A/N: There seems to be a misunderstanding about Ancestry and Child of Gaia going on with a few commenters. The two traits are not connected in any way. Child of Gaia is not why Leon is now the grandson of Zeus and Gaia is not the name of the mother hidden in the description.
When choosing the replacement for Ancestry, I was bouncing between four options. The one I committed to is the only option related to Greek myth, but it could have been something else entirely. The first I leaned towards was Nephilim (Seven Deadly Sins/Nanatsu no Taizai), but I changed my mind after finding better options.
I also edited the description of Regalia in the Gacha Rewards chapter to let it have infinite fuel. The fully upgraded Regalia and the Regalia Type-F (flight model) in Final Fantasy 15 don't need refueling at all. But you won't see the change in the chapter Leon got the item. Editing it would have deleted the paragraph comments.
Enjoy the chapter.
-x-
Leon hadn't been optimistic about the random traits chosen for rank ups. Knowing his luck, he thought one or all of the traits picked were the iffy ones with barely any utility, like Great Ass or Goth Magnet.
Boy was he glad it didn't go in that direction.
He was already itching to see just how much more powerful he'd become. Could he take on a Viltrumite at this moment? The smart guess would be to remain doubtful. But with everything he now had in his arsenal, he couldn't help but be a little optimistic.
The Guardians of the Globe would have to be his measuring stick. Since they could hurt Omni-Man with enough teamwork, his performance against them could give him a rough estimate of his power relative to a Viltrumite's. Though it would have to wait until he adjusted to his new strength.
I wonder how the Immortal's press conference went.
The Immortal's press conference was scheduled to happen some time after he left for Saint Matthew Island. He'd been planning on watching it after the tribulation, but that plan fell in a ditch.
Should have gotten a feat or two from it.
Only one way to find out. He opened the gacha logs.
[Feat Achieved! Became a globally recognized hero within twenty-four hours. Reward: 2,000 GP]
Leon smiled. Two thousand points for global recognition wasn't bad at all. But there were more feats below, and as he read them, his smile slowly fell.
[Feat Achieved! Inspired Aria Grayson to pursue the path of heroism through your actions and example. Reward: 500 GP]
[Feat Achieved! You have drawn the sustained attention and scrutiny of Omni-Man. Reward: 700 GP]
Great. Just... great.
...This was inevitable, really. Even if he didn't draw Omni-Man's attention with the Midnight City operation, it was bound to happen eventually. Working with the Guardians of the Globe probably didn't help.
Then there was the feat before that. Finding out he inspired Aria made him feel conflicted. The feat implied she wasn't planning on being a superhero before. Now that she changed her mind, he would feel partly responsible for her being hurt when her dad goes through with his plan.
I'll worry about that when it happens.
He looked at his total points.
[Total Gacha Points: 3,209]
I'll save it and keep stacking.
He closed the gacha logs as his fingers drifted to his face.
The texture under his fingertips was wrong. Smooth and cool, but not the hard surface of his Unknown Mask. This was lighter, thinner, and his eyes were uncovered. He traced the edge along his jaw and recognized it.
Hypnos' Mask. Lily must have placed it on him during his recovery.
Which meant the Unknown Mask was gone. His armor, his clothing, all of it had disintegrated away in the final volley. And between that moment and Lily putting the Hypnos' Mask on him, his face had been exposed. To Lily, to Nyx, and to whoever else brought him into this room.
Welp. Can't do anything about it now.
He touched the mask's edge one more time and let his hand drop.
Lily's eyes opened.
Leon watched the exceed's awareness return in stages. A twitch of the left ear, a slow uncrossing of arms, then the red eyes locking onto his.
Lily straightened. His gaze moved across Leon's face, to the monitors behind him, and back.
"You're awake," Lily said.
"Have been for a bit." Leon kept his voice low. "Didn't want to wake you guys up."
Nyx stirred against his chest. Her head lifted, one eye opening before the other, and the moment both focused on Leon, she made a sound between a chirp and a croak. She pushed her beak into the crook of his neck and stayed there.
"Hey." Leon rested his fingers on her back. Her feathers were warm. "I'm okay."
"She refused to leave your side." Lily stood from the chair, and Leon caught the stiffness in his movements. The exceed had been sitting in that position for a long time. "As did I."
"How long was I out?"
"Thirty-one hours."
Leon blinked. Over a day?
Damn.
"I brought you back through the Portal Gun immediately after you fell," Lily continued. "The GDA medical staff found no damage, but you would not respond to stimuli. The director visited not long after we arrived."
"Cecil."
"Yes. He asked what happened. I told him the trial tempered your body, and nothing more."
"Good. Thanks, Lily."
Lily's ears shifted. "I placed the Hypnos' Mask on you before we came through the portal. I assume your other mask was destroyed during the tribulation."
"I noticed." Leon tapped the mask's edge. "Did anyone see my face?"
"As far as I know, no."
Lily had done what he could. But knowing the GDA, they would have deployed some kind of surveillance after Donald sent them to an island to "test something." If there was footage, and there was always footage with Cecil, then his armor being destroyed in the final strike meant his face was in their database already.
I'll find out soon enough.
"The director left an instruction," Lily added. "He is to be contacted the moment you regain consciousness."
"Of course he did."
-x-
Leon sat up. Or tried to. His body launched itself upright so fast that Nyx squawked and dug her talons into his hospital gown.
"Sorry." He steadied her with one hand.
His other hand had grabbed the bed railing on reflex. The metal was bent under his fingers, warped into the shape of his grip. He let go and stared at it.
Okay... That's new. Gotta be careful, then.
He placed both feet flat on the floor and the building opened up beneath him.
Seismic sense flooded in with a clarity and range that made him hold his breath. Everything within a mile of him appeared in his head. He could feel the vibrations from the medical equipment around him painting their shapes in his mind without effort.
The detail was overwhelming, especially in the first few seconds, but it wasn't painful or disorienting. His brain processed every signal and still had plenty of room to process other things.
Leon stood up. His body felt solid, strong in a way he couldn't accurately describe.
He flexed his right hand and squeezed. His fingers closed with a measured force that he deliberately kept below his limit, and even then the air between his knuckles compressed with a faint pop.
This is going to take some getting used to.
"Don't break anything else," Lily said, glancing at the railing.
"I'm working on it."
Leon opened and closed his hand a couple more times, testing fine motor control. Simple tasks like holding a cup or turning a doorknob would need conscious restraint until his body recalibrated.
Their door opened. Cecil Stedman walked in with a tablet under his arm. Donald trailed a step behind and stopped just inside the doorway. He noticed them long before they were nearby.
"Look who's up." Cecil stopped at the foot of the bed and took one look at the bent railing. His eyes moved from the metal to Leon's hand and to his face. "You've been out for thirty-one hours. My staff's been checking your pulse every forty-five minutes."
"I appreciate it," Leon said. "This won't happen again."
"The word 'won't' means very little coming from a kid who voluntarily walked into a lightning storm." Cecil set the tablet on the side table. "How are you feeling?"
"Strong. Stronger than before, by a lot."
"Good. You'll need it." Cecil crossed his arms. "Your trial generated a storm that covered over two thousand miles of the Pacific Ocean. Four continents recorded it. Every meteorological agency on the planet is asking questions my people are working overtime to make sure never get answered."
Leon stared.
"We're pushing an anomalous-weather angle through our usual channels," Cecil continued. "It's holding, but it won't hold forever. I've placed a hundred-mile exclusion zone around Saint Matthew Island and quarantined the area. Half the world's governments think somebody tested a weapon and several of them are looking at us."
"I didn't think the storm would get that big," Leon said, brows knitting together.
"Clearly." Cecil's tone stayed flat. "We deployed a cloaked observation drone after you left the island as a standard precaution. It recorded that entire trial of yours."
Leon went still.
"That includes the last part." Cecil watched him. "Your mask was destroyed. The other transformations you had going dropped, too. The drone captured your face, and I've had it running through every database we have access to since yesterday morning. Birth records, school photos, missing persons, morgue files, everything."
The room held quiet for a moment. Cecil being so straightforward caught Leon by surprise.
"It'll come back empty," Leon said.
Cecil tilted his head. "Will it?"
"Yes."
"A face with zero matches in any database on Earth tells me plenty all on its own. Nothing, anywhere, on a teenager who speaks fluent English with American mannerisms?" Cecil asked, maintaining eye contact. "It narrows the field."
Leon didn't look away, offering nothing else to the topic. It also felt like Cecil was alluding to something, but he couldn't understand what it was.
Cecil moved past it. "For the record, your face is locked under tight security. Burning that bridge gives me nothing."
"I know," Leon said. "Would've been a stupid move if you did."
"Right. Moving on." Cecil picked up the tablet. "The Immortal's press conference aired after your trial. I'll send you the recording, but the short version is he credited Wild Card for the Midnight City operation in front of the global press. Every major network ran it. You are currently the most talked-about superhero on the planet."
Leon's eyes widened. "Really?"
"It gets better. Nolan watched the entire broadcast with his family." Cecil's voice lowered. "Specifically, there's civilian footage of you forming a lightning weapon and moving at high speed. He replayed that clip."
Leon's jaw tightened.
"He also said, and I quote, 'Cecil's never mentioned this Wild Card before.' Said it over breakfast in a casual tone. He's thinking about you."
Leon exhaled slowly. He'd expected it. The feat had already confirmed as much. But hearing the specific details, the replayed clip and the comment at the breakfast table, gave it far more weight.
"It was bound to happen, anyway," he said. "The Midnight City operation was too visible."
"It was. And it'll get worse from here. Every time you do something public, he'll add it to his mental profile of you." Cecil pocketed the tablet and leaned against the wall by the monitors. "Now. The trial. What did it do to you?"
Leon chose his words carefully. "It rebuilt my body from the ground up. Strength, speed, durability, senses, reflexes, recovery. All of it, by a wide margin."
"Define wide."
Leon pointed at the bent railing. "That was me grabbing it on reflex."
Cecil glanced at it. "How soon can you be operational?"
"I need a day to adjust. The gap between what my body used to do and what it does now is big enough that I'll overshoot everything if I don't recalibrate first. Movement, fine motor control, all of it."
"We have a facility for that. The Dome. Wide-open reinforced arena with shock-absorbing walls and floor." Cecil scratched his chin. "You can use it."
"That works. Give me one day in there. After that, I want to test myself against the Guardians."
Cecil stared at him. "The Guardians? Why?"
"They're my best measuring stick. I know they can hurt Omni-Man with enough coordination. If I hold my own against them, I'll have a rough idea of where I stand relative to a Viltrumite."
"That's a hell of a first outing after being in a coma for thirty-one hours."
"Can't afford to take things slow and steady, now can I?"
Cecil considered it for a few seconds. His eyes moved across Leon's posture, his hands, his bare feet on the floor.
"Fine. One day in the Dome. I'll see if I can arrange your spar with the Guardians the day after." Cecil pushed off the wall and crossed to the foot of the bed. "On the topic of the Guardians. What do you think about briefing them about Nolan? Soon, preferably. We already have the tools to potentially incapacitate him, but we'll need a solid plan to minimize any possible damage."
Leon sat on the edge of the bed. Nyx hopped from his shoulder to the mattress and settled beside him.
Briefing the Guardians meant one wrong look from the Immortal during a mission or one tense silence from War Woman, and the whole thing falls apart. But keeping them in the dark also had a shelf life. Nolan's clock was running. If he moved before the Guardians were prepared, Leon would be staring at the same massacre he'd been trying to prevent since he first sat down with Cecil.
It's time.
"...Let's do it," Leon said, nodding. "But once we do, they can't work with or meet him. Omni-Man will read their shift in behavior near instantly or in minutes."
Cecil studied him for a second. "That's the plan. Good to know you see it the same way." He started toward the door. "Get dressed. The Dome will be cleared for you by tomorrow morning. Donald."
Donald, who had stood silently by the door through the entire conversation, followed Cecil out. The door shut behind them.
Leon sighed.
"I need something for my face," he said. "Can't be moving around without a mask, especially with that mole Cecil mentioned before still out and about."
"You can use the one you're wearing right now, can't you?" Lily asked.
"No."
The Hypnos' Mask worked for recovery, but it was never meant for daily use. He needed a replacement before he stepped outside this room.
He could ask Cecil for a standard tactical mask or a balaclava. But that didn't sit right with him. His mask was part of Wild Card. It needed to come from him.
Leon removed the Hypnos' Mask and stored it. He closed his eyes and reached for Reinforcement.
The full armor tried to form. Golden light spread across his shoulders and down his arms before he pulled it back, isolating the flow to his face. The energy resisted the constraint for a second, wanting to complete the set, before it snapped into shape.
Black material spread from his jawline. It climbed his cheeks, bridged across his nose, and sealed around his forehead. The texture was hard, smooth, and fitted to his features without a single seam or gap.
Leon opened his eyes and looked at Lily. The exceed's left ear pulled back a fraction. He studied the new mask for a long moment.
"How does it look?" Leon asked.
"...Effective."
Leon raised a brow at the odd answer and turned to the reflective surface of the nearest monitor. The mask was pitch black and shaped to his face, featureless except for the pair of deep-set glowing eyes staring back at him.
Woah. Leon tilted his head side-to-side and nodded in approval. Oh, yeah. This'll do. It's tougher than the Unknown Mask, too.
He picked up Nyx, set her on his shoulder, and walked toward the door. Lily fell into step beside him.
Cecil was in the corridor, tablet in hand and mid-sentence with Donald.
"Hey, Cecil. Check out it out."
Cecil's eyes went to Leon's face as he stopped.
"Christ," Cecil muttered. "That's terrifying. Can't say I like your new mask."
"Agreed," said Lily.
Leon looked at Lily. "Traitor."
It wasn't that bad, was it?
The exceed responded with a smirk.
Shaking his head at the betrayal, he walked past Cecil and Donald. He needed to take care of a few things before doing anything else.