1261: "King"

"King"

0"Are you all sure?"

Leonel frowned as he gazed toward his brothers. With all they had been through in the Dimensional Verse, the term brother had really gone from something they called each other in jest to something they truly meant. So, Leonel couldn't help but feel a bitter taste in his mouth after he heard their decision. 

"We're still a bit lacking like this, Leo." Joel nodded seriously. "If we go to the Void Palace with you right now, we'll end up holding you back. And, if you really let us go free, I'm certain that more than one of us would die and that's not something I want to see, and I'm sure you don't' want to see it either."

Leonel knew that Joel was right. In fact, Leonel would make certain that he never had to see it, and the result of that would be, unsurprisingly, them holding him back. 

Despite knowing this, Leonel didn't like it. He had neglected these brothers of his for too long and he felt like he owed them far more than he had given them. They never asked for anything from him, but that didn't mean that he didn't want to give back. 

"There's no need to make that face, Cap." Raj laughed. "We'll still be mooching off of you. Grammy said she'd take care of us and those Luxnix old fogies don't dare to fart too loud around us anymore."

Leonel smiled and shook his head. Couldn't this guy be serious for once? 

Still, Raj's words did make him feel a lot better. The environment on Earth was still good, but the Milky Way was simply far too lacking. If these guys had spent the past year on Planet Luxnix instead, Leonel had no doubt that their real talents would have shone through fiercely. 

It seemed that he had overstepped by asking his mother to reserve spots for everyone. Alienor had, of course, been willing to do it since Leonel had asked. But who would have thought that everyone would already have their own plans. 

Of his brothers, only the silent Arnold would be coming with Leonel. The rest chose to stay here and would find a later opportunity to join. For now, they would solidify their foundations, learn more about their abilities, and slowly push themselves to the Quasi Sixth Dimension. 

"Plus, Leo, I'm sure there are a lot of things here that you'll want us to handle, right?" Joel met Leonel's gaze unwaveringly. 

Leonel slowly nodded. He still needed to care for the Oryx and the remnants of the Milky Way Guild. In addition, he had moving pieces that were still setting themselves up with the Umbra family, not to mention the secrets related to the Midas and Radix. This wasn't something he had forgotten about, but while he was in the Void Palace, it would be difficult to police these matters. 

His own mother hadn't even been allowed to leave on her own whims, but she was a Sector Ranked disciple. Logically, then, Leonel had no chance at moving freely after he entered their organization. 

Leonel had factored this into his plans already and the reason he was okay with it was because there would surely be an exception made for when the Morales family Heir Wars were set to begin. That would be his chance to leave and ensure that his pawns had all promoted as they should. 

But, leaving things so hands off for such a long period of time wasn't smart. It was especially a problem since his cousins turned competitors would definitely have their own men and women on the outside making moves for them. If Leonel didn't do the same, he would be handicapping himself. 

Thinking to this point, Leonel closed his eyes and took a deep breath. 

When he opened them once more, he had regained his focus. 

"Alright, I will leave these matters to you. I'll find a method to establish communication with you all once I get to the Void Palace."

"Right." Joel grinned a rare smile. 

Leonel had one major flaw that maybe even he wasn't aware of: He was a control freak. If he could do something himself and not disrupt anyone else, he would rather do things that way. 

The day James betrayed them during the final game of the year, Leonel had realized what the problem was. Yet, instead of talking to anyone or even confronting James, he found a way to win the game by himself and preserve their friendship. 

When Leonel chose to show them his labs and the things he was working on like the tentacle womb and others, they had already felt closer to him than they ever had before. But now, that feeling was even more potent. 

**

Leonel. Aina. Yuri. Savahn. Karolus. Noah. Arnold. Elthor. 

These eight would be the representatives of Earth that made their way to the Void Palace. This was maybe the first time in all of history that a Fifth Dimensional World had actually produced so many entries. In fact, it was rare for a Fifth Dimensional World to even stumble upon an entry to begin with, let alone have such a display. 

Of course, there were others that had made it as well. 

The Luxnix had the best showing, though this was unsurprising. After years of suppressing themselves, they had blossomed forth and gained many Nominal Ranked spots. 

Elaquin, Syllar and Elody all gained spots in addition to a few Ranked disciples within the top ten, making the total reach eight alone. Though Orinik felt that Leonel definitely didn't deserve the Amethyst Token, he could agree that there was no nepotism at play here. 

Of course, the ninth of the Luxnix was Myghell himself who had, unsurprisingly, long since recovered. 

Among those unrelated to the Luxnix, though, there were only four. 

One was a familiar young lady Leonel recognized, Riah Sage. The second was Higlis, the now Heir to the Montex family who was now in a very awkward position. And, the final two were both masked and exceptionally silent, but no one bothered them. 

However, at that moment, Aina, who hadn't spoken a word to Leonel in months, suddenly did so as though it was the most natural thing in the world. 

"King, I thought you should know about something that happened months ago…"

Leonel went from feeling like his bones were melting toward Aina calling him 'King', before he was suddenly enveloped by a flashbang of fury everyone but Aina and Myghell were forced to retreat from. 

He stretched out a hand and one of the masked men shot out, their throat landing in his palm as though it had always been there. 

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