2154: Emperors

Emperors

3Leonel's gaze narrowed.

The Spirituals hadn't shown up for the invasion, but had shown up now? And it was just one man? What did this mean exactly? Were they related to the Three Finger Cult? Or was this precisely the King he had been asking for?

But that didn't make any sense. Leonel was over 90% certain that King came from the Cataclysm Zone, or more accurately, the so-called "true" world. This was why he and the Demonness could have lived for so long, it was all a matter of relying on the huge time dilation between the two regions. Over a year had passed since Leonel had exited that Zone, but maybe only a few fractions of a second had passed over there. That was the reality.

Why did this mean it made little sense for this man to be King?

Leonel didn't know what Race it was that had created this simulation, but if he had to guess, it would definitely be the humans. The reason for this was the way this world was set up, and how all of the other Races seemed to have perfectly set and defined paths to take, while the humans were meandering and somewhat aimless.

If one had to run a simulation, constraining the variables made no sense. They would be looking for something that could change the status of their current situation, and constraining the subjects would make little sense. Rather, they would more so want to allow the simulations as much freedom as possible, allowing the chance for spontaneous mutations that could result in changes that they could take advantage of to help them out of their current situation.

Leonel was even more certain of this because of what had happened in his last moments in the Cataclysm Zone. Back there, there had been many Seventh Dimensional experts present, trying to stop him, but not a single Eighth Dimensional expert.

That event was far too important for not even one Eighth Dimensional existence to show up. And given what Leonel had done and said about the Ancestor who had brought Aina, it was even more impossible that she would do nothing.

So where had she been?

With the sudden breakthrough of his mind, he had a secondary experience of what he had gone through the very first time he had awakened Dream Force, and that was an amplification of his memory.

Suddenly, the SNAP! sound that everyone could seem to hear but it became like a dream in Leonel's mind, a lingering memory that he was faintly aware existed, but he couldn't quite grasp… And he also remembered that that harsh sound had echoed while he was in the trial alongside Aina.

Could it be a coincidence? The likelihood of that being the case was near zero.

So why was all of this important? It all went back to proving the fact this simulation was likely created by humans and that King couldn't possibly be a Spiritual. What was the implication of the Dream Project, created by humans, being infiltrated by Spirituals of the "true" world?

What chance would the humans stand?

Leonel's expression changed. Was that the truth? Was that the reason the Three Finger Cult was created?

Now that he thought about it, was the Demonness human? She should be exactly what her namesake claimed her to be, a Demonness, an Empress of the Demon Race. Didn't that make two Races now that had infiltrated?

Leonel frowned. He couldn't understand why he had muddled such an obvious deduction. Why was it that he was so sure that this man wasn't King when it made perfect sense that he would be? What was wrong with him?

He raised a palm to his forehead, pressing it. He felt an aching in his head all of a sudden, and it was making him feel more and more annoyed, agitated even, he was finding it difficult to stay still. He suddenly really… really wanted to kill something.

"Little Lion?" Alienor's concerned voice echoed. She didn't seem to care about what was happening around in the world at all as she took care of her son. At some unknown time, even Aina had appeared, ignoring the danger to approach Leonel.

"… I'm fine," Leonel said much more coldly than he had wanted to. His mother was a bit stunned and her eyes dimmed, but the care on her expression didn't change as she rubbed Leonel's cheek. It felt cold to the touch, but the warmth of her palm seemed to be pouring into him.

Aina's expression was especially worried. Leonel seemed to be going through, but she couldn't even begin to understand what it was. The worst part was that she didn't even know how to ask Leonel about it, she wasn't sure if he would even have an answer.

In the far off distance, very few were paying attention to Leonel anymore, and even fewer were paying attention to the small figures of the Three Finger Cult, namely… Lionel. However, Lionel's current gaze was practically spitting fire as he watched Alienor take care of Leonel.

That was his mother, his mother.

Just as he was about to lose control, the reality around him warping, a hand pressed down on his shoulder. He looked to see Anya wearing that same carefree smile on her face.

"Soon," she said in that voice as sweet as honey before looking up.

Velasco sent a casual glance upward and yawned.

"The Emperor of the Spirituals," he said casually. "… Still not enough. Who said you could stand higher than me?"

Velasco pressed his raised hand down and suddenly, the lofty Spiritual's head distorted. A strong golden Force appeared above his head, but it was useless.

BANG!

In one moment, he was in the air, and in the next, he was buried deep into the ground.

Leonel frowned. The gap between his father and this so-called Emperor of the Spirituals was indeed large. But he had noticed something immediately…

His father had killed all the others with a single strike. But this Sprititual…

The ground rumbled and an unblemished golden figure slowly walked out from it.

… had actually survived.

Almost on cue, the skies split again. One after another, existences that could only be said to be the Emperors of their Kind appeared.

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