Chapter 493: Red

Arthur concentrated, eventually managing to make his lower half a mist of light while maintaining a corporeal upper body. Only then did he sigh a breath of relief.

His ability was far too difficult to control. It wasn't because its actual activation was difficult. That alone was as easy as breathing. It already felt as though it was a part of him.

However, there were two problems. The first was that he couldn't take any objects with him when he activated his ability.

Well, this wasn't entirely accurate. When it came to ordinary objects, if Arthur concentrated, he could turn them into flowing lights as well. He could even take these items with him as he entered his 'flowing light' state. The issue was that he didn't have time to concentrate so much on a single task in battle.

Beyond that, when it came to more substantial objects, the level of concentration needed increased explosively. The larger the object and the more valuable it was, the more difficult the process became.

At Arthur's current level of proficiency, only the most mundane items from the Third Dimension could be taken with him. He couldn't even think of taking even the weakest Fourth Dimensional existences, let alone his armor or Excalibur that were just mere half steps from the Fifth.

Such a reality made Arthur's unwillingness obvious.

If he wanted to use his ability, he would need to be stark naked. And, even if he was willing to do this, he would have to abandon his weapon most of the time.

However, aside from this, Arthur knew how truly frightening his ability could be if used properly. He was practically invulnerable, his affinity with the Light Element skyrocketed to the point that maybe only Leonel was above him in regards to citizens of Earth, and even that wasn't guaranteed. Also, in his flowlike state, he could practically ignore the previous injuries to his body.

This last part was maybe the most useful at this moment. Since Arthur's body was practically entirely formed of light particles, its individual parts were far less reliant on each other. If he controlled his injuries to entering a 'flow' state, he wouldn't feel any pain. In addition, his healing accelerated in his flow state.

Still, all of this led to his second problem...

He was too fast. So fast that he couldn't even properly control his own body. It made it almost too difficult to battle in this state.

His mind simply couldn't keep up with his movements.

However, Noah didn't need to know this. Arthur just needed an opening. Just one opening to injure the Prince enough to force him into a retreat. As long as he could do this, then they could stabilize Aina's situation and hopefully find another solution to deal with The Empire.

What Arthur didn't expect though, was that even as he was preparing to fight and even as Noah was sizing him up... that the battlefield would suddenly freeze.

As though it had been plunged into an icy hell, their hearts all came to a grinding halt in that very instant.

...

~Moments ago~

Leonel shot through the skies on his shuttle, leaving a trail of gold in his wake. The little mink snuggled cozily in his hair, a light black fog emitting from its body.

The good thing about Camelot was that he didn't need to worry about Invalids. Maybe it was because of their origin, but as the people of Camelot awakened to their abilities, none of them failed. This might very well have been another hidden reward of a Mythological Zone.

Right now, Earth was indeed in dire need of population. They hardly had a few million people remaining.

Of course, Camelot's appearance might not even double their current populace, but such an influx of talents couldn't be underestimated.

As things stood at the moment, these people of Camelot wouldn't be useful in a short time. But, if there were some changes to the overall political climate of Camelot, they wouldn't be a long ways away from becoming assets.

'The situation in the Demon Empire has been stabilized. If White City committed as much manpower as I think they did, they're likely not far away from being finished. The only remaining variable is City Lord White and her power level.'

Unfortunately, though Leonel was likely more informed about Terrain than most others of Earth, he was still lacking in such details. Though he understood how strength levels functioned in the Fourth Dimension now, that wouldn't help him very much unless he could personally lay eyes on City Lord White.

'I should have enough trump cards to deal with the situation. But it's odd, The Empire's army... why haven't I run into them yet?'

Leonel shook his head, a light smile suddenly coating his face as he thought of something.

'Aina's birthday should be tomorrow... Just a couple hours, actually... I wonder if she'll like her present.'

Leonel's eyes glowed. He had given Aina a lot of space in the past few months, allowing her the time she needed to work through her emotions.

Though he considered himself to have high emotional intelligence, he was still new to romantic relationships. His entire mind was filled with idealized versions of love he had seen in those vintage movies his dad always made him watch.

But, those movies always ended when the guy got the girl. Why did none of them ever explain what to do after that?

'Oh, that should be the... hm?'

Leonel's mind went blank.

He saw a massive battlefield, filled with corpses, many of which didn't seem to have a single ounce of blood remaining within them.

However, this wasn't what shocked Leonel. There were all sorts of people with all sorts of abilities. It wasn't too hard to believe that someone might have a blood leeching ability. What shocked him was the fact that he could see what remained of White City's armies still retreating into the distance, turning tail from the battlefield as fast as they could.

Leonel could easily pick them out even without having participated in the battle. The black robes accented by white soft armor was too easy for him to pick out with his senses.

But... If White City was retreating, why was there still a massive battle going on down below?

Leonel's gaze swept through, his mind working in overdrive as he tried to piece together what he was seeing.

He first laid eyes on Guinevere who had become the core of a group rebuffing what looked like a bunch of youths with astonishing strength.

Then there was King Arthur who had... shed his armor? Where were his feet and legs? How had they become rays of light?

Mordred? She was battling another youth who seemed to be a beast master?

Where did all these young elites come from?

Leonel's gaze narrowed with understanding. As expected, according to his previous analysis, The Empire wouldn't have taken Camelot very seriously and would use it as a training ground for their promising talents.

So it seemed that they had repelled White City but broke down due to infighting in the end anyway?

But even if they wanted to fight, would they really choose to do so right here and right now? Something must have sparked it? What could have...

Leonel froze.

In that moment, the whole world seemed to vanish. In his vision, only a petite young woman madly convulsing remained.

Leonel's heart stopped beating, his breath becoming as shallow as a dead man's.

He watched as Jessica tried to direct her beasts around Mordred, forcing the Demon Empress to block them. He watched as Noah blocked Arthur's path toward healing the young woman. He watched as Nile and the others tried to press past Guinevere's troop.

And then, he saw red.