Dimensional Descent

The battle lasted less than an hour. Even without releasing his arrow, just the oppressive might of Leonel's Level 3 Bow Force was like a Domain all to its own. Its presence alone had a suppressive effect on the Crars that lasted until the very end. By the time they realized that this was all because Leonel couldn't casually release such attacks, it was already too late.

Dee and Dre found themselves caught much like Libli and Radlis had been. They had wanted to fight to the death, but why would Leonel allow that if he didn't have to? These two represented a treasure trove of information. As for whether they gave it up willingly or via the use of different means, Leonel didn't particularly care. He was sure that there was someone with an ability useful in this respect somewhere.

…

"You tricked us." Libli spoke plainly.

At this moment, the second Lake Crossing was no longer empty. It had gained a large metallic cube chained to its surrounding islands as well. Within this metallic cube, Libli, Radlis and the twins lay in chains while the remainder of their armies had been placed within Segmented Cubes.

Leonel stood before their jail cells, made of the very same material the Dark Cloud Prison of Earth was formed of. Though it didn't work as well against Fifth Dimensional existences as Earth had yet to produce such Ores at the Fifth Dimensional level, it was still good enough to severly weaken them.

Leonel shook his head.

He hadn't tricked them. If Libli and the others insisted on battling, he would have definitely drawn his arrow once again. Libli was well aware of this as well, which was why despite what she said now, she didn't regret her decision.

She was logical almost to a fault and unless it was strictly necessary, she would never sacrifice herself meaninglessly like the twins tried to. As long as she survived, there would be a chance at another day. But, if she died, any hope there might have been would be lost. It was wholly irrational to fight a losing a battle, so she refused to do so.

Leonel ignored Libli for a moment and looked toward Radlis. The latter was still as pale and lanky as ever, but his breath was stronger than it had been in the past. It was clear that he had hid himself deeply and may very well still be hiding himself. For someone who had been captured as a prisoner of war, the smile on his face was too bright.

"Why did you join Valiant Heart Mountain?" Leonel asked.

Radlis blinked. "Can't a man chase skirts? I'm still in the prime of my youth."

Gil, who wasn't too far away, burst into laughter.

"Hey, Cap! I like him. Maybe we should let him go."

"Two perverts in a pod." Allan shook his head.

"What do you know? A sign of a healthy man is his perversion. Only we can allow the true nature of the repressed female to shine forth in its true glory. It's you prudes that are responsible for the double standards those repressed flowers must suffer through."

"Oh yea?" Milan laughed. "There are plenty of brothels on Earth right now and our population's lacking, why don't you go take a few of those repressed flowers as your wives and have some babies?"

Gil coughed. "Everything in moderation, friend. Everything in moderation."

The exchange made the boys laugh, especially Radlis, but Libli's expression twisted with a hardly concealed disgust. Was this how men talked when they were 'alone'? She wanted no part of it.

Seeing that he wasn't going to get any answers from Radlis in this state, Leonel shrugged his shoulders.

The most basic interrogation tactic was to separate your targets and question them individually. Even though Leonel didn't want the same answers out of them as they were from different powers, it would still help to apply some mental pressure on them. After all, they were far too relaxed right now. The only ones who had dark expressions and didn't say a word were the twins, but this made sense since they were in the worst situation.

Still, Leonel hadn't bothered to do any of this because he didn't expect deep answers from any of them. Rather, he just wanted to know some surface things. As for what was hidden underneath, he would leave it to those with special abilities to find out. His only purpose was to find out some useful surface information.

"Your cube, I'm very interested in it. What is it?"

Libli frowned. But, it wasn't exactly a secret either, so she felt that if this information could allow her to continue remaining here comfortably until someone saved her, that would be fine too.

"The Radix Cube is a tradition of our Radix family. From the moment we begin to learn Crafting and awaken our Bronze Force we begin to build our own. During our lifetimes, we'll modify, change and improve our Radix Cube until it can become more and more powerful."

Leonel felt intrigued by this, his eyes glowing until he thought of something.

"None of you restart?"

"No!"

Libli's reaction was fiercer than Leonel had expected. She seemed to realize this as well so she calmed down considerably after a moment. It seemed that Leonel's question had touched on a taboo he wasn't aware of.

However, Libli clearly didn't want to say more after this and directly fell into silence. Unfortunately, her outburst had revealed enough. Clearly, this Radix Cube was a core part of their power and couldn't be easily abandoned. At the same time, though, taking it was also difficult. After all, even after searching Libli, it was nowhere to be found. The only explanation was that it had been absorbed into her body, something that made sense considering how Leonel had originally seen it be taken out.

Leonel didn't bother to press any further. If he wanted to know more about the Radix Cube, he would likely have to take some risks. As for how far he was willing to go, maybe only Leonel was aware.

"And your Bronze Force, what is it and what does it do?"

"Our Bronze Force is capable of invading the structure of metals. On the surface, it seems to just change its color. But, when the Bronze Force of a metal reaches a certain point, it can then be controlled by our Radix family to act and react in ways it wouldn't normally. It's especially useful for Crafting small and intricate parts... When you don't have a Metal Spirit, that is..."

Libli gazed toward Leonel, clearly remembering why they had clashed the first time to begin with. As for Leonel, he could tell that Libli probaly hadn't told him the full explanation, but his alone was enough for now.

Finally, Leonel turned his attention toward the twins. However, the result of this was far more complicated than he had expected. Seeing their downtrodden appearances, even setting aside their injuries for a moment, Leonel felt as though something within himself had shifted.

"Just kill us." Dee said without raising his head. "We won't tell you anything."