Chapter 492: Leon VS Chairman Dominik [1]
Time Stop!
The moment Leon activated his skill, the entire world around him came to a standstill.
He immediately dashed forward, concentrating his strength into his sword as he rushed toward Dominik, who was still in the middle of swinging his weapon at Violet.
As soon as time resumed, Leon’s sword collided with Dominik’s, successfully deflecting the incoming attack.
He then followed up with a powerful kick directly against the chairman’s body, sending him flying backward and creating some distance between them.
"Do you not want this battle to be fair?" Dominik asked as he regained his balance, his expression growing considerably colder. "We need to get rid of them first, so that—"
Fwoosh!
Before Dominik could finish speaking, he suddenly sensed an enormous amount of danger approaching from behind, forcing him to immediately abandon his sentence and dodge to the side.
A massive row of dark embers erupted from the ground where he had been standing just moments earlier.
"You..."
Dominik’s wasn’t immune to soul attacks.
In fact, despite the tremendous power he had received from the God of Magic and the God of War, his soul was still relatively weak, meaning that it wouldn’t take more than one or two direct attacks from Celeste’s darkness flames to kill him.
He had to be extremely careful around her, as allowing even a single attack to hit him could potentially cost him his life.
Realizing that Celeste was the greatest threat among the three girls, Dominik immediately shifted his attention toward her, preparing to eliminate her before she could launch another attack.
However, he had completely overlooked one important detail.
Time Stop!
Leon immediately activated his skill once again, freezing time before Dominik could reach the phoenix girl.
He quickly dashed toward Emilia and Celeste’s positions before placing one hand on each of their shoulders.
Using his Abyss Teleportation, which was also somehow not considered to be magic, he immediately transported himself and the two girls to the Abyss Rift he had previously established at the entrance of the chamber.
As time resumed, Dominik’s sword cut through nothing but empty air, and the enormous force behind his attack continued forward until it struck the wall behind where Emilia and Celeste had been standing.
BOOM!
The entire wall shattered under the tremendous impact, breaking apart into countless pieces as the surrounding structure began to crumble.
Dominik slowly turned his head toward the entrance, where Leon and the two girls had suddenly appeared.
"How?" he asked, narrowing his eyes as he examined their positions. "I was quite sure I was faster than you, and yet..."
Leon didn’t waste any time listening to his questions, immediately rushing toward Violet and helping her reach the entrance.
"Leave the chamber now. If we manage to break out of it, you’ll be able to help me afterward, but with most of your abilities rendered useless, there’s no advantage in having you stay here."
Although Celeste was still capable of using her embers within the Zero-Magic Zone, Leon knew that Dominik would continue targeting her.
’Well, he can’t truly kill her anyway, but if she turns into her flame form after being killed, it’ll become quite annoying.’
The three girls understood Leon’s intentions and didn’t waste any time arguing with him, quickly making their way through the entrance before leaving the chamber entirely.
With their departure, only Leon and Dominik remained, finally allowing the two of them to focus entirely on their upcoming battle.
"Well, that solves it," Dominik nodded in approval as he watched the girls leave. "Now, it’s just you and me."
He then clenched his fist around the staff he had been holding before casually throwing it away, allowing the weapon to land several meters behind him.
"We won’t be needing that."
"...Hm."
Leon glanced briefly toward the discarded staff but didn’t do the same.
He assumed that Dominik could deactivate the Zero-Magic Zone whenever he wanted, meaning that throwing away his staff could potentially become a serious mistake if his opponent decided to restore the ability to use magic.
"When I received the premonition from the two gods, they warned me about you, and more importantly, about what you truly are," Dominik continued as he stared directly at Leon. "We initially believed it was nothing more than a coincidence that your name was Celestial, but it was rather foolish of us to think otherwise. You really are one of them."
Leon slightly narrowed his eyes as he listened to Dominik’s words.
"What does it change?"
"Nothing," Dominik replied with a slight shake of his head. "I respect the Celestials just as much as I respect the gods. Although they cannot grant blessings, they are the only beings capable of actually stopping the gods if necessary."
He paused briefly before examining Leon from head to toe, his expression gradually shifting into one of disappointment.
"But looking at you, you’re pathetically weak. Are you really one of them?"
Leon didn’t bother responding to the insult, instead maintaining his calm expression as he continued observing his opponent.
"Oh well, it’s irrelevant."
Fwoosh!
Dominik suddenly rushed forward, swinging his sword with tremendous force as he launched a direct attack against Leon.
BAM!
Leon immediately raised his own sword to deflect the incoming strike, and the two weapons collided.
As Leon managed to stop Dominik’s attack, the enormous difference in their physical strength was obvious: Leon’s strength was MUCH larger than Dominik’s.
And the chairman realized it as well.
"...How strange," he muttered.
However, before he could push him back, an enormous amount of power suddenly began surging through Dominik’s arms.
His eyes glowed brightly as the energy surrounding his body intensified, and with a powerful push, he managed to force Leon backward before swinging his sword directly toward his chest.
SLASH! BAM!
The attack struck Leon’s armor, sending him sliding backward as the impact reverberated throughout the chamber.
However, Leon hadn’t suffered any injuries from the attack.
A massive scratch had appeared across the surface of his armor, but that is all.
’Ultimate Darkness Barrier is magic, so it doesn’t work here,’ Leon thought as he examined the damage to his armor.
Now that he had experienced Dominik’s physical strength firsthand, Leon understood that he would have to take this battle extremely seriously, regardless of how confident he had been before.
’Let’s see.’
Eye of Truth!
Leon immediately activated his skill, allowing him to examine Dominik’s current status and obtain a clearer understanding of his opponent’s strength.
---
[Divine Academy Chairman, Dominik]
[Level: 100]
[Exclusive Talent: Vessel of Magic (S+-Level), Vessel of War (S+-Level)]
[Combat Power: 24,340,000]
[Details: Chairman of Divine Academy, has been blessed by both the God of Magic and God of War, tasked with killing you in exchange for ascending.]
---
’Damn, his Combat Power is quite high, though not as much as the Soul Soldier or even Cavin and Empress.’
This also meant that Celestial’s Might wouldn’t work against Dominik, as his opponent’s combat power was still within a "fair" range.
Nevertheless, Leon couldn’t help but feel that there was something missing from the information displayed before him.
After all, considering the blessings Dominik had received from two gods and the additional power granted by his abilities, it didn’t make sense for him to possess this much strength, especially when Leon’s sword was equipped with that Blood Heart Blessing.
There had to be something else influencing Dominik’s strength.
"Did you check my panel?" Dominik suddenly asked, his grin widening as he noticed Leon examining him. "I also checked yours."
Leon didn’t care much about Dominik’s words, as he was already prepared to use everything at his disposal to win this battle.