CHAPTER 198: EX 198. NEW DISCOVERY

The clash was thunderous.

Metal and lightning slammed together, shaking the ground as dust burst outward in a storm. When the haze cleared, the older black rabbit stood skidding backward, its claws dragging trenches into the dirt. Despite the sheen of its hardened metal hide, its horned head bled freely.

Across from it, the younger yellow rabbit let out a triumphant roar, sparks dancing wildly along its fur. It had forced the elder back, something no one had dared to imagine.

The colony watching from the shadows shifted uneasily. Their crimson eyes were heavy with worry, yet Leon, standing apart, could read the emotions in them as if they were words on a page. He didn’t know why. He only knew it didn’t matter. What mattered was that the elder finally looked ready to fight in earnest.

A glow rippled across the older rabbit’s body, its metal coat deepening into a mirror-like sheen. Its low growl rolled across the battlefield, and then, blades were born. Shards of steel tore free from its back, orbiting in a deadly halo. They spun faster, faster, until friction shrieked against the air itself, sparks flaring in the storm of metal.

The younger rabbit’s eyes widened, lightning sparking in them just as the barrage fired. The spikes ripped through the air like railgun shells, their shrill whistle breaking the silence.

Time slowed.

Lightning cracked.

And the younger rabbit vanished.

The spikes howled through empty air, tearing into the earth. The yellow flash reappeared directly in front of the elder, its horn cloaked in pure lightning, thrusting forward with the force to split stone.

But the old one was ready.

The ground erupted. A metallic spark shot upward, a trap hidden beneath the soil. The lance of steel pierced the young rabbit clean through the chest. Its body spasmed, pinned mid-strike.

Leon let out a low chuckle. "What a sly fella..." he muttered. But he wasn’t talking about the elder.

The rabbit impaled in front of them dissolved into a storm of tiny sparks, a decoy.

The elder’s eyes went wide. But it was already too late.

The real youngling appeared at its flank, horn blazing brighter than ever. With a thunderous crack, it rammed into the elder’s side. The black rabbit’s body was flung away, tumbling across the battlefield like a ragdoll, its once-proud frame bouncing limply against the dirt before finally crashing to a stop.

The colony gasped, their gaze darting between the fallen elder and the roaring youth.

But the fight wasn’t finished.

The young rabbit threw back its head, unleashing a howl into the storm above. Clouds boiled overhead, lightning veins slowly weaving together until the sky itself seemed to split. The elder twitched, struggling to rise, but its age betrayed it. The body that had endured countless battles now refused to obey.

The heavens answered.

A thunderbolt fell. Then another. Then dozens more. Pillars of lightning crashed down in relentless succession, striking the elder again and again until the ground split open beneath it, each strike burning flesh, tearing metal, and silencing the once-proud guardian.

When the final bolt faded, the old rabbit lay still, lifeless.

Its colony had lost its protector.

The young conqueror stood in the ruin, bloodied but unbroken. It roared again, defiance and triumph lacing its voice. The heavens cracked in reply, thunder rolling like drums of war, as if the sky itself had chosen to honor its victory.

****

"It seems the youngster had more tricks up its sleeve," Leon muttered. His eyes tracked the victor, a smaller rabbit hopping proudly before the rest of the colony. "The older one had age against it, so this was an easy win."

But what now?

He didn’t have to wait long. The colony, oddly quick to move past their elder’s death, surrounded the young rabbit in celebration. It basked in their attention, nose twitching, ears flicking with confidence. Then its gaze shifted toward the corpse of its slain rival.

Leon stiffened not out of fear but shock. That look, he’d seen it countless times before. Monsters always wore it before tearing into prey. It was universal, primal and predatory.

"Wait... no. That’s not right. Rabbits are herbivores... right?"

The confirmation came in a heartbeat. The young rabbit lunged down, jaws sinking into the elder’s flank. Flesh tore, blood smeared across its maw. The sound of ripping muscle filled the clearing. But the rabbit never once swallowed.

Leon’s lips parted, his voice almost a whisper. "It’s... not eating it."

His eyes narrowed. He had seen the rabbits grazing on grass when he first arrived here. They weren’t omnivores. They shouldn’t be. This wasn’t hunger. This was something else.

The rest of the colony watched silently, not a shred of disturbance in their glassy eyes. As if this grotesque act was nothing unusual.

Then Leon noticed it.

Leon’s breath hitched. A realization slammed into him, his pupils tightening to pinpricks. "It can’t be..."

The words left his mouth as instinct overtook thought. His foot flared with condensed Force Affinity, the ground cracking beneath his sudden launch. In the blink of an eye, his heel smashed against the young rabbit’s skull. Bone gave way with a sharp crack, its body twitching once before collapsing in a heap.

The gathered rabbits froze. Wide eyed, with Shock. Then, fury. The air trembled with their collective outrage. A furless outsider had struck down their chosen leader.

Leon ignored them. His focus fix d on the black rabbits corpse, instincts screaming louder than the rabbits’ cries. Breath steady, muscles primed. The words escaped him almost as a whisper, steady and sharp:

"Extreme Art... Astral Ascent."

At Leon’s command, the air around him trembled. A radiant form rose above his head, golden light surging and molding itself into the towering figure of an avatar. Its frame shimmered with divine weight, and in its colossal hand rested a sword that pulsed with authority. The rabbits froze, their instincts screaming at them to run, yet the sight of such power manifesting from the harmless-looking hairless monkey before them warped their judgment. Fury blinded them, and instead of fleeing, they lunged all at once.

That choice sealed their fate.

The golden avatar lifted its blade and swung in a single, sweeping arc. The strike was more than just aura and light, it was amplified by Leon’s force affinity, turning the motion into a storm. A roaring gale split across the battlefield, the pressure itself sharper than steel. In one breath, the wind-arc cut through fur, flesh, and bone. The rabbits fell in silence, cleaved cleanly in half, lifeless before their bodies even touched the ground.

Leon didn’t spare them a glance. Not the gathered colony, not the young yellow-furred rabbit whose skull he had crushed the instant he’d moved. His attention was fixed entirely on the older rabbit’s corpse. There, from deep within the torn body, something pulsed faintly. A glow, unnatural, and almost like the light of a buried star, breathed through the flesh.

Leon’s brows knitted, his voice low, rough with disbelief.

"How... how is this possible?"