of barriers Wanda had erected and seized her face.
Rumble!
The spells that manifested a beat too late smashed into empty air a dozen meters ahead of where Leon had been standing.
“...!!!”
Wanda’s entire face vanished beneath the enormous hand.
Her vision went black; her breath was cut off. Under the energy Leon forced into her, her core would not even twitch. Overwhelming terror crashed over her.
“...”
Without particular thought, Leon simply raised his arm.
Wanda was hauled into the air, clinging to his wrist and thrashing. She dangled and flopped with desperate vigor.
“...Tuna.”
Leon spoke the thought that had just crossed his mind.
“A real big catch.”
“Mmph—mmph...!”
The incomprehensible words only deepened Wanda’s terror.
Feeling his palm grow wet with her tears, snot, and drool, Leon grimaced.
He brought the knife swiftly to her throat, then spun in a full circle so the entire audience could see.
“Victory.”
— Haha. Victory it is, victory. You all saw that, yes?
“Th-that’s so cruel...!”
“Good heavens.”
“Artieus preserve us...”
The sight of a woman’s face seized and handled like a piece of luggage delivered a profound shock to the spectators.
Of course Wanda was a trained combat mage; Leon had neither injured her nor damaged her body. In practical terms he had subdued her without leaving so much as a scratch.
But visual impact was a force all its own.
The crowd was gradually realizing that Leon was not entirely sane.
Having sufficiently advertised his victory, Leon set Wanda down. He raised a thread of mana and cleanly burned away the fluids clinging to his hand.
Then he spoke as if nothing had happened.
“Sir Wanda. You did well.”
“Hic...!”
Wanda’s face was still locked in terror. She could not meet Leon’s eyes. She hastily bowed at the waist and fled the floor as though escaping.
Almost at once, into the space she had vacated—
“I will challenge next!”
A young man strode forward with confident steps.
Broad shoulders. Corded muscle. A stern face. Thick gauntlets.
Leon read the man’s aura and nodded.
“Fine set of lungs. Who are you, and from where?”
“A man of the Pan family—Ursus!”
“Ah, the Pan family.”
This time he could set the knife aside.
The fellow called Ursus Pan was an Upper Expert.
Now we’re starting to get something that looks like a proper lineup.
Leon closed his hand around the hilt of his sword.
“Let’s begin at once.”
“Wait!”
“?”
Ursus grinned.
“I’d like a word first.”
Leon let out a short laugh.
“By all means.”
Ursus spoke in a grand, oratorical voice, as though delivering a speech.
“Young Master Leon has displayed profound confidence in his own martial prowess. Using the strategy of goading the enemy, you drew challengers forth and, with astonishing divine might, subdued them and made them laughingstocks. Though the method was unconventional, I imagine they simply failed to meet your expectations. That much I understand.”
“...”
“Yet I, Ursus Pan, as blood of the Pan family, believe I have likewise grasped sufficient martial strength. Therefore I desire an honorable duel worthy of this gathering of the Empire’s stars. I hope this will be a serious sparring match.”
What is this idiot on about?
For all the man’s imposing presence, the words were not especially coherent. In truth they were empty noise.
Because they were nothing more than his own desires dressed up and sent out into the open.
Leon had no difficulty reading what the man wanted.
The half-insult, half-praise summary of the situation had been rather clever.
But look a little closer...
It was clearly a roundabout dig at Leon, followed by heavy emphasis on the speaker’s own family and name.
In short, the speech was designed to cast Leon as a ruffian and himself as the noble warrior standing against him—dividing the stage into good and evil.
Therefore the man’s purpose was public attention and the elevation of his own renown. Ambition for fame.
After all, no stage in the Empire carried greater reach than this one. Every high-ranking figure of note was gathered and focused here.
But Ursus had overlooked one critically important fact.
That only works if you actually win.
“I heard you clearly. Come whenever you’re ready.”
In the end, any action that failed to produce victory was meaningless. If he lost, he would only be carving away at his own flesh.
Well, the man no doubt had his own self-assurance and plans...
Whether he would fare any better than the previous two was another matter entirely.
Thud!
Without so much as a battle cry, Ursus kicked off the floor. A thick shockwave of aura erupted.
Fwoooooosh—!
The air warped. His form, devouring space as it charged, was fairly swift—
Focus.
The moment Leon opened Extreme Instant, Ursus froze stock-still in his perception, as though nailed in place.
Leon examined the immobilized man at leisure.
Not as wretched as Aion. Cleanly ordered aura. Deep, refined fighting spirit. Upper Expert, without question.
...And yet.
Why did the man look so small?
Cheren’s words floated up unbidden.
— Beneath Master, true rivals are rare.
Sssss—
Within the stopped time, only Leon’s body began to move freely.
He took a single step of Neungcheongong and shifted to Ursus’s flank.
“...!”
The man’s gaze turned with agonizing slowness, sweeping across afterimages as he desperately searched for the vanished Leon.
By then Leon’s sword was already in motion.
KRAAAANG!
Ursus’s arms barely managed a defense, yet the gauntlets struck by that monstrous force shattered with a thunderous report.
The hands he had gathered could not withstand the impact and flew backward. Both arms twisted at grotesque angles and dislocated with a sickening crack.
“Aaaargh!?!!”
In a single exchange—on the very first clash—Ursus lost both arms. He was neutralized.
In the instant the man stood stunned—
Leon flowed straight into the next motion. He returned the sword to its sheath and, instead of the blade, seized Ursus by the ankle.
Grab!
He yanked the man upward. Ursus, unable even to react, came along helplessly. A giant of a hundred ninety-two centimeters was handled as lightly as a child.
Holding him like that, Leon whirled the man overhead the way one whirls a sling. Inertia built rapidly until the rotation hit two revolutions per second—one hundred twenty rpm.
Whoosh-whoosh-whoosh-whoosh—!
“...Aaaaaaah!”
Blood rushed to Ursus’s head; his face turned scarlet. Mana spiraled outward and fierce wind pressure howled.
When Ursus’s form was on the verge of becoming nothing more than a dark circle—
“Heave-ho.”
Leon poured every scrap of power he could muster into the throw and released his grip.
BOOM—!
Ursus’s body rocketed skyward. The trajectory aimed opposite the Emperor—toward the banquet hall entrance.
The speed was staggering. Not even a parabola; a clean, straight diagonal line.
Waaaaaaaaaaaaah...!!!
The man’s scream dwindled into the distance. His spinning form shrank rapidly to a speck.
CRASH!
At last he smashed through a skylight in the ceiling and vanished from the banquet hall entirely.
“Haha. That fellow’s lungs really are something to admire.”
Leon laughed brightly.
Now the man would receive all the attention he had so desperately craved—just in a slightly different sense.
— I-I can’t watch any more of this.
— He keeps treating people like objects...!
— Is this nothing more than a game to him...?
The spectators recoiled in horror.
— Wait. Another one-exchange finish?
— Ursus—I was certain he was Upper Expert...
— That’s the third movement I’ve already missed.
Those who had trusted in Ursus’s martial strength and his spirited speech were left thunderstruck.
Voice amplified by magic, Leon spoke with deliberate disappointment.
[Ha... Even half of what he spouted would have been better. Utterly pathetic. What is this? We haven’t even managed a proper sparring match yet.]
Of course it was pure provocation.
[Gentlemen of renown, why not step forward a little more actively? Don’t just stand there with your arms folded looking solemn. If you feel like it, come out.]
Clank—clank—
Leon heard the heavy metallic noise and fell silent.
— ......
A knight clad head to toe in full plate armor was walking toward him, radiating an aura of pure, murderous intensity.