Dimensional Descent

Anya landed on the ground far more softly than one might expect. As the colors in the sky changed, a battle of proportions far too world-changing and epic to describe began, she didn't seem very affected by it. But at the same time, Leonel seemed to have noticed her at all either.

While Anya had been focused on Leonel the entire time, Leonel himself had only faintly noticed her appearance before ignoring her entirely. At this moment, almost all of Leonel's computing power was trying to find a way out of this.

His gaze was frighteningly cold, the space before his eyes seeming to freeze a great deal. However, no matter how he racked his brain, nothing seemed to be enough. The scale of the battle above him was far too much.

Leonel had thought a lot of times that maybe he would one day run into this sort of situation. But he didn't expect it to actually appear, maybe he was too arrogant, maybe it was just a confidence that he had earned, but he had truly believed that there was no situation his mind couldn't get him out of.

He had defeated a squad of Sixth Dimensional existence in the Fifth. He had entered a world where even those on his same level were tens of times more powerful than him and still came out alive. He had fought demons, been eaten alive. He had just crushed legions of Seventh Dimensional geniuses while still in the Sixth Dimension and even slaughtered over 50 Ancestors due to his mind alone.

He had felt invincible, untouchable, infallible, as though everything in the world could exist on the palm of his hands and be flipped on its head with a thought. It wasn't an arrogance that had come from nowhere, it was a confidence that he had built with his own hands from the ground up, a level of prestige that he deserved.

He had accomplished what no other existence could, and just when he was flying high, he had crashed head first into an immovable wall.

His eyes were glued to the skies, his teeth set so hard against one another that it felt as though they might crack at any time. His father was entirely surrounded by an existence that wouldn't even need to raise a finger to erase his own existence, just a single one of their attacks seemed to overturn the world itself, the battlefield entering a state of chaos. Maybe if not for his mother by his side, he would have already been crushed by the battle before him.

For the first time, he knew it was useless. There was no path out, there was no sudden plan he could pull out from thin air to claim victory. He felt a sort of helplessness from the depth of his soul, a helplessness that he should have experienced long ago when the Metamorphosis just began, but also one that had been delayed to this point.

This was a wall that many learned to overcome early on. Anyone who had grand aspirations should have run into such a roadblock in their early years. One might be able to say that it was technically still quite early for Leonel, he wasn't even 26 years old yet. But even in his young age, he had reached a level that others couldn't imagine touching even in their old age.

The agitation was bone deep, and the wild fluctuations in his body were only growing. The frigid region before his eyes seemed to have been sparked. Like two rocks banging against one another, the sharp lines of red-gold sparks flew through the air, and yet the temperature only continued to plummet.

"I really didn't expect you to ignore me on our first meeting in so long, Leo," Anya said lightly. She still wore a smile, barely visible behind that veil she wore everywhere. Though her words seemed to be reprimanding, and even carried a faint touch of a wronged expression, her smile never faded and her voice was as gentle and beautiful as ever.

Aina frowned. She was very worried about Leonel's current state and she didn't want to have to deal with this sort of nonsense.

As for Alienor, her expression was serious. Of course, this wasn't for Anya, nor was it for Lionel. Rather, she was focused on the Scholars. That said, the Scholars didn't seem to have any intention of attacking. The warning Velasco had left echoed in their ears, it was likely they didn't even dare to attack for fear that the rage of the battle above would turn on them.

At that moment, none of them had any illusions about Velasco's weakness. All of those harsh words they had spoken about his cowardice had long since been thrown out. They didn't even dare to breathe too loudly, only silently encircling Alienor, Aina and Leonel.

Leonel didn't even seem to hear Anya's words at all.

"Mom!" Lionel spoke with a somewhat twisted expression.

Alienor frowned, sweeping a glance over this boy before her. Mom? There was only one person in this world that could call her that. She would know better than anyone.

"Don't you remember me?" Lionel asked, his expression becoming more and more agitated.

Alienor looked away from this boy, her expression becoming more and more serious. She could have maybe two or three of these Scholars at once. Maybe if she had more time, she would have a greater chance of dealing with them all. But she was simply too young, she wasn't even 100 years old. Compared to these other Ancestors, she hadn't even had time to grow yet.

Just when Alienor was about to make a decision to take Leonel and Aina away, a powerful pressure descended.

Alienor's expression changed. "Father! NO!"

It was too late. A pillar of emerald enveloped Alienor and even Leonel couldn't react to the sudden change.

Leonel seemed to finally wake up, but when his head snapped back, his mother was gone. It wasn't just his mother, but Aina had disappeared as well.

He frowned. 'Father? Emperor Fawkes?'