CHAPTER 155: EX 155. SATISFIED

Around them, silence spread like frostbite.

Moments ago, the air had been thick with panic, soldiers bracing for the worst, a tree large enough to flatten a battalion nearly crushing them all. Relief came with a snap, (snap), and Arbiter George’s effortless disintegration of the danger. But before the relief could settle, another kind of chaos took its place.

Sakura.

The Supreme Heir, now on her knees, fists clawing at the dirt, eyes wide in something past terror. Her voice tore through the air like a banshee’s wail.

"MONSTER!!"

The soldiers didn’t move. Every breath was held hostage by the tension that suddenly gripped the field.

One soldier finally found his voice, hesitating as he turned to his squadmate.

"Is the Supreme Heir... okay? Colonel Leon didn’t even do anything and she’s calling him a monster."

Another scratched his head, clearly baffled. "Maybe it’s that time of the month. Otherwise, I don’t know what might be wrong. This is some serious overreaction."

Before anyone could respond, a female soldier turned to glare at them both, her tone sharp with conviction.

"Fools. That’s not hysteria. That’s fear. Look at her, Colonel Leon didn’t just show strength. He overwhelmed her. That’s the fear of someone who just saw a living god."

Both men blinked and slowly took a step back.

That look in her eyes, it was fanaticism, pure and unchecked. The glint of awe, devotion, maybe even love. And they weren’t the only ones who’d noticed.

Whispers were already circulating, quiet rumors of a growing faction within the military. Soldiers who didn’t just respect Leon... they worshipped him. Some said he’d one day take over the Federation itself, surpass the Governor. It was blasphemy. Treason. But it hadn’t been crushed yet, likely because the proof was so thin... or maybe because even the higher-ups weren’t sure they could stop him.

But on the training field, reality still hadn’t caught up to the present.

Sakura’s screams hadn’t stopped. She was still clawing at the ground, still trying to breathe, as if something unseen had wrapped its hands around her soul. The aftershock of Dragon Might was still holding her captive, her will crushed, her mind barely hanging on.

And the soldiers?

They watched in silence, frozen between awe and disbelief, each one slowly beginning to realize,

Colonel Leon hadn’t laid a hand on her.

And yet he’d broken her.

The training field had gone silent, the aftermath of chaos lingering like smoke in the air. Soldiers stood stiff as boards, their minds frozen mid-thought, trying to catch up with what had just happened. In the span of moments, they had felt the raw fear of being crushed by a colossal tree, the breathless relief of survival as it crumbled into shimmering motes of light at Arbiter George’s command, and now this—Supreme Heir Sakura Yakomoto, the untouchable, screaming like a child.

She was on the ground. Not kneeling. Not bowing. But on her back, heels digging into the dirt as she scrambled and wailed, eyes locked in a terror-stricken stare at the white-haired colonel who hadn’t even moved. No one could understand it.

Because what had hit her... wasn’t just a glare or a look of defiance.

It was Dragon Might.

A racial trait belonging only to dragons, rare, raw, oppressive. Most dragons couldn’t even use it. It took years of focused training and a monstrous presence to project that kind of weight on the world. And yet, Leon wielded it like an extension of himself. Not because he was a dragon.

But because of the Primordial Dragon Art.

Where others learned skills in rigid paths, Leon’s art was something else entirely. A living technique. Flexible, reactive, and alive under his control. It adapted mid-thought. Shifted mid-swing. Morphed not by command but by instinct. That was the power of his Extreme Art.

And with it, he had taken the full 1000-point amplification of his Dragon Flames, compressed it into a mental spear, and channeled it straight through Dragon Might and aimed squarely at Sakura.

The result?

She didn’t see Leon.

She saw a predator. Something ancient. Something that saw her not as a rival or threat, but as prey that had dared to bare its teeth.

The mental backlash alone would have been enough to shake most people. But paired with the shock of her connection to the World Tree being suddenly severed, it was too much. That severed link had left a void in her psyche, an opening. And Dragon Might rushed in like a tide of fire and instinct and dread.

Now, all she could see was the monster.

And all she could do was scream.

****

Nikko blinked.

Sakura was on the floor, curled like a kicked animal, eyes wide, mouth gasping between shrill screams that cut through the quiet like broken glass.

It didn’t make sense.

Just a moment ago, her half-sister had been burning with arrogance, all confidence and spite and root-deep pride. Now she was... like this?

Nikko tilted her head slightly, her brows furrowed.

"What the hell is wrong with her... it’s not that time of the month, is it?" she mumbled aloud. But the joke didn’t land, not with Elizabeth watching, not with that look on her face.

No, this wasn’t just embarrassment or anger. Sakura looked shattered.

Nikko’s mind ticked back to what had just happened. Leon had crushed the World Tree’s spiritual resonance, a feat that alone would’ve turned heads, but now, this? He hadn’t even laid a hand on Sakura, and yet she looked like she’d seen the apocalypse.

Nikko narrowed her eyes, an impressed grin creeping onto her face.

"I don’t know what he did," she thought, arms folding over her chest, "but he’s gonna teach me how to do it too."

Elizabeth, on the other hand, wasn’t smiling. Her gaze wasn’t on Sakura. It was fixed on Leon, steady and sharp.

He wasn’t supposed to have this level of control, mastery over Dragon Might, was something even most dragons couldn’t claim. Not like this. Not so absolute.

Her suspicion, now spoke louder.

"That wasn’t just technique. That was instinct. Natural. Innate. The way he poured flame into the aura... it didn’t look learned."

She bit her lip.

"Could he really be a dragon? No... not possible... unless,"

She shook the thought, for now. But it would come back. and later she would ask.

Meanwhile, back in the training field’s dead center, the silence hung heavier than ever.

Leon’s boots crunched softly over the cracked dirt, closing the space between him and Sakura. Her body stiffened, neck trembling as she forced herself to lift her eyes.

He didn’t speak at first. Just looked down at her with those calm, cold blue eyes that saw through everything.

It took everything in her to force the words out, her voice rasped and broken like her pride.

"W-What... what did you do to me...?"

Leon tilted his head, gave a smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes.

And then he ignored the question completely.

"Are you satisfied with the display?"

Sakura flinched.

That was all he said. But it was more than enough.