Dimensional Descent

The two Seventh Dimensional overseers stood with their hands clasped behind their backs as Leonel left, but hidden flicker danced within their eyes as they did so. It was clear that they weren't happy with this result either, but there was little to nothing that they could do about it. Attacking with their strength was another taboo of the Void Palace, they simply couldn't do it.

The both of them were also members of the Bow Constellation Alliance. One of them went by Abelion and the other went by Sankas. Although neither of them was a member of the Tarius family, they still held quite a bit of strength in their own right.

Years ago, they could only watch the White Lion Bow be taken away by that woman. And now, her son had come by, seemingly to rub it in their faces. Suspending him for 10 years was about all that they could do, but Leonel didn't seem to care about it at all.

"Should we have really let him go like that?" Abelion asked.

"And what were our other choices, exactly?"

"This is already the second time you've given me that answer and it's just as frustrating as the first time."

"It is what it is. When someone climbs to the 12th floor, they're allowed to try their chances at claiming the White Lion Bow. Before, his mother had done it for him, and we could have used that as a pretext to take it away from him… if not for the fact that he seemed to be capable of using the bow just fine.

"Some thought that it was because his father used some nefarious means, but we have no way of proving that, or at the very least, there's no obvious method of doing so. And now that he's legitimately climbed to the 12th floor on his own, there's even less that we can do about it."

The two fell into silence, their teeth silently clenched as their expressions remained unmoved.

"The White Lion Bow is the last beacon we have of the Alliance's former glory. Allowing it to fall into the hands of an outsider like this is a disgrace."

These were the last words the two said on the topic, there was simply nothing else to be said.

The White Lion Bow's history wasn't as complex as some thought. In fact, it was so simple that it could be summarized in a single line…

It was the only bow the Alliance had from the Bow Domain Ring and the only one among them that they managed to keep.

This bow was the last weapon used by the last human owner of the Bow Domain Ring, but since then, it has been unusable by those who came next, unwilling to acknowledge anyone. It represented a historic slight, a stain on their lineage, and a slap to their faces. At the same time, it was a reminder that they still had a mission to avenge this disgrace.

And yet, now, this symbol of their pride was taken away by not just anyone, but a member of the Morales family. To say that this was a humiliation was an understatement.

…

"You're getting addicted to causing trouble," Aina teased.

Leonel laughed. This time, it really wasn't his fault. All he did was climb the tower, then some panda-eyed bastard asked him to return something his mother gave to him as a present. What was he supposed to do exactly? Give it back obediently?

He knew that there was probably some special significance to this bow in his hand, but that wasn't enough for him to change his mind about it. Plus, the so-called "nefarious" means they kept accusing him of using was all nonsense.

They all assumed that his father had done something considering his skill in Crafting, forcing the bow to submit to him. If this happened, it would be an even worse humiliation than an outsider claiming the bow and it wasn't something that they could accept, even to the point of being willing to declare war.

However, there was no evidence of such a thing happening. In fact, Leonel himself knew that his father had never even seen him use the bow before. And by now, if the bow had been tampered with, although Leonel could say that he had caught up to his father in Crafting, he could at least say with confidence that he would know if a bow he was using had been tampered with.

"I'm not going around looking for trouble, but I think I've stopped caring even if it comes for me."

"Then what now?"

"Of course we should go see auntie. I was accused of using facilities for free, wouldn't it be an injustice if I didn't take more advantage of this good deal?"

Aina shook her head and rolled her eyes. This man was really becoming a villain.

Leonel laughed and scooped up Aina's small waist, vanishing in a flicker. With his speed, it was barely a few minutes before he made it to the Spear Faction's territory.

The Spear Faction had been in a poor situation when Leonel was last here, but from what he could see now, they had already recovered and then some. But this made sense. While the Spear Faction had lost the Stalwart Polearm Party after it was demoted to a Faction, it still had his six cousins.

Plus, this information of Leonel's was quite outdated. The Stalwart Polearm Party had already been recovered under the hands of First Nova. The Spear Faction was already flourishing with a great air.

Just as Leonel was about to step into the faction, though, a booming crashing sound came from right before him.

BANG!

A familiar woman that looked as though she had just stepped out of a vat of oil landed heavily before Leonel. She was none other than Ness, Montez's wife and Leonel's aunt.

Leonel smiled and went to greet her, but in return, he gained finger pinch to the earlobe.

"36 500 000 Void Points! 365 Void Merits! Where's my payment?!"

Leonel blinked, feeling a pain spike through his ear and body. Where was the hello? How've you been? How about an "oh, you managed to survive, that's great! I was worried about you!". Where was the justice?

"About that—Uncle Montez!" Leonel's eyes lit up. "Help me!"

Ness' head snapped in the direction Leonel had looked in.

"Where—!"

Leonel slipped away, activating his Starry Light Domain, grabbing Aina, and vanishing in the blink of an eye.

Ness was caught off guard before she grinned wildly.

"You think you've grown a pair of balls, huh? Is your sack hairy enough to run from your aunt now?!"

Leonel nearly snapped out of his light state when he heard this, coughing hard. Why were her words so vulgar?"

"You think I can't catch you?!"

Ness, though, was caught off guard again, suddenly realizing that Leonel wasn't running away from the Spear Faction, but was rather running into it. Before she could react, he had appeared by the Spear Pagoda and dove inside, leaving Aina outside.

By the time Ness pivoted and caught up, she only found Aina standing with a sheepish smile, coughing lightly. Inwardly, though, Aina was cursing Leonel. This was definitely payback for her laughing at his misfortune before.