Dimensional Descent

Leonel landed, the raging Force Eruption spewing like a geyser before him.

"Go," he said lightly.

Little Tolly rushed forward greedily.

Leonel had never forgotten the innate instinct of Little Tolly, and that was of course to consume, and consume, and then to consume some more. If the little one's food intake wasn't regulated, it was quite easy for it to go on a complete rampage. So, when he saw how excited Little Tolly was, he wasn't surprised at all. It seemed that the little Metal Spirit was happy that it could finally release.

Leonel didn't say or do much. He had already prepared everything long in advance, and Little Tolly had been ready for this evolution for even longer than that. It had to be remembered that Tolliver had waited for Leonel for over 20 years; it could be said that they were overprepared.

Better than that, the Morales seemed to have set up some sort of barrier to stop outsiders from interfering with this region, or maybe more importantly than that, beasts. As such, all he really had to do was stand here, but that sort of leisure could only last for so long.

Soon enough, the auras that he had sensed previously quickly closed in. But in a comical scene, the three that had appeared were stuck out of the barrier that the Morales had erected. All three had thought that Leonel would be stuck outside as well, but who would have thought that he would be just fine?

There were two men and a woman, all of them wearing the bronzed, and somewhat rustic and brushed armor. This armor also seemed to carry some rust on it, but it was impossible that the Morales would dress their guards in such shabby attire on purpose; there was either some historical significance to this, or there was something special about the armors themselves.

These three, though, were part of the Morales Divine Guards. They were all well into the Seventh Dimension, and they had the sharp eyes of spearmen and the valiance of warriors. Despite the fact they felt somewhat humiliated by the situation, they calmed down quickly, realizing that Leonel could only leave this region once he was done; they just had to be prepared to intercept him.

From this vantage point, they could only see Leonel's back view, but all Morales had bronzed skin, darker to bronze hair and dark to bronze eyes. Even when they married out, the genes of the Morales were so strong that this would always be the case. Unless, of course, they married into a bloodline of equal standing, but this had never happened in the history of the Morales.

Due to the hidden Fifth Door of their Lineage Factor, even Morales who had illicit affairs with Suiard family members, or even other Races, never experienced anything different. This was such a hard rule that many had just become used to it, and their first assumption was that Leonel wasn't a member of the Morales at all, something that made their killing intent much deeper.

But then, they frowned. That hair color...

Leonel's hair color was extremely unique, and it didn't even seem to be a color alone at all, it was rather like a negative light. It appeared white in some light, an extremely pale pink in others, and a fierce violet in others. It moved in the wind as though it had no weight to it, and it seemed to be made up of countless strands of fiber glass material instead of hair.

It was truly beautiful, and it only seemed to become more so the longer one looked at it. But it was also due to this uniqueness that it was very familiar.

That hair color, they had seen it before. Their Patriarch, Leonel Morales, that man's son, didn't he have the same hair?

The three looked toward one another, not knowing what to do immediately. There were some odd rumors circulating about their Patriarch, but it was hard to verify them because it hadn't come right from the mouths of the Ancestors. But, for them as Divine Guards to learn of this information, especially considering the kind of circles they kept, it was more likely than not that there was some truth to it.

The first rumor was that their Patriarch had been called back by the Ancestors over a month ago, but he still hadn't appeared. That was all the rumor said, but if it was true the weight behind it wasn't small in the slightest.

Leonel was ultimately still a junior and the greatest power of the Morales was in the hands of the Council of Ancestors. Plus, Leonel had yet to have his coronation ceremony, so technically, Adawarth's father was still the Patriarch to this point.

The second rumor, though, made the first even worse. And that was that Leonel was like his father, the only difference was that he didn't mind using others to reach his goals. And if that was true, then would Leonel abdicate from the position like all others before him had?

It was impossible to know who had started these rumors, it was done too cleverly, and things were to the point that even these Divine Guards believed them.

But that was the thing... these matters were the truth. These rumors weren't lies at all. Leonel had indeed received a summons a month ago that he had completely ignored. Although he had been in a coma at the time, even if he had been awake, he would have directly ignored it.

As for the matters of abdication, it was less that Leonel had intentions of spitting in the face of tradition, and more so that he felt that by the time enough time for abdication had passed, the situation of the Morales would be so different that these old and ancient rules likely wouldn't be worth a damn at all.

At that moment, the ground quaked and the earth rumbled.

Leonel raised an eyebrow, but then he shook his head. He didn't care, it was just one mine, who cared if Little Tolly swallowed it all?