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C1282 Masterful

Leonel's heart beat at a steady rhythm, his head tilted up to the skies. He seemed indifferent to it all for a moment, but it was only for a moment. In the next, a wide grin spread across his face.

The feeling was all too familiar. Down a single score, with the entire field to go, the ball in his hands and everything dancing upon his palms, moving rhythmically under his control. He never loved playing football, but whenever those moments came, something within him would awaken. His mind would become sharper, his arm would become stronger, his gaze would become more piercing.

But now, those stakes were even higher. What was the worst that could happen on a football field? At worst he would just lose the game and a blemish would be found on his perfect record. But, what would happen here?

His dreams would be cut off. His friends would suffer tragic fates and likely die. He would be humiliated, shamed, buried beneath stares of disdain and reminders of his own incompetence.

That sort of feeling made his blood rush. It made his mind elevate to another level.

His body tensed, then relaxed. His fingers flexed and stretched. The howling of his heart left a reverberating, but subtle beating quake dancing through the air. And then, he vanished.

When Leonel appeared again, he stood at the outskirts of the village, his eyes having snapped open to reveal two blinding orbs of violet, his hair standing on end and his aura blazing. His arms stretched out as though he was the conductor of an orchestra, Little Tolliver appearing even as the corpses of dozens of beasts appeared at his feet.

Leonel's gaze seemed to glaze over, his pupils flickering back and forth with an unfathomable speed, ricocheting back and forth within his eye sockets as though playing a game of pinball.

Little Tolly wrapped around the corpse of a wolf, rising it up into the air. By that point, Leonel's palm had already flipped over, a spear appearing in his hands and flickering with a radiant gold Spear Force.

His hand became nothing more than a blur, sweeping forward with such force that it wasn't even immediately obvious what sort of cut he had made. However, in the next instant, Little Tolly seemed to have already reacted, pincering itself into the cut Leonel had formed and squeezing itself beneath the layer that separated skin and flesh.

In the blink of an eye, the beast was suddenly stripped of its furry coat.

Blood rained through the air, but just as quickly as it appeared, globules of Cleansing Waters manifested beneath Leonel's deft control. In one movement of his wrists, the pelt was washed of all blood and Anarchic Force, and in another movement, Little Tolly was surrounded and completely cleansed.

The contaminated Cleansing Waters were jetted out into the distance, but Leonel had already moved on long before it could even hit the ground.

He repeated this exact same process dozens of times, his fingers forming whipping sounds in the air as they struck downward at an inconceivable speed, leaving nothing but blurs and cracks of wind in their wake.

By this point, many of the youths of the Three Pillar Sector had awoken from their meditation to see what was happening. Though they were still about a day away from adjusting to the climate completely, they at least looked far better than they had in the past. At the very least, they could split their attention now as their bodies continued to acclimate, but seeing what was before them, many were completely unsure of how to react.

Oddly enough, the only one who kept her eyes closed the entire time was Aina. If it wasn't for the light smile slowly spreading across her face, one would have thought that there may very well have been something wrong with her.

But, just the same, Leonel reacted as though he hadn't noticed any changes in his surroundings at all, the speed of his hands and fingers only becoming faster as his gaze blazed a brighter and brighter light.

Held up by Little Tolly, dozens of pieces of fabrics hung in the air. Leonel's mind flickered through the Dream Clone images of his companions, mapping out the most efficient method to use the pelts that hung before him, a process that took no more than just a single split second.

"Huuu…"

Leonel's spear left sizzling whistles throughout the air as it snaked forward. Everywhere it passed by, another piece of fur would be cut down to size. In a blink, his spear had vanished, replaced by the delicate coil of a Force Crafter's Quill.

Compared to his other equipment, this Quill had fallen the furthest behind. Its feather was a bit ruffled, the delicate outline of its black body and golden veins had dulled, and its tip had been ground down beneath continuous usage.

And yet, when it hit Leonel's hand, nesting into his fingers and gently waving beneath the wind, despite the fact it knew this would be the last time it could work together with Leonel like this, it seemed to sing, its body releasing a radiant glow as though a final outcry to the world.

The torches of Leonel's irises bloomed. He could feel that tug, a concept that had just barely alluded him before awakening right that moment.

'I will make sure the last Craft you leave to this world is masterful.'

Leonel's wrist left an elegant arc through the air, a line of gold following his every pen stroke as a dense fog of violet hung around him, growing in size with every passing moment until the point a miniature humanoid creation emerged from his forehead.

With a final flicker, Leonel's Crafter's Quill crumbled to ash, dancing into the wind and vanishing into the hovering pieces of fabric.

"Haaa…"

A steamy breath left Leonel's lips, his heart pulsing with a steady rhythm.

"."

Little Tolliver's body seemed to vanish, concentrating into a long and thin sowing needle.

Leonel's Force Erupted, forming a thin line of thread that sparkled in the dark atmosphere.

To be continued