Chapter 2332: Downfall

Leonel looked up into the skies and sneered. They had some nerve calling themselves Gods, but he guessed that this made sense. Their goal would be to subdue the powerhouses that came out. Unless they formed an image that would demand absolute obedience, they'd have to expend too much effort keeping them in line.

This is what those Four Great Families did best. They hid the truth, making them seem infallible when in reality, they were weak.

They had done it with the ranking system of the Demons. Leonel wouldn't even be surprised if all the demons he and Aina had come across in that world weren't even worth ranking to the true Demon Empires of greater Existence.

They had done with Force Manipulation, not wanting talents to rise up and question their rule or their methods. Force Manipulation was the way those without talent could rise up in the world and form methods of power for themselves. Keeping such methods hidden away was sinister beyond compare.

They had done so with the various Lineage Factor tablets. If not for Leonel's bloodline, how could he have ever gotten his hands on the Emperor's Might tablet?

He did, though, get a small bit of satisfaction wondering how they had reacted to this sudden change. They had probably panicked when they learned that he had taken the tablet.

But that wasn't something that he had to worry about for now. He knew how shameless those Four Great Families could be and he understood their methods quite well. It was probably because of their methods that they were in this situation to begin with.

If they hadn't suppressed their populations for so long and with such great effort, would they need to rely on the breakthroughs of geniuses of Incomplete Worlds to help them out of their predicaments?

But those fools probably didn't even see the error of their ways, and if they managed to survive this, they probably never would.

"So, old man, you've finally decided to call and explain things to me?"

Emperor Fawkes looked down from the skies, his expression just the same as always. His eyes carried a hint of a confident smile and he seemed unbothered by any and all things.

"Old man? What an endearing term. So you don't want to kill me?"

These words didn't seem like they were exchanged between a grandson and grandfather at all, but since when was the relationship between these two anything like the norm?

"Kill you? I thought about it. But then I learned some things."

"Ah, so you know I could shatter your existence with a flick of my finger. It's good that you do."

Leonel chuckled. "Even if I knew that, it wouldn't matter. If I had the intent to kill you, I'd find a way."

"Mm, maybe, or maybe not. You're not the only intelligent being in all of existence. Don't mistake these rabble you've been playing around with and anyone worthy of your attention. That Cynthia character is passable, and yet she was already able to put you in quite a bad situation, don't you think?"

Leonel's brows raised before they relaxed.

"So it was her? Mother should have killed her already. She's needlessly... well, needy."

Emperor Fawkes broke into an uproarious laughter.

"She did die. Unfortunately for you, she was revived."

Leonel didn't seem too surprised by this. If he could resurrect Seventh Dimensional existences of this world with impunity, then he was sure that someone could do the same with someone of the Eighth, especially if a golden version of his Silver Tablet existed.

Emperor Fawkes, though, shook his head.

"I'm afraid that you've misunderstood. Her resurrection wasn't at the hands of anyone. She simply returned because Existence willed it."

Leonel's gaze narrowed, but Emperor Fawkes only smiled as though he was satisfied with this explanation alone.

"Next time you meet her, I advise that you be careful. If you're as carefree and arrogant as you usually are, you'll suffer another loss. She might not necessarily need to scheme against you either, the strength she has will only grow exponentially from here on out and I would be wary of that."

"Interesting."

Emperor Fawkes smiled. "You're no fun."

Leonel clearly didn't have any intention of asking more questions, and that left Emperor Fawkes a bit helpless. Whether it was that son-in-law of his or this grandson of his, they were both so stubborn.

But then again, wasn't he the same?

"Then, I guess as your grandfather I should tell you some things. You've met the Pluto Race, I take it?"

"I have." Leonel nodded.

"Still confident, are we?"

"I'll never lack that," Leonel said with a grin.

"Good. In this world, we humans might be lowly, but we have our own bite."

"Spoken like a true Emperor."

"An Emperor that will rule all humans one day and lead them up to the World of Gods."

Emperor Fawkes' voice was far softer now than it had been before, and yet the conviction made it ring loud.

When Leonel heard this, he realized just how much he hadn't really cared about becoming a King in the past. The will in his grandfather's voice wasn't something that he had, at least not toward this matter.

And maybe that was why Emperor Fawkes had just chuckled when Leonel challenged his throne. He had known from the very beginning that this wasn't the path his grandson yearned for.

"As you know by now, the Fawkes family was once far more powerful than it is now. We led true Empires and we were the only humans with the ability to stand shoulder to shoulder with the Envoys of the God Beasts.

"Unfortunately, we fell, and it wasn't because of the attacks of other races like you may or may not have guessed. Our downfall was far more sinister than that as we fell to none other than our own kind.

"Feeling that the Fawkes were too powerful after the fall of the Envoys, and that our existence would antagonize that of the other Races too much, leading to the downfall of the Human Race...

"It was humans that shattered our foundations and orchestrated our downfall."