Chapter 2283: Cold as Ice

Leonel's gaze remained placid, but when he looked down at his chest, he found a thin line of red had formed. It was trying to eat him alive from the inside out, and if not for his powerful vitality, he would have already died from the small nick.

His Vital Star Force surged, and he was surprised to find that the aching feeling only slowed somewhat. This old man was powerful.

Unlike the other Overlords Leonel had seen, this old man didn't seem to have a foot in the grave. Judging by the World Spirit, it wasn't being used to sustain his lifeforce either. This was either because this old man had only just become an Overlord... or he was an elite even among Overlords. In fact, saying that he was elite probably didn't do him justice, there was something else going on here that was going over his head.

If not for Tolliver, he had a feeling that snatching anything from this man would never be so easy.

The old man stroked his beard, seemingly surprised that Leonel had dodged, or so it seemed. It was hard to tell what his actual expression was as it was somehow both flat, and yet... cheery? He didn't look like he had just lost something important at all, but that didn't make sense either.

"Like father, like son, it seems," the old man spoke after a while. "Both doing stupid things that their elders have warned them against."

Leonel attacked.

His spear's tip trembled and an upswell of Spear Force seemed to coalesce from the surrounding air. His body shifted and his Tier 1 Divine Armor took shape. It clicked into place one by one, its pieces looking as though they had been pulled out from the void of space and glued to his body under a mysterious spectral Force.

Leonel's halo shifted from the top of his head, to the back. Then, its inner space flickered, forming a swirling portal of rainbow that eventually solidified into a glorious tree that seemed to uphold the very skies themselves.

The armor could only be described as gorgeous. Leaf-like vein patterns of black, gold and white covered it, crystals forming 25% of it, and a dense black, obsidian-like metal forming the remaining 75%. This time, when Leonel changed his spear from the black rod to a spear that looked wreathed in vines of gold and silver, its aura didn't seem to drop at all. In fact... he only grew stronger.

The old man's eyes narrowed as he leaned back a step, piercing out with two fingers flickering with a foggy green and purple energy. However, as soon as this Force appeared was as soon as it was dispersed under a powerful suppression.

Little Tolly filled the gaps in Leonel's armor, running through the veins of black, gold and white as though calling those places home. Vital Star Force erupted from Leonel and the Life Force in the region roared to life, suppressing everything that had the scent of death...

Except himself.

The old man's pupils constricted, but it was too late. Leonel's spear gathered the strength from his squadron and shredded the old man's fingers apart, then his wrist, and then his forearm. The old man almost lost his entire arm and just barely managed to dodge back in time.

Blood dripped from the stump of his elbow, his smiling expression having vanished, but Leonel hadn't come to a stop at all.

The old man seemed to stop taking things casually and a sickle with a curve like a crescent move appeared in his one good armor. His chest hair seemed to stand on end, his robes fluttering more like silk bathrobes than formal robes a senior of his stature should wear.

The scent of death permeated the air, and this time, Leonel couldn't suppress it nearly as easily. However, Leonel's bloodlines thrummed. He could feel the roar of the Golden Tiger and pulses of white and gold erupted from his body, his armor becoming a cross of beast furs and metal that carried the elegant bearing of a Beast God.

The old man had never seen an armor morph so much and so fluidly. He had seen Leonel's Life Grade armor before, but it had never been on this level, and the suppression of this strength...

Little Tolly pulsed and Leonel seemed to grow an entire foot, his armor following with him. The halo to the back of his head followed suit and the tree upholding the skies grew more prominent as Leonel's Ten Stars appeared to his back.

Darkness descended and Light bolstered, playing off of one another, they supplemented and played like the Moon and Sun sharing the same sky. If everything was bright, then nothing was bright. If everything was dark, nothing was dark. Together they cared for another, forming the shadows and the light.

That was the Natural Light Realm.

Leonel's Void Star Force and Scarlet Star Force spun around one another, his [Star Fusion] entering [Combustion] in a single bound as his energy erupted to another level.

His spear blade met the sickle and the wrist of the old man trembled and then broke. Following suit, the sickle shattered as he attempted to solidify his arm with Force. And then soon afterward, he lost yet another arm.

Matriarch Pyius' eyes opened wide. Of all those here, only she knew who this old man was, and that was only because of her husband. Never did she think that she would see such a sight.

Armless, kneeling on the ground, bleeding out rivers of blood, the old man chuckled as Leonel descended from the skies. The only sight of Leonel's expression was the cold gaze behind his visor, it was clear he planned to kill this man on sight.

"How nostalgic. I'll remember this just as I remembered the last time."

A mysterious strength caused the planet to rumble and then the old man, Matriarch Pyius and Simona vanished as Leonel descended.

BANG!

A fissure blew clean through the palace, splitting Pyius City in two.

Leonel landed on the ground, his Divine Armor slowly fading and his expression cold as ice.