Solflare: The Painter's Secret-Chapter 104: Classification Suspended

The blinding white glow in Leon’s eyes flickered and lanced out, passing through the six charging beasts in a flash.

However, as the glow vanished, all six creatures continued their lunge.

Then, in one accord, a single, choked roar emitted from them—HHRRROOOO...—before their bodies split cleanly into separate halves.

Ichor blasted into the air, spraying in thick beads that clung to the dust and pooled in a steaming puddle at Leon’s feet.

As their sliced bodies collapsed in a heap of twitching chitin and meat, Leon’s face reappeared from behind the curtain of gore, gasping sharply like a nearly drowned man.

In his hands, he now held onto two golden daggers, forged from solidified golden light. Their blades shimmered and ripped with stings of ichor.

Slowly, his cold and assessing gaze swept over the remaining creatures as he lifted his head. Leon’s lips, stained with his own blood and that of the ichor, curled into a joyless smile.

"You killed me once," his voice thundered across the blood-soaked ground like a rumble. "I will erase your entire lineage."

The creatures screamed back in defiance, then, as if yanked by a single chain, they surged toward him like a living tide of hornets.

A wide smile tore on Leon’s face as he dashed forward to welcome them.

Slam.

His body became a blur of vicious motions. Each strike of the golden daggers sent the creatures flying aside.

A wolf-beast lost its head through a clean cut that sent the body running three more steps before falling.

Leon moved as though time and space had been carved for his will alone. He ducked under scything claws, slid between lungs, and rose into guards, then drove the blade up through a cross claw.

Rising and fracturing screams like shattered glass filled the canyon as the daggers moved like the commander of death.

Leon gave no pause, no breath, and no mercy. Yet, more of the creatures dashed at him, without considering the already fallen ones.

Every ten, twenty, and thirty creatures that fell only seemed to fuel him, making his movement faster and the daggers brighter.

He no longer moved with human strength or agility. Instead, he moved like a force of nature itself, scattering the swarm to ash and ruin.

In a fleeting moment, he caught a glimpse of his own reflection in the sheen of ichor. The face that stared back burned with a fire that made his legs stumble backward.

"What have I become?" he whispered, staring at the river of corpses strewn across the ground.

Then, the ground beneath his feet shuddered from a deep roar that seemed to come from the foundation of the earth.

The winged beasts recoiled, their formations breaking apart as the roar sounded the second time.

Yet, the spider-ants, wolves, and the sonic bats held their ground, their attention torn between Leon and the source of the roar, as if awaiting a command.

Leon grinned. "Come for the trophy of death," he taunted in a raspy voice and dashed forward in a flash.

He ducked, skittered, crawled, and tore through the remnants like a plague.

When the last creature, the spider-ant, finally fell, the dagger was buried to the hilt in its central eye, and an immense silence struck, followed by the returning roar.

This time, the very ground in front of Leon broke apart. A gap tore open with a sound of tearing continents, and fire-tinged vapor gushed out like gas into the air.

Leon backpedaled and hopped nimbly from the crumbling edge to a safer ground, then turned toward the direction the sound originated from.

There, under the dark, starless sky, the leviathan rose slowly. Its body swallowed half of the horizon.

Dust storms whipped into being from its movement. Each gasp of breath from it bent the winds into a screaming hurricane.

A faint, breathless sound of laughter escaped from Leon as he wiped the ichor from his face and tightened his grip on the daggers.

He bent his knees, braced himself, and squinted at the colossal structure of the god-sized beast.

In his vision, a transparent panel flickered, then erupted with scarlet text and a piercing digital chime.

Cling.

[SYSTEM WARNING!!!]

Hostile Entity Detected.

Life Span compression in progress...

Error.

Error.

Sovereign Continuum authority overridden.

Classification suspended.

Warning: Entity exceeds all measurable existence thresholds.

[RETREAT! RETREAT!! RETREAT!!!]

The warning hammered against Leon’s skull like a psychic scream.

But his grin only widened. He neglected the warnings and took a step forward, then broke into a sprint, the daggers flaying in a ready posture at his sides.

At about a mile closer to the creature, the world blurred around him. Just as he coiled to take a leap and strike at the forelimb, a strained voice ripped through the air.

"LEON, DON’T! THAT’S JUST THE BABY!"

Lieutenant Prince’s shout struck Leon harder than any blow. Leon skidded to a halt, his boots screeching on the stone, nearly tumbling forward.

He gasped for three shallow breaths. Then, slowly, he lifted his gaze past the massive creature.

Behind it, blotting out the sky entirely, another Leviathan moved. This one was so immense that the first now seemed like a chicken beside its parent.

Leon’s lips curled into a bitter and fearless smile.

"What difference does it make?"

He dashed forward again, the daggers leaping from his palms and slicing through the air as if they had a mind of their own.

CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!

Sparks erupted from the first leviathan, where the blades had hit multiple times.

With a single roar, the daggers were sent flying toward Leon. He ducked, the wind tearing at his hair. FWOOOOSHHHH!

A wet, human groan echoed from behind him when he stabilized himself, ready to dash forward again.

The sound froze the blood in Leon’s veins more than the Leviathan’s gaze. Slowly, he turned his head.

Thirty yards back, Lieutenant Prince stood, swaying. Protruding from the center of his chest were the hilts of the two daggers.

Lieutenant Prince took one stumbling step backward, but collapsed to his knees after his legs gave way.

Then, he slumped sideways onto the bloody stone, as the twin glows of the daggers in his chest began to flicker and die.