Dimensional Descent

Leonel could feel the animosity, it was almost palpable. The hairs on his skin stood on end and his blood vessels dilated. The pumping of his heart grew slower and more forceful, a subtle crimson energy racing throughout his body.

In the blink of an eye, his body had been covered in a thin veil of sweat. However, it wasn't the kind of sweat one would gain out of fatigue or fear. It was the kind of sweat that would cover a boxer on their way to the ring, having just completed a small round of cardio to warm their bodies up. It was the kind of sweat that would soak a runner in the middle of a run when they finally set their pace and hit their perfect stride. It was the kind of sweat that didn't allow the body to rise past a certain level of heat, settling in at the perfect degree for prime functioning.

When Leonel's body entered such a state, he felt more alive than he ever had before. His Nodes worked as one, circulating his blood throughout his body and leaving him a state where he was absolutely prepared for everything. One could have easily mistaken him for a predator on the prowl, his expression seeming decidedly less human in those moments.

BANG!

At that moment, a geyser shot into the air. The temperature skyrocketed and vision from all angles was completely blurred.

Leonel was forced to retract his Internal Sight at that moment. He felt like a scolding heat was ready to fry his mind if he remained any more stubborn. It was a shocking sort of feeling for someone like Leonel who hadn't felt true heat in years.

Thanks to his Fire Elemental affinity, what was usually overly hot for others was a breezy spring day to Leonel. For his Internal Sight to be fried like this… It was definitely a unique experience. But, considering his body was still just fine, it was clear that his mind had a weakness that the rest of him didn't share.

Leonel slotted in this realization to the back of his mind and kept it for future deductions. For now, though, his mind focused entirely on what was before him and he remained supremely focused, ready for anything.

However, what happened next felt somewhat anti-climactic.

The geyser fell and the heavy mist it had come with faded. But, there was hardly any other change but a platform that had appeared one meter ahead of Leonel's cliff ledge. This platform of rock hung upon absolutely nothing and it seemed that everyone had gotten one. Each group gained exactly one of these.

Leonel didn't think very much about it at all. With a single stomp, he leaped onto the platform, Little Blackstar following behind him just as quickly.

Almost the instant he landed, though, he vanished, disappearing as though he had never been there.

The minutes ticked by and soon, with a VWOOSH, Leonel and Blackstar appeared once more. Nothing seemed to have changed at all. Aina was still resting on Blackstar's tails, Little Blackstar was still floating within the forehead of his construct and Leonel still stood, unmoved.

However, if one looked very closely, it was possible to see that a subtle hint of blood drizzled down the pointer and middle finger of Leonel's right hand, dripping down to the ground in slow, steady droplets. And, at the same time, the fire in his gaze had only grown more savage and unfettered.

He stared intently ahead, waiting for the next. And, he wasn't disappointed in the slightest.

BANG!

Another geyser appeared. Leonel seemed to have forgotten about all the eyes on him, intent to focus on what was before him, his mind thirsting for battle as the sheen of sweat that covered him began to emit just the slightest hints of a steamy fog.

This time, three platforms appeared. One ahead, one to the left and another to the right. The ones to the left and right were about two meters away from Leonel's current platform while the one ahead was just a single meter away once again.

Leonel's gaze narrowed when he noticed this change. Despite the fact it was subtle and almost meaningless, it made his mind whir into action. In truth, in this state, he wanted to do nothing more than turn his brain off and fight to his heart's content, but to him, this was too obvious of a detail to miss out on.

The rules of this game were still obscure but the general gist was obvious enough to Leonel: Use the Platforms, defeat their bosses, and reach a certain destination.

If the main goal was to reach a destination, then a movement of two meters obviously seemed better… Or did it?

To Leonel, the destination could be deduced through simple logic. Varying groups of geniuses surrounded the outline of this lake. That meant it would make little sense for the destination to be any opposing bank or cliff edge. By process of elimination, the destination was most likely the center of the lake itself, something that was easily over a kilometer away.

At a pace of one meter per bout, it would obviously take 1000 battles for Leonel to reach the center. However, to his left and right, there was a movement of two meters. The bad news, though, was that unlike the center platform, these ones deviated from the path toward the center. So, although they allowed him to leap a larger distance, they still ultimately left him further away.

That said… Leonel had to believe that there was a reason why these left and right platforms would exist.

If the Void Palace wanted a simple race to the center, they could have done so. In fact, Leonel wasn't the only one who had jumped at the platform the moment it appeared and he also now wasn't the only one to have already come out.

Now, they were all faced with the same dilemma. Would they take the straight forward path? Or would they risk it all for the unknown.

Leonel's grin widened.

With a stomp of his foot, he launched himself onto the right platform, his intent blazing as he and Blackstar vanished once more.

When they reappeared, they found themselves in another foggy world filled with white borders.

Ahead lay another Rapax soldier.

[I'm sorry everyone, I woke up with a headache today and it threw my whole day off. More action tomorrow :)]