Dimensional Descent

How many layers of schemes was that by now? As cautious as Leonel tried to be, he still almost fell for this old man's trap. After so many centuries, millennia even, of scheming, how could Wise Star Order be so simple?

First he had tried to gain Leonel's trust by playing the part of amiable elder. When that was seen through, he was prepared to take over Leonel's body in a more forceful way. He then pretended to fall for Leonel's trick when in reality he had read through his junior's thoughts like a book, perfectly countering the ability of the Silver Tablet.

After that, he ran into a roadblock with Leonel's Scarlet Star Force, but rather than giving up there, he tried to trick Leonel into a pact that really would have given him full control over him. Then, when Leonel saw through that, he already had a secondary trap laid with <Soul Bound> and was waiting for Leonel's soul to be sucked away.

By then, Leonel was already four or five levels deep into Wise Star Order's schemes and felt that he was fine now, especially since he could read his Ancestor's mind now. It could be considered an equal exchange…. Or so he thought.

Leonel had no idea that while he was distracted and meditating upon <Soul Bound>, getting lost in an all new world, Wise Star Order's screams in his mind no longer had anything to do with his Scarlet Star Force, but were rather due to his Ancestor splitting his soul in two using a technique he had snatched from the Spirituals.

Leonel executed <Soul Bound> with one of Wise Star Order's soul, but his second half was completely unfettered. Not only did this allow Wise Star Order to bide his time and wait for an opportunity, due to the oddities of two souls and how they could interact with <Soul Bound>, Wise Star Order was still able to keep bits and pieces of information hidden away from Leonel.

At the same time as all of this was going on, Wise Star Order could slowly build up immunity to Leonel's Scarlet Star Force. With one half of his soul perfectly healthy and the other in perpetual pain, he could use the former half to continuously heal the latter half while using the latter half to deepen his comprehension.

The core ability of Soul Manipulation was the power to allow the soul to adapt to any environment, even if that environment was an entirely new body, and Wise Star Order had been prepared to push this to the absolute limit. If he succeeded, not only would he be able to evolve the durability of his soul to an all new level, but when he was finish, he could still take hold of Leonel's body and no one would be any wiser.

By that time, he would have spent so long observing Leonel that he would know all of his habits, all of his quirks, all of his manuerisms. In addition, the incident with the Luxnix would be so far behind them that even if Velasco or Alienor suspected anything, it would be unlikely to come back to him.

Leonel had never thought that when Wise Star Order shot out of his body with just half his body left that it was because he had split himself. He had assumed that it was because of damage caused by his Scarlet Star Force, but to think he had just been outclassed like that.

It was an excellent plan. Leonel couldn't say that he had been outsmarted as he would only consider this to be so if both parties had access to the same information, but he had definitely been outplayed.

This Ancestor of his was truly an old bastard. But he was a very smart old bastard.

Leonel wasn't mad. If anything, he was just impressed, wholly so. The tenacity and grit of his Ancestor was commendable. Unfortunately…

"You should have feared my dad more."

Leonel shamelessly said these words for the second time that day. But this time, Wise Star Order truly roared into the skies, more infuriated than he had ever been before.

"Hey, mom."

"Hm?" Alienor, who was still enjoying torturing Wise Star Order for daring to scheme against her son still dropped everything to give Leonel attention.

"If I wear that necklace, he won't be able to mess with my mind, right?"

Alienor blinked. "That's right. This was crafted by your father. He gave it to me when he visited Void Palace a few months ago."

"In that case, don't kill the old man. He's very useful to me."

Alienor's brow furrowed. Though this necklace worked once, with the scheming nature of Wise Star Order, what guarantee was there that it would be enough next time? For all they knew, he was already scheming something else.

"I know he's dangerous, but that only makes it better. If I have such a looming guillotine over my head everyday, I'll always be on my toes. If one day I never have to fear schemes from him anymore, then whose schemes would I have to fear?"

Leonel's gaze glowed as he met his mother's eyes.

Today could be considered his most humiliating display. Despite the fact his face didn't show it and he seemed quite relaxed and indifferent, smiling even, there had been a fire lit within his belly.

The Dimensional Verse seemed to want to remind him just how insignificant he was, just how worthless his accomplishments to this point had been. He had been slapped not just once today, but already too many times to count, each one more resounding than the last.

He would never forget this day, he would brand it on his heart.

Seeing the look in her son's eye, Alienor couldn't help but waver. She could normally bulldoze her husband into doing things her way 99% of the time. But, whenever he got that look in his eye, that unwavering gaze that met hers and felt as vast as the skies, she knew that no amount of lioness tactics would work.

She took a deep breath and lowered her hand, lovingly helping her son to put the chain around his neck.

"You must remember to be careful." She said softly.

Leonel grinned. "I will."

His gaze shifted past his mother, landing on the elders who were still struggling to stand, a deep fear etched into their eyes. None of them could seem to see the depth of Alienor's strength, it was simply unfathomable.

"Tell Myghell that I'll be taking back my Innate Node on the Third Day of the Selections. I don't particularly need it… But I also don't think I need much of a reason to take back what's mine either."

A deep battle intent raged within Leonel. Myghell was his better, huh? Such a thought suddenly pissed him off.