Solflare: The Painter's Secret

Chapter 231: Pit of Silence II: Tiger’s Execution Reversed

Tiger vanished in a flicker of blue light as the skies darkened.

"I expected more from a rat trying to be a lord, Leon!" His voice revolved around Leon until he materialized directly behind him.

He grabbed the collar of Leon’s suit and pierced his left hand into Leon’s upper left shoulder. Blood spilled from Leon’s mouth, yet he did not scream. He smiled.

The gold fire in Leon flared onto his suit as he looked Tiger straight in the eyes. The energy drifted into Tiger’s veins when Leon pressed his green ring against the open wound.

A sickening pull gashed in Leon’s chest, causing him to grin even as a massive sum of power began to drain from his body.

The sky above the Death Pit rumbled with colorful lightning and a thunderstorm. Tiger loosened his grip and hurled Leon backward.

"I feel it!" he screamed, raising his arms toward the blackened sky and the swirling vortex at its center. "The sun belongs to me now!"

Countless soldiers gripped their seats as the thunderstorm intensified, sending bolts of uncontrolled lightning at the ground. Liquefied fire blasted wherever the bolts struck, stretching toward the reinforced walls of the platform.

Samir walked toward Tiger and placed a hand on his shoulder amidst the rain of lightning. "Now you have finally gotten the pride you wanted."

"No," Tiger screamed, snapping himself away from Samir’s grip to glare at Leon. "Until he is dead, I won’t be at peace."

The golden rose flower on Leon’s suit was the only thing that still held its glow. Leon looked up, exhaling sharply.

The edges of his vision turned black, but he could still see Samir dashing toward him with a spear aimed for his head.

’You want it?’Leon said in his mind. He loosened his grip on the kinetic-drift shield’s handle as a new golden glow reformed and throbbed in his heart like a hammer striking an anvil. ’Then take every bit of it.’

As soon as the tip of the spear reached Leon’s eyes, he tilted his head to the left and lifted his right fist, which glowed with a fiercer golden energy.

When he slammed an upper punch against the center of the spear, gold lightning spread across the weapon and sent Samir flying backward.

The moment Samir caught himself, his eyes went cold. His unbreakable spear of Linyan essence turned into ash and dribbled onto the ground.

"Another power to transcend me above the human and god level!" Tiger screamed when he saw the new glow on Leon.

His left arm, still bearing the green ring, sliced through the air as he dashed forward. As soon as Leon sidestepped him, water spiraled around Leon’s legs and trapped him.

"Not so fast, Leon," Tiger said. He turned and channeled the water into ice, which began to slowly freeze Leon’s body. "Think you’re smart?"

He laughed as he closed in. "Leon, Leon, Leon." He brushed his fingers against Leon’s frozen face and shook his head. "You should have stayed home when my men arrived with that warning message I sent."

Leon’s eyes blazed. The faces of the thugs reeled in his head, and the heat began to melt the ice around his eyes.

"Because you wanted everyone to like you," Tiger said, moving toward Leon’s left side. "You told everyone about how you survived the Shattered Land, not knowing you were slowly digging your grave."

Tiger shifted his gaze to Samir, who still stood there unsure of how his spear had been turned to dust. Tiger shook his head. ’Useless being pretending to be strong.’

The more Tiger walked in circles, the more the ice melted from the inside.

"Do you know why I will never rest until you are dead?" Tiger asked. He stopped behind Leon and leaned against his right ear. "Because you humiliated me in front of everyone. Everyone, including my useless uncle, Hayes."

Meanwhile, in the front seat of the elite soldiers and the two Seol-Mujin officials, Hayes stared at Hei Yung and laughed.

"Care to start making his casket?" Hayes said, placing a hand on the metal bar in front of Hei Yung. "What size is he? The casket shouldn’t even be that big, maybe an inch or two. There will be nothing left to bury. Hahaha."

Above the Death Pit, the swirling clouds sent waves of red sparks as Tiger directed a mixture of lightning, water, and blue fire toward the frozen Leon.

Leon’s eyes closed as the three elements surged toward him. He exhaled once. The glow in his eyes dulled for a second, but when it reappeared, the golden rose flower on Leon’s wrist stretched and blasted the ice into shards.

Leon’s golden glow formed a ring around him and surged into the sky like a beam of light.

A shockwave of pure solar energy blasted outward, cutting through Tiger’s three stolen powers and sending him crashing into the reinforced wall. Rootlike cracks spread through the stone and stretched upward to the platform where the soldiers sat.

The entire Blackscale Citadel shook. The shockwave caused the iron roofs to peel off while buildings within the Flink Hall and the Bulwark Halls collapsed.

Leon’s eyes opened within the beam. He walked out of the light with a speed that defied time and grabbed Tiger’s neck.

From a distance, Samir dashed forward and grabbed the kinetic-drift shield to lunge at Leon, but Leon blasted him off like an ant without even looking at him.

When he lifted Tiger off his feet, Hayes stood up with sunken eyes, watching the solar energy engulf them both. A weird smile tore across Hei Yung’s face as he shifted his gaze from the pit to Hayes. ’This is what real strength is.’

The solar energy intensified with every passing second, melting the ring on Tiger’s finger and roasting his skin.

Leon’s irises remained pure gold for a full minute, only turning back to brown when he saw Tiger’s heart rate dropping to near zero.

"You’re not worth the ash," he said in a low voice. He loosened his grip.

Evaporated air exited from every part of Tiger’s body as he slammed onto the ground. His metal gear was burnt away, leaving him with nothing but roasted skin.