The World Is Mine For The Taking-Chapter 1244 - 192 - Leon Vs. Veronica - Climax (1)

Chapter 1244: Chapter 192 - Leon Vs. Veronica - Climax (1)

Leon’s POV

The third round.

Whatever happened here would decide everything.

This time, it felt different.

Not just in the obvious way, but in the subtle way your instincts start whispering to you before something big happens. The kind of feeling that makes the back of your neck prickle even when nothing’s technically wrong.

Veronica stood across from me, looking... fine.

Too fine, in fact.

She didn’t look like someone who had been battered and bruised not long ago. The healers had done their job perfectly. There was no visible scars on her and there was no slight hitch in her breathing either. If I hadn’t seen her injuries with my own eyes, I would’ve assumed she’d spent the last few hours sipping tea and enjoying a peaceful nap.

Castle healers really were built different.

I mean, it made sense. They weren’t random street medics patching up scraped knees. They were trained, gifted, and probably selected from the best of the best. When they healed someone, they didn’t just treat wounds. They erased evidence that the wounds had ever existed.

Still, healing magic or not, damage leaves traces. Not always on the skin. But sometimes deeper.

This would be our final fight if I won. That thought sat calmly in my mind, almost casually. If I won.

It wasn’t arrogance. It was just acknowledging the possibility.

Of course, she could win. Veronica wasn’t someone you could casually dismiss. But even with rest and magic restoration, the fact remained that she had been pushed hard in the previous rounds. The body remembers strain and her muscles remember impact. The mind also remembers pain.

If she wasn’t at her absolute peak, that alone could tip the scales—even just slightly—and sometimes that slight edge was all you needed.

The round had started at this point, but...

She didn’t move.

She just stared at me.

At first, I thought I was imagining it. But no, her eyes were locked onto mine with an intensity that made the space between us feel shorter than it actually was.

It felt like she wasn’t just looking at me.

It felt like she was drilling into me.

Like her gaze was a physical thing, and it was boring straight through my chest. I half-expected to glance down and see a neat little hole where my heart used to be.

It was uncomfortable.

Not the kind of uncomfortable where you shift awkwardly and clear your throat. More like the kind where your instincts tell you something is being measured.

"Let me ask you something," she called out.

Her voice carried across the arena, steady but not overly loud. We were far apart, so for the sake of appearances, we had to raise our voices.

"What is it?" I replied.

"Is your goal to bring Lilith back?"

For a second, I genuinely thought I misheard her.

That question didn’t just come out of nowhere.

It came flying out of orbit.

"Is your goal to bring Lilith back?"

Of all the things she could’ve asked before our final clash, that wasn’t even on my top hundred list.

Where did she even get that idea?

Was she assuming that because I was considered the perfect vessel out of the five of Lilith’s fragments?

Sure, technically, I could be the key to Lilith’s resurrection.

But that didn’t mean I wanted to be.

The risks were obvious, of course. I mean, if Lilith took over completely, my soul could be shoved out like an unwanted tenant evicted without notice. It was probably game over.

There was also the other possibility. And that was coexistence.

Like Su and Han.

It was like two consciousnesses sharing a single body, somehow managing to function without tearing each other apart. It was possible.

But possible didn’t mean safe.

And I wasn’t interested in gambling my existence on a "maybe."

From the way Veronica was looking at me, though, this wasn’t some cheap psychological tactic. She wasn’t trying to throw me off balance before attacking.

She genuinely wanted to know.

And after a quick mental scan of potential outcomes, I didn’t see any downside to answering honestly.

"No," I said clearly. "And I don’t plan to." 𝕗𝐫𝚎𝗲𝘄𝐞𝕓𝐧𝕠𝘃𝕖𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝚖

Her eyes narrowed slightly. It was not in suspicion, but in scrutiny. She was studying me. Watching for hesitation. For a flicker of doubt. For anything that might betray a lie.

"Are you actively preventing it from happening?" she asked. "Or do you simply have no intention of making it happen?"

I blinked.

What kind of distinction was that supposed to be?

Was she asking whether I was passively avoiding it or actively fighting against it?

And why did that matter so much right now?

This was supposed to be a battle. People were waiting for explosions, blades clashing, and perhaps shockwaves rattling the barrier. Instead, they were getting philosophical debate at a distance.

Speaking of the barrier—

It hummed faintly around the arena, a translucent wall of power separating us from the spectators.

It wasn’t just there to block stray attacks. If either of us unleashed something too powerful, that barrier would be the only thing standing between the crowd and disaster.

Sound, too, was contained.

A massive explosion could rupture eardrums in an instant. The barrier dampened everything, like shockwaves, debris, and even noise.

Which meant no one outside could hear our conversation.

Unless someone was exceptionally good at lip-reading.

I scanned briefly out of habit. There was nothing unusual, fortunately, and there was no sharp focus trained on our mouths.

"Why are you asking?" I called back.

She didn’t hesitate.

"I’m starting to feel like Lilith’s resurrection is inevitable."

That word hit harder than I expected.

Inevitable.

Because deep down, I had reached the same conclusion.

It wasn’t just paranoia. It wasn’t ego.

It was pattern recognition.

I had encountered every fragment of Lilith. That shouldn’t have been possible, not at this point in time anyway and not under normal circumstances. The odds alone were absurd.

And yet it happened.

Again and again, we crossed paths. The pieces gravitated toward each other as if drawn by invisible threads.

At first, I tried to avoid it.

I avoided seeking them out and avoided digging deeper. I told myself that as long as I didn’t chase it, it wouldn’t happen.

But somehow, no matter what I did, we kept being pulled closer.

Like magnets.

I don’t even like magnets. They’re annoying. You try to separate them, and they snap back together like they’re mocking you.

That was what this felt like.

Which made me wonder if this was never about choice.

Maybe it was about timing.

"How do you know that?" I asked.

Veronica’s expression shifted.

She raised her hand slowly and pressed it against her chest, fingers curling lightly into the fabric over her heart.

Then she looked straight into my eyes again.

That same intense stare.

Only now, there was something else in it.

Not hostility.

Not fear, either.

Something warmer.

"That’s because..." she said, her voice softer now, but no less steady, "I feel like I’m attracted to you."