Ex-Rank Awakening: My Attacks Make Me Stronger - Chapter 295

Chapter 295: EX 295. Sneak Attack
A low tremor rolled through the city, it was deep, resonant, and alive.

The cracked streets shuddered. The air itself warped as if struggling to contain the pressure gathering at its heart.

Leon stood at the center of it all, his body taut with restrained energy.

He had charged long enough. Everyone had played their part, Lancelot, Rachel, Adrian, all holding the line. Now it was his turn to end it.

He exhaled slowly, fingers tightening around Void Blade.

“Alright, buddy,” Leon muttered, voice low and calm. “Let’s see what you’ve got.”

The black translucent flame that coated his blade pulsed faintly, it was unassuming, yet devoured the air around it. The principle of Destruction was simple, terrifyingly so. That harmless flame wasn’t meant to burn; it was the stillness before annihilation, the quiet void before collapse.

The longer Leon sustained it, the more catastrophic the release.

Force and Destruction existed in perfect equilibrium around him, one creating, the other unmaking. When he finally deactivated the black flame, the balance shattered.

Reality itself screamed.

The harmless darkness vanished, and in its place came a tear, a wound in existence that wrapped around Void Blade like a living aura. The weapon seemed to hum in satisfaction, its edge gleaming with a light that was not light at all.

The rooftops beneath Leon cracked apart, unable to withstand the resonance. His voice dropped to a murmur.

“Extreme Art.”

Down below, the golden man, once unshakable—flinched. Its faceless head turned toward Leon, and for the first time, it moved to flee.

But it couldn’t.

The lieutenant, bleeding and barely conscious, raised a trembling hand. His S-rank control power flared, a golden haze locking the creature mid-air. It wasn’t much. It wouldn’t last. But it was enough.

Leon’s voice gathered power, the next word falling like thunder.

“Horizon—”

But a wet sound cut him short.

Splch.

Leon’s eyes widened. A hand, slender and pale, had pierced clean through his chest from behind.

Standing there was a woman, a vision of corrupted beauty. Long, glossy black hair fell over her shoulders, her skin pale as marble, her crimson eyes glowing with a cruel hunger.

“Well,” she purred, her voice smooth as silk and venom all at once, “what a delicious snack.”

The aura around Leon’s blade flickered, starting to fade. Across the battlefield, Lancelot, Rachel, and Adrian froze in disbelief, horror etched into their faces.

The woman leaned closer, her lips brushing Leon’s ear. “Did you really think I’d let you act as you please… in my territory?”

Then—

A faint chuckle escaped Leon’s lips.

“Heh.”

Her brows knit in confusion. Before she could move, his body broke apart into motes of light and drifted through her fingers.

Her eyes went wide instantly.

As a voice echoed behind the golden man, calm, cold, final.

“…Cleave.”

Leon appeared there, real this time, Void Blade raised high, its edge wrapped in the fused power of Force and Destruction.

Shing!

The blade cut clean through.

The golden man’s neck separated from its body as if the very concept of resistance had been erased. For a heartbeat, it stood, then its form dissolved into dark mist, scattering into the wind.

The released energy surged toward Leon, flowing into him in a spiral of corrupted light, as the tremor that began it all finally came to a stop.

****

Leon wasn’t foolish.

The instant he’d sensed the crimson barrier sealing Harlot’s Paradise, he knew, someone far stronger was behind the golden brute. Monsters didn’t set traps. Minds did. And this one had been waiting.

So Leon made his own plan.

Not to hide, but to lure.

The Leon everyone had seen, the one gathering power on the rooftop, wasn’t him at all. That was a clone, armed with a forged illusion. Using Formless, one of Void Blade’s innate properties, Leon had manifested a perfect duplicate of the weapon, linked to him, but hollow.

He’d wrapped the clone’s sword in a faint thread of Force and Destruction, just enough to shimmer and feel dangerous. The power itself was cosmetic, harmless but convincing. It had worked flawlessly. Even that seductive predator had taken the bait, sinking her hand through the clone’s chest.

Meanwhile, the real Leon stood hidden, veiled within the darkness.

His Void Spawn nature had erased him completely, their was no sound or presence, not even a whisper of life force. He’d been there the entire time, crouched in the shadows, patiently charging the true fusion of Force and Destruction.

And when the moment came, he struck.

The attack silent but absolute.

This was one of those rare times Leon used his head more than his fists, and when he did, the results were always devastating.

As Void Blade cleaved through the golden man, the corruption erupted outward in a violent spiral, only to collapse back into Leon. It hit him like a tidal wave, thick, seething energy flooding through his veins.

That creature had wielded Rank 7 power. An equivalent to an S-Rank Trial Taker. And Leon was absorbing every fragment of that strength. Not all of it stayed, some dissipated into the air, but what remained was more than enough.

A deep, rumbling pulse expanded from his being. The ground cracked beneath his feet as the power surged upward, reshaping him from within.

For the first time, his growth didn’t feel quantitative, like stacking numbers on a scale.

It felt qualitative, like something fundamental in him had crossed a threshold.

Leon exhaled slowly, his body trembling, not from pain, but exhilaration. He could feel it. His limits breaking. His being evolving.

Leon was no longer mortal He had ascended.

****

Leon’s status panel blinked into view before his eyes, lines of radiant blue script cascading down in neat order.

[Status Panel]

Name: Leon Kael

Race: Void Spawn

Age: 19

Class: Warrior

Rank: C-Rank (Mortal >>> Ascendant)

Talent: {Attack} — EX Rank

{Mark} — Overlord Rank

Status: Normal

[STATS]

Vitality: 7050 > 10,000

Stamina: 7001 > 10,000

Strength: 7090 > 10,000

Senses: 7100 > 10,000

Speed: 7000 > 10,000

Aura: 7005 > 10,000

Affinity:

• Force (IV)

• Destruction (I)

[Skills]

[EXTREME ART]

[Inventory]