Dimensional Descent

Thaela split into six clones, her body shifting and avoiding the arrow.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

Leonel's spear shot forward again and again, each attached with a word or phrase. His mind quickly analyzed the strikes of Thaela, saw through the smallest of flaws, and used his comprehension to choose the best combination to deflect it away.

But the strength gap was far too great, especially now that he was facing six clones all at once. Thaela seemed to want to end this all as quickly as possible.

Leonel released another arrow, but his pupils constricted when Thaela's real body instantly shifted with one of her clones, avoiding his attack and only suffering the blow with a fake.

The combination of illusion and space was too useful. When their battle first began, Thaela had called over her other clones from dozens of kilometers away and they instantly returned to her. Now, she was using this same ability as an evasion technique. Leonel had simply never seen such high level applications of Force.

At the same time as Leonel was in awe, Thaela was steeped in derision and disdain.

'To have such a powerful Force and only be capable of using it to attack… he really does come from a backwater family I've never heard of. Such a high level Force and he doesn't even know how to use it properly. Pathetic.'

Thaela's whip became faster as a fourth Star manifested to her back. She pressed harder and harder, feeling that time was running out.

At first, she wanted to be more cautious, and she still was, but she also knew that there was a point where the effort wasn't worth the return. If it wasn't for these weird domains Leonel kept pulling out, she would have defeated him in a few exchanges.

He was unable to threaten her, so she would press harder.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

Three of Thaela's Stars were of Emulation Spatial Force, but the fourth was also silver one. The moment these appeared, her Water Force changed, losing its delicate blue color and becoming almost like streams of mercury.

The streams of liquid metal fused into Thaela's rippling spatial waves, making them heavier and denser. At the same time, her whip became even more difficult to strike and its attacks became more and more lethal.

Thaela's clones all unfurled a hand, twisting their wrists about. At that instant, the whips they wielded that were only formed of Emulation Spatial Force fused with this mercury-like Water Force, making their attacks also several times more forceful.

Leonel's expression flickered, but the moment he suffered the first attack, his spear construct cracked. He was immediately forced to repair it, but the second attack also forced it to crack.

His panda construct shuddered, his steps backward becoming more frequent and harder to stop. His stamina drained faster and faster. With every attempt to maintain his construct, the amount of Force within him was being taken away at a quicker rate.

Leonel's cold gaze was frightening, but it couldn't change anything.

If he was fighting with his real body, he would have already been beaten into a half dead state.

He knew that he couldn't allow his construct to collapse. Without it, setting aside himself, it would put Aina in a direct line of fire. And knowing the kind of venom that was within Thaela's heart, he couldn't even hope that she would be spared.<novelnext></novelnext>

If it wasn't for the fact his construct enveloped himself and Aina, making it impossible for Thaela to tell that there was someone with him, he was certain that she would try to take advantage.

No matter how infuriated Leonel was by this disciple of the Endless Twilight Pavilion, there was little he could do about the power she wielded. She was stronger, faster and more adept in practically all facets in comparison to him.

On top of that, her abilities perfectly fused into one, and while her thinking speed and intelligence wasn't quite on Leonel's level, it wasn't far enough away that he could toy with her like he usually did against those with far higher "stats" than himself.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

One of the arms of Leonel's panda construct shattered into a rain of Aurora Star Force. It tried to quickly reform under his control, but the gap was taken advantage of by Thaela. She was attacking from six different directions at once, how could she not?

Leonel immediately pierced out his spear with his real body. If the whip continued like this, it would most definitely shatter the chest of his panda construct and run right through his body. But, first, it would pierce through Aina who sat on his lap.

Leonel's eyes were practically entirely crimson by this point, but it didn't change his base strength.

His panda construct's chest shattered just as he expected. He couldn't even use his Starry Light Domain because Thaela's dense Water Force and Spatial Force had completely surrounded him, and his Starry Star Domain's spatial affinities were trash in comparison to Thaela's spatial affinity.

His spear could only meet her whip directly, his Bronze Runes lighting up to their maximum potential. And yet…

His arm shattered.

This seemed like an odd thing to say about a human's arm and not a construct, but that was just the best way to describe it.

Leonel's arm's surface cracked like glass, his entire arm erupting in a shower of blood. It was impossible to even tell what kind of mangled state it was in beneath the rain of crimson.

Leonel coughed up a mouthful of blood, taking Aina in an arm as both he and his construct were sent flying.

He sent out another arrow just to buy himself some time, but Thaela completely ignored it, shifting with one of her clones once again and directly sacrificing it as she unleashed a barrage directly upon Leonel.

Leonel roared, using [Instant Recovery] immediately and piercing forward with all his might.

Five whips collided with him at once.

If before his arm shattered, it immediately became a bloody mist this time, the haziness and fog of crimson that hung in the air obstructing even Leonel's vision.

Thaela brandished her whips once again, a tide of Spatial Force and dense Water Force rushing forward with an endless momentum.