Zap!

Xiu! Xiu! Xiu!

Two figures rapidly vanished and reappeared from existence, melding into the spatial layers and altering their structure as they competed in a battle of Laws.

Space became an abstract concept under their rule. Its base structure was altered and restructured until it became a completely different existence.

In the first half hour, Leon could do nothing but dodge and desperately block Damien's attacks. But as time passed, he became acclimated to the rate of attack and the concepts within, growing in comprehension by the second.

By the time an hour passed, he was fighting equally with Damien. When 90 minutes flew by, he was even suppressing the purple-eyed genius to an extent.

Damien grinned. 'Right, this is how it should be. Let's up the difficulty a bit.'

At first, Damien had only been using basic Space Laws, the same breed of law that Leon could control. But now that Leon had a basic grasp on his level, doing this was pointless.

Dimensional Magic began to show its might. A higher level of Space Laws than Leon could utilize at the moment, and a level he likely wouldn't be able to touch until he changed his class again and ascended.

But even with this, Damien was only fighting equal to Leon. The more the latter's comprehension increased, the better he was able to use his actual strength.

The only thing that weakened Leon was his law comprehension. At the end of the day, he was a Level 350 being. And not just that, he was a Level 350 being who forcefully raised his power through that mysterious pill.

Damien didn't have even a slight chance of winning against Leon in this state.

But Leon also didn't desire victory. The respect he had for Damien in his heart had reached an insurmountable level.

He didn't care that Damien was younger and weaker than him, he didn't care that Damien had offended powers he always paid attention to avoid.

Damien was the closest thing to a teacher he'd ever had.

Leon smiled as he continued to fight. His fists bled every time they made impact with Damien's, his body felt on the verge of breaking.

His mind, however, was free. His comprehension broke through time and time again, putting him in a state of bliss.

The sounds of battle became a heavenly sermon in his ears. Space hugged him and held him tight, embracing him like a mother to her child.

He could feel it. He could feel the concepts of space that Damien showed him, and he could finally understand what Damien meant by his previous words.

The constraints he felt that space had, these constraints were defined by people who couldn't even use the element! How stupid was he to follow their notions?!

If he could continue this battle for just another hour, he knew he would take a qualitative leap in power.

Yethe didn't have time.

It had now been two hours since he began learning from Damien.

The red pill wore off an hour ago, but Leon forcefully expanded his mana and maintained its effects as long as possible.

Now that another hour had passed, it was impossible for him to maintain that state.

His body wrinkled. The robustness brought by the pill faded away, the crystalline blood vessels on his skin shattered, and he withered into a corpse-like state.

He coughed out a mouthful of blood and crumpled to the floor.

Damien's fist paused abruptly before it made contact with Leon. The forceful stop shattered the bones in Damien's arm, but he didn't care.

He flashed behind Leon and supported his body.

"So? How did it feel?" He asked teasingly.

"Hahahait feltamazing" Leon responded through rough and blood-filled breaths.

"Was it worth sacrificing everything for?" Damien asked again.

"" Leon thought for a moment. The consequences of his actions finally set in.

Tears fell quietly from his eyes.

"Nono it wasn't. I wishI could've fought for longer"

Damien was in disbelief, and he ended up involuntarily smiling. "You crazy bastard. You aren't even thinking about your future, huh."

"With the way I wasI didn't have a future to think aboutbut now"

Leon's mentality might've been strong, but he still submitted to the major clans. Whether it was a subconscious decision or a submission to strength, it was still true that he did it.

When he looked at Damien, he saw someone who never submitted regardless of circumstance. He fought the Bloodlock Clan and taunted them openly, he spoke brazenly to a Demogod like Silcerin to the point where the Zodiac even gave Leon the red pill to kill him thoroughly.

And even though these actions would be considered stupid or reckless by others, it didn't look that way to Leon.

After all, wasn't Damien standing here completely fine?

Obviously, he'd gained a certain confidence from his actions and strength, and he acted based on that confidence.

Respect was earned, not given.

Leon's mentality went through a sudden change during this battle. Even if he lived on as a cripple, he didn't plan to forsake reality.

Even if he was powerless, he wouldn't bend to anyone.

[Heal]

A greenish-white light suddenly wrapped around his body. It was warm and contained the essence of something he'd never felt before.

Somehow, the injuries on his body began to recede.

"This ability is a gift given to me by a great senior. He was a hero of his generation, and someone that should've gone down in the history books. Unfortunately, his name was forgotten with time, and his sacrifice went unpraised." Damien said with a sigh.

"Even if I can't feel it, I'm sure this ability contains a portion of his will. It's so mystical, how could it not?"

"W-what?" Leon exclaimed in disbelief.

"Shut up already. Even if I can heal you, you still overexerted yourself like crazy. If you don't rest and properly digest the comprehension you gained from this battle, there would've been no point in having it at all."

Leon's eyes remained wide. He was flabbergasted, discombobulated even. The question remained in his head, and inadvertently left his mouth.

"Why?"

Damien smiled. "Why, huhis it not enough that I don't want to see the loss of a talented spatial practitioner like you? There aren't many of us in this universe, you know. The small portion of us that do exist should stick together, don't you think?"

Leon shook his head wryly and smiled. Really, he couldn't comprehend this young guy.

His reputation preceded him, labeling him a demon. Just as he was respected, he was immensely feared.

But as it turned out, he wasn't such a bad person. As long as one didn't offend him, that is.

Leon felt his eyelids closing on their own. They were too heavy for him to keep up.

And as he fell into unconsciousness, the final sight that entered his eyes was the beautiful scene of the entire spatial scenery they'd created dissipating into the air.

It was truly art. It was art that only a spatial practitioner could appreciate.

That art faded from existence, and shimmering rays of sunlight replaced it.

But Leon didn't mind.

Just the fact that he'd been able to witness it

Meant that he was a far greater person than he was before.