Dimensional Descent

Leonel turned around and looked up to find Erlan looking down at him. The height difference was striking despite the fact the latter looked as though he just might be blown over by a strong gust of wind any time now. 

"Need something?" Leonel asked with a smile. 

"The White Lion Bow, return it."

Erlan's voice was quite soft, and despite the words he spoke, he even sounded quite shy. He sounded decades younger than he really was, almost like a prepubescent boy. But by a different token, his voice wasn't particularly high pitched either. It was just a very odd feeling to give off for someone who was so tall. 

Leonel's smile, though, didn't fade when he heard this. 

"Even if I placed the bow right here, would you even be able to pick it up? Don't you think it would be embarrassing if I planted the bow right in the middle of your Archery Faction and see how long it stayed in place?"

Hearing Leonel's words, fury danced in the eyes of the spectators. Leonel was smiling, but whether it was his words or the intentions behind them, both were incredibly vicious. 

If Leonel left the White Lion Bow here as he was asked and none were able to gain its acknowledgment, how embarrassing would that be for their Faction as a whole? They had already been lagging behind the Spear and Sword Factions for centuries and were only just starting to slowly catch up thanks to the existence of Nazag and the other Tarius family geniuses. But if this happened now, how hard of a blow would it be? 

"This isn't something you need to worry about," Erlan responded. "Return the bow."

Leonel continued to smile as he opened his mouth. 

"Piss off."

The spectators shuddered. It was hard to believe that someone could say such a thing with a smile on their face, he didn't even seem to be particularly angry and he also didn't seem to take Erlan very seriously at all despite the latter's Tier 8 strength. 

At that moment, Erlan's expression darkened, though it was difficult to tell considering how black the bags under his eyes already were. 

"Are you sure that's your answer?"

"Are you sure that it was smart to get this close to a spearman when your main weapon is that bow?" Leonel replied with the very same smile. 

Erlan's pupils constricted but Leonel's fingers had already pierced outward. He could do nothing as watched those fingers touch chest, a violent pressure swirling around them. 

BANG!

A hole was ripped through Erlan's chest, through his ribs, ravaging his lungs and shattering his shoulder blade on the way out. The residual pressure was so strong that he shot backward even faster than he had come, sheering past the crowd and landing against the Bow Pagoda in the distance with a blood curdling crack. 

The Bow Pagoda didn't so much as tremble, leaving Erlan's body to take the full brunt of the blow. 

"20 years ago, one of you threatened me with declaring war on the Morales family if they found out that I claimed the White Lion Bow through inscrutable methods. But 20 years later, after you were unable to prove this, you just settled for asking for it back just because? Aren't you embarrassed? 

"I don't actually know much about the White Lion Bow or its history. What I do know is that it's a present from someone I care quite a bit about and that's reason enough for me to not return it to you. 

"What I can say, though, is that even if I didn't have this reason, I still wouldn't return it."

Leonel flipped over his palm to reveal a gorgeous bow dancing with white-gold lights that bathed the surroundings in both a holy and oppressive aura. 

"You want a bow this beautiful to rot for all eternity in a glass case? How ridiculous."

Aina watched Leonel's back and couldn't help but smile. 

Usually, Leonel would care to speak so many words. The root of it was that he had always disdained to explain himself, and talking too much to enemies was just an extension of that. Even when someone infuriated him, he would just prefer to pummel them into the ground. 

Now, though, he seemed to be quite talkative and she found it funny, mostly because when he spoke, he was really too good at pissing people off. How difficult was it to win an argument against someone who thought hundreds of times faster than you? 

At that moment, though, a suffocating aura flashed over from the distance. In fact, there wasn't just one, there were two of them, each with presences that far surpassed the Sixth Dimension. 

Leonel's gaze narrowed as he looked up, quickly finding two characters landing atop a building adjacent to the public square. 

This wasn't too surprising. If Leonel's uncle and aunt oversaw the Spear Faction, then how could the Archery Faction not also have its own Seventh Dimensional powerhouses? The real question, though, was what were they doing here? Did they want to interfere as well? 

"Fighting in the Archery Faction is prohibited. All violators will be expelled and suspended from entry for 10 years. Please leave."

Leonel raised an eyebrow, watching the two for a moment before smiling and nodding. Without another word, he took Aina's hand and turned to leave. He had already gotten everything he needed out of the Archery Faction anyway. Although it was a bit unfortunate that he didn't get to learn any specific techniques, any techniques here could also be found in the Void Library with some added effort. 

The Bow Deity Faction could only grit their teeth as they watched Leonel leave. They wanted to wipe the smirk off his face with every fiber of their being, but taking Erlan as an example, it didn't seem that this would be a possibility for them. 

Their fury bubbled up inside them, causing the atmosphere to be greatly stifling, but in the end, no one did a single thing. It felt that the only hope was to wait for the decision of their leader, Nazag.