Dimensional Descent

At that moment, the images seemed to have finally caught up. The Human Domain realized that the Ancestors hadn't vanished; they had moved exceptionally quickly, and their destination was actually the eight remaining cities.

When Leonel roared out, they too had appeared on the teleportation platforms of the eight fortified cities with Leonel on the ninth.

At that moment, the cracking teleportation platforms began to crumble even faster. But rather than this being a result of the crumbling formation, it became obvious that it was because of Leonel's actions.

One after another, the residual Force of the teleportation platforms surged into Leonel and his eight Ancestors' bodies. The weakening formation weakened even faster as this began to happen, but Leonel didn't seem panicked in the slightest.

[Emperor's Command: Arise] was quite straightforward. It was able to take control of the souls of the dead and force them into submission. Depending on the stamina of the one who awoke them, they would basically be undead warriors, unfazed by injury and death and completely loyal to their Emperor.

It was a fearsome ability, and one that struck fear in the Four Great Families. This alone was enough to explain the collapse of the Fawkes family. This sort of power was likely the kind of thing that even the Spirituals wouldn't be able to remain idle in the face of.

However, [Emperor's Command: Arise] was only one of three... there was still Assimilate and Breathe.

If [Emperor's Command: Arise] was able to handle the souls of the organic, [Emperor's Command: Assimilate] was able to handle the souls of the inorganic.

Assimilate allowed Leonel to find the kernel of life within natural resources and take control of them. He could then assimilate with these resources or allow those awakened by Arise to do so.

When Leonel learned of this ability's capability, his entire expression changed. That was because it was simply too heaven-defying, even if it was the case that it was temporary just like Arise was, the implications were massive.

It had to be remembered that natural resources were where the inspiration for the Life Grade came from. Natural resources were akin to the universe's hand at Crafting a Life Grade existence. It was seamless, perfect, and carried its own sort of life. This was why it was so dangerous for Leonel to have so little control over his Scarlet Star Force Innate Node.

But Assimilate allowed Leonel to sense that kernel of specialness that made a natural resource unique, tap into it, and then extract it. Once he did, and he absorbed it to himself, he could gain the benefit of clarity that resource provided. It would cause a sharp spike in his affinity for it for a span of 24 hours, just like Arise.

However, gaining affinity was just one of the possibilities...

At that moment, the violet armor that covered the eight Ancestors began to warp and change. It was as though the ores of the teleportation platform were becoming a part of them, but not just that, they seemed to all connect them all across the cities.

This wasn't just an example of Assimilate. Or rather, Leonel was applying it in a way that maybe no one of the Fawkes family ever had before. And if they had... It was something that could have only been accomplished by the most talented of them all. Not only was he integrating the remaining strength of the teleportation patterns into them, but he was also using their innate link to fuse the changes into one.

To make something complicated simple, Leonel was creating the strongest linked armors he had ever created before.

From the very beginning, Leonel had had this plan in his back pocket, it was rather that he didn't know if it was worth it to expose at this moment. But his rage had spilled over.

Rather than letting the platforms run out of strength on their own, he changed his mind. He instead used Assimilate on them, sucking in the last of their power. This was absolutely perfect because Assimilate had its limits, if he had tried to Assimilate them in the beginning, even the Ancestors would have exploded and died, not to mention him.

But now... It was absolutely perfect.

The eight Ancestors raised their heads and howled into the skies.

The other Races were alerted to the sudden change immediately. Although the third day had ended, it looked as though the barrier would still persist for a while, which made sense since it was just an imprecise estimate. But just now, it had suddenly blinked out, a huge change from the previous steady decline.

They immediately sent out their orders, preparing their armors to attack, but that was when something shocking happened.

Eight figures... No, nine figures, charged past the second line of defense, rushing toward the first line the Invaders had been using at their headquarters. They were erratic and hard to track, moving at a speed so impossibly fast that it seemed as though they were practically shuttling through the bounds of reality.

Leonel felt a power booming through his body that he had never touched upon before. However, he knew that it was nothing more than an illusion. What wasn't an illusion, though... Were the eight Ancestors under his control.

Leonel appeared high in the skies above the base the Cloud Race called home. He didn't seem to have the disposition a Sixth Dimensional youth should have... and why should he?

He raised his hand high into the skies. At that moment, something odd happened. It was as though the shadows of the eight Ancestors that were nowhere near him stacked atop of his own, appearing as illusions to his back.

Linked armors worked best when the people using them were of one mind, but there would always be flaws. That said... what if the links were formed between a man and the souls under his control? Wouldn't that be a completely infallible link?

Leonel roared, pooling the strength of eight Ancestors into the Force above his head and lashing out.

His palm descended from the skies, covering the whole city.

BOOM!