Chapter 19: A-grade Invalid (1) (1/2)

Leonel closed his eyes, a deep unwillingness sinking into his heart.

That day, when the virgin sacrifice almost strangled him to death, he really had resigned himself. He had even said goodbye to his father. Yet, he woke up.

How was he supposed to feel about that exactly? Was he supposed to think he was forgiven for the 1000 deaths that lay squarely on his shoulders?

Uncle Montez had said it clearly. Sub-Dimensional Zones were points in Earth's history where an event that connected to the Fourth Dimension occurred. In other words… They were real.

Every throat he pierced, every head he severed, every life that slipped away. They were all real.

Leonel had a hard time dealing with that. The reason he had smiled so brightly when he finally saw Aina again was because he thought that she was his light, the only pure thing remaining in his life. But she shattered that image barely a moment later.

In truth, Leonel didn't even know what he was fighting for anymore. He guessed it was just some primal instinct to survive, but he couldn't think of much else. Clearly his parents weren't that much of a motivating factor considering how easily he had given up in the temple.

'What the hell is wrong with me?'

Leonel might have just turned 18, but he was just a kid in the end. He knew that he didn't want to be a quarterback for the rest of his life, but he never really thought about what exactly he wanted to do outside of that.

Leonel chuckled to himself as seven A-grade Invalids converged. By now, it wasn't just them anymore, but numerous lower level Invalids who crept forward as well.

'The most important part of my identity all that time was just liking her, huh… I don't know whether I should be sad or laugh some more.'

The truth was that Leonel was trying his best to find a reason to fight back, to put his life on the line once again and bloody his hands once more.

For his parents? He had already tried that once before. For Aina? He didn't even know if he still felt the same way about her. For his friends…?

Leonel thought of James. His best friend for as long as he could remember. To this day, he still didn't know why James tried to throw the Championship Game. He didn't know why he hadn't just let him do it either. They had already won three times, and winning a fourth would have been meaningless.

”I know you too well. You don't like to lose, but you're too soft-hearted to call me out on my bullshit too. So, you'd find a way to protect our friendship and ignore it, all while winning the big game anyway. Am I right?”

James' words to him reverberated in Leonel's mind. He suddenly felt his hands moving of their own accord, sliding three silver bars out and screwing them together.

'I guess it'll just have to be that simple then…'

He didn't like to lose.

It was an immature thought. One you would expect from an 18 year old boy. If Leonel thought any more deeply about it, he too would find it ridiculous that he was trading what he thought was his moral code for a will to win. But the reality was that Leonel was looking for something, for anything, to give him a reason to keep going. The reason never mattered at all…

Leonel clicked the hidden button on his silver rod. The moment his bike fully formed, he jumped onto it, riding up the side of a massive slab of broken wall and jumping five meters into the air.

In that instant of time he spent in the air, his gaze captured everything.

'Two are within 100 meters. Four are between 100 and 300. The last one is further than 400 meters away.'

It wasn't that Leonel's gaze landed on them all. Rather, it was that he found it easier to feel out the fluctuating energies without so many buildings in the way.

Leonel had run across A-grade Invalids before, in the last three days, that is. He knew how sensitive they were to humans. It took a lot of effort to shake just one off. If these seven caught sight of their base, Leonel would no longer be able to guarantee everyone's safety. Even James' ten-second shield could only block a single A-grade attack.

The higher the grade, the exponentially more difficult the Invalid was to handle. Their 'stats' not only became more well rounded, but their intelligence wasn't so easy to fool anymore either.

Leonel's knees bent as he landed on the ground, expertly using his high coordination to balance on the rubble before shooting forward once more. He controlled his bike with a single handle and used the other to grab a dart, shifting it around in his fingers until he could both grab his atlatl and fit it to it at the same time.

In a flash, Leonel rounded the corner of a building that seemed just an inch away from falling completely over. Half of its top was completely shaved off, having fallen to the other side of the street.

He made eye-contact with those cold, emotionless white pupils. They locked onto Leonel with a concealed murderous intent as though it was still slinking in the shadows.

The Invalid was long and lanky, having a back so arched that the back of its hands almost dragged along the ground.

Despite its lazy appearance, it dodged Leonel's first dart with ease despite being just 20 meters away. Its lanky body curled at an impossible angle, its head arching back so far that its skull nearly cracked against the ground.

'Coordination of 0.87. Its host body should have an ability related to disconnecting and reconnecting bones, making it an expert of close combat. It has good speed, strength and reactions.'

As far as Leonel could tell, F-grade beings had stats between 0.50 and 0.60. D-grade entered the up to 0.70 realm. C-grade was usually up to 0.8. B-grade was below 0.85 with A-grade being below 0.90. Leonel wasn't certain about the S, SS and SSS-grades. In addition, the spirit stat seemed to work a lot differently. The Priest had only been a 0.05 on Leonel's scale, but he was most definitely a C-grade threat.