Chapter 35 - Fair play

*Read the author's thoughts*

With his eyes narrowed, Leo took a deep breath and thought about what he should do. His enemies had experience dealing with stronger opponents and his numbers presented him with two big problems.

The first was the fact that he couldn't pay attention to what they were doing at all times so he couldn't focus on attacking a single person.

The second problem was the shooter. Every time he tried to use a spell, the shooter would interrupt him, how did he do it? it was something Leo didn't know. Also, every time he engaged in melee combat the shooter would shoot to his limbs which was a great annoyance.

If it wasn't for the fact that every time he fired he was hiding quickly and he wanted to practice, he would have killed him immediately.

'I can fight with them for 5 minutes. Afterward, I will be able to kill them freely and once I'm done with them I'll have to rush to their base. Maybe I might find something interesting.' Leo thought about what to do since surely Rias would have informed Sirzechs of everything that had happened and it was only a matter of time before he arrived so Leo wanted to make the most of his time with the exorcists.

Leo had not trained in any melee techniques. Likewise, his combat mode was mainly based on using brute force and some spells but now that he would get several souls from exorcists from which to learn martial arts he did not want to stop and wanted to experience for himself their techniques

and how much he was able to fight against them only in his base form. Although he would limiting his strength a bit or he could accidentally kill them, but neither he couldn't contain himself too much or it would allow them to finish him.

'Tch, if I didn't react in time, I have would have a hole in my head' Leo cursed in his mind and quickly tried to find the shooter but it was too late, his moment of distraction gave the shooter the perfect opportunity to hide again.

The exorcists did not sit down and waited for Leo to prepare. Quickly, an exorcist took his fighting stance. His movements were fluid when he lashed out with his sword at Leo.

Leo did not have a fighting position so he simply took advantage of the moment when the exorcist adopted his posture to relax and be prepared for any attack. He knew that if he did not remain calm, he would fall prey to the exorcists' continued attacks without having the opportunity to defend himself.

Leo exhaled deeply as dark matter gathered in his right arm and took the form of a sword. Then, he took a big step toward the exorcist and directly encountered his lightsaber. His strength gushed from his entire body to his right hand and cut toward the man.

The cut moved with the wind. The exorcist only noticed that a black blur was heading towards him so he could only adopt a defensive posture.

Taking the hit, he backed up a few meters just like his team leader. When their "swords" collided, the exorcist was overwhelmed and realized that he could not engage in a direct fight against him.

For opponents who relied on the brute force like Leo, their strategy was simple. Dodge and take advantage of your opponent's openings to brutally punish them.

While the first exorcist was on the ground, the remaining two exorcists headed towards Leo. They took into account the indications of their leader and the experience of their partner and entered into a skirmish fight.

A few exchanges of blows went by but the exorcists gave Leo no chance to hit them thanks to their years of training and experience.

Over and over again, they managed to dodge Leo's attacks. Finally, Leo noticed how one of the exorcists was a little slower to withdraw.

'Well, I'll have to get a little more serious,' Leo thought as he transformed the sword into a fist and lunged at him.

* Bang

The bullet traveled directly towards Leo's wrist but once it collided with his dark matter coated wrist, it was unable to continue on its way.

* Crack

The exorcist flew like a kite without a rope until a tree stood in his way. His arms as bent in an unnatural position while his ċhėst was sagging with a visible mark.

The sound of bones breaking and their partner's condition made the exorcists tremble.

A hit

A single hit was enough to kill anyone of them.

Leo didn't stop and quickly hit the ground.

His fist hit the ground and caused the cracks to spread like a cobweb.

Because of his blow, an exorcist collapsed and staggered backward. But he didn't panic and to avoid Leo's attempts to launch another blow, he threw himself to the ground and rolled to one side.

Seeing him rolling on the ground, Leo was excited. He quickly scooted closer and intended to kick towards him. At that very moment, the exorcist grabbed some dirt with his left hand and threw it at his face.

It was a complete surprise for Leo. He acted instinctively, closed her eyes, and covered her face with her left hand.

Things happened too fast. When the dust entered his eyes, Leo felt the pain and irritation caused by the dirt trails and couldn't keep them open. The only thought in his head was the pain he felt and in his confusion, his head was empty without knowing what to do.

* BAM !!

Leo felt the pain in his back caused by a strong blow. Then, he lost his balance and staggered forward, about to fall. The situation led to chaos but he quickly forced himself to calm down and concentrated on the energy running through his body forming a cloak that completely covered his body like a second layer of skin.

During his training, Leo understood that his mastery over the dark cloak did not allow him to use it in combat but if he was able to focus entirely on creating and maintaining it, he could use it to defend himself.

Slowly, he staggered a few steps until he regained his balance. He concentrated on maintaining the cloak, his mental state was not ideal and this was noticed in the brief moments when the cloak did not form anywhere in his body but continued with his strategy since it was the only solution what he could think.

After a few seconds of resisting the blows, shots, and cuts. His feet finally stabilized, but her eyes still ached. The tears ran down his face as if he were crying, he tried to open his eyes several times but the pain prevented him from doing so. Surrounded by nothing but darkness, Leo had no idea of ​​the direction of the next attack, forcing him to take a defensive stance.

Calm

Calm!

Leo focused on controlling his breathing, he would like to use the mantle blast but that was something he was not yet capable of. Cursing under his breath, he quickly focused on maintaining the cloak when he was again shot in his right shoulder.

'Damn shooter,' Leo cursed mentally but at that moment, an idea flashed in his mind.

'If I can feel where it comes from when I touch the cloak, I will be able to defend myself' Leo thought for a moment and he even forgot what situation he was in when he continued to study his idea but unconsciously continued to maintain the mantle. Incomplete, but kept it.

Determined to try it, Leo concentrated on the cloak and increased its thickness. He didn't have to wait long when he felt a brief ripple in the cloak on the side of his left arm and at that moment his body moved immediately and deftly stretched out his hand forcing the sword to deviate. Holding the exorcist's wrist, Leo quickly transformed his arm into a sword and cut towards exorcist's arm.

* Slash

"Argh"

With a cut, the exorcist's arm detached cleanly from his body.

Hearing the scream Leo smiled to himself. If he was able to increase his reaction time, this ability would be even more useful.

"I knew it was a good idea to fight with you guys" Leo muttered. His earnings rewarded his injuries.