Dimensional Descent

Leonel sighed inwardly. It wasn’t in his heart to do things like this but he had no choice in the matter. The moment he had decided to take the side of the Oryx, the fate of Valiant Heart had already been sealed.

He couldn’t help but shake his head to himself. Was he very much different from those people he hated so much?

Why was it that he chose the Oryx over Valiant Heart? Wasn’t it because he felt that their talent was greater? In their state of Hyper Evolution, they even had a chance at becoming monsters that could rival talents from Dimensions far higher than this one. Due to this, Leonel had felt that if he was going to invest in a group, the Oryx would be the very best.

He could tell himself now that he was just doing this out of necessity, that after he accomplished his goals he would treat everyone equally, but would things really work out that way?

History told tales of absolute power corrupting absolutely. Leonel wouldn’t deem himself to be the perfect human being and, no matter how logical he was, he would often find himself fighting against that side of his being. Often, Leonel felt that he only leaned into his own ‘morality’ so much because he was scared that if he didn’t follow archetype of good person to the final point, he would be giving himself up to that darkness within him.

Leonel had always said that he didn’t fear losing his life to save someone others would deem worthless… What he feared was the day he would convince himself that his life was worth more than others… if that day ever came, even he was scared of the monster he would become.

Despite thinking and being aware of all of this, though, there was one reason Leonel didn’t label himself a hypocrite, at least not completely: …

Valiant Heart had never wanted to help itself.

During the time Leonel had spent with this organization, they were always fighting against progress, always gripped by a fear that not only stopped them from moving forward, but even forced them to regress.

Despite knowing that he was a member of the Morales family, rather than taking this opportunity to soar into the skies once more, they cowered from it, worried about the consequences choosing to place their hopes in Leonel might cause.

These simply weren’t people that Leonel could take under his wing, at least not with how they were presently constructed. Unless they could change their mentality, this would be as far as any of them went.

Leonel knew that he had a very fine line to toe. He both acknowledged that talent was necessary to make it in this world while simultaneously believing that it didn’t make one person worth more than another. If he wanted to stick to such ideals, it would be difficult to keep his head straight.

The good news was that he had been blessed with opportunity. He had Little Blackstar’s ability steal powers on his side and he had the silver tablet to wipe the consciousnesses away from them. This combination of treasures was almost perfect to deal with this moral dilemma, but it also made Leonel realize just how much luck was involved in this thing he called life…

He had done all he could do for Valiant Heart. What was left was up to them.

“Young Heir,” Ingsan called out once again to Leonel, trying to comfort Sael at the same time, “please take the pillars with you. They were the treasures of the Morales family to begin with and we’re in no position to continue protecting them.”

Leonel, who was still facing away from the group and monitoring the air above frowned.

Those pillars? They had the ability to keep Zones from permanently closing, thus allowing them to be repeatedly used as training grounds. It was a valuable set of equipment to have, especially if you managed to use them on a Variant Zone designed to bestow treasures to begin with.

As good as this sounded, though, to the current Leonel… They were useless.

Leonel’s Dreamscape suddenly flashed.

Well, not completely useless, actually. With the new path of Mage Arts he was thinking up in his mind currently, the pillars would be a valuable asset and might even allow him to create an extremely powerful Earth-Space Elemental Art.

However, Leonel couldn’t help but feel disappointed. The fact that Ingsan was trying to give these pillars to me signified that he truly had given up.

‘Maybe it’s wrong of me to judge him for this. He’s been injured for several decades now and probably feels he’s at the end of his rope with no chance to progress forward or even just heal himself back to his original height. Blaming him for this decision is cruel…’

Leonel took a deep breath, not responding immediately. After a while, he nodded.

“I will hold them for you. If anyone of Valiant Heart decides that they are ready in the future, they can come to find me.”

A light of gratitude lit in Ingsan’s eyes. But, he couldn’t help but sigh when he looked down at the young girl in his arms.

She had just been starting to cast the previous shadow on her heart away, finally allowing her to continue progressing… Would she ever manage to get rid of this one?

“Everyone, you’ve heard it well. This is no longer our home. You have half an hour to pack your belongings. The Organization will send you all to a safe place as a final thank you for your service. Go!”

With heavy hearts, the students of Valiant Heart followed their orders. Those who had stayed behind so long despite the danger their lives were in were already the most loyal members of Valiant Heart to begin with. It was clear that none of them were willing.

‘I guess they’re not going to attack anymore?’ Leonel concluded.

Just as Leonel was about to make a move to stop the flow of lava and dig up the pillars to his back, he heard an unexpected voice.

“Too cowardly to face what you’ve done, huh?”