Dimensional Descent

Leonel met his mother's gaze. He didn't really react very much. Usually, he could be quite charismatic, but that wasn't because it was his true personality, it was rather because he could analyze a situation and understand the best way to respond. But he simply wasn't in the mood. It could be said that he was rarely his true self, but right now, he very much was.

He didn't have much to give, and he didn't really want to take either. But given his mother's expression, it seemed that she was well aware of this, something that surprised Leonel.

If he had known that she had been a bundle of emotions just a day prior, he probably wouldn't believe it. However, this sort of reaction suited him just fine. He wasn't in the mood to console others. If he had to, he might very well just directly leave so that he wouldn't say something he would come to regret.

"What are your plans?" Alienor asked.

"Kill." Leonel replied simply.

"Okay," Alienor replied simply. "Mom will help you."

Leonel's gaze flickered, but he didn't say anything else. He simply vanished out from Aina's arms, disappearing from everyone's sight.

Aina lowered her arms, feeling somewhat helpless. However, she knew Leonel well enough to know that he dealt with things his own way. Remembering the words that his other self seemed to have spoken, she regained some of her calm. The fact that he had spoken those words meant something clear, this wouldn't last forever, and that was all the confirmation she needed.

When Leonel had first begun to pursue her, he had been the one that was extremely patient. Because she never said no and gave him no signs of direct refusal, he continued to ask. That was his own sort of resolve, and it was because of her own complicated feelings that she had strung him along for long, but not once had he ever complained about it, nor had he ever held it against her.

He had just lost his father. If she didn't even have this much patience, then what good was it for her to be in a relationship at all?

**Leonel took control of one of his Starships the moment he entered Earth's orbit, zipping out of Earth's solar system in the blink of an eye.

"Yip! Yip!"

An adorable little mink appeared above Leonel's shoulder, slithering down and curling in his lap. Leonel took a glance down before looking away. The small bit of warmth on his thighs, silent and guarded, was all he felt he needed.

The Starship appeared within Umbra family territory with a great amount of speed. Leonel descended and sent the ship into the Segmented Cube's finger sleeve before descending. He didn't wait for anyone and directly entered the capital building of the Umbra, or maybe it was more accurately a palace. It wasn't long before people reacted, and even more quickly, Radlis' aunt, Seltin, appeared before him.

"Leonel," Seltin greeted, though her expression was a bit weird. She, along with many others had seen what had happened that day, at least vaguely. The system was only designed to follow lower-level Seventh Dimensional battles, so one could imagine how many details had been missed when observing a battle nearing the Ninth Dimensional level and even directly entering it.

However, it was still enough for her to understand the gist of what had happened, at least up until the death of Leonel's family.

"Mm," Leonel nodded faintly.

Seltin frowned inwardly, feeling that Leonel's attitude was a bit too disrespectful. Her strength level wasn't something the current Leonel could fathom. She was well aware of what had happened in the Heir Wars, she had watched attentively along with everyone else. After all, they had sent some of their best inside and wanted to be ready to take action in case any of them were exposed.

However, Seltin restrained her true inner thoughts. She could imagine what Leonel was going through, she too had lost many people she cared about, many at the hands of the Three Finger Cult. So, she didn't blame him too much and simply waited for him to explain why he had come, but what she heard next caught her completely off guard.

"I will give the Umbra family a choice now, there is no in between, and there won't be time to regret later. Stand by my side in a war against the greatest powers of the Human Domain, or don't. What will your choice be?"

Seltin froze.

Of all the things she had expected to hear, this was the very last. Hadn't Leonel just become the Patriarch of the Morales? Was that why he was asking? Did he believe that the Morales were about to be attacked by the rest of the Human Domain? That was possible, but it shouldn't happen for a while, though? Who would attack right after a Domain War? Especially right after it was a Morales' death that had pretty much protected them all?

"You... You mean you would like to ask us whether we want to help defend the Morales?" She probed.

This was a much different ask than the meaning behind Leonel's words, but she felt that she had to ask anyway.

"I meant exactly what I said," Leonel replied plainly.

Seltin's frown deepened. By this point, the rest of the upper echelon had realized that something important was happening, but their reactions were much fiercer than Seltin's, and they were much more unable to hide their expressions.

"We can't just..."

"The Three Finger Cult's upper echelon has been almost entirely destroyed, all that remains are likely their Variant Invalids and maybe a few hidden branches. There is no reason for you to continue to hide."

"This..."

Seltin's heart skipped a beat, but her resistance seemed to only grow.

"Alright," Leonel said coolly. "The Bronze Tablet. Return it."

Seltin froze and her resistance reached its peak.

Leonel didn't seem to want to waste any time. The moment he saw Seltin's hesitation, he knew what the answer would be. However, when he saw her reaction to the returning of his property, his gaze became frighteningly cold, so much so that Seltin seemed to be snapped awake.

It didn't feel like she was facing a youth any longer.