Ex-Rank Awakening: My Attacks Make Me Stronger-Chapter 101: EX . Will Leon Awaken A Special Power and Defeat The Demon?

Chapter 101: EX 101. Will Leon Awaken A Special Power and Defeat The Demon?

Close to the Federation walls, the demon threat was usually weak. That wasn’t a comforting thing, it was tactical. The stronger demons rarely approached unless a skirmish was initiated, and those that did?

They were met with the full might of the Federation.

Leon knew this well.

Which made this current situation all the more disturbing.

’How the hell did an A-rank bypass our sensors?’

’It shouldn’t be here.’

But it was.

And now that it was out in the open, Leon knew one thing for certain, it was only a matter of time before the Federation locked onto it and sent reinforcements.

He just had to survive until then.

The demon shrieked from above, diving with a savage war cry, its massive greatsword trailing shadowy energy as it descended.

Leon gritted his teeth, blood on his lips, and commanded his astral construct.

"Clap!"

The colossal spectral arms obeyed, slamming together with titanic force before slowly pulling apart, a beam sword of raw golden aura forming between their palms, humming with unstable energy.

The demon’s greatsword came crashing down,

CLAAAAANG!!

The beam sword intercepted, creating a shockwave that tore through the trees and cracked the ground for meters.

And then the real clash began.

The demon darted around the construct, far faster than something that large had any right to be. Its movements were wild, erratic, circling to find a blind spot, but Leon wasn’t relenting. The construct rotated with him, parrying, blocking, slashing, and keeping the creature at bay.

Each time their weapons collided, ripples of force shook the air, the pressure distorting reality around them.

Then, in one fierce exchange, they both repelled back,

And the demon rose into the air, its form bathed in smoke and malevolence. It lifted its sword high, chanting in that same broken, unintelligent voice:

"...CaPtUre... CaPtUre..."

The sky darkened.

Leon’s eyes widened through the lens of his construct. freēnovelkiss.com

"Oh, shit."

Above, a giant spectral greatsword began forming, twice, no, ten times the size of the demon’s own. Its edges crackled with black lightning, and its presence warped the very sky.

Leon didn’t hesitate.

He funneled every last drop of aura he had left,

His vision blurred. His muscles screamed. His core felt like it was being torn apart.

"Horizon Cleave!"

The beam sword of the construct surged with golden and red light, pure force incarnate, before it met the descending spectral blade in a cataclysmic explosion.

BOOOOOOOM!!

The sky lit up like a sun dying, the air turning into glass for a split second before shockwaves flattened everything nearby.

Leon was launched from the construct, armor cracking, blood painting the air as he crashed hard into the earth.

He groaned, trying to stand, his hand gripping his side, but the moment he tried to channel aura, a bolt of pain stabbed through him like a spear.

He dropped to his knee.

"So... my time’s up."

He had burned too much.

His boosted stats were spent, his aura gutted, and his construct gone.

He had fought too hard, too long, and now his body was failing.

The demon, still hovering, was scorched and battered, chunks of its skin burned away, but it was healing. Slowly, but surely.

And it was still repeating...

"Capture... Capture..."

Leon lifted his sword, half in defiance, half in desperation.

"Should be... about time... someone shows up."

Then,

SSSSHRRRRRRIIIIIIIPPPP!!!

A claw tore through the air itself, like someone had sliced reality apart. A dimensional rift opened midair, space bent like fabric being ripped.

And in the same breath, the demon was gone.

No warning. No scream.

Just pieces of blood, flesh and steel.

Torn apart in an instant, its body shredded into demonic confetti, scattered in all directions.

Leon’s eyes flicked toward the tear in space as it began to seal itself, and from that fracture stepped out a girl in black.

Her hair flowed like ink, her uniform crisp, and in her hand was a claw-shaped gauntlet dripping with demonic residue.

Nikko Yakomoto.

She stood over Leon, a playful smile tugging at her lips.

"What? Aren’t you happy to see me?"

Leon let out a tired laugh, his body finally giving in to fatigue.

"Yeah... I’m more than happy..."

And just as his legs buckled, Nikko stepped forward and caught him, his head resting against her shoulder.

She looked down at him bruised, broken, and bloody.

"He really exhausted himself..." she whispered, shaking her head.

As Leon lay unconscious against Nikko’s shoulder, his bloodied form finally at peace, a soft smile tugged at the corners of her lips.

But it vanished in the next breath.

Her gaze sharpened like a blade.

Her voice turned ice-cold.

"You can come out now."

Silence.

No footsteps. No rustling wind. Not even a breath.

But Nikko didn’t flinch.

Then, from the blackened sky above, a crow cawed once, a low, guttural sound that felt heavier than it should. It glided downward in a slow spiral before landing before her, its obsidian feathers twitching with malice.

In an instant, the crow twisted.

Bones cracked. Shadows warped.

And from that darkness, a demoness emerged.

She rose from the earth like a cursed blossom, tall, elegant, and utterly unnatural.

Her skin was pale ash, streaked with dark markings that pulsed softly, as though alive. Her hair, jet-black and long, trailed along the ground, shrouding her eyes and brushing over the dirt like the hem of a mourning veil. Only a faint glint from beneath her bangs hinted at the presence of her gaze, watchful, ancient, malevolent.

She said nothing. But she didn’t have to.

Nikko’s eyes narrowed.

"You finally decided to show yourself."

The truth was, Nikko had arrived at Base 01 mere hours before Leon’s departure. Normally, he would have been protected by either Rebecca Sky or Raven Stone, but Nikko had insisted. So Rebecca and Raven relented easily; after all, it meant less work for them.

But no sooner had she stepped out of the base, she sensed it,

A chilling wrongness. A presence silently Watching, unseen.

She couldn’t pinpoint the source, and so she chose patience over action.

Instead of approaching Leon, she followed at a distance, veiled behind layers of concealment, her aura hidden completely.

She watched as Leon crushed the first stronghold. Then another. And another.

She watched his inhuman strength, his calculated madness, his relentless will.

And then came the battle.

Nikko watched, frozen, as Leon Kael fought an A-rank demon. Alone.

Not with support. Not with backup.

Alone.

’Not even Father has done something like this at nineteen...’

Her worldview cracked.

’So this is why Father’s watching him so closely.’

But her awe was immediately replaced with grim realization. The only way a demon of that caliber could’ve slipped through the Federation’s scanning fields...

She looked at the demoness.

’It’s her. She’s the smokescreen.’

A creature powerful enough to shroud A-rank demons. Who knew how many more she had hidden across the region?

’Good thing I already informed those two. They’ll be here soon.’

Then the demoness finally spoke.

Her voice was low and resonant, like an echo dragged through a tunnel of bones:

"Hand over the boy... or face annihilation."

Nikko tilted her head slightly, her grip tightening on Leon’s unconscious form.

Her golden pupils began to narrow, serpentine slits taking their place.

Power radiated from her presence like a pressure wave, forcing the air to still.

She didn’t shout. She didn’t growl.

She just spoke, with absolute certainty:

"I would love to see you try."

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A/N: I will try to do the mass release tomorrow. Thank you for reading