Ex-Rank Awakening: My Attacks Make Me Stronger-Chapter 118: EX . Bloody Battle

Smoke curled around Leon’s shoulders like a cloak as he lowered his blade, black blood dripping from its edge. The headless corpse of an A-rank demon slumped to the ground behind him, its final shriek already forgotten. Around him, soldiers moved in awe, not one dared break formation or speak. Not while he stood at the center, sword in hand, eyes locked skyward.

Something stirred above. A ripple in the air. A shift in pressure. He could feel it in his bones.

"They’re pushing harder..." Leon muttered, voice low and unreadable.

A second A-rank demon surged from the side, mouth wide with serrated fangs. Leon didn’t glance at it. One step, one swing, and the creature was bisected mid-charge. His sword never paused, his eyes never moved.

"They’re facing someone strong up there," he said, more to himself than anyone. His grip on his sword tightened, knuckles whitening. "Stronger than what we planned for." 𝘧𝓇𝑒𝑒𝑤ℯ𝑏𝓃𝘰𝑣ℯ𝘭.𝘤ℴ𝘮

Another three demons lunged from the smoke, C-ranks, maybe low B—but to them, strength was numbers. Leon’s sword lit with a ripple of air, the invisible pressure of his Force affinity swirling down the edge like a storm waiting to be unleashed. The moment he swung, the gust split the world.

And three heads flew, tumbling like leaves.

Leon exhaled slowly.

"No," he said. "I’m still not strong enough."

The words weren’t meant to be dramatic. Just honest.

"To be satisfied... I have to be able to handle everything. Not just fodder. Not just beasts that cower when they see me. I need more. I want more."

Up above, the battles between S-rank warriors raged like gods clashing in the heavens. Demonic pressure rolled across the skies. Thunder cracked as techniques collided. Leon stared toward it, eyes narrowing, not with fear, but hunger.

He knew what came next.

"After today," he whispered, "I’m grinding like hell. My next goal..."

His gaze sharpened.

Up there.

If the soldiers around him had heard those words, especially the A-ranks struggling to survive the same monsters he was slicing through like paper, they might’ve dropped their weapons and retired on the spot. If this was him unsatisfied, what were the rest of them doing?

But Leon didn’t bask in admiration. He was already moving, turning toward the next frontline, eyes scanning for a new target.

Then a faint buzz tickled his ear.

A communication line opened in his earpiece. Eleanor’s voice.

****

Leon stood motionless, eyes locked on the distance as static crackled through his earpiece. Eleanor’s voice slipped through the distortion like a whisper in a storm.

"Leo...n... help..."

The line cut out again, stuttering back in.

"...we’re... help—"

Then silence.

His grip tightened around the sword in his hand. Something was wrong. Deeply wrong.

"Eleanor? Where are you guys?" he asked, eyes scanning, trying to sense her presence, but the battlefield was too chaotic, and his range limited.

The line hissed once more, then died completely.

The clang of weapons and roar of demons faded from his ears. The battle still raged around him, but to Leon, time had paused. The soldiers who fought beside him began to glance over, confused by his sudden stillness.

"Did something happen...?"

But Leon didn’t hear them. He was caught in the tension between duty and instinct. His squadmates were in trouble. That much was clear. But leaving the battlefield now meant withdrawing his presence, and he had seen with his own eyes how much the troops had rallied around it. Around him.

His mind raced.

I could leave a clone...

But it wouldn’t have his affinity. No Art. No Force. Just an empty shell mimicking presence. That wouldn’t hold up, not in a fight of this scale.

"Damn it. What should I-"

Interrupting leon, was the sky as it began to weep.

But it wasn’t rain.

Not truly.

It fell with no warning, no clouds, no wind. The droplets glistened crimson as they hovered midair, not a single one touching the ground... or the soldiers.

As they realized one thing when observing it closely it was blood.

Frozen in the air like time itself had hiccuped.

Even Leon blinked in surprise. His instincts flaring.

The battlefield fell into stunned silence. Fear crept like a slow mist across the ranks. As one soldier muttered hoarsely, "Look... up..."

Every gaze tilted skyward.

Floating high above them, framed by the unforgiving sun, was a man in a deep crimson military uniform, the color as vivid as freshly spilled blood. His face was obscured by the glare, but Leon didn’t need to see. His senses picked up the aura, the calm intensity behind it.

A smile stretched across Leon’s face, not of joy, but of recognition.

"So... he’s finally here. Vanguard Taco."

The sky itself seemed to breathe.

Then one word echoed across the heavens.

"Release."

The suspended blood rain shifted, then fell, like arrows fired by the will of a god.

Each droplet struck true. Piercing through the skulls of countless demons in a synchronized execution. Not a single one twitched afterward. No death cries. No struggle. Just silence.

Because how do you retaliate against something that far above you?

Against the crushing presence of an S-rank.

****

The battlefield had shifted.

With Vanguard Taco’s arrival, the air itself felt lighter, as if the storm of demonic pressure had cracked open, letting in a sliver of calm. Leon felt it immediately. The tension in his shoulders eased, and his grip on his sword relaxed. Taco wasn’t just a presence, he was a force of nature. And now, with that force anchoring the tide, Leon could finally shift his attention to what mattered more.

His squadmates.

He exhaled and looked around. Soldiers were still fighting, yes, but now they fought with hope. Many were even rallying behind Vanguard Taco’s devastating entrance, and the demons, who once roared in hunger, now snarled in panic. That meant Leon had a window.

He reached into his inventory, pulled out a thin slat, his squad tracker. Each of his teammates had a tiny chip embedded in their armor, invisible to the naked eye but linked to his own. The screen glowed.

They weren’t on this side of the battlefield anymore.

Leon clenched his jaw. ’They’d gone deeper behind enemy lines. Or had they been dragged?’

Leon looked up, watching the red-uniformed vanguard float like a ghost above the chaos. Crimson light spilled from Taco’s uniform as he hovered there, arms folded, coat fluttering in the wind. The sun glinted off his buttons and polished medals, masking his eyes with the glare.

Just then, his eyes narrowed as he noticed a blur darting away from the battlefield, slipping between the blood-soaked trenches like a shadow. Taco’s eyebrow twitched.

"Where’s that one off to?"

For a moment, it seemed like he’d intervene. As his hand lifted slightly. Then he stopped.

"Tch, Later. Demons first."

He raised both hands into the sky. All around him, the blood of the fallen, both demon and human, began to ripple. It slithered out of bodies, pooled midair, and floated above like a crimson halo. Forming a growing storm of scarlet.

Taco’s talent: [Blood Master]—an Extraordinary Talent that gave him full reign over any blood not protected by conscious will.

He clenched his fists. The droplets trembled.

Then they fired.

A storm of blood-tipped spears rained down on the demons across the eastern ridge. Screams cut short. Flesh split like wet paper. The monsters were carved apart with surgical precision.

It was only a matter of time before this battlefield was nothing but silence.

And for Leon, time was exactly what he needed. He turned his back to the field. His squad was waiting. Somewhere. And whatever hell they’d fallen into... he was going to tear it open.