(Meanwhile, Su Yang)
The video Leo released spread through the universe like wildfire, reaching even the Su controlled lands within minutes.
Su Yang watched it alone in a quiet chamber, the monitor’s glow flickering across his shocked face.
"Leo... you conquered an entire planet alone?"
He whispered, unable to tear his eyes away as the recording repeated again.
The first video disturbed him enough.
Yu Zu, a Commander of the Righteous Faction being dragged by the hair and butchered like livestock.
Leo’s expression cold.
Unchanging.
Absolute.
But the second video...
The one on Nemo...
That was the one that hollowed Su Yang’s chest completely.
Leo stood over a world swallowed in corpses.
Not squads.
Not battalions.
An entire military planet.
Su Yang leaned back slowly, his breath unsteady as he stared at the screen in disbelief.
’Is this the same Leo I used to spar in Rodova with?
The same guy I called my brother and rival?
The same guy I thought I would outpace to become Monarch?’
He wondered, as he tightened his grip around his own arm, almost as if grounding himself.
’How did you reach this stage so fast? How did you become something I cannot even comprehend anymore?’
He thought quietly, as a cold heaviness filled him inch by inch.
He replayed the memory of their first duel at Rodova.
They were evenly matched then.
Different styles, but comparable in results.
Two stubborn kids chasing the same ceiling.
Now...
Leo had stepped far, far above that ceiling.
So far that Su Yang felt he could not even see the man’s footsteps anymore.
"What path are you walking, Leo?"
He murmured, staring at Leo’s still figure in the footage, surrounded by hundreds of millions of dead soldiers.
"And what path am I even on?"
The question settled in his mind like a stone, suffocating, unwelcome, yet impossible to ignore.
’If Leo can do this now... what will he become later? And what will I be in comparison?’
He swallowed hard, feeling a bitter mix of pride and inadequacy coil in his chest.
"We used to stand side by side... but now I cannot even understand the world you are fighting in."
His voice lowered into something almost defeated.
"I hate this feeling."
He closed the hologram with a tight jaw, as silence filled the room around him.
"Leo... just how far ahead have you gone without me? And how do I even begin to catch up?"
He wondered, as although he acknowledged the fact that he was too far behind right now, he did not lose the desire to bridge that gap somehow.
—---------
(Meanwhile, on the Eternal Garden, Raymond’s POV)
The Eternal Garden was quiet, almost unnaturally so.
The floating petals that orbited Raymond’s figure drifted with slow, careful grace, as though they too sensed the subtle shift in the air as he stood before the holographic screen, eyes narrowed, jaw clenched with an emotion far too controlled to be called anger.
The two videos had finished playing long ago.
Yet Raymond had not moved.
He stared at the silent screen, fingers loosely interlaced behind his back, the faint chirp of the Garden’s birds the only sound accompanying him.
*Sigh*
A long breath escaped his lungs, as he shook his head from side to side.
"...Leo Skyshard."
He whispered the name as though tasting it..... as the name itself seemed to evoke a sense of disgust inside him, which made him dislike the person from the get-go.
"I had almost forgotten about you."
He said, as his eyes lowered slightly, remembering the faint reports that arose when Leo and Veyr had started an expansion streak whereby they conquered a few Righteous Faction Planets together.
Back then, Leo was barely notable for him, as he was nothing more than a boy with enough talent to climb but not enough to matter....
Someone who would rise, fight a bit, die young, or retire quietly.
A minor existence.
But now...
Raymond clicked his tongue softly.
"Planet-level devastation," he murmured, "and at your age."
There was no awe in his tone. No admiration. Only the steady appraisal of a man adjusting a threat assessment.
He lifted one hand, turning it slowly, as though feeling the weight of invisible implications settle onto his palm.
"So the bloodline of the Timeless Assassin truly survives outside my own...."
He muttered, as just saying those words made his frown deepen.
"That’s dangerous...."
He said, as he spoke those words without the slightest change in expression, yet the space itself seemed to react, the petals floating around him shivering faintly, while the light in the garden seemed to dim by a shade.
*Step*
*Step*
Raymond turned away from the screen and walked, his each step measured and controlled, as he continued to ponder more on this topic.
"I ignored you before because you were unworthy of my attention."
He said, his voice low, even, almost conversational.
"Because back then your ceiling seemed harmless. Because your path seemed predictable.
But that’s not the case anymore.
Because after today, I acknowledge you as a genuine threat."
He said, as he reached the edge of a cliff from where the ocean stretched before him, its beautiful blue and white colors reflecting faintly in his pupils.
"Today," he continued, "you have revealed to the universe something you should not have."
He rested his palms on the cold railing, his fingers tapping lightly, rhythmically, the way he always did when making irreversible decisions.
"You revealed potential."
A faint smirk tugged at one corner of his lips....
A smirk born not from amusement, nor satisfaction, but something far darker.
"You showed the universe what you might become."
He said, as his eyes narrowed further.
"And you showed ME what you might threaten."
He said, as behind him, the holographic screen dimmed, leaving only the echo of Leo’s last words ringing faintly in his mind.
"HAHAHAHA, how reckless of you to roar before your fangs have hardened."
A soft laugh escaped him—short, humorless, chilling.
"You have drawn the gaze of someone you cannot afford to provoke."
He straightened slowly, placing his hands behind his back once more.
"Soron is dying. Veyr is as good as dead. The Cult is wounded. And yet... they still produce things like you."
His head tilted just a fraction.
"That makes you unacceptable."
He concluded, as his decision on what to do with Leo fell into place with a quiet finality.
After today, Leo was no longer a threat to be postponed.
Nor an existence to be monitored.
But rather a weed to be uprooted.
"We will meet sooner than you expect."
Raymond’s voice softened until it almost resembled pity.
"And when we do, I will end you long before you reach the stage where you really matter."
His eyes glowed faintly as the Garden’s petals spiraled around him.
"You have entered my list, Skyshard."
He turned his back to the garden, already walking away, the ocean fading behind him.
"And once a name enters my list," he said quietly,
"It never leaves alive."