Dimensional Descent

Silam's breathing became uneven and his pupils couldn't seem to constrict any more. Each and every one of Leonel's words seemed perfectly measured and dialed in, every syllable controlling the beating of his heart. He couldn't seem to control his body anywhere near as easily as he had done in the past.

"It all felt quite disconnected and disjointed to me.

"The Crars, as you can see by how easily Earth handled them in this war, are quite weak. Despite being a 'powerhouse' of this quadrant, the only advantage they really have are numbers. But, many of their territorial planets are still within the Fourth Dimension while their Fifth Dimensional existences simply didn't have the talent to match up to us.

"But, I couldn't help but notice that despite the fact Balthorn and her elder brother were among the greatest talents Crars had to offer, I didn't catch even a glimpse of them during this war. In fact, there wasn't a hint of the Valynore family, at least not on a scale that would make sense for one of the supposed three most powerful families of Crars. So… I became intrigued.

"That was when the Radix family's records fell onto my lap. I guess I really have to thank your five Heads for trying to deal with us like you had, or else I would have never gotten the information I needed to end all of this so quickly.

"You might not understand where I'm coming from, so I can explain it.

"When the Radix began their preparation for storming the Milky Way Galaxy, they did multiple risk assessments. They were quite well aware that there were many supremely powerful entities eyeing Earth and they were also aware that it was impossible that these supreme powers wouldn't have made any moves yet.

"It was easier to believe that those powers were simply still lying low, waiting for an opportune time to strike. In that case, they had probably sunk their roots deep into well established families. In fact, it might be possible that the reason some of these families and organizations grew powerful in the first place was due to the puppet strings of these hidden powers.

"So, the Radix did a risk assessment. They began an analysis of all the powers of the Milky Way, big and small, all for the sake of drawing lines around which toes they shouldn't step on.

"But once again, much like your reaction to Radlis, the Crars passed with flying colors and were designated as no risk at all. Quite baffling, don't you think? I thought it was baffling too, until one of Earth's geniuses with a mind reading ability tried to look into the memories of two Prince's we had captured, Dee and Dre."

Silam froze, but Leonel's next words made him shudder. No, it was more accurate to say that his laughter did exactly that. He felt like he was being toyed with.

"Once again there was nothing. Their memories were frighteningly clean. Everything about them was completely orderly, not a thing out of place, not a step out of line.

"At this point, my theories were running on fumes. I have no information on anything, no proof of anything, I only have a few anecdotal experiences. But that was when something interesting happened to me."

Leonel smiled lightly, scratching the back of Little Blackstar's ear. The little one seemed to like that very much, yawning and sticking out his little pink tongue as though he might fall asleep at any point now.

"You can probably tell by my demeanor that I don't really like leaving loose ends and that I might be meticulous to a fault.

"Well, a few weeks back, I had a battle with the Evergreen Religion. They were among the first to set foot on Earth, but we made quick work of them. Unfortunately, one of them managed to escape and this escape had been nagging at me for a very long time already.

"Luckily, thanks to the Radix family's risk assessment analysis, the Evergreen Religion's main Shrine had been marked as a warning zone. Now, I finally knew where this last enemy had likely escaped to so I went to scout out the situation and hopefully snub any subsequent planned attack before it could even take form.

"But you'd be surprised to know that not only did I find not a single soul at the shrine, all that was left was a pungent smell of roses and blood. It was the kind of strong scent that could make one either pass out or throw up, but there was a very select few that could bask in it without worries, wearing it as a light fragrance."

Silam trembled fiercely. Even Vice's spatial lock couldn't seem to stop the innate physiological reaction.

"Ah, it seems that you're getting it now, hm? You're better than I was back then, because I was baffled. No matter how ignorant I was, I could tell that something very bad happened to this Shrine, but I had no way of knowing exactly what that was… Until I cheated a little bit."

Leonel flipped his palm over to reveal a small silver disk.

"I have to say that my father rarely gets serious about anything. He's the kind of man that can turn even his own son's heartbreak into a joke. However, the moment I set the analysis of the little silver disk on that scene just a few days ago, I saw my father get serious for just the third time in my life."

A recording flickered and it replayed the image of Leonel's father staring off into the distance in somewhat of a daze. It was clear that when this original clip played, he would have been staring into the Shrine of the Evergreen Goddess.

<< "… You ran into this sooner than I thought you would, brat. Remember this scene well, but remember this name even more… The Three Finger Cult… It's they who are responsible for your grandfather's death…" >>