Leon was still unconscious when Jet had finished stashing away the gains of this floor. He sat beside Leon’s still body with crossed legs and entered a semi meditative state that enhanced his mana recovery speed.
Half an hour later, he had recovered fully, but Leon had still yet to awaken. It was not until two hours later that one of Leon’s fingers twitched. Jet’s head snapped to the side and he gazed intently at Leon’s twitching finger.
“What happened?” Leon asked. He slowly sat up, propping himself with a conjured slab of earth.
“You lost consciousness after your fight. What the hell happened out there?” Jet asked incredulously. All he knew was that Leon had massacred the monsters, and nothing else. After hearing Jet’s barebones explanation, Leon sat down in thought for a few moments. His mind was already running faster then when he had only just woken up, so he was able to easily recall the moments before everything went black.
He did not explain anything to Jet but instead reached into his core. He could feel the presence of his Supreme Skill, and when he reached into it to draw them out, his core trembled and he felt like he was wrenching it out from his chest.
“Argh!” He grunted and ceased what he was doing.
“Are you okay?” Jet asked, concerned.
“Yeah, yeah.” Leon nodded and waved his hand. I just overdid it a bit.” He chuckled. He did not know how he would get an explanation for what had happened if he could not call upon those powerful knights. From what it felt like, his power was not enough to summon them. If he tried to summon and control them, it felt as if they would consume him instead.
“I do not understand what happened myself. I was fighting, and then some beings appeared and helped me kill the monsters. After that, I lost consciousness.” Leon explained what he could. He wanted to tell Jet about the ten knights, but he suddenly noticed that no one of the Heart family was present.
“Where did the others go?” He asked, and Jet froze up. The air around him turned cold and his expression stiffened.
“They left.” He said. “Rodius suggested killing you while you were unconscious. He was scared of the power you possess. I refused and Maria convinced him to stand down. He said that you should count yourself lucky as he is paying you back for his daughter’s life with your own.” Jet ground out the words through his teeth. His fists were balled up beside him by the time he had finished recounting what had happened.
Leon remained silent without saying a thing. He tried to be friendly to everyone, but it seemed not everyone appreciated this. After this incident, he realized that Jet was truly a good friend. They had not known each other for long, but he could trust Jet with his back.
“Look, we need to talk. There are some things I need to come clean about.” He said. His serious tone made Jet understand that it was a serious matter he was talking about.
“What is it?” He suddenly became apprehensive. Perhaps it had always been on Leon’s agenda to kill him after all this time. Was Rodius right after all?
“I lied to you about my name. It’s not Lex, it’s Leon.” Leon said, standing up and looking at Jet. “I had only planned on using this name because it is hard to trust people here, but you have shown me that you are truly trustworthy. You are a friend. I thank you for that.” Leon said solemnly.
Jet just stared at Leon for a few seconds before shaking his head. He understood why Leon had chosen to hide his name. It was only normal. Even Jet had only given his first name, and there were only who knew how many Jets in this vast world.
“I understand. It isn’t strange for people to hide their real identities in Divinity’s Bout. That goes doubly so when you had only just advanced to B rank. Now I understand why you wanted to befriend me. I was supposed to be extra assurance, right?” Jet laughed.
Leon sighed when he heard that. He thought he had almost lost a trustworthy friend. “Good. I owe you big time.” He grinned at the dark haired man. He then turned around to look at the field of corpses. “Well, time to clean up and move ahead. We can take it slow from here, I guess. I doubt we’ll be able to get the next floor since other have a head start.”
Jet nodded. It would practically be impossible for them to get the next floor cleared before others. Unless they were spawned right in front of the boss room. He watched as Leon pointed his hand at the corpse of the boss. With a practiced ease, the monster was turned into another powerful, elite summon. He then turned to the monsters on the outside of the boss room. They amounted to a little over a hundred, but this was a powerful fighting force anywhere. When Jet watched Leon raise them effortlessly, he secretly agreed that Leon would indeed be a dangerous foe. But he also knew that he would be a steady and reliable ally. With these numbers and the strength of these summons on his side, he could easily roll over one of the weaker kingdoms.
Jet thought of the kingdom his family was based in, and he recalled the power struggles that had plagued the small kingdom. If Leon could come to intervene there, then he would surely wipe out anyone who stood against his family. But he quickly shook his head. His grandfather would never agree with that.
It took a while, but Leon finally finished raising the dead monsters. When he was done, he set fire to the earth to purge it of the blood that had soaked into it. A dark red smoke rose into the air, and the air had a pungent odor to it.
“Let’s go.” Leon waved to Jet, and the two passed through the portal to the next floor.