The combat knife was steaming hot and bright red, and when Leon handed the knife back to Erin, she couldn’t even hold the cool handle of the combat knife as the heat radiating off the blade was too much to handle.

However, now wasn’t the time to skimp out now as the Frost Cobras’ were upon them and they had to make a stand now or risk letting one of the snakes through and reaching the shelter.

Erin activated her ice ability just around the skin that came into contact with the handle and made sure that those areas were kept cool. Leon and Erin both nodded at each other before Leon stood up and took a squatting position as he concentrated all of his earth aura into his stomach and lower body.

Once enough aura was gathered, he stopped on the ground from the left side and dragged his feet to the right side in one smooth motion.

This caused the floor of the clearing, to move according to Leon’s will and at this moment, the surface of the floor overlapped two layers of earth that combined with one another on the left side of the clearing and basically caused a big long bump to appear on the surface.

As Leon dragged his feet, the bump moved alongside it, moving left to right, giving the effect that a small tidal wave of the rocks was approaching the incoming Frost snakes from left to right, throwing many of them into the air and in one general direction.

After finishing his earth tidal wave move, Leon opened up a hole on top of them at the perfect moment, when most of the incoming Frost snakes were directly above them suspended in midair falling over to the right.

As soon as Erin got visual contact with the flying Frost Cobras flying from on top of her, she quickly activated her wind ability and combined it with her raw strength and the ice mutant gene to basically store as much power and energy as she could into her legs, ready to take a big jump upwards.

A moment later, Erin had flown up from within the underground hole at an insane speed and while she moved upwards, she used this opportunity to unleash as many slashes from her red hot blade as she could effectively slashing and ending the life of 5 Frost Cobras in a single move.

However, Erin had underestimated her own strength and power which was further amplified by her mutant ice and her wind ability which resulted in her launching herself way too high into the air so much so that she could see the end of the forest from that height.

It was still alright as it was still going accordingly to the plan. Leon’s Erath tidal wave was used so that every passing Frost Cobra would get hit by it and once again target them instead of going closer to the shelter.

Leon quickly jumped up and out of the hole as well. He noticed the multiple trails of ice that had appeared all the way from the forest to where the tidal wave had knocked them into the air. He turned to his right where he had thrown all 15 or so Frost Cobras and now he could see around 10 – 12 pairs of shiny reflective yellow eyes shining within the darkness, reflecting what little light there was.

The Frost Cobras didn’t wait long as the ones still in the tree began using their sound wave attack again, trying to paralyze and hinder Leon’s body through the emission of the loud and screeching sound waves, however, the sound waves weren’t yet strong enough to carry much force with it so Leon’s makeshift earplugs were doing the trick nicely and were able to stop his eardrums from bursting completely.

With the sound wave attack taken care of, Leon next had to tackle the 12 or so Frost Cobras that were right in front of him who had already begun conjuring ice spikes by using their ice ability and were about to impale him with tens of spikes.

However, this time Leon didn’t run or seek shelter as he just took a simple defensive stance that covered his face and vitals while extending his arms and legs to be the areas where he would receive most of the hits.

‘Father told me that selective hardening was almost 3 times tougher than complete body hardening,’ Leon thought as he remembered back to the last time his father spoke to him when he forcefully made Leon learn the Earth and Hardening abilities.

************

Leon was embarrassed with himself as he remembered back to that time almost 2 weeks ago when he was called by his father into his office for the first time in quite a long time. He acted his usual self and didn’t even bother greeting or acknowledging his father and simply made his way toward the chair opposite his father’s.

He tried to open a conversation using a king and gentle voice but it didn’t phase Leon at all he just sat there with a cold straight face, waiting for him to get to the point so that he could do what needed to be done and leave.

Paul noticed his son’s cold behavior and with a heavy heart stopped his caring demeanor and approached him like he would any gang member which Leon very well appreciated at the time.

Without wasting any time, Paul order the butler to bring out four books and place them in front of Leon to which he complied. Leon was confused at first as to what was going on, but before he could jump to conclusions, his father began explaining himself.

“Now that you are going to be taking the military requirement test in a few days, I want to make sure you survive that test because you have clearly underestimated how hard that test actually is considering you only want to enter with a single Level 3 speed ability,” Paul said.

Leon wanted to complain and badmouth his father for thinking that he would need his help, but he knew he couldn’t say anything at this moment, judging by the tension in the room.

Since he had practically stopped viewing him as his father, Paul has also dialed down his love for Leon a bit, at least upfront, as now Leon was considered as any other member of the Dark Raven and disobedience would be very costly for him.

“I have selected these 4 ability books for you, each is at a level 3 and you will try to learn as many abilities as you possibly can at this point. If you would have been the way you are, I would have trained you so that not only you could learn more abilities, but also be decent in combat and other skills, but I guess that ship has sailed.” Paul said as he around so that Leon was now facing his back.

“However, I still don’t want my son to humiliate my name by failing that test, so you are going to get as strong as possible in these last days, and one of the members will also provide you with some pieces of power armor and weapons to help you survive” Paul added as he turned only his head around to look at Leon again.

The pressure from the room was lifted and Leon used this opportunity to give his ungrateful response to his father.

“I don’t need your charity!” Leon said.

Suddenly the pressure in the room increased exponentially, nearly suffocating Leon.

“Young master, please mind your language. I would advise you to not resist and just do as Master says as it would be beneficial for all of us and wouldn’t escalate things further,” The butler said to Leon, making Paul reduce the pressure in the room again and allowing Leon to breathe once again.

Leon looked at his father with anger, but he knew it was best to just follow the butler’s advice and do as his father wants for now.

In the end, out of the four, he was able to learn 2 of them about which, his father gave him an hour-long lecture about how to use them the most efficiently and what skills he could now use relating to those abilities.

“Hardening is a great defensive ability that protects from even the strongest of blows as it completely depends upon your fortitude and your ability to absorb and block damage naturally. Always remember…” Paul said as he began explaining to Leon about the Hardening ability as well as its skills and uses.

**************

Leon planted his feet firmly into the ground so that he wouldn’t be able to get knocked over so easily and that he could absorb more damage. He then directed his Hardening aura into his limbs, tightening every single fiber of his muscles to the point that Leon felt like he had limbs made of steel.

Even though he didn’t respect his father back then, he was going to put all his trust in him as he was going to face off against all the Frost Cobras who had prepared their ice spikes projectiles and were ready to attack.

The first Frost Cobra launched the ice spike very fast toward Leon, aimed directly at his face; however, with his speed ability, he could also react fast and he pulled up his right arm just in time to block the incoming projectile and now the ice spike was about to impale his right hand.

But!

As soon as the ice spike made contact with Leon’s arm, it got completely blocked and crushed into thousands of tiny ice crystals, leaving Leon’s hand completely unharmed.

Leon lowered his arm revealing a huge smile on his face as he thanked his father internally for always caring for him and making sure he was safe. 𝗼𝐯𝐥.𝗻𝐭

“I can do this! Let’s go!!!” Leon shouted as he prepared to face the barrage of ice spikes that were about to be launched in his direction.