Leo flexed his elbow three times before taking another glance at the armored lady.
'This'll do... Though it would've been fun if Haru told me earlier.'
A large saber appeared in his palm, smiling one more time. "It definitely would have been way more fun if my elbow were broken."
The armored lady traveled relentlessly within the nearby area to locate Leo, but to no avail; he was nowhere to be found. That's when a figure appeared before her with a black saber, nearing her steel armor. A large force apprehended her; she felt as if she was suffocating.
With no time to waste, she dodged it as quickly as she could. But even when she dodged it completely, she felt a blow pushing her backwards. She stabilized herself quickly by using her toes and planting her sword in the ground firmly.
An unknown force protruded from the onyx saber, his eyes matching his blade. He resembled an ancient demon that climbed its way out of hell. Then took the skin of a human to disguise himself.
"You know... It's been such a long time since I used this ability; I never really had the chance to use its full force since like three? Four...? months ago."
With her other hand, she shot it sideways, and there appeared a large shield that was as tall as her own body. There were complex runic symbols he could barely understand.
"An artifact... Never expected to see one here."
Leo chuckled lightly. This gave the armored lady a chance to sprint forward and ram herself toward Leo. Responding to that, she blocked it with the shield. Black lightning surrounded the blade; it hovered slightly as he moved—destroying the surrounding area.
The armored girl planted the shield on the ground as she resisted getting knocked away. The force was so immense that large portions of the ground started to rip itself and flew in all different directions.
As it continued, the shield's complex runic began to glow a blue hue, taking in all the energy that came its way. The armored girl steadily walked forward toward Leo. She began to get a rhythm and was slowly quickening her pace. Leo smiled, holding his saber all the way to his back before sending a strike to the shield.
Many of the terrorists came to ruckus the two were causing; they watched as the fight unfolded into chaos, and multiple nearby tents were destroyed in a matter of seconds. Some tried to get closer, but only died doing so. The force that the two created blew up a part of the nearby forest.
Both were knocked by the force, flying far from each other, creating a large gap between them. Both stayed on the air for a while before they hit the ground and charged at one another once again.
The armored girl thrusted her sword at his leg, only for him to grab it by its flat side and push it away to his far side before sending another strike at her shoulder.
It made a deafening clang as it made contact with her plated armor. It created a large dent that was visible to anyone who watched them.
The armored lady created a little distance and had taken a stance, readily preparing for Leo to attack. Large craters ruined the view and turned the whole area into a battlefield. Leo placed his other hand on his waist while he glanced at the woman.
"You're one of those silent types, aren't you? I can tell, since I'm surrounded by them. Come on, at least talk to me, it's weird to be the only one talking, makes me feel weird..."
Leo kept talking, trying to make the armored lady speak; many of the terrorists saw this as a chance to attack Leo and charged at him. They got closer and closer until they were just 20 meters away from him. They slowed down their pace, their center of balance slowly fading in weakness.
They collapsed on the ground, their mouths foaming as they lay. Leo got closer to them and fixed his gaze on one of them before kicking him to his side, tumbling him over to his back.
"You know, I shouldn't say this, since you know... It's reckless to say your ability to the enemy but... Who cares, honestly?"
He laughed before dirtying his blade with the terrorist's blood. He swung it to the side, cleaning its surface a bit. The blood splattered back to its owner before he took a glance back at the armored lady.
"What? That was a perfect chance to attack me; yet you didn't take it. Are you doubting yourself? Don't be, it's not your fault that your fault that you had to fight me... But at the same time, it kind of is."
Leo circled the armored lady; she tracked his movements carefully and faced her shield whilst remaining in a prepared stance. Not once had she lost focus, for when she did, she would die.
"My ability... It's a complicated one. You saw how I was able to heal myself, but suddenly I was able to create illusions? I could tell what went through your mind: uncertainty, confusion, and probably—not trying to be arrogant—but fear, maybe? Who knows?"
A creepy smile appeared on his face as he circled. Many of the terrorists contemplated whether to attack him or not. They couldn't hear what he said, and when they did, they couldn't understand; only the lady and Leo could hear.
"I actually have another one that I haven't shown to you yet, but I doubt it would be useful whatsoever. But my main ability is actually this one currently. This sword is actually a serpent that can transform into an object that attaches itself to the user's body. In my case, I decided to turn it into a tattoo, but I contemplated whether to turn it into stylish clothing."
"But aside from that, whenever I activated this part of my ability, all of my abilities, like heal and illusion, and so on, collide with each other, turning into a mess. I actually found this out by accident and gave birth to this new ability of mine... The ability to distort the surrounding area."
The lady began to shiver slightly as she listened carefully to his explanation.
"This gave me a whole new understanding of it, which made me more powerful. Oh yeah, by the way, I can talk to my ability..."
Leo kept on ranting; The armored lady began to lose her strength, she fell to one knee with her shield supporting her. She struggled to stay upright; she was confused as to why. She glared at Leo, who walked toward her. Leo crouched to her level, smiling as she succumbed to weakness.
That's when she lost the majority of her strength and fell to her side. Her breathing was loud enough to be heard through her visor; it was unsteady, and he could tell that she was struggling to find strength. He only laughed at her sorry state.
"You didn't even realize that I was attacking you indirectly. You were so caught up in what or when I was going to attack that you didn't even know that you were slowly dying. To you, I was only being arrogant, and you took that weakness to your advantage without trying to think why I was doing it in the first place."
Leo laughed hysterically, pressing his palm to his eye area. He scratched his neck before meeting her gaze once more—even though she was still wearing her visor. He could see her already giving up and accepting her fate, which only fueled his laughter even more.
"I'm not stupid enough to tell my ability without a reason; this should be common sense here. To be honest, it felt like I didn't even need to tell you to be honest! You were already drowning in the endless thoughts you were having! And to think that I only explained a part of my ability, you truly are gullible, aren't you?"
Leo took off her visor to reveal a beauty, her blond hair cascaded to the dirty ground, while he face was caressed by the same dirt.
Not an ounce of pity or acknowledgement was inside his eyes; he struggled to hold a laugh. He pressed his blade to her neck, moving it gently to her chalk-like skin, creating a tiny cut that spat out blood.
"Let's meet again next time, and maybe then, you'll be more serious..."
Leo took the sharp blade away from her neck and dragged it to her calf. He pressed it slowly with force, digging slowly from her armor to her skin, then to her flesh, bones, making it through to the other side. It continued down, reaching to her other one, and repeated the same process.
She groaned in pain; he slowly lifted the blade and stood up from his crouching position. She had passed out, but Leo couldn't tell what made her pass out—The pain? His ability?—But he had zero time to care about it and contracted his blade back to his tattoo, resting gently on his skin.
"What do you think, Ouroboros? Was it entertaining?"
Leo giggled before glancing at the other terrorist; his aura radiated fear from the crowd. His eyes changed color and illuminated a light orange complex. Fire appeared from his hands, dragging it toward the terrorist.
The flames gave the area a different color aside from the snow and the excess blood. Hellfire rained down on them while most of them screamed.
Leo watched as he saw people were burned and consumed by the flames. His very own movie... The exposition, the setting, and the ambience were perfect for him. It was as if he were in a theatrical play.
He walked closer toward the fire and embraced his own heat as if it were wind. Inside, he watched multiple tents burn down to dust, leaving nothing but black ash that fed the fire.
He heard many screams, but none could overshadow the loud cackling of the flames. Many silhouettes danced with the swaying fire until they fell and dramatically exited the play—If you could even call burning alive dramatic.
Nothing but the same sorry sight, orange hue, devouring flames, falling structures, and people dying painfully. He thought to himself whether he was right in the head for thinking this was entertaining, but he couldn't deny it. He loved it, down to its core.
He didn't feel sorry, not even once. Maybe because he wanted to get revenge on behalf of the 16,000 people who died in the attack, or maybe just wanted a way to let out his grief—maybe neither, and just wanted an excuse to feed his sickening desires, he couldn't tell anymore.
He kept walking and saw a single survivor who wasn't getting charred or collapsing due to the smoke—He was immune to fire. Ability maybe? Leo couldn't care less, the man was going to die anyway—Both met each other's gaze. The survivor lost control of his breathing and started to express dread.
He ran away in the other direction. He wanted to cry, but his tears would disintegrate the moment it was out. He took a glance behind and saw the fire pushing itself to the side, which allowed Leo to see where the survivor went.
He followed the survivor through the glowing maze, running passed some survivors on the way. He broke his ankle as he ran, but he continued forward, his instincts telling him to run even when it hurt.
He ran and ran until he fell to the ground. He stood up and continued running until he finally made it out, but he didn't stop whatsoever; he could never be too sure. He leaned on a tree to rest, sweat dripping from his neck. He looked up to see himself back inside the flames and met Leo's green eyes.
Leo smiled and grabbed him by the throat, his green eyes changing back to orange, burning his leg to his knees, then his hands to his elbow.
Leo widened his smile before snapping his neck.