Dimensional Descent

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Some time later, Mistress Oliidark sat in her room alone, calmly stacking papers.

At that moment, a seemingly insignificant shadow in the corner moved and morphed into a person.

"Is it done?" Mistress Oliidark asked.

"You shouldn't have allowed his leash to be so long, you will regret it," the figure cloaked in black spoke.

"Too long? Maybe it isn't long enough. He isn't useful to me as he is now. He won't even defeat even the weakest of all the live-in son-in-laws I've collected, let alone becoming the strongest of them. If I don't allow him some free reign, I might as well just kill him now like he said."

"Then let me kill him, you've given him too much. His benefits are even better than an elder's. Free access to all of our techniques and cultivation methods was a bridge much too far."

Mistress Oliidark chuckled. "If you were in the Fifth Star right now and I stripped you of all the knowledge you had ever learned past that point, and then I gave you access to all the knowledge I have now, how long would it take you to be able to threaten me?"

The figure fell into silence.

"My level isn't one you can reach even if you have all the resources in the world, at least not with 100% certainty. At best, you would have a slightly better chance than most. And, even if the certainty was 100%, how long would it take you? Five decades? A century?

"Even for my husband, it took at least this long, let alone for a brat who's already passed his prime age for reaching the Sixth Star."

"Then you want him to be your spearhead?"

"I want those who've forgotten the name Oliidark only because my husband and my son-in-law have been gone for a decade to remember it. Aside from Sebastian and Slaton, the others I've brought into the family are far too lacking, and even those two aren't good enough.

"This family needs a man."

"You believe that he is a better option than those two?"

The figure seemed somewhat surprised. It was rare for a person like them to show any sort of emotion at all, so just this little bit might as well have bene the equivalent of an avalanche to anyone else.

"Maybe, I'm still unsure. If what he's shown is all he has, then no. But if the answer is no, then giving him such a long leash is even less of a worry. But if I'm correct, and the answer is instead yes, then it's because he has something much deeper within him that I'm quite interested in."

"If this is your plan, then I assume you plan to use the Ancestor's Altar when the time comes. Are you sure you want to subject Athrae to a life of marriage with a puppet?"

Mistress Oliidark shook her head.

"That little girl has grown up too spoiled because she has no real talent of her own. Her only use is the Oliidark blood that runs through her veins. With a talented husband, she might be able to produce an heir worthy of our family name. To do so is her duty.

"This life that she gets to live is built off the backs of the talents of the previous generations. She will also have to sacrifice something if she wants to be so carefree."

The figure nodded. In fact, it didn't seem to actually care about Athrae at all, it just wanted to hear exactly this response.

The Oliidark family was split into the Light Branch and the Dark Branch. The Light Branch was currently headed by Mistress Oliidark while the Dark Branch was headed by the figure.

They were both of the same family that had split many generations ago. In order to survive for as long as they had, a family needed a group of individuals with just as much vested interest in their success, who also happened to be willing to do the dirty work, and that was where the Dark Branch came into play.

The truth was that the only ones who even knew of the existence of the Dark Branch were very select members of the Light Branch. This secret was one that was passed down in silence from generation to generation.

Before, the figure had questions about whether their Mistress would be strong-hearted enough to do what needed to be done. If the answer was no, then as they had done before, the Dark Branch would have to remove her and allow a branch family to come into their own.

But the figure was very satisfied with the Mistress' response. This was the character an Oliidark should have.

It was fine if the Light Branch had weakened somewhat. It couldn't be helped, the summons of those people could not be ignored and it wasn't yet confirmed whether or not the former Patriarch and their family son-in-law had died yet. There was still a good chance they hadn't.

Physical weakness was allowed. However, a weakness of the heart should be rooted out as quickly as possible.

In fact, it was also because of this that the figure didn't oppose the long leash Leonel was given either. To be dauntless in front of death was exactly the kind of character an Oliidark son-in-law should have.

"That said, I haven't let him off too easily." Mistress Oliidark finished arranging her papers and stood. "If he wants to take advantage of that long leash of his, he'll have to earn it. I've used a squad to keep an eye on him to make sure he doesn't get any funny ideas, but I'm sure he's smart enough to know that since I've released him so easily, I can reel him back in whenever I want."

…

As Mistress Oliidark had said, Leonel was already sent out of the estate on a mission. And, he could obviously guess that he would be monitored if he was being let go so easily.

What wasn't easy was what he was tasked to do.

He stood at the edge of a deep abyss, shaking his head. His collarbone had yet to heal but he was being sent on a death mission. How fun.