Patriarch Khafra's gaze sharpened.

"It's been long enough," he said coldly.

There wasn't a strict time limit on sending in participants, but that didn't mean that they were perfectly lax. There were methods of pressure that Patriarch Khafra could use, and some of those even included losing even more points.

All of this was just a formality at this point. Whether Leonel sent someone in or not didn't matter. He had only really spoken for the sake of regaining face. The rest of it was irrelevant to him.

He had all the time in the world. So long as Leonel stalled for any longer, he would just deduct more of his points.

This was just the first step of their plan and they weren't on a timeline crunch... yet.

Leonel completely ignored him, closing his eyes and taking deep breaths. The entire rest of the world was meaningless to him; he felt at peace so long as he could feel Aina in his arms.

His violent aura slowly receded further and the world returned to peace. Finally, the tears of blood that ran down his cheeks were burnt into a falling rain of ash. The last to recede was his crown of black and violet, his robes leaving just a moment before.

Soon, there was truly a peaceful quiet.

"-Hurry up!"

The first thing Leonel heard when he started paying attention to the world once again was Gregwyn's incessant chattering. He seemed to be even more pissed off than Patriarch Khafra that he had felt so much fear just now.

He was eager to watch Leonel fall, and his previous complacent laughter had been muffled by his unhappiness.

Once again, Leonel ignored him.

He was painted into a corner? What complete and utter fools. He had never been painted into a corner in his entire life, and he doubted it would start now.

If he wanted to lose on purpose, then he would lose.If he wanted to win, no one could stop him from doing so.

He was willing to accept that he couldn't bring his father back not just because of Goggles action, but because of the deep and profound respect he had for the man who had raised him. Recreating that man was nothing more than a spit to the face of everything his father had always meant to him.

And in this life, from here on out, that was the one and only loss he would ever take. It was a loss not to the world, not to these jumping clowns, but to his father himself. No one else was worthy of defeating him.

Leonel pulled back and looked into Aina's golden eyes.

"I'll need your help."

Aina nodded, already understanding from Leonel's thoughts.

With a movement of her intention, the technique her father gave her circulated and she fell from the Eighth Heaven back down the Third.

With a quick pop of several pills, she entered the Fourth Dimension in a flash.

Patriarch Khafra's eyes widened, but it was already too late.

Aina accepted the challenge and both her and Little Fox vanished.

Patriarch Khafra's lip trembled. He had a bad feeling, a very bad feeling.

Leonel stood in silence, his heart calming down for only a moment before there was a rush.

Respect and Persistence.

He Respected his father enough to never try and recreate the man he had been to him.

He would Persist to prove to the world that Velasco Morales was the only one worthy of him admitting defeat to.

BANG!

Leonel's Dream Force rose to the Higher Life State. At the same time, his True Dream Sovereignty reached the Silver Grade. If before his Dream Force was only akin to a level above, right now his Higher Life State Dream Force felt like a Quasi Creation State Force in the eyes of others.

He grasped onto the fainted edges of the Self Path and he understood why he hadn't been able to understand it in the past.

He was too stubborn.

The core of the Self Path was understanding the uniqueness of a person, a uniqueness that couldn't be replicated. Only by understanding how special you, yourself, were, could you impose that Will onto the outside world and force the various treasures of the world to abide by your thoughts and your whims...

Only that way could you suppress the natures of the Forces of the world and force only your own nature to shine through the brightest.

If he never truly accepted his father's death...

He would have never comprehended the Self Path.

"You..."

Leonel closed his eyes, directly ignoring Patriarch Khafra. However, he didn't see darkness when he opened them. Instead, he saw a world of grey and black.

It was a maze and the goal was to make it to the end before the enemy did. However, not only were there other dangers here, but he could directly meet Little Fox as well.

Aina gave over full control of her body over to Leonel. Honestly speaking, just by virtue of their connection, Aina had enough comprehension of Dream Force to pull out this victory.

But Leonel didn't just want a victory. He wanted to crush their spirits.

Aina had been forced to regress to the Fourth Dimension before she had been enlightened. This meant that it wouldn't be a flash to return to the Eighth Dimension like it had been in the past. These people had not only cost Aina one of her precious regressions, but they had handicapped Leonel of his strongest fighter.

More than all of that, they had made him feel a pain that was worse than death, forced him to face a reality that he hadn't wanted to face.

In that case, he would repay the favor.

Aina shot forward under the control of Leonel's senses. They zoomed through the maze with such speed that it seemed as though they knew where every trap lay, and where every turn curved.

In a flash, they suddenly blocked Little Fox's path.

The little boy's eyes widened. How had Aina found him so quickly?

"Die," Aina said lightly, slapping out with a palm.

The world seemed to go dark.