Dimensional Descent

This purple puppy was none other than Simona's companion from all those years ago. All this time, Leonel had kept it in a snowglobe because he hadn't had a chance to give it back to her.

Back then, Leonel and Aina had found it in the Rapax Nest, but not wanting to deal with a beast they weren't familiar with in battle, chose to put it away instead. By the time they met Simona again, they were already in the core region of the Rapax Nest and things were too hectic for Leonel to care about such things, especially considering the appearance of the Three Finger Cult had left him completely infuriated.

Then, when they exited the Rapax Nest, Leonel was heavily injured and once again had other things to worry about.

Not long after returning, not only had Simona and the others of the Cataclysm Generation disappeared, but Leonel was then thrust into the Void Tower where the shocking event that sealed his Segmented Cube away and brought forward the date of his Spear Domain Tribulation would occur.

With all of those things happening, Leonel couldn't possibly think to care about a little puppy he had no relation with. But when he saw the tears in Simona's eyes, he felt quite bad. If he had tried a bit harder, it wouldn't have been a problem to get the little one back to her, but the honest truth was that he hadn't tried very hard at all.

To him, it was a meaningless thing, but to Simona, she thought that she had lost her best friend for over 20 years. Her relationship with the little purple puppy was no less than Leonel's own relationship with Little Blackstar.

Leonel walked forward with Aina and released the little puppy from the snowglobe.

The little guy looked around in confusion, but when it saw Simona, it yipped with happiness, diving into her arms completely oblivious to how long had passed.

Simona, the ice beauty that everyone had come to know, couldn't help it anymore and broke down in tears.

"Uh…"

Leonel scratched the back of his head. The emotions themselves didn't make him feel uncomfortable, it was more so that he felt bad that he was probably the reason they came out in a torrent like this. She might have not reacted like this had he found a way to get her companion back right after the Rapax Nest.

"Thank you… Thank you…"

Simona spoke between sobs.

Seeing her being so grateful for something like this, Leonel didn't know what to say. If anything, it only made him feel more guilty.

"Ah, it's no big deal. I just happened across the little guy in the Rapax Nest but things were too hectic to find time to return her home. Sorry about that."

Simona tried to speak but ended up just shaking her head again and again. Leonel obviously wouldn't know how important this little purple puppy was to her.

Only she knew how slow her progress was in recent years without this little one by her side. The Pyius family was very powerful in their own right, but Simona had another lineage that relied heavily on beast companions. All this time, she had only been able to tap into a portion of her potential because she had lost her life partner.

She had been infuriated for a long time before that fury became helplessness. She knew that the little one was still alive due to their connection, but she had never been able to sense exactly where it was, making her feel that all of it was an illusion.

Everything was fine now, everything was more than fine.

"I…"

Simona bit her lip heavily. She wanted to repay Leonel for this debt, but she hadn't said those words casually. She truly couldn't act personally. If the Constellation families acted personally, it would no longer be a matter of the younger generations, but instead feel much more like a Domain War of the Human Domain.

There was a reason why the likes of Valiant Heart Mountain could participate in the past, although they were among the very weakest.

Leonel waved a hand. "There's really no need to care about it so much, it took no effort on my part and I even delayed it for so long."

Simona shook her head, only vey slowly regaining her bearings.

She took a breath and exhaled.

"I cannot participate, and my Pyius family cannot, but my paternal family can. I will gather their support for you."

Leonel blinked, but didn't think too much of it initially. He didn't know much about Simona's much more famous maternal family, let alone her clearly less famous paternal family. So it was hard for him to gauge what this meant.

But at the same time, he didn't have much support to begin with. His greatest reliance was probably the Oryx and the Umbra family. He probably couldn't even rely on Earth too much anymore because from what he had heard, it had become a behemoth in his absence.

If the Constellation families couldn't participate because of how strong they were, this would be doubly true of Earth especially considering the somewhat politically charged state it was in. After all, Earth was the central reason why the other Domains were turning their eyes toward the Human Domain.

Knowing this, Leonel would take whatever help he could get so long as this help was willing to listen to him and be of use to him. What good was help that was arrogant and uppity? They would be a net negative to his situation instead of a help.

However, although Leonel's and Aina's expressions were a bit blank before they smiled, Valor's gaze along with many others flashed with a fierce light.

If one had to rank which families would have the largest impact on the Heir Wars, there would be many that could be placed within a tier of their own in terms of usefulness. These were families a step beneath the likes of the Constellation Alliances, the Morales and Suiard, but had strength of their own that could still be considered strong, or they had special abilities and resources that were of great help. These could be special abilities like weapon forging, Force Pill concocting or…

Beast taming.

This was truly a nice pie that had fallen into Leonel's lap from above.

That family was quite known for their stubbornness and they liked to stay out of worldly affairs, preferring to worship their God and be one with nature. But if it was Simona speaking on behalf of them, Valor already knew that things might very well change this time around.

Leonel smiled. "Then I will have to thank you in advance. I'm sure everyone knows that I'm quite far behind so I need all the help that I can get."

Leonel's laughter made many smile beside themselves. When he wasn't slaughtering people with the point of a finger, he truly did seem to be quite amiable and approachable.

Leonel wanted to say more before he killed the time between now and when his earned Void Merits were paid out, but before he could, a looming shadow appeared over him.

Leonel's eyes narrowed, his amiable smile vanishing as he looked forward.

With how tall he was, Leonel rarely did anything but look down, but this person was able to meet his gaze on a level playing field.

Conon Lio.

"I can admit that your performance was outstanding, but regardless of how you looked, a Tier 1 is still a Tier 1. I won't challenge in my capacity as an individual as I would gain no satisfaction from winning such a battle, I will wait for you to enter Tier 9 first.

"However, in my capacity as a Faction Leader, with how many of my men you've left beaten, bloodied and crippled today, I have no intention of letting you off.

"So I'll give you two options. The first is to apologize to each one of my men personally. So long as you do this, I will leave you be until you can grow to my height.

"If you do not want to do this, there is still a second option. Break one of your bones for each one of my men that you've hurt today. Do that, and I will also let you go.

"Make your choice."

At that moment, the blood of the Lion Pride Faction youths boiled looking toward the back of their leader. They gripped their fists hard, their eyes reddening and a dense golden Force wafting from them all.

Together, the pressure they gave off seemed to make the air tenfold heavier.

Leonel met the gaze of Conon.

"I'll return your two options with two as well. Piss off or taste my spear, which will it be?"