Whoosh!Leander's eyes hardened as fifteen flaming arrows shot through the air, screaming and disappearing into the clouds at many times the speed of sound.Screech!Inside the AH-1 Cobra attack helicopters, alarms wailed. Pilots scattered in panic, breaking formation and yanking their gunships into wild evasive arcs.It changed nothing.The firelit arrows clung to them like living trackers, closing in no matter how hard they twisted or dove.Boom!A flash split the sky.Then another.Then another.In moments, fifteen columns of fire tore open the heavens.Burning wreckage rained down in spirals.Leander plummeted from nearly 1,600 feet, then stabilized around 300 feet and hovered in the open sky, with blue light swirling around him like a living cloak. He appeared as a god of war forged from light."Hmph." A cold, slender smile flickered on his lips as the flames diminished. His eyes remained devoid of warmth.His killing intent burned more fiercely than ever before. He had never wiped out so many in a single confrontation. Today, he was completely without restraint.He was well aware that the force used against him was not from a simple rogue group but from a state-sponsored entity, backed and financed by a superpower.A nation that could field AH-1 Cobra attack helicopters like this?Only one answer fit-the Agylae.The dominant power of the age was a nation that bent others with sheer military weight.The thought brought no fear.If they thought crushing him would serve as a warning to those King Phase masters from a century ago, then so be it.He would carve the price of challenging Jeff Ashcroft into their memory.Today, he activated Devourer Form, charged at rockets directly, tagged fifteen targets with spiritual strength, and eliminated them using Windchaser Arrows.This was his reply.Not even a powerhouse like Agylae could make him bow. He would carve the message into the world with his own strength: to every nation plotting his death, to anyone who wanted Jeff Ashcroft gone—killing him would never be that easy."Oh my God..."From a distance, Torre and the rest stood frozen. Gisela's face drained of color, her lips parting into a silent circle as she stared.Once, she had thought Leander was merely beyond human.Now that idea felt foolish.He had already torn through 3,000 soldiers alone, leaving nothing but wreckage behind. Tanks and armored vehicles had fallen like toys before him.Then six AH-1 Cobra attack helicopters had been ripped from the sky, pierced through by flaming spears.After that, fifteen more had tried to bury him in fire. Rockets and storms of steel had hammered down, yet he had walked away untouched. In return, he had loosed fifteen arrows, turning every helicopter into a falling star.Gisela swallowed.For her, this was no longer just a fight. It was a legend being etched into the clouds -something meant for gods, not mere humans."Chief... what are you?" someone whispered.The Southern Wyvern Blade members exchanged looks, awe, and dread mirrored on every face.They had known he was monstrous when Mason fell at Stormcairn River. They had sworn to chase his shadow forever. Yet, this was beyond chasing.As they watched him cut through armies, overpower the era's most advanced weapons, and face rockets with only flesh and blood, they felt a legend forming in their hearts.You could challenge a rival.You could hunt a goal.A legend? You could only look up.Skyler's fist clenched before gradually relaxing. A helpless smile appeared on hislips.He had first crossed paths withLeander in Ravenridge. Back then, hehad dismissed him as just anotherwashed-out kid, maybe even ahängeron for Frankie Leandershowed some skill, sure, but to aSouthern Wyvern Blade reserve like him, it hadn't seemed worth noticing. He never treated Leander as a serious rival-only a small hurdle, a love competitor he thought he could easily dismiss.Later, during a gathering of Ravenridge's elite, he learned Leander's true identity— Mornwick's Legend and the chairman of Jeff Enterprises.Those two titles hit him like a crushing weight, wiping away his earlier contempt and everything he thought he understood.That night, he knew he had lost. Still,it did not feel beyond saving. Though he left the banquet in disgrace, he chung to one belief with enough effort in the Southern Wyvern Blade,elight one day rise to Leander'shelevel. Then Leander appeared at the Southern Wyvern Blade training base, quickly becoming their chief instructor and revealing himself as the top ranked martial artist on the Astria Power Index. The gap could no longer be ignored. When Douglas fell at Stormcairn River, the last trace of hope was shattered. Even so, Skyler clung stubbornly to a faint hope that one day he might catch up,share in that glory, and stand under the same sky.Today destroyed it.Only now did he realize that the dream had always been an illusion.Leander had broken his view of the world and rewritten his understanding of power.At last, Skyler accepted the truth: true strength could rise high enough to stand against even Earth's most advanced weapons.The young man next to Gisela couldn't tear his gaze away from the blue-glowing figure overhead. His face had gone rigid with disbelief, and for several heartbeats, he couldn't even move."How can someone like that exist in this world?" he whispered. "Is this really the world I live in? How many things are there that science just can't explain?"His voice faded away. All his doubts about Leander, now sour in his chest, remained bottled up in silence.High above, Leander hovered in silence. Blue light flickered around him, yet his Primordial Energy pulsed unevenly, clearly draining.Moments earlier, he activated Windchaser Arrows, targeting the AH-1 Cobra attack helicopters as they flew by, shooting them down one after another.This incredibly drained him, using up both his Primordial Energy and spiritualstrength.With his current spiritual strength, he knew he could only perform that level of tracking art at most twice."Three days to recover... minimum."The hollow ache in his spirit core elicited a faint smile as he shook his head, with ahint of weary acceptance in his eyes.noveldramaIf it hadn't been necessary to end the fight swiftly and eliminate all threats, he wouldnever have resorted to such a dangerous killing move.He turned, ready to leave.Then danger screamed through his senses.His body snapped 100 feet sideways in an instant.Swoosh!A black streak shot past, leaving a trail of smoke that was too quick to see.Leander's pupils tightened. "That's... a homing missile?"