Dimensional Descent

Leonel didn’t look at Elysium, his gaze dark and aimed toward the ground as though he was still trying to control an impulse. His heart was thrumming wildly and his fury was threatening to spill over. He took deep breaths and eventually even closed his eyes. It was almost a level of disregard that took Elysium aback for the first time, but then he shook his head.

No matter how he looked at it, it seemed as though Leonel was just truly afraid. In the world, there was a fine line between bravery, ignorance and stupidity. To be brave meant to understand the threat, you were under and face it valiantly, nonetheless. To be ignorant was to face off against challenges you had no knowledge or understanding of, simply because it fed your ego. To be stupid was to understand your situation, know you had another choice, and yet choose the path of most resistance because of, once again, your ego.

In Elysium’s opinion, the fear that Leonel felt was real. He should see the gap between the two of them and his reaction was only natural. This was just the normal reaction of prey meeting their apex predator.

Elysium was the perfect counter to Leonel, not only just because he was extremely powerful but also because he had comprehended Dream Force to an extreme extent as well. Any advantages that a Dream Force user might have had against another powerful opponent were useless against him. He did not fear Dream Force because he, too, wielded it.

In the end, that meant to him that Leonel was only speaking such idiotic words because he was unwilling. In fact, now that Elysium thought about it, when had Leonel ever taken a step back? He had seemed sensible during the Gathering of Minds, but wasn’t that just him throwing another tantrum? He had said that he would give up the Life Tablet and Segmented Cube if he lost, but he ended up stealing it back.

Elysium had never really thought about these things before because a character as small as Leonel wasn’t worth so much effort to think about in normal circumstances. If not for the situation now, he wouldn’t have even bothered. But now that he had thought of them, he couldn’t help but feel a sliver of disdain for him even though he only looked at Leonel as an elder would a child.

A man who couldn’t even keep his own word… a man who treated the words he spoke and said as though they were air to be passed through the world and ignored… Wasn’t a man at all. Any potential he might have felt that Leonel had was directly ignored by him. He already felt that no one he had already surpassed could ever catch up to his steps, but now he didn’t even feel that Leonel had the right to chase him.

He had wasted enough time here. There was no point in wasting any more. So, he raised his hand to take action, feeling disgust all the while. Acting against a child was truly beneath. It made him feel even more disgusted that Leonel had forced him to do this.

And that was when Leonel’s voice rang out.

“It seems you’ve made your decision.”

A dangerous aura shuddered the skies as Leonel’s bow began to tremble. It didn’t seem like it was struggling, but rather that it was far too excited. Leonel’s face was already pale before, but now it seemed to have grown several times paler, his skin sinking and his cheekbones becoming more prominent. However, when he slowly opened his eyes, there was nothing but a deep, unfathomable indifference.

Elysium’s hand paused in the air. Was it an illusion? What was that feeling? Suddenly, the world shook and quaked. The repaired reality around Leonel shattered once again and golden Bow Force began to accumulate. A halo-like bracelet began to appear around both of his wrists, but this time they were even more spine tingling than the last time they appeared. Even before entering the Creation State, Leonel’s Spear Force had been seconds from shattering one of the strongest Mortal Realm Bubbles in existence. But now that they had entered the Creation State, there was a qualitative change the likes of which were almost impossible to describe.

It felt like it wasn’t just this world that was crumbling, but all of reality itself. And it was clear that Leonel control was even weaker now than it had been before… but this time, by design.

“Do you feel that?” Leonel asked plainly.

Minerva shuddered. All the while, she had been silent and couldn’t even look at Leonel. But right now, how could she not feel this oppressive aura? It was as though she might be swallowed up at any moment.

“You know, I’ve found that I really hate when people look down on me. It’s probably a character flaw, and I should fix it. The opinions of the insignificant shouldn’t be worth anything at all. I still remember when I was just a teenager… I didn’t think that kneeling was a big deal. I was raised in an Empire and practically worshipping the annoying old man that turned out to be grandfather was commonplace, so when I met a certain King Arthur, I thought it was only natural that I showed him the same respect… Until, that is… he tried to weaponise it against me.”

Leonel spoke slowly as more of his life seemed to leave his body, and yet he remained entirely indifferent to it all.

“I guess you can say that that’s when it started. I have a particular distaste for people who think too much of themselves, which is ironic considering my opinion of myself… But the difference is that you are not me.”

Leonel looked away from Elysium and toward the world around him.

“You tell me, oh mighty Patriarch of the Minerva… If your little formation of worlds was suddenly missing one… What would happen to your generations of planning?”