Leonel's clone vanished into a push of green ash. Along his own body, greenish purple veins began to grow larger and larger in size. He was already incredibly vascular due to his Metal Body to begin with, but now it was exaggerated to the point of being grotesque. If not for the fact his Divine Armor was still applying pressure, restricting their growth, it might have looked as though his entire body was covered with squirming, snake-like tumors by now.
Even so, Leonel's expression was still cold. He already realized the issue.
The Scarlet Star Force he had used just now was from his smaller node, it was only at the Fifth Dimension. The was a far cry from the Ninth Dimensional Scarlet Star Force in his much larger Innate Node. The limiting factor here wasn't Scarlet Star Force itself, but rather his own limitations.
He had thought about allowing his smaller Node to grow larger many times, but having a weaker form of Scarlet Star Force in his body made it very convenient to study it. It was akin to simplifying a complex math problem. In addition, it made things much easier on his body when his Scarlet Star Force was weaker.
That said… The last time he had improved his Scarlet Star Force Innate Node was well before he had formed this level of Metal Body. He knew well that his body could withstand far more now than it could before. In addition, his control over Scarlet Star Force now, after his most recent breakthrough, was akin to night and day.
'This poison… Interesting…'
Poison and venoms alike might have a wide array of differing functions, but they all had one fundamental goal: to stop a portion of the body from working as intended. The methods by which they could do this were almost too numerous to count.
This poison worked by attacking the most important system in the body of a Dimensional Practitioner, and that was the Force Nodal System. Of course, this system was just an extension of the circulatory system and could be said to be the same thing.
It fed on Force, catalyzed its own creation, expanding while also forcing blood to pump faster and faster. Usually, when blood vessels dilate, blood pressure drops and blood flow slows. But this poison took on the best of both worlds. Not only did it dilate blood vessels, but it increased blood pressure.
Leonel couldn't help but narrow his eyes. The worst part was that any attempt to get rid of this poison through Force, unless you had a very specific kind, would only end in making it far stronger.
That said…
In the midst of Orinik's mad cackles, Leonel suddenly flexed. His control over his body wasn't something the likes of Orinik could even fathom. In one sweep, he forced all of the poison pumping through his body toward his larger kidney. This wasn't even difficult for him as it didn't require changing any of the way his body functioned, blood was meant to be filtered through the kidneys to begin with.
The moment the poison came into contact with his larger Innate Node, and even his smaller of the two, it was crushed.
In the blink of an eye, Leonel went from a bulbous mess to a normally sized human once again.
Even so, Orinik's laughter only grew more uproarious. In his estimation, the same thing that had happened to Leonel's clown had happened to him. He had blown up like a balloon, leaving nothing but a rain of green ash. Of course his armor had shrunk back down, there was nothing pressing up against it any longer.
The only reason Auran had lived for so long was because he had recognized the poison and stopped using his Force immediately. In fact, he had even expelled what remained of his Force from his body, leaving him especially weak and vulnerable.
But Leonel, like a fool, thought that he could brute force his way to health. He had made the most foolish decision he could have possibly thought of making.
However, Orinik's laughter came to a frightened halt when Leonel suddenly rotated his shoulder as though he was stretching it. Leonel didn't make many more movements than that, but it was already enough for the entire battlefield to become pin drop silent.
Leonel was lost in his thoughts, wondering about something.
'I wonder if it's possible to create anti-bodies for a poison on the spot. I have a great deal of control over my body, the sharper my mind becomes, the more of it I can control. But enlisting a specific kind of anti-body…'
Leonel felt that it would be difficult. He didn't have that degree of freedom with his body yet. But, Aina probably did. Well, her body reacted immediately and she would form the anti-bodies necessary. If he had her in his Dream World as she did so, he could probably observe the process and copy it. He could use Dream Class to enter a state similar to hers and counter every poison.
It was a working theory, but his main goal for this wasn't to save himself, although there was some degree of importance in that. After all, as he learned most about Force Manipulation, the more he realized how dangerous people could be. There was definitely a poison master out there who had a Force that Leonel's Scarlet Star Force couldn't handle.
Having such an ability would be important to counter such a person, but even more importantly than that, Leonel was worried about his subordinates. If he could manifest anti-bodies to help them, then have Aina refine them into a detoxification Force Pill, his army would also become immune to poisons.
Poison masters were incredibly rare, and he had a good relationship with the only family in this Heir War that had them, so he had neglected this matter. He couldn't allow this to happen again, he would only make a mistake once.
'It should work. There's about an 80% probability. It still needs to be refined a bit, but in another few hours I should have a perfect method. That way countering Third Nova in the coming battle will be easy.'
Leonel snapped out of his thoughts and looked up, seemingly only now remembering that he was still facing off against Orinik.
"Anything more to say?" He asked lightly. "If that's all, I'll send you only your way now."
Leonel took a step forward and Orinik suddenly took a step back. His gaze was filled with the incredulousness of the situation.
Orinik was very well aware of just the kind of strength behind that poison. If he realized it even in the vicinity of an Eighth Dimensional expert, there was a great chance that they would be incapacitated for a long while.
Of course, his Force Manipulation was still too limited to kill such an expert, but in the time they were immobile, he could definitely escape.
However, not only did Leonel withstand it, he seemed to have recovered even faster than they would have. His momentum hadn't suffered in the slightest and he looked as though his aura was just as robust.
Orinik grit his teeth. This was already his greatest trump card. Usually, he would save it, but the moment just now was too perfect and he had even succeeded. He hadn't seen a future where all of this would actually be completely useless.
Taking a breath, Orinik calmed himself.
Run. That was the only way out of this matter.
Without hesitation, Orinik turned and fled. Rychard was somewhat caught off guard by this change and hesitated. Orinik had just told him to back up and support him from the back, but now he was running?
Rychard felt a deep disgust within him when he thought about having to run away once again. How many times would he have to run? How many times did he have to suffer this same exact fact?
All sorts of disgust and nausea rippled through his body. Tears of humiliation streamed down his cheeks as he turned, shooting through the skies after Orinik with the faster speed he could muster.
Leonel raised his foot and suddenly vanished, appearing before them in an instant. Weren't they a bit too na?ve to believe that they could outrun someone with such high attainments in Spatial Force? It was nothing more than a childish dream.
However, when Leonel blocked Orinik, his gaze couldn't help but narrow. In his hand, he held a familiar device, a sundial.
Orinik held a grimace on his face when he saw Leonel appear so fast, but Leonel could see the twinkle in his eye. Even now, he was clearly scheming. What Orinik didn't know was that he couldn't possibly match up to Leonel's speed of thought. In that brief instant, Leonel had already realized what Orinik was planning. In fact, from this plan, Orinik even potentially baked in the possibility that Leonel would realize what he was doing.
There was only one place Orinik would teleport to in this moment for safety, and that was Third Nova's territory. If Leonel got caught up in the teleportation, he would be alone in a hostile continent, surrounded by his third eldest cousin's army.
Orinik was banking that if he went, Leonel would either be caught up in this trap, or in the case that he realized ahead of time, he would be too scared to go. Either way, he would escape.
Leonel sneered, taking a step forward without hesitation.
Orinik activated the teleportation, swallowing up all three of them.
Over the horizon, Aina and the others just caught up in time to see Leonel vanishing before their eyes.
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