Dimensional Descent

Leonel sighed inwardly. He had no plans to admit such a thing so publicly, but this was a huge issue.

Denying it wasn’t enough when he was playing on a chessboard with so many intelligent people pulling their own strings.

He played his part and looked at the green runed Rapax with a deadpan expression that underlined his confusion. But his mind was already whirling at a thousand miles a second.

Soon, it was likely that his identity would be exposed, and he never thought for a second that it would happen this way.

If he was caught between a rock and a hard place before, right now he might as well have a meteor falling from above as well.

This was a terrible situation caused by the innocent words of a young Rapax.

This Rapax was, obviously, the very same one that Leonel had saved all those years ago. Back then, he could have absorbed his egg and gained a second Ability Index, but he hadn’t because he chose to value the Rapax’s life no differently than he would a human’s life.

In Leonel’s opinion, absorbing that egg would have been no different from killing a baby in its cradle just for a little of extra power. That was unacceptable to him.

Even now, after many of his views on morality had changed, he still wouldn’t do such a thing. His morals might have changed, but his bottom line remained the exact same.

What Leonel didn’t expect was that this moment of mercy and grace would come back to bite him like this.

Obviously, this was also the reason the young Rapax recognized the spear in his hand. This was the very same spear Leonel had received for saving him in the first place. The Rapax had respected his actions, and reciprocated in kind.

He let go of a string of curses in his mind, but he simply continued to stare are the Rapax without a word.

“… Maybe I am mistaken.” The young Rapax shook his head.

Leonel sighed. This young Rapax prince was absolutely terrible at lying.

Reading the emotions of Rapax was tougher than doing so for humans, but Leonel had already observed them for long enough to understand the fluster when he saw it.

Clearly, the young Rapax understood he had said something he probably shouldn’t have. But this was the first time he was meeting his savior face to face.

He had heard of Leonel over his life, and back during the war, he had even convinced the Rapax to not attack the Human Domain as a repayment of this favor. But he had never actually seen Leonel. That was also likely why he had completely ignored Leonel’s disguise. What difference did it make to him if he didn’t have a reference for Leonel’s appearance in the first place?

Much like it was difficult for humans to differentiate Rapax, the situation was mostly the same in the vice versa as well.

The blue runed Rapax by the young Rapax’s side gazed toward Leonel as well, clearly seeing through the latter’s poor acting.

But unlike the young Rapax, he had seen and heard of Leonel Morales before. This human didn’t look like him at all, and he didn’t seem to be wearing a disguise. Was the young Rapax wrong?

There didn’t seem to be anything wrong with Leonel’s reaction, either.

If Leonel had reacted to confusion and an obvious flare up of emotion toward that end, the blue runed Rapax would have concluded that he was definitely Leonel Morales.

But real veterans of battle wouldn’t act like that even if they heard something ridiculous on the battlefield. Their reaction would be just as deadpan as Leonel’s own. Any fluctuations to your state of mind could lead to death.

The blue runed Rapax looked away from Leonel and toward the Sea God noble.

“Leave.” He said plainly.

The Sea God slowly rose from the pile of rubble. “Is this how the Rapax treats its guests? We came with gifts and sincerity, as a group with open hearts and minds, but now I must leave alone? Who will compensate us for the death of our comrades?”

The Sea God’s voice was filled with righteous indignation.

“Leave or you’ll die with them.”

The Sea God froze, not expecting that response.

It was clear that though he hadn’t said as much, the blue runed Rapax was infuriated by the actions of the Sea Gods as well.

Clearly, they had a fundamental misunderstanding of the way the Rapax did things. All of this was unacceptable to them, and it crossed their bottom line.

The Sea God had no choice but to disappear into the horizon, realizing that if he did stay, he would be finished.

The blue runed Rapax then looked toward Leonel and Xenothrall.

“You two, come with me.”

After saying this, he turned and flickered into the distance. The young Rapax gave Leonel a look and then flashed after him as well.

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Xenothrall picked himself up and suppressed his injuries before following as well. Leonel was the last left. He hesitated for a moment, but in the end, he followed too. This could easily go south, but it was also the best chance he had to turn things around. Risk or not, it seemed that he would just have to rely on his spear. …

Soon, the four were deep in a Rapax castle. Once again, it was entirely formed of bone, but what was more impressive was that it seemed to be the carcass of just a single, enormous beast.

It was likely that the first Rapax emperor of this world had slain this beast and thus built this castle as a memorial to their achievement.

It was in the basement of this castle that they met.

The blue runed Rapax ignored Xenothrall for a moment and looked right at Leonel.

“You are the third purchaser.”

Leonel resisted the urge to give the green runed Rapax a glance. He still couldn’t believe that he had been exposed like this, of all things.