Zornoir was a Lord Guard elite sent here by the Emberheart Lord. Despite his status, though, he wore simple black robes and even covered his face with a mask. It was clear that by every observable metric, the last thing the Emberhearts wanted was another scandal.
What he hadn't expected was that the moment he came here, he managed to find the Segmented Cube just sitting without a care in the world. He couldn't see through the treasure, but he was fairly certain that since the probe covering the Bubble was coming from it, that it should mean that this Segmented Cube that looked like a three-dimensional jigsaw puzzle, should be a treasure capable of housing life. In that case, didn't that mean if he brought it back this would all be over? In fact, if he tossed it into a spatial ring, Leonel and the others would be unable to step out even if they wanted to.
Most spatial devices couldn't house living things, so without the barrier of the Segmented Cube, they wouldn't dare to step out. It would be effectively jailing them.
However, before he did so, he had to make sure that they were actually inside of it. Wouldn't it be too embarrassing if he brought back an empty vessel? Or if he had misjudged the item and it was actually a treasure designed to scan?
However, just as he did so, his expression changed.
"Oh my, I'm blushing," Leonel's chuckle startled the Spiritual into reeling back. But when he realized that he still had his hand in Leonel's palm, he had no choice but to let go, a cold sweat permeating his back.
Zornoir found Leonel standing where the Segmented Cube had been.
Just now, the Segmented Cube was replaced by Leonel's hand and became a finger sleeve on his forefinger.
Zornoir's eyes narrowed. He hadn't thought that it would be possible for Leonel to come out, not with his Soul Force coating the Segmented Cube. There shouldn't have been a lane or channel for him to do so. According to his understanding of spatial devices that could house living things, Leonel shouldn't even be here.
Looking at the cold smile on the human boy's face, though, Zornoir felt a cold shiver down his spine as he remembered something.
Just now, subconsciously when he retreated, he had still been holding onto Leonel's hand. So when he pulled Leonel should have come with him.But why was it that Leonel was still standing there, unmoved? With how explosively he had retreated, was such a thing even possible?
Leonel raised a hand and grabbed at the air, forming a bow that stood three meters from tip to tip. The aura it radiated was so fierce that Zornoir's heart palpitated. This shouldn't be... why did he feel so much more powerful?
Unfortunately for Zornoir, it wasn't just the change in his Dimension that could unlock more of the power of Leonel's Life State Forces... the increase to his bodily strength could do the same.
The stronger he became, the more obvious the gap between his Forces and that of everyone else around him became.
Zornoir might be in the Ninth Dimension, but he had only grasped a single Lower Life State Force, and unlike the Moonstone Lord, he didn't have even a single other Impetus State Force, having put his everything into this one comprehension.
Seeing this, it was more amusing to Leonel than not that they had chosen to send this man. Could they have made it more obvious that they were trying to plan something?
Unfortunately for Zornoir, he didn't even seem to realize that he was a pawn.
Leonel raised his bow. "We've got a show to perform, Lord Guard. Don't you think you should pull out the best you've got?"
"A ... show?"
Zornoir didn't get to think about it any deeper as Leonel's killing intent locked onto him so fiercely that his years of battle experience roared out like a torrent.
Maybe it would only be moments before his death that he would realize that Leonel's Dream Force had practically ripped it out of him.
Flames erupted from Zornoir's body and his hair danced with them, making it hard to tell if they were the more tangible filaments or if they had become the flames themselves.
'A shame,' Leonel thought. He had been hoping that Zornoir was a Fire Force user...
Because what chance did he stand in that case?
[Domain].
In the moment, it looked like a bucket of cold water had been poured over Zornoir's head.
There was an important factor to consider when [Domain] was activated aside from the obvious... and that was the difference in quality of Forces.
Two people, both using [Domain], both with the same level of Force State, and both with the same Dimension, but using different quality of Forces would display vastly different levels of suppression.
Zornoir wasn't an Emberheart Force user, he used a much lower ranked flame and was clearly not a Pure Blood. But even if he had been...
What was a top 10 Fire Force to the number one Fire Force in all of existence.
"Hey, hey. Even if you're going to lose, you still have to put up a fight or else all of this will be for naught."
[Universe].
Zornoir felt gravity reverse around him and he was suddenly propelled into the air, so high that everyone across the city could see him.
His eyes were set ablaze with fear, the confusion fueling his helplessness and making the turmoil in his heart worse.
Leonel grinned. They sent one person, pretending as though they wanted to keep this hush, but their plot was so obvious Leonel felt like he had read it in an open book.
If they really wanted to keep things hush, shouldn't they have sent one of their powerful Ancestors? Why would they send someone even weaker than Moonstone, what was the point?
Obviously, it was bait. So he would take a bite.
BANG!