Goggles appeared outside, landing in the Dream Pavilion. He cast a glance toward the shadow of the Khafra Dream Pavilion before he shook his head.

With long strides, he left the region. He didn't have much time, and he didn't stand much of a chance against Leonel.

According to his understanding of Leonel, even if it seemed impossible, he would still try to find a way. So that should give him time. But humans tended to be unpredictable, especially when emotions got involved. That was why he could only rely on him.

This Flaura person provided him a better opportunity, and when the time came to betray her, he would do it without hesitation as well.

However, that was a matter for the future. The first thing he needed to do was to quickly find a way off of the Human Bubble, and for someone as weak as him, that was easier said than done. But luckily, he had his own plans. He wouldn't trust Flaura to help preserve his life.

Although hiding in the Bubbles seemed like an option he knew that Leonel would be able to find him much too easily. The only answer was to get out of here as quickly as possible, only then could he protect his life properly.

Leaving the Dream Pavilion was easy, entering it was the true problem. Luckily, he obviously didn't have to worry about the latter problem.

The moment he left, he entered the chaos that was now the Human Bubbles. They had still yet to be stabilized, and since this had been the territory of the Four Great Families, the situation was even worse here because of their disappearance.

Goggles walked by a building and at that moment, a shadow strolled out of it. If anyone was observing, they'd be shocked to find that there were two Goggles, not just one... at least that was what it was for a short time before they casually slapped their palms together and fused into one.

Goggles continued forward, his steps never pausing. He slid into another abandoned building and wiped some dust off of a teleportation platform before stepping into it and disappearing.

Soon after he was gone, the teleportation platform crumbled and the abandoned building shattered after it. Everything that had happened here was buried beneath the rubble.

...Goggles appeared in a familiar place not long afterward. It was none other than the ruins of the Cult.

He rubbed a ring on his finger, his gaze flickering. After some hesitation, he took out a familiar Tablet.

A Black Tablet.

Using it as his guide, he entered.

The last time Leonel had visited this place, he had taken away a lot of people, but he didn't do much to the region itself at all, mostly because it was too difficult to. The construction was built to the standards of a long lost standard of human ingenuity. It wasn't easy to get rid of, and it was difficult to tell just how Goggles had managed to even know of its existence.

He entered and soon found what he was looking for. It was another teleportation platform, but this time to the unknown.

Leonel had found this as well, but he, much like Goggles, could tell that it was dormant and there was no telling if there was anything on the other side. Leonel had no intention of randomly teleporting himself to an unknown land, especially not one related to the Cult. And neither did Goggles.

He had only come here for one reason, and that was to commandeer the equipment.

He began to change around some of the runes, exhibiting skill in Crafting that should have been far beyond him.

Only after a long while did he exhale a breath and stand.

It had taken him months to reach this point. It was difficult because doing things without Leonel noticing was incredibly difficult. Luckily, he had pulled the wool over his own eyes, or else maybe he would have never dared to do such a thing... at least not without some more assurances.

He rolled his thumb over the spatial ring on his finger again.

With the resources he got in exchange for this, he would be able to go far. He had most of [Dimensional Cleanse], and even if he didn't, with the Black Tablet he had access to a whole library of techniques.

He would truly be free now.

As for Leonel? Well, he had his own problems to deal with. If he wanted even a chance of seeing him again, he would have to survive first.

Goggles stepped into the platform, disappearing from the Human Bubbles for good.

...

Life was complex. It was something that most couldn't hope to comprehend, and even those with the strength to catch its faintest edges ended up being the most confused of them all.

Leonel trusted Goggles not because of his recent actions, but because of a past action that they had already long deviated from.

Because Leonel returned to Valiant Heart Mountain with so much more power, he didn't need to struggle for every victory like he didn't originally... and because of that, Goggles never got to meet Rollan, and because he never met Rollan, he never met his wife and could therefore never fall in love with Rollan's wife.

Many of the actions of the Goggles Leonel had known were done because he had fallen for the woman of another man.

By this point, he had already met Rollan's wife. But the circumstances were completely different. She was pregnant with Rollan's child, and living an entirely different life. Whatever it was that made Rollan fall for her the first time simply wasn't there anymore.

It was just a small change, and yet it changed everything.

In an unknown location, Nilrem reclined in silence. There was a reason he had allowed the Valiant Heart Mountain to reform, the very same reason he had allowed Leonel to find it.

Leonel needed to know that life wasn't so cheap.

Even if you could seemingly toy with it as you pleased...

There was always a price to pay.

A sigh echoed through Existence.

-----

Erdiul's Note: Nilrem = Merlin = Wise Star Order = Leonel's future teacher/master. Also RIP googles, bro can predict the future depending on how much information he has, guess he didn't have much information on his future death LMAO. Imagine thinking betraying someone like Leonel would be one of the best options available for you, these ''smart'' characters always end up not being particularly bright.