Dimensional Descent

'Seems this Wissan has quite a weak mind.' Leonel thought.

This was the best explanation. Though, to be fair to Wissan, he was the first person Leonel had truly made eye contact like that with after awakening his King's Might. But, Leonel still believed his analysis wasn't very far off.

It was clear that King's Might amplified more than just Leonel's attack and defense. In fact, the amplification of his presence and aura was probably stronger than the amplification to anything else. If this wasn't true, the result wouldn't have been so exaggerated.

'I wonder, then, what would happen if I stopped using King's Might passively on my Chain Domain and used it actively? Would the change be greater than just an increase in range and size along with a lowering of the energy requirements?'

Leonel turned his head back toward Emna and Rafthin.

As expected, Emna had jumped through the air and caught Rafthin. Using a dagger attached to a chain, she shot it toward a distant pillar and began to swing her way over. It would truly be too easy for Leonel to deal with them.

Leonel reached a hand out, causing the expressions of the three organization Heads to change. But, they couldn't even make a move without Hutchin, the three remaining elders, and even Aina herself glaring toward them all at once.

Their expressions warped when they saw that even a little girl dared to do such a thing to them. But by then, it was already too late.

Stuck in the air and unable to change her trajectory, both Emna and Rafthin were bound in chains from all sides, only to be carried over Leonel.

Leonel separated the two of them into two separate chain bundles, then broke all of Rafthin's limbs without much remorse. As far as he was concerned, this was already mercy.

Even if he was more bloodthirsty, Leonel understood that it would be foolish to kill these three. The reality was that this Gathering was only taking place because these three organizations believed that they could win. If it came down to it, Leonel was certain that they would simply ignore all the restrictions and attack Valiant Heart the normal way.

For now, they were simply unwilling to pay the cost and chose this cheaper path. But, if Leonel pushed them too far, they just might drop all pretenses ahead of schedule, and that wouldn't' be very good for him.

Leonel hoped for Valiant Heart's sake that they had a plan to deal with this, because even if Aina and he helped them to win this… There was no way that things would end so simply.

Emna braced herself, ready to grit her teeth through her own limbs being shattered. But, why would Leonel harm someone he was trying to recruit? He simply left her suspended in the air and turned his head toward the remaining Valiant Heart members who had still yet to move.

"Well? Aren't you guys going to go?"

Snapping out of their stupor, the remaining group jumped forward, disappearing over the horizon.

Leonel's smile returned, his demeanor once again carefree.

"Well, I guess it's time for me to go as well."

Leonel dropped Emna to the ground and shot forward. Even as he disappeared in the distance and the Chain Domain was no longer a threat, no one dared to move and even the elders didn't bother to force them to.

…

Leonel passed by numerous Valiant Heart members. Though he didn't particularly care about his placement, there were only 20 spots but more than 20 Valiant Heart Mountain students. He didn't really have much of a choice but to pass them by if he wanted to participate in the next rounds.

Of course, Leonel didn't take this Gathering seriously because he knew what would happen even if they won. But, he was still curious about many things.

For one, this mysterious Third Party everyone kept mentioning that had still not shown up. He was also curious about the seeded geniuses the organizations were hiding.

Wissan, Emna and Rafthin were actually quite powerful. It was just that Leonel was uniquely suited to battling in strenuous environments because of his ability to use it to his advantage. The best chance someone would have at beating him was on as neutral a ground as possible.

To make matters worse, their teamwork wasn't very great. Without Wissan's hesitation, the battle wouldn't have ended so quickly.

Leonel was curious, then, about what geniuses the organization would actually place above them.

Not long later, Leonel made it to the destination with about ten having reached before him. At that moment, the mysterious elder of Valiant Heart had a rare smile on his face while the others sported ugly expressions.

Many looked toward Leonel, their eyes filled with a mixture of emotions, but he only grinned back casually.

**

The inside of the pillar could only be described as luxurious. Delicate arrangements, precious metal fixtures, maids, butlers and servants as far as the eye could see…

The group of students was quite in awe of such things, but they understood that this made sense. It might have been hard labor to work a Two Star Disaster World, but one had to be powerful to survive.

These weren't normal 'miners' working here. These were powerful mercenaries, often with strength well into the Fifth Dimension, working for high end salaries. It only made sense that they would be treated appropriately.

Though it was the first time Leonel had seen such a luxurious labor force, he too was quickly able to accept it.

It seemed that whatever Third Party the organizations had commissioned was quite well off. But, they would have to be to dare to step into the business of such powerful Bronze Organizations. They would, at the very least, have to be infinitely close to becoming a Silver Organization to take such a task on. It was clear that they were very confident in themselves.

It was upon entering a wide lounge area that Leonel suddenly understood where his bad feeling just might have been coming from. His mind flashed back to memories of a fat merchant with jingling jewellery and chains as his eyes narrowed.

Above, a large, magnificent sign shimmered with all sorts of splendor.

MILKY WAY GUILD.