[Last Episode: [He watched Leo settle back onto his platform, hands tucked back into his pockets, the picture of easy, harmless calm, and felt, despite everything he'd just witnessed, a very specific, very old instinct telling him this was only the beginning of whatever Leo actually was.]
Chapter 134, Episode 134
[The Heart Star — After the Match]
[King Julian descended from the dais himself, Kira and Maya trailing a step behind, and approached Leo's platform with the deliberate, measured pace of a man who had fought long enough to know exactly how dangerous curiosity could be — and had decided, apparently, that it was worth the risk anyway]
King Julian: That was quite a display.
Leo: Thank you.
King Julian: For a level fourteen.
Leo: I get that a lot.
[The eight Generals had drifted down as well, forming a loose ring around him without quite realizing they'd done it, and Fenris was the first to speak, arms crossed, voice sharp.]
Fenris: You're an intruder.
Leo: I bought a ticket. Well — I walked in. There wasn't actually a ticket.
Guinn: That's not what he meant.
Michael: Nobody at level fourteen negates blood-thread magic with a touch. Nobody at level fourteen no-sells a kinetic burst combo. You're hiding something, and frankly, it's disgusting how calm you are about it.
[Leo tilted his head, hands still in his pockets, entirely unbothered by eight of the strongest fighters in the kingdom effectively surrounding him.]
Leo: Disgusting's a strong word.
Michael: You know what I mean.
[Satanael's voice stirred faint and quiet in Leo's chest.]
[Satanael]
「Don't let them pull the real number out of you. Whatever you tell them, keep it small.」
[Leo, internally]
Leo: Wasn't planning on doing anything
King Julian: What is your actual level.
Leo: Fourteen.
King Julian: I don't believe you.
Leo: That's fair. I wouldn't believe me either.
Kira: Then prove it. What magic do you actually use?
Leo: None. I told the referee that too.
Maya: That sword clearly isn't nothing.
Leo: It's a good sword. Doesn't mean I've got magic.
[The crowd nearby had gone quiet, straining to listen, and the eight Generals exchanged looks of mounting, frustrated disbelief.]
Violet: I've tried reading you three times now. I get nothing. Not blocked — nothing, like there's no signature to read at all. That doesn't happen to a real person, level fourteen or otherwise.
Leo: Maybe I'm just private.
Doherty: Private isn't a magic school.
Leo: Could be a new one.
[King Julian studied him a moment longer, clearly unsatisfied, clearly recognizing he wasn't going to get anything further — and then, before he could press again, the far doors of the conference hall burst open.]
[The Warning]
[A guard staggered in, breathless, drenched in sweat, his face carrying the specific, total horror of someone who had seen something he genuinely hadn't believed possible until he'd watched it happen]
Guard: Your Majesty—! The 20 Billion Knight Generals— they're marching on the Heart Star! Four of their commanders lead them— they're already at the outer borders—!
[The plaza erupted into panic — spectators surging toward the exits, the eight Generals snapping instantly into readiness, King Julian's hand going straight to the hilt of the Night Sword.]
King Julian: The Twenty Billion. Again.
Fenris: They've been quiet for two years.
King Julian: Apparently not anymore.
[Kira and Maya moved to flank their father, both visibly tense, and Leo remained exactly where he was, hands still in his pockets, watching the chaos unfold with the same mild, unbothered curiosity he'd carried through the entire tournament.]
Leo: Who are they??
King Julian: An army that's warred with this kingdom for generations. Every soldier trained in the blade and gifted with real magical power beyond it. Four commanders lead them, and those four have been trying to carve this world in half for as long as I've held this throne.
Leo: And they're here now.
King Julian: They're here now.
[The four commanders arrived at the head of their army moments later, descending onto the plaza's outer edge in a slow, deliberate show of force — the ground itself seeming to strain under the weight of what followed behind them]
[Amelia, sharp-eyed, arms crossed, magic already shimmering faint and mirror-bright around her:]
Amelia: Julian. Still clinging to that little throne of yours.
King Julian: Amelia!
[Aurelius, the largest of the four, ten different elements curling visibly around him at once, voice booming:]
Aurelius: We've come for our half. You know the terms. You've known them for years.
King Julian: You'll get nothing.
[Lucian, quiet, unsettling, oblivion magic pooling like ink at his feet]
Lucian: That's what you said last time.
[Elizabeth, calm, almost bored, creation magic sparking idly between her fingers]
Elizabeth: And the time before that. It gets tiresome, Julian.
[The eight Generals moved to stand beside their king, weapons and magic readying, the tension in the plaza thick enough to choke on.]
[Aurelius's gaze drifted across the assembled defenders — and landed, unexpectedly, on Leo]
Aurelius: Who's this.
King Julian: None of your concern.
Aurelius: I've never seen him before. Doesn't carry himself like your usual court.
[Leo, unbothered]
Leo: my name is Leo and my level is 14
[Amelia laughed outright, Lucian's expression twisting into open contempt, Elizabeth raising an eyebrow.]
Amelia: Fourteen? You brought a child to stand behind you, Julian?
Aurelius: This is who you've got defending your world now? A level fourteen with his hands in his pockets?
Lucian: Pathetic.
[King Julian, sharp, not looking away from the four]
King Julian: He's not part of this. Focus on us.
Elizabeth: Fine by me.
[Leo said nothing further, watching the exchange with the same quiet patience, entirely unbothered by the mockery, letting it slide past him without so much as a flicker of reaction.]
[Aurelius raised a hand, and the army behind the four commanders surged forward as one — a wall of soldiers and steel and layered magic that swallowed the horizon]
Kira: Leo! You need to run, now!
Maya: You're too weak for this! Get to the shelters with everyone else!
[Leo didn't move.]
Leo: I'll pass.
Kira: What can you possibly do at level fourteen?! Look at this— that's twenty billion soldiers, four commanders who could level a continent between them, and you're standing there with your hands in your pockets!
Maya: Please. We can't protect you and fight them at the same time.
Leo: You won't need to.
[King Julian, mid-turn toward the advancing army, shot Leo a final, exasperated glance.]
King Julian: Why are you still standing there? You're too weak for this! Leave!
[Leo, smirking faintly]
Leo: I'll be fine.
[The eight Generals surged forward to meet the front line, King Julian drawing the Night Sword in a single fluid motion, the aura of it rolling out across the battlefield in a wave of pure, paralyzing dread — and the four commanders met them head-on, the entire plaza dissolving into open war.]
[Michael's light constructs tore through the front ranks. Fenris's time magic slowed entire columns of soldiers to a crawl, letting Storm's wind cut through them in devastating sweeps]
[Morris's void magic swallowed whole squads whole. Guinn's chaos spells scattered unpredictably through the advancing lines, and Violet, Doherty, and Emily worked together at the flanks, holding a line that seemed, against twenty billion, impossibly thin]
[King Julian met Aurelius directly, the Night Sword's edge tearing reality itself with every swing, and even against ten simultaneous elements, he held ground through sheer, practiced skill]
[Kira and Maya, still near the rear, began directing the fleeing crowd toward the shelters, voices raised, magic flaring to clear paths through the chaos]
Kira: Everyone this way! Move, move—!
Maya: Stay together, don't scatter—!
[And then Leo moved his hand out of his pocket]
[Just barely. Just enough]
Leo — All Magic - 1 Percent
[The army — all twenty billion soldiers, every rank, every commander's supporting force spread across the outer fields — simply stopped existing]
[Leo has erased them completely, in the space of a single heartbeat out of existence]
[The entire battlefield going from total, overwhelming chaos to total, absolute silence in less time than it took most of the fighters present to finish their current breath]
[The eight Generals froze mid-motion]
[King Julian's sword arm, mid-swing against Aurelius, simply stopped, the fight it had been part of no longer having an army behind it to matter to.
Aurelius stared past him, at the empty field where twenty billion soldiers had been standing seconds ago, and for the first time since he'd arrived, something that looked genuinely, deeply like fear crossed his face]
Aurelius: —what.
Amelia: That's not— that's not possible—
[Lucian, voice cracking slightly]
Lucian: How the heck did u erase all of the army in an instant
[Elizabeth, staring at Leo with wide, disbelieving eyes]
Elizabeth: Who the hell are you?.
[Every eye on the battlefield turned toward Leo, who had already tucked his hand back into his pocket, expression as calm and unbothered as it had been all afternoon.]
[Aurelius, voice low, dangerous]
Aurelius: Tell me who you are. Truthfully. Right now
Leo: Like I said, I am level 14....
Aurelius: That is not possible.
Leo: I get that a lot too.
[Nobody on the battlefield believed him — not the eight Generals, not King Julian, not the two stunned daughters, and certainly not the four commanders standing in the wreckage of an army that no longer existed — but Leo simply smiled, hands in his pockets, and said nothing further.]
[Aurelius turned away from Leo first, forcibly, the specific effort of a man deciding not to think about something too large to process mid-battle, and raised both hands toward King Julian and the assembled Generals instead]
Aurelius: This changes nothing. We came for our half, and we'll take it regardless of whatever that was.
King Julian: You'll take nothing.
Amelia: Then let's finish what we started before that boy interrupted."
Amelia — Reflection Magic. Activated.
[Mirrors bloomed across the battlefield, catching every incoming spell and hurling it straight back, and Michael's next light construct rebounded off one, forcing him to dive clear of his own attack]
Michael: She's redirecting everything—
Fenris: Then don't give her a clean angle.
[He twisted time around his own next strike, warping the trajectory mid-flight so the mirror caught nothing but empty air, and Amelia's expression tightened with genuine surprise.]
Amelia: Clever.
Fenris: I try.
[Aurelius squared off against King Julian directly, all ten elements circling him at once — fire and ice trading places mid-air, lightning arcing into acid, shadow bleeding into light — and the Night Sword met every combination in turn, cutting cleanly through each element as it came, negating the magic behind every strike before it could fully land]
Aurelius: That blade.
King Julian: Family heirloom.
Aurelius: It shouldn't be able to negate all ten at once.
King Julian: And yet.
[He pressed forward, the sword's aura thickening around him, speed and instinct sharpening to something barely trackable, and Aurelius, despite commanding every element in recorded history, found himself giving ground for the first time in years.]
[Lucian's oblivion magic spread low across the ground, trying to swallow Morris's void constructs whole, the two negation-adjacent powers locking into a strange, mutual cancellation that neither of them could fully win]
Morris: You're not the only one who deals in nothing.
Lucian: Apparently not.
[They traded, neither gaining real ground, both settling into a grim, evenly matched stalemate.]
[Elizabeth's creation magic conjured constructs faster than Storm and Guinn could dismantle them — solid barriers, snapping traps, false duplicates of herself scattered across the field — and the two of them worked in tandem, wind clearing the illusions while chaos magic scrambled the traps before they could fully spring]
Elizabeth: You two work well together.
Guinn: Years of practice.
Storm: Doesn't mean you're winning.
Elizabeth: Didn't say I was.
[The battlefield had fully reshaped itself into four distinct, brutal duels, Doherty, Emily, and Violet weaving support between all of them — Emily's star magic bolstering wherever the line looked thinnest, Violet's divination calling out incoming strikes half a second before they landed, Doherty's elemental versatility plugging whatever gap opened next.]
[King Julian, mid-exchange with Aurelius, called back toward the rear without breaking his stance]
King Julian: Kira! Maya! Get everyone clear!
Kira: Already moving them!
Maya: Just — hold on a little longer!
[And behind all of it, still standing exactly where he'd been the entire time, Leo watched the fight unfold with quiet, genuine interest — hands in his pockets, the faintest trace of a smile at the corner of his mouth]
[Leo watched another exchange play out — Aurelius forcing King Julian back a full step, the Night Sword's aura straining to keep pace with ten simultaneous elements — and finally took his hand fully out of his pocket]
Leo: I should probably take this one.
[Every fighter on the field, mid-strike, mid-cast, turned toward him at once.]
Fenris: What?
Michael: You want to fight the four commanders.
Leo: That's the idea.
[King Julian, breathing hard, not lowering the Night Sword]
King Julian: You erased twenty billion soldiers with a flick of your hand. I'll give you that. But these four are a different tier entirely. What you did was—
Leo: Luck?
King Julian: I was going to say something less generous.
[Satanael's voice curled faint and steady in Leo's chest.]
[Satanael]
「Go ahead, Leo. You're already past the point of hiding this convincingly. Might as well make it count.」
[Leo, internally]
Leo: Yeah. Figured.
[He stepped forward, past King Julian, past the assembled Generals, until he stood alone between the defenders and the four commanders.]
[Aurelius looked him up and down and laughed — a short, genuinely amused bark of a laugh]
Aurelius: You're bluffing.
Leo: Am I?
Amelia: He erased a poorly-trained conscript army with some kind of area spell. That's not the same as standing against the four of us.
Elizabeth: Let him try. It'll be over quickly either way.
Lucian: Agreed.
[Aurelius struck first — all ten elements converging into a single, layered assault, fire wrapped in lightning wrapped in shadow, enough raw force behind it to have leveled the outer district on its own]
[It hit Leo directly]
[Nothing happened]
Aurelius: —
[He stared at the unmarked space where Leo stood, entirely untouched, entirely unbothered, and something in his confidence cracked for the first time since he'd arrived.]
Leo: You'll have to do better than that.
Amelia: Reflection, then.
Amelia — Full Mirror Field.
[She threw every mirror she could conjure around him simultaneously, trying to trap him inside a closed loop of his own reflected motion — and Leo simply reached out, tapped one mirror with a single finger, and the entire field shattered at once, the magic behind it unraveling into nothing]
Amelia: That's not possible. Reflection magic doesn't just break like that.
Leo: It does when I don't want it to work.
[Lucian's oblivion magic surged next, a wave of pure negation spreading across the ground toward him, and Leo let it reach him without moving — and watched it simply fail to register, passing through him like he wasn't standing there at all.]
Lucian: He's not blocking it. He's not even reacting to it. It's just — nothing.
Elizabeth: Then I'll make something he can't ignore.
Elizabeth — Creation Magic. Wall of Constructs
[She conjured a wall of constructs — blades, spears, solid barriers, dozens of them at once, hurling everything simultaneously]
[Leo raised one hand, almost lazily, and every single construct simply stopped mid-flight, then folded backward into nothing, the same way Amelia's mirrors had]
Elizabeth: He's negating creation magic too.
Aurelius, voice rising, genuine alarm creeping in now:
Aurelius: He's negating everything.
Leo: Not just magic.
[He said it simply, almost gently, and something about the calm in his voice made all four commanders go very still.]
Leo: Conceptual attacks too and absolute erasure don't work on me
Amelia: That's — that kind of resistance doesn't exist. Not at any level we've ever measured.
Leo: I know.
[Leo simply stood there, base form, hands loose at his sides, and looked at the four of them with the specific, patient calm of someone who had already decided how this ended and was only waiting for them to catch up.]
Leo: One more, and we're done here.
Leo — A Single Motion.
[Leo simply moved his hand, barely more than a gesture, and the four commanders — Amelia, Aurelius, Lucian, Elizabeth, every scrap of power and every layer of magic they carried — simply ceased]
[Their power was erased from the field in the same clean, absolute way the army had been, gone between one heartbeat and the next]
[The plaza went utterly silent]
[King Julian lowered the Night Sword slowly, staring at the empty space where four of the strongest beings he'd fought for decades had simply stopped existing]
Fenris: He just—
Michael: Did he just erased the four commanders. Instantly.
Guinn: That power wasn't an ordinary erasure
[The crowd that hadn't fully fled had gone dead quiet too, staring at Leo, who had already tucked his hands back into his pockets, entirely unbothered by the silence.]
King Julian: Does he really have a level.
[An old man pushed through the remaining crowd at that moment, robes marking him as some kind of court sage, a thin, ancient analysis crystal held tight in one shaking hand]
Julius: Let me — let me see. I can read it. I've read every level in this kingdom for sixty years, I can read his.
[He raised the crystal toward Leo, murmuring an incantation under his breath, the artifact's surface glowing faint and steady and then flaring, violently, blinding white, before the old man staggered back and collapsed to his knees, the crystal falling from his hand and shattering on the stone.]
King Julian: What happened? What did you see?
[The old man was pale, shaking, one hand pressed to his own chest like he was trying to keep something inside from coming back up.]
Julius: Nothing.
Fenris: That's clearly not nothing. You just fell over.
Julius: It was — nothing. There's nothing to say.
[Internally, his thoughts were considerably louder than anything he was willing to speak aloud]
Julius: Who is he. WHO IS HE.... his level is past irrelevant. It went past everything I know how to read. it sits above the Fundamentals themselves, and I am never, ever looking at that again.]
[He didn't say any of it. He simply shook his head, refused to meet anyone's eyes, and let two Generals help him back to his feet.]
[Michael, supporting him on one side]
Micheal: What's wrong with you?
Julius: Nothing. I said nothing.
[Leo, watching from a short distance, already knew exactly what the old man had seen — could read it plainly in the specific, total refusal to look back at him.]
Leo: You alright?
[The old man flinched, visibly, and said nothing at all.]
[The eight Generals closed in around Leo without quite meaning to, instinctive formation of trained fighters surrounding something they didn't understand and weren't sure they could contain — swords half-raised, magic simmering at the ready, the crowd around them watching with open, breathless tension]
King Julian: Reveal yourself. Truly.
Leo: I already have.
Fenris: Don't insult us. Whatever you just did to those four wasn't power. It wasn't even close to power as we understand it.
Guinn: It was something we can't process.
Something beyond what we can measure.
Leo: Maybe.
[Michael's sword edged half an inch closer.]
Michael: That's not an answer.
Leo: It's the only one I've got.
[The tension held, taut and uneasy, and then Storm — the fastest of the eight — made his decision, wind gathering sharp around his blade, and lunged.]
[Leo's eyes went, without warning, entirely serious.]
Leo: Don't you dare.
[Storm froze mid-lunge — not physically restrained, nothing holding him back at all, but something in the two words landed in his chest like a hand closing around his heart, and for one full second, genuine, unfamiliar fear locked every muscle in his body in place.]
[Storm, internally]
Storm: I shouldn't be scared. There's nothing here that should scare me. Why— why am I—
[He pushed through it anyway, forcing the strike forward on pure momentum — and Leo simply stepped aside, one unhurried step, and was standing behind him before the blade finished its arc.]
[He tapped Storm's shoulder. Once. A single flick of two fingers]
[Storm left the plaza entirely]
[He crashed through three buildings on his way out, finally coming to rest half-buried in the wreckage of a market stall on the far side of the district, alive, breathing, but thoroughly, undeniably beaten by something that hadn't even used its full hand]
[The remaining seven Generals stared at the distant impact site, then back at Leo, and the suspicion in the plaza thickened into something close to genuine dread.]
[Kira's Approach]
[It was Kira who stepped forward first, breaking the standoff, her expression shifting smoothly from wary tension into something warmer, more careful, more calculated]
Kira: Enough.
[She raised a hand, and the seven remaining Generals lowered their weapons, reluctantly, watching her with clear confusion.]
Kira: Who are you, really?
Leo: Leo.
Kira: That's your name. Not what I asked.
[She studied him a moment longer, and something in her expression softened further — a warmth that didn't quite reach her eyes.]
Kira: Whatever you are, whatever that power is — you're clearly not here to hurt us. You just saved this entire kingdom. I'd like to offer you something in return. A room in the palace. Food, drink, whatever you need. Properly, as our guest, not as some stranger we're pointing swords at.
[Leo considered it for a moment, genuinely unbothered by the earlier tension, and smiled.]
Leo: Sure. I could eat.
[He had no idea, yet, exactly what he'd just agreed to.]
[The Palace — Evening]
[The room Kira gave him was expansive, warm, entirely more comfortable than anything Leo had expected from a kingdom that had, mere hours ago, been trying to figure out whether to attack him]
[He settled in, Shatter Nebula resting visibly at his side for the first time all day — he'd let his guard down without quite meaning to, the sword's usual invisibility lapsed in the quiet of the room]
[A soft knock came at the door]
Leo: Come in...
[Maya stepped inside, quiet, careful, a tray of food balanced in her hands.]
Maya: I thought you might be hungry. If you need anything else, I can—
Leo: Nah, I'm good. Thanks, though.
[She lingered a moment longer than necessary, setting the tray down, and as she turned, the collar of her dress shifted just enough for Leo to catch sight of something along her neck — dark, bruised, only partially healed.]
Leo: Hey. What happened to your neck?
[Maya froze.]
Maya: It's nothing.
Leo: Doesn't look like nothing.
[She was quiet for a long moment, hands twisting in the fabric of her sleeve, and when she finally spoke, her voice had gone smaller, more careful, the way people speak when they've rehearsed not saying something for a very long time.]
Maya: After our mother died... things changed kira's always been the one everyone expects things from. Strongest heir for me i don't win tournaments. Doesn't impress anyone.
Leo: So in essence, your family looks down on you
[She looked down]
Maya: Yes.. Kira gets frustrated with me sometimes. So does Father, when I don't perform the way he wants. The Generals mostly just... go along with it. Nobody really stops it.
[Leo's expression had gone very still.]
Leo: How long has this been happening?
Maya: A few years now. It's fine. I'm used to it.
Leo: That's not the same as fine.
[She glanced up at him, something surprised flickering across her face — like she hadn't expected anyone to say that out loud, not once, in however long this had been going on.]
Maya: You're the first person who's asked.
[Leo was quiet for a moment, something settling heavy and careful in his chest.]
Leo: I'm asking now.
[She managed a small, tired smile, and didn't say anything else — but she stayed a moment longer than she needed to before finally excusing herself, and Leo watched the door close behind her with a very specific kind of quiet anger settling into the back of his mind.]
9Leo let himself drift toward sleep, breathing even, expression slack — and stayed exactly that way when the door eased open sometime past midnight, footsteps light and careful across the floor]
[Kira]
[She crossed to where Shatter Nebula rested, glanced once toward the bed to confirm he was still, and lifted the sword from its place with careful, practiced silence]
[The moment her fingers closed around the hilt, she went rigid]
[Kira, barely a whisper]
Kira: What—
[Power poured through her, immense, layered, tremendous beyond anything she'd ever held — and beneath it, something else. A weight. A pull, steady and relentless, drawing at whatever reserves she had the instant she made contact with the blade.]
Kira: This sword— this is— what is this—
[She held it a moment longer, staring at the edge, at the faint light running along it, feeling the raw scale of what she was touching without any real way to measure it — and then, unnerved, quietly returned it to exactly where she'd found it and slipped back out of the room.]
[Satanael]
「She's gone.」
[Leo opened his eyes.]
Leo: Yeah. Figured she would.
[Satanael]
「You knew.」
Leo: You told me she would.
[Satanael]
「I told you it was likely. You let it happen anyway.」
Leo: Wasn't worth stopping. Figured she needed to learn something on her own.
[Satanael]
「She won't have learned what you think. Nobody wields that sword. Not gods, not the Fundamental Laws, not anything short of you specifically. The moment anyone else so much as grips the hilt, it starts pulling their reserves dry — draining them completely, the longer they hold it. Swinging it wouldn't do anything for her even if she'd tried. There's no version of that sword responding to someone else's intent.」
Leo: I know.
[Satanael]
「Then why let her take it.」
Leo: Because now she knows exactly how far out of her depth she actually is. Sometimes that matters more than anything I could've told her directly.
[A pause.]
[Satanael]
「You're playing a longer game with this family than I expected.」
Leo: Maya deserves better than what she's getting. Figured I'd start there and work outward.
[Satanael]
「And Kira.」
Leo: Kira's going to be a problem eventually. I'd rather know exactly what kind before it becomes one.
[He settled back against the pillow, closing his eyes again, the faint warmth of Shatter Nebula resting undisturbed at his side.]
Leo: Goodnight, Satanael.
[Satanael]
「Goodnight, Leo.」
To be continued...