Dimensional Descent

Leonel stood there, looking down at the Primordial Terror. He waved a hand, and particles of light seemed to gather, forming a casual pair of sweatpants to protect his decency.

He seemed unhurried and unbothered by anything, but under everyone’s eyes, the cracked Destruction World below healed itself and solidified.

The Primordial Terror’s eyes narrowed, but he truly couldn’t feel any threat coming from Leonel. Leonel had definitely grown more powerful, but he had also lost the support of the infinite energy that [Instant Recovery] provided to him. On top of that, it seemed like Blackstar and Drake were all out of gas. They had been supporting him for too long, and right now, they found that supporting the current Leonel took too much out of them for them to continue.

Blackstar had appeared in Aina’s arms at some unknown time, and Drake, pale-faced and gritting his teeth, could only do his best to continue supporting Joel and the others.

It was difficult to see how anything had changed at all.

And yet, no one had moved even until now. Instincts honed through countless years of battle had been ingrained into their very souls. Right now, even the likes of the arrogant Elysium felt himself walking a tightrope, gripping his sword hard.

Why did this Leonel feel so… Dangerous.

Leonel suddenly took his first breath. The wind whistled, the trees that had managed to survive the carnage swayed, and even the four battleships in the distance shook in the air, rumbling from side to side as though they might collapse from the skies at any moment.

Then, Leonel waved a hand. At that moment, a corpse that seemed formed out of countless shadowy tails appeared, dangling in the skies.

He looked at it casually. This was none other than the Shadow Tail that he had used the destruction of the [Dimensional Cleanse] trial world to kill.

It had been a great springboard for Blackstar and Kira in their training. But by now, it was already useless. It was entirely lifeless and contained nothing special within it at all.

“This thing is pretty special to you, isn’t it?” Leonel asked, but it wasn’t entirely clear who he was talking to. “You wanted to create something that could relieve you of your burdens and take up the mantle of Destruction for you, but you actually used such a stupid method.

“Passing down your essence to these creatures, creating the Envoys of Destruction and the Void Beast… You just ended up making yourself their Deity. This method would have never freed you.”

The eyes of the Primordial Terror shook violently. Space cracked like streaks of black lightning around him, and several individuals in its own camp died directly, unable to withstand the pressure.

Leonel had only said a few casual words, and yet they had gotten down to the very root of his problem. It was a problem that even the Primordial Terror hadn’t seen through. It had just ended up wallowing in its own misery.

Gods were existences that could gain power through being worshipped. It was why the likes of Evergreen and Zoltene had their own religions. It was just that… Only the weaker Gods cared to do such a thing. It was a method of shoring up the weaknesses of their Idols and hopefully creating something that could surpass their previous limits.

The Primordial Terror obviously had no need to do this, but it was only now he realized that he had inadvertently done exactly that.

“Idiot.”

Leonel spat out a single word, and it cut the Primordial Terror down to the very core.

How could he possibly escape the fate of being a Destruction God Beast if all he did was create worshippers to his idol? In fact, he had managed to do it so well that he only felt like his power was increasing again and again these days, and it wasn’t until Leonel pointed it out that he actually understood.

“I bet there was someone who suggested such a great idea to you, though. I wonder who that was.”

Leonel’s words continued to be casual without compare, but just as the Primordial Terror was feeling as though it had just been struck by lightning and was about to turn toward that purpose, Leonel suddenly acted.

He tossed the Shadow Tail Envoy out and pressed his hands together slowly. Time seemed to slow to a crawl, and in a BOOM, an enormous Natural Force Art appeared in a single instant of time.

“[Assimilate].”

Leonel spoke lightly, and the world churned. The beautiful violet-gold Natural Force Art was suddenly corrupted.

Everyone thought that Leonel was about to unleash a mighty attack…

But that wasn’t what happened at all.

“[Emperor’s Edict]…”

Leonel continued to look forward with a dull, uninterested gaze. It was as though the world was no longer fun for him, no longer a challenge. Everything moved in slow motion because he thought too fast. Everyone felt too stupid to him because they had fallen for such obvious traps. Even the skies didn’t feel nearly as bright as they should.

What was interesting about this world at all?

“Come.”

It was a single word but true anarchy descended.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

The Scorned Queen Beauty’s expression changed and she opened her mouth to say something, but it was entirely drowned out.

Even she was an insignificant ant. No… she had always been.

One after another, the Envoys of Destruction began to appear in the skies.

The Shadow Tails.

The Dusky Steel Bats.

The Aurora Black Pandas.

The Crimson Clawed Apes.

The Death Pulse Deers.

There weren’t many of them. The Shadow Tails had the largest contingent at about a dozen or so, but there were only three Death Pulse Deers.

“You know,” Leonel said lightly, “in the past, I was hunted down by the ants of Evergreen because I killed one of her apostles. Do you know why Gods are so protective of them? I’ll give you a hint. It’s certainly not just a matter of face.”

The Primordial Terror’s expression changed, and for the first time, there was a hint of panic in its eyes.

“You’re quite slow. I’ll give you another hint… there’s a reason why only the weakest Gods use such methods. It’s because tying others, especially such weaklings, to your Idol…

“Is a recipe for disaster.”

Leonel stood loftily in the skies.

“[Emperor’s Edict]… Die.”

The Life Tablet fluttered with life. With its appearance, the Envoys couldn’t resist even if they wanted to.