Dimensional Descent

Leonel didn't need to look back to recognize the voice of Aphestus, of all people.

Of course, Leonel knew why Aphestus was saying these words. Leonel hadn't looked back from start to finish, so it wasn't too hard to guess that he was feeling guilty. However, it was still a bit of a surprise that Aphestus would be the one to come to speak with him.

From what Leonel could tell, everyone else had already rushed up the mountain, there wasn't even another line of defense here. It was clear that Ingsan had trusted Leonel with protecting them while they went off to evacuate. But, Aphestus didn't seem to care much about this so-called evacuation.

"Cowardly? No. Guilty? I guess you can argue that." Leonel replied.

Aphestus snorted. "Semantics."

"That's a pretty big word for a muscle brain like you."

Aphestus' lip twitched. Wasn't this bastard supposed to be feeling guilty? Where did he find the face to quibble like this?

Plus, looking at Leonel now, even though it was hidden beneath his clothing, Aphestus could tell that somehow this brat had come back with a physique even better than his own. So, who was the muscle brain exactly?

"… Were you serious about keeping the pillars for us?"

"Yes. Anyone who feels ready can come and get them from me. Even if I disagree that you are. It's not mine to begin with, I won't police which of you can take it. To be honest, it's not very useful to me now. Or, rather, it will be in the short term, but not in the long term."

"So you're just going to wipe your hands clean of it all, hm? Don't you think you hold a bit of responsibility?"

Leonel shook his head and sighed, finally looking back toward Aphestus. He was a bit surprised to find the abrasive young man to be red eyed. He seemed caught between tears and rage despite how calm his voice had sounded previously.

Aphestus seemed as though he might eat Leonel alive. Who knows, maybe his ability would kick in and he would gain Leonel's ability as well. Who cared if he became a cannibal if he could accomplish what he and Raylion had always hoped to accomplish?

However, he didn't move. He knew that he was no match for Leonel two years ago, let alone now. He would just be setting himself up for death.

Unlike Sael, he still hadn't given up. Raylion was too prideful to ask anything of Leonel. But he, as Raylion's right hand man, would scratch and claw for anything he thought could help his brother rise to the very top.

Leonel stared into Aphestus' eyes for a long time. Despite the bestial aura radiating out from the latter, he seemed completely unmoved.

"Aren't you the one who's very cowardly now?" Leonel spoke. "Why are you beating around the bush? Just say what you want to say. What's there to be scared of?"

Aphestus' jaw clenched. If a gaze could murder, Leonel would probably have died ten times over.

"… It's impossible for us to progress on our own. We'll always be labeled as the disciples of Valiant Heart. The other students might be fine, but those like Sael, myself and Raylion are too famous, we'll never be able to escape that label. No one would let us join their organization, and that would just be the bright side. The more likely scenario is that they'd offer us up to the three organizations or the Milky Way Guild to curry favor."

"Stop beating around the bush." Leonel repeated.

Aphestus' eyes were practically spewing fire at this point.

"Take responsibility. We will fight for you and even help in your Heir Wars. We just want resources to help us grow. If we're left like this, we'll never be able to reach a point where we can take those pillars back."

Aphestus had expected Leonel to pause for a moment and think about it. After all, even if they couldn't compare to Leonel, they were still great talents, right…?Even ignoring Sael and Raylion, he, himself, was mostly limited by the caliber of beast he got the chance to eat.

Aphestus was slotted into the Swallower Ability Index which was also separated into five stages. Speed, Efficient, Blackbody, Steal, and Dimensional Gut.

Speed allowed one to digest at impossibly fast speeds. Such a person could consume far more energy than another and thus recover far faster as well.

Efficient allowed one to not only have the abilities of Speed, but allowed them to eat with less wastage. Blackbody allowed one to consume 100% of the energy of their food and even directly convert it into power. It could be considered the pinnacle of Efficient.

Finally, there was Steal. The next step from converting food directly into power was snatching the powers their food had had back when they were alive.

As usual, the fifth, Dimensional Gut, was reserved for Savants. Such existences were practically Void Beasts in human form. The things they swallowed no longer had to be living and some could even digest entire worlds with a single bite.

By this, Aphestus' talent was clear. He was actually at the fourth Steal level. Even Raylion was only at the third stage of his Telekinesis Ability Index!

Of course, this was the case when Aphestus was swallowing Fourth Dimensional beasts. But, who was to say he couldn't do the same with Fifth Dimensional ones as well? After all, he had never had the chance to try!

This was all to say that Aphestus thought Leonel would at least think about it. But, Leonel didn't hesitate in his reply. Not only did he not hesitate, it was sharp, incisive, and left no room for rebuttal.

After hearing it, Aphestus was stuck in limbo, forgetting even the fact that he should have been enraged. He almost couldn't believe what it was that he was hearing to begin with, he was that close from asking Leonel to repeat himself.

"Absolutely not. I will not accept murderers into my people. As far as I'm concerned, you deserve to die."