Heartstrings On Fire

Leonel took a seat at the edge as though he couldn't sense anything around him.

As expected, the abyss had wrapped all the way around the city. As for why, Leonel felt that he had a small understanding now after listening to Mistress Oliidark.

This city was placed here to protect what Leonel assumed was the world at large. As for what it was protecting the world from, it was down there, in the abyss.

Leonel assumed that all of the cities were probably like this, protecting some sort of abyss from something. This sort of environment would also explain why everyone was always so high strung and focused on power. They were, quite literally, on a battlefield.

Mistress Oliidark's exact words just a few minutes ago were.

"My Trith City has been protected by my Oliidark family for centuries. If you want guanrantees, fine, I'll give them to you. But, you won't receive them for nothing. Since you want to make this an equal exchange, we can do so.

"Everything you do will be done based on merits. You will be constantly monitored and your performance will dictate how much you receive.

"However, if you want to unlock these options, you'll have to bring me back the head of a Six Star Demon. If you can't do that, you're not worth investing in."

From these words, Leonel had made his deductions, and now he was sitting at the edge of the abyss. There were several people around him giving him odd looks, but they didn't say anything more and went about their business.

city not only had chains running across, but they also had chains dangling down. Clearly, these

climb back up, beaten and haggard. One of them had lost an arm, and yet he was helping another

carrying bags of a bloody something. It was clear that whatever they had killed

a number of teams that didn't have expressions that were nearly as happy. It was either

was sure that there were huge numbers of groups that never returned at all. It was

had thought that the Void Palace was already a cruel enough place, but at least that establishment was a gathering of geniuses, the best humanity had to offer. But from what it seemed here, no one

a sobering thought, and it almost helped Leonel to understand Mistress Oliidark's forcefulness. With such pressure constantly weighing down on you, how could you always worry about doing what was morally upright? Leonel himself had

Or so it seemed.

was still very tender. His passive healing factor had done quite some

to know he had a trump card. If he could help it, he would only use what he had already shown them, his

monitored, he just didn't

to enter a battlefield, who knew if he would need to use within the next 24 hours?

touch, Leonel winced a bit, but eventually shook his head. Freezing his collarbone now would actually make him heal more slowly. So, since he

side, so it was still

down tremendously. But, the light around him only seemed to dim faster and faster. It was at a rate that didn't

an odd trance-like state. But, in return, he only went faster and

his mind that his sense of time distorted. There was an odd coercive Force in this