Dimensional Descent

Aina had never seen Leonel so focused.

A dense amount of Auspicious Air flooded his surroundings. It felt that if she wanted to, she would easily be able to enter an extremely deep state of meditation, one even deeper than the one that had allowed her to form her Chaos Demon body.

Aina couldn't help but wonder why it was that Leonel didn't use it more often. Whether it was his state of focus or his strength, she felt like it was on a completely different level when he entered this state. Was he just not aware? Or was it about his disposition? Could he not enter it freely?

She could tell that Leonel seemed to be pissed off about something, but it was odd because he didn't seem to be angry with her. If anything, she felt like they were even closer now, closer than they ever had been.

What woman wouldn't swoon when their man said words like Leonel just had? Leonl always seemed to have a way to make her heart flutter, but this just felt especially potent even in comparison to his usual way with words.

But his disposition shifted again on a dime. She just felt like the more she understood Leonel, the less she actually understood.

From what she did know, though, there were probably only two possibilities. Either Leonel was pissed off that he was too weak and had to make such a decision in the first place, or he was enraged at the thought that people were threatening her life to begin with.

Knowing this unreasonable man, it was probably a combination of both. Only someone with his level of arrogance would be truly pissed off about such things.

The first was a culmination of frustration.

Leonel was usually lazy, that much was true. He didn't put in as much effort as he should and he was easily bored by things. But at the same time, he was also someone who could easily pour in a ton of time so long as there was a goal ahead.

If he had just been lazy recently and that was the root of his weakness, fine, he would be able to accept it. But the reality was that before being forced into this situation, he had spent every waking moment of the previous year honing his strength.

He hadn't taken a single step out of that training room, and the moment he did take a step out, the Void Palace was suddenly thrust into an existential crisis.

He, despite his usual disposition, had put in ten months of effort. He had put in so much effort that he even fell asleep for an additional two months. And yet, even that still wasn't enough to match up to the geniuses of this Zone.

First he found himself captured by the Olidiark family, then he was surrounded by enemies in this event City, and when he finally found a soothing happiness again with Aina by his side, he was nearly crushed in a battle with Thaela before he was, quite literally, eaten alive by a demon.

Now he faced the cherry on top and he could already see the coming struggle ahead. Even if he completed this perfectly in time for them to be teleported out, they'd likely face stiff problems as he completed the final step. Just thinking about it pissed him off.

He was probably more than strong enough to shatter the barrier his father left behind in the Segmented Cube, but he still felt like he somehow hadn't improved at all.

It was frustrating. It felt as though he was running in place while the peak ahead only got further away and taller.

Maybe only Leonel would be truly frustrated by such a thing.

A year? What was a year of effort compared to the amount of time these geniuses had put into their crafts? What about compared to the old monsters that were waiting to target his life? What good was a year in the face of dozens? What about hundreds?

But then again, did Leonel even have such an option? How long ago had the Metamorphosis of Earth descended? He hadn't grown up in this world, he was just thrust into it without aim or purpose.

Although he felt like he had his own purpose now, he couldn't seem to ever focus on it like he wanted to. it was almost like his mind wasn't fully in his own control.

Leonel's wrist flicked and the final Force Art was completed.

He took off the finger guard that had been with him all this time and slotted it into the center of it all. This guard was none other than the home of the Segmented Cube. Very soon, it would be complete again.

Leonel looked up, the intent in his eyes blazing.

The world wasn't fair, it wasn't designed to be. No one would care how long he had been in the Dimensional Verse for, no one would care that he had spent most of his childhood recovering for a grievous injury or that he hadn't gotten the chance to grow step by step with his greatest talent, his Innate Node, and had to instead watch as it became a ticking time bomb in his body.

Since no one would care, he wouldn't care either.

Leonel swept his completed Craft into his spatial ring and stood to wrap an arm around Aina's waist.

He didn't look toward her. Instead, his gaze practically bore a hole into the Emperor's Might Tablet.

He felt a formless pressure boring down on him, pressing down against his soul.

What Leonel had learned when his body separated from his soul was that while the root of most of his Lineage Factors were in his body, his King's Might Lineage Factor actually called his soul home. In addition, when his body separated from his soul, the influence his Innate Node had on his King's Might Lineage Factor was also stripped away, allowing it to regain its former clarity.

Staring at it, Leonel felt a sudden compulsion.

"Come here."

His voice was cold, cold to the point that Aina felt a tingle up her spine, her cheeks flushing red.

An oppressive King's Might surged into the surroundings, suffocating the surroundings in a dense purple fog that permeated even the protective formations.

Leonel stretched out a hand and the bindings around the Golden Tablet shattered and it surged into his palm.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

The world in the surroundings suddenly began to collapse. The other tablets vanished even as the Emperor's Might Tablet became illusory and shot into Leonel's body.

Leonel's vision swam, and when he appeared once more, he was already standing outside of the city gates.

At that moment, the skies above collapsed, a large surge of powerful elders of the Seventh Dimension rushing downward.

Leonel didn't even look upward. His hand waved and a thick platform descended.

BOOM!

The earth quaked and a strong surge of Spatial Force surged through the air. Many of the youths near Leonel and Aina were forced into a quick retreat.

The platform embedded and hooked itself into the earth, becoming so solid that even Leonel, its creator, wouldn't be able to move it even if he wanted to.