Dimensional Descent

“There.”

Leonel and his brothers stood shrouded in darkness, having been pulled into Blackstar’s Shadow World together. In these last few weeks, Leonel had sent out a ton of probing strikes. But as he had said, his main goal wasn’t to win this war, at least not yet. As much as he wanted to, that just wasn’t possible. The opponents he was facing was too powerful, and presumably, whoever was helping them in the backgrond was even more powerful. He had destroyed so many islands and troops by now, but not only had he only been able to target the Adurna family, but he had hardly left a dent in their forces. His ten-person squad wasn’t enough.

His main goal, first and foremost, was to find out who was helping them behind the scenes, and if he wanted to do that… he would have to apply a lot more pressure than this. Well, the matter of who was less important than the matter of how. The who was obvious. It would be some combination of the Sylvans, the Void Race, and maybe even the Minerva. However, the how… that was what was really spurring Leonel on. The Four Great Families seemed to have an ability to react to the greatest of dangers with swift and decisive action. Three times now the Fawkes had had the chance to wipe them out, but every time they managed to pull something at the last minute. Leonel had a pretty good idea how that could be possible. But he would love to confirm it personally for reason that would likely be clear very soon. …

Ahead of them, as the group stood there, it seemed that they were staring out into an endless darkness. They all stood there in silence, not speaking a word and not having their usual banter. For the first time in their battle, Drake was present. Until now, they hadn’t been using him, mostly because the aura of a God was unmistakeable and he didn’t have the ability to hide himself that Blackstar did. If they were too casual with using him, he would be detected too far ahead of time. But now… it seemed that Leonel didn’t mind it. That was only made more obvious by the fact that Nana was with them as well. At that moment, the silent blackness rippled. Leonel’s eyes seemed to light up as though a slumbering beast was waking up. The Brazinger Heirloom on his shoulder trembled and red, jagged veins began to grow down the length of his arm. But he still didn’t move. The ripples became greater until two figures stepped out, one with green hair and eyes, the other with golden hair and eyes. The former was a man while the latter was a woman, and the two of them had a very obvious hint of rosiness to their cheeks. Though their clothing was immaculate, and there was nothing out of place, Leonel could tell immediately what he was seeing. A secret rendezvous. The man pinched the woman’s ass and she slapped his hand away before the two shot in different directions. There was a reason such a relationship had to be secret. The Four Great Families were obsessed with pure bloodlines, but that also included one another. In fact, probably the greatest taboo, even worse than bearing a child outside of the families, was to bear one from one another. If such a relationship was found out, the both of them would be killed. And the irony was… this relationship would do a far greater harm to their cause than just a child out of wedlock. Leonel took a step forward after they were gone and his brothers quickly followed. They appeared where the ripple had opened up, but there didn’t seem to be anything here at all… Seem was the operative word. The Heirloom left Leonel’s shoulder and he suddenly thrust forward. Before, it would have taken him quite some effort to do this, but after learning the secret of the Heirloom. “Open.”

His voice was gruff and filled with a dense murderous intent as though he hadn’t spoken in years. Jagged red runes filled the darkness and suddenly the ripple opened up once more. The group stepped through, and when their vision cleared, they found themselves in the middle of nowhere. There was an endless desert plain in all directions. However, Leonel had already expected this. If they immediately transported into enemy territory, those two lovers wouldn’t have had such rosy faces. Otherwise, they would have long since been caught. This place was a world of the Four Great Families. In order for there to be a battle in the Inbetween Worlds, there obviously had to be a way to get there. However, the power of God Realms made this more complicated than it seemed. That said, this complication made it easier to protect their worlds. The Ascension Empire hadn’t been able to bring the battle to their doorstep just yet because they couldn’t find a gateway inside. But Leonel had. After analyzing three different maps created by Anastasia, he had deduced where it had to be. “Go, Anastasia. Let them know we’ve arrived.”

Anastasia’s powerful senses immediately flared out and covered the entire world. Unlike the Inbetween World that took her a week to scan completely, she finished in a single instant this time. All at once, the information was projected into Leonel’s brain and deduced everything. A savage grin spread across Leonel’s face, his fury reaching higher and higher until it practically became tangible. The Sylvans. Leonel stomped a foot and shot off in a certain direction. 

At that moment, in a far off distance, an ancient tree was standing tall and proud. All the nutrients in the region seemed to be sucked up by it, leaving most of the surrounding land desolate. It had been in a calm meditation, ignoring the world, when it suddenly sensed a powerful sense sweep over it. ‘Not good.’

The Sylvan immediately began the process of uprooting itself, knowing it would be vulnerable in this state. But Leonel had already appeared over the horizon, a bloody pillar of light jetting out from him.