Three forearm sized icicles wereunched towards Leo as Jean lifted her hand. Although it was sudden, it wasn''tpletely unexpected.


    Even without the use of Dash Leo was fast enough to dodge the icicles, ducking under and side stepping each one as necessary.


    [Wind de]


    As Leo side stepped the third icicle he retaliated with a Wind de. Compared to the icicles, Leo''s attack was much faster and even harder to see.


    The Wind de was thin and t, allowing it to avoid sight unless someone had good perception or they were specifically paying attention to it.


    Coupled with the dark environment, the de was essentially invisible. Only once the Wind de was less than a meter away from her did Jean react to it.


    Leo had specifically sent the Winf de towards Jean''s legs, trying to avoid killing her if possible so he could get the answers he needed.


    In an attempt to dodge the attack, Jean jumped I to the air and brought her legs up towards her chest so they would rise faster and avoid being hit.


    Even so, the Wind de still managed to clip her, leaving arge cut across her shin/ankle area. Shended back on the groin with a sour expression on her face as she looked at Leo.


    "What? Are you mad because I dodged your attack so easily or because you weren''t able to dodge mine?" Leo asked with a mocking tone.


    "I don''t like pain." Jean replied.


    "Then you should just surrender. I promise not to hurt you if you do." Leo said with a serious tone.


    "You''re acting like I don''t stand a chance against you..." Jean said.


    "Thats because you don''t. You''ll lose either way so a quick surrender would save us both some time and it would save you a lot of pain." Leo smiled.


    ''You seem to enjoy making your opponents angry by taunting them...'' Dreifusmented.


    ''Its not that I enjoy it as much as it''s about their skill level dropping. When they lose theirposure they start fighting without thinking their actions through properly, leading to mistakes I can exploit.'' Leo replied.


    ''Wow, so much for fighting fair. Don''t you feel bad when your victory isn''t solely because of your skills?'' Dreifus asked.


    '' You know me well enough to know that I don''t care about how I win. I''m here to defeat my enemy and achieve my goal, how I do it doesn''t make a difference. If doing this makes it easier then why wouldn''t I do it.''


    As Leo''s conversation with Dreifus was happening, the cut on Jean''s leg was being covered with a thinyer of ice.


    Leo took notice of this and watched as the ice melted away a few secondster. Her leg had beenpletely healed and the cut was no longer there.


    "Healing yourself through the use of an ice ability... I''ll admit, that''s a first." Leo said, a hint of surprise in his voice.


    "Still think I don''t stand a chance?" Jean said with a smug expression.


    "Yes."


    Jean''s expression changed into one of anger as she created another three icicles, these ones being half the size of the previous ones.


    She flung them towards Leo, each one moving at a much faster speed than the bigger versions. Instead of dodging, Leo countered with three bolt of fire that heunched to intercept the ice.


    As each icicle was met with a bolt of fire, they exploded into dozens of pieces. Ice was scattered all around and the fire went out simultaneously.


    "What do you think will win, Fire or Ice?" Leo asked.


    [Fire Ball]


    Leounched another ball of fire and Jean created a wall of ice to block it. Compared to the Fire Bolt, Fire Ball was much slower, though it made up for it with its destructive power.


    The Fire Ball hit the wall of ice but nothing happened. There was an orange ball of fire floating infront of the wall, but otherwise nothing. It appeared as though the fire bounced of the wall and continued to hover in ce after.


    "Ha! Is that all yo..."


    ~BOOM~


    The fire exploded outwards, destroying the wall of ice and engulfing the nearby area in orange mes.


    Jean''s body was flung backwards with speed, mming into the wall of a building on the other side of the street.


    Cracks spread along the wall as her body created an indent in the stone. She slid down the wall and crashed into the ground, the damaged stone copsing above her.


    Pieces of the wall fell onto Jean, partially burying her as well as injuring her further. Her arms were burnt from the elbows down and her face was burnt in a patchwork pattern.


    Her clothes were still on fire in some ces and her sleeves werepletely destroyed where her arms were now burnt.


    Leo casually strolled towards the motionless Jean. As soon as he was close enough for his Battle Aura to reach her, he stopped.


    "You can stop pretending, I know you''re not unconscious."


    Jean slowly started ggetring up, pushing the rubble off her body as she did. "What gave me away?" She asked once she was standing.


    "Your breathing was too fast." Leo replied bluntly.


    "My...breathing?" Jean asked with a confused tone and expression.


    "Yes. When people are asleep, they breath slower than normal. I''ve been paying attention to the people around me over the past few months so I could tell the difference." Leo exined.


    "Why would you even think to do that?"


    "To avoid situations like this where someone pretends to be unconscious, obviously." Leo replied.


    "Whatever, I don''t need to use tricks like that to win anyways." Jean said as a determined expression appeared on her face.


    ~Sigh~ "I know you think you''re oh so powerful but I''m still holding back quite a bit. Surrender now while you still have the chance, otherwise I''ll be forced to get violent." Leo''s expression became serious and even a bit menacing as he said this.


    Jean instinctively took a step back. Although she didn''t know why, she believed what Leo was saying, that he was in fact holding back.


    "Even if you''re holding back, what makes you think I haven''t been doing the same?" Jean asked.


    "It doesn''t matter. I saw what you did to that building, how you made ice erupted throughout the entire structure. That''s not going to be enough to help you win and I don''t think you have enough Energy left to create powerful attacks like that again.


    Isn''t that why you''ve only used a few icicles until now, because you''re running low on Energy thanks to your game of tag with Duke Wesley?" Leo bluntly said.


    "I..." Jean balled up her fists "You don''t know what you''re talking about!" She swiped her hand upwards, creating several spikes of ice that extended out towards Leo from the ground.


    From infront of Leo, a constant stream of fire burst out of the air and mmed into the spikes, melting the ice within seconds.


    Jean was suddenly shoved back and upwards by an invisible force that mmed into her body. She hit the wall with force, causing more pieces of debris to fall onto her.


    One of therger pieces of stonended on her head, creating arge cut that gushed out arge amount of blood.


    "Just take a look at what''s happening. I''m not even trying and you''re still getting hurt, just think about what would happen if I actually put effort into my attacks. Surrender before things get serious." Leo said.


    Jean looked like she was contemting the situation and deciding what she should do.


    " The Great Ones...they have a name. They''re called the Malum. The reason they need you is because you''re a..."


    ~THOOM~ ~Snap~


    An invisible force that created a loud thunderous sound mmed into Jean from the side, snapping her neck and killing her.


    She was right on the edge of Leo''s Battle Aura so he only felt the force that was heading for her at thest second.


    Directly to the side of Jean an there was a man walking out of an alley that was perfectly in line with the building she was pressed against.


    "Who''s there!" Leo shouted with a tone of fury.


    "Leofalor?" The man said as he stepped into the street and entered an area with light.


    "Snythe... Why did you kill her right when she started talking!?"


    "I saw her get thrown into the wall and assumed she was fighting someone. I attacked because I was trying to help... I didn''t realize she had surrendered." Snythe said as he limped forward.


    It was then that Leo noticed Snythes appearance. His uniform was torn in ces and covered in dirt and dried blood.


    He had bandages on his arm and it was being carried in a sling that hung from his neck. The bandages themselves had mostly turned red from blood.


    "What happened to you?" Leo asked. "Where have you been this whole time?"


    "I''d appreciate it if you could take me to any healers you might have brought with you, I''ll tell you on the way..." Snythe said as he limped closer.


    "Yeah...fine." Leo said as he ced Snythes uninjured arm around his own shoulders and helped him walk.


    "Thank you. Well, it all went to shit when I stepped into the Gate..." Snythe said, beginning his story.