1377 Tell Me
Aina didn't need a second warning. Her gaze flickered, her muscles reacting on instinct. Her mind flashed back to the flick of Leonel's father's finger. A single action changed the trajectory of an attack that had her everything behind it with what was seemingly minimal effort. The key wasn't to try to reverse everything at once, but rather to apply pressure in a new, easier direction.
Well, maybe this was how Leonel would have broken things down. But to Aina, she only needed to see it once and it was already seamlessly incorporated into her battle style. She didn't need to think, she only needed to react.
Her ax's arc shifted only the slightest bit, missing its intended target and swinging down and back. In one smooth motion, all of her forward momentum was suddenly pushed in a new direction, sending her body retreating even faster than it had been coming forward.
Aina's pupils constricted as a palm enveloped by shadows and darkness just barely missed her chest. If she was just a moment slower, the result would have been devastating.
At that moment, a strong wall of wind slammed against Aina's body. But, this wind wasn't from the palm, but was rather from a flap of Leonel's wings that had just reached her. Her backward momentum shot up, causing the palm that had still been pursuing her to fall out of range, coming to a halt.
Aina immediately recovered, shifting the momentum of her battle ax once again and crossing it before her chest. Her grasp on impetus and motion seemed to have touched an otherworldly level, seamlessly loosening all of the pressure she felt from sudden changes in movement.
Still, her heartbeat couldn't help but slow to a crawl, each individual pump becoming more and more powerful. Right then, that attack had come out of nowhere. She would have been a step late in reacting if not for Leonel, something that was shocking to her.
It was clear that this individual had tried to get rid of her first and quickly. While Aina was sure that she would have managed to come out without dying, there was no doubt that she would have been injured, maybe even heavily.
Just like that, Leonel and Aina found themselves separated by a few dozen meters, there now being two shadows in between them instead of one, the second seemingly having appeared from thin air. However, Leonel knew better.
They hadn't appeared out of nowhere, they had folded space. It was yet another Shadow Sovereign, a third one had appeared.
"They're a Shadow Sovereign. Be careful." Leonel said, pushing his senses to the absolute maximum. He almost hadn't noticed the change. Luckily, ever since he ran into the Umbra family, Leonel had a habit of not only scanning regions, but also checking for shifts in Force concentration, a task he assigned to one of his many split minds.
The Umbra family had a strong concealment ability that was difficult to detect. The only method was by checking for the shift in Dark Elemental Force Concentration. Just then, Leonel had sensed a random and sharp spike which made him realize that there was something wrong. He chose to retreat first and not get greedy.
"How do you detect them?" Aina asked.
'Feel for Dark Elemental Force.' Leonel responded, using his Internal Sight this time. Though he wasn't sure if there was a way for Shadow Sovereigns to hide their tracks, but he would rather not let an enemy know that they had to do so. This way, they'd still have a leg up.
With just a short exchange, Aina understood. Her Dark Elemental Affinity was high to begin with, this wouldn't be a problem. She wouldn't need Leonel's sharp senses to sense it. After being told once, that was all she needed.
The second shadow slowly retracted their palm. It was impossible to see their face, but Leonel still felt uneasy to the point he felt that it was too optimistic to believe that it currently had a surprised expression. This second shadow… Was far more of a problem.
In the short lull, Leonel quickly scanned the battlefield. He realized that the number of shadows wasn't enough to overwhelm them, but they were extraordinarily powerful. If not for Leonel and Aina working together to defeat the first shadow, it would have taken either one of them far more effort. Their battle prowess fighting together was greater than the sun of their individual strengths, something Aina would most definitely remind Leonel of at a future date.
Even while being outnumbered, the momentum of the battlefield had taken a large swing. In fact, many youths from the Void Palace had already fallen, never to rise again. Their numbers had already been cut by a fifth, and it was only getting worse with each passing second.
To make matters worse, the flood of water the shadows had allowed in was slowly overwhelming the land. Leonel could already feel the moisture at his feet and maybe soon they'd all be wading in it.
Things were fine for now because this water was filled with Life Force and could actually be greatly beneficial if they saved and stored it away. However, what about when the Anarchic Force poisoned layer began to flood inward as well? That level of toxicity wasn't anything they could combat alone, even Leonel wasn't sure if he would be alright.
"Get up."
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The second shadow spoke to the first, a harsh disdain in their voice. The first shadow was the only one to have come so close to losing their life so quickly.
Despite its usual snarkiness, the first shadow didn't say a word as it complied.
"This kid…"
"I'm aware. Go support the others. All the information he has will soon be mine. We don't have a lot of time before the Rapax try to close the cage of this trap they think they've sprung on us."
"Yes."
The first shadow flickered and vanished, its wings only needing to flap once to take it across the battlefield and toward its target.
The palms of the remaining shadow flipped over, revealing two slender shadowy swords.
It turned toward Leonel, its head seeming to tilt.
"Why don't you tell me where the Lineage Tablet is?"