Chapter 133 One Last Test (Part 1)

~Knock~ ~Knock~

"Enter."

Looking up at the door while sitting behind his desk, Leo watched as the door opened and a young man with light brown hair walked in.

"General." The young man said as he stood at attention about 2 meters from Leo's desk.

"Connor Leary. You probably already know why I've called for you." Leo said.

"I believe it's because I've been selected to be the fourth Captain, sir." Connor replied with a calm voice.

"More or less. You're the best fit for the position out of all the members of this Platoon but the position isn't yours just yet." Leo said as he stood up.

"General?" Connor asked with a confused tone of voice.

"Do you believe you're right for this position? That you have the intellect and the power to lead others." Leo stood right in front of Connor and stared straight into his eyes with an intense glare.

Connor was about 4 centimeters shorter than Leo and had a smaller build. Although he had a well toned body he just looked like a normal person by comparison to Leo.

"There is no doubt in my mind that I am the best option, sir." Connor replied with confidence, not flinching in the slightest.

"Good. Then I have one more test for you." Leo said with a mischievous smile.

***

Clay and the rest of the group were all sitting in the cafeteria enjoying a light snack and chatting.

"Have you guys noticed how Leo's been acting a little different?" Cain asked as he took a bite from some bread.

"Yeah, but it's not a huge difference. Maybe he's just adjusting to his new position." Clay said.

"All of us are 'adjusting' to our new positions and we haven't changed. Although I couldn't really say, I haven't known you all as long as you've known each other." Leonard pointed out.

"I don't think he's changed at all." Nila said. "It's probably just an act. He's supposed to be one of the leaders of this entire place and he's trying to give people a certain impression of him. I don't think it's intentional but that's probably the reason."

"Hmm... I guess that would make sense. Everyone always has this idea in their head that a leader has to act a certain way. He might be trying to do that without realizing it." Clay lifted his hand and pinched his earlobe lightly while thinking.

The noise within the cafeteria suddenly began rising and people started getting up from their seats and running out of the room.

Leonard reach out and grabbed onto one of the people that was running passed their table "What's going on, where are you going?"

The Private turned around with an irritated expression "What the hell man, Fuck off so I..." That's when he saw the person who had grabbed him, as well as who was sitting at the table with him, his face suddenly lost all its colour and he stopped speaking.

"Hey man, answer the question." Cain said as he stood up from his seat.

"I... Uhm... The... The General... G-General Rune is having a duel..." The Private barely managed to spit out amidst his stuttering.

Everyone looked at each other with intrigue as they heard this. Leonard looked at the private and smiled "Lead the way."

The private lead the group to the spot he had been told the duel was happening but it would have been easy to find without any help.

It looked liked the entire Platoon was gathered around a section of the training grounds. As Leonard and the rest of the group approached, a path was opened for them and they walked right to the front of the spectators circle.

Leo and Connor were standing about 30 meters apart from each other at the center of the circle. Leo noticed Leonard and the others arrive.

He unbuttoned his jacket and slid it off his torso, he then tossed it over to Clay.

Connor had already taken his jacket off and giving it to someone that was watching to hold.

Leo began rolling up the sleeves of his black button up shirt, while Connor left his sleeves as they were.

"Leonard, how about you officiate the match?" Leo suggested. Without wasting a second, Leonard walked forward and stood between the two and off to the side.

"What do you want the winning conditions to be?" Leonard asked.

"When one of us is unable to continue fighting or concedes." Leo replied, causing the spectating Infernai to cheer.

"Ready?" Leonard looked at Connor who nodded in reply and then at Leo who also nodded.

"Fight!"

'I've got a few things I'd like to test so bring it on, Connor.' Leo thought as he readied himself.

*Ding

[Your subordinates are watching you. A leader must be someone who is looked up to by those who follow them]

[Sudden Quest]

[Impress your subordinates]

[Win the fight]

[Rewards]

[?]

'Impress them? Alright then.' Leo smiled.

Connor lifted his hand and summoned a single Golem made of stone a few meters away from Leo.

[Wind Blade]

Leo instantly lifted his hand and a horizontal blade of compressed air instantly flew towards the Golem. Leo's ability wasn't known to the other Infernai so the Wind Blade was a huge surprise, especially for Connor.

The Wind Blade hit the Golem right in its stomach/hip area, cutting it in half. The top half of its body slid forward and fell to the ground while it's lower half remained motionless.

After a moment the Golems body crumbled into chunks of stone and then merged back together a few seconds later. Within the span of 10 seconds the Golem was reformed and ready to fight.

Leo chose not to attack as the Golem reformed and waited instead. After reforming, the Golem charged towards him with a faster speed than you would expect from something so heavy but it was still slow in Leo's eyes.

[Repel]

Leo lifted his hand and everyone expected another Wind Blade to suddenly fly towards the Golem, but it didn't.

The Golems body suddenly flew backwards about 10 meters and hit the ground hard. It's body wasn't lifted very high off the ground but it was pushed backwards with speed.

"Wow, I didn't even see that attack."

"He must be using wind right, is that his ability?"

"It must be. The General must have the strongest wind ability out there!"

People were all talking amongst themselves trying to figure out what Leo just did and what his ability was.

The Golem got up from the Ground again but didn't move in for an attack. Everyone was confused about what Connor was doing but then they saw it.

Right behind Leo, a Golem suddenly erupted from the ground and swung its heavy arm down towards Leo's head.

A perfect sneak attack. The speed that the Golem was created and the instant attack would make it extremely difficult to dodge without some kind of speed ability.

But he didn't try to dodge. Rather than try to move out of the way, Leo just lifted his left arm above his head. It looked like he was trying to catch the Golems fist.

[Absorb]

[Redirect]

The fist slammed down onto Leo's hand and to everyone's amazement the Golems fist stopped dead.

While holding onto the Golems arm, Leo turned around to face it.

[Palm Strike]

Without using any of his Energy and relying solely on his pure physical strength, he initiated the Palm Strike.

He stepped closer to the Golem and shot his arm forward while twisting his hand inwards. His palm slammed into the Golems mid section and chunks of rock went flying out of its back. There was now a hole going right through the Golem.

~Silence~

Everyone had their mouths open in awe of what just happened. There were a few Infernai with strength abilities that people believed could maybe do something like this, but Leo had already shown that his ability wasn't strength.

"How is he so strong?"

"Wasn't his ability wind?"

People started to question if they had seen everything clearly or if Leo had maybe used a different attack as his hand hit the Golem so it would look like it was physical strength.

Leo having such immense natural strength was just too strange for them to believe.

Leo placed his hand inside the hole he had created in the Golem and started lifting.

The rock around the hole cracked from the pressure as the Golem was lifted off the ground from just one of Leo's hands. He brought the Golem above his head and with both hands he threw it.

It flew straight into the other Golem, causing both of them to get smashed to bits as soon as they impacted with each other.

"I don't know how you're so strong on top of having a powerful ability, but I'm done holding back!" Connor shouted from across the field.

Six Golems made of stone erupted from the ground at the same time, with one of them being a dark black colour instead of the typical grey that's been seen from his Golems before.

Now with six Golems spread out in front of him, Leo decided it was time to test some of his new skills.

[Fire Bolt]