Chapter 2559: [Bonus] A Different Sort of Death

[Bonus chapter courtesy of Fire2112 (aka Firemonster) <3 4/6]

Leonel's sneering grin practically split his face. In fact, he even began to laugh.

Most couldn't even react to these two messages quickly enough, but he was practically splitting his gut laughing.

How could he not find it funny?

He had spent a long time at the bottom of the Dimensional Verse, but when he finally broke free of most of his constraints, did he spend his time bullying the weak? Did he go back to those organizations that used to bully the Valiant Heart Zone and teach them a lesson? Did he go and destroy those planets that had attacked Earth in their time of vulnerability?

Even when he took out his rage on the common people of those that had led their armies into the Human Domain, although it wasn't something he was proud of, he had still killed them all straightforwardly with a single snap of his fingers.

But what was this?

50%. Half of the top 100, over 90% of which was made up by Demi-Gods or Gods, had come together in a collective effort to do all of this, and for what, exactly? For a fleeting chance at the Life Tablet?

Why were they sinking so low? Wasn't it just because they couldn't lay hands on it themselves?

On the one hand, they were afraid of upsetting various God Factions.

Like El'Rion had said, there were many of them. Passivism was apparently the majority; they wanted to leave the humans be and let them whittle their way out of existence on their own. There was a small contingent that wanted humans wiped out entirely, but again, they were a small minority.

But considering the culling of the Gathering of Kingdoms existed, then even if it was small, didn't it have a clear influence as well? How was destroying worlds for the sake of slowing the end of Existence considered "passive", otherwise?

So he found it all hilarious, so hilarious he couldn't stop laughing.

Powerful Races with hopes of becoming Demi-Gods, Demi-Gods themselves, and Gods even above them, meandering through time and hoping to extend their existences just a little bit longer, and their almighty plan to do so was bullying a Race some of them could probably wipe to extinction with a single finger.

"Fucking cowards."

These were the only words Leonel said before he vanished. No one heard him, but they didn't need to.

Playing games? That was what he was best at. If they wanted to string this along, he'd let them. In fact, soon there'd come a day where they'd find that they ran out of rope. One end would be a noose and the other end would be in Leonel's hands.

He'd enjoy that day when it came.

Leonel stepped out from the portal, standing high above the Dream Pavilion. He took a breath.

Compared to the True Dream Pavilion, and wherever that courtroom had been, the air here felt so much more bland. He couldn't even enjoy a breath the normal way. Everyone was like a reminder of how much further he had to go.

There was no one here to greet him. In fact, it didn't seem like anyone was here in the Dream Pavilion at all.

And why would they be?

Most of them thought that it was over the moment they stepped in. They probably stuffed their pockets with everything they could take and hightailed it out of here. If they stayed for too long, when the Pavilion was taken away, wouldn't they be implicated?

According to the rules, a Pavilion needed a Pavilion Head, three Deputies, and at least one disciple in order to be considered in working order.

Even dead, Clarence still counted as one. But much like the Pavilion Head position, there was a cutoff for Deputies as well, and that was the Impetus State.

From this, one could see why Leonel would be so soft with these people. Under usual circumstances, he would just kill them or directly kick them out.

But for now, they were a good cover... Until he could find two more Deputies and a worthy disciple to take in.

Luckily, Leonel already had two Deputies in mind. He wasn't so helpless anymore, not with so many Forgetful Orbs in his possession.

The only trouble was that Forgetful Orbs were only as good as the level you had originally reached. On the one hand, you needed more the stronger your Force Manipulation was, but on the other, too little Force Manipulation would hamper you.

The first person he thought of, Goggles, had just started training his Dream Force. If he had reached the Unfolded States already, Leonel would be greatly impressed.

The second person, though, Eamon... he was sharp and intelligent. He was a bit cowardly, but that was more a product of his upbringing than anything. He was certain if he gave Eamon a Forgetful Orb, he'd be able to reach the Impetus State.

Leonel thought about Aina. Her Soul Clairvoyance was a clearly broken ability, but it was hard to tell if she had natural affinity with Dream Force or not, or if she could just cheat her way into gaining it.

Quite frankly, Leonel never asked Aina about the full extent of her abilities. He didn't usually find it necessary, and though they were always together, when they really had time to talk, they'd prefer to relax over anything else.

He felt that he should probably ask now.

'Hm, that's right. I do have two captives...'

Leonel sent his senses out and he found Khelgis and Adru, the pair of Sun and Moon Demons, still stuck in meditation. They weren't even chained because it was unnecessary. Stuck in this environment, they couldn't focus on anything other than protecting their mind, or else they would falter.

Obviously, their Dream Force affinity wasn't up to snuff. So the idea of using them as convenient prisoners went out the window as well.

Leonel sighed, looking into the skies.

He had just completed a feat no human had in countless generations, and yet there was a single human here to congratulate him.

It was kind of sad. It felt that the race might as well have been wiped out already; what was the difference between this and death anyway?