Chapter 269: Enemy
"FInd him! I don't care what you have to do!"
King Arthur's voice boomed across Camelot's Castle. There was no doubt that it was completely rage fueled.
Even when Leonel had completely disregarded him, he hadn't felt so enraged. But now, he felt as though his face was being slapped for all to see.
To him, it was perfectly fine if Leonel's future prospects were completely cut off. However, if Leonel were to leave the control of Camelot, every risk he had taken to now would be for naught.
Now, not only had he offended maybe the greatest talent birthed since himself, he had also allowed this talent to vanish beneath his nose. No, it was even more shocking that this talent had the ability to disappear without any of them noticing in the first place.
King Arthur's rage lit a fire beneath the elites of Camelot. Everything had already been dancing on a blade's edge for so long, and now this had suddenly shoved them all into death's abyss.
The work force of Camelot split into three teams under Arthur's urging. One focused on finding traces of Leonel, another studied the room he had left, and the last controlled the narrative of the Capital, morphing the image of Leonel into one of an evil doer.
However, the magi were completely stunned after deeply analyzing the changes to Leonel's abode. The more they looked, the denser their cold sweat became. Just what kind of man had they made an enemy out of?
After a thorough investigation took place and King Arthur learned what happened, his fury could tear a hole in the skies.
It turned out that when Leonel shattered all of the detection arrays, he had taken the opportunity to infuse his aura into the walls.
In this case, aura was just the signature of his Spirit Pressure. Every mage had a unique signature that couldn't be duplicated except by extremely skilled auxiliary mages. However, the more powerful a Spirit Pressure, the more difficult it was to replicate. It was likely that there was no one in Camelot that could replicate Leonel's aura.
Taking advantage of this, Leonel slowly controlled his Spirit Pressure to influence the newly constructed detection arrays after Lamorak confronted him for destroying them.
Then, as though that wasn't enough, when Leonel slammed the door, he directly tampered with the last line of defense the magus had left. However, because he had 'missed' those arrays when he first destroyed the detection Arts, the magus and Lamorak both subconsciously believed that he wasn't skilled enough to see them, so they weren't tipped off by Leonel's actions.
But, none of this was what truly infuriated King Arthur.
According to eye witness reports, Leonel left barely an hour after his initial interaction with Lamorak. He didn't wait until the dead of night, he didn't sneak out and slink around like a rat, he walked straight out the Mage Academy, through the gates of Camelot, and out without even quickening his steps.
Blatant disregard. Blatant disrespect.
It was as though he was using his actions to show them just how little regard he had for them and their statuses.
Due to the fact Camelot had initially tried to keep the matter regarding Leonel under wraps, those who knew the truth behind the matter were strikingly few. As a result, Leonel walked out like a free man without a single issue.
Now that they were spreading the narrative and more and more people were finding out about it, it was already too late.
Leonel could have used any number of techniques. He could have used the [Light Refraction] Magus Art to hide himself from the eyes of others. He could have escaped through the earth after leaving his the restrictive arrays of his abode. He could have even taken his time to set up a teleportation Art to leave the range of Camelot's influence.
Yet, he chose none of these paths. He chose the simplest and most disrespectful method he had available to him. Such a thing not only left the cheeks of Lamorak and King Arthur burning, but it fueled their hearts with rage.
For the first time, Lamorak felt something other than indifference when he thought of Leonel.
Initially, to him, this was never about Leonel. This was only a simple risk assessment in his eyes.
In truth, many of the elites of Camelot had already concluded that Leonel was most likely the recipient of a Minor Opening of the Merlin Trials. This would perfectly explain his weird gadgets, his strength, and especially his spears.
It made sense that while their King Arthur gained the Sword Inheritance of Merlin, Leonel gained the Spear Inheritance.
After thinking to this point, there was no reason for them to obstruct Leonel. Who would easily divulge the fact they had benefited from a Minor Opening? The fact so many held on tightly to this secret was why they knew so little about Minor Openings.
However, back then, Lamorak had felt an itch in his heart despite thinking this made sense. He simply hadn't thought of it before.
Due to this itch, he decided to implore King Arthur to place Leonel under house arrest.
Though King Arthur was initially reluctant, after Lamorak described his worries and his opinions on Leonel's character, King Arthur ultimately decided to trust in his long time confidant.
However, neither of them could have ever expected this result. And… It was now guaranteed that Leonel would never stand with Camelot again. In addition, if he truly was Merlin's chosen Spear Heir as many of them thought, then it wouldn't be long before his strength was beyond anything anyone but King Arthur and Modred could face…
Unfortunately, time was running out. The opening of the Trial Gates was quickly approaching. Camelot simply didn't have the man power necessary to split for such a large search.
That said… everyone knew where Leonel's ultimate destination would land him.
Suddenly, whether it was King Arthur, Lamorak, or the elite families of Camelot, they all had one more enemy outside of the Demons.