Solflare: The Painter's Secret

Chapter 230: Pit of Silence I

Brown leaves drifted across the digital billboard when Leon cracked his eyes open and exhaled once.

Heat surged in him as he looked at the faces one after another, while the hair on his skin remained on end.

"It will be a waste if I fall for their trap and weak mockery," he said to himself, then shook his head.

He ignored the crowd and returned to his apartment. He slammed the door shut and leaned against it, staring at the ceiling while his chest rose and fell slowly.

The moment he lowered his head, he saw Hei Yung sitting on the couch with his arms folded at his chest, staring at him with a cold gaze.

"Why didn’t you respond to them the way they want?" he asked, then stood up.

"I won’t do it," Leon said as he pushed himself off the door and moved a step forward. "I won’t give them the satisfaction they’re looking for."

"You think you have a choice?" Hei Yung’s voice rose in a sharp tone. "Look at the broadcast, Leon. Look at the number of soldiers standing outside, always staring at your room. Do you think they would just accept it like that?"

He walked to the glass wall, then pressed his palms on it so hard the glass groaned under his skin. "If you don’t fight, you are admitting that the lie they have spread is true."

Leon looked at Hei Yung for a moment, then shifted his gaze to his own arms as he raised them slightly. "Samir is new, but Tiger has been planning this since the day I survived a fight against him at the Alchemania."

"And you’re making him go scot-free?" Hei Yung asked as he turned his head sharply. "Let him know his place. End the years of insults and all the measures he has put in place to see your downfall."

He walked to Leon, then placed a heavy hand on Leon’s shoulder.

"But..."

"There is no but in this. Agatha only respects one thing, and it is not innocence. It is strength." Hei Yung paused, then inhaled deeply. "So, go back there and show them who you are and why you survived."

Leon inhaled deeply, then shifted his gaze to the Kinetic-Drift Shield resting beside his bed. "I will."

A smile tore across Hei Yung’s face as he loosened his grip on Leon’s shoulder and moved a step back. "That is the spirit your father carried."

He walked to the door and leaned against it while Leon calmly put on the silver and black war suit.

...

Thousands of soldiers, both the elite and the new recruits, stood at the iron rails singing praises to Samir and Tiger, who were already standing at the Death Pit.

The Death Pit was a sunken arena carved twelve feet below the ground and surrounded with thick reinforced metals that had survived for over a century.

"Here comes the rat," Tiger said as he tilted his gaze over Samir’s shoulder and grinned.

He tightened his fists and slammed them together, sending a shower of blue sparks across the floor while black smoke slowly revolved around him.

"Can’t wait to see you get what you’ve wanted for years," Samir said as he placed his right hand on Tiger’s shoulder and shifted his gaze to the crowd.

The moment he loosened his grip from Tiger and closed his eyes, a long, obsidian-tipped spear materialized and hovered four feet from the ground. Dark purple smoke gushed out of it as he spun, pirouetting dust and loose stones from the platform.

"Two against one, huh," Leon said in a low voice as the descending platform he stood on landed in the pit, spiking dust in the air.

Above the pit, Hayes sat in front of all the officials of Agatha Special Forces, smiling.

"The Pit has no rules, Leon," he said as he squinted at Leon, then began tapping his fingers on the small bar in front of him. "Let’s see how you survive this time."

"No rules, no clock. When one dies, the fight will be over." Lord Luo Fang’s voice boomed and sent a chill down the spine of every soldier, as if they had no idea they were waiting for a grave match.

Leon remained motionless while his arms hung loosely at his sides, as the moving platform drifted upward and clicked its locks into place.

For a full minute, a suffocating silence washed over the pit, while wind moved in circles and sent a whistling sound across every angle.

As time kept stretching without any action, the soldiers’ murmurs died down, watching the silence like it was a person of its own.

"What is he doing? Does he think this is a playground?" Samir asked as he shifted his gaze from Tiger to Leon, who had closed his eyes.

The moment Leon cracked his eyes open, his irises spiked as a gold glow spun out of his eyes. A countless glow appeared and disappeared in the suit, as if it was learning to unite with its textures.

"I can’t wait for another minute," Tiger roared, then shook his head while his body vibrated harshly.

The blue and dark flames around him formed a ring behind him as he lunged forward.

Hitched air slammed on Leon’s face and pushed his hair back, but he didn’t move until the heat from Tiger reached his skin.

He shifted the kinetic shield the moment he caught sight of Tiger’s punch and slid it with a sharp hiss.

Leon’s hands worked the shield while his legs drifted from one place to the other. Countless strikes pushed him backward, while sparks burst in the air like fireworks.

As soon as Tiger’s punches drew back, the tip of a shimmering spear moved between the shield and Leon’s chest, then carved a scar on Leon’s right fist as it retracted.

"Did you see that coming?" Tiger snarled in a cunning tone, then dashed forward, hitting both Leon and the shield with a hydraulic blast.

The impact sent Leon skittering and rolling backward, but he caught himself just after hitting the reinforced wall.

’That was fast,’ he said in his head, then increased his grip on the shield’s handle. When he gazed at the scar on his wrist, a gold line of a rose flower was in the place of the wound. ’Interesting.’

Tiger and Samir were already on Leon when he shifted his gaze forward.

Tiger leaped in the air and hurled a punch toward Leon’s head, but Leon ducked under it, causing Tiger to slam himself into the walls, sending a clicking vibration through them.

But when Leon sidestepped Samir’s spear, a cloud of acid popped out from the side of it and sizzled on Leon.

"Thought you had dodged?" Samir teased as he watched Leon move two steps backward, splashing the acid from himself.

Leon’s vision blurred as the acid’s heat ate at the suit’s external sensors, but he swung the shield, which reshaped itself and turned into a disc. It cut through Samir’s second strike.

The moment the force of the disc made Samir move a step back, Tiger dashed forward as if their souls were intertwined. He slammed his metal-shod boot into Leon’s chest and sent him flying backward.

Leon hit the ground once, then bounced onto his feet and spat a mouthful of blood onto the iron floor.

"Is that all?" Tiger said and laughed. Sparks of lightning crashed down from the skies and whirled around him when he raised his hands.

"How did he..." Hei Yung asked in a shocked voice but was cut off by Hayes.

"You never know a strong one unless you see him fight," Hayes said mid-laughter, then relaxed his back on his seat. "Welcome to the first phase of Kang T’s strength."

Hei Yung smirked, then shook his head.

’You don’t know what Leon is holding back,’ he said to himself, then smiled as he shifted his gaze back to Leon. ’If you knew, you wouldn’t have given your power to Tiger.’