Dimensional Descent

Higlis violently coughed up several mouthfuls of blood. But, due to the fact he was facing the sky, he nearly choked on it all to death a moment later.

Rychard, who still had his rod brandished, couldn't help but narrowed his eyes, gazing at Leonel who was current looking at the now bladeless spear in his hand.

Leonel sighed and shook his head. He knew that this heavy spear of his was only at the Quasi Bronze level, but he hadn't expected for just a single blow to leave it in such a state. Luckily, it had lasted just long enough to leave Higlis in a state where he could obviously no longer battle, or else maybe he would have been on the losing end.

Higlis rolled his head to the side, continuing to cough. His blood, which should have pooled on the surface of the light road, was instantly purified, vanishing into thin air without even the slightest puff of smoke.

Such a sight left Leonel sighing. How many people had died on this road, only to be purified away in that exact fashion? There weren't even any lingering markings remaining of what once was.

Leonel gazed down at Higlis. At the moment, the young man had still not begged for a word of mercy. Truth be told, Leonel didn't plan on killing if he didn't have to. It wasn't like they were meeting on a battlefield, they were forced to go head to head for the sake of this technique.

Still, the fact he hadn't gave Leonel a faint amount of respect for him.

With a single movement, Leonel hooked his foot at Higlis' hip and kicked him over the side of the road.

Of course, he had no idea if this was an act of mercy or not. For all he knew, this was Higlis' second attempt and not his first. If it was the second, that would mean that Higlis would die. But, there was nothing that Leonel could do about that. He had no intention of giving up a chance to complete [Dimensional Cleanse] just for the sake of kindness.

He was slowly learning how to balance his morality with what he felt like he had to do. Ultimately, he knew well that if Higlis had the chance, he would have killed him. So, this was the best Leonel could do for such an enemy.

Higlis, obviously, couldn't fight back. But, his gaze seemed to lock onto Leonel in those final moments as though trying to sear the memory of his face into his mind.

Leonel turned his attention toward Rychard. The latter was a well dressed young man with long cascading black hair and deep violet eyes. The rod he held trembled slightly, but it seemed to be more due to its heft than fear. Leonel felt that this young man had probably taken out a weapon beyond his ability to control after he realized just how powerful Leonel was.

With a movement, Leonel put away his heavy spear. He wasn't worried about it being broken since the Spear Domain Heirloom had the ability to repair breaks to spears it had recognized.

It seemed that he had gone a bit overboard. With [Star Fusion: Infusion], the version he had used against Kira, he could have already defeated these two. However, he was using the second version, [Star Fusion: Combustion] at the moment, which was most definitely overkill.

It was unfortunate. He had wanted to test the third version he had come up with, but it seemed that he wouldn't get the chance to this time around.

"May I know your name?" Rychard asked, a smoldering fury hidden within the depths of his eyes.

He had really needed to succeed here. He just had one step to go, yet such a roadblock had appeared. How could he not be infuriated?

However, he was a person used to setbacks. He had been fighting against his brothers and cousins all his life. After many decades of hard work, he finally managed to get his hands on a map to the [Dimensional Cleanse] trials and had prepared for years for this very moment.

The trouble was that even though this was just his first attempt, who knew when the next round would begin?

Leonel thought that he was alone initially precisely because the trial began the moment he solved his puzzle. So, how could he not think this?

But, the truth of the matter was that this trial would only begin after a certain number of individuals activated the map. Leonel thought the world revolved around him when it was just that he just so happened to be the last to activate his own.

One might think that this was a simple task, but this couldn't have been further from the truth. There were more maps than there were the number of people who could enter the trial at any given time. However, this didn't mean that meeting the quota was simple.

How many were on their first try currently? How many would dare to start up their second trial immediately after the first despite knowing the risks? Wouldn't they take their time to grow much more powerful before trying again?

How many were on their second trial currently? What would happen to their map pieces after they were teleported out of here? Whose hands would it fall into? How long would it take that person to decipher the puzzle?

Most would enter from a safe, secluded place… So who knew how long it would take to find their map fragments again?

With all these variables in place, it took an average of a hundred or so years for the trial to reset itself and begin again. At the shortest, it was a decade. At the longest, it could even take a millennia or several of them.

Leonel had no idea about all of this, or else he would have been in awe of Kira's integrity rather than making fun of her for not keeping her word. At the same time, he would also understand why Rychard was smoldering with unwillingness and rage at this moment.

"My name is Leonel Morales. And you?" Leonel asked politely despite the fact he didn't particularly care.

Rychard frowned. Morales? It felt both familiar and foreign to him for some reason…

"My name is Rychard Viola, let's have a good battle."