Dimensional Descent

It wasn’t a surprise that Leonel seemed completely out of place. His violet-black silk robes danced behind him as he moved, his boxers on full display. His bare feet were probably the first of their kind to grace these floors. After seeing this scene, Leonel understood something: the time dilation.

Having been to other Incomplete Worlds, Leonel knew that time dilation wasn’t a normal factor. It was only the case in the Dimensional Verse, and maybe the other Verses that were part of their group. The difference was obvious: The Pluto. Why had El’Rion been sent with such a valuable treasure? It was obviously for the sake of giving his grandfather the time dilation he needed to set everything up. Leonel had been gone for maybe half a decade at most if he didn’t include his own time dilation escapades. If he calculated based on what he knew about the Dimensional Verse’s time dilation, what would have likely been trillions upon trillions of years had passed. But he doubted that it was that long. If he was correct, then the time dilation likely weakened the stronger the Incomplete Worlds became. If it didn’t, then time dilation would probably be far more common in the higher Realms. In that case, it was likely a few hundred or a thousand years that had passed from his grandfather’s, grandmother’s, and mother’s perspectives. When he framed it like this, everything made perfect sense. Gervaise had wanted an opportunity to rebuild and reconstruct the Fawkes family. After Leonel left and became the vanguard of the Empire, they received the time they needed to do exactly that. Most of these people were probably distantly related to him in some way or another. At least 60% or so of this panel of nobles had Fawkes blood. Even with his senses considerably dulled, Peak Creation State Dream Force was still Peak Creation State Dream Force. The others were likely other powers of Earth that had risen up in that time. He was unlikely to recognize them at a glance, but there were some that he did. For example, the Dove family. He remembered that they were the Prime Minister equivalents of the Empire back when Leonel was around. He also remembered having some interaction with their Heir back then. Though, by now, he was probably a large figure—

Just as he had this thought, Leonel found him in the crowd and gave him a casual smile. “Damn, why the hell is this walkway so long,” Leonel muttered. He had already been here for half a minute, but he wasn’t even halfway to the throne that was ahead. His grandfather really liked to put on airs. He tried to use his Emulation Spatial Force Innate Node, but expectedly, that failed. Any empire worth their salt even in the Mortal Realms would have protections against Spatial Force, let alone one that could stand in the God Realm. Nilrem rushed in after Leonel, conveniently brushing off his knuckles after having dealt with a few guards. He waved like they were a pair of rockstars greeting their fans. Neither one of them seemed very bothered by the silence at all. For Leonel, it still made a little sense because he had no idea how important this meeting was. But for Nilrem, who knew exactly what it was, and still didn’t care… well, that was a completely different matter entirely. Still, Nilrem didn’t bother to explain. He knew that even if he did, Leonel wouldn’t give a damn. In that case, why not enjoy a good show? The philosophical differences of this grandfather-grandson duo would be an interesting clash to watch, indeed. Eventually, Leonel made it to the bottom of the stairs and looked up with his hands on his hips. Gervaise looked down, his expression unreadable. It was hard to tell that he was looking at his grandson at all, but Leonel didn’t mind it. He knew that this was the type of person his grandfather was. He took his position of Emperor very seriously and always put the Empire above all else. He might smile and joke with Leonel while they were alone, but he certainly wouldn’t do it right now. “Hey, Merlin. What’s my noble title?”

Nilrem cleared his throat. “Nilrem.”

“The question, Merlin?”

Nilrem rolled his eyes. “Imperial Prince?”

“That’s it?” Leonel asked.

“What else did you want?”

“I was born with that title. I don’t get anything else on top of it? Where are my cities? Where’s my land? Where’s my army?”

Nilrem chuckled. “What would you get that for?”

“I don’t know. Maybe because I was putting my life on the line alone, taking on the anger of the world, so that this guy could look pretty on a Throne. It’s a shame, don’t you think?”

“Definitely, definitely. But how would you be conferred a Title from bed?”

“We could make it work. Bless me with some holy water or something, sprinkle it on my forehead. Who knows, maybe I only took so long to wake up because my soul wasn’t at peace.”

“Why wasn’t it at peace?”

“It could smell shamelessness in the air.”

“Ah, so sensitive, so sensitive. You figure?”

“Well, I can’t think of any other reason so many would still be sitting in their seats and silently observing when I walked in.”

“You think they should bow?”

“Isn’t that only right when in the face of their savior?”

“Ah, I thought you meant they should bow because of your Noble Title.”

“Well, that too. But I’m not a fan of relying on things my parents gave me.”

“Is that so? But didn’t you come here to extort—I mean ask your grandfather for some things?”

“I said parents, Merlin. Keep up. Grandparents are in a different category.”

Nilrem stifled a chuckle, but a few others weren’t as good at disguising it as him. The sudden snorts were loud in the mostly silent room. It seemed that while there were a few people dissatisfied with Leonel’s current actions, not everyone had a stick up their ass.