The remaining experiments rushed toward Leon together—not with perfect coordination, but with pure killing intent, ignoring the knights. Their feet crushed the ground as mana leaked from all of them in an unstable way. One came from the left with short blades, aiming for Leon's neck, while another slid low with a spear targeting his heart, and a third leapt from behind with his body covered in dense mana, ready to crush his head on impact.
'I guess I'll have to get used to this'
Leon spun his body in the same instant, dodging the blade by centimeters while grabbing the spear with his flame-covered hand and snapping the shaft with force. He turned and kicked the second attacker in the chest, sending him crashing through the ground, while the third descended—but Leon disappeared and reappeared behind him, striking his neck with a punch that sent him colliding into the other two.
'I may have escaped this body's future madness, but it still committed other crimes before that'
[This is a mess]
Leon watched his opponents fall without much emotion. Before they hit the ground, they forced their bodies to react and charged again, ignoring the damage. One of them stabbed a stone into his own chest, releasing an explosion of mana that drastically accelerated his movements. He appeared in front of Leon, unleashing dozens of slashes at once, while another bound Leon's legs with mana chains, and the third began gathering energy to blow everything up together.
"The same strategy as before? That won't work"
Leon stomped the ground, releasing fire that consumed the chains while moving through the incoming slashes, dodging by millimeters. In one motion, he grabbed the main attacker's arm, twisting it until it broke, then pulled him forward to use as a shield just as the last one exploded. The blast engulfed both of them, but Leon walked through the flames still holding the burned body and threw it at the last attacker descending from above. The two collided and rolled across the ground, but stood up again immediately, ignoring broken bones—one burned, the other barely intact.
[Why use someone as a shield if you can withstand the explosion?]
'I don't want to dirty my clothes—they already have too much dust'
Leon looked at the system as if it were stupid, as if the answer was obvious. The system seemed like it wanted to grab its own head, because that attitude was exactly like the original Leon.
[You're already acting like him]
'Am I? Damn… you're right'
One of them tore off his own arm and hurled it as a projectile wrapped in compressed mana while advancing with what remained of his body. The arm exploded upon contact with Leon, trying to create an opening. In the next instant, the two appeared in front of him, aiming for his chest. Leon took the impact without stepping back much but responded immediately with a flame-covered punch that pierced through the enemy's torso. He then spun and struck the other with a side kick, breaking his spine and sending him crashing into a rock.
"Honestly, this is pointless"
He sighed as he watched one of them try to stand—dragging his body while concentrating his remaining mana into his heart. The ground around him began to crack, signaling another suicide explosion, but Leon appeared in front of him before it could complete and stomped his head into the ground, crushing it before the energy could be released.
The last one, with his torso pierced, staggered forward with half his face destroyed, trying to reach Leon as his mana collapsed. Leon simply crossed the distance between them and delivered a direct blow to the chest, crushing everything inside. The body stopped instantly and fell lifeless, while the dust slowly settled over the destroyed battlefield.
[Looks like it's over]
Leon turned his head toward the last enemies being killed by Uril, who had been fighting multiple opponents since the beginning. His expression showed slight fear, but also relief that it was over.
'He's more impressive than I thought'
Even with clear fear, he had stepped forward into battle, taking the lead—even though Leon's knights were undoubtedly stronger. In fact, as Uril sat on the ground breathing heavily, Leon's knights immediately began stretching, and those who had been caught off guard started healing themselves with recovery stones.
"Clean up this entire mess. I don't want to see a single body here. And prepare to rebuild the mansion"
"Yes, Lord Leon"
The knights began gathering the bodies, placing them in a specific spot. Once several were piled together, they burned them to erase any trace of the battle. Leon looked at Uril, who seemed confused, and decided to approach.
[I can't believe you're cleaning up his name]
"Uril, the only person you are to tell about this attack is the crown prince"
Ignoring the system, he spoke directly to the knight sitting on the ground. At first, Uril looked even more confused, but then nodded carefully. His eyes shifted to the side—he clearly wasn't planning to keep it from Elara, which made Leon want to scoff, but he restrained himself.
'I'd better rest and try to control this personality'
His mind was a mess with so much information flooding it—literally all of Leon's memories had come at once. Waving his hand, he told Uril to leave. With a signal to one of the knights, he ordered them to escort Uril safely. The chosen knight bowed and went to retrieve the carriage.
"Lord Enrico, what were those?"
"Enemies of the empire"
"They came to attack you directly? No… that makes sense"
Holding his chin, Uril thought about the war. It made sense, since it hadn't truly ended—only paused temporarily. The Elonera mansion was well known across the continent, so locating it wouldn't be difficult.
"That should be enough"
Leon walked toward the destroyed mansion, his eyes briefly catching Uril's reaction. The evidence of his experiments on those people had been completely erased, and now only what remained underground needed to be dealt with.
'To properly complete this dungeon, I need to clean up this body's name a bit. I can't allow myself to be hunted for his crimes—at least not until I'm close to completing all the objectives'
[That's going to be difficult. Leon has been committing crimes since he was fifteen]
At present, Leon's body was twenty-two years old, meaning it had been at least seven years since he began pursuing ways to elevate his status and that of the Everhart family. And from what his memories were showing, there were two situations that made his head ache just thinking about how to escape them.
'You're right… it'll be difficult. But it's the only way'