Ex-Rank Awakening: My Attacks Make Me Stronger-Chapter 122: EX . Eleanor

As Leon dashed through the winding tunnels of the demon-crafted cave, each step sent cracks echoing through the earth beneath his boots. The stale, cursed air didn’t faze him. The scent of brimstone, the heat from distant hellfire veins, the low snarls of lurking beasts, they were all just background noise now.

What did catch his attention was the faint, chilling ripple at the edge of his senses.

He was being watched.

Leon didn’t flinch. If anything, he grinned.

"Good," he muttered, eyes gleaming as they narrowed ahead. "Watch closely."

Let them see.

Let whoever was behind this bear witness to every step he took, every demon that crumbled before him, every trap turned useless. Let them feel the weight of their failure as the pieces of their perfect plan shattered in real time. Because when they saw how easily he dismantled everything they’d built... only fear would remain.

The deeper he went, the stronger the resistance. Demons of all shapes and sizes lunged at him from the dark, one masked its body in mirrors, another bent light to hide, one even split into dozens of shifting shadows. But none of their tricks slowed him. Each encounter ended the same: with Leon cutting them down, fast and brutal, never stopping, never wasting a second. His blade gleamed red and black in the lightless tunnel. It wasn’t just battle anymore. It was judgment.

He was getting close now.

The tracker pulsed in his hand, a blink of soft blue in the dark. It blinked again. Then faster.

"I’m almost there," Leon breathed, not slowing his pace.

Meanwhile, in the scrying chamber carved in obsidian and ruin, Eleanor stood frozen before the pool.

Her fingers trembled, barely able to cling to the edges of the viewing basin. On the other side of the water, the image of Leon moved with relentless force, leaving broken demons in his wake. Her eyes were wide, her pupils shrinking.

"This isn’t real..." she whispered, voice cracking. "This—no, no..."

Her lips quivered. Panic flooded her lungs.

"I’m going to die," she breathed. "I’m going to die and I haven’t even had my revenge yet..."

All the layers. The planning. Years of infiltration. Gaining Eden’s trust during the selection. Corrupting his mind. Becoming one with the squad, feeding information to her master. Every moment of careful study, every test and countermeasure built around Leon’s strengths and weaknesses, it was all collapsing.

She had crafted this dungeon with precision, a spider’s web spun with cursed runes, demons, and impossible conditions. No one, was meant to walk out of here alive.

And yet... he was coming.

Leon Kael was walking through her masterpiece like it was a damn hallway.

She let out a ragged sob, clutching her head as her breathing quickened. The image of Leon in the pool grew clearer and closer, until it felt like he could step through it at any moment.

Suddenly, pain exploded in her skull.

"Agh!" she screamed, dropping to her knees.

Her hands clutched at her head, nails digging into her scalp as something ancient and cold pushed into her thoughts like a storm. The pool’s light flickered violently.

Then came the voice.

Deep, hollow and ike a thousand whispers in a cavern.

"Eleanor."

Her name was spoken not as a greeting, but as a warning.

She gasped, trembling through clenched teeth. "M-Master...?"

Her vision blurred. The voice didn’t answer right away. It didn’t need to.

The weight of it was enough to drown her.

****

Eleanor writhed on the cold stone floor, a guttural scream tearing from her throat as the voice echoed inside her skull.

It was ancient, cold and merciless.

It was the voice that had haunted her for eleven long years.

Back then, she’d been just a girl, Eleanor Clarke, daughter of a humble teacher, loved by her father, cherished by her mother, and worshipped by her little brother. She still remembered the warmth of their home, the smell of old books in her father’s office, and the laughter around their chipped dining table.

All of it had vanished the day the nobles came.

They’d taken everything. Her home, her family, her happiness, and left her with nothing but hatred, and him.

Her master. 𝕗𝕣𝐞𝐞𝘄𝐞𝚋𝚗𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹.𝚌𝕠𝚖

The voice boomed again, colder than before.

"Eleanor... you are failing me."

Her skull felt like it was splitting open. Blood began to drip from her nose, then her eyes, running down her cheeks like crimson tears as she clawed at her scalp.

"After all I’ve given you... the power... the chance for revenge... and still, you falter."

"Ma...master... y-you’re hurting me—" she choked out, her body convulsing as if a thousand needles were being driven into her brain.

Then, just as suddenly as it began, the pain stopped.

A calmer voice followed, no less terrifying in its softness.

"You are lucky... that you are still useful."

Her lungs sucked in air like she’d just resurfaced from drowning. Trembling, she didn’t dare speak as the voice returned one final time:

"I have sent you something. Use it and do not fail me again."

And just like that, the presence vanished. But she knew better, he was always there, lurking, ready to invade her thoughts the moment she strayed.

Eleanor lay still for a heartbeat longer, the stone beneath her damp with blood and sweat. Then, slowly, she pushed herself to her feet. Her face was still streaked red, but her hands no longer trembled. She moved to the scrying pool.

Leon was almost there.

Her eyes sharpened as a twisted sense of purpose filled her chest. That bloodlust returned, curling through her like a drug.

"And to do that..." she whispered, watching the boy who had defied everything she threw at him.

"I must succeed."

The final phase had begun.

****

Leon stepped into the clearing, boots crunching softly over cracked stone and dead leaves. His eyes narrowed. The air here felt... off.

But more importantly,

There was no one here.

No body. No blood. Not even a damn footprint.

The tracker pulsed softly in his palm, a faint blue glow circling a single point on his map. This exact spot. He clicked his tongue in irritation.

"Tch... I hoped this wouldn’t happen," he muttered, sliding the tracker back into his inventory. "They must’ve planted the signal here on purpose, as a damn decoy."

His mind raced. Was it a trap? Or just a delay? If whoever set this up had gone through this much effort, they weren’t trying to kill him outright. Not yet.

He was just about to decide on his next move when a voice sliced through the silence.

"Leon."

Leon spun around instinctively, muscles tensing, hand drifting to his blade,

And froze.

Standing just there was part of the people he had come to rescue. The deep blue eye, and that same eerie calm wrapped around her like a second skin.

Eleanor.

His expression shifted instantly, eyes narrowing as suspicion sharpened his voice.

"...Eleanor?"