Dimensional Descent

"This doesn't have to be the end if you don't want it to be." Leonel suddenly said. "You also don't have to rebuild everything from scratch."

Augustus' gaze narrowed. "What do you mean by this?"

"Well, that would depend on how much your daughter hates me and how much you value that hatred." Leonel responded with another hypothetical.

Augustus' frown deepened, but he didn't immediately look toward his daughter. He knew well that his daughter's feelings for her late fiancée weren't fake. And, he knew his daughter's temperament well. Bending wasn't something she took too kindly to. Even if she bent now, there was a good chance she would snap back in the future.

However, before he could think anymore, Heira suddenly spoke.

"Rie and Syl. Where are they?"

Leonel didn't need to think long to remember who these two were. Syl was Anared's younger sister and would have been Heira's sister-in-law. As for Rie, she was apparently Syl's best friend, but there was a bit of a scandal behind this.

According to what Leonel had learned, Rie was actually the child between City Lord White—who Aina had killed in her berserk state—and City Lord Kaefir, Syl and Anared's father. She was thus treated very well by the family as she was technically a part of them. But, Rie herself along with Syl seemed to have no idea about this.

Regardless, this was a story that Leonel had thrown to the back of his mind because, truthfully, he simply didn't care. It didn't seem relevant.

"They are currently both on Earth." Leonel replied lightly.

"And my father-in-law?"

"Executed."

Heira fell into silence. She should have already guessed this long ago. There was no way that Earth would let the main leaders of the attack live. However, the population of people itself was a different story entirely. They could be slowly integrated and fix Earth's current greatest problem: population.

Augustus finally looked toward his daughter, but she was still looking toward Leonel.

"Earth isn't worried about the two of them seeking revenge for their father?"

Leonel raised an eyebrow. "What would you prefer?"

Leonel had no way of knowing his grandfather's true intentions. But, if he knew anything about that man, he was prideful to a point and immensely logical when it came to weighing positives and negatives.

Emperor Fawkes had chosen to allow the Paradise Islands to fall from the sky, effectively killing billions of Invalids before they could even take form. However, just think about the method he used.

The Paradise Islands had been staples of Earth for several decades already. It was so well integrated that it didn't even look like a plot. He was a man who had essentially gotten away with murdering 99% of his people and it didn't even spark a rebellion.

This was to say that Emperor Fawkes knew how to be cruel to meet his ends, but he was also intelligent in the way he went about it.

Killing the City Lords was justified. But, if he went as far as to execute two little girls, he would come off as not only a coward, but it would be even more difficult to rein in the people of Terrain to become one with Earth. The risk wasn't worth the reward.

Heira fell into silence. Soon, it was clear that she had already gotten everything she wanted out of this exchange.

"You want me to join Earth?" Augustus asked.

Leonel's armor began to slowly vanish, revealing his real form. At the moment, he was drenched and sweat from head to toe and blood clung to bits and pieces of his body. Yet, when he ran his hand through his wet hair, he seemed oddly dignified and in control.

"No, I want you to join me."

Augustus was stunned into silence when he heard this. Was this brat rebelling… On Earth? Wasn't he a Prince? What was going on here, exactly?

Leonel smiled. "I'm the only noble in the Empire without a legion of my own. All I have are eight brothers and sometimes they're not too reliable."

"What the fuck!"

"Cap, don't lie to the people!"

Leonel grinned but kept looking toward Augustus.

Augustus was baffled at the audacity of this child. He was a Sixth Dimensional expert. In fact, he was a genius in his own right. Making it so far in the backwater dregs of this Sector was something to boast about without a doubt.

Now, a young man who was effectively a child in his eyes, was actually asking him to follow him. If you told Augustus an hour ago that this was how this event would play out, he would have probably killed whoever spoke with a wave of his hand.

"Do you understand what you're asking right now? Why wouldn't I just leave the Milky Way? And go to parts unknown. Why should I wait on you?"

"I wonder. Have you heard of the Morales family?" Leonel asked.

He gauged Augustus' reaction.

Leonel had already deduced that for Shield Cross Stars to act the way it did, it had to be wary of him having a backer. It was possible that the backers it was worried about were those that supported Earth, but if that was the case, why would they have dared to mess with Earth's Sub-Dimensional Zones? If not for Leonel, the true treasure of Camelot would have ended up in an outsider's hands.

That meant that what they were worried about weren't the people backing Earth, but rather people that might be backing Leonel himself in particular… And since Heira was most definitely responsible for Leonel being framed, it was likely that she had been the one to reach this conclusion first.

Simply put, there was a good chance Augustus might be aware.

As expected, Augustus' pupils constricted into pinholes, his muscles tightening. It was just for a brief moment, but it would never escape Leonel's notice.

"I have no idea what you're talking about." Augustus said with a straight face.

Leonel's smile didn't fade. "Oh? Me too, honestly. It's just a random thing I heard people throw out there. But, what about this?"

Leonel's Force suddenly surged, two pairs of white gold wings spreading out for tens of meters appearing upon his back. Above them, an owl's gaze lingered between reality and illusion, bearing down on the world with an undeniable momentum.

The call of a bird rang through the stars, a single flap of its wings bringing one tens of light years away.

At that instant, the people of the Radix, Midas, Florer, and Umbra families froze in place, their knees trembling.

"L…. Lu… Luxnix…"

It was impossible to know who said it first, but they all cowered at once. Not a single one of the Invaders didn't recognize the symbol of this Sector's rulers. The Snowy Star Owl was a symbol of dominion, of rulership, and of wisdom.

Though Aina was currently on the Luxnix's main planet, the Luxnix territory spread far beyond that and it could be said that they had dozens of strongholds across the strongest galaxies of this Sector. There was no way a mid-tier Sixth Dimension family like those here wouldn't recognize them.

Augustus gripped his fists tight, his gaze blazing with fire.