Dimensional Descent

At that moment, hanging on the verge of life and death, a twin pair of swords ready to sever his head from his neck, Leonel was calmer than he had ever been. In fact, he was frighteningly so, to the point one would have thought that he was watching a movie play out before him rather than experiencing this himself. But, the difference was that even while watching a movie, an observer would have shown more of an expression than he did.

In that instant, his irises flashed with a pair of golden-red Runes, his hidden Bronze Runes suddenly becoming lit ablaze as a crimson light raced across them and up his neck.

CLANG!

This time, Leonel was certain. Even without being able to see its face, he knew for a fact that its expression had been warped in shock.

The twin pair of swords clanged against Leonel's neck as though they were meeting two sides of a steel wall. All of the Force that had once coated them crumbled, being destroyed by an odd forcefield that filled one with an impending sense of danger.

Who said Destruction could only be used for offense?

Leonel's spear ripped upward, slicing through the shadows body. He showed not even the slightest hint of mercy, his gaze remaining cold from start to finish.

Just as he finally managed to slice its skull in two, the Spear Force he had been forcefully holding together shattered into motes of light. But, the resulting explosion also took with it the head of the shadow, causing its skull to also explode.

Leonel looked toward this scene and shook his head. He had heard the crack before, but it was truly unfortunate. His Spear Force was the most powerful when his Scarlet Star Force was infused into it, but it couldn't retain its structure. It had only lasted a few minutes before shattering, a time that would have been even shorter had Leonel actually been clashing with it instead of just leaving it in what was ultimately thin air considering the shadow had spent most of its time incorporeal.

Still, this result was satisfactory. He had managed to overwhelm the shadow with his mind and take it out with minimal effort. This was definitely a good thing because this shadow seemed to be a top three threat amongst them all. Taking it out now removed a huge burden from his shoulders.

'My Spear Force seems to still be lacking. I don't think it's a problem of its level.. If it can't handle Fourth Dimensional Scarlet Star Force now as a Fifth Dimensional Blade Force, then it'll never be able to handle it in the future. It needs to evolve beyond its current means without reaching the Sixth Dimension…'

This thought made Leonel wonder if he had progressed his Bow Force too fast. Was there anything he had missed in that time?

Leonel retracted his spear, spinning on his heels and rushing toward Aina. She had been blocking the first shadow for him all this time and though she was doing fine, it would be best if they could team up and take out yet another shadow.

From what Leonel could tell, he was the only one to have killed a shadow at all. If things continued like this, it would become troublesome.

Conon, his cousin Gunter and Simona, along with their subordinates, had already formed one resistance group. Armand and Jon had formed another. Finally, Rosen and a few others formed the last.

A balance seem to have been struck, but it had once again entered a lull that made Leonel uncomfortable, especially after so many gazes locked onto him. The moment the Shadow Sovereign had fallen, piercing auras threatened to rip Leonel to shreds.

BOOM!

Leonel stomped a foot down, hard, his head suddenly snapping backward.

What remained of the Shadow Sovereign shadow had shattered like dry ice falling to the ground. Tendrils of darkness spread out wildly, scratching and clawing at the earth and lapping up the slowly moistening ground.

Leonel's expression became a fusion of slight shock and confusion. Was there possibly an Ability of the Dimensional Verse capable of bringing someone back from the dead? Or was it really possible that his attack just now hadn't killed this person?

Leonel might have been able to accept something like that if he had just used normal Spear Force, but he had used his Scarlet Star Force as well, and it had even exploded, taking the shadow's head with it. How was any of this possible?

The tendrils of shadow suddenly shot together, forming a large ball of black that burst in the next instant, revealing a figure Leonel understood even less.

It had short legs and arms and seemed to be covered by incorporeal fur. It had a round, sturdy belly and it stood at over three meters tall. Its two eyes were surrounded by an abyss of black along with its ears, but much of the rest of it out of its limbs shimmered with a sparking white.

'… A panda?'

It felt like more than a panda. If there was ever an Emperor of Pandas recognized by all, this would be it. This creature felt almost too majestic, to the point that Leonel almost mistook it for being real for just a moment.

He could tell that this was just an illusory panda, it didn't have a tangible form. In fact, it was a lot like his beast constructs when he used the Luxnix family Force Arts.

'The Luxnix Force Arts and much of their techniques should come from the Bronze Tablet, are these things related?' Leonel's pupils constricted.

The shimmering white fur of the panda glowed brighter and brighter, the moistness of the ground suddenly vanishing as it was all swallowed. It was clear that the Shadow Sovereign was using this to heal itself. But, that wasn't the problem.

Leonel had already accounted for this possibility, but the injuries he had left behind should have been far too devastating to even think of doing something like this.

"Yin-Yang Domain."

The oppression of the Shadow Domain around Leonel suddenly increased by tenfold.