Dimensional Descent

The arrow embodied the word. It didn't have to fold space or shatter its way into the void. It was speed in its truest essence, velocity in its sharpest definition.

It moved so quickly that it truly did seem to do all of those things, and yet both Leonel and Minerva, with their sharp Dream Force, knew that this wasn't the case at all.

There was no curve, no tricks, no distortions. It felt like it was ancient in its creed and almost arrogant in its directness.

And in that instant, it pierced right through Minerva's body, ripping into her chest before she could even think to move to the side.

TTTSSSSSSSSUUUUUUUUU!

The sound came long afterward, a grating noise that made it feel as though the air was a pot and the arrow was a fork scraping along its bottom. The arrow seemed to have forced the world into submission, forcing it to remain steady to allow it to display its mighty speed, and it was only then that a trail of fire and fragmented space appeared in its wake.

It was faster than even the world could react to.

It was the embodiment of true, unbridled, unabashed speed.

And it was because of that it ripped through Minerva's body before she even felt anything.

She stood there, frozen, still wondering what had happened. Like a person who had been shot but had yet to realize because of the adrenaline, she stood there stunned.

Her senses told her what had happened, but she still didn't dare to believe it.

On the other side of the battlefield, Leonel was stunned as well, but for a completely different reason.

'I missed?'

was aiming for. It missed her heart and went right through her lung, just centimeters from

Leonel... this left him shocked to the point he lacked the words to

picked up a bow, to this moment here, he

his attacks, blocked them

had he

Never.

and landed on the exact target he

actually off. He could have killed Minerva with that blow, but

he thought it was because he had miscalculated. Maybe he misjudged the speed of the arrow, compensated for where he thought Minerva would try

happened, he wouldn't summarize the events as him having missed, it would have been worse than

exactly what

to control. He had missed because

was part of the reason he didn't immediately understand why he had missed as well. He had been forced

left him

lot of effort to begin to tap into the opposing half of his Ability Index. The applications of it felt endless, and it was a path that would

could both perfectly control himself and perfectly control the world

this success would make him too powerful,

It was almost ridiculous...

it really was

the situation,

to have to burst into action on another long, drawn-out round of this battle, Minerva violently coughed up mouthfuls of blood,

in silence and almost couldn't help but laugh