Dimensional Descent

The moment that group acted, it was as though a chain reaction had been set off. Several roars resounded and several more groups charged out, each claiming a path for themselves and cutting toward the perforated Nest.

Leonel chuckled. It seemed that his worries about being found out were unfounded. The cascading effect of the movement of one suddenly unleashed a barrage of assaults from all sides.

"Shall we?" Leonel asked.

"But we haven't found a doorway yet."

Leonel grinned. "You didn't know? Your boyfriend can fly, I'm basically Superman."

Aina hardly got to respond before she found herself squealing. Leonel swept her into his arms and rounded the corner once more.

He crouched into a powerful squat, his thighs bulging and calves compressing until they were as hard as steel. In that moment, his aura flourished, a blinding golden light enveloping his body as he was covered in head to toe by tiny white-gold scales.

BANG!

Leonel unfurled himself all at once, slicing through the air like a speeding bullet. Almost instantly, he appeared above the green lake, a singular dot in the skies amidst a commotion. But, even then, he somehow managed to be the center of attention.

Steam rolling into battle, a beauty cradled in his arms, and wings spreading to his back. In this bleak world, he was like the only ray of radiant sun, the majestic sight of his very being attracting attention from all sides.

Leonel soared, feeling his Snowy Star Owl blood rolling through his veins. He could feel it pressing against its very limits, the breakthrough in comprehension he had made in his Scarlet Star Force stimulating it all to the absolute extreme.

Leonel let the feeling roll through him. He didn't move, he simply let the air whip against his skin, his eyes closed and his expression peaceful. His skin began to radiate a delicate golden color that quickly became fiercer and fiercer. In those moments, everything around Leonel was so pure that even the foul stench of the Rapax Nest couldn't approach him, the refreshing scent of a dawning day, delicate dew drops and life wafting around him.

There didn't need to be a check, nor a guess. Leonel's mind bloomed like a flower, stepping past the barriers of the Fifth Dimension and sweeping into the Sixth.

At that moment, Leonel's Snowy Star Owl Lineage Factor had reached the pinnacle of perfection, unsealing all three Branches to the Fourth Awakening.

BOOM!

Leonel flapped his wings a single time, his already fast speed suddenly doubling, a violent clap of wind shredding the air to his back as he cut through it all even faster.

BANG!

Leonel swung his feet forward, their soles smashing into the head of a Rapax and crushing their silver skull. He landed heavily on a winding platform, already having covered more than half the distance.

The Rapax crumpled beneath his feet, a heavy domain pressing down and shredding it to pieces.

Aina jumped from Leonel's arms, her battle ax in tow. A single sweep seemed to sever the world itself, the Rapax in her path finding themselves experiencing just the same fate.

"SKKKREEEEE!"

Leonel's mind felt as though it had been injected directly with adrenaline. Everything was so clear, not just through his Internal Sight, but through his eyes especially. He could see further, even the slightest bits of detail were laid bare before him.

In that moment, things that Leonel would usually rely on his Internal Sight to pick up on suddenly didn't need it at all. And, just like that, the advantage the Rapax had had over him vanished in a puff of smoke.

Leonel took a step forward, his figure crossing tens of meters in a single bound. When he appeared again, he had seemingly already chosen the perfect position to dodge a coming kick, his makeshift spear stabbing outward and ripping through a gap that felt infinitesimally small in its plate armor.

Right then, the Rapax crumbled, but so too did Leonel's makeshift spear, combusting to ash in his palm. Leonel immediately knew why that was. It seems he had gotten the Spear Domain to acknowledge him enough to hold a spear without destroying it, but he still hadn't gained enough acknowledgement to be able to make it acknowledge one of his creations just yet.

However, this wasn't enough to make Leonel slow in the slightest. If he couldn't use a spear, then he would just use his fists.

'Dream Class. Speed Fighter.'

Leonel's steps shifted, his body flickering and his speed reaching nigh untouchable levels. He left afterimages in his wake. Whenever he appeared, another fist would jet outward, blasting a hole through yet another Rapax.

His eyes darted back and forth. It felt like there was nothing he couldn't see, nothing he couldn't observe.

The twitch of their muscles, the shift in their weight, even the slight change caused by a rush of their blood was all picked up by him.

Numbers seemed to float in his vision. Speed, weight, power, distance, it all branched off one after another. It was as though Leonel's Dream World had manifested into reality, layering atop what was with an objective measure of what is.

It would be a very long time until Leonel realized that this was the first instance of his Dream Force working as it should, his consciousness projecting into the world and effecting it. This is what it truly meant to have high Dream Force affinity.

A wild grin spread across Leonel's face. Every swing of his fist and every slice of Aina's ax only made him smile all the more wildly. This feeling… it was exhilarating!

Leonel shifted around another Rapax, sidestepping the tail of another as his hand reached out, snatching the curved blade with his bare palm and squeezing down.

CHII!

The metallic tail crumbled, wild Bronze Runes racing beneath Leonel's scales.

Leonel gave a strong pull, causing the Rapax to suddenly find itself flying in his direction, only to be met by a fist that crushed its head.

He stepped over the corpse, his body swaying to one side to dodge a kick. His wing slapped outward, causing the balance of the Rapax to falter and spin.

"HA!"

Leonel took a strong step forward with one leg and sent the other shooting straight up. His heel connected with the chin of the Rapax with such force that its head was ripped from its body.

Leonel's roar bellowed through the Rapax Nest, his blood flowing with wild abandon.