Dimensional Descent

Leonel's expression grew frigid, and this time, he didn't bother to conceal it.

Before, it had been an act. He wanted the old woman to believe that he was indeed from a family with a last name, but also imply that this family had been destroyed.

Leonel had made a bet that in a world like this one, such a thing wasn't rare at all. In fact, he wouldn't' be surprised if in every city like this one, there was a constant overturning of the big shots. Just from walking the streets, he had sensed the division of power and the tension, and just by the fact this old woman's first instinct was to kill him rather than shoo him away, spoke volumes.

This old woman was a veteran of this world, she had definitely seen a lot. Just reading her disposition and inclinations told Leonel all he needed to know.

So, he assumed the identity of the final heir to a destroyed family. But, that was exactly why this old woman's ask of him was so disrespectful.

Her words were very precise. She asked him to join her family and even named them for extra emphasis. She didn't ask him to work for her family, she didn't ask him to become a retainer or one of their guards, she asked him to join.

She was asking the last member of a dead family to discard their duty and their name to become her little pet project.

Put as bluntly as possible, she wanted Leonel to discard the Morales name and become an Oliidark. This was something far worse than a slap to the face, she might as well have dug up his ancestors' graves and given each one of them one too.

Despite seeing Leonel's expression, the old woman seemed unhurried and unbothered, even taking a sip of the tea she had before her until she realized that Leonel's little performance had actually taken the heat off quite a bit.

Unfortunately, this small victory wasn't enough to do much for Leonel.

This world didn't mean much to him, it was just a Zone he would be doing everything in his power to get out of. However, the character he was playing had no choice but to react like this.

Well… if Leonel were to say that it was all an act, that would be an outright lie. His name was given to him by his father, the man he respected most. And, even if he hadn't cared about his name that much, he didn't take too kindly to others disrespecting him.

The young woman seemed stunned by the change in the situation, and even more stunned by Leonel's demeanor. She couldn't remember anyone ever daring to look at the old woman like that, ever. People were usually as quiet as mice around her, which was precisely why she thought that this prank would be so funny.

"Hey! Don't look at my grandma like that! What's so wrong with joining my family?!"

Leonel completely ignored the young woman. He had already forgiven her once for ignorance, but now he was getting annoyed. She looked to be in her 20's, he really couldn't understand how she had made it so far while being such an air-headed brat.

Seeing Leonel ignore her, the young woman almost flared up again, but she was doused by a gaze from her grandmother.

Mistress Oliidark put her tea cup down, her movements unhurried. She couldn't enjoy lukewarm tea, plus, she didn't really care about giving Leonel time to think. They had already been in this establishment for far too long and they had indulged her granddaughter's prank enough as well.

She calmly rose to her feet.

"You will come with us. If you perform well, you will receive more chances. I can see that you've yet to be promoted to the Sixth Star, likely because your records of how to do so were lost along with your family. If not for this, I doubt a talent of your caliber would still be in the Fifth Star after all this time.

"Do your duty and you'll earn a path even to the Charmed Path. If you exceed my expectations, I might even give you a chance to court and marry my granddaughter."

Leonel furrowed his brow. Sixth Star? What the hell was that?

The young woman blinked before she suddenly registered her grandmother's words. In that instant, she flushed completely red.

"Grandma!"

Mistress Oliidark chuckled and walked over to ruffle her granddaughter's hair.

"We leave. Now."

The other women stood quickly, following the old woman's lead. In the end, it seemed that there was no intention of giving Leonel a chance.

**

The process of leaving the restaurant wasn't very difficult at all. Leonel was a new recruit to begin with and Chef Lucca seemed too scared even to raise his head too high.

What Leonel didn't know, though, was that soon after they left, a squad dressed in deep blacks appeared, slaughtering everyone. Whether it was Chef Lucca, Carra or the mischievous Amerie, all of them were now nothing more than corpses drowning in crimson alongside the customers they had been serving that day.

…

Oblivious to this, Leonel could only make his way to the Ollidark estate, a large land near the very center of the city. No, it could be said that it was the center of the city, the very beacon of the land itself.

Leonel was, of course, finally given a shirt. And, this shirt also happened to make his dress pants and shoes quite well, turning him from half a male stripper to a respectable young man in a single bound.

The young woman, whose name Leonel knew to be Athrae by now, seemed to become far more reserved now. However, Leonel wasn't in the mood to be bothered with her at all because his situation only seemed to become worse.

Upon entering the estate, he was ushered toward what they called their Crafting Hall where he was unceremoniously tattooed with an odd mark on his shoulder blade. He grit his teeth as the energies that formed it drilled down through his skin and onto his bone and seemed to drain his Force.

Leonel's senses were far too sharp. After seeing the tattoo just once, he knew it was designed to track him.

They really wanted to keep him in his place.

Without even time to rest and recover, he was called to Mistress Oliidark once more. It seemed that she already had something for him to do.