CHAPTER 143: EX 143. FLAW

Elizabeth’s question didn’t just cut through the air, it flipped the whole table over, at least emotionally.

Leon was still stuck on the image of Nikko spraying wine across the table, and Nikko herself sat stiff, her cheeks redder than the sauce on her plate. Elizabeth, of course, was already munching away like she hadn’t just tossed a grenade into the room.

Leon finally cleared his throat, trying to regain control.

"Lizzie, c’mon... don’t joke like that—"

"Yes."

The word was soft, but it landed like a hammer.

Leon blinked.

"Wait... what?"

Nikko looked down for a second, then raised her eyes to meet his.

"I like you."

His brain stalled. Silence stretched out again, not awkward this time, just stunned. ’She likes me?’ he thought. The idea wasn’t just surprising, it was something he never even considered.

Truth was, Leon had always been terrible at reading women. Always had been. If Elizabeth hadn’t made the first move back when they met, he probably would’ve lived and died a clueless bachelor. Even then, most of his energy had gone into training, fighting, and survival. Relationships? That was background noise.

And yet, here he was.

He turned to her slowly.

"Nikki... why didn’t you tell me?"

The nickname slipped out, so naturally that it hit hard.

Nikko’s eyes widened. He’d never called her that before. And the way he said it, made her chest tighten. But something else hit her too.

"Wait," she said slowly, "you didn’t know?"

Leon looked genuinely baffled.

"Was I supposed to? You never told me."

"But I made it obvious."

"You... did?" His voice carried nothing but honest confusion.

"Yes!" Nikko snapped, throwing her hands in the air. "I thought you didn’t like me, that’s why you were always so... distant!"

Leon’s eyes widened.

"I thought you acted that way because you were trying to repay me for that time I helped you in the past. You know... being polite or whatever."

At that point, Nikko just stared at him, mouth half open, brain short-circuiting.

Elizabeth sighed and finally cut in. "Nikki," she said, deliberately using the same nickname Leon had just dropped,

"there’s something you need to understand about this beautiful idiot."

Leon turned to her, offended.

"Hey—"

Elizabeth ignored him.

"Despite the looks, the power, and all that charm he doesn’t realize he has... the stars gave him one fatal flaw."

She leaned forward, smiling like she was letting Nikko in on a secret.

"He’s dense. Like, rock-dense. Boulders learn faster than him when it comes to this stuff."

Leon opened his mouth, probably to protest, but then shut it. Because she wasn’t wrong.

Nikko stared at him, everything falling into place like puzzle pieces she hadn’t even realized were missing. She slumped back, dazed, whispering to herself.

"...So it wasn’t my age?"

****

Nikko let out a slow breath, the knot in her chest unraveling. So it wasn’t her age. That wasn’t why Leon had been distant. The tension she hadn’t realized she’d been carrying eased from her shoulders, and an almost imperceptible smile touched her lips.

But her relief didn’t last long.

Elizabeth, sitting pretty with her elbows on the table and that sparkle of mischief dancing in her eyes, leaned forward just enough to strike. Her voice cut through the awkward calm like a dagger through silk.

"So, Leon," she said sweetly, tilting her head as if genuinely curious, "what are you going to do now that you know Nikko likes you?"

Time didn’t stop, but it sure felt like it held its breath.

The atmosphere shifted with a crackle, as though someone had flipped the gravity in the room. Leon blinked like someone had yanked the ground out from under him again, for the second time that evening.

He glanced at Elizabeth and found her smiling like an angel, with innocence worn like perfume.

’Why do I always forget this is how she is?’ Leon thought, chuckling under his breath as his hand subconciously reached for his drink. Both women stared at him now. Nikko’s eyes were wide with anxious anticipation, while Elizabeth’s were bright with the kind of chaos that didn’t need fire to burn everything down.

Leon could feel their eyes on him like twin blades against his throat.

’I’ve survived getting impaled through the chest. Time itself couldn’t touch me. I’ve slayed thousands of demons and razed strongholds to the ground. And Lizzie thinks she has me cornered?’

He smiled.

’In this life... I am never cornered.’

"Wait."

But before he could speak, Elizabeth stopped him just in time..

Elizabeth knew why she’d stopped him. Leon was about to leap headfirst into a reply that might blow up the entire room.

Although she might have been the cause she hadn’t actually expected him to answer. She’d just wanted to see him short-circuit.

’Honestly,’ she thought, ’he’s lucky he has me as a girlfriend. Otherwise, he’d break hearts left and right without even trying.’

Yes, they were both lunatics, but Elizabeth was about to prove she was the craziest of the two.

"...Why don’t we just share him?"

****

Elizabeth hadn’t spoken out of impulse, there was a reason for the madness behind her smile.

The truth was, Elizabeth wasn’t dumb. Far from it. She had a reason for proposing something so wild.

She hadn’t voiced it yet, but in her quiet hours of thought, she’d come to a conclusion. One that had only solidified over time.

Leon wasn’t normal.

She’d suspected it before, but now she was almost sure. He had awakened a talent above Supreme rank.

She’d only recently learned about such things, talents that didn’t fall within the known classification.

’Back then,’ she thought, ’during our fight with the Basilisk... I released Dragon Might, but Leon wasn’t affected in the slightest.’

Leon, a human, stood firm under the pressure that could force wyverns to their knees. There was only one explanation. Either he wasn’t human... or he had a talent so powerful it broke past all racial limitations.

Her gaze briefly shifted to Leon.

Her mother, Diana, was one of the few humans to achieve a near, pristine bloodline purity, her individual blood purity was high enough to rival lesser dragons. But racial purity... that was something else. A different measure entirely.

Dragons, as a whole, sat near the top in racial purity, a trait passed down from the Primordials themselves. The higher the racial purity, the higher the upper limit of talent someone could awaken. That’s why dragons could reach Saint-rank talents and beyond.

But even purity wasn’t the sole factor. There was one more piece to the puzzle.

The soul.