Divinity

--- [Alex’s perspective]

We both come to a sudden stop, then carefully dropped the people on the ground behind us.

It’s time to face Leon.

“Don’t worry about us, okay? I’ll take the girls and run away while you two deal with that guy.” – Dan

“Yes!” – Alex

If we’re gonna fight off a guy as strong as Leon, we can’t have those three around to worry about…

Dan obviously realized that.

Despite his looks, he’s actually pretty smart…

“Not so fast there!” – Leon

Shit, he just ran straight past us!

“Ugh! Let go of me, dumbass!” – Leon

Nice!

Shin managed to grab his arm.

Leon turns around to hit Shin.

I can tell his attacks are deadly, even if I haven’t seen him fight seriously before…

Shin looks pretty calm and collected, unlike Leon.

He swings wildly at him like he’s an enraged beast.

Shin ducks under his swing just in time.

Had Leon been calmer it might have been a different story…

“Oops, you missed me!” – Shin

“You little-” – Leon

Before Leon is able to finish his sentence, Shin strikes back with a kick to the jaw.

“Gah!” – Leon

Leon coughs up blood.

Wait, what is that?

Leon’s eyes…

They’re glowing red.

Why?

“Heh...” – Leon

Why is he smiling…?

Shin lets go of Leon’s arm and tries to jump back, but Leon grabs his reverses the roles by grabbing Shin’s arm instead.

Leon leans back and prepares a headbutt.

Oh no…

He tries to pull his arm back, but Leon isn’t letting go.

Leon is overpowering Shin so easily…

This is a problem…

I have to help him!

“AAAAGH!” – Leon

Leon screams as he launches his headbutt.

I dash towards them with all I got, I have to stop him!

Just before his attack connects, I manage to hit him in the side of his head, sending him flying.

Some of the skin on his arm gets ripped off while sliding on the ground.

His eyes start glowing even more intensely than before.

Why is that happened?

Could it be that…?

No…

That’s impossible.

But…

He’s not getting up.

Did he get knocked out?

“Heheheheeehehheeeee!” – Leon

Of course not…

I really wish he stayed down…

“I’ll let you guys in on a little secret…” – Leon

A secret?

“You’re probably wondering why my eyes are glowing red, right?” – Leon

I look over at Shin.

He looks terrified…

Does Shin know why?

If it’s something that terrifies even Shin…

What could it possibly be…?

“You guys will never beat me, and it’s because of just one simple reason. I know SDM!!” – Leon

He knows SDM?!

Shit.

This is going to be a lot more trouble than I thought…

“The more I get hurt, the stronger I get. Every time you attack me, you make the situation worse for yourself.” – Leon

I guess that explains why he decided to just grab those swords earlier…

“Alex, we can beat him… I have a plan.” – Shin

He does?!

“Oh, do you now? Do tell…” – Leon

“We’ll knock you out… It’s not without its risks of course, but where would the fun be if there wasn’t some risk?” – Shin

“Risk?” – Alex

“The only way we’ll have enough power to knock him out is if we go all out, but if we do that, we might accidentally kill him… If he dies, we fail the exam. But if we don’t stop him, even more innocent people will die.” – Shin

I see…

Like he said, it’s risky…

But we have to protect Lett and the others!

“Let’s do it.” – Alex

“Hah! Good fucking luck!” – Leon

Leon lunges towards me.

“TRY NOT TO DIE!” – Leon

Oh no…

He’s too fast, I won’t be able to get away in time!

I’ll have to defend.

His hand is wide open, he’s not going to punch me…

He’s going to claw me!

His attack connects with my side and his fingers tear right through my flesh like it’s nothing.

“AAAAGH!” – Alex

“Alex!” – Shin

This power!

It’s…

It’s unreal!

I did all I could to defend…

I even concentrated fully on hardening the area he was attacking!

Even though I did all that…

He still effortlessly overcame it with his power.

And he’s just going to get stronger every time we hit him…

This is bad…

Really bad!

“Are you okay Alex?!” – Shin

“Yeah…” – Alex

…

I’m not okay…

I’m bleeding a lot, and I’m starting to get a little dizzy.

We need to end this now.

I look over at Shin; that one look was all he needed.

He understood exactly what I was planning…

We need to both hit him with all we got at the same time.

It’s the only way…

We both immediately start charging up our attacks.

No normal BDM powered attack will be enough, only a charged attack.

We’ll build it up for as long as possible, then at the very last moment, we’ll unleash both our attacks at the same time.

As expected, Leon goes for Shin this time.

If he actually kills us, then he won’t be able to pass the exam either.

He just needs to hurt us enough to stop us.

But…

If he’s not careful, a single attack could be lethal, even if he doesn’t intend for it to be.

I run towards Shin too.

He’s standing still and concentrating on charging up his attack.

This one attack will decide if we win or if we lose.

If he dies, we’ll fail the hunter exam.

If he’s still standing, our friends will die.

The only way to win this is by threading the needle, hitting him with the exact power needed to knock him out.

No more, no less…

He’s finally within attacking range, however…

That means we are too.

He opens his hand and swings it towards Shin.

He’s going to use a clawing attack just like he did against me.

We launch our attacks, and just mere moments before he hits Shin, our attacks connect.

Shin’s fist hits the right side of his head, mine hits the left.

The power reverberates through his skull, sending it right back.

Our fingers break, but we push through the pain.

“Gah-” – Leon

His jaw breaks and his eyes start glowing again.

The intensity is far beyond anything we’ve seen before.

“AAAAAAH!” – Alex and Shin

We scream as we continue to push as hard as we can.

We have to do this!

If this doesn’t work, we’re screwed!

I don’t even want to imagine how powerful he’ll be if this isn’t enough!

Finally, after a few more seconds our attack is finally ends, and Leon drops to the ground….

An attack like this would without a doubt kill anyone else in the exam, including both me and Shin…

We have no other choice than to pray it won’t do the same to him…

Leon isn’t getting up…

Shit.

Is he dead…?

Wait…

No…

“Oh no…” – Shin

Oh no…

No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no!

His eyes light up yet again…

The crimson glow dyes the entire street red like it’s drained in blood.

He stands up…

His entire body is shaking, but he’s up…

This is the worst case scenario…

“HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!” – Leon

His jaw is completely crushed, yet you can still make out a psychotic smile.

He’s enjoying this…

With his current power, a light touch could be deadly…

We can’t escape either, that would make everything we’ve done meaningless…

“AAAAAAAAAAAGH!!!!” – Leon

Leon starts screaming, as he prepares to attack.

…

Huh…?

He stops screaming, and before he even gets to start the attack, he falls to the ground.

He…

Passed out…

The damage he took was too much, even for him.

I don’t think he’s getting up again…

Not for a while.

“Whew… That was a close one…” – Shin

You don’t say…