Dimensional Descent

“Grind him to dust!” Joseph roared. 

To anyone who knew why Leonel was here, it was just a simple matter of him protecting the citizens of this Fort. However, how could Joseph and Damian know this? In their eyes, not only was Leonel responsible for their demotions, but he had even returned to The Empire and was standing in their way again. 

Usually when people felt hatred, they would never consider what they might have done wrong. And, in this case, the most exaggerated result was practically guaranteed. 

Catwoman glared at Leonel through the cameras of her tank. 

“Run him over.” She said coldly to her driver. 

Catwoman remembered when she first met Leonel. She had had a good impression of the boy. But, the loyalty she had for Joseph was far beyond this. 

For a person to join the rebel army in a society where there was only one true ruler, it would be no surprise for their background to be lengthy and complex. Catwoman was no different and to her, Joseph was a brother, a father, and the only family she had. Even if Leonel hadn’t been the reason Joseph fell from his tall heights, she still wouldn’t allow him to block her path. 

Leonel watched coldly as the two vanguard tanks continued to roll forward. 

In all their fury, they didn’t seem to notice that the Invalids had long since stopped pouring into the city. They seemed frozen in space, completely unable to move. Their white, indifferent irises were all locked onto Leonel. Yet, he hadn’t spared any of them a single glance. 

CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!

“Chain Domain.”

PCHU!

The heads of several Invalids exploded. Illusory chains wrapped around their bodies, severing their limbs and crushing them into bloody pulps. 

One after another, they disappeared into motes of light, fusing into Leonel’s body. 

‘Little Tolly.’ Leonel called out. 

Blackstar had followed Aina, but Leonel had taken the little Metal Spirit with him. Since they dared to disregard the lives of the common people just for their own goals, Leonel would make them pay a price. 

The tanks continued to roll forward. Though all Leonel could see were their barrels and their sleek black exteriors, it was as though he was peering into the souls of those within them. 

“Dream Sculpt.”

Leonel stared down the tanks, their every piece reflecting in his mind. 

Without the complexities of Fourth Dimensional pieces, it took Leonel not even a few seconds to complete it. 

The moment it completed, Leonel arranged its every piece into a Dreamscape of its own. In two steps, Leonel already grasped the strengths and weaknesses of the tank even better than the engineers that designed it. 

‘Metal Synergy…’

Leonel felt his bloodline tremble with excitement. To this point, the greatest use Leonel had gotten out of his Lineage Factor was the strength of his body. But, if that was all there was to it, it would be called the Metal Body Lineage Factor, not the Metal Synergy Lineage Factor…

This bloodline didn’t represent a strong body. It represented dominion over the earth!

Scraps of steel alloy that had fallen to Leonel’s feet trembled, rising into the air. 

At that moment, Little Tolly had separated into ten spherical balls, floating before Leonel and resonating with his thoughts. 

After entering the Fourth Dimension with his mind, Leonel no longer needed direct contact to control Tolliver. His free hand moved as though he was composing a piece across the air, tapping with a speed and dexterity that was beyond the normal limits of humans. 

In his right hand, Leonel controlled a Chain Domain. In his left, he controlled a Metal Domain. 

When he said he would kill anyone who crossed the line he drew… He was serious. 

Little Tolly responded to Leonel’s commands. One of its ten spherical bodies shot forward, enveloping a rising piece of steel alloy. 

In the blink of an eye, Tolliver had finished. From a single piece of steel alloy, dozens of foot-long needles appeared. Their ends were so sharp that even the small rays of sun that rebounded off it were sliced apart. 

The rumbling of the tanks grew ever closer. 

From within the cockpit, Catwoman glanced at the line Leonel drew with a sneer. Her command still stood. Leonel’s words and actions hadn’t changed a thing. 

Roll him over. 

Leonel’s gaze sharpened the moment the barrel of the first tank crossed it. He didn’t wait for its tracks to do so. He didn’t wait for the entire tank to cross over either. 

Since they couldn’t show mercy to those weaker than them, he wouldn’t show them any mercy at all. Since they felt that they could do as they pleased because they were more powerful, he would show them what it truly meant to be powerful. 

Leonel’s surroundings suddenly felt a rise in temperature. At first it was subtle, but it grew unbearable very quickly. 

The Invalids that had managed to survive the constriction of Leonel’s Chain Domain imploded into a rain of fire and ash. 

The Fire Element gathered around him at inconceivable speeds. In one moment, the foot-long steel needles were an ash gray that matched the tall Fort walls. But in the next, they had suddenly begun to glow red. 

‘Die.’ Leonel thought coldly. 

Leonel’s halo glowed. As though receiving a command from its King, the metal needles shot forward at inconceivable speeds. 

From the vantage point of Catwoman, she couldn’t even see them. The speed was simply too much for the cameras to pick up.

Even to the last moment, she wasn’t aware of just what was about to happen to her. The last emotion on her face was a frozen sneer as she suddenly heard the blaring warning sirens of the tank. 

She looked back toward the camera and toward Leonel’s indifferent expression. That look was seared into her mind as her final memory. 

She remembered that look. It was the same cold expression she had as they blew up the Fort’s foundation. It was the same cold expression she had as she watched the Invalids swarm the outer city. It was the same cold expression she had as she heard their innocent screams and watched their guiltless blood flow. 

BANG! BANG!

The two tanks imploded into a rain of metal, fire and ash. In one moment, they were barrelling toward Leonel, and in the next, they exploded from within. 

Leonel felt the heat of the explosion blast against him, kicking his hair up in a storm of its tumult. But, he continued to stand there indifferently. 

CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!

One hand brandished a black spear. The other’s fingers danced across the air like a composure that plucked the strings of the battlefield. 

His hair billowed in the air, ten spheres of silver and dozens of foot-long needles hovering before him. 

He was just a single man blocking a flood from all sides, but he still stood tall.