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C525 - Exactly Like Me

Lionel didn't say a thing for a long while. He continued to look at the ground, his arms strapped around his body beneath his straitjacket. For a moment, it seemed as though he hadn't heard a single word that was spoken.

However, a blood thirsty aura was slowly forming around him.

Lionel's head tilted upward. Through the strands of his hair, one could finally just barely make out one of his eyes. It was a vacant pale green that seemed to stare at nothing and everything at the same time.

The faint illusion of blood red wings spread to Lionel's back, the distorted image of a demon hanging around him.

In just a few moments, those red wings formed into the image of a female angel. Her red wings wrapped around Lionel, her arms holding onto him tightly.

It was just an illusion, but it seemed oh so real.

Tears of blood began to uncontrollably fall from the eyes of those around Lionel. With the exception of Escobar, they all seemed to be affected by the change.

"I see… Since she's dead, what reason do you have to keep living?"

Under the astonished gazes of many, thousands of Dark Cloud Prison guards suddenly turned their weapons onto themselves.

BANG!

The sounds of several gunshots rang at once. But, from afar, it sounded like just a single gun had been fired. The actions were so smooth and in sync that even the pulling of so many triggers seemed to come from a single point…

Escobar's gaze widened before gaining a tinge of red. In that moment, just as Lionel's words descended, he suddenly felt an overwhelming will to spear his skull through. If he hadn't bit his tongue, he really might have gone through with it.

His heart trembled. Just what kind of maddening ability was this?

The bloody angel hanging around Lionel only seemed to grow more corporeal as though being fed by the deaths of those around her.

Her visage became clearer, a doting expression on her face as she lightly stroked Lionel's hair. No matter how one looked at her, it seemed like she was a proud mother… Or rather, she would have been had it not been for the fact her eye sockets were filled with nothing but an endless void.

The sound of collapsing bodies filled the quiet air. In an instant, over half of a ten thousand man army fell into a pool of their own blood, their weapons painted with their own life.

The scene was absolutely horrid and a metallic stench soon filled the air.

Escobar's grip on his spear tightened. He could still see Lionel's singular eye through the strands of his hair, looking at him curiously as though he was wondering why it was he hadn't died when he told him to. As for the other, it seemed to stay hidden behind a veil of darkness, lurking.

The Governor Duke could no longer hold back. He felt like this child had been wronged, so he gave him a chance and spoke the truth. However, he had never expected for his moment of soft heartedness to cost him half of his men in a single breath.

There was a limit to his understanding, to his sympathy. This was no longer the baby in those photos, this was a monster. A monster he had to kill.

"Die!"

Escobar's spear seemed to encompass the world. Its point became the origin and its shaft became purpose.

In the blink of an eye, the spear tip appeared before Lionel's brow. With just a half a foot more, the skull of this young man would be pierced through.

However, would things really be so easy?

A mirror suddenly manifested before Lionel. Escobar's spear tip hardly touched its surface before it was reflected back.

The Warden was sent flying, his spear wielding arm splintering in two. The horrid imagery of a forearm being split in half down its length etched itself into the hearts of all those who saw it.

Within Lionel's group, a young woman with disheveled hair bit at her fingernails to the point they bled. But, even then, she didn't seem intent on stopping. She looked toward Escobar warily as though she was the one who should fear him rather than the other way around. It was as though she was completely oblivious to how powerful she was.

Lionel stood in place indifferently. It was as though he couldn't tell that his life had been on the line. Or, maybe… it hadn't ever truly been.

Escobar's face became a deathly pale. He looked toward his arm incredulously, unable to believe what had just happened.

He hadn't awakened a powerful ability. In fact, it was of the mere C-grade upon awakening. However, he had never cared much because his spear arts could more than make up for this. With the time he had spent with Leonel's father, it was doubtful that there was anyone on Earth who could match his comprehension of the spear.

So, how had he suffered so greatly just now?

It was at that moment that there was a sudden change to the battlefield.

Leonel and Aina led a charge out of the forest edge that surrounded Dark Cloud Prison. It had taken them several hours, but they had finally cleared out all the scouts and carved a path here. And, luckily, they had managed to avoid any casualties in huge thanks to Leonel's leadership abilities.

However, what they saw after they reached the clearing of flat lands astounded them.

A city fallen from the skies, a group of prisoners frozen in their attempt to climb its walls, and… over 5000 dead guards, lying in a pool of their own blood.

The sight was horrid, but what left Leonel the most stunned was the appearance of a particular man.

Despite the distance of over 200 kilometers that separated them, with Leonel's senses, Escobar might as well have been inches from his face.

"Coach?" Leonel's expression flickered with confusion. What was Coach Owen doing here?

No matter how long passed, Leonel would never mistake that rat of a mustache for anyone else.

Seeing the state of Coach Owen's arm, Leonel's anger suddenly flared. If there were two people he had to pick as the duo he respected the most in his life, the first would be his father, and the second would be this man right before him.

In that moment, the battlefield suddenly gained a second blood thirsty aura, one that seemed to rival Lionel's without the slightest hint of losing out.

However, it was then that something completely unexpected happened.

Lionel looked toward the new arrivals with curiosity. But, when his gaze landed on Leonel, he was shocked.

"You… You look exactly like me…"

Lionel's head finally raised all the way, both of his eyes and his face finally becoming clear.

However, when Leonel saw this face, his brows furrowed.

This wasn't because Lionel looked like him, but because of the exact opposite.. They, quite honestly, looked nothing alike. What the hell was this person talking about?

To be continued